Treasuring The Adventures

Adventures Parenting Boys

2008-02-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

Okay. Me, my brother, and my 2 sons are sitting around chatting the other night. My brother is telling the story of him and my youngest son out hunting and my son was climbing a tree and stuck his hand in raccoon poop. Of course I say "YUCK!!!". My son tells me he wiped it off (knowing there is no water or soap out at the property I know he did not sanitize hands). Then all 3 boys (my brother included) proceed to tell how they throw cow poop at each other. Only the hard ones no soft (like that makes it better). Of course as a girl I am getting totally grossed out. But then they go on to tell that their uncle picks up animal poop and looks at it. OKAY what is that about. He and my father try to explain that you have to do that so you know what kind of animal it is, and what it has been eating. In my mind I'm thinking "SO" there is never a good reason to pick up poop of any kind. Now keep in mind that I'm sure these same guys that will pick up, inspect, and play with all different animal poop will NOT under any circumstances change a dirty diaper. As the conversation ends I chuckle to myself because I'm thinking that if this was a group of girls sitting around talking we would not be able to have this conversation about poop because girls, when we see poop we do not feel the need to inspect it, and there is no way we are touching it. All of this lets me know I still don't make my boys wash their hands enough.

Adventures in Homeschooling

2008-02-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

Okay. So we've decided we definately are going to home school, and my son is very excited. Now he has no idea what home school, public school, or any school is for that matter, but hey if mom's excited, so is he!
So I sit down with a mound, no I mean mountains of curriculum catalogs to plot our course for the kindergarten year. Okay so we need reading, writing, math, and good citizenship. Oh but do we also need grammar, geography, history, calculus, and latin? My head is spinning, but several DAYS later I emerge with our plan. The good thing is it is only going to cost $245,312.23 per year to homeschool my child. My husband will be so thrilled especially since I was able to use the math that I will be teaching our son to come to this figure. Well maybe it wasn't going to cost that much, but I learned real quick it can get expensive... If you let it.
I soon found out the difference between a new home school mom, and a seasoned one is the seasoned one has gained A LOT of wisdom. So in talking to other parents, and doing more research, I soon found that I could do this affordably. There are excellent curriculums out there that will cost some money, but there is also a lot of free resouces out that there can be used.

1. Other home school parents. Great for advice and getting used curriculum at an affordable price.

2. The Library. A great place to pick up books that are on your child's reading list, and for read-a-loud books.

3. The internet is an incredible source for free information that is always available to be used. Yes there are programs on the internet that cost money, but there's a LOT more that doesn't. One of my favorite sites that I use every week is http://www.learningpage.com/ It has great worksheets and books for alphabet, math, science, and reading, and it doesn't cost anything other than ink and paper from your printer.

4. Everyday life... I know it is not actually free. Seize those moments everyday that are teaching moments that just can't be taught out of a workbook.

Happy homeschooling and check out my website Treasures 2 Your Door.

Adventures in Homeschooling

2008-01-28T12:53:00.000-08:00

IF you are raising kids, and you ever start to think that life is boring I challenge you to start homeschooling. Now this isn't the only reason to home school, there are numerous reasons that different people home school their children, but the common factor is the REASON all of us are doing it because it is the best thing for our family. This doesn't mean that if you aren't homeschooling your children you are NOT doing what's best for your family. Now our children didn't come with an owners manual, and even if you are like me and read every parenting book out there, nothing can prepare us for when that first little one arrives in the world. So we bring the bundle of joy home and start to muddle through with exhaustion, laughter, tears, and a lot of prayer. Many times we make decisions not truly knowing what the outcome will be, but hoping that it will be positive, and help our child grow. Sometimes we have experience and thus know the outcome of the decision, and sometimes we flat out mess it up, and have to go about fixing the mess we caused. But through it all our passionate burning love, and desire to do what's best for our children does not change.

My husband and I made the decision to home school our children from the beginning of school. I now have a 8 year old second grader, and a 6 year old Kindergartner so I am by no means a seasoned homeschooling parent, and do not pretend to be. But I have come a long ways from the first week of my oldest sons Kindergarten year. Now I will admit I did think, "I at least know how to do kindergarten and first grade, so with my second son I would have NO problems." Ha! Ha! Who would have thought that these 2 boys would be very different, and guess what... they don't learn the same way, or have the same interest. So workbooks to learn handwriting worked with my first son, but my second one has learned a lot of his writing using a stick in the dirt. The wonderful thing about homeschooling is neither one of my children are penalized for their learning styles and preferences.

One of the biggest challenges I have found in homeschooling to overcome is doubting what you are doing because of what others says. We all have those days where we think we are crazy and are asking, "Whose idea was it to do this?" But we get passed that and the next day is a better day. The hardest thing to sometimes overcome are people's comments like, "How is your child going to prepared for the REAL world if they don't go to public school ." Well how many REAL world situations have you been in where a group of 25 people with no experience are thrown in a room for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week? The other thing that is asked a lot is, "Aren't you sheltering your children too much from the REAL world? Aren't you being overprotective?" Funny, I thought it was our jobs as parents, to protect our children.

I am not a gardener, but I have been to a greenhouse and seen beautiful plants a flowers. Now the purpose of a greenhouse is not to "house" the beautiful plants forever. Its purpose is to grow and nurture those plants. The caretaker makes sure that the perfect environment is provided. The perfect temperature, the right amount of food, the right amount of sunlight. The caretaker makes sure the plant grows to be the best plant it can be. Not to stay in the greenhouse forever, but to protect it until it is strong enough to be planted in the "real" world for others to enjoy. Now that same plant could probably be grown out in the wild, but would it be as strong, and as able to survive as that plant that was given such care in the perfect environment?

Now I am not saying that homeschooling parents are perfect, and that we do everything perfect, but there is no one out there that will love and look out for your child like you will as the parent. So I hope that if you are reading this today, and are questioning your calling, that you will be encouraged in your home school ADVENTURE, and know that you are the perfect "caretaker" for your "plants."

Please post comments, encouragement, and stories of your ADVENTURES IN HOMESCHOOLING.

Adventures Parenting Boys

2008-01-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

We always hear the saying, "Boys and girls are different" and to most of us we think, "well duh". But me being a girl and raising 2 boys I now see how much different they really are. All my life when I imagined my family I imagined me, my husband, my daughter (born first), and my son. Now for reality... well there's me, I have my husband, and I'm the proud parent of an 8 year old and 6 year old, yes, BOYS . Now my husband has so much to offer in raising the boys, but let's face it they spend most of their time with me.
The differences between boys and girls begin to appear very early on. I have not heard a story about a girl standing on the porch and dropping her panties to go potty while her parents are having a garage sale, but I have experienced a boy doing this first hand. (Yes I will admit it was my son). I have learned with my sons, especially my younger one, to not ask if they CAN do something. Of course they CAN do ANYTHING, it just doesn't mean it WILL get done. You don't usually see a group of girls gathering sticks to use as guns, or swords to fight each other with, but I see this almost daily with boys. Girls will be content to play IN a fort (of course it will be called a clubhouse), but boys, they must conquer the fort. That means climb on top of it, up the side of it, on the rails, almost anywhere except for inside. I guess it's the boys need for adventure that drives them to do all the things that will make a mom's heart stop. So as a mom is it our job to quench this drive? No. We are the ones that have to make sure they have protective head gear, knee & elbow pads, and anything else needed when the time arrives. Then we say lots of prayers and we go with them on their next adventure.
I'd love to hear stories about your adventures in raising boys. So leave comments, and questions. There are some great boooks on raising boys. One is by Dr. Dobson. To purchase check out Treasures2yourdoor.com.