A Week of Milestones

The College Student

As you can see by my new heading, S has graduated!!  The festivities started last Friday when we headed up to Richmond to the Homeschool convention.  That day we checked him in for graduation, signed his diploma, and sent him off to the Senior Meet and Greet.  He originally had not planned on attending this event; however, he was glad he decided to go.  

Saturday was the big day.  We headed back up to Richmond for commencement practice and the commencement ceremony.  I have to give a shout out to HEAV for a phenomenal job on the commencement ceremony! I made contact with them back in the fall to check on accessibility for S, and everything was in place on Saturday.  The ceremony was very nice, and S was glad he participated in it (again, something he didn’t want to do in the fall).

After the ceremony, we were going to eat at The Cheesecake Factory except there was an hour wait.  We headed to Q’s Barbecue for supper and went back to The Cheesecake Factory to get cheesecake to go.  It was quite yummy!

On Monday, S found out that his College Algebra course has been approved as a transfer credit and his Math Placement Test was waived!  Tuesday he met with the Director of Disabled Student Services to get his accommodations put in place, and he is now registered for Fall classes.  He is starting with English Composition I, Statistics, and College Survival Skills.  We decided that it was better to start slowly and be successful instead of completely overwhelming him.  The Director talked to S about taking the German CLEP to test out of foreign language.  He is pumped up about that.  

Everything S wanted done before we head to Minnesota has been complete.  He is quite happy about that.  

The Junior

J is finally done with school.  He still had 2 exams on Monday:  English and PreCalc.  He is now done!

J hit a big milestone this past week also.  He finished his behind the wheel and passed his driver’s test!  He is a licensed driver.  Woo hoo!  

He has driven himself to/from practice starting on the first day.  It was a little stressful for me, but I know it is part of the process. The coach's wife has him text her when he gets to his car after leaving the gym, and he has to call/text her when he gets home. He has to let us know when he arrives at the gym and when he is ready to leave. He knows that everyone just wants him to be safe and know where he is at.

J missed practice Monday night.  My parents were flying home on Tuesday, so he wanted to spend time with them.  He also had his driver’s test at 6:50 AM Tuesday morning, so we wanted him to be well rested.

Next week, J has two college visits.  Busy, busy!

On the Homefront

We did it!  We managed to get S through middle school and high school.  My husband was very sweet.  He bought me flowers and gave me some cards thanking me for all of my hard work homeschooling S. He’s a keeper!

My parents flew in for the commencement ceremony.  It was a crazy week while they were here. J was doing his behind the wheel.  His school schedule was crazy due to exams.  He had practice.  

My parents and J hung out on Friday afternoon while my husband and I took S up to Richmond. We had the opportunity to connect with a college friend of mine while S was at the Meet and Greet.  It has been 14 years since we have seen her.  We had a great visit.  We may have been a little loud.  We met up with my friend again on Saturday before commencement.  She knows my parents.  It was another loud visit, but it was fun.  

The commencement ceremony was very nice.  J took pictures for us during the ceremony, so we were able to enjoy the whole experience and appreciate the moment.   

It has been HOT here this week.  The heat index has been in triple digits for too many days. Enough said!

Since J has his license, he has started driving himself to/from practice. My husband and I now have extra time in the evening. It is quite strange. We could get used to this.

What have I written this week?

Maintaining Birth/Cultural Ties

We will be on the road this weekend, so you won’t find me on the couch with chocolate.  You will find me in the van with chocolate (see below)!  

We used to eat Ritter Sports when we lived in Germany.
I found this box at Sam's Club for a very yummy price.

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Graduation is 8 days away!

The Senior

S has had an easy week.  He attended a luncheon on Monday to hear a speaker discuss the French influence on the construction of some Army installations near us.  He loved that. Tuesday’s chiropractic appointment was cancelled because the doctor was sick; however, I didn’t check my voicemail prior to leaving for the office in a massive storm.  Oops! Today he has horseback riding.

On the school side, he has been wrapping up his German IV course.  Graduation is in 8 days!!

Last week I wrote how S was waiting to hear from the community college about his College Algebra course but his transcript had disappeared.  It has been found.  He is now waiting on the official verdict as to whether or not he needs to take the Math placement test and if he will get credit for the course.  Looking forward to that decision being made so he can register for his classes.

The Sophomore

J had a great week!  His braces came off on Monday!!!!!!

He’s busy wrapping things up at school.  It is locker clean out time. Oh my word! High school is better than elementary school, but it is still a lot. He came home the other day with his PE shirt and books he had used for sophomore summer reading. We also had the AP History study book and flashcards. He had ideas as to who we could give these items too. Great idea! We are quickly handing things off to families with rising sophomores. The PE shirt is going to a rising freshman.  These families are helping us out by taking this stuff.
J's last day is June 15, a Monday.  Not only is it a Monday, they are taking finals so the kids have to be there.  Finals start next Wednesday afternoon.  He is exempt from the one Wednesday afternoon.  Thursday, Friday, and Monday are two exams each day.  He is exempt from the second one on Thursday.  Being exempt means he can leave campus. He likes that. They get the exemptions if they pass their SOLs (state testing).  They can be recommended to take the final if their final grade can be helped by it.

We scheduled J’s behind the wheel training to get his license.  That will start next Monday. These next few weeks are not going to be any less crazy around here.  We used to say “wait until things get back to normal” but we know that this is our normal.

On the Homefront

As noted from above, it’s been busy here.  We had a great time on our trip to South Carolina last weekend, but we were tired when we got home Sunday night.  

It was a busy week with appointments.  Tuesday we had bad storms and our power went out for 3 hours.  Of course, J had homework that required internet access.  Everything S wanted to get done on Tuesday afternoon required the computer and internet access so we read instead.  

It has been quite rainy here all week.  That makes it hard to get outside work done, and our backyard needs a great deal of TLC.  I happened to see an episode of “Yard Crashers” while we were in the hotel in South Carolina.  I need that to happen to us.

I have been cleaning off bookshelves. I started doing this last summer. Even so, it is amazing how much school "stuff" has accumulated through the years, and I have only homeschooled one child who did the majority of his work on the computer. We have friends from church who homeschool, so I offer my stuff to them.  I realized yesterday that I hadn't cancelled our annual subscription to ALEKS, so I got on that quickly. We have used this for S's math for 5 years, and it was a great fit for him. I have also been printing end of year/school documents: grades, transcripts, reading logs, course descriptions. I have one final letter to send to our school district stating, "S has graduated."

This weekend will be busy.  One of our pastors is moving to New Jersey.  Saturday afternoon their family and dog are supposed to come and hang out at our house while there is an Open House held at their house. That evening is a farewell dinner/program at church.  We are only going to the program.  They are expecting quite a few people which is good; however, it is very difficult for S to get around safely with that many people there.  

We are having friends over along with our pastor and his family Sunday evening for cake and ice cream.

My parents are flying in on Tuesday for S’s commencement.  There will be some house cleaning happening here!  They sleep in S's room when they visit, so he knows his room needs to be cleaned. It's not as bad as it has been in the past, so it shouldn't take him very long.

What did I write this week?

It has taken a village…

Celebrating Adoption Day

This weekend you will find me on the couch with chocolate watching the Dateline episode about medical marijuana on June 7.  My friend is in this episode.  She is an amazing woman!  

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Four Snow Days & College Stuff

It has been an unusual week at our house.  My husband took Friday off, and he and J both had Monday off for President’s Day.  This was followed by Tuesday and Wednesday being snow days for both my husband and J. J also had Thursday and Fridays as snow days this week. That's right - 4 snow days!

The Senior

Normally, S doesn’t get much work done when everyone is home; however, he decided he was going to work hard.  He realized that if he was working on J’s snow days that he will actually be ahead of J since his days need to be made up.  Because he has worked so hard all week, I told him he could take today off and there is nothing to make up.  He’s pretty excited about that!

S worked on German IV, History, creative writing, a College Algebra assessment, and took notes for his research paper.  He also finished up a project for a novel we just read.

The exciting part of our week is that S completed his college application!  He still isn’t excited about it.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  Why aren’t you excited?

S:  I’m just not.

Me:  If you plan on going to college, you need to apply to college.  If you aren’t going to go to college, what is your plan?

S:  I don’t have one.

Me:  Enough said.

After submitting his application, we turned to the “fun” stuff - filling out the FAFSA.

S was supposed to go to the Chiropractor on Thursday; however, it was very icy, so we cancelled that appointment. Snow/Ice + Crutches = Falls

Horseback riding was cancelled because of the weather also. S hasn’t been out of the house since we went to church on Sunday.

S will not be volunteering this weekend.  J has a meet in northern Virginia.  S had made arrangements to stay with friends, but those plans changed.  He is now going with us.  He’s not happy about it.  Oh well!  Life goes on. We are hoping to squeeze a mini field trip in before the meet on Saturday.

The Sophomore

J had a relaxing weekend with very little homework to complete.  He had Monday off for President’s Day and finished up some AP History questions.  He had snow days on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. He is ready to go back to school!

J helped my husband shovel our driveway and a path in our neighbor’s driveway.  This lady is a member of our church and lives two doors down from us.  She is on Hospice care, so J and my husband made sure there was a pathway cleared for the home health nurse.  They also shoveled out a patch on the street for her to park her car.

J had the opportunity to drive a little bit in the snow. He helped move vehicles out of the driveway. He realized the difference between driving a truck with 4 wheel drive and a car in the snow.

J only practiced 10.5 hours this week since practice was cancelled Monday and Tuesday.  He was very happy to be back in the gym on Wednesday.  He enjoys practice, and he has a meet this weekend in northern Virginia.  It will be a busy weekend.

On the Homefront

We have had quite a few relaxing, family days this past week.  It has been nice.  We have enjoyed the warmth from the fireplace, watched a lot of movies, played a lot of games, read books, and slept.  It is unusual for any of us to get to sleep in very often, so we all appreciated that opportunity.  The dog even cooperated with us.

We were bummed Wednesday night that Ash Wednesday services were cancelled; however, we understand.  Our pastor posted a link to his sermon, so we could read it at home. It was nice to be able to do that.

The roads are a mess here.  The primary roads are cleaned after a storm, but secondary streets and neighborhood roads are not cleaned here which is why they end up with so many snow days.

This is what our streets look like after day 2 of the snow.  The temperatures dropped again after these pictures, so everything froze again.  

I took the dog out for a walk yesterday morning, slipped, and fell. I have a bruised palm, but that appears to be it. Thank goodness! I broke my arm quite badly three years ago (2 plates and 19 screws), and the surgeon told me another break would be very difficult to fix. I am under orders by my husband to not walk the dog!

We happen to have one of very few snow shovels in our neighborhood (my parents brought it from Minnesota one year), so it makes the rounds during snow weeks.

What did I write this week?

An Uncomfortable Sermon

Hippotherapy or Therapeutic Riding

I am going to shamelessly plug my husband’s blog.  He writes about things that go on in our house, but he approaches it from a humorous aspect.  He took some time off from writing while recovering from his shoulder surgery, but he’s back.  His latest post is The Alarm Clock Paradox. Check it out!

It has been a nice week with a lot of time spent on the couch with chocolate.  Enjoy your weekend!

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14 Weeks Left - Senior Year

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?

We were the first ones seated.

What have I written this week?

Our New York City Experiences

The Importance of Stretching

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Wrap Up Before School Starts

Wow! I cannot believe that this is the last Friday before school starts. I have a couple of children who are in denial about this fact. It has, once again, been a busy week. Obviously, life is normal at our house. We wouldn't have it any other way. School: S has been working a little bit on his College Algebra. He is plugging away on Brave Writer. He received his acceptance information from Hadley School for the Blind. We are waiting on his initial acceptance packet to arrive from there, so he can complete the high school entrance assignment in order to start his course "The Human Eye 1". He will be "full on" next week for his senior year! Appointments: This week consisted of 4 appointments. J went to the Orthodontist. He has had his braces on for 25 months, and there is no end in sight right now. He is still waiting on a tooth to fully come in. It has started (he's almost 16). Three of the appointments were for my husband. He went to the Chiropractor, Dentist, and Orthopedics. He is having shoulder surgery, and it was finally scheduled. He will be having that on October 29. We have been discussing the day-to-day realities of his surgery (clothing, limitations, recovery time, driving, etc.). I'm trying to explain to him that he won't be wearing dress pants, tucking his shirt in, and doing a belt with his arm in a sling. I'm not offering up my black yoga pants that were my main staple of clothing when I had a broken arm. I told him he needs to get to Target to buy himself some running pants. At least he won't have to worry about having to hook his bra. Practice: J had 18 hours of gymnastics practice again. Found out this week that he will continue with 5 days/week during the school year. He will be switching from Saturdays to Tuesdays. It will be 17.5 hrs/week instead of 18 hours. It is going to be a change at our house since Tuesdays were family night. Volunteering: S volunteered for 10 hours at the Casemate Museum. He will be volunteering on Labor Day for 4 hours since we aren't going away for the weekend. Driving: J has been getting more practice time. He has driven home from practice and to church. He also drove on the freeway. There are some crazy drivers around here. It is a different experience learning to drive here than it was for my husband and I learning to drive in rural Minnesota with our 1 set of stoplights in town. Fun times: This past Saturday I received a facebook message from friends that said, "We are in Williamsburg until Tuesday and saw how close you are. Are you free?" Oh my word! YES!!! We were stationed in Germany with this family with a follow-on assignment to Fort Rucker. We haven't seen them in 14 years. They came over for supper on Sunday evening, and we had such a fun time. It was great to catch up, talk about our Germany experiences, and share stories of who we have run into over the years. Looking forward to seeing them more often since they are now stationed in northern Virginia. Randomness: I received a text from my sister telling me that my nephew dislocated his knee the other night while dancing. I think he might be getting a "Dancing for Dummies" book for Christmas. We had a Gymnastics parents' meeting the other night. We realized that we are the "experienced" parents now. One of the younger boy's moms was asking us for advice on how to treat rips. We shared the secrets we know that have helped J. S received his time slot for horseback riding for the fall. He has an 8:30 slot on Friday mornings. That means we will be leaving our house at 7:30. He is excited about the Friday slot. If he works diligently during the week, he shouldn't have much schoolwork to finish when he gets home. That is one big reason he likes the Friday slots. Thursday night my husband and I had our Budget/writing date night. We completed our budget. Then, I was blogging while he finished writing notes to the kids who will be in his Sunday School class this year. This will be his fifth year teaching the Sr. High kids. He loves it!
As I roll into this last weekend of summer, I have realized that there are some new songs on the radio that I have enjoyed singing along with while driving (I have plenty of road time under my belt). Thursday morning while driving S to his volunteering, I heard all three. His response was, "Oh great! Sing along time with Mary!" That's right!! My Favorite Top 3 Sing Along Songs for Summer 2014: "Rude" by Magic "All About that Bass" by Meghan Trainor "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith
Labor Day weekend: This will be a relaxed, working weekend. S is volunteering at least 6 hours. He just put in for an additional shift.  

J does not have practice on Saturday which means we are having crepes for breakfast. My husband is an awesome cook!  

We have a yard project that needs to be finished before my husband has surgery, so we will be working on that. 

The upstairs bathroom is going to be painted also. If I hadn't purchased the new shower curtain 2 months ago, it probably still wouldn't get done. The whole project has become a "If you give a mouse a cookie" type project. If we are replacing the shower curtain and painting, we might as well replace ______. It was a two cart trip to Lowes.  

We are also going to a cook out at a friend's house. After all this excitement, I am going to try to find time to relax on the couch with chocolate!

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Weekly Wrap Up: School for the Blind and Other Stuff

It's been a busy week as usual at our house.

School:  S has continued working on Brave Writer's "Help for High School".  He has also been doing some College Algebra and German IV.  

He is working on a Nutrition course also.  He has watched the movie "Super Size Me."  Yuk!  He is doing an experiment with McDonald's food to see how long the food needs to sit out before we will see any changes.  My husband and J went to McDonald's Sunday afternoon to get a cheeseburger and fries.  They came in the house and were telling us how nasty the food smelled. I told them it is two things:  1.  We rarely eat fast food.  2.  The last time we had McDonald's French fries in our car (almost 3 years ago) we were in a bad car accident, so we equate the smell with the accident.  So far, there has been no change in the cheeseburger -gross! There are a few fuzzies on the fries.  

S has also applied to the Hadley School for the Blind to take an online course, "The Human Eye 1". He will eventually take "Human Eye 2" also. We felt these courses would be beneficial in helping him to advocate for himself regarding his vision issues. They also have some other courses he is interested in taking.  We feel we can compile a "Life Skills with Low Vision" course through various courses they offer.  We will see if he has enough time to get through all of that before the end of the school year.  

Miles Logged: My husband and I drove 508 miles this week shuttling the boys to volunteering (S: 8 hours, J: 6 hours) and gymnastics practice (18 hours).

Driving practice:  J has now driven some longer distances.  He drove home from practice on Saturday, and he drove to church Sunday afternoon for Youth Group.  

Spotz (the dog):  We have a dog who is a Dalmatian/Pointer mix.  He is 13 years old.  He is slowing down.  The other night we were all out for a walk with him, and his back legs gave out while he was trying to step up into someone's yard.  We were able to get him upright, and he made it home.  He went to the vet the next day.  Fortunately, the vet feels it is arthritis issues.  He prescribed an anti-inflammatory medication, and Spotz was up and down the stairs in the house without any issues.

Blogging:  I had a writing date with my husband again this week.  It’s nice to get away and enjoy quiet time at Starbucks.  My husband is quite funny.  I write about transitioning our son.  He writes about the funny moments in our life.  If you feel inclined, head over to his blog to enjoy some of these humorous moments (http://sixbottlestoparis.blogspot.com/). There's never a dull moment here.

We are gearing up for the last week of summer vacation.  As of this writing, there are only 3 appointments scheduled for next week.  We will see if that changes.

I will be enjoying this last week of vacation on the couch with chocolate.

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