Still in Existence

I love this kind of day around my house. It is raining outside and the kids have decided (so far) to play nice...

Jared cracks me up. I cannot get him to accomplish much without my assistance in regard to homeschooling. He wants to do his computer work but doesn't care about his math, grammar and piano. So, MT (Mean Teacher) strikes again. I have now made a rule that he cannot do anything on computer until all of his written work is done. Ugghh.. You would have thought I ripped is legs off and asked him to run a marathon. What a turkey. Get this, the master of procrastination decided that he had to teach Jacie piano and learn how to play the electric guitar...all in one morning. MT said, "No way!" and has become the bad guy again. Is it any wonder that when nighttime rolls around, I am the first in line to hit the sack?

Having said all of that, Loren and Jacie are building Legos together and it is kind of cute. Jared is completing the dreaded math and I am blogging my life story to all of you. Jared cannot understand that he is not allowed to join in the building of Legos because he wasted all of the morning 'learning the finer arts of guitar...'
Life is complicated when you waste, avoid and argue. It makes me tired as well.
I am excited that he has finally decided to pursue his guitar things. He wanted the guitar over two years ago and it has collected dust since. So, though his timing is off, I am helping him incorporate it into his daily regime. He is also an excellent singer and is beginning to work on his song for the fair. This will be the first time that he has sang in public. I never wanted to push him into it so I listened and watched... Now he is almost thirteen and decided that he loves it. He should, he is good. When he first came, at 23 months old, a lady stopped me in the store and said, "Do you know that your son has a perfect rhythm?"

She could hear him humming to the background music. I didn't even realize that there was background music...Of course, I had two 2 year old boys in a cart, in the Walmart so the fact that we all made it out alive was a huge plus. How times have changed. The boys are now thirteen. The issues have changed but are still in existence. Their mother has changed but thankfully is still in existence as well. Hehehe.

The truth? I wouldn't change a thing.

Hope all is well on your home school journey.

~Camo Pants

A Little Bit of Lounging Makes for a Great Summer

I have to admit that part of our financial academics have revolved around the onset of garage sale season... We love to garage sale. A lot. So it should come as no surprise to any of you that we can be found garage saling on Thursdays and Fridays from April to August. It has become a kind of sport for us. Now, don't go thinking that we are shirking our home school duties. If we garage sale in the morning...you guessed it, we school all afternoon. At first, this was a shock to the kids. They were ready to come home, sink in the sofa with a good book and fall asleep. Nope. Not happening on my watch. The mean teacher strikes again. School is very important around here. The oldest two are in middle school so college looms on the horizon. That is how I think. The kids are ready for school to be done. Yet, when you start school at the beginning of October, it takes longer to finish. We give on one end to get on the other. In the fall, the fair is at the end of September. We start school after that crazy week. I used to give myself a recovery week but as the kids got older and had more educational responsibility, I changed that. So far, I have enjoyed our schedule because most of our school times fall when it is rainy, snowy and cold. I love summer break though. Some homeschoolers don't take a break. I respect that but could not do it. I love lazy mornings, being outside and having a snitch more control over my time. I don't just love it...I require it. In order for me to 'winter well,' I must summer well. My favorite time of the day is before the kids get up (but only if they are sleeping in.) I have never been the type to enjoy getting up early in order to have silence. I do that on the other end. I stay up late and write or blog or whatever after they all go to bed. Then when morning rolls around, I have completed my responsibilities and can lounge. I love to lounge in bed. My mother would be so disgusted to see that... Hehehe. That is why my oldest gets me up in the morning. When he comes down for school, he wakes up the old sleeper and then he and I work together to drag the middle child out of bed. We have tried every method. He is such a hard sleeper. He might have a little of his mom's lounging mentality. I guess I know who is to blame for that one. Thank heavens he is cute. I am looking forward to the summer. We do a lot but it is all so good and wholesome. I want to hold these days forever and I know that is not possible. Enjoy your journey. ~Camo Pants

Eight Quarters in a Dollar

One of the most exciting things in my long homescooling career happened... Today. This is a day that will go down in the history books for me. My middle son, affectionately called Orange Shoe Guy because of his choice in footwear, asked me during his math, "If a dime has ten cents in it then a dollar has ten dimes, right?" I could have cried. I might have. I was so happy. Those of you who homeschool a child that struggles in school, you know what I am talking about. OSG has always struggled for every bit of school he understood but money was the worst. He is twelve and was not able to count the basics. Oh, how I agonized that he would be ripped off when he grew up. I always jokingly (of course) told him, "When you grow up, you better make a lot of money so that you can have a financial advisor or you will never make it." Imagine my surprise when he actually got it... As delighted as I was, my party was cut a little short when he excitedly said, "And there are eight quarters in a dollar!" At least I know where we need to go next. Life is like that I think. You just about start to celebrate and BAM... Thank heavens he is so cute. I am not sure I could walk this combat homeschooling for any less of a guy. He really wants to learn but just cannot get past the dyslexia. If it could, it would have him in bondage but we both know that there are many people who have great lives and are dyslexic. He just will have to be aware of what is difficult and work around it. He can do it. He is ready to be done for the summer. He must not realize exactly how much work I have planned for him to complete. ~Camo Pants

Another Day...

Homeschooling is an amazing journey. I was talking to a young gal who graduated as a homeschooler and is now attending a public university for college. She is such an interesting person for her age. In the course of the conversation, she said that she is grateful to her parents for homeschooling her and that she attributes much of her self-esteem and achievements to the fact that she was. She is incredibly articulate and able for her twenty-one years. I love to see what my children will [hopefully] be in the future. I have every faith that this will be the case. Like her, they have the time and space to develop. A large part of homeschooling for our family is wrapped in the freedom that it allows. The kids have the freedom to enjoy classical music if they want, play and instrument if they are inclined and still be considered cool by the people that are the closest to them. I am excited by the prospect of a future of freedom for them. It gives me joy. They are doing well with their work. The oldest two are still in school. The youngest, just coming out of hip and leg surgery will begin school again next fall. By then, she will be completely fluent in English and hopefully be reading. This is the time of year that the oldest get a little restless. They are getting done with some of their materials but are not completely on summer vacation yet. They struggle to keep their minds on their books, so... I scheduled them a paper to do. That ought to help them reign in their mind and thoughts. Can you say, "Mean Teacher...?" My answer would be a definite, "Yes." I am a mean teacher. Homeschooling is not something that I take lightly. I respect education and desire every aspect of it for my kids. Much to their delight. The middle child struggles the worst. There is nothing worse (for a child with ADD) then to sit and do school work. Yet, I know in my heart (yes, I do have one of those...) that the best thing for him is to sit, learn to concentrate and succeed in this area. He is making great strides. I am excited about his future. A lot of people with ADD have taught themselves to 'control their urges' and have figured out how to focus. I am glad he is at home and figuring that out. The freedom that he gets will be 'priceless.' We are headed to the homeschool convention in May. I love to go and take the kids. They will go through and pick some of their curriculum. Last year that went very well. They had a vested interest in the material. They are looking forward to going this year. We will shop the curriculum fair on Friday morning, have lunch and then tour the capital building in the afternoon. I love that it is in the capital city and two blocks from the capital. Then we can do both comfortably. Hope that all is going well. ~CP