Back in the groove

We are sailing along now, still meeting some resistance but for the most part I am pleased with how things are going. We added some new material for Owen and it has seemed to make a big difference with him. Exploring Creations 2: Swimming Creatures is a awesome curriculum. I found these books which has a entire elementary series of animals, along with astronomy, anatomy and a few others. It is fascinating and I am enjoying learning right along with him. He is less resistant to write when he works on his notebook which is a nice change. We have around 9 weeks left of this school year, which I can't believe. May is going to be a busy month for us. I scheduled his annual test that is required by NC, and chose the Woodcock Johnson. This one is done orally and we will receive immediate feedback on his learning style and grade and age placement. I am hoping this will help us choose our new curriculum for next year. This year I am also taking Owen to the NCHE Homeschool Convention. They have a children's program and I think he will enjoy it. I am looking forward to spending some time with him we will be gone 3 days and 2 nights. DH will be staying back with the two Little's for that adventure! 

Monday we picked up our shipment of baby chicks. I think I got a little carried away ordering and we may have too many chickens! They are so cute thought and I tried to order some rare breeds that are not common locally. I have come to really enjoy raising chickens. We have a nice variety with standard breeds such as Americana's, RIR, Barred and Buff Rocks and two guineas. We also raise bantams: Silkies, cochins, and sizzles. This year we are adding Black Jersey Giants, Marans, Blue Laced Wynadottes, Buff Orpingtons, and some standard breed Cochins. I also ordered some different breeds of bantams that I hope do well. Some I ordered are pullets (females), but some come straight run so I know I will be having to deal with more roosters than needed. I am hoping I have pairs each of the new breeds. I am also hoping to start selling some of our eggs, to help with the cost of feeding all these creatures!

Monday musing

I now have a 10 year old, can that be possible? It is,  and with children comes a great responsibility for raising moral, responsible adults. With all the outside influences and things so readily available to our children it is becoming increasingly more difficult. A recent incident with my oldest has us wondering the best way to do this. It was not anything terrible just not something I had expected to address with him quite yet. I want my children to have good moral character and learn to make good choices. They won't learn this without making mistakes. I know I can't shelter them and even though they are not in school they are still  around other children and will be confronted with choices. They will have to learn who are good friends and who is going to be trouble .Our job is to teach them right from wrong. I wish we lived back in the days of little house in the prairie. They still have bullies, and issues, but in comparison thing were much easier. Drugs, violence and sex were not plaster around every corner, TV, radio and magazines. I don't even like listening to the radio because the songs, commercials and DJ's are not appropriate for children. There are commercials  for Viagra, plastic surgery, STD's and all kinds of other things that my children don't need to see or here.  As parents my DH and I will be reevaluating a lot of things to allow for our children to grow into what and who God wants them to be.

Time away

This week my DH had to go to Myrtle Beach, SC to take CEU classes for his Irrigation License. Now that we are homeschooling we decided to take advantage of the time and take the whole family. We arrived Tuesday to beautiful weather, the kids couldn't wait to go and run around on the beach.

DH had classes each day so the kids and I picked things to do during the day and met up with Daddy during lunch. The second day was beautiful, warm although a little breezy. We got up and headed to the beach to play in the sand. The boys brought trucks and dug in the sand while Pixie and I looked for shells. She was very determined to try to catch a seagull, it was pretty cute watching her run after them. Sand was not her friend, and I remembered how hard it was for little ones at the beach. When she had had enough I had to coax the boys back to the room. They could have played out there all day. That night we had a crazy wind/rain storm move in and I woke up at 12 with wind similar to what it sounds like during a hurricane. We were on the 15th floor and it was insane! I really thought the building was going to blow down. Thankfully we all woke up safe and sound the next morning but the winds were still crazy. The kids wanted to go back to the beach but I was sure Pixie or Wyatt would be blown far away. I had a back up plan if weather was bad to go to Ripley's Aquarium so the kids and I headed that way after lunch. Since it is off season there was hardly anyone there. We spent a few hours exploring and had a fantastic time.

 

Wyatt learning about fossils

Kids loved seeing all the fish

Owen getting to touch a sting ray



It was so windy, but this was the best of the group shots!

Field Trip

It's been awhile since I have update here. Let's see here is a short run down of what's been going on here: Wyatt had his 5th Birthday
          We baked cookies and had a blast with our Elf: Henry
          We celebrated Christmas
          Wyatt ended up in the hospital for 4 day!(diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever) 
                 he is doing good, thankfully although it still feels like it was a dream)
          We celebrated Christmas again with my in-laws

Now we are back into a regular routine, and struggling with a little cold with all three kids. Owen and I have been struggling again after the break with school. I am still unsure if it's a behavioral issue or something else.  Everything I ask him to do is a struggle, even when I know he knows the info. My DH and I are trying to find ways to discipline him as I do not want to fight and argue all day to complete his assignments. I have spoken to other Homeschoolers and they all sympathize and have said their first years were very similar. Although a bit of me is relieved to hear this it doesn't make it any less frustrating for me. I feel terrible when my DH asks how school went I end up telling him how hard he is to work with and how bad it really is. I really want to love it, but something is not working and I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what to do.

After a difficult week last week I decided for a change of scenery and we went on a field trip to Fort Fisher Aquarium. I have awesome memories of going to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD., although it makes my standard for them rather high now. The first time I went to Ft. Fisher I couldn't believe that was it. Where were the penguins, the rain forest, the huge sharks? Once I realized my expectations were way to high I started to appreciate how nice our local aquarium was. We have been a few times, and I decided this would be a perfect field trip. My MIL had planned on coming with us and when I found out schools were out we invited our neighbor Kaitlyn to come along as well. Of course the night before Pixie woke up with a high fever and wasn't able to come. Thankfully my DH was able to stay home with her so I could take the others.

We spent the next few hours exploring, listening and learning. It was not too crowded and all three children enjoyed exploring. They have two great touch tanks, one with sting rays, horseshoe crabs and various sea urchins and another that had young (harmless sharks). The older two enjoyed this while Wyatt only wanted to touch the water. I was happy to hear Owen ask lots of good questions.

 

 

      

Christmas bucket list

There are so many fun Christmas activities I want to do so I came up with a Christmas Bucket list for this year. I know we will probably not get to do all the things I want but at least now I have something to keep me on task. Which is not easy as my mind goes 100 miles and hour and in every direction possible. So here it is:

Christmas 2012 Bucket List

1. Lego Advent- the boys love legos and look forward to building a new piece each day. They take turns each day.

2. Truth in the Tinsel


I am excited about this and looking forward to doing this with the kids. Owen and I went out last night to pick up the some supplies for the crafts and I hope to get them all organized by Friday. I plan on posting more on this once I get it all set up.

3. Why do we call it Christmas

I hope this explains to the kids the real reason behind Christmas.

4. Bass Pro Shops to visit Santa- We have been doing this for a few years, visiting the Myrtle Beach, SC store. They have Santa, crafts, and games to play, the kids enjoy it. We have learned to go during the week and earlier in the season to keep it pleasant for everyone involved.

5. Make a Gingerbread house.- we love doing this, It makes a fun project that everyone can help on.

6. Christmas cookies- We have lots of favorites, and like to try new recipes too!

7. Mikes Farm hayride to look at the Christmas lights.

8. Arlie Gardens holiday lights- we have never been but they are suppose to have a beautiful display along with trains up and I think the kids would love it.

9. Read a new Christmas story everynight. I collected all of our Christmas books then went to the library to check out some new ones to add to our night time stories.

10. Take time to enjoy quality time with our family.

I may think of some others to add to our bucket list, but I hope this will help me at least remember what I was trying to do this year.

So Thankful

Thanksgiving is in a few days, I love the Holidays! Even though we have no family near I go all out for the festivities. I enjoy cooking a complete Turkey dinner with all the fixings for my DH and kids. Now that Owen is getting older he likes to help me in the kitchen which is fun. This week we are only doing school for Monday and Tuesday then taking a much deserved break till next Monday. We are currently 76 days into our school year! Things have been going so well I am almost afraid to say it out loud! We just completed our second spelling book and also our MUS Beta (math). Much of what we have been doing is to make sure I am filling in the gaps the public school had left. Owen is getting more confident and less frustrated with things and this makes me so happy. Wyatt enjoys working on his worksheets, tracing, cutting and playing. We still have our challenging moments but we are able to work through them much quicker now and move on. I am so thankful for this opportunity to have my children close. I am enjoying seeing all three interact together and know that the bonds they are creating will be a great joy to them as they grow.

We celebrated Pixie's 2nd Birthday earlier this month, we had friends over and ate ladybug cupcakes and red velvet cake. It goes by so quickly, seems like just yesterday she was dependant on me for everything. Now she puts up her hand and runs by saying "I'll get it", or joins in on the crazy wrestling the boys get into from time to time. I watch her and Wyatt playing together and how she picks up things he does, the good and the bad.  Every morning she as I get her out of bed she says "go see brothers". They adore her and she adores them, and it is beautiful!  As life gets crazier I try to enjoy these moments and worry less about the other things. Drama is always developing somewhere, stress can easily creep into our lives, worries can come at any moment. However I have adopted the mentality if we are all OK, all will be fine. Life is short, time is limited and in the end family is the only important thing.

The important things

Someone recently told me they don't know how I do everything I do. We run a Landscaping business with 15 + employees, have 3 kids, two who we are now homeschooling. We also have 2 dogs, 1 cat, 30 + chickens, 2 guineas, a household to run, people to feed plus everything else you throw into the mix. I laughed and told them I don't think I do it very well. Truth be told, my house is rarely clean, I have a list of a million things that will have to wait another day or 20. The good thing is I am learning to be okay with this by focusing on the important things. Our kids of course come first, then things just get done in order of importance. Yes, I trip over toys everywhere but I have 3 children home 24/7. Yes, my kitchen table is multifunctional it serves as a place to eat, our school desk, and my office. I am far from perfect but I also know that the last thing I am going to regret is spending time with my family.

Owen reading to Pixie

 

My curly headed fred, he is such a joy!

 

Pixie

 

The past month we have been working hard. We have put the vocabulary curriculum on hold for the time being and trying to gently work on writing with Owen. His math is getting better, he still struggles on things but he is gaining confidence using the tools we provide for him. He finished the first level of spelling and we are 1/4 of the way thru the second one. This week is our last week of Brazil, and our 11th week of school! I am still working on connecting with other homeschoolers in the area. Once we find a group that actually meets I think it will be helpful. I was hoping to not have to go into Wilmington but it looks like they have groups that are pretty active.

We are getting ready for the festivities to being. Once Halloween comes, we have Pixie's 2nd birthday, Thanksgiving, Wyatt's 5th birthday, Christmas then New Years! Whew! It seems to go by in a flash too, but these are the important moments.