First Day of Homeschool

Our family has been on an educational journey over the past few years.  Brent and I have spent countless hours debating, researching and praying about our educational options for our children.  Both Brent and I grew up in public school.  Although there were a few bumps along that road for both of us, overall we received a decent education and were successful as we moved on to college.  Now that Brent teaches in a public school, we have a slightly different viewpoint of the educational institution.  We can see some gaping problems in the education system.  We have concerns about not only the quality of education that our children would receive in public schools, but also the cultural influences with which they would come into contact.  We also feel strongly that these early years are our best opportunity to immerse our children in God's world and teach them the character traits that they will need to grow to become strong men and women of God.  Unfortunately, none of the Christian schooling options around us were even an option for us unless I went back to work full time.  We were in a bit of a quandary.  Brent brought up the issue of homeschooling about two years ago and I immediately shut down that discussion.  I NEVER had seen myself as a homeschool mom.  I could not imagine having the discipline, time, and yes, the patience to school our children at home.  I reluctantly agreed to attend the Homeschool convention about a year and a half ago.  There, I saw a lot of very different types of people, ranging from Mennonites in full dress to hippies in dreg locks.  The teaching was outstanding, though, and I began to catch a vision for our family.  I felt like God was nudging us a little towards an abyss that I did NOT want to find myself in.  My selfish side realized that if I homeschooled, I would have very little time to myself for a long, long time.  There is something that's just so tempting about the idea of sending all my children off and having glorious days stretching before me with no one around to undo what I had just completed.  Ultimately, though we did discuss homeschooling last year, I just wasn't ready to make that commitment.  I sent Maura off to Kindergarten with a heavy heart, praying that the wonderful woman who was teaching her class would be gentle with my girl and that she would have a blessed year, which she did.  Despite the good experience that she had last year, Brent and I still had serious reservations about public education and ultimately we came to the conclusion that homeschooling was going to be the best option for us, at least this year.  What changed this year for me, was not only my heart towards the idea of endless days with my children, but also finding a homeschool community that we could become a part of.  I am so stinking excited about our Classical Conversations community and the method of education that our children will receive there.  I can hardly wait to hear my children reciting facts about Ancient Rome and Egypt!  Already, seeing the excitement on their faces as they completed memorizing the Presidents was just amazing.  I can't wait to see what is in store for us this year!!

I really, really wanted to make the first day of school very special for the kids.  I didn't want to give anything up, or take anything away from the kids that they would have done had they been preparing to step off to "real" school.  I spent a lot of time this summer, planning our our subjects, buying curriculum and coming up with ideas to make this year special.  The night before, I stayed up WAY too late making sure everything was perfect for the next day.  I couldn't wait for them to see it!

 

I got up early the next morning too, to make sure I had a special breakfast all ready for the kids. They were really excited about our waffle bar with all kinds of yummy toppings for their waffles. I'm always amazed, too, by how honored they are to receive flowers.  Even Tristan was really excited about the flower I put at his place.

There was NO way that the kids were going to get away with not taking Back to School pictures.  It was a tradition deeply ingrained into me by my mother, who took Back to School photos every year until I was a senior in High School!  I carefully planned out the kids Back to School outfits(even though they would probably only wear them for a little while!).  We headed outside for the photos, where my kids were remarkably obliging!

My sweet first grader and preschooler.  I frequently get asked if these two are twins--a fair question because there's only about an inch difference in height.

Maura is really excited about being a first grader.  She can't wait to be a better reader and wants to do a lot of experiments this year.  Tristan is just along for the ride.  He'll be involved in a lot of Maura's activities, will work on learning his lower case letters and number.  He'll also go to Classical Conversations, so he'll know more about Ancient History than many adults by the end of the year!

So excited to be my kid's teacher.  I'm so nervous too, knowing that I can screw it up so royally, but I'm just trusting that God will equip me each and every day for the challenges that lie ahead.  Grammy came to celebrate our first day of school too.  She had waffles with us, took photos and then took the kids off for a walk around the block while I got the "school room" ready.  I wanted it to be really exciting and different when the kids entered.  I bought a HUGE white board at a resale store and decorated it so we had a classroom feel.  I set the kids places and couldn't wait to see the surprise on their faces!

This girl was eager to see what was in store for her!   The kids all came running when they saw me, with flowers in hand!

Back in the "school room"  they couldn't wait to check out their new folders and presents(school supplies wrapped nicely).  It's amazing how exciting school supplies are when they're presented as a gift!

Grammy soon departed with Bennett so I could really concentrate on the big kids for the day and we got down the the nitty gritty of learning...decorating our pencil boxes.

It was a fabulous start to our school year.  We're just over two weeks in at this point.  I won't say that it's been easy.  We've certainly had our moments of frustration, tears and anger, but there have been a lot of smiles, giggles and hugs too.  I love seeing Maura's face light up as she learns something new and I love having Tristan surprise me with something I didn't know he knew.  Just yesterday, he counted to 100 by 10's, which I hadn't concentrated on teaching him. I have a feeling we'll have a lot more of those moments as he continues to learn alongside Maura.  Pray for us as we continue along our Homeschool Journey!!

From Florida to Tennessee

These are some sweet photos from our drive back from Disney.  We drove back by way of middle Tennessee, not because that's more convenient, but because that's where Nan and Poppa live.  We just had to pack in every minute of fun possible on this trip.  The kids LOVE Nan and Poppa's house because it's nonstop food, popcorn, movies, games, Ipad and FUN!  They couldn't wait to get started!

My kids disappear into the world of the Ipad for many hours a day while we visit.  They LOVE it, but I'm glad I don't have one so that I don't have to fight the "Get off the Ipad" fight every day!  We eat REALLY healthy food while at Nan's house!  Tristan couldn't get enough of this cereal!

Brent hadn't seen his family since sometime in September, so we really enjoyed catching up with them.  Sherran and Chuck are so proud of their soldier!

Sherran and Chuck's small group met at the bowling alley that weekend.  The kids remembered bowling at Ava's party, so they were all about it.  I just KNEW someones toe was going to get crushed by a falling bowling ball, but we made it through OK.  Tristan and Maura fought over this florescent ball the whole time, and LOVED rolling it down the ramp.

Nan THANKFULLY detained my ball loving boy.  I KNOW he would have crushed his toes because he insisted on trying to lift the heavy balls.  Instead, Nan took him off to the blinking oasis of the arcade.

SO sweet.   Bennett is hugely attached to Daddy now that he's home and I'm pretty sure that Brent will never be able to escape from his sight again!

We visited with Great Grandmother Chambers.  Bennett wasn't too sure about being held by this lady!  We attempted to take a photo.  When  I say we attempted, I mean we took at least six photos and not one was any better than this one!

Love these babies!!  What a wonderful end to a wonderful trip!

Animal Kingdom

Ahh, these photos are making me miss Disney!!  There's just something about that last Disney day--the joy of the day, mingled with the sadness of the realization that it's going to be a LONG time before you can return.  We had such a wonderful vacation, full of fun, food and family.  The family time was the best part of the trip.  The boys were absolutely GLUED to Daddy and wouldn't let him our of their sight.  I think they might have cried every single time that Brent went off to the buffet at the hotel without them.  Every. time.  I love that they love their Daddy so very much, but it got a bit ridiculous!  We had breakfast and dinner at the hotel every day as it was included in our hotel package.  This often meant we were eating breakfast WAY early and dinner WAY late.  We closed out the restaurant nearly every night when we arrived to start our dinner at about 9:30.  Lets just say that the waitstaff LOVED us.(Not really.)  Our noisy children, mess on the floor and constant demands for refills certainly made us the one table they wanted to pass on!  Anyway, I'm glad I took these photos in the restaurant, scene of some of our more notorious Disney memories.

On our last morning, we had the additional stress of having to pack up the room, check out and load the van, all before breakfast.  Fortunately, my husband is Super Man and he had it all in hand so that we could go enjoy Animal Kingdom.  This was my least favorite park when we visited a few years ago, so I was anxious to see if it would redeem itself of this visit.  Fortunately, we started the day with Nemo, so we started on a high note.  I honestly think that this stage show rivals anything I've ever seen on Broadway.  All the kids, even Bennett, were mesmerized.

After leaving the theater, we headed directly to the Dinosaur dig.  This is something we skipped last time, so I wanted to make sure we visited on this visit.  I knew Maura would love it, but I wasn't prepared for how much all my children would enjoy it, or how quickly they would all scatter.  It was impossible to keep track of everyone at the same time, so I found myself wondering around the playground praying for a glimpse of a shirt, head, shoe, anything that would convince me that they hadn't been abducted from the playground.  Fortunately, we all exited in one piece!

I couldn't wait to take the kids on the Safari ride.  I knew they were going to LOVE it!  I remember riding this ride WAY back in 2003, right after the park opened.  It was incredible then, knowing you were actually IN the Savannah of Africa with the animals all around you.  I couldn't wait to share that fun with the kids.  We all squeezed into one row of the Jeep and the kids didn't know where to look first!

We say Elephants and Zebras and Cheetahs, OH MY!  Maura was particularly excited about the cheetahs, her current favorite animal.  We could barely see them, way back by the fence, but she was SO happy!

This guy was pretty cute...a pygmy hippo with an admiring swarm of fish just waiting to eat some poop.

I remember the Animal Kingdom being terribly crowded the last time we visited.  We had a gigantic stroller, which made it almost impossible to navigate the narrow walkways that were clogged with other Disney-goers fond of stopping dead in the middle of the pathway.  I hoped we'd have a different experience this time, but alas, we are cursed at Animal Kingdom!  Apparently, there was some type of Dance Team competition going on at Disney that week.  We had the good fortune to be at the park with all the teams at the same time.  Just imagine thousands of teenage girls, all of whom seem to be unable to just walk.  They bounced, they toe-touched, they jumped in the air, they almost fell across the stroller.  It was awesome.  We managed to make it through the throng to Bug's Life.  They looked cute in the glasses, but Bennett did NOT like the 3D bugs flying in his direction.  I took the 3D glasses off him soon after the show started because it was a bit intense.

My resident entomologist loved finding a bug's head to pretend with. We actually traveled on a lot of lesser trod paths on this trip, searching out stamps for a passport the kids were given.  They had a lot of little education stations set up with enthusiastic Disney cast members waiting to teach my kids about nature and environmentalism.  Soon it was time to reenter the world of commercialism and we went to ride the Dino Whirl(which you have to be 48 inches to ride.  REALLY?  Disney--this is in the kiddie section!)  We contented ourselves with this dino spinning ride, which the kids loved, which also broke while we were riding it.  No biggie.  It gave us time to take photos.   I'm actually not sure where Bennett is while we were taking these!

All in all, it was a really fun trip to Animal Kingdom.  The kids were exhausted as we were leaving.  Check out Tristan in the photo below.  He was DONE with photos.  As much as we needed to get on the road to start our return trip, I was NOT ready to leave Disney for good until we took in the Lion King show.

It was pretty spectacular and probably one of the things Maura has talked about the most since we've been home from Disney.  So glad that we didn't skip it.  Otherwise Maura would never have had a chance to change her future profession from "entomologist" to "spandex wearing twirling bird dancer."  And with that, we waved our goodbyes to Disney and headed back to reality.