The Useless Label Maker

I bought a label maker today. The cool kind. Not that turn it and squeeze it kind that spits out red or blue tape with embossed white letters on it like my parents had when I was a kid.

It was only $20 at Target and it's going to transform my life.

Or so I thought. But let me back up a bit.

This morning I got up and typed up a vision statement for our house. I know! I am a HUGE nerd. The thought came to me last night and this morning I sat down and hammered it out while the biscuits were in the oven. I'm a regular Jerry Maguire over here.

I have made some firm decisions about how I want this house to run. And my vision required a label maker. I labeled the pantry shelves just now. Then I went walking around looking for other things to label......

....and I realized there is nothing else I can label until I get things straighted up around here. It's pretty bad when you open a cabinet and stand staring at the contents unable to come up with a word or even a phrase that describe the contents of that cabinet.

I have work to do.

First Fish

Little Bit caught her first fish tonight!

Look closely. Can you see it? It's under Daddy's hand. It was a tiny hardhead. She didn't care. She was SO proud!

And Sweetheart caught her first fish back in May on a camping trip. She caught another one tonight. It was a whiting.

It was really fun! Since S and I don't have fishing licenses right now, I suppose if times get tough we'll be employing these two to catch supper for us.

I might need to stock up on Ramen noodles.

A Renewed Vision for What I Do......(Don't Worry, This is Not an Inspirational Post)

OK. I cannot get enough of these videos.

If you have watched The Tonight Show all these many years, then these are not new to you...but I haven't so they are.

Here is an awesome Jaywalking segment from The Tonight Show. Dear. Me.

And this video nearly killed me. Really???

I've been watching these kinds of videos all afternoon and let's just say I am feeling the enormity of my task as the educator of my children. And concerned greatly about the results of public education.

I asked Sweetheart to name a country that began with a "U" and, without pause, she said, "United States." Thank you. I can sleep better tonight. 'Cause after watching all these adults who COULD NOT do that today...I was getting kind of worried. By the way, there were also adults who could not answer the question, "How many sides does a triangle have?"

Goodness sake people. I don't care if your kids go to public, private, or homeschool but this is NOT OK!!!!

Read to your kids. A lot. Please?

Straight From the Horse's Mouth

I was just thinking the other day that Little Bit hasn't had many tics lately. (For anyone new to my blog, our 5 year old daughter has Tourette Syndrome.) Well, today they reared their ugly head again.

I suppose if I stopped and thought hard about it, they are always around. But lately they have been so small and not a big deal that I haven't spent any time thinking about them. Mostly, she just feels the need to touch things. She'll even get up in the middle of a program to go touch the corners of the TV screen. Eh, it's just everyday life around here.

Today Sweetheart was posing a doll and taking pictures of it. As she walked away, Little Bit started touching the doll's head and Sweetheart said, "Don't mess it up!" Little Bit yelled back, "It's a tic!" I told her she could go ahead and touch it but to be careful. She touched all the parts that she felt needed to be touched and then we had this conversation:

LB: If I don't do the tics I feel bad.
Me: Like....how do you feel if you don't do the tic?
LB: I feel like......nervous if I don't.

(Pretty good explanation for a 5 year old, I'd say!)

LB: I don't like doing the tics. I wish they would go away.
Me: I'm sorry darling. I wish you didn't have to deal with them too.
LB: (sits down on couch and punches stomach) Go away tics! Get out of my tummy!!!!

I then suggested we find a computer game on dinosaurs to play. That distracted her enough and I got her interested in the game. It breaks my heart....and she wasn't really even all that upset during this conversation. But I have found I can sometimes distract her away from the tics. When she was younger she had a throat tic that hurt her to do. I would put a Wiggles CD on in the car for us to all sing along to and that usually worked.

Sweetheart is very patient with the tics. She will even be walking by carrying something and Little Bit will stop her so she can touch the object. She's still trying to wrap her head around the idea of tics. She asked me tonight during this conversation with Little Bit, "So....she can't stop them?" I told her she could, but it took a lot of effort and it was hard to do sometimes. Sweetheart gets kind of frustrated sometimes (when LB is standing in front of her TV program touching the corners of the screen), but overall she's really awesome at dealing with it. It probably helps that Little Bit hollers "TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC TIC" while she does it.

Which leaves very little doubt as to what is happening. :)

When It All Comes Together

I usually do my lesson planning on Sunday afternoons. That's new by the way as this is the first year I have ever actually DONE lesson plans. Anyway, it's working out pretty well so far.

I sometimes wait too long to get started and end up wishing I had gone earlier to get this book from the library or copied this thing or bought this item at the store....you know how it is. Things that would make our school better but aren't entirely necessary. They all seem really, really necessary when I'm in the middle of planning.

This week I looked at our calendar and saw that Sweetheart was supposed to do another week of Pioneers and then a week of Explorers. We were both bored just thinking about that Explorer unit and we were so over Pioneers already. What was I thinking back in August when I planned all this?

Well that's what being flexible is all about. So I made an executive decision to change her theme unit to Detectives. That's what she's been spending all her time doing anyway. She's had her nose in a detective book all week. She's set up a detective agency in the playroom closet. Why not follow her interests?

And next up on the calendar for Little Bit is Dinosaurs, which is all she's been waiting for since Kindergarten started. So I have two REALLY happy girls tonight. They can't wait for school tomorrow.

But will I have time to get all this together? With the last minute planning and all? Thank you HomeschoolShare!!!! I found two super great free lapbooks/units on both themes!!!! And get this: the dinosaur unit is from a creation point of view! How rare is that? The first activity is a booklet on the days of creation from Genesis which is exactly what she's memorizing for Bible class anyway!!!! And there is also a dinosaur coloring book with handwriting practice and it uses Handwriting Without Tears font!!! Just what she's learning.

It gets better! Sweetheart is memorizing the Lord's Prayer in Bible class and her teacher gave her homework to write it out this week. Hello Bible/Handwriting!!!! And even the detective unit manages to bring the Bible into it with a booklet about how they are fearfully and wonderfully made (pertaining to the fingerprints study). I just LOVE homeschooling.

And I love it when it all comes together.