I had 2 doctors appointments today closer to the "big city". One was at 9:15am and the other at 12:15pm. To avoid having to leave my house at o'dark:thirty to get through rush hour traffic to the 1st appointment on time, B and I spent the night at my parents' house last night. They live closer to "big city" than we do. B and I did not mind; we both love spending time with my folks. My dad was actually out of town, spending time with his mom in New England for her birthday and keeping an eye on her since she just got out of the hospital. BTW, yesterday was her 94th birthday. :o) So B and I hung with my mom. She is B's Nana and lives up to the name completely! As difficult as it is for me to sit on my hands and keep my mouth shut about what he gets away with and does in her house, I do it. Every child deserves a Nana and Papa, and Ben understands that their rules are their rules in their house and my rules are my rules in my house, and never the twain shall meet! But usually, I drop him off and have no idea what goes on in their house. Since I stayed, too, I could not BELIEVE what goes on in that house! Where were these people when they were MY parents?!
Mom put B to bed last night while I took a bath in her MAMMOTH tub. I had not taken a bath in YEARS!!! I actually took with me a wine glass full of ice water and....A BOOK! The grandmother clock that chimes every 15 minutes told me that I was in there for at least 45 minutes. Ahhhh. I really needed that bath. I visit my parents frequently, but it's usually for a meal and visit as a family or to drop B off so the hubs and I can get some alone time. I need to start stopping by my parents' for some "me" pampering! After my bath, it was so nice to sit up and talk to mom.
So, onto the reason for my doctors appointments - my left ear. From June 2009 - December 2009 I had my 1st "ear infection". The "infection" was just like me - go big or go home. That's why it lasted 7 months long, was immune to the 1st 2 rounds of antibiotics and cost me 70% of the hearing in the left ear. When the Spring of 2010 came around and we saw warmer weather, the pain and bleeding stopped, and I slowly gained back 30% of the hearing in that ear.
When the weather started to turn colder in October 2010, my left ear started to bother me again. After 6 weeks, the bother became pain and started to bleed. By mid-December, I decided to go back to the doctor, was diagnosed with another "ear infection" and put on a pretty strong antibiotic for 10 days. On day 8 of the antibiotics, December 22nd, I called mt doctor back b/c neither the pain nor the bleeding had subsided at all. He referred me to an ENT and made me an appointment the next day.
When the ENT looked into my ear, he said he needed to suck out all the "puss and blood" in my ear in order to see what was going on. So he inserted a microscope and a vacuum. The amount of LOUD NOISE caused by the vacuum in my ear actually made me feel better - if something sounds loud in that ear, maybe my hearing isn't that bad! After several minutes of suction, the ENT says, "Hmmm. That's...interesting." Seriously?! Did his Mama never teach him that if does not have anything nice (or in this case, positive/constructive) to say, don't say anything at all?! He finishes up and settles in for a talk. He tells me that what he thought was puss and blood in my ear canal was actually skin, he thinks. For some reason, extra skin/cells/growth/a tumor is growing in the tube that goes off of the outer ear tube up to the bones in the middle ear. In addition to that, I have a hole in my ear drum, which is causing negative pressure in my outer ear canal. This negative pressure is causing this extra "skin", as well as part of my ear drum, to be sucked up into this tube. That was all that the ENT could see through the microscope in my outer ear canal. So, he told me to pop my ears at least 20 times/day and schedule a hearing test and CT scan to get a better look at that tube. He needs to know what is actually up there, how big it is and what is causing the hearing loss - either there is something blocking sounds from getting through or the growth is actually destroying the bones in my inner ear, causing permanent hearing loss.
At first, I did not want to pop my ears b/c it hurt! But the more I did it, the less it hurt and the more I could hear. I figured that had to be a good sign that no permanent damage has been done to my ear. The hearing test this morning showed great improvements to my hearing since the last test at the end of 2009. The main things I have problems hearing are the pitches of vowels and men's voices. I have been upset with the hubs for several weeks, accusing him of whispering to me frequently just to annoy me since he KNEW I had hearing loss! Turns out he was speaking normally and I just could not hear his pitches. (I called him after that appointment and apologized.)
My 2nd appointment was at 12:15pm, the CT scan. I had to be at work in a different county at 1:30pm, but I had confidence that a company who scheduled an appointment during the normal lunch hour actually had employees who WORKED through the lunch hour and I'd be out of there in a timely manner. I should have known my expectations were set WAY too high when I had to hold the door for the Domino's Pizza delivery guy walking in behind me with a stack of 7 pizzas and a bag of 4 two liters of soda. I arrived 15 minutes before my appointment time. After filling out the requisite paperwork, I was immediately whisked back to the next level of waiting room, where I sat and read my book for a half an hour. Then I was moved to level 3 of waiting and read for another 45 minutes. Finally, at 1:17pm, a man smelling suspiciously of pepperoni and mozzarella called me into the CT Scan room. He was friendly, efficient, explained everything that was to happen and managed to get scans with me on my stomach and my back and have me in my car, backing out of my parking space, by 1:27pm!
I am NOT a speeder. I make a rule of going a maximum of 0-5 miles over the speed limit. But I FLEW the 30 miles to work and arrived 30 minutes late, hungry and having to pee. I run threw the door and find ALL of my co-workers standing around and chatting. "Why are y'all still here?" I asked. I thought they would have picked up there assignments and headed out long before I arrived. "Oh, we're in no rush," one said. :o/ I should have stopped at a drive-thru for lunch after all, I thought, as I headed for the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom, everyone else was gone, I grabbed my assignment, the keys to my designated car and headed out to pick up my kids.
Now begins the waiting game. The pepperoni/mozzarella-smelling technician told me that my ENT would have all results within 24-36 hours. Unfortunately, the ENT's next available appointment to discuss said results, and what needs to be done next, was not available until 1/31. So, we shall see...
Living on a prayer with love, laughter, faith and food.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
"Shouldn't you be in school?"
It boggles my mind that at least one person asks B that every time we are in public on a weekday. And 9 out of 10 times, it is the cashier or check-out person that asks. I may be curious about the situations of strangers when I see them out in public, but I certainly would not go up to them and ask them personal questions. Maybe the asker is just protecting his or her immune systems and wants to know if I am dragging my sick child out in public. Perhaps some people feel they have a right to know everything about everybody due to so many reality TV shows and a media that does not respects any boundaries. But there are plenty of school-aged kids roaming about and if someone will ask my son, they are probably asking other people's children, as well. So, if you got the same answer from a few people, wouldn't you get the idea that there is a good number of homeschoolers in the area and then not need to ask any other kids? Or maybe at least phrase it differently, like, "Are you homeschooled?" That would be better than the accusatory tone used when they ask B, "Shouldn't you be in school?" Maybe there is a rampant truancy problem in our county so the school system has deputized volunteer truancy offers in every store. ;o) Who knows.
The first 4 months of homeschooling were filled with discovery and trial-and-error. I didn't want to invest tons of money in curriculum that did not work for us, but I felt I needed a little more than what I had on hand. One of my new homeschooling friends, T, is a "veteran". She's been HSing for at least 5 years and her style is classical. So she is very curriculum-based and teaches her children several subjects each day. She recommended a great book to me: 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy. The book helps you define your teaching style and figure out your child's learning style. Once you do that, you can match them with her top 100 picks of curriculum.
I picked out one that looked interesting, was not expensive and said it covered Art, Science, Math and Social Studies. It's called Five In A Row. When it arrived, it was not as challenging for B as I had hoped. But it is something we can do together, everyday, while snuggling on the couch, and that is very important to B's well being. :o) It only cost $35 so it is not a huge loss.
I chose a math curriculum that was more expensive, Math-U-See. Although I was eager to get started with it, I decided to put it on my Christmas list and my parents got it for us. Ben really likes Math-U-See! In addition to the workbook, it is hands-on with blocks similar to LEGOS. The other book I bought that has worked out well is the Handwriting Without Tears. B's handwriting has really improved with that.
Also for Christmas, my parents bought B a DSi XL. My brother gave him 2 games - LEGO Harry Potter and the Scripps Spelling Bee. A friend of mine gave B a Math game, as well. When he opened the Harry Potter game, he played it for 3 days straight; however, he has not gone back to it since. He just LOVES the spelling bee and math games! We've had difficulty with B's laziness when it comes to reading. He does not want to take the time to sound out new words. He'll glace at a new word, see a couple of letters in it that belong to another word he already knows and just say the known word and move on. But then he has no idea what he is reading! I make him go back and sound out the new word. He would just prefer that someone read to him instead of him reading it. However, once you read a book to him once, he can then go back and read it to himself b/c he has heard all the correct words. But I want him to figure new words out on his own. Well, this Scripps Spelling Bee game has done the trick! He is learning how to spell and read so many new words and having fun at the same time. And I know he will get great pleasure out of all the levels in the math DS game, too, as we progress through our Math-U-See lessons.
The first 4 months of homeschooling were filled with discovery and trial-and-error. I didn't want to invest tons of money in curriculum that did not work for us, but I felt I needed a little more than what I had on hand. One of my new homeschooling friends, T, is a "veteran". She's been HSing for at least 5 years and her style is classical. So she is very curriculum-based and teaches her children several subjects each day. She recommended a great book to me: 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy. The book helps you define your teaching style and figure out your child's learning style. Once you do that, you can match them with her top 100 picks of curriculum.
I picked out one that looked interesting, was not expensive and said it covered Art, Science, Math and Social Studies. It's called Five In A Row. When it arrived, it was not as challenging for B as I had hoped. But it is something we can do together, everyday, while snuggling on the couch, and that is very important to B's well being. :o) It only cost $35 so it is not a huge loss.
I chose a math curriculum that was more expensive, Math-U-See. Although I was eager to get started with it, I decided to put it on my Christmas list and my parents got it for us. Ben really likes Math-U-See! In addition to the workbook, it is hands-on with blocks similar to LEGOS. The other book I bought that has worked out well is the Handwriting Without Tears. B's handwriting has really improved with that.
Also for Christmas, my parents bought B a DSi XL. My brother gave him 2 games - LEGO Harry Potter and the Scripps Spelling Bee. A friend of mine gave B a Math game, as well. When he opened the Harry Potter game, he played it for 3 days straight; however, he has not gone back to it since. He just LOVES the spelling bee and math games! We've had difficulty with B's laziness when it comes to reading. He does not want to take the time to sound out new words. He'll glace at a new word, see a couple of letters in it that belong to another word he already knows and just say the known word and move on. But then he has no idea what he is reading! I make him go back and sound out the new word. He would just prefer that someone read to him instead of him reading it. However, once you read a book to him once, he can then go back and read it to himself b/c he has heard all the correct words. But I want him to figure new words out on his own. Well, this Scripps Spelling Bee game has done the trick! He is learning how to spell and read so many new words and having fun at the same time. And I know he will get great pleasure out of all the levels in the math DS game, too, as we progress through our Math-U-See lessons.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Kickboxing Class
The karate studio where I work has kickboxing class for adults twice a week and, as an employee, I can go for free. I have been thinking about going for quite some time, since I keep getting bigger and bigger, but I haven’t done it. I was afraid to go. Afraid of the unknown, afraid of what the other people in the class would think of me, afraid that I would not be able to keep up, afraid that any exercise whatsoever would make me barf in public, afraid of not having any appropriate clothes that fit me to wear…you name it, I tortured myself with it and just sat at home.
Thankfully, a friend and co-worker of mine started going to the class with her husband last month. I kept saying that I would show up at class one night since I actually knew someone there, but I never did. Finally, last week, I got up the nerve to tell my friend that I needed her to drag me to that class. And, being the great friend that she is, she complied. She was willing to be the “bad guy” for me b/c she understood that I needed that to get over the initial hurdle.
Last night was the class that she was going to drag me to. And of course, all day long, I did not feel well. I wanted to tell her that I could not go b/c I was not feeling well, but I had a “coming to Jesus” talk with myself. I am so good at having those talks with other people, you know? I can fix everybody’s problems but my own! Anywho, I had that talk with myself and realized that every single time I decided I was going to start an exercise routine that day, I ended up not feeling well. I mysteriously got my period, or I had an upset stomach and had to stay near the bathroom or I ate nothing but beans and broccoli the 24 hours before and could not be around others for gaseous reasons, etc. It was always SOMETHING. But I was NOT going to allow myself to make another excuse. I was GOING to this class, even if I barfed or farted all over the place!
And you know what? I had a great time! I am SO GLAD they drove over to my house and took me to the class. I am proud of myself for exercising and everyone can use a little extra pride in themselves, don’t you think? I did not have gloves and the bin of extra gloves was empty from other attendees in the class. Pshaw, I thought. I’m not going to need gloves on the 1st class anyway. I am so out of shape, I could not hit that bag with any amount of strength requiring gloves anyway, right?
We started out doing a “warm-up”. MY idea of warming up is long stretches, walking in place, stepping side-to-side, maybe some lunges… The teacher’s idea of warming-up was jumping jacks. OK, I told myself, you can do this. How many could we do in a warm-up? 25? He did not count; he timed. As many as you could do in 1 minute increments, and there was more than one, 1 minute increment, people! My boobs were jumping, my backfat was jumping, but, worst of all, my incontinence-due-to-vaginal-birth was saying, “What the HELL are you doing? I’m about to make a mess up in here! You know the deal – no trampolines, no bed jumping and NO jumping jacks.” I don’t know how I hung on, but I jumped jacks while kegelling the heck out of my insides. I actually made it to 100 jumping jacks before I had to run off into the bathroom. Once again, proud of me! Never thought I could do 1 jumping jack, let alone 100. I want my 8th Grade Presidential Fitness Award renewed. ;o)
My friend and I shared a bag for our punches and kicks. After a few rounds of jabs, hooks and uppercuts, I had bleeding knuckles on both hands. I was HOOKED! The sight and smell of blood was like adrenaline to me, for some reason. I felt so badass, so capable! At one point, we were to take turns punching and kicking the bags with our partners, and the one who was not hitting the bag was to yell encouragement at the one hitting the bag. She and I were cracking up over this. She yelled at me once, “Come on! Take your frustration out on that bag! I know you’re picturing your husband!” I immediately thought, I’m not frustrated at him for anything. Then something hit me and I became a driven women. I ATTACKED that bag! I yelled to my partner, “I’m fighting off the hubs to keep him from changing the temperature on the thermostat at home!” We had a good laugh over that one.
That was all I really needed – to get over the 1st hurdle of just going. Even at my age, it’s hard to reach out and ask for help. But I’m so glad I did!
Thankfully, a friend and co-worker of mine started going to the class with her husband last month. I kept saying that I would show up at class one night since I actually knew someone there, but I never did. Finally, last week, I got up the nerve to tell my friend that I needed her to drag me to that class. And, being the great friend that she is, she complied. She was willing to be the “bad guy” for me b/c she understood that I needed that to get over the initial hurdle.
Last night was the class that she was going to drag me to. And of course, all day long, I did not feel well. I wanted to tell her that I could not go b/c I was not feeling well, but I had a “coming to Jesus” talk with myself. I am so good at having those talks with other people, you know? I can fix everybody’s problems but my own! Anywho, I had that talk with myself and realized that every single time I decided I was going to start an exercise routine that day, I ended up not feeling well. I mysteriously got my period, or I had an upset stomach and had to stay near the bathroom or I ate nothing but beans and broccoli the 24 hours before and could not be around others for gaseous reasons, etc. It was always SOMETHING. But I was NOT going to allow myself to make another excuse. I was GOING to this class, even if I barfed or farted all over the place!
And you know what? I had a great time! I am SO GLAD they drove over to my house and took me to the class. I am proud of myself for exercising and everyone can use a little extra pride in themselves, don’t you think? I did not have gloves and the bin of extra gloves was empty from other attendees in the class. Pshaw, I thought. I’m not going to need gloves on the 1st class anyway. I am so out of shape, I could not hit that bag with any amount of strength requiring gloves anyway, right?
We started out doing a “warm-up”. MY idea of warming up is long stretches, walking in place, stepping side-to-side, maybe some lunges… The teacher’s idea of warming-up was jumping jacks. OK, I told myself, you can do this. How many could we do in a warm-up? 25? He did not count; he timed. As many as you could do in 1 minute increments, and there was more than one, 1 minute increment, people! My boobs were jumping, my backfat was jumping, but, worst of all, my incontinence-due-to-vaginal-birth was saying, “What the HELL are you doing? I’m about to make a mess up in here! You know the deal – no trampolines, no bed jumping and NO jumping jacks.” I don’t know how I hung on, but I jumped jacks while kegelling the heck out of my insides. I actually made it to 100 jumping jacks before I had to run off into the bathroom. Once again, proud of me! Never thought I could do 1 jumping jack, let alone 100. I want my 8th Grade Presidential Fitness Award renewed. ;o)
My friend and I shared a bag for our punches and kicks. After a few rounds of jabs, hooks and uppercuts, I had bleeding knuckles on both hands. I was HOOKED! The sight and smell of blood was like adrenaline to me, for some reason. I felt so badass, so capable! At one point, we were to take turns punching and kicking the bags with our partners, and the one who was not hitting the bag was to yell encouragement at the one hitting the bag. She and I were cracking up over this. She yelled at me once, “Come on! Take your frustration out on that bag! I know you’re picturing your husband!” I immediately thought, I’m not frustrated at him for anything. Then something hit me and I became a driven women. I ATTACKED that bag! I yelled to my partner, “I’m fighting off the hubs to keep him from changing the temperature on the thermostat at home!” We had a good laugh over that one.
That was all I really needed – to get over the 1st hurdle of just going. Even at my age, it’s hard to reach out and ask for help. But I’m so glad I did!
Blogging Neglect
I have been so bad about blogging. I used to keep a blog regularly – several times a week; sometimes several times a day if I had a lot on my mind. But for the past 2 years, I have Facebook’d instead. I probably have the longest FB statuses of any of my friends, b/c I am trying to put a blog post in that limited character space. But I really am a blogger at heart. Even though I don’t practice Catholicism anymore, I think I should give up FB for Lent this year. Maybe that would get me in the habit of blogging again. Although, I would still want to get on FB and check out what everyone ELSE had to say, even if I chose not to say anything. The main reason I wanted to blog is that my “mommy brain” has continued for the past 8+ years and I need to record the cute/funny/precious things my son says and does before I forget them. And so I can blackmail him with them later in his life. ;o)
If I think about it, I can’t solely blame FB for my lack of blogging. There are 2 other reasons. The 1st one is that I used to have a private blog. My blog was only accessible to a select group of friends whom I trusted and knew I could vent to and talk to about anything and anyone. Something happened to cause me to cut access to all the viewers of my private blog. I will not go into the reason here b/c this blog is now public and readable by anyone, including the one who caused me to cut access to the private blog. But once I no longer had an “audience”, I lost interest in blogging. Isn’t that weird or, conceited? Without someone to entertain, I lost all interest in jotting my thoughts, experiences and stories down. I thought it was quite the insight into how I tick…or maybe a better way to say it is how I felt validated…
The 2nd reason for my lack of blogging…I…am ashamed to say I cannot remember! DAMN! See what I mean about mommy brain continuing FAR BEYOND the norm?! I, honestly, think it is the Alzheimer’s that runs in my family. The hubs does not like me to say that b/c I can imagine how hard it would be for him to think about me going through that. But I really think it is. When I was a young child, I watched my grandfather go through it, rather quickly, while my mom assisted in his care. My mom is now taking care of one of her older sisters going through it. For over 20 years, I feared the day that I would discover my mom had it. The hubs can tell you he’s known of this fear since he met me. Now I realize that, no matter how hard that would be for me to handle, I could do it and I would do it. Just like Malynn took care of Shelby in the hospital in Steel Magnolias. (BTW, I believe Steel Magnolias is to women what The Godfather is to men.) What scares me more now, is my husband and child having to endure ME going through it.
Wow! I finally decide to start blogging again and it is such a downer! I will mos def lose whatever readers I may have had! Well, at least if no one reads this, it will kinda be like a private blog and I can talk about anything and anyone again… ;o)
You know what?! I think I have actually been talking about the 2nd reason I stopped blogging – I can’t remember anything I want to say when I actually have the time to sit down and blog. Phew! Maybe this homeschooling thing has been able to exercise my brain enough to remember more. :o)
If I think about it, I can’t solely blame FB for my lack of blogging. There are 2 other reasons. The 1st one is that I used to have a private blog. My blog was only accessible to a select group of friends whom I trusted and knew I could vent to and talk to about anything and anyone. Something happened to cause me to cut access to all the viewers of my private blog. I will not go into the reason here b/c this blog is now public and readable by anyone, including the one who caused me to cut access to the private blog. But once I no longer had an “audience”, I lost interest in blogging. Isn’t that weird or, conceited? Without someone to entertain, I lost all interest in jotting my thoughts, experiences and stories down. I thought it was quite the insight into how I tick…or maybe a better way to say it is how I felt validated…
The 2nd reason for my lack of blogging…I…am ashamed to say I cannot remember! DAMN! See what I mean about mommy brain continuing FAR BEYOND the norm?! I, honestly, think it is the Alzheimer’s that runs in my family. The hubs does not like me to say that b/c I can imagine how hard it would be for him to think about me going through that. But I really think it is. When I was a young child, I watched my grandfather go through it, rather quickly, while my mom assisted in his care. My mom is now taking care of one of her older sisters going through it. For over 20 years, I feared the day that I would discover my mom had it. The hubs can tell you he’s known of this fear since he met me. Now I realize that, no matter how hard that would be for me to handle, I could do it and I would do it. Just like Malynn took care of Shelby in the hospital in Steel Magnolias. (BTW, I believe Steel Magnolias is to women what The Godfather is to men.) What scares me more now, is my husband and child having to endure ME going through it.
Wow! I finally decide to start blogging again and it is such a downer! I will mos def lose whatever readers I may have had! Well, at least if no one reads this, it will kinda be like a private blog and I can talk about anything and anyone again… ;o)
You know what?! I think I have actually been talking about the 2nd reason I stopped blogging – I can’t remember anything I want to say when I actually have the time to sit down and blog. Phew! Maybe this homeschooling thing has been able to exercise my brain enough to remember more. :o)
Friday, September 24, 2010
My Sweet B
I have really enjoyed having my sweet B back since he left public school. His moods are more even and although he will always be an emotional child (b/c he's mine) he now cries instead of having full on tantrums. Giving him predictable structure while honoring his personality and learning style has really caused him to relax, blossom and he's really controlling himself. Makes for a happy family! I want to share 3 cute things that B said while we ran errands today.
I was standing next to the car pumping gas.
B: How come you use the regular instead of the supreme?
Me: The supreme is more expensive and my car only needs the regular. Besides, I'm not a "supreme" girl; I'm just a "regular" girl.
B (in a pouty voice while looking down): I'm a "supreme" boy.
Me (grudgingly): I know. Just like your daddy.
We were on on way to the bank and a song I did not recognize came on the radio.
B: Oh! Turn it up! I love this song!
Me: When have you ever heard this song?!
B: Long time ago, baby. Me and this song? We go way back.
We stepped up to the teller at the bank, and before I could say anything, B takes something out of his pocket and slides it across the counter to the teller.
B: Excuse me? How much is this shiny, smooth shell worth? Can you take it so Mama doesn't have to use her money?
I was speechless. The teller, who had a baby earlier this year, got all teary-eyed and I could tell he just melted her heart as well as mine.
Teller: What a wonderful son you have there! That is the sweetest thing I have ever heard!
I had to agree. *sniff, sniff*
I was standing next to the car pumping gas.
B: How come you use the regular instead of the supreme?
Me: The supreme is more expensive and my car only needs the regular. Besides, I'm not a "supreme" girl; I'm just a "regular" girl.
B (in a pouty voice while looking down): I'm a "supreme" boy.
Me (grudgingly): I know. Just like your daddy.
We were on on way to the bank and a song I did not recognize came on the radio.
B: Oh! Turn it up! I love this song!
Me: When have you ever heard this song?!
B: Long time ago, baby. Me and this song? We go way back.
We stepped up to the teller at the bank, and before I could say anything, B takes something out of his pocket and slides it across the counter to the teller.
B: Excuse me? How much is this shiny, smooth shell worth? Can you take it so Mama doesn't have to use her money?
I was speechless. The teller, who had a baby earlier this year, got all teary-eyed and I could tell he just melted her heart as well as mine.
Teller: What a wonderful son you have there! That is the sweetest thing I have ever heard!
I had to agree. *sniff, sniff*
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
First Official Day of Homeschool
I am pleased with how today went! This is going to be a learning experience for both of us and it will take some time to get into any kind of habit or set lessons. But I am OK with that. We may never get into set lessons. I decided months ago that there really isn't a wrong or right way to do this; the main goal is to find my son's way of doing this.
We both learned new things today, so that in and of itself is a successful day. Do you know what the largest desert is in the world? We were both surprised to learn it is Antarctica. When I went to school, I was taught the Sahara was the largest desert. But a desert is defined by lack of rainfall, and sparse to no vegetation and can be hot OR COLD. We're starting with a geography unit study. Today we worked on some natural landmarks, like rivers and deserts. Ben located some on a world map and compared river lengths and deserts sizes to determine their orders from largest to smallest. I worked math problems in where I could - the Gobi dessert is 1/2 the size of the Arabian dessert (500k sq mi compared to 1M sq mi). He did a word find of related terms and I created a spelling list. Since "desert" was on the spelling list, I also added "dessert". I know early in school it was hard for me to remember which was which until a great teacher told us a trick to remembering it, so I passed it on.
I learned that we need to set aside more time for learning if I continue to let him set the pace. And with the amount of time he likes to take, we won't be covering every subject everyday. When he would stare at the map for a few minutes, I did not push him to move on to a question; I let him take in the map. When he saw the shape of a whale in the Sahara, I let him draw a face and water spout on it. I bet that will be a good reference to remember the Sahara - it's shaped like a whale!
He's always amazed me with word finds. He'll stare at one for minutes, and when he's done, he'll circle 3 or 4 words at once. I am keeping a journal and made notes for myself as we went along so I did not forget anything. Once he saw that, he put his pencil down and wanted a pen just like me. ERRR! I want him to use a pencil so he can erase and fix things. But I let him have the pen. Maybe he will work harder to make fewer mistakes.
When I saw he was fading, we took a break to dance and sing some Bon Jovi. My son's current favorite song is "Livin' on a Prayer". He has excellent taste in music, just like is Mama. :o)
Before heading out to run an errand and then off to my work for the afternoon he said to me, "I really liked this homeschool thing today, Mama. I'm gonna like this year." I said, "This is only day one. It's going to get harder and most days we'll be schooling more time than we did today. But we'll work together to make it fun." He says he's up for it.
We both learned new things today, so that in and of itself is a successful day. Do you know what the largest desert is in the world? We were both surprised to learn it is Antarctica. When I went to school, I was taught the Sahara was the largest desert. But a desert is defined by lack of rainfall, and sparse to no vegetation and can be hot OR COLD. We're starting with a geography unit study. Today we worked on some natural landmarks, like rivers and deserts. Ben located some on a world map and compared river lengths and deserts sizes to determine their orders from largest to smallest. I worked math problems in where I could - the Gobi dessert is 1/2 the size of the Arabian dessert (500k sq mi compared to 1M sq mi). He did a word find of related terms and I created a spelling list. Since "desert" was on the spelling list, I also added "dessert". I know early in school it was hard for me to remember which was which until a great teacher told us a trick to remembering it, so I passed it on.
I learned that we need to set aside more time for learning if I continue to let him set the pace. And with the amount of time he likes to take, we won't be covering every subject everyday. When he would stare at the map for a few minutes, I did not push him to move on to a question; I let him take in the map. When he saw the shape of a whale in the Sahara, I let him draw a face and water spout on it. I bet that will be a good reference to remember the Sahara - it's shaped like a whale!
He's always amazed me with word finds. He'll stare at one for minutes, and when he's done, he'll circle 3 or 4 words at once. I am keeping a journal and made notes for myself as we went along so I did not forget anything. Once he saw that, he put his pencil down and wanted a pen just like me. ERRR! I want him to use a pencil so he can erase and fix things. But I let him have the pen. Maybe he will work harder to make fewer mistakes.
When I saw he was fading, we took a break to dance and sing some Bon Jovi. My son's current favorite song is "Livin' on a Prayer". He has excellent taste in music, just like is Mama. :o)
Before heading out to run an errand and then off to my work for the afternoon he said to me, "I really liked this homeschool thing today, Mama. I'm gonna like this year." I said, "This is only day one. It's going to get harder and most days we'll be schooling more time than we did today. But we'll work together to make it fun." He says he's up for it.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Unit Studies
There are so many different ways to teach and not all of them work for every child. I am not going to "pick" one style of homeschooling; I will be dabbling in all of them to see how B and I like them. The hubs and I continue to take advantage of learning opportunities in everyday life just like all parents do. Because, regardless of whether your child goes to an institution for learning or stays home, every parent's job description includes "teacher". But we pay attention more, now, and stop what we are doing to explore further into something B is interested in or to answer his questions. It is so wonderful to teach him something and them see him go on to share the knowledge he has learned with others later. It lets us know it is sticking with him!
Even though learning will happen all on its own throughout the day, B needs learning directed by me, as well. Last month, I started out with subject specific teaching. I alternated Math and Language Arts every other day and we did Science everyday. Not a lot, just enough to keep him in the habit of working and so he does not lose everything he learned from 1st grade. Although he did not fight me on doing work, it was boring for him and me. Plus it was just like work at his elementary school. So I stopped that and starting thinking about the style of HSing that attracted me the most - unit studies.
With unit studies, you pick a subject your child is interested in - baseball, princesses, dinosaurs, LEGOs, baking, whatever - and learn about it. While learning about the subject, you find the math, reading, writing, science and social studies within it. Math is in the measuring of ingredients and doubling or halving a recipe, comparing the sizes of dinosaurs or using multiplication to find out how many LEGO bricks are in a structure your child built. You and your child will read books from the library and research found on the internet. Writing will happen when your child journals about all the things he is doing and learning or penpaling with an expert in the field or another child with the same interests. Think of all the new spelling words you will come across while learning about your subject? The beauty of unit studies is that you don't pick a "school" subject and try to make it interesting, you take something your child finds interesting and turn that into learning.
As part of supply gathering, I bought some great maps at Costco for $7/each. They are over 3' x 4' and laminated. I have one of the US and one of the World hanging in the upstairs hallway. I bought one of the Solar System, too, but returned it. It was covered so much in these cartoon characters and descriptions of who they are, that you couldn't see the Solar System, itself! The US map includes pictures of all state flags and the World map includes pictures of all the country flags. I've learned from years of being B's mom that my suggestion of or push towards something is turnoff #1 to him. So I put up the maps and didn't say a word. I noticed B was disappearing for 10 - 20 minutes a couple of times a day and I would find him in the upstairs hallway. I didn't mention the maps; just told him I was curious where he was. Then I woke up one morning to find a yellow thumb tack in each of the 2 maps exactly where we live. :o) When I came downstairs he said, "Did you see the tacks in the maps, Mama?" "Yes. Why are they there?" "It's where we live, of course! Didn't you KNOW that," he asked. Last weekend we were driving to a reunion with my elementary school peeps and B called out from the back seat, "That building is flying the Texas flag. And if you take off the star, it would be the Checky flag." I look over my shoulder and we were passing a Texas Roadhouse restaurant, in fact flying the Texas flag. When we got home, he showed me the other flag he was referring to, the Czech Republic flag, and I could see the similarity without the star. He not only made us proud, he made us confident in our decision to HS him. He let us know, he IS learning, he IS going to be OK. So, maps has turned out to be our 1st unit study.
I got something off Freecycle last week and made him hold my phone and use the GPS and tell me where to go. A workbook I bought last month to look through for ideas actually has a whole section on maps. We are visiting New England soon and I've shown him on the map where it is and all the states we'll go through to get there. I am going to have my dad go over the route on the map with B and then have him be in charge of navigating. Outside of maps, there is so much history to see and learn about in New England! We are currently reading a fictional book about an 8 yr old boy, two 14 yr olds, and a freed slave who happened to be on the Dartmouth during the Boston Tea Party and are trying to escape the city to Philadelphia w/o being caught by the Red Coats. He is really interested. And that will make him interested in Boston sites more than just showing up at the city, pointing them out and trying to get him to listen to a tour guide explain why a place is famous. I am currently looking for free, printable coloring pages online for New England. If you find any good ones, leave me a comment with a link, please. Thanks!
Even though learning will happen all on its own throughout the day, B needs learning directed by me, as well. Last month, I started out with subject specific teaching. I alternated Math and Language Arts every other day and we did Science everyday. Not a lot, just enough to keep him in the habit of working and so he does not lose everything he learned from 1st grade. Although he did not fight me on doing work, it was boring for him and me. Plus it was just like work at his elementary school. So I stopped that and starting thinking about the style of HSing that attracted me the most - unit studies.
With unit studies, you pick a subject your child is interested in - baseball, princesses, dinosaurs, LEGOs, baking, whatever - and learn about it. While learning about the subject, you find the math, reading, writing, science and social studies within it. Math is in the measuring of ingredients and doubling or halving a recipe, comparing the sizes of dinosaurs or using multiplication to find out how many LEGO bricks are in a structure your child built. You and your child will read books from the library and research found on the internet. Writing will happen when your child journals about all the things he is doing and learning or penpaling with an expert in the field or another child with the same interests. Think of all the new spelling words you will come across while learning about your subject? The beauty of unit studies is that you don't pick a "school" subject and try to make it interesting, you take something your child finds interesting and turn that into learning.
As part of supply gathering, I bought some great maps at Costco for $7/each. They are over 3' x 4' and laminated. I have one of the US and one of the World hanging in the upstairs hallway. I bought one of the Solar System, too, but returned it. It was covered so much in these cartoon characters and descriptions of who they are, that you couldn't see the Solar System, itself! The US map includes pictures of all state flags and the World map includes pictures of all the country flags. I've learned from years of being B's mom that my suggestion of or push towards something is turnoff #1 to him. So I put up the maps and didn't say a word. I noticed B was disappearing for 10 - 20 minutes a couple of times a day and I would find him in the upstairs hallway. I didn't mention the maps; just told him I was curious where he was. Then I woke up one morning to find a yellow thumb tack in each of the 2 maps exactly where we live. :o) When I came downstairs he said, "Did you see the tacks in the maps, Mama?" "Yes. Why are they there?" "It's where we live, of course! Didn't you KNOW that," he asked. Last weekend we were driving to a reunion with my elementary school peeps and B called out from the back seat, "That building is flying the Texas flag. And if you take off the star, it would be the Checky flag." I look over my shoulder and we were passing a Texas Roadhouse restaurant, in fact flying the Texas flag. When we got home, he showed me the other flag he was referring to, the Czech Republic flag, and I could see the similarity without the star. He not only made us proud, he made us confident in our decision to HS him. He let us know, he IS learning, he IS going to be OK. So, maps has turned out to be our 1st unit study.
I got something off Freecycle last week and made him hold my phone and use the GPS and tell me where to go. A workbook I bought last month to look through for ideas actually has a whole section on maps. We are visiting New England soon and I've shown him on the map where it is and all the states we'll go through to get there. I am going to have my dad go over the route on the map with B and then have him be in charge of navigating. Outside of maps, there is so much history to see and learn about in New England! We are currently reading a fictional book about an 8 yr old boy, two 14 yr olds, and a freed slave who happened to be on the Dartmouth during the Boston Tea Party and are trying to escape the city to Philadelphia w/o being caught by the Red Coats. He is really interested. And that will make him interested in Boston sites more than just showing up at the city, pointing them out and trying to get him to listen to a tour guide explain why a place is famous. I am currently looking for free, printable coloring pages online for New England. If you find any good ones, leave me a comment with a link, please. Thanks!
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