Saturday, October 10, 2009

Autumn's here but where am I?

Wow! When I wrote "see you in Autumn" back in July I never expected to be almost half way through October when I wrote again!

I took a bloggy break because I had become completely overwhelmed by life. I needed to step back, re-evaluate my priorities and put some habits in place that reflected my priorities.

So that's what I've been doing. I've been working a good daily routine for almost 2 months, having quiet times, doing school with my children and cooking supper every night. Taking a break has been a good thing.

In addition to the mundane activities of life, I have:

* Attended a Homeschool Co-op every Friday with my children. That's the kids before we left for the first co-op meeting.

Will is in 5 classses: drama, science 1, study hall, science 1, and P.E. Ben is in Bible (think Sunday school), drama, science/history, P.E. and Movie (the under 5 crew are wore out by this time and lay on the floor for a video). Ellie joins Ben for everything but science/history. And Sam just enjoys playing with all the bright and noisy toys in the church's nursery. Meanwhile I'm helping in a Writing 2 class and hanging out with moms. It's a fun but exhausting day.

* Watched "Thomas the Tank Engine: Hero of the Rails" in a theatre with my kids. We enjoyed the movie, a story and FREE pizza.

* Visited the Audubon Society of Rhode Island Educational Center. VERY cool. The center is smallish but well done with exhibits explaining the flora and fauna of Rhode Island marshes and woodlands.

There is also a nature trail where we saw a snapping turtle, many frogs, a praying mantis, huge grasshoppers, tracks in the mud from a raccoon and large bird, and lots of plants we couldn't identify. (By the way, if you live in RI, the Center is free all day on the 1st Saturday of each month.)

* Visited our local library MANY times. Will has developed a voracious appetite for books. He's reading at a 2/3 grade level (remember he's in the 1st grade). He and I agreed this week that we need a weekly library day to keep him supplied, so Wednesday afternoon will now find us picking out fresh reading material.

* Took a field trip to the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Also VERY cool. The boys were studying whales in science (Apologia, Zoology 2 Aquatic Life. EXCELLENT) so we decided to make the trip into Massachusetts. Unfortunately, we were not able to tour other sites, but you should definitely check out this link to the New Bedford Whaling National Park.

This picture shows Joel and the kids in the lobby. That's 4 whale skeleton's suspended in the air behind them. The largest one (head on the right) is a juvenile Blue Whale (the largest mammal on earth). (Btw RI people, Cranston Library has free passes.)

That's what I've been busy doing. I'm trying to work out a routine that will give me time to blog (I've missed it!!) but for the foreseeable future I'm going to be hit or miss around here. If you enjoy reading about the goings on at my house I recommend you subscribe via google reader or email. Then when something new is posted you'll know about it.

Until later...

5 comments:

Marc and Charity said...

welcome back! :)

Carrie said...

I LOVE all of the things you've been doing and your reasons behind it. See you when we see you....

Flamingo said...

i feel like i'm being betrayed. you are finding a routine and balance:) lol

serioously, it must be the 4 kid thing. i'm constantly hunting for "balance". i've really gotten out of the blogging loop.

i love what you are doing with schooling. how is the co-op. that's great that will is ahead. my oldest is behind:) i think for him there just wasn't interest...this year he is suddenly interested (in 2nd). so he's progressing but so are they so i suspect he will stay behind for a little.

i still think of homeschooling. like on a daily basis:)at the same time i am 100% at peace that we made the right decisions for this year. the kids are loving schooling and are doing well...especially sha sha. 2 more years and then mine will all be there...of course unless i pull them back home.

free time....i can smell it and almost touch it....but why do i have a feeling it will not be so:)

Wherever HE Leads We'll Go said...

The Co-op sounds great! What a great opportunity to get together with some other homeschooling moms! Sounds like you have had a pretty full summer (and start to fall). : )

Christie said...

Steph,
Have I asked you what curriculum line-up you're using? I've looked a couple of times on your blog and haven't found it. I see you're using Apologia. Caleb is going to be using that this Fall...Astronomy. (He's taking one class at a University Model School that's opening here...where he goes 3 days and homeschools two. We're taking the ala carte Science since "the whole buffet" was too pricey and we like homeschooling for the bulk of it. Co-op was getting too crazy and my little guys are missing their naps on our co-op day so we're going with a different plan with one hour 3 times a week Science class instead.) I'm re-thinking what we do in Bible...looking for something less curriculum-y and more devotional, life application type study that's 2nd grade friendly. Re-thinking Language Arts, too. Got good recommendations?

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