15 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Mess With A Homeschool Mom

As most of you know, we are homeschooling our granddaughter.  Haylee is now doing 1st grade.

I keep reading it's pretty typical of most homeschool parents that some days are hair pulling, nerves crunching, fingernail nibbling, neck tightening, wondering what the heck you are doing, kind of days.

Others, you wouldn't trade the world for the moment you are going through right at that instant. 

Those are the moments you sooo look forward to and that make it all worthwhile.  

The moment you show her a shortcut of stacking two double digit numbers and adding the columns together and she thinks I'm magic and amazing.  :D

And at the same time that little light bulb glows very brightly as she totally got what you just did.  Woo Hoo!

Other great moments are when she completely amazes Gramps when she explains something new and totally unexpected, and he is completely amazed that she knows and understands and is also able to explain.  

Also for the moments that my very patient hubby comes in and yet again, I haven't gotten much of anything accomplished for the day except staying in one room all day long working with lessons, and hair not even finished and not even sure if I have totally dressed for the day.

When I, myself feeling a bit overwhelmed that not much of anything has been accomplished in the household maintenance/care all week, except maybe the minute or two that half of the dishwasher has been unloaded and now can't decide if it's clean or dirty.  :P)
Ya know, the kind of days when I have to stop and think if I did or didn't have a shower today. 

But on those days I bet I could tell you our layout and order we worked our lesson plan for the day and probably which pages we even read, along with percentages of plans finished and how many to go before the end of the week since I have turned OCD on homeschool routine from household things. :/

Yesterday was one of the wonderful, I was told I was amazing days with DGD, (darlin' granddaughter) and then a change of attitudes that leads to today's hair pulling & graying, neck wrenching, counting to who knows what number while mumbling a quick "more patience please, Lord, kind of day.

Which it was all I could do to keep trying to be as patient as possible just to make it through a few of the lessons and try to re-vamp for the afternoon.  
That was during a run to the library for a required book needed yesterday, and run a couple of quick errands including refueling the cow juice.  (I swear it would be easier to milk a cow on a daily basis to keep up with the milk usage around here.  lol!)

So after reading all of this rambling - my point is, when I ran across this article on Facebook, 
after a "challenging" kind of day (my fav word - challenging!), I got a huge kick 
out of this.  

Although, we only have one to homeschool when others have more than one in more than one grade, I would have even more of the less hair turning gray.  (make sense? not sure of that one.  lol!  it's that kind of day.)  And I'm teaching. Bahaha!


Thanks to homeschooldiaries.com for a great and entertaining article.  
Definitely the highlight of this 
wild 
and 
crazy kind of day.  :)


Here is the article I was originally writing about. 

Here are 15 reasons why you should never mess with a homeschool mom:

1.  She has a laminator and knows how to use it.

2.  She often mumbles to herself, and claims she’s having a parent-teacher conference. Some may perceive this as craziness, to the homeschool mom, it’s normal.

3.  She can juggle a meal, fold clothes, and teach a spelling lesson, all while holding a baby on her hip. You may even call her a multi-tasker. {Gasp}

4.  She’s protective of her kids, to the point of psychotic. Urban legend claims the termmama-bear originated from the homeschool mom. Research is pending.

5.  She’s got moves like Jagger. Runs from room to room, putting out fires, or even starting a few of her own.

6.  She’s wise beyond years, constantly studying, researching and growing, to keep ahead of her brood of youngins.

7.  She’s not afraid to wear PJs after 10 a.m. or yoga pants ALL. DAY. LONG.

8.  She almost never calls in sick.

9.  She makes a list and checks it twice, or three and four times depending on how Type Ashe is.

10. She’ll go toe-to-toe with any stranger who questions in the wrong tone or before she’s had a second cup of coffee – “What about socialization?”

11. She stares algebra in the eye and makes y run from x. She will later tell a bad math joke –Dear Algebra, stop asking us to locate your X, she’s never coming back. {Insert evil laugh}

12. She’s been known to cancel school and declare a sun day, instead of a snow day, just because she can.

13. She handles dead animals and bugs with ease, all in the name of science.

14. She’s not afraid to face the Warden of Words (the librarian) to square up on late fees.

15. She won’t claim harassment when the ‘principal‘ pats her on the booty.

Why do you think a homeschool mom is a force to be reckoned with?

Link for this is:

15 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Mess With A Homeschool Mom

New dress for lil Bug

I finally got around to posting the newest lil pillowcase dress I finished for Haylee Bug.

I had so much trouble making up my mind what colors to use in the ruffle and tie.

Even made a big puffy clip hairbow along with a small one for wearing on the side.

Couldn't find ribbon to match enough to use for the drawstring ties, so just cut long

strips of the material I used for the ruffle and made it's own string ribbons.

I have a small stock of materials and Haylee has now informed me that she wants

more and has went through the stack and has a standing order for about 8 more

(as of now at least) made just like it.  Silly girl!

Big day for our lil Haylee Bug

It's been quite some time since I have written much personal on here.  
I have been spending time working on price matching/couponing.  

Started a new facebook page to be able to communicate with others 
about sales, matchups, etc.  Totally loving that.

That's in addition to the normal typical daily adventures to handle like 
married, house to run, 6 yr old to do homeschooling with.  
Along with my mom who has definite dementia and has to be
tended to pretty consistantly.  Oh and two small dogs that are a 
handful in many ways.  
So some days - altogether, it seems like I have 5+ kids.  :P

Guess I do stay a bit busy and ever since we decided, for many reasons,
to homeschool Haylee, there are many days I wonder if I am 
enough to be able to fulfill all the requirements of taking on this
huge responsibility.  Especially those days that the world is flying 
by at warp speed trying to keep all the little fires of life under control.  
The kind of days that nothing seems to get done - especially anything really notable in the actual school area.

I have made sure not to rush at all with all the little steps of each 
vowel sound, number - etc.  We have strictly followed the  one 
lesson at a time approach no matter how boring it seemed to be 
to myself and to Haylee.  I would liven it up as much as possible, 
(sometimes almost standing on my head, 
but still,  lesson after lesson, review each and every sound - short 
and long vowels, all the letters and finally combinations thereof.  
It can be very challenging to try to stick to one lesson at a time, 
when you could rush them, but I set my mind to not doing that.
Not skipping the little things to rush to the goal of this or that
then having to backtrack to re-learn some little things later.

I do add in lots of little things to mix up a school day as Haylee is
such a bright girl full of way too much energy to set still for very 
long, with the highlights of her day is to give me the toughest time 
possible, and if something doesn't entertain her very well, she is distracted so easily.  

I think writing is her toughest thing so far.  To have to actully set 
in a chair, somewhat still, not on it - under it or hanging off of it, 
and have to focus on writing 
this and that, well, some days - she's as much under the desk as
she is at it.  lol!!  So, what the heck, sometimes I just 
crawl in the floor with her and we change course and try something
else for a bit.  

I have discovered that is another fabulous thing about homeschooling 
from my own ongoing experiences, is to move at your own paces.  
If something is a bit tough, work on that a bit longer, by reviewing 
and trying another approach before heading on to the next
which in, what we call "big school", there are so many children at 
so many levels, all struggling at times to try to keep up where if
it's not working for us, stop to take a break for the day and pick up
where we left off and continue the next day.

Well, the last few days, we have been advancing nicely on the number 
of sight words she can rattle off faster and faster.  Now the lessons
are actually having us put words together a little more and a little more.

Yesterday Haylee was astonished when she read a full sentence I had
written on the dry erase board without hesitation.  Her eyes were like
the biggest diamonds ever.  

I don't think the most awarded poet in the world could have put 
that moment into words for her or for myself.

In that moment I saw her experience that once in a lifetime feeling 
of finally being able to do something effortlessly that she has wanted 
to do so fiercely for as long as her little self can remember.

So, today I had her get out her Leap Frog Tag reader - you know, the
ones with the pen that reads the words for the child.  It's been a while
since she had it out.  We have a set of books that have each vowel 
in short sounds.  I had her set down with it, and said if she gets stuck
and just cannot get that word, then use the pen to tell her the word.

Before she knew it, she had only gotten stuck a couple of times, and breezed
right through the 13 page book.  Totally mezmerized by now that she
had actually read the book all by herself.  She was jumping up and down
repeating  -  "I just read that book ALL by myself.  All by myself.  
All by myself!!" while doing a serious version of a happy dance.

That is one of the small HUGE moments that spending all this time
on all the little things all so very much worth it.  The moment you 
are teaching your child something that others usually do.  
It's so much like the moment that they take their very first step, 
you so much want to NOT miss that moment.  Well, I got to be
a part of it, that I hope to never forget.  That feeling of success for a child. 

This child has asked, seems like daily, for months, maybe a year or two, - when can I read by myself?

I saw for myself that if I had any doubts before - I don't any longer because - Moments like that is truely what it's really all about!!!  


Even if tomorrow we had to end being able to homeschool,  
I was still able to share one of her biggest moments, come to life.


Talk about all the little bits and pieces of ups and downs craziness and 
myself doubting that I should even be doing this on some days- all 
leading to a splendor of a look in a 6 yr old's eyes.  

Even though I have never been considered the "mushy" type very 
often - This was one of those moments that quickly brought on 
goosebumps and tears of excitement right along with our sweet 
lil' Haylee Bug.  

Talk about a feeling so very humbled and honored, to have the ability
to work with a child at home, while needing to be home so much 
of the time for other reasons such as my mom. 

It all can be tough, challenging, stressful, creative, silly acting, mind 
boggeling, laughter along with tears at times, to never know what 
the next minute will hold kind of experience that is a true and precious 
honor, even that much more, when you have the moments of yesterday 
and today to see just how as one is declining in knowledge and 
ability day by day - then on the other hand you see one blossom more and more with each passing day.




** (later on in the evening)  
I think Larry and I have heard that one little book not once but many
dozens of times.  lol!  I think she even took the book to bed with her
along with tooth #5 that the "tooth fairy" will need to collect after 
posting this.  lol!  

I do know that we have one extremely proud little lady probably
dreaming of reading all kinds of books tonight.

My ramblings for the day

If not for a child in the house, I don't think one can appreciate 

how time flies by.  They grow up so very fast.  

Time gets away from you and you see how much you need to use 

that time wisely and to your advantage of sharing with a young one 

as well as older one

I guess we are in one of those "sandwich" family scenario's   

Our granddaughter Haylee, just turned 6 at the end of 

September and my mom will be 83 in February.  

It's refreshing and sad at the same time to be raising a 

grandchild and caring for a parent.  

Especially since we are homeschooling Haylee.  

I am daily seeing one grow in knowledge and the excitement of it all, 

and being able to share this time of growing in knowledge, which I 

wouldn't change for the world  -   then seeing another one seem to know 

less and move less and communicate less almost on a daily basis lately. 

These are the times you have to definitely appreciate the little things in life!

Take nothing for granted!

Which I have to constantly remind myself of.  

I am not really one to really sugarcoat much of anything 

for anyone especially myself.  

I am hoping and praying it's just a spell with mom, but it seems like this past few days are becoming tougher for her to move, to communicate and to know what or where she is to be or do from one moment to the next. Kind of like another little wake up call that life could get even more interesting in just a short matter of time, perhaps.

We have an aide now who is just a sweetheart, that comes in three 

days a week and takes care and sits with my mom which is working 

out so very well.  That does give me time for any errands, and 

definitely time to spend focusing on Haylee 

and working on her homeschooling.

It can at times be a challenge on the strength of the nerves and have to 

just walk into another room and try to re-focus for just a few moments 

then return to take on the next challenge of the next hour or even moment.  

Today has been one of the really pretty rough days.  Mom does not 

seem to be doing that great, and well . . you know kids.  Some days 

its as if they try to really pick on that last little nerve as if they were 

tap dancing on it just for fun. 

I will admit that I yearn for times alone for a few hours, 

for not to have to do for someone else but to have someone 

do for me for a change.  

And on that note, to my darling, loyal husband.  I couldn't ask for a better life partner in all the craziness we have been through for the past 20 years.  

To continually stand by my side through good and bad times is 

an understatement to the umpteenth degree.  

I can always know he will be home and by my side at a moments 

notice if at all possible even from work which requires his dedication.  

He is truly my lifeline in my life.  

My best friend that will fuss back at me if I need him to or give 

me a hug if that's what is needed or even just to take over 

and  make sure that I have just 

that few precious moments to fold clothes in a quiet 

room which may just result in my most accomplished 

thing done for the day.  (still dishes, more clothes, etc, etc.  :) 

I am truly blessed for this man to share his life with me.  

I am also again so blessed to have the opportunity to raise another little girl since I was only blessed to have one of my own children, in which Ashley has turned out to be such a fabulous person and become a best friend.

Haylee, well she is definitely a lively, outgoing, extremely active little lady.  6 going on 16 very quickly.  She loves life so much and is really becoming much more outgoing which is so fabulous to see as she has always been so bashful.  Although at times the bashful would be nice now.  Talk, Talk, and Talk  lol!

She is such a challenge loving child.  She has completed her 3rd belt and 

onto her 4th (camo) in 5 months.  With classes 2 days a week and has 

moved up to the adult class and I think, and many say she is doing super 

in and tries her very best to keep up with the grown ups.  

Also she is back in dance class of tap/ballet/jazz.  She has moved to Judi King and totally loves it there.  They are currently working on 3 different dances one day a week.  

One of the days each week, she has dance for one hour and then Taekwondo for an hour and a half.  And one would think she would pass out on the way home from classes, but I think she is more full of life than the rest of the week.  That is until she sits for just a few minutes, then leans over snoring, sound asleep and Gramps once again has to carry her to bed which she is so big now she will be dragging her feet soon.  :)

Since it's getting late - after midnight now, I will try to get settled in enough to quiet my mind and hope for some rest and begin another day in the challenging life of me.  

Haylee in tap dance class 2011-2012

A video clip of Haylee with her class for tap dance.  Silly girl got a pair of new hiking type boots to join her ever expanding pile of boots.  A bit boot crazy.  :)  But the silly thing wore then for the very first time  - withOUT socks,  resulting in a nice bright red blister.  OUCH!  So ballet shoes for the week.  :P  

Haylee at Cheerleading class February 2012 (5 1/2 yrs old)

A lil video clip of Haylee at one of her two favorite things to go to which is Cheerleading class with Miss Alexis and her friends.  They definitely have a blast!  Even though they seem to goof off at times, it's amazing how Alexis works them.  
We are on spring break this week from public schools, so there is no dance/cheer classes.  It's only Tuesday so missing the first of two classes, and she is already going bonkers wondering how long this week is going to take to be over and get back to class.  Silly girl.  :)


Anyhoo, there will be a recital in May with all the classes performing at our local park, so they are working hard since it won't be long.  Such a cute enthusiastic group of girls!


Go Grace Angels!!!!

Haylee lost first tooth

Haylee lost her very first tooth today.

The lil bugger has been loose for about a month now.  I am amazed it stayed in this long.

She even has another one peeking thru right behind.  So I convinced Haylee we ought

to get it out so the big grown up tooth would have plenty of room since it was barely in.

She agreed.

Haylee actually let me pull it out.  It went really quick as it was only barely in.

Was such a big girl.  Now she has a silly little smile going.  So cute!

Now the tiny little tooth is tucked away in a tiny pocket on a little pillow and

already waiting a visit from the toothfairy in exchange for money.  :)

Haylee's Birthday Present - - - -for Gramps

Haylee has gotten pretty good at painting stuff lately and totally loves it.

So I found an unpainted birdhouse at Wal-mart for her to make 

for her Grandpa's birthday.  

 

We painted 2 coats on each side.  One side each day so it 

took some patience for her to let them dry and wait till the next 

day to do another color on another side. 

Uh Nanny . . . . . I got too much paint on here!  

(ck out her eyes)  

I could barely take the pic and keep a straight face.  :)

Just gotta LOVE that lil' face!!!!

Haylee's finished birdhouse for her Gramp's for his birthday.

I think she did a spectacular job on it. 

( I helped line up the letters but that's about it.)

She picked the colors, which sides to be each color, etc.  

And the MOST surprising of all, she actually kept it 

quiet for the entire week.  

That was the tougher part of the project than anything.  lol!

Dance photo shoot 2010-2011 (May 2011)

Well, another year is over for Haylee enjoying her dance (ballet & tap) and cheerleading classes.  

 

Haylee's classes had group pictures taken last week and here are a few of them (that I took of them getting pics taken :P )  and a few while she was waiting their turn to pose.

Haylee's first camping adventure with Grandpa

Grandpa, aka Gramps, has been wanting to take Haylee on her first camping adventure.  But camping with the high temps around here is really tough right now, and because of so much spring rain and flooding, many of our campsites in the camping areas near our local beautiful lake are under water.

So here comes the ideas:  After putting up our 14 ft pool the week before, and then we have a pontoon boat also, we decided to park it next to the pool to sit on and let Haylee practice jumping off of - into the pool.  In other words, a little unique but creative way to add a deck with a boat just sitting there anyway. Fab.

 

This is where my adorable and creative hubby, again, aka Gramps, once again, came up with the interesting idea to put the tent next to the pool that's next to the boat.  Make a camp area right in the back yard with all the conveniences of home, but just outside the fence.  Cute!

So Gramps went to work on it Friday evening.  He and Haylee went camping shopping for all the necessities.  Hot dogs for roasting, marshmellows and chocolate bars for s'mores, xtra chips, snacks, etc.  You know, all the goodies of a real camping trip.  Also some water balloons and a set of plastic horseshoe game to set up at "camp".  

Saturday morning they started putting up the tent to air out, blow up air mattress for the bed all set, towels hanging across the fence to dry, horse shoes in place, hammock strung up, lantern hanging and ready, picnic blanket ready, firewood stacked, grill, etc.  Haylee and Gramps kept adding this and that till it was as if it was a real camp site.

I think the more things they came up with , the more adorable the senario became.  It was so funny and adorable when Haylee informed me that this was a camping trip with Gramps and I could come to visit and have hotdogs at supper, but I was to stay home the rest of the time unless they needed something.  So in other words, I and the house became the local quick mart/restroom.  lol!

When they got things pretty much set, Haylee and Larry packed a little bag of clothes for night, and headed out to their "camp".  Also a little reminder as Haylee left out the door, saying "Bye Nanny,  see ya this evening for hotdogs and s'mores.  You stay here and be good."  I agreed of course to do my part of the scenario.

 

The weather decided to throw a little curve to them and rained for a while, but they weren't too surprised and had stuff ready.  They piled in the tent with munchies and drinks handy for staying occupied while waiting out the rain.

After the rain stopped,  they emerged and started the fire and I heard a knock on the door and the stood Haylee with the detailed instructions on where and when the hot dogs would be ready for me to join in.  :) (of course I brought my camera since I wanted pics more than hotdogs) :)

When we finished the hotdogs and s'mores and cleaned up,  I got all my hugs and kisses for the night and headed back into the house.

The two of them ended up going for a nice long quiet night walk around our land and then retired to the tent for the night.

The next morning came too early with the birds starting in before daylight with a mocking bird making sure they was awake bright and early.  :)

All in all I think it ended up to be a super great first camping trip for Haylee.  Gramps, on the other hand was pretty tired as after the sugar and chocolate of s'mores, Haylee didn't really want to go to sleep.  Once she did the air mattress went partly flat and everything was moist from the rain earlier in the evening.

But aren't the little things that don't go just ideal the things you talk about and remember the most about any adventure?  So I think she will remember this for quite some time.  I know Gramps will.  :)

 Ya know, these two are an amazing pair.  He would do anything in the world for this little girl, which I know most grandparents would, but what is so special and it shows, is that I think Haylee knows in her little 4 yr old heart (almost 5, she would say) that he is so very special to her, that she would do the same for him.  And I truly feel she will carry that special feeling in her heart for the rest of her life no matter where it leads her to be.

They have such an amazing kinship for spending time together, and yes, sometimes getting into trouble together too.

Life gets so hectic so much of the time, that I, and I am sure many others, forget to take the time to appreciate the ones closest to us, but I try to never loose site of the fact that I feel honored to be playing my little part in this great big world and in my own little world at home also with my very special people. 

Haylee makes the local magazine

We took a picture of  Haylee playing around with some frogs that we found in our small water feature in our back yard.  At first she was really nervous to touch them, but in no time at all she was holding them and giving each of the three frogs names.

I couldn't stand it and had to send it into our local electric company's magazine that all electric coop members in our area received.  I just knew they would get a kick out of the pic as part of summer fun.

I sent in this pic a couple of weeks ago, and then forgot all about it.  Then a friend posted on facebook about the pic being so adorable on the magazine.  I quickly grabbed the newest issue that was laying on the bar with other mail from that day, and sure enough, our little Girlie girl ballerina/cheerleader one minute, total mud puddle jumpin, lil Miss Haylee Bug was in there holding all 3 frogs.  yes - 3 frogs. 

As for the later health and welfare of the now 3 named frogs, Haylee and Gramps took them to a beautiful creek not far from our house and let them go find their Nanny and Gramps too.  So somewhere along the creek, they are croaking away at the summer temps that have moved in and happy catching all sorts of bugs as they hop in and out of the creek.

Our lil Princess Ballerina Tap Dancin' Cheerleadin' Frog Catchin' Puddle Jumpin' Old Fashion Country Tom Girl.

Hello there, 

Well this is my very first entry in a blog.  I have been following many, for quite some time and have become addicted to reading and trying all sorts of stuff.  

I mulled over so many ideas to get started on this, but no luck.  So I guess I will just jump right in.  

I figure I will be posting most often about our lil Miss Haylee, so why not just start it off with letting you in on our "adventures" in life.  lol.

Meet our lil Haylee.  Normally referred to as Haylee Bug more often, lil Miss Mess.  She is our granddaugher who is 4, going on 5 soon, or as she would state it, I'm not just 4 - I'm almost 5 now.  :)  

Haylee is such a life loving child.  And has her Gramps totally and tightly wrapped around her lil finger.  

Haylee lives with us full time and it's a definite challenge on a daily basis, to distinguish the difference between being a grandparent and a parent.  Haylee has lived with us since she was a month old and Gramps is definitely one that has to be reminded that we have to at least try to be strong and stand our ground at times, or she will wrap him up even tighter. lol!  

Haylee loves getting into just about anything.  Learning all sorts of stuff including crafts with me, dance/tap class, cheerleading class, daycare/preschool (2 days a week)  or outside seeing what to get into with her favorite guys - Gramps and Weebee (oh btw, Weebee T. Grasshopper is our min pin who is 9 yrs old and thinks he's the boss,  at least till Haylee tells him different since she is the REAL boss around here. )

Haylee wants Gramps to give her a turn trying to do some mowing for him.  Not!  :)  But doesn't stop her from pretending anyway.  :P

But check our the boots in the wardrobe choice of the day, which she has several pairs, and most of the time if you drive by our house, and if she's outside, she has boots on with just about anything!