Day 17. Have Patience.

Today was all about the class store. The last school day of each month is shopping time. The kids were beyond excited. So much so, that I was nervous as to what they were expecting. We did half of our school work, had a break, and then came in to shop. It was fascinating to watch.

Each child has a specific grand prize that only they can purchase. A 75% off Wii fishing game for Cameron, that cost me $9.98. A formal dress with a fur jacket for each of the girls dolls. The outfits cost me $12.00 a piece, after 40% off coupons at Joanns. There is 2 grand prizes a year. One now and one in Feb. These grand prizes are 75 sticks each. The other items cost me $15 and vary in stick pricing. Lots of goodies were donated by grandma.

Cameron had 34 sticks and spent 7. Taylor had 39 sticks and spent 12. Emma had 34 sticks and spent 13.

I was trying to make this store time, age appropriate for all 3 of them. Give them rewards for their hard work, but also teach them about saving and waiting. Emma ended up in tears as she was frustrated and not understanding why she couldn't buy her dollie outfit now. I explained it to her and the tears increased. "Emma, why are you so upset?" I asked. She blurted out between tears "I want my dollie outfit now. I don't want to wait. It's too hard and its not what I want to do." She's in touch with her feelings, I must give her that one. I found myself getting disappointed a bit because of her attitude until I realized that I am very guilty of this same thing on a very regular basis. I can only imagine God knowing all the good and perfect gifts He has for me and I get grumpy because I want them NOW! It's too hard to wait. Nice reminder for me.

I had everyone sit in a circle and start naming the good things about the situation. Quickly the tears went away and the smiles came back. The focus changed from the bad to the good. In every situation you will always find both. What you choose to focus on is up to you. I found myself teaching Emma the very thing I needed to remember today. "Trust me little one, all your treasures will come. There are just some things you need to learn first." With that done, there is just 153 school days left until summer.

Hey Mom.

Every 2.2 seconds, all day long, those sweet words are yelled in my ears. I want a classroom environment, but we are at home. I was hoping to avoid the raising of the hand scenario. No more. Literally, every 2.2 seconds someone is blurting out something from their seat. With three of them in here... you can imagine. So for now, its hand raising time. What do you other homeschool mom's do with this issue? Help me!

Day 16. On the run.

I have an event for work this weekend, so extra work hours for me. Grandma came again today and I left at 10:30. We did some work before she came and then I left my kidlets in her very capable hands. I came home to completed school work and pictures from the day. I also received the following note regarding Cameron's math.

"Your sub does not know metrics.

Teach him this! I couldn't figure it out!

Gave me a stress headache...BOTH SIDES."

While school was in session, the kids completed all their work. Emma practiced writing "S" and "T". There was a lot of erasing involved, I hear. Grandma added p.e. into the day. She made a slalom course for the kids to ride their bikes through. Extra Credit for her!

They went to Mountain Mike's for lunch and Emma napped in her nap spot.

I ran tons of errands, snuck in some fall clothes shopping for the kids,

and basically just spent 7 glorious hours ALONE! Sometimes you just need that.

Now there is only 154 school days until summer.

Mistakes.

Classroom tip of the day. Don't forget, when you bring your newly growing plants outside, you are supposed to bring them back inside in the evening. Particularly if its 102 degrees outside.

Day 15. Butterfly Fly Away.

I can not believe how fast the butterfly thing happened. Wow. Today we released them. I thought Emma would freak as I realized I am not sure that she knew that we had to let them go. She was fine with it. In fact, she reached in, picked the butterfly up and sent him on his way. However, she does think that they are going to come and build a nest and have babies at our house. She's hilarious.

We got through our school work pretty smoothly. I wrote out the assignments for Cameron and Taylor on a piece of notebook paper the night before. It was amazing how much time it saved. The curriculum I am using has each subject broken down into days for you, but they are all in different books. It takes forever to keep switching between them. I have an idea formulating for a custom planner!

I got two glimpses into my future today. I am not sure I liked either one of them. First, I watched this gorgeous butterfly, leave its little home, and fly away. I couldn't help but wonder for a brief moment how I am going to feel on the day that I watch one of our little munchkins leave home. Fortunately for now, they are still young enough that the thought scares them. In fact, Cameron said he wants to live at home forever so that he can save money for video games.

Secondly, towards the end of the school day, Emma was building with blocks while singing and talking to herself as she was doing it. I stopped her and said, "Emma, you need to be quiet please, the kids are doing their work." What I heard next, frightened me to my core...."Um, well mommy, then why did God give me a voice?" It was complete with attitude. She just turned 5. I'm afraid for 15. Heck, I'm afraid for 6. Just 155 schools days left until summer.

Groovy Smoothies.

May I just say delicious. I have tried lots of smoothie combos, but I love this one the most. Best of all everything except the Protein Powder (which is from the Vitamin shoppe) is from Costco. Almost one stop shopping...all three of my kids love 'em. This tends to be breakfast or a snack these days. I don't know why I couldn't manage to throw together a smoothie when the kids were attending school, but for some reason now I can.

1.5 cups frozen strawberries

.5 cup frozen blueberries

1 banana

1.5 cups milk

1 thing of yogurt ( I use the 6 oz yoplait from Costco) We like strawberry the best

3 T honey

7 ice cubes

1 big scoop vanilla protein powder (This one is yummy! Honestly the first one that I can drink and not want to just spit it out...)

Whip it up! YUM!

Day 14. On your own time.

As I mentioned before, I am really trying to do school Sun-thurs. As much as my heart and head want to, Sunday evening school is just not realistic. With my husband and I both on staff at our church and required to be at all four services on Sat night and Sunday, by Sunday evening, everyone is wiped out. So the solution that I tried last weekend, seemed to work well. I assigned the kids their work, to be done on their own time. It was due on Monday morning at 8:30. It worked really well. They could do it whenever they wanted. It felt more like homework. This may be the solution.

Emma spent the weekend watching the butterflies do their thing. Our puppy, Brooklyn, looks a bit like she was waiting for lunch. Sometime during Friday, Sat., and Sunday, school day 14 did get completed. Now there is just 156 school days until summer.

Extra Stuff.

I have all these ideas running around in my head trying to make me crazy. I like all the "extra stuff" and so do the kids! This is how I am going to try and break it down for now. I am going to do P.e., Park Day, Library, and Cooking. Each one of these will happen one day a week.

Monday ~Library

Tuesday ~ Cooking

Wednesday ~ PE

Thursday ~Park Day

Not that I will stick to that order, knowing me. It does, however, organize it in my head a little bit....and by the way...that disturbing rabbit statue using a lap top, exists at a new park by my house. Frightening.

Day 13. Man Down.

Ahhhhh Friday. We have been trying to adjust to a Sunday-Thursday school week. My husband's only day off is Friday, so we are attempting to leave that day completely free. That didn't work today. I needed to get another day of school in. I have only been managing 3-4 school days a week. At this rate, we won't finish this year before the start of the 10-11 school year. The positive thing about doing school today, is that Emma took the day off and hung with daddy. She is only 4 and definitely does not need to be doing 5 days a week.

We were in the classroom by 8:15 this morning and got through lots of stuff today. Having one less child in the room made a world of difference. Mom's will understand this well. If you have 4 kids and you are down 2 because of whatever reason, being with 2 feels so easy. Much easier then when you only had 2 in the first place. This always cracks me up. Kinda like when someone with no kids says they are tired. Now, I honestly don't mean to make fun of them. I am sure they are tired. However, with every child you bring into the world, the word tired takes on a deeper meaning. I guarantee you if Mrs. Dugar could hear me say that I am tired, she would be "mocking" me too. Its all in perspective.

We had a great day. I love my kids. Today was relaxing, as it should be for a day off. We ended the day moving our butterflies in waiting into their pop up home. I have to admit it is fascinating to me...and to Emma. She watched for so long today, just waiting and waiting.

It's almost the end of the day. I am going to go organize a bit in the classroom and then have some mind numbing fun on facebook....perhaps take some life altering quiz like "what kind of shoe are you?". Just 157 school days until summer.

Class Mascot.

We have this too. I had the perfect men to do the job. Jack and Bob. They sit on the shelf in our classroom ready to greet you when you walk in.

We already had both these guys for some strange reason. Jack the bobble head we own because Jack in the Box Diet Cokes play a major role in my life. Antique Bob my mama bought me for my birthday years ago from an antique store in Paradise.

Wikipedia defines Mascot as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck. I am not sure if this will be the case, but they do make me smile.

Day 12. Fear Factor.

I have definitely found that the days I take the time to add in a little something extra and fun, the whole day goes smoother.

Today we played Fear Factor. A fun, made up game that gives me an excuse to mildly torture or shall we say "stretch" my kids. We will play this periodically throughout the year. It may be a new activity, a new food, anything goes!

Today here is how it went down. I Loaded the kids up and went to the Nugget Market. (The prettiest grocery store ever). Kids had to pick a "vegetable" that they have never tried before. Emma chose Tomato and Cucumber, Cameron chose Carrots and Cucumber, Taylor chose Bean Sprouts and Tomato. Yes, its true. My 10 year old has never tasted a carrot.

When we went to pay, the checkout lady said..."Hey, are you guys playing hooky, or are you home schooled?" I gotta admit I felt a bit embarrassed to answer, almost like I was doing something wrong. I don't know quite where that comes from. I said "home schooled". She was pleasant and said...."Go, hit the books and stop playin' around". I read into that statment. She was likely just making conversation. Anyway, we had donuts from the bakery and milk out side on the patio. It was beautiful.

When we got home Fear Factor began. Dramatic name for eating a carrot, I know. Kids had 5 minutes to eat what was in the dish that I put in front of them. If they did, they got 5 sticks. Every minute that passed, a stick went away. If the timer went off, they got nothing. This first round was followed by a bonus bite round. Thirty seconds for a bigger bite of the same food. If completed, another stick. The girls chose this option. Cameron did not. They all even begged for round two.

The kids ended up with over 10 sticks a piece. Vegetables were eaten before noon. A fun new challenge has begun! Wonder what next time will be? Maybe parasailing.

Emma made Cameron's lunch today. Complete with napkin adorned with a love note, the kids watched Disney's Earth, and we did lots of school work. Feels like I am getting somewhere. Just 158 school days until summer.

Class Pet.

Yeah..We got one. Well four, actually. Little Black and White striped ones.

They have been affectionately named Stripes Ladybug (yes, that is one name), Pearl, Sammus, and Lady Gaga.....

May they live long and prosper...

Day 11. Work Together.

This past summer our pastoral staff and families went on a retreat to Lake Tahoe. This was new to me. Not the retreat part, the family part. Previous churches have done the retreats, but children were always left at home. I was prepared for nothing. No idea what to expect.

Our Pastor did a great job in putting this retreat together. One of the most interesting things that happened was family projects. We had a couple different ones. One was to pick a family verse, memorize it, and recite it for the others. One was to select a bowl of objects and make a sculpture with them. Another was to make a prayer calendar. The retreat was awesome, but these projects a bit hideous for my family. Our strength is not in sitting down, making a plan and doing it. In fact, I really do not remember ever doing this before. When we spend time together its almost always spontaneous adventures. Fly by the seat of our pants. Stop and smell the roses. That's how we roll. In fact, I didn't even know we may have an issue with this. All three projects in our little corner of the room....did not go well. Two of my children are strong willed and had their own ideas, my other child needs to make everyone happy, I was disappointed, and Shawn frustrated. Ever since that time, it has been on my to do list to work on this a bit.

Right away, when home schooling became a reality...I knew I would work this into our day somehow. It's something I want to improve. Yesterday was the day. The kids first "work together" project. I gave them 60 minutes to build a fort. They had instructions on where and what they could use. They would be graded on creativity, attitude, and following instructions. If anything broke, their grade went down.

I sat in the other room and listened. It was great for about 40 minutes and then it went down hill FAST. Screaming was involved. 1st and 3rd child war with middle child trying to mediate. Typical. I was listening and trying to figure out what the problem seemed to be. Bottom line youngest was acting like a 5 year old and the 10 year old didn't like it. No surprise.

After the fort was built, they had 15 min to write a report card for themselves. They had to give their grade and justify why they should receive it. INTERESTING!

They had 30 minutes to play in the fort and then 15 to clean up. All in all, it was a two hour project. It flew by. Tomorrow we will sit down and have a meeting about how things went and what we can improve. Good news is that my oldest flunked himself in following directions..he writes "We argued a lot" for the reason. He gets it. That's the first part. Looking forward to sitting down tomorrow and talking through some ways we can work on listening to others. A skill everyone can improve on. Just 159 school days until summer.

Calendar.

What classroom doesn't have one? Again, along with the mild planner obsession, I love calendars. I used to love the ones with the stickers that you added for special occasions and things. Remember those? Well, I went to Lakeshore and tried to get a classroom calender. All of them had so many colors, they hurt my head. Personal Preference, I know that. But remember, while I am trying to mimic some of a classroom, this still is my house. No puzzle pieces, stars, or rainbows....please.

I asked the sales gal if there is a wall calendar in just black and white. Oh, I wish I could have taken a video of her reaction. "Are you a teacher?" ummm, I wasn't sure how to answer that. Fortunately, I didn't have to...more questions..."What district do you work for". Um, I don't...I home school... "OH. (insert snobby tone)" oh I see how this is going to be. So, I added just for fun..."and I am new at it, it's my first year"... She was horrified and quickly gave me her education background and schooled me on why colored calendars were better. So, lesson learned...we always want color and we don't want to admit we are first year homeschool "teachers". Whatever.

I went home and found this one on line. Not great. Not bad. The kids love it. It was just $10. Its pretty useful.

Day 10. Cruella Deville.

I am finding the beginning of the school week to be the hardest. By the end, I am in a groove. Today, I was crabby. I tried to channel my inner Carol Brady. It just wasn't happenin'.

About a month ago, Shawn and I woke up to Emma screaming with all the hatred her cute little body could muster..."Cameron, STOP IT!" She screamed it multiple times, over and over. So, I did what any woken up from a deep sleep mother would do and instantly yelled "CAMERON STOP". I get an immediate response of "I didn't do anything". Um, well o.k...."Emma, what is Cameron doing to you that is bothering you?" I yelled. Her response is something I will remember forever......"BREATHING".

That's how I felt today. Everything was irritating me, to no end. From the second I woke up, it was difficult to be nice. A friend texted me for a park play date, so I happily said "YES". The kids will be far less tormented that way. Getting up and out is a much better option then staying in. We went and played all morning, until about noon. Well they did, I sat and had adult conversation with one of my most favorite people. We got home and the older kids chilled and did some independent work. Emma and I took a nap. Mine was 2 hours... hers was 4.5! Emma's 5th birthday was this past weekend, along with four church services. She was spent. I woke up in a much better mood too. Bonus.

We were able to complete school from about 4:30-7. Quizzes, tests and a new letter game called Wash Day for Emma. Following that was movie time. ELF. A family favorite...(there IS just 94 days, 2,245 hours until Christmas, btw). Round table was delivered. Snuggling happened. Now there is just 160 school days until summer.

Class Snacks.

I usually send one of the kids a few minutes before snack time to make the snacks for all three. However, when it is supposed to be fall and it registers 99 degrees, classroom snacks become Junior Frosty's at Wendy's for .49 cents. They Rock.

Day 9. If the shoe fits.

I think the following is an entirely true, yet somewhat confusing statement:

Doing something that God asks us to do,

even if its hard,

is still easier then doing something that's easy,

but not what He asks.

Have you ever had the pleasure of watching someone do what God has uniquely created them to do? I love watching someone who is operating so within their niche,

that it is undeniably, a God given talent. Some that come to mind are:

My husband leading worship.

Steve Larson selling homes.

Brandon on So You Think You Can Dance.

Barry Smith preaching on any subject passionate to him.

You see this lots of places, if you look for it. There is something so special about it. Something that just works. It inspires me. Not necessarily what they do,

but how they do it. It seems effortless.

Finding what God wants you to do, requires constant and complete surrender. Both in big things and small. I get that in my head. I try and live that in my life.

I feel like my life has been turned upside down, but I am confident that I will experience blessings that I can not imagine. I will live this year looking for them. They may be big. They may be small. I feel reflective today. Its been a long and challenging week. More challenges outside the classroom than in. Which in a weird way, is a good thing.

Today we did school on the go again. I went into the office to prepare some things for our weekend services. The kids did awesome. Packed lunches, school books with sticky notes of assignments, and an alphabet dvd for Emma provided lots of work done for me. I am blessed to have a flexible job. I am blessed to have the Lord guiding my steps. I am blessed that there is 161 school days until summer.

Planners.

I love planners. I love calendars. I love filling in brand new planners and calendars with a brand new sharpened pencil. This part of home school, I was looking forward to. Any chance to use another planner. What a disappointment it turned out to be.

In the world of teacher planners, I found lots of brightly colored, kid like ones. I am confused by this, as the planner IS for the teacher, right? Where are the cute black and white ones? How about a lime-y green one with zebra trim?? Or a pretty metallic aqua one with crystals on the front? Another problem with all of them, is that they are made for a classroom of students, all doing the same subject. I need one that shows multiple students doing different subjects, all on one page. An at a glance type...for us newbies.

I then had the brilliant revelation that there probably is one specifically for home schooling. How right I was. There is a homeschool ONE. Yesterday I chose from 11 kinds of chicken broth at the grocery store. Just one choice on a planner, huh? Really? Are the other ones hiding somewhere? It does come in multiple colors, I will give them that. No offense, but oh how it's dull. Maybe even just a bit life sucking. Functionally speaking, each page shows 5 students at a time, but there are only 41 pages. It costs 12.95! My calculations are that I would need 5 of those to get me through the year. Bleh.

I sat down the week before school started to do my "lesson plans". It did not go well, I am not gonna lie. I spent two days completely frustrated until I realized what my problem was. "One can not plan, what one does not know." Problem solved. I gave myself 3 weeks of trial and error. THEN I will bust out the planner. It will be much easier, when I am more familiar with what I am planning. My 3 weeks aren't up yet and already I feel like I could sit down and do it now.

My sad ugly duckling planner, sits patiently on my desk. I will use it out of necessity. Maybe one day I will design a homeschool planner. In my opinion there is a need. This is incredibly trivial in the grand scheme of things. I get that. I'm just sayin'...

Day 8. Mission Accomplished.

Today was a longer day of school, as we played catch up. The goal was to have all subjects completed up to lesson 8. We made it.

I am finding it tempting and sometimes easier, to send the kids with their text book to their desk to complete their work alone. While that is important and necessary sometimes, it cannot be the norm. Besides, if I did that daily, I would have missed learning that Juan Ponce de Leon (not to be confused with Wipe Out's infamous DeDe Wong of Hong Kong) went in search of the fountain of youth along the coast of Florida. He never found it and ironically died in the process. More Importantly, I would have missed the utter delight in my kid's faces when they learned that someone was actually named Amerigo Vespucci.

We talked about the fact that when these now famous explorers discovered new lands, it wasn't real easy for them to spread the word immediately, like we do now. They couldn't call anyone. They couldn't text anyone. Taylor was like..."oh yeah...I never thought of that. That would be weird if when Christopher Columbus discovered America he posted it on Facebook"....

Something to think about. Just 162 school days until summer.

Random Drumming.

My trick for handling classroom wide frustration moments came to me yesterday. As I told you, I spent the day teaching on the floor with a pillow. In the middle of my pseudo nap, I accidentally hit the leg of one of the kids desks. It made a pretty sound. So, being the fabulous role model that I am, I continued. It Interrupted our studies and before long the four of us were having a jam session. Pencils, rulers, markers all were tested. Random Drumming was born.

From now on, anytime I say random drumming, everyone has ten seconds to drum away. When I say stop, everyone must stop. Frustration diffused. You can't help but laugh. I think I'm on to something. Workplaces should consider this.

Day 7. Night School.

Bad idea. Period. Oh the wiggles and distractions were at an all time high. I had another meeting this morning and a couple of neglected must do errands to run. Emma started begging for Boston Market (her all time favorite restaurant). I caved. All in all we arrived home at 1:30. I put her down for a nap and sent the kids to their rooms to chill. Everyone got up around 4...

Have you ever been super tired? I mean that kind of tired where you feel like moving any part of you may just do you in. That's me today. Rough week. So, my plan of night school seemed reasonable to fit in today. Plus, we haven't tried this time frame yet. Shawn works late tonight teaching guitar lessons. Should be great. Um, Not so much.

We still did it. Got through it. Won't attempt again. BAD time of day. Of course, the fact that I was trying to "teach" while laying on the floor with a pillow, probably didn't help much. I taught Cameron about the principal parts of a verb. Flashback. I didn't like learning about it as a kid and I don't like teaching it as an adult. Language and math are two subjects that I am not a fan of. In Cam's language book there were 25 different examples of how to use the verb wash. Just wondering if that is really necessary?

I actually "taught" Emma how to color a couple days ago during school. The picture she did today rocked. It never occurred to me prior to that, that you should tell her to stay IN the lines... Third child thing I guess. But as it turns out, she sorta can. She was proud.

First rounds of quizzes are over. In all subjects and the kids got all A's...guess I'm doing o.k., or they are still in review from last year. I think I will go with the first option. 163 school days until summer.

Little Shop of Horrors.

Ummm...is this normal? Its' been like 5 days. So, what I'm saying today is, seems to me like the Green house thing works.

Day 6. The Substitute comes to town.

I had a lot of meetings at work today. Four to be exact. That's not the norm, but today I needed to be in the office at 10:30. Grandma to the rescue...."kids, your having your first substitute teacher". I laid out their assignments before I left. They completed and corrected all of them. They baked my grandma's yummy raisin cake (while discussing measurement and letters) and even went on a scavenger hunt around the house for items that begin with the letter "B".

What a nice gift, to have a grandma who enjoys her grandkids, and will spend a day with them doing school. I am not sure who had more fun! Wish I could give her a raise....now its just 164 school days until summer.

Subliminal messages.

As a little girl, my 80's decorated bathroom, had a poster of a little girl framed and hanging on the wall. Every time, I sat down in that bathroom for any reason, I seemed to find myself reading it... "Wherever you go, and whatever you do, you'll find special magic in just being you." This poster now lives hanging in my garage. If I ever find extra money laying around, I will have it reframed and put back in my house. It looks almost perfectly vintage. I always remember that poster. I am kinda nostalgic that way.

I love the walls of my house filled with all kinds of sayings: heartwarmingly cheesy, fabulously romantic, and incredibly witty. I read them often. They make me happy. I hope my kids are reading them. I hope that when they are 38, they can recite things that are hanging in our home today. My subliminal messages to them.

In our classroom, I have made a collage of them (stole the idea from a dear friend). I truly think that this covers all the major things that I hope my kids remember in their life. Humor, dreaming, love, courage, and faith...I am not sure that hanging them on the wall, will actually instill these values in my kids, but it couldn't hurt...and it looks cute.

What if the hokey pokey really is what its all about?

Live a good life

I wish I may I wish I might

Chase your dreams

Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and leave the rest to God.