Comparing Apples to Apples

I saw some pins on Pinterest about how to keep an apple from browning.  I actually compared two of them. 

One was for apples soaked in salt water and the other was a sliced apple put back together and held by a rubber band. 

I used about 1 tsp sea salt to 1 cup water and placed the apples in the solution for about 5 minutes. The other apple was sliced and immediately put back together and held in place with a rubber band. Then to keep all things even, I placed them each in a zipper plastic bag, left them out on the counter and waited for 5 hours.

The result:

The apple held together by the rubber band is on the left and the salt water apples are on the right. Both browned a little, but the it is clear that the salt water apple browned less.

The rubber band apple had also turned significantly softer while the salt water apple still retained a bit of crunch.

The rubber band apple tasted like a browned apple (yuck) and the salt water apple did have a salty flavor (which I don't mind at all!).

The clear winner for our house is the salt water soaked apple!

My First Week of No Teaching

So many have asked how my week "off" was.  I feel like I'm disappointing them when I have to say I didn't even have a chance to really sit and enjoy anything.

Monday and Tuesday Witt had half days, so I dropped the boys off in the morning and then picked up Witt at noon. Came home and went back to pick up the other two less than 3 hours later.

We had two rooms getting tiled so there were workers in and out of the house all day for the most of the week. (That also means two of the rooms in my house have displaced furniture... so my house is no where near "in order".)

I went grocery shopping, returned library books, went to the farmer's market, got my haircut , got the oil changed in my truck, brought Nathan to the dentist, and then we all had a chiropractor appointment.

I cleaned out lunch boxes every afternoon and repacked them (with the boys help). I packed afternoon snacks for each boy.

I filled out all the beginning-of-the-year forms and registered for things online. I went through the daily school work and signed notes from the teacher.

I ironed the next day's outfit for each boy. (don't see this lasting too long... LOL)

I did laundry and dishes and more laundry and more dishes.

I cooked breakfast every day. Lunch for Jeff and I almost every day and then supper most nights.

It was a full week and it was full of CHANGE.

CHANGE TIRES ME OUT.

By Wednesday, I needed to crash into my pillow. I called Jeff around 4 and told him I was feeling bad. Asked if we could go out to eat and not go to church (the boys and I really needed the extra sleep). So that's what we did.  The boys were in bed by 7:30 and I wasn't too far behind.

I perked up a bit Thursday, but then by Friday night I was exhausted again.

This has been a big transition for all of us.  I think we'll make it, though. :)

First Week of School

Last week definitely had it's ups and downs. I'll start with Witt, he had the easiest/best week:

Witt

Monday and Tuesday were both half-days, so I picked him up at noon.  He really did not seem happy or sad to be going to school. The first two days were just touring the school and getting used to the surroundings and new rules.

He did ask a few times throughout the week, "How many days do we go here? When do we homeschool again?"  He wasn't disappointed that we weren't homeschooling, just a little curious about how this was all going to work.

He "stayed on green" or "clipped up" every day. (They have a clothes pin that starts on green and then can clip up or down to a different color based on their behavior.) He seems to be settling in very well.


Will

This boy thought he got away with something when he fell asleep in class on Monday. On Tuesday he woke up again completely exhausted asking for a 7:30 bedtime.  Tuesday afternoon, I got a call from his homeroom teacher that he had his head down on his desk in all three of his classes.  She said Will just continued to say how tired he was and she wanted to know if there was anything external going on that she needed to know about.  We talked for quite a while about a few things and discussed the possibility that he is overwhelmed with the change from "quiet" (HA!) homeschooling to a class with 20 kids.  She was very pleasant and seemed willing to work with Will and us through this transition period.

When I picked him up on Wednesday he said he only put his head down once. I told him he really can't do that because that tells the teacher, "I'm not listening to you". Then he proceeded to tell me it was only after his assignment was complete that he put his head down. After a bit more probing, I found out that the other students were reading their library books after completing their assignments (he left his book at home).

Thursday and Friday seemed to be fine for him. No head down and he remembered his library book. :)


Nathan.

Poor Nathan. This has been the roughest on him. He went to school saying, "The best thing about school is recess!" Then it rained for two days. No recess on the playground. Then there was a hole in the plastic slide. No recess on the playground. Finally, on Friday, his class was allowed on the playground, but not on the slide area.

Monday was not a happy day for him. Tuesday I got a note from his teacher saying he is struggling following directions.Wednesday he "clipped up"! Thursday and Friday he "clipped up" and then back down. So he still ended on "green". I received another note from his teacher on Friday  - same reason.

It probably doesn't help that he has chosen to go by his legal name "Jonathan". He's not used to hearing that (unless he's in trouble).  I wrote "Nathan" on all his school supplies, so I had to go back and add the "Jo" to everything.  Now all of his supplies say, "JoNathan".  I've seen him write his name that way on a few papers last week - lol. He'll get it. :)

Friday he was in tears again. "I'm never ever ever ever going back to that school again! Everybody clips up and I clip down."

Just a background on Nathan, he does struggle with paying attention and following directions the first time. I wonder if it's because he couldn't hear well as a baby/toddler and just got used to being in his own world and tuning everything out. Will out-grew being in his own world around age 8, so I'm hopeful we'll see Nathan start paying more attention this next year.

Nathan and I had a nice talk about how he can try to pay attention better. I told him that when he hears his teacher he needs to "pause his brain" to listen and obey just like he pauses a video game to listen and obey. He snuggled in my lap while we talked and he finally calmed down. We talked about new rules and getting used to being in a class with lots of kids.  I told him that he was not in trouble, but that he did need to really practice paying attention and following directions the first time. He admitted that he could do a better job and would try.


Today... Monday of Week 2 ...

Everyone finished their chores and was ready to go early. We had a little pep-talk about listening and obeying on the way to school. All three were in a pleasant mood going into the school building.  I pray today will go well for all of them. 

I love my sweet boys.