Saturday, September 28, 2013

Mayberry Days 2013

"Gentlemen, I give you science in action. Proof-positive the camera does not lie; it sees all, tells all." -Barney Fife

Today, we took Joseph to his first ever Mayberry Days in Mt. Airy (well, first on the OUTSIDE - we went last year when I was VERY pregnant).  We had a ball!  We got there early enough for the parade...



Many many thanks to my sweet husband for carrying Joseph around in his Boba when we go to things like this on weekends.  This stay-at-home-momma lugs this little guy around in her Boba almost all day long every day while she does housework, so it's a welcome relief!


 

After the parade, we headed to Snappy Lunch to get a bite to eat.  David always gets one of the famous pork chop sandwiches, and this year they gave him the biggest sandwich yet.  It was ENORMOUS and bigger than Joseph's head.  Joseph was pretty unimpressed by it.  He much preferred playing with the things on the table...


I had to have David take this next shot.  I am always laughing about the many places that I've breastfed Joseph in his first 11 months of life (so sorry for any male readers that may not care to hear about this).  I've literally nursed him at a million different places - from any restaurant you can imagine (from fast food to very nice) to the grass at Bethabara Park in Winston-Salem.  So of course, I had to have him take a picture of me nursing Joseph at Snappy's today (don't worry, men, I'm covered up!)..,


After we left Snappy's we walked around and did a little shopping, then headed up to the NC/VA state line to get some produce at a produce market we always shop at.  We got apples, corn, and some butternut squash.  Yum...I see lots of delicious fall dinners at our house in the future!  Joseph loves sweet potatoes, so when we saw the "fried sweet potato pies" we had to get him one.  He slept all night last night, which has only happened maybe twice in his whole 11 month life, so we figured this pie would be a good reward.  Fried food is not something I plan to necessarily encourage in our kids, but I figured he would like this treat.  He LOVED it.  We didn't let him eat all of it of course, but he sure did enjoy what we gave him when we got back home (pardon our unmade bed...I didn't have a chance to make it before we left this morning)...



It's my favorite time of year.  I have the loving husband and precious baby I always prayed for.  Since Joseph's birth I've been able to be a full-time stay-at-home wife and mom, which is what I've always wanted to do with my life.  Life is truly very good, and I'm so thankful and excited for all of the fun things we get to do this fall!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Samuel's Visit


"Snips and snails and puppy dog tails...that's what little boys are made of." -Nursery Rhyme


This past Friday, our little friend Samuel stayed with us all day while his mommy was at work.  Samuel is about 2 months younger than Joseph, and these boys had such a good time together!  They were both very well behaved, and at one point I had Samuel napping in the crib and Joseph napping on me while in the Boba.  I think I could handle twins if we ever had them! :-)




Joseph wasn't having the best moment here, and Samuel definitely took notice.

I love this picture...they are both concentrating so hard on their task at hand!


When Samuel took his naps in Joseph's crib, I kept check on him via the video monitor.  This little man slept pretty good in Jojo's bed!

For one nap, Samuel went down before Joseph and thus woke up while Joseph was still asleep, so I got a little one on one time with Mr. Samuel!  We played with some toys and worked on a fall "handprint" craft for him to give to his mommy and daddy!


On many fridays, I go walking with two other mommies who live near me - Jessica and Ginny and their little boys James and Bennett.  So, on this afternoon walk, I took Samuel along (in the stroller) while wearing Joseph in the Boba.  So much fun to have 3 mommies and 4 babies out in the beautiful weather!  A short while after our walk was finished, Samuel's mommy arrived to pick him up.  How thankful I am to have spent a day with such wonderful little guys!!!

Samuel in the stroller
James in his stroller


Ginny and Bennett




The whole crew                                                                                         

Our Decision to Homeschool

"Education doesn't need to be reformed - it needs to be transformed.  The key to this transformation is not to standardize education but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions." -Sir Keen Robinson

"The foundation and power of successful Christian homeschooling is found in the quiet resolve of two parents who are committed to teaching their children to be fully devoted, mature follows of Jesus Christ." -Heidi St. John

"We always talk about how we need to make the world a better place for our kids...we also need to make the kids better for our world." -Martin Malota

"People should be free to find or make for themselves the kinds of educational experiences they want their children to have." -John Hill

"No nation can remain free when the state has greater influence over the knowledge and values transmitted to children than the family does." -Ron Paul

"I don't see homeschooling as some kind of answer to badness of schools.  I think that the home is the proper base for the exploration of the world which we call learning or education.  Home would be the best base no matter how good the schools were." -John Holt

When David and I first got married and started talking about having children, we casually discussed schooling options.  We discussed private and public school, neither of us thinking much into homeschooling as an option.  The more we discussed the public/private debate, the more problematic issues popped up for us on both ideas.  Neither of us were terribly comfortable with the instruction being given in public schools now, nor with the learning environment there.  But private school certainly is expensive, and we would probably need part of my salary to pay for that.  We had always planned for me to stay at home with our children until the youngest got to kindergarten, but even then we weren't sure that we were okay with me going back to work full time.  So the private school option presented a financial issue.

It was only when we discovered these hurdles that we broached the idea of homeschooling with each other.  When we were growing up homeschooling was soooooo radical, and, while I always supported the rights of parents to homeschool if they wished, it was never something I had thought I'd want to do (side note here - I grew up in public school and David grew up in private school, both of which were great, but so much has changed since then).  But the more we looked at it, the more it appealed to us.

Fast forward to getting pregnant with Joseph.  During the pregnancy, of course we knew we had 5-6 years to decide on a "formal" school option for Joseph, and even longer for any other kids that we may have.  But we couldn't seem to shake the idea of homeschooling out of our head at that point.  It's like God put it there, even when we hesitated initially. So we started praying about it.  It may not make sense to some people to have a prayer answered so clearly YEARS before you need that answer.  In fact, this is probably the first time in my life it has happened to me.  But the more we prayed about it, the more God confirmed for both of us that homeschooling is HIS will for our family.  It is not right for everyone, but it is what He has put on our hearts to do.  So I guess I should say, our NUMBER ONE reason for homeschooling is that God wants us to!  However, I will say that, in the year or so since we received that confirmation in our hearts from Him, I have become OFF THE CHARTS excited about the years ahead of me of teaching my children (and, for those of you who read this blog on a regular basis, you know we've already started "Baby Homeschool" at our house).

Now let me be clear, this decision is not going to make life easy.  Homeschooling, ironically, is NOT the cheapest option.  Public school clearly is the cheapest.  Homeschooling parents still have to buy a curriculum, and those can get pricey (although not as pricy as private school!).  Homeschooling until our children finish high school, which is our plan, means I am never going back to work, or, at very least, not until all of our kids are out of the house (and maybe not even then - I LOVE being a homemaker).  Our financial advisor has me marked as "retired" on our system.  It is overwhelming to think how we will raise children, send them to college, and still have David retire at a semi-normal age when living off just one income.  But when the Lord has told us he will provide for us in homeschooling, we are not to doubt.  So we have the luxury of being able to move ahead confidently with our plans.

As I said, our true reason for homeschooling is because we truly believe it to be God's will for us and our children.  But I'd like to use this post to explain a few of our own motivations (in no particular order) behind homeschooling as well.  I could throw millions of statistics at you, but in this particular post I don't think anyone is really interested in that.  This is simply a high level overview of why we are planning to do what we are planning to do:

1) Spiritual reasons: David and I want our children to look at the world through "God-colored glasses."  We recognize and rejoice in the fact that God is involved every single area of life - from the presidential election, to the animals in the African jungles; from the smallest molecule in a test tube to the biggest math equation a calculator can handle.  He created it all, and no parts of our lives are to be separate from Him.  By homeschooling, we can constantly point our children to the presence of the One who made it all, whether that's on a field trip to the zoo or in a science experiment.

2) We believe we can give our children a better education at home: Statistics show it - schools, particuarly US public schools, are largely failing students.  The numbers are incredible - from high school graduates who can't read to elementary kids that consistently perform below grade level.  By teaching my own child (with a LOT of help from the Lord), and focusing on their own strengths and weaknesses, I believe the education I can give them is better than the one they can receive elsewhere.

3) Poor learning environment at school: David and I are not a big fan of the learning environment that many children are exposed to in school today.  The fact that teachers are expected, unreasonably, to meet the needs of 20-30 different children with different learning styles, different needs, and different interests, make it hard to create an effective learning environment for children in general.  We believe that, at home, we can give our children a better environment in which to discover the world.

4) Objection to what schools teach: We aren't crazy about a lot of the things being taught in schools today.  Textbooks are being written to reflect things that don't line up with our beliefs, and we don't want our children to get only the "one side of the story" that they often would at school.  And, while choosing the right private school would mitigate some of this, it is still no guarantee that the curriculum your child is taught is in line with what you are wanting them to learn.

5) Homeschooling if an extra way to develop a child's character and morality: Yes, these things can be developed in a child no matter where they go to school.  But the extra time with a child just gives a parent more time to "train a child up in the way they should go..."

6) Safety concerns: Columbine.  Sandy Hook.  A school in Asia where multiple children were victims of a mass stabbing.  The list goes on and on.  These threats to children's safety are things that we felt neither public nor private school could properly mitigate.  YES, bad things can happen anywhere (home included).  BUT, at home, I have ways to protect myself and my children and given them a better chance at coming out of an incident alive.  While home invasions do happen, I feel like my child is safer with me there to defend them in such an incident then they would be in a mass shooting at school.

7) Mitigation of negative influences: Drug use, peer pressure, and encouragement of sexual activities run high in our schools today.  I fully realize that a child cannot be "sheltered" from such influences forever, and that, to SOME degree, they have to learn to live in the "real world."  But I do not subscribe to the theory that human beings have to be exposed to such things at young ages in order to be able to deal with life.  Homeschooling is, for us, a type of "spiritual greenhouse" in which our children will be sheltered UNTIL they are at a maturity point to deal with such issues in a more adult way.

8) Ability to teach child at their own rate of learning: Many, many homeschoolers I know may be a grade ahead in certain subjects and on-target in others.  And if a homeschooled child is struggling in a particular area, the parent has the time to give them the added attention on that subject they need to excel.  I like the ability to challenge or assist my child at a rate that is most beneficial to them.

9) Flexibility in curriculum: Will we follow an "accredited" curriculum so that our child can more easily apply to college (if they choose to do so)?  Sure.  BUT, I love that in homeschooling you can add in whatever classes you find approrpiate.  We plan to add etiquette and Bible, to name a couple.

10) Convenience: I love that I won't have to rush to get my child ready for school in the morning - to make sure coats are on, homework is in the backpack, and lunch is packed.  I love that we will start our school days right in our own home, and that I can have a load of laundry going or cloth diapers hanging on the line to dry while I teach our children.  I love that I can make them wholesome lunches in my own kitchen every day at lunchtime.  These conveniences are hard to beat.

11) Family time: I realize not every family wants, or needs, the time together that our family does.  But the fact is, David and I are serious "quality time" people, and thus far Joseph shows signs of being the same.  By my calculations, sending a child off to school from grades K-12 means they are out of the house and in school for approximately 16,380 hours of their life.  For our family, this is just too much.  They grow up so fast, and those years are so precious.  I know I can't have my children with me all the time, but I want as much time as I can during these special years.   If I struggle to be away from my child for more than 3 hours, I'm not sure I could handle sending my kids off to school every day.

12) Travel flexibility: I love that homeschooling allows me to keep "schooling" my children while traveling.  Trips can, but don't HAVE, to mean a break from school.  In fact, vacations are excellent "field trip" opportunities.  Already, I did an abridged version of baby homeschool on our last trip to see David's family in the mountains (and we did it before anyone else got up, so it didn't interfere with our time with them).  There are so many ways to work with a family's schedule.

13) Child too young to go to school: For those of you who have read about Joseph's baby homeschool curriculum, you know that we never feel it's too early for a child to start learning.  And there are few "schools" we could send him to at his age where he would get such a purposeful early learning plan.  So, for the time being, the ability to "school" a child before he can be "schooled" is a huge plus to homeschooling! :-)

Like I said many times, most of these reasons are very unique to our family, and to how David and I feel we want our children to be raised.  None of these reasons make homeschooling the right choice for every family.  But I'm glad I got to share the reasons that we are planning to teach our children at home.



Monday, September 9, 2013

Tar Heel Born, Tar Heel Bred...

"I'm a Tar Heel Born and a Tar Heel bred and when I die I'm a Tar Heel dead." -End of UNC Alma Mater

On Saturday, we took Joseph to Chapel Hill for his first college football game - UNC versus Middle Tennessee State University!  I am always so thankful that David and I both grew up in sports-loving families and can pass that fun onto our little man!  And I love taking my sweet boy to his mommy's alma mater. 

We left pretty early Saturday morning.  We got to Chapel Hill early enough to do a little shopping at A Southern Season ( http://www.southernseason.com/) in University Mall, one of David and I's favorite stores.  Basically, picture a combination of Fresh Market, Earth Fare, and Pottery Barn.  Seriously, I love to look at everything there - from the gourmet food to the beautiful dinnerware.  Going to A Southern Season on Chapel Hill trips is a tradition for us.  After we'd wandered through there, we headed towards campus.  Parked in the parking deck on Rosemary Street (the street behind Franklin Street).  We had planned to tailgate, but we were pushed on time so we decided we better eat somewhere closer to the stadium.  We hopped out of the car and, before beginning the walk across campus, stopped at Johnny T-Shirt (http://www.johnnytshirt.com/) - another regular stop of ours - to do a little more shopping.

Then, we began the walk across campus to the stadium.  This was one of the zillions of times since Joseph's birth that I'm thankful for babywearing, because strollers aren't allowed in Kenan Stadium.  So David carried Joseph through the lower and upper quads in HIS Boba (the Camo one).  Finally, we reached the bell tower and Tar Heel town (for those who don't know, Tar Heel town is Carolina's pre-game celebration area, complete with food trucks, face painting, merchandise sales, etc).  After hanging out at Tar Heel town for a bit, we headed into the stadium to get our seats.

Long walk to the stadium?  Babywearing to the rescue!

Tar Heel Town fun!



Our seats were good.  Well, maybe a little TOO good.  50 yard line, 3 rows from the field.  While this sounds wonderful, one must consider the intense sun that comes with a 12:30pm early September game in NC.  Even with SPF 50 sunscreen, we were afraid Joseph was going to roast.  So we waited until kickoff then walked AAAAAALLLL the way around the stadium to sit near the visiting team section in some shady seats.  It was well worth the move, as it was cool and much less crowded in our new seats.

First seats - very hot.

Second seats - much cooler.


Joseph had a ball at the game.  True to form for my little breastfeeding champ, he missed his very first Tar Heel touchdown because he was nursing under the cover.  So typical, lol.  But from that point on, I was very impressed with how closely he watched the game - I think we definitely have a little football fan on our hands.  Everyone in our section loved watching him, even the opposing fans, because he was so smiley and having so much fun.  He stayed with it until the start of the 4th quarter, when he fell fast asleep on my shoulder.



He was seriously watching the football here - with great concentration, too!

Taking a little break to play with this little pocket schedule.

Even die hard fans need a little 4th-quarter nap every now and then.



After the game, we walked back toward Franklin Street.  We had planned to eat at Carolina Brewery, another tradition of ours.  But by the time we got back across campus, all of the eateries nearby were already packed with post-game fans.  So we decided to avoid the chaos and headed a little further down Franklin Street to eat at Tandoor (an Indian restaurant).  So yummy!

We truly had a great time and I'm so glad my little man seems to love watching sports!  I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday than in Chapel Hill with my two favorite guys!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Baby Homeschool

"We shouldn't underestimate the ability of our preschoolers to learn."

"A child's brain from birth to 5 is like a sponge."

"The years prior to preschool are the most important years of a child's life in terms of brain development."

"Words are like brain food for babies and it's never too early to start reading to them."

"By the age of 2, 70 percent of a baby's brain has formed and, by the age of 3, it's 80 percent.  There is clearly no time to waste."

-All quotes from ChildUp Learning Tools

Some of you know that David and I are planning to homeschool our children until they go to college (or into career, military, etc. - whatever the Lord leads them to do).  This is not a decision we came to lightly, but one that was clearly revealed to us to be God's will for our family, and a decision that we came to through copious prayer.  At some point I will do a post on our thoughts behind homeschooling for our family. 

But in the meantime, I wanted to post about our first real homeschooling adventure.  Yes, we've started homeschooling Joseph already, because studies show that it's never too early for children to start learning.  I didn't want something too crazy formal or involved for a child that isn't even a year old.  So I searched and searched until I found a suitable curriculum for our little guy.  Right now, we spend probably 45 minutes per day on "formal" homeschooling, but countless hours teaching him in other ways throughout the day.

I am actually following the calendar of a local preschool.  I observe their start and stop dates, as well as their holidays, summer vacation, etc.  Many, many homeschooling parents of children this age simply make up their own schedule, but I like to have a little more structure for my own sanity and to keep my disciplined about homeschooling.  Our baby school year runs M-F, from late August to May, and we observe most major holidays (for example, Joseph was "off" for Labor Day).

The curriculum I chose is from Brightly Beaming Resources (www.letteroftheweek.com/).  Since Joseph is 10 months old, I started with the 10 month course in the Brightly Beaming Baby Curriculum.  When he turns a year in October we will move to the Brightly Beaming Toddler Curriculum, which we will continue until May.  Next year, I will start a new curriculum entirely which I have not yet picked out.

I've added a few things to the curriculum as well.  For one, I want the short, formal part of our school day to start out the same way each time.  So we open by saying the Lord's prayer (okay, so right now I READ it to Joseph, lol), and then we read Joseph's life verse.  Then we say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the first verse of the National Anthem.  We have a few other little routines too.  I hope we can always continue these ways to open the school day throughout his life.  Also, I have added the practicing of certain skills to his curriculum (i.e. drinking from a sippy cup; standing alone, etc).  I have a book that breaks down skills that 90% of babies his age would be able to do, the 75% skills, then 50% skills, and finally 25% skills.  We practice 90% skills on Monday, 75% skills on Tuesday, 50% skills on Wednesday, and 25% skills on Thursday.  On Fridays, he gets a day off from the "skill practice" portion of his curriculum.

So far, the biggest thing I've noticed about Joseph is that he LOVES being read to.  Right now, we are reading the book "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb" every day, and he listens to wide-eyed and intently.

I love that I've begun my life as a homeschooling mommy, and David loves to help me teach, too, when he is around for it.  Of course, at this age, MOST of this learning goes on through the rest of the day, throughout life (unschooling as some may say).  But whether formal learning time or not, I love seeing this boy discover the world around him!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Labor Day in Highlands

"If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day weekend." -Doug Larson

I used this quote because it made me laugh, but I have to say we were blessed to not experience an unusual amount of traffic this Labor Day weekend.  Thursday, after David got home from work, we left to visit his side of our family in Highlands, NC.  We had a great trip up, even though we didn't make it until close to 10pm.  But we got to listen to the Heels play on the radio, which made the drive fun (until we started losing REALLY bad, at least).

We did so many fun things on our trip.  We at lunch one day at Ghangri (http://www.ghangri.com/), the Asian fusion restaurant in Highlands.  It is always so yummy, and Joseph enjoyed hanging out in his high chair and eating baby food while we ate the real stuff!  ;-)






We went to Harris Lake to feed the ducks and Joseph didn't seem scared of them at all, despite the fact that the geese kind of took over and some of the hissing, mean ones had to be chased back by David!


We walked around downtown and did some shopping...


You can't see Joseph in this photo, because he was riding on David's back in the camo Boba (Joseph will ride on David's back but will only ride on my front...who knows)


 
Highlands had been unseasonably cool in the weeks before our visit (and, being at such a high elevation, it's usually much cooler than Greensboro anyway), but on the visit it was quite sunny and warm!  We walked down to Mill Creek, a creek that runs near David's parents house, and sat in the grass for a while.  David's mom and I waded in the creek, and it was warm enough for Joseph to take a lower-half dip!



 


On a different day for lunch, we went to Pescados, a Mexican restaurant in town.  Joseph thought his Banana and Pumpkin food was just about as good as our quesadillas!


The weather was so pretty that we sat by the water feature in the front yard one afternoon...Joseph loved hanging out in the sunshine!





Little man even stayed happy in the car for most of the trip!


Some other things that we did while we were in Highlands - we watched fireworks from Pine Street Park (these were the postponed 4th of July fireworks since they were rained out back in July), we listened to music in the town square, we cooked out with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephews, and we ate tons of yummy food that my mother-in-law made for us!  On Monday morning, we headed home.

This was also the first Highlands trip since we started the baby homeschool year with Joseph (more on that in a different post soon) and David started his MBA.  I packed a "school bag" for both of them so that they could do school stuff up there.  Joseph and I even got up early Friday morning, before everyone else got up, and did our baby homeschool curriculum up there!  Joseph (and I!) had Labor Day off from "school," so we got back into the swing of things back here at home on Tuesday.

We are so blessed that both sides of our family now live in one state!  I look forward to Joseph making many more fun memories on Highlands trips throughout the years!