Flour, Phonics, and the Final Draft

I started the day today milling grain on the back porch. While it was lovely to be out on a cool, beautiful morning, the crazy-loud sound of the mill did disturb the silence a little. It was still nice to be alone, outside, with a repetitive chore, though. There’s nothing like a little repetition to give you time to think. While I can’t stand just sitting, doing nothing, I do enjoy vacuuming, mowing, ironing, or anything productive that still lets you just wander off in your mind and be alone. I got 6 bags of flour done for the freezer, so that’s a good start to the day, even if it did put me a little behind. I’m planning to make bread today, though, so I had to mill. Mmmm... fresh, whole wheat bread for dinner.

Levi did his Latin work today without help, and I had to share his great phonetic spelling. He may not be a ‘natural’ speller, but he does well getting the phonetics worked out! Hopefully, he’ll start exhibiting more ‘natural’ ability when he has spent more time reading…. or, he may not. He’s got a 50/50 chance, right, Honey? He’s definitely got his Dad’s engineering mind, so maybe spelling won’t matter so much.

We have a lot to accomplish today… school work, odds and ends, and cleaning out the car (Ack!), so the boys are already complaining about not having time for a break. I pointed out that I RARELY have any free time, and they usually have a LOT, so they can just get over it! Jake is spending most of his free time, not exactly by choice, working on his writing assignment. I usually get him started, then help him work through all the steps until he’s done. This time, I gave him an assignment sheet with everything I expect in his paper, a due date for the rough draft, and a due date for the final, typed copy. I told him that I wouldn’t remind him, and gave him a list of all the things I would grade on, and how much they would each be worth. Surprisingly, he was working on his rough draft last night, instead of reading in bed, and he had it ready for me this morning, hours before his deadline. I told him that if he could get the final draft typed today, I’d get it corrected, so he could then turn in a really good FINAL copy on Friday and ensure his good grade. He’s bummed about having to type it himself, so I’m not sure if he’s willing to give up ALL his free time today, or not. We’ll see. I’m impressed so far, though!