June 2015

 We are loving these summer days, although they seem to go by quicker each year. At the end of May, I started Alex on his 1st grade curriculum.  I am happy with the choices I have made so far, especially since I agonize over choosing the "right" materials.  We are doing Saxon math, Sound Beginnings for handwriting, phonics, spelling and dictation, lots of easy readers from the library for reading practice, Faith and Life, Bible narration, and Virtues in Practice for religion, Beethoven Who? for music appreciation, picture study, nature journals, and lots and lots of good literature for read alouds :)  Our memory work co-op will start in September, so in the meantime we are memorizing poems, and passages from Psalms.  During our school time, Mary and Lucy love to color, and Mary loves to practice her letters and numbers.  I will probably start using 100 EZ Lessons for reading with her soon.

My sweet Mary is such a trooper.  She was on an elimination diet for a month so I could see if it had any effect on her eczema, and she was so good about everything and never really complained about all the things she was missing out on.  It was hard, because we took out gluten, dairy, soy, nuts and eggs.  Corn was supposed to be on the list too, but I discovered that corn is hidden in some many things, and realized this too late.  I am sure she has had corn products in some form or another, so if I want to rule that out, I will have to do a separate test at another time.  Not sure where will go from here. I can try eliminating other foods, explore essential oils as a treatment, or focus on trying to identify environmental triggers.  We have an appt. with an allergy specialist next month, although I am sure they will just recommend topical steroids like most of the docs we have seen.  I think she may also be developing asthma, which is common in kids with eczema.  We had to take her to the ER a few weeks ago when the kids were all sick with a cold, because she was breathing fast.  She wasn't in distress or turning blue or anything, but I could tell her body was working hard to get the oxygen it needed.  They diagnosed it as bronchospasm, and said they wouldn't diagnose it as asthma until after the 3rd event.  They gave her a nebulizer treatment, and sent us home with an inhaler.  I am so scared of it happening next time she gets sick, but at least we can try to treat it at home.  Poor girl :(

Here are some pics of our summer so far!

The boys are doing an Avengers workshop at Lowes every other week during the summer.  Last time they built a motorcycle from Captain America.

Art Museum :)

Alex's 6th b-day!