Today we took a walk with L's cat, Sophie. You're reading this and thinking, "You can't walk a cat." Well, you are right. I thought that we probably wouldn't get too far on the walk, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Besides, I believe in choosing your battles, and I was not interested in arguing with L about whether or not to take the cat on the walk. As you can imagine, the cat was not interested in actually walking. She did what she always does when L takes her outside (which is pretty often since L is getting her ready for the fair) and sniffed around then rolled around to try to get her harness off. When a car came by, she bolted for the street - thankfully, the leash was pretty short. So, it was a short walk today. Tomorrow will be a walk or bike ride to the library, so Sophie will stay at home with Silver and Sassy - inside, where they belong.
If I hear one more time "I'm bored" from my children, I think I'll scream!! How can kids who have imagination friends galore and who can go to space with pillows and K'Nex get bored? It is clearly time for school to start. The problem is that I'm not ready for school to start - the school books are still in the storage unit. I have started giving the kids chores when they tell me they're bored, so I don't have to hear them complain too often, but they're clearly ready for some more structure to their days.
So, tomorrow we are going to the library to make sure we have the library books we need for Monday. Monday morning, we will start school, whether we have "school" books or not. Both kids have 4-H projects that need work, so that will keep us busy. I have decided to have L do a good bit of dictation this year to help with her writing - handwriting, punctuation, spelling, etc. I'll start with passages from her Harry Potter books and move to her "regular" school books when we get there. L also needs to work on her division facts, so we've got math to keep her busy. C is ready to work on subtraction facts. He also needs to learn to tell time and do clock math as well as a general review of time - from seconds up to centuries. I haven't had him tested for dyslexia yet, but I am going to get going with some multisensory reading and phonics work. I've found some free stuff on the internet that includes computer stuff as well as printouts for writing practice. I think this will keep them busy for a couple hours a day for the next week or two.
I have had a couple of bad headache weeks. In the midst of this, I am learning to have some backup dinner plans ready. I don't like to buy a lot of prepared food since I know how to and like to cook. But, I have decided that keeping some frozen pasta, chicken nuggets, barbeque beef, etc. around for P to cook if I'm not having a good day is a lot cheaper and makes for a happier family than always having sandwiches or cheap pizza. I'm also finding that taking a break in the middle of the afternoon helps with being able to cook dinner.
We are still unpacking boxes. This unpacking process is painfully slow. I'm hoping that we can get a good bit done this weekend. I'm more productive when P is home because we motivate each other. So, a couple more weeks, and we should have it all done . . . I hope . . . maybe . . .
2 comments:
I was going to offer to help with unpacking Monday or Tuesday next week, but it sounds like starting school is most important on that agenda. (We just finished doing full days of school at the end of June, so fortunately no one is bored yet.) If I can help later, please let me know!
Have you read Managers of Their Homes? I thought of it when reading your blog about kids doing consistent chores. The book as a whole can be pretty overwhelming if you are a box-checker like me, but the section on kids and chores revolutionized life for us--now even if I have to do something unexpected all day, the laundry and dishes and sweeping and picking up still get done. And really, everything else can go for a few days. Anyway, I have a copy on my bookshelves somewhere if you would ever like to borrow it.
Hope the cooler weather lets you have some better days.
Alyssa Harlan
I hear ya about school, as soon as swimming lessons are done, we have one week left, we will be starting school too.
I wanted to make a suggestion about meals. I have in the past made up meals for a whole month in one weekend. It really helps to know that on migrane days , I have them to, or just busy days I just have to pull out a casserole or soup or whatever out of the freezer. It's also very economic. A friend of mine and I use to do it together, it would average out about $75 about 20 meals. We don't get together anymore to do this, so now I just make about 6 meals on payday.
Good Luck next week.
Donna McNair
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