Week 7, 8th

MONDAY

Well, it finally feels like we are back to normal.  We have no company, human or otherwise and although it's lonelier, it's quieter.

Lola (BoxerX) is resting her legs and back, she's been playing a lot and is still frequently.  There's no one interesting here at the moment so she is spending time just relaxing on the couch.  I have every faith it'll help her heal up.  Nothing like a rest to let your body fix itself.

Walter (Pug) is pleased for the quiet of GuestPug going home.  Although lovely, GuestPug does follow the crowd around and seems to think Walter should be a better host.  I love GuestPug but it was a rough week for him being here with trying to train baby Alice.  He's back after Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to it.

Alice (Pug) is adorable, painfully so.  She's smart and has settled into the family beautifully.  She's back on track, training wise, after the fun of my mom and GuestPug being here.  Back to the grind, baby Alice.  She's sleep on my foot as I write this, yeah, she fits in nicely.

Five of the 6 chickens are laying eggs regularly now.  Edna has failed to impress, so far but I have faith in her ability to perform.  I will admit that we have been unable to confirm the identity of the giant mutant double yolk egg that was laid in the coop.  We assumed it was Martini because of the consistent gigantic size of her eggs.  I'm keeping a watchful eye to see when Edna comes through.  They are still huge fans of laying in my chair outside and in fact had a line up this morning waiting to jump up and lay.  It's ridiculous and anarchy, fun!

The Banker is back on track as well.  We have a full, regular, week of school planned.  We headed out to get new tires on my car today and stopped at Half Price Books to have a look around.  We decided to switch gears in Latin and we bought him a Wheelock latin book.  We have been futzing around with a few different Latin ideas and neither of us have been delighted with any of them.  We are streamlining to the one Wheelock book and we'll see how it goes.

We also bought 2001 A Space Odyssey, he'll start reading it this week and when he's done we'll do a little project and see the movie, great plan for a science unit, I think!

I feel frantic for some reason, maybe just overtired or worried or fat or all of the above.  I'm taking some well needed and deserved "me" time tomorrow to spend time at Ikea (one of my favorite places to lurk about) with FriendC, I like her vibe and am looking forward to the spending of time.

I don't feel too much like I'm breaking the Banker this week, bonus!

We did stop on the way home and bought copious amounts of Chinese food so I don't have to cook later although I am playing around with one of my tried and true millionaire shortbread recipes, never one to rest on my laurels :)

I think it's cocktail time...

/Tracy

TUESDAY

I'm going out to play today.  Here's a little something to keep you entertaining for a few moment, it's how we roll at my house now.


Sunny lays an egg:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azc9aenKymk&feature=plcp

Chicken lays an egg:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7spSqyvLMc&feature=plcp

I'm leaving the Banker to his own devices this morning and heading off to Ikea with a friend.  I need the diversion and FriendC is the one to divert me.

I had a culinary crisis yesterday when the insert of my pressure cooker (Nesco Electric) took a tumble and crushed it's side.  I actually wept.  I use the pressure cooker all the time and had just done a massive meat shop, specifically for meat to cook in the pressure cooker! GASP!  I toyed briefly with just going out and buying another one.  I got mine at Walmart for $62 but they are $70 now and frankly I was afraid to spend the grocery money on one.  I called the company and they are shipping me a new insert for $25, it's going to be a long 7-10 days *whimper*  I don't cope well with waiting.

The Banker is going to be responsible for completing his "English" day work, literature, grammar and vocabulary.  He also has to finish the first chapter of his new Latin book from yesterday and I want him to finish his laundry (you BET he does his own!) and empty and refill the dishwasher so I can come home to a clean space and make dinner.  I think I'll make a meatloaf, I haven't made one forever and it'll be quick and easy when I get back.  I was going to make meatballs with the ground beef but since I discovered the pressure cooked meatball, I don't think I could go back to the oven or stove top cooked kind.  I'm a snob about my own food apparently.

I posted a couple of chicken videos for you.  There was an actual wrestling match in the chair between Sunny, who was in the throws of laying an egg and Chicken who needed the spot herself!  Sunny laid her egg on Chicken's head and left, that's why there is an egg on the chair in the video.  I have video of Sunny laying an egg and now of Chicken, very different techniques and yes, it's the kind of thing I notice.  I'm on a mission to get a video of each one of them although Peck lays in a very tiny dog crate so it'll be far less dramatic.

I'm off to do what I want to do today and leave my poor Banker to do all the work, poor Cinderella.

/Tracy

Day one, 8th

Well, we're here, the first day of 8th grade.  Husband left early (for him) and the Banker is still snoring.  I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this 15-20 minute window of quiet and solitude before I go get the boy up for school. I think 9:30 is an entirely appropriate time to start, he will be done 1:30ish because we figured the days would be about 4 hours long.  They'll be slightly longer at the start while we get our groove on.  Although Mondays are easy for me because he's got online classes for those subjects.  I'm basically a resource to him on cyber days, I'm the manager. 

daily summary page

Unlike last year where I printed him out a weekly schedule, the Banker asked for a planner, like in school where I could write the daily expectation and he could write notes, comments and check off what he'd done for the day.  We couldn't find a planner we liked so we have a binder with filler paper and I'm going to a daily schedule for him, with the big three classes listed plus any additional information he'll need or what my expectation is of the work he'll complete.  This week will be a lot of review, some new work but in the physics and science video classes, he's already 1/3 through them so I want him to do quick reviews to get back in the zone.  I like that we'll end up with a single 8th grade binder that we will be able to use as review and reference and even though no one is checking, proof of what we did.

Everything is in place and we're ready to go.  It's Monday so it's Latin, Physics and Science, which is Astronomy/Cosmology and space, day.  Heck of a way to kick off a year.  I thought it rather brilliant to put some of his favorites first.  

I sold yet another rug so I am certainly going to be spending time moving my writing zone and turning it into a sewing zone for at least this week. I actually paid into the promotional opportunities on Etsy to push the recipes and tutorials so let's all keep our fingers crossed people don't want me to DO anything for them but rather just tell them HOW to do it.  

I'll check back in at the end of today.  Although The Banker has been a royal, colossal, teenager for the past day or so, I'm looking forward to diving into this adventure together.  I really, mostly, think it's going to be great.  The abject horror of being convinced I'd broken him has been replaced with a slow seeping fear of it, I'm calling it improvement. 

/Tracy

UPDATE: 

What a brilliant day. The process worked beautifully, the information was accessible in a smooth and fluid motion.  The Banker took a break and took a walk.  He read outside, he read inside, he worked, took killer notes and completely and totally approved of the requirements for work and of the followup.  We.are.delighted.

When a good loaf goes wild!

OH and look at this ridiculous loaf of bread! I added whole wheat to my standard sandwich loaf and then, well, I must have rolled it differently.  It is a different pan than usual, this one is long and thin.  The Banker moans about sandwich bread being too big.  Really, nice crisis, Banker.  Anyway, I thought this would make it smaller.  I am thinking not.  :)

The recipe, the normal recipe, for my sandwich loaf is here:
http://tracyloopers.blogspot.com/2012/02/white-bread-pictorial-journey.html

Also, by way of an update, here's the girls!  20 weeks in 2 days!  c'mon girls, we're READY for eggs!!  I love these chickens, each one has such a personality and really, I've said it before, there's nothin' like chicken luv. :) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ5Q47X_KNg&feature=plcp

/happy monday!

August Preparation for 8th grade, Week 2

I've decided it's time to take some serious school related action.  Real action, not the "fretting and worrying, staring at the ceiling all night long and sure that I won't get it done or that I'm going to break him and ruin his life" action. 

I set a start day of August 13.  That's got to count as serious preparatory work, a start date is very nearly like a list.  If you have a list, you're half way to completion and that's how I'm feeling so very smug.  I don't have a list, but I do have a start date.  Did I mention it's going to be August 13th?

I'm wresting with sending the Banker to a weekly Co-op.  It's local and he's been there once before to shadow FriendA.  I like the idea of him getting out with kids his own age and frankly, since this is a very VERY reasonably priced Co-op, I have little to no interest in what classes he takes. Is that wrong?  Like last year, we were kicking around the idea of having Friday be a catch up or review day.  We rarely used it as such, let's be honest, it turned into TV, movie or go play with friends day.  This Co-op runs for 3 hours each Friday, 10-1.  Even I can wrap my head around those 3 hours.

I just emailed the administrator of the Co-op and said I was interested in the Banker taking Art, Volunteer/Service (babysitting in younger classes) and maybe yearbook?  I was surprised at my nuts and granola choices.  Dare I think I can bring him to the dark/hippie side?  Oh doubtful.  He was slightly disgruntled and asked if there were any REAL classes *that's my boy* so we are trying to get him into a Spanish class.  There, Banker, real.  

I think art is important, especially for a kid like the Banker.  He needs the break from straight line thinking.  Sometimes, much to his abject horror, he is going to have to grab a crayon, or worse a pastel, and simply go with the flow without direction.  It'll be good for him. 

Initially we were looking at high school English, high school Botany and high school Literature.  Seriously?  I bought books for the "big three" classes and fully intend on working through them here.  I was initially just looking for a Science program to put him in, it's the one subject that causes me deep seeded horror.  It causes me to get up, like today, sleeping pills or not, at 4:22am.  I'm starting to fret.  

I managed to catch myself though and rethought the choices.  This is, after all, a Co-op we are just trying out.  I found this one through a friend and although they're terribly happy with it I don't want to overload the Banker with too many high school credit academics just yet, he IS only 13 and this IS the first full year we are home schooling.  Removing him from school for the last third of grade 7 was the dry run for this performance.  I want to continue to investigate One Day Academy or Bronze Door, here in Austin, their reputations are stellar and if we're going to continue on this ride into high school that's the direction I want to go for the big gun classes like Science.  There may be a cost feature to those but this is the Banker's education we're talking about and guaranteed any monthly fee is still going be a minute percentage of what we would have been paying through any public school year in enrichment fees alone not to mention sport, extracurricular, club and additional lab and/or supply costs.

I reviewed the classes we'd chosen, the big 3, and I wisely gave my head a shake.  I think a first foray into a new Co-op should give him the opportunity to work around some other kids, meet some new kids and generally enjoy himself with some work thrown in there.  

We have a heavy course load this year at The Williams School of Everything.  Granted, unlike last year, there will only be one class per subject.  I may have gotten over my fear of gaps in learning and won't be assigning 5 math classes, really, I'm past that.  I will admit though, this year again will be math and science heavy.   

1. Finishing Pre-Algebra then moving into Algebra then intro to Geometry.  

2. Space, Cosmology and Astronomy (the science class that's brilliant in my head but still somewhat lacking on paper or process)

3. American History (thru 1877)

4. World country study (1 per month)

5. Physics

6. English Literature

7. Grammar/Composition

8. Photography (elective, 1/2 year)

9. (pick up soccer wherever we can find it)

10. Computer language/programming/intro to Java

11. Latin

Really, the boy didn't need 3 high school classes piled on top of these.  

I'm going to teach him to cook and he'll do a couple of sewing projects because I need to shake his head up a bit.  I think we'll revisit the mozzarella making.  I may invite FriendA for a combined, one off, culinary class of sorts.

My plan, this week, is to finalize the course list and prepare the schedule.  I will be ready on Monday to hit the ground running, in a perfect world it won't be done while screaming, flailing arms in the air and heading towards the edge of a cliff.

ON a completely unrelated note; there is a bonus to being up at 4:22 am and having culinary skills: 

Dutch baby pancake, for 1

I made a "Dutch Baby" pancake for me, just for me.  No one watched me (I HATE being stared at while I eat) No one commented, asked how I was doing, what I was doing or asked for a bite.  I like eating in the wee hours.  

Plus, it's not bad for one egg, a little flour and a splash of milk.  Sure I put some maple syrup on it but not too much.  Oh and yes, I did eat it all, it's just one measly egg and a little milk and a spoonful of flour, I can't see how it's different from a piece of toast with a poached egg on it and a glass of milk.  Well, except for the volume and deliciousness factor of course.  I'll put the recipe for the "mini" on the food blog:  http://tracyloopers.blogspot.com/   when I get back from taking my limping dog to the vet.  That's another story.

Hey, Happy Tuesday. 

/Tracy