Update 19 September 2010

We've been back at school again.

Percy Jackson has made Ancient Greece so much more personal than any previous unit that I really wish that The Red Pyramid series has premiered earlier. Oh well, I'm sure it will inspire more research over time. Now, to find a similar series to lead us into Rome. :p

Studying with Mamma at the helm more than before has gone surprisingly well -- far better than I had expected.

For one thing, Rod is still interested and involved, and when studying is a family affair, we all have a lot more fun than when Jack perceived all of this as a somewhat personalized torture device to drag him away from his computer games. ;) We're also finding more time to work on school than I had feared. Now that we can work a little every day, we feel like we can grab someting even if we only have a few minutes -- we've done car schooling, bed schooling, and all kinds of fun, crazy things, which helps a lot.

And Rod has mentioned pretty frequently how much he's enjoying learning about this and that, and pointing out applications in every day life, which has been lots of fun for me, too.

Interestingly, even after Jack's attention grows thin, he begs not to stop. Not entirely sure what that's about...probably just wanting to get done to get on to the next Percy Jackson and Harry Potter books.

Today, we tackled a huge job that's been on our minds since Corey left. We pulled Jack's room and the guest room apart in the first step toward swapping them around. We have had guests in the guest room five times now, and I have never gotten the impression that the guest room was entirely comfortable. I am hoping that by putting guests in the smaller room, we can at least keep them adequately warm or cool. In a more contained room, they may also feel more...I don't know. Private? Sharing with my craft room seemed like a decent idea on the surface, but it didn't seem to work as ewll as I'd hoped. Maybe this will be better.

Now, to find a bean bag chair for Jack to play on. The room that is now our shared play room has a painted wood floor, and so won't be as comfortable for lounging as the plush carpet was. I was completely amazed at the price of them these days! I remember them being $10 ... maybe $30 for a really nice one. Now they start at $40 and go well over $200! Yikes! So, I've put out a call on Freecycle, first. Maybe someone else has one they don't need since the kids grew up or something.

Jack seems to like this arrangement a lot -- and I will enjoy having him nearby when I craft, too. :) Maybe we'll all have more room. It's probably another week before we can finish, but Jack's toys have been thinned and arranged, so he's happy.