Lego, Lego, Lego!

If you've ever stepped on a little tiny Lego in the middle of the night, then you understand why I say the word Lego makes me cringe. I 100% believe there are three levels of pain; pain, excruciating pain, and stepping on a Lego. I wouldn't dare wish that on anyone! That sh*t hurts. Good thing for me is I strongly believe that little tiny pieces plus little tiny kids do not mix, so we don't own any regular Legos. (There are unfortunately a few floating around the house that have somehow managed to get in.) We do on the other hand have the big Legos. (Megablocks or Lego Duplo) and use them quite regularly. My kids absolutely love them! And their imaginations run wild as they build whatever they can come up with. We also use them during our school day; they are great for math! Addition, subtraction, counting in general. ☺ Great visual for my oldest and keeps him interested in doing his work and also occupies my youngest. I'm sure at some time or another those little insanely painful Legos will make their debut into our house, but for now I'll stick with the ones that if I run into in the middle of the night they just go hurling across the room instead of treating my foot like a pin cushion.

♥

The start of our day, homeschooling in our pajamas! While drinking my coffee this morning the oldest declared I come look right away. They had built a Lego tower on top of the John Deere Tractor. A few minutes later I could hear the oldest counting as he placed more blocks on the tower. He was trying to get his younger brother to count with him, all I could hear was "One, two, three. Count with me! Four..." you get the picture. 

Future blog posts will be about messy kids and our "eggs"periments, plus lots more! Be sure to come back for those! 

Is Homeschooling Easy?

Is homeschooling easy you ask? Well...I'll get back to you on the easy part. Some days are good and some are bad. There are struggles everyday over something, I'm sure. I don't think there is one home-schooling parent that can say there isn't. For us it's reading, my child wants absolutely NOTHING to do with reading himself. He will sometimes, but 60% of the time it's not by choice. He loves having books read to him, answering questions about the story, or even writing a story similar to what has been read. Anything else he loves. Math, breezes through. History, let's learn more. Science, "Ooh, can we do that again?". Language Arts, not a favorite but he doesn't mind it. In my personal opinion, the key to home-schooling is learning your child's way of learning. Once that has been done, I think at times, yes, it is easy. Another thing is being able to change it up! Want to do learning outside? Go for it! Go to the zoo to learn about animals? Why not?!?! Finding what interests your child is also an option, I can't tell any of you how many times I've let him choose what he wants to learn about (I will be the same with my youngest) and he always chooses something fun! Volcanoes, sharks, toads, plants; struggles seem to subside when they choose. Of course there are the things that need to be taught (my opinion) that they may not want to learn, but they still need to. I also notice that with mine the warmer it gets, the less schoolwork he wants to do. He would rather be outside 100% of his time; he's definitely a country boy. One who enjoys fishing, hunting, trapping, playing in the dirt, riding his bike, swinging, bouncing on the trampoline, using his sling-shot, etc. (I'm by no means saying he doesn't enjoy playing video games or watching tv, but if he had to choose, he'd go outside in a heartbeat.) I've learned to choose my battles; if he wants to play outside we do our schoolwork in the morning so he can enjoy the afternoon outdoors. I've learned that learning is everywhere. Even when he's outside he's constantly learning, his imagination is incredible and with that he has a strong love of learning. I've seen him make piles of dirt into volcanoes and explain which type they are. I've seen him find bugs and tell me ALL about them. Playing by the pond, seeing the water life and his eyes lighting up as he tells me about tadpoles. It's amazing. Simply amazing. All of this is what makes the daily struggles worth it, to see that "light-bulb" go off, to see him teaching other kids what he's learned, the pride he shows in being a home-schooler. (Telling complete strangers how home-schooling is fun and that's something him and George Washington have in common, funny right?) My point is, LEARNING IS EVERYWHERE! Take advantage of your surroundings. Go to a park, let your kids find rocks and then look up stuff about gems and minerals. Rocks and soil. Let your kids throw a ball up in the air, discuss gravity, what goes up must come down, right? There are just so many things you can do as a home-schooler, most importantly being able to change-it up. Rather it, is your curriculum (if you use one), your surroundings, etc.

 Here my oldest is, working hard in his Handwriting Without Tears workbook. Notice the John Cena (WWE) book in the background, that's his journal. He writes about whatever he wants to write about in that daily. He picked out that book, so he loves to write in it. (Once again, less struggles when your kids are able to choose what interests them, my opinion.)

And here my youngest is, ready for summer (following in his brother's footsteps when it comes to being outdoors) wearing my flip-flops on a cold/blustery day.

Why do people assume?

Being a stay-at-home mother people act as if you do absolutely nothing all day. And all of us stay-at-home mothers know that's not true. We are up with the kids (if not before) and going ALL day long. We are literally at our jobs 24/7, there is no quitting time, 5:00 just means time to get supper started around here! I've heard so many comments made about stay-at-home mothers. From "You are so lucky", to "What do you do all day?", well let me answer that last one for you.

I teach my children. I am showing them how to become productive citizens (I hope) one day. I spend time with my kids; puzzles, games, watching documentaries, active play, imaginative play,  and being outside are favorites. We also love to read! Boy, oh, boy do we love to read! We do scavenger hunts, trampoline bouncing, gardening (who knew there was so many interesting things bugs in a garden for kids!), walks, crafts, and all the in-between. We are constantly on the move. I enjoy my kids, I enjoy every minute of being with them. 

Of course with my oldest things are a little different. As home-schoolers we also do a good bit of offline work and online work. Math worksheets. Language Arts. Writing. Journaling. Reading about history. And his all time favorite science. But there are so many everyday things that can be incorporated into school; who knew that loading the washing machine could be math! (Counting the items as they go in). Loading the dishwasher is like science! Okay, okay I'm kidding on that one. Sometimes I feel like it is though! Trying to fit as many dishes as possible into that joker, because psh, no one wants to hand-wash dishes these days. 

Being at home 24/7 near 'bout also makes me responsible for 98% of the housework. (Of course there are those few things I still refuse to do myself.) But along with playing with my children and being their mother; I'm also cleaning, cooking, scheduling appointments, teaching, gardening, refereeing, fixing boo-boos, and chauffeuring my kids around. Who knew until staying home that there are THREE meals to be cooked a day, not including the snacks? Meaning that you have to clean the kitchen at least three times. (This is not including the husband coming home and leaving stuff all over the counter, simply because he forgot where the paper towels are.) Seems as if staying home also ends with twice the amount of laundry (never-ending in this house); wash, dry, fold, repeat.  Okay, on to the next thing.

Wait. Wait. Wait. Okay, so you got me. I don't have some long, rambling list of everything I do all day, every day. Because it changes from day to day. Some days are better than others, but everyday we are learning. I may not have it together and my house may be a mess (I know, probably wondering how that happens beings as I'm home all day right?) but please excuse me while me and my children are making memories.

I am lucky! (Which I knew) But I am very lucky to be able to stay-at-home with my children. Even if I'm covered in whatever that food may be on my shirt, snot, and only God knows what else.  I get to see all the special moments. Sitting up, crawling, walking, hearing first words, watching them learn something new (not many things compare to seeing that light bulb click inside your child's mind), among MANY, MANY, other things. Being a mother is definitely THE most rewarding thing in my life to date, but being able to enjoy/spend every moment with my children is definitely second! :)

You WHAT? Yeah, I do!

When I first started the journey of home-schooling I dreaded the question, "You homeschool?", it was treated like the plague (homeschooling that is). Yes, I homeschool. What's it to you? I've gotten to where I respond in the friendliest matter I can, what happens next all depends on what the person says. "Different strokes for different folks." "What works for us, may not work for you." "Homeschooling works for us." "I've seen the village and I don't want it raising my kids." All of these are responses I've given someone at some time or another. They are my "go-to", as in DROP the subject. It is not up for negotiation. My children, my choice. I choose to homeschool. But I have heard it all; "Are you sure you can do it?", "What happens when you send them to a "real" school?", "What happens if you fail your kids?", and one of my all time favorites, "What about making friends?" the whole socialization thing! UGH!



 "Are you sure you can do it?" 
Why yes, I am very sure I can teach my children. Why, I teach them everyday anyway. I've taught them many things. How do you think they learned their ABC's and 123's? How do you think they learned to say "please", "thank-you", and other respectful terms? To tie their shoes? Ride a bike? Open and close a door? Know their name? Address? Telephone number? It sure wasn't YOU (ignorant person acting like I can't teach my kids) Of course I can. I also taught them to pee and poop in the potty, not to dig their nose for gold, not to spit, to chew with their mouth closed, hold the door open for folks, not to speak to strangers, and to run naked in the yard. Hey! Everyone needs to have a good time, why not run naked (okay, okay, in our undies) in the sprinkler in the summertime? IT IS FUN! You see, I am quite capable of teaching my children the things they need to know and some I'm sure they don't. Things they wouldn't learn in a traditional school setting. ( I am not bashing a brick and mortar school, so do not take it that way.) This works for us and that's all that matters.


"What happens when you send them to a "real" school?" 
Um, last time I checked we are home-schoolers. School is EVERYWHERE. And it's just as "real" as going to an actual school. We do a lot of the same things. Just a tad different. We can do it in our PAJAMAS!

If the time comes and we choose to send our children to a brick and mortar school, they will adjust. It's not like they have been kept in a dungeon away from sunlight. They have friends, they can hold their own conversations. They will survive. If it comes to that. At this point, we are happy on our journey and intend on making no changes to what we are doing.


"What happens if you fail your kids?"
Okay, okay. You got me. I'm intentionally failing them. NOT! Every single parent (that's worth a shit) worries at some point on whether they are doing the right thing. Why am I a target to be asked this question over and over just because I keep my children home with me and I teach them? I will never understand it. I usually tend to respond to this question with the exact same question, "What happens if YOU fail your kids?" See. Not too happy are you that I questioned your abilities. So we will leave that one alone.


"What about making friends?" 
The socialization thing is a whole blog in itself, which I will not get into today.

Sippy Cup Time!

It is definitely one of THOSE mornings. The youngest decided that it would be a great idea to crush as many lucky charms into the living room rug as possible. One of those rugs you can't just vacuum, you have to use the hose and special little tool to clean. You know, that one tool that NEVER stays in place on the vacuum. Yeah that one. After trying to clean that up, all the while being tackled by both kids, it's definitely time for some coffee. I think some mornings my little sweet babies crazies wake up with ideas in their precious little minds on how they can make mommy pull all her hair out before 10:00 AM. Most days, I think my kids are wanting to drive me absolutely insane, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Being a mother is THE most rewarding thing in my life to date!