Today saw a good amount of school, good amount of puppy care, elder to orthodontist, everybody is fed and pretty clean. No fitness for boys, minimal for me, maybe I can do something before bed. RPG tonight. Off to prep!

@Critterfixer-- glad you got to be at home, though it sounds like that means that the roads were too horrid for you to get to work? Hope everything thaws soonest. In some sort of miraculously mud-limited manner.

Evening! and late. Hope a whole lot of snow melted for you! Here, we are muddling through civilizing our puppy. It is rather like attachment parenting. Except we stick her in a crate sometimes. But still. Today saw: Latin and some math for both boys; various chores; some planning; boys worked on their RPG characters; we got some Covid-appropriate puppy socializing done; cut younger's hair so he looks less overgrown; chili from the freezer + homemade tortillas + veggies for dinner. Tortillas were a bit of an Event because all I had was self-rising flour. They were VERY "tender". 🙂 Am crazy, cotton-mouthed tired. Probably will be for the next couple of weeks, but at least spirits are high around here. We're so fortunate to have our little puppy, and she is very sweet and cuddly as well as being a quick study: great for the boys.

So glad the snow is melting! Today has been term school, back-pain management for me, various chores -- all fit around puppy stuff. Left: fitness; cleaning; planning (??); dinner: souffle, veggies and tomato soup if I'm lucky/focused.

@TheAttachedMama-- thanks. That was really helpful to me!

🙂 You can absolutely place him in Latin II after TFL (according to a conversation I had with CLRC a while back). He would need to learn the vocabulary from Oxford Latin 1 over the summer, and it might be nice to have him read the English history/culture sections and maybe practice reading some of the Latin. But the vocabulary is really what he'll be needing, IMHO. I imagine your TFL teacher could also suggest an efficient way to prepare. RE "accountability": I like the scanning, too. And I like that you can see, through the Canvas parent account, what your child has submitted and read the teacher's comments on each assignment/test. If it isn't too off-topic, I have a question RE Anki: do you have a preferred Latin/foreign language vocab. format? I've been trying to do it cloze-style, but the children detest cloze vocabulary AND it takes forever to get onto the cards. Whereas if I did front/back style I could just copy & paste from the Quizlet decks.

We switched to CLRC from Memoria Press; this is our third year in CLRC's Latin. I am very happy with CLRC's language classes -- both the content and the class atmosphere -- and my child prefers them to Memoria Press. He doesn't want to take Latin, but I require it. 😉 Typical Class: This year, a typical class is: login 10" before class starts to chat with other students, make sure everything is working. Class begins with a review of the previous homework, then goes on to reading practice, then grammar instruction and sometimes a Latin game. If there is time the instructor goes over some of the new homework assignment with the students. Homework: this is due, generally, the day before class. Assignments are downloaded from the "Canvas" platform, and to submit them the student scans the work and sends it as a PDF. Enjoyability: My child enjoys the class as much as he'll ever enjoy Latin! He likes his instructor and his fellow students, and sometimes learns something he thinks is cool. He is maintaining an "A" average. Cons: it is harder to ensure vocabulary mastery with Oxford Latin (the book CLRC uses) than with Form Latin series because the format of the textbook vocabulary lists doesn't lend itself to easily covering one language and drilling from the other, if that makes sense. And I used to drill from the Form Latin lists at the back of the workbook (or is it the teacher's manual?) which was super easy. CLRC gives the children Quizlet sets, which aren't quite as useful; you might want to put these into Anki. Pros: CLRC is terrific to work with. I like that my child is learning to read Latin as well as translate carefully. And he's getting a lot more information about Roman culture in this class. HTH! ETA: if your child begins with Latin 1, then he'll have a very nice time for the first year or two. He'll know pretty much all his forms, and just be learning the vocabulary, reading skills, and cultural background.

Where's a "Yay!" button when you need it? 🎉 for snow stopped, hoping that lots of sunshine comes your way. I remember my first winter north of Florida, and the Washington DC forecast that promised it would "warm up to almost freezing today": total shocker. Must be maddening to not be able to clean things, esp. after being cooped up this week! bet the chickens aren't the only ones who want them back in their roosts. Since we got our pup, I've had much worse chronic pain problems and yesterday was a true low, am focusing on some annoying but effective exercises I can do throughout the day to mitigate it. Am grateful to have something that helps, wish it didn't take so much time. Today: nap to catch up on sleep; do chores; fitness all around. School is term-break school: languages only, Anki for both boys, piano for younger and some extra room/desk cleanup for elder. Catch up on e-mail, hit some planning time for school, year, RPG; piano for me; pup training.

That is a LOT of snow. Hope that the power holds out for you & everybody is safe & warm. Chickens, too. I finished yesterday's list sometime early this afternoon. 🙂 Well, except for the planning stuff. Today's list is is similar with green & white pizza for dinner for DH & I, mozzarella & red sauce for boys and some time actually spent planning. Here I go to do that, in fact. !!

What a time for a crazy-cold snap, @Critterfixer! Hope that the chickens AND the house stay warm, and that there's a pleasant coziness to offset the unfriendly weather. Am interested in snow art. And your dinner sounds especially delicious on a nippy night. Here we are just rainy. Well, our puppy came through! and she is being, rather unhappily, crate-trained as we write. She is sweet-tempered & quick to learn, and also shows strength of purpose: she whined for nearly 4 hours last night, AFTER she'd gone potty. That'll be our main behavioral focus for the next day or two. Puppy training is taking a lot of time: thank goodness both boys & DH & I are all on board with the plan. Today: Puppy training; draft a sort of schedule for what we're doing. House: keep up with chores, write back to some folks for a table & wall pegs I'm trying to acquire School: term school (languages) and memory stuff. School planning: quick & dirty estimate of our next term: bringing Modern Times together for boys, getting science strong, keeping a focus on arts & including our CM stuff. I think I'll call CM stuff "lifestyle" as opposed to the schooly bits. RPG tonight, my friend is running it, hurrah! but still probably takeout Vietnamese for dinner.

Good morning. Catching up on your week, @Critterfixer-- that is a long time on not-great sleep! glad you got more of it last night. And hoping your pupper can sleep longer, continues to eat, has better blood-test readings. We've been in puppy drama here, but it is the more pleasant sort of getting ready for a new puppy. We're recovering from a snafu in which the breeder (we're using a breeder b/c DH has allergic reactions to most dogs) sent all our info to another person; we didn't get any of the lead-up information and missed the intended pick-up date, which was last weekend. And she doesn't seem to check e-mail with any regularity, and we don't have a 'phone number. Will be nice when we have the sweet pup in hand! We're on term break: puppy prep; an hour of "term school"; fitness; school planning; house cleaning &c. Dinner: breaded pork chops, salad, fried apples.

Afternoon! Didn't get here yesterday .. for now, am jogging a quick reminder list here for today ... thinking of you & your dear dog, @Critterfixer! Younger got by orthodontist this AM + did Christian Studies, poetry memorization; elder did some art, some English, and Latin class. Notes -- set up MP subjects for younger and MP geography for elder; continue to get WTM rhetoric underway for elder; look into great courses engineering for elder; fitness, house, &c.

Evening! I'm so glad she's doing better, and hope that she's comfortable as can be this weekend and, despite ongoing care-giving, you can rest up. Today we re-normalized some more, hurrah. Left to do this evening: discover a dinner plan; fitness all around; clean up; spend some time on RPG I'll be playing. This weekend: round out plans for Ancients year; plan to troubleshoot final elements in the next week or two; keep working on planning homeschool + general year + the RPG I plan to run again around March.

Morning! I missed yesterday, too. So, so sorry to hear about your poor dog. Crossing my fingers that she eats better, sleeps better, and that you get a satisfying handle on whatever's going on with her. Today: well, head full of bees, can hardly think. Sigh. Migraine prevention protocol for me. Boys: math, English, foreign language, reading/art. Homeschool planning: 30" plus. Piano for younger: practice for lesson today. Fitness all around. Chores &c. Dinner: ???? hopefully, more on that later!

Afternoon! So glad that your dog is diagnosed & responding to treatment; sorry to hear that you'll have to be managing diabetes. We are due to get a puppy in the next couple of weeks. I haven't started the dog-proofing yet, or going through supplies to round them out ... it'll be exciting! This week is a focus on mental & physical health. Even the schoolwork has that focus, keeping everybody busy, engaged, with some great ideas in their minds and enough structure for wellness. Left for today: art for boys; music for younger; planning for me; fitness. Dinner: ???? still a mystery.

Evening! And Happy Last Day of January. Hoping your dog's doing better, Critterfixer, and that you're getting sleep. Maybe even at night. 😉 Today went fairly well; we're having a major physical + mental + emotional/spiritual health focus here. And school got, more or less, done. Plus some fitness for everybody. Left to do: shower for me; stories for boys; maybe watch something with DH.

Evening! @Critterfixer: hope that you got enough rest on Friday, and that your dog heals. Today was Cementing Parenting Progress; Not Despairing at Small Backslides; and Brainstorming a Troubleshooting Plan Going Forward. Also, some math, languages & music happened and I played a strategy game with elder as part of math + relationship-building. Boys did running practice + fitness, hurrah! MIL's birthday (she lives in an attached apartment) went much better than expected. She loved the improvised riff on "Happy Birthday" that younger composed & played (with composition-structure suggestions from his online teacher) and the paper-engineered card that elder made. My dinner made her happy, and DH did all his usual support + is washing up the dishes as I write 😉 Tomorrow will be working on our homeschool plans -- probably pulling out the HS Anatomy course I have lying around -- and drafting a note to my RPG group.

Evening! I'm hoping that your dog is okay, and that her medical issues are addressable -- especially that something can be done to keep her comfortable so you can sleep at night. That is really tough. Today went just fine; progress with the parenting stuff which has been most critical/vulnerable. Boosting arts all around, which has a strong correspondence to mental health in my house. See y'all tomorrow ...

Evening. It's drizzling. Today went pretty well: school, music. Still some more-intensive parenting to focus on; some yoga/stretching for me; stories for boys; etc. For tomorrow: plenty of school; music for younger; artist/composer study; fitness. Early dinner: probably frozen pizza + veggies -- homemade pizza if I get organized on the crust front -- then online piano lesson. I'll try to round it out, but having it here will add some focus to my morning!

Evening! We had various family stuff to occupy some of my energy today. I'll need to spend a lot less time on the role-playing game and more on the family & school; I'm worried that our RPG group will crumble, and it is the boys' only social outlet -- plus we really care about the people in the group -- but the folks at home are starting to crumble and that takes priority. Basic school today, parenting, music. Got a weekly list designed for younger's work this term, printed it: will try to do same for elder tomorrow. Tonight: shashuka (here, beans in a tomato sauce) and fry bread for dinner; stories for boys; stretching for me.

Morning! We're due for clear skies today, more rain tomorrow. Today: AM: mainly RPG prep work, for campaign + for tonight's game. RPG prep, main campaign, plus today or tomorrow look at side quest video, read angrygm's epic quest campaign article. Latin for elder, independent history work for younger Break for: vacuuming downstairs PM: school, chores, fitness dinner is Vietnamese takeout for game night after dinner: RPG

So sorry to hear about your head, and about the rest of life not being accommodating. Hope springs eternal &c, so: am hoping today was better! Yesterday's dinner was such a disaster that we were all laughing hysterically. Well, DH was good-naturedly grimacing. Nonetheless: all were fed and the grilled pizza wasn't too burnt for DH & I to eat; boys had various stuff we could cull from the 'fridge. And: g'evening! Today was a satisfactory hodge-podge of school, chores, a couple of errands, some RPB work, and decompressing. Also: this afternoon was my first real break from a back pain I've developed in a couple of weeks. want to note what seemed to work: 1. took break from running for a couple of days; 2. picked up micro-ballet; 3. did yoga; 4. did mini-step aerobics session(s) of 5". And rotated NSAIDS 😉 Hope it works again tomorrow.

Good morning. I plumb forgot to check in yesterday, after a day of craziness ... @Critterfixer: hoping your headache subsides and stays gone. So sorry that it returned, and I hope the rest of life goes more smoothly as compensation. Today is math, languages; music focus for younger; some time to plan; household things to manage; chores; dinner -- ???? maybe homemade pizza, we're eating early b/c younger has online piano at 6; fitness. Plus, gratitude for peaceful transitions of power in our democracy. Notes here: moody teen threw things off a bit this am. Going proactive on this: minimize impact of mood swings, downplay drama & don't reward it, keep calm & carry on Latin is an issue these days. Need to crack down on his vocab acquisition (no device time until he has it down, less device time when he has to spend that time mastering vocab) AND start pulling in MP Form Latin review for forms, grammar questions. may need to re-instate Greek, since a great attitude at school was the condition of him dropping it. Fun. Get more stuff into Anki.

Afternoon! We hit schoolish stuff this AM, some chores. For now: draft RPG to-do list; go over how to tell the group I need to break from GMing until March, to work on campaign + other stuff breathe. 🙂 various stress-management stuff: bursts of exercise & math, eat well, get outside some. prep game do a few chores

Morning! That is a big day. Esp. with going to town; that always seems to take a chunk of time here, even though we're quite close to town. Kicking it off with migraine management. Hope to get back later and flesh out: school; RPG; chores; home organization stuff; fitness. Have no earthly idea what dinner will be tonight, but it'll be early so we feed younger before his 6pm online piano lesson. Hugs all around! why not?