\A Blessed Easter it was.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Day One Hundred and Sixty-Eight
Support from fellow homeschooling moms is necessary if you're going to take this job on as a profession.
There is no monetary compensation....
However, the benefits are great.
You have to be able to deal with a lot of stress.
It can be pretty messy.
You must be willing to work long days. And a lot of nights as well.
Sister...I love you to the moon. Thanks for being here for me when I feel like quitting.
**This is my boys plus a few more boy cousins who came to visit for the afternoon.**
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Day One Hundred and Sixty-Seven
Here's Simeon enjoying his school work. This is another Kumon skills book.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Day One Hundred and Sixty-Six
The morning was full of drawing, drawing, and more drawing....and then a good dose of creative play. I kept an ear out on their adventures as I made my way through the last few pages of my book for book club. Steinbeck. Coffee. Giggling kids.
We didn't start school until 9:30. Now, I used to feel like a failure if I "let this happen". I'm now to the point in my homeschooling journey where I can say, "Let them go for it and I won't interrupt today...we have time in our day for all that needs to be done...even if we start 'late'." I can't do that every day, but I certainly did today.
Cheers to happy Tuesdays.
Oh, and also...it was really sunny today. That helped. After our schoolwork was finished, they took on the backyard. We checked on the newly sprouted peas, sighed at what the squirrels had dug up, and soaked in the rays.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Days One Hundred and Fifty-Six through One Hundred and Sixty-Five
I'll now give you the daily snapshots going back to Friday, April 1. Here goes.
156- Friday afternoons like this one should never be spent inside. We hung out at a park with friends for a couple of hours, soaking in the sunshine.
157- Saturday - A friend and I competed in the Beaver Freezer (I did the running portion. She swam and biked). Here I am...running.
158 - Sunday - Aidan has been spending most of his free time lately folding paper airplanes. I picked up this book years ago in anticipation of having little boys who'd hopefully love to use it. I'm go glad that I did. It was well worth the two dollars that I paid for it. And if you come to our house, please take the airplane he tries to give to you. It will offend him if you don't.
159 - Monday - Simeon has been "doing his school" lately too. Frustrated to be the measly three year-old, he said to me one day in tears, lip sticking out..."but where's MY school?" What he wanted was a workbook...something to claim as his own that wasn't the handed down coloring book or the stack of blank paper stapled together into a book for him. So, I ordered a couple of fun activity books and we now "do school" together. I am becoming a huge fan of KUMON skills books. They have really helped and motivated Dominic and now Simeon is enjoying the preschool version...immensely. They follow an incremental approach to helping with developing fine motor skills. Dominic has come a long way in pencil control due to using their maze books and tracing books. Here's a LINK to the book Simeon's using. You can check out more books on Amazon.com or learn more about their approach at Kumon.com.
160- Tuesday - It was bread-baking day today. These are two of my favorite variations on my whole wheat bread recipe. A favorite in our house is the cinnamon swirl bread. The boys are slightly less enthusiastic about the raisin flaxseed bread, but I really like it.
161 - Wednesday- We took a trip in the afternoon to Afton Field Farm to pick up a chicken and a couple dozen eggs. Sometimes when I visit this piece of land, I just want to take our lives in a different direction, move out of town, and buy a farm. The boys had a blast in the sunshine, we said hello to the hens, followed the geese, watched the sheep that were far off in the pasture, and searched for the new baby calf to no avail. It would be an understatement to say that we came home very muddy. Dominic found a killer mud bog and it was all fun and games until he realized how stuck he was. It's difficult to choose just one photo, so I'll have to post some others on the family blog later...
162 - Thursday - Due to a wicked case of plantar fasciitis, I haven't been able to run as much as I'd like to. In fact, I've been forced to spend some time pursuing other...interests. I won't tell the whole story, but it has been a rather trying time. A huge thanks to our friend Daniel for giving me a sweet spin bike. Cross-training has been forced upon me, which will probably benefit me in the long run, but it's hard when I just want to RUN. I've been able to work off some worry on this bike and am sweating through the miles in the early mornings.
163 - Friday - Oh, sister sun, how we've missed you lately! Thanks for shining down upon us and making our afternoon glorious.
After we finished with schoolwork, we rode bikes at Bald Hill for hours, collected pebbles and sticks, splashed in puddles, played shadow tag, and marveled at hawks and the soft feeling of pussy willows while we enjoyed the warmth of the sun on our backs. It was just what this teacher/mom and her students/sons needed.
I'm adding one more from Friday, because I stared at the sun glistening on the water for quite some time. It was mesmerizing.
164 - Saturday - It was a busy, busy, busy day. Aidan had two soccer games, JJ had to get a run in before the race on Sunday, we had a birthday party for cousin Kellen in Portland...the day was far too full for my liking. BUT, we made it through. While the party was hopping at the Family Fun Center in Portland (a hellish place for me), I took the littlest party people (Simeon and Norah) outside to get away from the noise of children screaming and arcade games blaring. However, before I took them outside, we had a grand time climbing around in the play structure inside. It's like the ones at McDonald's..but way bigger. My knees really took a beating and after I while I got a little claustrophobic from climbing through those plastic tubes...hence the trip outside for fresh air. The BOYS had a great time. The parents were a little bit overwhelmed. Here's cousin Norah enjoying a little "snack" of M & M's. ;) I have ways of making friends with nieces.
165 - Sunday - This was a monumental day in the relationship of JJ and I. We ran a race together. Both of us had the opportunity to run in the inaugural Corvallis Half Marathon. JJ raced his way to a much better time than he had expected. I was with him every step of the way....well...until he sprinted away from me in the last few yards. Here's to many more miles in the future!
156- Friday afternoons like this one should never be spent inside. We hung out at a park with friends for a couple of hours, soaking in the sunshine.
157- Saturday - A friend and I competed in the Beaver Freezer (I did the running portion. She swam and biked). Here I am...running.
158 - Sunday - Aidan has been spending most of his free time lately folding paper airplanes. I picked up this book years ago in anticipation of having little boys who'd hopefully love to use it. I'm go glad that I did. It was well worth the two dollars that I paid for it. And if you come to our house, please take the airplane he tries to give to you. It will offend him if you don't.
159 - Monday - Simeon has been "doing his school" lately too. Frustrated to be the measly three year-old, he said to me one day in tears, lip sticking out..."but where's MY school?" What he wanted was a workbook...something to claim as his own that wasn't the handed down coloring book or the stack of blank paper stapled together into a book for him. So, I ordered a couple of fun activity books and we now "do school" together. I am becoming a huge fan of KUMON skills books. They have really helped and motivated Dominic and now Simeon is enjoying the preschool version...immensely. They follow an incremental approach to helping with developing fine motor skills. Dominic has come a long way in pencil control due to using their maze books and tracing books. Here's a LINK to the book Simeon's using. You can check out more books on Amazon.com or learn more about their approach at Kumon.com.
160- Tuesday - It was bread-baking day today. These are two of my favorite variations on my whole wheat bread recipe. A favorite in our house is the cinnamon swirl bread. The boys are slightly less enthusiastic about the raisin flaxseed bread, but I really like it.
161 - Wednesday- We took a trip in the afternoon to Afton Field Farm to pick up a chicken and a couple dozen eggs. Sometimes when I visit this piece of land, I just want to take our lives in a different direction, move out of town, and buy a farm. The boys had a blast in the sunshine, we said hello to the hens, followed the geese, watched the sheep that were far off in the pasture, and searched for the new baby calf to no avail. It would be an understatement to say that we came home very muddy. Dominic found a killer mud bog and it was all fun and games until he realized how stuck he was. It's difficult to choose just one photo, so I'll have to post some others on the family blog later...
162 - Thursday - Due to a wicked case of plantar fasciitis, I haven't been able to run as much as I'd like to. In fact, I've been forced to spend some time pursuing other...interests. I won't tell the whole story, but it has been a rather trying time. A huge thanks to our friend Daniel for giving me a sweet spin bike. Cross-training has been forced upon me, which will probably benefit me in the long run, but it's hard when I just want to RUN. I've been able to work off some worry on this bike and am sweating through the miles in the early mornings.
163 - Friday - Oh, sister sun, how we've missed you lately! Thanks for shining down upon us and making our afternoon glorious.
After we finished with schoolwork, we rode bikes at Bald Hill for hours, collected pebbles and sticks, splashed in puddles, played shadow tag, and marveled at hawks and the soft feeling of pussy willows while we enjoyed the warmth of the sun on our backs. It was just what this teacher/mom and her students/sons needed.
I'm adding one more from Friday, because I stared at the sun glistening on the water for quite some time. It was mesmerizing.
164 - Saturday - It was a busy, busy, busy day. Aidan had two soccer games, JJ had to get a run in before the race on Sunday, we had a birthday party for cousin Kellen in Portland...the day was far too full for my liking. BUT, we made it through. While the party was hopping at the Family Fun Center in Portland (a hellish place for me), I took the littlest party people (Simeon and Norah) outside to get away from the noise of children screaming and arcade games blaring. However, before I took them outside, we had a grand time climbing around in the play structure inside. It's like the ones at McDonald's..but way bigger. My knees really took a beating and after I while I got a little claustrophobic from climbing through those plastic tubes...hence the trip outside for fresh air. The BOYS had a great time. The parents were a little bit overwhelmed. Here's cousin Norah enjoying a little "snack" of M & M's. ;) I have ways of making friends with nieces.
165 - Sunday - This was a monumental day in the relationship of JJ and I. We ran a race together. Both of us had the opportunity to run in the inaugural Corvallis Half Marathon. JJ raced his way to a much better time than he had expected. I was with him every step of the way....well...until he sprinted away from me in the last few yards. Here's to many more miles in the future!
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