Parentheticals

 Rea has been asking and asking for us to do Organized Simplicity, and we finally decided that this would be a good week. Our school stuff ended last week, so we decided to just do reading and math in the morning and then let the kids play outside while Alison took everything out of a room. Then after Mike got off work we could move everything back. Monday we did the master bedroom, and it looked amazing! Alison got rid of Montessori stuff ruthlessly, and we ended up with extra space. Tuesday was Alison's birthday, but she woke up with the sore throat that usually heralds a cold for her. She decided not to do any Organized Simplicity and just relax for her birthday. It was lots of fun. We had a barbecue for dinner and the kids made her a throne to sit on while she opened her presents. It was a lovely birthday. Wednesday, Alison woke up with a full-blown cold. She has learned recently that if she stays in bed for two days straight, she doesn't have to be miserably sick for two w...

On Monday Mike went to the Salt Lake Community College surplus computer sale and got Rea a used laptop. It is small and cute and has good stats and battery life. It was only $195, however Rea hates it. She says "Dad! I told you not to get me a computer 'cause I don't want one!" We are hoping that she will start to like it some day because being able to use a computer is a good skill to have. We had lots of medical appointments this week. Alison met with her psychiatrist on Monday and modified her medicine some. The first medicine has prevented any more major depression, but she still feels mildly depressed about half the time, so the psychiatrist is hoping adding this one will help with that. Tuesday morning Alison went to get a chipped filling fixed and get an impression taken for a mouth guard. Apparently she grinds her teeth now. Tuesday afternoon Timmy and Sara went to the dentist. All four kids had dentist appointments last month, but it was the week everyone was...

We haven't published blog posts in a few weeks, even though we started writing them and saved them to drafts. Oops. Here are some highlights: Week 1  (April 23-May1) The kids started new math programs. Sara is doing Saxon Math, which is very highly recommended for practicing math problems over and over again until you can do any possible problem. It is working great for Sara: she can read the lesson, do the problems, then let Mom grade it and talk to Dad after work if she's having any problems. Since she doesn't like Alison's teaching style, this works very well. (We're looking into a language arts program that works the same way for her. Maybe science, too.) The other kids are all using Beast Academy. It uses comic books to teach math concepts and then gives the kids a few very complex problems that take a lot of time and logical thinking to figure out that lets them practice the skill. Rea loves it; she's doing math 2-3 hours a day because it's fun. Timmy ...