Excited but a little concerned....

Tomorrow is a pretty big day in the Spear household - Brenna starts Summer Camp. *sigh*

I have a mixture of emotions about this and I am actually very surprised and really didn't think that I would be THIS nervous.

Big deal, right? So she's off to spend some time with other kids (not really worried about that) and a few teachers, riding school buses and eating lunch in the cafeteria. Sounds normal, huh?

Well not for us it doesn't!!!!

We've never had the "first day of school" experience. I've never had to worry about what my kid is eating in the cafeteria and if she's going to STARVE that day because she can't stand what they are serving (and yes, she is p-i-c-k-y! but she loves to eat). I've never had to worry about someone else, who I hardly know at all, taking care of my kid (and I like it that way). Okay, make fun of me if you want - I know some of you are. HA. HA. HA. But seriously, this is big stuff for me - totally full of 'firsts'.
I know she'll be fine and I know she'll love it. She's a fairly flexible kid.

I can tell that she is feeling a tad bit apprehensive about it though - and no! she's not picking any of it up from me. I am giving out a totally cool vibe to her about this whole thing and not showing any doubts. She asked me the other day if she would be able to take my cell phone with her so that she could call me when she wanted to. You don't know how bad I want to let her take it but I am so afraid that she would lose it so I told her sorry, but no. She was bummed about that. She's pretty used to being able to call me whenever she wants. Who knows... maybe I'll change my mind later - she is a really responsible kid. I think tomorrow I am going to talk to her "teacher" and let her know that if Brenna wants to come home then she can call me and I will come and get her.

You have to understand my reasoning I guess -- this thing that Brenna is going to is pretty much day care, if you want to put it bluntly. Parents send their kids to this so that they have someplace to go during the summer while they work. Well I don't work (outside of the house - just HAD to add that, because I DO work my butt off, just don't get paid for it....). I don't have to have my kid go there- she's going because she wants to and because she wants to have fun. I'm sorry, but if she's not having fun and if she'd rather be at home, playing with her toys or with the neighborhood kids then she should be able to come home - that is HER choice. She doesn't have to be there if she doesn't want to. Some days she may want to stay the whole 6 hours - some days she might only want to stay for three. And I am hoping that they will let her call me if she's ready to come home. I am afraid that they won't and that is what is really stressing me out. If it comes to that I may just let her take my cell phone.
But before I start jumping to any conclusions, I guess I should just wait and see how this all pans out. I just tend to worry a little pre-maturely sometimes, I guess. Being a mother I guess I just can't help it.....

Summer Camp!

Yesterday I sighed Brenna up for summer camp at one of the churches here in town. She is soooo excited about going!
It starts on Monday and it's five days a week for up to 6 hours a day (that is what I pay for but she doesn't have to stay that long). It will go through all of June and July. WOW! What am I going to do with all my time this summer? I'm going to be very lonely and it will be very quiet! LOL I'm sure I will find things around the house to do that I have been putting off for a while. I desperately need to repaint and fix up my laundry room so that will be project #1. Maybe I can get my yard back in shape too.
Anyways, this camp thing sounds pretty darn cool though and when I found out about it I asked Brenna if it would be something she'd like to do and I got an immediate "YES!". It is chocked full of activities - Tuesday's to the movies, Wednesday's bowling, Thursday's gymnastics and on Friday's they will take different field trips to places. I have volunteered to go on the field trips so that will be fun to do. She'll have lots of time on the playground with kids and arts and crafts too. The homeschool group doesn't usually do too much in the summer so I'm glad that I have found something this cool for Brenna to do. The cost is very reasonable (I, Mrs. Frugal, would even say cheap! LOL). You pay week by week so if there's a week that we have something else planned then at least I don't have to pay for it, so that's nice and convenient. I dislike being tied down to things - especially things that last for two months.

So other then that nothing else too exciting has been going on here. Oh wait!!! I'm going to be an Aunt again! :) My brother and his wife just found out that they are expecting again and everyone is so excited. Keira will be a little over 2 when the baby is born so that will be fun and interesting for them. So, congratulations PJ and Jenny!!!

Garner State Park

It's been a while since I last posted. I've been meaning to get on here for a while but we have been so busy lately. Last week we got back from our yearly Garner State Park camping trip. As always, we had a GREAT time! My Mom and Dad went with us and said that they had a wonderful time as well. Hopefully that means we can get them to go back with us. Brendon's Mom and step-Dad had a good time with us last year, so maybe we can all go together in the future.
Usually we go to Garner in August, so this time with us going in May, we were a little nervous about the temperature of the water and how much we would actually be able to swim. Surprisingly the water was warmer then it is in August and we spent most of our time at the river. We did lots of hiking too and took Mom and Dad up to Old Baldy. The day they left Brendon, Brenna and I took the trails to Crystal Cave, which we had never been to before. It was very cool! Never did take any pictures of it but I will next time.
Brenna made quite a few friends, including some kids who were home schooled and another little girl who happens to live about 30 minutes away from us.
We ended up having some pretty cool neighbors, Josh and Broc, that we all hung out with the last two days we were there. Brenna just adored them and they played with her a bunch, which she loved. There are a few pictures at the end of the slide show that I posted.
Anyways, here's the link to all the pictures I took! Slide Show

Lots Going On

Right now Brenna and I are at my Mom's house taking care of Keira (my niece) because Mom had to run some errands real quick. Keira has not gone to day care these past two weeks because of the swine flu going around. My Mom and I have been taking turns having her and I have to say, she is sooo cute and so much fun to be around. She'll be two in September and is growing so much, mentally and physically. My Mom watches her every week on Thursday's and I have just volunteered to watch her on Tuesday's. So now she will only be going to day care every other day and the days she's with my Mom and I she'll get plenty of rest and be with family, which I think is so important. Brenna loves playing with her and you can tell that Keira looks up to her so much. So it will be good for the both of them being able to spend more time with each other.

My Mom just got home and Keira is now napping and Brenna and Mom are in the kitchen making cookies. Brenna gets her own bowl and measures all of her own ingredients. Mom quizzes her a lot on the math part of cooking, which I think is a wonderful way to learn. I just heard my Mom ask her something and Brenna immediately responded with the answer of four (I did not hear the question). Mom asked her how she knew that and Brenna said, "Because two times two is four!" Who said you need a curriculum to teach kids math? Math is part of most everything in life and Brenna learns it by just being alive and being curious.

Anyways, I have been crazy busy this week getting things ready for yet another camping trip. YEAH! This time my Mom and Dad are going with us - finally! I've been wanting them to come camping with us for a while now. We'll be leaving later this week to go to a family reunion and then off to the woods we go. :) I'll have lots of pictures to post when we get back.

I have also been pretty engrossed in a couple books lately too. I just finished reading The Unschooling Unmanual, which is fabulous - in fact, I read it twice! I think in a recent post I quoted some things from it. I really wish I could quote the whole book because I want everyone to read it! Oh the way it would change your thinking about learning entirely! I want my Mom, as well as Brendon, to read it because I feel that it will give them a lot of insight as to why I have chosen to do what I do with Brenna. Don't get me wrong, Brendon is completely supportive and trusts me unconditionally when it comes to Brenna's life. But he has seen first hand how much she gets out of it, so it makes it easier for him to "get it". The book is only 91 pages though and I think if he read it, it would explain things much better then I have ever been able to and might give him a couple of "Ah ha!" moments. My Mom......I think she thinks I'm crazy. LOL Okay, maybe not crazy but I don't think she quite "gets it". But it IS hard for most people to grasp the concept of unschooling because it is so foreign and totally different then what most people grew up doing. It's taken me a while, as well as a lot of research and books, to get what it is really all about. I feel so passionate about it because of all the information that I have acquired and because of all of my "Ah ha!" moments. Most people think kids hate anything to do with learning (because of schools taking the fun away from it and not letting children follow their own interests) so if given complete freedom with WHAT they learn, most will assume that they won't want to learn anything at all. How totally false that is! I used to think that too. But everything that I have read about unschooling makes so much sense and I see it everyday with Brenna. Children really do want to learn and they want to learn as much as they possibly can - how could they not?
I'll post about my book I'm in the process of reading next time. It's called The Natural Child - Parenting From the Heart. So far it's an excellent read!

Anyway, Brenna wants to play on the computer so I'll end this for now. I'll post again when we get back from our trip. :)