Let's go! Come on!

I sometimes think that's all I say to my kids. Here's the words I often repeat when we're getting ready to leave somwhere (such "Mom" words).

"Where are your shoes?" (to middle son)

"I TOLD you we were leaving in 10 minutes!"

"Did you brush your teeth like I said........" (followed by SILENCE)

"Put the cat down....you're getting hair all over your clothing"

"Where's _____________?"

"Has anyone seen my KEYS?"

"Let's go, we're gonna be late!"

"Get your jacket, you'll freeze out there"

and my favorite.....

"OK.......we're leaving NOW!" (of which I say at least twice)


How dumb can I get not to realize that after almost 12 years of parenthood I will never LEAVE NOW.

My day went something like this:

Up at 5:00, do dishes, check e-mail and write an e-mail asking a friend to take pics of my homeschooled kids, throw away several pieces of "junk" mail, pick up, sweep, feed cats, finish making child's lunch, start coffee, review school lessons, read Scripture, begin going through 15 years of pictures of which I'm overwhelmed.

7:00 Fog delay for my youngest, taught science to middle, and off to take youngest to school at 9:15 (late again even with a delay!), pick up oldest daughter from friend's house, stayed too long to chat, home for lunch, homeschooling again, off to get my hair highlighted. Hmmm.....the highlights are a little too light, so stylist fixes it with some color. Somewhere in there I took 5 phone calls, and made several call regarding sale of a property we own. Back home to fix pancakes and bacon for dinner, wrap a present, drag all my "stuff" to church to teach at kids club, home again to clean up from dinner, vacuum and be ready when hubby arrives home from trip!

Whew.......what a day! As you can see, that's why I say "Let's go!" all the time. I hope to be saying less of that this coming weekend....... Saturday.........family time just chillin out with pizza and a movie. Anyone seen a good movie lately?

Thoughts on Homeschooling My Son

Things have been hectic around here, so I've been unable to allow myself the time to blog. I"m taking a break from my traditional "lessons" to write about homeschooling (since it is a major part of my life right now). Homeschooling is very time consuming, and life in general is, too! I'm doing a new thing this year....homeschooling my son. He's done well, but yes, I admit, he has days where he just wants to be out playing ball. I've been reading a lot lately about gender differences, and how boys and girls learn differently. It seems in reading many of the articles, schools have "feminized" the classroom, and boys are falling behind in many areas. Some places are trying to change this, and are creating gender specific schools. What does everyone think about this? I say go for it! Why not? Let's see if it works, and helps these boys learn. Boys are more "active" learners, and need to move around more often. Boys also enjoy the "hands on" learning.
My son, for instance, loves math, but he gets extremely bored with worksheets all the time. Yesterday he was reluctantly going through his division flashcards. I could see he was bored stiff, so I told him he could throw each card across the room if he got it right, and if he picked them all up. This gave him great joy, and he got every card correct (and yes, he picked them all up). Sometimes you just have to be flexible, and stop fighting what nature has given us. I'm so glad I decided to bring him home, and I feel like he's really learning what he needs to.
Tomorrow, we're headed for a "Answers in Genesis" conference for kids. I'm excited about seeing how they present the material for the kids.

Lesson #4--Do something for yourself everyday!

So, it's the annual golf outing for hubby this weekend. He's with the guys for a few days, and I'm home being chauffeur, cook, manager, nurse, disciplinarian, teacher, etc. Since he's been out of town I've gotten one child off to school 3 mornings, including packing a lunch, signing homework, and and searching for socks. I've also taught two children at home, prepared meals, taught kids club at church (opening night), brought one to Cub Scouts, one to a soccer game, one to a Birthday party, another to a Sunday School social, and another to a friend's house overnight. Sometimes I wonder where the time is for ME?? Well, this is where I've realized that just one small thing a day keeps me sane.....I don't expect flowers, or diamonds, so I have begun to take the small things and appreciate them. Here's a few things I've enjoyed for myself this week:

A walk around the block
A computer game
Cups of coffee
Fig Newtons (my favorite cookie I rarely buy because I always buy everyone else's favorite!)
Listening to Air Supply on the 80's xm radio station
Renting a movie for myself (Jersey Girl..good movie)
Going out to eat between kids activities so I don't have to cook
Cut flowers from my rose bush
Lighting candles
Checking out a good book from the Library (author Karen Kingsbury)
Talking to an old friend

So, do something for yourself this week, even if it's just buying your favorite cookie at the store, instead of everyone else's!

Lesson #3--Keep Moving Forward!

This is the first week back to school for the kids. Well, back to the books at home, that is. I have one that goes to school, and two that stay home. Sending that one off to school was almost as difficult as starting school with the two at home. However, my new motto is "Keep Moving Forward!". It's a motto my oldest child has adopted from a movie we saw this past year "Meet the Robinson's". She liked the saying, and it stuck as a favorite motto in our household. Even when things get tough, and I think we'll never finish all the work for that day, I'm going to utilize this motto!

So far, these two days of homeschooling have been extremely smooth! I can't believe how enthusiastic my middle child is, even doing extra work without being asked. There has been no whining, arguing, or complaining. I'm "towing the line" as they say, and it's working well. I have a schedule we follow, and I'm finding it to be working with minimal tweaking. You might be saying "yeah right, it's only the first week!". You're absolutely right. When things get tough, and I'm tired of pushing, I'm going to say to myself "Keep Moving Forward!". As a told another homeschool friend of mine "1 day down, 179 to go......making progress!" One day at a time.

Lesson #2 Clean to Cope!

Hi again. Ok, so my wonderful sister-in-law (the blogger queen) has motivated me to continue this blog. Thanks for the comments.
I have recently discovered a new way of coping with stress......not just any stress..........my own personal "WAITING" stress. If I'm waiting for a child to get ready for bed so I can pray with him/her and say goodnight, just organize her entire dollhouse, and "poof" no stress for me! If I'm waiting at the Dr's office I clean out my purse (just be careful what you pull out, because once I pulled out my wallet and a tampon fell out in front of the whole waiting room). OR my most recent "waiting" is when you're waiting for your husband to come home so you can leave for vacation. Just clean all the kids bedrooms so they look like Home and Garden channel rooms. I did this last week. We were ready to go camping, and hubby wasn't home. In order to set aside my fury, I furiously cleaned all three kids rooms, down to putting the Barbie clothes on the naked Barbie's. Wow, I was so relaxed, and didn't even care that we were already 2 hours beyond our (my) departure time. My kids eventually walked upstairs and looked around as if in a museum. They couldn't believe the transformation. I found myself so relaxed. What's really funny, though, is the next time I cleaned like crazy one of my dear children asked "Are you upset, or just cleaning?"

Homeschooling Lesson #1...

Wow. I thought I'd never do it.......blog, that is. My sister-in-law introduced me, and now I'm excited about it. I created this blog entitled "Lessons and Life" for a reason. The Lessons are a part of everyday life, and they come in small or large. Lessons aren't always chosen, they just come. Homeschooling lessons are another reason for the title. Some of my blogs will address this topic, since many of my Fall, Winter and Spring days will be taken up with schooling children.
I'm a stay-at-home mom who loves my family, and is learning all the time (even at thirty something) how to live, love, and laugh even more than the year before!

Homeschooling lesson #1: Watch your bugs!

As a part of our "science" lessons this summer, I decided, with much trepidation, to bring in a praying mantis to "observe" and study, eventually to be let go. It was in a nice little aquarium, with a plant, covered by a piece of wax paper and a rubber band. The kids were feeding it crickets daily. He (or she) was a happy little mantis until one day.....we left for the store, returned, and there was the wax paper, lying on the floor, no aquarium on the counter. I turned the corner, and there it was......on the floor, the uncovered aquarium, no praying mantis. I looked around for my happy cats, but they were nowhere to be seen. For a full 24 hours all I could imagine was a female preying mantis laying her eggs somewhere in my house. Upon hatching, there could be a hundred baby mantis'. Finally, our cat decided to show us her catch, leaving the dead mantis on the kitchen floor. Whew! From now on, no live bugs in the house, or buy an aquarium with a lid! Needless to say, the only observing of bugs we'll be doing now is on the web or in a book.

For those of you who are wondering whether it's illegal to kill a praying mantis, it's not. I checked the web, and it's an outright myth.