Synergy

One of the things I love most about homeschooling, is the synergy you get when all your energy is focused toward a single goal - introducing my boys to Life.  It's amazing how you can weave things together when you are the primary director of their education.  Not that I need to be their sole resource for learning, but I am the one mapping out the best plan for them to learn and grow based on their individual needs and our family's beliefs.

One of the things we struggled with last year, when the boys were in school, was not jut relying on our Church to teach the boys their faith, but incorporating that as a family.  I'm sorry to say that besides some prayers, the fleeting curious conversation, or singing "Jesus Loves Me" before bedtime, our intentionality in this area was minimal.  Yet somehow, through God's grace, Hayden accepted Christ last year, despite my bungling, thanks to our awesome children's ministry teachers.

One of my goals this year is to be more intentional in this area and incorporate God in our lessons. So far, this has been one of my favorite parts of our studying.  I love science, and it's so fun to show off God's creation through the lens of science.  They are at an age where they are just amazed and curious about everything.  Science is quickly becoming one of their favorite times.

The last two weeks we started off in Genesis talking about God's Spirit hovering over the water and how everything was formless.  What a great segue into a science unit on water! We talked about the states of water, density, and did some fun experiments with sinking/floating, created our own Lego boats to find out which ones would float and even made an "ocean in a bottle" with oil, water, and food coloring.  Such fun!

This week we've moved into God creating light and darkness, so I've lined up some awesome fun with light, spectrum, rainbows, and even a sun dial!  I love being able to bring an often heard passage to life by showing and explaining how God's creation works. 
 

Beginning of Our Journey

This year we embarked on our homeschooling journey with a 1st Grader and Kindergartener!  One of the questions I get most often is "Why?"  But the reasons for homeschooling are so varied for each family and often can't be summed up in one thought.  I think it's a decision each family needs to make on their own - and depending on the family and life circumstances, that answer isn't going to always come out the same.

We have friends who homeschool, attend private and public schools, go to charter schools, attend co-ops, and even the university model - and so the "why" and "how" is not really a meaningful discussion, as I believe each family must come to their decision on their own.

It's the experiences that matter the most, and that's what I intend to share.  And I believe those experiences can happen in any environment given the right circumstances!

We actually started our "school" 3 weeks ago, so here are some of our "first day" pictures!

The End of a Season

Today is the end of a very long season - our season of Corbin's therapy!  Since he was 9 months old he has had some form of therapy going on - Occupational, Physical, or Speech.  And now almost four years later, he's done!

Sure, he still has some "maintenance" work to do, but he is now within normal ranges - I'm so proud of him.  He's worked so hard to get here.  For years, we did 4 hours of therapy a week.  More recently it's been only 3 hours - but still!  That's a big chunk of time.  And he was a trooper through all of it, although he had his good days and bad days.

And, of course, we ended on one of those bad days, HA!  I was hoping for a happy goodbye, but instead I got tantrums and screaming...oh well.  He has one therapist he just doesn't click well with and every time he gets them we have an issue.  Today was no exception and we left the office kicking, screaming, and with me holding him like a football and hurrying towards the car.

Definitely one of the few times where the phrase, "mommy needs a drink" comes to mind.  He screamed the whole way home and then some.  And after a nap, he was back to sweet Corbin.

He is truly one of those kids that needs sleep to function.  Moms always say that, even I used to say that sleep affected Hayden's mood, but this is no comparison.  Corbin literally cannot function emotionally without enough sleep.  He can't process any disappointment or correction and melts down at the drop of a hat!  Any attempts at discipline only escalate the issue.  He's even learned now that he has this issue and will put himself to bed on those days.

Oh Corbin!  You definitely keep me on my toes!!