The Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up & Giveaway

In my life this week:

It's clear: Baby Brother already loves television. And he has been to two movies so far, and he quite enjoyed looking at that screen, as well. (He slept through most of them, though.) Sorry, Academy of Pediatrics, and I promise his television viewing is rare.

Big things going on at our house this week (which have created this whole new world of exploration for the kids...for some reason, the uniform of choice in the dirt pile seems to be underwear + rainboots). Stay tuned!

This picture was actually taken a few weeks ago, but it shows some other big things going on at our house. New furniture, which equals lots of cardboard to play in. They loved it.

I adore this picture. What would I do without the sweet help of my 3 big kids?



What My Kids Are Saying:
*So...apparently my daughter is boy crazy. How did this happen? And she's so brazen about it.  Ryan is already having panic attacks. She looks him right in the eye and tells him who she thinks is cute and who she is going to marry. I would have never done that at her age! Anyway, we don't discourage (other than putting out our ideas on marriage and courtship) her because we love that she is open with us, but we don't tease her and encourage it, either. We try to remain as matter-of-fact as possible, although Ryan can't help from shake his head in bewilderment at times - and she just giggles about it.

*I was talking about two of the boys' friends the other day. I said, "They are such polite, respectful, sweet boys." She finished, "And cute & stuff." Then proceeded to giggle. And since then, she has asked if these brothers are going to be at certain events!

*Another recent one:
"I'm not getting married. I'm going to be like Aunt Tracy (who is not married, as of yet). But I don't know...cuz there's a lot of boys that's cute."


*In further daughter-airheaded news, as I was reading a book to myself, she didn't understand why I was just "looking" at the pages. "Why do you always look at books, but you don't read them?"


*My 7 year old was NOT impressed that I painted my fingernails black. "Only mean girls paint their nails black...you know, like in fashion..."


*Something I want to remember that my oldest son does, in case he stops doing it: he uses "very" instead of "really." He'll say, "I very want to." 


*That above is one of those things that I adore so much, I don't want to properly correct. It's just like my daughter who says, "E-den," instead of "The End." She says it with flourish, too, like, "Eeeee-den!!!" I'm a bad parent sometimes because I'd rather enjoy their sweet, endearing flubs than teach them the correct pronunciation.

What I'm Reading This Week:
Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up
Clearly there are not enough years in childhood to visit all of the places in the book. And although I'd like to go to every place included, somehow I don't think Venezuela or Hungary are in the cards for us. I was happy to see that I've taken the kids to a lot of the places in the book - although some of them they don't remember at this point, so we may have to redo a few. I've been jotting down my list, and here is part of it that might be realistic:


Ireland (The Giant's Causeway - because of it's "tie" to my son), England (too many places to list), Scotland (Loch Ness Monster), all of Europe basically - we hope to do this our 40th birthday year, Arches National Park (Moab Utah), Hawaii (Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Pearl Harbor), Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, Abe Lincoln museums in Kentucky & Ilinois, Mount Vernon, Colonial Williamsburg, all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder museums, Diamond MO, bats in Austin, Hannibal MO, The Hermitage, Monticello, Canada (too many places to list, including Prince Edward Island - Ann of Green Gables), Joshua Tree National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Mackinac Island, Traverse City, tubing on the Gaudalupe River, Plymouth, Jamestown, Boston & Concord, etc. Valley Forge, Minute Men Museum (This is because they ask frequently to go since it's mentioned in their audiobook.), Alamo, San Diego Zoo, Redwood Forest, a few places in Philadelphia we missed last time, space center to watch a shuttle launch, Kitty Hawk, D.C., Chicago, Roanoke Island, Tombstone, and not in the book - many farm sanctuaries I know of...I also really want to go on a cruise.

Audio books this week: Mercy Watson (the pig), Arthur (the aardvark)

Places We're Going and People We're Seeing:
Exciting news! Baby Brother, my 7 year old, and I are going on a trip together. We're taking the train to NYC and hoping to get out at a couple of places along the way! Wish me luck! I'm going to do something for my other two kids individually, as well. Wish my single-dad husband luck, too! I think they will have a lot of special time together.

In Our Homeschool This Week:
Still reading Little House on the Prairie and doing journal entries and online quizzes. Tornado is finishing up a Saxon Math workbook, and Dash is doing a few pages in a sight words workbook everyday. Tornado consistently has a book he's writing or an art poroject he's creating. Other than that, we've just been working on reading aloud. Dash continues to have track practice, which is so important for him in every which way. (He has energy to burn and emotions to clear out.)

I forgot to write last time about our homeschool field trip to the zoo. I took it this way so that Baby and I could also be in the pic. One thing I want to point out is my 7 year old's matching outfit. He has these red shorts, which I love...and he is so insistent that he pairs them with a red shirt. I'll try to breezily suggest a different shirt, and he's very defensive. "This matches! I think I look good." Indeed, you do, Sweet Boy!

a few of the kids who went

Link to share:
Enter my giveaway for free bread and art supplies. Only 5 entries, so far! No requirement other than your name in the comments. Ends June 1.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

Weekly Wrap-Up

Spring Break

During Spring Break, we headed north to visit some of our loved ones. Baby Brother got to meet many new family members. The trip home was very memorable because after crushing our luggage carrier in my sister and brother-in-law's loft garage, I had a flat tire after dark in Pocahontas, Arkansas. (Ryan was not with me as he has been super busy traveling with work lately so we were only gone a few days.) It was quite an involved experience. I think I'm done driving long distances without Ryan because Baby was not a fan of the car trip experience, in general, not to mention the non-fun factor of being out in the middle of dark nowhere with 4 kids and a flat.

my grandpa and Winnie

Aunt Michele (and Uncle Matt, too)

4 more cousins, including Cousin P...

(I see a resemblance!)

and cousin G

Uncle Andy also got to meet my little guy for the first time.

After we stayed with my brother for a couple of days, we headed to my sister's. He's never short on love, that's for sure. (Pictured above with Cousin W and my kids.)

My kids had an ideal-for-them morning at City Museum.

They played like crazy.

I know they are super jealous of their cousins for living so close to such a fun place. And whenever I leave the City Museum, I have a strong desire to start gluing found objects and sparkly mosaics to my walls at home.

During this trip, Baby Brother started a whole new phase of smiling constantly. He would smile "sort of" before for a split second, smile in his sleep, and have really pleasant looks on his face, but this week he took it to a new level.

   2 1/2 months old                                        

I mean, it seriously never gets old. Almost two months later, I still find no greater joy than making him smile. LOVE!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal & Giveaway

Here is a little bit of what has been going on with us the past two months:

In our life:

The first theme in our lives lately is BABY. We are all about the Baby around here these days. (Yes, there is spit up all over my arm; I didn't realize that until later.) I, personally, could do nothing but STARE and GRIN at him all day long.

Do you blame me?

I love this picture Ryan took because it really shows what our lives are like right now. I was under the covers, reading a book to Sissy. And Baby is between us, content as can be, with the covers up to his chin, his little face peeking under the book at the camera. He's just always right there in the mix.

The other theme of the past two weeks has been "wrapping things up." With the end of every activity ending, I feel that much lighter. I am relieved to be jumping into the car less and less. Co-op, Awanas, art class, preschool, and soccer are all finished. One more ballet class. My 7 year old will continue to have track practice for awhile, but this is very laid-back/non-mandatory.

Awanas Awards Ceremony

last soccer game this season for Sis

last soccer game this season for Dash

Questions I have:
How does my family continue at this pace we've been living? How does everyone/anyone do it? How can you find the perfect combination of activities to stimulate, challenge, and prepare your child without giving up your family time and sanity? Are my children just going to remember their mom constantly declaring, "Let's go! Come on! We're late! Hurry! Now!!!" So what has been on our minds lately is how to achieve a pace that we are more comfortable with. It's hard to know what has to be sacrificed.

I'm Reading:
7 by Jen Hatmaker. I absolutely loved it. My favorite genre of books to read is modern autobiography, and my 2nd favorite genre is Christian advice/encouragement so this is the perfect combination. I'm encouraging my husband to start reading it because I think everyone should read it.

I am reading The Explosive Child by Ross W. Greene. Child #2 is responsible for this coming up in the reading list.

I told Ryan that now I understand how he feels about watching Illinois games with the kids. Because this week the kids and I watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie together for the first time! :) I started reading the series with them recently, and they love it! We did Little House in the Big Woods partly as an audiobook in the car and partly read at home (because it was too frustrating for them to wait until we were in the car again to find out what happens next). We are almost through Little House on the Prairie, and they ask constantly to read more. I had always looked forward to reading the series to my daughter, so I am thrilled that the boys are so into it. They talk about it all of the time - my dream come true!


In our homeschool:

My 7 year old's Thinking Skills class had been preparing for their play this semester. He was a knight.

They performed it the night of the highschool drama class play.

Tornado has taken two art classes this semester. One weekly art class was for any child with special needs in the community. This was sponsored by Community Connections, which has really been a blessing to us. They are growing and really offering a lot of possibilities for our kids. The other art class was once a week at our homeschool co-op. He really enjoyed this, too! On the last days of both classes, the kids all had a chance to display their art for everyone to admire.

 his clay Perry the Platypus

The Little House books have also triggered more of an interest in their Lincoln Logs. I realized how little they had ever played with them because I had to really give them instructions on how to make it work. This is a nice challenge for them to figure out. They also love playing "Little House on the Prairie." They have these long pretend sessions, including Baby Brother in the role of Baby Carrie. And the other day I was the neighbor Mr. Edwards, but I think I overplayed it by singing "Old Dan Tucker" one too many times for their liking.

Quotes to share:

My 5 year old, regarding my elliptical trainer: "Why did you buy this if you're never going to use it?" Ouch.

I was telling the kids a story and referred to "my brother, Matt." My 7 year old said, "Why did you say it like that? I know who Matt is." Then a few seconds later, he added, "That was weird."

I'm grateful for: (continuing on toward my goal of 1,000 gifts...#381-400

our new Ikea organizational furniture, a nice weekend in Dallas, art classes, Community Connections, my son's very fun birthday party, my kids' co-op teachers, our co-op leaders, my daughter's preschool teachers, the sweet friends she made this year, my new phone, my baby's smiles, my baby's giggles, a fun end-of-the-year homeschool party, our upcoming backyard project, my upcoming trip adventure, my dad who loaned us his trailer this week and then hauled off some junk for us, my mom for cooking for us on Mothers' Day, Mexican food, the huge mess currently in my hallway that signifies an hour of fun pretend play by my kids, greens from my dad's garden

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share:

I am hosting a giveaway for Rudi's Organic bread. This includes 2 free loaves of bread and a bunch of art supplies. The only requirement for entering is leaving a comment. Click here to enter!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

Weekly Wrap-Up

Rudi's Organic Bread Giveaway!

I am pleased to announce I am hosting a giveaway for Rudi's Organic Bakery. My family is already fans of Rudi's and has been for years. I'm not a fan of my family eating bread with an ingredient list that is too long and too complicated to even pronounce. Rudi's bread is organic and FREE OF high fructose corn syrup, trans-fat, preservatives, artificial ingredients, and GMO's (genetically modified organisms), etc. All of Rudi's products are soy-free, dairy-free, and egg-free (besides the Gluten-Free products, which contain egg whites).

One lucky person will win this super fun gift: 

1 art kit complete with paints, crayons, markers, ETC., 1 sketch pad for doodling, 1 black beret for creative inspiration (how fun!), a reusable Rudi's Organic bag, and 2 FREE COUPONS for any Rudi's Organic products!


There is a lot of other fun going on at Rudi's right now! Take a look at their website or their facebook fan page. Through their Let's Doodle Lunch campaign (well done, creator of that cute name!),  parents are invited to upload a copy of their child's artwork. This artwork will immediately be viewable in the gallery, and - this is so fun! - you will receive a sandwich box in the mail with your child's artwork printed on top of the lid. This is FREE. Submissions are accepted between now and June 30, 2012. (Note: if you have more than one child, use your spouse's facebook account. If you have more than 2 children, you have to send Rudi's a message through email or facebook with an attachment of your child's artwork so they can manually add it.)


From Rudi's:

The fun will continue from July 1 to July 31, 2012, when Facebook fans will be invited to vote for their favorite design and receive a $0.75 coupon good for any Rudi’s Organic Bakery product. Each vote will also trigger a $1 donation to Chef Ann Cooper’s The Lunch Box, an online toolkit offering healthy tools for school food service, administrators, parents and students to help transition K-12 school lunch rooms nationwide from processed foods to healthy made-from-scratch meals. (Throughout Let’s Doodle Lunch, fans can text “Lunch” to 50555 to sign up for The Lunch Box Newsletter and learn more about how to get involved and support The Lunch Box.)

The design that receives the most votes on Facebook by the end of the July will be named the Rudi’s Organic Official Sandwich Box. The grand prize winner will receive a year supply of Rudi’s Organic bread, a $100 Target gift card for school supplies, a $150 Whole Foods gift card, and a year subscription to KIWI magazine.

From Aug. 1 to Sept. 30, Rudi’s Organic fans can send in three proof-of-purchases and receive a free Rudi’s Organic Official Sandwich Box featuring the winning design. Rudi’s Organic will donate $1 to The Lunch Box for every Rudi’s Organic Official Sandwich Box ordered. 

My kids couldn't wait to submit their artwork, and this is what they came up with:

Sparkly Day
by Sissy

Monster Tearing Up the City

by Tornado

Monster in New York

by Dash

******************************************

Rudi's has graciously offered me coupons to try out their new line of Sandwich & Bagel Flatz. I will report back with a review as soon as I try them! 

To enter the giveaway for the art kit, lunch bag, and free bread coupons, just leave a comment on this post. That's all you have to do! If you do not have a blog, simply click on the comment tab at the end of this post. Choose "Anonymous" so that you will not have to log in. But make sure you leave a way for me to get a hold of you if I don't know who you are. Then in the meantime, feel free to visit their website to print off a 75 cent off coupon. (We buy Rudi's at our local Kroger and Whole Foods. It is available at most health food stores and select mainstream stores, especially ones that carry a good selection of natural & organic products.) And sign up for your free sandwich box featuring your child's artwork!

I will pick a winner using Random Number Generator on June 1, 2012.

3 Month Wrap-Up

Yay; I'm posting! Although being busy with 4 kids now has been part of my blogging absence, I think I just had to get back to a place of being interested in blogging again. I think I'm there. I always remember it's something I enjoy doing once I actually do it. I feel like it's a better use of my time, anyway, because when I clean the house, it's messy again a few hours later. But a blog post remains!

Our baby was born the second week in January. And this is a little of all the other stuff we've had going on since Christmas.

Our new baby...

at the hospital

one of the proudest moments of my life, thus far

 2 or 3 weeks old

l-o-v-e

Since my almost-7 year old thinks he could drive a car perfectly on the road if we'd only let him, he obviously doesn't understand our apprehension toward him walking around the house (on our concrete floor) with the baby, up and down the stairs (which we don't let him do). It's a challenge to allow him some responsibilty and yet keep him close. However, he is actually really good at holding him correctly and tending to his needs. All 3 of them want to hold Baby regularly, but this guy is especially into it. 

2 months, 10 days

At Awanas lately...

One night, the Sparks were asked to dress as someone from another country (because of the focus on missions). This is what we came up with for Dash. This guy makes me laugh out loud as much as his defiant nature frustrates me.

Ryan and I were also able to spend the evening witnessing a night in the life of our Sparkie this week at parents' night.

In our homeschool lately...

I thought that our homeschool would take more of a hit, with our addition. But we have been plugging right along. We've managed to stay pretty caught up with all of our homeschool co-op homework. (Spring Break couldn't have come at a more perfect time; we needed this break.) And here are a few school-ish pictures I've also taken lately:

The kids have been playing with some of the educational games/activities, like this Little Achievers addition puzzle we got at Wal-Mart the other day.

also: two Magnix books, one on counting and the other, rhyming/word families

The kids, led by their oldest brother, have been working on this zoo picture for weeks - gluing on craft stick fences, cutting out pics from magazines, and adding additional artwork with crayons and markers.

One night, they all decided to make puppets and put on a play. They came across an old book about making a play, which inspired them. They made puppets, which turned out really cute, from socks (a new sock, ahem) and toilet paper rolls. Their book Scrambled States of America (which they had read every day for about 2 weeks) also inspired the play, Scrambled States of America and the Haunted House.

Dash was the main narrator, and I could cry over how sweet he was, trying to be serious announcing the show.

Dash received this Magic Tree in his stocking. It worked really well, and the packet was only around $2.

The boys and I went to a local library for an Ireland/St. Patrick's Day homeschool activity. They listened to books, music, and passed around items from Ireland. They finished with these leprechaun crafts.

What I'm Reading Lately...
I mentioned before that I was reading Large Family Logistics. It just so happened that my friend Karen started a book club based on that book, and I've enjoyed being a part of that the past two months.

I just finished Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres - sooo funny. I love how kind and clean her humor is. I really laughed out loud during every chapter. I have been reading The Heart of Homeschooling by Christopher Klicka. I am also almost finished reading The Best Kind of Different: Our Family's Journey with Asperger's Syndrome by Shonda Schilling (wife to former pro baseball player, Curt Schilling).

Extracurricular lately:

Not only did we start Sis back up with ballet (after taking off two months for Christmas and baby's birth), soccer season also began about three weeks ago. AND - it's Sissy's first season on a real team. (She played last year on the parent-child practice league.) Now I have to be at the practice field for two hours, rather than one, and it's all little bit of maneuvering to hit both games (Tomorrow, they're at the same time.). But it's twice the fun, and she seems to really enjoy it just like her brother.

her first after-game tunnel

People we've been seeing lately...

Ryan's parents came down this past weekend to meet their 2 month old grandson.

Aunt Cary was one of the first people to meet our little prince at the beginning of February, when she came down also for Sissy's birthday. Googie, Papaw, and Aunt Tracy were the first ones to meet him (since they live close by).

 Cousin W and Cousin R got to hold their new little loved one too.

A crazy thing that happened...

(Sorry this story is so long, but I wanted to write down the memory for my kids'.) A few weeks ago, I became motivated to go on our first fun outing with just us 5. We went to a library in a nearby town. It's one we particularly enjoy because there is a little lake right next to it. The kids like to walk around the walking/bike path and feed the birds. Well, that's what we were doing, as I was slowly pushing our new Sit 'N Stand stroller plus carseat that held our approximately 15 library books, my iPhone, keys, several blankets, Sissy's coat, and the diaper bag full of clothes and diapers, etc. I was holding Baby Brother because he had been crying, and I was taking pictures of the other 3 kids.

All of the sudden, the wind blew so hard that my stroller, plus all it contained, went flying into the lake. I think a young guy running by yelled out a warning, but it all happened so fast. I stared at the stroller sideways in the lake, starting to float away, and in about 2 seconds tried to process my plan of action. I handed the baby to the stranger (Great, huh? He seemed nice.), pulled off my boots, and jumped into the water. (I only had to go to my knees.) The stroller weighed a ton, and I had to pull with all my might to get it out of there. I grabbed any loose object I could, one at a time, but half of our things, including most of the books, went floating across the lake. I remember thinking little silly things like, "Oh, no, I'm going to have to buy Sissy a new coat, even though winter's almost over," and "Phooey, I really wanted to read those books." We did get her coat, which floated to the other shore, along with a baby shoe. The books floated across, too, which really surprised me. They're readable - just not returnable.

The devastating thoughts came when one stranger asked in the middle of all of this, "Do you have a phone? Can you call someone?" My phone! And my keys! They were both in the water. I never got my phone back, but I did find my keys when I went back to look later. I borrowed a cellphone to call Ryan to come help me. He left work and arrived about 20 minutes later. Fortunately, they were playing Wall-E inside the library, so the 3 big kids were occupied while Ryan helped me with my mess. It had been a little chaotic while I was grabbing things out of the lake because Sissy (who was upset by the whole situation) and the baby were crying the whole time. I only cried after I heard Ryan's voice on the phone (calling from a stranger's phone # while crying with crying in the background, I was smart enough to begin the conversation with, "Everything's okay, but...").

Good news: baby wasn't in the stroller when it went sailing into the water. So that clearly trumps all of the bad news, but still: ruined tons of diapers, ruined my NYC wallet, had to throw my make-up away, lost my new iPhone and I'm not going to pay $500 to replace it (It was purchased as a buy one-get one deal with my husband's, so now I'm just using an old rechargeable phone I had.), had to take the stroller and carseat to the carwash and also take apart the covers to wash at home, and the library is charging me $375 for the books. Oh, and also fortunately I had my nice camera on me and not in the stroller.


Out and about...

Baby Brother's first trip to the zoo (5 or 6 weeks old?)...he pretty much slept through the whole thing, but we enjoyed the beautiful day. I especially liked it because it was the first real day I'd gotten out to walk around in the sunshine; I'd really been craving that. I think my body had been getting sore from sitting around so much.

At Sissy's preschool lately...

Rainforest Unit

Sis was oh, so excited to bring mini cupcakes (from Dempsey's Bakery) to her class for her 5th birthday.

Hope you had a good week!

Linkin' Up:

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

Weekly Wrap-Up