The value of blogs, books, "playing" on the internet all day, and chicken noodle soup

I told my mom she should start a blog.  Just because she knows so much.  I stumbled onto a blog when I was looking for something about vocal instruction on the net.  It was super awesome!  This lady, who is raising and homeschooling ten children, just talks about things she thinks/learns/knows, and she has inspired me to do better.  It’s nice when those who are a little older and wiser share with those of us trying to learn everything in a hurry.  I was thinking back to all the things my mom taught me, all the fun things we did.  I remember making gingerbread houses (both from graham crackers and from scratch), cooking all sorts of things, making our own ornaments, gardening, canning, sewing, piano lessons, singing, etc.  It just seems like she knows so much about everything!  I can’t say I do all those things with my kids, but when I read inspiring blogs from other moms, or think about my own childhood, I get up the motivation to do a craft or project that otherwise would not have been on my “to do” list.

Today has been one of those days where I didn’t backslide on the house too much, but definitely didn’t make any progress.  The kids got most of their schoolwork done, but we didn’t do anything spectacular.  What I did do was spend hours upon hours on the computer looking at curriculum, homeschooling support blogs, more resources, reviews, authors, etc.  Sometimes productivity doesn't exactly look productive.  It looks like mom sitting on the computer surfing the net.  I have a big long list of books I want to read (preferably before actually buying them), and a slightly shorter one of books I want for the kids this year.  But right now, I’m going to go eat chicken noodle soup (not homemade but helped along by adding stuff) and play Boggle :) (Demetri's spelling lesson for the day!).

A Happy Productive Day

We were very productive today.  Demetri usually gets up before me and does his scripture study, which he did today.  Then we have breakfast, and I get the kids started on writing practice.  Olie is tracing letters and numbers.  Both of them love to write letters and send and receive mail.  While they do schoolwork, I do the dishes and clean up the dining room and kitchen.  Then it’s math time.  We were done by 11:30, in time to go to the opening of the rec center, where the kids enjoyed the tour and the hot dogs.  We came home for naps and more school (reading and then math games on the computer for fun).  I had a headache and ended up taking a long nap; I still have a headache and I’m trying to decide what to do about it (Shawn doesn’t want me to take Advil!).  But even so, we did a lot!  It’s almost 9:00 and the kids are in bed, much of the house is clean, and all the dishes are done :).  We had an easy dinner (shepherd’s pie) and there was enough left over for Shawn’s lunch.  We had FHE, sang, read a story, practiced violin, and the kids were in bed almost on time.  Demetri begged to stay up and help me clean after I had the other kids in bed…which is the reason the living room is clean.  Some days absolutely nothing gets done and we struggle to get even one school subject completed.  This wasn’t one of those days. 

About Me

This didn't fit in the "About me" section, so I'm putting it here:

I am usually a stay-at-home mom (with occasional short bouts of temporary jobs). My husband is a linguist in the military. He just joined. I imagine we’ll be moving a lot.

I homeschool my son, at his request, and will most likely homeschool his two younger brothers in ensuing years.

Religion is the basic premise of life for our family. We like going to church too. I’m LDS. I grew up LDS. I love it. My husband is already planning several missions for when the children are gone. General Conference is my favorite time of the year. And it comes twice! 

I like to cook healthy meals, and don’t use much in the way of meat, sugar, or packaged foods. However, I love to bake, especially desserts, and it takes a lot of restraint to keep myself from making large amounts of rich sugary desserts. I substitute with honey and whole wheat where I can, and succumb to my sugar cravings when think about it too much. My mother has a good cookbook that helps me out. My mother-in-law makes some of the best food I’ve ever tasted.

My mother and grandmother taught me to use herbs for nutrition and healing. I love herbs. Except the bitter ones- but I still use them…heavily camouflaged with honey.

I love to sing. I sing all the time. I don’t like pretty much anything on the radio, so we sing in the car instead, or listen to the “Standin’ Tall” tapes. I like to play the piano. I don’t have one at the moment however, and I don’t even know if I can read music anymore. I am also an old-movie addict- according to my husband. I rarely watch anything made after 1960, except Veggietales and some animated (mostly Disney and Pixar) movies. My children help make me more cultured I suppose. I never would have seen “Finding Nemo” without them.

I love to read. I probably have too many books, but I can’t help it. I buy bookshelves whenever I find a good deal, and the boys all sleep in one room (I never did see a reason for a child to have their own room) so we can have a library. I love libraries. I think I’m going to have to start putting bookshelves in the pantry. It’s a large pantry.

Homeschooling progress report, or, How am I doing so far?

Well- so far our homeschooling is going pretty well. We aren't using any particular curriculum at the moment, and I haven't started reading out of the classics yet either, because I don't have any of my things here- including books. Except A Tale of Two Cities which I think I'll save for later. What we have been doing is writing letters to people every morning (short ones, which I have yet to mail), doing some math problems and then getting to play multiplication computer games, tons of reading and some singing. My 7 yr old is very good about reading to his younger brothers, and all of us like singing time. In the works are a garden and some cooking lessons, more art lessons, and he's asked if he can please study history. Hey, who am I to deprive him of history? Science is a bonus on the weekends because his Dad has a BA in chemistry...the only class I ever failed. They love doing science projects together.

Writing is our biggest struggle because he's convinced that he hates it, as well as spelling. So I'm going to back off and buy a few games I love to play. Some of my very favorite games are Scrabble, Bananagrams, Boggle, and Scattergories. I love word games. My son loves to do anything I'm doing, including word games, and he's not half bad at it :). Maybe we can foster a love of words, writing, and spelling (and confidence) through games. It's at least worth a try. Besides, the awesome thing is that I can use these games as a reward for getting chores done quickly or as a bribe.

We're slowly getting started and establishing a schooling routine.

Getting Started

Okay, so I'm new to the blogging world and slightly technologically challenged. We'll see how this works out. At the moment, this blog is mostly for myself :). I need to organize my thoughts, and I like the way a blog looks. I've seen quite a few blogs lately- some about a specific subject and some about life in general. I like both. I was inspired to blog by two people, my sister Jeri, and a lady whose blog I happened upon today- Lani. Here goes.

I have officially decided to homeschool- again. We homeschooled a bit, then did public school, and my son has asked if we could please be homeschooled again. We just moved and the schools here took out music, art, and (rumored) P.E. because of budget problems. To me, that's like keeping a budget for cable tv and cutting out the budget for gas. Haha- okay, not quite, but pretty close. We like TJed the best.

We are also a military family. My husband just finished basic training, and he's at the DLI learning Chinese...we'll be here(Monterey, CA) a while. :) As I have spent the last couple of years living with parents I am once again learning how to run a household, cook, and be out on my own. So far:
1. The house is very clean (how could it help but be clean when there's nothing in it?)
2. I've made a brand new recipe every night (thanks to the thrift store crockpot I picked up on the way here and a crockpot blog- the oven is broken, and I'm not all that enterprising in my cooking adventures in the first place)
3. The kids are happy (they haven't grown tired of the playground in the backyard yet)
4. I have read to my children for at least an hour every day, as well as had some "singing time."

So far I'm proud of myself. We'll see if I can keep it up. My husband wishes I would learn how to drive here. I promise to be able to leave the subdivision by myself within the next 6 months. How's that.

A friend and I are researching starting a business. I'll let you know how it goes.