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.

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!!!"

Less than two weeks to go

On July 28 my three bigs will be starting their first year of public school.

Their school is on a year-round schedule, and my three are on Track C. This means that they will go to school for three weeks, and then will be off-track (out of school) for three weeks. They start back on track (in school) on September 8, and will be in classes through the month of October. Then they have the entire month of November off-track! They'll be back in class on December 1, only to have off two weeks for Christmas/New Year's.

I think the year-round schedule will take some getting used to, but I'm glad that it gives them breaks throughout the year, rather than one long break in the summer. This way, we can still do fun things together throughout the entire year--we'll just have to plan it for when they're off-track.

The local stores have some good back-to-school sales right now, and I've stocked up on school supplies. We haven't yet received any class supply lists, so I'm guessing. But it's probably a safe guess that they'll need pencils, crayons, colored pencils, and notebooks. Hopefully their class lists will arrive soon.

A good friend who understands my angst about sending the kids to school gave them (and me) a very thoughtful gift: personalized backpacks in their favorite colors from L.L. Bean.

My 8yodd will be in third grade, and my twin guys will be in the same second grade class, as we requested. I am most anxious about the fact that none of them are reading fluently, but are still in the decoding stage. So they are not to grade level, especially my dd. They are similarly behind in math. I'm trying not to convey my anxiety to them. I don't want them to be worried.

We've begun getting up/going to bed according to school times, which means they are going to bed (theoretically) at 8:30 and getting up at 7:00. I want them dressed, fed, and walking out the door by 7:40 each morning, so we'll see how that works.

I'm working on pulling together their school clothes and pulling them out of regular circulation. I'll have a bit of money for school clothes shopping after dh gets paid at the end of the month, but probably not much. My guys are pretty well set while it's still hot weather--they have tons of shorts and nice tees--but my dd is a bit short on nice clothes. I'm hoping to come across some good sales at yard sales/thrift stores to suppliment her wardrobe. They will all need new sneakers, and dd needs some new dress shoes eventually.

Please pray for us, that all these details will come together smoothly. Pray especially that God will be glorified by our family in this new venue, and that we will be a light.

The kids are registered for public school

This feels so strange, like suddenly I'm someone that I don't recognize.

Dh made this call, but I do agree with him that it's the right decision. Our kids deserve a good education, and they're not getting it right now.

Getting them registered was relatively painless. Thankfully, I could easily lay my hands on their birth certificates and immunization exemption forms. I wrote a letter to the principal explaining our concern that our kids' lack of reading skills will make it difficult for them to be in their age-appropriate grade levels, but left that call to them. I did request that our twins be put into the same classroom, so hopefully they'll do that.

The elementary schools in this area are year-round, so classes were in session today for B, C, and D tracks. Classes end for them in two weeks. Most of the month of July is summer break, and then A, B, and C tracks start back on July 28. I've requested that they not be on the D track, just so they can start sooner rather than later. My preference is B track, but I'll take A, B, or C and be content.

The school itself seems nice. The office staff were kind and helpful, both on the phone and while were were in the office. And the stack of handouts I grabbed look engaging.

I'm trying hard to be enthusiastic when talking about this with the kids. They have lots of questions, as you can imagine. I've been reassuring them that I LOVED school when I was their age--and I did. Junior high and parts of high school sucked, but elementary was mostly a good experience for me. They are excited and nervous, but we have over a month before they'll start, so I'm sure we'll have some ups and downs.

My 7yodsC has already told me a couple of times that he'll really miss me. I am glad that they're bigger, now, and not little 5yos. I can't imagine sending my 4yod to school in another year, even though he'd technically be the right age for Kindergarten.

This is all really overwhelming. We had talked about this in the past as a possibility, but dh very suddenly decided this last night. I'm still feeling somewhat whiplashed.

I was told to expect a letter from the school sometime next week, telling us what track and teachers our kids have. So I guess until then we'll just have to be patient.

Soccer Season

Tomorrow marks a momentous day in our family--the day our three bigs begin playing soccer on our very first organized sports team. The three bigs are practically vibrating from excitement.

Today we need to purchase shin guards, cleats, water bottles, and a ball.

In my years of working as a nanny before marriage and having my own children, I spent innumerable hours transporting kids to and from soccer practices and watching them play. It quickly lost it's appeal, and I spent many years being grateful that I didn't have to spend time at the soccer fields I drove past with my small children. But now that my kids will be playing, I'm looking forward to watching them learn the game, and for them to have an outlet for their energy and competitiveness.

Time to break out the folding chairs and sunblock!

Manic Monday

Today I am watching a friend's 2yo daughter while her baby brother makes his entrance into the world. She's a sweet little thing, and she and my 2yo guy are hilarious to watch playing together. She's an only--well, she was until today--and my little guy is number five in our family. So when they play together, she definitely directs the action.

The three bigs and I are continuing on with first grade. Reading is coming just a bit easier every day, and I'm encouraged by their progress. I am now a complete convert to the BJU curriculum. Today in math the three bigs were "writing" equations by laying out their number cards with the + and the = signs. They are really grasping concepts now, and go around the house adding together everything from their markers to the number of plates they must use to set the table for dinner.

The weather today is gorgeous--sunny and warm. I'm so happy that we seem to have finally seen the end of winter. All the kids spent time playing in the back yard, and the windows are wide open, airing out the house from the stale, closed-up months of winter.

School catch-up

Winter is still here, despite the calendar telling us Spring began last week. Another storm last night covered the ground in snow. The kitties were offended by having wet paws when they went outside this morning, and quickly shook them off when they came back inside.

School isn't getting done today. We managed Bible and English, and I think we'll at least get Spelling done once the little guys go down for their afternoon naps. I'm already planning on Saturday being a catch-up day, to make up for our abbreviated day on Tuesday with the unexpected doctor's office visit and emergency room run. So far it looks like we'll have one lesson each of English and Spelling, and two lessons of Math and History. I may try to do two Math lessons tomorrow, so Saturday is less stressful.

Since we've made the change in homeschooling curriculum to Bob Jones textbooks with the lessons taught on video, our three bigs have made huge strides in their learning. They are all now reading, with a lot of hesitancy, but definitely decoding the words in the stories in their readers and understanding the meaning.

Today's reader story was the first time I've seen my 8yodd read with confidence. The story had a fair amount of repetition, and once she read through the beginning section she was able to continue on with almost no help from me. This was wonderful to see. My 8yodd often struggles with recognizing that she's read a word before, even if it was in the previous sentence. Listening to her read through today's short story without hesitancy was a beautiful thing.

Rejoice with me!

My three oldest children became Christians tonight!


For the last several weeks, my three bigs have been asking probing questions about faith, sin, forgiveness, and what it means to be a Christian. Over the last two weeks we have been learning about the Creation in our Bible time, and then yesterday we began learning about the Fall. It's not the first time they've heard these stories, but they have been connecting the dots in ways I've not seen before.


Dh and I had a conversation earlier this week about all this, and agreed that we wanted to be careful not to push them in any way. It's important to us that they make this decision themselves, and not because they think they should.


So tonight at dinner, my 8yodd asked dh if there were more people in heaven or in hell. To answer her, dh opened the door to our basement 3 or 4 inches, and explained what the word "narrow" means. Then we went out to the garage, and he opened the big door to our driveway, and talked about how wide that door was, and how we could go through every door in our house, and hundreds besides, but never be able to get into our basement unless we went through that one door. We sat down at the table again, and talked about how Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.


Our three oldest had many, many questions about all this, and really started pressing us about specifics: What is the path exactly? How does someone become a Christian? What does it mean to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord? How does this fit in with asking Jesus to forgive us when we've sinned?


Finally, dh asked them if they wanted to pray right now. They all said, Yeah! So we sat together on the couch, and dh talk with them for quite a while about how this was forever, that for the rest of their lives and beyond, they will belong to God. Then he lead them in a prayer. (Our 4yods chimed in, too.)


I'm still a bit teary-eyed. I called my parents a while ago, and they were thrilled. Both of them were the first believers in their families, and for them to now see their children's children come to Christ is an awesome thing.


Today is a very, very good day.

That Big Fluffy Guy

Dh and the three bigs are watching Star Wars, Episode Four.

8yodd just called Chewbacca "that big fluffy guy."

I love the hum of the lightsaber battles.

All three of the three bigs are enthralled. We've shown them Star Wars before, but it's been at least a year.

When they were younger, they called Darth Vader "Hoopaw", because of the sound he makes while breathing. They still call him that, but more for the laugh now.