Where to find me now (this blog soon to be archived)

Hello dear old friends!
This is just a quick note to tell you where I can be found now. I am no longer keeping an exclusive homeschooling blog-life has developed into so much more, as it often does.

We are still homeschooling, #7 did arrive safe and sound-she is almost 2! Where does the time go to?

In the time I have been away lots has happened:

Now Open! 

Twisted & Plied- all about my fiber arts obsession. I have learned how to spin yarn! We are also raising these adorable fiber goats. Learn more about it at www.twistednplied.com

And Also:

The fun I had learning to spin, process raw fiber and developing my knitting talents for my new business, led to an opportunity for me to teach more than just in our homeschool! There is a growing desire for learning self-sufficient skills and God has called me to help educate those that seek it. So I have started a program that offers local (Idaho) workshops, and also online information, that is geared towards: "Preserving Traditional Skills in a Modern World".

Lylli drew this for me-isn't she talented?!

This site will be launched next week, and at that time this homeschooling blog will officially become archived. I will be using my posts from this site to aid in teaching about homeschooling and providing Ebook guides on the new site. I haven't completely abandoned writing about homeschooling! It is still a very much real and important part of our lifestyle!

The launch of this program will be announced on the Twisted & Plied website as well as my Facebook page. Please follow there so that you can join me again! 

Thanks so much for being my friend here and I hope that you will come with us on the new adventure!

A Special Invite:

Because you are following this blog, I want to give you the opportunity to be among the first to sign-up for the Newsletter and Raffle announcements. You can do that now:Receive the very first issue!

Thanks for following Happy Day Homeschooling!

Heidi

I wore my PAJAMAS ALL DAY!

Yep. I sure did.

And a funny thing happened...

A delicious breakfast of muffins and fruit was served.....
                  The kiddos did their chores...........
                                            We started our lessons relatively on time................
                                                                               

THEN

We received a surprise delivery from someone who cares about us! All of the kiddos were given new tied twin bed-sized fleece blankets! What a treat! Even soon-to-arrive-baby boy got one! We are so blessed to have wonderful people in our lives!

After all of THAT excitement we....

                             Continued doing lessons....and I thought about getting dressed, but didn't.

 The preschoolers at our house watched Sesame Street.

At break time everyone went outside for awhile.

                      They have really been into trying to get their bikes in working condition now that the weather has begun to warm.

After the wee break we kept plugging on..finishing up some spelling, writing assignments, and independent reading. 

LUNCH

Brought another surprise to our day.....

A very windy, fast moving, LARGE hail storm! It took us all by surprise...especially the two outside playing! We watched for awhile and hoped that this time there would not be any damage like the last surprise wind storm (fallen trees, missing shingles etc.). 

We were blessed and it passed quickly. Our power only flickered.

As we ate our lunch of Mac & Cheese with a hotdog we began watching a PBS special about Martin Luther on Netflix. He is one of our history topics this week. Once I was finished eating I decided to mix up a quick batch of cookies to appease a craving I have been having for coconut. I used a recipe I found the other day from Allrecipes.com called Cocunut Oatmeal Cookies II. They turned out to be just what I needed! Although I do wish that I had the white chocolate chips it called for, but our regular chocolate chips did the job just fine!

And yes, I was STILL in my pajamas with no inclination to change. At 31 weeks prego comfort trumps everything else! But just in case you are wondering here is a picture of me on a day I WAS wearing clothes:

Nonetheless, I feel our day was VERY productive despite the fact that I stayed in my PJ's all the live long day. The afternoon continued on with various activities of interest for the kiddos and some "teacher" work for me. I have a few projects up my sleeve I am trying to accomplish so that things will run smoothly as baby time arrives! A dinner of pork chops found it's way into the oven, my son caught his ride from the neighbor to his Cub Scout meeting, the girls and I cleaned up from dinner, and I am finishing this post that began as dinner was cooking.

The girls have now joined me in pajamas.

I am really grateful that I have reached a point of comfort in our homeschooling journey to be relaxed AND productive at the same time! 

Happy (pajama) Day!

Stepping into the Future

Is anyone else totally overwhelmed by the speed of our technology? 
(Please say "yes" so I don't feel so old!)

Remember this family and all the amazing things THEY could do?

 Now think about what we've got going on! 

I am in the market for a new laptop so the Mr. and I went browsing yesterday while we had some kid-free time. I am so totally baffled. I am barely up to speed with my smart phone and Nook tablet, let alone figuring out a touch-screen laptop! And yet at the same time I find it extremely exciting to explore, learn and find new treasures to help educate our kiddos. The big pressure is that I have to stay on top of things in order to be able to teach and keep up with the things that our kiddos need to learn.

We live in an amazing time. But also it is filled with SO many things that we need to be careful of. It is my goal to learn and make use of the tools provided in order that they will:

1. ENRICH our lives for the better.
2. PROVIDE a way to optimize our time.
3. NURTURE our love for learning.
4. ADVANCE our knowledge.
5. INFORM us of our surroundings so we can make wise decisions.
6. SUPPORT our relationships with family and friends through all the ways we can communicate.
7. ENJOY in a safe and uplifting way.

I really want to stay away from:

1. DISTRACTION from the things that are important: GOD and FAMILY.
2. WASTE filling in our time with things that do not benefit us.
3. BECOMING reliant. It is still important to know how to do things the old fashion way.
4. DISCONNECTING us from the need for verbal communication.
5. KEEPING us from getting out into nature and the sun, and just unplugging for awhile.

I really hope that I am strong enough to keep to these goals and to direct my family to the same thing. It is exciting to see how far we have come in just my lifetime and mind boggling to think of where it might take us in our kiddos lifetime.

What do you think?

Happy Day!

Library Treasure

Before leaving the library this past week, I quickly scanned the "teacher" book shelf to see if there was anything of interest. I was delighted to find a Charlotte Mason themed book:

I may have to purchase my own copy!
I love the line in the title that says " The Gentle Art of Learning" it speaks to me. We are getting to that place now where learning really is done in a gentle and creative way. So exciting! 

I am thoroughly enjoying it and have been devouring pages this afternoon. I plan on bringing it with me this evening as I wait while my kiddos attend their church activities. I have kept a notebook and pencil close at hand. There are some fabulous insights and ideas that I am gleaning for improvement upon our next school years lessons. The hardest part will be waiting and preparing to begin!

We have about a month left of lessons for this school year and then we will take a short break before beginning their next levels of study. It so exciting to see the mastery of this years lessons and to prepare to begin the next set of goals!

Happy Day!

TOG Report

Loving It!

We are ending week 3 of the Year 1, Unit 3 Tapestry of Grace (TOG) curriculum. It has been a long time since lessons have been so EASY for me to prepare! (read my earlier post about TOG)

It was really easy to implement this program into our daily routine. We were already doing a similar routine...only I was spending HOURS planning....and now I don't have to! Now I have time to plan the fun stuff...and spend more time on the important things like snuggling up with my 6 yr old to have her read to me for a while, or play some games with my preschoolers! It is fabulous.

With five to teach and organize, I often felt that the only thing I was ever getting done was planning and teaching. This week has proved a change!

I actually have:

Gotten out my sewing machines!! Yes I think I will have time to make the girls and I some summer skirts/dresses! And I have already worked on a baby gift for my Sister-in-law. What a wonderful feeling!

I have also been able to to (drum roll please):

MOP THE FLOOR (in the middle of the week!!)

READ FOR PLEASURE

GO FOR A WALK

MAKE YUMMY TREATS FOR THE FAMILY

CLEAN THE REFRIGERATOR (again, on a week day!)

SIT OUTSIDE AND ENJOY THE SUN!

PLAN THE LESSONS EARLY (on monday morning I already am ready for the week!)

AND: 

Create a fun craft activity to go with our Bible story this week:

JONAH

I printed out a whale picture that we glued onto a paper tube (both sides) and looped a string through the middle so it can hang. I found a 'Jonah' picture on the web and they colored one of those and we attached him to the the tube with string (so he won't get lost). Now Jonah can be 'swallowed' by sticking him inside the tube in the middle of the whale. And the great thing is you have to fold his arms for him to fit...so I told the kiddos that it showed he was praying inside the belly of the fish! It was a lot of fun and a break from the usual!

We are loving the reading list for our TOG unit. Our family reading has been engaging and the kids beg me to read to them! Lyllian is enjoying her reading assignments and being the fast reader she is she finished a book, that was suppose to spread out over a two week period, in a manner of days. Her writing activities are great because she is learning how to write an 'essay' in the form of a newspaper article. By the end of the unit she will have created a whole newspaper about the time period we are studying. How fun is that?!

I also still get to use our Story of the World books and activities sprinkled into the mix. The lessons plans actually have suggested reading from that book.

There haven't been HUGE changes, which is nice because I don't know that the kids even notice much of a difference. But I feel relief and that is good because my BP has been way too high recently!

TOG  has helped put the happy to return to our lessons!

Happy Day!

A Time and a Season

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

Spring is in the air!  

It is another beautiful day at our house! 

I have been praying and seeking diligently for some time now, about our next year's course we should take. I have needed to take into consideration a few things:

• All of my kiddos are ready for me to encourage them to take on more challenging work
• We have embarked on our dream to have a small animal farm (we now have chickens, and plan on goats in the future). This means that we will have other projects to focus some of our time on. Including:
• 4-H....we have begun participating in 4-H projects and are very excited for all that this program has to offer us!
• Scouting- Ephraim has officially joined the Cub Scout program, so he (we) will have additional projects and meetings to attend.
• Gardening/Canning.....we WILL be doing our very first at our house this year.
• A possible addition to our family......yes we are beginning to think: baby

All of these things are going to require more TIME of one particular person in our family...can you guess who? ME 

So I have been desiring to find a curriculum guide that COMBINES as much as possible together, that gives me a lesson plan (that is easily adapted when wanted), and covers our age levels of at least 7 years to 11, with emphasis on being able to challenge the oldest to strive harder and higher. I wanted all of our reading, writing, vocabulary, spelling, to be inter-linked with our History lessons. I wanted it to follow our CM (Charolette Mason) style of doing things with living books and short lessons. I wanted more time to create fun games and projects to support our lessons and to be able to give some devoted time to preschoolers.

Is this even possible?

A couple weeks ago after putting the kids to bed. I was sitting on the computer doing internet searches for Literature-based curriculum. I found a lot of great things...but a lot of them required me to make the book list and plan out the unit studies. I would love to be able to sit down and do that...one of my favorite things is to come up with our lesson plans and find exciting new ways to learn. But based on my above list, I feel my time is better spent teaching and not planning. I want to be able to have fun with the kiddos, not spend hours on the computer researching or creating. 

And then I stumbled upon this:

I watched the several introductory videos on the site, and as I did a warm sensation spread throughout me. I thought: This is it! But then my brain said: Hold on...you need to research this more, there is nothing worse than getting something that doesn't work for you family. 

The hour was growing late and my eyes were bleary so I forced myself to pin it and wait for the next day to read more. When I got the chance the next day, I sat down and opened my homeschool pin board to find the link to the website. There I found someone had made a comment: We are in our 5 year of TOG and we love it!  I immediately replied asking her questions. She responded promptly telling me about the age range of her kids and that her 16 yo was graduating this year. That was all I needed to inspire me to dig deeper. 

This is what I found:

• The creator was a homeschool mom (and dad) of 6
• It was created because she wanted a way to spend more time teaching and less time planning, and she wanted her children to be instructed in the most important lessons of all...CHRIST.
• The company put 3 weeks of lesson plans and other resources on their site for FREE for us to explore and try out before purchase.
• The Core of the program is History taken from 4 divisions of World History. (The same way we already began doing it this year..with The story of the World history program.) Starting with Ancient Times. It also has a strong focus of tying history into events taken from the Bible.
• Each Year contains 4 units, which can be purchased separately, which makes it easy to start at anytime with in your other course of study. 
• There is a print, digital, or combination of program material.
• Each lesson plan contains lessons from elementary through Highschool levels, which are broke up into levels and not grades. They are: lower grammar, upper grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric
• There is great flexibility of levels being taught and it is supper easy to give a student a challenging assignment from a level above without changing their whole lesson level. And it works the same for giving an easier assignment to a student who is struggling in a certain area like writing or reading, without messing up the other lessons.
• The only areas of study it doesn't cover is Math, Science, and any specialties like foreign languages or Music studies. There is even play scripts so you can put on a play just as a family or in a co-op (oh yeah, it has lots of info on how to use it in a co-op).
• There are lots of hands on projects available to do.
• The book list consists of books that are easily found on the internet or at the library. They also have a book store where you can go to purchase the books on the list if you don't want to shop around or borrow.

Are you loving it yet?

I am!

This program is truly an answer to my prayers!

So I ordered a couple Units from Year 1 which fits in with our current study of Ancient Times for us to begin right away and test out to see if it works for us and if it will work for us for our whole year program.

I have received the package and poured over the material this week....so far I think it looks great! We will begin to implement the program next week.

If you would like more info go to their site: http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/explore/

I was not invited to give this review and I did not receive anything for it. I simply liked what I saw and wanted to share my opinion. If there was anything in my notes that was not accurate..I apologize and please let me know so that I can correct it. 

I will try to give an updated review after we have used the program for a week or two.

Happy Day!

My list keeps GROWING!

Just a quick pick me up for anyone else who might be feeling like me today.....

I love Hilary Weeks and her humorous "Mom" songs. She sings the truth! And her music gives me comfort on days like this.

My head is so FULL of all of theses things that I need to do and that I want to do. I keep getting blessed with fabulous ideas....but am having a hard time with time management!


Do you ever feel like this? What do you do to slow back down and stay focused?

Happy Day!

Taking a ME day---sort of

Do you ever have those days where you just can't get the energy needed to teach?

I am having one of those days.

We studied our scriptures...and some have done their other independent lessons.....

Now  I declare today to be a develop-a-talent-to-entertain-yourself-day. 


I have already been told 3 times in the past hour "I don't know what to do.". Clearly this is an area of study that needs practice!

I know what I am going to do today. I am going to sit here on this computer and let it suck me in, while the house falls to rubble behind me, until I can update this blog the way I would like it to be. I really want to be able to post on a more on regular basis...but I need to make it easier on myself..and that is going to take a bit of a blog makeover.

So if you are reading this today, be warned.......Happy Day Homeschooling is being Remodeled.

Happy Day!

Ready, Set, PRINT!

A note to fellow homeschool and teacher blogs:

Please stop giving me so many great ideas! I have file after file of free downloads (thanks to you). So many things to print and create fun for my Kiddos! Do you not realize that my printer is on the edge of being worn out?? It is so frustrating to have so many great things that I want to print, but can't because my printer has brain damage!


This winter has created blogging monsters setting traps wherever I go to ensnare me into their net of creative goodies.....I just can't stop myself. I am addicted to finding free printables and fabulous ideas! Each time I read someone's blog I have to click on a great link they have, then I find another great link, and it is never ending! 


I don't even have time to share all of my great finds. Watch out because one of these days I will catch up and I will get these activities printed and get pictures of us using them and then I will write a a post full of creative goodies for you to be trapped in with the never ending clicking, downloading, printing tunnel vision. Mwwuuhahahaha!


But until then keep a close eye on my Button Collection.......it seems to be growing almost daily (along with my pinterest boards).




Happy Day!

ready....set....GO!

Relief...is what I feel about getting back to our day to day routine. How wonderful it is to be in our own home again, eating at our own table, and sleeping in our own beds. What a comfort H-O-M-E is.

So now that we have survived the moving and holiday madness, unpacked most of the boxes, and get to return to normal living (whatever that may be) we have dug back into our lessons. Driving full speed ahead (toot toot) everyone is on board and ready to go. This time I chose to dive right into our full schedule, not waiting for an adjustment time. It has worked out well and I am content with what we have accomplished this week.

Everyone was excited to get back to our Scripture Journaling. In the future when we take a break, I plan on continuing this part of our studies, as it is the most important. We picked right back up where we left off, and I am pleased to witness that they all actually remember what we have learned previously including songs and what is expected of them during this part of our day. It still remains to be my favorite part of our lessons time.

To get us started with our week and the New Year, they all filled out a worksheet that I came upon on Pinterest (sorry, I didn't save the link for the printable) that has questions pertaining to highlights from 2011 and goals for 2012. It was surprising what I learned from reading (or penning for the younger crew) each of there responses. Lyllian would like to learn "the french language".(Guess I better make it my goal to find her a language program. I welcome your resource finds!) 

 Ephraim wants to continue learning math and can't wait until he finishes his spelling book.

HanaRose had very admirable goals for this next year. She would like to "be an artist" and "be a better big sister". The hardest thing she did last year: "climbing a pine tree".

Violet's responses consisted of Barbies and princesses being the best things of 2011 and she also wants to continue to play both of those in the coming 2012.

Evalynn was not a participant in this activity, as she was napping. But I can bet her answers would have to do with babies, puppies, kitties, candy and the like.

I on the other hand have several goals for this coming year. Some are habit changing and others are just things I would like to accomplish. I have begun getting up before my Hubby goes to work and sending him out the door with breakfast and a hug. This has propelled me to rise earlier and be more prepared for when the Kiddos get up. I am also able to have a bit of mom time, which in turn gives me a better start to the day. Some of the things I would like to have completed this year are: add some biographies to my reading list, plan and execute a garden, meet all of our new neighbors (and remember their names) and various home improvement projects. It is going to be a good year.


Happy Day! (and Happy 2012)

I think I can....I think I can....I think I can

The Big Yellow Moving Truck that Could

We have packed up and moved 2,000 miles north west from where we were. I am absolutely exhausted. I keep thinking one more good nights sleep is all I need...but I am still dragging today. We have actually only not be transient for three days. So I am trying to go easy on myself. I am so eager to get the kiddos back into a normal schedule and have them settled in here at their grandparent's house. I figure by the time we do, it will be time to move into a new house and start all over....not that I am complaining about moving into our own home...I welcome that event to come A.S.A.P.

Here is an overview of our last couple of weeks:

* My mother-in-law arrived to help pack & drive
* We packed
*My husband arrived (with 4 days off) and we organized a load for him to drive with our truck a trailer...he left after being home for 24 hours and drove the distance in 2 days, unloaded and went back to work the following day.

*We celebrated Lyllian's 10th Birthday!

Yes...that is a sombrero she is wearing...it's a new birthday thing we do.

*We went to Church
*We picked up the 26ft moving truck and dropped off the kiddos at a friends house.
*We loaded up the truck in 103 degree weather that felt like 110....ALL DAY!
*We went out to dinner and then slept on the floor
*We cleaned up our messes and last minute bits and pieces.
*We got in and DROVE as far as we could, and slept.
*Repeat of the above
*We arrived at my brother-in-law's house. The kids played with cousins.

My HanaRose  was so sad to leave. She wouldn't smile for a picture.

*We drove some more and was able to meet up with my hubby where he was working on contract. We slept.
*We drove some more until we arrived at our first destination but not the final. We went swimming in the hotel pool and then went to sleep.
*We UNLOADED the 26ft truck into a storage unit. (Let me just say this was another story all together!).
*We drove all NIGHT(6 hours) and arrived here at my In-laws home that is to be our home until further notice.
*We gave THANKS to God for all of our safe travels!
*I have been attempting to sleep as much as possible. The kiddos have been running and running...anything but sitting!

So now, today I decided to unload the boxes of school books and try to get things organized and prepared. I would like us to get back to school on Monday. One thing I know I needed to do was print out and bind more pages for my planner I created for this year. But as I looked through the things I brought with me...I discovered that I did now but the binding machine in with the items to come here instead of stay in the storage unit. So now.....once again I get to make a WHOLE new planner and put it in a bulky binder. It will all be fine I know. What does it really matter if it is bound with the machine or in a 3 ring binder...the same job gets done.

  CHUGGA. CHUGGA. CHUGGA.

Happy Day!

Update

Hello my dear blogger friends......

I have been packing, cleaning, packing, cleaning,and then some more of that all over again. Things slowed the last couple of days because I have been a bit under the weather. No worries though, I think we have done a good job at pacing ourselves. We have already taken several things apart including the pool....which I am sure the neighbors are wondering why when it is 103 degrees out??! Needless to say I am being a little more liberal with the T.V. time than usual. Anything to keep everyone occupied at the moment. We are looking at two more weeks of preparation time before things really get moving.
The house is officially listed with our realtor. We are wishing that the housing market was looking better. It looks like it is going to be a long road to get it sold. I am trying to have good faith that God will provide. I know that He made it possible for us to be so fortunate to move near our family and for my husband to receive a job from such a great company. I will admit though, that it will take all of my strength not to beg Him to hurry things a long! I am a planner and a doer. It is difficult for me when there are obstacles in my way that require waiting!
I am looking forward to getting over this first hurdle and settled in at my in-laws house so that we can get back to a good routine and our school work. I told the kids the other day that they may be having fun with some of their freedoms right now...but I really miss learning!

Happy Day!

Let the Packing Begin......

So here we go....time to get everything packed into boxes.

We still haven't sold the house, but we are going to take the next step anyway trusting that God will help us with fitting every piece into the puzzle. I am hoping the house will be easier to sell without us living in it. Meanwhile we get to put our things in storage when we get to our destination and then we will have our "summer" visit with the Grandparents whom thankfully currently have room to accommodate our large family.

With the tasks at hand...I have encouraged my Kiddos to entertain themselves either outside or in their rooms. My older ones help with packing a box here and there, and when the desperate moments come.... I turn on the television. This will be our basic everyday routine until moving day arrives.

I have not narrowed the exact date down, but I do know it will land around the middle of August...which gives us about 4 weeks to prepare. Luckily I have already done lots of prep work by going through all of the rooms and closets getting rid of the things that will not being going with. So packing should be mostly uncomplicated.  Once we have the date set, I will need to reserve the enormous moving truck needed to transport our belongings 2,000 miles NW. After that is the challenge of lining up some extra drivers. We have 3 vehicles (including the moving truck) that will be traveling in the convoy. I of course will be in our suburban with the Kiddos....and possible a dog or two.  We also need a driver for our truck that will be pulling our flat bed trailer full of motorcycles, bicycles and riding lawnmower, I also hope to at least put one of our large dogs in the back of the truck, then of course we need someone to drive the moving truck.  We do have some volunteers already...the challenge will just be the time frame.....most of those available (including my husband) are busy fighting fires in the summer and they work 12 days on with 2 days off.  I am not too worried though, this is not our first rodeo. We have done this a few times before and everything always seems to come together, even if at the last minute!

Well break time is over......

Happy Day!

What have we been up to?

I guess the real question should probably be :"What haven't we been up to?" It feels as if we have been doing everything all at once. 

Here came.......July......and there it goes!

There have been fevers, and coughs for most of my Kiddos, plus a cranky teether, and sinus infections for me, runs to the grocery store, and doctor. 

We helped a good friend move, and gave her and her baby refuge afterwards when there was a problem with the electricity so she couldn't have any air from the A/C in this 100 degree weather. 

The hot weather has made it hard to play outside...we used the pool a couple of times.

Mixed in with that we have slipped in some Spelling, Math, Reading, and Scripture study here and there. We have even gotten in a few art projects...most of which my Kiddos inspired themselves to do. I attempted to plan some trips to the Library for some of their summer programs, but have yet to make it. It seems a fever pops up every time we have an outing planned. So we have mostly been staying busy at home.  

My Hubby and I also celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on the 8th of this month. He was a good husband and had roses and chocolate sent to me! I was very happy to receive the show of affection since we have been apart for over a month now. 

Of course I have also been trying to keep up with the laundry, household cleaning, and yard maintenance.

We are working on a neat sewing project that is just about completed. I won't give it away yet though....I'll save that for another post when it has been completed.

Now  I am off to fix lunch, clean the kitchen and the living room before picking up my Hubby from the airport for his 2-day visit! 

Happy Day!

Straying from the Path

"It’s true, habit training is hard work. And we parents may want

to sit back and reason that we don’t have the energy or the time to

work on this thing called habits, so we’ll just let it go for now and

if we get around to it in the future, we’ll add a few habits to our

children’s lives then.

But the truth is that habit is inevitable. The question is not

Will our children form habits? The children are forming habits

right now—as you read this page. The question is Which habits

are they forming?"  --Charlotte Mason 

Since my Hubby started his new job a month ago, I have let us stray from our "normal" routines, using that very excuse in the above quote that I don't have energy or time...so I will just let it go for now...we will get back to work when things settle down. In this process my Kiddos and I have formed some bad habits.

We have all become sluggish in our chores; there is fighting, tattleling, complaining. My kiddos have been not getting settled in their beds more than and hour later than usual, because I don't follow through the routine. I haven't been taking them out of the house for activities, just because I feel like it is so much work! I am officially grounded...these are not the behaviors that I want to become our Habits!

I recently posted about going ahead with our lessons because of talk of boredom. I have tried to start doing this...but not with the conviction and energy I should. I think that I came at it half heartedly. I have a really great plan for our lessons all laid out. All we have to do is implement them and get back into the Habit.

In studying my scriptures and through prayer I have come to realize a weakness of mine-I have a hard time staying steadfast in all that I do. I was reminded of this by reading Hebrews 3:14 "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end...." I need to work on holding to that confidence I had in the beginning. While we were planning for this season of change I was confident that it would run smoothly; that I would be able to handle it. Somewhere in the last couple of weeks I let things slip, and now we seem to be sliding. But it's okay because I have caught it and we are now going to trudge back up the hill. Fortunately I have been here before and know how to get back up on top, unfortunately I also know it may not be easy.

However, I am blessed to have good Kiddos, that like to please me and I know that God will help me if I keep my eyes on Him and not only our earthly but eternal goals. 

How do you stay steadfast and hold to your confidence until the end?

Happy Day! (or at least it will be soon!)

We're still here

It has been a very busy couple of weeks since I last posted. Every room of our house has been cleaned and organized, including the garage. The only space I have yet to touch is the coat closet, and that will just happen whenever I get inspired. Now the challenge is keeping all of the rooms tidy so that people viewing our home will not be distracted by our living in it. I am not too worried about getting our house sold. I know that this move is the right thing for us so I am going to trust in God to help us through the process. I was a little panicky thinking I needed to hurry and get the walls painted to cover up all of the artwork my toddlers have created over the past two years, but now I am a little more settled. I am going to just take it one room at a time as I can. The most important job I have still remains to be the raising and educating of my kiddos.

We have had a nice little break. Some of our family (including cousins to play with) came visiting last week for several days. The kids played and played and played. The last couple of days have been spent getting rested and cleaned up. I think it is finally time to get back to some order in our day to day.

There are several things on my list of to-dos. We need to sign up for the summer reading program at the library and figure out which activities we want to attend. I am ready to get us into a good routine to distract from the waiting period that we have until we relocate. I have most of our materials for our next year of school, and have started laying it all out in a plan. My goal this week is to refresh my memory on what I had planned and take the next steps so that we can begin soon.

I look forward to finding Balance.

Did we measure up?

We were asked the question today while we were out. It's not the first time a curious observer has been brave enough to approach and ask the question.  In fact I prefer it when we are questioned, instead of just a curious glance or a contempted stare! I see the question as  good publicity for Homeschoolers. It is strange that folks find it so shocking that we could educate our own children. Don't we have to have a Degree? (I don't, but in some states you do). Just in case you're wondering.....that was not the question.

From the time they bless our lives with their presence, we are teaching our children. The first thing they learn is where to find food. We teach them about love, comfort, and safety. By watching and listening to their Parents and Siblings they learn to make sounds and movements. We teach our children every critical survival necessity of life, inside our Homes. How is it that the World finds it hard to believe that we are able to educate our children with all that they will need to know before adulthood? That is my question.

Doesn't this look like a Fun School Day?

We were lucky to go visiting and learned about old tractors and cows!

This morning I told my Kiddos that after we cleaned up our rooms I would take them to the Dollar store (as promised earlier in the week) so that they could pick out something with their own money they have been saving. Magically, rooms were cleaned (with little complaint)! We ate lunch with Dad before he went to work and then headed out to the store. Everyone had a good time walking through the toys. Violet had to learn that she could not get 3 dolls and a pony, but the rest of them did very well in their search and stayed within their budget. As we browsed the rest of the store before checking out a woman who worked there finally got up the nerve to approach.

So here is the question:  "Don't your kids go to School?"
To which I reply: "Yes! We Homeschool. We have actually already finished up for our School Term and are on break for awhile!"
(Followed by a big smile...while the questioner takes it all in and watches closely to see if we are normal.)

She was very nice and waited patiently when checking us out as each of my Kiddos counted out their change to pay for their items. We said our Happy good-byes and loaded up for home. As we drove home the Kids worked on opening their bounty and conversed amongst themselves in delight.
I wondered as I drove....Did we measure up? Were my kids normal in her eyes? I hope NOT I hope that she was able to see a difference. I hope she was able to notice how EASY it was for me to browse through the store with my Five, the toys none-the-less, with little correction needed. I hope she noticed that I was Happy to be taking them there and they were Happy that I did.


Happy Day!

Going against the Grain

We have just finished some of our lessons that were planned for the year, and have gotten bored with some others. So for the past month I have been researching new things and ordering the next books to curriculum that we are using. Then I started worrying over starting something new when we are about to end the school year and have our summer break. I was stressing out about filling voids of lessons where we finished, because I didn't want to start the next lessons only to stop in a month for our summer break.
Last year we took the whole summer because we went on a long trip visiting family and friends across the States. This year we will be staying close to home and utilizing the pool in the back yard and the beach that is only an hour away.
After pondering our up coming schedule I asked myself  "Why don't we just decide to have school year round?"  It saves so much time and energy in loosing the routine. Since I already am in need of new material to fill in this last month...why not just graduate us to the next level all together? My two oldest are ready....and the younger ones are craving more as well. I know I have thought about it before but have tossed the idea just because I wanted my lazy summer. But lets get real.....am I ever going to have a lazy summer? No. Can we include swimming as one of our activities....YES! Can we relax our routine to allow for the feeling of a break, and even take a week off here and there as needed?...YES! Will my sanity be saved if my kiddos still have a routine they can abide by?....YES!


Sometimes it is just so overwhelming to realize that we have control over what we do, when, and how we do it.  As long as we are keeping to our goals and everyone is moving forward, then...WHY NOT? It is easy to forget that one of the reasons why we are educating our kiddos at home is so that we can develop in them a love for learning.
 Does celebrating the end of our lessons teach this?.....not really.....Does celebrating the success of what we have learned, and then pressing forward with new goals to achieve, teach this....ABSOLUTELY!
 I know I have realized that learning never stops....but have my kiddos realized that yet....no.  How can I show them? By continuing to educate them and feed their need for knowledge!

Happy Day!