Third Trimester Rambling

Third trimester is always interesting.  This has, overall, been my best pregnancy yet.  Maybe I'm getting good at it? I guess I really can't take credit for something I have zero control over.  It's not like with the boys, when I lost 14 pounds before I ever gained an ounce, that I was doing something wrong.

As with the other girls (yes, #5 is a girl) I had lots of nausea through the second trimester, but kept everything down.  Rosebud gave me sciatic pain that was almost unbearable.  Sweet Pea did too, but not as bad for as long.  So far I've only had tiny twinges.  Insomnia has been an issue, but having been given the green light to take Melatonin once in awhile I've been sleeping better.  (You know, when Sweet Pea isn't coming into my room announcing that she isn't tired, can't find her bink, wants a drink, needs to go potty, wants to sleep with us.)  Heartburn has also been a little bit of a "fun" thing, but again, NOTHING compared to what I had in the previous 4 pregnancies.

I have 9 more official weeks to go.  Really that means probably 7-8 more weeks, but who knows.  I had Snug at 34, LMM at 37, Rosebud at 38, and Sweet Pea at 39.  Maybe I'll make it to 40 this time.  I certainly hope not.  I'm DONE at 38 weeks.  I'm pretty sure mine are fully baked earlier than their due dates.

I'm nesting like crazy, which is so dumb as this is baby #5.  Really, how much is there to get ready?  I spent an hour the other day on our deck pairing and pinning baby socks.  I have newborn and 0-3 all mixed up and I can't for the life of me decide which ones are what size so I think I'll just do trial and error on that one.  *baby tip* Take the small gold safety pins and pin the toes of your baby socks together when in the drawer.  When you put them on the baby, take the pins off otherwise your kid will look weird.  When they're "dirty" aka have been worn, stick them in a small lingerie bag so the dryer doesn't eat them.  In your spare time pin them back together before you stick them back in the drawer.  This is the ONLY way I know to not end up with one sock of each.

So I'm doing stupid things that don't matter at all, but still feel the urge.

In light of this, and because I know that by 38 weeks I'll be DONE (if not literally, physically), I've decided to start homeschooling in *gasp* July.  The 28th to be exact.  I don't plan on doing that in the future, but I think I need a good 33 (taking Snug's birthday off, and Memorial Day) days under my belt before I hit that 38 week mark.  I plan on then doing partial days, as much as I can deal with, and taking 2-3 FULL weeks off once baby comes.  I'll then do partial days till baby is 6 weeks (or maybe before, we'll see).  I really really want to be done by June 2015.

Right now we've been to camp, been to see grandparents, had lots of time at area parks, seen and played with friends, and had VBS.  I feel we can start school and not feel gipped on summer vacation.  However, after MONTHS of school, I know we'll want to be DONE and ready to start all those fun things again next spring.  You can laugh when all my grand plans fall apart.  I figure it is better to have a plan and not meet ALL of my expectations than to have no plan and meet ZERO expectations.  Right?

In the meantime things just seem overwhelming to me.
** #1 had a birthday in the BEGINNING of June.  His birthday banner still hangs in the dining room. **The garden.  Everything about the garden.
**Keeping clean tablecloths on the table.  I just pretend they are clean.
**The kids' bedrooms
**The taking to and picking up from preschool for Rosebud that will start in September
**Laundry
**Getting the summer pictures off the camera.  All 1,100 of them
**Getting up in the morning. Kidding.  Sorta

Having help in these areas from anyone but my husband is also overwhelming because having company seems overwhelming.  So no, I don't want help.  Nice, huh?  We're just blaming it on the 3rd trimester.  I only have 9 more weeks to blame on pregnancy, going to make the most of it :o)

Rosebud The Author

We are homeschooling Snug and recently Little Monkey Man started Kindergarten.  However, he still attends preschool three days a week (we do more school with him in the PM) and Rosebud goes two days a week.  

We love our preschool; they always do great things with the kids.  Hallway art and creative writing pieces to go with them always are fun to see.  It's interesting to read both your child's "writing" (it is really dictation) and see what their peers have to say.  It gets better throughout the year as you actually get to know the other parents and children.  Sometimes we all have a good laugh at a particular piece while waiting in line for pick up.  One child was going to give his mother vitamins for Christmas-that got a chuckle.  

Today I read Rosebud's on the way IN to her classroom.  I'm going to share it with you, but it means more to #1 and I than anyone else really.  I literally had tears running down my cheeks I was laughing so hard.  Rosebud's teachers thought something was wrong.  I choked out that I had just read her latest writing piece and they started busting up as well. Because they know her well.  Because, really, her piece pretty much sums up life with Rosebud at this particular junction in life.  

I will try and explain some of the more...interesting parts...and will (put my words in italics).  Her lead teacher wrote down exactly what she said, but prompted a couple of times to get the story moving example:  how did it feel? what did you do?.  She had to ask Rosebud to slow down as her words were just tumbling right out of her.  Here goes.

My Snowy Day

On my snowy day I played with my brothers and my sister Sweet Pea (obviously she used her real name) and my mama and dada.  We played and I build a snowman.  It was little and tiny.  And it was Baby Otter.  Belle Otter...Belle Otter that what the name was. (Belle Otter is what she insists we call HER these days.  Belle as in Beauty and the Beast, and Otter as in...the animal.)  I wore a hat and boots and a scarf and I weared a coat.  My feet felt cold in my boots (note to self...).  The snow felt cold and I ate it!  It was salty.  I got boogie in it and I love it like that! (GAG.  GAG GAG GAG.)  I saw snow outside and our house and our neighbors.  And our other neighbors.  (Just in case you didn't know that when it snowed the entire neighborhood is affected.)  I heard Belle Otter.  (This part confuses me as she is normally Belle Otter, but now the snowman is and she can HEAR it?) She was swimming at the museum where we go and see the otters. (We do have otters at our children's museum, but she has some stellar hearing as it is about 15 minutes away-also wasn't it a snowman?)  I love the otters!  I heard mommy and daddy talking to each other outside too.  (I'm not sure but I think that the teacher may have cut her off at this point...it was getting a little off topic.  And perhaps it wasn't best to post on the hallway wall a private conversation she apparently overheard between my husband and myself.)

So there you go.  It was quite an...interesting...piece.  But such an insight into her life.  From her alter ego, to her recent snowman building (hers had a ton of sticks protruding from it...eyes, nose, arms, belly button...a very scary looking beast it was) to our trips to the museum, and apparently her eavesdropping skills!

 A side note, mostly for my own records, she now weighs a whopping 28 1/2 pounds and will be 4 in April.  She is just shy of 39".  Maybe by her birthday she'll be ready to not be rear facing.  (She isn't, they changed that recommendation from 2 years to 30 pounds after we had already switched her)

MOUSE!

Oh my heavens.

My heart is still pounding as I type this.  My hands are shaking.  And I had to share.

A few months ago our cat, Oliver, caught a Deer Mouse in the backyard.  I saw it happen and threw a sand pail on the mouse and shooed Oliver away.  One of the things I do like about our cat (there are many I don't) is that he is a good rodent cat.  We rarely have moles, mice, or other varmints in our yard.  I intended to keep it long enough to show the kids, but showed #1 first.

The way #1 tells it is all wrong.  He says this was all my idea.  Nope.  HE was the one who suggested we keep it, not me.  I was surprised, but after all he loved rodents when he was a kid, so I shouldn't have been too surprised.  He'll tell you it was me, but I was on a catch and release mission.  Anyway, into a cage it went.  We've fed it peanuts, cheerios, and birdseed ever since.

This morning I am cleaning out the homeschool room.  It has become a dumping ground in the last couple of weeks, and the boys slept on the floor in there for a few days while we had company.  We start back to school on Monday and I would like a nice clean slate.  Snug is 1/2 way done with his school year and LMM is going to start kindergarten here soon.  A clean well-organized room motivates me more than anything else.

I decided to start with cleaning the mouse (Ralph) cage first since the shavings get everywhere and it tends to be the messiest job.  We rarely see Ralph.  He is nocturnal and rarely makes an appearance.  He's been a rather disappointing classroom pet on my part.  He usually hides in a small wicker ball that came with his cage.  When you clean his cage you have to be fast-I don't pick him up by hand as I don't really want to be bit.  I make sure he is in his ball and then quickly scoop it up and put it in a hamster ball we have-the whole thing fits inside and then I pop the top on.  I have to be fast because otherwise he runs out of his wicker ball and runs wildly around his cage for awhile.  This time he didn't make an appearance, even in the blue plastic exercise ball.  As I cleaned the cage I was becoming convinced that he had passed.

I was starting to feel a little sentimental that our Ralph had died and deciding how to break it to the kids.  Then, in a sick way, I was happy.  Now we could get something a little more...active.  Something actually fun to watch!  As I was by this time convinced he was dead, I didn't quickly stick the wicker (ok, it isn't wicker, but I don't know how to describe it otherwise) ball back into the cage.  I was deciding if I should just empty the contents into the trash.

SHOOT!  That stupid mouse was not dead, he had instead been sleeping or something and sprang out of that ball like a shot and was clinging to my HAIR!  Gotta say I didn't keep my cool and then all the kids came running as did the cat.  That stupid mouse dropped to the floor and was running all over the room.  He then ran under the door and out into the hall.  I had grabbed the cat by this time and when the mouse ran in the boys' room I had them close the door and shove dirty clothes in the crack underneath to keep it contained.

After about 15 minutes of furniture moving and LMM being my rodent spotter I finally put a pencil box over him and he is back in the cage.  STUPID STUPID mouse.

So...How IS Homeschooling?

Welcome to our school.  I now notice in the picture above that the parrot's head has been covered by the poster, but oh well.  If our school had a motto, this would be it.  "Read!"  Some people have been asking to see inside our day of homeschooling.  Come on in.

This is a busy place.  The walls are busy, the shelves are chocked full, and the kids never sit still.  That's ok.  I have an alphabet up because LMM and Rosebud are learning their letters.  Both are in preschool this year outside the home.  This leads to lots of driving during our day.  We are working through that.  Snug and I work at our church, which is very near the preschool, three mornings a week.

 We use this room to store all of our items.  We work in here Tuesdays and Thursdays mornings, and every afternoon.  The shelves you can see are all of our fiction picture books.  They are alphabetical by author's name.  I have paint sticks with letters on them in between each section.  I use the windowsill to display books that pertain to what we are learning in science, history, or language arts.  Often they are library books.

There are two desks in the room.  One belongs to Snug.  The other is for whomever wants to come in and work quietly.  Inside are the backsides of papers Snug has completed and are free to be colored on. There are also some fun erasers, or other quiet things to do.  There are no pencils, markers, scissors, glue, or crayons in either desk.  Snug has a pencil on his desk that goes onto mine in the afternoon.  Sweet Pea is super sneaky and uses all of these items without making a peep.  So art supplies are on lockdown.  If you need them, go to the closet and get them-then return them.

The bulletin board is used to keep charts up (Bible verses, phonics progress, etc) and our poster we're working on for Bible.  The shelves under that are used to hold curriculum.  Next to that is our shelf that houses or hermit crabs and some other quiet manipulatives for little hands that are in the room.  

Next to that are two towers with colorful drawers.  Those are our workboxes.  One set isn't used this year, but will be if we decide to continue on and have more than one person being home educated.  Each box has a subject written on it (with a removable label).  I put any copies for the week in the corresponding drawer along with workbooks, special supplies that will be needed, etc.  One box says "read aloud" and that is where we keep books we are reading together or I'm reading to him.  

You can see more of the curriculum shelf and bulletin board here.  We have a timeline on the wall (we used painter's tape and sticky tack so it isn't permanent) that we are using for both Bible and history.  We also have a white board, ones/tens/hundreds chart, calendar, and a place to count money.  WAY up high is a blue basket that keeps all of our dry erase markers...again because Sweet Pea would use them otherwise.  To the left of the calendar are clothespins with letters on them Snug uses for spelling practice.  I'll talk about the shelf on the far left of this picture in a minute.  

Here is "my" space.  I have a desk and some files here.  Also on the shelf are our non-fiction books or children's treasuries.  I have math, science, and language arts manipulatives on these shelves.  SO MUCH of this stuff are things that I had bought when I was a teacher or things my mom gifted to me when she retired from teaching.  We have bought very little this year for homeschooling, even in the way of curriculum.  

AND HERE'S THE MESS.  I'm so blessed to have a "closet" I can close.  This room was the girls' room and this closet was always a big joke.  One girl wouldn't be able to keep her clothes in here, let alone two.  #1 built some shelves and it is saving my life.  Top shelf holds things for younger siblings and the little boy I babysit for to play with (provided they are quiet) while they are in the room.  I rotate these things out about every 2 weeks.  Next shelf down:  books I have from college, curriculum I"m not using, and books from classes I took while I was teaching.  Next shelf down:  The crayons, markers, glue, scissors etc. that we "hide" along with extra school supplies.  Next shelf down is art stuff like special scissors, Sizzix machine, stickers, drawing paper, etc.  On the bottom is stuff that I want to keep but have no place for so I keep shoving down in the bottom.  Nice.  

I know how fortunate I am to have a homeschool space.  I also know how blessed I am to not have had to spend much money on it.  All of our curriculum is used.  I either bought it from other people or got it used on Amazon.  The only NEW curriculum I is Snug's math workbook (which I bought on Amazon).  My mom also gave me tons of things to use, and bought him some fun practice books-she also bought the kids the big colorful maps and the second desk.  I'd like to thank Jenilee for selling  things she no longer needed and for all her advice on homeschooling.  I also have many MANY cheerleaders.  I cannot even name you all, but you know who you are.  

That didn't really answer "how is it going" though.  It's going ok.  Some weeks have been great, others are long.  Overall I'd say I really like it and that surprises me.  I never thought it would be horrible, but I didn't expect to actually like it.  We've been able to do some field trips and stop and learn about random things immediately which has been fun.  I have learned a TON this year.  

Right now I'm struggling with motivating him to work.  It's hard when you spend a lot of time in the car, working in a different environment, and battling through curious and crying siblings. He's a daydreamer and he'd fritter his entire day away if I let him.  School is both easier and harder for him this year.  Last year the math was too hard because, for many reasons, he had never learned the basics...which made the higher level thinking things very frustrating.  I was trying to cram basic things like counting money (money was never taught in first grade, and only how to recognize a coin in kindergarten) and basic addition skills in the evenings after he'd been at school all day-he just cried through it as he was tired.  So we've been able to do that and he finally doesn't hate math.  But language arts is much more challenging this year as I know what he can do and I expect it.  Also he is now reading books on his level-mostly non-fiction as fiction written on his level really isn't interesting or appropriate for him.  He reads several levels lower for fun, and I'm ok with that.  But he's never had challenging reading or writing at school.  So he gets a little mad at me.  Too bad :o)

 I asked the other day if he'd rather go back to school and his answer was a firm "NO".  Interesting.  I'd say a bad day of homeschool is still better than a good day of traditional school was.  Some things have been coming out as we sit and talk that happened last year at school.  They have convinced me that we are doing the right thing.  But it is the hard thing.  I have very little free time.  I have even less energy.  I have a tiny social life.  It's called Facebook.  

Are we going to do it again next year?  Well, Snug has already asked that he do it again next year.  I have no idea what to do with LMM.  Much of that will depend on if our district continues its every other day full day schedule.  Then he is FOR SURE home next year.  I can't imagine doing this with more than one kid...but last year at this time I couldn't imagine doing it at all.  When I first decided to go ahead with this crazy idea of homeschooling I said I'd take it a year at a time.  I'm down to a week at a time.  Next week, we'll be homeschooling.