You know how you get so stressed in the morning? Get up, pack lunches, make breakfast, clean up breakfast, get everyone dressed and ready, get to the car - go go go! Ok, now picture this. You wake up in the morning and you come downstairs in your PJs. You ask the kids what they want for breakfast. They want pancakes.. You start to make pancakes, but they want to make the pancakes, so you sit down and watch them make pancakes. You have to moderate who flips first and how many turns each kid gets. You have to cut the pancakes for the little kids, but otherwise you sit and watch and enjoy while the little people figure out how to make breakfast. This totally happened last week. I looked at the clock and it was 8:06. I watched as Hunter skillfully flipped a pancake and then I said, "If you went to traditional school, we would be leaving right now." Everyone nodded in silent agreement about how much better this was. Then, we just kept doing what we were doing. And it was amazing.
Some days we do curriculum in the morning and then go to Disneyland. Some days the boys have golf lessons and then curriculum and then we go to the Farmer's market, or library, or to the park to see friends. Some days we run from Asteme, an incredible applied mathematics/engineering/computer coding place to soccer practice and hip hop dance classes. Somedays I live in my car. But on those days I think about how much my kids are learning and how much they love it. And I smile. I love homeschooling and I was really unsure. I was scared that I would yell all the time or that I would get frustrated too often. Instead, I am more patient, kind and understanding. I appreciate the moments I have with these little bugs.
Enough about me: I've learned so much about these kids. Landon loves to write and has gained 6 reading levels since he ended Kindergarten. He is creative and thoughtful and has an Engineer's mind. He doesn't like being watched by other people, which is what makes him feel shy. He flourishes when he is among people who make him comfortable - most notably, his Mommy. He isn't huge on math, but could build Minecraft buildings and Legos and draw houses all day long! He's the snuffliest 6 year old you've ever met.
Hunter - He has endless amounts of energy and will do anything you ask of him. He understands concepts on the first explanation, but that doesn't necessarily mean he will apply them. He wants to go quickly and get it done so he can move onto the next thing and earn the reward of being freed from the table. He is incredibly bright, loves sports, video games, playdates and his family. He doesn't miss school - at all. He doesn't love to read, either. He is much more math-minded and when asked what he wants to be when he grows up he simply answers "I want to work with my Daddy." This kid is super lovable and helpful and smart as can be.
Aspen! This girl doesn't make the cutoff for Kindergarten, so she is still at her incredible Montessori with the best teacher in the world (besides my Aunt). She is doing Kindergarten work and takes her job very seriously. She insists on reading copious books everyday and loves math work as well. This girl thrives in an academic setting. She is incredibly smart and self motivated. She is finally old enough to play soccer (I am coaching) and loves that too! She is taking ballet and hip hop outside of school hours and lives for dancing. Actually, she lives for her baby sister, who asks for Aspen about 100 times a day when Aspen is at school. Those two have an incredible bond.
Maisy - Let's not think for a minute that she is behind the game. The girl can say her "A, B, Cs", count to 20 and spell her name orally. She can write many letters, including an "m" and an "I". She is funny and smart and absolutely lives for her big sister and "ba-yay" (aka Ballet). She wears her tutu as often as possible and declares someone "mean" if they don't do exactly what she has ordered them to do. Behaviors that might have bugged me with my first 3 children are endearing and adorable to me now and make her my biggest spitfire. She likes to rudely exclaim "Fine!" if I threaten to throw away toys if she doesn't clean up, or something of the like. I adore all 4.
I've never so much wanted to be in 2 places at once. I love the busy-ness of the city. I love the classes offered to the kids and the opportunities. Scouts, hip hop, ballet, golf lessons, soccer +practice, piano lessons, writing class, math class, and computer coding classes keep these kids BUSY! I love the change of pace in Wyoming, but I miss all that we have here. It is a hard balance of wanting so badly to be in both places at once. I'm happy here and there. I'm a lucky girl, thanks to that handsome guy of mine.
Hunter's first soccer game - The "Blue Lightning"
Ballet baby in class
And then Aspen had Ba-yay, so she changed into another leotard and off we went. She brought her bag and changed her shoes accordingly (ballet and tap) dependent upon what Aspen was doing at the time. And Aspen excelled at ballet and tap because she is a little dancer.
Oh my gosh - and we still go to our gym 5 days a week. It's awful. I almost threw up during this workout. But oh, how glorious. How much I love it. How wonderful this gym is. It's both - I hate it and I love it.
My handsome boy (watch for an update on those freckles).
No comments:
Post a Comment