So many things going through my mind, where to start?
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Well, first up: Demi-Sky is starting Lacrosse next month. He is pretty lonely now that Teddy is no longer schooling with us. He played inline-skate hockey a few years ago and has cousins who play ice-hockey...but we were not inclined in that direction first because it can be an expensive sport and second because it involves a lot of driving to practices and games. Lacrosse looks a lot like hockey, but it is on a field, which there are a lot more of around here, so we figured the cost would be lower. It does seem to be that way, so far. We have him on a club team and the price was doable. Big bonus, the practice field is only 15 minutes from us.
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Next, we are considering having Demi-Sky try out for a local magnet charter school for 9th grade, which is two years away. This is a whole world-view game shift for us, our kids have always homeschooled. We are really struggling with Demi right now, and I think he would benefit from more structure and purpose-driven day than I, as the Bridget Jones-homeschool-mom can give him. We are talking about it now, because we will actually have to apply winter of next school year- and I was hoping that he would apply himself more whole-heartedly to his schooling and music if he had this goal in front of him. And yeah, we are seeing better effort by him already.
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Related to Demi's possible school change: we are dropping Math-U-See for Math, and using Horizon's Math as our main Math curriculum and possible adding something else to it. (for the 2 youngers, the highschoolers love M-U-S and are using it for Algebra II and Geometry) As much as the kids loved Math U See, and I loved it because they did- it wasn't doing us any favors. The younger kids don't test well on the standardized tests each year, and the levels don't match regular school levels. I knew all this, but figured it would work itself out by high school, and beside, we weren't planning on ever stopping homeschooling. But, I am seeing, there is always the possibility of a bend in the road that you didn't anticipate. I regret now, not keeping my kids up to regular grade levels. Luckily, Sky is a Civil Engineer and loves Math, (and is not a softy/pushover like me) so I have turned him loose on the kids. They will be eating and sleeping Math the rest of the year...
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I just finished up round one of the dreaded "Key Assignments" the charter school we homeschool through assigns our highschoolers to do. It's not fun at all, and a big pain, frankly. I have mulled over pulling out because of these. And yet, now that I will be needing report cards and a transcript from a WASC accredited school, I kind of see the point of all the hoops to prove a certain level of learning. It was still a lot of extra work outside of our normal work, though, specially considering that most of the assignments did not line up to our scope and sequence for the year. Meg's Chemistry assignment was a chapter she hasn't gotten to yet. I had to read it, have her read it, then I had to explain it to her so she could then go on to complete the assignment. Fun. Josie's assignment for history was a good one, but involved comparing the American and French Revolutions (great subject!) but she is still reviewing ancient History right now in her World History course. Sky wondered out loud why the school doesn't let the homeschool moms come up with their own assignments, and I guessed that they probably did at one point, but I also guess that if they did, not many moms would have done them. We are just so busy most of the time, I wouldn't have done it. We are kind of like herding cats, we homeschool moms, sometimes...
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Sky and I went to Ted Talks Orange Coast, it's written like this: TedX....I'm not sure why...anyways, I 'll be doing a post on it, but wow- it was incredible! Ted Talks as I knew them, are these short, intelligent, informative lectures you can find online, given by very intelligent people who are absolutely passionate about their topic. Sky finds interesting ones and then shares them at home with me and the kids. One of the Myth-Busters guys even did one. So, I was invited to attend the Orange Coast edition this year, and wow! Double wow!
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Oil-pulling. I'm about to try this for better dental health. Here's a link that describes what it does really well.} Oil Pulling for Detoxing? Sky is looking at me like I'm nuts. I'm also taking Cod Liver Oil (which I've done before but quit because I was dieting) and Butter Oil together. The butter oil helps your body absorb the vitamins in the cod liver oil more effectively. I'm still kind of freaking at deliberately consuming a teaspoon each of two oils every morning, it really goes against what I've always been told about weight and fat. I'll report back.
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I'm going to the Diet Coke mother ship next week. Yes, my close friends would say that of course it was inevitable that I would sojourn to this place. :)
Seriously, I am attending the Conversations with Coca- Cola social media conference in Atlanta. Coca-Cola is kindly, graciously, like a fairy-godmother: sponsoring me for this trip. I am really excited, I have never been to Atlanta before. Did I mention diet coke?? :D
So, reasons all above why I've been a little absent lately. So much going on here!
