Fears of Home school

When I went back through and read my post about our decision to home school the boys, I realized that I sounded very confident about home schooling. I am confident with our decision, but I still have some fears and "what if's" that keep bugging me. Maybe someone can help me out with them. Feel free to leave the number of a good therapist if you know one.

1. Will I be too hard or too easy with my kids? With no other students to compare them too, how will I know if they are working to their full potential. On the flip side, what if my expectations are too great or above their capabilities?

2. Are my kids missing out? I was a kinda sad that my kids were not going to have a "1st day of school" this year. I can remember as a kid hardly being able to go to sleep the night before school started because I was so excited. Getting a new back pack and school supplies, picking out new clothes and shoes, meeting my new teacher in freshly decorated classroom are all a big part of my childhood, am I cheating them by not letting them have the same memories?

3. There is so much I want my kids to learn, where do I begin? I think I need to stick to a curriculum for Language arts and math, but what about history and science? Should we learn a little about a several science topics or really delve deeply into just a few. Where do we begin with history? Abeka starts with American, which I like. Some curriculums believe a chronological study is better and actually start with creation, I like that too. ?????

4. Did I choose the right curriculum? I originally thought I would just stay with the Abeka home schooling curriculum. The boys have been using Abeka since kindergarten and have done extremely well with it. Once I started looking into it, I quickly found out that there is a lot of really good stuff out there. Which one is best for them? Which one is best for me?

5. Will I be able to motivate my kids? Without the friendly competition of other students will my boys try as hard at home as they normally would in a classroom setting? Do they need the affirmation of an actual teacher on order to have a feeling of accomplishment?

My biggest fear is that my home schooling adventure will ignite into a raging ball of flames, with me as the pyromaniac.

Homeschooling? For Real?

I mentioned in a previous post that we had made the decision to home school the boys this year. Just in case you're wondering why in the cornbread world we would decide to do that, here are our reasons. Not necessarily in order of importance, just the way they popped into and out of my head.

1. I don't feel like the whole school schedule (7:55 to 3:30) is conducive to a Pentecostal lifestyle. As most of you know, there always seems to be something going on (revivals, Easter plays, conferences, Bible quizzing). My kids were rarely getting to bed on time and I felt like I was sending sleep deprived zombies to school for 7 hrs a day. I really, really, think it's important for kids to get adequate sleep. There's tons of info about it online to back me up.

2. My kids' teachers were getting the best of them everyday. I get to wake up the sleep deprived zombies and rush them out the door every morning. By the time we get to school, they are finally awake, no longer whining and ready to go. When I pick them up, there are tired, sweaty, hungry and mentally wiped out. I've missed them throughout the day and would like to talk about their school day, find out what they learned and spend some time with them. They just want to veg out.

3. My boys really, really don't like school. I know that kids don't usually like school, but seriously, my boys hate it. The traditional classroom is not designed for wormy, squirmy boys - at all. I highly recommend the book Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James Dobson. He discusses how schools are geared more toward girls than boys.

4. Bible Quizzing was going out the window this year if I did not home school. It is extremely difficult to squeeze Bible Quizzing, a school schedule and church activities into our life. See reason #2. The boys do not want to spend anymore time studying on school days.

5. I can choose a curriculum and schedule that suits my boys' learning styles and interests.

6. The boys will have time for music lessons. Karter wants to play the trumpet and Kenson would like to learn to play the drums.

7. I enjoy being with my kids.

8. Private school tuition was a strain on our finances. Our church school is very reasonably priced, but it still was not easy for us with only one income.

9. They can learn more in less time each day. It takes less time to teach one child than a group. We can actually get our core lessons completed each day in about 3 hours. I will be adding in some electives as our school year progresses.

10. Shawn and I have spent a lot of time in prayer and we feel like God has led us in this direction.

These are just some of the reasons, I could go on, but I'll stop here. This is not something that we have just decided on a whim. I've been tossing the idea around for over a year now. Shawn and I have spent a lot of time discussing and praying about the right decision. We hope we are doing what's best for our kids. Our church's private school is good, but would home schooling be better?

We're going find out.

Cheese Puffs

I just feel like I need to get something off my chest, ok?

I have a weakness for cheese puffs.

There! I said it! I don't care if the whole world knows!

I. Love. Cheese Puffs!!!

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, please understand that while I looove the crunchy, puffy, cheeseyness of Cheese Puffs, I don't eat them. It has probably been like 3 or 4 years since I have bought cheese puffs. It just seems like something is wrong with them. They taste great, but how do you really make cheese puffs? Should we really be eating something that in no way, shape or form resembles a natural product? Even the cheese doesn't taste like real cheese.

So, I was at the grocery store the other day and I was hungry. I know, you're never supposed to go to the grocery store hungry, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Anyway, I saw the cheese puffs and the cheese puffs saw me and they wanted so very badly to come home with me and they did. Still love me?

When I got home, I opened the bag and was happily munching on my cheese puffs while I was putting the groceries way. I would not allow myself to think about all the artificial this and color #45, and preservative 502 that make up cheese puffs. My little dog was standing there, wagging her tail and begging me for one of my puffs. Well, I love my little dog, so of course I gave her one. She sniffed it for a sec, then gingerly took it from my hand and spit it out. This is the dog that eats socks for crying out loud! (I'll have to post about that at a later date)

Even she knows Cheese Puffs are not fit for consumption.

HELP!

Somebody pleeease rescue me from the recesses of my tortured mind!

I have My Arms are Broken by Tim Hawkins STUCK in my head!

Please.

Send.

Help.

Now.

Thank you.

Arkansas

This is Shawn checkin in. I recently made a quick jot back to Little Rock for a music conference called Newsong. The conference was informative and motivating. The church that put it on was First Pentecostal Church of North Little Rock (Pastor Joel Holmes). The church was amazing. Here are a few shots that I took with my phone. We did one of the songs we learned there Sunday night at church. It's called The Blood Still Works (Malcom Williams & Great Faith). I have the vocals and the chord sheet if anyone wants it. I will check back in later in between Melissa's postings.

Sleep! Glorious Sleep!

Sleep is like the unicorn - it is rumored to exist, but I doubt I will see any.

I found this quote on line and it pretty much describes how I have felt since Kohen was born. He is a horrible sleeper. I expect babies to wake up once or twice to eat at night, but he's been a little excessive.

With that said, I just want to thank the Lord with all my heart because the little, precious, schmootzie pooh SLEPT ALL NIGHT!

That's right folks, he didn't wake up until 6 a.m. to eat. He then went right back to sleep and he is still sleeping at 9:00. It was wonderful!

Of course, I still didn't sleep because my mommy sense was tingling telling me to check on him 5 or 6 times. I'm sure if he can keep it up I can beat my mommy sense to smithereens and get some much needed sleep.

Melissa

There really is not very much to update about myself.

I do laundry, sometimes.

Pick up every one's stuff around the house, sometimes.

Clean the bathrooms, when I feel like it.

Mop the floors, every now and then.

And I occasionally vacuum.

Vacuum is a really strange word, huh? Why isn't it Vacume or even Vackume? Maybe someone can leave a comment and let me know why Hooked on Phonics didn't work for vacuum.

I did start sewing lessons with Sis. Jenkins. She really is an awesome seamstress. If you need any sewing done, you should look her up. If I can sew anything of merit, I'll post it. She has helped me make a skirt that turned out way better than I thought it would. I would really like to sew a number of things, its just finding the time. Not just time, but without kid time. The big boys aren't a problem, but Mr. Kohen is at a very curious stage and spends most of his days exploring our home. Toilets, dog food, tiny chokeable toys and the "God only knows where he got that" stuff keep us both busy. No time for sewing.

I decided to home school the boys this year, I'll post the why's and wherefor's later.

In May, My lovely sister got married and had a pretty beach side wedding.

We made these bouquets, they turned out nice, huh?

Kenson and Karter

I decided to write Kenson and Karter's update together since they typically do the same things.

2010 has been a great year for the boys so far. No major illnesses, accidents, or broken bones.

Kenson turned 8 in February and he had a sleep over with his buddies.

From Left to Right: Caden, Mike, Ethen, Kenson, Landon, Karter. Back Right: Kohen. Center: Polly

We went to Lego Land in March. All of the rides are pretty much geared for younger kids. This was perfect for the boys. These two are the biggest chickens EVER! The display behind them is made entirely of Legos. It's a race track complete with race cars and a huge crowd in the grandstand. The people in the grandstand are made out of Legos too. The detail is incredible.

They both received "A" Honor Roll in school this year and Sis. Casey survived having both of them in her class... at the same time...everyday. She's a saint.

I'm really excited to report that they actually completed a year of Bible quizzing. Now, they didn't learn all of the verses, but we did hang in there and went to the last tournament. They were supposed to learn 183 verses and I think we ended up learning somewhere in the 130's. I say "we" because as every BQ parent in the Beginner division knows, these little guys don't learn verses on their own. :-) Is anyone proud of ME for learning 130 something verses? huh? Guess not. I'm really proud of them for lasting to the end ( and myself for that matter, cuz I really, really wanted to quit in April.)

As you can see, they get really nervous right before they quiz. It's sad, really, to put them through this kind of pressure. They're trying to let off some steam with Rylan and Dylan from the Paso Robles team. (Hey, That rhymed! Steam and team...get it?)

This is Bakersfield 1. Kenson, Karter and Caden. See the lady with the red hair in the back? That's Sister Diane Newton. THE LADY HAS PATIENCE! It's not easy trying to get these guys to calm down and practice or to stop interrupting questions like a bunch of crazy, crazed....craze.....crazies. (there really are no analogies for crazy bible quizzers, how sad....)

We decided to get the boys a crew cut this summer and get rid of all their hair. This the "after" pic. Landon the Great came along too.

That brings y'all pretty much up to date!

Happy Birthday Miranda

Happy 13th Miranda! I can't believe you are a teenager.

I love you,

Uncle Shawn

Kohen

Kohen is growing, growing and growing. I hate how fast his first year is going by. He is already 9 months old and at his last doctors appointment he weighed 19lbs. Just like his older brother Karter, he decided to get 5 teeth at one time. I already miss his toothless grin and its only been a few weeks. As you can see by the last picture, he is already reading at a first grade level. (ha, ha) He is crawling everywhere and climbing on everything. He stands by himself, walks with one of his walking toys and raises his hands to praise the Lord. Kohen is a total blast. I'm so glad we decided to try for girl and I'm so glad God gave us Kohen instead.

Playing the drums with Uncle Shannon

Asleep in the car

Playing with Karter or in actuality Karter playing with him. (this doesn't always work out so well)

Reading a book. He's a genius!

Kohen's dedication

Back and better than ever!

Apparently the numerous fans of PettisX5 have been in a frenzy for updates on all of us. Since it's been about 6 months since there has been a post (who's responsible for that? huh? Someone is in BIG trouble), there's just too much info/pics to post all at once. I'll give an update for each member of PettisX5 separately. Since I'm really into organized chaos (it's my middle name. I have several.), I'll post from youngest to oldest. So stay tuned for the next post!