Our Week In Review–5/1/2011

So, I’m doing our Week In Review on Sunday night.  What does this say about our week?

We’ve just finished a very busy week and weekend.  I had a migraine last Monday through Wednesday and then again last night.  Nonetheless, the children appear to be getting educated.

Wild Man

History/Social Sciences – Wild Man has been watching some DVDs on Africa, although we’ve been reading about the Middle East.  Hopefully, he’s not too terribly confused!

Language Arts – Wild Man is reading King Of The Wind.  We made some real progress this week in spelling and I had him compose his own paragraph using some spelling words.  Overall, I’d like to see him doing some writing as well as starting on a typing program.  We didn’t do any work in his grammar book this week, but we’ll try to do some this week, along with some MadLibs.

Math – He’s continuing in ALEKS Math.  This week, he was working on factoring numbers along with trying to get his multiplication tables down pat.  I think we’ll be playing some Multiplication/Division 24 this week.

Science – I’m feeling pretty guilty that we haven’t gotten much Science done the last few weeks.  I’ll probably have him watch some science stuff on DVR or Netflix this week.  He keeps wanting to watch Mythbusters, but I think he’s seen all the Mythbusters episodes!

PE – Friday night was belt test night and Wild Man and PWM both passed their tests and will get green-tip belts!  The warmer weather means that Wild Man has also been out playing basketball whenever it’s not raining. 

Music – The 7th and 8th grade band is working on music for their Spring Concert.  Wild Man is still getting drum lessons and is practicing bass guitar and getting help from PWM as he needs it.

Life Skills – On Wednesday night, I wasn’t up to cooking, so I gave Wild Man instructions on making meatballs.  He also made spaghetti and spaghetti sauce to go with the meatballs.  Yummy!!

 

Rosie Girl

History/Social Sciences – Rosie Girl’s study of the church has gotten into the 20th century.   I hope she understands the various groups and denominations within the Christian Church better than I did when I was a teenager.

Language Arts – On Thursday night, Rosie Girl and I watched The Zefferelli production of “Romeo and Juliet” since that’s the play she’s studying right now.  Her copy has the original Shakespeare on the left side and updated language on the right side – she tells me that it’s quite helpful!  Next week, she’ll write about literature – either “Romeo and Juliet” or “Twelfth Night”.

Math – Rosie Girl is plodding on through Geometry.  Not much more to say about it.

Japanese – More plodding.

Chemistry – I’m very glad that PWM is helping Rosie Girl with Chemistry these days.  She’s making progress and will be doing experiments this week.

Dance – Rosie Girl had a make-up dance class on Friday night, which made her very, very happy!

Music – Yesterday, Rosie Girl played in the annual Piano Festival.  She’s pretty happy with how she did.  She will be playing on Sunday with the church’s worship team because the keyboard player had to cancel at the last minute.

Art – Rosie Girl is enjoying her art class.  For one of her projects, she did a drawing of the dance studio and gave it to the owner.

 

I still don’t have this week’s school schedules ready.  I guess I’ll get it done first thing in the morning.

Catching Up 5/1/2011

Just a list of what’s been going on around here!

1. Today Wild Man turns 13!!  I am the mother of two teenagers!!  Ack!

2. Since Wild Man is 13, he’s getting his own Facebook account.  Ack!!

3. PWM and I are feeling a little stalled on the yarn shop thing.  We are meeting with a friend who knows a lot about business stuff to pick his brain and sort out the next step.  I’ve been working on our business plan and have even learned some basic spreadsheet stuff.  So, despite feeling stalled, I guess we are progressing, albeit slowly.

4. I’ve got several hats and bags up at the coffee shop for sale.

5. I came up with a great idea for a purse, but it didn’t work out.  I wanted to have cables up the purse that extended into the handles.  Unfortunately, I chose a kind of cable that is not the same right side up and upside down so I can’t hook up the cables from one side to another.  Do I rip it out and start over?  Try to do another kind of handle so I don’t have to start all over?  Think about it tomorrow?

6. Wild Man and PWM both passed their Tae Kwon Do test for green tip belts!!

7. Rosie Girl played at Piano Festival yesterday and felt like she did pretty well.

8. I was up most of the night with a migraine, so I’m feeling like a wet dishrag at the moment.  I’ve got a lot of things bouncing around in my head, but it’s quite the mess up there, so I’ll write more when I’m a little more awake.

That’s all for the moment. 

Our Week In Review – The “We Already Had Our Spring Break” Edition

The local school districts had Spring Break this week, although our district only takes Friday and Monday for the break.  Rosie Girl and Wild Man thought that they should have had the week off, even though I reminded them that our trip to Florida last month was their big break for the spring semester.  I did offer to give them the week off and end a week later, but they were definitely opposed to anything that might require schoolwork after the public schools are out for the year.  So, we did do schoolwork the last couple of weeks.  And with less wailing and gnashing of teeth than I might have expected!

Wild Man

History/Social Sciences - He was supposed to be reading from The Arabs In The Golden Age starting a few weeks ago, but we couldn’t find the book, despite my having rearranged and cleaned out bookshelves.  We found it at the end of last week – right when it belonged and where I had looked at least three times!  Bah!  In any case, he’s now reading about the Arabs during the Middle Ages.  We’ve also watched some DVDs about Islam, Mecca, etc.  And, I threw in a show about the Russian Revolution because I just found it on Netflix this week.  We had been listening to Around The World In Eighty Days, so we took out the globe one day and reviewed Phileas Fogg’s journey as well as the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.  (As an aside, there was a reference in Around The World In Eighty Days to Chicago rebuilding.  I stopped the book and asked Wild Man what they were talking about, why was Chicago rebuilding?  And I was thrilled that he looked at me and said (without a pause, and with a little incredulity that I would even have to ask him), “The Great Fire of Chicago!”  Yes, he did learn something from that trip to the top of the Hancock Building a few years ago – besides that it’s really, really, really high up!)

Math – Wild Man is doing a great job these days of learning math from ALEKS.  He occasionally needs PWM to explain something, but, overall, he’s able to learn from the explanations given.  He’s still reviewing math facts because they just don’t stick well in his head, but he’s making progress.

Reading – He has been reading Physick, a book from a series that he had been reading for fun.  I thought Around The World In Eighty Days would be hard for him to read by himself (and I think it was scheduled as a read-aloud when Rosie Girl did this Core) so we got it on audio.  The other two books that go with his History/Social Sciences are The Shadow Spinner and Seven Sisters And Seven Brothers.  I want to do them as read-alouds because I think Wild Man will get more out of them and there are a few sections with things I’d like to make sure we discuss.  Right now, we’re reading Surely, You’re Joking, Mr. Feynmann!  by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynmann.  It’s an entertaining book and has provoked some great discussions.

Writing/Spelling/Grammar – Wild Man has really been improving in spelling and writing.  I still have him copy a paragraph every few days.  And I have dreams of eventually doing the outlining lessons in IEW.  One day. . .

Science – We’ve mostly been watching DVDs about science, particular earthquakes.  PWM also gave both kids a good explanation of the basics of a nuclear power plant – and the differences between what happened at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima.  No, he’s not a physicist, but he understands this stuff better than I do, and he can explain it in terms the kids can understand.  My parents sent the kids each a piece of agatized coral along with an explanation of what it is.  Pretty cool!

Music – Last Friday night, the teens did a fund-raising dinner and show.  Wild Man’s band played several songs and did a wonderful job!  And, they raised a bunch of money!  This week, Wild Man and PWM have been busy with helping get everything ready for Easter service (which is held at the high school auditorium) and for EggVenture (also held in the high school, but in the commons).  The Youth Band plays today at 11:30am.  Wild Man is also learning a xylophone/bells part for one of the songs in the Middle School 7th and 8th grade band.  We’re rapidly approaching concert season!  (In fact, Wild Man and I did a manic shopping trip to get him dress clothes for Easter and band concert along with some jeans and T-shirts – since the child has insisted on growing something like 6 inches in the last year!!)

Rosie Girl

First of all, here’s the wonderful news!!  Rosie Girl got a 28 on the ACT!!  This is a really good score for anyone, but we had Rosie Girl take the ACT this year (in 10th grade) to get a feel for standardized tests, since she doesn’t have to do them at home.  We did have her do some review tests, but felt like she should have at least one “practice run”.  And she got a 28 on the “practice test”!  She definitely could do better in Math and Science.  The Math score should be better next year when she’s got some Algebra 2 under her belt.  And the Science will improve with time, I think.  PWM and I are incredibly proud of her.  She’s a bright kid anyway, but she worked through her nerves and inexperience to do very well!

History/Social Sciences – Rosie Girl wrote a nice paper a couple of weeks ago about three women missionaries.  She’s up into the twentieth century in her survey of church history.  (I really wanted to make sure my kids did this Core because I didn’t learn much about church history until college and beyond.  This Core is giving her some insight into why the Church looks the way it does today.)

Literature/Writing – This week’s paper was on Pride And Prejudice.  Rosie Girl chose to write about the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Bennett.  I’m thrilled that Rosie Girl enjoys Jane Austen.  She’ll have a great time with British Literature her senior year.  My dad (Rosie Girl’s grandfather) asked Rosie Girl to type up a letter that my great-aunt had written to my parents that included several pages of memories about my grandfather, who died before I was born.  Rosie Girl finished that this week and we talked some about the insights she gained into her grandfather’s family.

Science – Rosie Girl is doing Chemistry with PWM these days.  I’m pleased with what I hear from their conversations.  I need to get her doing the lab portion over the next few weeks.

Bible – Having Rosie Girl read the prophets makes for interesting journaling.

Music – Next week is Piano Festival!  Rosie Girl isn’t all that excited about it, though.  She loves music and is very good at it, but doesn’t enjoy performing too much.  She’s also been helping our Worship Arts Director every week and has even agreed to play keyboards for worship on occasion.

So that’s our week.  What’s up with you?  Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others did this week!

 

7 Quick Takes Friday – 4/7/2011

Well, I started it on Friday.  I hope it still counts – LOL!

1. What a headache week!!  I don’t want to repeat this too terribly often.  I’m feeling OK right now, but I’ve got insomnia because of the late nap that I took.  Grrrrr.

2. The weather is finally warming up!!  PWM and I walked today to get ice cream and then to the library.  Unfortunately, I only thought I had two books at the library, so we didn’t bring a bag.  The library was gracious enough to give us a plastic grocery bag, but it still would have been easier on PWM’s hands and back if we’d had the canvas bags.

3. In a week and a half, I’m starting to teach knitting at a local elementary school after school.  I’m very excited, but also worried.  You see, large groups of children scare me.  The good news  is that we’ll have several adults working with us, so it won’t be just me and 30 kids (I don’t even know how many kids are likely to come!).

4. Several of the library books are to help kids learn to knit.  I have, though, three books and each one teaches a different way to cast-on.  I’m going to start by giving the kids the needle with the first row cast on.  Once they can knit, I’ll teach the cast-on.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to teach the long-tail cast-on.  It’s not my favorite to use, but it’s very versatile.  Knitting on is really easy, but it’s not terribly elastic.  The “thumb method” or “backward loop” method is something I think is only suited for casting on the middle of a row.  When you use it as your first row, there ends up being a ton of yarn leftover at the end of the first row.

5. This week is the first meeting of the Fiber Arts Circle.  I’m really excited about this.  I know that one person wants to learn to knit.  I’m hoping some others will be interested to come see what’s up.

6. Wild Man is taller than I am.  I’m not ready for this.

7. Rosie Girl takes the ACT in the morning (as a practice run – she’ll take it again as a junior next year).  I’m not ready for this, either.

That’s what’s up in our house.  What’s going on with you?  Check 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others are doing!

Counselor, Comforter, Advocate, Helper?

I was having a little trouble deciding on what to write about tonight – chocolate or the Holy Spirit?  They are both good topics.  Excellent, truth be told.  Since I’m feeling all migraine-y which makes me think of spiritual things (albeit not all that deeply since it makes the headache worse), I’ll write about the Holy Spirit.

A couple of nights ago, I read John 16 in the NIV 2011 on www.biblegateway.com.  I really like that they have so many translations, but things can get a little confusing.  In John 16, I’m used to the Holy Spirit (paraclete is the transliteration, I believe) being called the “Comforter” from the days in my childhood when I used the King James Version.  The NIV 1984 uses “Counselor” and the ESV says “Helper”.  But, the NIV 2011 uses the word “Advocate”.  Hmmmmm.  That got me thinking.  Why did the NIV change from “Counselor” in the 1984 version to “Advocate” in the 2011 version?  As far as I know, there haven’t been any recent manuscript discoveries – although, not being a biblical scholar, I wouldn’t have known about it anyway.  What were the translators trying to express?

So, off to my trusty Broadman Bible Commentary and Barclay Commentary (thanks, Dad – they’re getting a lot of use these days!).  One thing that I have learned over the last several years is that words can change meaning over long periods of time.  That’s why I don’t use the King James Version for much real Bible study, preferring instead the NIV (and I’ve like the ESV on Bible Gateway although I don’t have the actual book version with all the notes).  I realize that my Broadman commentary is from 1970, but the authors do a nice job of explaining important words like “paraclete”.  The Broadman authors talk about the “paraclete” having two roles: the outward role of confronting “the world with the necessity of a drastic change in its notions of sin and of rightesousness and of judgement as a result of the coming of Jesus”; and the inward role to the church of guiding the church “into all the truth”.  Broadman translates “paraclete” as “Counselor” which emphasizes His role of convicting the world of the truth of the Messiah and His role of providing Christians with “insight to understand and of courage to apply those truths which the church has received.”

Barclay has a little more detail.  He says that “paraclete” is really an untranslatable word.  The closest meaning is “someone who is called in.”  Ummmm, what?  The Greeks used this word when they wanted to talk about someone who is called in to help “during a time of trouble or need.”  (And, in fact, Comforter was a pretty good translation when Wycliffe used it.  Over the years, though, the meaning has changed.  I think of a “Comforter” as someone who gives me a hug and tells me everything will be OK.  “Comforter” originally had the connotation of helping someone who is feeling dispirited to be brave.)  Barclay would use the word “Helper” to connote someone coming alongside to help another.

Dictionary.com defines “Advocate” as “a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc.”  When we read in John 16 that Jesus is going to send the “Advocate”, we are to understand that the Holy Spirit will not only comfort us in our times of trouble, but will guide us in truth and give us strength for the trials of life.  There is a sense of loyalty in the word “Advocate”.  It’s also a word of strength.  When life gets overwhelming, the Holy Spirit is our advocate, who walks with us to give us strength for the days ahead.

That’s what I need.  Comfort is important, but I need strength to get through days of migraines, to parent my children with love and grace, to stand with others who are facing illness and loss.  That’s what the Holy Spirit does; every minute of every day, if we allow Him, He’s right beside us, giving us whatever help we need right then.  (I’m listening to The Hiding Place on audiobook.  Corrie’s father tells her that the Holy Spirit gives us the faith that we need for each moment, not all at once.  And we don’t need to worry because the Holy Spirit is always here with us.)

What have you learned about the role of the Holy Spirit?  How has His presence affected your life?

 

 

John 16:33b - “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”

7 Quick Takes Friday (Actually, Saturday) April 2, 2011

Today’s 7 Quick Takes is a knitting edition!  Between knitting and thinking about and planning for a yarn shop, I’ve become rather obsessed.  So, I’ll share that obsession with you!

1. I was keeping all my yarn in zip top bags and had all the bags piled in an antique crib/bassinet that was hand-made for my dad (60+ years ago).  Unfortunately, it was just about impossible to find a specific kind of yarn or to see what kind of yarn I actually have.  Over the last couple of weeks, PWM and I have been cleaning out books (a painful task!) and I got the large bookcase in the living room emptied.  I put all the yarn on the bookcase tonight, separated by fiber type.  Unfortunately, it just barely fits on the bookcase and bags of yarn have been “jumping” on to the floor.  So, I need to evaluate my yarn storage again.  Sigh.

2. Early in the week, PWM and I went to Appleton and talked with the owner of a yarn shop.  She gave us lots of good information, but it was her encouragement that was most helpful.  PWM and I are getting more and more excited about the opportunity to open a shop!

3. Last weekend, we looked at another downtown building for our shop.  The building used to be an accountant’s office downstairs and a dentist office upstairs, but it’s been empty for a number of years.  The downstairs would require cosmetic work to make a retail space, but the upstairs would need more work to be an appropriate living space.  In any case, that one’s on the list for consideration.  Exciting!!

4. A friend and I are starting a Fiber Arts Circle in our little town.  We hope to provide crafters the chance to get together to craft, learn from each other, and do charity knitting/crochet projects.

5. My current knitting obsession is little purses made from cotton yarn.  I’ve got a couple of designs that are fun to make and very useful.  They’re the size to hold a driver’s license, money, and a phone.  I’m calling them “essentials” purses.  A woman who lives down the street does glass work, so I’ve purchased some beautiful glass buttons for the purses.

6. I’m also working on a pair of socks, but instead of knitting them one at a time, I’m knitting them at the same time using the 2-circular needle technique.  So often, I’m kind of bored when I get working on a second sock, but this way, I finish both socks at the same time.

7. I blocked the sleeves to my Fair Isle sweater, so I can start working on the rest of it.  However, I have a cotton short-sleeved sweater that I’d like to finish first.  It would be really nice if I finished it before Easter so it could be part of my Easter outfit.

What are you working on these days?  Any fun crafts?

Check out what others are up to at 7 Quick Takes Friday!

 

 

Moral Messages In Media?

This post is inspired by a friend’s comment on Facebook about the movie “Tangled”.  Our family watched “Tangled” last night (and the kids put it on the DVD again this morning) and just loved it!  The animation is amazing, the plot is interesting, the characters have depth, and it’s just a fun movie!

Spoiler Alert!

The problem in the movie is that the hero starts out as a thief with very little in the way of redeeming qualities.  By the end of the movie, he is a good guy, but he never pays for his earlier actions.

You may have figured out by now that I have the ability to be a world-class worrier!!  I don’t practice that skill much any longer since I’m getting better at trusting God and not trying to control everything and everyone around me.  What are some of the media things I’ve worried about?

• 1. Cinderella – a girl only needs a man to be happy.
• 2. Beauty and the Beast – while it celebrates intellectual activities, the main character is not content with her life in the village and is disdainful of the villagers with “little minds”.
• 3. Pocahontas – a complete travesty of history with overtones of pantheism.
• 4. Harry Potter – I didn’t have issues with the witchcraft and wizardry, but rather with the hero’s ignoring the adults, breaking rules, and even using unforgivable curses.
• 5. Veggie Tales – telling Bible stories with silliness – can this be good?
• 6. Shrek – potty humor
• 7. Pirates of the Caribbean – Jack Sparrow – need I say more?

And I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.  There are no perfect books or movies.  And if there were, they’d be boring.  Even Bible stories often show people doing bad things and not always receiving the appropriate consequences.

So, should we shield our kids from anything that doesn’t have the appropriate “message”?  No.  When kids are very young, we should perhaps be careful to weight their books and movies (and lots more books than movies!) toward those with positive messages and generally good characters.  As our children get older, though, media can be a wonderful tool for both entertainment and education.  I’m not suggesting that we need to be overt in trying to teach our kids whenever we watch a movie or read a book.  Rather, we should make it a habit to read aloud to our kids (which we still do even though the kids are 12 and 15) and watch movies with our kids and make discussion a normal part of our family life.

This hasn’t come easily for me.  I’m learning to do my best as a parent and trust God for the outcomes.  While it does require work to be a good parent, it’s much easier than trying to be a perfect parent.  In observing families, it seems that the ones whose kids turn out confident and ready for the adult world are those who had good relationships in the family and who have been gradually given more responsibility.  We do have some hard and fast limits on our kids’ media exposure – no R-rated movies unless they are with a parent, no T-rated video games without parental approval, no more than 1 hour of media on weekdays, etc.  As they’ve gotten older, we’ve gradually loosened our limits (from PG movies to PG-13, etc.) but we still try to be involved and watch movies and read books with them and have discussions with them.

How do you handle media and moral messages with your kids?  Has it changed as the children have gotten older?

Works For Me Wednesday – 3/30/2011

It’s springtime, and I’m itchy to get our house decluttered and simplified.  Not only that, we are actively looking for a building downtown where we can open a yarn shop on the main floor and live in another portion of the building.  That means we’ll be in a much smaller space.  To get started, yesterday I cleaned off some bookshelves and made piles of books to be given away.  I think the give-away piles include about 40% of our books.  We’re going to take them to our local library, but there are lots of other places you can give books.

1. Library – check and see if your library is interested in your books.  Our library puts what they can into circulation and then sells the rest at their annual book sale.

2. Used bookstores – We gave our last bunch of books to the local used bookstore.  They price the books at 50% of the retail price.  They give us credit for all the books that we bring in and then we can use our credits for up to 50% of the cost of our next purchase.

3. Jail – A friend suggested this on Facebook.  They are also happy to take some of the easier-to-read books because the inmates have varying levels of literacy.

4. Goodwill or local thrift store – I’ve bought some of my favorite books at Goodwill.

5. Homeschool group or convention – Many homeschool groups have used book sales near the end of the school year where we can sell our old books and get used books for next year.  Our state’s homeschool convention also has a used book sale where people can buy and sell books.

Any other ideas?  Where do you take your old books when you are Spring Cleaning?

Check out Works For Me Wednesday for more great ideas!!

Top Shot – 3/30/2011

We don’t watch a lot of TV around here, but the shows that we do watch regularly are reality competition shows: Top Chef, The Amazing Race, Next Food Network Star, and Top Shot.  Top Shot is a History Channel show that starts out with 16 shooters and has weekly competitions to eliminate one shooter each week until they are down to a winner.  So far, they have shot .22 pistols and rifles, bows and arrows, tomahawks, and other firearms.  The 16 participants are from various backgrounds: military, recreational shooting, and competitive shooting.

Last night’s show was particularly interesting for a couple of reasons.

1. I noticed in the last two shows that they show the guys (both women were eliminated rather early – blah) holding hands and praying before meals.  It’s really cool so see a bunch of men doing this.  I don’t presume to think that they are all practicing Protestant Christians, but at least any who might not be believers are very respectful of those who are.

2. Last night’s show was apparently filmed on November 10th, the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.  The men made a nice dinner and then a birthday cake.  They then did a little ceremony where the oldest Marine in the room got the first piece and the youngest Marine got the second piece of cake.  Of the final 8 competitors, there were 4 Marines, 3 members of other branches of the Armed Forces, and 1 civilian.  The majority of the final competitors had much of their training in the military, and I think this says good things about military training.  My brother was in the Marine Corps for six years, so this kind of thing is very meaningful to me.

I’m not a big firearms person.  I support strong enforcement of the right to bear arms, but I’ve never been all that interested in shooting (although I did enjoy archery at Family Camp for a few years).  Nonetheless, Top Shot is a very interesting show to watch.

Do you watch reality shows?  What kinds do you like?

Our Week In Review – 3/26/2011

Actually, it should be our “weeks” in review since I haven’t updated our school situation in quite a while.  For one thing, I’m starting to think longingly of Summer – and we’ve got 10 more weeks to go!!  But, we will press on!

We did take a week off to go on a trip to Florida as a gift from Grandma.  Yippee!!  Unfortunately, since we’ve been back, both Rosie Girl and Wild Man have been sick.  Wild Man was diagnosed last week with tonsillitis and sinusitis.  Rosie Girl will probably go to the doctor on Monday because I think she’s got sinusitis.  Between their illnesses and my migraines, it’s a wonder anything has been getting done!

As a family, we read almost every night.  Right now, we’re reading The Hobbit.  Generally, we read one of Wild Man’s read-alouds from his curriculum, but I haven’t ruled out reading some of Rosie Girl’s literature selections.

Rosie Girl

History/Literature – She continues with Core 200 History and seems to be learning, even though she’s not thrilled about it.  Part of me wishes that she enjoyed school more than she does, but then I remember how I felt about Physics classes.  She’s not a fan of History, even though I love it, so I just have to deal with that.

Math – Rosie Girl is about 2/3 done with ALEKS Geometry.  PWM works with her every morning for a little while on it.

Chemistry – PWM is doing most of the work with Rosie Girl in Chemistry.  The online textbook that she’s using is a much better “fit” for her.  This last week, they discussed atomic structure, including electron orbital structure.  Again, she’s not fond of it, but she’s learning.

Writing – We took a break from the biweekly essay for her to take a Research Paper class through Write At Home.  Again, I was very pleased with the instruction.  However, Rosie Girl wasn’t too happy with her grade.  Since this is the first time she did a full research paper, I’m not distressed about the grade.  I’m definitely having her do it again next year, though.  She continues to write fan fiction and occasional poetry as well as being part of the Writing Club at the high school.

Music – Piano Festival is next month.  Rosie Girl still needs to work on memorizing her music (!), but it’s otherwise sounding good.  Last week, we got her a double ocarina which allows her a wider range of tones.

Art – I am continually blown away at the projects that Rosie Girl makes in Art Class at the local high school.  I’ll post pictures soon if she agrees.

Japanese – Rosie Girl is halfway through her first semester.

Driving – She’s completely done with the classroom portion of Driver’s Education.  Now she has to drive with her instructor and with me and PWM.  She’s driving quite well and significantly less nervous behind the wheel.

Community Service – Rosie Girl is very comfortable now helping our Worship Arts Director get music and music packets ready for the worship team each week.  She also does some transposing and other fun things.

Bible – Rosie Girl is still reading through the Old Testament along with some background information from How To Read The Bible For All It’s Worth.

Wild Man

History – In the craziness of the last month, Wild Man has not done as much History/Social Science as I would have liked.  However, I consider it less important than his Language Arts and Math, so I’m not going to try to catch him up completely.  He has recently watched “Gandhi” and a documentary about Mother Theresa along with other documentaries about India.  I also had him watch “Bridge Over The River Kwai” just because it’s such a great movie set in southeast Asia.  It was also a springboard for a great discussion of the morality of the actions of the various characters.

Language Arts – We’re still using All About Spelling and Easy Grammar 5.  Every week (OK, every couple of weeks), I have him dictate a short paper on something he studied during the week.  We aren’t using IEW at the moment.  I’ve realized that Wild Man is reading well, but he is having real trouble with writing fluency, both handwriting and typing.  I’m not sure how much of this is purely mechanical and how much is related to his dyslexia.  In any case, I have him copy a paragraph from one of his schoolbooks to try to improve the mechanical side of writing.  He is also very slowed down in his writing by his difficulties with spelling.  He has trouble spelling words that he has been working on in his spelling book when they are in another context.  So, he has a hard time writing more than a couple of sentences before he’s asking for help spelling most of the words.  We’ll keep working on both spelling and writing and hope that he can improve his writing soon.  In the meantime, I am going to try skipping forward in IEW to outlining.  Having to write the words will still be a challenge for him, but most of what he will need to write will be in the work that he’s outlining.  We’ll see how it goes.

Math – He’s moving forward in ALEKS.

Science – We’ve been watching some documentaries about nature, specifically earthquakes and tsunamis, given the recent events in Japan.  Otherwise, we’ve been reading some about nutrition.  I’m going to sign him up for an online course that uses Legos to teach elementary engineering principles.  Wild Man is certainly looking forward to that!

Bible – He and PWM are still working through their Bible overview.

Music – Wild Man plays percussion with the 7th and 8th grade band.  He’s also been playing with the junior high “Youth Band” at church, alternating between drum kit and percussion since there’s another drum player in that band.  A few weeks ago, PWM started to teach him to play bass guitar, which Wild Man is picking up very, very quickly.

Community Service – It’s so cool to see Wild Man excited to go to the Nutrition Site every week to help with Meals on Wheels and the Senior Lunches.

Tae Kwon Do – PWM and Wild Man are both ready for their next belt test, but they missed the most recent opportunity when we were in Florida.  They’ll have to wait several more weeks for the next belt testing date.  In any case, both are doing well and practice their forms at home a couple of times a week.

So, that’s pretty much it.  The kids are learning a lot, even when they don’t realize it.  As they’re getting older, we’re able to have more discussions about world events and other important topics.

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

 

 

7 Quick Takes Friday – 3/25/2011

1. I still haven’t blogged about our trip to Universal Studios in Florida.  In summary, it was a total blast!!  More later.

2. Today was Day #4 of a migraine.  I start to get really crabby after about 2 days.  Thankfully, it appears to be a good  bit better.

3. We watched MegaMind tonight.  That is one of the best family films I’ve seen in a long time.  Entirely too often, my mind gets distracted because the plot is dragging, or there’s just a bunch of action animation.  This one, though, was entertaining to the end.

4. We got eight inches of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Unfortunately, it also rained, so there were layers of snow and ice.  I drove Wild Man to church last night, and he and I scraped/pushed/otherwise removed a good three inches of snow and ice from the top of the car.

5. However, my family is determined that it really is springtime, so we got a watermelon!!

6. Between the winter blahs and the colds/sinus infections in this house, we are ready for warmer weather and to open the windows!  Rosie Girl and PWM still have left-overs of their colds and Wild Man was diagnosed with sinusitis on Tuesday.  I’m the only one who hasn’t had an upper respiratory infection (fingers crossed, knock on wood!).

7. You know already that Rosie Girl plays piano and Wild Man plays percussion.  Rosie Girl also plays ocarina and got a double ocarina this week.  She is thrilled!!  The double ocarina gives here a much wider range to play.  Wild Man is now learning to play electric bass and doing quite well.

I’m not feeling terribly verbose today, so it’s a short post.  Check out what other people are up to at 7 Quick Takes Friday.

Snow Day!

The winter storm started yesterday with mixed rain and sleet.  Then we had some snow, then more icy rain but this time with thunder and lightening.  And, of course, I had a migraine.  Let me tell you, though, listening to the sleet hit the windows while it was thundering and lightening last night was a strange experience.  I always think of snow storms as being generally quiet, or maybe having a little howling wind.  The thunder and lightening is supposed to come with rainstorms – and rain, not snow!

We took a snow day today like the public schools.  Normally, we continue with our regular work, but Rosie Girl is getting over a cold, Wild Man started yesterday on antibiotics for tonsillitis and sinusitis, PWM is on the tail end of a cold, and I have a migraine.  Yes, we’re quite the picture here.  Unfortunately, it’s going to be cold for several more days.  This is a problem because PWM and I feel like we need to open up the house, spray Lysol everywhere, and then leave for a few hours (or days).  We’re probably going to open up the house tomorrow anyway and just bundle up!

Today, PWM has read to us from The Hobbit.  Rosie Girl scanned one of her drawings into the computer and is working on it in Gimp (a graphics program).  Wild Man has been listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when I’ve had it on and has played Wii, even beating PWM at bowling.  PWM is working on some little projects around the house.  I’ve been working on some knitting.  At some point, PWM is going to deal with the snow, but it’s still coming down.

What do you do on bad weather days?

7 Quick Takes Friday – 2/25/2011

 

1. I got up this morning to find Wild Man at the table doing his copy work, his least favorite kind of schoolwork.  I told him that I’m not a young woman anymore and that he shouldn’t shock me like that!  Waking up to such a site could do me in!  (He has appropriately apologized and promised to return to his usual level of laziness first thing Monday Morning.

2. Wild Man has been studying India, so we watched Gandhi this week.  Wow.   What a powerful movie.

3. I watched The Last Days of Sophie Scholl, the story of Sophie Scholl who was a Nazi resistor.  The story encompasses her crime (writing and passing out leaflets), arrest, and execution.  It was inspiring and depressing at the same time.  One of the things that made an impression on me was how the prosecutor/judge kept saying things like “The Reich paid for your education and you repay them with sedition!”  We are very fortunate to live in a free country, but we have to be vigilant to preserve those freedoms.  It also reminded me that no one can say that the government paid for their education since we have chosen to homeschool.

4. I need a new “dream writer”.  I have been having lots of vivid and strange dreams lately!  Last night, I dreamed that I was somewhere in Florida and that there was a 14 foot alligator terrorizing people.  There were several helicopters that managed to hoist up the alligator (killing one person, unfortunately) and take him somewhere else.  I think you’ll agree that my subconsious needs new personnel.

5. We watched “Despicable Me” a couple of weeks ago.  The kids’ new favorite saying is “It’s so fluffy, I’m gonna DIE!!!”  Completely silly.

6. Our current read-aloud is The Hobbit.  I just LOVE Tolkein’s work.  Well, except maybe the Simarillion – I had a hard time with Tolkein’s writing style in that book.

7. The kids are watching Phineas and Ferb and the song playing right now is “It’s so much fun not knowing where you’re goin’”.  I feel that way rather often!

Check out what others are saying at 7 Quick Takes Friday.  And have a great weekend!

Knitting Update – 2/24/2011

I have been toiling away at my stranded knitting project – Dogwood Blossoms by KnitPicks.  So far, I’ve gotten 1 1/2 sleeves done.  It is definitely slow going with color changes almost every row.  After I finished the first sleeve, I measured it and realized that it was too small!  But, I promise that I did a swatch before I started.  Apparently, though, I knit the actual item more tightly than I did the swatch.  I’m going to finish the second sleeve and then block them, hopefully to the size that I need.  If that works, I’ll do the body using larger needles.  If it doesn’t, then I’ll do the body at the same gauge I’m doing it now and give the sweater to someone smaller than me.  Lesson learned: A swatch is vital, but it’s also important to check gauge during the knitting project!

Last weekend, PWM, Grandma, Rosie Girl, and I went to a Shop Hop in Appleton.  We started at a yarn shop where I bought some great yarn – at 20% off!  Then, we went to a bead shop where we got to learn to make earrings.  Rosie Girl picked up some wire and we both got some beads.  I’ve got some great ideas for adding beads to knitted items!  We ended up at a quilt shop that Grandma really likes.  I loved all the fabric, but I don’t sew much, so it was just “window shopping” for me.

Other projects I’ve got in the works are a scarf for the coffee shop owner and a pair of socks.  I’ve also come across a great idea for using leftover plastic grocery bags to make totes bags.

I sold a pair of wrist warmers this week!!  I guess I’m now a “professional knitter”.  Now that the weather is warming up, I’m thinking about some new designs for lacy wristlets, summer hats, and bags.  When I’m not knitting, I’m thinking about new pattern possibilities.

The yarn shop plan is still moving forward – just very, very slowly.  Lots of thinking, lots of ideas.

What fun and creative things have you been doing lately?

Proof That God Has A Sense Of Humor

I have a sin to confess.  Lean in real close and I’ll whisper it to you:  I’m an intellectual snob.  I’ve looked down on people who are interested in fashion (i.e. clothing) or work in fashion.  There.  I said it.  Lord, please forgive me of my intellectual pride!

You’re probably wondering, “How does this have anything to do with God having a sense of humor?”  As long as I was working as a physician, I was doing REAL work.  I mean, saving people’s lives – or at least getting them over their poison ivy a day or two early.  Either way – it was IMPORTANT work!  People who worked in fashion – not real work.  I mean, how many of them had 12 years of post-high school education under their belts and the pieces of paper to prove it?  And, how hard could the work be?  Really?  And since I’m pretty much a “jeans and T-shirt” kind of girl at the moment, it’s been pretty easy to be something of a “reverse snob”.  I didn’t look down on people because of their lack of fashion sense, but rather because they spent any energy at all on fashion.  I prefer books to magazines, ideas to art – and I thought that made me better than other people.

Of course, during all this, I was still more than happy to accept that “real” artists (who paint or sculpt) and musicians do useful work.  God spent plenty of time in the Old Testament giving instructions for the artistic things He wanted in the tabernacle.  Besides, God made petunias and roses – the epitome of beauty.  Making art makes the world a better place for all of us.  Unless that art is fashion, of course.  I did have my standards.

About a year ago, I watched a documentary about Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue.  And, I must admit that there are a lot of smart people in the fashion industry.  And they make beautiful things.  So – time to bite the bullet - I had to admit that fashion is as much of an art form as any other.  This acceptance means that I have to give up my superior attitude toward an entire industry.  (It may also be possible that I need to give up all my notions of superiority – it’s not exactly one of those attitudes that Jesus encouraged, you know?)

PWM and I are planning to open a yarn store one day.  I’m also starting to make my own designs so that I can sell some of my knitted items as well.  And these things mean that I need to know something about fashion – colors, fibers, shapes, etc.  In fact, one of the most popular knitting magazines is Vogue Knitting. You may laugh now. I’m pretty sure that God is.

In the last few years, though, I’ve learned tons about fibers, knitting techniques, etc.  I’ve also learned how good a nice soft pair of gloves feels, how pretty socks can make my day, and how a fun scarf can perk up my mood.  I may not worry too much about what’s on the runways each season, but I am going to have to learn to pay more attention to current fashion trends if I want to sell any knitwear.  It’s kind of fun to see my artistic side try to peek out a little.  And the part of me that likes math is happy because making my own patterns definitely requires math.  Maybe it’s OK to enjoy clothing.  If God clothed the “lilies of the field” with such beauty, I’m betting He won’t be too upset with us trying to beautify our bit of the world.

Yes, God has a sense of humor.  Go ahead and laugh and I’ll laugh right with you.  And pray (yet once again) for humility.  I’m never going to set the fashion world on fire, but I do hope that my little foray into designing and making knitwear (however small – I like socks, gloves, and mittens) makes our little corner of the world a little more beautiful and happy.  And manages to bring glory to God (the ultimate Designer) in the process.

 

P.S. I’ll post later this week about  how the sweater is going.  And I’m working on another Mobius scarf.  And got some amazingly wonderful yarn on Saturday that I haven’t decided what to do with yet.

7 Quick Takes Friday – 2/18/2011

1. A migraine cure?  I watched a PBS special on the Donner Party this week.  Margret Reed was a member of the Donner party.  One reason that the family wanted to go to California was because Margret was plagued with “sick headaches”.  During the terrible winter in the mountains, however, she not only survived, but was considered one of the most brave.  After the family arrived in California, Margret had no more headaches.  Should I subject myself to a terrible winter ordeal in which half of my friends die in order to get rid of the migraines?  No, don’t think so!  (It’s unclear from what I’ve read whether or not Margret was one of the members who resorted to cannibalism.)

2. Rosie Girl is finishing her last Driver’s Ed classroom session tonight!  Her first drive is scheduled for next week, although she’s already driven around the school parking lot and then back home with PWM.  (And she did amazingly well – 100% – on the written test last week.)

3. I just finished listening to The Sisters Who Would Be Queen about Lady Jane Grey, Katharine Grey, and Mary Grey.  I am fascinated about the Tudor family and their role in British history and really enjoyed listening to this book while I was knitting.

4. Wild Man cooked dinner tonight for the family!  I’m so glad that my kids are learning these important skills.

5. My dad sent me a document a few days ago that was written by my great-aunt about my paternal grandfather.  My grandfather (known to everyone as Cavie) died before I was born, so I cherish this glimpse into his life and personality.

6. Rosie Girl and I have been listening to the music from Wicked since we went to see the show.  Wild Man has become hooked on The Dick Van Dyke Show.  He watches as many episodes as I’ll allow him each day!

7. I’ve been reading The War On the Weak, which is a history of eugenics in the US.  It’s really scary how far along the movement got.  Many of the leaders would have been happy to have all Native Americans, African Americans, and those of many other nationalities exterminated.  Unfortunately, we’re doing some of the same thing by allowing (and encouraging) abortion of children with birth defects (and even those who are just inconvenient).  If we don’t respect all life, we respect none.

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

Remembering . . .

For some reason, I got rather nostalgic last night thinking about people I’ve been close to who have died.  Maybe it was the migraine getting to me.  In any case, it’s not a bad thing to remember.

Danny was a year younger than I and lived “next door” to us.  Actually, it was around the corner, but since there were no other houses between ours, it was pretty much like it was next door.  Danny was a well-loved and well-respected professor of Old Testament as an adult.  But as a kid . . . I remember the time that the three of us who waited at our bus stop (me, Danny and my brother) decided to hide in the bushes until the bus went past and then told our parents that the bus had come early and we had missed it.  Of course, they were all working and didn’t have time to drive us to school (a good 15 mile drive), so we got the day off!  I also remember going to his family’s house every year for Christmas (they came to ours for Thanksgiving – it worked out well).  And since we lived in Florida, we could usually wear shorts!  Danny died about a year ago from a heart attack.

I didn’t know my Aunt Annie very well.  She lived in Minneapolis during much of my life and then in Dallas.  What’s kind of funny is that I’m geographically closer to her kids now than to any of my other cousins since most of them still live in the South.  What I remember most about Aunt Annie is how much she and my mom look alike.  When I was down South a year and a half ago for another aunt’s funeral, I got to see Aunt Annie again – and the similarities between her and my mom were striking.  Aunt Annie died this past fall.

My Aunt Alma was my favorite aunt (narrowly edging out Aunt Dot – more on her later).  Her first husband died while I was in high school.  In fact, I missed taking the PSAT because of the funeral and never investigated how to take it again, so I never got to see if I’d qualify for a National Merit Scholarship.  Anyway, when I started college, Aunt Alma lived in a trailer and I would visit her on holidays since she was only about 2 hours away from LSU, but my parents lived 15 hours away.  After my sophomore year, Aunt Alma remarried and moved out into the country.  I visited her once and we had squirrel stew with dumplings for lunch.  It tasted like chicken in case you’re curious.  But it was definitely squirrel – little tiny bones.  Aunt Alma was  diagnosed with cancer about 2 or 3 years before she died.  We were able to visit her a month or two before she died and she was able to meet the kids.  Actually, we had been there the year before and the kids  had picked blueberries and we made them into pancakes.  It’s been over ten years since Aunt Alma died, but it seems like yesterday.  I have her set of china now displayed above my cabinets.

Aunt Dot.  What can I say about Aunt Dot?  The woman was crazy!  She was funny and loud and loved me and my brother.  I discovered when I rode with her and Uncle Travis  to New Orleans one day that there was a side of her I didn’t like – she and Uncle Travis argued over everything!  And the driving made it worse!  But, she taught me  how to sew when I would  visit in the summer and helped me to make a sundress and a denim skirt.  I learned not to ask her real name – she was a little sensitive about it, and honestly, I don’t blame her.  She died while I was in college – the same summer that Aunt Alma got married, I believe.

Uncle Bill was the next to youngest of my mom’s 11 siblings.  Mom was the youngest, so the two of them were very close.  I remember visiting him and his family whenever we went to visit family in Mississippi.  They had a pool in one of the houses where they lived which we just loved!  My most recent memory was when we were visiting a few years ago and my dad was teaching Wild Man and my nephew to fish.  While Dad was trying to help my  nephew get his hook baited and everything started, Wild Man caught a fish.  My sister-in-law and I were the  only other two adults around.  So, I went down to the edge of the pond and helped Wild Man unhook his fish, throw it back, and then baited the hook with a cricket for him.  Wild Man threw the line out and the fish (which were pretty small) ate the bait.  About that time, Uncle Bill pulled up and stepped in to help.  He told  me I was hooking the cricket wrong – you were supposed to hook them behind the head instead of through the abdomen like I was doing.  I handed over fishing responsibilities to Uncle Bill since I didn’t like dealing with crickets anyway.  The fish ate the bait off the hook that Uncle Bill baited too!  So, he took Wild Man to another spot on the pond where he had good luck earlier in the week, but this time  the fish weren’t biting!  Uncle Bill died almost two years ago from a heart attack.

Last year, a ten year old boy died from cancer.  He was the son of one of my partners in medical practice – in fact, I delivered his older sister and him.  I remember what an adorable child he was.  The family moved about thirty miles away, into a larger city, partly to get the services he needed because he had some developmental  delay.  Right after they moved, he was diagnosed with a muscle cancer.  Thankfully, it was pretty treatable and he was doing better within a year or so.  But, it turned out that he had a rare genetic illness (that I’d never heard of before this) that made him predisposed to cancer and he had developed a cancer in his brain.  I don’t remember the timeline of things, but I remember that he died right before Easter last year.  I think this was one death that impacted me more than anything else.  Why would God allow a ten year old kid to die?  I had a number of my patients who died, but they were  almost all older.  Having a ten year old boy who was well-loved by his family and community die just seems unfair.

But, really, these all seem pretty unfair.  My Uncle Bill was an active, busy man with horses who should have had lots of time left on this earth.  Danny certainly is missed by his wife and kids, who are still in high school.  So, I don’t have any answers – just more questions.  I’m going to need a few weeks to spend with Jesus in Heaven to ask all my questions!

 

 

But If Not . . .

I’ve had a rough few days with migraines – the kind that make me wonder where God is and what He is doing.  Cause, clearly, he’s not healing my headaches.  I know from the Bible and from history that God is able to fix  them, yet He has chosen not to.

Do you remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?  (I remember a great Sunday School song we used to sing about them.)  They were Jews who had been exiled to Babylon.  While they were there, King Nebudcanezzar decided it would be a great idea for him to make a huge idol of himself and require people to bow down to it.  Some of the king’s astrologers saw this and reported it to the king.  Here’s the exchange that happens next:

¹³ Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, ¹⁴ and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? ¹⁵ Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us^[c] from Your Majesty’s hand. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

So the three guys got thrown in the fiery furnace, but survived and were even joined by another being – either an angel or a pre-incarnation of Jesus.

What I find interesting, though, is what they told Nebudcanezzar.  They believed that God could deliver them, but even if God chose for them to die in the furnace, they would continue to worship Him.

“And if not”  (the King James’ Version).  That’s what I need to remember.  “And if not” (i.e. God chooses to let me continue having migraines, etc.), I will still only worship the one true God who loved me enough to become a human and pay for my sins.  And, honestly, my sin issue needs far more work than my migraines. 

Every morning when I wake up (or afternoon, like today), I have to make a choice.  Will I follow my Lord?  I know he can heal me, make life work out perfectly, etc.  And if not, I will love and worship Him anyway.

What I Like About My Life Right Now – 2/15/2011

It’s been a rough couple of days around here with my insomnia and migraines.  It’s 3:15am and I’m still awake, although I don’t feel the need to have an icepack on my head.  Instead of complaining tonight (this morning?), I decided to regale you with a list of things I like about my life right now.

1. I’m allowed to sleep as late as I want in the morning.  When I was working, I was up between 5 and 6am (and sometimes had been up all night the night before).  Since I don’t have to be anywhere tomorrow, the insomnia won’t decimate the day tomorrow.  That’s pretty nice.

2. I totally love that my dear hubby bought me a single red rose (just like he did almost 20 years ago when he met me at the airport in Colorado Springs) and some truffles from a florist who recently opened a shop downtown.  It was sooooooo sweet – and made me forget the headache for a few minutes.

3. Christopher is the silliest boy that I know.  He loves to tell jokes and otherwise be crazy.  But, he can be serious, too.  He came back from H2O, the junior high youth group, last Thursday so excited not about the games (although he enjoyed those), but about the stories people told about how God was changing their lives!

4. Rosie Girl likes to talk to me.  She’s less interested in discussing school items, but she will talk up a blue streak about her anime and manga stuff as well as music.  Yesterday morning, she asked me about the history of various European countries because one of the anime shows she watches has characters that are personifications of the countries.  I don’t really understand all the stuff about the anime, but I do like getting to talk about things with my kids.

5. I like that we (the whole family) have real discussions.  Rosie Girl is reading Wicked right now.  One of her friends tried to read it but got bogged down early on.  (There’s a lot of political and religious commentary throughout the book).  Rosie Girl told me and PWM that she thinks she’s having an easier time with the book because we often having religious/philosophical discussions.

6. Of course, I’m loving yarn these days!  My Fair Isle sweater is coming along pretty well.  I was trying to figure out how to deal with all the ends since I change colors just about every round, but I’ve come up with a working solution that involves weaving in ends as I go.

7. As frustrated as I get with the difficulties of sticking with a schedule, I still love educating our kids at home.  Rosie Girl needs help with just Chemistry and Math, which PWM takes care of.  Wild Man is able to do more and more reading by himself.  I’m also going to start having him work on typing skills and copywork so that getting ideas on paper/screen is easier for him.  In the meantime, I like being around my kids.  They are really fun!

8. And I’m glad for my friends, especially the one who meets me on Thursday for a nice chat! 

So, that’s it for now.

What do you like about your life?

Why I Haven’t Posted . . .

 

This is what I’ve been working on for the last few days.  (The picture was taken yesterday, so I’m a little further along today.)  I’m sure I’ll post something else in the next few days, but for right now, I’m immersed in my sweater!

The Lombardi Trophy Comes Home!

I was going to write something deep and philosophical today, but we’ve been pretty engrossed with the Super Bowl today!  Grandma came over, we made homemade pizzas, and we watched the Packers win the Super Bowl!!

Our Week In Review – 2/5/2011

While the rest of the country was bombarded with snow and freezing weather, we had  our usual “Great White North” snow and freezing temperatures.  We did get fresh snow a couple of times this week.  Unfortunately, we also had one night with below zero temperatures – although, I guess, it’s good news if you like to ice fish or snowmobile on the frozen lakes.

Wild Man

I feel like Wild Man is getting short shrift these days with the school stuff.  He’s been reading a good bit, but we only got to spelling and grammar once this week.

He’s supposed to be learning about Central Asia, but we just got the two discs about Russia from Netflix that we’ve been reading some about Central Asia and then watching DVR stuff about Russia.

Wild Man is doing quite well in Math.  He is still using ALEKS and working on math facts with PWM.  He’s much more able these days to read and understand the explanations in ALEKS without PWM’s help.

Yesterday, Wild Man went over to Grandma’s and learned to sew a little bit.  He has no interest in other needle or fiber arts.  But, it’s important to know some sewing basics, and I’m glad that Grandma is teaching him.

Rosie Girl

Driver’s Ed started this week!  Rosie Girl was pretty overwhelmed on the first day of class, but is settling in pretty well.  The class did a practice test for temporary licenses (even though Rosie Girl already has hers) and Rosie Girl did wonderfully well.

PWM has been helping Rosie Girl with Chemistry this week since the chapter was on unit conversions (i.e. math) and energy.  It was very nice for me to have a break from Chemistry – and PWM is a good teacher.

The highlight of Rosie Girl’s week was Thursday night when she and I went to dinner and then to see Wicked at the PAC!  The show was wonderful!  (I would have loved to see the show on Broadway with Kristin Chenowith, but I can’t complain about the traveling cast that we saw.)

That was our week.  Not terribly exciting on the education front.  I’m going to try to do a little more Language Arts with Wild Man this week.  Otherwise, we’ll just keep moving forward.

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

7 Quick Takes Friday – 2/4/2011

Friday!!  Yippee!!

1. Last night was Girls Night for me and Rosie Girl.  We went out for dinner and then to the Appleton PAC to see Wicked!!  The musical was absolutely wonderful!  I was concerned that our seats weren’t going to be very good, but we were on the first row of the highest tier, so we could see the whole stage very well and even down into the pit orchestra.

2. It looked like the bass player had an old-fashioned stand-up bass, but also had an Ashbory electric bass.  The reason that I know about the really cool little Ashbory is because that was PWM’s Christmas/birthday present last year.  And, he loves it!

3. It looks like my week is going to be taken up by LAUNDRY!!  I’m soooooo excited!  Usually I do laundry early in the week, but I never got to it this week.  It looks like tomorrow is laundry day around here.

4. Living in the Great White North, we are serious Green Bay Packer fans!  Wild Man, in particular, is really stoked about the upcoming game.  Go, Pack, Go!

5. I’ve become such a hermit that going out in the cold weather is a big deal for me.  When I was working, I’d sometimes have to go in to the hospital in the middle of the night during the coldest parts of the year.  PWM was a sweetheart and would often start the car for me.  In spite of that, I still had to deal with some serious cold weather.  In the last few years, I’ve become a Winter Wimp!

6. Now that I’ve seen Wicked, I’ve got the music on my mp3 player and have been listening to it most of the day.  What a wonderful musical!

7. I read the book, Wicked, a few years ago.  The musical explores many of the same themes, but makes some pretty significant changes to the plot.  I was pleased to find that I enjoy both of them, just in different ways.

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

Knitting Notes – 2/3/2011

Now that I’m finished with the stranded knitting mittens and gloves, I’m ready to move on to the sweater.  I did my gauge swatch last night on size 1 needles.  Unfortunately, I was supposed to have 32 stitches per inch and I only had 26.  It was too big a difference to just gloss over.  So, I made another swatch using size 0 needles.  It was perfect.  I only have one pair of size zero circular needles and one pair of double points; both sets are bamboo and have gotten bent (not the end of the world, but I worry about one of them breaking).  I ordered two sets of circulars (Turbo Addi) last night: 1 each of size 0 and size 00 with long cables.  I also ordered a set of size 0 double points made out of a black carbon polymer.

On the needles, I currently have a pair of socks for Rosie Girl.  I’ve been going kind of slow on this pair of socks for some reason, but I keep plodding on.

I’ve also started writing patterns to make fingerless gloves (or wristwarmers).  I did one pair with snowflakes that I gave to Rosie Girl.  I’ve also done a heart in light pink on dark pink and another set with a purled heart on a knitted background.  Currently, I’m working on a purple pair with a light gray snowflake.  I’ve discovered that I definitely need to do stranded knitting on small items (like gloves and socks) with the item turned inside-out to keep my tension on the floats from being too tight.  Even so, I think that I’m going to increase the number of stitches in the wristwarmers, because they’re a little more snug than I would like.  By Saturday, I should have a couple of items ready for sale.

PWM got some Tunisian Crochet needles in the mail this week.  I’m excited to see how the product works out!  If I didn’t have so many other things going on, I’d probably try my hand at it, too.  PWM is also working on making little crocheted cell phone charms.  I think that doing those in the local high school colors would be a great item to sell.

So, where are we on the yarn shop idea?  Well, it’s still just an idea, but a more well-formed one.  We’re in the process of doing lots of research.  Every other day, someone in the house comes up with a new idea for a name, but we haven’t settled on one just yet.

I’ll post some pictures after I’ve finished and blocked the wristwarmers.

What knitting and/or crocheting projects are you up to?

Tuesday

So, it’s Tuesday.  And I don’t really have much to say.  The folks south of us are getting a huge amount of snow, although the 4 inches we got yesterday plus the couple we’re getting tonight is still nothing to sneeze at.  Nonetheless, I’m very happy that we aren’t in the middle of a blizzard.  The last time a blizzard hit our area, I had the migraine from h*ll.  And the worst part was that we couldn’t go to the ER for me to get the good medicine because the storm was so bad.  The good news is that I was reminded that migraines may be awful, but they don’t last forever.

PWM and I have been talking and researching more about the yarn shop idea.  I’ve got a few pairs of fingerless gloves ready to sell at the coffee shop.  We can’t think of a name for the shop.  I like “Main Street Fiber Arts” or “Fiber Arts on Main”.  Rosie Girl doesn’t really like those.  I’ve also thought about “Knits and Purls” and “Knit Knacks”, but I’m not so crazy about those.

A friend and I are reading Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.  I’ve got a lot to say about the first couple of chapters – very good stuff – but it won’t be tonight.  I may not have a migraine as bad as the one during the blizzard last year, but the pressure changes have caused a pretty significant headache to lodge behind my right eye.  Oh, well.  I guess I’ll make some more wristwarmers to sell.  I really want to start on my Fair Isle sweater, but I think I need to be a little more awake and less headache-y before I get going on something so complicated.

So, how’s your Tuesday?  Anything exciting happening?