Sunday, August 5, 2012

Homeschool Mother's Journal - Week 10


In my life this week.....

I am working hard at keeping positive.  I have been planning a ton of field trips, and got a wrench thrown at me by one of the venues this week.  And that was after we have verified all the trips I had scheduled with them.  Made for an irritating evening trying to figure out the new plan.  I also feel like there is just plain too much drama going on in certain areas of my life, and quite honestly I am tired of it.  I cannot do anything about it, but it's frustrating also.  Especially when I do not even truly know why it's even happening.

I also need to find a new home for our Pug, Rocky.  As much of a sweetie as he is, I am having a hard time giving him all the attention he wants.  And when he feels neglected, he starts messing on the floor or peeing on the clothes baskets.  I am so frustrated right now.  He is great with the kids, but will bark and lunge at part of the adults that come around him.  He chases the cats and also killed our parakeets.  I love him, but I can not handle the extra stress any longer.  We are also giving up on having a dog.  The last two dogs....wow!!!  That is all I can say....WOW!!!

We are also now planning a trip to Tennessee at the end of the month, so I am going to try and get all of the school done before hand, so we can take the time we are there off.  I am being a bit selfish in this endeavor because it's less I have to pack...lol.

One more big project I am working on is the kids party favor business.  Krayon Kreations is taking a lot of work to get started.  It's not a service, so I have to get a stock of product created.  Melting crayons is a hot and stinky job.  And Joey has stressed me so bad trying to pour the hot wax, that I have ban him from trying it again for a few weeks.  We are going to go to our First Craft Fair the 3rd week in September.  So I am going to be creating a lot over the next couple weeks.  I figure if I pour the wax, the kids can separate, sort and bag the sets.  Plus we have flyers to make, business cards to design, pricing to figure out.......this is a great project though for the kids.  And a great small business lesson.  I am also going to encourage them donating part of their proceeds, and we will have to decide where the money will be going.  So many good agencies in our area.

It has been a rough week though because of my fibromyalgia.  So everything is causing me extra stress.  I have had two mini-anxiety attacks.  And Lydia has chosen to repeatedly play with me and knows what buttons to push.  Ugghhh!!  She almost had her gymnastics classes cancelled because of her mouthiness.  And of course, Caty is following in her footsteps.  So we are having many...many battles.  Lydias's only 7, not 17!!  Going to be a long time til she is 18.  In the meantime, I am praying for strength and patience.....alot of patience.  I just feel like I raised my voice way too much this week.

In our homeschool this week.....

We are working hard on typical subjects like Math, Language Arts and Reading.  The kids turned in the last of their reading hours for the summer.  They turned in 30 hours today.  I was very proud of them.  Even Brayden very actively participated.  At first we couldn't get him to read anything but Easy Readers, but at least he was reading.  Now he is reading Magic Tree House, which is a huge leap from Biscuit the Dog in just a couple weeks.  He earned a free book from the library fro finishing his first 12 hours.  And it was a Magic Tree House.  He is super excited about reading them, and checked out a huge stack today while we were there.  Yeah!!!

I bought a Rod and Staff Grammar book off of a fellow homeschooler here in town.  I ordered the workbooks yesterday to go with the book.  I am hoping that they enjoy this program.  I have never used Rod and Staff, but it looks wonderful!

We also turned in our assessments and paperwork to the School district, per Ohio law.  They are so confused about homeschooling laws, that they sent me a form to fill out and return to them that is the exact information that I had retyped into a notification letter.  Same info...but a different format.  A waste of resources to fill this out, and a waste of envelopes/stamps/paper.  I am calling them Monday to see if they really need me to send it to them.  Doesn't make sense why they would need it.

Things that are not working for us.....

I definitely need a better schedule.  I have been fighting having a schedule, and have to schedule my time, but life is making me start to micromanage every hour of the day.  I hope it calms down a bit next month, but in the mean time, I have to start.  Trouble is with our kids, the only one who will work independently without me totally looking over his shoulder is Brayden.  I still need to make sure he is completing his work, but I don't have to look over his shoulder.  Both Joey and Lydia stop working if I get up from the table for just a few moments.  If I walk away from Lydia working on her phonics or even leave the room to get a drink while she is working on a math worksheet....forget it, she shuts down.

This is not working because it's taking too long to finish the work that we need to complete.  And then Caty is suffering for attention in her work.  I need to find the balance over the next week.  This morning, I threatened to shut down Joey's internet privileges several times just to get him to move.  I could tell he was having a bit of an off day....but man!!! it was a rough one.

What I am reading.....

Really nothing, but something.  I am reading Redwall right now.  Lydia found the cartoon series on Netflix and her and Caty are really liking it.  So I am reading the book to see if it would make a good read together.  I am also still reading Wizard of Oz with the girls.  It's amazing how many differences you can find in the movie and the book.  I may give up totally on reading a really book...lol.  But I may start Sense and Sensibility.  I downloaded some classics on my Kindle last week.  Going to try and start them this week.

What I am cooking...

To be honest, not a lot this past week.  I just wasn't feeling well at all.  My fibro has been kicking my butt, and because I wasn't feeling well.  I just kind of limped through some piece together meals, which the kids didn't seem to mind.  But I don't know how Joe felt...lol.  This week I am trying to cook a lot more.  I made some super simple Cashew chicken style lettuce wraps using boneless chicken thighs, apple cider vinegar, cashew butter, salt, red pepper flakes and thyme.  Served the mixture in red lettuce leaves.....very yummy.  Got a few more things going to make this week too.  I found some grass fed beef at a local grocery store.  So we are trying some steaks and ground beef.

Our week in pictures.......

Joey got a new LEGO set, and he was building it with Daddy.
 We bought this little climbing gym on a local online garage sale.  Lydia of course is in love.
 The kids saw the GoodYear Blimp go over the house.  We actually drove underneath it.
 Brayden cuddling with the cat while we were working on his Cat project.
 This was carryover from last week in Science.  As the water evaporated, you can see the baking soda crystals that were left behind.  As the string sucked the water from the cups, the baking soda went with it into the string.  The string would dry and the baking soda formed spikes.


 We watched the Olympic mascot videos on YouTube.
 They also did an experiment with oil.  They put olive oil on their hands and ran cold water over them.  They could see the water beading and not able to break through the oil barrier.  And that is why polar bears can swim in freezing water.  The oil on their skin keeps the water away.  Basically it's like a waterproof coat.  The only way they got the oil off was with soap.
 We also had a brief visit to the local Police Museum.
 An old lie detector machine.
We got a lot done this week, but I feel like we should have done more.  I just got to get over the feeling.  I am having a hard time still between under and over educating....lol.  Don't we all...lol!!!

Have a great week!!!


1 comment:

  1. first time reading your blog! very interesting things going on. I sure hope you have an enjoyable time in Tennesee. It would be fun to get away like that.

    Dianne

    ReplyDelete