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A Bad Day for "Tuh"

So, Tyson (Tuh) got up from his nap and was in the "I've had a nap and I'm CRANKY mood." He went outside to play with the girls, and while out there started to cry because his pants kept falling down. (I have that problem ALL the time!) So, he runs inside to me and starts to insist that I put on his belt. I, of course, had my hands up to my elbows in manicotti cheese stuffing, because I am an amazing mother like that, and was not in any position to strap on a belt. I tried to distract him by talking about "some other pants" or, just going in a diaper but he was set and determined to have the blasted belt. I finally said, "Why don't you go ask Kiki to help you?" He then went outside, sat down on the ground and proceeded to BAWL. Kiki, being the sweet, compassionate, so unlike her mother sweetheart that she is, instantly dashed to his aid and proceeded to coo and coddle him back into the house to look for his belt. She then came up and said, "Mom, I was talking to Tyson about what was the matter and he said, 'I'm just having bad day!'"

Poor guy :( After the belt incident, he ran up to me 10 minutes later bawling again! He showed me a fresh scrape on his arm and said, "I'm having a bad day again!!" As I type this, his sister is insisting she didn't mean to slam his fingers in the closet door just now....SERIOUSLY! That is one bad day. I got nothing to complain about.

Snack Monsters

*This was a post that I had created last February and for some strange reason or tragedy, never posted. I was probably just waiting to have a cute picture or something to post.... So here it is, and pictureless nonetheless!




So apparently at Katrinas school there are always LOTS of kids who do not have a snack for snack recess. These poor starving, neglected children (because only the GOOD parents provide a snack) swarm like flies around my daughter and her usually lame snack. I mean my kids are the ones with apples and pretzels while everyone else gets spicy Cheetos and HoHo's (which is soooo not fair).

Anyway, I guess the natives can get a little pushy at times leaving my daughter w/only crumbs and feeling hungry. For instance, she holds out the bag to one little girl and says "You can have one." and the girl replies, "No, I want ten!" and ninja swipes a handful. My solution was to send Katrina with 2 snacks, 1 just for sharing. Jays suggested solution was to punch the ninja swiper in the stomach. Since the latter would be considered assault and in todays world get a second grader expelled, we packed the extra snack. On day one I sent a baggie of pretzels that I was informed were quickly devoured. Day 2 I sent an entire package of graham crackers that were also annihalated. At this point I gave up because I realized I couldn't be everyones "good mom", (plus i'm too cheap).

So last week I'm at the Foodmaxx stocking up on apples and pretzels and I see the MONGO bag of individual chip packages on sale. I stood and pondered: I imagined all the times my kids have been shamed because of the lack of things with ingredients no one can pronounce in their lunches, and I scheme to give into the dark side and follow my desires to be "the cool Mom".

(I can just hear their friends now, begging their parents for the opportunity to hang out at OUR house. After all, WE have variety chips!)

Feeding Time at the Zoo

After the female lion eats her prey....



She settles down to clean her blood stained fur.



Ummm...I would like to point out that the only thing I am guilty of is eating the disgusting things my mother puts in front of me. I mean Top Ramen and cherries??



His appetite satisfied, the young lion falls into a peaceful slumber.

Why I am Homeschooling

I have realized that most of my family had no idea I was planning on homeschooling starting in August. Since I have made my decision I have been receiving mixed reactions. Strangers think I am weird and instantly tell me my kids are going to have "socialization issues". (So rude by the way.) My friends express admiration and ask if I can homeschool their kids too, and my family is worried for my mental health and the general safety for my children.

Here are a few reasons why I have decided to homeschool:

1. I began to notice my children disliking school and learning in general. It hits around 2nd grade. Around the time when children are required to sit for longer periods of time and are required to keep quiet so as not to disturb a teacher that needs to teach 25+ children a subject that they are "required" to learn at this age. In homeschool, I will be able to teach my children about things they are passionate about. I hope that they will LOVE to learn! The lessons will be short (each lesson no more than 20-30 minutes per subject) and we will be striving for QUALITY not QUANTITY. We'll do every cursive letter perfect and beautiful and then get to put it away. Not do sheets of practice that make both of us cry and wonder why we have to spend an hour on it only to have a teacher write on the page how sloppy it is.

2. In Public School children need to all work at the same pace so no other children get "left behind". If a child starts to get left behind, they cannot receive the kind of individualized attention they need for something they struggle with. Homeschooling can let them learn at the level of their brain, and not require them to learn at their "age level". All children are different...so what if a child doesn't learn to read when they are 5 years old and they are 8 instead. They will STILL KNOW HOW TO READ and will have learned when their brain is ready. I could go on and on about this....

3. HOMEWORK...pretty self-explanatory. In the 4th grade my son was going to school for 6 hours and then coming home with 1 1/2 hours worth of homework. What the heck am I sending him to school for?? He's 9 years old, not earning his college degree! With homeschooling, because of the individualized instruction, until high school we can be done with school by the time lunchtime comes around with no "homework". How awesome is that?? However, because the child will love learning so much, they will probably choose to spend some of their free time learning about things that interest them.

4. Teachers spend more time with my children than I do. The time that I do spend with my children involves me yelling at them to hurry up and get ready so we can get out the door, hurry up and finish their homework, hurry up and get ready for bed.....not a lot of quality time there. I want to reconnect as a family and learn to love my children and truly know them.

5. They can learn without a politically correct agenda in mind. We can say a prayer and read some scripture before starting our subjects. We can learn about christian morals and values without having to be careful about who we are going to offend. An atheist psycho dad cannot get the courts to tell us that we can't say "under God" or sing "Silent Night" at Christmas time, and we never have to say "Happy Holidays."

I could go on and on with this, but just know that I have wanted to do this since Payton hit the 3rd grade but did not have the "guts". I do worry about my sanity, and my abilities to teach my children, but I have decided that if I trust in the Lord that all will be ok. How many of my kids teachers said a prayer before teaching my children that they would teach them effectively?? I'm guessing none of them :) So, with the Lord on my side...they are going to be ok. I may also decide it's too hard and put them back in school by next year. This is ok too. Although my reasons show that I am unhappy with Public School, there are a lot of good things about it (I'll write about my views on socialization another day), and I do not judge anyone who chooses to have their children in Public School. If I do put them back in school, I will change the way I choose to spend my time with them, and never allow them to have a 2nd rate teacher. I spent a lot of time trying to make a certain ADHD child exactly what the school system needed him to be. I called and cried to my mom a lot! I hope that with homeschooling, I can just let him be exactly who he is, and not try to alter the creative, sweet, loving, enthusiastic, energetic boy that he is!

I will need a lot of support as I tackle this endeavor. Shalene and Amber, we will be doing a fieldtrip to RT and seeing how pizzas are made. Terry and Dean, love to learn all about creating and running your own business. Alisha, some hairstyling lessons to me and my girls would be appreciated. Brandon and Scott, Physical fitness and how to intimidate?? Candra, how to kick butt and take names and still look cute doing it. Deb is doing a few science lessons, Mom can help in baking and gardening and teach them how to make a mess and not let it bug them (I will be attending that class too.) Wayne and Jason will be in charge of Outdoorsy stuff and keeping alive the tradition of using terms like "It only got hit in the head by that car. That's perfectly good meat, load it up!"

Ladybugs

There is an infestation of ladybugs around Plumas Lake this Spring. If you know Plumas than you know that each year there is a "plague" of a certain insect. This year I believe it is ladybugs. So my children have been obsessed with catching ladybugs. They keep them for awhile and then the lucky few that survive get let go.

No matter how many times I've told my kids that because ladybugs are really pretty we DON'T pinch them between our thumb and forefinger, stomp on them, pull their wings off, or keep them in the dogs water bucket (they don't survive), they can't seem to stop the genocide!

The other day Jason heard the following conversation outside between Bella and Tyson:

Bella: Here Tyson, hold my ladybugs. I'm going to go find some more!

Tyson: Laadddyybug

Bella: (Returns) AWWWWW TYSON! You squished em!

Tyson: Laaadddyybug

Tyson pulled me outside the other day because he was very excited to show me something. He walked over to a black splotch on the patio, stomped next to it and said, "Squish laaadddyybug". *Sigh* Do you think kids that squish ladybugs go to heaven?

Cereal Boxes

If you were a child with siblings then you remember the cereal box wars. Everyone wanted to look at the back of the box but the problem was, there wasn't enough boxes to go around. The other morning, Jay came out to see Bella staring at the inside bag of Cheerios while she ate. He said "Bella, what are you doing?" and KT said, "She wanted to look at a box but I was looking at it so she asked for the bag."


She's quite brilliant, I'm sure she's reading "binary code" within the cereal or something. After being brilliant, she decided to be creative and dressed up her brother (much to the horror of her Father).


A purse was added to the ensemble later :)

I solemnly swear......

....to update this blog more often. I'm sorry the blog has been lacking, for our most devoted followers, here's a new desktop background picture :)