Homeschool and Silver Dollar City

A few pics from SDC. I thought Harrison was looking at where the water came up out of the ground. Upon closer investigation, I found he was getting a drink!!

We took a trip to Silver Dollar City again with some friends this week and had a GREAT time! This is the perfect time of year to go, since everyone else has gone back to school. We rode almost all the rides and never had to wait. The weather was beautiful, too. It couldn't have been better.

We are enjoying homeschool and one of the biggest benefits to is that we are no longer tied down to someone else's schedule. We are enjoying a slower pace in life. We are able to do the extra things we want without being rushed in the evenings and on weekends trying to cram it all in.

It's also really neat to see how the little ones are already anxious to do what their big brother is doing. They both usually choose to sit at the table with Jackson and color or do their own "school work". If they aren't sitting up at the table, they are just below us in the floor playing with puzzles, blocks, K'Nex, looking at books, etc. They participate in activities that are appropriate, such as free reading and read aloud time. It's nothing much different than differentiated teaching in a classroom.

Jackson is doing a great job with his schoolwork. He is usually finished with language arts, math and reading long before lunch time. This gives us the rest of the day to do whatever we want. We haven't officially started science or social studies yet, but I'm positive we'll still be finished before noon even with those subjects added.

Because we have our afternoons free, we have plenty of time to get together with other kids for lots of activities and play time. Here is what a typical day looks like.

7:30 - 8:00 - Morning Jobs

Everyone wakes up and kids begin their Morning Jobs. Jackson and Carter have checklists under a wipe-off sleeve. They check off their jobs as they are finished with a dry erase marker. This includes eating breakfast and loading their dishes into the dishwasher.

8:30ish - Language Arts & Math

Breakfast is finished. Jackson stays at the table and begins writing in his journal. He also completes his handwriting practice and takes a spelling test (Sequential Spelling) each day. He completes a math lesson and a Shurley Grammar lesson.

10:00ish -Free time

He has several choices of activities he can do during this time. He has to do each of the activities once before he can repeat any activity. I actually have a chart that has the entire day scheduled into 30-minute blocks. He has several blocks of free time in the afternoon. Forcing him to use all his choices before doing one a second time keeps him from positioning himself in front of the TV or Wii all afternoon. He is allowed to watch PBS cartoons and play Wii, but must incorporate the other choices into the schedule as well.

10:30ish - Reading

He has one book each week that he practices for fluency. We are also reading a chapter book together called How To Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell. He is a great decoder, so we are focusing on comprehension and fluency. If we have something else to do, we put reading off until the afternoon or early evening. As we get into science and social studies, we'll be incorporating lots on non-fiction, content related reading as well.

11:15ish - FINISHED!!

Our extra activities include:

• Book Club at the Library Center, which meets every other Monday afternoon
• CMA music class each Friday afternoon
• Art class each Wednesday at the Springfield Art Museum
• Classical Conversations from 9 - 3 every Tuesday
• Royal Rangers on Wednesday evenings at Parkcrest Assembly of God
• Children's Church on Sunday mornings and evenings
• Junior Bible Quiz on Sunday afternoons
• Regular trips to the YMCA to play
• Anything else that comes up we want to do!

We are so blessed to have this opportunity! I'm so thankful.

Jackson Lost His Last Front Tooth!

Jackson lost his last front tooth over this past weekend. We were in West Plains when the big event took place. He lost the other one on top about a week ago after he got kicked in the face while we were swimming in the pool. That was a little dramatic, but he recovered and has a great story to tell. After that one came out, he started wiggling the other one. Once he realizes they are loose, he's pretty determined to get it out. The very first tooth he lost came out in just one afternoon!

He doesn't look completely toothless because the permanent teeth are already coming in. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if they would ever fall out or not. He's just starting second grade and most kids have lost their front teeth by now.

Braces, and maybe even more difficult dental work, are definately in his future. Unfortunately, it looks like he got some bad dental genes. He's missing a couple permanent teeth, which is going to mean some sort of reconstruction of current baby teeth or constructing new ones to implant where the permanent ones should be. And, the ones he has are already crowded. We'll deal with that later, though.

For now, he is happy to have blessed the tooth fairy with another gem for her collection.

Grandparents

Harrison and his great-grandma, Treva Hammond, when he was just home from the hospital.

Papa Rod with Carter and Harrison. Carter was 2 1/2 and Harrison was just a few months old. Carter had used a permanent marker and put "make-up" on.

Nana and Carter "camping" in her bedroom - and Sadee, too, of course. Carter has his favorite, the firetruck blankey. They're laying on a quilt that my great-grandma, Anne Tannehill, made.

Jackson and Doug's dad, Papa Lee.

I just read an article on another blog (here) about grandparents. It made me think of my own grandparents and my parents, who are now grandparenting my own sons. My sons and I are all very blessed.

I've been so blessed with wonderful grandparents of my own, that I adore and miss very much. They are such an important part of my life and who I have become. If I had a wish or two to be granted, one would definately be to have them back so they could see me now and meet their great- and great-great grandsons. I am fortunate to have one grandmother with me still, which I am so thankful for. I have great childhood memories of all of them. I can't imagine growing up without them.

Now, my sons are enjoying those same types of things with my parents. Because we live in different towns now, they have opportunities to spend days at a time with them, which is such a grand adventure for the boys. I know they are making memories they will treasure forever.

This past week, Jackson and Carter spent four nights with my mom and her husband, Jim. Nana and Papa Jim took them camping in St. James two nights. Some of the highlights were Carter falling off a merry-go-round, which he deemed "awesome". Jackson rode his bike into the river, where it got a good washing. Oh.. and at the end of one day, when Carter's legs were hurting (which they often do...that's another story), he came to Nana crying and said, "They hurt so bad that if you don't do something, I'm going to have to hop on one leg tomorrow." Well, I'm not sure Carter will remember that, but I don't think Nana is going to forget anytime soon.

Toward the end of last month, we spent a week in West Plains. The kids had a great time at Papa Rod's house riding four-wheelers and doing things that they can only do with Papa. Great-Grandma Hammond played catch with them in the shade under the walnut tree behind her store. They rode Uncle Homer's tractor and played in the loft of his barn.

We are so blessed. I can't imagine not having this family. I didn't ask for my place in this family and this time. I didn't earn them. God put me here, and I am so thankful. It's unfathomable to me, that there are people in this nation and all over the world who have no one. James 1:27 (NIV) says this:

²⁷Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I hope that one day, God will look at my life and deem that my religion was pure. I am so blessed.

Downsizing Gifts

Last Christmas, we decided to make some changes in our gift giving and receiving strategies. As part of our effort to downsize and reduce clutter and "stuff" in general, we asked our family members NOT to give our kiddos the standard gifts. Up until this past year, the kids have gotten tons of cool things, mostly toys and clothes. Don't get me wrong, we were very grateful and thankful for the gifts we received, which mostly came from loving family members.

However, we were accumulating way too much stuff, including clothes. So, as Christmas approached last year, we asked our family to give our kids experiences instead of toys or clothes. I gave them a list of possibilities I thought we might enjoy as a family. We were given season passes for everyone to Silver Dollar City and a membership to the Dickerson Park Zoo.

We have thoroughly enjoyed both and are still using our passes to create wonderful family memories.

For their birthdays, Carter and Jackson were both given a Mad Science Camp. Jackson chose "Rockets and Robots". His camp was last week and he loved every minute. He was able to learn about robots the first part of the week and then about rockets the last part. He even got to build a model rocket and bring it home. He doesn't want to launch it yet, so we are keeping it safe for now. He's already talking about which science camp he would like to go to next.

Carter's ecology camp started this morning. He learned about what dirt is made of, and they started a seed sprouting experiment. He was happy to get to go to class where Jackson was last week.

Thank you so much, Aunt Kaye, for the great birthday gifts!

Here is Jackson with his rocket.

I love this and I think most of our family is happy to be contributing to the kids' list of experiences instead of putting money in toys that get lost and broken in a few days or weeks. It's a much better use of their resources and our time. Since we are officially homeschooling now, we'll be counting these experiences toward our schooling hours when it's applicable, also.

Things on our list of possibilities include: show tickets (special performances, plays, concerts, etc.), passes to fun places (zoo, pool, theme park, museums, etc.), summer camps and fun classes.

They Say The Cutest Things!

This is one of those things I just wanted to get down on paper (disk space) somewhere before I forgot about it.  It is the cutest thing ever.

Jackson, who is now 7, is such a sweetheart!  What I really love most about him is his heart.  He is so compassionate and open toward everyone he meets.  It is extremely rare to find someone he doesn't get along with.  

A little background information will be helpful for this story to really make sense to anyone who doesn't already know our family.  My husband, Doug, is very dark complected and tans very quickly in the spring and summer.  After an hour on the lawn mower, he looks like an Indian and I've been asked more than once if he was from the Middle East (which wasn't such a good thing after 9-11).    Jackson has always said his dad was "brown", which is true.  He is browner than most and I appreciated Jackson's attention to detail.

Last fall, before the '08 Presidential election, Jackson commented about all the signs we were seeing on the highway.  He explained to me that McCain was against Obama and that they had won "round one" and "round two" would be soon.  Whoever won that, would be our President.  I was impressed he knew so much about the election since I hadn't shared any of that information with him.  And, of course, he was reading the signs which I thought was great, too.  Anyhow, when I asked him who he would vote for if he could, he got excited and told me he would definately vote for Obama.  When I asked why Obama was his choice, he said "because he's brown like my dad."  

We all got a kick out of that!  Poor Doug was the focus of laughter from West Plains to Brunswick.  It was so funny and I don't think Doug minded too much.

Well, a week or so ago, I commented to Jackson about what a nice tan he had.  He looked at his arm and said "Yeah, I'm starting to look like dad."  I could see a lightbulb go on and he looked at me with a puzzled face and said, "You mean, Dad's not really brown?  Is he really just tan like me?"  When I said yes, he just sunk and said "Oh".  He was disappointed!  All this time he really did think  Doug was *really* brown!  It was so sweet.  Then, he started asking about other "brown" people he knows.  

Too cute!  It is so sweet to see how open-minded and innocent he is without any negative junk in his head yet.  I wish I could keep him that way.  He loves everyone and it wouldn't matter what color they were - brown, yellow, pink - whatever.  It's all good with Jax.

  This was taken on his 7th birthday in April.  He had a candle in his cinnamon roll before we went to school that day.