Weird?!?!

I have absolutely no idea why homeschoolers get the reputation of being "weird".  What?  You don't read hanging upside down?

You Know You're a Homeschool Mom When......

.....you have to reheat your coffee after every three sips because you keep forgetting about it and then you find it the next day in the microwave......beacuse you forgot about it the last time you reheated it.

Our Home: {Why We Choose to Homeschool: The Sibling Factor}

One of the reasons I love homeschooling is the sibling relationships that I see being nurtured. This wasn't an original reason we chose to homeschool but one of those benefits that we've seen before our own eyes. I see this with all the homeschool families around us as well. I'm not saying that if the older kids were not home all the time they wouldn't love their younger siblings but there is a definite difference that happens when the family unit is together all the time. Here are just a few of my observations.

1.)The older ones get to know their younger siblings better because they are not away from them for 6+ hours a day. B.W. is probably Lovebirds favorite person after mommy. And I'm sure that when she is done nursing big brother will slip into that top spot quickly. If B.W. was a little older we know that he could totally handle watching all of his siblings.

2.) Age is not a factor. Whenever I hear the words homeschool kids and unsocialized I always laugh. This has not been our experience at all! I love how our kids will make friends with just about anybody. They can also carry on a conversation with any age including adults. When I've been around kids who are not with their siblings through out the day it appears that age does play a factor. I don't hear my kids say, "That is for babies." or "They are too little to play with." We have had friends over before and have heard this. I loved B.W.'s response. "Well lets play with the little ones for a little bit to make them happy and then we'll play something else." I wondered if as my kids got into those teen years if age might become a factor. By the teens I've seen who are homeschooled it won't be. I love seeing a 6th grader be totally accepted by a 12th grader at co-op. Age is just not a factor. In adult life it's not a factor so why should it be as a kid. You don't ever say, "Sorry, I only have friends who are between the ages of 40 and 45." Well I hope you don't!

3.) They are great friends. Believe me, my kids can definitely get on each others nerves and fight with each other. There are always going to be personality clashes. It's natural. But in the end my kids do love one another and miss each other terribly when someone is missing. They also know that in the end family relationships are the most important. They see Prince Charming and I have close relationships with our siblings as an example. At times when the older ones are fighting with each other I talk about how I have many friendships but with time some of those fizzle out but the ones I know will always be there are the friendships with my sisters and same goes for Prince Charming and his brothers.

Seeing our kids become best friends with their siblings wasn't a reason we chose to homeschool but has definitely now jumped high up on the list of why we continue to choose to.

Preschool Training

"Mommy, can I help?" is heard in my kitchen pretty much every day. It is always followed by, "Can you please get my stool?". Cuddlebug absolutely loves to help in the kitchen. I've learned after many years of homeschooling that the kitchen is the best classroom for this age. Yes it gets messy at times. There have been many eggs dropped on the floor, much flour thrown around, and many spills but in the end it's always worth it. Cuddlebug's favorite is to make cookies. This kid is just like her daddy and LOVES to eat the cookie dough left in the mixing bowl. She has asked many times to make cookie dough and not bake it just so she could have some dough. All the other kids enjoy eating the dough as well and we now have a "rotation" of who gets to lick the beaters and who has to settle for a spoonful. It's a unanimous vote in our house that it always tastes better straight off a beater.

Here Cuddlebug is watching the rhubarb cobbler bake. Another favorite in our house. Everyone loves it....except for me. Those are my favorite desserts to make because I know that I won't have to spend extra time on the elliptical afterward!

Homeschoolers Have Talent

The kids participated in a Homeschool Talent show. There were performances and displays.
We joined the R-Crew for some handbell songs. The kids did great and they had a lot of fun.
OK so with their concentration faces on they look as though they are being forced to perform. Trust me, they loved it! They also displayed their photography projects and Curly Bear had a baking display.
As usual, the littles sat quietly and watched the older ones perform. Well, Lovebird watched as soon as her hat was off her eyes.

Mission Completed

He finished it.....in one day! I figured B.W. would take a little longer on this detailed Lego set but as usual it was done by the time he went to bed on Monday night. He was determined to finish before Grandpa left so he could show him it all completed. This kid loves his Lego's!!!

Sick Day

So I've declared that today is an official sick day at the O Academy. Curly Bear came down with a fever last night and this morning B.W. and Cuddlebug are both not feeling great. Since daddy is away on business and I'm alone to manage the troops I figured a sick day was appropriate. I have quite a bit of organizing to do and I need to scrub the kitchen floor so it will be nice to get all those things checked off the "To Do" list today.

Everyone Has a Job

So in our house everyone has to pitch in. After our Canada unit study we decided to make Nanaimo bars. Cuddlebug got the job of smashing the graham crackers. This literally kept her occupied for 30 minutes!

Goals: January Update

So it's been one month since I laid out my old/new goals and to keep accountable I'm reporting on my progress. I am overall happy with how I did in the month of January. I didn't focus on all ten this month so some I was more successful at than others.

1. Make teaching my kids first priority.....everyday. We did excellent at getting ALL of our schoolwork done this month. We are in a good schedule now of morning school and afternoon school. We passed the 100 day mark which is always a great feeling!!!
2. Focus on having fun. Some of the fun things we did this month were making a volcano, making a 3D drawing, and doing some fun chemistry experiments. When Prince Charming was away on business we also had late movie nights, banana splits, and s'mores. We have had to postpone a museum trip with friends a few times because of weather but I'm hoping to accomplish this in the near future.
3. Bible Study. I did fairly well with this one but there is no excuse why I can't be doing the study like I want every day. I will definitely work harder towards this goal in February.
4. Reading. I read one book in January!!!! Now granted I finished at 11:58pm on January 31 but I did it. It kind of felt like cramming for a test. I read "A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family". It was a great book and I took away a few new ideas. Now I technically don't consider our family an all out large family.....yet. But I do like reading books written by homeschooling moms with multiple children for the mere fact that they have many different age levels. This is where the challenge comes in for me. If I had all my kids working on the same curriculum things would be easy! But juggling two elementary students, one active toddler, and nursing a baby in the middle of it all.....that's my challenge.
5. Craft Day. I did not accomplish this goal.
6. Hospitality. We did have some friends from co-op come over for a sledding date. This months weather was so awful that I didn't want to make people get out of their houses! I did do a fairly good job at keeping the house at that "1 hour" rule though.
7. Exercise. O.K. but needs improvement. I think I exercised about twice a week and my goal is four times.
8. Start new ministry. Still more to come on this later.
9. Date nights. We went out once this month. Again, the weather kind of kept us in.
10. Blogging. While my January blogging was light I feel like I caught up quickly and actually am on top of things. That's a HUGE improvement!

So all in all I considered it a pretty successful month as far as goals are concerned.

New Year, New Goals, and New Names

So I had a goal of catching up with my 2010 blogging by January 31 and I was done eleven days early! Can I get a woo-hoo?!?! So as I look back over 2010 I realize that as far as goals I had made I failed miserably but the Lord showed me that life can still go on abundantly even when it's not going according to plan. Or should I say my plan. So here in 2011 I'm sticking with my same goals (and hoping to be successful) on top of adding some new ones. So here is the list...........

1. Make teaching my kids first priority.....every day. While we always do school some days I feel like I'm just trying to get through and I really want it to be a fun adventure every day. So some of the changes I'm making is making appointments later in the day, running errands after the kids are in bed or on the weekends, and doing my best at starting on time. I have also started monthly planning for school, meals, and basically life in general. This is making things go much smoother. Someday I would love to be able to do once a month grocery shopping but in this season of life that seems overwhelming to me. Maybe someday it won't.
   
2. Focus on having fun! This kind of goes along with the first goal. I do love to have fun but I'm one of those people that also loves to check things off of a "To Do" list. This makes me not fun at times.
3. Bible Study. Last year I was trying to read through the Bible in 90 days with some friends. Then I got pregnant.......and....well....I completely dropped the ball. I hope the ladies I was doing the study with understood because sadly I haven't talked to them much since dropping the ball. This pregnancy I wasn't sick but I was completely and totally exhausted. And it lasted the WHOLE pregnancy. So Josh bought me some great Bible study guides for Christmas and so I'm going through Isaiah right now.
4. Reading. Another goal from last year that I completely failed at. I would love to read at least one book a month.
5. Be crafty at least one day a month. I love being creative but I feel like I never make time for it.
6. Be more intentional in my hospitality. The big thing to keep this goal a reality is to keep the house tidy at ALL times so I can be open to inviting people over whenever the opportunity arrives. Even if it means they will be walking in the door in an hour. That is my goal for housekeeping. That in one hour I can have the house presentable. So far this year I've been doing fairly well at accomplishing this. I don't mean every room in my house has to be spotless but the main areas where we host people do have to be somewhat in order.
   
7. Exercise at least 4 times a week. Isn't this on every one's list?
8. Start a new ministry the Lord has laid on my heart. More on this later.
9. Have two date nights with my Prince Charming a month. This doesn't mean we have to go out but it does mean we can't watch a movie while he works and I plan for school the next day. That is a pretty lame date night don't you think?
10. Keep up with blogging. I want to make sure I have a record of our life when the kids are young. Since I don't have time to keep up with scrapbooking this is the way I need to do it for now. With that, I've decided to give my kids and husband nicknames on my blog. I really don't like doing the first letter of their name thing like I've been doing and I don't like the idea of going back and putting their full names. I almost did this but I still just don't feel quite comfortable with it. So now we will have...........
    

B.W.

So this was the only one I couldn't find a good nickname for. I talked with him a lot about possible choices but we never could come up with something we agreed on. For now we'll still use initials but tack on the middle one.

Curly Bear
She was given this name by her big brother before she was even born and we haven't used it since she has gotten older. It's good to hear again! Side-note: We really had no idea that she would have such curly hair and I can remember telling her brother that chances are she wouldn't. I guess I was wrong!!!!

Cuddle Bug
This one has a cuddle in her pretty much any time you ask. She gives out hugs and kisses continually and one of my favorite things she says right now is,"Can I kiss the baby?". Whenever anyone leaves our home fellowship she is right there with a hug to say good-bye.

Love Bird
This one like her older sister also loves the cuddles. I think she has been cuddled and held 95% of her life so far. She knows when she has been laid down and will awake immediately if she was sleeping. She has a onesie that says Mommy's Little Lovebird and I love it because she loves to cuddle and her middle name means little bird.

No picture available due to computer issues......and a lazy mommy who doesn't want to upload pictures again at this moment

And my wonderful husband will be referred to as Prince Charming or Prince Geek. He is a Prince Charming but at times I think Prince Geek may fit better. Come on, anyone who enjoys learning new computer programming languages as much as he does is most definitely a geek! But he's a cute geek.

Singing their Hearts Out

B and L did fantastic again in their choir concert with the SB Children's Choir. Despite the awful roads to get there the night was wonderful. Daddy made sure he ran out to get L her rose for after the show even in the snowy weather.
H sat quietly for the entire concert. Ahhh...that training in sitting still is paying off!
S was also wonderful and cuddled mommy in her soft blanket while listening to the glorious music.

Tuesday Morning Recap

Let us recap this fine Tuesday morning in the O house.

• spilled OJ all over the living room window seat.....and I will not even mention the fact that just last evening someone was in HUGE trouble for spilled fruit punch on same said window seat
• Cereal trail from pantry all the way to the above mentioned window seat....apparently baby sister wanted to see if the suspect would share said juice
• completely forgot the dog outside and also forgot to feed him.....pretty sure he'll survive
• half a roll of toilet paper shoved in kids bathroom toilet
• 2 year old who tried to shampoo her hair.......without water.....not in the bathtub.....in her pajamas
• house that was completely spotless just one week ago is....well...not anymore
• have done a little school but not nearly finished

Can I just go back to bed? Please!

IAHE Homeschool Convention and Our Mini Getaway

So J and I got away this weekend and headed to the State Homeschool Convention. We had a great time. Now we love going to the convention but we also love the "getaway" part. After our first day at the convention we headed out to buy a new camera and then went out to eat at Don Pablo's.

Oh how I've missed you my queso. We have been craving this ever since the one in our area left. It was great to get a queso fix!

This years conference talked much about America's heritage and foundations of Bible truths like always. I love that part of it! It's always so encouraging to me to hear why I'm homeschooling and why I need to continue and for the Biblical basis of it to be taught before you. I know all of that but sometimes it's nice to be reminded.

This is my favorite part of the whole thing. The Vendor Hall!!! We found many great things. J and I finally took the plunge and bought Rosetta Stone. It is such a big investment but they were offering a discount so it was the best time to buy. J and I have decided that we will buy one language over the next couple of years to spread out the cost. J wants the kids to be at least trilingual by the time they enter the 6th grade. We'll see. We bought Spanish this year and Hebrew, Chinese, French, and Farsi are on the list of possibilities for next year. I love that we could get the Spain version of Spanish. My grandma is going to be so proud!!! Once the kids get older we'll let them choose a language too. We also came up with what we want to do for science. Unfortunately we didn't find a curriculum that was exactly what we were looking for so we've decided to make up our own for the kids. I'm using suggestions from curriculum's and piecing them together. A little more work for me but that's OK. I think it will be worth it.

It was a great time away. We quickly learned why the hotel we stay in was so crazy busy. There was an NFL recruiting event going on all weekend and the hotel was the headquarters. We also saw Charles Barkley one night while we were waiting for our car to be brought up. He was one I actually recognized. I'm sure we saw lots of people my dad would've loved to see but since we don't follow sports we had no clue! We also got to have dinner with my Grandpa and his wife which was nice. I can't emphasize enough how important it is for married couple's to take get aways on their own without kids. Of course, the Key's trip will be hard to out do but we still enjoy these mini get aways.

Pressing On

So one of my other goals for 2010 was to stay up with my blogging. I'm failing miserably. Instead I've been pouring all my energy into getting back in the Word, training up my kids, educating my kids, being a wife, and keeping a home. So I guess blogging should fall behind those things. That 90 day Bible Study I'm doing is teaching me a lot. Not because of my victories but because of my failures with it. OK so it will probably end up being more like a 6 month Bible study but I'm pressing on and I'm seeing some priorities that have to be put back in order. Well this last month has definitely not lacked fun times.

Here are the cupcakes that I made for Groundhogs day. They were a pain but the kids loved them so they were worth it. We had an indoor BBQ to help forget that winter was here for a little while longer.

Co-op is back in session and the kids and I are loving it as usual. Here is a picture of the first morning before we left. H was not quite sure as you can see but she has done amazing so far. It's amazing how much she changed in that two month break. She now looks forward to going to see friends.

We are all ready for spring. Winter naps are pretty good though.

So it's not much but it is a wee little pony tail. I think it's awfully cute!

So our family is not a winter family. We are a "lay on the beach every day, all day" kind of family. We've talked about taking up skiing so we could have a winter activity to look forward to. It sounds like fun......if it didn't involve cold and snow. The older kids are wanting to learn so I guess I'll have to suck it up one of these days. One Family Night we decided that we were going to shovel and do some sledding on our hill.

H was all set to go.

Exactly 10 minutes later she was back inside. I guess she didn't realize that shoveling and sledding involved cold and snow. She spent the rest of the evening watching out the front window with her snack. Did I mention it took me 15 minutes to get her all bundled up?

L wasn't completely sold on the idea either.

Some of us spent more time sledding than shoveling. In B's defense, he does shovel for me on his own quite often.

We made Valentine's for friends.

Who we spent an afternoon with. It was filled with laughter, playing, pizza, and sweet goodies.

Despite feeling so sick of winter I'm telling myself that this is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it......and have a little fun at the same time.

Counting Down

The kids and I are counting down the Fridays until Co-op starts again. The kids love co-op and they miss it extremely during our long break between semesters. B especially. He misses his friends and since we live a distance from them having them over takes a little more planning. The snow hasn't helped that. Here are some pictures from the fall program I never posted.

B showing off his signing skills. My kids love learning sign language. Our co-op was blessed with a college level sign language teacher and B really enjoyed it. He was the only boy in the elementary class. Maybe that's why he likes sign language so much?

Here is the full gang reciting their Bible verses. We memorized Psalm 103:1-11. It made my heart happy when I saw how many kids earned their $5 Culver's gift Certificate because they could recite with little help. I helped test the preschool age and I had three of them who earned it. That is 3 and 4 year olds!!! B and L both earned their awards and I was so proud of them.

So on this Friday we are counting down the weeks until we get to learn with our friends again.

Seasons Changing

H trying to keep up with the big kids.

So now that H is 18 months old and it was when B was 18 months old that I started staying home full time it makes me so grateful that I can be with my children all the time now. Even though I was only working a couple of days once B was born it was still hard to not be with him. I can remember having these same thoughts when L hit that big 1.5 mark.

This past summer I spent a lot of time thinking about how things used to be before homeschooling entered the picture. I can't believe how different my life looked. I can remember meeting D and the boys at the mall and playing for hours. I even remember one time we got stuck there because of a tornado warning. I remember being huddled in a hallway with our kids and about 20 other complete strangers. Oh and it got really interesting when K had to nurse and there wasn't much of a choice! I remember trying to hold a blanket up for D to give her some sort of privacy among our new "friends". Ahhh, great memories. Oh, and there was a tornado that went through right by the apartment we were living in at the time. I was praising the Lord we had been at the mall! I remember Mom's Group field trips and lunches. For some reason one of my fondest Mom's group memories is packing up the old church for the move to the new. I also remember going to get our family picture taken for the new directory and that morning I had found out I was pregnant with L and every time I saw anyone I just wanted to shout,"I'm pregnant!!!". I did keep the secret....that day. I must admit that there were times this past summer I felt a little depressed thinking about those "good old days". The cold summer also didn't help!

But now our family is in a new season. A season filled with new learning opportunities. A season that is just as fun...but very different. It's so funny because when I first started this post I was going to title it "If I Could Go Back" but that is not what I'm wanting. I don't have any regrets. OK so maybe I wish I would have realized when B was little how fast he was going to grow up. I notice that with H I am very aware of that. Even though I do see the fun in this season I also feel the exhaustion of it. I'm tired. This season of homeschooling, homemaking, homechurch......I NEED TO GET OUT!!! This extrovert needs to be extroverting! OK so now I think I may be making up words. Is extroverting a word?

Well today I start another 90 day Bible Study with three other women and I'm so excited about it! I feel like in the next 90 days the Lord is going to do some amazing things in all of our lives. It's so nice to not only be doing an intense study but to also have the opportunity to get together and discuss. Last night we got together for the first time and it was fun to fellowship and discuss. The next get together there won't be as much casual talk but more discussing what we've been reading and I'm just as excited to do that. It was in the midst of this same study last year that the Lord changed the direction of what He was calling our family to do and I can't wait to see what happens this time! OK so I'm also a little nervous about what we may be called to do next....but I know it will be great!

Watch Out Julia

Watch out Julia Child's! Here comes L!!!

One Friday L told me she wanted to make Sunday dinner and she was going to make soup. The next day she mentioned something again and said she wanted to go to Farmers Market for vegetables. I needed eggs anyway so we headed out and also stopped by Meijer. L was VERY particular about her produce purchases. Including $4 tomatoes that she insisted on having because of their color and size. After home church L set to work(with a little help). She had carrots, potatoes, green peppers, onions, and very expensive tomatoes along with shredded chicken, stock, and noodles. Earlier I had a talk with J and B to let them know what was going on and that we needed to be very excited about the end result. I also promised there would be sandwiches and bread and dip. Can you tell that I wasn't expecting to add this into my regular meal plan? When the time came L dished everyone up and.....IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!!!! Even B liked it despite so many veggies. L is our veggie kid after all! I told her we would call it L's Farmer's Market Soup. I think I may let her loose in the kitchen more often to see what new creations unfold!

Playmate

So a couple of weeks ago when cute little O came to spend some days with us it was clear that all H needs is a playmate. School went so smooth those couple of days since H was distracted and not constantly trying to steal the kids books away so she could have a turn. The schoolroom was officially moved this weekend and things are now going much better. More on that along with pics. later.

H and O playing so nicely together.

The one day when we went on that insane field trip I had many people thinking they were twins. I could not understand this since they are 8 months apart, have different color hair, eyes, etc.. When I took this pic though I could see why people might think that. They are close in size! H still has an inch on her though.

However, when H decided she was going to pick on one of the older ones and steal their books she now had her own little sidekick.

Any Questions?

This is B.

This is B with allergies.

Any questions???

We are praying that allergies start to let up soon with the freezes we're having at night. The kids attention span's seem to go down at least 50% during allergy season. It has made for some great cuddle up and read moments though. I guess that is the best way to learn when feeling under the weather.

Instilling a Love for Nature Pt.2

One of the favorite activities to do at the cottage is to go fishing. Now normally this is a daddy activity. I don't mind fishing but I do not, can not , and will not put worms on hooks or take fish off of hooks. Before we left daddy gave B a quick review of the proper fishing procedures. Even though I knew B knew what to do I wasn't convinced he would be able to do everything all by himself. So I'm ashamed to say that while the kids fished I was praying that they wouldn't catch anything.

While the kids fished I read them some science and history.

B was all ready. They didn't catch anything..whew..but it was a relaxing way to spend an hour.

And this is what happens when you forget to hold on to your pole when casting out. Thankfully big brother went in the lake to retrieve it. Um...or maybe I should say L got her pole back after B said it was too cold but mommy lowered him down anyway because it was COLD and there was no way she was getting in and then she didn't pull him back out until the pole was retrieved. B is such a good sport.