A Few Months Worth of Pictures

Our Herd - Swim team 2016.  We log a lot of hours at the pool during early summer!

Towards the end of swim team season, the coaches put on a huge fun day for the kids.  Shaving cream wars are a big it.  Here's Sarah Grace and I *think* that's her bestie, Abigail. 

Sarah discovered her love for back-stroke and participated in the city-wide meet.  We were all proud of her hard work!

Killing time at city meet with Abigail. 

This little dude did NOT do swim team.  He spent his pool time wooing the life guards and monkeying around during meets.

Flag foot-ball with Thomas was another summer activity.  It was his last year to play and he really enjoyed every aspect of it.

Shenanigans on the sidelines. 

 

Daniel. 

Sarah was often found doodling away during football games.  Or spinning stories for the rest of the family. 

The undefeated 2016 Packers!

Elizabeth's mission in life is to steer clear of the lens, but here's a true to life picture of our little Sunshine. 

Talk Like a Pirate Day, 2016.  It's a thing.  And Krispy Kreme gives free donuts to visiting pirates. 

This beauty has lows in the night on a semi-regular basis.  While it's not the way I would recommend getting one on one time with a child, it has proven to be a sweet time with her.  She has such a wonderfully good attitude, even if she occasionally has to be prodded into being awake enough to eat something. 

Speaking of sweet, these two have such a special bond.  They play together so well and their laughter is loud and contagious.  Here they are on their patiently awaited McWane Center date.  Full disclosure: I took this picture as we were going in just in case one of them wandered off. 

This little girl went to Camp Seale Harris' diabetes day camp this summer.  This was just before her first day - she was SO excited and loved every minute of camp!! 

Elizabeth Hope Freeman.  This little lady was baptized at our annual church retreat. 

Shopping sisters. 

This picture, y'all.  It's perfectly captures the spirit of the relationship these two sisters have. 

This kid.  He makes me crazy some moments, but I'm so proud of him.  I love him to the moon and back. 

We participated in the Kids Bowl Free program this summer.  It was a lot of fun but our favorite time was when my Dad came to bowl with us! 

Thomas and Sarah got ENO hammocks for their birthdays this year.  A LOT of time has been spent doing school work, reading books, giggling, and just hanging our in those hammocks.  I'm especially partial to when they stack them like this. 

Sarah had a big birthday bash at the lake this year and we learned that the hammocks were also a LOT of fun when used in the boat slip! 

Joshua and all the kiddos inside a B-17, a War World II bomber. 

A pic of my sweet friend, Bethany, and me at the beach.  She's wearing Peter, her 4 month old cherub. 

Lizzie making sure that Peter got to put his toes in the water. 

My guy.  I'm so thankful he likes me! 

Boys Will Be Boys

The baby of the family gets a lot more leeway than any other child.  Partially because we as the parents are so much more relaxed than we were with the first couple (and by 'relaxed', I probably really mean 'tired').  Partially because the youngest learns early on how to play their cards just so.

We've never had a four year old as the youngest in our family.  Four year olds teeter on the brink of childhood.  They are making that permanent break with babyhood but, thankfully, they string it out over a year.  Pretty sure the Lord did that for the Mama hearts.

That year is proving precious beyond belief.

I was sitting at my desk sorting through the papers when he galloped over to tell me some story.  I'll never know what he was going to tell me about because about three words in, he passed gas like a teen-aged boy.  He began giggling, which increased his gaseous emissions, which increased his laughter and the circle continued. 

Here we were, laughing together for all we're worth as the gas and the giggles kept coming.  My camera was on hand to I grabbed it up and began taking pictures.  Because those laughing moments are precious, regardless of what brings them about.

School Reset 2015

Home school moms are nerds.

This is absolutely, positively, undeniably true.

We take this whole back to school thing every bit as seriously as our public and private school teacher counterparts.

We contemplate the best place to do school - the dining room, the living room, do we have the space to have a dedicated school room?

Then we contemplate the atmosphere and aesthetics -  how to make it attractive and functional for the people that will be in there, meshing it with the rest of our home so that it doesn't distract from the rest of the living we do.

Which is just funny because homeschooling really permeates every single crevice of life.

We make choices, conscious or not, about what the dress code for our kids will be on a day to day basis.  Let's face it, for those who have the patience to help their little ones look cute and put a bow in their hair every day, the pictures are cuter.  For those of us who want to foster independence in as many areas as possible as early on as possible, well, our pictures feature stringy hair and leggings paired with tank tops and cowboy boots.

Y'all, I have a kid whose hair I can put up on Sunday and she won't touch it for days.  When I get to it to take the elastic hair band out, she has dust accumulating up there.  Honest to goodness dust.  That is not photogenic happiness.

But I digress...

Every home school mom knows, though, that the bestest, geekiest, hairiest part of home schooling is The Choosing of the Curriculum.

Awwwwww, yeaaaaahhhhhhh.....

We officially have the first month of school under our belts.  Which means that we have just barely scratched the surface of any of the new stuff we've started.  We're also a week away from the beginning of co-op, so we're still missing a couple of important subjects.  So, you know, we're not quite full throttle yet.

As always, we've made changes in some areas and stuck with what has worked for us in other areas.

Math stayed the same.  Anna is the only one using Math-U-See this year.  She is over half-way through Alpha, cruising towards Beta.  We stopped about mid-way last year because her reading capabilities hadn't caught up to the word problems she was encountering.  So we paused to allow her reading to be the focus and she simply camped out with worksheets that re-enforced her addition and skip-counting skills.  Over the summer her reading took off and since we've brought the Alpha back out, she's been zipping right along.

Elizabeth finished up Beta last year around March and we used the same website to create multiplication and more complicated addition worksheets for her.  When we officially started school this for this year, she was thrilled to bump up to Teaching Textbooks.  For us, we allow the 3rd grade work to be done all on the computer and don't even bother with a workbook.  It's mostly just review and an opportunity to acclimate to the different system.  Teaching Textbooks is a bit behind what I'd really consider grade appropriate, so we compensate by moving fast through 3, then taking all the time we need with 4th and 5th so be absolutely sure that basic multiplication facts are memorized.  I believe that the whole of math is so much easier if those multiplication facts are stuck solidly in your head.  Lizzie is flying through 3rd grade and on track to start 4th during second semester.  

Thomas and Sarah are both pushing through Teaching Textbooks grade 6 and their goal is to complete 6th and 7th grade by the end of June so they can start Pre-Algebra next year.  I'm holding this more loosely than they are, so it'll be fun to see how it works out.  

My kids enjoy Teaching Textbooks and I LOVE it.  There is nothing like that guy's patient voice saying to them when they've missed a problem, "No, not quite, let's try again.  Remember....".  Y'all, he doesn't have bad days, lunch to make, or younger children he's trying to work with.  He's just always nice.  I think the kids would be content if he taught everything.

We are trying a different approach with Language Arts this year.  I bought Spelling Wisdom and Using Language Well from Simply Charlotte Mason.  We're learning the art of dictation and transcription while enjoying excerpts from great sources.  It's been interesting to see how the different writing styles are understood and interpreted by the older three kids.  We're only four weeks in, but I think it's a winner for where we are right now.

We've loved A Reason For Handwriting since day one.  Sarah finished the Transition book last year and her handwriting is so neat and fluid that she is done with the actual subject of handwriting.  Thomas is smack in the middle of Transition and evening out quite well.  Elizabeth has just started the cursive practice lessons in Transition and is pushing to move faster.  She can't wait to write complete thoughts in cursive!  Anna is in Book B, while Daniel will be starting Book K in another month or so.  The kids all look forward to writing the verse at the end of the week and enjoy coloring the picture that is on the verse paper.  I've been exceedingly happy with this curriculum choice and recommend it all the time to folks.

Elizabeth is using Houghton Mifflin spelling for 3rd grade.  While Thomas and Sarah's vocabulary and spelling are pulled from the Charlotte Mason material, I really wanted Elizabeth to continue with a more structured spelling choice.  We've used this curriculum choice for about three years now and I'm happy with the workbooks.  They provide color and interest with a variety of exercises and I don't have to think or plan.  I just hand over the workbook and review with her a couple times a week.  She tests out on Thursdays and that's a wrap!

As a family, we are learning American Sign Language.  I've always loved sign language.  It's useful, beautiful, expressive.  I have a friend who is an Interpreter and after she visited our co-op to share her skill with the kids last year, Sarah also fell in love.  I giggled as several of our students from co-op finger-spelled to one another the rest of the year as a way of skirting the 'no talking in class' rule.  My kids began to make up their own signs and use them in conversation.  So when a fellow mom mentioned she was ordering, I jumped on board along with a few other families.  The goal is to watch the videos at home, practice with our families, then meet together occasionally to use our skills.  My sweet Interpreter friend has even agreed to come chat with us and encourage us all!

Daniel and Anna are enjoying Five In A Row, and the older kids still join in whenever they can.  This is another favorite choice of ours.  We've been using it for eight years!  This is actually where we start the day - with the little ones and a book.  We cuddle up on the couch and get some snuggle time in while we read and discuss the book.  It's so fantastic on so many levels, there's just no way for it to be wrong.

Anna is working through another year of Explode the Code, another oldie but goodie choice.  This has been a low maintenance phonics program for the kids and they have done very well.  Explode the Code, combined with a lot of reading, has given the kids a pretty strong footing.

Next week , we'll fold in All American History.  We were planning to do American History this year using a different curriculum, but our co-op history teacher (thankfully!) chose to teach American History.  I bought the Teacher Guide and equipped us with lots of extra literature to read and we are already enjoying learning about Leif the Lucky and Christopher Columbus.  I spent more time than I'd like to confess to making book lists on our public library's website, but now that it's done, I can go through and reserve a slew of age and topic appropriate books for the kids at the touch of a button.  Within three days, I get an email telling me all the books are collected and are ready for me to pick up at my local branch.  It's a beautiful thing and we are excited to be studying more current history for the first time ever!

We'll also be adding Apologia Anatomy and Physiology.  Here's a fun twist - I'm teaching this class for the 4th through 8th graders at our co-op!  I'm ridiculously excited to be teaching A & P (which I don't consider science as much as I do Just Plain Cool!) and have been scouring Pinterest and Google for fun ideas to fill our time with.  Um, success!!!  Thomas and Sarah are looking forward to science, but mostly, I think they're just looking forward to sitting at tables with their friends.  They are blissfully unaware that it's embarrassing to have your mom as the class teacher.

Don't you dare tell them!

Anna and Elizabeth will be using Apologia Zoology 1.  We all did Zoology 3 last year and had a blast with it!  The kids loved learning about the animals.  It was the first time we actually did science all year long on a real and regular basis.  I am not teaching their science class, so it will be interesting to see how it works to have kids doing different science topics, complete with homework and projects.

And that wraps up our choices for the year, I think... I always feel like I've forgotten something, but
I'm pretty sure that's the high points.

Now the school room is all set up, the books are all in, fresh supplies in each child's school box, and everything is all organized and laid out for the first three months.  We're rockin' and rollin' and finding our groove for the year.  I'll come back next week and tell you about how our daily schedule is running this year.  It's feeling WAY more relaxed than last year and, so far, seems to be working smooth like buttah'.

And really, after 6 years of home schooling, it seems like we should have a well-oiled machine, right?

Wanna talk more about the books we've chosen or tell me what you're family is using?  Join me on the FB page and let's speak (home school) geek together! 

Sweet Summertime

Summer has always been a string of unorganized days haphazardly filled with whatever falls in our laps and doesn't interfere with nap time too much.  An entire decade of this as our summer strategy, y'all. 

But the winds of change have been slowly blowing across our family.  I now have 'middle age' kids rather than the Munchkin Brigade.  Nap time is way more optional now that the youngest is four instead of the oldest being four.  Summer is a whole new world full of possibilities and mosquitoes.

We hesitantly committed to swim team.  This is huge for our family.  It's a five-day-a-week commitment, plus a meet each Wednesday night.  Thomas, Sarah, Lizzie, and Anna are all participating in swim team and Daniel is taking swim lessons so he doesn't even sink some of the way.  We're at the pool from 8AM until 11AM for practice and lessons, then we hang out and play for a bit.

Y'all, this means we're out the door by 7:30AM.  Um... we don't usually roll out of bed until 7:30 and now we're up, breakfasted, and in swimsuits with our stuff gathered and walking out the door. 

Now, even on Saturdays, I'm waking up by 6:30.  Who the heck am I?

Sometimes, the early mornings get to Daniel and he rests wherever he finds an empty towel. 

 It also means that my kids are all cute and tanned out.  It means they sleep well at night.  It means we are getting in the habit of getting up and getting going earlier in the day.  It means they are growing more confident in the water.

It means that the vast majority of their summer wardrobe is made of swimsuits and t-shirts.  I'm in laundry heaven!

So here's the thing: I really thought I'd dread every single morning, waking up, pushing the kids through a morning routine, spending hours a day at the pool, hot-sticky-hotness, and the smell of chlorine stinking up the van.

Let me tell you what I've learned here at the half-way mark in our swim team season.

We pretty much love this.  It's team sports and individual sports all rolled into one.  I was afraid that our kids would balk after the first meet.  They'd had a full seven days of strokes training behind them (until swim team started, we were doggy paddlers for the most part) and I thought they would be discouraged when they didn't fare well in the races.  But they weren't.  I mean, yeah, maybe a little, but they were all so very proud of themselves for swimming the entirety of their races, regardless of where they placed.  They love hanging out with their team-mates between their scheduled events.

Our coaches are amazing, patient folks.  During time trials, when Anna swam three-quarters of the length of the pool then firmly attached herself to the ropes and staunchly refused to do anything but cry and cling to that rope?  Coach J went to her and coaxed her off the rope and then he swam next to her to the wall, encouraging her all the way.  When Sarah had a melt down over not knowing how to do a certain stroke, a coach jumped in the water and worked with her individually until Sarah had the concept down pat.  The parents, the coaches, and the team members are just a great group of folks to be spending time with.  Good thing, too, since we see them about 20 hours per week!

Possibly my favorite part of all of this, though?  Our team mascot is a cow.

Go, Cows!!!

Daniel is Four

This Parenting of the Youngest Child is a little bit heart-breaking, y'all.  I've had little ones in the house for so long and I know now that I've taken a lot of it for granted.  These years really are just a momentary vapor... even if you have a three or four year old for seven years in a row...

But enough naval gazing.  I've got a New Four Year Old to celebrate!!! 

Our church takes an annual retreat to Fall Creek Falls State Park where we spend a glorious weekend in cabins that surround a large grassy area.  There's a little stream just down the road that's perfect for canoeing and swimming (if you're a polar bear!) and baptizing.  The adults take turns helping with meals and the kids are responsible for clean up afterward and that's about all the responsibility any of us see for three days.

For the past two years, Daniel's birthday has fallen while we are enjoying the respite of the woods.  As we were coming home last year, he told us how much fun he'd had at his birthday party.  It took me a few seconds and a couple of questions to realize that the little squirt thought the entire church retreat was in honor of his birthday!! 

His lack of self-confidence worries us. 

This year we baked 150 cupcakes and took them with us on the retreat to share with all his party attendees and everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to him.  He wore his brand new Superman shirt and sat on his Daddy's shoulders, beaming from ear to ear as he was serenaded!!  Alas, my fantastic camera was not at hand, and I have only my memory to look back on and see that sweet face!  He was high-fived at every turn all day and reveled in the spotlight as only the baby of the family knows how.

Later that afternoon, we all trekked down to the creek for baptisms for those who had accepted Christ's life-changing salvation over the past year.  The kids and adults sat or stood along the bridge as the little ones played in a little rivulet off to the side.  Daniel, after seeing the first dunking, couldn't wait to get in water deeper than his ankles.  As soon as the baptisms were over, he was hot on the heels of the older kids who were headed to diving boards that were positioned over the deeper part of the creek. 

Y'all, he had an adult with him.  They were walking along the canoe launch and Daniel overbalanced and fell in.  The sweet gentleman who was walking with Daniel grabbed him out of the water quickly, but told us how quickly Daniel was sinking for those several seconds.

Daniel's version was "I didn't sink all the way, I just sinked some of the way."  This was explained through chattering teeth as he was held bundled in a towel and being carried off by a mama who was praising God for His mercy and for our village. 

Daniel, I love you to infinity and beyond.  I love every cheesy smile and silly antic and sweet little boy kiss you bestow upon me. 

And this year, you'll have some serious swim lessons!! 

The Cheeseball

Daniel.  He's the baby of the family and he knows it.

A couple months ago, he wandered up to me and asked to be allowed to do something he knew I'd say no to and then he pulled this hilarious little face.  He scrunched up his nose, squinted his eyes, and pasted on a fake smile.

I laughed a great big, belly laugh, pulled him up in my lap, smothered him with kisses, and said, "No, Cheeseball."

Since then, he'll do the Cheeseball face on command or according to his whim.  He occasionally pulls the Cheeseball when he's trying to get out of trouble.  He still gets in trouble, but I do have to work harder at being Serious Mama when he gets all comical on me. 

 He's a stinker, but he's my cuddly, chuckle head stinker.

For Christmas, my sweet friend Bethany made him the most awesome super-hero cape.  He loves it and wears it every single day.  He especially loves to pair it with his fireman rain boots. 

While we were at the beach this past fall, my brother-in-law found this little Superman figure in the sand and presented it to Joshua because everyone knows my husband is a Superman.  However, Daniel spied it and once he got his little boy hands on it, he's not let go too many times.  Notice he's actually holding it in the above picture. 

We call Daniel SuperDan.  If you ask him what his superpower is, he'll tell you "Make noise and shoot away!"

These are good days, y'all.  Good, good days. 

Guess What I Got For Christmas?

This poor blog has suffered for nearly nine years from not only a lack of good photography skills, but a lack of a real camera.

Not that the dismal skills have anything to do with the ownership or non-ownership of a camera.  But I'll try to stay on track here.

Guess what I got for Christmas??

(Do you find it ironic that I just took a picture of my snazzy new camera with an iPhone?) 

I'm reveling in my ability to have more and better pictures of my people, even if my skills are sub-amateur.  It makes me happy.  See?  

This is what we call 'The Cheeseball'.  He pulls this face out at any random moment of the day, but generally when he wants something (like a snack or your undivided attention) or wants out of something (like picking up his toys or putting on his pajamas).

Just because he was spinning me a fabulous tale and he's little and it won't last forever.

Still trying to figure out how to take pictures inside without getting all those major shadows.  Got any tips?

We celebrated Anna's 6th birthday a bit late, but the finery knew no bounds.  Her sisters set the table with my grandmother's china and served blueberries and string cheese for snack.

We're pretty proper here - tea parties are a part of our daily life. 

Sarah Grace has an amazing capacity to include this little guy in whatever it is she's doing.  He loves the attention!

The Freeman home hasn't evaded the Frozen epidemic.  These adorbs little hats were made by our sweet friend Angel and they get a TON of wear. 

Kid loves his 'heh-mut'. 

New Year's Eve.  It was late....

She makes kitchen chores entertaining!  A spoonful of sugar, right?

Just a few days before we chopped all her hair off - it was also FREEZING outside!

Hot chocolate.  Because I have a new camera and I can. 

That time it took me two days to think to check her ears when she kept complaining about a sore jaw and neck?  Totally used my essential oils and she bounced back in less than 12 hours.