parent-teacher conference:

I had my first parent-teacher conference sans kids with Naomi's teacher.  Manny had to come home, but hopefully I can find a babysitter next time.  Naomi's teacher is strict and comes off sort of harsh, but Naomi has always been gracious toward her.  The teacher had already mentioned twice by email that Naomi was a delight.  At the conference, she just said that Naomi works very hard all day and never causes any trouble.  We went over her schoolwork and the goals for the year.  She said that she does give Naomi a little extra opportunity to socialize because she's new.  There wasn't much else to say about Naomi, and we just ended up talking about our sons with dyslexia.  Her son did what many dyslexics do early on--memorize words by how they look rather than reading them, and of course could not do that once he hit middle school.  Even though the school did not have a program for dyslexics as most schools don't, the school did end up paying for him to go to a private school where he could get more attention and help.  She is in an affluent school district, but it wouldn't hurt to see what could be done for Lucas down the line.  She showed me some of Naomi's schoolwork, mostly 100%, except one open-book anatomy (transport systems) test which everyone failed and had to retake.  The latter was fair, but on the math test where she scored 100%, I immediately spotted an error in how Naomi wrote a number.  So, I had to go back to Naomi with what her teacher either didn't catch or just let go.  I do remember benefiting from leniency and partial credit in school, but I consider it my place to ensure Naomi has understanding of the material and does not get into bad habits now.

While the teacher was on the phone with another parent, I saw the wall of shoe drawings.  What impressed me wasn't just Naomis drawing of her shoe, but what she wrote for her school goals.  It read, "As I step into my 5th grade school year, I have set the following goals:  One of my school goals is leadership.  I want to lead others and help people learn what is right.  I hope to be the independent leader in this school and not a person who just follows everyone else.  My goal is leadership.  My goal is to improve and master my academics.  I want to do better in English and math, and I hope this year I'll be able to get good grades and leave the fifth grade knowing I did well."  I was impressed by what she set as her goals for the year, and I think she's well on her way.

Naomi's shoe and goals.

another sleepover for naomi:

"What do you need a sleeping bag for?" I asked.  Two months later, I was buying her one.  I've resigned myself to the fact that my little girl is going to be sleeping over her friends' houses.  Thankfully, I've known all the families pretty well so far.  I probably wouldn't let her go to a sleepover if I wasn't friends with the mom at least.  I always receive positive reports about Naomi, except at one birthday sleepover, where the mom scolded Naomi for doing something she didn't do, while she was doing a kind deed, even after the other girls tried to come to her defense.  I know things like that happen (who hasn't jumped to conclusions?), and Naomi handles it well, but now there's a caution flag attached, and less effort in connecting our girls, even though they get along well.

At this party, the girls first went swimming, but it became too cold very quickly.  So the girls went in and danced to songs like "It's Raining Tacos."  Naomi brought her Apples to Apples Jr. game, which they enjoyed.  Naomi's not usually able to play it because her siblings can't read, so that just made her night.  They had hot dogs for dinner.  I can't remember what else they had, but the next morning they had homemade muffins and decorated their own cupcakes.  The girls all came up with a theme for their cupcakes.

I am very proud of Naomi for the fact that she spoke up for the birthday girl who was trying to sleep while the other girls were being very loud.  Naomi didn't want us to make a big deal of it, but I admire how she will speak up for, so I've also had to tell her that we have to sometimes weigh the benefit of speaking on someone else's behalf.  In this case she did the right thing.

All was forgotten by the next morning.  Everyone had a great time but not a whole lot of sleep.  I go back and forth on whether I will allow Naomi to have a sleepover party for her 11th birthday.  On the one hand, it will keep the party smaller, make prep a little easier, and cost less.  On the other hand, I may not be keen on losing sleep, trying to keep the boys at bay, being responsible for pre-teen girls overnight, setting up our living room for them to sleep, and dealing with any drama.  I guess I have a few months to decide.

Her friend likes dogs and My Little Pony, so she drew her a card accordingly and wrote a birthday poem (with her name, so I covered it with the envelope she made for the birthday money).

naomi's test scores:

While we were out at Lucas' music class tonight, Manny sent me a photo of Naomi's stellar fourth-grade test scores.  I had posted this on Facebook, but Naomi felt like it was showing off, so she asked me to take it down.  Instead, I'm posting this publicly!  (No, only family and a few friends follow our blog, so it's fine with her).  It's easier here because I can offer some background and commentary.

A few things to understand about the new common core test:
1.  What is now "Standard Met" is equivalent to what used to be "Proficient" on the previous state test.
2.  The test is done on a computer and has a listening section using headphones (Naomi scored lower in the listening section than others).
3.  The student must now justify their reasoning for a given answer, so there is less room for multiple choice luck (or errors).  This is true for both language and mathematics.
4.  The test took several days.
5.  Rote memorization is not tested as much as being able to draw conclusions and explain them.  This I actually like about common core over traditional curriculum.

A few things to understand about Naomi's testing:
1.  We never used the public school/common core curriculum in our homeschool, even though that is what was tested.
2.  Our version of math was similar to common core's concept-based teaching.
3.  Naomi struggles with speed in math, but we focused on understanding the concepts, so common core testing may have boosted her score.
4.  Though homeschooled, Naomi was legally enrolled in a public school district, so her score went into their reports.
5.  Manny and I always scored 99th percentile in math as kids, but it's Naomi's least favorite subject.  She worked hard for this score.

Standard exceeded in both English and math.

I am not a fan of putting too much weight on standardized tests, but I'm very proud of her.  Also, being her primary teacher, I'm thankful for what we accomplished together and how God blessed us through all the highs and lows, all the support and doubt from others.  It's no small thing to me that I was legally able to take charge of my children's education.  There was grace there as well, as Manny set pretty high expectations for me, and I wasn't sure we were doing enough.  I don't think it was always apparent to him how Naomi was doing, since we grew up in a "system" and homeschooling is fairly anti-"system."  This test is barely a reflection of all we did.  When I showed her the results, the first thing I asked was, "What's better than being smart?"  She replied, "Being wise,"  Yes.

lucas and naomi school updates:

For Manny's last day off before he went back to work, we went to lunch after being at two services for church so I could do announcements.  The kids were troopers, and they didn't really get to eat till almost 2:30 p.m.  The next day was the barbecue I mentioned in the last post, and then the following evening, the kids and I went to the PTA Ice Cream Social.  The ice cream along with our choice of toppings (e.g., caramel, gummy bears, sprinkles, and Oreo crumbles) was such a treat.  I can only eat a little bit of ice cream at a time due to lactose intolerance, but I'm happy to say Lucas seems to have outgrown his.  Naomi only bumped into a couple of her classmates in passing, but she was glad she got to see them.  I only got to talk to one other parent there, but she was really friendly.  We went to the playground afterward.  The boys really wanted to stay there, but it was getting pretty late.  As we were getting into the car, Isaac tripped behind Lucas and fell face-first into the step on the side of the car.  He still has a bruised face.  At least he has no upper front teeth left to knock out.  :/

Naomi is doing well in school, especially considering the major transition.  She's said she misses homeschooling sometimes and wishes I were still her teacher.  But other times, she's said she'd much rather get have the teacher correct her work than me (I re-correct all her work down to the slightest detail--her teacher misses things sometimes).  My scrutiny really bothered her, so I've backed off a little, but I told her the teacher even expects us to look everything over.  

Two days last week, she had five hours of homework.  Before anyone freaks out, 30 minutes of it is required daily reading, which is fair and less than what I required when I taught her, and 20 minutes is online math, which isn't bad either and also less than what I required.  The reason the rest of the math homework takes her so long is because of her struggle with speed and not because of how much homework she's being given.  It's actually work that she did not complete in class and had to take home to finish (so I also am not permitted to help her with it).  She is actually pushing out some of the social studies and science homework till they're due because math takes her so long.  Not that she's poor at math, but she does struggle with speed and occasional errors.  The common core math isn't really new to her; the curriculum we were using was pretty similar, but she's in a class with students who can already do middle-school math.  Sometimes when you go to a high-achieving school, it's easy to feel like you can't really shine.  See this video.  I got her a $3 shirt today that says, "Perfect is Boring."  I don't actually think that way, but I want her to know that while I expect her to strive for excellence, I don't think less of her as a person if she's not the best at everything.  I expect her to identify with the process/journey and God's will for her life and not perfection or instant gratification.  That is a mistake many of us make--we want the end results now and forget about the time, effort, energy, and opportunity it takes.  We lose sight of growth.  One thing I do wish I kids had more of is drive.  They can work hard, but they don't face the daily struggles and don't have the desire to get out of their situation like I did, so I wonder what would be a motivator for them.

Right now I am teaching math lessons to Lucas which he flies through in ten minutes.  Those same lessons took four hours sometimes to get through with Naomi.  That was one big plus about homeschooling--I was able to really focus on her weaknesses and get her up to speed by changing the way she was learning math.  Likewise, spelling lessons which Naomi would jump ahead with and do three or four in one sitting, also takes Lucas a couple of hours to get through.  Again, I am so thankful for being able to homeschool my children.  I suspect they'd just do things to get by and never learn it properly, or they'd fall through the cracks.

I have told Naomi in the past that Manny and I were very good at math as kids, which was meant to encourage but only served to discourage her.  She said she feels like she's living in our shadow.  No, I would much rather have been more like her and have the social savvy and spiritual perspective she has.  I may have what seems like a powerful testimony, but I don't wish that childhood on anyone. She knows school is still important, and I've reiterated to her that math only requires practice.  Maybe more for her than others, but her perseverance will pay off.  Manny and I think the homework stress is a lot to handle, but it's also good for her to deal with time management, to have to put work before play, and to sometimes miss out on a privilege because she did not get the work done yet.  However, I don't like her losing precious sleep, so I've been working on ways to make it a better environment for her to learn.  It doesn't help that her brothers are loudly wrestling when she is home.  Those two days she was buried in homework, I gave up some tasks I needed to do to keep the boys from bothering her.  Her room also has too much stuff, but I promised her I wouldn't toss any of it (yet).  I did rearrange a few things, and I just ordered a file folder organizer that hangs on the wall.  I think it will keep her papers better organized.  We had a lot of papers during homeschool, but I organized it (barely sometimes).  Now she has to sort that out for herself, so to speak.  There is much left to do in getting our lives in order, but I have high hopes and plan to take bigger and bigger steps.

Homeschooling is going so much better with Lucas.  I'm beginning to enjoy it again.  He thrives with a Charlotte Mason-ish methodology of delving deep with good books, using culture over cramming to learn, and learning by relating to and finding relationships between what he is learning.  Some things I've learned with homeschooling him:  1)  A lot of great ideas, tools, knick-knacks, etc. are not worth the extra expense and clutter; less is more.  2)  Comparing to other homeschools, including my own (with Naomi) can become my current homeschool's undoing.  3)  I've underestimated him by basing his intelligence on my standards.  4)  Teaching his heart has become my greatest focus.  5)  Homeschooling has helped me get to really know him.  5)  I have to be more creative because he doesn't have a great command of language, but when it works, it's so rewarding.

Isaac could be learning more, but I really am more focused on Lucas still.  I can already see differences with him.  For one, he doesn't learn things in order.  He starts out with letters, numbers, lyrics, words in sentences all out of order.  This might make more sense if he were left-handed like me, but he's leaning toward right-handedness.  Even with shapes, it wasn't the circle, triangle, and square that he got down first, but trapezoids, octagons, ovals, rectangles, etc.  He also learns by imitating, and that is one unfortunate result of Naomi being off at school--he is picking up more and more bad habits of speech and attitude from Lucas (like often saying, "I can do that if I want to!" or seeking revenge), and I feel like I'm constantly countering that and losing now.  The nursery workers haven't been saying what an angel Isaac is the last few weeks.  It just means I need to work on Lucas' heart more as well.  It was just a softer dynamic with Naomi around.  Now the house often feels like a loud wrestling arena.  No one wants to look at the pretty flowers and birds with me.  The boys just want to look at emergency vehicles and transmission towers and baking soda/vinegar explosions all the time.  I don't want to deny them their interests, but even for a tomboy-ish woman like me, I feel the need to have some estrogen-related balance sometimes.

I love when the boys are like this.

Unintentional matching faces.

Might as well be at a photo booth!

The three kids at Naomi's school's ice cream social.

Lucas got a re-do since he missed the sprinkles the first time around.

Lucas made this transmission tower out of Legos.  I always thought they were called pylons until I Googled it (apparently, it's only called that in Europe--I must have played too many video games).  He's into them right now, as long as he doesn't have to be too close to one.

lucas picture day and bbq:

Lucas took his school photos on Monday, and the PSP had a barbecue.  Lucas was very tired from the full weekend, so he'll probably be puffy-eyed in the photos, and it suddenly got pretty cool after a heatwave so we changed his outfit, but he did well taking the photos.  We were one of the first ones there, so the photographer let Lucas look at his digital images.  We had to bring a salad or a dessert, so I brought some avocado salsa (basically a bean salad with cumin and cilantro).  Naomi took some for lunch, and I took the rest.  It seemed like a hit at the barbecue.  

I'm not sure what I expected, but it hasn't been as easy to get to know people as it was with our previous program.  There are a lot more families, most of whom have older children (the main private school is actually for middle and high schoolers), and the kids don't meet weekly.   I also will have trouble being able to attend the types of field trips they're planning this year with Isaac in tow.  Overall, I do really like the program and the staff, but I certainly miss our other program.  

I decided not to join another homeschool group, mainly because we already have so much on our plate.  I also need to make sure I stay local so I can transport Naomi and also be around for emergencies.  I can't make park days or moms' nights out, so it doesn't seem like it would be worth it.  It would be nice to find families with similar situations, like a child with dyslexia, doing Charlotte Mason vs. classical homeschooling (due to what works for us right now, and not because I think one is better than the other), a child in public school, etc,, but I do have homeschool friends and online groups (some of them run by friends) which provide a lot of support and fellowship.  I'm just not exactly in the same place with that many when it comes to home and public education convictions.  I know some are relieved I put Naomi in school, while others are concerned, but in the end, we make our family decisions based on God's leading and what we know is best for our situation.  If we're not living someone's life, how well can we judge it?  And why judge it?

"Avocado Salsa" - a friend gave me this recipe before she moved back to her home country.

Lucas smiling big for his school photo.

The boys enjoying the school grounds.

triple birthday / church announcements:

Our friend's wife and two girls all share birthdays within the same month.  They had a huge party on Saturday, lots of food, lots of people, lots of fun.  It's an hour-long drive, and the kids weren't sure they wanted to go, but then they really did not want to leave.  The younger birthday girl is the one who said she wanted to marry Lucas someday.  They played together at first, but Lucas ended up with a new little girlfriend.  Their temporary relationship was established when all the older boys were saying Lucas pooped in his pants.  He was very upset about it when he told me, but then the little Mexican girl came to get him and said she knew he didn't poop in his pants.  So, he went back with her and stayed with her for hours after that until she went home.  At some point, she tried to get him to do the craft, but Manny says he looked perplexed by the idea that anyone would choose the craft over the jumphouse and left her and went back in.  Oh well, that's Lucas for ya.  Lucas actually played well with several kids (how could you not with the jumphouse and all the carnival games).

Naomi made friends with the older birthday girl's friend.  That often happens with her.  They were inseparable for hours as well.  Then there was Isaac.  He got smashed in the jumphouse by the bigger kids, so I told him he couldn't go in there anymore.  But he was well-occupied by a balloon pumper/popper.  Now he thinks all balloons should be popped, which is disconcerting to someone like me who is easily startled by the noise.  He also enjoyed the karaoke time.  I think we should get a karaoke mike, too.  Less expensive than a machine with a screen.  They just hooked their laptop to the TV and pulled up karaoke videos from YouTube.  Manny and I enjoyed the huge selection of food, everything from seafood to Korean barbecue to Vietnamese spring rolls.

The family moved out of Silicon Valley last year in order to buy an actual house.  It's quite a commute for our friend, but he faithfully comes to our church by 8:30 almost every Sunday to do the behind-the-scenes technical work.  I've actually known him since before we came to the church.  It's been so long I forget sometimes that I actually used to work with him in the same building about 15 years ago.  Same company as Manny, too, but a different campus and division.  The building is now owned by another company.  Instead of spreadsheets, we're connecting over birthday parties for our kids.  :)

I had a great time meeting people and watching the kids have fun.  We had some mutual friends there as well.  I wanted to leave by 8 at the latest, though, because I wasn't feeling well and had to do announcements at both services the next morning.  I also wanted to get the kids to bed for the long day ahead.  But we didn't get home till about 10:30 p.m.  We made it the next day, and the kids did okay through the four or five hours.  The announcement time went well first service.  The pastor interviewed me and the other coordinator, and instead of reading from a script as I planned, I just shared from my heart.  I had a lot working against me--having a cut in my mouth, dealing with physical ailments I don't want to share, getting over my cold, being tired from the night before, and my co-lead almost didn't make it, but I think it was good for me to just rely on the Lord.  In the second service, Manny and I were in our small group, and we were supposed to return to do the announcement, but my co-lead wanted to stay a bit for the prayer time.  I think in the end it was best for the need of the moment to do that, but we did leave our pastor hanging, and he had to fill in for us until we showed up.  You know me; I really dislike being even a minute late to anything, but sometimes I have to put that aside for others.  Then I was worried I was repeating what he said, so I stammered a bit, and didn't say a lot of what I'd wanted to.  It was harder the second service, but better for my partner, because she felt more prepared.  Manny got to see the first service, so it was nice to hear that he was impressed and proud of me during the announcements and when I gave my intro for small group.  We both decided to just be real and open and put all our struggles out there, as well as some victories.  You have to take down the walls to do life together.

The few minutes Isaac got to bounce in the jumphouse (or jump in the bounce house?) before the big kids arrived.

Naomi and her new friend chatting over snacks.

This was a fantastic seafood soup.  Reminded me of my mom's.  There were quail eggs, too, but I ate them all.  I failed to take a photo of the buffet, but the food was really good.

Good thing the hosts are good friends with their neighbors, who were also at the party.  Some of the baseballs went over the fence.

Lucas having the time of his life.

Wiffle ball toss for Isaac.

Isaac's favorite (and my least favorite) thing--pumping the balloon until the spikes at the top popped them.

Lucas got to do everything he loves to do that I never let him do--go up the slide the wrong way, go down the slide face first, roll down the slide on top of other boys, and scream while doing so.

Isaac winding up his pitch.

I always like a fancy snack table.

My other half.

Isaac taking a snack break.

Cake time!  It was a light Asian cake with strawberries, one of my favorites.

The girl whom Manny is helping was Lucas' little girlfriend at the party.

Me: Isaac, over here!  Isaac:  Just a minute.  I'm watching the lights!

labor week / manny's week off:

Manny's company had a shutdown this week.  A lot of people worked anyway, and Manny had to do work from home.  Naomi still had school and lessons, Lucas still had homeschool and lessons, and Isaac had his needs, so it wasn't truly a vacation, but we still got to have a break from the usual routine.  We had a lot of time together as a family, and we were able to sort and reorganize a good portion of our belongings.  We moved the train table out of Lucas' room to make room for a bookshelf and desk (a repurposed old coffee table and step stool).  When he's a little bigger, we'll consider getting him a desk.  We also sold and donated some things Isaac has finally outgrown.  The house is still filled with his toys, which are his sibling's old toys, but as he gets bigger, more and more things will begin to go.  I am proud of the progress we made and Manny's leadership in that.  Here's to simplifying and having a little more order!

On Labor Day, we went to a falafel shop for lunch and then to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time in years.  Lucas couldn't wait to tell his tutor that Manny spent $31 on us there.  The day after, it seemed that everyone except Naomi had caught Manny's cold.  It's only a slight cold, so we powered through as usual and got a lot done.  I can't quarantine Manny or make him cover his face with the crook of his elbow or wipe down all the surfaces he's touched like I do with the kids.  We haven't been sick in a long time, so it probably felt worse than it was.  At least it happened all at once instead of making its rounds for a month.  Everyone is much better now, and Naomi appears to have been spared once again. 

The heatwave hit hard this week.  I might opened the freezer a few more times than necessary.  :)  We tried to beat the heat with popsicles and water balloons.  I was happy to learn that Naomi's classroom now has air conditioning, and the instructors let the students do P.E. in the shade.  They also had free popsicles for the kids on a day it hit 100 degrees.  

I was very thankful to have Manny home.  I enjoy his company when he's not swamped with work.  It worked out that he could be around for our balcony inspection (the HOA notified us that we had some balcony rot, but the inspector said it wasn't enough to warrant major work).  I don't like to let people in the house when I'm alone with the kids.  It was also nice not having to bring the boys with me everywhere.  Isaac seemed to enjoy his Papi-and-me time and didn't cry as much as usual when I was out.  

We took a trip to Ikea with the kids to get another bookshelf.  We found a nice one for $30.  Even with ebooks, we continue to acquire physical copies.  However, I do like the kids to have actual books.  Naomi is now too tall for the Ikea kids' camp, and Isaac is too small.  Lucas would rather stay with us anyway.  When Lucas and Naomi were last in the camp years ago, the counselors forced all the children to color a picture "so we can show your parents," or else they wouldn't be allowed to play anything.  Because Lucas didn't like to do coloring or crafts at the time. the counselor told Naomi that she had to color Lucas' picture for him so that he'd have one to show us, too.  Naomi of course complied, but she knew something was insincere about it once we showed up and they were so excited to show us their pictures.  She didn't tell me about it until she thought of it much later.

I think the kids had a great time looking through the showrooms.  Naomi, of course, was focused on design ideas, Lucas focused on the total cost of a room, and Isaac on which piece of furniture served what function (and how hard he could run into and bounce off a cushioned piece).  The kids got to have a cheap meal there as well.  This morning, Naomi had her martial arts class, and then Manny took her and Lucas to go see The Minions movie.  I'm not enthusiastic about the movie from what I saw in the trailer, but I do like it when the older kids get to do something special with their dad.

Lucas' favorite chore to do in the world--husking/shucking corn.  He calls is shredding, which makes sense.

The boys getting ready to throw some water balloons.  

Huge falafel wrap!

Isaac loved the slide.

Manny jumping his way to max scores and prize tickets.

This basketball game was broken, so Isaac got to shoot some free hoops with the loose balls.

Father-son arcade moment.  Reminds me of my dad and me, actually.

This ride didn't appear to have free photos anymore, so I took one myself.

Naomi getting a turn on the wheel.  She got above 200.

All together on the safari ride.

Lucas and Barney together again.

Naomi took Isaac up the play structure twice, but then he threw a fit because she didn't want to do it anymore.

Some of the loot from the prizes--little rainbow lollipops.

More water balloon fun!  Isaac's diaper was full from being doused.

Isaac's favorite "ride" is the escalator.  Naomi wanted to pose for a photo, so she was motioning for me to hold on before taking it, but there were people behind me.

picking up where we left off:

My friend came in from out of town (out of the country, actually) to visit last week.  She brought a light picnic lunch for us while I packed a lunch for the boys, and we went to a local park.  When she last visited two years ago, Isaac was just an infant, and Lucas was very quiet.  Now she would have to sit through some tantrums and fighting, but eventually the boys worked out their differences and played well together.  We were blessed with a great conversation in relative peace and quiet.

Lucas pushed Isaac on the swing, and they went down the slide together with another boy.  The boy had this big stick, which bothered Lucas, but since I'm not the mom, I couldn't take it away.  The boy ended up accidentally shoving the stick into Lucas' back which left a huge mark and made him bleed.  The boy's mom wasn't even watching, just playing with her electronic device.  I'd debated saying anything, especially since I've spoken up before and it hasn't gone well, but the boy still had that stick around other kids.  Plus, Lucas had let it go.  If he threw a fit, I might have just left.  I felt I needed to at least make the mom aware the stick could hurt someone.  She was Chinese, so I just told her in Mandarin that her boy's stick had hurt my son, and I was just concerned someone else might get hurt.  She took the stick from him, and I told her it was fine.  We had to leave at that time anyway to pick Naomi up.  Isaac felt he wasn't ready and threw a tantrum (pretty much the ending of many of our weekly park visits), but in he went, and we were off.  My friend was patient and encouraging about it.

I have such great admiration for her already as a humanitarian worker, but I also appreciate that she is one of my friends for life.  I don't get to see her often, but she always makes an effort to visit when she's in the area, and we just pick up where we left off.  So, here's to seeing her again in a couple of years, maybe.  Naomi was disappointed she had to miss A. while she was in school, but she knows this was a unique occasion.  I promised to make her a bean salad (that's what we had) to make up for it, and she liked that.

my heart for literacy:

I'm supposed to share this at the two services on Sunday, so I thought I'd write it out and work on it a bit more.  Pray for me--I have such terrible stage-fright!  And pray Isaac will last the two services!

Chaz mentioned last week how crucial it is to know why we do what we do.  I wanted to share with you why the [...] Elementary School Bookshelf Project is so near and dear to my heart.

When I was about five, my family came to the U.S. with little more than the clothes on our backs.  My older brother and I didn't know any English.  It was a tough transition for us--our parents didn't speak much English themselves, and we didn't know how to ask for help from the teachers.  We had little to live on.  We had some kind neighbors who took up a collection of clothes to give us.  I slept on the floor in the living room for most of my childhood.  We ate dinner on an ironing board.  Money for a desk or books or even school supplies wasn’t much of a consideration.  I remember my dad giving me smashed rice from our dinner to use as glue for a school project.  There was also very little space to work.  Some years, my parents had to work in the evenings to make ends meet, so I had no way to get to a library.  Many of my classmates didn’t really care about school either, and there was crime all around us and in our households to worry about.  As many who’ve lived like this will tell you, it is simply very challenging for a low-income family to foster a strong learning environment.  It's not impossible, especially if there's help.

When I was about six or seven, someone gave my parents these books for me, and they were the only books I had.  They aren't particularly great books, but I read them over and over, because that’s all I had.  I'm not really sentimental, but I've held on to these books because they helped me so much in learning English, which opened doors for me.  When I was nine someone gave me this Bible stories book.  Again, I read it over and over, not really understanding it, but it was my introduction to God's Word.  I went on to do well in school, especially English in high school, and received engineering degrees from UCLA and Stanford.  I became a Christ-follower at UCLA and met my wonderful husband at Stanford.  Now, I've been called to help coordinate this project which feels like a full circle.  My parents did push me, and I pushed myself, but I believe the tools came from the Lord, through those who helped us and helped me see beyond our dilapidated walls.  This is why the literacy project and partnering with organizations like Reach Potential is so important to me.

When Reach Potential and other organizations surveyed their local schools, the schools said their greatest need was not material donations, but help with the students’ literacy, something long term that would benefit them for life.  I feel like I’m a poster child for that.

One of the teachers told us last year about a student who was concerned he would not able to make the bookshelf because his parent was in jail.  We take a lot for granted and sometimes don’t even realize how the little things we do can impact someone’s life, like the people who gave me these books over thirty years ago.  I hope you will consider joining us.

misc update:

Life seems even busier now that the three kids are in such different places, but there's also a strange order to it all.  Maybe it's because it's so compartmentalized.

Naomi has been doing pretty well in school so far, with just a couple of assignment mishaps.  She doesn't like how I re-correct her work, but I've caught a few things she or her teacher has missed.  However, I also limit my involvement so that she is fully responsible for her own work.  It's pretty pleasant for Manny or I to drop her off.  We tend to go right at the start of the drop-off time and beat the rush.  She will just go to morning recess for 15-20 minutes before class starts.  Pick-up is when the traffic jam happens.  Naomi is more than willing to bike, but the school is too far to me.

Lucas is doing well with our homeschool routine.  Even if we have to be somewhere, he's always willing to start earlier to get his work done.  He still struggles with language, and probably always will.  He is really fast with numbers, but we can get stuck sometimes, because he can't understand the word problems for his grade level.  He needs to have a lot of review and unique ways of associating words in order to retain information.  His reading/spelling tutoring is going pretty well.  I'm anxious for him to get over the hump and be able to read full sentences, but I know it will take time and patience.

When I have time, I teach Isaac a little.  He knows his shapes pretty well, including trapezoids and hexagons.  He knows his colors and numbers, but can't fully say the alphabet or count to ten without skipping a number.  He's not even 2 1/2.  He is very verbal and picks up language readily.  Sometimes he will talk or sing nonstop for an hour, often explaining everything he's doing, even while playing alone.  It slows us down, because Lucas needs to focus to do his work.  On the one hand it's tougher without Naomi here to occupy Isaac, but it's also easier because I don't have to do school with her until she gets home.

Naomi now has aikido and piano, and she's planning to begin the clarinet through school soon.  Lucas has his tutoring twice a week and his weekly music class (Instrument Readiness).  I make an effort to make sure he plays outdoors often.  I'm trying to get him to do an indoor sport, but if he's not interested, he won't participate, and it would be a waste for all of us.  He likes tennis, but with the prediction of a rainy season, I don't want to bother with that during the late fall/winter.  We've begun the school year and the exposure to lice, illnesses, and whatever else, but no one's been sick in a while.

Manny gets up early and works out.  He watches what he eats and looks great.  With the weight loss, he's had to buy some new clothes, and they look good on him.  I finally got a haircut after who knows how long, and had six inches of hair chopped off.  My body fat percentage increased quite a bit in the last year, and I decided this week to really start watching what I consume and quit eating Isaac's leftovers.  I don't want to have to buy a new wardrobe.  We also just want to be more healthy and have a little more order.

Now that Naomi is not with us, Isaac can make a quick trip to a play area while Lucas is in tutoring.

Good authentic Mexican place where I had lengua (tongue) and al pastor tacos.

My Indian friend gave me sumbar powder and curry leaves to make bread upma.  Tasty!

Pho, a family favorite.  Good choice, Lucas.  We also had tofu pan fried noodles.

We ate it all.