The dance recital
It’s that time of year for us. My daughter will be performing a ballet number in her recital this weekend, and I’ll be helping backstage.
Sadly for me, she has lost interest in dance over the last several months as gymnastics has grabbed her attention. However, tonight she seemed to rekindle her love of dance as she tried on her costume, applied her make-up, and performed on stage with the other dancers. I think seeing the other routines also played a part in changing her feelings. Recitals have a way of doing that. Of course, she wants to try hip-hop. I’m just not a huge fan of hip-hop since I believe you need to have some basic foundational dance skills learned at her age. If she wants to continue with dance and try a different style, I’ll encourage jazz first. At least she’d get exposure to technique versus the “shake your booty” method. Just my biases..
The boys were dragged to rehearsal, and they all did very well sitting through the performances. My youngest son even told my daughter that she was beautiful. I just wish they would comb their hair before going out in public. Seriously, they look like a bunch of homeschoolers.
Academics ended around 10:30 again this evening. I won’t talk about time or sleep tonight. That conversation is so old to me..
The future
Time was shared today between academics and the beach. The temperature was so cold to me, but the kids still insisted on wearing their swimsuits. I am using our spring break time to teach in between other activities. With recent schedule changes such as traveling to Hawaii and prepping for Excelsior, I don’t need to take off several days from school. I guess my kids are used to my ways since they don’t complain too much.
My husband and I have been giving some serious thought lately on how we want the next several years to look for our kids and for us. We’ve talked about buying property for retirement to moving to another country to renting a Winnebago and touring the US. Our children are at prime ages to expose them to a wide range of experiences. Lots of unknowns for us right now, and we don’t presently have a clear direction on how to best proceed. Sometimes I really dislike the unknowns.
Inspiration from Thomas Edison
Tonight, after a long-winded day, I sat down with the kids to read a story on the life of Thomas Edison.
I found several of his quotes very interesting. Here are a few:
“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”
“Restlessness and discontent are the necessities of progress.”
“Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.”
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
I especially love that last quote! Sometimes I ask myself why I’m spending the large amounts of time and energy that I do on this homeschooling stuff. I’m not sure I have a great answer for that one other than I just feel like this is what I’m supposed to be doing. Maybe you could alter that answer a bit and say that it’s important not to have any regrets. Do I want to look back at these very important years with my children and wish I had given more effort or thought to the tasks at hand? I can even go bigger with that for my own goals in life. There are things I want to do for myself, professional goals and such, that I hope to accomplish one day-seasons, I tell myself, seasons. So, yes, I routinely feel discontent in what I’m doing, and I’m assuming that’s pushing me to try harder in whatever has my focus. Maybe that will pay off one day, but for now, sleep calls my name.
Thinking about next year on Memorial Day
Day filled with walking in the local parade, grilling with friends, Latin, piano, and looking at curricula supplements for next year as the kids swim.
I’m always critiquing myself and what I’m teaching the kids. What subject matter needs to be covered, is there something more interesting out there that I should be using, etc.
Summertime is a period for refreshment and regrouping as a homeschooler.
Ivy League Homeschooling 