What a week!

The week started out badly. I was at work Sunday evening, when I got an emergency call from M. The kids were watching The Karate Kid (new version), and Cyrus had a butter knife in one hand (for what reason I do not know). He was acting out some of the moves, and Cassia stepped up to him, and into the path of the butter knife. It missed her eye by a quarter of an inch, instead hitting the inner corner just at the side of the nose, slicing/impact cutting it to the bone. She bled copiously, and Cyrus hid in his room, crying deperately, and sure he had blinded his sister. Thankfully, we got the bleeding stopped, and the only marks now are a small linear scab and a colorful black eye. I can't imagine what would have happened if the knife had hit her eye! The kids did learn that butter knives are better kept in the kitchen.

Tuesday was another challenging day, as I taught my first 4H class in science. We covered states of matter, including density, air weight, etc., with over 20 small children. Talk about chaos! I have some ideas already for the next meeting (late November) to make things go more smoothly. Despite the hectic atmosphere, we had a lot of fun, and I left feeling like I was on Cloud Nine! Teaching science is indeed where I think I should be as a teacher (besides homeschooling, that is). I did get a lot of parent help, which was all that made the whole thing possible, since we had three stations with five projects going on simultaneously!

Besides all that, my semester is passing quickly. I have a Powerpoint presentation due on Wednesday, in conjunction with 2 other students who were supposed to have emailed me their notes/presentation points by today so that I could finish the Powerpoint itself. Do I have the notes? Nope. I also have a "midterm meeting" with one teacher on Monday that I am not looking forward to. I do have some issues with this particular professor, as she is not clear about expectations until after the fact, and there is a lot of homework each week. Uuuuggggghhhhh. M also had his midterm, and several assignments to complete by tomorrow night. I had another paper due in my child health and safety class, a short paper due Monday, and all the other bits and pieces I have to complete by Sunday midnight.

We're also dealing with health issues with Cyrus, who may have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The RN said there's no real cause, it just happens to some people. Anyhow, it means a lot of stomach (colon actually) pain and cramping. So we're currently treating it as the RN suggested, with probiotics, a fiber supplement, and peppermint/chamomile tea... we chose Tummy Mint from Celestial Seasonings. I had a friend recommend digestive enzymes as well. I'm still doing research on it, and trying to figure out where to go from here. He's had less pain in the last couple of days thankfully.

And then this week, our entire homeschool association board, including myself, resigned in one fell swoop. And announced it officially on Friday morning. The fallout has been better than expected. A few people did complain, one threatened to launch her own board, but most have been supportive. There were a lot of issues leading up to this move... lack of general participation in event planning and board meetings (by the group, not the board members), insurance liability, and so forth. The bottom line is that the group will continue on basically unchanged. They don't really need a board since the Yahoo! group presence is so strong. But, until we got through yesterday, there was a lot of tension and worry in what we were doing.

Homeschooling has kind of fallen by the wayside this week. Honestly, with everything else going on, I'm surprised we got anything done at all. We did read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (an illustrated, child-friendly version). We watched a history documentary on Halloween. The kids did the science projects on Tuesday, after helping me do all the prep work at home and the set-up at the 4H center. They've played Solitaire, Go Fish, and War most days. Cassia tried, and loved, her new ballet class, and Cyrus got back to fencing after a two week absence. They've watched episodes of Head Rush, and colored in their human anatomy coloring books. At this moment, Cyrus is restarting our project from The Body Book, and is planning to complete the entire project, which means we will have a super cool paper model of the human body. I guess it was a good week for child led learning if nothing else!

I am trying to get ahead for next week. I do want to try Time Travelers New World Explorers with the kids, so I got all the paper and other supplies to get going. I downloaded Math Mammoth's full curriculum worktexts to try versus the single subject downloads I already have. I have Viking resources ready at hand, since they were some of the first explorers we'll study, including a fantastic book on Viking crafts, a book of Norse mythology, and Leif the Lucky. I also have lots of gorgeous books on celestial bodies to aid in our space studies (the first part of Dr. Q's Earth science). Now I just have to do some printing and organizing.

We're definately ready for Halloween. We have made our jack o' lanterns, and the kids have their costumes ready. I do work tomorrow, but am off in time to take the kids out trick or treating. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance!