Halloween!!

The veil is thin, light a candle for your ancestors to find their way, set an extra plate at the table, and leave a jack o' lantern by your door to scare away the evil spirits :)

 

 

I feel so sad, it's time to put away the skulls and bats. Time to put away the shows we've been watching since July. This is the first year in many that I have been excited the day of halloween. We didn't go full out this year in our decorating perhaps that is why I am excited!

I will be curling up tonight with some Italian cream cake, Sleepy Hollow.

Then tomorrow begins the clean up of halloween. Wait, that means I can start playing my christmas music without getting dirty looks from Chris. I bet there is a christmas pandora station! Time to get out the christmas decorations!

Politics

Something tells me this post will get a lot of hits just for the title. No, I'm not going to go on a political rant. I want to keep this blog free of that...... mostly......

How is everyone dealing with the upcoming election and the resulting fallout on every social networking site available? I don't mind people posting political stuff, but I want them to support their posts with facts, links to said facts from an unbiased source. What frustrates me is the blatant fear mongering and lies that get thrown around every election, not just when there is a president involved, but of course no one seems to care unless there is a president involved, which is just a sad statement about our system and the lack of knowledge most people have on how it works.

Are you blocking people with the intention to unblock a week or so after it's all said and done? I have to admit I did that to a few family members. I just couldn't take the hate talk anymore. Yes, there is a difference between disliking someone and voicing that opinion and hatespeech.

Are you getting involved in fiery conversations? I haven't participated this year. A friend of mine posted about the chikfila ridiculousness a few months back and I actually was threatened by a family member of hers for commenting on it. I am not interested in partaking in any of those conversations, too much crazy out there.

I did make the mistake of asking a genuine question on a political post and I guess because my inclination was to disagree, though I was interested in any information that might move me otherwise, I upset the poster.

I have watched some crazy conversations play out that baffle me. You just can't get anywhere these days. There is no such thing as a civil political conversation. We seem to have forgotten as a society how to disagree with someone, present our facts with support, and even if we both walk away with differing opinions still be decent to one another or respect one another.

Oh, here's the tie in to homeschooling - Why is this the case? School. Children are taught there is only one set of facts. I know from my public school experiences that this is the case. These are the facts, now regurgitate them, there - you are now intelligent. Here's what we are going to write about in our argument assignment, read the first chapter, now regurgitate in your own words what you just read as fact in the book to prove your argument.... 30 papers repeating the same set of facts is hardly teaching anyone how to present an argument.

The only kids that got a good grasp of argument in high school were the kids in the debate class. One of which I know went on to study law and I think she's working toward being a judge. I wish I could say I agree with her on SOMETHING!? but that still doesn't change the fact I respect her as a person while at the same time disagreeing with her on pretty much everything she posts..... but I have not blocked her because I still find her opinion and facts valid and worth taking note of. 

Complex thought is not encouraged until you get into college. Argument paper - go to the library and pick a subject, support it, bring me back the paper and I will ask you questions, you better be able to convince me or you fail.  Third semester I had to take American History..... umm.... wait.... you just squished nearly all "facts" about our country that I learned over the course of 13 years in one semester.... I have a family member in college that learned about Grimm's fairy tales this week and the stories predating those that are even more gruesome. It blew her mind that all the stories she grew up with were based in such nastiness.

This is by no means the teachers' fault, they are bound by what they have to cover, what children are expected to test well on, and time stretched across so many kids. I remember my junior year wanting desperately to bring my grade up in history class the last week of school and the teacher told me to write a paper, anything. I wrote a short biography of Ho Chi Minh (I was obsessed with the musical Miss Saigon at the time so it makes total sense), but it was how he was viewed by the Vietnamese not Americans. I learned a tremendous amount because I was in a pinch and I took any resource I could get my hands on. The resources I found were overwhelmingly positive which surprised me, I was so used to the half a paragraph in the textbook that portrays a villain. The teacher seemed very pleased with the outcome. He gave me bonus credit and bumped up my grade. That is why I do not believe teachers are happy with this situation either. I believe they want to teach more complex thought processes. The fact there are two sides to history and one's villain is another's hero and this is something one should keep in mind when examining EVERYTHING, but they are bound by a broken system.

This post was partially inspired by this article posted by a teacher friend of mine this week. It is the resignation letter of a North Carolina teacher. Worth a read if you have the time.

I, for one, am seriously considering a social network hiatus for the next two weeks, because we all know the aftermath of the election will be more nasty than the coming week. I may very well disappear from every forum except where I am keeping tabs on my pregnant friends because we have more important things to talk about than politics (haha). I may even take a break from blogging for the next two weeks, not sure we'll see, maybe a total internet blackout is in order.

Baby To-do List

So, we're 36 weeks on Thursday. First time around everything was already done and ready (especially since I was in the hospital from 35-36 weeks). Second time around, everything was already done except the coming home outfit which if I remember right I purposefully waited till crossing the 36 week mark being my superstitious self. Third time around.... didn't buy the outfit till the week before she came, was still ordering cloth diapers, and was pulling all the baby clothes out to be organized at this point.

Number four..... I have a few onesies and pajamas in a drawer and all the blankets are washed and in a drawer...... picked up some diaper rash stuff and baby soap this weekend....... I know where the baby clothes and cloth diapers are, but it all needs to be washed. I know where the baby toys are, but do I really need those cluttering up the house yet? No. I finally picked up a mattress for the crib a week ago! Yeah! One thing off the list! I've picked out the coming home outfit, but need to go buy it. Hospital bag? Ha! That's funny.

I see these prebaby preparation lists and I can't help but laugh. Really? I found one flipping through a magazine at the doctor's office, let's see if I can find one online. Yikes, look at all these lists of things you just HAVE to buy for every little thing you do with your baby! Here's one actually put out by the US government.

Okay, I have to quit searching for a list similar to what was in that magazine because I'm just making myself angry. I was just on a website pushing the "celebrities" favorite baby items. Yes, that's what I want, because celebrities are known for being great parents... and surely if I buy this stuff I will be too..... *insert eye roll here*

That government one isn't too bad, let's look at that one. Mind you what I'm posting is my opinion, take it as such:

 

Clothing:

Onesies or rompers, depending on how often you want to do laundry

Sleepwear, including a blanket sleeper for cold weather (if needed)

Baby socks

Hats, for warmth and for sun protection

All of these things are reasonable. They don't give you numbers like most lists which I like. It's ridiculous to think people need to be told how many of each outfit they need. Babies poop a lot, if you don't want to do laundry every day, have more clothes on hand. If you don't mind the laundry schedule then save your money.

Baby Care:
Receiving blankets
Diapers
Baby wipes
Diaper rash cream
Baby shampoo and body wash
Nasal aspirator

Pacifiers - eh, give or take on these depending on if you want to mess with them.

Digital rectal thermometer Really? With the forehead and ear thermometers you're still going to insist the only way to take your baby's temp is rectally? The doctor is going to ignore your reading anyway and take their own when you get there. There's not that much difference between the three methods to make this necessary in my opinion.

Baby bathtub or insert for your regular tub One more thing to clutter up your house. You have a sink, it's the perfect size for washing babies. Why buy something that you're going to struggle to figure out where to keep it? No matter where it is it's inconvenient.

Baby lotion Because a long history of comparing all things soft to a baby's butt must be wrong! We must lather and slather chemicals onto our children so that they will be soft, it must be comfortable to be caked in chemicals. Sorry, this baffles me. Lotion is meant to ease dry skin. If your kid has dry skin you want to know the safest and most effective home remedy? Olive oil or coconut oil. Seriously.

Hooded baby towels, or soft regular towels - Your towels are fine. Your baby is not going to notice the cute little bear head or pig tail. When they get older let them pick out a towel they like at the store that they want to wear. That makes so much more sense than buying them when they are babies and don't NEED it.

Baby washcloths, or soft regular washcloths - See above.

Baby nail clippers Yes, nip the tip of your baby's fingers a couple of times and you'll learn not to use these till they get a bit bigger. Use a nail file, much safer till those fingers get big enough to handle.

Infant acetaminophen drops Didn't they pull all of the infant medicines? If you REALLY believe you need meds for your child take them to a doctor and get precise instructions on how to administer. Overdoses happen, babies have reactions to medications, NO MEDICATION IS 100% SAFE either prescription or over the counter. It's not worth taking a risk in my opinion.

Nursery Basics:
Crib or bassinet with mattress
Crib bedding
Waterproof mattress pad

Mobile - Do you REALLY have to have one? No. We've had them on and off with my other three. We have one that is sort of broken. If Chris can fix it I'll use it, if he can't then we probably won't use one this time.

Glider or rocking chair - Do you REALLY need this? No.... but I will say with my oldest it was nice to have around. I used it less with Chloe and then more with Anna.

Dresser This seemed kind of silly to add to a list like this.... I think people know they need somewhere to put their baby's clothes.

Changing station with changing pad and covers Why not use your bed, your couch, or any other surface in your home? If the babe is incredibly messy then put a blanket down before changing them. All those changing tables are good for is falls, collecting random items, and taking up more space than necessary.

Diaper pail You.... do have a trash can? Right? Why buy a specialty diaper pail that requires specialty trash bags? If the diaper is particularly heinous then stick it in a plastic shopping back and set it in the garage or on the patio until it can be disposed of in the trash outside. I will tell you from the pail I got second hand before having my oldest they aren't that great at keeping in smells anyway.

Hamper Once again, don't you already have one of these?

Feel free to disagree with me! :)

What is missing from this list?

Um.. car seat? Some people still don't think this is necessary, I can't believe it's not on the list.

What do I need to get?

Nasal aspirator - I still have one, but the girls play with it in the bathtub. I need to pick up another for Capuchin. These are helpful. The baby hates it, but they will get over it.

Socks - I have baby socks, but extras are never a bad thing when you're having a cold weather baby.

Coming home outfit - picked out, just need to go pick up.

What do I need to do?

Wash all the clothes and cloth diapers.


What did you find useful for your babe? What could you not imagine not having? What was the biggest waste of money? What would you add or take from this list?

Week 9 Complete

Very relaxed week here. The later half of the week we just did reading, writing and math which is fine by me, things got busy Wednesday afternoon and they aren't going to slow down until Monday.

 

With Halloween right around the corner we read about our skeleton and did a skeleton craft. Tamarin's skeleton looked very interesting.... more like the Kali ceremony set from from Indiana Jones.


We talked more about Egypt and Africa. We read Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt that I posted at the beginning of the week.

I loved this book as a kid, I'm thinking we might skip Percy Jackson since Tamarin hasn't mentioned it lately and start this as our next chapter book since Tamarin is interested in Egypt.

Lemur surprised me this week. She wrote mom with no help. She wrote many letters to me this week, "Mom" scribble, scribble, scribble. She also cut out two triangles and glued them together to make the Himalayas. So we talked a little bit about where the Himalayas were. I don't think I've mentioned it before, but I love the Scooby-Doo movies. They are a neat way to introduce the kids to different cultures and places without being "educational".

This weekend I am going to sit down and map out the next 6 weeks. Capuchin will be here by the end of that and we will start our winter break.

Thyroid PSA

This is the main reason my posts are getting fewer and lamer in my opinion. For those of you who may not know I am taking thyroid meds.... errrr.... supposed to be taking thyroid meds...... I have been taking them on and off this whole pregnancy.

My thyroid not working properly was first brought to my attention three years ago. I was exhausted all the time, more so than one should be with an infant. It was a challenge to do simple tasks. My brain was always fuzzy. I could tell wasn't working right. Turns out my thyroid is not producing enough of it's hormone to convert to the usable thyroid hormone. It's not drastic hypothyroidism in the medical community's eyes in fact the doctor I saw felt I didn't need medication, but agreed natural methods would work to give my thyroid a kick. I found homeopathic ways to stimulate my thyroid and once I was feeling better again about a year later I did what everyone does. I quit taking those supplements.

I completed half marathons, triathlons, and worked out nearly every day of the week with no problems. However, no matter how strict a meal plan I went with the weight didn't really want to come off, but I was fit so it didn't really matter to me that the scale couldn't get below 180. I could still run circles around a lot of the skinnies so I was happy :)

Anyway, after two miscarriages at the end of last year I asked my OB if hypothyroidism could be linked to miscarriage. Sure enough it can. She tested me, but didn't feel it was out of range so far that anything needed to be done. I ignored her and went to an endocrinologist anyway. By the time my appointment with the endo happened I was already pregnant again. The endo put me on a very low dose of a thyroid hormone replacement. I don't like taking modern medicines. I've always heard that once you start taking thyroid replacement pills that your thyroid will shut down. After a lot of research and talking to naturopaths I found out it's not that it kills your thyroid, your thyroid just goes dormant. So once I have Lydia and am done nursing her I should be able to put these pills away and take supplements to make my thyroid start working properly on its own again. But for the time this is what was safest for her and me.

The more I researched I was shocked to find out most doctors still think anything over 5 TSH is hypothyroidism, turns out most people need it closer to 3 to function properly and others have trouble keeping a pregnancy unless it's under 2 (not everyone of course, but some do). There is a huge range of TSH and it's effect on people, the trick is to figure out what your body needs. Mine was in the 7s and I was not functioning properly. I was doing pretty good once we got in around 3. To the OB this was all unnecessary, but the endo was willing to humor me.

The later in pregnancy you get the less of a big deal these hormones are. I've eased off taking them a week or so at a time, then I start to feel lousy and start them back up again. I've not taken it in over two weeks and it shows. I hardly want to get out of bed. I'm not sleeping properly. My brain is in a fog. I have little patience for anything. I was going to cook an elaborate meal for Chris for our anniversary, but didn't. I don't even want to blog. In the past I would have assumed this was just me and the fact I have three kids, but now I know it's not. I wonder how many other people out there just assume they are always tired because that's life and it turns out it's not. Anyway, there is my public service announcement for the month. If you want more info of the symptoms check here. Make sure you find a doctor that is up to date on thyroid ranges. Get tested if this sounds like you. If you can go the natural path I highly recommend it. It worked for me, if only I had been smart enough to continue it.

Curiosity's I Was Mummified

Am I the only person who watched this?

I have talked about and shown Tamarin mummies and all things Egyptian. That, after all, is what got me hooked on anthropology as a kid and something I still enjoy. The only reason I knew about this show was that it came on after Mythbusters. Good thing Discovery replays things in the early morning. The plane crash episode got tons of publicity and this got none. Chris began to send Tamarin out of the room when we played back our DVR.

"I want to watch it! Is that a real mummy? Are they pretending? He doesn't look like the other mummies."

She sat down on the couch with me and I explained to her about donating your body to science, terminal illness, and that they would be handling a dead body throughout the show including cutting it open. If she was okay with this then she could stay and watch, but if at any time she became uncomfortable she could go play or watch the cartoon sisters were watching.

She didn't stop talking through the entire show. It was question after question after question. "Why? How? Why? What? How? Why?"

She was content at the end when he looked much more mummyish and when we said that was the end, more questions, "What will they do with him now? What happened then? That's the end? Is there another show? How do we find out if it worked?"

It's the small joys in life :) I love the fact she was so interested in it. We will probably be rereading our Egypt books the rest of the week. Including this one:

It's wordy and I usually give her an abridged version when we flip through it, but it does have a lot of info and I think she will enjoy it more when she gets older.

This of course is another great opportunity to talk about symbols. I have talked to her about how our numbers and letters don't really mean anything. They are scribbles that have meaning because of our culture. They have meaning because we give them meaning. They are symbols. I may pull out some of my Egyptian books from when I was younger and draw her name in hieroglyphics. I think she would enjoy that, let's hope I can find them.....

The Plan Week 9

The plan is just sticking to basics this week. Monday was a wash by the time I drove into town, spent an hour and a half at the grocery store and then drove home. It was about 1, lunch, nap and it's magically 4:30 now. We'll do a little bit of reading and writing this evening and call that good. I have a dr appt this week which will wipe out another day and we have a birthday party one afternoon. I think sticking to our barebones week is a good idea. We'll probably do circle time every morning possible so I can get ideas for science stuff for coming weeks.

I want to sit down sometime this week and plan out the next 6 weeks. That will get me through Capuchin's birth. We'll take a couple of weeks break and then get back to it just before christmas which I think the girls will enjoy since I've got a lot of educational things in mind that can go hand in hand with the holidays.

Stretching a Dime

Off to the grocery store this morning, again. I opened my fridge last night to discover this:

Where'd all our food go?? I have plenty of cheese for quesadillas. No? How does a peanut butter and jelly quesadilla sound? A little intriguing.... I may have to try that.....

I sent Chris grocery shopping on Tuesday night. Where did it go?? We were out of the house almost all day Wednesday. I was sick Thursday and Friday so we grazed all day. Saturday I was running around like a headless chicken trying to get everyone to soccer games and then I worked most of Sunday. I get home around 4 to discover that! Ah!

I spent a lot of time online on Friday since I was sick exploring the new homeschool forums I've been told about my a few friends. One of the threads that caught my eye was an observation of how our dollar is not stretching as far as it used to. Other than the obvious gas prices, almost everyone chimed in talking about food prices. That we've all been duped because if the price hasn't increased the size of the product has decreased.

I have a friend on facebook who has gone way deep into the couponing craze. I think it's awesome he is getting money back when he checks out or spends pennies on a hundred dollars worth of stuff, but I look at what he's getting and there's nothing there that I would use. From what I've seen him post, it's freeze dried packaged foods, tuna, and name brand deodorant..... Call me a snob, I'm fine with that. I do not like freeze dried food (okay, one exception being mac n cheese because the girls refuse to eat it if I make it from scratch and it's something even Chris will cook). I don't eat tuna (I think that's due to a childhood trauma, if I attempt to eat it I puke). I don't use deodorant (I know ewww.... I'm a dirty hippy). Oh and he had three things of laundry soap one day..... I have only found one high efficiency laundry soap that doesn't clog my washer and result in a serious funk (seriously, never get a front load laundry machine, so not worth it).

We used to eat and drive on $100 a week when Tamarin was born six years ago. Now it costs me about $45 a week for gas and I think we all know $55 won't get you very far at the grocery store these days. So, what do you do to stretch a dime? Lots of people were standing their ground on buying what they've always bought despite the increase and making up the difference elsewhere. I have to admit I don't even check the organic produce right now. I won't give up my vice of organic maple syrup, though (did you know they can put up to 3% formaldehyde in the other maple syrups? I found that out from a dairy farmer).

There were people talking about thinning juice and milk which breaks my heart. I can't imagine. Another said she skipped breakfast and lunch and only ate what her kids didn't. I used to do that, but for me it was more a waste issue than a money issue. Today when I go to the grocery store I'm going to make a point to pick up an extra $10 to drop off at a food pantry. We're a little tight because we are in preparation mode for medical bills that will come with Tamarin's birth, but we are by no means that tight.

So two questions today: What do you do to stretch your money at the grocery store? Anyone else want to join me this week and give $10 worth of food to a food pantry? Call it a challenge. If we can afford to buy things we don't NEED then I think $10 is not asking too much.

PS. I did not take the time to proofread or edit today's post, please forgive any idiocy therein. I don't have time right now because I have to get to the grocery store.....

Experimenting

So, Lemur has gotten back in the habit of getting up in the middle of the night. It had mostly stopped after we moved, then at some point in the last few months it started back up again. A few months ago we switched her and Howker's bedrooms. Last week a friend of mine posted an article about electrical fields. This is something I have thought about in the past, but hadn't thought much about recently. Lemur's head board is right against the wall holding the living room electronics...... Hmmm... why not? Not like it'll hurt moving the bed. I am going to experiment. Today is the 20th of October. When Chris gets home we are going to rearrange her room where her bed is as far from electronics as possible. I'll let you know if this improves the sleeping situation........

Update: October 28th, first night since moving her bed that she got up in the middle of the night..... interesting......

Update: January 6th... umm.. odd enough, it worked. The next couple of weeks she got up less and less. She hasn't gotten up in the middle of the night in over a month now..... strange, huh?

Week 8: Review

This week I decided we would just review the things we've done the last 7 weeks.

We reviewed cause and effect with this book:

I had Tamarin figure out for each shoe color what the cause and effect was and she drew it in her journal.

I let the girls hack into these blocks of plaster and excavate the dinosaur bones (Ellie keeps saying explore when I ask her what you call it, close enough). They had a great time. NOTE: this is an outdoor project.  I don't mind cleaning up a mess, but this was ridiculous even for me. On another dino note, one of Tamarin's silly sentences this week was "The dinnowsayrs play socer." hehe

We got together with the other homeschool family to do a prairie day. It was beyond a fun filled day. They had such a great time chopping down tree limbs with the small axe (and no one got hurt! Yeah!), carrying them back to the house, and while I made a pitiful looking teepee, they helped Jennie (the other mom) build our tent (you can see in the background). We sat in the tent and briefly talked about why the teepee was the best home for the plains. We talked about why settlers didn't use tents, but made permanent homes instead. We also touched briefly on other Native Americans homes in other areas and how they were able to build homes instead because they had everything they needed nearby.

 



Our other guinea nest hatched the same day as our prairie day. We had two duds, we candled them. They had stopped developing early so we went outside, sat all the kids down and popped them open. One had a very tiny bird fetus, we pointed out the eye and the heart.

Tamarin read a minibook to me with no help! Okay, I helped on the word marshmallow, but that's it! She was excited to read it! No whining! She even missed the last page and got excited when I pointed out there was one more page! Talk about a victory!

We all started feeling sick again on Thursday and sure enough we are all running low fevers today, so we are just taking it easy watching christmas movies, eating cookie dough, and I might even make some frozen hot chocolate in a little bit if I ever feel like getting off this couch. If I do it now, it might be ready after dinner. I'm thinking I'll get the girls to draw pictures of what happens in the grinch and talk about sequence so that it's not a totally lost school day.

Prairie Days

These are all spit ball ideas. I don't know what we will end up doing, but I want to have ideas collected and we'll see what sounds good that day :)

Settler Side:

The plan is to have our own landrun like what we did when we were in grade school. Talk about how the wagon was home until they built a home. No contract work, you had to build your home yourself. Chop the trees and everything. I did pick up a little axe... yes, real. I think Ellie and Kai will have no problem trying to wield it on one of the many saplings we are taking down anyway.

I am going to put a pulley on a tree limb and fill a bucket of water so they can get an idea of what it would have been like to pull water from a well and carry it back home.

Make a yarn doll



Make taffy!


Native Side:

Make a small (like big enough for them to get into, but not an adult) teepee and talk about why this was the best choice for a migrating group of people. Maybe even hook a harness to the pyrenees or dane and see if they are willing to cooperate moving it. I picked up some cheap drapes at target ($10 a piece way cheaper than buying the equivalent in material) and I intend to have some examples of native art for them to imitate painting the canvas.

Talk about why they migrated, hunter/gatherers vs the settlers who farmed. Talk about pros and cons of both.

Talk about animals that are native to this area that would have been in competition with those living here native and settler alike.

Make a dream catcher.

Make a small scale Navajo hogan home.

A Bad Case of the I Don't Wannas

We've all been there right? No matter what the task might be or how long you've known it's been in the works you wake up and immediately think... "What if I just stayed in bed today?"

This was one of those days for me. This weekend was too short and with all my teacher friends talking about their two week fall break all I really want to do today is stay in bed. I'm not sick anymore, I got plenty of sleep last night, so I have no good excuse it's purely mental.

I usually am insistent on having breakfast foods for breakfast, but this morning I caved. "You want hot dogs? Fine, hot dogs it is." I pointed the girls in the direction of the school room this morning and discovered the brand new thermometer I got from amazon was reading 100 (for those of you not local it was about 50 degrees this morning). I went outside to get it and messed with it for a while to see if I could calibrate it. Frustrated, I wrote a bad review of it on amazon. While I did this Anna found a christmas dvd. I decided, sure, why not? I need a reboot this morning. So while they spend the next 45 minutes being entertained by Mickey I need to get motivated.

I'm drinking a dr pepper while I type this up, need the caffeine. I'm listening to Adele through my headphones. Music is a driving force for me. One of the main reasons I love running so much (and miss it so much!) is that it's an excuse for me to listen to all the music I don't get to when the girls are listening. Yeah, Adele is not one of those. I listen to a lot of questionable musicals and hard rock that has a lot of cursing and questionable morals in it :) (even Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures has "Two Heads are Better Than One" in it so be kind!). I know most of the songs would just be words to them right now and the meaning wouldn't dawn till years down the road, but still. I remember being shocked when I actually began to understand some of the oldies my parents listened to. Then realize the irony the day my dad called "Walking on the Sun" crap.

I miss my music so much some days. One day last week I kept pandora (the Lenka channel) on the entire time we did school. If I hadn't I would not have survived the day. Problem is this morning I'm being pulled to my more depressing selections, Carl Orff, American Beauty, Donnie Darko, Queen of the Damned and Sweeney Todd with a little Nirvana and Bill and Ted thrown in. I need some upbeat positive music suggestions! Songs, pandora channels, long as it's upbeat adult, not kid!

What are your secrets to getting through a blah day? What is your favorite music for those days you need a kick in the ass to get moving'?

Fun Models/Kits

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday to pick up paint... funny how there's never enough of the same colors, but an abundance of others. Anyway, while I was there I found some cool stuff!


I picked up a couple of these since we have been talking dinosaurs. You excavate the bones! How cool is that! Plus, I'm sure with this recipe I found on pinterest I could put the bones back in a rock like substance and we can do it again the next time we talk about dinosaurs. **UPDATE** This should have been an outside endeavour..... lesson learned..... but while I was not happy about cleanup the girls thoroughly enjoyed digging out the bones..


Obviously way to advanced for my kids right now, but I want to stash this idea somewhere so I will remember it when the time comes :)


What's your favorite educational (or just fun) kit?

End Week 7

What worked:
Getting Tamarin to write her own made up silly sentences and letting her sound them out herself. She enjoyed this and did very well. I did my best not to help with spelling. It was so hard not to discourage spellings that looked like they belonged in LOLCatz..... ugh.....

Bats and Hibernation - I even learned about estivation. Never heard of it before, how cool!

Tamarin is enjoying reading the thermometer every morning and many times throughout the day.

Spider Craft: I had fun with this. A friend of mine posted the spider hand prints and I thought that would look good on a plate web. I drew the web on the plate, got the girls to hand print, and then let them watercolor to discover the web.

Did I mention how much I LOVE this sight word chalk board thing Jennie told me about?? Lemur wrote her name completely unsolicited today!!!

We went off topic this week, like usual, and that is what I LOVE ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING! The girls can ask me a question and I can bail on my plans to focus on what they want to know. This week we spent a few days on dinosaurs and some time explaining why we have seasons (which we've gone over before, but she couldn't remember).

She has asked all week to knit. I cannot for the life of me find our knitting supplies since we moved. I did find some interesting knitting methods online. Yes, I know what I just said about toilet paper rolls going in the trash. If this fails then I hereby swear to never hang onto any cardboard tubes forever more. Update: It works! I started with 7 popsicle sticks and quickly found there was not a lot of space for fingers, so I fixed it to only four sticks. She's got about a two foot tail now :)


Here's a better site for the method of TP knitting.



What didn't work:
Struggling with how to keep Lemur and Howler entertained enough that they aren't needing all my attention, but not so entertained that Tamarin feels she's missing out on what they are doing and not focused on her school work. I need ideas on this front if anyone has any!?

Domino Math, she enjoyed the addition, but I think I need to do more tangible subtraction for a while.

Trash crafts, toilet paper rolls belong in the trash, not in crafts. Bat FAIL!

The weather! It didn't cooperate so we didn't do our prairie day on Friday, bummer :(

What needs work:
I promised Tamarin we would do some piano today, the day is not over yet....

The Absent-Minded Mother

In the last hour I have opened my laptop at least 5 times..... here is an example of how each time has gone:

First we start at MSN.com.... stupid news, funny news, sad news.... what was I doing? I got on here for something....... Wonder if anyone responded to my facebook post..... haha..... lots of replies.... that's nice..... aww.... the animal shelter got new kittens in.... share. Friend posted good article on health topic, take a few minutes to read....... I got on here for something.... check email...... junk, junk, junk....... check the bank account..... no..... no that's not why I got on here...... check the homeschool and mom forums for replies..... eh..... slow week.... I got on here for a reason..... Kids need help, shut laptop, walk away..... oh yeah! That's what I was going to do...... help girls, sit down, open laptop...... repeat.......


All this effort because I wanted one simple thing, to get on pinterest and pull up this:

Really, brain?? Really?? Was that so hard?? It's going to be a long day........

Update: This craft isn't even worth it! It's too hard to get the wings in. I ended up tearing apart most of the tube to get them through! Ugh!!

Dinosaurs

When we went to the library here for the first time two weeks ago this was one of the books we brought home.

Since we'd been talking about dinosaurs, I picked up some stuff at target thinking Chris would enjoy doing dinosaur stuff with the girls while I was gone last weekend. Then of course I was sick and came home early. Wouldn't you know Jurassic Park was on cable...... We ended up putting in our disc so I could skip the death scenes. The girls thoroughly enjoyed it and have been asking to watch it again. We spent all weekend talking about dinosaurs and theories of what happened to them. How they lived an incredibly long time ago and we only know they existed because we find their bones.

I came home Friday feeling miserable. The girls were asking me every 10 minutes if we could build the dinosaurs yet. I managed to push it off to Sunday morning and surprisingly they held up till last night, when the T-rex bit the dust :p Not bad for a $5 investment. They have been having a great time playing with them all week.

Wow! $20?? I got it on clearance for $5 at Target!! Note to self, check again and resell on amazon.

My Dinosaurs Fact Cards

Found this at target for a little more than a dollar on clearance. No, I don't think the girls are learning all that much from them at this age. However, I remember having a set of dinosaur cards from one of the mail order education magazines and holding them dear for years. The girls have enjoyed flipping through them. The pictures are nice. It has a size comparison to a human on the back to give them an idea of size. Tamarin keeps pointing out the ones she recognizes from shows like Dinosaur, Dinosaur Train, The Land Before Time, and yes.... even Jurassic Park.... 



I'm going to pull out Chris's and my Jurassic Park toys from when we were little and let the girls play with them tomorrow while Chris watches them during my doctor appointment. They haven't seen them since we moved so I'm sure they will be entertained!

I'm thinking I'll scrap the bat and hibernation plans for this week. We've also cancelled our prairie theme plans on Friday so I'll run with the dinosaurs this week. We'll probably make a paper plate dino and clay fossils. If I had it in me we'd go to Sam Noble Museum, but I'll just have to pull up pics to help them remember our last visit there. It is my favorite museum in Oklahoma..... and I'm going to claim to not be biased..... I did work there for a semester in the anthropology department...... not biased at all......

I briefly mentioned Latin while we were looking at the cards. I'm thinking of having her sort them by the names that are similar. Prontoceratops, Triceratops, etc. Then we can talk about how many of the names tell us something about the animal.

Mom is krankee!

Okay, in my defense, she didn't come up with that sentence on her own, I suggested it. I finally felt nearly human today. No fever, I could breathe, on average, through one and a half nostrils, and my throat felt normal. Only problem was I turned into a cranky human over the last five days. We hadn't done any hard core schooling since last Wednesday, a whole week! The simplest tasks we've done for weeks were suddenly hard for Tamarin and I was not in the mood today to slowly walk her through every step again. I know, I should, that's my job, but I was beyond frustrated with Howler yelling for me from the toilet every two minutes then telling me 'no' and shooing me out the door when I got there, Lemur telling me over and over that she wanted to do what Tamarin was doing, then that she didn't want to do what Tamarin was doing, over and over, all on top of Tamarin telling me she couldn't or just throwing words/letters/numbers at me willy nilly. I was frustrated within 10 minutes and spent by the time we hit 20 minutes.

Finally, we make it to silly sentence time! I ask Tamarin what she wants to write, "Something about mommy." "Mommy is cranky?" "Yeah!" After she finishes writing her sentence I remind her she needs punctuation.... exclamation.... of course...... smart girl. I decided I was done with schooling for the day or at least until after nap. We did a Halloween craft, there was no argument from the girls during this which was nice. Who doesn't like to play with staplers after all?

This is mine, the girls have already disappeared with theirs and I doubt they are intact :p



I just heard Chris's car door shut! Woot!! Mama is going to go take a LOOOOOONNNNNG shower! I'm not sure I earned it today, but I need it.

Pregnancy Sucks

And anyone who says differently is a dirty, stinking liar! There is nothing fun about being pregnant from beginning to end. It's physically miserable and emotionally draining. Who usually tells you great pregnancy stories? Old ladies. I'm sorry, but senility must have set in because you've forgotten the truth.

I'm not saying there aren't perks. It's neat to feel them moving, it's a beautiful concept that you're growing a person, but these "ah-ha" moments are not enough for me to say "Pregnancy is so wonderful and magical. The best thing that will ever happen to you!" BS! I say to anyone who has uttered a sentence similar to that. How are women supposed to feel like they can make it through one of the crappiest experiences in life when they feel like their experience is different from everyone elses? That's total crap. Be real people!

I'm not saying tell women horror stories about the things that can and do go wrong, but warn them: You're going to feel miserable! You're going to be angry and then cry for no reason at all! You'll be so uncomfortable you won't be able to sleep! You'll look in a mirror and think - AH! That's not me! Jenny McCarthy wrote a book on pregnancy. I read it while waiting for my oldest to make her appearance. Good thing I did because she warns of some things I would have freaked out about had I not read it in her book before they happened! I'm trying to remember what she called one of them, blue twinkie? Read the book, you'll understand.

I think birth is far cooler than pregnancy. Still crappy, painful, and miserable at times, but far more interesting and uplifting than 9 months of constant misery. And I've had a 36 hour labor so that means something! Also the last time I gave birth the nurses were gauking at the screen in shock I was having three minute long, intense contractions with only a 15 second break in between and still not ready for her to exit the womb. I still would take another labor like that over being pregnant again. I'm so done! Four is my limit physically and mentally. If you see me after this year and I'm pregnant again you have the right the slap me and say, "What were you thinking???!!!"

Anyway to those of you out there wondering why you're the only woman who hated being pregnant I just wanted to say - you're not alone! Any woman that says otherwise cannot be trusted. They are not being honest or their brain is so far gone they can't remember that far back.

Guineas!

The latest additions to our barnyard family. The last time we had a guinea sitting on a nest a raccoon or fox (guessing from the method they were eaten) got all 17 eggs. So I was shocked to see one of our missing guineas show back up with these little buggers! They were not happy about being taken from their mother, but seemed to have calmed down this morning. Their mother was not happy about being separated from them - I have the scratches to prove it...... Hoping they make it since we lost 18 guineas this year.

This was a great opportunity to discuss the continent of Africa, how the climate is different there, and why. Guineas are not used to cold winters. It would be very hard for them to survive to adulthood if we left them with their mother going into winter. They are great for eating bugs, especially ticks! That is why we had so many this year. We had hardly any ticks, too. Here's a good site if you want to read up more on guinea fowl.

Chris also found another missing guinea this morning sitting on a nest of 15 eggs. I sure hope they hatch soon before it gets too cold!

In other country news Tamarin killed a brown recluse in the toy room this morning - That's my girl!! She can save daddy from the big bad spiders for now on :) On a happier note, it's a dress up kind of morning, hope everyone enjoys their Tuesday....

Week 7 Plan

I am still sick, but have high hopes for this week. First thing on the agenda tomorrow is clean house. Ah!! What a mess!! Nothing worse than mama being out of town and then sick all weekend to spell disaster for household cleanliness.

Writing:

There are some fairy tales from oak meadow that I am going to get Tamarin to retell in writing. Plan to encourage her to write more of her own sentences this week.

Math:

Get Tamarin to do a few more pages in a math book someone gave her for her birthday that I found last week. It's like a dollar tree or dollar section at target book, but Tamarin is enjoying it.

 Domino math :)

Science:

Bats - Facts on vampire bat, Facts on Ozark big eared bat, bat crafts/coloring pages/poetry/more facts, Bat Conservation International - ooo great chance to talk about habitat depletion, extinction and conservation.....

Hibernation - list of some animals that hibernate, another list of some animals that hibernate in Yellowstone

     

Start charting temperature this week! May the graphing begin!

Music:

Tamarin - Piano.

Arts and Crafts

Clay - I want to make clay, make myself make clay...... This has been on the ongoing list since week 2......

Halloween craft everyday! Oh, the choices! Craft site 1, Craft 2, Craft site 3

History

We are getting together with the other homeschool family this week for more prairie lessons. I've got some ideas in my head, but will post my plan later this week.

Every Week:

Circle Time on Monday and Friday to discuss expectations of the week and then what we enjoyed from the week.

Tamarin - Write day, month, time, sentence, Lemur- encourage her to draw an animal in her book, write E and 5, Howler - draw whatever she wants.

Read picture books every day till they are bored.

Read chapter book 2 times a week with Tamarin.

Encourage Tamarin to read BOB books.

Tamarin - Sight word games or crafts twice a week, Lemur - similar game/craft with letters

Write the letter of the week sheet (e)

Write the number of the week sheet (5)

Home Remedies

Is there anything as crappy as being sick on vacation? This seems to be a recurring theme. We went to Disney World before Howler was born and sure enough we all started puking the last two days. The last time we went to Missouri we all caught a bug the day we headed home. Fortunately this is all upper respiratory so I'm not too miserable, just up all night choking on my snot and trying to ignore a big headache. I thought I would jump on here and share some of my home remedies since I am bored with pinterest, facebook, and amazon at the moment.

Respiratory:

1. Salt Water: There are benefits to drinking a little bit of salt water, but you have to be missing some taste buds to enjoy it. If I feel a sore throat coming I gurgle salt water a few times a day. This helps more than popping those throat candies. I used to feel like no sooner would I finish one and I'd need another. Gurgling salt water the relief lasts a few hours.

2. Honey Tea: or honey water as the case may be this weekend. Something to bide the time in between gurgling salt water. I know there are health benefits to honey as well, but that's only if you get the expensive honey not the bear and well I like bears :p

3. Peppermint Oil: This is what I really needed last night. It sounds crazy, but boil some peppermint oil in about a cup of water on your stove top. Your sinuses will magically open, plus your house smells like winter :)


Digestive:

1. Clay: This sounds crazy, but it works. People have been eating clay as a digestive aid for thousands of years. Probably one of the oldest home remedies in the world. I picked some up for Chris when he caught an awful bug at work that lingered on him for weeks. I've used it a few times. Once again this is one of those you wish you could turn off your taste buds, but it does work.


2. Ginger: Thanks for reminding me of that one Michelle! I have used ginger ale (it's hard to find one with actual ginger in it these days, check your labels) to ease morning sickness this pregnancy. My first couple pregnancies ginger didn't even touch it. I tried the chews, adding the root to my tea, anything with ginger in it. I agree it is good for moderate nausea, but I know from experience it is not a cure all. Then again none of these things are cure alls. They are to ease symptoms so your body can heal.

Bee Sting:

1. Garlic - smash a clove and rub on sting.
2. Olive Oil
3. Apple Cider Vinegar

Honestly I don't know which one of these did the magic, but I spread all three on Tamarin when she got stung and almost immediately she calmed down and the swelling dropped within 30 minutes. She now associates all three of these things with bees though. Not sure she will ever eat a salad again :p

Muscle Cramps:

1. Epsom Salt: It takes like an entire container for one bath, but it helped me tremendously when I was running. I'll believe Jess and her comments on it detoxing, but this is where epsom salt made a big difference for me.

Trouble Sleeping:

1. Lavender: We've used lavender lotions and bath soaps for the girls sometimes. I used to drink a lavender tea before bed, but with young kids sleep is still a commodity

2. Magnesium Lotion: I'll have to wait till I get back home to pull up a link to where I've gotten this before. We used it on Howler when she was about a year old. We rubbed it into her feet at night and she would sleep. I misplaced my bottle in the move, I need to find it again since she's having trouble sleeping again these days.

Teething:

1. Amber Necklaces: I plan on getting one this time. I almost did with Howler. There's a particular type of amber that secretes when it's against warm skin. The secretions calm and sooth the baby. I have personal friends that swear by them. I'll let you know if they work for us. This is the site I nearly bought from last time and will be this time.


2. Hyland Tablets: I used to use hyland tablets, but when Howler was under a year old there was a recall due to a mishap in their factory and some bottles were not mixed properly :( I'm leery of them now even though I used them with all three of my kids with no problems at all. They have chamomile for calming which is great. The fear is an overdose of belladonna which is a sedative. There is an incredibly small amount in hyland's tablets, but the thought of another factory screw up scares me.

I know there are a lot more home remedies, many of which I have used, but these are the main and most recently used ones. I'm going to go lay down in hopes of getting a little more sleep. I'll add to the list as I think of things.