Brandt Family Learning Blog: September 2010

Well, August has been quite an adventure for us! Lainey turned 6 years old this month, we also found out that her spinal curvature went up to 57% so we can not put off the growth rod surgery, and last but certainly not least, Chad had a heart attack, 2 blockages one at 75% and another at 100%! He had two stints placed and is healing well. He is only 34 and in fairly good physical shape so it was a surprise for sure! On the good side, it did make him quit smoking!!!! As for Lainey's surgery, the Dr. said if we could be flexable with dates he would look for the first available operating room even if it's not his usual operating day. It most likely will happen in the next couple months, we will get a call with hopefully a day's notice. If we scheduled it he said it would be several months and because her curvature went up 5% in 4 months he's not wanting to wait. She will then have one to two readjustment surgeries a year until she's around 12-14 years old. It will be rough but without the surgery, she will have more pain and a reduced chest capacity and with a heart defect already, that's not good.
Other than that, Jude said he would like more of a scheduled homeschool again. We still embrace much of the radical unschooling life. The end of August began our first week of scheduled activities and it has gone wonderfully. He seems to like the separation of "schooly" stuff and free play. He said it makes free play and free computer time seem more special. It also helps to keep track of what we work on with Lainey. It truly has been fantastic!

We have been doing a lot of hand over hand activities songs with Lainey. She sometimes will allow it and sometimes wants to just watch me do it. We made and lamminated (she loves lamminated papers) 3 different shapes in 3 different colors. The goal is to place them one shape at a time in front of her to see if she chooses the same color or a certain placement or no preference at all. We intro'd them to her and she didn't like them so we will be bringing them out on and off until she becomes comfortable with them. We are also working with putting things in and taking them out with her. She will do it with the toy fish bowl and bus but we are working with a box and a cup now. She has not done it when we were all taking turns, but a day later she put something in the box and took it out! She is doing well when we toss the beanbags. She often will take one from the floor and kind of toss it!!! We all clap and she flaps her hands, rotates side to side and smiles! It is beautiful!

Jude has found a new something that he really likes *drum roll* MULTIPLICATION!!! This from the kid who says he hates math! We are just starting out but he is very confident about it. It is wonderful to see! He has been doing much better in writing too. He gets frustrated quite easily but we reassure him that he's getting better. His reading comp is as great as ever! Science remains his favorite subject.

Science experiment on what we are breathing. It's a cardboard frame with clear plastic wrap coated with vaseline. We let it hang for 2 days and when we looked we only saw a few small things...until we got out the EyeClops to magnify it. Wow so many little things! We talked about the work our nose and sillia in our lungs do for us.

Science experiment. We rubbed water and oil as control spots and label them. Then Jude chose random foods to rub on the paper sack. We labled each one. The ones on the left are pepperoni, chicken nugget, and a corndog. They look just as the control oil on the far right. Ewww. He then did research on nutrition.