Internet Strewing for Strewsday Tuesday

My 12 yo does a lot of research on the internet.  Lately he's been into minutephysics.  I'm wondering how accurate these are?  They do seem to leave out an awful lot.  However, the fact that he enjoys watching them shows Sean's growing fascination with the topic.  And they are really cool!  I'm assuming most of the science is fairly good.  I had trouble with the thought experiment of the cat in the bunker though.  Just couldn't grasp that one.  They seem to make a jump in their thinking that doesn't follow logically (at least to my little ole brain!).

He's also been going to blogs like this:

http://blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/

He continues to be fascinated by voice actors.  He practices different voices all the time.  He and Becky have a host of characters they play, all with different voices to match their personalities. Yesterday, we went on a long walk and I had to listen to many of the voices.  Now, I'm sure this is a good thing, to have such a passionate interest and to have a sister who plays along so well, so I appreciated it at that level.  However, it was a gorgeous fall day and I would have like to have a nice, peaceful, let's look at nature kind of walk.  Instead it was anything but peaceful!  The kids could have been anywhere so wrapped up were they in their own little world of characters and voices!  But at least we got some fresh air and exercise.

And lastly, he's been into Popeye and Tom and Jerry.  In fact, this past Saturday we got a really early (1930s?) Popeye cartoon on the Apple TV.  It was the first animated telling of Aladdin.  Sean marveled at how cleverly they got the whole story in.  He praised the humor, the pacing, even the music was good!  He said he thought it was much better than the Disney formulaic retelling.  Early Tom and Jerry cartoons have always been a favorite and he's been revisiting them, too.

All this is Sean driven.  I have been having issues with my kids' access to the internet,  but on the whole it really has been an blessing to us, all that free information out there, free for the taking!

Boys Adrift - Book 46

Boys Adrift; The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men is by Leonard Sax, MD, PhD.  

This books scared the @&*! out of me!  First of all the five factors that Dr. Sax identifies are:  1) The feminization of education, like expecting reading in Kindergarten when little boys' brains develop later than girls, thus ensuring their first experience of school is a tough one.  Another element of this is the disapproval of friendly team-related competition.  Dr. Sax is a strong proponent of single-sex schools as a result.

2)  Video games - Dr. Sax goes into detail about all the studies that show that video games demotivate and disengage boys from reality.  I have a son who seems very addicted to video games and I can attest to the fact that he is not very motivated.

3)  Long term effects of ADHD medication.  Studies have shown that even being on these medications for a short time can cause a loss of drive in boys and young men.   They impact the area of the brain that deals with motivation.

4)  Plastics - it turns out that plastics contain endocrine disrupters that make the body think it is receiving low dosages of estrogen.  This has absolutely devastating effects on boys' sexual development.  This is the thing that scared me.  Wow!  Why hasn't anything been done about this?   It is effecting our society and our future.

5)  Society's changing perception of masculinity - men don't have clear roles anymore.  We've lost any rituals for helping men grow from boys into men.  Our culture doesn't guide boys into manhood anymore.

The books goes into very great detail about each of these factors and how they intertwine to create the mess we are in now.  I found the book very convincing.  Even though, as a homeschooler, the only two factors that truly impact my boys are the video games and the plastics, that's enough to galvanize me into action.  I want to reduce the use of plastic in our lives drastically!  And I also am going to be very careful about the amount of time spent playing video games.

I don't have time for a longer review.  Wish I did.  But I am planning to read Dr. Sax's other books:  Why Gender Matters and Girls on the Edge.

For more reviews check out Robin's 52 Books site.

Today is Our 23rd Wedding Anniversary!

Yep!  Twenty-three years!  It doesn't feel that long at all.  Life just races by, doesn't it?  We went out last night with our friends (she blogs here) to a nice, casual, Mediterranean cafe that they recommended.  The food was excellent.   The company even better.  A nice glass of pinot grigio and some laughter makes for a good time.

Today Rick and I plan to putz around the house relaxing.  He's been so incredibly busy at work, I've really been worried about him and I feel like we never talk.  In fact, last night he made a remark about how Becky wasn't taking art anymore which made the rest of us laugh because she most definitely is.  He's just gone so much of the time and if I forget to mention something in the short distracted moments when we aren't collapsing into sleep, well then, how's he supposed to know?!?

So today I plan to:

• Go get bagels.   Saturday is bagel day around here.  I go to a bagel shop that has pretty darn good bagels even if we aren't living in New Jersey.
• Wash sheets and towels; something long, long overdue around here!
• Tidy up the main living areas (maybe an hour spent on this - nothing major)
• Plant the tulip and daffodil bulbs I impulsively bought yesterday.  I'm hoping Becky will help with that.  We used to like to do gardening things together.
• Do Latin homework with Josh
• Go to confession this afternoon.  Another thing that is long, long overdue.
• I know Rick wants to clean his aquariums today.  He always feels better when his aquariums are in good shape!

So, hopefully a satisfying, quiet day at home with family.  That's a good way to celebrate 23 years of marriage!

What We've Been Up To - 11/4/11

• walked, ran, played in the beautiful fall weather this week
• read:  The Frost is on the Punkin by James Whitcomb Riley, The Creed in Slow Motion, Exploring the World of Physics, A Little History of the World, Son of Neptune, My Side of the Mountain.  Rick is reading a biography of Steve Jobs and keeps regaling us with stories.  What a peculiar fellow!
• Ate lots of Halloween candy and lots of carry out this week.  Not a good food week!
• Focused on math, handwriting, Latin
• Becky is writing a novel!
• Sean continues to write comic strips with his friend
• Josh wrote an essay for his Shakespeare class on Much Ado About Nothing
• Josh went to Chemistry class (got 92 on his test), Latin (100% on quiz), didn't do so well on his Precalc homework - needs to rework that, went to CLC, practiced running; will be in a race this coming Sunday.
• Sean's getting a math tutor and a drawing tutor, it looks like!  Yippee.  Keeping him busy is so very important to his emotional health.  
• Josh and Sean took a long walk yesterday morning.  Josh was cheering Sean up.  Sean came home in a much better mood.
• I really like being able to work one on one with Sean.  Need to get a better working relationship with Becky.
• Had a meeting with Aquinas Learning staff trying to regroup after our blow last week.  
• Becky seems to be enjoying Life of Fred.  I have to sit down and read it too, to see what's going on.
• Also need to catch up with Sean in Journey to the Center of the Earth.
• Josh is in class all day today from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00.  He's going to a Chem lab early, then a regular Chem class, then off to Shakespeare which usually ends at 2:30 but those that want to can stay and watch Much Ado About Nothing.
• Tonight Rick and I are going to dinner to celebrate our 23rd anniversary (which is actually tomorrow).  I'm hoping the actual day is just a relaxed, family day.

Pain hurts

I woke this a.m. with a migraine that didn't quite morph into a horrible, nausea-inducing migraine.  It seems to be fading, but for the first two hours I was up, I couldn't blog because light made me queasy and sent shooting pains through my left brow.   But now I'm feeling a bit better.  Thank you, Jesus!  I know why I got the headache though.  Chocolate.  I ate some of my kids Halloween candy yesterday.  Bad, bad, bad.  Very self-destructive on my part.

Yesterday was weird.  The weather was beautiful and the morning started out great but somehow things petered out into gloom, despite the lovely day.  And poor Seano.   He's got two best friends.  One he used to see at least once a week and often more and then another he talks on the phone with often but sees in person more like once a month.  But he is getting shunned by the first friend for the last month or more.  He used to have a standing playdate with this friend on Wednesdays.  But he hasn't had one for three weeks.  The first week there was some reason why they couldn't get together.  Then second week, there was no explanation.  Then Sean asked over the weekend if they could get together this Wednesday.  The answer was yes, but when Sean called yesterday, his friend just gave him the brush off.  They go to the same youth group at church and the weird thing is that the last two times they'd been at an event, his friend has completely ignored Sean.  This never happened before, but Sean excused it by saying (this broke my heart):  "He's with his school friends and they're all cool and I'm not."  So yesterday when Sean got the brush off, it was very hard to see the hurt and rejection.  This is the son I am very worried about because he seems so sad and lonely so much of the time.  My heart was just raw all afternoon and evening.  And there wasn't much I could do.  I can tell him I love him.  I can try to distract him, but I can't fill the hole in his heart right now.  I can't heal the hurt of being rejected by someone he cared for and trusted.

I don't even blame his friend because I know that childhood friends can be volatile.  They can move in and out of intensity.  Kids, as they grow, can grow apart.  But it is hard to see your child go through this rejection.

My son is sad and I am too.

I know I should be philosophical about all this.  I know that this, too, shall pass.  I know we all need to embrace these little crosses in life.  I know that there are many, many others out there who are in terrible straits feeling much greater pain and hopelessness.  I do have that perspective and it is helpful.

But even so, pain hurts.

The migraine is threatening to come back in full force if I keep typing.

I'll ask for help from St. Martin de Porres, one of my favorite saints ever!  It's his feast today.

St. Martin de Porres, pray for us!  Pray for all whose hearts are broken today.

Self-Improvment

I always have such plans to improve myself and 99% of the time they fall flat.

I still need to lose weight, eat better, exercise more, food shop and cook better, be tidier and more organized in my daily living, be a more attentive, patient parent, a more considerate wife, and, of course, I always need to pray more.

It can be discouraging, being me!

The truth is that life consists of having goals, getting off track for a little or a long while and then getting back on track.  That is what life is.  Always shifting, always refocusing, always examining and re-examining, never giving up.  At least for me, it is.

Right now, at this point in my life, I have been uber-busy.  I think it is a combination of factors:

I thought with only 3 kids at home, I could handle a lot of outside commitments.  I always start off gung ho about things and then my energy level does a nose-dive and my brain gets all foggy and everything becomes such an uphill battle.  I am a very limited human being, not cut out for grand action!   I have to learn this lesson over and over again.

I have my aunt to take care of and even though she really doesn't add much into the mix, it does cause a bit of strain and add another layer of complexity to everything.

I was very used to having teen-aged drivers to help me out.  I don't have another driver this year, so it is just me doing all the driving.  Driving here and there and all over the Northern VA Metro area has always been a fatiguing exercise to me, but doing it when you are 35 or 45 is easier I think, than doing it when you are 51.  Just yesterday, I was in the car much of the day and every single time I got out, my legs had stiffened up so I was hobbling around.  Geez!  I kept thinking, how am I ever going to make it to 61?

  Also, Rick has been very busy these past months, making me feel like I am really single mothering it often.  We are going through a phase where we hardly seem to talk.  We kind of wave at each other in passing, say how much we miss each other, and then run off to do the things that are keeping us so busy.  Our 23rd wedding anniversary is coming up on Saturday.  We are hoping to go out to dinner with friends.  But I'd really like a long weekend of alone time with him!  That's dreaming big!

So what am I going to do about all this?

Part of the busyness has been due to Aquinas Learning.  That turned into a bit of a mess and now we are trying to clean up the pieces and reconfigure things.  So that's an ongoing project.  I'd like to have certain portions of the week devoted to working on that.  What I don't like is the way it seeps into other times in the week and seems to take over everything.  I"m only doing this for one child and it hasn't been particularly successful for her.  It needs to have a proportionate demand on my time.  So I'm trying to figure out how to do that.  I've started to say no to things.  For instance, I was so exhausted last night, I did not join in on a conference call to help directors.   We've got two other directors involved and I'll just get feedback from them.  I also am not going to observe another center on Thursday.  I can't take all of the Thursdays away from my kids.  We are having a planning meeting here at my house on Thursday afternoon, so that's good.  I'm contributing in that way, but that means I'll get to have the morning with the kids.

Josh's cross country has involved a big driving and time commitment.  I really like it though.  I like the coaches and I like that he's involved in it.  I think there are great benefits to it.  Not only getting out with others and running, but learning discipline and entering the social world of running.  I really am considering strongly encouraging the other kids to join in the spring and maybe do this again next fall too.  Having all the kids involved would be good.  I wouldn't feel torn about leaving the younger ones at home to get Josh to where he needs to be.  We'd all be together.  Also. the season is limited. It is not like Karate for instance where you are going 3x a week for the rest of your life!  It lasts from September to the middle of November for cross-country.  For track, I think the season is spring, not sure exactly when it starts but it is still a limited time.  So I know that all this driving and time commitment is going end in two or three weeks.  I can keep up the pace for that long.

Another time sucker is Latin.  I love the idea of learning Latin but it is still hard to be disciplined and sit down and study as much as I should.  We've moved from going to class 1x a week to 2x.  That's a major adjustment.  I feel very free today, because we don't have Latin class!  The teacher is attending a class reunion and cancelled class.  Yippee!  I didn't have to struggle to stay awake doing the homework last night.  I truly was exhausted.  I feel asleep about 8:30, woke up at 9:30.  Said prayers, made everyone I could make, go to bed.  The ones I couldn't (my husband and 16 yo) I sternly warned about staying up too late and being noisy when coming to bed!  Then I collapses again.  Woke up at 5:30 a.m.

I need to focus on household stuff.  I need to do laundry regularly instead of waiting until people are out of clothes.  I need to get the kitchen cleaned every night and the trash and recycling out on a regular basis.  We've drifted from routine because I'm too busy being elsewhere and then when I'm at home, I'm too tired to focus or insist.  Doing these little homey things would go far in reducing stress and lightening  the sense of feeling inadequate and overwhelmed all the time.

I also have been eating poorly lately and that always increases fatigue and body aches and pains in me.  It is the rushing around that makes it hard for me to eat well.  Plus, I am an emotional eater for sure.  It doesn't help that we've got Halloween candy coming out the whazoo around here right now.  Though, I think I've been pretty restrained about the candy, considering the circumstances!  So I need to eat better!

Also, I found a math tutor for Sean who seems an answer to prayers.  Her price is reasonable, I like her spirit and attitude, and she happens to be Catholic!  I think having a tutor will add structure and accountability for both myself and Sean.

This has gotten very long!  But I feel better putting it down on 'paper.'

Now to tackle laundry and the kitchen and get the day started.  Our morning studies are actually going pretty well this year, so that is something to be pleased about.

Today is All Souls Day.   It is also my mother's birthday.  I plan for us to do some academics this a.m.  Then I want to visit my family's graves, get Josh a haircut, maybe visit the library and the grocery store on the way back.  I've got to get Josh to CLC tonight.

Rick already left work and won't be home to midnight or so, he thinks.  Poor dear.  I hope he naps on the train.  We are so disconnect lately that I thought he was in New Jersey yesterday, but it is really today.  That's bad when you don't even know if your husband is in state or not!

My Own Personal November Blogathon

Everybody seems to be doing NaNoWriMo.  I've attempted it twice, that last time was just last year.  Neither time did I get very far.  I find November is just not the best month for me to decide to spend lots of free time writing.  When I started hearing about all the people who plan to do NaNoWriMo (a good friend who lives near me is doing it for the first time), folks at the Unschooling Catholics lists are officially banding together to support each other and then I've heard from other corners of the internet about it too, and I thought, Shoot!  This year I just don't have the time or the energy for attempting it.  No way can I do it.  But someone, somewhere mentioned that they planned to just blog in November and I thought that was a good alternative.  Blogging is the only kind of writing I do lately, and I don't do much of it or as much as I had planned.  So for November, I plan to focus on my blog in order to become a better writer.

The first thing I want to do is fix some technical stuff. Ever since I switched to my MacBook Pro, I've had problems.  I had a very painful learning curve in just getting used to it.  That took a while and I still am trying to adapt.  But also I've had frustrating hurdles that I've yet to overcome:

• I've been using Safari, the browser that comes with the laptop.  However, for some insane reason it will not let me cut and paste a link into my blog.  I also seem to have lost the ability to copy an image and put that on my blog.  I don't understand why this would happen.  No one seems to be able to explain it to me, but I want to crack that nut this November!
• My dear husband installed Chrome, the browser I was used to before I switched.  It worked wonderfully for a few weeks and then just. stopped.  Like that.  I'd like to get it reinstalled because it did allow me to link on the blog, and sometimes (but not always!) would let me copy and paste images too.
• Elisa, of ElisaLoves, made a beautiful strewing button for my Strewsday Tuesdays and I can't put it on my blog because a) the troubles I just described and b) probably some of my own klutziness when it comes to computers.  I'd really like to conquer that baby this November!
• I have lost my camera.  I no longer put photos on my blog because of this.  I still am not 100% sure how to do it with the MacBook.  I had the hang of doing this with my old laptop.  I never understood it, but I knew if I followed a precise system I could put a photo up.  So, I either need to find my camera or get a new one.  And I need to refigure out how to upload and then post the photos.

I hate being so dumb at computers!

Today is All Saints Day.  We can't sleep in today.  We've got to get to 9:00 Mass.  At 10:00 a possible math tutor for Sean is coming over to meet us.  Josh must go to his Chemistry class at 12:15.  Becky has art at 1:30, need to leave the house around 1:00.  Then I have to go pick up Josh from Chemistry.  Usually Becky goes home with another little girl and plays there for a bit after art class.  At 4:30 I take Josh to cross country practice.  I drop him off, pick up Becky, take her home and then go back to pick up Josh at 6:15.  Then we get home around 6:35 or 6:40 and I rustle up some dinner as quick as I can.  I know I planned some easy dinner, but that was Sunday and I failed to write it down and now I have no memory whatsoever of what we are eating tonight!  Intertwined with all this is my aunt who needs various things throughout the day (though she's remarkably independent.)

Have a blessed All Saints Day!  I gotta go change laundry and get my aunt up.