A Beautiful October Day

It has been the UEA  (Utah Education Association) holiday the past two days.  

Everybody that goes to school, teachers included, get a fall vacation.

I decided that since I am a hard working teacher, I would give myself a holiday.

Perhaps teachers actually go to training or something during this time,
I am not really sure.

We declared it a holiday at our house and decided to head up the canyon for what 

may be one of the last perfect days of the year.

And it was PERFECT!  

We had lunch at Vivian Park and there was a playground that we couldn't keep the kids from.

 Actually we didn't try very hard to stop them.

 William discovered how to climb the rope ladder.  Oh hurray - NOT!

 I was just watching him and visions of all of his future medical bills flashed through my head.

It was not a fun vision.

Then I watched this little monkey and visions of past medical bills flashed through my mind.

It must be getting close to Halloween because I keep seeing lots of frightening things.

This is frightening to me for an entirely different reason that I won't go into!

But for those of you who keep asking if we are going to have three children...
I already have three!

The "kids" just couldn't leave the train tracks alone.

 I am pretty sure that this both illegal and stupid.

Sometimes fun trumps illegal and stupid.

Where there are train tracks you are bound to find a train, or at the very least an empty boxcar.

 

You can't go past a beautiful, peaceful, flowing river without throwing some rocks into it.

 Isabelle picked very cute dainty little rocks.

William opted for the more manly boulder versions.

He threw at least 10 rocks this size in.

If they still employ strong men at the circus I bet he would qualify.

The leaves were so beautiful and brought a needed sense of calm into my mind. 

I don't know how old this tree is, but it had an old soul to it...
you know, for a tree.

Since it was a holiday we decided to do a slumber party in the family room.

We don't do sleepovers, so this is probably as close as our kids will get to one.

We watched a double feature, played some Halloween Bingo (which I won for once, usually Isabelle beats me senseless!) and shoved popcorn into our mouths as fast as our hands could shove.

See???

 

The three "kids" slept on a mattress on the floor.  

And the boring non-risk taking adult had dibs on the big couch.

Amazingly, we all slept like babies and the kids even slept in until 8:30 this morning.

I am thinking this should become a monthly family tradition.

I can just picture me with my teenage kids having a blast at the family slumber party. 

They won't get too cool for that will they?

Hee Haw Farms

 

Today we had a fun family outing to Hee Haw Farms in

Pleasant Grove.

What a great way to kick off our fall festivities.

This year was so much better because

Soungsik joined us for the fun.

I want one of these tire swing horses.  They are so cute and you don't have to clean up after them!

I cannot look at a John Deere tractor without missing

 my Grandpa Nielson!

And then there were the training John Deere tractors. 

Isabelle was still too short to peddle.

How sad to be my daughter...sigh. 

William just used his legs Flintstone style.

That's how he rides his bike too and he can get going pretty fast using that method.

William's favorite part of the farm was the petting zoo.

He thought it was hilarious when two of the little

 pygmy goats started to butt heads!

 This one little goat would not stop following William.

It must have felt William's inner animal!

Isabelle was in love, but fortunately she didn't ask for a pet goat.

  

Everyone had different comments about the slide.

Isabelle said it was VERY scary.

William said "scawwy"too, but he loved it.

Soungsik just said "My butt hurts!"

We decided to give the sore bottoms a rest on a soft hayride.

This was so nice and relaxing.

If there weren't a bunch of other people there,

I could have easily fallen to sleep. 

Here we are lost in the corn maze.

But what do you expect when a 5 year old is your guide?

She did eventually find an exit for us.

Never you mind that it happened to be the entrance!

Last but not least we had Isabelle's favorite part...

the pumpkin patch!

Hooray for the Great Pumpkin!

We were all famished after running around in circles in the corn maze so we forced dad to buy us some lunch at Rumbi's. 

 Or should I say Yummmbies?

If today proves anything it's that even though my mom was a rough & tough cowgirl, her daughter is sadly a city girl. 

We should not have had so much fun in a

petting zoo and being pulled behind a tractor.

My apologies mom!

Why We Homeschool

I have been meaning to write this post for quite a while now, but somehow I haven't been able to find the time or the right words.  In fact I still don't think I found the words, there may be much rambling in the following!

I want to write about why we homeschool every year for my own benefit,  but this year I have also had many friends asking me why we made this decision.  There are so many reasons we decided to do this and I find new reasons all of the time, so I will just go into a few things that made this feel like the right move for us.

Now I have to put a disclaimer here.  I know that homeschooling is not the right answer for every family or for every child.  As in every post I write the content will be 100% from my opinions and experiences.

Our homeschooling decision actually first took place before we even had children.  For 6 years before Isabelle was born I went to work at the Taekwondo center every day with Soungsik.  I would spend hours every day speaking with moms.  And what do moms love to talk about the most?
Their children of course!  

I spoke with moms that had children in all sorts of schools, private, traditional public, year-round public, charter, homeschool, 2nd language immersion schools, and children from ALPS programs.  While there are many differing benefits to each kind of schools there were also some very common disadvantages as well.

For private school I had a few concerns. The expense is almost frightening, I pay just a little more for our house payment.  We thought possibly for 1 child we could swing it, but what do you do when other children are ready for school?  I also didn't want my children in the competition environment of being surrounded by very wealthy children that get whatever they want.  My cousin got a scholarship to a private school and being from an average family this was a very difficult thing for her. Students might wear the same uniforms, but most were picked up in luxury cars, had designer coats, personal cell phones and computers, and traveled the world on their vacations. Many private schools are owned by churches that have beliefs different than ours.  I knew many LDS parents that sent their children to the local Catholic private school.  Each week they were required to attend Mass.  They could choose not to take the Catholic sacrament, but again many LDS parents told their children to take it because they didn't want them singled out.  Many of the scriptures the children would memorized are modified from what our church has accepted as scripture. At another very large private school here children would have around 2 hours of homework each night! When do they have the time to just be children? Also many private schools don't test significantly higher than public schools, so is what you're getting really worth what you're paying? 

For public schools we also had some concerns. My number one concern here is that children are not actually being taught.  Children in America are testing significantly lower in almost every subject than most other developed countries. I realize this is not always the case.  Some teachers can help children to excel, but it's a pretty big gamble if you will be lucky enough to get one of those teachers.  I also think that it doesn't matter how great a teacher is if he/she has 30 students at completely different levels.  I was also concerned with the increasing levels of political correctness and other beliefs that we don't support being flushed into the public schools.  As with private schools mothers were always telling me their children had a minimum of 1 hour of homework a night and many nights they would have 2 hours.  

After thinking about it for a very long time I came to a conclusion.  I can give my children an education at least as good, if not better, than a private school without the cost.  I can tailor their education to their needs. I can spend time daily discussing our religious beliefs. We spend time discussing American history and what a great country we have been blessed with. We spend more time on things Isabelle struggles with.  For example, we spent months on one page of her reading program because that's how long it took her to fully comprehend it.  There were no teachers, tests, or other students requiring us to brush past it and move on.  Once she "got" it, she breezed through the next 2 years of her reading program and now reads better than many kids twice her age.  Because Soungsik works in the late afternoon and evening our kids would almost never see their Dad if we sent them to traditional school.  Since we homeschool Isabelle gets to spend so much time with her Dad. 

  The hardest thing about homeschooling so far for us has been the negative response by others.  When you tell people you homeschool many look at you like you are both completely insane and a child abuser. Many of my friends are extremely concerned about my daughters socialization.  To that concern I have a few thoughts.  First, socialization is not our number 1 priority. Second, not all socialization is good. Third, there are endless chances for Isabelle to socialize. It is in actuality a non-issue. Lastly, I care more about my childrens well being more than anyone else on Earth.  I am not going to do something to purposefully harm them.

I have had friends tell me it is easier to homeschool than send your kids to school.  I strongly disagree with this belief.   I think that both options are difficult and require a lot of energy from mom.  I have to rethink many times a year if I have made the right decision.  We always pause and re-evaluate.  I think many people that send their kids to school rarely take a step back and think about if they should not send their kids to school - I could be wrong about this. I spend between 2 to 3 hours a day of one on one time with Isabelle.  While the time commitment seems like a big sacrifice I get so many rewards.  I love watching my daughter overcome hurdles.  I love seeing the way she thinks about things.  I love finding out what things excite her.  I love that after she does the hard work at school, she has time to go be a kid. I love that her education is so wide and deep.  I love that we can take a day off whenever we need to.  I love that instead of teaching her that you learn to pass a test or learn until the bell rings, that learning is a lifestyle. It is something we do all of the time. Homeschooling is a definite lifestyle choice. I love that I can help raise Isabelle higher than she believes she can go. I love that I get to relearn things that I had forgotten and learn things I was never taught.  I love that I get to spend so much time with my daughter and I hope that she thinks about these times with fondness as she grows older. I love that Isabelle enjoys school and misses it when we skip a day. I love that William comes and sits by us and pretends he is a big kid too.  I can't wait to sink my teacher teeth into him - not literally of course! 

We are so happy that we made the decision to teach our children at home.  I haven't had 1 day were I have regretted my decision.  As I said before I know homeschooling isn't for every child or mother.  This is simply what is working best for us.  I hope that every mom, not matter what kind of education choices she makes for her children, feels as happy and excited about it as much as I do!