Weekly Wrap Up - All Sorts of Updates

 

First update we will start with my healthy. You may remember that about 6 -7 weeks ago I was diagnosed with high blood pressure after a couple of visits to the ER with very high numbers. After some medication changes and four weeks of adjusting to meds my numbers have been stable in the low 100s on top and the low 70s on the bottom with a resting HR in the neighborhood of 60-80. Many tests have been run and come back negative. Still waiting on a stress test and an abdominal ultrasound. The ultrasound is due to finding what appears to be a cyst on my liver that was picked up while performing the echo. Also most of the side effects from the medications have diminished or gone away completely. That was truly a very long month trying to get it all figured out.

 

Next some updates on my tutoring students. We finished our first literature book, Sign of the Beaver with the corresponding study guide from Progeny Press. On Monday we will watch the movie, complete some crafts, and eat some Native American food. Now they begin Island of the Blue Dolphins as the literature read which fits nicely with the semester long ocean and marine life study we are doing through Exploring Creation Swimming Creatures. We also work with Easy Grammar, Essentials in Writing, Teaching Textbooks, Review Products, Story of the World, and Abeka readers.

 

I haven't written about Grace much so an update is definitely due. Hybrid classes for geometry and chemistry are going fairly well. Geometry she gets much more than chemistry. Volleyball is great and she wishes the season would go year round. Yesterday was the second to last game and we lost, but man the volleying in the game was incredible. Each set was close and the main thing is the girls had so much fun. Since switching to Uncle Eric's What Ever Happened to Penny Candy Economics has gone much smoother. Grace's Cooperative classes include Girls Ensemble, Ballroom Dance, Art, and Drama. She has one main skit she will be performing at the Christmas recital and also a backup singer in two others.

 

Grace is very strong in her decision to attend Cosmetology school after graduation. We have two possibilities in our area. One requires a state approved accredited diploma which our currently will not be. The other school will accept our homeschool diploma and transcripts. Grace has asked to attend the private school full time next year for her senior year. This would solve the problem of the diploma and she just loves being there.

 

This past weekend Grace also attended her first homecoming dance and high school football game. Her best friend and significant other is in the band at this particular school. The game was great - we won - and the band preformed awesomely. The dance was a let down. They are attuned to attending Cooperative dances with modesty rules, carefully chosen music, etc. This high school dance was the exact opposite. They were miserable and stayed exactly 40 minutes before texting us and asking to be picked back up. What a disappointment! Grace was very upset about the whole experience and very disappointed. The upside was that we got some great pictures before attending.

 

I'm excited about three books I ordered from Amazon to read. Reading lately has been on the back burner for me. I am trying to work my way through The 5th Wave series to get ready for the movie coming out in January. Also the new Michael Vey book and the new series from Rick Riordan came out. So I ordered both and they are next on the list to read. Hoping the new Rick Riordan series about Norse mythology is better than the Last Olympian book that came out.

 

We also have a ton of review products that will be keeping us busy:

 

Surfing the Net: Science

 

Eat Your US History Homework

 

Writing Your Way Through Early Modern History Cursive

 

Ultimate Homeschool Planner

 

The Nutcracker

 

Grapevine Studies

 

So as you can see we are going to be very busy!