Breaking out of the mold

 

It never ceases to amaze me how stuck we can become.I have been contemplating the kids homeschooling.What do we want to start next year?What do we want to change?Things like that.

One specific area that has been on my mind is my son Justins reading. I think the spelling curriculum we use will really help him with his reading as well.

“So” I tell myself “We will start that next year once we finish up kindergarten.” 

I’ve been going over Level 1 of our All About Spelling curriculum all weekend and thinking to myself how wonderful it will be for him, how much I think it will work with his learning style, etc. OH if only we could start it NOW….Wait a minute..Who says we cant start it now?

Well goodness me we cant just pick something up in the final few months of the school  year can we? They don't do that in public school! That curriculum is level 1 so he MUST be in first grade before we start that. That's how it works in public school.So that's how we need to do it right?

This was the dialog I was having with myself today. Tell me I’m not the only one who does that LoL! Then I realized that I was STUCK! Stuck in that public school mold that just makes no sense! By golly if I think that spelling curriculum is right for my kindergartener right now then that's what we should do! Even though that's not the way it was done when I attended public school.

I sure do love the freedom of homeschooling. I just have to remind myself of it sometimes!

Small and simple = Doable!

This week has been a really good week for me. I have struggled with food for a long time and knew I needed  SOMETHING to help me get the baby weight off. I don’t gain easily. I can eat basically anything I want and if I still exercise 3 to 4 days a week my weight doesn't change.Its nice for me.The down side here is I am also not one of those people who can eat whatever,exercise and lose weight! So after doing a bit of thinking and research I decided I would try taking Alli.

Alli is a weight loss supplement containing orlistat. It is well studied and Alli is the ONLY FDA approved over-the-counter weight loss supplement. I wouldn't feel safe taking something that wasn't FDA approved.

I of course talked this over with some close family members and one pointed out the fact that if I could only lose weight on this pill then once I stopped taking it I would simply gain the weight back.

I think there are two things on my side here. 1. Like I mentioned above  I don't gain weight easily.My body seems to just settle in at a weight. The second thing is that Alli works best with a diet change.Based on your age,gender and activity level you are given a calorie amount to stay within each day as well as a number of grams of fat to stay in per meal and per day.If I don't stay within these parameters I wont lose weight even with taking the Alli.So while I am taking the Alli I will be learning this new way of eating.

I bought the Alli at the beginning of the week and sat down to read all the info.It tells you to eat within the new parameters for three days before starting the Alli.So that's what I did. I ate within my ranges and exercised and all be darned I lost 3 pounds in 4 days…I was shocked! I don't know why I was shocked LoL Everyone knows to lose weight you  have to watch your fat and calorie intake!But for some reason I had never figured out quite how to do that.

I am now on day two of actually taking the Alli and have had no unpleasant side effects thus far.I decided though that if I could lose 3 pounds simply by “doing the diet” they suggest then I don't really need the Alli. I will take the 20 day supply I bought because it wasn't cheap and I wont just throw the money away.But I wont be buying anymore Alli after that either.I geuss the saying is true.There are no magic pills and no quick fixes.Put in the work and you’ll get the results :0)

Small and Simple Things Challenge

I have been blogging a bit about small goals I am making to improve my health and other aspects of my life. I am glad to say that my exercising goals have been going really well. We got a membership to the local YMCA and are using it frequently. I am averaging exercising 4-5 days a week :0)    My eating goals are NOT going so well. I just love food!I love to eat! I am really trying to commit to having healthier meals planned. I think food will always be a struggle for me. Something I am putting to prayer is self control. I know that is what I am lacking when it comes to my eating habits.

This week I am going to really try to focus on my eating.Take the time to make healthy meals for EVERY meal.As well as working on my self control.

Our Week

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines week this past week! I know I sure did! My week started out with a date with my sweetheart of almost ten years.

 Here is me before my date posing with my second son Justin.

On Valentines day we decided to make some pink playdoh to play with. My sons were none too keen on the pink part!

Isaiah has been reading a lot about pirates lately and asked to try out this recipe in his pirate cookbook

They sounded yummy and we had all the ingredients we needed so make them we did! Isaiah even made some flags to go on them

We did some shopping that seemed rather odd to me in the middle of February.We went swim suit shopping!Ha Ha Ha! We just got a family membership to the YMCA.The boys have been taking homeschool P.E. and Swim classes there so they already had suits. Dad and I still fit our suits from last year but both the little girls needed new suits.

 Hannah of course picked the pinkest one she could find! I have yet to get a picture of Alyssa in hers but it is super adorable too!

Today we decided to make some Red Velvet cupcakes. I had everything I needed.Everything that is except enough red food coloring

So we had PINK Velvet cupcakes instead!

I spent the afternoon today putting together some special things for school on Monday.We are going to be learning about George Washington and about the role of a President. I hope everyone has a great Presidents Day weekend!

Our week in review

I don't often do a review of our week.I don't post often enough to do a weekly review lol! But I used my camera a bit this week and thought it would be nice to post them.

School is moving along great in some area’s and slow in others. History and science are still everyone's favorites and we cover  A LOT each week. Math is sailing smoothly too. Justin my kindergartener moved up from math k to 1st grade level on his mathletics membership after only having it for a month! I’m glad he is grasping math so well.His older brother does too.On a scale of 1 to 10. 1 meaning I love it and 10 meaning its the worst.Math for me is a 10!So its very nice to see them “get it” so easily.

I am learning more and more that each child is different. My oldest learned to read very quickly and easily. My second son however is … not struggling per se but really taking his time. I mean turtle time here! He can sound out simple words and read simple stories.But as far as progressing to harder words there really isn't much progress at all. I am really glad to be homeschooling so that I can give him all the time and support he needs to process what he has learned and get ready for what's to come.

I am also excited and nervous about the fact that I will be homeschooling three kids FAR sooner than I had anticipated! Both of our sons started to show an interest in and a long enough attention span for schooling right around 6. I assumed (silly me!) that my third child and first daughter Hannah would be the same!Since she is three I figured that would give me three more years till she would be homeschooling! WELL that is just not going to happen! Hannah can already identify and tell you the sound of all the letters,she will look over my shoulder as I read and start sounding out the words(although at this point she doesn't know that's what she is doing).She asks to sit and do  school with her brothers and can sit AS LONG if not longer than both! 

Aside from the general school update here are some pictures from our week

 Here is Isaiah having quiet reading time in the closet!Since our boys share a room,when they need quiet time alone we send them to the large hall closet.

 This is Justins word wall.We have some site words, blends and other things we are practicing on there.

Isaiah’s lego alien space station

 Hannahs new zhu zhu pet I have named Evil. To understand why I named it Evil look below

Thats the hair that got ripped out of Hannahs head by Evil the Zhu Zhu pet. I honestly didnt think to tell her to keep it off her head!

Hannah and Alyssa playing cards ;0)

 Hannah eating breakfast…

And last but not least

 Everyone out back getting a lesson in fire building from dad.

I hope you have had a great week too!