Improvements

Well, it's been about six weeks of homeschooling.

The kids are thriving, and so am I.

Mr. C is flying through the curriculum and doing great.

J-Man is nothing short of amazing. These last few weeks have made a world of difference for him. When he was in school, he got in trouble nearly every day. It wasn't like he was doing awful things, but he was definitely one of the more immature kids in his class. I think his teacher was relieved to have him go. I was the most worried about how I would "handle" teaching J-Man...whether I would have the patience to deal with him all. day. long. But he has been wonderful. I think the fact that he isn't constantly getting into trouble has worked wonders for his self-esteem. My relationship with him is blossoming. I feel closer to him now than before...and I thought it would be the opposite.

When I see that he's ready for a break, I give him a break. Well, usually. Sometimes he has to finish his project or worksheet before he can go play. But not having to have him fit into a "mold" in school looks good on him. He is honestly trying to do his best. Yes, we still use the Chum Bucket, but its use has at least been cut in half.

I feel fully validated and encouraged by things going so smoothly. It still baffles me that I am homeschooling, though. ME, of all people! And loving it.

A New Appreciation...

Boy, do I appreciate teachers more now!

Today was my first day of actually teaching the kids. As much as I was looking forward to it, my stomach was knotting up last night thinking of how their educational fates rest on my shoulders. I kept worrying that I won't teach them everything they need to know, or even more realistically, that I won't be able to handle keeping five kids busy at the same time.

Well, it was definitely tough! I am seriously exhausted. I think I did a pretty good job of keeping the boys' attention and making sure they were busy, but only time will tell. The girls were more difficult. Making sure they were tended to and not just being ignored was a feat.

I like the curriculum a lot. Part of today we went outside and dug for worms. We put them all in a jar with dirt, and in a couple days, we'll check out the tunnels they made. Yippee! If any of you need any of those slimy little buggers, they're sitting on top of our fridge. Maybe we can fry 'em up at the end of our experiment and eat some fried worms. Ok, don't call P.E.T.A. on me. We're gonna let them go in the wild.

I told Superman I expect this first month to be a lot of trial and error. I'll be happy if I can just get into a routine by the end of February.

We spent a little over 3 hours (including recesses and snack) on school today. I guess that's about average? My feet hurt. I don't know how Superman stands up for like 6 hours straight at work.

Overall, I'd say I give today a B+. I guess not too bad for a first day.

Bad Choices

It sure would be nice to be able to drop my kids off places without having to worry about what they might do wrong.

We have one child in particular, who, when out of our sight for more than a couple minutes chooses to make poor decisions. I've wondered before if us being strict at home makes him feel like when he gets away, he can breathe. Maybe he feels like he does his best at home and then when he doesn't see us around, he can act how he truly feels.

Today I went to Bible study. Because our two oldest aren't yet signed up for class there, Nana was kind enough to watch them. I figured that since it was just the two of them, it would be pretty easy for her.

When I picked them up, I asked how they did. Nana was nice and said that they did "fine!" But Mr. C made sure to announce (repeatedly) that J-Man wasn't "good." Nana kept saying that no, J-Man did just "fine." She mentioned that she told the boys she would pay them a dollar to rake up some leaves outside. Now, J-Man is not a self-motivated child. At least when it comes to any kind of work. The second he feels like something is a "chore," he wiggles and complains and mopes about it. So I guess Nana had to be on him a bit to keep on task. She specifically asked them not to rake the leaves into the pool, but of course that was like a challenge to him. So he took a leaf, held it over the pool, and said, "Oooh, look what I'm gonna do!" and proceeded to drop the leaf in the pool.

It's mostly just things like that. It's not like he's doing awful morally-wrong things. He's just being immature. And obnoxious. And not a joy to be around. Sigh. I know some of you mothers can sympathize with me; especially you fost-adopt moms.

I'm thankful that I'm homeschooling now so I can maybe get a better idea of what sets J-Man off this way. And maybe be able to discover ways to help him channel those negative choices into something better.

So for those of you with child(ren) like this, what advice to you have? What works? I feel like we've tried many things, but often feel like this child is just dying to make bad choices! He has no forethought of consequences. He knows as soon as he does something wrong that he's gonna be in trouble, but doesn't think about that beforehand. So I wonder--is it immaturity? Or something else?

This is amazing.

I'm dying for my curriculum to get here. Sunday night I wracked my brain trying to think of activities to do with the kids this week that would keep them busy and entertained, and keep me from going completely out of my mind. I mean, a house full of rambunctious kids with nothing to do can be sheer torture. I was up all night on Sunday freaking out.

But Monday morning came, and then Tuesday, and now Wednesday, and I am seriously in LOVE with this homeschooling thing. Ok, so I really haven't started teaching them yet, but who cares? We've spent an average of an hour a day this week working on academics. Everything else has been fun ventures. The train museum and IKEA were a blast, our trip to the snow today was awesome. We drove 45 minutes for 10 minutes worth of snow time. Seriously. We were there for 10 minutes. Just long enough to fill up a cooler with clean snow to bring home. We made snow ice cream, and added some root beer to it for root beer floats.

Tomorrow, my curriculum gets here. I can't wait! I am so ready to dig in and start teaching these kids some stuff.

I really don't know how this happened to me (ok, I know the Lord has everything to do with it). As I've said before, I am NOT a teacher. But experiencing the world through these kids has brought me a whole new appreciation for being involved in their lives.

I am sure I'm going through a honeymoon phase, and in a few weeks I'll be venting and complaining about putting myself in this position.

But for now, I'll enjoy the honeymoon. There may not be warm weather, cool drinks and a sparkling ocean on this honeymoon, but there sure are a heck of a lot of memories being made!

Homeschool Blog and More

I've started a homeschooling blog so I don't have to bore you all with my mundane day-to-day activities. =) Feel free to check it when you want, but it's mostly for my own reference so I can keep a record of everything we do. HERE's the link.

I went to an adoption support group last night at a local church. I am hoping to start a group at our own church in the fall, so I'm gathering as much info as I can. It was really nice to meet with other moms who have been through the process. There were about 10 women there, most of whom adopted through foster care. A few adopted internationally and domestically (private). I loved hearing the different perspectives and how they are working through issues that have come up. One gal just adopted a sibling set of three from India!

I'm trying to figure out how to format this new adoption group. Moms only? Parents only? Parents and kids? I'm leaning toward just moms (with a few annual "family" activities), but what do you think?

Yesterday while the boys were doing some schoolwork, I asked them if they missed their friends at school. Mr. C said, "No, I'll see them at soccer." And J-Man said, "No, I think I act better when I'm not around my friends." Out of the mouths of children. Glad he's noticed the connection!

First Day of Homeschooling

Here are the boys on their last day of school (Friday). As you can see, they were devastated.

Today is the day! I don't have my curriculum yet, so we'll be "officially" starting next Monday, but this week we are doing a few fun things.

This morning we're making Shrinky Dinks (thanks to Amber for tipping me off to these!) and heading to the library to pick up some books about trains. Tomorrow we go to the Train Museum and IKEA (that's educational, right?). Wednesday we're taking a drive up the hill to the snow to gather some snow in a container to come home and make "snow ice cream" with.

We are incorporating a weekly "service project" into our curriculum. It can include anything from raking up someone's leaves to paying for someone's coffee behind us in line, to going to a children's home or homeless shelter to help out. Can you all give me some ideas to put in my "service" arsenal?

All In!

Who knew? Someone must have known. Was it you? 'Cuz it sure wasn't me!

Homeschooling? Moi? It surely couldn't be. Am I mistaken, or was it just yesterday that I wrote we were thinking (key word being "thinking") about homeschooling?

Hmm...something fishy is going on here. And I think the Lord has something to do with it.

Here I was, casually considering bringing my brood in from public school; figuring I have, oh, at least a few weeks or months until I need to make a decision. And that's true. I mean, there really is no hurry. There's no one pounding on my door telling me to get those kids outta that school. But, strangely (or not?) I laid my fleece before the Lord and barely before I had time to open my eyes from that prayer, He's taken that fleece and flung it over my shoulders.

"Take away any of our hesitations," I say. And what does He do? Well, friends, He takes away our hesitations. And not only that, but today, while at Bible study, the Lord plants in my path 5 different women who are currently homeschooling. I picked their brains like nothing else. (Do I still have stuff in my teeth?)

It's amazing. I mean, really. It's honestly like the Lord has just completely taken over here. Which, I suppose, is a good thing.

So, as I write, I am copying immunization records, birth certificates and my will (just in case I don't make it through). And soon, very soon, I will be a homeschooling mom.

Homeschooling

We have a great school right across the street from us. I mean, for a public school, it's excellent. Their test scores are high, the atmosphere is nice and it's just an all-around good small-town school. No real complaints.

Homeschooling has long been an option for us, though. We've always said that if we ever felt like the public school wasn't meeting the needs of our kids, or if something else came up, we would be open to it. There's a bit of a problem, though. I'm not a teacher. And I don't just mean in the professional sense. Some people are just born to teach (i.e., Superman). They naturally thrive on sharing knowledge with little ones (or big ones). But, it doesn't come naturally to me. I mean, I can do a craft here, or a math workbook there. I can read a book with the kids or have them "read" a book to me. But when it comes to being the sole provider of their education, I have always been more than just a bit intimidated.

But there are things that are very appealing about teaching our kids at home. Mr. C is not being challenged at school. He enjoys his friends, and I know he learns some things at school, but math in particular is a joke. At home, Superman has been working with him, and he's doing basic Algebra. At school, they are literally learning 3-1 = 2 and 2+5 = 7. He's bored. He regularly asks to be homeschooled And J-Man is on the other end of the spectrum. He's not the most "academic" of our kids. He loves music. If he could just sit and listen to music all day, he'd be in heaven. J-Man does fine in school academically, but he definitely has maturity issues and impulse control that needs to be worked on, and in a class of 20 other 5-year-olds, I can't expect his teacher to be giving him the one-on-one attention he needs.

The clincher was yesterday when Mr. C got in a bit of trouble at school. He had a substitute, and he had to pull his card...twice. Which has never happened. He said he wasn't listening to the teacher because she was teaching "stuff I learned in preschool." Of course, that's not an excuse to disrespect his teacher or disrupt the class. I asked him about the other subjects--what does he do during science or history? He must be learning then. He said, "We mostly do math and reading. My teacher does other stuff sometimes, but it's mostly just math and reading." And that got me thinking--that's sad. The standardized tests focus on math and reading, and so that's what is focused on in school. But there are so many other things that I want our kids to learn. And not just academically, but spiritually, emotionally and physically. And so, the topic was brought up again last night at the dinner table.

I just finished reading the book, "The Cross and the Switchblade" and at one point in the book, the author "lays a fleece" before the Lord as Gideon did. So I decided to do just that. I told the Lord if this is something He wants us to do, I would like him to remove any apprehension that I, or Superman, have. (Superman's apprehension stems from his concern that I will get completely burned out if I don't have some designated breaks throughout the week.) I know that doesn't seem like much of a "fleece," but for us to both go forward with this without any hesitation would be a clear answer to my prayer.

So, that's where we stand. I know there are some homeschooling moms who read my blog--if you can give me any advice, please do so! I want to know--how do you avoid burn out? What made you come to the decision of homeschooling?

P.S. I talked to our social worker yesterday and found out we would not be able to adopt again until six months after we finalize with G (which probably won't be until summer), so that can be on the back burner for the time being. =)