Losing Homeschooling

I am not going to go into the details, but my whole life got turned upside down this fall.  I had everything I had desired.  I had my three boys, I was staying home and homeschooling.  We had the best schedule and the best set up.  Spanish class at a local co-op, support from a teacher through a local homeschool charter school and a network of homeschooling families that are just amazing.  My kids had tons of wonderful friends and a well balanced day to day life.  Best of all, I got to spend so much wonderful time with them.

And then I faced a choice, save my family or hold onto homeschooling.  Of course, my greatest desire, is for my family to stay whole.  So I had to let go of the dream and hang on to Christ.  There were too many fears and unknowns for me to try to carry.  I just couldn't do it on my own.

Step one, get my boys established at school.  If we weren't going to be homeschooling I really wanted them to go to school at our church's school.  I knew they would be surrounded by amazing people because I have gone to church with many of them for years.  I knew they would be surrounded by prayer and Christ's love through a challenging time in our lives.  So I reached out and we were beyond blessed with a wonderful scholarship.

Next we set up a time to come visit their classrooms while I talk with the principal.  I pick them up from recess a little while later and the boys were BEAMING.  "Mom, sign me up!" Lachlan exclaims.  My heart smiles, just a little.

Now here comes the big day.  One of my biggest anxieties going into this day was what to pack for their lunches!  No kidding.  Food is not my strongest asset and having them home I could just grab anything.  But cold lunches, everyday, filled with stuff they will actually eat!! What!?!?!  It literally sent me over the edge.  I got that fear figured out by picking up a cool lunch Tupperware container thing.  :)  If I filled each section everyday, they should be good.  Not only that, but I had friends stock up on boxes of grab and go items from Costco.  I have the best community of friends.  Okay, lunches packed.

Up next, the waking up early part.  Suck.  It's still dark when we have to get up.  I tried to prepare us by setting an alarm and slowly moving up the time to the actual time in which we would have to get up.  When the day came, it wasn't so bad.  But they were also super excited.

We are up, we have our lunches packed and our backpacks on.

 Lachlan, ready for his first day!

One thing that really helped with this transition is that they were already attending the morning program at our homeschool charter school two days a week.  So the classroom environment and having to get out the door in the morning wasn't too big of a shock.

And then, I drove away, from MY boys.  I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed all day.

People, I missed them.

The first day the time moved slowly.  The second day, I still cried, but the time they were away went a little faster and then a little faster.

I had many people surround me and my family and pray for us.  And that is what got us through.

I had one person tell me, this change doesn't have to last forever, maybe you will be able to homeschool again.  That helped.  The same person told me that fears and anxieties are not of the Lord.  From that day forward, every time I had those feelings creep up I prayed and I let go.  This happened every hour for a while.  Maybe more often.

I was able to experience what another friend called "stupid peace".  Peace during a time when there should have been no peace in my heart.

We have had a few hiccups.  The boys weren't where they needed to be in their writing skills specifically.  Third grade seemed like a little bit too much for my oldest so we adjusted a few weeks in and tried second grade, where he is thriving.  We've had backpacks left in the car and one day it took an hour and a half to convince my oldest son to go to school.  There were some behaviors and disobedience to work through.  But God is good, all the time, God is good.

I was able to attend the first chapel the boys attended at school and a young boy in Peter's class got up in front and said he wanted to pray for the new kids at school, that they feel comfortable and love school.  It melted. my. heart.  It also turns out that school is a better place for Lachlan right now.  He really didn't see any reason why he needed to learn the things his Mother was trying to teach him and we were frequently butting heads.  I was beginning to feel like it was holding him back.  But he is a competitive boy, and seeing what his peers are doing has really motivated him, not defeated him as I feared.

But through another rocky patch the boys had consistency, and that is what I had hoped school would bring.

I still miss them.  And I often find myself in moments of despair wondering what's the point of this life.  I mean, is this what society wants of us, to never be together as a family?  It sucks.  I get my family on evenings and weekends.  My whole life consists of "getting through the week".

I just keep praying for God to give me a new perspective.  For him to continually refresh my spirit.

If you are in a time in your life where you also may lose homeschooling or have already lost it, you are not alone.  It's HARD, really hard.  But there can be good mixed in too.   I pray that God will carry you through, as he has for me.

Next up, going back to work and finding childcare!!!  Ack.

Random Mother Goose Time and Experience God Learning

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Although my follow through of Mother Goose Time lessons may be random, what they teach and how they teach it is not.  That I know for sure.

We have implemented the new 10 drawer system which has lead to bits and pieces of Mother Goose Time done here and there.  I don't see that as a negative though because it has given my 3 year old much more choice and freedom in how he wants to do "school".   He is able to initiate school time which has lead to some really amazing time together.  So this post is going to include random MGT and Experience God activities we have done here and there.

First up is an Experience God lesson.  We have taken a long break from Experience God because I just didn't feel like I was using it to it's full potential.  What we did instead was read little daily devotionals from the Jesus is Calling book or spent some time memorizing scriptures from our Awana book.  Although these are great and quick options, Experience God really makes things interactive and brings a whole new level to biblical truths.  This month is called "God is Eternal" and in week one we are learning that God Always Was, Is and Will Be.  All three boys were sitting at the counter eating breakfast and I was across from them, I thought it was perfect time to pull out the tri-fold paper I had pre-folded.  I painted a pattern on the center section, then folded one side in and then the other.  Then I showed them that the shape was the same in all three sections and I pointed to them and called the first section, "yesterday", middle section "today" and the right section "forever".  Each day has a little blue box with a simple synopsis of the lesson.  "God never changes.  We can trust him to always love us."  Then I added, He is the same yesterday, today and always.

And then we went to the beach for our anniversary with a plus one and ate gelato.

Now onto day 1 learning about islands. We actually completed most of this days lessons.  First Adam got to explore the new foam letters and numbers.  I sent numbers one through six with him to the bathroom sink.

Peter's Last Day as a 4 Year Old.

I told Peter, I have to take your picture today.  Why?  he asked.  Because it's your very last day being a 4 year old.  "Oh yeah."

I stood him out by our old fence, which makes a perfect backdrop, and told him to smile.  I got one or two basic smiles and then he broke out into some killer poses.  I really don't think I can leave any out.  Sorry in advance!

3 Boys at a Tea Party

Can you imagine 3 boys having a blast learning about tea?  Not to say boys can't have fun with tea, but I am not sure it would be a topic I would go to first for a group of boys.  I know, I know, it's not good to stereotype.  But there are general gender differences.  That being said, all my boys have loved taking babies for walks in strollers and my husband and I do not fit into typical husband wife rolls.  So things are certainly not black and white. 

Honestly I had tea day up for quite a while and just didn't pursue it, winter break and all.  But we got a bit tired of TV watching and video games.  I had seen the results of painting with tea bags on the other Blog Ambassador blogs and asked the boys if they wanted to paint with tea bags.  They were super excited!

Mother Goose Time provided us with a cut out of a teapot and a tea bag for each student.  I then put hot water in a bowl and gave them each the tea bag.  They dipped the tea bag in the water, watched the water change colors and then dabbed the tea bag on the teapot.  The results were really cool.  Even Adam (21 months) joined us. 

Lachlan used his baby brother's scissor scoopers he got for Christmas to grab his tea bag.  Of course tea stains everything but I never thought of using it on paper.  It gives it a cool antique look which would be fun to use on a treasure chest art project or something like that. 

 His project is really coming along. 

Then we added paint.  Peter covered his whole teapot in paint to the point where you couldn't see the marks the tea made.  But that's okay, it's his project. 

Lachlan finished his up quick and then I put him to work making his bilingual book.  This month we are focusing on Math and how it shows up in many projects we do with MGT.  So I just have to point out that each page in this bilingual book is numbered.  Lachlan had the task of putting them in order. 

After painting with tea, the boys really wanted to drink tea.  Two at of the three at the time had a cough so I thought tea with honey was a good idea.  Of course I had to steep the tea in a teapot.  Lachlan got to pour his own cup.  I taught him how to hold the lid.  We added a couple of ice cubes and some honey. 

He thought his tea was quite good!  Of course we had to drink Billy tea which is an Australian tea in honor of our Australian guests we had this year for Christmas. 

 I added a few extra ice cubes to Adam's tea and he stirred and stirred and stirred his tea. 

We actually jumped into some of the lessons from the next day's topic of House Guests.  What a fitting topic for this time of year.   First we did house guest math.  I got out our people manipulatives from a previous month and Peter lined one up at the door of the Lego house Lachlan got for Christmas. Knock, knock.

 Peter did the simple math story cards and lined up 4 guests at the front door.  I gave Lachlan (my 1st grader) the more challenging math story card which had him make 3 families of 4.  We were able to multiply 3 x 4 to get the answer 12.

Our friendly bee this month focuses on being loving.  How can we be loving to house guests?  We talked about how we should turn off the TV and video games when guests come over so we can spend time with them and give them our attention.  We talked about taking our guests coats, offering something to drink or eat.  After talking all about it we put on our Loving Bee Badges. 

I told Adam he could show love by giving hugs.  

My husband's father was born and raised in Australia.  So all of my husband's cousins live over there.  This year, his cousin Bec, her husband Lachlan and their two children Tim and Emily came to America to go on a cross country RV trip.  They started their trip in California and drove up to Oregon to be with us for Christmas.  Lachlan loved meeting another Lachlan. 

Little Lachlan would walk up to Big Lachlan and say "Hi, Lachlan" he would return with "Hi Lachlan".  It was pretty cute.  I asked my Lachlan to ask the other Lachlan what he did for a living.  He found out he was a pastor in Australia and I gasped "does that mean he has Jesus in his heart like you?"  Lachlan (Big) "Do you have Jesus in your heart?" Yes, do you? Yes.  High Fives all around. 
They even got to build Legos together. 

There is a lot more to say about their visit and how Lachlan (little) got to be named Lachlan.  Hopefully I can get a post up specifically about their visit.  But I have to say, I could not ask for a better Lachlan for my Lachlan to look up to. 

Here is the whole gang, minus Adam who was sleeping.  I was trying to encourage everyone to keep their eyes open and in doing so look like I am surprised about something.  None the less, it was great to get a shot of us all together, as this reunion will not happen too often since it requires a flight halfway around the world. 

First Day of School - Using MGT for Pre-K and 1st Grade

We did things a little backwards on our first day of school.  We did school first and then went out front to take the first day pictures.  I guess that's what you can do when you don't have to go anywhere for school.

Our first day of Mother Goose Time's Friends and Feelings study was about Saying Hello.  I love how each year Mother Goose Time starts with a topic that explores the student and their families and communities.  Last years September topic was Me and My Family.  I believe, at the core of the learning environment, is the feeling of safety and belonging.  So beginning the year by establishing the child in their self concept and teaching them how to care for and respond to others, you are setting a great foundation.

What I love about Mother Goose Time and what makes it so easy to use for the whole family

The Tow Truck & The Ship

My son Lachlan, the master builder, was so excited to get to see a real life tow truck.  The bummer part was that I needed a tow truck to get home because all 3 of our vehicles have died in the last 3 weeks.  But we are sticking to the positive here.  John, the tow truck driver let Peter and Lachlan pull the levers to bring the bed of the truck down to drop the van and then to lift the bed of the truck back up.  Little did I know, Lachlan was taking in every detail for his next LEGO creation. 

 Here you can see the levers. 

 Little brother came to destroy with his fly swatter.

 Reeling in the winch. 

 Loaded a big tractor onto this tow truck.

 I asked him to smile.  I got some pretty silly faces.

The next project Lachlan had in mind was a big ship or big boat like Grandpa's.  He needed some help making his concept become a reality.  On Saturday Jeff and the boys worked for over and hour on this boat project while Mommy got in some much needed work.  They were thrilled with the time with Daddy and the end result.

 That piece Peter is holding up is the "fish". 

 There is a ladder, railings, a propeller and an anchor of course.

Birds eye view.

More Than Just School

We've been up to a lot of things around here lately.  On June 7th we officially graduated Lachlan from Kindergarten.  He was joined by a couple of cousins.

Lachlan set up a lemonade stand at his graduation to save money for a trip to Disneyland.  We are also going to have a garage sale this summer.  I thought it would be good for the boys to choose some toys to sell to go towards the cause.  If we ever make it, I want it to be a special trip that they have worked towards. 

The garden theme from last month continues to have an impact on our days.  We went to the inspiration garden and helped plant a corn maze.  It was hard work, my littlest gardener was all tuckered out. 

We have continued to build furniture in the different rooms of our doll house for our peg doll family.

First we skipped ahead in the Mother Goose Time topics and finished our bedroom.  I had made a bed out of a raisin box because it was the perfect size.  That got them both excited to finish the bedroom.  So we had to add a top bunk and a crib for Adam. 

We used a Jell-O box for a crib.  We put the slats in the side of the crib with the hole punch.  It was really fun talking through the design of each piece.  I have learned to ask questions rather than just give them the answers.  So I asked, why do you think the crib has slats in it that you can see through?  "So you can see the baby but he can't get out."  We also talked about scale a bit and I had them get the peg dolls we were making furniture for.  We talked about why furniture is the size it is and what would happen if it was too big.  Then we used the peg dolls to know how big to make things. 

Here it is all set up.

After we finished the bedroom furniture we moved on to the bathroom since it was the topic we were covering that day with Mother Goose Time.  Lachlan wanted to build a toilet like the one in Paddington.

This months theme is all about houses and homes.  It's been so fun to dissect the topic and really talk about the details.  I would have never thought to study the bathroom and everything we use it for.

We used our bathroom coloring sheet for inspiration.  We used to not use these coloring sheets, but both my boys are now really enjoy coloring.  So I print off two sets and they are a great way to introduce the subject. 

We copied the mirror by covering some cardboard in tin foil and adding three yellow pom poms for lights.

This one is just for fun.  I had my camera out and he came up to me with this big grin.  I am not sure when he got so big.  

We talked about how we wash our hands in the bathroom and Mother Goose Time provided us with this hand washing guide. 

I taped it up on the mirror but soon found out when it gets steamy in there from showers the paper slips and gets moist.  I plan on laminating it and then just setting it on the counter leaning against the mirror.  I think that will work better.

Since we were on the subject of hand washing, soap and bubbles we moved on to our bubble art. 

I used liquid water color mixed with bath bubbles in a small bowl set on top of paper.  The boys used a straw to blow bubbles that would over flow onto the paper. 

 Honestly, this one didn't turn out too well.  The paper just became a watery mess. 

 Adam wanted to be in the bubbles, so that was tricky too.

 When we first started using Mother Goose Time we did a bubble day where we cut the bottom end of a water bottle off and slipped a sock over the opening.  Then we dipped the sock in bubbles and blew through the mouth of the bottle.  This created tons of little bubbles with out all the water.  I was going to try that method with colored bubbles to see if we could make some art that way.  I will keep you posted if we ever give it a try.

It was fun to show you just a little bit more of our life around here.  Mother Goose Time is a great curriculum but the topics we have covered become a part of our everyday life.  They come up in how the kids play and the interests they take in the things around them, like the garden.  It's more than just school.  Even though it is technically summertime and we are slowing down in the school department, the boys still ask to "make something".  It has become a way of life for us.  We start our day creating and learning and what we learn carries through into everything we do.