#backtoschool With #ZOHAN

I've mentioned before that Isaak's oh so slow when it comes to doing homework. It's great that he can now listen to his teachers, with little to no distractions. They are still remote learning. He also gets involved in less drama. 

I don't know, maybe he does have some form of ADHD, but he's not the type of kid that's bouncing off the walls. I'd rather deal with his problems in other ways, then with medicine. He still gets distracted even with us. 

I'm pretty sure he gets this trait from me. I was/am a horrible test taker. That's part of why I don't want to go back to school to get my Education Certificate. I'm a mega hard worker though. I catch on to things quickly. Process things are easy, for me to understand. 

Thankfully I got noise headphones to review. 

Zohan Has Four Different Designs to Choose From:

• Nebula
• Rap
• Unicorn
• Flamingos

I was between the Nebula and Rap designs. The others are more girly of prints. Isaak would have liked the Rap one, but I chose Nebula. Last year he picked out a shirt at Christmas that had that pattern. Why not stick with what I know he likes? I honestly wanted it to be a surprise for him. 

Cost: 

$14.99 for all of the different designs. You can get them on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MT9JMWD. 

Size:

They are kid sizes. BUT Isaak and I have skinny heads. I often have to tie or loop my masks. These fit just fine. They even fit me. Of course they are adjustable too. 

Do They Work?

I put them on, and they do block out noises. Not totally. I can talk, and hear my own voice. It makes all sounds seem like I was underwater. 

What was your biggest struggle in school?

Disclaimer: I got this product for a discounted price, for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.

Random Tid Bits

1. Isaak has had a sub for 2 days in Math. It's been so nice. Zero homework. I feel quite a bit more free.


2. The day Isaak had in school suspension, for playing essentially tag when he was in Walking Club he got all his homework done. Travis said he should have that more often. Um no! I emailed the Boy's Dean, as did Travis, and we both never got a response. Insert eye roll.


3. Mica's so smart in school, but does the craziest things. The other night I had him helping me make Chicken Quesadillas, with some toppings.
   
   I asked him to spray the Quesadilla pan. What does he do? He starts spraying the top of the Quesadilla maker, and not the grill part. Ya I did a face palm! Then I told him about the fictional character Amelia Bedelia. I find myself snapping at him a lot. He's a sweet kid, but just does the most dingy things!
   
   
   
   
   At least the Quesadillas turned out good!
   
   

   

   
   
4. Another day Mica was being critical about how I peel eggs. Travis suggested I boil a whole bunch, and let him peel them. He thought I did them just fine! I did just that. When I posted about this on FB I got a bunch of comments on how to make eggs. I can make and peel them just fine. Since Mica commented about them, it's his job now.
   
   He held the eggs as high as he could, dropped them, then peeled them. Hey whatever works son. I could care less about his process. It's a lesson...you complain, you get to do the job.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Mica has a partner for Science Olympiad, which is an extra curricular thing. Mica made arrangements that we would pick her up last Saturday at 10. I went to go pick her up. It takes about 15 minute to get to her house. When I got there she wasn't even up out of bed. She bowed out.
   
   I told Mica if it were him, he'd have to get up, and get ready in 7 minutes. Her Mom handled it differently, which is fine. She was grounded. Mica said she cried. He told her it's ok. I said, "I wouldn't have told her that." He said, "Mom if I would have said something harsh she would never talk to me again. She's sensitive." How would you have handled that if you were her parents? 
   

Random Tid Bits

1. I got invited to one of those online parties. In my younger, just an adult years I didn't mind them. I went to a Tupperware, a Pampered Chef, a Discovery Toys, Usborne Books, some craft, and some costume jewelry party.
   
   I even hosted a few of these parties with my sister Terra.
   
   Now I can't stand them. I'm tired of feeling like I have to buy something at them. It's like, the pressure is on! My sister Terra has had 2 Norwex, a Young Living, and a LuLaRoe party. I managed to skip the Norwex and Young Living ones.
   
   I did buy a magic glass cleaning cloth from Norwex. I never really fully believed in the oils. Sure they smell good, hold some different properties, go well in some homemade cleaning recipes, but they aren't going to magically make all your problems go away.
   
   I just got invited a few weeks ago from a high school friend to join an online Usborne party. I said, "Really? I've hosted one, and been to another, my kids are ages 11 and 14, what could I possibly get out of this?" He convinced me it would be fun. The party happened to land when Mica's conferences were. Their books aren't cheap, and I have a plethora of gifts saved up for my youngest nephew Edison from blogging. I did very little participation. I just entered my name for the drawing. Go figure I won.
   
   Part of me wanted to just pass, but I'm like maybe it's something I can hand off to one of my nephews. It's a hard book cleaning rag. It's going to Emerson because he can't be around any germs.
   
   The host messaged me, "Can you tell me why you didn't participate in the party?" I think I gave her more of a response than she needed to read. Hello I'm a blogger. 


2. Isaak's rotated out of Piano, and is now in Drama. This also fits him really well. To Travis I've always called him my Drama King.
   
   Tomorrow he has to act out a family member. He's torn between acting out Mica or his Gecko Sunny. I think it would be much more fun acting out Mica. They are for the most part opposite with so many things. One likes sports one doesn't, one likes trivia while the other could care less, one is slow and the other is fast. The list goes on and on like that.


3. I think Isaak's finally sort of used to his braces. I haven't given him meat on the bone or anything, but he can have more solid things. Yay!


4. I was just messing around. Not sure I like this in the least bit. It's just not as funny as I thought it would be. I tried putting Putin's face in with Trump's. It didn't really work like I thought it would. Trump's face is fat and short, Putin's is long and skinny.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Isaak hasn't cried with homework for a long while. I so wonder if a kid can get PTSD from a teacher? My cousin brought that up to me. The thought crossed my mind, but I didn't really want to go there. His teacher covered so much when he wasn't in the classroom (strings, bathroom duty, safety patrol) and then would expect him to do homework. He felt so unsure how to do it, because he'd miss full lessons. I think when school started back up he felt that pressure again.
   
   He is super slow, not dumb. Just moving. That's on him. We're trying to figure out how to get him to move faster, without changing him. It wears on all of us when he's doing homework all night. Mica has to do more around the house than Isaak does. I put Isaak's clothes away, when Mica has to put his own away. I'd like it if it wasn't like that. Mica is older, but Isaak should have responsibilities too. The fact is, is that Isaak has a night of homework, and Mica hardly has any. Parenting is hard at times!
   

Random Tid Bits

1. I've been kind of away from blogging more so this week. It's the week before finals. This week is just as busy as finals week because many things are due.
   
2. Mica's been struggling with his honors Algebra. Travis asked his teacher if she thinks he should go back to the regular math class. Nope! He just needs to practice more. If we could get him past thinking he knows it all. Typical teenage attitude.
   
   Travis is brighter in math than I am, so he's been a very patient tutor. He's had to relearn things.
   
3. Isaak has had about 2 hours or more of homework each night. I'm just not happy with his last year of elementary school. Every week I shake my head about something he says, brings home, and so on. The latest is that his teacher gave him a word to look up, find synonyms of, and use it in a sentence. He couldn't find the word in his not organized notebook. We snapped at him for not being organized. Then we learned that she gave him his word to write down, while he was in the middle of a test. Say what?! I've been helping Isaak with his homework.
   
   On the side meal prepping, snow shoveling, and basketball practice.
   
4. All weekend last weekend and the weekend before I baked, and decorated. We have one less holiday function, so I made less sugar cookies. I broke about 7 of them that the boys ate. I also made Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies - that taste a bit like the Girl Scout ones, Chocolate Malt Cookies, and Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies. Lots of work, but 1 plate goes to Travis' work, 1 plate goes to my work, another batch goes to sell at the elementary school, another plate for Christmas Eve, and we typically have a New Years Dance Party for kids.
   
5. I've also been working on my Christmas card, which will be a Christmas photo this year. I didn't get my rear end in gear to get postcards made. They are still cute. I'll share the flop, and will share the real one next Tuesday on here.
   
   I wanted to do a Parody on The Scream By Edvard Munch. It wasn't turning out as I envisioned. I played and played with it, then I played with something different that I liked better. So...I went with that.
   
   Here's my flop that never got finished:
   
   
   
   
   

Learning

Mica has homework. It's really easy for him right now, so Daddy gives him more homework. The hard thing for him right now is telling time. I had the hardest time telling time when I was little to. I said to myself, "Why bother? All the clocks at home are digital. At school they always tell me when and where to go." It just slipped by me. Then in 5th or 6th grade I took a standard test, and it was caught that I didn't know how to tell time. I had to go where all the kids who are challenged go; to learn how to tell time. So Mica is learning. He learned last year, but forgot, or it didn't sink in.

Since Isaak doesn't have homework yet, I've been giving him activity books to work on. Previously Isaak had no interest in activity books. I'd buy them for vacation, and he refused to even pull them out. Now that he sees Mica doing homework, he's getting into them.

I set a table up for Isaak in the living room. His room is pretty small, so not a lot of room for too many things.

Then we're trying to get Mica involved with Isaak. Mica generally has always liked to do things on his own. Daddy's talked with him about working with Isaak on sight words. We saved Mica's sight words that he had to learn from the past. Then I had Mica read to Isaak at bedtime.

Homework

Here are a few of Mica's homework pictures. He has to read a poem or song five times, answer questions about it and than draw a picture about what he read. Daddy and I thought these were really good for age 6.

The ducks are going to the pond. I love the thought bubble, "Quack."

A cook making a grilled cheese sandwich. Above him are pots and pans. That is where we keep ours in the kitchen.

Isaak Peed on Mica's Homework!

• I thought in my mind, Isaak's done really well with going potty lately!  He's been telling me when he has to go.

• Today both boys wouldn't nap, which leads to naughty boys! Isaak was in his room for a long time just talking. Mica was grumpy, but wouldn't sleep. He is in the process of outgrowing naps. Daddy got home and took the boys outside to run. 

• I went into the living room and stepped in a pile of pee. I looked down, and the paper I filled out with Mica for preschool was sitting in the puddle. I had it up on the coffee table, but somehow it ended up on the ground.
• That should be interesting to ask the teachers for a new paper to fill out!
• It will sound sort of like, "My dog ate my homework!" Only this excuse is, "My son peed on his brother's homework!" 

• For the record I actually did have a student who showed me an art project that had bite marks in it from her dog! 
• Her dog really did eat her homework.