Co-op and Piano Begin

Lots of new beginnings this past week.  We had our same piano tuner that we've had for 10 years come back and tune our piano and our beloved piano teacher is back teaching Jane and Ruth.  She will be coming to the house on Friday mornings to teach the girls.  Jane has had 6 years of piano but needs to continue.  In looking into dance majors we found that they look for students who know music.  So we will build on what Jane already knows and go deep into Theory.  She'll receive high school credit for both instument and theory. 

Ruth had her first ever piano lesson Friday.  I am so glad and so relieved that we are able to do this.  When we stopped (mostly for financial reasons) having Miss Linda come and teach the kids, I intended to get back to it one day.  Still, you wonder if you ever will.  Ruth LOVED it and loves Miss Linda.  Our teacher uses the Farber method so that on the first day, you are playing a song.  Miss Linda has taught all of our kids piano.  Martin had 4 yrs; Leo, Sam and Jane each had 6 yrs.  They all can play some, but Leo and Jane are the ones who still play.  They were all taught theory as well and I have to go get theory books for both Jane and Ruth for their next lesson.

So Fridays are piano, spelling test, and co-op days.  Sometimes we have other tests on Fridays, it just depends.  Jane is really liking co-op and has been twice now.  She has Ms. Rottler for biology and I love that she will really be active in the classroom with a microscope and dissecting, etc.  I also like that outside the classroom she HAS to learn to manage her time; a skill she will use the rest of her life.

Her other classes this semester, Memorization Skills and Logic are AWESOME!  I told her I didn't think there would be a lot of outside the classroom activities, but I was wrong.  Especially in memory class; she will be very busy.  However, she loves it!  And it is amazing to see her confidence building already.  She is literally blossoming right before our eyes, becoming confident, capable, mature and just a beautiful person!

She has to go on-line to schoolology.com for her memory class and listens to a 40 minute lecture each week.  They memorize a prayer and a scripture verse each week.  For the semester, they will memorize 140 saints names, feast month, what they are remembered for, and when they lived.  It's not really about what you're memorizing (although that's SO great) it's about the skills she is acquiring and the confidence it builds in her; especially with her dyslexia, which tends to undermine her confidence.

The Logic class is also more rigorous than I expected, but she loves it.  It is "fun" according to her, and it really is teaching critical thinking skills that are so important.  This class is taught by Mr. Williams, who also teaches the memory class.

I have finally finished my training for my new job (I still can't get over that I am working 16 hours a week!).  I worked my first "on my own" shift last Thursday.  Samantha (who job shares with me and Kathy) needed help because her babysitter's kid was sick and so I went in for 3 hours.  It wasn't too bad!  I work for real this Monday and Wednesday and I kind of think that it's gonna work out okay.  The girls really seem to handle my absence well.  I mean, I know there will be bad days, but I have those even when I'm home with them.  I am going to have to be super organized, but with this kind of incentive, that shouldn't be a problem.  And, so, our adventure continues with more twists!