It was back to the daily (homeschool) grind today. I can’t say I missed homeschooling this past week. Homeschooling is work, isn’t it? What I did miss was the purpose to our day. I’m the type of person who needs to have a goal… even if I don’t make the mark, it’s nice to have that target to-do list. We did have a couple of un-schooling moments, but I’ll be darned if I can remember exactly what was learned. Something to do with creative writing that required spelling new words. And painless spelling lessons are tops in my book.

Our break from homeschooling has morphed into a computer/blogging break as well, so things may be a little quiet around here for the rest of the week. We finished up last week on a good note and I have a list of things I want to get done, so… enjoy those precious homeschooling moments with your little ones and we’ll catch up next week.

My five-year-old Peter is amazing. Yesterday he caught a baby snapping turtle. I never know what he is going to bring in the house next.

Here is a close-up of the turtle. One more. And this is one proud boy.

We are going to a birthday party Saturday and I needed a gift. So off we go to our local big box store. While driving over a stone bridge that spans a creek, I spotted a beautiful crane standing in the water.

I have always loved birds. I remember looking out the kitchen window with my mom as she identified the Bluejay, Chickadee, Cardninal and, my favorite, the Downy woodpecker.

Look! A crane! I quickly stop the car so the kiddos can get a look.

The bird was on the driver’s side, which also happens to be the “girl’s” side of the van. Lucy sits behind me, Susan sits behind her. The boys are on the passenger side. (Why this is, I have no idea and it just occured to me how segregated we are.)

Anyway, just as soon as I stop and Susan shouts, “I see it!,” our friend decides to fly away. Neither boy got to see the crane.

This is one of the hardest things about being a mom to a housefull of littles. As hard as you try to make everything fair, someone is bound to get a smaller slice, the last piece, or in this case, not get to see what Mommy and Susan did.

I had to do some fast talking to smooth it over. A promise to look for the crane on the way home stopped the tears after a few minutes. I looked for the bird on the return trip, but it wasn’t there. Fortunately, I think the boys had forgotten about it by then, so we didn’t have any meltdowns.

This morning’s crane made we think of another drive-by nature study moment. This was years ago, long before we were offically homeschoolers. A shaggy coyote ran across a field, it’s back covered with blood. Again I stopped the car. All the children got a good look at him, too. We watched him for a few minutes, wondering why his back was bloody.

Even though we didn’t get all of our regular school work done due to our “class trip,” it was worth it to see that beautiful bird. I’m blessed to be able to share these moments with my children.

Enature is a great website for identifing critters.

Today Susan, my seven-year-old second grader, began her Prima Latina DVD. I must admit I was a bit apprehensive to begin. I pictured all sorts of weaping and whining due to (shudder, shudder) Latin. But all went well. Actually, more than well – she loved it.

Since this is our first attempt at a foreign language, we are easing into it slowly. We listened to the first Latin prayer on the CD several times. Susan, a strong auditory learner, was smitten. She even had no trouble ignoring the distraction of her three-year-old brother who decided to dance about the room just as I put it in the player.

When I mentioned the DVD that goes with the CD, Susan immediately wanted to watch it. So we did. And again she amazed me. Not only did she listen but she participated with what the teacher wanted the students to parrot back.

You go, girl! Never underestimate your child’s desire to learn. I’m glad I didn’t.