Adjusting to homeschooling with Chronic Migraines

It's been a bumpy week or so here.  Lots of sickness and not a lot of energy for school.  My migraines have been a real challenge.  Ya know as much as I prayed and thought I prepared for homeschooling my son while dealing with Chronic Migraines I am realizing that it will take a LOT of flexibility and patience before we find a good groove.  I will be trying a "new to me" Migraine treatment in the next week and am praying it is helpful!  I also just ordered a book that a friend recommended to me.  It's called The Mood Cure by Julia Ross.  I have been told it covers all sorts of things from depression, anxiety, ADHD, muscle issues, Fibromyalgia and more!  It just arrived today with my 2 day Free Amazon Prime shipping and I can't wait to get started!

We did manage get a few things done.....

We watched a great video on Humpback whales and the songs they sing.  Well, we learned in the video they don't sing as their mouths are closed so they are actually humming.  And their noises can reach across the ocean!  Notice below in the link before the words "youtube" it said quiet.

*****You can add the word quiet before whatever video you watch to remove ads in the video AND so you don't see those random videos displayed on the side panel!****  

http://www.quietyoutube.com/watch?v=-oYIK6Bg6co

What we've been reading lately:
DK Eyewitness book: Explorer
Farmer Boy
Spaghetti and Meatballs for All!  (a living math book)
Janice VanCleave's Oceans for Every Kid -Great activities to reinforce science


For now it's been necessary to cut way back and just focus on English & Math.  Turbo is doing a math facts app that I have on my Iphone called Math Magic.  I've tried LOTS of the free (popular) math practice websites and my kids thought they were kind of a drag!  Math Magic is fun and it's mobile so we can be sitting in a doctors office waiting room practicing math facts!  We are pushing hard to finish up Math Mammoth 3B.  I love the program.  So much that I bought the entire series!  However as we push through Turbo is kind of on the fence about it.  I love that it is a mastery program but I find that for us it requires some adjustments.  For example if we hit a concept Turbo already knows I will drastically reduce the number of problems he has to do. When we began this program I had Turbo working independently only coming to me if he had questions.  I got the idea to sit with him and do much more of the math orally.  It has CHANGED the way we do math!  Because I'm sitting in I can clearly and quickly identify things that Turbo has mastered and reduce the work if needed without him getting frustrated and going into mental overload.  He is also much happier to give an oral answer and math is getting done in about half the time it was taking before.  Rob (dad) has been helping to take over Math by teaching it in the evening since I'm having such a hard time getting through everything.  Thank God for my good husband!  I so appreciate his help but I hope & pray this is a temporary fix.  In my ideal world I'd be able to get all the instruction done during the day and we could enjoy evenings as a family. 

http://www.mathmammoth.com/

Product Review:  I can not tell you how much of a hit thinking putty is!  I only ordered one container of it and it was not enough since EVERYONE wants to use it.  Even the adults & teens who visit!  It can keep my little one occupied for quite some time.  It really gets his imagination going as he finds new ways to use it and incorporates his other toys into it.  I was even able to remove the entire ball of putty from our off white carpeting today!!  It gives the boys something quiet to do with their hands while I'm reading or going over lessons and it's so much fun!  No more play dough for us we are definitely picking up more thinking putty soon!

My next post I'm planning to explain in more detail what we are doing to keep up with homeschooling while having Chronic Migraines.  I'd love to hear what others are doing to manage health issues and still made home schooling a priority!

Blessings,

Melissa

Adventures in the Sea & Sky Week 2

Winters Promise Adventures in the Sea & Sky - Week 2

Fun things we learned: An Octopus has 3 hearts!  One on each side of it's gills and it's main heart!  We also made snow ice cream which was a big hit!

Hands on Learning:

We took a basketball and a LOT of blue painters tape (a specific amount) and covered the basketball.  Once we finished we had a small replica of what the Earth looks like and it's water to land ratio!  It was very interesting for the kids to do and of course afterwards they played monkey in the middle with the ball and had a blast.  This idea was taken from the book: Bill Nye the Science Guy's big Blue Ocean.  

We are lapbooking on Mollusks but it is slow going!  Typically Turbo enjoys lapbooking but he is not enjoying this one at all!  I don't think it's the project itself, I think he's just unmotivated to do much school these days.  The thing is he LOVES animals and oceans so this should be fun for him.  

    

We've watched Horrible Histories Highly Hawaiian Via: Discovery Education Streaming.

We also looked at the pictures from a variety of books I had pickup at at the Library on Sunday about Ships and Sea Life.  For Science we did a whale blubber experiment.  The first picture below is feeling how COLD the "ocean" is.  The second picture is feeling the difference if you have blubber insulation.  The boys all loved this experiment!

And we finished off our week making a Valentines Minecraft Box for Zman to bring into school.  As well as making Minecraft Valentines which we had gotten an AWESOME free printable for!  I know it's a little late to be sharing but heres the link: http://www.meetpenny.com/2014/02/free-printable-minecraft-valentines-day-cards/

We also worked on FLL3 & WWE3.  I am really trying to work these two things in as I LOVE them and Turbo has commented that he really enjoys the lessons.  Math has suffered this week but we will be working on getting caught up!  It's been a rough week with my migraines so we are behind the schedule I had set but I am learning I have to be flexible!

I hope you've enjoyed your week!

Blessings,

Melissa

Gluten Free Pizza Crust Review!!!!


We eat pizza weekly......well alright sometimes twice weekly!  Getting good tasting Gluten Free pizza crust has been something we have tried to master for the past 3 Months!  We've tried dozens of recipes most were edible but not what we call pizza!  We have two local restaurants in the area that offer a Gluten Free crust pizza cooked in a dedicated oven for GF foods.  Not bad, but again we knew it wasn't what we expected pizza to taste like.

On a whim and after trying most every other prepackaged mix for making Gluten Free pizza that our local stores offer....my hubby found Mama Marys!  To say we were hesitant was an understatement.  We try a new recipe for pizza at least once a week and so far had been pretty let down.

The Verdict:  It's the best we've had so far and we would definitely eat it again!  It's super easy just add your toppings!

Cons: It may just be our oven but you have to find the balance between getting the crust crispy yet not burnt.  We struggled a little but I know we will improve as we continue to try to work with this crust.  

One of the biggest challenges with GF crust is that is is often to rubbery or moist.  This crust definitely solves that problem!  Plus, it was sooooo much easier than hand mixing together the dough we've being trying to perfect for weeks!  Mama Mary's is a winner in our house!

Let me know what's your favorite GF pizza crust?  Premade or a recipe!

Mama Mary's Gluten Free Crust!

Fresh Air for a Fresh Perspective!

Me & Rob

 Despite being sick on/off the entire  month of January we pushed ourselves and got out and had some Winter FUN!  Turbo is loving snowboarding.  We had a hard time getting away for him to snowboard at larger hills.  Luckily we live near a decent sized hill so he can practice.   

If you are experiencing the Winter blues or blahs or just need a little pick me up....I would highly suggest you get outside and have a little Winter Fun!!!  Jr. was only able to last about an hour.  Rob & I both slipped and were hurting quite a bit by the end of the sledding excursion....but we ALL had a good time and it was a great break after being stuck sick in the house for so long.

                   Enjoy,
                   Melissa

                                                    

                                                 Jr. liked laying in the snow more than he liked sledding in it!

       

Turbo!

We have seemingly been passing our sickness back and forth to each other and it's made a pretty terrible month.  But February is upon us and I can feel healthier days are headed our way soon!  So.....what's best to eat when your under the weather....Chicken Soup!  Now being gluten free has often times thrown a real monkey wrench into my  meals.  My 10yr old Turbo is PiCkY!  He actually prefers the taste of boxed mac &Cheese from you know who and he loved canned Chicken Noodle soup.  All my previous attempts at recreating his favorites were epic fails...until this past week!  So without further ado, our GF Chicken Noodle Soup that tastes just like the"real" canned variety! :-)

Leftover Chicken Carcass from either a store bought roaster or one you've cooked.
4-5 Chicken Bouillon squares (make sure it's GF)
3-4 roughly chopped Celery Stalks (pre-wash)
3-4 Carrots roughly chopped (pealing unnecessary) pre-wash
1 lg. onion cut into large chunks.
Sam Mills Gluten Free Fettuccine Noodles (break the long noodles into three sections)
12Q. Stock Pot
3-4 garlic cloves
1T. Poultry Seasoning
Salt & Pepper to Taste


First place your entire left over chicken into your stock pot.  Then cover with water until pot is about 3/4 full of water.  Add all chopped/washed veggies.  Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer for 3 hours.  Taste broth and if needed add Bouillon to enhance the flavor.   Strain the broth leaving you with a bowl of soft veggies and broken down chicken.  Now, you can take the carrots if you'd like and mash or cut them into tiny pieces and add them back into the stock pot with your broth.  You will also go through the bowl and pull out any good meat that has fallen off the carcass If you were just boiling with bones you'll need to add in some pre-cooked and finely shredded chicken.  Add in 1T. Poultry seasoning.  This is optional but I really feel like it enhances the flavor of the soup.  Allow soup to simmer.

Meanwhile bowl water for your Gluten Free noodles.  We are big fans of Sam Mill GF noodles and I found the Fettuccine noodles to work perfect.  I grabbed handfuls and broke them into three smaller pieces and cooked the noodles like that.   Grab a medium pot and bring some salted water to boil.  Stir frequently to prevent the noddles from sticking together.  Good approx. 9 minutes or until noddles are soft.  Drain the water and add the noddles to your soup.

This is our basic Chicken Noodle Soup that tastes like the canned stuff! (only better!)  Feel free to add to it.  Our goal in creating the soup was that it would be a simple replica of the canned stuff that Turbo loves and it got his stamp of approval.   Below is the link to the Sam Mill Noddles we use and love!
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sam%20mills%20gluten%20free%20pasta&sprefix=sam+mill%2Caps%2C200&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Asam%20mills%20gluten%20free%20pasta.


Enjoy!