Monday, June 30, 2014

Pictures!!!!

Some Memorial Day fun
This is Rebekah, a friend's daughter. Silly girl!
The boys playing in the water
My best friend, Alicia
All the adults hanging out after eating
Jayden looking studly
Kail showing off his water gun
Elijah (Alicia's son) roasting marshmallows
Stacey looking cute and eating a s'more
Miss Candace. Love her!
The men playing some card game

It's been a while

Well, it's been quite a while since I last wrote a blog. We've been busy over the last year and a half. The most recent things to write about are that this is the summer time! I'm pretty excited about summer because that means that the kids are home and we can spend lots of time with friends and having fun. I've also started homeschooling the kids. This is our trial run for homeschool. Stacey will return to public school in September and start middle school by choice. The boys will have the option to stay home and be homeschooled or to go to public school. So far, they are both opting for homeschool.

It has been a very interesting road to walk with homeschool. There are days I feel very overwhelmed with the information I need to put into their heads and days when I remember that I don't need the strict guidelines of the public school and that I can teach them what I/they want how I want to and when I want to. We can also take a lot more field trips. I'm also learning that I can turn most situations into a learning moment. Jason opened up savings accounts for the boys and I've taken them a few times to do deposits into those accounts. I've taught them how to fill out a deposit slip.

The life skills they will learn from homeschool are likely coming faster than if they were to stay in public school. I can teach them as things arise while they may have to wait until certain grades or moments in the year to learn them. I am, of course, still having them learn the basics. It's required by the state. I have to do annual testing as well for them. I'm okay with that. I'm also having them learn a second language. They each decided to learn a different one from the others. Stacey is learning French, Jayden is learning Italian, and Kail is learning Spanish. It's been interesting, but fun to watch them grow.

I'm sure there are a few of you reading this and wondering why Stacey will go to public school, but the boys won't. Here's why. Stacey thrives in public school. Every teacher she's ever had praises her. She is well adjusted socially and her grades are B's and higher, except in math. She even got into advanced English in middle school. She loves school and loves the environment. The boys are not so well adjusted. They are both extremely smart, but they don't do things in a timely manner. Jayden almost completely refuses to do any sort of writing work, not because he can't, but because he doesn't like it. Kail struggles with social interactions. He's a very social person and loves to talk to people and joke around. He's just not good at sitting down and listening to the teacher. He also acts out quite a bit when he's feeling abandoned by Jason working long hours. I can now see what Kail is doing during his social interactions and make sure that his behavior is corrected instead of sending him to the "corner" and hoping he'll figure it out on his own.

Both boys have started showing improvements in their actions. They both enjoy the language and love the math website. They also do pretty well with the workbooks we have for them. Stacey is doing well too and I'm hoping that this little bit during the summer will boost her math scores and help her in French when the school year starts.

Stacey also gets to go to Young Women's girls camp this year. Although she won't be 12 by then, the stake is allowing her and others girls who are turning 12 this year to go. She is really looking forward to that. This week the ward is doing a day camp fund raiser. The YW go to the church and help out to raise the money for camp. They have each day themed. Today is Superhero/Princess Day. Tomorrow is Sports/Dance Day, Wednesday is water day, and Thursday is Safari Day. I'm sending the boys on Wednesday because they sure love to play in water. Stacey only needed to do one day of volunteering, but she wants to be there everyday to help out and I'm not going to deny her that.

Jayden has become quite the helper too. If I ask for help or make mention of something being out of place, he'll jump up and do it. He's so good! It's really nice to see him open up. It seems as if he's been closed off for some time, but now he's opening up and letting his amazing personality shine. He's also turned out to be a pretty good painter. I asked if he wanted to take an art class and he said no because he wants to draw what he wants to draw. I'm still working on getting him to do one. He may turn out to be an awe inspiring artist.

Kail is a silly, inventive little monster who adores his family. He loves to joke around and be silly. He's always trying to make people laugh. He uses his Trio blocks to build different weapons. Mostly guns. Yes, I know, weapons are not good, but he does not use them on anyone. If he's shooting or stabbing, it's at pretend "bad guys". He loves to draw and play video games, but he loves to be outside too. He adores his daddy. If Jason would let him, Kail would go to work with him everyday. One thing Kail got for Christmas was a tool box and some tools. He loves building things, we just need to get him some things to build with his tools.

I did my first bike race on the 21st. It was pretty crazy. I was getting over a summer cold and I still raced the 30 miles on gravel. You can see a picture of me on Facebook from Banjo Brothers which is a company that makes bags and gear for cyclist. I won the backpack for being way over my head. Honestly, I went into the race knowing I wasn't going to set any sort of records and I was not going to be upset for coming in last because I actually completed the race. It was the longest I've ever ridden, but certainly the most rewarding. I'm not a quick cyclist, but I'm consistent and I am improving.

Jason is still working long hours because of it being the beginning of A/C season. He's trained in a few other people, but they mostly do installs. There are two others who do diagnostics and recharges, but he is still the final say on diagnostics. He runs all over the metro area all day long fixing, diagnosing, and troubleshooting A/C's. He actually is now getting over Shingles and is also having insomnia. The poor guy. He's getting better, though. He's just been really, really stressed.

Those have been our fun filled summer days so far. I'll be adding more pictures hopefully soon.