Our Kindergarden & Pre-K Homeschool Experience: Part 1- The Choice to Homeschool

As I have mentioned in the past, we are a homeschooling family.  It's just what is right for our particular family.  This year was our first true year!  My oldest son started Kindergarten, my second son started Pre-K, and my youngest tried to make the year extra challenging, haha.  Well, she followed along as best as she could.  I have been meaning to write a review & load it with pictures of our homeschooling experience for all those with the curious questions I've spoken to..  The other day I realized we've almost completed the second semester & I had yet to post anything!

Anyhow, last year we used the Seton Catholic Homeschool curriculum for my oldest, who was in Pre-K.  It really worked well for us in so many ways and my son seemed to learn a lot.  Yet, as parents, we worried that maybe they were missing out.  The big yellow bus was definitely attractive to a five year old and the idea of him having lots of little friends was pleasing too.  The day before kindergarten registration at our local public school, we still had not made a final decision.  I cried many tears for days at the thought of sending my little man off to school.  I was sad we wouldn't be teaching him any longer.  My heart broke daily as I thought of no longer painting with him, not being there to pick out library books with him,  and no longer snuggling together for story time.  However, I was devastated at the thought of having to separate my three kids from each other for most of their day.  They have a deep bond with each other and I wanted to nurture that, not break it.  Well, we finally decided to give homeschooling another year, and we would see how it went before making any further decisions.  I am so, very thankful for that calling.  It has not been a completely easy experience, but it has been a beautiful blessing.

"Parents are the first and the most important educators of their own children, and they also possess a fundamental competence in this area; they are educators because they are parents." -St. John Paul II, Letter to Families. (www.setonhome.org)

Below are just a few fun times from my oldest son's Pre-K year.

My silly, excited pre-k kiddo!

Practicing his handwriting and number recognition.

Calendar Math

Forming his letters in sand.

Caterpillar science

Counting bear math

A visit to the Museum of Natural Science was awesome.

Taking a break for a picnic lunch inside our new house.

Sunny Day science fun!

Intricate insect wings.

Finger paint work of art!

Making bird feeders

A trip to the zoo is always a joy!

Excited to be inside a real firetruck!

Floating practice at swimming lessons.

Learning to read!!!

Puzzle fun

My little Champion Mutton Buster!  He was awesome!

Reptile presentation at the library.

A love for reading.

Joined the swim team!

Launching rockets!

Painted Toast- Yummy Fun!

I plan on making Painted Toast as part of our Art lesson this week.  We made it many months ago and the boys loved it.  My mom taught me how to do this project when I was young.  It's super easy and yummy for the kiddos!

First, pour small amounts of milk into several small bowls.  Add food coloring to the milk, making several different colors.  Lay out slices of bread on plates or cookie sheets.  Have the child use a clean paint brush to apply the "paint" (colored milk) to the bread, making a beautiful masterpiece.  Before the bread is too soggy, place it in the toaster, and eat it!

Brushing the colored milk onto the bread.

I suppose you may need to stress that it's only milk, not paint... and that we don't eat real paint.  My boys watched me pour the milk and they know we don't eat paint, so I skipped the lecture.  My 2 year old did, however, move beyond the boundaries of his toast & decided to do a bit of body painting.  :)

My 2 year old painted himself with the colored milk.  Baby G is checking out the fun.  :)

The Painted Toast, ready for eating!

3rd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge: Day 7

The last day of the Flats & Handwashing diaper challenge was a busy one- working on our house and then a birthday party.  The next day was another busy one, working on the house and grilling hamburgers for Memorial Day (the first Memorial Day in several years that my sailor wasn't working)!  So I'm just getting around to writing about my experience finale.

Was using flat diapers and covers exclusively difficult?
Not at all.  We love flats!

Was hand washing diapers difficult?
No.  It just took a little extra time and elbow effort.

Was line drying diapers difficult?
No.  I don't have to blow the wind, so it was pretty easy and only required a few extra minutes to hang up and take down the diapers from the clothes line, drying rack, back of the dining room chair, or wherever I put them to dry.  

Was diapering with flats & covers, hand washing, and line drying expensive?
Absolutely NOT!  So unbelievably cheap!  This method and flat diapers will provide healthy & cheap diapers from birth till potty training, and still work for future babies!

So, why don't more economically challenged families use this method of diapering?!
Our society's values have changed over time, changed to incorporate constant ease and convenience, as well as a high desire to achieve "success".  The mothers of today's society have been exposed to the fact that disposable diapers are the norm and they are rarely even exposed to the option of cloth diapers.      Lessons in running an healthy, frugal & efficient household have been neglected by most of our mothers and grandmothers, by no fault of their own.  Even if they did try to give us such lessons, society has constantly pushed the opposite on us with fast foods, lavish homes, expensive clothes, pedicures, and gym memberships... as well as the need to acquire the time-consuming, prestigious jobs it requires to pay for all of it!  Making more money to pay for all of our stuff has become the most important thing for most people.  The goal of raising happy & healthy kids in a happy & healthy family environment has been lost in the struggle.  Using cloth diapers is just one of many ways for families to live within their means.

Will I stop using flats and hand washing now that the challenge is over?
No way!  I have loved using flat diapers for a long time now and I will continue to use them.  I have always line dried diapers fairly often and I'm currently line drying all of our laundry full time, until we move into our new house.  For hand washing, I will not continue to do this everyday.  I will, however, use this method when the need arises- camping, frequent hurricane-season power outages, or when my washer breaks (it's been making awful sounds lately, so I'm expecting it to break down any day).

I'm glad I was able to pay tribute to all those hard working mothers that hand wash diapers daily as part of their normal routine, and increase my appreciation of the modern luxury of the washing machine!!


Read more about this awesome diaper challenge here:
Dirty Diaper Laundry 3rd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge

Playroom DISASTER

Last night, my husband & I decided to let the boys play unsupervised in their playroom while we watched a movie.  Little G had already fallen asleep.   The playroom is directly next to the living room & we kept the door open- audibly checking on them, making sure they were still alive, not hurt and happy.  From the sounds coming from their playroom, they were having so much fun together... exploring, going on adventures,... pretend time was at an all time high.  My husband & I kept laughing & smiling at each other as we heard the boys play.  They're so cute together.  It was nice, relaxing.  We watched a movie together (well, about 3/4 of it...).
And then, they were quiet.  A little too quiet.  I peeked into the playroom to visibly check on them and teared up.  I kind of wanted to cry, but laughing seemed easier.  It was a complete DISASTER!  Their parent-free adventures had turned the room & all the organization into chaos.  Dinosaurs had walked through Elmer's glue, leaving tracks everywhere.  They had finger painted the roof of the little silo.  There was a quite beautiful painting made with a combination of poster paint & half a bottle of glue that broke free of the boundaries of the paper, onto the wood floor.  The toy box and stuffed animal basket were emptied and my older son was inside of the one of them, smiling "We're having Adventures!".  His little brother, the artist, was beginning a second masterpiece, saying "I making Art!"  And the Legos.  Those Legos!  At least 200 pieces of choke-hazard plastic scattered all over the place!  Rrrrr.
Deep breath.  Deep breath.........  Those 45 minutes of relaxing with my husband were totally worth it.  I gave them a bath, wiped the glue off the floor & turned off the light.  We finished our movie & went to bed.
This morning, before any of them woke up, I finished the clean up.  It took an entire hour... an entire hour out of my precious morning-prep alone time, but the playroom had become a danger zone and I wanted it taken care of right away before I had to do the heimlich maneuver on the baby.  Order in the playroom is now restored.  Yay!

Fast forward

Well, a lot has changed since my last post.  I am now a busy mother of three!  My little girl is now 10 months old and she has filled our hearts to the top!  Her big brothers have been so wonderful & loving towards her.  It's been nice having a little pink in the laundry.

This past Fall & Winter held lots of excitement for us.  My husband returned home from his deployment from the Middle East & was Finally able to hold his daughter!  She was 3.5 months old when he made it home.  I'll always remember he first time he held & kissed her.  The boys and I were so completely happy to have him home.  He had planned a trip for us- Disney World.  The boys had SO MUCH FUN!  They still talk about it almost everyday!  Even little G rode quite a few rides!  Having their daddy home for Christmas was a blessing.  We also extracted our first sizable amount of honey from our hive.  That was fun & delicious.  I'll have to make another post on that.

Before all the bags were unpacked, we started to make progress on our house... starting from scratch, no utilities, just the land.  My husband & I decided to be our own contractor.  We also decided not to get a mortgage.  So for us, that meant the process would be slower and we'd be doing quite a bit of the work ourselves.  We are still under construction, but thankfully the house is dried in now. It has been kind of crazy & hectic... a whirlwind of excitement & totally worth it!

Nesting Interrupted

At one point, I thought the whole concept of an expectant mother's urge to "nest" or prepare for the coming of her baby was made up and kind of silly... until I felt that urge myself.  With my first son, I remember finding myself scrubbing the inside of the washing machine with a small brush to get it nice and clean.  I had also stayed up late at night to keep up with washing everything I thought the baby might come in contact with.  With my second son, I found myself scrubbing the inside & outside of the refrigerator, and obsessively cleaning cabinets that would store baby's things.  Now, with my daughter on the way, that nesting urge had been interrupted by our cross-country road-trip to spend a few last weeks with my husband before his deployment.  The trip was so totally worth it, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, even though I had to drive alone 8 months pregnant, with our two & three year olds across the country.  Every day since we've been back home, I find myself trying to play catch-up to nest and prepare, especially knowing I'll be flying solo for about 6 more months after she arrives.  It's such an instinctive urge as a mother.  I admit, there's been quite a few days that I've left more important things alone to focus on washing the window blinds and curtains, washing all her clothes, even spending a little too much time at the grocery store trying to stock up on things we'll need.
On another note, our chickens' nesting and roosting had also been interrupted while we were away.  Raccoons found them and started making a daily meal out of the chickens and their eggs.  So now, the chickens are roosting and laying in different places.  Not a good thing.  One of our Plymouth Rock hens went broody for about two weeks.  This is pretty unusual for this breed.  Our bees, however, seem to have had no interruptions.  The hive was almost completely full of built comb and filled with yummy honey.  They were working on capping the honey.  I plan on adding two more surplus supers to the hive before spring is over.

Lots of change... some good... some bad.

It seems like our life has been changing so much lately... shaken up, put in a blender, flipped & flopped around.  In the end, it is what it is and all we can do is smile.
This year was starting out pretty great & exciting.  My husband and I were finalizing our house plans, getting ready to start construction this year.  He had recently been promoted at work.  We had just increased our chicken flock, with plans of building a new coop on our land and eventually having enough eggs to sell.  We were also successful in catching a healthy swarm of honey bees.  Best of all, we were expecting baby #3!  A girl!
Then in March, we received the news.  My husband, who is in the U.S. Naval Reserves, was being mobilized and deployed to the Middle East for the remainder of the year.  What?!  Really?!  No!  My heart sank.
With only three weeks to accept this new reality, start making plans, packing, taking required training courses, and just having fun and enjoying our time together... his last few days at home flew by ridiculously fast.  This would be his third deployment since we had been married, so we both knew what to expect.  For every fun moment my husband and I had, there was a hint of sadness, knowing what was ahead.  Our boys, ages 3 & 2, had no idea what to expect or how to deal with separation from their daddy.  Sure, we did our best to explain daddy's long trip and why he had to go, but we knew they didn't fully understand.
I was very thankful for the time both he and I were able to spend at home together before he left.  I am thankful that he has a wonderful civilian job with a supportive boss and coworkers.  I am also thankful that we both somewhat knew what to expect from a deployment so that we were able to better mentally prepare ourselves and our boys for it.
So now, we just keep moving forward, knowing that we have each other and as long as we keep a positive outlook everyday, we'll be fine!  I think a daily positive outlook is one of the main keys to a happy life.  Of course, some days make it very difficult to see any good through all the yucky, mucky, harsh realities... but every day is sooo worth it if we keep making a conscious decision to enjoy the all good, learn from and appreciate the bad, and be happy in our life!

The most wonderful husband ever, Julio,
with our two boys, Alexander & Christopher.