Sometimes Setting a Virtuous Example is Such a Drag

Nothing exciting this weekend, I'm afraid. We could have gone on a picnic/river tubing outing with some friends from church this weekend, but we had already let T. arrange for a Saturday playdate when we got the invitation. After a small moral struggle, Ed and I agreed that we really had to set a good example for T. about keeping our promises (T. wasn't struggling, but Ed and I would much rather have spent the afternoon out frolicking by a river than watching a couple nine years olds playing video games and running around the house). We did do our best, though, to make sure our sacrifice was not wasted by pointing out to T. how virtuous we were being.

Sunday, after church, I mowed and weed whacked. The absence of this chore will definitely be a consolation to me next winter. When I'm not using noisy power tools on the lawn, though, being outside here is astonishingly wonderful! Yesterday when we got out of church (at noon), it was 72 degrees! Even when we got off the mountain and home, it was only 77. And this evening I wandered around the yard drowning Japanese Beetles in lovely low 60's weather. Coming from Florida, temperatures like this in mid-July are little short of miraculous.

We are still reading The Deathly Hallows, and I am working hard to avoid spoilers. I'm staying away from my favorite homeschooling board as it seems that just about everyone has finished the book (not counting the non-Harry readers, of course), and the general board is largely Harry Potter discussions. I'm hoping that none of the boys in T.'s swim class reads HP and tells him what happens. I read aloud to Ed and the kids, and I can't manage for than three chapters in an evening, so it is going to take us a little while.

The Really Exciting news (for me) is that I finally steeled myself to spend and placed my Rainbow Resources order. It helped that I asked a friend who uses Calvert what the fourth grade program (not including the extra record keeping) would cost, and her answer was that it would be nearly twice what I had figured I needed for T.'s education this year. And, a whole lot of what I'm buying for T. will be usable again for K., which I don't think you can do with Calvert. Of course, she has eight children, so she really Needs an "everything is here and scheduled" program, and she could compare what she is spending with what some people spend for private school ($500 with Calvert v.s. $18,500 for the snazzy private school in my hometown). Anyway, comparing the cost of my pick-your-own-favorite-stuff school materials to that of a packaged curriculum was quite cheering, so I pressed the "send" button and am now very eagerly awaiting a visit from the UPS man!

*I just checked the Calvert site, and my friend must get a discount for mass enrollment. They list the cost of 4th grade materials as $800. Yikes!

** I Don't normally ask people what they spend on things! We see each other at the pool during swim lessons and it came up in the course of conversation.