Still going strong!

School is going well. I feel like Jodi Lin is learning so much. She is almost halfway through the kindergarten hooked on phonics so soon she will be able to do grade one, where she should be anyway. She has learned how to tell time in 1/2 increments so like 2 o'clock or half past 2 (or 2 thirty). She is adding and subtracting well but using her abacus. She can add 0, 1 or 2 with out the abacus and I am working on getting her to do more without it. We found some great books at the library called "Our Canadian girl". It is a huge series about around a dozen different girls all living in different times in different areas of Canada. Each girl has her own series of about 4 books we are reading about Elizabeth in Nova Scotia in the 1750's. The books are at a #4 reading level so from ages 8-12. I read them and Jodi Lin listens well, we read a couple chapters at night. I ask her about what happened when we read it the night before and she does seem to be getting it. I just thought they were so cool...teaching her about Canadian history and geography at the same time, while reading a good story. Jodi Lin has also learned two memory verses and is working on the third....one each week. Her handwritting is also looking really good. I am so happy we decided to homeschool....I am loving it!

The diet is going well too. I have noticed many changes in me and some behaviour changes in the kids. I recently started wondering if my cold urticaria (I get hives from the cold) could also be gluten related. So I thought I would search online. I looked up cold urticaria and I was reading on how they diagnose it. I have had it for about 12 years.....they say it normally only lasts up to 6 years. The last time I broke out was just in August at the Sauble beach when it was a cool day and I had gone in the water. This sight said that the way it is normally diagnosed is by a little test where they hold an ice cube to your skin for 1-5 minutes and when they take it off there will be a hive. I thought I should try this test just for the fun of it....see how quick the hive pops up. So as I am holding the ice to my arm I keep surfing.....I searched "cold urticaria gluten" and found a post by a girl who said she had cold urticaria but after 2 weeks gluten free (she was on the diet for other reasons) the cold urticaria was gone. Just after I read that I realized it had been more then 5 minutes so I took the ice off and no hive. I couldn't figure out why and then I clued in to what this girls post was saying. I did another test last night and put the air on in the car while I drove 20 minutes to my friends house. I was freezing....shivering, covered in goosebumps but when I got in the house and could see in the light....No hives! Crazy! Besides this I have other things that have improved that I never even realized gluten free would help....my headaches are gone, I no longer crave sweets so much or any junkie food really, I only want to eat when I am hungry. I am also not tired all the time anymore. No new hair yet though, no period and my stomach is still crampy a lot and taking more trips to the bathroom if anything. I think this may be partly from cross contamination or the fact that I am being flushed out from this new diet.

Anyway lots of changes happening, I am so glad I decided to both homeshool and change my diet. Oh and I lost 1 more pound last week so I am down a total of 6 pounds.....only about another 94 to go.

Jenaia