Zoo Trip

   My girlfriend Holly set up a great field trip at our local zoo for the kids.  We got to meet 4 animals up close and personal and then go hang out in the zoo for the day.  The animals were a duck, snake, turtle and a ferret.  The snake was the biggest hit with my family...ewww.  It was a beautiful day to be out and they had a ball seeing the animals while hanging out with friends.  Thanks Holly!

 Funny the snake kind of camouflages with the zebra in the back ground!

 That cute little one in the pink coat is my baby :0( She thought she was so big sitting with all the kids.

I wanted to strangle my boys after this presentation.  She asked all sorts of questions about birds which we just studied and they sat there mute!  I asked them why they didn't answer any questions... typical boy answer, "I don't know."  I asked them if they knew the answers, "Yeah."  Ergh!  Usually I can't keep them quiet, here's there chance and nothing.  Oh well it was still fun.

Hannah's First "Love"

   We visited our friends a few weeks ago and Hannah was so thrilled because "her" Erik would be there.  Erik is 18 (maybe 19??) and a freshman at University of Michigan, my girlfriends oldest of two boys.  For some reason Hannah has been smitten with him since she was 2!  He listens to her jabber on and on and for some reason she just adores him.  He's a great guy, I'm just not really sure WHY she is so drawn to him but she is.  It's pretty cute.  So here's a few pics from our visit... with bad lighting on my old cell phone but Hannie doesn't care :0)

Notice the piles of cubes all sorted by color, she then showed off her counting skills a million times while Erik sat there patiently encouraging her.  Gotta love that guy!

I Want to Know HIM More

   In all my home/school struggles this fall I have just felt off.  I haven't been able to put my finger on it... just off.  Finally talking to one of my best friends helped me see what was going on.  I was sharing with her my frustration and then this moment of watching the Duggar Family and Michelle saying something along the lines of how kids can learn anything the Lord puts on their hearts to learn.  That it's never too late.  But also their goal is to build wisdom first and add knowledge to that.  I watched and thought, "Hey! That's what we always said!" but that's not what we've been focusing on lately.  I have so many friends with kids in special classes or doing special activities or trips and it's almost like a homeschool peer pressure to keep up. However, I really know that as of now I don't feel the Lord leading us to use any outside classes for our kids.  So I've been rummaging through curriculums and schedules and discipline ideas all to find the answers to the challenges/pressures I feel while never being able to settle that feeling of being "off". As I was going on and on to this friend she stopped my rant and hit the nail on the head. She said, "Tami, maybe that's what God is trying to show you.  He never called you to this for academic reasons (not that that's not important) but for heart reasons.  For character.  Really when you get down to it, it doesn't matter which curriculum you use.  Any of them will do to teach diligence and self-control and obedience if that's where you FOCUS lies." I let out a huge breath and felt like suddenly I figured out my issue!  I think it was like a catch in my Spirit as I was trying to find answers in all the wrong places!  My goal is to know HIM more and for my children to love and know HIM more!  Yes, I want them to "know" math but not more than I want them to know Him!  If they could never add... well, can't say I'd be super comfortable with that BUT that is not my top goal!!  Somehow as we've hit this new season my focus got very caught up on acadmics and accomplishments and records and grades and and and.  I'm sure a lot of that has to do with high school being so close for Carter.  AND it's not bad to reevaluate or look for better fits but when you're looking without The Lord...you're looking in vain.  I think we all know this but for me I needed a reminder.  So here's YOUR reminder from me!  What solutions are you looking for in life with your work, spouse or children?  Are you looking to programs or advice from other people and forgetting to look to The Creator??  I know sometimes it's hard to hear Him!  Sometimes it's hard to trust.  Sometimes you can hear and trust but lack confidence in YOUR decisions, constantly asking yourself if you're sure you heard right!  But seeking the Lord first is where the promise lies...

Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.


So I will seek Him and I will trust Him to add unto us all that we need...

Light Bulb Moment

   I was part of a very good webinar a week ago on positive parenting.  I've never done one of those but it was really cool!  Anyways, it's had my brain spinnin' and thinking since then on all different challenges and successes we've had in our home. While in the midst of analyzing some issues I suddenly had an "ah ha" moment.  It really didn't have a lot to do with what was taught it was just there. I was thinking about our inconsistency and trouble with scheduling.  We seems to always be trying a new one and never sticking to anything for long.  What I suddenly realized was I was giving WAY too much of the decision making to the kids!  I guess I thought if I asked their preference or ideas they'd be more on board with me.  What I've learned is asking their opinion just seems to make them think they have way more say than they do with how life flows! Actually I was giving them a ton of influence on my decisions and now I see their only real desire is to get out of work (human nature right!).  So their opinions weren't actually helping me accomplish my goal, they were hindering me!  Now I just need to figure out how I want things to go.  That's how I know they've had too much input... I'm not really sure how I want things to go!!  So I'll be thinking and praying on that!  All this power I never knew I had! LOL!  Actually I had it, I just didn't realize how much I was handing over!  It'll be interesting their reaction when I say, "This is how it's going to be... period."  I'm sure they'll just look at me strange like whhhaaattt?  Hee hee, that'll be fun ;0)

Five In A Row

   I said last week I'd do a quick post about this so here ya go.  We LOVE FIAR.  You can check it out here.  It basically takes great children's stories and you read them... five days in a row.  Hence the name.  Then each day you take a different subject and learn about it in context with the story.  So for example you'll read The Story About Ping and on the day you learn about geography it will give you all sorts of ideas of how to explore the Yangtze River in Asia.  It covers Geography, Social Studies, some math, Science, Art... on and on it goes but the great part is it's up to you to decide which subject you want to do which day and even within each subject there are several ideas.  My kids LOVED these and still have great memories of them.  They have Before Five In A Row for 2-4 year olds which we've done at times as well.  All the volumes are full of great books I may have never heard of without FIAR. Let's face it we all know young kids love the same story over and over again!  This is just adding purpose to it!  You add your own math and phonics/language to it and you're done.  They do have Beyond Five In A Row for ages 8-12 and I've looked into but for some reason never did it, I'm not sure why since we loved FIAR so much.  For me it feels like home.  Whenever schooling is going bad or I feel overwhelmed we pull out FIAR and breathe again.  You can use it as your whole curriculum or just bring it in when you feel like it as a unit study.  Looking through it this week I always marked the initials of the child I did it with and the date by each activity, I forget how little they were just a few years ago!  They have one volume for even older kids but that must not have been very popular because that's all they've had since way back when I started with Caleb.

  Like I said earlier, if you are thinking of homeschooling and are just starting, you're working with little ones before they start school or you want to continue learning while they're off for summer break, Five In A Row is a great tool.  It was the first thing recommended to me when I started homeschooling and I'm so glad it was.  They also have a holiday addition with books and ideas for holidays, a cookbook for recipes to go with various books and a Bible supplement to go with some (all?) volumes.  They have message boards online to help you and they'll ask you which volume you're "rowing" ;0)  Cute.

  There you have it... my glowing review of FIAR.  Check it out if you're looking for something that allows you to snuggle up with your kids and learn together.  We loved it and I think you will too.