New Rhythm

I don't really have so much to say in this post. I guess I just feel the need to connect and feel like someone out there is listening. Now that I'm not teaching anymore, not exhausted anymore, and most of the major moving is done (there are still boxes, and I promise, you will see pictures soon!), we're kind of settling into a nice little routine.

Morning agenda: Dressed, breakfast, reading. Reading?, you might ask. Yes, reading. I'm figuring that, whatever we may decide later about homeschooling or not, French schools are not going to be teaching my kids to read English, so I might as well do it myself. For now, we've made word cards with simple words that Alina has learned to recognize. Today, with her cards, we spelled out, "Papa sat on Tassia" and "Pongo sat on the chair." I must admit that, at this point, "sat" is the only verb in our reading vocabulary. I've ordered geared-for-parents reading curriculum, and Alina is counting the days until I've said it should be arriving. The rest of the morning, we often go out and run various errands, visit Thomas's parents, or go to the park. It often rains in the afternoon, so we try and take advantage of the morning if it's not raining.

After lunch, Tassia takes a nap, and so Alina and I are pretty much stuck at home until somewhere between 4 and 5 pm when the little sister wakes up. The highlight of naptime is that Mama plays the vioin for 30 minutes and, recent addition, Alina plays the violin. We had started violin awhile ago and sort of gave up because of perceived lack of interest and progress on Alina's part, and lack of time on mine. However, the other day, Alina got her vioin and said, "Mama, I want to play a scale like you." So, we've been working on an A scale with Suzuki rhythm 1, and I've realized that she really had learned and even retained most of what I had been trying to teach her before, and that she might actually play an A scale that resembles something sometime in the near future. Naptime is also when we've been able to read the first 2 books in the Chronicles of Narnia. Aslan, Pattertwig, and the rest are now regular visitors to our house.

After Tassia wakes up, we have snack time, then, if it's not raining, we usually try to take advantage of the last few rays of sunlight and enjoy our swingset. If it is raining, we try to find some other activity. Alina invariably suggests baking cookies or cupcakes. We may all be eating a lot of desserts this winter. Then, it's back in for a bit of time, and then dinner, and then to bed!

Somewhere in there, the laundry gets done, the dishes get washed, and a certain number of other tedious but necessary chores get done. Or not.