A Math Tutor & Lu takes Mom to Yoga Class

 This week's BIG NEWS is that we got a Math Tutor!!!

I've mentioned before that math is NOT my strength. My brain stopped learning math after 3rd grade, until we started homeschooling and I pushed my way through 4th and 5th grade math in order to accompany Lu in his math learning.

Well, long story short, I went as far as I could and then suddenly Lu caught up and passed me. This year, he's pretty much been working on math on his own, and then checking it with Dad at night. But, this wasn't always the best setup on nights when Cha was tired from work, and Lu was sleepy from a long day. Sooooo, we found a recently graduated 18yo who is willing to tutor 6th grade math from Mon-Fri, 8-9am, for the rest of the year! And I am SOOO relieved.

Not only does this take away our family's math-related stresses, but it gives me an extra hour in the morning, which is very nice.

It's an expense.

But right now, we really need it.

We're still doing history and watching documentaries together,

Lu does language arts, geography, and science mostly on his own,

and we're usually done with academics by 11am.

This gives us lots of time to practice other things

that are just as, or more important than math and spelling.

Like drinking 8+ glasses of water every day,

eating real food,

spending time outdoors,

 being gentle, caring, respectful, and loving...

 exercising and taking care of our bodies,

being mindful and aware.

Last weekend, we were sitting in a café

when a lovely lady handed us a tiny piece of paper that said:

"Namaste. Daily yoga classes. Donation based. 11am." 

Now, we live in a town where there is more yoga 

than I could begin to explain, but I've never really felt a calling.

Anyway, 

Lu reads the paper and says "Free yoga classes! We should go!" 

I explained that "donation based" isn't the same as "Free", 

but that if he was interested, we could definitely go. 

So, we've been going to yoga, and we're both loving it!

Piercings, Pie, and Epiphanies

We are back from a three-week break

with a new haircut and a second piercing.

Lu's mama thinks he's lookin' pretty cool.

Last Saturday he spent the entire evening baking

for the community market on Sunday.

He made a key-lime pie and a cheesecake,

and took his earrings to sell too.

 Both pies were gone in under half an hour!

He made over $15!!!

And around here, considering he only invested 4-5 hours,

that's almost enough to live on!

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Breaks always bring some sort of epiphany for me with them.

This break really made it clear that:

a) my little boy is almost no longer a little boy

and

b) I want to spend as much fun time with this little boy,

for the little bit of time I have left with him, as I can.

So, I've decided to slow way down on the academics

and give more time to playing games,

swimming, hiking, singing, dancing,

and making things...

like this homemade, natural amplifier that Lu made

with bamboo for his iPad. 

Genius!

There will always be more time to learn history or algebra. 

I'll be 39 tomorrow and I'm still learning :)