Home School- 2 months In

The first questions I get asked these days is about homeschooling. How it's going, how Jack likes it, and how I like it.

In the spirit of being real with you all, I'll just come out and admit that home schooling is way harder than I ever anticipated!

It's not that Jack doesn't enjoy learning. In fact, he loves learning, and really likes doing school. And I do enjoy it, sometimes. But the fact is homeschooling does require some sense of self discipline and organization. These would definitely be areas I tend to struggle in. Sometimes I can get overwhelmed when I think about all there is to do in a day.

I have been learning what seems to work for us, and I've been learning from some women who are further along in this journey and gleaning whatever wisdom I can. My husband and I have had some good conversations about what our long term and short term goals are. And I'm constantly asking the Lord for wisdom and guidance, and asking Him to help me love my children the way he does. This is where God has us. This is the conviction God has given Erik and I in regards to education, and at the end of the day I have to trust that God will equip us to do what he has called us to do.

It's certainly not been without it's wonderful moments too. It's fun watching your child learn to read. It's sweet hearing them request to do school on a Saturday. I love that I can work at Jack's pace, and that we can take our time if something is giving him trouble. And the best part is being able to give him a Christ centered education.

So, yes, I suppose I am enjoying home education. It's harder than I ever imagined it would be, but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be able to this with my children.

The mystery of Boys

Being a mother to boys can be very funny to me. Prior to having Jack, I didn't have a whole lot of experience with babies and children in general, and the ones I was around were always little girls. I have an older brother who's five years older than me, so I don't remember how he acted when he was younger.

My parents would tell me stories of how my brother and his best friend could be found wrestling in the back yard, sometimes fighting and rolling around on the ground. Supposedly one time someone was wearing a batman costume and it made the other one so jealous a huge fight ensued. My parents still laugh and tell me they were just sure that they weren't going to play together anymore, but 20 minutes later everything was fine and all the jealousy was forgotten.

So far Max and Jack have been much more laid back babies than Anna or Lily were(let's hope that trend continues!) And watching Jack interact with his little friends is so very funny to me. For example last Sunday one of Jack's friends came up to him and started calling him a porcupine. This caused Jack to fall into a fit of laughter, and the next thing you know they're in a ball on the floor calling each other porcupines.

At our weekly classical conversations group whenever there's free time the girls can be found sitting quietly talking and eating a snack, and the boys are generally chasing each other pretending to fight the bad guys, and wrestling.

Truthfully I really enjoy the differences. I actually encourage the sword fighting, super heroes, and pretending to be knights off to slay the dragon. I love that they desire to protect others from such an early age.

Raising boys is certainly an interesting, and sometimes confusing journey for me, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Luke or Olivia?

Well normally I prefer to be surprised when it comes to finding out our babies gender. I've only found out with one other pregnancy(Anna) and swore I'd never do that again...

But, this time around has been so different than the others, and Jack, Anna, and Lily are so excited to be welcoming another sibling, that Erik and I thought it would be fun to find out what we were having this time.
So yesterday at my ultrasound I found out the news.

It's a BOY!!! Right now the name we have picked out is Luke, but no middle name yet. Everything looked great. I'm so looking forward to meeting him this March!

Blueberry baked Oatmeal

So as far as pregnancy cravings go, I actually haven't had too many this time around. However, this morning I woke up thinking about how much I needed blueberries. I already had some oats soaking on the counter, so blueberry oatmeal was the obvious choice, and let me tell you, this recipe made this pregnant mama very happy!

6 cups rolled or old fashioned oats
3/4-1 cup raw sugar
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted
2 cups plain kefir ( I just use 1 cup and then mix it with a cup of water to stretch the kefir), I'm sure you could use milk, buttermilk, or yogurt.
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup blueberries
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

If you want to soak, mix the oats, sugar, kefir, and oil the night before. The next morning add all the other ingredients, bake at 375 degrees for 30- 35 minutes.

Enjoy!

Simon Says

The other night Erik was playing some games with the children. As the night went on, and Anna and Max had gone on to bed(they had just gotten back from a visit with Papa and Nana and were thoroughly exhausted) Erik suggested a game of Simon says. Jack started out as Simon, and when his turn was over Erik suggested that maybe Lily would like to be Simon now.

Picture if you will(because unfortunately I didn't take one), an adorable two year old in her tinkerbell footie pajamas marching to the other side of the room. At first she started out very shy, unsure of what she was suppose to do.

And then she realized that for the first time in her life she could tell her daddy and older brother to do anything she wanted them to do, and they would obey.

Suddenly little Lily was demanding Erik and Jack to,"Turn around! Go upside down! Now stop! Now go upside and spin around! Keep spinning! Don't stop!"

But the best part of the night came when she said,"Now, Jack you go that way!"she pointed to the end of the hall way. Then she told Erik,"Daddy you go that way!" and she pointed to the kitchen.

Now picture my six foot tall husband dutifully marching to the kitchen with a petite 2 year old little girl marching behind him sticking her finger in his back making sure he did what she said.

"Ok, daddy, now open the door!" I heard the door to the laundry room being opened.

"Now close the door!" The door shut.

And then I heard the laundry door open again, and Lily says in her sternest voice yet,"Now play light sabers with me!"

By this point my parents(who were here visiting) and I were practically on the floor we were laughing so hard. It was just so funny no one had the heart to remind her that she was forgetting to say "Simon Says."