Life

Good morning! I really wasn’t going to write this morning because I did yesterday and the day before and I don’t want anyone to think I’m sick or anything because I’m on a streak of more than two days. Still, things happen and my mind changes and here I am.

This week we have been working on assessments for math for Seth and Joseph. It is interesting to note that neither one of them is proficient in telling time using an analog clock. It is even more interesting that Seth is behind Joseph in this. I started Joseph out in Saxon Math 2 and he it soon became clear that he was beyond the work. Yesterday I finally found the assessments online (because I hadn’t bothered to look any sooner) and this morning we finished. He should be in Math 3. Luckily, I have all of the materials we need so tomorrow morning we’ll be doing that.

Seth, on the other hand, I started at a 4^th grade level because he struggled with math so much last year. In doing his assessment, which he just finished, it appears that he can move up to the 5^th grade level. I thought he was going to have to jump to somewhere in the middle or second half of Math 4/5 but according to the assessment instructions, he can start 6/5. That’s nice. He does need lots of work in multiplication facts but we’ll start working on that more once MathIt arrives in the mail which should be any day.

It is just interesting to me that what these boys have learned is so spotty. Is this what public education is doing? Picking and choosing? My three oldest girls all took and passed their GEDs at 16. Granted, we didn’t get into higher math at home but they all did very well on the GED tests. I’ve used Saxon math from the beginning and it seems to have served us well. It is annoying that we can’t just begin and work our way through; we will have to concentrate on things that the boys have missed thus far. Still, I am glad that we’ve taken this route. It’s nice having the boys home; it feels right. And I can work with them to make sure they understand what they are doing and why.

I said I would add some pictures from Saturday's game (9/20) once I got them off my phone. I got everything off my phone yesterday but this is really the only good picture I got from the whole game. It kind of didn't help that we were looking into the sun the whole time and it was hard to see what I was attempting to take a picture of.

Yesterday was an interesting day. We started the assessments for math and because I didn’t want the boys to be totally overwhelmed, we didn’t finish. It was an early release day which is great unless you are attempting to get things done.

Amena had an appointment with the nurse practitioner yesterday at 11:30. Her asthma has been acting up. Partly it is because she’s had a cold but she’s been having to use her inhaler more often than it seems like she should. I’d love for her to be seen by an allergy doctor and maybe even a pulmonologist. I think the best course of action is to find the doctor myself and then get a referral. I know there’s a good one in North Boyleston but that’s a bit of a drive for us. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s another one nearer that is interesting in a more holistic approach. I suppose I should do a pro/con list because whoever she goes to, I’d like to see as well; I’m tired of allergies.

Cedric and Seth had soccer practice and we all had activities at church. We got to church right at 7:00. With practice ending at 6:30, that’s about the best I can do. Our activity was a baby shower for Mally Black and I think it turned out well in spite of the fact that we had to wait for her to get there. Amena made cookies for it and they were the hit of the party. I got to hold Colin for a bit and that was pretty wonderful. We had a nice little conversation and he smiled lots. Babies are pretty amazing.

This is the car Ray is selling. Just the body for $500. Yes, that is Joseph behind the car. No, he is not for sale. :)

Bit of a time lapse here, but I’m sure you didn’t really notice.

Busy morning here. Now it’s afternoon.

Imagine how annoying it is that I can find Part Two of the Saxon Math 3 Student Workbook but not Part Two. Grrrrrr!!!!!! Imagine how wonderful it is that we have such things as amazon.com, ebay, abebooks, and craigslist on which to look for these things that somehow manage to elude us. Ahhhhh!!! I’m not excited to spend almost another thirty dollars for something that I know I once had in my possession but glad that it is so much easier to come by these things than it was when we first began our homeschool journey almost twenty years ago. Back then I’d order things from a paper catalogue every year after we got our tax refund. Now I can just look things up online and it’s here in a week or so (when I get it sooner, the seller gets a really good review).

Anyway, today is the only day this week we get a ‘normal’ school day because tomorrow morning I have a dentist appointment. Yay! Yeah, not really. I don’t mind going to the dentist; I just don’t like yet another interruption in our schedule. I’m not sure how I survived doing this for fourteen years.

Such is life. I hope you have a terrifical rest of the day!