Movement Morning Wednesdays

Wednesday is our favorite weekday.

Most mornings, Lu is out with the goats from 7-10am, but on Wednesdays we have help and he gets a break. So we start our mornings with a game of Scrabble which I count as school because, besides being a game we both love, it's a fun way of improving spelling and developing vocabulary. We allow free use of the dictionary and learn new words every time. 

 

Then we grab our mats and head over to one of the yoga classes in town. Both Lu and I can be pretty intense, hyperactive people with short fuses, so we're trying yoga with the intention of learning how to 

c h i l l. 

Lu very relaxed after shavasana.

After yoga, it's time for some swimming.

We walk to the next place over - a luxury hotel with lake access, ping-pong and pool tables. It's still under construction, so not a lot of people using the facilities yet. Most of the time we have the whole place to ourselves! 

Lu gets some laps in and mama sunbathes

while sipping a cappuccino :)

 Then it's ping-pong time!

 After a few rounds, we order fries and drinks,

and move on to the pool table.

It's already 1pm, and we've been out and about for 5 hours!

Time to go home.

In the afternoon, Lu will do some schoolwork 

while I teach a dance class.

Then two more days and it's the weekend. 

Woot!

It really helps to have such a fun day in the middle of the week

to look forward to :)

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!

Puppies.... and some other stuff

We've been busy, busy with puppies

and projects.

Lu is working on a research project

about the Ancient Maya,

and making great progress despite

the computer room also being a puppy nursery.

A friend recently brought us Momo by Michael Ende

(author of Never Ending Story)

Lu is loving this book! 

It's about an orphan girl who lives in an abandoned park,

something about "the men in gray",

and a weird street where time warps...

I haven't actually read the book, but Lu's been

telling me all about it and it sounds pretty trippy.

 This coming week is our last before a three week break.

Which fits perfectly with the puppies just starting

to become a handful.

The river was running strong,

so we went out to build our annual dam

for a swim hole.

 Lu's been doing "Circuit Training" for P.E.

We come up with a 3-minute circuit

and he goes through it as many times as he can.

(and there's a window from our bedroom

to the dance studio because... 

it seemed like a good idea when we were building?)

The puppies had their first outing

into the yard the other day,

and felt sunshine for the first time!

 

Behind Our House

there is a mountain, and twice a week

we round up our 6-pack of dogs and head out for a hike.

7 minutes into our uphill trek, we turn around and see this:

Pic of a flower that Lu took:

18 minutes into our hike and we reach the first river crossing.

A few weeks ago we had to turn back because

the river had grown too much to cross.

But the rains are gone now, 

and the mountain is full of yellow and purple flowers.

At 35 minutes, we reach our destination:

 And back down we go.

I love our mountain walks.

They keep me sane.

We mostly walk in silence,

with some distance between us.

The silence is so good for both of us.

Sometimes there's also laughter

or discussion.

Sometimes there's even math practice

or science review.

Other times there is sharing of feelings.

 But there is always one foot in front of the other.

 So simple. So powerful.