Sleeping Arrangements

The week before school started, Habtamu asked to rotate his bed so that his window and fan were at the head of his bed. On the surface this isn't much of an adjustment, but what's interesting is that H no longer has direct line of site of his sister's bed. For 3 years the kids have slept with their doors open and their beds situated so that they could see each other. Neither of them like to sleep upstairs alone when the other one is out at a slumber party or whatever. But I guess we've finally hit the point where they don't need to see each other to fall asleep.

I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but I thought it was noteworthy.

The System welcomes you

So something that we haven't discussed on the blog yet is the fact that the kids started school outside the home this fall. It's true. Thank the stars that the kids can now get socialized! (If you've been following my writings you'll know that's sarcasm.) Anyway, it was pretty much a unanimous family decision and everyone was ready for a change of pace.
We enrolled Habtamu in 8th grade at a local private Christian school with the hopes that the small class and steady routine (the whole class stays together for every subject) would help him adapt quickly. Yordanos is now a 5th grader at the public school across the street from Habtamu's.
Chris is looking forward to having time to work on house projects that have been forgone for 3 years and is trying to figure out where all the time goes even with the kids out of the house.
We're 5 days in and almost every afternoon H comes home frustrated and worried. He's never had to write down his assignments, or remember homework sheets, or remember to bring home the right books so he can do his homework. All that used to literally be arms length away. So there's been a learning curve, but he's catching on quickly. He wants to succeed. He wants to be at the level of the other kids. He wants to have it all figured out already. That's a lot of pressure.
Yordanos is reading and writing like a champ, and is certainly enjoying the social aspect of school. Math will be her struggling point, but that's no surprise.

So the adventure begins!

I am right, amn't I?

This week on "English is just stupid" I would like to make the motion that "Ratio" and "Patio" should rhyme. I don't care if it's RAH-tee-Oh or Pay-shEE-Oh, one of them has to change.

Over, Cover, Clover, Hover. Yeah, I'm coming for you next.

On a separate topic, Chris noticed the kids using "amn't I?" instead of "aren't I?" and reluctantly corrected them. Not because they're are wrong, but because English is just stupid. If one of you educated types has a better answer, we'd love to know what goofball verb disagreement rule causes that one.

Of course, maybe I are wrong.

Photo Challenge Vacation

Chris brought a '30 Day photo challenge' that I decided to complete during our stay at Cedar Campus, Michigan. You're supposed to take one topic/technique picture a day for a month, but since we only had 6 days, I fast tracked it. I'm posting the results [here]at my other blog. There's also a link in the right-hand sidebar.

It's not the usual assortment of pictures you usually see of other peoples vacations. And although there aren't any posed pictures of children giving each other bunny ears in front of beautiful landscapes (I have a bunch of those too,) I think you'll still be able to get an impression of what our week was like. It was fun to have an excuse to take close up shots of peoples feet, or chase after chipmunks, or throw frisbees at myself, or whatever was required in the name of art for that day.