Just a Little Freak Out

I'm up to my eyeballs in school planning and the older they get the more bittersweet it is. It's almost like, if I put it off maybe they'll quit growing up?

I think that's perfectly logical.

This year I have a sophomore, freshman, 5th grader and 2nd grader. One I'm helping build resumes and pass certification exams for his career path (computers) and another I'm still working on phonics with. And me, I just want to scream "STOP!" Stop letting the time pass! Stop getting older! Stop becoming adults!

And I'm all teary and poetic and nostalgic about the cute things they say and the daydreams they share and the snuggles they still give me. And I think, "WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO WHEN THEY MOVE OUT?" I mean, who's going to laugh at my stupid jokes or watch chick flicks on my bed with me when we are on our periods or hug my neck?

And there I go again...crying.

It could also be PMS...or menopause....Oh MY GOSH!

So husband, if you're reading this, you better start practicing your neck hugs and chick flick watching. Practice your belly laugh and every once in a while pretend you don't know how to spell a word so I can tell you. Maybe you could leave a few wrappers shoved in between the couch cushions and leave your towel on the floor after you take a shower. It just might make me feel better.

OR...piss me off.

But it's worth a try.

Oui Oui or Wee Wee?

My 12 year old daughter, Allegra, and my five year old son, Gabriel were playfully wrestling on the floor. Allegra finally pinned Gabe and amidst all the giggles she said to him, "Say, 'Merci Beaucoup Mon Cheri' and I'll let you up." Gabe giggled and refused, knowing it would prolong their fun. She kept him pinned on the ground and issued her ultimatum again and again until finally Gabe, who was laughing so hard he could barely speak said, "Fine........Merci GO-POO!"

I'm thinking we need just a little bit more work on our Foreign Language Skills.

How To Get Your Kids To Pay Attention To Bible Stories

The top floor of our house has a large foyer and surrounding it are all of the bedroom doors. Every night Chris sits in a chair in the foyer and reads Bible stories to the kids while I do the kitchen clean-up and then relax in the recliner.

It's a very Norman Rockwell moment as strains of Chris' deep voice float down the stairs and the kids lay quietly tucked in their beds, listening raptly. Well, there might be just a little more wiggling and bouncing involved in that picture but you get my drift.

So imagine my surprise tonight when Chris' deep voice was punctuated with laughter.....more deep voice....more laughs and then a few un-biblical words followed by peals of laughter from all four kids.

What the heck?

I found out later that this is what they were reading...

He will take your menservants and maidservants, your best young men and your asses, and put them to work.......Kish had lost some of his asses so he said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants with you, and go and look for my asses." ...Come let us go home, or my father will cease to think about his asses....

And by that point, Chris could barely speak anymore.

I bet they'll remember that Bible story forever.

Beware Of Putting Limits On Dessert

The kids and I were looking at a book today that showed a picture of the sinuses. Since we’ve all been dealing with heads full of snot for the past few weeks they were enthralled at the large area that was covered. They were excited to make sense of the pressure that they felt in their faces and to trace their finger over the spots that the picture showed. And one of the kids said, “Boy, that’s like a whole face full of snot.”

“Yeah,” I said, amazed at how intricately it was all mapped out and linked together. “I’m sure God had a reason for putting it all together like that when he made us. I’m just not sure what it is.”

And Malachi piped in with this little nugget, “Well you can ask him when you see him in Heaven…..that is if you’re going there.”

Hello? Does that mean he thinks I’m going to Hell? Dang it, I knew I should have given him that bigger serving of dessert he asked for.

Yeah, It's A Meme about Me

25 Things About Me

1. When faced with the loss of all material things I would choose to keep my wedding ring and my red laptop.

2. I can't stand to have dry lips so I'm addicted to lipgloss

3. I'm convinced that chocolate is medicinal. It always makes me feel better.

4. I NEED to lose 5 lbs but want to lose 15. I must have needed lots of "medicine" this month.

5. I'm completey task oriented. I have to make myself slow down to be relationship oriented.

6. I take a book with me everywhere I go. it's in my purse, my pocket, my glovebox...

7. I like to laugh about everything. Even when it's probably not appropriate.

8. When the mailman comes it feels like Christmas.

9. I sometimes take hot showers till the water runs out.

10. I'm still not sure if we are done adding kids to our family.

11. My favorite meal would be Chicken Broccoli Alfredo from Olive Garden and of course chocolate afterwards.

12. I've been to many tropical locations but I'm dying to work my way through Europe.

13. If I had no self control I would need a room just for shoes.

14. I used to fill a flatbed cart at Costco everytime I went. People looked at me wierd.

15. Teaching my children to read was one of my most thrilling accomplishments.

16. As much as my kids can get on my nerves sometimes, I totally love that I get to stay home with them everyday. Thanks Chris!

17. I have a list of plastic surgeries that I'd like to have done if there was no pain involved, I wouldn't have to explain my vanity to the kids, and there was a money back guarantee that those boobs would still look great when I was 80.

18. I still think of myself as in my 20's even though 40 is looming ever closer.

19. I have to shave my legs EVERY day. (I bet you liked that one Chris)

20. I want to be friends with my kids but still be their mom. Not the kind of parent-friend that says, "Hey drink and have sex in my house where your safe" but the kind where we can talk and laugh and speak into each others lives. That's my goal.

21. I really like being married. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done but I've grown so much and I like the growth.

22. Ditto for parenting.

23. I'm an early riser. I love that time of day when no one else is up yet and I can have my thoughts all too myself.

24. My husband is so deep it hurts my head sometimes.

25. It exhausted me to think up 25 things about myself. Whew.

Obviously Hygiene & Homeschooling Don't Go Hand In Hand

I feel really fortunate to be able to stay home with my kids and teach them. I love the whole concept of homeschooling and the closeness it brings when we all get to hang out together on a consistent basis. Plus I really like the relaxed environment that a homeschooling lifestyle affords.

But sometimes, when I'm hyper focused on all that we need to get done, it seems that the shower fairy forgets to visit my house.

The kids all remember to shower and bathe but this mommy can be halfway through 2 loads of laundry, a hot breakfast, double digit multiplication, writing prompts, bread rising and phonics before she looks down and sees that she still has her pajamas on.

And at that point why bother?

Don't Put Off Today What You Can Put Off Tomorrow

I hate procrastinating. I've been staring at my barren garden for weeks just waiting for it to prepare itself for winter and it's just not happening. So the kids and I took advantage of the rain-less day and worked outside to get it ready to sit for the winter.

We use the lasagna gardening method because basically I'm a slacker and if it requires back breaking effort I'm just not interested. We yanked out all the old stalks left from our plants and layerd on old newspaper, compost, leaves and wood ashes so that it can all decompose and make rich soil in the spring It took us a whopping four hours of hard labor and a little grumbling but we finally got it done.

The end result...

It ain't pretty but it will sure grow some big ole 'maters in the spring.

Homeschool Self Flagelation At It's Worst

I've really been beating myself up over my homeschooling or lack thereof over the past month.

"I'm so boring"

"I'm not doing enough"

"We are so behind"

"I'm such a bad Mom because I'm just not interested"

But today I had one of those moments where I realized I'm just not sucking as much as I think I am.

We were riding in the car to Grandma's house today where I was going to drop the kids off and head to a meeting that was causing me some stress, worry and doubt. So I let the kids know how anxious I was and asked my oldest to lead us in some prayers for their good ole mom.

Elijah started and his prayers were so wise and profound that I was totally blessed. And one right after the other, all the way down to 5 year old Gabe, they whipped out some heartfelt words and petitions that brought me peace and a sense of covering and a true pride in the little (and big) people they are.

And it suddenly hit me how much they HAVE learned.

I still kind of suck at the academic part lately but I'm pretty happy with the other stuff.

So Just How Much Does The Library Rock?

Ok...the library is seriously cool!

We had to get out of the house today so the best place is always the library because 1) it's free 2) it's full of books and 3) it somehow magically solves any constipation problems.

I know that's weird but tell me that doesn't happen to YOU at the library.

So we walked in and immediately found out it was homework hour. And not only that but Starbucks is here providing FREE hot chocolate to all the kids.

So here I sit on my grand red Dell laptop, tapping away in peace while all the kids make crafts and sip Starbucks.

I know...life couldn't get much better could it?

Well, there IS always the lottery.

Gayle's School For Wayward Boys

I'm not quite sure how it happened. I think magical little elves sneak into my children's bedrooms at night and whisper phonics sounds into their ears. But for what it's worth I've managed to turn my children into literate human beings.

(psst...that means they know how to read.)

So I'm on my very last child and I LIVE phonics right now. It's all about learning new letters and practicing words that have the same sound.

All. Day. Long.

I say a letter and then Gabe has to come up with words that start with the phonetic sound for that letter.

And it's so different using phonics with my dauther..

P is for princess and pink and pretty.

But boys, ahhh them boys, they are so different.

Gabe's phonics practice went like this today.

B is for boogers

F is for fart.

D is for dirty dog

S is for snot

I'm so happy to be educating the young minds of the future.

We Survived Our First Day Of School

After much procrastination and a late night of planning and photocopying we finally hit the books today for our first day of school. It’s my first year with all four kids (7th, 6th, 2nd, and Kindergarten) and also the first year where I’m NOT done with school by lunchtime.

But we got a ton done, although not everything I’d planned, and managed to end with my oldest son saying it wasn’t near as bad as he thought it was going to be. He said he actually liked it.

One of the best compliments you can get from a teen to his teacher.

I’m reveling in it.

And it was so much fun to get one on one time with each kid today. I could sure tell the difference in their behavior. They are much more enjoyable kids to be around when they’ve had undivided mommy time versus distracted mommy time.

Must remember that!

So all in all it was good. If felt wonderful to put a little more structure in our days. It’s amazing how much you can get done when you actually have a plan.

Duh!

A Ride On The Homeschool Crazy Train

If you're a homeschooler it's time for a ride on the crazy train. This is the time of year where we all freak out and panic about the start of school, share curriculum horror stories, and hope to find recommendations from other homeschool moms on new stuff that will make us all feel like we are doing a good enough job. So if you're interested, check my sidebar to see some of what the kids, as well as I, will be using to educate ourselves this year.

Reason #246: Why I Love Homeschooling

Because while everyone else is in school, we get the pool all to ourselves!

Recipe For Booger Salad Sandwiches

1. Take four hard boiled eggs and let your pre-schooler remove the shells which eliminates the need for chopping the eggs into uniform chunks since they are destroyed during the removal of the shell.


2. Toss them into a giant skid proof bowl that your child can stir without stirring it right off the counter.


3. Ignore that the recipe calls for finely chopped green onion because you learned many years ago that an onion in your house just rots. If it’s snuck into any meal, no matter how small you’ve pulverized it, the built in onion-radar that each one of your kids has inherited from you, will find it.


4. Also ignore that the recipe calls for diced pimento and instead replace it with some leftover Kalamati olives from a night when you were feeling all “gourmet”. I mean really, who keeps those little red things that your kids yank out of their green olives anyway?


5. Next add 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise with the spoon that your kid has already licked, brushed his hair with and stuck between his legs to ride like a horsey.


6. And when the kid isn’t looking, sneak in the tablespoon of mustard that he hates.


7. Let your little angel stir and stir and while he’s occupied take this moment to load the dishwasher and wipe down the counters.


8. But when you notice the silence that warns you that you better find out what your little angel is doing, don’t be shocked when your son or daughter has realized that the color of the egg-salad is, amazingly, the exact same color as the booger on the end of his finger.
   
   

Back From Women Of Faith

I had a great weekend at Women Of Faith and dang-it, If I’d let you all know ahead of time I might have had a chance to meet up with some of you.

That would have been a blast!

Here are my roomies for the weekend. (We played beauty shop the night before, thus the straightened hair.)

And now a few more questions:

How did you come to the decision to homeschool?

I remember being pregnant with my first child and thinking about his future. The thought of only having him for 5 years before turning him over to spend the majority of his time with someone else just didn’t settle well with me. I really felt like it was my responsibility to be instilling values in him and training him morally. I knew that academically he would get a satisfactory education in a school but they wouldn’t be able to cover the values and moral issues that we wanted to instill. And since character is much more important (to me) than academics, I felt like he wouldn’t be getting the best education he could have. Only Chris and I could do that. I also knew that I was intelligent enough to cover the academic areas myself so really I had no doubts about approaching his education this way.

What is your favorite homeschooling resource?

I love the rainbow resource catalog. It has just about everything you could want at a discount. So I use that resource the most. I really like the beautiful feet catalog too. That covers my academic resources. My favorite support and “true education” resource (keeps me encouraged and on the right track) is Homeschool Oasis. Their article charts cover everything from whether you’re homeschooling out of conviction, how to homeschool during high school and heart issues in ourselves and our kids. GOOD STUFF!

As soon as I figure out how to put a word document on my blog (any tips???) I’ll answer the scheduling questions. I’ve finally worked out a way to tackle the area of teaching multiple age levels and living in a (mostly) tidy home and I’m really excited to share it. (Hoping it helps someone out there!)

Back To School Time

I hardly ever talk about homeschooling, as it’s just a part of everyday life, like laundry, and cooking, and naptime. But the season is upon us and it’s time to figure out some goals and a schedule so we can get back to the books. This year I’m adding the fourth and final child to the mix so I will have a 6th, 5th, 1st and Pre-K kid.

I can feel the sweat popping out on my forehead already.

So obviously I’m gonna need a plan to keep my self sane as well as, you know, TEACH them something and make sure the dust bunnies don’t take over the house.

This year will be our first time attending a Co-Op. It will be just one morning a week and I have to stay there the whole time so don’t be thinking I’ll be getting any great alone time or anything.

I wish!

Then we’ll hit the books at home the other 3 or 4 days of the week. So here is where I list the stuff we use and I know I have some readers that don’t homeschool so just ignore this other part. But for all you curriculum geeks out there…..here goes.

Singapore Math – I love this program because there is absolutely NO prep for me. It explains things in such a natural way and doesn’t kill the kids with a gazillion problems per page.

Evan-Moore Phonics Fundamentals – I’ve used this with all the kids and again, NO PREP! It focuses on a letter each week and uses poems, puppets, cut and paste and word games to teach the phonetics for each letter. It even slips in reading and spelling. Gotta love the multi-task thing.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature – No Prep…are you seeing a theme here? I really like this program. It’s so hard to find a good, complete LA program but this one has it all; writing, spelling, grammar, reading comprehension, and I’m sure a bunch of other technical words could fit in there.

Beautiful Feet Geography – This one takes just a little bit of prep but it uses Holling C. Holling books to teach geography, some history, cartography, science and vocabulary. His books are incredible and it’s a really fun way to learn. You follow one of his characters as he travels through the USA, or in one book the World, and then follow his progress along a blank map, filling in the places he visits.

Then we do lots of reading and discussion of Biographies, The Bible, and lot’s of non-fiction science related stuff. The kids read fiction stuff on their own time or if we are tempted by a good series we’ll read it together. Throw in a few science experiments, a couple of field trips and plenty of time in sports, with friends, and pondering the meaning of the universe and I think the kids are pretty well rounded.

So if you don’t homeschool and you stuck with it this long, insert applause here!

If you do homeschool, now you know what we use and it’s probably pretty familiar stuff.

Help Me!

It’s so hard to find good reading material for my older kids. They love to read, but it’s a full time job finding stuff that is appropriate. We hit the library and I scour the shelves looking for something with substance. It seems like most pre-teen books for girls are about chasing boys, being nasty to other girls, or how to be a teenage witch. For boys you can choose between horror or evil or, hey, more horror and evil!

It seems like the safest books I’ve found are the ones written more than 50 years ago, but I’ve also found that my kids DO judge a book by its cover. If it looks old it’s a turn off. So if I can find them republished with an updated cover, well, then we’re all happy.

I’ve managed to buy myself some time as my daughter (10) begins the Nancy Drew series. And the only way I got her to read those, in all their antique glory, was because I took her to the movie first. I’m figuring with over 100 books I can relax for a few months while she works her way through those.

But my son, (11) who likes the fantasy/adventure genre, stumps me. Right now he’s reading a series by Edward Eager about magic wishes. He’s also really enjoyed a few of Cornelia Funke’s books and went through a season where he devoured every Star War’s Jedi Apprentice book he could find. But it’s hard to find fantasy books that don’t confuse good and evil. I don’t mind them reading about it as long as the lines are clear.

So what books have your kids read and loved? I’m hoping to get a nice long list from all my genius bloggy friends so all I have to do is print it out and cross it off for the next school year. And as a little incentive, since technically your input will be my homeschool reading plan for next year, otherwise known as occupying-their-minds-with-something-productive-so-mom-can-get-some-stuff-done, I’m offering a little incentive.

Write a post on your blog, recommending some good reading material and linking back to this entry. Then enter your link in the Mister Linky at the end of this post. Your name will be entered into a drawing to win a Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore! And these are so cool! I just received mine today and we’ll be using it for a biology lesson for school.

So lay it on me! Help me come up with some reading ideas and spread the word so I can get a nice big juicy book list!

Math Blitz!

Just for the record, I'm going to make a confession. I'm full of big ideas but not so great on the follow through.

~

The garden is dug....will I plant it? Very unlikely.

~

Bought a big ol package of curriculum (at least twice now). Did we complete it? Huh-unh!

~

One time I got the great idea to send a package of stuff to some missionaries in our church. All fired up, I was! But it took too long and I lost interest. I managed to get it shipped off but not without thinking I'd never do that again.

~

Some of you have even been privy to my short lived ideas. (Think Spunky Chicks Book Club?)

~

And unfortunately this lovely tendency comes out in EVERY area of my life. (Mom, I know you're probably reading this in total agreement and I'd just like to say that I'm glad you haven't figured out how to comment yet. I'm sure you've got bazillions of stories that I prefer to keep in the closet.)

~

One of the biggest areas hit is in our home school. I get great ideas every year and end up biting off more than I can chew.

~

Wouldn't it be great to know Latin?

~

How 'bout we build a life size replica of the Eiffel Tower out of marshmallows?

~

Hey, let's do a complete chronological history of America with a giant sized time line strung up through the whole house!

~

But this week I decided enough was enough. We NEED to finish our math books. I'm sorry to say that I've been dragging my 4th and 5th grader through the same stinkin' math book for at least 18 months.

~

Yep, that's not a typo. 18 MONTHS, my friends.

~

So I sat down with a calender and mapped out the rest of the book so I could set the goal of when we could finally move on. The kids watched with utter amazement as they realized that we could actually be finished by mid-June. And I think that must have given them a glimmer of hope.

~

This morning I woke up to cheers of, "Let's do Math, Mom!"

~

My first response was, "Aww, do we have to?" But I soon found out they had a plan. They decided they weren't going to wait another 3 weeks. They wanted to be done NOW! They hit the books hard and, with smiles folks, they tackled their math books with a hunger. They managed to wipe out all but the last two Review exercises before they'd had enough. But they will be done by Friday.

~

Is that applause I hear?

~

It goes to the kids, guys, not to me!

Outdoor Adventures

We live in a growing town. Not big…but not little. Let’s just put it like this. I can go to the grocery store and spot at least 10 people I know, but what amounts to entertainment opportunities around here are closer to counting the panhandlers in the mall parking lot or the summer reading program at the library.

Yawn!

So a big thing happened last weekend. In an effort to get kids to realize that there is much fun to be had outdoors instead of (ahem) on the computer….a bunch of organizations got together and put on an outdoor adventure expo.

And let me just say that it was FREE! You know how I like FREE!

We learned how to pan for gold…..

Rope a steer…. (that's not me in the background)

Fly Fish.....

And they even set up a big shallow pond to teach the kids how to kayak. My 11 year old decided that he didn’t want to risk getting wet. My 10 year old daughter wanted nothing to do with it. My 6 and 3 year olds were all for it and they suited up and waited in line for their turn.

(My two are on the right)

I was a little worried that Gabe (3) would like the idea only UNTIL he actually had to sit in that teeny tiny boat all by himself and paddle. But he amazed me! He got right in, and scooted around the pond. In fact, when it was time to go, he cried. And he looked so darn cute in that thing, too!

So here is a massive amount of pictures because I couldn’t just pick one.

My Secret Admirer

A friend just happened to mention to me today, “Oh, by the way, you’ve been nominated at The Homeschool Blog Awards.”

“I WHAT?!?”

“Yeah, you’ve been nominated for funniest homeschool blog.”

I didn’t even know what a Homeschool Blog Award was and I don’t even have a clue who nominated me. Somewhere out there lurks my very own Secret Admirer. Can you feel the love I’m sending your way?

So, my tiara is on order and I’m not going to let the little fact that I’ve only received 1% of the votes stand in my way. Cuz out of 476 votes that’s 4.7 people who think I’m kinda funny and that makes me feel all warm and gooey inside.

I thought I should prepare some campaign promises since I’m going to be wearing that tiara for the next forever and I can’t just stand there and look pretty, I need to have something important to say too. So here’s what I came up with…..

I promise:

Close parking spaces for moms at every mall across the nation

Free chocolate bars provided at 28 day intervals

World Peace

Oh, and maybe I’ll lower taxes too. I’ll have to see how tired I am after all that other stuff.

So in a pathetic ode to a raunchy Rod Stewart song….

If you think I’m funny….and you really want me…come on baby let me know!

Vote Here!