Why I homeschool

I have been asked frequently lately why I have decided to Homeschool. The answer is: I KNOW that it is the right thing for our family. I feel very strongly that I need to homeschool my kids.

I began feeling this summer that I need to start this school year, even though Abigail will be old enough for kindergarten next year. I wondered how I was going to do it, what I would teach, how I would get them to listen to me...

I was very afraid, because Abigail's natural response to anything I tell her is that she doesn't believe I have the answer. I might be right, I might be wrong... She'll find out herself. Which, in a lot of ways, is a great thing. However, there are some things you just have to trust me on. Like that letters go in a specific order, and must be arranged in lines on a page in order to be words. She didn't take my word for it on that for a long time. How could I homeschool this kind of personality, so different from mine? And yet, I knew that I had to do it.

When August rolled around, I began to ponder about what to do exactly. I had a 2 month old baby, I was in the middle of canning... life is busy! Things just fell into place for me. Phoebe gave me a good 3 weeks of sleeping through the night. I had the mental acuteness to develop a plan and begin writing my curriculum (a favorite part of teaching, I must say). When we started, the girls loved it! Who wouldn't, really? They get 2 hours of my attention, playing games, reading stories, writing letters... And at this age, I am still really cool to them.

The girls still ask me every day what we are learning in school tomorrow, and they look forward to mondays when we are going back to school. It is working out great, and they are learning a lot! I find that every time I know there is a concept I need to teach, but I don't know how to approach it, the answers just come to me as a work with each child individually. I felt that when I taught public school, and I believe all mothers feel that frequently, if not constantly.

While I know that I won't be the coolest person to them forever, and homeschool won't always be as easy as it is now, I know I'm off to a good start. If only there was a way for them to ride the bus AND do homeschool, they would think life was perfect. (They envy all the neighborhood kids who get to ride the bus to school.)

So far, my favorite lessons have been:

• The Chicken Polka
• Painting giraffes
• Bean Collage Butterflies
• Insect Hunt
• Heart anatomy and physiology (the best use I've yet found for all those textbooks I didn't sell back)
• Making a kite (well, that's in a few weeks, but I'm so excited!)

What treasures I have, and how exciting to be their teacher and coach as they discover life!

Things I am thankful for.

Today I have a full heart, and have been thinking of random things I am thankful for, and thought that I should post.

In no particular order:

• Laundry baskets. I think I have 15 in my house. They are so useful! Hampers, laundry carriers, toy boxes, toy cars, toy trains, kitty cages, suitcases, random stuff collectors, dirty diaper carriers... I love laundry baskets.
• Polka dots. Zenna has a favorite outfit that is pink with lots of polka dots. In fact, we have two of the same outfit (from two different hand-me-downs). Whenever she puts it on, she says, "Look! I have spots!"
• Machines. Dishwashing machine. Clothes washing machine. Vacuuming machine. Carpet cleaning machine. Clothes drying machine. Sewing machine. What a marvelous modern world we live in!
• Homeschool. Must confess that every day it is not so so fun to prepare and execute an hour or two of lessons, but I am grateful for the chance it gives me to be the mom I want to be.
• Toothless grins. Phoebe's smile makes me happy, and even more happy is the fact that she still has no teeth!
• little thank-you's. Olivia is very good at thanking me specifically for small things. Like today: "Thank you for cleaning my room mommy... I love to have a clean room!"
• Big Girl Birthdays. Abigail is turning 5 tomorrow. We have discovered that this gives us a lot of leverage: 5-year olds don't carry around ratty blankets, or whine, or leave food on their plate, or refuse to clean up their rooms. Abigail has been preparing herself for this very important day. (She is the one who came up all these things that 5-year-olds don't do.)
• Help. My MIL came over today to help me get my house back in order. It is wonderful!
  
• My Animal Diversity Professor. He taught us all about Toxoplasmosis and its dangers. He made us all promise that we women would never change a cat litter box while in our childbearing years, and made the men promise they would never let their wives change a cat box. This is a threat we take very seriously at our house. ;) thanks Joe!
  

Because you just never know.

I just had to share a funny experience that I had today. I have been very very tired, and pretty emotional the last few days. I have also had a very keen nose, and these are things that in combination send me running. To the drug store.

I stopped by Walgreens on my way home today. I unloaded all the kids, and put Phoebe in the sling, and held the hands of two, and one was trailing behind. I dashed to the Pregnancy tests, grabbed the cheapest one, and headed to the counter. The cashier looked at me, looked at all my girls, looked at the test and back at me. She just shook her head and said, "Oh no!"

It was negative, of course. I hope I am not the only one who keeps the industry in business with all these unnecessary purchases, but you just never know. And if a girl can know for sure, she should!

Let your soul delight in fatness.

My soul certainly delights in this fatness! Mommy's got the good stuff apparently. Weighing in at about 18 pounds at 4 months, this girl is chubby! But we love our chubby bubby! They are so fun that way.

I just can't help but smooch this baby all day! She is such a happy baby. She is very patient with her sisters. They love to hold her and talk to her, and sit on her... She smiles and giggles and coos. She has the cutest little pink tongue that she spends a lot of time exploring. She loves to such her thumb, but will suck any finger she can get. In fact, I can tell how hungry she is by the number of fingers in her mouth. 4 fingers is very hungry--mommy better feed me NOW! Just the thumb, and she could take it or leave it (of course she always takes whenever food is offered).

If only Zenna would learn to be gentle with the baby... She can't wait for Phoebe to grow up so she can have a playmate to boss.

We love baby Phoebe. Can't believe she's 4 months, but at the same time, can't believe she hasn't been here forever!

Daddy, will you play Star Wars?

Lately, the girls have been very intrigued by Joe's Lego Star Wars game. It's like a movie for them, only they don't have to wait until Friday. Zenna loves Darth Vador. She calls him "Darfa Fader" and on her birthday, asked if she was getting darfa fader for her birthday. All day she reminds me that when dad gets home, she will ask him to play star wars. And when Joe walks in the door, he is greeted with squeals of delight, loves and kisses, and requests that he play Lego Star Wars so they can watch.

Luckily, though he has not been blessed with sons, he has been blessed with girls who are receptive to Star Wars.

Tonight, Abigail wanted to play with him. This was the scene:This was the dialog:
Joe: Over here! Not THAT way!
Abigail: Giggle
Joe: NO! Follow ME!
Abigail: Giggle giggle.
Joe: The OTHER way... turn around!
Abigail: Rolling on the floor with laughter.

She plays like her mom.

Kittens

For those of you who know Abigail, you knew it would only be a matter of time. We had a cat when she was a baby, and they were best friends. When we moved, we gave Jack to a neighbor (from whom he eventually ran away, and that was the end of Jack...). Since living in Washington, we haven't had a cat. About a month after moving, I noticed some very pleasant changes. We no longer had cat hair all over our clothes. I no longer had to tell Abigail to stop eating cat food (she set up tea parties with Jack, serving up plates of cat food for everyone to eat). We didn't have a litter box to empty (although, to be fair, Jack almost always did his business outside, and not in our yard...). With all these pleasant things, I was very glad to be rid of pets, and thought perhaps we'd keep it that way.

Then, Abigail began to realize that pets are very cool. For her fifth birthday, she wanted a puppy and a kitten. She began telling us this in July. She finally asked Joe point blank if she could have a dog for her birthday. He said no. She asked why (or why not... her very favorite question). He said that they were slobbery, and stinky, and messy, and loud. But her friend has a dog. Her friends dad likes dogs. She saw his point. "OK. I'll get a cat." Hm... not exactly the way this conversation was supposed to end.

The next day we got a call from a lady in our ward. Her daughter had kittens she was trying to place in a home. They wanted to get rid of two. We decided to go for it. They were delivered on Friday. The rest is history.


They are named Callie and Frances. They are very very loved. If they survive this love past kittenhood, my life will be more peaceful.

Happy Happy Birthday Zenna Dear!

Yesterday was Zenna's Birthday. She had so much fun. The girls sang "Happy Birthday" to her about once every 15 minutes all day. She wore a marker lid on her finger all day pretending it was a birthday candle. She practiced blowing it out all day long. She got to eat tortillas for dinner. It was a great day to turn 2!

For Mommy, this birthday was a little stressful. It had to be a birthday made out of what we had on hand. So, Homemade Birthday, here we come! I made a skirt our of some fabric scraps, and a set of fabric balls also out of scraps. I made a "Family Picture Memory game" using some chipboard squares and scrapbook paper. We had a lot of fun playing that for her birthday party. Then came the cake. I had to make a cake from scratch. No pressure.

This was the cake process: As soon as I took the cookbook from the shelf, I had a swarm of little people join me in the kitchen. "Are you making the cake?" "What kind of cake?" "Can we have chocolate cake?" "Will it have sprinkles?" "Can it be a pink cake?" "Will it have sprinkles?" "I want chocolate chips!" "Can I have a taste?"

Once they realized it would be a while before edible cake emerged, they left the area.

Then the oven timer went off, and the swarm returned. "What kind of cake is it?" "Is it done?" "Will it have sprinkles?" "Can I have some?" "Don't forget the sprinkles." "I want chocolate chips!" "I want sprinkles." "Can I have another taste?" "I want some sprinkles." "Will it have sprinkles?" "Don't forget the sprinkles!" "Can I taste the sprinkles?"

Minute by minute my sanity was slipping away... The swarm was getting louder... Phoebe was crying, so I escaped to go feed her, the girls left the area, and peace was restored.


I was a little ashamed of the cake (which tasted fine), because this is the kind of cake I grew up with:This is the cake my mom made for Olivia's birthday this year. A huge hit, and much more beautiful than mine. I am ashamed. I must learn those made cake decorating skills soon, so that my girls can have lovely birthday cakes...