Is This a Bad Sign?

We have been laughing at Micah all morning. He has discovered the art of temper tantrum throwing. Except he is a little too lazy to follow it all the way thru. He kind of grunts when he is not pleased and then lies down on the floor and looks at you. There is no crying or flailing of body parts. Just lying on the floor. I think it may be a bad sign when a 1 yr old is too lazy to throw a complete temper tantrum.:)

We Did It!

I am feeling all sentimental today. Bruce laughs at me when I get this way. Therefore, you all will have to hear from me instead. Sorry!! A little over a year ago I agreed to teach this Middle Ages, Renaissance,& Reformation class online to 4th -6th graders. I knew it would be a lot, but, hey, I would be teaching this year to my own kids so, it couldn't be that difficult. Wow, I completely underestimated the time commitment. After making this commitment, we discovered our adoption would be contested. I developed the attitude of, "How much can a mother take? We just have to get through this school year and clean up any messes later." I fully expected to have a lousy school year. We decided I should not back out of my commitment to Veritas Press and the families who had already signed up for my class. So, we plugged away. Well, here we are at the end of the year and I am sad that my classes are done. Do not get me wrong, I am happy to have my Sunday nights back from the hours of making the never ending power point slides, but I am sad to be done with these students. They, along with their families, prayed us through our very long court battle, they sat patiently at their computers when Isaac came on one Monday morning to say, "My mom will be right here. My brother is having seizures and the ambulance is here." No, I never made it to class that day. They called me the best teacher ever. I said thank you, but really, it's between me and mom so, I take it for what it is worth. On our homeschool front, I am amazed at my children. I never thought we would actually finish the year. And I was good with that. I decided to cut my self SOME slack. Guess what? Today was our last day of formal school and we are done!! Sarah came to me and asked for a fun book to read. I said. "Go to your Literature shelf and pick something you did not get to this year. You will continue to read them, but I will not make you do the Lit. guides through the summer." She said,"Mom,I read them all." I checked and she was right. I am so happy that they persevered and worked through a time that they could have easily taken advantage of me. I was too tired to fight. Little do they know, but I would have so made excuses for them. But, they did not and I am proud of them. Anyway, I am happy to say we had a great school year, we accomplished so much and now we will rest for a couple of days. Then it is time to start gearing up for the Veritas Press Scholars Academy End of the Year Gathering! And yeas, I will teach again next year. I have done all of those power point slides now!

My Nose is Stuck

We all have yucky, nasty colds. Jack woke up the other morning and said, " My nose doesn't work. It's stuck! Fix it!!!" I giggled and went about my business. Well, now my nose seems to be stuck and want somebody to fix it!!

Should We Make Things Easier?

Friday and Saturday we worked the PA Homeschool Convention for Veritas Press. I have so much fun, but they are painful for me. My back cannot take it. I start taking medication the night before and every 4 hours while we are there. It is always Mother's Day weekend so, that means I usually spend Mother's Day nursing my back. But that is okay. I rarely get the chance to just lie around for the day so it is great Mother's Day treat. But, that is not what I wanted to write about. I cannot tell you how many times, at the convention, someone would ask me about a curriculum and I would start explaining it to then hear,"Is it easy? I just want something easy. I want to hand it to them and know they can figure it out without me." I understand the need for easy. Do not get me wrong. I have picked a couple of things that allow some independence so I can work with the other children. That is one reason we have outsourced a little to a couple of online classes for Isaac. BUT, it is NOT the motto of our home. I pick curriculum that best fits the way in which we want our children educated and within that realm what best works with that child. I have my children in different spelling and math programs for that reason. When we decided to have a large family there were a couple of areas that we did not want the individual child to miss out on. Education was one of them. Yes, I go to bed crazy exhausted some nights. We have decided to do 2 to 3 days a week of Math through the summer to take some of the pressure off. We also have them do Literature year round. We just come up with these little things to make it not necessary to lower the standard in the name of ease. I don't know. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I will get to the end of the road and realize we killed ourselves for nothing and we should have taken the easy road. What are you thoughts?

Happy Birthday Jack

Today is Jack's 3rd birthday. Jack is such a great kid. He is the family comedian and has most of us wrapped around his little finger. He also has the best head full of curls. As much as we have spoiled him, he still made a great big brother to Micah and loves his dog Milo. He is often heard saying, "Milo is a great pet!" And hey, he also gives us great excuse for a Cinco de Mayo party every year! We love you Jack! Happy Birthday!!