For Lack of a Better Post

I'm stealing from tif-do. 


Rules:  It's harder than it looks. Use the 1st letter of your last name to answer each of the following questions. The more creative the better. Don't copy the persons you read if you have the same letter. Don't make up anything. You can't use your name for the boy/ girl name.


1. Four letter word? Heal


2. A boys name: Henry


3. A girls name: Hannah


4. An Occupation:  handy-man


5. A Color: heliotrope


6.Something you wear:  headband


7. A Beverage: herbal tea


8. A Food: hotdog


9. Something found in the bathroom: hairspray


10. A place: Helena


11. A reason to be late: hurricane


12. Something you shout:  HELP!

Improvement

After two very frustrating days of Ethan and Mazie's homeschool lessons I finally tossed out the "correct" way of doing things and fell back on my teacher training and my real-life knowledge that I cannot teach a scripted lesson-- not in high school, not in Sunday school, and certainly not in homeschool.  Last night I went through each of Ethan and Mazie's lessons and pulled out the concepts they were supposed to master.  Mostly they were all review.  Ethan is having to re-learn Saxon's coding rules, but other than that, he's far ahead of the book right now. 

Today went much smoother.  I was much more comfortable with what we were doing, and we actually had fun.  Josie built a snap-block tower while Mazie did patterns for Math.  Mazie cruised through about seven Math lessons today and about five phonics lessons.  She was done by 9:30.  Ethan needed more of my time, so I had him do his four or five math lessons (which he can do without any help) then worked through his Phonics lessons when I finished with Mazie.  We were done by 10:30.  Now Ethan is reading or playing games.  Mazie is painting nails and putting on my lipstick.  They are happy.  They have piano lessons to practice for, but I don't mind if they enjoy some downtime first.  Ethan & Dylan have scouts tonight.  Mazie's dance class was postponed until tomorrow, or we would be doing that, too, this afternoon.  All in all, I feel good about our day today. 

I would never have done homeschooling if we had lived in a strong school district.  I was afraid of homeschooling.  Now I can see why people love it. 

I Wish

A few weeks ago in church, someone said that a goal not written down is merely a wish.  Instead of getting me thinking more carefully about goals, it got me wishing.....

I wish my house in Monatna would sell.

I wish that some kind agent would decide to represent my book.

I wish that no matter the circumstances, I had the ability to make my family happy.

I wish that I could hear good news a little more often.

I wish people really helped each other like they should.

I wish I knew more than I do.

I wish I could see more clearly the meaning in my trials.

There were all these posts on facebook at the beginning of the year like, "2009 was great.  2010 will be even better!"  It made me want to hide my face and cry.  I came to a really sad realization.  This economic downturn didn't affect everyone.  The people who didn't lose their jobs or have to relocate are going to come out of this thing smelling like a rose-- they could refinance their homes for way lower interest rates.  Maybe they paid off some debts and started saving.  Maybe they bought a house for a fraction of what it was worth.  It's the rest of us that are paying the price, and frankly, it stinks.  2009 wasn't great for us, and I know several other families who suffered through it, too.  But, most people are just happily moving on.  All the news is about recovery.  Recovery may be a long time in coming for us.  I wish it weren't so, but I think that is the truth.

Better

Friday was better.  I am now okay with the fact that I had children.  We got through everyone's school lessons in the morning.  I love not having to wake the kids up before 6:00 a.m.  Did I mention that the school moved up their bus time up to 6:50?  Isn't that ridiculous for a kindergartener and a second grader?  Well, no more of that!  We ate breakfast, cleared the table, read scriptures and off to school we went.  I got a little frustrated with Ethan's phonics lesson because there are like TEN BILLION flashcards, and I don't do flashcards well, so I'm basically skipping them.  That is be beauty of home school.  You have the liberty of saying, "I don't like that, and therefore, I won't do it."

Mazie's math curriculum is mostly this box of maniupulatives, which is a nice word for shapes, counting teddy bears, clocks, thermometers and other fun stuff.  My kids have been playing in the math manipulative box all weekend.  Everyone is a fan, including Josie.  She loves the snap blocks.  Anyway, it was nice because I just gave her this bag of shapes and let her play while I did Ethan's lesson. 

So, our schooling has officially started.  I do like the fact that now our whole family has this academic perspective, and that our home is now a house of learning instead of just the place where everyone dumps their emotional trash after a hard day at school.  And, of course, home school means no homework at night.  I love, love, love that! 

1st day

Today is the first day of Mazie and Ethan's homeschooling adventure.  Status?


I made a big mistake.  I should never have had children.  I don't have the patience for this. 

Still Waiting...

We're still waiting for the homeschool texts to arrive, and in the meantime, I've made the kids go to school.  At first I wasn't sure if homeschooling was going to get a mixed reaction from them, but after the fight I've had getting them to school recently, I can't wait for those books to arrive.  Everyday, as soon as Ethan gets off the bus, he askes, "Did the books come?"  Not yet.

Maybe tomorrow. 

Two Days in a Row

I exercised.  Go me!  Maybe I should do an "exercise" post on facebook.  Ha!  Maybe not!

Celebrating and Contemplating

We've celebrated three holidays in the past few weeks-- Christmas, New Year's and Ethan's 8th birthday.  His birthday sneaks up on me every year.  This year it landed on Sunday.  In less than two weeks Mazie and Nathan will also celebrate their birthdays.  January is a birthday month for us.

As all these happy occasions have come and gone, I haven't blogged.   There were some moments worth showing, like our family playing Twister in our tiny living room on Christmas morning.

Twister was one of Mazie's gifts, but she preferred to be the caller than to get stepped on by the rest of us.  However, you will see a puff of pink in the center.  That's Josie.  She thinks Twister is loads of fun.

Then, there was the "Four-Wheeler Cake" adventure.  Ethan wanted a four-wheeler cake.  He went on to tell me how it was to have Oreo rocks and grass and trees and blue sky.  There was just one problem.  Since four-wheelers are not movie-affiliated, they are an impossible toy to find.  I finally ended up going to the Walmart bakery and asking if they had a four-wheeler cake set.  They did, but they charged me a whopping $6.50 for it.  (At least we didn't have to eat a Walmart cake, too.)

There is no sky, and at first I had these stair-stepped layers that just were not working.  Finally, I said to myself, "Think like a boy."  I crumbled up some of the cut cake and piled it next to the layer to make a hill.  It was impossible to frost, so I microwaved the frosting and poured it over the top, added the Oreo trail and coconut grass-- Ta DA!  Four-wheeler cake.  Ethan was thrilled.

Anyway, I resist blogging about all our Christmas festivities opening presents and stuff, because that isn't why I started the blog.  In fact, I feel almost peer pressured to blog about holidays because everyone else does, and I would be ungrateful not to.  But, mostly I want to blog about what is on my mind these days, and boy that has been an adventure!

So, to start with, you have to remember this is me, Michelle speaking here.  I'm the one who said my favorite holiday was the first day of school!  Well, things have changed.  Things, being our situation more than anything.  My kids hate going to school.  It is a battle everyday to get them up so early and onto the bus (which Mazie hates) and off to school (which Ethan hates) so that I can do homeschool with Dylan (which Dylan loves and everyone else envies).  I started saying to myself, "Why am I forcing them to go?  I don't want them in that school either."  And, as New Year's rolled around I started dreading Monday morning when I would have to fight to get them out the door to school.  I really just wanted to keep them home, let them sleep in and buy more homeschooling stuff.  There was just one problem.  I knew exactly which curriculum I wanted-- Saxon Math & Saxon Phonics, the same curriculum my kids had in Montana-- and it costs a fortune.  I sent Ethan and Mazie back to school and said, "When I can afford the books, I'll pull you out."  I prayed that the Lord would provide a way for me to homeschool them, and He did.  There is another homeschooling family in our ward.  She has used both of these curriculums and had the expensive teacher additions for both grades, and she isn't using them this year.  The student manuals are the cheap part.  She is letting me borrow all four teacher additions.  I ordered Ethan and Mazie's supplies yesterday.  In a week or so, I will be able to pull them out of school.

I don't know why I have felt so strongly that I should homeschool everyone.  Both Ethan and Mazie have good teachers, but something inside me knows this is the right thing to do.  I told one of my friends I just didn't know how I would do it with all the kids at home everyday and me the only teacher.  Her reply has stuck with me for weeks and was the clincher in me getting the guts to pull the kids out.  She said, "It may be the hardest best three years of your life."  (Three years because that is when Josie goes to Kindergarten, and I may consider taking a teaching job in Tri-Cities and driving them all down). 

So, here I go.  As if the past year hasn't been hard enough.  Why not throw some more logs onto the fire?  Seriously, though.  For some reason, this is the right thing for us.  Only time will tell.  Wish me luck!

For Mama Echo

After my last post, Mama Echo sent me an email asking to see the whole set.  I had just packed the Nativity back into its box, and lazy person that I am, it has taken me a week to photograph it, even though the box has been sitting on the counter in the living room the whole time.  Anyway, I'm missing the cow, who is the same size as the donkey.  I like that the angel doesn't have wings and is playing a trumpet.  I call him Moroni. 

These are the shepherds.  There is another girl, but I thought two was plenty.

The three wise men.  There is also a free-standing camel, so theoritically, if you wanted a camel for each wise man, you could have them.

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. 

These three actually belong to some other set, but I saw them when I bought Moroni, and I thought they were cute, so they stand around and rejoice with the rest.  Josie got a hold of the "kitty" and chipped his foot off.  Of all the pieces to break, I guess that was the best one.