In the Flow

I've been wanting to write an update for a while, if for no other reason than I've been havin' so darn much fun, but also not wanting to write lest I get overly analytical about our lives. That's a constant trap for me because I'm a psychology nut and kids are the best. experiment. ever! So sometimes I have to work very hard to get out of my head and just enjoy them. Today I'm giving myself a break. :-)

The kids are growing by leaps and bounds, some of them literally. I suspect that within the next year Tex and I will be sharing both shoe size and height. He'll turn ten in June. And I'm short. But still! He's growing in lots of other ways, too. Some of you know Tex personally and know that I sometimes find his personality to be challenging (and yes, I know, he's always sweet at your house, don't rub it in), and there's no question that he struggles with a certain awkwardness when it comes to dealing with other human lifeforms (let's just say I have a particular sympathy with Leonard from The Big Bang Theory), but he is a good-hearted kid who really does want to get along with his friends and have good relationships with his family. That it is shining through so bright these days is such a relief. :-) I see him trying to take a deep breath more often when his temper gets hold of him. I see him choosing, when his sister is annoying him for kicks as siblings sometimes do, to turn it into a game for as long as he can stand before asking her to knock it off. I see him trying to talk his way through arguments instead of headbutt through them. I hear him acknowledging his imperfections and laughing about them instead of getting angry and hurt. He's maturing, and he's doing it in part because he's surrounded by people willing to (mostly) talk him through it instead of only punishing him for it. I've known for a while now that school would have been inappropriate for Tex for this reason in particular. He has needed these years to overcome his difficulties in negotiating the social landscape of this world, and I can see that he's finding his voice and his place, figuring out what he's good at and what feels useful to him. I think he's starting on a big journey of finally having overcome the effect that preschool and our overly strict parenting style had on him (to clarify, we weren't the Pearls, we just were much more strict with the conventions than we are now and that wasn't a good fit for our unconventional child), and being able to really explore himself.
Both Tex and Noodle are into the online multiplayer games Minecraft and Roblox, just to name the top two. These are games where they get to create a character (a LEGO-ish fellow) and then go out into the various worlds to play games, fulfill quests, solve puzzles, or even blow things up. The boys watch videos on YouTube about their videogame passions and play together side-by-side at their computer stations. Noodle in particular is a computer whiz and gets such joy out of manipulating the computer to make it do what he wants. He wants to set up servers and install mods and add memory and learn how to build stuff and beat the game. There are days when he is at his computer almost non-stop! And honestly, yeah, it used to bug me, but he's getting so much out of it that I don't worry anymore. He's found a passion to pursue at the age of seven and I think that's awesome!
Monkeygirl is having a great time of it lately as well. She's four now, so she's finally old enough to sign up for our local TaeKwonDo classes, and after just a couple of classes she is having a ball and so excited about her class. Watching her confidence in class, her willingness to try over and over again when she doesn't get it right, her silliness and complete self-assurance in the face of language barriers, stricter discipline than she's ever seen, and high expectations is so thrilling!
My little Monkey is also having great fun learning math skills on the new Team UmiZoomi math app for the iPad, even practicing addition and subtraction skills. I have to give special thanks to my parents for buying us the iPad this summer for homeschool, and to our family and friends for keeping us in iTunes cards so that we can find new fun games to play. I can see the learning the kids are doing with this new tool and it's really fun for them. In fact Noodle now knows more about US geography than I do, thanks to a wonderful game called Stack the States. I've still got 'em on the nicknames, though. Yes, I take my victories where I can get 'em, why do you ask? We also all really enjoy the logic games like Where's My Water, World of Goo, Cut the Rope, and SpongeMarble. Since I think the most important goal for homeschooling is to help my children learn to think logically and independently, these games provide invaluable problem-solving skills. Fair warning: they also cause insomnia in adults as you try to get through just. one. more. level!
And if there are still any lingering concerns about their academic smarts and whether or not they are on par with the national standards, you can quiet your worries. Daddy-O watched an episode of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" with the boys and they did great! :-) They did that while on a trip to Nashville where they saw the scale reproduction of the Parthenon at Centennial Park, visited the children's science museum, and even attended a Predators hockey game. It was a great boys' weekend for them while Monkeygirl and I hung out at home.
Okay, I gotta go now. The boys are playing Just Dance 3 in the other room and I really want to go get my groove on! Hope you're all enjoying your journey!