The Unschooling Experiment Part 3 (365:163 - 167)

I didn't realize how long its been since I posted anything.  Lots of things have happened in the last 6 months that took my attention away from bloggy things.

I am obviously waaaay far behind on my picture-a-day challenge.  I will finish it! It may take another year though.

I found the post below that I started writing a few days or so after my last post.

From September...............

Well, I bailed on the unschooling thing.  I couldn't take it.  The kids were doing NOTHING academic! However, I did relax a bit more.  I'm more willing to chase bunny trails now, rather than being tied to the curriculum.  The kids, however, did something that was pretty awesome!

My son, Tigger, loves to do crafts; particularly rubber band crafts. He has a bucket full of dragons, figures (dolls), animals, necklaces, bracelets and more that he has created.  The kids decided to partner in business together.  We live in a cul-de-sac across the street from an elementary school.  Right before school let out, they set up a little table at the corner, displaying all the rubber band creations.

They sold $12 worth of merchandise the first day.  They went out about 3 days in a row before the inevitable happened.  Someone got greedy.  Then the fighting started.  The partnership was dissolved. It was a sad ending.

Fast forward to today (March 2016).  That spirit of entrepreneurship has not left them.  

**Ladybug now babysits

**Knight and Tigger cat sit. 

**Mr. Baseball is working in partnership with a youth pastor from Arizona to spread the gospel of Jesus on Instagram. (Hope_In_Numbers_Las_Vegas) They are also setting up an online store to benefit the youth pastor's ministry. He also earns money by working around the house - mowing the lawn, trimming trees and many of the other things on my husband's "honey-do" list. 

**Some of the younger ones want to start critter sitting - Caring for caged critters. (We're still considering that)

Unschooling Part 2 (365:161 - 162)

Tuesday morning, I told the kids that, with the exception of math and reading, they could learn about whatever they wanted.  They thought I had lost my mind!  Then they asked if Dad knew what I was doing. After I assured them that Dad and I were on the same page, and that there was no catch, they had one last question for me.  They asked "What do you want me to learn about?" They were absolutely incapable of coming up with anything.  I finally gave them a list of about 10-15 ideas to help spark their curiosity.  I also told them that I wanted to redo the backyard to plant more fruit and veggies to eat.  I also mentioned the possibility of getting chickens.

The kids got really excited and went to work researching.

Bear is our resident chicken expert.  She knows exactly what breeds we should get, what their temperaments are, and how many eggs they will lay per year.  She also knows that red zinnias are the best flower to plant to attract both bees and hummingbirds.

Knight researched and made a worm farm.  He will also be in charge of our compost bin when we do that.

Tigger decided to learn to crochet.  He made an adorable stocking.

Princess and Boo are still trying to figure out what interests them.

Mr. Baseball chose not to participate.  He said he wanted to learn something and that my way wasn't teaching anybody anything.

By Friday morning, I had 5 very bored kids.  They wanted to know what project they could do next. It was tough not to give them a to do list.  They wanted to play video games. (No) They wanted to watch TV (No).  They ended up fighting a lot.

I, on the other hand, am quietly having a massive anxiety attack.  Am I going to ruin them academically?  Will all my kids grow up ignorant? Will they end up poor and begging in the street because they can't get a job? Argh!

Unschooling......The Experiment (365:150-153)

I woke up last week and realized that I just could not do this anymore.  I hate the absolute drudgery of school. I hated it when I went to school and I hate it now that I home school my kids.  That's a lot of hate.  So, I wrote a long and impassioned email to the hubs about learning - what it is, what is isn't and what it should be in our home. I wrote, in part:

Well, exactly 3 weeks into school again and........I'm bored to death.I want to homeschool, not school at home. To me, homeschool is learning through living life. It's adventure not drudgery. It's out in the world, not home at the table. Yes, there are days when we should be at home, but not every day. Not even most days. I think that might be why Ladybug wanted to go to school. Why some of the others want to go. Shoot, I want to go.
I've never had the courage to change things. I'm so afraid I'll screw them up - well, their education anyways. I've already screwed them up. I've been so indoctrinated into the public school mentality that I don't know how to educate any differently. But I can feel in my heart that this is NOT the way to inspire creativity, passion and a love for learning.
I have a vision of what our day would look like. It's the ideal and even on the best of days, reality would fall short. But even falling short of the ideal, I still see laughter, less fighting and more cooperation, less grumpiness on my part and more appreciation of God and His creation.
I need help. I need your permission to let me put away the textbooks (except for math and language arts in the younger grades). I need help developing a plan of action so that learning does happen and we don't just play video games all day. 

He agreed wholeheartedly.  The experiment began. 

Two bees covered in pollen.  So cool!

Squirrel!

2012 - 2013 School Year

School started 4 weeks ago.  We started early in order to keep them from forgetting everything from last year.  I also wanted to be able to take more time off during the year.

We joined a new home school group this year and I'm excited for some of the activities the kids will get to do this year.

I'm also going to enroll 3 older girls in a running group.  Not only do they teach fitness, but they will also teach character, values and a proper self image.  I think they will get a lot out of it.

Boo is not technically kindergarten age, but has shown a desire to learn to read.  She's doing well.  I won't push her but as long as she's having fun, we'll play school.

Bear is 1st grade.  She's my most strong willed child.  Teaching her is most certainly teaching me patience!  But she is so smart.  She loves to learn, just as long as its on her own terms.  My main focus with her will be on character rather than academics.

N is 2nd grade.  She's still struggling with reading but making progress.  She really loves writing class and is quite good at remembering the details of the stories to narrate back.  Phonics will be our focus.

S and T are both 3rd grade.  S is just breezing through school.  He will occasionally hit a bump in the road but overall, it comes easy for him.  T's strengths are history and science, particularly any kind of zoology.  He loves animals!  S will work on reading comprehension and T will work on attention to detail.

Ladybug is 4th grade.  Math is her weakest subject.  But through that, her strength of character shines!  While frustration over math occasionally brings her to tears, she never gives up.  I really admire her ability to gain control over those emotions and get the work done with a good attitude.  She will continue to make math and logic her priority

B is in 5th grade.  I have seen a lot of growth in him since we started back this year.  He exercises much better self control.  If I were to ask him, he would say math is his weakest subject.  But he really is quite smart and usually sails through his day.  B will keep working on his new found self control.  I would also like to see him make that "leap" to a higher level of thinking that usually happens around this age.  I do see signs of it!

Olympics

The kids have been having a great time watching the Olympics.  Today they decided to have their own!  The events included; Balloon Volleyball, Bicycle Racing, Gymnastics and general calisthenics.  Of course, Team USA won them all! 

4th of July

What a fun evening we had.  Our friends Nikki and Greg came over with their son, Joshua.  Our grand daughter was here also. We barbecued burgers, and just enjoyed fellowship. When the sun went down we blew up lots and lots of fireworks.  

Boo did better this year.  She watched a little then decided it was too scary and finished the evening sitting in Nikki's car.  At least I didn't have to watch the action from the upstairs window with her again this year! She did venture out to do sparklers though.

Still trying to figure out how to work with slow shutter speeds without blurring out the people.  I'm not sure it's possible but I sure had fun!

Perspective

If we keep our heads down, either out of defeat or loss or shame or tiredness... whatever the reason, we are going to miss the beautiful sun (and Son) that is right there in front of us, shining its warmth on our faces and our souls!    Mary Beth Chapman from her book "Choosing to See" 

I have been in the middle of an all out pity party lately.  Funny how those things just sneak up on you.  It took me a while to realize that I was the guest of honor at this gala.  As I was reading a book, the above quote woke me up.  I have been walking in defeat and utter exhaustion lately.

I've had so many people tell me over the last several years that I'm crazy to have the family that I do.  That it's unnatural to have so many children that close in age.  I cannot leave the house with hearing something like this from total strangers! Then when folks find out that I home school also, more negative comments are made.  Sometimes it feels as though I have many eyes on me waiting to see if I fall.  When the fall comes, the "I told you so" will come with it.

So, being the stubborn person that I am, I decided that I was going to do it all, and without help, thank you very much.  I would rarely even ask help from my own wonderful husband! The end result is a tired, cranky, critical mom who is not a good example to her kids. I see now what an egotistical mindset that was.  God didn't put us on this earth to operate in a bubble.  He created us with a desire to love on one another, to help each other.  

It's been a long time since I looked up.  While I've been looking down, I've seen every piece of dirt in the house, every toy that was out of place, every fault that my children have.  It's time to look up.  To focus on the One who made those beautiful and amazing children to be who they are.  When my focus is on Jesus, the dirt and nicks in the walls just kind of fade away.

Mary Beth Chapman goes on to say in the next paragraph:

We need to understand down to the depth of our souls that whether He is quietly behind a storm cloud or blazing obviously in the bright blue sky right in our faces, Jesus, the Son, is always-not sometimes-present. No matter what the circumstance.  

And, where Jesus is, there is joy!  So, in order to help me regain some joy, Bob and I are making some changes.  One of them will be to give me time to pursue an interest separate from the children.  So I picked something on my bucket list.  I won't tell you what that interest is yet though.  Since I do have a tendency not to follow through on projects, I'll wait a bit.  


In each of these smiling faces is the image of Jesus.  I just need to choose to see.

_________________________________________________________________

If you are looking for a great book to read, I highly recommend Mary Beth Chapman's "Choosing to See".  She speaks about how God is working in her family through the tragic death of their 5 year old daughter.  If you get it, keep the tissues near by.

Summer

Our summer vacation began May 31st.  We go back to school July 17th. It's going so fast!  Too fast.  We haven't been doing a lot but it seems we are always busy.  We've been spending our time playing games, staying cool at the water park and YMCA pool.  We're spending a lot of time with friends.  It's not unusual for there to be 11 kids in the house (I'm sure we have broken the sound barrier!!).

In addition to having as much fun as we can, we have also been working on treating each other with honor and respect.  


The Bible says in Romans 12:10 "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another"

Boy, that sure hasn't been happening around here lately!  The sibling rivalry has been out of control.  So, I instituted a zero tolerance law.  Some of our more, ummm, strong-willed children are slow in getting the point, but progress is slowly being made and peace is returning to the home.  

Manly Men

My boys.  What can I say?  They are goofballs!

They seem like they are constantly competing with each other to see who is the fastest or strongest.  B and T are especially competitive with each other.  It gets a little exhausting to deal with sometimes.  (And all this BEFORE the testosterone fully kicks in!)

 S (on the right end) is wired a little differently.  Athletics don't thrill him much, but get him anywhere within 20 feet of a video game and he'll whoop everyone! He likes things where he has to use brain over brawn. I think we may have an engineer in the making!

Here is the whole motley crew!  We took a walk last night.  The gutter happened to have a lot of water in it.  My grand daughter, Little E (in front), was absolutely amazed by it.  She insisted it was the ocean!  She floated leaves down the the "ocean". She stacked rocks in it and made a dam.  She jumped in it...repeatedly. I didn't think we would ever make it around the block!  It was so cute to see her delight in something so ordinary.

P52: "Still Life" (Week 19)

This week's project was "Still Life".  When I think of a still life, I think of a bowl of fruit on a table.  I actually had to google it to see if this qualified!  How funny is that?!

A few days ago, we were at a park for P.E. and I saw the most beautiful tree! It was totally decked out in yellow flowers. The early morning sun was shining down on it, making it seem to glow! I have no idea what kind of tree it is.  I should know.  I see them all over town.  But they are usually much smaller, and more sparse.

Here's my sweet granddaughter playing hide & seek inside under the tree.  I have been so blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with her this last week or so.  She is such a priceless treasure!

Easter

This Easter was different.  Once church was over, we had no commitments.  We were able to just stay home and relax. It was nice.

We celebrate our risen Savior every day of the year.  So, we don't have issues bringing in the cultural fun of candy and eggs on this day.  The easter bunny does not visit our house however.  The whole concept of a giant rabbit hiding eggs all over the place  somehow seems a little...creepy.

After church, we kicked the kids outside and hid their baskets full of goodies somewhere in the house.  Then they came barreling into the house looking in, over and under things listening for our shouts of "Hot!" or "You're Cold now".

Once they found their baskets and had a good sugar high going, we sent the younger 3 kids upstairs.  The older 4 hid eggs for their younger siblings.  Each child had their own color of eggs and got to find 12 of them.

After that, the youngers helped us hide eggs for the older kids.  We hid them really good too!  I think a few of them would still be looking if we hadn't helped them!

The rest of the day was spent playing together and watching movies.  It was the best Easter I've had in about 5 years!

Birthday Girl

Birthday season is upon us again.  We have 4 birthdays in the next few months.  Then we take a short break before we celebrate the rest.

Little N just turned 7. God has truly done an amazing work in her life.  She joined our family a little more than two years ago; a troubled little girl.  Her grief was overwhelming.  Her behaviors were witness of  things in her life that she didn't know how to process.

Ever so slowly, almost imperceptibly, she began to heal.  Many times it seemed as though we were going backwards.   As she healed, she would trust us with a small piece of her heart.  Then she would wrestle with fear and feelings of loyalty to others.  She would get scared and take back that fragile piece of heart.  It was a sad little dance that would leave us all, at times joyful, and other times full of sorrow and confusion.

These past few months we have seen tremendous growth in our little girl.  She has been dealing with the lingering grief.  She has entrusted more and more of her heart to us and I've not seen those telltale signs that fear is about to overtake her and insist she repossess her love.  We are so proud of N!

Each of our children has a life song, hand picked by their dad.  This song has special meaning for the child.  N's song is Beautiful by MercyMe.  It could have been written for her.  I pray that she's learning to see how much she is treasured.  Here are some of the lyrics:

Days will come when you don't have the strength
When all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart
They'd see too much

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His
You're beautiful

and Praying that you have the heart to fight
Cuz you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you've held inside so long
and they are nothing in the shadow of the cross

For Sale

The other afternoon, Boo fell asleep on the couch.  Bear apparently decided that she would capitalize on it.  She found a piece of paper and wrote "Boo is Free for 100 dollars" and stuck it to Boo's forehead!  What a smart alek.

Dominos

This is what prompted the scrabble writing in the previous post.

 The other evening, B decided to set up the tiles and knock them down.  He started at 5pm.  About every 3 or 4 minutes, I'd hear the telltale clatter of tiles and B say "Oh, man!"  Then he would begin setting up the tiles again.  Finally, around 7pm he got them all set up.  (We had a break for dinner)  We gathered the whole family to watch the domino effect.

There it goes!  I tried to capture the action but my photography skills leave a lot to be desired.  It was very cool though!  The finished product was wonderful but more impressive was the amount of time B put into doing the project and his ability to remain patient and good humored as he accidentally knocked the tiles over again and again.  It never would have occurred to me to use dominos for character development!

My blessings!

Sometimes parenting can seem like a pretty frustrating and thankless job.  But then my kids go and do this..........

                and makes it all worth it!

 This one is from my 5 year old.  Originally it had the word "beast" instead of best.  I started laughing hysterically and may have hurt A's feelings a little.  She eventually saw the humor in her typo though.

I'm so thankful that God saw fit to bless me 9 times with children!  Sometimes, in the middle of fights and messes and not having a second alone to complete a thought, I forget that they are the biggest blessings in my life.  They don't let me forget for too long though!

School

Well, since I made this blog, I should write in it once in a while.  I spend most of my time playing around with the backgrounds.  :)

We just finished out 3rd week of school.  Boy was I happy to realize that Monday is a holiday!  Woo-Hoo!  School is actually going fairly well this year (last year was horrible with a capital H).  I think I'm just still in summer mode. 

Our favorite thing is history and grammar this year.  We are doing Mystery of History I and First Language Lessons.  They are a lot of fun.  The kids love memorizing the little poems and doing copywork and dictation based on the silly stories we read.

Math is still the bane of my kid's existence.  This bugs me because I LOVE math.  I used to do Calculus just for the fun of it.  Alas, so far none of my kids have shown the same weird affection for math.

We were going to try to get out every Friday and do a nature study.  So far we've been once.  It was so much fun though!  We went to Floyd Lamb and just explored most of the day.  The next week, B sprained his ankle playing soccer in the back yard so we stayed home.  Last week I forget why we didn't do anything.  Probably my laziness.

I will post a scrapbook layout I did about our adventure.  I was doing the second page to the layout last night when my ancient, wheezy computer decided it didn't want to play anymore and just shut down.  Poof!  It was gone into cyberspace.  I haven't had the energy to start it over.

One Thousand Gifts (1-10)

Even though two of my kids are working my very last nerve today :) , I am still thankful for......

1. Those 2 children because they are usually such blessings to me.
2. The sound of off-key praise songs being sung in the house all day long.
3. A husband who is my best friend and whom I love more now than the day we married.
4. My kids who are each others best friends.
5. Good friends to laugh and cry with; who listen to my rantings and don't judge.
6. My grand daughter's smile.
7. My 2nd daughter, D, who is an awesome mom.
8. E, my eldest daughter, who has matured into a thoughtful, adventurous and responsible young woman.
9. For the amazing opportunity to be a mom to all my wonderful kids and watch them grow and heal right before my eyes!
10. Having Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

Teachable Moments

Today, one of my colorful little gems plotted and planned and finally committed a crime (against long standing household rules).  When said gem was caught red-handed, s/he was not repentant or contrite but said with a touch of sarcasm "sooorry".  Hmmm.  S/he was sentenced to 15 minutes of sitting quietly on the bed.  Then, said child stomps up the stairs.  It took 2 more times of practice going up the stairs sans attitude before s/he mastered this skill.

Ok, I'm not just writing to complain about my child.  Here's where it gets really good!

Little gem calls down the stairs "Mom, can I come down now?"  I say "Yes, let's talk."  We talked about why s/he was angry with me, and why that anger was misplaced.  We talked about why the original sarcastic apology was unacceptable. Gem was worried that God was angry and might not want him/her.  We talked about why that was impossible. We talked about honesty and trust.  Gem was then asked to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the infraction.  It was very very hard for Gem but s/he finally got the words out.  Then the tears came and a real, heartfelt apology.  We prayed together and it was as though the weight of the world was removed from his/her shoulders.

Gem helped me make dinner, then swept the floor after dinner and even vacuumed the carpet in the family room - - all without being asked to. 

I love those teachable moments.  When you just know for certain that the lesson was learned and the child has grown and matured right before your eyes!  It really makes my day!

I have gotten into a bad habit of stopping at the punishment part of discipline.  I had temporarily forgotten that the word discipline comes from the word disciple, which means to teach.  It's easier and less time consuming to skip the teaching part of discipline. With 7 kids constantly needing something from me, I have allowed myself to fall in to the trap of spending my time putting out fires rather than preventing them.  I am excited about God's gentle reminder to me that I have veered off the path.  I feel relieved and look forward to tomorrows challenges.


Correct your son, and he will give you rest; Yes, he will give delight to your soul.  Proverbs 29:17

Ladybug

I can't believe my beautiful Ladybug is turning 8 tomorrow.  I remember with total clarity, that November afternoon 6 years ago when I first set eyes on her and S.  Oh, C was a doll!  At that time, I had no idea she would be mine forever.  She came to us, quite abruptly, from another foster home.  Her foster parents had decided to move out of state.  C was so brave.  I came up the walkway to her house and she was standing out  in the front yard with her dog.  It was a chow and it was bigger than she was!  I'm told she used to ride it like a horse.  I couldn't communicate with her because she spoke only Spanish.  But with a very bewildered look on her face, she obediently climbed in the car and came home with me.  The only English word she spoke was "McDonalds".  She pointed out every one of them on our way home.  Only she pronounced it something like "Abbadabba's". When we got home, she walked into the house like she owned the place.  Saw the tv, turned it on and sat down to watch.  I turned it off and took her, S and B out to the trampoline.  It took her a long time before she stopped watching and waiting for her foster parents to come back.  Slowly though, we became her family.  Nearly two years later, we became a legal family as well as a family in our heart.


Here she was then:

And here she is now

C is turning into such a beautiful young lady.  I don't mean physically either, although she is a beauty.  C has such a good heart.  She is so loving and compassionate.  She accidentally kicked another child today at the park.  He walked under the monkey bars while she was climbing on them.  She did her best to comfort him and then came to me almost in tears because she hurt another person.  C is the first one to try and take care of an injured bug and nurse it back to health.  She is sensitive to everyone's moods and works hard to cheer up those who are sad, make peace between those who are angry and rejoice with those who are happy!  She wants very much to be a missionary.  I am so proud of her!  God has truly blessed us with our sweet little Ladybug.  Thank you Lord!

First post

I have finally given in and joined the ranks of bloggers.  I am not a writer so please don't expect flowery prose or even a coherent sentence!  This blog exists primarily to keep extended family and friends updated about our life.  It also exists to keep me accountable with our school. 

For those of you who don't know our story, I'll give you the Reader's Digest version.  Hubby and I have been married for nearly 13 years.  I have 2 beautiful daughters from a previous marriage.  

Hubby and I decided to expand our family through adoption.  We adopted our son from an orphanage in the Philippines in July 2004.  

A year later I said "Honey, I want a little girl."  We opted this time to adopt through the foster system.  We got our little girl.  She came with a bonus boy (her little brother).  What a blessing!  

A few months later we were given the option of welcoming their newborn baby sister into our home.  We weren't sure at first, but at the ripe ole age of 12 days, A came home to us.  What a happy family we were!  

In 2008, we got a call asking if we wanted to adopt a 3 month old girl.  Hubby said "Are you crazy?"  I said "I think so."  He said "Ok, then" and I went to pick up H that day.  

Two years later, we were blessed to bring two of her siblings home to join our family. 

So, here we are, a year and a half later.  We are an average, above average sized, Jesus loving, homeschooling family. :)