Cindy's Life as She Knows It

This week was bitterly cold outside, but we spent alot of toasty warm time indoors.  Monday was a day off for all of us, then Tuesday we did a regular homeschool day, spending alot of time reading under the blankets and drinking hot chocolate and eating soup for lunch.  Wednesday was co-op, so out we went, learning about Brahms and Picasso, but we were quick to return, get in comfy clothes and stay indoors for the afternoon.  Thursday saw a productive morning, but we slowly lost focus and turned to Rock N Learn videos to finish.  Dakota loves Rock N Learn and we did Division Rap and The Five Senses in Depth off the Human Body science one.  I couldn't get out of my own way after having my three girls over for a spaghetti dinner, but managed to drag my self out to Dakota's basketball game...a serious lesson in patience!  The kids on the other team didn't seem to know which basket to shoot at, how to stay inbounds or anything else about basketball for that matter.  Basketball

This weekend my little son and I had the house to ourselves since my husband and older son went to Boston for the Ravens-Patriots game.  I got my necessary grocery shopping out of the way early Saturday and then I took him to his first wrestling scrimmage at Chesapeake High School.  It was a long afternoon and it's a sport I definitely do not like, but it was fun to cheer for him (for the total of about 5 minutes he wrestled).  We didn't get out of there until after 5:00 and wanted to have a nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse, but since that was too crowded, we ended up at Bob Evans.  This was definitely a downgrade in the quality of food, but it was a good meal and he and I enjoyed each other's company. After dinner, we headed home, got his bath and I got on pajamas and under the covers we went with our kindles, some books, my laptop and the remote.  There we spent the next fourteen hours!! enjoying doing a whole lot of nothing (and sleeping, of course) and didn't get mo

January is always usually a pretty productive month for homeschooling at our house.  Co-op takes a break until the end of the month, the weather is usually too cold to go out much and no field trips are planned.  It's a time for new units and consistent days, getting alot done, but there are also the days when we get very little done because it is cold, gray and dreary and no one feels much like getting out from under the blankets. This week, except for Tuesday, was very busy.  We had a family with five children over on Monday to do some fun group work and start our new Human Body unit.  Four of the children are close to Dakota in age and they worked together around our table and the last little guy is Natalie's age and played nicely with her.  Earlier that morning Dakota and I had gotten our regular work done only by sheer determination.  There was alot in my planner and if we wanted to get all our work done and get a lunch break before our friends arrived, we knew we had to

Whew!  What a day!  I got up early and got the majority of my work done for my company, was ready when Natalie came and Dakota got up on time with his alarm, but nothing went well after that.  It was just a hectic day.  Dakota was wound up and not focused.  I was wound tight and crabby.  Natalie, thankfully, was pretty normal.  We got started just about on time with Koda reading three stories from his children's Bible and then we got our morning work and science done.  Things started to go down hill with our experiment not working and then we tried math and for some reason Dakota has lost his multiplication tables skill and this gives him stress when it comes to doing his math lessons with multiplication and division.  We really have to start doing flash cards every day again.  He used to be so good at them, but not anymore. We read some of our Mouse and the Motorcycle, read one of my favorites "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain" and took our lunch break around 12:30.

I have been blessed to be a part of a wonderful church for the last fifteen years or so that has welcomed me and my sons whenever we are there, even though my attendance isn't regular.  I started going there when my oldest son was little and he wanted to go with a friend to the VBS.  We then attended Sunday School on occasion and he even was a part of the youth group for awhile.  We were not regulars by any means, but the welcome was warm, nonetheless.  When that son got older and the little son was coming up I vowed to have him "grow up in the church" but other than mostly regular attendance at Sunday School and an occasional extra activity, we are still only semi-regular members, although our faces are recognized by most. Dakota was baptized there two or three years ago and not long after we got a new pastor and I had the pleasure of meeting him.  My first thought, in all honesty, was "there can't be anyone that nice!"  I thought it was a show....something

So it's almost the end of our school week and we've actually just begun.  You have to love those holiday shortened weeks!  After finishing up my copies and putting the last touch ups on today's lesson, I hopped in the shower, poured my coffee and greeted my daughter and granddaughter.  I decided to let Dakota sleep until 8:45 because following yesterday's lead, it seems to go well to get him up, dressed right away, fed and started without any laying around time.  This seems to just breed laziness and discontent, so we are going a different way.  Yes, he still complained because he is, after all, Dakota, but by 9:10 he was doing his morning work.  He complained of being cold, which is the truth today...frigid in here even with the heat kicking, so I moved him into the livingroom with a lap tray and a big blanket to do his work in there.  That got him to smile!  Next he looked on his schedule and decided to do his personal reading now because I hadn't made his bed yet

So today we start the second half of our second grade home school adventure.  I got up early to put up the new bulletin board, lay out all the books and copies, refill the pencil box and put a schedule on the door to help Dakota see what needed to be done.  He got up later than anticipated because I had to go and pick up my daughter and granddaughter when it was realized they had left their car keys in their other car, which was now parked at work with her husband in Virginia.  Thankfully I was an early riser and had all my things together and just let him sleep here with his brother while I ran out and took care of them. So now it'snot quite 10am and Dakota happily (for the most part) started his work.  He filled out his "What a Year It's Been" highlight paper pretty easily and did a little of his morning work.  Then he chose to go and do his independent reading, The Big Show...a wrestling level 3 book my sister in law sent him for Christmas.  A schedule on the doo