Back To (Home)School

 So this is Finn senior year.  I cant even believe it. 

when I started our homeschool journey 4 years ago I never imagined it would become what it has.  He really fought it the first few months.  I was unfair. Mean. I just didnt understand. Why was i doing this to him?  He just wanted to be with his friends...

by the end of the first semester he realized just how much he liked homeschool.  I wasnt breathing down his neck 24/7. I let him go at his own pace.  I found fun videos and documentaries and movies to go along with what he was studying. He was able to concentrate and get done quickly and have the rest of the day to be a kid and play. He wasnt distracted by all the drama and gossip and shenanigans of High School. He still saw his friends after school he still went to scouts and youth group and for a time robotics.  after a year we did the end of year testing.  He scored off the charts. His brother did too, and he had some pretty serious learning issues and handicaps.   His sophomore year we asked "Would you like to go back to Public School or stay in homeschool?  He immediately answered "Homeschool".  He admitted he liked not having all the distractions, he didnt miss the bullying and garbage that tends to go on. He liked being able to pick a subject he was interested in and just really go for it.  He showed an interest in computer programming and just did a ton of self study and has really become quite skilled in various programming languages, and has even submitted a bunch of games to various platforms!  I am super proud of him.

This year, after the death of his brother, we decided to pack up and leave NC for the wonderful wilds of Boise ID.  Turns out ID is a GREAT state to homeschool.  It is very similar to NC, in that parents are fully responsible for any education and can tailor any program to their childs needs.  I am definitely an "UNSCHOOL METHOD" kind of mom.  I dont have a super strict set course. We have our core stuff we have to do, but basically I provide him with the tools and he decides his pace and he decides his curriculum.  As long as it falls in the graduation guidelines I am A-OK with it.  He has proven himself to be very  ambitious with his interests and learning.  we have done everything from guitar, to computer programming, to robotics to bible study. This  year we are learning self defense and setting up a stream on his computer so he can learn social media and networking skills.  It will also go  towards his english requirements because it involves public speaking, and coming up with ideas and scripts.  I think I may also have him do a typing tutor type thing.  He is always trying to learn and do something new, and I am always willing to let him try.  I am super proud of how well he has done.

I cant believe this is his last year.  So in our new house he has a great bedroom. Our house is WAY bigger than our old house in NC and we have so much room for him to spread out and really set up a great space for his work.  I got him a corner desk to work from.  He set up his laptops, he has a tripod for his camera and a ring light as well. He uses that for his streaming.  He has a microphone for his streaming as well.  He talked me into getting him some LED strips to go around the top of his room. They change colors and can be set up to flash to different music or sounds.  His room is really cool!  He is getting a large whiteboard for logistics and schedules etc.  He has it all set up just how he likes and it is pretty cool.   I have included links for all products we got for his homeschool set-up and streaming, feel free to click and check it out!

As an affiliate I may make a small commission on qualifying purchases.

BACK TO SCHOOL!!

Hallelujah, Glory Hallelujah.

MY KIDS ARE BACK IN SCHOOL!!!
No more
"mom, Im bored"
"mom can I play the wii?"
"mom can you take us to the pool?"
"mom, I dont want to do  my chores"
"Mom I dont want to read a book"
"mom, Im Hungry"(ugh if I heard that again I was going to lose my s***)
mom...mom...mom...mom...mom.

I actually danced a little jig...

It's that time of year again...

Oh my dear FAFSA form...why do you stare at me and say "Oh for crying out loud! Just get out your tax information and fill me out already!! Do you want to go to school or not? Do you want federal aid and grant money??"

For paper it sure is opinionated

I LOATHE FAFSA time.
I would rather scrub the toilets bare handed than sit and fill out all the FAFSA information.

But on the plus side i SHOULD be getting more money this year than I did last year. So all in all it can't be bad. I just hate actually doing it.

blech.

My Big Kindergartener

A Huge Congratulations to my Finn Finn.

He started Kindergarten yesterday. Honestly I thought the day would never come.

The house was peaceful.

The TV was off. The radio was off. The house was QUIET.

I didnt have to watch him on the trampoline and yell "great trick" every 5 seconds.

I didnt have to make pasta, ramen, spaghetti-O's or Macaroni an Cheese for lunch.

So, I dropped my little one off at his classroom, watched him skip happily inside and start his first day.

Life is good.

Where did all these clothes come from??

So this past week I have been getting ready for "BACK TO SCHOOL".
I went shopping for new clothes, found some really great deals at Kohls and Old Navy and I think I am really ready to get them out of the house.
Well I started to put away all their new goodies into the drawers and realized I have NO ROOM in the dressers for these things!!
. Where did they get so many clothes??
WHY do I have 47 pairs of kids socks??(and they are ALL DIFFERENT!! I have about 6 different kinds of white socks for them) I can tell which ones are finns because the bottoms are that carolina red clay rust color. He likes to run outside with no shoes on and even the oxy clean cant get out red dirt stains. So I had to buy MORE SOCKS to add to my already overwhelming sock problem.

So I decided that today was a "get rid of clothing that no longer fits" day. I have a huge problem with getting around to donating stuff. I tend to be lazy when it comes to actually de-junking clothing. I had a pair of pants from COLLEGE I was loathe to get rid of because they were still nice and who knows, someday I might need a pair of size 10 mauve linen pants. Yes, I said Mauve Linen pants. They were from Eddie Bauers and they were awesome. Never mind that they were 13 years old and I wore them to my Bridal Shower in Illinois back in 1997. I miss them already.

On a related side note:
If anyone wants size 4 and 5 T-shirts and maybe a few size 4 pants, please let me know. Most of it is still in really good condition. I will hold onto them until Saturday, if I dont have any takers then I will drop them at Goodwill.

Wish me luck in my dejunking!

2 weeks until school starts!!

Can you tell I am counting down to school starting back up??

I love my boys. i really do. But they drive me crazy.

Yesterday was a "getting ready to go back to school" day. I am actually giddy about it. I always loved going shopping with my mom and buying school supplies. That was the one day of summer I really looked forward to,. It made me excited for class and a new teacher and new friends. There is something so unexplainable about the newness of the supplies. The sharp pointy crayons. The pencils with erasers still intact. A brand new trapper keeper with the crisp ZIP sound still in the velcro and the perfect shiny folders inside. The rubbery smell of the pink pearl erasers. It was almost a rush for my younger self.

930 AM:
Finn had his 5 year physical and dr appointment. he had to have it before he started school.
His regular pediatrician Dr. R ____ was booked. So we had to see a new dr who just started at the practice. So we are waiting and Dr. B_______ walks in and says "I know your brother, Finn!"
She had done her residency at UNC and took care of Peter pre and post transplant and had been on call if he went in for treatment etc. She said "I remember seeing you when you were just a little guy coming to visit your brother!" So it was nice to have a familiar face.
BUT poor little guy had to have 5 shots. DTP, Hep A, MMR, Polio and Varicella. But he was a trooper...although refused to talk to me for about 2 hours. Boy was he mad. But he milked it for his grandma. "I got 5 shots and they hurt. I cried and cried. my arm still hurts...cough cough" (I dont know why giving him shots would make him cough)
But to make up for the injustices of it all we let him choose where he wanted to go to lunch. yesterday was Charles day off and since Finns birthday is Friday we made this his birthday choice and he was happy with it.

400pm:
My mom, the boys and I all went to walmart to get school supplies. Having one kid in school was expensive enough. Now having TWO is double the trouble. And they each had a list a mile long of things needed.)
#2 pencils, chubby pencils, crayons, fat crayons, colored pencils, markers, erasers, glue sticks(the big fat ones),tennis balls, a ream of paper each, various sizes of zip lock bags, clorox wipes and hand sanitizer, folders, composition notebooks, baby wipes, kleenex , scissors, pencil boxes, highlighters, dry erase markers blah blah blah.
so 72$ and a kitchen full of school supplies later I am having quite the time sorting them out.

TODAY:
I am going thorough their clothes drawers. They have plenty of jeans and shorts. but MANY of their shirts are too small now. My boys grow long in the torso. SO the pants still fit, but the shirts are now half shirts a la Homer Simpson. So i have some clothes shopping to get done as well. Another excuse to spend money!!

I know I will miss them once they are gone, but right now I am impatient to get them out of the house!! I am so tired of fighting over Transformers and fighting over who plays the video games and fighting on the trampoline and fighting at the pool and fighting on the computer and fighting about taking the dog for a walk. I am tired of Peter telling Finn what to say and how to play. i am tired of Finn trying his darndest to get Peter in trouble.
i am so sick of hearing "Im Thirsty!" or "Peter hit me!" or Peters saying "Fine Finn! You wont play it my way? Then I quit!" GAH shut up shut up shutupshutupshutup.

Lord grant me patience to last two more weeks.

My week in a nutshell

Just a few things from this week

THE POOL

1. Just because they make a bikini in your size, that does not mean you should wear it.

2. Girl in the orange floral bikini- YOU need a bikini that is 2 times BIGGER. Your bottoms are so tight you have a muffin top. Your top is so small your giant bazoongas are popping out like Pam Anderson. I have kids and would prefer pimply lifeguard to pay attention to them instead of trying to sneak a peek at your girls unleashed.

3. Boys who think they are studly- White bathing trunks are see through. You arent as impressive as you THINK you are.

4. If you are as hairy as a silverback gorilla, I suggest investing in some back wax. Seriously. Your girls can ride you like a bareback horse, grabbing your back hair as they would a horses mane.

5. To the snotty, overskinny, REALLY white lady in the ugly bikini and stupid Bug eye sunglasses: yes my kid threw up. He swallowed water which made him gag and he was running to the bathroom when it all came out. At least it was on the sidewalk and NOT in the pool. At least I put chairs around it and told someone and asked if I could help clean it up. They told me not to worry about it. So dont sit there in the snack area moaning and complaining and being completely ugly about it. I know you did not realize it was me, but when you call my kid germy and disgusting, it's personal. He was not sick from the flu. He was not germy from some sort of disease that I ("what kind of mother brings their sick kid to the pool and then makes someone else clean it up-she should be shot") didnt have him innoculated against. We were swimming in the deep end together and playing around. He swallowed too much water and it made him throw up. Your kid isnt going to get Hepatitis or any other germ that us white trash mothers let our kids get. So dont think I didnt hear you and immeditely place you and your friend on my poop list.

SALSA: I made salsa yesterday. I wish I could say it was from my garden, but it wasnt. We were really hankering for some good salsa. So here is Salsa Making 101. I dont really have any set measurments.

I dice a TON tomatoes and add a large can of whole tomatoes(drained). I would say probably 10 cups of diced tomatoes. I used 3/4 of a LARGE sweet onion, chopped pretty well. I added 3 chopped jalapenos, a TON of garlic(about 4 TBSP), and eyeballed the cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper. I added juice from 1/2 a large lemon as well.

Mix together and I used an immersion hand blender to semi-puree it until It looked like this:

Put into a large container, or containers, and put in fridge. Let it sit for at least 24 hours before eating it and making adjustments.

The jalapenos were really potent and the oils from the peppers stayed on my hands and made my whole night pretty miserable. My hands and nails and nailbeds were on fire. I tired everything. I even googled solutions. I tried rubbing a lemon on them. I tired pouring vinegar over them. I tried using dishsoap with no water. I even rubbed my hands with a piece of dry bread. It really was miserable.

SCHOOL:

today is Peters last day of school. I mean he has school on Monday, but they are just having parties and pizza etc.
We have a busy sumemr ahead of us and then at the End of August Peter goes into 2nd grade and Finn starts Kindergarten.

CLEANING:

Well I got the craft/computer room done. I then decided to get a little crazy and re-arrange some things in the family room. It looks much better PLUS It forced me to organize my bookshelves and vacuum around Jakes crate.


FREECYCLE:
We got rid of 2 tables, a Total Body Gym, an old computer, a Web Cam and have a few other things listed . They will be getting a good home instead of going into a landfill and I dont have to haul myself over to goodwill (a whole 3 miles).
Next I will be tackling the guest bedroom... THAT will be a chore.


So that was a portion of my week. Hopefully next week will be a little more exciting. Happy weekend!