CTC Unit 4 in review

So we had a lot of fun this week, were still schooling around the kitchen table. 

Little Miss Sunshine tried to make them all uniform sizes.
We used an envelop to store the yarn and straw pieces for the second day.  

This fine motor skill was a bit of a chore for Sweet Potato,

but she she finally managed to get all those straw beads on the yarn. 

The water color this week was super fun, I do like the wet paper painting. 

I do not know how I managed to have flat bread (It's Indian Naan)
Yogurt, almonds, white cheese, figs, and raisins in the house.
But I'm sure glad we did! 

They even tried to use dishes that would have been available in ancient times.
Ceramic cups and bowls in earth colors. 

They really got into it, and raided my closet of Indian Salwar Chemise's.

They were going for the authentic look. 
Although I don't think girls were shepherd's back then... 

 The science experiment... they cut up a cardboard box to back their cougars.
I found a deer illustration and printed it out for them

Um Mom what happens when the cougar doesn't land in the square?

Here is my masterpiece, I really enjoyed this project. It is fun to play with paint again!

 Notebooks are so beautiful Little Miss Sunshine chose Joseph's coat.

Sweet Potato picked Rachael dying in child birth.

You just can't guess what will resonate with your child. I think Sweet Potato doesn't understand grief. Looking back on this unit. I had much trouble getting her to complete her work in a timely manner. I wonder if the loss of Rachael in the story triggered the oppositional behavior, unwillingness to work, and extreme dawdling she displayed this week. She has to deal with the grief and loss of her first family, seemingly lurking in her mind just waiting to ambush her. I think it overwhelms her. I'm glad school gave her an opportunity to explore it in a safe way. 

I could have done without the chip on the shoulder it brings!!! I felt like a wash rag wrung out and hung out to dry by Friday night. I keep telling My Knight in Shining Armor to say "It will get better." instead of "Oh you poor thing." I find if I start traveling down that road of "poor me" I loose all perspective. I become selfish, no longer a help-meet, but rather a helpless me. It's a slippery slope, school is a joy and a sorrow it is REAL LIFE played out in my living room. I have to admit, I'm am glad to see them go to bed at 9pm and have the quietness, peace, and silence of my husband. 

Reminiscing, My parents are cool...

Yesterday I was reading an article by the daughter of a leading feminist of our time.  It made me think back to a conversation I had with my dad one fall day when I was in my teens.  I was spouting the latest thing in Feminism. I think I was singing  a perfume commercial remember that one??  I can bring home the bacon... fry it up  in a pan... and never, never let you forget your a man.. cause I'm a women.  Even tho I was quite the tom boy.  I was the anything HE can do, I can do better, type girl. My dad challenged me with a statement, some thing along the line that; Feminism has done as much to hurt the cause of women as much as it has helped them, in fact it may make things worse for women in the long run.

Fast forward to about 10 years ago... it's raining, my newly adopted 2 year old is melting down in the grocery store. The store doors are not opening when you step on the mats and you have to open the door inward. I'm hanging on to a heavy awkward paper bag of bare necessities for dinner,  since I had to abandon my cart due to child's meltdown. All I wanted to do is run home and hide.

A 30 something man is smugly waiting for me to exit the building. Can I open the door, hold on to my groceries and child who is out of control. Well after 3 minutes I managed to open the door and the man said "Thanks for opening the door" as he slips past me.  I was horrified, to my chagrin I thought back to all those times I said to men who opened my door for me "I can do it myself!" Here I obviously needed help yet he waited... why because young ladies like myself had insulted manly chivalrous acts in the past.  I totally deserved his treatment of me. Even if he had pushed the door open I would have had an easier time of it but he waited to watch my humiliation of dropping my groceries and loosing the grasp of my child.

This turns my thoughts to a post I saw on facebook in response to a plea for literacy for women in Asia.  The persons point was if we educate women we take jobs away from men. I remember my mom stressing I needed to go to college so IF I didn't want to get married I didn't have too... IF my husband was a poor provider, became disabled or dead,  I could be the primary wage earner.  IF I wanted to work I could... I could be the captain of my "Employment Ship." Now I'm totally content to stay at home with my children. It's not like, I'm not working. To replace my services to our family would run in the 90k range per year, or so says a book my sister in law sent me.  :-) So I know I'm contributing to the family in a very real way.  

I firmly believe in the LITERACY PROGRAM at GFA. I really feel educating the mother helps the sons and daughters be more educated. A more educated population, hopefully makes better choices in the long run. (I can't ever forget the viewpoint of our driver in India who firmly believed cleft pallets were due to the baby being born during the full moon.) When I think of how widows are seen as a curse on many Asian societies, giving them tools is essential for survival and the success of their children. Is it feminism to believe in the education of women? I suppose on some level it is. I think that turning women into men is an extreme form of feminism.  I can see how men and woman have hugely different strengths and weaknesses. As Rocky says "I got gaps she's got gaps together we ain't got no gaps."

I sometimes worry about our society where fathers have become unnecessary.  Not around here!!! Who would put the kiddos to bed at night????  So here is a big Thank You Dad! for challenging me to think outside the box society was building around me. Not to mention a Huge Thank You to Mom! for helping me to look to my future, you didn't let me grow up ignorant.