Classroom Optional

"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn." - Albert Einstein

I'll be one of the first to admit that I don't always enjoy homeschooling my children. It's hard enough being a mother and running a household; add teaching into the mix and it can be exhausting at times and sheer maddening at others.

And yet, it fits our family and our lifestyle. It has been our savior more than once - such as when Jacob was diagnosed with cancer. We were able to work around his schedule and through his treatments. Jacob also has a speech delay and can be very hard to understand at times. His speech therapy (through therapy services) is helping him through this and with time it will be a past memory but at the tender age of six it could greatly impact him to be around teasing or having to be put in a special education class because of his lack of vocal skills, when his intellectual skills are not affected.

"Try not to have a good time ... This is supposed to be educational." - Charles Schulz

What works for us is to view life as a learning process. There are no set times in which to learn things and no set rules. Last year when Becca was having trouble with reading and math we took a small break. We started back at the beginning this year and she has absorbed everything like a sponge. Studies show that the ideal time to grasp reading skills is age 7 so I did not despair when she "didn't get it" earlier. She wasn't ready. Jacob, on the other hand, was pushing to start reading and is sailing through the book - every child is different. Homeschooling allows me to tailor the learning style for each of my children.

"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books." - John Lubbock

I believe that a child is naturally curious about the world around them and will naturally gravitate towards learning what they are interested in. While every child needs to know the basics I am happy to spend more time on math with one child and more time on science with another. Diversity is what makes the world go round and each person is just better and interested in different subjects. Jacob pours over history books with daddy and made a project for school about World War II, some of what he knew was more than I know about the war! Becca made a poster about breeds of dogs and their group and uses. She spent one summer outside nearly everyday with a bird guide book and would study the birds around our house and would fly around the yard pretending to be a bird. She was called "Nature Girl" by my family because whenever they saw her she was outside with the book in her hands. I let them focus on their interests and they learn much better in the process.

"We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a belly full of words and do not know a thing." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

So while I admit up above that I don't always enjoy the homeschooling aspect (just once in awhile it would be nice to send them away to have seven hours alone to myself and not have to be the mom, teacher, cook, PE instructor, music teacher, and principal!) I do love watching my children learn. Whether it is the excitement in their eyes as they pull their favorite book off the shelf, watching a child draw little maps for over an hour, seeing them search through each rock in the flower beds to find a fossil, helping them put pen to paper to write a letter, or seeing them read to their little brother on the couch - it is watching a love of learning blossom. We've all heard the expression "The world is your classroom"...I truly believe it.

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats

My point is not that a child can not get a good education in the public or private school setting...because they can. My point is that learning doesn't require a classroom.

" I have never let my schooling interfere with my education". - Mark Twain

Not Me! Monday Sicko Edition

I have not been sick for three weeks straight. It was not me who came down with a cold three days after arriving home from our vacation, only to have it linger for three weeks. I have not been tired, crabby, and totally not myself for the past three weeks. :(

While feeling so run down and sick I have not lightened my work load and taken it easier. There is no way that I got sucked into the show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and watched all the past episodes. Nope, not me at all!

My husband has not been prince charming throughout this all and has not let me have the evenings off and relax in bed with books or the tv. He has not brought me apple cider and tea in bed and run the household for an hour or two after working all day at work. I have not been feeling like the queen bee with all this lavish attention...nope, not me!

It's not me who is finally starting to feel better and now looks around at a house that needs A LOT of attention! I have not stripped all the beds, scrubbed down the bathroom, put loads of laundry away, cleaned out the bathroom shelves, totally organized the bedrooms since feeling better this weekend. I do not have a long list of what is yet to be done. Not Me!

It's Personal

I never intended to have a blog about a sick child. I never intended to have a sick child. It's the sort of thing that a person doesn't think about until they have children; it's the nightmare of all parents.

I know of several blogs of families dealing with a sick child, whether it be cancer or another illness. My blog started out as just another typical mommy blog with a touch of frugal-ness thrown in, the past year it also became a blog of a family going through the trenches of childhood cancer. And yet, there was so much that I didn't show, so much that I didn't share.

Some of the blogs that I've read dealing with an illness show everything: the good and the bad. There are loads of pictures in the hospital, during procedures, an open book. That works for those families.

For me, there were things that I couldn't blog about and things that I would rather forget. I didn't want it out there for the public to read/see, I didn't want Jacob to look back and remember those parts of the journey. Not that it was terribly gruesome, or horribly terrifying...it's just personal.

I'm sure others noticed the lack of mention of God in many of my posts. I suppose looking back this past year is one where I mention God the least. Not because I gave up or became less faithful, but because this journey was so personal that I couldn't put it into words. This past year has been a test to my faith but I can without a doubt say that my relationship with God is stronger now than it ever has been. And different. I no longer feel the need to point out the errors of others or to shout my faith from the rooftops. I realize that the greatest testament to my faith is with my own actions. This quote from St. Francis Assasi is one close to my heart: "Preach the gospel always; If necessary use words."

It's been a heck of a year, one I pray to never repeat. But deep within the trenches, there are blessings to be found. So while a journey may be so personal you need to shut your mind down for awhile, never shut your eyes or you may miss those little blessings within.

Not Me! Monday Spooky Edition

There is no way that I waited until today to throw together costumes for the kids for trick-or-treating. I'm not using the exact same costumes from last year when I know other mommy friends of mine plan months in advance to have coordinating costumes for their family.

I did not wait until today to shop for candy for handing out this evening, knowing that our family would not eat it if they found it it in the cupboards. I did not know that I had to save myself from the candy and thus wait just a few hours before trick-or-treating to buy it. I also do not know that there will be slim picking when I go to the store later today.

I do not hate carving pumpkins with the kids. It should be a fun activity but often mommy ends up doing it all as certain children don't want to stick their hands into a gooey mess. And yet, there is no a golden lining, as we do not all love, love, love roasted pumpkin seeds and look forward to that snack after pumpkin carving.

My daughter did not go to a haunted barn the other night with her aunts, uncles, and Grandpa. She did not clutch my sisters hand as they walked through it and scream "MOM!" as someone popped out to grab her. I did not find this extremely funny when she told me this later. I also did not laugh at the thought of my dad getting stuck in one of the tubes they had to crawl through when he tried to turn around in it! What kind of mom lets her 8 year old go to a haunted house?!

Clean Up in Aisle 6!

There is a reason that comedies such as "The Middle" are wildly popular. The situations are so grossly exaggerated and yet sometimes they end up being exactly like real life.

Take shopping with children, for instance. Unless you have them all strapped down in a cart (even then there would be something to complain about) or have a cattle prod for the ones on hoof foot things just never go as planned.

Yesterday we awoke to gloomy skies. A week of being cooped up together due to a nasty cold had left us feeling crabby, confined, and sick of each other. Matters were not helped when I opened my closet to search for an outfit for the cooler weather only to find myself flipping through everything I owned and hating it all. A year filled with stress has helped to expand my waistline a bit lot, making what little I liked not look good anymore. Needless to say, opening my closet only helped to make me more depressed.

So spur of the moment I decided to pack the kids into the car and head off on an impromptu trip to go shopping! I had my happy face on and I was bound and determined to make this a fun trip, even if it killed us!

My first clue that the day wasn't about to go as planned should have been when it took an hour to get everyone ready just to head out. One unnamed child didn't want to wear socks, trying to make their already stinky sneakers twice as funky. Another child couldn't find their hat. One child was standing at the door raring to go and was getting angrier by the second that the rest of us were taking so long.

Our first stop was McDonald's where I purchased everyone a kid's meal to start our fun day off right. Nothing like feeding the kids some poison for a few moments peace on the way there. Actually, you won't hear me complain about the kids in the van...they are actually quite good travelers and it is typically relaxing driving with them (no, really!).

Anyhow, our first stop was Target, where I was mainly looking for some stylish boots and kitchen towels. We picked out the cart with the little twin caboose on the back so that both Jacob and Joe could ride together. The peace lasted for 39 seconds before Jacob started to need to stretch his legs out of the caboose and put his feet directly in my path as I pushed the cart. I repeatedly stepped and stumbled on his feet before demanding that he put them back in. By that time, Joe had decided he was finished with riding and wanted out. And Becca then wanted in, which then made Joe want back in. Then Jacob decided he wanted out, but Joe didn't want Becca to sit by him...and on and on it went. The worst part is I couldn't find neither the boots, nor the kitchen towels I was hoping to find. We left quickly, empty handed.

Next was PetSmart for dog food. Hoping to get in and out quickly I made a run for the dog food aisle and quickly scanned the clearance shelf to see if there was anything we needed. We got through the store fairly unscathed, except for the part when Jacob and Becca fought over "which dog was theirs". See, they have this game which they play whenever they see a dog (whether we are driving past one, one is walking past our house, or they see a cute picture of one). Whoever says "I get that dog!" first when they see a dog "gets the dog" (to do what with, I'm not sure!). But often times they fight over who said it first, or will try to trade their previous dogs for this new one. It gets old pretty fast. They started the game up again in the store and started to bicker over who got what...I was quickly able to divert their attention to the cages of hamsters and make a run for the counter in order to check out and get out!

Next stop was Kohls, where I was admittedly hoping to find some clothes that I liked. Immediately upon entering the store Jacob suddenly became freakishly super sensitive to touch and shrieked every time Becca "accidentally" brushed against him...which seemed to happen all too often for it to be an "accident". I scoured the clearance racks hoping to find something that I liked. I came up with several dresses for next summer (as if those will help me now!) that I wanted to try on.

I positioned the stroller outside the dressing room and told Becca and Jacob to stay put and brought Joe in along with me. Bringing an overactive child into a tiny dressing room is not the brightest idea as he instantly tried opening the door again and again. While slamming my purse with a bit more force than necessary on the purse hook I somehow managed to shave a large piece of my thumb off on the sharp metal. So now I'm bleeding in the dressing room with a child who continues to try to get the door open with background sounds of a shrieking child because his sister is touching him! I somehow managed to stop the bleeding, try the clothes on, and get out of the store alive (with two new dresses and a pair of cotton capris for next summer...all for $17 since the items were 80-90% off!...but which still won't help with my plight for WINTER clothing now!).

By this time I'm exhausted and about to just drive home but it was a 45 minute drive to "the city" and I couldn't give up yet. We made one more stop which was at Old Navy. Somehow within minutes Joe is out of the stroller and instead pushing Jacob up and down the aisles. Seeing as how the store was deserted and the children were behaving I let this continue, affording me a bit of browsing time. All was well until Joe rammed Jacob's knee into the edge of a shelf and he let out a wail. At this point I bought the shirt I was holding (again, on clearance, which was an additional 30% off so I only paid $4.50!) and called it a day.

Our very last stop was Panera Bread where I grabbed a bakers dozen of Cinnamon Crunch bagels (heat these in the microwave for 35 seconds and you will be in HEAVEN...thanks to Jacki for getting me hooked on these 11 years ago!). I'll be honest and say I ate three of these after arriving home (within a couple hours time, mind you, it's not like I'm a pig or anything!) and while that won't help my ever increasing waistline, it did make me feel better. It doesn't really matter, because I didn't buy a single thing to put in my closet for this winter, so I may just have to eventually fashion a mu mu out of a bedsheet.

When I imagine it on an episode of "The Middle" it's hilarious. When it happens to me, it's called my life. If only the writers on that show paid me a little for some of our real life experiences...

Children of the Corn

Bliss

For those days when you are craving something divine...this is delicious!

Cherry Bliss Brownies

Brownie mix & ingredients listed on box

8 oz. softened cream cheese

5 T. butter, softened

1/3 c sugar

2 eggs

2 T. all-purpose flour

1/4 t. vanilla

21 oz. can cherry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl prepare brownies mix according to package directions. Spread batter in a 9x13' greased pan. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar. Beat in eggs, flour, and vanilla. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture over brownie batter in pan. Use knife to gently cut through batters to create a marble pattern.

Spoon pie filling over the top. bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before serving.