A Story

“Hi, all!  Peanut here.  I thought I’d highjack this blog today to tell you a story…”

“See, almost every morning my mom and the sisters do this really boring thing called ‘school’.  They are obsessed with this thing.  I mean, I can hardly get any attention over here!  I ask Mommy to pick me up and she usually will, but then do one little thing like rip a schoolbook page out and I’m banished to the floor again!  The nerve!  Sometimes she ignores me all together, but don’t worry, I’m REALLY good at yelling loud enough to get them to notice!”

“Every now and then the school thing works to my advantage because they are so busy that they forget to watch what I’m getting into.  I’m telling you I have perfected the art of re-organizing every drawer in my house…the ones that are two feet and under.   And this stuff totally looks better on the floor anyway!  I don’t know why they insist on picking up my toys every night.  I left them on the floor because that’s where I play with them!  It’s a real pain to have to get everything back out again every morning, I’m telling ya.”

“Let me take you on a little tour and show you a typical day.  First off they trap me in my highchair and won’t let me out until I yell loud enough.  Once I finally get down the ignoring comes into play.  Mommy’s pots and pans are really good at making enough noise to get noticed so I often go for those first thing.  There’s this awesome little drawer that’s the perfect size for me…”

“See? I got noticed…just smile and wave, smile and wave.”

“If I’m cute enough she won’t put a stop to my re-decorating.”

“I’ll distract her while my side-kick, Elephante, gets away.  Sometimes you gotta sacrifice yourself for the innocent.”

“Hmm, the only problem is, how do I get outta here?”

“Yep, I think I’m doing a pretty good job winning my ‘war against school’.  Most of the time they surrender by the Friday day, but then after two days they are right back do it, but this time they haven’t done it for like a week and a half!  But I overheard Mommy say they are going to start the blasted thing up again on the Monday day.  I’ll keep you posted on whether or not I can break them of this darn ‘school habit’ once and for all.  I’m sure there’s something I haven’t thought of yet!”

The Top Ten Reasons We School At Home

We had such a wonderful Christmas and are still enjoying another full week of vacation so I will be posting a few random and leftover posts this week.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to judge or affirm any other family’s school choices; it is simply a top ten of the reasons why we choose to school at home. :)

10. Fun.  It really is fun!  Most of the time that is. :) 

9. Control.  It allows K to have some control over her day.  Rarely do I “make” her do a certain subject.  I give her the choice: Math or Science?  Vocab or Spelling?

8. No bullying.  It’s seems like everywhere I turn I hear someone else talking about the “bullying epidemic” in our country and I’m thankful that we don’t have to deal with that.  Even in our small town we’ve had three different sets of friends who have had bullying issues against their children.

7. No homework.  During Sunday School one morning several of our friends were talking about the massive amounts of homework their kids are coming home with.  Our little neighbor down the street had 14 pages in one weekend!  She is in the 3rd grade!

6. Character building.  Time management and self-motivation are two qualities that K is really developing through online school.  She is really starting to realize that she and she alone determines how long our day is.  If she dawdles around it takes longer, if she stays focuses and disciplined she gets more time to play.  This has taken several months, but I think she’s finally getting it!

5. Activities.  I’m pretty sure the only reason that we are able to have so many outside activities is because we are home all day.  If we were off and running all day there is no way I would have the energy to run around in the evening too!

4. Protection.  One of the biggest benefits for me is knowing who my girls are around.  The other day I read that 10% of school children have been abused by a teacher.  That is a VERY high amount in my opinion.  I struggle with finding the balance here.  I want to teach my girls to trust their fellow mankind, but it’s also my job to protect them. 

3. Faith.  T and I are very committed to our faith and online schooling gives me the opportunity to monitor exactly what is going in their little minds.  We don’t necessarily agree with everything taught through K12 but when I am sitting right next to her we can talk about what other people believe and what the bible says about the subject.

2. Sleep.  I’ve made no secret about the fact that I am NOT a morning person!  The girls love mornings as long as they are able to wake up on their own.  If we try to wake them up early for anything it makes for a grumpy day so it is very nice that there is rarely a day when we have to wake up early! 

and number one…

1. Time Recapture.  This is probably my biggest reason for schooling at home.  It’s hard for me to believe that K is already 6 1/2 and I know the next 6 years are going to go just as quickly.  I love the fact that I am not missing out on 7-8 hours of her life every day.

And here’s another benefit…a fun homeschool group of friends!  Here are the girls at the December homeschool gathering.

I know school at home is not for everyone, an option for everyone, or even for every child.  At this point I hope we are able to keep the girls home for the foreseeable future, but nothing is set in stone.  If we ever find that traditional school would work better for our family or for a particular child in our family then we will re-evaluate.  Sometimes I feel bad that our girls are missing out on the general “school experience” but for now we are happy with our choice. 

This is one of my favorite quotes:

That’s definitely how I feel about this season of life!  I try very hard to remember not to take a single day for granted.  I know these “long” days will be over before I know it!

“Laugh With Me!”–Part 25

November 1st

When we were at the Capitol Tree festivities we walked past a bar.  K got all excited and said, “Look!  Let’s go THERE!  It’s called Michael’s and it says ‘Dine, Drink, and Dance’.  I want to dine!  And I want to drink!  And I REALLY want to dance!” (as she does a twirly spin).

November 1st

As we were leaving that night she pipes up from the back of the car.  “Since it’s SO late (7:00pm) should we go to a hotel?  I just saw one.

December 5th

While on Noni’s birthday trip we found a really fun toy store.  “I want this toy!” She pointed excitedly.  Then hopping up and down, “No this one!  No this WHOLE set!  NO I want to OWN this whole store!”

December 16th

Sometimes we just have to say to her, “SPIT IT OUT!” This is especially prevalent when she wants to tell us something while simultaneously distracted by the TV or computer.  This conversation literally occurred, while she was watching a clip on PBS kids…no stretching of the details AT ALL:

K: Mom?

Me: Yes?

K: Uh, Mom?

Me: Yes?

K: See this…I mean see this right here?

Me: What?

K: This tooth right here?

Me: Yes?

K: Mom?

Me: Yeeeeesss?

K: Do you see this right here?  This tooth right here on the outside?

Me: Yes, honey.

K: Well this tooth, on the outside here, this one.  See where I’m pointing.

Me: Honey I am looking right at you. (trying not to laugh at her)

K: Well, I mean these teeth right here (pointing to both upper canines).  They, uh, these ones on the outside.

Me: Yes, what about them? (turning red from suppressing the laughter)

K: These ones on the outside. 

Me: Yes? (laughing so hard I can hardly speak)

K: Well they are loose.

Me: That’s it? (wiping tears from my eyes)

K: Uh (looking at the computer)  Yes.

Funny Friday

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  Here are a few smiles for your Friday…

“Dat Funny?”–Part 11

October 30th

The girls had Lottie out and were playing with her.  Boo matter-of-factly says, “Look Noni!  Her eyes are open and she’s moving.  That means she’s not dead!”

November 18th

“My fumb hurts.  But it’s okay, I just suck the other one.  When I am 18 I will NOT suck my fumb ANYmore!”

December 13th

Waiting for our food at Mexican, I taught them how to play the word association game.  Bug caught on right away but Boo thought I was just trying to get her to come up with a rhyming word.  This is how the conversation went:

Me: Dog

T: Cat

K: Kitten

S: Bob!

T: Saget!

S: FAGGOT!

T: (covering quickly, for the restaurant full of people) A bundle of sticks!

December 14th

We’d been shopping, and had already gone to Target.  We were on the way home when T said, “I need to stop at Home Depot.”  Boo replied, “But we want to go to stores with toys! Not wood!”

December 16th

Helping me make dinner, “Yay!  I’m a big helper!  I’m helpin’ make dinner! I LOVE dinner!”

Merry Christmas!

 

Ice Skating

Last Thursday we had an ice skating outing with the homeschool group so we quickly did some schoolwork and headed into town.  Our first stop was to drop Peanut off at Noni’s because I did not want to attempt that! Haha :)  We were the first ones there so we grabbed a picture before heading onto the rink.

I was glad no one else arrived on time because it gave us a chance to get our…ice legs?   It took Boo about two times around (jerking my arm out of it’s socket every 2.3 seconds) to get the hang of it.  The attendant helped K get going, and by the time everyone arrived she was shuffling around the rink by herself.

She was thrilled when the older girls arrived.  It was a special treat because two of the church girls that are away at college were home for the Christmas break.  These are her 3 favorite teenagers.  She loves these girls and really looks up to them!

And they are so sweet to her!

Here’s two little videos…

She was so happy and probably would have skated for hours longer!

I didn’t get any video of Boo because I was holding her up the whole time!  We finally go to the point where I could hold both her hands and skate with her slightly in front of me.  My biceps were KILLING ME for the next two days!  The other moms kept commenting on what great balance I had…I don’t know about that but somehow I managed to keep from falling even though she tripped me up every few minutes.  We almost lost it a handful of times but I managed to keep upright.

She kept sucking on her gloves and then crying when her fingers got cold because her gloves were wet.  Not that I didn’t tell her that would happen several times…

We stopped for a lunch break.

And watched the other skaters…

The skating session was 3 hours long and we made Ii t 2.5 hours before heading out.  It was a really fun day!  We are enjoying all the fun activities with our homeschool group!

P.S. I love the little brother (above) on the end! :)

One Starry Night

Yesterday was the Christmas program at church and the girls did such a great job!  The director asked me back in November if the girls would sing a duet so they’d been working on it with Noni (who played the piano) for several weeks. 

Here’s Boo and two of her friends waiting for the program to start.

They didn’t do a play this year.  Instead, they sang four songs, and several of the kids had speaking parts.

Boo Bear was having a hard time standing still and kept pulling up her dress, but thankfully it had several layers. :)

Next year they are going to both have their own microphone!  They had a hard time sharing it, but finally by the last chorus Bug put her arm around Boo and they were both able to sing into it. :)

I am kicking myself for not taking the time to figure out how my camera recorder works.  I messed up the video and only got Boo’s verse.  K did SUCH a good job too!  She sang so sweetly.  T got the whole thing on the video camera so I will try to figure out how to get it uploaded.  So here’s Boo’s verse…

And I had K sing her part again once we got home…

They did a great job.  I’ll have to have them practice another song to sing.  I like to get them up in front of people as much as possible so they won’t be shy about it when they’re older.  I don’t mind singing in front of people, but I very much dislike public speaking so I want them to get as comfortable as possible in front of people!

After church we got some pictures…

Peanut.

Boo.

Bug.

The Teddy Bears were given to them by one of the ladies’ at church who gives every kid a present at Christmas! So sweet!!!

A few more pictures with friends…

Grandma and Grandpa.

Papa, Noni, and Mama.

And one last one with the whole gang.

Now we’re officially ready for Christmas!