Ahh, Homeschooling...

I am not sure if I have ever really posted about Homeschooling or not. Maybe in general terms and in with another post; but, this one is all about Homeschooling. :))

I really enjoy teaching my children at home-really. I enjoy seeing that light in their eyes when they get a new concept or when they figure out that the letters on a page mean something and they can sound them out and then read them!! That is amazing to me. Our 5yodd is in this process right now. She is learning to read. It is so exciting to see everything click for her. I can't imagine sending her to school one day and she came home able to read and I missed it. That makes me sad just thinking about it.

I love the fact that we can stay in our jammies all day and do school on the bed, couch, floor, or where ever we want to at the time. We can go to the backyard and do school. It truly fosters an open dialogue with the kids that I don't think I would have if they were gone all day.

We have also been able to incorporate practical living skills into everyday life that I don't think I could do if they were gone all day. Such as, I taught my dd's how to make a certain muffin recipe, tater tot casserole, grilled ham and cheese, and other things in the course of daily living. They are now self-sufficient at making their own breakfasts and lunches and will soon be responsible for some simple dinner menus as well. They are learning practical life skills as they come up through-out the day at teachable moments and it is priceless.

We do have the standard 'three r's' that we do every day and we actually enjoy those most days as well. The girls are able to get most of their work done by 11am and then have free time until 1pm or so and then we start the fun stuff! Art, science, history, reading, etc. I get to be right there with them when they are learning and discovering. What a gift.

I think the most important thing that I love about Homeschooling is the character training I get to do with them. It is a continual thing and it never stops. ;) I control what influences they are allowed to be around and I am very choosy. I want them to grow into the kind of women that God wants them to be and to prepare them for His purposes and so the responsibility falls to me to control who is shaping the character of my children. Do we hide in our house and church and never associate with other people? Absolutely not!! My children are VERY social and are comfortable in almost every public setting. They have no problem in carrying on conversations with other children of all ages and with adults. The difference, I think, is that they are not influenced by the worldly standards that say you have to have the newest and best to be liked. If someone has a different value system than I do, then I will limit the exposure that my children will have with that person. Why should that person have more time to shape my child than I do? They shouldn't-in my opinion!

Enough of the rant. LOL Homeschooling works for us-we love it. We struggle through some days and some days we give up and wait until the next day all together!! For the most part, I absolutely love being with my kids and I think they are really fun to be around. I can't imagine sending them away for eight or more hours a day and they come home significantly different than when they left.

I am going to try and put a list on the side of the curriculum we use. I will try. Most days I am doing good just to get a post to show up!! The computer is not my thing. LOL

Can you see them?

I took this picture in July-obviously from the date stamp!!-but then I never really went back and looked at it. I was looking at it on the computer last night and magnified it. If you look closely, you can see the water droplets in front of her face and arm all the way back to the water. It is sooo cool. I really hope it comes across for you to see. If not, I am not crazy you'll just have to trust me! :)

I just tried it and you have to click on the picture to make it bigger-it's soo cool!!

Book review

I finished 'Summer of Light' by W. Dale Cramer and I have to say that I just loved this book! It was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed the characters.

The premise is: A family of two parents and three kids are set up pretty well with the normal school/daycare/work for both parents routine, when the husband has an accident at work and can't work any longer. He ends up staying home with the kids and finds out what it is really like being a stay-at-home mom/dad! It is truly funny and had me laughing so hard at times that I thought that I would wake up my dh! It is true to life and down to earth. It has a core theme of God pursuing us through out the whole book and it is believable. I won't give away any more of the details, they are too fun to discover for yourself! I highly recommend this book. It is very engaging and easy to read. A definite feel-good book!

I am going to search more books by this author and I will let you know!

Updates and more sickness!

We received a call on Friday morning about dh's shoulder and it is a torn rotator cuff. They said the tear was small, but we still have to go to the surgeon on Friday to see what he says about it. We have done some research online about it and it sounds like since he injured it about 4months ago that the best thing is surgery. ??? I guess we will see. Me on the other hand, I am on my second atibiotic for a sinus infection and bronchitis and now I think I may have strep and my sinus infection is coming back!! WOOHOO!! And fun times were had by all. LOL Dc's are doing great and are all healthy at the time of this writing. That doesn't mean that when I am done they will be; but, for now it's all good! :)

Dragging

We have been in the midst of sickness here. First it was the 2yodd and her UTI's. Then she had a minor surgery with more testing to be done next week. Then I got a sinus infection with bronchitis. I have been hacking for a week and not getting much sleep since when my head is any other position besides upright, it pounds and throbs and causes my left eye to twitch and water!! I am very lovely right now! LOL My dh is also undergoing tests to see if he tore his rotator cuff while we were roofing our house! We are just a bundle of health and vitality right now. LOL I think a heard of elephants just entered the house upstairs-I had better go tame them!!

Dancing update!

Well, I realized that I had never posted about our 8yodd's decision on whether to do ballet or not. She decided not to. Yeah!! I think. :) She decided on soccer and is really enjoying it. We have the two older girls on the same team and the 5yodd is playing as well. They do AYSO and it is working out very well. We also figured out that if the 8yodd wears her glasses during the games that she can track the ball and her eyes will work better. Go figure!

Anyway, I will try and post some pictures later from a game or two.