This Week Will Be Better

Tonight is Chess Club (I think). The geeks want to go, so I must take them. Thankfully this time I don't have to deal with the oncoming cold like last time and deal with the Pharmacy Wench. I would demand my Sudafed if I had to this time.

The Oldest wanted me to pull out the old history book on the Romans in the shed, so this morning I went out there to retrieve it. He is champing at the bit to read that book. He knows all there is to know about the Greek gods. He corrects me. He has almost read the Bible from cover to cover in a matter of months (Dear Sir makes him read five chapters before he plays gameboy every day) and he makes me look like a buffoon sometimes when I am sitting there teaching the kid and he knows all the stuff already. He can't pronounce the words or anything worth a lick, but he sure can retain the stories and ideas. "Posdin is the god of the sea, yes, he is," he would say. "Atna is the goddess of wisdom, yes she is," he would continue. I taught the boy phonics but it does not help. He does not think phonetically at all. Spelling is a challenge for him.

Eraser Eater is the most shy child I have ever encountered. He can spell and he can spell quick as a whip too. He sort of has a little lispy cute voice (it sounds a little bit lazy) and he has a habit of drooling a bit, so when he spells he splats out some spit here and there because he does it lightening fast and walks around as he is doing it, twitching his hands here and there in the air. The homeschool group I just joined is starting a spelling bee program and I was reluctant to do it with my son because he is so shy. When talking to a woman about it recently I still had not talked to my son about this program and asked him on the fly if he wanted to do it. Eraser Eater lit up the second I mentioned it, and smiled (with a little drool glistening on the corners of his mouth). He nodded his head immediately and said he would be happy to be a part of the spelling bee. I was a little surprised.

Well, the kettle is on the boil and it just went off. My daughter screamed in terror. Apparently she hates the sound of it! The kids were just outside making "mines" in the dirt in the woods and my daughter came in with blue chalk all over her face. I opened the black homeschool supply cabinet and she was within it's doors, hands and arms splayed out, making a weird sound as if to scare me (?) and face all blue. It's like Lord of the Flies around here.