Falling behind

… on correspondence, mostly.  I need to write to quite a few people!

Seems like we are getting busier. The kids are participating in two workshops with our homeschool group – a book group and a writing group.  They’re enjoying homeschool PE and James is about to join the Cub Scouts.  So Eleanor and I are looking for a club for her to join.  I am not too keen on Girl Scouts anymore.  American Heritage girls looks interesting, but the closest troop is 108 miles away.  I don’t know if I’m up for starting a troop myself, not yet having a church to link up with (and use for a meeeting place).  But we’ll see…  There is a “home ec” 4H club not too far away that we are going to check out.   She has met some nice girls through the homeschool group but hasn’t really clicked well with anyone yet.

We have been participating in a “kids’ club” through one of the churches we’ve been attending.  This is a nice church, and the club is fun, but something’s been bothering me about it.  Today I figured it out.   James and Eleanor have no one to look up to in the club groups (boys and girls are separated).  There are no older kids.  There are no more mature kids.  And, you know when James is the most mature boy in a group, well….  He still needs older boys around to look up to.   In fact, I don’t think there are any older kids in the church!  As far as we can tell, all the kids are 9 and under.  That’s not a good reason to reject a church, of course.  But we do need to find some good companions for the kids. They are still best friends, but face it, Eleanor just isn’t into shooting nerf dart guns and James does not want to play dolls.

So we are slowly finding our way and know that the right church and right situation is there for us.

In the meantime we are enjoying the cooler fall weather.  We are reading a book on puppy training in anticipation of finding a dog.  Cris is studying – lots of reading, lots of writing.

Now you know what’s up with us.  Let us know what’s up with you.

First party!

Last night we had our first party. It was a small party…. for us.   Many of you know that in Oregon I had a lot of space for a lot of people. Not so here. So I was having some trouble figuring out how to handle all the people we wanted to invite: a seminary family (with kids the “right” ages!) who had us over for dinner last week, 3 couples who helped us unload the truck when we moved in, a couple we met at church, and a woman I met at a dinner at Westminster and her family. Hmm… 12 adults, 8 children. Plus us!

The Lord was gracious to me and gave me a slow start in hospitality. Only the family we’d already had dinner with and one of the couples could make it.  Manageable.  We sent the kids to eat outside; the adults fit around the kitchen table.

It was a really nice evening of fellowship and blossoming friendships. The kids had a great time with their new friends. The 9 year old boy was prepared for our back yard: he was armed with his nerf gun setup. Fortunately James had received a set himself for his birthday this year (thanks again, guys!) so they had a great time. Eleanor and her 7-year-old friend did girl things and the younger siblings fended for themselves.

Other social events… a women’s dinner (students, and wives of students and faculty) at Westminster. While there I was confronted with an opportunity to assist in upcoming women’s events and somehow found myself taking it. More park days and some playdates with our homeschool group. A homeschool PE class. Lunch with the family of the pastor of the church we have been most often attending. Friday night “kids’ club” at said church. Oh, and I joined the neighborhood association and am on the “luminary” committee for this Christmas.

Cris is studying hard and we are adjusting to his being home but not accessible. Also adjusting to being a one-car family! Staying home is good!

We are still here.

Ordinary days:  Cris at school, James and Eleanor learning and playing, getting out and about to the parks with new friends.  Friday night “kids’ club” at a church we’ve been attending (but are still not sure about).  This Saturday we are having our first little dinner party!   It’ll be very different without all the space we are used to.  We might move the kitchen table out to the back yard for more space!

Still missing everyone back home.

Church music observation

Cris made the following observation after attending yet another church on Sunday:   Why is it they can repeat the same short, simple phrases of a praise chorus 4 or 5 (or more?) times… but can only manage 1 or 2 verses of a hymn?

Legally homeschooling

PA’s homeschooling laws are vastly different from Oregon’s.  Rather than a simple notification, we have to submit a notarized affidavit stating that we are “qualified” to teach our children, and that we will follow certain requirements.  I needed to attest to the fact that I have a high-school diploma and that no felons live in our house.   I  have to provide an “appropriate education” and include some PA history and fire safety.  Fire safety is heavily emphasized.  Our township has a fire safety expo in October that will be crawling with homeschoolers out to fulfill that requirement.  I have to submit a portfolio of work samples to both an independent evaluator and to the school district for review, to show that I am providing this “appropriate education.”  I have to do this in English.  I have to submit some objectives for the year – and found loads of good advice and vague examples online.  And the kids have to undergo standardized testing – that is the same as in Oregon.

Another requirement is providing a statement from the kids’ doctor and dentist that they have had specific tests and immunizations. The school district doesn’t want to know the results of the tests, just that they were done.  This bothered me both as a practical matter – we hadn’t established relationships with new doctors or dentists in time to get that information before the affidavit was due.   After much discussion with my homeschool group and some internet searches, I found that I can claim an exemption to providing medical and dental services on religious, moral, or ethical grounds.   Great, except I don’t object to providing the services.  I just object to providing the information to the school district.  Finally I found an example of such an exemption form, used with some success by some folks.  So that is what I used.

2 weeks ago I submitted my packet of information and notarized document.  Then the wait began.  Would it be accepted?  People warned me that different school districts have different requirements, even though the law is the same throughout the state.   Many school districts use an interpretation of the law given to them by a homeschooling advocate who helped create the law.  Not all homeschoolers consider him an advocate.  Some might accept my medical/dental exemption, some might not.

Saturday I received my letter from the homeschool coordinator.  All is well.  I can start educating my children now.  Oh, I also have to be sure to have 180 days or 900 hours of instruction.  I printed off a form with  little squares to write the dates of our school days in.  We’ve already had our first field trip day!  I’d say the Franklin Institute of Science and the King Tut exhibit would qualify for appropriate education, yes?

Upside-down Sunday

On Sunday we planned to visit two churches:  morning service at a new church in the farther-out suburbs; Cris had been invited there by the wife of a professor at WTS.  Then in the evening we were going to go back to a church we’d previously visited to check out their evening service, which is followed by a fellowship time at the pastor’s house.

Well, Saturday was a… difficult evening.  Someone a street or two over was celebrating Labor Day a  little too loudly, from about 2 pm till 11 pm – which is when the cops showed him/her how to turn down the stereo.  The kids couldn’t get to sleep and everyone was a little worn down from being assaulted by bass all day.  Ah, the joys of neighborhood life.   We’d never experienced that before.  The kids had a hard time understanding how someone could and would be so rude as to blast their music (76 Db in our yard) throughout a whole neighborhood.  What made it worse was they didn’t even like the music.

So Sunday we just let them sleep and had a relaxing morning.  And afternoon… Cris and I were reading in the back yard (he absorbed in his new Greek reader, natch) when the kids suddenly burst out:  “The laundry room is flooded!”  That got us moving.   It was just a hose problem on the machine (yes, I had thrown a load of wash in on a Sunday!), no big deal but it took a while to get everything out of the room and the water up.  Some water had gone into the dungeon too, and we were pleased to see that our system of laying plastic down under the boxes had worked.  Nothing was wet.  Cris sees a new opportunity for a home improvement project involving cement.

Anyway, church!  We struggled with going to that evening service but made it and are so glad we did.  It was a nice service with lots of hymn-singing at the beginning, a good sermon by the church’s new intern (a WTS student) and the Lord’s Supper.   We met some people we hadn’t seen when we’d gone to the morning service a few weeks ago.  Then we went over to the pastor’s for fellowship time.

And what a great time we all had.  Of course, we all know that that is really the best way to get to know people at church.  Face it, people are more relaxed when there are brownies and doritos to go fetch when there’s a lull in conversation.  There were kids, too, and a swing set, and a light sabre, so James and Eleanor had lots of fun.   I met a family  in their second year at WTS, out from Colorado.  The mom told me something I’d suspected but wasn’t sure of:  It is a  myth that there are “lots” of families with older kids (non-babies) at WTS.  She has two toddlers and has met only a few families with kids their ages, and said she has never seen any James and Eleanor’s ages.   Not surprising, but good to know.  We’ll stop expecting to see kids at seminary events.

We were invited to a new “boys’ and girls’ club” starting next Friday night.  The kids are enthusiastic about checking it out.  So we’ll see.  Maybe we have found our church.

Ordinary days

With Cris out of school for a few days we’ve been enjoying him more – he’s a bit more relaxed now that he’s not walking around with his Greek flash cards all the time – and having some nice days.

A few social events: An ice-cream social for new students put on by the seminary. A nice evening; a little tough on the kids – no one their age around, or, at least, friendly.  A potluck with a Bible study group – which included a homeschooling family and some seminary students – that was quite nice and is helping us with our church search.

Yesterday Cris took James to the aviation museum at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station. They had a great time looking at the planes – of course. Those little museums are such good places to really learn about something – the volunteers were all veterans who were familiar with the planes, eager to answer questions, and thrilled to see a kid who’s interested. Eleanor wisely said she’d rather stay home (she was given the choice) so she and I made cookies and hung out together. Nice.

It might start to feel almost like home here soon.