Balance

 

Recently I was having a hard time sleeping, and found myself  in conversation with my Father. I wouldn't say I was dreaming, but I wasn't really awake either. It was a moment where impressions were flooding my mind and I was "seeing" exactly what I needed.

For years I have struggled with balance. For me,  balance meant yin and yang, where everything in life is in harmony. It meant calm; it meant a deep breath, relaxation, mediation, quiet. Everything is still.

As I was laying there an image of a bicycle came to mind an impression that balance can mean a very different thing. When you balance on a bike, you are moving. You are exerting energy and there a lot of different parts working together in harmony. You can not have balance by sitting still.

Wow. 4 + years of tears, emotion and prayer trying to understand balance. And there it was.

I am in a place in my life where I have to work a demanding job. I also have to homeschool. I am a mom and have to be present with my kids. I have to help and be a support to my husband as he serves the Lord. I also have to take care of myself and my spirit. There is not a piece of this that can be discarded. All are important. 

 Balance means moving, pushing myself and exerting energy. But balance means making sure they work together in harmony. If the chain comes lose (aka I lose my mind), there won't be any forward progress for anyone.

This means that I have to prioritize things like fasting and scripture study that can keep my mind focused. It also means that as I push forward, sometimes I will need to pull back. It means asking for help, saying no occasionally, and not being afraid of change. It means letting go of expectations. It is having an eternal perspective instead of worrying about the now. It means that sometimes I am going to be exhausted. It also means that my living room couch will often become my charging station. It's amazing what a 5 minute power nap can do for sanity. 

My life has not changed and yet my perspective has, which brings peace. I am amazed at how much more confident I am about each moving part of my life. 

            

It takes a village

 October has come to a close, and so has all our fun fall and Halloween activities.

We went to the farm instead of the pumpkin patch this year for two reasons: 

1) I wanted to support locals who are struggling from the pandemic, and I know that in year's past Miller Farms had opened it's doors to people who were hungry. For this reason I wanted to give back a bit.

2) Picking pumpkins and corn mazes are fun and all, but picking vegetables is a great lesson in hard work and learning farm-to-table basics. I want my kids to appreciate where their food comes from.

So, there was definitely fun involved, but a bit of learning too. Homeschool isn't just for home after all. Make it real and they will retain it forever.

Talking about harvesting food has been a great lead-in to our history lesson this last week. We are still studying Colonial America and began talking about what life was like for these families once they were here and settled. So naturally there is a discussion about how they grew food.

One of the questions I get a lot from  people is how I get my "curriculum" since I don't pay for prepaid stuff. The best answer is that I feel revelation is  a HUGE part of parenting and homeschooling. More often then not I feel impressed about a direction we should go, then I find ideas to go along with it. Since Sofi is still young and not able to direct her studies independently, I try to show her how easy it is to make learning interesting, applicable and fun.

While looking up ideas for Colonial America, I stumbled upon this book and it has been great this last week. 

I ordered it used off of Amazon for a whopping 2 bucks including shipping. It was fantastic. The book is old and falling apart, but that didn't bother me one bit. We blow more money at the gas station. Luckily I found it about a month ago, because it did take a long time to arrive. 

At first we just decided to read different chapters from the book, but as we started getting more into the stories, we decided to make a "Colonial ABC Book" out of all the new vocab words in there. It was Sofi's way of being more creative and not just sitting and listening. If there is a way to incorporate glue and mess, it is usually a winner!

The book talks about so much more than food. It goes into detail about the struggles they had while trying to make and grow food, as well as social etiquette.

In other news....

I wanted to show a couple websites that I LOVE. 

The first is an online worksheet maker at worksheets.com

Sofi has really struggled with all things related to sentences her entire life. Capitalization, punctuation, spelling, comprehension and especially handwriting. We spend a lot of time breaking each of things down and working on them individually. Even last year you wouldn't be able to read anything that she wrote. I know most kids are working on cursive by now, but I really need her print to be legible. 

Of course, she doesn't think it is important. But this is an example when mom wins.

So I love this website. I can find funny facts, or tongue twisters, and paste them into this worksheet maker and it prints out a worksheet for her to practice her handwriting. She loved the random facts, but she really loves the tongue twisters. I try to mix them up. I was so surprised this week when her paper looked AMAZING! Of course there were still some spelling mistakes, but that's okay. We are learning to slow down and focus which is always hard.

This is drastically different than what she used to produce. She was so proud of herself and so was I. 

Another website I love is Seterra.

It let's you practice your geography and what I really love is that it let's you create custom quizzes. Sofi has been working on learning the US States and their capitals. Once we learn about 6-8, we then I can create a custom quiz for just those states, and she can practice what we have learned. It is so great to customize learning for your kid.

Of course, we also use Raddish kids for cooking lessons. This last week we talked about the eye. Hahaha. Like she doesn't get enough of that. 

 
They say it takes a village to raise a child, and I feel so blessed to have so many resources from the internet to help me school my child. There really is a ton of resources out there for free to help your child reach their full potential. 

 

Where has the time gone?

What a crazy couple of weeks.

They say life just flies by, and that is the theme for my life as of late. How are we already in October?

Robb and I had plans to get away at the end of September, so my sister came out to stay with the girls and run my life. They were able to do a lot of fun things, and I am so appreciative of her sacrifice. It takes a village!!

Sofi has been doing absolutely amazing. In the last month I have only seen one or two anxiety attacks. Neither one especially bad. This is a miracle. I really think leaving suddenly for Maryland helped her realize how she can do hard things and be ok.

So what has she been up to?

Well we are still cooking weekly. Sofi is still struggling with math, and especially with the concept of fractions. So besides being fun, it is great practice to have her read recipes and use measuring cups/spoons. Since it is fall, we have been focusing on pumpkin of course!

This child of mine thinks pumpkin is the grossest thing ever. Gag reflex  kind of gross. 

According to her, it looks like someone already ate it. Mom has to do all the mixing that involves pumpkin. I am not sure I will ever convert her to pumpkin spice anything.

So we made 2 different things these last couple weeks. First was Pumpkin pie crisps. Sort of a cross between a pie and cookie. That goodness for store bought pie dough, it makes these super fast to make. 

Making the filling. 

Cutting out pumpkin shapes

Carving our pumpkin faces

Assembling the crisps with the filling

The final product

Of course sharing them with friends is the best part of it! Don't let the photos fool you though. She didn't like them.

So we tried again, but with muffins. I thought adding chocolate chips would be a winner. 

It was a no-go. But despite her opinion, they were delicious and beautiful! 

Can I tell you how proud I am of her? She has had a big fear of getting things out of the oven when they are hot. But she proudly declared that she has overcome her fear and can do it by herself! Such a little thing to most people, but for someone with debilitating anxiety, these small moments can be life altering!

So what else is happening around here? Sofi has been working on a lot of projects. She loves projects, anything hands-on that makes a mess is pretty great. With my sister being here, projects seemed like a good plan.

History:

We worked on learning the 5 Themes of Geography using the Jamestown Colony. She loved looking for photos and making her poster. This was a several week project since we only do history once a week. She loved using the computer to use different fonts and photos to make her poster shine. 

Then we studied the Plymouth Colony and talked about the First Thanksgiving. I had considered having her do some more cooking, but after exploring the food they ate back then I realized it would be a great waste. There was no way she would be interested in eating any of it. 

So instead we focused on what she was interested in, which was the colonies relationship with the local Native Americans. We found a legend of the "no-face doll" and decided to make cornhusk dolls. My sister was able to work on her with this while I was gone. Thankfully the Mexican store in town had cornhusks for sale, because the other stores were out. Someone in FOCO must be making a lot of tamales.

She loves her doll and has been painting it all week to make it even more special. 

Checkmark: Success!

Math:

Sofi is still working a ton on basic math principles, and lots of worksheets. I am super thankful for the Khan academy math program (FREE online) and for free worksheets so Sofi can take her time to master math concepts. 

English:
We are still working on grammar (subject/predicate is evil as of late), spelling, and continuing to read The Secret Garden. She is really loving the story! I am so pleased that she is able to sit by herself occasionally and work.

Geography,

We are still learning the US States and she has mastered the west! By the way we LOVE the website 

Seterra

It lets you customize map quizzes. So I an make a map quiz of just the states we are working on. And of course it's FREE!

Science:

Sofi is super excite to show the world her Water Cycle Project. We spent time studying other projects online so she could get her own ideas of what she wanted hers to look like. She declared that hers was the best! Adding in the horses was a special touch.

BTW..

I am not allowed to dismantle the project even though we have moved on. Apparently it is going into the playroom with all the other things I am not allowed to toss.

Of course we are still working on her swimming. She is still taking music therapy/violin lessons and somehow I never think to get a photo. We are also trying to spend as much time as possible outside before the winter blues kick in. Do you like her daddy's shiner?

I am sure thankful I get to watch this girl blossom!

Real Life Lessons

 The last couple weeks have been crazy! Not only in our family but in Colorado as well.

Colorado is literally burning down and freezing at the same time! I never thought that could happen. Welcome to September 2020!

That is ash falling from the sky.

Free snow day. Great excuse to not have to stay in any routine!

My mother passed away on September 1st,  and I had to leave town immediately to help with the funeral arrangements. Can I just tell you what a Rockstar Sofi was during my absence? I was such a worried momma about how Sofi was going to cope while I was away. For a child that doesn't deal well with change, this was a BIG change. But she stayed here and managed just fine. I am sure thankful for all those who jumped in to help. 

Speaking of helping, Robby stayed a few times at the house so that when Robb left for work, he could be here with Sofi. He was super excited to text me what Sofi had cooked him for breakfast.

French Toast; bacon; eggs. 

This is real life. Learning to cook and then being able to cook when needed. I am pretty proud of her. The older kids just Door Dash food to the house. Which I have to admit is also real life.

So with me being gone, school looked a bit different, and last week was a big transition as we had to get back into routine. 

One of the biggest jobs for me as a homeschool parent, is to encourage a love of learning for my children. For that to happen when they are young, I have to come up with activities that will tap into their learning style. So even though these lessons were done with Kelbre 5 years ago, they are going to look very different. 

So for our history lesson we were studying The Lost Colony Of Roanoke (a favorite for Kelbre and I). This had to be presented in a fun way because Sofi wouldn't learn by just reading.

SO.... .we had an ESCAPE ROOM!

"AFTER ESTABLISHING THE COLONY OF ROANOKE, CAPTAIN JOHN WHITE HAD TO RETURN TO ENGLAND TO GET MORE SUPPLIES. UNFORTUNATELY WHILE HE WAS THERE, WAR BROKE OUT AND HIS RETURN TO THE COLONY WAS DELAYED. 

WHEN HE FINALLY RETURNED, THE COLONY WAS ABANDONED. ALL HE FOUND WAS THE WORD "CROATOAN" CARVED ON A POST. THIS LED HIM TO BELIEVE THE NATIVE AMERICANS HAD TAKEN HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS HOSTAGE.

BEFORE HE LEFT, A TREASURE CHEST OF GOLD HAD BEEN BURRIED IN THE WOODS. IF HE COULD OBTAIN THE TREASURE, HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO USE IT TO FREE HIS PEOPLE. BUT, HE CAN'T REMEMBER THE COORDINATES. 

FIND THE FOUR DIGIT COORDINATE THAT WILL LEAD JOHN WHITE TO THE TREASURE."

Living room or island in the Atlantic? Use your imagination.

I probably should have decorated the living room to look like a forest or something. 

I am just not that creative.

The other players have arrived. They didn't prove very useful. They were mostly there for company.

Which is usually my role when I go to escape rooms

4 Clues and 4 "puzzle solvers" were hidden around the room. As Sofi would find each clue and the key to solving the puzzle, she would stop and figure them out. Each clue told more parts of the story. Each puzzle was different so she had to figure out how to solve them first.

She did it! Not a bad time at all!

When she was done, we had fun reading about all the new information that has developed in 2020 regarding the Colony. She really wanted to know what happened! If only we were close enough to visit the Outer Banks.

Now time for some individual work for mom to get things done. I am not a huge fan of workbooks, but it allows her to work independently.

During our grammar time this week, Sofi seemed to have an obsession. Can you spot it? 😀

She takes after her father. Bacon is the magic word in our house. Anytime we play a game and bacon can be used, it is the winner.

So life is real, life is hard, and life is chaotic. That is why we learn to take deep breaths and adapt. I got called into work (not ideal when you are trying to homeschool) but was so happy a neighbor girl was able to come spend time with Sofi. They had fun cooking together. Sofi is already really excited about Halloween.

Of course our week was filled with so much more... spelling, handwriting, bible study, lots of math, reading The Secret  Garden, vocab, science, swimming, music... it seems life each day just passes by. 

As much a I like routine, I really appreciate the small moments when I can see my kids are learning to live life. Learning to solve problems. Learning to adapt, to feel confident in themselves. Sometimes that comes through challenges. Sometimes that comes when we least expect it.

The Great Outdoors

 As I have mentioned before, we live in the most incredible place. Everything we could want (except for the beach) is close. Lakes, ponds, parks, biking trails, rivers, mountains are all very close, most within walking distance or a short drive. It's amazing.

Mostly because Sofi would live outside if she could. She is always playing outside, at least in the summer months. She isn't a big fan of winter. 

So we have been taking advantage of the good days to do our learning outside. We have a lot of smoke right now do to the fires, but not every day is bad. And we have had a drop in temperatures this week.

I have seen a lot of parents have to adjust this last week with the brick-and-mortar schools moving to virtual programs. I am actually amazed at the motivating learning stations these people create for their kids. It is so wonderful to see parents stepping it up to help their child succeed! 

High COVID-five to all you awesome mentors!

K is definitely someone who learns in front of a computer. She will do well this year since her college work will be online. There are definitely kids who can handle it. 

But Sofi does not. She needs to be up a tree.

So we have been studying the planets and this type of lesson can be particularly challenging to a child who isn't able to grasp abstract thought. She can't touch or see the planets, so it's difficult for her to focus on or retain what is being taught. It has to become real in some way. 

So decided to model our solar system at the park!

Here's our sun-

Here's our planets:

Poor Pluto got evicted since I was in school. So now the kids learn-

My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Nachos

instead of

My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles

We were able to create a model of the solar system using different sized balls to show the significant difference in the size of the planets, and by taking a certain number of steps between the balls so she could compare the distance between them. 

We went to the park so we had lots of space to spread them out. I took photos but somehow the photos didn't make it home. But she loved the lesson. And she was shocked at how far they were apart.

Here she is "warming her toosh on the sun" (more like incinerating)

As you can see, we had to put Mercury on a piece of paper because the ball bearing was too small to see. Oh why did those other photos not keep? Grr. Such is life.

We also made planetary pizzas for lunch:

I really do encourage my kids to eat healthy sometimes. Those photos never make it either.

Another thing about Sofi is that social interactions are very difficult, especially with people she doesn't know, or with large groups. It sends her into panic attacks.  So part of our "learning" is real life learning too. It's important that she have opportunities to learn how to be around people. 

So off to the park we go!

Coco isn't a therapy dog per say, but he is so wonderful. He never barks or growls or tries to run off. He is just there to give snuggles and help Sofi.

As you can see from the photo, the park is relatively empty. 

Or at least it wasn't packed with kids. But this was still overwhelming. 

She talked all morning about climbing the mammoth. But when we go there and she saw kids, she immediately changed her mind. There were other kids on the mammoth. It took a good 10 minutes for me to convince her to just climb halfway up. Again, baby steps. I am glad she tried. 

These are her happy places. Private places. 

With her dog. And rolling down random hills, because, why not?

(Unfortunately she had a massive allergic reaction on her skin that night.)

Of course, we did a lot of other work too this week. I am really pleased at her progress with math and her ability to recognize traits about Mary in our book The Secret Garden. She is learning a lot of new words and asking a lot of questions. She is beginning to journal, learn about sentence structure and practice her handwriting. We have had a lot of fun learning about the US States and trying to come up with silly ways to remember the US Capitals. Like how Californians eat the sacrament with their toes. hahahah.

I love this girl. I love that she's everything outside as an adventure. I love that she teaches me to slow down and notice things. I love that she tries things that are hard.