Drum Update

Goodbye fever...hello, rash. Looks like roseola came. The fever broke and the rash showed up at dinner yesterday.  He's still not 100%, but he is doing better. Thank God for that! 

Hot Mess

That would be my Drum right now. He's been running a 100-103 fever all week. Normally I'm not one to run to the doctor for everything. But an elevated temp on day four with no tell tale signs (cough, sneeze, red throat, puffy eyes, runny nose, etc.) and no relief (nothing brought the fever down below 100 at all) had me concerned. After a thorough exam, the doctor said he had no clue. Aside from the fever and lethargy, Drum is the picture of health. He lost a bit of weight with not wanting to eat   much, but he was nursing well still so dehydration wasn't a concern. So I've got a cranky pants boy who won't sleep at night or nap without being held. I can't just lay down with him in arms. Oh, no. I've gotta be sitting upright with him for him to relax. With no idea what's causing it. Yay for modern medicine. I'm hoping its just a little bug that goes soon. 

We haven't gotten officially started with school work yet since I only have bits and pieces of materials, but we've been working with what we have without a set plan so far. Mostly Bible, reading and art with some science exploration. Not too much math or formal schedule yet. I'm determined to start right after Labor Day! I'm debating on how we want to register. I'm thinking about doing an "official" school through 8th grade if the TOPS (scholarship for local kids for in-state colleges that pays full tuition) program is still around when they're older and then switching to allowing outside review every year since TOPS isn't given to kids in the "registered schools," but is to those who turn in their yearly performance review. If TOPS is done away with by then, we'll just continue our "school." I'm thinking of the name "la petit academie de Pont Breaux" which is French for "the small school in (our city)." Hope it's not taken when I make my final decision. Lol

I've been super busy otherwise. I designed magazine from scratch for my Junior League chapter complete with doing the pictures. Full color, full bleed professionally printed magazine! I'll take pictures when it comes to my mail box. But it has certainly been a lot of work behind the scenes and making presentations and whatnot. Deadline was right before Drum got sick, so it's been a crazy time here. 

Also coinciding with Drum's sickness was our church ministry fair. We've had a tremendous influx of new members, so we wanted to provide an opportunity for them to get information about the various ministries and get involved. I was swamped with that. I had two booths to design (complete with logos for our ministries and information cards) all promotional materials and videos and social media leading up to and during the event, photo booth, food, and a huge free closet for all members to take whatever blessing they needed. We had so many like-new clothes donated that it was   amazing. Two big 6ft tables with stacks of clothes, three racks full, a table for shoes, and bins stuffed full. There was so much left over that I was even able to grab some stuff for myself. And there are still about 8 or 10 huge trash bags full to donate to the homeless shelters here. 

It was a lot of work, but it was great! 

Those are our booths and a fussy feverish Drum who kept us company while we presented information about our groups to people. 

Of course as soon as that calms down, fall portrait season comes around so I'm not really getting any sort of a break. I
won't   complain about getting business , though! But by the grace of God and coffee, I'll find peace and energy to make it through. I'm working hard on being content. This new busy season has made it very hard for me to make a much from scratch as I'm used to, so I'm having to adjust to the mind set that store bought bread and chicken stock won't kill my kids. That doesn't mean we're all out of a box now as I'm still cooking, but I'm having to purchase pre packaged sauces and ingredients that I can thrown in a pot. And let's not even get started on the laundry room. Haha. 

But, it is a lesson in finding peace amidst the chaos. It would be really easy to become overwhelmed and freak out and not be able to find rest in His grace. So I'm making time for extra prayer to stay plugged in. 

Auds starts dance again in two weeks, so we went and got her fitted for new shoes and had a breakfast out and some girl-time. It was so nice hanging with my gal pal and not hearing poop jokes or belching contests. But I did miss my boys. Auds got an apple fritter as big as her head and loved it!

My kids' creativity never ceases to amaze me. They used my balloons from the ministry fair as a volleyball net for a rousing game. 

First Impressions on Discipleship: A Character Curriculum Using Scripture

B brought home my first "book" today! 

The intro states that it can either be used as a teaching method in the heat of the moment to correct negative behavior or as an actual curriculum (it breaks it up into one year for older kids, two year for middle school kids, and three three year for younger kids complete with a lesson plan for each). 

I'll decide if I want to add it as an official curriculum once I check out all of my other stuff, but I will be using it to teach in difficult situations. This is what the author recommends:

Depending upon the situation, identify the issue that needs dealing with (love and peace for fighting, truth for lying, etc.) Each topic comes with a Scripture and a definition. Read both and discuss. 

I'm gonna write out the Scriptures and definitions on index cards and keep them in the binder pockets for easy access for little hands. 

There are also copywork for older kids to practice writing the Scriptures either during correction or during lesson plans. 

There are also spots for prayer, journaling, and reading to keep track of everything. 

I definitely think it's something that will grow with us through the years. I'll likely start out using the Scripture and definition cards to address behaviors and the copywork to teach them the verses and also to keep little hands occupied while calming down. I'll probably start using it as a curriculum when all of the kids are reading and continue it year after year from the three year program, to the two year, and culminating in the one year program for high school years. 

I think the idea of true discipleship is lost nowadays and parents are either too quick to get a switch or to give in to whatever is going on. I'm all about correction, but I think that dealing with the root issue and giving advice and wisdom to make better choices is even more important than just spanking or placating without another word said. That's just my opinion, though. And I think this will help give me Word to back up what I tell the kids in addressing negative behaviors.

I can't wait to put it to work - which will probably be later today. ;)

Getting Ready

We've started a sort of lax homeschooling routine because the summer crankies of not having a set curriculum routine were getting bad. I still don't have my curriculum printed yet. Because I got so much, we decided it would be cheaper for B to print it at work and bring it home. He printed me out some farm activities (100+ pages) and the Charlotte Mason Way Explained book. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the rest of my goodies so I can lesson plan. But, for now, we're doing the farm activities (matching, handwriting, coloring, word searches, etc.) to stay busy in addition to Bible study and Auds writing a Proverb a day. 

I got a confirmation that getting this curriculum was a wise decision the other day. Rather than take away from our normal income to purchase, I was going to use my babysitting money (since we don't depend on it) to buy curriculum. I calculated it would cost 2.5 months of babysitting to purchase it. Well, my assistant has been on again off again with the baby's father and he'll decide he wants to watch her at the last minute and they don't show up. So, out of the entire summer, I only watched her two weeks, which was providentially the amount needed to purchase this CM curriculum. Right before coming one day, she let me know that the father would watch her for the rest of summer school and that the next semester didn't start until almost September. Which means had I waited to go the original route I wouldn't be starting until almost November! 

Thank The Lord for guiding me in that decision! And I got a ton of free stuff. Those huge farm printables were free, I got ice cream printables (each scoop has a letter or number and you stack them in order on top of the cones) free, a whole host of homeschooling mother advice books, and a goodie basket of handmade organic bath stuff. I got shampoo and conditioner bars, lotion bar, bath salts, sugar scrub, foot lotion, and lip balm. It arrived in the mail today and I'm so excited to try it! 

I can't wait to have all my materials and get to work! And to take a nice bath! ;)