Friday, September 30, 2011

Our Weekly Triumphs (Accomplishments)


Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

What a busy week!!!  There are very few homeschooling families that don't say that every single week!

The hubby had to go to Tennessee again for work, but we stayed home this time.  So it was me against the kids all week.  So it made for a very long week.  Someone once told me that it got easier as kids got older.  Well I keep waiting for that time. But unfortunately for our family life gets a whole new set of challenges and set backs.  We have a new round of sensory issues that have developed with Caty and Brayden.  Joey also has had some sensory and mood issues that we have been swinging with.  I used to get so bored and craved noise and excitement in my life.  I can honestly say....NOT anymore.  I am now craving some quiet!  The girls have been battling runny noses all week.  Caty is been sort of croupy, and with Joe out of town, I didn't sleep much for fear I would have to go to the ER in the middle of the night by myself with all the kids.  I spent most of each night trying to keep her breathing steady with vaporizers and keeping the room temperature a bit on the cool side...all while she slept.  If I could...I would probably sleep all day tomorrow...but you know that won't happen.

Monday---We went on a field trip to the Frogtown Froggy Museum with our homeschool group.  It was a fun trip with stories and lots of frogs.  We also had LEGO Club that day.  Unfortunately due to the rainy and nasty wet weather, soccer was cancelled this week.  So we came home and vegged with some TV. 

Tuesday---We worked on school work in the morning and then we took Grandma to her specialist appointment.  I also had an appointment in the same office with this specialist.  Was loud and distracting (not to mention frustrating to not get answers), but came home after picking up our Veggie Share at the local farm.

Wednesday---I promised that I would take them out to lunch, where ever they chose if they finished their schoolwork with fighting with me.  After the dryer died and the van was acting up....I decided I needed to resort to bribery that day.  It worked......and they chose Chinese. 

Thursday---We didn't have to go anywhere!!!  WHoooooohooo!!!  Did some schoolwork after I spent all morning pouring over the budget to make sure we could swing a new vehicle.  Fortunately my mom allowed me to dry our clothes at her house, so I spent the day running back and forth to their house with our few loads of laundry.  Did some light cleaning in the kids rooms.  Their rooms are going to be ripped apart in the next few days so we can put in their new beds. 

Friday---More doctor appointments for med checks.  I broke down and allowed them take-out again for lunch.  They are loving this week.  And then we took Grandma home and the girls had their first ballet class this afternoon.  This is Caty's first ballet class. 



We were able to finish math.  Lydia was able to return to MathUSee again.  She is struggling a bit, but seems to like it and loves when she realizes she understands it.  It's hilarious when she screams..."I got it!"  She started a new phonics program (watch for the upcoming review).  The boys are working on adding and subtracting money with decimals.  We worked on our Amanda Bennett Autumn Treasures Unit Study.  We are going to spend two weeks on it, instead of one.  And we finished our US Geography study of Indiana.  The kids are enjoying these books from Timberdoodle.  They had a bit more trouble memorizing the scripture this week, but they can give me most of it and they have the jist of it correct, so I am not worried about it.  They understand Adam and Eve and what happened.  Another small hurdle victory.


Another successful week.  I am happy that the boys remembered our State Geography facts.  If they can tell me the state capital of each state....I consider that an accomplishment!!!  And we were full of those all week!

See what other homeschool families accomplished this week....linking up here.

Homeschool Mother's Journal - Week 16

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week.....

Dealing with allergies and colds in the kids.  Caty is prone to develop the croop very quickly and without much warning, so I have been watching her closely all week.  Our van is not running properly and Joe has been in Tennessee this week, so did not want to have to go to the ER in the middle of the night with all 4 kids if I could avoid it.  So I was pulling as many croop remedy tricks out as I could to make sure she was breathing ok. 

Just trying to keep up and try to keep things running smoothly.  The specialist appointment for myself was a bummer....no news and the family dr. may have misdiagnosed me.  Waiting on that bloodwork now.  But basically back to grasping at straws again.  He suggested an allergist, but I can't get an appointment until April 25, 2012.  But he said to be careful and not lose too much more weight.  I can't get in for 6 months, and can barely eat anything....yet need to watch my weight loss.  Yeah...how fun! 

Also need to find Brayden a Sensory/OT therapist.  Could help with his going outside issues their psychiatrist said.  So working on that now too.  The one he was going too concentrated more on his speech than OT.  Finding an OT that works well with your child can be just as as trying to build the Eiffel tower out of marshmallows (which we have tried to do...and it's hard!).

We may be getting a new puppy next week also.  Working on it with the owners right now.  This on top of shopping for a new van and working on budgeting a van payment and higher insurance rates has me feeling a bit stressed, but at least I hope that a new van will not leave me stranded somewhere!
In our homeschool this week....

We talked about Indiana in US Geography.  The kids did not like apple butter.  It's the cloves taste, because they love applesauce and cinnamon.  Apple butter and fried biscuits was their state meal they picked out.  Worked out well because Lydia and I are reading book 2 of the Felicity series for American Girl Club and Felicity made apple butter with her mom in the beginning of that book.  We did math and grammar also.  And currently working on the Amanda Bennett Download N Go Autumn Treasures unit.  We've talked about the Harvest Moon and why it is called that.  Why leaves change colors and Johnny Appleseed.

Where we are going and what we are seeing.....

The kids and I went to the Frogtown Froggy Museum on Monday and we also had LEGO/Builders Club this week. 

We were able to spend all day at home yesterday....it was soooooooooo nice!!!  Lydia looked at me though last night while we were watching TV and

Lydia said, "We didn't go anywhere today!!!  Why not!!!" 

I responded, "It was nice to stay home, wasn't it!!"

Lydia, "No, so we need to go SOMEWHERE tomorrow....."

Our field trip this morning was cancelled because of rain, so we have two next week...plus Lydia's co-op.  Be another busy week.

Questions I have......

Any suggestions on finding an Occupational therapist for a child with autism.  He is experiencing extreme anxiety at times with noise, light, and even just the air outside.  Yesterday he had to wear his noise headphones because the fan was bothering him, yet we could not just turn off the fan.  He had to have that on also.  He also cannot stand to have a ceiling fan on. 

I'm reading.....

Educating the Whole Hearted Child

Educating the WholeHearted Child 3rd Edition

and still reading...

Game of Thrones  Book 1

A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One

I am enjoying Game of Thrones.  I really like this series so far.  There's a good mix of Sci-fi (which the hubby really likes...and I don't always like), so we can both enjoy watching the show and read the book.  My goal is still to finish Book 1 and 2 before the new season starts in the spring.  I really like the show Castle on ABC and Monday night, Castle made a Game of Thrones reference I thought was cool.  "He went all Game of Thrones on him!"  Love it!

What I'm cooking......

We made homemade crock pot apple butter last night.  But other than that, not too much this week.  I'm still eating very restricted, and I pretty much let the kids eat what they wanted this week.  Just watched their choices and made recommendations.  And helped cook it for them.

Favorite quote or saying this week....

Jesse from Our side of the Mountain left me a cool comment last week.  Gave me a good feeling.  So I am sharing it!

Our Side of the Mountain said...
Homeschoolers are never behind. Someone once told me this. We do our own thing, schooling with life. What we accomplish is just that. So, you're not behind! LOL


Everyone have a great week!!!

Find out what other mother's are doing!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Museum to Frogtown.....

We live in Northern Ohio....most of which used to be an area called The Great Black Swamp.


There was a time when the Black Swamp covered all or part of twelve Ohio counties and stretched far into Indiana. The whole area was made up of water meadows, mud flats, and stands of oak, sycamore, and hickory trees. Thick fields of high, aquatic grasses made a day's work of walking a couple miles. Hidden pools of water and deep mud made the journey dangerous and even deadly.

Though Toledo was just outside the boundaries of the Black Swamp, it was still just a dry spot in a big marsh. The early settlers dealt with damp and disease every day. They also had to deal with a constant chorus of frogs. The noise was so ever-present that people started calling Toledo "Frogtown".

Our area has this wonderful family musuem to visit and play at, and guess what....as homeschoolers we felt we had to visit this really cool place.



The Frogtown Froggy Museum......This museum has over 400 frogs......there are salt shakers, cups, pitchers, stuffed frogs, games, ride-on toys, instruments, kitchenware, books, magazines, far too much to name.

The owner was soooo nice today.  The kids turned the place upside down.  Did I mention almost all of the items can be touched and played with!??!?  The kids had alot of fun playing with their friends and with all the frogs. 

Here's a few shots....I don't want to show you everything.....just a glimpse at some of the cool frogs we saw......





Joey was a one-man band....


Lydia had fun with the instruments too....


The kids had fun playing with all the games and toys and hearing stories.


On the drive home, Lydia said, "When you said Frog Museum, I thought you were going to make us look at a bunch of frogs like a stuffy old museum.  That would be fun....but this was AWESOME."   I guess we have two unbelieveable Mondays in a row!!!  Definitely be visiting this museum again.

Linking up with Anna-Marie's Field Trip Blog Hop...see what other homeschool families are doing.....



Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

The shutter on my cell phone was slow enough to capture the rain reflections when Lydia and I were walking around downtown Franklin, Tennessee.


Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Big Kids School this week


In Big Kid School this week, we will be working on the standard Math.

 PrimerMath U See Primer for Lydia

Teaching Textbooks Math 3Almost finished with this one....for the boys.

In Science, we will be working on the Magic School Bus Human Body Science Kit (we are already working on the first experiment since it needs to sit for a couple days.


We'll also be building ourselves with the help of this book....

My Body (Science Books S)

We will also be looking at Autumn and the upcoming seasonal changes by using Amanda's Bennett's Autumn Treasures Unit Study.  We'll be including some fall fun projects and books to read.  So this will be literature also, as we will be learning a bit about poetry.

Autumn Treasures
The boys will continue using Big IQ Kids for their spelling and math review.
Lydia and I are continuing phonics using the items from the Moffat Girls Shop and a cross of Looney Tunes Click N Read Phonics.  She and I now work together in the morning and evening on her site words and sounds.  We are going to go with repetition since it just seems like something that is working for her right now. 
Lydia and I are going to continue working on our study of Felicity.  This week we plan to make Apple Butter just like Felicty and her mom did.  We will also be working on basic embroidery with a kit that I found at Hobby Lobby.
As a group we will work on State Geography of Indiana.  We have our meal planned of biscuits and apple butter and hopefully sugar creme pie....hopefully. 

In History we will be working on Ancient Egypt and mummification.  Maybe even watch a History Channel special on mummies. 
SW1





We are going to finish our study of Adam and Eve and work on memorizing our Bible Verse of the week.    This week is Genesis 2:7.

Busy week....we have basic studies above and two field trips this week.  Also have LEGO Club, a med check for the boys, and a dr. appt for Grandma.  And all we homeschoolers do is sit around and do nothing to help our children.....lol!!

Monday, September 26, 2011

September LEGO Club Challenge---Johnny Appleseed


This month's Builder's Club/LEGO Club challenge was to build something that made you think of Johnny Appleseed.  I cheated a bit and included a bit of our Autumn Unit that we are doing.  We talked about apples.  We cut them apart and examined the insides...enjoyed the texture, taste and smell of them.  And then we read the book, Apples, Apples, Apples.


And then we watch The Legend of Johnny Appleseed online. 



We started the short 18 minute show again and they set to building what they thought of when they heard about Johnny Appleseed.




 We also made hats to get into the spirit of Johnny Appleseed.


 (Yes that is peanut butter on her face. She just finished eating her apple slices....)

Joey chose to make a book.  He thought it was cool that Johnny Chapman also liked to teach people about God.  His book actually had a hinge that it could open and shut partially.  Very cool!! 


Brayden and Lydia both chose to make apples.


Club meeting is tomorrow and we will be building space items.  Yeah!!!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

National Family Dinner Night---September 26, 2011

CASA Family Day 2008 Public Service Announcement

Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your ChildrenTM is a national movement launched by CASA Columbia in 2001 to remind parents that frequent family Dinners Make A Difference! While there are no silver bullets – substance abuse can strike any family regardless of ethnicity, affluence, age or gender – the parental engagement fostered at the dinner table can be a simple, effective tool to help prevent substance abuse in kids.

Become a Family Day STAR!

I commit to:

S- Spend time with my kids by having dinner together
T- Talk to them about their friends, interests and the dangers of drugs and alcohol
A- Answer their questions and listen to what they say
R- Recognize that I have the power to help keep my kids substance free!

Make your pledge at Family Day.

I took the Family Day STAR Pledge!


Saturday, September 24, 2011

Our Weekly Triumphs (Accomplishments)


Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
 
What a week.....what a week!!!  We spent the week trying to get back into the swing of life in Ohio and not in Tennessee.  We all really enjoy that area (even Brayden!).  But the week back is always a bit of a challenge and we had a jammed pack week of activities.
 
On Monday, Lydia had a field trip to a local pizza parlor to make pizzas.  It was a Girl Scout trip, so it was just her (and not her siblings this time...made it just a her and I adventure).  We had schoolwork to finish in the morning and evening.
 
 
 
Tuesday brought a trip to the ER with my mom because a section of her PIC line plugged and they had to check it.  The trip wasn't bad, just those middle of the day trips kind of ruin the rest of the day.  It's almost and hour one-way to the hospital, so felt like I lived in the van.  But did get some material and trying to make the girls Felicity doll dresses for their American Girl Club.  A bit of a challenge for me...a novice sewer.  Then the boys started their first week of Bowling Team with Special Olympics.  They loved it!!  Even Brayden!!  They both bowled two games, which is unheard of.
 
Wednesday was Homeschool Day at the Zoo.  And Joe was able to take the day off and we went as a family.  That was a challenging day.  Brayden and Joey both gave us fits of tantrums and sensory issues.  Even Caty joined in a couple times.  She is experiencing some sensory issues off and on...and they have gotten more outspoken since she started back to preschool in a regular school setting.  But that's a whole other story...and issue.  Anyway, even with the threat of rain and autism outbursts, we were able to complete our zoo bingo card.  Although we chose the easiest route we could because we couldn't handle a hard route that day.  I'm just glad the employees remember the kids from zoo class, so they understand.
 



 
Thursday brought schoolwork in the morning, and American Girl Club in the afternoon.  This was our first meeting for the Felicity books.  The girls (with some help...lol), made mob caps and coral braclets.  For our at home project, Lydia and I made pomander balls out of apples.


Friday was another one of those days....the boys had med checks in the middle of the morning.  Another 2 hour round trip not to mention the actual office time.  I was able to take 15 minutes and stop at a health food store by the dr. office and pick up some arrowroot flour (since I stopped using cornstarch) and some extra coconut flour and carob powder to make brownies with tomorrow.  Got home and did a lot of cleaning.  We did some basic schoolwork, but not a lot.  Mainly reading and some basic math.  I had to run and pick up prescriptions then for the boys for the new meds Brayden is now on.   The kids were excited though because they got to play with their cousins for a couple hours in the evening while my brother and his wife went to see a movie. 

Saturday was a great family day.  We went to pick apples to help a local food bank.  The boys do not participate a lot in community projects since they do not always handle the situations well.  This worked out really well today!!!  We will definitely make this a family tradition to do each fall.  We also did the diet Coke and Mentos experiment when we got home, oh and played bocce ball.  It was fun.



Well that's our week....hope everyone had a wonderful week and are enjoying their weekend!!!  Check out what other families accomplished at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers link-up.