It's NOT You, It's Me

It's hard to believe that we are already nearing the last days of summer! Or at least of summer vacation. Having survived the past week of VBS, Fashionista has begun her last week of 5-day clubs for the summer. I'm frantically trying to pull together lesson plans in preparation for the looming school year. I knew this summer was going to be a whirlwind but I did not expect it to take the kind of toll on me that it has.

It seems that especially lately I'm finding myself feeling more ASPIE than normal. (For an explanation of what Aspie is you may want to read my former post, Hi, I'm Dee and I have Asperger's Syndrome) I'm feeling like I just want to climb up into myself and shut the rest of the world out. Perhaps this is a result of being forced out of my house and into the presence of people all summer long, which is something that I find absolutely exhausting. I think this weekend was the first time all summer that I was allowed to stay home and not have to go anywhere.

I guess I'm feeling depleted of I'm not even sure what. Opportunities for inner contemplation? That thing that I have to tap into which allows me to be social despite how unnaturally that comes to me? Whatever it is, I'm feeling totally drained of it. Even talking on the phone is feeling like a gigantic chore to me. 

Hopefully, the cessation of 5-day clubs and getting back into a school routine which will not require me to be out of the house and around people so much will help my Aspieness to retreat. In the meantime, I'm sorry to all of you who have been feeling like I'm mad at you for some reason. Try to remember that it's not you, it's me.

What To Do With All These Books?

Having finally finished updating my personal database for all our books, I've started listing them on Amazon. My goal was to be able to list them in bulk but after wrestling with making that happen for a whole day, I decided that it was easier to just deal with listing them one at a time. 

I got about 40 some books listed that way. This morning upon checking my email, I realized that one of my book had sold. Yay! Time to get it ready to ship. I have flat rate boxes, no problem. Oh, good grief! It costs more to ship that way than I charged for the book! Scrap that idea! Ok, so what are my other options??

A trip to the post office later and $1.49 spent on a padded mailer, then buying postage, I think I made a whole .48 cents on that book! Uuuuugh!! This is NOT going to be worth all the trouble I'm going to!

So what do I do with these 200+ books?? Trying to decide if it will even be worth my time to mark them all and attempt a yard sale. I'm having trouble getting to all that I need to get done as it is! I just want these books out of here! I may just take the whole lot to the Salvation Army and be done with the mess!

What are your thoughts??

Encouraging Progress in a Difficult Subject

This past week was July 4th so Fashionista had no 5-day clubs. It was nice to have a little respite from getting up so early every day and running around town playing chauffeur. This week we get to do it all again! Only this week Fashionista has afternoon clubs. This means that I don't have to leave the house so early to drop MyHero off. Fashionista doesn't have to be at the CEF office until noon.

We had our annual homeschool evaluations on Friday. I was quite nervous about these because we struggle with math. There was no need for me to be concerned however. All 3 kids made improvements in their scores over last year. ManBoy's score went up nearly 3 grade levels! We still have a long way to go, but I'm greatly encouraged by the progress made.

My kids are not liking it but I'm making them work on their math facts over the summer. They think that they know them, but it's always good to keep them fresh! We will be covering some new territory in math this coming school year so this will help them to be able to comprehend the new material more easily.

I'm starting to feel the pressure to get prepared for the new school year. Need to nail down what curriculum we will be using, I know most of it, but some is still up in the air. Also need to set up lesson plans and all that stuff. 

One of the things I plan to use this next year is, English From the Roots Up. It's an oldie but a goodie. I've had it sitting on my shelf for a while and rediscovered it while clearing off bookshelves. I think it is finally time to put it to work. It should help to improve spelling and vocabulary for my kids.

I would also like to get Fashionista enrolled in a class with www.time4writing.com. She loves to write fantasy books but needs a lot of help with her grammar and mechanics.

I still have all those books sitting in boxes in my kitchen as well! I have GOT to get them listed on Amazon. I'm feeling like my summer is filling up with too much to do and too little time to get it all done! I'd better get busy!

First a couple questions for you! We all as homeschoolers seem to have at least one subject that we struggle with. What subject is it for you and your kids? If you don't homeschool then what was your tough subject in school? How do you deal with this difficult subject? Have you found a way to make it less of a struggle?