Winter Break

What is winter break for?  In this house it's not for a break.  I decided to take some time out of our leisurely boring schedule of lazily doing nothing of any consequence to work on some stuff with the kids.

Creeper has really been struggling with school.  He does really well with the math, but the reading and writing is a little more trying for him.  Instead of having a carefree winter break, we've been working on some school stuff.

Of course, this really makes me think about the whole situation with school.  If I'm having the kids do all of this work at home, would it be possible to just homeschool them again?  Would this be the best option?  It's something that's been really tugging at the back of my mind.

Since it's winter break, I'm not worrying about that too much right now.  My main goal is to get Creeper back on track, which seems like a productive use of this break from school.  I'm glad he's able to get some work done, even though winter break is half over.  It's good to feel like we're accomplishing something for all this time off.

Then there's Bear.  We've been doing some work together outside of the computer.  I've got to admit, Bear has been trying my patience on the peaceful parenting thing.  I'm trying to get away from using tactics like time out, but it's not easy when Bear is so worked up over the past week.  It's been pretty crazy around here.  It makes it hard for Bear to concentrate and focus.

Still, Bear has managed to get some good work in.  We've started working with the workbooks Bear got for Christmas.  This has been trying with the lack of focus and the suddenly hyper behavior.  We've had to work hard to keep focus and stay on task.  Overall, I'd say we're making some pretty good progress.

Today we worked with some tracing lines, drawing lines along a path, and (as you can see here) tracing letters.  Bear seems really eager to learn these skills.  If Bear could keep a little more chill and focused, I think we'd be making some pretty good progress, but that wouldn't be Bear, now would it.  Instead we've been plugging away, trying to work on focus and attention span along with getting the work done.  I think that's maybe the hardest part of this whole thing, the attention span aspect of it all.

This whole thing has me considering the homeschooling thing with Bear too.  So far we've been doing pretty well.  Most of what we've been doing has been on the computer with Time 4 Learning.  I'm also considering Starfall, which Bear loves the free version of, and it can be played on all of our devices.  Now we're adding in more workbooks.  The whole thing is coming together pretty well.

All of this has my mind set to homeschooling.  There are a lot of reasons for this, many of which I don't feel belong in this blog, but the root of it all is that it doesn't seem to be working out for my family.  The long and the short of it is wondering if perhaps this is where our lives are taking us again.  It's a lot to consider, and definitely not a path I'm ready to jump onto now.  For now I'll be happy with doing our vacation work and calling it a day.

A Cold Day?

I've heard of snow days, but this one was a first for me.  School was delayed not because of snow, but because it was so cold.  They wanted to give it time to warm up before the kids loaded up on buses to go to school.

Well, I'll admit it, I'm a bad parent.  Instead of sending my kids to school, I decided to keep them at home.  I'll be honest, a two hour delay makes the school day almost not worth having.  On top of that, it was just as cold when the buses rolled out.  It hadn't warmed up at all, though maybe the wind had died down some.

Instead of school we decided to spend the day watching movies and the kids played some MineCraft.  Yes, I know, it shouldn't be surprising that the kids were playing that game again.  I really value it as a part of their education.  It allows them some creativity and they're able to play around with a lot of different concepts.  I'm seriously thinking about looking up some ideas for using MineCraft as an educational opportunity.

Now it's still cold, but the snow is rolling in.  By the end of the weekend it's supposed to be warm and raining.  That's going to be a nice change of pace from the cold we've been having.  That also means we can go pick up some more paint and get cracking on finishing up the rooms.  I'm really looking forward to that.

For now I think we're going to start up some hot chocolate, something to keep us warm on this cold night.  We'll do something nice and warm for dinner, though I haven't quite decided what.  That leaves bean soup right out of the running, since I should have started that this morning, but we've got a few other options.  It's going to be a night of raiding the pantry and the fridge to find the warmest meal I can conjure up.

Well, it's about that time, so I'd better start cracking.  I'm thinking we're going to do one of my cold weather favorites and cook up the shepherd's pie we have waiting to be made.  That would really make for a good meal tonight.

Nasty, Nasty Weather

Many areas of the country have snowfall right about now, but not here in Texas.  Here we have rain.  Normally I love rain, but in Texas, rain just makes for an icky mess that no one wants to deal with.  Either it's so light it's barely worth calling rain, or it's so heavy that everything floods.

I can't complain too much.  Texas has had a severe lack of rain over the past couple of years.  The first year I was here we got so much rain in May and June that the lakes were overflowing and the dams had water flowing through at such a high rate that it felt like you'd be swept away just by standing near it.  I thought this was normal for Texas, but that's not normal at all.  Apparently I've never seen a normal year in Texas.  Every year since has been dryer than normal, as though the environment around here is trying to make up for giving too much in 2007.

As a result, water prices have skyrocketed.  Everything looks dead and dry earlier in the year than it usually does.  The lakes and ponds are smaller than they used to be.  All of the river beds and run off areas have been bone dry for quite some time.  Many worried that with each continual year things would just get worse and worse.  It's been getting to the point where conserving water isn't just something good for the environment, it's necessary, unless you intend to be paying a small fortune on your water bill.  Even my very conservative family was paying about $100 per month in water over the last summer, a huge step up from when that winter where we were spending half that much or less.

Unfortunately, as much as Texas needs it, the state really isn't set up for rain.  The ground is so dry and clay-like that the water pools on the surface.  Roads flood all over the county and cars hydroplane more than I've ever seen.  A friend of mine called me in a frantic fit of desperation asking if she could put some stuff in our fridge because the water was running down her street like rapids and they had the road closed off.  She was terrified that her house had been flooded as the water hit the bottom of her street, but thankfully, when the rain cleared, it turned out the water just rushed past her home.  I can't blame her for being concerned.  Her possessions weren't the problem.  She was more worried about her dogs that were kenneled in her absence.

So in light of all of that, I can't really complain about the rain.  It was necessary, even if it woke everyone up in the middle of the night.  It's what we really need for the health of the world around us, so hopefully the fire bans will be lifted and stay lifted.  We need this rain so it will be available when people need it over the spring and summer.

I'm sure the kids and I can find something to do on this rainy day when no one feels motivation to do anything.  This miserable weather isn't enough to keep us down, but even the kids are suggesting we relocate to somewhere with a more normal season pattern.  They want somewhere with snow.  At least then they could go out and play in it.

Energy Saver: Plastic Window Insulation

Our current home is drafty.  From what I've heard, most trailers are.  We don't have a central heater or anything, so we're kind of reliant on electric heaters.  From what we've seen, everyone pretty much is.  I suppose in some ways we're doing better for the environment because our energy provider uses 100% green energy, but we'd still like to conserve a bit more.  There's no point in taking up resources we don't need, even if it is green energy.

To combat the draft, I remembered my aunt using some plastic window insulation stuff on her windows.  I don't know if she still bothers with it now since she owns her own home and may have some pretty decent windows, but I'd still remembered it.  When our houses here in Texas have been so incredibly drafty I'd often thought about looking it up, but I never did.  It never got cold enough to make a difference in the house, so I figured a bit of a cool draft wouldn't hurt anyone.

Things changed when we moved into this little trailer.  We originally ordered two heaters for our house. Our Lasko heater was just fine. It really cooks even the largest room in our house. The Lasko Stanley wasn't as helpful. It arrived with a broken fan so we had to replace it (which wonderfully came pretty quick!)  Thankfully that one cooks too, so we've got the advantage of keeping warm.  Unfortunately, the drafts can make things challenging.  The heaters have been constantly running since we got them to keep the place a tolerable temperature.  In hopes of saving electricity, we decided to look into that plastic stuff.

We decided on the Duck Brand Window Insulation Kit.  It was inexpensive and functional.  I was a little worried about using such a thin plastic with kids in the house, but I thought it would be worth a shot.  We ordered enough kits to deal with all our windows and hoped for the best.

When the kits arrived we went to work.  We started in the kid's room.  The double sided tape was a great idea, but we worried since there was supposed to be an inch left on each edge around the perimeter of the window.  However, the stuff was great.  Just insulating one window made a huge difference.  Given there are four windows in the kids' room, we could only imagine how great it would be when we got them all done!  We decided to put tape down on the outside edge of the windows as well.  The plastic was getting pulled up by the kids as we expected, so it wasn't going to be much help.  We also found that the littlest one likes to puncture it with pens, pencils, his fingers.  One of them pretty quickly got a pretty decent sized rip.  It's obviously not an ideal solution with kids and something sturdier would probably have been a better option, but they were inexpensive, so it's not like we wasted a lot of money.  That and repairing the one spot that needs repair isn't going to be that big of a deal.  There was some extra plastic from the edge so we're figuring we'll fashion a patch and that will be good enough.  They look pretty clear, so it's almost as though there's nothing over the window at all, or would look that way if we weren't going to need to patch the one.  I think this would be great for anyone who wants a subtle window insulation that's pretty clear.  Once you hit it with the hair dryer to "shrink wrap" it, it looks pretty sharp!

Next year we might start looking into more expensive solutions, like thermal curtains.  We'll have to save up for them since they are so expensive, but they keep in cool air in the summer and warm air in the winter, so they're a year-round benefit.  They should save us enough money to be worth it, and there's nothing like curtains to make a place feel more like home!  Combine that with these simple window kits and we should be able to minimize the use of our little electric heaters!  Now all we need is a place we can throw some solar panels up on the roof and we'll have incredible efficiency!  Of course, that's not really an option until we own our own place.

Simple things, like sweaters, warm blankets, slippers, and insulation can make a huge difference in energy usage through the winter months.  Common problems such as drafts aren't such a big deal when you've got an option to dress a little warmer.  Slippers keep feet from feeling the effects of drafts and from cold tile and wood floors.  Blankets can be pulled over a lap while sitting in front of the television or working with a project.  Sweaters can always be thrown on if there's a chill in the house.  As much as I prefer the ability to have my house so warm I can sit around in a short sleeved shirt and barefoot all winter, it's not practical unless you have the luxury of sitting by a fire all winter long or don't mind spending a fortune to heat your home.  It's better to dress like it's winter outside!

It may not seem like much to keep temperatures low in the winter, better insulate the house, and dress a little warmer, but these little things can make a huge impact on your energy bill.  Just remember, the more you have to work to heat your house, the more energy you expend.  This is both costly for your wallet, and the environment (unless you use 100% green energy like we're privileged to do...)