swimming

Yesterday we went swimming as a family. It's funny how you can go swimming at many different times of the year, depending on where you live. I didn't necessarily swim as Hannah happened to be hungry ; however, I did enjoy watching the kids play and hang on Benjamin. When I arrived at the pool, after a very frustrating day with vehicles( mine died and need a $400 fix), I was very happy to hear the boys and Ben playing a game that only daddies could think of. The object was to throw a ball that sunk, across the pool and race with either Austen and Daddy , Austen or Jayden, etc. The would throw it and yell " On your mark, get set , go!" and then the two of them would swim as hard as they could to the other side and dive down to retrieve the lost ball. I could not BELIEVE how great my boys swim. Even from the beginning of swim season out here to now, they are so amazing! They kick, dive, hold their breath and are even starting to use one arm to do the front stroke. Even Moriah can swim temporarily without her swim jacket, and if she gets tired she switches to her back! It was so much fun watching them.

After I finished feeding Hanns, we sat on the pool steps and enjoyed the coolness of the water. Hannah loves, LOVES water! She just sat their with a completely relaxed look on her face like, " ahh, this is the life". Her little humored eyes peering about with her little chubby cheeks! Love that girl! Then Moriah swims over, sits on the stairs and holds Hannah between her legs singing " I love you so much, I love you so much, I can't even tell you how much I love you....."

Toddler Tip #1

What do you do with those vibrant, running around, pulling eggs and breaking them on the floor, fun loving toddlers while you are trying to teach your other children???? Great question! Here, I will be sharing different ideas I have learned, heard of or come up with in those desperate moments where you just wish life was as tranquil as the storybook you imagined. So, here is my idea for the day:

Have a snack, prepared ahead of time, sippy cup filled with water and an activity that does not require a ton of help, cutting or mess , ie; painting. I found , with Moriah, my two year old, that having those magnetic dress up dolls, ours if by Melissa and Doug, she will snuggle next to me where I can still help the boys but if she needs help dressing the doll it's something I can do quite easily without having to get up and get something, find something, etc...

So there you have it, my word of wisdom for the day!

Bible Geography

The kids are still sleeping so I thought I would reflect on yesterday's school activities. We accomplished a lot! Can I say again how much I am loving the Trail Guide to Bible Geography. For $10, this book provides me 3 different levels of work . Right now, we are obviously on the first level as Jay is only 6 but I could use this every year if I wanted until we reached the top level and get more than my money's worth out of it! I love it when I find something like this. The book has note booking activities, mapping where we have a huge Ancient Civilization map and Jayden, and sometimes Austen, take out their Student Bible Atlas and find the locations that we read about in the Bible! I love how it just makes Abraham's journey from Ur to Canaan come alive, how you see God's hand on him and his descendants and the unfolding of God's plan in a way that I never noticed before. Have I mentioned how much I'm learning from this home school experience???! It's amazing! Not only that but Jayden is learning how to look up locations, label, map, use an atlas, reference the bible and put things in chronological order all from just this little book alone AND from the comfort of our "Bedouin tents"! I highly recommend it. It's through the same people who put out Galloping the Globe and Cantering the Country ....which we don't use, at least not yet :)

We are also working our way through the different systems of the body. We are starting the circulatory system today! We have moved from the skeletal, muscular and digestive systems all using KONOS Volumes 3 and , again, I love it! It is so challenging, hands on, and interactive....perfect for my kids and myself who cannot STAND tons of bookwork and sitting for long periods of time :)

Finally, I have found some great books at the library which I have to share because again, it takes us out of bookwork and provides great opportunities for learning concepts without even feeling like we are learning. Games for Reading, Games for Writing and Games for Math all by Peggy Kaye, I think. I am still working through these books and renewing them as I have found so many fun ideas on how to teach place values, fractions, creative writing, etc. You can also purchase, these, which I think I might from Amazon.... they just seem like something I will use for quite some time!

Very few quiet mornings

I woke up this morning, feeling refreshed for probably only the second time in 9 weeks and excited for the day to come! I prayed this morning and just asked God for strength and patience for the day, love for my family and a focus on Him, as well as new insight and excitement for homeschooling 4 young children. I feel at peace right now, listening to the crickets outside, the darkness of the morning still engulfing. I am reminded of that verse that " even the darkness is not dark to you" . Thank you God that we cannot hide from you, nor get lost from you. That you are our ever present help and delivery, our rescuer. Sometimes raising a family and homeschooling seems a bit daunting and when all my ideas start running around in my head like mush I know that I have not given it to God. He is the only one that can help me organize my thoughts in a manner that is manageable and not overwhelming. He has given my husband and I this vision so why wouldn't he see it to fruition? Isn't it like the enemy to allow you to feel inadequate or overwhelmed to so easily deter you from what God has set before you?

We are reading Little Pilgrims Progress right now. I feel like I could get emotional at every chapter because of the path Christian has chosen and the parallelism to our own lives. I love reading it to the kids because they are beginning to understand that this is not an easy path, but it's the ONLY path. Lord help me to teach them!

I peered around the corner and saw Jayden looking at the microwave clock and going back into his bedroom to play. A few minutes later a little knock at the door . Moriah, standing there with her beautiful blonde hair going up, down, sideways, diagonal and poofy whispers, " play kietly ( quietly)" and then runs off into the boys room, shuts the door and play. God answers prayers!!!! Hannah is sleeping soundly in my bed and my heart swells for my little family. I am blessed.

Today we will begin school shortly and hopefully have most of it done before we leave for bible study, stop and I will get a "poor man's latte" ( decaf espresso over ice and add my own creamer). I've never ordered this before but read about it on the Internet and I am always on the lookout for ways to save money. I pray that God walks before and behind us today as we live it out, seeking Him and loving our cool, dark mornings filled with solace and peace before the kids see that it is now 6:01 and they can come out from "playing kietly"

What has our school looked like lately???

We have been having a lot of fun with school. To be honest, I'm still working on what mine and the kids rhythm will look like. But here is what we have so far:

Jay
Konos-this has been alot of fun as we are going through each of the body systems and doing accompanying activities with each. I would like to incorporate more lap books in it as well as having a thousand ideas of more things to add, each day we incorporate bible, reasoning, science, writing, creativity, etc.
Bible Geography- one of the best things I have ever bought packed with activities, mapping activities and digger deeper into God's word to find the answers
Saxon 2- I am so indifferent about this b/c I hate the way it presents things but we are already 75% of the way through so we are just going to finish it up and I will use a cool supplement, Math for the Gifted Student 2nd grade, that I found at Barnes and Nobles. I used the 1st grade one this past spring and I was very impressed with this little $8 find!
Learning Language Arts Through Literature Red book- this has been a great addition to our day as well as it does not take a great deal of planning, which I need b/c of the KONOS, and is very thorough and fun.

Jayden is also doing a daily devotional and we throw in math games, Mad Libs, World Geography-which I just need a planning day to expound upon this ( anyone know where I can get a cool passport from??), and anything else that strikes our interest.

For Austen, he is doing SSRW, Math games, KONOS with us and the World Geography. I am still watching him and seeing how he learns. He learns so much more different than Jayden. Jay wants me to sit and hold his hand for everything; Austen wants me to tell him and then let him be so he can figure it out!

I really enjoy homeschooling although Moriah has added a touch of crazy to our day; we love her anyways. Hannah just goes along for the ride, literally in my front pack, but we'll get through this.

I have so many ideas and keep coming across more and more and more that I'm not sure what to do with them all! I recently bought these cool doodle mats from Barnes and Noble that have your kids design different things while waiting for lunch/dinner. I love incorporating any form of art into our day as well. A few weeks ago we did "duplo and car" painting which was a lot of fun. I also, once the weather cools down, want to incorporate geocaching as the boys have enjoyed that with their grandparents. Then there is the co ops and the field trips. I love the lapbook idea not sure what would be more worth it, to go through Hands of a Child or just keep researching online and print off my own? I will post pictures soon as we have been doing a LOT!

In all of this, I am really learning to stop and pray about each decision. The passion to educate my children to the fullest is there. I definitely do not worry about not giving them the best as my heart is fully in it. However, what to take on, methods to teach, etc. is what throws me for a loop. I still remember my Spanish professor, which brings to me to how to incorporate Spanish but that's another tangent, once said, " I forget about how hard concepts can be to explain and understand because I have been understanding this for years." He said this on a particular day where I was almost in tears because I could not understand this grammatical concept. I cannot tell you how often that moment comes back to me when Jayden is sitting there almost in tears, because he cannot figure out how to add the two digit numbers while carrying over the one.

I just remember praying and asking God to help me find a way that he could understand, we tried talking, we tried visual, we tried kines tic. Any way, I think he finally understands after working the blocks and explaining it in a way that until these little colorful blocks become ten they don't want to magnetize together ( my science minded son) and so they stay separate.... he's doing so much better.

My point is, God wants to be apart of my day and guide me through it as he knows my children more intimately than I do and knows how they learn more than I do. I pray that I will always be open to the Holy Spirit as I want my children to learn without fear of failure but rather a mindset of the strength in a challenge.

Crazy Day

Yesterday started off fairly normally except for the exciting detail of visiting the lego store. Jay has been working hard each week on exhibiting different character traits throughout his daily life.... diligence, responsibility, encouragement, etc. When he does a task, ie: takes care of Hannah or sorts and puts away the laundry and displays the character trait, I note that and we is rewarded with an allowance at the end of the week. I'm not too big on allowances for just chores as you can do the chore with a horrible attitude as well. So what would be the point? Yeah, you sorted laundry you also complained the whole time??? Doesn't seem like to much of a life lesson.

Anyways, we worked diligently all more completing our school ....which is always exciting with a toddler and newborn and headed to the lego store. I have decided that letting my husband take the boys, in the future, will be a whole lot easier than me trying to manage 4 kids a stroller and a busy mall. My love for the mall is quickly fading as my family is growing larger and that cannot be :) Jay picked out the lego pirate set his worked towards and we headed home with a screaming baby, tired toddler and a 4yr old who was not impressed with a cheeseburger.... doesn't' sound like a lot , I know. but let me tell you....it was.

Wow, I"m back. It's been awhile... from being completely sick with this last pregnancy through January and trying to reconnect with life in February, getting thoroughly back into homeschooling in March, family visiting all of March, relaxing in April, and starting May I feel that it is time to, once again, document and journal this adventure that we have embarked upon.

From the last time I blogged, I feel amazing physically and way more confident regarding homeschooling than ever before. We have been enjoying so much together. Jay is moving steadily along in his SSRW and can read Boxcar Children books on his own, if he wanted. We have completed, so far this school year, The Boxcar Children, Surprise Island, Mystery Ranch, Yellow House Mystery, and are in the middle of The Woodshed Mystery and Charlotte's Web. They are both enjoying Charlotte's Web and I really want to complete it before we see the movie in theaters. I enjoy books way more than their movie counterparts and want to instill that into my children early on.

We completed Saxon 1 and were very happy to be done with that. Now, instead of moving Jayden on to Saxon 2 we have brought in many different kinds of math games and this really cool math workbook that uses real world problems to solve. Some of the math games we are playing is a domino game that focuses on adding and counting by 2s, a clock game, money games, some really cool computer websites that you can click on subtraction or adding to reinforce what has been learned. Also, Rat a Tat Cat, Go Bananas, Go Nuts and Number Chase. All games that really make learning math fun!

This week and the past couple of weeks, we have been learning all about Canada, made a Canadian flag. read about different activities that happen in Canada as well as many different kinds of animals and minerals that can be found there. The boys have found this all to be quite interesting and I am looking forward to finding some truly authentic Canadian recipes to end our unit on Canada.

Austen is really focused on writing and is using SSRW kgd edition. It is so sweet how he just sits down, colors, cuts, and wants to write the letters all by himself! He is such a smart boy and I am so proud of him. Tonight, after our Wed night routine, he was telling a friend of mine that he got sick. Confused, I asked him, " When did you get sick Austen?" and he looks at me with a perplexed look on his face, standing there with a Gila Monster shirt and sweet little shorts and says in his husky voice, " I jus talkin' bout las year" with his hand moving up and down. I love that boy!

For next school year, which will just transition right into the summer, my goals are to continue to focus on SSRW with the boys, finish our math games and advanced learning workbook and move onto Saxon 2, focus on fun science experiments. I have some really cool books that are all based on experiments that can be done in the kitchen. Also, to continue with our world geography study. I found something called Passports, where you can pay $11/month and the will send you passport stamps, info about a particular country , post card, etc.... I am contemplating whether this is something I want to sign up for or just recreate myself. Also, I want to focus much more on Spanish. For someone that is fluent in the language, I struggle with out to adequately teach my children the "idioma" . Also,with Jay turning 6, I would like to start piano with him, focus more heavily on history which I believe that Konos History will play a role in this......oh my, there is so much I want to incorporate....engineering activities from a blog that I found, way more bible, art, etc...

Homeschooling is amazing...now that I have done it a year, I cannot even imagine sending my child to a school that would dictate what curriculum would be used and how it would be taught. I am so thankful for living in a country that gives parents that power to chose for their child. Thank you God!