June 21, 2011  9:26 p.m.

This post is so long I have added subheadings.  That way you can skip the parts you don’t care about.  It shouldn’t be called a blog post.  It is more like a newsletter.

IT’S HOT HERE!

It’s only the Summer Solstice today and I feel like summer has been here for months.  It has been so hot here.  Florida is one place to be in the summer when there are afternoon thunderstorms.  But in an unusual dry spell, when the sun is high in the sky, and there is no rain at all, for day after day, the temperatures can be brutal.  The past eleven days have topped out in the mid- to upper 90s, and bottoming out overnight around 75-77 degrees.  It is not a fun place to be.

HOMESCHOOL BURNOUT

Besides, it is late June and I am hitting the homeschool wall.  Yes, the same wall that other homeschool moms hit in February.  Well, I get it now.  Not to mention that fact that it is early summer, my least favorite time of the year, when it is too blisteringly hot to do anything outside but soak in the pool – when we can.  Which isn’t as often as I’d like.  Seems like I work all day long.  There is always so much to do and I am perpetually running behind.  That’s why I haven’t been posting here to this blog in several days.  In the small pocket-sized moments of time when I sit down at the computer, I don’t have enough inside me to put together a coherent post.  I am trying to make up for it now.  But I am plain tired.  I am short-tempered and lacking in patience and self-discipline.  I need to get my act together again.

Even though I am starting this post out on a low note, I promise to end it on a high one.  I promise!

We just sent in Sweet Girl’s test lesson 100 for Third Grade.  I have a feeling she did very well on this one.  I can’t always tell, though.  We shall see.  Calvert has been keeping me very busy, among other things.  Sweet Girl is beginning a Social Studies project to write a research report about the history and geography of our local community.  We are gathering resources for this right now, to include 2-3 websites, 2 library books, and a visit to our local history museum.

Chips is in the middle of Earth Science (part of Calvert’s Sixth Grade Science plan) and he is doing a rock collection project.  Part of it includes calculating the density of each rock.  I showed him how to measure the rock’s volume (by measuring water in a graduated cylinder before and after dunking the rock) and the rock’s mass (by using a balance).  Chips complains that it is time consuming, but seems to enjoy it once he adjusts his attitude.

THINGS BROKEN

Poor Self-Reliant Man is confronted with another fixit job this week.  He just got his Jag fixed by replacing the fuel pump.  I mean, he just barely got it fixed after pondering its problem for about a month or so.  Just got it working, the other day…

… when I told him yesterday that the alternator failed on the car that I drive every day.  It happened on the way home from music lessons.  I was in another town with about fifteen miles left to drive home when I noticed strange behavior in my car.  Chips recognized immediately what was happening (he is sharp that way) and told me to shut off the a/c (see the part above about the summer heat) and the radio, and anything else voluntary that consumed electricity.  Well, as I continued my drive home, my poor car lost more and more of its functionality.  Eventually the instrument console up and quit, I knew there wasn’t much left, but thank the good Lord we did make it home and get the car into the garage.  But Poor Self-Reliant Man never gets a break.  He is on the floor of the garage even as I speak taking out the alternator (you know, the one he just replaced two years ago).  I’m not shocked.  It is an Auto Zone part, not a Hyundai part (which would have lasted 7 years more).    Should have gotten a Hyundai alternator.  Live and learn.  Now he will be reinstalling another Auto Zone part because it is free.

WHAT?  A COMPUTER GAME AT BREEZY POINT?

You know, I allowed Chips to purchase and install a computer game on our desktop PC.  I know it should make him a happier kid, right?  But I reminded him that he not only had to have his lesson work done, but he had to earn the tokens he needs each day to be able to spend a half hour (max) on the game each day.  I can’t say it has made him a pleasanter boy.  He tends to get obsessive about it.  We will have to observe and ponder some.  It’s not that he isn’t using his spare time in good ways – he often reads, repairs things, creates music on two instruments, helps his Dad fix things, etc.  But I know if I give him free rein with this game he will lose his ability to think of alternate things to do with his spare time.  I just have to stick to my guns, but it does contribute to my weariness.

BATTLE OF THE DOG FLEAS

We are still trying to beat the flea situation.  We discovered the effectiveness of Comfortis for dog fleas.  This amazing pill does a tremendous job of killing the fleas on our dog, but ridding the house of them (entirely) is taking time.  We have been working on this problem a month, now.  Don’t get me wrong, most of them are gone, but there are still a couple we see in the house every day.

As an aside note, we discovered this year, to our detriment, that Frontline Plus is now useless for fleas, at least where we live.  It was not an enjoyable thing to discover this year, believe me.  Sweet Girl is allergic to flea bites.  Anybody want to buy some unused Frontline Plus from me?

STANDARDIZED TESTS

We got our standardized test results.  This was Chips’ fourth time taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.  This was Sweet Girl’s first time.  Each year, Chips’ scores have gotten better and better, so I was disappointed this year to see that his Math scores tanked.  I truly don’t know why.  All I know is that his attitude toward Math has gone downhill this year.   Also, this was the first time he took this test away from home, with the distraction of other kids.  So we had a talk about it; said we weren’t too happy with the situation.  He has complained so bitterly about Math this year that he had negotiated himself out of doing the Practice Workbook problems that Calvert includes.  He hasn’t done them all year.  We let him know that this omission will be ending right now.  After all, most of his aspirations in life involve careers that are heavily Math dependent.  So he needs to change his attitude about Math.  It’s not that our curriculum is bad, it is just that there isn’t a lot of room to fudge when it comes to Math.  There is actual real work that needs to be done, and done correctly, and he has been resistant to that.

Sweet Girl had a great test score for her first Iowa Test.  I was really pleased with it.  I know she tried hard to do a good job on the test, and it showed.  Her Math score wasn’t super, but it was mainly because of the timing of our school year.  She was less than halfway into Third Grade and she was being normed against kids who were testing in April of their school year (otherwise, near the end of Third Grade).  She hadn’t even been exposed to multiplication and division yet.  We understood this situation, and feel she did very well, considering. 

The fantastic news is that both our children pinned the scale in Reading and Language Arts – 99th percentile.  Both kids.  How “cool” is that?

SUMMER CAMP

Next week, we take a much needed break from lessons to head to the big city for orchestra music camp.  This will be our first time experiencing this, and we are looking forward to it.  Maybe it will do something to change my outlook.

MUSIC IN OUR HOME

We are proceeding with a new batch of new music selections to work on this year.  Chips is especially enjoying working on his Haydn Violin Concerto.  I love it; I just love hearing him learn and practice it.  It is a wonderful concerto, full of joy.  Chips has dreams and aspirations of playing it with the orchestra next spring.  Wouldn’t that be something?!?!

ODDS AND ENDS

This is the guillotine Chips made.  Thank goodness we made it before I became ill with Fifth Disease.  It was for a world history video production we were participating with our local homeschool fellowship group.  Our family had written and planned the scene for the French Revolution.  We did have a load of fun with this, but it included a hot day in a city park.  Nevertheless, it was enjoyable and we are looking forward to seeing the finished composite video!

A photo with a good friend of ours, taken at our end of year Suzuki Recital.  We will see more of him this coming year, in orchestra.

Sweet Girl has been blessing us with an abundance of her special baked goods lately.  Messy, but tasty.  She loves to bake, and she loves to surprise us with instant pudding. (note the long pants – she has to wear them as long as we think fleas might still be in the house).

I am convinced that Chips can do about anything at the same time as the hula hoop.  He can read a book, he can put on and take off a shirt, and he can even play piano, all while doing the hula hoop.  What a guy!

And finally, here is Self-Reliant Man opening his Father’s Day gifts, including some professional photos.  I think my husband had a nice Father’s Day.  We went out for Brewster’s Ice Cream, need I say more?

Next post is a good one – I did a “feasibility study” for another trip out west next year.  !!!!!  Smile Smile !!!!!  Just thinking about it brightens my day.  I told you I would end this post on an up note.