In my life this week…

It took me three tries but I managed to win the Homeschool Blog Award Best Homeschooling Dad Blog Award. Thank you everyone that voted for me. I am honored to win and a bit surprised.

As I briefly mentioned last week Philip had check up appointments in Vancouver. We took Greyhound down on Wednesday. It took about 5 hours driving time. Greyhound has really improved in the decade since I last rode it. It was clean, fast, had wifi and power outlets at every seat.

We got into Vancouver about 1pm but we had brought lots of snacks onto the bus so we were not hungry. We took public transit to where we were staying. We were so early that our room wasn’t ready yet so we checked our bags and went on a walk to a nearby shopping area. We ended up having lupper (lunch/supper) at about 3pm at a local BBQ place.

Thursday was all the appointments. First up we had blood work done. Getting there first thing in the morning meant no line up for that. Second was endocrinology. He has had a growth spurt in the last year that is at least partially due to the onset of puberty. He is now at the 5th percentile for height and weight. Last year he was under the 1st percentile. He has gained nearly 15 pounds since last year. We had a quick lunch at a new restaurant in a nearby strip mall. Great food and cheaper than the cafeteria in the hospital. After lunch was and EEG and Echocardiogram. One of the chemos he was given has the potential for long term effects on the heart. Next was Audiology. His hearing has not changed but his speech has dramatically. One of the tests has the audiologist reading words and he has to say them back correctly. In the past he has gotten lots wrong this time he only missed one. The final appointment of the day was Oncology. We have a new primary oncologist who we do know from his time in treatment. She did a thorough exam of Philip and looked at the results from the other appointments. The bottom line is that it was all good news.

On Friday we went to the Science Center. It was fun but they were between feature exhibitions and thus we had seen most of it before. We went through every section but more quickly that we have in the past. We also bought tickets for the Omnimax theatre and that was worth it. Dinner was back at the restaurant we ate at for lunch on Thursday. Again it was excellent.

Our trip back was on the Shriner’s Bus. It is a free service provided by the Shriners. It was even more comfortable than the Greyhound. We will probably repeat taking both buses for our next trip.

Saturday also had the rest of the family at Beaveree. They had a lot of fun and it resulted in the family of parrots that now inhabit my kitchen.

I’m Cleaning…

My wife decided to deal with the linen closet with my help. The pile that went to be donate speaks for itself. Plus there was two garbage bags worth of stuff that wasn’t saleable.

I also finally got around to hauling the purge piles to the thrift store. Unfortunately they tend to pile up until I get frustrated enough to load them up. That always involves me checking to make sure nothing has been added accidentally.

In our homeschool this week…

We are into crunch time with 4 weeks to go before the portfolios are due. On my list for this weekend is to write out their portfolio items on their boards. That always helps make sure that we are ready. Philip as always is behind. He knows what he needs to know but getting him to write stuff down is always a pain.

Immediately after the portfolios Philip needs to write a provincial test. The test has no effect on him and I will be sure that he understands that. It is used to evaluate the schools. We homeschool through a private school that oversees us and makes sure that we meet the provincial learning outcomes. We have complete freedom in how we meet those. So doing well on these tests make our school look good and thus homeschooling in general.

We final got Philip’s shelf installed. I needed another adult to get it attached to the bed Philip just isn’t big enough to hold it.

We are Reading…

Philip is reading a Doctor Who book titled “The Wheel of Ice.”

Margaret is reading “Dear Canada: A Christmas to Remember”

I’m Cooking…

After the hustle a bustle of Christmas I have taken it easy with the cooking recently. I have a couple of recipes that I want to try this week. We will see if I get to them.

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