How did the month of creativity go?

Well let's see, I seemed to run out of steam about half way through the month. As it is though I'm pleased with what I did get done. I feel like I proved to myself that I can make things from my brain become real and concrete.

I also got off my duff and actually finished 2 projects I had let slip by me, and actually took steps to figuring out what is really happening with my son.

I got back to working on the books for a business I'm trying to help/work for. (Which reminds me I have more to work on this afternoon) It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it did take some concentrated time. Which is hard to come by. The Boy and I made a deal and I would work for 1 hour then play with him for one hour, and so on. It worked ok. I used my ear buds and listened to music so I wouldn't have to listen to the TV while I was working.

The Blue & Gold Banquet went off beautifully and we have a date for summer camp reserved. Life is good.

I purchased an assessment test from Homeschool Buyer's Group and gave it to the Boy. It gave me the info I was looking for. I gave him the reading portion first which caused complete melt down and then he really melted down for the math portion. The thing is even with the math melt down he was able to do really well on the math, much higher than 2nd grade, and the reading showed him well below 2nd grade level. It is frustrating and I just need to find the help with this.

One of our 'beliefs' coming into homeschooling him for Elementary school is that there is nothing in the Elementary curriculum that either DH or I could not teach him. The thing is that was based on the idea that reading would come easily to him. That he would learn to read and nothing would cause a problem with that. The thing is he doesn't and can't. He aced the grammar portion, he understands the rules of grammar, he understands that different words in our language came from other languages, and can explain which they came from. He recognizes the patterns that indicate a word comes from Greek or Germanic, but has a problem sounding out the words pen and pin, big and dig, and din and den. I need to document where I am seeing consistent problems to relate to the tester.

Ugh, so much to think about. I've called 4 different testers and left messages for each of them. We'll see if anyone calls me back.

By the way, have I mentioned a really cool book I found and we loved reading/listening to?

Ox, House, Stick The History of Our Alphabet, it is really interesting to learn where our alphabet came from and how/when they changed from sounds that mean something to symbols for sound alone. If you or you have someone at home interested in how our language became what it is this is interesting easy to understand book.

Thing-a-Day 1

So today was my first day of Thing-a-Day, henceforth to be know as TAD. I want to prove to myself that I'm creative, and I don't want to spend any money on it. I have an embarrassment crafting supplies. I do not need to go out and spend money on this. I have fabric, yarn, thread, needles (of many sorts). So the goal is to make things that I can enjoy, or others will enjoy, without making us poorer in the endeavor.

 I wanted to embroider another cephalopod for the bathroom. Today's self imposed critter was a squid. First I will say that the internets will lead you astray and show you pictures of cuttlefish and call them squid. I decided on a giant squid, they are simply shaped and well I felt like I could do it.

Squid sketch #1

 This was my first sketch. Rough, his eyes were in the wrong place to begin with and I didn't like the pencil I was using, so onto....

Squid sketch #2

This was my second sketch, and the one I used to make the final embroidery. I darkened up the lines and then copied it onto the muslin fabric.

I left off some of his legs and his legs keep getting shorter cause I wanted to finish him before the sun set. Heh. I'm pleased with him and learned some more about the process.

One thing I've discovered is that I need to scale down what I'm making each day. This took a lot of time to complete. I may break the next one down into smaller pieces. I will also need to figure out some things I can make quickly or on the road for our busy weekends. This coming Saturday I think I might have an hour to make anything at all. Maybe I'll sketch out an octopus for the next cephalopod project.