Homeschool 2013-2014 {review of the year}

2013-2014 was our first year of doing any type of real "homeschooling".  And by schooling, I use that term very loosely.  I bought a "box curriculum" and we did it when it was convenient.  We had a loose schedule, and at age 4.....I didn't push it.  (or 3 when she actually started) I'm going to list what we did, and my thoughts.  This is so I can look back on it and judge what to do for the next child at this age (it will probably be totally different with different personalities) but also maybe you are curious for your preschooler of different options.

1) Little Hands to Heaven by Heart of Dakota

 The book says for ages 2-5.  During this school year my oldest was 3 1/2 and turned 4 January 1st.  Just to give you an idea.  It gives you different options of Bibles, use your own or choose from different kid Bibles.  I purchased New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes.  That was the perfect Bible to use and we still use it.  It also recommends purchasing a letter book, out of the 3 options I choose Big Thoughts for Little People.  Love it, that was a great pick.  Natalie loves the fingerplay exercises to help learn the letters and their meaning.  I really enjoy their devotions and how it weaves the Bible into all subjects.  I like their art projects.  (I am art stupid)

Cons: It has a LOT of "dramatic play" acting out the Bible story.  Natalie just isn't into that.  So we skipped it.  I also did not like the music it came with. Natalie had a hard time catching onto the words.  However, I teach music at a Homeschoolers Academy and I use the CD frequently with my 6/7 and 8/9 classes.  Seems more appropriate and easier for them.

It is lacking in fine motor skills for Natalie.  I had to supplement.  It also does not have "strong" writing lessons, very basic.  So once again, I had to supplement.

Final thoughts: This is a great program.  I'm glad I purchased it.  I had to do more "beefing up" than I wanted to.  For my next kiddo, she's about to turn 2.  I will wait until the school year where she is 3 and start this with her.  She will be 3 the entire school year and I think this will suit her perfectly.


2. A, B, C, D, books by Rod and Staff  I

If there is anything that I did right this year, it is these very simple but awesome work books.  And seriously, all these books for less than $10?!?!  You can't go wrong.  This was a huge hit with Natalie, and we are almost done with them.  If anything...I would say this is my "must have" books for preschool if your child likes workbooks.  (mine does!) We plan to continue in these books for another year, just the next series of them.

Final thoughts: Get it...these are great and you can't beat the price!

3. My First book of Upper Letters by Kummon

We started this book this summer.  I bought the lower case books as well.  While I don't think a 4 year old has to know how to write, mine does so why stop her.  I came across these work books at Barnes N Noble.  Once again, my kid is a "work book" kid, and many kids aren't.  Find what works for you.  She really enjoys this book and I have seen an improvement in her writing and fine motor skills.  I really don't know "how" to teach writing.  There's lots of resources and different methods.

Final thoughts: I like it, it is working...but I don't know a lot about teaching handwriting so I don't know how it compares to different methods/books/etc.

Final thoughts on the year?  Overall good.  Having a baby mid Spring semester threw us off.  But I'm not too concerned.  This fall we will be starting a different curriculum and she will be doing "K4".  Whatever you want to interpret that as.  I view it as, more than preschool, but simplified kindergarten?

Jonah's Birth Story part 3 {Grieving a birth that didn't go as planned}

I really need to wrap his story up.  I've been procrastinating because this is the part I don't like, and also just super busy with 3 kids 4 and under.  Let's see…..

They discharged us from the hospital a day early since we were an intended home birth and Jonah and I were doing just fine.  I believe I was there for about 36 hours.  Not too bad.  When we got home, we were exhausted and just trying to process having a newborn.  The first couple of days weren't bad.  We were on our "high" of having a baby and enjoying him.  The day after we got home, the girls returned to us and the adjustment of 3 kids began.

We left our house to go to the hospital in the heat of labor.  So everything was left sitting out, the birthing pool ready to be filled, the box of birth supplies that had barely been touched.  The evidence of an active birth, just sitting there staring at us.

It was probably the second or third day of being home when the "high of I gave birth in a hospital bathroom" wore off and reality set in.  Here were all the supplies that I was anxious to use.  The biggest reminder, the gigantic birthing pool waiting for me at the foot of our bed.  I couldn't touch it, I tried to ignore all of it.  I melted down one day when we were expecting my midwife for a home postpartum visit.  I figured we should take down the pool and give it back to her for the next client that needs it.  I went through my unused birthing supplies.  Kept what little I might want in the near future, and donating the rest for another client that this would bless.  An anonymous client donated most of her birthing supplies (because her birth went so fast she didn't use it!) and I was the lucky recipient.  That was a big financial blessing.  Time to pass the blessing on.  Going through the supplies, one item at a time, brought back memories of my beautiful home birth with Emri and what we missed out on with Jonah.

There were a lot of emotions running through my head.  Was I a failure?  What did I do wrong? What could have I of done differently?  If we have another, will it be like this again?  Leading up the Jonah's birth, I was getting more and more excited about that moment of bringing the baby up to my chest in the pool, the immediate relief of when you first get into the warm water.  The teamwork that happens between my birthing team to keep me comfortable and mom and baby healthy and safe.  I experienced this all with Emri.  I wanted it again.  That's what I signed up for. I transferred to the hospital for non medical reasons, because I was tired.  I had 2 1/2 days of labor (not all of it active labor).  Almost 3 nights of no sleep. I was loosing myself, I was in a mentality state I had never experienced before.

I have had 3 healthy pregnancies, 3 healthy babies.  It never crossed my mind during this pregnancy that I might have to go to the hospital.  Sure, we talked about it and made the emergency plan with my birthing team, but it never hit me seriously that this "really could happen".

The day I came home, my midwife met me at my house for a checkup. She was (and is) so wonderful, she stopped at a natural health food store and made up a jar of herbs for me for bathing in for postpartum healing.  We talked along time, going over what happened and the events of things.  The fact she checked me before packing for the hospital and I was a 4….and when I got to the hospital I was a 9.  There was no way anybody knew that would happen.  And if I had stayed home, I could have still had a long labor and maybe it was the car ride that sped things up.  We don't know, we won't know.  With the situation at hand, we made the best decision we could based on the current circumstances.  That's that.  And that's ok.  (and made a decision that any future long labors for me, we would just go for a car ride and see if that helps progress things! ha!)

I am ok now.  It has taken a couple of months.  But time heals.  I have come to the conclusion:

1) We made the right decision to go to the hospital (since we can't tell the future and didn't know I would progress quickly from that point on)
2) It is ok to grieve your birth if it didn't go as you wanted.  But grieve short term.  Because being happy is sure a heck of a lot better than being sad.
3) I had a not so great hospital experience with Natalie (which led to wanting a home birth with future kids).  The hospital and medical field in general has improved in the world of being baby and mom friendly.  For that, I am so grateful.
4) If there is another pregnancy, Lord willing we will still pursue a home birth
5) Midwives just rock.  That's it.  When I go back and think of the last week of pregnancy…my midwife spent days and nights at our house.  Was with me almost every day for an entire week.  I am so thankful for her, and her team.  (So thankful…that I now work in her office!)

That's that.  And now I have a beautiful almost 4 month old son, that his sisters just absolutely adore!

Jonah's Birth Story Part 2

I figured Mother's Day would be a good day to wrap up Jonah's birth story.  You can view part 1 here. The pictures displayed were taken professionally from Sarah Carter Photography.  Please also like her Facebook Page.

We arrived at the hospital I think around 4:00 am?!?  We got checked in, I got to skip triage because it was very obvious I was in active labor.  My contractions were still strong, but not coming any closer together, maybe every 6 minutes.  They hooked me up to the monitors like usual.  The Dr. chatted with my midwife looking over my prenatal record.  We signed the papers to get an epidural as I was ready to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.  Before the anesthesiologist came in, they checked my dilation progress.  Before leaving for the hospital  I was a 4.  The Dr. said "Uh, you are a 9 with bulgy bag of water!" While everybody was rejoicing and joking that we should just go home,  (I would have loved to, but the thought of delivering in the car during the 40 minute ride home didn't sound appealing) my heart sunk and I thought ooooh noo!  I knew I wouldn't get the epidural, (I prefer natural birth anyways, why I opt for a home birth) but I was TERRIFIED of putting my feet up in those stupid stirrups for pushing.  I had a normal hospital birth with my first child and I KNOW the drill.  Going to the hospital for the epidural, I figured my pain would be knocked out and I could deal with the horrible positioning of the stirrups.  But if I am going to go all natural…that thought scares the dickens out of me.  (I also vividly remember the episiotomy that I felt when giving birth to my first)  I begged my nurse for at least some pain meds in the IV…she verbally agreed, but it was never administered.

I continued laboring.

I went to the bathroom as frequently as possible.  Keeping your bladder empty helps the head to drop (which we were struggling with) and with no epidural, they let me roam the room pretty freely.  

During the last bathroom stop I made, I sat on the toilet and a huge contraction came (normal) and a massive pop/plop sound. My water just broke in the toilet.  It was just my husband in the bathroom with me.  I then started yelling, my midwife came in, then the nurses and doctors.  (My main doctor was a 1st year resident, being accompanied by a 3rd year resident, being overseen by the attending physician, confused?) I started yelling "I"m pooping! I'm pooping!" I felt like I was pushing out the most massive poop I've ever had. (it's a birth story…I'm going to be honest with ya'll!) They got me off the toilet and they could tell my body was pushing the baby, I had no control over what was happening.  

The doctor wanted to move me to the bed.  The nurse was in front of me, my midwife behind me and I remember my nurse saying.  "NO she is delivering..NOW!!!" In this tiny bathroom was myself, my husband, my midwife, at least one nurse, and two doctors.  The doctor that was assigned to me (remember 1st year residency) I think was in shock/panic he didn't know what to do.  What appeared to me, was the nurse and my midwife started taking over.  The nurse (who had previously worked in a hospital that allowed midwives to practice so who is used to natural labors and mamas birthing where they birth!) told me to put my arm around her and my husband and squat.  I tried to do as I was told, my body pushing at the same time. My midwife started  yelling for towels towels! (Hello, slippery baby about to come out!) A small wash cloth was presented…ummm no!  So somebody got a chucks pad.  I squared, continued to push, and my midwife behind me and the doctor in front of my guided the baby out together.  

It was quite a scene.  

Baby was delivered safely and handed immediately to me.  Of course they wanted the cord cut quickly to get me moved to the bed.  This was not what we had wished, but we were in the hospital out of our element.  Daddy got to cut the cord…in the bathroom.

And we made our way to the bed.  

 The doctor asked if anybody had looked at the clock when baby was born.  Nobody had.  My midwife said I got up to go to the bathroom at 6:00, we returned to bed at 6:10, so it is estimated that baby was born at 6:05 am, March 8, 2014.

I had a second degree tear that required stitches.  I think I was the first victim for this residency doctor to stitch…ouch.  And then we cuddled with baby.

Later in the morning, the girls came to see their new baby brother.  We knew his first name would be Michael, but we didn't have a middle name yet (which is what he would go by).  

And then we were a family of 5.  Later that day we decided on Jonah.  Michael Jonah.  See more pictures and a beautiful video here.

We are so thankful for a safe and healthy delivery.  It did not go as planned, but we got quite the birth story out of it!  I never thought I would be a home birth that turned into a hospital transfer, but I can not tell you how thankful I am that my midwife was still an active part of my labor in the hospital, and even helped catch Jonah while he was born.  With all that said, I had a difficult time when I came home from the hospital, seeing all the unused home birth supplies, the birthing pool in our bedroom waiting to be filled with water, and grieving the birth we didn't have.  Stay tuned for part 3 of Jonah's birth story, explaining what it is like to grieve a birth that didn't go as planned.  

Baby Jonah's Birth Story….part 1

I figured there is no better way to start up the blog…again…for the upteenth millionth time, than to share our newest member of the family's birth story.  You really want to stick around for the whole story.  The quick version, he was an intended home birth, that resulted in a non emergency hospital transfer, then born in the hospital bathroom.  Interested?  Stick around….

I wasn't quite sure about dates - so we had ESTIMATED due dates from March 1 - March 8th.  I always "go past" the date, and my midwife likes to pick the last date so we aren't sitting around twiddling our thumbs…as much.  So March 8, baby 3 is "due".  (I hate that term)

My due date was on a Saturday, that whole week I was trying to do natural things, to encourage labor.  The night of March 5 into the 6th, I had mild contractions that kept waking me up, preventing me much sleep.  On March 6 at 8:45 PM I texted my midwife:

"Did chiro and acupunctures (and steps) Kris took me to…..Fudruckers for dinner.  After chiro and acupuncture very very intense contractions coming in a rhythm.  I'm not timing but my guess 8-10 min.  Almost home then going to bed.  Reminds me of how Natalie's labor started.  Contractions just like this at Fudruckers around 9 PM.  Went home to bed, gave up sleeping around 4 am, went to hospital around 9 am."

I knew this was finally going to turn into the real thing, and expected a baby by the next day.  Or so I thought….

Friday March 7, at 5:52 am, I text my midwife:

"I've been awake since 11:30 PM working through contractions, usually in bed because they are strong enough I can't sleep.  They remain 8-9 minutes apart and after all these hours aren't getting closer.  Any ideas on how to speed this up?  I've never had this happen before.  After one night of bad sleep and last night of 1 1/2 hours of sleep I'm pretty tired and don't want to deal with it again tonight."

It's a good thing God doesn't really tell us the future….because I was getting into…just what I didn't want to get into.  Another night (night 3) of no sleep.

My midwife texted back suggestions to get get the baby's head in place.  Later she texted:

"Do you want me to come over"

My response:

"I think I'm ok"

We conversed back and forth about suggestions on what to do to get things moving along. At 11:00 am I get:

I feel like I should come check on you.  Go ahead and get started and I will head your way shortly.  I'll be there 12:30 ish"

See…those are signs of a good midwife!  A trained midwife that puts aside whatever she had going on that day because she has a gut feeling she should come see her client.  

I had a constant pain in my side.  My midwife thought maybe gas?  Told me on the phone to drink Apple Cider Vinegar.  I hate the taste of vinegar, and back out it came with whatever I ate that day.  

My midwife and her assistant showed up around 1:00 PM ish.  We did natural things to get labor going, homeo-pathics, using a breast pump, bouncing on a birthing ball.  I continuously had mild irritable contractions through out the day.  I was mentally going down hill, wondering what is going on.  My midwife had checked my cervix and I had barely started to dilate.  And I mean barely.  Around 4:00 PM on the 7th, I wanted to get outside.  I needed fresh air and a change of scenery.  My husband and I took a walk down our long lane.  I had to stop and lean on him through contractions.  This is a good sign!  We walked for about 20-30 minutes.  Him telling me what he wants to do with the fence around the pasture, me breathing through contractions.  

When we got back, I think that is when my midwife and her assistant realized, ok, this is turning into real active labor….finally.  

My husband cooked us spaghetti (with our homemade canned sauce..mmm) and my husband and I sat down with my midwife and her assistant for dinner.  Contractions continued, very strong, getting strong enough where I am humming and moaning through them.  

Sometime after dinner, my midwife checks me…I'm a whopping 2 cm dilated.  That was a big blow considering how hard my body is working.  The baby's head was not engaged in my pelvis, encouraging dilation. 

The sun went down, my midwife and assistant continued to monitor me and baby.  around 10 or 11 PM I took a shower.  The girls were with my parents, freeing up their bunk bed.  So guess where the birthing team set up camp! ;) 

When I got out of the shower, all the lights were off, my husband in bed (not really asleep) and the birthing team resting as they should be.  Nobody was doing anything wrong, but an emotional pregnant woman in labor going into her 3rd night of very little sleep…I about lost it.  Everybody is resting and I'm working my tail off, and I am beat tired.  My emotional state was going down hill…and fast.  Mostly due to lack of sleep.  

I have a bachelor's degree….I did all nighters during college.  I have 2 kids, I understand lack of sleep and bad nights.  I have never been to this point of exhaustion in my life, on top of working through contractions.  The contractions were still intense, but never getting closer together, probably around 6 minutes apart.  

The evening continued, my midwife and her assistant taking turns monitoring me and baby while the other one rested, my husband in and out of bed, giving me support. Intense contractions continued, but did not get closer together.  Eventually in the wee hours of the morning, a cervix check was done to fine I was a 4.  Seriously?? a 4???  I wanted to die. And I'm serious.  Not from pain, from an emotional state I have never experienced before.  I felt like I was loosing myself.  I believe this is all from lack of sleep.  

My midwife sat my husband and I down.  She said we need to make a decision.  We can continue on laboring at home.  My stats were good and baby's stats were good.  But, I'm a 4, labor will probably continue on for another 6+ hours.  We have no clue how long.  Or, we can go to the hospital, I can get the epidural (you know the one word that every home birth natural laboring mom stays clear of!) and sleep until I'm a 10, get the rest I need to keep it together, and push this baby out!  

She left the bedroom to allow my husband and I talk.  I fell apart.  I melted into a puddle on our bed.  And I'm tearing up as I write this, remembering it all. Kris held me as I cried, and cried, and cried.  The back of my head I was screaming…let's go…let's go now!  I want relief so I can sleep.  I have had a home birth before, a beautiful water birth.  The pool was set up, the birthing supplies set out, all ready for baby 3.  I wanted it so bad. But I felt like the worlds' biggest failure.  Kris and I talked, and we agreed to go to the hospital so I could get relief and sleep.  My midwife came in, I told her decision…and then I fell apart again.  She said "You are not a failure for doing this".  I told her that's what I feel like.  And then, God gave her the perfect words for me at that time.  I don't remember the exact words but it was something like…

I think you are making a smart decision.  An Epidural is a tool, a tool that is overly used.  In this instance, an epidural is good idea, giving you the rest you need to continue, instead of tuckering out at the last minute and then we are really in trouble.  

She brought me out of that failure mentality, and we began packing for  the hospital.  I didn't have anything ready to go, after one successful home birth, I never thought I'd be one of those "hospital transfers".  Since it was not an emergency, we could take our time…and pack our stuff in Walmart bags since our luggage was in storage.  

Around 3:00 am we left for the hospital. I texted both of our moms:

"On way to cox south.  Not an emergency.  Hard hard labor and I'm only a 4.  Baby's head must be funny bc I'm slow dilating.  Night 3 of labor and no sleep.  Debbie thinks it is a good idea for me to get an epidural to sleep.  Don't come yet as I need rest.  Kris will keep you updated." 

Stay tuned for part 2.  Part 2 has great professional labor/birth pictures.  I planned on having a birth photographer present for the labor/birth.  We never called her to our house (which I now regret) because my contractions were not close together so I don't have any from laboring at home.  

OOOooopppsss!!

So yes, it's been four months since blogging.  That's been purposeful.  I'm a blog junkie, I love reading blogs for inspiration....just that...inspiration....  

That left me lost with this blog, if I read for inspiration, then I too shall be inspiring and encouraging others.  I feel nothing like that, nor worthy of that.  I'm just an upper 20's gal, trying to swim my way through life, getting through each day through prayer because I stumble more than I do good.  I have two little girls, with a little BOY on the way.  But as I pluck through this life, through conversations with others, they find something fascinating, oh, you had a home birth?  Oh, you garden?  Oh you can your own food? (eh, I don't, my husband does, I'm the grouchy assistant) Oh, you are homeschooling? Oh, you teach piano?  So I slowly gravitate back to this little blog, maybe, just maybe, something inspiring can come out of it to bless someone else.  If not, a way to document our family's journey, something to look back on our triumphs or more likely, our failures and how we learned from it.

Our garden this year has had its' ups and downs.  For how much we planted, we should have yielded a LOT more.  BUT, we've canned more beans this year than we did last year, so that's a plus. Our tomatoes weren't what we expected (not as big) but were bountiful.  We couldn't keep up with the processing so our freezer is full of them, ready to be turned into spaghetti sauce.  We enjoy supporting our local apple orchard and did our first batch of apple pie filling tonight.  We've probably got 3 more batches to do, also apple sauce and apple butter.

So the one thing I really wanted to write about, was our homeschooling adventure so far.  My oldest is 3, almost 4.  So we are doing a basic preschool curriculum.  Do you need to school preschool?  Absolutely not.  Read books, incorporate school in your every day life.  However, my not so little, little girl really strives on structure.  I teach at a Homeschool Academy on Mondays, she's in the nursery and calls it "School" so she's excited about doing school at home.  We've been doing Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven.  It's for ages 2-5.  I've absolutely loved it so far.  (umm yeah, we started about a month ago, then took off for 2 1/2 weeks for travels, family, appointments and just back into it) She loves Bible stories, and that's basically the core of this.  Using Bible stories to teach other concepts.  She's working on the A sound, we have a chant about all the A animals that God made.  We do small art projects, very active, read out of a kids Bible, etc.  It works really well for HER.  Here she is today, slithering her "A"naconda (her toy snakes) on a giant A I taped on the carpet.  Tomorrow she will be gluing cheerios in the shape of an A on a piece of paper.

A lot of this you could get off of Pinterest, I'm sure, but I'm not on there.  I know there are programs/educational games on the internet for this age.  1) Our internet is horrible.  2) I just have a personal conviction about her education being solely in front of a screen.  If you know her, you know that she gets sucked into screen time and like turns everything else off, a bit freaky.

With that, we are supplementing with Rod and Staff's A, B, C, D workbooks for 3-4 year olds for fine motor skills, which my chica lacks.  We are working on pencil holding, coloring, and eventually cutting.  (umm yeah you should see her cut, it would entertain you)

With Heart of Dakota's program, we are done with that in about 20 minutes.  With other supplements I'm using and library book reading, about 40 minutes or so.  Now she's my oldest, I do this while the "baby" naps, and I can spend this 1:1 time with her. When my two oldest are "bigger" I don't see being able to spend this much time of preschool with #3, but the basic Heart of Dakota program and sitting in watching the bigs, they soak up so much.

Tonight we started something new.  I bought the Read and See Bible from a used curriculum sale.  It's basically Bible Stories with a DVD that goes along with that.  It was 30 minutes before bedtime for the little one, the girls were cranky, so I popped the DVD in for the first time.  It goes over the Bible from beginning to end, tells a short Bible story, then a fun song after it.  The girls loved it.  They watched about 25 minutes of it, then bed time routines went very smoothly.  I may skip the book part (we have lotsa Children's Bibles) and do 20 minutes or so of the DVD before bed.


So all in all, it's going well.  I just need to be more structured in my day to get the most of the time we have for household chores, kitchen stuff, education, and playing.

These Days

These past few weeks has been a whirlwind!  We took a week and went up to Illinois.  It's always nice going back to my stomping grounds.  It was nice to take a "break" from things.  

I didn't cloth diaper, and didn't miss the extra laundry.  

I didn't have to worry about my typical household chores.  

I *gasped* used a microwave....and *more gasp* secretly enjoyed it.  Oh it was so nice to warm up left overs in 30 seconds instead of 10-15 minutes.  However, I kind of forgot how to use one and cooked my daughters noodles into nasty mush once....oops  

However with that being said, being gone gives you appreciation for home.  Rejuvenated us to get back into the swing of things and even more craziness for garden season.  

While in Illinois, Emri loved cooking

When we got back, we learned new tricks and was quite proud! (no the stroller is not about to fall on her)

Now you will find us working outside.  Our latest project is fencing in our garden with a 7-9 foot fence to keep the deer out.  It's no the prettiest, but should work well!   

Remember how we ummmm recycle trampoline frames? (Chicken coop)  The bottom of that gate is part of a trampoline frame.  

I wish I had a picture of Natalie doing her favorite activity..helping Daddy outside in the evening after Emri is in bed.  She gets her "tools" (Melissa & Doug wooden tool set) and is right along "helping" Daddy with the fence building.  I'm usually pretty strict about bedtime, but she's been getting to stay up a bit later with this nice weather to spend some time outside with her Daddy.  

Our garden reeeeally needs to get planted.  Because this is just a sampling of what's in our dinning room:

All of this was started from SEED!!!  Kris counted our tomato plants......101 plants!!  He said he planted a few extra in case some didn't make it.  As of right now....they are all making it!  Anybody want to buy a tomato plant? 

That's what our days have consisted of.  Kris and I just got done attending a Home Educators Convention.  It was great and really reinforced this is the right thing for our family, for this time.  I'm super excited!  

We've been SPRINGing

It's been a bit.  So here's what we've been up to:

We have loosely been doing "school".  Right now our schooling consists of lots and lots of library books.  Natalie is loving it.  Each day it isn't raining or nasty cold, I force myself to take the girls outside.  Oh, I love being outdoors, but it's a chore getting everybody dressed (well the less clothes they wear inside, the easier it is ha!)  and out the door. We enjoy swinging, Natalie picks flowers, torments the chickens, and we go on nature hikes. Emri got her first feel for grass, and well, tried to consume it.  

So that's what we've been doing...just SPRINGing. :) Soon I'll post pictures of our growing garden.  (umm the garden that's taking over my dinning room!) 

Why I {we} Decided to Home School

With the school year wrapping up in a couple of months, I've noticed a buzz on the Internet already talking about school in the fall.  I obviously follow a lot of home school blogs, and talk some about this on facebook.  I wanted to share why I decided to home school.  First, to clarify, both (my husband and I) agreed together homeschooling was the best option right now.  While we share many of the same reasons to home school, we also have different reasons, so these are "my" reasons that may or may not be on my husband's list.  

Before getting into the list....I want you to know  my husband and I are both products of the public school system.  We went to small high schools (my graduating class of 90 some was 3x the size of his though!) and both succeeded.  We did not have "bad experiences", both have great sets of parents that supported us through our school years, etc.  We both made good grades and sought higher education after graduation.  

Our choice of homeschooling is not because we think poorly of public school teachers.  My mom retired from the public school system, my brother is currently a teacher. As a music therapy major, many of my college best friends were music ed majors, now teaching in public schools.  I know many wonderful teachers.  

Also, my view of homeschooling for our family, is take it one year at a time. I don't know if we will do it one year, or all of the schooling years.  But through prayer, one year at a time, always reevaluating what's best. 

* I want to be the main influence on my children.  If I send them off to school for 7 hours (just the educational time, not including extra curricular activities), the majority of their day, will not be around me.  I feel like other people would be raising my children, their teachers, peers, etc.  

* I want to choose the curriculum.  Or I want "us" to choose the curriculum.  I think as the child gets older, it's exciting for them to be able to have a say on what route they want to take.  Let's do a study on Pioneer Days, Johnny Appleseed, plants in the garden, how a thunderstorm starts, etc.  I'm also not crazy about the government having huge influence on public schools and what is being taught.  I can't afford a private school.  

* I want to allow my child to learn at her (or his) pace.  Whether that means spending more time on a subject, or advancing because they are catching on quickly.  Teachers do their best, but it is hard to accommodate 25+ students individually.  One cannot expect them to.  

* As a Christian, I want our education to be Christ focused.  

* Better socialization.  WHAT?!? (usually people think home school kids would lack socialization)  In typical school setting, you are stuck with students all your age.  At home, you are around all ages, and if you can get along with your siblings day in and day out, you can get along with quite a variety of people in society! Also, I like intergenerational/ages for socialization, and at home school groups, usually you are around all different ages.  

* Schedule YOU set the schedule. (This isn't a main reason of HS, but a perk!) Take a vacation in September!  Do a 4 day school week!  Zoo day? OK! 

* The most important reason?  We feel this is what God is wanting for our family, for this time.  

I could go on, but I think that highlights our top reasons.  This is not meant to be a "home school is better than public/private school" post.  I do not judge other families that don't home school, there may come a time when we don't.  It's an individual decision, not all families can home school.  One has to pray and decide what is best for you.  I don't regret going to a public school.  

So...my basic plan for the fall?  Keep it simple.  My oldest will be over 3 1/2.  I plan to find a basic basic preschool curriculum (I work with her now off and on on basic things).  I'm thinking 2-3 days of working with her for 30 minutes or less (plus our home school group).  Doing this for about 2 school years and then starting a Kindergarten curriculum the fall she's 5.  Now this could all change, but that's my tentative plan.  At this age, I believe children should learn from play.  My goal is to let my children do the leading on their education.  I don't care about them speaking 10 languages (1 or 2 would be awesome!) or reading at the age of 4, and writing cursive at 4 1/2.  Typically HS students progress faster, but that's not my focus.  I want my children to lead what direction they want to go, and I will help guide them.  

A New Year!!

One of my favorite times is New Years.  And this was BEFORE my daughter was born on New Years.  Yes, she entered this world on January 1, 2010.  Maybe she knew it was one of my favorite times! =)  

I love that feeling of a fresh start, a blank slate.  Just how when Christ forgives us, giving a fresh start and blank slate.  I'm not one for "New Years resolutions", but I like to make goals for the New Year.  My husband and I began discussing this and we both had a common goal: Be Healthy!  

Our family was very very sick from mid November almost up until the New Year.  It would go from one person to the next, and I don't think I have ever been so drained!!  Not to mention, being in my first trimester of pregnancy just sucks the life out of you, let alone put sickness on top of that!  We were miserable, and really losing our spirit.  Oh yeah, we are expecting a baby in July!  We are beyond thrilled and excited.  My brother and sister in law are due in May so my side of the family is going to have lots of new babies =)  

Anyways, back to the point.  Yes, winter brings "illness" but it was just beyond that.  I believe a lot of being sick, or more how quickly you get over being sick, is how you eat and treat your body.  We were seriously lacking eating healthy.  So, that is a huge goal this year is to eat better.  I have started by eating fresh spinach salad, oh like 5+ days a week!  

Other than that, I feel like last years focus was the farm/homestead getting projects done.  We were just so overwhelmed and didn't have a good focus.  This year, I'm not too worried about the land.  I feel that things will develop when they develop and come together.  I want to focus on

1) Lord has given me a huge craving for His word.  Studying it word for word. 

2) Focus on my marriage.  Marriage should come before family/children.  There is always room to strengthen your marriage, which then pours down to your children and makes you better parents.

3) Being an intentional parent.  Everything I do with Natalie and the new baby, I want purpose and intention behind it.  As I add on more parenting years (I'm still a newbie, Natalie is 2) I have become more focused, and want to continue that.  The Lord has blessed us to be parents, and I will not take that lightly.  

4) Health-as I had mentioned before 

Those are my 4 main focuses for this year.  I feel that if I stay focused on the 4 most important aspects of life, everything will fall in to place.  We have a lot of uncertainties in our life, jobs, finances, etc.  When we loose our focus, that's when things fall apart.  If I can keep my eyes on those four things, then I know everything else will fall into its place.  

Summer is for Making Memories

Remember our week of no AC?  Dare I say that our new AC is coooooold!  I love it!  We keep the house at 75 during the day, and 76 at night.  The thermostat is in the living room (with vaulted ceilings) so while it is 75 in the living room, it's more like 68-70 in our bedrooms.  Mmmmmmm yes!
Here is a picture of Natalie sleeping with us when we had no AC.  We put a little AC window unit in our room.
Poor thing..

I've stressed a few posts about paying cash for everything.  We really try to watch where our pennies go (we are no means perfect and still have lots to learn and improve on).  We both decided it would be financially better for me to work on July 4th.  (Time in a half pay!) Kris supported what I wanted to do, whether work or not.  The 4th was on a Monday, and the Friday before while siting in meetings, I felt so bad not spending a Holiday with my daughter.  Family time and making memories is more important than making that extra Holiday pay.  I'm so glad I decided to take a 3 day weekend for my family.  We celebrated by having some nice dinners, one night kris cooked Duck, and on the 4th, we grilled and I made an American Flag Jello Cake.  Mmmm  

We took Natalie to see some fireworks.  She was stir crazy and wanted to run around until the fireworks started. She loved it, can you tell?  

That little girl just melts my heart!  Our ducks started laying eggs and we decided to try to incubate them.  We were successful.  Our hatch rate was 80% and 1 chick died leaving us at a 75% live rate.  Not too bad!  

Natalie loved the baby ducks!  She wants to touch them and pick them up.  

Our latest adventure, Kris ran across some FREE roosters.  Now this is HIS deal, he picked up the roosters and yesterday we (errr Kris and a friend) planned on butchering and processing 10 roosters and 5 ducks.  Kris got a "wild hair" (I learned that phrase while living in MO!) to build a chicken/duck plucker machine thing.  His very last screw to finish it off, he drilled a drill bit through his thumb and out his fingernail.  So yesterday afternoon instead of processing chickens, we were at urgent care getting x-rays and doped up on pain medication.  His thumb should be fine, ya know after the nail falls off and a new one comes back in.  Ugh.  But none the less, Natalie is enjoying the roosters.  

We are now up to 5 different chicken coops, bird pens, chick pens, etc.  How did we turn in to a poultry farm?  

My last post, I mentioned we purchased 3 Pygmy Goats.  We got them off of craigslist to help keep the brush on the back hill down, and maybe eat up the brush along the creek.  I don't know if we'll keep them "long term" or just until they "get the job done".  It's another animal that Natalie enjoys, and she can now say "Goat".  She is such a farm/animal girl.  I think her first word was "Duck".  (Before mama or dada)  

I tried taking pictures of the goats.  It was getting dark so, it's not great.  

Meet Billy:

Annie:

And Neo:

Last but not least, Natalie doing her favorite thing outside, playing with rocks:

I love that she LOVES to be outside, and is entertained by the simplest things.  She is now 18 months old.  I was talking with Kris tonight about what her 2 year birthday party theme should be.  I'm thinking a barnyard cowgirl theme!  Other than VeggieTales (her theme for 1 year), being outside with the animals is her favorite thing.  Now to convince my in-laws to let me turn their garage into a mini-petting zoo for the kids.  (Natalie was born January 1st, no outdoor party for her)  I'm thinking a pen in the garage for a baby goat, maybe rent some rabbits, other little barn yard animals?!?  They are going to KILL ME!  

If you've made it to the end, congrats!  This is what our Summer is shaping up to be at Goat Creek!  

Be Still

"Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

How often are we still? Literally...still

I like to be busy. I can "be still" in the evenings after Natalie is in bed, but before then, go go go. Today threw me for a loop. I should have known something was wrong when Natalie woke up at 3 am crying. I went in to her room, she was burning hot. I thought about taking her temp, but decided to rock her and see if she'd go back to sleep. It worked like a charm. Then at 6:15 am, about an hour before her normal wake up time, the crying happens again, I go in, and seriously, her skin feels like it's on fire. Her temperature was 102.2

She clung on to me for dear life. I knew something was wrong, and I couldn't go in to work today. Besides a trip to the Dr. (diagnosis ear infection) and then the pharmacy, we have been home all day. From the moment she woke up this morning until about 2:30, she HAD to be in somebody's arms. And if you moved around too much, she would cry. I had to literally "Be Still". I held her all morning and most of the afternoon. Kris held her to give me bathroom breaks and quick makeup job before heading to the Dr. While holding her all morning/afternoon I looked around the house and saw this:

And this:

I thought to myself, "Why won't she let me put her in her crib to sleep so I can do some cleaning". Our house is literally trashed and needs some major attention. I then wanted to kick myself as I looked down and saw this:

My very sick little girl needed me to be still for her, she needed my undivided attention whether she was sleeping or awake and I was trying to put my house's needs above her needs. I am a Mother full of flaws and God is faithful, always forgiving me.

Why is it so hard for us to "Be Still"?