First Day of School!

I admit it:  I haven't been looking forward to the start of school.  Who wants to listen to incessant whining and complaining about having to lounge around in the pajamas and work on school for two hours a day.  Yeah, seriously.  They moan about that.  Are you kidding me?!

Anyway, we are trying out a new curriculum this year.  LifePacs by Alpha Omega publications.  It's a Christian-based teaching package that lays out their lessons in workbook form.  It's a great grab-and-go format that is, so far, really working for us.  Which is what I have been praying for, since we have the new little one added to the mix.

We've got one week down, and it was overall a great week.  Hardly any complaining and no tears.  Not even with math.  The average school day lasts about 1.5 hours for Savvy and 4 hours for Riley.  Brooke is doing kindergarten work on ABCMouse.com, and then does a little handwriting and reading work on the side.  I'm not completely crazy by the end of the day.  I call that a success.

Here are some pictures of our first day of school.  No spiffy new clothes or shiny new backpacks.  No school bus in the background, unless you see one on the street in front of the house, waiting to park in the bus barn area.

Just praying the following weeks of school go as well as the first one!

Proud to be Crunchy

It has come to my attention that I fall in the "crunchy mama" category of motherhood.  My first instinct was offense at the term, but I really didn't know what it meant.

"Crunchy" refers to granola.  So a down-to-earth, back-to-basics kind of mom who loves taking care of her kids in the most natural way is crunchy.  Crunchy as granola.

Which I make, by the way, and it's awesome.

And I make my own bread, plant a garden, use cloth diapers, compost, watch very little television, go barefoot and countless other things.  This makes me a crunchy mama.

There is a whole crunchy movement out there that I am a part of and didn't even know it.  And I think that's great!  I'm not the crunchiest out there, but I'm trying harder every day to get that way.

Since our goal is to one day own a small farm, I foresee lots of crunchy in the future.  I'd love to have chickens, but the city ordinances don't allow them here.  I'd love to buy all grass-fed beef and dairy products, and I'm deep in the research in finding out how I can economically obtain them until we can raise our own.  For once I'd love to breastfeed a child, and I'll do my best to nurse Jed once he arrives.

I wear more skirts in the warm weather, but they aren't really practical in the winters up here.  I already teach the kids at home, instead of letting them walk across the street to the public school.  I do use shampoo and soap, but the shampoo is organic and all-natural and I plan to start making my own soaps very soon.  I've learned how to make my own cream soups instead of opening a can, and I want to learn how to render my own lard from locally farmed and butchered pigs.

So, yeah, crunchy.  Heck yeah.  Are you a crunchy mama?  If so, stand proud.  You're in good company.  Now go wash some cloth dipes.

Why?

Surprisingly, not a lot of people have asked why I would homeschool the kids.  I really expected the Inquisition, but I think it's much more acceptable up in this region of northern Minnesota.  Our state has an exceptional homeschool law, and a lot of freedom to go with it.


There are many other reasons why.  The joy of seeing them master a concept.  Learning the ability to work together as a team, rather than compete as siblings.  Fostering a sense of responsibility.  Building character traits that will last a lifetime.

More immediate reasons come to mind.  The kids like being able to stretch out on the couch and read their literature assignment.  We start school when it's good for our family, and we can turn every day errands into life lessons and school topics.

They can learn things like embroidery and sewing, two things that are not available at this age in public school.

The main reason Jesse and I decided to keep the kids home and teach them ourselves is because God gave these souls into our care while they are on this Earth.  We saw extremely negative results from the public school system across the street.  It seemed the longer they attended, the more we lost our kids to the world.

Our goal is to win our children's hearts to Christ and see them become His followers.  It's an amazing journey, and a difficult one, but one that is proving well worth it.

Discovered: New Insects!

Part of Riley and Savvy's school today was a science/art project.  They had to "discover" a new insect, make a model of it, and write out a description.

After making a huge mess, the projects were completed.  

Riley's New Insect:  The Sun And Water Bug

And Savvy's New Insect:  The Death Bug

It is my sincere wish that I never encounter one of these bugs in real life.  ;)

Vacation!

I sat down this morning at the computer to type in my lesson plans for the day.  Yes, I wait until the morning to do it.  I'm a horrible procrastinator.  Sue me.

Anyway ...

When I sat down to delinquently plan my school day, I realized, "Hey, wait a minute!  We're on Thanksgiving vacation.  Heck yeah!"

So the superintendent, principal and primary teacher for this homeschool decided to have a piece of apple pie to celebrate our independence from sighs, complaining, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Typical

A typical school day looks like this:

And this is just five minutes into the school day.  It's a miracle we get anything done!

Field Trip FAIL ... kind of

Our first field trip with homeschoolers was a bit of a bust.  Not because of the location or event.  That was great!  I don't know if the girls paid attention, but I learned quite a few things about Tower, MN and the railroad that trucked iron ore to Duluth in the late 1800s through the 1960s.

Our friend from church, Krista, invited us and a few other families to the Tower Train Museum.  It's a great little museum with big trains and a depot full of historic relics.  And I thought that since Isaac loves trains, it would be a hit.

Nope.

He was great the first few minutes of the depot tour, but when it came time to see the trains ... well, things went downhill fast.  You see, trains have stairs.  And Isaac loves stairs.  Therein lies the problem.

When the little guy wasn't allowed to climb all the sets of stairs, he transformed into a squirmy, screamy gremlin.  Fifteen minutes of trying to restrain the monster had my arms in knots and my ears in pain.  I know it wasn't pleasant for anyone else on the tour either.  


I gave up, called it quits, said goodbye to friends and loaded the truck.  Bag lunches prepared for a fun feast on a box car became fare for the ride home.

I think next time we will just get a babysitter for The Boy, if possible.  

Here is a picture before he transformed into Jack-Jack with baby powers.

I tried taking one while he was having his wee little tantrum, and this was the result.  Kind of an interesting picture.

And here are a few other pics from the trip.  

More Changes for a Stress-Free Life

In previous posts, I mentioned that we were using K12 curriculum through Minnesota Virtual Academy.

No more!!

While it is a good option and a great program, at this time in our lives it is not the best fit for the family.  What do I mean?

You could say that trying to work 10 hours of scheduled class time into a home with children who like to climb into aquariums, scale bookcases, experiment with household cleaners and smuggle restricted objects was just a teensy, weensy bit much for me to handle.  If you did, indeed, say that you would be correct.

Trying to juggle the unexpected joys of parenting toddlers while attempting to teach two school age children was just too difficult a task under the K12 program.  Therefore, I switched to my own program.  It combines the strategy of the Sonlight Christian curriculum with a few other resources found online and some Bob Jones University, Apologia, and other curriculum loaned to me by a friend.  

My friends have been wonderfully supportive in loaning me materials.  I even found a great bargain bin sale day at BetterWorldBooks.com.

Even though we've gone through yet another change, this time it is for the best.  This mama is not nearly as stressed, and we finish school in about three hours versus eight or nine.  I even have time to sew again.  And paint cabinets.  And clean the house and do laundry.  And pee and brush my teeth.  

Ah, glorious life!

The Still, Small Voice in my Head

Do I even need to say that the cabinets didn't get done last week?  I don't think so.

I did manage to pull down three doors, spray hinges and fill holes.  Just didn't get any further than that.

Minnesota Virtual Academy is kicking my butt.  Hard.  I had a breakdown yesterday, and I feel bad for my poor sister who had to listen to a blubbering, wailing me describe my day.

It wasn't until I put my head on my pillow at 8 o'clock in the evening, exhausted and weary, that I heard God's gentle voice reminding me that I prayed for the patience to get through another school day the night before.  What the heck was I thinking?!  The only way to learn patience is to go through the fire of adversity.  I'll just say that God answered the prayer, much to my dismay.

Every day is a lesson, I've learned.  Yesterday I learned that teaching my children at home and still having enough "me" left over to tend to little ones and run a household is too big a job for me to handle ... alone.  That still, small voice of God reminded me to lean on Him and let Him work.  There is absolutely no way to do this on my own.  I'm right about that.  It is, very literally, Mission Impossible.

So thankful that I can just show up for work and let God do the rest.  Because He's the only one that can get me gracefully through the day, that can guide me through the chaos and have me standing up on the other side of it.

My sister posted this verse to my Facebook wall:  ‎"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." ~Isaiah 41:13

I needed the reminder.  Thanks, sissy.

Mission Impossible

As if I don't try to conquer the world, one onesie and pullup at a time, I have begun a quest that seems virtually impossible today.  Day Three of schooling the kids at home.

Today's mantra:  I will survive.  

In fact, that isn't the only goal, but it is the main objective.  Three kids, three grade levels, and a Tazmanian Devil running around the house.  

But to complicate matters, I've also sworn to complete sanding and painting the kitchen cabinets before the end of the week.

So I will attempt to survive.  And I will attempt to instill education, discipline and respect in my children.  And I will attempt to paint some cabinets.  Hopefully, pictures will follow.

If I live.

Preparing for Home Invasion

About six weeks of summer remain before our Big Homeschool Adventure begins.  Riley and Savvy are officially enrolled in Minnesota Virtual Academy, an online K-12 school.  I will also be instructing Brooke in pre-K curriculum and chasing Isaac around at the same time.


As if that isn't daunting enough, the time has come to prepare the house for the school room.  I'm also thinking of schedule planning, lunch menus, physical activities and a myriad other concerns that a homeschool family needs to prepare for.


Got any ideas or pointers?  Tips or hints?  I'd be happy for some advice.