'Twas the Night Before Easter

The night before Easter was a busy one for us. We had our family dinner with Troy's mother and grandparents tonight, usually his aunts and uncle would be there too but they were out of town this year. The food and company were great, and even better was the chocolate trifle for dessert!

Then we dyed our eggs! The kids had a great time, although Rylan ended up dying himself as well. We turned the experience into a mini science lesson by discussing how the dye works, and a colour lesson by having Rylan identify the dyes that we were using.

They loved having their eggs for breakfast Easter morning!

Easter Pictures

I received a Canon Rebel DSLR for Christmas, and had promised hubby that it would save us money because we wouldn't need to have professional pictures done, but until last week I hadn't even attempted to take any. I had intended to take their Easter pictures outside, but the weather would not cooperate of course, so I attempted to turn our dining room into a makeshift studio- this was the result (most are before editing).

This was the best shot I could get of all three of them! It's nearly impossible to have a dramatic 4 year old, an energetic 3 year old, and a crawling 9 month old look at the camera at the same time!

Week 2

This week we learned the letters C and D (uppercase), the number 2, square, and yellow. We talked about hygiene and grooming, and out Bible lesson and weekly theme were both Easter. I thought it was such a huge and important theme that I wanted to give us plenty of time to cover it.

I wanted to keep the main focus of our study of Easter on the Christian aspect, so we talked about it daily. However, I don't see any harm in some stories and crafts about eggs and bunnies either.

We didn't get to make all of the crafts I had wanted to try, so I'm starting a file of future ideas so I will remember for next year!

Rylan and I made these on the weekend while Alyssa was visiting with a friend.

Then we made these baskets out of paper plates..

We also made these crosses. I had a hard time finding Christian based Easter crafts, so any ideas are welcome!

And then these masks- they wanted to wear them to play outside!

Yum!

I've been cooking up a storm the last week or so! (Blame it on pregnancy cravings) and these are my favourites!

Coconut Cream Pie! My hubby's favourite :)

Broccoli and Rice Casserole- my favourite! Made this at 10pm because I was craving it, and feeling bad that hubby wouldn't have anything yummy to eat when he got home from night shift. Recipe:

1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. water
1/2 c. milk
Can of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. cheese whiz
onion, as much as you want
1 c. rice
Chopped fresh or frozen broccoli
I added leftover chicken breast, but it's good without it too

Mix together, cover with foil and bake for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Then remove foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes.

So good!

Then Rylan and I made these cookies while Alyssa was visiting grandparents, I love Pillsbury for those lazy days!

They were a hit!

Opinions

I've seen those onesies that say "My Mom Doesn't Want Your Advice" and I always got a chuckle out of them, but I think I need one that says "My Mom Doesn't Want Your Opinion" or better yet, "Mind Your Own Business". Since we're not really "mainstream" we are constantly being given opinions on our parenting decisions.

We co-sleep and are constantly told "You know, that causes SIDS right? Why would you do that?"

I babywear and I hear "You're going to ruin their independence".

We don't vaccinate and people act like we're trying to harm our children.

I'm a stay-at-home Mom and people either think I'm lazy (ha!) or tell me that they could never be around their children that much (really?!).

When people discover that we cloth diaper, we get a lot of "That can't be sanitary!" and "How can you touch that?!"

We're having another baby and we're constantly asked "Don't you think it's too soon?!" Well obviously not! And, "When are you going to stop?!" Well, when we're good and ready to stop! And my favourite thus far, "You're stealing Sophia's babyhood!"

We decided to homeschool and had even more opinions thrown at me. "You're sheltering them!" At their age, tell me, is that really so terrible? "They won't know what the real world if they've never experienced playground 'teasing'!" Seriously? So, I should let them be beat around so they have practice? "You don't have a teaching degree!" And? I have a high school education and 2 years of university, I think I can handle it just fine! Besides, I'm their mother and no one is better suited to teach my children than I am. I taught them to walk and talk, but I can't teach them to read and write? Hm. Thanks for letting me know.

And my all-time favourite- "They'll be antisocial!" Really? Who decided that "socialization" happens when 30 people all born within 12 months of each other are placed in a room for 7 hours/day? And really, there isn't much time for socialization at school anyway, aside from recess. My children are able/will be able to interact with people of all ages, not just their own. They will learn socialization through real life experiences, and extra curricular activities that they actually enjoy!

Fact is, none of this is anyone's concern, aside from ours. And frankly, they can all think what they like. We are doing what we choose to do because it's what we believe is the best fit for our family, OUR children. That is a parent's number one job on this Earth, to care for and nurture our children to the absolute best of our abilities in the hopes that they will grow and mature into happy, responsible adults. And in my opinion, there is no more rewarding job on Earth.

Week One

Our first week went so much better than we had expected! I thought that the kids would fight me on coming to do "school", or that they wouldn't want to stop playing, but it's been quite the contrary! They're so excited to start in the mornings, and when we're finished for the day they're usually asking for more.

So far, we've been doing phonics/language arts, numbers/math, health, Bible, and our weekly study (which usually has science and social studies wrapped up into it), and colours and shapes for Rylan. Once we get phonics down, I plan to add in some basic French.

This past week we learned the letters A and B (uppercase), circles, the number 1, and the colour red. Initially we had planned on one letter per week, but the kids just ran with it. We talked about germs, and our theme was Seasons.

Our Bible lessons were about "Who God Is".

I cut out paper dolls for the kids (using my Cricut and the Paper Dolls cartridge) and we created clothes for them for each season, which we attached with velcro so they could change them easily. Here are our dolls dressed for summer!

For our Unit theme, we created mini books, with a page for each season.

When we were finished learning about germs, we made these badges:

Why We Homeschool

In reality, there isn't one above all, lights and sirens, obvious reason that we homeschool. It's a huge compilation of smaller reasons, the most important of which are as follows (in no particular order):

*We believe that as parents we should be the primary force of influence of our young children, not the sole influence, but the primary. A very difficult task if we were to see our children in the morning during the hustle and bustle, and for approximately 3-4 hours afterschool while trying to juggle homework, cooking, cleaning, and extra-curricular activities.

*We can provide a method of learning best suited to our children, which public schools simply cannot. No child fits into the "cookie cutter system" exactly, granted it does work better for some than others.

*We can teach our faith and values. The school system has all but outright banned Christianity in any form amongst it's hallways.

*Bullying. Our school system (and many others) have a major issue on their hands when it comes to this, the only problem bigger than the bullying itself is people's unwillingness to do anything about it. Yes, I'm talking about the teachers, principals, and other school staff. Not all of them, no, but most-definitely far too many. And sometimes the teachers can bully as much as fellow students! A very brave group of high school students at a school in our district organized a protest during anti-bullying week. Their reward? Suspension.

*I want my children to learn at their own pace, not be pushed on or held back because of the pace of 30 other students in the classroom.

*My children can indulge their interests. If one of the develops a particular interest in zebras, for instance, we can spend an entire month learning about them.

*They can learn the most important, and least taught, lessons of all- life lessons. By living everyday by my side, they will be able to see real life issues that other children may miss during their 7+ hours spent at school daily.

*Freedom. We can take a break from school for whatever reasons we feel necessary (sickness, vacation, birth, death, etc) without worrying that they will be penalized. We can take the day off for field trips, or just to get outside. And if these just aren't possible for some unforeseen reason, we can take school with us!

We finish earlier. Right now, although our children are only in Pre-K and Kindergarten, it takes about an hour and a half to complete "school" (I stress the word because what I mean by that is our scheduled school time, we are constantly learning throughout our days). These shorter hours mean that my children can spend the addition 5 or more hours that they would have spent in a classroom doing what is most important, being kids!

*My son is 3 years old and we've already been told repeatedly (preschool) that he has something "wrong with him" (ADD/ADHD)- which I DO NOT believe, and that he needs to be medicated- which I definitely do not agree with! I think he will learn better in a hands on way, something that we are able to do at home.

I could go on and on, but these are our major reasons behind our decision, although the list is forever growing.