Evening Reflections

As I sit reflecting on today and all the stuff we manage to pack into our days, I have been thinking I can't take home schooling anymore. There is such a fine line in pushing your child to do their work and knowing when to back off. There are bad attitude days, there are really good days, there are extremely long catching up days and then throw sickness or hormones-theirs and mine- and it makes for some pretty challenging situations.

Part of the reason is a lack of encouragement to continue. Even though we have met home school families in the area, they are just like us. They have their activity filled lifestyles too. I haven't tried too hard to get involved in too many activities because we have so much school that needs to be done and the kids really enjoy their free time and don't want to give it up either. I think I was just feeling like life is easier when I am not the teacher. It reminded me of a lesson I just learned recently.

I learned that, "the grass isn't always greener" if someone else was teaching my kids. One of the areas my boys don't do as well is writing, in particular the one whose name ends in "s". There was a class being offered on Mondays from 1pm-3pm. I thought that it would be a great time for grocery shopping or Meleah and Mom time. The boys would have the opportunity to write for a different audience and experience a small group class setting with deadlines and all. It sounded great, they would be focusing on children's classic literature and mixing in some creative pieces as well.

The boys came out of the class the first time telling me that there was a boy in the class that did a lot of cursing. He was a "home schooler" because he was expelled. He told the boys that he spent most of his time at his grandma's playing video games and getting mad when his grandma made him do stuff.  This was a good opportunity, in my opinion, for the boys to experience this type of personality in small doses and for them to step up and be an example.  Okay, we could deal with that. I was thinking this is good. The boys can see that a life filled with video games doesn't look so appealing now. Then, ...

Week 1-The first assignment was due Wednesday. It was a paragraph based on a fable from Peru. Its main point was not to make assumptions or judge people. Okay. This paper took approximately three hours for Travis with great help. The second assignment was to come up with a creative piece to bring to the next class. This one also took hours for Travis. During this process he tells me the teacher doesn't care about spelling because she couldn't live with out spell check. A bit shocking for me who is still working on improving both boys spelling but not as bad as how much time and energy I was spending trying to help him to complete his assignments. I e-mailed the teacher asking whether Travis was too young for the class because of the difficulty it took him to write his assignments but "no" they said. He had great ideas and participated in class. His paper received a B after rewriting it.

Week 2- This assignment was to write a paper based on a fable about a man that blamed Adam for all his troubles. This was an opinion piece about whether you thought all men were naturally sinful.  Travis put off doing the assignment but managed to get it done. This paper received a C after he fixed it according to the teacher's suggestions. The second assignment was to write about a time when you faced temptation. Travis barely got this assignment done after 2 hours of brainstorming, tears, and begging for me to write it for him. The first paper received a D.

Week 3-This week was to write two paragraphs based on your opinion on a writing about a futuristic event and which character you most identified with. The second was to write a current event, speech, poem, or cartoon about the future and exaggerate it. Their example was a political cartoon about OPEC.  Something that was totally unfamiliar to Travis. The idea of exaggerating a current event was just too much for me even though I could see their reasoning but it is just too much like our media today.

That night Bob and I were discussing the last few weeks and it wasn't worth completing the class.  First of all, after the first class I asked the teacher for a syllabus to know when they were going to cover classics instead of these fables that linked Adam and Eve into the fable category. I felt they were getting a teacher who was coming from a totally different worldview. They were teaching from ideas we agree with but they felt a bit off or a bit twisted. I was doing ALL the work with him anyway. He was writing based on things that were unfamiliar to him and was such a chore. They did little or no writing in class, I was hoping for maybe even just the pre-writing help to get them started.  It made both of us crazy. The idea that this class was going to be "better" because I didn't have to teach...not true. I had the same amount of work if not more and the teachers deadlines to meet so the rest of our schoolwork suffered. I didn't want this class to frustrate his writing even more so we dropped the class.

Skip forward to last week and I found out that the teacher, who was a resource consultant for the school we are a part of, was terminated. I don't know why but I felt like I had done the right thing about the situation. 

On a side note, Cody did extremely well in the class and did the assignments on his own. Most of the class were 8th graders and Travis was really an "academically young" 6th grader when it comes to English. Previously, this teacher had taught the class to 9th graders so I think it just wasn't a good fit for Travis at this time but I wasn't about to give away 2 hours just for them to give Cody A's and not challenge his writing skills. Especially when the teacher was trying to compare both their assignments which was totally unrealistic to think that they could both produce and perform at the same level.

Even though the idea is tempting to think that my kids would be better off in the public school setting, no one loves my kids as much as I do and wants to see them succeed and overcome the areas that they struggle. Our curriculum was fine and covered all the same types of papers with a variety of pre-writing  ideas. I do feel that one thing that we did gain from the class was Essay/Paragraph Rubrics. They help the paper to be graded more objectively and they help me to figure out how to grade a paper.  I wish I had know about them a long time ago.  We have taken the time and are doing some really fun projects now that Travis LOVES. That is the whole point is to overcome his dislike or difficultly writing. I believe Cody became the writer he is because he is an avid reader and has better comprehension and an incredible vocabulary. 

Okay, I can do this. We will make it through this challenge. I am not even going to think about the next one. I will just have to remember the hurdles will be worth the finish line.

Birthday Pictures

For my birthday this year I got to spend the day with Bob and the kids were able to take a break from me. That was probably a gift for all of us. I suggested that we go to Powderhorn Ski Resort and ride the lift and look at the fall colors. Well, after almost 15 years together we are thinking alike, he tells me that was what he was planning to do. It was about an hour ride and you can see some pretty amazing views and it is a long way down to the starting point. The trees were just starting to change colors.

Did I say it was a long way down? It was. My sunglasses fell out of my purse as I was grabbing my camera to take some pictures. They are somewhere on that mountain.  At least it wasn't the new camera.

Pretty.

On the top of Grand Mesa the trees were much prettier. We drove around some of the back roads and hiked around Carson Lake.

God does a great job and I am very thankful to be able to see all the wonderful places in His creation. By the end of the day the kids were still not ready for us to pick them up. It is nice to have a break once and a while. It was a lovely day.

Lake of the Woods

 In preparing for the big hike this fall we did a bunch of little hikes around Grand Junction. I have to say that we are just blessed to be surrounded by all these places. This one is on Grand Mesa. It reminded me of Minnesota, "Land of 10,000 Lakes", hiking in the woods and next to the lakes but most of all it had to have been the annoying mosquitoes.

Travis is trying to look half thrilled to be there. It could be that it was Cody that was taking all the pictures.

 Even Lady joined in on the action.

There were a bunch of little waterfalls that just looked so refreshing.

 This was before Bob injured his back. It was a good hike that started off with EVERYONE getting there feet soaked. We started walking across this field and it kept getting more and more wet. We were halfway across and it got deeper but we were already wet so we kept running.  It was disgusting muck but we made it across. Unfortunately, in our running, one of us dropped the Two-way Radio. We thought we would be searching forever but it was close and was recovered. Little did we know that on our return trek there is a path that goes around this small "lake".

Cody did get some good pictures with his camera. We did have to get one of him.

 We had a great time out there getting eaten by the mosquitoes, soaking in muck up to our shins, and loosing the radio. By then, not much could happen to top that so we made the best of the trip.

 Meleah and Bob had to go explore another trail that required hopping these big boulders.

 It could be Minnesota.

 This is Bull Creek Reservoir. We never did make it to the actual lake. We stopped and enjoyed some of the scenery. Bob had the boys make "fire". He was doing a little survival training. If you are lost in the woods, never forget matches. Those little backpack fire starters take a long time to get any kind of fire going. It could have been inexperience too.

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The Colorado Columbines sure were pretty and blooming. We stopped to get a picture between swipes at the mosquitoes. We used bug spray but I think they like the stuff or they have become resistant to it.


Good memories.

Does It Pay?

It looks like this is where I will be spending a bunch of my school year. This fall it will be Mon.-Thurs. afternoons and in the spring it will be Tues.-Fri. Meleah has been asking about Horseback riding lessons. Where do I put that?

Does It Pay? (Prayer, Homeschooling, Motherhood, ________)
I was reading a book about prayer and it said something that got me thinking about how great it is to have the relationship with God than to just seek Him to meet our need list. The author said we need to be more concerned with the presence than the presents from God.  The relationship got me thinking about my relationships with my kids. I think that relates to me as a Homeschooling Mom as well. It isn't about the GREAT moments or academic achievements as much as the actually being there and seeing your children overcome areas they struggle and be victorious or turning it into a strength. Being there to see the neat relationship that is growing and changing through the good and bad moments of each year.
 
As we start this school year I am overwhelmed with some proud mommy moments and felt the need to record them in a public way, as much for myself when I start feeling like I need to see some progress  as well as to share these cool experiences with my loved ones.

This year has started and in the crazy last minute planning and scheduling we have arranged and rearranged and I am looking forward to a crazy year even after removing as much of extra chaos as possible.
Cody will be taking an Algebra I class this year. It will be his 8th grade year but it will be able to count for high school credit. All along I thought he was on the lower level in math than he could be but it turns out something clicked this year and his scores according to the school district skyrocketed. It is also a more advanced Algebra I class so that also makes me proud. He is doing more independent school which makes me crazy because I don't know what he is doing all the time but also is a great relief that allows me to focus more of my time on Travis and Meleah and their school work. He came to me this afternoon asking for a notebook, his idea is to write down quotes that he wants to remember. I restrained myself from jumping up and down and screaming and replied with, "Sure, do you know where I put the new notebooks?" Yes! He has been keeping track of all his assignments in a planner and planning things out for himself. I am very thankful to see this step into independence. The sad thing, only a little sad, is that I only have about an 1/8th of an inch before he is the same height as I am. The added benefit, he is now the lifter when it comes to heavy things. He is stronger than I am for sure.

Travis surprised me this week. I started this school year determined to raise my expectations for Travis' writing abilities. He would do anything rather than write. When I said anything, I do mean ANYTHING. I am a pretty strong-willed person however and I started out the first week with a writing assignment for him. It was an observation he was supposed to do and record measurable things. I told him to go to his favorite place with a notebook, the pond,  and make some observations about frogs and toads that had to include descriptions and measurements.  I sent him with a timer set for one hour. (Important step for Travis, he needs reminders.) After the time was up he came back in and had four different notebook pages of descriptions about bull frogs, tadpoles, toads at various stages of development and their habits and jumping abilities as well as unusual things he noticed about them.  Sniff, sniff. Another YES!

Meleah has been so reluctant to read. I have danced with her all year pushing and backing off, trying anything to encourage her.  I was discouraged because her spring Reading Assessment for First grade showed that she read at October of First Grade. I know that she was nervous and had been able to read much better but somehow seeing those things written on paper made me feel horrible. On top of it all the subject was pointed out by friends, in Sunday School, and she even complained about it herself. All summer we worked on it and this week she is just reading so well. We read her first reading assignment and she was acting tired and so I said, "Why don't we stop and take a break for a minute? Is is too hard?" She answered, "Mom, I have to work hard if I am going to read."(I promise she floored me by the comment because I have been trying to not make any big deal of it.) She even asked to read some of the verses of the Proverb we read together as a family. She has been reading along with the songbook at church. I think she just "got" reading at a later time than my boys did. As we were organizing things for school she did the first four lessons in her math book the before we even started school. She loves math. I am encouraged by her determination.

This year I decided that to cut out some of our running around and we would do a family gym class at home. We have been doing Crossfitkids.com workouts for the last 15 days, that doesn't include any Sundays. I know that has been a stress reliever for me too. I laugh at myself so much when trying to do all the things that are part of the workout. I think the kids sure enjoy "helping" mom stay active and encouraging me to do Burpees and pull ups. I enjoy being able to see that part of them too. They are fast kids.  I did beat Cody in a 50m sprint, but that is only because he wasn't paying attention. :)

My quote for the week has been:
You need at least four hugs a day for survival, eight hugs for maintenance, and twelve hugs for growth. Have you had your hug today? Dr. DeWit Williams

I know that there will be ups and downs throughout my year but for now I am SO very thankful to be my kid's mom, to be there for all these YES! moments, to be able to see them grow towards independence and to hug them everyday...at least 12 times. (Meleah tells me not to hug her 12 times because she wants to stay little but I do it anyway.)

Does it pay?  It does in relationships, in moments that I could never plan, in hugs, and the memories I will always have in my heart.