Wednesday, May 02, 2007

A Bad Sign

Was just browsing Amazon for harlot's new book. And this came up.


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Notice - bags, yarn, and organization. The first two I have in overabundance. The third.... is Amazon trying to tell me something?

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Misc. Homeschool Stuff

I've gotten some emails from other parents of PDD-NOS and Autistic kids wondering what we are doing for school since I pulled my daughter out of the government school system. Here is a little quick breakdown of what we're up to.




We homeschool through a wonderful cover group here in Alabama that is very relaxed. Hard to find in our state. Since we can only do this under a "church cover school" it is hard to find one that is inexpensive, doesn't demand I keep detailed records of every minute and complicated lesson plans, and won't make me sign a statement of faith which will reject me because I am a single mother with a job. I love our cover school, and if you want info please email me.




For curriculum, the basis of our day is The Prairie Primer. It takes us about two or three days to cover one day in the Primer, and I leave some of the suggested activities out. Instead of the reports suggested in the Primer, we make lapbook sections. My daughter loves this, as it is very hands-on and visual, and writing a report completely overwhelms her. Instead of writing about things, she draws or pastes in pictures.




For math we use Math-U-See. Math is no longer such a battle since the curriculum is manipulative based. She watches the DVD with me at the start of each week, and we work through one worksheet a day. So far we have done one unit a week. I started her in the Gamma book, even though by grade level she should have been in Delta. This has been good for her, because the work is easy at this point, and we are reinforcing stuff she was weak on to begin with.




Grammar - she actually doesn't mind. We are using Winston Grammar, also a manipulative based program. We work through two or three sentences every day. She can actually differentiate between a noun and a verb now. Progress!!!




Everything else is lapbooks. We are currently doing Pioneers, Horses, and Jesus. We have completed The California Gold Rush. I just downloaded Remarkable Women and hope to start using it soon. Props to Homeschool eStore. Every week they have a different freebie to download, and their prices are great. I could still manage to go broke there though.


Hopefully I will be able to post some pics of completed stuff soon. Until then, please enjoy this pic of the Amazing Grandbaby from Easter....


Monday, February 26, 2007

Beautiful Feet



Last night we went out to dinner with my daughter, Mr. Wonderful, and the Amazing Grandbaby. We had a surprisingly good time, even though the service was painfully slow. Our server kept a good attitude though, and we made a point to speak to the manager about how much we liked him, and what a good job he did. We also left him a nice tip. He had 4 large parties, including ours, and two of the other parties complained. The kitchen was also screwing up royally. Totally not his fault, but he still got the blame for it. It was also Sunday night, so he had the after church crowd. Christians are the worst customers on earth. I noticed the table next to ours had left a tract that looks like money as a tip. Only a tract that looks like money. And they were very rude and demanding, left their table a mess, and complained loudly about everything. When we walked in with the grandbaby the mom was heard to comment "Oh, GREAT!!! Another screaming brat!!!" Little did she know there was more chance of my 10yr old screaming than the baby. Anyway.....
I let the amazing Grandbaby play with my phone for a bit as we were gathering everything up to leave. She took this wonderful picture. I think she has a future as a photographer.



Friday, February 23, 2007

Hidden Ickey


Since I disparaged my daughter's housekeeping, thought I'd post a bit my own (or lack thereof).


I took this picture of my floor after my daughter pointed out that we had a hidden mickey in our kitchen. I only mop when company is coming over, or the floor is so sticky that the cats are stuck to it. Gross, I know. When I was a "real mom" I used to scrub my floor weekly on my hands and knees. Now, my days off are devoted entirely to laundry and shopping. Mopping is really low on the priority list for me.
On the plus side, my kids have something fun to do - finding hidden pictures in the crud on the floor.

Monday, February 12, 2007

I'll Never

I love my oldest child. She is as beautiful as she is smart, is a valued employee at both her jobs, and is a wonderful mother. And she is also a good source of humor.

When she was 14 she made a point of telling me how she would never leave dishes in the sink, would never pile up laundry, etc. She was constantly criticizing my housekeeping, while doing nothing to help out. One day she was on a rant about what a horrible mother I was because, although I worked full time, was in school full time, and was raising a teenager, an autistic first-grader, and a four-year-old at the time, although I only slept two hours on a good night, and although I was in the middle of nasty court battles and press interviews, I was unable to stay caught up on laundry or dishes. Instead of getting mad, I started laughing. The more she went on, the harder I laughed. She finally stormed out in huff and slammed the door to her room. This caused me to laugh even harder. She has never forgiven me for this.
Yesterday I babysat for her since the baby's daddy was too busy hanging out with his buddies, and forgot to come home in time for her to go to work. I had a good laugh when I got there. Witness the evidence.....

I did clean the kitchen while I was there. This is the normal situation at her apartment, and I can understand. I just think it's funny. Here's to her own daughter throwing it her face in about 12 years.




In knitting news, I finally took a picture of my sweater, and a cabled cap I made from Knitty last year that I had totally forgotten about until I was cleaning out my closet. Took the pictures with my phone, as my real camera has died. When I get my tax refund, first item on the list a a new camera. Anyway....




Thursday, February 08, 2007

Long Time, No Post

I wonder sometimes how people blog every day. Seems like I make a semi-annual post, and that's about it.

Well, school's over. I'm done, even though I didn't get to graduate. I was in the hospital the last two weeks of school, so I missed all f my finals and have to re-do a class. The instructor wouldn't let me take an incomplete. So I have to re-do the whole class, including 24 clinicals days that I had finished. No. I'm just done. Also found out that the school lost their accreditation, so it is questionable if I would have been allowed to sit for boards anyway. I am taking this semester off, while shopping around for another school.

My autistic daughter is now being homeschooled. This is actually working out well for us, since she learns best at night. She has really taken off in math and reading. Wish I'd done this sooner. My youngest is still thriving at school, though today she is home with the crud that everyone else has. My eldest is working two jobs, her significant other is a complete ass who won't get off his lazy behind, and the baby is doing great.

Also, I've been officially divorced since December 1st!!!! Though this has had no bearing on my love life (or lack thereof) it's good to know that I'm free from "him" forever.

On the knitting front, I just completed the "Subway Cable" sweater from The Yarn Girls Guide to Beyond the Basics. It is being washed as I type, so I will post pics as soon as it's out. I completely frogged the Celtic Knot sweater, and rescued the yarn for this one. I made the sleeves about an inch longer than called for in the pattern, as I am tall and I like my sleeved to come down to the middle of my hand. I am still working on the blue fuzzy-cuff sweater. It is what I knit during Lost, and since that show just came back from a 13-week hiatus, it has finally seen some light from the bottom of the knitting basket. I need to find a project to work on during Heroes. Maybe a kitted tee with the Superman logo on the front? Or maybe with Wonder Woman's logo? Or perhaps I'll make a pattern with my favorite childhood superhero - Ultraman!!!