The Long and Winding Road...

A common question I've been asked is "How did you come to decide to homeschool."
Here's my story...

If you had mentioned the idea of homeschooling to me a year and a half ago, I probably would've put my fingers in my ears and hummed really loudly.  In fact, I think I remember doing that exact thing every time Jay mentioned it.

I was looking forward to the day when the big yellow school bus would turn the corner and I would shove a piece of peanut butter toast (that's probably not allowed, actually.  I think buses are considered nut-free zones, aren't they?) into one of my son's hands and his half-zipped backpack in the other. 
I wanted to be able to say: "Bye! Bye! Bye!"

It actually is similar to how I got my start doing home church (homeschooling, homechurching, what am I, agoraphobic?).  We went to this conference on homechurch and I had very similar conceptions (notice I didn't necessarily say "misconceptions").  People who do those things wear bonnets or denim jumpers, or both.  They probably don't let their children eat sugar and each kid has some Old Testament Bible name...Anyway, I told Jay that this was my picture of people who had church in their house and he promised me that there would be no bonnets.  As soon as we step off the elevator at the hotel and headed for the ballroom where the conference was held, low and behold, the family standing right in front of us was wearing...wait for it...bonnets.  I grabbed Jay's arm and vowed never to trust him again.  Just kidding.

Both church planting and homeschooling have been my husband's idea but when I get done trantruming (or the humming thing), I realize that those are things that help me step out of my own comfort, my own reliance and make me trust Jesus more.  I'm not saying you have to do such things to be obedient to Christ.  He says: "Come Follow Me."  Where He's calling you to follow Him in your place and space and with your people may most certainly look different.  It just happens to be the way I think He is asking me to Love Him and Others at this time. 

In both pursuits, it puts my comfort at risk and my heart vulnerable to failure--but isn't that what Paul says, "I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthian 12:9)"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plusses for homeschooling:
I think I originally bought into the practical reasons:
flexibility in schedule--we can go to Disneyworld in off months, relish the shorter lines and call it an "enrichment activity."
efficiency--we can cover in an hour or two what it takes a whole day and get done in four days a week rather than five.
we have a rather factious school system in our neighborhood.  If there was one community school, I may have been more inclined to become involved, but because the kids are spread amongst several schools, those are not quite the common thread that they were when I was growing up

Please don't give me the socialization argument---are you actually implying that all the socialization they receive at school is a good thing?

Weird parents make weird kids.  Sorry, sons of mine, you are just plain screwed.

All in a Day's Work

I know you've been hankering for a toddler antics story.  Well, here you are: 

All these events happened while Silas and I were playing ONE round of the game, Zingo (right next to the kitchen where all the dirty work occurred, mind you):

Judah got a hold of my empty mug, ripped open and spilled the contents of two teabags.

He then pulled a footstool over to the pantry and opened a container of baby food.

Spilled baby food all over the floor.

Went to the laundry room and got a couple towels and cleaned up the baby food.

Returned to the pantry and proceeded to move a bunch of canned goods over to the counter where he then stacked them into a tower.

Am I exaggerating when I say I have a busy kid?

Brotherly Love

Little did I know how fitting those costumes were...

In this evening's post on Myopenfridge.com, I may have mentioned that I was tempted to put my kids in a sled (seeing as we're supposed to have snow overnight tonight) and give them a hearty push down the street to see how far they make it.  Before you judge me, please know that in recent days, I do believe I have been pushed to my limit and not without just cause. 

Case in point:
Last Thursday.

I thought it would be nice to treat the boys to lunch out after my Bible study and before we ran a few errands.  I was wrong.  It was a terrible idea.  In the hour that we were there, I had four interactions with complete strangers where I was asked/told these things:


"Do you need any help?"
"Do you have this much patience at home?  Because you have a lot of patience right now!"
"I know what you're going through, I had four of my own."
and
"My, you really have your hands full!!!"


All the while, my elder son asking me: "Am I being the good one right now, Mom? Am I?  Am I?"


The next night, we had needed to make a quick trip to Target and the boys really wanted to sit in one of those extra-large, beasts of a cart that has the two little plastic seats on a platform in between the handles and the basket of the cart.  The Little One started grabbing the Elder by the face, dug in with his little dinosaur claws (how is it that kids' nails grow so quickly?) and fiercely holding on which caused Older Brother to start shrieking at the top of his lungs and making a scene. 


I don't have children, I think somehow I managed to give birth to wild animals. 


We spent the remainder of our Target trip with me hunched over the handle bar of the cart, forcing each kid back in his respective corner and hissing "Keep your hands to yourselves.  Hands to yourselves!!!"


I'm sure everyone who has siblings has plenty of stories of the trouble they have caused each other.  I have a feeling with my children, the sibling fun has just begun.

Dressed himself today and I had to capture it in all its glory...

Today was a good day! 

I felt like a good mom almost the whole day and that is a pretty big accomplishment these days!

We started a new curriculum, My Father's World (I seriously needed something that would S-P-E-L-L things out for me, step-by-step so there would not be such mental wandering that has been going on round these here parts), and Day 1 went very smoothly! 

After we had covered the stuff provided, we were on such a roll that we added some math work pages (this was partly to make up for the fact that the majority of October has been "Unofficial Fall Break"). 

We also made use of the GIANT World map we had put up on our loft wall.  Since we reviewed the letters A, B and C in our reading work, we located all the countries that begin with those three letters.  It was very educational, even for a "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego-loving kid" such as myself (and a bit of a joy to see my son share my love for Geography!).  I challenge you, too, to look up where Armenia, Benin and Bhutan are located. 

Then, we made homemade play dough and finished our day playing at the park.  My house is a mess, but these are the days I need to use to remind myself of why we're doing what we're doing. 

I'm Back, perhaps?

A little "music appreciation"

For the one person who reads this (I'm looking at you, Julie! ; ), I have been inspired to write some more.  I had taken a bit of a break because I would say I have been in a bit of a season of discouragement with the whole homeschooling thing for the last couple weeks (when your season of discouragement happens to encompass almost 50% of your entire homeschooling history, I don't think that's a good sign).

So, I took a break.  I took a break from blogging about it, I took a break from actually doing it.  I did not seem to take a break from thinking or stressing about it (therefore, it wasn't like it was much of a "vacation").  Regardless, I didn't want this to turn into a place where all I did was complain all the time. 

Let's be honest.  I started out with the intention of recording my experiences homeschooling and pretty all I've done so far is list all the ways my toddler prevents me from homeschooling (and although they're pretty funny stories--always in hindsight, sometimes during the actual event).  That said, it's not his fault I've been such a homeschooling slacker, I think I've just felt completely and totally overwhelmed. 

This week (just in time for when my family comes to visit so we'll be having a more unstructured week anyway), I actually felt re-energized and so yesterday we really "hit the books" hard.  It was really exciting.  I got to see him have a few "lightbulb moments" as he was catching on to some new math concepts and we had some really great time together.

 Of course, 30 minutes later, he was driving me crazy again, so it's not like we've entered a land of magical rainbows or anything.  But there was a ray of hope.

Toddler Strikes Again...

I am in the middle of working on a post explaining how I came to the decision to homeschool but it is becoming quite the little novel so since it's been a little drought in the area of stories of how crazy my toddler is, I thought I would share a snippet from today:

I was getting ready in my room next to the loft where my 20 month was supposed to be playing/watching a video with his older brother.  It got quiet (always a bad sign with this one) so I went to seek the toddler out.  I found him downstairs in the laundry room where he had dumped the cat food into the water dish (in the meantime spilling water and food everywhere).  He is sitting in a giant puddle of mushy kibble, stirring the concoction with his TOOTHBRUSH happy as can be.  Ick, ick, ick, ick, ick. 

He was so furious I took away his toothbrush and threw it away that I had to bury it in the bottom of the trashcan because he was trying to go back in after it.  Then, realizing that retrieval was futile, he turned on me and tried to bite a chunk out of my leg (probably with cat food breath, I didn't have the stomach to check and using the toothbrush was out). 

There you have it, a snapshot into my day. 
Prayers are always welcomed/appreciated. 

Imitation (copying) is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

I saw this post on my dear friend, Angie's blog and she had found it from another source.  I think it sums things up for Mothers in general pretty well and definitely was fitting for me today.  Be encouraged, Dear Friends, the gift of grace is free and tomorrow is another day!

"Of course, this side of heaven we will not do perfectly. Harsh words will be spoken, patience will wear thin. Frazzled mothers will act frazzled. And when this happens, our own sinfulness does not detract from the power of the gospel, it illustrates why we need it. Do not use your own mistakes as an excuse to wallow about what a bad mother you are. Repent, seek forgiveness, get it right, and move on. Believe. Be forgiven. Extend that forgiveness, that belief, that joy, to your children.

As you go about your daily transformations, set your heart on the truth. Mimic the gospel in what you do. Bring peace, bring order, bring joy, bring laughter. Bring it because it was brought to you. Give, because it was given to you. The gospel is not too big to fit into little situations. It is too big not to."

Rachel Jankovic is a wife, homemaker, and mother. She is the author of "Loving the Little Years" and blogs at Femina. Her husband is Luke, and they have five children: Evangeline (5), Daphne (4), Chloe (2), Titus (2), and Blaire (5 months).