To whom it may concern

I started this post way back in May. I've started it a thousand times since then. I've stewed, prayed, agonized and fasted and now it finally has an ending.

I wonder if any other parents out there struggle with being overly analytical, hypersensitive, and prone separation anxiety from their children?

This is really hard for me to admit. I'm sure that it is so blinking obvious to everyone else, but it's hard for me to admit. At least I'm not in denial, right?

Well, I'm going to let it all out with the hope that this may be helpful in some way to some one else.

ah hem....

To whom it may concern,

For the past two years, I have been homeschooling my children. They have been wonderful years and I will never regret the decision we made to do it. We started homeschooling because my husband was graduating and we knew we would be moving. Homeschooling allowed us the flexibility to move anywhere. It also allowed me to keep them on a similar curriculum to the school they had been attending. Most importantly, it gave us more time together.

After so much consideration and prayer, we have decided to go back to traditional school.

Everyone asks me why.

I never feel good about the answer I give them. There is just too much to say.

Most assume it is because it was too hard and I'm just giving up.

Honestly, I think traditional school is harder on a mom.

The answer I tell people is that it is just the right time and we're in the right place.

I've learned SO much from this experience. To those of you who say, "I could never homeschool my kids," let me say this:
you would if you felt compelled to. If you truly felt that it was the best choice for your child, you would find a way.

Homeschooling has become a lot more prevalent in the last few decades. A lot of people are worried about the tradition school system. There are SO many support groups and programs that make it so much easier to homeschool successfully.

Nevertheless, homeschooling isn't perfect and it isn't always the best choice. Rather, it isn't always the ONLY choice. We have to remember, there are a lot of good things happening still at our public schools.

Way back in May, I had this crazy dream that something happened to me and my husband and kids were left alone. I woke up panicked because I was everything to my kids. I'm not just trying to make myself look good, I was seriously everything; Their school teacher, piano teacher, cook, maid, best friend, etc. I thought of how unprepared I would leave them. I thought of how difficult it would be for Jeremy.

Crazy dream, I know. But it got the ball rolling. (I have pretty vivid dreams that almost always mean something, when I remember them.)

Next, my kids have the best primary teachers. They have the best cub scout leaders. I finally got Sam into piano lessons with the best teacher! These teachers and leaders have had such a marvelous influence on my kids. My kids feel really loved by them and it has made a difference in their lives.

I want them to be influenced by other great people! I have always been concerned about the influences around my children. Especially when they are so young. They are so impressionable. We let so much slide nowadays. Society teaches them subtly (and not subtly) that certain types of behavior are acceptable. Behaviors that I will not accept, that I know are not pleasing to my God. But sometimes I'm so concerned about other people's behavior that I can't see how faulty my own can be at times.

Oi vey. That could be a whole other post. Moving right along...

My two little ones, (especially my littlest), require a lot of attention still. They have not had nearly as much one-on-one time as my two oldest did at that age.

Oh friends, this has been so agonizing. There are more factors that came into play, but those are the big ones.

Prayer has made this easier. That, and the fact that my kids are really excited about school. So far they have been doing really well and are happy. Their teachers a super nice and patient with me. I feel good about this decision.

That doesn't mean it's been easy.

Last week when all the other mom's were celebrating, I was quietly crying in my pillow. I'm still crying in my pillow, but I'm trying so hard to prove to my husband that I don't need therapy. (But I might)

In sum, I love my children. They are my treasures. I love having them around me. I love learning with them and from them. We will still continue to, just in a different way. AND I'm not suggesting that if you celebrated last week you love your children any less! I've just got issues, clearly.

I am so thankful for the guidance of a wise and loving Heavenly Father, without which I would be a useless sack of potatoes, probably rotting in a corner somewhere.

I plan to write more about my loves and challenges with homeschooling as well as our new adventures in traditional school, for your reading pleasure.

I will say this right now, I strongly dislike the morning, off-to-school rush. I will dearly miss having my kids creep into my bed in the morning to snuggle and having German pancakes for lunch.

Sigh...

Sonja

Samuel!

The force is strong with this one.

Sam has recently become a Star Wars fan and of course, after reading and studying all about it may actually know more about the force than Yoda. While his friends enjoy Star Wars purely for entertainment, Sam knows every detail of the Naboo N1 Royal Star Fighter and just about every other ship. That's just the way he is. Which leads me to think he might be lead here:

someday.

Sam and Elise enjoyed engineering day last month at the University of Utah. It was a very well planned day of learning put together by the school of engineering for our homeschool group.

He's also been enjoying Cub Scouts so much. He has terrific leaders and good friends there. Last month he earned his Bear badge and is now a Webolo. He is looking forward to Webolo's camp in a few weeks.

We went rock climbing for Sam's birthday last month and Sam took to the walls like a nimble, fearless spider. He can't wait to go again!

Hours and Hours Outdoor

Oh glorious spring! How do we love thee? Let us count the ways:

We love the way you cover the bushes and trees with buds and blossoms.

We love working the land in our little yard.
We've been preparing our mud farm for hydro-seeding and
hope that it works and we have grass soon!

Ok, maybe not ALL of us love yard work.

We LOVE planing a garden and watching
the seeds and starts grow.

We love the surprises you bring.
We watched this little mother guide her 10 babies
through a couple of yards and into ours.
We don't live close to a big body of water
so we wondered where she might take them.
We never found out because we had to leave.

This was a surprise we found under our wading pool.
We think it's a quail egg.
Poor little quail egg.
For those of you who know Elise,
it's no surprise that she loves worms and
all creeping things.
Spring rains bring us plenty of worms.
Elise and Sam have quite a collection already of empty hornets nest,
various seeds, pine cones, egg shells, and dried flowers and leaves.

Oh! We love the mountains in spring.

We love to explore them.
Who is just waking up there?
A squirrel! We don't see a lot of squirrels in Utah.

We love to picnic under the shade of cottonwood trees
by the rushing spring rivers.
Throwing sticks is fun for some.
Mostly, we love being together.
Spring calls us outdoors, away from distractions,
and helps us to realize once again
our place in this magnificent world
our Father in Heaven created.

Fibroblasts are AWESOME!

We think Claire might be part Wolverine, she is healing SO fast.

It's been kind of fascinating to watch. I found some information online about the whole process at http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu and shared it with the kids and so now I'll share it with you.

Pay attention, there will be a test at the end.

The moment you cut or tear a blood vessel, the body's Superheros of Healing spring into action. Here's how healing works:

• First comes vasoconstriction — blood vessels leading to the wound tighten to reduce the flow of blood to the injured area.
• Platelets (triggered by enzymes leaked from the torn blood vessel) rush to the scene. These sticky blood cells clump to each other and then adhere to the sides of the torn blood vessel, making a plug.
• Clotting proteins in the blood join forces to form a fibrin net that holds the platelet plug in place over the tear, and in just a few seconds or minutes (depending on how bad the scrape is), BLEEDING STOPS, thanks to coagulation! The fibrin plug becomes a scab that will eventually fall off or be reabsorbed into the body once healing is complete.

Once bleeding has been controlled, the next step is stopping infection:

• The blood vessels that were constricted now dilate to bring white blood cells rushing to the scene. White blood cells engulf and destroy any germs that may have gotten into the body through the open wound.

When the enemies of blood loss and infection have been vanquished, the body turns its attention to healing and rebuilding:

• Fibroblasts (cells that are capable of forming skin and other tissue) gather at the site of injury and begin to produce collagen, which will eventually fill in the wound under the scab and create new capillaries to bring oxygen-rich blood to the recovering wound.
• Skin along the edges of the wound becomes thicker and then gradually migrates (or stretches) under the scab to the center of the wound, where it meets skin from the other side and forms a scar (about three weeks after the initial injury).
• Scar tissue will become stronger and fade gradually over the next several years as more collagen is added, but will only have about 80 percent of the strength of the original skin.

Not all wounds heal equally. Generally speaking, more serious wounds take longer to heal. Individual factors also influence how quickly your body is able to recover from a wound, including:

• Age — young'uns usually heal faster than older folks
• Nutrition — the body needs a good supply of vitamin C to make collagen
• Smoking — non-smokers, on average, heal more quickly than smokers
• Stress — large amounts of stress can delay the healing process
• Other infections or illnesses — diabetes, thyroid disease, high blood pressure, and poor circulation, for example, can decrease the body's ability to heal

We are hoping that Claire doesn't have any scars from this accident. It doesn't look like she will.

Saturday

Monday

Wednesday

Now, test your knowledge about the awesomeness that is your body

1. (true or false) Vasoconstriction is the widening of the blood vessels leading to the wound.

2. ___________ are triggered by enzymes leaked from the torn blood vessel.

3. (true or false) It takes a couple hours for the clotting proteins to form a fibrin net over the wound.

4. The blood vessels that were constricted now dilate to bring _____ ______ _____ rushing to the scene.

5. (true or false) Fibroblasts are cells that are capable of forming skin and other tissue.



answers
1. false
(Vasoconstriction is when blood vessels leading to the wound tighten to reduce the flow of blood to the injured area. )

2. Platelets

3. false
(In just a few seconds or minutes (depending on how bad the scrape is), BLEEDING STOPS, thanks to coagulation!)

4. white blood cells

5. true


How'd you do? Don't you think our bodies are AMAZING?

Open House: March

March has definitely come in like a lion, weather-wise. We've had some big windstorms and after a week of nicer weather, we woke up one morning this week to snow!!

We've also been rather lion-ish with our school and extra curricular stuff too. The days are flying by and filled with so much.

For the record, here is some evidence of our academic progress:

Samples of writing from Elise:


She is learning cursive and is pretty excited about it.


Some of Sam's writing:





We are studying plants and roots. We are looking forward to planing our garden this spring and are hoping that we have more success than last year. The stars were aligned against us, what with the gopher and the neighbor's wall.

So, these are not the best pictures. Taken waaay too late at night, but it's the only time I get a quiet moment to compose this, you know?

It is fascinating to me, that plain old potatoes can grow these roots so fast. These potatoes were put in water about 2 weeks ago.


Check out the awesome complexity. The kids have been so excited to see the change everyday. Can you see the root hairs? Amazing! The cells know what to do! Just a little water and sunlight and a miracle takes place. The kids are working on a poster that will chart the progress of these potatoes.



We've also been doing some map work.




And we are official members of the Nation Geographic Society. Sam especially likes to read these magazines.


Speaking of reading and what Sam likes, here are some of the books he's currently devouring:



And Elise's:


And I got thinking about how many books we have. Quite a few. A lot are still in boxes.





Sam and Elise are both doing well in Math.
Sam is on Lesson 80 in Saxon 5/6 and learning about prime and composite numbers.
Elise is on Lesson 67 in Saxon 3 and is learning to square numbers and identify perfect squares.

We are also doing Latin, Art, and Music. Sporadically, but we are doing it. Sam and Elise are both practicing the piano. Sam has been enjoying it more and more. He will be playing for a talent show at the end of the month. Elise will be singing and Claire will do a little gymnastics routine.

We got to go see "A Year with Frog and Toad" and the Scera Theater. We really enjoyed it. On the way home, Elise said: "Mom I want to be in a play!" So, we are looking at some summer programs.


We also went to the zoo on "Homeschool Day and the Zoo." It was packed, but every one was so nice. The kids had a great time meeting new friends.


In the midst of all the activities, schooling, and daily routines, the impossible happened. Jeremy and I actually went on a date. You know, the good kind where you wear nice clothes, put on make-up and do your hair.

We went to the Addy's Gala and Banquet (doesn't that sound fancy?), where his team received an award for some of their work. I was very proud. I had some excellent shrimp. It was lovely. It was a good reminder to remember my husband. I am so very busy with the kids. They are constantly on my mind and they take up a huge chunk of my heart. But my husband has claims on it too.

We are going to go out more often.



Can't believe it will be 12 years in June.









Our cute babysitter did some fun crafts with the kids while we were gone.


And now they are planning their leprechaun traps!


So...this month came in like a Lion. I'm hoping it goes out like a Lamb!

Fun at the Homeschool Valentine's Skating Party

Some neat quotes on this day of love:

Who has not found the heaven below
Will fail of it above.
God's residence is next to min,
His furniture is love.
--Emily Dickinson

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.
--Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


After all these years, I see that I was mistaken
about Eve in the beginning;
it is better to live outside the Garden with her
than inside it without her.
--Adam, in Adam's Diary
by Mark Twain

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
--Mother Theresa

Where there is great love, there are always miracles.
--Willa Cather