Last Tuesday the younger two kids brought home a note saying that soccer sign-ups were on Thursday from 5pm - 7pm. I immediately jump on the "socialization" oppornunity and fill out a form for the boys along with a check. I set it on the counter for Thursday night. This and that happened and I remembered the sign up about 8pm Thursday night. Appearantely our small town has a very strict "no late kids" policy. I stayed mad for a couple days. I am over it now. I'm terrible at holding a grudge. I just dont have it in me to stay mad at someone. Soooooo. Last night we attended our first 4H meeting. Ham's chosen projects for the year are:

Woodworking

Bunnies (provided by my dad)

Photography

Let the fun begin!

Count to five

I ran across this in the childrens study bible when we were doing Bible Study today. It really hit me hard. I think it is something that should not just be for kids.

Lost and Found

When I was about thirteen or so I decided it was time for me to make some money of my own. I did what thirteen year old girls did when they want their own pocket change. I convinced some poor clueless woman to hand her precious ~I use this term lightly~ little angels over to me. I could rattle on about the details of my one and only babysitting job. Instead, I'll just cut to the chase. I lost one of them. One minute he was playing in his room quietly and the next his bedroom window was open and he was gone. A frantic call to my mother and an hour of searching the neighborhood later he was found at the local park. That day I swore I would never be in charge of another child again. Here I am many years later with three little angels of my own. My day consists of taking kids to school, walking, homeschooling, house cleaning, cooking, faking a headache, and passing out. To be honest I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love at first play

When I first decided to homeschool Hamster I started gathering whatever I thought I might possibly need or use at garage sales and such. I did not want to be stuck spending a boatload of money at the same time we have to get school supplies & back to school clothes for the other two. I came across a garage sale that had these cards for $0.50. Today we got a chance to try them out for the first time. I just want to say that I LOVE this game. When I first pulled the cards out and began to shuffle Sam asked me what War is. After I got over the shock of him never in his entire life playing War I explained how to play. We played this game for almost an hour! That was the best $0.50 I've ever spent. We both laid down our cards and I would wait to let him tell me who had the higher card. It was a great review of math facts.

The next game I want to buy is this. Lets see if you can remember the name of it.....

I just have to find a way to make it an educational game so I can justify buying it. I'm thinking English since you have to come up with adjectives to describe the people. Whatcha think?

Tomorrow is the first day of school. I'll ship the youngest two off to public school and begin this journey with my oldest called homeschooling. I have researched. I have bargain hunted. I have pieced together a curriculum that I think is perfect for him. He'll be doing 2 grades at once. I know it sounds insane. What that really means is that just over half way through his 3rd grade year in school is when my grandma died. That loss was more than his nine year old soul could bear. He shut down completely and began turning in completely blank pieces of paper with his name at the top. So.... we'll be wrapping up that last little bit of 3rd grade he missed out on while also starting on 4th grade material. If something is super easy for him then we'll move on. If he has a hard time understanding then we'll take it slow. That's the cool thing about homeschooling. It's about going at his pace. Oh yeah ~ and the fact that he will not get away with turning in empty papers to this teacher. It also helps that the principal of this school lives with us.

Since school starts on a Thursday this year we will spend the first two days getting everything organized. We have an office to set up. A scientist to choose. A book report book to choose. A library to raid. Dishes to wash. For Home Economics class that is. Hmmmm. I wonder how I can fit him mowing the lawn into the lesson plan. Anyhoo~ we are going to be busy folks around here. By Monday we should be up and running.

Love,
Mrs. Mom

You're telling me that grass is green?

In May God informed us that I would be homeschooling Ham. The conversation went something like this:

God: You need to home school Ham.
Me: You cant be serious. I maintained a solid D in History for 13 years strait. And Science... don't get me started on Science.
God: I will help you.
Me:  But wont he miss his friends.
God:  Take him to church and he'll see his friends.
Me:  But.....but....
God:  Don't call me a butt. (He totally could have said that. My God has a sense of humor)
Me:  Dadgumit. I didn't want to work anyway.

So the search for the perfect (and by perfect I mean cheap but sufficient) curriculum began. All summer I have been working on planning our home school adventure. At the same time I've been fighting for my daughter. Last school year she made honor roll 3 of the 4 quarters. Unfortunately her teacher does not feel that is a good enough reason to pass her on to the second grade. I have always been told that when your child is in elementary school they can not retain them without the parents permission. Here's how the process goes for us:

1.  Parent & teacher meet. Parent says pass. Teacher says retain. If no agreement is made another meeting will be made with principal.

2.  If parent cant attend meeting due to lack of notice and work schedule a detailed letter is written by parent explaining why their child should be promoted to next grade.

3.  After the meeting parent gets letter from principal stating that they read the letter and still feel child should be retained due to the fact that the teacher feels like the six year old child is immature. Also if we want to appeal the schools decision we can fill out the appeal form and write a letter (Hello! We already did.) and it can go to the school board for a final decision

4.  Father of child writes a letter letting the school know all of the flaws in their system. The letter also informs the principal that calling a 6 year old child immature is as redundant as calling the grass green or sky blue.

It has been 2 months since we since our last letter accompanied by their "appeal form". School starts in just over a week. I finally got a call from the principal yesterday stating that the school board meeting has been set for Thursday night and our attendance is optional. Do they really believe that we would go this far and just decide that this meeting is not important enough to show up? I am terrified. I am a peacemaker. I don't like confrontation so this meeting is especially difficult for me. However, I believe that our children are a gift from God. If I'm not willing to stand up and fight for my children then how can I expect anyone else to? Most importantly.... I believe in my child. I believe that she will be successful in the second grade. Her teacher convinced her that she would not succeed if she moved on. She needs to know that someone believes in her or she will likely give up on herself. There are so many things I hope she learns from this experience.

With God on your side you can not fail. And stand up for what you believe in.

If the school board votes to retain her then I'll be homeschooling two kids this year instead of two. That scares the poo out of me. But I believe that no matter what... God is in control.