Keeping up with the Changes.

In the Fall of 2007  my wife started taking our 3 children to a home school cooperative (co-op).    It was a traditional co-op, where each family taught some classes and volunteered in others. The first semester it turned out amazing for the kids.  Charlie, who just graduated from high school, still has his notebook from a very cool International Space Station class he took that year.  It was amazing for the kids, but very difficult for my wife.  Each parent got at least one class period off to fellowship with the other parents. Alas, Lucy was about 1 at the time and as you know when you take a 1-year-old anywhere you never get time off.  Amy wisely decided on taking a semester off and going back when Lucy was a little older.  

Amy planned to return in the Fall of 2008.  However, Amy and I did the Old Switcheroo in the fall of 2008. (She went back to working full time, and I became Home School Dad and took over the teaching at home.) In the Spring semester of 2009, I brought the kids back to co-op and did the teaching, assisting, and running after Lucy. Soon The co-op became amazing for everyone in our family.  

For several years this is how it remained.  Then as our circumstances changed, we would quit the co-op and later, come back to it only to leave again and come back again.  Finally, (or we thought it was finally) in 2015, we stopped homeschooling altogether.  I quit co-op for "the final" time and we moved on with our life.   Our home school adventure had many twists and turns in the road and yet looking back we could see God leading us through each and every one.  

This contiued when all 3 children were in public sct hool at the same time for the first time in their lives. Charlie excelled in his last year of middle school and his first year of high school.  Emma had major adjustments and changes to navigate, going from a 3 person school with a 40 person co-op once a week to a school of 3,000 students and being diagnosed with High Functioning Autism(HFA).  (Her diagnosis was partially due to one of the many extra curricular events we went to because of our co-op. One of the former students in our co-op who has HFA was featured in a documentary that premiered at the Imago Film Festival. The documentary opened our eyes to the possibility that Emma might be on the spectrum, which helped hasten her diagnosis.)   Because of her many  home school credits from her first two years of high school she was able to finish her high school experience a semester early by taking an on-line poetry class at home. The wonder that is Lucy, continued to shine in her last 2 years of eleementary school.  She won speech contests that highlightred her flair for the dramatic, won awards for her artistic achievement, and was honored with the highest award in her 5th grade commencement. As the 2017 school year ended, more changes were in store for the Roller clan as each of our 3 students again changed schools, as we after 16 years in Carpentesville changed suburbs.

Emma was off to the local jr. college.  Charlie started his sophomore year at a new high school and Lucy started being home schooled again.  We had always wanted to home school each of our children through at least  middle school.  We did that with Emma and even got an extra two high school years with her at home.  Charlie was in 8th grad when we stopped home schooling him.  We were delighted when we had the opportunity to bring Lucy back home for her 3 middle school years.  Of course this meant going back to our old homeschool co-op and saying we needed to return if only for us to learn the actual meaning  of the word final.

  Our on-again off again relationship with our co-op taught us many things more than one post will allow, but here are a couple. My years at the co-op prepared me for my now on-again off again job  (Thanks Covid) as a substitute teacher. At the co-op, Lucy was still a force to be reckoned with;  No longer the one man wrecking ball of her toddlerdom,  she continued to blossom as an amazing orator, comedian, actress, and especially a gracious loving daughter, student and friend.   

Earlier this Lucy was accepted into a special  theater arts academy  part of the public high school Charlie just graduated from. She was  so looking forward to finishing her home school and co-op experience and then leaving home and going   to school every day in the Fall.  Then Covid came on the scene.  The co-ops did not end the way we expected and now we found out that her high school will not  start as we expected.  She will start high school as her brother and sister finished it, virtually.  

Educating our children has not always gone the way we have planned it.  However, we have seen God orchestrate all the steps and use them in mighty ways.  As with everyone else on the planet, Covid 19 life has been very challenging for our family but we are still confident that God will continue directing our paths.  In a way much more than the band at the fish in the sea dance at the end of Back to the Future could , God is more than able to keep up with the changes.  

Summer Reading plan 2020

Each year I try to read more during the summer. I usually define the summer as the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I like to add a few days to that so the period is exactly 100 days. This year for whatever reason I didn’t start the reading plan at Memorial Day. June  came and went and I hadn’t read a single book. I decided to start the plan on July 1st and go to October 8th for the full hundred days. Not exactly a regular Summer, but 2020 hasn't been a regular year,

My goal is usually to read at least 10 books during that period. Ideally I’d like to read more but if I read at least 10, I feel pretty  good. Today is July 25th and I am 1/4 through the period. Before I talk about my progress so far let’s talk about my method.

There are so many ways to read a book these days.  There of course is the traditional book in hand method, I still do a lot of that.  You can also listen to a book on cd, casette, play-aways or online.    For more of how I feel about the difference between reading and listening to books, you can see my post Is Listening the New Reading?

What books Ir ead during my Summer campaign isas varied  as how I read them.  I'll read books I've never read before, books I've tried to get through without  success ( Moby Dick and Three Musketeers for example), and I certainly reread books during this time as well.  Most years I'll buy at least one book specifically to read for the chalenge. For the most part, I obtain my books from my personal collection, or from local libraries.  

I read both fiction and non-fiction ,poetry or prose, regular novels or graphic novels.  I often have a list of books or authors I'd like to read in the back of my mind, but I am so glad that the library is open again so I can peruse the shelves and find something outside of my rather eclectic mix.  I also like my list to be organic. If I am reading a book and a subject, or book or person is mentioned, I may put that onto my list.  For example, I just finished a book about Fred Rogers where I read that early in his career,  he had met Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts.   So the last time I was at the library, I picked up a couple Peanuts anthologies.  

I tend not to read one book at a time but sometimes I’m reading 4 to 5 books concurrently. There will  also be times when  I start a book and end up not finishing it right away or not at all. As of today I have finished 4 books and am currently working on 7 (I know I said 4 or 5 but sometimes I go a little crazy.) more, and have put one aside for the time being.  In order to say I'm working on a book I have to read from or listened to it in the past week.  

The 4 I have finished so far are . . 

The Song - Calvin Miller (book that I own) have read previously. 

When Sinners Say I Do - Dave Harvey  (book that I own) had not read previously.

Little House in the Big Woods- Laura Ingalls Wilder - (on line audio book borrowed on Hoopla) Had read and listened to parts of previously, had never completed.  

Kindness and Wonder: Why Mr. Rogers matters now more than ever. - Gavin Edwards  (book - borrowed from library) Had not read previously.  

Books currently reading ...

Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery (on-line audio book-borrowed on Hoopla) - Have not read previously.

The Runaway Jury - John Grisham - Book borrowed from library - Have read previously. 

Abraham Lincoln - A new birth of Freedom  - By Janet & Geoff Benge - This is a book owned by my family which I purchase when we were homeschooling our kids  - Have previously read book.

Downton Abbey Script Book Season 3 - Julian Fellowes (On-line book borrowed from Hoopla) - Had not read previously have watched the episodes on television. 

Frederick Buechner 101 by Frederick Buechner Choreographed by Ann Lamott- Book borrowed from library. Have not readpreviously.

Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 Charles M Schulz. Book borrowed from library. I own some of these volumes but my children have absconded with them.  

Peanuts Every Sunday  1966-1970 -By Charles M Schulz . Book- borrowed from library.  I have not read this volume of colorized Sunday strips before, but have read most of the strips previously.  

Books I have set aside.

A Crazy Holy Grace - Frederick Buechner I was trying to read this book on Hoopla, but soon discovered that I was having difficulty reading more than 1 book at a time electronically.  That is why I picked uo the book of Buechner essays from the library.  Once I am finished with Downton Abby, I may get back to this book.  

As of today I am on pace to finish 16 books in the 100 days.  If I were to finish just 5 of the 7  I am currently working on in the next 25 days, I would then be on pace for 18.  

 I have enjoyed each book I have finished.  Ideally, I'd love to do a short review of each book I read, but alas I find I lack the temperament for short reviews and the time for more detailed ones. .  Nonetheless, I'll try to include some reviews here in the weeks to come.  I'm going to close the book on this post now and return us all to whatever new normal we are heading towards.  

15 from 2005 Intro

It's hard not to get excited about an upcoming baseball season.  As an eternal optimist, it's super easy to get excited at the beginning of any sports season.  But as much as I am looking forward to finally getting the 2020 MLB season underway tomorrow, I'm even more excited to looking backward at the magical 2005 White Sox World Series Championship season.  It has been 15 years since they won it all and I plan to share 15 stories from the season.  I'll be back in a few days with part I.  

20 | The History Behind Kerry Wood's 20 Strikeout Game

Baseball season starts tomorrow. I hope you enjoy this video about Kerry Wood's 20 strikeout game.

I Heart Comics

I have always been a big fan of comic strips.  Anytime I used to travel I would plunk down the change to buy a local newspaper and see what therir comic page looked like.  As you have gathered what newspapers remain in this digital age cost more than change for a dollar.  

Fortunately there are many strips old and new available online. From time to time I will share a few of those here.  Simply click on the name of the comic  to see the strip.  The ones today I found through Go Comics.

   

The Far Side                                                  Calvin & Hobbes

                                                         

Peanuts                                                                                              Pearls Before Swine

White Sox defeat Cubs in exhibition game at Wrigley Field.

This past Sunday Evening in Chicago, a cross town rivalry resumed days before the covid 19 shortened baseball season got underway.  

Jason Kipnis homered for the Cubs in their half of the first inning giving them a one run lead.  Kipnis hit 12 homers against the White Sox as a member of the Cleveland Indians.  The Cubs added to their lead in the second as Wilson Contreras scored on a sacrifice fly in the second.  

The score remained 2-0 until the top of the 5th inning.  With one out, Adam Engel who is known more for robbing opposing batters of home runs, robbed Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks of a shut-out by homering himself.  

After the Engel homer, Tim Anderson singled and Eloy Jimenezflew out to right field and what happened next could only bedescribed as a good old fashioned 2 out rally.  Jose Abreusingle to right moving Anderson to 3rd and removing Hendricks from the game. Jharel Cotton came in to pitch for the Cubs and Andrew Vaughn came into run for Abreu. Yasmani Grandal then doubled in Anderson and  Vaughn giving the White Sox the lead. 

The south siders were not finished yet.  Grandals hit was just the first of three run scring doubles in succession. Edwin Encarnacion who made his major league debut for the Cincinatti Reds in the White Sox World Championship year of 2005 and is  right about to begin his 16th season in the major leagues and his first for the White Sox hit a double to left  plating Grandal.  Then Luis Robert, who has yet to make his major league debut and was 8 years old when the White Sox won it all in 2005 hit a ground rule double to score Encarnacion.  

 

 Luis Gonzalez came into run for Robert.  Leury Garcia  tripled to score Gonzalez.  This brought up Cheslor Cuthbert who just came over to the White Sox from the Royals who had the misfortune of making the first and final outs of the inning.  But when Cuthbert made out #1 his team was behind 2-0, when he made out #3 they were ahead 6-2. 

The White Sox added a run to that lead on a wild pitch in the seventh and the Cubs took that run away in the 8th as David Bote scored Josh Phegley in the 8th ending the scoring at 7-3 White Sox.