A black bear walked through my neighbor's back yard last night, headed north to south. In other words, headed directly toward the dairy. But that's okay. CC, your advice was very comforting to me. And I realized that I can almost always see a cow or two in the dark as I drive up to the farm. If the cows are laying down chewing cud when I drive up, there is obviously no threat on the property. Still, I called that one fair and square. Intuition, thank you.

I've been worried about the kids and too much computer time. Yesterday I "guilt trapped" them, as Dear Girl calls it. I didn't tell them they had to get off their computers but I loomed, muttered, and implied things with my eyes. Then today on the way home from visiting with some friends, Dear Girl explained to her BFF what its like living with an older brother: "I'm learning how to figure areas right now and I told him that and he said I was catching up to him." She continued on but that's all I needed to hear. They are studying on their own and making progress.

I told Dear Boy that I worry about computer use and how they sometimes seem to spend most of their days online. He admitted, "I only spend a little bit of time on math. Most of my time online is spent, right now, reading about fitness." There he paused to make a small rather shamed face. But I was happy to hear what he's studying now. I said, "Reading about fitness is learning. It totally counts. If that's what you're doing online all day, have at it. I have no business interfering in y'all's studies."

I have no business interfering with their studies. What a presumptuous impulse. They have their own best interests in mind and they have the tools they need. They proceed while I worry. This has been a very consistent homeschooling pattern, from the beginning. I blog this over and over, can never seem to remember to worry less, and to communicate more.