Changes in life

Well, I am not going to homeschool. I still think it would be best, but she wont be harmed by public schools. And if i supplement, it will be ok. I have come to the realization that I cannot raise 4 children, keep the house livable, homeschool, and be sane all at the same time.

I started on a medicine cocktail. I am so against taking drugs for the rest of my life, but I have tried to deal with this without them, and it doesnt work. I am mean, irritable, lazy, you name it. With these new drugs I can play with my kids, I can cook a real dinner. I can keep the house clean, I can be a wife and a mother. I did have to stop nursing my son. This made me so very sad, and so very in pain! But its worth it. This change is whats best for all of us.

The kids went to visit my mother for a month. It was so quiet and relaxing. I still had the baby at home, but compared to real life, that was a piece of cake. I am still adjusting to having them back, but life is so much better now than it was before they left. I really needed to rest.

All in all, life is good. Its about time. Now if we could jsut learn to stick to a budget.....

I forgot to mention!

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Almost is better than not at all!

I dont think I have ever been so busy, and so tired, and yet feel like I have accomplished so little as this past weekend. And yes, I am ignoring the fact that it is Tuesday, the weekend is well over with, and I still have nothing to speak of finished. I ALMOST finished with the laundry that was in my basement when it flooded a few days ago. I am ALMOST finished with my preparations around the house for my mother in law to come visit (I love her to death, but she isnt "naturally disorganized" like I am). The children are ALMOST healthy (the girls are over the stomach flu, the boys still have head colds).

I DO however have a game plan for schooling, once Kai is done with kindegarten (june 4th is her last day). We will be doing a year round schooling schedule because a) its leaves a lot less of a time contraint for the rest of the year, and b) there is a lot of things i can SHOW them in the summer and have it interest them. I also know I will be tying in a lot of age appropriate life skills into our curriculum such as cooking, baking, cleaning and organization methods (yes I know how young they are, but unless you have seen my house, you have no idea how much this lesson is needed by all of us LOL).

My plan for tommorrow is to finish the laundry, sit down and do some shape drawing with Taryn. Perhaps some color and shapes with Charlie. We are also getting back into the habit of reading more each day, and having Kai read to the Littles. I feel its good for both sides of that equation. As for tonight, I am off to load the dishwasher, and collapse for a while before bed.

Welcome

Welcome to Barefoot Expressions. This little spot on the web is where I will share my experiences as a brand new homeschooling mom. The good, the bad and the funny! Players in the production are my oldest girl, Kai (5/18/03), my second born girl, Taryn (8/21/05), my older boy (4/23/07) and the little man of the family, Alex (1/7/09). My wonderful(ly frustrating) husband Drew plays a minor role around here too LOL.

A little about each of us. I am disorganized, idealistic, and easily distracted. But I am also creative, stubborn, and overly silly.

Kai is sensitive and bright. She loves hands on crafts, and is overly ambitious. Her most recent endeavor, since learning to read, has been to write stories. She also excels in math. Kai is eager to please, sometimes to a fault. She loves to show off her newly learned talents. Most recently that has been whistling (which is unfortunate for me after the first 10 minutes of the day.

Taryn is a very funny preschooler. She has a touch of tomboy in her rough-and-tumble approach to life. She is also the clumsiest child i have ever seen. She always has bumps and bruises. Her girly side shows often, however, when she screams like the little girl that she is. She is afraid of bugs and hates to have her clothes or hands dirty, which kind of sucks since she spills often.

Charlie is my cuddle bear. He is such a mama's boy, always climbing on me, around me (I think he would climb back in my womb if he could). He is very funny and he knows it. Anything for a laugh. His latest thing is to pretend to be an animal. Last week he was a kitty kat. Crawling around on all fours and meowing at me most of the day. This week, its frogs. He hops all over saying "ibbit, ibbit" (he drops the R for some reason). Hilarious unless you are the one being hopped on.

Alex is our "Boo Baby" (coined by Charlie, before he could say new baby). He is a very pleasant baby. Happy, bright, bouncy. I suppose when they are this little, its hard to say anything else about him without being gross. I can talk about how he spits up after every feeding, or drools like a garden hose, but who wants to hear that? LOL

Drew is very opinionated, stubborn, and logical to a fault. But he also is the love of my life, such a good daddy, and takes such good care of all of us. He is a huge gamer dork (so am I, but shhhh!). Right now he is working at a Nuclear power plant as a maintnance mechanic. He loves his job. I think the dirtier his hands get, the happier he is.

Drew and I were married May 19th 2002. We met while he was in the Navy, stationed at a training command in my hometown in upstate New York. We survived two deployments while living in Virginia. The first one, I gave birth to Kai one month before he returned. The second, he left 12 days after Taryn's birth. Being a Navy wife is something I will never forget. It is such an empowering experience, but I am so glad that part of our life is over.

I have always wanted to homeschool our kids. What changed our minds was actually sending Kai to public school for kindegarten. Her teacher is amazing, the school system is great, and yet she is still bored. She enjoys school, but doesnt want to go next year. Given that I stay home, how could I possibly NOT let her stay home and school with me.

We have no actual curriculum. This is going to be a well researched, fly by the seat of ours pants kind of endeavor. Here's to giving it a try!