Another School Year Over...

The bulk of school work is finally over and the end is in sight!

We want to have a little End of School party this weekend because we need an occasion for mocha ice cream cake.  So it's all settled.  Ice Cream Cake for End of Year!

We just finished Week 34, and of course the school year goes for 36 weeks.  But the subjects are winding up, Math and Language Arts and Science are over and Spelling, Phonics and Writing end soon.  History may take another few weeks, but everyone cheers at that.  History is a well-loved subject!  Some subjects, like art and spanish can just stop whenever and continue on when we pick back up.

Every year I split up the curriculum into 36 weeks, but with some leverage built in for sick days and such.  Most subjects I use build in flexibility anyway, like Saxon Math which is built on a 4day/week schedule.  It works well, and my planner starts every page with "Week X" so I always know exactly where we are in the year.  I can't help it, I do have a map at the front with every week listed and every subject lined out to the lesson or page number. =)  It's just so FUN, who can stop themselves???

The burning question: Will We Homeschool Again This Year?

The answer is: Yes!

And I'm not letting myself apologize, either.  The kids are doing well, and as long as I keep my eyes open and honest, I'll know when something needs changing.  So now I can get to the excited part about planning it all.

This year, our subjects will be:
Math ~ 4 days a week
Spelling ~ every day
Phonics ~ every day (til the book ends)
Writing ~ four days a week
Language Arts ~ 3 days per week
Reading (IR and RA) ~ every day
Spanish ~ every day
Music ~ every day
Art and Appreciation ~ 2 lessons per week, kids repeat the lesson on their own on following days
Science ~ 2 days per week
History ~ 3 days per week
Latin ~ just starting this one!  A must for the Classical Education.
(would like to incorporate ballroom dancing and pottery, but we'll see.)

I have a brag moment, and since it's my blog, I'll go ahead and just give in. =)

Lucas(8) is going into third grade, right on schedule for his age.  He's doing well, and I have no worries about him academically or socially so far.  He prefers homeschool, having never tried other options.

Julia(6) is supposed to be going into first grade, but since her birthday put her past the cutoff, I really wanted to put her in first grade last fall.  I did so, and she's done wonderfully, and really took to the challenge and has finished first grade with pomp.  She's also willing to homeschool again this year.

Aidan(5) made noises of academic readiness, and although I believe in playtime, childhood and not pressuring children, at his request he joined Julia for first grade.  This week, with pride he finished first grade and did really well.  Every ten lessons in math is an assessment of skills, and both kids hardly ever missed anything on them.  I can't believe how well they know their math facts, concepts and vocab!  They love language arts, and are fluent in poetry recitation, parts of speech, sentence types, addresses and all that cool stuff.  And their writing?  I'm just amazed!  I had a chat with Aidan about starting second grade.  I let him know that he doesn't need to do second grade and that if he finds the work frustrating, he can stop.  I asked him if he wanted to do first grade again.  No way, Mom!  He's enjoying his spot, and frankly, I like having two kids in the same math.  That subject takes the longest, because I teach each concept every day.  That takes time, the fact review and timed tests, plus the lesson all take their toll.  If I had to teach three levels?  Whew!  I might give up!

And this summer, we'll be changing up our rooms again, and trying out the master bedroom as the school/music/family room.  I'll keep you posted!

Embrace The Crazy

Sometimes, I think Mom's have to learn to embrace the crazy.  At least, I feel like that.  Sometimes the only road to sanity is to relax and decided that life WILL BE CRAZY and that it's okay.

I'm not type A, I'm not a neat freak and I don't plan my days intensely.  But as a Mom who pays the consequences for children getting the wrong foods or lack of sleep, I can be protective of the line between "the schedule" and "the crazy".

The reason for all this crazy talk is that convention looms/glimmers on the horizon and with the excitement comes the dread.  Although life is a tuneful melody compared to the chaotic din of the past, the convention schedule is still tricky.  Bedtime/nighttime is normally 7pm - 7am.  At convention, it's a maximum of 8:30pm to 6:30am.  With the distinct possibility of an even shorter night, as the past has shown.  The temps are HOT.  And so dry that heat stroke can be possible in the shade as you lose water so quickly.  But playtime is so necessary, so that kids will sit/sleep through the meetings.  Both of these things contribute heavily to crabbiness and tears as the days wear on.

The kids love convention, though, they have no thoughts about depriving themselves of all this fun just because they might be grouchy!  I love convention, too.  And that is why after thinking through all the options that I will embrace the crazy.  I know I'll be dealing with tears, so I'll just be calm and provide naps, love and soothing options.  We'll bring gallons of gatorade and play chinese jump rope in the shade.  I think it will pay off for me to prepare myself for the inevitable struggles so that I can better enjoy the spiritual offerings of convention.

Any tips from the veterans?

Convention: an annual, four-day getaway in one location(meals and beds on site) for the purpose of hearing the gospel from many ministers, including from other states and countries. Not so much outreach as it is a boost for the flock.

Yummy Treats

Don't yummy treats taste better in pretty vessels?

Parfaits are a popular choice around here, and these are all very excitingly green and healthy, since everything is organic.  I just started ordering from Azure Standard, a co-op that my mom has been ordering from for years.  Now it's in my neighborhood and I can order from them, too!  They are all about organics and labels that can be understood.  And they are a pretty reasonable option for those that want to purchase healthy on a limited budget.

Still loving my LPO box, although the farm has changed its name to Skarsgard Farms.  Delish, organic,  mostly local and tasty!  Did I mention yummy? I get my weekly box, sized medium, and I can swap out  for items I might want more than others.

We have been bingeing lately on bad foods; time to whip the menu into shape! =)

Mmmmm!  Happy kids love granola, blueberries and honey yoghurt.

and very recently... harmonicas!

Camping Trip

Early this month, we went camping with two fun families!

We camped at a place with WATER.  This is a big deal.  It is such a big deal, that one family rented a canoe so we could enjoy the water even more.  Altogether, we were a group of six adults and nine kids,  a good size!  We enjoyed kite flying, fishing, canoeing, hiking, swimming and eating.  We also had our own little meeting Sunday am which included some nice thoughts from all the kids.  The biggest problem was the teeny flies, and we all got bites that have lasted a couple of weeks... no one is quite sure what gave us those, since there were no mosquitoes.  All in all, a bunch of fun!

A few fun photos from the trip....

On our way to the campsite, they crash like a bunch of puppies.

Hmmmm, maybe we are packed in there kinda tight.

A quick view of the scenery on the way....

Out on the point, everyone engages in their activity of choice.  Some fly kites, some fish and some untangle line and retie lures.

Lucas works on his casting form.

Sorry.

Neither mom nor pop fish, so he's on his own!

So many cute shots of this sweetie!  She's flying a kite with her other hand.  The kite flew away a bit later, and went into the lake and drowned.

Nathan brings out the big canoe, and many hands are willing to help carry it to the water! Everybody got a turn to ride in it, because Nathan was giving lots of rides that day!  

My camera died right around this time, but I do have one story to tell.

Towards evening, after Nathan was done giving the kids rides in the canoe, he took Shane and I and we set out to paddle to a small island not too far out in the lake.  The wind was against us, the waves were rough and we did ship a little water.  But no matter!  Canoeing is great fun, and ripe for jokes about marriage therapy and the like.  Plus the wind would blow us back, so the hard work was dandy.  An adventure!  We got to the little island, checked out the old nests, bird mess and scripture written with rocks on the beach, then turned our heads for home.  Well, being the excellent sea-people that we are, we paddled that bad boy and skimmmmmmmed across the water!  Visions of a triumphant arrival flitted through our mind, and we knew too, that supper was on the barbie.  After a bit, we start scouting the shore for our campground (there are three different ones).  Turns out, after much discombobulation, we had gone WAY past our campground.  So we had to turn the canoe around and paddle back, but now we are going into the wind again.  We were so tired that at times we actually watched ourselves lose ground.  Things were getting desperate, because we hardly had the energy to stick the paddle in the water and pretend to stroke.  No one came to rescue us, and the wind didn't give us a break.  But we toughed it out and then lugged the darn thing back up to camp with the help of Carrie, who was starting to worry about us.  We sank into camp chairs while the cooks shoved huge helpings of salmon, couscous and steamed veggies into our hands.  We slept that night like tiny infants, and I'm guessing Nathan slept best of all, since he had previously taken three trips out already that day!

We had a really good time, and we are going to miss Dalrymples when they move away!

Lucas Turns 8!

Happy 8th Birthday, Lucas!

It's all I can do to stop myself from starting every birthday post with "Wow!"  But I feel amazed that I am old enough to have an 8 year old.  =)  But the really amazing thing is Lucas.

"Lucas, we are so excited to be HERE in your LIFE!  Watching you grow is a pleasure, although we sometimes feel ill equipped to parent like you deserve.  Your manners and creativity are so fun!  Your lawyer-like penchant for chat is challenging, but often quite funny!  And you look so handsome.  Your adult self is showing a little more every day and it's wonderful to see you think, grow and learn."

So this year, Lucas invited the Dalrymples over for his birthday lunch and he had a Magic Treehouse cake.  It was so cute!  Our oven went on the blink, and so a friend recommended her friend as a good source for cakes.  She did a great job!

Lucas chose his birthday fare: grilled steak, watermelon and blueberries, rolls and orange spinach salad with honey lemon yoghurt dressing(a fave!).  

We had a lame-o scavenger hunt planned that was going to be REALLY BAD.  But Carrie saved the day with her creative clues based off some of the first 8 books in the MT series.  Whew!  Snickers in the bathtub? "Find this treasure where a pirate would wash his booty!" And the like.  The kids talked about it for the next week, which was cute, but made me feel bad at the same time that this was the first time I'd ever set up a scavenger hunt for them.

This year, Papa planted a very cool idea in Lucas' head.  "Son!  How about a nice, expensive Lego Mindstorms NXT!  Check this out on the internet, blah, blah, blah!"  So guess what I heard about up until a few days before the birthday?  "We can't spend that kind of money!  What a huge sum! Gifts should be capped at $X! We don't want our kids to have high expectations and be greedy!"  And the like.  Oh well!  Off we went to get the gift.  Except, oh no!  Sold out of all stores.  Not available online. Not available til JULY.  Shane scavenged one off of ebay and so it was only a few days late.  So one of the gifts for Lucas' birthday was a cardboard tube with a picture of the Mindstorm on it.  =)  His grandparents (both sides) exploded his birthday with multiple awesome gifts of the r/c nature and a huge box of insect books complete with light and sound, plastic bugs, bookmarks, snakes and alligators, stickers and candy and birthday money.

He's a lucky duck! Quack.

So his day went well, he successfully turned 8 and I have another gray hair.

Funny story, just the other day I was asking Lucas if he noticed all my gray hair in the front.  He looks. Nope!  No gray hair, Mom!  I looked in the mirror and was like, gee!  There are TWENTY all in the front, surely you can see this!  No dice, Lucas can't see the gray.  So I press him and he finally says that yes, he can see the gray hair, but he doesn't want to hurt my feelings and make me feel bad about getting old.  Awww.  And I realized something else.  While that was very sweet of him, I shouldn't put that kind of pressure on him, either.  I told him that I LOVED getting old!  It meant I was a mommy and that I really hoped to be a grandma someday, too.  And I reassured him that if I was getting old all by myself while everyone else stayed young, I might be upset.  But getting old is normal and is supposed to happen to us all and we are lucky if it does. 

Sometimes I realize I am accidentally sowing seeds that I don't want growing, seeds of denial and discontent with aging.  But every birthday should be celebrated with joy and I (once again!) need to be the example of what it looks like to love living if I want my children to do the same.

An Old But Favorite Poem

No promises, but I'm going to try blogging regularly once again. =)  A little something to share, I ran across it while cleaning.

After A While

After a while you learn the subtle difference

between holding a hand and sharing a life

and you learn that love doesn't mean possession

and company doesn't mean security

and loneliness is universal.

And you learn that kisses aren't contracts

 and presents aren't promises

and you begin  to accept your defeats

with the grace of a woman

not the grief of a child.

And you learn to build your hopes on today

as the future has a way of falling apart in mid-flight

because tomorrow's ground can be too uncertain for plans

yet each step taken in a new direction creates a path

toward the promise of a brighter dawn.

And you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much

so you plant your own garden

and nourish your own soul

instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that love, true love

always has joys and sorrows

seems ever present, yet is never quite the same

becoming more than love

and less than love

so difficult to define.

And you learn that through it all

you really can endure

that you really are strong

that you do have value

and you learn and grow

with every goodbye

you learn.

Veronica Shoffstall