Everyday Blessings- a year of homeschool reflection

    We just wrapped up our first official homeschool year. Lexie cruised through her Kindergarten Sonlight curriculum at home. She also attended a local "Regional Learning Academy" where homeschoolers are able to take free (public school funded) complimentary classes. Lexie spent 4.5 hrs a week (split across two days) taking fine art, music, handwriting, and a reading class. The Learning Academy worked out perfectly as it was directly in between Liam's prechool and our house. This was a huge blessing, as Lexie was able to take her beloved art class and have some homework assigned from teachers other then dear old mom. She easily met friends and I  found a sweet little network of supportive  homeschooling families as well. 

These were some of the many read-alouds we read together this year.

 

 

Lex loved art class. They studied a lot about birds.

 

    Things we loved about homeschooling:
      - Travel: We were able to travel with Travis to some of his job visits. Mt. Rainer and Portland to name a few. Not having to call an attendance office or deal with a missed show-and-tell dates was awesome. We also took off to Disneyland the second week of February. There was no holiday or mid-winter break and the off season perk was awesome.

On a Portland trip with Daddy back in December.

      -  Flexibility: We were able to tweak the curriculum to best fit Lexie. We changed the order of a few books because of how they pertained to what was going on in our real life. We got to throw in special things like making recipes for the Superbowl, writing letters to relatives far away, and Holiday prep. Being able to go to places in off-peak days and hours are a HUGE bonus for me. We got to play in the snow on a December day our neighborhood school had no delay. The list goes on in this area..

February was a magical time to visit Disney. 80 degrees everyday.

     -  Going at our own pace: Lexie generally is very easy to teach. Also she started kindergarten at an older age than most with a September birthday. These two things made life pretty easy as far as kindergarten at home. We really only spent about 90 minutes a day doing school and the rest was hands on learning and play.

Little House in the Big Woods was a favorite.
 

 

     -  Health and rest: Huge praise report: This was the first year of my parenting life that we did not need urgent care or antibiotics. Also the first year of Lexie and Liam's life they did not have an ear infection.  I am confident homeschooling was one of the reasons why (also helped using essential oils and eating a cleaner diet.) We weren't as tired and exhausted as we have been in years past. Homeschooling allowed Lexie to sleep in till 8-8:30am each day. She would of had to START school at 8am in our local school district. The girl needs her beauty sleep!

      -   Outdoor Classroom: We spent a lot of time outside. We read on the patio, did side walk chalk math, nature walks for Science, hiking and outdoor field trips as much as possible.

      -   Family Time: With Daddy having his own business, the kids are able to see him far more with homeschooling. We also get to see other relatives during the day not just on weekends, nights, or holidays.

 

     -   Activities: Lexie was able to do soccer and ballet this year. I have no idea how we would have the time and energy for both those activities  had we been held to a traditional school schedule. Her ballet class was during the day, so that saved me from having to drag three kids out at dinner time when the other classes are held.

    Things are never perfect, and there were for sure some struggles. Let me share  a few of them.

     3 things that made me want to pull my hair out:

    - Messy house: I never found a great rhythm to keeping the house up through homeschooling. I need help in this area and am open to any suggestions. My kids are 6,4, and 2 and they make big messes and although they do pick up...it's never enough. The house is trashed daily. My husband works his tail off providing for us and I hate to have him come home to a messy house. Sadly, we have been using weekends to straighten up and get caught up on chores. Would love to improve in this area so we can relax on the weekends.

    -  Academic Frustration: As previously stated, my oldest in generally easy to teach. Except in this one area of math where she literally cries, complains, and screams  when she sees its kind of problem on her math book. It's my mommy instinct to want to send her to her room when she acts like this but clearly that wouldn't get us very far.  It was really hard to get  past the frustration and open to learning again. We do lots of math games, video teaching, and hands on stuff but you can't totally escape the math workbook :)
 
    - Easy To Overthink: The homeschooling blogospohere is crazy intimidating. It's easy to get overwhelmed with curriculum choices. I am constantly hoping that I am doing "enough" school to equip my kiddo for life. I will get a fun idea, then google and then continue down the bunny trail that is amazing creative homeschool ideas online. Trying to keep it simple is a challenge for our family.

    Overall, the benefits far outweigh the costs for us right now. Next year will bring new blessings and challenges as we add Liam to the mix.  We are very excited to homeschool him, as he is a very quick learner in concrete skills and completely taught himself to read, currently at 1st grade level. I hope to write more on him and his unique challenges and strengths soon.
    Our littlest, Norah,  will also be more apart of the class next year. Her first educational goal being to show up to class potty trained :)

  
    Not sure of all the curriculum's, activities, or groups we will partake in for the 2014-15 year. Just sure that the Lord will direct our steps and give us strength  just as he did this year.

 

This quote hung in our homeschool room all year ....

"As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful." - Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

                                                  

Welcome to Brock Academy

 Upon graduating from college I spent some time working for a evening after-school program. I remember a family coming in to sign up their 3 beautiful, well behaved children for our program. While going over the enrollment paperwork I discovered this family was homeschooling. I mentioned this to my director at a staff meeting. My director rolled her eyes, stuck her finger in her mouth and faked a gag as she declared loudly, "Oh, God no! Homeschooling families are so weird."

  As the weeks went on I studied these "weird" home schooled children, only to find that they were a delight to our program. They assisted other kids on their homework, played well with others, and (gasp!) even made friends with ease.

  Well I wish I could share my excitement today with that old boss because over the last week we have began homeschooling and to some... that might make us weird. But for those of you who know us, that box has already been checked.

   We made the decision to home school Lexie this year. She would have gone to a half day kindergarten in a high preforming public school. We are blessed to live in a good district with strong academics. Many of you have to be thinking we are crazy to turn that down.

Our school boxes came. My inner nerd was so delighted at The Boxcar Children, The Little House in the Big Woods, The House on Pooh Corner and more classics. This should postpone Snoop Dog and JayZ from being the kids inspiration for a few years.

 

    Homeschooling allows us to choose a curriculum that gives Lex a biblical worldview, flexibility to travel with Trav's job,  more 1 on 1 instruction, and the opportunity to cultivate her passion for hands-on-learning and classic literature . We also sat down and discovered that she is able to still do ballet and soccer, whereas we may not have been able to as easily facilitate activities with a public school schedule and homework. She's also able to attend Spanish and Art classes through homeschool resources in our community. The area we call home is rich in resources to offer homeschoolers such as classes that supplement their education, groups, and local field trips.

Photos from our first Friday Field Trip to Mt Rainer. Trav had a safety visit (yes, at a National Park) and this is a clear reason I am so excited to give the kids experiences they might not have in a classroom. Lexie also got to help out at the front desk of Paradise Inn. She's got connections.

 

    That said, it clearly isn't a fit for every kid. One kid it doesn't fit right now is our son Liam. He will attend preschool this year. He can benefit from added instruction in following directions, social skills, and adhering to a more firm classroom structure.  

     We were organizing the school room together and I wrote Ecclesiastics 7:8 on our white board. 

"The end of a matter is better then it's beginning, and patience is better then pride."

 

We talked about what that verse means. I explained to her that people often put a lot of effort into the beginning of things. The beginning of life (showering babies), marriage (beautiful weddings), school (first day fancy) but God really values how our heart is at the end of things. I told her I was excited to open our new curriculum boxes and start the year but even more then that I wanted to have a vision of a Godly young women accepting a high school diploma. Because the end is better then the beginning. Through our discussion I could tell she was able to capture this idea much more easily then I could. It was proof that her little mind and heart are still somewhat unclouded from the confusion of the world and she is eager to hear spiritual truths. Come as a child!

So we begin...off to put on my long skirt, milk the cows, and make the children do my chores!

Going International- Our Trip to BC

 

 

Trav had the great privilege of being asked to give a Safety speech for a large international conference held in Vancouver, Canada. Since that didn't sound stressful enough, the kids and I decided to join him.

We left on a Friday morning and had no problems getting across the boarder.

We stayed 3 nights at the Weston Bayshore. This hotel was awesome. It was a short walk to Stanley Park and right on the water. As well as having a Starbucks in the lobby. As soon as we arrived we jumped on the beds (doesn't everybody?) and then quickly put clothes way. We were excited to get to the park.

Stanley Park is a outdoor oasis. It covers over 1,000 acres and has some of the most breathtaking views of lush hills, sea, lighthouses, and mountains. Within the park there are several attractions like the Vancouver Aquarium, a water park, several play parks, gift shops, and lots of gorgeous running/biking trails. It feels like a wilderness within a city.

As we walked to the park we were the only ones walking. Kept getting passed up by runners who were going Olympic marathons paces with Nike Model attire. We felt extremely cool with our double stroller, diaper bag, sweat pants and McDonald's diet coke in hand. We walked about a mile in and the kids found a fun place to play.

After hitting up the first play park, we looked ahead and saw the most amazing sight Green, lush, rolling hills of grass and not a person in sight. We all thought the same thing at once ran to the top of the first hill and started rolling down.

As a mother, I felt like this was one of those moments my heart was going to explode. I just love seeing my kids playing outdoors, running free, and laughing together. It was beautiful. Then just like a horror movie I heard Lexie screaming from the top of her lungs. We didn't understand what happened till she showed us her arm and there we saw the damage from her first bee sting. So we somberly ended the first night in the park.

The next day we took the kids to the Vancouver Aquarium. It was crazy expensive to get in but really really awesome if Aquariums are your thing. Maybe I would of enjoyed it more had it not been a Saturday and packed to the max.

That night we walked on the pier near our hotel and found some amazing pizza. We just ate outside and let the kids play in the grass. That's when we saw them doing this and our hearts melted again.

Sunday came and it was the day of Trav's big speech. He delivered his speech to about 500 people and knocked it out of the park. We were all so proud of him. After the speech was over, we got to hang out in the pool together. The kids loved swimming and we heard lots of laughing.

We went for a short drive across the Lions Gate Bridge to see the other side of town. There are some cute shops and markets over there.

Sunday night we walked to another unique little park right in the city. Then wrapped it up with watching Wreck It Ralph on the I-Pad.

Monday morning came we ordered breakfast in bed, went for a swim, and loaded up the Swagger Wagon and headed back to the US.

It was a sweet trip. Much needed after a busy spring for our family. I feel fortunate that we can make memories together while Trav works. I know the day will come when the little ones won't be little and may not want to hang out with us as much. So for now, we will cease the day!





Buisness Road Trip with Daddy

 

The kiddos and I went with Trav for a few days on a business road trip back in March. We figured it would be one last hooray for Lexie and Liam to have worry-free swimming in the hotels, since they were both scheduled to get ear tubes the following week. Not to mention, lots of fun seeing what Daddy does on some of his hotel safety inspections.

Our first stop was the Tri-Cities, where Trav had 3 safety inspections. The kids had fun playing at Howard Amon Park, right on the Columbia River.



 

 Next stop was Spokane. One of our families favorite places. We were all here back in September but the famous wagon slide was closed down. Norah enjoyed her first experience going down the slide with mommy. We stayed at the Red Lion at the Park which is the best place to stay in Spokane. So nice to be walking distance from all the park has to offer and awesome pools. 

After 2 days of 5 safety inspections...it was time to head over to the Idaho border to play at one of our most favorite places. That would be the Triple Play Family Fun Park in Hayden, Idaho. It is a hotel the boasts an indoor water park, bowling alley, go-carts, arcades, climbing walls, and more. We stayed here in May of 2009 (check the blog achieves) when Lexie was still an only child and about 20 months old. We thought we were tired then. Whew- 3 mobile kids at a place like this is exhausting and awesome. If you know our family, we wouldn't want it any other way.

 

Lexie wanted to try out the climbing wall. In her PJ's nonetheless. She did amazing and never ceases to surprise us with how easy new things come to her.

Hugs in the water park for the L-team

Norah rocked her "Joe Dirt" hat on the way home. She was a such a good baby on the trip, smiles and laughing are her thing. Needless to say, she makes a lot of friends on the road. We made it home on St. Patrick's Day...almost time for Spring!

 

Norah's Winter "ONEderland"

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We celebrated the sweetest bonus baby with a Winter "ONE"derland theme. I had fun with this party, given that our other children were Fall babies, saw this idea on Pintrest and went with it. Norah loved every minute of her special party, all the attention and decorations, presents, family, and one amazing cake.

That's right, her Aunt Becci made her the most amazing cake that matched the theme. It felt so nice to celebrate her, she has been such a great and easy baby. Going along with us in what has been a crazy year. Never ceasing to smile and remind me of God's goodness.

 I have been reflecting on those first few days (okay, months) after finding out that we were surprisingly pregnant again. I remember laying awake at night trying to comprehend how I was going to do it. I had visions, more like nightmares, of what life with three kids (four and under) was going to look like. Well, I can tell you my visions were not my reality. As  Tom Petty sings, "Most things I worry about never happen anyway."

 I could write a novel about all the things I have learned in the last year but instead will leave you with this.  Children are a blessing and we believe it now more then ever.

Peaks and Valleys of 2012

2012 was a wild ride for our family. I can think of no other year like it. It wasn't that it was a "bad" year, although there was plenty of sorrow and challenges, there was equally as much to rejoice and smile about. It is only after the great valleys that we can finally appreciate the beauty of the mountain peaks, right? Easy to say when standing on that peak, harder to remember as your stuck in the cruddy Valley. 

The year started out with its biggest blessing, in our little Norah arriving in February. She is a happy, healthy, easy-going, and affectionate baby girl. Her timing was perfect, as we had no idea what was headed our way.

The next couple of months brought major medical concerns. In May, Lexie had a serious infection and her first hospital stay. She did heal completely but we are now very cautious of antibiotics and leary of her getting sick where she might need them. (To read the whole story, read my last blog.)

Travis had ankle reconstruction surgery in early June. Watching him go through that painful experience was heart wrenching.  He was unable to walk (no weight) for several weeks, and then several more on crutches. It was a tough time, as the kids didn't really understand why Daddy all of a sudden couldn't play, wrestle, go to the park, etc. Liam had the hardest time, he was mad that Daddy couldn't be very involved. This made Trav frustrated. Which made me sad! Trav was wiped out from trying to work, recover, rest, and find other ways to spend time with our little people. 

This stretched me in ways that, I'll be honest, I wasn't interested in being stretched. Having a 4yr old, 2 yr and infant was enough and I was very overwhelmed with Trav being out of commission for the majority of the summer. As hard as it was for all of us, God walked us through it. Blessing us with an incredible amount of love and support. We both feel way more compassion for others who are physically hurting and want to use this experience, not waste it in self-pitty, knowing there is plenty of opportunities to encourage others. 

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As Travis began to walk again, in early August, we tried to make up for lost time by catching some baseball games, day trips, and we went to family camp with our church. While there,we received a call that my brother Casey, who is stationed in Flordia, was at LSU with a skull fracture. We weren't sure if he was going to make it, and if he did, what kind of brain activity he would regain. God was so good to let us get the news while camping with our church family, who diligently prayed for Casey's recovery. He spent almost 2 weeks at LSU, has some hearing loss, but has recovered. So much so that he ran a full 26.2 marathon recently.

At the end of August things were beginning to slow down, or so I thought. Trav came home one day and told me he was offered a great job in Lacey and he was going to take it. We had been longing to move back to Olympia for sometime and never thought a job oppertunity would open up like this. It literally fell in Travis's lap. I had mixed feeling since it was almost September, Lexie was excited to be starting a PreK near our house, I felt closer then ever to our friends and church family. I was exhausted from all the events of the summer. We decided to wait on the Lord and pray about moving to Olympia. Trav started his job at the beginning of September and we waited. We didn't have to wait long because God answered a very specific prayer request,we asked Him to provide a rental in a specific neighborhood. He did, and we took that as conformation and moved in mid November. We are adjusting well, love the town, the family close by, and Travs 10 min drive to his office. Lexie goes to PreK at the same Christian school I used to attend. Liam gets lots of play time and is looking forward to starting swimming. Norah smiles more then ever. God continues  and meet our every need....even and do exceddingly and abundently more then we could ask or think (Esphesians 3:20)

Lexie's trip to the hospital

This is a blog that I never wanted to write but for the sake of record keeping I feel led to share our recent medical experiences.

In early May, both Lexie and Liam had ear infections. Lexie had a very bad one. Liam had a double. Both had experienced ear infections before but neither have had the chronic problems that warrant tubes. The doctor put them on Augmentin. The medication seemed to work rapidly and we increased their yogurt intake to help balance the bacteria in the gut. Both kids took the prescribed meds for 10 days. Seemed to do the trick and all was well. For a few days.

 Three days after stopping the meds, Lexie developed diarrhea. It wasn't that alarming at first. Just a couple more trips to the bathroom and a few noticeable abdominal cramps. We figured it was just something she ate and tried to keep her hydrated, rested, and fed her foods that were easy on the tummy. She had no fever, vomiting, or lack of energy. 3 days of it and it started to increase. Lexie wasn't able to handle much without it coming out. Still we were not that concerned until day 4 of diarrhea when she suddenly passed bloody stools. That is when we headed straight for the ER (it was 10pm at night on a Saturday.)
Travis took Lexie down to Good Sam ER. They seemed concerned about food borne illness and the possibility of her small intestine sucked into her colon. Both they took very seriously and told Travis that she would need to be transferred to Tacoma Mary Bridge via ambulance.
My mother-in-law graciously offered to drive me and Norah down, as I was too upset to drive myself. Trav's sister and aunt stayed with Liam.
Lexie was stable and had fallen asleep (thank God) for the ambulance ride. She also slept through the ultrasound and x-rays once we arrived at Mary Bridge. This was a huge blessing, as I am sure she would of been scared and upset. The doctor's were surprised that nothing out of the ordinary showed up on either the ultra-sound or x-rays. It is then that I mentioned she had recently finished the antibiotics for the ear infection. That is when the light bulb went off. They wanted to test her stool for C-Diff which is a shortened name for Clostridium difficile.Clostridium that causes severe  intestinal disease when competing bacteria in the gut have been wiped out, usually by antibiotics. Only problem being that the test could not be run for another day or so because there was no lab worker and it was Memorial Day Weekend. So we were told Lexie was to be admitted.
At this point, Lexie had woken up. She had an IV in. Had no food in her and was asking every nurse that walked in the room to send her back to Buckley. She still seemed strangely perky considering she had blood in her stool and her white blood cell count was elevated to show some infection.Thankfull, we had the IPAD and we were able to watch church online. Our pastor had called and prayed with us over the phone around 4am and prayed during the service as well. Lex loved to hear this! We are so humbled to have such a loving, faithful pastors and church family.
They slowly introduced clear liquids and crackers back into her diet. She was able to handle these alright. Her appetite was good. We kind of felt like as serious as C-Diff sounded it was a bit extreme to be admitted in the hospital. Norah was a peach, didn't make a peep and was so chill the whole time. I wish I could say the same for myself.
Later that day, they ended up discharging us with strict dietary instructions and we were told we should get the lab results the following day. Needless, to say we were never so happy to be headed home to Buckley.
The following day the results came in positive for C-Diff. Ironically, they treat it with more antibiotics, only this time she was also prescribed a pro biotic, and a strict diet.
We were concerned Liam also might have had C-Diff, since he was on the same antibiotic originally and had a few diapers of diarrhea. Got him tested as a precaution and he was negative.
We spent a good 10 days together in the house, taking it easy and letting Lexie recover. As I write this, a little over 2 weeks later, she appears to be completely recovered. So thankful that God healed and protected her. Such a sickening feeling seeing a 4 year old on a stretcher, getting an IV, begging to go home, being put in a hospital bed and being told of all the worst case scenarios. I will forever have a heart for other parents who have sick kids. It is one of those experiences that changes you forever.

                                                          Love that I-PAD, thank you Pops!

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
1 Thessalonians 5:18