Playing School

Sometimes I forget how strange the idea of homeschooling used to be to me. Now that I've been researching it and contemplating it for a couple of years, it seems like the obvious choice for us right now. But then I'll run into an old acquaintance, like I did last Saturday, who looks at me like I've just sprouted 2 extra heads when I tell them we're homeschooling. I think this meeting planted the idea in my head of writing a post to share some of our reasons for homeschooling for anyone who's curious. I've been composing this post in my head the last couple of days since I haven't had a chance to sit at the computer for any length of time; the post in my head is exceptionally long and the actual post appears to be just about as long.

First a couple of stories...

Last week, my kids were excited about getting yet another Land Before Time movie in the mail from Netflix. I milked it for all it was worth by getting my kids to get lots of things done in the morning before they could watch it after lunch. Right after breakfast, I told Kaia that we would "do school" as soon as I finished feeding Leila. She excitedly ran to her room and got everything set up. She moved her "little table" so it was facing her chalkboard and then drew white lines across it and told me that I could write words on the board and then she would copy them in a little notebook she made for herself. As we were doing this, she asked me, "This is like real school, right, Mom? Except that we have more time after to do other fun things." (Can you tell that this girl, who hears and retains everything, has been listening to me tell people about some of the benefits of homeschooling? And, as a side note, I think a lot of people may envision homeschooling as being, basically, just like school but at home but I have discovered that there are just about as many different methods of homeschooling as there are homeschoolers.)



The next part of the story is for my brother-in-law, Erick. Kaia wanted to play hangman next, which she learned in Primary a week ago. She wanted to be the one to think of the word first. As I guessed the letters, I was wondering if she really had a word in mind. My suspicion turned out to be correct. When we got the point we were in this picture, I asked her if she knew what the word was going to be. She said, "I'm thinking about it." I then told her that so far it spelled, "Eric_." She exclaimed, "What!?! I spelled Erick? That's crazy! We have to tell him!"


On a different schooling note, I think I am addicted to laminating! The picture below is from the first time I went to this teacher supply store and got this entire 11' of laminating for $3! We now have cards for practicing our Chinese vocabulary (my kids are in a Chinese class on Saturdays - I can't remember if I've mentioned that on the blog before) as well as sight word and letter cards. They've been great for playing games like Go Fish and Memory. I've since gone back and got 22' of laminating for just over $6!! There is something so satisfying about getting things like this made for such an amazing price.


While Kaia and I have been busy with "school," Asher has been using our older digital camera to practice his photography skills:



Now for some of our reasons to homeschool...and first let me give a couple of qualifications. First, we began thinking about homeschooling because of the area in which we live. Our particular neighborhood has notoriously bad schools. So that initiated my research about homeschooling, but the longer I have learned about homeschooling the more benefits I see from it. In the interest of honesty, though, I cannot say for sure if I would still be homeschooling if we lived in an area with good schools. That possibility seems so remote at the moment that it's hard to really know what I would do. So, my second qualification, is to make it very clear that I do not look down upon anyone's decision to send their child to school. I don't think that schools are inherently bad and I didn't have a bad experience going to schools myself. Without further ado...

A few of our reasons for homeschooling:
*Homeschooling can allow us to adapt the methods of teaching to our children and their unique learning styles.

*We are in charge of what our children are exposed to at their young ages. We are not homeschooling for religious reasons. To be sure, we have very strong religious convictions. However, I don't feel it necessary to isolate children in order to teach children religion. In fact, I have many good memories from my growing up years of having religious discussions with friends of different faiths, and I came through with my faith intact and I would even say strengthened. While we aren't homeschooling for religious reasons, I would say that, because of the area we are in, we are homeschooling for what might be called moral reasons. I know this is an overgeneralization, but for the most part, children in the neighborhoods surrounding us are exposed to all types of movies and influences that I do not want my children to be exposed to at their young ages.

*Homeschooling gives us much more time together as a family. My children are best friends and get along really well most of the time.

*Homeschooling allows us to delay excessive academics. In our area, kids can begin going to school full time at 3 years of age. I want my children to experience a childhood of playing and being creative. I feel like a mama bear in wanting to protect this experience for my kids.

*I get to learn about all kinds of fun things along with my kids and help them maintain their love of learning. Peter and I joke that our kids don't realize that learning's not supposed to be fun. :)

*I feel like my kids just get to be more and more fun as they get older and I get to share that with them. I love the many moments when I am left in awe at the wonderful people my children are becoming.

The above are just a few of the benefits of homeschooling. The main concern I have had in regards to homeschooling is how to maintain my own sanity when I am with my children day in and day out while also being responsible for their education. Fortunately, in regards to the latter concern I have found a method of homeschooling that really resonates with me and has a lot of on-line support from other moms who are in the trenches, so to speak (if you're not tired of reading about homeschooling yet, you can go here to learn more about the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling).

One thing that is really helping me right now is getting more of a schedule in our lives. I think I have resisted putting more structure in our lives for a long time due to some subconscious feeling that we would lose any opportunity for spontaneity. But what I'm actually finding is that having some structure enables us to get more done and have more fun. If I know that I will have a time to check e-mails, exercise, read scriptures, do chores, etc. etc. then I can be more present with my children when we're reading stories or playing games. And my kids are better at entertaining themselves when I'm doing the above things if they know they will have set times for reading and playing games with me.

I can certainly say that homeschooling tests me in so many ways - just today my kids tested my patience, love, and selflessness to the extreme. And I'll admit that I failed in a lot of ways. But by coming face to face with my shortcomings, I am forced to improve. This is my favorite quote of the week from this amazing talk:

“As we draw closer to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger. If you’re seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you’re moving nearer to God, not farther away.”

My Valentines

I'm a couple days behind in getting this post up. That seems to be the story of my life these days. As long as I don't worry about making it on time anywhere or getting any type of project done on any sort of schedule, we have pretty enjoyable days. So I'm trying not to be overly stressed about punctuality while I still have a newborn (is a three month old still considered to be a newborn?).

Anyway, I love my Valentines...


Peter asked me a week or so ago (in an impromptu discussion of our marriage and how it's changed over 8 years and 3 kids), "We still have fun, right? I cleaned the stove tonight." That sounds like fun to me! My family knows that neither me or Peter are the most sentimental people in the world. We don't go all out in celebrating V-day or even our anniversary. But to me, it's all the little things on a daily basis that make me truly appreciate my amazing husband. This is a guy who will take out mounds of trash for me, cook dinner when he has the chance, get up countless times with kids in the middle of the night, and clean the stove every time I get it dirty (I have not cleaned our stove once in the 3+ years we have lived in our condo). I know he loves me by these daily actions.


The kids wanted to make Peter special Valentines gifts. If Asher has a personality trait that is shining through these days, it would be thoroughness. In this case, he grated this carrot until it was almost non-existant. Kaia wrote this card for Peter (or Pete or Pet, as she decided to write); I helped her with the spelling. The picture quality isn't great; the card reads: "KAIA FROM (she accidentally wrote her name first) DEAR PETE HEARTS LOVE XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX"

Flexitarianism

Have you ever heard of flexitarianism? I just heard the term for the first time yesterday, but I already know that's what I am. Here's the definition according to Wikipedia: Flexitarianism is a semi-vegetarian diet focusing on vegetarian food with occasional meat consumption. A self-described flexitarian seeks to decrease meat consumption without eliminating it entirely from his or her diet.

I had already told my sister earlier in the week that I was becoming a borderline vegetarian, but I like the term flexitarian. It fits how I feel about food right now - after spending 3 weeks in Florida with my family, half of whom are now either vegetarian or vegan, I've been incorporating a lot more vegetables into our diet - and loving it! Roasted veggie pizzas, butternut squash orzo, spinach feta quiche...yum. But I don't mind having meat once in a while. I just don't really plan on preparing it very frequently (I've only made it once in the past 2 weeks). (Here's an interesting article from Newsweek about flexitarianism, including the viewpoint that many vegetarians don't like the term - how can you be a meat-eating vegetarian? - but I think people incorporating a lot more plant-based foods in their diet is a good thing even if they do still eat meat on occasion.)

There is something so inspiring about a pot of beautifully colored veggies mingling together:

I used this recipe to make Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato, and Red Pepper Soup. I was a little nervous about the lack of spices, so I used a recommendation from a song you may have heard of - I added parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. :) They were on to something - these spices gave the soup just what it needed. Kaia's assessment of the soup: "I love it."

I wanted to have whole wheat rolls with the soup but I only started dinner prep at 5 pm so I didn't have time to make traditional rolls. Instead, I found this fast Whole Wheat Dinner Muffin recipe and we had hot muffins for dinner. I recommend these with a qualification: they taste very healthy, which I like but the wheat flavor is pretty intense. They were more similar to biscuits than muffins, but I thought they went great with the soup. I also enjoyed them with a little butter and Trader Joe's raspberry preserves. Kaia's assessment: "They taste ickier than they smell." (Obviously not a hit with her.)

On a different note, Leila does really well in her chair or hanging out on her mat during the day, but she always has a hard time with it just as I begin to prep dinner. Tonight we tried something different. She really enjoyed her role as supervisor right next to where I was chopping veggies.

Comedian

Asher likes to ask me to tell Leila stories, usually involving her wanting some variety of cake or ice cream. Yesterday's version included Leila eating Toe Jam Cake (at Asher's suggestion, of course). When I got to the part where Leila took a bite of the cake, Asher started laughing hysterically and covering his eyes just like this picture shows. (Of course I had to stage the picture, but this is exactly what he spontaneously did on his own). I'll tell you - nothing can make you feel like a comedian like getting a reaction like this!

We were watching a movie last night in which a female character who was a high-powered executive saw no need to have a family and children. She highly valued the praise and attention for her achievements in that sphere. Well, I would guess she's never gotten a 3 year old to laugh like this. I can't imagine any higher praise. Seriously.