Back to School, Back to School, Hope They Think That Mom is Cool!

Kindergarten is officially here (and preschool too)!  Can't believe it's my first baby's first day of REAL school with mom and that my younger boy is ready for preschool.  So glad I get the privilege of sharing in these school experiences. 

The Hostess Who Didn't Think She Could

 
It's funny how God likes to use our weaknesses in spite of our fears and insecurities.  A year ago, I was terrified of having people in my home on a regular basis.  When we decided to start our house hunt last year, both Mr. Wonderful and I felt that we were supposed to buy a home that would accommodate church groups.  But I'm not sure either of us envisioned what that would mean for us. Mainly, because in the 7 years we had lived in our previous house, we could probably count on 2 hands how many times non-family members had visited our home. This sounds weird, but we've only had dinner at non-family member's houses 3 or 4 times in the last 10 years.  People in our part of Texas don't open up their homes very often!

So, naturally, I have this hospitality fear.  Part of my fear is because I have zero confidence in my ability to cook.  I know that I can cook, because my husband and children prefer my food to some restaurant food.  Yet, I don't cook fancy foods.  And I have a limited repertoire of foods that I cook well.  So, my solution has always been to NOT cook for other people and to get carry-out restaurant food when I bring meals to other families.

In spite of my fears and in spite of our reclusive lifestyle, God has brought about a significant change in our lives over the past 12 months.  It all started last fall when some families talked about wanting to start a small group.  Since we had just moved into our house, which we knew would be a good meeting space for a small group, we offered up our place.  Over the course of the year, our group has  grown and grown.  We've had some weeks where we've had 19-30 people in our home!

This past spring, people started requesting that we serve dinner every Sunday.  Somehow, coordinating and cooking dinner for the group each week has become my task!  (As if I don't have anything better to do after spending 2-3 hours cleaning my house every Sunday afternoon!) I tried to convince the folks to switch from dinner to snacks at the end of the summer, but it turns out that people like my food and want me to feed them.  I don't say this to brag.  I say this in complete amusement.  I've been cooking hot dogs, quesadillas, sloppy joe, chili, and other comfort favorites, yet the people continue to eat!  And our group continues to grow.

What's even more interesting about the fact that we've become weekly group hosts, is that we regularly have seminary students from Southwestern Baptist Seminary attend our community group.  This is weird, because we bought our house from a student at the seminary who was moving to accept a pastoral position at a church a few hours away.  It's like God built this house for ministry and to serve seminary students!  Having this thought in the back of my mind definitely motivates me as I plan my menu on Sundays. 

After hosting families in our home on a weekly basis for the past year, I can honestly say that my hospitality fears have dwindled. A year ago, I prayed for a house where we could be "useful" for God's work and God has opened up an entirely new door of ministry for us!  I'm now keeping my house clean on a weekly basis, cooking, coordinating meals for families, helping plan play dates and helping start a neighborhood craft night as an outreach tool.  Only God could take this undomestic princess and make that happen.

The Baby Has Arrived

That's right.  My husband gifted me with a new baby this week--a baby grand piano! 

When we moved into our house last summer, our curved staircase was just crying out to have a baby grand at the bottom of it.  Last week, I accidentally stumbled upon this restored/rebuilt 1930's piano and knew that I could provide it the perfect spot so that it could re-live it's glory days.  Thankfully, Mr. Wonderful thought so too.  For my birthday 10 years ago, he bought me an electric piano that would fit in our apartment when we got married.  And a decade later, he has given me a real (and beautiful) piano for my birthday!  He's kind of amazing.

As it turns out, the entire family has been having loads of fun playing and practicing on her.  I think I might have some musical prodigies in my house! 

 At last, a baby that doesn't wake me up in the middle of the night!

Red Boots

Woohoo! It's finally football season.  This means that we can break out all of our red and blue gear and get dressed up every Saturday for an outing at the hilltop.  And when I say get dressed up, we're not talking team gear t-shirts.  In accordance with southern tradition, we "dress up" in our school colors.  Per SMU tradition, for our first home football game of the year, we wear white and lots of people break out their cowboy boots.

This year, Baby G has her own pair of red cowgirl boots, a huge matching red bow for her hair, and a cute white sundress.  She's totally ready for football!  Of course, it's kind of sad to buy red boots and a white dress for one football game.  So, this past Sunday morning, I let her debut her football "look" for Sunday School.

She was really excited when I told her she could wear her boots to church.  For some reason, we struggled to get them to pop into place (all good cowboy boots pop when you put them on). When she attempted to stand up, she started crying about her foot.  She kept saying, "shoe, shoe, shoe." So, I figured we should take them off just in case something was wrong.

I was certainly not prepared for what came out of the boot.  Not only did her little foot and sock come out, but it came out covered in yucky banana! The banana had to have been in there for at least a few days.  Typically I might have sniffed something like this out.  Unfortunately, I've had a crazy summer cold that has wiped out my ability to talk, hear, and smell for the last week.  So, there was no warning for me with this yucky, goopy, brownish, banana mess.

Thankfully, banana cleans very easily.  Once we wiped out the boot and changed into a clean sock, she was good to go.  Not only did she wear her boots proudly, but she showed them off to everyone!

If you happen to be in the market for red girl boots, check these out at http://www.target.com. 

He Wrote His Name

For the last 9 months (can you believe it's already September?!), I've been focusing on my oldest child's education.  Mainly because he officially starts kindergarten next week.  It may seem that we're starting homeschooling "late" since all of the other kindergartners around here started classes last Monday, but in reality, we've been doing kindergarten since January.  So technically, Boy Wonder starts first grade in a week!  It kind of blows my mind.

That said, I've been really focused on educating Boy Wonder during these last 9 months.  This doesn't mean that I've totally ignored my middle child, but I certainly haven't been pushing Tornado Man to do any schoolwork.  I mean, he just turned 4!

I guess that's why I was so surprised when I picked Tornado Man up from his Sunday School class last week.  When his teacher (who also happens to be Grandma) sent him out the classroom door, she also handed me a stack of papers/craft projects that he had done during his 3 hours at church.  To my shock, his name was very clearly written in crayon on his pages.  Not only that, but it was written in a child's very neat handwriting!  That afternoon, Grandma called to confirm that Tornado Man had indeed written and spelled his name on his own! Talk about having my mind really blown!  I didn't even know that he knew what the letters in his name were.  Plus, his name has a traditional, rather than phonetic spelling--meaning that he didn't just guess his name.  And to make matters worse--or more shocking--I have not worked with Tornado Man on his name or his letters!

As it turns out, while I've been slaving away teaching phonics to my oldest child, Tornado Man has been learning Phonics as well.  But he has been learning by watching LeapFrog videos, like The Letter Factory (thanks for recommending this Angela).  And he's been practicing his letters by using the tracing game on his Leap Pad.  What I was just using as something to fill the time while his brother did schoolwork was actually teaching him something.  Apparently, educational videos and toys do work.

Of course, the caveat to my last statement should be that educational videos and toys work on the right child.  Tornado Man is an independent learner.  He likes to be hands-on and to "discover" new concepts on his own rather than being taught by someone else.  As a result, we've bought him lots of educational toys and videos.  And now we're learning that they are working.  He has already demonstrated to me that he knows his letters, their sounds, and how to write most of them.  It's kind of amazing that he has mastered concepts that take most kindergartners months to learn, and he's done it ON HIS OWN. 

I can already tell that homeschooling Tornado Man is going to be a whole new adventure!

Every Mom Has Her Kryptonite

At the beginning of the summer, Mr. Wonderful convinced me to step down from running a committee at church that was seriously eating up my time.  Then, he contacted our music minister and informed him that I needed to take a few weeks off from playing with the band.  In his opinion, between work and church committee and music ministry and small group hosting and homeschooling and stay-at-home mothering of 3 kids full-time and attempting to be a good housewife, I had over-committed. 

I was, admittedly, offended by the fact that Mr. Wonderful thought I needed a break.  By forcing me to stop doing things that I had committed to do I felt that there was an implication that I was failing and he thought I wasn't supermom.  Now, however, I realize that I was truly over-committed and I wasn't even close to being supermom!  I was getting wound up tight and was getting very annoyed with church people and messy children and husbands who work late. I was kind of losing it.

Instead of taking the summer off to relax--as many thought I was doing--I used this summer to finally catch up on life:  I got caught up on some of my work projects by reading through thousands of pages of medical records.  I cleaned up the boys' room and attempted to solve some of their organizational problems.  I sorted through our clothing and purchased appropriate sized pajamas and church clothes for everyone.  I cleaned my own closet and threw out lots of shoes.  I purchased new rugs for our main living rooms.  I planned and hosted small group dinners and a baby shower and organized meals for a family.  I coordinated our small group's service project.  I helped Boy Wonder finish a Phonics workbook.  I sent the boys to sports camp.  I read to my children.  I walked lots and lots of miles at the mall and on my elliptical.  I managed to keep some potted plants on my front porch alive.  I read a book (it was dumb, but it was a book).  I played many, many games of Connect 4 with my son.  I prayed.  I spent time listening to and trying to encourage other people.  And I rested. 

Having the time to actually complete projects that I both wanted and needed to accomplish was invigorating for me.  How refreshing to actually get to see the fruits of my labor!  For 6 months I kept taking on more and more (I have a problem saying "no") and it seemed like nothing was ever getting accomplished.  And then in all of 4 weeks, everything just started falling into place.  I'm finally enjoying my duties again.  I'm ready to start homeschooling this fall.  I'm enjoying spending time helping out at church.  I'm focusing better on work.  I'm motivated to read my Bible.  And I'm happy.

Super man has his kyrptonite.  And super mom has her over-commitment.  We all have our weaknesses.  How blessed I am that I have a Mr. Wonderful who is willing to recognize my shortcomings and intervene when I need him--even when I don't appreciate his interventions.  I truly needed a little break this summer.  His "intervention" was timely a gift.  I still have quite a lot of things that I want to do in the next couple of months, but I can officially say, "Mommy's Back!"

Wonderfully Abnormal Love for Golf

Golf does not come naturally to most people.  If you spend about 5 minutes with me on the course, it will be painfully obvious that I stink at golf.  I might fake it with my cute golf skirt and pink rolling bag, but the score card pretty much speaks for itself.  I'm terrible.  Mr. Wonderful is considerably better than I am when it comes to understanding and playing golf.  That said, you can get a pretty decent idea of what kind of hitter he was in baseball when you watch his golf swing (the ball is hit hard and everything veers to the left).  To sum it up, neither of us are quality golfers.  Yet somehow, we have a child who has a natural ability to swing golf clubs and hit balls.

Our oldest child has had this affinity for hitting golf balls since he was a year old and could swing his plastic Fisher Price clubs. At the time we thought it was so cute that we bought him his first set of real golf clubs for his second birthday.  We were those crazy parents who would take their toddler to the driving range.  Again, it was so cute to watch him swing and hit the balls. I don't think we realized the significance of the fact that our toddler was making contact and actually hitting balls like a real golfer.  When he turned 4, we noticed that he rarely ever missed making contact with the ball off the tee--in spite of his dancing and crazy footwork.  That was about the time that he started chipping balls off of our back porch into a neighbors' pools and landscaping.  So for his 6th birthday, we decided to send him to golf camp.

At camp, we were informed that he was wonderfully abnormal on the golf course.  I say abnormal, because a "normal" child on the golf course is one who has been sent to camp by his golf-playing parents to learn a game that does not come naturally to them.  Our child, on the other hand, loved every minute of being on the golf course and apparently has an unteachable "feel for the game."  It was absolutely hilarious to watch him swing his club like a ninja sword at one moment and then turn around a minute later and drive a one-handed shot over a creek.  And it's very weird to have a 5 year old explain how he is going to use his 9 iron to "tap-chip" his ball out of the rough and onto the green when all the other children are using their putters and then to see his plan work!

Considering that I'm having to read PGA golf books for parents to even understand the game myself, it's kind of crazy to think that I might have to caddy on the DFW Metro Jr. Golf Tour next summer (all children under 8 need to have a caddy) in order to keep up with my wonderfully abnormal son.  Something tells me that this is not going to be my first time to step outside of my comfort box for my kiddos.  I'm sure someone else will want to do something that blows my mind too: hockey, dance, art, etc.  But golf: could not have predicted that one.

Planning Out the School Year

 

We finally finished kindergarten math!  At first, I was really proud that my little guy whizzed through 85 lessons in approximately 4 months--because he wanted to.  And then I realized that when we start kindergarten FOR REAL this fall, he's going to need something to do.  My intention behind starting homeschooling in the spring was solely as an experiment to see if it would work.  I didn't necessarily mean to knock out a year of school in 1 semester. 

Now I have the dilemma: Do I rinse and repeat? Or do I forge ahead into the unknown realm of first grade with my kindergartner?  As I flipped through my lesson plans for the rest of kindergarten, I realized that all we really have to do to get caught up for first grade is to finish Phonics.  A few months ago, I would have told you that pushing ahead in Phonics was an absolute no-go.  We were shedding way too many tears in that department.  Then all of a sudden it started clicking!  After fighting through the short "a" sounds, he started to get the concept of how reading is supposed to work.  Suddenly, he was able to roll through the other short vowels.  So realistically, finishing the kindergarten Phonics lessons before school starts (we're following the more traditional after Labor Day schedule) is not out of the question. 

So I ordered first grade curriculum.  And I guess we're going to give it a go.  If I'm going to homeschool right, I'm going to have to go all-or-nothing.  No sense NOT pushing ahead if my guy can handle it.  If it turns out he can't, then there's no harm in slowing down as needed because we're already ahead, right?  I guess we're going to have to give it the old college try and just see how it goes.

For those of you who might be interested in what curriculum we're using this year for each subject, here is my plan:

1. Memoria Press: Bible, Phonics, Copybook & Bible Memorization, Math (they use Rod & Staff),  Cursive, Art/Music/Reading Enrichment
2. Apologia: Science, Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the 5th Day
3. Story of the World, by Susan Wise Bauer: History Volume 1: From Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor (we're continuing this from where we left off this spring)
4. Christian Heroes Then and Now: Missionary studies
5. Fort Worth Museum of Science & History Museum School: science & history enrichment

The Co-op Question

I think it's funny that the first question most homeschooling parents ask when I tell them that I'm homeschooling is what co-op I'm using.  Then they're surprised when I tell them I'm not really into the co-op thing--at least not right now.  Co-ops are probably really useful for older children who desire a variety of activities or for children whose parents aren't comfortable teaching basic curriculum.  But let's be honest, my kindergartner doesn't need a lot of extra-curricular activities right now (we've already got tennis, golf, baseball, piano, and museum school), and I'm certainly capable of teaching elementary phonics, math, history, science, Spanish, Bible, and Latin.  It really doesn't take a genius to teach kindergarten or first grade curriculum, so I'm always amazed when people shirk at the idea of teaching their own child themselves.

Part of my reason for not wanting to hand off my kindergartner to an organized co-op or homeschool program where someone else directs the course work, curriculum, pace, and activities, is because handing off those duties totally defeats the purpose in homeschooling my kiddo.  The beauty of homeschooling is having the freedom to teach to YOUR OWN child. Sometimes that means that you take a big black sharpie and cross out the lesson that comes next in the textbook.  And sometimes that means that you call your potter friend at church and ask for a private lesson on pottery instead.  There is something very freeing in making learning fun. I know I sound a little hippie-dippy in my approach to school, but rest assured, the only hippie streak in me is that streak that loves Free People clothing.  I'm no flower child.

My other reason for passing on the opportunity to have an educational professional oversee my teaching of my child is that my son and I would both get really bored with this approach and probably really competitive.  Boy Wonder is a lot like his mommy.  And once he realizes that he and the other kids are going to be taking tests and learning the same things, he would delight in having his mommy teach him everything there would be to learn on the subject matter at hand.  And he and his mommy would get really ticked if he weren't the smartest kid in the class.  Talk about pressure on me!  I'm thinking that this isn't the healthiest approach for us right now.

Instead of focusing on someone else's idea for my son's education, I've realized that I'm actually cut out to be a do-it-yourself kind of homeschool mom.  I like the idea of providing my son with a classical curriculum, and I am also a huge believer in the Charlotte Mason approach to education: “Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life.”  These styles go well together.  And they also don't lend well to the university-style of teaching which involves lots of homework.  Charlotte wanted education to be natural and in the proper context and atmosphere.  So, using Memorial Press' classical  curriculum in a Charlotte Mason way works well for me (and their curriculum uses lots of living books which would make her proud).

So no.  For now, we're going to pass on the co-op model program.  But who knows? Maybe we'll change our minds in the future and dive into a local group.  That's the beauty of educating your child at home.  You do what works and avoid what doesn't.

What Girls are Made Of

Baby G in the Flowers: Courtesy of K.I. Photography.

Sugar and Spice

Sugar and spice
and everything nice
that's what little girls are made of

Sunshine and rainbows
and ribbons for hair bows
that's what little girls are made of

Tea parties, laces
and baby doll faces
that's what little girls are made of

Author: Unknown

This past week, Mr. Wonderful and I were given grief by some family members about the fact that Baby G wears hair bows --bows that keep getting larger as she gets larger.  For the life of me, I can't imagine why this would bother anyone.

I think this poem that my grandma used to say to me sums up what I love about having a little girl.  Little girls are different from little boys.  They are, generally speaking, lovers of all things pretty.  They squeal and get jumpy when they see glitter and rainbows.  They giggle and clap when they spin in their fluffy dresses.  They ooh and ah when they see babies.  They like to have painted toes and walk in their mommy's shoes.  And there's nothing wrong with allowing little girls to be girls. Doing boy things with my sons is fun, but getting to experience the sugary and sparkly world of my daughter also brings me delight.

So yes, I suppose I perpetuate my daughter's girly ways by dressing her in fancy dresses and sparkly shoes.  I paint her toe nails and allow her to play with my necklaces and bracelets. I always coordinate her outfits with a matching hair accessory.   I have some how convinced her that sparkly is always better than plain.   And yet, she's not even 2 years old.

Baby G may or may not grow out of the fun, fluffy, girly stage.  She has plenty of opportunities to experience boy activities and sports with her two older brothers. To be honest, she throws a ball better than either of them did at her age.  So who knows, she may be our all-star yet.  But I'm not going to stop having fun raising my daughter as the princess she is just because other people don't appreciate glitter and rainbows and cupcakes. 

We're all entitled to dress our children as we see fit.  As a result, I'm doing my best to keep my opinions to myself about how other little girls are dressed and how their mommies raise them.  I have a different perspective on parenting a little girl than other mothers might have.  I've had my chances to do the boy mom thing for the last 6 years, and it is certainly loads of fun to live in a world of trains and balls and grass stains.  These days, however, I'm truly appreciating what little girls are made of.

Note: If you need recommendations on where to find some fabulous hair bows, please let me know.  These days, I'm somewhat of an expert.