Happy Birthday Grandpa Paul

Caleb and our government

Here is a quick post on Caleb's social studies class.  I enjoyed seeing Caleb complete this assignment on how our governmental power is distributed.

Caleb's Opinion Paragraph



Vacation
by Caleb
I need to go on vacation. 1st, I think we should go to Georgia for vacation,
 because it is warm. It is closer to the equator and you don't need a jacket!
 2nd, I need a break off school. School wastes my time.
  I need family time! That's why I need vacation time.



Getting updated

It has been 3 months since I posted last.  That will tell you how busy we have been.
I have to admit that this year's school has kept me on my toes.

All 3 boys are home this year. David is in 7th grade and we began the year with him open enrolled into the Appleton school district virtual school.  We withdrew him within 10 days.  That will tell you how well it worked for him. His teacher was over tasked with more than 40 students. She had no lesson plans prepared and it was over-the-top frustrating for both David and I.  We had no idea what we were suppose to do for the Language Arts or Social Studies lessons.  He had a different teacher for Math (he was enrolled in 8th grade math due to his advancement).  That teacher was on the ball! Boy, I wish he taught all the classes.  We would've stayed.  Everything was clearly laid out, links were working and overall it was very easy to follow. We requested another 7th grade teacher but there was only 1 for that grade.  No wonder we couldn't even log in to her room.  What a mess.  So we punted. We contacted the Department of Education and filed our home school form. We scrambled week 2 of school and bought all our curriculum to be shipped ASAP.  I stayed up for days lesson planning to get us caught up.  

Caleb is is grade 3 and he also is home.  Caleb was also enrolled with Appleton school district virtual school and he is having a great experience.  We withdrew David, but we continued with Caleb.  His teacher  is wonderful.  Everything we need to do is well planned and communicated.  The standard of education is obviously higher in Appleton than here in Evansville.  Our district really has a long way to go. We are very pleased with the virtual school experience Caleb is having.  It is a true indicator that the teacher makes all the difference.  Caleb has done a number of  writing projects that are WELL above the level of the 3rd grade classes at our local school.

Nathan is home as well.  He is technically in kindergarten due to his September 8th birthday.  However, he does 1st and 2nd grade class work with me. He reads chapter books while his peers are learning their vowel sounds. He is learning how to carry and borrow in 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction while his peers are learning how to count to 50.  Don't get me wrong, he will attend the public school just as the other boys have done at some point. He will get a year of pure social education, just as David and Caleb got.  Nathan will really thrive in the school environment due to his disposition.But for now, I plan to give him a big educational head start.

The boys are all in swim lessons and will continue with that thru the winter.  David and Caleb will start wrestling in about a week.  This, on top of AWANA and music lessons, means we are more busy than I would like.  I can't even make a grocery list, between all the responsibilities.  I longed for the days of preschool to be over and here we are.  Now it is go, go, go. I have entered the taxi driver stage. I do have to admit that I love them at this age.  It is a rare thing for them to interrupt my sleep, I don't wipe anyone else's bottom, and at swim lessons no one accompanies me into the ladies locker room.  WHOOT!

Our everyday commitments keep us busy, but add on the events of a normal life and we have been playing defense more than I would like.  David has been doing farm work part time, our dog got fleas in September, my phone got dropped and I lost all my pictures and videos, and someone bashed John's car side mirror off while parked at work.

I am thankful though, all of us made it thru October without pneumonia from the moldy leaves. There was a lot of sickness in my Cubbie class.  Those little Cubbies are adorable, but I knew I was increasing my chances of getting sick by being their teacher.  We sanitize and teach kiddos how to cough in their elbow a lot!

I wish I had pictures of the last 3 months to add, but they are lost forever. Sigh.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving pilgrim hat cookies - YUM!

Nathan turns 6

What can I say? Nathan has brought such joy to our family. It is a great thing to celebrate his birthday. 

Nathan is now 6 and in first grade.  He is just the most sunny, happy go lucky little man. His "good morning" greetings first thing each day are delightful.

He is so thoughtful and helpful of others.  He has a true servants heart. I am so proud of him.

We went to Dunkin Donuts for his birthday breakfast and later enjoyed a Batman cake bordered with Andy Candies.  Nathan loves mint and chocolate. Wow , was that a great cake!

True to Nathan's personality, he was most excited about his new dress up superhero cape.

Nathan is my own little superhero.  I hope he continues to save the day with his sunny personality.

The Dog Washing

It is that time of the year.  Time to give the dog a bath.  
For this special occasion I ask Caleb to help me in washing "his" dog.
He happily agrees. 

All three of us squeeze into our tiny bathroom and lock the door.  I turn on the water and begin to fill the tub.  At this point I tell Caleb :"It would be a good idea to go potty before we get started."  The running water always makes him do the potty dance and there is no room for dancing in this small bathroom.  So he agrees. Now the fun begins. 

Now our dog is actually very good in the tub.  She isn't like those YouTube videos you see. She doesn't like the bath, but she isn't fearful or combative. She always has the most pitiful look on her face, but she complies.  She even waits for permission to be excused from the tub.  But, considering the trauma she endured this bath she may be on YouTube after all.

So here we are in the tiny bathroom. Caleb has his pants down to the ankles and is positioned in front of the toilet.  The water is filling the tub from the lower faucet. I am by the opposite wall of the tub.  The dog is in a tiny spot between Caleb and the tub, waiting for the inevitable.  I tell Caleb to get the dog into the tub.  He doesn't pull up his pants first, he just grabs her collar and tells her: " Get in!"  She reluctantly obeys.  Now she is standing in the ankle deep water with the look of shame. 

At this point Caleb decides to become a typical 8 year old stinker.  He smiles to himself and reaches over (pants still at the ankles mind you) and pulls the shower lever.  He says: "It isn't my turn for a shower, (pull lever now) it's YOURS!"  A split second later the shower head begins to spout water over the dog, landing on her tail area and scaring the absolute daylights out of her! She never saw that coming.  She freaks out.  She bolts out of the tub, wet and fast.  She plows Caleb (still pants at ankles) aside and towards me.  Now this bathroom is tiny so we are all pushed around until the funniest thing ever happens.... Maddie gets tangled in my workout clothes which are hanging on the back of the bathroom door.  Oh, but not just any part of my workout clothes. She bolts, wet and frightened right into my pink racerback workout bra.  She gets tangled and stuck with half of her body in and half out.    Caleb about falls over in laughter.  Exclaiming: "Look, Look, Mom LOOK! Maddie is stuck in the bikini, Maddie is stuck in the bikini!

I have to admit it was  funny.  My son thinks my bra is a bikini, he is still pants at ankles, and my dog is wet, scared, and stuck in my under ware. Yup. That was just how I imagined this would go and we hadn't even washed her yet. Pretty funny.