Is It Naptime Yet

There is an ice skating rink in town that does a Homeschool Friday for the first Friday of each month. It costs $5 per child to skate, they get a free hot chocolate, and parents get to skate free. I honestly avoided going for the first few times I had heard about it. I had only skated once in my life, on a a date, when I was in high school, over ten years ago.

It’s a funny story.

I had just gotten home from work and there was a knock on my door. Blake, a young man from my new ward, was at the door. My family had just moved in January and I think this was in May or late April 2001, my final year in high school. (I had flirted with him a little on a General Conference trip with our ward that April.) I open the door and he asks, “You wanna get in that there van with me?” (The way he asked was just hilarious.) Apparently, a few of the guys in my ward had decided to plan a group date that Friday while at school, and he had been calling me that afternoon, but I was not home, so they took a chance and appeared on my doorstep. I was still in a skirt from work, so I asked if I could change first, left a note for my parents that I would be out on a date and with whom, and got in the van. We ate Sonic for dinner and went ice skating. I ended up holding his hand the entire time to keep my balance, and the other two couples speculated about it. It was the only date we went on because summer quickly approached, I went to the singles ward, and when he called me that Fall to go out again, I was already engaged to be Mrs. Jonathan Blake.
Moral of the story: Ice skating is an awesome date to go on if the other person has never been. You might get to hold their hand the entire time.

So back to avoiding ice skating. Since I had only been once in my life, I wasn’t really wanting to take the girls. I’m not an athletic person and I have terrible balance. For the March skating day I decided to take the girls since our park group would be there, and I really did not want to skate. Once there I found out the other parents were going skating, and I was really nervous. Tears welled up in my eyes and my friend Laura noticed. She gave me comfort that I could take it easy and use a trainer, which I did. Eden was kinda my cover, since I tagged along with her at first. Eventually I decided it would be not fun skating hunched over, so I made Eden go out on her own a little. It was hard for her at first, but once Eden got the hang of it, she was very pleased with herself. Lilah used the trainer for part of the time, but started using the wall and going out on her own pretty early. At one point her friend Shelby took her hand and they skated together.
Laura also helped me, and held my hand for a few times around the rink to give me confidence.

So ice skating was a big hit in March, but I forgot to take my camera.

So for the skate day in April, we went once more and I brought my camera along. We all did much better, though none of our friends were there this time. Eden even tried skating by herself while holding onto the wall and with my help. Towards the end I took a terrible fall, straight to my knees, and took Eden down with me. I had a huge bruise on my left knee, and even though it’s mostly yellow now and not noticeable, my knee hurts if I put too much weight on it when kneeling or sit Indian style.

I remembered the camera the second time around and took some pictures of my cute ice skaters.

Way back in October, well I think it was October, we visited Roo’s N More Zoo in Moapa, Nevada. We went there in April this year too, or somewhere around that time, but I never got around to posting pictures from that visit.

Jon had taken the originally scheduled day off of work so he could go, but then it rained all day and night, and even the morning of, so our group had to postpone our trip. Since we rescheduled it to the following week, he wasn’t able to go. For the day we were suppose to go, we decided to go bowling, and I got the lowest score. Apparently I should use the bumpers too. Jon did alright, but I bowled pitifully.

I was going to do a quick blog of what we did in October, but there were just too many cute pictures, so I decided I’d just get on the ball and overwhelm my reader(s) with a post a day while I play catch up. So here’s to hoping I can get the other needed posts out of the way over the next few days.

Lilah was willing to hold any animal she could get her hands on.
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While Eden mostly kept her distance but did pet a few of the animals.
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A fun and very slow sloth.
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Petting the sloth.
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The baby otter kissing and making noises in Lilah’s ear.
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The super cute baby African porcupine.
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Lilah took this picture of me holding the baby otter.
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A baby kangaroo in a mommy’s pouch. I think it had only been born a week or so before.
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Eden petting a 3 1/2 legged desert tortoise.
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The monkey eating Lilah’s hair.
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Gotta love that smile.
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Eden didn’t want to hold the monkey by herself, so I made her tag along while I played with the monkey.
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The monkey also liked my camera case.
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Why yes, that is a python wrapping itself around my daughter’s waist.
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See, it’s not that big of a snake, and no, I did not hold or touch it.
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The girls with the kangaroo sculpture.

Wednesday is my day off, that was until I registered Eden into a dance class and until I had to go shopping for costume stuff, but before that it was my day off from running errands and going places. It was the day the girls and I stayed home and did things around the house, the day we might actually get some school work done and the day I didn’t have to shower or leave my house.

Today I realized I really like having Wednesdays off.

I was going to go to the park today, but the rain kept me home. I was suppose to take Eden to her dance class, but I forgot until I looked at the clock at 11:26 and realized it had started 11 minutes earlier, because I had been so preoccupied that morning trying to find a 2′ x 3′ magnetic white erase board that didn’t cost tons of money, and would ship in 1-2 days, rather than 1-2 months.

So instead of being busy outside of the house, we were busy inside the house.

The girls did some school stuff while I did some searching on the internet.
I did the dishes and actually started the dishwasher.
I read the girls books and Lilah wrote two really long stories in her creative writing book.
I baked some frozen cookie dough for a treat, and Eden reminded me this was “no treats” week.
We played math Bingo.
We got rid of some old art projects and hung up some new ones.
Lilah vacuumed the floor for me.

Now we’re relaxing for just a moment before I have to go help my MIL get her car from the shop. Then hopefully I can get home early enough to cook a home-made meal and we can enjoy some corn on the cob with our dinner.

I really like my day off. I’ve got to make sure I get one of these days at least once a week. It helps me feel accomplished and ready to do more, rather than be stressed about the mess or all the chaos that is life.

We all have our little bit of craziness that we deal with, I’m right in the thick of it for me, the funny thing is I’m finally motivated and doing things, even though I have a looming deadline and not enough hours in the day.

Since life was so crazy over the summer, and during the play, I was really ready to not do anything, and I almost did not do the homeschooling co-op. I got my brain together and figured it was for the best, so I decided to sign up and continue to have it has a part of our homeschooling journey. Well, I asked if there was anything I could do to help, since I know the whole preparation part can be hard, and they asked me to help our treasurer, since she had a premature baby over the summer and though he was home, was quite overwhelmed with regular life and now constant doctors appointments. I pretty much organized all the information, and am acting as treasurer. I like it because now I only have to teach for one hour on Mondays, but it’s also settled me into a very permanent role, though I could leave if it became overwhelming. I’m now in the inner circle of the co-op and get to help with making decisions and knowing what’s going on. It’s been interesting and I really feel I’m learning and growing.

Besides co-op I’ve been taking a once a week choir class. It’s been lots of fun and I feel it’s helping me gain some confidence in my ability to find parts and sing. I have a lot to learn still, but I love the choral music we sing and being a part of something. The choir class is really so I can get more confidence for the plays, and soon we’ll be starting meetings for choosing the director and getting the ball rolling for the next play. It’s crazy to think we’ll soon be starting all over again!

My main focus right now is sewing though. I started Sew Lacey, which don’t bother going to the link since I haven’t touched it since January, last year and participated in a craft fair out of a woman’s house. That time of year has rolled around again, and I decided I wanted to participate once more, only I forgot about it till she called me and only have a week and a have to get ready, since I had to finish the girls costumes and help her with set up. I want to do it because I have tons of fabric for bags, and when people see and hold the bags, they’ve been inclined to buy them. I’ve also decided to add hooded towels and burp clothes to the mix, with a possibility of nursing covers too. We’ll see how much time I have next week, since that’s all I have before set up begins and then I’ll need to devote some time to making chocolate covered popcorn for it also, since that’s a big hit and I want to try selling that too. So I have lots of projects to do and very little time.

And Wednesday I decided to clean and organize my house because it was pretty crazy, but more importantly I needed to get all my material in one place and bring some order to my chaos. I hate to start creating in chaos, but don’t mind the mess along the way. Like I’ll clean my kitchen and do dishes so I can bake, though this is something I have to do with how small our kitchen is. I had to clean and get my room into a little more order so I could sew, but really have space for a drying rack for the fabric.

Yeah, I have tons to do. I need to prepare a lesson for Sunday, a lesson for Eden’s class on Monday, finish Lilah’s costume so we can go to the Haunted Harvest, cut out and sew 6-8 bags, make hooded towels, burp clothes, prepare another lesson, make chocolate covered popcorn and get ready for a craft fair, all in two weeks, plus have family time and regular house duties.

It makes perfect sense that I’m blogging. Yeah, this is me and my craziness.

…Really we began school in July because I was on a long hiatus. Really long, like 6 months of no “schooling”. Of course my girls still learned and we still did things. The co-op was still taking place, we’d go to Science Saturday, then there was the play, and for the record I stopped schooling before the play because of various reasons, but was not able to start again till July, for various reasons. Now we have more of a plan, Jon and I discuss weekly what’s going on, and I’m mentally able to handle it, most days. I have a schedule I’m sticking to for schooling every day and Lilah is coming to terms with what is expected of her for school. My patience is still low some days, but we’re trying to work together in a more harmonious manner.

Since I haven’t watched a lot of TV lately, Netflix instant play is awesome with our Wii, I don’t see a lot of the commercials, but I know there is one commercial that use to play. It’s a Staple’s one where you hear “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” playing in the background and the father is going back and forth gleefully in the isles and then they show the kids, the two teenagers, who are sad and somewhat shocked at their fathers embarrassing behavior. It’s about how wonderful it is to have the kids back in school. I haven’t said this to many, but that commercial really annoys me. I know it’s just an exaggeration, but I feel it shows that families don’t have harmonious relationships, and parents are really happy to pawn their children off to other people for 6 hours a day. I know that’s not true for all, and I am exaggerating feelings, but I feel it perpetuates the thought that parents don’t want to spend time with their children and are happy to be free of them for most of the day. Really I wouldn’t mind being free of my children some days, but I’ve chosen to homeschool so being with them is just a part of it.

The first comment out of most people’s mouths when I tell them we homeschool is they don’t have the patience. The thought of spending everyday, day in and day out is tiresome, and then you have to teach your children on top of that. It’s exhausting and for 6 months I didn’t have the patience to homeschool, but as OMSH wrote for Pioneer Woman’s homeschooling blog, parents, just as teachers, have days where they don’t have patience. (It really is a good read, so please read it if you can. My off days just lasted for a really long time.)

For those 6 months I didn’t homeschool because the thought of it drove me up the wall. Even now, it is somewhat daunting, but I’m doing it and for the most part enjoying it.

For 6 months I just let go of any expectations I held of what I should be doing with my girls and did whatever the heck we wanted. Right now their days are filled with lots of playing, some TV, some formal schooling, and a little bit of house chores.

Really, I love spending and having my girls with me each and every day. Overall I get a long really well with them, which is not something every parent has. There are days where I really want to get away or I wish I could be like other moms and not have kids with me all day so we could do things alone, but I have my girls and friends know we’re a packaged deal. Jon also lets me have time to myself, in fact, I begin a choir class this week at CSN. I’m taking it so I can work on my singing ability, but it’s also a weekly getaway from my girls.

I’m hoping to get better at this school thing and I’m happy my girls have the patience to put up with this mama/ mentor.

School has begun, but learning never ceases.

Not much.

Really? You haven’t been extremely busy and not at your house a lot.

Well, I have been busy but it just seems like a blur. Like we’re living life, but I haven’t got the foggiest clue what we’ve done.

I think Jon’s car was in the shop last week. Yes, yes it was, and luckily it only cost around $250 and not the annual $900 or more. We took it in Monday and got it back Tuesday afternoon. Since life was so crazy we went to China-A-Go-Go Monday night, to celebrate the new position, and to have dinner and left overs for other nights of the week. It worked out that we ate them Tuesday after Eden’s dance class. She doesn’t want to do this last session for some reason, and having me go watch her is what she now wants. Wow, how her attitude has changed. She likes class, for the most part, and she wants me to go watch her.

Wednesday is a total blur. I’m pretty sure I went to Trader Joe’s sometime last week, but I’m not sure and it would have been Wednesday if any day.

Thursday was Earth Day so we went to UNLV for some events, but it got rained out. We then went to the Barrick Museum for some Bring Your Child to Work Day activities, but all the elementary kids were there since the rain was to heavy to be outside for the Earth Day activities. It was pretty crazy, but eventually the girls got to paint a picture and have some fun. Then more errands and back home.

Friday we went to the park with the homeschooling co-op. We’d been doing things all week, but the girls hadn’t really gotten to be outside and see any friends. I think I also thought it would be nice to go hang out with some of the other moms. We had a wonderful afternoon at the park and my sister Carolyn stopped by since it was so close to her work.

Saturday was rehearsal. I actually took Eden with me so Jon could go on his date with Lilah. She wanted to go to the Springs Preserve, and the earlier the better since it’s getting warm, for the most part. Eden was so well behaved and just sat quietly and watched us dance, or did her own thing. I completely forgot about her at times and everyone was so impressed with her.

Sunday was church and Family Home Evening with my family.
Monday we saw Oceans with the co-op and fed the homeless with Carolyn and her work.

Now I’m going to be neglecting the girls so I can start sewing for the play.

So I guess we are pretty busy in the Blake house. I hope to remember to do fun things with the girls so they don’t go completely stir crazy.

So what have you been up to?

I recently put this up on Facebook:

When people ask me about homeschooling and I haven’t done anything, I feel guilty. Then someone asks a question about dung beetles and my daughter knows the answer and I feel better because I know she’s learning, just in a less conventional way. Learning is a way of life and growth, not just something you go to school for.

So a couple things brought on this comment.

Yesterday my mother-in-law asked me about homeschooling and I didn’t have much to say because I haven’t been homeschooling the girls. We’ve been having fun at co-op, park days, running errands, them playing while I try to keep the house from falling apart, which isn’t going to well if you were to visit us, and doing laundry at my parent’s house on Wednesdays because my washer broke two weeks ago and we’re waiting on the parts.

So their formal homeschooling is pretty non-existent right now, and a lot has to do with how busy we are, and when I’ve mentioned it, the girls have not wanted to do it, so I don’t because I don’t want to fight over homeschooling. I figure they’re little, they know things, and when they get older so much more will be expected from them, why not let them be kids?

I know I’m busy and I know I need to be better about having our more formal sessions, but I really want school to be enjoyable for them, and at times when we were doing the formal schooling it was not enjoyable and that is one of the reasons I’m not forcing it at this time. Instead, we learn in ways that are more enjoyable for them. Watching Nova and Nature, letting them read all the books they want and reading to them, getting Eden a new set of Bob Books to conquer, going on hikes and reading the signs to them, going to museums and reading the signs to them there, and just discussing things in an informal matter while laying in bed. (Our geography discussions are usually done in my room after cuddling since the map is on our wall. )

The second part of my status came from an experience we had at Science Saturday, only it was Science Sunday, since it was a Daddy Sunday today and we went this afternoon after I was home from church.

They were learning about scarab beetles and the worker talked about scarab beetles being dung beetles and asked if anyone knew about dung beetles. Lilah raises her hand and tells what she knows about dung beetles.

“Dung beetles roll big balls of poop and then the lay their eggs in them and the eggs hatch and come out of the poop.”

It was exactly the answer the worker was looking for, since we were discussing why Ancient Egyptians somewhat worshiped the scarab beetles.

I know I worry about how others perceive me teaching my children. If they were going to public school, I could blame the school for not teaching them this or that, but I’m the teacher so the only one to blame is me and Jonathan, but mostly me.

People can easily interpret me as a lazy homeschooler.

I teach when it’s easy and don’t make the time I should and I know that and I feel a little guilty, but in the end I’m trying not to feel guilty about what I do or do not teach my children and how I do it. I am a lazy homeschooler, but I am not a lazy mother and I am not a lazy opportunity maker for my children to learn and grow on their own.

They’re smart little people. I’m told this all the time by those who are around them and how “good I’m doing”, but it’s them.

It’s all them.

Recently a thread was started in my uschooling group about Obama wanting to add more time to the school day and school year. I whole heartedly disagree with this, but that’s also why I homeschool.

The thread got sidetracked at one point and one of the members mentioned the ads for Obama wanting mothers to get an education.

Have you noticed all the ads going around about encouraging moms to go back to school and get a degree? The government will take care of the kids! Have they lost the “strong families make strong countries”?
“Dr. X.” – insert name here, PhD/ND-CTN/CBT
Doctor in Natural and Holistic Health – Quantum Naturopathy / EFT-BSFF /EPFX-QXCI

Being a homeschooling mom with a degree I couldn’t help but respond. I’ve just posted so the discussion is just getting started. I also think it’s interesting that someone with a PhD, or some sort of education in her field, is so against educating mothers.

I’m not going to use quotes for the following because they’re kinda long. I’m also not going to post all the discussion, but just some that I think are valid.

My response:

My response to encouraging moms to go to school.

I think higher education is something to be valued. Education should be valued, and things taught in a college setting are not always easily acquired in the real world and through life learning, though with my degree you could learn a lot in real life and just through text books.

I know the ads are there to encourage people to get a degree so they can work and pay more taxes, but I think they’re really trying to help families who are in lower incomes so they can get a degree and pull themselves up from poverty.

I hope we can all agree that those in poor circumstance who rely heavily upon the government would be better off if they were able to provide for their own families. Most who rely on the government for food and assistance already have their children in the public education system and taking them out is not an option. If they become educated then it helps their children to value education by mere example and it’s shown that children with mothers who have a degree are more likely to get a degree, and then you have a generation who is more capable to take charge of their child’s education and teach from home. I know education does not equal wealth and there are many occupations where a higher education is not needed, and that is fine, but their target audience is not people who are able to make it on their own, but those who are using help and already rely on the government.

I have a degree yet I stay home and teach my children. Having a degree doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to abandon your children to the public education system. It’s about enriching your life and learning more. I also am not alone in having a degree and being a stay at home mom and homeschooling mother.

I know have have a more traditional view towards homeschooling than others in the group, but we’re still trying to instil an ‘always learning’ type thinking, one area I think we agree on.

Thanks,
Lacey

A response from Ms. A:

I’ve been sitting at the computer a lot lately, hoping there was something interesting to read, but mostly the blogs trickle in and Facebook only amuses for so long. Then I thought, hey why don’t I write something since I haven’t really written about what’s going on in our life lately. Not that it will be super interesting, but at least it’s then documented.

The top priority is homeschooling. It encompasses so much, but at the same time it does not fill a lot of our time. I’ve been mostly good about homeschooling on the days I’ve had planned, but I have had hang ups when we’ve been sick, or when I get the drive to do something other than home school. Like Friday I had to make strawberries as a thank you to the family who let us use their house for Eden’s party. I had yet to do something for them because they were out of town the Friday I made them for Jon’s co-workers. So instead of home school we gave thanks to someone for their kindness, even if the girls may not have gotten that’s what we were doing with all the running around to buy strawberries, toothpicks and boxes to put the berries in. Then they each got $1 while there just for the heck of it from Carolyn’s boss.  I saw it as an off day, but I just shrug it off. I’m still getting into formally homeschooling a few days a week and baby steps is all I have planned. I know that I’m still doing better than what I did last year and I know I’m seeing progress. (Eden’s read the first 5 Bob books of the first set and Lilah is trying to improve her spelling skills all on her own, even if she doesn’t like the actual act of writing too much.)

I admit I’m still easing into the fact that four out of the five days of my week I’m devoted to school. I can run errands or make appointments for the mornings, but overall I try to just stay home ’cause it’s easier that way.

I’m also having a hard time with being home and not wanting to clean more than I have to. I’m hitting a wall in a few areas of my life. I want a clean organized home, but I don’t want to put forth the effort. I want to lose just a little bit of weight but I don’t want to work out or stop eating sweets. I want things to occupy my time, but I find little that interests me.

I’m just in one of my slumps, but it’s not a complete slump. I still feel good about homeschooling the girls and I still want to do things, I just don’t want to do everything and for some reason I just want to veg at night and not sew even if a really cute apron is just waiting to be cut out and sewn and a couple of bags.

I suppose home school is seen more as a necessity to me right now, kinda like the dishes. I have to have something to eat off of or cook with and I have to home school my children. It’s what I’m suppose to do to have my house run on the bare minimum.

It’s strange how you don’t realize you have a problem or are feeling a little less yourself until your write about it or talk to someone. I suppose I knew I was avoiding things, but at the same time, my avoidance is so second nature that it seems normal. I’m either too busy to do something or I’m avoiding it. The too busy times makes the things I’m neglecting normal to avoid, if that makes sense.

I wish there was some answer for continual motivation, or maybe a pill. I’d definitely buy that.

A while back a friend from one of my home schooling groups mentioned a co-op she’s a part of. I decided to look it up and it looked rather interesting, so we’re giving it a try and today was the first day.

Each mom is suppose to volunteer about two hours during the day, or 4 classes. I’m assisting in two of Lilah’s classes and one of Eden’s and teaching one of Eden’s classes.  Lilah will be learning how to play the recorder so this will be a lesson on patience for me. Lilah’s classes are Book Club,  Art, Recorder, and P.E. They also teach Zoology, but since this particular class is based on creationism we’ve taken her out of that class and instead she joins the other group her age and takes Recitation.

Eden has Art, Storytime/lesson, which I teach, Snack, Recitaton and free play, but one of the moms is looking at doing a P.E. type class for that age group because the nursery is rather small and it gets rather loud when we’re in there with the other littler kids during free play.

Their age group is there for just the first half of the day, whereas they have the older groups there till four. Some of those classes include Latin, Spanish, Chemistry, Free reading and Art, among other things.  They also have a paid Orchestra and Choir instructor come in to teach, though that costs those parents a little extra.

Everyone pays a small fee since we have the co-op at a private school and need to pay rent. They don’t use the building on Mondays so it works well for us.

Lilah seemed to really enjoy today. There are a lot of boys in her age group, but that doesn’t faze her. Eden was very quiet and very reserved, especially when I was the teacher. I’m hoping she gets over this as time goes on, but only time will tell.

As I was talking with my MIL this afternoon about home schooling one of her primary concerns was socialization, which is most people’s concern. She related a story of a family who had their children go to school for just the P.E. portion. One of their children was painfully shy and wouldn’t even look other children or adults in the eye. All of a sudden I had a realization and shared it with her.

We diagnose adults with social anxiety, why can’t children have that too? Who’s to say he’s painfully shy just because he’s home schooled? A child can be painfully shy even while attending public school, they just have to deal with it on a daily basis, and the parents can say they’re just shy and no one thinks twice, but if you have a shy child that is home schooled they’re shy because they’re home schooled.  Recently someone told us about their painfully shy child and only recently while he’s been tutoring other children in math has he become more interactive with others, and he’s in public school.

I guess I worry about this because Eden has a tendency to be very shy with other people and even when I’m around, I dare say she’s even shyer when I’m around. I wouldn’t home school her just because she’s shy, but I know that she’s more interactive with me at home, one on one, then she is in a classroom setting. I hope she grows out of this, but I also hope other people can respect my decision to home school my child and not blame any anti-social behavior on the fact that they are home schooled. They may not be spending 6 hours a day with other peers, buy we do try to have them in social settings with other children and people, because I want my girls to relate to people, not just their peers.  Eden might “grow out of it” sooner if in a public school setting, but as a parent I don’t really care how fast she grows out of it. My goal is to create an enriching environment where my children can be themselves and to bring them to other environments where they have me to lean on and where they don’t. As time goes on I hope she doesn’t avoid situations just because she’s shy, but I can encourage her to try new things and overcome it. Right now I love her and her shy ways and hope she knows I don’t want her to be anyone but herself.