A Good Day!

It was a good day today!! Here's why!

1. Gorgeous weather! Sunny with temps in the 70s.
2. No migraine and chronic headache only about a 2/10
3. Lots of good work and good company at the Senior Nutrition Center.
4. Got the audiobook version of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and started listening with Wild Man.
5. Worked on Wild Man's socks.
6. Cleaned some windows.
7. Cleaned some wood trim with Murphy's Oil Soap.
8. Worked on laundry.
9. Straightened the living room then swept the living room and dining room.
10. Took a walk in the lovely weather.
11. Read a book for a few minutes.
12. Spent the day with Wild Man.
13. Listened to Wild Man and Mr. Math Tutor tell me about their fun flying their new radio controlled airplane/glider.
14. Watching Mythbusters.
15. Missing Rosie Girl.
16. Chased Sassy after she escaped - oh, wait, that wasn't one of the good parts of the day.

So, if all goes well and I don't have a big headache tomorrow, my goal is to clean the bathroom!!

How was your day? What does it take to have a good day?

Tuesday Musings

It's Tuesday of Spring Break. So far, my house is not any more clean than it was Monday morning, which is my overall goal for the week. Rosie Girl left today on a trip with the high school choir. Wild Man had a friend over this morning and has otherwise been goofing off for the last couple of days. Mr. Math Tutor is writing another book, backing up and redoing my computer, and getting ready for Easter Sunday service.

My Spring Break goals:

1. Give the bathroom a good, in-depth cleaning. The bathroom is mostly dusty from the toilet paper rolls, so I need to take everything off the toilet topper shelves and wipe them off.

2. Clean the downstairs windows.

3. Clean the wood around the windows in the sunroom and living room.

4. Get Wild Man and Mr. Math Tutor to straighten Wild Man's bedroom.

I think that's enough to do before Friday noon - which is when my mother-in-law comes to visit.

On a more long-term perspective, I want to get my dining room and kitchen painted (blue). After that is done, I'm going to take the baskets from above the cabinets and instead store my china and crystal up there. I've realized that my china is stored away where it's hard to get to so we never use it. It's also very pretty and I'd like to display it, even if it's up high in the kitchen.

The weather tomorrow through Friday is supposed to be nicer, so the headache might not be as bad, which improves the odds of some kind of cleaning getting done. That's my hope!!

(And, no cool signature because I'm blogging from my daughter's computer tonight.)

Links!!

First of all, why is the main character in the Zelda video games called Link?  And why is the good looking guy in Hairspray named Link?  Who names a person Link?  Oh, well.  Here are some interesting internet links (a more reasonable use of the word, by the way!).

An interesting collage of Disney animation showing how the animators re-used sequences.

If Jesus were on Facebook – too funny!!

Another great Stuff Christians Like post!

First Things has a tournament of novels.  They’re in Round 2 right now.

Interesting map of denominations.

Very sad news about a popular blogger.

Biologos is one of my favorite websites and this series is excellent.

That should keep you busy and off the streets for a day or so.  I hope to post more later in the week!

Our Week In Review – 3/27/2010

We finished Week 27 this week and next week is Spring Break!!  Rosie Girl leaves on Tuesday to go to Washington D.C. with the high school choir – and she is excited!!

History/Social Sciences

We’ve been learning about the early 20th century, particularly Teddy Roosevelt, the Great Depression, FDR, and the New Deal.  Wild Man and I watched a DVR show about the Civilian Conservation Corps.  I’m trying to help Rosie Girl evaluate history somewhat critically, particularly as we discuss the New Deal and the Depression.  She’s not all that interested in politics and economics, but I do want her to understand that there is more than one school of thought regarding the effects of the New Deal.

Science

Rosie Girl is almost finished with her Biology book.  One more week of book work and then we start dissections!!  (Note – she’s not nearly excited about this as I am.  Bummer.)  She was learning about genetics this week and was complaining about how hard it was.  I could not have that!  Basic Mendelian genetics is not confusing at all (although there are other topics in genetics that do get pretty tricky) so she and I sat down and I explained why she does not have blue eyes using Punnett squares.  She was, indeed, surprised at how simple it was.  Last night, she asked for help on some questions about DNA.  I walked her through the process that the cell uses to go from DNA to RNA to proteins.  Again, she was said it wasn’t as hard as she initially thought.  But, she still isn’t interested in a science career.  Alas.

Wild Man is working in a Singapore Intermediate Science book which is a middle school level book.  This week’s chapter was about science and technology.  It wasn’t difficult at all, but we did learn what a “hawker centre” is.  Apparently, they are common in Singapore and Malaysia and are similar to an outdoor food court.  Thank you, Google!

Mr. Math Tutor and Wild Man have decided to get into flying model airplanes.  For the last couple of weeks, they have been using online simulators and researching planes (although, Mr. Math Tutor has been interested in this for years).  Mr. Math Tutor bought an RC plane/glider on Thursday.  They haven’t been able to take it out yet, because it’s been too windy.  Why is this under Science?  Simple.  Wild Man is reviewing all the science he has learned about flying (airfoil, etc.) and is learning about the physics of flying as well as meteorology and other subjects.  It’s gonna be interesting!

Language Arts

Rosie Girl is almost finished with her online Foundations writing course (she’s been done with the short story course for several weeks).  She has joined the writing club at the high school, so she and the other members of the club read each other’s stories as well as learn more about writing.

I have finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird, but Rosie Girl doesn’t finish until week after next.  Thankfully, she’s enjoying the book, so I’m not concerned about having her write a literary analysis essay.  She also has read quite a few fantasy books, so she is going to write an essay related to those books so I can give her a half credit in Fantasy Literature.

Wild Man had a great week in Spelling.  We did all review, but it went very well.  After Spring Break, we’ll do a day or so of review and then start the next lesson.  He also dictated an email to his grandfather about the model airplanes and finished reading Brisingr.

Math

Rosie Girl declared this week that she hates math!!  That is just heresy in this house!  Nonetheless, she has proven that she is quite capable of doing math.  She showed me and Mr. Math Tutor the type of problems that she learned to do this week.  Not only that, in her science workbook, she was given the percentage of a certain DNA base in a strand of DNA and asked to figure out the percentages of the other three bases.  She did this without batting an eyelash.  She may not like math, but she is quite capable of using it.

Wild Man is progressing slowly but surely through his subtraction tables.  Mr. Math Tutor now has him using the Flashmaster so that he can set the goal for the amount of time he has for each problem.  Wild Man understands math pretty well, but he’s stuck right now until he can get these math facts in his head.  So on we go.

Music

Rosie Girl is working hard on her piano pieces for Festival.  They are, as usual, quite difficult.  It looks like her theory is coming along pretty well.  The choir is performing twice in Washington D.C., but Rosie Girl feels pretty confident about that.

Wild Man has been practicing his percussion (drums and bells) diligently.  The big thing for him is that he’s going to be singing and dancing as part of the WAM (Worship and Movement) team at the Easter EggVenture next Saturday.  The good news is that he doesn’t mind being on stage!!

Those are the more interesting parts of our week.  Next week is Spring Break.  Rosie Girl will be in Washington D.C. (where she will learn absolutely nothing, I’m sure! – lol!!).  I hope that Mr. Math Tutor and I can take Wild Man to the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Museum sometime this week.  Mr. Math Tutor’s mom comes to visit on Friday and will stay for a couple of weeks – just in time for lovely Spring weather!!

Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to this week!

7 Quick Takes Friday – 3/26/2010

We’ve had a good week around here.  Lots is happening, but it’s mostly positive.

1. My dad had a couple of skin lesions biopsied within the last few months and they both turned out to be melanoma-in-situ, which means that they are cancer but completely contained within the epidermis.  Complete excision of both lesions is considered a cure so all he needs now is to wear long sleeves and long pants (in South Florida!) and to have his skin checked regularly.  We are incredibly thankful that the lesions were caught before they spread!

2. I finished knitting my spring sweater this week so I am blocking it in my closet.  We’ve been trying to make sure the doors to our master bedroom and closet both stay closed so that none of the cats find the sweater and decide to take a nap on top of it!!  I’m hoping to find a skirt to match so I can wear it for Easter!

3. Wild Man and Mr. Math Tutor have gotten into radio-controlled airplane flying.  They have been playing with computer simulators all week and purchased an RC plane/glider last night.  Hopefully, we will have a nice calm day soon so they can actually try out the plane.  Yes, I will post pictures!

4. I got a hankering to move furniture like I do every spring.  Thankfully, my need was satisfied this year by just moving an end table so I didn’t make myself sore for a week or anything terrible like that!

5. I took Rosie Girl and a friend to the Appleton library tonight to get books for them to read on their Choir trip next week as well as to Sam’s club to buy snacks.  Since we were in town, we went ahead and ate out at the Chinese buffet – it was a fun evening for the three of us!

6. When backing out of the driveway earlier this week, I realized one of the nicest things about the snow melting – not having a six foot snow bank to have to maneuver around!

7. I had a terrible migraine yesterday, so I had to cancel my lunch with my friend, but she came over here for an hour to visit!  I missed the Senior Nutrition Center and my weekly lunch date because of migraines, so I was really glad that my friend was able to take some time out of her work day to spend with me.  And, I think it was good for her, too, because she’s been working like crazy getting everything ready for Easter Sunday services!

Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!!

The Tangle

Upstairs in a closet is my yarn stash. Among the neat balls of yarn are a couple of tangled masses of multiple colors and textures of yarn. A couple of times, I’ve started to try to unravel the mess, but I didn’t have the motivation or patience to finish.

I woke up this morning with a migraine. And the emotions that go along with the migraine are just like that knot of yarn. My sessions with my counselor are my attempts to unsnarl the mess that gets into my head.

What are the feelings that make up this tangle?

• Pain – mostly physical, but also the emotional pain that the migraine is going to affect the rest of the family for the next 12 to 36 hours.
• Guilt 1 – Why do I feel guilty? I have no idea. But, I have this vague guilt feeling that if I did something different or lived a better life I wouldn’t have the migraine.
• Guilt 2 – I also feel guilty that I won’t be able to do the things with my kids that I normally do. I’ll have Wild Man do more schoolwork on his own and I won’t read to him today.
• Sadness – I feel like I’m missing life, like things are happening that I don’t get to participate in because of the migraines.
• Frustration – I have so much that I’d like to do that I can’t do when I have a migraine and it’s frustrating.
• Anger – Sometimes I just get mad at God. This isn’t how I planned for my life to be.
• Irritable – When I have a migraine, I don’t want to talk to people. This makes homeschooling hard, as you might can imagine!

No matter the web of feelings that’s in my head, I try to always remember that the thing that never changes is Truth. Truth, as in God’s Truth. When I’m in pain and this snarl of feelings seems overwhelming, I need to set aside those emotions for a while and focus on God’s truth – through music or Scripture reading.

• But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31
• Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Lamentations 3:22-23
• Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
• For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7
• Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. James 1:2

Today I’ve set aside my tangled set of emotions and am just resting in God’s love and praying for quick pain relief. And as these negative emotions rise up to the surface again, I remind myself of God’s Truth. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with the emotions. They’re only set aside temporarily while I’m in too much pain to think about them. And when I’m feeling better, God and I will have some one-on-one time to untangle that mess of emotions.

How do you deal with your emotions? Do you have tangles and webs to work through? How do you handle emotions in a Godly way?

Spelling Roller Coaster

I might have mentioned once or twice (or a million times) that spelling is a bit of an issue for my kids.  One of the first problems is that I’m naturally a good speller, so I expect the same of the rest of the world.  And the rest of the world refuses to cooperate!  Rosie Girl doesn’t like spelling, but she does tolerably well and makes sure to use Spell Check before she turns in any assignments.

But, Wild Man.  Ah, my Wild Man.  What a different story with him.  Wild Man is learning spelling using the All About Spelling curriculum, and I think it is a great fit for him.  It is a multi-sensory curriculum that teaches spelling very methodically.  I’m learning all kinds of spelling rules that knew nothing about!

Unfortunately, Wild Man’s brain doesn’t really work like most other people’s brains.  Letters and words still don’t come easily to him.  He is reading all kinds of things – in fact, he’s slowly working his way through Brisingr right now.  Spelling, though, is inconsistent.  One day, he can spell everything that he’s learned up till that point.  The next day, it’s like he hasn’t had a spelling lesson in a year.

Last week, things weren’t going so well for Wild Man in spelling.  He was discouraged.  I was discouraged.  It didn’t make for a happy homeschool.  This week, for some reason, has been much better, although he still has some issues.  For example, I had him spell “may”, and he spelled it “way”.  (His tutor said that he’s the only kid she had seen who regularly mixed up “m” and “w” as well as the more common “b”,”d” and “p”,”q” pairs.  Funny.)

I think I’m finally learning how to help him.  It’s only taken a couple of years! 

• Spelling lessons need to be short.  The All About Spelling lessons are usually too long and I’ve been doing only 1/2 lessons at a time for about a year now.
• We spend at least a week on each lesson.
• We should try to do some spelling with his All About Spelling board every day, even if it’s just a few words.  
• Wild Man does not do “leading questions” or the “Socratic method”.  When I was in medical school, the preferred educational technique by most professors on rounds was to ask students questions until they didn’t know the answer and then to start teaching.  Often, if we didn’t know an answer, they’d ask leading questions to try to get us to the answer.  This frustrates the living daylights out of Wild Man.  His brain doesn’t work this way so I’m learning not to use this.
• I’ve noticed in the last few sessions that Wild Man gets frustrated far more quickly in spelling than most other subjects.  It’s better for me to give him the answer to a question and for us to move on than for me to just wait for him once he’s confused.
• And, yes, I still sometimes have him drink a cup of coffee before we start working on spelling because it does help him focus!

Teaching my kids at home is incredibly rewarding, but it’s also quite humbling.  I try to read all I can about teaching spelling and working with dyslexic kids, but I’m finding that the only real expert on how Wild Man learns is God.  But, all this time that we spend working through spelling is time together and it’s absolutely precious time that I wouldn’t trade for anything!

 

Why We STILL Homeschool

My kids have never been to “regular” school.  When we started homeschooling about 9 years ago, we had lots of reasons, from the academic to my crazy schedule.  Mr. Math Tutor and I have always said that we are prepared to homeschool the kids all the way through high school, but we re-evaluate our decision every year.  And some years, one or both of the kids have been pretty close to ending up at the local public school!

The reasons, though, that our kids are still homeschooled are rather different than the ones that got us started so long ago.  We still like the academic side of homeschooling, but I’m no longer working as a family doctor.  Nonetheless, we are probably more committed to home education than ever right now because it is the best thing for our kids, but for very different reasons for each child.

Rosie Girl

Rosie Girl has always been something of an “artiste” – from her creativity to her temperament.  One of the reasons that home education is such an asset for her right now is that she has lots of time to pursue her artistic endeavors.  She plays piano for a couple of hours on most days.  Now that she has discovered writing short stories, she also spends lots of time on her computer or with a notebook writing.

Home education is a good fit for her because we try to keep “busy work” out of her schedule, freeing her to spend more time on what she loves.  We’re also very fortunate that she can take a couple of classes at the local public school.  In her case, they are Choir and Art, subjects that she can’t learn as effectively at home.

Wild Man

One of the best things about home schooling is the ability to tailor each child’s education to their needs.  In Wild Man’s case, his issue is dyslexia.  I’ve written about it here.  Wild Man didn’t learn to read until he was 10 years old and then we required the intervention of a tutor as well as special curricula (and patience).  However, we did find that he had excellent comprehension skills, largely because he had been read to since he was a toddler.

Right now, Wild Man is doing History and Science at a Middle School level, but most of his Language Arts subjects (except Reading) are still at a more basic point.  For a homeschooler, this isn’t too big a crisis.  I read History and Science out loud to Wild Man.  He progresses in Spelling, Typing, Handwriting, and Writing at his own rate.  I’ve found curricula that are at his educational position, but without being childish.  I tailor his education at home to fit his abilities and don’t worry too much about his not being at “grade level”.  He’s got plenty of time to develop the skills and learn what he needs before he graduates.

We still re-evaluate our educational situation every school year and will do whatever is best for our kids each year.  However, it appears that homeschooling is still best for both kids, even if it is for different reasons.  And, Mr. Math Tutor and I are still enjoying the benefits of having our kids at home with us during these formative years and hoping that we can continue to develop our relationships over the next very few years that the children are living at home.

 

P.S. I am a die-hard fan of home education as you can see from this and other posts.  However, I mostly support parents’ involvement in their children’s education, in whatever form works for that family.  And I reserve the right, as a parent, to change my mind about whatever is best for my kids!

Lagniappe – 3/22/2010

• I woke up this morning without a migraine.  This is the second day in a row – Yippee!  Unfortunately, I decided that I would satisfy my springtime furniture moving need by moving a coffee table which required lots of sweeping and other cleaning and straightening in the living room which has made my head hurt – although it’s not a full-blown migraine.
• There is much angst among my friends and family about the health care bill.  I’m not thrilled about it, but I am trying to keep it in perspective.  God is still in his heaven – this didn’t shock or surprise Him – and He’s not worried.  So, I’m going to continue to place my trust in God, not in the US government.
• I got a new pressure cooker last week, so I’m going to break it in tonight and make a chicken and rice dish.
• Wild Man was gone from home the entire day yesterday, so I’ve had a pretty quiet day for him today.  Well, except for making him fold his laundry.  But, it must be done – and I have no desire or intention of doing it!
• Rosie Girl sold magazine subscriptions to raise money for her Choir trip, so I now have a subscription to Creative Knitting magazine.  I’m almost done knitting a sweater from a pattern in their last issue.  It’s using a silk/bamboo yarn that is just amazing to work with.  Pictures will be forthcoming!!
• I’ve got The Screwtape Letters on audiobook from the library website and it is, yet again, bringing me new insights into prayer and the Christian life.  Lewis was truly one of the best Christian writers of the last century.
• It’s springtime and the cats are definitely ready for it.  They are all three shedding like crazy.  I’m trying to remember to have someone brush them every day.
• We’ve discovered that one of the reasons our garden didn’t do as well as we would have liked last year was that our backyard doesn’t get as much sun as it should have.  We are seriously considering taking out or making smaller the front flowerbed and putting in two or three square foot garden beds in the front yard.  Of course, that will take up the entire front yard, but we don’t really use it for much anyway.

So, that’s it – lots of random thoughts swirling around my head.  But, I’m off to work on my knitting and then cook some dinner.  What’s up with you?

Migraine Frustration

I woke up this morning without a migraine. An unusual occurrence during these last few weeks. I can’t even begin to express the frustration I’m feeling about the relentlessness of these headaches. I feel so powerless against them. When I was practicing medicine, I was a strong believer in the model of patient and physician cooperation in optimizing the patient’s health. Much of my day was spent helping people understanding their medications, learning how they could live a healthier life, and teaching them about their illness. Now that I’m on the other end, I feel like medicine isn’t living up to it’s side of the bargain. I’m doing everything I know how to do for the migraines, but medicine doesn’t really have much else to offer.

The neurologists say the pain is a neurological/vascular issue in the brain and to try varying combinations of seizure medications – done.

The chiropractor says some of the pain may be from poor neck alignment so I get regular adjustments.

The chiropractor/acupuncturist a few years ago thought that, whatever the cause, a course of acupuncture was likely to be helpful, especially since both my parents responded well to acupuncture. No luck.

The TV preacher says I need more faith and to send him $100. I’m not going there.

Thankfully, my family doctor is incredibly understanding. She hasn’t had any earth-shattering ideas lately about how to keep my head from hurting so much, but she does encourage me to eat healthy and exercise regularly.

I think I’m so frustrated with this because I have so little control over my illness. When I was working, I tried so hard to help people see how much they could influence their diabetes and blood pressure. So many of my patients just felt tossed around by life and I wanted them to see that it didn’t have to be that way. And now I’m feeling the same way.

It would probably be a little easier to handle if I had a diagnosis that wasn’t so nebulous. Migraine. Almost everyone has had one migraine in their life. How can they be so bad that you can’t function normally? I almost feel guilty sometimes because it’s just a diagnosis of pain. I’m not going to die of my migraines, but someone with cancer very well could be looking death in the face. My migraines seriously impact my life, but I’m not crippled by them, like if I had multiple sclerosis.

Those are my very profound Sunday morning thoughts – after missing church yet once again because I had a terrible migraine yesterday. Your comments are always appreciated (although I doubt I’ll try any new “surefire” migraine treatments anytime soon – I’ve done my share of the “this worked great for my aunt’s best friend’s cousin” therapies). Hope your day is headache-free!!

Our Week In Review – 3/20/2010

It’s been a month since I wrote a review of what’s going on in our little world of home education.  Let me catch you up.

History/Social Sciences

We are finished studying the Civil War and Reconstruction.  Rosie Girl reads every day in The History of US and is now also reading Christy.  Wild Man has watched several DVDs on Reconstruction, Sacco and Vanzetti, and eugenics.  We’ve had a number of good discussions based on the kids’ reading and DVD watching.

Language Arts

Rosie Girl has finished her short story workshop and is still taking her regular composition course.  She and her friend have also been sharing the stories that they write and also went to a Writing Club meeting at the high school on Friday afternoon.

Rosie Girl is also reading To Kill A Mockingbird right now.  I’m supposed to be reading it as well, but seem to have a real lack of motivation (no, it doesn’t only happen to the students!).  She is going to read the SparkNotes after she finishes the book and then we’ll discuss literary analysis and she’ll write an essay analyzing the book.  (I’ve cut out a lot of other literary analysis activities to focus on just this one novel this year.  I’m planning to do one or two pieces of literature with her each year.)

Wild Man is reading tons – he’s working on Brisingr right now.  I’ve been thrilled at how his writing is coming along using Institute for Excellence in Writing.  Wild Man naturally uses a wide vocabulary and is quite expressive.  We’re still having issues with spelling, typing, and handwriting, though.  But, it’s all part and parcel of the dyslexia thing.  His spelling is tons better than it was a year ago, so we just have to keep moving along, even if it is slow.

Math

Rosie Girl is doing ALEKS Algebra 1.  She wasn’t too stressed about the pace of things until she realized that she’ll be doing math during the summer if she doesn’t finish this course before June.  That lit a fire under her!

Wild Man is working hard on math facts with Mr. Math Tutor.  Again, the dyslexia rears it’s ugly head.  Sigh.

Science

Rosie Girl is getting close to the end of her biology book.  A few weeks ago, she did human reproduction, which I thought Singapore Biology handled quite well.  However, they didn’t include much information on sexually transmitted infections and no information on contraception.  Not only are these important topics, but studying them also reinforces the processes in reproduction.  I had Rosie Girl read several CDC websites about sexually transmitted infections and then a very good Boston Children’s Hospital website about birth control.  Of course, then we had some discussion about it – discussions that we’ve been having since she was very young.  One of the things I get passionate about is young women having infertility and other complications because they get STIs at an early age because they are sexually active when they shouldn’t be.  (I dealt with a lot of this when I was practicing medicine because I had lots of young women in my practice.)  My goal is for my kids to understand the morality (God’s plan) and the science behind this passion.

I got Wild Man a Singapore Intermediate A science book which he and I have started reading together.  The first chapter was about scientific method and inquiry.  Good stuff.

Bible

Rosie Girl is reading The Bible Jesus Read by Philip Yancey.  Wild Man is studying the book of Acts and just learned about Stephen.  As a family, we are reading about Moses and the Exodus.

Music and Art

Rosie Girl did a vocal solo for Solo and Ensemble this year.  She did quite well and was just 1 point away from getting a First!  The school’s art exhibition is in April and Rosie Girl will have a couple of pieces entered.  She is also working hard getting her two pieces ready for piano festival, also in April.  If she’s not doing schoolwork, she’s writing or playing music.  She has even started composing music! 

Wild Man seems to be enjoying his Band class.  There are three sixth graders who play percussion, so they rotate among snare drum, bass drum, and bells.  Wild Man is also part of the church’s Worship and Motion group again this year, a group of kids who will sing and dance at the Easter Egg-Venture in a few weeks.

Extras

We still go to the Nutrition Center every week when I don’t have too bad of a headache to help pack Meals on Wheels and serve lunch to the clients there.  Rosie Girl often plays piano while we’re there.  Now that the weather’s nice, we’ll also be able to get out and take nature walks together. 

So, that’s what’s been up with us over the last few weeks.  I’ve been having lots of headaches, so we never do quite as much as I’d like (especially with Wild Man), but the kids are learning which is the goal!  I’m planning for next year, so I’ll write more about that later.

Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see how others have done!

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. Mr. Math Tutor is published!!  I really should have posted about this earlier this week, but I’m going to claim migraine as my excuse.  Besides, I did post on Facebook where I think I have more readers than this blog right now!!  Anyway, here’s the link to the book on CurrClick.  It’s a book for ages 12-15 called My Favorite Number.  Our family all learned a lot as he was writing.

2. There is much about God I don’t understand.  A friend’s son is 10 years old and is on hospice care for cancer.  This is actually his second cancer diagnosis in 5 years – he has an unusual genetic disease that makes him prone to cancer.  As much as I trust that God is in his Heaven and He knows what He is up to, I just have trouble with the idea that this precious little boy was born with the gene that was going to take his life before adolescence.  I simply don’t get it.  But, I am blessed and encouraged by his parents’ example of grace through this ordeal.  Watching them trust God with their son’s life is an example to the rest of us in how to live.

3. I went four days last week without a migraine, but I only made it one day this week that was migraine-free (well, two if you count today, but the day’s not over yet ;-)).  The main problem with this is that Wild Man’s schooling this week was spotty, at best.  He did the work he could do on his own and then did Math and Bible with Mr. Math Tutor.  We also watched two Netflix shows, but I think they were somewhat over his head – one was on eugenics in the early 20th century, and the other was about Sacco and Vanzetti.

4. Rosie Girl went to a Writing Club meeting at the high school today.  She already shares some of her writing with friends, so this sounds like a great way to get more involved with other people who enjoy writing as much as she does.

5. On my one migraine-free day this week, Rosie Girl and I went shopping to get her some dress clothes for the school music department’s trip to Washington D.C.  We were quite successful and found the requisite black dress pants along with some dress shirts for under $50 total!  Yippee!

6. On that same shopping trip, I tried to get some jeans for my dear, darling hubby who had been wearing the same pair of jeans since they had gotten a rip in a most embarrassing location about a month or so ago.  At Wal-Mart, I found a pair of Wrangler’s, but I was looking for Levi’s because that was the brand he had before and I knew should fit.  But, no luck.  I went through just about every stack of jeans at Kohl’s and could not find his size.  It appears that men with a 29 inch inseam are a rare occurrence (or a freak of nature).  So, I’ll be ordering jeans online for him.

7. With the spate of warm weather this week Wild Man has been outside for long periods of time without my having to threaten, cajole, or beg.  Unfortunately, he also wants to put up the trampoline tomorrow.  Sadly, snow in the forecast prevents that happy event.  Nonetheless, the warmer weather is quite welcome.  I rarely mind having a smaller home, but being cooped up all winter does get tedious.

Check out what others are saying at Conversion Diary!

St. Patrick’s Day!

I am most definitely Irish – my maiden name is Cavanaugh – but I do not like the typical St. Patrick’s Day foods like corned beef, cabbage, or soda bread.  If I was going to try to cook Irish food today, it would have been a lamb stew, although Rosie Girl and I are the only ones who really enjoy lamb.

The Senior meals today weren’t served at the normal location (the local VFW hall), but at the nursing home that actually cooks the food.  It was birthday party day today as well as St. Patrick’s Day, so there were the normal clients plus the nursing home residents for the meal, party, and Bingo game.  However, all we had to do was to pack up the meals for Meals on Wheels, so it was actually an easy day for us.  I sat with three very nice ladies (one of whom I met for the first time today) for lunch, but I didn’t eat much because, not only did I not really like corned beef, but I also got a migraine right during lunch.  Ick.  I took my meds and managed to stay until the kids had played a couple of cards of Bingo (otherwise, they might have seriously mutinied).

We’ve had some glorious weather here (so I don’t understand the migraine today except that I did a marathon shopping day yesterday).  It’s been in the 60s for the last few days and we’ve actually had the windows open!!  I’m loving springtime!!

Lagniappe 3/10/2010

Oh, my poor neglected blog!  Since I joined Facebook, I’ve been posting most of my short and sweet thoughts there and have generally posted longer items or memes here.  Well, I’m back.  For the moment!

• I’ve been three days without having to take meds for a migraine.  Yippee!!
• I’m starting to despair about Wild Man’s spelling.  It goes in fits and starts and right now it’s going v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.  I’m going to try to work more diligently with the board and tiles (with All About Spelling) every day, but will probably also take him to see a developmental optometrist since some people have found that eye exercises can help some of these problems.  We’ll see.
• Rosie Girl is taking a Creative Writing workshop online.  The final product is the introduction and first chapter of what may eventually be a novel.  Pretty cool!
• I’ve been doing a lot of knitting since I got the yarn to work on my sweater.  It’s a bamboo/silk blend yarn and is just wonderful to work with.  I’m making a spring tunic, so I hope it doesn’t take too terribly long to make.

That’s about it.  It’s getting late and I want to read a little before bed, so I’ll hopefully post again Friday.