Cindy's Life as She Knows It

Today was supposed to be a busy day.  We had an early dermatologist appointment for Dakota's ever-returning wart and then co-op, errands and picking up Keri.  It's my one day of the week I don't have my granddaughter, usually, so I try to pack it all in.  Things didn't quite go as planned.  The dermatologist decided that Dakota needed to have his wart frozen off.  He warned this would be so cold it would feel like it was burning.  Dakota vowed to be brave....and then the process took place.  The poor kid screamed bloody murder, saying that it hurt.  The doctor smiled weakly at me and said "it really does".  Great.  We were supposed to leave there and arrive at our co-op late and Dakota had a report to do that he was more than ready for and eager to share. My teary, sobbing boy and I leave the doctor and head to the car.  It is POURING outside.  UGH.  He is still crying hard when we get to the car and he steps in a huge puddle and it soaks his sock.  THEN I g

We have had a lot of fun over the past few months learning about the Civil War and the time period scanning the 1800's.  We've touched on Lewis and Clark and the Industrial Revolution, but we have spent quite a bit of time on the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and slavery.  These three things have captured Dakota's attention and piqued his curiosity and so we have embraced them.  I think the most impressive thing for Dakota, the thing that made the most impression, was the Magic Tree House book, Abe Lincoln at Last.  In the story we met Abe Lincoln as a boy and then again as a man who was not only a new president, but the father of two young boys whom Dakota could relate to.  He was shocked to hear that Willie died at age 11 and that just after the Civil War ended, President Lincoln was assassinated.  We talked about slavery and read about Harriet Tubman, watching a great video that seemed to be speaking right to my little boy.  He was outraged at the injustice of slavery and I

Dakota and I decided to take the long 4 day weekend with my older high school aged son.  Dakota was thrilled to have some time to play and I tried to catch up on work and school planning.  Today we got a call from a grandmom who's grandson is on Dakota's basketball team and who we found out lives a few streets over.  They invited him over for two hours and Dakota was super excited.  I gave him the lecture on the way over about being a good friend and being polite, all the while holding my breath because Dakota marches to his own drum and if he doesn't like something, he has no problems voicing his opinion. I raised all four of my children with the same values and sense of right and wrong.  We are polite, considerate and thoughtful to others.  There are few exceptions.  The other three seemed to understand.  "I may be a handful for mom, but I better not misbehave at school or out in public."  They gave me a fit at home more than once, but when I took them somepla

Dakota and I had a great day of homeschooling yesterday.  We read about Harriet Tubman, watched a video about her and read our Abe Lincoln At Last, our current Magic Tree House book, all snuggled up under the blanket.  We did our work at the table, baked some Valentine's day sugar cookies and wrote out Valentine's for our co-op classmates.  My favorite moment, however, came during Science.  We were talking about matter, properties and mass.  We read about solids, liquids and gases and were talking about how air is in everything, even if you can't see it.  I tried to explain how air is in the bathroom cup he turns upside down and submerges in the tub to get bubbles, but he didn't understand, so we filled up the kitchen sink, got a clear plastic cup, put some dry paper towels in the bottom third of the cup and turned it upside down and put it into the water.  His eyes got big when we took the cup out the paper towels were dry.  I explained that the air was trapped in ther

Yesterday Dakota and I had a good day and when we were relaxing that evening he told me that the day was "fun".  Now we have alot of fun days, but this was a normal homeschooling day and Dakota is a tough customer to please so I was very happy that he felt this way! I am not sure that the day was really special in any particular way.  We started with work at the table, doing Language Arts, Draw and Write and Math.  He went into his room for computer time for spelling and to read his library books.  We wrapped up the morning finishing our Magic Tree House Civil War on Sunday book and then had lunch. After lunch we sat together in the chair and went through some websites made by school children about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.  We found a good one that was compelling and gave Dakota the chance to play the role of a slave who was escaping and make the decisions he may have had to make about what road to take and whether or not to continue.  We spent more time

It has been another one of "those" weeks.  I always know that when we have too much planned I am going to feel a bit overwhelmed.  I stayed home all day on Sunday because I knew it was going to get busy.  Monday was okay.  Dakota had practice that night for basketball.  Yesterday, Tuesday, we had a field trip.  I didn't have Natalie in the morning so Koda and I got up, got ready and headed out with plenty of time to get to Irvine Nature Center for our Maple Sugaring hike.  My directions, however, were lacking and after we finally escaped the traffic I drove up and down the same road four times trying to find the road on my directions.  After finally getting better directions I managed to get there.....last of the group...and I was the coordinator.  Embarrassing to say the least.  We broke our 30 kids into 3 groups and headed out immediately.  Dakota was with some co-op friends and we had a great tour guide who was sweet, informative and great with the kids.  They were tau

My older son, Brian, is the ultimate sports fanatic.  He loves most sports, keeps up with all the teams in most leagues and knows statistics and trivia like most people know their address and phone numbers.  He is also a hometown boy, loyal and true to his hometown teams, which for him means the Baltimore Orioles, the Baltimore Ravens and the Maryland Terrapins.  His wardrobe is almost exclusively that of either his high school team or his state's teams.  His ambition is to be a sports broadcaster and journalist.  His dream...to go to the University of Maryland and be a true Terrapin fan.  As the years have gone by, Brian has always expressed his desire to go to Maryland.  It is, however, one of the tougher schools to get into.  Brian is a straight A student at Archbishop Spalding, but his SAT scores were not great.  He is athletic, but not of a caliber to compete at the college level due to his small stature.  We knew all along that Maryland gets somewhere in the area of 25,000

Today we went to co-op and I was happy to see the ladies there who always make me feel better when things are particularly stressful at home.  I didn't have to teach a class so I was able to send Dakota into his classroom where he learned all about the state of Virginia and made cute museums out of paper and pictures.  At 10:45 all the kids from both age groups along with the younger siblings came upstairs to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  The kids had a great time jumping rope before we settled down and learned a bit about the reason for the celebration and found out which zodiac animal each of us was born under.  I gathered them around and read them the story of Henry and the Kite Dragon, which kept them all interested and quiet from start to finish.  To wrap up the fun we gave them red envelopes with candy and then helped them make a Chinese paper lanterns.  The kids had a great time and I was proud of the co-op that my friend and I envisioned and made happen.  Some of us stay