Homeschooling in the moment

WELCOME to a day in the life of our homeschool! Today was a busy day, as most homeschool days are. Today is also unique. Each day of our homeschool is. We have a general outline for our day, but it is also filled with spontaneity, and adventure! So, while this was today, not all days look just like it. Thankfully. How boring would that be?! This is a photo heavy post...so get a cup of tea and enjoy!

This is how my day starts, I wake up usually around 7ish...lay in bed, praise and thank God for giving me another day to walk with Him. Then I usually check the cyberworld while my eyeballs pry themselves open and I wake up enough to get moving. Then it's time for tea. This is my current favorite tea; oolong pomegranate. YUM Hot water, 3 minutes steeping.....loveliness. It brings me joy.



                                               
                                               
Around 7:30-7:45 I begin the job of waking up the kids. Sometimes this is easy and other mornings not so much. As their publicly educated counterparts are standing out in the rain waiting for a schoolbus, they are whining and squawking that I want them to get up and join me in the living room....in their jammies.....with blankies....and pets. Sheesh. They have it rough. My heart breaks. So much so that some mornings instead of gentle back rubs and calls of good morning, I have been known to break out the shofar for a clarion call to utter and complete consciousness. It's pretty fantastic being a mom. :) After they have wandered around and found their place in the living room, we open our bibles and begin to study the word of God. I figure if nothing else gets done academically that day, we have always done what is most important "train them in the way they should go" and "teach them diligently". I always love this time of our homeschool day, my kids are pretty amazing and insightful human beings!

                                     

Shaggy of course, always gets in the middle of things. He LOVES to come and cuddle during our school time. Whenever a book is open there he is pushing his nose under it to get cozy. Pretty cool way to get educated. And if you will notice, our list of school supplies is not exactly run of the mill. While we use paper, books, pencils, pens etc, we have additional items that make our homeschool complete. Top of the list is our cozy couch, our pets, especially Gunner who Jordan uses as a pillow while reading. Blankets are a necessity for the first couple of hours of our day. How cool is that?
                             
                                                 
                            
FOOD. Always food. They are hungry all the time. Except the very moment they wake up. Right after bible comes food, and usually within an hour they are hungry again. Our kitchen is a a VERY busy place, all. day. long. 
 
                                                 

                                      

Then begins the fun!  The kids read. They read A LOT. They love it. They love it A LOT. :) You will find this exact scene often in my home, kids on a couch with blankies, books and pets. Happy place!

                                               





                                            
               

 This is the other place we use all the time. Our dining room table. It is generally covered in books, dishes and supplies. We are often found frantically clearing a space to sit and eat dinner. There are many nights we put on a fun show and sit in the living room when the table is just too far gone. It's a good thing.

                       

Why is my washer in here? Because it is a vital part of my day, which all takes place in my homeschool. Many mornings, after my quiet time and tea I am up and moving! I am starting a load of laundry soon after getting the kids up, cleaning up the kitchen if it was not cleaned up the night before *gasp!*, figuring out what's for dinner and what I need to do to make that happen. Writing up grocery lists, thinking about lunch and of course breakfast, checking the calendar to see whats on the agenda for the day. Texting hubby reminders or just to say I love you. Army, we've done more before 9AM than most people do all day, oh pshaw! We homeschool moms have planned out lifetimes before our pretty little eyes have even fluttered open in the morning!


                                            
                                        
        
I workout. Nearly every day of the week. I have been doing it since Atira was born nearly 13 years ago. I feel great when I workout, it lowers my stress, it helps me with some anxiety issues I deal with as well. It also gives me a break just when I need it to take good care of me. Most mornings this occurs in the later part of the morning, after bible, after food, and once I have them started on their days agenda. For the most part, Jordan really is in charge of his own days. I may have something in particular I want him to complete that day...but usually, he's now on his own. And starting in the fall, well, we will see how that changes things!


                                   

This is usually when I get to see the shower. That's my bathroom clock, this is always about the time I have completed my workout and am ready to get fixed up for the day!

 Cuddles. An essential part of homeschool. I get to hug my kids ALL THE TIME! :)

                                   
Food - they are ALWAYS HUNGRY! Leftovers are a life saver for me. They make quick and easy lunches...they don't always want them, which I am OK with most of the time. But I am not a short order cook, so if you do not like what I am offering, you are free to make something else and clean up after yourself.  I am having leftovers.
                                            
                                           

This is another REALLY COOL thing about homeschool! Siblings teaching one another! What a great way to solidify information in the mind, SHARE IT! Here Atira had a lesson on reducing fractions and I asked her to go out and share with her brother some of the neat tricks she had learned, instead of doing a worksheet! She loved it and Jordan was reminded of some neat tricks he had learned years ago! Not only that, but they are working together! ♥



                                           

Off we go! Our homeschool day often leads us, WARNING! My children get outside on a regular basis and you are about to see homeschool children (wait for it) SOCIALIZING! This may be shocking to some of my viewers, so please feel free to scroll down if this is overwhelming to your senses. hee hee. As I was saying, our homeschool day often leads us out on adventures! That is another amazing aspect of homeschooling! So, here we are on a dreary day headed out to the pool to meet up with friends. Here is another REALLY REALLY cool benefit of homeschool. When public school is in session, nobody is at the pool and other fun places. So you get to enjoy these experiences in peace! I feel spoiled. Then summer comes....

                                     

                                      

These photos are unedited proof of homeschool children socializing with other children, what I failed to capture was their incredible ability to also socialize with adults of all ages. Something you don't often see in many public school kids. Oh, the sarcasm.

And here is a happy mama socializing with one of her dearest friends! What a blessing I have to be able to take a couple of hours in the afternoon to catch up with this amazing woman! I am so thankful Scott makes it possible for me to be home and enjoy this kind of lifestyle. Amazing.


                                             
We return home for a bit more school, and of course Kayli must be close by her kids. Finishing up our day of academics.

                                            

Atira has been studying about the Pilgrims and the Mayflower. She learned about hardtack and how they would eat it in the dark so they would not have to look at the maggots. Here she is mixing up her own batch, maggot free of course.

Here is the completed version. She thought they were quite tasty and they are VERY HARD! She is to leave them out for a few days and try them again. They should be much harder, perhaps she will try soaking them like they did on the Mayflower.

So, that is a typical homeschool day. After all of that, dad showed up, which I have to say no matter where we are in our day as soon as he is home, everything goes out the window. I always try to get things finished up before he arrives. Occasionally the kids do some of their reading or bible memorization in bed before they go off to sleep. Some days we blow every thing off and we head to snohomish for a walk along the water and cupcakes. Some days we head out to help a friend in need, or volunteer. Some days we talk to people who have lived history, or listen to a holocaust survivor tell their story.  It is all apart of education, we are not locked into books and papers. I am so thankful for that. 

Shavuot

Today is the holy day known as Shavuot or Pentecost. We arrive at this day by counting off 50 days following The sabbath after Passover. It is a count up, not a countdown. It is a time of anticipation and remembrance. We remember the giving of the Torah to the Israelites at the base of Mt Sinai 3500 years ago, we also remember the giving of the Spirit of God on Shavuot 2000 years ago after Yeshuas ascension and promise to send The Comforter to us. At Sinai 3000 people died, years later 3000 were restored to God. We look forward and anticipate this season in remembrance of the greatness of our God. We remember His faithfulness, we remember His calendar, His appointed times. He has set this day as a special time to celebrate His goodness! Today we will gather with friends, share a meal, read scripture and play games. Last night after the sun set, we celebrated by talking about the significance of this day with our kids and giving them a present. They know they get a gift on Shavuot, it is a reminder to them that there was a promise made and the disciples anticipated this gift from the Master during this same timeframe 2000 years ago. This year we gave them each a siddur, a prayer book as well as a bunch of candy! It is a reminder to them that His feasts are a sweet time, His word is Sweet, as honey to the lips. It is an honor and blessing to remember this day and to proclaim it to the world! Happy Shavuot!!

What!!????!!!

JORDAN'S IN COLLEGE!!! Well, almost anyway. :) This fall he will be entering college through the running start program. It's amazing to me we are at this point in life already. The time has truly gone so very quickly. I'm so thankful that I can say I have no regrets about having him home for these years. What a tremendous blessing I have had getting to spend so much time with this incredible young man. I eagerly look forward to see what God has planned for his very bright future! I know it's going to be amazing!!

Co-op moments

12 weeks flies by when you're crazy busy! We enjoyed our second semester of co-op. Atira enjoyed taking a beauty basics class, crochet granny squares class and her favorite, hospitality and event planning. She is still looking forward to soon hosting a mother daughter tea as the classes final project. Pictures and an update will be following soon!

As for me, I had the opportunity to teach an Anne of Green Gables book study class. I had such a fantastic group of ladies and my helper Miss Tricia was great! We enjoyed making an art journal, we had tea and snack at each meeting and lots of great discussion. It was a blessing spending time with these young ladies.

Now, co-op is over. It was fun, but I'm thankful it's over. Great memories.

Fun in the sun

Beautiful! Sunny! Warm! I realize these are not the adjectives that usually come to mind when describing our area, but today, they were perfect. It has been a lovely sabbath day, we enjoyed a quiet restful morning, watched the service from El Shaddai, sat out in the sunshine reading. Enjoyed waffles for breakfast. In the afternoon we headed out to do some geocaching! It was a perfect afternoon adventure! We had a good time too, found three out of the four caches we looked for. Success!!

Hello again.

And away she goes! Atira had the blessed opportunity to travel with her Grandma Joan down to stay for a few days with family in Southern California. I am hoping to update this post wih more photos of her trip soon. As of right now, she is on a plane home to us and we are so excited to have her back!

Moments you never even thought of....

We received the joyous news that my Grampa is getting married!! Never saw that one coming! He met a lovely lady named Dorothy after moving into his apartment last year, they were friends for quite sometime, then Grampa asked her out for lunch. And as they say, the rest is history! We are all looking forward to a June wedding...these kids aren't waiting around!!

Family time

Today is a sabbath for us. Last day of unleavened bread. As fun as this week has been eating meals featuring matzah, such as our chili dogs on matzah and of course the much beloved matzah brittle, everyone is ready for some bread!! I have had requests for a grocery run after sundown. Goofballs. Since we had a day off and the weather was good, we decided to get outside! The Everett marina has been updated and offers long sidewalks for walking around to view the water and the boats. We stopped by and picked up our niece Jazz and along with a packed car full of people and two stinky dogs away we went! We enjoyed the views, the slight breeze and were able to watch a boat lifted by forklift from the water. It was a good day.

It's nearly been a year...and what a year it's been. Life has a way of flying by. I wish I had kept up on this blog. I love having this digital scrapbook of sorts to look back over and see what we, as a family, have been up to. Someday I hope to have these printed and bound into books. What a treasure those would make! So this year has been filled with adventures. To bring you all up to date, I am currently homeschooling the children still, and we all absolutely love it! We are extremely blessed to have this freedom and opportunity. It is not always as an easy road, and this year has been tough for us financially, but God always sees us through. Work slowed down from about October of 2012 until just recently. Having Scott work part time is super fun because we are blessed with more family time, but it certainly put a crimp on the budget. We had to make some tough decisions and cut back on some extras for a season, but things are getting busy again and we are taking advantage! Speaking of Scott, he keeps himself busy with work, and his family. He is now into online gaming with Jordan and several other family members. It's a hoot to watch, sometimes I am not sure if he is actually having fun though!! :oP  Atira is now in swim lessons and she is doing amazing! She has found her passion, she loves to be in the water...and I am so happy to see her enjoying a sport so much! Jordan has made the leap into music! I am so excited to see where this goes for him. He bought a bass guitar...has only dabbled on it a bit and sadly, while dad was helping him tune it, one of the strings broke. We are in need of getting to the store to replace it right away for him! So...this is a picture heavy post, out of order, but I will do my best to caption our year, disjointed as it may be. I am sorry for taking so long, I hope this is the beginning of capturing our families adventures on a regular basis again.

The picture above was taken during Sukkot 2012. We had a fantastic season, our sukkah was beautiful and we shared some lovely memories with family and friends. This year we had a "sukkah open house day" where friends and family were invited over during an open hours kind of day. We shared lots of food and fun fellowship from afternoon to evening. It was quite memorable. We also had friends over this year to help set up our sukkah, we ended the evening with a bonfire. It was simply lovely. We were additionally blessed with beautiful weather!

Atira and Shaggy. This cat loves his sister AND he loves torturing her. Here he is intently watching her play with dolls. Funny thing we learned this year, he has no interest in her toys when she is not at home. He loves to hear her shriek when he gets into her stuff. He is a keeper. :)

TEA DATE! Mom, Atira and I enjoyed celebrating Moms birthday at Attic Secrets Tea house. It was a lovely afternoon and so very memorable. I am so glad we made time for this. I believe it will become our annual tradition for her birthday!

Cousins. Isn't this priceless? And a little bit sad? ;P Here they are, 2 on phones and one watching TV, still they are all together spending time. It's good to have family around. What a blessing.

Hanukkah 2012 - a special year celebrating the Light of the world.

BOWLING! We have found a fantastic bowling alley in our area that we really like. Small, family friendly, they don't allow swearing! How cool is that?! We have been a few times and plan to go back often. On Sunday afternoons they offer glow bowling with fun music and funky lights. Great activity for us all.

Reptile Museum. Fun? Meh. Interesting and education, YES! Jordan was wrapping up a study on all things reptilian, so we thought we would end the study here. We ended up sharing our time with friends there, it made it more memorable and less gross for me. :)

LEARNING TO DRIVE! He has grown up way too fast....but he is such an amazing and responsible young man, I look forward to see where God takes this incredible being He created. For now, it's school, jiujitsu and driving! Don't forget! He added Judo to the mix! He attends class up to 4 days a week now! ACK!

I do exist. Bad picture, but there I am! This was after our family passover, we are all reclining after our wonderful meal of lamb kabobs, hummus, olives, rice, tomatoes, cucumbers and dessert was coco rice crispy treats! YUM!

We were blessed with a wonderful visit with Gina and Cairo this year. What a wonderful time making memories. We love them so very much and look forward to all of our visits!

Jordan loves many things, and history tops his list. He has a passion and an incredible bank of knowledge when it comes to this subject. Here he is showing off his new WWII dress coat he picked up with his Grandma Joan, he loves it and it fits him incredibly well. He wears it for special occasions and sometimes sabbaths.He looks amazing in it!

Atira is our artist!When it comes to creative things, she is the girl to go to. We have been taking lessons together with a friend of ours who is both an artist and a jewelry designer. We have spend several wonderful afternoons with her learning this fun hobby. Atira always creates the most beautiful pieces....

Scott and I.  ♥

Another shot from the reptile museum. Ew, he's holding a snake. :\

This is the most recent photo. It was taken Tuesday 3/26/13. We had celebrated Passover the night before and since this is the first day of Unleavened Bread and a sabbath, Scott was home all day with us. We headed out since the sky was sunny and went for a hike. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful adventure. We saw an eagle right away, perched in a tree, we also found a hawk, heron, ducks, the tracks of a very large cat that I am super happy we did not meet up with and a few other fun finds. We will definitely be back to this hike again!

Rolling the scroll. Loved going to this. We have had a Messianic Synagogue move closer to us, and so we have been visiting here and there. We went this day for the end of the reading of the Torah portions for the year and the beginning of the new. It is traditional to reroll the scroll back to Genesis. It was a fantastic experience!

Atira love Adventure Soccer Camp!She was able to go again this past summer of 2012, and had a wonderful week with her friends! She is a wonderful athlete!

Scott and Cairo playing together. This particular toy was Scott's when he was little...amazing to see him sharing it with his little cousin so many years later.

Gunner, this is just too cute not to post! For those that don't know our total animal round up is as follows: Gunner (our black lab), Kayli (our yellow lab), Shaggy the cat, Adrian the frog of which there will be no pictures, he is quite ugly, and Kitty the betta fish. I think that about does it. We're nuts.

My girl indulging in her swimming passion! Her goal is to be up to a conditioning class by her birthday of 2013. She is very close!

Ew. Another snake picture, because if they hold one, you have to take a picture. Ew.

Jordan rollin' the scroll!

Enjoying a hike on a sabbath day. We took the dogs out and let them swim around as well. It was a fun and memorable outing.

Since our family is all home together and we do not celebrate Christmas, we decided to head downtown to Seattle and check out the Gingerbread house display at the Sheraton! It was FANTASTIC and if you are in the are, I highly recommend! We will be going back again!

Jordan and Gina with little baby Alexander in the tummy. ♥

Atira and I in the teddy bear room at the Faremont hotel in Seattle. So cute.

Jordan and his guitar. Great shot...they look so tough! ♥

This was our only serious snow this season and it JUST happened! 3/22/13 - the day we hosted a group seder at our house. The snow was 3" deep that morning and it was beautiful. Atira ran right outside in it and built a cute snowman. We all went back in the greenbelt and listened to the little stream run faster because of the extra water...it was quiet, beautiful and serene. I love her passion for God's creation and the way she admires His handy work. She is a beautiful and insightful child of God. Blessed.

This is another shot of Scott and Atira with Gunner and our friends granddaughter as we went hiking on a sabbath day. It was such an incredible day.

Grampa, Cairo and Atira. LOVE

Scott rollin' the scroll!

Passover 2013 - this was a shot from our group seder. It was a fun night with 15 of us around our dining table! It was crowded elbow to elbow, but made for many laughs and fun memories. In attendance: Jeff, Patti and Jaelynn, Michelle and Larry White, Michele Libin, Joel and Sarah Cohen, Char Rose, Terri Anderson and Shelly Rivera. Blessed to have such sweet people in our lives.

This is the face of education today! Jordan was in need of help with math, well through the internet, specifically Facebook, I have a friend (who I have not met in real life, only know her through Facebook) and her sister is a math tutor. My Facebook friend lives in Alabama, her sister lives in Texas! I contacted her, hired her and now Jordan is sitting here Facetiming with her for his lesson! He now uses a computer and skype, but isn't this amazing? Sitting in our dining room being tutored from Texas on HIS PHONE! It's the time of the Jetsons people. hang on!

Scott and Shaggy. They are quite the pair. This goofy cat loves Scott, especially when he is engaged in anything, that's when he most wants attention! Scott of course spoils him right back. So sweet.

 

And this is me. If you made it this far...well, I figure I would share a little of my year with you. I have gone over a million times in my mind if I wanted to share some of my journey on here or not. But I do believe in time I will be glad I did. Last year I began dealing with some issues that I have worked on here and there for many many years. I have off and on struggled with anxiety and fears, things seemed to be getting worse so my doctor recommend I see a counselor. I was quite resistant to the idea at first....but with wise guidance from my loving husband I decided to accept the advice....however, I was not really happy about the whole plan. I was wrong. It was a good plan and a plan I feel now God had orchestrated for my benefit. I saw him just a few times and he recognized right away that I would benefit greatly from a recovery program for adults who grew up with alcoholism affecting their lives. Again, I was not a fan. I am not sure why I was so resistant to this whole idea...but it was HARD. Thankfully, my husband encouraged me to push through and give it a try. I attended a few Alanon meetings...which I really did not like much. I found a program called Celebrate Recovery, which is based in faith, in God. That God has the power to help us walk through this journey called life and we are not called to do it alone, it is teaching me how to let go and truly give things over to Him. Although I have always walked with God and He has called me on an amazing journey, this was clearly a part of the refinement. I could not seem to let go of trying to control my life and honestly, others. I am learning, I am growing and I am making mistakes and having incredible successes as well. It is a journey, and the goal is not perfection but rather learning to lean on Him as my Father, my Dad. I pray He uses these experiences He has given me to benefit others.

At the same time as all of that was going on I decided to join weight watchers, I needed to lose about 15 pounds, and I knew if I started right away, I would not end up needing to lose more! Today, I am AT GOAL! I have been for three months now and I am quite proud of my accomplishment. I have a buddy at WW and she helps keep me accountable and motivated. She has also become a sweet friend, I am thankful for her.

So, life is good. God is great. I am working hard to overcome the challenges in my life to live in freedom and walk that out "one day at a time". Thanks for taking the time to read my little update on our lives. May you all be blessed!