Sam and the boys had a Scout camping thing to do last night. I was home alone :-) I love being home alone. It's so quiet. I can watch what I want and eat what. They are at the campground down the road, literally. I could have gone down there and had fun, family time around the campfire. But why ruin a good night at home, alone?
Yesterday, I went and picked up a big ol' box of curriculum from my friend. I asked to borrow her copy of Tapestry of Grace, Year 2, so I could see what the Rhetoric book list is supposed to be for next year. The younger boys and I are just not keeping up with this year's TOG reading. So, I also borrowed Volumes One and Two of The Mystery of History. Most importantly, I borrowed her set of Teaching Writing; Style and Structure from Institute for Excellence in Writing. It's 8 DVDs of Andrew Pudewa teaching you how to teach writing. I watched the first two yesterday. I am so happy and even excited. We can do this! When I've been working with the boys a while using these methods, I will blog about it. One of the things that I love about TOG, is that all the subjects are integrated. I like their writing program, Writing Aids. Something was lacking, though, and I still can't quite put my finger on it. We could not get over the hump of getting thoughts out on paper, even with writing assignments in the TOG week lesson. Andrew Pudewa gives some great insight into a child's mind, especially boys.
I already have two months worth of writing lessons for the younger boys and after the football game this afternoon, I will watch the next video and write out lessons for Noah.
This week, it seemed that everything was breaking. The toilet had been leaking all over behind it. We have wood floor in our bathroom, now the boards behind the toilet are slightly warped. Sam fixed it without spending any money. One of our half dozen cars wouldn't start. I said sell it for junk. But no, we must have a half dozen cars. He fixed it, without spending any money. The freezer stated making this bone rattling noise. I kept walking by and kicking it. (It stopped the first time that I kicked it.) He finally was driven insane by the noise and pulled all the food out, and the panel that covers the fan and some other mechanical stuff. There was a sheet of ice about an inch thick. The ice maker had been dripping water down the back of the freezer for, who knows how long, and was encroaching on the fan. He fixed that with no money. Which is good, because we screwed up our checking account very badly and the only money we have until payday is Noah's.
(This is just a picture to break up this long post)
One more football game after today. Today would have been the last, but a team that we forfeited to wants to give us another chance. So...joy...we have one. more. game. It has been a mixed season. The coach is very very nice. Too nice for football. Seems there is nothing in between. The coaches we had the last two seasons cursed all the time. Quinton has been the starting quarterback. It was his dream job. He now realizes that receivers and running backs are where it's at. Noah told him yesterday, "Your ego is two inches taller than you are." They've only scored twice all season. There's no tackling and no blocking. The mixed part is that Q, personally is having a great season, the team not so much.
Of course, you've read my letter to Pop Warner regarding progress reports. Our league president has taken up my cause and even spoke with a person at the national level regarding the double standard for homeschooled students. I haven't been able to talk with him, yet. So I don't know exactly what they said. In his message he said that the national level person wanted me to call them. That makes me nervous. I know my stuff, but I am no good on the phone. And as I keep saying, "how far do I want too take this?" This is our last year with this organization. Do I want to make it fair for all homeschoolers, or just mine? I am fine just warning homeschoolers away from PW forever. If I thought it would be a simple discussion and I caused the entire national PW Little Scholars board to see the light and wave a wand and they change their policy, I'd do it. But I don't think that will happen. They are operating out of a state that has some of the most stringent homeschool regulations. And I'm sure they want to do their part in making sure that homeschoolers do the job "right" by keeping us accountable. (eyeroll)
Alright! I have coffee to drink, showers to take and football uniforms to prep. Have a blessed weekend.
1 comments:
That Sam is pretty handy!
Post a Comment