Dear Family

Dear Family,

I love being mom and I love serving you.
But, ahem- it has suddenly come to my attention that my baby is 8 years old.
Getting only 3 hours straight sleep at a time is no longer acceptable to me.

Please be on notice, I am declaring the night hours asthma-attack-free zones. No more nebulizer treatments at 11p.m, 2:30 a.m and 6 a.m. I'm not as young as I used to be, I can't keep up. Please save your attacks for the daytime hours.

Cat- no more waking me up because you want to come into the house, you want to go out of the house, you want a 6th meal, or because you need fresh running water out of the bathroom sink faucet and you lack thumbs.

Just because I am so slap-happy by 2 a.m that I do all of these things for you with no resistance (and stand and wait for you to stop drinking so I can turn off the faucet...)

-just because I have been too weak to resist your evil, calculating kitty-ways- does not make the whole set-up hugely wrong. Funny how you occasionally use the doggy door to come into the house when no human attendant is available...well, I know you can use it, so use it and don't let it hit you on the way out.

• You are on notice that at the first meow from now on, I will be tossing you out the front door and locking the doggy door.

Dog- while I am moved by the complete and utter faith you have in me, demonstrated by your waking me up at 4:30 a.m - after the cat episodes, after the breathing treatments, -because you had itchy ears and were convinced I could make it all better...while I acknowledge the sweet testament to your view of my mom-ness, the whole scene was unappreciated.

talk to me about ears in the morning, I'm sure they itch just as much in daylight.

Teenager- if mom says you need a breathing treatment, then you do. I am still smarter than you.
The 1 a.m nebulizer treatment success proves me right yet again.

Husband, no more Indian food.

thank you for your attention to these matters,

love

mom

The Ultimate Blog Party 2010~Welcome to the Party!

Welcome to the Party!

Welcome to our little spot on the internet!

Make yourself at home, and please look around! There are tabs to click on the top..and a topic cloud on the right margin, click away, I love visitors!

We are a Southern California Homeschooling family. We have 4 kids, but you will notice that I am homeschooling 5 kids...Teddy is our bonus student and is the same age as our son.

I'm Jenny, homeschool-mom, blogger, beginner photographer, lover of diet coke, bittersweet chocolate and all things carb. I love to read, in another life I used to paint, and I am trying to get back into yoga. This season in life I am mostly homeschool mom- it is my main work/interest/hobby/concern.

I love my Lord, my husband, my children and our life together. I blog about these and many other things.

Sky is the Leading Man, principal of our school, woodworker, building inspector, lover of the Word and my kids' favorite play fellow. He is super hard-working, and an artist with construction type things. We met when we were 16.

Our Children are Meg age 14, Josie age 13, Demi-Sky age 10 and Amie who is our baby, age 8.

*no, these are not their real names.

We have home-schooled from the beginning, using many different materials and styles- I write and review many of them here.

Mostly I love being a home-school family, but there are some days, honestly, I'd rather be doing something else. Some days I panic and wonder what I am doing and how did I get here? But most days I love what we do and how we live. For us, homeschooling is more how we live, not what we do.

Our family includes our 1 year old puppy, Emma. She's called Emma the wonder labradoodle mostly on the blog. She is a wonderful dog and a great addition to our family.

We also have 4 hens as pets, one of the reasons we are not exactly a typical Orange County family. This one is Little Wing, you can read about our hen's love of treats here*.

Come explore our reading fun, learning experiences ,our family travels, my few adventures solo and our faith.

I heart comments!

Thanks for stopping by!

Gluten AND dairy free? -Goodbye happiness

Cutting down gluten AND dairy day two:

um, not going so well :(

I finally clued in that it's not just lactose intolerance but maybe an allergy, switched to soy in my lattes...much better. Switched to Ezekiel bread because it is dairy free. Now I'm suspecting that wheat may be a problem.

yesterday I purposed to eat without/or at least less of these. I made it till 3 o'clock and then I had to have a piece of Ezekiel toast with peanut butter. Hello happiness! Then we went out to dinner at Olive Garden. It was all downhill.

today I tried again. Made it till lunch, had some scrambled eggs but I really wanted toast with it. Scrambled eggs without cheese in them is kind of sad.

help me.

send breadsticks. and bagels with strawberry cream cheese.

Goodbye happiness!

Brian Regan, his dairy bit is half-way through this. disclaimer, he does use the H word.

Homeschool Scheduling- a chalkboard approach

I've tried many different scheduling approaches for our homeschool planning. After more than 10 years homeschooling, I haven't found a system that sticks. Some have worked well for a year, or a month... but then the look of our school day changes, and my schedule falls by the wayside.

The chalkboard of ultimate power sprung from the clever whiteboard system used at our Classical homeschool group. I realized I was onto something possibly brilliant in execution...and so I asked sky to put up a chalkboard wall for me.

I chose a spot in the room we do most of our school work...the dining room area. Sky simply painted this wall with chalkboard paint.

I write out the flow for our day for my 3 youngest students, so they can see what comes next and what is left to do.

I have a running list of things I need to do. Here's the brilliant part....I erase as they are done.

If it's still on the board, I still need to do it.

It's my board, no one else is allowed to write on it. Ha!

There you have it, homeschool planning/scheduling for the Bridget Jones homeschool mom.

Friday Quick takes for March 19

~1~
We are having beautiful weather here in So Ca! I've taken the kids twice to the park this week for P.E.

~2~
P.E. looked like this, (see above photo) kind of a "Calvin Ball" game- this one was like baseball, but with tennis racket. The dog would alternately assist the base-running, or foul you out. It was pretty exciting/and or confusing by turns.

~3~
Sky and I have re-discovered Antique Roadshow. It's quite addicting.

~4~
took the kids to McDonald's for Shamrock shakes for St. Patrick's day. I remember them from my childhood and it has become a St. Paddy's day tradition.

~5~
Our hockey team has only won 2 games, their second win somehow landed them in the playoff games for the league. They played against a team that has won 7 games and only lost 2. Somehow, our team beat them in overtime! It was one of the most exciting games I've seen!
(Amie is standing on the left- can you tell she is unsure about this team bonding thing?!)

~6~
I took Emma the wonder labradoodle to the vet to pick up some flea medicine. I had to take her so they could get her weight. Anyway, she hasn't been back since she was fixed. She jumped into the van, happy for a ride! She jumped out of the van, eager to greet the dogs she could see! We got inside, and she began to shake. She clearly remembered the place. Poor baby. We left, and she jumped very quickly back into the van, clearly very eager to leave!

~7~
I've given up any pretense at being a housekeeper this week. The laundry is piled high, and the kids have had a massive blanket fort in the front room for 3 days now.

7 Quick Takes is hosted over at Conversion Diary

7 Quick Takes Friday, March 12

7 Quick Takes Friday is hosted over at Conversion Diary.

~1~

We've started hosting the Bible college boys over on Sunday nights for dinner. Our house has been way too quiet on Sunday nights, we are glad to have them back!

~2~

Date night, we ate at a new place (we are creatures of habit and rotate through 4 places usually), so- at this new place for dinner, we were served our diet cokes in mason jars! Happy Thought!
I decided I need to do this at my house. :)

~3~

I need to stay away from scones at Starbucks.

~4~

Amie & Demi had a win at hockey this week. This was their team's 2nd win of the season, this season they had a lot of beginner players. It was a very close/exciting game. Because they won, they now get to play in the playoffs. I am talking beginners- the first few games, we would watch as random players would just fall down. Standing still...just fall, and then another...! We cheered and laughed in equal measure.

~5~

I've been looking at business cards to take for the casual blogger conference. This is very hard. I have expensive/picky taste, and cannot justify it on a hobby-thing...It's just hard, I love creative/pretty/hand-made things...

~6~

Took the kids to the park today for some physical education. Beautiful day, perfect for an afternoon at the park. The physical part looked like this...(see above)

and this (see below)

we had dog relay teams. The kids and the dog got exercised. Evidence: 1 tired pooch laying at my feet. The kids ran in teams and/or solo..the dog ran every time.
I've been told a tired dog is a good dog.
wisdom

~7~

My curricula-lust is a re-occurring thorn in my flesh... I stumbled upon a new online curriculum program from Alpha Omega called Monarch, and then just go in for the kill- the print catalog arrived in my mailbox this week. I've read it cover to cover twice already. Somebody help me!
So, here's what I'm thinking...Bible and health for Meg and Josie and then maybe the lifepac Bible for the littles and maybe Grammar, because Teddy has the whole auditory processing disorder thing going, he would do better with colorful printed things...Still thinking.
it's a sickness for me.

Have a great weekend, blog-friends!

stepping back onto the yoga mat

Yesterday, as I was getting ready for the day- I felt the need to stretch my legs a bit. Just a bit.

Then I moved into natarajasana- dancer's pose. My muscles remembered. My body was happy, "here is what I need!" my body seemed to sigh out.

As my arms stretched above my head, I thought about how as adults, having our arms stretched out, above our heads- is something we almost never experience. How very sad for us.

It felt good, stretching my muscles, my tendons, opening my heart, waking up my sleepy mind.

I slipped into the pose as deeply as I remembered, though it's been a year since I've practiced. I don't know what that says about my practice before..eek!

"Yoga practice is like life
Each circumstance in which we find ourselves is like a pose.
Some poses are hard to hold, others are pleasant.
It is how we hold the pose that determines whether or not we will suffer or grow
And whether or not we will listen to the drama of the ego or the wisdom of the spirit."

My yoga mat called, it misses me...

7 Quick Takes Friday, March 5

~1~
Birthday party for my baby girl, she is now 8 years old...where did the time go?
Smallish/medium party for her, family and a few friends. Lots of sugar. Everyone said I did a superb job, picking up the phone and ordering this cake! It was a white cake with white chocolate-chip frosting inside. Yum. Like I said, lots of sugar! :)

~2~
We have had more rain than we are used to here in So. Ca - about time, we really need it. The world was green today at the stables, Meg had a lesson. Beautiful!

~3~
Josie was moved to a different beginning sabre class, and it is only one day a week, not two days!
Less drive time for mom is a good thing.

~4~
We studied Vikings this week. We measured out a viking ship in the front yard.
80 ft by 16ft, who knew?

~5~
measured out a treasure map using a compass for our Classical Conversations class. I've never used a compass before, can you believe that? I had a blast...but it was the compass app on the iphone, does that really count?

~6~
Orange peel beef at P.F. Chang's China Bistro. Heaven.

~7~
finally figured out how to use the aperture setting on my camera- Eureka! Having much fun- before I figured this out, I was cheating and setting my camera on the little flower icon for a close up, which would blur the background some...but it wasn't the same.

I have to say it...I heart bokeh. I need more bokeh in my life.

7 Quick takes is hosted over at Conversion Diary.