The Life and Times...

The last couple of months have been busy! The good busy, fortunately.

So far so good with homeschooling. Cameron is finally getting caught up with math. When we pulled him out we decided to go back and reinforce things he had already covered because it was a really hard subject for him. He's doing really well now and we're all thrilled.

 

Sophia spends most days with her nose in a book now that she's an official reader. She's working ahead of grade level at the moment (she would have started K in the fall) so I'm busy trying to figure out what curriculum to teach her. Miles and Cameron will be doing the Trail Guide to Learning unit study curriculum, but it's only adaptable down to second grade, so I may write my own curriculum to accompany it at the first grade level. We'll see about that...

 

If you study mummies, you should probably take turns wrapping each other up in toilet paper. But feel free to skip the part where you remove the brains and vital organs...

 

Miles' brain continues to amaze me. One of his math assignments instructed him to draw a hat on the second penguin from the right. This is what he came up with. If you can't see, the penguin is wearing a sombrero - with tassels - a waist scarf and saber, and the penguin next to him is clearly impressed, saying "he is cool". And we have stuff like this every day.

 

At the end of March we hit the symphony with our homeschooling friends. Our kids take amazing pictures.

 

When Miles does especially well on xtramath.org he likes me to take a picture to send to daddy.

 

Sometimes when we're bored we take a field trip.

 

In March we headed north for spring break. Our Iowa cousins came for spring break a few years back and we've been dying to return the favor. Chase and I amused ourselves on the journey by taking LOADS of pictures of ourselves. It got kind of ridiculous.

 

Don't you just love the people?

 

We took a day and hit up the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. I will have to come back and upload the rest of the pictures because my phone is being lame and won't let me right now. Boo! At least I have this lovely one of Owen and Gaby and the giant Archimedes Screw. (Incidentally, Cameron learned about Archimedes in his Life of Fred math books and thought it was only mildly cool to see the Screw. I thought it was amazing. C'est la vie.)

 

They had snow! That's the spring break dream for our southern kids.

 

We also celebrated Easter and had a blast at Nana and Grandpa's annual Easter Egg Hunt.

Nana goes all out with the activities. She must be exhausted at the end of these events, but she loves to organize it. She's a pretty fun Nana and her grandkids are wild about her.

I just really wanted to include this picture.

Carry on.

 

 

And I'm still teaching piano five days a week. I have wonderful students, so it's a complete joy.

 

 

Still alive!

Okay, now we've been through a couple weeks of this homeschool business and I'm still convinced it is going to be great. We've had awesome days, we've had lots of "do overs" especially after bad attitudes, and we've had more snuggles on the couch than in the six months leading up to starting!

But it's not perfect. We're just figuring things out day by day. The thing I'm struggling with the most is to let go of MY expectations. I'm trying harder to rely on the Spirit to help me in this effort. I firmly believe that these are Heavenly Father's children and He won't abandon me. He knows Cameron, Miles, Sophia and Haley better than I do, and He wants them to learn, grow, and flourish. I need to do my part (preparation, striving for more patience, teaching the kids to diligently work towards goals), but I can't cut Him out of the process. So I'm working on that:)

Cameron is really enjoying homeschool. I'm learning to lay off a little - I think that helps! I've discovered that a lot of the books I was trying to push on him were way over his reading level, which explains his reticence. Instead of ditching the materials we're doing lots of reading aloud, and we found him some new reading material on his level. Everyone is happier now that that fight is over!

Miles is Miles. He's busy and happy all the time. He loves doing his school work. He also seems to have my love of reading, and would sit and read all the live long day. Amelia Bedelia and Frog and Toad are his books of choice at the moment. He's rocking math and history as well. I've been so surprised at how well he internalizes what we're learning. If you're interested to learn about nomads, early farmers, and the fertile crescent, you should ask Miles. Be prepared for him to show you EXACTLY how a shaduf works, though.

Sophia can't stand being left out of anything! As a result, I think she's going to be schooled right along with Miles. They're only 21 months apart, so I'm not really surprised. She's definitely not on the same level with Miles' reading, but she's incredibly proficient with math. Her handwriting is the only thing lagging behind, so we're just not worrying about it much. She can write as much or as little as she wants at this point. Her favorite thing to do is the handwriting app on our kindle fire.

Haley is amazing. She has finally reached the perfect height for reaching onto the counters, which means nothing is safe. She also knows how to push a chair or stepstool over to the counter/bookshelf/filing cabinet and get whatever she can't normally reach. So I really, truly mean it when I say nothing is safe. Sigh. She's a serious handfull! Sometimes she feels very in the way, and I question why I started homeschooling while she's still so young. But then I remember this article I read when I began seriously considering homeschool. I'm so glad for this reminder. The best thing that should come out of this grand adventure should be deep, rich relationships within our family.

So there you have it. I'm still alive, the kids are still (barely, at times) alive. We're all still getting our feet under us, but having a good time doing it.

We're homeschooling! Wowza!

Last Wednesday was our first official day of homeschooling. It was horrible, if I'm being honest. I was anxious all day long! My biggest fear about homeschooling is that I will leave out something critical and my children will be poorly trained for the world ahead of them. Because of all my anxiety I was frantically rushing through each subject and assignment so when I hit a roadblock (Cameron not wanting to read the books I had painstakingly picked out for him)  the day just kind of went south. I kept thinking, "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!" But we plugged on and finished our work for the day.

Thursday was better. Not perfect, but better. I could see the ways that I needed to lighten up. No teacher is able to stick perfectly to their lesson plan every day, and you have to be able to roll with the punches. So I tried to dial down the crazy and I felt much better at the end of the day. And wouldn't you know it? With me being less of a stress case my kids were less of a stress case! And I started to see how maybe this is all going to work out.

So here we are, five days in and I'm feeling like this is all going to be okay. Here are a few pictures from our first days!

Cam is working in a really great watercolor book.

 

Volcano!

 

Geography puzzle

 

We spend a lot of time reading. Sometimes in weird places.

 

Miles coloring a picture of a prehistoric farmer using a shaduf.

 

Haley building a dinosaur at the museum.

 

Cameron being forced to read classical literature in addition to his favorite stuff.

Not quite as happy about it.

These days

Christmas is less than ten days away! And this is our last week in public school for awhile, too. And my house is just barely coming together. Time for an update? I think so.

House:
Remember that time when our house had a 20 foot trench in the middle of it? Trenchy? We had all of that plumbing and foundation work done, and then had to just sit around and wait for everything to settle before we could put everything back together. Well, that was over a year ago, and in October we started the process with the siding/windows/doors, which made the outside (excepting the lawn/weed pit) look great. Unfortunately, the inside was still seriously lacking. Thankfully we have some friends who own a painting franchise, Five Star Painting. They happen to be awesome, and they've been helping us with the work on our house. The worst part was in our living room where, over time, our ceiling had started to look like this

And our fireplace had an enormous crack running down the center

 

But NOW? Things are really looking up. We still need to texture the walls, fix a few more cracks and paint, but we're getting so close I can feel it.

 

LOVE these people.

 

Kids:

(Chase was not supposed to be in this picture, but Haley wasn't

going down without a fight. Classic.)

We are going to be homeschoolers as of January, 2013. This week I have to go in and sign the withdrawal papers and get it all legit. There are a million reasons that we are making this decision, but it comes down to this: It's the right time, and right thing for our family. I can feel it in my bones, and it seems to be the answer to our prayers.
In case you're concerned that my kids are now going to be ignorant, let me ease your worried mind! I've studied and researched like crazy and we have a solid curriculum set up. I've cobbled together several different things from all over the place, but may switch to an all-in-one curriculum in the fall if I feel like we need something different. I've got homeschooling friends in the area, and we'll continue with our regular extracurricular activities (swimming and cub scouts among other things...). So don't worry that they won't be socialized. They're as social as it comes.
Will we homeschool forever? I don't know. I know we need to do it right now to address some pressing issues, but maybe we'll be back to public school soon! Maybe later. Maybe never. I'm open to whatever works best for my kiddos.

Us:
We try to sleep every now and then. That's the only hobby I can think of that either of us are currently working on.

Merry Christmas!

Life

It's been a bit crazy around these parts since school started. If you stick around for the next 20 minutes I can tell you every single detail.

Or, 30 seconds worth of pictures? Let's go with that.

 

Miles and Cameron on their first day of school. Miles is in first grade and Cameron is in third. These pictures mark the first and only morning that both boys were excited to get up at 6:15 to get to school.

 

Soon after school started we dove into home repairs. Yes, still with the home repairs. This is what you get for buying a 30 year-old fixer-upper home in Texas. Foundation repairs first, and then fixing everything else that broke when the foundation did. It was siding, doors and windows this time around. We've still got loads of work ahead of us, but at least we're not drafty anymore.

 

 

The sliding doors leading into the living room.

 

 

This is the view from the living room. We have a deck that basically sits right in the middle of our house. That sliding door leads into our master, which is in the back of the house and wraps around our deck (which needs to be repainted). We love the layout of this house.

 

New front door/lighting fixture/siding. The door has been painted, but we're still working on getting it to be the right color of red. Also, the Halloween decorations are down. We ate Frankie (using THIS recipe, minus the green beans. We do this every year, but this is the first time I've used this recipe. This is my fave so far!)

 

Old front door that was sticking like crazy. Also, it weighed a million pounds. And that's the yucky old siding.

 

Piano lessons are also in full swing. I have 4 new students, and 13 total. It makes for crazy afternoons, but I'm passionate about it. These are two of my new students enjoying my "How does a piano work?" lesson. They all love to see me start pulling the piano apart.

 

 

We've had our fair share of yucky germs come our way. Oh, the joy. But I always appreciate how cute they are when they are sleeping or starting to feel better. I do not appreciate catching puke.

 

Miles continues to amaze me with the inner workings of his brain. Here I caught him being super efficient. Leaning on the cup (which depressed the dispenser) and using a straw to drink while the water was filling.

Thirsty much?

 

 

Since Chase started teaching early morning seminary this year (Seminary is a scripture study program offered by our church and taught to high school age youth. Most seminary programs are taught BEFORE school, starting as early as 5:30 - 6 AM.), we've been really into donuts. Here are the girls enjoying some Shipley donuts. They are a Texas thing, and I think they put Krispy Kreme to shame.

 

 

Trick or treating. Cameron and Miles were power rangers, Sophia wanted to be a "spooky witch." I wanted her to not be any of the trampy costumes that are available in the children's section at Walmart. So witch worked out wonderfully. Haley wore glow in the dark bones pajamas. If I've learned anything as a mom, it's that children rarely wear all the pieces of their costumes, and itchy dresses and toddlers do not get along. Cozy jammies? Yes please.

 

Here's Cameron. This was taken yesterday. He's getting to be huge! His size 10 pants are fitting a little too perfectly for my comfort.

Halloween decorations are down, Thanksgiving and fall are up.

I have no reason to post this, except that Haley looks awesome. She loves to accessorize!

The weather has been amazing lately. We're enjoying the park as much as we can. These two are getting to be the best playmates. I love it!

This is what we see coming back from swimming every Tuesday (both boys are swimming year round now). This intersection is literally COVERED in these icky birds. The kids and I are constantly amazed. And disgusted.

ANNOUNCEMENT!

AH! ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!!

Well, you know, it's been a couple years since Haley came along, and we've really thought and thought and thought about having another baby...

And you've probably noticed that I'm eating a lot more, tired all the time and haven't been feeling well enough to hit the gym...

And you've probably noticed that I'm starting to get a little round in the mid-section...

So I'm here to confirm that the rooms are TRUE!






I've let myself go:)

I'm feeling all kinds of emotional tonight because my kiddos are tucked in and snoozing, all ready to start another year of school tomorrow! How on Earth did I get here?? How do I have two kids in school (1st and 3rd grade...unless you're Canadian - then that translates to grade 1 and grade 3, eh?)? I love watching the little suckers grow up, but they have a certain knack for leaving me in the dust of which I'm not especially fond. Sigh. Am I the only one suffering from this weird feeling of being really, really happy about school starting, and yet, really, really sad? I think the already-sad parts of me get even SADDER because I feel guilty about the smaller-and-less-significant part of me that is happy.

Let me explain the happy. You see, at the end of the summer the season just becomes abusive. It's like the sun itself is so tired of being so freaking hot that it sends cosmic rays of crazy to land on my innocent children, who then turn into raving lunatics, the end result of which is just a general atmosphere of armageddon at my house. Or maybe it's more Lord of the Flies. Either way, there's only so much that I, or the kids for that matter, can take. The pool isn't fun anymore. Bounce houses are only moderately amusing. The slide at the park is actually a giant cauterizing tool.

I refuse to disclose the amount of time the kids played Wii last week.

So can anyone really blame me for being the teensiest happy that my kids are going back to their friends, teachers and social lives?

But the sad part is SO SAD! My wee ones are not wee. The day is not far off that Cameron is going to be taller than me, and I'm pretty sure I'm not okay with that. And Miles, who has had that redneck hick gap-tooth grin since he was two is now growing a big person tooth in that spot. A BIG PERSON TOOTH! Oh, the humanity!

Clearly I need a distraction from the melodrama that is my brain. So I figure I'll go back to blogging. Or not. I'm such a commitment-phobe with blogging these days. But at this moment the stars are alligned (and my friend from elementary school - How's it hangin' Stanilla?! - messaged me and said I had to start blogging again. Who can say no to their friends from elementary school? She knew me when I owned a Max Headroom t-shirt!).

Stay t-t-t-tuned for pictures of me sobbing hysterically and jumping for joy as I kiss the big kids goodbye!