Transition phase.....

For me! I really am in a transition phase with our homeschooling this year. I have gone back and forth on exactly what I want to *do* with the kids, even though my philosophy hasn't really changed a lot.

We have always been lifeschoolers and have loved it! Lifeschooling is all about living LIFE and learning from it every day, through play, work, relationships, etc. Sometimes that includes structured book work, but usually only it if is necessary or requested. My children are not "behind" at all and are very bright. It has always worked so incredibly well for us.

But my kids are getting older.

I am beginning to see that they (my oldest two, mainly) are needing more structure and more direction. They read books all the time and still learn (and love it!), but as a Christian mother, I want them to learn very specific things, such as biblical doctrine, godly character, etc. Those are not things they can just "pick up", or if I leave it to that exclusively, they may just "pick up" unbiblical things! We have been doing these things along the way, but I just feel they need *more* of the intentional, structured stuff, if that makes sense.

I am not looking for a curriculum though. My idea is to use the bible as our textbook (as exclusively as possible) and life experiences (like celebrating God's holy days, a.k.a. feasts and the Sabbath), and learn this way. I just need to DO more though. We have been celebrating the feasts more, and it has been incredible, and we are wanting to do more next year!

I think my philosophy, as I see my kids growing and changing, is more along the lines of a Thomas Jefferson Education, a.k.a. Leadership Education. I have just never been forced to "move on" until now.....as my children are growing and moving into the second phase! Right now I am just trying to sort out my thoughts, look at all our options and make some decisions, so we have been mostly doing social activities this year, so far.

We can sure learn a lot from these types of activities as well! Anyone who tries to tell me that homeschooled children are not "socialized" and are weird is going to be laughed at in their face! My kids are extremely social, and I am having to turn down activities, even free ones, because there is not enough time in the day and week for it all!!!! I won't even go into that right now, but you can read all about homeschooling and socialization here. :)


Right now our weekly activities go as follows:

• Monday we have dance class and karate (free)
• Tuesdays my mom comes each week to do activities with the kids, then we have Keepers At Home (free) and Cub Scouts
• Wednesdays we have PE and lunch at the park with friends
• Thursdays we have my doctor's appointment, meet with friends for various activities (we're about to start a reading program, free) and homeschool soccer (free)
• Fridays is another optional PE class (free) as well as a bible study right before. Once a month we have Lego Club on Fridays as well.

I even tried to keep Thursdays and Fridays open!!!

In addition to these weekly activities, there are other things we try to squeeze in, such as a trip to the pumpkin patch, various museums (some free), open swim days (twice weekly) at a local high school, art class (weekly, free) at the library, farm tours (most free), and other various activities that come up often, such as festivals and expos. Oh, and did I mention that I am having another baby in 5 weeks?!

So that is where we're at right now. It is LIFE, and we are loving it! Although, I have to admit, I am REALLY looking forward to this baby coming so that I will be forced to slow down a bit! I am taking a much needed "babymoon", especially since I didn't have the chance to with my last one and ended up depressed.....it was horrible!

Speaking of my last one, he just woke up and needs me, so I will leave you with a picture taken a few days ago of the two of us and will pick this up later. :)

Visit to the Zoo

I think I was laughing pretty hard by the time Myles took this picture. He was taking forever with the camera and we were all just getting soaked in the mister! We had a great time at the zoo last week, but boy was it humid! Fun times! :)

Happy Birthday to Jack-Jack!

I just can't believe it! Today my baby is two years old! He's been through a lot in his short life so far, but he is doing very well right now and is such a sweet boy. He truly lights up the room when he walks in. :) He has brought a smile to my face and pulled me out of my grumpiness many times!

I thought I'd take the opportunity to record some milestones. He has been walking now for 5 months. He is much more stable now, but he still doesn't have the best balance. :) He doesn't really fall very often though, he just stumbles a lot and almost falls. He has also started running recently. He has tried in the past, but he is actually getting some speed up now!

He also LOVES to dance! I hope we can get him into some kind of dance class when he is a little older, but for now he just dances freestyle......or Jack style! I've got to get a video of it because it is so stinkin' funny! I'll try that tomorrow when he's dancing to the worship band in the church service. :) He also still loves to drum, but he has lightened up on that a bit and loves to move his whole body more to the music. He does still love drumming though, as you can see in the video I recently posted! When it comes to music, he will also sway his body and sing......SO CUTE! He is definitely my muscially-inclined child out of the four!

Jack also has a whopping 8 teeth now and is working on a couple more. I haven't been able to get a picture yet, but if you ask him to show you his teeth, he smiles really weird so you can see all of them! It is so funny!

I'm not sure of his exact height and weight, but he's got to be close or right at 30 pounds now. He will NOT follow me when we go out somewhere, so I still have to carry him a lot. He really won't follow me though! I don't understand! He will pull on me or will just hang, so I have to bribe him with a sucker or a drink to get him to follow me or else I have to carry him. :) What a stinker! I've had to use the mei tai a couple of times recently, and it was a lifesaver!!!! (Or I guess more of a back saver. Ha!) In fact, he is in the mei tai in the picture above!

Talking! He still doesn't say a whole lot of words that the average person can understand, but he will imitate just about anything. He says his B's really well, so those words are more clear. I just tried to get him to say "water" a bit ago, and he kept putting a B on the front. :) He does have a few words he says, but you have to really pay attention because, even for me, they are hard to understand right now. I mostly recognize repeat sounds and not so much words necessarily. But he does continue to add to his vocabulary daily!

There is much more to my little Baby Jack-Jack, but these are the milestones I really wanted to record here. He is growing so fast, too fast for Mommy! Happy birthday, Peanut! We all love you so much!

Fun times with Jack-Jack :)

I know these aren't the greatest pictures, but I thought they were funny. Also, the sun was shining right on us, so the lighting is weird.

Jack was fighting a nap one day, so we just rolled around and played until he got too tired to move anymore. He likes to "honk" my nose and pull my hair. Ouch! We have fun though. When he is sleepy he gets very cuddly. :)

52 Weeks meme

Here is a meme that I think all moms should do, even if you don't have a blog! It is simply a challenge to get out from behind the camera and get in some pictures at least once a week! I don't like to be in pictures, but my husband will appreciate this since he is always telling me that I am not in enough pictures. I can't argue with him.....I wish my parents had been in more pictures when I was a kid!

So, even though it is not Thursday, I am going to post a picture from last week. I probably won't do this on Thursdays necessarily, but I will try to be in new pictures every week. Sorry it's not the best picture, but this is the most recent. Isn't Jack a cutie? :)