The poem is Azure and Gold by Amy Lowell. Since the poem deals with April, I thought it was suitable for my April habit of trying to find poetry lines to head up my blog entries. As for our snow, it is lingering in patches in the shadow of our house and in ridges where the snowplow left its berme, which is apparently a Dutch word meaning a level shelf or raised barrier. The word apparently was convenient to the modern settlers in the Sierras in describing the huge walls of snow you get from snowfall after snowfall piled up on the sides of roads and driveways and walls.
Today went a bit differently than the normal course of things. In the morning, I went to a therapy class held by Aidan’s occupational therapy. It was at another mom’s house down in the foothills, and it was for moms only, so Aidan and Paddy stayed home with the others. Basically I was gone from 8:30 to 1:30 — I don’t remember the last time I’ve been somewhere without even one kid. Almost disorienting! I had a good time. It was interesting to meet several other moms with special needs children who I hadn’t met before.
When I got home I found that Paddy and Aidan had been playing together most of the morning. They had built things with Duplos, played with Aidan’s hot wheels, and then they played a game where they lay down on the bed and Aidan “read” to Paddy, then they both pretended to go to sleep. I got to see them do it. Aidan has pretty much memorized the Bible story book and when he skipped a page he didn’t remember very well, Paddy turned it back and prompted him. It was rather cute.
I had told the older boys to do what homeschool they could without me. So that is what they did, plus their twice-weekly household chores.
I took Kieron, Brendan and Clare to the library and the market as we customarily do on Monday, and we got pizza for dinner since the freezer is basically empty. That hardly ever happens but for some reason we’ve had few opportunities to shop recently.
I am reading a 10 cent library sale book called “City Kid“. I am pretty sure I must have read another book by the same author when I was in middle school. I used to babysit the three adopted sons of a couple who were both psychologists, and they had a bookshelf with a variety of this kind of personal case history/narrative. It’s interesting to read about how she says she lets Luke, the troubled boy the story is about, teach her how to teach him.
Paddy and I have been doing a lot of reading together. I find that if I sit down on the bed, he will soon appear with a book. This is inconvenient if I am planning to read or take a nap, but now that I am intentionally trying to spend more time with him reading, it works just great. We read Lyle the Crocodile, Strega Nona, The House at Pooh Corner, a Noddy, Pickles the Fire Cat and something else besides the ubiquitous Tintin.
Kieron has been reading a Lloyd Alexander book we checked out from the library, The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio.
Kieron found a pumpkin book for Aidan at the library. Pumpkins by Ken Robbins. Aidan has been carrying it everywhere saying, “a truck of pumpkins!” It has inspired many jokes on his part about how the truck is going to dump a cord of pumpkins so that Brendan can stack them on the porch. We think GK Chesterton, who according to his housekeeper would laugh, and write, and then laugh some more at what he wrote, would have much enjoyed Aidan’s sense of humor.
At Thinking Things Through, Christine asks some interesting questions about unschooling and there are some interesting comments in the comment box.
