Weekly Wrap-Up ... Our Fun Week

We're linking up again this week to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers please go check them out! While you're there check out some of the others who linked up this week, you never know what new ideas you might find while doing so.

Relaxing while reading.

We all have those weeks where we just want to throw our hands up in the air and scream "ENOUGH!" ... Well, this was one of those weeks for me. Looking back on it though we really did get a lot accomplished. We only "schooled" for the first three days this week, I had scheduled for Thursday off and our first field trip this month for this weekend, so we were "supposed" to do school on Friday. 

A rare moment of helping hands that didn't end in an argument.

Peanut "reading" one of her favorites.

Younger Cracker Jack reading on her own.

Mon. - Wed. : We followed our regular schooling schedule and threw in a nature walk as well. Elder Cracker Jack just about drove me crazy all three days due to his eating more sugar and dyes than normal (we'd allowed him a bowl of a certain cereal on Sunday morning and he snuck another Monday morning ... it's basically sugar colored hyper balls). He forgot lessons he was required to do and as this has happened many times in the past both of the English assignments he skipped were given 0's which dropped his gpa for this month drastically (thank goodness it's just the first week of the month). He was bouncing in his seat and forgetful, didn't listen well during the nature walk, and generally acting like he did before we implemented many of his coping techniques. 

 This nature walk was not just exercise for our bodies and minds but also in Mommy's patience. ECJ drove me crazy looking for snakes and poking at dried leaf and grass piles, completely ignoring my warnings that he may be bitten or stung because of the cooler weather having natures critters on edge for winter. Thank God he didn't get bitten (though he claimed the bug pictured last here did bite him). Every time I turned around he was way behind or ahead of us, hiding in the tall grass, trying to catch frogs, or poking into places where there could have been bees or snakes despite those warnings I gave him.

The picture to the right here is just one example of his antics ... find the boy head in the grass and you've found my main frustration this week. I love him dearly but it's week's like this where I begin to feel my resolve on the medication issue weaken momentarily. No, I'll never place him back on the ADHD medications ... they're not good for anyone as far as I'm concerned but that is just my opinion and if other's use them then I will not judge them on it.

The found a neat Caterpillar on the two-track and spent a few minutes inspecting it. Peanut even let it crawl up her arm even though she doesn't "do" bugs. They found a good place off of the two-track to put the little guy so that it had a better chance of survival.

Thurs. : The day started out fine if a bit earlier than we're used to. We were going to go and purchase a new vehicle (even though our budget would have screamed and cried) due to the repair costs of our current vehicle. By noon we had decided against it as no one, including the dealership we were dealing with by phone for the last month, had exactly what we wanted and when making such a large purchase it's imperative for us that it's exactly what we want as we'll be living with it for a long time. We ran some errands this day and got a really good deal on everything we need to redo our kitchen. Well, everything other than the paint for the kitchen BUT we bought the paint for Peanut's room. By 2pm all three kiddos were wrestless and irritated from being in the car most of the day. My nerves were fraying with each whining protest and question and Daddy's nerves weren't much better. The executive decision of Principal Daddy and heartily agreed to by Teacher Mommy was that we were taking a long weekend.

Fri.: We rolled out of bed this morning, had the "treat" of toaster waffles for breakfast, and headed out on a field trip. We all needed to relax and de-stress. We managed to knock a couple things off of our Fall Bucket List while we were at it. Look for the post about our field trip and bucket list possibly this weekend but no later than Monday of next week.

This weeks pros: 

Our Book IT! package showed up this week! Not only was I happy to see this because of my fond childhood memories of this program BUT the children were suddenly excited again about reading!
Because of Book IT! Younger Cracker Jack took reading as a fun challenge and found a green envelope that worked for her to break up the page and underline the line in the book she was reading. She read the whole thing with very little help (the words "would" and "could" stumped her)! We've tried other colors and devices to help her with her dyslexia but the green envelope worked! It is definitely going into her binder as an aide.

Swim class started Wednesday evening for all three kiddos! After a quick five minutes it was determined that Peanut needed the mommy and me swim which is only for half an hour and takes place right before level 1 (the class the other two are in). Thank God Mommy had her swim suit on under her clothing so that I could jump in and have her get her lesson in for this week.
They all did very very well for their first lesson and are excited to continue.

The cons:
Obviously my nerves weren't handling ECJ's "off" week with his ADHD and has convinced me that I need to limit the dyes and sugars in our home even more in the future. He normally eats non-sugar and non-dye cereals with maybe a few raisins sprinkled in. 

Not everything in my planner got done this week. So of course my OCD was bothering me even though I agreed with the decision. I'll be rescheduling those lessons for next week however and smiling while I do it because my batteries will be recharged.

Due to ECJ's "high-definition" being off the charts this week his gpa in English slipped, last month he had a 3.8 and so far this month he's at a very low C. Also, he bombed his first History "test" on Christopher Columbus and has been given the chance to study this weekend and re-take it on Monday.

Home Ec.: 

Normally ECJ makes lunch during the school week. He's pretty experienced with it by now and gets it done pretty quickly. YCJ has had a few lessons over the past year or so and I've decided that it's time to work on this more with her. So, here we have her choice, and recipe, for lunch earlier this week.

Peanut Butter and "whatever" roll-ups. These are very simple and filling. Easy for anyone to make. Tortillas or soft taco shells, peanut butter, and "whatever". Spread the peanut butter onto the shell careful not to get it too close to the edges. Top the peanut butter with whatever you like paired with peanut butter: sugar, raisins, another nut spread, jelly, etc. Then roll the whole thing up and have an adult cut it in half. It makes a pretty pinwheel design. She then tore up an extra shell for each of them into quarters and arranged her plates. Deciding that that wasn't enough she added about a handful of trisect crackers to go with it and served everything with southern sweet iced tea.

Mommy's moment of pride: While waiting to pick the Cracker Jack's from catechism class Tuesday evening I got into a nice discussion with the RED at the church and one of the sister's who was there. They'd been working with the children in small groups that day and were very excited on how well the Cracker Jack's knew their prayers, especially the Act of Contrition which they'll need at the children's confession early next month. I was bursting with pride because these two had worked very hard last week to learn that prayer in particular and both had been worried (ok I was secretly worried too) that they didn't know it well enough.

Tip of the week: If you feel like you need a break then take one! If you're stressed out and freaking out chances are the children WILL pick up on it. Teaching and learning are both harder when everyone is stressed out. The lessons will still be there when you get back to them and you'll be able to not pull out your hair when you look at them.

And while our home is not dye free we are dye limited and this week reminded me why. Only TWO bowls of "normal" kids cereal had ECJ going bonkers for almost four whole days! So, although I always say to do whatever works for YOU and your family is what's best for your family I would like to take the chance to say : Please learn from my boo-boo's. If dye happens to affect your child or sugar or anything else, please don't let your rules about it slip. You'll regret it and so will your child.

Our weekend plans: We were able to purchase our kitchen remodeling supplies for a lot ton less than we had thought we would and so we'll be picking them up Saturday. As well as getting our belongings that are still at Grandma's house home finally. Sunday will be busy as well with morning mass, my first RCIA class, and a cousin birthday party for two of the cousins.


How did your week go? What are your plans for the weekend? I'd love to hear about them!

Are you still "Hoppin' to it" this year?