If you don't homeschool, you may not realize just how many decisions are involved with homeschooling! Public school parents have it all layed out for them: This is when your kid starts school, and this is what we are teaching them. Easy. Homeschool parents have to decide MANY things: At what age should we start formal schooling? What curriculums or resources are we going to use? Should we school year-round, or follow a traditional school calender? The list goes on!
These choices are a big part of what most homeschool parents like - the fact that WE are in charge of our children's education, we can tailor things to work for our unique child/family, and we can change things up if they are no longer working!
So, with all of that being said, I am trying to decide when to start Kindergarten with Kadance, Cole, and Hayden. They will turn 5 years old on March 5th. In our area, the public school cut-off date, is February 28th. They missed the cut off for Kindergarten by 5 days. So, if they were to go to public school, they would go this coming September, when they are exactly 5 1/2 years old.
My original plan was to stick to the local school cut-off dates, and start the triplets on Kindergarten this coming Fall. There was NO WAY they would have been ready for Kindergarten this past Fall, and I was perfectly happy that they missed the cut off date, and the decision was out of my hands. Now however, I am SURE that we will be homeschooling them for Kindergarten, and I am starting to toss around other ideas.......
I have figured out which curriculums we are going to be using for Kindergarten, and I have ordered 3/4 of them already! SO, now I have started to think about possibly starting on Kindergarten in January! One of the wonderful things about homeschooling, is that we can start a new school year whenever we want, and we can take as long as we want to do a "year". If I start in January, we can work slowly, spend a year and a half doing Kindergarten if necessary, and really cement in the concepts before starting Grade 1. On the other hand, we still have a bunch of preschool stuff we are working on, and a bunch of preschool resources (workbooks and such) that we really "should" try to use up before moving onto K.
So, at this point, I am undecided. I plan on ordering the rest of our Kindergarten stuff, so that I have it either way. I am weighing the pros and cons of both options, and I would LOVE any input from other homeschoolers, and even non-homeschoolers! :)
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Croup :(
Sorry I haven't posted in a week, I tend to go in spurts, don't I?!
I've been busy with sick kids. Sage seemed to be feeling a bit crummy last Tuesday and Wednesday. She had a low-grade fever, and was just cranky and clingy. Wednesday night, she had a nasty croup cough. I have never had a kid with bad enough croup that they were actually struggling to breath, but poor Sage was. She kept waking herself up and freaking out, because she was struggling to inhale. We took her into the steamy bathroom for awhile, and put a humidifier in her room, but it was still a long miserable night. Thursday morning I decided to take her to the walk-in, after someone told me that the 2nd and 3rd night of croup are usually worse then the 1st night. The doctor said that she definitely had croup, and he gave us a one-dose oral steroid.
Thursday night still managed to be worse then Wednesday night. Sage's cough wasn't as croupy, but she was still up SEVERAL times! Then Jade came into our room at 3:30am, to tell me that her stomach wasn't feeling good, and that she had just puked (in a bucket - thank goodness!). Sage continued to cough and wake up, and Jade continued to puke - 4 times by 6am. It was a GREAT night! ;)
Luckily after that, Jade was feeling better. We're not really sure what was up with the puking, but I am glad that it was short lived!
By Saturday morning, both Jade and Hayden had a cough and a cold, and poor Sage was STILL feeling miserable!
It is now Tuesday again, and everyone but Kadance has a cold or croup - including me! Sage is still the worst, and I am TIRED of her being sick - it's very draining!! She is SO cranky and clingy, my poor girl is just miserable! :(
I've been busy with sick kids. Sage seemed to be feeling a bit crummy last Tuesday and Wednesday. She had a low-grade fever, and was just cranky and clingy. Wednesday night, she had a nasty croup cough. I have never had a kid with bad enough croup that they were actually struggling to breath, but poor Sage was. She kept waking herself up and freaking out, because she was struggling to inhale. We took her into the steamy bathroom for awhile, and put a humidifier in her room, but it was still a long miserable night. Thursday morning I decided to take her to the walk-in, after someone told me that the 2nd and 3rd night of croup are usually worse then the 1st night. The doctor said that she definitely had croup, and he gave us a one-dose oral steroid.
Thursday night still managed to be worse then Wednesday night. Sage's cough wasn't as croupy, but she was still up SEVERAL times! Then Jade came into our room at 3:30am, to tell me that her stomach wasn't feeling good, and that she had just puked (in a bucket - thank goodness!). Sage continued to cough and wake up, and Jade continued to puke - 4 times by 6am. It was a GREAT night! ;)
Luckily after that, Jade was feeling better. We're not really sure what was up with the puking, but I am glad that it was short lived!
By Saturday morning, both Jade and Hayden had a cough and a cold, and poor Sage was STILL feeling miserable!
It is now Tuesday again, and everyone but Kadance has a cold or croup - including me! Sage is still the worst, and I am TIRED of her being sick - it's very draining!! She is SO cranky and clingy, my poor girl is just miserable! :(
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Christmas Tree!
Before you judge, or think I'm crazy, you have to understand my reasoning: We had our first snowfall of the season, on October 31st, which means, Winter is here.
I HATE winter. I hate the snow, I hate the cold, I hate having to get everyone all bundled up to go anywhere! I hate the crappy driving conditions, I hate the kids being stuck inside. And mainly, I hate how LONG winter is!! For us, it usually starts by mid-October (we lucked out this year, and didn't get our first snow until the END of October!), and easily lasts to the middle or end of April, with a token big dump of snow in May. I'm sorry, but 6-7 months of winter is TOO LONG!! I am living in the wrong climate - I should move to Florida or something!! :)
Anyways, in an effort to combat the winter blues I get every year, I have decided this year to put up our Christmas tree early. Christmas is the ONE thing that I like about winter. I love the trees, I love the lights, I love the music. I love baking, sending and receiving cards, buying and wrapping gifts. I love the "magic" of Christmas, I love the anticipation!
So I figure by putting up our tree early, we can have almost 2 full months of Christmas! I also figure by starting everything early, I can enjoy it all more, and not get bogged down by the stress of trying to get everything done. I want to really enjoy the Christmas season this year. I want to spend more time with friends and family this season, enjoying each others company, and making great memories! :)
So yes, it is only November 5th, but let me be the first to say, "Merry Christmas!" :)
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Happy Halloween! :)
Jade - Japanese Girl
Kadance - Witch
Cole - Police Officer
Hayden - Firefighter
Sage - Flower
Now that Halloween is over, I am itching to deep clean my house, and get my Christmas tree up!! :)
Monday, October 31, 2011
More Halloween Fun! :)
Every Halloween, Gairod's mom hosts a "Pumpkin Carving Party". After the first few years, we realized that it would be easier to clean out our pumpkins at home, and then just carve them at the party, so that we would still have time to visit and eat (she always does a pot luck meal with the party). Here are some pictures of the kids cleaning out the pumpkins, at home, before the party! :) Somehow I completely forgot to take ANY pictures AT the party!! :(
Weight loss - Month 5
I realize that anyone reading this blog, is probably sick to death of my weight loss posts. But this is like a journal for me, so I am going to continue them, but I think instead of every 2 weeks, I will switch to a once a month update :)
So, the last time I posted, 3 weeks ago, I was at 183 lbs. I have struggled the past few weeks. With yummy Thanksgiving food, and me being in a crappy mood, I indulged a little too much - and I paid for it!
On October 17th, I gained 1.5 lbs, bringing me up to 184.5 lbs. I was quite upset, as that was the first time I had gained AT ALL, in the past 4.5 months!! Unfortunately, it didn't stop me. I went away for a girls weekend the next week, and again indulged a bit too much, and on October 24th, I had gained another 2 lbs, bringing me up to 186.5lbs. I was NOT happy. So I vowed this past week to do better, and get back on track! I did really well, and today when I stepped on the scale, I had lost 5.5 lbs (the 3.5 lbs I had gained, PLUS 2 more!!), and I am now at 181 lbs, down a total of 44 lbs in 5 months! :)
Now, today IS Halloween, so I am sure I will have a few treats over the next couple of days, but I am really hoping to control myself, and continue to lose! :)
So, the last time I posted, 3 weeks ago, I was at 183 lbs. I have struggled the past few weeks. With yummy Thanksgiving food, and me being in a crappy mood, I indulged a little too much - and I paid for it!
On October 17th, I gained 1.5 lbs, bringing me up to 184.5 lbs. I was quite upset, as that was the first time I had gained AT ALL, in the past 4.5 months!! Unfortunately, it didn't stop me. I went away for a girls weekend the next week, and again indulged a bit too much, and on October 24th, I had gained another 2 lbs, bringing me up to 186.5lbs. I was NOT happy. So I vowed this past week to do better, and get back on track! I did really well, and today when I stepped on the scale, I had lost 5.5 lbs (the 3.5 lbs I had gained, PLUS 2 more!!), and I am now at 181 lbs, down a total of 44 lbs in 5 months! :)
Now, today IS Halloween, so I am sure I will have a few treats over the next couple of days, but I am really hoping to control myself, and continue to lose! :)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Halloween Fun! :)
Today we went to our town's annual Pumpkin Hunt! Each of the kids was assigned a number, which corresponded with a pumpkin they had to find, that was hidden in the woods at a local park! When we found all of our pumpkins, we headed to the community hall, where we could carve or decorate them, and have some snacks. Each child was given a goodie bag to take home as well! The kids had a blast!! :)
Hunting for our pumpkins!
Found them all!
Now time to decorate!
Our finished pumpkins :)
Monday, October 24, 2011
WHY do I homeschool?!?
THIS is why I homeschool. To spend a GORGEOUS Autumn afternoon at the zoo with all of my kids, with no time constraints, nowhere else to be, and not a care in the world!!
So WHY, does it feel like THIS doesn't happen NEARLY as much as I want it to?!?!
Why does it feel like we are constantly running, always needing to be here or there, never on time, and never having the time to do what we actually want to do?!When I originally started exploring the idea of homeschooling, one of the biggest things that appealed to me was time. If we homeschooled, we wouldn't have to work around school time, we could be on our time - doing things when we wanted to do them - NOT when someone else told us we had to do them! Being a mom of several young kids, I felt like we were always rushing somewhere - rushing to get all the kids ready, rushing to get out the door, rushing to get home to get things done - I didn't want to have to rush anymore!! So why, just over a year into homeschooling, do I feel like we are still always rushing?! Because we have replaced "needing to get to school" with "needing to get to gymnastics" and "needing to get to swimming", and "needing to get to piano lessons".
If you recall, back in the Spring, I talked about NOT wanting to get sucked into the each-of-my-kids-needs-to-be-in-83-different-activities mentality. I have tried to keep activities to a minimum, but somehow we still have stuff scheduled for every afternoon but one, a week! I feel like we are constantly running! My mornings are spent getting everyone fed, getting everyone dressed, getting school done, laundry done, cleaning done, baking/cooking done, lunch served, and then we are running out the door somewhere. I am constantly yelling at the kids to "hurry up, or we are going to be late!" I am afraid that instead of happy, quality-time memories, my children are going to remember me constantly yelling at them, and always in a hurry!!
Something needs to change. Last week, on Tuesday (our ONLY free afternoon!) I decided on a whim to take the kids to the zoo. We did our school in the morning, ate lunch, and headed out. We weren't in a rush, we would get there when we got there. It was a GORGEOUS Autumn afternoon, and the zoo was not at all busy - it was perfect! We spent as much time as we wanted looking at each animal, and we were even there at the perfect time to watch them feed the hippos, and tell us some facts about them! We spent 3.5 hours leisurely wandering around the zoo, and decide to head home when we were all tired.
It was SO nice to be able to do whatever we felt like doing! I want to be able to do that more often. I don't want to always be telling my kids "we don't have time to do that right now". If I wait too long, they will be all grown up, and they won't even want to spend time with me anymore :(
I need to figure out how to simplify our schedule, and re-prioritize our time!
If you recall, back in the Spring, I talked about NOT wanting to get sucked into the each-of-my-kids-needs-to-be-in-83-different-activities mentality. I have tried to keep activities to a minimum, but somehow we still have stuff scheduled for every afternoon but one, a week! I feel like we are constantly running! My mornings are spent getting everyone fed, getting everyone dressed, getting school done, laundry done, cleaning done, baking/cooking done, lunch served, and then we are running out the door somewhere. I am constantly yelling at the kids to "hurry up, or we are going to be late!" I am afraid that instead of happy, quality-time memories, my children are going to remember me constantly yelling at them, and always in a hurry!!
Something needs to change. Last week, on Tuesday (our ONLY free afternoon!) I decided on a whim to take the kids to the zoo. We did our school in the morning, ate lunch, and headed out. We weren't in a rush, we would get there when we got there. It was a GORGEOUS Autumn afternoon, and the zoo was not at all busy - it was perfect! We spent as much time as we wanted looking at each animal, and we were even there at the perfect time to watch them feed the hippos, and tell us some facts about them! We spent 3.5 hours leisurely wandering around the zoo, and decide to head home when we were all tired.
It was SO nice to be able to do whatever we felt like doing! I want to be able to do that more often. I don't want to always be telling my kids "we don't have time to do that right now". If I wait too long, they will be all grown up, and they won't even want to spend time with me anymore :(
I need to figure out how to simplify our schedule, and re-prioritize our time!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Hot Tub!!
I can't remember if I have mentioned this or not, but we bought a hot tub!! :) We ordered it near the end of August (just before Gairod's truck was stolen - go figure!), and it was delivered about 3 weeks ago. We had to upgrade our electrical, which took a bit of time, so we just got it filled up and ready to use on Tuesday! It was pretty late by the time we could use it on Tuesday, so just Gairod and I went in. Wednesday was crazy-busy, so no one got the chance to go in. The poor kids were chomping at the bit to get in the hot tub, so finally, Thursday after supper, we took them in it! Jade still hasn't been in it, as she opted to go to a friends house that evening instead.
I wish we lived in a warm place, and could have a pool! All of my kids LOVE the water - they're a bunch of fish!! We go to the pool in Airdrie every Friday afternoon, but it would be SO nice to have a pool of our own - if we had warm enough weather to actually use it! :)
I wish we lived in a warm place, and could have a pool! All of my kids LOVE the water - they're a bunch of fish!! We go to the pool in Airdrie every Friday afternoon, but it would be SO nice to have a pool of our own - if we had warm enough weather to actually use it! :)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Weight loss - Week 18 & 19
The week after Sage's birthday (last week), marked 4 months of weight loss, and I was THRILLED to be down another 3lbs, for a total of 40.5lbs!! This week I was down another 1.5lbs, for a total of 42lbs! My current weight is 183lbs. I am halfway to my ultimate goal of 140lbs.
I am very happy with how far I've come, and I feel SO much better than I did 40lbs ago! I have to admit though, I DO feel a bit discouraged when I think of the fact that I am only halfway to my ultimate goal. I feel like I've come so far, it's hard to imagine losing another 40lbs! I know that the second 40 won't be as easy as the first 40, but I am determined, and now that I have proven to myself that I can do it, I will push through to the end! :)
I am very happy with how far I've come, and I feel SO much better than I did 40lbs ago! I have to admit though, I DO feel a bit discouraged when I think of the fact that I am only halfway to my ultimate goal. I feel like I've come so far, it's hard to imagine losing another 40lbs! I know that the second 40 won't be as easy as the first 40, but I am determined, and now that I have proven to myself that I can do it, I will push through to the end! :)
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