What are homeschooling parents thinking?

Found this link to another homeschooling mom's blog today and wanted to share it with the rest of you...

http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/2010/04/public-school-parents-guide-to.html

Homeschool Field Day!

Back in January our family joined the South West Georgia Homeschool Association, a wonderful organization that takes homeschooling to a new level for us. The association offers Friday Classes each semester, and the classes meet twice a month. In the past few months the children have thoroughly enjoyed things like learning about the continents, playing the recorder, earning badges through the Keepers of the Faith program, and doing arts and crafts.

On the day we joined SWGHA, I made myself sign up for Field Day. Yes, it was a forced decision, not something I did because I like that stuff. For those of you who don't know me, I am the most unsportsmanlike person I know. I am not a couch potato, per se, but I prefer to putter around in my garden, read books, bob around in the pool with the kids, and ride my bike at a relaxing pace. Not a competitive bone in my body when it comes to athletics. I cringe when I think of competition or running for the purpose of getting to a finish line before someone else. I'd much rather just save the burst of energy and just let the other person win. Why compete for the prize when I really don't get any joy out of winning it anyway? Just never did like track and field in school, and I still get kind of freaked out when I think back to those days of being forced to participate in those events.

So I signed the kids up knowing that it went against my very nature. But my kids are (fortunately) a different breed than I am. Thus far in their short little lives, they've never been made to stand around waiting for someone to pick them for a team, only to realize that they are undesireable because they can't perform up to someone else's standards. They still look forward to competing because they've never been accused of being the one who made the whole team lose, and they're just not jaded yet.

Merrilee is our little athlete and I mean that wholeheartedly. She can nearly outrun Jay, has been an avid competitor since she was a toddler, and loves to expend her energy in very physical ways. She would gladly take on a cheetah in a race if she were given the opportunity.

Jacob is not quite the same. He loves to play games, participate in sports, and is a great team player. But he's not an athlete. He always puts forth his best effort, and has learned to lose graciously. Sadly, with Merrilee as his most frequent companion, he's had to do a lot of that. So today was a real joy for him because he and Merrilee were totally separated and they got to compete on their own.

I learned quite a bit about both kids today. The first morning events were team events, where the kids had to do silly relay events, like run to the other side of the field, complete some task, and return to the starting line so the next team player could go. Merrilee started out enthusiastic in her team effort and gave it her best shot, but slowly became disenchanted with the frivolousness of the exercises which required her to stand around waiting, watch other team members mess up, and have team members yell at her to hurry up so the team could win. She really didn't gel with the team or cheer anyone on. She just found the whole concept of team sports frustrating.

(Racing while trying to keep a feather on a paper plate was not her kind of fun.)

Jacob, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the team sports. He gave it his all and was ready whenever it was his turn. He cheered on his team mates, and really got excited when his team would win a race. The sillier the concept behind the race, the more he liked it. Passing a soaking wet sponge over his head was right up his alley. Merrilee, on the other hand, found a dripping wet sponge slopping up her hair and clothes to be absolutely lothesome.

As I was taking pictures of the kids, I saw that look come over Merrilee's face. She had reached her limit of "fun" and was starting to put up her wall. The "wall" look comes over her every so often, and it is easy to interpret it as "attitude". She sometimes gets in trouble at home because of this misinterpretation, thus I have to be careful when I see it. I knew she was very frustrated and was not processing it well. So I went over to talk to her and see if she was okay. After a little conversation she started crying and told me she didn't want to continue doing this. I was a little surprised that she would even consider giving up, since she's usually so eager to participate in anything, but I realized that team sports, especially "childish" ones, are just not what works for her. I knew she'd enjoy the individual competition more so I told the team coach she was leaving and I let her help me with my job as Popsicle Mom.

(Does this not look like teen attitude to the max?)

After the kids all had their mid-morning Popsicle break, the younger children moved on to individual competitions. They stayed with their teams, but became opponents instead of team mates. Right off the bat, Merrilee's attitude changed. She got her spark back and jumped right in. Her first challenge was the distance throw, which was actually a whiffle ball throw (on a windy day, nonetheless!), and she won first place. She was delighted with herself and enthusiastic to get to the next event.

Her next even was the long jump. She's never had to formally jump before, but she's kind of a pain in the butt at home because she often likes to run and jump when she's supposed to be somewhere. If we're going to the mall and we cross the parking lot to get on the sidewalk, she's going to run the last three steps and leap far into the air to make it up to the curb. She's definitely got a bent for jumping. But I was amazed at how much she looked like a natural for jumping hurdles. A little instruction in technique might be next on her sporting repertoir. Yep, she won first place in this event, too.

At this point she knew she had gotten another first place ribbon, and I was glad that she got to enjoy the moment. But once the ribbon was given to her I called her over and reminded her that I was one of the "losers" in my childhood and that she should be very careful of the motives of her heart and her attitude in front of the other girls. I didn't want to diminish her accomplishments, but I wanted to remind her that her athleticism was a gift from God and not of her own doing.

I missed her doing the sack race, but she did get a 3rd place ribbon in that event. When I was talking to her and another little girl, they both said they thought the burlap sack was disgusting and stinky, and they really didn't like sack races. Brought back some memories, and I really had to agree with them! Sack races are yucky!

When it was finally time for Merrilee to do the 50 yard dash, I was sure she was heading for another first place ribbon. But, much to my surprise, she didn't place! Not to be a biased mom, but I kind of thought she made it to the finish line in third place. The judge apparently didn't see it that way, though, and that was okay with me. I was glad Merrilee wasn't bothered by not winning, especially since she really believes she's a good runner. Part of the setback she had in the race was that she (and Jacob, too) took the instructions for the race too literally. The kids were told to run to the end of the field, touch the red line, and run back. Both of my kids ran the field, and then bent or squatted down to touch the red line, and then got back up to return. They are very literal kids and have been taught to pay attention to instructions. I guess that doesn't pay off when the rest of the kids just hit the red line with their feet and kept running. Oh well.

Merrilee got another third place ribbon in the target toss, in which the kids had to toss lawn darts towards a target area on the ground. None of the girls made it to the target, but the ones that were closest were the ones that got ribbons.

Katie Mei didn't participate in anything this year; she'll have to wait until next year when she's four. But she did ask if she could go to "school" since we were at the same church where the kids do their Friday classes and she had her preschool class. She's pretty much a wall flower anyway, and preferred to hang out with Daddy instead. She got a Popsicle, which was all the fun she needed today. Well, that, and a little time on the playground!

Back to the races: Jacob had a fantastic time today, and even though he didn't break any records, he gave it his all. This child has a wonderful attitude and I'm usually quite pleased to see his behavior when he's with a group. He's gracious to winners and losers, alike, and doesn't get down on himself when he doesn't win. He seemed to not even notice that Merrilee had won several ribbons.

I wasn't sure how he'd like racing with other kids, because he's really only had Merrilee as a competitor, and she almost always beats him. I was kind of afraid he'd shy away from racing. However, he smiled and laughed the whole time, and it made me so happy to see him having fun. He was in it for the good time, not for the prize.

He did his best in all events, and that resulted in a third place ribbon in the target throw. I was so happy he won that ribbon, and I thanked the Lord out loud! As much as we tell our kids it doesn't matter if they win or lose, I knew I'd hate to see him go home empty handed. The kid certainly deserved a prize for his great attitude. He never once mumbled about Merrilee's ribbons or the fact that he got nothing higher than third place. He was pleased with his ribbon and didn't make a big deal out of it. He just wanted to get to the next event.

I really wished I had seem him during the sack race so I could get some photos, but I was getting Popsicles out of the freezer at the time. Jacob in a sack trying to jump had to be a funny sight! I did get one really good picture of him doing the long jump. The kids were supposed to run to the red line and then jump, but he's got some coordination issues when it comes to jumping. I was afraid he'd end up on his face. But he took off well, and ended up on two feet. Technically, he did the jump much better than Merrilee. He had the right form for the jump and threw both his feet forward, while she looked more like a hurdler and landed on one foot first. He had fun and I got a great shot. He expended a lot of effort in that jump, and I had to chuckle when I saw the picture for the first time. See how close he is to the red line? Distance jumping is not in his future.

When it was all over, we grabbed some hot dogs for lunch and ate them on the sidewalk. The kids thanked me several times for taking them, and I am so glad they participated. Not only did they have fun, win some ribbons, and get to enjoy the company of their classmates before a long summer break; but they also gave me a fresh glimpse into who they are as people.

I hope I can take this new found insight and apply it the way I teach and raise them. Sometimes it's to easy as a homeschooling mom to try to put our kids into molds that don't quite fit their shapes. It doesn't take much effort to just use the same curriculum on the second kid if it worked for the first one. However, scripture teaches us to "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 .

It's hard work, teaching each child individually. That's one of the main reasons mainstream schooling doesn't always work. Kids are not cookie cut outs. We can try to mold them into what we think they should be, but it's not necessarily what God created them to be. My prayer is that I take what God has shown me today about my two very different children, and apply it in a way that glorifies Him and points them in the direction He has laid out for their lives.

I was very pleased with my two little winners today, and though the glow of winning lasted a moment, they came back down to earth pretty quickly. The thought of playing with their plastic dinosaurs out in the driveway was really more exciting, and all the hoopla of jumping, racing, and ribbons quickly faded.

Finally Caught up with Peter Cottontail

I am just getting so far behind in my blogging, and I apologize! I've been so busy lately with end-of-the school year stuff, and I'm having a hard time keeping up with it, and I am getting things all out of order. But I didn't forget Easter!

This was Katie Mei's first Easter at home (she was in the hospital last year) and she finally got to experience the Morning Easter Basket. We don't do the Easter Bunny at our house; Easter is definitely about Christ and we don't teach our kids otherwise. But we do enjoy the tradition of an Easter basket with some candy and faith-oriented gifts. Merrilee received silver cross earrings, Jacob got a more grown-up Bible, and Katie Mei was given a book about Jesus.


All three received a white chocolate cross instead of an Easter Bunny. I'm so glad they make these (though I don't think I'd enjoy the white chocolate as much as the yummy brown stuff!)



Katie Mei was absolutely delighted with her candy, as you can tell by the following photo. This child is definitely a candy junky.

Dinosaur man thought his dinosaur jacks set was pretty cool, though he looks less than enthusiastic in this picture.

The day before Easter our local YMCA,our church, and a couple other local organizations worked together to pull off a magnanimous egg hunt. They used the local ball park, which has about five large fields. Each field was for a different age group. I didn't want the kids taking their good Easter baskets out to the park, so I made some egg buckets out of old milk jugs, fabric, paint, and glue. I thought they turned out kinda ugly, but the kids didn't complain.

Katie Mei took to the hunt with a bit of trepidation. I'm not so sure she understood it was supposed to be fun. She had a very stern look on her face the entire time. She didn't really smile until it was over and she got to eat the candy.

Jacob, on the other hand, got right to business. Before the signal to start was given, I pointed out a giant shiny purple egg in the middle of the field and told him I would love to have that egg. Apparently I wasn't the only Mom who told her kid that because when the "GO!" sounded, several kids headed straight for that egg. Jacob wasn't the first kid there, and he was quite disappointed that he didn't get the prize egg for me. We reassured him that I was perfectly happy without that egg, and that he did a great job collecting his own bucket of eggs.

Merrilee went nuts! She is a fast kid and can almost outrun Jay. But put a bunch of plastic eggs filled with candy in front of her, and you'd better get out of her way! Her bucket overfloweth!

You can see Merrilee ran out of room for all her eggs. She was stuffing them in pockets and probably would have filled her socks if we hadn't told her that was enough.

Katie Mei got her first taste of egg coloring this year. She went about it matter-of-factly and handled it very well. She's got great hand-eye coordination (except for spilling her milk at meals every once in awile) and figured out how to put her eggs in and out of the coloring solution rather quickly. Unfortunatley that meant I had to watch her even more closely to make sure she wasn't making a mess.

I noticed that colored Easter eggs is one of the things that take a hit when you have more kids.
There was a day when Merrilee got to color an entire dozen by herself. For the past three years, Merrilee and Jacob have each gotten six eggs. This year it was going to be only four eggs each, which made me cringe! I ended up adding another three eggs so they each got five. Of course, that meant I threw a lot of deviled eggs away after Easter was over. Who can eat that many hard boiled eggs?!

I found a very inexpensive bunny cookie decorating kit at a local craft store, so the kids got to decorate their cookies the day after Easter (told you I'm busy...can't even remember the cookies. You know, I still have two boxes of frozen Christmas sugar cookies in the freezer, as well!)

Merrilee got a little silly with the decorations.

After the Easter morning basket hoopla and going to church, the day was hot enough to spend it outside. Katie Mei enjoyed her bubbles which she received in her Easter basket. FYI, she is so good at blowing bubbles and does not spill the liquid! She still has this bottle of liquid and has proven capable of taking it outside by herself, opening it, blowing bubbles for awhile, closing it, and bringing it back into the house intact. How's that for an amazing three year old?!

Hope all of you had a blessed Resurrection Sunday and enjoyed celebrating our Lord and Savior as much as we did!

Blessings,

Petrie

One Year and Going Strong!

Today is the anniversary of this:

Which makes me immensely grateful to God for this:

She has such a joyful spirit, lots of energy, a stubborn will that is teachable, and a huge love for her family. May God continue to grant her many happy, healthy days! Thank you, Lord, for the gift you have given us in this precious child we call Mei Mei. Prayers have been answered over and over again on her behalf, and her life is nothing short of a miracle. To God be the glory!

Please, PLEASE pray for these girls!

Both had heart surgery this week, and both are struggling to survive. Please lift them up before the Lord! http://www.thekoeppefamily.blogspot.com/ for Jiliang.

http://www.allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/ for Chrissie.

Thank you on behalf of each of their families.

Petrie

Aunt Paige

My sister, Paige, came to visit us this past week and my family truly enjoyed every minute she was with us. I haven't seen my sister in two years, and she's only seen my older two kids twice, so it was such a blessing to have them be able to spend time with her and get to know her. It was also the first time she's gotten to meet Katie Mei. The kids really latched on to her, and I know they'll be asking for her to come see us again soon. Right after we dropped her off at the airport yesterday, Katie Mei was already asking where Aunt Paige was. This morning she and Pooh Bear were having a conversation about Aunt Paige and one of them, I'm not sure which, was planning to take Aunt Paige to the store. Katie Mei has also put the calculator up to her ear once or twice today to talk to Aunt Paige "on the phone". I don't think she'll be forgetting about her well-loved Aunt Paige anytime soon!

I had several photos I was going to post on this blog regarding the visit, but I just decided to do a slide show of all of them. It's about five minutes, but it covers some of the high points of the week. Besides visiting Kolomoki Indian Mounds State Park, picking strawberries, and playing miniature golf, we also took the kids to the science museum (not a very impressive one, I'm sorry to say) and did some shopping. Somehow we managed to stay busy every day she was here, but also had time to relax, converse, and just enjoy our time together. I really hope it's sooner than two more years before I see Paige again.

I'm not much on making slide shows, and I really can never come up with any kind of background music. So for now, please just enjoy the photos and listen to your favorite music while watching. Or just hum to yourself.

Thanks so much for taking the time from your busy schedule to visit us, Paige! It was a wonderful visit and we were blessed to have you here!

And Yet Another Birthday!

Yes, we have two birthdays crunched up in just nine days here. Merrilee's birthday was April 1, and her celebration had a little less pomp than Katie Mei's did this year. Merrilee chose not to get a load of gifts, instead asking that we make a donation to the Care Net Pregnancy Center. We did get her one gift, though. She had expressed a desire for a camera like one of ours that "won't run out of film". Poor girl tried so hard not to use up all her pictures on her disposable camera while we were at Disney that she ended up taking only about nine photos! She was so disappointed! She's always been very frugal.

Anyway, Jay picked up a digital camera for her and she was absolutely thrilled! She also got a beautiful pair of earrings and a necklace from Grandma and Grandpa. Unfortunately, I failed to take pictures of her opening her gifts (she opened G & G's gift in front of them on Skype, so they got to see her enjoy them. Gotta love technology when it works to your advantage!). I did take pictures when she got her special request meal (Fettucinni Alfredo) and dessert (Key Lime pie instead of birthday cake).

After dinner was cleaned up and bedtime was nearing, she asked if the family could play a game together. She wanted a board game, but I reminded her that the whole family could not play any of the games that required reading or were for players over the age of 3. So she asked for Twister, much to Daddy's dismay. He immediately grabbed his back and laid claim to the spinner. The rest of us enjoyed a quick game of contortion and forgetting which body part is on the left or right. Mommy, with the longest legs and arms, won easily--wasn't really a fair game. Hmmmm. My birthday is next. I wonder what game I'll choose to play?

Happy 7th birthday, Merrilee! We love you, and can't believe how fast you've grown into such a delightful young lady.

Love,

Mom and Dad