The Thursday before Thanksgiving, we were invited to have a play date at Olivia’s house. Olivia is a fellow homeschooler. She is 4 years old has a little brother and sister named Eric and Rachel. We met her mom Carolyn through a meet up website, where we can find other homeschoolers.
After meeting up at Imajine That a few times, (and making sure she wasn’t some serial killer/ kidnapper) we felt comfortable enough to visit them at home. (Carolyn if you’re reading this, I know you know what I mean.)
Here’s how that went:
That’s Olivia!
I am still in awe of Carolyn’s beautiful playroom. It’s my dream playroom.
After some playtime, the kids got hungry. Carolyn had make-your-own pizzas which the kids had fun making.
Pic of Eric!
A little bit after this last picture was taken, Hayzel had a meltdown of epic proportions. He suddenly decided he didn’t want to eat. I don’t remember exactly how it went down, but he refused to eat and threw himself on the floor in a fit. I was so embarrassed and was seeing red at this point, so I did the only think I could think of. I grabbed Hayzel ( apologized to Carolyn on our way out) and took him to the car to sit and wait for C and J to finish their lunch. I had to sit and calm down before I passed judgment on him. First, there was no reason he should behave that way at a strangers house, secondly not eating is non-negotiable. He needs to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The pizza was delicious and he wasn’t complaining of an upset stomach so there was no reason he couldn’t eat. Last, he wouldn’t give me a single reason of why he wasn’t going to eat the pizza. Just, “ I don’t want to.” I thought and thought about how to punish him.
*side note*Hayzel is a very interesting little boy to punish because no matter what his punishment is, he always finds a silver lining. At one point or another, I have taken every single toy and privilege away from him, =condemned him to his bed, and I still going in to find him making puppets with his fingers as a way to entertain himself. And that makes me MAD! He should be suffering and begging to have his toys back, but nooooooo……He’s his happy self making the best of the situation. So my punishments need to be creative.
After talking with Sr. we decided that taking away his swimming lesson was not a good idea, because we pay for those classes and if he misses out, we won’t get our money back. In hindsight, I don’t know if that decision was the best thing, because,( as Tania pointed out) those classes are one of the highlights of his week, so if he had to sit out on one, he’d would’ve been pretty miserable. But I didn’t see it that way at the moment and he had his swim class anyway.
After swim class, his punishment started. We went to Imajine That to play for a little while and Hayzel had to sit in a chair and watch everyone else play. He also missed the science workshop, in which the kids played with magnets.
Notice how “not sad and miserable” he looks. SMH.
^Cait holding Rachel and that’s Carolyn.
When we got home I took all his toys away including his Wii. The only thing I allowed was cable t.v. but no OnDemand or Netflix (which has all his favorite shows). The reason I did this was because if he accidentally falls asleep even for 5 seconds his whole sleep pattern is disrupted and I soooooooooo needed him to go to bed on time that night. TV was the only thing I could think of that would keep him occupied. He went to bed that night without John-Paul (his teddy bear), and the next day (Friday) he continued his punishment. On Friday afternoon we had a meet up at a local library with Carolyn and Olivia to do a Thanksgiving craft, and he sat out on that as well.
I can’t remember much of last week, as it was such a blur with school and the holiday. We had a nice Thanksgiving at home with the Rolons. I forgot to take pics of dinner but I’m a pretty damn good cook so I know the food was good. We did go around the table and say what we where thankful for. I think Hayzel said he was thankful for us, the Rolons and the food. Again, a big blur.
Hayzel developed a cold during the Thanksgiving weekend. As the week progressed he’s been getting worse. He started having a fever Sunday and still had the fever on Wednesday. Aside from the fever, cold symptoms and lack of appetite he was acting like his regular self. Playing, laughing, running. I called the doctor and he had me go in today for a visit and an x-ray. Hayzel found this really exciting and the x-ray tech was really awesome. The doctor called me back as I was writing this and confirmed he had walking pneumonia. There’s nothing funny about Hayzel being sick, but I thought this was a really funny oxymoron. Anyway, he’s putting Hayzel on an antibiotic for 5 days and apparently he should be all better after that.
Regardless of him being sick, we still went out today. After more than a week at home, we needed the fresh air. We accompanied Jayden to swimming class. Hayzel didn’t go in the water for obvious reasons. Here’s how he and Cait spent their time:
I felt kind of bad, because he loves his swimming lessons.
After swimming, we headed across the street to the library to return some (long overdue) books, and pick up some holiday ones.
Today is December 1st! This means the beginning of a very very busy month. Sr. and I both have finals in 2 weeks. Then Christmas is right around the corner. One of the benefits of home school is that we do not have to adhere to any set schedule. So I’m actually taking the whole month off of homeschooling to concentrate on my final exams and the holidays. We will still be doing weekly activities such as swimming, science at IT, arts and crafts, and lots of baking, so I will still post. I will also be working on a curriculum for the first 6 months of 2012. After my spring semester in school is over, I will work on the last 6 months. But I don’t know if it’ll be necessary. Sr. is still very much for sending Hayzel to kindergarten next fall and I am still on the fence leaning more towards not sending. The verdict is still out because he and I haven’t come to a mutual decision.
Thanks for reading my very long update. Don’t forget to leave comments. I see a lot of activity on the page, but I don’t know what anyone thinks of it all. I want everyone’s feedback, good or bad!
TTFN,
May
