home-schooling

so I've finally decided to home-school Sam.  I don't want to put him in school somewhere just to pull him out, again and again.  only God knows when and where we'll settle down for good ... if ever ... so at least this will be something consistent that Sam can rely on.   plus, this can only bring us closer together as a family, which is of course is something every mother wants.  God may move us wherever, but as long as we know we have each other along the way, than by all means!

I could go on and on about the cons of public school, but I won't.  I found this while researching different curriculums, and I thought it sums it all up perfectly.

Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of "A New World".  So they organized a school.
They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying.  To make it easier to administer the curriculum all the animals took all the subjects.
The duck was excellent in swimming, in fact better than his instructor; but he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running.  Sine he was slow in in running, he had to stay after school, and then he had to drop swimming in order to practice running.  This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn and he became only average in swimming.  But average was acceptable in school so no one worried except the duck.
The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but had a nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class, where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down.  He also developed a "charley horse" from overexertion and then got a C in climbing and a D in running.
The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely.  In the climbing class he beat all the others to the treetop but insisted on using his own way to get there.
At the end of the year, an abnormal, retarded gopher that could swim exceedingly well and also run, climb, and fly a little had the highest average, beat the system, and was valedictorian.

if you are home-schooling your child(ren), what curriculum do you plan on using?  

older and wiser?

so I'm realizing how old I really am.
- I get called ma'am a lot
- I have a pretty good streak of gray hair going ... right in the front
- my 4 year old is just as good as I am on the computer
- I hate learning new technology ... and sometimes (ok most of the time) I make my hubby do it for me
- I'm in bed by 1030pm, almost every night. yes I have a new baby, but still ...
- I hate today's music
- I hate today's fashion

yep, I'm old.

as I was feeding Elliott, I was looking at pictures hanging up on our wall; most of them are Sam's younger years. Sam has always been a great kid, even during those terrible 2's. it's sad that those days are gone forever. of course it's also exciting for what's to come ... all the pictures I'll get of these boys together.

everyone that comes to oooh and aaaah over Elliott always tell me to enjoy this time since it goes by sooooo quickly. and it does! the way to remember these special times is to take a lot of pictures (right?) and how can you live in the moment, and really enjoy it, if you always have a camera in front of your face?! I want to remember it all because it truly is priceless.

what do you do to really enjoy their childhood?

Mexico part II

for those wondering ... Mexico is officially out.  it's hard to say no to a house on the beach - literally, steps in your backyard will take you to the sand!
there is just too much that is unpredictable.  if it was just hubby and I, I'd be much more ready for the adventure, but I'm a protective mother of two little ones and just don't want to take chances with them.  plus Sam is about to begin school, we're still in the adjustment phase of a new baby, and if I think I have no friends now, I really don't want to add a language barrier to that.
we're still going to visit soon, get more contacts, and maybe God will bring us there later.  but for now, the timing is off.

we're looking around Escondido.  anyone know anything about that area?  we've taken a trip down there already to look at a few places, but nothing yet.
I'm so anxious to have our own place (no offense to my roommies!) and finally be settled.  we will be down-sizing, so we're having a big garage sale soon.
what do you need?  we may have it for you!

colorado

we went to Colorado this last week to visit hubby's family.  his parents and 3 sisters moved to Colorado Springs a few months ago, but we haven't seen them all together since over a year ago.  it was a great family reunion!

here are all the kiddos together.
Rachel (9) is holding Elliott (3 mos), left is Victoria (almost 6), upper right is Elizabeth (3) and lower right is Sam (almost 4)

they had so much fun playing together.  it was like hubby and I went with just Elliott; Sam was so into whatever the girls were doing, it was like he wasn't even there.  I missed him this week.  it made me realize that I already have to let go a bit to let him live.  sad for me, but so exciting for him!

here is one of us.  bored and silly.

here is hubby with his youngest sister, Elizabeth.
aren't they cute?!  it's funny, they're siblings.  I'm still not used to that.  it makes these girls my sisters-in-law and Sam & Elliott's aunts.  funny.

here is grandma reading to Sam.
as you can see he's really into it, as he's digging for gold!

we found an arcade to play and collect tickets for those $1 store prizes.  sort of like a chuck e cheese, but much much better.  here is Sam, just like his daddy, in love with going fast!

here is Rachel, the oldest, with Elliott, youngest.

and last but not least, here is Rachel and Sam waiting for lunch.  we went to the zoo, and of course, my camera died.  so no more pictures.  :(

eeeeewwwww

so much of society uses fear to get to people.  many ways to live "greener" uses fear to get to people, the media uses fear, anybody selling anything uses fear - once you catch on to what is happening, it disgusting.  are we so sheep-like?!

this could be a really long post if I keep
 going on this topic ...

what I wanted to post, I got this from American Baby magazine - the germiest things your kids touch
1. playground equipment: studies show that kids have THE MOST fecal bacteria on their hands after playing at the park; 20% of most playgrounds are contaminated.
2. shopping carts: 70% have fecal bacteria on them
3. high chairs: out of 30 chairs, 17 had e. coli and methicillin-resistant staph
4. restaurant tables:  "cleaning" a table with a sponge, usually makes it worse.  studies of 10 restaurants had 45x more bacteria AFTER they had been wiped down.
5. Elevator buttons: floor 1 is always the dirtiest, everyone has to get out by using it.
6. phones: 80% of homes with sick children were contaminated with the flu virus.

ok, so the germ thing has gotten to me.  yes, I am fearful of germs.  I sort of understand OCD behaviors coming from this idea that GERMS ARE EVERYWHERE!
babies and kids are much more sensitive to picking up germs.  in some ways it's good, they need to build up their immune systems.  but in most ways, it's a bad thing making them sick.  and as all parents know, it's soooo hard to see your little ones sick.

Elliott is starting to chomp on his hands and Sam is a nose picker.  when I see them doing that, I can't help but think of those 6 things and then some.  eeeeeewwwwwww!

buttered popcorn

this is kind of gross ... you've been warned.

what do you think of when you see &/or smell popcorn?  I think of movie night, at the theater or at home.
when I went to Zion, Miss Morgan gave me the acronym Go Eat PopCorn for remembering the order of some books in the bible; Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, & Colossians.  so now popcorn also makes me think of that.
well one day last week as Elliott was napping, I was cleaning house.  when I would walk through a certain room, I'd smell popcorn.  "that's funny, I know we don't have any popcorn,"  so I kept doing whatever I was doing.  well, it kept happening.  you know the smell; it's strong and it usually makes you want some right?  so then I thought "someone must have bought some and had some late last night or something," so I go check the cabinets ... nothing.
then I notice it's only when I'm in the same room as Elliott ... hhhhhmmmm.  coincidentally, he doesn't nap as long as he normally does.  so I pick him up to change him, and it's him!  he smells like popcorn, but I didn't totally understand until I opened up his diaper.  it was one of those messy poopy diapers, and I kid you not, it smelled like buttered popcorn and not poop.
ok, so how does that happen?  I haven't eaten any popcorn in I don't know how long, so it didn't come from me.  I thought I was going a bit crazy.
so hubby comes home during this and I just had to get someone else's opinion.  I said to him "yes this is a poopy diaper but you HAVE  to smell it"  he did and he came to the same popcorn conclusion.
I was reminded of this incident today, when I smelled "popcorn" from Elliott.  yep, it was another poopy diaper.  I should also mention that he's pooped in between these popcorn poops and it just smells like poop.  totally strange, right?
will I still eat popcorn at the movies?  probably :)

Mexico

so I might need to learn spanish ...
we're talking out the all the possibilities of living in Mexico.  sounds crazy, right?

the plan is to move south, somewhere much closer to San Diego.  this will make hubby's commute for work a lot less than it is now.  and since we are trying to find a cheaper place, we thought, why not Mexico?!

for what we're paying now for JUST rent alone ($2500) we could have a very very nice house practically on the beach, all necessary utilities, a regular maid, landscaper/gardener, food in the fridge + eating out a few times/week all for the same price.  seems too good to be true, right?

other benefits:
our children will be bilingual
we have a church connection
the people and the culture
no strict rules/laws

the unpredictable:
no strict rules/laws
crime

still unknown and researching:
houses/neighborhoods
schools ... although I may still home school
immigration policies

hubby also was given a word about missionary work in Mexico some time ago.  he thinks there may be some connection to what's happening to him/us spiritually.  hhhhmmmmm ....

I took spanish in high school and do remember some of it.  I was never good at it though.  since we'd be just past the border a bit, most people will speak english I'm sure.  but I would have to learn it anyway, I can't be a hypocrite - I always thought all immigrants coming to the USA ought to learn the language here, it's the responsible and respectful thing to do.

I'll keep you bloggers posted ... adios!


love craigslilst?

look what I've found - kijiji.com

I check craigslist.com often.  I've gotten some great deals from there and some free stuff too.  if you're into bargain shopping like I am, you ought to check it out.  enjoy!