Day 33

I usually wait until bedtime to post, but I know I'm going to be up late and forget to do it til 11:30 or something; and I just don't want to do that tonight. So here I am. Still with the migraine. Rachel has had a headache for a while too. We both felt great out west but have been feeling terrible since we got back. Maybe we always feel like this and just hadn't realized how bad it was until we spent time feeling good. I think it's time to move!

Today, I had Sam and Sarah working on subtracting negative numbers again. This time I gave them a procedure--Sarah's life saver. She was able to whoosh through several problems after that. Sam too. He did the procedure even though his actual problem solving was still in his head. Now to do that about 5,000 more times. Jeff always wants them to do hundreds of problems, but I think he wants them to do that all in the same day! He talks about taking timed tests with math facts when he was little, and he says there were 100 on the page. I wonder if that's just his child memory. Everything was so much bigger when we were kids.

I have mixed emotions about giving them so many problems at once. I had them do 10 or 15 after they got it. I didn't want them to stress out about having to do too many. I know they need to do a number of problems after getting it, but I also like just doing a few a day. It's a good idea to do a few later in the day too. I think doing problems twice in a day is as effective as having two days worth of practice.

That's what Jeff and Wilson say about piano practice too. I believe it. I've mentioned Sarah started learning piano just a few months ago. She has progressed much farther than I'd expect, and I think part of the reason is that she plays several times a day. I don't even know how many times. It has to be at least 10. There might be a little genetics at play too if that's possible--Jeff and Wilson were both like that. Here's a picture of Wilson giving Sarah a piano lesson--in their pajamas!

I have Sam and Sarah reading Uncle Eric books to start them off on their American History credit. We're going to study the Constitution too. And probably read parts of biographies of the founding fathers. Sam's reading Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?, and Sarah's reading Whatever Happened to Justice?.  I think they'll like them. We also read another chapter of The Mysterious Island today. They found the missing person, but the chapter ended before they said whether he was alive or not. Obviously, he's going to be alive, right?

Tonight, if I can drive with this headache, the kids are going to church youth activities. Sam is going to hear a guy talk, that climbed Mount Everest (not all the way to the top, though). And the girls are doing art projects--Rachel is drawing and Sarah is painting. Yay for other people teaching my kids things! Jeff drove my car to work and left his, because it was low on gas and he was in a hurry when he left. His is a stick. Maybe it's time to teach Rachel to drive it. She started a long time ago, but we dropped the ball. I'm sure she can do it. Not tonight though, all that whipping my head back and forth! Ugh.

See you tomorrow!

Day 32

First thing this morning, Sam looked at the Lego website and found out that he's not a finalist in the contest he entered. He's disappointed, but he does know most people don't win contests. He voted for the stop action video he liked best of the 6 finalists, but the girls didn't vote. They really only cared if Sam was going to be one of them. But he'll keep entering contests. He likes it.

Jeff was helping Sam and Sarah with subtracting negative numbers today, and Rachel said, "I never learned negative numbers." I had to laugh because she's been dealing with negative numbers for years. She is a senior after all. She says she just knows the rules but not why it works. I guess we were trying to get Sam and Sarah to know why the rules are the way they are. I like to understand what's going on, because it makes the math part of me and I remember how to do it. Maybe everyone doesn't need that.


Everyone did science at the same time today, as usual. Rachel was studying something about cell membranes and she looked at lung cells in the microscope. We always all get involved in each other's labs for science, so everyone got to see today. And so do you. Sam couldn't do his experiment because it involved plaster of paris, and we don't have any. Sarah's experiment was a bust because she tried to use a rubber glove and rubber band instead of a balloon. Clearly, I need to buy some science supplies.

We read another chapter of The Mysterious Island today. They haven't found the fifth person in their party after they were shipwrecked (actually, balloon wrecked). The characters are assuming he's dead, but none of us think so. They keep talking about him. We figure they wouldn't keep talking about a guy if they weren't going to find him alive. I've never read it. I wonder how long it's going to take to find him and what condition he'll be in when they do!

After school everyone did yard work in the heat. It was yucky and sweaty. I just watched because I have a terrible headache again/still. There is an unreasonable amount of work to do in the yard. We're renting a house and this is our first summer here. We've talked about buying the house, and the first thing we would do is rip out most of the things that grow and cause yard work! It's not our thing.

See you tomorrow!

Day 31

Today was hot, so the kids filled the pool--one of those inflatable, family-sized pools. They just love that. It heats up during school and they get in, in the afternoon. Rachel especially loves it; she needs more sun than the rest of us. While the pool was heating up, everyone did their science and math. I can't think what else we did. That's funny. Jeff did school with them all day.

I love that their science books are so clear and easy to understand most of the time. They're always telling us about what they're reading about. Whenever one of them talks about their science, someone that's done that book before reminisces about how much they liked it and they want to read it again. I can't imagine wanting to read one of my school science texts again, can you? Of course, my goal was just to get through my homework. I don't remember having too much of an interest in real learning. 

Sam and Sarah both worked on the Pre-Algebra today. Jeff wasn't sure how to explain what they were supposed to learn, so I ended up doing it. But my head was still hurting, so it didn't go extremely well. I think they understood enough to get it the next time we talk about it, though. I think we'd better work on it tomorrow and not wait til Monday.

We ordered MathUSee for Rachel. She's still worried about getting her 2 credits done, but the only way through is hard work. We all have to do it at some point--work harder than we really want to. She'll make it, I'm sure. She doesn't have that many other credits to get this year. I don't like thinking of it in terms of what credits someone needs, but that's what we're down to. And it's ok. Several years ago, I knew a homeschool family where the dad was the one at home. They were doing a charter school, and he told me one day that he just, "administered the program." I was sad about that for a long time. Until one day, I really looked at them. They were having more fun with their homeschool than I was, and it was so much easier. It didn't wear them out like it was doing to me. They did the program, they had brilliant kids, and they loved it. It really worked for them. So if something can make it easier on us, I'm going to love it!

Hopefully tomorrow I can make a list for them to work on whether I can help or not. I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but I'm not really a nitty gritty planner. We have the books we're reading, and we just do what we need to do each day. But if all that's stored in my head, it gets trapped there when I have a migraine. I don't even have access to it, so how could I give it to them? I need to put it on paper.

Jeff's been reading Jules Verne's Mysterious Island to us. I hope we have better luck liking this one than we've been having this year with our books. I started The Princess Bride before my headache, but I'm not sure it's really the kind of book we want to read. And we pretty much gave up on Matilda, and they don't love Life of Pi. I think they're might have been another since we started in July. I usually do a better job of choosing. I think I've hit a slump. Maybe I'll read them something we know we love, just to get back in the groove.

See you next week!

Day 30

It's after midnight, and my head is barely starting to feel a little better. I dread going to bed because it always hurts more when I wake up. So the kids and I have spent a couple days worrying about how we are actually going to accomplish school with me like this. That's funny because I've always been like this. I have always had migraines, and I've had fatigue problems for about 12 years I think. I have eliminated a lot of headaches over the years by giving up chocolate and all refined sugar, but the rain still gets me. And maybe hormones. The headaches have been worse this year (or maybe couple years). I am about to turn 46 next month though. So I guess the hormones could be changing too. So this is the way it is for now, but the kids need school.

Rachel is a senior, and she has 2 math credits to get this year. That totally stresses her out. Math has never been her thing. She's much better now, but now she feels the pressure. We thought we'd try a computer subscription type homeschool curriculum and we signed up today. But I don't think we're going to love it. They talk too fast, and I'll have to teach anyway. We'll probably drop that. We looked at other things that would be streamlined for math, but she can't feel like she wants any of them. I told her tonight that I'm probably just going to have to choose and she can just plow through. I'm thinking we'll use MathUSee. She's never been a fan of it, but I do think it's the most streamlined and will give her the best chance of getting done.

Sarah started 9th grade this year and Sam is in 8th. So we're thinking that we need something more like textbooks for Sarah. She likes that sort of thing anyway. That's what Wilson did and he came out just fine. He liked it well enough. They're very much alike in a lot of ways, so this doesn't surprise me. We're using Apologia science and MathUSee Pre-Algebra with her this year. I had big plans for a world study project, but it would take quite a bit of effort; so I'm going to have to ditch it. That's going to have to be ok. We'll just do American History/Constitution study and biographies, or maybe Geography.

Sam doesn't need textbooks. He just needs a lot of information to read. He loves statistics and specifications. He is using Apologia too, and I was going to have him wait til next year to do Pre-Algebra, but I think I'll just have him do that with Sarah. They've always done math together. He's just not so hot on procedures, but he understands concepts, so we'll see.

I don't know if these things will help us feel like they're getting somewhere when I'm out of commission, but I hope so. I also have to just make a checklist so they can handle it whenever I can't. For now, Jeff will be off tomorrow and can help them have school even if I get up feeling worse--again.

See you tomorrow!

Day 29

I woke up with a terrible migraine today. That never happens. Usually I get them as the day progresses. You know we were supposed to have school today after weeks of not having it. This happens every time. I think I talked about it in a previous blog. How something always happens when we're starting school after a break. I don't know if it's tension or coincidence, but it really gets old. We had to reschedule Sam's appointment with the surgeon because of it. Now it's not til September 8th. Also, Jeff's usually working during my headaches. I don't know if I've told you he's an airline pilot; so when he's working, he's just gone.

For years I've wondered what to do about it. Sometimes I think the kids need to do some kind of charter school or distance program so they won't need me. But that's ridiculous. I've tried some of them, and they need me anyway. It's just the way it is. I just hope that what they learn from my problems will be enough to make up for what they miss because of them.

They worry sometimes that they don't know the things other kids know. But just last night we were talking about adults knowing different things from each other. I know there are certain skills everyone needs by adulthood, but think about it; Jeff doesn't say the dentist is an idiot because he doesn't know how to fly airplanes. The guy that fixed our air conditioning before our trip doesn't think I'm lacking some required knowledge because I couldn't fix it myself. Isn't that why there are businesses? Why we pay each other for things.

If you used my writing critique service (MyWritingCheck.com) to evaluate one of your child's papers this year, I'm not going to say you shouldn't need my help. We had a plumber come fix the toilets in our house, and he didn't look down on us because all we could figure out was to call him. Ok, I go on a little when my head hurts this much. I'm lucky to be sitting upright; I wasn't for most of the day. And I'm about to go to bed again.

Oh, but the kids did do some school today! They all did science. Then they did math together from a Strayer Upton book. I think they did personal reading, played badminton, cooked lunch, and they went to a youth activity at church. Rachel had to call someone and ask for a ride to that, which is good for her. Also, they warmed up my hot rag in the microwave about 100 times! Maybe tomorrow will be better, but it usually takes a few days. We'll see.



Here's another family picture.




See you tomorrow!

Day 28

Oh, we just miss Wilson and Kamille, and holding that little Eliza! We did not have school today. We just rested a bit more, and cleaned up a little after being gone. Jeff went to the grocery. That was almost an emergency after the trip. I got up before church yesterday and started to make banana bread for breakfast, but we didn't have any eggs. I was pretty sad.

We haven't started looking up things we wrote down on the drive yet. We'll have to do that little by little over the next couple weeks. We wondered if Dr. Suess lived out west because of some of the illustrations he put in his books. The bluffs in Nebraska, and the quail (I'm not positive it was a quail) with the silly, tall tuft on his head made us think of him.

While we were at Wilson's, Kamille read Rachel's book and did a little editing with her. Then Kamille started getting ideas for writing her own book.  She even got started while we were there. I'm writing a couple books right now too, and I'm planning on self publishing. So I'm excited about the girls writing books. I'll have to create a line of family fiction in my publishing company (which I hear you have to create to self publish). Kamille wouldn't tell us what it was about or any of her ideas. I guess that runs in the family, even if she's not genetically related to us. Just now, Rachel came up and sat beside me; and I said, "Don't read it while I'm typing." I always say that. I never want anyone to read anything I'm writing until I finish it, or fix it. We're all that way. Maybe other writers are too.

Today was the first day we didn't talk to Wilson or Kamille in almost 3 weeks! I didn't like it. Wilson starts classes tomorrow. I hope he gets some sleep tonight. Eliza keeps them awake sometimes, and then he gets up before 3:00am for work. At least he works at home and can go back to bed for a while afterward. School for us tomorrow too! I hope we can get our brains together for it. It feels like we've never done any school all our lives. Jeff has to go back to work too. I never want him to start working again after a vacation. He's so nice to have around.

I would say that life is going to settle down, but I guess Sam's colon surgery will be soon. That's why I wanted to start this blog. So we can talk about the reality that homeschool is at home, where people live their lives. Part of life is deliberate, methodical learning and part of it is having things happen that make it impossible to have deliberate, methodical learning. In fact, I would say that something has to happen in order to have real learning, so let's let it happen!

See you tomorrow!

Day 27

We're home! After 4 days in the car. I'm so excited to sleep in my own bed tonight. I'm too tired to write much; I just want to sit. But not Jeff. He wanted to put everything away. Thank goodness he's like that, because I'd leave all that junk in bags and suitcases for a few days. I've done it before. Sometimes I think I'm so lazy, then I remember I have fatigue problems. But I wonder where the line is. And I wonder about the "lazy" looking example I give the kids. I guess I can't figure out the answer to that question tonight. All I can do is go to bed!

Oh, but first, here's our new family picture. We don't really look like this. We all wear glasses except for Sam, who needs them but refuses to wear them. We just didn't want to have the glare. You should have seen the pile of glasses we had next to the camera. Now everyone can think we all got contacts! Also, we were on a hill and the camera was propped on a cooler in the back of the van in a parking lot, so we're leaning. Pretty funny. But I love this picture.

More about the trip next week after I have my day of rest. See you then!