about the week part I

I didn't get my usual urge to post last week. Just random things going on that made my personal computer time a little less frequent. I work at night, but usually don't take time to journal during work. So there were a few things I wanted to journal about for my own personal memory! I've found that looking back on old journal posts makes me remember parts of my life that I may have shoved aside in my brain. That sole reason, is why I blog in general.

• A few months back we discovered that the floor under our powder room toilet was officially rotting. There had been a small and slow leak progressing for the entire time we've lived here, and just as we began to see the darkening wood underneath we decided that something must be wrong. Well I finally got around to calling a general contractor (handyman) who came Monday to inform me that the wax ring at the bottom of the toilet was leaking along with the entire plastic gasket that is supposed to fit flush (ha, flush - the irony) with the wood floor was not at all flush and was in fact causing small amounts of water to leak. Thanks home builder,flooring people - thanks. Our house is 6 years old, and the builders of the house didn't leave a wood sample for us (we have tile samples, paint samples, even caulking samples - but go figure, no wood), so we had no idea of the wood floor brand, color, type, etc. So with his advice and on a long shot, I called the builder who referred me to the floor company they used who told me that the floor we have is no longer used by them! The only thing they could tell me was the general color!! Woohoo!! So handyman went to Lowes, Home Depot and we called flooring liquidators - none of which carried the color. HA! SO..... on a whim I google.com'd the color name and came up with ONE possibility, they suggested that I order a sample. I did, it arrived yesterday, and bingo - as close of a match as we could ask for. So, we're planning to order a good bit of this wood, because in the next year or so we'd like to extend our wood foyer through the kitchen and possibly the formals. Since the price per case is reasonable, we'll likely buy enough for what we need and store it until we're ready to pay the labor to have it installed. We're pretty confident that we'd screw it up ourselves ;).
  
• Tuesday began a new course of study for big E's classroom. Sex Education. We're an open family, we discuss alot at home and big E happens to be a rather direct child who see's things in black and white for the most part. So if he has a question about something, even when some kids (or adults for that matter) would find it embarrassing to ask, he doesn't. He asks, and sometimes at the darnedest times and at this point in his life has a general idea of most everything they'll go over. I remember fondly, driving down the road when he was around 3-4 years old I noticed he kept fidgeting in his boy area and I asked if something was wrong and he quickly replied without stuttering "no, my penis is growing, that's all". I couldn't help but giggle, and then think about the big picture - this was just the start! So, sex education at school - I have mixed emotions, we were given an opt out form but we didn't sign it. I realize it's a part of life, it's not something to avoid, and it's also something we're not solely trusting a teacher to educate him with. The idea that all learning is to be done in a public school house is not practical to me, and may not at all be a concern after this year. See this, and this and this and this, post for why. We have always felt like there's no place like home for learning, particularly on moral driven matters like this one. So, we're going along with our own series of study at home w/ that, it just seems more important to us to be the teachers and guideposts for him in these important steps in life. He's nearing puberty, he's nearing the wonderful world of boyhood. He doesn't in the least bit seem to be grossed out by the idea of learning this at school or at home, they will also take a field trip to Discovery Place to have a visual learning experience along with the classroom learning. This will include a visual demonstration of how a baby grows from conception to delivery, and the actual 'delivery' will be demonstrated modestly with a model of the birth canal and how the baby is born. So I ask anyone who reads, what do you think about this course of study for 5th graders (homeschooled or public/private)???