Homeschooling in our future?

Stuart and I both believe in the importance of education. I love the concept of homeschool and have such admiration and respect for families are homeschooling their children. I would like to be able to homeschool Nicholas but often question whether or not I have the patience, organization, structure, and dedication to take on such an incredibly important responsibility. Plus, I tend to get a little stressed out if I don't have a little bit of "me time" now and then which I don't think I'd have if Nicholas was home with me all day every day. So for now, he goes to a private preschool that by the grace of God we can afford at this time.

However, when he is done with preschool, what will we do? I'd love to send him to a private Christian college prep school like the one I went to in Louisiana. However, I don't know how my parents were able to afford such a thing for both my brother and me and I don't see any way that we will be able to pay for it, especially for two children.

The other option is public school. Woo hoo, we could sure save a lot of money with that option. However, my brother went to a public school in Louisiana for a brief period of time and it seemed very "rough" and I don't mean from an academic standpoint. I also had some friends that went to public school and they were just different from my friends at private school. I can't explain exactly how - a little rougher? a little less sheltered? a little more risk-taking and wild? I know that public schools in Texas, and especially in our district, are top-notch and nothing like what I've heard about public schools in Louisiana. But I just can't seem to shake the worries I have about teachers who don't care and students who are up to no good. I also hate the fact that God is not in the public schools and I don't want our children getting conflicting messages between home and school.

So what will we do when Nicholas leaves preschool? Homeschool? Private school? Public school? I think about this several times a week. I lean towards homeschooling but still worry about whether or not I can handle it, whether or not I'm qualified to take this on. Fortunately I have another year to mull over it.

I recently joined an email group of homeschooling families at our church so that I can get exposure to some of the issues that homeschooling moms deal with. I happened to get an email today from this group with the following story:

(Excerpt written by Ethan Demme)

Moses didn't feel qualified to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. He was frank with God about his perception of his abilities. Moses' questions may be summarized as, "Who am I? What shall I say unto them? They will not believe me. I am not eloquent."

In reading through this interaction between Moses and God, it is encouraging to note that as Moses trots out one question after another, God patiently answers each with a reminder of who He is and what He will do for him.

It is only when Moses says, "Let someone else do it," that God gets angry.

We know from our perspective, with our 20/20 hindsight, that Moses was uniquely qualified to do exactly what God had called him to do. His education in Egypt coupled with a strong Levitical heritage, seasoned by forty years in the wilderness, and enhanced by his experience as a shepherd, made for a peerless candidate who could and would lead the children of Israel out of the wilderness and into the promised land.

Guess what? God has uniquely equipped you to teach your children. You were created before the foundation of the world for this very work. This good work. The eternal work of training, teaching, shepherding, and raising your kids to live forever with Jesus.

You know more than you think. You have been wonderfully endowed and furnished to teach your children. Your children need what you have to offer. While I may understand math, you understand your kids.

So when you are tempted to be discouraged or feel unqualified, remember Moses. And Moses' God. He has called and prepared you for this very journey. He doesn't call the equipped; he equips the called.

How inspiring! God has blessed us to be parents and no one knows our children like we do. Surely we are better equipped to train and teach them than a stranger who is in charge of a class of 20 other students all at different educational levels. Hmmm, definitely something I need to keep in the forefront of my thoughts over the next year.

And Here is the Tree Frog!

While I was packing Nicholas' lunchbox this morning, he was upstairs playing with Daddy and apparently digging through the desk in our office. He came bounding down the stairs and said, "Here comes the tree frog!" and he showed me his tree frog feet. All 10 of his fingers had brightly colored round stickers on them and I can see how one might say they looked like the feet of a tree frog...sort of...

After School Treats

Well enough of that sappy emotional stuff about time flying and my baby growing up. It is time for ice cream! I just picked Nicholas up from school and took him to celebrate "back to school" with some cold treats from our newly discovered treat-place called Bahama Buck's.



Nicholas ordered a coconut snow cone and I ordered an Orange Crusher smoothie. Nicholas was excited about the little umbrella that came with his snow cone. However, he then wanted to try my treat and decided that he liked mine better so we traded. The Orange Crusher was really good and I hated to give it up for a coconut snow cone but how can a mommy say no to her cute little guy?

Don't Blink

Today is the first day back to school for Nicholas. He has the same awesome teacher that he had last year and a few of his friends from last year will be continuing in this class as well. However, most of his friends from last year were a little older than him and have moved on to Kindergarten. So Mrs. Carrico says that Nicholas will be one of her leaders in the class this year. She is counting on him to help the younger children coming in feel welcomed and comfortable and to set a good example for them. He is very excited about being a class leader and he's been looking forward to starting back to school. But he said "I'm a little shy to meet new friends." If you know Nicholas, you know that he isn't a shy quiet kind of child but I'm sure he is feeling a little nervous about meeting so many new children. He'll do great though and I'll bet he has several new best friends by the end of the week.

Of course, we got our traditional first day of school picture with his new lunchbox that he picked. This year it is Batman. I even found a matching Batman insulated drink bottle to keep his milk cold as well as a Batman food thermos to keep food warm in winter.



He was bouncing around acting silly while we were waiting in car line to drop him off this morning. Here's some pics of his antics.







He just gets funnier and funnier. I also got this picture as he was getting out of the car this morning. He is holding two flowers which he picked himself for his two teachers. What a charmer he is!



I can't believe he's going to be in Kindergarten next year. How is that possible? Where has the time gone? I still can feel him falling asleep in my arms as a newborn with that sweet new baby smell. I remember his first smile, his first time rolling over, first step. What beautiful memories. We make new beautiful memories every day but I still find myself wanting to hold on to him as a baby boy and not close the chapter on those precious years. They just went by too fast. There's a country song by Kevin Chesney that sums it up in two words...

Don't Blink

I turned on the evening news
Saw an old man being interviewed
Turnin' 102 today.
Asked him what's the secret to life
He looked up from his old pipe
Laughed and said all I can say is:

Don't blink,
Just like that you're six years old
And you take a nap
And you wake up and you're 25
Then your high school sweetheart becomes your wife.
Don't blink,
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turnin' into moms and dads
Next thing you know your better half of 50 years
Is there in bed and you're prayin' God takes you instead
Trust me friend, 100 years goes faster than you think
So don't blink.

Well, I was glued to my T.V.
When it looked like he looked at me
And said, "You best start puttin' first things first."
'Cause when your hour glass runs out of sand
You can't flip it over and start again
Take every breath God gives you for what it's worth.

Don't blink,
Just like that you're six years old
And you take a nap
And you wake up and you're 25
Then your high school sweetheart becomes your wife.
Don't blink,
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turnin' into moms and dads
Next thing you know your better half of 50 years
Is there in bed and you're prayin' God takes you instead
Trust me friend, 100 years goes faster than you think
So don't blink.

So, I've been trying to slow it down.
I've been tryin' to take it in.
In this here today gone tomorrow world we're living in
So...

Don't blink,
Just like that you're six years old
And you take a nap
And you wake up and you're 25
Then your high school sweetheart becomes your wife.
Don't blink,
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turnin' into moms and dads
Next thing you know your better half of 50 years
Is there in bed and you're prayin' God takes you instead
Trust me friend, 100 years goes faster than you think
So don't blink.

Usually Our Plants Don't Grow

We've actually been better than usual about running our sprinkler system to keep the grass and plants watered. Maybe the two dead trees in our front yard has prompted us to pay more attention to our landscape. Today Stuart was commenting about a giant hibiscus bloom that he said looks a bit like a small satellite dish. It is quite an impressive bloom and even Nicholas thought it was neat looking. He said, "Wow, that's nice. Usually our plants don't grow." Thanks little buddy!

Skunky Vultures

There just always seems to be something in need of repair at our house so today we made our routine trip to Home Depot. While we were there, Nicholas kept running down the aisles. I told him the usual, "No running!". I heard him murmur something like, "Ok, then I'll just gallop." and he continued down the aisle with something just shy of a run. I guess now I have to clarify by saying, "No running and no galloping!"

On our way home from Home Depot, there was a dead skunk that must have recently been hit by a car. I never actually saw the skunk myself but there was no question what it was by the smell in the air.

Nicholas recalled another trip to Home Depot where he had seen a vulture eating some kind of road kill and he made a comment that a vulture might like to eat this skunk. Then he thought about it some more and said, "But you wouldn't want to get too close to that vulture. He might burp on you and that would really stink because he ate that skunk!"

Breakfast of Champions

Stuart and I stay up way too late each night so we enjoy sleeping late on the weekends...that is, until Nicholas wakes us up. As usual, Nicholas was up before us but he didn't come bouncing on the bed. He quietly went down stairs to get some breakfast for himself. He is quite independent these days. Of course, he is very thoughtful for a four year old and he brought some breakfast upstairs for Stuart and
me. When we got out of bed, this was lined up, just as pictured, in our doorway...



....a box of raisins, a bowl with milk and some kind of cereal (with a spoon), and a jar of pickles (with a fork). So sweet...but such an unusual breakfast. Needless to say, we thanked him for the breakfast but managed to avoid actually eating any of it. When we made it downstairs, Stuart noticed an opened box of Triscuit crackers on the kitchen table. He asked Nicholas, "Hmm, so was that Triscuit 'cereal' that you made for us?". Nicholas said, "Well, I thought it was cereal but it was really just crackers." But he went ahead and made cereal out of it anyway.

A Visit from Mrs. Mundt

Nicholas just loves one of my long time friends, Shelley Mundt. Before he was born, she handmade a quilt for him and gave him a little stuffed teddy bear. He still sleeps with the quilt at times and he affectionately calls the bear "Mrs. Mundt Bear".

Today Shelley came over to bring us some baby girl clothes and a handmade quilt for the baby. Nicholas was so excited to see her. Daddy got out the camera to get a picture of Shelley with the quilt and me. Nicholas had to get in on the action too. This first picture is Daddy's....



This second picture is by Nicholas...



So maybe he needs a little more practice with framing his shots but at least the passion is there.

Shelley, thank you again for the beautiful quilt and all of these baby girl clothes! I've had fun going through this giant stack of clothes and I'm loving all the pink. So cute!

And Down Comes the Second Tree...

We started the day off with a bang. Stuart cut down the second of our two dead trees that were in the front yard. This one was particularly sad for us because this was the tree where we hung his toddler swing that Grandmother Chance gave him. He would giggle and cackle as we pushed him higher and higher. We're all sad to see this tree go.

Nicholas did all of the hard work in cutting down the tree with his hammer as you can see from this video. Stuart just came in and finished it up.



Nicholas liked the chain saw but it was a little bit loud for him.



Woo hoo! A whole new climbing structure right here in our front yard!



Then we had to load up all the cut branches and trunk into the back of the truck. Nicholas was a great helper. He's quite strong and was able to drag some pretty large branches over to the truck for Daddy. Next we drove off to the landfill to give a final farewell to our tree. Nicholas was excited to see where all of the trash actually ends up. Per requirement of the landfill, Daddy had to wear a bright green hard hat and vest in order to enter. He looked cool.



None of us enjoyed the smell but we did have fun watching the bulldozer work!

A Photographer in the Making?

Nicholas woke us up this morning and he was eager to take some pictures. He has a digital camera that Grandad Owen gave him a while back and he just loves it. He stood in the doorway and took a picture of me sitting up half asleep. He looked at the picture on his viewer and said, "Hmm, needs more light". So he came closer to me and stood by the window and took the shot again. It was well framed and the lighting looked good. I know you are expecting to see his work of art here but I'm sorry. Did you forget that I said I was half asleep? And of course I was blinking as he took the picture so I look really crazy. I think I accidentally deleted the picture(bad mama!).

I praised him for his picture but suggested that he find another subject to practice taking portrait shots - at least until I was more awake. He went into his room, turned on his bedside lamp and set up his Webkinz dog, Cappaccio, for a photo shoot.



Then later this morning, once we were showered and dressed, he took more pictures of us. First this quick shot...



Then he said, "Ok, now give kisses!" so we kissed and he took our picture! What a cute little photographer he is!

Preschool Orientation and a Trip to McKinney

Yesterday we went to Orientation at Nicholas' preschool. He has the same teacher and same classroom as last year so it really wasn't a big deal. However, I can see that it is a good way to help get him focused back on the school setting. He was there for 45 minutes with just a few other students that will be in his class. When I picked him up, he had two Tootsie Roll pops and gave one to me. He said they were supposed to be just for the kids but he asked Mrs. Carrico if he could get one for him Mommy too and she said yes.



Today we went to the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary in McKinney. It was a bit of a drive and it was really hot out there but we had a great time. They currently have a big snake exhibit and we saw some really interesting snakes. Nicholas was amazed at the size of the python. There was also a giant snake model that the children could walk through. Unfortunately, my memory card quit working soon after we got there and I didn't realize it until we were about to leave so I only have one picture from this outing. Nicholas was fascinated with learning about coral snakes and the saying, "Red on black, friend of Jack. Red on yellow, kill a fellow." Here's a picture of him working on one of their interactive exhibits where you can set up the snakes color pattern yourself to see the red on black/red on yello. We learned that coral snakes have the second most potent venom of all snakes in North America.



Some other fun things we did there include the giant sandbox where you can dig for fossilized bones and also a live working bee hive encased in glass so you can safely watch all of their activity at the hive. They also have a greenhouse set up as a butterfly exhibit. We walked in and were surrounded by live butterflies. Nicholas hoped that one would land on him but it never happened. I got some really great butterfly pictures in this exhibit, but alas, my memory card didn't save them :(

Afterwards, we went exploring in McKinney. We were hoping to stop by Herbie's Burgers and Soda Fountain for some old fashioned milk shakes but there was a lot of construction around the building and I couldn't tell if the restaurant was even still in business. So we went to another cool shop instead. It's called Mom and Popcorn. They have 45 flavors of popcorn. Yes, I'm sure you've heard of cheese flavored popcorn and caramel popcorn. But have you heard of barbeque flavored popcorn? What about creamy dill or pizza? Or some of their sweet flavors like green apple or pina colada? They sound crazy but trust me they are all yummy. I know this because they are very generous with their samples! I wish I could have stayed their all day and tried all 45 flavors :)

Nicholas got a bag of cornfetti flavor which is a mixture of all of their sweet flavors. It is very colorful and very tasty. After I tried his, I wished I had gotten another bag for myself!

Working with Tangrams

The other day we were at our favorite educational toy store, Constructive Playthings/U.S. Toy, and I found a set of tangrams that I bought for Nicholas to try. They are just geometric shapes that the child fits into patterns on a card. Sounds simple but I think it is a great workout for the brain. The box calls them "geometric brain builders" and says that they wire kids brains for important problem-solving.

I wasn't sure if Nicholas would get excited about tangrams or not. However, with his recent interest in puzzles I thought it was worth a shot. He was so excited when he saw the box that he didn't even want to wait for me to open it and read the directions. He started working on them right away and made it up to level 3 without a problem.



At one point, I read the card which said that the shapes would make a rhomboid. He said, "That's not a rhomboid! I'll show you what that shape is." Then he ran off and came back with a shape puzzle that Grandmother Chance had given him when he was one year old. He pulled out the parallelogram and put it next to the rhomboid and said they matched.

Goodbye Pink

Nicholas was too busy this morning playing pirate to get dressed. I picked out some clothes for him and asked him to hurry up and get dressed because we were meeting our friends at Studio Movie Grill to watch Pippi Longstocking. Nicholas quickly put on the shorts then he paused and asked, "Have I worn this shirt before? It's pink. I don't want to wear a pink shirt. I can't wear that! I would silly in a girl color! I can wear a shirt that is red, or green, or blue, or brown, or striped, but NOT PINK!"



Granted, I would not have picked out and purchased a pink shirt for him. A friend gave it to him. I think it is a nice shirt and not feminine looking. He's worn it in the past without complaints but I guess my little pirate is more concerned about what he wears now. I guess the brown shirt does look a little better on this scary pirate.

Working on a Puzzle

Nicholas has had many puzzles since he was 2 years old. However, he hasn't had much interest in working them until recently. He would get frustrated when he couldn't figure it out and just want to quit. But recently he has become more patient and will keep trying until he gets it. Today we worked on a giant floor puzzle of construction vehicles. I gave him some direction about placing the corners and outline first and then filling in the center. I gave a few clues along the way when he was struggling to place a piece but for the most part he worked the puzzle by himself.



Nicholas was very proud when he finished the puzzle. He was impressed with how big the the picture ended up being but he had to point out that he was still bigger than the puzzle as he lay across it.

Walk A Little Slower, Daddy

Tonight Nicholas was following Stuart somewhere in the house but he was having a hard time keeping up with him. Nicholas said, "Walk a little slower Daddy. Remember what the Father's Day card said."

I neglected to mention this on the entry for Father's Day this year but Nicholas made a cute Father's Day card for Stuart at his school. It included the following poem which we read aloud on Father's Day but haven't mentioned it since then.

"Walk a Little slower, Daddy." said a little child so small.
I'm following in your footsteps and I don't want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast, sometimes they're hard to see;
So walk a little slower Daddy, for you are leading me.

Someday when I'm all grown up, You're what I want to be.
Then I will have a little child who'll want to follow me.

And I would want to lead just right, and know that I was true;
So, walk a little slower, Daddy, for I must follow you!!

~author unknown

I'm always in awe of how well Nicholas remembers things and then applies them so appropriately in real life situations.

An Angel for His Little Sister

A few months ago, we had some problems with Nicholas going to bed at night because he was afraid. We tried everything. He has a night light on during the night. We explained that Daddy and Mommy wouldn't let anything happen to him and that Jesus was watching over him all the time. Out of desperation, I offered to give him a little angel figurine that I was given a long time ago. I told him that the angel would watch over him and keep him safe. He liked this idea so the angel now sits on top of his bookcase at the foot of his bed and looks down on him throughout the night.

Recently, Nicholas said that he wanted to be sure that we got an angel for his little sister's room. It was such a touching idea that I decided to take him shopping to pick out the angel himself. Amazingly, the next day I saw a posting on Freecycle where someone just down the street from us was wanting to give away 8 angel figurines for free. I contacted the lady and explained that we were interested but only needed one angel. She let us come to her house and she pulled out each angel for Nicholas to see. I saw one that was so sweet and was mostly pale pink and pale green which would match the colors of the nursery beautifully. But this was Nicholas choice so I bit my tongue so I wouldn't influence his decision. He picked a rather large one that plays music. The colors are a brighter than I would have liked but they are actually pink and green like the nursery. The angel is holding a scroll that reads, "Praise the Lord!"

A Picnic for you...No, I changed my mind...

This afternoon Nicholas decided that he wanted a snack and went to the kitchen to see what he could find. He came back with two little plates and two cups of orange juice. On the plates were some crackers and cheddar cheese that he had sliced himself with a butter knife. He said that he wanted us to have a picnic together. So sweet! I hadn't even asked for anything but he was so thoughtful to have brought a snack for me too.



Before I had a chance to take a bite, my cell phone rang. It was Daddy calling to say that he was on his way home from work (he only works half days on Fridays). As soon as Nicholas realized that Daddy was on his way home, he said, "This picnic food is not for you. I'm saving it for Daddy. You can get your own."

What?!

Rescue Heroes

This morning, Nicholas decided to pull out all of his Rescue Hero vehicles and line them up on the table. He has quite a few and about twice as many of the actual hero figures. He then directed me to tell a story in which the Rescue Heroes are called to duty. Every day we create tons of stories that we act out either as ourselves or through his many toys.

Videos from Trip to a Local Playground

We are so blessed to have so many great parks in our town. Several are within walking distance. On this day, I walked while Nicholas rode his bicycle. He loves riding his bike and singing as you can see. (Sorry but the video on this camera has trouble focusing at times)



As soon as we arrived at the park, Nicholas noticed a hole at the base of a tree that he had never noticed before. He was quick to pull off his pads and helmet and he said that he had to go investigate it! He figured it is for some kind of animal that lives in trees and he wanted to look for the animal.



After checking out the hole, Nicholas determined that there were ants living there and therefore it must also be the home of a baby anteater!



Once we got on the playground, Nicholas pretended to fly a space ship to Mars. I love catching him at play like this and hearing his cute answers to questions. Again, the video goes out of focus at times but it is still cute!





As you can see, we got pretty hot out there. It was at the end of the day and Daddy called my cell phone to say that he was on his way home. We let him come pick us up at the park. We could have ridden in the cab but what fun it was to ride in the bed of his pick up truck since we just had to travel a few streets through the neighborhood! I told Nicholas that we would have to duck down if we saw a police officer because we were supposed to be wearing our seat belts. He thought that was a neat idea and created a game in which he would shout that he saw a police officer and we had to duck down and hide!

Mr. Smarty Pants!

This morning I said "ouch" and Nicholas asked what was wrong and I told him I had a boo boo on my finger and it hurt when I bent it. He said, "Oh, then just don't bend it." Well, ok then Mr. Smarty Pants!

We had fun at a water park today. I can't believe summer is almost over! We've had fun but with my pregnancy I haven't felt up to going out and about as much as usual so I'm sad for all the plans I had that didn't happen.

The Treasure Within Us

Nicholas sometimes says the most amazing things! Yesterday we were pretending to be pirates seeking treasure. Nicholas went to show Daddy the treasure he had found. Daddy played along but then asked Nicholas if he knew where Daddy's treasure was. Nicholas said, "No". Daddy pointed to Nicholas and said, "It's you!"

Nicholas caught on and said that Mommy and Daddy were his treasure too but so was the bag of gold that he had. I was curious if he was really catching on to how we were using treasure for gold and for people so I asked him if he could explain what the word treasure meant. I quickly wrote down his response word for word so I wouldn't forget it.

He said, "Some treasure that pirates dig up is underground but treasure in the world that is within us is Jesus." I think Stuart and I both dropped our jaws at this one and looked at each other bug-eyed. This little guy can be so insightful and spiritual for a 4 year old.

An Impromptu Adventure

We ventured out to one of our local parks so Stuart could practice taking some portrait pictures of me with my big pregnant belly.



We hadn't really planned on doing any exploring on this visit but Nicholas was itching to go down in the creek bed. Stuart went down with him and got some great pictures of the adventure.





Nicholas found a giant rock and of course he had to throw it in the creek for the big splash effect.



Then he took a closer look at the water and watched some tadpoles swimming by.



He always has lots of fun climbing and jumping on the rocks here.



Nicholas spent a lot of time using a stick to scoop out some slimy moss out of the creek and toss it on the bank. He has no problem touching the dirty slimy stuff. Ick!



Check out this cool picture of a spider web they found!

Three Hot Weekends

Our church is currently in a series called "Three Hot Weekends". For our church services, Stuart and I are in the main sanctuary while Nicholas is in the children's church where he hears about the Word of God in age appropriate ways like Bible stories, crafts, and a weekly puppet show. However, this weekend I wish he could have been in our main sanctuary at least for a little while before the service started. Since they are playing on the idea of summer, they were giving away cups of ice cold lemonade and about 10 minutes before the service started, these giant inflatable balls appeared and we got to play with them as people continued to find their seats. I love being at a church that isn't too stuffy to just have fun sometimes. Check out the quick video and you'll even catch a glimpse of Stuart getting ready to work the video camera.

Bedtime Silliness

I love reading bedtime stories to Nicholas. Because my pregnant belly has gotten too big to let him cuddle in my lap in the glider rocker while we read, now I just lie next to him in his bed as we read. I was glad when Stuart got out the camera and got a few pictures of us together.



Soon, Nicholas turned silly and decided that he wanted to be the star of the show so he covered my face with the book. What a silly little ham!





I pretended to have hurt feelings - which, of course, he just loved! But he soon decided to make up with me by giving me eskimo kisses. Oh, how I love this sweet little boy.

First Pictures of His Baby Sister

Today I had one of these cool new 3D/4D sonograms of the baby. The quality of the images are just amazing! The closest thing to getting a real picture inside my belly. The technician estimates that she weighs about 3 pounds, 1 ounce now.

Of course, Nicholas was excited to see his little sister for the first time. I'm sure the picture looked a little odd to him even though we explained her position and that her arm is crossing in front of her face.



Here is a picture of her left side as she is lying on her back. You can see her two legs sticking up in the air and her left arm. As we tried to explain the picture to Nicholas, he decided to show us what she was doing so he got down on the floor in the fetal position. I guess he understands it more than I thought!



Here's another picture from the side showing her left leg, left arm, and head all curled up in a ball. Isn't modern technology amazing!