Fun Reflection Friday...

Maguillacutty's biggest concern with homeschooling is that she would miss out on "Fun Friday" - something she had every Friday in preschool.  I told her that Fun Friday is only something they have in preschool and even if she went to public school - she would no longer have "Fun Friday"...but I told her the cool thing about homeschooling is that we can still have it! She was pumped...so today was our first attempt at it...and I thought I was gonna have to have a drink with my lunch.

We were invited to a wonderful Cinderella play at the Shakespeare Festival at DeSales University with some friends...all 3 girls loved it...I laughed out loud at some parts. It was really fantastic - they did a great job of drawing the kids in while throwing out some adult humor and songs.  We got all the actors and actresses autographs afterwards - Foo Young screamed at the Stepmother (who, by they way, was really a man)...but other than that, Foo loved handing her paper to everyone...she had no idea what was going on really...just following the others...it was cute and I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

Getting the Prince & Cinderella's autographs...

 Afterwards, we headed out to a pizza place for lunch with our friends....this is where the crap started to hit the fan - they finished their food and while myself and my mom friend tried to have a conversation about life...they kids were out of control...at one point, I looked behind me to see my 2 oldest sitting on top of a table....I thought my head was gonna explode.  Luckily, we were in the back room and no one else was sitting there - all other customers were in the front section of the restaurant. But, seriously - there must have been crack in the food....running circles, screaming and no one listening to me.  I felt like I had absolutely no control - instead of trying to continue to talk to my friend- we just packed them up and said goodbye...it was as if they had never been in a restaurant before.  And I was so upset that they would do that after such a wonderful time at the play....something we don't do a lot....something so special.  Anyway...we got home and to rest time it was...for all 3 of them...they got it too - the older two knew I was upset because they apologized. 

Then at VBS...I volunteered tonight in Whippersnappers class - it was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed having some one on one time with her.  But, I took notice to other kids acting out and just running around and their parents being present and allowing it to happen...and then Whippersnapper just crashed around 8:10pm...I couldn't get her out of the funk and I wasn't going to allow her to ruin the remainder of VBS for the others...so once again - I packed it up and we left 15 min early - I told her in the car, you can't act like that and expect to be able to stay and participate.
But, it started to make me think and question my parenting.  Am I too hard on my kids?  Do I have too high expectations for a 2, 4, and 5 year old. Am I too strict when it comes to how they act and with what/how I feed them?  And after really "reflecting" and talking to the husband tonight - we agreed...NO WAY! We do not want our kids to think that the world revolves around them...we do not want to coddle them...we want them to fail and fall and then figure out how to get back up and succeed - on their own.  We want them to be independent strong minded women - who aren't afraid of taking the hard route...because life is hard and full of challenges.  I don't want them to ever think "if I can't do this...I know Mom and Dad will help me" - no way - we love them too much and I hope that one day they understand that...I'm sure they will after years of hating us. But I guess - that's just me and the hubs taking the hard route...because it's the right one...in our opinion.

I can do this....maybe, possibly, probably....

Yes...I'm starting to believe in myself a bit more and feel like yeah...i can do this...I can educate my kids.
We went with the flow today - total change to schedule.  Hubs was home for about 12 hours...came home while we were all sleeping and had to leave again at 11:30am.  The girls were so excited to see him - my heart told me to let school go for the morning...my mind was saying "NOOOO...it's only the second week...you can't veer off the schedule yet...it's too soon!!!  But...I went with my heart and I decided to push it off till the afternoon.  And I'm soooo glad I did!
Today was an absolutely killer beautiful day - sunshine and no humidity...our kind of weather.  Wish it could be like that all summer.  We were outside all day...

picnic lunch....

fairy house...

Foo Young...right before she went in for nap time...

Whippersnapper negotiated with me and I let her skip "rest time" and do school with Maguillacutty.  I brought everything outside, with the exception of Math & Handwriting, because you really need a table for that stuff.  It was fantastic...we had no interruptions, no screaming, no fighting, I was so calm and patient and just loving the breeze and the beautiful clouds. We continued our Egypt study and I found an Egyptian headpiece online and had the girls color it while I read our lesson - we then cut them out and put them together.  They loved it...

Had a great science lesson on the weather - including the clouds...it was awesome to be able to look at the pictures in our book and then find which type of clouds we had today.  Girls did great in Language Arts - I read 5 different lines from Goldilocks, which were out of order...girls had to put them in the right order.  It took them some time...but they got it...all while they built up their fairy house some more. Funny thing for the day - overheard Whippersnapper say "Oh, cute little bugga bugga" and then pick up something off the blanket - I glanced over only to see her holding a TICK! So, then we had a lesson in burning ticks...that was cool.  And then after a quick shower for myself - we were off again...dinner outside with friends and then some VBS action...as I was headed home with Foo, wanted to do some house cleaning before we had to pick the other two up...I got a text from my pal to come over for some sangria...hmmm...let me think about that - sure, OK! Foo had a blast on the trampoline while I got to socialize without the pressure of keeping 2 eyes on 3 kids, for once...1 kid is so easy when you normally have 3!

That's Not Chapstick....It's a Gluestick!!!!

Hump day for our 2nd week...it was mas o menos (for you my sister, Kerri). I'm currently listening to "Oceans" by Hillsong United and I'm on the verge of tears...ever feel so far yet so close to those who mean the most to you.  My sweet sister Kerri - is still in her 1st week in Argentina...where she will be for 6 months...and she was robbed today.  Luckily, they didn't want to hurt her - just wanted her money...but why her...I know it happens everywhere...but why there in front of her home. She would never hurt anyone - she is my inspiration for this blog.  She is also blogging - its a way for us to stay connected amidst our busy lives in our quiet time. Me and the girls pray every night for the angels to watch over her and protect her...they listened to our prayers...she didn't get hurt. It could have been worse.  We love you Kerri!

No spills today - but Foo Young did find the gluestick in the art cart that I purposely left there yesterday for the older two...only to catch Foo putting it on her lips...Whippersnapper loved it...she said "you are gonna glue your lips shut"...wouldn't that be a miracle for just like 20 minutes so I could teach a lesson or two...that being said, we started learning about ancient Egypt...girls colored Eyptian dolls and their clothing while I read about our lesson.  Whippersnapper loves coloring...

And then I found a cool site that you could plug in your name and it showed you what your name looked like in Eygptian hieroglyphs....cool thing about Maguillacutty - her "real" name means bird and the letter "A" in hieroglyphs is a bird...

Maguillacutty and I did a cool thing today for Language Arts - she had to write up an invitation to anything...we decided to invite her Great Aunt Karen to sleep over next week.  With some direction from me regarding the 5 W's - when, where, why, who, what and 1 H - How...she basically told me what to write down and then she typed up an email to Aunt Karen - it was cool.  At one point she started to just tippy tapping all over the keyboard and asked "when will my typing sound like this" - I remember being in Middle School wanting the same thing...ahhhh...the little things!

I did some work on my own personal self today - I did some reading and my key take away from my book was to not let them forget the cool part of homeschooling - don't get so caught up in the curriculum that you forget the fun stuff school has to offer and the flexibility of being home has to offer....with that we headed to Klein Farms, one of our favorites and had lunch, played on the playground, gobbled at the turkeys, pet the goats, oinked at the pig, helped a baby duck get back inside the fence to his momma, and ate some yummy homemade cookies....

I also did some organizing of a planner....I'm finding that I'm wasting a lot of time and giving myself the excuse that I deserve it...I do deserve it...but I'm taking too much time.  I'm taking the education of my children into my hands....I owe it to them to take a little less time for myself and put that towards planning our weeks better.  So, that being said - every Sunday night after they go to bed instead of watching some favorite shows - I need to make copies of things and organize everything by day...so it's all ready and I'm familiarized with what we will be learning.  I'm also going to start meal planning...time to stop wasting food.  I yell at the girls for wasting food and I'm doing the same thing....enough is enough.  I need to be the example....what momma's time tonight looked like....

Girls had another fantastic night at VBS...Gangway to Gallilee is the theme and they are so into the music...I love it and I love them....time to stop being so hard on myself and them....and just stop to pick and smell the flowers....