Sharing a friend's Facebook page.

She's trying to get 6 more likes for her Facebook page today!  So go over and like her.  Happy2BAHomemaker.


Have a great day!

Utilizing the Information Superhighway in our Homeschool.

So my son wanted to learn the violin as his instrument.  I don't know anyone who gives violin lessons (although I'm sure I could reach out to the local homeschooling community via email and find someone very quickly) and I really don't want to pay for them right now.  We've been paying for enough things lately.  :-P

So I bought him a violin from Ebay, one of the cheapies and I was kind of afraid it wouldn't be any good.  We got it and there was no sound coming from it at all.  So we looked on Youtube and found The Online Piano and Violin Tutor, Allison Sparrow.  and last night, learned how to hold the bow, how to hold the violin, how to rosin the bow, how to tighten the bow and low and behold, a sound came from the violin for the first time!  Exciting!  Today, my son is going to find out how to tune it and then the lessons on how to play notes can begin.  It's wonderful, really to have such a resource available.  Also, my husband upgraded our wireless router so now my internet quality is better and I can watch videos without hundreds of pauses, so that's awesome as well.

Scrapghan 1 is done!

 my daughter finished it today!

 Scrapghan 2 is nearly done as well but I'm not in a hurry to finish it since my mom and I are working on it together.

Snow!

Interesting.

This morning my youngest came in my room/office where I was working to tell me about his dream. He summed it up in a sentence.  "It started out as a nightmare, then I fixed all the problems and then we went bowling."   Then later, he came in here to make this statement.   "Sometimes I wish that I didn't have these feeble human senses."

He's never not thinking deeply about something.  :-)  The other day we went out with friends and he got roped into a game with the younger kids (because one of them idolizes him) and didn't get to be with the kids his own age at their table.  My daughter said that because he wasn't there, the conversation amongst the older kids kind of lagged.  They figured out that due to his always being thinking about something, he's the "conversational catalyst" for their group.  I can see how he'd be good at that.  :-)

Just now he came in and told me that he had gone outside to think about his writing assignment while looking at the snow but didn't end up doing any thinking, but instead sang "I am a thoughtful guy" by Rhett and Link.  It's his theme song.

Also today I was going to go see my mom but decided I really did not feel good and took a nap and while I was asleep it snowed!  The whether report I looked at this morning had said rain, so I was really not expecting that!~

Speaking of expecting, my sister in law had her baby yesterday, a boy and now I am an aunt again!  Fun!

Spelling issues revisited.

My youngest cannot spell at all. This is his brain glitch and we have been trying to build a bridge around the part of the brain that is the problem.  He's very interesting in that he can read extremely well.  He reads very fast and he has an amazing vocabulary, but has no idea whether to use the word witch or which (which he would probably try to spell as wich.)  We discussed this last night.  We've tried many different types of spelling programs, All About Spelling and Sequential Spelling, as well as Dianne Craft's method of holding the flash cards up and to the left so that he can take a mental picture of the word.  Ms. Craft's method worked the best for him but he finds it so incredibly frustrating.  Because of the intensive writing (and his hatred of all things involving writing)  of Sequential Spelling, he has threatened to hitchhike to Mississippi and live on his brother's couch if I try that one again.  :-(  I told him that no one would let him hitch-hike and he'd probably end up a ward of the state of Alabama, so he's staying home for now while we try and figure out what to do.  We looked last night and saw that he can use the tools on Microsoft word, including the thesaurus and dictionary to help him figure out which word to use when he is writing papers for his writing class and working on his novel (I told you , the boy is interesting!)  and this morning I also ordered him The Logic of Spelling spelling rules flash cards used from Ebay so that he can hopefully internalize some spelling rules and be able to spell most things.  I do know that there are people who get through life without spelling well ... I just want him to be able to be basically able to fill out job applications and various reports on the job without people thinking that he is not smart because that would completely be the wrong impression.  We all have things that we don't do easily that are worth pursuing and learning to do.  I know that I flunked my first typing class, but then decided that I really needed to learn to type and took a second class and did fine in it and now I type for a living.

So anyway, our plan for the second half of his junior year is German, Violin, Writing, Spelling, and Algebra II, plus various electives that he works on himself.  For example, right now, he's reading several books about equations since he is interested in them and he carries around and reads the atlas, various encyclopedias and he currently has nearly 40 books out of the library.

Frederick The Literate

Thoughts on ADHD.

If you all have been reading my blog for any time at all, you know that my youngest wonderful son is delightful and hilarious and very fun and interesting, but you probably have also heard me talk or (read me write?) about his struggles with spelling and writing, the fact that he pretty much never sits still and is always fidgiting with something.  I have no doubt that if we hadn't pulled him out of public school (which ironically we initially started thinking about because of his older brother) we would have had conversations and arguments with the school powers that be about medicating him.  I hate to think that we would have medicated the wonder out of him.  As it is, he does his school with frequent breaks outside to pace, fidgiting as much as he needs to and he's going to be fine, completely unmedicated and free.   I'm so glad we homeschool.

Here's the article that got me thinking about this, this morning.

Our front yard.  Recess is whenever you want to go outside.  :-P

Art journal page process. Kind of .

My tablet was not all that cooperative to add these pictures.  I don't know if it was a WIFI issue or what, but it did not want to give them up.  But here's the process for this particular page.  First, a few days ago I did some random background painting and I selected a prepainted page for the drawing.  Then I went to interest for inspiration.I drew, freehand, with a Sharpie (gasp!) some flowers while looking at the Pinterest picture, though mine is different.  Then I worked on coloring.  I like to use at least 5 colors per flower.  Then, I outlined in black thicker Sharpie, then wrote a bible verse on it and it was done.  I was going to go more with this post, but Blogger is also frustrating me at this point and I am starting to think, it might be me that is the problem.  :-P  

i

Art Journaling Up a Storm.

Yes, my stress response is weird.  I have a lot going on right now and this is what I want to do 24/7.  I'm not, I am working and cleaning and cooking and going to see mom, but this is what I want to do!  

More about the catapult.

We are easing back into school (sons) and book writing (daughter) and stress (both of the parents).  I had thought for a while that I would probably stop art journaling in favor of crocheting, but the last few days, I have been pretty stressed about some things and nothing helps my stress like art.  For my new career (one of my stressors) I might have to become an art therapist.  Wouldn't that be fun?   I need something less stressful.  Medical transcription kind of grates on my nerves at this point and then with all the changes in the company, training, updates, changing supervisors at least 4 times in the past less than 1 year I've been working there, it kind of drives me crazy.  So I have been job hunting.  :-(  Again.  There are more, much more stressful things going on but I don't want to delve into them right now, so lets talk about how a Christmas gift can foster creativity and learning.

Youngest son got that catapult and he's been reading up on Davinci, studying up on how big actual size catapults were and calculating how much it would cost to build one, building with the Keva blocks things to destroy later and having a good old time while learning.  Yesterday he invented a game that Freckles thoroughly approves of; he has started using the catapult to lob tiny dog treats into the living room so that she can chase them down and eat them.  Can you think of a game a dog would enjoy more?  Maybe if he could figure out a way for the catapult to rub her tummy?

Concluding the holidays.

My oldest is going back to school today, a few days early so he can spend some time with his sweetie before classes start.   I guess I'm okay with it.  :-)  His sister gave him the afghan last night, barely finishing it in time, but it's a 7 foot diameter circular afghan (143 rows) so I think she did pretty good getting it done since Christmas.  I'm feeling kind of let down after the holidays, having to jump back into all my issues that I need to deal with.  :-(

Art journaling is back.

There for a while, I was crocheting like crazy.  I've almost done 2 complete afghans since I learned to crochet last August, but this week again the art journaling bug has bitten me.  I've been in the mood to draw large flowers, apparently.  :-)  It's my therapy so I just do it to please myself and I draw whatever I want in whatever colors I want.  At the moment, my markers are all wearing out, so the colors I choose have to have more to do with what colors still work.  I should be getting my new Christmas-present markers today from Amazon, so I may vary these colors a bit more.  I would like to have some oranges again ... :-) Some of the oranges in these pictures, I've had to go over 3 or 4 times and some of them are combinations of yellows over pinks.  Hey, whatever works.  My daughter has been crocheting like crazy since Christmas and has made (for her older brother) a circular blanket in browns, creams and oranges that you see below ... I would have liked to crop the old worn out chair out of the picture, but my computer did not want to cooperative for that, so I didn't.  One day this week, my youngest was talking about different colors of flames which reminded me that we had bought some different colored flame birthday candles at the salvage grocery a couple of months ago and had forgotten about them, so though it was nobody's birthday and we didnt have any cake, we got them out and lit them and looked at them and took a picture right in front of our most raggedy towel for your entertainment ... :-P (again, tried to crop, but to no avail, hey, keeping it real.  If you look closely in the candle picture you can also see one of our old Dollar Tree potholders that has repeatedly been set on fire, not as a homeschooling experiment, just because my cooking is exciting and dangerous!)    I've kind of got the post-holiday-my-son-is-going-back-to-Mississippi-and-I-have to-now-do-all-those-things-I-postponed-until-January blues and apparently I have needed a lot of the kind of therapy that comes from drawing big ridiculous looking flowers and writing Acts 17:24-28 on them over and over.  Again, whatever works.                                                                               

We are still not back to homeschooling.  Oldest son starts classes on the 12th, so youngest son will as well.  :-)  Following the college schedule works out fine for high school too.

Postponing a couple of things. :-)

I haven't even decided on my New Year's resolutions yet, and a lady on the radio the other day said that pretty much everyone has agreed to wait until Monday.  I think that sounds reasonable!  My resolutions always include cleaning and organizing the house and losing weight and exercising.  I don't know if I'm even going to bother with them this year. Right now, we are in an extended break time.  Our oldest son is home, he's not working at his job here because he came home sick and then there were the holidays and he also has a paper due right when he gets back, so he's just taking a break.  The rest of us, pretty much, are sick.  Everyone's in various stages of working through the cold he brought home except me. I also don't feel good for unknown reasons and started running a fever yesterday, so fun times!

I have a lot of appointments this week at various places, a dentist for my mom, a post-surgery check for me and the vet for Freckles, and then I may try and get in to see what this fever is about, so I am going to get that done and not focus on any resolutions.  I may even postpone until my oldest goes back to school next week.  Yeah, I think that sounds like a good plan.  :-)

Our JarI

We started our blessings, LoLs and memories jar yesterday and it already has something in it! 

New Year!

I'm so glad that 2014 is over.  Every single time I tried to do anything last year, it seemed that the rug was pulled out from under me and every time, I had to figure out a way to get back up and carry on. So now here I am, not really steady on my feet yet, trying to figure out what to do next, what I even want to do.  I'm thinking about another career after 20 years as a medical transcriptionist.  The industry is dying, being replaced by voice recognition.  I already have experience editing VR and it's horrible.  It makes the same mistakes over and over and over and it pays very little.  So, I don't want to do that.  I need a new way to bring in an income.  I need a new direction for my life, which has centered around parenting and homeschooling, I need to get the house decluttered, my mom's house completely cleaned out to sell, teach my daughter to drive and continue to take care of my mom.  It feels overwhelming.  Last night, I pictured in my mind that this morning I would get up, dedicate the first hour to hour and a half of my day to bible study, prayer, exercise, housecleaning and baking and then, with that all done, sit down and start working at my job.  I did get the bible study done and I guess that's the most important.

This afternoon, I am also going to start the grateful jar.

Small steps toward a better 2015.