Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Week 4 ~ Patience, Human Birth & Growth, a Community Service Trip, & LOTS of Attitude

Did we accomplish ANYTHING this week? Um, it sure doesn't feel like it! We tried to continue our discussion of human bodies & how we grow. Honestly, I don't remember much. What I DO remember is fussing at my kids for most of the week to straighten up, to pay attention, to put forth a little effort. If there had ever been a week where I wanted to throw in the towel, this was probably it.

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

Anyway - one of the highlights was Tuesday. Tuesdays are always (usually) good because it doesn't consist of "real" school. We do extracurriculars on Tuesday. This week we had Keepers & Contenders of the Faith. After their devotions, the kids made Thank You cards for community service workers.

Our 4H meeting was canceled due to the impending hurricane. Thankfully, we only had lots of wind & rain.

The other highlight was a community service field trip. We went to the EMS station for an opportunity to express our gratefulness to these men & women who serve us everyday. We chose to honor them in remembrance of a man who lost his life on September 11, 2001. Its very important that we never forget the sacrifice, patriotism, loss, & bravery that came out of this tragedy.

We May Just Starve

As a mom who has chosen to stay at home in order to teach her children, I try to save as much money as possible. I watch the sales. I clip mounds of coupons. I buy off brand whenever I can. I also plan all of our menus & go grocery shopping once a month.

Well, I was a lot better at this before Logan came along! Since then, I'm just happy if we have something that is half way edible & more than one roll of toilet paper!

So here lately I've really been trying to get back into cheapskate frugal mom mode. I was planning my trip to the grocery store this afternoon. I was finally cutting out the coupons from last week. I made my shopping list. No menus yet, so I was winging it - hopefully next month. I gathered the kids up & headed out the door.

While we were at Walmart, I let Makenzie walk through the toys for ideas on what she wants for her birthday. Yeah, well, she wants
e v e r y t h i n g! 

So, on to the grocery department....
HOLY COW - I FORGOT MY COUPONS! GGGRRRRRR! Now, I'm looking at this list & trying to think about what I absolutely have to have in the next few days & what I might have a coupon for at home. And I'm trying to think while Austin & Makenzie are running up & down the aisles, asking for this or that, & begging to go to the bathroom. (What is the excitement of public bathrooms? My kids ALWAYS have to go anytime we go anywhere!) Oh & of course Logan is screaming because he is hungry.

After ending up with a buggy full of stuff that I can't remember if we need or not, I gave up & went to check out.

I'm trying to manage enough sanity for putting all the groceries up on the belt & then the bags in the buggy while telling Makenzie for the 15th time to get out of the floor because she is playing with all of those evil toys that they place in the check out lines just for the sake of driving parents crazy & while asking Austin yet again why he is not helping me & begging Logan to quit crying - when (God Bless her heart) this little elderly lady in line behind me starts cooing at Logan & telling me what beautiful children I have. ..... (WOW that was a long run on sentence) ..... Thank God for grandmother types because Logan immediately stopped crying & started laughing & smiling at this angel in disguise.

We finally make it to the car, only for me to realize that Justin's fire gear is in the back. Now my Suburban has more than adequate trunk space, but that gear bag, a stroller, two lawn chairs, a couple of stadium chairs, Austin's football pads & helmet take up A LOT of room. Where am I going to put all of these groceries?

On my way home I made a promise to myself.......we may very well starve before I take all the kids back grocery shopping again.

Huh? Did You Say Something?

Why in the world did you do that?!?!

What were you thinking?!?!

Were you raised in a barn?!?!

How many times do I have to tell you?!?!

Am I the only one who repeatedly asks these questions? Does anyone else have a problem with people listening to them? *I'm talking about LISTENING, not hearing. There is a HUGE difference.*

We have had LOTS of attitude issues at my house lately & I'm not exactly sure how to fix them. We have grounded, spanked, screamed, threatened, rewarded good behavior, used Biblical principal - just about anything & everything, but to no avail. My heatherns are still misbehaving (& driving me crazy in the process).

Don't get me wrong they are good kids most of the time, but here lately ....................

So as Justin & I were trying to figure out the next step, he made the statement "We keep wanting their behavior to improve, but have we honestly prayed about it?"

BING - LIGHTBULB

No, when was the last time I weeped with conviction for my children ... or for anything actually? I felt horrible. But this triggered another thought in my head as well. Do I live my life the way I want them to live their lives? Probably not nearly as much as I think I do.

Parents ~

     Do you want your children to listen to you? - Listen to them.

     Do you want their respect? - Respect them.

     Do you want to be able to trust them? Make sure they can trust you.

Spiritual Leaders ~

     Do you want people to have a closer walk with God? How close are you walking?

     Do you want to see more souls saved? What are you doing to show them the way?

Teachers ~

     Do you want your students to have a desire to learn? Let your passion show through your work.

     Do you want them to turn in their best work? Give 110% of yourself.

Anytime we are in an authority position over someone, even our own children, we need to lead by example. They will only do as much as they see us do.

Its a Man's, I Mean, a Boy's World

And just HOW do they plan on getting
those eggs back to the house

God had a sense of humor when He created boys.

If you have boys of your own, you know this to be the 8th Wonder of the World. If you haven't been blessed with boys, well, just trust me. They are unique creatures - quit possibly from another planet! Boys can be sweet & charming, reckless daredevils, Momma's baby in need of a little petting, or rough & tumble brawlers ... & this is all withing a 5 minute span!

All of my kids have a special place in my heart, but there's just something a little extra special ( & infuriating) about that first born.


Notice the same blank
expression on their faces.



Austin had a friend spend the night last night. They have participated in a wide range of activities that boys enjoy including riding their dirt bikes, shooting guns, playing video games, terrorizing their younger siblings, & of course, football.

We went to the BIG football game last night between East Wilkes & Elkin. (a little shout out - East won!!) Not only did we have Austin, Makenzie, & Dakota, but we also picked up my niece & nephew Kelsey & Ethan - we left Logan with Nanny. I don't think he minded too much. So let's see, that's 3 football players & 2 cheerleaders, yep, just right for those Friday Night Lights!


Not a black eye like we thought
it would be, but scratched up
& puffy just the same.

 No sooner had we got there, Austin decided to show off his skills by trying to catch a football with his eye. I'm not sure exactly what Coach Brian is teaching those boys, but I don't think that was it. Then, sometime during the excitement & heat of action, a fight broke out between Austin & one of his friends. A couple of punches, some blown tempers, lots of not too nice words (I'm guessing), & a misunderstanding or too later. I sure hope they make up at church on Sunday!

So, that was enough drama for one night, right?!

 

We ride red at our house!

Let's get back to the dirt bikes & other boy toys. Ya know, the biggest problem with boys growing up ... their toys get more expensive!

I can't leave out my little man from all the glory & recognition! I do believe that I have my very first thumb sucker here! You should hear all the noise as he tries to accomplish this great task!

Not sure how many fingers he has in there.

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Week 3 ~ Patience, Human Birth & Growth, Dinosaurs Have Chicken Pox, & Stone Mountain

Even though we didn't get everything covered that I had planned, this week has went a little better .... as long as you don't count Wednesday when we were STILL doing school at 5:30 - ggrrrrr. So, it seems to me that maybe I need to reevaluate my expectations - Nah, I think I'll wait a few more weeks & let my monsters get "back in the groove". Thankfully, Logan has been very cooperative this week, it was just Austin & Makenzie that goofed off to no end.

***chanting***it will get better***it will get better***it will get better***

Makenzie knows her numbers when she's counting, but gets a little confused when they are random. So to help her with them out of order, I tell her to draw a certain number of things. This also nourishes her artistic skills. Did you know that dinosaurs have chicken pox? Well, according to her they do.


PATIENCE: waiting without complaing
So maybe I reeaalllyy should have paid more attention for this one!

I love our unit studies from Konos because it emphasizes character traits that we all need to work on. In relation to being patient & waiting, we studied .... gulp .... where babies came from. EEEEKKKKK

OK, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. After all, Austin already knows. Justin taught him last year by using his paramedic book & scared the daylights out of him. He may never go anywhere near a girl for the rest of his life....wait, who am I kidding? My oldest son is a chick magnet. Oh well.

So I chose the book So That's How I Was Born to read to Makenzie. I did however, leave out 1 little bitty paragraph. I mean, really, she's 5 years old, she doesn't need to know everything.

We will be continuing this study next week to see how our bodies are constantly growing.

We returned to Keepers & Contenders this week. We had a time of fun & fellowship at Stone Mountain. Most of the kids & a few brave adults played in the always frigid water. Despite several bumps, bruises, & bang ups, I think that everyone had a great time. Except maybe the butterfly.

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Week 2 ~ Stewardship & Time, 4H Field Trip, & a Birthday

Well, we have week 2 under our belts, but we still don't have a good schedule. We studied time management - OOOPPPPS! maybe I need to revisit this lesson myself! hahaha

Stewardship: "using, not abusing everything that God has given us."

I really really really ok sorta tried to do better this week! I really really, honestly really wanted to do better this week! But so far, I can't get in the bed before midnight & since I get up 2-3xs with Logan every night, its a little hard to get up early, bright eyed & bushy tailed so we can start "on time". Hey, who decides what's "on time" anyway? Oh yeah, I do! Yeah! We are starting on time then! lol

Anyway, this week we learned how to be good stewards - not only with time, but with our money, resources, talents, & bodies. We studied telling time, clocks - how they work & how not all of them show the exact same time, & how to cut something into half & quarters. This was more for Makenzie. She thought it was hilarious that in the time it took to look at a digital clock, get the correct time on our Judy clock, & recheck the digital clock - the time had changed & we needed to start over again.

We don't have "official" school on Tuesdays. This is reserved for Keepers/Contenders of the Faith, 4H, Nature Studies, & oh oh oh - I'm so excited service projects. So Tuesday, we participated in a 4H field trip to the lake & had a nature hike.

Wednesday was Justin's 30th birthday so not only did I have to make his cake, but I had to run to town to buy it - yep, I forgot! No, I didn't forget his birthday, just the cake. Its not like I don't have anything else to do. Then, I had to run back out to town to pick up his present because it hadn't arrived (special ordered) when I was in town the first time. Side note: If you have ever been trying to get anything done with kids & have to interrupt it not only once but twice, you know just how much we got accomplished Wednesday afternoon.

Well, Justin was supposed to go out of town on Thursday for the weekend, so we took the day off to spend time with him. Thankfully plans changed & he didn't go, but we could have done school....oh well.

Like I said, its only the 2nd week. Hopefully, we will find that routine soon or my 6 week on 1 week off schedule will have to go if we want to enjoy summer!

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Back to School Part 2 ~ Obedience, Mother May I, & Lighthouses

After an insane beginning to our "back to school" week, Thursday & Friday were relatively calm. Since my schedule had already been altered, I decided to just focus on our Unit Study from Konos for the rest of the week.

We started out by studying obedience, authority, & light. The kids learned who to obey, why we should obey, & what happens when we do not obey. (Now, let's see if they can obey!!!)

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right."  Ephesians 6:1

For fun we played "Mother May I?". Of course the kids loved that part!


We also spent a lot of time talking about lighthouses. We learned how beneficial lighthouses are, how much hard work goes into keeping the lighthouse working, & how lonely life in a lighthouse can be.

The Little Red Lighthouse & the Great Grey Bridge
As I was reading this children's classic, God kept sending comparisons my way. The little lighthouse was proud of what he could do & how important he was until he fell into the shadows of a mighty bridge. I thought about how many times we get too big for our britches & then God shows us how little we are. Then when the bridge told the lighthouse that it was still needed, I realized that God still wants to use us.

Austin found a different similarity. He saw the parallel between the lighthouse showing ships the right way to go & how we need to lead sinners to Jesus. I just love the honesty & simplicity of children!

Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie
This is a true story of a young girl who has to grow up while her father goes to the mainland for supplies. During his absence, the stormy winter season sets in & delays his return. Abbie not only has the tiring job of manning the lighthouse, but she must also care for her sick mother & younger sisters. Call me sentimental but this simple little story brought tears to my eyes!

The highlight of our week...da da da dum...THE LIGHTHOUSE

We made a lighthouse out of a bottle, a 6 volt bulb, a bulb holder, a 9 volt battery, some wire, & a switch so we could cut it off and on.We aren't quite done with the "beautification process" but the idea is there. After a little trial & error, and some research, Austin & Makenzie were absolutely amazed that we could make this work. I can't wait until we get it finished.