Confessions

I home school my kids. You probably already know that if you're reading my blog. But what you might not know is that sometimes I am jealous of those who don't. I rarely talk about it, because all the other home school moms I see seem to love it and are doing a fabulous job of it. I, however, see my house and think how much better it might be to just put the kids in school. I get envious of the moms who take their kids to school and then have 4-7 hours to clean the house, get the shopping done, or even just take a shower in peace. I feel guilty when I have these thought and feelings because I know that homeschooling is what God has asked me to do. I know all the great benefits of homeschooling my kids; I see the growth and development in Katie almost daily at this point. I know that the messy house and lack of showers is just a season. I know all the logical things I would be telling another home school mom who is feeling this way. But knowing all the right answers and feeling the tiredness and jealousy are two very different things. All I can do is hold on to those logical thoughts at this point and know that God does indeed take all things and make them not just a good thing but a blessing in His own special way.
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for my great relationship with my daughter. I am thankful for my ever supportive husband, my energetic son and a God who takes my feeble efforts and makes them work together for good simply because I love Him!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Fun With Adverbs

Today Katie was learning adverbs. I gave her a list of words and let her make silly sentences. Here's what she came up with...

Knights toddle mysteriously.

Dancers cry awkwardly.

Turtles leap shrilly.

Eagles lumber fiercely.

Spies battle gracefully.

Babies wink cautiously.

Some are a little more accurate than she planned, I think!

Tree House

Today I was looking out of my bedroom window and thinking how much I love my bedroom. The last house we lived in my bedroom was the biggest room in the house (Yes, the biggest in the whole house!). This house it is very small, but I love it so much more.

I began to wonder why. Why do I love this room so much? I think it's because I feel like I'm in a tree house. Growing up I always wanted a tree house. And living in my favorite house I almost had one (but it was on the ground, under the trees). Looking out of my bedroom now all I see is trees. I feel like I live up in them and that makes me think of beautiful times in my favorite house growing up.

You may be wondering why I keep saying "favorite house growing up". Well, I am 37 years old and have lived in 22 different houses. I can describe all of them to you rather simply (ie: the pink one, the attic one, the white long one, the mountain side one and etc), but in this one I am just describing it as "my favorite". It was a farm house that had chickens and ducks and horses and rabbits and more animals. And it had trees; beautiful, tall, fun trees! I loved that house.

Living in Scotts Valley I am reminded of my childhood a lot. The people up here are so friendly and laid back. The weather is warm, but has a bit of the cool, misty mornings. And the trees growing high to the sky. It's just beautiful.

I know I've written about my love for my house before, but I just realized another reason I love it. I am getting old and sentimental. This house reminds me of good times in my childhood and that makes me happy!

I was a bad mom!

This morning I had a bad mom moment. It was funny though. Let me tell you about it...
Eli got mad at Katie and yelled out "you're dumb. D. O. dumb".
Katie and I started laughing and Katie said "D. O. spells do, you dummy. D.O.M.B. spells dumb".
I said, "DUMB is dumb. But nice job trying to spell kids.". Then I walked away.
About 2 hours later realized that I should have told them to not call each names. I was just so happy they were spelling that I forgot to correct them.
I know, I know. Bad mom. But it was funny!

Eli is a big boy!

Today is a big day in our house. Eli's crib/toddler bed was taken out and a new big boy bed was brought in. He's been running around saying he's a big boy now!!! He's so proud!
We also had a visit from Katie's E.S. (the teacher who checks our progress in homeschooling every month!). Mrs. Caroline has a 6 month old named Jack. Jack loves Eli. He watches Eli and laughs at Eli. Today I asked Eli if he thinks we should have another baby in our family. He looked at me and smiled and shook his head no. I asked why and he said "I'm your baby. Me and Belle. You don't need more."
So, my baby is a big boy now, but still wants to be my baby! I love that boy!!!

PS His new bedding is gray, black and red and says "Rock Star" with red guitars all over. And since he got a new bed, we got Katie new bedding as well. Her bed comforter is black with bright embroidered peace signs all over. Both sets of bedding is TOTALLY them! I'll send pictures when I can load them on to the blog site!

My Musings on Homeschooling the Parent

Homeschooling has been a strange journey for me. I brought my child home because she was about to drown in the 30 child classroom. I saw she needed more one on one than they could possibly give. I spent the first year working on figuring where she really was, getting her caught up and getting a schedule that worked for all of us. This year she is mostly caught up and now we are getting into really interesting information.

I have learned so much information that I had no idea about. For instance, Mesopotamia means between the rivers and hippopotamus means river horse. I've also learned why chicken eggs are different colors and that a platypus is a mammal even though they lay eggs. Those are mostly useless, yet interesting, items to know, but I've also learned new grammar things. For instance, you can sit down but you set something down. I can't sit a baby in her crib, I set her in her crib. I can sit on the couch or I can set myself down on a couch. This is news to me.

I have also learned things about myself on this journey. I am not very predictable. I don't like doing the same thing everyday. I like mixing things up. I don't mind reading everyday, but does it have to be at the same time in the same place everyday?

More importantly, I've learned that I haven't dealt with all the pain my undiagnosed dyslexia had caused me in my childhood. I wanted to do good in school and be smart, but struggled with my reading so much it was impossible. Everyone thought I was being lazy and just not doing my school work to reflect my ability. Truth was, I had no idea what was going on most of the time and was just able to "perform" to the teachers liking in class. I see this in my daughter and it scares me. So, I am having to deal with my own pain issues as I teach my daughter that she is smart and I see her trying hard too! I, to this day, hate reading out loud. It's hard to do for a dyslexic. My daughter wants me to read to her all the time and I struggle (even with kids books, I'm afraid) but this too is a lesson for my daughter. She can see that a woman can be successful and still struggle with a reading difference. I think she's not going to struggle as I have. And I pray she never feels the pain of not feeling good enough as she gets older!

I know homeschooling was the right thing to do for my daughter. I have a feeling it'll be good for my son. But now I can see that homeschooling was great for the mother! Praise God I obeyed and brought Katie home for school!

Perseverance

One of the great joys in my life is when my kids actually enjoy conquering a hard task at school.
Today, Eli asked to do school. He asks to do school often, but I am usually so busy with "real" school with Katie that I give him something easy like cutting and pasting or mazes. But today I decided he needed a challenge. I gave him a dot to dot book for five year olds. It was HARD. He cried and fussed, but then when he figured it out and completed the page he did a happy dance and asked to do it again!
Katie has always struggled with writing/reading/grammar. Today we were talking about nouns ("A noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea."). To solidify the rule I pulled out an old magazine and told her she had 15 minutes to find as many pictures of nouns as she can and paste them on the page. She is giggling and searching. I hear her saying quietly to her self "a noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea...yep, this is a noun." She is having fun learning and she will REALLY know this definition by the end of the day!
My children are finding school a challenge, but are learning to persevere. I am finding homeschooling and housework and being a mom, wife, friend is a challenge, but I am being encouraged to persevere. It reminds me of the verse found in Hebrews 10:36...You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
We all have something we need to persevere in. What challenge are you facing today? Remember, the Lord promises great blessings if you fight through!