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I'm trying to find a local homeschooling group to belong to. I've searched online quite a bit and have some emails out to some of the local organizations. It is soooooooo hard to find a homeschooling support group if you are not Christian because so many of the groups require you to be Christian and will make you sign an agreement of faith as a condition of membership. I really can understand these groups. They are looking for like-minded people, which is fine. But, I do wish there are groups out there around this area that want to get together for social reasons, field trips, etc. so that my kids can meet other homeschool kids. I'll keep looking. Who knows, if I can't find any, maybe I'll start my own group....course I've got to somehow meet other homeschooling moms to do that, lol. I went to a bday party the other day and there were probably 7 other moms there. All but 1 of them came up to me and said "oh, I recognize you from...(story time, parks, store, etc)...you're the one with the 3 kids and the one wearing the baby all the time". I guess I make an impression on people with the littles, lol. I highly prefer bringing the kids with me everywhere because for the most part, people are just much more friendly, offering to help me out, letting me go first in line, etc. When I go out on my own, I don't get the special treatment! |
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I often include the kids in preparing meals. Well the other day, Ryan was sleeping and I was about to make yellow squash casserole and burgers. Caitlyn informed me that she wanted to help, and she ended up doing about 90% of the yellow squash casserole. She did such a great job! When it was time to shape the hamburger patties, she told me she wanted to. I asked her if she thought that 4 was old enough to do such a job. She smiled big and said yes. So I taught her how to do it and she did the rest. I am always telling the kids that they are my "sous chefs" (that's an assistant chef) to the executive chef (which would be me, lol). Since Caitlyn did 90% of the meal that night, she looked at me at the end and said, "mommy, you're my little sous fish". LOL! She meant to say "sous chef" but got it mixed up. It was so stinkin' cute!
My little boy, Ryan...my, oh my. Not quite sure what has gotten into him, BUT....for the last 3 or 4 days he has started contradicting me like crazy. At first, I didn't think much of it, but then all of a sudden I had that moment when I realized that this kid was spiraling quickly out of control. He started to hurt Caitlyn and then lie about it, tear up stuff, and then the contradicting. I'm wondering if he's feeling left out with the whole school thing. NOt quite sure. Anyway, I love moments like those when I have those lightbulb "wow my kid is gonna get out of control on me" moments because I feel soooooooo needed. If they knew how to act appropriately, not sure if they'd need a parent anymore, right? Not really, but you know what I mean. So yeah, I've been going into bigtime parenting mode with RyRy and the dividends are paying off bigtime. He's going back to his sweet self, so I just really need to keep up with it. Basically my method when my kids pull that stuff is to keep them with me at all times and remove their privileges. No picking out outfits, no brushing their own teeth, no picking out their snacks, nada. For him, I think he has actually really appreciated the closeness the last few days. Anyway, he's doing much better which I'm happy about.
Let's see, real quick random stuff and then I gotta run. Caitlyn learned how to tell time and Kyra is FOUR MONTHS OLD! I started putting spinach in my smoothies and you can't even tell . LOL, Ryan wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. Me thinks not! Gotta really go now! If I don't, he'll start making himself a sandwich! |
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Hubby and I enjoyed a cup of coffee this morning talking. We try to make special time together in the morning before the day gets going. As we were talking, our 2 year old son, Ryan, told hubby that he wanted to go to work with him. So, Ryan gets to go to work today. :) We "flip" houses, so Ryan will take his tools that Gramma gave him and go "work" on the house alongside hubby. It's great, because the flip house is only 2 streets down from our house, so their morning commute to work is via bicycle. LOL! This morning, Caitlyn was working on her "M" page from SSR&W. All of a sudden, she started drawing dots on the side of the page. She then started counting the dots. Then she drew 3 dots and then 4 dots and said, "hey what is 3 + 4?" I had her figure it out, and next thing I know she is creating more and more of these types of math problems. I taught her how to write "3+4=" and then the answer. I ended up teaching her how to draw the numbers 4 and 6...the others she was already doing well with...Funny how the school time was supposed to be a language arts time and yet ended up a math lesson. And that, FLEXIBILITY!, would be my big reason today to love homeschooling! I think I'll take the kids over to the flip house later on today to help out. Hubby wants to hang some crown moulding...that means I get to have a nice arm workout later, hehe. |
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So there are many reasons why I love homeschooling. But for today, I have a few great reasons. One: Caitlyn was tired this morning and wanted to sleep in. She slept til about 8:30am. If I had to drag her out of bed when her body wasn't ready, she would have been tired, grumpy and not in the mood to learn. It is so nice to be able to listen to your body and be able to sleep in when she needs to. Two: Where did we go together this morning? THE BEACH! Yep, we have the flexibility to go to the beach when we want and enjoy God's beautiful creation. The whole family went, even hubby. :) It's nice to have "recess" in the morning when it gets so hot during the day. Three: We were listening to the music from Sing, Read, Write and Spell and I picked up my 3 month old and was dancing around the house. There's nothing sweeter than a 3 month old's giggles! She's learning her alphabet song already, lol! Caitlyn, the baby and I were having fun dancing around. Catie gets to enjoy these special times with her family. I feel blessed to share those moments with her. So yeah, I'm lovin' this. |
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Yay! So I'm finally starting a blog over here. A little bit about myself... I'm a 33 year old stay at home mom to 3 kids, ages 4, 2, and 3 months. Everywhere I go, I get the typical "oh you have your hands full!" comments, lol. It's busy, but I really enjoy being a SAHM. I have a wonderful husband of almost 6 years. We live about a block from the beach in Florida. I am starting homeschooling formally with my 4yo dd. Since I'm new at homeschooling, I'm trying out a few different things with her. We are doing a mix of Five in a Row, Sing Read Write & Spell (did I say that in the right order?!?), and I'm incorporating some Ambleside Online ideas. I'm enjoying the process of learning right along with her. My 2 year old son tries to keep up at times...other times he's content to build with his tools. :) My 3 month old dd is an amazing baby. She smiles a lot, and is ever so content to be in my arms. Can't wait to keep track of some of our days over here! |