These kids of ours are amazing

Check out this huge pumpkin crop we've had this year.  Whew!  Picking these guys was exhausting, ha!

So I was going to write "hope you had a good weekend"  but then I realized that when I post this it will be Wednesday already and that thereby reminded me of my lameness dealing with time this week. 

I mean, how is it not still Monday? 

We had a fabulous weekend.  It was a whirlwind of activity but it was lots of fun. 

We have some promising things on the horizon and we are praying and trusting God to see those through.  I'll let you know of course as things develop. 

Let's see, what else can I record as an update?  I love to write things down on here to keep track of what the kids are doing. 

Emma is in the Nutcracker again this year.  She is in the party scene in the beginning when Clara is given the Nutcracker as a gift.  It's about a 30 minute role she has and we are thrilled for her.  This weekend she was also asked to be a Polichinelle girl (she was this part last year) and she was so tickled that they asked her.  So she will be in both acts of the ballet. 

On a side note, I have no idea how this girl does everything that she does.  She's just amazing.  This summer she developed a cold (I thought!) during her ballet summer intensive classes.  Summer intensive was ballet every day for 8 hours a day for two weeks straight.  She missed one day with her illness and then I made her go back to ballet.  Turns out the girl had pneumonia.  Pneumonia!  And she made it through.  I felt really bad when I found out how sick she was but also really proud of her that she struggled through and was successful. 

Calvin is in pottery classes at the local art museum.  He was invited to submit one of his pieces into the art museum to be on display.  I am so proud of him.  He LOVES pottery which is adorable and he is so proud of himself. 

Well I think that's it for now. 

Hope you all are doing well! 

What I'm Loving on this Monday

Hey y'all!  Hope you had a great weekend!  Ours was a weird combo of being super duper busy but still managing to get a ton done and home and starting the week feeling relaxed and refreshed.  Believe me, that miracle doesn't happen often around here!

I thought I would share with you a few things I'm digging this morning as we are getting our day off the ground....

Um, coffee!  Nick bought me some Door County coffee for me and had it sent to me while he was out of town with business last week.  So thoughtful.  Of course it is Pumpkin Spice...my fave! Also, I am doing the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan which I LOVE!  but the one thing I miss so much is Pumpkin Spice Creamer.  I use real cream and stevia in my coffee these days so the flavored coffee allows me to still have the taste.  It's the best Jerry, the best!

Adorbs outfits as Emma would call them!  This weekend I went up to the attic and got down the seasonal clothing bin (I buy so many of them I have a bin dedicated to holiday outfits. So handy and then they aren't taking up room in their closets when it's not time for them!).  I brought down all of the Halloween outfits and I was so excited to see this one because I bought it in the spring and had completely forgotten about it.  So much fun!  There's also a matching outfit for her American Girl doll.  I am having a blast dressing her like this and she is still not complaining about how I dress her (Thank you, thank you Jesus!)

Isn't she just the cutest?

This sweet boy was a champ with his spelling this morning!  This year we switched to Spelling Workout curriculum.  Cal is a level C and Emma is a level E.  Isn't that cute how that worked out?  Anyway, they both had tests this morning so he was having a quick review before we dove into it. 

It's been an amazing curriculum and they both seem to really enjoy it. Anyone else using this?

This visual timer.  Wow am I loving this thing today. 

I bought this for Cal about 3 years ago.  He hated it.  We tried it for time frames such as when he needed to get dressed but he would take the batteries out and hide them and then hide the timer and then it didn't work.  Funny how that works, right?

But this year we've been using it a lot with school.  Emma loves to use it for her work.  15 minutes of spelling?  She just sets the timer and it dings at her when her time is up. Easy-peasy.  If you have kiddos who struggle with transitioning from activity to activity or need a little help keeping track of their time, this thing is great!

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Well that's it...a quick list of things I'm loving today as we are quickly diving into the week!  Can't wait to see all that is in store for us this week.  I think it's going to be an amazing week here and I hope it is for you as well! 

Comment below with any fun plans you have :) 

School Planning

When summer sets off is when I like to get started with planning for the next phase...

School Starting!

I have to say, planning for the upcoming school year is one of my favorite things to do. 

Organizing, purchasing new school supplies, spending hours pouring over books...those are all of my favorite things combined into one totally awesome experience! 

Not to mention that it's the chance for me to start with a clean slate.  Forget that I bombed teaching language arts properly or we never finished with all of the math lessons. 

Forget about it. 

Because at the beginning of a new school I get to school school at being school.  I get to look awesome smart and not at all like a slacker mom who once forgot to put a bra on when she left the house.

Some of this stuff you just can't make up folks...

Or that I've bribed a friend with alcohol to teach my kid latin.  Again, these are true stories.

But anyway, at the beginning of the school year I can put on real clothes and forget that in two months I'll be wearing my glue covered yoga pants and trying to figure out who thought paper mache was again a good idea.

Here are some of the things to help you start planning for this upcoming homeschool year:

1. Planner!

One of the biggest components for me to be successful in planning is my Homeschool Planner.  It's loaded with everything I need to be successful.  I have it all in the planner so I can grab and go whether I'm surfing Pinterest for ideas or going to the library to get books for a certain week of school.  Whatever it is, it's all in there and I am ready to go.  

2. School Supplies

Another thing that helps me to be successful in planning is to start stocking up on school supplies.  It's never too early to keep an eye out for a great deal. 

This past week I was buying Ziploc bags at Costco (I am probably the ONE person that runs into that store with ONE thing on my list, teehee).  And as I was browsing I saw these great deals on pens and pencils:

The Ticonderoga Pencils.  96 of them for $12.96!  Holy Moly that's a good deal.  Now these do go on sale at back to school time but I don't remember them being this cheap.  And even if they are I don't have to push people out of the way to get to the pencil display.  They're mine I tell ya, all mine!

These pens though!  So I heart colored pens.  Have ever since I was a wee bit.  But my kids...my kids REALLY like colored pens.  Now that they are getting older I am starting to let them use pens.  I think learning to correctly write with a pencil is super important.  Mind you, I say that as a mom who has dragged her son to a children's hospital week after week after week to work with someone who could help him understand how to hold a pencil.  Let's just say form is important in our house.  And we still use pencils (hence the 96 mondo box of pencils above) but sometimes you just need to shake things up and use 8000 different pen colors. 

And now we can. 

3. Organizing or Perhaps Reorganizing

When the last worksheet is done and everything is completed I know that the last thing you want to do this summer is trudge back through all of your school stuff to try to prepare for the next year. 

But do it anyway. 

Give yourself some time to chill from the situation and then you can charge back in with fresh eyes and a new perspective.  Look at the books, manipulatives, supplies, everything from the perspective of your children and what their ages as well as developmental stages will be when coming back in the fall. 

It always seems you blink and your kids are grown.  I just went through our books and found I had pre reader workbooks for the kids, my kids, who are writing research papers and are gearing up to read Shakespeare next year.  Clearly we no longer need the practice on how to trace a triangle.

So out those go. And out go the little bears to help us add.  Those type of things.  Some of these things don't even take up much room at all but by getting rid of them we can a) find someone to give them to that really needs them and b) it helps to clear the mental clutter. 

It's so great to know your classroom is ready for the grades and ages that you will be teaching in the fall, not a mishmash of just a bunch of stuff you've collected along the way, and who in the heck knows what's even in there.

Anyway, I highly recommend going through your things, donating what you are no longer going to use, pitching what's broken or ruined, and reorganize what is going to stay.

That being said let me remind you to only get rid of things that only your youngest is done with. Even if you have quite the age gap or kiddos who learn in completely different ways, the youngest can still benefit from things that your older children have used in school when they get to that stage. 

My case in point here is our abacus. I bought it a WAY long time ago because I thought it would be cute.  Cute!  Emma never even touched the thing.  Cal would play with it all of the time but never to do math with. I could have gotten rid of the darn thing years ago.  But then this past year Cal was having a really, really hard time conquering multiplication.  I pulled that out and discovered he loves learning with it.  So keeping things until you are completely through that developmental phase just to be sure, really pays off.

4. Planning "Workshops"

I'm just gonna say it:

Sometimes homeschool planning ain't easy. 

I remember last year being holed up in a hotel room trying to combine the sequence and scope of two different homeschool methods or plans. 

It was grueling.

I wanted to cry.

I think I grew an ulcer. 

But in the end I finished it and it felt great.  Through all of the mental hurdles that I posed for myself by doing this, in the end I felt greatly prepared for the upcoming year.

I felt like I owned this school year because I was prepared.  I put it together. 

I have to mention that I did say I went away and did this in a hotel room.  I couldn't imagine all of the crap spread out over the dining room table trying to figure it all out between snipping popsicles open and untangling kite string.

Whether your curriculum is boxed and ready to go or you are starting from the ground up, I would urge you to get away.  You certainly don't have to get out of town and I should mention that I was with my husband on a business trip, not on some spa retreat for "homeschool planning". You could go to Panera for a few hours.  Or a library.  Or somewhere you really love to go just to get out of the house so you can think.  Or do it when the kids are in bed and have time to just sit and mull over everything. If you're an early riser during the summer mornings is a really great time to do it.  There have been years I've found myself pouring over everything for a couple of hours before our kiddos got up on their summer schedules.

And working on it could mean any number of things: maybe you're pinning things on Pinterest to use for this year.  Or writing out a week by week plan of what you're going to do and what supplies you need. Or just reading through teacher manuals to make sure you know what you'll be getting yourself into, ha! Last year I started an all inclusive list of every art supply, thing to buy at goodwill and food item I would need for art projects, history dioramas, science experiments or food exploration.  When I went to the store I kept the list with me and could pull it out to see what I needed and how much of it to get.  So super helpful!

Whatever it is, carving out some time to plan for the upcoming school year is so important and will really give you a feeling of accomplishment and being ready for the upcoming school year. As I've mentioned before I have to look at this as a full time job rather than just something I do here and there.  So preparing for a new project (next school year) is something that goes with treating teaching as a full time job.

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Well I hope these help you to feel prepared to prepare for school!  Have any more to add?  Share them in the comments below, I'd love to know what helps you feel prepared and ready to go for the upcoming school year!

Happy planning!

A Homeschool Momma's Back to School Supply List

With school days coming closer it seems we all have our kiddos supply lists in mind.  And I do too.

However, I think it's important that us Momma's have some supplies of our own. 

Afterall, we're the ones who have the keep this ship running smoothly.

One of the biggest things I'm thankful for is that my husband gets this too.  He always gets me the best "supplies".  When I have my heart set on something he gives me a little smile and says something like "well you might need this for your school year."  And just like that, here I am at the threshold of the newest schooling adventure and I have amassed the coolest supplies. 

I thought you would like to know what's been on my supply list that I got.  And I don't think I got any of them at Walmart.  ;)

Paula Deen Coffee Mug

I love a good cup of coffee.  One with stevia and a splash of heavy cream.  I am a Trim Healhy Mama and I love savoring that cup of coffee in the morning.  Nick bought me this cup from the Paula Deen store in Pigeon Forge and I am so smitten with it. 

I love the two little chicks with their Momma.  It's just like me with my kiddos.  And who on earth could ever resist a mug that says "rise n' shine y'all".  It is reminiscent of my sweet grandma Wannie wakin' up with biscuits and grits in the morning.

That being said I can't find this cup to save my life online to give you a link.  But do yourself a favor and get yourself a cute coffee mug.  One that you don't mind looking at every day and makes you feel a little bit happy to be awake ;)

Starfish Pants

Okay so these are from Lands' End and they've been around for a while.  I've been hesistant to jump on the starfish pants wagon so here I am a starfish virgin.  One night about dark o'thirty, Nick was away on business and I was bored and shopping.  I found an amazing deal on these pants (I think they were running a 40% off sale???) and I was intrigued.  Upon googling reviews of them I found blog after blog from fellow SAHM's just swearing up and down about how awesome these pants are.  How they are life changing.  How life will never be right if you don't have these pants. 

So Nick got me some.  I now have a black pair and a navy pair.  I've tried them on but they are heavy so in this heat and humidity I am not wearing them regularly but on the plus side of that I can tell they are going to keep me warm in the freezing winter months. 

The things I have not tried out yet are the facts that you can wear them with a nicer top and have them look like dress pants while still feeling like you're in sweats (score!) and you can wear them around without them getting all stretched out and baggy (yahoo!).  So we will see but so far I am loving them. 

Also in case you don't buy a lot from Lands End, let me tell you, I LOVE their clothes.  They are guaranteed for life so if something goes horribly wrong they make it right.  I love and stand by companies who do the same with their products.

Jelly the Pug Dresses

Zulily had these amazing dresses on sale.  I picked up three or four of them.  They are cotton and so cute and unique.  Dresses are perfect for mornings when I just need to throw something on and go.  Pair them with a cute pair of flats and I am ready to go! 

I love dresses and I've loved Jelly the Pug for Emma so women's Jelly the Pug dresses are perfect for me.

Tervis Cup

So I know I mentioned that I have a new coffee mug but I also have to give props to my tervis cup.  It is super great for hot and cold drinks.  It doesn't sweat all over my desk and it keeps hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold. 

Plus Nick bought this one for me after the kids picked out and I just adore things that they get for me.  Who wouldn't want to be called the best mom?

Tervis also has a lifetime warranty which I love.  And there are a bajilllion different designs to chose from. LOVE!

Crabtree & Evelyn Hand Therapy

Here in Indiana it can get really hot and then in the winter it can get bitterly cold with lots and lots of snow.  During those cold months my hands always tend to rebel by cracking and drying out. 

I like to sit at my desk and relish the time that I have to rub a luxurious lotion onto my hands. 

I don't like a lot of florally or overpowering smells so I really love the Avocado scent of this Crabtree & Evelyn hand lotion. 

I also feel very fancy having something decadent for myself sitting on my desk.  It makes me feel special.

I like feeling special, ya know?

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So that's my list of my school supplies.  I think they will make me feel more special this upcoming school year. 

Let's be honest: us homeschooling Momma's (or any Momma for that matter!) have a huge amount of work to do.  It's nice to treat ourselves (or have someone else treat us...even better!) with some basic items that will make life easier and make our daily lives feel a bit more special. 

Of course these are only some suggestions of Momma back to school supplies.  I'm sure y'all have your own lists and I'd love to know what's on yours! 

Comment below with your own Momma' school supply list!

I am Tweaking the Direction of this Website

Alright I'm just going to get right to the point:

I've been kind of hating this blog. 

At first I set out to blog to chronical my kiddos. 

Loved it. 

This blog then provided me with basically a resume that a major newspaper picked me up and I wrote for them. 

Still loved it. 

I even went on to several magazines who saw my tone and insight as something unique and special. 

Loved that.

Then Cal was diagnosed with Autism and while my first purpose remained I got so much feedback when I blogged about my feelings and emotions about everything that I felt really inspired.  I wanted to share with other moms and to be help along the way in their journeys with autism. 

Loved that.

Along the way though I got the idea to blog for money. So I got off of blogger.  I had this pafe designed.  I started to look cool. 

And that's when I started to love it all a bit less.  I convinced myself that it was just because it was a different platform and because it was all so new. 

I researched everything and started blogging what I thought y'all would want to read rather than what I wanted to write about.

And so that made me like it less.

I got into some business agreements.  I had a commitment.  And with commitment comes a promise to write even when I can't find the words. 

And that's when I started to like all of this a lot less. 

And so I've kind of stepped away from it all.  I've been thinking if I wanted to write at all or if I just wanted to scrap it. 

But what I come back to time and time again is that I love writing about our life here for family and friends to read who live a ways away. 

And I like to write about homeschooling.  It seems like when I do that and I am showing you what we are doing that it helps to keep me accountable and to keep homeschooling cool for the kids so I can help all of you with your homeschool journeys.  I like to share. I'm a sharer. 

So in taking a break I've decided that this blog will be more homeschool oriented.  That may be a bleh or a yeah for you depending on who you are.  I'm still planning on sharing cool stuff to do with your kids and about our lives. 

But I wanted to be open about this all.  I am changing the game, I am going back to my roots and I am blogging about what is keeping ME Super Busy at Home. 

I hope you'll stick around for the journey.  It's all so much fun. 

Love to you all!

Guest Blog: Emma's Perspective on Homeschooling

Emma came to me last night and requested to be a guest blogger on the site.  How can you say no to someone so cute?   So without further ado, I bring you Emma writing about all things homeschool:

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Home schooling- one of the marvelous things in this world.  When you home school you get to learn about anything you want. 

That's right you can learn about sheep, whales, space, you can even learn about toaster ovens!  If you want to learn yep, this is how you do it.   I am home schooled and I have to say it is really cool. 

You can name your school anything.  My schools name is the Acadamy of Excellence. 

Our everyday subjects are, Math, Grammar, World history, Science, And Foreign languages.  We also do way more than that. 

In the morning, after breakfast I love to go to the classroom and clean out my desk, Sharpen my pencils, and to top it off get a good long book, snuggle down in the book nook and just read my heart out. 

My brother and I love world history. We think that Rome is the most interesting.  We love coloring sheets of Gladiator fights, Roman homes, and of course market places.  We have the exact same rules as normal schools though. the raise your hand and the stay at your desk are the most important.

I am so bummed out that we have to do school in the summer. The good side is that we do get longer holiday breaks. But I guess school is really fun if you think about it. 

I hope that westudy Zebras this year. I find that Zebras are interesting.

Well I hope that everyone has a good summer vacation.

Fernwood in May

If you are looking for something to do with your littles, make sure you check out the events at the Fernwood Botanical Gardens.  Their Nature Saplings and Knee-High Naturalist programs have some super fun programs starting.  May 27th the Knee-High Naturalists are learning about snakes!  These are really good programs to get your kiddos into nature to begin developing that love of nature so many kids aren't enjoying these days.

May 1st is the start of their Summer hours too so you can meander your days away through the gardens and nature trails.  You can find their hours on their website here. 

And the thing that we are so super, duper excited about is the reopening of the railway gardens.  After a fire tore our beloved trains apart, it is so amazing and exciting to see that they are back for their seventh season at Fernwood! 

I am excited to see if it will be the same or a newish design.  If you all get there before me you have to let me know, okay? 

And for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve is located in Niles, Michigan and it is an amazing place.  If you live close it is definitely worth visiting and even if you don't live close it is something that should definitely go on your "must visit" list for vacationing.

Our Fresh Start Began with Popsicle Sticks

Homeschooling sometimes gets hard, y'all! 

This year I had the amazing idea of making our homeschool year last all year round. 

No long summer break for us.

I really think this will be a good idea but with no end in clear sight things are starting to get a little sticky around here.

Bad attitudes.

Crankiness.

Procrastination. 

And if you think those sound bad you should see the kids. 

Ha!

Truth be told it's been all of us. Just not into it.  Doing the bare minimum of work required.

It's been a good day if we get all of the worksheets and problems done.  Forget fun projects or artwork. 

As the sun was setting on the end of our yet-again horrific attempt at homeschooling last week I knew we had to do something.

Something had to get turned around or we were headed off the edge of a cliff in a car.

So I spent all weekend planning.

You know, like I'm supposed to every week .

The thing is, I spent MONTHS last spring preparing for this school year. I have a notebook with everything detailed that I need for each week.  Every book I need, art supply, everything. But some of it I had decided not to use and for some reason in my mind that meant that I wasn't going to use it at all. 

Which just is absurd.

So I went back to the notebook and ta-da!  most everything was already planned out for fun activities. 

With the help of that, pinterest, and just simply getting things ready for the week I was able to get started this week with our ducks already in a row.  Everything was planned out and ready to go.

So that was done but I was also faced with the problem of all of the bad attitudes.  I had managed to get myself out of my funk but how was I going to get the kids okay-ish with doing school again?

The answer, like always, practically jumped out of the Bible and smacked me in the face.  I love when my help comes from the Lord.  Which is pretty much all the time. 

Calvin had to memorize this verse the week before to complete his Awana book so it was a perfect jumping off point for this week.

To enforce or rather to encourage this, Sunday night Nick and I sat down in the living room with a bunch of popsicle sticks.

And we made chores.

Glorious chores.

It wasn't anything too hard.  Or anything that will take too long. But they are things that will definitely help out.

Clean the bathroom sink.

Put random lost socks in the laundry.

Things like that. (And as a total side note, can you figure out which of the popsicle sticks was written by me?  Nick totally has Doctor/Architect handwriting.)

I introduced the popsicle sticks to them in the morning while they were still in bed.  We had talked about the verse the night before so I reminded them of it and told them about the chore sticks.

I told them that all of their complaining and arguing just sucks the life right out of me.  And then I am too tired to do all of the chores so they will have to help.

It's only the third day but we've only had to draw out a popscicle stick twice.  Which means there's only been complaining two times

Which for me is like drawing a popsicle stick from the mom lottery.

Two times complaining in three days is a total win.

And every day we've been able to get our school work done.

Another win.

Our Fresh Start was three days ago and it's only just begun. 

Happy day friends! 

What do you need a fresh start on? Brainstorm, switch things up, and get going!

Our Winter Trip to the Indianapolis Zoo

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we went to the Indianapolis Zoo.  I wasn't sure what to expect going to the zoo when it was only 7 degrees out but we went anyway.  It was amazing.  Even though not many animals were out we had an amazing experience.

As I mentioned in this previous blog, to get in we only had to pay with canned goods to help the local food bank.  How amazing is that?

The first thing we went to see was the indoor aquarium. 

There is something so magical about taking the time to just let the world go by behind you while you gaze at the fish swimming contentedly around.  And then there is something to ethereal about watching your children be able to do the same thing.  It is such a joy to watch them enjoy God's creation and to discover all of the attributes about it.

I think our favorite part was getting to watch the Dolphins.  They have this walk through thing where the tunnel is under the water and the dolphins swim by. Because it was the winter and there was hardly anyone else there we had the whole place to ourselves and the kids and I laid down and watched the dolphins swim over us.  At first Emma thought I was crazy but after we left she said that was her favorite part.  See?  Sometimes it pays to be the weirdo mom :)

Other things the kids loved were the penguins waddling around,

the walrus under the water eating his fish and then spitting it out at us (I refrained from posting those pictures on here.  You're welcome! :)  ).

The orangutan exhibit was so neat and we spent lots of time there watching the apes (not monkeys as we learned!).

We also saw a polar bear,

a tiger that looked like he just wanted to be pet (or eat our face off but you know, whatever), and more!

All in all it was a super fun day.  I think our most memorable thing though were the dolphins. After lunch we returned to the zoo for the dolphin show.  The kids had no idea that dolphins were capable of performing and doing all of the neat tricks.  They were squealing with delight, it was so precious.

So there ya have it, our fun, freezing trip to the zoo.  If you go in the winter I do highly recommend it because we were able to have so much more interaction with the cold weather animals and with such low attendance it practically felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Have you ever been to the zoo in the winter?  Did you like it more than other times? Comment below, sweet friends!

Cupid's Fantastic Float

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, love is definitely in the air!

The love of all things sweet that is.

The boys went to Boy Scouts sometime and Emma and I got together to concoct this yummy drink to share with y'all. We came up with this which we're calling Cupid's Fantasic Float (isn't the name adorable?  Emma came up with it...love her!)

Here's what we love about our float: It's super easy to make, super cute, super yummy, and a tad healthier than other drinks we've seen around.

So without further ado here's the recipe and step-by-step directions:

Cupid's Fantastic Float

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups Raspberry Juicy Juice

1 cup club soda

2 scoops vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt

1 red vine or twizzler

Steps:

1. Measure out juice and club soda into a glass ball jar.

2. Gently plop a scoop of ice cream onto the top of the drink. Stir gently to combine and when it melts in a little plop another cute little scoop on the drink to float on top.

3. Snip both ends off of a twizzler to make a fun straw. (optional)

Voila!  A fun drink to surprise your kiddos with!  Emma loved this! 

I called the twizzler optional because you could always serve with a fun-colored straw and then you would have a completely natural colored drink.  No red dye 40 in sight if you forego the straw! Or you can purchase these panda red licorices that are all natural and amazing!

I hope you enjoy this drink as much as we do. It's a sweet thirst quencher for sure.  

Give these a try and we're sure you'll LOVE them like we do!

Be sure to let us know how you like them!

Homeschool Co-op Drop Outs: What I've Learned

So I am a co-op drop out. 

Yep, I'm a cool homeschool mom like that. 

I keep thinking of that song about being a beauty school drop out. 

And yes that probably makes me a dork.  I'm learning to be okay with that.

The truth is that this has been a long time coming.

And by long time I mean about a month.

Here we go with my lengthy explanation.

We started a homeschooling co-op in the fall.  It was a group of other families with the moms teaching and assisting in the classrooms with class periods set up.  The kids went to different classes throughout the day and we had a lunch period in the middle. The co-op set the school year into trimesters. 

The first trimester seemed to go fairly well.  We had some issues but nothing serious in the classroom.  The big part I was having a bit of an issue with was when the second trimester came along, the only heavy weight class the kids were in was Chemistry and the kids were falling drastically behind the class with their homework. It wasn't for lack of trying but they were just not grasping what was being covered.  So I was having to struggle with how to get them to learn it while having them behind and not knowing whether to speed them up to be with the class while not understanding what they were doing or to stay behind to understand but go to class every week with unfinished homework and assignments.

The other classes were nice but they were extra curriculars.  Legos, crochet, etc.  And so by going to co-op I felt that we were kind of missing an entire day that could be used for instruction on fun stuff.  Don't get me wrong, I know they were learning things and having a great time with friends.  But I also knew that behind the scenes we were falling drastically behind in math, grammar, and latin.  Yoinkerdoodles.

I also somehow forget that Calvin has autism.  The summer and autumn we were in a really great cycle.  I don't look at my son and see "autism" plastered over his forehead, he's just him.  But over Christmas break he started being able to not communicate again.  And started stimming again.  And a whole other myriad of things including not having control over the tone of his voice.  So when he's answering you in a good mood he sounds like he sounds irritated and mad at you.  It's difficult on us.  It's super difficult on him.

And I just knew then and there.  There was no way I was going to be able to send him back to co-op like this.  I can't ask mothers to handle this when they have a classroom of other children to help.  I can't ask other children to act like nothing's going on when he's yelling at them for no reason. 

And so we dropped out.  I felt really bad.  I cried.  A lot.  I've asked that they allow us to return if we want but haven't heard what the final "verdict" from the leadership board is. 

But in the end of it, I am holding my head high.

I did what was best for our family.  While it was difficult for me because it might not be the best thing for Emma to leave but it is for Calvin, what that meant was if it's not good for one of us it can't be good for any of us.  It might seem unfair sometimes but we're learning we're a team and we have to stick together.

As a homeschooling mom I am constantly worried about what people think of me.  I don't want others to think I'm a "weirdo" because I homeschool.  I want the other homeschool moms to think I have it all together. Ugh.  it's just a weird place to be sometimes when you carry this title.  But in this instance I felt that I had finally grown mature enough to be able to recognize that this was not working and it wasn't the best fit for our family.

Through this homeschooling journey I swear I am learning as much if not more than the children are.  I'm learning to laugh in the rain, to give myself grace when things get rough, and to see things as trial and error rather than failures when they simply don't work out. 

As I write this we should be at co-op right now.

Instead we dropped out. Before I would have felt like a total failure because of that.

Instead we made it half way through a math lesson today before Calvin went into his quiet corner in the homeschool room and was on his own with his cat for 20 minutes.  Then he went and played piano.  He learned 15 spelling words and successfully wrote legibly two sheets of words for me in handwriting.  All of those are things we wouldn't have gotten done even last week.  I'm considering this a win.

And as a homeschooling mom and an autism mom, I'll take as many wins as I can get.

Happy weekend sweet friends!  Hope you learn to look for wins and to give yourself grace.  Love you!

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today my family and I are on a field trip day but I didn't want that to stop us all from celebrating this amazing day.

I always have the kids study Martin Luther King Jr., his life, his speeches, and his example of standing up for what you believe while making sure to not compromise your Christian beliefs.

In case you have no idea what to do or just need me to walk you through this because the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet, here are some things we've used to honor the day:

MLK Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech

I have the kids watch the "I have a dream" speech on YouTube and then we discuss it.  We talk about how 100 years before the speech was the Emancipation Proclamation and what had changed since then.  Then we talk about what has changed between the speech and present day.  I'm going to have them talk to their grandparents about the time period of the speech.  Last year I had them go and speak with my grandmother who passed away a couple of months ago.  She grew up in North Carolina and was able to tell them about how she was able to take a bus to school but the black children couldn't.  It was really good to hear an actual oral account of everything going on in the south and I cherish those times as she is gone now.  She was able to talk to the kids how she never understood why they couldn't ride the bus with them. 

Biography

One of my favorite websites is Super Teacher Worksheets. If you become a member it's only $19.95 a year to have full access but they also have a ton of free things!  This Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. biography is one of those free things.  You can print off however you need and it comes with a sheet to read, questions to answer, and an answer key. 

Cut Out Hands

Okay, I don't know how much of a craft you would call this, but you could have your kids trace their hands on black paper and white, cut them out and glue them together.  We do this and it's so cute to pull them out from the bin every year and see how little their hands used to be. 

We did this activity after we watched the speech and talked about the section where Dr. King said:

"...one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."

So I hope that helps you with some simple things you can do today to observe Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day. 

If you have any other ways you honor MLK Jr. let me know, I'd love to share!

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Field Trip Ideas for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Coming up on the 18th is MLK Jr. Day. In our family it tends to be field trip day.   The past few years we've been trying to go and experience different things on this day.  One we are all going stir crazy because it is the dead of winter and two, there are so many venues that have free admission so it is amazing to be able to go to these places where each of them would cost us upwards of $100 and we can go for free or simply with the cost of donations.  Amazing!

Not gonna lie, homeschooling gets expensive!  So with these places we feel so blessed to be able to go!  Last year we went to Indianapolis, Indiana and did a whole boom, boom, boom, event of seeing lots of different places.  First we started out at the Children's Museum, followed by lunch at The Tamale Place because it's our favorite place ever.  Ever!  It was featured on the Food Network and is simply amazing, fresh food.  

After a huge lunch we headed downtown to the Eiteljorg and the Indiana State Museum.  We then went to Conner Prairie before we decided to call it a day and head home. 

This year we may go about the same route but I have found that the zoo is free so somehow we will have to work that in!  There are so many amazing places.  Here's some info that I found abnout the places in the Indianapolis area.  If you are in the Midwest these may be worth the trip for you as well:

Eiteljorg

The Eiteljorg Museum is free with the donation of a canned food item for Gleaners Food Bank.  The museum is open 10am-5pm. They have a lot of neat kid areas in the lower level of the museum and they have a huge Totem pole that the kids loved examining and trying to figure out what the animals were. They also have a cool winter wonderland diorama type display with model trains called Jingle Rails set up and MLK Jr. is the last day to see if to for the year!  It is so fun to explore and meander through. 

Indianapolis Zoo

is free with a canned good donation from 9 a.m. -4 p.m. weather permitting. The hardier animals will be out and the indoor exhibits are open as well. 

Indiana State Museum

Indiana State Museum is free with a non perishable food item and is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. They have a huge S.T.E.M. learning center that is so much fun and they offer crafts related to the Civil Rights Movement.  They also have Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech playing continuously in their theater.  Last year when we visited we were able to see the Emancipation Proclamation that President Lincoln signed.  We talked with the kids about what an important signature on that piece of paper was and what it meant in the time of Martin Luther King Jr. We discussed what was better and what still needed improvement then as well as today.  Check their website because other historic sites they manage around the state are also free so even if you aren't in Indianapolis you may find one that is closer to you.

Last year the kids (especially Emma) were obsessed with their Foucalt Pendulum clock.  It is so much fun to watch and wait for. Make sure you watch it when you are there!

Children's Museum

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis  is the best in the nation and it is HUGE!  If you haven't been there you can easily spend the entire day there.  Serious. Open 10-5 there is so much for kids to do I am sure you all will love it!

Conner Prairie

Conner Prairie in Fishers, IN is free on MLK Jr. Day.  Please note that this is just the inside exhibits...it would be freezing for all of the walking outside!  Still there was a ton for the kids to do last year and they got to experience all kinds of experiments with electricity, inertia, and other concepts.  It was so much fun!

Others

Some other free events include the IMAX Theater, the Indiana Historical Society, and the Rhythm Discovery Center

I am sure there lots in your area as well.  I googled "free Martin Luther King Jr 2016 Indianapolis" to get all of the ones above. 

Anyway, we usually study about Martin Luther King Jr. the Friday before the actual day.  I think it is a super important day.  We always watch the "I have a dream" speech video, discuss it and then do a craft,  One year we made wreaths of all hands made with all different colored construction paper.  Anything can be done to bring home the message of unity.  We then usually get books from the library about Martin Luther King Jr. and study his life.  Anyway, it helps to study these things before we go on Field Trip day so that when we see exhibits for the day the kids know what they are fore. 

If you find any other amazing places with free admission be sure to let us all know in the comments section below. 

Happy Field Trip Planning!

Cleaning the Homeschool Slate

Freshening up the homeschool room.  That is what I am doing this week. 

I am a chronic "can't get this right-er".

The first semester I start out with very high hopes of how the homeschooling year is going to go.  I am going to rock the socks off of these kids.  They will learn so much.  Fireworks will go off.  Marching bands will play.  It will be glorious. 

Sadly, we start right after Labor Day in September and by Halloween, October is ending, and I am holding on by the skin of my teeth when it comes to lesson plans: we're grotesquely behind in grammar and math, no one has been able to find the science book for a couple of weeks now, and Latin has become "reviewing flashcards" rather than actually diving into any form of lesson.

Oh how lovely.

From there it is a steep, falling down a slope with jagged rocks fall into some sort of pit we could simply just call Christmas Vacation.

It ain't pretty friends. 

Those weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving are littered with Halloween worksheets we didn't get to, Thanksgiving crafts that have no merit of learning in them (they would have had we not been doing them the past three years and so now they are tradition and cannot be deemed learning as both of the children are too young for any of the crafts). I try to do schoolwork somedays when we are not plastered with ballet practice for the Nutcracker or bell ringing with Boy Scouts, therapy, cooking, cleaning, baking, and parties.  AHHHH!!!!!

So now that all of the misery is behind us we are in the new year, it's a chance for me to start over and try to figure all of this out.  Again. 

Again, again.

And probably one more again thrown in for good measure.

Can any other homeschool Mama's relate? 

Can I get an Amen?

And that's just talking about our lesson plans not to talk about how the classroom looks like it's trying to eat itself by the time we get to Christmas.  How I bought all of these cool manipulatives before school started and have pretty much forgotten where I even put them.  Epic.mom.fail.

It's always amazing to me though how God takes these failures of mine and shows his grace to me through it all.

And unlike the post Christmas trash and clutter is a constant reminder of my failures, God takes our failures and wipes the slate clean.  Like it didn't happen.  How amazing is that?  I don't have to have a constant reminder of my clutter, of my disorganization, of the lack of time I spent when I should have to put things away rather than let them pile up and pile up.  Rather I can clean it up and there will be no trace of what was here.  Just like God's grace.

I have to tell ya I am an organizational book junkie.  I could sit for hours reading about how to organize and clean, what to use, etc. etc. Unfortunately the problem with those is that those hours spent on the couch reading those books doesn't actually clean hour house. Darn.  But a tip I learned from one of those books is to look at the space where whatever you are picking up actually was.  Acknowledge the spot of floor you can see when you pick up the pile of race cars, or whatever.  But see the cleanliness you have made in what could be a sea of dirtiness. 

Amazing friends.  Simply amazing.  And so today whatever junk you are cleaning up I encourage you to take the time to see what you have cleaned up and acknowledge that.  Be it the box of gift boxes that finally got put in the attic (that would be me I am looking at here!) or laundry you are determined to tackle, or whatever!  Acknowledge what you have gotten done rather than focus on how dirty the other parts are.  I think that's the best any of us can do, right?

I'll be here trying to get all of this right but fortunately we have the power of the Holy Spirit we can call on.  We don't have to do this alone sweet friends!  How amazing is that? 

Let's roll up our sleeves, wipe our slates clean (with God or in our homeschooling rooms!) and let's face our second chance in the face with a smile. 

Happy Monday friends!

What are you all working on this week?  I'd love to know so I can encourage and pray for you!  Comment below :)