Keeping it Real...How home schooling is REALLY going!

   

     Hey all! I've been wanting to update you on how school is going but I've had a hard time finding a moments rest. The first day of school started with a bang! We sat down to begin and soon realized that we had some visitors. Wasps had made a nest inside one of our slide outs in our trailer . I killed as many as I could swat,  maybe 5 or so and I got the kids in the car and drove to Home Desperate, I mean Home Depot. We bought the most expensive wasp spray ( hoping that if I spent enough the problem would go away) and made a B- line for home . I kept the kids in the car and ran inside to face our new nemesis. They were mainly in the master bedroom so I sprayed as many little buggers and we vacated the premesis. We played at the park and went out to lunch before returning . I only found 2 after that and Ian killed the nest when he got home. It was an extraordinary first day of school. Not at all as I had planned , which has been a theme this year .

First day of School!

      It was an adjustment for my oldest to homeschool out of books.  He has been accustomed to work on a computer . His early weeks were very long school days. Math was taking us for.....ev....er. My magical Algebra book that I was so hyped on, didn't work for us. Turns out we weren't ready for Pre- Algebra. The curriculum magazine told me we were but that was a lie! It was hard for me to accept at first. I thought maybe he had forgotten things over summer, or he was just trying to torture me. I finally found a free placement test online for Saxon math.
 http://www.sonlight.com/saxon-placement-tests.html
        I was able to get him a new math program a few weeks into our school year. I was bummed that it didn't work out with that other curriculum  but I am really happy with how he's doing now in Saxon Math. It still is the subject that takes him the longest but it has gotten so much better. Latin has turned out to be his favorite subject. Which has given us an opportunity to learn how to make flashcards . That's one of my favorite parts about homeschooling. Finding practical things to teach my kids, like study skills. 

     Teaching two kids out of books is still hard for me. I feel constantly torn between the boys but something that has helped immensely is coming up with a lesson plan for the week and giving it to the boys Monday morning. It has helped them to be more self sufficient . Another homeschooling momma gave me this idea. So they know what pages they have to complete this week and when their test will be. They can get ahead if they're feeling ambitious and they don't have to keep asking me "what's next?" Also, they color in the box when the assignment is complete. I think that's actually their favorite part of the lesson plan.

 

  I think we're definately in a groove now . But there are moments when I want to tear out my hair . Things I have to repeat constantly are " Yes you have to write in complete sentences." Or " Yes you have to do all the exercises ." or " Why did you skip this?" or " Capitalize you're sentences." or "Where is the period?" My favorite answer that has come up so far in the school year is this one.......

See the 4th question down. Poor kid even spelled butt wrong

      Then there was the devastating day when my son got a 60% on his English test. He didn't even attempt to study. If your grades fall below an 80% average in this house, video games are off limits. We were headed to a friends house for a Friday - homeschoolers video game day. Oh he was so upset. Tried to strike a bargain with me, pleading and begging. No luck,, he missed out that day and his friends were just as disappointed as he was. You better believe he studies for his English tests now. How do we figure out grades? I'm glad you asked! Around here, we do a lot of bookwork. All work is checked and corrected immidiately. So they can't just slop answers down or they will be redoing it all day long. Since they put so much time into their bookwork, they are graded on classwork and then I average their test scores in with their or daily work score. 

  On top of this school mania we have started soccer 3x a week and fall baseball once a week. Then we started up guitar lessons because I have been thinking about it for 2 years. So we finally  signed up for that too.  Of course Awanas has started back up  on Wednesday nights and we have to do that because it's date night and we parents love our date night! We've even squeezed in a field trip to the Denver zoo. So that in itself has kept us off our rockers , busy.

Linewives at the Denver Zoo

 

     We were hoping to leave Denver at the beginning of November but it looks like we'll be here a bit longer. So we signed up Waylon for preschool . It's only a few hours, twice a week, but he loved it. That one day he got to go before catching some sort of sickness from preschool. Oh well. We look forward to the time that he goes . We got so much done those 3 hours that one day. Cuz in the end, I'm not anti-school . I'm pro- happy kids and whatever it takes to make your children happy with their learning career. I'd do it.

Running into Preschool as fast as he can

 

Where do you even start? How do you start off homeschooling? " I wanted to look behind me to see who she was talking to

    

       A blog post is way over due. I see so many pictures on Facebook of the first day of school but we are not there yet! I woke up before dawn today and took my older boys to the airport where they flew to grandma's for the first time as "unaccompanied minors." They have been looking forward to this all summer and I have been trying not to think about putting my kiddos alone on a plane. They made it there safely and now me and the little guy are finding ourselves bored without them. This gives me the time I need to get ready for our next school year. We start as soon as they come back home .... enjoy your last few days boys, school is about to begin.
     Homeschooling has been a mixed bag for me. It was something I never had a desire to do. Even today at the grocery store, the cashier quizzed me on when my kids start school  and I kinda cringe when I say we homeschool. I cringe because then she goes on to say how she's not structured and she's better with summertime. As my neighbor here in the mobile park said to me this summer  " If I home schooled my kids, they'd be dumb." So I cringe, because I feel like people are putting me and my kids into a box, but I'm not shy about it. The weirdest change, is that I am excited about it. I searched out and sorted through curriculums. I've looked online and went into stores. I had all of my books put on hold and then purchased them on a day when I knew everything was 20% off. When I checked out, the gal at the counter asked me " Where do you even start? How do you start off homeschooling? " I wanted to look behind me to see who she was talking to! It's frickin crazy to me , that I'm going on three years of independent schooling . Other people are asking me about it too, what I am using and how I do it. I am really excited about this year. It's the first year I am really taking things into my own hands and it's a little scary but really exciting.
    The first year, we went through a charter school for both boys that was completely online. It was great because I felt so insecure in my teaching ability and I didn't want any responsibility for my kids education....but that's not really how it works. Even when you have a teacher in an online format, the parent is still there everyday making sure every task is accomplished and scanned in. There were areas that I found lacking and some tedious projects enhanced. When it came to 6th grade and there were multiple teachers to email and scan to, it got to be too much and we looked for something else. Our second year homeschooling, I paid for a private online school for my 6th grader and I found a great homeschooling resource in Colorado called CHEC. I purchased all of my 2nd graders curriculum through them. I felt that my second grader wasn't being challenged with the online format and his handwriting was a joke, since he was on the computer all day. So last year I got to experiment with a few books and see what worked for us. You will find what we used under "My Homeschooling Research" on this blog. At the end of last year I felt like I knew what books worked for us and what didn't. I got the hang of how classrooms are run online and through traditional books. This year we are only homeschooling through traditional books. I have always been the one that wanted someone to tell me exactly what to teach in each grade, but this year I made all of my own decisions and I'm so eager to see what's in store for us. I purchased most of these books from Mardel Christian Book Store or through Veritas Press. I will tell you how or why I came up with each item in hopes that it will help you someday...or so I can remind myself in 3 months when I am saying "what the heck was I thinking?" This is what I have come up with :

3rd Grade

Saxon Math 3- I have always heard homeschoolers speak highly of Saxon Math. I was really happy with our Math book last year but apparently they don't make one beyond 2nd grade. Saxon is notorious for repeating concepts. This bothered me when I picked up the enormous book and realized that we have already gone over half of this stuff. When I looked at the next year it was a bit too advanced. So I see that each year seems to be a lot of review but this is the thing that I have come to realize. That is what school is. Each year we review the same things and build upon them. Sometimes, we review the same thing with even more detail. This is how we learn.

Science- LifePac by Alpha and Omega   Last year my youngest wasn't given a lot of material to work with in his Science books and my oldest struggled with his Science online. I randomly picked up this curriculum and it turned out to be identical to what his very expensive online school taught. LifePac's come in unit studies. It comes in a box with 10 small books, that are each unit studies. Each small book has lesson reviews, experiments and Tests included. I loved this arrangement for Science, not all of their subjects. So everyone is doing LifePac's for Science.

History Heritage Studies 3- This book is by Bob Jones or BJU as the homeschoolers call it. I found this one the old fashioned way by comparing every history book in the aisle. I loved the pictures, which I think history books should have plenty of. It came with a workbook which I like for reinforcement. Also, it had a test packet. Very handy.


English 3 Writing and Grammar by BJU We used the second grade version of this book last year and I was really happy with it. This year I went a step further and bought the test packet to go with it for both boys. I didn't know they had a test packet last year. Live and learn and moving on.

Spelling Grade 3 by Purposeful Design- I'm a softy for colorful textbooks that we can write in. I chose this one by comparing it to other options and it looked like something I knew my kiddo would like or at least not fight me too much on.

Explode the Code 3 1/2 - This is a phonics book. Nothing was wrong with our last years book but the boy disliked it greatly. This one seems the same but looks different. I'm hoping to trick him into liking phonics.  I did like that they had 1/2 years. Year 3 looked like ground we already covered so I opted for year 3 1/2.

Handwriting without Tears- WE....yes we  worked really hard last year on handwriting. We went through multiple books and free worksheets. I was referred to Handwriting without tears from a kindergarten teacher and I'm really excited to try it out.

7th Grade:

Elementary Algebra by Harold  Jacobs- I found this book in a magazine called Veritas Press. Parents raved about how simple the concepts of Algebra were presented in this book. Then I found out it was out of print and that kinda thing really sets off my inner geek. I must posses those treasured textbooks that are irreplaceable. Of course Veritas Press is apparently buying all of the copies they can get there hands on, so I ordered through them. I will let you know if it's all it's cracked up to be. I even went on half.com and read some pretty amazing reviews about it there too. I ordered the enormous textbook, the test packet and the answers to the tests ,which apparently have the work to show how the answer was reached. That sounded invaluable to me, but it hasn't come in the mail yet.

Science- LifePac by Alpha and Omega- see notes above

America the Beautiful by Charlene Notgrass I started using this book last year to supplement the boys learning because I felt they were both saturated in World History and knew nothing about American History. Eventually my enthusiasm dwindled because there was real school work that needed to be done. What drew me to this book was again the amazing pictures that I believe all history books should have. Less Words and more pictures or at least 50/50. I want to visualize it y'know? Also this book has a map workbook so the kids can locate the area they were learning about and draw things indigenous to the area . I like that to reinforce and picture which area of our country we are studying. This year I bought the lesson  review book too. I also realized that this book is broken up into 30 units. Even though this is actually two enormous books we are going to get through it by doing 1 unit a week , 1 lesson a day. They really mapped it our beautifully for me.

English Writing and Grammar 7 by BJU- see Notes above


Reading Detective B1 by the Critical Thinking CO.- This book was referred to me by someone who apparently has a brainiac child. It reminds me a lot of state testing. It has reading passages and questions to answer. The promise of this book is to develop independent thinkers. The answers are not word for word in the story , the child will actually have to use their mind. I will tell you how it goes.

Vocabulary from Classical Roots A by Norma Fifer and Nancy Flowers- My seventh grader is an awesome speller, so instead of a spelling book, we are learning Latin. Hear me out! He's the kind of kid that reads books way above his grade level but then he will pronounce a word he read completely wrong. So we are learning roots of words, which I am hoping will help him for the rest of his life. He will not be speaking latin but he will know where some words come from. Lesson one starts out with the word mono- meaning one : think monologue, monarch, monopoly etc.

Health from Horizons- I had every intention of teaching my son a health class last year and since I didn't , we will do it this year.

Typing: I have heard of www.typingweb.com but I haven't really looked into it yet

I am also armed with my amazing planner, " A Well Planned Day" It has room to plan your lessons, track attendance, grades, shopping list. It was my saving grace last year. I actually purchased one for the 7th grader too. I'm not sure I'll get my monies worth out of that one...

      So that's what we will be tackling next week. When I put it all down, it makes me want to take a nap. If you're thinking about homeschooling , talk to some homeschool moms. We come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We have some very different ideas of what school should be like. That doesn't mean that it's not for you. I have taken small steps to get here, but I'm glad I'm here. My goal is to have educated children, who think for themselves and like to learn(or at least don't hate it.) I may have accidentally wandered into homeschooling but I am intentional about their learning. Good luck and may the odds ever be in your favor.

Spring Break on the East Coast

   Before I do another marathon update, I want to write down all of our adventures we had on the east coast. After all, this blog is about my family and our adventures on the road. My mom lives in Maryland which gives us the opportunity to explore more of our beautiful country with every trip. We primarily made the trip for a wedding, but we always try to make the most of every day together. So here's what we squeezed in.
    My last post, I told you about Nate and his family. They drove 6 hours from their home just to be with us  that week. We decided to do something together with our families that we had never done before, so we rented a minivan and drove to Philadelphia. This was a 3 1/2 hour drive. It was such a hoot being together on that road trip. The van had a dvd player built in  and the kids watched Frozen and Brave. We broke out the girl movies in honor of our time with my niece. The boys were such good sports. The first thing we saw was the Liberty Bell. I had seen  it in 8th grade but since then, they have built an exhibit around the bell to showcase and display more of its history. I could've spent more time there, reading all of the fun facts, but with the four children we had in tow, it was more of a speedy walk down memory lane. The best part was actually seeing the bell. We posed in front of it and got our touristy pictures in and then we all tuned around to walk away. As we turned,  we hear the security guard yell out " DON'T Touch the bell ."You know that feeling you get, when you know it was your kid?.... Yeah .... I saw Houston with that sad look in his eye...filled with  shame and embarrassment. I mean what good is an exhibit of you can't touch it,  right? Never mind the obvious ropes around it....Anyway, Nate was thrilled that Houston touched it. He asked "which part did you touch"  and Houston stated proudly " the crack!" By the time we called Ian to tell him about our day, the touching of the liberty bell had become everyone's favorite part. Houston even said " I meant to touch it!"

Notice the guard rails!

     We went on to take a tour of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution was later ratified. The tour was great I love this picture, it speaks volumes.


Imagine George Washington in the same room with these goofballs

 

Our next important thing to do that day, was obviously get a Philly Cheesesteak. So we literally walked these poor children a mile around Philly looking for this place I found on Yelp. Apparently , there was a Man VS Food episode done here and I am all about those kinds of places. On our way we accidentally passed Benjamin Franklin's grave, how cool is that?

   So we finally got our cheesesteaks, they were huge and delicious. We went to this place called DiNic's which has apparently been a Philadelphia Institution of Cheesesteaks for nearly 100 years. The sandwich was just as mouth watering as it looks, I felt bad that Ian wasn't there to enjoy it because it was right up his ally, but I sent him this picture, kinda the same thing...NOT!  The unexpected topping was a spicy broccoli rabe and the oh so spicy roasted peppers. It was a total gut buster and we loved it.

I should tell you that my wacky children ate a slice of pizza instead. Criminal, I know.

We finished lunch with chocolate from a little place next door that sold odd chocolates. Houston got a chocolate shaped like an ear

   The next evening I got to have a night out with the girls. True, I didn't know these girls, it was Sara's bachlorette, but I will take a night out with the girls anytime, any day and anywhere.  Vironica escorted me there and I had the pleasure of getting to know Sara and her friends better. We had Thai food in Alexandria , Virginia which was the cutest little town with cobblestone streets. I think this is where I hurt my knee, but it was worth it.

I thought I had a better picture, but goofy one's really are more fun

We also had lots of grandma time. We had frozen yogurt ( more than once)  and went to see a movie. We went to Mexican Food one day and she took me to my favorite purse store. I love Spring Break WOO HOO!

      Then there was the wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. It was at a plantation that I had never visited before. It was nestled in between farmland and what I believe is the Patuxent River. It was a beautiful ceremony. The only way to keep Waylon quite though,  was to sacrifice my pearl necklace and tell him it was treasure. ( Don't worry , the necklace was only from Target) It was worth it to see Jon and Sara united in holy matrimony.

How cute is he though, right?

The reception was in a barn. I loved the theme and the decorations. It was beautiful and the  bride and groom were beaming. We took advantage of the surroundings to take some really cool pictures.


Isn't my mom beautiful? I think so

It sounds like a full trip, doesn't it? Oh no , it couldn't end there. My mom seized the opportunity of having all of her grand children in one place and the next day threw the biggest Easter egg hunt ever. Of course there was a jumpy jump there too because grandma's house is magical like that.


all the grandkids

       After a week like that, it's a miracle I squeezed in a run at all! An extra bonus was watching the Cherry Blossom tree's coming into bloom. Every year around this time there is a Cherry Blossom Tree festival in DC. Well,  they have Cherry Trees in Maryland too and they bloom every year around my birthday. I've always wanted to see them in full bloom. Thanks to this never ending winter, I left the day they started to pop. What a treat. We had such a great time. My family is truly blessed to have all of these amazing experiences.

Cherry Blossoms!

A Busy week in Denver and week 7 of Marathon Training

 
  Happy St Patty's Day!  Wow last week was busy! In retrospect, I can totally see why I have been exhausted all day. Our busy week took off last Monday. I had planned a field trip to the US Mint in Denver. I had to schedule the tour back in January. It had been something I wanted to do for a while and we were all excited for the adventure! You ever try to pack in too much to one day? Yeah , well I thought I would do some laundry before we left and right before we got in the car to drive to downtown Denver, I went to get the dry out. To my dismay, my 11 year old had recently purchased camo face paint from the army surplus store in town and left it in his pocket. All of the clothes had brownish grey smudges all over them. I flipped my lid and this is how we took off for our field trip. With mom in a mood. Then we continued to get into the heart of downtown Denver. We were suppose to arrive 30 minutes early because the mint is a secured government facility and they need to make you go through security etc. We were there 30 minutes early but I couldn't find a parking spot to save my life so we just drove around. Finally I told the kids we weren't going to make it and just then Wrex found  a parking spot. A friendly police officer helped me park and we made it to the Mint. My older boys really liked it, the two year old was not impressed. Hopefully they will remember more than mom's lecture about removing the content s of your pocket before throwing stuff in the laundry.

 

I got back to my car in time to see an officer writing me a ticket. Apparently I had parked in a "Mayoral" spot and I was minutes away  from being towed. It pains me to admit that my husband was right, I just may get a ticket in every city we travel in. UGH.

 

Friday , Ian had off and we decided to hike up to North table mountain. If you ever visit Golden, Colorado the city is nestled between two mesas, North and South Table Mountain. We packed some waters and a sling shot and went for it. Ian had to let Waylon ride on his shoulders most of the way. Our highlights were watching Houston try to catch a deer and stopping to practice our sling shot skills. It was a fabulous day.



 



  Sunday was my long run of 15 miles. The training plan was Tues. 4 miles, Wed. 7 miles, Thurs. 4 miles and Saturday 7 miles and Sunday 15 miles. I ran outside Tuesday and Thursday but snow prevented me from running outside on Wednesday. My runs were slower all week than they had been inside but my ego recovered a bit and I am more prepared to run slow to make it through as opposed to not completing at all. After our hike on Friday I decided to skip Saturdays run and rest an extra day. One of my epiphany's that sank in last week is that I am a novice and I can do with extra rest and less pressure. So Sunday I was prepared. I got up early to have my coffee and my oatmeal and then stretched.  It was a mere 28 degrees which I wasn't too happy about but what could I do. I decided to experiment with Cliff shots this week. They are a supplement that I decided to try out to increase my carbohydrate consumption while I ran. Studies have shown that there is an increased performance in runs over an hour long with additional carbohydrate consumption, so it was something I wanted to try.  So I started out slow. Another thing I did differently, is that I committed to a trail. Sometimes when I run , I just go wherever my legs take me, but then it can feel like a never ending journey. I think that the trail I picked is between 6.5 to  7 miles long. So my goal was to run it in the opposite direction of last week, so the dramatic hill climb would be on the way down. Then I would run it twice and after that, run to a place in town that I think is only a mile and a half or so away. So I still don't have a GPS watch so it was a guesstimate. Also my phone pooped out on me before I was through, so I don't have that to go off of either.  I did run for 3 1/2 hours so I'm pretty confident I hit 15 miles some where in that time. The best part of the run was when Ian accompanied me on the trail on my second loop around. He hopped on our 11 year olds bike and rode 7 miles with me. He made it look effortless but it made such a huge difference for me powering through miles 7-14. They seemed to breeze by, when we parted ways, I only had a mile or 2 to go but   they seemed way longer than the previous miles. It made my day having him out there with me. I am crazy sore today but I feel like I really kicked butt this Sunday.  That's marathon training for ya, down in the dumps one week, on top of the world the next. Thanks for the cheers and support, you guys are the best.



He even let me steal his hat, what a guy!



Home EC and Homeschool tricks

   Hello, from Denver! I'm so sorry I haven't written. I had such a great summer. The boys and I went to visit family that we hadn't seen in a while and that took us to North Carolina, Maryland and a few states in between! We came back refreshed and ready to take on the school year. I also did a lot of reading this summer. I have been totally sucked into the Voyager series by Diana Gabaldon and I'm still trying to extract myself. So that's where I've been in my free time. Last week we started kicking our butts in gear, getting ready for school . I was trying to organize myself for weeks in order to make our home schooling go as smooth as possible. So when I asked the boys to tidy up their room last week, they obliged me by throwing everything into the closet and then I exploded. In my haste, I grounded them from all electronics for the rest of the day. I don't know where you are but here in Denver it has been in the 90's and all of the public pools, mini golf's etc are closed down because Denver has already started school. So I had to think of something to keep them busy.
    This led to our day of cooking. We started off making meatballs. This was a big deal because I have a child who doesn't like to get his hands dirty. I made these boys chop garlic, measure oregano, cracking eggs, crumbling crackers (we ran out of breadcrumbs.) I admit, this day was much more hands on for me then I had anticipated, but we went with it. I had to make dinner anyways. After I made my children slave over the stove ...OK I fried them up, but they did roll the balls, we threw our meatballs into the crock pot and I let them choose a dessert to make. My oldest chose a chocolate pie out of our family's favorite Hershey cookbook. This was extremely exciting for them. Our toddler especially. One of the boys showed him how to pull up his chair to the counter. I am really regretting that they did this. He helps with dinner every night now, but the pie making was great fun. He took every task very seriously. I was trying to sneak him chocolate and he kept putting it  in the bowl. He was in a rare mood. Around 4 in the afternoon , we started the laborious task of making home made noodles. I tried this out with my mom this summer and we loved it. It took forever to make but fresh noodles are the best.

     If you didn't know, I am an extreme Master Chef fan. It is my favorite show. The boys watch it with me every week and they had an episode where they made noodles in the wilderness with nothing but egg , flour and a rock. Very impressive, so we were convinced we could manage. If you didn't know, Master Chef is coming out with a kid version of it's show in September and we are really excited for it. I'm grooming my children to become chefs. I feel confident that I can get at least one to cook professionally. My personal goal is to have them duel it out in the kitchen over the holidays and I can reap the rewards of their labors. Of course this is a long term plan....ANYWAYS!
    They were so impressed with themselves. I was equally impressed by how many dishes we dirtied and how exhausted I was afterwards. I think it took me a week to recover. I went back to reading, it was much less tiring, but I kept thinking of back in the day, when there was settlers in the colonies and parents taught their kids everything and every one was so self sufficient. Can you imagine teaching your child to survive in a world without so many conveniences? There's a pin on pinterest, that haunts me. It has ages that your child should have learned tasks by different ages. It overwhelms me, thinking of the things they still haven't mastered. Maybe not the best frame of mind to start home schooling but maybe it is. I don't know.

 
 I remember starting home school last year and after the first week, I drove by the public schools in the area to see what my other options were. I was so overwhelmed but I feel pretty strongly that having my kids switch schools several times during a school year is unfair to them. I have no way of telling when or how often we move. So homeschooling works for us. I am happy to say that this week has gone very smoothly. The programs with our online school are very familiar to us and I planned crock pot meals this week so I wouldn't have to juggle it all. My biggest concern was what Waylon was going to do, while my attention was on the older boys. Last year he was crawling on the ground attempting to get at the computer wires. Now a toddler, I didn't think he would care for all of us ignoring him all day. I received a brilliant idea from a friend. I do not take credit in any way for this but am so excited about it. She instructed me to come up with several different boxes of activities to occupy his time. I came up with three. These items are not to be brought out until it is school time. They are put away after school and I give him each item one at a time. So he doesn't get a box of new stuff in the morning, I dole out a new toy which is expected to keep him busy for about 15 minutes. So in essence I have my own little preschool boxes for him and it trains him to be in the mind set of school when we are. I have things like a puzzle, a special school snack, a new book, a tambourine, play food, an educational DVD, a hammer and foam board or Crayola's color wonder pages and markers and a cool superhero costume. On a side note I scored a slew of incredibly cool Halloween costumes at a second hand store! This approach has really helped keep him busy. Yes he still is coming up to me every 15 minutes or so when he is bored of whatever he's got, but I feel like he's staying active and at least I have something to give him instead of sitting him in front of PBS until nap time. Which, on occasion,  I've totally done, who hasn't? So day three of homeschooling has gone quite well, I'll keep you posted.
    

Homeschoolin' Momma

   

Last art project of the school year!

     Must blog... having a hard time finding the time....There's a lot of things I can tell you about Denver, but we're going to save those for another day, because today is our last day of school. So I'm finding time to write you this while the chicken nuggets are in the oven and the kids are kicked outside.
      I cannot believe that I made it through one year of homeschooling! I told my husband this morning " Can you believe I made it through without losing my mind?" He said that this was questionable. I agree, we've had some ups and downs on our journey. If you didn't know, we home school through an online program which means, I have teachers to report to and I facilitate the assignments they give the boys. Most days this works pretty well.  I feel confident that the kids are not behind in their studies and will be neck in neck with their peers when they return to school someday. I'm comforted by the fact that they're not in Kristina's school of hard knocks. If there's anything I want most,  it's for my kids to have a happy, normal childhood.  Normal seems to be questionable these days. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right thing but in the end,  I think keeping our family together is the best decision for us.
        You can't imagine how ecstatic I am to get through one year of homeschooling and still have my children like me.   Friends, you may think I'm a patient person, I am not. I get flustered at the end of the day when I think we're almost done and I'm ready to do a happy dance and realize we have an art project to do. I sympathize with my first grader when he says "are we done yet?"  We have had a lot of fun and have been able to bend the rules  with our flexible schedule. We've schooled in Colorado, Utah, Maryland, California and Nevada this year.  I am so comforted that we have not had to pull the boys in and out of schools with all of these moves. We skipped class a few times and went to the movies. We've taken field trips to Chimney Rock,  Mesa Verde, the hot springs, you know wherever.
      Some of my favorite moments were when Ian helped us build a scale out of gift wrapping rollers and tin cans. I remember making homemade paste because when you live 30 minutes from the store it's just not worth it. I didn't particularly enjoy that memory but I'm dang proud of myself for doing it. I remember when Wrex had to write a poem about Cleopatra. It sounded much better as a rap but I was also very proud of that moment too.

      One amazing thing is,  that in every town I've been to, I've been able to connect with another home school mom and be very encouraged. They make me feel like one of their own, even though sometimes I think I'm an impostor. They're always so cheerful as they charge along getting the best education for their children. Sometimes I feel more reluctant than the rest, but today I did get it done. If you can't tell I'm extremely proud of myself, but I am even more proud of my children, because they have learned independence this year,  among many other things. Wrex was a bit distraught yesterday when his PowerPoint presentation of 1910 to 1919 would not work on application sharing to present to his class. I tried telling him that this was  something that most adults can't,  even do but he didn't really believe me . 
     As one son goes into junior high and the other into second grade I feel that they are definitely ready for the challenges ahead of them and I pray that I am too. We're transitioning into our summer learning program, which consists of me teaching them to do whatever I want them to do. As I was instructing Houston to make meatballs in the kitchen this afternoon, I stepped out to prop the door open with my jogging stroller, because the door opener thingy  has broken off quite some time ago. When I came back, I saw him trying to stick his fingers in the can and I stopped him because I knew he would get hurt. So instead, I stuck my finger in the can and pop tomato sauce everywhere along with bloody fingers. Which reminds me, how much I have to learn and how  grateful I am that my kids are graciously learning with me. This is one thankful homeschooling mom who is so happy for the end of the year. Now id you'll excuse me, I am late for PE which just happens to be "Just Dance 2" today. Thanks for checking and happy summer!

A clay lineman for his service worker project

Science projects

We created our own time machine

A mosaic of a horse....you could tell that right?

 

 

Spring Break

      Hello everybody. We had a very lovely Spring break here in Alamo, last week. We ventured to the closest town, Caliente, which is 50 miles away. I was hoping to be amazed by the luxuries of the big city, but ended up realizing our grocery store/ rest stop is actually much nicer here. Still, I found out they have a public pool and a train museum. Always good things to have nearby when you have little boys.
     I turned a whopping 29 last week. I woke up and did what I imagine everyone does on their birthday. Put on an outfit that makes them feel good, do your makeup in a way that makes you feel like you really shine. Then I laughed when I inspected myself in the mirror and saw this 29 year old hipster, with her skull shirt and liquid eyeliner "with wings" staring back at me. I think I can still rock it, it's just funny how I thought I would grow out of that stuff, but it still is my comfort zone. Silly, I know. So I planned on going to Vegas that day to fill up on supplies and keep myself busy so I didn't miss my family too much. My friend Tarah and I headed to Vegas which is a scary drive. It's an hour and a half on a two lane road, which is mostly used by semi trucks and trailers. So if you want to make it there in an hour and a half you have to pass in the other lane (towards oncoming traffic.) I've never felt comfortable with that. I think I made everybody else feel uncomfortable too. Not fun. Anyhow, we made it to Vegas and had lunch at In N Out (surprised?) Then we went to Costco and Target. While I didn't find everything my hearts desired that day, we were loaded definitely down on the way back. After taking a wrong turn and driving an extra 20  miles out of the way, (the pleasures of being in a new town) I was in such a hurry to get back to Alamo. So much that, I got a phone call from Ian on the way home "was that you flying by me , just now? This ain't California babe, slow down!" Whoops! If you've ever driven a long car ride with a screaming baby, you feel my pain. We made it safely back, but after that adventure I was wiped out .

Our awesome set up! My lounge chair is the one with the towel on it, so you don't stick to it. It's classic

    I spent the next two days lounging in the sun in my new classy trailer park lounge chair. The other gals purchased wonderful things like slip n slides and baby pools. Which I am grateful for, because all I thought of was laying out in the sun for the next few days. We had such great weather the kids had an absolute blast on the slip and slide. At nap time you could find me, laying out, soaking up the sun. This relaxation fueled me up for our next big event. Easter.
      Let me say how lucky these kids of mine are. We had three Easter egg hunts. We found a local hunt at the elementary school which was tons of fun. This is where Waylon really figured out that plastic eggs=jelly beans. Although, after that, there was really no motivation for him to find the next egg until the one he was working on was empty. On Easter morning we had an egg hunt inside the trailer, just to warm them up. We then made Resurrection rolls and read the Easter story while filling the crescent rolls with buttery, cinnamon and sugar marshmallows. If you've never made them they are so yummy and very simple. (here's the recipe I used http://eatatallies.com/2011/04/resurrection-rolls/ ) Later that day, Cayla, Tarrah and myself collaborated for an Easter dinner for all the guys. It's so nice to be in a community.  I think of all these guys away from their families and I think of my brothers scattered all over the country and I  just hope that someone out there makes their day a little brighter with a plate of food. It seems like the least I can do here. Especially with such little fridge space.They have been great at eating my leftovers. I think its a win win situation. Anyways, Easter was a huge success. We had a ton of food and everyone had fun munching and chatting. Afterwards all the guys (I believe Cayla had to supervise) hid over 100 eggs in our trailer park. I'm not sure who had more fun, the guys hiding them and giving out clues, the dogs chasing the kids or the kids on their sugar high. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that fun was had by all.
    We are now back at school and trying to figure out a daily routine. The stomach flu is still hopping from trailer to trailer, we're convinced we've built up enough immunities to outlast the apocalypse. I sure hope so, I'll keep you posted.xoxo~ Kristina


Houston making our resuurectin rolls.

Easter brought to you by the lovely ladies of Alamo

Our first week in the middle of nowhere

     Good morning ! I've been making mental notes and coming up with some Alamo stories for y'all. At first I thought "What am I going to tell them? We're in the middle of nowhere!" Once again life proves it's not about the destination but the journey along the way."
      Our first day in Alamo was wonderful. I woke up early and had the whole morning to myself . Thanks to my new trailer, the boys slept snugly in their room and I was able to have some peace. It may have been peace and quiet between 4 and 7 AM but I'll take it either way. My friend Cayla showed us around.  We finally have an address! I opened a PO Box, it's very unsettling not having an address.  We also  looked at the "other trailer park" options because ours was having some power issues. Meaning our power kept turning off. Not a great start. First we went to this "secret park" which was someones yard, at the end of a spooky street.I say spooky because it is on the edge of town and no clear definition of where town stops and desert starts.  Then we investigated "the other park," which was basically a parking lot, without laundry facilities, we decided to stay put. Along the way, we managed to pop all of our tires, on the bicycles and the jogging strollers. Turned out that "other park" was full of little "goat heads." I wasn't familiar with these pokies before, but after pulling out a few hundred of them and patching all six tires, now I know what they are! After our serious threat to leave the RV park,  the owners fixed our electrical problems. I would say this in itself was enough excitement for a day, but  that evening,  Waylon started throwing up. I've never had a one-year-old throw up before,  it's awful. They don't seem to know when it's coming, (or they do and can't tell you)  so you really just aim them at things. The stomach bug spread to everybody except for me for which I am eternally grateful. This gave me the opportunity to really get familiar with the towns laundry mat. I've spent $40 on laundry this week. With half the town's laundry machines out of order, it was a miracle that I have clean linens. Poor Ian came home sick on Wednesday with those dreaded words "your son got me sick." These poor guys, whatever they had,  it sounded terrible. Horrible noises coming from both bathrooms. Somehow I survived! Shuffling crackers to one room  and gatorade to the other.   Everyday I love my trailer more and more . It is so much more livable,  there is so much more space and  I am so grateful that my husband bought  this for me. In fact I feel quite spoiled!

    My friend Cayla, took the opportunity to quarantine her family and left the city! Actually, they left because her husband finished his apprenticeship. She is now officially married to a journeyman which gives all of us a glimmer of hope. It's so wonderful to see someone finish this apprenticeship. It is proof that the hard work and sacrifices will pay off. We are so happy for them. So they left town for a bit to get his Journeyman's ticket. I was so relieved when they came back. For a moment I thought we had lost them! If it wasn't a blizzard in Salt Lake, who knows if they would've come back! So  by Saturday, I had a little break in the action and Cayla and I were able to run a 5K in honor of the victims of Sandy Hooke. It was so fun to have a running buddy. She is definitely more compatible and more fun ,as a running partner than either my brother (sorry Nate) or Ian. ( He already knows this.) We had a few days here in the 60s but most of the week has been in the 70s. Which didn't seem like a big deal until I started seeing reports of Salt Lake and Colorado . Sorry friends out there, stay warm!

      I also got to pick up my first basket of fresh fruits and veggies on Saturday morning from bountiful baskets. Cayla forewarned me that the grocery store had slim choices for fresh produce. I'm so grateful that she was able to figure this stuff out ahead of my arrival, I feel so lucky. There was a little drama with the produce truck not arriving on time and I had to make three separate trips to the elementary school which isn't a big deal because I'm right down the street. and I don't have a lot to do. We  got all sort of goodies like pineapple, bananas, tangerines, grapefruit, Chinese cabbage and a box of sugar cookies to  decorate for Easter! In Alamo you really do need to plan ahead. I found this out when the grocery store ran out of bread. So signing up for bountiful baskets to receive fresh fruit and veggies a week ahead of time seems like a necessity.

        On Sunday we got a new family into the park. The boys are so excited to have some kids around here. The timing is perfect because we're on spring break and we need some entertainment! Ian was lucky enough to get off early yesterday ( he's working seven days a week, 12 hour days) and was home around five. Then we got to witness this really neat tradition that the guys in our park on Sundays call family dinner. ( I'm pretty sure Cayla actually started it.) I was caught off guard and you know how I like to plan, but sure enough at 5 o'clock, food started coming out of the trailers and everyone asked if we were ready for dinner!  I was not as I was up to my elbows in Chinese cabbage. So I whipped together a Chinese chicken salad and went out to feast on smoked pork loin, pasta salad and watermelon. I am so impressed that they get together every Sunday. It was so fun seeing all the guys hang out and enjoy each others company. Afterwards the guys all started playing poker and Houston  moved in on them. Luck was on Houston side and the boy cleaned house with those guys. We finished the evening off by enjoying a new recipe from the Pioneer Woman. If you haven't made her Apple dumplings they are a must! They have a secret ingredient (its Mountain Dew) Sounds weird, I know, but it was incredible yummy and easy to make. So we ended up having a pretty good,  entertaining week in the middle of nowhere.  Now we're ready for our second week. Let's hope everyone is healthy!

I am woman, hear me roar. I had to patch my own tires, because Ian is working every day, used 3 tubes of slime, but I got the job done!

 

Apple Dumplings! Imagine this warm gooeyness with vanilla ice cream. I should've taken a picture when it was plated, but we were hungry and it smelled soooo good!

The Mad dash to Alamo

     Hey friends ! We're still waiting it out in Salt Lake. I'm happy to report that we have been having sunny weather in the mid 50s. It's funny how the 50s feel so cold in Southern California but in Salt lake it's short sleeve weather! We've been keeping ourselves entertained with the local skate park and luckily there are a lot of kids in our rv park.
     Wrex and I went to see nick Vujicic on Saturday. What an inspirational man. He started the ministry "Life without limbs" He was born without arms or legs but he uses his story to encourage others. I thought it would be a neat experience to bring Wrex and I was able to get two tickets just  for us. While Wex did enjoy it he was more concerned about "how our date was going."  To learn more about Nick look here http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/


End of this entry and starting over......

      Well the day after I wrote this Ian  received a call to work. They sent us to Alamo Nevada. We had been browsing at new fifth wheels and decided if we were going to be spending the summer in the desert we needed to upgrade. So as crazy as it was we moved all of our stuff into a new fifth wheel ( with a huge kids room in the back) and got on the road headed for Alamo.  It would be surprising if you have ever heard of Alamo Nevada. They're only 1070 residents here. The grocery store is half gas station, but it's the closest town to area 51. This would probably be a very difficult place to be in if it wasn't for another line wife Cayla. Cayla's blog inspired us to live on the road and it is such a treat that we get to be with her, on her families last leg of this journey.Cayla has some pictures and fun facts about Alamo on her blog but discalimer, her pictures make it look way cooler than it actually is. So don't all go buying plane tickets at once. http://livinthelifeofalinemanswife.blogspot.com/2013/02/alamo-nv.html
    It's been a little hard getting time to write because as soon as we got here Waylon got sick.  You would think with my family being isolated on the road that we would be imune to all those germs out there, but it seems like the stomach flu has hit us again.

      They have Ian working 12 hour days and there's rumor that they will soon be working 14 hours a day.  He couldn't be happier to be back at work. He comes home with a goofy grin on his face every day. I am still busy unpacking, homeschooling and taking care of sick kids. But I can tell you this,  I am so happy that we have our new trailer.  This would be an extremely difficult town to be in, if we didn't have more room in our trailer . Ian describes this part of the desert as "the Hills have eyes" kindve desert.  It's very desolate and already pretty warm. So I think we will be spending most of our summer inside. I'll tell you more as it unfolds and as soon as I get back on my feet. ~Love Kristina

Keeping Busy

      Two months is an eternity to be out if work! I'm use to coming up with things to keep the kids busy and  look forward to but my new job is to come up with family activities to keep us all busy. I'm sure it's going to be an adjustment when Ian does get "the call." Who will help with the  laundry and dishes . Ian has taken on the task of organizing.... everything. Something I will never be able to keep up on. It's true what they say, "many hands makes the work load light " and due to this we've had extra time on our hands. Our first adventure started with the best of intentions of my husband. I have been complaining about my jogging stroller tires being flat since October. I tried repairing it myself and lately I've decided just to upgrade and find something on Craigslist . After going to several bike shops though, finally someone offered some help on upgrading the tubes and Ian got to work on it. I was so happy to get my stroller back and wanted to show my appreciation. It has been in the low 40s and they kept saying it would snow but it wasn't coming. So I bundled Waylon up in 2 shirts and a snow suit. ( let me reiterate , the skies were clear and had been for days) We started out on our run and he had a warm bottle , a pacifier and a blanket, just for comfort . Everything was great for the first 25 minutes, but then the wind picked up. Waylon started crying and the blanket kept falling off. I was so close to home, I couldn't see calling Ian. I figured I could run home in the time that he loaded the boys into the car and found me. So needless to say, I started running (faster) , the temperature dropped a bit and my fingers were freezing so I can only imagine poor little Waylon's. We lost the bottle and the pacifier. I think it was the fastest mile I've run yet . We got back to the park and I couldn't unbuckle my screaming child because my frozen fingers wouldn't work. So I pounded on the trailer door. Ian pretty much laughed at me and told me I was insane. He said Waylon wasn't cold to the touch , he was probably just scared. I promptly shut myself in the bathroom and cried, until I realized that Waylon wanted me! What a gift that children trust their parents. A gift sometimes I feel I don't deserve . So we bundled him up in a blanket and gave him a warm bottle because I was convinced he was freezing. He went right to sleep. At that moment, Ian opened the front door and we saw quite a snow storm hit. In only a few minutes the jogging stroller was covered in several inches of snow. We have had the nicest weather but it can change very suddenly. As this story shows. It felt like a huge momma fail.
    On Monday we celebrated Houston's 7th birthday. Yes, all of our birthdays seem to be around the same part of the year, we're almost done with birthday season over here, just have to celebrate mine at the end of the month and then we'll be good til November. We wanted to make his birthday special but being on a budget we were kinda winging it. We decided to get him a new bicycle because the one he had was way too small and it's a great activity to do when you live on the road. It could hardly have been a surprise to him, because we took him to bike shops all weekend long having him try this one and that one. So Sunday night, I decorated the trailer with party decorations and he woke up to his favorite breakfast, buttered croissants on angry bird plates and his new bike! We finished our school work and then decided to go to an indoor rock climbing gym. Houston is a spider monkey. He was up and down the walls like a pro. Were looking at a future lineman in that boy.Wrex went up a few times just to prove he could, but he wasn't that into it. This gym was no joke, they gave Ian and I a tutorial on tying the knots and all of the proper procedures (I didn't climb but I learned all the stuff so I could be at the bottom with the ropes. (Sorry I don't know all the terms, I was just happy to be there and learn a figure eight knot.) Houston went up so many difficult wall climbs that I'm pretty sure he pushed Ian to do more than he would've done. You can see a friendly father son competition budding between the now seven year and his dad. After that we grabbed some In N Out (birthday boys choice) and we went home to play some new board games. We had a great, corny, old fashioned birthday dinner . We ate homemade fried chicken, again not my choice to make in a trailer, but it was the birthday boys request. We ate chocolate cake and played cards. All in all it was a really fun day .
        We were lucky enough this week to have a friend watch our kids for us so we could have a date night . We went to see "Silver Linings Playbook " which I enjoyed but the movie theater was something I had never experienced . First of all the movies were way cheaper than back home but once you're inside they have restaurants ( that's right several) and you could take a meal into your movie. How cool is that ? We had fun and got some great grub at Cafe Rio. Which is outside of the theaters.  I wasn't ready for that whole eating in the theater experience. Next time we'll have to get there a little earlier.  A big thanks to my friend Jen for making that happen. .
     We also found a neat little skate park near us. Perks of being home schooled is that it was pretty much empty and we are now declaring that our official spot for PE. I think it was just as good to get my husband out and moving as it was for the little boys
     So you see, we've been keeping busy. Ian gets really antsy if we don't keep our day filled. Poor guy is bored out if his mind. Hopefully I'll be posting that we're back to work soon, but until then, here are some pictures from our week.

Keeping my man busy at the skate park...yeah he's still got it

Clue, is one of my favorite board games! LOVE!

Sometimes I impress myself, with what we accomplish in this ity bity kitchen.

Just a warm up free climb

Dad is whipping these kids into shape, they are doing dishes nightly. ( I didn't say they were happy about it)

Look how big that snow bank is compared to him!