End of Year

Well, not that we’re there yet, but we are certainly getting anxious around here for the end of the school year!!  This week *should* be our last for the currect school year, and we’ll pick up again in the middle of August.  Kenzi still has math to complete over the summer to finish up the Saxon book she’s working on, but otherwise all “formal” lessons will end on Friday.  MOM can’t wait!!!  This was a challenging year, I’m not afraid to admit it… it was a lot of nagging and a lot of heartache as we both worked out our comfort zones…. but then we found Connect the Thoughts and that helped SO much, and then a very wonderful friend gave us an old laptop for Kenzi to use for her lessons and that helped even more… I didn’t realise how much of the battles were in fact related to her dysgraphia…. amazing really.  But as wonderful as this new “system” is, we really are in need of a break… a time of just being Mother and Daughter, and not Teacher and Student… really!

Ev is finished his school year in the Junior High School, and will be homeschooling next year as well… that will also make a difference around here in that we’ll be together for learning instead of having all our days so choppy.  Everett can’t wait to start Connec the Thoughts Creative Writing courses either… he’s looked the two I have over and is so excited to get started so he can move onto the Master’s Courses.  I was surprised to hear that he wasn’t as interested in the Animation course… but I think if he tried it he’d probably like it… we’ll have to try it as an elective in August.  He also just finished his Puzz3D that he’d been working on for a while… the Sistine Chapel!!!

This past week was the cadets Annual Review - both Ev and Kenzi were on the Drill Team, and Kenzi even got an award!!!  She was given the “Tracy Turton Award” for “the cadet that perseveres”.  That’s a positive statement, eh?  She was so surprised (as was MOM!) and proud that she’d stuck it out… it was a long haul, that’s for sure!  But she’s looking forward to Basic Camp this summer.  Ev got Leadership Camp, and he’ll be gone for a full three weeks!  I don’t know how *I* am going to handle it… but I guess it’ll be lots of fun for him! *grin*

(Ev and Kenzi right beside him…. Kenzi getting her award)

We have a new dog… I can’t remember if I blogged about him already or not, but his name is Charley (okay, I’m a die-hard Lost fan, and we wanted a name from Lost, but we were torn between “Hurley” and “Charlie” *our two favourite characters!* … so we decided on Charley… clever eh?  LOL!  Not that he cares, he just answers to anything - silly boy!), and he’s a lovely blond cocker spaniel.  SO cute…   He had a little “mohawk” going when we first got him, but we trimmed it off because it made him look even sillier than he generally does.  He’s so smart and learning more by the day… and he’s SO sweet to the kids!!

We got him about 3 weeks ago and although he’s housebroken VERY easily, we’re having “Bark Busters” come in to work with us and the two dogs next week. We’re hoping it will make a difference in some of the undesireable behaviours he has, mostly we believe caused by improper (none existant) training he recieved at his previous home.  He’s very bright and learns fast, and best of all, is eager to please. 

And lastly… my garden update… this is my garden ONE WEEK from the last picture… I can’t believe how fast this thing is growing!!! We finally got the tomato rings on and had a real battle to do so, since the plants are not only large, but really sturdy - not easy to “flex” to get them through the center!  But we did it… and they seem happy! *wink*  From the looks of the the flowers, we are going to have LOTS of everything.  The only thing I’m not sure of is the eggplants… are they supposed to be slow starters?  If anyone knows, I’d be so happy to find out!

I have to tell you this funny story.  Miss Chaeli came inside COVERED in dirt the other day, and I was, of course, worried about my lovely vegetable gardens.. what had she done?  Well, apparently nothing… she’d been playing in one of our front gardens… anyhow, while I was out there “fixing” her mess, I noticed these three obviously fast growing plants had taken root in my annual bed (I only have one, we positioned it over the septic tank lids so we can always find them AND it doesn’t matter when it’s dug up because they are only annuals anyhow… smart eh?).  As “pretty” as they might think they are, I didn’t want them there.  So, UP goes the plant… well, it has what looks like a giant peanut on the end.  Interesting.  So, I yank up another… this one is a normal looking root.  The third one (these were all the same type of plant, btw) told me what had happened… we had POTATOES growing in my annual bed!  HAHAHA on me!  I guess we must have had some potatoes go to seed and we tossed them, and I suppose a squirrel must have found them and reburied them in my garden… clever little agricultural creature that he must be.  but alas, I stole his harvest…. after all, everyone knows potatoes need to stay buried so they can grow… so I repotted the one plant, buried it up past it’s leaves… and a couple days ago, we could see the little leaves peeking through again, so today I buried it some more.  Chaeli keeps trying to dig them out, but I think this time I’ve convinced her to “let’s wait and see what surprises we can grow”.  I hope we get some good potatoes!!  If we do, I think maybe next year we’ll make this a FORMAL school project… maybe to end off the school year for Greyson… along with a little lapbook on Plants or something. 

That’s me… always planning ahead! *LOL*

Blessings!

This entry was posted on 17. June 2008 at 15:21 and is filed under Chaeli, Gardening, Greyson, Kenzi, Everett, General Homeschool. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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