every day a little more

yesterday we did rashis and planned to start vayechi at night.  but i went out with the boys and didn't get back til 9pm, and chana didn't feel like starting.  so i said she has 15 min in the morning to decompress and then we would start.

however, by the time chana came down this morning, aharon was back asleep and jack wasn't awake yet, and i was enjoying my little peace and quiet of the day.  so i didn't press her.  then aharon woke up, then jack woke up (yes, you read that correctly--aharon woke up from his morning nap before jack woke up for the morning), and then things were busy.  so it was after noon before we got to chumash.

but that's ok because it's the week before pesach so i don't have much to do.

anyway, we sat down to vayechi and chana looked for sheni.  it seemed manageable, so she looked for shlishi.  it seemed manageable, so she looked for revi'i.  chamishi finally seemed long to her, so she was brimming with energy and announced she'd be doing through revi'i. 
i've been around the chumash block a few times, and privately hoped we'd make it uneventfully to sheni.  but hey, i'm not going to be the discouraging voice.

chana had a couple of good questions.  she asked the famous: how did yaakov not know who yosef's sons were?  (particularly as we just did the rashi that efraim was learning with yaakov.)  (based on those rashis, chana wondered if yaakov preferred efraim because he had a relationship with him.  i ventured that efraim was on a higher level.  chana said that menashe was working with yosef as a translator.)

chana also envisioned yaakov not feeling well, then being strong enough to sit up in bed.  she kind of acted it out.  yaakov was creaky and aged, and moved with great effort. 

she did indeed run out of steam by the end or rishon.  but she asked to do sheni and possibly shlishi tonight. 

i underlined a couple of rashis and we did them outside (she also asked: why didn't yaakov bury rachel in chevron if it was so close?) but we didn't do them inside and we didn't review the ones in vayigash.  i am not so impressed with chana's entire grasp of vayigash or the rashis.  i do not feel this is because of chana, but rather in the way i chose to do it regarding speed and lack of chazara.  i think it is important to note that students often "don't succeed" because of the way it's been taught, not because of a lack in the student.

i was pleasantly surprised that chana remembered the shoresh "kavar" bury in all its forms today.

i pulled out the map of the nachalos of the shevatim from the stone tanach at one point because yaakov was telling yosef that these 2 sons would be like his sons, and any future sons would be included in their nachala.  i showed her that yosef didn't have a portion, and that efraim and menashe were like the other shevatim.  we pored over the map for a little bit.  chana noticed that menashe had 2 portions and that levi had none (pretty sharp, chan!).  i flipped to the levite cities map and showed her all their cities.  she asked why they were with everybody else.  i said she'll find out in this parsha.

we also found chevron on the map, and chana said that rachel was the only one not buried there, and she asked why.  unfortunately, beis lechem was not on the map and we didn't go all the way upstairs to look at the map there, nor did i get up and cross the room and take the map book off the shelf.