- In my life this week… We’ve been dealing with a relapse of Ben’s illness. It’s worse in a lot of ways this time, but we’ve been advised that we need to expect to spend six to eight months working with him to correct this rather than the couple of weeks his doctor originally indicated. I don’t think his doctor realized how intractable the situation is or how hard it is to persuade Ben to do things. I’m also finding keeping up with homeschool and my paying job a bit more daunting than I imagined it would be. I’m also learning how to design digital Project Life pages and I’m so excited that I may even share a few
- In our homeschool this week… We have almost finished Life of Fred: Farming. Once he completes the final review problems, we’ll take a week off from Fred before starting Goldfish. We learned more about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount — the part about being truthful. Ben drew a picture while Katie did the coloring page. Mostly, though, we’ve been working on the science fair project. We finished trial number four on Monday. We’ve been making notes and trying to figure out how to organize the thing. My job this weekend is to buy the project board. It hasn’t hit him yet that he’s going to have to take all these notes I’ve written for him and copy them into his notebook himself. Poor guy.
- Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…Run do not walk to Amazon and get: The Homeschool Highway: How To Navigate Your Way Without Getting Sick by Amy Dingmann. This book is so funny, but also so reassuring. Don’t compare your outtakes to someone else’s highlight reel — that’s been my take away so far.
- I am inspired by… Lori Pickert. I could just sit with a cup of tea and read her writing all day long. The only problem is? She makes me do things. Lots of things. Sigh.
- Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…This is one of our quiet weeks. Mostly dance. We are going to go see a friend tomorrow that we haven’t seen since we picked up Peyton seven years ago.
- My favorite thing this week was…
- What’s working/not working for us… Working: Project time; lots of art and story based activities; and dance. Not Working: Quiet time. Ben is waging war on the idea that he should have to be separated from me for a minute and at the same time trying to push me away as hard as he can. I know this is part of the aforementioned illness, but it doesn’t help a lot. He honestly needs to rest, but he refuses to. As a consequence, I am completely worn out by the time P gets home and I still have to work sometime after that.
- Things I’m working on…I am finishing up Digital Project Life a class with Jessica Sprague. I am so excited to finally be learning how to do things in Photoshop Elements that it’s ridiculous. With luck, I will figure out how to share some of those pages once I get the hang of this.
- I’m reading… A lot of student papers. I’m also reading the aforementioned Homeschool Highway. And also? Weelicious by Catherine McCord. I’ve come a little late to the party with this one, but I think we should be glad that I made it here at all.
- I’m grateful for…
- A photo, video, link, or quote to share… This is a picture of Katie’s Reading Raven program. Please note the big purple check mark above lesson 1. She finished it and is VERY proud of herself.
That Sam bounced back after what looked like the end. This dog has more lives than a cat. I know we’re really closing in on the end here, but for now, she’s hanging around and is mostly a joy to be around. 
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Sam’s vet being willing to listen to me. Good friends who are helping to guide me through Ben’s issues.
If you’re interested in seeing what others are doing in their homeschools, go check out the Homeschool Mother’s Journal bloghop.
Adjunctmom's Blog 
lol, i am so happy that i inspire you … should i apologize for giving you so many things to do? ;o)
so sorry about ben’s relapse. does he have to sleep for quiet time? i could brainstorm with you about things that might work to get him to *rest* (he might not sleep). one of my best tricks was buying a little pup tent and throwing pillows inside (it was not for real camping yet worked just like a kid-size dome tent — and it was about 10 or 12 bucks); you could sweeten the deal with a camping headlamp to read with. ;o)
sending you all good thoughts! xoxoxo
He has a loft bed with an area underneath that I was trying to set up as his “boy cave.” But he managed to pile so much stuff in the boy cave that he can’t get in there. There’s also nowhere to sit and a whole bunch of other issues besides. Anyway, the goal is/was to put up rope lights under the loft, put a comfy chair there, and give him a place to chill out.
He’s fallen asleep a few times during quiet time, but this week has been really difficult. He is really trying to make me think everything is okay and then it all falls apart in the afternoon. Sigh.