First Day of Homeschool (Kindergarten, K-4 and Preschool)

Yesterday we began our homeschool adventure. Well, that's not completely true. For the past few years I've been slowly teaching the girls as a way to pass the time. However, this will be our first year with an actual curriculum. For those interested, I am using Sonlight.

Our day looked something like this:

6:30 am - I woke up and did my morning routine
6:45 am - Went downstairs, drank coffee and read my devotions and prayed fervently that we would have a good day.
7:00 am - All three girls were up and Anne was dressed, ready and excited for the day to begin.
7:15 am - Ate breakfast
7:45 am - Finished getting the other girls dressed, hair brushed, teeth brushed. Anne made the bed and Abbey and Maggie picked up the toys off their floor.
8:15 am - The girls watched a movie while I checked email, facebook and got a few last minute things ready for our day.
9:00 am - School started. We started with days of the week/calendar/letter of the week/handwriting.
9:15 am - Bible (read two pages from the Bible, asked them relevant questions, and went over their memory verse for the week).
Read-alouds - Today it was Chapter one of The Boxcar Children, and asked questions. Also a poem about opposites. The kids each came up with several opposites of their own.
9:30 am - History/geography - Read about dinosaurs and asked questions (the girls had very little interest in dinosaurs - I imagine if you had boys you would be spending much more time on this than I did)
9:45 am - Recess (riding bikes, running, etc)
10:00 am - Math - Counting to 10, left and right, practice with writing #1.
10:15 am - Science - Earth rotating on it's axis, Earth revolving around the sun, seasons, etc.

We were finished around 10:30. The kids went outside until lunch. I sat and read a novel while they played outside until around 11:15.

11:15 - ate lunch
12:00 - went back outside and let the kids run around
1:00 - headed inside and got Maggie ready for nap. Anne read her a book as an extension of her learning (reading with expression, etc.)
1:15 - Maggie was in bed and I gave Anne and Abbey "homework" to do - practice writing the letter of the week, narrating a letter to our Compassion child and coloring pictures for our Compassion child. Anne was to find Ghana (where our Compassion child lives) on the globe and Abbey worked on reading words that end in "-at".
2:15 - Anne and Abbey went upstairs and I read to them from "Emily of New Moon" by L.M. Montgomery.
2:45 - Abbey was supposed to nap. I laid with her hoping she would quickly fall asleep. Since she did not I told her to rest quietly while I did what I needed to do. (Anne was reading silently during this time).
3:30 - I spent a few minutes painting and working on sign orders for Mama Hess Painting.
4:00 - Abbey and Anne came downstairs after not sleeping. They colored, read, and played quietly while I worked on dinner. I made two pans of poppyseed chicken (one for dinner and one for the freezer for when December baby comes).
4:30 - I realized Maggie was still sleeping and went to wake her up. Unfortunately she wet the bed so I had to change her and her sheets.
4:45 - Everyone was back outside while I folded laundry, and did other small household chores.
5:25 - Kids came back in and set the table for dinner while I made rice and creamy spinach to go with our chicken.
5:40 - Trent got home from work and entertained the kids while I finished up dinner.
5:50 - Ate dinner.
6:25 - Finished dinner and sent the girls outside with Trent while I cleaned up, folded laundry and checked Facebook and email.
7:00 - The kids were exhausted, cranky, and dirty. They came in and Anne showered while Maggie and Abbey got a bath. They brushed hair, and teeth and laid in bed while Trent read to them from "James and the Giant Peach."
7:45 - The kids had to be put in separate bedrooms because Maggie couldn't stop talking and they were all exhausted.
8:00 pm - All was quiet. I took a nice long shower and then read a novel for awhile. Trent and I sat together while he looked at cars and facebook and email and all those good things.
10:15 pm - Lights out for us too!!

Unfortunately day #2 has not gone quite as well as Day #1, but I know it is a process and things will continue to come together. I'm sure we'll have good days and bad days, but that's just the way it is.

Hope you all have enjoyed learning about our adventure!!

December baby & school thoughts

Today we had our in-depth ultrasound for December Baby. I am very grateful and happy to report that baby looks fantastic! December Baby is in the 43%ile and weighs approximately 10-11 ounces. I had a fantastic doctor and am just completely grateful for a healthy baby!

Also today is when most children in our area start their first day of school. As I scrolled through facebook and saw all of the kids starting their first day in public school I had to wonder if I am overprotective. Some of the parents are sad to watch them go, others are happy and excited that their work load will be decreased.

Starting tomorrow my work load will increase as we being our first week of homeschooling. Of course, I am second-guessing myself and the decision I have made. Anne watched another little girl get on the school bus this morning and wished that she could go to "real" school.

I will post soon about Maggie turning three!

Love your Neighbor?

For the past year we didn't have any neighbors with children relatively close by. It may seem selfish, but I absolutely LOVED it!! Before our foster children came (and after they left) I had my dear three girls all to myself and watched them grow even closer together as friends and sisters.

Since we moved about three months ago we now have a "complicated" neighbor. Several generations living together, an 80-year-old great grandmother (widowed), her daughter and son-in-law (grandparents around age 60) and a four-year-old grandson.

When we first moved in the grandfather had joked that the grandson would always be at our house. We laughed and thought it was a joke. It wasn't.

It started out gradual - a few times a week the boy would run over to our yard when we were outside to come and play with our children. I understood - he was lonely, and could see our three children having fun over here.

Now, after three months, we cannot walk outside without him streaking across his yard as fast as possible to come to our home.  The other day I went out to get the mail while the girls were napping and by the time I came back across the street he was in my driveway asking to play. I sent him back home and told him the children were napping.

We no longer have any "family" time in the evening when Trent comes home because as soon as we finish dinner he is back in our yard traipsing around with us.

Perhaps the most frustrating part is that he is so much like our foster daughter, who, as many of you know, was an extreme challenge to us. Granted, he doesn't live with us, but it's probably the closest thing he can get to it without actually living in our home.

Now we find ourselves in a predicament. We want to show to love of Christ to these neighbors, but I find myself not wanting to go outside my own home for fear of now having full responsibility for him and his actions. I have sent him home/threatened to send him home when he is unkind or hitting our girls, but I'm not sure what else to do. We know we are supposed to love our "neighbors" (and in this case they are our physical neighbors), but we also feel that we need to draw some boundaries.

Just a small example: the below picture is of our girls playing in rain water that filled our retention basin. Our neighbor boy came over to watch, then I heard his grandmother yelling and encouraging him to get in, too. He did eventually go home and change clothes and come in with them. I would have had the girls in and out in a short time, but because he was there, my kids didn't want to get out when it was time to go in the house. I am struggling between being internally frustrated and if it is my own selfishness, or if I should just let it go and try harder to love my neighbor.

The girls playing in the rain water in our retention basin.

Trent and I have been praying about this situation and would love to hear if any of you have some ideas or suggestions that could help us make some wise and godly decisions.

Actions & Words

This morning at breakfast the kids were eating great and I spied our devotion book lying on the table and I thought, what a great opportunity to read a few verses to the kids!  I got the book and read one verse. As we began to talk about it, Anne wiped cream cheese off her face with her sleeve and as I started to remind her to use a napkin, her arm shot forward and knocked over a half-full cup of milk which spilled all over the table.

Instead of calmly cleaning it up I got angry and irritated and frustrated and grudgingly cleaned up the milk while grumbling and ranting about her carelessness and how she spills more often than any of the other kids (I don't even know if this is true), and was just all together ungodly.

As I took the sopping rag back into the kitchen it struck me at how ironic the situation was. Her spilled milk gave me a perfect opportunity to show God's love and grace in a simple mistake. And I failed miserably.

When I came back to the table I apologized to her tear-filled eyes and felt like a complete jerk. I asked the kids what the would remember most from that morning: the Bible verse I read or the way I acted when Anne spilled her milk? Abbey tried to give what she thought was the "right" answer and said, "the Bible verse!". So I asked her what the verse was and, of course, she didn't know. Then I asked her how mommy acted when the milk spilled and she said, "Not good and not nice."

I proceeded to try to explain how I was very sorry and how I will try to act better next time and that even Moms make mistakes and need to be shown grace. I'm not sure if they "got" it or not, but it was a good reminder (at least for me) of how our actions can show God's love and grace (or our own failure) sometimes much more than our words can.

A Mama's (or hormonal) Heart

I have been thinking a great deal recently of our foster son. I have been wondering where he is now, if he is safe and if someone is loving him. I'm currently in a rational enough state of mind to know that I love him and I am praying for him, but when I'm irrational and hormonal it doesn't feel like enough.

Perhaps the hardest part for me is that I may never know on this side of Heaven how he is.

And today I saw pictures of a friend's sister who just adopted the little guy that they have been fostering.

I guess all these musings are meaningless, except that they encourage me to continue praying for our foster son. Next week will mark one year ago that they came into our home. Seems like a lifetime away. It has been 6 months since our foster son left. He has been gone as long as he was with us.

So, I will just continue to pray for him with my Mama's hear (or hormonal heart) as the case may be.

Gender Defender

I love my little girls. I love their different personalities, their quirks, their emotional roller coasters.

I read recently about the "millions missing" in India and China, where boys are preferred. Where millions of little girls are aborted because they are girls. The numbers are horrifying. I think most Americans would agree with the disgusting truth that these countries are literally killing off their future by having a preference as to a male child.

Yet I wonder how many Americans have a gender preference?  I'll admit that I used to. After we had Anne I thought it would be nice to have a boy next. But we found out we were having a girl. I don't like to admit it, but I remember having a momentary twinge of regret that I wasn't having a boy.

Then one evening on the way to Trent's parents' home I had an epiphany. Trent's mom had told me multiple times that after two boys she would have liked to have a girl, but they had Trent. And I was SO extremely grateful because he grew into a fine young man whom I got to marry!

Now we have our three little girls, and with the new baby on the way there has been much speculation and conversation about the topic of gender. I have truly reached the point where I do not care what gender the baby is! God has a plan for each baby, and if He is entrusting me to raise up amazing future wives and mothers than I should thank Him for that!

Just today an old man at the grocery store asked me where all my boys are and suggested that we just keep on trying until we get a boy.

I don't take offense to these comments because I know that, in general, most people are kind-hearted and they just want to have something to say and make conversation. Perhaps I would get similar comments if I had three boys - they would ask where the girls are.

One of the most intriguing comments I have heard so far is, "I hope for your husband's sake that you have a boy." I'm not really sure what that means. Trent, especially for growing up in a home with no sisters, is absolutely amazing with the girls. Sure, he can't even do a ponytail, but he always tells the girls how pretty they look, that he loves their "spinny" dress, that he is so proud of the way she did this or that. He hugs and kisses and snuggles and reads bedtime stories.

Maybe we'll have a boy, and I'm sure he will humble and stretch me in new ways than my daughters do. Or maybe we'll have a girl, and she will also humble and stretch me in ways different from her sisters.

And- if you are reading this and have ever made comments to me about the gender of our baby, that's okay!! I truly don't mind, this was just a topic that I have been thinking about recently. :)

Special Moment to Remember

Today I am a full seventeen weeks pregnant with our fourth baby. I have been feeling the baby move for a long time. I am told this is partially because I know what I am feeling for, and partially because I do not have a lot of extra weight.

This morning the kiddos were all up early. Trent woke me at 6:30 and the kids were all downstairs reading and playing already. As I laid in the bed still dozing for the next 15 or so minutes I held my hands on my stomach. Usually December Baby moves most in the evening, but this morning, just under my right hand I felt a bump. Not a bump on the inside like I often do, but my hand felt a kick, or hiccup, or elbow. Then again, and again and once more. Four beautiful kicks.

There are many unknowns with this pregnancy and how it will all unfold. However, I refuse to let my fear of the worst or my fear of the unknown to rob me of the joy of this pregnancy. Do I always feel great? NO! My prenatal has caused me to throw up more times that I care to remember. I have been sick to my stomach for a week. Do I love having multiple doctor appointments a month? NO!

But this morning, for those few moments, I received those kicks as a beautiful, joyful gift from God.

Committed

I'm officially committed to homeschooling.

Homeschool room - Anne's desk is on the far right, and this is Anne's little reading spot.

My curriculum has come in the mail. When I first opened it and peeked at the teacher guide I was pretty sure I had just made a huge mistake. I was feeling completely overwhelmed by the 5-inch thick binder with my lesson plans for the year.

But after a few days of looking through it and looking over the material, and the fact that Anne has already read half of our books for the year in the first week we had the curriculum helped me to settle down. I am committed to it. I still am not sure how I am ever going to get Anne to enjoy math, but I have high hopes.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting into a good routine with the kids. I know it is going to be a challenge managing all my doctor appointments and keeping up with school, but I'm not too worried about it. It's easy to grab a book and read it to the kids in the waiting room and that is our "read-aloud" time for the day.

So, I'm all in - committed to teaching the kids. And, I am still excited about it. Below you can see a close-up photo of the sign I made to hang in our homeschool room. My theme and reminder for the year of why we are homeschooling "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. To him be the glory! Amen." 2 Peter 3:18

This is the sign I made to hang in our homeschool room.