We love the library(s)

A huge benefit to living in a larger city when you home school is the libraries. We have one about one mile away from us. This won't change when we move bc we are literally moving around the corner.

Last week, Josh needed a poetry book for Language Arts. The library closest to us had it, but you couldn't check it out. We just stayed at the library that day and did LA there. However, his poetry unit is a few weeks long and I knew that we couldn't go to the library every day for LA. Big city hoopla here. One of the other libraries in town had it and would let us check it out.

We are in our fourth year of homeschooling. Our first three years were spent in Small Town, USA. While we visited the library often, it wasn't the best resource for school. The libraries here are blowing our minds. =) We all find books to enjoy. And the two little ones really enjoy sitting at a table and looking through their books while the bigger ones are hunting certain books down. We easily spend an hour just picking out books.

Bobo is on the third book in a series called The Tapestry by Henry H. Neff. He loves to read. Bear is starting to enjoy reading more. He is good at reading, but would rather be doing something more active. He's my mover. Popeye is picking up reading as well. He isn't as confident in it as he is in math, but he loves learning and gets really excited when he realizes he can read a new book. Princess is desperately ready to read. She brings her school workbooks to me and cries if we can't do school right then.

I got two decorating books (I can't stop), a book on manners, a book on homeschooling (you can never know enough), and a book on style. I've already read the book on style (we went on Monday) and I'm glad to report that I just happen to have most of the basics you shouldn't live without. I also, by chance, found two DVDs that teach french for kids. I'm totally going to use them. And I'll make the kids watch them too so I have people to speak french with.

Until I go to France someday.

Bridge

Brain Power

Doing school work at TamTam's one morning Bear discovered he had special powers!

His brain is so powerful it attracts objects like a magnet!

Or...the eraser got stuck in his hair.

I'm sure it's the first one.

Bridget

Spring Break

We took it easy over spring break. On Tuesday we went to the lake with some friends. We took a picnic and did a lot of hiking. The weather was beautiful and the kids (and Mamas) were thrilled to be outside. Unfortunately, Popeye was running a fever before the day was over and by Wednesday we had three sickuns at our house.

And that's how we spent the rest of our spring break. But I doubt you want to see pictures of that so I'll just show you pics of our day at the lake. Bridget

Doing Double Duty

Have I mentioned that we live in a small house?

Remember - six people in 1200 sq. ft.

Things are tight.

However, the problem-solving and creative solutions thrill me.

Seriously.

Ask Husband. He knows that when I'm sitting in a room and it appears that I'm doing nothing, if you look really closely you can see the faint cloud of smoke coming out of my ears and know that the wheels are turning.

Things have been in a bit of an upheaval lately. As you know, Husband started a new job with the new year and now works from home. We set up his office in our bedroom because he needed a quite place to work and since the kids and I do school in the dining and living room that really was the best place.

Except:

It made me crazy.

Not kidding.

Along with our small house comes a small master bedroom. About 12x12. And since the small bedroom comes with a small closet we have to have a dresser in the bedroom. We already sleep on a full-sized bed to help everything fit and now we are adding a desk and chair. Ugh.

Basically, since Jan 1 the room has been arranged four different ways. I just could not get comfortable in there. And I know that some of you are probably thinking, "You rearrange your house all the time. What are you squawking about this for?" Folks, I don't rearrange the same room four times in 60 days. AND before we added the desk to the room it had been the same way for over a year. I was loving the setup.

And honestly it wasn't just the master bedroom. The whole house was feeling out of balance to me. Bobo's bedroom was just Bobo's bedroom.

Huh?

You see, every bedroom in our house does double duty except Bobo's. Princess' room is also the guest bedroom. Popeye and Bear's room is also the play room. Hub's and my bedroom is also his office. But Bobo's bedroom was just Bobo's bedroom. I needed it to do more.

So Husband and I started brainstorming possible solutions. Maybe we could move his office back into the 'batcave' and he and Bobo could just share the space. Husband doesn't bring clients into his office so it looking like an eleven year old's bedroom wasn't really an issue. Or maybe we could work our schedules out so we could put the desk back into the living room. Then the kids and I would do school in the morning and Husband could makes phone calls in the afternoon. Except, have you tried keeping four kids in one room of a house and quiet when it is cold and rainy for days on end?

Right.

Suffice it to say, none of our ideas where feeling quite right.

On Saturday we took a family trip to L-town for a little shopping. Bear needed some new jeans and Husband had a new suit to pick up. We decided to try to think outside the box while we were shopping and hopefully come up with a solution to our master bedroom/office problem.

It wasn't until we were almost home from our shopping trip that Husband had an idea. He wasn't really sure if I would like it and it did take me a few minutes of thinking it through before I loved the idea.

His idea was:

To move our schooling into Bobo's room.

Yes, really, that's it. But when I let it marinate in my mind it's brilliance was evident. You see, our school supplies are located in the hall closet. I have to get everything out and bring it to the table for school and then put it away when we are done. If I forget something I have to pause and leave the table to go get it. While I didn't realize this wasn't the most ideal situation, I guess I just figured it was my only option because of the size of our house.

Not any more.

Sunday afternoon Husband helped me rearrange everything for our new classroom. It works brilliantly. The desk is big enough for two of us to work at at a time and the shelves directly above it are big enough to keep everything within reach. We did school today and I NEVER HAD TO LEAVE THE DESK. Nor did I have to get everything out first and then pack it all away after.

I am loving this.

Of course, now I must paint the room. Right now three walls are a dusty dark blue. I'm thinking a light, bright green. And we are considering changing Bobo's twin bed for a full sized futon. That way we can use it as a couch during the day and Bobo will have a bigger bed at night. We've already found the one we want. =)

We have our master bedroom finally set up in an arrangement that I can live with. We solved that problem by removing the slipper chair we had in there (it's in the living room now) and putting the desk in it's place. Now the room is practically the same way it was before it inherited an office just with a desk instead of a big chair.

And now the house feels much more balanced to me. Every one's bedroom is doing double duty.

Just as it should be.

Bridget

Watching Them Learn

One of the biggest blessings of homeschooling is getting to witness so much of my children's lives.

And it is really amazing when you can actually see them learn.

The joy of learning really is contagious. And children seem to have it in abundance. I also believe that one way relationships are built is through shared experiences. I love getting to share these small experiences with my children. And I especially love hearing them tell me how much they enjoy it.

Bridget

The Myriad Garden Crystal Bridge Fire Alarm Drama Ending. Finally.

After hanging out outside for about 15 minutes we were allowed to go back inside. Still not sure exactly what caused the alarm to go off. The fire dept. came and checked everything out. The kids loved seeing a fire truck and real firemen. Sorry the story isn't more interesting than that but not really.

Here we are back at the entrance. Have you seen Night at the Museum, Dumb-Dumb? We forgot the gum-gum. One great idea that came from the curriculum I used this year is to take clipboards on field trips and have the kids sketch things they see or experience. I only bought three clipboards at the beginning of the year so Princess usually has to wait for a brother to finish before she gets a turn.

Bear found a place to sit while he sketched.

Each kid was required to choose one plant, tree, or flower to sketch.

Bobo decided to remain standing.

Remember: you can click on the pictures to make them bigger. The Crystal Bridge has a really cool pirate ship. We know it's a pirate ship because a silhouette of Peter Pan is on the top of it. There is a ladder inside for the kids to climb to the upper deck. And, yes, I saw the the sign that says 6 years and older, and I know that Princess is only four. I'm a rule breaker, baby. Popeye. Peeking through the window. Princess decided she didn't like the upper deck. Thank goodness for big brothers. When she got down she discovered an unused clipboard and she got after it. I could eat her up right now. I love how her precious little legs dangle over the side. She looks so big and so small at the same time. And she's so proud of herself. I think the boys would have spent the night on the pirate ship if they were allowed. The loved it. Princess kept sketching. Popeye checked on her. And she kept sketching. Look at those beautiful flowers. It was a wonderful time. The kids said it was the best field trip we have been on.

Bridget

Myriad Gardens (The Inside)

After receiving a wonderful and warm wlecome from the gentleman at the front desk, and paying for our tickets we took a quick bathroom break.

Smart.

Then we headed into the gardens but were stopped by some delightful parrots that kept telling us 'Hello' and then 'Goodbye'. We weren't sure if we should stay or go.
The first thing we checked out was the waterfall. It was beautiful and there were stairs that walked behind it. Cool.

This is the new album cover for our family cd that is dropping sometime in May.

Kidding! But it is a cool pic.

One on the coolest things at the Crystal Bridge was the cable bridge that runs along the top. You are up in the tops of the trees and you get a great view of everything. They also had a place with some creepy crawlies. A frog, a turtle, a bullfrog, a snake, and a tarantula.
This is Princess showing me the face the turtle was making. =) Bobo did a good job of checking the flowers out and naming the parts. The gentleman at the front dest came to find us after his shift ended. He showed us the pond with the fish. The kids loved it. And then this is where things get interesting. You see, as we were going about our business the fire alarms started going off. The gentleman told us it was probably just a test even though he didn't know they had one planned. So we just hung out and kept looking at all the flowers.

After I snapped a few more pics, another worker came and asked us to please exit the building because they didn't know why the alarms where going off.

I took this pic while the alarms where going. Bobo and Bear are being my perfect children and smiling like good little boys. Popeye looks worried and Princess doesn't care about the pictures just about the very loud noise. Unfortunately for you, I don't have time to finish this post so you'll have to come back next week for the conclusion of The Myriad Garden Crystal Bridge Fire Alarm Drama.

=)

Bridget