Mom Remembers

This month, I have been very glad to be homeschooling.  The shine of public school has definitely worn off for all the neighborhood kids.  This means that I hear a lot of temper tantrums in the mornings in the parking lot.  It also means that Soren has stopped begging for something I know he would hate.  We have been able to stop pining and start gloating. I'm gloating because:    * We get to be together.  I love that.    * I don't have to leave the house when it is cold and dark outside.    * The kids don't have homework.    * We have time to go on cool field trips.    * We aren't in a hurry.    * We don't have standardized tests coming up.  (Seriously?  Our neighbors are having standardized tests  for preschool! )    * Soren and Carl help out around the house a lot.    * I get to watch the boys play and observe first-hand how they are incorporating the things they learn.    * All my former Kindergarten students talk wistfully of the good ol' days.

SOREN:  I am going to be an adult like you!  I am learning the secrets of adultery!

1. I have enjoyed the sunshine this week.  It has been perfect autumn weather.  Our kindergarten walks have been very pleasant.  I love to see the brown and yellow leaves falling all around me.  I told the kids that when they caught a falling leaf, they caught a wish in their hand.  It's harder than it sounds!  Today, one fell right on my head!  I decided to count that. 2. Monday was my brother Timothy's last P-day of his mission!  We chatted on gmail for about an hour that morning.  I am really excited for him to come home! 3. I made an apple pie for FHE.  It was amazing. 4. Scott went on a father-son date with Soren on Wednesday night.  They went to the U of U parking lot and wrote down all the license plates they saw.  When they got home, Soren was very excited to tell me about the snazzy sports car they saw as well as the license plate from England. 5. I gave myself permission to take a nap every day this week.  So if Sven got me up in the middle of the night, I too

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at 10:45 am cool autumn breeze on my face wet dew-covered grass soft, worn cotton comfortable wool sweater goosebumps on my legs warm sunshine on my back maple tree surrounded with wet, golden leaves lemon yellow quilt backing neon school crossing sign mustard-colored Saturn four-door sedan Michael's curly blonde hair pale banana chips a shadow shaped like a rabbit faint smell of exhaust rumbling lawn mover "Do you want to play cy-bugs?" "I do!" "I think I want to look at license plates." screeching buzz saw Sven cooing woosh of passing cars little feet swishing through fallen leaves

Carl has been riding a balance bike all summer.  First it was a bike a neighbor lent to us and then it was a beautiful red bike that Scott's grandparents bought for him.  While Soren was struggling to master his bike, Carl was zipping around with ease on this clever invention: This Saturday, though, he used some of his birthday money (yes, he still had birthday money!) to buy a $5 bike at DI.  It is a little girl's bike with Dora the Explorer on it but he fell in love with it and so we carted it home in the trunk of our car. For his first ride, I held onto the handlebars while he climbed on.  I ran alongside, balancing the bike for him, Sven hanging heavily in the baby carrier.  But I soon found that he needed very little help from me to stabilize the bike.  After he figured out pedaling, he was doing it mostly on his own.  And when he was going downhill, it was a breeze.  Within 15 minutes, he was soon cruising down the driveway all by himself.   When he realize

ME: Did you eat my popcorn? CARL:  Mom, did you know that you can share with someone who isn't even there? SOREN:  Yeah!  It's called psychic sharing! ME:  No, it's called stealing!

Sven cut his first tooth this weekend.  It's his lower right incisor and it is sharp! He also had his first cold.  And since I had it too, I know how bad it is.  It's a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad cold. He's been a bear.

This year all of Soren and Carl's friends went to public preschool and kindergarten.  So although education is still not legally mandated for my boys yet, I feel like this is the year we are officially homeschooling.  After all these years of dreaming and planning, I realize that this is it!  We are homeschooling! This is the first of my (hopefully) monthly homeschooling records. In Kindergarten Since this is my first time writing about it, I should explain our Kindergarten routine.  First, we have a Circle Time.  This includes (but is not limited to):      * a welcoming song - Usually "Here we are Together" or "Come to the Circle"      * nursery rhymes - Everyone gets a turn to share one.      * a story - I tell the same one from memory every day for two weeks.      * a hymn - I choose a new one each week that seems thematically related. After Circle Time, we take our quilt, the snack basket, and the baby for a walk around the block.  At the halfway