We interrupt this program...to bring you a homeschooling BONUS lesson!

If you were following my five part series on our family's homeschooling evolution, you know that I posted parts I, II, and III, but then I sort of disappeared. Yep, I just kind of vanished. Sorry 'bout that!

Read part I of our homeschooling evolution HERE.

Read part II of our homeschooling evolution HERE.

Read part III of our homeschooling evolution HERE.

You know those times when it feels like everything is rolling along and going great, then suddenly...

BLAMMO!

Everything kind of falls apart!

Yeah, that's kind of what happened here. Thankfully, I think I'm climbing back up to the mountain, headed in the right direction, despite having lost the trail.

I spent weeks and weeks feeling under the weather but kept plugging along when I should have taken a rest. As a result, I ended up fairly sick. I spent loads of time in bed, sleeping, when I wasn't at work. I couldn't afford to take time off from work to focus on feeling better, so my recovery took much longer than it should have. Of course, just as I began feeling better, my allergies went completely bonkers. Totally haywire!

In the past week, I've spent more on new allergy medicine, asthma products, and so on than I think I spent on similar products in all of last year! Yesterday was the first day I've felt even slightly normal.

So, although not part of my series on how our homeschooling approach has evolved, here is an important homeschooling lesson for you:

Homeschooling BONUS lesson: Adapt and be flexible.

Many new homeschoolers wonder, "How do we keep homeschooling when I'm pregnant and on bed rest?" or "I'm in the hospital with pneumonia. What do we do about lessons?" or "Grandma is super sick and we have to go take care of her. Will my kids fall behind?"

The answer is, take a break! Adapt and do what you need to do in order to take care of the situation at hand. Taking a break from lessons does not mean your children will stop learning or suffer. In my opinion, learning to deal with the problems at hand can be much more informative than just about any formal academic lesson. How you handle a crisis will go a long way towards how your children handle future hiccups in their life plans as well. 

Typography poster: Everything is going to be OK by NeueStudioArtPrints on Etsy

Here are my five steps to homeschooling through a crisis:
1. Set the books aside and focus on making it through.
2. Talk to your kids about what is happening and what is most important at the moment.
3. Find alternative options to your usual lessons - documentaries and videos, books on tape, notebooks and pens, paper and crayons, whatever helps get you through without making you feel like you've lost your grip entirely.
4. Tell stories. Either make up stories from scratch or tell true stories about your family's history. Talk to one another. Learning to communicate face to face is sadly becoming a lost art in this day of technology and social media. Communicating will bring you closer together.
5. Reschedule lessons for another time. Instead of working Monday through Friday, do lessons on the weekends. Instead of taking a traditional breaks to match the local school calendar, take a break a week or two later. If you have to miss a significant amount of the school year, plan to work through part of the summer.

And, bonus step:
6. Your kids will still learn even without formal lessons. It's going to be OK! In a crisis, loving your family and supporting one another is far more important than just about anything academic.

I hope to have parts IV and V of my homeschooling evolution series up by the end of this week. Thanks for being patient!

What do you do when...

What do you do when you have:

• two clogged toilets and the plumber isn't calling you back?
• a dog that is a picky eater?
• another dog that is decidedly not a picky eater, and eats things like garden hoses?
• weeds. Always more and more weeds?
• birds that die in your yard if you use chemicals to kill the proliferating weeds?
• a fly in the house that you just can't seem to get and the dogs aren't interested in?

Seriously, HELP! Today is just one of those "why did I have to become an adult?" kind of days.

Being an adult... tile pendant by TarryTiles on Etsy

Make a direct impact in a single mom's life...

A while back I asked for a bit of help, and was overwhelmed by your generosity.  My son and I were having problems with our landlord and needed repairs, including mold abatement, in our apartment.  Our goal was to move as soon as possible.  We weren't able to save nearly enough to move, but between what I could save myself, and your donations, we were able to take legal action to force our landlord to make numerous repairs, and to clean up the mold problems.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Now, I am asking for help for someone else...  I have a lovely student in dire need of assistance.  She is a single mom of two children.  She works as much as she can.  She is one term away from finishing her college degree.  She is also a few months away from the opportunity to do extra training at her job, and to get a promotion.

Since Hurricane Sandy, my student has struggled more than usual.  She has little in the way of a support system, and no safety net should an emergency happen.  She confided in me recently that she is at risk of being homeless if she can't gather enough money to pay some back rent which has accumulated since Hurricane Sandy.

With the generosity of my Facebook friends, I've collected $500 of the $4,000 she needs to keep a roof over her children's heads.  If she loses her home, she loses her ability to finish school, and she loses her ability to possibly keep her job, and she definitely loses her ability to get her promotion.  She is working hard to save money on her own, and has applied twice for emergency assistance. 

You have a chance to have a direct impact in improving this mom's life, and thereby improving the lives of her children.  I am confident that if she can get past this hurdle, she will have a bright future ahead of her.  She reminds me so much of where I was just eleven years ago.  The difference?  I had the support of several friends and my entire family.

If you have it in your heart to help, please consider making a donation for my student.  Click the Paypal button below --

Another option is that all sales in my Etsy shop from now until June will go to support my student as well as my best friend.  My best friend is fighting a custody battle that has turned bitter and is becoming much more expensive than originally anticipated.  Check out my Etsy shop HERE.

This post should be about homeschooling, but isn't...

I was prepared to write a post all about our plans for the upcoming school year, but instead, I'm writing about home repairs again!

I've had this song going through my mind for a couple of weeks now - pretty much every time I think about the state of our apartment, and my landlords neglect of damage and repairs due to water leaks from two floors above... "We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place" by The Animals

Our ridiculous landlord and his handyman have some odd ideas about repairing water damage.  Grrr....  For the third time in less than two years, we have had major water damage in our apartment, and each time it has come from above.  Apparently the person that lives two apartments above us is prone to getting drunk, turning on the water, and passing out before turning off the water.  So...it soaks through her floors, down between the walls and into the apartment between hers and mine, and then eventually into mine.

First, the damage resulted in a chunk of the bedroom ceiling collapsing onto my son's bed (thankfully he wasn't in the bed at the time!), and part of the bedroom and bathroom walls having to be replaced.  It took them MONTHS to do the repairs!  The damage occurred in August of last year, but wasn't finally repaired until November of last year!

Then, in December, there was another water leak above and around the shower and bathroom sink, with odors of mold in the closet immediately next to the bathroom.  That wasn't repaired until January, and the repair guy said he couldn't smell the mold, therefore it must not be there, and he wasn't going to do anything about it.  He merely plastered over the damaged spots on the bathroom ceiling and wall, and painted over them.

Oh, and did I mention that since we moved in, up until January, we had NO smoke or carbon monoxide detectors despite my repeatedly calling the landlord?  I finally bought my own...  This is where one of them was supposed to be installed BEFORE our moving in:

Then, a month ago (mid-June), I started to hear the sound of dripping, then pouring water, and the (finally installed) smoke alarm chirpping.  I went down the hall to find water pouring out from the smoke alarm and the channel where it was wired in, plus the ceiling in the hall began to crack and drip.  The bathroom wall was again showing water damage, and TWO closets had water leaking into them.  The super of our building came up, looked at the damage, and turned off power to half our apartment as the smoke alarms were now going off constantly and couldn't be reset. Then, he left. I had already called the landlord/management company several times (as I also had in the two previous instances), but to no avail. They said, "We've called a repair person, and that's as much as we are going to do. Our duty is over.  He'll be there eventually."  Eventually was more than three week later, and only after I threatened to withhold rent and sue if they didn't get repairs done.  By this point, the odor of mold was so bad that I was having minor asthma attacks and had to shove towels around the two closet doors to block the odor from coming out around the doors.  And, if you opened the closets you could see the mold too.

Water leaking from the hall ceiling.

Mold and water damage in the closet - and it has gotten worse since this photo.

The crack in the ceiling - it has recracked since being "repaired."

These are just a few pictures of the current damage.  There are a bunch more of mold throughout the closets, the sagging bathroom wall, and so on. 

A repair guy finally came out, and assessed the damage.  He said he would get drywall, paint, and supplies and be back...but only AFTER taking care of the lady two floors up and her damage. He came last week, but did NOT bring any drywall.  Instead, he just brought some plaster and paint.  He did NOT do anything to clean the mold which is widespread in the two closets, and merely painted over them.  The places that he plastered over have all cracked again, and the original damage is still there.

This apartment, and building, and neighborhood could be great, but the landlord and his handy man suck.  Why wouldn't they do the repairs the right way from the start? Why not do something about legally getting the lady that has caused all three leaks out of the building?  If she's caused three major water leaks, it stands to reason that she'll cause more!   

Meanwhile, my son, the dog, and I have been living with half the power in our apartment off for more than a month now, mold in the closets, and so on.  The landlord doesn't seem to care, and the repair guy has yet to come back to install a new smoke alarm which he promised he would do today (it's 1230pm...he promised to be here around 9am).  

Because the power is off to half the apartment, this is what I had to do to keep the refrigerator running! Dangerous, right?

And, I can't afford to move.  I want to move, but that requires putting up first and last months rent, plus a deposit, and depending on how you find an apartment, possibly a broker's fee.  It could cost anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 to move.  I work hard, and do a lot of things to bring in money, but how do I manage that in just two weeks...becuase, oh yeah, our lease is up at the end of the month.  I had originally planned to renew it.  I still can renew it, but I'd rather not.  These problems are likely to keep happening.

(This post has been edited, and irrelevant parts removed.)

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And, guess what??? I'm updating the very day I posted this because we started inspecting the rest of the apartment and there a bunch of new cracks in the living room ceiling too!  What is going on????  Ugh!  We really need to move!

UPDATED AGAIN:  WOW!  You are bringing me to tears with your kindness and generosity, especially after we just found our first EVER cockroach IN our apartment.  We've seen all of three in the last two years, and they were in the basement...nowhere near our apartment, and suddenly we have one IN our apartment???

And, thanks especially to Dawn.  Your comment/advice is so right!  I'm hoping to talk to a realtor/broker/agent tomorrow - there is one on the way to my job.

Paths to insanity...

I might just go insane this week...  We've had a variety of problems around our apartment since we moved in, and they've slowly been getting repaired.  Tuesday, an electrician came out and (FINALLY) installed the hard wired smoke alarms.  The wiring was in already, but no detectors.  Well, the repair guys installed two new smoke alarms, and the stupid things went off randomly for several hours.  I read the instructions, pushed the tester button, etc, etc, all to no end.  Tried calling and getting hold of the electricians company but to no avail (I had to call the building management company who said they would call the electrician company...but I never heard back).  Well, finally the stupid things stopped beeping....untillllllll....20 minutes ago.  One of the stupid alarms has gone off twice in the last 20 minutes.  I'm just waiting for it to go off again.  I'm betting it will start going off as soon as I'm deep in sleep.

The batteries are fresh.  The alarms aren't around anything smokey or anything that would block them.  Can't figure out what is up...

If anyone has any brilliant ideas on what is wrong with the stupid things, or how to get them to stop beeping without ripping them off the ceiling...please share!  I may go slowly insane otherwise...

Update - I think I fixed the smoke alarms...or maybe broke them?  Either way, I'm fine with it!  They finally STOPPED beeping!  Thank goodness, because I think I probably seemed a little insane to my tutoring students today thanks to the combination of the psychosis inducing beeping and sleep deprivation.

One of "those" days...

I am having "one of those days"...  I'm stressed about money, about the ex, about school starting next week, about my falling apart car.  I kind of want to have a good cry, but don't want to expend the energy on crying.  Right now, I am feeling exhausted and worn out by those little things (and big things) that add up and leave you feeling like poo.  :(  No bueno...  Nicht gut...

I got my car into a shop today, after consulting other shops, and the verdict is that I need a new motor.  Do you hear that wooshing sound?  That is the sound of money flying out of my bank account, and not enough money coming back in.

I happen to love my car, and hope the repairs won't be as expensive as I fear!

The bright note today, is that I recently found a website where I can study German for FREE, and the site is well organized, and thorough.  I've used numerous websites and software with mixed results, and none have been substantial enough for me to return time and time again.  This site, however, is FANTASTIC!   If you have any interest in learning German, check out Deutsch Welle! I am focusing on the Deutsch Interaktiv and Mission Europe sections right now. 

I should have spent my day...

...working on this to-do list:

* walk or run or cycle
* sketches for the packaging design
* blog
* compare yoga certification classes
* compare SAT class that one potential student may take vs. what I am offering and get back to the mom
* compile list from previous emails about possible space for classes
* pimp Etsy shop on Twitter, Facebook, etc
* try not to worry about my last yoga/juice bar paycheck getting here quickly in the mail
* call Office of Student Affairs and make sure they will be open tomorrow
* call friend to see if we can take her son with us to Ocean City, NJ next weekend (going to meet a pen pal from Germany that is visiting another of her pen pals!!!!)

I did a few things on my list, but mostly I spent most of the day dealing with repair guys who did this:

 

The two pictures on the left show the holes made in the bathroom and bedroom walls to search for leaking pipes, and then replace them.  The plastic over the holes, in the pictures on the right, is how they left the holes for the next several days.  Apparently they can't close up the holes until they have confirmed, over the course of a few days, that the leaks have been fully repaired.  Fine, makes sense to me.  Unfortunately, this is a long weekend in the United States with a holiday on Monday.  That means the guys won't be coming back to finish the repair work until at least Tuesday or Wednesday.  Sigh...

So, it is now 730pm, and I haven't done most of my to-do list.  Tonight, I WILL do the bulk of my to-do list.  About the only things I can't do tonight involve phone calls, so they will be done first thing in the morning.  

MAIL CALL: JP received a letter from one of his pen-pals in California.  He hasn't opened it yet, but I can feel something bulky.  JP's pen-pal sends an origami piece in every letter, giving the letters a little bit of added fun. 

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?  JP ate leftover pasta with gourmet cheese melted over the top.  The cheese was a birthday gift from my bestie, C.  It came from Gesthemani Farms which is run by Trappist monks!  I had leftover Israeli Salad and toast.

Loving his cheese!

Schnofelurpalumphagus...

...is the word of the day.  Do you ever make up words?  Or, try to invent your own language?  We do it all the time at our house.  The new words and language don't have to have real meaning attached.  Instead, just make them up and use the tone and volume of your voice, combined with your expression and body language to convey meaning.  This is a fun game when the kids are bored, or you feel a need to interact in a different way.  Give it a try.  Walk up to your child right now, and say a random made up word, but put real emotion and energy into it.  Then, see how they react!  Give it a try, and let me know what happens!  My son and I have had entire conversations just using made up words and noises, and by observing one anothers body language and facial expressions.  A fun, easy way to relax and connect...

Yesterday, I planned out our first six weeks of the homeschool year...we won't actually start lessons until September 6th, however.  That is the day my grad school classes begin, and the day my tutoring students go back to school...seemed like a natural start to the homeschool year as a result.  I'm very excited for all of us!

Although my classes don't start until next Tuesday, I volunteered today for new student orientation (this will be my second year in the program).  It was great fun to see old friends, and make new ones.  I took the boy with me this evening for a new student welcome dinner - basic green lettuce salad, grilled chicken, fruit salad, dinner rolls, lemonade, grilled veggies.  Then, I took the boy to CVS for junk food - he's been good, he deserves a treat.

To make up for the lack of pictures in yesterday's curriculum planning post, I have four pictures for you today...but no mail call...again...I'm considering getting a P.O. Box and posting my address on this blog just to entice you all to send me snail mail...no, just kidding.  It would be nice to get more mail, but I don't want to spend money on a P.O. Box.  It would defeat the purpose of the careful budgeting that I've been doing over the past two months.

Did I mention previously that we were without cold water for a couple of days last week?  It had nothing to do with Hurricane Irene.  Just dumb luck - the bathroom above ours had a leak AND the boiler in our building had a burst pipe.  That translated to no running cold water for about two and a half days.  Our hot water was so hot that it was probably illegal...as a result, I ended up with this:

and this:

But, I also ended up with this:

I had a few zucchini about to go bad in the fridge, and decided to make zucchini bread.  Don't you just adore those baking dishes?  I will do a separate post on them at another date, as I am trying to research them a bit and find out if they are worth anything.  I scored them for free from a friend who is moving out of state and getting rid of almost everything she owns!  They are definitely vintage...and so cute!

Will post the zucchini bread recipe another day...want to tweak it just a bit more first.

Video games with a side of cabbage and carrot egg rolls...

We have been without cold water, or a flushable toilet for about 36 hours.  I was beginning to really despair when I finally! got through to the building management company today.  Apparently there was a major pipe burst in the boiler room.  At the same time, repairs were happening in the apartment above ours.  No warning about the water being off...no notice that there was an emergency and we'd be without water.  Just BLAMMO...  Well, thankfully, the water was all back on about 20 minutes after I hung up with the management company.  They also assured me that a contractor would be calling me about some other repairs that I've been pestering them about...fingers crossed that the contractor actually calls and can show up in the next few weeks!

Anyhoooo...with the water drama resolved, I was able to wash up a massive amount of dirty dishes, clean the counters, and get on with life.  JP didn't seem too bothered by the water issue, and primarily spent the last day and a half with his new video game, Deus Ex.  Since it was his birthday on Wednesday, I allowed him to stay up late and play the game as much as he wanted on that day only.

Before you run out and get this game for your kid, you should know that it is rated M - and with very good reason.  Of all the rated-M games that JP has expressed interest in, this one has by far been the most violent and bloody.  The online reviews that I read all did a poor job of expressing just how bloody this game can be, not to mention the swearing - more than I expected.  Before I allow JP to get any game rated T or M, I make him figure out why the games have those ratings, and to read multiple reviews, including those posted at Common Sense Media.  He has to convince me that the games are ok before I allow him to play them, or buy them.  I think we both weren't entirely prepared for Deus Ex.

That said, however, we talk frequently about video games and game violence, language, drug use, sexual themes, and all aspects of the games (and of movies...).  We talk about the fact that these are just games; they aren't real.  We talk about the fact that some people get so wrapped up in their games and in these fantasy worlds that they begin to obsess and become game addicts.  We talk about the pros and cons of gaming in general.  When was the last time you had a talk with your child about these types of things?  As a result of our discussions, my son has made up his own mind about some games being too violent or graphic.  He's told a friend, "Dude, I think you are a little too into this.  It's just a game.  We should take a break and do something else for a while."  Talk to your kids...they need to hear you.  Talk to your kids so that they are empowered to make smart choices when you aren't around.  Your kid may not want to hear it, but you need to talk to them anyhow...

Enough soap boxing...on to the cabbage and carrot egg rolls!  Originally, I had planned to make these for dinner last night, but with the water drama, that didn't happen.  And, I was so excited to have the water on this morning that I couldn't wait until dinner time to cook! These turned out so much better than I expected!  JP is allergic to soy sauce, and I don't like oyster sauce, plum sauce, or many other sauces that seem to be in or accompany many egg roll recipes.   So, this recipe is without those additions...  These came out tasting fresh and had just the right amount of crunch to go with the soft veggies inside.  I should also tell you that I am terrified of frying anything in a pan of oil, so I did more turning and fiddling than necessary while cooking these.

Amended to add:  I have been reading egg roll recipes all week, and although I used just what was in my own fridge, and took measurements, tasted and adjusted, etc along the way, I realized today that my mind was also guiding me along the lines of recipes I had read, in particular the peanut sauce recipe from Love Veggies and Yoga.  You can read the original recipe HERE.

Cabbage and Carrot Egg Rolls with Sunflower-Sesame-Ginger Dipping Sauce
1 package of egg roll wrappers (I used 8 out of the entire package of Nasoya brand wrappers.)
1/2 of a red cabbage (mine came out to about 3/4 of a cup)
1 large carrot, peeled (about 2/3 of a cup)
1/4 C sprouts (We had alfalfa sprouts on hand, and I packed the 1/4 cup.)
4 scallions, including green parts
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for frying (or your favorite type of oil)


Shred your cabbage and carrot.  Make sure the cabbage and carrot pieces are small enough that they won't rip your wrapper when you fold it up.  Dice the scallions.  I like to peel my carrot, and then just use the peeler to keep going and make thin curly strips from the carrot instead of bothering with a knife.  You could also grate the carrot.  If you haven't minced your ginger, do so now...peel the skin off first.

Add 1 to 2 Tbsp olive oil to your frying pan.  Add all of your vegetables, including the sprouts and ginger.  Cook, stirring and turning frequently, until soft. Taste and adjust seasoning by adding salt or pepper, if you like. Set aside to cool.


Once your veggies have cooled, place an egg roll wrapper on the counter in front of you, fill and roll according to package directions (mine had a nice graphic on the back, Nasoya brand...available in our grocery's produce section).  


Pour a few Tbsp of olive oil in your frying pan, and gently place a few egg rolls in the hot oil, turning occasionally as they become golden brown and crispy.  I pour in just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan, and no more...I am way to chicken, and recall an incident involving a friend's sister being badly burned by spattering hot oil.  Once browned on all sides, set aside on a plate layered with paper towels to soak up any excess oil (I used so little oil there was not much to soak up!).

To make the dipping sauce:
1/3 C sunflower seed butter (or peanut or almond butter...whatever you prefer)
1/4 C maple syrup
1/4 C vinegar (just plain white vinegar works fine)
1/4 C sesame oil (the flavor really does make a big difference!)
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 tsp chili powder (I found the sauce was a bit too sweet without the chili powder...the chili powder gives a little heat and kick)


Use a blender (I used my immersion blender) to combine the ingredients until smooth.  My sauce turned out very thick.  You could thin it with more syrup, vinegar, oil, or even just plain water.  Taste, and adjust seasoning.


Serve two or three egg rolls with a small dish of dipping sauce, and enjoy!


Our mail has been coming quite late so I don't have a mail call entry for today...