Enough Is Enough!

I'm going to go off topic today because I've reached a frustration level that is at its boiling point. I'm going to get very personal with you and share something about myself that feels slightly uncomfortable for me. Prior to the birth of my baby boy I exercised 6-7 days a week. I enjoyed doing cardio and weights. I recently went clothes shopping and came home in tears. I can't believe I've gotten to this point! I feel so torn most days because, while I know I'm putting my all into educating my children it leaves little time for me. I'm walking several times a week but, it's nothing like the intense workouts I did before. Does anyone else struggle with this? I want to be ok with this post baby bod but, I admit, I'm not.
This isn't just about my ego. I FEEL different. My joints ache from being less active and carrying around more weight. I'm frequently tired. My back aches. All resulting from less activity. Our bodies are meant to be challenged. As we age, activity and strength training, particularly for women, is so integral to our well being. It doesn't just feel good, it helps keeps us young. Intellectually, I know all of this. It's what drives me to get up at 5am and walk despite rolling into bed at midnight. However, with a thyroid disorder, I think I require more exercise. Unfortunately, I get overwhelmed at the thought of going to the gym. By the evening I'm too tired. If I go in the morning, it would take away from my children's school time since childcare opens at 9am. I can't go then, right at the beginning of our school time! I look forward to this gym membership ending in January because I'm going to join a different gym, as a family, and go with my sons. Does anyone else have a similar dilemma? How do you cope? How do you make time for yourself?

Parenting with love & logic!

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRCqWcer-Nc&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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The Day That I Wish I Could Skip!

Have you ever had a day that you wish you could skip? Today was one of the days in our house. As a mom, I knew we were in for trouble when my 2nd born announced that he woke up super early(5am!!!!) and finished most of his school work. I knew this meant trouble because my firstborn is extremely competitive! He makes EVERYTHING a competition. Who knew that peeing longer could bring such joy? To my firstborn, life is a competition that must be won! This is part of what makes him so successful academically. I am quoting Ferris Bueller when I say that, "he is wound up so tight that if you put coal in his a@@, in two weeks you'd have a diamond." Maybe that makes me a mean mommy. However, I speak the truth.

The fact is, in homeschooling, we are going to have days like this. It is joyous and intimate and raw and gritty, all rolled up together. I'd say that most days, I go to bed feeling thankful and blessed to have the opportunity to educate my children(and more often than not, they educate me). However, you have to take the salt with the sugar. A good friend of mine recently, who is a seasoned homeschooler, told me some excellent advice. She said that it's ok, if you are having a really bad to stop and put it off til the next day. The world will not end if you finish before you got to everything that you planned every now and then. I should have listened to her today. I kept pushing and trying to "finish" instead of listening to my children. I was unable to accomplish much anyway. Thankfully, I reached a point that I realized that what I needed to focus on wasn't math or science. It was my children's hearts. 

That's the beauty of homeschooling. Being with your loved ones all the time forces you to deal with the nitty-gritty here and now. There is no putting it off until after school, when the intensity has dissipated. After calling my parents to vent they both, individually, said to me "well, maybe you should send them back to school then". I know that they were trying to help. They heard the frustration in my voice, and, like any good parent, wanted to remedy it. My gut told me that instead of pushing away, I needed to pull them closer. I needed to have a conversation about our bodies natural rhythms and how, while Andy is our resident morning bird(I used to put tin foil on the windows in his room as a baby because, if I didn't, he would be up before dawn), Nikolas is our night owl. I explained that it's a gift for both of them to be able to listen to their natural biorhythms. I wanted them to be able to work when their mind is at it's freshest. There is no RIGHT way. After, talking about how lucky we are to exercise those freedoms, Nikolas felt grateful to be able to stay up reading Harry Potter. Andy feels accomplished because he is finished "early". Being the 2nd born, after a highly competitive brother, that's a reprieve from the norm, for him. So maybe we didn't accomplish what we wanted today, but, in contrast, we accomplished what we were meant to. I'm ok with that.

Workbox system

http://www.squidoo.com/workboxes


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If you are interested in our system of doing things, check out this link on work boxes. Most people adapt it to what works for their family. For instance, we only use the actual work boxes. We don't use the tags. I simply use a velcro tag that says "working" on the box the kids are working on. They each just move down chronologically from 1-7. I like that I can visually see where they are each at. I laminated a piece of paper that says "working" and bought Velcro fasteners from Office Depot. They also carry them at staples. I also have egg timers for each of the kids and they set them for each box. On the side of each box there is a laminated card that I fastened on using Velcro saying how many minutes to set the timer for.This system enabled us to be done about two hours earlier than normal. It's so efficient!!! The kids loved it because they had a surprise snack box....

Our 1st "Official" Day of School!!!

No blog today... Just pics of our Home School... You can see where we work together and individually.
Happy homeschooling!!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy....

So, we celebrated our freedom to educate our children, as we see fit, by having a "Happy Unschool Day". We enjoyed so many good times playing and just being together. It was so nice not to have to prepare lunches and hustle out the door this morning to get the kids to school on time. My kids would be in the middle of playing and pause to tell me "Mama, I would be in this class right now if I were in school." Then, he/she would grin from ear-to-ear and say "but, instead I'm in my pj's eating popcorn watching a movie!!!"
I've been under the weather with some odd illness that caused the right side of my face to swell. I have kept my mind off of it by organizing our "school books"(I use that term loosely) by subject. I also set up my version of a system called "the work box system". However, in my version, there is no time constraints or set schedule. Only a routine. The kids start at the 1st one and work their way down. They might open up a box that has a snack and a drink in it. They might open up a box that says "watch Libertys Kids" with a small bag of popcorn. They might even open up a box that has them play an educational game with me or a sibling! They also have a box that may have "go for a brief nature walk with your nature journal". The sky's the limit. The kids are so excited about having a little surprise each day and I enjoy having some form of routine for our mornings. The boxes should be done by noon and then we are free to explore subjects as individuals or as a family. You may be wondering what happened to our "Unschool Experiment". Well, after several talks with the kids they ASKED for some routine and assignments. Yes, you read that right. They want to have periods of unschooling and periods of structure. I think it's the best of both worlds. I am not quite ready to start our regular schedule yet. Tomorrow we have coop so I'm going to start on Wednesday of this week. I'm so very excited to see where this year takes us as we navigate the world of homeschooling together! We all feel so lucky to get this opportunity. Life is good!

Our new library area(one of many!) that holds my HS books by subject, as well.

My version of "The Workbox System"

Boo :(

So, I'm sick. I ended up with a sinus infection and an ear infection. Lexi made me this when I was at the dr.... Love that kid!!!

I will be back soon...

I will be back to my blogging either tonight or tomorrow. Right now, I'm up to my neck in school supplies and I'm trying to organize my space so it's user friendly. After speaking with the kids about what they wanted to do this coming week, they said "Mama, we miss school. We liked how we had school together in the mornings then our afternoons free to do what we want". So, I am now putting together a schedule for the mornings using the "work box system". I will take some pictures and let you see how we do things at our house. So, wish me luck as I try to make my free spirit brain go into type A mode(a huge hurdle!!!).