Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Completely Random...Disney World to Homeschool to Starfall.com

Randomly random. This is what my mind does to me after one too many cups of coffee. I drink one too many cups when I make the mistake of allowing Lily to talk me into buying the canned whipped cream for her waffles. She likes for me to make butterflies or faces or what not on them with the cream and then dot her fingers too for a good ol' lickin'.

Surprisingly, Jade does not like any part of having cream or even syrup on her waffles much less on her fingers. To make up for that, I have been topping my coffee with loads of squirt-on whipped cream. I figure the more quickly we get through it, the sooner I will get to witness Lily's dramatic fit at the store when I resist buying more, and then my brain will be on its return to normalcy. If there is such a thing.

Or, we could speed up the process by squirting it directly into our mouths, but that would be COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. As if squirting it on my child's fingers is step one to perfect etiquette.

Until then, here are the thoughts that are roaming the lobes of my brain this fine morning.

Jade's "bae". That is bae with a long A. Known to others as her blankie or lovey. It goes everywhere with us. And although I wash it as often as I can (my mom recently crocheted a replacement one which has helped), its once fluffy yellow state is now at best a dirty tinged grayish yellow. Why am I worried about this? Our Christmas pictures are scheduled for next week, and although I'd really love to have the memory of Jade's bae forever captured, I'd really like for her not to have to bring it into the picture. Any ideas on how to pull that off? She immediately recognizes when it has left her presence and cries out for it until it is swiftly returned. Should we just all dress in yellow and hope it blends in? That would surely make a cheery Christmas card. Oh the pun fun we could have with that...Welcoming God's son with the sun...hee...hee.

Mozilla FireFox. I am so not one for change, but I recently downloaded FireFox to use instead of internet explorer. It is so great for all of us bloggers...commenting bloggers at least. It auto fills your name, e-mail, and site address into the comment boxes. I'm hooked.

Homeschooling. I know Lily is only four, but I've recently been intrigued by the idea of homeschooling her. I'm a teacher by degree, but have balked at the idea of homeschooling for years. We even moved from the downtown area out here because of the good public schools. Then my husband taught in a public school in our district before going back into ministry...and whoa...eye opener. We've been doing a little research and are quickly becoming fans of Charlotte Mason. Any fans of her out there? All the pros and cons...my mind is just spinning with them. And my mother is probably trying to find a heart pill by me just contemplating the idea.

Disney World. Our trip is just a few weeks away. The Disney website completely overwhelms me every time I log on. We're staying on property for 5 nights and have park passes for 3 days. Thank you Aunt Sandi and in-laws who are throwing our nephew's 3rd birthday there and invited us to come. I'm not sure how planned or not-planned to be. I know some people plan years in advance and read every book on it. Me? Ugh...it's mere days away and I haven't done a dern thing. Thoughts are welcome.

Starfall.com. If my blogging seems to be lacking (more than usual, anyway), it is because Lily has discovered Starfall.com. My computer time while the baby sleeps has been replaced by Lily sitting on my lap playing all the fun games she can find. Rocks in my Dryer provided a fun little button a while back that links to tons of great sites. You can find it a ways down on my left sidebar. Be ready to give up your blogging though. I'll understand. :)

Thanks for letting the randomness exit my brain. I feel much better now and Lily is ready to meet her computer addiction needs for the day, so peace out.

19 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, good thoughts really. And I have thoughts on your thoughts. Yep I do! I will have to try Firefox for blogging. I am required to use it for my online business classes, but don't like it too much. Maybe it's just our slow internet connection. But I'll give it a whirl since I like to skip steps when commenting.

I homeschooled my oldest for a semester in 2nd grade, while I was pregnant with my third and having morning sickness. After he helped out with his little sister, and I started feeling better as the day went on, we did his work. Being pregnant was not the reason I kept him home, it was just something we wanted to try after a bit of a rough year in the public school. Sometimes I wish we would have began homeschooling with Kindergarten and maybe it would've been better, but we found out that he needed to be back in regular school. I know that it could work for our family if we absolutely needed and wanted to go that route again, so I hope you have success with it.

Sorry I wrote you a "book." Have a fun day!

My2Gs said...

As soon as I read your post I went to starfall. I plan on letting Grace get on tonight after we get home from work/school. My sweet little girl wakes up every morning telling me she doesn't want to go to school because they give her "hard papers!" It breaks my heart that she hates school. We work with her at home, but she's so hard on herself. Thanks for the info :)
~ Lacie

Kate said...

We too are approaching the homeschool years, and we're going to give it a shot. I'm so nervous about it though. I'm excited for your Disney trip - that'll be great fun for the kids.

Anonymous said...

former public school teacher here.
we homeschool.
my mom lived through it.
Charlotte Mason is a great place to start.
bottom line...if God calls you to it, you can't say no. if He doesn't....don't try it.

dayna

Lisa said...

Hi Kerry! I've posted a few entries about taking the little ones to Disneyland, maybe they could give you any pointers you haven't come accross yet:)

We're considering homeschooling too, we have a while to decide about kinder but pre-school is looming in the not-so-distant future! My hubby's a public school teacher and he's totally on board with me homeschooling. There are sooo many unknowns with public school. My thoughts are as follows...we don't send brand new soldiers to the front lines of a battle immediately, we train them extensively. Therefore, why send an impressionable innocent small child to the front lines of public school at age 4/5?? There's many arguments against this, but it's convincing me quite quickly!!!

Amanda said...

i'm so with you on the homeschool thing. i am a former teacher...who NEVER would have considered home-schooling until the past year...and now i feel like God is tugging at my heart. and i am a bit overwhelmed and terrified by the idea, but surprisingly open. i'll be excited to see what you decide and learn! :)

Gwendolyn said...

I say keep the blanket in the picture...you will love the memories someday. :o)

And as someone who has done the homeschool thing and the public school thing and is presently doing both...homeschooling is so much better in my humble opinion! I miss my kids that are going to school right now, and I hate it that my fourth grader is not learning spelling or cursive handwriting (seriosly? Is that not weird to anyone but me?) And my mom nearly had a heart attack in the beginning when we started homeschooling, but now she is having a heart attack that my kids are in school. You just can't win. LOL

Anonymous said...

Too much caffeine, my dear, and why would we not squirt whipped cream in our mouth? You learned it from an expert. MOM

Shelby-Grace said...

I have enjoyed reading your blog for some time. Your stories are great!

I homeschool my 5 1/2 year old little girl and we really enjoy it. We use Starfall.com in our day to day studies. We don't follow a certain method, but I know quite a few moms that do Charlotte Mason and love it!

Colored With Memories said...

i wondered if the homeschool comment would open a can of worms.

of course my mom just wrote it off as too much caffeine and announced to the world that we grew up squirting whipped cream in our mouths. well, those are the things that memories are made of!

i find it interesting that several of you are contemplating it, have done it, or are doing both. homeschool that is...not whipped cream.

public school seems more appetizing in the early years, (i'm most scared of junior high...even moreso than high school) but i've wondered if it might be hard to go in reverse. public school then homeschool.

so many things to consider, research, and pray about.

amanda-i could have written your comment verbatim. we are in the same exact spot.

Jackie said...

Interesting discussion you have going on here! I know the time will come sooner rather than later when we have to decide what we'll do...not sure if I am brave enough to do the homeschool thing, but a lot can change between now and then...

Hey, I've got something for you today on my blog...

Rachelle said...

I'm with your mom on this one. I can't believe I'm hearing you talk about homeschool! I know you would be a great teacher..you were just such a public school girl...I'm sure whatever decision you make will be a good one. We are cream from the can to the mouth folks around these parts...nothing but class around here! ;)

Rach@In His Hands said...

I love randomness....

I'm sure you'd be a fabulous homeschool teacher/mom! I have a teaching degree, but homeschooling is something I probably won't do...although I won't completely close the door on it!

My 2 cents on the blankie...I'd let your Jade hold her "bae". I'm sure the pictures will turn out better with her happily holding it then her crying for it! Plus, it'll be fun to look back on. :)

I'm enjoying reading your blog!

amanda said...

Hi Kerry! you wrote a comment on my blog recently about being a fellow PCAer after you read a comment I made to Missy on 'It's Almost Naptime'. I commented on your comment in my most recent post (long story) but thought I should let you know that I did that:). The more that I read your blog, the more I realize how much we have in common...where in texas do you live? I am a teacher too and have always gone back and forth on the whole homeschooling thing (for my family). I have some book reccomendations but I can't think of them right now, so I'll look them up and get back to you. OH and I was scrolling through your blog I saw some a couple of people in the background in the pictures of the wedding that i know....do I know you too??

Jamie said...

We did that at our house for a few years...the homeschool thing. The whipped cream thing we still do:)

HoodMama said...

Oh, we are big fans of Firefox, and canned whipped cream. We do squirt it directly in our mouths but not in front of comp'ny. :)

Mamajil said...

I love reading your blog!!!

We love the star fall site!

We do the home school thing...always have I remember a day (20 some odd years ago) when I thought I would NEVER do that but the Lord kept bringing me back to it or putting folks in my life that educated their kids at home It has been a great thing for us. My kids really have a close knit relationship with each other and we really have a close relationship with them. For us it has been a God thing. Not every day is perfect and not every day is easy but it keeps me growing in God and leaning on HIM!! My oldest is grown and married and owns his own business he was home schooled all his life, my 17 yr old is dual enrolled in the local college and had no trouble transitioning into a conventional school setting, so now I only have 5 school age ones and 3 little ones....I love the Charlotte Mason way of learning...we use some of her techniques. I will pray that you will have distinct direction in this area :)

oh one last thing say hi to MICKEY!! Disney is so fun! :)

Christina said...

I would love to hear your thought process about preschools. I am in the learning stages. Did you decide on what to do about work? Btw, I still sleep with my blanket as a child.

Anonymous said...

Hey Girl,

My oldest went to Kindergarten and then we started homeschooling after that. I was the mom that said I would never homeschool and was judgemental towards all the homeschool moms. The Lord totally changed my heart and I can't imagine my kids in public school right now. We take it a year at a time. I am homeschooling two and have a four year old and a 2 year old. You can do it. Love to chat sometime. :)

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