First Day of School !

Eva's first day of Kindergarten!

This morning started out with lots of excitement for the first day of school. Everyone was up bright and early as usual. The lunches were packed, we were on to the finishing touches, of teeth, hair, and shoes, when Eva said, "Yuck mom- poo!" Sure enough my (2 weeks free of accidents) pottly trained 2 year old, had pooed on the floor. Thankfully it was on the lino. but still...she tried to clean it up her self with the hand towel from the washroom, and in that process got it all over her feet and hands.

After a stinky clean up where I had to hold back my gagging we were on the road to school. "Hey I thought you homeschooled?" - you may ask. Well we are actually enrolled in a Distributed Learning (DL) program. I don't feel comfortable naming it online, especially since my kids are no longer under sudo names, so if you want to know just leave me a comment.

Anyways, the program is AMAZING. The kids get to go to a public school once or twice a week if you choose to attend. There are tons of awesome field trips planned, there is a resource room filled with teaching aids, games, books etc. I feel like we are getting the best of both worlds. My children still have to listen to and be accountable to a teacher other than me, they get to hang with other homeschooled children, and yet I still get to be with them and teach them the majority of the time. Having them attend school gives us all the opportunity to enjoy a break from each other. I get a chance to get some errands done with only one child- (PURE BLISS), and I get some nice one on one time with Kezia.
So today after a few errands, I took my youngest out for lunch...

This is her new attempt at a smile. Funny thing.

Day One of Homeschooling

The day started with me waking before the children, which is always a treat (not to get woken BY them). After dropping Eva at preschool (she goes one day a week now- she used to go twice), Theo, Kezia and I went grocery shopping. Theo brought his allowance spending money ($1.25) to buy something. At the check out, it was hard for him find anything for less than a dollar (I warned him about taxes). In the end he got some mini eggs with a little help from his mom ($.08). Then we set out to the dollar store to find a change purse for him as he has been using Eva’s hello kitty one.

Once home we had snack together. Then we started math. I decided to start with money since he is interested in money right now, and has been given his first allowance. We played a game where we roll a die and then take the number rolled in change from the change pot. He had to say the number, and then say what he was collecting. For ex. if he rolled a 6, he had to say I am taking 6 pennies, or 1 nickel and 1 penny. After each roll, you have to trade in any change that can be made into a smaller number of coins. For example if you have two nickels, you have to trade them for 1 dime- and state what you are doing. We went all the way to a dollar. It was fun and a challenge at the same time; the perfect start to homeschooling. I am sure we will play again.

Next we moved on to journaling. Yesterday, we were at Science World and so I thought he could write about what he saw, learned, and did. He drew his picture first but was not interested in writing any words along side. So I said he could write about anything he wanted. But for some reason, (still unknown) he had a spazz. He scribbled over the picture and then came into the kitchen where I was preparing lunch and he threw the book and the pencil on the floor.

I set lunch out for the three of us, and he refused to come and eat. He just wanted to go on the computer, so I used that opportunity to let him know he wouldn’t be allowed to use the computer until he ate his lunch. Eventually he came and ate. During lunch Theo’s wiggly tooth came out. He has been quite anxious about it, and so I was thankful to be able to be there for him when it happened. It bled a little, and like his father; this made him feel uneasy.

After an unsuccessful attempt at putting Kezia down for a nap, I started on dinner preparations. I asked Theo to peel the carrots and he obliged. While peeling, one of the peels landed on his forehead. We both laughed. I cherished that moment. As he was peeling, he said, “Sorry I was bad before mom.” I cherished that moment. Then I let him do some chopping of veggies.

Next we set up an email account for him. He was thrilled to receive emails from family and typed many replies. We decided to take a photo of the missing tooth and send it to everyone. During the photo shoot, Kezia (who was having some diaper free time) decided to get the potty out. She put it on the bedroom floor and then pooped in it. So again we had another laugh. Thankfully it was solid!

Then it was time to get Eva from preschool. As soon as she got in the van, she noticed Theo’s missing tooth. Then Theo got talking about a friend who had many missing teeth. I said, “who is this friend?” and he replied, “It is a boy in Ms. S’s class.” I was amazed that he didn’t say, “my” class. I thought that it would take more time for him to transition. I realize that this is not necessarily a definite indicator of his transition out of traditional schooling, but it was a comfort nonetheless. The whole day just felt right. I am also thankful that it was just Theo and I (and Kezia) today.

All in all, I feel like today was filled with a pretty accurate picture of what homeschooling will be like: mostly a wonderful experience of spending time with my kids; being involved in their learning; sharing in their joys and frustrations.

Mary has to go

So Mary age 20 months was hiding in her room alone, a tell tale sign that she needs to go. I asked her if she needed to go poo, and she said "yes." It's pretty natural for them to find a little spot to hide and do their business. I asked her if she wanted to use the potty and she said- "no". So I said ok- come out when you want me to change your diaper. She came out a few minutes later, and I went to changer her diaper and there was no poo. So I said, lets sit on the potty. This time she agreed. She sat quite willingly, and proudly on the potty. I turned away and carried on with getting lunch ready and told her to call me when she was done. She came up to me and said, "Big Log Mummy!" So I said, "good girl" and followed her back to her potty. There was a big log alright, but it was in the middle of the living room floor not in the potty!

Note to self... don't take your eyes off of a naked- not yet 2 year old who needs to go poo. Good times !

The Muddy Jacket...

So this afternoon, we had nice family stroll along the beach- in the freezing cold weather. We drove down to Brock House, parked and then walked along the path, visited the ducks, said hello to all the dogs (I hate animals), and all the people ( I hate people- well not really I just thought that would be funny if I did). Joseph actually saw a lively young couple walking along, and ran ahead to walk beside them for like 10 feet- talking away to them. They were looking for where his parents were of course... So we reclaimed the kids and were walking hand in hand for a while. Anyways, 30 minutes into the walk and we're all freezing because Mary walks too slow and doesn't want to be carried. We're loading the kids in the car, and I see mud ALL over the front of Joseph's jacket. I said, "Joe- why is there mud all over your jacket?" "What were you doing?" "What were you thinking?"He replied, "I was trying to get it off my hands." At which point I started to notice a foul smell. I put my nose a little closer to his jacket- and sure enough it was poo. Thankfully, when you have kids, you generally have some sort of sterilizing / cleaning device with you at all times, so the box of wipes came in handy! Thankfully the jacket was wipeable not cloth. Disclaimer- hate is a strong word. For all you animal lovers, I don't actually HATE them. I just prefer not to hang out with them, if I have the choice. But I have lots of circumstances to explain my feelings, such as being bit by a dog, and a parrot, flown into by an owl etc.... not to mention the allergies.