1) We met!!!
You might be asking why Kelly has the body of a baby and why I am cradling her like so, but luckily this is a blog so I don't have to answer. I truly did get to meet her but since I am still a dedicated user of the flip phone, I did not bust it out to get a selfie with her, though it does have a camera function, but I think it takes some serious work to open the camera and I would imagine it would also take people serious work not to laugh at me for using my flip phone for a selfie. The above picture needs to suffice.
2) I had hoped to go to this fly blog conference, but Mike will be working any and all Saturdays for the foreseeable future so it just didn't jive this year. I was so happy I got to get out to hear her speak the night before the conference though-- she is an amazing inspiration to me and her talk was really fabulous. I was also thrilled because I desperately needed a planner for homeschooling and she happened to be selling hers after the talk.
Coffee and breakfast sold separately.
It is everything I could ever need in a planner and I HIGHLY recommend it. I do not use those capital letters lightly, it is the real deal.3) I was going to try to get through life as a homeschooling mother without panning anything, but after 1 week of attempting that approach I have learned my lesson. I would like to say that the week continued as smoothly as it started, but unfortunately the 3rd day brought tears-- so, so many tears, and not even from me because I am too damn tired to even cry over anything. But I realized that the more prepared I can be going into the day, the fewer things I am going to be caught off guard by, like a 30 minute tear-filled-school-boycott over reading a 4 page phonics 1st reader.
4) Seriously-- WHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT THIS MOMS??? Again, take those caps letters seriously, I am in need of some tricks to fight the "I hate school time" fight. It's not even necessarily the work she is given to do, she just wants to play ALL DAY. She is a super imaginative girl and she is fabulous at pretend play, she could do it for hours, so the thought of anything disrupting that sends her into a little fits that just make me want to start drinking at 9:30 a.m. Tips appreciated.
5) I'm sort of a shut-in these days because 5 kids is seriously kicking my butt and taking newborns places is rarely worth it. So to appease my guilt over my kids not getting out as much as they did before Fred came I do things like make homemade playdough and let them have cupcake stands in the front yard.
6) Fred even came
7) Aaaaand now he's awake so I'm done. Happy Sunday, party people!
Kelly was amazing, wasn't she? I was so excited to meet her and talk to her!!! It is really too bad you didn't get to go to the conference. It was amazing and Kelly was terrific again. But there will probably be one every year, so don't panic. The next one just might not be local, is all.
ReplyDeleteYour photoshopping of Kelly! I am dying laughing over here!! :D I have a handy dandy iPhone (that doesn't tell the time or map anything correctly or accept texts always...but it does take pictures!) Next time I'd be happy to play photographer ;)
ReplyDeleteThe I-hate-school-thing? I dunno. I used to threaten with tales of the evil public school (joking about the evil part) but my kids just didn't believe me mostly. Now they attend Padre Pio and they're all "we have to keep changing subjects??? Why do I have to carry my books in my backpack??" lol!
Maybe try good-old-fashioned incentives? Like fun pencils/stickers/whatever in a container that they can earn if they get a certain # of gold stars or whatever? I think Confessions of a Homeschooler has a short video on how she does incentives in their homeschool.
Also, and this is going to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, but I've found that with 5 kids I've had to be more structured over the years rather than less. I started out pretty laid back with when they did stuff but it seemed to make them complain more when I did ask them to come inside and actually write something down.
We did straight-up bribery (or "incentives") last year and it worked well, but he had to do his work well and WITHOUT COMPLAINING, which was key. It took MONTHS to form good habits, but he fell back into them really easily this year. And making a weekly checklist so that he can choose the order of things + what he does each day helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteWe did straight-up bribery (or "incentives") last year and it worked well, but he had to do his work well and WITHOUT COMPLAINING, which was key. It took MONTHS to form good habits, but he fell back into them really easily this year. And making a weekly checklist so that he can choose the order of things + what he does each day helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteTotally feel you on school woes. My gals love things like going outside and doing our nature journals and things like "book reports" or "book extensions" to make reading stuff more fun (and so that hopefully they pay better attention). And my girl love to go to the library and get new books so I totally use it as a bribe....
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ReplyDeleteIf you're at all interested in knowing . . . the Catholic Dogma . . . that we *must believe* to get to Heaven, and which you have *never* seen . . .
I list it on my website > > www.Gods-Catholic-Dogma.com
> > Abjuration of heresy to enter the Catholic Church > www.Gods-Catholic-Dogma.com/section_19.1.html
The Catholic God knows . . . what we think and believe . . .
Catholic writing of Romans 1:21 >
"They ... became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened."
Catholic Faith (pre-fulfillment) writing of Deuteronomy 31:21 >
"For I know their thoughts, and what they are about to do this day."
Catholic Faith (pre-fulfillment) writing of Job 21:27 >
"Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against Me."
The group that calls itself "islam" ... is not a religion. Fully proven by the fact that the "koran" says the *opposite* of the Old Testament Prophets > Section 113 of the site.
For your daughter who likes to play, you may try more of a play-based learning system like a Montessori or Reggio Emilia approach. Just a suggestion. :) I think recognizing a child's gifts and God-given personality and then following their lead in how they like to experience and learn about the world would bring peace for you and her and stop the battles. That's how my mom (homeschooling 10 kids) did it and other seasoned homeschooling mamas--who I look up to--have shared that advice as well. Blessings to you, and I hope you find what works! 💗
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