Bite!

There are at least two circumstances in which I find my children to be undeniable adorable. One is after a long tiring day of mommy working really hard and they are all peacefully sleeping. Can I get an AMEN? 

The second is when they are eating, especially when they are feeding each other. 

While I Was Ignoring My Kids

Today one of the homeschooling moms I follow on Facebook posted about a pet peeve of hers: "Moms who spend all their time online chatting with friends ABOUT homeschooling/unschooling while not actually interacting with their kiddos! Makes me crazy!"

I have been plenty guilty of finding pet peeves in others when I should not be one to judge. When I was a working mom, I sometimes wondered how SAHMs found time to tweet, update their Facebook statuses or blog. Aren't they supposed to spend every second with their kids? I know I wanted to use my nights and weekends to spend as much quality time as possible with my kids. It wasn't until I majorly shifted lifestyles that I realized just how much I can't use my standards to make assumptions about other people's lives. Wasn't I supposed to be working anyway, and not worrying about other people? 

I pray that in other aspects of my life God peels away my ignorance and replaces it with compassion. I still have a long way to go. 

This homeschooling mom shaking her finger at other homeschooling moms was pretty shocking to me. Up until now, I have found the homeschooling community to be some of the most open-minded and tolerant people of each other, even the extremists. EVERYONE has been encouraging of one another and me, even when there were differences in opinion, philosophies, strategies, religions, etc. I'm indescribably grateful for all the support, including the online ones, I've received for almost a year. I also appreciate challenges for improvement, when delivered with care and understanding, not condemnation.

I'll be the first to admit that my homeschooling schedule/routine/whatever is nothing to brag about. We're still figuring things out, but we get done what I feel like we need to get done everyday. On days like today, which are most days, the academic stuff gets done well before lunch. So, the kids got to spend from 11ish until 4ish outside riding bikes, exploring nature and playing on the play structure. I spent more time than usual on the internet on the front porch and on the back patio just being available to them if they needed me. Thank you wireless internet. Yes, I was messing around on Facebook a bit, but I also researched how to care for luna moth caterpillars (we got a dozen today from a new homeschooling friend), how to eat black walnuts (we have a ton in our yard and I was wondering how edible they are), and I tried to identify a fragrant bush growing in the garden adjacent to our patio (still unsuccessful). 

During the times when I was not directly interacting with my children, the boys grew tremendously in their independence and interdependence, coming up with games and rules and role plays. They really strengthened their sibling bond, acting mostly like two peas in a pod. This was a welcome change from earlier this week when they were at driving each other nuts. Mei also learned a lot while I was not directly interacting with her and much credit is due to her big brothers. At dinner, Bean and Tey took turns listing off to their Daddy all the things their little sister learned today. It included what tic-tac-toe was, how to say "balance," how to climb up the stepped ramp of the play structure, how to climb up the slide and how to go down the slide all by herself. 

They are so proud of her!

Though I felt like I was on the computer for a long time today, I am confident that giving them their space was not detrimental for them but beneficial. We're so ready for these luna moths! Plus, we collected a huge pile black walnuts, though I'm not sure if we'll actually eat them. :) Most importantly, my children they  grew together and because of each other. I am so proud of them too.

Meeting the Paralympians of CU

We LOVE the community in which we live. The people here rock and there are so many fun things to do. The flatness in the Midwest has its benefits too; it's great for accessibility. We love watching wheelchair racers speed through town, especially in the Illinois Marathon. We haven't missed a race yet. We still need to figure out what to do for next year now that we've moved.

Anyway, today was our chance to meet the Paralympians of our community face-to-face before they head to the Paralympics in London next week. I knew it was an opportunity that our kids would not want to miss. Boy, was I right. 

I had forgotten about it until soon before it started, but when I mentioned it to them, they were ecstatic and extremely cooperative. We had to quickly pile into the tub as we had just spent a long day outside because we also had a going away pizza party for some friends to attend right after. We made it in time! I'm brilliant! (occasionally)...

As soon as we got there, we ran into one of Bean's friends from preschool who is the son of Adam Bleakney, the wheelchair racing coach. After catching up with our old friends the boys got to try a racing chair!

So Bean has been wanting to be a wheelchair athlete for as long as I can remember, and it's hard to explain to him why he can't be, at least for now. I don't want him to hurt himself on purpose! He was so in his element here, really, he loved this chair. 

Tey did surprisingly well on it too given his size, but my camera died, thus the short video above too. I know, momfail.  The media were there so maybe there will be a video of Tey they captured that I can post later. Afterwards, we got autographs from the athletes and the boys did fab introducing themselves and asking amazing questions.

We even touched real medals (a gold, a silver, and a bronze) won in Beijing four years ago by Jessica Galli. They are HEAVY! We are privileged to have these athletes representing our country and our community in London. Last time, Champaign-Urbana Paralympians brought home half of the US medals. I wonder how many more they'll earn now that they are sending twice as many people. Our family will certainly be watching online (details here) and cheering them on in our own home as NBC will not be televising the events. I look forward to a welcome back party, because I know this team is going to make us all proud!

Update: Here is the news coverage of the event. No video of Tey.

Mei's First Nature Exploration

You know those vacation days where you spend all day outside on a hike, at the beach, at the zoo, not paying attention to the time or the temperature? We had one of those days today and it was blissful. We headed out to explore the backyard right after we were done with breakfast and morning chores. At first we were going to collect nature treasures in a little wheelbarrow that the previous owners left for our kids, but that proved to be futile with a little Miss Mei dumping things out regularly. So, instead, we took pictures and the boys ran the most interest treasures to the patio to leave for later investigations.

I took other pictures including some of the boys, but this post focuses on our Mei and her day. She copied everything that her older brothers did today, so you can guess what they were up to. She's a little naturalist in the making.

The first tree you encounter just beyond our patio is this Boxedler Maple Acer negundo. I learned that after discovering that it was host to a bunch of red boxelder bugs. The boys enjoyed finding them all over and soon Mei was wanting to poke them and have them crawl on her. Yay for a dry summer, which these insects love. Hopefully they don't decide to winter with us.

The oldest and largest tree we have in our yard is a beautiful oak. I asked Bean to pose in front of it and she just followed along. Maybe I'll take their pictures each year in front of it or something. I do really hope this tree lives forever. It gives a great vibe to the backyard.

Next we found acorns from our oak tree. I think it's a bur oak, just like the small one we had at our former home. Mei was calling it a "ball." You can see her beginning to make a "b" sound. 

Then onto nature journalling. I was surprised that Bean just whipped his materials from our backpack and started drawing our oak tree without my prompting. Tey followed suit. Mei felt left out as she didn't have a nature journal nor a roll of these colored pencils made from branches (Bo and I made the former and bought the latter for the boys for Christmas). Note to self: colored pencils that look like sticks are going to be hard to find at clean-up time after journalling. The boys shared their materials with her and she was in her own world for a while.

I didn't realize that it was after one when we got back into the house. We did quietly observe a fawn explore our back yard for a long time. We also picked up a bunch sticks to toss on the burn pile (maybe S'mores tonight?). And had a nice chat with our neighbor. Anyway, it was later than usual for lunch, and Mei never quite made it all the way through her meal. 

I have never seen her fall asleep at the table before. I'll take that as a sign that she had a good time on her first nature exploration in our yard.

Puddle Play - Delving into Self-Directed Learning

"Are you homeschooling through the summer?" It's a question I've gotten a lot the last several weeks. 

We are. Why? For a number of reasons. 

As for me, being their teacher is not something I need or desire a break from, at least not for a weeks at a time. Just a few hours here and there to recharge is all I need. It's fun to watch them continue to learn through another season, which offer different experiences, especially if you are outdoorsy types like we are.

My children do better with regular and predictable habits. So I've kept up the expectation that we will continue with life as usual up until about a week before our move and continue now in our new home. I am confident that it works better for us than abandoning everything to then try to start up again from scratch.

We generally take things easy, so it's not like they are burnt out by homeschool. In fact, they are invigorated by it. Bean and Tey don't switch off learning mode nor take a break from asking a billion questions just because it gets hot outside. In fact, quite the opposite can be true, as evidenced by when it rained yesterday and let them play in the puddles (normally, I'm specifically pointing out puddles for them to avoid to not make a mess of my van, my house, my LIFE!).

The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.

- e.e. cummings

It was so helpful that we could actually see the water evaporating off the driveway. Yay, for natural science lessons that I don't need to set up or clean up (just toss kids in the bath as usual)! The boys took to helping it evaporate by kicking it in the air. We have some visual and kinesthetic learners in our family.

Then we moved over to another part of the driveway where there was some shade. Tey noticed that the puddle was colder on this side, then inferred that it would take longer to evaporate. I couldn't believe he could make that conclusion on his own! I kept my cool and just asked him more about it.

And lastly, they learned about getting along with each other and playing together. Always a good lesson. Tey makes up some fun rules. "I do a big kick to you, and you do a big kick to me, and if it's too far, just keep on practicing." I love his encouraging words: "Just keep practicing." Like Dori, "Just keep swimming."

While I don't consider ourselves "unschoolers" in general, I do try to capitalize on naturally occurring opportunities to expose the kids to something new or interesting for them to explore. It never ceases to amaze me how much children can figure out by letting them freely delve into what's before them (sometimes literally), and not starting or stopping them based on some clock, calendar, or lesson plan set by myself or someone else.

I think summer is a perfect time for encouraging self-directed learning in your children homeschooling or not. I'm sure many parents at home with their children this summer are naturally doing this anyway, but you don't think of it as homeschooling because your role seems too simple and easy and the kids are having too much fun! :) Well, just keep it up, fellow homeschooler!

New Nest - Humbleness in Extravagance

Sorry for being quiet for so long, but I have a good excuse.

As you know Bo and I are not ones to make hasty decisions, but we decided to move. Within a matter of a week in mid June we contacted a realtor, visited the house, made an offer and had it accepted.

Then there was 6 weeks of me packing, decluttering and staging our house to sell. Bo took care of a lot of logistics with ordering carpets cleaned and other services, taking care of all the lender stuff and details with our realtor. He also repainted our whole house and did a ton of yard work and house repairs. He was amazing.

Last Saturday we moved in with the help of friends and Bo's brothers and then celebrated with sushi and sake, then frozen yogurt or bubble tea. I can't believe how fast it went.

We are currently in our new home and today was the first day we have internet access!  Huzzah! NOW this place has everything.

Honestly, this new home is unreal. It blows my mind that this is even ours. We are so blessed. I am overwhelmed with a feeling of unworthiness to live in such a beautiful home with beautiful land.

We're on almost 2 acres with mature trees and a stream that runs along the length of the property. We share this place with several lovely wild animals, including 3 feral cats, whom we feed everyday. I call them "The Beggers."

And here's a clueless fawn that we saw yesterday. Where's its mama?

The boys went crawdad fishing in the stream last Sunday with Uncle Joel and caught these little critters.

Our new home is like a little bit of heaven on earth. All these daily glimpses into God's glory, reminds me of His magnificence. And though I feel completely at home here and we plan to live here until retirement, I also know that this is NOT my home; it's His home for His glory. There is so much potential here to serve God. It's starts with our own family and with homeschooling, but extends to opening our home to others in ways we hadn't been able to before. We also have a greater responsibility now in protecting a larger piece of God's earth and the wildlife that live here. I am keenly aware that by worldly standards our new home can seem extravagant, but it is my hope that we can be use it to humbly serve our creator.

Bean Earned his Yellow Belt

Bean's first belt test for Tae Kwon Do was today. He's been looking forward to testing for a couple weeks now and has been really practicing his form. It paid off because he earned a yellow belt and I felt confident that he really earned it and it wasn't a formality. 

At the last test date when he knew his friends were testing he said, "I hope everyone moves up a belt." I responded that I hope everyone tries their best and if that deserves a belt, then I hope they get it, but if not, then I hope they don't give up, but try again next time. This seemed like a perfect time to remind him of the importance of trying your best, but that you don't always get credit for effort but sometimes you have to earn it by showing mastery or at least improvement. I also wanted to re-emphasize the value of perseverance, which we do a lot anyway in our house.

Here he is sparring. 

I wish I recorded what his sparring used to look like. He would hop all over the place, run away from his opponent or turn his back on him or her. He was also slower and less agile. Today he was fully engaged and diversified his kicks. He did all four that he knew, but I started recording after he had already done some others. I'm surprised they didn't have him do his poomsei, because Bo and I have really seen some improvement there. I might need to have him do it and I'll just record it.

In the meantime, look at this proud little man in his yellow belt :)

Lemon frozen custard to celebrate...cuz it's yellow

Update from Monday April 16th:
Today was his first day of class as a yellow belt. He got to state his name in front of the class and give everyone a high-five. 

Today also goes down in history as the first time that when I asked the question, "How was Tae Kwon Do class today?" he said "Great!" In general, his response to most questions like that is "good" despite the fact that Bo and I discourage the use of that vague word. It's it's like pulling teeth to get any clarification or descriptions about it too. He said today's class was great because he got to learn new things and he specifically mentioned a new yellow belt kick. Eureka! Has he realized that if you pay attention and focus you can actually have fun learning something new from someone else? Time will tell.