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Monday, November 29, 2010

Church Christmas Program

We had a Chrismons/Advent celebration at our church last night.  I thought I would share a few pictures from the night.



Okay, you will have to ignore the creepy red eyes...

I took these during practice.  That is why V-Girl is up there with them.  Although, she apparently thought this was a rehearsal for her too as she tried to join them the entire program.  She would get furious when Rainman tried to stop her, so, as a result, she and Rainman ended up standing in the back for at least half of the show.


A-Man plays in the kids bell choir.  He loves it.  But you would never know it by his serious face in this shot.  He concentrates really hard.  He is adorable.  Interesting tidbit...he has an itty-bitty crush on the girl to his right.

The tree was really big.  Of course, I didn't get a picture of it, but this is Rainman with A-Man on his shoulders on a step to hang one of the ornaments and they weren't anywhere near the top.



Here is S-Girl trying to hang her ornament, but she had trouble letting go of Rainman long enough to get anything on the tree.  This is the only shot I got where she wasn't openly panicking.

Here are the big girls putting their ornaments up....


Isn't her hair pretty?  She did it herself.


L-Girl did her hair too.  Although I put in the sponge curlers for her the night before.  Remember sponge curlers?

It was a great program.  I was very proud of my kids and to top it off there were lots and lots of home baked cookies to be eaten afterwards!!!


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Homeschooling....Our Way....

Most of my friends and family do not homeschool....nor do they ever want to.  I think many of them wonder what we do all day.  So, I thought I would give you a little glimpse into a "regular" day at our house during school time.

My kids all get up at different times, so we use that to also determine our individual school start times.  That way, everyone gets the right amount of sleep and I have time to work individually with everyone when necessary.  L-Girl is the first to rise and almost always, the first done with school.  D-Man is next, but since his courses are more difficult and take more time, he finishes school last.  A-Man and A-Girl are both pretty slow to make it downstairs in the morning.  A-Girl does not like to be spoken to for a while after she gets up - so she usually makes her breakfast and just sits quietly at the kitchen table for about a half hour or so before she is ready for any human interaction.  I gotta say, this sounds like me and my older sister growing up.  My dad was super cheerful and annoying back then....now I think he is enjoying his retirement and sleeping in!  Anyway, my two A-children are the latest starters, but since A-Man is in Kindergarten his "real school" doesn't take too long, so he is usually done second.  I spend my time kind of floating between the bigger kids and assisting, when necessary.  When Rainman is off or working evenings, we usually just split the kids down the middle - he takes 2 and I take 2.  Our goal is to get them to be pretty independent in their school work to teach them good skills for college where they won't have someone looking over their shoulder all the time to make sure they meet their deadlines and complete their work.   Rainman writes out lesson plans for all the kids, so they know everyday what they need to accomplish....they are welcome to do more than assigned - but not less.


That is my dining room table under the piles of books. 

This is my art work.

In case you were wondering, no, we don't actually eat in here anymore....

It is where A-Girl and L-Girl normally do their school work.  Their brothers keep their school books in here, but rarely do their work here.

A-Man does his school at the kitchen table....



He is learning to read and his school sometimes helps him along by showing pictures.  In the picture below, he was learning that adding "ing" to words to create an action....so, he went along reading the words that go with the pictures and did really well sounding them out, but, when he got to the middle one in the bottom row...



He "read"  kangarooing.  Cracks me up.  That is one of the fun parts of homeschooling - getting to see the light bulb go on when they "get" something - whether it is reading or algebra....there is not mistaking when they finally get it....oh, and getting to laugh when they try to take a short cut in reading and just look at the picture....thus, kangarooing!


Our oldest is using a new literature based curriculum this year which means lots and lots of reading.  Including history books, historical fiction, biographies, poetry, etc.  I would have loved to have been taught this way.  Would have saved my mom from all the not so real sick days I had growing up!  Yes, mom, I am finally admitting to faking it a time or two....or three or four....heh....heh!  Anyway, this is him on a typical morning....



This is our swing on our screened porch.  The mornings in Georgia are a little chilly, so he takes his blankie....I mean, blanket with him.  (Recognize this Karen?)  Notice the little pudgy hand on the far left....



His little sidekick, V-Girl, usually joins him.  Sometimes, I try to keep her inside with me so he can concentrate better - but neither one of them goes for it.  If she is sleepy, she will let him just cuddle her while he reads.  Again, wish I could have done school with a cute little baby in my lap.  His Science curriculum is done on the computer and we all participate in his experiments....even S-Girl and A-man.  I am curious to see how much of this big kid stuff they will retain for when they are older.

Where is S-Girl in all this?  Well, when all the other kids were little and we were doing school with older siblings, I would encourage them to go watch Sesame Street, Barney or some other kid friendly show while I taught.  You know, just to keep them out of my hair?!?  S-Girl will not do it.  She is under foot the whole school day.  She usually just plays house or some other quiet game while we learn....but she is always listening.  Sometimes she will ask to "do school" too....



This is her working on "her" letter.....S!

I do read-alouds sometimes for all the kids (i.e., Little House on the Prairie or  Anne of Green Gables) and lately have been doing a lot of aloud reading for D-Man (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer). The thing I have found the most interesting is she and A-Man are around when I am reading aloud to D-Man, they are usually doing something else, playing, doing school work, etc., but when it comes to discussion time where I ask D-Man about certain things or people in the book....they both pipe in with the correct answers.  What is that saying....Little Jugs have Big Ears....or something like that!


We have the kids take standardized tests every year so I can reassure myself that we aren't screwing up the kids academically and also test and grade their papers throughout the year.  Some homeschoolers think that grades limit kids, but I need them for my piece of mind.

I love homeschooling, even though there are times that I would like a break from my kids, I really wouldn't change it for the world. 

Just this morning, I got time to snuggle with all of them for a few minutes when they first got up....yes, ALL of them....although if any of D-Man's friends read this....I didn't mean him (wink - wink)  There were no rushed breakfasts and scramble for shoes....or hollering to hurry up so nobody missed the bus.  Just us learning and figuring out stuff together.....like I said, I wouldn't miss it for the world!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Life Without Television? Is it possible?

What would life be like without television?  For me?  For my family?  I have been thinking about it lately.  As part of the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover plan and Adam Hamilton's Enough series, they both have me analyzing what are "wants" and what are "needs" in my life.  T.v. has always come to mind when we are tightening our budget, but quickly glossed over because we need it...don't we?  I mean, could I get by without Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Food Challenge....well, for that matter, the Food Network, as a whole...Big Bang Theory, The Middle, Glenn Beck, House Hunters, The Mentalist, Grey's Anatomy, Project Runway, 19 Kids and Counting...to name just a few of the shows that regularly take up space on my DVR.

Then there is T.V as a way for me to get a break from my kids and give them a break from me too.  Spongebob, Elmo, Dora, iCarly, Sprout....could we do it?

Then there is Rainman and sports. 

Could we do it?  Should we do it?

Would my life really be so horrible if I couldn't watch pseudo-celebrities dance every week?  Or if I didn't watch an innuendo laden sit-com?  Or watch good food being prepared that I will never be able to make on my own?  What if my kids didn't know who Handy Manny was....or Zach and Cody?

My fear is that we will just become a family more obsessed with computer time.  We have one working computer in our house.  And, really, there is almost a constant fight for who gets to go on next and how long they will get to be on-line.  We had an old refurbished laptop with a flash drive enabled internet connection - but now we can't get on-line - not sure which thing is the problem....but it was slow and you couldn't check e-mail or facebook or anything that needed a password to gain access....

I have mentioned my  musings to the kids.  I am sure you will be shocked to know that they are totally against the idea!!!  I sort of see their point.  I loved T.V. even when I was a kid.  I loved Saturday nights with Love Boat and Fantasy Island....I have fond memories of sneaking and watching forbidden shows like Dallas and Falcon Crest too.  But, the shows have changed a bit since those days....language allowed has changed....innuendo can be found in almost every show....kissing and more from all sides of the equation....Do we really need all of that "stuff" getting into their heads?  Don't even get me started on the physical aspects of how women "should" look based on the ones that are on T.V.

But, then I think, we homeschool them.  We don't have video games....at all....no PlayStation, no DS, no Wii, no Nintendo....nothing.  They don't have cell phones.  They don't have their own rooms.  They usually don't even have new clothes.  They don't have much that a lot of kids today have - so what kind of mom would it make me if I took T.V. away too? 

I dream of us all sitting around the fireplace reading....or doing a craft project....or a jigsaw puzzle.  Actually, we love to do puzzles together...but usually the T.V. is on in the background....sometimes it is actually on a music station though.  Did you know with Direct TV you get like 100 music channels?  Could I live without having a latin music station....or a hair band station....or a garage band/grunge station?  Well, yeah, I could live without those specific ones....but I do like my contemporary Christian station and the Sinatra station and when I want to feel old, the 80's station.

What do you think?  Have you ever considered this drastic move? 

Anyway, I would love to hear from you....pros and cons....have you ever gone without T.V.....or cable....things that went well without T.V.....nightmares without T.V.....you get the idea!!!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Ball Season is FINALLY Ovah!!!

At last, the ball season for those that live under my roof, has officially ended.  We made the mistake this year of having 4 people playing ball this fall - all on different teams....different nights....different ball fields.

  This mistake will NOT happen again. 

Rainman finished his season first....


Then D-Man finished about a  week ago...


And finally.... My two oldest girls finished their seasons this week....




A-Girl in action.


L-Girl in action.

What did the little people do during all those practices and games you may wonder....



V-Girl, when I let her out of the stroller, (which was as little as possible) - walked around and picked up various items from the ground to suck on....I think this is a pencil...or maybe a straw....usually it was a rock or a boiled peanut shell....happily these are no smoking parks or it would have been butts I was digging out of her mouth!  By the way, I took whatever this was away from her right after the picture was taken!

A-Man ran around....a lot....there was always a game of tag, football or catch going on that he wouldn't be too shy to insert himself into - even if it was big kids playing.  For one of the games that his cousins were able to attend, he borrowed a few things from them and this was the result....


Can you believe the size of his mouth?

My precious, sweet, S-Girl does this....
Every time.  I mean it....every time.  We come home after she
plays in the Georgia clay until she is about as orange was one of the Gene Wilder Oompa Loompa's!

When D-man's season was finished, he had to attend the softball practices and games...



That is him under the pile of children.  It is really too bad that he isn't any good with kids!  LOL 


We only had one injury this season.


She was only out for about a week though.

Anyway, the trophies have been handed out, the pizza parties have been had and I am ready for a nice long break from driving to ball field after ball field with all the kids in tow.  Rainman says the winter season is mine....all mine...and I get to do whatever I want.

I just don't know what to do without my sisters for entertainment!!!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Not so Spooky Halloween.....


I wish I could say this is the artwork we did for our driveway....but it isn't.  Just one of the stops on our trick or treating rounds.


Here we are ready to head out.

We had an owl...


She actually wore this same costume last year...


I was her "tree".

We also had a loaf of Wonder Bread...


A business man...



A cheerleader...



A Raggedy Ann doll...



And Darth Vader and Princess Leia...



That is me and D-man....I can only convince Rainman to dress up as something every 3 or 4 years!

We made this....




We got the idea from my sister...The Idea Girl....

And, of course, we topped off the evening with this....


The great candy exchange!  And, yes, that is Rainman "sporcling" in the background.  If you don't know what that is - check out my last post.

And where is our little owl?


I thought they were nocturnal?!?