Homeschooling This Weekend

This week was one about thinking and figuring things out. We were headed to a park after a field trip to the sanitation district when Gaige asked for Wendy's food. He knew I didn't want to go there and get food for all the kids so I said no. He persisted. And again as I passed McD's. Finally I told him that I would stop at McD's for some fries on the way home from the park. I could say that I had little to no intention of actually following through with this, but it was a fleeting thought. The park was fun and when we started home I passed right by that McDonalds. Gaige noticed and complained and then said forget it. He was obviously hurt and one might say "pissed off" that I didn't follow through with what I said I would do. And his "forget it" suggests that I have done this plenty of times before and passed it off for no big deal, no doubt hurting his feelings and making him feel like I was not dependable. To make a long story short we ended at Wendys for the fries instead, and I got a good hard lesson about how often I say one thing and do another. I am thinking about that this week.

Saturday was the day to do nothing from what I can remember. Today was the Unity picnic. Josh came with a friend to see Jessie and Leah (a couple homeschooled friends of his). Marley and I are still spending tons of time together. We will continue to do that until she understands that we will always have plenty of time together. And I am trying to fit time with Brenda and Bret in there too. Bret and I had a great moment today bonding together when her new diary lock broke.

Girl Scouts begins on Thursday for Brenda. Oh THAT was Saturday. My co-leader dropped by with her daughter. The girls played and we discussed our first meeting. Next to send out notice to the second graders about a troop for Bret's age.

No pictures, but all in all a good amount of stuff getting done. I will go to the college tomorrow to drop my class.

A Week in the Dark

No TV, no radio, no cooking? What to do? Since we had plenty of time and not much to do with it this week, I decided to get out the big lego tub. Years ago, for Christmas, the boys got a 75+ lb box of Legos to add to their already-brimming-over collection. Well anyway I broke out the Legos. The girls have never really played with them before so I had no idea that they would be stuck like glue to them all week. To give you an idea what a mess that Lego box was, in the beginning the conversation went something like this... "Hey I found a head," -Brenda. "I found the body," -Bret. "I found an arm" -me. Brenda, "Oh give that to me, I need an arm." As we were putting the people back together. Now there is a Lego town equipped with store, bank, and hotel on my dining room table. Lego cars and boats, and Lego people living amid it all. How can I complain???

A friend asked me to come to the ice rink and keep an eye on her kids for their ice skating lesson so that she could go to an appointment yesterday. My girls laced up and had a blast. C came and picked up her kids, they left, and my kids were still on the ice until the last minute where they were finally kicked off. Ha ha ha. Lessons? I don't know, but free skating? Yup, that is the answer for sure. What fun!

And in other news, as I am adjusting my homeschooling and parenting methods lately, I am also quiting school for a bit. The kids need me there 100% and it seems like I just can't be. I am frustrated when I cannot get everything done. So I am taking a break. I am usually much more happy when I am slowed down, and the kids need to see that right now. I think I decided if I am to make the kids my priority, I agree that I am not doing that when I have midterms and final exams to study for. Anyway I am three weeks into one of my classes and am dropping out mid class. I am a little sad about it, but it just feels like the right thing to do. So check out my quote of the week on the right. It has all to do about this.

Go Fish (aka Pink Unicorns)

Bret and I chuckle now about how she decided one time that Gold Fish was not the name she wanted to call the card game. She switched the name to Pink Unicorns. She now knows that the game is actually not Gold Fish but Go Fish. So sometimes we call it Pink Unicorns in jest when we play together.

But Anyway that is not why I am posting. My girls woke up this morning, got breakfast, and sat down at the dining room table to play cards. Not turn on the tv to start their cartoon day, play cards. That's all. It was just unusual.

Yesterday Bret, Lily, and I made a crazy maze in the living room out of weaving yarn in and out of our furniture. Marley and I spent a lot of time playing with the Holly Hobbies. I have finally given in to her love for those dolls. They are my special dolls that are put up for display only, with the tea set and all the other Holly Hobbie stuff. But truely, she loves them and plays with them soo good, I don't want to tell her no.

At the end of the day... I talked Big Bret into going to the park with us for an hour. Lily loves to have park time with him. And Bret got in contact with a bunch of her friends there too. It was a good thing. We went home and crashed.

New book from the library that Mr. C gave me for Brenda's age... Boots and Pieces. I started reading it to Brenda and Bret last night. I think it might be too mature of reading for Bret. Maybe even Brenda but we are not for sure yet. We will read on and see. More updates on that. Gaige has picked up a couple more Margaret Haddix Patterson books. Those are still his favorites. We are glad to see there are some new ones he hasn't read yet. In fact he has been choosing to read lately.

Today we are putting the slide away. It has run its course. And I don't want to break the table from extra pressure on the legs. Awwww! It has been a lot of fun to do.

September old weekly quotes...

You mean," asked Avon, quite amazed, "that after all this time, we're just beginning?""Worse," Edward pointed out. "Since this is the beginning, if we hadn't gotten to this point, we would not have begun.""Oh goodness, "said Avon. "All that traveling, and we haven't even started. I had no idea how far you have to go before you can start. Almost makes me want to stop.""You can't do that, either, " said Edward severly."Why?""Can't very well stop if you haven't started, can you?""Edward," cried Avon, "I never knew how important it was to start before you begin."And turning around, they began.-The End of the Beginning by Avi

“How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”Dr. Seuss

"Don't Forget to look up from your keyboard and see how blue the sky is now and then. Don't forget to put away your cell phone and spend some time alone with paintbrush or pen. Don't forget to seek the sound of silence and let the daily traffic rush on by."Remember that the secret of success is how happily you climb not how high."

The Day of the Slide

As you know I have been sensing a discontent in Marley, and have been reevaluating how we spend our time together. I decided to involve her more in MY life, rather than trying to find time at her beck and call to do what she is begging me to do. I am asking her if she wants to go help me with the laundry, does she want to go upstairs with me to put the books away, does she want to go to the store with me. Even when Gaige offered to keep her today, I asked her if she wanted to go with me anyway. I am realizing that she is feeling like her time with me is scarce. There isn't enough and so she needs to keep me busy doing things that she wants. I am trying to provide more time with her so she sees we are unlimited in our time. Josh brought two tables down from the auditorium this weekend so we could use them as a tent for Brenda's sleep-over. The girls bent one leg down today to turn one of the tables into a slide. Here are Marley and me rolling a Christmas cookie tin up and down the slide to eachother.
Brenda and Bret later in the day spent a couple hours sliding down this slide of theirs. They were experimenting with all kinds of sliding tricks. Head first with a flip at the end, singing songs and dancing on their way down, and all kinds of things.

Marley was happy to just be part of the fun with the girls. I enjoyed sitting on the stairs and watching them have fun. Marley kept trying to get me to slide with her. I am afraid that I am too big and heavy for that game.

Reused Clothes

I remember the time that we went to the mall together (Brenda, Bret, and their cousin Kira), got matching outfits and headed to the Picture Place to get a group picture. That is still my favorite picture of those girls. They were so young. For a couple years after that the girls would say, "Remember when we went to the mall and got an outfit, that one time?" What a treat that was. I am not sure that we have been back to the mall since then for clothes. Sometimes Wal-Mart, Target, or Old Navy, but never the mall. The girls now get so excited when someone we know gives us a bag or two of clothes to look over. It is like a fashion extravaganza for them.

A friend gave us two big black garbage bags of clothes sized from 6 to 12. What a treat this was today. Marley and Bret spend hours going over the loot. Bret said of the girl whose clothes she inherited, "B has a sweet deal on clothes, doesn't she?"

Holly Hobby Day

Marley and I played Holly Hobby for quite a while yesterday. I noticed that she kept switching to other activities. We are playing with the dolls then suddenly she says, "I know, let's play clay." Then we are back to the dolls after that and she says, "I know, let's play music." She gets out a drum and flute. Then we are off to something else. I mentioned this to my husband. His thought is that she is desperate for me to keep playing with her and to not stop to do something else so she keeps trying to find new things that will interest me and keep me involved. After he said that I mentioned it to a friend who added that she probably senses me tuning out for a moment and is trying to hold me attention. Today we will spend a good amount of time hanging out and I will pay more attention to exactly what is going on. I don't like that she feels like she has to work hard to get me involved. She DOES require a lot of my time and energy. I think that after cleaning up the syrup off the floor, and going out to buy new laundry detergent and shampoo because those were dumped out, and picking up all the other disasters in her wake, I mentally take that time into account when I spend time with her. We will work this one out.

Turning 9

Brenda is turning 9. We are really low on money and I was struggling with what to do. She usually is afforded big birthdays with lots of kids. Last year she had a Noah's Ark party where all the kids got to make their own stuffed animal as their goody bag. How to make her birthday special with little money to spend?

I came up with it! I was so proud of what I thought of. So proud of myself. These kinds of ideas don't always come easy. We got her a small present that she wanted, then I sent her out with her dad for a day together. They went to see Wall-E at the dollar theaters, shopped at Toys R Us to spend her $20.00 she got from PawPaw, then they got a small snack to eat. While they were gone, little Bret and I made a tent in the family room and decorated it nice with blankets and stuffies. Then a few of her friends came over and hid in the tent. When she got home I sent her in there and they surprised her with a sleepover birthday party. Convenient, easy, and inexpensive! Bonus for me!! They played Webkinz, had a fashion show with past years' Halloween costumes that had been left out from Marley dressing up as a pirate yesterday, and did all the basic party things. It was a great time. And now they are asleep. Sigh. She will remember this one.

The Band Plays Out

Josh and his band, Five Stories Falling, play out at their first gig at a bar. I know he is not homeschooling anymore, but I just had to post some pictures of my Josh hanging out on his drums with his band guys. I still don't know if they got paid for this. I think it depended on how many people came and paid to hang out and see the bands.

He came there ready to play, sporting the correctional detention facility outfit I bought him last year for Halloween. Thank goodness that hard earned money didn't go completely to waste. At the last second Halloween night, he and a friend decided to go trick-or-treating as girls. Finally the Jailhouse outfit gets some wear.

Of course shortly after he dropped the clothes for a cooler approach: Bare skin.

Newly Dyed Fabric for our quilt

Bret and I worked on our fabric again today. We are short of money this week, I forgot to buy some more dye at the store when I went shopping last so we used some of our blackberries from blackberry picking day. It was cool to use real natural stuff for our dye. That was an unexpected surprise of education for Bret. We were waiting for Big Bret to bring home the rubberbands to do it and here it is.

I love it much more than the brown store bought dye, but I don't know how long it will last. Still it is fun to do.
If we wish after this quilt we will make to do more fancy dying we can get more professional about it. Right now it is just science and home economics. Nothing major.

Story Time Begins Again

We busted out of Story Time for the summer with the pool, craft time at the park, swim team, and all that other summer fun. We are back. Marley dressed herself in a sweater. When I told her it might be too hot for that and suggested a tshirt, she put the tshirt over the sweater. She demanded to keep it that way, and away we walked to the library. Marley asked to be carried into the library, and she sat in my lap the whole time. In the end she got up and danced to the music, colored her paper, and mingled with the little'uns. She felt shy she told me.

So what is going on here? We forgot to buy new clothes dye for the batiking this week. I wonder how blackberries will work? I might look into that. Marley is taking a nap every day now. That seems to work out ok. Also it gives me a reason to ask for some down time daily with the older girls.

There is a new development in Josh's high school public school blogged experience, for anyone interested. psschoolvisings.blogspot.com/

That seems to be all. I will update with more fabric for the quilt soon!

School Board

There is a board outside the local elementary where someone, I don't know who, posts these quotes unknown that appearantly mean to be inspiring? They are usually less than inspiring. In fact they are sometimes confusing or disturbing. One was something like "Once you get over this mountain, there are many more mountains ahead". What kind of a thing is that to say? As soon as you get over a big hurdle, you can look ahead and realize how very far you have yet to go. One we got this summer was, "Grass is the cheapest landscaping to buy, but the most expensive to maintain." What were they trying to say here? This one was from this summer too... "Roses are red, violets are blue, but they don't get around like dandilions do." Someone is sounding a little hostile about gardening this summer... I will take a picture of the new one later today so we have a visual. It is not as bad as ones in the past. I have been dying to find out who makes those up, and why. Haven't yet. It has become the butt of many family jokes.

We have decided to start making up our own for our school board. I will post a new one as we get new ones from the school's board as well.

"Your shoes will only take you where your feet can walk." Our own meaningless school board quote.

Creeking with Dad

We are always on the lookout for good heart-shaped rocks.

We were cleaning up the auditorium this weekend, and little Bret found our picnic basket in the craft room. She suggested that we have a picnic, and persisted to remind me about it. So for Labor Day I decided to skip the last day at the pool and head out to the park

instead. Bugs, swings, and friends, all at the same place.