Christmas Jingle

We had a very lovely Christmas holiday. We started out by going to a living reenactment of the town of Bethlehem. It was very well done, down to the shekels and Roman soldiers collecting our taxes. It was quite cold but such an incredible experience.
On Christmas Eve we had traditional family dinner out. This year we went to PF Changs because they have a gluten free menu. C was so excited that he wasn't able to eat. Which was a little ironic since we went there for him. We also came home and read all our Christmas stories, left milk and cookies and finished the night by allowing each child to open one present. C got 2 band shirts from J, J got the Rhianna CD from C and S got a Cars PS2 game from C.
On Christmas morning we had a lovely time with both grandmas and a very relaxing day.

This and That

Now that our house hunting is on hold again we've had a little more time for homeschooling. Our past few days haven't been jammed packed with different activities. Instead we have been playing a bit up catch up on the main subject I have slacked on recently, math. All the recent rain has really helped us along as well.
This has been our week thus far:
Monday: Science, J is doing electromagnetics and C is working on some soil and compost projects. S read about polar bears and penguins. Then C&J had Shakespeare class, we listened to "Inkheart" and we went to the park for a while.
Tuesday: Math all around. More listening to our Holiday book "When Santa Fell to Earth" by Corneila Funke and we finally had some friends over for the afternoon.
Today: Lots of math, reading and slowly getting ready for Christmas. We also listened to a bit more of our stories. Plus S had a yearly check up today, he's grown a ton!

This is our holiday card photo. I won't even be getting cards out until Friday, I'm soo behind!


Seasons Greetings...

Holidays and Hunting

The holidays always seem to throw me into a whirlwind of activity. This year has been no exception. And of course as always I am behind on tons of things which need to get done. The majority of the blame has a good reason.

We aren't doing a whole lot of traditional school work. But the kids are learning about what it takes to buy a house. We have been house hunting these past three weeks. So far the process has been slow and of course an emotional roller coaster. I fear finding the right house make take us sometime. Which doesn't sit very well with such an impatient person as myself. But we all of our lessons to learn right?

We went to see the Nutcracker ballet and made gingerbread houses this week. I am so glad it finally feels like the holiday season! I can finally get started on all those cookies waiting to be baked and presents waiting to be wrapped. This coming week we'll be going ice skating and to see a living nativity. Now if I can just find my charger for the camera battery I can actually get those holiday cards out and about.
Perhaps I'll have a new picture next time....

Busy Times

I haven't posted in a very long while. Things have been super crazy in our house lately. I don't have time to write all the details now but the past month has included these things:

Halloween
Hubby's birthday
S's birthday
Thanksgiving
A few family health issues

And a few more things I don't quite want to go into depth about due to having to run yet again! I promise to write more very soon!

Second Hand Smoke

The sky was dark and snowing ashes today. There are several fires burning near us. There is one so close that a local road is closed and the area has been evacuated. October seems to bring fire around here. Four years ago this week we had to evacuate our home for 4 days because the fire and smoke were so bad. In many areas there has been a lot of building loss. It also doesn't help that the air is hot and the wind is so hard that my windows have sounded like thunder the entire day. The worst for us is the air quality. Hubby has asthma, and S has a very hard time breathing in these conditions. I hope to get some sleep tonight but it even smells of ash inside the house. I pray that in the morning the fires are closer to being contained.

Golden Compass

A ROCK'N GOOD TIME!

This week we did something we never do, we slowed down a bit. It was great. We canceled most plans until the end of the week.

J did a little soul searching and realized how much she misses playing sports and being involved in something that's just girls. Sadly, sports are still not an option. She is taking a general sports class with one of our home school groups and still has a lot of knee pain after the class. Being her daddy's girl she is just too stubborn to take anything for the pain, wear a brace or even consider a sport that wouldn't bother her knees. Her condition will not go away until she is finished growing. She did decide to rejoin girl scouts. She quit the troop she was in because it was making her uncomfortable due to a certain religious bent. So today she is going with a friend to try a troop. I really hope it works for her. I am also going to keep pushing her to try swimming as her sport, she's very good at it and it wouldn't bother her knees.

S was crazy this week. It's got to be that his birthday is next month and he is going through a developmental phase. He was soaking up tons of information but turning around and doing everything he shouldn't be. By Friday, we went to a Halloween party and he seemed to have mellowed out. It was a really nice day, after the party we went to check out these fancy play houses that were auctioned off this weekend. They were so pretty, the themes were Curious George, Firehouse, Nicky (American Girl) and a Fitness clubhouse. All the kids were drooling over them but seeing how last year they went for about 30grand a piece they could only dream. We finished off a lovely day with a trip to CPK.

C has the best end to his week. Last night hubby took him to the Weird Al concert. It was C's first concert and they said it was a really great show. Somehow I lucked out and got them 2nd row center seats. They were sitting a few people away from Seth Green which made them quite happy as well. They have said the best part were the dancing storm troopers during the Anakin song. I do have to say I feel really bad about something I did to him at the Halloween party. I had to leave to take S to find a bathroom, while I was gone there was an incident between him and a girl. As soon as I got back a friend came running up to tell me that C had hit her in the mouth with a sword and wouldn't apologise. Anyone that knows C would know that this is not him. But trusting what she said to me, I didn't give him a chance to give his side of the story. As it turns out they were having a sword fight and his slipped and got her in the lip. He tried to apologize but she didn't want to hear it. So my lesson this week was a reminder to listen to your children first, before casting judgement on them. We got past it and everything is okay, but I still feel a little guilty. Until next time..

In Our Town of Halloween...

Today we went costume hunting for S. C has decided to be Shawn White (which means he'll wear his clothes and tell everyone who he is.) J put together a Moaning Myrtle costume after we all got past our respective little issues. Today the fun really began.
First, it helps to know a bit how S works. He has some mild sensitivity issues with touch. I never know how bad they will be, it usually depends on a lot of factors. He is also slightly OCD. He has set things that must be a certain way in order for him to function. He is also the most physically active of my three children. I thought he would just grow out of these things, but it is becoming apparent that he may not for a while. He has also up until now refused to wear a costume. Last year he wore sweats and rain boots. Calling himself a "Construction Worker in the Rain."

S has been saying that he wanted to be Darth Vader for about a month. I of course had a few suspicions about this actually happening. So here is how it went down at the store today:

Me: Are you sure you want to be Darth Vader? You would have to wear a mask.
S: Ummm, maybe I can be Darth Vader with out the mask?
Me: I would still have to buy the mask, I could paint your face like the mask.
S: Ummm, maybe I don't want to be Darth Vader anymore.
We walk up and down the same aisle for 40 minutes. He picks up every toy weapon in the aisle and proceeds to hit something with each of them.
Me: How about a knight?
S: No I want to be Darth Vader.
Me: You could be Anakin, he's the same thing.
S: Ummm, ummmm, but I want to be Darth Vader.
Me: It's Darth Vader before the mask.
S: Okay, can we get it?
I proceed to dig through all the costumes and finally find the right size at the back. I open it and realise he'll hate the fabric.
Me: Let's try it on before we leave the store.
S: Okay....It's itchy, get it off! Mommy, I want to be Darth Vader!
He does a few more laps in the aisle, luckily everyone else seems to have costumes and the aisle is people free.
Me: Okay, S how about Obi-Wan? Look no mask, no itchy material and you can still carry a light saber.
S: Huh? Who?
Me: You know Vader's enemy, here let's try it on.
S: (puts it on) The sleeves are too long.
Me: (notice that this is my only chance and the least expensive costume to boot) It's okay, I can cut the sleeves off so they fit. Is it itchy anywhere?
S: No Mommy. Can I get it? But I need the light saber to match.
Me: Sure.

At that point he could have anything he wanted, an hour in a deserted costume aisle was about it for me. Then at the check out he managed to freak out the cashier by doing his "Ninja Warrior" jumps on and off her counter. By that time I just didn't care who he was scaring. It's just part of life with S.

Slowing Down and Drama

Last week was busy as usual. With trips to Santa Barbara, Aquarium of the Pacific and all the usual things it was nice to have a slow weekend. On Saturday, C volunteered for the day as support staff at our local Relay for Life. S, hubby and I walked in it. Then on Sunday we did mundane things like grocery shopping and snuggling up on the couch watching a movie together.
The only thing that got me a bit outta whack was J having a fit because she thought she looked "lame" in her Halloween costume. I bought it for her in August because she had to have it. I brought it home, had her try it on where she pronounced how much she loved it. Then two weeks ago her friend, who I already have an issue with, comes over and says she doesn't like it. From that point on I have been trying to persuade J that her costume is just fine (esp. since I spent $70 on it and now cannot return it.) She put it on again last night to show hubby just how "lame" it looked. Which of course it doesn't. So now I have had to resign to trying to sell it. J has to make a costume out of what ever she has around the house. I think it wouldn't have gotten to me so much if:
a. she would have worn it somewhere (anywhere)
b. she hadn't changed her mind because of something someone else said to her.
I suppose this is just a part of her growing up. Although I am trying to accept it and go with it, it doesn't mean I have to like it!

A Little Bit of Pixie Dust

J when she was 6.

I touched on something in my last post that I am really sad about. I think J losing the last of her baby teeth has been more traumatic on me than her. Which is rather funny since she is the one who had to actually get the teeth pulled.
I can still remember the first time the tooth fairy left her a gift. The sparkly, crinkly wrapping paper, the "pixie dust" all over her bed and her bounding into my bed the next morning to show me what the tooth fairy had brought her. It is one of the best childhood memories of her. The gifts were always books in the beginning. Then they matured a little bit as she got older. When she found out that everyone was getting money while she got books she was pleased to have a "different" fairy. But eventually she really wanted the cash. Showing the sign of her age the last thing her fairy left was a pair of pretty earrings and an itunes gift card. But her fairy also left her a card telling her how much she would miss being her fairy and that she would always watch out for her.
Now my daughter is very quick. She knows her fairy very well. She seemed very touched by it all. Even though my oldest still has several teeth to go and my little one hasn't even gone there yet, I am still sad. Perhaps it is something about her being the first of my children to lose all her teeth. It just seems a little out of order. But then again she has always been the mature one. A grown up in a child's body. There is just something so magical about little girls and fairies. It's a class all of its own. Lucky for me S loves fairies more than anyone would ever guess.

Flying By

This past week has flown by incredibly fast. I blinked and it was Monday all over again. Here are a list of some of the things we did this week:

~Pulled C out of K12. He is much more relaxed and back to himself again.
~I held a 5 year old book club, we read "Daniels Duck" and the kids carved things out of soap.
~C attended a book club where he was the only child who understood the Holocaust and what was really going on in the book "Number the Stars." (World War II is a bit of a passion for him.)
~C and J attended a sports class, C went skateboarding.
~J understood that Native Americans used every part of an animal they hunted. She also finally "got" fractions.
~S read 20 library books. I think I need to break down and get a "homeschooler crate," my back is killing me!
~J had her art lesson.
~J lost her last baby teeth. Well actually she had them pulled because she had "shark teeth", baby teeth and adult teeth in the same spaces. So the tooth fairy mad her last apperance to J. *frown*
~C got a new guitar. (Dad's old one, but new to him and full size.)
~We attended a field trip about Ventura's Chinatown during the gold rush. It was one of the best we have been on. Amazingly before we went C was able to tell me all about how the Chinese immigrants were treated based on a few books he'd read.
~We attended the coolest show! It was called "The Birdhouse Factory" it was sort of like Cirque de sol. Everyone loved it.
~The kids fed the animals at the zoo.
~S finally learned how to play by himself!!!!
~Finally, C, J and I saw "The Seeker" in the theater. It was C's reward for finishing the book. He tried to tell me about all the differences, I'm just going to have to read it this week!
~Oh yeah, we fit some homeschooling in their too!

Now, I shall sleep and rest because our new week has already begun!

Calming

So I am finally beginning to calm down about this whole curriculum thing. J is set, I decided to supplement what she is already doing and replace a few things to make it more at her level. I am also doing a combination of Living Math, Math U See and math games for her math lessons. So far so good.
Today, I finally decided that I've had enough with k12 and will be pulling C out on Monday. He doesn't know this yet and may not want to give up the computer. He'll live. But I am feeling better already. I have been totally stressing about it ever since I realised that he figured out how to "work" their system. About the same time it also hit me that he hasn't been learning anything either. Hopefully I can relax a little bit now and move forward with a little less frustration. (But of course, now I need to figure out what I am going to teach him!)

B'NESS

So, the funniest thing happened yesterday. S was in the car with hubby and I waiting in the drive through line at In-N-Out. Out of nowhere he tells hubby the following:

"Dad, I'm going to get a dog, it will be my dog and my b'ness (ghetto version of business.) It will sleep in my room and no one can play with him except me."

Hubby and I are practically splitting at the seams trying not to laugh at this. S was so serious but the ghetto language was too much. Sadly, hubby wants nothing to with a dog in any size. Maybe with more lines like these S can get him to soften.

Ch-Changes

So a few days ago J decided to cut her hair. This is the shortest cut she has ever had. I have finally stopped looking at her twice when she walks into a room. It actually suits her quite well. It's just that I still have a pang in my heart for the days when she was the age S is and her hair was long and in ringlets. She just looks so grown up now. I know she is growing up and I'm excited but I still miss the little girl. Our parents were all correct when they said it goes by so fast. ~sigh~

Obsessions

Okay I will admit it. I have a problem with planning. As in, I over plan and analyze everything in my life. My favorite obsession is the kids school curriculum. I generally feel fairly justified when a new obsession occurs, but when I can't seem to make a decision I start to wonder if I'm going overboard.
Two things have brought on my latest issue. We'll start with the simple one first. I hate the fact that C is using K12 for his school work. I thought it would be great for him. He still likes it, but it honestly makes me seethe. In the three weeks he has been using it, all he has learned to do is take a test. I am willing to give it some more time to see if my fears are unfounded. After all, I know plenty of other middle schoolers who are using it successfully. It has also been great for his need to have a plan. (A child after my own heart.) But, I just happened to notice the other day that he has figured out how to work their system. This of course puts me in a tail spin because as a homeschooler I want him to learn how to learn, not take a test. So this little issue will have to wait a few weeks for an answer. But my plan is to not allow him to have so much freedom when doing his lessons so I can make sure he's not "working it."
My big issue currently is J's history and science. She has been completing a weeks worth of science in 45 minutes. I know this is an obvious sign that it's too easy for her. She would really like to just do it anyway. She has convinced me that she will just do several weeks in one week then move onto something else later in the year. I am pretty sure that I am fine with this. But to top it off her history is also too easy for her. So of course now I can't stop contemplating if I should continue on with what she has but with supplementation, or return her history and get her the next level up. I went to a friends today who has the next level and she kindly got everything out so I could look it over carefully. Honestly it just confused me more. It would be fine for her, but when I mentioned the change J was rather upset. I'm pretty sure it's because she likes to have things easy. But easy doesn't do her any good.
So tonight shall bring more obsessing and planning. Just maybe I'll have some sort of enlightenment tonight and figure all this out! But knowing me there will be just another obsession around the corner.

Little Shop of Horrors

So as of today my children are all the proud new owners of carnivorous plants. They are soo excited about them. There was a boy a at our homeschool group selling the plants and slowly each of the kids came up asking for money. He must of made half his money today on my family alone!
I only know that the one J bought is a Venus Flytrap. I have spent the afternoon searching for the names of the two the boys bought. Of course neither of them can remember the names either. We decided to keep them outside until we can figure out how to care for them all properly. Luckily the kids have undertaken this big job and are enthusiastic to learn everything they can about them.
So considering I have a black thumb when it comes to gardening, we'll see if these little monsters make it through the week! lol

Back from Nature

Okay, so I'm still getting the hang of this picture thing!
On Sunday, all of us took a lovely hike in the local mountains. It was a very nice walk. All the kids enjoyed themselves and asked to go back to the spot again.

I love being out in nature whenever I can. Sadly, to get to most anywhere around here you need to drive. The one thing which is nearly impossible to get hubby to do on his day off from work. So now I am on quest to find more outdoorsy stuff in our "own backyard." Who knows maybe my inner tree hugger will show herself again.

Speaking of all this nature, C is super excited because he is going to Joshua Tree this weekend to rock climb. He is by far the biggest nature buff among us. I will admit that I'm a little nervous. But hey he'll have a bike helmet so what am I worried about right? (I'll secretly cross my fingers that I won't be the parent who gets a call from the emergency room this trip!)

Are we back in Kansas?

The story of my life these days has been "The Wizard of Oz". S and I are smack in the middle of reading Ozma of Oz and halfway through the Wizard of Oz movie. Ironically, after watching the movie yesterday I met up with some friends who out of no where started singing Follow the Yellow Brickroad. That's gonna stick in my head for weeks. I'm humming it now.

So our first week back to doing "school" went a little bumpy. You know, we went through the poppy field and the mice queen had to save us and all. But like our heroes things are beginning to take shape. For starters, I threw away those darn green glasses to see the Emerald city for what it's really worth. I don't think I'll melt my witch but maybe leave her to her own castle and have the flying monkeys keep watch. My lion even cried when he said good-bye to Glinda (for now.) But the best is watching my three little companions realize the strengths that were always there. I can't wait to see how this year's story unfolds. I'm sure it will be just as exciting as ever. "And that's how we pass the day away, in the merry 'ole land of Oz!"

It's nice that the day is finally at a close. C is having a friend over to spend the night. This usually means he will be more like a typical moody pre-teen in the morning. Generally, he is fairly cheerful and not too moody. But if he doesn't get 11 hours of sleep he turns into a pumpkin.
J was lucky today and got invited to go to the county fair with a friend. Sometimes she seems way too mature and other times its like have a 4 year old all over again. She had a great time and is now hanging out with C and his friend.
S had swim lessons today. He did much better than usual focusing. He also sat through two chapters of The Wizard of Oz. We may actually finish the book before the end of summer! The best part was that he was able to recite everything about the book to a friend of mine this evening. I have a tendency to underestimate him. Since he is the "baby" I tend to not push his independence as much as I should. Of course everytime I do I am always amazed.
Note to self: Start taking pictures daily.

The Winding Road

I feel like I should have an intro since this is my very first posting. Honestly, I was totally inspired by a friend's wonderful blog, that I just couldn't resist trying it out myself. I have long been holding back on the idea of journaling, so I am excited to finally give it a try.
I am a homeschooling mom. It's funny how that simple sentence really sums up most of my life right now.
Our menagerie has 2 boys, 11 year old C and 4 year old S. There is also 10 year old daughter J.
Well, as S is in need of help cleaning his room I will have to fill in more details a bit later.