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!

I Love Fridays!

The girls and I ran a few errands today and what a sight we had while we were out. With the weather warming up it was a beautiful day. We now mostly take Friday’s off of our homeschooling. We use this day for our spelling and math tests, doing an art project, exploring the outdoors and the nature that surrounds us and definitely a time to hang out with friends. I love this schedule and so do the girls.

Back to where I was originally heading….. so we stopped at a local market and on the way we see several marathon runners enjoying this sunny day. Bless them for the training they did to be able to do that. We head over the hill down towards our historical square which is the hang out for the town. And as usual people are out walking the square and about half of them have dogs and some on bikes, some resting on park benches and others who clearly are from out of town have their cameras out taking pictures of the court house. It was very quiet and I was noticing our surroundings. One store front said “Auctions every weekend,” a realty business said “realtors wanted,” a restaurant said, “great specials.” And a couple store fronts were noticeably vacant showing a sign of our week economy. But I loved what I saw! People out mingling about, talking to each other even if they were strangers to each other (that is how our town is). No one had anything new looking on or even a new bike. Most people here really don’t care about being the top of the crop. That is one thing I just love about this town.

I drive up Whiskey Row surrounded by these old, old and I mean old buildings with old huge trees that are bare awaiting their buds. I just smile and look in my rearview mirror as my kids too are looking out their windows taking it all in. The scenery kind of reminded me of one of the American Girl stories that Kayla and I read together during the time of the revolutionary war.

We stop at the local library which we just LOVE and the girls always stop to check out the progress of the mural that is a work in progress. Shae, the artist herself says, “look at the sleeping dragon, he is so cute.” We run into another one of my homeschool lady friends and her two children and catch up while the kids examine the rows of books and carefully choose their next read. Were done now and head out and how cool to drive down the historical street Mt. Vernon with yet another tree lined street with beautifully old now restored Victorian historical homes with the humbling white picket fences that surround them. We stop by another friends house real quick and then when we got home another friend of ours stopped by and picked my brain a little as she is considering homeschooling her children starting next year. What a great day we had. It is now bed time for the girls and as I read them their bed time story I walk past the puzzles that Shae loves to put together on the floor and just smile. It may be a weak economy but a strong and happy family. Good night!

Exciting Week for Kayla!

Old news for most as these Heely's have been out for awhile but new for Kayla! She had been saving her money for a pair and I wasn't sure she would even pick it up and the $60 would be a waste. So, I told her that I found some on Ebay and they were practically new. So as the clock counted down Kayla sat with me and we bid on them and YEEHAW!!! We got them for $12. She was sooooooooooo excited! She is the kind of girl that NEVER says they have to be new or won't wear used things. She lives in used clothing from my dear friend and sister that I never had .... Janey in California. Thanks to her we have a wardrobe for more than a year at any given time. I of course hand them down to others when Shae is done with them.
Practicing hard and she got it pretty good on day 2. But .............. with super sore thigh muscles and required heating packs. tee,hee,hee!

Today, Kayla got a surprise from her guitar teacher Ms. Patty from the Volante Academy of the Arts. Ms. Patty usually has her 12 string with her but today she brought her shiny and sweet electric guitar. She even let Kayla play it. Boy did it sound nice!!

This was Kayla's last day of guitar lessons until after the High School Musical Show. I don't want her overwhelmed so we will start up again in 13 weeks. We will continue to keep up our chords and playing until then.

UPDATE.... still waiting

"What is it?" you ask. Well these are our pupas that we are awaiting to emerge. They are still in this pupa stage and has been for 5 months. And yes we still have them. We have them outside in a safe place where they are exposed to the natural elements of weather.

On the above picture you will see the 2 large brown hairy things and a smaller white smooth thing on top of the one brown hairy thing which are the different pupas (3). The white pupa is a different kind of caterpillar that Shae caught and it began spinning its web around itself immediately after she put it in her bucket. They other 2 have an amazing story and are 2 of North American's Largest Cecropia Moths.

Click here if you missed the original post of how these came about and what they looked like when we caught them and amazing pictures of them inside their cozy homes while waiting for Spring.

"Give me that test"

So, during our studies thoughout the week we always do spelling. Kayla isn't the greatest speller but then again ... who is in second grade? And thank goodness for spell check when they get older! ha,ha!
I started out the year following the spelling curriculum with having Kayla do the pages in the book along with writing them and us doing some spelling exercises. Then she started asking me if she can just have the test instead of doing all that work.
I thought that was a odd request. So, I thought about it and told her that is she gets 100% then she doesn't have to do the work. After all, how dumb to have to do all that work if you already know the words.

She was doing great and we did this for a couple of weeks. Then I decided to at the beginning of the week go thru and just give her a pre-test of several lessons and see which words she didn't know. This week we went thru lessons 16-20 and out of 75 words she didn't know 15 of them.
So, that became her new spelling list for the week. The only thing is that I had to make up and pick from all the lessons to create the work sheets that go along with those words. Which I don't mind ........... as I am the "Teacher" and can do that. :> )
She also writes in a journal a couple of times a week and I will look back in that and pull the misspelled words to add to her list.
The girls and I have learned so much and I myself have learned what they know and what to work on. Instead of "just moving on" to another topic and them not getting it.... we stay on it till they get it. It is the best and most through way for them to learn!

Winter Storm Last Night

We went to bed with snowing falling and it had been for a couple of hours.

Good night little tree! Your branches will be heavier in the morning. I will help you shake it off!

I told you so!

Ready to go to the grocery store. NOT!

Where is the plower?

I see some have made it down our icy street. No way! Not me! I am such a Phoenician!

High School Musical Review

Stayed tuned as Kayla will be part of the High School Musical Review cast that will be showing May 1-2, 2009 at Yavapai Community College in Prescott.

Kayla is so excited to be a part of this production. The production is put on by Young Star Musical Theatre. She will be rehearsing for 2 hours a week this month then she will be rehearsing for 6 hours a week till show dates.

She has 10 dances and songs to learn along with the rest of the cast all in 10 weeks!

Life can be so busy as there are so many neat and fun things to do. We had to drop 2 other activities to be able to do this. But this is what she wanted .... after all ... HSM is her favorite movie!

We will be selling (presale) tickets for $10 starting next week so put your order in. I'll be calling ya!

Thanks ahead of time for your support!

Let It Snow~

Finally, our first big snow this year. It had been snowing like a blizzard all day long. I mean sideways snow!! Nothing stuck until about 3pm. And it is about 6pm now and it is still snowing and we have a least 6 inches of this beautiful stuff.

So, early in the day today this dog came up to our lot and scared the poo out of the girls. They were out rolling snow balls and the boxer ran up barking. Kind of scary. It actually chased the girls to the back door. Here is Tom trying to get it and see who it belonged to. This dog wanted nothing of him!

In the end the girls had a blast and I had to pay them to come inside! :>)

Getcha Head In The Game!

Kayla has been asking why she hasn't got a basket yet in the game. I told her that she may not get a basket and that is okay. Not every team player gets one (but really... everyone had so far except her). :)

Today, she got her first basket and not only that ... she got 2 baskets. She immediately looked at me and smiled and gave us the double thumbs up.

They had a tough game and were up against what seemed to be giants. Tom was wanting to check birth certificates. lol

ART WEEK

We have had a sick week here at the house so we put the academics aside and did a little art. I don't feel bad putting things aside for fun and creative stuff as I am the type who over works the kids at times and they are always ahead so I can do that. And besides.... I am the teacher! :) The girls recently got magnifying glasses so we did an art project that is MAGNIFIED. It came out pretty cool. We first looked at things thru the lens and saw the detail and how much larger items became. So, we created it with that.

Kayla did this one

Shae is my super creative child.

She created this non-objective piece of art.

And on the computer she used her computer skills and created these pieces of artwork. And she used her typing skills. Love that silly dude she made. Watch out as you may get it in the mail one day as a card.

So, finally the girls felt better today and we studied how school was in the Colonial Days. Here pictured is Shae creating a hornbook. Which is the first book a colonial child learned to read from. It was not actually a book at all. It was a reading lesson placed on a piece of wood with a thin sheet of animal horn which you would see through..

So, I guess I lied! We did wrap things up educationally.

Already thinking about next school year

It is totally my type "A" personality ... but I am already looking at what curriculum I have and what I will need for next school year. How exciting for us to have this wonderful opportunity to school at home. This is most of Kayla's third grade curriculum for next year. I still have a few things to get but that isn't bad. And same goes for Shae's school books. She will be in first grade next year and I am glad to be schooling her as I am seeing all the wonderful progress that she and I have made.

I have to say that watching the news about all the educational budget cuts makes me more and more proud of what we do. I don't have to cut anything! My kids won't be doing without or crammed into a room with 60 kids.

I feel for the state education and their budget but Arizona is already ranked number 49 out of 50. That is a JOKE!! That isn't anything to be proud of. The state should be adding money to their already crappy education system not taking away. I feel sorry for the teachers who will have to face these new challenges but I also commend them for what they do.

I have some people tell me that their school is rated "excelling".... and my thought is ... "excelling is great but with our low state standards that doesn't say much and does not impress me at all!"

For my friends who have kids in school I hope the state changes their mind in what funds are cut.

Excitement!

Well, Kayla had her second basketball game yesterday. It was a tough game and very intense. Some of the kids that we play against are HUGE! Anyway, Kayla got blasted in the face by the ball and I held my breath and to my surprise she kept playing. She toughed it out and finished the quarter and then came to me and cried. She was so sweet and trying to hold in her tears. I told her that it was okay to cry and that it does hurt when the ball hits you square in the nose. We were so proud of her as the coach asked her to come back in after she rested a quarter and she played hard ball. I thought for sure she would either not go in or play very timid and she didn't. Way to stick it out Kayla!

On another note.... we had our first showing this am. Yes, on a Sunday! Here we are chillin out and the girls weren't feeling well and we had stuff out all over the place and the phone rings. It was our Realtor "Kim Tate" telling me that we have a showing at noon. CRAP! It was now 11am. Boy... did I hang up that phone fast and Tom and I and the girls went in "freak out mode." We went from jammies and chillin to Molly Maid tripped out! We got the house spotless and left quickly with 3 minutes to spare. So, now we see what they thought. ha,ha,ha! I hate selling my house!

BEAUTIFUL WEATHER

The weather lately has been just beautiful! We have been spending lots of time out doors enjoying every minute of it. It seems so weird ... "Where is WINTER?" But that is okay by me... but not for S. She is my Winter girl and wished it snowed everyday and K is my Fall girl. Neither of them like it too hot but they do like the sunshine.
We even played a little hoops this afternoon as well.

It's Official!!!

Finally, we took the plunge and hired a agent to "Officially" list our house for sale. It has been a tough decision due to the darn commission issue.

But it is a MUST do right now.

Yes, we love out house but we have realized that you can't just love a house as it is just a house.

Although.... you can LOVE the payment of a house which we DO NOT!

It is time to move on and we have re-evaluated our life and priorities. Not exactly sure of all of them but we do know that we don't want to spend most of our (Tom's) hard earned money on a house payment.

So, cheers as the sign was inserted into the ground this week. Bring on a buyer PLEASE!!

At least within 9 months. I will be happy with that!

Where from there? Do you ask..... we are not sure as of yet but it will be in a cheaper home that we are okay with and have more time and money for fun!

GAME TIME

K had her first game. She was pretty nervous and it showed during the first quarter. But then she got her confidence up and played like a champ.

Of course she had a HUGE kid to guard but did it well!

She really loves this game!!

We have 3 great coaches and we are luckily that if anyone gets hurt .... all 3 of them are doctors.