What a difference a year makes

When we made the shift from homeschooling to enrolling our three bigs in the local public school last year, I felt like a failure. In the weeks between registering our children and them starting class, I worried and fretted over what this meant for their futures, and how they would be treated by the school system and their peers, as well as more mundane concerns like getting up and out the door every day and school clothes and supplies.

I haven't blogged much over this last school year, and what I did write didn't address the kids' schooling. This year has been a roller coaster in many ways, but the kids' school has been a blessedly stable, positive experience. The twins' teacher was wonderful, and my dd's teacher was reasonably good. They are all now reading, which is a huge, huge improvement. My dd is now getting the additional help and support she needs to overcome her newly-diagnosed learning disability.

It is wonderful to now have other caring adults invested in my children's education. Homeschooling is an excellent option for many families, and the season we spent schooling together was good in many ways. But with my dh traveling extensively, dd having an undiagnosed learning disability, and three littles home, too, I just couldn't continue.

School began yesterday. My 9yodd is in 4th grade, and the twins are in the same 3rd grade classroom. 5yods begins kindergarten next Monday, and went in for an evaluation this afternoon. So far we like all the kids' teachers, and have high hopes of having another very successful school year.

And when I hear my dd read a book to me, or listen to the twins quiz each other on their spelling words, or see my 5yods write his name, I see them succeeding--and I am grateful.

I'm feeling inspired

My friend Chautona has a lovely new crafting nook I'm drooling over...

I need to confront the storage nightmare hidden in the under-stairs closet, where I keep all my crafting supplies. A significant part of the issue is that other items are stored there, too, like all the vhs tapes we no longer watch, the homeschooling items we no longer use, and waaaayyyyyy too many scrapbooking supplies.

Of course, in order to keep peace and harmony in our home, I can't really work on this until dh goes out of town for at least an overnight. When I sort through this disaster, I'll need to spread out...and his blood pressure doesn't do well with that kind of mess. ;)

I'd love to have a permanent place to craft, but at this point our home doesn't have a good place for me to claim. Having the under-stairs closet space as storage is great, though, and I want to work on setting it up to be easily accessible. I'll likely need to do some ruthless sorting and tossing--not easy, given my pack rat tendencies.

One of my biggest current issues is my need for some more albums in which to put completed pages. I've got probably 2 to 3 albums worth of pages that need to be journaled and put into albums. Definitely something to plan on doing in the near future.

I have too much paper--and the shelving that I could use to store it so I can actually see what I have isn't in place. To put that in, though, I'll have to remove the bookcase that's currently in the closet, storing all my scrapbooking idea books, magazines, and leftover homeschooling materials.

Hmmm....lots to plan, lots to think about. I'll post before and after pictures when I get to the point of actually getting going on the project.

Because a wedding can turn into a circus...

My sister got engaged this past weekend, and our family is full of much rejoicing and laughter.

My 9yo daughter is in Oregon, spending two weeks with our family there, so her auntie got to ask her in person to be her flower girl. She was breathless with excitement on the phone when she told me later, "And O and C get to be the ringmasters!!!"

Enough already

I thought briefly about posting regarding Michael Jackson's death. Then I read my thoughts exactly, and decided to just post the link.