School

Tomorrow morning marks a seriously huge life change for our family. All 4 kids will be in school.

Almost 10 years ago, we made the decision that I would be at home with our kids at any cost.
I was fine with that. There was nothing else I wanted to do but stay home with my babies.

But, as those babies grew and school came into sight, the decision was harder. After much prayer, homeschooling became our way of life. Honestly, it wasn't my idea and I was not wholeheartedly into it. God has a way of changing hearts, though, and soon I was completely on board. I loved homeschooling. Yes, there were many days that ended in tears - both mine and the kids - and days I called Kyle saying "I QUIT! I can't do this anymore!!" But isn't that life? Everyday doesn't always meet our desire for a perfect life. We re-evaluated our decision at the end of each school year to see if homeschooling was the way to go, always ending up at the same conclusion. Overall, homeschooling was, and still is, the best thing we have ever done.

When it was time to talk about school decisions last spring we knew that there was a huge possibility we would be moving. My immediate thought was that I'd never place my beloved offspring into those schools. After all, everyone we had talked to said private schooling or homeschooling was the ONLY way to go here. So it seemed pretty firm that homeschooling would, once again, be our life. And that was great.

Except that I couldn't get those public schools out of my head. I visited the school, talked to people, and prayed, prayed, prayed. I agonized and changed my mind 3 times. Finally, after a lot of prayer and a heart to heart with Kyle, we registered the kids in the public school. Lots of people thought (and still think) we are crazy. But we've had a lot of support too. And since signing them up, I've heard glowing things about the school.

Yesterday was meet the teacher day. I was so encouraged when we left. The kid's teachers all seem to be wonderful. Noah is in a class with another little boy with Asperger's and an inclusion teacher to help him through difficulties he'll have. Jacob's teacher seems to be so much fun and very nurturing and Ellie's Kindergarten teacher's personality was just what you'd imagine a Kindergarten teacher to be. Lucas' teacher seems really firm - just what that boy needs! God is so very good and faithful.

So tomorrow morning I will load up the kids and drop them off. They're nervous, but excited to start this new adventure. I will keep myself together until dropping them off, and then I'm sure the dam will break loose. It's very hard to cut those apron strings, but I know my kids are ready for this. They know "whose" they are and are ready to live out the gospel in their own way.

God certainly has a way of changing our plans. Our life is a testimony to that. Quite an adventure, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

"come listen to a story 'bout......"

One fine day I'll get around to writing a post about our move down to mizzabill (as Ellie likes to call it). But that would involve me actually making coherent sentences and forming paragraphs and, since it's somewhere between 99 and 200 degrees outside and the sun shines straight into my house in the middle of the afternoon, that's not possible for me. But soon, my friends, soon. A post is coming - along with pictures.

However, there's a new adventure about to take place in our house. For reasons much too lengthy to write about, we registered the kids in the public school here on a trial basis. After a month, should it not be going well, we will bring them back home. And, no matter what, it's only for this year. Depending on who you talk to, we're either totally smart or amazingly stupid. I'll let you know in a few weeks.

Anyhoo - I took the kids to register them last week and we were allowed to wander freely about the school. My boys were so excited about every little thing. "Wow!" "Look at that!" "Do we get to go in there?" "They have COMPUTERS!" "Can we eat in the cafeteria?" "There's a water fountain!!"

I just laughed and prayed that none of the staff heard their sheer amazement - we were definitely "the Clampetts go to school." For now, I will enjoy this time of wonderment and excitement. 'Cause in a couple of weeks, bless their poor naive hearts, they'll be singing another tune.

Noah-isms

Noah has quite a lot to say on some days and is completely silent on others. But when he does say something, I listen. It's often profound. Or so hilariously funny I have to disguise my laugh as a coughing fit.  They usually come out of the blue. We can be talking about swimming and Noah will suddenly pipe in with a bit about England or some other random topic.

Here are some quotes of the past few days:

"I have a stomach of steel. I'm always hungry.....except when I'm full."

"If Fat Albert were real, he'd have diabetes."

"It's a good things Mville has lots of trees. That way there's oxygen so we can breathe. If there
weren't any trees we would all suffocate and die."

When being introduced to a co-worker of Kyle's, Noah's response was:
"Hola. Mi nombre es Noe." We had never even heard him speak Spanish before, and
certainly not to introduce himself to someone!

The following happened a few months ago, but still makes me laugh.

We were at the dentist and Noah climbed up in the chair. The dentist said "Are you playing baseball too?" (Lucas had just had his turn and had been talking about baseball).
"No," Noah said.
"What are you doing right now, then?" the dentist asked, expecting an answer of all the extra-curricular activities Noah was involved in.
"Sitting in this chair," Noah replied.   Ah.... the literal mind of an Asperger's child.

a picture's worth 1000 words

At least I hope so. Here are some pics of our recent happenings.

normality

Is that even a word? Things here have been pretty routine and normal for us lately. Which is a great thing and I'm certainly not complaining. But what's normal, really?  Here's what my kids were doing today:

Just a few notes:
1) Yes, they are playing in the garage. It's fun evidently.
2) No, I don't know what Jacob is doing. Some new sport he made up.
3) Yes, Noah is playing with pool noodles.
4) Yes, Ellie is in her pjs. She changed into them after school.
5) Yes, Lucas has grown about 2 feet in the past month. (he's on a bug hunt, by the way).

What do you get when you give a think-outside-of-the-box child the assignment to describe the three branches of government? (click on pic for larger view)

 

Chalkboard Revolution

Today we finished our study on the American Revolution.  I told the boys to draw a scene (or scenes) on the chalk wall - here are their masterpieces.

A few notes:
1) Lucas explained to me that the guns shooting down from the sky were "not reality."
2) Evidently Noah was posing as a redcoat soldier.
3) Despite the quotes in Jacob's drawing, I think he did absorb a little bit of info in the past few weeks.
4) I really need a lesson on how not to take blurry pics with Kyle's camera.