Apparently, I went on a blogging hiatus. I'm still not entirely sure when I decided on it. I think the last time I published was in July. It is October. The 17th. Three months I have been away and it still seems like it should be July. We didn't have a "real" Alabama summer this year. It rained more than usual. Not that I am complaining because I actually love the rain. The temps were so fall like it is still unbelievable to me! Any-who, Busyness can control your life if you let it. I try not to let it but, alas sometimes it does. Which to my surprise has brought us to October. I have the kids entertained in front of Netflix, with Sweet Pea in charge of the remote. The peace may last long enough for me to finish one post. I hope. She thinks she is the Queen of the Remote. She is often told that she is merely the servant of the remote. I find it humorous. She does not. Ya'll, my babies are growing up! Sweet Pea is almost 8(eeck!), Sweetie Pie is about to be 6(what?), and my boy is about to turn 5(oh my heart!). It is an amazing thing to see the changes from pre-school to big kid. It seems like over night.
Here are a few reasons I've been away:
We are in school full force. This is our 3rd year to be homeschooling. I was slightly apprehensive before school started. This year I would be teaching a 2nd grader and a Kindergartner, with a pre-schooling boy on the side. I wasn't sure I could do it. But, we have worked out most of the kinks and we have a pretty good and easy going system. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Except maybe Sweetie Pie and her natural desire to be stubborn. She has told me a couple of times and I quote,"I am not doing that today." Excuse me? This was followed by the whimpering that she is so very good at and the statement of, "I don't know how." Even though she just finished doing it and she is on her last two letters. Needless to say, I asked her to rethink her attitude
or I would take her change jar and put it on the table and if she didn't do her work, I would start taking pennies away and to my surprise she did. After two days she realized Mama wasn't bluffing and we've had no problems since. (Have I ever mentioned, I'm not above bribing my children?) Sweet Pea is loving school for the most part. She tries to get out of it every once in a while. It doesn't work but it doesn't stop her from trying! The boy is steadily learning his basics. I let him work until he gets tired of working and then I let him go play. I don't push him to complete a certain amount of work. He's learning just as much by playing with blocks and coloring. He'll be in school for the next 13 years, at least. I'm letting him have his last "free" year off.
OK, so looking back apparently home school is keeping me busy. Ha! Not to mention all of our "normal" house keeping duties. It makes for a very busy day. I must say that being a home school family is just perfect
for us. (Especially after hearing about all the common core horror
stories. But I am not going there today!) I do enjoy it and so do the kids. This year we have started some new activities. Actually, we just started last week. I came across an amazing blog called
Practical Pages and totally took her ideas as my own.(Don't worry, she gave away free resources. I didn't actually steal anything!) She has great ideas! So, last week we started an "Artist of the Month" and a "Musician of the Month". Our artist, one of my favorites: Vincent Van Gogh(that rhymes with cough, not "Go"-which is the way I was always taught. I like learning something new!) and our musician, per the request of Sweet Pea: Ludwig van Beethoven. I want the kids to know more and do more than just your regular run of the mill construction paper craft. There is nothing wrong with that and we still do those but, I want them to appreciate the work these men and others did. How God gave them a special talent and because they embraced who they where, we are able to enjoy their talents as well. These are extras that we do toward the end of the week, as a sort of reward for working hard on our core curriculum all week.
Our typical day consists of breakfast, school, lunch, quiet time(reading, playing, napping, as long as
I they have quiet time I don't care) then play time outside or inside, followed by supper, showers(all they kids take showers, for the most part, by themselves. My back seriously is grateful!) then family time, family devotion(most nights...it's still a work in progress!), prayer, and bed. Then somewhere between quiet time, home school lessons, play time, I try to keep the house looking semi-clean. Whew. I need a nap just typing that out. So, busy, busy has been my agenda lately. Hopefully, I can get back into the drill of blogging. I do miss it, ever so much. I even cleaned off the office desk, which looked incredibly sad. And crowded.(OK, it looked like it could be on it's very own show of Hoarders.) I can't work like that. So, it's clean and ready for me to post more of my tales of being a relentless homemaker. It's never ending work. At the same time, the rewards are never ending either! So, until next time
Enjoy Life!
Jessica
