Week 10: Wrap Up

It is so difficult to challenge keep up with El sometimes. When I am totally worn out, I have to remember that he spent the past year in public school not being challenged at all. Our schedule, which began with the basics (arithmetic, language arts, social studies, health, science with some experiments, the arts) has grown and grown to include fiction unit studies, Latin, chemistry, geography, ancient history, cooking,

Think I'm kidding? Last week, I actually heard the phrase: "But mom, I need more information about Hatshepsut!" Luckily, there's a PBS doc for that. Whew. Saved by Netflix, once again.

sign language, speech, art history... I don't even know. When I ask him if he wants to give up one of these things so he can spend more time focusing on the others, he inevitably answers: Cursive! Sigh. No you cannot give up cursive. Anything else? What? No! I like it all!

If the concept of classical education was made for anyone, it was made for Eliot. So we are now cramming in a traditional public-school standards education in with a classical education and plenty of child-led unschooling as well. Why? Well, I don't know. I guess because he wants to and I haven't cracked yet. I'm sure the day is coming, though.

My family is just all-around... bizarre! intense. I don't know how to describe it. Okay, here's an example: My husband came home about three weeks ago and declared that, while he loves meat, the world should not be producing meat anymore. If there is meat available in abundance, such as when an increasingly abundant population of fish threatens the survival of other native species, that meat should be consumed by humans. Otherwise, though, we should not be wasting our natural resources on meat production. (To clarify: Meat is fine to eat, we just shouldn't be purchasing as much as we do and encouraging commercial production of it.) Okay. I guess I'll just scrap the menu plan for the rest of October.
(ETA: I don't necessarily disagree. He has a point.)

Then Em- my 38 lb., increasingly superstitious 6.5-yr-old- decides the only foods worth eating are corn, plums, plain biscuits with nothing on them, ramen noodles, and the broth made by one chicken bullion cube in one cup of water. They can't be eaten at the same time, though, because then they would mix together in her stomach and that would apparently be gross. This child came home from trick-or-treating, ate half a Ring Pop, and asked for ramen. I am not even kidding. Exasperated sigh. (This isn't permanent, though. Last week it was canned carrots, almonds, and dried cranberries. Who knows what next week will be?)

Progress! I got her to put pizza sauce on the biscuits and she actually ate them.

So, yeah. We all have our quirks (in addition to our quarks, El would tell you with a grin.) And since I am tired (and quite possibly anemic again) I'm not even going to wrap up our week. Everything. We covered everything. Except for biology or zoology. Shhhhh. No one mention biology or zoology to my kid, okay? Please? Not this year, anyway.