Looking At It From Mom's Perspective

Summer School or No Summer School?!

I had a plan for the summer and I was confident in my plan.

And now I'm not.

My plan was to do school year round. Maybe lighten it enough to be done by 1:00, but it's not looking good. I'm losing their focus as the days warm.

We have always "done school" through the summer and so I know that we will continue with reading, writing and arithmatic, but I had hoped for much more. Mostly because I love the flexibility that would come the rest of the year if we put in 8-10 solid weeks in the summer. But, they're distracted and who can blame them? Heck, I want to be outside.

August will be hot and miserable and we will undoubtedly school then, but now, during the most beautiful days of the year? Yea, no one is really interested - including me.

But, but, but.......I have so many plans.

Plans. We've addressed this already, haven't we?

As I seek to adjust my summer plan I have some unshakable demands:

Literature reading - 4 days

Math tutoring Kari - 4-5 days

Writing/Grammar tutoring Kari - 4-5 days

Math review Valerie & Kevin - 3-4 days

Grammar work V & K - 3 days

Writing SWB all bigs - 3 days

Jaden full curriculum - 4 days

Jaden's curriculum only takes us a couple of hours (or less) a day and if I keep her going through the summer then I can lay off of her periodically during the school year to focus on the bigs. She's also doing late second and third grade work, so I'm feeling confident. She's 1/2 way through her 2nd grade math curriculum and I do want to finish that before summer is over. That means she'll start multiplication in the fall. I think she'll be able to handle that okay, but if it's just too much developmentally then I can step back and chill for a bit.

The kids wonder if this will be a lot of summer work (literature takes some time), but I know that this isn't much really. Especially for V & K. Kari's tutoring is essential and, thankfully, it's not too painful for Kari. She's actually doing very well. My heart desperately wants to get her caught up so that she will not have to suffer long term from the mistakes of adults that made selfish decisions. Maybe I won't be able to fill in all the holes, but I sure am going to try and, from the looks of things, she's going to do her best too!

Tweeking the plan......

 

Gruaduation From UT

Kari Michele Gaier

U.T. Alumni

What happened to that little girl that I use to hold on my lap and love on?

She's a big girl now and doing very well for herself.

 

Kari will be heading to Paris in September to enjoy a year abroad.

She graduated with a degree in French and desires to teach French here in the states, but first she will immerse herself in the French language and culture.

We're so proud of you Bug.

Go and enjoy Paris and the beautiful life that you've created.

Learning The Steps To This Delightful Dance

What a great week we've had.

I'm calling it a successful week!

  Learning how to be a homeschooling family reminds me of when our sweet Kari came home; we honeymooned and then our world fell apart. After our home blew up and we all fell apart, we had to figure out how to pick ourselves up and put "us" back together.

It's the same now. We honemooned, fell apart and now we're putting ourselves back together. Each morning since my babies came home I would wake and try a new approach, fail, try again, fail, and then try again. What we didn't do was quit. We put one foot in front of the other and did the next thing in each subject area - even when it was painful. This week we are finding our groove. We've figured out a system that meets everyone's needs and it feels good.

Thankfully, I have very willing kids that wake each day ready to attack the list and learn. Each of these kids are gifts to their Dad & I.

Another piece of the puzzle that proved difficult those first couple of weeks had to do with the changes in our lives; for the me the kids were now home 24/7 and to them they were now under my wing 24/7. They were glad to be home but they missed the old routine. They were glad to be home but they feared that they made a mistake coming home. They were glad to be home but they missed the daily contact with their friends. Now, we've been home long enough that we are enjoying the benefits of life spent together.

I'm thankful and thrilled to have this experience with our kids.

I May Have Pneumonia And Die

UPDATE: It is now 9:45 AM and I am fully awake and can clearly see how stupid silly this post is. I doubt seriously that I'll die anytime soon. Drama Queen at her best. Have a great day friends.

Go ahead and laugh at me, but this is how I feel and I'm sticking with it! (Said with my arms folded over my chest and my tongue stuck out.)

It is 3:44 AM and I have been up since 1:20. I took NyQuil at 9 PM and was sleeping just fine until I woke to go to the bathroom. And that's when the coughing resumed. Some people really are dying . . . I just feel as though I might.

If this feels like a pointless post to you then you were definitely not up at 3:46 AM coughing a lung up.

___________________

Seeking to be more productive with my time . . .

I love homeschooling and spending all of my time with my kids. We are reading some pretty cool books and enjoying the discussions. I have no idea how much of what I'm reading is reaching my newest girl. The vocabulary is over her head . . . praying she catches it.  (I'm using way too many elipses. I learned that those dots are called elipses because I homeschool. But I digress . . . sorry.)

Last week I instructed the three olders to write a paper giving two perspectives on the exact same experience. Valerie chose a horse topic, Kev' chose soccer and Kari chose a foster vs. adopted child in the same home. All papers were well thought out and interesting. I knew nothing of Valerie's topic and she taught me about the government's desire to round up and adopt out wild horses. She gave the perspective of the government and that of the horses. She even did research to ensure that her beliefs were accurate.

Kevin's setting was the soccer field. He was the protaganist in the story. The referee on the field made a call against him that he believed to be wrong. His paper described in detail his perspective as well as that of the ref. Kevin brought into the story the personal history of the ref and how that history affected his response to criticism and how Kevin took the opportunity to teach him of the freedom that can be found in God's word.

Kari, our dear Kari that loves to write and process her feelings through her writing. She wrote about two boys; both living with the same family. One boy had been adopted by the family and the other was living with the family as a foster child. She beautifully articulated the two perspectives that these two children feel as a result of their status differences in the family. She chose to bring a terrible accident upon the foster father in order to help the foster child see how important this man had become in his life. Every single time she puts pencil to paper she teaches us and I am grateful.

The three olders are doing the same high school core with me. We are reading some pretty heavy books to go along with this core. Currently we are reading Peace Child by Don Richardson. Youza' ~ heavy stuff. Mr. Richardson tells of a people group in Papau New Guinea called the Sawi. These are cannabalistic headhunters and Mr. Richardson's description of their stone-age-type existance can make your skin crawl. The first two chapters almost made me put the book down, but Mr. Richardson's intent was clear. We had to know the extent at which satan had a hold of these people in order to see the mighty work that Christ could do in their lives. We are only to chapter seven, maybe only 1/3 through, but we are starting to learn how God used Mr. Richardson and others to bring light to this very dark jungle.

Mr. Richarson and the other missionaries had to be able to see the Sawi culture through the eyes of their people before they could bring God to them. It is important that we open our eyes to other perspectives and understand the differences in cultures and lifestyles while showing them Christ's light.

How often do we as Christians mess this up?!

Often.

Look around you. Could you write a perspective paper (even if only in your head) telling two sides of a situation? One from your perspective and one from the perspective of someone who sees it completely different than you?

That was one of our exercises this week and we found it interesting.

______________________

Sure wish I could sleep ~ 4:15 AM and still coughing.

This always makes me think of that terrible illness nine years ago.

So grateful that it is only a virus and hopeful that we will all be healthy again very soon.

Praying you had a peaceful night's rest.

Love to you friends!!

So How Did That Work For You?

Structure is good! 

Structure is bad!

So which is it already?!

Much of what we attempted yesterday went well.

Much of what we attempted yeseterday went terribly wrong.

sigh.....

Told you it would take awhile.

How much is enough in one day?

How much is too much?

I brought the kids home this time with a satisfied feeling that I had a handle on satan screaming in my ear and inticing me to be afraid. I felt confident that I understood the balance necessary to make us successful. And then they came home and the overwhelming responsibility hit.

Here is what I know to be true:

Structure is a good thing.

Sticking with that.....

Structure is only good if it is implemented with plenty of love, grace and laughter.

And right there is where I get tripped up.

For me structure means having routines and a plan.

And a plan means a list of check boxes.

Checkboxes that Mom is absolutely determined to check off are a sure way to sink your home-educated-kiddo's ship.

Hold on. Don't shake your head yet. Remember that I already said that structure is good, that structure includes a plan and that a plan includes check boxes. Stick with me.

The problem comes when Mom, aka teacher, is inflexible with her checkboxes. There was a very good reason why we did not complete our checkboxes yesterday and yet all that my heart wanted from the day was a list of checked off check boxes.

I didn't have it in the schedule that we were introducing a totally new algebraic concept that would take more time to grasp and implement. Had I figured that in and planned for it, we may not have lost steam. Add to that the fact that I was starting to get sick (but didn't realize that was the problem until later in the afternoon) and our struggles yesterday come into focus.

Our crew sat down last night and evaluated what went right with the new plan and what went wrong. The kids were asked two questions:

1. What worked for today?

2. What didn't work?

#1 answer from all of the kids for question #2?

You're being mean as you try to get everything done and we are working hard.

True that.....as they say.

Checkboxes. Those dreaded checkboxes. Fear. What if I'm not doing enough? What if I fail them.

"Go away, satan, Christ lives in me and you have no place here!!"

Guess what the #1 answer was to question #1?

"The new schedule is great, Mom, and we should stick with it."

So, in review, this is where we are.

Continue to have a plan - checkboxes.

Continue to order the day.

Add to the mix:

grace, love, laughter, flexibility within the plan

ENJOY YOUR KIDDOS, TRACI, AND THEY WILL GROW IN....

Their faith.

Their knowledge of what is good and right.

Their love for each other.

Their academics.

Their love of family and togetherness.

_____________

I confess that yesterday blew up because of me. Because of fear from satan. Because I am not naturally structured and when I try to get in that box I become rigid and hard. Simply stated, because I blew it.

Today is a new day and we have a plan.

A flexible plan.

Time to wake the kiddos that are still sleeping.

Applying Structure To Me Is Like Trying To Nail Jello To The Wall

Stopping in to write up my plan for the week.

There is absolutely nothing inside of me that thinks that this newly conceived plan should work. Why? Simply because it's too soon to find something that will work long term and I don't take to structure very well. I think we're going to have plenty of trials & errors before finding our way.

With that said, here is the plan for this week:

Mom & Dad up by 6:30

Kids up at 7:30

Detailed zone cleaning and 5-minute bedroom cleanup right away

8:30 everyone at table for breakfast & bible

9:00 - 10:45 independent work for teens while Mom works with Ju

10:45 - 11:15 "Recess" & AM healthy snack

(this cracked my teens up but they'll need it)

11:15 - 12:45 Literature & Science

12:45 Lunch

1:30 History/Geography

3:00 Wrap up

3:00 Zone clean up and dinner prep

Fingers crossed! Wish me luck with trying to figure out how to get it all in.

We have a field trip planned this week. It will be nice to get out of the house and do something different. Also, the big kids start their music lessons today. Kevin will be training on drum kit and the girls are both learning guitar. Jade already takes piano.

Going Into Grandpa's World

We visited with my Dad last month. He took Kevin out on the course and allowed Ju and I to tag along. It is always fun to visit him in his world. Dad loves his family, but his favorite past time is golf. He breathes for it.

Thank you for letting us tag along, Dad, and for the experience of connecting on a deep level. We love you!!

Realities Of Home Education

Certainly, the honeymoon is not over (yet), but we are certainly feeling the stretch that comes from adjustment. These three are hard workers and are very willing school participants and I really don't see that changing a great deal. We'll have bad days, of course, but at their core they are mostly obedient and motivated students.

Last weeks adjustments, and they'll continue in coming weeks, come from trying to figure out just exactly how in the world we are going to make it all fit into our day. It had been my hope that I could wake the kids at 8 AM to start our day, but if last week is any indication, the kids do not like working as late into the day as needed if they sleep that long. They seem to have a 3PM stop in their brains. This pic shows them still working at 4:10 and that feels late. There is no time to pick up before Dad arrives home and, frankly, we are all mentally done by then. With all of that said, I'm thinking we will be trying a 7:30 routine this coming week. We don't start school that early, of course, but they need time to finish daily chores and prepare for their morning.

One thing is sure, I need to continue to get up with Scott as I always have in order to be ready to face a full home education day.  He and I do enjoy that time alone in the morning. A LOT!

Dealing in reality and enjoying our kids.

I'll get to the real struggles soon enough. We certainly have them to discuss, but I'm trying to get a handle on it before posting. Scott & I are sure that we will find the solution soon.

Spring Cleaning And Organizing

Surely homeschooling will be easier if we are organized, right? And, surely we will all get along better if our books are lined neatly in the closet instead of in a bin over in the corner of the room. Right? Right?! Well, you would think that I believe that based on the activity in this house these past two days. My kiddos and I are kicking some serious booty around here. Amazing what a mess we can make as we clean & organize. Change is in the air and what a fun thing to do with the warmer weather moving in.

Bedrooms are being switched around and we have a lot to do before the furniture can change hands. We started by emptying the four filing cabinet drawers in the living room and office. Four kids and four drawers....perfect for daily work. While Valerie & I did that, Kevin & Kari gutted Kevin's room of anything that is not furniture, lamp or clothes. They boxed his room up and put the boxes in the garage temporarily. Valerie & I moved from the filing cabinets (years of STUFF) to the living room closet. Ahhh, Ju's toy closet. We purged and packed up the things that made the cut and labled them "Ju's room - TOYS!" Kari & Kev' then became the heavys as they moved all of the boxes & trash out of the house. (Valerie was doing laundry amongst all of this as well, so she got out of the heavy lifting.) We wrapped up our day by taking all of our school books and placing them just so in the living room closet and in the filing cabinet drawers. Finally, out of my bedroom. Can I hear a collective "WooHoo!!" please?

Tomorrow we head upstairs and pack up the entire middle room. Everything has to go. Either donation, trash or sell. On Saturday we will fill the garage with all that there is to sell and I will list it. Furniture galore! I need to make some money off of these things because I am in the market for a new couch. Our family of six can not all sit comfortably in our living room, much less our family of seven, and that is U.N.A.C.C.E.P.T.A.B.L.E. to this Momma and Daddy. Currently, we have five seats for seven people (really four, but we squeeze five) and if we have company....forget it. But, that's after I make some money. Right now I need to stay focused on this leg of the change.

Once the middle room is empty of all things middle room then we'll move Kevin's furniture up there. We'll carry his boxes in from the garage and settle him in.

Once that's complete we are painting his old room, which is Ju's new room. A pale yellow is what is in my head but she's pushing for pink. We'll see. I imagine I'll do the pink. Pale, pale, pale, pale pink I might add. We are buying Jade a new bed because we are down one bed in our house right now. Yitong comes home enough that we desire for her to have her own bed/space. Yitong lost her bed and space when we moved Kari home. Of course, she didn't mind, but it will be nice for her to move right in without moving anyone out when breaks and visits allow her to come home. Yitong will share Valerie's room when she's home, but most of the time Valerie will bunk alone and this is a perfect plan for our beautiful and perfectly made introvert. Valerie uses her room to find peace and regenerate and, as the oldest, I want her to have her own room.

This is the bed that Scott & I are looking at for Ju's room. We considered a bed like this for Kev', but we decided against it because he will be so tall. Ju may not have that handicap and may enjoy the extra room this bed provides for years to come. Certainly, it will help her to enjoy her small room a little more.

Is your head spinning yet? Kevco in the middle room??? What?! Yea, we know, sounds weird, right? He and the girls are all for it! During our retreat to Georgia we sat down to discuss these ideas with the crew and before we could let them know our plans, Kev' said, "Wait! I have an idea......!" He went on to completely detail what was in our minds. Even cooler when they think it was their idea! Kevin is the glue in our family and having his room nestled right in the middle of his like-aged-sister's rooms seems absolutely perfect to us.

Well, I'd better head to bed. More work tomorrow.

If you stop to visit, expect to find a mess for the next few days.

Oh, one more thing. Have to add this so that I don't forget. We are not doing school this week and won't officially begin until Monday. We are doing math and watching our WW2 DVDs, but that's it. We are homeschooling year round and these four days of organizing is mighty imortant to our kick off, but we do have one exception. Jaden Ling WanRong will not go through a day without doing absolutely everything on her schedule. She is so funny! I can be knee deep in ten-year-old-tax documents and she will come over with her language book and ask for instruction. She is going to be a blast to teach! Today, while the rest of us worked, she read two books by herself and read two chapters of Charlette's Webb out loud to me.

She makes me smile.

:)

FREEDOM!!

It is not appropriate to shout from the rooftops on facebook and so I come here to scream from the rooftop:

We are 100% a homeschooling family!!!

This morning I dropped the girls off at school. They walked in the back door to make there way to clean out their lockers while I walked in the front door to deliver our withdrawal paperwork. The girls cleaned out their lockers and then headed off to classes one last time.

Before I left I took the opportunity to stop by several of the teacher's classrooms to thank them for their help in caring for our kiddos and I had the chance to thank Mr. Orange. Most of those teachers do a wonderful job and we are grateful.

Our time at school was positive and good and we are grateful for the provisions that allowed it to happen. However, the surge of joy that overwhelms me now didn't come until I went to the county building. The receptionist there is lovely and she said, "I wondered if you would be back to bring them all home. Enjoy your kiddos. You'll hear from me in a few months." She's a receptionist, and yet, her attitude of support lights a fire in me.

A beautiful word rang through my head over and over again as I left the county building,

"FREEDOM!"

We are grateful for our time at Troy Christi@n; we have been blessed by our time there.

With that said,

"WOO HOO!!!!!"

We're in a new season at our house and we are all excited!