homeschool- new year

Well, we have been rolling along ( more like bumping along.) Its been hard figuring out homeschooling with two students this year- alot more challenging than I thought it would be.  We have changed our schedule two times already this year so far and we're not even to Christmas break yet!  I have been trying to work out the kinks and get it all figured out and its been a kind of "try this and see if it works approach."
I so very much enjoy homeschooling my kids and figuring out their learning styles. Sometimes we have really great days, where everything runs smoothly and we are all in good moods.  Those are the days where I am so glad we tried this approach or that approach and see that its really working well for us.  Then there are those days where it seems like nothing is going right and we are all getting frustrated with each other and just plain ready to quit- those days are hard. Really hard.  Those days I think, "My life would be so much easier if they just went to 'real school'" ( thats what we call brick and mortar school) I think of all the things I could get done throughout the day, how much more organized I would be, how much cleaner my house would be and fantasize about all the free time I would have.  But then one of them will have something on those days that just clicks and they really understand what they are learning, or Jude will have a rough time focusing and I can sit down with him and help him get through a math worksheet and thats when I think " THIS is why I love having my kids at home learning and schooling with me."  I cannot think of anything better than having these sweet babies here with me and helping them learn in their own individual learning styles and giving them the one on one attention that they wouldn't get anywhere else.  And to be honest( I may have blogged about this before? who knows?) I have a really hard time trusting ANYONE with my kids.  I know that no one can love my kids like I do and will put up with my kids like I do.  No one knows their personalities like I do and what really motivates them or really shuts them down like I do.
This has been a more challenging year than I had anticipated so far, but like most things in life that are hard, its SO worth it!

( crazy kiddos:))

We're Baaaack!!

I feel like I have maybe titled a post this already, but, you know how inconsistency is....inconsistent, so I have probably had a few We're baaack posts ;) We had a long, sweet summer and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Im going to share our summer in pictures :) Enjoy!

we did quite a bit of swimming this year- the kids did swim lessons this year, but when I got my iphone, i forgot to download all of my pictures off my evo onto the computer, so they are all gone :( but you can check them out here, and we can also be frieeeends ;)

Elsie was OBSESSED with Underdog pretty much all summer long, and wore a cape all summer  long....she is going to be Underdog when she grows up ;)

building tracks and plating in the back room have been some of our favorite things around here this summer....

Some of the kids collections in the back room window :)

LOTS, LOTS, LOTS of trips to the library!

still kicking it at karate!

 We decided to get rid of our internet for the summer and tried to unplug in alot of areas- we had a specified day for movie watching and we haven't had t.v. in about 5 years.  We have truly enjoyed spending time together this summer, and we hope you did too!

Here's to you Summer!

Here is our life...in a few words, bc Im tired and my blog is neglected, and ....Im tired!  Summer is busy for us with our students at FBI with camp, pivot, fundraisers, end of school events, graduations.  Jude is thankfully done with school with k12, so we are going to be a little more lax for the summer.  I bought him a journal to keep over the summer, a sketchpad, and he has alot of worksheets for extra practice and they do the summer reading program for the library.  We are also still doing karate Monday nights and looking for a piano teacher.  The kids also have swim lessons this summer- Elsie is excited bc she is old enough to do them this year!  We also have Jude turning 6 at the end of this month and Thatcher turning the big 1 at the end of July, so got some birthday plans in the making :) Im so sad my kids are growing up :( Its amazing to see though and we are SO proud of them!  I love having things to keep us occupied, but   I am thankful for pools, and walks in the evening and good books in the summer time too ( the mundane things, what you always think of when you think of summer) Hope you all have a great weekend!

Food Friday

Hello!! Its Food Friday.....buuuut...for some reason, I cannot load pictures and it would be a really boring post if I just listed what we ate :( I am going to try my phone and see if I cant get it to work for me, but, if not, Im sure you're not too disappointed bc I was sick this week and didn't cook a whole lot anyways

Life

well life around here had been mostly out of doors for my children. As soon as they get done with breakfast they are ready to go outside. :-) I really don't mind, my house stays cleaner! Elsie had been really into coloring sticks with chalk and we now have a whole collection of them. The kids also, a couple of weekends ago wanted to make tie dye shirts so daddy bought the kit and we made some pretty sweet shirts! ;) Jude is completely done with kindergarten and is loving the more relaxed days. I am going to keep doing things over the summer, but I'll share that in another post . I just want to try and keep a pretty good routine down, and don't want him to forget what he has learned this year. Sorry if this post is all over the place, I am trying to blog from my phone, and I'm feeling horrible today (sinus infection, I think) I'm gonna end for today, pray for me if you think about it, see you for foooood Friday!!

what a character

Do you ever read something, or watch something and think- "what a character!"  I do this alot and one of my favorite books and movies is "To Kill a Mockingbird" I absolutely love the characters and think of it often when I am doing certain things. Atticus Finch is an iconic father figure and I think of his character alot when disciplining my kids and telling them stories.  I also really wanted to name my kids Atticus and Scout, but Thad wasn't to keen on those names ;)  My all-time favorite character from the book is Scout though, and I can see a lot of her in my Elsie

Scout HATES wearing dresses and Jem (her brother) teases her on her first day of school bc she has to wear one.  Elsie doesn't mind wearing dresses, but she wants to change into pants or shorts as soon as she can- Scout likes playing with the boys, Elsie very much likes playing with the boys and playing boy things, she really has never been interested in dolls or Barbies.  She likes Hotwheels and Legos :) She loves to hunt bugs with Jude and would play outside all day if I let her.  Elsie, on the other hand, isn't as stubborn as Scout, and her favorite color is pink :) But I think of Scouts character a lot when I think of how Els is and I have to say, I don't mind the comparison!

What character  ( in literature or in the movies) do you love?

Food Friday

Alright folks, I know that you may be sick of me talking about food, but here comes some more!  I am going to start doing weekly posts with specific themes to keep myself motivated to blog! The first one being......drum roll.....FOOD FRIDAYS!!   I will probably only be posting recipies here and there, mainly I am just going to kind of show you what we have been eating ( mainly the kids)  for that past week.  So, I am going to just jump right in :)

Shrimp Alfredo- Jude usually only eats the shrimp, Elsie, the noodles

Organic, green beans, and broccoli cooked in coconut oil, organic strawberries, and cornbread with unsalted REAL butter- this was our lunch for me , Jude and Elsie

This was Thatcher's :)

Dinner- Panini

Lunch- Organic Peanut butter-crunchy, Organic Broccoli, raisins

Baked chicken with Italian dressing, and parmesan cous-cous 

Veggie stir-fry cooked with coconut oil and unsalted real butter

I didnt give Thatcher the veggies, just bc of how they were cooked, so he got this- kiwi, organic zucchini squash steamed, and baked chicken cooked in red wine vinegar- turned our chicken pink- Elsie loved it! ;)

Here are a few things we have been snacking on

Thatcher's all time favorite snack- Blackberries!

Craisins and organic creamy p.butter

Thatcher and Elsie love this stuff- Jude, not so much, we also ALWAYS have the dried salted edmame and the wasabi peas

We have been trying really hard to eat clean throughout the week, but here are a couple weekend snacks that snuck in :)

so yummy!

Thad and I had this snack after pizza night with our movie :)

Well, there you have it, the first food friday- hopefully this will maybe just give you some ideas to incorporate into your own meals :) Have a great weekend!