Oh… There Is Life Outside of the Computer! Who Knew!

Two weeks or so, I think, since I last posted something that wasn’t a review or impersonal. So where have we been and what have we been up to? There has to have been a thing or two if it’s kept me away from the computer! *wink*

I will be honest- I have been at the computer. Almost every. single. day. But my ‘priorities’ were shifted and my blog got neglected. I was going to say ‘sad to say’, but I’m not entirely sad. I feel like I’ve been …living. The kids have been on the computer and using technology possibly more than I have lately. Now that’s just weird.

I’ve been slaving away busy at making things for the new Schoolhouse Teachers from The Old Schoolhouse. I’ve been enjoying that. I get to research events and people that I either didn’t even know about before hand or have thought about digging deeper. My contribution is really small at Schoolhouse Teachers but I really am having fun with it.

Besides that I’ve been catching up on some reading. Not everything I want to read and definitely not as fast as I would like (my attention span has gone w a y down in the last few years) but I am plugging along.

The kids have been doing a lot on their games…computer games, that is. I’m not sure how that is working. The deal was that they could have no ‘screen time’ until after 5 pm and only if school and chores were completed (with good attitudes). Well…wouldn’t you know- they’ve been consistent with doing what they are supposed to do and well. The problem that I am having is that about the time they get on something is when I’m ready to call it a night (when I spend time with my hubby). They are then left to regulate their screen time- with the rule that nothing past 9 pm. So if you think about it, that could be a maximum of 4 hours a day of screen time. They don’t generally get done by 5 pm but by 6 or 6:30 pm, yes. That’s a lot of time! The idea was that they would tire of it and wean themselves. Um, no. Not happening. They become zombies! They’ll know soon enough but the ‘rule’ is about to change –again.

Beside computer and DS playing, the kids have enjoyed the weather (well, when it was nice- today is a tad chilly) and played together in the back field often. We also drove 35 minutes to Bay Village, OH, to a metropark to meet up with some other homeschoolers. We met a nice mother and her son that just moved here from NC. He son is the same age as Fox. Unfortunately the drive had given Fox a case of car sickness so he wasn’t very social. We are going to a different metropark next Friday- same group of homeschoolers. It isn’t quite as far (lol may 10 minutes less!); in Rocky River, OH.

The kids also have participated in a game night at church and decorated eggs (plastic, wood, hard-boiled and styrofoam). Good times :) I was ‘working’ both times and missed out.

Oh gosh! and remember probably two weeks ago when I said we were going outside and I’d try to post pictures? Ah, well, I almost forgot too. Here are just a few of the photos (not that I took many because I only had my phone):

     

Not many that day. But here are a few from our trip to the metropark on this past Friday (very few again):

     

Saturday (why that was just yesterday!) we finally got our taxes all squared away. It took a while this time because we opted to drop them off with H&R Block and just have them call us when they were done. We didn’t specify that we wanted them done in a certain time frame so it took about a week and a half. Next time I think I’ll press for just spending an hour or two in the chair at the office. Maybe.

And now it’s almost Monday –again! Just like bills and dirty dishes, huh? (you always have to pay them even though you did last month; you always have to wash them again…). This will be week #6 in our rotation which means the week after is a break week. I might postpone our break week until the week after because my niece will be here then and we are traveling to South Carolina (I think that’s where Fort Jackson is…suppose I should make doubly sure!) for my sister’s boot camp graduation.

As for school for the kids, I really need to update on where they are! But this is getting long. I will post an update on school later. Maybe tomorrow. But for now I’ll leave off with showing our progress on our continuing art poster. I wonder what it will look like when it’s done. I wonder how long it will take for finish! The last one I took just a few minutes ago. *sorry it’s so blurry!

  

Well,that’s all for now. Until next time!