Congrats Shae!

Hurray for Shae! She has completed her kindergarten work and on to first grade. We did a photo shoot today and I experimented with a fun background and Tom says she looks like a smurf (as my color correction wasn't the best). She says that the kids on Kayla's High School Musical poster had their caps and gowns on and jumped in the air. So, that is what we did. And of course... for the family I have the normal graduation shots of her like I did for Kayla. :> )

She was not only excited to wear the cap and gown but she was so happy that finally her second tooth came out. Got to love the tongue between the empty tooth spot. How fun this has been!

I sometimes forget that I homeschool my children. I am now finishing up my third year of homeschooling. To some people what we do is strange, unnatural, and absolutely shocking. I remember going to my first homeschool group meeting.... I was freaked out to walk in the door thinking that I would see a bunch of "hill billies" wearing birkenstocks and having arm pit hair in braids. Boy was I wrong. It was a room filled with maybe 1 or 2 of those people but out of about 30 moms they were ... well "normal" people like me.

Tom and I decided to homeschool our kids almost three years ago after my oldest daughter didn't transition well and didn't even make it to day 2 of kindergarten. When I look back I am sure she would of pulled thru if I just left her there everyday like the other moms did. But I felt for her and I could tell she wasn't at all liking it. So, we said "What the heck! We will take her out and I will teach her at home and we will try her at school again the next year."

Well, that day came and went! We have been very successful in teaching our children at home. It is very gratifying for me and I can tell the girls love it! We pass by schools on a daily basis and sometimes I ask if they feel they are missing out on anything or they would like to try school and they say "no, we love to homeschool."

I always get asked "What about the Socialization" and THREE years later I still get that stupid question. I should get printed cards made and just hand them out and say read it when you have time. But I usually say that my kids are probably over socialized and we have to cut back on that socialization. It is not all that it is panned out to be. It is my job as the "mom" to keep them involved in a variety of activities as we continue our journey in homeschooling. And I do just that! To all the new moms who are thinking of homeschooling.... you will get so annoyed of the "Socialization" topic that comes up for homeschoolers and it will never leave us but I promise it does get better as we get more experienced in what we do and why. And we have all seen public schooled kids who are quite, hermits, outcasts, super shy, nerds, freaks, brats, wonderful and outgoing. And I have seen outgoing and confident homeschooled kids who are not hermits, shy and or nerds. But don't get me wrong... they are out there. And we have all seen it on BOTH sides.

Lots of people openly support our decision to homeschool and others not. And that is okay. But it works for us and we love our life!

I am happy to answer any questions if you have any. I know many who come to me with lots of questions that are quietly thinking about homeschooling. I am here for you so feel free to ask away. Until next time, have a wonderful day!

HSM Revue

The show is going to be GREAT!! Kayla is having a blast!

This is Kayla and her mentor / buddy at HSM rehearsals. She has been a inspiration for Kayla and Kayla just loves her.

Here is just part of the cast practicing singing "All in this Together"
There are over 65 kids in the cast and they are working their butts off.
This coming week Kayla increases her rehearsals from 6 hours and 2 days a week to 8 hours and 3 days a week. It is the "Real Deal!" And this production company puts on a great show!

Although, I have to admit that I sent Kayla off to her rehearsals this am with only having orange juice and a small banana bread muffin. Within a hour I got the call to pick her up as she actually passed out and felt sick. Plus the night before we went swimming for 2 1/2 hours.
Shame on me! She was water logged, exhausted and low on sugars! What was I thinking. A quick lesson learned!
Once I got her and fed her she was fine. So, note to self ....."big healthy meal before rehearsals!"

I still am selling discount tickets if anyone is interested in coming to see the show. Show dates are... May 2nd at 3pm and 7pm at Yavapai College Performance Hall.
Here comes the big stage!

Busy Day ... yet productive!

First, Shae finally lost one of her front teeth. The poor girl has been walking around for over a week with the tooth sticking out and when she would close her lips together we would laugh as she looked like "Nannie Mcfee." **Got to see the movie if you haven't.

The other one is just about as wiggly as well and it is just as gross hanging a bit sideways.

She is so cute! She went in her dad's office to show him a drawing of hers and he gave her a hug. She walked out of the room and then screamed ..... "My tooth came out! Thanks dad for hugging me ... you knocked my tooth out." She continued to thank Tom all day long.

This morning Kayla and Tom went on a field trip together for the first time. It was Tom's first time at a homeschool event without me. So, I thought that was pretty big of him to take her and with no complaints. It was at a printing facility and the kids could see how packaging was printed. Shae wasn't very interested so she and I stayed home. When they got home they both said what a great time they had.

Kayla was so excited that I gave her my camera and told her that she could take pictures of whatever she wanted. So, here is a printing machine and the one below is of her and the ear plugs they gave the kids and she thought they were so cool. There was about 10 other pictures ... all of her and the ear plugs in the back seat of the car. tee,hee,hee!

Then after lunch we met some friends and decided to hike up Thumb Butte. I had never done it so why not. It was a long hike and it took over an hour. By the end I thought my shaky knees were going to kill me. That was my first and most likely my last time hiking Thumb Butte. :) If anyone knows me and my knees ..... they are not good with 3 surgeries and 2 screws in the one leg.

The girls got to see lots of trees that were burned in a forest fire from a few years back and also lots of trees dead from the "bark beetle."

Here is Kayla at the top and down below behind Kayla is our town. As you can see..... she was a bit hot and worked hard to get to the top.

And nothing beats playing in the creek afterwards.

Our flexibility is great!

Well, this week started off with our regular Monday morning doing our reading, math, language, phonics, handwriting, cursive, blah.... blah.... blah. Then I had planned our science and that was to set up our hatchery for our Triops. I have the eggs, tank, salt and everything ready to go and then I read that the water needs to be at a consistent 72 - 80 degrees and that isn't the temp right now up here in high country.

Here is when the flexibility comes in. So, we by pass that and we will do that in May. We have this HUGE chapter by chapter science book and we read today about the astronauts and gravity instead of doing the Triops. And in doing this the girls had a million of questions regarding gravity and the astronauts and Kayla asked if anyone can go into space or do you have to be an astronaut to go into space. From there we got into a in depth discussion of the training of an astronaut and the simulators and the first teacher Sharon Christa McAuliffe to be able to go into space and the Challenger in 1986. I had told them that the "teacher" didn't make it to space and that in fact all 7 of the astronauts didn't make it. They had those bent eye brows of concern and asked what happened.

Thank goodness for the internet and youtube! I found CNN and ABC live footage of it and we sat and watched several video clips of it. One even showed kids in at school with the TV's in the classroom watching it live. I then told them that .............. dad and I did the same thing as them in class that day.

So, wow! What a great learning day we had starting out with science and ended with history and all that was unplanned. I just love the flexibility we have have and the time we have together.

Now with that lead it makes sense to move on to study what is in our sky, the moon, planets, sun and more

click here to refresh your memory

A Love for our Pets and Nature

Kayla's hamster is so cute! His name is "Buttercup" and he just loves to be held and loved. Kayla says his middle name is "hugs" and she asks me... "Mom, do you know why his middle name is hugs?" And she replies, "Because he just loves to have hugs."

This weekend we took a hike near Willow Lake and the girls love to explore there. We even found a old rusty car door.

Shae runs off to show me her own beach.


And they even had secret houses in the trees.

It was an hour or so of just getting out the house and being in an amazing environment where their imagination can run wild.

It's that time again

If you haven't done this yet from my post last year.............. you've got to do it now. Not only does the economy stink and everyone is trying to save money ..... but this is a "no brainer" and makes total sense!

Oh yeah, if you don't know what I am talking about it .................... it is Laundry Detergent and I made it last November and it has lasted my family for 4 months.

I first learned of this clean, environmentally safe, homemade laundry detergent from the "Duggers" on their TV show of their life. So, Kayla and I tried it and what a great thing it turned out to be.
The initial investment is the bucket which you can get at Home Depot for $4-$6 and then the Borax and Arm and Hammer Washing Soda will last easily for about 8 or more makings of the detergent recipe. They cost about $3 a box. And each time you make it you need 1 bar of the Fels-Naptha bar soap found in the laundry aisle for $1.79 (Safeway). I have never seen it at Wal-Mart.

So, for about $4 I have laundry detergent that lasts 4 months and that is a whopping 12 bucks a year! AWESOME!

click here to see the steps and how I made it from my last post. The only thing I left out was after it sits all night and gels up .................. you stir it one more good time to break up the jelly like substance and it stays that ways forever. Good luck!