Homeschool happens

August 31, 2014 | Stacy

here

(my bedroom)

and here (dining room)

and here (living room)

and here (Katriel’s room).

With four bigger kids (grades 9, 7, 5, & 3), a preschooler, and a resident messer – school has to be creative.

We had our first experience in dispersing in 2011 when Johanna was one. One year olds are hard to contain and hard to ignore. When Johanna was one-something, we took school to my bedroom. We did our language and reading on my bed. And that coziness led to a tailbone injury for me. So then we got a table in my room.

We decided to SKIP the tailbone injury this time and go straight to the ugly-table mode. This allows the youngest member of our family to continue her exploring and playing on the entire first floor. Whichever sister is available keeps a general eye out for her. Or in the case of a few days this week, her adoring Nan keeps her safe.

New this year are some preschool items for Johanna. She LOVES her “school” time (a/k/a dedicated Mommy-time). Mrs. Soanes from church blessed us with some Bible-based teaching tools and we are loving them.

John and Stewart have been meeting at 5:30 A.M. to do biology. John is not a biology expert or anything, but he’s a great dad. The idea behind getting Stewart up so early is to ensure him more quiet time for his studies, and the chance to work on some higher level work with the support of his father. Dad also introduced him to the joy of coffee. He likes it. (I’m not a coffee drinker.) Stewart’s attitude has been STELLAR. Just fantastic. He’s also working on Algebra this year (started in July) and is doing well. Math was his worst subject in the primary grades and he has grown to not only tolerate it, but also master it.

Speaking of good attitudes, Nigel has the “Bathroom Zone” as his six month zone for cleaning. A week or so ago, he and I put aside about 45 minutes so that I could instruct him in what I wanted to see accomplished in each room. He has accepted this chore with not just resignation, but with complete ownership of the expectations. Frankly, the bathrooms have not been this clean in a few years. And – he commented that it might even be fun to be a janitor. I concur. And if God calls him to that job someday I would be glad to know he did it to serve the Lord. (He’s been setting a great example!)

I did buy a new tote and move some faux plants to make our bedroom workspace less congested. This is SO ironic, too. See, I’m picking up some extra hours this fall so that we can hopefully buy a new carpet for our bedroom early next year. I want to throw out our holey bedspread (we’ve already turned it over and are using the back side of it) and use the beautiful one I bought 8 years ago before we moved that has been in a closet all this time because it clashes SO much. So – the idea of “sprucing up” our master bedroom amidst language arts, mathematics, and the like is sort of comical. 🙂 And something other homeschool families can understand I am sure.

Stewart has had a table in the boys’ bedroom two years now. Nigel now is using the table I set up in Katriel’s room. Marie does most of her school work in the evening before it is due. And Tabitha does some of hers in the morning in different places, and most of it one-on-one with me while Katriel naps.

We flex. We bend. But with God – we will not break.

Can I get an Amen?

we went for ice cream the night before school started…

August 24, 2014 | Stacy

Bummer. Summer.

August 24, 2014 | Stacy

I’m not proud of this post. I don’t mean to sound all complainy. But this summer… never arrived.

Oh – after such a LONG, COLD, UGLY winter – I had major PLANS to enjoy this summer. I carefully restricted my working to just one eight hour shift on the same night each week. By doing this, we reasoned, we could plan for regular opportunities to have guests over for fellowship. I envisioned lovely gatherings, cooking out & enjoying the pool.

There were flaws in this plan. But how could I have known?

First of all – SUMMER NEVER ARRIVED. The calendar may have said June, July, and August, but it felt like April stalled and September came early. Temps were cool and it rained a LOT.

Secondly – John’s efforts to complete the pool deck moved much more slowly than he could have imagined. I can’t tell you how many times he planned to pull out the air compressor, saw, etc., just to see the rain clouds roll in. And although almost every weekend WAS delightfully rain-free (thank you, Jesus), our weekends included events such as: lawn tractor dying (which necessitated us PUSH mowing major sections); van stalling in Victor (which necessitated us having it towed to Fairport & starter being replaced); computer dying (which anyone who owns a computer knows can suck hours of your time in fixing); & windshield cracking (making us a one vehicle family for a few days).

Having the unfinished pool deck was a big problem. Not just because it didn’t look nice, but because it was a HUGE SAFETY ISSUE. I nicknamed it the death-trap and couldn’t let the younger kids play outside without me out there as well.

Finally – with it pouring rain so many week days, much of our yard work got pushed to the weekends. This kept me from reaching out and making plans with people, knowing we would be spending that time maintaining the yard.

There are other disappointments, as well. I never had time to paint the powder room. I didn’t get the kids’ memory boxes sorted out. And a handful of other, “I’ll do it in the summer” projects I had shelved during our busy school year. (I’m lucky to get groceries in the school year.)

I also found this summer Extremely Stressful in planning for high school. Transcripts, Literature Programs, Credit Hours, and Units. Microscopes, The Screwtape Letter, Logic texts, and Economics.

Medically I also dealt with low blood pressure and debilitating fatigue. I won’t pour out dull details.

All this to say: summer did not prove to be a time of refreshment and restoration. In fact, I’m almost ready to start the school year just because I’m tired of waiting for Summer Fun to come. She’s late to the party.

Thankfully, I don’t have to put my hope in summer. While I DO enjoy the reprieve it’s supposed to bring, it’s not the place I put my Real Hope.

Isaiah 40:28-31
²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

As we begin our 10th year of homeschooling I am leaning on the One who knows all our days.

And I am praying that if He sees fit, He will spare us from another Polar Vortex.

Enjoy this Random Summer Photo…

Stewart is 14

August 19, 2014 | Stacy

“Mom, when you blog about my birthday, use the picture with the lightning that Nan took.”

He rocks. He just does. He’s not perfect. He complains about vacuuming, and teases his sisters. But he is a very great guy.

He asked if we could go to RMSC for his birthday and since we hadn’t been there in years I said we could. It would have been $68 for the day, or $83 for a membership, so I went for the membership. But I am sorry I did. It used to be that movies at the Planetarium were included and that would have given us a great pay-off for the huge admission fee/membership. Turns out they are now $6/pp. Seriously? We will never go. And as the museum is plastered with evolution-based lies I feel like I have to constantly play defense. So I do not love it there. Oh – and now you pay extra for this and extra for that, and…

I’ll get back to the birthday at hand. ♥

Johanna saw the sand and asked, “I get my hands dirty?” in her permission-seeking voice. She didn’t quite buy it.

She also could NOT get herself up and around in this climby thing. Maybe next year.

We really enjoyed these building block things.

Stewart was very excited about the sour cream we gave him. Sadly, we had forgotten to refrigerate it and it wasn’t edible. But it was the thought that counted.

No. No. No. It was just a CONTAINER. It had something Much Classier in it. An I.O.U. Yes. It was a paper that said, “I. O. U. A. I. O.”

Which stands for “I owe you Adventures in Odyssey.” It had a shipping delay. We also gave him an Orange Crush t-shirt and a pair of headphones. And a yummy homemade (as in every iota from scratch) lemon cake with lemony filling and lemony frosting. It was superb.

He’s a great guy and I’m so glad we get along as well as we do. I sincerely pray it never changes. He’s a light.

Growing girl…

August 16, 2014 | Stacy

Katriel will soon be 18 months old.
She sits quietly with her food (even when she is hungry!) while we say grace. And she punctuates it with her, “Aa-mon.”
She says, “Ock,” for both socks or shoes, and as soon as she hears the word, “outside” she starts looking for them.
Speaking of outside, she says something like, “ah-die” for outside.

We tried to teach her sign language for “milk” many months ago. She tried valiantly to learn it, but ended up coming up with a sign of her own. It means both “milk” and “please” it seems. And occasionally “more”. Actually – now that I think of it, anytime she wants something she uses that hand motion. It’s adorable.

She sleeps with her “Taggie” and her “Minnie”. None of our kids ever had a Taggie before. She loves it. Grandma Judy at church gave it to her.

She loves the pantry. She bee-lines right for the empty mason jars, or stray bottles of water. If she can’t find one of those fast enough she looks in the Pepsi case to see if she can reach one of those.

She busy. And she’s tall. We can’t leave anything near the edge of the counters…

We love her. She’s a treat. She still doesn’t have a nickname… It astonishes me.

Caught up !!

August 13, 2014 | Stacy

Okay – this blog has languished this summer. I’ve had all kinds of computer/photo and phone-talking-to-computer issues. Plus – I hate sitting around the computer when I could be doing something else. But I finally got the photos straightened out. And Apple gave me my third iPhone since February. (They seem to give them away like candy. But I don’t care to rehash all of THAT insanity.) So – hopefully – I will not fall behind again. Although school starts soon (8/25) so the barrel-of-laughs is bound to stop rolling. 😉

Some fun flashback pictures from April 2007.

Tabitha’s first birthday.

First party at the “new” house.

Boys for T-Ball.

Pretending to be mad.

she’s so much like Marie it scares me

August 10, 2014 | Stacy

Okay – it delights me. Marie is a jewel. (But she got hurt a lot as a kid!)

A funny thing happened on the way to the school year…

August 7, 2014 | Stacy

See John had to travel to Rhode Island for training for a week a while back. When he told me he was going I grimaced and said I would like “a vacation.” [See – his work trips are a lot like vacation. A typical day at home – he and I would rate with a “stress level” of maybe 7 out of 10. A hectic day at work, maybe a 10/10. These work trips? He concedes the stress level is about a 1½. Therefore – these are actually even MORE relaxing that the average family vacation. Now – back to the story.]

When I grimaced and stated, “I would like a vacation,” he said I should have one. Um. Sure. Whatever. About two weeks later he told me he had to go away another time for training. I grimaced and said I would like a vacation. He said I should have one. Um. Sure. Whatever. Three or four days later I said to him, “Where are you going for the second training?” He looked at me sheepishly and said, “Tucson.” My mouth dropped open and I thought – I would like a vacation. I couldn’t actually SAY it because my mouth was gaping open. He said, “I’m telling you, I think you should take a vacation.” Huh? What are you talking about? We have a big family. Vacations cost a fortune. But a few days after that when we were outlining John’s trips to the kids I said how I would like a week off. NOT a week away from them, but a week away from dishes and cooking, and dirty floors, and emails. John said he thought I should find someone to go away with for a few days.

At first I thought I should go out and visit friends who moved to the Pacific northwest. But honestly, that would feel HORRIBLE without my kids. To see all of their kids would make it so weird. So I dropped the idea. Or so I thought. Out of nowhere a few days later I jokingly texted to Emily how John had work trips. I told her how I wanted to go away for a few days. She said she did, too.

And now she and I are going on a 5-night cruise in November!! For. Real. And I’m giddy. And John is wholly supportive. My mom thinks it is a “Wonderful” idea and is going to help him with the kids. And I am going to go. There are moments when I think I’ve lost my mind. I never do anything without my awesome family. I am going to miss them SO. MUCH.

But – people are going to cook for me ALL DAY LONG. FOR FIVE DAYS! I can sit in a chair and read for hours and hours. And – if the weather is nice I can swim in the OCEAN on a Caribbean Beach. For Real.

The cruise cost $296 including transfers. The air was like $260. The one night hotel was FREE with points.

Princess Cruise line – Caribbean Princess. Cheap inside staterooms. Two days at sea and stops at Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman. They serve cookies and milk daily on the ship. And the Ultimate Soft Drink Package includes MILKSHAKES. And you can watch MUTS. That stands for Movies Under the Stars. (If anything decent is showing.) But I can have milkshakes.

(It doesn’t seem real.)

Park Rats…

August 6, 2014 | Stacy

We’ve taken up the habit of visiting parks as much as we can. And we are trying to visit a variety of them. I don’t take pictures each time. And I’ve lost count how many we have been to these last two weeks. But we are having fun and getting outside. Combating loneliness…