Bear's Motivation

They say find what motivates your kids and use it to your advantage. The kids can not do x until they complete Y... can you tell that I am up to here is Algebra this year! It was so easy to find what motivated the Princess, dance and time with her friends! The Bear on the other hand has had me puzzled for awhile now. Her motivators seem to change like the seasons! If I tell her we can not go to the park or another outing, she is like ok. I'll just stay home. She loves being at home and could easily just be here all the time! LOL!

Well today, I think that I figured it out TV, movies, and music! She is such a visual/ auditory learner. Today while we were working on some things about Frogs. I started to tell her about the life cycle...well instead she told me all about it. You know what she was right. I asked her how she knew all this? Bear's response well on "Curious George" they went to the pound and George caught tadpoles. Then she proceeded to tell me all about the brightly colored frogs in the forests that are poisonous and she apparently learned that from some "Planet Earth" video. So I am trying to figure out why am I teaching? Would it wrong of me to schedule her day around the PBS guide?

On Strike!

So it seems that I have been ignoring my blog a bit here. Fall is in full swing. That means 6 days of dance classes not including extra rehearsals, art classes, piano lessons, girl scouts, pe class, craft days, swim lessons, and I am sure something else. This is all on top of homeschooling the girls and me having to do lesson plans and prepare curriculum. Somewhere in all that I have to find time to teach. Oh' did I mention the pile of laundry, housecleaning,....someone has got to cook dinner? Or do I really need to feed the kids?

So I decided that I need a break....today I am officially on strike!! It is a beautiful fall day outside and we are going to enjoy it. Off to the park for a nice walk and some fun!

The white envelope

Well yesterday, a white envelope came home from the Princess ballet teacher...now being a home school mom I am not used to notes from teachers. I opened the envelope with the princess because she was too nervous to do so herself. There was a formal letter, letting the Princess know that she had gotten the part that she had been invited to audition for. I am so proud of her and all her hard work! I am excited to see her grow as we take the turn to the next level of her ballet. Well, I guess it her starting to take the next step on her own...But I am here as always to help and support.

The Princess has been dancing for ten years now! She is still so young, and it seems weird to say that she has done something for that long. I can remember when she did her first recital at age 2 and somersaulted off the stage, then ran back on to waive HI to everyone! My has she grown since then! Remember Princes your dad and I are your biggest fans!! Break a leg!!

Carnival of Homeschooling

Read today post here.

http://www.thehomespunlife.com/2009/09/homeschool-carnival-virtual-blog.html

Is Your Daddy Home???

The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees was absent but had not phoned in sick one day. Needing to have an urgent problem with one of the main computers resolved, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper. ' Hello ? '

'Is your daddy home?' he asked.

' Yes ,' whispered the small voice.

May I talk with him?'

The child whispered, ' No .'

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, 'Is your Mummy there?' ' Yes '


'May I talk with her?' Again the small voice whispered, ' No '

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, 'Is anybody else there?'

' Yes , ' whispered the child, ' a policeman . '

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, 'May I speak with the policeman?'

' No, he's busy , ' whispered the child.

'Busy doing what?'

' Talking to Daddy and Mummy and the Fireman , ' came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked, 'What is that noise?'

' A helicopter ' answered the whispering voice.

'What is going on there?' demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive. Again, whispering, the child answered,

' The search team just landed a helicopter '

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, 'What are they searching for?'

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle...

' ME . '

Africa

The Bear insisted upon learning about animals this year. So I went with it. We are studying the geography of the continents, the people, along with the animals that live there and their habitats. I decided to do Africa first because well, I like the Savanna.

For the past five weeks we have been reading out of the African Savanna book. We also have been reading about different animals that live in the grasslands using an Encyclopedia of Animals, and the kids national geographic site . To be honest, I really was not sure how much of this the Bear was retaining. She and I were enjoying our time together and that is what was important!

For the last week of our study we have been making a model of the African Savanna. Well this is when I found out how much my little bear was really listening and absorbing things. She was oh' so specific that we had to include the termite mounds in our model---after all it was so cool that the bugs made the mounds out of their spit! She also insisted that we had to make our trees flat like the acacia trees and we could not put two of them next to each other. It is so amazing the things kids pick up on!

Here is some pictures of our competed African Savanna.



Notice the huge sand/ glue mixture...that would be those termite mounds that can get up to 5 feet tall.

Be Happy!

I have been under a huge amount of stress lately and just not feeling well. Many that know me in real life know that my grandmother suffers from alzheimer's. It is just a horrible disease, there are no other words for it. For the last month or so I have been having to call her every couple of hours to help calm her down and get her to eat something. She gets very nasty when she does not eat ----well I think that we all do sick or not! Anyways, I heard some news this week that my grandfather will be going in for some testing. He may have some health issues of his own, lung or possible brain cancer. Well it is no wonder both of them are in their upper 80's. They have lived a long, great, full life. It is sometimes hard to deal with being so far away from home and not being able to help more. I mean these are the people that raised my they are biologically my grandparents but are really my parents!

I listen to other people complain about the everyday things. How to get everything done. That their kids did not get the part in a play that they wanted but another part. Just sort of rambling or getting fixated on one specific thing. Then as I was driving yesterday afternoon, and crying. I got a moment alone in the car, when I could let everything hit me. I had a revelation "JUST BE HAPPY!" "JUST BE HAPPY TO BE ALIVE!" BE HAPPY TO HAVE YOUR FAMILY!"

So that is my new outlook. I am going to try to not fixate on the little details and just go with the flow of things. Trust in God to work things out.....and
JUST BE HAPPY!