First Week of School

After six years of homeschooling, my 3rd and 1st grade children have just entered school for the first time following the spring break. The idea first came to me quite suddenly a few weeks ago after years of dreading the decision of where and when to start the kids in school. The way it came like a flash and grew suddenly after spending time in prayer, and the strange peace I felt for no apparent reason is how I came to believe this is God's plan for our family at this time. I loved homeschooling and so it had been very depressing for me whenever contemplating education plans for the future. I put it off and didn't even want to think about it. My husband has been very supportive of my homeschooling the kids, but it has never been a secret to anybody that he did desire to see them attend a traditional school at some point. And both of us were always in agreement that our children would most likely go to public high school. We had previously talked about putting them in school in this fall, but the decision for starting school now was made after we looked at the benefits vs. waiting until fall, primarily the fact that they were accepted to attend the school we were most interested in in our district. If there was crowding or too many transfers for next year, it wouldn't have worked out. Now we will be able to have the kids attend Stafford through 5th grade if we choose. So far, I have been pretty impressed with the school. The teachers and staff seem great, impressive projects on the walls as I walk through, and I love the small class sizes. There were 22 students in Jess's class and 19 in Andrew's.

So, things are going great this week! I think we're getting the routine down. I love having a good routine again; having something that forces me to get up early because I had become so busy/burnt out/undisciplined. I am getting up at 5:15, working out on the treadmill and showering, before the kids get up. Thankfully, the kids have been joyful to get up and get ready in the mornings. I get them up at 6:30 and we leave at 7:30. It takes a 1/2 hour for them to shower, get dressed and hair/teeth brushed, then we have a 1/2 hour for breakfast, devotions ('Obeying God' was this weeks theme), and finishing lunches. This is plenty of time, which allows us to to be leisurely and have time to talk--I have been hearing more stories about school in the mornings. It is so nice to be extra prepared and to have things go so smoothly, which is because I have spent a lot of time cleaning rooms, organizing and making sure we plan ahead the night before with outfits, backpacks and starting lunches. I am already feeling like all the driving is going to get old after awhile, but we have been praying & singing in the mornings (today we sang some old hymns which was fun--the kids know some thanks to my mom and a few from choir), and practicing math facts--and it only takes 10 minutes to get to school, so it is not bad. I just have never liked driving Mountain Rd.--so many curves and bumps that it feels like a roller coaster ride.

I have been coming home from taking the kids to school so motivated to do homemaking projects/jobs again--a feeling that had become almost foreign to me while so inundated with busy homeschooling. In a way, I feel like I'm getting myself back. It is so strange and nice to have a quiet house, and it is like going back in time to when I was just at home with Jessica, before Andrew was born. It is fun to be able to spend one-on-one time w/ Catherine and enjoy her sweetness. I love all her hugs and when she rubs my arm sweetly, smiles and says, "I love you SOOOO much, Mommy." I get Catherine doing something near-by--a little craft, workbook page, coloring--or have her help me in the kitchen. I clean-up from breakfast, unload the dishwasher, prepare what I need to for lunch/dinner or bake something. Catherine takes an early nap--10:30-11--I lay down with her and we read stories. She usually sleeps for over two hours, so I get a lot done.

However, I have to say after school is another story--the kids are excited to tell me about their day and are happy, but then we get home and everything changes. They have been grumpy, arguing, tattling and complaining. I am sure it is because they are extra tired, but it has been driving me crazy with J being gone (traveling to Mexico for work this week). The nice thing is that I just put them to bed early 7-7:30, which would never happen if J was here. I am hoping he will at least be supportive of an 8:00-8:30 bedtime. I really think it is what we all need, but whenever I've tried to set an earlier bedtime in the past, he has always complained that he doesn't get to see his kids as much as he'd like to in the evenings. That was a plus for homeschooling--the kids could stay up as long as they wanted with dad and sleep in in the morning. We're headed into spring and have longer days now, which means J will be coming home and doing work outside until 8 or 9 when it gets dark whenever he can.

Andrew brings home a book to read M, T, & W in a laminated 'Home Reading' envelope--the books say 3 on them, but maybe that is their own system of rating the levels. She also sent home a "word wall"--folder with a large chart for recording their 5 words for the week--sight words. It is to keep at home and she gave instructions for ways to help them practice reading, writing and spelling the words at home. He had small assignments each day using those words. Reading with him each night at home, I've noticed he is already reading better. As far as math goes, he came home the first day and told me with a frown, "All we did for math was shapes!" I tried to get him to explain, but all I got was that she was doing something on the overhead and it was a puzzle. I explained to him that learning about shapes is geometry and it is math. He had been doing double and triple addition and subtraction with regrouping at home, and a little multiplication with Jess--and he loves that, so he thought 'shapes' were preschool-ish. He loves school though. He loves having 4 'PEs' (he said, "Yeah, Mom, one was in the gym and three were outside!" (He thought the three recesses were PE, too.) He made a girl cry--a couple girls have been asking him to race at recess and one cried when Andrew beat her. The way he told it, he seemed to feel a little sorry for her, but that was also mingled with a hint of disconnect (like he doesn't get why girls cry so easy). I had to smile.

Jessica gets a homework packet on Monday and it is due Friday, and was given 'Shiloh' to read, which the class is about finished reading. Next week, they are doing the 3rd grade testing on computers they bring in to the classroom M & T, and they have field trips W & F!It seems like Jessica is very popular already, which I kind of figured would be the case with her confidence & energetic personality. I walked her to her class the first morning and later Jess told me with a laugh that when we walked in she heard kids whispering, "Is that the new girl? She's tall!" When I left, I noticed her face was very red as the teacher was starting class and said she was ready to introduce Jessica--I thought it was cute how red her face got. When I picked her up the first day, a lot of the kids were saying 'bye' to her and one girl was handing Jess a note with her name and number. Then, we were standing and waiting for Andrew's class to come in, and as the 4th & 5th grade classes were walking by, she got a lot of stares. I'm glad she doesn't mind being 'the new girl'--I'm sure she loves the attention. She had a recess story similar to Andrew's--on the first day of school, a boy from her class asked her to play 'bump' at recess (that's the shooting game Jim did with the team at the end of practices), and she beat all of the boys! I thought that made a cool story to tell about the first day of school--like Laura on Little House proving herself by hitting home runs against the boys at recess. Now the boys keep asking her to play, but she tells them no so she can play with the girls from her class. Really though, my only concern with Jessica is that she won't let all that social stuff interfere with her learning (that 'her head won't be in the clouds', so to speak), but that she will be able to focus, work to her potential and be responsible at school.

I feel like I know very little about what they are doing in school, other than what they tell me. I know that is the downfall of coming into school now--we've never done a Kindergarten Round-up, missed 'Back to School' night, the Back-to-School BBQ in the fall, etc. I am thankful the kids do tell me a lot--Jessica is very detailed (where does she get that? :). I am thankful for a couple Christian moms of other kids from the classroom that we know who have been very helpful and welcoming to us at Stafford. Andrew's teacher sent home a packet introducing her, her classroom, and their schedules. I like how organized she is, and the 'traveling folder' makes it easy to communicate and get papers back and forth. She has them get those out on their desk when they come in and she checks what's in them. I am going to set up appointments to check in with the kids' teachers next week and get some feedback--there are no more conferences this year. I am trying not to be an obsessive homeschool mom who can't let the kids go, but I really just wanted to be in their classes this week. As it is, I have only been inside their classrooms that first morning--let me just make that clear. I want to be there not because I'm anxious, worried or critical, but because I'm excited, curious and I love school--always have. I just want to know what they get to do every day.

As another mom first pointed out to me in the midst of this school transition, the process we were going through, and as we continued to find out new, positive aspects of the school/classrooms/teachers, how the change is positively affecting our family and the 360 I somehow did in my mind accompanied by such peace--GOD IS GOOD!

California Exodus

Yes, I've taken a lengthy blog vacation, and I have wondered off and on, throughout the busy holiday season and the beginning months of a new year, what would inspire me to begin blogging again--and what would that first blog back be about. Well, I guess it could hardly be a more controversial topic.

This is regarding a plea from Christians to pull their children out of California Public Schools after the recent signing of a bill by the governor of California that mandates schools to teach a homesexual curriculum. Sounds like stuff you've heard before, right? Getting tired of all this, huh? Yeah, me too--until I clicked the link and watched the video. This is going much further than what we've heard in the past, and if it doesn't affect you deeply, something's wrong.

The link to the 'California Exodus' website http://www.californiaexodus.org/ has been circulating among email circles, and in the past week, I have received several such emails. Please click on the link and read what is going on. I could copy and paste the jist of it, but it is all there, one click away, for you to read--please do. Also, take a minute to watch the video http://www.massresistance.org/media/video/brainwashing.html showing footage of how schools in other states (Massachusetts and New York) already make it part of their instruction (i.e.--brainwashing) to teach students beginning in Kindergarten these learning objectives such as, a person's sexual orientation is a normal choice that everyone has to make (that this choice often can't be made until they have tried it--experimenting is encouraged), and a total sweep of their curriculum, and they celebrate Gay and Lesbian Pride Day just as they would Martin Luther King Day.

We really need to be praying fervantly for this situation right now--for California parents, specifically--that this movement (exodus out of the public schools) will happen and be huge. It is going to be an epidemic that sweeps across the country in the years to come. Just think of the evil that is wrapped up in all this--the kids who will be confused and hurt, the rise in depression, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, partying, the breaking of families, the rampant disease that could follow teens who are even more promiscuous than today. Just think of the spiritual warfare going on--how Satan is thrilled with the outcome of this bill--he probably has a tally going and just checked California off the list. Which state is he targeting next? God wrote an instruction book for us to follow to have the best life possible on this earth--His plan for sex and marriage is the formula to a long and fulfilling life. When people go against God's plan, it does not go well with them. Our country, as a whole, will be facing a judgement in the years to come, as well. Will God soon be turning His face from us? Yes, it is a time for prayer, and we must be vigilant.

Homeschool Share Site

Here's a site I came across today that looks like a great free resource to check out for unit studies, lapbooking, notebooking, and much more. It had different levels for age groups, and it looked to have many units for a variety of great book titles. http://www.homeschoolshare.com/

Saint Nicholas Day

I love the story of St. Nicholas. It is a message that conveys the true spirit of Christmas and the true story of Santa Claus. October 6th is St. Nicholas Day each year, and we celebrated the occasion yesterday in the co-op class I teach--1st & 2nd grade History of the Holidays Unit Study (3 weeks on Thanksgiving, and 3 weeks on Christmas). In today's class, we began with the kids leaving their shoes outside the classroom after filling them with hay and carrots for St. Nicholas' white horse, just as kids did hundreds of years ago on St. Nicholas' Day. The teachers then secretly swapped out the horse feed for treats during the class, and the kids got a surprise when they went to get their shoes after class. They watched a short animated video of St. Nicholas, then we sat in a circle with the celebration tray (see photo) and candle lit in the center. There were tiny wrapped gifts placed around the center, as well. We talked about how St. Nicholas gave in secret, and then we did an activity to demonstrate giving in secret. With every child closing their eyes, and in anticipation, they waited until they were tapped on the head at which time it was their turn to select one of the gifts and secretly place it in another child's open hands. The game was done when everyone had a chance to give and each child received a gift. Then they opened the gifts. We discussed how it felt to give in secret, and how that is what Christmas giving is supposed to be about. We talked about how our own church and our families give in secret this time of year (like Operation Christmas Blessing, Shoeboxes, etc.), as well, carrying on the true spirit of Christmas. Finally, students played a game in groups where they decorated a red balloon with cotton balls to look like Santa and then the team to keep the balloon in the air the longest was the winning team.

Here is a website that is a lot of help in finding out more and teaching this on this topic to kids: http://www.saintnicholascenter.org/. The site has several printable activities, historical art, recipes, and stories, as well as a place where your children can send in their drawings of Saint Nick to be posted on the site, alongside the drawings of children from other countries around the world.

The following photo is a tray similar to what was traditionally made for a St. Nicholas Day celebration, and also includes Jessica's St. Nick coloring project from last week's class that introduced St. Nicholas, which shows the traditional clothing of a bishop.

Homeschool Open House & Weekly Report--Week 9

Homeschool Idea Share of the Week:

This is how we display all our artwork--on a string (using small colored bull clips or pretty paper clips) that hangs across an empty wall in our hall/great room area. I use the 3M Command Strips that allow me to easily remove it when I want a change.

For Christmas, we put up our numbered string of socks that is our Advent Calendar here. The socks are store-bought (I collected most from Gap and Old Navy outlets), Christmas-themed, multi-colored/patterned, and in mostly toddler and children's sizes. They are numbered 1-24 with red and white scrapbooking stickers, and I spelled out C-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s on the 25th sock. In each sock, I put a rolled up slip of paper with a mini-lesson or activity related to Christmas typed out on each slip, and a small treat. These lessons/activities include all the traditions we have for Christmas, like cutting and trimming the tree while listening to Christmas music, baking Christmas cookies, and making and wrapping homemade gifts. They also include acitvities appealing to the different ages of our children, as we read through our variety of Christmas books and do extensions. For example, a simple preschool activity is reading our Christmas board book about the manger scene, then making a birthday cake out of whip cream, adding sprinkles and a candle, and singing 'Happy Birthday to Jesus'. They are easy to switch around if we change our minds about when we want to do a certain activity. We open one sock and do the activity each night to countdown the 25 days of Christmas.

Homeschool Humor of the Week:
Someone needs a puppy bad...this is Jessica dressing up and pretending with my old Cabbage Patch horse. She is walking it like a dog in a winter outfit. She was so pleased with herself, that she wanted me to share these photos on my blog...


Co-op Class Photos of the week:
I got a few pictures in these classes because they are the classes I'm teaching/assisting in. Jessica's other class is a Science class studying animals. Andrew is studying the human body in the pre/k class, and Cate is learning a new letter each week.

1st/2nd Grade Holiday Unit Study Class

Fall trees art with Thanksgiving poem--(the tree trunk is the child's arm traced and colored in)

Sorting/classifying buttons in small groups

Class discussion during snack time

Thanksgiving BINGO with buttons as markers

1st/2nd Grade Game and Craft Club Class

Making homemade Christmas gifts

The fun is in getting messy, right?

Photos at Home this Week:

Coloring a picture for Daddy

Lunch-time Reading

A tea-party with Mommy



A turkey craft Andrew made in a class.

Homeschool Open House & Weekly Report--Week 8

Sunday--Church, went to a family gathering with Jac's family--Hayride to Grandpa's Pumpkin Patch--and dinner/fall birthdays' party at Uncle Jeff & Aunt Heidi's following--beautiful day and lots of fun!


Grandpa has a Christmas tree farm, but also grows pumpkins, berries, apples, corn, and raises beef on a pretty large scale--supplies all of us with these products!

the cousins

loading the giant pumpkins



the 3 in the family with fall birthdays--Jess-8, Andrew-6, Emma-7--
(September, October, & November)

Monday--Dinner made from last night's party leftovers--roast beef/cheddar sandwiches on toasted french rolls, orzo-butternut-asparagus salad, caramel apple slices--yum!

Tuesday--Jessica's 1st Girls' Basketball Practice with Daddy coaching, U-bake pizza/salad dinner, hot apple cider and pumpkin carving

Wednesday--Halloween (trick-or-treating w/ friends--dinner out)--made a 'Pumpkin' lapbook

Thursday--Co-op Classes/Awana (Andrew out sick)--Jessica began her new session classes--Game & Craft Club, History of the Holidays Unit Study, and a Science class (studied dinosaurs)--Andrew's class started a unit on the human body--and Catie's class did the letter 'A'.

Jessica's art project this week--a still life drawing of a leaf w/ oil pastels

Friday--Daddy home from work (sick day)--fun to have him home with us for a school day--Jess caught up on her spelling lessons, and will have the a comprehensive first quarter test from all 9 word lists next week--worked on phonics cards with Andrew.

Saturday--organizing projects, & a shopping trip (while everyone stayed home lying low from colds)

Homeschool Open House & Weekly Report--Week 7

Sunday
As I think I have mentioned in last week's post, we had my family over for Sunday dinner after church, and celebrated my kids birthdays and my mom's birthday. Here they are with their soccer cake, which meant a lot to my mom (it was a disguise--the fact that it was her yummy pumpkin cake recipe with cream cheese frosting was meant for her).

This is my fall centerpiece for the table. I found this urn (I think it is a soup tureen without the lid) at our neighborhood garage sales a couple weeks ago.

These gourds were a craft Catie did with my mom--she helped pick them and decorate them when she spent the night at Grandma's house last month.

Monday

These are just some random pictures of our normal school day routine.

The Pledge of Allegiance--We alternate between the United States of America, Christian and Bible pledges.

map activity

'Refrigerator Phonics'--Here Andrew is 'teaching' Catie some sight words and word families with these beginning reading Post-It notes set by 3M. He puts beginning sounds together with the end blends to make words. It is lots of fun!

Right above that on the refrigerator, by the way, is our weekly review pages from the kids' new Sunday School curriculum--Andrew and Jess are on the same lessons in their classes, while Cate is doing a separate preschool curriculum by the same publisher.

This month the older kids have been learning what the Bible teaches about respect, while Cate has been learning that God made everything. She knows this concept well now! When I asked her who made this mess recently, she retorted, "God did!" "God doesn't make messes--I think Catie made this mess!" "Uh-uhhhh!" "Catherine!" Maybe she needs the 'respect' lesson!

Handwriting--learning cursive

Play Dough and tools for experimenting with making shapes and patterns--This is what saves me when trying to homeschool with a busy toddler--usually done in the highchair, and we usually make our own play dough because it somehow disappears or dries out very quickly.

Homeschool PE lately has included practicing soccer skills in the back yard (dead because we're in the process of replanting). Here they're dribbling the ball around some orange cones set up in the yard.

Tuesday

The kids have been making up their own games and activities using things we already have:

Uno games--math games, hiding cards and taking turns finding them around the house (this one kind of made me nervous--but they assured me they were finding them all).

Dice PE game--rolling dice across the family room floor and running to see what each rolled--highest number wins (pretty simplistic, but all three kids were running and sliding and having a ball).

Math BINGO Game--using 2 die and multiplication charts--shade out the facts as they are rolled--first one to get a row yells BINGO and wins.

Piggy-Back Rides with Baby--good strength and endurance PE activity.

Wednesday

My mom came up again this week and did school with the kids while I took a little break--not my idea I'll have you know. I would have never asked her to do this (or at least I would have felt guilty if I did), but she has been insisting she wants to come up and help me and spend time with the kids every week! It is very nice of her, considering it is over an hour's drive. I went shopping at IKEA and ran some errands, while my mom made the kids a pancake breakfast, did school, read to them, baked apple turnovers with them, took them for a walk, did all the dishes, fed the kids lunch, put Catie down for a nap, took them to choir practice, and gave Jessica a haircut (She cut 6 inches off--I took the before pictures the Tuesday night, knowing Mom was going to cut her hair--this is the longest it has ever been! We all just couldn't bear to see 10 inches cut off, so no donation to Locks of Love this time like we'd planned! Jessica loves having long hair.). I came home in time to take the kids to their final soccer practices and say good-bye to Mom. It looked like they all had a fun day--I know I did!

Before After

Before After

Before After

Thursday

This was our week off co-op classes in between sessions. We will start Session 2 with new classes next Thursday. So, we did school at home today.

This is our 'school cupboard' where we store most of our books and school materials. Our kitchen, breakfast bar, dining area, and living room are all in one open area--'great room' concept, so this cupboard is in a handy spot. We mostly do school in these areas.

On top of the cabinet is our globe, flag, some jars full of our collections, rocks, superballs, some wooden cubes painted as dice (something I made in my student teaching days), Blessings jar (where we put notes from Daddy left in the mornings, and slips of paper with prayer requests and God's answers written on them), 'gumball machine', jars of gummy bears and old-fashioned candy sticks (all are used for counting/math, games, and rewards).

The door next to the cupboard leads to the laundry/mudroom where there are more school activities stored in the cabinets there. There is a counter in there, too, where I have an art and activity center set up. I just bought two tall stools at Ikea to keep there, so the kids can grab a stool and sit and work at that counter. I will post some pics of that area sometime.

This 'gumball machine' is a craft made from a terra cotta pot painted gloss red, turned over and topped with a round glass candle holder using a stong adhesive. It really should be finished off with a dowel cut to size, painted silver and stuck through the gumballs and up through a lid made of the terra cotta base painted gloss red and turned upside down on top of the candle jar. This is a cute project I learned about from Kelly, a creative friend. She had used this idea for the centerpieces at a woman's event at church.

These are our fall leaves decorations hanging in front of the school cupboard in the corner of the dining area--painted chipboard leaves and beads strung together and hung from the ceiling--Just a fun touch we put up each year for 'Back-to-School' time.

Friday

This was another gorgeous, sunny day. We spent the afternoon going to a playdate at the home of some new homeschooling friends. We had lots of fun!

Saturday

Soccer Season comes to an end! Soccer season in review...

The kids final soccer games were both at noon followed by their trophy ceremonies and party, so Jac was at Andrew's since he coached and I was at Jessica's in the next town.

Andrew had asked if Daddy was going to pick him up on his shoulders when he got his trophy, like the real players do when they win a championship. So, here is a picture taken from Andrew's "One Moment In Time"--thanks, Courtney, for taking this precious photo when I couldn't be there!

The team gave Jac a neat mug with their team photo on it, as well as notes, cards, and gobs of candy bars to say thanks for coaching this season, and the parents gave goody bags to the boys, as well.

Andrew had a great season and was fun to watch with his intensity and leadership on the team. It was fun to see the whole team improve and by the end of the season, all the boys were scoring in the games. Jac and Drew were excited about that. Andrew scored something like thirty-some goals because he is quick, really competitive, works hard and sticks with the ball. As parents, we think it will be exciting to continue to watch this guy in sports. He may be a superstar someday, but more importantly, we think he'll be someone who helps others to be their best--a team player and a good sport! Way to go, buddy!

A look back at Jess's first game...and first goal...I love how you play with a smile on you face, J!

Jess's team had pizza, cake, and goody bags at their trophy ceremony after the game. Jessica's coach's comment about her this season were that she was one of the most agile athletes on the team, did great for her first year of soccer which they hadn't even realized until I told coach at the end of the season, and that she really improved on her dribbling! Jess also made some great goals this season. Good job, Jess!

After soccer games this season, we would spend the rest of the afternoon working outside when the weather was dry with Dad. Here are the kids collecting gourds and squash, and eating sunflower seeds from our garden a few weeks ago, on a Saturday.