Getting the nod

My husband has finally recognized that I truly am intent on homeschooling my son for kindergarten next year instead of sending him to the same school our 8 year old goes to. 

So my plans have begun to intensify (as has my doubts and worry!  yikes)

I looked at Sonlight Curriculum on a very sound recommendation, unfortunately it lives outside my budget. 

I then researched Abeka but it didn't speak to me.  It is very heavy in worksheets and that doesn't speak to me and what I'm trying to get him away from.

Which lead my search to My Father's World which I think looks really great but I have heard is weak in phonics, especially for younger grades.  I am still leaning towards this system though and thinking I may just supplement with phonetic learning options.

What I think I am figuring out is that no system is perfect and the truly complete ones are also the most expensive ones.  My search is still young and I will keep looking but that's what I have so far. 

Christmas

So Christmas is in two days and I am thrilled, I love Christmas, I love the season.  And I love that I'm feeling completely relaxed and at ease with everything.  Presents are wrapped, meals are planned, we could do nothing for the next two days and everything would be okay.  We won't.  But we could. 

This morning we had to run to the local Kroger, we were out of sugar.  Buddy our elf used the last of it for making snow angels last night.  Which is fine.  But you cannot make cookies for Santa without sugar.  So off to the store we went. 

We just needed sugar, no other pressures or expectations.  Of course I picked up other random things like juice and some frozen pizzas for lunch per the request of my smalls. 

So as we wandered the aisles in no particular hurry or rush I was struck that we were not the norm.  Parents were yelling at their children.  People were cutting other people off to get to the stuff they needed.  Pleasantries were dead.

So in this time of craziness as you worry about Christmas dinner or that last present or whatever else may drive you drink my wish for you is time to enjoy the true meaning of the Christmas season.  God bless you and your family now and throughout the year.

When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh ~ Matthew 2:10-11

Tugging my heart...

So at home I've been "homeschooling" my two younger ones.  Doing preschool activities based off a letter each week, or two weeks as it seems to be turning out.  We have stretched each letter in to two weeks of fun as neither of them have been ready to move on after just one week. 

And as I do this the more I question what we're doing with our kids.  Our oldest goes to a public magnet school and is enrolled in a gifted program with all gifted students.  He's functioning 1 - 3 grade levels above his "age" grade and yet I don't feel he's being pushed to soar.  My middle still attends preschool three mornings a week and was really why homeschooling was laid on my heart.  The more he goes the more I feel we're wasting our money on mediocrity.  This year has been hard, nothing like last year, and I sit and dream about what I could do with that $170 a month and how I could teach him (and his sister) with it.  I'm tempted to pull him out of school every day. 

And then we have days like we did just the other day.  There was snow on the ground, not a lot, but a dusting.  So we read books, we did puzzles, we played matching games and pattern games, we colored pictures and then I pulled out the beads and we made necklaces.  Wouldn't you know it, my 4 (5 in a week!) year old spend 45 minutes beading!  45 minutes!  What? The boy that they told me they have a hard time getting to complete projects and they wished he'd be more creative?  And that morning sure seemed like a perfect school day.

So I did the only logical thing, I went to our library and checked out every book under the sun about homeschooling.  Currently I'm reading Love in a Time of Homeschooling and I love it.  She is speaking to my heart.  She is funny and real, honest about she got there and not belligerent for or against homeschooling or public schooling. 

And while I don't know what I'm going to do I know there is a lot on my heart and on my mind.  My oldest is okay in public school but I look at his homework and what he's not learning and I question if there isn't more out there for him.  I look at my middle who not only is marching to his own beat but he's making up a song to go along to that beat along the way and I wonder if he can not just thrive but even survive in full day kindergarten next year.  And then there's my daughter, she's smart as a tack and super headstrong.  (no clue where that stubborn nature came from... ha.) And I'm watching her carefully wondering what will be best for her.  For any of them.  Praying for God's guidance and love on this one. 

Are you homeschooling?  Are you contemplating it?  What are your reasons?  What is on your heart?

Simple Celebration

There are few things I love as much as I love simply being with my children.  This evening we turned off the t.v., turned on some Christmas music and made popcorn.

We threaded some string on tapestry needles because they're not as sharp pointy as other needles.

And we made popcorn and cranberry (or friendberry as my daughter calls them) garland

To not call it bliss would be a lie.  The kids loved it.  We loved it.  And we spent an hour doing it!  Yes an hour just hanging out, laughing and chatting.

and threading cranberries and popcorn on string

And because we were worried our sweet little dog would be inclined to try to munch on our creations we decided to hang them on our Charlie Brown tree outside for our bird friends.

Teacher Gifts

If your family is anything like ours you have a ton of teachers, we have school teachers, we have Sunday school teachers, we have activity teachers...  all-in-all this year we counted 10. 

So the question became, as it always is, what will we get them for the holidays?  I've always thought that giftcards are nice, because it allows them to get a cup of coffee or buy a book or whatever.  But even if we did $5 a person we were looking at $50 which was about double what I wanted to spend.  Cookies are always fun but I don't have the time this year to spend a couple days dedicated to baking, I wish I did but I don't.

So that put me on the search for a fun gift that was also affordable.  That's when I came across this recipe in Everyday by Martha Stewart.    Now normally I find Martha's recipes a little more than I like to swallow, a few too many steps or a few too many exotic ingredients that I can't find or cost too much. 

But this recipe was FOUR, yes FOUR ingredients, two of which being salt and a cinnamon stick.  So I purchased the apples and pears and got to work.  Now I doubled this recipe and boy am I glad I did, because even doubling it I only yielded nine jars full. 

The steps are pretty easy, peel and core both the apples and pears.  My apple corer nicely did that for me with the apples, sadly the pears were too soft.  Chop up in the food processor and then cook in your slow cooker all day!  Not hard at all!!!!  And let me tell you, my house smelled YUMMY! 

While I was sad that I only got nine jars I was very pleased with the simplicity of this project and the final project.  We now have nice handmade presents to hand out to everyone and we didn't break the bank making them.

I like showing my kids that Christmas isn't about the biggest, the most expensive, the best - it is about sharing Jesus' love and celebrating and what better way than with a homemade gift that says I value you and what you do and I show that by giving you my time to make some from the heart. 

Christmas Craft Preschool Activities

Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler has done it again.  She has an amazing bunch of Christmas activities to do with your little ones.  My younger two love her stuff so I'm excited to get these printed and do them! 


The best part? She lets you download the entire Christmas set for FREE!  What are you waiting for?  Head on over!!!! 

Dissecting Dinner

Dinner is tricky one.  And seems to only get trickier as my children get older. 

I'm a firm believer in the family meal.  I enjoy sitting down my husband and children and chatting about our day over dinner.  However it hardly ever works out June Cleaver style around here. 

3 nights a week my husband isn't even home from work until 7:30 - too late for the kiddos. 

4 nights a week we have "after school" activities that start at 5:15. 

Yet 7 nights a week I am expected to cook. 

And 7 nights a week we all sit down as a family, 3 nights minus Daddy, and eat dinner together.

That's why I'm always so amazed, if we can make dinner work and eat something homemade and healthy for us, why is it so hard for other families?

So here's what I've learned works and doesn't work for making family dinner a priority.

1. PLAN.  If I sat down at 4 p.m. every day and went "huh, I wonder what's for dinner" this would never work.  I plan out meals for at least two weeks, sometimes a month.  I know some people that actually write down on each day what they're having, that doesn't work for me because I like to pick what I'm in the mood for, but I do plan two-weeks worth of menus.

2. SHOP. And then I shop for those two weeks.  So that way on Tuesday morning I can get up, see chili on my menu list, think it sounds good and know that I have all the ingredients to make it for that night.

3. PREPARE.  Notice in number 2 I said "morning" not mid-afternoon, not evening, but morning.  That's right, I do the majority of my cooking in the morning.  Because I have time to do it then, I have the energy to do and then it is ready at dinner time.  I don't know about your house but 4 - 5 p.m. is insane in our home.  Not to mention the fact that I then have to have children somewhere at 5:15 four nights a week.  So by making it at 10 a.m. all I have to do is reheat or finish cooking the item when we get home at 6.  And let me tell you, I much less inclined to want to grab fast food for my family when dinner is already done.  Does this work for every dish?  No.  But do as much prep ahead of time as you can.

4. SLOW.  This ties in to number 3.  I love my crockpot.  I really do.  It makes life so. much. easier.  I suggest picking up a good quality crockpot recipe book and use it often.  My favorite is "How to Make Love and Dinner At the Same Time" which was recently put back in print.   She breaks the recipes up in to three types so you know how long they'll take you to make and her anecdotal humor is fun. 

5. FORGIVE.  I am not perfect.  You are not perfect.  Having dinner as a family is not perfect.  Are there days when we eat out?  Of course.  Are there days when my kids have happy meals in the car?  You betcha?  Are there days when I feed my kids mac-n-cheese and then send my husband out after food once they're asleep?  Yup.

My goal is not to be 100%, that is impossible and besides it would mean I was cooking every day of my life!  No thank you!  My goal is to have quality time as a family.  To eat a meal together and enjoy each other's company.  My goal is to feed my children good food most of the time. 

And it can be done, with a little planning and preparation and a sense of humor doesn't hurt either.