Update

I guess it's time for an update, especially since next week co-ops start back up, and then I'll really be busy! I've composed many blog posts in my head the past few weeks, but very few of them have actually been posted!

1. School

I had many grand summer plans, academically-speaking, but they really didn't happen. Instead, we went places, and had visitors come to us, which was great! We got to spend a lot of time with people from both sides of the family, plus Nathan and Luke had special times at the aerospace camp and at Camp Caleb. To be honest, I think this is the first summer where we've taken more than a 2-3 week break from school. The boys were all in favor, LOL. We started back 2 weeks ago, and things are going well overall. Nathan and Luke are doing more stuff independently, but they have it easy right now. They are both starting writing co-ops in another week, so they'll be busy with those assignments. We haven't started Henle Latin either. We've just been reviewing vocab slowly. I'm hoping they can do that pretty independently whenever we do start. Nathan also is going to be doing a logic course this year, but the text from Memoria Press was backordered, and it just shipped yesterday. He will start when the book gets here. I'm really excited about this course because I bought the DVDs to go along with it, so I don't have to be the one actually teaching it. Woo-hoo!

I am really focusing on Caleb and Jonathan, and I am already seeing real improvements in their reading skills, especially Jonathan's. We all start Classical Conversations on Thursday, so we'll see how that goes. I think that will really help keep us all on track with history and science. We've already started listening to the Story of the World CDs (the Ancients) in the car. They are doing well with Prima Latina. I'm trying to get them finished with last year's math books, which they never did finish (this was what I was going to be working on with them through the summer, LOL). A few more weeks, then it will be on to the new books. I'm anal that way.

2. Assignment

I think this is the biggest deal, much bigger than what we actually are doing in school! This has been the thing that I know the least about, however, so I've just not said anything at all. We basically kicked the decision can down the road back in the end of July by having Bob volunteer for the Toronto job. Since that requires a French proficiency, he had to take a language aptitude test to see if he would even qualify to go to language school to learn French! He was supposed to take the test Tuesday, but it got cancelled, and he took it today. In the meantime, he ran into someone where he works who just got back from Guam. She liked it and said people with families really enjoyed it. Bob told me to look into it, so I googled and read up. People who have been stationed there almost uniformly give positive feedback about it. Plus, my family was stationed on Okinawa when I was in 1st-4th grades, and some of my funnest growing-up memories are of there. We just did fun things! The beaches, the snorkeling, the space-A travel around the Pacific--fun! Guam seems to be a lot like Okinawa. All this made me a lot more interested in Guam as a possible assignment. I remembered that Tonya had mentioned a homeschooling friend with 7 kids who had moved there, so I asked her about it. She hooked me up with Carolyn, who has been patiently answering all my questions! So I would say that I am excited about Guma, but I don't thnk Bob is as excited. He has never lived overseas, and he rightly says that it is far away! Plus, it's an IG job, and the lady from work thinks that next year is the big ORI for the Pacific area, so he would probably be pretty busy next year. And he also pointed out that he doesn't really have an IG experience, but now, as a lieutenant colonel, he would actually be responsible for stuff . . . But it does seem like if we wanted to go to Guam, the assignment guy would be okay with that, because they are desperately trying to fill these IG jobs right now. One big question for me would be the report date. We could maybe do April or something, but anythng earlier would be a deal-breaker for sure. We are not a light, flexible crew!

So this morning Bob took the language aptitude test, and he did indeed pass it. So now he could go to Monterrey, CA to language school for a few (?) months. It seems like this would be in-route, so we would have orders before he went. (The new wrinkle with the military housing assistance plan, where the gov't gives back money you lost when you sell your house is that you have to have orders by December.) But for Bob to learn a language, he wold probably have to go out there alone to have a shot, since we are also not a silent crew! Plus, we have co-op commitments, and the house isn't really ready, so it would be hard to leave earlier, again, than April-ish. I think Bob likes the idea of the Toronto job better because it would be easy, plus we would be closer to family, especially his family, since his parents are getting elderly. I on the other hand like the idea of living on a tropical island with no winter clothes!!

We have some major decisions to make, and it might end up that we just retire and don't move again. For me, it's hard to say that it's over, we're staying here. I like the idea of one more adventure. But it might not be worth it.

3. Faith

I thought I would just throw in a few sentences about Faith! She is finally not waking up in the wee hours of the morning again, thankfully. She seems to be moving back to her usual 7:00 wake-up time, which is much more pleasant than the 4:00-5:00 that she was waking up. Crazy teething. She is also sitting so much more steadily! I fianlly gave her a bath in the big tub last night with the other 2 girls because I thought she was stable enough to not be knocked down by any slight wave, and she did great! I didn't even take her out as soon as I was done with her because she was sitting so well! She really had a fun time splashing around in there and playing with the big kid toys. She's still not crawling with her tummy off the ground though. She likes her army crawl!

Well, I need to get dinner going because tonight is Bible study. Now you have some idea of what we're thinking, even if we still don't know anything for sure yet!