Sebastian is doing much better!  He’s able to run around and get into trouble, so he must not be hurting too bad.    I just have to try to keep him from hurting himself again with all of his crazy antics!

Plans for Tuesday:

• Morning routine
• Start laundry
• Serve breakfast (cereal)
• Check email/blog/forums
• Put laundry in dryer
• Take shower
• Brush hair/teeth
• Get dressed
• Straighten up & vacuum living/dining room
• Fold laundry
• Mother Goose Time w/ the kids (I forgot that the ESI coordinator was coming this morning to do the exit interview)
• Wash dishes
• Serve lunch (sandwiches)
• Print Grocery Game list and match to coupons
• Go grocery shopping
• Put groceries away (rotate stockpile)
• Clean the bathrooms
• Clean the toilets
• Mop the floors
• Clean the mirrors
• Prepare & serve dinner (Took boys out to dinner)

From my home to yours,
Andrea

Poor Sebastian has pulled a groin muscle and has been complaining of pain all day.  We’ve been following the R.I.C.E. protocol, as best as we can in that particular area, and I’ve also been in touch with the hospital’s 24 hour nurse line (to make sure I didn’t need to make a doctor’s appointment for it).  We were told to just treat the pain and ice it if it makes it better, having him rest it as much as possible, and it should be better in a few days.  So, that’s what we’re doing… but the poor thing is just so pitiful, and I’m sure after sleeping all night he’s likely to wake up stiff and sore.  So, would you please pray that he heals quickly and his pain subsides?  Thank you!

You’ll notice I’ve changed the color palette of my blog to coordinate with the beautiful photo of purple flowers in my profile!  This photo was taken by my dear friend Anne, a Christian homeschooling mom of seven (5 boys, 2 girls ranging in age from 17 to 2) and a constant inspiration to me!  Thank you, Anne, for sharing your friendship, your helpful advice, your love of Christ, your excellent example (and of course this beautiful photo) with me!    

1. NO climbing the baby gate to get into the kitchen.  The baby gate is there to keep you OUT.
2. NO opening the jar of RED koolaid mix in Mommy’s favorite chair!
3. NO pouring koolaid mix in your bathroom sink (the one to which Daddy turned off the water months ago because you wouldn’t stop playing with it… yeah, that one).
4. NO turning the water back on to your bathroom sink!
5. NO lying to Mommy when she goes to make a pitcher of koolaid and asks if you have seen the jar of koolaid mix.
6. NO waiting around until Mommy finds this mess in the sink HOURS later!
7. And finally, under NO circumstances should you EVER say the words “I don’t know” when Mommy asks you WHO did these things.

Just thought these rules might come in handy at your house. 

From my home to yours,
Andrea

June 15th, H.R. 2755 was introduced to Congress.  Its purpose is to abolish the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve banks and to repeal the
Federal Reserve Act.  Write your representative and ask them to cosponsor this important bill that seeks to end the inflation tax.

From my home to yours,
Andrea

The IEP meeting went very well.  According to the PSI instructor, Xander barely even qualified for special education eligibility.  The speech therapist said that he did qualify for speech.  They were both very supportive of my decision not to utilize school services and they seemed happy about him being homeschooled.  It was completely the opposite of what I had imagined working with the school to be like.  They were very warm, caring, and encouraging!

So, now I’m on my own!  Well, sort of.  The EIS special instructor comes tomorrow for her last session but the speech therapist will continue seeing Xander on a private basis.  This is a much more comfortable scenario for me, as it means one less weekly visit interfering with our homeschooling schedule.  It truly is more difficult to get everything done when you have someone coming to your house in the middle of the day twice a week.  It’s almost pointless to get into something before they come because you have to stop and drop everything right in the middle, and it’s difficult to get the kids settled down and ready to work after they leave.   So, yeah, I think that a once-a-week or every other week visit by a single therapist will be much easier to work around.

I took the boys to Applebee’s after the meeting.  They had a good time and I got them Oreo sundaes for dessert!  Xander kept saying, “Yummmmmmmm!”

After lunch…er… linner?… we went to the Dollar Tree and I picked up a few little things (contruction paper, notepads, pencils, and a couple of little toys for the kids).  We came home and Sebastian played Harry Potter on PS2 while I worked on organizing our school supplies. 

That was about it.  Pretty good for a Monday, I guess!

From my home to yours,
Andrea

I’ve decided not to use the public school for therapy services after all. I
just couldn’t bring myself to register Xander as a public school student
(even though they would come to our home to provide services and would
not have any influence on our homeschool).

I had a talk with our speech therapist (who is currently being paid by
EIS) last week about what it would cost for her to continue Xander’s therapy
privately. She made a very generous offer (less than what Medicaid
would pay her per session). She told me during this conversation that
it irked her that if we were living off of the government and receiving Medicaid that we would be automatically covered for ST, but that since dh works for
the government and we have Tricare, that we most likely will not get
approval for ST. We’re going to try to get it covered anyway, though.
However, I’m prepared to pay out-of-pocket for now.

When I called the PSI coordinator and explained my change of heart, she
was very supportive. She said that if I was someone who she thought
hadn’t been doing a good job or if she thought Xander had needs that I
couldn’t meet, she would try to talk me out of it. But since I am a
good mom and I am so involved in his education and therapy, she thinks
I am just as capable of “looking stuff up on the internet to do with
him” as she is.

We’re still going to have the meeting tomorrow afternoon in order to go
over the results of his testing and discuss what services he is
eligible for, so I’ll at least have an idea of what he would be getting
from the school if I ever choose to go that route. For now, I’m happy
doing most of the work myself, with a little help from our ST.

From my home to yours,
Andrea

If you support . . .

• Secure Borders
• Lower Debt
• Protecting Privacy & Property Rights
• Lower Taxes & Lower Spending
• Ending Senseless Military Globetrotting
• Saving America’s Independence & Sovereignty
• Stopping Inflation & Overregulation
• Fixing Out-of-control Entitlements
• Stopping Corporate Welfare
• Ending Government Banking Cartels
• Reigniting the American Dream
• Real Progress for Generations to Come*

Then click here to learn more about Dr. Ron Paul and see why I’m supporting him in the Republican primary!

P.S.  He’s pro-life too!  “I believe beyond a doubt that a fetus is a human life deserving
of legal protection, and that the right to life is the foundation
of any moral society.” ~ Dr. Ron Paul

*Special thanks to LibertyManiacs.com for granting me permission to quote their awesome T-shirt.

Wow!  What a day we have had!

First, the boys slept in, which was wonderful for me as mornings are not my cup of tea.  Sebastian helped me straighten up the house before Krista (Xander’s speech therapist) arrived.  Xander did very well and Sebastian had fun showing Krista the new bug vacuum we got at Target yesterday.  We caught a bug that looked like a skinny grasshopper, but wasn’t.  We don’t know what it was, but it was fun to watch for a few minutes before we released it outside again.

Then I took the boys out behind our apartment building where there’s a small wooded area.  We turned over some logs and Sebastian caught some rolypoly bugs.  He thought it was neat when they curled up in little balls and we had a mini science lesson about armor and camouflage.

I must have been in a science mood, because after we released the rolypolies, I packed the boys up in the car and we drove out to the Aquarium at Skidaway Island (part of the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service).  Along the way, the kids had several new experiences, such as:  pulling over to look at a map, stopping to ask for directions, and crossing a drawbridge. 

When we finally arrived, they were so excited!  The aquarium is small, with only a few exhibits, but it was huge to them.  We saw many types of fish that live in the area, including catfish, flounder, and even a shark!  I think our two favorite exhibits were the octopus (a tiny little thing, only slightly larger than my fist, who gave us a good lesson in camouflage) and the seahorses.

After watching the fish, we took a hike along the nature trail and saw a large bird that appeared to be a crane of some sort.  It stood so still that Sebastian didn’t believe it was real… until it took off and flew a few feet!  That was when Xander first noticed it and he wanted to chase after it!  [Okay, so this is the point where my mom says, "You should have taken pictures!  When are you going to buy batteries for that digital camera of yours?!"... Sorry, Mom! I wish I had!]

We walked out on the pier at low tide and saw some of the scientists out counting snails.  We also saw little crabs in the mud.  Sebastian marveled at the optical illusion created by the water flowing under the pier that caused him to feel as if it was him, and not the water, that was doing the moving!  Xander liked feeling the wind in his hair as he knelt to watch the waves.

The weather was beautiful:  sunny, with a few clouds and a nice breeze off the water.

When we were finished with our hike, we went back to the aquarium and stopped in the gift shop.  I bought Sebastian a plastic jellyfish as a souvenir, and also some pencils (homeschoolers can never have too many pencils)!  We took one more look at the fish, and then we headed back toward town to get something to eat.

We had a late lunch at one of the kids’ favorite restaurants, B&D Burgers.  Xander ate every bite of his food (a cheese quesadilla and applesauce) which rarely happens.  Sebastian had a hot dog and I had an onion, mushroom, swiss burger… YUM!

After lunch, it was time to go home and relax.  The air conditioning felt so good after being outside running around most of the day.  We put in Homeward Bound on DVD for the kids to watch, followed by The Lion King.  The house was so peaceful and quiet all afternoon.  I just love it when my kids have so much fun that they get worn out!

Days like today remind me why I stay at home with my kids, and why I choose to teach them myself.  Learning is such a delightful experience when you can go out in the real world and explore at your own pace.  No amount of money I could earn by working for someone else would be worth giving up this!  I have the best job in the world!

From my home to yours,
Andrea