A new schoolyear grips the Woody household. Mrs. Woody is still convalescing, but she's been determined to not have the kids miss any more school than they already have. (Our school is not exactly year-round, but we usually only take a month off during the summer. This year they got two, and it shows.)
There is, of course, the need to get the Woodyettes' minds back into the swing of school things. They haven't had to really worry about math or history while we've been so distracted with getting Mommy healed. They haven't had to read aloud or practice Spanish. In short, they're out of practice.
The school days will get progressively longer as Mrs. Woody's endurance increases. Already we can see the Woodyettes getting back into their school habits. This can be both good and bad; some habits consist of whining about whichever subject is not their particular favorite. (Side story: our Bishop was at the house early this morning with a crew of young men in need of service hours. They came to put a primer coat on a wheelchair ramp that was built for us a few weeks ago. Doodle decided she wanted to go out and help them paint. Mrs. Woody caught a snippet of conversation Doodle was having with the Bishop: "Did you start school yet?" "Yep." "How's it going?" "Okay, but I don't really like math." "You know, that wasn't my favorite subject, either!")
On the second day of school, the Inner Dad was hammering away at one of his innumerable programming projects while Mrs. Woody took the kids through their paces. After the morning devotional, story time, and some Greek fables (world history stuff... they're into the Greek civilization now), Mrs. Woody declared recess until after lunch. Recess, as it is for so many other kids, is one of their favorite subjects. The Doodle immediately went into Full Paper Craft Mode, which consists of cutting out various paper dolls and assorted accessories. You can instantly tell where in the house my youngest daughter has been merely by following the trail of paper scraps and cuttings along the floor. Jelly bounced out of the room, presumably to get in some quick computer time, or maybe even read a book.
Except she didn't. What she did, during her recess time, was ask Mommy if there was a workbook she could work in. "Honey, don't you want to go play for awhile?" "Mooooooom, I really, really want to do a workbook!"
I suppose this is part of the homeschool disease. Homeschooled kids are apparently so twisted and deprived, that they will beg to do school work during recess.
Fortunately, all is not lost. Doodle seems to have inherited more of her father's genes, which means that she views school work with as much enthusiasm as Daddy has for those medical exams we male types receive at around this age of life. I think, however, most of her trouble at the moment is that she's having a hard time getting certain concepts. Jelly was there not more than a couple of years ago, but is starting to get those concepts now and is loving it. I suspect Doodle will get there before too much longer. This is, after all, the child who taught herself to read at the age of four, just so she could keep up with her big sister.
So school is off to a running start at Hacienda Woody. Mommy is primed and ready to deliver another sterling year of instruction. Daddy is primed for being stumped by two people much shorter than he is. And the kids? Well, the kids love being in 5th and 3rd grades this year. Jelly is especially excited about havng school experiences that she can share with her classmates in Primary.
Yes, our Woodyettes are pretty wonderful.
Weird, but wonderful.
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