Apparently ...

I didn't do my school-work-nagging all that well yesterday because both kids have a lot of work to do today.  They tend to procrastinate about it and push, say, all the MATH off until the last day.  No idea why.  I would never do anything like that.  Anyway, that leaves us with today, with groceries that need to be gotten, piano lessons, etc. and kids rush, rush, rushing trying to get done so they will have weekend screen time.  It's not pretty.

School work.

I'm doing my part in helping the kids get their school work done, that is, nagging them about it.  It's very helpful, I'm sure.  My daughter would like to figure out a way to do math while crocheting or reading.  I think my youngest son may have already figured that out, at least his version.  He's listening to an audiobook while doing school.  At least I hope he's doing school. (He went to do it, but he gets distracted.)  We are working on exactly how to get oldest son home for college.  He's going to be riding to Memphis with a friend, but when he'll get there we don't know.  We don't want to presume upon his friend's kindness too much by having him take son to the Greyhound bus station at midnight.  We're waiting now for our son to try and nail down a time so we can get bus tickets.  Or we may just go get him.  Around this time of year, flights and bus tickets go up in price, which is kind of annoying especially since gas prices have gone down. 

A couple of freebies.

Teacher Vision is offering some free Thanksgiving lesson plans right now.

Here are some free Thanksgiving printables.

I'm starting to feel ready for the holidays, can you tell?

Trying Tuesday.

I'm trying to ignore the election coverage today which is definitely easier since most of the time we don't have any TV stations that we can receive, so we're out of the TV habit.  The temptation to turn it on and look at the static, is just not very strong.  I hate what politics is doing to everyone, making them all crabby and hateful, at least on the internet, so I'm trying to avoid Facebook too.  Mostly.  I have talked with my oldest son a little bit on there, because that's the quickest way to get an answer from him, besides the phone and we all know I'm not that fond of phones.

My niece's birthday scarf.

I'm trying to get my work done, despite the fact that I feel pretty awful.  I finally went to the doctor yesterday for this latest urinary tract infection and apparently it was pretty bad.  I'm on antibiotics now but I don't feel better yet.

And lastly, the kids are trying to get their school work done in a timely manner today, despite not being really in the mood to do it.  I know what that's like.

The power of play. Cool article.

"Athletes call it The Zone, researchers call it Flow.
Children call it Play. This state is the essence of
real intelligence and creativity."  Michael Mendizza

Be a learning ally. 

Saturday.

We had a pretty unremarkable Saturday.  The kids always celebrate a little that they don't have to do school on Saturday but my husband and I had to work.  Then we went to my niece's 4th birthday party and saw the new baby again. So cute.  It's funny, my in-law's grandkids range in age from almost 21 to 2 months.  It was good to get out and see everyone.  Tomorrow, we've got church and then we are going to a play, maybe, that some homeschool friends are in. They're doing White Christmas.  I've never even seen the movie, so I'd kind of like to go.  There's a fall festival at the local elementary school next week.  We're tempted to take the kids so the teachers can see we didn't ruin them by homeschooling.  :-P

Kind of funny ...

My daughter usually goes everywhere with me, but yesterday, I needed to mail the package before 5 so I couldn't wait endlessly for her to finish her schoolwork like I usually do; so I left her at home!  This had a surprising impact on both her and her brother who are working very hard to get finished with school today by 2 o'clock, I guess in case I do anything fun without them today?  Apparently they had a big discussion last night about it and decided to make sure they get their school work done, hopefully from now on.  We'll see how long it lasts, I guess.

Also funny, the day before yesterday, I spelled the word hospitalization so badly that the spellcheck wanted to change it to fossilization.  :-)   Imagine your doctor saying he is going to fossilize you.  :-)

What I did on my day off.

I did not do much cleaning. (Is anyone surprised?)  I did make the banana bread and I made scalloped potatoes.  I left my husband to cook the rest of dinner and he did a good job.  He made pork tenderloin and green beans to go with the potatoes.  It was yummy.  Afterwards, I saw on Facebook that yesterday was Men Make Dinner Day so that worked out.

I made no phone calls.  (Again, is anyone surprised?) 

Friend's daughter's baby pics are on Facebook.  I still feel old.


I didn't add to the kids schoolwork.  I read this this morning and it made me feel better.  http://dvice.com/archives/2012/10/ethiopian-kids.php  Maybe we should just leave them alone ...


I mailed the treat package.  I have had no inspiration regarding getting him home.  He will be done with school for this trimester when he turns in a paper on Tueday.  (On benefits of homeschooling ... I hope I get to read it.!)  Then after Tueday, he has until the following Monday before he starts classes again, then 5 days of classes then Thanksgiving break for about 10 days.  They really didn't plan this schedule for kids who live far away and might want to maximize time off by lumping it together and having ample time to travel home.

Anyway, back to yesterday.  Such excitement.  I tell you.  I went to check on my mom to see how she's doing with her cold symptoms, then went to check on her sister.  Her sister is having a horrible time with rheumatoid arthritis right now and so I went and got groceries for her, picked up my mom's prescriptions at the same time, delivered the groceries, delivered the pill dispenser, came home and watched "The Mentalist" before reading Brotherband Chronicles book 1 with the kids and then going to bed.