Walking an OLD, THIN line....

Here we are again...
the "holiday" season.

It is the HARDEST time of year for us.

Not because of money or gifts....
but because we sit on the outside of tradition...
MOST
OF
THE
TIME.

THIS part of our life has been  JOURNEY.

In 1998:
Our faith was NEW to us. I was just getting my footing and in my spiritual life and had just been SAVED.
Everything was new to us....we were a NEW family.
We were unsure of the way WE WANTED to handle holidays.
So we DIDN'T. We shunned them...completely.
We didn't go to dinners. We didn't exchange presents. We didn't "believe" in Santa Clause.

As you can imagine.....
THAT
WAS
FUN
and the parents LOVED that! (Right, Mom and Dad? LOL)

NOT!!!!
But, in my mind...It was necessary.
Until I could decipher the TRUTH from the NON-TRUTH in the holidays and the traditions....we would refrain.

And we did JUST THAT....for years.

Then...as we became more comfortable in OUR FAITH-
we
loosened
up
a
bit.


It was a journey from VERY STRICT and JUDGEMENTAL(although I would not like to ADMIT that to myself sometimes)..
to NOW.

Now...we participate in SOME traditions.
We choose the ones that are full of TRUTH and haven't been watered-down by "American culture".

We have Thanksgiving dinner with family...but we talk about the TRUTH behind the holiday.

We still don't do SANTA...but we are considering dinners.

Like I said...it has been a JOURNEY.

So...as you can imagine-
When I got my curriculum for the school year...I was so STOKED to get a book called "Celebrating biblical Feasts".

It is a great book that helps you celebrate all the Feasts and Holidays that CHRIST would have celebrated.....
He was JEWISH.

So all of the Feasts are Jewish feasts this year.

Last week we celebrated Rosh Hashanah.

I have learned that I LOVE these amazing feasts.

They are filled with tradition and an ancient feel.
I love the way these Jewish holidays have not been "diluted" and contaminated by money, gifts, and fictional characters that SURELY take away from the TRUTH.

It has been wonderful to start to think of how we can "meet in the middle" with our family and friends....
a blessing to ponder what OUR HOLIDAYS will look like after years of creating OUR  OWN CULTURE.

GOD knows....

Sometimes during the summer I wonder....
Are my kids are forgetting everything they learned in school last year?

Are they still "smart" ??? LOL

Anfd then right in the middle of a week filled with tooth extractions and illnesses..

Zeek says something that BLOWS your mind.

THAT was my reality this week.

While telling the CHICKEN STORY
and he said, "Mom was looking for the 1 chicken left and found her nestled deeply into a pine bush...COMPLETELY UNSCATHED."

I looked around the room to make sure I wasnt in HOMESCHOOL HEAVEN..and everyone was looking at ME.
SMILING.

I guess sometimes....God knows when I need a question answered. LOL.

Truth be told......

Homeschooling....

THAT WORD can mean sooo many different things.

Some are SUPER structured and go by a STRICT SCHEDULE.

Some UN-School, with NO SCHEDULE- AT ALL.

Some go by different TEACHING "methods" like Charlotte Mason or Motesorri.

I read homeschool blogs, and articles all the time that describe their homeschool METHODS or INTENTIONS.

Some put ALL their faith in a CERTAIN KIND of homeschooling.

Don't get me wrong...INTENTIONS are GREAT.

But, a new homeschool Mom can really do a NUMBER on herself setting up "INTENTIONS", or PLANNING to go with a CERTAIN METHOD....and EXPECTING things to "go as planned".

Because...THE DO NOT.

SOMETIMES...they go SORT-OF like you planned.

Kind of.

But NEVER exactly....

The art of MOLDING these little souls HARDLY lends itself to CONCRETE planning.

Trust me...a day in THIS life RARELY goes as planned...EVER.

Some have such a CANDY-COATED idea of what a homeschooling day looks like.

I know in some of your minds you THINK you KNOW what a "typical" homeschool day LOOKS LIKE.

I'm sure in that COMFORTABLE place in some peoples minds...they see my children all QUIETLY sitting, waiting their turn, being patient, and WANTING to have school and learn.

And SOMETIMES...it is like that.

Sometimes.

Then there is the OTHER DAYS.

The ones where they DON't raise their hands, they talk back, they complain, and they are LESS THEN EAGER to learn.

Those are the REAL DAYS....

those are the days when you have to "bend...as not to break".

Those are the days when you just GET BY doing what HAS to be done and allowing LIFE to teach them the rest.

I mean really....I have GREAT INTENTIONS.

But the TRUTH is...
Sometimes- there is NOT ENOUGH time in the day.
Sometimes- there is NOT ENOUGH PATIENCE in my body.
Sometimes- there is TOO MUCH to do.
And Sometimes- there are MORE IMPORTANT things than ABC's and 123's.

THAT is the reality of it.
THAT is the TRUTH.

I have learned (after 5 years of homeschooling) that a INTENTIONS are GREAT.

But..I won't beat myself up over the "hard days" because----
at the end of the day...as long as I close my eyes feeling like my kids are a LITTLE more SPIRITUALLY and EMOTIONALLy ready for the world-

I have done my job.

In REALITY- the workbook pages can wait.

We are WRITING our own HISTORY.

RAIN Break...........Waaaaa!

For the last week we have been on Spring Break.

(THAT is why I took a break on the blog....sometimes it is alot of SELF-INDUCED stress.)

We actually had 2 spring breaks this year.

Grandparents came in town an we had 1.

THEN...
All our friends in public school had their week an we HAD to take that week too, because as we "all know" homeschooled kids NEED socialization. (hahahaha)

THAT is my excuse anyway.

I PLANNED on a bunch of FUN STUFF to do....
Then
it rained.

and we WAITED...
and WAITED...

It STOPPED raining on Friday!!!!

JUST in time for ONE LAST beach/park day.

Woo Hoo!!!

It was a WASH of a spring break....
and to be honest...
I am READY an renewed to get back to school...
an am OVER the CABIN FEVER that the kids have had.

AND

I am OVER the CRAZY feeling I get from NOT HAVING SCHOOL.

So...THANKFULLY....
SCHOOL BELL RINGS on Monday!!

An the SUMMER countown begins....YEAH!!!

CNY...and socialization.

One of the MOST FREQUENTLY asked questions I get as a homeschooling Mom is, "How do they get socialization? How do they get to spend time with other kids?"

We-fortunately have 4 kids to start with...so they have each other
AND they have a HUGE friend and family base to lean on....

BUT-

We also have an AMAZING homeschool co-op.

We meet every Friday and share all kinds of things...

knowledge
information
fellowship

and most of all....the kids get to "socialize" and have regular classes, just like "regular" kids.

We also get to spend time and learn about things that other kids might miss out on...in "regular" school.

Like...
Chinese New Year!!!!

We had a GREAT celebration last Friday complete with Chinese food, chinese decorations, A dragon dance, Chinese crafts, and LOTS of fun...

with LOTS of other kids.

It is ALWAYS a blessing to sit back and look around at people who may mot be JUST like you....but are on the SAME PATH.







What a blessing!!!!

WANTING to read.....

Tonight I told Zeek to come in the living room and watch Man vs. Wild.

Then he said something that I thought would MELT MY HEART.

He said, " Mom...I am READING my Yu-Gi-Oh cards."

I had to do a double take.

I almost fainted.

I mean seriously.....I almost CRIED!!!!

I said, "Well then..HERE...sit under the lamp!!!"

I have said it before....

It may not be on the AR reading list- but I DON'T CARE.

The boy WANTED to read.

So ...
I dont care WHAT he reads.

As long as he READS!!!!

Fun with "chaos".......... and groundhogs.

February 2.

Groundhog day.....
In the Vallone academy it was an easy WEATHER filled day.

We started off the morning watching the news to see "Phil" the groundhog.

We all sat around the television watching men in "abraham-ish" hats. Waiting for them to tell US whether or not "Phil" the groundhog had "predicted" an early spring or more winter....by looking at his shadow. Hmmmmmmm....

It was quite amusing....it was the perfect chance for us to explain how sometimes in our society we just MAKE STUFF UP.

Sorry....
But- we do.

It was an opportunity to say "hey...we know this is all fun and games. We can do "fun and games". But at the same time....We'll tell you ALL about the TRUTH of it".

It was a NICE,LIGHT morning....(with only a few threats of "regular school" throw in.lol)

Then .....

We had a field trip..at 9 AM!!!!

Whew...the story of us TRYING to get out of the house before 9 is a whole differtnt blog. LOL! (just in case you were getting the WRONG idea that I had my "stuff" together lol.)

Our local weather man Tim Deegan came to talk to our homeschool co-op.

Hes a local celebrity and a really genuinely COOL surfer guy.





He spoke about HOW he got to be a meteorologist.

He told funny stories.

And he was SOOO knowledgeable about all thing weather.
AMAZING.



The "littles" even were relatively calm.
Sweet.







It was a great addition to our WEATHER DAY.

FYI:
The MOST interesting thing that he talked about was the "chaos theory".
The chaos theory goes that man will NEVER (no matter how MUCH technology) be able to predict the weather more than 14 days ahead.
The reason being that any movement...from the flick of a dragonflies wings to the movement of a rock falling ...can affect the wind and the weather...CHANGING EVERYTHING.

Such a blessing....UNDENIABLE.

GOD is great...and only HE knows the flicker of a butterflies wing or the movement of a stream.

Man will NEVER know ....no matter the machine.

Love it.....



And then we came home and spent the evening listening to a RAINSTORM on the roof.

A perfect WEATHER DAY....

and by the way....

He didn't see his shadow.

A “little” Photo Addiction……..

Shashamane has been taking pics like crazy lately.

She has an AMAZING EYE for nature shots.

I think we just have found a TALENT….

        

Typing Insructor.....By Timberdoodle

A couple of weeks ago a package came in the mail.

I was sooooo excited.

AND....As ALWAYS...
The kids were STOKED to get ANYTHING in the mail!!!

It was THIS:





Typing Instructor for Kids by Timberdoodle

So ...we loaded it onto the computer ASAP!!!!!

It was really easy and took about 5-7 minutes to load and before we knew it we were READY!!!!

The instructions were east and self explanatory.

( I had the 2 oldest watch the intro and instructions together!)It begins by explaining the finger positions, home row, space bar…etc.



They LOVED it.

It is sooo much like a GAME that you hardly KNOW you are learning!!

AWESOME!!!!

The premise is this:

You are on TYPER ISLAND.

You start in the OLD WEST but can only move on by TYPING CORRECTLY.

(Think - “OLD SCHOOL typing book set up next to you in 5th grade…fff jjj dfd jkj…REMEMBER????)



EXCEPT it is sooo much BETTER than “Old School”!!!!

Its on the screen and when you mess up it records it FOR YOU in red….

AWESOME!

You have to get a certain WPM(words per minute) score

AND

You have to get a certain ACCURACY in order to move on to OTHER PARTS of the island.

As you get better you can change the WPM Goal.

There are also GAMES to play.

(Which ALL reinforce the typing skills…SHHHHHH!!!!)

The kids actually ARGUED over who's turn it was to play!!!

SO COOL!

SECRET SCHOOL….Who doesn’t LOVE that?????

In my opinion...TYPING INSTRUCTOR is GREAT!!!

And for the BURNING QUESTION....
How much is it????

Get ready OR THIS!!!!!!

$8.00-$16.00, depending on which version you get. Two are actually on sale.

That's right......UNDER $20 for a typing curriculum that the kids LOVE, that seems like a GAME, AND that is for AGES 6 and UP.

INCREDIBLE!!!!!

I would have BOUGHT this for my TYPING CURRICULUM ...EVEN if I didn't get it from TIMBERDOODLE.

What a great "Secret School" present!!!!!



Thank You to Timberdoodle for providing this product free of charge for this review. This is a Mama Buzz Review.

We LOVE Games!!!!

Gotta Love FUN SCHOOL!!!!!

Made these the other day in about 30 min.

So Easy.

Fun.

Free.

Can’t beat THAT!!!!

Typing Instructor...By Timberdoodle

A couple of weeks ago a package came in the mail.

I was sooooo excited.

AND....As ALWAYS...
The kids were STOKED to get ANYTHING in the mail!!!

It was THIS:



Typing Instructor for Kids by Timberdoodle



Typing Instructor for Kids by Timberdoodle

So ...we loaded it onto the computer ASAP!!!!!

It was really easy and took about 5-7 minutes to load and before we knew it we were READY!!!!

The instructions were east and self explanatory.

( I had the 2 oldest watch the intro and instructions together!)It begins by explaining the finger positions, home row, space bar…etc.




They LOVED it.

It is sooo much like a GAME that you hardly KNOW you are learning!!

AWESOME!!!!

The premise is this:

You are on TYPER ISLAND.

You start in the OLD WEST but can only move on by TYPING CORRECTLY.

(Think - “OLD SCHOOL typing book set up next to you in 5th grade…fff jjj dfd jkj…REMEMBER????)




EXCEPT it is sooo much BETTER than “Old School”!!!!

Its on the screen and when you mess up it records it FOR YOU in red….

AWESOME!

You have to get a certain WPM(words per minute) score

AND

You have to get a certain ACCURACY in order to move on to OTHER PARTS of the island.

As you get better you can change the WPM Goal.

There are also GAMES to play.

(Which ALL reinforce the typing skills…SHHHHHH!!!!)

The kids actually ARGUED over who's turn it was to play!!!

SO COOL!

SECRET SCHOOL….Who doesn’t LOVE that?????

In my opinion...TYPING INSTRUCTOR is GREAT!!!!!

And for the BURNING QUESTION....
How much is it????

Get ready OR THIS!!!!!!

$8.00-$16.00, depending on which version you get. Two are actually on sale.

That's right......UNDER $20 for a typing curriculum that the kids LOVE, that seems like a GAME, AND that is for AGES 6 and UP.

INCREDIBLE!!!!!

I would have BOUGHT this for my TYPING CURRICULUM ...EVEN if I didn't get it from TIMBERDOODLE.

What a great "Secret School" present!!!!!




Thank You to Timberdoodle for providing this product free of charge for this review. This is a Mama Buzz Review.