Monday

It-was-definitely-MONDAY at our house! Oh my goodness. Having itchy and burning eyes, same with your throat and even an ear with added sneezing fits, last night was not a good night. Not a good night at all. Didn't help probably that I kept looking at the clock to see if it was time to take more Benadryl. :) It says 4-6 hours. I went "almost" 4 hours each time. What? I was miserable people! I first awoke to our alarm at 4:30. Kevin had to go up to work today. He was nice though and brought Benadryl to me. :) I kind of recall hearing that Jason was up and looking at the clock to see it was 7:40. Better get up I told myself. And I did, an hour later. I fell back asleep. :) Once up I realized I felt pretty crappy. Not well at all. Much like when I went to bed last night. But I managed to make us breakfast and get some laundry and dishes done. Before I could blink twice, it was noon and Jason was asking for lunch. Well, okay. Lunch. Luckily, I freeze things. Food that is. I'm good that way. So I opened a bag of tortilla chips and popped some leftover frozen taco meat in the microwave. Sometimes, I think I have a secret crush on my microwave. I love it. Anyhoo, we had nachos for lunch which were mighty yummy. :) Then it was time for school. School for which I really didn't feel like doing. We talked a little about space, Jason talked a LOT about the Hubble Telescope. Then he did an hour of mathblaster from Jumpstart. I love Jumpstart. Jason loves Jumpstart. It's a win/win. Then I had him do about an hour of Time4learning language arts/phonics and reading comp online. I like Time4learning, Jason not so much. :) Not the day I'd planned for us, but he still did a lot and also read in one of his new library books. Now blog world, I think it's time for another dose of Benadryl and what I hope to be a good night's sleep tonight!

Our typical school day

People at times have asked what a typical day is like for us now that we homeschool. In thinking about an answer, I came to the realization that it is a little like what your child eats when they're really young. With toddlers and preschoolers sometimes we Moms worry they aren't eating what they should be eating. We all know there are those days at that age where you are convinced your child only eats gummi this or that and only drinks juice etc. The reality is, at the end of any given week, your child has had a balanced diet, albeit not the case on any given day. Our "typical" day is somewhat like that. There is no real answer because everyday is different on some level. Each day might not be a normal, structered day, but at the end of a given week, we've covered all we need to. I know Jason is learning and thriving in homeschool and that is truly the most important thing. I can say for the most part, a day usually does involve household chores and or errand running in the mornings. Sometimes I will have Jason read during that time, or do something on the computer like "Jumpstart" or "Time4learning". We'll have lunch and then our "school" is done in the afternoons. I find this works for our family. Certainly by no means am I saying that would work for ALL families. :) Soon I hope to figure out the "posting of pictures" and making everything look "prettier" on here, but for this blog I am ending with a recipe we LOVE in our house and it couldn't be easier! OVEN FRIED CHICKEN -------------------------- heat 1/2 to 1 stick of butter(please use the real stuff here) in a large oven proof dish at 375 while the butter is melting, coat 6 boneless/skinless chicken breast in 1 egg/beaten with a little milk then dredge in a mixture(I have no specific amount, I just dump some in a pan)of flour, then in bread crumbs or panko. Sprinkle each side with salt, pepper, and paprika. Place in baking dish with melted butter and bake for "about" 20 minutes, then turn chicken and continue baking until done. Up to 30 minutes. It is YUMMY!

Glitter glue

So, in our current unit study on the solar system/space, I was trying to come up with different and fun projects Jason could do. I was out shopping and saw these wonderful and colorful glitter glue thingys. This got my attention so I grabbed them and put them in my cart. I went on about my shopping all the while wondering what to do with this wonderful and sparkling bit if color in my cart. I ended up back in the school/craft section and picked up a BIG thing of white paper. Mind you however, I still had absolutely NO idea what we were going to do with my findings. I only knew I liked what I'd found and I just knew Jason would as well! Then came yesterday. Ah yesterday. Yes. I decided that perhaps Jason could do something with the planets with the glitter glue. It seemed perfectly harmless. At. The. Time. But then, well, then Jason started the project and well, it was not neat. It was not neat AT ALL. What I learned was, it was a fun albeit VERY, VERY messy project. Jason enjoyed doing it and that's all that REALLY matters. Right?! OH, and I'm finding dried up colored glitter glue EVERYWHERE today. :o)

life of a mom

A stay-at-home-home school Mom to be exact. We are finishing up our 2nd year of home schooling and I have learned quite a bit. Quite a bit indeed!! I have learned that while these are of course at least a wee bit important, I mean, people like clean clothes and all.....at the end of any given day, what is most important is that I have spent quality time with Jason. Our house might not always be cover of Good Housekeeping quality, but it is clean. I have found that I am NOT Wonder Woman. If I have a couple days worth of laundry waiting on me because I chose to simply just enjoy little things with him, then you know what? That is just fine! NOT to mention, more important. I've also learned that if we're doing math say, and he just isn't getting it, or he or I or both of us are in a "not so good" mood, to realize it's okay to skip it and go on to something else. Maybe take a walk. Maybe talk about space. Maybe bake cookies, and well you get the idea. One day of not doing one subject is not going to make a difference in the outcome of his education. Plus, we don't just skip that day's lesson on math, we get back to it the next day. On that rare occasion that we start school and I realize quickly that for whatever reason, it just isn't going to happen, we do something different all together that day. This doesn't mean we do what we want, as in watch cartoons all day! But I find things to do that are educational yet fun. I love teaching him and knowing "hey, I taught him that" when he goes off telling others of things we've done. We're still learning and certainly haven't mastered the home schooling experience, but we're learning and we're having fun and I know he is not only learning the basics, reading, writing etc, but morals and values and right and wrong and that there are consequences to our actions. I am totally looking forward to 4th grade. And for that laundry thing, well, it, a long with the dishes and other duties that come with being a stay at home mom/housewife etc, they get done. They simply get done.