Ewwww Spiders

We have this awesome spider web between two bushes in our front yard. The boys saw the spider out tonight and ran to get me so that I could take a picture. I hate to admit that I know nothing about spiders. I have no idea what kind of spider this is, but it sure is cool.

ETA: We found out from a very informative and friendly docent at the Butterfly Exhibit that our spider is an Orb Weaver. Sometimes it's called a cat-faced spider or a pumpkin spider. Seems especially appropriate this time of year!

Time for Soccer!

Here's how we spent our Saturday morning. Both boys are playing soccer this year. It's the first time either of them have played team sports. They did great! I guess that means I'm officially a soccer mom?!?! Not sure how I feel about that. lol It sounds so suburban, but I guess that's what I am too. lol

C's team in the pic above are an under 6 team and they are "The Green Hulks." B plays on an under 8 team called "The Red Flames." Both of their teams won today - not that that matters. ;-)

New School Year

Well, we are in the midst of gearing up for the new school year. Over the last two years, we haven't really followed a schedule very closely. We were still finishing up some reading from last year's list over the last couple of weeks. However, I'm going to really try to get through our first term of Ambleside by the beginning of December so that we can take December off. My plan is to start Monday. B will be doing AmblesideOnline's Year 2 and C will be doing Ambleside Year 0. Year O is really just a reading list so we're going to try to work through the list, with a little bit of math and phonics mixed in. I plan to keep it really light for Kindergarten. But, I did want to start to get C into a good routine. I think it will help him to know that every morning we sit down to do something "schoolish" together. If they only knew how not "schoolish" we are here. lol Of course, A really wants to do school because of her big brothers. I ordered her a Lauri Preschool Pack from Rainbow Resource. I put that in her school basket along with a new book of fairy tales and some of the Year 0 books.

I think we're almost set. I have some things to print off this weekend for their notebooks - maps, copywork, Bible story checklist. But, I think we're pretty well prepared. I'm actually getting excited. It's going to be a challenging term as far as outside activities. I'm having a hard time saying no to things that sound so fun! ;-) So far we have both boys in AYSO Soccer, A is in gymnastics, they are all doing baseball club, B is starting swim lessons, the boys are taking science classes from the children's science museum, Roots and Shoots, Opera Class...yikes! It will definitely not be a boring year!

I love my Birks!

I guess I can officially say that I've crossed over into hippie-dom. lol For my birthday, my mom got me my first pair of Birkenstocks. I don't know why I waited so long. I love them! I wear them almost every day. They are the first sandals that don't hurt my feet. Thank you Mom!!!

Butterflies

The kids and I went with friends to the local botanical gardens last Thursday to visit the Butterfly Pavilion. It was very hot but we had a lot of fun! I even got a couple of decent photos. Once it gets a bit cooler, my plan is for us to visit the gardens several times a month to work on our nature journals. I think even A could start drawing in a journal this year. This is an area I've really struggled with getting into our days and yet it's one of the things I love about the Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling. I'm really going to try to be more consistent with it this school year.

No Sourdough :(

My first attempt at sourdough bread totally flopped. I was so hoping to post a pic of a beautiful loaf of bread. It was too dense and a little under-done or something. I used a recipe from a cookbook I checked out from the library. I'm really hoping it was the recipe and not me. lol Oh well, I will give it another try soon.

We have worms!!!

I'm so excited! A friend dropped by this week with worms for my vermicomposting bin. I followed these instructions to build my bin. I'm so excited that we won't be throwing away all of those food scraps anymore. At first I had it just outside our slider door on the patio, but I thought it was getting too much sun so I moved it inside under the kitchen sink. The kids think it's so cool that we have worms in the house. She also brought a sourdough starter. I have my first sourdough loaf rising as I type. I told her that she and her husband have made my week. She mentioned that they might have kefir grains too...

New Year's Resolutions

I hate New Year's Resolutions. I guess I figure if I have to wait until this one particular day to resolve to change something in my life, it really must not be that important or the likelihood of me sticking to the change is pretty slim. I mean if I put it off this long, I know I really don't want to change that area of my life. But, I'm breaking my ban on resolutions this year. We need some serious structure to our lives. I feel like my kids our desperately needing some better routines and predictability in our days. So, my New Year's resolution is to be more organized, create a routine for our day (and stick to it) and be better prepared to handle each day. I know I'll have to build in lots of flexibility and free playtime but that's ok. We just need a better flow to the day. I need to spend some time every weekend going over what I want to accomplish the following week and prepare for it. It's been two months since we moved so it's time to get it together.

Legoland

Yesterday, we surprised the kids with a trip to Legoland. It was their first time at an amusement park. We had sooooo much fun! It was the perfect place to take them. It wasn't too big (although we still didn't get to see everything.) The rides were just their speed. The boys got to ride their first rollercoaster with mom. Although, my 3 yo was a little freaked out. He keeps talking about how scary it was. Dd was completely ticked off that she was too little to ride most of the rides. lol. But, she loved the toddler play area and the 3 foot Dora the Explorer made out of legos. B made friends with everyone around him in line and told them about how much fun he was having. His enthusiasm was contagious to everyone around him - even to mom and dad. We spent way to much on souvenirs and food, but it was worth it!

We're Moving! Again!!!

AAAHHHH! I'm totally overwhelmed right now! We are moving in a couple of weeks to New Mexico. With dh's new job, we decided that we wanted to make the big move. They (thankfully) ok'd it and we'll be off shortly. We really wanted to get moved before all the holidays coming up. I can't believe we're doing another cross-country move. Well, it's not *all* the way across the country, but you know what I mean. I hate packing! I've been trying to avoid it, but I've got to get moving (no pun intended.) Instead, I'm spending way too much time on craigslist and rentclicks looking for a house. Oh, a house...with a yard...I'm so excited. We're actually going to be able to afford to live!

I'm not reading any new books right now. We're taking a break from homeschooling. We're saying goodbye to all our new friends in Southern California. And we're packing, packing, packing!

Little Star

DD woke up singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" this morning. Well, she woke up and nursed, then started singing. What a wonderful way to start the day!

"Piecemakers"

We're going through the book My ABC Bible Verses. I'm doing one verse a week to work on some gentle verse memory for my 5 yo and reinforce the ABC's for my 3 yo. So, today's verse for the letter "B" was "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." I asked my kids if they knew what a peacemaker was. C (3 yo ds) answered that he was the guy who cuts up the pizza - the "piecemaker." :-)

Big Changes

Well, I know I said I was going to work on my "Reasons for Homeschooling" lists, but life has gotten in the way these past couple of weeks. It seems like in a blink of an eye, my dh was looking, found and now started a new job. We really thought he'd be at his previous job for awhile. Everything happened so quickly. He's working from home for right now. Then there's a big possibility of a move. I'm actually ok with that part of it. It's just been stressful making decisions so quickly. I think a big part of the stress was that I felt totally helpless. I'm a proud stay-at-home homeschooling mom, but this time I felt like I had no power to make changes. It kind of felt like when you're on an airplane and you hit turbulence and you have to trust that the pilot can fly the plane because you know you can't. It feels like you are totally at the mercy of someone else. That's how I've been feeling. It was a struggle to even trust God in this. But, thankfully, God is trustworthy no matter how I'm feeling.

Good Advice

I read some advice given to another mom who was feeling overwhelmed by the idea of homeschooling. The veteran homeschooling mom said to make sure and write down two lists before doing anything else. The first is a list of why you want to homeschool and the second is a list of what you want to accomplish by homeschooling. I thought it was really great advice. She said to refer back to it on those days when you're struggling and need a reminder or if you're making a choice on curriculum etc. So, I thought I'd tackle it here over the next couple of days. We're headed off to the CHN Expo in a week, and I know I'm going to be tempted by all the cool stuff. I thought it would be helpful for me to focus on my purpose for homeschooling before going to make sure it's fresh in my mind so that I don't get too distracted by all the cool ideas and stuff.

Our Homeschool Schedule

I keep telling myself that we're going to keep this year super relaxed and low-key. I mean, it's just kindergarten and ds is already reading etc. So, if I did nothing this year, he could still go into 1st grade next year. I really want to focus on getting into a good routine and creating some good habits for the whole family. I'm reading Charlotte Mason's books on educating children and am most drawn to that method right now. (Of course that could change next week. lol) She recommends no formal schooling for 6 yo and under. I've decided to go ahead and continue with some phonics and maybe start some math. After trying to add in a ton of stuff and then paring it down again, here's what I've come up with:

Morning Checklist:
Breakfast
Bible
Prayer
Calendar/Weather
Chores
Phonics
Copywork
Math
Nature walk/journal
Outdoor time

Lunch Checklist:
Lunch
Spanish
Reading lots of good books
Science/History/Geography
Quiet time

Tea Time:
Snack
Composer/Artist/Poetry

Bedtime:
Chapter Book

After typing it out, it still looks like quite a bit. I want to keep everything really short. Copywork will be one letter, phonics will probably just be some word groups, not sure on math. We'll use reading lists to read good children's literature. The history/geography/science will be really low-key. I know we're going to watch a butterfly grow, maybe read some books about the presidents around Presidents Day and play with a globe. We're going to do the composer and artist from Ambleside Online and memorize some Mother Goose rhymes and/or Robert Louis Stevenson poems.

Babies were Born to be Breastfed

Last night I watched the 20/20 segment on breastfeeding. It didn't really take a stand on breastfeeding, but mostly asked if the new ads by the government were too offensive. They make the statement that babies who are formula-fed are at higher risk than those who are breastfed. Actually, I thought they were pretty funny - a pregnant woman riding a mechanical bull. During the ad, an announcer asks the question, if you wouldn't take these risks before having the baby, why after? And then the tagline (which I love) - Babies were born to be breastfed.

In several of the online communities I'm a member of, most moms think that these ads only make the mother feel bad. The general consensus is that it's counter-productive to do that. By the way, these are very pro-breastfeeding communities. I guess I've been thinking lately, what's the problem with making people feel bad? This will sound harsh, but what's the big deal with the mother's feelings? Aren't we concerned about the baby? I mean, moms who truly can't but want to breastfeed, already feel bad. I'm thankful there's formula for those moms. But, if they've done their research, they already know that it's not as good for their babies. I feel bad I had three c-sections. I wish my children would have had a better beginning to their lives than being cut out of me. Do I regret going that route? Absolutely. Was it the best choice with the information I had then? Absolutely. The moms who get defensive are the ones who know they could have breastfed but chose not too. The breastfeeding rates in this country are way too low. What we're doing now isn't working. I'm glad the government is taking a risk on these ads. If nothing else, we're talking about it.

Shadetree Academy

I guess I can now say that I'm officially a homeschooling mom. B keeps asking when he can say he's in Kindergarten. I finally told him that he is. I guess since I'm the teacher, principal, janitor etc., I can decide when he's in which grade. I think it's going to take me awhile to leave behind all the old "school" expectations. I mean there are so many things I just assumed about education because that was the way I was taught. I'm excited and a little bit scared! But, mostly excited to start this journey! We have a name for our home-based private school - Shadetree Academy. My husband came up with it. It's supposed to reflect our nature-inspired, relaxed-learning emphasis. I love it! I knew the minute he said it that it was a perfect fit for us. He said he just pictured us outside reading books under a shady tree. I know it won't be like that all the time or even most of the time, but I think it's a great thing for us to strive for.

daddy hugs 123 by Karen Katz

Just wanted to say that we love this book! I have heard of Karen Katz's childrens books before - Counting Kisses and others. We've never bought any of them though. We were at the library and I threw this one on our stack of books because it looked cute. It is the sweetest book! My favorite part is at the end when Daddy and Baby snuggle to sleep together. My husband's favorite thing is to snuggle with our daughter while she sleeps. He loves holding a sleeping baby (and so do I.) Needless to say, I went to the bookstore today to buy it. I had to have it for our collection. Big thumbs up for Daddy Hugs 123! Oh, and it sneaks in some counting too.

More Thoughts on Being Family-centered

So, I've still been mulling over this idea of being family-centered. I think I've come to some new realizations. One is that we don't make decisions on meeting needs based on the hierarchy of the family. In other words, we don't believe that mom and dad should get their needs met first because they are higher on the totem pole. I think this might be what bothers me so much about the marriage/parent-centered dynamic. The idea that the marriage or parents have somehow more value than the children. We want to meet needs based on the need. As the adults in the family, my husband and I understand that we may have to wait to get our needs met. We have the capability to understand waiting. In our family, the youngest is usually getting most needs met first. Why? Here's an example, my husband and I want to go have dinner to get "quality" time. In order to do that, my dd will have to sacrifice her need for nourishment from loss of breastfeeding and safety from us not being there. See, to me, her need trumps my need for an uninterrupted steak. Especially since I know this stage in her life really doesn't last that long and that my dh and I, as adults, can come up with other options to meet our need for quality time. So, I'm not saying that we don't take care of our marriage. We do. We just don't need to do it in a way that sends a message to our kids that we are more important than them.

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Yipee! A nice long weekend. We're all excited here because Daddy is off work through Tuesday! So, what are we doing? Relaxing! We went to Sam's Club on Friday and I succumbed to the temptation of over-spending. Ughhh! We did get a pretty cool children's dictionary. B has been asking to look up all kinds of words. It seemed like a good children's one because it looked like it had more words than some of the ones we had looked at before. So far it does not have the definitions for trilogy or squishy. We also got the ps2 game "Cars." They were thrilled, but it didn't hold their attention for very long.

B is on a Toontown marathon this weekend. It's an online multiplayer game for kids by Disney. He's been playing since he was 3 yo but hasn't played much recently. He's getting back into it since he realized that he can finally read all the instructions. (Before he'd call one of us to read them to him or just guess/use clues to figure it out.) He also loves the animated fireworks on the hour every hour for the Fourth.

A is walking everywhere now. I can't believe I was so concerned. I knew she would just do it one day and that would be it. And C, he told me this morning that my toes are beautiful. :) I had just painted my nails and put on a toe ring. It was so sweet that he noticed. It made my day!