Today, while my younger three children napped at home with Dad, I took my three “big boys” to the library.
Thankfully, the round trip drive was uneventful… So much so that a couple hours later, when Connor was praying for dinner, he prayed:
“God, thank you for our food, and our drinks, and our library books. Please help me, Mom, Andy and Brady make it home safely… And we’re already here! Amen!!”
I generally try to correct my children if they have a gross mispronunciation of basic words. Like, when Andy and Brady thought the singular form of “clothes” was “clo.” 
But two-year-old Ferris has this saying that I just find incredibly cute, though very wrong. I correct her occasionally, but not every time.
She’ll bring me a book and point to a page and say, “What says, Mommy?”
Or I’ll ask her to do something and, if she didn’t hear me, she say, “What says?”
Maybe I’m just odd, or maybe it’s the mass of large curls that frame her face, or maybe it’s just her snugly two-year-old personality, but I love that girl!
So, Ferris, if you’re reading this in 15 years, know this: Mommy says “I love you, oodles and bunches and gobs and wads.”
I need a piece of advice from my fellow homeschooling mamas….
My 4-year-old Connor started Kindergarten curriculum a few weeks ago. He LOVES doing school.
He loves the activities in his books… Coloring, cutting, pasting, reasoning, writing, counting, etc. I think, however, he really loves being included with his big brothers more often. 
Either way, he’s on a roll! The boy asks to “do school” in the evenings, on the weekends, during “rest time.”
I don’t want to discourage him, so I’ve been letting him do it. Now, though, I think he’s going to end up flying through my lesson plans.
So, do I let him keep going? Should I find something else for him to do in between now and first grade? Should I let him start first grade soon — at age four?! Should I tell him he’s not allowed to do school unless it’s actually school time?
Opinions anyone? Please?
Yesterday, as I mentioned, we took the kids on a field trip. The night before, they didn’t know where we were going. I finally hinted, “It begins with T.”
Connor immediately flew into phonics mode: “T…T… Texas?”
“No,” I chuckled.
“Town Hall?” he asked.
You can’t blame him for trying.
We actually went to a nearby tomato farm! It was amazingly interesting. My husband taught the owner how to fly helicopters. Since the man new we were homeschoolers, he invited us out to watch part of the tomato harvest. Incredible!
The machines are amazing… There are computers on the “harvester” that can determine whether each chunk is red (a tomato,) green (an unripe tomato,) or black (a clod of dirt!) Only the red ones get placed on the conveyer belt that delivers them to the huge trailers (that EACH hold 46,000 POUNDS of tomatoes!!)
By the way, they only pay about $.03 for their roma tomatoes! I’m sure they sell them for more… Wish I could get them in the store for that price. They were delicious, too. We got to eat some, right off the ground. Yum!
On the flip side of all that fun, Grayson started coughing / sneezing / wheezing / gulping yesterday on the way to the farm… It got progressively worse, so it was off to the doctor this morning. After TWO breathing treatments and four prescription meds, they aren’t sure if it was an allergic reaction to something he ate OR an asthma attack.
Neither is particularly fun for a 14 month old.
We got sent home with a nebulizer. We go back in 2 weeks to hopefully figure it out a bit more… Pray for the little guy, ok?
We’re on our way to another homeschool field trip this morning. We had to stop for gas.
This particular station has those newsy/commercial-type TVs above each pump.
Connor watched for a few minutes, then says, “Mommy, why do they only show the news? That doesn’t help you learn about God or the Bible.”
Good point.
Both of our girls like to sing, like their Dad. Both of our girls like to make up words to their own songs, like their Mom.
I don’t have a musical bone in my body, but I like to make up songs — silly or otherwise (but mostly silly.)
Today, Ferris has been carrying around a small, purple toy purse. She brought it to me all distraught that it was “empy.”
There was a small Bible on the table, so I put it in her purse and she flitted on her way.
A few minutes later, she was sitting on the couch with her Bible in her hand, singing loudly and holding out notes with gusto. Her song went something like this:
“I neeeeeed God. I looooooove ‘church.’ Moooommmmmmmy Hoooooope!!”
What can I say? She’s like me. She’s got skills!
We’re often asked why we homeschool. I generally stick with telling reasons that I LOVE it, instead of bashing other options. I’m a product of public schools, and they have their place.
Some of my reasons include:
There’s a million more reasons, some deeper, some not so much…
There’s an interesting dialogue going on over at Pioneer Woman’s blog about homeschooling. The post is interesting, but the comments at the end are just as much! Let me know your thoughts!
Evan is often my earliest riser. Even after the excitement of VBS last night, she was still up right at 7 a.m.
I heard her up, so I got up to snuggle — my favorite early morning activity. She was sitting sweetly on the couch. When she saw me, she smiled and said, “You can sit here with me, Mama. I will snuggle you!”
I sat down next to her and put my feet up on the couch, too. She leaned onto me as if I were her pillow.
She sat up. Then tried to get comfortable on me again.
Then sat up again.
“You don’t want to lay down with me?” I asked.
“No, um, it makes my feelings hurt,” she answered.
I tried not to laugh.
“Where are you feelings?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a smile. “Where ARE my feelings, Mommy?”
Don’t try to follow my train of thought. It derailed awhile back.
1) Speaking of trains, Ferris “rode her potty train to the end” this week. We started with her Special Potty Day last Monday. Yesterday (Monday again) she finished it off by getting 26 stickers (successes) in a row on her chart!! Woo-Hoo.
Her reward was her very own Water Baby, who has been named “Molly the Dolly.”
2) That means for the first time since we had Brady, we only have one child in diapers. Weird. Makes me sad.
3) The carpet, tack strips and staples are all gone!!
4) I also converted our front hall closet from a black-hole of a storage zone into a pseudo mudroom! Love it!
5) We started school again yesterday. Really.
6) We only do school 4 days a week. Weird, but it works well for us.
7) Connor started Kindergarten yesterday, too. So far, he loves it. Could be because he’s done within 30 minutes. Who knows?
Grayson is a mini-Brady. Fearless. Climber. Fearless climber. It’s a scary combo. He was on the dining room table today. Yikes.
9) Brady somehow managed to scrape his stomach today in his room on the top of his lamp. He claims he wasn’t climbing, or jumping, or above the lamp. Still not sure how he did it. Required 3 band-aids. He’s a fearless climber. The original of our clan!
10) I love that my older boys are enjoying some responsibility. Andy “made” dinner tonight for his sibilings… Frozen toaster waffles. Nutrition aside, I enjoyed the night “off.” Brady has become a pro at using the washer and dryer. Can’t tell you how many times I dreamed of this day!
11) Speaking of laundry, I went to Target today and bought 10 laundry baskets. Really. They were $1.99 each, so I got a bunch for the kids and extras… I labeled each with a name and will now add clothes to the respective basket as it’s folded. This will alleviate my need for the entire couch or the entire dining room table to do my laundry. Plus, the kids will drop less on their way to put it away!
12) It’s now nearly 11:30 p.m. and I haven’t eaten dinner. I’m not a huge fan of waffles… What’s acceptable to eat for “dinner” at this hour?
13) I’m getting sleepy. Maybe I will eat something then sleep. Sounds like a good plan.
14) I realize I haven’t yet mentioned Evan. She’s fine. Still girly and grubby. Still a Daddy’s girl. Still my little peanut. Don’t worry. We’ll keep her around.
15) I also haven’t mentioned Dreamboat Nate. He’s good. He’s crazy and insane. I love him. He works too hard. He’s funny and silly and working right now. He humors my need to buy 10 laundry baskets. I will definitely be keeping him around, too.
16) I should not watch the Food Network late at night. It’s now almost midnight and I now want cupcakes, thanks to Cupcake Wars.
17) I’m really going to bed now. Good night.
I’m not dead.
Though, right this minute, that sounds like a nice alternative.
For more than a year and a half, dreamboat husband Nate & I have been planning to tear up the carpet in our living room.
Whoever had white berber laid did not invision 6 kids ever living here. Or 3 dogs. Especially not one boy with allergies.
So, the oldest 5 are with Nana & Poppy eating out every meal and getting spoiled in lots of other ways.
Nate’s 31 million jobs have him booked solid while the kids are gone. Gray’s getting over a cold and sleeping a lot.
So, what do I do? Tear up the carpet. And that weird underlayment that’s not really a pad.
Now, it’s me against the tackstrips and the staples.
I’ve already got a good cut on my leg from a staple, but am about half-way around the room!
When this is all done, I’ll be breathing tons easier… And hopefully Brady will, too.