Ups and Downs

I almost fell out of my chair when I heard Callie tell her best friend on the phone that she would have to call back because I was reading her a story and she wanted to hear the end of it! Never for a thousand years did I think I would ever hear that. I was reading her our lesson from the book "Our Island Story" about how the evil King John of England got excommunicated by the Pope and then later signed the Magna Carta, much to his dismay. I told her I was so proud of her for choosing to get back to her school work and she said it was just getting so exciting! She has never really gotten excited about this particular book before.

And then...James invented his own math game, which I think is pretty clever. We were playing War with some of his math cards and he said why don't we get some change and play war with all the different kinds of coins. And it has turned out to be a wonderful game to practice the names and values of each coin!!!

So this homeschooling momma had a blessed day of attentive children. If only all our days were like that.

I'm trying to count my blessings and not dwell on the fact that my house is one giant Fly Lady Hot Spot!! Oh how I wish that the Fly Lady and Charlotte Mason would come to my house and program some Habit training into my brain. I have to train myself before the children! Ok...Stop sounding whiny! I hate that. I promised myself I would not go into whiny mode on this blog. So stop it Cheryl...slap..slap..slap. Think baby steps...baby steps....Hey that reminds me of a funny psychobabble movie I saw years ago called "What About Bob" All I remember is that it had Bill Murray in it and that I laughed my head off. I don't even know if I would find it funny now or not. I think I will look it up on Netfix...I need a good laugh.

Hello World!

Well I am so behind with my blogging. We have been really busy with a lot going on. Some people slow down in summer but we have been even busier it seems. We are still schooling this summer except when we go out of town. I have found that I have so many interruptions during the school year that we end up taking several unintentional breaks and so I am having to keep plugging away so we can finish 1st Grade before we start 2nd in September! But I have found that I actually like schooling through summer. The kids don't get rusty on their skills and we can enjoy more vacation time when the weather is really nice in the fall and spring.

James will be an official Kindergartner this fall as well! I can't wait to make a big fuss over him and make our trip to the store and stock up on fun fresh school supplies. I always remember liking getting new school supplies for the coming year....pretty folders, colors, markers etc.

Tomorrow the kids have their last day of swim class!! Woo Hoo! They have been going for two weeks and I'm tired of taking them up there. I hope I remember to take my camera so I can get some shots of their last day. They have had a really good time and I can tell have increased their skills!

We were so exhausted today after all our running around that we all ate supper and fell asleep at 8:00! Then Josh woke us all up at 1:00 and I could not go back to sleep so here I am at 2:30, luckily everyone else went back to sleep. So maybe I can get caught up with my blogging :)

Choir Concert

At the end of May Callie and James had their homeschool choir concert. They both had a great time being in the choir this year. Here are some pictures and video clips. I hope all you grandparents enjoy!!

I had some better clips than this but I could not get them to download. Oh well!

Hello World!

I want to say hello to whoever is looking at my blog in either Norway or Sweden!! I can't wait to show the kids on the map. This is going to be a fun geography lesson pointing out all the places that people live who view our blog. I also see a hit down in Malaysia (I think). The Internet has truly made our world a smaller place. I hope I don't bore you with all the American political talk. Of course it would be neat to learn about the political systems of all the different countries. I'm sure we will talk about it at some point in our homeschooling journey. I wish I had many lifetimes to learn everything I am now interested in!!

An Island Story

Wow, I am so excited to see the different places popping up on my hit map. You can see it on the left side of the page. Hello there in the United Kingdom....or is it The Republic of Ireland? It is hard to tell. But it's neat to have you view my page! I hope to come visit your countries one day.

This year we are reading a book called, An Island Story by H.E. Marshall. It tells the history of Great Britian. It's supposed to have been written for children, but I am learning so much from it too. You can also listen to it online here.

You might be wondering why we are learning about Great Britian's history first. Well, first of all it is on my Ambleside Online book list. :) I believe the reasoning is that since our country came out of England then it is our "mother country" so to speak.

Why I Home School?

Happy blogday to me, happy blogday to me, happy blogday to Cheryl, happy blogday to me! Pass out the cigars....I have now been born into the world of blogging!

This blog is to record our wonderful homeschooling adventures as *WE* learn "out of the box." Emphasizing the fact that *I*, the mom, am included in the learning process. Learning along with the kids and loving every minute of it! The kids are bursting with creativity and I thought this would be a great place for them to express themselves and a place for me to record thoughts about my eagerness to seek out new knowledge and truths for myself.

I will give you a little background about why we decided to home school. It seems like I have wanted to home school my children forever. Ever since I heard of the concept of homeschooling it just seemed like I was meant to do it. I spent 5 years working in a public elementary school and 4 years in a private school (as a speech therapist) and the whole time planning to home school. It's not that I felt like the schools were bad. They were actually good schools, when it came to "book learning." Something inside of me just told me that was not for my family. I never talked about the fact that I wanted to home school with my colleagues at the public school because I felt like it was looked at unfavorably.

The main reason I feel the need to home school is because I feel like God has given *ME* the responsibility to teach and train my children. Why should I turn them over to state run institutions to school them just because that is what most people do? Our children are with us for such a short little while. Those crucial years while they are here should be a time not only for teaching the 3Rs, but also a time in which their most critical world view is shaped. A world view that knows what the true meaning of life is. That is, to have a personal relationship with Christ and to love their fellow man. To truly learn these important things it must be "caught and not taught." Modeled by a loving family on a consistent day to day basis. This is my hope and prayer. I know God was the perfect parent and Adam & Eve still rebelled! So we just have to do the BEST we can with whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.

I want to teach them so much more than what they would get from public or even private school. I want to give them a thirst for knowledge that I never had growing up. I want to teach them to think for themselves and not to just blindly follow what I or anyone else teaches them but to test everything against the standard of God's word. I want to build strong family bonds that will last a lifetime. I want to be there not only for the first word and first step, but also for the first time the word "butterfly" is read and for all the times I hear, "Mommy, mommy teach me how to......." This is music to my soul!

I also want to give them a broader education than what is given in traditional school. We use a curriculum called Ambleside Online which follows the philosophy of Charlotte Mason. In addition to our daily bible reading and 3RS, *WE* are also learning about the martyrs of the early church, the history of Great Britain, great literature, poetry, art and music study; as well as studying nature. Not bad for 1st grade? :)

We are a family of 5 with 3 little sponges constantly wanting to soak up everything that life has to offer! Daddy Justin, Momma Cheryl, "Sissy" Callie 6 1/2, James 4, and Joshey 17 mo.
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I would just like to add to this post that I know homeschooling is not for everyone. I don't want anyone to think that this is the only way to raise wonderful children. Every family is different and unique... this is just what is right for us!