It's Friday!!!!!

I was tearing down some sad looking milk weed from the garden which I had allowed to grow all summer (our hummingbird visitors preferred it to our hummingbird feeder!) and as G was packing it in yard waste bags,  he found this cutie. We decided to invite him/her in and created a habitat with lots of milkweed where he/she has munched away happily since last weekend. Caterpillars poop A LOT. Who knew? We have had to move the habitat outside because our bathroom was stinky from this little creature! We hope very soon to see the next stage in it's transformation.

Today was a productive day. Word families with T2 using her stuffed horses to represent letters (each had a letter card propped up in front) in hopes of giving her a good visual. It was fun and I think she both enjoyed it and learned from it. Afterwards she read books using words from each of the families we reviewed.

I finished my read aloud book to T1. It was good. We are enjoying reading different view points of WW1.

We previously read or are still reading these

We just started this

T2 half listens to the WW1 books I read aloud but I leave it up to her. I did read two books to her today while she created a house.

and  

 this is what she was creating while I read to her. There are many details I couldn't capture such as an opening fridge with pictures of the shelved foods, a TV and remote, an opening front door and windows. She spends hours crafting. I love it. I do not love the mess in the craft room!

I baked up a huge batch of potatoes and fluffed up the centres before packing them in the freezer for speedy twice baked potatoes when the mood takes up (defrost and bake for 20 minutes until nice and hot). That felt good as did de-cobwebbing and cleaning ceiling fans and baseboards. Tasks I dislike but feel so good when they are completed.

After dinner we did another couple of science experiments this time from this book:

We learned about the surface tension of water and the effect of dish soap on that tension. Simple, fun and effective.

Now the weekend. Not sure what that will hold quite yet but hopefully some fun family time : )

A glimpse of today

Things I never thought I'd see in my house - horse riding clothes for a 7 year old.

Loving this book by Pam Walker and Elaine Wood.

After dinner we tested Boyle's Gas Theory using syringes (no needle) and marshmallows. It was simple but really effective and fun. 12 year old T2 initially seemed really unenthusiastic because he wanted to be doing his own thing but he soon discovered how interesting it was and was able to relate the theory to other things in life. We selected the experiment from the above book.

Dinner tonight was home made vegan perogies and they were delicious. I used this recipe

It's that most wonderful time of the year...

....The time when kids start back at school and once again the library, park and beach are ours once more! It's great when friends who attend school are more available for play dates without the constraints of homework and early bedtimes but it's hard to share our spaces which are so quiet the rest of the year. Despite my intentions of continuing school throughout the summer, other than nudging the kids to learn without them realizing it, we did nothing more than read. Most afternoons I read T2 a chapter book in it's entirety which was strangely quite exhausting considering it requires very little effort on my part but the unnatural breathing pattern which accompanies reading aloud sends me yawning and longing for a nice nap in a shady corner of the back yard. In the Spring T2 was diagnosed with Dyslexia. This came as no surprise to us for this bright little book loving girl was no closer to reading than at 4 when she was in public school. At that point she was one of the top beginner readers but sadly she never really progressed. She has an amazing imagination and vocabulary so when it finally happens for her, I think she will run with it but I have had to come to terms with the possibility that she may never enjoy reading the way I have always done. As a child I knew I always had a book to keep me company when friends were busy or late at night when I was unable to sleep. Books were always on my Christmas wish list as a child, a teen and still are now. The tough part about her diagnosis is that she has several different types of Dyslexia and where one method of learning might help one type, she has several problems battling away at one another making most approaches unlikely to be successful. I can't possibly read to her more than I do now and we play lots of word games but this school year we will work harder than ever before and see what happens. Of course it will be fun as much as is possible. We have gently eased back into school this month and I am learning loads!! Grade 7 means world wars 1 and 2 and I am finding it so interesting. T1 does too but not as much as me. T2 isn't directly involved but is picking up information along the way while crafting nearby. We have read War Horse which was really good. I read it in one day to T1 (he does not like reading chapter books at all). I had to break it into two sittings because it is longer than the chapter books I read to T2. I think it took about 3 hours or so and it was exhausting but it was good and I think we learned a lot. We like to use the British Horrible Histories books because they are quite funny but full of facts and lots of gruesome stuff which of course appeals to my 12.5 year old.I also like the Dear America books which are written in journal format and again contain lots of facts and show a personal view of events. T2 started horse riding lessons this week at a cute farm near our home. She has been horse crazy for over a year so we decided we would let her follow her passion and see where it takes her. Her first lesson went very well and she seems naturally at ease around these huge powerful animals and seemed very comfortable in the saddle with perfect horse riding posture. Her excitement was so fun to observe and G was able to duck out of work for an extended lunch so he could come and watch. As she will be riding in the daytime she gets the luxury of private lessons at the same price as group ones where she would be one of three. I love these added little perks of home school life. We found out there is another 7 year old local homeschooled girl who rides there so we hope to connect with her at some point. I am excited to see what this year holds for us and also for the clearance sales on back to school items once our little public school friends head back on September 4!! Anyone know why my draft shows paragraph breaks but not when it publishes?

Interview with a six year old

I was looking back through some old posts and found this one

I thought it would be fun to compare her answers at the ripe old age of 6 3/4

What is your favourite colour? Purple
What is your favourite animal? Horses
What is your favourite food? Schneider soy burgers
What colour are your eyes? Bluey green
What colour is your hair? Brown
What do you like to play with? Clyde, my stuffy Clydesdale
Who is your best friend? Molly and Zoe
What does a donkey say? hee haw
What does a cow eat? grass
Where do bananas come from? trees
How do you make a sandwich? get some bread, get some jelly and whatever else you would like and then you smear the bread with jelly and then put bread on top and some people like to put a stick with an olive on it. (she has never eaten a sandwich - will not)
Where do worms live? in the ground
How many feet do you have? 2
What letter does your name start with? Tee
What does Mommy like to eat? Salad
What does Mommy like to drink? coke
Where does coffee come from? Tim Hortons
What do you want to be when you grow up? I still haven't figured that out, maybe somebody who takes care of horses seeing as they are my favourite animal
How do you feel today? Good, cause I feel good (laughs)

Time4learning

We just enjoyed a month of free trial to Time4learning. This site is really good. It's easy to navigate both for adults and kids and the activities are appealing to kids in terms of graphics and sound and keeping them interested. My 6 year old had no idea how much she was learning as she played the games. My 12 year old was well aware of the nature of the site but was very willing to spend time on it, especially doing science. Willingness from said 12 year old is a big deal!!

I really liked the feedback for parents which showed exactly what the kids had been doing, for how long each session and how they scored on quizzes. On those crazy days when time for more formal learning is limited, I especially liked this site because the kids could work on there while I prepped dinner or whatever else needed doing. Also for the 12 year old, I found he worked well on this site late in the evening when his sister was sleeping. Usually he would not be interested in any type of obvious learning activity at that point in the day.

It was reassuring to me that they were able to work through at their grade level. I think many homeschooling parents fret from time to time about whether their children are where they should be academically and using time4learning reassured me that we are on track.

We plan to continue to subscribe to this site

This review is 100% the opinion of the author More Mom Time. I was not paid to review this site.

Time4learning

As a member of Time4Learning, I have been asked to review their online education program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. Write your own curriculum review or learn how to use their curriculum for homeschool, after school study or summer learning.

I'll be trying the Time4learning online educational program for 30 days and will write my review at the end of that period. I am excited to see what it is like : )

Heading into the weekend...

...and loving the absence of TV. This week we have read more, talked more, slept more, hung out more, played more and spent way more time outside. The kids have not asked if we can get TV back or even mentioned TV. Now if only we had somewhere to store the honking flat screen in our living room then we would be left with just the one in the family room downstairs for family movies and Wii/XBox which don't get used much.

Tonight we had homemade pizza again. It seems none of us are missing the take out pizza we got every Friday until a month ago. I also made vegan chocolate chip cookies today and they were a hit too. I spend much more time in the kitchen since I changed to a vegan diet and I love that time. I used to loathe cooking because it was the same boring stuff but now I am experimenting with new recipes and a lot more colourful meals and it has changed my view on dinner time totally. Now if only I could figure out how to get my kids to complain less about what I make and just eat it. I don't even need a thank you or complimentary comment - just chewing and swallowing without whining. Yeah like that's gonna happen!

Happy Weekend

Do I miss it?

It's only day 3 but I seriously don't miss TV at all. I have read more and got more things done without my nightly viewing. It's awesome!!

Today was another great day. The kids are adapting and did not ask to watch anything at all. I did have lots of chores to do this morning so T2 did play on the computer a fair bit but the games were problem solvers so I know she was learning from them and following steps to move to each level.

Once again we were able to play outside -something T2 found less fun than TV but this week is eager to spend as much time as she can - usually it ends up with me begging her to come inside because I am too cold. IF she were out back she could be alone but I prefer to be out front with her.

It has now been a month since I made the move to a vegan diet. I won't call myself vegan yet because I am still wearing some leather shoes that I already have and I'm still finishing up non vegan toiletries and so on but the eating part has been just fine. I have barely craved cheese and chocolate which were the things I found hardest to bid farewell to. I have been cooking way more to find new recipes and I certainly have found some great ones. Also I've been making our laundry soap and that is awesome. I feel good every time I scoop some out and my laundry is really clean and doesn't feel like there's any residue on it.

I'm turning 40 this year and so far I feel great about about the changes I am making as I say goodbye to my thirties.

Day 2

G was home one again today. I ran a few errands ALONE and when I got back he and T2 were building a mini greenhouse from a kit that we have had for ages but never bothered to make. I know that another time in the past she would most likely have been watching TV. T2 was so excited to show me what she had made and to tell me that she had done most of the work herself.

T2 wanted to paint her house next so we headed to the craft room where she painted it while I made a pillow for her. She had a favourite sweater with a poodle on the front and last time she wore it we declared it officially too small. She really didn't want to part with it so I cut out the poodle and sewed it on some fabric that matches her curtains and used the back of the sweater for the back of the pillow. IT turned out great. I had been meaning to make this for about a month but didn't seem to find the time. It was nice to spend extra time with my girl with an old Wham CD playing in the background so I could relive my youth!!

More outside time later on and T1 was back to racing his RC car around the court while his sister rode her bike. THis mild winter is crazy - love it but am nervous of it at the same time!

T2 had craft class and T1 spent some time on his computer. When it was time to shut the laptop down he grabbed a history book and read until after I had turned my light off to go to sleep. I didn't even care that it was after midnight - if he's reading then I'm not going to stop him!

Few changes in our house

2012 seems to be a year for change in my little world. First came the vegan diet, then came a feeling that Unschooling may be what we need and then the sudden desire to become TV free.

I eased into unschooling with the kids last week. talked to them about the changes and how they would need to reawaken the part of their brains that guides them to make choices and plan their time and to explore more freely. It went well - we went to a couple of museums, talked, read books and played games and didn't open a single work book or check my planner for what we would study next. It felt both terrifying and liberating at the same time.

Last weekend after discussing my idea with G we told the kids we would be cutting cable and that from now on our TV would be used for family movies and that would be all. I expected, huffs and puffs, droopy shoulders and whining but instead they asked why. I explained that I felt the TV was taking up too much time and we had other things we could be doing instead. That didn't seem to satisfy them so I told them that we could add the money saved to our family fund in addition to the $100 each month we are already saving having switched to take out pizza on Friday to home made pizza to be used for fun outings such as to Great Wolf Lodge or even a vacation. That worked

Today went well. T2 asked about the "tv thing" a couple of times and said she was bored a few times but no major drama. T1 doesn't watch much TV at all but I said he needed to limit his computer time as well - he took that fairly well.

On Mondays T2 has gymnastics in the morning and T1 brings a book to pass the time. THis was a great day to quit the Tv as we are gone all morning anyway. After lunch G (who had the day off) watched the kids play outside. T2 on her bike and playing in a snow pile and T1 'running in' his new remote control car. Eventually a couple of neighbour kids came out when they got home from school.

The house is so peaceful without the background noise of TV - bliss!

Day 6

I have been eating vegan for 6 days and feel awesome. This has not been as hard as I thought. I haven't even missed junk food. Weigh in day tomorrow and for once I am excited!

Vegan day 1 and getting back into the swing of regular life

Today has gone well - I have eaten plenty of good food. The main problem has been nothing to do with changing to a vegan diet but everything to do with the abrupt halt of junk food. We were still finishing up holiday treats and not having them today has been very noticeable. I'm not missing reaching for them or the taste of them but my stomach is wondering where all those empty calories are today. Let's hope I see the result of this when I step on the scale in a few days - the prospect both excites me and scares me because so many times when I have tried really hard to lose weight I see no change on the scale and get disheartened very fast.

G just called to say he'll be late home from work. Usually when he's not here for dinner I go the easy route and make something easy and fast that the kids will eat. Tonight I am determined to make something decent. I feel good about that.

We went to the library today. We haven't been in about a month. It was nice to sit and read a pile of books with the kids and then to check out a pile more to read at home. We are beginning a unit on Africa so we chose books to help us with that as well as regular story books.

At the grocery store T1 had my list and was in charge of produce that needed weighing. He did a good job of weighing what we needed and making sure we had enough. He hasn't had much experience with weighing things other than on a digital scale. Typically when I buy produce I just buy say 4 potatoes or 6 bananas but today I wanted to get enough for specific recipes and figured it was a good math opportunity for them both. T2 did her usual job of selecting and counting out fruit and prancing about in the aisles!

After a lengthy reading aloud session with both kids I let them go do their own thing so I could catch up on the many chores that were neglected due to a very busy weekend. T2 has been playing school and creating a book. T1 has been spending time with the love of his life - his laptop.

After dinner there will be a few rounds of Spot it which is a new family favourite

Happy New Year!!

My first born T1 turned 12 today. I am in major denial -wasn't I just 12 myself a couple of years ago????? It was a low key day which suits T1 but it was a good day with gifts and chinese food and home made cake with funky frosting.

Tomorrow is what I consider to be the beginning of the year. I can never think past January 8 and T1's Birthday and wait until at least the 9th before considering any resolutions or planning ahead. After thinking and researching for a long time - I have decided to go vegan - or at least try to. I have been vegetarian for over 20 years and now it's time to take the next step. The hardest thing will be that T1 loves cheese. I love cheese. We will still have cheese in the house for him. I have no will power. Yikes!

Other resolutions - be more present, get outside more, try new recipes, show my appreciation and love more, blog more, keep on top of clutter, lose cough cough pounds, turn 40, take better care of myself, smile more.

That Crazy Elf

This year we have an Elf on our shelf.

Her name is Starlight.

Apparently we got a really naughty Elf - she might look innocent but she is not.

Her antics thus far.....

Adorned the tree with underwear

Drank the cooler dry

Dyed the dogs blue (diluted food colouring)

Toilet papered the main floor

Marshmallow war

Fun with the copy machine

Decorated the interior of the family mobile

Elf feast

Elf graffiti - yep it's permanent

Flour snowball fight (also all over kitchen floor)

Brown sugar desert island

Sleeping mustaches

Apologies for photo quality - only had my phone available

Screen free day

We are screen addicts. There, I said it out loud.

The first thing I do when I open my eyes is check the time on my iphone, then I check my email and facebook and sometimes twitter before I can even fully focus. The reverse happens at night. In between I have my iphone in my pocket all day long and everytime I hear that ping, I pull it out and check my email (unless I am driving or in the company of someone less addicted than me). I check blogs I follow, message boards I belong to. I shop online. I waste many hours a week just surfing and now there's Pinterest which is a seriously enjoyable time waster. Throw in some evening TV and I am amazed my eyes are not square.

G spends lots of time on his computer at work and and then again for sport scores, couponing (shhhh he thinks it makes him less manly!!!), shopping, researching stuff and listening to music on youtube.

T1 would happily spend every waking moment in front of the computer playing Roblox simultaneously hooked up to his itouch watching music videos on youtube. He doesn't care much for TV.

T2 loves TV. She likes some computer sites but she loves loves loves TV.

I don't let my kids have as much screen time as they would like but I am very aware that they have way too much and are not wanting to do anything else, are "bored" if they can't have screens and then there's the whining and complaining when it's time to shut screens off.

Last night I decided that today would be a screen free stay at home day. T2 cried and cried. T1 didn't say much but after breakfast when I asked what his plans for the day were he replied "to go to my room and sulk" - at least he had a twinkle in his eye when he said it!

Our day went something like this.....

8:00 - I announce to the family (and my facebook friends) that today there will be no screens until 5pm. Tears from T2. Grumbles from T1.
8:15 - My iphone has been pinging in the bowl where all the Apple devices are spending the day. I can't stand not being able to check so I power it off and walk away.
9:00 - Read books with T2 and T1 was in his room fiddling with his icoaster.
10:00 - Made cookies. Kids are now playing Lego together and TALKING TO ONE ANOTHER. Dishes are in dishwasher, laundry is sloshing about, my choice of music is playing. I am happy with the morning so far and have started a list of a few things I have to do online and some emails I have to send after 5pm. Kids have not complained since 8:00
I got engrossed sorting through a big box of stuff in the playroom that I had been putting off and managed to sort Polly Pocket shoes, Barbie accessories, toss anything I didn't recognize and return all kinds of things to their rightful homes.
12:30 Lunchtime. I realized that while T2 was crafting independently that she had not asked for snacks the way she does when she watches TV. She ate lunch enthusiastically. T1 wasn't hungry.
1:00 school work. Both kids got their work done really fast.
2:00 I bailed on our agreed screen time ban and let them go do their own thing. They hadn't done what I expected. They didn't whine, complain and shoot me hateful glances. I'm weak and I know it. I sabotage most things I try to achieve but that's a whole other post!

T1 asked to play Wii. T2 asked to go online. I grabbed my iphone and powered it on and was excited to see what I had missed. NOT A THING. Proving to me that the gazillion times each day I check my phone nothing has happened then either but I still check. In 5 hours I really hadn't missed anything except stressful facebook posts from my American friends hastily preparing for Thanksgiving.

I do wish we had kept going until 5:00. As soon as kid shows came back on I realized how annoying the background noise in this house can be.

Tomorrow and Friday we have busy days and the screen time opportunities will be few and far between, in which case I don't mind as long as everything else they need to do has been done. It's days like today when we don't have much going on and I have jobs to do that I would prefer to complete alone and uninterrupted that I rely on electronic babysitters which I am not proud of.

I hope my kids have realized that they can manage to be home, just us with an empty rainy day, without being glued to screens ignoring their toys and each other's company at least until Mom caves.....

Our next 'around the world' destination....

A few clues from our most recent library haul. T2 has been showing a big interest in Kangaroos and Koalas so it made sense to check out Australia next. I'm really excited about it and so are they : )

Could be interesting...

We went to the library today and saw thelady in charge of children's events - she said she had been meaning to contact me about acknowledging the 1,000 library books we read this past year. She has an event happening at the end of September and she would like to invite T2 as a guest. I have no idea what to expect but it should be fun!

Stay safe

I'm concerned for those in the path of Hurricane Irene and hoping she's not as powerful as anticipated. Stay safe friends.

Is it wrong.....

....to be excited about public schools restarting just because it will mean less kids at the park, library, beach, store and all the other places our days of homeschooling take us? Here September 6 is the magical day and we will spend the day withour local HS group at our annual not-back-to-school-playdate in the park. We restarted HS on August 2 so we are nearing the end of our 4th week already and so far so good : )

WE DID IT

We reached our goal of reading 1,000 children's library books. Exhale.

Apparently T2 will receive gifts next week at the library. This was not a library challenge but seeing our book haul every week did lead to conversations about what we were doing and at subsequent visits inquiries as to how many we had read. Earlier this week I told the librarian that we were only 50 or so from our goal and we were told to go in next week when we have reached 1,000. T2 does not know she will receive anything so that will be a nice surprise.

Hmm now for the next reading challenge.... a mini one is to read every book on her bookshelf and decide which ones to keep. Some of her books get read over and over but there are some that haven't been opened in a while so I am looking forward to that but after that I have no idea....

So close

After a reading marathon tonight we are at 982 books. Tomorrow we'll reach our goal - wahoo!

Reading now

Looking forward to craft filled days in the Fall

Excited

Last year I met an amazing new friend and her fabulous boys who were also new to HS. Despite being a member of a large HS group - I only felt a connection with her. I was happy to know someone who was embarking on the same adventure as me. We bounced ideas off one another, had regular playdates (our kids totally hit it off) some field trips and tried geocaching together. I truly feel that our first HS year would have been very different had we not met. To be able to call someone on a day where nothing seems to be going right, when the kids seem disinterested with everything, when the TV/video games have held way too much of my their attention or when in need of a sanity check - we were there for one another, something I hopecontinues this coming year and beyond.

This year I know a few other Mom's beginning their HS journey and I am excited about that - to have a larger group of local people finding their way, seeking ideas and social time for their kids and themselves will be awesome and may lead to our own spin off group as we are in the same town (the group I currently belong to is spread over the region). It is so fun to share how our life has changed since we left public school with others contemplating HS. I hear the excitement in my own voice and see their eyes begin to glint as the possibilities start to collect in their minds and they realize they can do it, it doesn't have to be just a dream.

HS was a dream for me for a very long time. Many things in my life could be better - I could be more organized, take better care of myself, spend less time on the phone/internet - I could go on and on and on but despite those things I can still say I am living the dream - my dream : )

Final haul

Today we returned our last week batch of library books and selected 55. Our last bundle to take us to 1000 library books read since September. As is typical eyes were rolling and feet were tapping behind us in the line to check out as we had about 70 books in total. We have to take a wheeled grocery cart (not a store one but a thing you can either push or pull) because I couldn't carry all our books each time. This is our second cart - the first one crumpled under the strain - oops. We should reach 1,000 next and then decide on our next reading challenge.

The finish line is in sight...

After our most recent reading marathon - we are at 930 library books read since September. I am so eager to get to 1,000 and be done so we can move on to another reading challenge.

Remember me?

So I guess those previous good intentions to post more went out the window but this time I really, really, really mean it!

After a break we started our new school year today. I enjoyed the break but as soon as I started pulling out books and planning for many, many hours I couldn't wait to get back at it.

This year I have divided our year into 4 nine week blocks and it has made it so much easier. We are starting earlier than schools here start so that we can be done when the garden needs attention and to make the most of the warm weather and going places before the kids are done school and the people who summer here roll into town.

We talked about our goals for the year and I took pictures of them to commemorate day 1 of grades 1 and 6.

I decided we should learn Latin using
Our first lesson from it was simple and fun and T2 (now aged 6) was very excited to share what she learned with G when he arrived home from work this evening.

It is so nice starting HS this year because I don't have the anxiety over whether I can do this like I did this time last year.

I can't wait to get stuck into some projects especially art and science.

T2 and I are still reading and tallying the library books we have read. We are at 905 and are determined t9o reach 1000 before September. We would be way past the 1,000 mark had I included reading books we already own but we decided only to include library books and it didn't matter how many times we read it - it only counted once unless we checked it out and read it again at a later date. It's getting hard to find books we haven't read yet at our local small town libraries but we will make it to 1000 be August 31!

What a difference a year makes

This time last year I was losing sleep. I was reading and re-reading. I was listing pros and cons. I was stressing and battling inside my own head. I was dreading the morning nag-fest that was the breakfast routine. I was miserable inside hearing snippets of the events of the day. I was thinking out loud on the phone each day with my Mum in UK to get her feed back. I was so unsure.

Fast forward and here we are. We bit the bullet and withdrew our kids from PS. I planned and read some more and once we knew what we were doing everything fell into place. We are now 6 months into our HS journey and it has been truly amazing so far. Yes there are days when I would love five minutes alone to gather my thoughts but I discovered mid afternoon bubble baths where I can read and soak for a few minutes!

T1 was struggling in PS. I actually think it was harder on me than him in many ways. He was oblivious to some things, not phased by others. I don't think he knew how hard school was for him physically, mentally and emotionally but I could see it. He would stumble to the car, he and T2 would argue all the way home. both wanting my undivided attention. When we got home he would disappear for a while - he needed to decompress. It wouldn't be until around dinner time that he would start to chat or relax and then there would be the homework battles. It didn't matter when homework was done it was a constant battle to get him to focus and get the work done. He would act like it was our fault he had to do it. Often work came home home from school incomplete. Often homework went back to school incomplete. Many days he would complain of head aches or nausea and I would keep him home, often turning around halfway to school rather than to drop him off knowing he was feeling anxious and crummy. The accommodations and Special Ed help he was having helped a little but it didn't tackle the main problem. This was the school environment. It was sensory over load to him - all the noises, the lights, the distracting sounds of a busy classroom. All the rules to remember, the order of things, keeping track of his belongings, prioritizing. Then there were the social issues. Recess was hard - he didn't want to play soccer, other kids didn't want to hang out and talk about science. He spent many recesses alone. It was heart breaking.

Mornings now are calm. T1 has trouble getting to sleep so now he sleeps later and starts the day slowly. This gives me some time to either get some chores done or work with T2 on her school work. When I set T1 some work to do he can choose what order he does it in. He likes having that control and as long as it gets done and he puts effort into it then I don't mind which he does first. I try to incorporate the computer as much as possible because he prefers that to pencil and paper. He eats a good lunch instead of no lunch. At school he was either not hungry due to side effects of the ADD meds or something would put him off eating like someone's smelly lunch or a child chewing with his/her mouth wide open. When he seems overwhelmed he can go and play catch with the dogs or practice guitar for a while and continue later.

That really is just the tip of the iceberg with T1.

T2 was loving school but I still see many benefits from bringing her home. She has learned so much and enjoys the flexibility of the day but she does miss some aspects of PS.

I wish a year ago I would have known how relaxed our HS lives would be. I certainly didn't realize how much I would learn - not only academically but also about myself and my children. I realize how little I knew them before when they spent so much time in PS.

When I see parents from the PS and they ask how HS is going, I can tell they are expecting me to pull a face, roll my eyes and say how hard it is but for the most part it is way easier than keeping track of who has gym/library, who needs field trip money, keeping on top of homework, school mail, school fundraisers and I certainly don't miss ALL THOSE GERMS!!

HS is rocking our world and I don't regret making the change one little bit (but at the same time I do not feel anything negative towards those who choose to send their children to school either)

One of the many, many things...

.....I love about Home schooling is the freedom it gives us. We can plan our day in any way we wish to suit our mood, the weather, appointments, trips, energy level etc. Today I felt we needed to use up some energy and I was bored of walking or playing fetch with the dogs so I called the YMCA where we have family membership and booked a racquetball court. Usually G takes the kids and I make use of the alone time to get some stuff done or just to enjoy some peace and quiet. I had never played before but figured my 11 (shhhh I know my profile says I have a 10 year old but I am still in denial) and almost 6 year olds wouldn't be too judgmental.

WRONG

T1 watched me miss shots or fumble with a look of despair and even though I managed to return the ball many times - apparently I am just "not as good as Dad" sigh. T2 didn't seem to notice thank goodness!

But despite being a total disappointment on the court to T1 - we had lots of fun. We'll definitely do this again - why oh why didn't I think of this in the thick of winter? Live and learn!

.

Lesson learned - hopefully

I returned a bunch of library books today. Overdue library books. The fines - $67 - ouch.
This ticked me off - OK they were overdue but all kid books on a kid's card. I think there should be a cap on the amount that can amass. Where I grew up there was no fines on kid books when loaned on a kid card and that remains the same today. Anyway I didn't pay up, I just used a different card which I had to clear the $11 owing on that one leaving me with one other card with $26 owing. It might be hard to believe but I am actually pretty good at returning books. We borrow 40-100 most weeks so there are always a few that get squirreled away in T1's room and get forgotten about or in the side pockets in the van or whatever.

I feel kind of sick about it to be honest. I could do a lot with that $67.....

On a fun note though - T2 and I reached our goal of reading 500 library storybooks. To count each book could only be counted once even if we read it several times and only library fiction counted. We are celebrating tonight and heading to our next goal of 1,000