Burning Hard-boiled Eggs

I am busy. Not just busy like because I like to be busy. But I am busy, like, out the nose snot busy. That's pretty gross, actually.

I work part time for a broker as an assistant. I work on his websites; create flyers; take pictures of homes and edit the pictures; create packets for him to give to prospective sellers and buyers; drop documents onto another website for viewing; create MLS listings; and then other things "as needed."

I work part time as a photographer. This amounts to about 6-8 sessions a month. I spend hours editing. Then I create a personalize photo CD. I deal with paperwork, taxes, and other business legality requirements.

I'm a home schooling mom. I research, create, teach, learn, and educate at home. I take my kids on field trips. I find meaningful lessons that will, hopefully, broaden their views on the world. I have to plan weeks at a time (just like a real classroom teacher). I have to meet state standards. (Luckily, I've been educated on how to teach and meet standards.) I have to keep in contact with our home school coop adviser at our enrolled school. 

I'm a stay-at-home mom. This means everything beyond what I already do, falls on me. Laundry, dishes, floors, bathrooms, kids, kids' rooms, my room, counter and table tops, stairs, vacuuming, meals. OH MY GOSH the meals! That is a huge chunk of my day right there. Shopping, errands, bills, playtime, school time, game time, bed time, bath time. 

I am a Sunday School teacher and an adult class leader. And serving God is a passion for me. I love it! It's the only thing my life that makes sense everyday. Duties "as needed" from Him require no contract, pay, or benefit package.

And last night, I burned hard-boiled eggs.

Yes, how does all that work with burning boiled eggs? I was not paying attention. I got distracted by one of my duties, and well .. and hour went by, and the hard boiled eggs I had carefully put on the stove ... burned.

A class I started leading at church, made clear to me that I am over extended. No, I am maxed over extended. If there was an over extension, I would be beyond that. My brain can no longer plan or take in anymore information.

Something has to give. And thanks to this lesson at church, God made clear to me that something. He also made clear to me, knowing my frame of mind at the moment, that everything would be okay. My worries about specific future events would be fine. I would be okay. And most importantly, my family would be happier!

The eggs, though still edible, were a huge part of me realizing that things needed to change in my life. 

One Monthish Down

So, we are a month into home schooling and I'm pretty sure today was the longest day of home schooling yet.

We didn't have any extra work other than our normal stuff. Kara was just so easily distracted with whatever thoughts popped into her little mind. Sometimes, I am amazed at the things she thinks of.

As part of her Farm School attendance, I make encourage her to journal every day that she goes to school. In the beginning, this was a bit of a task because she didn't want to do it. As she reads back through the last month of attendance at the school, she loves that she can recall the events that took place, and the fun she is having. I think she will enjoy that journal even more once she is out of the Magpies class.

This last month has had many challenges, but it has had many more rewards. I love that my daughter and I have a new found relationship. I never expected her to be so brutally honest and open with me. I, at the very least, just hoped to help her confidence and ambition. There are days where I am surprised I'm not complete intoxicated by the time Aaron gets home from work. Let's just say, there is not a day that I am alone. I am ALWAYS with a child!

I am seeing the beauty in home schooling. And the further into our curriculum and activities we go, the more I love it! When I get to help my child one to one with her struggles in understanding a concept, I know she is getting a better grasp on it. When I get to see her excel in her subject content, get 100% on her tests, and most (and best) of all see her handwriting improve. That is the reward of home schooling.

Is our system perfect? Absolutely not! I will say it's still a system in progressive nature. :)

We work together. And there are days where Kara doesn't want to cooperate. I get it. She's 6. She would do that at public school as well, as with any other child. She is more loving and caring now than I have ever seen. She wants to help. She is listening better. But she still has her stubborn independent sassy attitude. Most of which I don't necessarily want to change. My girl is spunky and such a joy to teach!

I have watched her relationship with her brother improve 10 fold! That has to be the best result of this home schooling adventure we embarked on a month ago. Seeing siblings play, fight, make up, and, in general, just be together agreeably is an amazing thing! She has even started "teaching" Mason! Which is awesome!

I love my children. I love my family! I am so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity to home school. I'm not sure how long I will be able to have this blessing in my life, but I know that I will not take it for granted. Even on those days, where time by myself would be super, I remind myself that I'm one lucky mom! I get to be with the best kids in the whole world.

And I get to watch them grow academically, spiritually, emotionally! I get to teach them!

Apple Pie

This week we have been engulfed in school, work, cleaning, organizing, playing, and Halloween. It has been super busy. I am very glad that it is Friday, and that tomorrow I have NOTHING that I have to do except work on organizing my time .. well that will be a task.

This week we read "Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie."

It was a great story for Kara to read. It was challenging in that it taught Kara that there are many different names and types of apples. It also made her laugh. I also think it indirectly taught her that sometimes things don't quite turn out how you would like, but there is always a backup event that can make things better.

In an effort to stretch my teaching training, I turned this little fun story into an entire unit. Yes, folks, even friendly children stories can be educational.

I stumbled upon this book on our library day last week and I just knew that Kara would love to read it and make an apple pie. We did the basic spelling words. But I added three vocabulary words with sentence use. And then I tested her. She got 100% on both the spelling test and the vocab/comprehension test. My test writing skills are still a bit amateur, but I think I'll get better as time goes on.

You'll probably have to click on it to read it, if you want to. :)

Kara decided since the book was about apples, we would make an apple tree with her spelling words on the apples for her to look at regularly. So .. we did....

She did quite well

I told Kara we would make the pie from the recipe in this book. Yes, this book included a recipe for apple pie. And I will be making a copy of it before I return it to the library! It was just that good!!

So we went shopping for Granny Smith apples .. as suggested in the story by "Grandpa." He said "they are the best for pies."

And we made the apple pie filling....

I peeled, cored, and sliced 8 cups of apples. Apple pie filling in the jar at the store would be much easier. However, I don't think it would've been as tasty!

Then we made the pie crust .. yes from scratch .. it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be .. and I don't have a picture of mixing it .. but here Kara is rolling it out....

I had to help her a bit. The marble rolling pin is a bit heavy. :)

Once we pulled it from the oven, it smelled and looked amazing. For being Kara's first homemade pie (and my first homemade apple pie) I think it's pretty amazing.

The crust was PERFECTLY cooked. Perfectly seasoned. Perfect thickness.

Final judgement was left up to our dinner guests, and they gave her ovation of goodness. Even had seconds on the pie!

My official judgement on the pie: Kara is on apple pie duty for Thanksgiving!!