Back to the grind...

I have pictures to post of our Christmas holiday and New Years, but that will have to come later when I can get to downloading them.

As for today, it has been a good day. In fact, it has been a very good day. After homeschooling the first semester I have had time to sit back and analyze my feelings and opinion on the matter throughout the Holidays. One thing is for sure is that I still feel like homeschool has been the best decision we have made for our kids. I can look back and with no regrets say, "it has been for the better" for our family. I have seen my Thomas open up, smile, and become more confident in himself. William gets giddy when it's time for school and can't get enough of it. Lydia walks around all day asking when it is her turn to homeschool when in reality I have sat down with her more than once that day to school her already.

Seeing that this is so new for us I am still trying to figure it all out. I have decided to make some adjustments to our daily routine. I have decided to add an extra hour in the morning. One of my biggest complaints to myself is that their is too much free time in the day. It's nice to be done by noon, but the last thing I want it my kids sitting around bored asking to watch TV or play video games. I have wanted more music time and religion some how incorporated. Since I am homoeschooling I have the privilege of adding religion into the daily lessons. So now our extra hour has and will continue to consist of morning prayer, scripture study (with the New Testament Stories that Grandma Jones gave Thomas for his Baptism), and music time. Today (after we discussed the date and time) Thomas gave the prayer. I then read to them about the Plan of Salvation and looked at pictures as we had discussions. All this time William thought that because we were all brothers and sisters in Heaven that we would all have to die on the cross just like our brother Jesus did. WOW, was he relived when I told him that his Savior already gave his life for him so he wouldn't have to do the same. That learning moment was seriously priceless! The look of relief on his face was beautiful. After that we had music time and I had planned to work on some simple children songs, but the boys wanted to sing while I played the organ. Thomas had a great idea to get the primary song book out and play/sing primary songs that had to do with the plan of salvation. We sang about six songs and before you knew it the extra hour that I had wanted had been filled with not only fun educational times, but also the spirit was filled in our home. This is one area that at bed time I hurry and rush them to sleep so I can have "my time" and then I lay their feeling guilty thinking why don't I use more time during my day or night to teach them about our Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Gospel. I felt today that this new schedule will fill that void and need for them to learn about God from us as their parents, not just in primary. Thomas said (after the new hour this morning), "Can we just learn about Jesus and not do school today?"

One last thing I feel needs to be adjusted is Social. This in no way over shadows the importance of education, but it is almost just as important in my eyes. The only way to accomplish this is to put them in public settings, more play groups, and social activities. One good thing about this is that I as their Mom get to choose which children influence my children. This was a HUGE reason for my decision to homeschool. I wasn't ready for the world to come down on them so early, meaning that I wasn't ready for my children to be influenced with naughty language, naughty topics, and naughty behavior. Not that my kids in ANY way where or are perfect because I know how they can be... I just felt that I was loosing them so quickly as they were away from me eight out of the twelve hours they were awake. Times have changed and they aren't the same as they were when we were little. Yes, we all went through learning and being exposed to negative things, but I think we were older and more mature to handle the world. I have been able to re-install what is accepted and not in our home. My Goal: If I can hold onto that innocence a little longer and build up their confidence in themselves maybe life will be easier for them later on than succumbing to what the world thinks they should learn socially and behave like...at such a young age.

So how do I go about that topic of social again? Well, I refuse to pay and put them in TOO many extra activities, but I am trying to get them some more social time outside of the house. I already have in the works swim and piano lessons. We have done four scheduled play dates for the boys during the holidays and I hope to keep that going and make it a regular thing. I am signing them up for some arts and crafts through the Parks and Rec center here in the county and baseball starts come spring. Also, we go skiing with two other families every weekend so they can interact their. Personally, I think for now that will be enough.

To sum up these past few months of homeschool it has been extremely rewarding on both parts. It's like they say, "It's harder them I could have ever imagined and more fun than I could have ever expected". Nothing makes a parent glow more than to see their children learn something new for the first time and it all make sense. I love that I know my children well enough to gear them in their interest and hobbies. I know their strengths and weakness' so I can concentrate more on what areas need more attention. I love that learning truly never stops at home. Whether it be educational, behavior, or religion we as parents have the opportunity to teach them non stop. At times it can be overwhelming but at the end of the day I can go to sleep feeling like I have done enough.

I know that most people don't agree with this decision for me to homeschool my children (as it is not the "norm") and some people think that I am doing them a dis-service in many areas, sheltering them too much and not giving them enough of the world, but as one school teacher recently said to me, "To each is their own". I couldn't agree more. Mark and I have made this decision to see if it benefits our children and if it works for our family. We are taking it year by year. So far I have never woken up and said to myself, "What have you done?". Surprisingly enough my children get along better, house is absolutely crazier, and all is well.

Regrets? None.

Decorating the Chrsitmas tree, 2010

Wow, where did this year go? It flew by so fast. I felt like I had just put down my Christmas decorations as I was pulling them back out again. Oh how I love this time of year. Growing up us Bowman kids had a a fake tree with big chunky red bulbs, big shiny red apples, and red bows. When I first got married Mark called it the "red devil tree". Thankfully Mom was not offended and we all chuckle at it now. I never grew up with a real xmas tree, Mark did and he wanted to continue that. I never thought I would like these tall skinny ones, but that has been our choice for six years now and The taller/skinner the better. This year it topped out at 15 feet again. It's a beast to decorate, but it looks so pretty in the end.

Thomas was not interested in helping out this year. William and Lydia couldn't wait. And of coarse Marley had to help.

If Marley is not in her kennel she is on Lydia hip. She loves this little thing...

William helping. After they went to bed I had to shift most of the decorations upwards and re situate them. They haven't noticed yet.

On behalf of my dear friend Angela, I would like to introduce the Griswold's Christmas tree. One of these days I just know we are going to find a squirrel or a birds nest.

A few extras...

We do this about once a week when we are over loaded with laundry from the third floor. I call and they come, get in position and I dump every dirty piece of laundry on their heads. Sadly, they get much joy from this. It ends up with them placing underwear on their heads as they slide down the stairs and then their job it to get it all into the laundry room. Now, if I can get them to sort colors correctly...

Just painting for "art" for home-school. It was finger painting but they all whined about getting their fingers dirty. I guess that defeats the point of using finger paints.

Remembering Andrew

Andrew Arnold lived down the street from us. His family attends our church. Three years ago he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He was given no more than a year and he lived three. He touched so many people in our ward and community. His last year was painful. He suffered and endured till the end. He passed away on September 20, 2010. I was honored to be asked to lead the music for his funeral. It was a touching two hour service. The entire church and gym was packed. His family is amazing and he will be missed to much.

My Boys knew he was sick and knew that his life was coming to an end. They always asked about him. Now that he has passed they wanted to go visit his burial site. So as part of Art for home-school, the kids wrote letters and drew pictures.

William's letter

Thomas' letter

Lydia's letter

It's a hot one and Thomas had to take a break. His chain on his bike came off. That was the first time I had to ever put a chain back on it's track and I didn't even have to call Mark. Hands sure get dirty though!

Lydia placing the zip lock baggy of letters down

Lydia is a quirky child. She pulls her socks up high to protect her legs just in case she crashes on her bike.

Homeschool, rewarding.

People have been asking me on how home-school is going. All I can do is smile. For two reasons, I feel like I am crazy for doing it so I smile because I know that’s what people are thinking and what is going through their minds as they ask that particular question and second, I continue to smile because surprisingly…I am loving it.

I had no idea what to really expect. The night before I started I didn’t sleep well. I have to be honest, the thoughts that crossed my mind as I was lying in bed the night before we began was:

-Can I do this?
-Am I going to loose my mind?
-Will my kids and I end up not wanting to be around each other after a few months?
-Am I holding them back socially?
-Will they be socially awkward because of this?
-Will they be challenged in education enough?
-Can I offer them more than what the public schools can?
And last...
-Am I being selfish to keep them home, to want to be with them, and teach them myself?

Most of these answers will come in time and already I feel good about the things I felt uneasy about. So far I have seen nothing but positive come out of this. It’s too early to tell how this will all play out. I am taking it week by week. So far it has been the most rewarding challenge I have ever taken on. I go to bed no longer wondering if I did enough with my kids that day or if I played enough with them. They grow up so fast and I am loving every minute we spend together. Because we are on an organized schedule, I haven’t had any discipline issues. Also, I think we make it fun together. They know the faster they get done the sooner they can play and go to the park or ride bikes. Thomas every day so far reminds me and says at the closing of our school day, “Mom, I love home-school, it’s the best!” That in it self tells me we are heading in the right direction.



We decorated the school room a few weeks ago and once the desk came in we jumped in feet first. They could pick out a picture of their favorite animal. Thomas choose a tiger and William chose a black panther.


Bean bag for reading time which we read together at times and then they each have their separate reading times alone on the bean bag during school. One of my most favorite times of home-school is snuggling up with them one on one and reading to them or listening to them read.

I almost turned on the wood stove it was so cold on Friday morning.

My sweet boys. All I ask is that they are dressed, hair combed, take vitamins, and teeth brushed before we start.

We start out with a family prayer and then we stand up as one of them walks the flag across the room and holds it as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

For Social Studies we learned about the pledge of allegiance and the star spangled banner. They listened to this 7 year old girl sing it on youtube. They were mesmerized with it and watched it five times. Mostly because she was their age.



VIDEO (of the picture above): http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=DId-GAzZ5u4



Lydia joins us in most activities and reading. She comes and goes through most of the morning. It made my heart twitter when we passed a large flag yesterday and she says to me in her car seat, "Mom, look...the American flag.". She would have never known that a few weeks ago. She counted five of them within a few miles and it was so exciting for her.



Math, Math, and more Math! We start each morning with math. They do about 40 mins of math and many worksheets/exercises. We then move onto Reading which takes about one hour with reading assignments, exercises, and worksheets.


Part of Reading this day we learned about a "Balanced Diet" and all five food groups. Lydia loves being a big helper. She hung the poster up for us. I decided to expand on the topic and talk about it on the board. Every time we sit down to eat a meal we talk about which food group we are eating and which ones we don't have on our plate. Kinda makes me realize how much carbs we eat.

Recces, 15 mins of playtime inside or out.

Snack time, 10 mins. Hot cocoa and toast.

After snack time we do Spelling, Composition, and Poetry. This takes about an hour and a half.

Part of our Social Studies consisted of an outside activity. We re created the dimensions of the largest battle flag ever flown over Fort McHenery. It was 42 ft high and 30 feet wide.

Took red yarn and measured it out.

After we had the yarn in place had Music Time. We all picked out an instrument and we marched around the perimeter and sang the star spangled banner that we are in the process of learning before December. They marched and played to the tune while I sang it. At this point I have to not care what the neighbors think, kinda of embarrassing. But the kids love it.

We then learned about lily pads in Science. We learned that they don't float away or move because they are connected to the bottom of the pond with roots. Also, that a frog can sit on it and stay afloat only if they are centered just right.

For Art we made lily pads with paper plates and yarn.

Next we tested them out in the bathtub.

Lydia added the frog onto hers.

The boys had to draw the American Flag for their social studies/art. Thomas had to do his three times. The first time he wasn't paying attention and drew it backwards and then the next time he was just lazy and sloppy. By the third time it was perfect.



Miss Lydia gets her time after the boys for 45 mins. We do pre-school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I look forward to this time with her but after her I can't wait for my time whether it be reading in my room alone or sewing.

Lydia counting her stones over and over again.

Homeschool Curriculum Arrived!

Yeah for Calvert Academy!!!!!!!!!

It was like Christmas yesterday. For all of us. I have been checking my door for days now waiting for the delivery to come. Everything stopped when I hallerd at the kiddos to come and open their school boxes. They are so anxious to learn and get started. We leave next week for our Bowman Family Reunion so I will hold off till then. Plus I need to look through the lesson plans and get it all figured out. Lydia had a hard time when no books arrived for her. But I have already bought some pre-school manuals and flash cards for her to work on so I gathered them up and put them in a little brown box for her. She has no idea what to do with them, but she wants and needs to feel included.

It came wit so much. They have a testing book for each subject which was important to me to make sure they are not falling behind, although I can take them into the public school and get them tested to make sure they are key.

It's going to be FUN!!!!

Homeschool, its official!

HOMESCHOOL, its official!

And I am SO excited. Honestly, this is the first time I have talked about it publically. I have always been intrigued with the idea. I knew nobody who had done it. It sounded like a crazy idea for someone who doesn’t live out in the boonies on a farm and has a school two blocks away from her house. If you know me well, you know that I struggle with sending my kids away all day long to school. But what mother doesn’t. Even at the end of the year my heart would ache for a minute watching William run into half day kindergarten. I miss them. Life goes by so fast and I miss my babies. Now days our world moves at such a fast pace and it seems like I drop my kids off, Pick them up at 3pm, do home work for an hour which is so stressful because they are tired and have been at school all day long and the last thing they want to do is more school work, make dinner, feed them, get jamies on, send them to bed as quickly as possible because they are tired, just to start the day all over again.

So the previous paragraph may come across as if I am doing homeschool for my own selfish needs because I want my babies home. Yes, maybe a tiny bit because I want to spend more time with my babies. But, I…their Mother want to teach them. I want to watch them learn and get excited about learning and watch their wheels spin. Believe it or not, my kids get along pretty darn well. I know there will be some days where we will all need to go to our own separate rooms to escape each other, but for the most part it’s going to be FUN…because I said so! :)

My sweet Thomas will be starting second grade and he works so good one on one. He gets overwhelmed in a large class room and can catch on quickly if he is one on one. William who is starting first grade is a quick learner. He and Thomas can be taught the same topics like history, science, art, and music together. I realize that the fundamentals are different for their grade levels. Thankfully I only have three kids so I can give them that one on one attention that they will need.

I am sure by now if you are reading this you are thinking (or screaming), “But what about the social?” That is the least of my worries. Mark and I are socially normal and if we are not, please don’t tell me:) Most socially awkward kids have socially awkward parents. We are a pretty social family. I admit I don’t do scheduled play dates nor do I have my kids running around the neighborhood on their bikes looking for other children to play with. If the time is right they have a friend over if not then they play with each other. This has always been the case and I love that about my life. It’s family first then friends. My kids are involved. They play baseball, they go to Primary, and the best part about this is there is a “WHEN” program which stands for “Wasatch Homeschool Educators Network” where I have a support group but also every Wednesday is an organized fieldtrip day for anyone who registered and homeschooled. These are amazing social opportunities. They go to Plays (Theatres), museums, zoo, parks, anything that is educational. I think I will try to hit two a month.

Some other pluses in homeschooling for me are:

1. I know what they will be learning. I like that. Sometimes I had to pry my kids just to figure out what they were being taught. And by the time I figured out it was over. I would have loved to take them to the library and learn more about the subject before they moved on.

2. Freedom to study subjects that are interesting to us. We love the out doors! I would love to incorporate more of the nature side of things. Thomas LOVES the outer space. Let’s take some extra time and learn about outer space for a few weeks and then go the space museum. William LOVES War and soldiers. I could talk about war forever. Maybe we can go back East on a family vaca, visit Uncle Nate and Aunt Lindsay and see some battle grounds and learn about the Revolutionary and Civil war. Lydia LOVES horses and dogs. How fun would that be to teach my pre schooler more about her favorite animals and then go to the petting zoo OR go to Grandma and Grandpa Bowman’s and have Grandpa teach her about horses. I loved the fact that this past winter my Father in Law taught my kids how to tell time on my face clock in my kitchen with little stickers and markings on them. I have left them up and that has been such a great help. Grandparents know so much and I am sure they wouldn’t mind giving some advice or lessons on their favorite topics in a casual setting. We need to take advantage of them and their intelligent minds.

3. Freedom. This is why I am so excited. It gives us so much freedom to explore libraries, museums, outdoors, etc. and learn and explore our world together. We can plan our family vacations on our own time. Travel more and learn as we go. I don’t care for the long drawn out summers. I would like to teach and take homeschool all year round with our educational fieldtrips and family vacations scheduled throughout it.

4. If my child wants to take guitar or piano, they can do it after their studies. I am going to do homeschool from 9am-1pm. Four hours a day is what is needed to teach at home. They can do extra activities in the afternoon while other children are in school instead of last year…cramming in homework after school, and then trying to do the extra activities and dinner before bed time. When do you ever see or get to sit down with your child unless it is before bed time (which in our house is usually a stressful time)?

5. Breadth of study. We can explore topics in depth or until we are sick of them, rather than just glossing over them.

6. Morality/character lessons. Ever feel like you have to cram in lectures/talks about right and wrong only when things come up or when problems arise? If we are together more I think I will have more opportunity to talk about these subjects and teach my kids some life lessons. Also, to tell you the truth my eldest child changed when he hit first grade. The words he learned, the way he talked to us parents and siblings, the topics he heard but did not understand or was even mature enough to understand truly bothered and concerned me. Having a friend on the playground seriously became more important than learning. Tears and tears over and over again because of friends, not school work. I know you can’t shelter your children forever. I know that. But if I can keep and install that sweet innocence for just a little longer I am going to try my hardest. They shouldn’t have to grow up so fast just because society tells them too or simply because they will get left behind if not. I shouldn’t have to conform my children’s’ social life and teach my kids about topics that they are too young to understand just to keep them from learning it first on the play ground.

To think that parents taught their children all the way up till two hundred years ago makes me think that as a Mother I can do this. Public teaching is fairly new if you think about how long we humans have been on this earth. In the past parents were responsible to teach their kids everything before public schools. There is something wholesome about it. Something that intrigues me and wants to give more to my children. I don’t want to look back when it’s too late and wish I had tried it. Our children grow up so fast. I want to give them the best and fullest education. They are MY children. I want to try to teach them everything I possibly can before handing them over to strangers all day along. Please don’t let me offend anyone who teachers. My mother is/ was a teacher. I respect teachers who are very well educated. It takes a lot of patience to do what they do.

I am looking at this as an ADVENTURE! Some days I stop and think, “Are you losing your mind? Are you crazy? Can you handle this”? I am one who is ALL or NOTHING! I will not fail and if I do I have no problem admitting it and putting them back in the public schools, but not without trying 100%.

My kids are excited and ask once a week when we are going to start. We will start when all the pre planned summer stuff is over. We re-carpeted a few weeks ago and when we moved in our furniture we changed the office into the family room and the large family room downstairs into the class room. We have dry erase boards up, desks, American flag, globe, my desk is teacher ready, books and so forth. It’s exciting! I am waiting for the boys curriculum to arrive. After much research I have decided to go with the Calvert Academy back east in Maryland.

Calvert Academy: http://homeschool.calvertschool.org/why-calvert/homeschool-curriculum

It is very detailed and organized. It comes with lesson plans and then I can adjust them as needed.

Please don’t think I have lost my mind, I already think that. Having positive support from family and friends is what is going to make this adventure successful. Who knows what the future holds for us…..