We've been staying very busy in the Copass house. It seems that with the close of summer, a spark has been lighted in our house; our lazy summer is over, and we have been doing a lot of projects. Currently, we are learning about Chinese culture. This involves doing crafts, reading books, and baking Chinese food-nothing even close to authentic, of course. Lara loves to talk and have conversations at the dinner table, so she will often ask, "Mom, can you teach me about China?" Or sometimes another country...
I often feel that my days are so short. There are so many things I want to do, but before I know it, I need to get the girls down for naps. Lara is so great at taking care of things herself and being really independent, so I've started making "Honey Do" lists for her too-she marks things off as she goes:
(Of course, by 'wash cars,' I am referring to some little toy ones. :D)

Lara really likes structure and routine; they make her feel comfortable. She enjoys following lists or knowing the order of events that will happen at our house.

Some of you follow on FB, but for those of you who do not, I will put in some funny things Lara has said here:

1. This morning, I told Lara to go get dressed. She walks back into the living room, and says in a resigned way, "I just don't have anything to wear. I have these ____ shirts and _____ shirts, but they are not what I want to wear. I just don't have anything."

2. Yesterday, Lara got upset at me because I was admonishing her for being rude to Claire, and I slightly tugged on her dress to pull her away from, yes, SITTING on Claire. She says, "Mom, just don't do that. Don't pull on my dress. You pulled on my dress and this....just, ugh! I'm DONE." and she stomps out of the room. I just cracked up.

3. Yesterday, Lara was watching one of her Tinkerbell movies, and was very excited, and she said to me, "Mom, mom! The movie said fairies are real! I didn't know! It said they're real!" I explained to Lara that fairies are not real, and she was fine with that. She is a very positive girl.

On that note, I'd like to tell you all that we have had discussions with Lara explaining her CP and what that means for her. I want to make it very clear to Lara and everyone else that we will not allow a stigma to be placed on Lara's disability. It is what it is, and we count our blessings, and work hard, make the best of it; we do not whisper about it or are subtle about it, but we are bold and brave. Feel free to ask Lara about her cerebral palsy sometime. She can pronounce that very well, and she can explain to you the whole story-how she tried to come too soon, how something hurt her brain, and how her brain doesn't talk the right way to her legs. And this is why she wears braces. However, in order not to scare Lara about her brain, I've made it very clear to her that her brain is completely fine, that she is smart and does a wonderful job with her walking and exercises. I know that as Lara gets older, we will have to field the pity-parties. Of course, every parent has to field those anyway, but I know I will want to throw a few for Lara myself. But we will just take ourselves back to that positive place and allow ourselves to be amazed at how God has answered our prayers and is taking care of us. If it makes you uncomfortable to discuss anything like that with Lara, I would encourage especially you to give it a try, and maybe Lara's positive, matter-of-fact attitude will wear off on you. ;) What an amazing blessing she is!!

Lara has a "giving jar." She has decided she would like to give the money to children with CP who cannot afford walkers or braces. I am not sure what $2.34 is going to do for these children, but it's the thought that counts.

Claire is doing wonderfully. We finally have a walker...right? Well, sort of. I decided to call it when she walked about 12 steps, out of one room and into the hallway. LOL. My 15 month old is starting to walk! :) Well, I will try to post a video soon.

My favorite part of her recent developments is that she is starting to understand commands. She'll go into the kitchen and wait for juice when I tell her to, and today I asked her where her paci was, so she went to her bedroom and brought it out. Oh, but in so many ways, she is still just a baby. Putting everything in her mouth, and not communicating very well. She does a few signs, and says about 4 words...She is just so very, very different from Lara at that age. I see now that Lara has always been "mature" for her age. Claire, I think, is just her age. But that is typical of the firstborns. They are both a delight in their own ways.

Some cute things about Claire:
1. Yesterday, I found her sitting at my feet in the kitchen, wearing a piece of my cooking mandolin as a bracelet. She continued wearing it around the house for the evening.
2. This morning, open and shut, open and shut, I found Claire using my dental floss as a phone. She'd open it, hold it up to her ear, smile real big, then shut it. Over and over.


Homeschooling Thoughts
I've begun researching homeschooling curriculum for the fall of '11 or spring '12. Of course, it is very early, but there is an overwhelming amount of information out there, as well as some pretty costly materials, and I don't want to be caught off guard by it all when the time comes to start school.

I have begun a 7-week e-course laying out some guidelines for discovering what our goals will be for homeschooling, our general philosophy, role of curriculum, etc. It is all very interesting and somewhat exciting. At the end of the course, with a foundation of homeschooling in place, this will help us decide what curriculum we are going to use.

We discussed the role of curriculum last night, and have agreed that we want the curriculum to foster creativity, imagination, critical-thinking skills, and to promote life-long learning. Some curricula attempts more at a role of building character, but Dustin and I agreed that we see character being built in every day life through various experiences, and do not necessarily feel that needs to be the role of the curriculum. However, the particular curriculum we have our eye on tends to overlap in its role in character building and exploration.

Right now, I am leaning toward a literacy-based approach to homeschooling (i.e. Charlotte Mason). But I am hesitant about how well I will teach in this type of program. There are several other great programs that can be followed, or none strictly followed at all, but I feel most positive about literacy-based. It sounds like it might just be a little more abstract than a structured program of worksheets and tests; but therein I realized this will all feel very strange to me. My schooling was centered on secular textbooks, lectures from teachers, and tests. There was nothing whatsoever abstract about it, and I was never encouraged in any capacity to think critically or to express myself clearly and originally. So I am hesitant about how to teach my children this. Perhaps I will finally learn it, as well.

I am also eying a specific Christian curriculum program in which one goal is to guide children in having a balanced perspective of culture worldviews and international concerns. In simply reviewing different curricula, I was able to affirm that a goal I have of homeschooling is that my children will obtain a broader view of the world, its inhabitants, and its history, something that is, quite frankly, obviously lacking in any school system in the more rural areas of the Mid-west.

We will see; there is still a lot of time left. If Lara were in the traditional school systems, she would probably not start Kindergarten until Fall of '12. I will likely start next year in the fall if we feel she is really ready for it. I have read that literacy-based programs often start out quite slow-paced so that home-schooled Kindergartners often seem to be noticeably behind non-homeschooled children. The slow-pacedness is intentional, as children are generally not ready for 'structured' education until 6 years. Anyway, so there is a year or so left, and by then, my outlook on the process could be quite different. Most of my home-schooling friends use the same curriculum, which looks good and is really cheap compared to the others, but I want to be careful that I am doing thorough research on my own and not using a program because my friends raved about it.

I've really enjoyed reading up on everything and told Dustin that I can't wait to start! So you will probably see a lot more of my ramblings-on about it.

Happy Labor Day!