Why Am I Always on the Go?

This is a question that I just can't answer with one simple response.

Take for instance, today as a good example. As I sit here typing this post I'm ever reminded of the time with each typing stroke. It's 5:33pm and we need to be at soccer practice at 6:00pm.

I want to post. I have so much to post! I just don't have the time.

Okay, I'm going to do the responsible thing and gather the kids, water bottles and yes, even the dog and head out to practice. On the go again....

Maybe I'll be able to post tonight after mopping the floors and cleaning the bathrooms.

Toy guns and Swords

I'm really loving homeschooling my 4 and 13 yo sons. We started our history unit in the Medieval Period and naturally the boys took to the idea of using swords in their playtime together.

We established some ground rules and gave them noodles cut in half. They have a cross between medieval battles and some sort of Asian maritial art dual complete with courtesy bowing and round -house kicks.

Boys will truly be boys. I love to see my kids enjoying each other's company and having good natured fun. It was what my 13 yo asked me next that I wasn't sure I was ready for.

They now wanted to play with a cap gun that was given to my 13yo by a relative. I took a deep breath and realized their morning had already been full of experiments. They had frozen water balloons and melted them with various ideas that came to their mind. They had used their computer time to team up to beat the enemy. Now, they wanted to play with the cap gun outside.

My first reaction was, " No! we don't play with guns. They hurt people." Like swords don't hurt. Boy did I feel the big hypocrite veil coming down across my face.

I agreed to let them play after laying down the rules for their play. They understood and off they went... never out of my critiquing sight. They each very methodically following the rules shot a couple of rounds of caps and then it was over. Yes, that was it. The whole experience of their play took less time then it took for me to decide to let them play with the cap gun and give them the rules. Wow!

Being somewhat experienced in these parenting thing, I truly believe that if I had taken a different course in letting them explore this natural boyish activity their interest for the forbidden could have taken a whole different path.

Do I believe that I have allowed an evil and desensitized them to the dangers of guns? No way. As a parent, it is my duty to daily train then in all areas of life and this was one lesson on one day. It was also a day of fun for two brothers ages 13 and 4 who also learned how to play together using courtesies, respect and lots of TLC toward each other.

First Day of Homeschooling

Today was the first day of homeschooling with my 13 year old, and two 4 year olds. All the planning and preparation really helped keep things flowing as I shuffled back and forth between them.

Upon reading my devotion on 1 Corinthians 13 this morning I had redirected my thought pattern from expecting poor results from my 13 year old who did not want to be homeschooled to a more loving thought of "love believes, love hopes and love endures all things". Through the power of the Holy Spirit I saw my hopes and beliefs what how wonderful this situation could be become a reality.

The most cherished memory from today was watching my normally too busy teenager pitch baseballs to my 4 year old as he loved every minute of playing baseball with his big brother. It was priceless. The memory of me also pitching balls to both boys in the middle of a "school day" is equally priceless.

My 13 year old just informed me that he has cleaned his area and turned in all his work. I off to grading. I love it.

Grammy's Homemade Curriculum

Recycled Curriculum- Preschool

My mama has been a wealth of information. She is usually on the road driving her 18-wheeler across 48 contiguous states. But, this week she docked at our house for a week with her grandkids. We all love it when Mama stays over.

Oh course the children love Grammy's visits because they get to ignore all the rules with Grammy coming to their defense. The added perk to us is that my husband and I love the breaks she allows us.

During this visit she has already given me tips on baking bread, handling a teenager and as recent as last night, "Grammy's Homemade Curriculum".

She asked me if she could cut out pictures from an old Good Housekeeping magazine. I said, "sure", thinking she was bored. It is not unusual for her to whip out paper dolls and make them dance on the wall using a flashlight. The children love her spontaneity just as much as my brother and I did years ago.

I sat on the sofa with the ABEKA Little Readers going over book number four with my four year old. He was pleased that he could show off to Grammy as he read the consonant/vowel blends and later three letter words near the end of the book. He finished and joined Grammy on the floor to glue the pictures she had cut out of the magazine onto plain copy paper. They glued pictures on the paper that was divided into sections.

Then in the casual way she does most everything, she pulled out these labels that she made with a colored marker she had my son get her earlier and starting holding them up to him and asking him to find the picture that matched the label. I'm watching the whole thing. He does it!

But wait, this is not a package curriculum. This is not following the order of teaching or rules of letter recognition with a preschooler. Some of the labels are even four letter words. Her words, I still hear, "he's ready". Yes, he was ready.

My kids love the old fashioned way I try to do many things around our home. They have coined a phrase for everything I do, "Mama's Homemade". It was only fitting to call was my mom did as, "Grammy's Homemade Curriculum". Umm, so that's where I get it from.

Homeschool Planning

Here it is 20 days before school starts and I'm not anywhere near to being finished pulling together our homeschool plan for this year. I have many notes, notebooks started and several different schedules that I tote around awaiting a lull in my day. But it's not not done yet!

My goal this week is to complete six weeks of lesson plans for history (detailed with all the copies). Pray for me guys.

Family Vacation Day 4 & 5

Day Four, Grand Prairie, Texas- The Wax Museum and Ripley's Believe It or Not &
Plano, Texas- Planet Pizza (Indoor pizza and amusement park)

We all got a little later start this morning. It was okay since we only had to travel to Grand Prairie. Our first stop was the wax museum. On the trip there I decided to do brain teaser. I read several famous quotes and we played a game to see who knew the answer. I also asked them about several inventions and who was the inventor. Each one of my kids as well as my husband really surprised me with their knowledge. It was great for boosting my confidence in continuing to read and expose them to things that sometimes seem above their heads. The kids are really listening and absorbing. I was pleased.

After the Grand Prairie trip we trekked across Dallas all the way to Plano, Texas for a visit to Planet Pizza. The children had visions from the Toy Story movie when Woody and Buzz went to Pizza Planet. They were very impressed when they saw all the indoor rides and video machines. We stayed there for more than three hours.

We called it a day with some Ben and Jerry's and headed back home.

Day Five, Dallas, Texas- Bahama Beach

Here was again, another perfect day for being outside ALLLLL Day loonnggg. After a relaxing lunch at Joe's Crab Shack we applied the sun block and headed to a nearby waterpark. All I can say is FUN, FUN, FUN. I have never played in so much water- all day long. Lots of slides and lazy floating in their lagoon.

We had so much fun that we left the park to come home and walk the dog only to return to park for a movie on the lawn. It was a pleasant experience for the whole family right here in our own "neck of the woods".

Summing it all up, this was a wonderful family vacation shared with the one's I love most. Friday came all too soon.

Family Vacation- Days 3

Day three-Roanke, Texas- Heneritta Farms &
Fort Worth, Texas-FW Science Place and Museums

On day three we set out for a shorter road trip. It was only around one hour, just past Fort Worth. I had found an online farm with over 700 hybrid breeds of apple trees and some peaches. The apples were ready for picking. We had missed the peach picking season. I had planned to read more from "Paddle to the Sea" and our adventures in "20,000 leagues under the Sea"; however, my husband being moved by the Holy Spirit felt a deeper prompting and in the garage before pulling off he lead a mini study time covering our assurance of salvation. He read from Jude.

Since our daughter is getting baptized this Sunday, we go some good feedback from the younger two. Staying in the same vein, no fiction today, I read from a Bible storytime book that my daughter had brought for the road trip. The short story was about giving from your best, not the left over. Even our oldest participated during the question time. It was beautiful! We'll see if they, as well as us (dad and mom), remember this principle as time goes by.

The farm owners definitely practiced giving their best. They opened their land and cook house to us, perfect strangers. They taught us how to pick the apples without hurting the tree or being wasteful. Picking the apples and romping around on the farm was picture book quality. All three kids enjoyed looking for the just the right apples to pick. We saw famailiars like Galas and Granny Smiths and many, many hybrids. We were allowed to taste them right off the tree. They were delicious.

My husband told us stories of picking peaches in his grandmother's backyard. We were all mesmerized by God's nature all around the farm. We even learned that the loofa sponges we have in our bathrooms do not grow in the sea but actually grown on a tree. It was amazing to see the over foot long loofas hanging from an enormous tree that resembled pictures I'd created in my mind after reading Jack and the Beanstalk.

We then loaded our apples in the wagon in the back of the van and headed off to Fort Worth to visit the FW Science Museum which was featuring a Star Wars exhibit. It was a personal pick from my husband.

My husband took so many pictures in the Star Wars exhibit that he batteries ran low on the camera. My oldest son is so into the mechanics of how things work that he took right away to one of the stations set up to build a magnetic car. We all tried but naturally his was the only one to really work properly.

We finished up with a walk through the Cowgirl museum and lots of experiments with different accounts of perception. I think my husband and our oldest son enjoyed this one the more than the rest of us. I got dizzy around the third experiment.

We had a wonderful third day of our vacation at home.

Family Vacation Time- Days 1 & 2

The past four days have been filled with different adventures. This year's plan was to stay based at home and each day take a day trip to a different adventure in the big, vast state of Texas. This plan worked exceptionally well this year as it allow us to see our beloved golden retriever each day.

Day One: Grand Prairie, Texas- Six Flags over Texas

We have thanked God for the perfect, overcast day that we spent at Six Flags over Texas in Grand Prairie, Texas. We enjoyed the Marvel comic theme as well as the Looney Tunes characters. My husband relived days of his youth with our thirteen year old as they rode the Batman and Flashback. We all (except the thirteen year old- he didn't want to get wet) enjoyed most of the rides that get you good and wet. It's really the only way to do a theme park in a Texas summer.

I was really pleased that I had choosen to bring and read "Paddle to Sea" on our way to the theme park. So, when we rode the logs at Six Flags we all talked about being just like Paddle to the Sea in our log traveling the sea. It was a really proud homeschool moment to make the connection and have the kids use their imaginations.

We bypassed the burger and fries at the theme park and opted for a familiar taste with Panda Express. We were happy they added this favor to the park. We had a perfect day!!!

Day Two: Waco, Texas- Cameron Zoo and Dr. Pepper Museum

We were off today on a real driving trip. We mapped the trip on mapquest and it would take 1 1/2 hours to reach the zoo. We packed our food bag and our organic tea bottles for our drinks and the it seemed like we got there in no time.

The zoo was like none other that we had ever seen. There was a path that creatively took us though rainforests, marsh lands, sandy beaches and more. It was very real and kids made all sort of learning connections from their book knowledge to real life. They were so in to it all that we ditched the contents of our one of our many plastic ziplocs to start collecting "nature" as they called it. Yet another proud homeschool moment.

After the zoo visited the Dr. Pepper Museum that was real nostalgic for my husband and me. Since we are not soda drinkers, the real joy for our kids was when we got to drink soda floats at the small counter shop after our tour. The kids got to see a real well that when well to create a visual for stories that we have read.

I read the first chapter of "20,000 leagues under the Sea" on the way back and all of us, except my dear husband took a nap on the way back home.

Why so many different math tools?

I was recently having an online conversation with someone from one of my many Yahoo groups and they asked me about possible overload from my choices of math tools for my thirteen year old son.

Our plan is to use Saxon grade level math:Algebra 1/2 along with "Keys" to fraction and decimals and some Math U See. The later two being primarly for review and remediation.

My reply:
I'm really not sure about the overload factor. I know we need to cover for mastering and recall.

The Algebra 1/2 starts off with similar review. I wanted to have different approaches to cover that review, just to be certain that I've offered different modes of learning styles to my son. We are still exploring how he learns best.

The small chunks from the Keys and hand-on from Math U See may be a break through for him to hit the Saxon textbook with added confidence.

We are learning that Homeschooling is a process with many different paths. It takes lots of prayer, willingness to try different, custom paths and lots of room for imagination/creativity from both the parent and child.

Previously, in my career life of mortgage banking, I've always told my team that I'm not looking to re-invent the wheel, but in this season of my life, I hold in the back of my mind the words of Robert Frost when he explained the less traveled path he took. He said, "...that has made all the difference."

As a mother of a thirteen year son who has not yet begun to imagine the possibilities of our learning days at home, I have to be the one uncovering the paths on the road. I do believe from listening to all of your journeys that one day he will pull me aside and say something like, "Mama, I really would like to try to learn this by doing it this way." Eureka!, I'm hopeful for his imagination and creativity.

I love listening and talking to you and others about the nature of homeschooling. I try to keep my mind wide open to piggy back on those things that may stimulate our homeschooling journey. Thank you for holding me accountable.