Today we are doing Science and it is going to get DIRTY. Yep today we are talking about dirt. Among other things we will be doing here is a Word Search I drew up. Feel free to use it. We are spending the majority of the day on dirt and rotting things. The Boys should love it. Here is the crossword and the Answer Key I drew up. It took for freaking ever, so I hope someone else can use it. Update tomorrow on our Science Dirt Day.
Though I know everyone's letter to santa posts are in jest, all I see EVERY time is people talking about gifts that they want. What about the gifts they have already been given? The first gift of Christmas was a child. A Child given to the world from our creator and Heavenly Father. That child was our eldest brother, and His only begotten son. How many of us parents could do that? Give our oldest child for the good of the rest of our children? Christ volunteered to be our redeemer. Christmas is in celebration of his gift to us, his life. What more could we put on a list, then that which was already given?
Oh my word, that was serious fun. Days like today make me freaking love homeschool. It didn't start off that way. We have decided to dedicate each day of the week to two subjects so we can focus and internalize our subjects for the day. Our hardest subjects are Language Arts and Math, as they traditionally require a lot of writing. I have four elementary boys who detest sitting still. Naturally, Language Arts and Math are our hardest subjects. Im fairly new at this homeschooling thing so when I have a win like today it is TOTALLY worth celebrating.
Today was not a good start. We had scripture study before breakfast...and the kids were WAY too wiggly. Lots of Mom and Dad yelling at kids to be quiet, real spiritual lesson. : / Then we had breakfast, more fighting over who got what bowl, and so and so got more cereal than I did. I make them all rinse their bowls and put them in the dishwasher. While I continue to load the dishwasher and start it, the boys are playing with the fans they made yesterday. [We just accordion folded card stock and put stickers around one end to keep it together to make a fan.] I could not get them to put the stupid things away. We had to study letter sounds and practice our reading. That isn't exactly a high energy thing to do. The boys were driving me nuts so I sent them each to a corner in the room with their fans. Then the wheels started turning.
”Ok, here are the rules. You each have to answer my question. When you get the question right you may either bring an arm up [arm your self], bring an arm down for a hit, or move one step in any direction. If you answer wrong you do not move. The object of the game is to get one hit in on someone else and to not get hit yourself. If you go in for a hit and miss, then you will have to use one move to re arm yourself.”
For the fun of it, anyone who got hit was no longer eligible to be the winner, but they could keep answering questions and get other people out. [I think being out was actually more fun because no one was after you, they were all just trying to avoid you.]
Then I would give them a letter and they had to tell me what sound it made. For the older boys I would give them a sound and they had to tell me each possible letter it could be, or combination of letters it might be. They played it for an HOUR. And, we were whacking each other with paper fans so there really was no harm done. They loved it. YAY! We actually got our entire lesson in with me asking the questions to each kid. Yeah...I'm going to be using this same game again for other questions or weekend review. The boys even got me to play a round. When it was my turn to move, they would each take turns asking me questions about whatever they wanted. I got all the questions right, but they moved better than I did, and I was the first one hit in that game. I know this game wouldn't work for some households, but it worked WONDERS for us today so I thought I would share. Happy Homeschooling!
Before I was born she was waiting for me.
A special part of my family tree.
My oldest sister for me to know,
and to be my example as I learn and grow.
Then who could have guessed, as I started to age.
Another sister of mine took center stage.
How lucky was I, to be close to these girls.
One with straight hair and one with curls.
We all shared a room for the longest of years,
Sometimes it was good, sometimes there were tears.
We had days that were happy and days that were sad,
But we stuck it out, through the good and the bad.
Then another sister came, who was tiny and frail,
we all wanted so bad, for her to prevail.
But now shes an angel who lives in the skies,
and watches her sisters with her angel eyes.
We became older, and as friends we did thrive,
and who would have guessed, came sis number five.
The silliest one to join us to date,
She plays and she giggles and really is great.
Just when I thought this was the best there could be,
A new sister joined into our family.
A friend we had known for a very long while,
Married our Biggest Bro and that sure made us smile.
Then I married out to a family, whats more.
There were more sisters there. I had sisters GALORE.
What fun life was now with these sisters of mine.
The way family works is the greatest design.
The days progressed on, and what do you know?
My Hubby's family added a sis to the show.
She married the youngest, now that side was complete.
Full with Funny, and Smart, and the Crafty, and Sweet.
I knew sisters were great, but I hadn't a clue,
that they would enrich my life with the things that they do.
The kindness they show, the talks that we had.
Filled me with joy, and they made my heart glad.
I love all my sisters, and then guess what I got?
In a few short months TWO more joined the lot.
One with bright purple shoes, and a smile so pretty,
Another with skates, and a brain that was witty.
Sisters, oh sisters, you enrich my life so.
The world is brighter, as together we grow.
But we cant forget, my brothers the misters.
Because when they get married, I'll have even MORE sisters!
My Dearest Sisters,
Some of you I have known my whole life, others I have only known a short while. But I want you to know how much you ALL mean to me. Each of you, no matter how long I have known you, have touched my heart in ways you cant even imagine. Each of you is precious to me. Praying for you all by name this past week has, even though we aren't physically together, brought me closer to each of you. All of you are always on my mind. Though I may not be able to see you as often as I would like, just know that I love you. And no matter what happens, or how far apart we may be, you will ALWAYS be my sisters. And that means SO MUCH to me.
I have officially decided that a mother coined the term Good Grief. Because seriously, all I have gotten from my kids today is grief. Its not the older ones, its my three year old and eighteen month old. Shall I make a list of a few of the things they did? Unrolled the parents toilet paper all over my bedroom and bathroom while I was teaching math to my oldest. I say parents toilet paper because I expect them to do it in their bathroom so we buy low quality TP. But they got into the soft Charmin in my bathroom. While in the bathroom, they dumped my garbage can, and colored on the walls with one of my husbands good pens.
Then, because it is math day and I have to teach each kid a different thing, I ignore it because, that in itself isnt so bad. So I lock my bedroom door so they cant do it again or make it worse. Put my eighteen month old in his bed, and I head downstairs to do the lesson with my second oldest. I figured it was mostly R who made the mess, so putting him down for a nap would solve it. NOPE. While doing my lesson in the basement with A, my five year old and my three year old are in the kitchen. Yeah....I JUST went grocery shopping. They found one package of each different kind of cracker and opened them all. Then they woke up R and let him out of his room. So now all the spilled packages of crackers were now crunched packages. I heard Rs voice and knew they had gotten him out of bed, only to discover that him being woken up from a nap wasnt the worst thing to happen to my kitchen. There is not one inch of floor without some crumb pile on it. They also took my highchair, hid the cushions for it somewhere and flipped the thing upside down and were using it for a race car. Just as I begin to get them in trouble, the four month old girl wakes up. So I leave yet another mess unattended to. I had to change a poopy bum.
Mom is busy changing a bum, lets do more bad stuff. So someone moves around my furniture in my front room to make stepping stones. Pillows from couch, ottoman, piano bench, and rocking chair, all in a circle to include the couch and chair in the corner so they can run around the room without touching the floor. I get the boys in trouble and start making them clean it up and I hear a container pop open and lots of little somethings go flying across the floor. That container was a brand new thing of raisins. And while I was directing my older ones to clean up their mess, my baby boy got into the raisins and tried to open them resulting in the violent pop off of the lid and raisins ALL OVER my hallway. I go to put him in his room and then sit in my room for a good ten minutes. That was another mistake.
While sitting in my room collecting my thoughts, my three year old finds my modpodge and decides to dump it all over my livingroom floor. YAY. I just got that clean and told my three year old he has to be in bed. Is he? no. Should I be worried....yes. If you will excuse me, I'm probably going to make brownies for the third day in a row this week.
I have officially been homeschooling for a week now. And no...I am not very good at it yet. Preparing lessons, feeding children, cleaning the house, keeping the little ones from making messes, and teaching three homeschoolers makes for a hard day. And this is my every day. It isn't called easy, it is called life. Taking the easy way out is not fulfilling. Sure...it is easy, but that isn't always a good thing. This is my challenge, this is my calling. I was meant to be my children's mother. No...I am not very good at it, but I am trying.
I have gotten to the point where I can do two meals, a load of dishes, and teaching in one day. So...my house is a disaster. I didn't have the money to buy curriculum, but as a wonderful friend of mine put it, "All you need to do homeschool is the internet and a library card." I thought she was crazy...but it turns out, she was right. On the internet I found some old curriculum that is out of print...but it is free. The McGuffy Readers are free on google, and Rays Arithmetic, is also free. I downloaded them to my computer and printed out the first books. My father knows Spanish, and has agreed to do a Spanish class every other week with my children. Free of charge. I do have one paid subscription to a worksheet website that I love but the price is very low...and my awesome friend gave me a subscription because she loves me. But I when it is time to renew, I am SO going to do it. Love the website. It is called enchanted learning for those who want to know. But typically, I let the boys pick a subject, and then i research it, and then we have a lesson on it. At this age we are mostly concerned with learning to read. As they get older I will probably buy curriculum.
I'm not telling you to homeschool your children, we do this for our family because this is where we feel they will thrive the best. But today...well today was a "I need chocolate" kind of day. Unfortunately I would have had to take all six of my kids to the grocery store to buy a candy bar...yeah, I didn't need to spend that dollar anyway. So, I made cookies. It takes more time, but with a little bit of milk, it is just as good.
Being a new homeschooler I went online to find some tips on how to teach more than one kid at a time, and where to store all your homeschooling supplies. Almost every homeschool room I found was totally straightened up and full of expensive storage equipment. I couldn't do that, I couldn't afford that. I needed better tips...so I kept searching. Every mom who posts a video, posts it when things are clean. I don't know about you, but my house only gets clean after the kids go to bed, then first thing in the morning it is a disaster again. I know lots of people who feel like they are failing at one area or another in their life. Don't dwell on what you cant do, change your circumstances. You have more power on the world around you than you know. Don't sell yourself short. But take baby steps. Today I went running for myself, today was a success. This is what success looks like. So now, if you have made it this far, I give you my dirty little secrets.
(Edit: I didn't change myself at all before I started my video, I JUST came back from running my five k course, so my hair is in a gross ponytail, I'm sweaty and in grunge clothes.)
Yes it is a mess, but do you know what, it is getting better. I have gotten rid of STUFF, free stuff is great, but too much free stuff ISN'T WORTH IT. Don't live like that. If your house is always a mess no matter how much you clean, you have too much stuff. If you haven't used it in a year TRASH IT. If you feel like it needs to be donated, then donate it. But if you put it in a bag to donate it...and it stays in your house for more than a week, TAKE IT TO THE TRASH. Don't leave it in your house. I have taken out garbage bag after garbage bag from my home. Nine bags or more have gone out of my house, to NEVER come back. Now just look at the room you are in for a moment. Think of nine kitchen sized garbage bags full of things, toys clothes, random books and such...now DUMP THEM IN YOUR FLOOR. It is too much stuff. People get things because they are cute, and shopping is fun. I have serious hoarder tendencies. I love getting things. Shopping has always been something I love doing. When I feel bad, my first impulse is to go buy stuff. When I'm having a good day, do you know what I feel like doing? I want to shop. I love finding usable second hand things. The only problem is, when you have too many usable second hand things, they get buried and NOTHING gets used, and you get abused. No one likes living around clutter. You get used to it, but your soul still needs something, so you feel it with more material somethings....and compound the problem.
Look at yourself in the mirror and repeat after me, "I will improve my quality of life. I control my surroundings. If there is something I cant get rid of, I don't control my life, my STUFF does." Believe it or not, when I first moved into this house, it stayed clean. But I hadn't acquired things yet. We had a friend in need, we let her and her family move into our basement. Living with others is stressful...so what did I do? I shopped. I loved bringing home a new toy and giving it to my children. Seeing their face when they got a neat motorcycle made me feel better...but only for a moment. Then the moment would be over, and I would be back in a stressful situation. After the family moved out, I had a newborn. So naturally, I wanted new things for the new baby. Bought more stuff. Then we had another surprise and thirteen months after our son was born, we had our first little girl. But now, two years have passed, and I had collected, and stashed, and bought. And I was buried.
Do you know one reason why I run? Because it makes me feel good, and the feeling lasts. Do you know what I do now when I get the urge to go shopping and fill my house with more things, I spend time with my kids, and we run. I still get the happy faces, but not from giving of things, but from giving of time.
My wonderful mother helped me more than anyone. She would come to my house, and it would be a total disaster, but she knew that just helping me clean for a day wouldn't help me the next week. I needed to change, and I needed it fast. When you are the one living with piles of things every where and someone offers to help get rid of things, don't get offended. All they want to do is improve your quality of life. Next time someone offers help, take it. I admit, had my mother not pushed me, I probably would have spiraled downward. You get to a point where the mess is too overwhelming and you cant see a way out. And when you don't have a lot of money, you store things like clothes and toys. I had clothes for my boys stashed for five years down the road. Overkill...I didnt think so, what If we didnt have the money to buy clothes when they got that age? Do you know what...most of the clothes that I have, were given to me. People are generally good, and when they know you have a need, they are ready to help.
I have been fortunate to have a mother who wanted to help. She started slowly, by introducing me to a tv show, of all things. (no it wasnt hoarders) It was a show called clean house. And as I watched it, something clicked. Having your home overflowing with things is FOOLISHNESS. A house is a place for you to come home and feel at peace. I used to think that the only people who kept their houses clean were people without kids, or people with a lot of money to pay for cleaning ladies. Now, the kid thing is valid, but it isn't an excuse. If your kids get into things too much, get rid of some of the things they get into. Invest in locks for your closets. As evident by the video, I still don't have a total handle on this. But for me today was a success, my children were fed, I did something to improve my quality of life (running), I scrubbed my dishwasher so there were no more sticky finger prints on it, and I made cookies. No I didn't finish everything on my list, I needed to do a load of laundry, and a load of dishes, and I needed to sort my file cabinets, I needed to organize my school cabinet, I have to fix the bookshelf my children broke or find other places for things to go.....the list goes on and on...STOP IT. Don't dwell on what you haven't done, look at what you accomplished. Are your kids fed, happy, and loved, are your home circumstances slightly better today then yesterday? If so, then today was a success.
Mothers of the world, you control the future. Our children will inherit the earth after us, revel in the fact that you can change everything. If you want to make an impact, first make an impact with yourself. I'm on the up and up with my life, and I am not going back. I encourage each of you to join me. Join me in finding the joy in the journey, join me in re learning how to have a fulfilling life instead of a life full of stuff.
then I decided no one wants to read my complaints, so I figured posting here would be better. No clue why.
DUDE! Can today get worse! I swear these boys are out to get me today. The rest of the Orange juice on the floor, waking up the baby by jumping on her and slamming doors, waking up Dad in the middle of his night, not helping me clean up THEIR toy room, telling me theyre not hungry then eating my food, I left my merchandise at the store, and I forgot to purchase something I needed, cant go replace lost items cause I already have a kid down for the night and tomorrow is sunday so I have to wait till monday, realized tomorrow is sunday meaning I need to go find sunday clothes for everyone, found a nasty rotten apple in the basement where we are not supposed to have FOOD, incessant tattling, just realized I have to do baths for everyone. BAH! trying REALLY hard not to be in a bad mood. ok, maybe Im not trying that hard to not be in a bad mood. but DANG IT! To top it all off, my youngest boy dumped a cup of water all over the keys of my laptop yesterday. Some of my keys arent working at all, so to write several things I have to find it somewhere else and paste it. ANNOYING! Ok...lets try to make today better.... Finished cleaning the basement so the boys only have one bucket of toys out instead of five, now they can clean it themselves. got a box of free clothes and lots of shoes for my kids my children aren't fighting. they're being loud, but they're not fighting. kids have all eaten so I can do an early bedtime man....Ive been thinking forever. and its making my head hurt. That last one is my only salvation tonight. Time to put the kids ALL in their beds.
Well for the past almost 2 weeks my mother has had anywhere from 2 to all 5 of my boys at her house. She has been one of the biggest helps ever. Even before I had Liv, she was there, ready to take on the boys for me. It has been a pretty peaceful week. After I got home from the hospital, it was just me and my baby for a few nights. It was wonderful. Then we brought back Mike and Xan. My sleep schedule was totally off because I would wake up with the baby. But the big boys were great. They knew how to get their own breakfast even without mom waking up. Cold cereal and Milk, then when I'd get up, with a little prodding, they'd clean up their mess, and load the dishwasher. Then we swapped Xander with Grandma for Owen and Rodney. The clean house....totally over with my 3 youngest at home. Once I got used to juggling the babies again, then it was time for Gavin and Xander to come home. We've been together for a few hours now...yep, it's a zoo. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I was even able to get a GOOD picture of all my kids.
Olivia in her Princess dress. I wanted to get a little bit better of a picture, but she spit up on it after these pictures. I'll have to wash it and try for some cuter pictures. But MAN this dress was super cute and FOOFY.
Last night we were discharged from the hospital. It was so good to come home...even if we came home in a crazy amount of rain. Mike had to work, so it was just the two of us girls at home. Having my bed back was wonderful....but i'm already missing the magic nurse button from the hospital. Now I just have to go in the kitchen when I'm hungry.
These are some pictures of the family in the hospital, not all great ones...but we did get one of Olivia with each of her protectors.
She's here! Everyone say hello to our little Olivia. Even though she's right next to me, I still can't believe it. Baby no 6! She came last night just after 3am.
She was 5lb 10oz and 19" long
Look at the skinny little stick. So cute and long.
I'd post a picture with Daddy, but he was the one with the camera...and now that I can move, he's asleep. But when the other kids come to visit, we'll get a picture of daddy and Liv.
Today was Fantastic. Yesterday I was overly tired and feeling very worn down. I couldn't seem to find the energy to do anything. So my wonderful mother told me I could come to her house. I was really grateful because that meant my kids wouldn't be making more messes at our house....then I realized my seats are still out of my van. Mike was asleep, as he had just gotten home from work, so I had no one to help me put the seats back. Oh well, I was stuck till he woke up. Then as I talked on the phone with mom in the afternoon, she decided she'd just take the boys and feed them dinner at her house and bathe them for me so I could just focus on getting everyone's clothes ready for church the next day.
Once mom drove out to my house, she looked at me and said, "how about I just take them for the day tomorrow. And then after church you can come get them." Uh...YES! Going to church is really hard on me, but we go because that is where we're supposed to be. Each Sunday morning I gather up 5 children's clothes hopefully I can find a shirt in the right size for everyone, then I have to find shoes and socks. I'm usually doing good to get socks on them, matching socks is a miracle in itself. And if I'm aloud to shower in the morning before church, then we're doing fantastic. The best days are when we have matching socks, I get a shower, and we're in time to take the sacrament.
Today, however, I just had to get myself ready. Admittedly we were a little late, they were singing the opening song when we got there, but we sat IN the chapel and actually heard the ward announcements. It was SO wonderful! I heard every word of every talk. I actually got to sit and listen for the first time in YEARS. Each portion of church was fantastic. In sacrament meeting we talked about being positive. Sunday School was about spiritual gifts, and Relief Society was about chastity. Each hour had some part of the subject that really touched me today. I LOVE going to church! Someday, it will be like that every week. But for now, just getting a full Sunday in without kids has re-energized me for a long time. I CAN handle keeping kids in line, and quiet during church. And it IS worth it.
Thank you to a friend of ours who goes to work with Mike for the picture. Sadly someone said something to me right as he snapped the picture so I wasn't looking at the camera, but I am glad he took it. It was great to have him come. Hopefully he got some questions answered about the church. I know there are some he knows that feel we're a cult, and after today I'm wondering what he thinks. All in all it was a really wonderful Sunday, and a beautiful day of rest.
We went to Grandpa and Grandma Adams' house and found Aunt Lilly's hula hoop. Grandpa was kind enough to show us how it worked. Hahaha. Out of all my brothers, Dad trying to hula hoop makes me think of Keith.
Well, It's not technically the beginning of the school year until June 1st. Since I'm new to this whole home school thing, we're starting with a few lessons here and there to get my feet wet. Yesterday the boys only did math, and EVERYONE is on a different level. Pretty much we had to take one on one time, both me and daddy, to make sure they each got the instruction needed. Our oldest, M, is learning multiplication Next one down, X, is refining his addition and will be starting 2 digit addition soon. G, is just beginning simple addition, and learning math symbols. O is just learning his numbers. So that took quite a bit of time, but that's what we were given the time for. To teach our kids.
Today's lesson was in Geography. The boys have been asking questions about the world so we started today with Continents. It was a good review for me. I had to look it up to remember. But we have a large floor puzzle of the world so once I got the refresher from an internet search, it went great. We put the youngest, R, who is almost 18months, down for a nap. Then we began our puzzle. We talked about how there are 7 continents. Then we named them all, North America, South America, Antarctica, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia. To help them remember I told them a few facts about each continent. We were talking about the continents for a good 2 hours. The boys got to the point where if I gave them the first sound of the continent, they could tell me what it was. By the end of the lesson, my oldest had all but 2 of them memorized without help. Looks like we'll keep reviewing this for the week. For the rest of the week, each day we'll focus on one continent at a time and by the end of the week we'll do a review.
Well...the Dr does't think I'll make it to my due date. I'm dilated to a 2 and 50% effaced as of yesterday. And I've been having contractions all week. My next appointment is the 30th. The Dr. guess about 6lb 10oz for her weight. He called it a little on the small size...but that's about average for me. I'm trying not to get to apprehensive but just knowing that the doctor doesn't think I'll make it to my due date makes it hard for me to ignore all the contractions I'm having this week. I'm not worried at all....I just don't want to get impatient. It would be so convenient for me to have Olivia early. We have a family reunion coming up in June and if I go early, I could be recovered enough to actually get to spend time with my family. If I go till my due date....that's the week of the reunion. I could feasibly miss the whole thing. So yes, I would LOVE to have this baby very soon....but I think every 8 month pregnant woman feels that way. Anyhow...mostly I just want to sleep on my stomach again. No scratch that. I just want to be able to sleep again. HAHA like that'll happen AFTER the baby comes. Guess I better try to get the sleep I can right now while I don't have a newborn. Night all!
I just LOVE it when my kids do the right thing! Tonight my oldest was the only one to finish all his dinner, so when everyone else went to bed, me and 7 year old M got to play a game. I figured he was old enough to learn yhatzee. Boy did I hit the nail on the head! He LOVED that game. The first round he was still learning, but he caught on quick, and by the second game, he could decide if he wanted to try for a small straight, full house, or one of his numbers at the top. It really was a lot of fun, but by the time we finished our second game....it was 10:30pm. Yeah...a little late for a 7 year old to be up.
I told him it was time for bed, and I didn't want him to wake up X (they sleep in the same bed, and X was already down for the night), I told him he could sleep on the couch in the living room if he wanted. Sleeping on the couch for my boys is a HUGE treat, so he picked the couch. He asked if he could watch a movie to go to sleep and I told him that it was already to late. We already had fun time, and not it was time to sleep. I told him goodnight and he gathered up his stuff while I went down stairs to check my email.
As I was sitting on the computer, after about 3 minutes of being downstairs, I decided I better go make sure he didn't turn on the tv just because Mom wasn't watching. I head upstairs, and to my surprise, find every last light in the house off, and my son on the couch with his blanket! I thought, for sure, that he would have turned on a movie. He had enough time to get one started because I was downstairs. But he decided to listen to Mom, and go to bed. My whole heart was just jumping for joy. M is notorious for being sneaky, but tonight he made the right choice.
I smiled so big, gave him a great big hug, kissed his forehead, and thanked him for being such an honest boy. He has no idea how proud of him I am that he made that choice. It would have been so easy to sneak a movie and turn it WAY down so no one could hear. But he didn't! Great job M. I love you!
So, keeping with what's on my mind right now, homeschooling, I just have to remember to read a few things. My family growing up has a history of ADD and Dyslexia. This is not a bad thing, it's just different, so we have to find ways to work with M's attention span. As far as I can tell, I think most children do have a little of both ADD and Dyslexia, some overcome it easier than others. Me, growing up, I had some SERIOUS attention span problems. Sitting down in a school setting was rather hard for me. I'm figuring out, that M has had the same difficulties.
My mother recommended the book, "The Gift of Dyslexia" to me. Not only does it tell you signs to look for, but how to learn around/with these differences. So There is book no. 1 for me to read.
I have another issue that I've been worried about. I know they used to teach classes to several different aged children at a time...but I have found very little on how to deal with more than 3 kids at a time. I will have 3 in school, and 3 younger than school age. Technically O can be considered preschool age. But still. I have a 1 year old and I'm due in June with our 6th. That means dealing with a toddler and a newborn during school time. I have run across a website that I am in the middle of reading. Though they only address having 2 in school and a baby, it has thus far been helpful.
I will have a Kindergartner, First Grader, and Second Grader to work with. Teaching that close of grades, I'm not sure if it will be easier, or much more challenging. So far, my plan is to do a summer school pilot program. That way, if I fail, I can easily just keep my kids enrolled in the public school. They wont have missed any time off. But, I really am getting excited about this and I know, with support, I will NOT fail.
So far I have googled "What do kindergartens learn" and "what skills do kindergartens have" I have come up with a list of things that a Kindergartner will learn during their first year of school. Then I went per subject. "What math skills are learned in Kindergarten" then proceeded with writing, and reading. I'm sure I'll be adding to my list later. Next I'll be looking up 1st grade, then 2nd. Hopefully we can gather some ideas on what my homeschooling curriculum will be. We really don't have the money to buy classes at $20 a kid per month. So I'm going to start with what I know. If we need to add some curriculum that I will have to buy, we will save up for it.
The internet and Library are wonderful tools and I have found SCADS of information. It's just time to start getting it all down on paper. Time to take some more notes!
I was staring at my oldest today while I was pondering random thoughts. On that entered into my head was that, we have been told that our children will have to withstand some of the worst evil this world has seen. I looked at my son, and I wasn't discouraged, I found hope. With all this thinking of home school, I found that even though I know it will be challenging, It means I can give my kids that extra spiritual leg up to help them be a light to others.
The missionary age has been lowered, which means I have less time to prepare them. But when I take out all of the fluff and waiting around for others to be finished with their work at school. Or waiting for the time to tick away for the next task to start, I have more hours to spend molding my children into people who want to contribute to society. Not only contribute, but to make the world a brighter place all around. I see that potential in my kids, and it is so heartening. There is always hope for the rising generation.
So, for the past several months I have tossed around the idea of homeschooling. I know this would be challenging to say the least. We have 5 boys most of which are slightly over a year apart. But recently, my drive to know the answer to the question, "should we home school" has become overwhelming.
My eldest son, M, is in the first grade in a public school. Last week, when I went to pick him up, his teacher told me he was in the classroom finishing some work. I figured, "okay maybe 5 minutes." We were at the school waiting for an entire hour. He had 1 worksheet to finish, and it took an hour. I thought, "okay, I know he hated staying after school that long. For sure, he won't do that again." WRONG.
The NEXT day when I went to pick him up his teacher said, "He has some extra school work and he's not leaving until it's finished." My first reaction was to look the teacher straight in the face and say, "EXCUSE ME! He's my child, you've had him for 6 hours. We're leaving now." But I held my tongue out of respect for the teacher. We still have 2 months of school and I didn't want to burn any bridges with her. Instead I looked at my child and encouraged him to finish his work quickly so we could go home and ride bikes. This time it took him half an hour to finish his work.
As I relayed this information to a friend of mine she said, "Your first grader got detention?!" I told her it wasn't really detention he just had to finish his work. She looked at me and said, "He had to stay after school doing schoolwork. I don't care who you are, that's detention." So there you have it. My first grader, in detention.
This among other things has made me decide to do home school at least with my oldest child for next year. The more I talk about it with him, the more excited he is about it. Each day I'm finding new curriculum and new ideas on teaching. A friend told me once, "to start home school, all you need is a library card and the internet." I thought for sure she was crazy. But the more I look into home school, the more I realize this is a very viable way of teaching. I am apprehensive about becoming the teacher, but excited to spend more time getting to know my child.
It happens with every baby I suppose. But WHY! It's so GROSS! Rodney had just taken a nap and was playing quietly in his crib. Quietly is never a good thing. Next thing I know Gavin came in and said Owen had taken Rodney's diaper off. YAY. Usually he's just wet right after a nap. NOT SO TODAY! I get in there, and there is poo all over the baby, all over the crib, and all over the walls. Blarg.
And just like other boys before him, he had poop all over his fingers and his mouth. Cringe. Why must babies taste everything? Well, I was going to catch up on my kitchen, but now it's time to clean up something a little nastier.
I keep thinking about this. OVER and OVER. It's a question constantly on my mind. I know my kids enjoy public school, and I enjoy the hours when I have a break. But I'm not entirely convinced this is the best route to go. I'm thinking maybe public school for a few years then home school? I just don't know.
The teachers at our school are great. They're really kind and genuinely want to be there to help these kids. But each class consists of no less than 25 kids. And I know they do a LOT of coloring. Not that coloring is a bad thing, but I'm wondering if the saying, "you can teach kids in 2 hours what they learn in 1 day at school" is true. There are things that concern me about the world we live in. It's getting harder and harder to not let the world have an influence on my children. It's not always really horrible, but not really welcome either.
For example...my children gave an unprompted Christmas video to my little brother away on a mission. I didn't tell them what to say, I just started the camera and told them it was for Uncle Joseph. The first thing they said was Happy Holidays. Now I know that's a perfectly acceptable greeting. But I couldn't help but roll my eyes. That was all they heard at school. No one said Merry Christmas. I know some may say I'm being totally unreasonable...but I ALWAYS say Merry Christmas to everyone. Yet the first thing out of my kids mouth is Happy Holidays. I've never used that as a greeting. It's not the fact that they said happy hoildays. I happen to like the song "Happy Holidays" quite a bit. It's the fact that the first thing they think of was not something their mom said, but what they heard at school. What else will that translate into?
Then there are other things that scare the tar out of me. I've even had times when a child has come home from school with a new word in his vocabulary. I'm not talking curse words, but words that have to do with adult subject matter that NO kindergartner should EVER be talking about. There was no way to know what context he heard the word in, no clue at who told it to him. I told the teacher about it and all they could do was keep an open ear...in a class of 25+ kids. It is crazy how much innocence is stripped away from our younger generations.
There are times when I decide, ok the school is good. My kids are doing well at school. As well as anyone else in their class is doing. They enjoy being at school, and they like their friends. Then other times I think, I know they could be learning a lot more if I decided to spend the time with them. Then I think, maybe I need to do some homeschooling, but keep them in school. Just to see how well I do at it.
Though we have decided to do public school, it still nags at the back of my mind constantly. Maybe we should home school. For those of you who home school, when do you prepare your lessons? Do you do a traditional sit down class time, or just teach them the subject matter throughout the day? Do you take them out every day to go be with other kids for a "recess" time? Maybe do you switch classes with another parent. How much money do you spend on homeschooling a month?
I feel like I know quite a bit about public school, but I pretty much know squat about homeschooling. And I want to know more so I can make the best decision concerning our family. If I do eventually switch to homeschooling, I want to have friends with kids that I can share "class time" with. Also I want to have several materials on hand. Which I would like to have on hand anyway if for some reason we had an emergency and I had to teach my kids at home. So what are some of the things you always have? Games that teach history? Favorite movies that teach math or science. Best online resources. Your class schedule.
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