Where is Summer?

The weather here is sunny California has been anything but sunny. We have had two weeks of rain, humidity, dark clouds and cold. This is definitely not prime beach weather. Luckily we have been busy enough with other things this week to take our minds off of the weather.
On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon and evening at Disneyland. It's so nice to have an annual pass and not feel rushed to get through everything in one day. We also have rules regarding souvenirs; they aren't aloud to ask for any. It definitely makes for a more pleasant experience.
On Wednesday morning we met with a Muslim religious leader. He was great! He answered questions from the kids, gave them some information about his life and even ended with a joke. He was very sweet and we were so happy that he agreed to meet with us to talk to the kids.
On Wed afternoon Bug worked her first volunteer shift at the vet's office. She had to file a lot of paperwork. The best part of the day was the cat emergency. A cat came in who had been bit by a rattlesnake. So she was able to learn about the steps the vet took to determine what had bit the cat and how to treat it. She even got to look under the microscope to view the cats blood cells and learn how they were different from a healthy animal's.
Last night Bug and I also had a lengthy discussion about being a writer. It was great, she has so many ideas and doesn't know how to keep them all in order. We discussed why proper grammar and a varied vocabulary are important. We talked about ways to keep all of her ideas a bit more orderly. But we also had a great discussion about not letting other people's preconceived ideas on a subject inhibit her. I this helped her to understand that she could write wherever he imagination takes her. She was also feeling like people would think less of her because she wants to write books for young children. So we talked more about incorporating her art in to the books. I think she walked away from this feeling much more confidant about the whole process. This conversation also brought us back to the subject of her art. She was finally at a point to understand that you don't have to draw perfectly to be great at painting etc. She always had a hang up with this. She is an excellent colorist and was finally (after a year) ready to hear it. So now she is considering picking up painting again in the fall. (I was secretly very happy, she has had no self confidence in this area for a year because of one mean teacher.)
Lastly, just to show the contrast in my older two children, Frodo checked out Stephen Hawking's A Briefer History of Time from the library. He read the book at the park while is little brother hung upside down. :)

Adjustments

Believe it or not after just one week I have needed to alter the kids summer schedule. After this week ended the kids and I decided that I have given them too much math to do in one week. I scaled it back from 12 assignments to 6 assignments a week. They were feeling too much pressure to get it all done, they didn't feel like they were absorbing the material. I'm so glad they are at a point where they were able to articulate that to me.
Yesterday I met with a therapist that we'll be taking Monkey to see. She came highly recommended by many families who have used her for gifted testing. She also happens to specialize in children with anxieties. I really liked her a lot. At this point she is thinking that his anxiety his causing a bit of a road block for some of his learning. There is a lot more to it, but its hard to explain everything without going into great detail. I am happy that it feels like we're on the right path.

Stay Positive!

Last night hubby and I went out to see a concert. We saw Ziggy Marley and 311's Unity show. It was so great! It was wonderful to get out with out any children. There were so many wonderful things about the show. First, Ziggy's children were all at the edge of the stage dancing and singing along while he played. I thought that was really sweet. All of his songs were positive and he even did a couple of Bob Marley songs. 311 was just simply amazing. The showman ship was great, the music was wonderful and they had a great message about staying positive. We had so much fun! I so wished I was younger and down in the pit moving with the crowd. Ah, I miss those days.... Of course, now I have a total celebrity crush on Nick Hexum. LOL

Books, Cats and Computers

Our day started out with a trip to the vet for our cat Miss Haru. She's driving us all crazy because over the past two months she has developed a nasty little habit. We have tried everything recommended to us but nothing has relieved the problem. So today we took her into the vet to have some tests run. Miss Haru ended up staying for the day and Bug ended up with a nice weekly volunteer position at the office. We'll have our results tomorrow and hopefully it will not lead to treating my cat like a princess.

Next on our list was our weekly library visit. I think the library ladies see us coming and try to hide. We check out such a huge amount of stuff, all of which has to be checked out by the librarian, that I see them cringe a little. But today was special. For the first time Monkey checked out five books to read by himself. He's already read them all except one. This afternoon he started looking through our bookshelves for more books he could read. Finally all those dusty books are going to get their day in the sun again!

Frodo spent his day setting up a web server and playing around with Linux. He was in heaven. We also decided to enroll him in a programming class at the local community college in the fall. He has been able to master anything computer related we put in front of him pretty quickly. I found my self laughing inside when he found the programming errors in the Lego Mindstorms project book I got him a few months ago. Speaking of Lego, we decided to start a First Lego League team. He is giddy about it. Now I just have to do a few things to get it up and running. But it will be great!

Much to Contemplate

We just had our final teacher meeting of the year with our Charter school. It left several things for me to think about over the next few months and during the next school year. The kids are reaching a stage where I need to consider things which I haven't needed to consider before.
The first is the options available to us for Frodo for High School. It's kinda a big scary word for me. But it is only a year away and I would like to make smart choices that open doors rather than close them. He has no intention of attending a school whether it be private or public. There are other choices but we have narrowed it down to continuing with our Charter or filing as independent. I had assumed that I would file as independent when he reached HS age, but now I am reconsidering. I had a wonderful talk with my teacher today that made me feel more comfortable continuing our current situation. It really comes down to our teacher, we have had her for 3 years now and she knows us and our style of educating well. But this means that there are things to consider as I plan out his 8th grade year. A few of his 8th grade subjects will be able to count for HS if I just plan them correctly. They are things he was going to be taking already, I will just need to adjust them ever so slightly so they fit.
My next area of thinking has to do with Monkey. There is a lot to consider this summer with him. He is very intelligent, but a major wiggle worm and extremely anxious. His anxiety keeps him from sleeping most nights, and from participating in classes as well as making new friends. Also, in my opinion he is not just a typical boy that has a need to move around. He has such trouble focusing that it takes an hour to do one page of math that he knows. Most of the time he is noticing everything else in the world around him. When I do get him to focus, (it has to be really early) he makes huge leaps and really shows how much he understands. So now I am trying to decide how much more time I give him before I seek out help. But an option that I forgot about was presented to me today. I'm not quite ready to discuss the option, but it gives me some hope and it feels like it might be the right way to handle things.
So those are the things I am sure will keep me up tonight. As I tend to over analyze everything around me. :)

Mother of the Year Award

A big thank you to Chere Mere for giving this to me! I know it was a month ago, but I still thought it was important enough to do.

These are the rules:

Admit one thing you feel awful about involving being a mom. Get it off your shoulders. Once you've written it down, you are No Longer allowed to feel bad. It's over with, it's in the past. Remember, you're a good mom!

The "we'll do it later" promise. I tend to say this little phrase much more than I would like. The kids are always asking me to do all these wonderful things, but I would honestly say about half of the time they get the "we'll do it later" answer. Then the next day when I am reminded of my broken promise but heart breaks that I forgot to help with the task at hand. Ah, I wish my memory was as precise as it used to be!

Next....Remind yourself you are a good mom, list seven things you love about your kids, you love doing with your kids, or that your kids love about you. These are the things to remind yourself everyday that you Rock!

1. I love that my kids think I'm the coolest mom they know.
2. I love it when they all lay in bed with me reading away.
3. I love to see them all sleep.
4. The spray of freckles across all of their noses
5. I cherish that I am able to educate them at home.
6. Their enthusiasm makes my heart overflow.
7. I love that everyone of them has a great heart, but they are all very unique in every other way.

Now your supposed to tag more people. I will pass on tagging individually, if you reading this your tagged!