Homeschooling is where the heart, um car dealership, is

Monday, January 26, 2009

We were still in NJ after spending a nice long visit with Hypersteve’s mom. She now has a brand new knee. I’m actually really glad we didn’t get out to see her sooner. The hospital she was in was very hospital-y in all the anxiety producing ways. Her leg was swollen and infected and she just didn’t look like herself. It would have scared the pants off of Rocket Boy. Now she’s in an orthopedic recovery center that’s clean, roomy, warm feeling, with a good food and a very friendly staff that is not viciously overworked. And did I mention the game room? She’s feeling far better and is cheerfully agonizing through physical therapy.

Just down the street from the hospital is the Toyota dealership. Last year I lost my key fob (the only way I have of unlocking or starting the Prius) so Hypersteve and I have spent the last year switching off. Since it’s a smart key that automatically unlocks the car when I touch the door handle and starts the car when I press the power button, I can’t exactly take it down to the locksmith to make a spare. I have to go to the dealership where they will give me a new fob and program it to the car’s computer – for just under $300. That’s a lot for a key, but if we were just unlucky enough to loose the only key we have, we’d have to call a tow truck to take our car to the dealership where they would have to replace part of the car’s computer in addition to the cost of the keys. That would have run us close to $900 so I’m happy to shell out 1/3 of that. Of course the car also needed new front brakes and the pads replaced on the rear brakes. I had known that but had been putting it off. It was due for an oil change, a new cabin air filter, and a tire rotation. I was so happy they threw in a complimentary car wash. So 3 hours and nearly $1000 later, the car is happily purring and we will be able to open our doors and stop the car whenever we want. Considering it was all maintenance stuff that is part of what everyone has to pay to keep a car I don’t feel too bad. I’m getting a little sentimental about the car. It’s at 95K already. I’ve never owned a car for so long or so many miles (and so few tanks of gas, thank you sweet Prius!)

So we spent the time at the dealership working on reading and math. They had a whole bunch of kids books and Highlights magazine – none of which we had read before. We played long games of Uno – first addition Uno where Rocket Boy has to add the number of the card he’s laying down the number of the card before it. Then we did subtraction Uno the same way. We didn’t get into negative numbers, just subtracting the smaller from the bigger. We also had a long discussion about digit placement. He just does not believe that there is such a thing as ones, tens, hundreds place. He refused to accept it. I think I may need to get him an abacus or some counting beads or something. Maybe I’ll look into the Montessori number system.

That was the extent of school today, short day, basic lessons, and lots of playing and visiting grandma. S’all good.