Hampers, Homeschooling & Helmets: An Update on My Life

Things have been busy around here (as usual) and I just wanted to take a minute
to give an update on what's been going on around here...

HAMPERS:

I have been working on my organization mission and bought a canvas 3-sectioned laundry sorter for our main bathroom. (In the back of the bathroom there is a section that could be used as a handicap shower, but we use the area for storage) I organized shelves back there and have implemented the hamper system to keep the clothes from landing in a pile on the bathroom floor. So far so good - I just need to finish a little bit of organizing with the shelves and that space is done!

HOMESCHOOLING:

I am going to order any last minute books that I still need to get for us to start school in a few weeks. I plan to take time this weekend to start planning out our school year schedule on my calendar/planner. Becky and Matthew will be using ABeka for Language Arts/Phonics/Spelling/Writing and Science; Beautiful Feet Books for a Literature approach to American History; Saxon for Math and Five in a Row to supplement language arts, math, science, social studies & art.

We joined a homeschool support group in our area last year and are really happy with it except that a lot of the people who have children my kids ages live far away. They do a monthly parent-run Co-Op where the kids all get together in age-appropriate classrooms for lessons/crafts/stories/games from 12-4pm. The kids loved it last year and are really looking forward to it this year. They also do field trips throughout the year, as well as Geography & Science Fairs. I will be volunteering this year to work with the group on producing their first homeschool yearbook ~ Anyone have any experience on that topic, please share some advice! Last night I went to a meeting to join another group even closer to our home and they say that they have over 100 families so maybe we will be able to meet some people with little girls my daughter's age who live near us...

HELMETS

Our baby Jake has something called Positional Plagiocephaly (which means his head has flattening in the back on one side) The doctors say that his flattening is moderate, but that when looking at his face they felt he had some asymmetry with his eyes and ears that could worsen if not corrected. Jake was 10 lbs. 3 oz. when he was born and did not have a lot of room to move around in my belly before he was born. He seemed to have a slight flattening at birth & therefore favored that side when sleeping or lying down, thus worsening the flattening effect. Two weeks ago we took him to a facility where they treat this condition via DOC Band Therapy (ie, a helmet). He had a plaster cast made of his head then and this past Monday we took him back to get it fitted and start the therapy. They say he should only have to wear it for three months or so, as long as the desired results are achieved. As a mom, I was so worried about how he would look or what people would say, but then I realized that none of that matters and that we are just so thankful that they have treatment for this and it is not a life threatening circumstance or one needing surgical intervention. And besides, I think that Jake is so cute he even looks cute in his helmet! :)