i organized the book shelves some.I have a basket for ki's level books and one for connor's level books. Ki is always having t ruble finding 'his bokks' at reading time and connor is alwys thinking up excuses to not find books. this should help both problems. AND I like that they can easily see the fronts of the books.  I really want one of those small book display shelves, like at children libraries.

me and my lazy cat.   aren't i 'lovely'...LOL. my hubby likes taking goofy pictures of me.....

KI'S ROBOT MECH:

ROTATING JUMPER JETS:

CONNOR'S ROBO-MECHS:

GAVIN'S: everything pivots on his, it seems.

KI DAVID  9 YRS OLD:

CONNOR IN THE BACK ON HIS KNEES

CONNOR 11 YRS OLD

Connor & Gavin

GAVIN 12 YRS OLD

My new jeans...... My 1st low-rise/bootcut jeans...... see my sparklies on the pockets.I like them, theyare subtle and sparkly at the same time... I am forever tugging them UP, cause the feel like they are falling off... whose idea was low rose anyway>>

Old School Room (in the kitchen - where the seat work was done , all books and supplies are in other rooms)

Old Front Sitting Room (reading and music and sometimes board games was done here. Also Individual work was often done on the floor in front of the window). I moved this stuff OUT of here and into the backroom.

NEW SchoolRoom. Mnus couches and coffee tale so the school stuff fits! It's not totally done, I need to move in a couple book shelves, so we  can have most of our supplies in one area. But I like it much better then the old area in the kitchen. This has actual REAL sunlight!

The bookshelves will go on the all across from the table/window whe.re the cedar chest is. Also there is a nice area next to the school table where the school/book/supplies hutch will go:

The old radio will moveout and the hutch will go there.

Here is where the bookshelf will go:

this is directly across from the window.

Here is our Music Corner:

TheBack room with the couch, chair, coffee table )that came from the front room, where the new schoo room is):

see the bookshelves, they will go to the front room. Maybe just one of them. And the maps will be moved, too.

Another angle:

They are watching SkyHigh.

BACK FROM THE DOCTORS......4 PRESCRIPTIONS LATER......

CONNOR HAS AN EAR INFECTION - THE PHARMACY IS OUT OF HIS ANTIBIOTICS!
HE HAS A TUBE IN 1 EAR, THE OTHER ONE IS INFECTED)

KI HAS REFLUX-GONNA TRY A DIET CHANGE BEFORE MEDS, OF COURSE ALL HE EATS IS CHEESE AND BREAD AND APPLES ANYWAY. I was so sure he wouldn't. That the dr was just being overly cautious in checking... I really expected them to say he's fine, it's the dyspraxia--which is the cause of his swallowing problems, just not the reflux. It broke my heart about the chocolate though. He has SO MANY food allergies and hot cocoa is the one treat he CAN have!! I made him a 'vanilla latte' tonight....milk, alcohol-free vanilla, sugar

GAVIN IS ON STEROIDS IN THE NEBULIZER (KI IS STILL, TOO +ALBUTERAL)

I GOT A REFILL ON MY ALLERGY MEDS


GUESS WHAT, THE NURSE WAS PLOTTING CONNOR'S WEIGHT. SHE KEPT TELLING ME HE WAS ON THE 95%.....NOT..HE IS 11 AND WEIGHS 59 POUNDS. TURNS OUT SHE WAS PLOTTING KILOGRAMS. HE IS IN THE 5% REALLY. AND THE 20 FOR HEIGHT.

GAVIN IS 12.5YRS. WEIGHT 74# (10%) AND HEIGHT WAS 25%, I THINK 60 INCHES.

I have had sickness in my house for the past  3weeks! And Gavin and Connor are justgetting worse.  At this rate we won't have school for 2 more months.... too bad I don't have any augar stuff for petry dishes..... I am sure we have LOTS of things we can grow in a bactrial colony!

I always feel like a failure when we have sick months....... and then the house falls apart..... sick kids are worse at cleaning then well kids....

8:15AM-

Connor asks: "Can I do my schoolwork now?"

He woke me to ask. I have been sleeping in this weeek. Usualy at this time of day, or earlier. He asks to play on the computer before school, because he's finished with his Morning Routine. Actually, that's at 7AM Usualy. I think he played his moring computer before he asked about doing his school work. He couldn't find his workbooks. It's the whole 10 cents per page thing.

 I need to make an appointment with my dr. I am gettingmore andmore headaches. I had an occular migraine last night. It was at the grocery store and was almost cleared up by the time I left. It's the 3rd time I've had an occular migraine at that store.

Occular Migriane-Loss/interuption of vision- total or complete in one or both eyes. It is usually a peripherial loss with me. My vision gets all blury around the egdes and I get spots of blurriness through my entire feild of vision in one eye. This is followed (usualy about 30 minutes after the vision part clears) by the actual pain part of the migraine. I took Naproxen as soon as I got home and it wasn't a bad headache.

I actually have no idea how to spell that corectly. Hubby bought some of them for the boys though. They are a 8.5X 11" plastic sheet that is a magnifier. They had them in the car. Now Connor's notebook has butn marks. He said he didn't realixe it would go through the leaf anf burn his notebook. Earlier today they boys were holding these page-sized magnifying lenses on their face like a mask and running through the house. sometimes it's hard to imagine they are 12 and almost 11 yrs old, LOL.  2 summers ago they had magnifying glasses inthe front yard. They gathered mulch and leaves abd dried grass and small twigs and had an actual 2 foot bonfire on the front sidewalk. My husband should know better than to get them magnifying lenses......

LOL

I checked my Credit Report Yesterday. My Credit Card Company wanted to charge $10 a month for the privilege of checking my credit report. I didn’t want to pay $120 a year. I went to my bank and they pulled up my credit report for free. My umber is 736. The lady said that good, but I have no idea what is a good or bad number or normal number. Kinda like cholesterol numbers. I think 736 would be way too high for that though.

I want to change my credit card company. I have had this one forever and Brian has been in charge of the bills for many years. He doesn’t read anything. Apparently I am charged an annual fee (it was free when I signed up) and I get a finance charge even when I pay on time! 14.9%!  I was looking into Capital ONE. The have no annual fee and an APR of 7.9% and NO charges at all if I pay in full each month. I talked to the lady at my credit union. She said that Capital ONE doesn’t report to the Credit Bureau, so it counts it as having spent all your money limits and not knowing what the balance is, which is BAD for credit reports. She said to ask them if they report both my balance AND my limit to the Credit Bureau before I get one.

I’ll have to collect some of those credit card junk mails for a couple weeks. I could get a card through my credit union too. I would like a cash back type card.

I know some people don’t use credit cards, but we use ours all the time. It’s the credit card that’s bad; you just have to be sensible and only spend if you have the money in the bank to cover it. And check to make sure you aren’t getting charged for things you shouldn’t have to pay (like annual fees and finance charges!)

I wonder how much we have for Christmas this year…..

Too much to choose from. This is my problem. It’d be easier to choose what to use for school if there were only 3 great ways to teach science or math. But with dozens of great programs and tools to teach, say math, it’s hard to pick something. It’s hard to only choose 5 great things. I think we should use more than one program or game or tool, but 25 is just too much. I have a handful of great ways to teach things, but am always feeling the pull of all the other great resources. Sure our phonics book and Mad Libs and Copywork and ADVKO spelling program are great for us, but there are always 10 other things vying for a spot on our school shelf. Though if we just used one resource, it’d be dry and boring; having much more than 10 is too overwhelming and nothing gets  a chance to be used enough for anything to actually stick in their heads.

I guess the gass is always greener on the other say, or as they say in Spanish “My neighbor’s chicken lays more eggs than mine”

I need to be content with what we use and what we do. It is good, it works. My kids won’t suffer or end up ignorant because we didn’t use 37 different ways to teach multiplication. I need to just choose what we can handle using and trust God to have it be enough.

National Geographics

Our neighbor gave us about 20 National Geograpics. They are from the 80s. I sat and browsed through them today. I have about 6 cool maps now. And there are so many articles that I could teach 3 years of school with NOTHING but those magazines! Again, just one more thing on the school shelf to find a way to incorporate into our lives.

Yesterday while at the skate park I was going around the circuit with Connor. He was going on and on about all the great fun he was having. He was telling me about the ramps and how he likes to jump down the step. It was just constant, excited babble about skate park fun. Then, in mid word, he totally stops (on the scooter) and drops down on his knees, proclaiming excitedly that there was a beautiful blue flower!!! He was so excited. He had to smell it, so he crawled over to smell it and feel it’s soft petals and go on an on about the beautiful colors in it, how pretty it is and the such.

And I smiled. That is my Connor. He maybe all-boy and love guns and swords and scary movies. And he loves gross stuff bodily stuff and spiders. But he will set all that aside in a heartbeat to spell a pretty flower (weed) or follow a butterfly.

A few days before that, he was out playing on swords and scooters with his brothers and he came running to find me to help a baby bird on the ground. So he locked his kitty inside and we scooped the birdy up and found a safe place in the tree for it.

(And of course, his brain can switch tracks in half a second, but I change topics up and down all over the place too, LOL. It’s a good thing to have a brain that can function that quickly….right?)

I love how caring he is. He loves to care for small animals and admire teeny flowers. He loves to just soak in God’s creation.  He knows how to pay attention to what really is important. Who cares how good you are in math if you have no heart for the helpless. Advanced reading skills mean nothing if you are harsh and mean and selfish.

“If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge. If I have the faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I have nothing.”

And Connor has that love. All my boys do, but I love the way it shows up in Connor.

Yes, we all want our children to grow up smart and successful; to do well in school and ‘make good grades’.  What is even more important than that, to me, is that my boys grow to be kind and loving; that they learn how to show God’s love to others. That is my main goal for my children; that they love God and seek Him and are loving, respectful, obedient people.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, does not boast, is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrong. Love does not delight in bad but rejoices with the truth.

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes always perseveres.”

 This is what I see in Connor.

And I love when he says “wiln’t” He’s 10.5yrs and has never said the word “won’t” in his entire life. He has always said wiln’t. He figures if ‘can not’ is ‘can’t’ and then ‘will not’ should be ‘wiln’t’. Make sense to me.

Where you get cold in bed at night and need an extra blanket and when you get u p in the morning the bathroom floor is cold and the air is chilly. The toilet seat is freezing ! Then by lunch you need to be wearing shorts and a tank top because it’s so hot. That time of year when you use the heater and the AC in the same day, every day, until winter finally hits for real.

Did I mention? My 9 yr old son wants to be an angel for Trick or Treat? He is expecting me to make his costume.  His reasoning? Angels in the Bible have flaming swords! (how cool is that to have not only a big sword, but one with flames?!!) And he said we’d be showing everyone something biblical. I think he is counting it as a witnessing project. He’s just too funny sometimes.

Gavin told me he will go to public school next year, so he can make friends. I told him no, flat out. #1- to make friends isn’t a good reason on it’s own in changing schools

#2- He has church, gymnastic class, Royal Rangers and the neighborhood and homeschool functions to make friends. If he can’t make friends there (lots of places and kids with similar morals so it shouldn’t be too hard) then sending him to a public school to make friends is not a good idea.

And because Gavin and Connor complain about making friends, we’ll now have an assignment  in school to help work on friend skills.

A picture collage or chart with pictures of their class mates (church and Royal Rangers). With the names of each child along with some facts about them (eye color, age, favorite color, fav snack, hobbies). Once completed, can hang in their rooms or something. Gavin can never remember people’s names in class. He can only remember Danny’s name and many of these kids have been in his class for a couple years. I think that to make friends, maybe he needs to start with how to remember a friend’s name and learning about them so he can ask them about themselves and what’s going on instead of his normal talk that is obsessed with what computer game or book Gavin is reading.  I am sure kids get tired of hearing Gavin go on and on about only what he likes and doesn’t talk much about the them, let alone remember their names.

The first installment of this series was getting too long, so I will finish my Shine on Ki spotlight here. This part  is more scholastic.

As you may have some to realize from reading about Ki in the last entry, He is not a mathematical/science kid. He is not a linguistic child; good in spelling and  writing and reading textbooks. His strength in interpersonal communication, which actually may be more important in real, adult life than being able to do  long division or effectively take a test on grammar. But, at the same time, it can be a little difficult and time consuming to teach ‘scholastic’ principles to a child who isn’t a ‘scholastic learner’. This doesn’t mean K isn’t intelligent, for he is very intelligent. It simply means that the common ways of teaching, even the more common ways of homeschooling, don’t work well with him.

Interpersonal ways of teaching are easy and readily available for Pre-School/Kindergartners and even 1st graders, but when the child reaches 2-3d grade it takes a more effort to devise a learning system that works well and doesn’t ‘appear very scholastic’ yet teaches those scholastic skills.  Just wait till he’s in Junior High! LOL.

And I know very well that worksheets and workbooks aren’t always the ‘best’ way to teach and I have always tried to be very hands on and experiment oriented with my boys, but then Ki got in first grade and I realized he isn’t really a hands-on kid. Not like his brothers. Ki LOVES workbooks! He devours them! He sees them as a story line. He did a 2^nd grade workbook last year by SchoolZone. The first half of the 100-ish page book takes a classroom of students on a fieldtrip and all they do and see and learn. The second half takes you through the summer break with some of them. So, this workbook IS a story. It reaches Ki at that people/history/communication level he loves so much. When I told him I have the 3^rd grade workbook for his this year, he jumped up and covered me with hugs and thanked me over and over. He hugged the book and told me how much he loves it.

So much for avoiding workbooks, LOL. I guess to be  a good teacher I need to be in tune with what different things my different boys need and not give them what *I* think is the best way to teach.

So,  write your own SHINE ON,  and share it. I guess this is a time that the trackback feature might work, but I really don't understand it or anything. Maybe I will put the last entries URL in that Trackback Box....

I am starting a little series here: Choose one of your children (or child) and tell all about the wonderful ways they learn and love.

Ki David age 9- Ki is the youngest of our 3 boys. He is loving and sensitive. One word that describes Ki is ‘encouraging’. Every day before my husband leaves for work, Ki has to have his hug and kiss and always says the same thing to daddy; “I love you. Do the BEST you can.” Often followed up with “And come home soon”. He will instantly wake from sleep if Brian opens the front door while Ki is still deep in slumber, and jump up and cry out “DON’T FORGET YOUR HUG AND KISS!”              almost in a panicky voice.

When I talk to him on the phone (or anyone does) he will randomly ask the same thing, about every 10-15 seconds. He will be talking and then out of the blue he has to ask “So…Mom. How are you doing?” with all sincerity really wanting to know how I am. But asking once just isn’t enough. It must be asked at every 10- 15 second interval to assure him I am doing fine (or Mimi is fine or Pappy is fine….)

Whenever anyone gets hurt, even the slightest, he is right there to offer empathetic concern. Making sure the person is OK and offering bandaids and packs of frozen peas.

When I tell about my grandfather being in the hospital, even before the words are all out of my mouth his little head is bowed with folded hands and his little lips are moving in words of prayer, followed by an audable “Amen.”. Sometimes while we are driving he will suddenly get quiet for a few minutes, followed by a quiet, “Amen”. When I ask what he talking to God about he has usually just asked God to heal all the hurt people and make all the sad people happy and a list of other things. He says he wants to be a pastor when he grows up.

When Ki’s little friend is coming over, he will have her favorite snack all ready for her. He makes me look like such a bad hostess.

He loves listening to me read stories and his favorite books to read are Dick and Jane and the Biscuit books. Stories about friends and family and how they interact. 

Yes, his learning style can be said to be interpersonal. He needs things to be presented in a story form. Something that he can draw illustrations for and can reinact with his little people and animal toys. A story line he can easily add new ‘chapters’ to.

Ki loves history. Esp people stories. His favorite history is Church history and family History. The tings he enjoys most in school are when I read Bible Stories and when I read from our Story of the World book. He asks for them on the weekends, too.

Maybe Ki will be a pastor that does historical reenactment on the side. Or maybe he will write children’s stories. Or just maybe he will trick us all and become a tax collector or lab technician and not do anything with history or church, LOL.

Part of being loving and sensitive also seems to be having major mood swings and being able to go from loving and compassionate to full of anger and rage the next. This is one of those areas where I come into help guide him on how to react and how to deal with feelings. I have two boys that are feelings and emotions kids. God has a sense of humor, Feelings and emotions are the opposite of what makes me the person I am, LOL. So I get to learn along with my kids.

I miss all my hugs and kisses when Ki is gone. He is at camp this weekend. He always gives me multiple hugs and kisses before bed and in the morning. And I get them before

I leave (twice) and he  runs to greet me when I get home. Even if it is just from a 15 minute run to the corner store.