Cindy's Life as She Knows It

Koda and I had a productive day today, the last day before Halloween.  We did all the regular schoolwork, did a biography on Brad Paisley and listened in on my oldest son's new radio show, featuring that country music artist, that Brian is doing from Towson.  After lunch Dakota couldn't wait to read the rest of Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve (Magic Tree House) and as promised, it was one of her best books.  In the beginning, the sorcerer, Merlin, writes his message to Jack and Annie on a leaf so after reading the rest of the book and answering the comprehension questions, we went outside and got our own big leaves and Dakota wrote messages on them.  Then we took them downstairs and laminated them so they would keep for awhile.  He even wrote a message to his brother on one, telling him how proud he was of his radio show. We finished the day with history, which tied in with our Greek Myths class.  We read the story of Zeus, Aphrodite and the golden apple and I was happy to

Today I felt the need to declutter....fall cleaning I suppose you'd call it.  I found my old LP's and some of my favorite old CD's and I dusted off the player my kids gave me a few years ago and put on Barry Manilow.  Barry KNEW me back in the day.  He sang to my teenage heart.  His love songs swept me through heartache and teen dreams and his sad songs would see a melancholy young girl with tears in her eyes, singing along, petting her poodle, Kandi, and hugging a stuffed Pooh. The power of music is so strong now, just as it was then.  "I can't smile without you..." used to mean I missed my first love, a beautiful blond haired, blue eyed Michael.  Or maybe it was tough and scrappy Kenny.  Or Rodney.  Or Ed.  I thought my heart was breaking then, but now I know, as a forty eight year old woman, that I had no idea what heartache really was.  I thought I was in love over and over, but now I have my husband of twenty four years and again, I had no idea.  I drea

Today was an absolutely wonderful Monday for me.  My husband was home most of the day working on his college paper and my son and I had a fun day of homeschooling.  Usually when dad is home there is rebellion and chaos from Dakota, but today was so nice. We started out the day with spelling and then climbed in our recliners to read The Magic Treehouse Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve.  Dakota doesn't like to read very much, so we were partner reading and when we finished the four chapters alloted for today he asked for one more!  Love that and of course I said YES!  Then he did some comprehension questions and chose one of the three challenges I had for him related to the book.  He decided to make a diorama of a haunted castle and he went into his room to watch his Halloween movie, Hotel Transylvania, while he worked.  After the movie, he had a Monster Math packet to do that went along with the movie and then we learned about bats for Science and did our History for today, lear

Today is Friday!  Hooray!  We got a late start after a somewhat lazy morning, but Dakota and I had a good homeschooling day.  We started our new energy unit in Science with a Disney Energy video that features lots of cool rides and talks about the energy it takes to move them.  He read some, did his math, played on SpellingCity.com and took 3 spelling tests.  He is doing well with spelling so we took the words he got wrong on 3 pretests and made up one unit to use next week.  We read his Halloween edition of National Geographic for kids, commenting on the fun pictures and articles and doing the MadLib together.  We learned about the Spartans in Story of the World and promised each other that we would make homemade applesauce tomorrow afternoon.  For art we made a monster door...super easy and very cute!  I think we will make this a yearly tradition! Tonight Dakota has football practice for 45 minutes and then we are going to Big Vanilla with some friends for a pool party Halloween st

Lately I have been having alot of talks with my nine year old about kindness.  It seems that he lacked kindness at co-op last week and someone noticed and told me.  He was made to apologize, but it has brought up the fact that too many people in our life and in the world in general are just not kind.  And why not?  It never, ever hurts to be kind, but a lack of kindness can hurt someone deeply.  In my opinion, there is rarely if ever a reason to be downright rude and nasty to someone.  "Kill them with kindness" is more my style and I want my youngest son to practice what I preach. I have three grown children and I am proud to say that they are all kind.  Each one of them can be trusted to say what's on their mind from time to time, but they are all well mannered, polite and kind adults.  My little son....well, he is the hot tempered one.  That is no excuse, however, to vent on someone else. I have taken it upon myself, as a veteran home educator and parent, to use the

It is still incredibly busy around here, but I am trying to stay close to home to give myself a center from which to revolve. My computer is still down as far as wireless internet, so I am tethered to a small area with an ethernet cord, but at least I have it.  My mom had surgery yesterday and, because she is 81, I was pretty worried.  She is in excellent health, however, and breezed through it and is home already.  We are in our last week of regular football practice before the playoffs, so that has stayed the same.  I have cut back a bit on homeschooling activities outside the house except for every other week Mine Craft Club at the library and our weekly Co-op.  Our pumpkin farm trip had to be cancelled due to lack of interest, but since we have been going every year and Dakota has pretty much outgrown this one anyway, he wasn't upset.  He has two big pumpkins already and that seems to be all he really needs. Monday and Tuesday were good school days.   Tuesday we continued o

October is here and almost gone and I feel like I have missed most of it with the crazy goings on that we have experienced.  From the birth of our second granddaughter to Science Center days to a crazy contract at work, I have been a whirlwind....but it's time to refocus. Today we eased back into our routine with a low stress approach.  We took the little girl we watch on Monday and Tuesday mornings to school and then went to Walmart and got a few groceries we needed, another huge pumpkin (at $2.97 it was a GREAT deal) and Dakota got to choose his Halloween night costume.  We came home and his sister, who is still on maternity leave, switched with me and took Dakota and Natalie to the park and I kept new baby Rebecca.  During the hour they were gone, Rebecca and I got a visit from MomMom and enjoyed some snuggles.  When Kris returned with the kids we did lunch and then it was time for Dakota to buckle down for some work.  He is NOT an afternoon worker, but we managed a fairly goo

Time has gotten away from me again, but for good reason this time!  On September 30th at 10:01pm my daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter, Rebecca Leigh.  She weighed 7lbs, 5oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.  She had wide eyes, a head full of brown, soft hair and an incredibly pink color. My daughter was induced in the morning, but Rebecca had other plans.  By evening, it was clear that things were not progressing as they should and by 9pm my daughter's doctor decided to take the next step and do a c-section.  It was scary for my daughter, but she handled it with grace.  I am surprised it didn't stress me more, but I guess after four of my own, I knew what she'd experience and thought she would be fine. I knew the nurse on duty in the OB OR and she bent the rules so I could go back in recovery and wait for the birth.  I could see the doctor's and nurses' heads through the window in the door, but not my daughter or son in law.  As I waited anxiously, watchi