Helllllllloooooo!

I know…it's been a few weeks since the last time that I posted. I'll be honest, the school room reno really really threw me for a bit of a loop. I should have figured that it would have taken longer than I thought. It was exhausting and frustrating and….I am so glad we did it because I LOVE our new classroom! 

I also definitely had a few " oh crap!" moments prior to actually starting school this week. The first day of public school here was the worst. Oldest was pretty upset about not getting to go to school with her friends, and I let Satan tell me that I was crazy, and I momentarily agreed with him.

Praise Heavenly Father and Jesus though. It's amazing how truly personal spiritual confirmations can be. I prayed that night, the night that public school started, and I just poured my heart out, talking to Him about how scared I was, how I had no idea how to teach my children, that I was just making this up as I go, and what if I am going to do more damage than good by pulling them? What if I can't reach them, and change their hearts the way I know that He wants me to? What if I am just not good enough myself to do this for my children?

I went to bed, and felt better the next day. In the evening I got onto Facebook, and my Primary President sent me an article about incorporating the gospel into homeschool. This was literally the first time she had even interacted with me on the internet, though we talk often in real life, so she knew about my desire to focus on learning the gospel in our homeschool.

I read the article, and Heavenly Father answered my prayer with a simple thought that had been echoing in my brain, but I obviously needed to hear it outside of myself for it to click.

" It doesn't matter what you teach, Jen. Strive to have the Spirit surround your home and children and they will learn what I need them to know."

I was so grateful for my Primary President for being in tune with the Spirit and sharing that article with me. 

So, I moved forward with faith at that point!

It took us a full 3 weeks to get the school room to the point where it was usable, so the first day of school was not in the school room. I worked hard not to let it drag me down tho, so we started on time in our dining room!

Middle was not at all happy about doing school. This was him trying not to smile for a picture…and honestly it just went down hill from here. Bad enough that I didn't try to do school with him the rest of the week. We're in the school room now...I'm hoping that that will help us focus better, and I have cut his subjects to just the very very basics.

Oldest was really ready to start school, so she breezed through her lessons on day one. I didn't go full schedule with her either this week….we did religion, phonics/spelling, reading, math, hand writing, and on a couple of days we managed to squeeze in a little history. We didn't do music, art, or science at all.

There are a few other families from my ward that are homeschooling this year, and we have talked about doing a co-op with them, but then I didn't hear back anything until this week finally. So we're going to plan to go to co-op once a week, and we will cover History and Science with them. I have some great music and art curriculum which have a heavy focus on music and art appreciation and then a lap book and some art projects thrown in for fun that I think will actually be perfect for us. So I do intend to start those as soon as I can get them printed and put into binders.

There were a few things that I learned this week. 1) It takes us a lot longer to get through those core subjects than I anticipated. We do take brain breaks when needed, stop for lunch, and don't start school until after 9 am, so I guess that is where some of our time goes. But we were not finished a single day this week before 2:30 in the afternoon. I'm hoping that once we get more used to our schedule, we'll pick up pace a bit. 2) Projects are fun, but not necessary. We may bust out a project every now and then, but I think those are going to be special, and not an every week thing, like I had originally planned. I've been prompted that our time can be better spent by learning homemaking skills and doing things that serve others, starting with serving our family. So there we are! Our first week of school in a nutshell! Wanna see what Baby did during the school time??

Nothing like a snack of raisins and some pot and pan action to keep you occupied! Hehehe.

Oh! I'm sure you also want to see some pictures of the school room! 

The shelves are still waiting for a few final pieces to be attached, as well as sanding and painting obviously, but they are useable! I have no idea when I'll get them painted….hopefully before November, but I'm not sure I can promise anything at this point, if our first week of school is any indication…

We're happy though! It's functional, and clean, and organized, and school focussed and perfect for us. I think we are really going to enjoy this blessing of a school room!

Okay, I've rambled enough for today!

happy homeschooling!

School Room Reno: Paint

We made some more progress on the school room this week, so I'm fairly stoked about that!

 I wasn't actually planning on painting this week, but Oldest had a rough day early in the week, as we were carting Middle around to all of his various appointments. I feel for her…I really do. So much of what Middle has to do for therapy seems like 'play', mostly with things we don't have available to use at the house. And he gets individualized attention from an adult who goes out of their way to make things fun and interesting. I'm sure to her, it does seem really unfair at times. And it's hard to remember that she is young too…they are only 18-months apart. She doesn't understand that what would be play for her is really a whole lot of work for him.

So when she said to me "Mommy, I wish I could be like Middle." on Tuesday after OT, I knew we needed to do something out of the ordinary that day, and have a little mommy/ daughter time.

And why not seize the opportunity to check off a to-do at the same time?! Ha!

So there's Oldest. She's a fun kid, and thankfully not really afraid of hard work! She was excited to paint, she hadn't had an opportunity to do it again since we painted our formal dining room when we first moved in over 2 years ago.

I decided to paint the school room white. I was talking with my sister-in-law about this decision later in the week and she says " White? Really? You know in the Waldorf school we looked at they painted their walls purple, because purple is supposed to keep the children calm and help them focus."

I don't know much about how color effects people, but I agree with wanting the room to be a place where my children can focus. White seemed like the least distracting color possible! And there are going to be pops of color…I mean this is a school room, for goodness sake!

One thing I do have to say about painting a room white though….choose good paint. Or use a primer, even if you buy the "paint and primer in one" kind of paint like we did. This is what the room looked like after two coats of paint:

Ugh…another coat?? Seriously?? I'm not sure we bought enough paint…

Thankfully the 3rd coat rocked it! Phew! (And yes, there is Middle. Now you have met all of the kids!)

If you are wondering, the wall with the window didn't get painted because we have some very special plans for that wall in the upcoming weeks. Eeeeekk! I can't wait!

I've also been busy this week finishing up my lesson plans for the first 8 weeks, and working on some final touches for the school room. This week I worked up some box numbers for the kid's work boxes, and I thought I would share! There are enough labels for 8 work boxes.  Just click on the picture to grab them for yourself!

Oldest got Disney Princess because they're classic and timeless. Middle got Super Hero Lego Mini-figs…because we're all about super heroes and legos in this house!

Well that's all for this week!

happy homeschooling!

School Room Reno : Before

So we're planing to have the school room finished by mid-August, and I could not be MORE excited. Seriously.

We moved into this house 2.5 years ago, and I had GRAND dreams of everything I wanted to do to personalize every room. It hasn't quiet turned out like I expected, but when does it ever?

So far…we've painted the main rooms downstairs. and when I say main rooms I mean the formal dining, living, and foyer. The kitchen is still a nasty burnt orange... that is likely my next plan of attack after the school room..

That's it. I don't even have my pictures hung…pitiful. No wonder I've had a hard time adjusting here!

In my defense I did get pregnant within three months of moving here. And I was siiiiiiiiiiiick that whole 10 months. And then I had to survive the first year with three kids. Which brings us roughly to today!

So here's what the playroom/future school room looks like today…

It's cluttered. Clutter is my enemy. And we've actually pared down A LOT on what toys we have in here. I have just been so tired of the mess. The only reason it is as clean as it is in this picture is because the clutter is somewhat manageable now!

I love our kidney bean table. That was a craigslist find shortly after we moved here. Middle's therapists stressed the need for him to have a table short enough to put his feet on the floor. The man who sold it to me was so kind…I think he had another buyer who wanted it for a preschool but he felt we needed it more. And it has been well loved. We will continue to use this table for homeschool.

Those unfinished cabinets are going to be part of the reno. Another craigslist find. There is a guy in my area who does custom built utility sheds, but wants to branch out into custom cabinetry. In the real world these cabinets should have cost me upwards of 500$. But I was able to get all 4 of them for about 240$.

I've started to get things organized into these nifty clear shoeboxes from Michaels. Heavenly Father is pretty awesome…He inspired me to go check on a workbox cart I have been waiting to go on sale since January. Not only was the cart on sale, but ALL storage was on sale, with an additional 25% off coupon! So I picked up a couple of these boxed sets of 14 clear plastic boxes! Yay!

Annnnnnnnnd then there is this…

Who doesn't love a baby who tries to get in on the action when you're taking picture?

happy homeschooling!