First Day of School!

We finally made it to this day. I never thought it was going to come. But I also was not wanting it to come at the same time. Does that make sense?

Life is crazy right now. And I see no end in sight for it. Just as I start to get a good routine down, we add one more thing to our life.

This time it's soccer.

The two older boys are both old enough to play "competitive" soccer. Which means, a night of practice each, one Saturday soccer game each, and twice the cost! Plus, they are in different age brackets. Different teams, different game schedule, different parks. 😱

Please don't ask how we are going to do it. I have no idea but to just try. My husband will head coach one team with a friend who has a child in the same age group and assistant coach the other with different friend who has a child in the same age bracket as well. We are hoping to schedule practices on the same day, at the same park, and hopefully one right after the other. That way I rarely have to go to practices. And I can just help out at games.

So now that the boys are signed up for it and we have a plan somewhat in place. I was finally able to sit down and get school planned out. Well, let's be honest. I was able to sit down and get the FIRST DAY planned out.

This year is different. I have a first grader that is taking on the same curriculum as his older brother. So teaching at the same time just may not work out like it did last year. Independent work will take a few weeks to start happening for my 6 year old. And my oldest is learning new math concepts and writing techniques. Multiplication and cursive writing have entered our home.

Let's just say the day did not start well for my oldest. But my 1st grader was super excited to finally do school "like his brother". 💓 My older son is just too much of a perfectionist. And having to learn new concepts stresses him out so much it takes a while for him to get out of his funk. Thankfully, he was able to get there. Once he realized that he knew multiplication and saw how easy it was for him, he was able to get on track. And spelling and reading right now are just review so that helps a ton just having to introduce one new thing at a time for him.

I have only ordered half of our curriculum to get us started and I will order the rest of it as this month progresses. But moving slow like this will be good for now. Having a baby to hold sometimes, finding time to work at my job and trying to keep both boys focused so we are not having to spend all day doing school is going to be a learning process for me. I would love to eventually get to a place where we can do school altogether and not have to spend my day teaching one in the morning and one in the afternoon. That just won't work for me. Any tips out there are greatly appreciated!

I can't wait to share this new phase/journey with all of you! I need an outlet you are it! ENJOY!

***And yes, we did school in our pajamas!

Donna

A 2nd go???

Its been 3 years since I wrote my last blog post.

What happened???

So much!

Let me begin with yes, I am still homeschooling. Yes, I will be starting my 4th year of it. My oldest son will be 9 this year and starting 3rd grade. My MIDDLE son is 6 and starting 1st grade.

That's right folks! You heard me correctly! I said my middle son. 3 years ago I had only 2 boys. Now I have 3! This past February I gave birth to our 3rd son. He is beautiful!

This post will be a catch up. It will be a fill in the blanks/last 3 years post. If you follow me on Instagram then you know what I have been up to.

But I am going to try my hand to keep up my Facebook account, email account, blog and Instagram.

Since the last blog...

I am no longer a stay at home mom. A year after being a SAHM and after my first full year of homeschooling, the Lord laid it on my heart to go back to work. A job I love. A job that I have a
passion for. I have been a youth pastor/volunteer for the last 18 years. I was volunteering in our youth ministry at church when I was approached to head up the Jr. High group. I spent 6 months praying about it and felt complete peace over it. So I started in June of 2015 and I have been doing it ever since. I can work from home or I can take my kids to the church and I can work there. I am only part time so that is also a huge benefit. I am so thankful that my church has been completely flexible with me so I can still serve on staff there.

My husband has been a great source of encouragement and support for me. I am a working homeschool mom of 3 but before all of that I am a wife to an amazing man that wants to see me succeed at it all.

So now onto our baby. He is a what we are calling our "surprise blessing". Not necessarily unplanned or unexpected. But we had been wanting to get pregnant for 3 years with no success. Then, right as we started to pray more seriously about adoption, those two pink lines showed up!!! And 39.5 weeks later, this guy showed up. He is our little happy, easy going baby bundle of joy!

So now in our tiny home that we still live in. We are going to attempt to homeschool 2 boys, watch our baby boy start to become more mobile and expressive, serve on staff at our church, play soccer with my husband every week (that's a riot to watch), and continue to see where God takes us!

Stay tuned...

Donna