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This is our third year to homeschool, and I am still constantly reminded that learning takes place every single day......even when we leave the workbooks on the shelf.
Yesterday the weather was beautiful. After math and reading, we spent the day outside! We were in the neighborhood park when my hub called to tell me that he was stuck in a parking lot with a flat tire and needed me to bring him a jack and a lug wrench. This was a perfect opportunity for my boys to learn how to change a flat!
Isn't that a great picture of learning and cooperation?
.......it lasted for 3.7 seconds....well, almost.
And then the silliness began......
Mmmmkay, time to wrap up this lesson.
I can't decide if these are confessions, or random facts, or both. I thought it would be fun every month to share things about me that may interest my kids later on. Or maybe they won't be interested at all! Ha!
* I have a "thing" for new pens. When I'm at the grocery store and I see really cute pens, all new and packaged, I always want to buy them. Same with notebook paper and crayons. That's strange, right?
* I don't like to go to Ladies' Conferences. I always leave feeling inadequate....and guilty....and like I don't measure up....so I just don't go to them. Ever.
* I don't like to eat the ends of things.....like pickles, bananas, and hot dogs. I don't know why, but I've been that way as long as I can remember. I just cut off the ends and it's all good.
* My 13-year-old has a little mustache and it bothers me. When I talk to him, I just stare at it. How did this happen?
* My kids don't usually have cute Easter baskets to put their eggs in (bad grammar, I know). They have used Wal-Mart sacks, plastic Halloween pumpkins, and paper sacks from Braums. And it doesn't bother me.....not even a little bit. Is that redneck?
* Jay makes fun of me because I call OKC, "The City" (he's from Arkansas, he doesn't understand). Until a few years ago, I always called the refrigerator the "ice box." And lastly, he thinks its strange that I pronounce coyote in 2 syllables and it sounds like kie-oat instead of ki-yo-tee.
I really love spring and summer. I love the sunshine, warmer temps, cooking outside, but most of all, I love getting my hands in the dirt and working in my flower beds. This year is especially exciting because it's our first year to plan a flower garden for this house. We moved in last June and the flower beds were already full and blooming.
Here is a picture of our house right after we moved in. I hung the flag and 3 Boston Ferns, everything else was already there. We could not quite figure out what was going on with the lawn.....we watered and watered and it just looked dead. Maybe it had a disease? Maybe it was just too hot? I don't know, that is my husband's territory. The previous owners planted the front beds with Posies, Geraniums, and Sweet Potato Vine.
Under the Mulberry Tree, I am planning to plant a few Hostas. They like shade and are low-maintenance.
Among the Hostas, I'd like to plant some Lily of the Valley. They are the cutest blooms ever and smell divine!
On the front porch, I will hang a couple of Boston Ferns and put another in my plant stand. Boston's can be a bit of a mess, I may go with the Kimberly Fern instead.
On each side of the front door, I'll do a couple of pots with Lavender.
Along our privacy fence to the west, I'd like to plant Gladiolus. If you will plant the bulbs a few days apart, you will have color all season into the fall!
In the front beds I'll grow Portulaca (Rose Moss). This is the easiest stuff to grow and it spreads like crazy. The blooms open up wide mid-day and close in the evenings......and its okay if you forget to water them for a week.....or two.
I'll also plant a couple of pots of Lantana, butterflies love this stuff!
Lastly, I'll put Sweet Potato Vine under the ornamental tree. My husband hates SPV. It grows like crazy and can be a nuisance if you don't keep cutting it back....and flea beetles love it, so keep an eye on it if it gets droopy.
We have decided we aren't going to try a vegetable garden this year. I don't have the patience, and I really like shopping at the local farmer's markets.
Are you a gardener??
This was a hard week for me. I'm pretty sure it could be termed "burn out." There was nothing out of the ordinary, and maybe that's part of it.
Winter is not my favorite time of year. In fact, if it were up to me, we would skip January and February after Christmas and start the new year in March. I usually start counting down the days until spring in November!
So, back to this week. The kids were bickering more than usual. There was a monstrous pile of laundry that never seemed to lessen no matter how many loads I washed. Dirty dishes in the sink....and the living room....upstairs. Trash cans were full. Globs of toothpaste in every bathroom sink, dirty mirrors, floors that needed mopping. And stuff. Everywhere I turned....legos, matchbox cars, crayons, library books, wooden blocks, stinky basketball shoes, candy wrappers, and 3 million Hello Kitty lip glosses....littering the house.
And then there was homeschool. They didn't want to do school, and truth be known, neither did I. But we did, and it was a chore. My six-year-old would disappear at the mention of lesson time and my older kids were less than compliant. We'll just leave it at that. And then there is the 3-year-old in a full leg cast that is immobile and milking the situation beyond belief. Top all of that off with a husband who needed an emergency root canal and a 98 lb furry Goldendoodle who has barked incessantly inside the house all week and I. was. toast. Burnt toast.
I leave note cards all over my house to help me with scripture memory. There is nothing better than clinging to God's word. I heard a quote a few weeks ago, not even sure who said it, but I wrote it down and taped it to the kitchen window above the sink. "The Lord walks among the pots and pans." I got up Thursday morning to find that my dear hubby had added a few words to the bottom of my note card. Yep. The flood gates opened and the ugly cry made an appearance!! My hub knows that I thrive on words of affirmation.
Isn't he the best? He really is.
This week we got through the dreaded math, grammar, vocabulary, phonics and reading lessons. But I hope my kids learned more than that. I hope my kids saw that even when mom and dad are tired, frustrated and just plain burnt out...we still have joy. We love each other, serve each other, lift each other up and most importantly we cling to our Savior and His Word.
"That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NLT)
