My review of Magic Mike movie....

Well this post isn't about homeschooling in the least bit... well unless you count my take on this "chick" flick and whether or not to make it a homeschool mama's night out event!  I thought maybe it would be a "fun" movie, with let's face it sexy men shaking their money makers, I thought it can't be as bad as they say it is.


Now maybe it was the before movie drinks OR lack of enough drinks but they reports are true. NO plot and terrible acting, sure the dancing was nice but honestly...well you are here so you know I am going to just fill in the blank of what I think right??(sorry needed to add in something for my need to let you walk away with some homeschooling info!) I think if I am going to take the time and money to go and see a movie nowadays I need some sort of story to follow. This one had me wanting to sneak into the Batman movie right down the hall, to see a fully clothed Mr Bale. 


I should tell you that I did go with 3 other awesome homeschooling mamas who said they liked it. SO I will leave it up to you.. maybe you should wait until it is at a more appropriate $1 showing of it!

Taking Quiet Time

Taking Quiet Time 

OK, so most of my days are filled with finding a homeschool online writing program
or trying to find a YouTube video for the next holiday (History of Valentine's Day) or subject we are studying!

But sometimes you need to stop and look around to see the special times that you have with your kiddos. We are doing touch football with a great group of boys, Alex is having a blast. Anthony on the other hand isn't always wanting to play. :( Being smaller and coordinated like his mother doesn't always lend itself to catching a tiny ball! This pic was taken on one such Monday, Anthony's friends that usually climb trees with him didn't make it. So there he was playing by himself, which he usually does without a problem. This time it just got to me, so we took a walk around this beautiful park while brother played football.

Do you believe in old souls?? I don't really know how it works but sometimes your kids can just say things that make you stop and look at them. Anthony is most def an old soul if there ever was one. When I suggested we do something like look for fish or frogs in the lake, Anthony sat on this bench and just said, "Just sit down with me and enjoy the view with me for a minute, then we can look for fish." I almost started crying!! Here is my 10 year old wanting to spend time and talk with his mother. I hope that all the other mothers out there have moments like this. It makes all the work of homeschooling WORTH IT. I can get all teary eyed just thinking that this is going to end someday. One day there will be girls, cars, job and friends that get a head of the line in front of me, but this day I rated the number ONE on the list!

ENJOY THEM, they grow up so fast!! I never believed it when my grandma would tell me that, but it is sooooo true. When you are chasing them as toddlers trying to keep them safe, happy and exploring the world around them, you can sometimes think man I need a break!! Now I am just hoping that I can slow down the time I have left with them!! So happy to be a homeschooling mama;)

Happy Homeschooling and Enjoy every moment you can!!

Reflecting on the my decision...

Friends we made our first year and still going strong!

     Well this week flew by!! I didn't even have a chance to post on here until now, ya know when the house is quiet and all the noises are just me typing!! You know that feeling?! I actually had a day where I could reflect on my life and how it has changed since I became an accidental homeschooler. If you would have told me I would be doing this 10 years ago, I would have kindly asked you to take your crazy thoughts and ideas some place else! Not that I didn't love my boys BUT (and yes a big BUT) I didn't think I could teach my boys better than a certified teacher could. Fast forward, five years ago when I saw the light go out in Alex's eyes every time  I said anything about school. That's when it hit me, I missed my boys being around me, I missed those moments of teaching them things; watching those once in a lifetime moments that only a parent would cherish. It is so amazing to see them succeed and actually want to learn (well most of the time), finding new ways to teach something that I could never understand in school.
      I was one of those kids who wanted to please the teacher and my parents, yes a middle child, LOL. I always tried very hard in school, I was like Alex it took me forever to do any of my homework in English. I had never been taught phonics or my ADD brain never let those lessons soak in enough for me to be good at reading and spelling.  All of this changed my freshman year of high school, my life changed in so many ways, parents divorced, grandmother passed away, things that had happened to my older sister and me as children coming out, and feeling like I was all alone in the world even with people right by me. I didn't want that for my boys, not that their lives are ANYTHING like mine or my husband's for that matter. So this thing called homeschooling, is scary at first (especially if you didn't do so well in school!) but with enough determination, being able to ask perfect strangers questions, willing to go out on a limb for your kids YOU CAN DO IT!!  The added bonus is knowing more about my boys then most people do... yes I am not privy to everything my boys think or do but I am there if they need me.
    When writing this post, I was thinking of all the newbies out there that decided that they had enough of the system and it is not right for their kids over Xmas break. The forums are chalked full of people coming on and asking questions, I always direct them to a free guide called Welcome to Homeschooling.  So if you are just beginning your journey just remember a couple of things.....
1) Take it slow
2) Do your research
3) Enjoy your kids and teaching them
4) YOU ARE NOT IN SCHOOL so don't try and teach like you are
5) Reach out to other homeschoolers  (locally and online)
6) Just remember this when you are stressed out! IT DOESN'T LAST FOREVER SO ENJOY IT NOW!(this one is hanging on my computer, LOL)

Get to know me, will ya?

Here are two reasons why I get up in the morning!

Well I have been a homeschooling mama for 3+ years now, I think that it is finally time to start a blog of everything that we do. Even if it is only me looking at it! Sorta of a "Dear Diary" of sorts;) I am more than just a homeschooling mom, I also love to garden, cook(most days), do a little woodworking, anything DIY, decorate ( not my strong suit but I like it when it comes out), organize, hiking, playing board games and last year I started running! OK once you see me you might laugh a little( just a little please) cuz well I don't look like a runner but I do like it. My DH talked me into it so that we could get healthy together, and lose the weight we gained over the years. I am still working on it I have my good and bad days but I am determined to get thru it! 

I also am proud to say employed at home for a great company (yes a plug here) Time4Learning.com, which we started using our first year of homeschooling. My boys love it because of the cartoon looking lessons that make them laugh while they learn. Over the course of that first year I met one of the site administrators thru the parent forum, and decided to apply for a State Moderator's job that they had up. Well I GOT IT! At first it was for North Carolina only but now I look over six states (some I would love to live in) and I have met even more wonderful members who give myself and others great advice and links to help us homeschooling more efficiently. Double bonus I get paid to work from home! I also help out at SecularHomeschool.com, a great source of information. The members there all have an open mind about homeschooling their kids, they all have been extremely knowledgeable and friendly.

My newest endeavor has become my third baby of sorts, its a site that features stories about homeschoolers or homeschooling families. The books that are up there are a mixed of religious and secular stories which so far have been a delight to read. I just added books by homeschoolers to the site, so that anyone who wrote a story and was homeschooled can let others know about it there. Feel free to check it out HomeschoolLiterature.com!

Well that is me in a nutshell, I hope that you will come back soon to check out what we have been up to!

I will be posting great sites(both homeschool related and not), recipes, anything fun that we are doing or we are thinking of doing!