Turn It Off

It feels like its been awhile since I've sent my thoughts floating on the blogging breeze. Probably because I read a very good article this last month called, "Your Children Want You!" view it here, http://powerofmoms.com/2012/04/your-children-want-you/

"Inspired", and "Challenged" are inadequate to describe the feelings I had after reading this.

It hasn't been that long since my life was "bombarded" by the world of IPhone, and access to anything, anytime, and anywhere. Then came along Facebook, and Pinterest, and of course Blogging.

As if we don't compare ourselves enough, we also have these mediums that help us do it even more. Instead of focusing on what's really important, I stress out all day long that my house doesn't look like Pinterest, or the fact that I don't make my children's snacks look like a cartoon character. Silly, right?

While I do really enjoy Pinterest, and do really enjoy keeping up with friends on Facebook, I've found that it pulls me away from my reality. The reality that my children could care less that our house is perfect, or looks like a magazine. And though I'm sure they would find it delightful to have fun snack, they are just happy to be fed. They just want me. They don't care about all my home decorating aspirations. They just want me to play with them.

In the end, when my children are grown, I hope they look back and see a Mom who was really there. Not a Mom who was glued to her computer or phone all day, trying to keep up with the "Jones'es."

 

So, I'm challenged to "Turn It Off" and live life, real life. Challenged to stop comparing myself, my home, my life, and my kids snacks and just be me. My kids are worth it. And so are yours.

What Homeschooling "IS" and "ISN'T"

Before I started homeschooling, I was plagued with the idea's in my head of what every day would look like. I thought I might be standing in front of a white board for 6 hours a day, teaching them like a school teacher might. Or preparing lessons long into the night, every night. But as I've progressed just a little in my journey I've learned a little bit more of what homeschooling is, and what homeschooling isn't.

Homeschooling is:

1) Teaching my kids to LOVE to learn! This I believe by far is the greatest joy.

2) Teaching my kids to be self initiators, and to be self governed.

3) Teaching my kids to be flexible.

4) Learning that doesn't end with the closing of a book.

5) Teaching my kids to work together, help each other, play together, and learn together regardless of their age difference.

6) Being able to teach my kids using their own learning styles, which are all different.

 Homeschooling isn't:

1) Bookwork from 8-3. Usually it takes my kids 2-3 hours total, that includes breaks to play, and snacktime.

2) Traditional learning in the sense that my kids sit in desks all day. 

3) Boring! There is never a dull moment. 

4) Easy :) It's just a lot of multi-tasking. 

5) Letting my children be lazy.

6) Teaching my kids to be anti-social (I love this one, contrary to popular belief homeschooler's are very social, and know how to interact appropriately in society).

Currently I'm homeschooling a 2nd grader, 1st grader and a Preschooler. A few of you have asked me about my curriculum, so this is what is looks like for each of them.

1. Easton - 2nd Grade
• Horizons Phonics and Reading Grade 2
• Horizons Spelling and Vocabulary Grade 2
• Horizons Math Grade 1 (finishing from last year) and moving into Grade 2 this week.
• Lots of Reading: Horizon's Readers, Magic Tree House books, Step 2 Readers
2. Natalie - 1st Grade
• Horizons Phonics and Reading Grade 1
• Horizons Spelling and Vocabulary Grade 1
• Horizons Math Grade K (finishing from last year and moving into Grade 1 this week.
• Lots of Reading: Horizon's Readers, Magic Tree House books, Step 1 Readers, and lots of Dr Suess books. 
3. Adam - Preschool
•  BrainQuest Workbook Preschool and Kindergarten

 

These are the subjects we do everyday. But, we do have days that are exceptions, a break in the routine, which is what I believe is one of the greatest things about homeschooling. 

Sometimes there are days filled with tears where nothing is clicking. Sometimes, I push them to overcome their "I can't," but other times I put their books away, and we try something different. And those are usually their favorite days. 

I love being able to be flexible. One of my kids has a hard time with bookwork, the other doesn't. And while I make them both do it, I love that I can be sensitive and flexible to help them learn, and love what they are doing. Instead of making school time a drudgery, and source of frustration, I'm able to help them understand the way they learn.

Kids are smart. Period. But how they learn is all different. When we put kids in our own little boxes of how we think they should learn it does more damage than we may think.  

We have lots of tactile games, phonics games, and math games that we pull out during these occasions.  If counting dollars and cents is challenging, we pull out lots of money and play store. If spelling and phonics is frustrating, we pull out our Silly Sentence game. 

Aside from doing the bookwork, which like I said is usually done before lunch if the kids are efficient. We have time to explore and learn a plethora of other things that interest them. 

My daughter is learning to cook on her own, and starting to sew. She also spends at least 2 hours daily drawing, she loves to draw! 

My boys play Lego's for hours every day, in addition to making squirrel houses and forts outside when its not raining. They do lots of building, and problem solving.

In addition to the things we do at home, the kids are all involved in gymnastics and piano once a week.

And on days when we have one or more sick kids, we often just turn on a movie and snuggle on the couch. I love those days too. 

 

Life Lessons from Scrabble

It goes something like this . . .

It's five turns into a heated game and I've had nothing but words like "bug" and "mad".  In fact I'm starting to get mad because every time I pick my letters I get nothing but one more "i" to add to the other 4.

And then my moment! I pick my letters, put them in my holder and stare at them for a few seconds. And then I see it! I actually have an amazing word! It is a great word!  I can actually use up all my letters! And they are not all one point letters! It's a rare occasion and it's going to be so sweet to see the look on my opponent's (aka husband's) face when I play it. I'm already dreaming of my huge score.

I just have to find a place to put it.

I'm staring at the board, looking at all the possibilities. I think to myself, I'm okay if I don't get a double word score, I'll still be okay. Maybe there is at least a triple letter score I can find. Still looking, and looking. Okay, maybe a double letter score? It can't be this hard, I mean, this is a great word. At this point I'd settle for just a spot, no extra special scoring. There has got to be a place for this. I mean this is a great word!

But my time is up and there is no place for my word.

It's tragic. It's truly devastating. The thought of pulling my word apart is painful. I have to play some simple word like, "run" or "fun," and break up the biggest word, the best word I've had in the history of my Scrabble experience.

But I have to let it go, or I lose.

Okay, okay, maybe I exaggerated a little bit :)  I'm not sobbing over a Scrabble game, but I'm sure I've groaned a few times, maybe hit the table.

Like my Scrabble game, there have been a good many moments in my life where I've had to painfully let go of my plans, and my ideas, or my expectations of life. It's like letting the pieces of that AMAZING word fall through my hands. I either let "it" go, or don't let "it" go.  As the Lord was reminding me so gently the other day :) 

Either way, life is just not going to be the way I planned or expected. But in the first scenario I'm embracing life with joy, and in the latter I'm closing up, refusing the change, and letting depression and fear ruin what could be the greatest joy.

So I choose joy today, however hard it may be. 

To be continued . . . . . . . . .

The Beach

I love the Ocean. I've loved it for as long as I can remember.  The moment when you walk through the sand, to the place where the water meets the shore and hear the roar of the sea. It's always constant, relentless, and majestic. I always feel the closest to Jesus at the sea. Even though I know he dwells within me, I sense His awesome presence, His majesty, His unrelenting love. He is HUGE!

Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
   mightier than the breakers of the sea.   

The LORD on high is mighty. 

Psalm 93:4

My sister is getting married! Currently we live about 4 hours from each other, but come summertime, she is moving to Oklahoma to begin her new life with her husband. We miss her so much already, but we are so excited for her new adventure. We wanted to have some time with her, so we stole her away to our favorite little beach town, Seabrook, WA. We had a blast. I think we wore her out. She is not quite used to being around 4 kids all day. It wasn't really a restful "vacation." But it was special none the less. 

If you ever get the chance to visit Seabrook, you won't be disappointed. It's about 3 hours from Seattle, and worth the drive. You feel like you are in another world. http://www.seabrookwa.com/

 

 

Seabrook, WA

The Beach House

My Sister and I

Our Adam

Beach Bikes

Just a little crab

Our Easton

Our Natalie Joy

Girl time painting at the Pottery Shop

Breathing in the ocean air

Auntie Amanda and Lucas

Mommy doesn't know everything??!!

Well, I had this wonderful poetic story all written out, and then suddenly my computer decided to "eat" it. So here I go again, starting over. At least the house is quiet, it probably won't take me 15 hours to write it a second time :) and I'm sure this time my story will be shorter, and straight to the point.

The story begins with me, and my children taking a beautiful drive through the country. The sunshine is shining through the windows, the baby is asleep and I have one hand on the wheel, while I'm holding my freshly brewed Starbucks half decaf Americano in the other. Yes, life is perfect.

My daughter Natalie, who has been daydreaming out the window quietly for some time suddenly turns and says, "Mom, where is heaven?"

Great, I thought. There goes my moment.

My first reaction is to tell her what I think would soothe her curiosity, and let me enjoy a few more minutes with my coffee. I would tell her the answer I grew up always believing, that Heaven is real, its up in the sky but unfortunately its invisible. Now, first let me clarify,  I do believe that Heaven is real, I do believe that it is our hope of life when our earthly life is gone, and I do believe that not only do we get to see our loved ones again, but we will stand face to face and side by side with our Creator, our Savior, Jesus. And it will be AMAZING! But where exactly is it?? I haven't the foggiest idea.

So, my heart is beating and my head is pounding because I'm torn with giving her the "cute Sunday School" answer, or giving her the "other" answer. The "other" answer in fact is not an answer at all, its the three little words that I dread saying to my children. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

The words are on the tip of my tongue, and they taste so bitter to me. They are scary. Because I know its not only my admission to her, but also my admission to myself. I don't know everything.

Why is that so scary? Because I like to be in control.

Wow, I actually said it.

I like to think if I can give my children all the right answers throughout life, that somehow their lives would be perfect. It's scary to think of what might happen if I ever used those three words. And its even more scary for me to admit my questions because what might happen to me? Will I get zapped for questioning God? I know it sounds silly, of course but deep down in me I've always held on to the belief that I should just believe, take it on faith, no questions asked. Until recently.

So, here I am again, in the van waiting for the response to leave my lips, and it finally does.

"Natalie, I don't know."

Her reaction was priceless. I wish I could have videotaped it. After a very long dramatic gasp ...... she says, "You don't know!?"

"I don't know, " I say again. And this time it feels more confident, more sure, and more true. 

"How come you don't know?" she says.

"Well, there are many verses about Heaven in the Bible, but they don't tell us where exactly it is. Do you know though, you can ask Jesus any question, He wants you to seek Him, and ask Him your questions?"

"Well, I'm just going to ask Him right now," she says so matter-of-factly. "Jesus, where is Heaven?"
She pauses, and then says, "He says its in the clouds, Mom."

The rest of our conversation has to be one of my favorite moments EVER with her. I shared with her that I will always be learning, and growing, and even though I'm older than her, I don't know everything, nor will I ever. But I am always seeking, always asking, and always growing. It was real, and it was honest, and I was crying. She listened with such intensity, like I've never seen. She took it all in, she heard every word. It was a precious moment. It was precious because I could see my daughter 10 years down the road, sitting across the table from me, and we were having an honest and real conversation. I wasn't pretending to know everything, but we were enjoying the journey together.

I don't want to give my children "cute" little answers that they will one day come to question, and wonder if what I said was real, or if it was just something I said. I want my children to know, believe and understand for themselves. I want it to be "real" for them. It has to be "real," because anything else is just plain sad, and religious.

So yes, I am an imperfect mother, and I don't know everything! I feel like I want to shout it from the hilltops :) Go ahead, and shout it, I dare you! :) 

Lastly, just started reading John Eldredge's book, "Beautiful Outlaw." I'm only through the first chapter, but I'm hooked. It's a must read. But I'll leave you with this, his prayer, that has become mine.

"Jesus, I ask for you. For the real you."

So simple, and so profound.

Much love,
Laura 

School Daze

As a homeschooling mom I have to admit most school days I would actually classify as "school daze." It goes something like this: 

1) Mommy wakes up.

2) Mommy drinks her first cup of coffee.

3) Mommy keeps drinking coffee while she juggles teaching a 1st grader, a 2nd grader, and a preschooler, and somehow manages to run after the baby, who has just figured out that he CAN run. Also fitting in snack time, devotion time, baby nap time, reading time, snuggle time, lunch time, errand time, laundry time, dishes time, dinner prep time, etc etc etc :) Hoping that somehow my children are learning in the midst of the chaos.

And when I don't know what to do, I call Mom :) My mother is such a fountain of wisdom, and one of my dearest friends. Such was the day a few years back when Adam, my 3rd child was a toddler. I remember calling her up and pouring my heart out about my homeschooling frustrations. I said, "Mom, how can I teach Easton and Natalie with a toddler running around?" I remember the pause on the phone, then the longer pause and then came her famous chuckle and she said, "Well, when you figure it out let me know."

I laughed of course, and then I cried. My mother home-schooled all 4 of us kids through 8th grade, so if anyone is qualified in my book to answer this question it was her. Every morning she was up before the first light of day with her bible in one hand and her coffee in the other. She was and is my hero. But she had no wisdom for me that day, no formula for success and no twelve step program. 

It was I guess you could say, my pivotal moment in my homeschooling journey. The moment when the light comes on, and you realize that "life as you know it" is going change. In reality, nothing about my life changed except my perspective.

Taking a step back, I'm not sure where my "picture" of what homeschooling my children would look like came from. Because I was homeschooled myself and knew how it was. But somehow in my head I saw all my children sitting patiently, and quietly at the table working on their school work, while the younger ones entertained themselves and played quietly (there is that word again) on the floor. My house is spotless, there are no dishes in the sink and the laundry is all put away in the drawers, and I'm cooking a gourmet dinner for my husband. Pause . . . I'm sorry, but I'm seriously just laughing right now at myself, Ha Ha Ha.

I know all you Mommie's out their regardless if you home-school or not have had that moment when you realize, "Wow this is just NOT how I imagined it." It's not the movies, it's not perfect, and its definitely messy. 

So, how do I home-school with toddler?? Well, I'll let you know when I figure it out :)  

But I recently read a blog from a homeschooling mom and she said it so well.

"One morning on my daily walk, I was fretting and stewing over what I could possibly do with my one-year-old during school time. I was feeling some despair with a new baby on its way. I couldn't see any end to the disruption of babies in my home school for many years to come. I was praying and scheming at the same time: I could wait until the baby's nap to teach school, I could rotate the children with baby-sitting away from our schoolroom, I could get a playpen . . . all solutions that didn't feel right--babies needs their moms! As I walked and pondered, suddenly the Lord introduced one sentence to my mind and revolutionized my mindset entirely! "The baby IS the lesson!" I thought I was trying to teach Math, but in reality I had been teaching, day by day, how an adult values the precious gift of children." http://www.lovetolearn.net/homeschool_articles/baby.lasso

It is so true! The baby is the lesson, the toddler is the lesson, and life is the lesson. Real life is messy, imperfect and often unpredictable, and how amazing that we as Mom's get to train our kids for real life. Train them to follow Jesus in everything. And while we train them, we ourselves are being trained :) 

Enjoy the Journey!

Laura

PS: Gotta go clean up the Easter eggs that my toddler emptied all over the kitchen floor as I wrote this post :)  

 

Snow Days

Well, here are two firsts 1) It actually snowed 14 inches in Seattle, CRAZY! 2) And I actually started a blog, CRAZY! Can't wait to share even more of our CRAZY and absolutely WONDERFUL life with you. As I navigate the waters of being a wife to my self-employed hubby, loving my 4 amazing children and homeschooling 3 of them while I chase the baby (literally) I realize that this is my word for 2012 . . .

"Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."

Such a good reminder to let the dishes rest, leave the laundry in the dryer and snuggle on the couch with my family. And I'm grateful and so blessed at the end of the day to be able to hand my glorious imperfections to my Saviour. He is GOOD and life is WONDERFUL because of Him.