Thursday, June 28, 2012

Homeschool Mothers Journal Week 5



In my life this week....


A lot more quiet this week.  Of course we finally found out about the van.....yuck!  About $8,500 in damages and 3 weeks to fix it.  We are out of a van until July 16th-17th.  I am sooooo missing my van right now.  The little car is just not as comfortable, and we all can't go places together.  Our red car needs about $600.00 worth of work, but I cannot pay for that because I have almost $700.00 I need for our deductible and my ticket for the accident.  Yeah....they gave me a $180.00 fine for failure to control my vehicle.  Go figure!  When it rains it pours!


So really just a lot of looking at our budget and seeing where to rob Peter to pay Paul type reconfiguring...lol.


I was also honored to be in the Circle of Moms - Top 25 Homeschool blogs contest.  We finished #52 this year.  Looking at all the competition I was up against....wow!!  I was honored to be where I was!  Thanks for all who voted for us.  It made me think though, that I could be telling more 'behind the scenes' that happens while homeschooling and living with multiple kids with special needs.  So I am going to make more of an effort to share what we are struggling with.  But try and keep it with a positive spin.....at least after I am retelling it I will be able to hopefully find the humor in some of our struggles...lol.


We also said goodbye to a wonderful neighbor this week.  We now live in the house that I grew up in.  So I always remember having these neighbors.  Bob passed away early Monday morning from an illness that he has been fighting for the past year.  He will be missed by all of us.  The kids were upset because they won't be seeing Bob outside anymore to wave at or ask to help water the flowers.  His wife, Nancy is a sweetie too, and Lydia adores her.  I am glad that our kids love to help out the neighbors with little things like carrying in their groceries from their cars or watering their flowers.  You don't see that hardly anymore.  But I am grateful that we have such wonderful neighbors to allow such energetic kids to help them out...lol.


In our homeschool.....


We finished everything except history.....got behind in that subject.  I am going to rethink next week because of this.  I think our "day off" will probably consist of just history that morning.  I just feel that we really have been too relaxed in our history coverage and geography.


Lydia did a bit of a freak out this week and wouldn't go to her art camp.  She just kept saying she wanted to wait for the art class that I will be starting this fall in a local town.  We did do a cool art project this week though.


Joey is working on his Space lapbook, but I figured out he was doing as little as possible to make himself look busy and like he was getting something done.  So we had a sit down today about that...lol.  Still struggling horribly with multiplication facts.


Brayden also tried to do the bare minimum to make me think like he was doing work.....do they not learn!?!?!


Caty and I got most of her work done this week.  She didn't do much "writing"....but we worked on her pencil grasp.  And WOW!!!  There is a massive sensory issue with glue, liquid and stick.  She purposely is putting it on her fingers to rub it off as it dries.  I caught her trying to glue her toes!  She laughed at me and said 'It felt squishy and funny!".....Ugh!!!


Tomorrow the girls and I are going to the zoo with their Elementary Co-op.  Going to be a hot one!  They are going to focus on Primates and encourage sketching the animals also.  We will be using our newest stroller purchase for the first time.  I purchased an oversize stroller from a special needs preschool auction. Caty was too big for ours, but I need one because she wanders.  But even Brayden can ride in this one.


My favorite thing this week....


My new shelves in the front storage closet that my hubby installed on Sunday.  I have been able to walk into the closet and get what supplies we have needed all week.  No issues other than moving around the easel I have stored in there right now.  I plan on installing a hook to hang that on the wall opposite the shelves so it won't be in my way at all.  Whooooohoooo!!! I so love that closet now!


Question I have....ok Questions.....


The glue thing....any suggestions for this sensory issue.  Joey still has it, but not to the same extent.  He just picks at the dried glue on the bottles obsessively.  So I use bottled glue very sparingly with him.  But not sure about this new thing with Caty.


2nd question.....Could I hear some feedback on Easy Grammar Systems.  I am looking at purchasing Easy Grammar 3 - Easy Grammar 6.  The boys do not like the books we have, which provide very little explanation.  They are mainly workbooks, no instruction.


Things I am working on....


My personal Bible study and also my personal workout.  I am falling behind in both.  My fibro has been causing massive brain fog issues.  So reading and understanding has been extremely difficult for me.  Cartoons are even confusing me.  I have to ask Joe to repeat things constantly.  Driving me nuts!!!  But the pain is even worse than the brain fog.  My joints are stiff and I just plain ache constantly.  This sounds sad, but today it was over 100 degrees in our area, and I felt comfortable.  It felt better than being in the A/C!  So I am trying to keep a better workout schedule in hopes to clear up my brain fog issues and pain issues.


What I am reading......


Product Details
It was a very predictable, short story.  So trying another one of his books after I finish the two I have checked out.  I am starting:


Product Detailsand Product Details


What I am cooking....


Lots of chicken this week.  We had baked chicken a couple times...very simple just salt and thyme.  It was super yummy, and made for great leftover sandwiches.  Our oven doesn't seem to heat up the house too much, so it is nice to be able to pop the chicken in and walk away for about an hour.  A salad with sauteed shrimp this week with a vinegarette that Joe loves and I even made lasagna tonight.  Also on Sunday I made Joe a big zuchini cake (which is like zuchini bread...but in much larger amounts).  Tonight I attempted a version of GF/DF smores bars.  I forgot the salt in the "cookie dough" part of the layers, so not super yummy.  But not horrible either.  The topping was good.   I also made Watermelon Sorbet...it was yummy and I think I may have killed our ice cream machine :(  Hoping for the best for it and going to try it again in a bit to make sure I didn't kill it.


A photo to share.....


Our pug, Rocky, taking a nap on Hello Kitty.  How funny!!!




Linking up with other Homeschool families at the Homeschool Mother's Journal.



7 comments:

  1. Love your photo! Cute doggy ;) Sounds like you had a busy week. Congrats on the homeschool mom blog list!

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  2. Hi Renita, We have a kiddo with sensory issues too. When he was in second grade and still in public school we tried lots of things to allow him to have sensory input and still be able to pay attention without disturbing the rest of the class. We put self adhesive velcro under his desk. He could rub and touch it without anyone else noticing. I think he likes it but unfortunately it didn't take long before he picked it all off. Maybe you could get some that has really sticky adhesive for your little pickers?? Maybe they just need something to pick at to help them concentrate?
    Good luck! My sensory kiddo is almost 14 now and age and meds help. Maybe your kids will grow out of some of their sensory stuff too.

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  3. Had to chuckle at the kids doing only the bare minimum to make you think they were working. Yes, they DO learn! They learn early to try those "bare minimum" tactics and see if they can get away with it! LOL My kiddos are all the same. Love your photo of the doggy!

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  4. Oh your "Working On" sounds so familiar! I have been slacking of on both of them too. I just started reading Made to Crave and I think I'm going to start posting about the study on my weightloss blog www.OneRollataTime.com. I'm hoping that will help keep me motivated if I'm telling others what I'm up to!

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  5. Ugh on the van repairs.

    My kids have had their bare minimum phases too. Lately it's been revolving around chores.

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  6. pg เลือกตั้ง นายก เว็บไซต์ที่มาแรงที่สุดของยุคนี้ PGSLOT เว็บไซต์ตรงไม่ผ่านเอเย่นต์แจ็กเพียงพอตแตกมาก แตกจริง แถมพวกเราจ่ายลูกค้าทุกคนจริง ไม่ยั้ง ไม่เท ขอบอกเลยว่าพวกเรา

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  7. เล่นสล็อต PG Slot ให้เข้าใจ หลังจากที่คุณได้เลือกเว็บไซต์ที่เหมาะสมและเลือกเกมที่ต้องการเล่นแล้ว เรียนรู้และใช้กลยุทธ์ในการเล่นสล็อต PG SLOT อย่างถูกต้อง เพื่อเพิ่มโอกาสชนะใหญ่ รวมถึงลดความเสี่ยง

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