Can I call out??

The one thing about being a mom is the inability to never call out sick. Let me tell you being sick while taking care of three kids is an adventure. Especially when I can't take them to school and have a quiet house to be sick in. Hmmmmmm... Didn't consider that when making the homeschool decision... Might've rethought that decision now... Oh I'm kidding (I think). Anyway, how is it that when you get sick your children decide that's the time they need you most?? Better yet, that's the exact time they decide to assert their independence!

Take F for example. She's three (really nuff said right there). I've been working with her on learning how to dress herself, buckle her own seatbelt (she's in a 5pt harness so it is easier said than done), and not need help after going potty. So naturally she has chosen now as the time to insist that she does all these things. "No mommy I do!!". Great. So I'm left standing there in a fever induced, achy body, stuffed up sick coma watching her sweet little self try and do it, for what seems like, five thousand times the wrong way. She's so proud of herself though I can't help but be happy for her... That is of course until this whole process starts again and then I'm ready to pull my hair out and say "forget independence!! It's overrated! Let mommy do it...". Alas, that's not what happens though... Bless her little heart :-)

Then you've got S. This week she's decided to become mobile. She's finally sitting up and now that she has this new view on life she's setting out to discover it! Enter the baby proofing. I mean this girl's gonna need it. She is everywhere and has already proven (on a couple occasions) that there can't be any tiny piece of anything on the floor or she's getting it. Following in the footsteps of her brother and sister she loooooves books. Of course she's mostly interested in tearing them up and trying to eat them... That reminds me, must get more tape...

Surprisingly, J is my easy child right now. Wow. Never thought those words would come out of my mouth. He's great though really. My big helper who I can count on to get me through the day right now. Even if he does create a big mess at least he can clean it up himself. That is gold in my book.

I do need to give a shout out to my awesome husband and parents (my village). I am easily the luckiest person on the planet because my parents live a mile away. When push comes to shove they can be here in two minutes to bail me out and help me with the kids if everything goes upside down (like the time I nearly killed myself in a big mishap with the Excursion while pregnant with S, and dad was there in 2 minutes flat to take the kids until hubby got there, meanwhile I fell to absolute pieces). Yeah, they're good like that.

Hubby is an amazing dad. He can take charge of any situation and get everything done with the kids for me so I can get well. Seriously, without him I'd be lost... And probably extremely grouchy. Thank goodness my village makes a mean cup of coffee and breakfast every morning. I'm not talking cereal either... Eggs, bacon, toast... Mmmmmm... You know I think bed is calling my name. I'll be that much closer to breakfast. Which does get delivered in bed occasionally. Don't be jealous :-)

J's 6th Birthday

As I've said before, this has been a big year for J so I really wanted him to have an extra special birthday. After much thought we decided to rent a bounce house for the yard! The whole thing was almost completely ruined by a tropical storm that came through the day before. Our neighbor lost a tree and there was flooding throughout the area. Fortunately we have a pretty long driveway and was able to relocate the party to the front of the house. It even rained on us a bit as we were getting set up. Then a half hour before the party was to start it was as if God literally turned the water off, parted the clouds and the sun came out in full force. I could not believe it. We dumped out the accumulated water and dried off the tables and raced to get it all together. It was a gorgeous day and the kids (and adults) had a blast!! I know I sound like a broken record at times, but I'm so happy and proud of my little man. He has worked so hard this year, overcome many obstacles, and we couldn't be more happy with how it all came together. Happy Birthday to my sweet J, we love you so much!

By the way, yes I made the cake, helmet and football pinata. I apparently have too much time on my hands. Maybe we should just have another baby since I've got all this time.... hahahahahahaha! Well there's your laugh for the day ;-)

Homeschool... how did we get here??

This is our last official week of kindergarten for J and what a year it has been! The whole homeschool subject is one we're asked about a lot. Why are we doing it, how do we do it, and the best is "You're not going to do it forever are you??". I'm going to go ahead and just try to answer a few of those questions in a nut shell... We started out the year full of excitement and expectations about going to big kid school, and ended up delighted and happy at our brand new homeschool instead. So how did we get here?? Well, that's complicated. I've been struggling for a while as to how much I wanted to say about this subject, if anything at all. It's a very long story and I just don't want to go into to many details, but I also did want to talk about it a little bit for the purpose of encouraging others who may be dealing with some of these issues as well. There are those of you who know a lot and those of you who know little to none so I'll try and keep it short.

J was diagnosed last year with ADHD. His kindergarten class consisted of 24 kids, 1 teacher, and 1 assistant who was only there for half of the day. Three weeks into the school year we were brought in for a conference where the teacher informed us that J was immature for his age and we needed to take him out of school and give him another year. The kicker is she had felt this way since day one but the school would not allow her to talk to us about it until he had been there for three weeks. She called us exactly on the last day to schedule the meeting. Taking J out of school after he had already been there, formed friendships, and told everyone in the world how excited he was to be there was not an option. Not to mention there were about 3 different professionals (of various sort) telling us that holding him back would not be a good idea because of how smart he is. They also didn't agree with the teacher's assessment of his personality.

Things just went downhill from there. I could list all kinds of reasons as to what went wrong, but at the end of the day it really just came down to the school failing to be there for him and refusing to help. I'm in a very lucky position to have the ability to stay at home with the kids. While I never imagined we'd be a homeschool family, I couldn't allow anyone to hold J back from reaching his full potential. After a lot of prayer we came to the decision that this was the best thing for everyone.

As far as how we do it... I am very lucky to have a husband who is supportive of homeschool. Both parents having a passion for homeschooling is critical in my opinion. Living where we do has also been a huge help to me. I didn't know it before, but homeschooling is actually quite large in this area. The homeschool groups, co-ops, and resources are amazing.

Although we are getting ready to finish our year, I am already getting ready for next year. We've got a great homeschool group that we've joined, a few field trips already planned, and curriculums picked out and ready to go. I am so excited to connect with new people, visit some new places, and see all that is in store for us in the next year!

As for the question pertaining to how long we intend to homeschool, the short answer is I don't know. We never intended on being a homeschool family in the first place so I can't tell you how long we plan on doing it. All I can tell you is that as of right now we have no intention of stopping. If that takes us all the way through high school then so be it. We believe that God has put us in this place and he will direct us in the path we will take when that time comes. For now, we will continue enjoying every minute (well, almost every minute, haha)!