Dino Picture

Drawn by Kyle

Lacey's picture

Lacey learned to make a star.

My cooking lesson at 4h

I was cooking at 4h. It was fun. I made celery with peanut butter with chocolate chips on it.

We had to tell everyone what we made. The 2 girls  were my helpers.

I wrote this all by myself.

by Kyle

4h by Lacey

I MADE A MIX.

MY FRIENDS.

IT WAS FUN.

Lacey typed this by herself. She told me what she wanted to say, I wrote what she said on a piece of paper and she typed it.

A Week of Fun,Surprises And Hypothermia

We had a really great week this week! Shane finally got a job driving a salt water truck for a company in Bowie, Texas. Yeah! That job at the concrete place was killing us! We were told he would get about 60 -65 hours a week but he ended up only pulling about 30- 35. No way you can feed a family of 7 on that kind of pay. So we are very thankful for the new job. Now we just have to pray he gets put on days soon! Sunday morning is really hard on him after working all night but I know the Lord knows all about it. Church is going pretty good. We still need singers/ musicians desperately, but you couldn't ask for a nicer group of people. They have really been sweet to us. 

I really like the homeschool group in Wichita Falls. We are trying to get involved. Every Monday, Ashley, Kyle, Lacey and Lily take classes though the homeschool co-op. Ashley usually rides in with her friend Sarah at 8:30 in the morning. She is taking a Physical Science class and a Sign Language class. Kyle, Lacey and Lily are all just taking one class each, so we don't go to enrichment until 10:30. This Monday was different though because I had to work in the nursery for another mom. I thought I wouldn't like it very much (and it was hard getting up so early!), but I ended up having a really nice time. It was nice visiting with the other moms and I met some new people. Kyle had a great time in his cooking class. They made a very yummy quiche. Tuesday, we went swimming at some friends house. It was COLD! But I am a trooper, so I plunged right in there with the kids. Thankfully the little ones soon realized it was way too cold for swimming and saved me from hypothermia. We spent the rest of the morning visiting and hanging out. I am glad that the kids are making friends, I felt so bad for making them leave all their friends back home. Lacey has been interested in volcanoes lately. This is because she met a little girl at the park last week that was learning about volcanoes in school. So we checked out two videos from the library, Magic School Bus- Volcanoes! and Eyewitness Volcanoes. I bought the kids a big box of crayons and we have all had a great time coloring pictures. Even Ashley joined us at the table to color. It was nice. And Lacey said the sweetest thing to me the other day. She told me that she loved me more than Chuckie Cheese! In a kids world that is alot of love. The only down side is we have really missed Donna! I cant wait for her to come home!!
Written by Betty

Why You Should't Unschool

Okay, I really need to rethink the words I use!! Somehow my kids (Ashley and Donna) have gotten the idea that I am against learning and education! What?! Since we have been unschooling for about 7 months now, I understand it and love it and get it more and more. Maybe I should call it Child Led Learning? or Self- Educating? I don't want my kids (Ashley) to think I don't want her to learn. But is it working you ask? Well if you understand what unschooling is all about- learning something because you want to not because a teacher/ parent is making you learn it- then YES it is definitely working! And while she will vehemently deny it, Ashley is my biggest success story. Ashley insists on doing school work, she picks out her language and math and she chose to take a science class and a sign language class through our homeschool group. I don't have to nag or prod her to do her schoolwork, so I should be on cloud nine right? But it really annoys me that she thinks I am against education! About the only part of schooling we argue about is the stuff I try to assign her, which is stuff she sees as unschooling. The stuff I assign her is not actually unschooling, it is things like how kids learn, ways to learn without traditional textbooks and traditional schools. So should I just drop it and let her believe that the traditional way of learning is best and I am just anti- education? I don't know. I want her and all my kids to feel the excitement and wonder I feel when I learn something I never knew or see something I have never seen. I want them to find something they are passionate about. I want them to see life as an adventure, an exciting and wonderful gift that we are given and to love life and learning. But I am DEFINITELY not saying that we unschool anymore! We are homeschooling- just very untraditionally.

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Undisciplined Kids!

Lily is an amazing, sweet, beautiful girl. Really. She is. So why would she do the things she does? Does she want me to lose my mind? Is it revenge for weaning her at only 18 months? What could this sweet child possibly of done you ask? Well I will tell you. I walked into my nice, clean, MOPPED kitchen Monday afternoon to find 26 eggs busted on my floor! Why! Why would she do it? I know I should of spanked her but it was so funny and she looked so cute all I could manage was a very stern- Lily! That's not very nice! Go to your room! 

 by Betty