Why the 4th of July is my Favorite Holiday

Let the 4th of July planning begin!!!  I went to Joann Fabrics yesterday and bought a boat load of fabric to sew the boys and I 4th outfits, I have been checking websites for list of 4th events, figuring out parade & fireworks schedules, planning out the yummy dessert I am going to bake and thinking of how we can decorate the pontoon boat for the lake parade... yes, the 4th of July is my FAVORITE holiday of the year!!!!

Pequot Lakes Parade (2011)

You may be wondering why in the world is the 4th my favorite holiday... I mean isn't everyone's favorite holiday celebrating Jesus' birthday?  While I do love many other holidays and enjoy Christmas time, nothing compares to the 4th of July!

Pequot Lakes Parade (2011)

Here are my reasons:

- I don't have to buy presents for anyone

- It's warm out

- I can be SUPER patriotic

- Parades with candy... need I say more? ;-)

- Hanging out on the boat

- I do not need to bounce from house to house

- I do not need to prepare a bunch a dishes to share

- Everyone is happy

- Everyone is drunk

- Watching fireworks around the lake while sitting on the dock

- NO STRESS
- I don't have to fit church into our schedule

- The kids running around with sparklers
- It hasn't been commercialized
- It's the United States of America's holiday

Watching fireworks 

Dessert!!

The main reason I love the 4th of July is because it is a day celebrating our country and freedom- it is a day to relax and enjoy my family.  Every other holiday is revolved around preparing/buying this and that, being stressed out, running to house to house, making sure everyone else is happy.  4th of July is a holiday that everyone can enjoy :-)

Have a Happy 4th of July and God Bless!!!

5 Things I Would Pay Someone to Clean....

I am struggling... struggling to keep up with the house cleaning.  When I was just a SAHM, I had all day to schedule out my cleaning chores.  Now that I have added "Teacher" to my responsibilities, school and activities have trumped cleaning the house.  Poor house... I mean it doesn't look horrible (some may think it looks great), but so many things have been sitting untouched... uncleaned. I feel like I am drowning everyday in chores that have not been completed, I always feel behind.

I was thinking to myself (okay I was dreaming) if I could pay someone to come here and help me, what are the chores that I hate the most that I would want them to do... so, here it is:

1. Clean all the showers/bathtubs

Uggg... I hate cleaning the bathtubs and showers!!  I always feel like I am going to faint from all the horrible fumes in the cleaners and my back hurts so bad from bending over scrubbing.

2. Folding Laundry and Putting it Away

BORING!!!  It is boring and takes forever... my husband will even tell you, I will put off folding two baskets of clean laundry until I absolutely have to!!

3. Vacuuming Stairs

There are too many of them and it seems like right after I vacuum them they get dirty right away!

4. Unloading the Dishwasher

Seriously, who likes that job???  All the SAHM's out there know we go through A LOT of dishes during the day.  While working families may run the dishwasher once or twice a week, we run it once or twice a DAY!  Another completely boring job...

5. Washing Windows

Because it is not just the inside that needs to be washed, but also the outside!  I always start off liking this task, but by the time I hit that 10th window, I want to break it!!

If you could have a cleaning service come to your house, what would YOU want them to clean??

The Sleeping Family!!

Over the past couple weeks, I have snapped a few pictures of the kiddos sleeping!!  I may have done it because, A. They never sleep, B. When they do fall asleep, it is in the cutest positions/places and C. because they are growing up so quick and I want to capture everything (I will touch more on that in tomorrow's post).

As you can see, Sky Crazy McMullen made it into the pictures!!!  The boys LOVE our Weimaraner so much (as CRAZY as he is) and usually end up sleeping with him at night :-)

Our Daily Homeschool Schedule

After reading many other homeschool mom's blogs and seeing their daily school schedule, I thought I would do the same!  It is so much fun to see what other families do and I feel that we can learn from each other :-)

Here is our schedule from Monday of this week.  We use Sonlight's Kindergarten Multi-Subject for curriculum... we LOVE using it!

*********************************************************

Week 14

Seashore life/underwater life/coral reefs/sharks
Valentine’s Day/Pirates
Letter C

Monday:

Pledge of Allegiance & Calendar

Storytime, If You Were a Penguin

Language Arts
- Copy-work 1/Exercise 1
- Browse the C Pages in Dictionary
- Make C Letter Sheet
- Alphabet Flash Cards
- Read Mac’s Map (#5)

Science
- Read, Under the Sea
- Children’s encyclopedia (p. 78-79)
- Activity Sheet (#1-3)

Math
- Teach Inches
- Teach numbers between 40’s
- Review place value
- Review ordinal numbers
- Count to 70
- Lesson 50 worksheet

- History/Geography
Pirate Lapbook

Rebuttal- I AM Smart Enough to Homeschool

I had someone (Anonymous) leave a comment on my post, I AM Smart Enough to Homeschool.  As I sat here writing a response, I thought it would be informative for others to read the dialog.

Here is what Anonymous wrote:


AnonymousFeb 10, 2012 06:11 AM
"When people tell me that I am NOT going to be able to teach my kids 6th-12th grade, that offends me... they are saying in a polite way that they do not think I am smart enough to teach grades that I have ALREADY successfully passed."

Well, one concern you should have is if your children end up developing a passion for something you do NOT have expertise in. While your education might be adequate until around middle school for most subjects, what if they want to learn something you can't offer them but the public school can? I was homeschooled from 5th - 9th grade, but after I went into high school there's no way my parents could keep up with the math. For example, my dad was the only one that took calculus and that was like 15 years prior so he was super rusty. Also, what if one of your children develop an interest in programming software? The high schools in my area have these courses available to the students now, but I highly doubt you have the expertise to teach that from your college degree. It's something you'd have to learn on your own. Saying that you can handle up through high school graduation is highly presumptuous. Not only that, but you're essentially limiting your children's choices. I'd highly encourage you to do what my parents did and if they develop an interest in something you don't feel comfortable teaching, then have them attend public school part time for those particular courses. Please keep this in mind when your children get around middle/high school. Good luck!

My response:

Anonymous- (why are the critical ones always "anonymous"??)

First, thank you for stopping by my blog, reading and leaving a comment!  I love to hear different opinions on my posts... but of course I will have to counter your comment!!

Second, thank you for reconfirming what I and other homeschooling families have to hear and deal with all the time... words/judgements like yours is the reason why I wrote this post in the first place.

"While your education might be adequate until around middle school for most subjects"-  My education "might" be "adequate" until around middle school... sorry while I take a moment to stop laughing!!!  Let me correct you, my education IS more than adequate to take my kids all the way through high school, not just elementary and most subjects in middle school!

"What if they want to learn something you can't offer them but the public school can?"  Good question... there are plenty of opportunities (probably more than public schools even offer) within the community, private tutors, homeschool classes and college courses.  I am homeschooling my kids because I can give them the attention and quality of education they deserve... you don't think we would do everything in our power to go out of our way to provide the opportunity to fulfill their desires??  My son wanted to learn how to rock climb, we enrolled him in a rock climbing class... if he wanted to climb Mt. Everest when he was in high school, we would do what we had to do to make his dream come true.

"What if one of your children develop an interest in programming software? The high schools in my area have these courses available to the students now, but I highly doubt you have the expertise to teach that from your college degree."  How do you know my husband or I do not have a background in programming software?  Just saying... you are making assumptions about our education/background... but like I said before, we would make it happen...if my kids had an interest in programming software, we would find a way for them to learn everything the ever wanted to know on the subject.

"Saying that you can handle up through high school graduation is highly presumptuous. Not only that, but you're essentially limiting your children's choices. I'd highly encourage you to do what my parents did and if they develop an interest in something you don't feel comfortable teaching, then have them attend public school part time for those particular courses."  The definition of Presumptuous- Failing to observe the limits of what is permitted or appropriate.  Wow... this is awesome!!  I am so happy that everyone who was shocked to hear that I have deal with rude people's comments all the time can see for themselves the ignorance I have to listen to!!

It sounds like your (anonymous) parents made the decision that THEY felt was best for you and their family by sending you to a public school for high school... I think that is wonderful!!  As parents, we have to do what we think is in our children best interest and my husband and I have made the decision that homeschooling is the BEST option for our kids.  Our children will NEVER step foot in a public school again, if for some reason they have to go to school outside of the home it will be a private school.

- END

Love You Forever- By Robert Munsch

For my first Mother's Day, my husband gave me the book, Love You Forever.  He wrote a sweet little note on the front inside cover.  I remember the book from when I was little and thought the gift was wonderful and truly came from the heart.

When Landon turned two, I pulled out the book one night before bed and read it to him... it was an instant hit!  "Again, again, Mommy!!"  I read it again... but as I read it a second time, I started to think about the message.  By the end of the book I was full tears!!

It is such an emotional story for any mother... the reality of raising a child from infancy to adulthood.  Going through the good times and the bad.  Even when you are stressed out, tired, overwhelmed and even frustrated with your child; at the end of the day, you still love them.  All you want to do is hold them, rock them and tell them how much you are going to love them for the rest of your life.

I actually use this book as a reminder on how quick life goes by and that I need to be mom TODAY.  I want my kids to know how much I love them know matter how many "not so good decisions" they have made and will make ;-) 

This is still the number one book in our house!  Every time we get done reading it, Landon tells me how someday he is going to rock and take care of me when I get old... TEARS!!!  Bravo to the author :-)