Field Trips are awesome

One of my favorite things about being a homeschooling mom is the freedom to leave in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week and go on an adventure. Normally for me, I am not able to just get up and leave the house with the six kids I am in charge of, since I only have room in my car for my own 3 children's car-seats. It's a little disappointing sometimes. Since my husband works a swing shift, he is home during daylight hours. However, he is usually busy sleeping, doing the chores of his choosing, and running errands, I can sometimes request his help to go on a special field trip. He will take 3 in his car and I will take the other three in mine. It's a rather big deal. It doesn't happen very often.

On this special occasion, we didn't have the other three kids, as their family went on a trip, so it was just the five of us.
We decided to go to the Oregon Zoo, since I hadn't been there since before our 2 year old son was born and he is now at the marvelous age of naming all his favorite animals and telling us what they "say".

We decided it would be even more fun if we met with my brother and sister-in-law and their almost 2-year-old daughter.  They had the day off work this particular Friday, and it was going to be the most decent weather for visiting the zoo: not too hot, not too cold, not raining. Partly sunny and 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit. It was lovely.

The evening before the trip, I asked our precocious toddler which animals he thought we might see at the zoo. He started on a list of animals I hardly even knew he was aware of, and said their names with amazing clarity. Some of the animals, he found it necessary to inform me of their sounds. A little bit later, as we were driving, he said :"Mom! I want to see ehfnts, (elephants) aaaand mo-keys (monkeys), aaand tigers, and mo-keys, aaand ehfnts, aaand tigers! And mo-keys!" Needless to say, I got the idea that we should seek out these three particular animals. I then asked our 8 1/2 year old, and he replied "Kimono Dragons." He further informed me that he'd like one as a pet. I tried to explain that I didn't think our particular zoo held those, simply because they are so exotic, being endangered, as well as extremely dangerous. However the thought must have stuck because when the toddler woke up on the day of our trip, he exclaimed that he wanted to see dragons at the zoo today. Hmmm. What's a mom to say to that?

Our zoo is currently holding an exhibit (and has been since the last time we were there 2 years ago) of animatronic dinosaurs that are much similar to the ones used in Jurassic Park . We saw this exhibit when our older ones were 5 and 6 1/2, and they were very excited by it. However, since this trip we paid about $40 just to park and get into the zoo, we didn't feel the pockets stretch to go into the extra exhibit, paying about $5 per person just for that. We did let the kids climb on one statue-like dinosaur just in front of the exhibit entrance. It was a bit crowded, but I got a couple pictures.

They had fun waiting just inside the entrance of the zoo for their auntie and uncle and little cousin. We had an umbrella stroller for the toddler, but we had a feeling he might like to walk as well, so we brought along his favorite stuffed animal, which is actually a backpack-leash monkey that we got when we went to the fair last year. He loves his monkey so much that he actually prefers to wear it backward so he can hug the monkey as we trail the tail-leash behind him, just re-attaching it to the straps.

That's my cute husband being led by the boy and the beloved monkey, by the way.

Sometimes the little guy wanted to have the monkey on his back. And sometimes he liked riding in the stroller.
Once the family got there, we made our way through the zoo, keeping in mind the particular animals that had been requested. Also, our little niece has a favorite animal, the giraffe, that we had to see.

We were on a time limit; we had to head out of the zoo by 2pm to take daddy to work by 3. We started off at 10 am, when Auntie and Uncle arrived. My Husband wanted the older reader to look at all the signs and read the info on them, since this is a field trip during a school day and he thought they should be learning. That was what his parents had him do at that age. I, however, was thinking more along the practicality of time restraints and the fact that we had 2 toddlers begging to move onto the next exhibit. It wasn't really functional for that to happen on this trip. I told him that if we came on a day when he didn't have to work, it might be a better opportunity.

Our first animal (after the mountain goat in the entrance) was a bear. (I didn't get any pics of that one, unfortunately). Henceforth he asked if we could see the next bear, as if the words 'animal' and 'bear' were synonymous. That is, until we pointed out to him the names of the animals. After we made it through the local wildlife section (like we paid $40 to see animals indigenous to this area...) we made it to the farm animals. Our relatives have had livestock in the past, but that was before the littlest one can remember, so it was exciting to visit the petting zoo for him.

Our oldest is so sweet and helpful with his little brother sometimes :)

After that, we had a picnic lunch by the Jungle Show on the big field in front of the elephants. It was just in time for the show, where they have the wild birds flying over the heads of all of us sitting on the grass. It was really exciting for the little guy to have a bird fly right by his head!

While we watched and ate, I used an apple slicer to cut up 2 apples to split between all the kids. It turned out our favorite little guy was hoarding them. When I looked over, this is what I saw:

Apparently the slices weren't enough. Heehee.

I enjoyed the little show about the animals of the jungle. Afterwards you could come up to the stage and get a better look at the animals close up. He particularly liked the Boa Constrictor. I got a shot of it here:

As requested, we made sure to visit the primate house. He loved it!

 The chimpanzee was really cute. Baby kept  saying "oooh-ooh, aaahh-aaahh! Monkey!"

I kept singing in my head "If it doesn't have a tail it's not a monkey, even if it has a monkey kind of shape. If it doesn't have a tail it's not a monkey it's an ape!"

 This Orangutan was playing peekaboo with us from underneath the cardboard. It was either cute, or he was really annoyed that we were looking at him when he was trying to sleep, and kept peeking out to see if we were all still there.

 Then we moved onto the monkeys. These guys swung right over when they saw people, got right up to the window and just stared at us.

They were quite funny. Next, we wandered over to the elephant area.

 They seemed really close, and the kids got a great view of the pachyderm family interaction. The mom elephant even employed some dicipline tactics. When the little elephant calf got out of line, she put her mouth over his head and pushed him back, he was getting into her food! We then had to go into the horribly stuffy indoor part to watch the smaller elephant scratching his head over and over against the wall.

There's only so much of that you can take in that hot, airless environment. After a few moments in there, I felt like banging my head againts the wall, too. We decided to explore the little climbing area just outside.

 If you can see his face in the last one, he's making roaring sounds as he aggressively charges on his hippo.

 This is my sweet daughter (older one) and my adorable neice (toddler). Aren't they precious?
Here are a few of my older two actually getting along and being sweet. I had to get photo documentation for evidence this actually occured. 

You just witnessed a miracle, folks...


We had to start making our way back towards the exit about this time, by way of the African Savannah exhibit, to see our giraffes and lions and other favorites.

When we entered the exhibit there was a village-like set up and a group of native African instruments to play with. This is my family's concert:

The next thing to see was the mighty king of the grasslands, the Lion! A group of people were walking away from the outside viewing area looking disappointed, and when we got to where we could see, at first there was nothing. But then the big male lion walked right around in front of us and we got a great view!

We went around to the inside veiwing area and looked through the glass. It was even more magnificent!

There were two lionesses right in front of the glass, digging in the grass. They were eye-level with the average child and literally looked my kids right in the eyes. They were mere inches from my kids' faces with only the glass separating them. I gotta tell you, this was one of the coolest things I could have hoped to experience. I'm always telling my kids about wild animals from foreign lands and showing them pictures in books, but, folks, when you can watch them that close...it kind of brings a chill to me when I think about it.

We then went around the bend into a display that had something really neat. (Boy, it's been a while since I used that expression, but I found it really fitting in this case.)

This bubble went up into one of the animal cages housing a mongoose and some kind of indigenous bird that cohabitates with it. The kids were able to be in the cage in the zoo! 

That is the mongoose.

The nxt thing was the Ugly Naked Guy molerat section. My oldest actually said he wanted one as a pet... I told him to move to New York and get an apartment.....

Anyway... just outside the MoleRat section was:

Giraffes! Our little neice and our boy were very excited to stand around and gaze. However, we were on a time crunch and it was officially time to leave. As we walked down toward the exit, we just happened to pass by the last animal on the "list" of must-see animals. A Tiger! Apparently it was his naptime, so we couls just barely make out his sleepy little body. But, it was nice to see the tiger after all the talking about it, anyway.

After that, we made it to the exit and said goodbye to our family members. It had been a great feildtrip. And a really nice day. I can't wait for our next adventure. We may visit the Children's Museum next. We'll have to see.

Self Peptalking

What's up, y'all?

I wanna tell you a little story about me.

I am a beauty consultant. I was asked to do a makeup demo on a model in front of a group of people recently. I only recently, within the last 5 years, started wearing make-up myself.
Mostly because of insecurity. I'll explain that later. But since becoming a consultant, I have been trained and practiced using make-up and applying it to others. And there are some really great products and colors in this line, so I am very excited about it and I knew what I was doing. So I agreed and my model was awesome and agreed to help me out. Still, when I was up in front of this crowd of people (30-35 people, I think), I was very nervous. I tried to appear confidant and poised, and do what I knew I was doing well. But the whole time I was hearing this very loud voice:
"What are you doing?! You Suck! Why did you choose THAT? Everyone is wondering why you are telling them anything, they are thinking that they know more about make-up than you. They are thinking every choice you made was a bad one...." Etc. When I sat down, I was about 100x less confident than when I went up. I hung out for a while, and then I got to sit in a seat that was right in front of my model and I finally got a good look from the audience's perspective. She looked really good! So then I started re-thinking those thoughts and voices and wondering what that was all about. I mean, I totally believed what I was hearing the whole time, until I really looked at the situation and realized it was total Bologna.
BA-LON-EY!

So, if it was the opposite of true, why did I believe it so readily? Why did I hear it so loudly? Why did I never doubt it until I could see the truth with my own eye?
Here's the thing: I ALWAYS have the voices of doubt, discouragement, condemnation and criticism in my head. They are there whatever I do. And pretty soon, it's my own voice telling myself those negative messages.

Self-Talk.

This applies to everything I aspire to do. I hear, "you can't, why even bother. You'll fail. Everyone will think you suck." I hear this when I sing for church, when I plan lessons for school, at home and at co-op. Whenever I go out into public and I dress up to look good, I still hear "everyone thinks you look terrible and you don't know how to dress yourself." Why is this and what can I do about it?

First of all, the why is because I have been hearing it most of my life. At first it was outside voices, but eventually it transferred to my inner voice. The people in my life when I was at a very impressionable age kept telling me that I was no good in many ways. I began to believe it, completely.
Wouldn't you think that if I was so insecure, I would wear a lot of make-up, instead of none at all?
I would, too, but somehow, my insecurity told me that if I wasn't good enough without make-up, then I wasn't good enough. Plus, I suck so bad at everything, I would just look like a drunken cross-dresser if I attempted to do my own make up.
But if I did look good in it, I didn't want to appear better than I really looked and have people like me because of my looks and it not be the real me they liked. I was afraid that they would then see me without make-up one day and suddenly stop liking me because I am really so hideous underneath it all. Does that make sense? I don't know. I'm better, now.

Now, I have a group of family and friends around me that tell me positive things about me. It could be an army of people speaking good things about me and I would still question it. But I add to my own thoughts. I compound the problem by speaking things over myself that keeps me questioning all those good things.

I think we all do this, social pressure keeps us second-guessing ourselves and we talk down about ourselves out loud and in our minds. I think it would be a much more functional and positive place if we instead said those positive and true things to help motivate ourselves. I want to promote functionality in my own life.

What does this have to do with homeschooling? Well, if I'm not being confident by the things I'm hearing about myself in my head, I am not going to get a whole lot done with them, and the negative talk feeds into their minds as well. It comes out in different ways and the kids do pick up on it, whether I say any of it aloud or not. But I do quit if I doubt myself too much and I am not quitting homeschooling because of doubt, so this has to change somehow. They need me to be a good teacher.

I get these migraine headaches sometimes. Usually onset by hormones, so they happen fairly frequently. Any time you are in excruciating pain so bad that you are dysfunctional all day and you feel you might throw-up from the intensity of the headache is too frequent, I say. I can't help it. It is an uncontrollable thing. I can barely make it go away. (Excedrin Migraine helps, I am going to endorse it here for free, but you can only dose up so much in a day and it's usually not effective enough to 'cure' the problem for the day, sadly.) When I have these, you would not believe the self-talk that happens. It's as if I invented an excuse to be practically bedridden for an entire day. As if I would choose that! Like I said, I cannot help this problem, but judging by what I say to myself when I find myself being taken care of by my family, instead of being the one taking care of them,  you would think I actually had any control and I am just so selfish for doing this.

I had one yesterday, Monday. I had started this blog over the weekend so that I would have one up and ready on Monday at the start, but I was so miserable, I hardly looked at my laptop all day. I would say I had an excuse.
I didn't even post anything on Facebook all day, if you can believe it! That's how bad I was feeling. I did make the kids do their workbooks, at least. That made me feel like I got at least one thing off my check-list
done.

But I hated myself for being so dysfunctional. I can hardly stand to be looked after. I tell myself I should be the one to do for others. But the truth is we cannot do everything for ourselves and we need each other. No one is Superman. NO one. Not even you. He doesn't really exist, and even if he did, Lois still would have to take care of him any time he got around some kryptonite. That stuff is powerful, man, he would be out for the day after encountering a little piece of it. SO my point is: why be so hard on myself for having a day of weakness and needing to be cared for?

I have got to start speaking true and positive self-talk.

I want to encourage others to do the same. I could get so much more accomplished in life if I believed in myself more. We probably all could. I know what the truth is. I am going to start claiming it out loud. Are you with me?

Starting today, Tuesday the 14th of June, I issue a 10-day challenge:
Say 1 nice thing aloud about yourself for every one negative thought that threatens to hinder your life in any way.

For example, right now I am thinking what a failure I am for forgetting where I put something important, and I am condemning myself in my head for being absent-minded. Here's what I'm going to say right now to myself: "YOU are normal. Everyone misplaces stuff sometimes. You'll find it eventually. You have a great memory and you are very responsible. Don't worry about it!" It's all good :)
Self-pep-talk. I want to be more, not less, productive. And, as I've said before, I want to set good examples for my kids and daycare kids. SO speaking aloud might help them here and internalize positive speaking for themselves.

Who's with me on this challenge? You know the truth. Speak it!
I'll start out my blog with the good words of the day and let you know how I'm doing on this challenge for the next 10 blogs. So if that's more that 10 consecutive days, I'll just have to be positive for longer. Oh, well. :)

Talk to you soon!

Cutenss Alert!

MY kids are full of hilarity. Especially toddlers. I love the crazy, adorable things they say, expressions their faces make, etc.
I think I'd like to dedicate any Friday post I might do to these antics.
I also think it might be cool to get outside participation. If you want to share an adorable thing that one of your kids said or did, or just downright funny, for that matter, I would love to take comments and add them to my posts.

For today, I'm just going to share some videos of my kids and their cuteness. (Disclaimer, all these where filmed on my iPhone, so they're all sideways, sorry :( )

Enjoy!

Too bad. So S.A.D.

Did you ever have the feeling there's a cloud hanging over your head, following you all around. Just like Eeyore?

Well, if you live in Portland, OR, like I do, you literally do have a cloud handing over you virtually all the time.
But I'm speaking metaphorically. Like "did you ever have a feeling there's a dread in your head?" "Sometimes I get the feeling there's a schlump in my rump" "Sometimes I just can't drag my head out of bed." (Thanks, Seuss, for that inspiration)

Sounds a little silly and also fictional. Like it's not a real problem. And it's not ALL the time, just on really gloomy days, or, like, all winter.

This is what I feel like at these times. It's commonly refered to as Seasonal Affective Dissorder. Or: I'm feeling a little SAD.

But it isn't clinically depressed. I do not want or need drugs, especially antidepressants that are chock full of other side effects that will make me feel worse physically in order to feel better emotionally. Besides, I don't know about you, but I feel pretty lousy when I have bad side effects and I am fairly grumpy when I have a headache, so why would I think that my lousy feelings would be gone? They would just be from a different source. No, let's not do drugs. Just Say No, thank you.
*Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means saying antidepressants are bad, or no one should take them. I don't necessarily believe that. I'm just saying in my case, this is where I stand on them. No condemnation on anyone else, OK?*


But, if no drugs, what can I do to feel better when there's such a lack of sun? Well, a couple things. But the question might actually be, "Do I need to do anything at all? Can I cope with this, or not?" Some days are better than others.
 On those really sucky days, I use a daytime light.

  They're a bit expensive, my husband bought me one on clearance from BestBuy for Christmas. I try to spend time alone in my room with the light on, praying. But only when the kids are all napping. Taking vitamins are a good idea, Especially B vitamins. And Vitamin D, you can get from drinking milk.
Some days, I push through it, and I'm not having a great day, but it's OK. I'll cope.
Diet, I heard, can help. Certain foods are healthier for you, so you feel better when you eat them, and other "comfort foods" make you think you are feeling good, but in the long run, make your body actually sluggish--
 more sluggish than you are already feeling, so it's a sick cycle.
Whatever. I'm bummed, let me eat my donuts in peace, will ya?

Exercise is awesome! Get up offa my butt and dance around. Zumba!
http://www.zumba.com/
Yay! Just saying the name Zumba makes me smile and feel a bit better. Go to a class with other happy dancers and Salsa the endorphines into our brains, Instant fix!

So, um, why bring this up on a Homeschooling blog? How does this effect teaching at home? Does it? Of course it effects all aspects of my life.

You remember last post when I was dreaming of a land where you can take a day, week or even month off school?

Yeah, so, April was a particularly dreadful weather month for us Portlanders. And I had finished the home school co-op class for the term. And my kids had finished their textbooks already. So, we um, took all April off. (And May, too.)

But then the sun started to shine a lot more and I felt better. So I decided, as a free homeschooling parent, that we could do school when we want. We went out and bought new books and started up again in June. It's quite perfect. I felt lousy in April and May, so we just did Daycare and homecare, but now that I am energized and motivated and inspired, we can do school again. That's the beauty of Homeschooling. No dictated schedule.

I don't know if this post is bumming you out, or encouraging you, or what. I, for one, feel better talking (blogging) about it. It's not that bad. And I am feeling good about the honesty of it. Depression worsens when you don't admit it, recognizeit, discuss it, address it.  Community is so important. I know that homeschooling can be very isolating. That is why I highly advocate groups. Bible study groups, play groups, homeschool co-op groups, Zumba groups, etc. Find a place to belong and feel connected. Get out of the house sometimes! It's not good to become cut off from the world just because we don't go to school. And we need to feel accepted and comfortable enough in our groups to have people understand what we are going
through and encourage us. Even hold us accountable. Ask us those tough questions.
 Amen, Sister! (oops, did I say that out loud? Sorry)

Well, I must be off to conquer another cloudy Oregonian day! God bless!

Freedom!

Freeeeedooooommmmm!!!

Picturing a blue-faced Scotsman? :)

I'm picturing a world where school can be on days when other kids are out of school.
A world where you can take the day, week, or even month off school if you want to and pick it up whenever and wherever you feel like it.

A world where teaching about dinosaurs doesn't have to include a lot of fiction and speculation presented as total fact. 

Where the strong beliefs your family holds so dear
aren't outlawed and someone else's beliefs aren't infiltrating your child's curriculum. 

Where your child grows in the faith or culture of you family instead of vaguely being aware of it.

Picture a world that is surrounded with the love and joy of watching your kids grow and being a main part of it instead of looking at yearbooks and school photos to 'watch' them  grow. 

Imagine a place where if your kids loves one subject, their whole world could be on that subject and they could get excited about learning because the lessons are tailor-made just for them.

"Imagine there's .. no schedule....that you have TO keep...No time of day that you're forced to...get up from your sleep.....Oo-hoo-ooo...You may say I'm a dreamer...." 

Sorry, got a little Beatle-y on ya there.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is, to me Homeschooling equals freedom. That is why I love homeschooling. And I really appreciate the world of opportunity it provides. A world of learning outside the box. And it's a freedom that I, for one, am very grateful to have here in the Great land of America.

 Let me just take a few minutes to really appreciate those individuals who have sacrificed so much for to have
these freedoms.

Thank you, brothers and sisters! With your dedication, your loyal volunteering allows the rest of us to not have
to be drafted, and we are able to do what we love to do! Your sacrifice keeps our wonderful country free! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So, speaking of Homeschooling freedom, does anyone know what our rights are as homeschooling parents? Are you
aware of the laws of the state in terms of home education? Do you know the Senators that are lobbying on your behalf?
Are you keeping watch over the new bills? Ones that come into the government, that may slowly chink away at your rights as a parent to make the best decisions about education for your own children? If the government continues to take over control, we may lose those rights our military family have fought so hard for. 
There are groups that keep watch over this kind of thing, advocate groups for home educators that will email you when you join their mailing lists. They pay attention to those new bills that have key phrases that may change what our rights are.
Here is the info for the HSLDA:

Home School Legal Defense Association
P.O. Box 3000
Purcellville, Virginia 20134
Phone: (540) 338-5600
Fax: (540) 338-2733
Email: info@hslda.org
Web: http://www.hslda.org

Also, you can look up your local Senators and ask them about home school laws and changes. And you can bring them a pie on pie day, that usually makes them happy :)

My husband thinks that this is sounding really "activisty", so, I'm gonna wind this up, or down, or however it ends...

Freedom isn't free. We should take hold of our freedoms and take advantage of those rights we have, but NEVER take them for granted, because we may not always have them if we do.
Thanks for reading.

Learning Styles

Have you ever heard someone refer to teaching your kids using there own 'learning styles' and thought to yourself:

"Learning styles.... what the heck are those and how can I tell what my kids' are??? "
Well, I may have some answers.

Some notes I took, a long time ago when I went through a learning style seminar for my teacher training, said "A learning style is the way a person sees or understands BEST what they are being taught."
There are several different ways to receive information and remember and keep it stored. Some are more useful than others for different people. Not every kid can learn the same way best. Buuuuuut... WE tend to try and teach our kids with our learning style! Hmm. Maybe that's why their not seeming to pick it up as quickly as we think they should.

There are 3 main ways of "picking stuff up": Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic.
We who have attended "real" school are very familiar with the first 2. Mostly auditory. Professors really like the sound of their own voice, don't they? It has become much more popular to use visual aids lately as a lot of people figured out that they are visual learners. But, have you ever had a teacher make you get up and do something weird to demonstrate a point? Did that stick out to you just a bit, if they did? Let me ask you something else. Did you just love sitting in a desk non-stop for the 1 1/2 hours for each lesson? Or did your butt fall asleep? Yeah, mine did, too.

Here are some interesting (to me, hopefully to you, too) statistics on kids out there:
Out of TEN students:

• Two are auditory (mostly girls)
• Four are visual
• FOUR learn by moving and touching (mostly boys).

Back in the good old days of teaching, (when most of those college professors were attending elementary school) teachers focused on lecture-style teaching. It just became how you did it.

Now stop and think about a class you took this way. You remember what you learned?

How many senses did God give us? One or two? Vision and hearing? Wait, more? More than those basic 2?
He gave us touch and taste and smell, too?
Can we maybe learn with those senses?

Think back to some of your memories as a kid. Can you smell anything? A major part of our strong memories have a smell incorporated somehow. I'm not saying teach by smellovision... not sure exactly how you would do that, but I am saying kids learn
in lots of unconventional ways and I want to think outside the classroom-shaped lecture box. Take "classroom" outside on a sunny day.
Take it into the kitchen. Use the sense of touch and movement to teach. Make your son stand on his head as he says multiplication tables or jog in place while memorizing verses.
Have your daughter sing the parts of speech. Was your favorite class a hands-on learning one? Mine, too.

Now, the how-to-tell-what-kind-your-kids'-learning-style-is part:
Pay attention to them and look for clues. Ask them questions that would help you know. Here are some clues:
If your child seems to look at everything in the room and get distracted and point out some sight they just saw or ask "hey, what's that?" in the middle of your sentence, they might be visual learners. Show them some fun visual aids or pictures and ask them
about what they remember when you take it away.

If your child quotes song lyrics or movie lines from memory, if they talk a lot and interrupt to ask clarifying questions, they might be auditory learners. Do repetition and use music to teach them, see if they remember well.

If your child can't seem to stand still or sit straight in their chairs, if they like to act out a story they're telling you about what
happened to them and you can totally picture it from their reenactment through pantomime, they are most likely kinesthetic.
OR, they're me. :)

Some kids, yourself as well, may have more than one style of learning and do well with both. Cool. I am highly audiokinesthetatory...
So you have a wide range of options. Get creative. Part of the reason I didn't put my oldest into school in Kindergarten was the simple fact I knew he would hate sitting still for as long as he would have had to. I was afraid that his hatred of that would equal
a hatred of school and thereby hatred of learning. I knew I could help him learn in a more fun way with his learning style and hopefully get him to love school. Here's still hoping. But at least he doesn't have to sit and write for very long.

Well, I hope that helped answer some questions.
See YA!

Teachability

Homeschooling is a place where we find out about ourselves. I have learned so much about myself from being a teacher.

Basically, whatever I do that I don't like, I see them do and don't like and then I realize that I am their example.
 If I speak impatiently to them, how can I expect them to speak patiently to each other? If I don't feel like picking up after myself,
why would I be surprised wen they don't? And how can I ask them to, and think that they will be more mature than me?
I guess you could say this revelation is quite humbling. Actually, this is true of all parenting, not just homeschool parenting.
Maybe it just stands out more potently in this situation. I mean, you are trying to teach them directly in this situation.
Most of the time, parenting seems like a lot of indirect teaching and more direct discipline. Spening this many hours with them makes you see the results of your direct teaching all the more quickly. I'm not talking arithmatic here, folks.

I'm talking setting examples of good habits (or bad, in my case). I feel like they learn the unintentional lessons a lot quicker than the academics we're actually trying to teach them. Do I teach my daughter to doubt herself about her math ability? Do I show her to be so hard on herself when she doesn't write the letters perfectly the first time? Heaven help me, did I teach my son to throw temper tantrums and other physical objects when he is so frustrated about not getting a concept? What kind of a mother am I?

A real- life, human one, that's what kind. I am now becoming that much more aware of my direct influence over these guys.
Now I can attempt to stop myself in my tracks before I set another bad example, and more consciously attempt to set better habits. For myself.

Do you ever feel like a skipping CD? ('Broken record' is just too dated a phrase to use anymore...) I hate this expectation I had of my kids that after the second or third time I have said it, they should never forget again. And never not do what I say. Do I really think my kids are supposed to be that perfect? Do I have more grace for total strangers than I have for my own children?
Yeah, I think I do. Why is that? Somehow, I must be such an amazing parent, that my kids would never behave any way other than
my ideal. I know it takes patient guidance for other kids to get up to my standards, so I give them lots of grace, but my kids?
Well, they are children of ME, so they should be, you know, awesome... HMmm...

How do I reset that? Well, God has grace on me screwing up my kids, so do I have it for myself? If not, I know where I can get it.
And that same place is where I will learn to take the days one at a time and see that there are new mercies every morning. And I can ask for forgiveness and receive it. And I can ask for new grace for my kids and get it. That place is where I can get insight on my kids' best interest and figure out a new creative way to deal with the latest conundrum of discipline. My wellspring.
Do you have that place? Do you know where it is? The place where you fall in love, and it is LOVE, and you love each kid all the more the next time you look at them? I couldn't be a Homeschooling mom if I didn't have this place. In the presence of my Savior's Spirit.

Wow, I do learn a lot about myself through this process. I learn that I can't be perfect, and I can't depend on myself to have all the answers. That is a TOUGH thing to learn. I mean, you say those things and you know them to be true, but still you internally somewhere still actually believe that you should have the answers. And get really angry when it turns out not the case, as it inevitably will.

 Being teachable is a must for being a teacher. It's true. How can you expect others to learn if you won't?

ANd I want to be excited about learning something new about myself. That is a good example of being excited about learning.
Don't we want our kids to have that? I want to improve myself more every day. I want my kids to have wisdom imparted to them by word and actions.

That's my main point, I guess. Be teachable. And forgive yourself when you make mistakes. In fact, let your kids know when you screwed up and what you learned from it. What a great example of using mistakes to get better!

That's all that is on my mind for now. Bless you in your endeavors, readers.

Being at home, and enjoying it?

I think I love my life.

"You think?" you ask. "Don't you know? Didn't you choose this?"

Well, technically, yes, I did. And in some ways, I do love it. But there are days, you know those days. Days when I ask myself, "What are you doing?" Doesn't everyone?

I chose to homeschool my kids. Before you go correcting me, I have made that one word. I like it that way. In my world 'homeschool' is one word. Anyway, the reasons are several. They include:

• moving a lot around the kids' school year and not really knowing when and where we will end up
• my kids not really learning great in a typical school environment and wanting better for them
• having lots of homeschooling resources at hand
• I am not a morning person...so I don't want to have to follow someone else's schedule that forces me to get up and get them on the bus by a certain time...
• I was homeschooled for a lot of my school-life and I really liked it for the most part, and have some really good memories from it
• etc...

But the main reason is simple: I've wanted to be a teacher since I was in Kindergarten. And I could go be a Kindergarten teacher and get paid (very little, IMO*) and enroll my kids in school. OR I could be with them, and teach them, and share my love of teaching and learning and fun ideas with the very people I chose to produce. Why spend my days with other kids missing my own every other moment, when I could still do what I love and watch my own kids grow at the very same time!


Sounds like a perfect solution, right? Having the skills to be a classroom teacher and the passion for it should make me perfect, right?


Um, there's this other detail... being a mom and being a teacher aren't exactly the same. You don't necessarily parent the same way you teach, and vice-versa. There's a certain skill you need to separate the daily parenting from the classroom set-up, so you don't end up getting frustrated with the kids being at all different ages, stages, grades and ability levels. And you can't expect your kids to have the same kind of view of you as other students. They won't. You're their mom. All kids treat their teachers differently than their moms. You did when you were in school. 
But I went into it with a lot of high expectations for my kids and their behavior. Let me just say this, even though it should be obvious: There are no perfect people. Not perfect parents, not perfect teachers, not perfect kids. 


"Yeah, duh, we know."


But If you go into anything with an ideal and a pre-conceived notion of how it should turn out, sometimes you forget that and you don't even realize that that's a type of perfection in your unspoken expectation. You don't even realize that you are setting yourself up for disappointment. 

I am not really disappointed at myself or homeschooling, or my kids. I just think that I can sometimes be a better teacher, and have much more patience at times. Poor kids.

When I started out, it was great. My kids were close together, so I could feasibly do the same curriculum with both. My oldest was 6, going into Kindergarten, and the next one was less than 2 years behind and very clever, so she could keep up with the program. Easy peasy.  But I was also pregnant. This meant that the baby was nicely contained in my belly and I didn't have to interrupt the lessons to care for him or have him be a total distraction to my kids as I held him while trying to teach them anything. So for the first part of my homeschool life, it went so well, I had my expectations high. And met, for the most part.

But then, along came my baby. I had to go to work to pay the bills in the afternoon, so I did homeschooling in the morning, then Grandma watched them while I spent the rest of the day in a Learning Center, teaching others. But not being with my baby tore me up. So when the opportunity to watch other kids in my home full time arose, it was a real solution. I could be with all my kids all day, teach them, and still teach others and get paid for it. In my home. No problem. I already watch at least 4-10 kids by myself. 

Only problem was, I didn't have both babies and older kids in the same class. All the kids were divided into classrooms by age and development, and I had taught in all the classes. But never all together. This is my biggest challenge. Well, that and my kids' attitudes. So, it is really a learning process.

It is a bit stressful to be stuck at home with no bus to take all my kids in to go anywhere during the day. All the Homeschooling families in the area can take advantage of outings and deals for things I can't really do because I am stuck at home. And it is hard. Anyone who's had lots of kids in their care knows this. Kids are so unpredictable you can't ever really plan for everything. There are things about this job that I just don't really like that much. So, some days I think to myself "why?" "Why did I choose this? What was I really expecting? What am I going to do?"


I'm no quitter. Well, OK, there are things I've quit. But this is not going to be one of them, in terms of just giving up. I mean, I may decide with my husband at some point that the best thing is to enroll my kids into a school. I may go all out with my at-home daycare and then my kids will go to another school. Who knows right now what the future will hold, other than God, of course.  But I'm not just going to give up because it's harder that I thought it would be, or because my expectations aren't being met. And I love my kids. I love them so much! They deserve the best I can give them. 


If you've ever wondered to yourself "Should I homeschool my kids?" (Now that the school year is over and it's summer)
I can share a few tips with you and give you some pre-decision questions to think about and ask yourself.

1. Do I love to teach?
2. If not love, but I could still do it, do I have a lot of patience with my kids?
3. Why do I think homeschooling would be better than sending them to elementary school?
4. What would I do? (How would I plan the days, what would my schedule and routine and curriculum look like?)
5. Where would the 'classroom' be?
6. Do you have a homeschooling group or online forum for connecting with other homeschooling parents and families?
7. Do I know the rules of homeschooling and the laws for my area/state?

If you have answers for some of these, and it looks good for homeschool, but you want more info, God bless you. A lot of families simply can't do it because of their work schedules and financial responsibilities, while others just don't have the patience. There are a lot of good teachers and some really good schools out there. Homeschooling isn't for the lazy or faint of heart. But if you (and your spouse) are committed to doing school this way and doing it right, you can succeed. But you really need to do your homework, research, and get connected with others who are like-minded. Sometimes doing a co-op is perfect for once a week or month, to have other classes you just don't have the skills to teach, or for breaking up the monotony and just getting out of the house.  
I joined a homeschool co-op and I love it, and we are still getting together for outings during the summer.  


I have a lot of fun sitting in the evenings after the kids go to bed and planning and coming up with new lessons and projects. I like the challenge of fitting the babies, and toddlers into our routines. I enjoy engaging the kids in discussions about what they really want to learn, and how we can incorporate their ideas into our curriculum. This is what teaching is all about to me.
If you have never taught before, that doesn't mean you can't do it. You can get some education on how to home school. It helps to have training and even a degree, but being your child's parent is a good qualifier. You know all about your child; what their learning styles are (look up the different styles and discover it if you're not sure) and their tendencies. You know what their excited about and what they struggle with. 

Homeschooling can be great. I love it, and when my kids are asked, they love it, too. And it is Worth It. It really is.


So, yes, I love my life. Sometimes.