What We're Learning, 2nd Edition

I won't be doing this every week, but only those weeks I have something to share. This week is one of those weeks! Hooray!

We're learning some fun stuff this week....

The Artist, age 11, is finally riding his bike w/o the aid of training wheels! woot!!!

Now, before you get all "only now???? he's ELEVEN!!" on me, keep in mind that he was only 6 when we moved to Brazil. To an apartment where he had no place to ride a bike. And then to a house where the only streets were steep hills not conducive to a just-learning bike rider. And so now, in this house, with flat streets and no traffic he has had his first opportunity to learn to ride a bike. With that in mind, I'm very proud of how quickly he caught on. Yay, Artist!!!

The Writer, age 14, continues in his tennis lessons. At his last lesson the instructor taught him how to block the ball, by extending his arm fully and placing the racket in the path of the ball, but not swing, in order to give a soft return. As The Writer's biggest struggle in tennis is controlling his arm strength (he tends to send balls flying over the 15' or 18' fences, bouncing off tree limbs....), this is a skill he needs and also a signal that his general play is improving to a point that his coach is comfortable introducing new skills. Yay!!! So proud of him!!

The Adventurer, age 7, made the connection last night at dinner that the names of the letters (of the alphabet) almost always tell him the sound that the letter makes. This is HUGE news for him and I am so proud that he has never given up on trying to learn, even when he begs out of school since he thinks he'll just forget. He's remembering, and learning, and things are starting to click, and I'm excited to see where we go from here. Again, so very proud of my boy!

The Boys are all learning a little about poetry, and that it can be fun & funny, not just dry and boring. I read them two poems at dinner last night -- one titled "Arithmetic" by Carl Sandburg, and the other called "Block City" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Everyone enjoyed it, but the witty replies of The Writer cracked me up. He joked with me about "Arithmetic," decided that "Block City" (about building with blocks) reminded him of Minecraft, an on-line game where you....build with blocks, and then when I said, "See, isn't poetry fun sometimes??" he quoted back to me the first line of "Arithmetic":  

"Well, actually, 'they flew in and out of my head like pigeons...."

I love seeing his sense of humor and wit come to life! (and I'm sad that "building with blocks" now resonates as a computer game! Ack!)

In other news, we're signing up the two younger boys for Karate, which means we'll now be out of the house (or parts of us will be) three nights a week. This means I am re-learning fast & easy dinners to make and serve before various ones of us are out the door. I haven't had a busy evening schedule in over four years; I hope I remember how to do this!

On that note -- any tips for me? I do have my crock pot here but haven't used it much; electricity is expensive here. I also have a pressure cooker that I've used for rice. Anyone have a good site for learning how to use it for more things?? Other fast & easy meal tips??? June, how can I do this without sacrificing taste??? 

If you want to read more, pop over to Grateful for Grace and follow the links....