Day at Schlitterbahn :)

Yesterday we went to Schlitterbahn and had such a wonderful time! We could really tell a big difference in Brenna this year and she seemed to have a better time then she had had in the past. I think a lot of it had to do with her completing her swimming lessons - she feels more comfortable in the water and does not mind getting her face wet now. So that helps a lot when it comes to going under the water falls, which there are A LOT of that are pretty hard to avoid sometimes.
Anyway, I didn't get too many pictures but here are a couple that I took.

Little Golfer

Brendon and Brenna went and played nine holes of golf yesterday. Brendon said that Brenna did real well and is getting much better at putting. He took a few pictures for me.

Pictures of Swim Lessons

Here's a couple pictures I took of Brenna today at her swimming lessons. Another fantastic day!! She's getting better and better and swam much further today. :)

Car Sticker

I had somebody ask me about my sticker that I have on my car because of a comment on my blog that mentioned it. I decided to snap a picture of it...

(Don't think I am obnoxious - this sticker on my car is very small and you can only read it when you are up close.)

My Girl's a Fish!

Brenna started her swimming lessons today. I have been doing my best to pump her up for them for about a week now and she has been very excited. For those who don't know Brenna too well, she is very leery about doing new things and sometimes it takes her a while. She has been like that her entire life and I have just learned to deal with it and accept her as she is. :) What else can you do?
Anyway, I was so proud her today! We got to my Mom's friend's house and for a second Brenna did not want to get out of the car and said that she changed her mind and she didn't want to take swimming lessons. My heart sank and I thought, "Ok, this is it. She's made up her mind and is NOT going to do it after all." (For those who are sitting there thinking, "Sometimes you just have to MAKE kids do things they don't want to" - I don't work that way. Unless her life or her well-being depends on it, I don't MAKE her do things that she is not comfortable with.) So I gave her a little pep-talk and told her that it's okay to be nervous and that I get nervous too with new things, yadda, yadda.... She nodded her little head, took a deep breath and got out of the car. We walked to the back gate and she still looked a tad bit nervous. As soon as we got in the backyard and she saw that huge pool and two other kids there, her excitement returned and that girl couldn't get into that pool fast enough!
So after Brenna got into the pool with her teacher I went inside the house (parents are not allowed to stay outside but can watch from the living room inside). I have to say that I was VERY impressed with Brenna and she did so GREAT! She was jumping off the side of the pool and swimming to her teacher. It was somewhat of a desperate swim and was very awkward but she was not afraid and did everything that was asked of her. She even went under water and got stuff from the bottom of the pool! I was extremely surprised with that.
So now she can't wait to go back tomorrow. Her teacher told me that she was impressed with Brenna and she will be swimming very well when her lessons are complete. YEA BRENNA!!

(BTW - I will get pictures of her sometime this week and post them. Her lessons go until next Thursday.)

Roller Skate Girl!!! (written by Brenna)

We were at Academy getting Dad a Father's Day present and were walking along when we saw these incredible roller skates. They were hot pink, white and other color pinks. The wheels were so smooth and the stopper looked like a bottle cap. They had the word Princess on it and had lots of sparkles. And the wheels roll so fast they look like they're staying in one spot. So we decided to buy them and then we went home to practice. So I was practicing but the gnats were so bad and of course there were mosquitoes but anyway, let's get back to the roller skate story....

I went to go practice in our front yard on the driveway. I was doing kinda even-steven and I never even fell down. And I even tried skating backwards. It was kinda hard but I didn't fall down or else that would have really hurt!!!




And this a picture I took myself. Like it? It's a picture of my roller skates and my stuffed animals. Their names are Pegasus and Tantrum.

School Work.... Without Force!

So yes, I am posting a LOT of pictures all of a sudden! That's how I work. :) LOL

Tonight Brenna got some of her 'school stuff' from the shelf that I have in the computer room and decided to do some work. This is what happens all the time in my house and I absolutely LOVE it. I can not stand dishes in the sink, a dirty floor, laundry to be done, things laying around... BUT if there is learning stuff, like papers and workbooks, scattered throughout my house I just adore it!

Here's little Brenna learning all on her own - without parental guidence or force... *GASP!* Look what happens when you don't MAKE them do school work!! It actually becomes FUN!

Some pictures that Brenna took

I thought I would post some pictures that Brenna took. She loves to take my camera and go around the house and take loads of pictures. Thank goodness for my memory card. She will literally take about thirty pictures within five minutes!


Here's a picture of her favorite buddy - Tantrum. For those who do not know about him - he is her 'lovey' that she just can't live without.
















Cute picture that she took of herself. :)
















Her new buddy - Cuddles.
















One she took of me sitting at the computer....
















Another one she took of herself

Make-your-own-pizza day!

When I was a kid my Mom used to let us make our own pizzas with hoagie (sp??) rolls. We did that the other day for lunch and Brenna had such a great time and I got to relive my childhood. LOL They didn't taste quite as good as they did when I was a kid though. Mom, what was your secret ingredient?? :) Here's a couple pictures I took....

Summer time and lots of plans!

I figured that it is about time that I wrote another post. I am patting myself on the back for being much better about updating my blog. LOL :) Couple things to write about.....

Brenna was finally able to take out her earrings today. Six weeks is a long time for a six year old! I told her earlier this week that she would be able to wear new earrings soon and her little eyes got huge, her smile even bigger, and she was so excited. So today we went to the mall and I bought her an 'earring tree' and a bunch of earrings to fill it with. When we took out her original ones she cringed a little, anticipating pain, but soon found out that it was not as bad as she expected. She immediately picked out a new pair and I helped her put them on. I think it will be a while before she is able to do it herself. Maybe not - she surprises me a lot. Sometimes I get a kick out the way small things make her so happy. :) To be a kid again...... LOL

So we have a couple camping trips planned for this summer and all three of us are looking very forward to some great outdoor fun. Next month we are going to go with Brendon's mom and step-dad. The plans are still in the making but we are very excited. In August we are going back to central Texas for about 3 or 4 nights of camping at our favorite spot - Garner State Park! I think we would live there if we could! (Secretly, we have contemplated how much money it would take to go camping across Texas and surrounding States for a whole year. LOL If only Brendon's job would be secure for a whole year, I think we just might do it but I don't think that would happen. If only....)

We have such fond memories of last year at Garner and still look at the pictures all the time. I am hoping to get my parents to join us this year. My Mom is the one needing convincing. She's not much of an 'outdoorsy' person. But I think she would have a wonderful time if she just went. (I know you're reding this Mom....) I'd like to plan one more trip - maybe in the fall - to someplace that we have not been to yet. Of course there will be lots of pictures when we get back from them all. I'm so thankful that Brenna likes camping as much as Brendon and I do. It's just so great to get away from the city, cook all your meals outdoors, sleep in a tent and my favorite - no make-up or blow dryer! :) I love the simplicity and of course the relaxation. Something about being outside for three or four days straight just replenishes your soul.

So Brenna is not in karate anymore. After much thought she decided that it just wasn't really for her - at least right now. She did say that maybe when she gets older she would try it again. I really hope so because I think it is a great skill to have. She said that she wanted to get back into gymnastics so I will be looking into that again and signing her up very soon. I have also thought about getting her into an art class.

She is starting swimming lessons next week though! She was supposed to do it last summer but at the time she was still a little afraid of the water. In the last few months she has been dunking her head under water in the bath and seeing how long she can hold her breath and just getting to be much more comfortable with it. She is excited about learning how to swim now. She will be taking private lessons with my Mom's friend who has been teaching swimming for over 20 years. I will try to snap a few pictures of her and post them (IF I remember my camera).

Well nothing else really going on with us. Just enjoying the summer weather as well as praying for rain!!

Here's a picture that Brenna drew that she wanted to share. She is turning into quite the little artist!!

Funny Thing I Found

Here's a funny little thing I found on the Internet about socialization and homeschooling......


"When my wife and I mention we are strongly considering home schooling our children, we are without fail asked, 'But what about socialization?--' Fortunately, we found a way our kids can receive the same socialization that government schools provide.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I will personally corner my son in the bathroom, give him a wedgie and take his lunch money.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, my wife will make sure to tease our children for not being in the 'in' crowd, taking special care to poke fun at any physical abnormalities.

Fridays will be 'Fad and Peer Pressure Day.' We will all compete to see who has the coolest toys, the most expensive clothes, and the loudest, fastest, and most dangerous car.

Every day, my wife and I will adhere to a routine of cursing and swearing in the hall and mentioning our weekend exploits with alcohol and immorality..--.. And we have asked them to report us to the authorities in the event we mention faith, religion, or try to bring up morals and values."

WOW!!

I read in the Parade magazine this past Sunday about the debate on the whole homeschooling issue in California (can read about it here) and came across this comment left by somebody. I thought it was wonderful and wanted post it on my blog. This is WELL SAID!

"As a homeschooling mother of a teenage boy who has his own business and has been more involved in the community in his young years than most people are in a lifetime, I am appauled and disgusted at CA's proposition to make homeschooling illegal! What the public needs to ask itself is why it isn't illegal for an institution to hold everyone between the ages of 5 and 18 prisoner for the best years of their lives, force-feeding them disconnected information that is not developmentally appropriate nor of interest to most children and effectively brainwashing them to be obedient cublicle workers and puppets of a comsumeristic, power-obsessed government. Homeschooling, especially John Taylor Gatto and John Holt's vision of homeschooling, allows children to live life now, passionately, fully, playfully and intelligently, not waste away in some pseudo-human stand-by mode in which they are IV fed the line about "what they can be someday" if they just sit down and shut up and robotically do what the teacher says. Forced schooling is a human rights violation that produces a passive, dumbed-down populace. Children's basic physical, emotional, developmental and intellectual needs are denied and ignored in public school. Powerless children form cruel and toxic peer cultures in order to grasp at some semblance of power in their immature, regimented lives. Children can't play anymore. There is no joy to childhood in public schools. Children who cannot conform to this excrutiating system are diagnosed with fabricated "brain disorders" and are drugged with dangerous, neurologically-altering chemicals. Homeschoolers are often exceptional youth who live a rich, vibrant life that public schooled children can only dream of! Instead of taking away this fundamental right for children to learn in freedom, we should be asking ourselves why it is legal and accepted blindly that we turn our children over to the government at age 5 to be isolated from family and from their own lives, interests, needs and passions for the best hours, days and years of their lives."

Thoughts on This School Year....

So I recently went back and spent a good chunk of time reading my entire blog from start to finish. It was quite interesting and I had forgotten a lot of the stuff I wrote about. It's so funny how much things changed from one month to another and how much I changed my "teaching methods". I am now totally approaching homeschooling completely different then I ever thought I would. I have read in many, many different books that the first year of homeschooling is basically a trial-and-error kind of thing and you're just figuring things out. I really thought I had it all figured out when I first started but how wrong I was. I went from one end of the spectrum to the other in just under a year -- having a completely structured sit-at-the-table school-like setting to such a non-structured, child-led learning style, as well as pretty much everything in between.

To be honest, I was scared to death when I first though about, as well as uttered the words to Brendon for the first time, "I'm going to homeschool Brenna". I felt in my heart that it was the right thing to do but of course you still question yourself. You wonder "Am I doing the right thing?", "Is she going to miss out on some aspect of childhood by not going to school?", "Are people going to think I'm absolutely nuts!?", and the self-doubt goes on and on. I even cried the night before she was supposed to start school at public school. My husband was the only one who knew about that one - until this moment I have never admitted that to anyone else. He was my savior though and was so good to me and reassured me that I WAS doing the right thing and reminded me of all the reasons why I chose to do what I wanted to do -- I don't know what I would do without that guy. :) It was very emotional for me that entire week, before and after that "first day of school". I thought that what I was doing was wrong and I started second guessing myself -- but you know what? I felt that way because I had never known anything different. EVERYONE sent their kids to school. That was what childhood WAS - school. But you know what I have learned this past year? Childhood is more than that. Childhood is exploring and creating and imagining. Childhood is having the freedom you need without being tied down to a school schedule and homework (especially at such a young age). I LOVE that we are able to plan school around life instead of life around school (my new motto). There have been countless nights this past year that, out of the blue (on a weekday none the less! LOL), we will all sit in the backyard and just talk or play and not even have a care in the world about the time. Brendon works such crazy hours too and it's nice that Brenna gets to stay up a little later then she would if she was going to school so that she can spend time with her Dad. That is so important. Homeschooling for us is a way of life that I would not change for anything. It gives our family such wonderful freedom that we wouldn't have if we were tied down to a school schedule.

Another thing that I realized this year is that I absolutely LOVE being with my daughter and she absolutely loves being with ME. And, for us, that is how it should be. I have stayed at home with Brenna since the day she was born and I have not missed out on one single thing and we have both enjoyed so much together. Most of Brenna's friends go to public school and yes, she hears about "real school" and sometimes it does make me a little nervous that she will start to wish that she could go to school. Just the other day though, she had two of her friends from the neighborhood over (girl 10 and boy 6) and I heard them talking to her about their school and telling her how nice Mrs. So-and-So is and all the stuff they get to do. Brenna was listening and not saying a word and when they were finished she told them that she loved being homeschooled and loved being able to do things with her Mom all day. She told them about her homeschool group and all the things that we do with them. She told them about being able to spend so much time with her PaPa and JoJo (Great-Grandparents) and said that she would never get to do those things if she went to school. That just made me beam! :)

I could go on and on about WHY I choose not to send my daughter to school and all the benefits that we get out of homeschooling but this post would seriously turn into a book. LOL
So back to my teaching...which was the whole point of this post. (Yes, I tend to go off on little tangents. :)

This year I learned a lot about the kind of teacher that I want to be for my daughter. I have read probably a dozen books on homeschooling as well as books on children in general. Just ask my husband. He will tell you about all the books I ordered on amazon.com and about all the information that I tried to fill his head with. hehehe Poor guy was constantly getting bombarded with, "So what I read today was...". I would cook dinner, literally, with a spoon in one hand and a book in the other. It was, and still is, ridiculous. LOL But I LOVE gathering as much information as I can. I know I have stated many times in my blog about how much I read.

After getting so much information though, I came to the conclusion that children learn best when they learn what THEY want to learn. My little Brenna is such a curious little sponge and has absolutely no problem with learning things on a daily basis. She asks soooo many questions throughout our day and is interested in lots and lots of different things. I gave up forcing her to sit at the table and do her "school work". It just was not working for us at all and we were both miserable. I figured out though that I have to jump on the opportunities that are presented to me everyday. Brenna will ask soooo many questions about obscure things every day. Instead of just saying, "I don't know", I go out of my way to find her the answers. The Internet is a WONDERFUL resource!! To me, that is being the best teacher that I can possibly be. And the beauty of that is it is things that SHE wants to know and not things that are forced on her. So will she retain that information better that way?? You betcha! And I tell ya, that kid asks some crazy questions!! LOL :)

So now that our completely-laid-back-year-of-Kindergarten is over what do I plan to do for first grade? I am still not getting a full-fledged curriculum for her. I don't believe in over-whelming her with text book school stuff right now - that can come later. We have plenty of time for that. As I mentioned in my last post though, I did get her a math curriculum, which we are having a good time with so far. We will work on her handwriting this year as well, but as far as anything else I think we will just keep having fun. Don't get me wrong - I'm not planning on being such a laid back homeschool Mom forever. There will come a time when we WILL do more school-like stuff but for right now what we are doing is really working for us. My daughter is learning PLENTY and we are having a blast in the process!

Homeschool Conference was GREAT!

So the conference that Lisa and I went to was so wonderful - I had such a great time and it was very inspiring! It was also very cool being around so many other people who homeschool. There were three big buildings set up with all the vendors and it was a lot of fun walking through and looking at everything. It was a bit overwhelming and there was so much that I wanted to buy but I stayed focused and just got the one thing that I went there for, which was a math curriculum. I went to two different seminars on two different math programs and finally decided on the one I wanted. I got her the Math-U-See curriculum. I was not planning on starting it until this fall but we already did our first lesson yesterday and it is a lot of fun and Brenna seems to like it. Some of the stuff is very easy and Brenna already knows it, so I think we will be finished with it rather quickly. The thing that I really like about this curriculum is that it is not based on grade-level. There are four different books and it is up to the child and how fast they catch on as to when you move to the next. So this first one might take us six months or so to finish but the next one might take over a year. It's all about mastering the concepts, not necessarily memorization or being at this topic at the time. I did want to look for a handwriting curriculum as well but I think I can handle that one on my own this year without workbooks and stuff.
I also got something else that is rather interesting. Brenna has been really into recycling lately and Lisa and I came across these composting kits with worms. It is so neat and such a great science lesson. You can read more about it here if you want to. So now we have about 100 pet worms (which will double within a couple months) in this bin and we feed them our organic trash and later I will have wonderful soil to feed my plants. We'll write more about it later and included pictures as well.

So I think homeschool conferences are going to become part of my yearly "must-do's". I got so much information and heard quite a few inspiring speakers. And like I said in my last post, it is nice being able to see all of the curriculum and pick it up and flip through it since there are so many to choose from. As Brenna gets older I'll start incorporating more and more curriculum and the conferences are such a wonderful way to really get a feel for something.

Homeschool Conference

So I am going to a REAL homeschool conference this weekend with my sister-in-law, Lisa, and I am really looking very forward to it! It's a pretty big one that will have all the curriculum vendors as well as some great speakers. I have been researching the speakers and their topics today, trying to figure out which ones I want to go to. So far the one that I am looking most forward to is "Organization: Time and Home". LOL Those who really know me know exactly HOW much I am looking forward to THAT one. :)
It is going to be awesome to be able to see all the stuff that the vendors have too. It is so different being able to actually LOOK at curriculum instead of just reading about it online or in a book. There are literally hundreds of different types of curriculum to choose from and to me it is a bit overwhelming. I think it will really help me to be able to flip through the books and see what it all entails. I'm not planning on getting too much when it comes to curriculum next year but I am looking into getting something for math as well as writing. I think those will be my two major things for Brenna next year. We'll see what kind of cool things I find though.
Anyways, I will post about my experience when we get back!! It's going to be like Disney World for a homeschool Mom!!! :)

Earrings!!

So Brenna and I were shopping yesterday and out of the blue she starts talking about getting her ears pierced. I have been wanting her to do it for a long time but it was completely up to her as to when she would get it done.
Well after talking about it a lot she finally looked at me with a big smile and said she was ready to get her ears pierced. Of course I haulted my shopping right then and there, checked-out and drove to the mall.
She did great and I am so proud of her! She looks like such a big kid now. :)

Another Camping Trip and Our Brenna is a HERO!!

Brendon, Brenna and I went camping at Lake Corpus Christi this past weekend. It was quite an eventful trip! We left on Friday and our plans were to stay until Monday. We made reservations last week but a few days before we were supposed to go we found out that there were, not one but TWO, cold fronts that were supposed to come in. We didn't let that scare us away though and went anyways. LOL We got there Friday evening and set up camp (picture to the left) and had a nice time hanging out and cooking dinner. Brenna made a couple friends right off the bat and kicked her ball around with them for a while. We went to bed Friday night and I woke up at 4 in the morning to flashes of lightening illuminating our tent. I waited for a while and it proceeded to get worse so I finally decided to wake up Brendon. It started to sprinkle a little and we felt like we had to come up with some kind of plan. Our tent was set up beneath two huge trees so we figured that it wasn't the safest place to be during a lightening storm. By this time Brenna had woken up from the thunder and us talking. We decided that the best place for us to be at that time was our truck. Right when we established a plan of action it started poring down rain! So now we started to panic a bit and I ran out to the truck and got our ponchos. Brendon then picked up Brenna and carried her like a sack of potatoes out to the truck. We then scrambled to get pillows and blankets transferred from the tent and after all the chaos we were finally safe and snug in our truck and spent the rest of the morning trying to get more sleep. It was quite an adventure!! We now look back on it and laugh. LOL

So after that huge mess we contemplated on whether we were going to stay or bail on our trip. We were driving around the park and came across these screened-in shelters. We decided to give up our tent because it was supposed to storm again that night. Long story short - we didn't have bad weather that night BUT it was still fun staying in the shelter. It did rain most of the next day (Sunday) so it was nice having a big place to stay and somewhere to hang out and play board games.
Saturday was beautiful though and we spent most of the afternoon at the lake. We had a big raft and Brenna loved swimming around everywhere. She still is not a good swimmer so she is stuck to wearing a life vest. There were lots of kids there and she made a few friends and had a blast.

Now here is quite a story.......(I am sure most of you know it by now but I just HAVE to tell it...)

Brendon and I were sitting at the picnic table that we were fortunate enough to call dibs on. Brenna was doing fine and she had her life vest on and we felt very comfortable letting her swim in the lake by herself (she stayed close to shore). As I was watching Brenna, my eyes went to this kid (about 5 years old) who kept going under water (about 20 feet from Brenna). At first I thought he was just playing around but I soon realized that he was in need of help - apparently he couldn't swim and was struggling to stay above the water. As soon as I realized that, I saw Brenna swimming towards the little boy. She was going as fast as she could and got to that little boy before anyone else realized what was going on. She held him up and kept his head above water and started paddling him back to the shore. When she was about half way back the boy's Dad realized what was happening and ran out there to get him. Poor thing was crying and coughing and was so scared. I truly feel that if Brenna had not seen him and been so brave to do what she did then things could have turned out really, really bad.
Brendon and I are so proud of her!!! She thought fast and didn't even hesitate one second when she realized that somebody needed help. Brendon and I asked her what she was thinking and how she knew he was in trouble and she just said that she saw that he couldn't swim and saw him going under water and she just kinda shrugged her shoulders and said, "I just knew I had to help him."
Later when we were leaving the boy came up to Brenna with his Aunt and thanked her for saving his life. It was such an amazing thing that my little girl did and as parents we couldn't be prouder!!! GOOD JOB BRENNA!!!!

Lots of pictures!!

We have done so much these last couple weeks. I have a lot to write about as well as quite a few pictures to post. I guess I'll start with the park clean-up for Girl Scouts.

On the 19th Brenna and her Girl Scout Troop went to one of the local parks and picked up trash. They have been discussing recycling and how to make the world a better place. They all had a really good time and stayed afterwards and had lunch and played on the playground for a while.

We also went to Rio Fest that weekend and Brenna had such a good time. Rio Fest is a small festival that they have here once a year. There are games and activities for the kids to do as well as GREAT food (that's my favorite part! LOL). She got to pet a camel, see how a cow is milked, pet a miniature horse, ride in a paddle boat and also sat in a real helicopter! She was the only kid there at the time and the pilot let her wear the helmet (I got a great picture of that!). This year they had a section with bouncy houses and of course that is where we spent most of our time. I took some cute pictures of Brenna that I want to share.

Another really cool thing happened too since I last posted. Brenna and I went to the zoo with my friend Mieree and her daughter two weeks ago. Since both of the girls are homeschooled we usually go during the week while other kids are in school. It is so nice and we practically have the whole place to ourselves. The girls can run ahead and look at what they want and we don't have to worry about a lot of other people. Wonderful example of #13 from one of my favorite things that I have ever read about homeschooling..... 13. Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.

So while we were there the girls were in the petting zoo brushing the goats and playing with the baby camel that they have in there. A woman who worked at the zoo came out carrying three huge bottles and told the girls (who were the only kids there) that she could use a helper - she was there to feed the camel! Yes, Brenna got to feed a baby camel three bottles!! It was so cool and such a once-in-a-lifetime kinda thing. I've never fed a camel a bottle, have you?? :) LOL That's just one of the things I love about homeschooling - you're out in the real world and get to experience things that you never would if you were at school. But being the forgetful Mom that I am I didn't even have my camera!! I was sooooo upset about that.

Anyway, I finally finished reading my book about the benefits of socialization when you homeschool and it was WONDERFUL (I wrote about it in my last post). In fact, I am reading it for a second time just so I can absorb as much information from it as I can. It made so many great points and really justified my reason for homeschooling. The entire book talks about how children who are homeschooled really ARE better socialized than kids who are in school. Most people think it is the other way around. I won't get into all the details. If you're interested then just ask. I'll send you a big long email that you probably will wish you never asked for. LOL :)

So as a closing --- I just want to thank everyone who takes time to read my blog. I have over 1300 hits so far (almost 1400!) in just under a year. I think that is amazing and I am grateful. Hopefully I will become better at not posting so sporadically. :)