Happy Wordless Wednesday!

[Yes] we are in a time warp here: This is a 1960′s asthma nebulizer machine.  It belongs to Sky’s mother, known around here as the lovely and gracious Queen Mum.

We are in the midst of some asthma drama;  our nebulizer machine broke a while ago, now that only 2 of the kids seem to be suffering with asthma and considering their ages, we decided not to get a new one but just rely on inhalers.

[wrong answer] !!  You lose a turn.

It seems congress, and California in particular, keep conspiring against us as asthma parents.  Not being able to order a reasonably priced nebulizer machine in California is old news to us, been there, done that hassle…but a new law passed against our tried and true albuterol inhalers- and then, Sky’s employer changed prescription plans on us.  I went to pick up inhalers at the pharmacy and found out that the $6 albuterol inhalers were now $40, and the steroid inhaler was $105.

• Yeah, fun times for mom as she decides how badly her children need to breathe….. {insert sarcastic smiley here}

We made do with two older inhalers I found in the house…yes, it was sad, my kids were sharing inhalers… and then I was telling The Queen Mum about the hassle, and she said, brightly and helpfully…”would you like to borrow my old nebulizer?”  and I said “yes!” and she went to go get it.   I waited for her to bring it out, fully expecting her to walk out with an early 1990′s model, like our first one (1990 was the time I remember her asthma being really bad and she was hospitalized quite often)  She walked out, instead with what has to be a 1950′s or I’m guessing a 1960′s model.

I instantly thought of Sky’s dad, who believed in buying the best.  I looked doubtfully at the old tubing attached, but was optimistic that the machine itself would outlast any new machine we buy- and I knew Sky could rig up some kind of solution for the tubing.  The pressure gauge threw me a bit…

Sky was able to rig up our new tubing and mask.  So, why yes, we have kids breathing again at our house!  It is really, really, loud. Emma-the-wonder-labradoodle heads to my room when I turn it on.  It gets hot, too- so I cannot do back-to-back treatments for the kids on it, but have to let it cool down a bit.  I am in constant fear that we will be the ones to finally break the Queen Mum’s museum quality machine.

Good news, the Dr. brother found us a nice, newer, quieter, faster used machine…it arrives tomorrow, I hope :)

It’s never dull around here for long…

Meg attended Winter Formal, a homeschool version.  It was hosted at a local hotel ballroom and they had dinner, a DJ and dancing, and photos even.

His mom dropped them off, I picked them up- at late o’clock…. Her lovely and loving cousin did her hair (I am so grateful, I am not skilled in the fancy hair department!!) and then the moms took the kids to Bower’s Museum for some photos.  Kind of exhausting.  I congratulated his mom on having two boys.  I have 3 girls, and many dances to look forward to…

***

Did I mention that Sky is an artist with wood?  He made a horse-shaped jewelry box for Meg last year.  I’ve been encouraging to make a few more and open an Etsy store..so he did.  Here’s a look.  The middle part is a drawer, and there are two more drawers on the side.  He’s pretty amazing.

Meg drew the outline of the horse, Josie had the idea for a Wolf-profile jewelry box, so she drew this outline.  I think it will be a work of beauty when it is done.

***

This weekend we did a bit of Spring cleaning (though of course not as much as I had envisioned) and a ton of laundry.  I had planned on finally cleaning out and organizing my homeschool closet, but so far, haven’t attempted it.  It’s almost dinner time here on Monday, so it is looking less likely that I will do it.

I am making Chicken tortellini soup right now.  (I cook the chicken thighs in the crock-pot first) -and pumpkin bread in the oven is making the house smell nice.

I just finished reading “What a girl wants” by Kristin Billerbeck.  It is  Christian chick-lit, and I really enjoyed it.  I love a happy, girl finally gets guy sort of ending.  I picked up the sequel at the library, and dived right in…but the first page the character mentioned her future s-i-l and the last name was a different last name then the guy of the last book. {Spoilers! – I guess}  Now I have to see if there is a book I missed, because I seem to be lost…

***

Josie and Demi-Sky have been sick with asthma, Josie has been under the weather for a few weeks with some kind of mystery virus.  She is going to try to go to fencing tonight for the first time in 3 weeks.

After fencing, I am going to get the kids’ homeschool work set out for the week.

It’s been a nice holiday weekend.  How about you?

I am one of those homeschoolers who doesn’t put much stock in standardized testing.  I am not a fan of the large amounts of time public schools now spend studying to pass the tests.  I am not a fan of cutting out subjects such as art, History, Science, music- that will not be tested that year.  I am not a fan of some of the hard to understand questions on the tests, or of having to pick the more right “politically correct” answer from 2 or 3 possibly correct answers.  I also think it is hard to measure learning, there are so many variables that go into the equation- how much of the curriculum was covered before testing? Did the teacher branch out deeper into some subjects but missed others?  Were many of the kids sick that year, or did they arrive in the classroom already behind?

So, yes, I disagree with the mania and emphasis and carrot/stick application of the No Child Left Behind act.

And yet, my kids will need to be tested.  Yes, they will be taking the SAT’s in highschool.  We homeschool using a public Charter School program that is made up entirely of homeschool families.  We do have to test every year because we use a charter school.  My approach has been to downplay the whole thing, and just show up on testing day with some yummy snacks.  Yeah, that’s it.

Until this year, that is.  Last year, Meg scored very high on her standardized tests.  And yes, it went to my head a bit, and made me feel really good, I admit it.  Not that we did anything different, we did not prepare for testing at all.  She just did really well.

And it went to my head. I already mentioned that part, yes?  I liked how it felt.  I liked that I had concrete proof of their learning and retention.  So, with all that, I decided to do it a bit different this year, and study a bit for testing.

We are casually, going through these workbooks, starting at the beginning of February:

Spectrum California Test Prep grade 4

Spectrum California Test Prep grade 6

(I found a lack of materials for test prep for High School…)

Daily Warm Ups: Language Skills grade 4

Flash Kids Language Arts test prep grade 8 (the highest level I could find for Josie-grade 9)

9th+ Grade Use it! Don’t Lose it! Daily Language practice (for Meg, grade 11)

I am surprised to find I am enjoying working slowly through these books with the kids.  In the past, when I’ve glanced through these sort of books, I’ve turned up my nose, because there is no teaching helps or explanations for the questions and subjects. But, I am finding that I am totally capable of explaining the concepts as we move through them.  I like that I am pushed to address some skills that we are not covering, it’s good to be stretched some, yes?

How about you?  Do you *Homeschool parents and also *public school parents- do any special prepping for testing season?Are you a public school parent who afterschools some?  Please share your wisdom :)

twas the night before Christmas...

right before Christmas, I saw this UPS truck with a U-haul trailer hitched up.  I squealed in delight-kind of iconic! -and pleaded with my teens to get my iphone out and snap a photo, quick!  Sorry it’s so grainy, it was getting dark and I did not have my good camera.  This was just such a utterly hilarious sign of the season!  I hope he got them all delivered!  Happy not so Wordless Wednesday!

Last weekend we were invited to experience a very special day at Knott’s Berry Farm.  The whole family enjoyed finding out how “Two-gether is better at Knott’s”!  During the entire month of February, Knott’s is offering special online discount pricing, celebrating the season of love!  *Twogether is Better online special here Also, of special note is Knott’s special Leap Year pricing of $29.00  for park entrance on February 29th!

We started the morning enjoying a sweetheart breakfast at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken dinner restaurant with Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Special heart-shaped pancakes covered with boysenberry syrup were the hands-down favorite!  Eggs, sausage, coffee… all very good.

After breakfast, we were treated to a special showing of “Love is in the air, Charlie Brown!” -a musical at the Camp Snoopy Theatre. One little boy was invited up to dance, it took a few minutes, but then he got thoroughly into it <adorable!> A call went out to the rest of the kids, and they all got to dance on stage.  Amie had a blast :)

Camp Snoopy was decorated for Valentine’s Day – it’s an extra-special month, with special Valentine’s crafts and activities for the kids.  There is a cupid’s corner for red-themed craft creating and valentine making. ~Lucy was not manning the psychiatrist booth, but there was a Hugs booth. {Hugs are free!} In ghost-town we found chocolate-dipped strawberries, bananas and my very favorite >>> Chocolate-dipped rice krispie treats.

the kids thoroughly enjoyed:

• the stage coach {Meg talked horses, of course}
• the Jaguar roller-coaster (no lines, rode several times)
• the Silver Bullet roller-coaster….after 4 trips, Demi finally worked up the courage to ride, he loved it, of course.  I was so proud that he conquered his fear.
• the Ferris Wheel in Camp Snoopy
• the log ride – of course!!
• funnel cake ~ of course!!

February is a perfect time to enjoy Knott’s Berry Farm, the weather is mild but sunny and the park is not crowded. Your little ones will love Camp Snoopy- there is something for everyone at Knott’s! <3  Season pass-holders can get a friend in this month at a discount, and don’t forget the leap-day special!

*disclaimer: blogger was not compensated for this post, but entry to the park was provided to facilitate a review of this event.

Hey, good news!  I have 2 family Family registrations (value $45 each) for any of the 5 Great Homeschool Conventions happening this year.

Two winners will win a family registration to one convention of their choosing.  This registration covers the parents, children, and grandparents for all three days of the convention and gets them into the exhibit hall and all the speaking sessions.

You can click over to the Great Homeschool Convention homepage to see the cities, dates available and to see a list of speakers and workshops.

2 winners will be chosen via rafflecopter.  To enter, you only need to answer the question “how many years have you been homeschooling?” in the comments below (just click through the rafflecopter buttons, they will walk you through it) you don’t have to be a homeschooler to enter, if you are entering for a family member, just say so in the comments, or if you are considering homeschooling, that is fine, too- just say so :) you can get extra entries by tweeting the giveaway, etc. on rafflecopter.

Giveaway will end on Sunday night, February 12, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. EST. I will forward the contact information for the two winners to Great Homeschool Conventions, who will issue an email confirmation to the winners.  Void where prohibited.

good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*disclaimer: Great Homeschool Conventions has provided me with one free pass for myself to the LB convention and they are providing the 2 family passes to the winners of this giveaway

Being a girl, I have a thing for beautiful shoes.  However, being the mom of 4 and living on 1 income, I’ve learned to quietly squash that genetic yearning for luscious footwear.  I only have a few pair, and they are all [must it always come to this??] Sensible/ and purchased on sale.

And then, I saw them:

River Song’s deep-red platform heels.  oh Mary Kate & Ashely! She {River} strode confidently across my wide-screen t.v. in them.  She then taunted me the first few minutes of the episode with them…hanging them casually in the Tardis, carrying them in her hand as she curtsied to the Dr.  There is something about River Song that I admire deeply.  Have I also admitted before to an undying love of red? {see my kitchen remodel post} *here.

You will see the scene that that stole my fabulous-shoe-starved-soul at the beginning of the video….

So, whenever I found myself out amongst the shops, I would look for River Song Red Shoes.  I’d see the platform shape, but the color would always be too crimson.  Or the color would be close, but they would be a felty/ sued material.

Sky finally suggested I google them, and he found this:  Diary of a Renaissance Seamstress which did a great job tracking down look-alikes. ( the originals were over $700 !  I see them on sale now, but still they are out of my range)

I settled for the BCB Generation pumps on sale for $70.

They are on their way!!  I’m kind of giddy.

I’ll need a new dress now.

So, is there a girl-item you just had to have?? Spill….

Oliver does a little bird watching

Happy Wordless Wednesday!  We recently had “Flamingo Days” here at {Home}, an occurance that breaks out every-once-in-awhile. My Birthday was the occassion for this flamingo sighting :)

I love birds, I am always looking for them.  This week, I looked out my window and noticed a great deal of activity over at the basil bush in the garden.  I looked longer and spied the bright yellow flash of the American Goldfinch.  We’ve have mostly boring birds here in the heart of Orange County…the bright yellow goldfinches are an exciting visitor.  Look very closely at the center of the photo and then gaze downwards, you will see a few.

I think the secret to bird-watching with kids, is to call their attention to the interesting visitors they just don’t notice.  To my busy kids, the birds fluttering in the gardens just register in their busy brains as “birds” if asked, they would probably guess they are sparrows.  I like to call them over, ask them to watch for a bit and then tell them about what we are seeing. If I am not sure which bird we are looking at, we will go grab a handy bird guide. When I get really stumped, even with the bird guide (sometimes birds all look alike!) then I run over and ask our bird-expert next-door.  (my golden neighbor, whom I  adore)

We have had some beautiful, warm weather lately here in So. California, so we headed to a favorite, wild-ish park near by.  The kids and dog romped, played and explored. I kept a look -out for birds and took photos.

I love this bridge, such scope for childhood imagination :)

Here is a typical view of our river beds, here in So. California.  They are almost always dry.  A big rain storm with a full river bed is an exciting treat.  Just thought I’d share this view with those of you living in other States with freely running water.  The thought of running, bubbling, babbling brooks and rivers makes us a little giddy. …Something to be dreamed of.

a few of our favorite birding books here at {Home}:

• Backyard Birds (Field Guides for Young Naturalists)

• The Young Birder’s guide to birds of North America

• Linnea’s Almanac - out of print, but a gem if you can get it at the library :)

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