Blessed

I sit tonight in a very speculative mindset. It seems that everything is changing. Everything. The boys, now finishing their freshman year of high school, are starting to have an active social life and a demanding work life. They are rarely home- it seems. When they are, they are tired. Life has steadily moved forward. I have been out of the workforce for over 16 years and been home with the kids the whole time. Now they are starting to move on with their lives and I feel a little left behind. The funny thing is, I am pleased with the people these boys have become. I do not fear the fact that they are becoming independent. They can handle it. I fear the loss that I will feel.

There school year is closing with the 6 week corn trial that I talked about last post. We finally are getting around to it. It was delayed by the many things that they are involved in. All three kids now have baby goats, sheep and horses. They will get their chickens and bunnies in July. All of the animals keep the kids very busy. I like that. That keeps them occupied. Me too...

Life is good. School this year was great. The kids have grown. I have grown. Homeschooling has blessed me beyond measure.

~Camo Pants

In the Midst of Chaos

I have figured out that if I had no home schooled children, I would post on this home school blog a lot more often. It is hard to imagine how busy a home school parent is. Tonight I have snuck away, cleaned the kitchen, started the laundry and now sit in the dark- regrouping. That is what I call my type of therapy. I regroup. There is so much that happens between these four walls on a daily basis- I struggle to keep up.

The boys won state with their FFA agriscience project. We are now looking toward Nationals-the best part of this is the fact that Nationals is in Louisville, KY. Yup, sign me up- I will chaperone. I love horse country. So we will run another 3 science trials on their corn plants before June. You know what that means, don't ya? A basement filled with emerging corn plants for 6 weeks! YAY! Thank heavens I love it.

The boys will also compete at the state level in for state 4-H awards. They both made it through regionals. I am excited for them. Loren will compete in the Horse Awards and Jared in Shooting Sports. It is amazing to see them progress so well. It is difficult at times to know what homeschooling is supposed to look like. All that I can do as the teacher is to structure things the way that I think that they should go and then trust that someone bigger than me will take over.

There is so little time for me to focus. Most of the time, I run behind the kids shouting directives that I hope will be helpful. This is a very precarious experiment that I am running here...

In the midst of the chaos- I find that I am blessed.

~Camo Pants

"Oh, Are You Getting Out?"

So I have been floating around and I have to say that my blogspot is the only one that sports the 'tools.' No matter what I do, I cannot fix this issue. What I really need is a tech guy to move into basement. I think that I could keep him full-time busy. Uggh...

So if you can stand my lack of ability, continue reading. If you can't...I guess it was nice knowing ya!

It is hard to believe that is it the middle of March already. The thought of school ending in 2 short months gives me chills late at night.

"Did the kids learn anything this year?"

"Am I ruining their education by keeping them home?"

Those are the questions that berate me when my weary head finally hits the pillow. Yet, I know in my heart that something is going right here. I have a 15 year old (fairly normal learner,) a 14 year old (severe dyslexic) who shudders at the thought of school and I am convinced will be living in my basement when I am 80 and an almost 11 year old (ESL learner who was adopted from China at the age of 8 years old.) This particular child is still learning how to transfer her allegiance, language, reading and writing from the Chinese way- to the American. Is it any wonder that I lie awake at night?

The kids are so involved outside of the house, sometimes it is difficult to fit school in our schedule. Yet, it is imperative. I did have to laugh though at the doctor last week. Every time we go and see him, we introduce home schooling to him. Every time. He has been our doctor for over 8 years and still asks, "So where do you go to school?"

My kids laugh. "Home school."

"Oh, are you getting out? Seeing other children? Socializing through church?"

I groan inwardly. "Getting out? Seeing others? Socializing?"

They have mastered the art of the reply, "Yes sir. We see other kids and attend our church youth group."

The whole time my eyes are spinning around in my head because in the past month, I have been home for a total of one hour in short one minute chunks. I wish I were kidding. The boys were involved (heavily) in FFA and competed at a state level with their Greenhand Conduct of Meetings team (3 practices a week.) They also completed a college level science experiment and competed at a state level. They ride at the stables 2 x a week, they attend youth group, Jared sings in the youth choir, they are both officers in their 4-H club and are running for 4-H State Awards. Jacie rides horse, swims at least once a week, has therapy and gets with friends between doctor appointments. Whew...yup doc, I think that they are okay socially. I just haven't figured out where to put school among all their socailizing.

I'm tired just from writing it all.

~Camo Pants

A Creeper for a Mother

I am sitting in the quiet of a lonely house, printing multitudes of state award forms for 4-H. It is a 15 page form and it needs to be printed 3x. Times that by 2 kids and....Wala that is 90 sheets of printing. AND that is only for regionals. If they make state, another 90! Thank heavens I have nothing else to do. I have to tell you though, I was so impressed with the boys and how they worked on their award forms independently. Last year, I hand to hand hold the whole time. This year feels like a breeze. Jared even wrote most of his story without me. I figured that I would have to dump the whole thing and start over. Not true! He even used periods and capitals. For those of you who have a struggling student- you know how gratifying it is to see those little grammatical pluses. I can't believe how old and able the boys have become, even under this crazy teacher's tutelage...

Jacie is working through some of the issues that come along with being almost 11 years old. Again, it is difficult to imagine that we brought home a little girl and now have a young lady. Time, no matter how hard we try to hold back, moves swiftly forward at an alarming speed. Jacie has a lot of things that she must work through as she develops into a young lady. Not only does she often lose her privacy (because of repeated Dr appts, surgeries and a creeper for a mother...) Okay, so the last one is not true but it is difficult to maintain any semblance of privacy when everyone wants to see and touch your 12 inch scar that runs down your hip. That, of course, requires shucking of the garb that covers it~

The good news is that Jacie is incredible. She fights things initially but seems to rebound after quickly. That in itself will be her saving grace. On the school front, I have found that she is quite smart and able- when she puts her mind to it. Other times, she is difficult to get focused. I supposed all of us are like that to a point. She continues to buy and make me read Junie B Jones to her daily. This is sheer torture but I recognize many of them because one of the boys went through a Junie B phase too. Thank heavens I don't have 10 children.

For now, I am enjoying the free time that printing has to offer me. It keeps me from having to work to hard.
For that, I am blessed.
~Camo Pants