Somedays are good and somedays are.....

So I've started this post about three times now and have scrapped each entry.  It's a dreary day today and I am feeling the same way.  Our day has not been great.  Matthew seems to be feeling a little under the weather and that has made for a very rough educational day.  It's times like these when I question what I am doing and how effective I am.  It is understandable that rough days at home are not at all what they would be in a public school setting.  Having a meltdown in front of your mom is much safer than doing so in front of an entire class.  It also occurs to me that at times I push hard for an answer and that in return pushes his buttons which NEVER ends well.  My expectations for Matthew are simple.  He has to focus for the 2 1/2 hours before he goes to chorus so we can make it through our core subjects.  After chorus, he has time to catch up on whatever he didn't finish or he goes to robotics.  No video games before 3:00 because that is when our school day is officially finished.   Simple in my opinion but some days it just doesn't work.  Today is one of those days.  Thankfully, tomorrow is a new day and we will start fresh!

C....R.....A......Z........Y

The title of my post actually has described life for our family the past few weeks.  My mom had her knee replacement surgery on October 21st which meant our school for that week was chaotic.  Matthew does NOT like working on his assignments without my company; so it was a struggle but he persevered and all went as well as could be expected.  Thankfully, mom was only in the hospital for a few days so it wasn't quite as hectic.  God has answered prayers once again and her recovery has been amazing.  Her mobility is amazing and she proved that healing at home would be the best for her.  I have often said this but I will say it again:  I hope that I am as tough as she is when I am her age.  
Let's see what else has happened with us since my last post.  Matthew has once again been selected to participate in the IMEA District Chorus festival in November.  His audition went well and apparently the adjudicator asked him if he would be interested in a solo during the festival.  I'm not sure what that means or if anything will come from it, but it made Matthew happy that he had been asked.  I, unfortunately, will not be able to hear the concert because that is my School Board conference.  Hannah will be going to IMEA this Monday, the 4th for jazz and is playing 2nd part in the second jazz band.  She is beyond happy about this because the jazz bands are much smaller than the concert bands and competition is greater.  Being selected as a trumpet in your sophomore year is quite an accomplishment and it only proves to me that if she had not "checked out" of band last year and auditioned, this quite possibly could have been her second year.  A lot of the credit for her jazz musical ability is owed to our previous band director, Mr. Jason Waddell.  He had the passion to teach our students and they truly learned style, technique and shared his passion.  Hannah also made IMEA high school chorus which was a double surprise for her and even though she complains about the length of the rehearsals, she loves any opportunity to get together with musicians and create music.  I happen to love the fact that both children share some of my musical talent!!
First term is already over and we spent the entire 8 weeks covering adjectives for our grammar.  I believe that it's important to understand the function of words within a sentence, so I have made an effort to work on mechanics with him.  We also began reading Journey to the Center of the Earth; but the beginning chapters drug on a little too much for him and he lost interest. I, however, spent one night reading about 14 chapters and hope that he comes back to the book.  We've been studying the Incas and Aztecs in History and it's been a little slow.  Friday was our fieldtrip to the Spurlock Museum in Urbana and we were able to see many artifacts from the ancient civilizations, but nothing from the Incas or Aztecs as I had hoped.  Science has been studying topics about the earth, it's composition, etc.  We have had some fun labs learning about chemical weathering and erosion and Matthew loves the hands- on activities.    Of course, he continues to work with his robotics team as they prepare for competition in December.  And, he has begun basketball which he loved last year.  The first practice was a tough one but he loved every minute of it.  The team may be a younger one and so games could be just between the team.  So, this could be more of a P.E. on Monday mornings, but I don't think he will care.  He likes the coach and it's a safe place for him.
As usual, I have started to make this a mini novel so I am signing off.....