7 Quick Takes: August 14th (Vol. 11)

Okay, so fight the urge to hit me. But, I actually have already bought a Christmas gift.

Sure, some of you may have already bought all of your gifts. In that case, I’ll have to fight the urge to hit you.

Not only did I already buy a gift, but I already bought the big gift for one of the kids. I was afraid they were retiring the particular thing that one of them wanted, so I just went ahead and bought it.

~ 2 ~

Speaking of ordering things, I am about to order Alpha and Gamma from Math-U-See. I am still not sold on this whole idea, but we’ll give it a try and see what we think.

I like our math curriculum, but I think I just have to let go of the fact that even though I don’t need to use manipulatives to do math, the boys just might need it.

~ 3 ~

Do you know who obviously doesn’t need any manipulatives to do his school work? Eric!

Years ago, he started college right out of high school. He really struggled. Then, after a semester of academic probation, he was finally asked to leave (because of grades). Then, he tried it again (same university) a couple of years later, but didn’t last long again before deciding to leave.

Fast forward more than 10 years, and he enrolled in a distant education program through small private college. He just finished his fourth semester with…get this…his first ever 4.0 semester grade point average. And, when I say first ever, I mean EVER. We’re so darn proud of him! As a matter of fact, his cumulative GPA is an impressive 3.762. Not bad for a guy who got kicked out of college for grades, huh?

Now, I do feel the need to point out that as far as I can tell, this program looks a lot harder and more involved than where he went before. So, don’t think that just because it is distance education that it is easier. He has been working so hard (and having to deal with me nagging him to keep on working).

Great job to Eric! I know this is a long process, Eric, with only being able to go half time. But, we already look forward to the day when we can see you in that cap and gown.

(Eric claims he will not go to graduation, and that I don’t have any room to talk, as I skipped the graduation ceremony for both my bachelors and masters. I disagree. Strongly.)

~ 4 ~

Do you ever have one of those days when you have to take a dish or dessert somewhere, and every time you think of what to bring, you are just an ingredient or two short?

Yeah, I had one of those days just yesterday. How annoying.

In the end, I was thankful that I had everything for my favorite go-to brownies and zucchini raisin walnut muffins.

~ 5 ~

This week, I made roast with potatoes and carrots in the crockpot. Oh man, I love making that. The only difference this time?

I used carrots out of our garden! That was so good. Crazy good, in fact. I’ll have to remember to plant carrots again next year.

~ 6 ~

So, I know I give off this vibe of being all handy and creative (or at least I like to pretend I do). But, want to hear a confession?

This week, I did something for the very first time — I sewed a button!

Yep, that’s just one of those things I had never done before. In fact, that would have been the kind of thing I would have asked my Mom to do in the past. But, thanks to her teaching me to embroider (along with the Stitch It Kit I got for my birthday), I can now do things like sew on buttons and do corrective surgery on Webkinz.

Wow — it’s like the world is my oyster.

~ 7 ~

We finished our first week of school with our 2009 – 2010 curriculum this week (we had done five days this summer already as well, but not with the new books). So far, so good. We are thinking of the math changes above, but otherwise, I think that this is going to be a good year. I feel more productive by having done a lot of organizing ahead of time, and I like what we’re using.

Still though — it feels like it has been a long week. Is it bad though that I thought today, “Okay, 10 days down, 170 to go.”