my Terrible, awful, no-good, very bad day

I made a poor decision. It seemed like a good decision at the time, but now that I am in the midst of implementing it, I am beginning to think it was not really as good a decision as I thought.

The decision was to knit twisted stitches. It seemed good because I do like the look and thought it would look good with this particular yarn. But, I had forgotten how much longer it takes me to knit twisted stitches and that there are only a certain number of days before Christmas.

Then there is the fact that I am really not all that good at knitting, so this takes me forever and the edge is all crooked. Casting-On with circulars is still something I do not do well.

But I have been knitting on this awhile and I really think this:

should be 4 inches. I think it really does look like 4 inches. I feel I have knit 4 inches. Yet, my tape measure only read 2.5 inches. No, really, it looks like 4. (I should have not taken the picture to the skein.. the very BIG LONG skein that dwarfs the project...)

Oh. well.

My Tuesday was not the best. I go to a Ladies BibleStudy. K&C go with me; they help with childcare. It was a Lazy Day. And not the good kind of lazy that means I was teaching my kids to cook and clean on their own. It was the bad lazy kind which means I didn't eat a good breakfast ( I started a breakfast protein drink, but got sidetracked and forgot to finish the last 2/3)

K&C didn't have any wards, so they stayed home. Hopefully they did some school. Maybe read or learned something. It was not organized (which Ki needs to keep is brain on track) I did not remind him to eat protein, hydrate, take vitamins, drink juice, and do Brain Gym. I was too tired. I woke at 6:30, because I had my alarm set to go off early (7:35). My brain has a habit of waking frequently when the alarm is set early, and then just waking up early.

I ended up with a migraine for the day. Ki ended up with numb brain and having a meltdown. He needs to do his "therapy" stuff of his day just goes downhill. I was feeling tired nd didn;t make it happen.

I taught a short, boring chemistry class then took a 2.5 hour nap, then just knit. (and watched Psych)

It was one of those days I felt like a failure as a mom. And felt bad for having to ask Brian a few times to not be so loud and not talk too much. I feel like he got stuck with a broken wife sometimes.

So Yesterday was a lazy, self-pity, migraine, Sensory Meltdown, unaccomplished day.

But, on a positive note- my wonderful readers seem to be clicking on my vote button occasionally! THANKS!

Looking Ahead, but not very far.

Sometimes, Looking Ahead starts with a little Looking Behind. Like remembering when the kids where younger and I had more to do to herd them daily, but a lot less to do on my calendar. More to Juggle IN THE HOME, but a lot LESS to juggle outside of the home. Neither way i s better or worse. Life is just a series of trade-offs and changes.

Gavin is registered at a student at the local Community College. He's in 11th grade. Here (and many other place) upper High School kids can take college courses that count at college credits (so the are a few steps ahead of the game when they graduate high school) and that count as High School credits. And it's usually tuition free. (but other fees apply, of course. Like books and art supplies)

This new endeavor will have us booked every Monday and Wednesday morning. No more deciding to skip off to the beach on a Monday Morning or fit his dentist appointments in on a Wednesday morning.

Connor and Ki will be taking Wednesday Afternoon Theater Classes. So no afternoon beach trips on Wednesdays.

This concept of having to fit our lives around school is something we are not used to doing. We have done it for a short time a couple times, but it's always a huge hassle. But, then, so are lots of things in life. That's just how it goes.

Gavin is taking an Art Class at Allan Hancock College. I figured it'd be good to start off with something easy; esp since he'll miss the first day of class because he'll be out of state. Though he is a registered student, he has not enrolled in this art class. "College Now" class enrollment starts Aug 9th. This is the day before he leaves on his trip. Nothing like cutting it down to the last minute. I thrive on procrastination. That feeling of having "NO MORE time left, so gotta do it NOW!"

I really should start thinking about their other learning adventures; math, science. history, grammar.... But it's not down to the final hour yet, so I have plenty of time until that Window Of Motivation.

***** Subject Change *****

I have had 4 acupuncture appointments. 2 worked GREAT, one NOT at ALL, and this last one has not had migraines afterwards, but I'm headachey. But then again, I don't think I'm getting enough protein and my water and glucose intake or not optimal.

But I'm also learning some acupressure that I can use with Ki, too.

***** Subject Change *****

Here i a fun little game that has you building a cell and fighting of viruses and looks like maybe splicing DNA in the future- all why teaching what the different parts of the cell do and how.

CELLCRAFT (click to play)

***** Subject Change *****

I knit a couple Coffee Cup Sleeves. I wanted to learn to use DPNs. Double Pointed Needles.. I found that it is easier to use 5 than 4.

***** Subject Change *****

The summer is a time of less structure. Less structure is a time of more Sensory Meltdowns. Ki's meltdowns and outbursts have been getting more frequent and more..intense.

When I plan the upcoming 'more structured than not-schooling', I'll be adding some occupational Therapy for Ki (his brothers will join in).

This will include, but it not limited to, Obstacle Courses, Brain Gym, joint Compression. Yoga, and maybe some massage.

How does your engine run?

Ki's engine is running very slowly. It is looking like a bad Sensory Processing/Dyspraxia Day. I hate these 'limp noodle days', or 'watery jello'. That's how Ki acts, moves, thinks, process on these days. When Ki was in Occupational Therapy his O.T. went over a little tool to help us know how he was doing and what to do. It was "How is your Engine Running". His Engine either runs slowly (like he's in a fog, moves slowly,low muscle tone, can't think, focusing makes him sleepy, etc) or his engines run QUICKLY- when he is hyper, Impulsive, still can't focus- but because his brain is hopping from 1 thing to the next to the next, not because just 1 thing makes him sleepy.

Then she went through a few different exercises to try and see which ones made his engine speed up and which helped a too fast engine to slow down.

When Ki's engine is running slowly (which is the usual path he goes on bad SPD Days (SID-Sensory Integration Disorder. my definition of SPD- Sensory Processing & Dyspraxia), sleeping only makes it worse..BUT Sleeping seems like the easiest best answer to a 'tired, slow, sleepy brained' kid.

I asked him what he was having for protein with his breakfast. He repeats over and over:

"Methane. Methane-methane-methane"

AAARRRGGG!!!!!

without protein added to his diet there is no way we will get past this very slow running engine day.

I am glad I have some errands too run and maybe I'll just go knit at Cafe Noir.

Ki is 13, coming up on 14. He knows what he needs to do to make his engine speed up so he can get things done. He is too old for me to be making him do it. He can choose to do what he needs to do so he can get his work done today or he can choose to have a miserable day where nothing gets accomplished, which leads to him not liking what his tomorrow will bring.

Maybe Ki needs acupuncture, too

Back to Brain Gym

Ki and I decided we need to go back to doing some Occupational Therapy before math. Ki has Sensory Integration Disorder and Dyspraxia. Lately we haven't done much OT, but he doesn't need it very often these days. He used to need a whole list of therapy activities a few times a day.

He has been having more and more trouble learning his math and being able to have a functioning brain during math. He's been going into his 'Dyspraxic Muscle Fatigue' during math lessons. Which I term as "being a bowl of limp jello"

Brain Gym activities work well with him. They also help the others boys a bit; it's good for helping with focusing and dyslexia. Joint Compression helps Ki, too. I should get him a new exercise ball for that.

Today, as we were starting on his math, I could see the chaos in his brain taking over, so I told him that if he keeps having problems focusing on his math, we'd start doing Brain Gym again beforehand. He said that'd be good and would help him, then asked why I made it sound like a bad thing because it's a good thing. I told him I didn't intend for it sounds like a bad thing; sometimes words are like that.

So I had him do some Brain Gym and drink some water and his math time went MUCH better.

He did some CrissCross marches, some Brain Spots, and some Leg Muscle Massage things. not sure of the later really works; the book says it is a 'before math' activity. I wonder if Ki just thinks it is supposed to work, so it does.

Also, today he told me that he really like his science book! (Apologia Land Animals)

*********

I picked a few early potatoes today. my friend Kirsten was over with her little boy. I thought he might like digging in the dirt, but he seems enthralled with the 3 "Big Boys" running around the back yard. Anyway, I only got 3 small red potatoes. I boiled them to go with my dinner, then mashed then with some salt & butter; but not much. Homegrown, fresh-from-the-garden potatoes don't need much salt or butter at all.

Here is a pretty picture I took this morning. It has been raining here, but the sun had come for a few minutes so everything sparkled with raindrops.

IMPROMPTU SCIENCE FUN-links for stuff

I awoke in the middle of the night with the most excruciating head pain. I went to bed with a headache and couldn’t find the Excedrin and didn’t want to use my last Fioricet, so Ii took Motrin- which does next to nothing usually. So I awoke with what felt like my head being split apart with hatches. It was too painful to even cry or get up to get that fioricet.

So I awoke with a headache and will have one all day. I should probably see if I can get a refill on my fioricet. And maybe taking my innopran daily like I am supposed to, will help.

Connor was awake at 4AM (thanks to Soksey biting him) and did his reading then. I need to make a daily list for him to check off again. He likes that. So does Ki.

We started with Story of the World. We are reading about the Romans and the Punic Wars. Tomorrow we will be back in the Indus Valley, I think.

Then we read out of Jesus Freaks. Ki likes that book. They all do, but Ki is the reason I bought the book.

After those two books my throat hurt. I made tea.

I gave quick instructions for Brain Gym. I told them what to do for Criss-Crosses. Connor was in charge of Body Scales (my invention- not a real Brain Gym). I gave quick instructions for Elephant 8s. Gavin choose a body part for a few more Body Part Lazy 8s. Ki was in charge of Hook-Ups.

Then it was Spelling. It is activity day for Ki. He choose to do Crayon Rubbings for his words. The last few weeks he has been copying his words down incorrectly, so we had to fix a few.

Gavin, Connor and I went over their base word list and added all the other forms to make sure they had them all. Then they quizzed each other, because it took Ki FOREVER to do his Crayon Rubbings. His brain plays between each word I think.

When Ki was done he did some Brain Gym before math. He has trouble remembering his multiplication facts, so he plays a Beat the Clock game on the Leap Pad. He said 10 was too many, so he did 5 today. Then he did 4 problems in his Froggy Fractions.

I did a lesson on Polynomials with Gavin and Connor. Kids that want to grow up to robotic engineers need to have sharp math skills.

Gavin really enjoys the book I gave him to read. He’s been reading it through the entire day.

Connor gota gift in the mail from Grammy and Pappy. A big GEOMAG kit. 166 pieces! enjoyed playing with that. Ki, too. Connor lined up the connectors by color. The red and yellow lines were longer than the blue and green lines. So he counted a short line and counted the extra in the long line He still likes to sort, line up and count things. The boys get their engineer gene from their dad. I bet it’s a monogenetic thing.

Connor made a second worry doll to go with his Ninja Worry doll. They fight each other. The 2 dolls. The Bop-It…Bop-It GOOD! Some one sang a section of Whip-It…Whip It Good. and now every verb gets turned into the Whip It song….Bop It-Bop it Good. Fix it- Fix it Good. Eat it- Eat it good. Stop It-Stop it Good.

Guess what- pipe cleaners are magnetic and you can add them to GEOMAG creations! And the GEOMAG structures are more stable if you add the rods with correctly directed polarity. He made pyramids that seem to spin endlessly. They were cool.

I reminded G&C to spend some time on their DNA research so they read a bit and visited a website about a developing embryo- with videos and everything.

Ki and I read more about the people/culture of Central America. Ki watched animation about how the Panama canal works with equalizing the water kevel in chambers. This triggered an idea for a Science experiment.
A clear glad 4 C measuring cup
2 small disposable water bottle. The first with a hole slightly below the midpoint & filled with water. (plug with finger whole transferring). Place the filled water bottle (no lid) into the glass measuring cup. The water stops coming out when the bottle and measuring cup ate even. Next we did it with a water bottle that had a hole very low down, so the water level in the glass covered the hole almost right away and it continued to leak water until the levels were the same. We them dumped ALL the water into the glass and help the water bottle in the glass. The water went from the glass and filled up the water bottle until the levels were even, even when the hole was below the water level. It was fun.

Unschoolish & Occupational Therapy

(posted a few new blogs from this week...)
Jan 16, 2008
I awoke with a sore throat and headache, so I went back to sleep. When I did finally get up and shower it was after 10. One of the nice things about homeschooling is that you can take care of yourself my sleeping in when you don’t feel well and still start at the beginning and not be behind.

The boys had a small fire so I asked Connor to add a few more logs and ut the screen back in place. Then I had to tell them to eat breakfast. I don’t understand how boys can forget to eat breakfast if not reminded. They weren’t even watching TV or playing on the computer.
Gavin was in the garage looking for his box that contains his crocheting paraphernalia. Ki had found his box of froggies. Connor was poking at embers.

I cream cheesed half of a mocha chip bagel and took a few bites. Then I went outside to take some pictures while the boys ate breakfast. I took way too many.

I flipped th laundry when I came back in and helped Gain put clean sheets on the bed. Then I wrote out their spelling.

G&C – write definitions to your words. Take turns looking words up and also add 1 or 2 alternative forms of the word. They only have about 7 words to look up in the dictionary.
K- write 8 sentences in your story using at least 8 of this weeks spelling words. He asked if ‘officer’ was a form of ‘office’ and if he could use that word instead. (office is on his list)
They sat in front of the fire to do their school work. What a life!




Ki did well in his math class. I had him do criss-crosses and thinking spots right before he sat down to do his math page. WOW, he did really well. He did 9 problems in the time it usually takes him to do 4. He was done before I was one with Algebra with Gavin and Connor so he sat in and had fun figuring a few of the example problems. They were pretty easy example problems. We are using exponents and variables, so we had to explain what those were to him. He likes to sit in on their Algebra class because he can do the simple examples and it really boosts his confidence.

Ki choose to read from his WarHammer Lizardmen book for his reading time today.
Connor is having fun copying an eye trait punnet square out of our DNA book. He wants an eye color chart to carry with him in his pocket.

Aside from independent reading, that’s it for school today.

OBSTACLE COURSE & semi-unschool

It's been a good week so far- Yesterday's blog........ Monday's Blog. Lots of pictures this week, so far!

I don't really unschool. I do have 'unshool days'...and 'unschool moments'...

 

But I also have structure and rules for the kids to follow. I guess I might call it...."relaxed, child interest guided ecclectic school with therapy"We started the day with an obstacle course before Breakfast.

 

Jump over then boxes leading to the wheelbarrow, zigzag the wheelbarrow around the boxes – there and back.

 

 feet together hop over sticks.

 

one foot jump through ladder rungs.

 

 walk the beam

 

 

 crawl under the table

 

 

do 3 figure-eight loops around the chairs.

 

 

balance and count to 10

 

 

Breakfast was waffles. Gavin diced strawberries and added a little sugar. BACK outside for crisscrosses and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. (with water)

 

SPELLING- G&C had to write variations for their words. So for evade- they wrote evading, evasion, evaded…. These variations were added to the list of words they will have to write on their test. The write all their words from memory. I don't say them for the boys to spell.

Ki played a toe touch game. I wrote the letters for his words on pieces of paper. Lay them on the floor out of order. He touches them with his toe in order while spelling them out loud. Half way through he decided to add a couple extra letters that aren't in the word and he had to find the correct letters (or figure out which didn't belong). This used both sides of his brain I am pretty sure (esp since he thought it fun to alternate which fot he used each letter) and using both mental and physical together is great for cementing facts and great for his dyspraxia.

Then Ki worked on writing a story. He likes to write stories with his words. He choose this activity. I asked him what he wanted to do with his spelling words today.(that's my semi-unschool moment). I added the toe game, because I know he needs stuff like that for his dyspraxia, dyslexia, SID.

 

Gavin and Connor wrote 10-15 sentences with their words.

 

 Ki choose to write in his story instead of read.(another semi- unschool moment..LOL)

 I sometimes allow that. It's good for kids to get some say in what and how they do some things…sometimes….. but it's also good for them to learn to follow the instructions of those in charge of their welfare, even if it is boring- after all- that's pretty much how life is …

The first school sessions are the ones that are something to write home about…… the rest is pretty boring… like last time. like usual… not much therapy or fun ways to teach going on the rest of the school day

GAVIN- 1- Switched On Schoolhouse- History (we only use the history- it's not great, but it's more of just something to do and maybe learn a bit at the same time) 2- Review Math Lessons with mom

 

CONNOR- 1. Going Places- reread story and draw 5 sequence pictures.(Connor asked to drawthe sequence pictures from his Cat Warrior book, I let him) 2. two Math Detective Cases 3- Online Science

 

 Ki- 1-Beyond the Code. 3 pages 2- Miquon F-45,45 J-13

Manuel- 1. Ingles in 10 Minutos 2- Miquon J-6,8,9

No real links this time, folks....sorry...

Double Doodles

I have nothing to post from Yesterday- so here is a post from March-

Double Doodles is an activity where you draw the same thing with both hands at the same time and they are mirror image of each other. It's good for getting the eyes to work with the brain and getting both sides of the brain to work together at he same time. It is a Brain Gym activity.

here is Connor-

Here is Gavin-

The Schoolroom after school today- we all cleaned up well today.

Here is Ki writing his story yesterday-

Connor and Gavin writing their spelling words yesterday-

I need to get another ball or two. Ki uses the ball for his OT and They all like to sit on it for school.

a colorful day

(Complete with links)
This morning I read Ki's lines with him. He is in a play next week. I made the mistake of doing this before he had a good big drink after breakfast and before his sensory occupational therapy. It is amazing how little and tired he is before his OT. He is like a limp noodle. Not a big deal though. We'll just read through the lines again after his OT. A little Joint Compression and breathing exercises will do wonders for him. Apparently his teacher doesn't say much to him about his performance during class. She sent home a note about how he needs to work on volume and annunciation. But because she doesn't say anything to him during class, he keeps saying "This is how I do it in class and my teacher is fine with it!"
I will do 1-on-1 school with Ki today and have Gavin do SOS History and Connor do Saxon Math.
Today I go down to Shriner's hospital to spend some time with Manuel. The plan is to bring him home tomorrow. So I will probably spend the night there. I should call first to see what time they expect him to be able to leave tomorrow.
For past blogs about homeschooling and archived links and tips, visit WWW.HOMESCHOOLBLOGGER.COM/3FOLDCHORD

You will find links on the top banner for:
Dyslexia/LDs/ADS tips and journals
Charts and Schedules


Online Links
Our School Day- for examples of a day in our school.




TODAY- We did morning Brain Exersices together. CrissCross Marches, Deep Breathing stretches, Lazy 8s with arms and legs and Hook Ups.This was intersparsed with the consumption of water. (Brains are 80% water and need to be fully hydrated)



Next-Gavin looked up spelling words and wrote their definitions while Connor worked on Saxon Math. During this time I did word family reading with Ki. Beyond The Code. Then he circled base words in the groups. After that we worked with letter tiles. He had to find letters and find certain letters in front or behind to work on letter placement in the alphabet. After that he used the textured letter tiles to spell words from his word cards.

Snack Break

Gavin read poetry. His creative writing teacher is going over poetery with him. (Thursday class). I have a book of Robert Frost poetry for him to read. Connor is reading Time Cat. Ki and I did a few pages in his Miquon with manipulatives.


Lunch

Classes at Dominion. Ki takes drama and Connor has art class. Gavin stays home. I will be going to Shriners to stay with Manuel. (click to read- who is Manuel?)

SCHOOL DAY

We started with Story of the World (we are reading about Ancient Greece) then we did Brain Gym. Ki did his bouncy ball Joint Compression. Then water and more Brain Gym. I wrote G&C's spelling words on the board during this time. They still play and bicker when they are in charge of Brain gym, but they are getting better.
For spelling:
G&K had a list of words-
arrange
strange
range
fringe
cringe.
They had to use these words in sentences and they had to have 3-6 sentences for all the different forms of the word they can think of. I told them they could double up words. So some of their sences mght be:
It is strange to arrange eggs by color.
The stranger was arranging flowers.
That is the strangest arrangement I have seen.

I told them I wanted at least 10 sentences (they could use more than 2 words as long as the sentence structure is proper). Connor wrote.
"I like to say. "...then listed all the words with their forms.."
then wrote 10 short sentences like "I see a cat."

Connor is like that. finding loopholes and taking shortcuts..... I have to be so exact with him. I didn't say the 10 sentences had to have words from the spelling list.

Gavin's is so totally sloppy.. and nothing is capatilized. plus he used some words incorrectly, so he hd to look them up in the dictionary.
So they both are rewriting their sentences.

Ki had three parts to his spelling. write his words in ABC order, write in order of shortest to longest and them pick 2 word cards at random and write a sentence using those words. And do 3 sentences like this. He did the 1st part and forgot about the second part and 3rd part. (I was running errands). BUT he couldn't find where in his spelling notebook he did the 1st part so I had him do it again and watching him, I don't think he even did it the first time. So he had to do all of it.

Gavin got most of his math correct. Usualy it was on;y 'wrong' becuase he wrote the answer in the wrong form or forgot the units. I dontt think that's so bad- his math skills are great, it's just the organizational part...

Connor did math online and got a A. But he was supposed to play 3 games not just one. My written instructions were unclear. I wrote - MATH Detective -- 3.....not 3 games. I forgot the GAMES. I think he should have figures it out. I dunno... but he'll be doing what he missed. so I guess it's all good in the end.

Connor had already done his Language Arts book at Grammy's house, he worked ahead and I didn't realize. So he didn't have to do that- but he read the story a second time.

LESSON LEARNED- be more specific in giving instructions! I always think I am specific enough, but it never seems to be.

Ki will not be left to do school on his own for sometime as he really didn't do anything except 2 pages in Miquon. Next time I have to run errands he comes with me then will have to get his work done later after we get home. With his SID and Dyslexia, it's just not working yet. Maybe next year.

Ki has forgotten the alphabet again. He forgets information that isn't constantly reviewed.. I just was thinking by now we'd no longer have to review the alphabet. this is going to be a long road..... he can't be reviewing things like counting in order (which he does still mix up if it's not reviewed often enough) and the alphabet when he's in college...