PA Fall Foliage Hike

For the Columbus Day holiday, we went to the Pocono Environmental Education Center. Its got a large main building with exhibits and many hiking trails. We took the Fossil trail. Supposedly there were fossils to find. We just tried not to get eaten alive by the mosquitoes!

I'd love to go back there because it was a beautiful hike and I feel like we just scratched the surface of everything the center offers. Getting there, however was such a bear! Traffic was terrible. I'm not sure we will be headed back any time soon, despite how much we enjoyed it. Here's the website and pics of us on the hike, below.

The fossil trail


Bri reading from the trail guide



Can you find the frog?


Tumbling stream


Gabby, Fielding, William, and Bri

The Elbow

Today Gabby took off her splint. She's been writing her assignments herself and generally seems happier about her schoolwork.

It was just over 2 weeks ago Gabby fell off her scooter and broke her right elbow. It was a new scooter, purchased so she could ride it in the city with her Dad when she visits him at work. (He's got a scooter of his own.)

The very next day after having opened the box, she was riding around, got going too fast and --slam!-- fell flat on the pavement. When Max brought her inside, I could tell there was something more serious than scrapes going on. Gabby wasn't crying at all, but was holding her arm, bent and shaking. She couldn't straighten it.

Max wanted to wait and see, so we didn't actually find out it was a break until I took her to the ER the next morning. We were sent home with a splint and told to see an orthopedist. When we got in to see him, on Tuesday, he confirmed the break, but said it wasn't a bad one. She only needed to wear the splint and a sling for 10 days.

Today was the first open appointment at the orthopedist for a follow-up, so she ended up wearing it for 2 weeks, longer, if you count the splint she was sent home from hospital wearing. I had to write for her all that time! It was a pretty rocky week for school. Everything took longer. We were both easily frustrated. Looking back, I wish I had totally changed our plans so that she didn't having any writing or typing assignments. Goodness gracious, that's the benefit of homeschool -- that we can be flexible when we need too! I wish we had just focused on reading or combed youtube for science videos. I kept things the same, because I didn't want to get behind and because she was working on some pretty cool assignments. Here's the Biomes presentation, she completed, typing with one hand.

I'm not sure it was worth the added stress. The house paid for it too -- no laundry was folded last week and dishes only got done when Max did them. Thanks Max! I guess I'm still getting used to the idea that we don't have to "keep up" or justify our time.

We had thought that Gabby would get to go to swim practice tonight (she is an AMAZING swimmer!), but the orthopedist said no. He wants her to wait "3 weeks post injury" and to see a physical therapist. He normally would not recommend the therapy, but since she's a swimmer, he thought it would help her get back into shape sooner. I'm worried because, the longer she stays out of the pool, the more anxiety Gabby feels about getting back in. She's been swimming for so many years, it is like part of her identity. (I don't like that at all!) She stresses about going -- that she won't be up for the challenge -- and about not going, that she'll get more out of shape.

She says things like, "What if it's too hard?" "What if I'm not fast anymore?" and "What if I'm not on the A relay team?"

I say things like, "I will still love you. Your coaches will still love you. God will still love you. The sun will continue to rise and set each day."

Sometimes she hears what I say and sometimes I think it just sounds like, "Blah, blah, blah."

I'm glad that she's been so independent in her work today. I hope that helps her feel generally more competent and capable. I'm sure it was discouraging to be so dependent on me for the last couple weeks. (I even had to fix her hair each day.)

When she's done with her reading assignment, we are going to finish a sewing project -- and she'll be 100% in charge of the machine for the first time. Now that she's got 2 good hands again.

Too Lazy, Too Tired

Today Gabby and I took our first theater class. It was in role-playing. We role-played how our day should have gone.

We can blame it, a bit, on yesterday. Yesterday, we drove home from Boston, with not too much traffic, just one vomit-incident, and just a little fussiness from Fielding. We got home in good time and ate leftovers from my mom, packed in a cooler and warmed, delicious.

It was hard, though, to get up for school this morning. I had to help William on a project that was due while we were away. Gluing little pictures of his favorite things onto a cardstock t-shirt.

I managed to get Bri and William on the bus and Fielding and I out the door for my 8:45am workout at the Y. (Normally Gabby comes with us, but since she's got a broken elbow -- I'll tell about that in some future post -- she opted to stay behind.)

When I got home, it was obvious that Gabby had been disinclined to work. Here's the role-play:

Gabby: Mom, I'm so tired from the trip, I don't feel like studying.
Me: I know. It's hard to get back into the routine after a vacation. What have you done so far?
Gabby: Well, I looked for photos of biomes but I can't find any with the locations stated, like you want. I did my math worksheets, but Daddy hasn't given me any new challenge problems and the timed quiz website isn't working.
Me: I can help you find some good websites for the biomes project. Have you emailed Dad about the math?
Gabby: No. I just don't feel like it.
Me: I understand. I didn't feel like working out this morning. I had to not think about it and just do it.
Gabby: That's too hard.
Me: It is hard. Would you like me to help you email Daddy?
Gabby. Okay. Then can I take a break?
Me: That's okay with me, but we might not have time to work on your sewing project if you do.
Gabby: I really want to sew.
Me: You'll have to decide what you want most. Here, let's email Daddy and then find some good websites on the biomes. Then you can decide what you want to do.
Gabby: Thanks Mom. You're the best!
Me: Gee, that means a lot Gabby. I think you're great too.

That's what we role-played. That is not what actually happened. What actually happened was a lot of "I can't" coming from Gabby (which I hear as "I won't). And a lot of "you have to" from me, which Gabby hears as "I dare you not to."

I even pulled out, "then we'll have to enroll you in the middle school."

SO DUMB! Why did I say that? Why pull out the big guns for such a little thing? She was tired from the trip. She was having troubled getting back into the rhythm of school... And we've been having a great time homeschooling so far! Why get so bent out of shape over one bad day?

Well, in my defense, I was tired too. I was all sweaty from my work out, which wasn't even satisfying. In the rush of the morning I had forgotten to eat. Halfway through the class, I felt like I might pass out so I left early. Blah.

Only to be greeted by Lazy Lucy when I came in the door.

It is so hard to be compassionate when I want compassion!

In a funny coincidence, last night my husband told me about a difficult time he was having with a coworker. Max works in academia and is responsible for mentoring students and others in his research. This particular individual was giving him a hard time over the assignments Max had given him. (Sound familiar?) In frustration, Max played Monty Python's Argument Sketch -- the coworker didn't seem to get it and wasn't amused.

Sometimes it feels like exasperation and defiance meet my every suggestion. I wish Gabby could just say that an assignment is difficult, or just ask me to help her, or just tell me she's worried about something. But every statement drips with emotion. All that drama makes me dramatic!

Sometimes I think to myself, "If Ican just get through the day without losing my temper -- or losing my temper again -- then we'll all wake up in better mood tomorrow!"

What a field trip!

Did we really drive 6 hours for a Language Arts field trip?

Yup.

This month Gabby has been reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I've assigned her several essays and she's been working on a great sewing project as part of it but the coolest thing we've done is driven to Massachusetts to visit Fruitlands and Orchard House, two of the places the Alcotts called home.

I'm lucky in that I have family who live in the Boston area, so it was easy for me to call and say, "Hey, would you guys care for some visitors this weekend?" and hop in the car and take off. We saw Fruitlands on the way. Fruitlands was the farm the Alcotts moved to when Louisa was 9. They tried to live out their Trancendental dreams, to create a utopian community that lived independently off the land, in harmony with nature. The experiment failed pretty miserably; the Alcotts left, penniless and hungry after 7 months. The farmhouse is still there with other art and culture museums on the property. You can walk through the woods and play old-fashioned children's games, see the attic where Louisa slept and enjoy the other exhibits.

It wasn't too pricey, for a museum and even the little boys had fun. You can learn more about it here Fruitlands Museum And see our family enjoying it below:


Gabby in front of the farmhouse

Henry David Thoreau's desk

Louisa and Anna's attic bedroom

Artwork by May
Gabby, Bri, William, Fielding, and one of the museum workers (a very sweet lady) playing with the old toys and in the woods.





Just this morning we visited the other site -- Orchard House. This was the most stable home for the Alcotts. They bought it after having moved 22 times in 30 years! It was where Louisa wrote Little Women and where she based the book as well.

Walking through Orchard House was AMAZING! There had been very little change to the home in the 150 years since they moved there. More than 80% of the furnishings actually belonged to the family -- including quilts made by Marmee. (The Alcotts girls truly called Abba Alcott that, just like in the book). In some rooms you can see the artwork of May (Amy March): beautiful framed paintings and sketches done right on the walls. Mr. and Mrs. Alcott encouraged her to draw on the walls!

The tour began with a video about the Alcotts, hosted by "Louisa May" herself. Then we were taken into the kitchen, which was an addition by Bronson Alcott, built right over the well, so the family had easy access to their water supply. A door in the floor opens to reveal the well below. I loved hearing the stories the guide told, particularly one about May and Julian Hawthorne capsizing in a boat in Walden Pond and having to walk home together, soaked, May's white dress ruined, through a busy Concord town center.

If you get the chance I highly recommend going, especially if you're from the Boston area. My mom went with us and after we left, she said, "I can't believe I've lived here all my life and never seen this place! Orchard House

The Alcott's home in Concord

Bronson Alcott's school