So, here I am, alive. I know that it has been FOREVER since I have posted to this blog. I really do miss it. It is a creative outlet for me. We have made some big changes this year in our home. These three amigas below are my constant companions as we are now HOME SCHOOLING!
I know what you're thinking, "I could NEVER home school my children!" Believe me, no one has made that statement more than me. But, here we are. It was a gradual process that has brought us to our decision. For my kids sake, I am going to spare the details of the why and skip right to the now. (For the sanity of all involved, Adam is attending full day kindergarten).
Here is a picture of Rachel the day we got all of our supplies from K12. The kids were so excited!
Below is a picture of Audrey in her desk. It is amazing that about a year ago James expressed to me that he wanted to create a family learning center with multiple desks and computers. Last summer, we transformed our home office into what he had envisioned. When we decided to do home school there was virtually no preparation involved. It was as if we were completely prepared and guided to make this transition without our awareness.
Here is Miss Rachel's desk. We have hung the kids art work on the walls.
I really enjoy looking at it every day. It really makes it feel like their space.
Here are a couple more pictures of our "school room."
Now that we have about three weeks under our belt, a lot of my family and friends have been asking how things have been going. I think that everyone is waiting for me to tell them that I am loosing my mind!! Although we have had our share of obstacles, including: Claire's pneumonia, an emergency visit from Super Grammy, several near nervous breakdowns on my end, curriculum changes, and the like, I think we can pull this off! I am gaining confidence every day and I am seeing the blessings of making this tough choice.
I originally thought that I would just pick a plan and stick to it. I think it is going to be more of a trial and error process to see what works for my kids. I am enjoying being a part of their learning and remembering things that I haven't thought about in a hundred years! I am really enjoying my girls being home. We are spending quality time that we have never had. There have really been some highlights.
One of the exciting things that the kids are doing is attending a theatre camp of Wednesdays from 12-3. They are going to be putting on a full production of "The Little Mermaid." They had try outs last week and guess who got the lead . . . no other than AUDREY CARTER as Ariel! She is over the moon excited! Rachel will be playing one of her sisters and is thrilled as well. It has been SO much fun to see the girls get to be involved in this. I love to listen to their conversations and hear them practicing their music and talking about all of the other kids. It has also been a joy to have them in the same Jazz class at a new dance studio. I love to watch from the window and see them giggling and chatting as they do the middle splits!
The kids have deemed Fridays as Dr. Day! Unfortunately that has really been the case so far. Poor little Claire was going to go to Preschool on Tuesday and Thursday but had to be withdrawn. She is sick too often and I need to keep her away from germs as much as I can until she is stronger. She has been to many Dr. appointments to try to figure out how to get her well. Aside from that, she has been really good at home with the girls now that she doesn't have Adam around to boss and make crazy. Last Friday, all three girls came down in hoodie sweatshirts. When I asked them what in the world they were wearing (it's still 90 degrees around here) they exclaimed, "Its Dr. Day and its always freezing!" What they really want is to have pajama day on Fridays so hopefully we can have one this week!
Rachel has really been cracking me up with her hilarity. She is so full of the stuff. The other day on our way to the Dr. we were in the middle of the country. She was staring out the window at a pasture of cattle and she said, "Mom, cows don't learn any life lessons." I laughed out loud several times throughout the day after that.
When asked about why she didn't want to try out for Ariel in the Little Mermaid she informed me that she wanted to be Sebastian because she knew she could "totally do his accent." She let me know that she didn't want to try out for the part because she new that Audrey really wanted to be Ariel and that she didn't want Audrey to feel badly if she got the part instead. She also said that since she loves singing even more than Audrey, if she would have tried out and Audrey got it instead of her, "It would NOT be pretty!" She said, "I wouldn't want to be around anyone if I found out that news!" When she found out that Audrey got the part she was really excited for Audrey! She gave her a huge hug and celebrated with us. Then about five minutes later, under her breath she said, "I should have tried out, I totally would have made it." She didn't say this in front of Audrey of course but I thought it was hilarious. Then the girls lamented for their good friends who had received the part of the sea horse!
Over the weekend I went to time out for women and was gone for about 24 hours. When I got home Rachel was filling me in on just how horrible the weekend had been for her in my absence. She was being quite dramatic and exclaimed, " I was begging for you to come home!" When I asked her who it was that she was begging she said, "Jesus!" "I was praying so hard."
Audrey is a lot of fun to be around. I am always amazed at how responsible she is. She is so eager to do the right thing and get her tasks done. She helps me SO much and I really don't know how I would do it without her. It has been really fun to laugh with her and commiserate over our shared distaste for all things mathematical! Our relationship has grown already.
Claire is doing really well with the changes. I hope that I can keep her healthy! She is growing up so fast but still remains the resident DIVA as the baby of the family typically does. I love her to bits and am okay with the fact that she will not be in preschool. I think it will be good for her to spend the time with her sisters.
Adam LOVES school!!! He is literally on cloud 9 every day. He loves learning so much and has so much fun making friends and going to art class and PE etc. I knew that he would do well in school and that's why I didn't even hesitate to put him in. He is such a good boy. He comes home and wants to do his "work." He does puzzles and makes up math problems and "reads" (he can read but he flips though adult books with no pictures and pretends to read those instead of the easy ones). I am glad that he is doing so well and I don't have to worry about him.
A friend of mine said that homeschooling wasn't about putting more on your plate, it was about getting a new plate entirely. I totally agree! I have had to change a lot things about our lives but I am learning a lot and ENJOYING this new journey we are on.
