On the Couch with Chocolate: 14 Weeks Left

The Senior

S had a ~~busy~~ week and accomplished ~~quite a bit of~~ work. It had been a challenge for him to focus on his work with his brother having half days of school and days off the previous week. I thought it would be better since J was back in school for full days. It might have been a more productive week if S had gotten up earlier every day to start his work. When I say get up earlier, I'm not talking about 6:00 or even 7:00. 8:00 would be a nice time for him. That hasn't happened this week. Enough said...

He is more motivated at this point in the week since we told him that when he gets his work done for the week, then he will be able to attend the Super Bowl party with us on Sunday. We are trying to use more positive tones as instructed by the Smart but Scattered Teens book instead of saying, "If you don't ___, then you can't ____." (We have done that A LOT!)

S told me that wasn't more positive. We asked him what was negative. He couldn't tell us, so we told him it must be positive.

[FYI: S woke up at 5:30 this morning. By 10:00, he finished more work than he has in the past 2 days. His ADD causes him to kick it into hyperfocus when he feels it is crunch time. He felt that today, so he worked super hard. He has a small task to finish after riding, and he is done for the week.]

This week S was assigned two projects - one on Low Vision and one on the book, Fallen Angels. For his Low Vision project, he will create a Prezi which is a format he doesn't like using that much; that is why he is getting more practice with it. For the novel, S needed to create a playlist to reflect the theme of the book. I figured he would like that since he enjoys listening to music. Because it is something very different than anything he has done before, he thought there was a catch to this assignment. Nope. Trying to keep it simple, fun, and out of the ordinary. It's been interesting to see/hear his music choices because he went down a very different path than I would have taken. The beauty of this assignment is that it is his interpretation.

He also worked on College Algebra and will take another assessment next week. He also had a writing assignment. We told him we just need him writing!

He also spent this week editing his daily journal writing from the month of January. Editing is challenging for him, but he will get it. That is why he spent the week editing. Practice makes perfect or something like that.

S has horseback riding today. Tomorrow he is going to the Chiropractor for the first time, and he will volunteer for 2 hours.

The exciting news for the week is that we registered S for the graduation commencement ceremony at the homeschool convention in June! I have been back in contact with the coordinator about accessibility for S that day. He decided his wheelchair would be the easiest option for the ceremony. That day will be here before we know it! Also, HEAV just announced the commencement speaker. It will be a good day.

The Sophomore

J had Monday off, so he only had 4 days of school this week. His new semester started. It will be a nice change for him. He is now done with PE and picked up Driver's Ed/Health. He already has his permit and has been driving for 8 months.

He went to the chiropractor on Monday. His hip has been bothering him, and it feels much better now. He has a fabulous chiropractor who has taken good care of him for a number of years.

J practiced 17.5 hours this week.

On the Homefront

We made it home from our trip to New York City on Sunday night - right before the big storm and just in time for my husband to turn around and leave for Kansas on Monday. We had some snow here Monday night but not enough for a delay on Tuesday morning. J was a little disappointed about that. Extra sleep is always nice for a teenager (and mom).

I had drop off and pick up duties Monday and Tuesday night for J's practice since my husband was gone. I spent time hanging out at Starbucks. I had uninterrupted time to read and write.

I went to the chiropractor on Monday also. It had been a while since I had gone in for an adjustment. It was long overdue. I feel much better and won't wait that long to go again.

We had a great time on our weekend getaway. Seeing Casting Crowns at Carnegie Hall was AMAZING!!!! J is our trip photographer when we travel. He has over 400 pictures from our trip. I posted a few pictures here. Can I just add how nice it was to have a third driver for our trip?