Oh, blog, I know I'm neglecting you. Truthfully, we are having technical difficulties at the Calfa abode. We are at a crossroads, needing a new computer. Funny, I guess its not technically a NEED, but I feel like it is. We have a little netbook, slow, but we can stream, check our bank, pay bills etc. We also have a borrowed laptop, and the phones. So, we are by no means cut off from the world, but I am impatient with the time it takes to load this blog up on any of these devices, especially when a quick FB update can be done in a matter of seconds. But, truthfully, I can't always say what I want to say on FB. I can say whatever I want here, I don't think anyone is reading anyway:)

So, today, I am going to skip the health updates (Brian is really sick and taking IV antibiotics right now) write about something Brian and i talk about at home often: Our kids are smart. Not just one or two of them, ALL five of them are very smart. As we had one, then two, then three, then four enter school, this is how we started to acknowledge it as well.

Our kids are receiving a public school education. It's just how the dice rolled, and I am getting comfortable with it. Do we supplement? You bet your bottom dollar! Truthfully, sometimes more than others, and its been a learning process for sure. And, when I find something that works great for one kid, it doesn't work for the next one. So, for now, our focus is BALANCE. First and foremost, our kids are going to be kids. Yeah they will probably grow up with things they hate about us, but hopefully, there are a few things that they love as well.

I read a blog recently about a mom frustrated because her 13 yr old won't take their last 3 classes to graduate from college. Think about this.....what a proud moment....your 13 year old accomplishes what all those other 20 somethings did, and probably made better grades....what comes to mind? Pride? But, this isn't your accomplishment, its theirs. And what did they sacrifice to get there? This particular kid, never saw a Disney movie because it had no educational benefit. And, what do you do with your life when you finish college at 13? Are you free labor to the university in the form of "research"? Do you get an advanced degree? Another degree? You fastworwarded your life to live in limbo? Now,I'm not saying that this is wrong. It may be just fine for some people. It's just not a perfect fit for us.

Yes,we will do some advanced testing. We may do some college work early. But, we aren't going to go overboard.

This week I told the kids that I expect them to read one piece of nonfiction a week. Crazy, because that's all my daughter read last year, and we encouraged her to read fiction once in a while. Now she is only reading fiction. Again: balance. This backfired, but in a way even better than I ever imagined. She read her nonfiction: to Zac and Aiden! I walk into the living room and she is reading them a book on mummies! But she is really getting into this and explaining the mummification process to them in much greater detail than the book and they were loving it! So, I didn't need to worry.

Tony and Zac are reading to each other at night. I love it. And it frees me up to read stuff I want to read!