Excursion escolar

We had our first field trip with the homeschool group this week. We went to an apple orchard about 90 minutes away. A friends drove us in her van and the kids had a great time hanging out with her children during the drive, and she & I had time to chat most of the way there and back, which made for a pleasant trip.

JMC wasn't interested in the presentation about the apple orchard, but the tractor really caught his attention.

M&Ms to keep a 2 year old quiet. The tour lasted about an hour longer than we had anticipated and ran into his normal lunchtime.

We each got to choose a gourd to take home.

The boys on the wagon heading back for the rest of the tour.

Once the actual tour was over, we had a picnic lunch, and then got to explore. There were some farm animals, and a HUGE playground. JA & JT stayed within the fenced area, but were running from one place to another, so I didn't get many pictures of them playing. JMC stayed near me (or I should probably say I stayed near him) so I have a lot more pics of him enjoying the afternoon.

There were nearly 70 people from our homeschool group on this field trip, these are the friends we came with.

Trying to walk on the log like the big kids.

The only one not afraid of the goats.

We left at 8:30am and didn't get home until 5:00 in the afternoon, so the kids were exhausted. We ate dinner (I had some chicken ready to go in the crock pot) and then baths and bedtime. They laid down around 7:00 and didn't get up until 8:00 in the morning! If this place weren't so far away, I'd take them there all the time just for the long night of sleep! :)

See, I didn't lose her. :)

There was a store and JT wanted to buy some apple jelly. While we were looking for it amongst all the flavors, JA's tooth fell out. We found a napkin for her, and then found the apple jelly, along with cherry jam, rhubarb jam, and pumpkin butter. We also brought home some apple cider donuts to share with Papi.

It was a great time and I look forward to going again next year.

I almost forgot the best part - 2 other moms noticed that the kids are bilingual and were complimenting me and talking with me about it positively. Papi and I truly believe raising the kids to be bilingual is important, but I often hear more negative than positive from other people and it can bring me down a bit. Of course, Papi only hears positive responses to having bilingual children, but I think that's because having a 2nd language is a valued asset in the business world, and I just don't deal with business people on a regular basis.  Anyway, it was nice to get such a positive response to while on the field trip.

La bamba

Berrinches

Screaming, hitting, kicking, toys thrown across the room, drinks spilled on purpose, crying, disobeying, whining, punching, threatened biting, bullying, and bribery. I'm tired of it and it's all coming from 1 child at the moment. No, not "at the moment" because I think I could tolerate a moment of this. It's been going on for the past 6 weeks, and seems to be getting worse.

Why? In his words, because "I don't like it when I don't get what I want."

Oh, ok, so we'll all just do what he wants and the family will run smoothly, right? No, I don't think so. In fact, he's pretty low on the totem pole around here, so we need to figure this out.

Consequences? Well, so far he's lost various privileges for anywhere from a day to a month. There's a list on the calendar so I can keep it all straight. He's also had time outs (both the nice ones when he sits there somewhat calmly, and the not-so-nice ones when we have to hold him in time out like a toddler), been talked to calmly and not-so-calmly, prayed for and with, and missed out on fun family activities.

So far, I'm not seeing many results, and it's getting quite trying. I try so hard to keep my patience, but it is so very difficult. And, I hate feeling like we're walking on eggshells in our very own home. Really, we should be able to chill out and relax around here, not worry that there could be an explosion at any minute.

And that's truly what it's like. The tantrums are not directed at any one family member, but at all of us at different times.

A sibling won't share a toy? He explodes.
They won't play the game he wants in the way he wants? He explodes.
He doesn't like what is served for snack, breakfast, lunch; really any meal that is served? He explodes.

Then, this afternoon, when there were no more privileges to take away, when I was at my breaking point and was about to lose it and therefore hiding in my room, I heard him praying. Asking God to help him calm down. Earnestly asking for help with his temper. And when I came out of my room, he was sitting quietly and calmly on the couch. Thank you, God!

He's not prefect. Nor am I. And I don't expect this parenting thing to be easy by any means. (Just now he was screaming at his sister.) We just all need peace in our home again, and for now, I'll take it while he sleeps. Too bad he won't nap anymore...

And now, they are singing the books of the Old Testament together like the best of friends.

Keeping Busy

 Well, the school year is in full swing. We began awhile ago, adding a new subject each week, and are now doing pretty much everything. We have also begun soccer, AWANA, and our home-school group meetings. Papi will begin his pool league soon and has already begun helping out as an audio tech for our church. Children's choir begins in October, I think, and we decided to put off art class until 2nd semester. Here's a glimpse of our past couple of weeks:

Sorting shoes to practice classification.

It sounded a lot easier in our botany book!

Hey, as long as she practices math, right?

Writing letters in flour. We've tried it with salt with much better results.

A day at the zoo.

We have a field trip to the apple orchard coming up with the home-school group, and I believe there will be a different field trip each month. Add in the normal doctor & dentist appointments, and we are quite busy. I love it, but also relish those days that we have a blank space on the calendar.

School

We homeschool. It is a choice Papi & I have made for our family. Each family needs to decide what education model is best for their family, and often times for each individual child. And, those choices need to be made each year, on a year--to-year basis. This is not about what I think you should choose for your family (I don't know, you know your own children best), or even why we have chosen to homeschool our children (which I may choose to write about in the future, but not today), rather the fact that we homeschool is more like background knowledge needed for this post.

Typically, we school year round. That allows us the freedom to take breaks as needed, rather than when someone else thinks we should. This year, however, we never really picked things back up after we moved home. Of course, there is always reading going on (the kids completed the reading for 2 different library reading programs) and nature studies for all of the wonderful things they discover while playing outside, but we didn't get back to the directed lessons and seat-work. So, we decided that August 1st would be our start date. Now, that decision was made at the beginning of July, and several things have happened since then. I am going to physical therapy for my wrist (an injury I've had for - ugh! - 19 years!), the box clearly labelled "school stuff 2012-2013" has gone missing, among other things. So, tomorrow won't be the big start I had planned. Then, as I was beginning to show JA some of the things she would get to do this year for 2nd grade, she begged to begin today. So we began.

JA worked on a Formalibro from the Prensa Libre in Guatemala. They are the best little booklets that the newspaper publishes for grades K-6. We're grateful to family that saved a year's worth for us, and JA has enjoyed them immensely. JT and I painted with water outside on the driveway. We practiced letters, numbers, and even some words (he got ambitious and asked for a 3 syllable word) and had a great time. I'm glad because he has been concerned about beginning kindergarten. His concern is that he doesn't know as much as his sister, and it has been difficult for him to grasp the fact that she is 2 years older and didn't know all this stuff when she began kindergarten either.

Now, we have added in history, language, and math. JT has discovered that math isn't as scary as he thought, and he does indeed know enough to be in kindergarten. JA has learned that school work is, well, work, and it is not just going to disappear. We're still working on her understanding that though reading is wonderful, it can't be the only part of her school day. (Sound familiar to anyone who knew me 25 years ago?) We are also working on figuring out the routine for our day that works best for everyone. Right now, it seems that our seat-work is best accomplished while JMC naps.

Sunfish

Papi has begun something new this summer - he surprises us by coming home from work early. The first time, he took JT fishing and out for ice cream. The 2nd time, he took JA for her first golf lesson and fishing. Yesterday, he let me take a nap and then took us all fishing. JMC and I just observed - me as the official photographer & toddler wrangler. JA & JT were doing so well fishing, that Papi didn't even have time to put a worm on his hook! They were catching a fish as soon as their hooks were in the water, easily more than 10 fish each!

Learning how to hold the fish. She did not like it.

Showing off for the girls.

Throwing the fish back

The kids had to touch each little fish that was caught. They were all sunfish.

I gave up on the toddler wrangling.

After fishing, we got ice cream and fruit for the kids, and then headed home. It was a wonderful beginning to our weekend, and such a blessing that Papi surprised us with the weekend beginning early.

Playday

We are blessed to live within easy walking distance to 2 parks. It's been so hot out and we've been attempting potty training with JMC, so we haven't been to the park nearly as often as we all would like. This past week though, it wasn't quite as hot, so after breakfast, we walked to the red & blue park (about 6 blocks away.) It was great! The kids & I had a blast, and by the time we came home, they were hungry for lunch, and then everyone took a nap! We may have to make an effort to get to the park more often. :)

They found 2 crab-apple trees and had a blast collecting them. It was fun to watch them work together. (And it smelled like apple cider under the trees!)

There was a garden behind the park with lots of bright colored flowers, grasses, and even a statue.

They have been wanting to use their umbrellas. Well, it hasn't rained in ages, so they decided to use them as parasols.