Feeling My Age

So I was chatting with one of the workers we have here fixing up our water damage. He was telling me about how his little girl was a big surprise, a "gee, the doctor told me I couldn't have children" kind of surprise. He went into great detail about how hard it was on his wife who was really too old to be having a baby and who found it hard to spring back at her age, etc. How old was this elderly woman when she had this baby? Yep, one year older than me.

Did This Ever Happen To Charlotte Mason?

School has gone straight to hell in a hand basket since we lost the kitchen/school room to the flood. But I thought it would be a good opportunity to try a little Charlotte Mason, as I have been meaning to do. I have a book that purports to work on narration and picture study for those of us too obtuse to figure it out on our own.

So, as per the instructions, I explain to Mia that we will be looking at the picture and talking about what we see. She looks me in the eye and says ernestly "But I already know how to look at pictures." Sigh.

She humored me, but it was clear she thought it was lame. And you know what? It was lame. I'm beginning to acquire quite a little pile of resources that must have worked well for someone, because they came highly recommended, but didn't work for us.

Homeschooling often reminds me of that Moltke quote "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy."

Picked A Bad Day To Start Blogging

So I just started blogging again when Mia woke us up one morning saying "You forgot to turn the water off." Well, not exactly. A connection to the water filter under the kitchen sink had broken some time in the night and flooded the kitchen. They tried to save the floor with these nifty rescue mats that force air into the floor:

They failed:

Of course, much of the water ran into the basement:

So we're getting a new kitchen floor and Mia is getting to observe carpenters, plumbers, painters and other assorted tradespeople in lieu of actual schoolwork while I deal with all this.