Homeschool History Group

This past Thursday afternoon from 1pm to about 4pm. Eight moms and twenty six kids came to our home to learn some American history. Our drive way and street was packed with mini vans. The garage and the hall way was filled with boots, winter coats, scarfs and hats. Since, there was rain and snow outside, everyone was came inside to stay warm and greeted good friends/playmates. It was chaotic at times, but it sure was FUN!

I joined this homeschool group last year to test out the possibilities of doing homeschool with Lydia and Priscilla. Last year, this group studied Geography and I learned so much! (Till this day Nathan(2.5 yrs old) will go to any map and claim that 'its Africa!') So Fall of 2009 we started with a prepackaged curriculum (Sunlight) and entered into the world of homeschooling. It really has not been that difficult following a pre-made lesson plan. As with all kids, our girls are always asking questions and this time we give them more thought through answers and took advantage of teachable moments. The big adjustment was to carve out a regular schedule to teach them. I do most of the teaching right now during 10am till 11:30am. Joe use to teach the girls on Saturday mornings, but now they are taking ballet lessons during that time(I am going to have to post some ballet pics next time).


Our History group starts with 30mins of play time for the kids and setup time for the teachers. We then have 45 mins to an hour of class. There are three groups, the older children (grade 3-5), the younger children (K- 2grade) and the babies. Afterward, it's snack time and more play time for the kids and for the moms to grab a cup of tea together. We have a schedule of which home to meet at, snack duty and teaching duty. I have learned so much from these moms, who are full of experiences in homeschooling and life. They are such a blessing from God, without them I don't think I would've ever give homeschooling a chance.

p.s. I promise to take down the Christmas decorations before summer.

Oh, Baby!

I went to a baby shower today WITHOUT kids. It was so fun to hangout with ladies from church! I had many long uninterrupted conversations, which is rare as a mom of three. There were so much yummy food there. I did all the tricks magazines tell you to .... drink several cups of water... snack on celery or fruit ... I even skipped lunch. But I still ate so much that I could've skipped dinner as well.




















It is during these social situations that the question of weather we might have another baby often comes up. Joe and I ............ nop, just I.... have been swinging back and forth about the decision of having more kids. So I decided to list the circumstances when I would say yes to have more.

"Yea, I think I can have another one..." at/when
1. Baby Showers
2. Homeschool group, where there are moms of 4, 5 or more kids with orderly lives.
3. Beautiful sunny days and kids are having a great time outside.
4. Several weeks of full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night.
5. Holding a precious baby.

"Hahah, no thanks!" when
1. Seeing very pregnant moms struggling to get up.
2. The tiredness in the new born moms.
3. Taking our sick child to the ER because of allergy or asthma.
4. I can think clearly with my mind and begin to have complex thoughts. (mostly depends on hr of sleep)

Currently, it's still a debate in my mind, but I am leaning toward the "no thanks!"
Our third child Nathan was a surprise. An awesome surprise! I love Nathan so much!
So... I guess I won't mind if God has more surprises. I probably will love him/her sooooo much too.

... after the swelling of 50lbs.(my average pregnancy weight gain).. =)

A New Season

I have registered this blog for several months now. But putting the pen down seemed so hard. Since even my mom has started to blog now.... So here we go. This blog will be about various things in our lives here in western MA. We will start with our backyard adventure. We have been here at our homestead for one and a half years now. This will be our second gardening season. During our first year, we have cleared some land for four raised beds to grow some vegetables, but it was a very wet summer and we had some harvest. One of them will be turned into a strawberry patch. I also would like to put in another raised bed just for asparagus. We put in the ground 4 blueberry bush and a grape vine. I hope to put in some more raspberry, blueberry and blackberry plants this spring,
because it' s easier to take care of the berry plants than vegetables. I am also thinking about moving the herbs to the front yard, but it only gets sun till noon. I hope they will do well.
So today, we started burning the brushes that has been collecting since last summer. My husband was so eager to start and it felt pretty good as the pile diminished into ashes. It was a good start and we both felt the satisfaction after a hard working day. There will be many more hard working days to come and we are looking forward to it. Working in the yard makes me feel thankful ... the enjoyment of working with my life long mate.... working with dirt and observing/learning from things that grow.... the wind and sunshine. Thank you God! I am grateful for this life.