There is a book I’m ordering soon by Judy Arnall called Discipline Without Distress: 135 tools for raising caring, responsible children without time-out, spanking, punishment or bribery. This really appeals to me.

I’ve been reading some of Arnall’s free articles on her web site, and it seems the perfect middle for me. It talks about natural consequences, which I’ve read about before but always fallen back on the easy way out–”Go sit on your bed!” However, I think it’s time to get creative. I haven’t felt as close to DS recently, and I think part of it is that he feels “overdisciplined.” I am hoping, as it promises, that this approach will give him the control over his behavior that he desires and the peace of mind that I desire. Arnall makes the point that we are raising adults, not children. I want to give my children the tools they need to become productive, responsible, happy adults, and I need practical tips. Wish me luck!

On the day-to-day notes, we’ve been getting out more as the weather’s been getting better. Lily really loves to be out with friends and hates to come home afterward! Last week, we went to the roller skating rink, the park, a friend’s farm, and our homeschool co-op in addition to grocery shopping (fun-fun!). We already went to the park today, which was fun, even though it was only 50 degrees. The splendid sunshine made up for it.

The kids are changing as always, with Ginny getting her first tooth and itching to crawl. A.J. lost a tooth last week and has a very generous tooth-fairy (DH), who gave him $5! Good thing they only have so many to lose! Here are some pictures just for fun.

A.J. is entering three pieces in our upcoming art show, a collage of digital portraits of Ginny, a separate portrait of Ginny, and a painting he whipped out today. They are all very nice, especially the collage. He really got up close, and they are all very captivating. I am definitely hanging it at home once the art show is finished. I hope you homeschool friends of mine are entering the show and coming to see it in Staunton at the end of this month.

I may let Lily enter, too. I just have to find time to set her up at the table with some paints and paper. Why should that be so hard? I’ve always tried to enjoy my kids for the stage they are at, but I must admit, I’m looking forward  to a year or two from now when they are a little more independent so I can do more with them, if that makes sense. Right now, I spend a lot of time caring for Ginny and soothing Lily and feeling like I’m generally not getting anything done. Then again, having a baby and toddler around is kind of cool. Just a smile from either one of them lights up the room, not to mention a full-out belly laugh. What joy! That’s what makes it all worth it, I suppose.

Back to the art–maybe I’ll get photos of their pieces up at some point on the blog, but it will probably be after the show.

I am the leader of our co-op for the first time next month (this means I get to plan the activities for the month), and I’m finding it quite enjoyable already. I have to find a way to entertain and educate the kids without actually teaching. No way I could do much with carrying around Ginny and keeping the shy one (Lily) happy. So far, we’re tie-dying (led by a fellow homeschooler who has volunteered to help us out), and having a lady from Cat’s Cradle (www.catscradle.va) come and speak. I’m also hoping for a field trip to Boxerwood Gardens (www.boxerwood.org) and maybe a game day or another field trip. I was thinking about a field trip to or presentation from the Wildlife Center of Virginia (www.wildlifecenter.org), but that may be out of the co-op’s budget. Leading and planning is more fun than I realized it was going to be.

Oh, I added a bookshelf to my blog. I love this idea, since I love to read. I also feel like what you read can say a lot about you or ferret out hidden depths and pleasures you might not see on the outside. I’ve always been an introvert, so I guess that’s not too surprising.

Enough rambling for tonight. Peace out.

Well, it’s another night in the Robisch household. A.J. just finished another game of Monopoly Here and Now on the computer. He rather loves this game lately and loves beating the computer. He finally branched out this week and is playing against entrepreneur level characters instead of just first-time buyers. We play together sometimes as well, although he really does hate to lose. J

Lily is sleeping on the couch nearby, and Gin-Bear is asleep on my lap on the Boppy. After our evening bath, I sat with them and watched the beginning of All the King’s Men with Sean Penn and Jude Law while they fell asleep. This works rather well when I have two kids to nurse to sleep (one on the Boppy, one sitting next to me). Later, Daddy will take Lily upstairs to bed. He’s working right now.

A.J. is now sitting next to me telling me that Daddy told him he’d never get better unless he started playing against the more difficult characters. Ah, I now see J

A.J. also had speech therapy today. His attitude was much better about it, even though he told me it took me a month to convince him that it wasn’t too bad. After speech today, we took a short trip to Wal-Mart together. It was a pleasant change for it to be just me and him. The girls were at home with Alan during his lunch break.

I worked for a little while before dinner and the girls bedtime, and now I’m futzing on the computer. Just another average day.

I’ve been thinking a lot about balancing life and working at home and unschooling lately. It’s a difficult task with unschooling because I’m always wondering whether I’m spending enough time with the kids. When they ask to do stuff, I try to be accommodating, and I try to engage them when I think of something in which they might be interested, although often that just falls flat and I wonder why I went to all the trouble.

 

One problem lies in when I am working and my 8-year-old busts in with something interesting and DH is busy with the little girls. Unfortunately, I can’t just stop working because I have to get enough hours in each week to keep the household going, so it’s tough. I think it will be easier when my littlest one doesn’t need to sleep with me all the time and I can get up and work early when DH is also working. In the past, however, when DS was little, I tried the whole getting up early thing, and the whole cosleeping/nursing thing ends up with me going in and out of the bedroom so much that I don’t get anything done, so I might as well get the sleep, you know?

 

It’s also a matter of trying to fit in things I like to do as an adult as well, such as reading, writing, and communicating with family, friends, etc., over the computer, and the things I should be doing more of, such as exercising J I tend to feel selfish/guilty when I just want to veg in front of the computer during the day or in the evening. The question is when is it too much? Sometimes, I think I should just leave some of my responsibilities and hobbies (photography/scrapbooking, volunteer work, writing) by the wayside for now to simplify my life.

 

Maybe I’m just thinking too much, but that’s just how my mind works.

 

So much has been going on recently, but with work and the girls’ bedtime schedule, I’ve been left with little time to write.

First, our experiment with the gluten-free casein-free diet came to an end this past week. We did not see any behavioral or physical changes that we might have expected to see if either of these was causing problems. It’s a bit of a relief because it was a bit of a pain and expensive to follow.

DS has been doing a lot, taking art lessons since September and now guitar lessons since the new year. He’s been using his teacher’s guitar, but we’ll probably buy him his own soon since he seems to be sticking to it. I like his reaction to it. When I ask him how art class is, he says, “Good, but it’s harder than I thought it would be.” But when I ask him the same about guitar, he sounds very excited and says “Great!” He even wants to share that with others.