Homeschooling Katie (and myself)

This is our first year homeschooling. It has been fun. But what has been cool, to me anyway, is how much I am learning. (I'd say relearning, but I honestly don't know if I ever knew some of this stuff!) For example, the other day Katie's writing assignment was "If you could go anywhere for a vacation where would you go and why?". Katie proceeded to write about wanting to go to South Dakota. I didn't even know she knew about South Dakota so I asked her why she wants to go there. She said she wants to see the mountain with the men's faces in it (Mount Rushmore). I was shocked. Then I realized I didn't even know that Mount Rushmore was in South Dakota. I would have said something profound like, "It's on the east side of the country". I looked it up and sure enough she was right. We will never again forget that Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota. Why did she know this and I did not? She watched a Veggie Tale where Larry made fun of South Dakota and at the end of the film make a music video about the great things in South Dakota. Who says Veggie Tales aren't educational?!
Another example of how much Katie is teaching me, she did a report on the Mayflower. She researched at a friends house and wrote the oral report there. I had nothing to do with is until it was time to practice. As she practiced I learned that there were 102 passengers on the Mayflower; 32 of them being kids. Later in the day after having her practice several times Eli comes in and tells me he is one of the 32 kids on the "flower boat". We are all learning from keeping Katie home!

Things I Never Thought I'd Say...

As a mom of a boy I have found myself saying things I never thought I'd say. It never ceases to amaze me how different boys are from girls.
Here are a few (although I have a feeling more will be added later).

* Please don't bite the dog again.

* Get your hands out of your pants.

* Poop is not paint!

* That's a doll, not a machine gun.

* No goosing the mama.

*OH, yea. That is a big waterfall. (As he pees standing up at the toilet)

* Yep. Sure is a huge poop!

* Don't pee on the dog...you should use a toilet. (As he peed outside and tried to get the dog who was sniffing around him)

My all time favorite...

* NO! We do not wear a toilet seat on our head.

Jesus And Me

Yesterday we had some friends over. Eli happily served his banana bread that he helped me make. When our friends asked if he made the bread he proudly said "Yes, Jesus and me".
What a lesson for all of us. As Paul said in Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men"
Out of the mouths of babes!

Spurgeon Quote

I heard a great quote last night. It's from Charles Spurgeon.
"The Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to the life that is not falling apart!"
So, are you using your Bible well? What has the Lord told you through the scriptures today?

My Amazing Kids

I have some great kids. This blog is to chronicle our family life and I feel I need to share this for future sake!
On Friday I had a migraine. This was probably the worst migraine I've had since before Eli was born. It was bad! Then I took the kids to their swimming class and sat in the room with all the chlorine chemicals in the air and got worse and worse. (Dumb, I know. I should have sat outside.) Anyway, when we got home I was sick as can be. Katie proceeded to make her brother lunch, start her own lunch, do some dishes and rub my head and praying for me. Then she sent me to bed and took care of her brother. I slept for 2 hours before Eli came in and asked how long Katie was the boss. I wanted to laugh, but my head still hurt. When I finally got up, Katie told me that she and Eli had put the clothes from the washer into the dryer but didn't know how to run the washer so they just separated the clothes for the next load.
Can you believe it? I couldn't. These are some amazing kids. I didn't know they knew how to do as much as they did. I guess it's true that they are watching all the time. Now that I know they can do it, though I'm making them do more today. (Maybe that's why Katie isn't feeling well!)

Eli School

Today Eli decided he wanted to do school. He has a drawer in the school desk that has "write on wipe off" books and dry erase markers. He pulled out his alphabet book and went to work. He turned to the "M" page and said "hey momma, a is for moose". I said "great try. but M is for moose." He said, "oh yea, M is for moose". Then he moved on to the "V" page and said "hey momma, a is for bird." I said, "great job. but that's a vulture. V is for vulture". He said "oh yea. V is for vulture". Then he looked at the U page. He said, "hey momma, b is for horn on horse". I said with a giggle "oh honey, that's a unicorn. U is for unicorn." He said "oh, ok". Then he turned back to the O page. He said "hey momma. O is for octopus, right?" I said "Great Job! You're right. O is for octopus." He smiled and said "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I got one right!" It was so cute.
Later, when I was cleaning up the pages I noticed that he actually did try to write most of the letters. He makes a great b, C, c, M, N, O, o, P, p, V, X, x, Y, Z and z. I am so impressed with my 3 year old. I hardly ever work with him. When I do he's rarely interested. But if I just let him do it when he wants he does a great job.
Lesson for mom's: make it available and they will try!!!