Year 8, Week 10: Writing

     This past week was filled with a lot of prep work on my part.  A lot of making double batches of meals to have and freeze.  A lot of running errands and gathering supplies.  A lot of dropping off and picking up books.  A lot of research and writing.  You might be wondering why I'm researching and writing and what the extra meals and supplies are all about, but I'll get to that in a bit.

     Let me share what my kids are doing for writing this school year first.  A380 is using Writing & Rhetoric, a program that I have come to love after trying a couple of different ones over the years.  This is one that the kids also enjoy so that's a bonus.  I work with A380 on his writing but for Little Toughie I wanted to change it up.  I wanted to challenge her this year so I signed her up for an online class through Circe (By the way, they have classes for adults too.  I took a Socratic class in the spring.)  I felt it would be good for her to have a different teacher; to get a different perspective and a different teaching style.  They both get to read great stories and then write their own.  I've kept copies of all their work and it's interesting to see how their writing has progressed.  One of these days, with their permission, perhaps I'll share some of it!

     As for all the running amok around remember that project I've been waiting to announce?  Here it is:  I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo (My husband calls it nanu-nanu!)  Basically, I'm going to draft a new novel of at least 50,000 words in 30 days.  As you can tell, I'm a big fan of books.  I love to read but I also have a passion for writing; a passion I haven't really nurtured except for blogging.

     Every now and then a story will come to mind, but I'd let it go, believing that there's no way I could write that story.  However, at the beginning of this year I had a story that kept coming to mind so I started to write it.  When Covid hit my focus shifted to other things and so the writing stopped.  Early in October I remembered NaNoWriMo and decided to sign up.  I've read that it can be pretty time consuming considering that you only have 30 days to reach the goal.  I've spent the past few weeks prepping as much as I can, down to a rough outline, some aspects of my characters and researching settings.  Even now, as I write this I'm participating in an online writing forum filled with challenges and Q&A.

     It's not too late to join!  You can be a panster, a writer who writes by the seat of their pants and doesn't plot or plan when writing their novels.  I'm a planster...someone who plans a bit of it and will write it as it comes.  If you join, let me know.  We can be writing buddies!

     I have to go.  I have a 5 minute writing sprint to attend to and I'm already one minute behind.  Have a great week!  Oh, and A380 says, "Have a happy halloween!"

Year 8, Week 9: Chores

     I'm late getting this posted because our computer has been acting up with changing the display size by itself and it's hard to type while it switches from a font of 12 to a font of 72!  I still don't know the cause of it but it seems to have settled down, thank goodness.  Regardless, this is going to be a short one.  Remember that project I mentioned in my last post, the one that I'll be announcing soon?  Well, it's taking every free moment I have and so I'm going to make this post short and then read; something I haven't been able to do much in the past couple of weeks.  Let's get to it!

     Do your kids do chores?  Growing up, as far back as I can remember, we cleaned the house every Friday night.  Mom would blast music and we'd dance around and sing while cleaning.  I remember being in charge of dusting, but it wasn't like I just had a feather duster and could twirl my way quickly through this chore.  I had to remove everything, use dust spray and wipe/polish it all down.  Of course, it started out with mom doing most of it and teaching us how to do it.  Eventually, we were in charge of all of it.  Eventually, it became habit.

     Which is why my kids have chores.  They're listed for the kids on our schedule.  It's a different chore for each child on a particular day which is why you don't see it in that post.  One day one of them is doing all their laundry, from start to finish.  The next day the other kid does the same thing.  The rest of the week there's dusting, vacuuming and cleaning their bathroom.  And yes, they do it every week.  Sometimes, with the exception of laundry, the rest of the chores might be done on a different day (usually Friday) depending on how busy their week is.

     Cleaning their room is a daily thing but that's more focused on something I picked up somewhere (can't remember) called E.H.A.P. (Everything Has A Place).  I use it as a verb, telling the kids to "E.H.A.P." their rooms before screen time.  Whether tidying their rooms or cleaning the house music is always playing, though not aloud since they're listening to it via bluetooth headphones (I can hear myself saying, "Back in my day...Ha!)  The cool thing is they're playing some of the music I listened to years ago!

     As a parent of children with special needs it's good to get these habits in place as early as possible but any child can benefit from doing chores.  If you're not sure what chores your kids can and should do Intoxicated On Life has a great pdf you can download which also includes a chore chart.  This quick reference chart from The Happy Housewife is helpful too:

The Happy Housewife

     Either way, find what works best for you and your family.  One thing I do want to add is that I don't give the kids an allowance for the chores they're supposed to do; the things we as adults still have to do because I still do them and I don't see anyone paying me!  Kids need to learn to do things for the sake of doing them not because they're going to get something for it.  However, I do give them extra screen time for an exceptional cleaning job or we'll go out for ice cream if we tackle a huge project like cleaning out the garage or sorting through their closets.

     I get to make my announcement next week.  Until then enjoy your weekend and have a great week!

Year 8, Week 8: Back to Work

     In a previous post I mentioned that Little Toughie had an audition.  She had call backs last weekend and she got a part!  Obviously, this year is going to be different with live performances and right now rehearsals are primarily virtual.  They have a contingent plan in place if come January audience gatherings are still prohibited.  Not ideal for any performer who feeds off the audience's reactions (we miss seeing live musicals!) but it is what it is.  Regardless, Little Toughie is excited and...busy.

     We're back to our normal schedule and I'm trying help the kids hone their time management skills.  Little Toughie's assignments are getting longer and I've raised my standards for A380, so the work is taking longer for both to finish.  However, some of it is also the fact that they "see squirrels" and they get distracted.  Or sometimes, in Little Toughie's case, her sense of time is off.  Half an hour feels like five minutes to her and well, that five minute break just lengthened her school day.  A380, on the other hand, is such a clock watcher that if on the calendar I have them doing math from 10:30-11:00 a.m. he'll stop at 11 even though there is still work to be done.  Our homeschool calendar is for reference; to give them an idea of what they should be doing at certain times.  The good thing with Little Toughie is that once she gets back on track, she's focused and she knows what needs to get done.  The good thing with A380 is that he'll tell me that he needs a break and wants to work on something else before circling back to whatever it is he needs to finish.  I know I'm just being anxious and importunate in wanting them to be organized; it is a skill that will bode well for them in all things.  I have to remind myself that they'll get there but ultimately it will be what works for them, their needs and personalities.

     The rest of our week was fairly quiet.  A380 got to watch an online Science Magic Show.  He was excited to share what he saw, especially because M&Ms were included!  Little Toughie got her script and I'm pretty sure she already has all her lines memorized.  I was on the phone and computer a lot this week.  I'm working on a new project (I'll share in a few weeks.)  I had to watch a couple of webinars to prep.  There were a couple of Zoom meetings that I had to attend (one of which I missed and had to listen to the playback!)  I made an appointment for my flu shot, which took a lot longer than expected because I couldn't remember the last time I had one.  I had to stay in the clinic for 15 minutes, after already waiting for 20 minutes just to get the shot, because they wanted to make sure I didn't have an immediate reaction.  Thankfully, I didn't.

     Not much else.  Enjoy your weekend and...squirrel!

Year 8: Fall Break and Pumpkins

     "We were on a break!"  If you pictured Ross from Friends as you read that then you and I are buddies!  I'm a big fan of Friends, as you can tell.  Yes, this was our break week.  I'm sure some are thinking, "A break already?"  Well, since we homeschool I am in charge of their schedule and roughly every six weeks we take a one week break.  It's been seven weeks so it's time!  Now, that doesn't mean that we aren't doing any teaching/learning.  It just means I lighten the load a bit, take some time to review the past six weeks, make adjustments as needed and maybe throw in a few fun things.  I spent some focused time on vocabulary with A380 and Little Toughie chose to work on an art project:

     I also took some time to clean out my email box, listen to a couple of podcasts/sermons I've been missing, run a few errands that included a couple of trips to the library (dropping off a stack and picking up another) and trying to decide on the layout of my next Plum Paper planner.  I also did the necessary prep work for the upcoming weeks' lessons.  Since I had more time I also decided to extend a few of my at-home workouts a bit to master the footwork.  If you can't make it to the gym (or don't want to because of Covid) and want to work out at home leave me a comment and I can help you out!  I'm currently doing a boxing program and having so much fun with it.     

Since we're on this break I thought I'd pass along some fun Fall things to do with your kids.  This is especially good for little ones!  First up is The Masterpiece Studio.  I love that they have different themed bundles for you to chose from and that it ties creativity in with learning.  Click on the picture for their latest bundle!

     If there are littles ones in the home that can't read yet, Printables Fairy has a Fall Scavenger Hunt sheet that you can bring with you on your next outdoor adventure.

     If you're looking for something to bake that's easy for everyone, check out these Pumpkin Muffins from Modern Mom Life.  I made these years ago when I found it on a site called Cooking With My Kid (no longer available), but I made a point to print out the recipe and saw that Modern Mom Life had the exact same one with the exception of leaving out 1/4 cup of milk that the CWMK recipe called for and making regular muffins instead of minis.  When I made the original recipe they were very light and fluffy, not too sweet and perfect for little hands.  Oh, how I miss the widdle, teeny tiny hands!

     If you want something gluten-free Nom Nom Paleo has a great option here using almond flour.  She's one of the few Paleo websites that I use regularly.

     Prefer something on the cooler side?  I make a smoothie with 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree, 1 cup of vanilla or regular almond milk, half a teaspoon of vanilla, 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 cup to 1 cup of ice.  If you have a favorite vanilla protein powder you can add that too!  Throw it all in a blender and voila!  Quick pumpkin smoothie.  I also like to freeze the leftover pumpkin in ice cube trays (I pop them into bags after they've frozen) and keep them handy for future use.

     That's all I have.  Time to go bake some Paleo Pumpkin bread.  Have a blessed week!