homeschool

Buddy started his second year of homeschool this year.  So far, homeschooling has been nothing like I expected, but it's much better than we could have imagined. 

I have become more open to long term home school.  I have seen too many amazing families with kids that homeschooled right on up until college to be afraid of it.  And it works well with our family.  It gives me some freedom.  I still think we'll pray about each year, but for now, it's what we're doing.  It's not what I envisioned myself doing 7 years ago while holding my little Buddy in my arms, but I don't think I was ever opposed to the idea. But it definitely took some prodding from the Lord to encourage me to seek his direction for our children's education.

We're using a mixture of Sonlight, Math-U-See, Awana- Sparks, A Reason for Handwriting, Explode the Code, First Language Lessons, and a ton of other books.  Because Nugget participates on the days he isn't at preschool, I chose some book lists that are geared for younger kids....around a PreK-K level.  But with Buddy in 1st grade, we've almost read all of them (and many others.)  So, we may move on to the next level after the holidays.  I think my planning was sound, but Buddy loves for me to read to him, so we've read just about all of the entire year's material!

Sandman and I have been encouraged by a number of homeschooling families to come up with a list of written reasons why we have chosen to homeschool. It comes in handy when talking with naysayers....or just on those days where I am ready to ship everyone off on a bus IMMEDIATELY. We're still working on that written list, but honestly, I don't think the list would be the same today as it might have been a few years ago when we started seriously considering this option for our boys' education.

And if we were not homeschooling, we'd miss out on some of these opportunities:

Both boys riding. Sandman coaching Nugget.

 

 

Helmets on. Ready to go. 

 

 

Post-ride doggy-lovin'

 

A "reward" ride on the atv as a positive consequence for a good lesson learned. Having the ability to learn genuine life lessons is a huge blessing to homeschooling. He can't get this stuff elsewhere.

 

Town ruins at Sugarite Canyon. Homeschoolers can have lots of field trips, and we absolutely take advantage of camping trips and other experiences to learn more about history, ecology, astronomy, biology, etc....the list is infinite! 

 

 

 

Maybe someday I'll get around to finishing that list of reasons, but until then, we know God led us here, and we're reaping blessings from it already. I can't imagine not having our family together these days. I can't imagine anyone other than Sandman or me being the biggest influences on our children. I can't imagine not tailoring Buddy's education to his specific and lengthy list of needs. We are our children's biggest advocates. We know them deeply. And yes, there's a great element of trust involved, and there are also many days where I feel totally inadequate and incapable of teaching them. But my God has given me His strength and courage, and I choose to be faithful to Him. 

futbol

This was Buddy's fifth soccer season and Nugget's third time around.  We were hoping for an improvement in the league....we had a rather unfortunate experience this past spring, but the boys enjoyed themselves and remained mostly oblivious to what was going on.

The boys attended soccer camp this summer with one of Ben's teammates, and this boy's dad was their coach.  Good people....they are why we decided to give the league another shot before defecting to the other league in town...the one that's known for being more competitive.

Both boys had great seasons, and I have no idea how their teams finished, but they had a blast.

Buddy, center, with Angry Birds hat

Buddy as keeper...his favorite position

 

Nugget is #4. (And all of his pics were taken by Buddy, so, well, you know how that goes.)

 

 

Selfie.

 

My big little Nugget



In this one, you can see two-thirds of Sandman. He filled in as coach for most of the games, as the league was terribly understaffed, and the team's coach had to referee games for older divisions most of the time. 

house on wheels

Well, not really.  It's no secret that our family has loved camping over the last few years.  We have been fortunate to live in places where camping is easy and accessible, and we love embracing adventure each trip. 

Here in New Mexico, the wind comes whistlin' down the plains quite fiercely.  Last summer, our beloved tent took a beating, and the wind snapped one of the tent poles.  That tent had been through so much....we initially bought it because Nugget's pack'n'play would fit on one side, as well as a KING size air mattress--  who doesn't take their 2 year old and 6 month old camping??!  But it has been the perfect tent.

After renting some pop-up campers from the base's outdoor recreation department, we decided to look into purchasing our own camper....the wind and the cold pose a greater threat here than our balmy Florida climate, and while it wasn't expensive to rent, it made more sense to find something moderately priced and used.  It took months of praying and looking and emailing and praying, but we found the perfect set-up for our (hopefully) growing family.

We picked it up on a Thursday afternoon from a lovely family in Lubbock, and that weekend, we set out for northern New Mexico.

Here's our new setup!  I'll get some better pics the next time we take it camping.

As you can see, we always pick the best weekends to go camping.  We had snow the first night, and we woke up to ice and sleet all over everything.

 Exploring near our site.

 Hot chocolate in the camper.  For those of you who know us well, do you recognize the bright and green and red blobs behind Nugget's head?  We never leave home without them!

 We drove across the border into Colorado and stopped to admire the mountains and colors.

 We found another campground in Colorado, and I know we'll be back to camp there!

 Mule deer were out and in abundance.....

...as were the wild turkeys.  These guys were EVERYWHERE.

 And we saw a BEAR!!!

 Practicing his ninja skills....

These red rocks are somewhere between home and the campsite.  Just gorgeous.

 

Needless to say, we love camping.  It's such an escape for our family. 

 

 

....and that isn't a bear, but did I fool you?  We sure thought it was on a first glance.

 

 

....

apple-ker-key

Sandman had a four day weekend over the Labor Day holiday, so we headed over to Albuquerque!  Until recently, one of the boys used this pronunciation.  Super cute, but as with most cute-kiddo-speak, it's been replaced with the correct name now.

We really enjoy the mountains there.  And that it's not flat in every direction.  And that you can see mountains. 

 Buddy and Sandman know just how to freak me out....take pictures near the edge.  Or 15 feet from the edge....we were so not going to fall.  I'm going to be a mess when we finally take that trip to the Grand Canyon.

 

We've been to the Sandia Mountains a few times now, but this was the first time there wasn't any snow!  We took advantage of being able to hike some trails without needing skis.

 

 

He claims he wasn't nervous.....

 Love my boys!

 

We visited the zoo twice and toured the aquarium again.  The ABQ zoo is one of our favorites...lots of wonderful exhibits and a great train ride.  The boys also experienced their first baseball game!  We watched the Albuquerque Isotopes and enjoyed fireworks after the game.  If anything, our little trip was a great escape after a crazy summer.  We wouldn't mind pcs'ing to ABQ someday!

first day of school

Yesterday, we started our 2012-2013 school year! 

Buddy is in the first grade and was on his way to a horse lesson, and Nugget is in pre-K at our sweet little preschool down the street. 

our summer picture overload

I had plans for continuing our homeschooling into the summer.  It was mostly going to be reading books together with some writing and other activities thrown in for good measure.  It turned into just reading, but I think we all enjoyed the break.

Sandman also had some serious work commitments, so we used our weekends to squeeze in as much family time as we could.  The boys went to there first rodeo where Ben tried Mutton' Bustin'.  We had a visit from Nanni.  Buddy lost his first tooth.  The boys got new-to-them bunks.  Buddy continued his horsebackriding.  We went camping.  Both boys had a soccer camp.  I got to visit some good friends.  Most of our days were spent at home, especially when the summer heat and sun were unbearable.  We ended our summer with a trip to Houston that was a mess schedule-wise, but we made lemonade out of lemons.  Be patient with the wonky pics....still working....

pre-rodeo excitement

watermelon fun!

Nanni brought some old Star Wars toys!







Father's Day Lunch with Mister "I won't perform for you."











unless we play rock, paper, scissors....







Nugget's New Nest

Buddy's Big Boy Bunk





Summer ride on Shorty



Where's Nanni?

We had to wear sweatshirts on the 4th of July!

British Soccer Camp

Prairie Dog Town

 

NASA!  Buddy was in awe of the Saturn V rocket

As much as I love a good break, I am craving a legitimate routine.  We start school on Monday, and I know it will be work to get us all back into the swing of things, but I know the boys will appreciate the routine, too.  Nugget will start preK in the same preschool he attended last spring.  He'll be there three mornings each week, and we love his little school.  Buddy starts 1st grade and will continue horsebackriding as a part of his school day once a week.  We are toying with him riding twice a week, and I've given myself two weeks to see how things go, but I imagine we'll go back to once a week.  We have chosen to not praticipate in this semester's homeschool co-op group, even though it's only once a week for 8 weeks.  I have gone back and forth on that decision, but ultimately, it means that four mornings each week we're up and out, and three is hard enough.  We will wait and see how things go for the spring co-op.  I imagine that this co-op will be more valuable when the boys are a bit older.