Ember the Rabbit

A rabbit can teach you so much in such a short amount of time.  GM received a mini-lop rabbit for Christmas along with a hutch, food/water dishes, x-pen, toys, food, hay, and grooming supplies.  

Prior to the arrival of Ember the Rabbit, my daughter checked out every book the library has on rabbits, purchased books at local book stores with information on the care of rabbits, and watched hours of YouTube videos detailing every aspect of owning a rabbit. We both felt she was ready.  

Then the inevitable occurred...


Ember bit GM.  

There were tears mostly due to hurt feeling than physical pain.  GM learned that Ember has her own personality, desires, and preferences.  Somethings can't be taught by books and videos.  They must be learned first hand.  

Week 1 of Fast

One week done.  I won't say it was easy, but it did get easier.  

Did I miss out on things?

I am sure I did.  

Guess what?  

Nothing I missed really changed my life.

A simple google research says the average american spends 3+ hours a day on social media!  Wow, that is enough the get you thinking....What could I do with 3 extra hours?  

If you have read this blog more than once you know I am going to say pursue your passions.  Well, I LOVE knitting and crocheting so I gathered my stash and found some patterns (not on social media) to create.  

The beauty is my kids joined in on the crafting with me.  GM started a scarf and Bubba worked on his parachord belt.  I know you may be thinking "knitting is for old ladies," but this skill is making a comeback.  There are lots of clever items you can make beside the old school mittens.

 These are a couple cute creations.  

What would you do with 3 (or even 1) extra hours?

What Interest is Everyone Pursuing?

I often tell people, "our family does hobbies well."

Passions, interest, hobbies, whatever they are drive our family as individuals and together as a group.  

Last spring, we briefly entered the world of snow-skiing (and snowboarding for my son).  This year we jumped in with both feet.  Everyone got a season pass to our local ski resort, leased equipment, and gather necessary clothing.  Fortunately, this winter our area received record snowfall, enabling us to go up the mountain at least twice a week.  After skiing several times and hating it, I switched to snowboarding.  This has proved to be such a learning experience as my son is trying to coach me and help me improve.   I realized quickly, we learn similarly through trial and error not criticism.  Funny how God provides these moments. 

Archery was my husband's passion since our marriage, but over the last few years we are all becoming involved.  We each have our own compound bow to hunt with as well as compete in 3-D archery shoots.  Our local area holds weekend 3-D shoots that include hiking, shooting, and scoring in the spring and summer.  This is great family fun, so as the snow melts each of us has begun practicing.  Some (hubby and son) more than others.  

Pursuing interest as a family builds relationships.  The key is no one is forced to participate in given activity.  Such as when I wanted to quit skiing, I didn't get coerced into continuing.  My son only suggested  I try boarding since I enjoy wake-boarding in the summer.  Another example would be when my daughter and I sit on the couch to knit instead of joining the boy to practice archery.  We don't like the cold and choose to wait for warmer temperatures.  Our relationships stay strong because we know our desires for a given activity are respected as individuals.  

Social Media Fast

Social media is everywhere.  
Check in on Facebook for discounts.
Pin it on Pinterest and have best projects.
Post it on Instagram for instant sharing.
Stay connected across state lines.
Have more friends.
Enjoy shared experiences.

Well, the more time I spend on these sights the more anxious I become, the more worried I become, the more comparing I take part in my everyday life.  It doesn't feel good.  

I want to be present for the people in front of me not some stranger looking for advice.  I want to look into the eyes of the individuals in my family while we enjoy a game or show.  I want to grow deeper friendships with the ones who are my friends in real life.  I want to spend time creating good food, craft projects, and a home.  I want to play games with my son, go on hikes with my husband, and skate with my daughter.

So I am taking a social media fast for 2 weeks.  I will continue blogging since this time is spent in the early hours before anyone else is up and gives me a creative outlet for my points of view.  

The rules:  

• Start date February 15-March 1
• NO logging into, checking, or posting to Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest
• Texting and emailing are aloud
• Speaking in person and on the phone is encouraged

I will share my findings each week.  Feel free to join me on this unconventional quest.

February Slump

So this is actually a thing in homeschooling.  

February Slump

• the newness of the curriculum has worn off
• kids are tired
• weather is dreary
• holidays are over
• excitement of venture of homeschooling has fizzled out

What do you do?  My advice:

Something fun!  Something everyone enjoys!  Something that gets everyone out of the house!

Our favorite solution is a day on the mountain skiing and snowboarding and ice-cream.

What do you do? 

An Afternoon in the Life of Homeschooling (11 year old and 9 year old)

After lunch, we usually bake together a dessert or part of dinner for the evening.  Baking easily brings to light discussions on fractions, multiplication, division, and measurements.  Another activity we enjoy during or directly after lunch are board games or card games.  Lots of mathematical and strategy skills are easily incorporated and practiced.  

Once lunch, games, and baking are completed, GM moves on to her love.  PAINTING.  She has been working through The Usborne ART Treasury.  In this amazing book, she reads about an artist and their work before moving on to creating a similar piece of art.  Many times she will grab a canvas to paint her interpretation of a book we are reading or she is reading.  The canvas below is her idea of the The Night Gardener.

Bubba uses this time to maintain and work on his new baby, a Honda dirt bike.  He is responsible for storing, caring for, and any maintenance necessary for the bike.  

Another interest is gaming on his Xbox.  The more he games the more he improves in reading comprehension, noticing details, and understanding of strategy.  

I love this quote by Julie Bogart at Brave Writer, "Here's the thing about video gaming:  Kids love it for a reason.  What if we tried to find out what the reason was? What is it about video gaming that is captivating and enchanting?  The people who write the video games are smart.  They know what holds the child's attention.  Video games are loaded with enchantment."

As each pursues their passion, I am nearby to help as I can as well as provide any information to assist them.  I use this time to really study my children, how they are progressing individually and anticipate any future needs.   I serve snacks and encourage each one individually in their space.   

Eventually, I make my way downstairs to prepare dinner.  We truly enjoy sitting down to dinner together.  Afterward, we may play a game, watch a current series on Netflix, or rush off to sports practice or game.  This time each experiences getting to know their gifts, talents, and passions is priceless.  Sharing this time is the best.   

A Morning in the Life of Homeschooling (11 year old and 9 year old)

To maintain sanity, my alarm goes off super early in order to create time to exercise (fully wake up), enjoy coffee, and read my devotional.  I usually am in the middle of cooking breakfast when my oldest, Bubba, comes down full of ideas and thoughts to ponder. He wakes full of energy and ready to go.  Many mornings he comes along side me, helping finish breakfast before moving on to his devotion and diving into his current book.  Right now he is living and breathing everything snowboarding. So he shares interesting information or stories as he reads and I have more coffee.  At some point my husband joins us for breakfast and further discusses ideas with Bubba, before heading to his home office located 15 steps from our kitchen.   

Once I begin cleaning up dishes, GM, my daughter, joins us.  Not being a big morning person, she grabs a banana, hot tea, and book before heading to the couch to settle in and read.  Rushing off for a quick shower, I give each of them to finish up and any directions on what we have planned for the day.

Once I am dressed for the day we head upstairs to the game room where kids build with legos, paint, play games, or work on craft projects.  During this time I will sit in our recliner to read aloud from our current book.  More discussions of themes, foreshadowing, and irony with ensue.  This is also a wonderful time for us to study geography, culture, vocabulary, and history.  As we finish up a couple chapters (or more depending on interest in the book), I will leave them pursuing interests to make lunch.  

I personally love that we don't have to get sleepy kids out of bed early, rush them through breakfast, and shout orders about getting dressed only to shove them into a classroom to receive a very set and formula type curriculum.  Peaceful mornings can give way to passionate discussions, thoughtful insights, and pondering questions.  This is what true education is essentially based on in real life.  

Unique Approach to American Civil War

We are unschoolers at heart, yet as a family we love to dive into history as a family.  While no one was interested in a box curriculum covering the American Civil War.  Everyone wanted to dig deeper into this war that shaped our history as American.  With the help of both kids, I gathered supplies.  Our living books that serve as our read aloud books include:

The Storm Before Atlanta

Bull Run  

Across Five Aprils

Independent reading books consist of random books found at library sale covering war for Bubba and American Girl Addie (books 1-6) for GM.  

Both kids love games!  And what a fun way to learn more about any topic.  I found an Xbox 360 Civil War game created by History Channel for bubba which covers different battles and gives story line to the war.  Noggin's Civil War trivia game is right in line with GM's exploring fun facts of the war. 

The most fun part of  investigating any historical time period is cooking recipes used by everyday folks during this era.  The amazing Civil War Cookbook contains easy to create dishes and information about recipe for the reader.  

Key to learning is engagement and with our selection everyone is able to be engaged without force.  While these components work for my family, something else may work better for your family.   Before we gather materials, each member of our family expresses what types of supplies they would like to find.  Cookbooks, games, apps, living books, non fiction accounts, biographies, visiting reenactments (something we hope to do this spring).  Open your eyes to what types of media you engage best with, your kids individually engage best with on a topic.  Now discover together.  

SNOW!

Mother Nature provides many new lessons in weather as more snow than we ever seen in this area is covering the ground.  Watching weather forecast, storing food and water (in event of power outage), finding camping lanterns, collecting batteries and tanks of propane became goals for the family.  Daily work of shoveling snow to areas that allow us to get to the road and the mailman to deliver mail, clearing ice from the street gutters that let the melting snow to travel down to the grates instead of pooling in the street, and pulling snow down from the roof as we check for ice damn in the house gutters.  

For this mom, who not only evacuated several hurricanes and stayed through a few, this natural disaster was a completely new endeavor.  This reminds me that each area of our country endures different weather related issues.  It is key to learn about your environment and what better way than living in it.  I connect this to the fact that children in our country live in different areas and benefit from learning differently.  I am completely against Common Core and standards pushed by the central government.  States and local government should have the input on what is required in education.  (This is of course, if any, as I would love to see every family homeschooling.) 

In case you were worried, we were not having enough fun in the snow.  There has been plenty of snowball fights, forts built, snowmen made, and sledding experienced.  It hasn't been all work and not play. 

Valentine's Day

Prepping for the first 14 days in February.  Each day in February leading up to Valentines day I leave a "love note," candy, and sometimes a scratch off lottery ticket.  The notes are the most meaningful.  I make note of something different that I LOVE about each child everyday.  They light up at the mention of attributes, passions, and character traits.  Just a fun, simple way to show love.