Life Lesson: Some things just don't fit in my lesson books

When I hooked my laptop up to the tv this past Wednesday for a school lesson, I had no idea that it would turn into a day of dancing, discussions, debate and even a few tears from yours truly. I mean, I was only planning on using the computer to show some charity videos for the groups that I had chosen from our recent membership to the Foundation Beyond Belief. It was a 30 minute lesson according to my planner, we still had lots of other subjects to cover for that day and all. I just felt fancy because I knew which wires to connect so we could see the screen on the tv and the sound would come out of the stereo (we all know by now that me and computers just don't get along very well, so this is big and exciting for me and I hope to use this new skill often).

The kids both watched the videos from groups like War Child and Water for People and then, well, an interest was sparked. Learning happened. Humanitarianism happened. My children felt compassion for others and wanted to help. I felt like the Grinch at the end of the cartoon movie, you know, where his heart grows and swells so big that it breaks that little device that is measuring it? Sydney wanted to know why the people didn't have sinks before and how did they have water - Nicholas was outraged to learn that children around the globe no older than he are being forced to become soldiers and torn from their families. Understandably, they had a lot of questions and concerns.

But, lucky for me, and for my kids, I am around to answer the questions when they have them, to break free of the day's plan when something that sparks an interest leads them (or us) astray or when a new opportunity arises. It was one of those sparked interest moments that turned into a daylong discussion with a 9 year old that I did not expect, but I loved that I was here so it could happen. This lesson on charity and humanitarianism soon turned into something even more.

Nicholas has several areas of interest, including both music and military. He likes bands such as Linkin Park and System of a Down and when he chooses his own library books he often comes back with at least one true life military book. I thought that in light of the discussion and videos we had just watched, I could transition over into something else that he would benefit from. I gave him the basic definition of the word "lyrics", relating it to our ongoing poetry studies, and explained to him how artists often use their music as a way to express their beliefs and get their views heard. Two of our charities are helping those affected by war, and I wondered if he knew that some of the songs that he likes are very much anti-war.

We used youtube as a tool and listened our way through "21 Guns" by Green Day, "Disposable Soldiers" by Metallica, "Hands Held High" by Linkin Park and "Zombie" by the Cranberries. The videos helped him visually SEE what the song was about, but I still found the lyrics for us as well so we could read through them. Some of the songs found myself and Sydney dancing along, like Zombie. Who can resist swaying at the very least to that one when it's good and cranked up?

The next video had a scene from 9/11, and there came the tears from me. Nicholas wanted to talk about that, and we did, and that lead into a talk about why our country was still at war all these 9 years later. WELL. Turns out Nicholas has some different ideas on that than I do. And I just want to say - good for him :) I said I wondered when our soldiers would come home and when would it be done already, what are we still fighting for, etc etc. I love our military, I just want it to be over and the further we get from 9/11, the harder it is to believe that there is anything worth fighting for. Nicholas, well, he will make a good soldier for our country should he choose to do so someday - he was very loyal to our men and the freedoms they defend, whether or not he truly understands all matters at hand, he does understand that you get the job done and he looked me in the eye and told me so *gulp* My little boy just grew up ladies and gentlemen. Not only has he grown over 2 inches in 9 months, but he was comfortable expressing his political views to me and even gave me a "real life" example just like I give him. How could I not be proud?!? He said to me " they are still there because there are still bad people who want to hurt our country. They can not stop until we are all safe and the bad people have all been caught. It's like if I was outside working in the yard, I can't just quit until the job is done Mom."

So, did we get any math done on Wednesday? No. Did I read from our current novel? No. But that's ok with me. I think these are the moments where they are really learning something so much more than I could even plan for with my lesson book anyhow.

The New Year didn't start off quite the way I had imagined it: curled up on the couch with my husband, drinking chocolate wine, sharing a kiss when the ball dropped. No, not this year, not for this girl. Where was I when the magic happened and a New Year began? I was in the bathroom, thinking that I still had approximately 4 minutes of 2009 to piss away (literally). But no matter, because 2010 is going to be glorious anyhow.

In the great spirit of traditions, I had Nicholas and I make some resolutions. Sydney colored a fabulous New Years coloring sheet because when you are 3, there is nothing to resolve :) Nicholas has decided to continue to strive for muscles - he wants to continue his gymnastics, do some basketball playing in the driveway and remember to choose some healthy foods to help him get there. My list is a wee bit longer.

This year, I want to learn the art of BALANCE. I can't seem to figure out how to keep up with all my roles in life. Just when I get a grasp on one, something slips from my grasp. I will try to keep this in mind when working on all these others.

Relationships - There are so many people in my life who mean so much to me. In working in my balance, I am resolving to spend more time with those I love. I'm also going to place our playgroups in this category because I am resolving to spend more time going to them....this may mean that I need to step up and hostess and that lend itself to my next category.....

Home - I just need to suck it up and go back to a cleaning schedule. I am pretty sure that is the only way my house was ever clean, and I don't know why I am so resistant to getting back on one now. I also have like 37 projects going on and need to just learn how to FINISH them before moving on and starting so many others. The downstairs bathroom is still my biggest project to complete, good news is that I bought the wall paint a few days ago! I have a lot of changes in mind for home, but balance probably means pacing myself.

School - I need to remember to carve out more time for lesson planning, I know I am lacking in this area for sure. We are working on getting a computer upstairs for the kids to use, we just got a desk today in fact ($25 at the thrift store, score! And it has an an attached wall hutch for books!) and this will help in so many ways. Having the kids and I all sharing my laptop was so not working for me anymore.

Charity - I try to teach the kids to be considerate of others and to lead a life of giving, but find myself lacking in that area more and more. The problem is that a lot of times, I can't find a way to give without compromising my own beliefs. In my area, it just seems like most charities are tied to a church in some way, and I just don't want my funds to go there. I don't want people in need to have to be preached to in order to receive help either. In the end, I have had to donate foods to charities that I didn't agree with because I still felt as if it were for the greater good - to feed hungry people. But now a friend and fellow blogger has helped me find a way to keep my beliefs and not feel like I am betraying myself or further empowering any organizations that I do not believe in when I give to them for any greater good: a group called Foundation Beyond Belief . Jeff and I are becoming members and I can enjoy teaching the kids about the charities that the group is helping each quarter as they rotate, and we can choose which ones we want our monthly donations to go to. I feel really good about this one.

So that is enough for one girl to work on I think.

Of chickens and children - our Thanksgiving hunt

It was the day before we were leaving for an out of town wedding over Thanksgiving. I had a LOT to get done - laundry, packing, lists, cleaning, and making lunch for my mom and showing her how to care for the animals while we were away. I was just about done making the mile long list of things to accomplish for the day when Jeff and Nicholas came inside and declared that I "didn't have to worry about the chickens while we were away". Um, what? Then I noticed the tears in Nic's eyes. Then his lip began to quiver and the waterworks that he was working so hard to contain began to let loose.

They had been trying to move the 2 chickens to the garage to make caring for them easier in their new "vacation home", and it was, well, a disaster. Mission FAILED. I was told that one chicken headed to the woods behind our house and the other went for the ditch between our house and the neighbors. At about that point Jeff had to get dressed and head off for work. I was left with a heartbroken child who had just lost 2 pets who was blaming himself, a still messy house, a half packed suitcase, company on the way, and now a twitching eye to complete the package.

Lucky for me, my mom wears the same size sneakers as I do :) When she and my 16 year old brother arrived, we abandoned lunch for the moment, and came up with an AWESOME plan of attack. It's called: Me, Nic, Syd, Nana wearing my extra sneakers, Matthew and 2 laundry baskets with a spare comforter and some extra sheets hunting chickens. Did you know my chickens are the same color as the pine straw? Well, they are. It made it extra fun. An hour later, we actually CAUGHT a chicken!!

Matthew chased it from the ditch to a hole in the fence...the fence that keeps the Weimeraner in the yard. Oops. But Nic put the dog in the house and then Matthew and I had the pleasure of cutting through pricky vines to get to where the chicken was now hiding in the corner of the yard. Apparently we have some maintenance to do. We got it in the basket and covered it with the blanket and got it in the garage coop. I felt like I had just won the frickin lottery! It was a hoot. And my neighbors witnessed some of this...and my children heard a lot of new words whilst we were running after said chicken . Effin chicken is a grand phrase after all. But that's ok, because Nicholas had 1 pet back before going out of town, and we could have lunch.

After lunch, mission chicken was back on. This time was harder because we were headed to the woods and the chicken was not playing nice. Matthew and I incurred many an injury from vined trees, but once the chicken was spotted by my mom (waiting on the back deck with Sydney, laughing at us, once again we were swearing and running after a chicken after all) I just couldn't stop going you know? I wasn't going to go to Charleston and leave this chicken behind. Nicholas tried very hard to catch it with us, and eventually it gave up and laid down in a weird circular formation of sticks. Maybe it thought we couldn't see it there? So we gathered around it and I had no other option that to TOUCH THE CHICKEN. This is where my comfort zone ends. Me and feathered creatures outside of a cage who may or may not bite me, um, no thanks. But this was Nic's chicken. He feeds them and cares for them and calls them "his girls". *sigh* It had to be done, and quickly. Even Matthew told me to get the friggin chicken. So I did it. I scooped it up, put it in my laundry basket, and continued to hold it. I couldn't chance it getting away again.

So there it ends. The Crimson Twins were home again. It was traumatic for us all. A bonding experience and probably the best Thanksgiving story our family will ever have. And we still made it to Charleston with packed suitcases, although the house just had to stay the way it was. A small sacrifice for the kids happiness.

A family that hunts chickens in the backyard together is a family that stays together, or something like that :)

Life Lesson: Doing Things Right the First Time Makes Life Easier in the End!

If you take the time to do things right the first time, you won't have to come back and spend time fixing mistakes later. At least, that seems to make sense and that is a life lesson that is coming back to haunt me OVER and OVER the last few weeks. First it came in the form of my wonderful husband, who kindly pointed out how the kitchen could look better. I *kindly* pointed out that I didn't have time, and he in turn showed me how yes, I did, if I chose to wipe up spills as they happened and didn't have to be chiseled off with a power tool later. Yeah, that was not so much fun, but I admit that I needed the reminder...just do it right the first time and get it over with!

At least I felt a little more credible by the time I was able to pass the lesson on to Nic. He had patiently waited for Transformers II to come out onto DVD and I rented it for him (yay Redbox) but schoolwork had to come first. That seems to be when his patience ran out. His math work suffered and he got almost half of the answers wrong. Um, the kid was suddenly doing addition when we were working on multiplication, his concentration had went right out the window and to land of Autobots and Deceptacons I guess. I kinda felt bad when his face just about fell as I erased the incorrect answers (we use a dry erase board for a lot of our math) and reminded him that we were on multiplication and not addition. That's when I told him that if he focused he would get through his work with fewer mistakes, and that by rushing he actually cost himself more time because now he just had to do them over again. Instead of getting upset, you'll never believe, he turned and hugged me and told me that I am a GOOD TEACHER!!! He said that!! Unprompted, all his idea, when I was giving him what could have been a lecture! And yes, a couple of tears came up on my end, it was so nice hearing that, you have no idea.

If only everyone thought doing things right was a good idea. Apparently the people who built our house didn't. We had rain water come in through the ground, then into a crack in a cement wall, then under the laminate flooring in Sydney's room. Jeff and I got the floor removed and when he knocked out the drywall to get to the cement wall, we got a lovely surprise. Not only was there a crack, but the builders had only smoothed like 3/4 down the wall and the framework looked like a bunch of kids with not enough nails had done it with no adult supervision. The vertical boards were all varying lengths, as in not even touching the horizontal framework in some cases, and one board was nailed in with exactly one nail, with in my non-professional opinion I deem very much insufficient. It looked like shit. We are lucky that this late in the year Jeff still had some vacation days to use up, so he took off 2 days and got to work, and my husband fixed all that. I didn't know he could do so much! The flooring will have to wait until the next paycheck, and in the meantime I will get to work on painting the brand new wall and Sydney will have a rockin big girl room. For now, my kids are doing an awesome job bunking in their seemingly never-ending sleepover party.

Space : The Final Frontier

Nic is a lover of science, and I have to admit, I am not so much interested in it. This is more a dad area. But I am trying to encourage his interest by keeping plenty of materials on hand as much as possible and making sure we cover our science topics in fun and interisting ways. We started out by reading several great books about the planets, Earth's moon, space travel and more. We really enjoyed a dvd all about food and waste while traveling in space. I had never really pondered how astronauts relieved themselves while in the ships, but now we know the answer and it involves suctioning...not something that Nicholas or I would ever like to experience it turns out, as we discussed it in a lengthy conversation after the video ended. Have fun envisioning that one for a moment, you won't be able to stop yourself :)

Nicholas has made both a poster and 3D model of the solar system for some science and art combined. Both models include the infamous Pluto, the out casted-not-even-a-planet-anymore-reject. It came with both kits after all, and it IS out there, but just considered a dwarf planet now. The library once again has come to our aide - they have a great newish book called "When is a Planet not a Planet? The Story of Pluto" AND, lucky me, they had the audio version as well!! So I was able to read along with Nicholas in the book while we both listened to the soothing voices of the two readers, all while lounging out on the couch. This book is rated for ages 9-12 but I found it just right for Nic (age 8 1/2). It gives detailed factual information, but it does it simply and quickly while not going over his head or over-explaining. Several scientists that I plan on having us study in the future are mentioned in this book, so he got a little intro into who they are and what they did. The illustrations in the book are very eye pleasing, I am glad that I did get both the book and audio version because I think it helps to have the pictures and written words right there to focus on while he got to hear the book read aloud.

We also spend some time working on a Space workbook and flashcards, both purchased at Target in the dollar section (score)! And I was also able to borrow a kit from the library that has fictional space stories as well as puppets, so the kids and I have been able to come together for some playtime and story time again. Even though I did not focus on teaching anything space related to Sydney, she is still picking things up. She can name a few of the planets on Nic's poster (and the dwarf planet LOL, pointing out to the rest of us that it has the same name as Mickey Mouse's dog) and likes to ask Nic to read the rest to her. It's really cool getting to see Nic pass down his knowledge to his little sister, and how much she admires him for it.I remembered something from when Nic was her age, he had a Blue's Clues radio toy that sang a song about the order of the planets. I sang it to them and he remembered. Sometimes I can't believe how much time has gone by!

During moments like those, when they are sitting there all quiet and nice and it's something off of the Hallmark channel, then I know why I am homeschooling. And well, when they laundry hamper is overflowing, and they are screaming at eachother, and we are behind in math and it's 6:30pm and I don't know what is for dinner...well, it's harder to remember why we are homeschooling, but deep down I still know we chose it for our family because it's what we believe to be best for all 4 of us. I just need to go back to that quiet moment!

If You Give a Mouse a Brussels Sprout

Getting my kids to try new foods is not so easy. Some times the whining begins before they even know WHAT it is that I have cooked. (I should mention that this goes mostly for the younger one.) Lucky for me, I think I may have found a loophole in the kids rule about saying no to new foods! Hoorah, score for mom! So as it turns out, if someone other than myself suggests the food...perhaps even a made up fictional character in a book, then somehow the idea of trying it goes from gross, no way, not even if you paid me to tasty, delicious, can't wait to try it. And THIS is how I got my children to try potato soup.

We sat together in the living room and I read the story "The Cat who liked Potato Soup" by Terry Farish on one kind of chilly and definitely rainy day. I had come across the book while browsing the children's section of the library, the title grabbed my attention straight away. I flipped through it quickly, checked it out from the library, and made my shopping list later that night!

It continues to be a challenge for me to pull together lessons and activities than both Nicholas and Sydney enjoy, so finding something as simple as a short story and easy meals that the kids can help with is really great. I will be searching the shelves for more titles like this one...maybe there is hope yet that they might try some Brussels sprouts sometime in their childhood!

Music and Movement

We were invited to our first drum circle by Aunt Danica. I wasn't sure what it would entail exactly, but decided it would be fun to go and try it out. Turns out it is exactly what you would think - people drumming in a circle :) It was fun! There were all kinds of people with all kinds of drums, just making music and enjoying the outdoors. Nicholas and Sydney were both able to experiment with several types of drums, some belonging to Danica and other belonging to the group. Sydney had a blast dancing in the circle - it was cute at the time, but the group sent out an email later saying that they'd prefer the children to dance outside of the circle next time. Oops! We are looking forward to going again soon, and are also looking for a drum of our own so if you see any while you're out, let us know!

Nicholas had his trial gymnastics class last week. Saying he LOVED it would be an understatement! His group went to several stations during his hour class, doing everything from somersaults to back bends and flips on the bar. I signed him up for the next session, which conveniently starts this week! He is in an all boys class with a male instructor. I am not allowed to take photos inside the gym except on designated "photo day", but there is a seating area for visitors to sit and watch.

Sydney has been begging to go to ballet so we signed her up for a pre-school ballet/tap combo class down at the local dance studio. She went in for her leotard and shoe fitting and met all of the instructors. I didn't think she would ever want to leave! Her classes won't start until mid-September. The studio does not allow viewing during classes, but she will have a recital in June of next year. Turns out that they will preform at my old high school! So she will be dancing on the same stage where mommy performed in theatre, which I think is pretty cool since we are not even in that same county anymore!