First Day Memories

We survived the first day. 

And the second day!

Not Back to School Day

Over the years, I have had people ask if the boys feel left out of the back to school hype that traditional school kids have.

I can say that they don't. They don't because we have our own traditions for going back to school.

We usually start before the local schools do. We have a fun first day back. We take pictures of each boy. We have a fun breakfast. Usually they want a pancake in the shape of what ever grade they are in. We have new pencils and crayons. New notebooks and markers. We have new posters on the walls and new stickers for reading charts.

We love our first day back....but the fun really comes a few weeks later when we have our annual Not Back to School Day.

Not Back to School Day is when the public schoolers go back to school. We take the day off and we have fun! We even make tie-dyed T-shirts in honor of the day.

We have taken trips to the Zoo and the Aquarium. One year I had a stack of envelopes with a card inside. Each card had a hint written on it and if they could figure out the hint...that is where we went next. We went bowling, ate ice cream, went to the local toy store, went to Granny's house, ate lunch at
Chick-fil-a and went to a park.

This year is no different. I have big plans for our day and the tie-dye kits are in the pantry waiting to be used.

No matter what your learning journey looks like, hopefully your family has some kind of fun
Back to School traditions that your children look forward to. I'd love to hear what you do to get them ready for that first day fun!

Should everyone's education look the same?

Have you read this article? I thought it was a very good take on the changing face of education.

Education is a changing being. It never looks the same...if you do it right.
No 2 kids learn the same. At least mine sure don't. It's difficult and boring to try to make them all fit into a box that none of them fit.

I still fight with the University trained teacher that I was taught to be.

I need all the problems finished.
I need the entire chapter read.
I need perfect handwriting.
I need better coloring in the lines.
I need better cutting skills.

Or do I?

Not really. What I'm asking is for them to conform to my standard. And while it is very important to have a high standard and expect their best. I think the way in which I expect it may be askew.

It is my opinion that being an Educator by profession does not make it easier to be a homeschool mom. In fact, I think it is a hindrance. Some of the best homeschool moms I know were nurses, bankers, artists...not teachers.

So here is to a new year of learning. I hope that whatever your learning journey looks like for your family, that it is full of wonder and fun and encouragement and many blessings!

2 Years

She has been gone 2 years.

Sometimes I forget and think I'll just get the boys gathered up and run by for a bit. Then I remember, she isn't here anymore.

I hope she'd be proud of me. I hope she'd be proud of my boys. I wish she was here to see how the house turned out and that in fact, we took her advice and raised the kitchen cabinets about 4 inches. I wish she was here to tell my boys the My Big Toe story. Cause I can tell it...but not like her.

I wish she could make me a big batch of creamed potatoes. I can't recreate those either. I wish she could have waited one more day and not gone home on my brother's birthday.
I wish she knew what a blessing she was to our boys. They still struggle with her being gone. Really, there are a million silly, goofy, annoying, wonderful things that I miss about her.

I wish she could tell me one more time, "You just don't know, Sis."

She was taken too soon. That's my selfishness shining thru. I confess it.
However, in the midst of her cancer diagnosis and the very short 6 weeks we had left with her, she taught me more that she will ever know. Granny never felt sorry for herself. She was ready. She knew that her eternity would be spend walking the streets of Heaven. She knew what was ahead of her. She was confident. She was full of grace and dignity. She never cried. She was strong to the finish. That's exactly what any of us would have expected of her.

We stopped by her gravesite on Easter and someone had scattered Texas Bluebonnets on her grave. It was the most beautiful thing.

Her last words to me were..."Sis, I pray for you everyday."

That is a blessing I will carry forever.

When the World Overwhelms

Today I am contributing to a Special Needs Parenting series over at A Mama Story.

When the World Overwhelms is an article about Sensory Integration Disorder.

Stop by over there and read and enter to win a copy of The Out of Sync Child Has Fun.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: A Special Needs Parenting Series

Join us this week over at A Mama's Story for a series on Special Needs Parenting. Each day, a different mama will talk about their family and the blessings and struggles they face. 


The series is being hosted by an absolutely wonderful Mama and real life friend of mine. She is a mom of many, an advocate for natural home birthing, natural living, homeschooling...she's just a wealth of knowledge and has a beautiful spirit about her. And I can brag...her children are pretty awesome too!!


 We would be honored if you'd take the time check the series out. I am contributing to the series with a post on Sensory Issues.

There are link-ups and giveaways!

Our Journey to Free-Range Learning

I need to plan for school. As the curriculum specialist...that's kinda my job.

I haven't made any decisions yet.

School starts August 1.

That's like 2 weeks.

This is where panic sets in...

                                             ...and then I take a deep breath.

And I stop. I refuse to panic.

I pray and remember that God is not the author of confusion.

He has given me a plan and I know it. I see it in how the boys move through their day.

I see how they are bent.

I see that Scar prefers to do and observe and record and analyze and draw and create and be there with what he is learning. He LOVES animals and the outdoors. He wants to collect crawdads and measure them and make graphs and research how to tell the males from the females.

I see that Skipper likes book. He wants to read about everything. He want to have his hands on a book and loves the sound of the book spine cracking when it is first opened. He wants to read about Word War 2 and space exploration and early settlers and the Constitution.

I see that Scrappy is a goer and a mover. We likes the book work, but also like the balance of getting messy and creating and drawing. He want to read about Knights and draw knights and write letters to the Queen of England and make dragons and castles out of Legos.

I see that Skeeter is all about the joy. He is a 1st grader -based on the info that our state likes to have- but he is still so early in his learning journey. He still loves all of it. I am still watching for his bend. and I have not doubt it will me made plain to me.

I watch them. I listen to them. I make notes about what I see.

So, this year we will embark on a different learning journey. I will stress less and we will learn more. I will pray more and they will grow more. I will relax more and they will too. I will make learning part of our life. I will make it part of our daily living. I will seek every opportunity to learn myself.

This isn't the homeschool path we started 20 kabillion years ago-okay really 8years ago. We have been a by the textbook, please sit inside the box homeschool family. And there is nothing wrong with that. But I think that it isn't what works best for us. Someone  tried to stick a leg out and I am trying to stuff it back in. An arm pokes out over here and I'm stuffing it back in. A head pops up and I want that boy to just do what I said and sit. in. that. box!!!

WHY?

Cause honestly, I'm afraid of what you might think of me or my kids or homeschooling in general.
I'm worried more about what you think than doing what I think is right for my kids.

I'm afraid.

And how's that worked for me? Frankly, it hasn't.

We are not a stuffed in a box family. Never have been-regardless of my trying- and we never will be.

And I am realizing that we can be just fine as free-range learners.

And I can be ok if you don't like me.

Or the way we educate or kids.

I can be ok.

I will be ok and so will the boys.


                                           So here's to a year of free-range learning!

The boys helping their cousin and his research team collect and record data on the different fish that were found in a nearby creek.