Jumbled Up IX

Good morning!  It's Saturday, the younger girls are playing Barbies and N is reading, I've got my coffee and the popovers are in the oven, and M is out for a run with some teacher friends.  It's been a thoughtful week for me and so it's time for some mind-sorting on the blog.  Some of these are more heavy topics than my typical Jumbled Up post, so I'll include some pictures of activities with the girls so you won't get too bored :)

(Scavenger hunts at the art museum on a rainy Friday.)

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I have been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving this year.  We are obeying our governor's orders, so no traveling, and no hosting people either, since with just our family of six we are pretty close to the 10-person limit anyway.  The COVID surge is real, throughout the country, and we are seeing case numbers right now that rival or exceed where we were in March and April when everything shut down.  So we're staying put for now, which was pretty much the plan for Thanksgiving anyway, since we have made two trips to Virginia this fall already (did I tell you about those? perhaps some reverse blogging is in order) and I want to save our next trip for when our new niece is born in early December!!  So excited!!!

Our first homeschool social studies unit this fall for C and L involved a lot of study of Native Americans, the true story of early American colonization, and all of the early wars that are sort of swept under the rug of American history (like the Pequot War and King Phillip's War).  This has been really eye-opening for me, in a George Floyd kind of way.  It has taken a bit of the wind out of my sails with regard to Thanksgiving planning... in small-talk conversations different friends have asked what our plans are, and I reply that we don't have any, and that's because things are always busy and I don't tend to plan ahead well, but also I think I'm subconsciously re-evaluating how we should celebrate and having trouble making any decisions about that.  M and I have been having some talks about what we should do for food, since we will be on our own and he doesn't want me to go to too much work for preparations.  We have been very slow to decide on that as well, but I think we're gravitating towards preparing the traditional feast, because we do love all of those foods, and the traditions of our family don't really involve glorifying the Pilgrims in any way, so I feel okay about it I think.  I mean, it’s not what we eat that really matters, is it? It’s what we celebrate and how we remember. But over the next few days I'd like to think of some other activity we might do as a remembrance of the true story of Thanksgiving.

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(The American Girls came with us to the art museum and each had a lunch packed and ready!  No eating in the museum cafe because of COVID, so we had to enjoy a packed lunch in the car afterwards.  Nothing is simple this year, is it?)

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Let's talk for a minute about election anxiety-- what a whirlwind, eh?  I don't think anyone on either side of the blue/red fence feels really settled about anything, and this big day that we thought would cure our anxiety and give us some hope has really done the opposite.  I know we have all been talking, ever since the pandemic started, about taking the news in small doses.  This was brought home in a fresh way earlier this week when I started my day by checking Facebook and, as a result, the first thing I did that day was read two different threads of people's arguments (one about politics, one about COVID safety measures).  Reading how vehemently certain people were defending viewpoints that are completely opposite to my own was just completely deflating and gave me this awful hopeless feeling, which set me up in a bad mood for the next few hours.  Facebook is especially good at giving me this feeling, but it can also happen just by reading the news or political commentary.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be ignorant; on the contrary, I feel like my mind these days is constantly searching for some practical way that I can help heal divisions.  But setting myself up in a hopeless frame of mind certainly isn't constructive or helpful to anyone, most of all to myself and my children.  Maybe that's how we can celebrate Thanksgiving-- by taking a media fast.  If nothing else, I think something like that would certainly help *me* to feel more thankful and aware of my own blessings.  And maybe it could even clear the brain enough to allow me to think of some real and helpful things we could do for our hurting world.

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(Because I have reverted to the two-week repeating meal plan again to avoid the grocery store during this latest COVID spike, we have inadvertently developed a Friday night tradition in the last three weeks of eating homemade pizza while watching the newest episode of The Mandalorian.  Now *that* has been a comforting ritual!)

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I think that about covers the really heavy stuff that has been on my mind.  Other than that, it's just the normal homeschooling worries (that we're not doing enough or that there will be gaps in the girls' learning when/if we go back to public school).  Over my years of homeschooling, and especially since I have a husband in the public schools this year who keeps reassuring me that learning this year is not normal for anybody, I have learned to quickly dismiss those worries in my brain.  So when they bubble up I can usually pretty easily calm myself and just enjoy, say, extra reinforcement of three-digit addition from our 3rd grade math curriculum, and feel great about how confident C is with math these days, without worrying whether this curriculum I chose will eventually get to multiplication, area and perimeter before the end of the 3rd grade year.  If not, so what?  She's learning and enjoying and feeling confident, and that will help her fill in the gaps later very easily.  You'd think this would be obvious to me by now, but I still have to remind myself almost daily.

Speaking of homeschooling and homeschooling worries, perhaps I should do some curriculum posting?  I'm feeling pretty good about most of the picks we made this year.  I should have time to write some of that out when my music teaching schedule calms down a bit mid-December.

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(watching the SpaceX launch last weekend in our pjs! the girls were especially excited that a female astronaut was on board!)

(This girl has been especially motivated to learn to ride two wheels, and I have been trying to take her out as often as I can!  She has a strong tendency toward extreme timidity on the bike, which as any cyclist knows does not lend itself well to learning, but her fears are gradually diminishing with each ride we take and I only wish I had more time to take her out and help her practice.  It's always so fun to be with her and watch her triumph with every accomplishment!)

(typical homeschooling scene-- art projects with WAM Art Together, reading chapter books, violin on the floor, paper dolls, and empty snack bowls everywhere.)

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As I'm sure I have mentioned, M's job has risen to a new level of stressful since the pandemic began.  His teaching position is not a 12-month position, but he ended up working (often more than 40 hours) throughout the entire summer.  Luckily he was paid for the extra time, because my teaching and gigging load has definitely suffered due to the pandemic, so it worked out very well for us financially.  But the toll on M has been visible.  He has suffered from what we think are migraine headaches occasionally for the past few years, but lately they have become a more regular occurrence, and in the last two weeks he has had a string of them, nearly every other day.  It has been especially hard for me to watch this, not only because I'm already a little down about the other things aforementioned, but I can just see and feel the fatigue of so many months of stress and I really just want some kind of a break for him.  He had an appointment with his doctor about it this week, and they're going to run some tests and think about medication, so that's a step towards relief, I hope.  Migraines run in his family and it's a complicated issue to sort out, with regard to triggers, meds, etc. so it probably won't be an easy road.  But I can see that work stress plays a huge part and so for that reason alone I'm hoping that school can return to normal very soon.  Pray for him if you think of it.

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(we discovered an awesome new playground about 15 minutes drive from our house, and it's next to a babbling brook and walking paths)

(getting outside is always a lift for everyone's mood.  we will keep it up as long as the weather holds!)

I think that's about everything... and now that popovers are eaten, coffee has been consumed, and the girls have moved on from Barbies to Webkinz, I probably should get a start on the Saturday chore list now.  Thanks for listening to my ramblings, everyone!  Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.