Can't Take Him Anywhere!

Carter had his guitar lesson this morning. We ate breakfast at Broadstreet beforehand. It was just him and me, so we got a little one on one time and had a blast. We ordered and picked out a table. He sat with his chocolate milk while I fixed iced water and coffee. I could hear his voice chattering away and wondered who he was talking to. I got back around to where the straws and napkins are (our table was right there as well) and he hopped up and said, "Mom, did you know that they're changing their menu?" I said, "I did son, and it means more and better food!" He apparently had been reading the flat-screen announcement monitor out loud to himself as I fixed drinks.

I thought that was the end of the discussion, but right after I sat down, a man came out from behind the counter and introduced himself to Carter. He asked his age and was quite impressed with his reading. I, on the other hand, was cringing a bit because I am so used to Carter's precociousness and how it attracts attention. The man said he was in charge of the facebook and Twitter accounts for Broadstreet and could he post something about did they know Broastreet was changing their menu, because seven-year-old Carter did!

I love that boy and am kidding when I say I can't take him anywhere. I get really tickled with how people react to him, but sometimes I think it might be nice to go out in public and not be noticed... I guess some day when he moves out, that might happen. :)

Carter on his 7th birthday.

Had a Bad Day...

Carter and Addie enjoy popcorn and movie time this afternoon after crafts.

"'Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day"
-Daniel Powter

There is something about this song that cheers me. I know. That is bleak. But I think it's because for me, it so well describes those days that we all have when nothing goes right -- and it reminds me that I am NOT in the boat alone...

So, our first bad day: Maybe I should really refer to it as a "hard day". Nothing major went wrong. You know how we all have our flaws? Well, the kids and I both showed our flaws at the same time and they all collided. Let's just say, it wasn't pretty. I had to deal with a stubborn 7-year-old who actually got it in his mind to argue about flash cards. WHAT? Who's the boss here? (For those of you who don't know, that would be me when my husband isn't here). We did deal with the issue of his argumentative attitude up front and moved on. Genuine questions are accepted but arguing to get out of work because of a bad attitude isn't going to work. Then, my daughter just did not want to listen to me telling her how to hold the scissors. It doesn't sound that bad, but all of my fears crashed down. Starting homeschooling has not been easy. It has been JOYFUL but not easy. I wrestled with all of the questions of when would I have time for me? Wouldn't I be claustrophobic? What if I damaged the kids? I'm not an educator -- didn't they really need a REAL teacher? All of these things surfaced in me.

I didn't expect ease. I expected a bad day to come at some point. And it came. I sent the kids to their rooms for some quiet time and I went to my room and cried. When I came out, we talked about what happened, how we could do it better, said a prayer and finished our day. We were 45 minutes behind schedule and I still had to finish making dinner for a friend. The kids entertained themselves while I did this and then we were out the door to piano. I dropped Carter off and took Addie to Broadstreet to read a few books and eat a cookie. It was much-needed mommy and daughter time.

All I have to say is TGIF! What a great day to do crafts and watch a movie after the stress of our first hard day. I went to bed last night not discouraged but actually uplifted. I felt like a servant as I cried in my room yesterday morning. But the Lord reminded me that I am to be a servant. I can literally picture Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. I WANT the heart of a servant. I don't want to have to go to my room to cry and grumble, though I am human and it's going to happen. But I want to be sanctified and grumble less and less along the way. May He give me the strength.

This brings me to one of my fears that I wrestled with before beginning this journey: me time. I have come to realize that the Bible (which is my standard of truth because it is the historically accurate word of God as well as being life-changing) doesn't promise me "me time". I do try to take time for myself when I can, but I think that our society has become so self-centered that we focus on me, me, me all the time. It's also interesting that when the kids were in a school building and not with me, I had all the time I needed but couldn't seem to get much done. The more me time I got, the more I craved. It was like Pandora's box. Not everyone is like this, but I was. Here's the real question: How much time to myself do I REALLY need? And do I really NEED it or is it just a privilege when it comes? My best "me time" comes when all is well with my family and I don't fight to get out, but my husband maybe just wants to take the kids to do something or we've scheduled something in advance. When I am angry and tired and I push for "me time", I might get the time but my attitude has not changed when I come home. It's still waiting for me at the kitchen door. Jesus never promised me that my life would be easy, but He did promise me joy and peace. And He has given it to me -- even in the midst of my bad day. I am truly awed by the wonder of a God who takes my fears and struggles and puts joy in them, who takes tasks seen as menial and makes them glorious in His sight.

And you know what? I felt thankful because I didn't just lose it and storm at the kids but took time to cool down even if that meant we were behind schedule. As helpful as the schedule is, sometimes it just has to go for our sake. At the end of the bad day, I was actually able to say it was a "good day" because we learned so much -- academically, but moreso about each other and about working together as a family. What a blessing...

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." Colossians 3:23-24

Catching Up On the First Month

My goal will be to blog once a week (unless it's an uneventful week) just to record some of the things we did, learned, saw, said, etc. Some weeks, I may have more than one entry if I have thoughts I need to get down For today, I have four weeks worth of "stuff" to share. Hopefully, once I start making regular entries, they'll get shorter. Of course, every now and again, my

loquacity is going to take over and I'm going to share something LONG! Bear with me. ;)

Week 1: Christmas break was over and I was terrified! It was the night before our first day of "class". Was I prepared? Did I have everything I needed? What if the kids hated it and wanted to go back to "real" school? I fell asleep late and rose early... and things went so smoothly, I couldn't believe it. I think the enthusiasm of trying something new was with all of us. We began our daily regimen of the pledge (yes, I know you don't HAVE to say it in homeschool, but times are unsure and who knows how long we'll have the freedom to pledge whenever we want to? Therefore, we say it every day), devotion and a song after breakfast. Then, Addie entertained herself for a while as Carter and I started math. She has developed the routine of schooling her animals in her room during math, then I bring her in and get her started on a worksheet during history and while Carter is doing a worksheet, I teach her some basic phonics. Such fun! Our first day, snow flurries were falling by the time we finished. I built a fire and we did reading in front of it. It was so snuggly and warm, and I was thankful that my kids didn't have to get out in the blustery cold, but got to stay warm and secure with me. I have always suffered some guilt when the weather gets so cold and I'm pushing them out the door. This was a nice change of pace.

Carter is doing third grade math (or according to some, it's second grade math because the curriculum I'm using is so repetitive you can go ahead and start them early -- whatever it is, he's working two levels ahead of where he was in school because he can so he gets to). We're doing Veritas Press Old Testament and Ancient Egypt combined with Story of the World for history. We're also covering grammar and handwriting as well as exploring one animal a week for science and reading children's versions of the ancients that kind of go along with the time period we're studying in history (this idea comes from The Well-Trained Mind, which is an EXCELLENT resource for homeschoolers).

Addie spends quite a bit of the time with us. Though I don't teach her a ton because she's only preschool-aged, I think she's absorbing a lot, and she takes intense joy in cutting paper to shreds while I teach Carter. She also gets in some quality play dough time.

It takes us a total of about three and a half hours each day with a 15-minute snack break in the middle. About two to three days a week, the hubby comes home for lunch with us and when he's gone, the kids watch a short video (they love this down-time and I am a firm believer in moderation so we're not anti-television), then play outside. We then do chores (they have a small part to play in each chore, whether dusting furniture with old socks on their hands, folding socks or bath cloths -- they're learning). We then snuggle down in the living room and have free reading time -- reading whatever our hearts desire! When that's done, they play outside while I start dinner. The hubby gets home, we eat, bathe, do devotion and just enjoy each other. Then it's early to bed, early to rise again! Of course, on Thursday afternoons we have piano lessons and we also attend Wednesday night church. So, we stay very busy. The schedule is ESSENTIAL for me!

We school Monday through Thursday, using Friday as a day for projects, field trips, play dates, playing games, just FUN STUFF! Every day but Friday we get up, get dressed, make beds, etc. On Fridays, we're more laid back, not setting the alarm to rise, but rising slowly, eating Pop Tarts instead of scrambled eggs and whole grain bread, doing crafts in our pajamas (or in A's case, her tutu). It's just a fun day! The first week, we did nothing on Friday. I was so exhausted, and so were they, that we just took a day off. I asked Carter what he thought and he said, "I'm working MUCH harder but it's worth it!" Now, I think he worked plenty hard at school, but because every ounce of my attention is on him and he does not have respite when other children are answering questions, etc., our time is more intense and taxes his brain a bit more.

**Speaking of Carter's previous school, I want to digress away from the point and praise his first grade teacher. This woman was incredible. She has a life story that is encouraging, and is just a great influence. She was working so hard to teach kids who couldn't read, pull challenging work for Carter who has been reading since he was three, and teach those in between. I don't know many who could balance this but she did it! When I looked at her and opened my mouth to tell her we were homeschooling, I started to cry because we were so attached to her. If we had stayed in the school for anything, it would have been her. So, when I say that we left the school having had a positive experience, I really mean it. God just brought us to this point using many different things (which is another blog). But I just wanted to go ahead and give credit where it was due. Carter had an exceptional teacher and we will ALWAYS be thankful for her.

Week 2: Things continued well. I had one day where I felt a little overwhelmed but that was due to lack of preparation on my part, and I learned from it. No worries, these things are to be expected. We're all learning, here. I did change pace with devotion time. This may seem like a small thing, but really, if I am not reaching my children's hearts then I feel like it's not worth it. They were kind of bored with the approach I was using, so we started a book called Big Truths for Little Kids that mixes the catechism questions with a set of kids that experience things that go along with the questions. They LOVE it and have learned through catechism #19 -- including four-year-old Addie! I love hearing her say, "God gave the New Testament to teach us how He prepared the way for the promised Savior!" We studied nomads and the kids made cave paintings by crinkling up brown paper so it looked like a cave wall and finger painting. I even printed out cave painting wingdings for them to refer to, but they just wanted to paint, so I let them have at it. Addie chanted as she smeared her hands in the paint, "Making a mess, making a mess!" They laughed it up! We all had such fun! Also, they made the white crown of Upper Egypt that Narmer wore out of waxed paper. Those did not last long but they did play war a little bit and I cracked up. It was a fairly nonviolent war consisting of couch pillows being thrown and a game of chase. I think both of them won as they stayed good friends.

Carter and Addie "making a mess, making a mess!" Actually, making cave paintings...

Two "King Narmers" come out on the other side of the "war" as friends.

Week 3: Things still going well. We studied how early Egyptian farmers would build homes back from the Nile and after it flooded, leaving rich silt on the banks, they would plant their crops in the silt. Friday, we made a Nile River by filling a tin pan with potting soil and sand, making a river from foil, using rocks, making pyramids, a sphinx and snakes (the snakes were Carter's idea) from clay. We put grass seeds in the potting soil and flooded the river. We'll do this once a week until the grass grows, illustrating why silt is so rich for planting. Both kids participated in this. Below is a picture of our project. The labels are cities, desert land and rock quarry. The clay thingy in the front is something Addie made that she is convinced belongs in the desert, but I have no clue what it is. Still, she participated, so she got to put her "thingy" (that's what she called it) in the desert! Also, for science, we studied reptiles. Carter glued split peas and pinto beans onto a poster board lizard so we could feel scales.

The Nile.

Carter's lizard. Some of the peas and beans fell off, so he says he wants to finish it but we've stayed so busy he hasn't had the chance. Perhaps this will happen tomorrow...

Week 4: We're current! This is week four. We continued in our study of the ancient Egyptians, particularly the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by Pharaoh Menes (aka King Narmer, mentioned in week 2). This is so fascinating to me. King Narmer became king at the age of 15. I am terrified by the thought of a 15-year-old driving, much less one as a ruler. ACK! We also studied fish for science so today, the kids made cardboard fish with scales that all go in the same direction. I helped Addie with hers lots -- that's why it looks like a grownup did it, but she participated and did a lot of the work. She just had trouble placing her scales correctly. Carter did his by himself except for a little talking and demonstration from me. Also, we cut hearts out of wrapping paper and wrote scriptures about love on them in preparation for February. Carter chose Matthew 4:19 (not a love verse per se, but since he was using whale wrapping paper, he wanted to use the "fishers of men" verse) and Galatians 5:22-23, and I wrote John 3:16, Philippians 2:3, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and 13:8a, John 13:34 and Romans 13:10. These will be our memory verses for the month (we memorize at least one a week). I'd like to talk to the kids and focus on Valentine's Day and how we as a society talk about romantic love or emotional love, but really love is from God and God's perfect love never fails us. I have an extensive collection of wrapping paper, so this was a good way to use some of it up! Below are pictures of our fish and our completed hearts. Addie cut out one but I wrote on it for her since she's not writing well. Can you guess which heart she chose as hers? (Hint: Look for the princess one! Carter chose the whale wrap). Now, they are on the couch, eating popcorn (their favorite fun day snack) and watching a longer movie on Netflix because they get to have movie day since we've already done crafts and it's raining.

Before we got started -- I always put a tarp on my table. Very handy!

Carter's fish!

Addie's fish!

The finished product -- a big ol' pile of scripture memory hearts.

Our Valentine scripture decorations.

So, there's month one for you! All in all, we are very content. We had our first BAD day yesterday. I'll blog that next, but I wanted this blog to be about the positives.

Why a blog?

Everyone blogs. I have about ten blogs saved to my favorites, and manage to really keep up with about two of them. I used to have a blog but decided I didn't really have anything original to say (I mean really, how many of us have thoughts that are that special?), so I did away with it. Then, we started homeschooling. This probably has not changed the fact that I don't have many original words, but it did cause a desire in me to keep some sort of record of this story that we as a family have embarked on.

(2008 Christmas card pic -- where did my current pictures go? I will have to get more organized with my pictures!)

This record may or may not be interesting to some, but I'm not writing to collect readers, though if at some point, you find yourself reading this and you stick with me, you deserve a pat on the back! I can get rather long-winded at times. I have had more than one person say to me, "You are verbal! You should write a book!" Maybe I will become an author at some point in my life (even if I remain unpublished), but as in all things, there are seasons, and the most authoring I can manage right now is a quick entry here on the net.

Right now, this blog is my journal. I haven't invited anyone but my husband to join it. In a few weeks, or months, or maybe never, I might make it public. It is not meant to be a resource blog for fellow homeschoolers, though if anyone eventually gathers insight or information that helps them along the way, I would be thrilled.

Before I had children, I used to relish sitting quietly for hours with a notebook and a pen. I would sit in a large chain bookstore, sipping my overpriced latte and feeling quite educated as I journaled my thoughts (they were still not quite original, but I thought they were at the time). I would construct poems and silly stories. I would make lists of my favorite things. At times, I would just write down words that I considered weighty and useful. Sometimes, I would drive out to the Reservoir and enjoy a sunset or a cool breeze and journal there. I discovered that I loved words, and I loved reminding myself of where I had been and where I had yet to go.

Then, the babies came and I no longer could find the time for consistent journaling. Don't misunderstand this as a bitter thing. Great were the joys (and sometimes aches and challenges) of nursing a sweet baby and rocking millions of miles through the night in my comfy chair with a little one breathing rapidly against my neck. Great were the triumphs (and also frustrations) of crawling, toddling, potty training, learning to swim, first words, first songs, etc. Great was the bittersweetness of first days at Mother's Morning Out and preschool, summer day camp for my oldest, and even beginning first grade in a traditional school system, causing me to spend more time than I ever imagined in the minivan. But this left little time for me (blog on "me-time" to come at some point).



Left: Leaving the hospital with newborn Carter, seven years ago. Mommy on some sort of narcotic and looking very drugged!



Below: Carter visits newborn Addie and me in the hospital -- Mommy opted out of narcotics this time -- much better!














At this point in my life, though, I would like to begin journaling again. I chose this venue because I type much more rapidly than I write with the pen (in my "career" as a legal assistant aide before I had my children, I was up to 85 words per minute, though I believe that has slowed considerably). Also, there is the added benefit of websites like blurb.com where you can have your blog made into a book. I feel like I'm scrapbooking in a way the adventures of this stage of life. Maybe some day, I will have the blog turned into a book so my children may look back and enjoy their own history as well as reading through some of the joys and struggles that came with motherhood and educating.

To my sweet children: At the ages of seven and four, you have brought more joy into my life than I could have ever imagined. My prayer will always be that you love Jesus deeply with all your heart and soul, and serve Him to your greatest abilities, whether in small or great things. The smallest endeavor becomes great (even if not in the eyes of man), when genuinely given to our Lord. Anything that comes from serving Him is a blessing.

Love, Mom