Apples & Oranges

I always thought people were crazy when they would talk about comparing apples to oranges. If you think about it though, its not really all that strange. You simply cannot compare two things accurately unless they are similar in nature.

What would be really strange though is if an apple tree was in full bloom, loaded down with shiny delicious apples, & *gasp* there was an orange hanging from its branches.

Don't laugh just yet.......it happens more often than we realize.

How many adults do we know who are fine upstanding citizens but their children bring shame upon the family name? How many times have we seen parents bring their children up in a loving, respectful (doesn't always have to be Christian) home only to have those children rebel against everything good & right?

Does this mean the parents have failed? No, I don't believe so, but I'm sure the burden that they carry is unreal.

Does this mean that the community has failed? Possibly, could we have stepped in the first time we saw that child doing wrong?

Does this mean that society has failed? Certainly, we no longer hold ourselves accountable, let alone other people, for mistakes. We are very quick to pass the buck when we mess up or to look the other way when we see someone else heading down the wrong road.

Its time to take a stand!!! If you know of or even suspect a young person heading into trouble, intervene, talk to them, yes, even tell their parents. Its far better to make them mad now, than to look back & wish you could have done something.

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Week (I'm honestly not sure) ~ Paying Attention, Sound, the Great Wolf Lodge, & Chicken Stew

REALLY?!?! Who was the crazy person
that made this necessary?

YES, I actually just admitted to not knowing what week we are on....I think its week 6 & YES, we are STILL studying sound. I came to a realization this week........I think I am just keeping my kids at home, I don't think I am teaching them much of anything. The month of September has been CRAZY & the month of October looks even busier. I am literally booked e v e r y s i n g l e Thursday, Friday, & Saturday through the middle of November - HOLY COW!!! It needs to snow so I can stay home & teach.

Highlight of the week ..... THE GREAT WOLF LODGE ..... YEAH!!!!!!! We had a blast & came home completely exhausted!

Then turned right around & threw a party. Yep - rest is for wimps. I confess. I'm a wimp. I need my rest.

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ a ??Free?? Week

My original plan when setting up our school year was to have "structured school" for 6 weeks, then have a week off for whatever. As I was looking ahead to last week, I realized that I needed to make 3 school related trips to Wilkesboro, so we took our free week a little early. I use the term "free" very loosely!

Monday involved a 2 & 1/2 hour meeting on the 4H science fair. Followed by no time for lunch & a clothing exchange. Since I was coming to town anyway, I was planning on meeting a friend to sell hairbows. I got ALL the way to Wilkesboro when I realized I f o r g o t the hairbows so......I left the 4H meeting early & drove ALL the way back to Elkin. We inhaled lunch & made it to the park in time to grab some good finds for the kids. Sometime in the midst of this, I learned that I needed to scrounge around & make emergency plans for Contenders on Tuesday because what was planned fell through. Then back home & off to football.

Tuesday, we left bright & early for a trip to Walmart & biscuits on the road. Then to Keepers & Contenders. Thankfully, someone stepped up to teach the boys wood sanding & staining, so I just covered the devotions with them. I did stay out there to help. We only have 10 boys this year, but the majority (7 - I think) of them are K-2, so all the supervision we can get is helpful.

After the boys got finished, I went in to "save" Makenzie. Yeah....she was attempting to weave a basket. She was trying, bless her heart. Yet again, someone stepped up & took Logan for me. Thank God for willing vessels & helpful hands!

Ran off to meet daddy for a quick lunch and to sell hairbows. Thankfully!

Then off to Rendevous Mountain for 4H. We hiked around, & talked about mushrooms, insects, & leaves. We had to leave there a little early to ...... yep, sell hairbows. - Don't get me wrong, I not complaining - just tired. And, yet again, barely making it to football.

Did I mention, I had a cold? Oh yeah & it was kicking my hind end.

Wednesday we were supposed to go back to Wilkesboro for a Soil & Water field trip. Notice I said "supposed" to go. Yes, you heard me, I actually said no to something. It was pouring the rain & I was still sick, so we stayed home. I worked on hairbows & tutus instead.

Thursday, I went grocery shopping & attempted to clean house...........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Friday was devoted to cleaning Makenzie's room. Have you SEEN her room?!?! I HATE going in there. She feels the need to change clothes 15 times a day & hide all the clothes in the back of her closet. Anytime we go somewhere, she has to pack a bag of toys, but then never puts them back where they go. She hoards food, trash, & anything else she can sneak into her room. If its missing, check there first.

After emerging from the pits of insanity, Justin & I went to Olive Garden, the mall, & Toys R Us.

Saturday - Walmart, picked up Austin from a friend's, Makenzie's birthday party, the Pumpkin Festival & 2 football games.

WHY did I think it would be a free week????????????

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Week 5 ~ Attentiveness, Sound, Ears, & Nature

OK, so we are 5 weeks into the school year.....(wow, already?)....& I finally feel like things went decent this week. I was able to stick to our schedule (at least for the most part) & I didn't have to cry, scream, & beg to get anything accomplished.

We started our 4 week unit on paying attention with the ear & sound. We tried several different experiments on how sound works. I REALLLLLLY had planned to make a model of the ear. Oops, we couldn't find all of the materials & ran out of  time. I will get that accomplished before we are done - ah, the glory of flexibility!

We also started talking about Helen Keller & Annie Sullivan. Hopefully, after we finish a few books, we will be able to see The Miracle Worker.

Attentiveness: watching close enough to notice details & listening long enough to hear all the facts

Interesting tidbit of information ~ your ears "pop" in order to keep them from actually popping!

We also did our first nature study for this school year. My kids always love this because (to them) we pick a place & go "hang out" in nature. There aren't any rules or any real plans, but we do take our nature notebooks & collection jars - just in case we find something really cool.

For this week's nature study, we went to the park. After we ate a picnic lunch & played on the playground, we walked around & enjoyed the beautiful weather. The kids found different objects that caught their attention to study, inspect, or draw. Austin found a little red flower that, much to everyone's delight, could swear its color onto paper. Then of course, they wanted to play in the creek. As we walked along the banks, we were able to discuss erosion, floods, drought, & how flowing water is cleaner than stagnant water.

All in all, it was a good week......except for the attack of the Zoey Monster. Wednesday ended up being hot enough to play in the water. The kids took advantage of the warmth & broke out the redneck slip n slide

(plastic yellow slide propped up on our back yard bank & a water hose - sometimes we even make a "pool" at the bottom out of black plastic). Well, Zoey wanted to play too & attacked  jumped on welcomed Makenzie at the bottom of the slide. Thankfully Austin was there to save the day.

On a side note...I learned something this week. I should NEVER behave in a way that I wouldn't allow my children to behave. I'm supposed to be teaching them, right? Well, it turns out that they are usually teaching me as well. 

Where Were You?

If you asked me if I remembered what I did last Tuesday, I couldn't tell you. But if you asked me if I remembered what I did 10 years ago on Tuesday, September 11, 2001................. I could tell you exactly what I was doing.

This is a thought that is circulating the world of Facebook.

My grandparents had D Day.  My parents had the Assassination of JFK. Nine Eleven is the date that will forever be remembered in the hearts of my generation.

I know exactly where I was & what I was doing......
I was driving down 421 on my way to class at Wilkes Community College. I was listening to Ace & TJ on KISS 95.1. I remember Ace & TJ announcing that an airplane had just hit the first tower & they thought it was a joke until another plane hit the second tower. One of the other radio personalities was extremely upset because her brother worked in Chicago & at that time, no one knew if this attack was going to be confined to New York. Its strange that I can remember a radio conversation.

As all the students filed slowly into class, no one could focus on the task at hand. We were supposed to have an English test & it didn't seem to matter anymore.

I left school & went to my mom's house. I just sat in front of the television in shock.

Later that night, I sat in Justin's lap as we continued to watch the horror. I was pregnant with Austin & it scared us to death at the thoughts of bringing a baby into this wicked world. We held each other & cried.

I heard a song the other day that devastated me.

Its been 10 years since that horrible day.

Do we really remember what all happened in those few short minutes that seemed like forever? Do we really remember how many families were ripped apart? Do we really remember how America rallied together? Do we really remember how most of us turned back to God? Has it really only been 10 years? It sure seems like a lot longer.

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

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.