New Fave Paleo Bar

Just saw these little gems at Sprouts yesterday.

http://www.goraw.com/products/Live_Pumpkin_Bar  There are a few other flavors and I picked up two of each to try.  So far the pumpkin one gets 2 thumbs up!  Yummy!  Crunchy and sweet and salty all in one.  Will be ordering more either through Amazon or the Go Raw website.

Brain Highways Encinitas

Last night we took both kids to check out the Brain Highways program in Encinitas.  www.brainhighways.com.

It was recommended to me by a handful of homeschooling Mom friends over the past 2 years.  I finally got off my duff and looked it up online a few days ago and found that they had a free screening last night.  Basically their thought is that people have certain behaviors because there lower brain were not fully developed in early childhood (infancy and toddlerhood).  But the lower brain can be corrected and developed through certain exercises.  They had the kids do a series of specific exercises/activities to "screen" them and as they were doing each exercise they noted and explained why the kid was doing certain things with their body.  Like what their feet did when the child was asked to crawl on all fours across the floor.  How their hands were placed when crawling.  What their eyes did when asked to focus on a moving pencil, etc.  Before actually seeing the "screening", I was at best 50/50 that it was something that could help my kids.  I thought for sure that my Hubby would think it was a joke.  But after seeing and hearing, I no longer think it's a joke.  And surprise!  Hubby said we should sign both kids up before we even walked out the door to drive home.  AND he didn't even ask how much it cost (which is usually a deciding factor for him).  And he didn't even flinch when I told him how much it would cost. 

Because of schedule conflict and prioritizing who needs the most "help", we are signing Monkey up for the Sunday evening class followed by the Sunday Drop In Class, and having Bean join us to do the exercises at home while we homeschool.  Our sessions start in November.

I will post up our progress later.

My Fave Paleo Things

www,livingspoonful.com  I just found these SUPER YUMMY and Super Good For You, Paleo friendly crackers!  The pizza and Italian Herb ones are the BOMB!  Both my kids love them just as much as I do!

www.nomnompaleo.com  I love this site and all the recipes she posts up.  My favorite so far is the Pressure Cooker Bone Broth Soup.  Of course I altered her recipe a bit and will add whatever veggies I have in the fridge to it.  Also, after straining out all the bones, I add all the veggies back into the soup.  My non-veggie eating Bean Girl LOVES this soup...veggies and all.  Says it's the BEST soup EVER!

On Facebook:  PaleoOMG.  I love seeing all the Paleo recipes for sweets and baked goods.

All of cookbooks by Everyday Paleo.  www.everydaypaleo.com.  All of the recipes I have tried from her first two cookbooks have been winners in my family.  Can't wait to get my hands on her two newest cookbooks!

Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook.  This is my second most used cookbook...lots of good stuff in it.

Curriculum for This Year

We happily use Tapestry of Grace Year 1(www.tapestryofgrace.com) for bible history, secular/world history, geography, and reading.  We are studying the Ancient Civilizations this year.  So far we have studied Egypt and Mesopotamia.  The kids have made Creation Books, their own Egyptian costumes, Manna bread,  and cuneiform writing blocks.  We have gone to see an wonderful exhibit on Ancient Egypt at the Museum of Man at Balboa Park in San Diego.  Next week we will go and see the Creation Museum in Santee, CA.

For Monkey: We use Teaching Textbooks Math 3, Explode the Code workbooks for handwriting practice (it's actually supposed to be used to help struggling readers) and a Reason for Spelling book C.

For Bean:  We use Singapore Math 1A, Get Ready for the Code (to help her learn to read), and A Reason for Spelling book A. 

Start of 2012-2013 School Year

We officially started our school year on Tuesday September 4, 2012.   The kids were SUPER excited!   I was SUPER excited!  We got every bit of the schoolwork I wrote into my weekly planner DONE each day..whoohoo!

Monkey concentrating on his Explode the Code worksheets

Then came week 2 and week 3 and the mental and emotional crashes from both kids as well as ME!  We were lucky if we got half of each days schoolwork done.  And there were lots of yelling and tears from both sides of the school desk :(.  You would think that since I have experienced the "It's No Longer Fun, but Actual Work, Beginning of the School Year" melt downs from the kids for 2 years (this being our 3rd year homeschooling), that I would have dealt with it better.  But nope!  Even though I knew it was coming, I still reacted badly.  Which then got the kids more frustrated, then I got more frustrated...and the wheel of bad reactions just keeps going.  You get the picture. 

Needless to say I spent lots of time praying or rather asking, then demanding that God intervene before I totally lost it on one or both of my kids.  Why am I torturing myself?  Why am I torturing them?  Am I really the right person to teach them?  Satan kept creeping into my mind with self doubt.  So much so, that I couldn't sleep last night and my tummy was irritated all night long.  Finally at 5am I got up and got on my hands and knees and prayed.  I had 3 people on my mind all night.  One of them being Monkey.  He is my most challenging child of the two.  He speaks Boy and I speak Girl.  He is an Audio Visual and out of the box learner.  I am more of a Kinesthetic and in the box type of learner.  We clash...A LOT!  So I prayed that I was teaching what GOD wanted to me to teach them (in both academics and in life training).  I asked if I should continue homeschooling.

God answered me today.  When the kids got up I told them that we wouldn't be doing any schoolwork today because Mommy felt sick.  I went to lie down on the couch in the livingroom and immediately Monkey pulls out the Twister game.  Monkey and Bean play Twister for about an hour.  Both were having fun and LEARNING..even though I wasn't "teaching".  Through Twister they were learning colors, shapes, the right and left sides of their bodies, giving and receiving directions (from each other...and not arguing about it..SMILE), and body flexibility.  Woohoo!  A couple hours later I had a chiropractor appointment and I told the kids to pack up a few things to keep them occupied at the Chiro.  Bean brought her Disney Princess book and a stuffed animal.  Monkey packed his portable DVD player, earphones, and his co-op 3 ring binder.  While waiting for my appointment, Bean and I read her book, with me pointing to the words that I know she can read by herself.  Meanwhile Monkey sets himself up on the floor...



Monkey at the Chiropractors Office multitasking.  Watching a "Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego" geography/history DVD while writing the names of all the characters of his favorite TV show "Good Luck Charlie" in his notebook.

God showed me today that my children are learning what HE wants them to learn and that even though it may seem like I am not getting through to them, HE is giving me what I need to teach them in life and academics.  Little morsel of knowledge are seeping into their ever growing brains everyday, in everything that we do together.  God also reminded me that when things are getting crazy with homeschooling, to back off, cool down, and allow my kids own creativity and desire to learn to take off because in the end, they really do like "school".  And often times their best "schoolwork" is done in the most random places at the most random times.  And by looking at this picture..in the most awesome costumes!  :)  I have a really smart and handsome "Wolverine" Monkey Boy!

And so her brother doesn't get all of the spotlight, here is my cutie patootie Bean Girl (aka Wonderwoman)

Wonder Woman

Paleo Diet and Health Update

I am soooo bad with keeping this blog updated.  But the good news is that means I have been busy all year...which means that I have been feeling better...which means that I have had the energy to do all the things that have kept me busy all year :).

This was a picture of me and Bean in July 2011 before I started the Paleo Diet.

This is a picture of me with my Sis in August 2012.  One year after going Paleo.  I dropped 26 lbs. just following the Paleo Diet.  My Fibromyalgia pain is about 90% controlled.  It only flares up when I cheat on my diet. or overdo it physically.  I haven't taken any narcotic painkillers in about 9 months.  I take non-narcotic Tramadol about 3 times a week still during flare ups. I went from a size 14/16 on the bottom to a size 10.  From a size Large to XL on top to a size Small.  I went from 175 lbs down to 149lbs.  Instead of having only 4 good days a month, I now only have 4 bad days a month.  I finally feel like I have my LIFE BACK!  I am active with my kids, instead of just being in their lives floating around and just getting through each day, I am actually enjoying each day, making plans for the future, and getting back in shape.

For the last 11 months, I didn't really work out other than just being active with my kids and playing with them.  But a month ago, I just felt STRONG.  I felt my body was ready to start being physical again.  So I made a plan through www.active.com to start run/walking again.  I am following their Couch to 5K running plan.  My goal is to run/walk the Girls On The Go 10K in March 2013 in San Diego.  http://www.girlsonthegorun.com/.  I have also started bike riding twice a week with my kids and lap swimming 1-2 times a week when I can squeeze it into the schedule.

On the Homeschool front...you all know that I homeschool our 2 kiddos, right?  We have Monkey (age 7 and starting second grade) and Bean (age 5 and starting Kindergarten).  Although both kids are ahead of their grade level in most subjects (just a little bragging here).  We have finished our 3rd official week of school.  We are using a Classical model curriculum called Tapestry of Grace Year 1.  I am more of an ecclectic type of teacher, so I have to modify this curriculum to fit our needs...but what homeschool teacher doesn't modify just about everything they use in the classroom?  I like it because it is a strong reading based curriculum that teaches Christian Bible History and secular/world history at the same time using lots of classical style books.  We also use Teaching Textbooks Math 3, Singapore Math 1A, A Reason for Spelling, Explode the Code, and Get Ready for the Code. 

Like I mentioned before, I am finally able to actually make plans for the future and not worry about  having to cancel at the last minute because of my Fibro pain...whoohoo!  So this school year, I decided to co-lead a class for our weekly co-op through CFS Poway.  www.cfspoway.org.  A year ago, I would not have been able to make this kind of committment. 

For my homeschool followers, I will do another post specifically on our homeschool life so as not to bore the folks who just want to follow my Fibro/Paleo journey.

Well, that's my well overdue health update.  Hope all of you are doing well.

Homeschooling Fun

This is what happens when you tell a homeschool kid that "Because Mommy feels sick today, we won't be doing schoolwork today."  First, they jump for joy!  Then without even realizing it, they start doing schoolwork on their own..yay!  While I was laying on the couch this morning, my kids decided to play Twister.  In doing so they learned their colors, directions, taking turns, right and left side of their bodies, shapes, and did a little PE.  Woohoo!  Then a couple hours later while waiting at the my chiropractors office, Monkey (age 7) decided to watch a "Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego" video while writing the names of all the characters in the TV show "Good Luck Charlie".  Proof that my wiggly boy CAN multi-task and FOCUS when he wants to :). Not pictured is Bean (age 5), who was the spinner girl for Twister and who decided to read her Disney Princess book at the chiropractors. 

With the last 2 weeks of homeschooling and just daily life training with Monkey and Bean being a VERY TRYING time for Me, this is a very nice way to end our week.  I have been praying a lot to God over the last 2 weeks for guidance and assurance that I am parenting and teaching my kids according to God's Will and not my own.  Today He showed me that even though I am not the best "teacher" or the best Mom at times, my kids are learning what God wants them to learn. 

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