Hiya. I know I've been quiet. It's been that kind of month. But hey, we have almost survived February. We have had So Much going on this month I had been dreading it ever since I sat down and put the stuff into my calendar back in December. March may be slightly calmer, we've got Saint Patrick's day stuff because Irish Dance but it's mostly one day of caravaning around to different performances; probably an extra rehearsal or two to get ready for that. And I think there is a karate tournament. And a tumbling meet. But still better than the craziness that has been February. April is Lion King performances. If there is anything else big in April my mind is blocking it in the interest of maintaining my sanity.

Thanks for the update, I'm so glad it looks like the book will work for you. Unfortunate about the small type though!

Maybe a piece of encouragement for him: grammar study, especially conjugations, remains a significant part of language arts instruction for native French speakers through middle school/junior high level. It's challenging (at least in written form) even for many native speakers. I was in French schools for grades 6-8, the Bescherelle was a critical reference for all students!

The key to learning a language is practice. Lots and lots and lots of practice. Practice listening. Practice reading. Practice speaking. Ideally every day. Hope old is the child? What is the class format? What language?

Dd gets home tomorrow. It's been a long three days.

Have you looked into intermittent fasting/limited eating window? If you haven't tried it yet it might be worth seeing how your body responds.

(((Jean))) How is your ankle this morning?

Good morning! I'm excited about a new online associates degree program from one of our state colleges--it's at your own pace, performance based like WGU--still under development so details are lacking but my understanding is you can keep working on a course until you pass all assessments for that course, but once you do show mastery of the material you pass the course with an "A"/4.0 GPA that would be transferable to other state schools. This relieves my primary stress over dual enrollment in high school which is the permanency of that college GPA if the child doesn't do well. Supposedly this will be available for fall semester this year. If it works out my high school planning just got a lot easier--I'd have my oldest two enroll for most of their schedule then I could focus my teaching where I like to focus it, which is mostly music and foreign language.

I love loop scheduling. The way I do it, I chose my core daily things--these have varied at times, but math is always one and then I have just one or two others--not language arts for me, usually it's music practice or foreign language. After that, you write down everything else you want your child to study. It can be just a list--language arts, science, history, Bible, Typing--then after the "daily" work is done you start at the top of that list and get through as much as you get through. Next day you do your daily stuff again and then start with the next item on the loop--whatever comes after the subject you ended with yesterday. When you finish the list you loop back to the top. So, with the list above, maybe Monday you did language arts and science, Tuesday you did Bible and history, Wednesday you get through typing, language arts, and science, Thursday you do history, Bible, and typing, and Friday is busy or the baby is fussy or you just want a light day so you only get through language arts. If you have a longish list and there are things you don't necessarily want to do every day but want to get to more often than the list might otherwise allow you can put those things in the list more than once--for example: language arts, Spanish, science, history, picture study, language arts, Spanish, Bible, Typing. It's a way to make sure you get to everything you want your children studying on a regular basis while flexing with life.

We have been able to build up some stock of prescription meds in the past--our pharmacy/insurance allows for a refill when a few doses are still left from the last prescription; by consistently refilling early it is possible to build up an extra stock over time--not an extra year's worth, but an extra month or two.

I did not sleep at all well last night. I did successfully drop dd16 off at the airport this morning. Even got a gate pass so I could walk to her gate with her. I'm at group voice class right now for dd12 and ds14. I want a nap when I get home.

There's a lot of research indicating that adolescents have a naturally later sleep/wake cycle; is she able to sleep in if she goes to sleep later? A two hour delay in the release of melatonin/onset of sleep compared to the circadian rhythms of earlier childhood appears to be normal; circadian rhythms usually move towards a somewhat earlier onset of sleep again in adulthood. "HOW DOES PUBERTY ALTERS SLEEP-WAKE CYCLE? There are changes in the biological clock or circadian rhythms of teenagers. At about the time of puberty onset, most teenagers begin to experience a sleep-wake “phase delay” (later sleep onset and wake up time), manifested as a shift of up to 2 hours relative to sleep-wake cycles in middle childhood. The onset of sleep is triggered by the release of melatonin, a natural body hormone. Toward dawn, melatonin shuts off and cortisol increases and also core body temperature rises, signaling the individual to wake up. Two biological changes in sleep regulation are thought to occur during puberty. First, there is a delayed timing of nocturnal melatonin secretion, that parallels a shift in circadian phase preference. Therefore, teenagers have a biological tendency to fall asleep later in the evening and to wake up later in the morning. Additionally, sleep drive Is altered across adolescence. Even those teenager, who have experienced sleep deprivation (and therefore accumulated a sleep debt) tend to feel more alert in the evening, thus making it more difficult to go to bed at a time that parents might consider a reasonable hour. There is a further “mismatch” in that early school start times for adolescents and teens that do not allow them to achieve their biological need to have a later out-of-bed/wake time and achieve an adequate amount of sleep for optimal daytime functioning." https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://sleepeducation.org/docs/default-document-library/teenssleeppatternsandschoolperformanceB612AF04BD8440DD1D8A412D.pdf%3Fsfvrsn%3D2&ved=2ahUKEwiE5YKa39_nAhUQXK0KHaUfC0kQFjASegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw2HDMdtWkLCwhnsjozzlKiL&cshid=1582188477866

Is there an old phone without service you could leave for them so they at least have 911 access? I'd set them up with a movie to keep them occupied at home and go.

There is no Aldi in my entire state. And we're out West where states are big. When we moved here from California there weren't even any Trader Joe's in the state; that at been remedied though the closest to us is about an hour away. We go every time we drove down to the city because I really love Trader Joe's. I keep hoping Aldi will decide to open a super here someday.

There is actually a bunch of stuff I do need to do, like making sure she has some cash and a debit card and any phone numbers she might need. And calling my SiL to verify that she has the correct information for meeting her at the airport and getting her to the competition venue. First time ever flying alone, and she has actually only been on a plane once since she was six years old, and that was flying out of our extremely tiny municipal airport. Back when my parents were living overseas we flew with the kids a few times but she was too young to remember much. This time she is flying from one major sorry to another major airport, fortunately nonstop. Flying doesn't make me nervous, but big airports do. Too big, too many people, too much stress over getting to the right place at the right time.