Halloween 2015

Pumpkin time was sort of sad this year.  D-man never even got around to carving his, so I don't have the traditional picture of all the kids with their pumpkins together.  It is that kind of stuff that, if I let it, can make me totally break down in tears.  The other kids have individual pictures, but their pumpkins started rotting almost immediately....so it was kind of a bust all the way around.  Oh, and we made pumpkin seeds, but someone stacked up the cookie sheets and put them in the sink - with seeds still on the pan - so, we had a soggy sinkful of pumpkin seeds that couldn't be eaten.  Guess who had to clean them out of the sink/drain?

(D-man's pumpkin.    Honestly.....I got teary a few times on Halloween this year, because I realized that this was probably D-man's last time to come with us.  Especially, early in the night when Rainman and D-man were - as they say in the south - being ugly with each other.  Oh, I boo-hooed to Rainman that I didn't want the night to be remembered with them fighting, especially over stupid stuff like a dirty shower.  D-man will be in college next year and I am fairly certain that coming home to trick or treat with us will be far down on his list of things to do on Halloween, for his new college life.  )

We had different Halloween this year than we have had since we moved to Georgia.  If you remember, way back when we first moved here, our mortgage guy and his family, took pity on us and invited us to go Trick or Treating with their family.

We became great friends and the tradition continued for the past 5 years....then.....they moved.

Boo for us, but yay for them.  He had a horrible...horrible, commute to his job.

But, it meant that we were on our own for Halloween this year.

We had fun, but as we were climbing into bed that night, S-girl said to me, "That was fun tonight, but it just wasn't the same not going with "The Smiths".  It was way more fun with them."

I agree.  It was weird to be here in the south, asking people for candy without them by our side.  LOL


We did look cute though.

 J-girl joined us, which was nice, because she lives in the same neighborhood that our friends, "The Smiths" did, so we still went Trick or Treating in the same neighborhood.

D-man and J-girl were Jim and Pam from The Office...he is 3 hole punch Jim and she is Pam, dressed up as a cat.

It actually ended up being a good night of networking for her, because she met people from her neighborhood that she didn't know.  She got a few babysitting jobs and even a tutoring job out of the night - in addition to candy!  I would call that a win!

A-girl was a completely adorable scarecrow.

 (Isn't she looking grown up?)

L-girl was a deer (insert numerous deer in the headlights jokes from Rainman here....ask L-girl if they got old. )

She was afraid that she looked like a little girl in her costume (a big fear for a 13 year old).  In my opinion, she looked old,  pretty and definitely not like a little girl.

A-man was a little boring this year...but, funny, nonetheless.

(Can you tell from his little grin that he has recently been referred to an orthodontist for his teeth? So far, only my boys have needed braces.  Thumbs up for that.)

S-girl was a wind up doll.

(We experimented with dresses and picked the top one because it hid the ribbon holding her wind up thingie onto her back.)

V-girl was a little old lady.

This one was before we painted her cane and added aging make-up, but it showed her fake butt better.

Rainman went as a dad, with his hands in his pockets, taking his kids trick or treating.  I can get him to dress up every 2 or 3 years or so.  

And me?  What was I, you say?

I was Darla from Finding Nemo.  Attractive, aren't I?

Our night ended with the traditional candy trade. (I have to laugh at the charges/devices near my teenage people)

I am not sure why this picture makes me so happy, but it does.  Aww.....I just love all these humans!

Standard Deviants Accelerate - Review

This is the second time we have gotten to try Standard Deviants Accelerate. and their Homeschool Courses.   The first time was almost exactly a year ago.  Last time, L-girl was my guinea pig...and lucky her...she was again this time too!  Although D-man is getting in on the action a bit too (more on that later).




They have a ton of course options for your students:

Here is the simple list of the courses that they have available:

Arithmetic - Grades 3+
Fundamental Math - Grades 4+
Earth Science - Grades 6+
Nutrition - Grades 6+
Algebra - Grades 7+
Biology - Grades 7+
Chemistry - Grades 9+
English Comp. - Grades 9+
U.S. History - Grades 9+
AP Biology - Grades 11+
AP Chemistry - Grades 11+
AP U.S. Government & Politics - Grades 11+
AP U.S. History - Grades 11+
AP Eng. Composition - Grades 11+


I think I got them all.  It is a big list!

We were boring and only used this for  Biology and Algebra for L-girl (D-man stuff later...)

Biology covers:

Moleculres and cells
Heredity and inheritance
Molecular genetics
Evolutionary biology

Organisms and populations

Human physiology and immune response

Ecology

Here is Algebra...

That screen shot turned out smaller than I intended.  But, it shows that there are 7 areas under the Algebra umbrella of study:

Foundations
Functions
Mechanics
Equations
Inequalities
Polynomials and Factoring
Quadratic Equations



Honestly, we like the same stuff about Standard Deviants Accelerate that we did last time.  The lessons are fairly quick and all of that jazz.  The videos  are clever and funny...and....a little quirky. L-girl is really doing well.

As the mom, I don't have to sit next to her and watch everything she is doing when she does her lessons.  Sometimes I do, just because I am reviewing it - and they always make me a laugh a little. (in the real world, if I wasn't reviewing this and we were just "doing" SDA - I probably wouldn't).  When I am not physically watching, I can just log on and check her progress report to see how she is doing.  Right now, she has an 88.5% in Algebra, as an 8th grader.

It is actually sort of funny, because Rainman usually doesn't get involved with too many of our review products.  And, honestly, most of the time doesn't even know we are working on one.  Sometimes he will say...."Hey, where did this come from?  I don't remember this."  And we will just explain that it is a review product....and he will just move on.

You may or may not remember that Rainman is sort of a mathematical genius (thus his nickname)....as a result of this, I will be honest and say that I pretty much leave all the higher level math teaching in his very capable hands.  (I do actually remember how to do a lot more than I thought - and I understand a lot more than I was afraid I did - now that Mr. Anlauf is not breathing down my neck)

Anyway, so, yes, L-girl is my guinea pig for this SDA course, but she is continuing to do her normal stuff with Rainman from an old algebra textbook we have.  About a week or two ago, he was a bit worried because he had been busy and hadn't gone over or corrected L-girl's "normal" algebra work he had assigned to her.  He was sort of kicking himself because he knew L-girl well enough to know that his lack of correcting things wasn't going to stop her from just plowing through and getting all her work done for the day (most of the time before he even has gotten up in the morning).  She is a diligent little thing.

So, he took her stack of work to go over and correct, said something soothing to her like, "Don't worry....if you missed stuff, it was my fault because I took so long going over stuff.  So, don't feel bad, okay?  It is my fault.  Don't kick yourself."

Well, the joke ended up being on him.  He finished correcting and she hardly had anything wrong and he said, "I don't know what you are doing differently, but it is working."

L-girl and I shared a secret little smile, told him she was working through an Algebra program for a review and all was well.

Sometimes, when I have a review product, there is a lot of moaning and groaning and complaining by my children that they are getting to try something new and cool....for free.  Ungrateful little things.    But, this time around, when I  told L-girl that we had been chosen for this one again.....no complaining...no eye rolls....no nothing.  So, in teenage speak, she was thrilled.  Right?

D-man using SDA:

D-man, when he transitioned from homeschool into the little college prep school that he is attending now, ended up testing well, so he was put into upper level classes - which was awesome.  Rainman and I were completely happy because it meant that, at least academically, we hadn't screwed him up.  Ha!  Only one small problem with that.... his guidance counselor just noticed that because of  him going into the higher level classes, he missed a semester of health/nutrition that he needs for graduating.  The school is allowing him to complete that course as a home study course, so we are going to work through the SDA Nutrition course at home.

Cells and macronutrients
What your body does with good
Food spectrum
Micronutrients, vitamins, minerals and water
Preventing nutritional disorders
Eating in context
Where does your food come from?
The savvy eater

Pretty sure that is going to cover all the necessary bases for his basic health/nutrition course needs before graduation!  Whew!

This is a really good, solid on-line option for homeschooling.  If you know me, you know I am not a huge fan of doing on-line or screen based school most of the time.  But, SDA makes me soften my stance on that a bit.  It is fun and quirky.  I mean, take a look at this picture and try to tell me you don't want to know what or how this is going to teach your kids something....




Prices run about $9.99/month for each course, (AP courses are $4.99)  but there is an option to get 35% off if you buy all the subjects and that also gets you lifetime access.

Take a look and see what the other TOS reviewers thought of their Standard Deviants Accelerate experiences.

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Not Just a Sunday Thing - Week 3

I am getting better and better at including God into my days.  How about you?

I do still feel like I am walking that fine line between just making it part of my routine....my thing to check off of my To Do list each day....and really just including Him in all of it.  But, anything is better than how I was doing it.  I am considering it "imperfect progress".

My Sunday School class is just getting into the new Jen Hatmaker book, For The Love.  Anybody else reading it?  Studying it?  Opinions?

My pastor got with with a phrase again this morning during his sermon.

He was talking about Jesus and prevenient grace.  won't try to summarize his whole sermon here.  But, he said something like, "In a world (or situation) where "No" isn't an option, a "yes" means nothing."

I will let you think on that one for a bit.

For me, it struck a chord and made me think of things like my kids saying I love you.

When they just repeat it back to me after I have said it to them....it is nice, but not as nice as when they just come up to you, out of the blue, and declare their love for me.  That means more.  Not like the first kind of declaration means "nothing"....but that is where my mind went.

Or even with my singing, if I get a compliment from a friend.  It could just mean that they are being nice.  That they know how insecure I am sometimes and they are helping build me up.  But, if a complete stranger takes the time to cross the room, seek me out, grab my hand and tell me that I sounded good or that the song I sang touched their soul.  That does mean...more.

I want to look for opportunities for my words to mean....something.  Mean more than nothing.  Be more than just filling time and space on this earth.

Pastor Kevin also talked about families who skip church on Sunday mornings for sporting activities for the kids.  I agreed with him on this point, already, but I LOVED the way he put it in his sermon.  He said that when parents skip church on Sunday for soccer, or baseball or....put your particular sport in the blank.....the parents are picking something that only matters or even exists on this planet...over someone and something who is the universe.

Something that only exists on this planet!

I just loved where that took my thoughts this morning.

D-man is hovering and pacing and wanting to get the computer out from under my hot little hands (my laptop is still being completely stupid, so I have been writing from the family desktop computer later).

So, I will cut short my Not Just a Sunday Post today with this final thought...

Are there ways that we can choose God first in our normal every day lives....through our words.....through our actions....that we aren't already doing?

Are there ways to say yes, when no is an actual option?  Or, are we just saying yes, because that is the only choice we have.  (Which makes me think of one of the other studies our class did recently The Best Yes - which talked about actually saying no to some things so when you do say "yes"....it is the best one for you and you can give your best...not just the obligatory enough).

Okay - D-man is back pacing and eating Halloween candy over my shoulder.  So, goodbye for now....