Science Camp

And so begins my mad dash through all the rest of our summer happenings.  It was busy.  And SO MUCH FUN.  And I hope I can get through them all before Christmas.  

First up: Science Camp.

My dear friend Gwen suggested we get together one week of summer to do some science experiments/learning activities with our kids.  Because she's a teacher and she's great about educating her kids.  Never mind that I used to be a teacher.  I have no idea what happened to me.  Whatever.  She was full of suggestions of lesson plans, going through the scientific method, physics experiments, or quantum something or other...

That's about when my eyes glazed over and she lost me.

But because I'm all for higher learning and the quantum stuff (read: playdates), I threw out the idea of doing a ready-made Chemistry and Physics science kit.

Mostly because I found it at TJ Maxx just before we started planning out the week.

So Gwen humored me and we went with the science kit because she is a good friend and she knows how important higher learning and quantum playdates are to me.

And also our original full week somehow got whittled down to three days of one week.

But quality over quantity, eh?

Anywho, the kids learned a whole lot as we made slippery slugs, real-looking guts, fart putty, and fake blood.  It was intense.  So intense that I brought out the camera only on the last day.  Again, I have no idea what happened to me.

On our last science camp day, we made us some bouncy balls!

Heheheh, this picture cracks me up.  Lookit my boy Jonah.  This about sums up his week.  Er, three days.

Hahaha, sorry.  This one also makes me laugh.  He was totally just going around and around that little table doing his own thing.  On another note, lookit how big my other baby is now!  Hanging with the big kids and doing her own experiments with protective goggles on her head.  All growns up.

She has a steadier hand than her mama does.

Who knew brightly colored sand-like stuff can turn into a bouncy ball?  Okay, you probably already knew this.  Give a girl a break willya?  I skipped physics in high school and never looked back.  Until now.

The cold water dunking.

Holding it under water for a minute.  Or was it three?  I forget now.

The moment of truth...

The girls witnessing the moment of truth...

That it actually worked!

Bouncy ball success was had by all.

This one.  Such a sweet.  :)

We had a fabulous three-day science camp with these two.

Thanks for everything Auntie Gwen, and can't wait to do it again next summer!  Will keep my eyes peeled for another kit!  ;)

Just Say Yes

It was a beautiful, sunny morning and the warmth in the air promised a lovely day to come.  Both girls had been dropped off at their respective schools so it was just the boys and me at home.

Mikey asked if we could all go out to the backyard since it felt so nice out.

And feeling guilty for saying "no" too often to his small requests lately, this time I said "yes."

They found some old bubbles.  And I mean old.  As in, these were the same ones from when Allie was the age Jonah is now.  As in, I've dragged these old bubbles with us through our last four moves.  As in, what in the world?!

It felt so nice out that he asked if we could eat breakfast outside, too.  Buttered toast.

Shoo, Daisy!

And yogurt tubes.

He reached over to help when the little brother started having a little trouble with his tube.  Without my having to ask.  Because he's just awesome like that.

After Jonah went down for a nap, Mikey and I continued soaking in the warm day and did school outside.  He loved it.  So did I.

We picked up Lauren from school and had us a picnic lunch outside.  She thought it was a great idea.

So did he.

The wind started to pick up after lunch, so it was finally time to head inside.  That's when Mikey asked if we could do "like an experiment or something."

And again, I said yes.

Set them to work painting this first.

Then we waited for it to dry and for Allie to be able to join us, too.

The cast of characters: white vinegar, red food dye, liquid soap, baking soda, and warm water.

Each of the kids made up their own "lava recipe" using differing amounts of the ingredients.  Mikey went first.

Bracing himself for the explosion.

Jonah leaning in so as not to miss the explosion.  But because Mikey is Mikey, he didn't go too crazy with the ingredient ratios and got a mild little reaction.

Allie took what she learned from Mikey's turn and went for a bolder concoction.

This picture cracks me up.  (Lauren found the goggles in the science kit and put them on so the other two found other eye protective gear in the house to throw on.  Allie went with her swim goggles.)

I helped Lauren come up with her recipe, but she made Allie pour in the vinegar so her turn looked pretty much like the above two pictures.

Finally, we decided on an "ultimate lava recipe" and poured it in to our now almost dry but woefully misshapen volcano.

And tada!

Success!  And I think they learned a thing a two to boot!

As I was tucking Mikey in that night, he told me he had a great day and was thankful that he has me for his mom because I let him "do fun things all the time."

Now I know the "all the time" part isn't exactly true, but it made me all the more glad that I decided to say "yes" more times than I said "no" that day.  :)

Field Trip!

Being sick has taken me completely out of commission the last couple weeks.  Anytime I wasn't needed to make food, assist someone with something, drive someone somewhere, or help someone learn something, I could be found curled up on any nearby flat surface passed out cold.  It was neither fun nor pretty.  And I took a few family members down with me.

The stomach bug last month and now this hacking cough cold has made for a rougher winter for us than any in recent memory.

Either that or the fact that we have six people in the house with whom to share all these lovely bugs so each illness seems to last an eternity.

Heaven help you if you're the last one to get the bug too, because all patience and sympathy and comforting soup have all by that point worn thin and/or eaten up.  Just saying.

Anyway.

Before all this illness, Phil had a midweek day off, and Mikey asked if we could go somewhere fun.  In his exact words, "Can we go somewhere fun?  Like a museum or something?"

Field trips have been few and far between this year with Phil having fewer days off and the girls having different school drop-off/pick-up times and all the other general crazy running around we've found ourselves doing lately.

So on this particular day, we said yes.  And off we went (minus Allie who was definitely missed by her sibs) in search of like a museum or something.

And we ended up here.

Doing whatever the big brother is doing totally counts as fun in the little brother's book.

This is fun.  Right, big brother?

We tried out a flight simulator which some of us found more riveting than others.

And then we saw it.

And were amazed by it.

Mostly we just thought it was really, really cool.

Pretty neat to see it all up close and in person.

She was the most impressed when daddy bought her her own "personal space ice cream".  This is what she called it.  This is also how she dressed herself that day. 

On our way out, Jonah made his way over to these schoolgirls.  He went and stood with them giving out high fives and totally acting like he didn't even know us.

Sheesh.

And that's all I have to say about that.

friends to see us through

homeschooling is well underway this year for me and mikey and sometimes lauren.  and so far, so good.  i've really been loving the curriculum we're using this year- it's totally open and go for me (no pre-planning needed!) and mikey has really been enjoying the stories, the format, and the pace.  it's been awesome to see how much he's been learning and seeing his skills developing.  it's also got a good mix of interaction with me and independent work for him.  because sometimes, this mama just needs a break!  also because it makes it really easy to do a little schooling time with lauren on the days she's home with us.

so yes, overall i'd say we're off to a great start this year.

but of course, the highest highlight for all of us is when we have our co-op fridays.

it's just good good times when we're all cozied up together to learn something new.

it really is when this boy comes alive.

we're tackling science experiments this year.

auntie heesun started our year off nice and easy-to-clean: learning about the properties of water!

these are my people.  and i love them.

but pray for me please.  it's my turn to teach the next one!  *gulp.*

some 'splainin

this picture of lauren has nothing to do with the post that follows.  it just feels strange to me to have an entry with no pictures.  plus, i love this girl.  so there's that, too.



these are just some thoughts swirling around in my head these days and i figure if i write them down here, they might just stop swirling so much and let me sleep at 3 in the morning.

regarding schooling.

thought 1- we know and love families who homeschool their kids and have either done it all the way through or plan to go all the way through.  we call them the 'lifers'.  and we love them.  we also know and love families who have done some combo of homeschooling/outside schooling.  they're the 'drop in-n-outs'.  we love them, too.  and finally, we know and love families who have always done outside schooling (be it either public or private), and their kids have managed to turn out okay, too.  and i don't have a name for them, but we definitely love them, too.

so here's the thing.  phil and i have never felt convicted that one way is better/more biblical than another way.  we have, however, made the decision to be open-minded about the many options and to give them an honest try and our best effort to see if it works for our family.

thought 2- i gave an honest try and best effort to keep everyone at home last year to see how that would work for our family.  with a first grader, kindergartener, preschooler, and nursing baby, i honestly felt overwhelmed and spread too thin.  and ultimately felt that i was not doing even an adequately good job at any one thing and feeling forever frustrated at myself.  and guilty over the bare basics mikey and allie were getting, or the many hours lauren was just getting completely ignored and overlooked, or the fleeting, precious baby moments i was missing out on with jonah.  i just couldn't do and be everything i very much wanted to be.  so phil gently concluded that we should look at changing some things up for this coming year as much for my sake as for the rest of the family's general well-being.

i have a good husband.  :)

thought 3 (and this is the long one)- once upon a time, i was a painfully shy little girl who often had to be the new girl in school because her family moved around so dang much.  being the new girl was high on my list of terrifying experiences and i even now clearly remember those shaky feelings of dread upon entering a classroom, praying the teacher would be nice, trying to avoid the stares of the kids as they eyed and whispered about the new kid, and basically trying to be as invisible as i could to avoid any negative attention.  and i remember hoping that there would be just one nice little girl who might say hello and might ask me to play even if i was the new girl that nobody knew.  and that didn't happen more times than it did.

and even when i wasn't the new kid, i often felt like the one standing outside looking in and wishing i could just somehow fit in better and feel like i belonged.  to be honest, i still struggle with that to this day.  but even with all that, being at school felt safer to me than being at home.  because things at home were rough more times than they were calm and being at school offered some relief from that walking-on-eggshells feeling at home.

along the way, God did place some wonderful teachers, kind friends and their caring parents in my life just when i needed them most.  and i am grateful for each one to this day.  sometimes i wonder where i would be today were it not for just such a strategically placed person to offer a smile or an encouraging word to my scared and lonely self.  it gave me hope.

flash forward to my teaching days and there was a new little girl who showed up in my class who looked every bit as scared and forlorn as i used to feel and look myself.  her clothes were rumpled and stained.  she needed a bath.  the other kids in my class snickered and whispered.  and i came down HARD on them.  probably too hard.  i had a soft spot for this little girl and did what i could to help her, but often wasn't sure how best to help.  and one day she asked if she could come and live with me.  i came home that day and cried.

i haven't shared most of this with our kids yet.  i will one day.  but for now, i try to encourage them to look for the person who looks like he needs a friend and go BE his friend.  to offer that smile or say hello because you never know how God might use that.  God blessed our kiddos with lots of siblings so they've had lots of practice including one another and not leaving anyone behind.  i hope that follows them into other friendships they make as they get older and that they would make that extra effort to be that friendly face to someone who might need it.

that is why i do want our kids to be in public school.  to be on the lookout for the new girl.  or the boy nobody eats lunch with.  or the one always picked last for kickball (because that was me, too).

as our kids grow, i want them to always feel that our home is their home to open up to others.  mikey in particular, is very good at this and i am so thankful that God wired him that way.  i hope this continues and that their friends would feel welcomed and safe here.  because i remember very well the feeling of needing a place to go when home was the last place i wanted to be.

yet the mother bear in me worries for my kids.  part of me wants to keep them at home, safe, forever.  protected from the mean things kids might say and do, or unbiblical teaching, or negative influences.  i don't want them to grow up too fast and too soon.  i want to teach them in the way they should go.  i want them to continue to have close relationships with me, their dad, and their siblings.

but i also realize that i am far too good at staying within my own safe, comfort zone among our church friends and homeschool groups.  and in so doing, might just miss that one kid who reminds me too much of my own kid self who needed a friend.  and i'm just not comfortable with that idea, either.

and so, we are going to take it year by year.  some years they all might be in school.  other years, they may all be home.  and there may be some in-n-out years in there, too.  and not all the decisions we make are going to be the right ones.  but i trust that God knows all of this and knows his plan for us and won't let us down as we try and seek to honor him in the way we educate and teach our kids about the things that really matter.  in knowing Him, and loving His people.

we won't do either perfectly.  a lot of times we'll fail at teaching our kids to be compassionate and kind and patient because we aren't being compassionate and kind and patient ourselves.  and a lot of times we might avoid reaching out to others because it's not comfortable for us and doesn't come naturally to do it.  but even so, i do hope we'll keep trying as our kids are here watching us.

"the King will reply, 'truly, i tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"  -matthew 25:40

her first day

so after all my angst about letting my baby go...

tuesday was her first day of first grade.  she was excited and ready to begin her new adventure.  not nervous at all.  i, on the other hand, was nervous enough for the both of us!

we brought a "happy first day of school/survival kit" gift for her teacher which included reward stickers, stress-relieving lotion, advil, chocolates, tide stain remover, antibacterial hand sanitizer, mints, lip balm, and of course, coffee.  :)

no pictures of her actually at school though.  it was pandemonium there on the first day of school and i actually decided not to take my camera with me so that i could really focus on being in the moment while there with allie.  oh, and also keep the other three kids from getting lost in the shuffle.  that was important, too.

and since it was her first day of school, i decided it would be his first day, too.  he didn't have even a moment's indecision about wanting to go to school after seeing all the other kids with their shiny new backpacks all gathered together with all the excitement in the air.  didn't even bat an eye when we left allie in her new classroom and instead turned to me and asked, "are we ready to head back home now?  and can i have my second bowl of cereal after we get inside?" 

i'm doing the heart of dakota curriculum with mikey this year and so far, he loves it.  and so do i!  we both look forward to spending that time together and it's been a really great fit for the both of us.  lauren has also been sitting in with us and i've even managed to have enough time to do the hod preschool curriculum with her while mikey does his independent work.  she's been totally loving her "school" too!  her preschool class starts next week, so i think i'll continue to do this program with her on the days she's home.

so allie came home from her first day of school absolutely raving about it.  she's loved it every day since.  and was even sorely disappointed when i told her she wouldn't be going on the weekend and that monday was a holiday to boot.  she can't wait to go back!  so yes, she loves school and i am SO relieved and happy that it's gone so well thus far.  God is so good!

and because i didn't quite have it together to have these little buckets ready to celebrate the completion of the first day of school, we celebrated the first week instead.

just as good, right?

i knew their very favorite thing from those buckets would be their very own roll of special tape.  tape is a much sought after commodity in this house and we are forever running out of it because of the yards and yards of it that gets wound around all their little projects.  they like to use five feet of tape where really an inch or two would have done the job.  so yes, each getting his or her own personal tape to use however they chose was a pretty big deal.  especially to this one.

because of her penchant for doing stuff like this.

so yes, the first week of school has gone over awesomely well in our house, praise the Lord!