A Week of Blessings

Celebrating my friend's 50th birthday

I got to do a bit of fun "adulting" this past weekend. A friend of mine turned 50 and wanted to go out with a few of her friends to celebrate. I rarely get out of the house to do adults-only activities and had fun seeing some ladies I hadn't seen outside of Facebook in a long time.

We went to the Venardos Circus with Grandma. It is a small traveling circus with no animals and put on a fantastic performance. We have several family members that are really opposed to animals being used in the circus. It was two hours of family fun. Thanks, Grandma, for taking us.

I made huge progress on reducing our belongings this week. I sorted all of the books in the house and weeded out an entire bookcase of books from our lives. This was not an easy feat for a book lover like myself. However, we just have too much of everything, and it was time for many books to go on to other book lovers. I mostly reduced reference books that were becoming outdated, chapter books that were less than extraordinary, and curricula that we will never use again. I can't believe we are in our last two years of homeschooling! It is a odd state to be in, realizing that this chapter of my life will end in two years.

Changes for Dean ~ We made a major decision a few weeks ago that I haven't shared on the blog until now. We decided to graduate Dean this year instead of next year when his sister will graduate. He has 16 credits completed and is actively working on completing 10 additional credits. A few of those credits may end up being half credits, such as zoology or they may be dropped entirely. In our state, there are no requirements for graduation. It is up to the homeschool (which is considered a private school) to determine the requirements. The state does encourage the graduate to have 4 years of English, 3 years of Math and 22 credits. He will have that and much more.

We came to this decision because he will be 18 this spring and is completely burned out and stressed out by school. He will have done enough by the spring and needs to put his energy and mind into growing up and forging a life. He is a very bright young man and knows much more than many of his peers, but he is not an academic and doesn't receive great pleasure from acquiring more and more knowledge. He also doesn't want to go to college, so he doesn't need more credits in specific subjects.

The next chapter of his life involves getting a job and flexing his "job muscles", finding a career that will satisfy him for few years or a lifetime and getting a driver's license. These are huge and overwhelming goals for him that will take his (and my) full concentration. So for the rest of this year he will be wrapping up school and dipping his toes into the adult world with career testing, his last educational and neurological testing and maybe some job shadowing. Then next year we will concentrate together on driving lessons, independence skills, and getting his first job. I feel really good about our decision.

Update on Katie (18 year old special needs daughter living in out-of-home care) ~ I have had several pleasant interactions with Katie recently. She is feeling pretty good in her life right now and seems to be relating better to the adults in our family. She isn't trying to bait the grandparents and parents against each other, which is a nice change. She is working with Vocational Rehab and an Independent Living program to try to find some independence in her life. She is currently trying to get a job as an elevator operator in a famous hotel in our area. It sounds like a great fit and, hopefully, Voc Rehab can make it happen. I am so pleased with Voc Rehab and their ability to work with her long list of mental health issues. It would only be a few hours a week and she would still receive Supplemental Security Income, but it would give her something to do with her boundless energy. She also wants dear husband to teach her how to drive. She has her learner's permit, but the reports from her public school driving lessons were pretty scary. If we embark on this adventure, it would only be in parking lots for a long time. There is a program for disabled adults in our area that assesses one's ability to drive. That might be an angle we will explore for her. We are finding our way into a relationship with our adult disabled daughter. I am hoping that, with careful planning, it will be more pleasant and safer for all than her childhood had been.

Blessings, Dawn

Growing Up!

We went to a rooftop restaurant and had Shirley Temples to drink.

My baby turned 16 last weekend. How could that be? She is turning into a lovely young woman inside and out. She requested 16 new experiences instead of gifts or a big party this year. Her two really big new experiences were a concert with her good friend Hazel and a night out on the town to get Shirley Temples with  her dear friends, JoJo and Eva. The concert ticket to see 21 Pilots was a gift from Hazel's family. What an amazing gift. It was her first rock concert and she loved it. The next night we went out to a rooftop restaurant for Shirley Temple drinks (non-alcoholic, of course) and a photo shoot. We then came home and watched Footloose while eating tons of candy from the mega mystery candy bag. We still have to accomplish three or four of her wishes, but I have until the end of the month.

Her final 16 things list:

1. Foot soak
2. Teeth whitening kit
3. Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri
4. Shirley Temple
5. Tour of Homes, "Grove Park Mansions"
6. Footloose movie
7. First audition for the Nutcracker
8. Make custom conditioner (Grandma Sue's gift)
9. Zebra cake
10. Mega Mystery Candy bag from the local candy store
11. Receive a family heirloom
12. Drive a car in a parking lot
13. Get a massage (Grandma's gift)
14. Go to a rock concert
15. Go shopping for cocktail dresses with friends
16. Dye hair black with temporary hair dye



Anne and her friend in their seats ready for the show

First Rock Concert

Also, this week we celebrated my husband's birthday with cake, a movie at home (The Monument Men) and a few gifts. It was a very quiet evening in comparison to Anne's birthday. It was just the way my husband wanted it.

In other Growing Up events this week ~ 

Anne passed the online classroom portion of Driver's Ed with a 95%. Now she is ready for her eye test and the 6 hours of driving with a teacher. We are going with a private driving school instead of with the public school program because of safety issues. 

Dean had his first Vocational Rehab intake meeting this week. He was assigned a very nice and talkative woman as his caseworker. She will be helping him figure out what he wants to do with his life, what training he needs and helping him find a job with supports (if needed). Right now, he has very few ideas for a career or job and is very anxious about growing up. She was so nice and understanding. He will have career testing in a few weeks and then they will sit down and discuss the results. Based on the results and what he feels, they will try some job shadowing. Hopefully, by next summer he will have his first job and we will see how that goes. They will support him and help him get/switch jobs for as long as it takes to get him gainfully employed. What a wonderful program. He qualified easily with his health diagnoses. This program is free and open to all special needs people throughout the nation.

We are taking it easier this weekend and trying to catch up. We have tons of school stuff to get done next week. We did get a bit behind with all of the celebrating this week. 

Blessings, Dawn

Medical Update on Our Oldest

Tim ~ Timothy was a Tetrology of Fallot baby and had his corrective surgery at 6 months of age. He survived the surgery, but his heart has never pumped completely right since, so he had a pacemaker inserted 10 days after his corrective surgery at 6 months of age. Recently, he was diagnosed with a mild case of congestive heart failure (or at least that is what it looks like on tests, but may well be his unique heart's way of functioning). Duke is now treating him for congestive heart failure since his heart is showing lots of stress. He had his 6 month check-up at Duke this week. The doctor was mostly pleased with the progress of the first medicine on Timothy's tired heart. He decided to add a second medication to help the heart muscle relax and encourage his heart's poor functioning level to remain the same for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, this cocktail of medications will prevent any further decline. On a bright note, his heart looked the same (it wasn't enlarged or showing new issues) on all echocardiograms stretching back to 2012 so we are in a good holding pattern. His heart rate was 52 almost functioning beats per minute (under the pacemaker's steady beats). I say "almost functioning beats", because they are not completely on rhythm with each other but are good enough to keep the blood flowing with a bit of backwash. Hopefully, his body will tolerate the new medication, and we can avoid surgery until his next pacemaker placement in about 18 months. At that time he will probably get a much more advanced pacemaker to continue reducing the stress on his heart. Medical advancements are amazing and God is good! We are blessed to have had him all of these years!

All the pictures posted below are from the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. It was an overcast day and we only had time to explore a tiny corner of the garden, but we loved it. What a perfect place to kill time between medical appointments at Duke. We will return to this enchanting place.

Blessings, Dawn

Finding Enjoyment in Our Days

My girl loved the jumping pillow at the corn maze.

It was a good week. We had a nice balance of fun, work, and school. Everyone got everything accomplished for the week. I am seeing so much improvement in my son's emotional well being. What a relief it is to see him laugh and smile. We did a few fun things this week outside of our normal activities.

We enjoyed the corn maze with friends. It was super hot. I hope autumn gets here soon and stays awhile. 

Dean and Tim convinced Dad to join them at the Wandering Swordsman this week. He had fun and they all got great exercise.

Dean is on his knees.

Dad and Tim meet on the battle field.

Anne went dress shopping with her friends. They wanted to get fancy dresses for Anne's upcoming birthday extravaganza. We went to a clearance center that happened to be having a giant sale on top of their already reasonable prices. There were huge lines for the dressing room and it felt like Black Friday (which I avidly avoid). However, the girls had a great time and we did get some sweet deals.The dresses averaged about $12 each and their starting prices were over $100 each. 

Anne had the opportunity to take a dance class with the NC Dance Festival. She said the class was "lovely and delightful". She was also cast in the Nutcracker in several positions. She will be doing the Snow and Candy scenes with the Adult Company, which is a dream come true. She also was cast as a cat, mermaid, adult dancer in the party scene and an elastic doll. She is very excited to be in so many scenes and have so many character roles.

I took Anne out for one of her 16 "new to her" experiences for her Sweet 16 birthday. We went to have a foot soak at a small spa in our area. They really took care of every detail and did a bit extra for her when they heard it was her birthday month. She loved it. We (the parents) aren't giving her any gifts this year except for the dress and shoes, because she really wanted experiences more than stuff. Also, her grandmas are each paying for one of her experiences, as well.

Dean made it to Friday Magic at the local game shop this week. He played for three hours with guys who were older than him and had much more sophisticated card decks. He lost every battle, but says he wants to go back and that everyone was very nice. He still got a prize, which delighted him. I am so glad we finally accomplished this. I have been trying to get him there for months, and he has refused because of his social anxiety. He finally had the courage to go and had a great time. 

Lastly, the animal kingdom has kept us on our toes this week. Rosie has decided that she is an acrobat and has been playing and resting on the stairwell railing. What a little nut.

Also, our neighborhood bear is back to thinking our carport is a great place to visit. She is totally relaxed in our yard, even when she sees me looking out the window at her. I do appreciate that she hasn't tossed the trash can over this week.

We are looking forward to a very busy second week of October filled with appointments that require travel, special events and all the usual stuff. It will be interesting to see if we can hold the balance. The most important thing to me is that the week is fun and enriching to my little family.

Blessings, Dawn

October Goals

Fall has arrived. I love Fall. We are in a significant drought here in Western North Carolina, and the officials are expecting a rather "ugly" change of colors this season. The leaf peepers may be disappointed in our area's foliage this season, but I am sure there will be plenty of beauty. 

Our October Goals are as follows ~ 

Social ~ 

• Celebrate Anne's 16th birthday. This will be an all month event since she wants to do, taste, experience 16 things she has not yet experienced. 
• Celebrate Dear Husband's birthday. He is right after Anne's birthday and never has any wishes for his own birthday so it is always a challenge to make sure his day is super special.
• Keep expanding Dean's social circles. He isolated and devoted himself completely to his now ex-girlfriend over the last two years. We are busy helping him renew old friendships that he had mostly let go and grow a few new ones. This means having teens over for hangouts almost every weekend and trying a few out-of-the-home opportunities this month.

Academic ~

Dean is doing well with the workbook style of learning. It is quick, efficient and only tells him what he needs to know. We are using a host of critical thinking (The Critical Thinking Co.), high interest (Remedia Publications), and Memoria Press workbooks. He is using workbooks to cover English, Math, Visual Arts and History.

He is also reading a book of his choice each day. Currently, he is reading The Art of Magic: The Gathering. 

We are also starting a study in developing/enhancing emotional intelligence. This will be added to Dean's Health class.

Dean will continue with Live Action Role Play with the Wandering Swordsman two times a week. We are also working on turning the back "house" (glorified shed) into a workout area since the guys are interested in lifting weights. This involves emptying the junk, repairing the sub floor, putting down some kind of floor and padding and general cleaning. This will count for Industrial Arts.

Anne is working steadily along with her studies. Online driver's ed is proving to take all the time they said it would and a bit more some days. This course has really taken a front seat to all of her other studies. I am glad it will be over by mid October. Driver's ed counts for her Health credit. She is keeping up with her Geometry (Khan Academy) and World History (The Critical Thinking Co.). We are squeezing in Earth Science where we can and English was a bit scattered in September. We are switching back to Life of Fred Language Arts for October since she really doesn't have time to write as much as the other course demands. She has two more books to complete in the Life of Fred series that she can easily wrap up in October. Sign Language class and work at the consignment shop are going well.

Her out-of-home classes are going well. Dance is taking about 17 hours a week. She really loves the adult classes, and being an apprentice to the adult company is giving her experience with rich and complicated choreography (as seen in the picture below). She still loves her junior company classes with her teen friends, too, and completed auditioning for various roles in The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Who has been chosen for which roles will be announced on Monday. 

Together ~ We are doing some light family read-aloud books each day. We are currently reading Under The Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald. Next we will be reading Why God Is Like a Wet Bar of Soap by Chuck Fager. Chuck was my First Day school teacher (Sunday School to non- Quakers) and left a profound impact on me. He is in the hospital right now with congestive heart failure, and he is on my mind a lot right now. He is a prolific writer and has had a fascinating life that includes working for Martin Luther King, Jr. and walking with him in Selma, tons of social justice work and inspiring dozens of young teens like myself to read the Bible and love doing it. I have meant to share some of his books with my kids for awhile and I think this is the right time.

We hope to get in a few more lessons in our Physical Science course this month than we did last month. We only did three in September.

Field Trips ~ As Anne would say, "It is spooky season," and there is so much to do. We hope to go to a corn maze, pick some apples and pumpkins from an orchard, attend the local high school's haunted house, go on a few leaf peeping hikes, work on Anne's Sweet 16 list and have apple cider donuts. Here's to a fantastic fall!

Anne is busy decorating the house. This is what she has created so far. 

Yes, she even decorated the cat!

Blessings, Dawn

What's Up Wednesday!

I thought I would try a new round up this week. So here we go!

What we're eating this week ~ I had time to cook this week so everything listed is homemade and mostly organic. It always is a relief when we have enough margin in our lives to eat homemade and healthy instead of pre-made healthy foods that cost so much more. This week we are having granola, quiche, baked potato night, lots of salads, bean and chicken burritos, calico beans, roasted veggies with store bought tater tots and barbecue.

I am also back to making homemade dog food every week for Boomer. He is losing weight and has so much more energy.

What I am loving ~ Watching my son build his Eureka Crates from Kiwi. We saved all of his kits over the summer, and he has been building one each week. He has created so many cool things! I love watching him learn.

What we've been up to ~ You mean when I am not racing dear daughter from dance class to work to sign language class and back to dance again?! We are really hitting our homeschool groove around here in between all of the racing around. Dear son is mostly on his full school schedule and dear daughter is doing about as much as she can with all of her out-of-home commitments.

We did start driver's ed for Anne. That added 7 to 10 hours a week to our schedule! CRAZY! Dean attended an awesome party this past weekend which included paint ball, movies and eating out. He had a blast and I didn't get a single picture. We also made it to the monthly live action role play club in our town. Dean is the one without the shield in the video below.

What I am doing this weekend ~ Now that the school year is underway, all of my kids' friends have returned from their travels. October is also birthday month in our house, so I am anticipating having a full house of teens for many weekends to come. I love a rowdy house of squealing teens.

These three teens are likely to be together lots over the next few weeks.

What I am working on ~ We are composing a list of ideas for Anne's 16th birthday. She wants to do, taste, experience 16 different things that she has never done before. We are finding the list harder to create than we thought it would be. I told her that means she is very blessed to have done so many things already in her short life. So far we have 12 things (the ones with stars next to them we have already done). We plan to complete them over the month of October. She also is dressing up with her friends and brothers and going out on the town to have Shirley Temples. It should be a fun and memorable birthday.

What I am watching/reading ~ We just finished season 8 of Call the Midwife. I am also watching Mom of 10 on YouTube. They are currently spending 6 months traveling through Europe. What an awesome experience! I am reading Born to Rise by Deborah Kenny. It is a wonderful book about education and how to transform it to work better.

What I am looking forward to next month ~ I love October. I am looking forward to my daughter's 16th birthday, online driver's ed being completed, Halloween, and autumn weather.

Blessings, Dawn

Where There Is Love

This week was filled with so many emotions -- sadness, loss, grief, confusion, anger, hope, courage, perseverance and tiny moments of joy. Some days it was just enough for Dean to live and other days had hours that almost felt normal and had some accomplishments. But for now, we are caught in a time of struggle and so we will grow and stretch. Sometimes it is really hard to be grateful for the struggles. We are definitely in a tempest, but where there is love there is hope, peace and courage. We push onward to happier days.

One of our main missions this week was to keep Dean busy. This is a hard accomplishment when he has felt so lethargic. We arrived home from our trip to a crisis within 12 hours and school, work and Anne's dance classes starting within two days. Yep, it was crazy to say the least. But this week felt more doable. I am just trying to stay in the moment as much as possible.

Dear Husband and I took Dean to the pinball museum. He as been very interested in pinball machines since making one with his Eureka Kit. They had more than 40 pinball machines and some classic arcade games, too. We were allowed to play all of them as many times as we wished for a one-time fee. We had fun for a little while and Dean enjoyed the simpler machines from the 1970's.

We also took several nature walks and Dean made it to the Wandering Swordsman classes twice this week. Exercise is so good when you are depressed.

Our favorite school things this week ~ School is fully underway for Anne and about 25% to 50% for Dean depending on day.

Dean made an electric pencil sharpener and a lamp with his Eureka Kits. He makes these wonderful working kits faster and faster with fewer mistakes each time.

We finally did two of our science experiments for our Physical Science course. We are using Mel Science as one of our supplements this year. We made carbon snakes and foaming eruption.

Anne is really enjoying geometry through Khan Academy. She likes to have Dad nearby while she works but is building confidence every day.

Two September goals that I missed mentioning last week started this week. Anne is starting Driver's Ed this week. She is doing the online classroom part of the course for the next month. Then we will pay for private lessons for the required eight hours of school road driving before getting her learner's permit. We could do it through the school for less money, but I just hate the way they run the program that within two hours of driving, the school has brand new drivers on the highway (we live near one of the deadliest sections of highway in our state). Crazy! I am not meeting the requirements that way.

Dean also is enjoying his new art book. It is called Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Study of Art and History ~ Picturing the Past. He is working through the section on Renoir this week. This book has really high quality pictures. I am impressed with the printing.

Lastly, we tried to get Dean to go to the state fair. He just wasn't up to it and Dad ended up staying home with him. Tim, Anne and I enjoyed ourselves for two hours, but we all agreed that it really is too expensive to go without discount coupons. We shared two fair foods ~ funnel cake and ribbon fries and the kids went on two rides together. Anne and I went on the Skylift, which goes over the entire park. We saw animals, walked through the expo building and visited mommy cows with their newborn calves. It was fun to be there at night for the first time.

 

The goal today is to clean the house, get Dean out and about, start Driver's Ed, do math and watch Moby Dick.

Blessings, Dawn