December 29, 2009

Today started with errand running. We went to the church to make sure it was okay to order the kits for our upcoming class and had a nice chat with Fr. Paul. We are so blessed that he is our priest, he has so much wisdom and insight into things... We then went to Wally World to pick up a few groceries, and Hannah used her Christmas money ( augmented with some of her sisters' money) to buy a new Wii game. For dinner, we went to Red Lobster because my brother John and his wife Jenny are here for Christmas with their four kids: Erin, Jack, AJ and Luke. Tomorrow we will have a cookie baking day at my mom's house for all the kids. Should be fun!

December 28, 2009

Haven't posted for a while... been busy with birthdays in October, Thanksgiving, getting ready for Christmas, and then trying to squeeze school in to boot... Whew! So... here is what has been happening since our trip.

In October we had Hope's 8th birthday and Hannah's 11th birthday. James was out of town in Burlington trying to finish up surveying before the ground froze too badly. We went to Itz on Hope's birthday with Grandma and Grandpa John and Gran (Nee Nee). I brought along cupcakes and we spent so much time playing that we ended up having them outside after they closed! Hope's friend party wasn't until November since she got sick and we had to postpone it. She had fun with her friends Alyssa and Micah.

On Hannah's birthday, we went to Itz again, but I brought brownies instead, and we made a point of eating them before we went to play. Hannah had her usual Halloween themed sleepover party with her friends Heather, Megan, Madison, and her cousin Sara.

High Country ended in November, which always brings mixed feelings... The kids are sad, because they love their classes and seeing their friends, and moms are both glad and sad - sad that Mom's group is ending, but glad that there is a rest from going each week.

Our 6th Financial Peace University class ended the week after Thanksgiving. We saw the usual dwindling of attendance, and only graduated 2 couples, but the others are planning to return in January so that is good.

December started with birthdays - my Grandma's, then mine, then my Mom's. My cousin's mother (my first cousin once removed) had a heart attack, and at first it did not look very good for her, but through God's grace she is recovering and doing better each day. We decorated the house, and the girls had lots of fun putting out the Christmas villages that we have and arranging all the figurines that go with them. Saturday mornings were spent at church for the childrens' choir rehersals. On Christmas Eve, we went to Mass, where Hannah and Hope sang in the Children's Choir. We came home and had a nice dinner and baked cookies for Santa. On Christmas day, Grandma and Grandpa John and NeeNee came over and we had a nice brunch and played with the Wii that Santa left for us. Then they left to go pick up my brother John and his wife Jenny and their kids. The next day, I spent the day finishing up Christmas gifts and then we went to my Mom's for a nice Christmas dinner and package opening. The following day, we went to see my Dad and Grandma Bigler for package opening. My Dad, Sandy, Grandma, Uncle Randy and Aunt Marva, Aunt Meredith, Sandy's daughter Carrie and her son Cody, my cousins Meredith Dawn and her husband Andy, James, Sean, Rebecca, and Mariah, and my brother John, Jenny, Erin, Jack, AJ and Luke were all there. It was great to catch up with everyone.

Today we are going ice skating and then maybe out to lunch with my Mom and John, brother John and Jenny and all the kids - 6 in all! Should be a fun day!

Day 4 of our trip

Today we woke up to about 6" of snow. We decided to do something inside - well, relatively inside - and go to Jewel Cave National Monument. Jewel cave is the 2nd largest cave, and new caverns are being discovered all the time. We took the tour, which started above ground and we went down by elevator deep into the cave. We only toured a small portion of the enourmous cave and learned a lot about its interesting history - not just geological but also involving humans.

Day 3 of our trip

On the third day of our trip, we had planned to go to Mt. Rushmore. However, we woke up to about 6" of snow! We decided to go to the Badlands instead. Although there was no snow, it was cold and rainy which meant that we did not do any hiking in the Badlands. We will have to take a trip back sometime so we can do some more exploring! The Badlands is known for being rich in fossils. It was formed by the layering of different sediments. The different layers of sediments are very evident, as they are different colors. Red, tan, white, and yellow layers were very distictive, and each layer could be easily seen throughout the formation.

Day 2 of our trip we went to Devils Tower. This was the first National Monument in the United States. It was neat to see from afar, but really awe inspiring to see up close. The girls did the Jr. Ranger program there and earned "Badges" that say they are now Junior Rangers for Devils Tower. We went on a hike that took us completely around the base of the tower. It looks different from all sides. The first person to climb the tower made a ladder with wooden pegs stuck into a crevice and a rope. It is still visible today. The tower is a spiritual place for many Native Americans and they leave prayer cloths and prayer bundles around the base. On several sides of the tower are boulder fields with large chunks of rock that has fallen off the tower. Many of these were absolutely huge!

Day 1 of our Trip

The first day we spent in the car, driving to Wyoming. Wyoming is very barren, not much except hills and grass. And wind. Very windy here. We stopped at a rest stop to have lunch. Because of the wind, I made lunch and we ate in the van. All the picnic tables had two walls and a roof to protect the table. All the walls were facing the same way. Makes me think that the wind always comes from the same direction. There were also lots and lots of snow barriers next to the highway, and every time we came to a town, there were gates on the highway in case they closed the highway. I am thinking that it is a common occurence here. When we were almost to Sundance, we could see Devil's tower off in the distance. That is our first stop. The motel leaves something to be desired, though. Thank goodness it is only for one night. Hopefully we will be able to do everything we want to. The weather is not supposed to be very nice.

Our first craft project of the school year. We started with paper mache boxes and then painted them, and then decoupaged pressed leaves we had gathered in the fall. Really easy and the girls did it with out much help from mom!

Field Trip: Mining Museum

On June 8, 2009 we went to the Western Museum of Mining and Industry.  This trip was impromptu, because the day before we learned that they were celebrating 150 years of mining history, and were offering $1.50 admissions.  But hey!  That's the beauty of homeschooling!  So, we picked up and went out to the museum to see what we could learn!  We sat through a 25 minute film on the history of the gold rush, and then toured the museum with our tour guide.  He showed us many interesting things, and even started up the machines for us so we could see them in action.  All the machinery at the time it was actually used was run by steam power, but today they are run by compressed air.  We saw samples of the many different types of ores that are mined, here in Colorado and elsewhere.  The girls got to pan for gold, although they could not keep anything that was found.  After the tour, we went back through to see the things that our guide had skipped over, and then headed outside, where there were many more sights to see.  We saw the ore processing building, and there was someone there who started up the whole thing for us to see.  Quite impressive!  When we got home, I remembered that we had been given a set of Time Life books on the west, and so I got out the ones that had to do with mining, and the girls sat around for another hour at home looking at all the pictures, getting excited when they saw some of the same things in the pictures that they had seen at the museum.  What a great history day!

Field Trip: Alpaca Farm

In April of this year, we were able to go to an alpaca farm with some fellow homeschoolers and family, too.  Gran was able to go with us, and we met our cousins Seth, Sara, Scott and their mom Pam there.  We had lunch first, and then we were off to see the alpacas. We learned about the animals and got to feed them.  We were told stories of how intelligent these animals are.  We learned how they are shorn and were shown how their 'fiber' as it is called, is combed, spun, and made into yarn.  We also were able to make our own craft with alpaca yarn, and see lots of neat things that had been made from alpaca yarn.  We also learned that they like to spit!  We all got to pet them, although I only petted through a fence, but the girls got to get in the pen with them.  

Field Trip: Coca Cola Bottling Plant

In March of this year, we were able to visit the Coca Cola bottling plant in Denver, CO.  We went with a group of fellow homeschoolers, and then went to the park for lunch afterwards.  We were able to see their warehouse where they fulfill orders from their distributors, their recycling facility where they take care of the outdated or damaged products and then recycle the packaging (cans & bottles), their production lines, and their quality control lab.  We did not, however, get to find out exactly what is in the Coke recipe.  Apparently, they receive the syrup already ready to go, all they have to do is add water and carbonation.  I was very impressed at the cleanliness of the whole facility.  I suppose that they have to keep it that way, but still, for a plant that manufactures lots of sticky substances, it was amazingly clean.  And the best part, according to Hayleigh, was the end, because we each receive our own bottle of Coke to take with us.  She drank the whole thing all by herself, and then wanted to know when we could go back so she could get another one!

I believe that if God wants you to do something, He puts little hints in your path.  Not everything is coincidental.  If you look back and see a pattern, it is best to listen.  This is how I came about to be a homeschool mom.  It wasn't a belief that I held since before I had children, as some homeschool moms say, it wasn't because my daughter had learning disabilities, it wasn't because I adamantly wanted her to have a Christian education.  It was because God decided that this was my path, and things happened to make me see this.  

Hannah went to our Church's preschool for two full years.  When I enrolled her in Kindergarten, I was given a list of things that she needed to have mastered before starting class.  I looked over the list, and panicked a little because although she new her upper case letters, she did know the lower case letters so well.  We worked on them all summer so that she would be ready.  On the first day of class, her teacher had put out supplies for the kids to make themselves name tags.  Hannah sat down and began to make hers, carefully writing her name and drawing little pictures.   As she was doing this, I looked around the classroom and noticed that the other parents were writing their children's names for them.   I had a feeling right then that she was way ahead of the other kids.  How right I was.  She would come home complaining that she didn't like school because she never learned anything new.  I went out and bought a 1st grade workbook at Sam's and let her do work in it after she got home from school.  Her teacher kept saying how he knew she was advanced, but because of all the other kids, he could not do anything more her level.  They have to teach to the lowest child.

In 1st grade, things did not get any better.  She would be at school for 7 hours a day, and yet came home with homework that took about an hour to do each night.  I began to wonder what it was that they did all day, because after spending 7 hours a day, 5 days a week in class, why was she bringing home so much work?  In September, they studied 9-11.  Why?  To talk about Patriotism.  What happened to the innocence of childhood?  In December, she came home and told me that her teacher said that there is no Santa.  UGH!  Not only that, but they studied what many other cultures do for Christmas, but not Christianity.  In May, they did evaluations to see if the kids were progressing as they should, because in 1st and 2nd they do not do any standardized tests.  Her teacher was quite pleased that she was reading at the correct level.  I was not so thrilled.  I felt that those two years were wasted years.  She began so far ahead of the curve, and after 2 years she was average.  

During this time, I ran into an old friend that I knew from when Hannah was a baby.  Of all the things that she chose to tell me about, she told me that she was homeschooling her son and about the Homeschool Co-op that she belonged to.  At the time, I thought that was nice, but not for me.  Then, after Hannah's assessment after 1st grade, which I was not happy about, God put another hint in my path.  After Mass one Sunday, we were having doughnuts in the Parish Hall of our church.  Our parish library was having a book sale and my husband went over to see what they had.  Some things were free, and he found a catalog for homeschool materials.  He brought it over to me.  The funny thing is, we had never discussed homeschooling.  Ever.  When he placed it in front of me, I thought, "Homeschooling?  Me? I really don't think so, but I'll look at it."  And as I looked, I began to realize that I could do it, and that I wanted to do it.  And then I realized that God had been working and leading me to this place.  When I mailed my Notice of Intent to Homeschool, I felt that I had my daughter back.  She was mine once more.  It sounds weird, but I felt that once I dropped her off at school, she wasn't my child until school was over and I picked her back up.  I essentially had no say on what she learned or what influences she was exposed to.

Some other moms have said that I must be crazy for wanting my children home with me at all times and being their teacher, too.  That it is just too much responsibility.  I don't see it that way at all, and neither does God.