Introducing My Class

The back-to-school chatter and anticipation felt very different for us this year.  We're journeying into something brand new that feels strangely comfortable so far.  For various reasons that I won't bore you with here (but would be happy to chat about), we are homeschooling this year!  I've been nervously excited to start, and now with a few weeks under our belt, I can say with confidence that this is the right decision for our family for this year.  I'm grateful for God's confirmation in that as we begin this new adventure.  

I had each of the kids do a "first day of school" interview and thought it'd be fun to use their answers to introduce you to my class!

Hi!  I'm Bridgette!  

I'm three-years-old and will turn four in March.  I'm 40-inches tall, and weigh 38 pounds.

My favorite colors right now are blue and pink, and my favorite food is cereal.  But Mommy says I'm a really good eater and will eat pretty much whatever you put in front of me!

My best friend is Maisy and I really like playing with blocks.  

My favorite animal is a penguin (probably because I heard my brother say that in his interview before mine!), I like the movies Frozen and Rapunzel, I love reading the Mercy Watson books, and when I grow up I want to be a dancer!

I'm a pretty funny girl!  People usually laugh when they're with me because I'm either being silly, or saying something cute (with a lisp that makes me difficult to understand at times, but is still somehow endearing).  I'm a really tough little girl.  I can hold my own as the youngest in the family, that's for sure!  

Since there was a big to-do about my siblings starting school, I decided I was going to be in preschool.  I don't like being left out.  Mom's glad I'm ready for preschool because I have stumped her with some early-learning challenges that my siblings didn't have.  Despite her best efforts, I still can't identify all the letters correctly, or spell my name (it's a long one!).  But I've memorized Romans 8:28 this month and can fly down the sidewalk on my balance bike.  What more do you want from a 3 1/2 year old?!

I take a nap most days and although I sleep in the bottom bunk at night, I like to nap in my crib.  Mom says we have to take it down next month, but maybe if I remind her that the crib keeps me contained for my quiet time/nap each day, she'll let me keep it up a little longer.

I like reading books, jumping on the trampoline, playing pretend with Gretchen, building legos, and sitting on the counter while Mommy is preparing food.  I've gotten into a bad habit of whining a lot this month, so Mommy and I are working on that.  And I'm trying to remember to use helpful hands instead of hurtful hands when I feel frustrated.  My morning jobs are to put away the clean silverware, tidy up my room, and get myself dressed, all of which I can almost do all by myself!

Hi!  I'm Gretchen Ruth.

I'm five years old and will turn six in December.  I am 46-inches tall and weigh 49 pounds.

My favorite color is gold and my favorite food is grilled cheese.  One of my best friends is Mrs. Cameron, my music teacher, and I love to play with my dolls.  I like puppies, the movie frozen, and the story of Snow White.  When I grow up, I want to be a rock star!

When we first started talking about homeschooling, I was not thrilled about the idea.  I've watched Rooke go off and enjoy the mysteries of school without me for two years and I thought this year was going to be my chance.  We continued to talk about it and I slowly began to change my mind.  I'm a girl who usually knows just what I like and just what I want (unless you put me on the spot to choose an ice cream flavor, then I'll just pick the same thing as Rooke), so Mommy applauded my courage to try to something new.  And now I like being in Kindergarten at home with my family!  Math is fun, but learning to write lower-case letters properly is not.

I am creative, passionate, dramatic, sweet, thoughtful, kind, and nurturing.  I can also run really fast - I was very close to beating Rooke in a foot race recently!  I like anything fancy, and have some very strong opinions about my outfits.  I am sensitive to learning more about Jesus.  I like reading books, snuggling, playing pretend, creating my own pictures/notes/books, jumping on the trampoline with my siblings and friends, and playing games.  

I'm in my second year of music class and am doing really well!  One of the biggest things I'm working on right now is practicing emotional self-control, especially in situations when I don't get what I want (which happens pretty much every day).  My morning jobs are to take out the trash, make my bed, get dressed, and tidy-up my room.  I can be a really great helper!  

Hi!  I'm Rooke.  

I'm seven years old and will turn eight (eek!) in January.  

I am 54 1/2-inches tall and weigh 76 pounds.  So people think I'm at least nine or ten years old.

My favorite color is green and my favorite food is meat pie (which I have to explain to Americans since it's a British thing).  My best friend in Minot is Adam and my favorite thing to play with is legos.  I still really like penguins, my favorite movies are Star Wars, and I really like the Imagination Station books and the Humphrey series.  I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up.  I'm not in a hurry.

Mommy and I have both been looking forward to homeschooling.  I'm excited to learn new things that I'm interested in, be at home more, and have more time to read.  I'm good at interacting with people, but I am introverted enough that I appreciate my down time at home.  I pay close attention to my surroundings, always the observer.  And thinker.  I often think about things for a while before I reach my conclusion on an issue.  I ask a lot of questions.  I see things pretty black and white.  You can tell when I'm happy, relaxed, and comfortable because I provide a running commentary about what's going on! 

Mom has started teaching me piano, which is proving to be more difficult than I thought.  But since Gretchen can do it, I figure I can too.  I like to be right about things (doesn't everybody?!).  I like reading, legos, football, riding my bike, jumping on the trampoline, and playing games.  I'm not usually excited about trying something new or walking into a situation that is unfamiliar to me, but I'm mature enough to admit that I enjoyed something I thought I wouldn't when that happens.  I have the best giggle when I'm caught off guard by something funny - Bridgette can easily evoke that out of me!  

Mommy and I have talked a lot recently about what it's like to be the tall kid, and about being the oldest.  I'm trying to be better about showing kindness to my sisters (do you know how annoying little girls can be sometimes?!)  I don't typically like it when I stand out for something - good or bad, so I'd prefer to blend in a bit more than I do (the red hair doesn't help!).  But I have a personal relationship with God, and I trust He created me.  I know His purpose for my life is good.  I love Jesus and my family.  

       

Summer Road Trip {traveling with kids}

Traveling for 20-plus hours with three young kids is no joke.  We split up the trip over the course of three days.  Leading up to the trip, my mom and I put together a pretty decent collection of car ideas/activities to help everyone stay happy.  I thought I'd share the ideas here, as much for my memory as for those of you who might find yourself traveling with little ones in the future.

Each of the kids had their own backpack with an assortment of activities, coloring materials, and reading material.  They could access their own bag at any time.  Then we had a bunch of new things that we sorted into brown bags and labeled for each of the days we would be driving.  In each brown bag was either three of the same thing for each of the kids (stickers, a sucker/treat, a new audio book on CD, sticky hands, etc.) or three different things for each specific kid that we'd found and were age/gender appropriate.  The kids quickly learned to look forward to the brown bags!  

Packed up and ready to roll!

When the kids got in the car, they saw our first surprise: a "path" to track our travels.  We had a card for the main cities we would pass through or stop at, including the ones where we would stay the night starred.  I laminated a small white van and it "traveled" along the twine with a small clothespin.  This was a great visual for the kids to know how much further we were going to travel each day.

Cookie sheets; $1 at the dollar store:

Each of the kids had their own sheet and they came in handy for all kinds of things; hard surface for writing, table for eating lunch, Rooke used his for legos, Bridgette played with magnets, and we were especially grateful to have them for catching (yes, catching) vomit.  

window stickers; Target dollar bins:

Bridgette couldn't reach the windows to play with these, but they worked well on the cookie trays.  The older two could use them on the windows, but didn't choose to play with them as much.

Post-It notes:

We used the post-its to let the kids know when things would happen.  There was usually one or two post-its up on the dashboard where everyone could see what was coming next: a brown bag, a video, lunch break, stopping for gas, iPad time, Mom outloud reading, quiet time, at our destination . . . for the most part, the post-its did their job of helping set expectations for the kids about how our time in the car would be spent and what they could look forward to in the day.

The Driving Machine

My dad came up with this little poem that we wrote on tags and tied a dollar bill onto each tag.  We left them at our different stops along the trip (at a restaurant after eating, in the pump at the gas station, etc.).  

Books!

Books are always a must for us with any travel time.  I had been collecting books (and keeping them hidden!) from thrift stores and garage sales in preparation for the trip.

Travel Tickets:

This was our currency of reward for the trip.  Travel tickets could not be asked for, but were given for any number of things, including good behavior, kindness, showing gratefulness. . .  And they could also be taken away as a consequence for bad choices.  The kids could trade their tickets in:

3 tickets = your choice of treat from the treat bag

5 tickets = 15 minutes on the iPad  

One of the kids' favorite brown bag activities: fruit loops and pipe cleaners . . . they made patterns, and then ate them!

Laminated 5x7 photos with wipe-off markers - another brown bag favorite!

We used these multiple times each day and everyone had fun giggling at each other!

No long trip is without some video time!  Our van doesn't have a built-in DVD player, but we found these dual-players at a garage sale and the headphones were one of my best purchases for all of our summer trips.

Gak with cookie cutters:

My mom found a recipe for making gak.  She made three different colors that we kept in three ziplock baggies.  They loved having her sit with the kids to play with it for a while!

Eye Spy (click for instructions)

My mom and I were most excited about this car activity.  It wasn't the kids' favorite thing, but was definitely fun and worked better if we did it with them.  We made two finding cards (photos laminated), one was a little easier than the other.  The kids could cross off the items with a wipe-off marker once they found it.  Tip: don't assume that the teeny tiny random toy bits you find buried in the bottom of a drawer or hiding in the sofa cushions will not suddenly become a cherished item once they are discovered to be sealed up inside the plastic pouch.  

Suction-cup baskets:

I bought one for each of the kids.  Bridgette could just barely reach hers, but they were perfect for the older two to keep markers and other small things from falling between the seat cracks or on the floor and out of reach.  

Letting off some steam in the hotel room before heading to the pool!

Big Daddy and Kaye K made the trip much more fun!

Ryan gave each of the kids $2 to spend on a treat for the trip.  They got to choose when to spend it and what they wanted.  Being the smart kids they are, each of them got their own blizzard! =)

Mad Libs is always a fun group game

I printed and laminated the license plate game to play collectively as we traveled.

This is a fun book for readers that has a lot of fact and travel information about each state.

Yay for road trips!

Summer Road Trip {the Blackberry House}

After our time at Eagle Crest, my sister and I stuck together a bit longer.  We went with our parents to the house where they'll be staying for some of their time in the states.  The home is set amidst beautifully forested land, and the wild blackberries that were growing all around the property were perfectly ripe when we were there!  We made blackberry cobbler twice, blackberry baked oatmeal, and ate plenty of them on our morning oatmeal.  So we dubbed this home the "Blackberry House".  

Rooke lost his third tooth!  He was going to forego the tooth fairy's prize because he was not willing to give up his tooth.  

Auntie Auby suggested he write a note, telling him it's always worked for Evelynn, and he was thrilled to find not only his tooth, but a note reply and $1 the next morning! =)

One afternoon, we headed to a nearby park.  The playground was meh, so we headed towards a big hill, knowing the river was just on the other side.  We had no idea to expect one of the best play times enjoyed during our entire vacation!  Sometimes the spontaneous surprises are the ones that satisfy the most.  The water was shallow and warm, the sand was soft, and the only other person we saw was a man fishing down the way who didn't seem to be bothered by our noise or by the slow shedding of children's clothing being discarded on the shore!

There was another beach nearby that we wanted to check out the next day, but hesitated to take the risk knowing how great our first beach discovery had ended up.  Turns out the second day was just as perfect as the first!  Our six little ducks in a row . . .

We went to one of the Mt. Saint Helens visitor centers.  Our crew didn't last long inside the center, but enjoyed the trail walk outside.  We could barely see the mountain that day, but it was still a beautiful walk.  And the playground area in the state park on the other side of the highway was wonderful.

Aubyn and I took Rooke, Gretchen, and Evelynn for an adventure day in Portland.  We started at a trampoline gym!  I was impressed that after signing in, Rooke took off and went straight to the foam pit.  His first jump was a front flip into the pit!  We went to Ikea for an ice cream treat and a few other things Aubyn and I "needed", then we met everyone else at Konnor and Tana's for dinner.

An adventurous trek where I experienced my first-ever bee sting.  

Our second round of blackberry cobbler!

Big Daddy snuggles

These two could not get enough of this game!

The mornings were always chilly.

And then it came time to say goodbye.  The McTaggarts went on their way and we left the next morning for the long drive back home.  What a wonderful month spent with family!

Living in the same house with family for almost three weeks was not without tension or frustration, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.  I loved the opportunity to get to know my nieces and nephews better, and to watch my kids become better friends with their cousins.  I enjoyed learning from and laughing with my siblings.  And receiving the generosity, service, and love shown from my parents the entire time.  I'm grateful for my family and the memories we'll have from our time together this summer.