Eisenhower Park

We love going to Eisenhower Park - it has a sweet rock wall! I love to watch Cole climb this. He takes his shoes off to get better grip and goes to town! And Gracie and Bea are learning from him too:)

Current Schedule

Our schedule right now looks like this:

Every morning we do our five things: family prayer, clean up your room and make your bed, do your hair, brush your teeth, get dressed. Then we eat breakfast, wash our dishes. To start the day off we always do some kind of movement. Inside or outside we'll dance, do stretches, play follow the leader, etc. A few times I've thrown small meditation or relaxation exercises in there after we move around just because I love them. Cole really seems to like them too, Gracie not so much:) And this is great for Bea who loves to be part of all the moving around.

Then we come to our 'homeschool table'. I started this month with a free month of the curriculum Building Heroes Academy and I really like it. It's focused on character building and it has a different person of greatness as a part of the focus each month. I like it, but I'm going to try going in our own direction now. The kids have a long list of things they want to learn - things like rocks and minerals, outer space, dinosaurs, deserts, how our bodies work..... so I'm going to make each one a theme for the month and build the subjects off of that. The only subject I'm not sure about what to teach is math and they have little workbooks for their grade so we're just using that for now. Every Friday we go on a field trip and every Thursday we do a science experiment. The kids are in piano and soccer right now and we'll also throw in going to the park or totally changing things up one day just for fun. So, that's the direction we're going right now.

Oh, and every Monday night we have Family Home Evening where we have a little gospel lesson, play games, and have a treat as a family. So every other week we're having Cole and Gracie teach us something that they've been learning about. Last week Gracie pretended to take us on a tour of the San Juan Mission - she remembered so much about it! That was so cool and a creative way to teach it. And Cole read us some of one of the ancient Egypt books he's been reading and he taught us some of what he's learned with that. So cool! Definitely one of my favorite things we're doing.

It's Only Been Two Weeks?!

Who would've thought that homeschooling for me would be so incredibly fulfilling and also in some ways incredibly hard? Well, probably most other moms that homeschool could've told me that, but I truly went in to this thinking, "Ya this is what we want to do so let's try it out! Wahoo!" But when I realized the other day that we've only homeschooled for two weeks I was amazed! It feels like it's been a few months at least already. And I think it's because it's been huge ups and huge downs for me.

The reason that there have been downs - hard moments/days/middle of the nights - is because of perceptions I've been hanging on to. Slowly realizing what the perceptions are that are holding me back.

Perception #1: Being alone means being lonely. This brings up traumatic feelings for me. I felt lonely growing up and the reasons for it were traumatic ones. Homeschooling can mean being alone more. For me, I haven't wanted to join coops just yet so that I can figure out how we want to run this for our family. I will say now at this point I haven't felt lonely too often but before we started and that first week there was a lot of anxiety I was dealing with. I was afraid of not feeling supported and also it was just past feelings I was dealing with even more than the prospect of being lonely. So there was some healing over that for me which was good. But I did not want to give this up in order to make more time to be with friends. Which is something I've done in the past - given certain things up in order to be around people so that I don't feel lonely. My goal this year is to invite others to be part of what I'm doing that I love instead of changing to follow others. And I like it. And, the bottoms line is being alone isn't the same as being lonely.

Perception #2: The only way to school a child is to do it the way public school does it. Boy, this one has been harder to let go of than I thought it would be. It created so much stress for me though and made all of this a lot less fun! I love the ideas in Waldorf education, and even some of the ideas held by unschoolers, and I just love the idea that we can learn what and how we want. All of that really is a limb that you're climbing out on when all you know is public school!! And when it's different and there are a lot of opinions out there on this. So, learning to let this go is helping sooo much.

It's amazing to me how easily these kids retain things just from reading and when we do things together. We've been learning about ancient Egypt this month and Cole has been reading a lot about it and he is constantly teaching me new things! And Gracie just seems to be blossoming in every way. She's constantly creating things whether it's a complicated toy train track to a new game to a new song on the piano. The capacity of these guys to learn, create, and do is astounding to me. We went to Costco yesterday and at lunch we sat by the windows that show what the workers are doing in the kitchen. These kids watched everything for twenty minutes just watching and making observations about the pizza machines and who those work, and what the workers were doing. They were mesmerized. They've always been that way about things, but I think the fact that we are learning so experientially brings that out even more in them. Wow, I love this.

Field Trip

Our first field trip was to the San Antonio Missions. Just two of them actually (there are four...and technically five including the Alamo); Mission Espada, and Mission San Jaun. The kids loved it! I think they were especially gung-ho because it was our first field trip. They stood and read the signs with me and we explored all the ruins. The churches are beautiful and they are all still used as regular meeting houses- and have been since they were built in the 1750s! 

Mission San Juan

 Mission Espada

Inside Espada

They are Franciscans at Espada (maybe at all of them, but I'm not sure), so at the front is a statue of Saint Francis, then Mary on one side, and Christ on the other. There were a few crucifixes and another detailed statue of Christ on the cross in another corner. In our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) the cross isn't represented as much because that's not how we want to remember our Savior. But I want to be sure to not be constantly making comparisons between our church and others when I'm teaching my children about other religions. I want our children to see the good and the beautiful that are in other religions- because there is so much! I also testify of truths that we teach in our religion, but I'm careful to not ignore the beautiful truths and teachings we can learn from in other religions. So I explained to Cole and Grace that in the Catholic church they have statues and pictures of Christ on the cross to help them remember Him and what He did for us. So come Sunday after our church is over, Gracie hands me a picture she drew in class of a cross with a stick figure on it:) I smiled. (We truly never see that symbol at church so I wondered what her teachers thought:)

We stopped at a park for lunch and notebook writing time. I realized we were surrounded by Pecan trees so Bea and I grabbed some off the ground! She was a good helper and so excited. 

Homeschmool

We started homeschooling August 27th, 2015. So we've been at it five whole days now! So far we're loving it. The kids have been so excited for this. Eight months ago I had been thinking about homeschooling for a year or two and weighing the pros and cons. I asked the kids to give me a list of why we would homeschool (they really liked the idea of it). I needed them to convince me really because I still wasn't sure. I wrote down their reasons:

1. We can be together more

2. We can swim at recess

3. We don't have to ride the bus

4. We can choose our own subjects 

5. We won't be around mean people (Gracie specifically did not want to be around people who "command" her to do things haha)

I thought those were pretty good reasons. I especially liked the choose their own subject part. We then wrote down all the subjects they would like to study. They're interested in some pretty varied things! I loved hearing what is going on in their minds. Which brings me to my reasons:

1. I want to be their teacher - to understand how they and their minds work, how to teach them well, and the challenge of developing my self and my mind to help develop theirs. 

2. They will have more time and energy for extracurricular activities

3. I want to have more time with them

And those were my reasons. Still are really. I am passionate that my personal reason for homeschool will never be to get them out of public school because they are exposed to this or that. I would feel like we're hiding from the world if I did that and I'm not a fan. There's too much good happening in schools for that to be my reason at this point. But, I do feel that kids are at school for waaaayyyyy too long. I would be happy with four hours a day four days a week until grade two, then in grade two move it to five hours or something. Seriously, they're gone so much and I truly felt like my time with them was being stolen and I didn't like that. 

And two things I'm acutely aware that they are missing from not being in school:

1. Being with other adults who truly care about them and their educations and who are making sacrifices and working hard to help them. I think that is essential for children.

2. Being around children who are different from them, where they have to learn how to deal with and work with other children. 

I'm trying to replicate these two things as much as possible. 

It's been fun adjusting everyday to what works and what doesn't work, and what my expectations are and what they really need to be. I've loved the challenge though too. I'll post updates of our general schedules soon too.  

Cole and Gracie wrote in their notebooks:

I painted a table and chairs and the kids helped with the table so it's a little splotchy, but the colors are bright and fun!

Yippee! So far our only rule for homeschooling is No Whining :)

Comings and Goings

A few weeks ago Gracelyn and I went on a date! To Orange Leaf, a frozen yogurt place. We ate and played card games. 

I got a BIKE! It's a beautiful 18lb. road bike. I've been in shock that I actually own one, and I finally got to take it out for a spin this weekend. Felt great. Maybe I need to change the seat though.....definitely had numb bum after an hour of riding :/

My cute little chicks (plus friend Paisley)! At a farming exhibit a few weeks ago. 

Last weekend we got to go up to Chicago. This is maybe my favorite city....I just love Chicago. I love that it's vibe is, "here I am. Take it or leave it". Haha, at least that's the vibe I get. It's not a city that's trying too hard, or pretending to be something, or mainly focused on it's looks. The cultural background is so interesting to me. All the Italian, Polish, Greek, Jewish, Catholic, and more holdings on the city that affect the attitude, architecture, food, people, everything! Plus I love the tall, skinny, side-by-side houses there haha. 

Kellen got to go to a Bulls game!

And Gracie got to go to the American Girl Doll Store! So fun!!

Bea loves to wear anybody's shoes lately :)

And, last but not least I broke the sliding door off our van...Went to pick up Gracie from dance. She forgot her costume so she ran in while leaving the side door open. I moved the van froward to get out of the way. Apparently the open door was right up against a very short pole. As a went forward, the pole held the door in one place. Once I realized I was hearing a noise, I looked back and saw the door falling off the car! Yikes. Kind of embarrassing.....It punctured a big hole in our tire and knocked the side back light off too. Gracie was bawling. I was in shock. Thankfully two men came over and moved the door over to the grass while I parked out of the way. The kids played and really had a good time waiting for the tow truck. 

Blessings in this situation: No one was hurt. Everyone I talked to at the insurance company were REALLY nice and helpful. They kept saying "I'm so sorry this all happened", and I was really glad that they were trained to say that because I needed to hear that! The tow truck guy was also awesome and helpful. My friend Ashley came to pick all of us up since Kellen was at work. It was nice outside so the kids could run around! All of it only took a little over an hour. 

Now it's in the shop and hopefully we won't be too long without it... After Gracie was done crying she was trying to choke back new tears as she sincerely asked, "Mom, will our van ever have a door again?" 

Temple!

Our closest temple is Columbus, OH and that's about two hours away. This time we decided to go up Friday and stay the night! At a hotel! With a pool! Kellen got to go to the temple Friday night and I went this morning. And of course it was nice. The kids were excited for the hotel.

THEN on the way home.....we ran into a traffic jam. Actually we were near the front of a pileup from a big crash. There were a few semi's involved and several cars and we saw a lot of ambulances go by. That was sad to see, and it was sobering because we were pretty close to all of that. Thankful that we only were waiting. The cleanup took a while so we were waiting for four hours. But, the portable DVD player, the leftover pizza in the car from the night before, and being able to let Bea wander in the car saved us. We were only starting to really go crazy the last half hour. Not too bad!

 Once we were on our way we stopped at the family favorite, Bob Evans. 

And we made it home. Yay! And then Kellen went off to his night shift ;)