Daily Life

Tuesday morning I walked up to Finn's room to wake him up {at nearly 9 am} because Allyson goes to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I found this. So sweet. I had my phone on me and had to capture this sweet angel sleeping. Just love him.

Look at this Big Shot standing up in a chair. That is one of my nicknames for Finn: Big Shot. Just too big for his britches! This was yesterday...he turned 15 months. Craziness I tell ya! He is now a regular at the homeschool table these days and I like it! :-) And this is a picture of Jase "helping" Ally with school. Oh, he is just like me...teacher at heart. He wants to help her so bad and will even get out books {like he did with this one}, open it up and try working with her. I just sit back, watch and listen to them. If she is not responding to him {which is usually the case} I will politely encourage her to look at what he is trying to tell her and then she will jump on board. He means well, but can be a little pushy at times. Hmmm...not sure where he gets that from!?!

I got up while Jase was working and when I came back I noticed he had added something to one of the sentences. He immediately told me he had to add an "a" because the sentence didn't really make sense without it! Ha! I think either way works, depending upon if you are talking about one or a group of clover, but I'm with him, I like the "a".

These past few days have been so so nice outside. We normally stay to our routine and have the majority of school in our school room, but our windows are always open. And our school room has a bay window, so I love the light it lets in. But today, after dropping Ally off at school I told him, let's do school outside. It was so nice. Finn just walked around and played and sat at the table with us of course! 

Jase also finished up The Beginner's Bible today. We started reading it 9 weeks ago when we started up 1st grade and have read a little each day. While there isn't a ton of text on each page, the book does have over 500 pages. I thought it was a great feat for him; he read all of it on his own. Super proud of this guy!

Oh, and I'm not sure if you could tell, but he was wearing the same outfit yesterday and today. Texas Longhorns...Hook 'Em! Funny story behind that. Yesterday he comes downstairs with this outfit and told me he found it on the right side of his closet and asked if he could take the tags off and wear it. I said sure, go ahead. He got dressed and wore it all day. Throughout the day I noticed that his shorts were pretty short, like mid-thigh! I thought "man, that outfit is a 7, how are they so short?" Even my sister commented on them yesterday afternoon on how short they were. I just chalked it up to "a growing boy!" Well...we were getting ready for church and I told him he needed to change clothes and I asked him for the shirt to take a look at the size. Yeah...SIZE 4!!! It was one I had bought for Finn to wear in a few years!! I bought the whole outfit for $1 on clearance last year. So today he brought down the size 7!! We took the tags off this morning and this one is much better! 

Daily Happenings

Since returning home from my mini vaca with the girls, we are back in full swing over here. Usually while we are homeschooling, Finn is a wanderer! He roams around around around {anyone remember that song from Eddie Rabbit "The Wanderer?}. Anyhow, last week I sat him next to me and taped a piece of paper down and put some colors in his hand. This was really his first time to color. :-) He started getting the hang of it. He actually probably felt right at home since he ALWAYS has something in his hands at all times!

Here is some footage of his first coloring experience. Nothing out of norm, just our normal daily life in the homeschool room. 

And one more clip of him babbling away. I am just LOVING this right now. So much so that I don't want him to learn how to talk. So precious. 

We visited the library Friday afternoon and the kids always enjoy it. Right when we walked in, Ally saw this scarecrow and ran over to it and said "take my picture Mommy!" So, I did not turn down a photo opp! This was the first visit where Finn has completely ran away from me...let the games begin!! 

One word: Farkle! We are obsessed. And Jase really is for that matter. If we have some spare time, he always asks to play and we usually do. Last night the younger two were in bed and he was up still watching the Texans {get cremed} with me and he asked to play. I told him I didn't want the little ones waking up to the dice rolling, so we improvised and played on the quilt! He ended up winning 2 out of the 3 games...fair and square! I love his competitive spirit...hmm, I wonder where he gets that from!?! ;-) 

Enjoying School

I really like the idea of a routine, but if I'm being completely honest, life just happens at this house, and we do not always function within the routine. For instance, the curriculum that we use for homeschool is set-up for a 5-day school week. Now, you don't have to do it all 5 days, you can set it up however you'd like, but every 5 days things change {memory verses, poems, stories, etc.}. Well, last week we did not have school one day because we had to run some errands, so that meant that we had to finish up Day 5 on Monday this week. The thought of starting Day 1 on Tuesday and always being off on the curriculum each week drove me nuts!! {It's like missing a puzzle piece or only having 25 magnet letters...drives me bananas! I might be a little anal!!} So, I decided we would finish a Davy Crockett Unit Study we had began during the summer.

Jase and Ally were so pumped about continuing this study. It really is a great study and you cover so much in it. We talked about the Pioneer days and what they wore, ate and their weapons. Not only did we learn about Davy Crockett, but talked about his character and traits that we should have as well. We mapped out his life from Tennessee to Washington D.C. to Texas. It is wonderful. And I think at the time it was on sale for $5-6 at this site. Only drawback is that you have to have your computer out to click on the links in the .pdf file and you need to print activities from the file. And the only reason I say drawback about having your computer out, is that I have a 1 year old who is obsessed with cords!! So I either have to run off my battery or fight him over the cord!! Haha! But don't get me wrong, the links in the .pdf are awesome. They provide you with a ton of different websites to gather information for your Unit Study. And video clips as well, and they always nice for the kiddos to watch, to break up some of the table work/reading. I even purchased Disney's Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier DVD from 1955 on Amazon and the kids absolutely love it!! Surprisingly, they will sit through the whole thing!!  

Each unit study she sells is built around your student creating a lapbook. It is basically a folder that stores the different foldables/activities you create during your study that allows you to look back and know exactly what you learned. Below is a picture of the one Jase created for Davy Crockett. And we did not print out even half of the activities to do. 

  

While reading about the Alamo and Davy Crockett's contribution, I continued reading to Jase and the Battle of San Jacinto was mentioned. He learned that at the Battle of San Jacinto is where Sam Houston's troops defeated Santa Anna and the Mexican army, and this paved the way of Texas' independence from Mexico. While talking to him about this, I told him that the Battle of San Jacinto basically happened in our backyard! {I had to explain that analogy a little bit and that it wasn't physically in our backyard, but very close by. He now understands!!} Through this conversation, a light bulb went off in his head and he put two and two together and you could tell that he was understanding. It was really cool to witness! With that said, we picked up Ally from school on Thursday and just had to take a field trip down to the San Jacinto Monument and be on the same ground of the battle!! It started pouring down rain when we pulled up, but we drove around and I read the summary on the all 4 sides of the monument to them and we talked about it. It was a nice unplanned outing and I'm glad we were not in our routine!

After we got back home I asked Ally how school was today and she said it was "perfect." She told me that she didn't cry and had fun! I think she may have cried on Tuesday when another child hit her with a toy. Glad to hear she had a tear free day! And I just love the artwork they bring home from Methodist! So much fun!

I'm glad that we are off to a good start {Pre-k and homeschool} and trusting that the rest of the school year brings many more fun memories.

School is underway

What a busy week we had. Jase has his first week of 1st grade homeschool under his belt and baseball is in full swing. Even though it was a busy one, it was definitely productive and I feel great going into the new school year. 

As far as homeschool goes, I occasionally {like 1-2 times a month these days!} read a couple of homeschooling blogs and that's about it. I am not really tapped into any support groups or social media groups at all. I have a girlfriend I converse with, but other than that it's me, the kiddos and the Lord! Lots of praying going on over here!! This year I think I will start branching out to see what all is out there, because I know there is a ton. Now, we did go to a meeting over the summer for a Classical Conversations program, but at the time we did not feel led to pursue that any further. It was a great program and those kids have a wealth of knowledge, but the commitment expected wasn't something I wanted to sign up for just yet.

Last year I piecemealed my curriculum together and it worked for us. There was no suggested lesson planning or pacing, I just set our own pace and decided each day how much work we would do. There are definitely pros and cons to this methodology, but coming into this year I was looking for less planning on my part and wanted more of a full package curriculum. Well, my girlfriend told me about a company she had found and after researching it I was definitely on board. The teacher's manual is like GOLD! Everyday is planned out for you and the lessons/books/activities thus far have been great! Heart of Dakota the name of the curriculum and I would recommend it to a homeschooling family in a heartbeat. It is Christ-centered in which it emphasizes God's plan throughout history, specifically American History from the 1565-1860's {for Jase's age range}. Jase has loved all of the stories we are reading and the history we are learning about each day.

The first day we had a geography activity. We were to use rope or tape and outline the earth and give your student note cards with the continents on them and have them plot them on the earth. This is right up Jase's alley...he loves geography! Well I wouldn't call my earth a complete fail, but it could have been better! I used masking tape and some of us must have got twisted, because about every 5-10 seconds {not kidding} someone was tangled up in it!! See below for proof!!

We read about the first pioneers to come to America and it was pretty neat! I am relearning history with him! Then we looked at a map to see the path they took from Spain to Florida and using a Little People boat Jase sailed the same path on his earth. Then we back tracked a little and discussed Christopher Columbus and his 3 ships and paths he took.

All week long we've been talking about trusting in the Lord at all times, especially during tough times and we brought it full circle by discussing the pioneers and the trust they had to have. Both kiddos memorized our memory verse:

"I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8 

I am trying to drive home the importance of not just remembering the words, but to let the meaning sink into your heart.

And today our art project was to make a homemade shield in relation to Psalm 18:2:

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Both kids enjoyed decorating their shields. Jase drew a lion, rock, warriors and a fort on his shield. Allyson, of course, made a princess shield!

It was a great week for school and I am excited to see what this year holds!

As if school wasn't enough, Jase had 2 baseball practices this week for fall ball. Tee ball is no longer...we are now in coach pitch! He really likes baseball and I'm glad! :-) This kid is a sports fanatic let me tell you! In the evenings after dinner he will ask to turn sports on: baseball, football, you name it he loves it! Oh and we are the LSU Tigers!! Geaux Tigers!! Even though we are Texas Longhorn fans, we have family in Louisiana and they are HUGE LSU fans, so we spread the love around and support them as well.

Food chain

See this cute little bird? This was taken yesterday in our backyard. He was just hiding out in our peach tree.

Today I was watering the garden and I saw this same little bird hopping around; he couldn't fly. Ally was in the garden with me and she was watching him hop, it was too cute! Then he got out of the garden though our makeshift gate. The dogs were out, so I started to panic a little and I told Jase to go over by the bird so the dogs would not get him. It wasn't 15 seconds later and here comes Hank, he spotted it! I started yelling "no Hankie no!" I was trying to hold it somewhat together since my kids were watching me and I didn't want to make too big of a scene. But Hank just took that bird and that was that. :(  {On a side note we have been giving Hank medicine a few times a week because he is on his last leg. He has a herniated disc in his back and gets to where he cannot walk at times. Pain meds one day and killing birds the next!} 

A few minutes later the kids were swinging and Jase tells me "it's ok Mom. That's how God designed it. It's the food chain. Birds eat worms and dogs eat birds." He is a pretty emotional kid at times, so I was a little surprised (in a good way) by his answer. I mean I probably could have shed a tear, but I said "you're right Jase." 

Later we came inside and Jase went upstairs and got two books and brought them to me. They were pictures of animals eating each other. He was explaining the food chain and telling me that lions are on top. ;) Just love this kid! 

School at Home

We are well into our second semester of Kindergarten and it is going well.  Now don't get me wrong a lot of the days and maybe even most days are hard, but at the end of the day I can say that it has been worth it and I'm glad the Lord laid it upon my heart to do this.  Being able to see his growth and light bulbs go off first-hand has been a blessing.  And to be able to spend all this extra time with him has been priceless; life is so short.

 

Here are some things that have taken place this week.

 

We are using Explode the Code for reading and as you can see what is on his mind . . . Star Wars!! I do love his imagination though!!  A cape prompted Luke Skywalker, mad made him think of Darth Sidious and seeing a cane brought Yoda to mind!

 

 

He found a head band, why not sport it?

 

 

This has to be one of my favorites. Daddy came home and was reading Peter Pan to Ally in the playroom and Jase was busy playing the Wii.  I was around corner in the kitchen working on supper, and when I peeked in and saw Jase had joined them (with Wii controller in hand), I had to capture this moment.

 

 

Jase received a birdhouse kit for Christmas from my parents and he and Daddy put it together Tuesday evening. We have been studying birds in science, so this was a great tie-in to our lessons.

 

 

I went downstairs to check on Finn and when I came back I found this note.  This is the second time he has left me this note.  I asked him if it was the same note from before and he told me no, that he had just written that one. Times like these make me smile!

 

Art Day

Today we had a full blown art day. Our Advent calendar had us make snowflakes and decorate them. After the kids colored them, I got out the glue and glitter and gave them a little shimmer. I think I will be wearing glitter for a week!

Next, we needed a Christmas tree to put our daily ornaments on from our Truth in the Tinsel lessons. I drew a Christmas tree on some white paper and gave the kids free reign to paint it. Can you tell who painted which side? Lol!

After we finished our tree they enjoyed free paint time. Jase did a great job painting a Lego man and Allyson tested just about every color. ;) All in all the mess was kept to a minimum. Both of the kids really do not like their hands to be dirty, and especially Jase. I was in the bathroom rinsing out a brush and the kids were in the next room beginning to paint and here comes Jase, wanting to wash his hands already! I ended up bringing two wash cloths in the room, which were covered with paint by the time we finished.

It was a great day!

Space Center Houston

Today was Homeschool day at Space Center Houston, so after ballet and tap practice, we headed out there. I have never been, so this was a first for me as well. The theme was Sports-tacular, so there were a lot of sports related inflatables for the kids to play on. There was also a HUGE play gym for the kids to play in.

 

We looked at some of the space exhibits, but if I'm completely honest I had my hands full with trying to keep up with Jase and Ally, and nursing/holding Finn.  We will have to come back when Daddy can go with us.

 

The Houston Symphony had an exhibit set up and the kids had a blast playing and touching all of the instruments.

I'm glad we ventured out today!

Kiddo Update

What a week! I'm not sure what all I did, but it sure felt busy. And another busy weekend and week ahead of us too. Deep breath!

This week I finally started working with Allyson during school time. We will be focusing on a letter a week and incorporating that letter as much as we can throughout the week. Of course this week was letter A and we ate animal crackers and apples and talked about astronauts and alligators. She enjoyed it! I also finally broke out the do-a-dots that I bought from Amazon when Finn was just born. They are basically bingo markers. {I used to love to play bingo!} She really liked them and Jase did as well.

Finn is getting too big! He will be 2 months on Sunday! My little man is starting to plump up and gain more control of his head. I just love his smile and the sounds he is making . . . I could just eat him up!

As for Jase he started soccer a couple of weeks ago and has his first game tomorrow. He is enjoying it and I'm glad he is getting this outdoor time and the weather has been so nice lately. He is still majorly into Legos and is always constructing something from scratch. I love to see his little mind at work. The picture below is from today. :)

First Day: Homeschool & Meal Planner

I can honestly say that today was a great day. I actually got out of bed when my alarm went off and did not snooze it 5 times.  I took a bath and got ready for the day before the kids were even awake.  Sad to say, that doesn't not happen very often.  I set Jase's alarm for 8:30 since today we had our first day of kindergarten homeschool!! :)  (Jase was SUPER excited last night when we were tucking him in bed and I told him that tomorrow was his first day of school!)  Jase ended up waking up on his own at 8:00; he got dressed and made his bed before coming downstairs.  Then Ally woke up, even though she could have easily slept for another hour . . . she is my sleeper, takes after her Daddy! ;-)

We were all dressed by 8:30 and ahead of schedule in my book.  We sat at the kitchen table and had breakfast together (according to the meal plan), then headed upstairs for school.  We began right at 9:00, which is what I had envisioned, so it was nice to see your plans on paper actually work out.  We started our school day with prayer, asking God to bless our homeschool time together.  While I still have a lot of work to do with prepping and setting things up, we got through everything that I wanted to.  And little sister was right beside us the whole time, coloring away.  ;-)  Of course not everything went perfect and Jase did ask if we were finished yet and how much longer a few times, but we finished.  I've been reading on some organizational methods to help with this, that way he knows exactly what is expected of him and how much work he has to finish each day, but it will just take time to implement.  For tomorrow I did put green sticky notes (I have a few of them!) on all the pages/activities I have planned and he can remove them once finished. This should be a good visual for him on what he has left to do.  And we will get there, but baby steps for now.

We ended up sticking to the meal plan all day long, which was great.  And Jase even asked about our afternoon snack (grapes, cheese cubes and wheat ritz crackers) and was excited about it.  I know that today was only Day 1 and there will be days when plans change, but it was nice to have a plan and stick to it.

This afternoon I took the kids over to Shawn's parent's house to visit.  Shawn's older brother is in town with his three boys and his sister was also over with her three boys and Shawn's little brother's son was there as well.  With our two, there were nine grandchildren at the house; all boys except Miss Allyson.  Jase had a great time playing with his cousins and really enjoyed playing with the older boys too; I loved seeing them show him attention and taking the time to play with him.  Makes me think what it would be like if Jase had an older brother or how he is going to be as an older brother! And yes, if you didn't know Shawn is the middle child of 5 children, so he has a big family.  :-)

Homeschooling it is!

For the past two years I have felt like the Lord has really been laying it on my heart to consider homeschooling our children.  I have also felt the devil trying to work his magic and put doubt and fear in my thoughts: “What will people think? You can’t do this. Your kids will be socially awkward.”  There were periods of time where I could not stop thinking about it, the task seemed so daunting and I just did not have a peace about it, one way or the other.  2 Timothy 1:7 states “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

We continued to pray about the situation and it wasn’t until these past 2-3 months where I have felt at peace with our decision.  I made up my mind and decided that I was going to do this and give it my best shot.  Shawn and I attended a small homeschooling conference and it was a blessing for sure.  To sit down and listen to people who have done this for years or someone who is currently homeschooling was very beneficial.  Also, to pick their brain on our current situation and get curriculum advice was priceless.  Other than a handful of people, I am not familiar with homeschooling whatsoever and am very new to the scene. So, we are going to take this one day at a time.  I do not have a Kindergarten through 12th grade plan yet and we will continue to do it as long as we feel called to do so.  That may be 1 or 2 years or through high school; I'm just not sure.

I sat down one evening and documented for myself on why I wanted to homeschool.  On paper, on purpose.  This way I can look back in 6 months or 2 years or when I'm having a bad day and remind myself why I decided to do this.  I know it will not be an easy journey, but that was not a deciding factor in whether to do it or not.  {Please note: I realize that people have different reasons for their schooling choices, but these are OUR reasons for homeschooling, so only positive comments please.}

Why we are homeschooling

1. God. First and foremost, I feel the Lord wants this for our family.  While I am no bible scholar by any means, I want to base my decisions on the foundation of the Lord.  Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  As a mom, I want to instill godly values and morals in my children.  Romans 12:2 states “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” I had a revelation that I do not answer to the world, but to Christ. If I am completely honest, I am a little nervous about stepping outside of the box, but at the end of the day I know the Lord knows my heart and he will put His blessing on my efforts.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 states “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” This verse really jumped out at me while reading a book this past month.  How am I supposed to teach them the ways of the Lord if I am only with them a few hours of the day? Dinner and bedtime just do not seem sufficient for this vital task.

2. Time. It passes by so quickly and before you know it, the kids are grown and have moved on.  I want to be able to soak up each and every minute with them that I can.  I am very excited that we will have many more family time opportunities with homeschooling.  When my kids are 7 or 13 I want to have a great relationship with them; I want them to feel comfortable telling me anything: their fears, their likes and dislikes, everything.  Being able to spend more time with my children will allow our relationship to grow and give me the opportunity to learn all I can about them.  Also, how awesome that Jase and Allyson (and soon to be Finn) will have the time to learn together.  Jase has such a helping heart and who better to help than his younger siblings.

3. Academic. While this was not an initial goal or concern, I am definitely on board with the academic benefits of homeschooling.  My children will be able to have mastery of subjects and work at our own pace.  They will also get one-on-one (not one-on-twenty+) teaching and I can modify the curriculum to fit their needs.

4. Social. This word has brought probably the most doubt when it comes to deciding on whether to homeschool or not.  Jase is very social and loves being around other people, so the last thing I wanted to do was to do him an injustice.   Then I started really thinking about it and thought about what socializing would look like in Kindergarten or 5th grade or even in high school.  And honestly, how much of this “socializing” will have a positive affect on him? We will not be locking him up in the closet when we homeschool, don’t worry.  He will have plenty of interaction with me and his younger siblings and not to mention Church three times a week, sports and other family and friends.  And if you think about it, when he gets out in the “real world” he will have to interact with people of different ages; he will not work with everyone his age.  So our homeschooling environment should prepare him in this aspect as well.

5. Our Goals. We want our children to depend upon the Lord for everything.   While Shawn and I are far from perfect, we strive to put our trust and faith in the Lord in all that we do.  Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."  Having bible time every "school day" will increase their bible knowledge and thus grow their dependence and love for the Lord.  We want them to be respectful, have good manners, honest even when it is hard, passionate in everything they do, and humble in spirit.  The fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) are wonderful virtues to model yourself after (myself included).  We realize these will not be easy goals to achieve, but we trust and believe that God will work through us, rather than depending upon a stranger at school.

Lastly, I honestly feel that kids are exposed to too much at such an early age.  As a public school teacher for 2 years, that was a huge eye-opener for me.  So if I can protect their innocence just a little while longer, then I am on-board.  While I do have a college degree and have taught in the public school system, I feel like my best qualification to homeschool my children is that I’m their mother.  I have their best interest at heart and will be completely vested in them.  For as long as I can remember I've always aspired to be a MOM!  I never really had a dream of becoming famous or being a business woman, but just a simple mom.  As I am getting older, I am realizing that my dream is being fulfilled by being blessed with two (almost three) precious children and the shaping of their future is in our hands.  We do not want to take this task lightly and thank God for entrusting us with them.

Jase knows that he will be starting Kindergarten this fall and we will doing school at home and honestly he seems excited about it.  Today he was talking about his school, a local elementary, and I told him, well you're school will be at home and he said he knew.  Then I told him that we will have to give it a name.  Here is how the conversation went:

Me: We'll name it French Academy.  No, French Christian Academy and call it FCA.
Jase: No, I just like French Academy.
Me: Well, we are followers of Christ, so that's why I suggested French Christian Academy.
Jase: Let's just call it Jesus Academy.
Me: We'll have to see.
Jase: We can learn about letters, numbers and Jesus.
Me: You got it Jase!