A field trip to the Dentist office?

Hubster has had a toothache for a week already. But you know, he won't listen to his wife. So as the pain got worse, he was seeking wisdom from his wife.

Of course, I'm not a very sympathetic wife when this happens. I try to be, it just doesn't happen.

My first response wanted to be, "I told you", but I knew that would accomplish nothing.

So I looked at him and for the hundreth time, or what seemed like it, said "call the dentist".

We have a friend who is a dental hygienist and she called him on Monday morning to tell him to go in at 8:15. Hubster calls me and says he forgot his insurance card and the checkbook, could I please take it to him.

The joy about Hom schooling is that you can switch your day around and it will still work out. A little more stressful, but still not a loss of a day.

"Yes, field trip" said the boys. They always look for opportunities to consider something a field trip and this was no exception. The thought never crossed my mind.

We arrive at the dentist office and we sit in the waiting room telling Bible stories to each other and I even try to throw some phonics in there. I can't totally waste this day.

Our friend sees us and tells us to go see Hubster. The boys get excited when they see the chair leaned back with their dad in it. Along with what looks like a big screen TV on the side of the chair showing blow up pictures of their dads teeth.

The look on the boys faces is one you'd see if they were looking in a Lego store. They thought this was the coolest thing.

The Dr. was explaining all about the x-ray. Talking out loud and the boys were taking it all in. He then leaned Hubster's chair all the way back to look in the mouth. Both boys were wanting to see as well.

When we were leaving, the boys told me that this was a great field trip. This was science mom. Hmmm, didn't think of that either. UB even said that he wanted to be a dentist when he grew up.

We did go to the library to pick out some reading books and then it was back home to start lunch.

The boys were still talking about the Dentist office field trip and UB even made a Lego dentist office, complete with a man leaning back in a chair. He broke it before I could take a picture.

I hear people complain that we 'homeschooling people' have it easy because in public schools if they miss so many days, they can be called in the the authorities, but we 'homeschooling people' can miss a day and no one will know.

What these people don't know is that we 'homeschooling people' always try to incorporate what we are doing to learning. We go later on in the day if we have to, just to finish our work. We even make up our days on a Saturday if we have to.

There are lots of challenges to homeschooling, but when you can make a trip to the dentist office to drop off an insurance card into a learning experience, then it's all worth it.

We have started school

We have officially started school. I normally don't start until after Labor Day, but I went ahead and started with the school district here. This way I don't have to worry about not being able to finish on time.

We started last Thursday. I've been a little lazy and a little busy so I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog.

UB started Kindergarten. He's getting big. My baby is growing up. I had them make some signs that said what grade they were in. UB wanted to draw on his.
AB is starting 2nd grade. I told him what to write and on his sign ( I erased it before I took this picture) he wrote Isaac 2 end grade. He was obeying. I did say seconEND. At least he spelled it correctly. AB also didn't want to draw anything on his paper. He just put a smiley face. I guess he wasn't that excited to start seconEND grade.

So far, since it's only been 4 days, it's going pretty good. AB is starting to learn that he's got to do more on his own now since I have to work one on one with UB. He still complains some, but he does his work. Let's hope that the next 171 days go this well if not better.

Look ma, I'm a land owner!

Last week, we attended a Land Run. It was put on at a museum. It was actually quite wonderful. Mainly because someone else was doing the teaching for the day.

The land run was for area homeschooler's. They divided the kids into two classes. Either art or music. This was the group they were to be in for the remainder of the session which lasted about 4 hours and included lunch. We moms were very proud of our children because the museum people kept telling us how well behaved they all were and that these were the best groups they had ever had. We moms all paid the ladies after that comment.

After their art or music project was done, they were going outside to do the actual land run. The kids had all been told stories about certain women and how they reacted to the land run. They were also told when this happened and other stuff that happened during the land run.
The museum people had marked some land outside with the paint sticks you get when you buy paint. Each stick had a tract of land written on it and when the kids got their 'stick' from their land, they were to take it to the ladies so that they could actually get a piece of paper telling them what plot of land they had.

It was fun and the kids loved it. Well, because of that land run, UB thinks that he is an official land owner.

Now, in school, when I tell him to do his school, he shows me his stick that shows his plot of land on it and says "I don't have to because I'm a land owner".

Anyone need a five year old that is a land owner?

Homeschooling the non-reader

I just realized that I hardly write about home schooling. We do home school. Sometimes I don't talk about it because I hate comparing myself to other people. It's a brutal world out there and just because we home school, is no different than being out in public schools.

You get together with other home schoolers and sometimes it turns out to be a competition. You know, the "well, my son is only 4 but he's in 3rd grade already" kind of stuff.

Last year, I wanted to do it all. I would hear of a curriculum that sounded good, I'd write it down and try it. I already had a curriculum, but I wanted to supplement what I had. So I ended up doing a lot more than what I should have and then realized that it was causing me and my son to dislike school. We were both stressed about it. I didn't even like to get up in the mornings, because I knew that the tears would start as soon as I said, "let's start school". And this was Kindergarten.

I actually wanted to quit. I prayed about it and knew that God still wanted us to home school. So I sucked it up, changed my attitude for this year and started fresh. School started pretty much the same way that it ended last year. Both of us in frustration. I knew there had to be an easier way to make this all better for us, but I had no idea how at the time. I also had a pre-k student, so now I had the little one that wanted to do school all the time and the 1st grader that hated school.

So I prayed some more and realized that I couldn't compare myself or my children to others. I was a unique person and so were my children. What worked for others obviously didn't work for me. I changed the way I did things, because while structure to the exact minute works for some people, it didn't work for us. Yes, we start at a certain time, but if we didn't finish in the alloted time that I'd given it, so what, we continued on until we finished.

AB hated to read. All the words seemed to just jump out at him and he got overwhelmed with them. He would open the book, start to cry and not stop until we finished the little story. I had to change everything. I tried it all. You name it, I probably did it. I think I should invest in stock in the company's that make thick packing tape and blank index cards. I made flash cards for the vocabulary words and sentence strips for the sentences.

Some days would go better than others. While UB begged me to do school, AB begged me to let him go work, because he'd rather work than do school. I know that some people would tell me that I did it wrong, but sometimes I'd let AB pick what he wanted to do first. I wanted to get him to enjoy school and at the beginning of the year, like I said, he hated it.

I enrolled him in the Braum's ice cream program, the Pizza Hut program, the Six Flags reading program and even bribed him with so many books read would get him a certain lego set. No go. At one point he said he didn't care about any of it. I even threatened to send him to public school.

But my plan worked. Some days he wanted to do reading first. Some days last. But then there were those days that he wanted to read all day. So nothing but reading would get done, but I didn't care, because I was finally getting some of my sanity back.

Now, I can't type in front of him (if I don't want him to know what I'm typing). He reads signs all over the place while we are driving or at places where we are. He even says that he loves to read now. He'll get a book and tell me he wants to read it to me or he'll do two reading lessons at one time.

We do school my way now. I tell him what we need to do and what order and I get no tears and no tantrums. All I get is an "ok mom". He'll even want to start school before we are actually supposed to start.

In my 3rd year of Home schooling I've learned that praying about it definately works, but every child is different. What works for one, might not work for another.

Would you like some black socks with your order?

We had a home school 4H meeting yesterday at McDonald's. You get a bunch of home schooled children together in a small closed in area, and you'd better be prepared for the unexpected.

I'm not a big fan of McDonald's. Can you say germalestivitivitis? (I know that's not a word, I just wanted to make one up) Or GERMS! I try to avoid it and have recently used it only as a reward for the boys. It's some nasty stuff. Not to mention the play area. Have you really ever noticed this area? The kids start off with white socks and end up with black ones. I usually just throw them away after they are done playing. Call me a snob!

But you always have the kids who wear shoes up the play area because mommy doesn't want them to get their socks dirty. Or you have those moms that let their kids go barefoot. UB was on shoe patrol duty yesterday and made sure to tell me that those kids were not obeying the rules.

While waiting for the group to get there, I was observing some other moms. Not home school. One had three little ones under 3, we'll call her mom #1. The other had a set of twin boys that were 3, we'll call her mom #2.

Mom #1 had that strong, deep, aggressive voice. The kind of voice that scares the patooty out of you. She never got out of her seat, just yelled at the kids from her bench. When I say yell, I mean yell. I'm sure the Wal-Mart located behind McDonald's heard her.

Mom #2 had that same voice, but she had an added weapon, she snapped her fingers. She snapped them so loud that I was impressed with that. I wanted to go into the bathroom and practice my snapping. This lady snapped at everything. Here is a scene.

Setting: Only four other kids playing. Mom #1 yelling over every little thing. Mom #2 walks in with Happy Meals
Mom #2: 'snap' sit your butts down 'snap'
kid #1: I have to go potty
Mom #2: 'snap' you know where it is, hurry up 'snap'
kid #2: I have to go to
Mom#2: "sit your butt down. One at a time in the bathroom.'snap' sit!
kid #1: (returning from bathroom with pants undone
Mom #2: 'snap' stand right here 'snap' (buttons pants on)
kid #1: (trying to get away and go play)
Mom #2 'snap' I said sit! 'snap' you can play after you eat 'snap'
kid #2 (returns from bathroom with pants undone
Mom #2 'snap' stand right here 'snap' (buttons pants on) 'snap' sit
kids are looking at other kids playing
mom #2: 'snap' eat!
kids finish nuggets, try to get up and go play
mom #2: 'snap' you have to eat everything before you go play 'snap'
(OK, because fried foods are very nutritious)

But by the time 'snap' the 'snap' kids 'snap' finished eating 'snap', (sorry I can't help it, I'm getting good at snapping by now), all the other home schooled kids get there and it's like an invasion. She 'snaps' one last time and tells them to get out because they are leaving 'snap'.

I started to ask my self, Is that what I sound like (minus the snapping) when I am abrupt to my kids? When I'm not happy and want the whole world to know? It definitely was an eye opener. And what about mom #1? Do I yell at my kids when I'm too lazy to get out of the seat? I had time to think about these things and how my actions affected not only me, but my kids as well.

If you ever want to feel better about your parenting skills, just go to McDonald's and sit and observe. And then just smile and nod!!!!

The weapon

" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

Colossians 3:16

Take time to read God's word and your day will fall into place. When it seems that you are too busy to read God's word, stop and do it and all the chaos won't matter, because you will be able to accomplish everything you set out to do for that day.

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We went to a birthday party last night for Loren's cousin Mark. Loren's other cousin Randy is always telling Noah, "Noah, I want you to build me an Ark". Most of the times, Noah just laughs because he thinks it's funny. Last night he was quite tired. He is the type of little boy that when he's tired, he just wants to go home and go to bed. So last night when Randy said that, Noah looked at him and told him "It will take me a week". Then laid back down on the couch.

Since it was cloudy and drizzling yesterday, the boys stayed in the house. Every room in my house was messed up. I don't understand why they don't want to be in their room. They come to my room and build leggos, or build forts or try to beat each other up.

While I was attempting to load the washer and dryer, I heard them playing in the kitchen and they were playing "swords". They normally use sticks, but I kept hearing a banging. I just couldn't figure out what it was. I guess I wasn't that concerned about it, because I wouldn't get out of the pile of laundry I was trying to sort.

When I do go out there, Noah tried to hit Isaac with his weapon and it hit the countertop. When I heard the "cling" I knew Noah had the illigal weapon. Upon further inspection, I find that Noah's "weapon" is a piece of pipe wrapped in electrical tape. Of course his comeback is "But Isaac made me use it".

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Isaac made a volcano for school last week as one of his experiments. He wanted to finish it on Sunday, so we exploded the volcano. He was quite proud of his finished volcano.

Snake, snake!

So now the Lord says, "Stop right where you are! Look for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16

This is my devotion for the day. How many times do we look at everything around us when it's not going "our" way and say "I just need a break"? I do it a lot, but I forget that in God's word, I can find a break. His word will give me the rest I need. So go ahead and open your Bible's and let God's word rest in you.

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School is going great, but reading is a challenge with Isaac. He enjoys every subject out there but reading. He tells me that he is going to drop out of school when he gets to 2nd grade. Just so that he can go work and make some money for "big boy toys". Can you believe that a kid would rather work than go to school? Well, that's my little mexican boy.

He knows the words and will read them when they are alone and not having a party with other words. But put the one word in the same room with the other words, and you have disaster with Isaac. I have done it all, or at least it seems like I have. Well, a couple of weeks ago, he was reading and said he "liked to read". Yee hah.

As I've said, when Loren is not here, he was at a gig, I try to put them to bed early. Last night, Isaac wanted to read. He read and read and read and didn't want to stop. Those words on the page were sure having a party with Isaac as the guest. He read until 9. I made him stop or else he would have kept going. I didn't make a big deal because I know him and he would say "I never said I like to read".

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Living out in the country has its own adventures. The boys came running in yelling "snake, snake, mom there's a snake outside". Loren wasn't home so I'm supposed to go save the day. I don't like snakes. I grab my camera, no, I'm not thinking of killing it with it, and run outside. Those boys were ready to catch it. I don't have any knowledge on snakes. The only snakes I see are the ones at the zoo.

We did see a bull snake earlier in the year, but this one was different. It was small and skinny with a red stripe down the middle. I'm not a snake expert, but I think this one was mad because the tongue kept coming out in a non-friendly way. It got into the back of the grill. The boys started throwing stuff at the grill to get it out. I have to admit that my first reaction was to kill the thing.

I take a picture of it and tell my neighbors grandson to go ask his grandpa what kind of snake it is. He comes back and says "it's only a garden snake". Like the word "only" is supposed to be reassuring. We left it alone, and by the time Loren got home, it was gone. I guess it didn't want to play with us anymore.

Howdy!

Well, I have started a blog. I don't really know what I'm doing here. Boredom I guess. (like that is possible in my house). I enjoy writing and this way I can do something about it. I also wanted to start this so that I can have a record of what wild stuff my boys do. I only have two, but sometimes it feels like I have 6.

I am married to a wonderful man that works extremely hard so that I can stay home and homeschool our two adorable mischievious little boys.

I enjoy cooking, but dislike cleaning. Actually, I dispise cleaning. I do it just so that my husband doesn't have to come home to a dirty house and complain. So I just put everything away in boxes or totes or hide stuff under the beds, couches, or whatever, just so that it's not noticeable when he gets home. "See honey, I have worked just as hard all day, can you tell?" Then the next day I forget about the boxes or totes and then my totes and boxes multiply. Just like rabbits. Eventually I have to sort through those boxes and hope that I didn't put any food in there. I just can never get in the "mood" to clean. I have tried to turn candles on and listen to music while cleaning, I CAN'T DO IT!!!! So in order for me to "clean", I have to remember that I'm not doing it for anyone other than God. He sees it all. He knows how hard I work. I guess that means I can't sweep the dirt under the rug huh?

The picture above is an "experiment" my kids made. It is a waterhose that runs into a yellow toolbox(filled with water) that has a tube connected to the end of the waterhose, that has another tube connected to the end of that tube, that runs into a blue bucket(filled with water) that is inserted into the end of an empty coke can. Oh yeah, the dryer vent is supposed to have worked like a water fountain.