Riding the Roller Coaster

The emotional life of a homeschool mom goes steeply up and down. One day I love it! I blog and brag about my children , and talk about how well they are doing. But the next day I fall apart. I feel overwhelmed by my children's learning needs. I ask myself: "Can I do this another year?" Then I remember, it's almost March. It's almost over. Do all teachers everywhere, in all schools, feel the same way?? Is this normal?? I guess it's like a job somedays we like our job other days we hate it. A friend told me once, "When the roller-coaster is "down" it also means it's on the way back up." I am trying to remember that as I scream on the way down.

Halfway Done

Not only am I half way through my pregnancy but believe it or not this school year is half over! Sat testing is just two weeks away we will see from the results if I am doing a good job or not. Yikes! We may be having alot of fun but I question myself daily am I doing enough? I had a friend come over last night who is a teacher for 6th grade public school. She is very smart and comes from a family of teachers. I had her look over what I have been doing with the kids and we talked about ideas and ways of going about different subjects. It was alot of help and I have some good ideas up my sleeve for the second half of the year thanks to her :)

The kids have grown so much and to see them excited about learning is what makes all this work worth it to me. Today, I was reading from their history book and stopped half way through the chapter and said, "We will find out what happens to Daniel Boones daughter tomorrow." They were so focused on what I was reading that I actually had them begging me " ahhhhhhhhhhhhh come on mom keep reading. "
As for what we have been working on:
We just finished our unit on birds and decorated a bird tree in the front yard for the birds to feed on. We will be starting our unit on insects next week. We have finished 14 states and will continue building our state books.
We have many exciting field trips planned. Including over night camp outs! Let's just hope no one gets sick this time around.

A Good Deal

I have found that you can get good deals on private lessons if you are willing to take them during regular school hours. Which works out great for us. We are usually done with school by noon everyday. I found a great violin teacher who teaches private lessons in her home studio. She has offered homeschool students such a great price that I have decided to introduce Faith to violin. Then when I found out she offered an even greater discount for siblings I made Austin take it too. Violin was not something I saw myself signing my son up for, but why not? I can see it now, star quarterback, Austin Ryan also is a concert violinist in his spare time. LOL I myself don't know anything about music to teach my children, so I think having them in some kind of music makes for a well rounded student. Their first lesson was yesterday. They both LOVED it! In 45 min of teaching I was suprised at what they learned. It is money well spent! I have not rented or bought them violins yet but the teacher has them practicing with cookie boxes and pencils for now. They will be having their first concert at the end of the year at Mt.San Antonio College.
If anyone is interested in lessons with Violinist Margy Hymel you can contact her. www.hymeldav@prodigy.net
She is a member of the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra and has her masters in music.

Practice,practice, practice

Are We Having Fun Yet?

I just found my way out of the mountain of dirty laundry. So I am back to blogging. I have been doing loads of laundry since we got back from our camping trip on Sunday. We went to Glamis (If you know me I HATE Glamis) but that's a whole other blog post I don't have time for. My husband and kids love it so I go along just to make sure no one gets hurt. This camping trip Farrah had the runs so it seemed like every 15 minutes I had to change her diaper along with her being fussy with a fever. Then Faith got the stomach flu and was throwing up all day and night. (In a trailer) ewwww! Again, I have a tough stomach, but not when pregnant. I opened up all the windows and tried to air the trailer out. I kept asking my husband, "Are we having fun yet?" I think by the 3rd day he was annoyed by that saying! Then after I thought it was all over Justin got sick on the last day. Did I mention that this trip cost about $1,400. After my husband flooded the trailer and we had to get it fixed. With all new flooring and whatever else it needed. Then just the cost of food and gas! I'd rather go somewhere tropical thank you!

I couldn't sleep while in the trailer I was waiting to catch the next kid to barf. Everyone else was sound a sleep. This is what I saw...





Poor Farrah fell asleep like this


Great! and Landen picks his nose in his sleep... I had no idea










This is my 2 year old taking off on a quad without asking...

This is his face when Justin is yelling at him to slow down. This kid is going to give me a heart attack!

I gave in!

Austin and Faith have been wanting their own blog for awhile now. I finally gave in! Since they are taking a typing course, I figure it will be good for them to practice their typing.
I posted their blog address.

Father Daughter Tea

Our homeschooling group held a father daughter tea party today at one of the families houses in our group. (What a beautiful house) I didn't go so I sent Justin with the camera and was happy to see that he took alot of cute pictures of him and Faith together at the party. Ok, I threatened him and told he better take pictures. They said it was alot of fun. (Even Justin!) They made a frame and took a professional picture. Had a little devotion, ate lots of food and just had a good time together.

Too Much Junk Food

Valentine's Day filled my children's bellies with way too much junk and candy. After eating cupcakes, rice crispy treats, and chocolate dipped everything, I told the kids NO MORE! After dinner, Justin caught Austin eating a chocolate heart from the candy dish. So as a punishment he told him he could not have anymore snacks or candy and to throw away all the candy he had recieved from his friends away.
On Friday the kids go to school and this Friday they were having Valentine's parties in their class. I forgot all about the punishment for Austin and brought candy and goodies to his class. When I came to pick him up his teacher informed me on what a well behaved young man I have. She continued to tell me he did not eat any goodies while all the other children ate theirs because he told her he was grounded. She said he didn't even pout he just simply said, "Sorry I'm not allowed!"
Justin and I were so happy he minded us even though we would of never known.
On the other hand....
My lovely Landen we are still working on. I told him no cupcake till after he eats lunch and the next thing I knew the cupcakes looked like this:


So I hunted him down to find him in his room playing with his cars. I looked at him in the eyes and asked him if he ate any cupcakes. He looked at me with the chocolate all over his mouth and simply said, "No Mommy"



I have learned no matter how cute the little candy dish and the cupcake platter looks on the table it's just too tempting for the little guy.

Sad News

I just saw on the News (Good Morning America) there was ANOTHER school shooting that took place at the Northern Illinois Campus,where 7 (including shooter) are dead and at least 15 people are injured.What even shocked me more is hearing that this is the 4th United States school shooting this WEEK!!!

I feel tremendoulsy sorry for the families in this time,and I am praying for all the best for them.Upon hearing this,this morning I was once again grateful that I chose to homeschool my children. What in the world is going on today in America when a child can not go to school for an education.A place where they should be safe not walking into terror and fear.


People look down on homeschooling saying we are shielding our children too much,that we are not giving them a chance to be on their own out in the "Real World.".Well you know what..THANK GOD I AM SHIELDING MY KIDS and as for the "Real World," look at what the real world is doing!!!..

I pray for those families who have lost their family members in this time and I really hope that these back to back shootings really opens up peoples eyes to the dangers going on,in places that still seems to be deeming as "safe!"

A full class

I'm such a fun teacher even the neighbor kids beg to be in my class. Some of the neighbor kids had the day off so they came over for our science experiment. We made a volcano and watched it erupt.

Family Bike Ride

We all went on a 5 mile family bike ride. We got lots of looks along the way. Maybe it didn't help that I wore a "baby bump" tank. The kids had a blast and it felt good to get out in such nice weather.

Field Trips for Everyday

I seem to always be in learning mode since I started home schooling my children. I am always quizzing the kids in the car or trying to make everything in our day be a learning moment. When at the gas station this week I asked Austin if he wanted to learn how to pump gas (ok I'm lazy and hate pumping gas) but also because I thought it would be good for him to learn. I made Faith read the directions and warnings out loud. It was simply pumping gas but it also was a learning experience for both of them. (And next time I need gas I can sit in the car and sip my latte while my kids pump my gas ;) ) Also at the bank I've taught the kids how to fill out the deposit slip and talk with the teller. (Yes, we are an annoying home school family) but the kids love feeling grown-up. I found a trip to the grocery store is a learning lab! (without Landen that is) I like to take the older two with me. I can teach them about unit pricing. Have them choose the best buy. Show them how to weigh and calculate the cost of vegetables and fruit. Discuss the components of a healthy meal.
Life is a classroom. Whatever's planned for our day (If my energy allows) I can include teachable moments. We can have fun learning together in life!

A Visit with Great Presidents

Today we headed out to Forest Lawn in Hollywood Hills. As part of the Forest Lawn Museum’s History Comes Alive series, “A Visit with Great Presidents” was an interactive educational program that consists of some of America’s greatest presidents engaging each other and the audience in a discussion on their personal and presidential lives as they relate to certain themes in American History. We got to meet with Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They did such a good job of acting the parts. After each president’s presentation, there was a question and answer segment for the audience. Of course Austin and Faith had many questions for them since we are studying the early presidents in history right now. It was very entertaining and educational.

Dad's teaching today!

Austin is in a group called Contenders for the Faith. It is a boys group that teaches skill building and most importantly teaches them how to become a man of God. Right now they are learning about tools and how to use them. I thought it would be neat if Austin and his dad were to build something together using the tools they have learned about. They both worked together on building a bike ramp.

Baby #5

I'm in trouble another GIRL! :)
anyone know of a part-time job