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Creative Play Bilingual Homeschool
Apr. 23, 2009
Random thoughts
It's past my bedtime and I can't sleep. So what do I do? I bore myself on the internet.
I'm thinking about dd's homeschool year next year. We will not be purchasing another curriculum, as the funds are just not here. But, we have a very viable plan: we'll continue with ECC since we have so many weeks of it left. I have math in Spanish through the 6th grade, so I'm good there. And, there's other materials on my shelf that will get us through most of the year. If I run out (real hard since we have a great library system), there's always K-12 Free Homeschool. I've used it to supplement science, art, and music this year and like it. Well, hopefully it's still up and running next year... Oh, and I told mom that if she had an urge to buy dd anything anytime soon, some fraction and/or geometry manipulatives, and information (read: books) on famous scientists would be really nice  .
Dh's current job will be ending in a couple of weeks. He picked this one up in the middle of March. My phone job ended March 27, with my last hours worked March 10  . I'm tutoring, though, but that will definitely end by the school year end. I haven't finished certifying to score tests, so I'll be unable to pick up hours for next week when the scheduler is open. I've been hired, but put on hold, for another phone job, but the only hours available are M-F, 8am-3:30pm, which are great school hours...if my dd were in SCHOOL. The only other hours are M-F from 11:30am-7pm, which is just a messed up day.
I have homework to do to finish my three graduate courses this semester. I have my objective exam TOMORROW, but I'm not really worried about passing. I'm pretty sure I will. It's only almost half my grade for the entire semester. Who knows if I can continue next term. We can't afford to take out loans with jobs so scarce and not guaranteed. We've even talked about me working with Teach for America, but that would require us, or just me and dd to move to the other side of the state. And dd in school??? My dh alone during the week???? 
The path of bilingual homeschooling has been on my mind: how to continue, what to use... We've shifted somewhat to math and language arts in Spanish, and most everything else in English. That's just what's available. I do still find supplements in Spanish though, and dd's stronger language is still Spanish.
We got dd evaluated for dyslexia, as she has symptoms that show up in both languages.
And this darn test I have tomorrow... I haven't even studied, but I'm really not worried about passing. Should I be?
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Jan. 22, 2009
Freecycle Christmas
My husband's job started cutting back on hours the beginning of November. He was warned in October, and I told my daughter not to expect anything under the tree this year. Well, as least not from us. I knew Grandma would send something . Early this summer, I picked up a simple sewing book that contained a patchwork bedspread in it. I remember thinking, one day.... well this Christmas was the day. I had extra fabric of my own, and stuff I'd picked up here and there through Freecycle. I put out a Wanted post looking for buttons, and got those.
Between working days (from home) on the telephones, tutoring students in the afternoons and evenings, and doing homework till 10pm, I worked in sewing a bedspread. A good friend of mine did help me out by taking her for a few hours one Saturday, and my dear husband would take her on a couple of river walking trips, so that helped.
Looked how it turned out, I'm so proud of me! It's my first major sewing project:
I had also picked up some jeans that were in really good condition through Freecycle this past summer. While on the Sonlight boards, someone posted a link to sew aprons. Listed was how to make an apron using a jean pant leg. Guess what else my daughter got for Christmas?
Unbeknown by me, she had found the bag of buttons, took the lace poncho my grandmother had given me (out of my closet, how did I not know?), and made her own present for me:
It was a really cool Christmas  !
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Oct. 15, 2008
Carved pumpkin project
My daughter went to the pumpkin patch with the homeschool group and brought back a pumpkin for me to fix (roast seeds and lots of pumpkin bread, mmmm).
She decided she wanted to carve it, and this is what she came up with:
It's Jesus, on the cross, with various rays and decorations surrounding it. Pretty cool, huh? This pic, she lights it up by putting a lamp on the top:
At least I'm not being surprised anymore by walking into the bathroom and finding my soap carved up anymore! Well, at least for now...
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Aug. 17, 2008
Double Rainbow
Aug. 5, 2008
Wordless Wednesday- Forgotten squash
Jul. 16, 2008
Wordless Wednesday- Camp Invention
May. 26, 2008
Under the waterfall
We walked down to through the Santa Fe Arroyo- oops, I mean River- because there was actually water in it and we wanted to see it. This is the day after she performed in two shows, three dances each, which came after two days of dance rehearsals. But I think today will be what I remember most about this weekend.
We got to a point in the walk where there is a short waterfall. As we were walking back to the house, my husband decided he wanted to jump off the waterfall into the water below, and of course my daughter had to follow him. They were already wet from chest to toe, so a little more water wasn't going to hurt.
So, she jumps off into his arms (after a bit of coaxing, and nudging in the right direction as we do not want her jumping onto the large rock below- yikes!). They spent a couple of minutes there splashing and allowing the waterfall fall onto them. She had a blast.
This child is the one who couldn't stand a shower two years ago. As we only have a shower, we spent three years of listening to torturous screams as I bathed her. If one drop of water started down her face, the battle would begin. Washing her hair was disastrous. If I had lived in any other neighborhood, I probably would have had CPS knocking on my door. Thankfully, we found the Feingold diet, and within 2 months of change, she could take a shower, listen to the vacuum cleaner and other loud noises, and just all-in-all enjoy herself without the sensory cues that were driving her (and the rest of us) mad.
So, yes, watching her today dancing under the waterfall was a wonderful sight.
Renai
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Sep. 16, 2007
Second year canning
We didn't have such a great harvest this year- anywhere. We ate most of what we grew. Because of the goofy weather earlier this year, the apricot trees went into bloom early, then got killed off by the frost. Even the apple trees didn't bear as much fruit.
Oh, well. I made pickled apples for the first time. They turned out so good! I don't remember actually having these before, but there is some repressed memory somewhere of having that flavor in my mouth. My husband liked them too, that's an accomplishment. Dd didn't like them; that was a surprise. I also just canned some away for later. My husband had picked a whole bunch of apples from his job place, but I was too lazy to continue. We ate some, and then wound up throwing out a lot. What a shame and a waste! I'll have to do better next year.
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Sep. 2, 2006
September flowers- wow!
In the years I've lived here, I'd never seen anything like it. After a lot of rain, it burst into flowers all over the place! Many natives say this type of display is very rare. We decided to go out and finally take pictures before everything dies away. I thought we were too late- many areas were already turning (we waited a long time, kept forgetting the camera, etc.). I finally reached this park and took a bunch of pictures. We had a great time.
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Sep. 2, 2006
September flowers
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