November Unschooling Support - Page 8

[doulajewla]

I had no idea that the flipping out over little stuff was a symptom of PTSD!!!! i knew years ago they said i had it...but that was when i was 18-19. I wonder if i still have it--every day seems to be a catastrophe for me. Sometimes though thigns that will cause a meltdown in me one day wont cause it another day. I freak out over the floor not being swept ALL the time. I freak, cry, start to maniacally sweep. Its like a big huge deal. This morning i couldnt find the wipes for the baby....dh is out of town for 2 days as usual...and he was the last person to use the wipes last night. i start looking for them everywhere. i always leave the wipes in basket so i can find them...nope. I look under over in between everywhere. i figured ok ferrets must have dragged them somewhere, they do that, rascally lil buggers. nope, not in their hidey hole. i start to freak and cry because dd said baby has a poopie diaper. i start to cry hysterically....i call and leave dh 5 messages please help me i cant find the wipes omg...please help me you had them lasst. on and on. I just felt so helpless and i cant use the rough washcloths I have on her...never once did i think to use the recycled wipes i have but are dry, so what wet them. finally i found the wipes and all was well. but man if i never found them, i would have been wailing on the couch. im going to ask my counselor about PTSD. thanks!

PS--we tried to make our own acetate, and it worked fine....we mixed it with the boiling water...cooled it--and it didnt work. Its still in the fridge, dont know what went wrong, i assume we had too much water. off to try again tomorrow!

[majikfaerie]

doulajewla, you just described one of my days perfectly.
not being able to find something is one of my worst triggers. and I just cant let it go. I cant say "well, okay, I cant find X so I'll just go on with Y and see if it turns up" I'm just fixated on finding X till I'm a blubbering barely human mess. its typical for pstd.
actually, realising that it's a part of pstd made things easier for me. I'm not a freak, I have an illness.

anyway, we're gonna try the sodium acetate again today, just as soon as I find some clean kitchen supplies

[doulajewla]

this realization actually does make me feel a bit better, though wondering what to do about it if I have PTSD. Theres been so much I could have developed it from...so many traumatic events. Ive been doing some herbal stuff and want to continue that or homeopathy. I just cant afford everything that insurance doesnt cover. But at least realizing this can help--and ill be more likely now to talk to my counselor about it. i have not really told her about my meltdowns. a little bit here and there, but never the whole shebang.

good luck with the acetate! we are pretty sure we just added too much water. it was not thick at all. we made acetate with vinegar and baking soda....i wonder if this was not right?

[majikfaerie]

I re-made the acetate, and now waiting for it to cool.....

you should definately tal to your councillor about all your meltdowns - the whole shebang.

[doulajewla]

I will, I am promising myself I will tell her.

We SO cannot wait until we succesfully do the acetate project!

[majikfaerie]

Our sodium acetate project... well, the second try we got the sodim acetate right... well, we ended up with a white powder


we didn't manage to to the spontaneous crystalisation thing, but it did turn solid when we weren't looking. then we did the sculpture thing; some liquid was still left in the pot so when we poured drops of it onto the solidified na acetate, it did sculpt. and we could feel how it got hot.

I dissolved it again in water, and it formed beautiful crystals; long shards in the glass as it cooled.

we shall keep experimenting with it.

I'm wondering if we could add colouring to it.

ahhh, I love unschooling!

[doulajewla]

lucky ducks laughup Our THIRD try stunk too! lmao. its cooling in the fridge (The liquid dissolved acetate) Does is get like a gel? ours is still very watery. It didnt work we shall be researching this more...majikfaerie did you buy acetate or make it? we are making the acetate itself and i think thats the problem. i still love unschooling trial and error rocks! ds is learning greatly from this and hes not getting discouraged he wants tto try more!

So we have that fly problem...ds came up with a solution all on his own. He handed me his home made business card "Xterminators Inc." and it says "contact info: Yell HEY JARED!" my kid is too funny. His weapon against bugs: a flyswatter. The kid spent 2 hours swatting 50 flies. And he vacuumed them up. ( I told him a good exterminator always cleans up and leaves no bugs behind hehe) He handed me a bill!!! looked like this: living room..............50 cents

and on and on. The total upstairs cost was $1 though haha. The kid earned $3. He has wanted this snake in a peanut brittle can joke...and he wanted to take out a "loan" from me. I said to approve such a loan, the loan amount must not exceed $2. (Thats his chore money per week) and it needed to be paid within the week. he called the toy store this morning on his own and asked how much it was. Its 4 bucks. So he said well i guess ill have to earn it over 2 weeks. i was so proud that he learned this important fact. Well he made the $3 so next week with his chore money he will have enough for the snake. He wants to market himself for exterminating flies to his friends' parents what an entrepreneur!

[UnschoolnMa]

I love reading about the projects you all are experimenting with!

Today was a bit busy and found us running errands, grocery shopping, and dropping off some donations at Goodwill. Then Dd needed some hair dye and she finished rinsing it out just in time to go pick up her best friend. After a quick stop for some sodas at the corner store they are out in the garage playing "SingStar" that Dd just got for her bday.

Ds is upstairs chilling out a bit too, and here I sit after finishing a homemade candle for my yule altar.

[doulajewla]

I havent gotten as far as yule for our altar.....: we have been so lazy. We do have a "tree" for our altar though...started with thanksgiving and we hung paper leaves with what we were thankful for on each leaf. now its bare with one cool ornament i found at the store that i liked lol. we will be doing yule stuff to it haha but we havent figured out what yet. All it is are bare branches we found outside, put them in a flowerpot with like 5-6 bags of marbles. Instant "tree".

Today is my first 4-H meeting. I have never lead a group really before. I am not very good at public speaking, but hopefully it will go nicely. I am not afraid to speak in public, but I tend to forget what the heck im talking about and stutter sometimes. I dont feel nervous, but I guess it comes out in the way I speak. I am just going to go with the flow--its just an informational meeting. I think it will be lots of fun After that we have my nephew's 2nd bday party and after that i work for 3 hours. It will be a day!

[majikfaerie]

we made our own sodium acetate, using the instructables link from the last page.
only we dont have a microwave so we did it on the stovetop.

doulajewla, your son's exterminator biz sounds so awesome

I remember when I was a kid I had a similar idea, and washed our dog and her new puppies, and gave my folks a bill for it. mum replied by writing up a bill for water usage, electricity, dog food and kennelling :

[doulajewla]

is there an unschooling december thread? I cant find it lol

[majikfaerie]

er, that would be because you didn't make one, dj

if you see a job, it's YOURS!

[majikfaerie]

December Thread

ok, I did it.
here's the december thread:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=803641

I'll see you there