ICU Meme for 7/20/11

“This week we want to…” Stay cool. With this heat wave, its almost impossible to do much outside. DS12 still insists on riding his bike several miles each day, and he comes back soaked. I can barely stand being outside long enough to water the garden. This weekend hopefully we'll get DS15's room at least primed for painting. The wallpaper came down easier than I expected. I also want to take advantage of some "back to school" sales, even though we aren't going "back to school." We all could use new shoes and I'm such a sucker for marker/colored pencil sales.

“The kids are…” DS15 finished making props for his movie. Apparently he raised the suspicion of someone driving by when he was spray painting his Nerf gun black. He kept thinking the police were going to pull up. Filming will begin soon. DS12 is improving his fitness, (see above.) Seriously, I wish I was able to commit to an exercise program like he does.

“I am learning….” How to make soap. I'm going to order my materials soon and gather equipment together. I'm hoping to be able to make soap that won't make my skin dry out.

“I am struggling with…” I haven't been walking. Its too hot outside, and I just can't stand the boredom of the treadmill. I'm making excuses, I know, but there's another part of me that wants a break. I feel like I'm juggling so much right now.

My dreams have been reflecting this. They are filled with anxiety. In one, our parakeet Tornado escaped from his cage. Suddenly he turned into a dozen birds, and I didn't know how to save them all before Yumi got any. I realized in the dream, GET THE CAT, not the birds.

I know this meant I need to figure out what the real threat is, and not let all the stressful details of life get to me. Its all in how I, "the cat", choose to respond to stress. Its not about focusing on how to solve it all, but rather, how not to let it get to me. 

“This week is the first time….” I made Pesto. I used walnuts instead of pine nuts and froze it using an ice cube tray. I just thaw out as many cubes as we need and toss with freshly cooked pasta. The recipe I found doesn't use too much olive oil, and I of course threw in a few extra cloves of garlic! :) 

“I am grateful…” For central air - Seriously, without it I'd be crying. I can't sleep unless I'm cool.

Hey, don’t head off just yet, we have a new thought for you to ponder this week.

Now, I do NOT believe it’s helpful to keep looking in the past, but sometimes what we’ve gone through can help others, so with that in mind……

If you could do it all over again, what is one thing you would choose to do differently in regards to homeschooling/unschooling?  I would have trusted unschooling sooner. I wish I could go back and relax more. I didn't do a good job of modeling how to relax. I had to learn the hard way through the early years, how to trust unschooling. Thankfully kids are resilient and no permanent damage was done.