Adjunctmom's Blog

January 3 in 30: Week 2 & 3

adjunctmom — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:39:11 +0000

Mind-Body-Soul Time

Still managing this quite well. Most days both kids get one on one time and they seem to be thriving with it. Clearly one of the better decisions I’ve made. Need to keep this going for them and for me.

Get the Kids More Involved in the Household

We have been dividing the chores each week and the kids have attempted a couple of them. Ben is making huge strides with keeping his room clean and remembering to put his clothes in his hamper. We’ve had a few glitches with toys in the living room and with some of the more involved chores due to my work schedule being way more full than I anticipated this term. We may have to rethink the Motivated Moms part of this and create something that is more doable for us in this season of our lives. Worth the thought.

31 Days To Build A Better Spouse

I’m keeping this up well. Mostly in the morning with the daily office, but sometimes I don’t get to any of it until the evening. I’m trying to be more precise with it and more determined in my focus. We’ll continue to see.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so forth.

January 3 in 30: Week 1

adjunctmom — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:50:41 +0000

Mind-Body-Soul Time

We have managed this. There have been days where the ten minutes turned into thirty minutes, but otherwise, both kids are getting some one-on-one time with me where their interests dominate.

Get the Kids More Involved in the Household

We sat down and divided up the chores, but then we got swept up in some household craziness and didn’t get as far with the chores this week as we’d hoped. We’ll divide the chores again tomorrow and see if we can make a better stab at finishing things next week.

31 Days To Build A Better Spouse

This has been going really well. I’ve linked it up with my Daily Office readings and just plug away a little every day. I have to believe that it will ultimately have an effect even if it doesn’t seem to be in the beginning.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so forth.

January 3 in 30: Goals

adjunctmom — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:59:44 +0000

Mind-Body-Soul Time

This is a concept described in Amy McCready’s Positive Parenting Solutions class (and her book, If I have to Tell You One More Time …). The idea is that you spend ten minutes of uninterrupted time with each child, each day, that is child directed. That means the child chooses the activities and so forth. My goal here is to ddo this with each of my kids every day this month.

Get the Kids More Involved in the Household

My goal here is to use the Motivated Moms chore chart to help divide the household workload and to help them learn new skills. I think this is going to be interesting and hopefully helpful to all of us in maintaining the house.

31 Days To Build A Better Spouse

This is a challenge going on this month based on a book by the same title. I’m hoping that joining into this will help ME think more about P and his needs as my health issues seem to be heading toward resolved..

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so forth.

Please note this is the first post written using my new keyboard hooked up to my iPad. I’ve tried to catch all the errors, but if I’ve missed any, I’m sorry.

Year in Review — 2011

adjunctmom — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:56:49 +0000

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before? Went gluten-free.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I did not make resolutions or set goals last year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? There are a couple of new babies out there in web land that I count as close to me. Particularly Miss Arabella. She’s a doll.
4. Did anyone close to you die? My “other mother” died in October. My fuzzy nephew, Carson, went to the bridge August 12. He was the sweetest golden retriever and it makes me unbearably sad just thinking about how suddenly he left us.
5. What countries did you visit? None.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? Time. It seems to be my universal answer, but there it is. I’m hoping the schedule process will help me with that.
7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? March 11. The day that Sam had her first, and so far, only seizure. Gave me a serious reality check. I never even considered that she might die at home before that night. November 1. The day my doctor let me down. Big time. And December 12. The day that Katie announced she was not wearing diapers anymore. And she hasn’t (except at night, and she doesn’t really need them then either).
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Learning to flex with Ben more on homeschooling.
9. What was your biggest failure? Not paying better attention to the signals my body was giving me.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Yes. It’s been a long year health-wise. I spent time in the ER. I very nearly got myself admitted over breathing issues. My body has been in a state of revolt for about a year now. At least I’m finally paying attention.
11. What was the best thing you bought? iPhone. Definitely the iPhone. It’s so awesome to have all of my devices speaking to each other. Finally.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Ben’s. I’m not saying he’s been great, because he hasn’t. There have been days where all that stood between him and reform school is the fact that they really don’t exist anymore. BUT, he’s been willing to try more new things (food, activities, etc.,) and he’s actually matured quite a bit in the last few months. I’m so very, very proud of him.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Um, not anybody’s really.
14. Where did most of your money go? It’s a toss up between MOSI, the Zoo, and Amazon.
15. What did you get really excited about? Our Thanksgiving trip to the Gaylord Palms. It was a lot of fun, even if Katie ended up adding another “booboo bear” to her collection.
16. What song will always remind you of 2011? “Hell on the Heart” — Eric Church. (It’s Peyton’s song). And “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” — Blake Shelton.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? I think I’m happier. I feel like I’m finally getting a grip on the health battle I’ve been in and that I can actually make good progress toward being able to do more. Compared to the beginning of the year, I’m a dynamo now .
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Resting and spending real time with the kids.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Working.
20. How did you spend Christmas? With family. Extra special family because my sibling, her husband, and her son (also known as my nephew) were here. We had a blast with Master E (including Sam, who has returned to her old ways and spent the day out with us, essentially).
21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Corn tostadas.
22. Think of something important to mention. Life is what you make of it.
23. How many one-night stands? None.
24. What was your favorite TV program? Top Chef and Iron Chef America.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don’t hate anyone. I dislike a number of people, but I don’t hate anyone.
26. What was the best book you read? If I have to Tell You One More Time . . . by Amy McCready.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Cee Lo Green
28. What did you want and get? iPhone
29. What did you want and not get? I really can’t think of anything that I wanted and didn’t get. Not anything.
30. What was your favorite film of this year? I don’t think I’ve seen a single film from this year. I want to see The King’s Speech. Does that count?
31. What did you do on your birthday? No clue.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Figuring out the health issues sooner and being more proactive in resolving them.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Jeans and t-shirts or yoga pants and tops. I’m pretty boring, really.
34. What kept you sane? My friend, Heidi.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Sticking with George Clooney. At this point, I think he’s getting to be a habit with me (name that singer).
36. What political issue stirred you the most? At this point, I’m pretty politically exhausted. Seriously. I’m dreading the 2012 political season.
37. Who do you miss? Mom (aka other mother). Carson. Some friends who have chosen not to be friends anymore.
38. Who was the best new person you met? Cara from Peanuts are Evil.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. Sometimes, I have to trust myself and my own judgement.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

We live, we love, we forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

“We Live” — Superchick

December 3 in 30: And on the last day

adjunctmom — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:53:27 +0000

Read the Daily Office

I’ve read it every day for the last 35 days. I think that makes it almost a habit. My intention had been to read it in the morning, but that doesn’t always happen. I try though.

Slow Down

I did this as well. P was shocked when there were two days the week before Christmas and most days the week after Christmas completely unscheduled. No activities; no work; no nothing. It’s been a good break and helpful in that respect.

Build a Schedule

Still working on this. It turns out that this is a much larger undertaking than I imagined. I needed to just keep plugging away at it, and I’ll hopefully have it done soon.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you want to see how others did this month. I’ll be back tomorrow with new goals and hopefully a renewed commitment to the blog. We’ll see.

December 3 in 30: Week 1 and 2

adjunctmom — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:48:25 +0000

Read the Daily Office

This is going well. The app on my phone makes it easy. I added in a Worship playlist and it’s just a perfect combination to get my mornings going. I read the evening psalm sometime in the evening and it all works for me. Yay.

Slow Down

I have actually slowed things down a bit. We aren’t doing as much. I’m not trying to jam in everything, though it apparently feels that way to P. This weekend is a bit jammed up, but it’s going to be worth it, I think. Both kids have mini-dance recitals. We have a couple of work things and Ben has a dress rehearsal of his “big play” on Sunday after church. But the next week is really slow. This weekend is packed and then it’s a vast white space on my calendar until Christmas eve. I think that’s slowing things down. A lot. I haven’t tried to do everything. I haven’t tried to do all the cool things I wanted to do. I’m just taking it slow. Even if this particular weekend doesn’t feel like it.

Build a Schedule

I have finished reading Managers of Their Homes. I’m starting to work on the first part of building the schedule. I’m thinking this will work for us. My biggest issue is to figure out what Katie can do while Ben is doing school. Ben has been absolutely heroic in completing his school work the last two days while his sister has been doing her darnedest to distract him, me, etc. We need to give the child something to do. Sigh. Now I need to figure out how to school two kids. I thought I had a bit more time.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so on.

And I’m glad to be back

December 3 in 30: Goals

adjunctmom — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:22:23 +0000

Read the Daily Office

Um, daily. Kind of like the name implies. I have this handy app on my phone now that gives me the office for the day, so I don’t have the excuse of having to look it all up anymore. So, for this month I want to try to read it, you know, daily. I figure if I can get the habit going maybe I can keep it going. We’ll see.

Slow Down

Last night, Fr. Doug (who probably doesn’t mind me talking about him, but one never knows so I won’t link to his blog) showed us a Rob Bell video. Now, I know there’s a lot of fuss in a lot of circles about Rob Bell and I understand that. Heck, I even get, to a degree, why he makes people fussy. However, this video (“Shells”, if you’re wondering) made me wonder about my God-given purpose and I realized that I really need to slow down and figure out if I’m living in alignment with what I believe my purpose to be. So, part of that is trying to slow down a bit (though today has not been one of my best examples of that, sigh). To me, this means trying to be more deliberate in the choices that I make and trying not to be influenced, too much, by the outside when I decide how I’m going to devote my time this month.

Build a Schedule

I have all these amazing books and stuff on scheduling and the benefits thereof. Now, instead of letting them sit here, I’m going to spend this month working through one of them (Managers of Their Homes) and attempt to build a schedule. I know, from a brief foray into scheduling before P went on vacation that schedules work for me better than I thought they would, but as soon as he was on vacation my whole schedule was done. Sigh. So, back to that, too.

This is the weekly link up page. Please go there if you’re joining in, want to see what others are doing and so on.

And I’m glad to be back

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal 2011-2012 — Weeks 8-10

adjunctmom — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:54:38 +0000

In my life the last three weeks… I’m not sure I can even verbalize the craziness of the last three weeks. The wheels are totally off. Short of a hurricane or pneumonia, I’m not sure how things could get more disorganized, more stressful, or more, well, chaotic. The only things on track right now are work and the side project I’m working on for work. I have a huge deadline looming for that side project, and then my part of it is done.

In our homeschool the last three weeks… After the unschooling chat on #hschat, I realized that my little resister might enjoy a bit more control in the area of academics. So, we’ve arrived at a point where the only “required” material right now is Life of Fred for math. We’ve been doing a lot of reading and some math and science is covered by us, zoo school, and so forth. It’s very hard for me to figure out how to document all of this, but I’m working on it.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… No idea is too crazy if you are committed to homeschooling. At this point, the only thing saving my sanity is that Ben is picking the topics that we’re working with.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… What a three weeks. Katie did some dance classes. Ben tried out homeschool gymnastics. Ben started soccer. We tried out the Glazer’s Children’s Museum and liked it enough that we got a membership. We tried the MOSI science class and Ben loved it. Katie will be old enough in December to take the class, so we’re going to get a membership to MOSI. I now have a dedicated pouch just for IDs for things. Katie will be getting her library card on her birthday and her zoo ID shortly thereafter and the little pouch will be close to bursting . We had a great playdate with a friend of Ben’s (who Katie is very fond of, too) and Ben has tried, and decided he liked, singing with Mr. Matt at church, so he will be in his first official production of “something” this December.

My favorite thing this week was… Listening to Ben just bubbling over about his experiences at MOSI and how much he loved the class. Encouraged me to sign him up for more and to consider putting him in science camps there in the summer. If I can have a second, Ben singing me the chorus of a song we sing in church sometimes because I identified it as my favorite.

What’s working/not working for us… Dance doesn’t seem to be working for us. I don’t know what happened. She loved it the first few times, but the last few times, she’s just been a wreck and doesn’t want to do it. She’s almost three, and really doesn’t need to do anything she doesn’t want to do, so we’re going to stop and let her try again when/if she expresses an interest. Also not working? Homeschool PE/gymnastics. We discovered that all three of us are much happier if we can just go to a park and play rather than go sit in the gym and be bored.

Things I’m working on… I’ve been working hard on course design and I have Katie’s number shirt to finish.

I’m reading… Sigh. Okay, I’m reading A Mother’s Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul by Holly Pierlot; The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan (I blame my best friend’s son for this, by the way); The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande; and Classroom Assessment Techniques: A handbook for College Teachers by K. Patricia Cross.

I’m cooking… I’ve cooked a few times over the last three weeks. I made pasta with special sauce. I made the Marlboro Man sandwich again. I think I made something else, but I don’t remember.

I’m grateful for… That we’re almost at the end of the wait. By next Tuesday we should know . . . something. I called and confirmed my labs are there, so now I wait until Tuesday. Patience and I will be friends . . . soon.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share… Might have forgotten to mention someone I met in the last three weeks

Books referenced in this post:

To find out what’s happening in other homeschools, check out The Homeschool Chick’s post and link list!

*Links to books are ALWAYS Amazon affiliate links.I make virtually nothing for linking there, but maybe someday I can buy one of my books that way .

Wordless Wednesday: “Climbs Like a Monkey” Edition

adjunctmom — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:56:46 +0000

HSChat 10/20/11: Links We Love

adjunctmom — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:53:59 +0000

These are links that were mentioned in tonight’s chat:

A Daily Calendar for Kids
An Unschooling Primer
Mom and Me Math
Life of Fred
Math on the Level
Common Core Education Standards
Transcript of 10/20/11 Twitter Chat on Unschooling

Books mentioned:

*All book links are to my amazon affiliate account. If you happen to buy one, I’ll get a little something. A very little something.