My new favorite website

Reading with Jillian is like blowing a ping pong ball up a hill. You can only get so far with one breath but once you take a break for the next it rolls right back down again. Seriously. It's painful. I KNOW I should let her go at her own pace in my brain but I also know she's capable of more than she gives herself credit for. I've come to realize (again) that she's asking for (and I'm handing out like lollipops in a parade) too much confirmation to her BEFORE she's done something. So instead of sitting and doing her math lesson she has to read the directions, ask me to read the directions and then tell me the right answer so I can confirm that it's right before she marks the paper. Because of her over-confidence in so many other areas, this is surprising to me. Nonetheless, I realized what's going on and in an effort to boost her reading beyond "The Foot Book" that we've been reading for months and months (ok, it's not quite that bad, she has read more than one book), I've decided to try www.bookadventure.org which is a Sylvan sponsored website that I knew of months ago but never utilized. Last night she had some real interest in reading a chapter book for the first time ever so I felt directed to keep blowing uphill. :) We spent lots of time on this website this morning. What I love about it is that she chooses a book that they have listed on the quiz section, reads it, takes the quiz and if she gets an 80 or better she earns that many points. This way her reading comprehension is going up and I know she's actually reading it, not just skimming for show. Then there is a prize section where she can choose prizes from the company like a candy bar, e-books, magazine subscription, temp tattoo, book mark, etc or she can choose prizes that a parent picks out for them. I have an ID and Jillian has an ID and hers is linked to mine so I can see her progress and I have to approve all prizes before she receives them. I can't say enough good about this website so far! For prizes I put in there for her to choose: 200 points: Ice cream or parfait from McDonald's; 500 points: A new book; 500 points: A day with no chores; 2000 points: A new Webkinz or Webkinz outfit of your choice; 5000 points: An extra night of camping (*note: Jillian and I have a weekend to ourselves camping every summer, generally just one overnight). Ok, so maybe the 5000 points for camping is a bit ambitious...she'd have to get a 100 on 50 quizzes. But hey, maybe it'll get her to start saving instead of spending!!!

Why oh why?

Why is it so hard to stay motivated? Probably because Jillian isn't into homeschooling right now and so it's easy to brush it off. Especially since I'm so tired. Water cycle is coming along slowly but at least it's not dead in the water (haha!). I'm going to try a new schedule tomorrow that is a little bit Montessori inspired. Each day I'll write up her required work of the day and set up 2 work sessions which she'll choose what she does when. So for example, I'll have: 1 math lesson, 1 math game (we have several homemade math games as well as math manipulatives and a learning pallette from Usborne which we love), 1 phonics page, 1 reading period, 1 lapbook session and something else. That's my rough idea anyway. I think she'll enjoy the freedom a little bit more, for sure! It's better than the $7200 I'd pay for the Montessori school a couple of towns over from me, although it does sound really really cool there. That's about it for now, brief post.

Recipe of the week (w/e 9-14-09)

Nothing too much new to report except that I've instituted a new policy...we will try a new recipe every week. Last night I made a really yummy supper called Pork and Apple Pan-Fry and Jillian wouldn't even try it. It was sweet and a really nice texture and everything but she was resistant. So I said to Dan, you know, Jillian used to try everything and now she's getting a little pickier. I think we need to have a new recipe every week to try new things. So we agreed. I'll post the recipes here and let you know whether it was a bomb or a hit:

Pork and Apple Pan-Fry


-1 T all purpose flour
-1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into bitesize pieces
-2 T olive oil
-1 onion, finely chopped
-2 garlic cloves, chopped
-1 T very finely chopped fresh rosemary (I used dry and it was fine, next time I'll use a little less than 1 T though)
-1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
-2 dessert apples, peeled, cored and chopped
-generous 1 C vegetable stock (I used a C made with buillion because I didn't have stock)
-3 T sour cream (mine went bad so I used vanilla yogurt instead and it was good but really sweet so I'll use plain yogurt or sour cream next time)

Put flour in a bag or sealable bowl with salt and pepper to taste, add the pork. Shake to coat the pork, then turn on a plate, shaking off excess flour. Heat oil in a large skillet and cook pork, turning frequently, for 5 minutes or until sealed and browned all over. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Mix in the rosemary, carrot and apples, then cook for 4 minutes, or until the apples begin to break down. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer, partially covered, for 15-20 minutes, or until reduced and thickened (I added a little more flour and it still took the entire 20 minutes). Stir in the sour cream and heat through before serving. Serve with rice or egg noodles for a bed.

The reviews:

Me: Loved it but would prefer it with egg noodles rather than the Pasta Roni I made...2 saucy things together weren't that good.

Dan: Loved it

Aunt El: Liked it, but it was a little too sweet for her taste

Jillian: Blech, kind of like green olives

Allyson: Ate about half, seemed ok with it

The bottom line, I'd definitely make it again because sometimes the kids need to try something more than once but I'd tweak it from how I made it. Enjoy!

Shocker, havne't blogged in over a week

Man, I'm bad at this blogging regularly thing! Just a quick update on us. We've started lap booking the Water cycle and it's pretty fun! We've also mastered a few more origami shapes. On to Allyson which is the real story of note...she's been having physical therapy for a couple of months for a gross motor delay. We originally had her evaluated for speech which, although she didn't qualify for services then, has not improved much since. I took her to the doctor this morning for a follow up ear exam to make sure there wasn't any recurring fluid issues. She had a tympanogram done and her right ear measured perfectly but her left ear was flat :( So now she has to go to an audiologist next week so they can see if she's deaf/has hearing issues in that ear or if it's just left over pressure from her cold 2 weeks ago. WTF. I hate dealing with this. Nobody wants anything to be wrong with their children and this is really a lot to deal with but I'd rather face it and find out what's going on so we can move forward. *ugh* Well that's about it for us. Oh, I started a new exercise class and lost 5 pounds and 1 inch in a week! woohoo!!