Not getting very far...

It seems I was WAY overambitious in my cooking endeavors yesterday. You know, some people are born cooks. They can do this type of thing without blinking an eye. I am not one of those people..good grief, I don't even like to cook. It's about pure survival around here. Still..we did manage to prepare some chicken alfredo and meatloafs today. Austen woke up sick, so he slept in the van during Cody's guitar lesson..and watched cartoons and messed around on the computer this morning. He is coming to the Club with us..but I asked him to stay in the teen room and sleep until they had drama at 6. He plans to do this. Brian (my husband) is planning to pick him up at the Club as soon as he gets off of work....probably during drama. Austen wants to ditch OM this year. He agreed to be in a musical in Kerville..so as of this morning, he will not be doing OM. Luckily, that team is still forming..so no damage done to the rest of the team. Cody's team actually picked their long-term problem yesterday. That team spent the entire meeting singing "Little Bunny Foo, Foo"...yet they managed to make some decisions, and develop a game-plan as to how they are going to attack their problem. Well, work awaits. We have a "point store" today. Where all the kids that attend tutoring can "cash in" the "bucks" they have earned over the past 6 weeks. Cody has agreed to help with the point store this afternoon. He said he would keep popping in and checking in on Austen while I take a group of kids for swim lessons. So...we are off. I did make all the stuff for cabbage rolls this morning..hopefully I will actually get them assembled this evening......

Cook, Cook, Cook..and I'm a liar

Okay. I said once a week..and here I am. I also said we would do what I planned. I lied. So..we start the day off reading the Yearling. Then we play some Lois Armstrong CD's and begin cooking. So far today we have prepared enchiladas, apricot pork chops, spicy peanut chicken, chicken-broccoli divan..and we threw garlic chicken in the crock-pot for tonight..to actually eat. The boys decided that cooking, playing with the puppy..and playing with gyroscopes and boxes were much more entertaining than vocabulary or spelling. Yes..we did wash hands a lot. We stopped cooking and put things away at noon to watch the news. We had read an AP wire on the arrest of a town of immigrants in Georgia. It sounds like the gastapo all over again. Yet, there has been nothing on any of the local news. This led to discussion on discrimination, media control, etc. Now we are all messing around in our own rooms...okay..the boys are in their rooms..I am in the morning room/laundry room/school room/office. Cody is trying to figure out how to make a clam pump. Austen is trying to "write a book"..about some phantom penguin. We have a little bit of down time before going to the Club. We hope to prepare meatloaf and cabbage rolls tonight. We'll see...

A first attempt

Okay, this is one more feeble attempt for me to enter the world of information overload. I have been adviced by many to keep track of our lives. Who, I think, would care about our lives? Yet, as I find myself reading the numerous blogs of others on various quests ..I think well, maybe, just maybe, we may glimmer some insight through this thing called day-to day life for someone else. Maybe someone will think, "that is really cool"! Or maybe someone will think, "that is horrible!" OR...maybe they will think, "Man..what a waste of a blog!" Okay..so with this horrible intro..let me tell you who we are. We are a very relaxed homeschooling family of 3 boys..hence the shaggy boys title. Actually, since oldest son Brian, age 16, has gone off to college..we have 2 at home now. Still at home are Cody, age 13 and Austen, age 12. Cody is a rambunctious, over-analyzing, soccer playing very intense, young teenager. Austen is a lively, friendly, outgoing boy who has epilepsy, asthma, capd..and every dys(lexia, calcula, graphia...)imaginable. Austen has taught us to question, and requestion everything we ever believed about life and learning. My plan is to post at least once a week about what we are (or are not) doing. So, that said. This week is insane. My mother lives in a town about an hour away. She is going in for a surgery and several weeks of radiation starting Friday. The boys and I planning to do our "once a month cooking" today. We started yesterday..So most of this morning will be spent cooking. We will read Chapter 5 of the Yearling together over a couple bowls of cereal. I will work with Austen on Spelling Power and some Montessori math, while Cody works on some English and Vocabulary. I will work with Cody on some Montessorri math while Austen practices his trumpet and piano. Then we will cook, cook, cook. I don't have to work until 1:30 today (I am a program director for a local Boys and Girls Club). The boys will come to work with me. Austen will prepare snacks for some 50+ kids, Cody will help me tutor some 50+ kids. The boys will participate in Odyssey of the Mind and an art class..then play, until their dad picks them up. They will finish cooking dinner while I finish working. In the evening..we will eat dinner, watch t.v., and go to bed. See? Unexciting, isn't it? Okay...I feel very brave telling you what we "will" do. But..we are pretty unoriginal in having diversions to our days...so I can tell you this with confidence. Now if I can just find our puppy to get these boys out of bed!