"Insta"-replay #108, May Days

May was filled with the rush of "end of the school year."

It started and ended with Ward cousins, first they visited us.

Then we visited them.

In the middle was some normal routine.

Like spending time at the dance studio.

And playing video games.

There were also a plethora of special events:

Like a "sheep to shawl" day when we learned about how wool became blankets.

Seeing cosplay up close during free comic book day.

Dressing up with curls and pearls to see my mom preform in the Festival Chorale.

And visiting the school where my mom works to travel the Oregon trail with the class.

Summer is just around the corner, we are trying to hurry through the last few weeks of school.  But I don't expect life to get less busy anytime soon. 

"Insta"-replay #107, April sunshine

April was surprisingly sunny in my neck of the woods.  Instead of the regular spring rains we had gorgeous sunshine, but enough sprinkles to keep everything green.

We of course had school to get done.  Merry manages to keep it fun by using rainbow colors to write her spelling words.

She also much more willing to work on flash cards when she can put stickers on her mastered facts.

We couldn't spend all our time indoors.  We met up with cousins after school.  Moms got coffee and kids got crafting.

We even managed to get to one of Michael's Saturday kids events.  Kite making was a blast.

We had an outing to the DMV, where girls saw how boring being a grownup is.

And tagged along with Toby to watch him compete.

It was fun to see him on stage dancing. 

The girls also had a chance to shine on stage.  As part of the new kids clogging class they learned a dance to preform at AG Fest.

We finished up the month with a cousin-palooza! The Idaho cousins came for a quick visit and we had a blast.  I was very happy the weather was great and the eight super excited kids could play outside.

They came inside eventually and managed to be tired enough to get some sleep despite being so giddy about a sleepover.

Now I need to catch up on my sleep!

"Insta"-replay #106, Spring has sprung

March really does seem to come in like a lion, out like a lamb.

March started out cold and wet.

Kids had to bundle up to go outside.

I started the month with the flu.  I'm a miserable sick person.  But Jon suffered through it and did what he could to keep me away from everyone else so they didn't get sick too.

Thanks to YouTube and "standupmaths" I learned a spinning egg trick.  Girls where also impressed.

Our piano is finally being used as an instrument not a shelf!  Thanks to Aunt Abbie graciously offering to teach the girls.  They are enjoying the lessons and even practicing, some.

The middle of March is a fun time for not quite holidays.  Pi day, 3/14, we went out for pie with my mom.

The ides of March, the kids learned about Caesar.  I got out my old high school English project, animal themed sock puppets.  It was fun to share and the girls are asked my if this will be something we do every "ides of March"?

Spring break was a lot of cousin time.  It was wet outside so we had to spend most of the time indoors.  Luckily the local craft store had kids crafts every morning so we were able to get out of the house each day.  An added bonus was I didn't have to clean up afterwards.

The month finished with Easter.  The girls came up with a great clay egg and beads craft.  They shaped the eggs from modeling clay and used beads to decorate.  So simple yet so creative.

Another month done.

"Insta"-replay #105, even with the extra day February seemed short

I've been neglecting my blog, sorry. I can't believe how quickly last month went!

We worked on school.

Celebrated Chinese New Year with the help of monkeys from Grandma Jackie.

Merry had a wonderful birthday! She even got the horse she had been eyeing every time we went to Target.

My inlaws totally out did themselves with a fabulous shopkins themed birthday party for her.

Girl Scouts cookies season came.  Girls write out thank you notes to their customers.

Charry worked hard designing a light saber card for "Grand Prix". She won first place in design so her hard work payed off!

We finally made it up to see my grandma!

And spring might be just around the corner, I love the bright daffodils popping up around here! They are like little rays of sunshine.

"Whatchadoin?" Mid year restructuring

My oldest daughter has been going to youth group (that makes me feel old) at my sisters church.  It gives her a chance to meet new friends and be away from parents, but since her aunt is the small group leader I don't worry about her.  Long story short, last month my sister informed me, "Charry has been telling the other girls that she's failing classes."

I was a bit surprised.  First of all, she's not failing any classes.  I'm a pretty harsh grader but she is still a solid B student.  Secondly, why on earth did she think she was failing!

So we sat down for a Parent/Teacher conference and went over grades together.  After reassuring my child that she was doing fine, we talked about what she needed to feel successful.  

In the end we decided to change how we did a few classes.  We divided her classes into ones she was comfortable doing on her own with mom just grading at the end of each unit and those mom needed to be more actively involved in.

Now she has "student led" and "teacher led" classes.  This gives me a bit more work during the day to day schooling.

But seeing her happily mastering new ideas and concepts makes it worth it, after all this is why we homeschool.

"Insta"-replay #104, new year, new schedule

The first month of the year flew by!  I can't believe how quickly it was over.  

We started the year with a dolly New Years party.  We made game boards for the dolls and stayed up late.  Like 10 o'clock late not midnight late.

We had fun at the library, even Jon came to watch puppets.

After the show the girls were able to meet the puppeteers and get a closer look at the different types of puppets they used.

We had some surprise snow! And I found out my tween is fabulous at taking selfies, I think it's because she's a lefty.

Then it was back to school and the humdrum of life.

We are making an effort to keep our schedule free for family time, it is so easy to over book.

Looking back at the month I must say how nice it is to be close to family, not just physically close (although sometimes I wish all my family was closer) but relationship close.  I'm glad my daughters are growing up with positive role models all around them!

The girls look forward to when the boys have a day off school so they can play.  I was feeling under the weather and may have forgotten they were coming but it was a pleasant surprise.

It was such a fun, busy month, and I'm looking forward to this next one too!

Whatchadoin? Homeschooling while in school.

I love learning.  While I never really liked "school" I enjoyed almost all of my classes, even ones I didn't do well in.  So I was giddy with excitement when I returned to college last fall.

Now that my first semester is over and grades are posted, am I still excited?  Yes!  Going to school has meant rearranging our lives a bit.  Even though my classes are online they still have deadlines to meet and tasks to accomplish.  Finding time to study as well as do assignments was a bigger struggle than I expected.

 One decision I made when I signed up for college was to home-school only four days a week.  This meant longer days, covering all subjects every day. It also meant I had a free day for my school.  This has been a huge help but trying to cram a weeks work into one day was a bigger feat than I expected.  I kept my free day but also added in a few evening each week to help stay on top of things.  

I am very grateful for a husband who is supportive of both my school and the girls home-school. He has had to play taxi driver for the girls while I work on school.  And has taken a more active role around the house, getting dinners made and picking up groceries on his way home from work.

 School is not exactly what I expected, and it is definitely not easy, but I'm enjoying learning still. One of the main things I am learning is how to be a student.