The Rest of Life

I don't want anyone to be under the false impression that all I do is sit around my house and brood about the adoption. To be completely honest, I try not to spend too much time thinking about it at all (keeping the mind busy). But also, I have a great and full and wonderful life.


Hey guys, can I take a not-goofy picture of you?

And since everyone everywhere is talking about back-to-school, I thought I would gush about Back-to-Homeschool!

Yep, I said 'gush.'

Why? Because even though it's hard and busy and time-consuming and mentally challenging, I still love it. I love spending time with my kids, helping them learn. I love watching them grown and develop. Although, I would honestly love to let another person focus on all the character training, it is part of my responsibility.

And I love what we learn. We have a full docket this year and I want you to hear about it. I've spent a great deal of time thinking, praying and planning for this year--and you should know. (Part of it is because for some, homeschooling is still not a legitimate form of education. I want you to see that for me, and many others, we take this stuff seriously.)

So this year we're learning:


Olivia at her desk.

• All about the history and geography of the 19th century (read: 1800s--westward expansion, colonialism, slavery and the civil war, industrial revolution). I could go on and on about how much I love history, but, I refrain. . .
• Writing, grammar, spelling, journalling,
• Bible study on Missionaries and the Gospel of John
• Chemistry (at the kid's request--and I'm a bit excited.)
• Art--following the Impressionist and Modern artists of the last two centuries
• Math--all kinds of math. Seriously. Three levels of math. Math that I now have to actually read the teacher's manual in order to know how to conceptually teach it.
• And Kindergarten--who could forget all the fun stories and hands on projects of Kindergarten. I'm thrilled to be in Kindergarten for the 4th time in my life. I'm enjoying it much more now!



Josh at his desk

• P.E.--yep, gotta have that component. You have to learn the rules to games like basketball, soccer. And you have to learn to run laps!
• Oh, and field trips! I'm super excited about all the field trips we have scheduled for this year!

Lest you think it's all about academic work, it's not. It's also about:

• Working and living and being together, A LOT!
• Helping each other out in times of need.
• Learning to work independently.

  

  Katie at her desk

• Life skills--working in the kitchen, personal responsibility for your own stuff, cleaning, laundry, errands, running a household.
• Oh, and fun! We try to have lots of fun together!

Homeschooling has just become part of our lives, how we live and shape our family. And for all the struggle, it has been good. Our family has grown, I've grown (probably me the most of anyone).

And now for the obligatory pictures!

I took this pics on our second day of school. (why not the first you ask--mostly because we hadn't gotten our new back-to-school outfits and we all look sorta sloppy.) As it was, not everyone was particularly thrilled about pictures. (Can you tell?)

3rd Grade

2nd Grade

Kindergarten

School Photo

Finally, a great picture of my goofy kids!

Fun in this Life

So the past few weeks have actually been a lot of fun here. And it culminated this weekend in three major happenings.

1) The garden is completely planted. In our small space we have strawberries, rhubarb, and onions oregano and chives thriving. The peas and potatoes are coming along. The green beans sure are taking a long time to sprout. But the soup beans look fantastic. I am excited about what I can do with those this fall (Thanks, Meika).

We planted 3 types of tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, green and red peppers, basil and head lettuce seedlings. And I finished by putting in a bunch of carrots (ha, ha).

I can't wait to see what will work and what won't in this garden. Now, if only I could keep the weeds at bay.

And in another Sammy Homemaker moment, I finished another dress for K--it's super cute and maybe I'll get around to posting a picture of that too, but that would mean that I need to take a picture of it first.

2) J finished his soccer season. The level of improvement we've seen in him has been phenomenal. He went from not knowing where the ball was to actually being able kick the ball, in the direction that he wanted it to go. Anyway, here are some cute pictures of him.

3) K had her very precious ballet recital in which she danced to Wonderful, Beautiful Savior (which is now her favorite song). We got to watch lots of super cute dances by all the preschool classes at Hearts in Step. Really, we have 10,000 (a slight exaggeration) super cute pictures of the little princess, but because I know you don't have quite the emotional attachment I do, I'll just show you two. Her outfit is very, very pink, so I called her cotton candy or pink bubblegum. (She preferred cotton candy!)

And 4) And because I feel bad that I have no pictures of OG up here, because frankly she is only two and not yet into these kinds of things, here are two random shots of the little one.

(What kind of mother lets their kids play in the mud like that?)

Surgery!

Today was the big day. J had his tonsils removed, and boy, was he a little trooper. Our day started very early (for us 5:30, for him 6). He was the first surgery of the day--we had a fantastic nurse, who was beyond words, great with J--made him feel at ease and explained everything, whether he needed it or not. He started the day dancing, seriously, he was dancing in the room. It was goofy and cute. When it was time to go, he hopped on the table to receive his anesthesia. But that's where the fun of the day ended for him.

After waking up from anesthesia, he was inconsolable. Lucky, his daddy is a calm spirit who also happens to be a nurse, so the recovery nurse trusted Eric enough to calm his own son. J looked so sad right after surgery. But after the meds kicked in, well, he was on a role.

This afternoon, we honestly had to force him to take it easy. He wanted to run around the house looking for our borrowed Diego video, he didn't want to take a nap or rest on the couch--he wanted to play. Sweet little man. And he was definetely jiving on the popsicles, gum, ice cream, and pop. So much so, that he took in way more sugar than he is used to (even though we used juice popsicles and plain ice cream) and ended up with a uneasy tummy. And honestly, thats been the hardest part so far--do we really have to eat that many popsicles? and ice cream? and clear pop? whenever he asks? And really, i shouldn't set limits on videos and games? Ahh, it so goes against every fiber of my being. But I know it is just for a week and in a few days, I will be allowed to not turn the tv on and make him play.

As we turned to evening, the glow of medicine and the tiredness of the day began to set in. I am rather confident that tomorrow will be much bumpier than today.

But today was good. God was good--he surrounded us with many, many people praying and supporting us. I am sure that's why we had such a good day. I pray that we have as much support tomorrow and over the weekend when it's not as fun!

Oh, and pictures are coming later--they're sweet, but the reader is not working right now.

Blessings.