Monday began with a dentist appointment (cleaning for 1 child). The people at home spent the morning playing, drawing, and creating. Lunch and an afternoon appointment for daddy came next. We got our car back from the mechanic. At 4pm everyone headed outside to play in the backyard. We also released all 12 butterflies. The kids enjoyed watching as they flew around the yard and off to explore.
Tuesday we had another 4 dentist cleanings (and no cavities). That leaves two more children to have cleanings next week. Phew!
Wednesday I took no notes.
Thursday was stressful. Joseph and Mason had their soft cooked egg (scrambled) food challenge at the allergist. Mason passed, no reaction to eating eggs that we could see. Hooray.
BUT ---
Joseph had a very obvious negative reaction to eating the eggs. It took claratin, Benadryl, two rounds of Epinephrine, and an injected steroid to control his reaction. We spent 8 hours in the office before it was all done. Joseph is just fine now, we have more information than we had before, and we can definitively say he is still allergic to egg. He is cleared to continue eating egg baked in items (the temperature and time baking make bigger changes to the protein that his body is able to handle). But anything cooked on the stove top with egg is out (think: omlets, French toast, boiled eggs, mayo or anything with mayo like potato salad, ranch dressing, or pasta salad, fresh pasta, eggnog, etc).
Friday is finally here and I took some time this morning to put together this:
For others whose children are homeschooling high school I wanted to share a neat Etsy store with some helpful items. The Plaid Polka Dots offers editable transcript templates that will calculate GPA for you. I am excited to use this throughout high school to keep records neat, clean, and organized for the rest of the kids!
They also offer custom diplomas for homeschool graduates. You have several options in font, text, and customizations. Then you can choose to have them print and mail you the diploma on a nice linen-textured paper or you can download the file and print the diploma yourself.
Friday continued...
As I type this it is early afternoon. My children have been pestering one another all day. It is summer break, and we always start off with a total break. They are driving me and each other crazy!
After about two weeks of total break we start summer routines. In a family with this many kids there have to be routines or everyone goes crazy. It's the time of year when we brush up on or learn new chores. We set up daily routines that include no media mornings. We plan some out of the house activities like kids bowl free, trips to the zoo, and science museum adventures. The kids get two days of math practice a week and know that they need to grab a timer for summer reading and curl up with a book most days of the week. Some kids choose to learn typing and get to use Typing Instructor for Kids. All the kids set personal goals to learn new skills or practice old ones, and so do I.
I'm off to enjoy a leisurely afternoon of handing out chores for anyone who is pestering a sibling. Maybe I'll pull out a couple games and see if anyone wants to play, too.
Congratulations on Makayla’s graduation! I’ve been following your homeschool journey for a while now and it’s great to see her reach this milestone.
ReplyDeleteEven with just 4 kids we had pandemonium after about a week of free time when they were young. We loved our routines year round. We had the dentist for almost everyone this week too. No cavities! I love the graduation announcement.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
The graduation announcement is really cool! We're working on Pixie's right now. :)
ReplyDeleteThe idea of being routine free for even a day makes my heart beat harder--but that's because of the nature of my particular family. I love your good natured way of writing that you're going "enjoy a leisurely afternoon of handing out chores . . ."
Bummer about Joseph's allergy going on. I'm spinning with the struggle of managing more food allergies and sensitivities than I dreamed were possible in a single family. I've been trying to keep our meal plans a lot like they were and simply modify plates for the various needs we have, but with so many needs, I can't keep up. After 3 weeks of feeling out of control and constantly giving kids things that harm them by accidentally filling plates incorrectly, I'm going ahead and modifying the meal plan for the whole family. I can keep chips and salsa on hand for my husband to pack to work or to snack on when kids are sleeping, but the rest of the time, we're eating the same as the most restricted kid in the family.
Anyway, I hope your butterflies thrive and populate your yard and lives!!!!