The Queen's Rambles

I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off these past few days. My mom is here, so it feels rude to sit at the computer and stare at the screen instead of engaging my guest in a conversation. I get little enough computer time since I try to engage with my children on a regular basis, but now my little break times are social hour. Plus, I’ve been working my little buns off, trying to get my MOMS Club stuff taken care of. No time to write when I’m selecting just the right font to announce our Halloween Party. Chiller was the obvious choice, of course.

So that’s where I’ve been. I’m sure I’m at least three days behind in my journal reading.

What’s all the news that’s fit to print?

I have solved my Erik dilemma! He is a picky eater. I’ve been packing his lunch and he has not been eating it. He eats the yogurt, possibly the string cheese and maybe a couple of pretzels. Forget about the sandwich, the fruit or the veggies. They are completely untouched. Then he comes home and is a complete demon child because he’s hungry, but he won’t eat because he’s hungry.

Children are not logical.

I kept meaning to buy a wide mouthed thermos, but could never remember when I was at Target. I try to limit my Target time to save money. Instead, I spend all my money online.

Hmmmm. .. . why didn’t I just order one online? Instead, I bought a totally overpriced one at the grocery store.

Overpriced or not, it is worth every single penny. We’ve had it two days and they have been the best two days of the school year. I sent in whole wheat pasta with a butter sauce and diced up chicken. He ate every bite and said he wasn’t hungry at school anymore. WIN!

Now I feel guilty for not doing it sooner, but I’m trying to let the guilt go. Guilt is not productive if it is about something that can’t be changed.

I just hope the good eating continues so I can have my nice little boy back and we can have pleasant afternoons, especially since we’ve received the October homework packet and we have a shitload of cooperative work to do each evening. Yes, I said cooperative work. The homework is not at all what I expected. It is meant to be done together with parent and child. I don’t know how two working parents in a family with more than one kid ever manage to get through it.

Some of the homework is fun, like going on a nature walk and looking at the leaves or counting the pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns on the porches (we’re saving that one for a few weeks), or hiding ten paper pumpkins through the house for him to find (and describe their locations using positional words). Others will be like pulling teeth (writing his name 10 times, listing 10 items in his classroom). Some are just going to be a down right pain in the ass. He has several “cut various things out of a magazine and glue them in your notebook” type things. He was planning on using his homework notebook to write all the numbers up to a googol. He’s at 84 right now. He is NOT happy that he is supposed to use it for other things, even though I bought him a special notebook just for his number writing project.

THEN. . . I have to write several sentences about his learning style and our homework experiences together.

So who cares? I can write five sentences. It won’t be a burden at all. It just strikes me as so strange that a parent has homework of that type in a kindergarten class.

Honestly, though, I was dreading a bunch of crappy busy-work worksheets and was determined that I wasn’t going to stress about that kind of thing. We have a list of 25 homework items and we are supposed to do 16 of them. I thought they were all good, solid assignments with very clear objectives. Not that I am going to enjoy forcing him to do all of them, but I can see the value in them. I hope his homework continues to be meaningful as his school career progresses.

Subject Change 1:
I got a haircut this afternoon. Much, much needed. I’m always so lazy about keeping up with haircuts, and feel yucky and self-loathing for weeks when my hair starts to drag down. I decided to be proactive and scheduled my next cut in six weeks. Hopefully my hairstylist will be back. She’s going to Iran for a month. Her whole family is there so I’m sure she’ll be safe. I am a product of the West. I hear the word Iran and freak out. I would be terrified.

Subject Change 2:
I am very, very excited about the possibility of starting a Campfire USA club with some friends. I contacted them a few months ago and arranged for a speaker to come to our MOMS Club meeting on Wednesday. Erik is desperate to be a scout but I absolutely will not allow him to join Boy Scouts. Their homophobia and religious intolerance make me ill. I will not put my son in a club that teaches such things.

I didn’t know anything about Campfire except they are inclusive, but I’ve learned! It is a very different model from Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. Instead of a troop leader and a drop-off situation, you gather together a group of friendly families (you can also take in strangers if you want and if there are any that the regional director knows about) and basically form a co-op. All the parents are trained in the program. You make the club fit your needs. There is a very detailed curriculum, but you can adjust it to fit your needs. The main driving force is simply “Give Service.”

The children earn emblems (aka badges) for completing different activities. One very key factor in all this is that it is very much child driven, so they get to pick the badges they want to work on. In the early ages everything is parent led, but by the time the kids are in third grade the kids are given a lot more responsibility for club planning and programming. By the time they reach high school the clubs are run by the kids, for the kids. They have an adult mentor to make sure things are going well and to facilitate things that an adult needs to take care of, but the organization really encourages independence and leadership.

I wasn’t expecting to be so excited about this idea, but I really am. I am also excited because it won’t be a weekly commitment. Each club decides how often they want to meet. It sounds like my friends and I are up for a once a month type of thing.

I didn’t know if we’d be able to get enough interest, but I think I already have enough people to get it started. They recommend having 6-12 children involved. I think I have 10 ready to commit, but four of those are from a military family that will be moving in May. That would still leave us with six and we could always welcome more later.

Just what I need, right? More on my plate. But it’s a co-op! I wouldn’t be in charge. We would all work together.

And long time readers are all shaking your heads and telling me, “remember the co-op preschool?” aren’t you? I do remember it, and I would never commit to another weekly thing like that. Monthly, though, I could handle. I know two of the interested families really well (one was in the co-op with us) and I truly believe we would work well together. One was the president of my MOMS Club last year so I know I can work with her. We have the same communication style and many similar beliefs (as far as parenting and running a club go). When we disagree we are able to do so as adults and talk things through.

Basically it boils down to this: I am insane. I think I am wonder woman. I like to keep busy. I don’t know my own limits.

But it will be fun! It will work! It comes with a complete curriculum!

Also, I really like that it is co-ed so you don’t have to run your boys and girls all over town in opposite directions. And even having kids of different ages doesn’t matter. The different programs have similar activities for each age range so you can just pick similar activities that require the same basic supplies and have the same basic underlying concepts. Example: little kids might just plant seeds in cups, while bigger kids would plant a container garden. Since there should be at least one parent there from each family it is easy to handle some differentiation–there are plenty of adults to deal with different groups of kids.

The only negative: there is an outdoor component. We all know how much I love the outdoors. Each club can make the outdoor component as big or small as they want, so I’m hoping our club won’t want me to go sleep out in a sleeping bag in the woods. Mike can take Erik and I can stay home with Elsa, right?

The region (or council, I think it’s called) does do some family camps and other camps. I’m hoping those are hosted at facilities with cabins and indoor plumbing.

Anyway, I am totally exhausted so don’t know what I’m doing up writing this entry about Campfire. I meant to write it about something else entirely, but now I don’t remember what. My brain is a sieve, but we’ve already determined that several times, haven’t we?