What I've Been Up To

So, here's your basic update on life since I've been neglecting my blog.

1. Family Camp. It was super fun, as always! I had two bad migraine days and one moderate migraine day. The weather was gorgeous except for one storm - see above re: migraine. The speaker this year is from the Milwaukee area and spoke about love. His whole week's worth of talks is summed up in this: Love. One. Another. 

2. Kids' Family Camp Stuff. We took Wild Man's girlfriend, J, to camp with us again this year. For the all-camp fun day, they did a bunch of station games with a talent show in the evening. Wild Man sang "America" while J did her flag routine. They were a rousing success! 

Wild Man, Rosie Girl, and J did a rap that I can't begin to successfully explain. Wild Man did the beat-boxing. Rosie Girl and J were Peter and Paul having the argument in Galatians 2:11-21. It was beyond amazing. And frighteningly theological.

Wild Man did music stuff (of course), playing bass one day and drums one day. And, he won the carpetball tournament!! They didn't have the archery tournament because of rain - if he had placed in that tournament (which he has for the last few years), I would have tried to get some of his ice cream!

3. Migraines. Yes. I still have them. No, I don't enjoy them.

4. Books. I have discovered the author Terry Brooks. I am loving his Word and Void series and am getting started on one of his Shannara novels. Friend me on Goodreads to see what all I'm reading these days. (I think it's mostly up to date!)

5. Knitting. The Waupaca County Fair is coming up! I've got two items completed and two yet to go. The hardest thing is remembering my form - due this week.

6. Pokemon Go. Are you playing? Rosie Girl thought Christmas had come early when she heard that I signed up. I love collecting the critters and evolving them. But, I'm a lover, not a fighter, so I haven't gotten into a gym. We'll see how that goes. We live right by a Pokestop, so I collect a couple of Pokeballs from my living room every few hours. And I got a Meowth while sitting in my rocking chair last night!!!!

7. Sophie. We took Sophie, Rosie Girl's cat, to live with her in Stevens Point last week. Sophie is undisputed queen of the roost, right where she belongs. On that same day, Rosie Girl, PWM, Wild Man, J, and I went down to the park in Stevens Point right on the river to hunt Pokemon. Some people had practically set up camp. Of course, I was kind of tempted to join them when I realized how many magicarp there were! 

8. Rhapsody. This is my new kitten. I got an adorable 8 week tabby from J's family. Rhapsody and Rory are still separated. Rory isn't too thrilled with having a kitten around. As soon as I clip Rhapsody's claws and put her claw covers on (hoping to prevent declawing), she should be ready to hang out with Rory. Rhapsody is totally adorable in all her kitteness! She plays until she's completely tuckered out and then goes back upstairs to the closet where she's been sleeping and lies down.

9. Rosie Girl. Started a full-time job!! And it's a job that will offer benefits after a certain period of time! And it pays tolerably well!! And she likes it! Yes, we're all pretty excited. Rosie Girl is feeling like her choice to not return to school was a good one. 

10. PWM. He's starting to feel the impending start of school. But, first, he does two weeks of training at Milwaukee School of Engineering. Yay! NOT! The training is important for the new class that he's teaching, but I'm not thrilled about him being gone for two weeks. In any case, he's getting lots of walking in with Pokemon Go.

11. Wild Man. He's working at a grocery store and can work some shifts at the same chain when he starts school at UWSP. Hopefully, he can handle a few work shifts along with school. We also have to finish up his school shopping. And, I told him he gets to make his own doctor and dentist appointments before school starts - his schedule is too complicated for me to sort out. Besides, as he likes to point out, he's an adult.

That's what's up in our little corner of the world. I've got lots of stuff in my brain that wants to come out. I'll try to let it out in bits and pieces that make sense. Fat chance!! Stay tuned for the crazy!

CCM

The Last of the Last

It’s done. Rosie Girl’s high school career is officially over. Tonight was the last of her high school events.

Two weekends ago, she danced in the last dance recital of high school. The week of Memorial Day was filled with lots of dress rehearsals and photos. There were two performances on Saturday, June 1 and two performances on Sunday, June 2. I made it to both of the Saturday performances and the last of the Sunday performances. Rosie Girl danced with her tap class and did her senior tap dance (to the music from Dr. Who) in all four shows. She also was in the Daddy/dancer dance and the faculty dance (since she was a demonstrator) in all four shows. For two of the shows, she was also helping the little girls in the classes for which she demonstrates.

It was a crazy, but fun weekend for all of us! And we went to Perkins on Sunday night for a late dinner or dessert. Of course, there were lots of other dancers there, so it was wild and crazy, and Rosie Girl had the time of her life.

Grams and Grandpa arrived last Thursday evening for a short visit and to be here for the graduation party. I had managed to plan the party so that we needed very little preparation time. But, Rosie Girl decided that she wanted a chocolate fountain for the party. So, Wednesday, Rosie Girl and I set out to purchase or rent a chocolate fountain. We were unsuccessful in that endeavor. After several efforts and numerous plans, we ended up changing plans and going with chocolate fondue.

So Rosie Girl went shopping with Grandpa to get everything she needed for the party and then spent most of Saturday setting up what she needed for the chocolate fondue. In the meantime, I had a migraine. That’s OK, though, because I woke up on Sunday without a migraine.

For the party itself, we had subs from Subway, the fondue that Rosie Girl and Grams had prepped, and a cake made by a friend. The only real glitch was that we burned half the chocolate, but we got it cleaned up and redone before the guests arrived! When we ran out of chocolate, we just smiled and pointed out that there was still cake. Overall, we had about 40 people here and everyone seemed to have fun. Several girls stayed till evening and one stayed overnight with Rosie Girl. And we just vegetated on Monday.

Tonight was the last of the last. It was Rosie Girl’s last piano recital of high school. She and another high school senior had a recital together. They each played three pieces and then played a duet that Rosie Girl composed last summer at music camp with Rosie Girl on ocarina and the other girl on piano. They both did an excellent job. We enjoyed some snacks afterward and visited with the other family and friends.

Rosie Girl’s high school years are now completely done. She finished her homeschooling work before Memorial Day, but it wasn’t like there was a ceremony or anything. It’s just  over. The recitals are more formal endings than anything else. And I’m kind of sad. I’m glad that she’s moving on to college, but it’s a bittersweet feeling. Part of me isn’t quite ready for this last of the last.

The Last Dance Recital

This weekend is Rosie Girl’s last weekend of dance recitals as a high schooler. Hard to believe. PWM and I have learned a lot over the last thirteen years!

When we signed her up for her very first pre-ballet/tap combo class, there were a lot of things that no one told us.

No one told us that this could be the beginning of driving to Stevens Point once or twice a week for 13 years.

No one told us that this could drain our pocketbooks if she “took” to dance (which she did).

No one told us about the long afternoons in the studio making sure all the kids in the carpool ate their dinners and made it to the right classes.

No one told us about itchy costumes (although we did discover that having the girls wear a flesh-colored leotard underneath would help the itchies).

No one told us we should learn how to do stage make-up or do up hair in a bun (my nemesis).

No one told us about the chaos that is dress rehearsal week.

No one told us that our child would out grow their dance shoes 6 weeks before recital. And then out grow that pair of shoes 6 weeks into the next semester of dance.

No one told us how complicated dance shoes would get. Rosie Girl’s last pair of tap shoes that she ordered had to be split sole jazz tap shoes with tunable taps. And that’s just for tap! I can’t even think about pointe shoes or hip-hop or jazz shoes, too!

But, also,

No one told us how we would believe that our child was the best and most adorable dancer the first couple of years even if she was the one who sat on stage and didn’t dance.

No one told us how proud we could be to see our little dancer on stage concentrating so hard on the movements that she didn’t even have a nerve cell to spare on smiling!

No one told us that a piece of our hearts was up there with her.

No one told us how all these years of dance have translated into such poise and grace whenever she’s on stage or talking to strangers.

No one told us how attached we’d get to all the wonderful teachers we’d get to know over the thirteen years.

No one told us how every year, we’d be proud to see how much Rosie Girl had grown, but miss a little bit the little girl she was last year.

No one told us how hard the last recital would be. How hard it would be to see the last dances and know that this is the last year.

No one could have known when she was four that she’d still be dancing at seventeen. But, she is. And, she’s beautiful.

What an experience the last thirteen years have been! And none of us would change it for anything!

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!

Teenagers and Sex

Evangelicals have been pushing the “purity” message to our teens for the last 30+ years. Whether it’s “True Love Waits” or Daddy-daughter dances, we’ve done all kinds of things to try to help our kids wait till they’re married to become sexually active. And we’ve failed miserably. Evangelical kids are having sex at the same rate as unchurched kids.

I’ve been part of this. I’ve talked to groups of middle school kids about sexually transmitted infections and why they should wait to have sex. I’ve done seminars for parents about why it’s important for them to talk with their kids about sex and waiting till marriage.

And I’ve talked to my own kids. Not just about the mechanics of sex. Although, since they were blessed with an MD for a mom, they get to learn everything in far more detail. I also teach them about sexually transmitted infections and sexual violence, complete with CDC handouts.

Now my son is in a Bible study group for young men about sexual purity. How did he get this old?

Yes, it’s important that we teach kids about this. We want them to wait until they’re married to become sexually active. The physical consequences of premarital sex can be significant.

But, in another way, we’ve singled out this one sin for special treatment. We’ve made it clear to kids that losing their virginity is a BIG sin. One that affects everything else. Some go so far as to say that being sexually experienced will ruin a marriage.

Psalm 51 is my Bible reading for tonight and the reason I chose to write about this. David committed adultery and murder. Psalm 51 was his confession and repentance. In verse 17, he says “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Sexual sin is a big deal, but God forgives this sin the same way he forgives any other sin. When we are talking to our teenagers, we need to be honest with them. God doesn’t want their virginity more than anything else. He wants their hearts. And if they sin, he’ll forgive them.

In the years that I was talking with teens about sex, I know that there was a heavy emphasis on behavior and a lot less emphasis on the relationship of the teenagers with God. It’s so easy for us to focus on DOING the right things. That’s generally pretty easy to see and talk about. It’s much harder to talk about what’s going on in our hearts and how our walk with Jesus is going.

And love. Our kids need unconditional love from their parents, but also from other adults. I’m so encouraged that there are other adults in my kids’ lives that really love them and show them the love of Jesus.

So I’m still talking with my kids about healthy and appropriate sexuality, but I’m also encouraging them to walk with Jesus. And I’m trying to help them see that God is a God of love and forgiveness, not a God of “do it right or else”.

What do you think? How are you handling “the talk” with your kids?

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.

Big News!!

 

Rosie Girl got accepted into The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point!!! It was her first choice of a college, and the only one she’d applied to. What an exciting day! We’re thrilled that she got into the college she wanted, of course. We’re also happy to see that all these years of teaching her at home have paid off. Plenty of homeschoolers of our acquaintance have attended or are attending universities, so I know (intellectually) that Rosie Girl was almost certain to get accepted at UWSP, but it’s so nice for it to be confirmed.

The next step is for her to get her music audition scheduled. She’s had her two reference forms filled out. Now she needs to fill out her form and send it in and get a date and time for audition (hopefully in March). Then, it’s time to practice. And practice. And then practice some more. She wants to study composition, but they don’t have a composition major right now, so she’d just be in the Bachelor’s of Music program, but she needs to audition on piano since it’s her strongest instrument. She’s already been working on her audition pieces – she and her piano teacher chose them last summer. And, of course, she needs to finish her high school courses. Because, yes, UWSP does require that I send them a final transcript!!

My baby girl is definitely off to college next year. Deep sigh.

 

Our Week In Review–Grandparents Part 2

Between my headaches and grandparents around, I’m not sure how much “academic” stuff got done this week. But, since we believe that academics aren’t necessarily the most important part of life, it’s all good. Some “school” got done, but all kinds of “real life” got done.

My parents left town last Friday morning so this week, we got to hang out with PWM’s mom. PWM and I worked at the shop all day Saturday, but the kids were free, so she and the kids went to Roche-A-Cri State Park for the day. It was kind of cool and cloudy, but not rainy and they had a great time.

Grandma has been getting the kids ready for their trip to Ireland in June. It’s going to be Grandma, PWM’s sister, her two youngest kids, Rosie Girl, and Wild Man. Grandma took one of the cousins on this same tour a few years ago, so she knows what to expect and is excited about getting to take the other grandkids. On Monday, Grandma took Rosie Girl and Wild Man for passport photos and we would have all gone for their passport applications, but it was Columbus Day and we figured the courthouse was probably closed. In any case, the photos are done and we can do the passport applications on Monday. She also gave the kids journals they can use to record their time in Ireland. Grandma also has a relatively new ipad that they all got to play with so they can Skype and take amazing pictures on the trip!

So, what about the academics? Well, a little bit has been done .  . .

Wild Man

• History – We’ve been reading the US Constitution together at night and I found a good article about the electoral college to go over with both kids this next week. There’s a lot about the electoral college (like “faithless electors”) that’s spelled out in state law and not the Constitution, but it would be good for the kids to know about.
• Literature – I love hearing Wild Man tell me that a book (Amos, Free Man) is really good. I was afraid that I’d have to cut down on his reading because of his dyslexia, but he’s keeping up quite well.
• Bible – This week, Wild Man got to the part of Revelation where what he has learned from his counselors at camp is completely different from what he is reading in the N.T. Wright commentary. My main point to him is that sincere believers who hold the Bible in great esteem are disagreeing on these interpretations. Yes, one is right and one is wrong, but it doesn’t mean that one set of people is “good” and one is “bad”, just that they disagree. That’s not always an easy thing for a kid his age to hear, but I think he’s ready. And he’s learning a lot from how Wright uses context and audience to guide his interpretation of the text.
• Science – This is the hardest for Wild Man in terms of reading, but he works hard at it and seems to be learning. I also like seeing how he evaluates the topic with what he knows and then reads to add to it.
• Spelling – Ah, spelling. This would have gone better if I hadn’t felt so rotten all week. As it is, though, I’m seeing some improvement in Wild Man’s spelling when he answers questions for other subjects.
• Writing – Wild Man’s writing fluency is improving significantly. However, the last couple of weeks, he’s forgotten about writing me a paragraph on Thursday. And I’ve been too overwhelmed to deal with it. We’ll be doing more writing next week.
• Math – Wild Man is doing some Flashmaster to help him with ALEKS, but he hasn’t done much ALEKS lately. I think we’ll be doing some focused Algebra over the next few weeks.
• Music – This is not a problem in Wild Man’s world. His band grade is excellent. He stays behind after band when he has questions. He’s playing acoustic guitar, cajon, and mandolin at church. At some point, I might want to add in a bit more formal theory, but I figure maybe we should catch up on spelling first!
• Physical Education – Ideally, he’d be in TaeKwonDo, but right now we’re relying on him walking and riding his bike to school and the shop because no one has the time to drive him to Waupaca for TaeKwonDo class. Sigh.

Rosie Girl

• American Government – The election fits pretty nicely into her government reading. It’s not an exciting course, but it gets her the credit she needs. And it’s useful. She’ll be learning the ins and outs of the electoral college next week, too.
• Literature – Hamlet! Rosie Girl loves Shakespeare, even when she has to read the plays instead of watch them. She’s gotten behind on writing because of this week. One of them is her timed writing practice, which is important because she’s taking the ACT with writing in a few weeks. She’s not crazy about it, but I want to make sure she has it in case she needs it for scholarship applications.
• Math – The bane of her existence. Well, lots of hard work to finish Algebra 2 and then on to Dave Ramsey.
• World Religions – Going along OK.
• Music – Lots of music. She’s mainly working on getting ready for her piano auditions, but she’s also taking composition lessons and playing guitar for fun (and the nursing home). She teaches piano lessons to an 8 year old girl as well.
• PE – Tap class is one of her favorite weekly activities. She’s also demonstrating for two dance classes. Originally, it was going to be the vey little kids, but now it’s the 8-11 year old girls in intermediate ballet and tap. She isn’t having any trouble remembering what to do, but she is having to get into a little better shape to do all the routines with them!

Next week needs to be a little more academic around here so we can get caught up. But it will be worth it. Time with the grandparents is precious. We can do spelling next week. Grandma will be back in Florida next week.

That’s what’s going on in our educational neck of the woods. I’m always amazed to watch what God is doing with my kids. What’s going on in your world? Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others are up to!!

7 Quick Takes Friday–October 12, 2012

 

1. I can’t say that this has been a great week for me. Early last Friday morning, I fell and hit my head on an end table. For a couple of days, my fibromyalgia flared and I had acute neck and shoulder pain. On Monday and Wednesday, I saw Physical Therapy which has been helpful. I was already on steroids to break a bad migraine, which is probably why I have only had one significant migraine since the fall, but I have had lots of persistent neck and shoulder pain and just chronic headache. Ick. OK, done complaining (for the moment).

2. We’ve had PWM’s mom visiting this week. It’s been nice to have someone else cooking again this week as well as the company.

3. Between two weeks of grandparents and my headaches from h*ll, the kids have gotten behind where I’d like them to be for school. I think there will be lots of math getting done in this house next week.

4. We discovered a new TV show. Actually, Rosie Girl discovered it – and now we’re all watching last year’s episodes on Netflix at our own pace. It’s “Once Upon A Time”. We mostly watch cooking and documentary types of TV shows around here, but it’s nice to find a TV show with plot that we like.

5. I got a new book from the library a few days ago. It’s a short loan – 2 weeks – and 900 pages. I love to read, but I’m just not sure I’m going to get through the entire book in two weeks. I may end up having to wait till I get my turn to get it on audiobook.

6. Wild Man is playing mandolin at church again this week. It really is kind of crazy how he can just pick up a guitar-like instrument and play.

7.  Rosie Girl is teaching piano lessons and doing demonstrating for some dance classes this year and is loving it. She hasn’t minded babysitting in the past, but teaching really seems to be more fun for her. And she really works at finding ways to help her piano student learn. She has far more patience than I!

What’s up in your part of the world? Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday and see what others are up to!!

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. . . .

Our Week In Review–The One With All The Grandparents

My parents came to visit this week. We only got two weeks notice, so I didn’t change up the entire school schedule around their visit; it’s gone well despite the interruptions. PWM’s mom arrived Thursday so we had some overlap in visits. She usually comes twice a year so I don’t worry so much about working school around her visits. It’s all good.

Overall, it has gone remarkably well, except for my near constant severe headache. I did get started on some dexamethasone on Tuesday afternoon. It definitely has side effects, but the headache was much better on Thursday. Early Friday morning, though, I slipped and fell in the wee hours of the morning (dexamethasone gives me insomnia) and hit my head on the corner of a table and strained most of my other muscles. I didn’t tell my parents till they were Friday night, when they were already stopping for dinner in Missouri! The headaches weren’t fun, but they allowed the grandparents to spend more time with the grandchildren, I suppose, and I felt no guilt over not doing anything useful in my own house!

My mom was completely taken in by the yarn shop. I refused to make a shawl out of novelty yarn for her because it’s so simple that she can do it herself and I don’t like working with that yarn. So, she’s well on the way to having a lovely Organza scarf that she knitted herself. But, she did twist my arm (about 3 degrees did it!) to make her a silk shawl.  By the time she left, she had yarn and needles for three projects along with some shawl pins.

Grandma (PWMs mom) arrived late Thursday morning. She got to hang out some with my parents, but she’s staying at a friend’s house, so we will get to see her after breakfast most days. She has a new  toy – an ipad! I’m a bit jealous, especially of the picture quality! She’ll be here for a week or so. And Rosie Girl actually has this weekend completely off, so she requested that we do something family-like. We’ll see what we can manage!

Wild Man

He seems to be enjoying his American History. Yesterday, he was particularly intrigued by Roger Williams since he  seems to embody the American ideal of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of association.

The N.T. Wright Revelation commentary is also rather interesting. I’m glad we’re using this particular commentary because it is the clearest explanation of some of the confusing images from the book of Revelation that I’ve read. Wright is good about explaining what the various options are for a symbol and then explaining the most likely meaning. Wild Man understands what he’s reading, but has told me that this is more unusual than he expected when he requested to study it!

Grandpa was most impressed  with Wild Man’s science book. I have Wild Man read a section of DK/Smithsonian Earth each day and answer a question or write a summary sentence for me. Grandpa was amazed by the amount of information and pictures, but then also by the price! I bought the book about 5 years ago for only $25 off Amazon. It’s now being used for the second time for a high school science credit – probably the best money I’ve ever spent on these kids’ high school studies!

I’ve found that his handwriting fluency and legibility is much improved by having him answer questions for each subject each day. The questions aren’t hard, but they make sure that  he  has read the material.

He’s playing drum kit for one of the Christmas songs in band but still playing bells in marching band and cymbals in pep band. And I’m super-proud of him for staying a few minutes after class to get the band director to help him with his timpani part when none of the other percussion players could.

At church, he and another few teenagers lead worship for the kids during the 10:30 service on Sunday. The teen bands have practice on Sunday afternoon where Wild Man plays drums or acoustic guitar. On Wednesday night, he and a couple of other teens lead worship with just keyboard and drums.

Wild Man and Rosie Girl Went to the local nursing home a few weeks ago and played guitars and sang for several residents. They are working up some pieces to play in a few weeks when they go again.

Wild Man is delighting Grams by eating everything she makes plus some! He and Grandpa shared some “guy time” by watching LSU play pitifully against Towson (although they won) and the Packers play OK against the Saints (again, they won). There was much testosterone to be had in the living room during those games. During half-time of the Bears/Cowboys game, the kids brought out their guitars and played and sang some beautiful music for the grandparents. And a good time was had by all!!

Rosie Girl

Rosie Girl is enjoying British Literature except for poetry – although I suspect that deep down she really doesn’t mind it all that badly. She’s reading Sherlock Holmes right now and really likes it.

I DVR’d the presidential debate to watch next week as part of her American Government (and Wild Man’s American History). She likes her American Government Text even though I regularly assign her questions that require a little internet research.

Rosie Girl is finished with Japanese except for taking the final exam! Now she gets to use Rosetta Stone for her second credit of Japanese. And now she has extra time to finish Algebra 2 before Personal Finance starts. Yippee!! Can you tell that  these aren’t her favorite credits to rack up.

In music, Rosie Girl is learning pieces for her college audition (while also filling out her general college application). She’s taking composition lessons as well. And, we are borrowing an old electric guitar from church so Wild Man can practice guitar without bothering Rosie Girl, but Rosie Girl is finding that she likes the idea of getting to learn to play electric guitar when Wild Man isn’t using it. I think she has musical ADD.

And, of course, she’s taking a tap dance class and demonstrating for  intermediate child ballet and intermediate child tap classes. And teaching piano lessons.

Rosie Girl  and Grams spent some time Monday driving around and taking pictures of Fall colors. She’s also been driving Grandpa around making sure he knows where the grocery store, etc. are. And, of course, there’s cooking. They made some delicious Zuppa Toscana on Thursday morning for all of us to have as the weather cooled down! And then they proceeded to have a girls’ day out. Grams went with Rosie Girl and watched her demonstrate for dance classes. Then they did a bit of shopping and stopped at Starbucks. A teenager and her Grams. Does it get much better than that?

How has your week gone? Anything exciting or educational in your world?

Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others are doing!

A Girls’ Weekend

The Rosie Girl and I spent Saturday and Sunday together on a Girls’ Weekend – being girls together and having fun. I’d share photos, but I only took a couple. I’ll just share  memories instead.

• We shared the driving from Weyauwega to Minneapolis and listened to Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card most of the time. Interspersed we had some serious conversations about religion and life.
• I’m really glad Rosie Girl is old enough to drive.
• We were hobbits and had breakfast when we left home and then second breakfast a few hours later.
• When we reached our hotel, I took a nap (because I’d slept so poorly the night before) while Rosie Girl researched whether we could take public transportation to the Mall of America and/or the concert that night. Short answer – no.
• After my nap, we drove to the Mall of American for dinner and shopping. And, can I just say, thank you, Minneapolis for all your clear driving instructions through the construction – NOT! Thankfully, Rosie Girl reads quickly.
• For dinner, we went to Bubba Gump’s and shared snow crab legs. Wow. Yummy.
• Then, a quick stop at Hot Topic for Rosie Girl to find some more T-shirts (like she needs any more!) before we were off to the concert.
• We needed to drive west for one exit and then go north into downtown Minneapolis to the Orpheum theater. Unfortunately, it was about 7pm and the sun was directly in our eyes. Despite sunglasses, Rosie Girl and I were completely blinded. I couldn’t see the cars in front of me or the barricades beside me (again, thank you, Minneapolis construction!) and Rosie Girl couldn’t read the signs because of the sun!! Talk about stressed! Rosie Girl had me just keep going for another couple exits till we got to the exit for our hotel where we knew we could turn around and then go east to find the correct exit to go north.
• We got to the Orpheum theater and parked in time for the concert – Zelda Orchestra: Symphony of the Goddesses!
• Talk about geek heaven!! Rosie Girl didn’t change into her costume until we got to the theater, but there were tons of folks of all ages already in costume when we got there! Some were costumes purchased online or in costume shops, others were homemade, while others (like Rosie Girl’s) were a combination of thrift shop and homemade.
• The Orpheum Theater is beautiful! I have no idea how old it is, but it has been restored and looks amazing. We were in balcony (aka cheap) seats, and could see so much. It was gorgeous!
• The symphony conductor is a woman! I realize I should not be shocked, especially since I went to medical school at a time when women were still a minority. But I was still surprised since I’ve never seen a woman conduct in person.
• The conductor was just wonderful, but her jacket was atrocious. She wore what looked like a black suit with pants, but the jacket had ruffles on the back right on the butt that were just awful. Thankfully, the music more than made up for it.
• And the music was, indeed, amazing!! They had two harps!!
• On a large video screen, there was footage from the game that went along with what the orchestra was playing. I understood some of it really well, but some of it I was completely unfamiliar with. But the music was wonderful!
• At intermission, Rosie Girl got a T-shirt and a poster.
• I can’t say enough good things about the music. What was really cool was that I was used to hearing it while the other three family members played the video game, but hearing it played by a symphony was like going from 2 dimensions to 3 dimensions. Wow.
• Saturday night, Rosie Girl and I stayed up and I listened to her chatter for about an hour about music, Zelda, and books.
• We were a bit disappointed that there was no free continental breakfast in the morning, but that motivated us to get moving and get to the Mall of America.
• When we got to the Mall, we had manicures at an Aveda salon – something we’ve never had done before.
• The next few hours were spent shopping (I got some cute tops at Lane Bryant) and generally sight seeing.
• The hardest part of the trip was coming home! We were both tired and had a hard time staying awake, so we traded off frequently. At every stop, the next driver would get some soda and run around outside in the chilly air.
• But, the best part of the trip was coming home because we were very glad to get home to PWM and Wild Man – and to tell them about the amazing concert and all the fun we had!

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!

7 Quick Takes Friday–The Last of 2011

This is the last time I’ll do a “7 Quick Takes Friday” this year!  Can you believe that we’re already to December 30?  It seems like we were just welcoming in 2011 and now we’re telling it good-bye.  Well, here are 7 highlights of the last couple of weeks.

1. Christmas Eve was as busy as usual for PWM, Rosie Girl and Wild Man.  PWM did sound for the three church services, while Wild Man played percussion and Rosie Girl played keyboard.  I, on the other hand, had a migraine all day and didn’t make it to any of the church services.  Yippee.

 

2. Christmas Day, though, was wonderful!  I made scarves for both kids using a double knitting technique so that both sides have the same design, but in opposite colors.  Rosie Girl has a keyboard design while Wild Man has the silhouette of his bass guitar.

 

3. Wild Man was excited because he finally got his own ipod.  Rosie Girl got some money from Santa.  She added that to some of her own money and went with PWM on Monday to buy herself a guitar – it’s a classical, nylon string acoustic electric with a built-in tuner.  She’s a very happy young woman.

 

4. One of our Christmas traditions is to have tomato soup (actually a ham and tomato cream soup) during the week of Christmas.  We eat ham during the first or second week of December then during the week of Christmas, I use the ham bone to make the stock for the soup and make a huge pot of soup so we don’t have to worry about cooking.  Things were no different this year.  Easy and delicious!

5. We don’t have much of a tradition for Christmas dinner except that we don’t do it on Christmas Day.  We do our Christmas Dinner on the day after Christmas so we can enjoy Christmas day with each other and not stress about cooking.  We decide each year what we want to eat, and it’s rarely turkey since we have that on Thanksgiving.  We were going to do lamb until we realized how expensive it would be.  Instead, we decided on individual Beef Wellingtons.  Unfortunately, they were overcooked – the casualty of an oven that isn’t very consistent.  We had leftover roast and filling (the recipe called for a mushroom filling instead of a liver pate), so we tried again on the 27th and they were much better.

6. Rosie Girl has found some added benefits to working at a cheese factory, even if she is working just in the retail portion.  She got a cash Christmas bonus and a HUGE box of cheese and chocolates!  Very nice!!

7. We don’t usually watch football except for Packers and LSU, but we turned it on the other day and watched the Saints game (partly because we knew that PWM’s brother was at the game).  It turned out to be the game where Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s record for single season passing yards!  Talk about good timing!

So, what’s up with you?  How have your holidays been going?  Check out Conversion Diary to see what others have been up to!

 

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–October 28, 2011

 

1. So, the Cardinals won the World Series.  Of all my Facebook friends who follow baseball, I think there are a total of 4 who wanted the Cardinals to win.  I have at least 20 friends who were pulling for the Rangers.

2. Migraine update – I still have migraines.

3. In a new twist, Wild Man has been sick for the last two days with fever and intestinal upset.  He missed sleeping over at a friend’s house tonight, but he’s perking up so there’s a chance he’ll be able to go to the Haunted Hollow with them tomorrow evening.

4. I actually played some piano yesterday.  Naturally, it was Christmas music since that’s about the only thing I can still play.  Rosie Girl played along with her ocarina.  It was a pretty special moment.

5. Rosie Girl has a friend sleeping over tonight so they made chocolate cupcakes with white icing and then painted flags of different countries on the tops.  Why flags?  It has something to do with one of the animes that they watch.

6. PWM and I had a date on Monday.  We had lunch at Olive Garden, bought light bulbs for the shop at Home Depot, and then went grocery shopping at Woodman’s.  The grocery bill was staggering, but I think it’s the first time we’ve done a full shopping trip in the last couple of months.  Wow.

7. Our family likes watching several of the reality/competition shows, particularly Top Chef, Next Food Network Star, Next Iron Chef, The Amazing Race, and Top Shot.  This week was the final episode of this season of Top Shot (on History Channel) and it was a great one.  The guy who won is a young guy who isn’t formally trained in marksmanship.  He and his family run a Christian camp in Texas, so he said the prize money would go a long way toward some expansion of the camp.  What is so cool, though, is that this guy seemed to just be having a blast the entire time!  On the very last challenge, he was almost perfect.  It was just fun to watch!

So how was your week?!  Anything exciting?!  Check out what others are up to at 7 Quick Takes Friday!