Homeschool Mother’s Journal — 2/1/13

 

• In my life this week… It’s been a whole lot of busy. We have been to doctor’s appointments. We have been dealing with the elderly dog. We have found our way back to the Y. We are trying to excavate the house one layer of stuff at a time. We have continued to work on Ben’s issues with a huge breakthrough happening on Sunday.
• In our homeschool this week… We have worked on math and reading. Everything else has been off the radar in order to work on Ben’s issues and cope with those issues. Katie continues to work her way through her three favorite learning programs: Letter School, Smarty Pants School, and Reading Raven.
• Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… Some seasons the bare minimum is going to get done and that is a-okay.
• I am inspired by… The book: Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe. It has pushed me to try something and I Facebooked several people as a first step of that process.
• Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… It’s been a busy week. Tuesday we went to see Dr. T. Wednesday, we discovered that the Y has not moved, we went to dance, and Ben was feeling good so we went to The Gathering at our church (if you’re local, it’s worth checking out the kids and I love it). Thursday, we went to MOSI class. Today, I had a good chat with Ben’s teacher at Zoo School about the science fair project that ate our lives.
• My favorite thing this week was… going to Body Flow at the Y. I enjoyed the class and Katie got to go on the big kid side of the play center for the first time. She did great.
• What’s working/not working for us… Working: Life of Fred. I cannot imagine our lives without that little boy teaching my kids math. We have such fun with it. Not working: Just about everything else. I think part of this is I set up a schedule. Wrote it all down and then we couldn’t do it. Also, Ben’s project learning is in the phase where he has to finish something for the science fair and he’s not having as much fun with it, so he’s frustrated.
• Questions/thoughts I have… I need to remember that we plan. God laughs. I need to remember that my goals for us are not necessarily appropriate for Ben at this stage. He is way ahead in some areas and behind in others, but I think it balances out.
• Things I’m working on… the 2013 Woodland Sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.
• I’m reading… Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe.
• I’m cooking… not much. I’m still pretty much in an anti-cooking phase. P has taken over the kitchen and that is fine by me.
• I’m grateful for… P, for putting up with my craziness; Robin for snapping pictures of the play structure for me so Katie could get approval to play on it; a work schedule that allows me to homeschool and be with my kids; Heather, for the advice that finally righted Ben’s ship.
• I’m praying for… everyone on the parish prayer chain including my daughter. Robin, and her toe. My boss’s friend who has entered hospice. And all the kids affected by CHD, and my sister and her family who just got a 16 month old golden retriever, may he be well out of the chewing stage 🙂
• A photo, video, link, or quote to share… this is probably my favorite picture of Katie from her trip to MOSI yesterday. I definitely have a musician on my hands. She was playing with the toy piano we gave her when she was a baby, and her dad said to her, you know now that you’re a big girl, you can play on the keyboard. She marched over to me and asked me to put the toy piano in the pile for Baby E (my nephew).

This is part of the weekly Homeschool Mother’s Blog Link Up atiHomeschoolNetwork. If you are interested in seeing what other families are doing, check it out!