Back in the Swing of Things

We've started up again!  I started this post 3 weeks ago and am just now getting around to finishing it!  This year, I have Arianna in Kindergarten and Emma in 2nd grade and of course, Grant in preschool and baby Kate along for kicks.  It really doesn't seem like Arianna is only in Kindergarten, she has been doing this right along with Emma and me for so long.  This time around, the decision to keep on homeschooling was a difficult one.  About a week and a half before school was slated to start, we had a string of bad days together and I about had a meltdown.  Okay, I really did have a meltdown.  The children were misbehaving, heck, I was misbehaving!  I was getting so upset with them for not listening and for whining and fighting and arguing.  I thought to myself, how can I possibly handle homeschooling with this mess of children- and a baby besides.  So, I started looking into enrolling them in public school and got the paperwork I needed and. . .I felt miserable.  I prayed a lot, thought a lot, and really pondered what I should do.  Then, one morning, I woke up and felt so inspired and happy.  I had a stream of ideas, thoughts, quotes, and scriptures pouring into my head; ideas to help me be able to homeschool successfully.  It was an incredible experience.  The stream of ideas kept coming, so I even took time out of my morning to record them so I wouldn't forget the things I had thought and felt.  I was excited to make plans and preparations for a new year.  So, I did some research, ordered books, talked to veteran homeschoolers and Wednesday, August 21, we had our first day.  The morning went well, at least.  It went down hill from there.  By lunch time both Emma and I had been in tears and I wanted to run away and hide.  Lovely.  On top of it all I wasn't feeling great.  Fortunately for us all, the next day went much better.  Since then we will have a really great day, and a bad day.  And so it goes.  Vicissitudes.  That's what it's all about.
The good days have been marvelous.  There are so many times when I think to myself, I really love this.  I am so thankful for my beautiful children and the joy they bring to me.  I am trying to be patient when they are having bad days.  I am also thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who is patient with me when I have bad days.  I want to be more like Him- always patient, always wise and loving. 

Here are some of our adventures so far as we learn together:

The First Day of School pictures:

Our 4 sweetie pies

Grant's photo shoot- he is such a funny guy!

Arianna- the Kindergartener

Funny pose- taking after Uncle Glen- she saw him do this last time we were with him.

Emma is in 2nd Grade this year.

Emma's pose. She picked her outfit especially for the first day of school.

The 'teacher' and her students

Daddy with the munchkins

So, we did a few things to spruce up the school room (which is in the basement) the night before the first day of school and this is the big reveal:

Excited about the big decorative poof balls

Grant checking out the alphabet.  I also added pictures of interesting places around the world as a border to our world map on the far wall.

Grant likes the poof balls, too.  The calendar is up, as well.

The kids were so excited!  In addition to the regular school subjects, we do all kinds of random stuff around here.  Here are some of the other pictures from our first few weeks of school:

Learning to dance the polka!   We are still reading the Little House on the Prairie series and in one of the books they danced the polka, so I pulled up some polka music on Pandora (Grant is holding the phone, the source of the music) and taught them a dance step or two!  Not sure what Arianna is doing- I did NOT teach her that move!

Working in the garden- picking the green beans

Preparing the green beans for dinner

Teaching Kate to empty the dishwasher!  This was so cute!  She actually took out all the plastic plates on the lower level and handed them to the kids!

 Lately, the children have discovered that the chickens will not run away and that they can have them out in the yard to play!  Oh are they ever loving it!  They are out there several times a day 'playing with the chickens!'

Grant the crazy pirate with his chicken (He still has to wear the patch 2 hours/day.  My sister made him a fabric one and he is really preferring it to the adhesive ones we have used up to this point.)

Emma loving Blackie.

Arianna loving the chicken (I am not so sure how the CHICKENS, on the other hand, are loving all this attention!)

Grant and the chickens

The girls with the 2 Americanas

I looked out the window to this the other afternoon.  "Kids!!  The chickens CANNOT be on the trampoline!!!" (Or course, I had to run out there with the camera while I said it!)  Oh my goodness!

 Well, there you have the beginning of our school year.  As you can see, they are getting a pretty well-rounded education- from polka to raising chickens! Ha Ha.
We pretty much work around Kate's nap schedule.  We have our math, literature and language in the morning during her first nap.  In the afternoon, during her second nap, we do history, science, or art, depending on the day.  I must say, I look forward to "doing school" with them each day.  I guess the kids are too- the day before Labor Day we told the kids that Dad didn't have to go to work and asked them what they would like to do together.  They said, "school"!  We said, "Well, we can do a short school day". To which they replied, "No!  The whole day"!  I have had to make some changes in my schedule.  I wake up in the 5 o' clock hour to exercise and shower before the start of the day.  I used to exercise during Kate's first nap, but I must use that time now for school.  It has been a sacrifice for me, but I know this is important.  (Kate is trying to foil my plans many days by waking up at 5:30- we're working on getting her on board with the whole routine!)