Ghana

Today was one of those days when I just stunk all day long. And it was an all day long kind of day (I'm still in my gnarly tennis clothes even as I type this at 10:30).

8:20 this morning the sitter showed up for Frances and Rutledge. Bless her heart, she is the most charming girl I've met in a very long time. I don't know her at all, but I instantly had that feeling that I hope that my own daughter will be like her at 19. Frances is completely in love, wants to go to Haley's house, is still going on and on about how Haley carried how, what they played, and how she has to come back.

8:30 I left for my match at ACAC. The less said about the outcome, the better.

11:30 I arrived home with just enough time to barely stop the car and grab the kids to head over to play practice. Passaportout is learning his lines, slowly but surely. Walter seemed bored, but definitely has his lines down. Rutledge needed a nap.

3:15 I stopped by Rebecca's to drop off more items for the Saturday morning yard sale fundraiser and to get a drink and let the younger children play for a while. I left Frances there while I took the boys to gymnastics.

4:00 Gymnastics for Walter and Ollie. They plan to take a break for the summer.

5:30 I've been back at Rebecca's, where I watched her children so she could mail a package at the post office. Then back to gymnastics to drop off Frances and get the boys. The fabulous news of the day is that Frances has been promoted to Level 1, the infamous beginning of the Champions program. She will bump up to practicing for an hour and forty-five minutes twice a week once July comes. It is a big commitment.

6:00 The boys and I go to Panera to finish writing their pen pals letters to a student in Ghana. We finished the schoolwork for the day. Ollie's handwriting continues to be weak, but he is getting faster at producing nearly illegible scrawl. Their letters were detailed and took a great deal of hard work, and I was proud of them for putting forth such effort when I know that writing on paper is not their most comfortable task. Punctuation still seems very optional to them. Walter has been working in a new cursive workbook today and saw now reason to do math or any other spelling or language arts work. When he gets on something, he wants to do it exclusively until he completes the project to his satisfaction.

7:00 We met other members of our homeschool group at the community college to help pack donations of books and school supplies for the Thomas Jefferson School in Ghana. We saw some slides of the school and the students there. We played in the grass outside until the security guards got mad at us. I was interviewed for a local community newspaper and webcast about our group and our participation in this project.

8:15 Finally home, reeking of sweat, still dressed as though a court is going to appear at any moment. Had a snack, read to Frances, helped her with her own reading, and read a chapter of Down the Rabbit Hole to the boys.

And here I am now, with the dregs of the evening fleeting away, planning for another long tomorrow. Tennis at an hour when I'm usually not out of bed, packing diversions for the twins, trying to rustle up some cash to go strawberry picking with because I'll need to go straight from tennis to the berry farm. After that I said I'd help with tagging items for the yard sale. And somehow school needs to fit in there. At least I can't say we've been bored!