Upcoming Graduation!!

 

Rosie Girl has one more month of school left before she graduates. That is just about impossible for me to believe. It feels like yesterday that she was learning to read. And now, she’s accepted into the college and department that she was hoping for.

Homeschooling was an easy choice for us. Rosie Girl did the 3 year old preschool program just for something to do and to give PWM and Wild Man some time together. It was obvious, though, that she was already academically pretty well established and would be fine without anymore preschool.

I was working as a family doctor with a crazy schedule at the time. I would be on call about every 9th night and then have most of the next day off along with my usual half day off. Homeschooling made sense for us with that kind of schedule. We didn’t want to be bound to the public school schedules if we didn’t have to be.

PWM was the kids’ primary teacher until they were in 3rd and 6th grades – when I got severe headaches and had to quit working. By then, we enjoyed homeschooling. We liked being together as a family, but we also liked the field trips and other activities like dance, piano, and sports that the kids were part of.

When I quit working, we had a serious debate about whether home education was still the best thing for our kids. We never were “afraid” to put our kids in school. We always felt that we would be their primary influence. The question was “what is best for the family right now”. Every year, the answer was to home educate.

Wild Man was diagnosed with dyslexia during 4th grade, which wasn’t surprising. Homeschooling was great for him because we spent a couple of years focusing on him learning to read while I read his other subjects aloud to him. Now, in 9th grade, his only dyslexia symptoms are slow reading and poor spelling.

Both kids have taken classes at the Wegauwega-Fremont Middle School and High School in an attempt to help our family become part of the community. They have enjoyed the classes, but, in discussions, haven’t wanted to be in school full-time.

Homeschooling has given our kids the opportunity to pursue their musical goals in ways that they might not have had time to if they were operating on a school schedule. Rosie Girl is going to study music composition at UWSP starting next year. Wild Man plays percussion in the high school band, but loves playing percussion and various guitars in the church worship band.

Looking back, I can see about a million things that we could have done differently with homeschooling. But, I don’t regret that we continued to homeschool. The kids are both happy and outgoing children. We aren’t caught up in one of the seriously fundamentalist versions of homeschooling that over-shelters children. Our kids have jobs in the community along with friends from the schools.

Rosie Girl has an academically strong record and I think she’ll do OK next year. She has some challenges ahead (deadlines, I’m looking at you). I’m optimistic that she’s up to them. Wild Man has three more years here at home. His needs are quite different than Rosie Girl’s needs were at this time in school, so a lot of things will be different. I’ve also learned a lot. (Rosie Girl, I’m sorry that you were our guinea pig. That’s what happens when you’re the firstborn.)

I’m looking forward to Rosie Girl’s graduation. It’s a big milestone for her, but also for me and PWM. Our first child graduated from our little home school. And she’s going on to bigger and better things!!

And I couldn’t be more proud of her!

Simplifying the Holidays

My word for 2012 was “Simplicity”. Simplicity and the holidays don’t really seem to go together, though. We were forced to simplify some of our routines because my headaches were pretty bad this December, but we also made some decisions to streamline our holidays to reduce stress and spend less money.

• PWM carved a conducting baton for Rosie Girl just like the one in the Zelda Wind Waker video game – and like the one used by the conductor of the Zelda Orchestra that we saw this Fall. For Wild Man, PWM knitted a “sleeve” that goes over Wild man’s guitar strap. It provides some padding as well as looking pretty cool.
• I knitted Wild Man a hat with a guitar motif that he loves and I’m working on a pair of socks. (One is finished, but the other one is about halfway done.)
• I’m still working on the hoodie for Rosie Girl. Several days before Christmas, I was hiding in my room and knitting my fingers off to get the sweater done, but was very stressed out. I finally told her what I am making so that I could knit out in the open. Now I just need to finish the sleeves and duplicate stitching on the back.
• Rosie Girl made earrings and a pendant for me and a keychain for PWM. Wild Man wrote us a song and performed it. The kids did purchase gifts for each other – but they told each other about the gifts long before Christmas, so there was no surprise. Interesting.
• I missed Rosie Girl’s recital and Wild Man’s band concert because of migraines. There’s nothing simple about that except that they’re both used to my headaches interfering with life. And Rosie Girl played her piece for me later that night.
• We didn’t do much baking this year. I made two kinds of cookie doughs. Rosie Girl made chocolate crinkle cookies for the people at work. Wild Man and I made spritz cookies for the Worship Team on Christmas Eve. I wanted to make a Buche de Noel (chocolate yule log cake), but didn’t get a chance before Christmas. Yesterday (12/26), I was feeling really good, so we had some friends over for dessert and I made a Buche de Noel and a pecan pie. And a good time was had by all.
• The kids played on the worship team for Christmas Eve service, so they practiced music a lot. In addition, they learned Christmas carols just for fun. Several times, we did spontaneous Christmas caroling here at home.
• For Christmas dinner, the kids requested roast beef, rice, and gravy. It wasn’t fancy, but it was delicious. And we made it special by having sparkling grape juice with it.

Overall, it was a good Christmas. We spent a lot less money than usual. We were less busy than usual. I think we’re going to continue to do homemade gifts and aim for simple holidays. We liked it.

Simplifying the Holidays

My word for 2012 was “Simplicity”. Simplicity and the holidays don’t really seem to go together, though. We were forced to simplify some of our routines because my headaches were pretty bad this December, but we also made some decisions to streamline our holidays to reduce stress and spend less money.

• PWM carved a conducting baton for Rosie Girl just like the one in the Zelda Wind Waker video game – and like the one used by the conductor of the Zelda Orchestra that we saw this Fall. For Wild Man, PWM knitted a “sleeve” that goes over Wild man’s guitar strap. It provides some padding as well as looking pretty cool.
• I knitted Wild Man a hat with a guitar motif that he loves and I’m working on a pair of socks. (One is finished, but the other one is about halfway done.)
• I’m still working on the hoodie for Rosie Girl. Several days before Christmas, I was hiding in my room and knitting my fingers off to get the sweater done, but was very stressed out. I finally told her what I am making so that I could knit out in the open. Now I just need to finish the sleeves and duplicate stitching on the back.
• Rosie Girl made earrings and a pendant for me and a keychain for PWM. Wild Man wrote us a song and performed it. The kids did purchase gifts for each other – but they told each other about the gifts long before Christmas, so there was no surprise. Interesting.
• I missed Rosie Girl’s recital and Wild Man’s band concert because of migraines. There’s nothing simple about that except that they’re both used to my headaches interfering with life. And Rosie Girl played her piece for me later that night.
• We didn’t do much baking this year. I made two kinds of cookie doughs. Rosie Girl made chocolate crinkle cookies for the people at work. Wild Man and I made spritz cookies for the Worship Team on Christmas Eve. I wanted to make a Buche de Noel (chocolate yule log cake), but didn’t get a chance before Christmas. Yesterday (12/26), I was feeling really good, so we had some friends over for dessert and I made a Buche de Noel and a pecan pie. And a good time was had by all.
• The kids played on the worship team for Christmas Eve service, so they practiced music a lot. In addition, they learned Christmas carols just for fun. Several times, we did spontaneous Christmas caroling here at home.
• For Christmas dinner, the kids requested roast beef, rice, and gravy. It wasn’t fancy, but it was delicious. And we made it special by having sparkling grape juice with it.

Overall, it was a good Christmas. We spent a lot less money than usual. We were less busy than usual. I think we’re going to continue to do homemade gifts and aim for simple holidays. We liked it.

Debate Watching

Monday night, we finally got around to watching the presidential debate from last week. Actually, PWM and I are pretty conservative and don’t think a single debate performance would have changed our minds on much, but we really feel strongly that our kids be as involved in thinking through politics as possible. So, we bribed them. Yes, we let them have chips and soda while we watched. (Bad homeschooling mommy, bad homeschooling mommy . . . .)

After the debate, we had a really good discussion about the two candidates’ debating skills and positions. The kids had very good and pertinent observations. And they had listened to what the candidates said separately from their debating technique. Both kids agreed, though, that President Obama did not have a very strong showing in this format and they are both interested to see how he changes his style for the next two debates.

I thought it was very interesting that the kids were still talking about the debate yesterday and even some today. PWM and I take our civic responsibilities seriously and make sure to stay informed and vote, but we aren’t otherwise very political beings, so I was a bit surprised to hear Wild Man talking about things that one or the other candidate mentioned during the debate.

Rosie Girl is studying American Government this semester and Wild Man is studying American History this year, so following the election links perfectly into their other studies (and if it didn’t, we’d study it anyway!). Wild Man and I have been reading the Constitution together at night and last night we read about the Electoral College and got to talk about why the framers chose that method of choosing a president.

Just some stray thoughts about home education. Although, really, this isn’t specific to home education. Any family can (and probably should) be paying attention to the national election and making sure their kids understand (at age-appropriate levels) what is going on. And the kids might not dislike  it as much as we grown-ups think. . . .

Rediscovering Simplicity

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I wanted to focus on Simplicity. I wanted to have more time and energy for my family and anything else God puts in my way as well as more quiet and more space. How have I been doing?

1. Menu planning has actually becoming a bit more complicated instead of simple. Bummer. I’m on a “migraine diet” which limits the foods I am permitted to eat. I’ve been doing that for about a month and doing well. For the last two weeks, I’ve been avoiding sweets. That’s more difficult and I’ve started allowing 1 sweet on the weekend as kind of a way to “let off steam”. With all the headaches, fatigue, and diet restrictions, I’ve been really bad about planning meals. PWM has done a fair amount of cooking. We’ve had a number of days when we all just ate what we could find – sandwiches, chicken salad, cheese and crackers, etc.. Hopefully, I can come up with an easy way to deal with meal planning despite the dietary restrictions.

2. I’ve done a much better job at limiting choices. I don’t spend much time checking the library websites unless I’m ready for another book to read. I’ve reduced the numbers of blogs I read and don’t feel bad when I don’t read posts that look interesting.

3. I am doing a better job of using my time. I don’t mean that I’m necessarily more productive, but that I’m more comfortable with what I am doing with my time. I don’t feel guilty for just listening to music when my head hurts. If I do some knitting, great; but if not, that’s OK, too. I don’t feel compelled to do two or three things at a time. Sometimes I do like to listen to books while I knit or clean, but I’m pretty comfortable with being quiet as well.

4. There is much more silence in my life. This is new for me. I was used to having music or TV or audiobooks or conversation going on. I purposely make time for quiet now. PWM and I moved our bedroom downstairs, so it’s a little easier for me to hole up in my bedroom for a few minutes if I need to.

5. The biggest change is that PWM and I have really made some strides in getting rid of lots of stuff. We rearranged rooms a few weeks ago (Wild Man’s room is now a music room, our old bedroom is Wild Man’s bedroom, the old schoolroom is now PWM’s and my bedroom, and the front sunroom/office is now the schoolroom) and got rid of lots and lots of stuff in the progress. We still have to finish cleaning the sunroom and do some work in the basement, but I’m generally pleased with how we’re doing. And St. Vincent de Paul has gotten lots of stuff for their store.

Overall, I’m pleased with my progress. The diet is still a challenge. Eating only the same food over and over is difficult for me, so my counselor and I are working on finding good alternatives that fit the migraine diet and my own requirement that they aren’t sweet. The headaches aren’t much different these days, but I think that simplifying life is giving me a little more “space” to handle them. I’m not as stressed now when I get a migraine.

I am slowly getting more focused in life. I’m growing as a Christian. I’m spending most of my energy on my family, homeschooling, and The Knitting Nest, and far less energy on extraneous “stuff”.

One of my biggest concerns right now is to keep this outlook on like and staying focused on the important things after school starts. I want to keep our homeschooling focused on the essentials and give the kids freedom to learn other things on their own. Rosie Girl really flourished at Music Camp and is looking forward to Composition lessons. Wild Man has a hankering to play every variation of guitar he can get his hands on. I need to tattoo “Simplicity” on the inside of my eyelids!

How is your year going? Is Simplicity an important value to you? How do you make it work in your home?

 

 

(But, not everyone in the family is buying into the simpler life concept. Rosie Girl’s quote: “Simplicity is for the weak.” Sigh. She’s an artiste.)

7 Quick Takes Friday–7/27/2012

It’s been a pretty full week, so let’s get going! (And, notice that this is getting posted on Friday!!)

1. Wild Man has been at camp since first thing Saturday morning. It’s really quiet around here without him! But the food doesn’t run out nearly as quickly.

2. Sassy (one of the cats) has become Wild Man’s cat. Which means that she wandered around the house for a couple of days meowing for affection with Wild Man gone. In the last couple of days, she’s just been sulking. She’ll be so happy when Wild Man gets back tomorrow.

3. I’ve been spending as much time at the shop as possible – pretty much any time that I don’t have a really bad migraine. Wednesday was great – the shop was busy with customers and we sold a good bit of stuff. Today, we didn’t have as much business, but PWM and I worked on our new window display.

4. The work on the window display was pretty physical, so when I got home I took a hot shower, a couple of acetaminophen, and sat myself in my rocking chair and haven’t moved much since! I have a feeling I’ll still be sore tomorrow.

5. Quote of the week (from Rosie Girl): “Simplicity is for the weak.”

6. We’re watching the Olympic opening ceremonies tonight. Mildly interesting.

7. I hope to get the front room (now the school room) clean in a week or two. I don’t anticipate that I’m going to have much planning done before we officially start “school” this year. I’m not too concerned, though. Rosie Girl is a senior this year, so she’s pretty motivated to get through her courses in a timely fashion. Wild Man and I will just keep moving forward through his books and he should be fine.

How has your week been? Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others are up to!

7 Quick Takes Friday (Well, Actually, Saturday)–July 21, 2012

I’m doing my 7 Quick Takes on Saturday again, but that’s OK because I’m flexible – and I’m sure you are, too.

1. Lots of headaches this week . . . I have managed to only take Imitrex twice, but it was still a rough week on the pain front.

2. On Sunday, Wild Man found out that there was an opening for him to go to camp in Colorado with the church youth group that was completely paid for! (He had chosen in the spring to go to Hunter Safety camp this summer instead of the Colorado camp because of the cost.) So, on Wednesday, PWM took Wild Man shopping for some nice warm clothes since PWM has grown so much since the winter and on Thursday, I took Wild Man for his physical. And at 8am, PWM took Wild Man to church to get on the bus. And the group is now somewhere between here and the mountains of Colorado.

3. We didn’t do much celebration on my birthday because I wasn’t feeling really well, so we celebrated last night. We had dinner at The Menasha Grill, a Cajun restaurant on Main Street in Menasha, which is surprisingly authentic. Oh. My. Goodness. I had some wonderful blackened catfish, fried crawfish, fried okra, and hushpuppies. It was delicious. Then we walked by the river for a few minutes. And came home so Wild Man could pack for today.

4. My birthday gift is an ipod! Well, actually Rosie Girl’s ipod that I bought from her and she bought a new one. I am realizing that I’ll want a new one in an entirely too short period of time. I’m already spoiled to all the cool stuff this one can do – and the newer ones will do. Right now, though, I’m happy with the cleaner interface than my previous mp3 player and Rosie Girl is happy with having lots more space for more music.

5. My uncle passed away yesterday morning. I mentioned in an earlier post that we were able to set up a Skype connection at my aunt’s 90th birthday party so that he could see and talk to people even though he couldn’t be there in person. He passed peacefully, for which we’re all grateful.

6. Project Runway’s 10th season has started! Five years ago, I would not have given anything to do with fashion a second thought, but I’m learning to appreciate the art and skill involved in creating beautiful and functional garments. And it relates to knitting. Right? Right?

7. It has been entirely too hot this summer! We are used to having one or two hot weeks in the year, but the rest of the time, we keep the windows open most of the time. This year, though, we’ve had the air conditioning running far more than usual. And the cats aren’t too happy about it, either. They like to sit in the windows and keep an eye on the world, but nowadays they only get an hour or so of window sitting, if that.

So what’s up in your neck of the woods? Check out Conversion Diary to see what others are doing!!

Our Week In Review–March 24, 2012

Educating teenagers is different than teaching little kids.  There are very few skills that need to be taught, and since they’re mostly math-related, PWM gets that task!  My job is mostly motivation.  And, when I’m down with a migraine, PWM gets that one, too!  Poor guy!  Well, let me tell you what’s been going on around here.

Wild Man

History/Geography.  We’ve been watching a series on Ancient Rome.  I was appalled to find out a few days ago that Wild Man didn’t know off the top of his head where Minnesota was (he said he tried to block it out because the Minnesota Vikings football team is from there) so we’re reviewing US state geography.  It turns out that he can actually locate quite a few states on the map.  But, I’m going to make him learn them all.  Because I’m an evil mommy that way.

Math – He and PWM are still working on ALEKS fractions but also getting more math facts stuck in his head.

Reading – He’s reading Eagle of the Ninth and seems to enjoy it.

Writing – He wrote 2 paragraphs this week.  As a joke, he wrote one made all of sentences from Wikipedia.  As I read it, I was getting rather concerned, but as my face was looking more distressed, he started giggling.  I asked what was going on and he ‘fessed up.  He then wrote the “real” assignment on a different topic without the help of Wikipedia.  (And did a much better job!)  He is learning some basic comma rules right now.  I have to agree that they can be pretty confusing.

Spelling – He spent longer arguing with me about the lack of need to do his 10-step spelling word review for the one word he missed on Tuesday than it actually took to do the ten steps!!  Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!  The good news is that he can now spell “neighbor”.  In fact, it was a very good week for spelling.

Band – He’s having a blast.

Other music – Wild Man is playing bass guitar for regular church services next weekend as well as continuing to play for the middle school Wednesday night service.  Pretty awesome!

Science – We’ve been pretty casual about this over the last month or so.  This week, we watched some astronomy videos.

Rosie Girl

College Prep – Rosie Girl takes the ACT again next month so she’s been doing some prep with PWM.  In addition, we’ve got visits scheduled with the three other colleges that she wants to see (we visited her first choice last fall).  In the meantime, I have been trying to get her course descriptions put together.

History – She’s studying the 1990’s now, so we can talk about events that have impacted her life more directly and that PWM and I remember clearly.  Pretty interesting.

Math – Lots of ALEKS and ACT prep

Literature – 20th century literature mostly, although she is reading “The Tempest” right now and we just watched a DVD.  We’ve agreed that we prefer the DVD of “Much Ado About Nothing” with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Brannagh.  Maybe we’ll try “The Taming of the Shrew” later this week.

Writing – The research paper is finally over after much wailing and gnashing of teeth on everyone’s part!!!  And after all the stress, she made all 5’s – i.e. a perfect score!  So, not only does she not have to take it again (which she would have had to do as well as pay for it if she had made less than 4’s) but we also rewarded her with a microphone for music recording that she’d been wanting.

Art – In her public school art class, she’s making a miniature mini-golf course based on one of her favorite Zelda games.

Music – Piano Festival is coming up!  Yes, she’s practicing a lot!!  She still plays her guitar and ocarina, but not nearly as much for the next few weeks.

Science – With her new microphone, Rosie Girl will be doing a project showing how sound is made on different instruments.  I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

Other – Rosie Girl learned to use her drop spindle a few weeks ago and has made several yards of 2-ply yarn and then knit it up into a little square.  Now she’s working on spinning another bunch of wool and making more pretty yarn.

The kids are probably going to see “The Hunger Games” tonight.  We read them last fall and really enjoyed them.  We just finished reading the Bartimeus trilogy this week and loved it.  I hope we can read C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy series soon. 

That’s what’s been going on around here.  Anything exciting at your place?  Check out what others are doing at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

Our Week In Review–October 29, 2011

So, this homeschooling while trying to help PWM run a business while having lots of migraines is a real challenge.  But, there are lots of good things happening despite the “challenges” (including a messy kitchen and undone laundry). 

On Monday, PWM and I went on a date to Olive Garden, Home Depot, and Woodman’s.  The romance level may not have been so high, but it was nice to be together outside of the house and the shop.

I had significant migraines on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I spent very little time at the shop.  Bummer.

Wild Man was sick Thursday and today.  He’s seriously bummed about not being able to sleep over at a friend’s house tonight, but we’re hoping that he’s feeling better tomorrow and can go to Haunted Hollow.  We’ll see.

Rosie Girl wanted to have a friend sleep over tonight, so she actually turned in her weekly paper yesterday!  I’m impressed.  And she and her friend made cupcakes – Yummy!

Here’s what the academics over the last couple of weeks have looked like:

Wild Man

• History/Science – He finished the Weapon and Warrior books as well as The Samurai’s Tale.  Right now, we’re listening to The Three Musketeers on audiobook and Wild Man has been reading about the Musketeers and French medieval history online.
• Math – Wild Man is starting to feel held back by his not having his math facts memorized completely, so he’s been motivated to practice them in addition to doing his regular ALEKs work.
• Music – Wild Man is playing percussion in the public school band and alternates between drum kit and bass guitar in the youth band at church.
• Writing – I’ve had Wild Man dictate his story to me.  Then, I’ve had him take each paragraph (one per day) and do the dress-ups that he learned last year.  It’s actually working well.
• Spelling – This is generally Wild Man’s nemesis, but  I think we’re starting to see some real improvement.  It certainly seems less frustrating to him.

Rosie Girl

• Rosie Girl got a job!!  She’s working at a business here in town, so she won’t need to worry about gas money.
• Social Science – She just finished the 1920s and wrote a nice paper summarizing the events of the decade and how they related to the 1910s and 1930s.  This isn’t her favorite subject, but she’s doing the work diligently.
• Natural Science – This is her self-directed “Science of Music” course.  Rosie Girl is still not quite sure exactly what her research question is going to be.  We’re working on that.
• Literature – The poor kid has had to read The Metamorphosis and Brave New World in the last few weeks.  She’s ready for something a little lighter, I think!
• Writing – I’m generally happy with her weekly papers, although I’ve asked her to provide more concrete examples for her main points.  She’s also starting the research paper writing workshop through WriteAtHome.  This may require much prayer.
• Japanese – She finished the first semester Japanese with an A-.  She started this semester’s course this week.
• Music – Rosie Girl is not only taking piano lessons, but learning some basics of composition from her piano teacher.  She’s also been practicing her ocarina and acoustic guitar a good bit.  She has a method book for clarinet, but she hasn’t practiced in several days.

 

So, that’s where we are academically.  I’m very thankful that Rosie Girl works pretty independently.  Wild Man needs a little more direction from me, but that’s OK. 

How was your week?  Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to!

7 Quick Takes Friday–September 16, 2011

 

1. Wild Man has shingles.  Seriously?  Shingles?  He showed me this rash on his back and chest early in the week and I thought it might be a herald patch from pytiriasis rosea which is completely benign.  I briefly thought about shingles, but I’ve never seen them in a kid, although I have seen them in a young adult.  Anyway, the rash wasn’t getting better, so PWM took Wild Man to see a “real” doctor (as opposed to his mother who still has my MD, but no valid license).  Well, the “real” doctor said Wild Man has shingles.  Huh.  The poor kid has to take “horse pills” for a few days, but overall appears not to be terribly ill.  Now, I’m still not going to be an anti-vaccination person (because there is lots of good evidence that the vast majority of vaccination programs have been very helpful to the population), but I do wonder about the whole chickenpox issue.  The kids were both vaccinated, but the vaccine uses a live virus, which could be the cause of the shingles.  Or, Wild Man could still have picked up a low-level chicken pox infection.  And, one article suggested that since people are no longer frequently exposed to small amounts of the varicella-zoster virus, we are seeing more shingles in kids and young adults.  Food for thought.

2. So, the idea of opening a yarn shop was that I could go in and work when I was feeling decent, which would be several days each week.  That would not be this week, though.  I had a wicked migraine on Tuesday, bordering on requiring a visit to the ER.  Then I woke up Thursday with another one – and PWM was waiting at the pharmacy when they opened because I was out of Imitrex.  Not good.  Anyway, I was at the shop a little on Wednesday afternoon and then today.  Here’s praying that next week is better.

3. I think I have found something that works for our school days.  Each kid fills out a journal page each day telling me what they did for each subject and giving me their thoughts about any reading they’ve done (hopefully).  This has been a real challenge for Wild Man since he doesn’t spell very well and is often asking me and PWM to spell words for him.  However, they do the journal pages on the computer and email me when they’re done.  We’re still working out a few kinks, but overall, I’m pretty happy with it.

4. Tomorrow is Weyauwega’s Horse and Buggy Days!!  This year, they’re just doing a parade down Main Street, but Main Street businesses are encouraged to have a presence.  We are going to be teaching finger knitting and giving away little bags with enough yarn to make a finger-knit bracelet.  We’re really excited about this – more people to see what our shop is all about!

5. The library sure knows how to get my attention.  One of my books is significantly overdue, so I can’t put any more on hold until I turn in the book and pay my fine.  Unfortunately, I’m not exactly sure where the book is.  Hmmmmm.

6. We were very bummed that Lawrence Academy of Music was not able to offer the composing and arranging class that Rosie Girl wanted to take.  The good news is that her piano teacher is taking a few minutes of her regular lesson time to help her learn some skills for composing and arranging.

7. My mother is on Facebook.  Thankfully, we managed to get her to change the account name to hers and Dads because she was the only one talking, but it had Dad’s name.  That was kind of freaky.  It’s still a little strange to see both their names as one, but it is a reminder of who does the typing in that house!!

How was your week?  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!

A Good Day

Today was a really, really good day at The Knitting Nest.  I try to spend as much of each day up there as I can, but I’ve had so many headaches in the last few weeks that it’s been difficult.  PWM is completely capable of doing everything that needs to be done, but I like being there.  Yes, I LOVE being around all that wonderful yarn!  But, I also enjoy hanging out with PWM.  Wild Man is usually up at the shop when I’m there because he needs some supervision with his schoolwork.  I’m a little bummed out that Rosie Girl spends most of her day by herself here at home.  I do hope that she’ll come to the shop after school sometimes – she takes an 8th hour Art class, so she could walk to the shop from school.

Why was today such a good day?  Well, it helped that we had three customers who made purchases as well as a couple of people who just came in to check out the shop.  What really made my day, though, was that I got to help a customer on a project.  She came in with her pattern and the 5 rows that she’d already done, but was having trouble with having too many or too few stitches at the end of each round.  The problem itself wasn’t difficult (although unknitting angora can get a bit tricky), but I enjoyed figuring out the best solution to her problem.  When I was done, I showed her the changes I had made and did a couple of pattern repeats to show her.  She then did a couple of pattern repeats.  And then she hugged me!  What was a somewhat tricky problem to sort out for me really made her day.  I think we have a loyal customer now!

When I was working as a family doctor, hugs were not uncommon.  I hugged little kids who were coming in for physicals.  I hugged elderly people who just didn’t get out much.  I hugged and cried with women who had a pregnancy loss.  I hugged families, whether it was a good occasion or a bad one.  I guess I’m just a “huggy” kind of person!  (We hug a lot in our house.  It’s not unusual for the 13 year old or the 16 year old to walk up to me or PWM and say, “I need a hug.”  And we’re happy to oblige.)

Not everyone wants hugs or to be touched.  People have different personal space needs.  But, today I realized that I’ve been missing these kinds of encounters.  I like being able to help people – whether it’s getting their cholesterol under control when I was working as a family doc or teaching them a new knitting technique.  And I’m finding that these interactions with people in a yarn shop can be (are) as important as when I was working as a family doctor.  Yes, I hope we can meet people’s crafting needs, but I also want to help meet their emotional and spiritual needs.

And these contacts with people are also helping meet my own emotional needs.  I have become so isolated because of the headaches, that I didn’t really notice how much I missed being with people.  Nowadays, I prefer smaller groups of people and tend to avoid places with lots of noise.  However, I’m still an extrovert and being with people is generally uplifting for me.

I’m learning how to balance my need for interaction and physical touch (being a natural extrovert) with my need for solitude and quiet (which helps me relax and keeps me grounded).  Even more than meeting my own need to be around people, the yarn shop provides me and PWM a way to minister to our community in a very practical way.

It was a really good day today.  Here’s praying for many more to come!

7 Quick Takes Friday–September 2, 2011

It’s Friday again!  Funny how it keeps happening every seven days. . .

1.  Wild Man has had his palate expander in for a couple of weeks now and there’s a big gap between his two front teeth – almost like when he was a toddler!

2.  The kids have been doing a good job of picking up the slack in the housework with PWM at the shop so much and me either at the shop or having a migraine.  I don’t have chore charts for them anymore, but they have been doing what I ask (usually one big task per day) without complaining (much).

3. Public schools started this week.  Both kids have eighth hour classes.  Rosie Girl is in Art 3 which meets every day.  Wild Man is in 7th and 8th grade band which meets on Tuesday, Thursday, and every other Friday.

4. I’m loving that Rosie Girl can drive.  She can run up to the store to pick something up when we need it.  I had a terrible migraine on Wednesday, so she went to pick up our CSA veggies so PWM could stay in the shop.

5. Rosie Girl has been spending a lot more time practicing guitar these days and she’s glad that I'll give her school credit if she documents it.  My favorite is when she plays and sings “Into The West” from The Lord Of The Rings.  So beautiful.

6. Wild Man has been playing bass guitar lately.  He plays drums or percussion in the church combined youth band, but he plays bass guitar when he plays in the middle school church youth band (which really needs a name).  He and Rosie Girl have even started doing some playing together with her on acoustic guitar and him on bass guitar.

7. A huge storm came through this morning and I didn’t even wake up.  A lot of areas around here lost power, but ours only flickered a couple of times.  Since I use a CPAP machine, the kids called and asked PWM if they should wake me up if the power goes out.  He agreed that they should.  Really, though, I’m betting that I would wake up if my machine quit working.  But, I’m glad they thought of it.

How has your week been?  Anything exciting?  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!

Catching Up

So, who knew opening a yarn shop would keep me so busy?!  Yes, The Knitting Nest is open!!  There have been other things happening this week, though.

• I had a migraine on Monday, the day before we opened and then on Wednesday, but NOT on Tuesday!!  Yippee!
• The County Fair was last week, so we had lots of people driving by the store on their way to the Fair.
• The kids spent a fair amount of time at the Fairgrounds with friends.  It’s nice that we live close.
• I don’t know how we’re going to be able to have many “family dinners” with our new schedule.  I guess Mondays will have to do.
• Wild Man’s palate expander makes him even harder than usual to understand.  By the time his braces are off, his consonants will be clear as bells!
• Rosie Girl has a bite guard that she puts in right before bed, so we have about 15 minutes each day of not being able to understand her, either.  Gracious!

So, The Knitting Nest opened last Tuesday and the kids started home school work today and start their public school classes on Wednesday.

• Despite the kids starting schoolwork, the books are still on the dining room floor.  Deep sigh.
• I wish the kids were happier about doing their school stuff.  PWM and I try to make it as interesting as possible, but we’re apparently not all that successful.
• However, Rosie Girl, who complains about her school stuff, has already read about the first half of her reader.  “But, it’s really fun!”
• The book in question is “The Great Brain”.  Rosie Girl asked why she’s reading something so easy as a junior.  I told her that much of the literature and history that she’ll be reading is pretty heavy, so they throw in some lighter titles to keep it from getting too depressing.  The 20th century was very brutal in many parts of the world, and her reading will reflect that.
• Wild Man is enjoying his reading.  He remembers his first reader because it was a read-aloud a couple of years ago.  It’s kind of nice to start with something easy.

And tomorrow, it’s back to the shop for me (assuming I don’t have a migraine)!  I’m starting a new knitting project and working on developing some classes.

7 Quick Takes Friday–August 19, 2011

 

1. Football season is upon us!!  You can’t live so close to Lambeau Field (aka The Frozen Tundra) and not be affected by the start of football season.  We love our Packers up here!!

2. Rosie Girl has been doing a lot of babysitting and they asked her today if they could pay her for several day’s worth of work with a Kindle that they got as a gift but don’t use.  Rosie Girl loves her words, so she was thrilled to get the Kindle!!  I think the free books alone will keep her busy for a year or two!

3. Wild Man got the first part of his braces this week – it’s a palate expander with a little wrench that PWM uses at night to open the expander a little more.  Poor Wild Man has been stuck on mostly soft foods along with lots of ibuprofen.

4. This was a terrible week to have a migraine, and I, of course, had a three-day migraine.  Yuck!  The migraine started on Tuesday.  We did the Chamber’s Business After Five on Wednesday evening, so I was pretty highly medicated.  I finally woke up this morning feeling MUCH better.  This has been a very clear indication that The Knitting Nest is operated by PWM and that I’m a “yarn groupie” or “expert consultant” or “the cute woman who shows up to knit every couple of days” or “the woman who sleeps with the owner and has lots of influence over inventory and shop management.” 

5. On Wednesday, my motto was from the penguins in “Madagascar”: “Smile and wave, boys; smile and wave!”  And it worked.

6. Rosie Girl has been spending quality time with her guitar.  I walked in the other day and she was playing and singing “Into The West” from The Lord of the Rings movie series.  Beautiful.  Just beautiful.

7. Our church’s Rock The City is this Sunday!!  PWM and Wild Man will be very busy tomorrow with practices because PWM is playing bass guitar in the main worship service and Wild Man is playing percussion and drums with the Youth Band.

How has your week been?  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!

Reading Aloud

Our family loves to read.  We all enjoy personal and individual reading, but we also love our family reading time (almost) every night.  We’ve been reading aloud since our children were babies.  Yes, we read to them even before they were really old enough to “understand”.  Rosie Girl has always been willing to sit and listen to someone read.  Wild Man, though, would often crawl off while I was reading to him.  I used to read to him while he was in his high chair or in the bathtub, telling him, “All the books say I should read to you, so I’m going to read to you!”  Once the kids got to school age, PWM would read the “school” books to the kids during the day and we would read the Bible and a read-aloud (from the Sonlight curriculum) at night.  The children are 13 and 16 and still look forward to read-aloud time every night.  We often finish the Sonlight read-aloud earlier than scheduled, so we’ve added in lots of other books – the Narnia series, the Septimus Heap series, the Artemis Fowl series, and (of course) the Harry Potter series.

Reading aloud has lots of advantages.

• It’s a scheduled “together” time for the family.  We don’t always eat dinner together because of schedules, but we try to make sure we can read together.  If we aren’t going to be together at bedtime, PWM will often read to us during the day.
• Wild Man had a hard time learning to read because of his dyslexia.  However, once he could decode words, he didn’t have much trouble at all with comprehension and all the other things that kids learn as they read, because we had been reading aloud and talking to each other about our books.
• We have a shared “family culture” from reading the same books.  We often laugh about things that remind us of something that happened in a book we read.
• Especially when the kids were young, reading aloud was great to help them wind down and get ready for bed.

This year, I’m having a more interesting time coming up with books to read.  Until 2 years ago, the kids were using the same Sonlight Core, so we would read the read-alouds from that Core.  For the last two years, we’ve been reading the read-alouds from Wild Man’s Core (American History and then Eastern Hemisphere).  This year, though, Wild Man is going to be studying weapons and warriors, so I don’t have a read-aloud list.  I got a set of books called the Rani series from Sonlight that look like they’ll be fun.  I’m also going to have use read some of the Core 6/7 books but also add in some of Rosie Girl’s Core 300 books.  We haven’t done C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy books, yet, so I might include those.

We’ve also decided that we aren’t going to read a read-aloud and then Bible at night.  The kids both have Bible reading and study to do during the day and we were finding that the Bible reading was getting pushed to the side so we could read more of the read alouds.  In addition, we weren’t really getting into much discussion about the Bible reading.  So, we’re changing things up.  We’re going to read a read-aloud (i.e. fiction) until we finish the book and then read a book about faith or the Bible.  We’ve started with Matthew Paul Turner’s What You Didn’t Learn From Your Parents About Christianity.  This is a rather light-hearted look at our faith, and we’re having a great time with it.  Tonight, we talked about our earliest mental pictures of Jesus.  The kids are really engaging it, and we’re having some good discussions.  Eventually, we want to read The Ragamuffin Gospel, Know What You Believe, and The Jesus I Never Knew.  If some of the books are hard to get through, we’ll either put them off till the kids are a little older, or we’ll read a couple of chapters and then read a novel, and then come back to the non-fiction.

What does your family enjoy reading?  Any suggestions for me to put on our read-aloud list for this year?  And, if you don’t read aloud as a family, maybe this year is a good time to start!

 

My Kids

I have some wonderful kids.  They are funny, sweet, and smart.  Of course, there are times when they can be trying, selfish, and annoying – but I try not to think about those too often.  Today’s post is just a list of things that my kids have done or said in the last month or so.

1. Rosie Girl has her driver’s license!!  She drove to the grocery store for  me the other day.  She drove to a sleepover.  Right now, she can only drive the van, but we want to teach her to drive the Saturn VUE very soon because it is a standard transmission and gets much better gas mileage.

2. Rosie Girl went on a tubing trip with some friends Sunday afternoon and then slept over on Sunday night.  Monday morning, she got up at 5:30am and drove herself home to get a shower and get to her babysitting job by 7:30.  Yeah, she’s growing up.

3. Wild Man has been pricing a lot of our yarn and other items.  On the first day, he was playing with the price gun and “priced” me with a $0.50 sticker.  The next day, I got priced at $5.00.  I guess he’s realizing my value!

4. Wild Man said to Grandma while they were pricing yarn the other day, “You know, this would be a lot more fun if the yarn attacked until you priced it!”  Yes, he likes video games.  Why do you ask?

5. We had Chinese food for dinner last night, courtesy of Wild Man.  He had earned money for mowing Grandma’s lawn, so he decided to treat the whole family to a yummy meal!

6. PWM took Rosie Girl to the dentist to have her teeth cleaned and to have her jaw pain evaluated.  The good news is that the jaw pain is just muscle spasms.  The bad news is that she needs a bite guard to wear at night to prevent her grinding her teeth, which is not cheap.  And all this while Wild Man is getting his braces on.

7. So, in the middle of trying to open a yarn store, we are also having to get Wild Man in to his orthodontist appointments, and we found out today that he has band lessons this week.  Somehow, we didn’t get a schedule.  I had made sure that he got registered for the class, but I was planning to call the band director today.  Instead, some friends stopped by the shop since one of their girls had band lessons, so PWM and Wild Man went to the school and got the schedule.  Thankfully, Wild Man hadn’t missed any practices.

8. Rosie Girl’s current projects include crocheting a backpack to go with one of her CosPlay costumes as well as crocheting Barbie clothes for one of the little girls that she babysits because  the little girl has lost Barbie’s clothes and Rosie Girl thinks it will be more fun to play with a Barbie with clothes.  (Wow.  That’s a really long sentence, but I don’t think it’s a run-on.)

9. Sassy (one of the cats) has been trying to escape whenever we open the door again.  One or both of the kids ends up running out after her to catch her before she gets too deep in the bushes.  Dumb cat.

10. I had a short “orientation” with each of the kids about this next year’s schoolwork.  They weren’t overly thrilled, but they don’t want to go to public school, so they do their work, even when it’s not their first choice.  We actually start our new school year the day after Labor Day.

 

How are your kids?  Are they doing anything fun and exciting?!

Growing Up

About a year ago, I read Escaping the Endless Adolescence, a wonderful book that deals with the issue of young adults and their lack of maturity.  Having two adolescents in my home made this particularly pertinent for me.  This week, I’ve seen the authors’ thesis played out in front of me.  Basically, the authors point out that teenagers are not maturing as we would expect them to because they are given very little real challenge in their lives.  How can this be, when they are taking AP classes, playing sports, and generally being very busy?  Teens are having trouble connecting much of what they do with “real life”, so they feel like they are (and, in many cases, really are) living in a bubble.  Many adolescents spend most of their time around other adolescents.  They go to school, practice sports or music, and maybe even have a job, but they have a hard time connecting it to their anticipated adult life.  Yes, their grades are important, but college stands between them and “a real job” in many cases.  The authors point out that teens quite often “step up to the plate” when given adult responsibilities with appropriate feedback.

So, how does this relate to my life?  In the last week, The Knitting Nest started getting our yarn and other product shipments.  Earlier this week, Wild Man helped PWM inventory and price a bunch of the yarn as well as put together the wire display cubes and putting the yarn in the cubes.  You can tell that it’s Wild Man’s work because the yarn balls are all lined up nice and straight.  Yes, he likes order.  Rosie Girl spent all day today working with PWM to price and display more of the yarn.  (And they’re not done!)  Both kids have been very proud of their work in the shop during the last few days.  Wild Man was sick last week and watched more TV than anyone should watch, but he didn’t seem to miss his daily dose of Disney Channel this week.  The kids have been paid with drinks from the local coffee shop; clearly, it’s not money that’s motivating them.  They enjoy seeing that their effort is important.  All the yarn that they price is yarn that PWM and I don’t have to price.

One of the reasons that we teach our kids at home is because we don’t think that a school environment where kids are with their peers all day every day is the best thing for them.  We want them to be comfortable with people of all ages.  We also want them to learn to work.  We’ve been deliberate about giving them work to do here at home, including their own laundry.  Wild Man works at the Senior Nutrition Site helping to get Meals on Wheels ready as well as being one of the helpers in children’s church.  Rosie Girl works with our Worship Arts Director, helping with paperwork and making chord sheets.  It really seems that home education works in our favor in this case.

I have no idea how my kids are going to “turn out” – that’s largely between them and God.  However, based on what I’ve been reading and how I’ve seen my kids interact with the world, I’m pretty optimistic.

7 Quick Takes Friday–July 22, 2011

I’ve posted lots of new stuff on The Knitting Nest blog, so hop over there to check it out.  We do have a life outside of yarn, so that’s what I’m talking about on this blog.

1. My dad’s birthday is today!!  Happy Birthday, Dad!

2. Speaking of birthdays, I had one last week, but got presents this week.  The kids got me Focus on the Family’s radio drama of The Screwtape Letters.  I am LOVING it!!  Andy Serkis does the voice of Screwtape and he’s wonderful.  The gift from my parents is a new mp3 player.  I ordered it early this week and should get it next week.  My other mp3 player died several months ago and I’ve been using Wild Man’s.  The problem is that I often have several library books as well as music from Rhapsody on the player and Wild Man’s mp3 player doesn’t have as much memory as I’d like.

3. Rosie Girl has her driver’s test in two weeks, so she’s been doing a lot of driving.  PWM and I are very proud of how she is doing – she drove home from her piano lesson in Appleton this week.

4. Rosie Girl has been babysitting three little girls for two full days a week.  She loves the little girls, but found out how hard it can be yesterday.  The heat has been extreme and the family she babysits for only has window units in the girls’ bedroom so they were all uncomfortable and getting crabby.  But, Rosie Girl is shaking it off and going back for two days next week.  I love watching her grow up!

5. Wild Man told me on Wednesday that he was bored of TV and video games!  There were extenuating circumstances, though.  Wild Man started getting sick on Monday night so he didn’t do much except lie around, watch TV, and listening to audiobooks.  Yesterday, I came home from the shop for an hour just to keep him company because he was getting lonely.  He’s all back to normal now – and isn’t lying on the sofa watching TV all day!

6. While Wild Man was sick, I realized just how much noise the boy makes!  The three days he was sick were some of the quietest we’ve had in our house.  I kept checking on him every hour or so because I was worried about how quiet it was!

7. Grandma came on Wednesday, so we’ve been enjoying her company.  She took everyone to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 this evening.  Well, everyone except me because I had a migraine that started this afternoon.   PWM and I will go in a couple of days when I’m feeling better.

That’s what’s been going on in our family!  How are things in your part of the world?  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others are saying!

 

7 Quick Takes Friday–July 15, 2011

Friday, once again!! I celebrated my 44^th birthday yesterday, so today's post is all about July 14, 2011.

1. I was awakened by PWM and Wild Man who had made chocolate chip pancakes – my favorite! They had a candle in the pancakes that I blew out. When I pulled the candle out, the very bottom was just a string – the wax had melted in the hot pancakes! We cut the very center bit of the pancakes out so I didn't get a big bite of wax!

2. We met with a sales representative for several yarn companies yesterday from 10:30am-1:30pm. I have learned my lesson – sales meetings take at least twice as long as I expect.

3. After our meeting, I went up to church to hang out with our Worship Arts Director for a little while before my counseling appointment. PWM and the kids had stopped at Dairy Queen and picked up an ice cream cake and brought it to church for me to enjoy with my friends. Unfortunately, the cake was so frozen that we couldn't even get the knife through it! I put it int the church refrigerator and my friends and I had some after my counseling appointment.

4. The kids were both at sleepovers last night, so PWM and I had the house to ourselves. Don't worry, though, there's still cake in the freezer for them.

5. Wild Man is staying with a friend of his whose family owns a large dairy farm. He went over yesterday afternoon and is staying until Youth Band practice tomorrow afternoon. When he's over there, he works right along with the other kids. While this is a wonderful thing for him to do, it does mean that he's going to be pretty sore on Sunday and Monday. It's good for him, though.

6. PWM made steaks, broccoli, buttered corn, and garlic bread for our dinner last night. It was a perfect birthday dinner!

7. A birthday tradition in our family is that my parents always sing Happy Birthday over the phone to me. In harmony. It makes me feel very loved.

How was your week? Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!

Family Camp - 2011

We are home from Family Camp (Fort Wilderness, near Rhinelander)!  It was, as usual, a wonderful getaway for our family.  Here are some highlights (and I apologize for the dearth of photos – I just didn’t think to take pictures all the time like I usually do).

1. The bugs are always bad in the Northwoods in July, but they were out in more force than usual this year!!  Despite our best efforts to keep ourselves coated with DEET, the bugs still feasted on our blood!

2. I had two significant migraines this year at camp.  Ugh!  Usually, I have one bad one that really stops me from participating for a day or so.  This year, I missed the Family Carnival and the adult dessert because of the headaches.

3. Wild Man and I went to a Nature Center class on solar energy.  They had some toy Viking-style boats that had oars that turned when the sun hit the photo-voltaic cell.  We also saw a demonstration of how air in a black plastic bag (a very LONG plastic bag) heats up and starts to float upward.  Really cool.

4. PWM and I took several lovely long walks on various nature trails.  I had some sore feet by the end of the week, but it was worth it.

5. The mattresses are just not good for old people like me and PWM.  Thankfully, though, the soreness was much improved after the first night.

6. For the last couple of years, I’ve gone to Lumberjack Breakfast with Wild Man while PWM went with Rosie Girl on Wrangler’s Breakfast.  We can only do one special breakfast each, so this year, I decided to go with Rosie Girl and let PWM go with Wild Man.  Rosie Girl and I were up bright and early to go to the stables where we got on horse-drawn wagons that took us over to Blair Lake.  When we got there, staff members had our potatoes and bacon cooking on the griddle and were ready to make our eggs to order.  Delish!  And lots of fun!

 

7. Wild Man and PWM went to the lake where the Lumberjack breakfast group was met by “Jacques” (who bears an uncanny resemblance to the Nature Center guy) who took them on the trail to Cranberry Point while discussing the logging lifestyle of 150-200 years ago.  They ended by having pancakes made to order (with toppings) and bacon at Cranberry Point.  A wonderful breakfast was had by all!

8. On Monday, July 4, I missed breakfast because of the aforementioned migraine so PWM brought me a scone to eat before the morning session.  Rosie Girl said, “There must be Revolutionary War soldiers turning over in their graves right now!”  I asked why, and she answered, “Because we’re eating British scones on American Independence Day!”

9. Another mealtime funny: We were sitting before dinner with two other couples and Rosie Girl and Wild Man.  Wild Man had been playing all afternoon and was starving.  He drank two glasses of milk and then served himself some pears while we were waiting for the rest of the meal to be served.  Someone asked me to pass the pears and Wild Man said, “Those are pears?”  I asked, “What did you think they are?  You just ate them – didn’t you taste them?”  Wild Man answered (rather sheepishly), “I thought they were apples and I inhaled them so fast that I didn’t really taste them.  I’m hungry!!”  Crazy boy.

10. On Thursday, Wild Man won first place for his age group in both the Archery and Riflery tournaments!!  He won two free double-scoop ice creams, which worked out very well because he had spent all his money earlier on Thursday when he bought a T-shirt.  He had one ice cream on Thursday night and the other right before we left on Friday morning.

11. PWM got second place in the adult section of the Archery Tournament and won a single scoop of ice cream from the canteen!  Congratulations, PWM!!

12. PWM and I forgot to pack blankets!  The kids each had a sleeping bag, so they were comfortable.  On the first night and last night, it got really chilly and I slept in my jeans and sweatshirt as well as putting jackets and towels over myself to get warm.  This never happened when I went to camp in Florida – we were always hot!

 

How was your week?  Anything exciting happening?  How bad are the bugs and heat in your part of the world?