To Homeschool or Not To Homeschool....?

      

I think that when I decided to home school my kids, I was the first of my friends and family to really give it a go and everyone thought I was NUTS! I guess I can't blame them.  I was stepping out on a ledge from the normal and everyone seemed to find it scary and unrealistic.

 

Here's the questions I got (if you're considering homeschooling you might have heard a few of these or even asked them yourself)

 

Q: Don't you want your kids to socialize?

 

A: My kids do socialize! They get a chance to interact with lots of people all throughout the day and they aren't shy about it either because they learn from example through myself. Why would I want my kids to only socialize 5 days a week, 6+ hours of the day with only the age group that they are in? Come on, really? I want my child to be able to handle life and its experiences ,not throw a tantrum or roll their eyes at me because that's what all the other kids their age do. Show me a handful of public schoolers that can interact with senor citizens as if it's normal or treat a younger child as an equal. My kids need to learn respect and I can show them that while they get to meet other people from all walks of life.

 

Q: Are you smart enough to teach your own kids?

 

A: Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence. Hello, I am their mom! I have been teaching my children from day one. Who do you think taught them to walk, talk, and pee in the toilet? ME, ME, ME! If you have ever potty trained, you know that's a challenge all in itself. I graduated high school so I better darn know how to do something in this life. When I do get stuck there's a world full of knowledge waiting to help me. No shame in asking for it, either. Internet, library, tutors...you make it one day at a time and you move on. So yes, I am smart enough to teach my kids.

 

If you were ever in school, think about what you actually use today (besides math)? I want my kids to learn fun stuff, okay English too. But basically I want them to learn how to survive in this life on top of normal schoolwork and I can teach them how to budget a bank account, read contracts, or even how to live credit card FREE! Yup, no credit cards. What in the world is that like to a pre-30-year-old these days?

 

Q: What about graduation?

 

A: Well if you're like me and involved in your local home school group, you're most likely going to have a group of kids your kids' ages, so you can have a little graduation ceremony and all the hoopla if you really want to. If you're wondering about diplomas, that's an easy fix as well. The options are out there. You can charter and actually have a school that follows your child throughout the years and they get a diploma from the school they (cough) attend. Or you can private home school and for a really small fee, like $10 a year or something, you can sign up with companies like HSLDA http://www.hslda.org/ that will actually send your child and accredited diploma from "YOUR SCHOOL". That's another story about you starting up a private school, but not hard to do.

 

Q: Don't you feel like they should go to prom?

 

A: OH BOY! NOPE. What is prom anyway? Any TV show these days only talks about how teens go to prom just to have sex after the dance, and it seems like if you ask any teen, that's what they agree with. If they even go, cause you know, "prom's lame" and all that “I am too cool for school dances anyways” attitude.

 

Again, if you have a good home school connection you can set up something with the other parents and have school dances or whatnot. My daughters will have weddings one day if they feel like getting married, and will make a big deal out of the dancing portion of that. I went to public school and the dances weren't anything I care to relive. So nope, I am not worried about it.

 

Q: How do you know what to teach them?

 

A: You can teach them whatever you see fit! The joy of home school is that you're the teacher and you teach whatever method works best for you and your family. A little research can go a long way as well. The internet is full of "State Standards" what the government thinks your child should be learning and at what age they need to learn it. Funny thing is, they throw all the kids in one box. As a parent/gaurdian you know that not all kids learn at the same rates, so you get to speed along as fast or slow as your child needs. You do one on one training with them and don't move on til they actually understand what they learn. Besides, some things that they are teaching in school is just silliness. Yes, my 5th grader knows her states and capitals, but really, who needs that information? It's not like I am going on a game show. We made a game out of it and she picked them up quickly but we didn't spend much time on them because I really didn't see them as a have-to-have in life. 

 

Q: What kind of methods do you use?

 

A: Again, the research is out there, so find what's best for your family. There are charter schools, private schooling, unschooling, traditional schooling.....on and on and on. I could do a whole post on what this all is but that would take up a bunch of time. That's why there are big fat thick books on it.

 

Q: Do you teach because you're a religious nut?

 

A: Probably more now than when I first started ;) And God is important in my family's life, but no, that isn't the main reason I home school. I want to know what's going into my child's brain,  just like I want to know what they are eating. It's important to me to feed their souls as well as their bodies. No, we don't use curriculum that has Jesus in the name or 1 Jesus plus 1 Jesus is how many Jesus's? That's silly. But I do want to teach them what I believe is right from wrong and not what the world's opinion is. They have their whole adult life to find out what the world thinks. For right now they are children, and I think it's important to let them be kids without thinking about boys, or girls, or what looks sexy or blah blah blah. We can just focus on what's important: being a kid as long as possible and learning what they need to learn.

 

Q: Oh, so you shelter your kids then?

 

A: YUP. I guess you can say I do. I don't let my 8 year old watch shows about sex or violence or anything else that I find inappropriate, but I do let them grow and learn about what is age appropriate. I was in a video game store one day trying to sell the Wii that we had that no one used (see, we have electricity--we're not crazy) and I overheard the clerk tell the dad about the son's game he wanted to purchase, that it was not age appropriate for him and had lots of violence, launguage, and skimpy clothing. To my surprise the dad said, "Oh okay, we'll still get it." My guess was the son was maybe 12 years of age? You have got to be joking me. The clerk goes out of his way to point out that it's really not a good game for him and the father is more like, who cares. If that's not okay then I don't know what is. So yes, I shelter them. I figure I will sleep better that way. No nightmares to wake them up, therefore no nightmares that wake me up. I am open and honest if they have questions, and if I feel the question isn't age appropriate, I tell them when they get to that age we'll talk about it then. Deal?

 

Q: How do you meet other homeschoolers?

 

A: Goodness, we don't live in caves. Use your internet, people. For example, I am moving to England this year. I went online and looked up things like, "home schooling in England", "home education in the UK", and Yahoo groups with similar titles.

BINGO- I found three home school groups--well there they say home educate groups--in the area right around where we'll be moving. I asked to join the group and guess what? They accepted me. I told them my deal on why I wanted to join and the big move we have coming up and I actually got a bunch of email responses from moms that were in the group and welcoming me in.  We have already made at least one good connection with another family and we are very excited to have something to look forward to in our "SOCIAL" life. We already feel like we have friends there. Now tell me one time you meet anyone from your child's public school pre-move and felt like you already had a friend there? .....Que crickets.......?.......?........? I didn't think so. Home schooling moms want to make friends just as much as the children in home schooling do. It's a win-win. You get to actually know the children that your kids like and the parents like. None of this “who are you with and what do you do” nonsense. When they are old enough to drive, you can give them more freedom on friend-finding on their own, but as long as I have to cart them from event to event I am for sure going to know who they are hanging out with. (Again, age appropriate.)

 

Q: Don't you want a break from your kids?

 

A: If I wanted a break from my kids why would I have ever had them in the first place?

No I do not want a break from my kids. Before I know it they will be off in the world and not want a whole lot to do with me (probably pre-kids, then they will be begging grandma to babysit for date night). So I want to spend as much time with them as I can. Studies have shown that not only are home schooled/educated families closer, they know how to communicate with each other. Public school teaches us how to be apart from each other. We end up getting to a point where we really need that alone time and we do not understand how to function with each other when things get stressful or overwhelming. When you're forced to face issues on a daily basis while the child and parents grow together ,you learn how to deal with all situations and you don't end up needing to constantly have space from everyone. None of this, "I cant wait til summer break ends. I want you to go back to school." Now I do have my moments where I want to scream, run away and hide. I am only human. What parent doesn't? But I also don't want to miss out on what life has to offer. Seeing my kids use their brains and the smile that crosses their faces when the light bulb clicks is amazing! You didn't want to miss their first steps, so why would you let a total stranger have your memories of your kids' accomplishments?

 

Q: This one's for you the reader.

You just bought a brand new car. It's everything you could ever dream of. A stranger knocks on your door. He asks to use your car from 8am-3pm every day. He promises to bring the car back safely each afternoon. Do you allow him to take your car, this new prized possession? Of course you don't. That's crazy. But think about it, this is what we do with our children, OUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS!!!! We cart them off to public school with a complete stranger 5 days a week 8-3 or whatnot and wish them luck. This teacher you maybe talk to 2x a year at parent teacher meeting, and chances are you never meet them before the first day of school. Who is this person? Yes they had to pass some kind of finger printing to get the job they have, but has finger printing ever stopped anyone from doing anything? Then we wonder why we hear about teachers molesting kids or whatnot. (NO, I do not believe all teachers are bad, I am just throwing out examples of what I think.  If you don't like my opinion you're free to stop reading at any moment.) We tell our kids to watch out for stranger danger, then we wave goodbye with a smile as they are now in the hands of the unknown teacher for a year.

Just sounds silly to me?

 

I know that there are people who have to work all day, long hours, to make the money to support the family. This blog post is just why I home school and what my thoughts on this subject are. These are my most asked questions answered for you. None of my answers are to make you feel guilty or accuse you of not doing what's best for your family. This is what is best for my family.  I also want to say that I am USAF wife and we get uprooted more then the average family and this is a good fit for us because we aren't constantly changing schools, my kids get to bring their classmates with them, and we get to enjoy life while sightseeing, on top of learning firsthand about history and science. Home schooling has been a total blessing for us. We get the chance to learn together, grow together, and just be a happy family-oriented family. No waiting for school to let out for summer to take a vacation, no calling the school because someone's sick. We get to do our school work in our PJ's if we want or at the park if the weather's nice. Doctor's appointment, no problem.  We'll do school in the waiting room or after lunch.  Grandma wants to visit ? Sure, why not, we can throw in extra work during the week or make it up Saturday. The real world usually does not follow a 9-5 Mon.-Fri. job unless you actually choose a job that is like that. For most hard working Americans the schedule changes with little to no notice, you have late nights, early mornings, or even no days off for weeks. Home schooled children know how to go with the flow because your dragging them along for real life all the time. They see you every day for the majority of the day and learn through you how to handle things. They are avoiding peer pressure and staying out of trouble because they are supervised and don't have to try to impress anyone. They have friends from all walks of life and can probably tell you a little bit about every subject because you have been letting them watch way too much Discovery or History Channel to get out of reading an actual history book. They can cook and clean because we include chores in our schoolwork and cooking a good substitute for learning about science. They are smarter than you give them credit for because 15 minutes a day of reading turns into hours of reading all about whatever interests them, and homework time means helping take care of the home, because the schoolwork is already done. The older child finds pleasure in teaching the younger child(ren) Which is a nice break when you have a full schedule.

 

Happy Home Schooling if you choose to and if not, thanks for keeping an open mind about it.

We're not crazy hippies (although that looks like a good time), wer'e just parents trying to do the best we can with the knowledge that we have.

 

 

Mexican Lasagna

Have you ever had one of those night where you have no clue what in the world your going to make for dinner? Yup Me too! So in a whim to make something tasty and use up whatever I could find in the cabinet this is what I ended up coming up with.....

Mexican Lasagna

1lb Hamburger Meat
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can black beans
1can re fried beans
tortillas
Mexican mix cheese (any cheese you like will do)
sweet peppers
1 can olives
1/2 to 1 cup frozen corn

Step 1: Cook your hamburger meat and add the taco seasoning. While doing this dice up sweet peppers (as many as you would like)
Step 2: Preheat oven to 350' Use a backing dish of whatever size you need for your family. Coat the pan in spray so that your tortillas wont stick. Cover the bottom of the dish in a thin layer of tortillas. Then so a thin layer of Re fried beans, followed by shredded cheese.
Step 3: Cover in tortillas again, then beans, then Hamburger meat, Cheese, then add corn and sweet peppers. Make sure you cover evenly.
Step 4: Cover with Tortillas again, then black beans and cheese

When your done with your layers (you can do them however you want this is just what I ended up doing) Place in oven for 30 mins. Just long enough to warm the beans and melt the cheese.

Take out of Oven and cover the top in as many Olives as you want (I broke mine up in to halves)
You can also add sour cream, salsa or whatever other taco type items you want. I just didnt because I didnt have any.
Cut and Serve
 It ended up being a BIG HIT with my family and probably coast me around $15 dollars. To feed 7 people thats not a bad deal.

Meet My Family

Heres my crew, thought you might like to meet them:

This is my wonderful husband, he is currently serving in the USAF and we have five beautiful kids together. He is my best friend and we are currently both going to school to get our AA in leadership and Ministry.

This is my Beautiful 10 year old daugher Anika, She is growing like a weed! I still remember the day I brought her home from the hospital. She has such a sweet heart and loves music. She is currently learning how to play guitar

 

 

This is my Strong willed but lovely child Miss Shyanne. She just turned 8 years old and loves to be a clown. She has decided to try out Violin and is actually pretty good at it. Smart little thing on top of musically talented and by far has passed each grade with flying colors. She is so bright!

Allyson althought I chose this picture just because I thought she looked so pretty, she is really my silly child. Tomboy and all. Her favorite toys are Dinosaurs and Dragons. But She loves being in Tap and Ballet and wants to follow in her big sisters steps and play a musical instrument.

All the girls are ballet starts

This is our only son Levi. He is currently 2 1/2 years old and spoiled rotten! He is a handful and I think more drama then all of the girls combined ha ha. But he really can be a sweet heart if he wants to be. But I currently found my second grey hair (first wasnt to much earier) I am blaming it on this little nugget because he really does like test the waters. He loves to dance and play musical instruments as well.

This is our family picture that we took when daddy was deployed. I was currently 8 mo pregnant in this photo EEKKK I was as big as a house this last time around. We left baby number 5 as a suprise so we had no idea if we were going to have a boy or girl. So when I popped this is who came out.....

This is Miss Amariah and she is currently 11 weeks old and a total joy. Although poor Levi is now the only boy out of five kids, I wouldn't change her for the world! She has a very sweet soul already easy to please and gives some of the best smiles I have ever seen. I can not wait to see who she grows up to be but at the same time I want her to just stay a baby as long as possible. She just like the rest of them is growing like a weed as well.

 

This is ME!

Who am I? Hm I am native american Chickasaw tribe, really crafty, photography (all these pics where taken by me except the one with my kids and myself pregnant) and being really silly. I love to try new things and I think the best part about life is spending it with people you love while doing things that you never thought you could do before. One thing I love to do is change my apperance. I love to creat new style and be whoever I want to be. I would rather listen to music then watch TV, read rather then clean. My family is my everything and God is the center of that! 

 

So here we are! Once big crazy family!

 

Forever Friends?

I am sitting here at my kitchen table wondering what my life is going to be like over these next four weeks. Friends, and I am talking about real friends not just someone you say hi to when you go to church or work. Well I am pretty good at meeting people, but turning people into forever friends is a pretty hard deal. I think that my main wondering is coming from the fact that I started reading this book with my FB book club called Grown-up Girlfriends but focus on the family. While I at first was not interested in the book because it seemed a little whinny, turned out to have some really good insight as to how God made women need other women in their lives.
To top that off were moving not only to another city, or state, but to another Country! ENGLAND! So I have to make all these big changes and saying good bye to my dear friends here is one of them. I hope and pray that I will be able to stay in contact with these friends here, but lets face it, with five kids and home schooling I am busy. My friends are busy. Life is Busy! So I know that although we might be able to stay in contact from time to time its not going to be like it is now. We wont have coffee shop meet ups, park day therapy sessions, and most of all goofy late night chats (texting) about how are kids and husbands are driving us nuts! ;) (I love you mike he he)

I think that biggest issue is that I am going to have to just pray about it. Ask God to send some people into my life that I can rely on and talk with in a manor of true relationship. I know that its going to be a struggle because the logical part of my brain says, "your only going to be there 4 years, why bother putting yourself out there just to say goodbye to more people?" The fact is four years might go by quickly but I am still really going to need those connections. The book talks about how God designed women to have a stress outlet in other women, and understanding that they can't get from their husbands. Dont get me wrong your husband should be your best friends of all. But husbands are built to fix things. When they hear a women complain they jump on the "How can I fix this bandwagon" Women dont always want some one to fix them, or there problems. We just need to vent, de-stress, connect, and understand were not alone.

I will always have a special place in my heart for my friends I have now, from my past and present state. This will not change the fact that I love them or am thankful for the times that we shared together, But I know that I also have a big enough heart for new friends.

I am trying to be more excited then worried.
Heres to happy Friend Hunting on my next adventure.

P.S. I think this post was inspired by the fact that I have no coffee filters and I am running on empty from having 3 sick little ones ha ha ;)

Herbal love

Products I Like

I love Natural Remedies

I am usually pretty good with the herbal stuff and everyone seems to ask what I do in certain situations. I will give you a run down of a few things I do to take care of these issues. These are my most used products and treatments.

1. Sick Juice: (we call it that because we make it when were sick)
1 Cup Lemon Juice
1 Cup (REAL) maple Syrup
2-3qts water (distilled is best)

Mix this together, it will be a little brown looking, tastes like lemonade. Then drink the whole thing with in 24 hours, keep making and drinking the juice as long as needed.

Q:Whats this drink does?

A: This drink PH Balances the body and flushed your system getting everything back to normal

Q: What do you use it for?

A: Anything really, Soar Throats, Congestion, flush if your feeling gross. Anything that you think you need a little bit of an extra charge of energy


2. Colloidal Silver
You can find this in your local Health food Store. Make sure that you get one thats 15ppm or less!!!! Anything over that is TOXIC to your system

Q:What do you use it for?

A: I Love this product I use it all the time for:
Ear infections -put a few drops in affected ear while laying on your side so it does not run out for about a minute, longer if you just want to do this 3-5 times a day tell the problems cleared up

Pink Eye- Just put a few drops in the eyes 3-5 times a day, for as long as it takes to clear up the problem

Soar Throats- Gargle about 6 drop fulls for up to five minutes (we usually never have anything left in the throat that long but gargle for as long as you can really then swallow whatever's left) Do this every hour for the first day then 3x a day tell the problems gone.

Sinus Infection- You can spray this up the nose for sinus infections (the health food store may carry it in a spray bottle, if you cant find it you can lay on your back and put a few drops up the nose)

Yest Infection-you can put a few droppers full right on the affected area and take it orally

3. Tea Tree Oil-

Q:What do you use it for?

A: I am not to fond of the smell but here's a run down of what I use it for most

Cuts- I always carry a smaller bottle of this oil in my diaper bag, whenever the kids fall and get hurt I clean the area and then put a few drops on the cut. It does not sting and works great to protect agains infection.

Yest Infections- Fill the bath tub with water. After you get it as full as you need put about 10 drops in the water. Sit in the water for about 20 mins. Do this a few times a day 

Bee Stings- This helps to take the sting away.

Bug Bites-Takes the itch away from mosquito bites 

Breathing treatments- I boil water in a sauce pan once the water comes to a boil I put about 5 drops of tea tree oil in the water (along with lots of other oils depending on what its for, congestion would be tea tree, eucalyptus, lavender  and peppermint) then I place the pan under the face of the person its for so they can breath it in. or on the floor by the bed while they sleep.

Lice and Fleas- This product works great to kill lice and Fleas, put it in a water bottle about 10 drop and fill the rest with water spray over your yard, carpet, pet and the Flease hate it! Also you can add the drops to shampoo to kill lice and fleas

This is just a small list of the most common issues that my family deals with, we uses much more herbal products and oils I am sure over the months they will be added to the blog

Tips for a Less Stressful house

While my house is by no means perfect I have been trying to get it more organized and storage seems to be a big help. The biggest challenge is just getting the kids to help with their part of the process.
I found this on pintrest and I am going to give it a shot! I think I will print it out and hang it for everyone to see:

The other thing that I really like is having somewhere for all my mail to go. Sometimes I dont get a chance to pay a bill right away (due to lack of funds or what not) but It seems to always pile up somewhere. So I saw this idea as well and think that its perfect!

The great thing is it doesnt have to be this metal mail try either it can be a bag like piece that just hangs somewhere conveniently I am going to give both of these ideas a try and I will tell you how it turns out.

Happy Lamest Day of the Year!

So yesterday was Valentines Day, which I just think is a pretty lame holiday. Not because I don't think we should show love to people but because I think the whole buying of chocolate, stuffed toys (with hubba hubba on them) and boxer shorts with kissing prints is just silly. I would much rather have a suprise out of no where then feel like my husband was forced to give me something because its the have to thing. Although I did try to not be a total scrooge about the deal. I let the kids do a craft which was pretty fun. We made dough and added pink food coloring to it. Heres the link to the recipe we did.

http://www.busybeekidscrafts.com/Easy-Craft-Clay.html

Mixing the dough 

So here they are getting to work on there dough projects

And you were supposed to let them sit out and air dry (but for those of you who know me, I am really bad at waiting) So we through them in the oven.

This is what we got:

Clearly we should have waited ha ha, I think that is why they cracked? But I think all and all they came out ok.

After we did our craft I told them I would take them to lunch. We ran over to one of my favorite Mexican places and at way more then we should have. 

For my hate of lame holidays and stupid gift ideas I wanted to not get the kids anything at all. Not that I dont love them with all of my heart, it was more of a matter of not wanting to spend my husbands hard earned money on junk that would just go into the garbage eventually because I know it was not stuff that they would really want to keep for long. So I keep telling the kids over and over not to expect anything for V-day because I was not going to buy junk. Plus they really dont need the sugar, we have been pigging out way more then we should as it is. But my soft hearts for my kids wouldn't let me get away with not getting them anything at all. So instead of buying the usual stuff that you might get one on Valentines day I took my kids over to our Christian book store and let them each pick out a Bible.

What could be sweeter for their Soul then God's Love?

Although Levi got a Ferdinand book scene he is to little to read, or pick out a bible that he could understand. Although I thought it was a great gift Allyson still thought a toy would have been better, guess I can't blame a 6 year old for tying ;)

We finished the day with some Chinese Food, which was not the plan (Daddy at moms plan). Then we all shared in the Surprise Goodies I got yesterday (Covered Strawberries and Cheesecake) So all in all it was a pretty good day, Valentines or Not.

Sweet Suprise

Its the day before Valentines and I am doing the usual todo's. The kids are trying to get as many snacks out of me as possible and the baby's trying to sleep. Suddenly the dog goes hay wire, someones at the door!

Frustration at the dogs barking waking the baby I walk over to the door. No ones there? I open the door and realize that I hit something, a box. My frustration turns to excitement as I can already see that its a package for me and its from a Berry company.

I know this must be what my husband tried to not tell me about as he wanted to make sure I was home today with no plans.

 

I open the box to find covered strawberries and 3 mini cheesecakes. My favorite desserts and to top it off he even put a sweet scripture from Song of Solomn. He spoils me rotten thats for sure! Now how am I going to burn off all these calories?

Homeschooling Parents

Boredom Strikes again

I went to the local craft store and was trying to figure out what I was going to do with this gift card I had. I really didn't need anything (which is a shocker) and I wanted something that I could actually use. As I was walking out the door I found this wooden frame. They were on sale, always a plus. I took it home and spray painted it black. Then I found some lace and hot glued it to the back. Heres what it looked like:

 

If you dont know what in the world you can do with lace, a frame, and hot glue this is what I turned it into.....

Earing Holder!!!

I did think it was a little plain so I added some pink dots with some basic paint and boom! Decor as storage

The Leaning Tower of Laundry, OH MY!

With a house of 7 you can image that the laundry is out of control. It would be one thing if we just had a pair of day clothes and pjs going into the wash at the end of the day, but no. We have four girls which means ward robe changes through out the day and a son who seems to find dirt no matter what the daily activity is.
To top it off laundry is my LEAST favorite chore. My husband and I finally had it with the 3 loads a day, 7 days a week. What were we going to do? If we weren't spending every waking hour folding clothes we sure were going broke in a hurry with the purchasing of laundry soaps. We could not even get away with the cheaper brands because my newest daughter (10wks old) is very allergic to anything other then the draft.
So as my husband does, he hoped on the internet to find a solution.
Here is what we came up with:

one basket for each of ya!

We got each of the kids their own laundry basket. They were allowed to decorate them any way they wanted as long as their names were visible. This helped them get excited about laundry believe it or not. Then each child got assigned a day (Levi my 2 1/2 year old gets a day with a helper) That child gets to do their own laundry from start to finish and its there day so if it takes them morning to night to get it done, then so be it!  I help the younger kids with the soap portion but so far they have been able to handle the chore very well. They also came to the conclusion that it was no fun to rewash clothes over and over that were not being worn. The fact that once it went into the basket it was stuck there tell laundry day also helped because they did not want to run out of clothes. ;) smart thinking huh?

This not only helps the kids learn responsibility but it helps me not go completely nuts. The fact that the kids are now doing their own laundry means that I can get away with doing my husband's, 2mo old daughter's and my clothes maybe twice a week? Which makes me a oh so very happy mommy.

Mornings

As I sit here with one of my favorite coffee mugs and listen to Christina music playing on my pandora radio station I have a sudden feeling of total relaxation. I am lucky enough to be cuddling a very cute 10 week old baby girl as she sleeps in my arms. Ah bliss-
This is one of the biggest reasons that I home school/educate. Who in their right mind would want to miss this? Even when my piece is interrupted with craziness, kids screaming, and fits of hyper-ness from our black lab I still would not want to send them off for more then 2/3 of the day. Nothing in my life is more important then my children. Not cleaning, Not gym time, Not shopping or even Coffee! (Although Coffee is a key ingredient to keep my sanity so I can deal with my kids wink, wink.)

We home school for these main reasons:
1. I am their mom and I have already been teaching my children from day one, who else knows my child better then I do?
2. I do feel that God has called me to do so. Does this mean every signal piece of paper we read is about God, no. But with out a million children and adults influencing my children's minds on a daily bases
3. We are a military family and with this great opportunity to move around and see the world we also don't want to have to pull our kids in and out of different schools. When we home school the kids not only get to take their classmates with them, but the get to keep doing the same curriculum that they have been and have no interruptions and no trying to catch up to other schools.
4. In this day and age of credit card debit and lack of basic working skills I feel like we can really teach the kids life lessons and how to survive.

I am sure that the list can go on and on and even sound more educated and thought through. Unfortunately my coffee has not quiet kicked in yet and I am running on fumes from lack of sleep, I do have 5 children, ya know?

                                                                  

Baby Shower Gift

I love gift giving and this was a great idea I came across online awhile back. I did not have the directions so it was quiet the project trying to put it together. I used a package of newborn diapers and rubber bands to keep all the diapers together. Some ribbon to finish the look off so you could not see the rubber bands and baby wipes as the base of the bassinet. I think it was a pretty fun way to spice up the diapers.

Yard Sale Find!

I found this great piece at a yard sale and it was just screaming my name!

The problem was it was also telling me that it wanted to be a different color as well. So after watching a few you tube videos and then having to find the right color I finally did it. I changed the Hutch to this wonderful look.

I LOVE IT!

Beanie Bum

Hats! Hats!Hats!
I love Crocheting and this has been one of my biggest joys this past year. I am happy to say that I got to create lots of different kinds and styles. Its been fun to not only sell them and make a little extra dough but to also see the pictures of the kids and adults that received them.

On the Move

Its Official! I am a blogger. I am working on a blog that will cover our travels across the UK for the next four years as well as any other adventures that we might have. My biggest concern right now is not only getting us moved to a new country but to get my children set up with a great home school group out there. I have been lucky enough to come across a few yahoo groups and I am looking forward to meeting new people, but sad that will have so many goodbyes here. We have grown quiet fond of our Church family and Home schooling friends.

Hope you stay with us along the way and we can all have an adventure!