Today I was Super Mom, Tonight I am tired

In fact, I am so tired that I will tell you about it tomorrow. However, it was a great day. I even smiled, genuinely kissed, hugged and squeezed Maia before bedtime even though she was throwing a temper tantrum. I don't think I have ever loved a kid so much while they were screaming.

Speaking of Addition

Blossoming as we grow

Today, we did Music, Language Arts and Math. This is a first for us, three subjects in one day, that is. Maia and Michaela joined in on the fun and we had a great time jumping around, playing some musical instruments,learning songs and playing musical games. I have to say that I am feeling pretty dang satisfied with myself today. The little girls, especially Maia, loved being needed and included in on the lesson. It made me feel like a good mom because I interacted, acted silly and taught them some new songs, games and music terms for a whole hour. It was a triumphant Mommy day. I needed that.

I am growing into a better mom and a better teacher. I am becoming a bit more patient. It is still nuts though, lest I lead you to believe it is easy. It is so not. I still have so much organizing to go BUT we are doing it and I am so proud that we are beginning to see some blossoms as we have begun this most important labor.

Today, Olivia wrote a letter to her friend, Ameillia. I took pride in knowing that her sentences were capitalized. I was gleeful to see words were spelled correctly and spaced a nice distance from each other. Her handwriting is improving and she is growing up right before my eyes as we identify subjects, predicates and learn the preliminary laws of addition and subtraction. As I perused her letter to Ameillia, I teased her about how her sentences were not punctuated and she laughed as she added periods and exclamation marks. I did that. I taught her that. These few short weeks have been worth the doubt, the aggravation, the tears and the babysteps of figuring out how we were going to accomplish this goal.

It has been all done in the face of curious and loving supporters and even perhaps some skeptics. You know who you are and I love you for it. *Group Hug!* *High Five!* Now, I am off to put my nose back to the homeschool grindstone..tomorrow morning anyway. Until then, back to the the mommy/housewife grindstone :)

Starting the Real Ball Rolling

Well, we are back from vacation and we are getting started on getting the real deal of homeschooling rolling. What a learning experience! That was anticipated on many levels and despite having crazy kid days when it comes down to getting down and deep into Spelling, Vocabulary, Grammar, Math and Reading Comprehension with good ole Aesop. I love it. Truly.


The challenge is getting Science and Music in on the schedule. It isn't overwhelming but it is more about getting our time management under even better control and just plain finding our groove. I'm not worried at all. Yesterday was the first day of me thinking of how I needed a bumper sticker that said, "Yes, I homeschool. Yes, I am insane for doing it but, nonetheless, I love it." The girls were cranky, Michaela was tantruming. Olivia pulled a card (our term for not doing so hot with her behavior) but we rallied surprisingly enough. I kept calm, used humor and stay focused as the teacher and we got back to our happy place.

The current trick is really finding small lessons to do with Maia. She wants more than me giving her worksheets that reinforce what she is learning in preschool, coloring pages and educational websites. She wants me to really sit down and give her a lesson. I have a few tricks up my sleeve. We shall see how that goes. It will be a constant evolution of figuring that out but I think once we start Music class (she will be heavily included in this course--or so I anticipate) she will be more satisfied.

In other news, we had our first homeschool field trip while in Louisiana. I will tell all when my mother (Hint, Hint Verda ;) ) emails me the pictures. I was dumb and opted not to bring my own cool camera along on that fieldtrip.

I have other stories but I really need to upload pictures so I can enhance them with some visual goodness.

Maia, my heart, turned 4 years old on Tuesday too. I have pictures for that too.

So that is my report.