Day's 1 and 2

  I totally should have blogged last night after our first day of home schooling because it really was an awesome day! The kids were excited to begin our new adventure and hopped out of bed, dressed, ate breakfast and told me to hurry. Okay, anyone who knows me, knows that I have never had to be told to hurry. I am punctual to the point that it causes anxiety so I know that if they had to tell me this they were way excited. School only took us a couple of hours and everyone sat very still and listened to me intently. They even raised their hands and asked questions and begged to do more work. I know you veteran home school moms are most likely either laughing or feeling sorry for the rude awakening that is bound to hit me. Well, don't worry, I haven't written about day #2 yet. Anyway, here is a pic of the kids at our school table yesterday for the first day of school.

Don't they look sweet!

Now, lets move on to today. Day number two! I was excited and at peace this morning as I woke up, spent quiet time with God and enjoyed my coffee. I even got to take a shower without an audience. I was thinking to myself what a great day this was starting out to be. 

I went upstairs to wake the kids and as soon as I approached the one who I thought was the most eager, he informed me that he wasn't doing school today. Ouch. I went on to the next room and was met with covers being pulled over a sleepy head and a loud groan. Okay, just give them a few minutes. Right?

When they all came down no one wanted what I was serving for breakfast. I gained the upper hand there and they all ate what I made.  Moods were finally lifting and everyone was once again eager to get started.

 So, that's what we did. About 5 minutes into it my preschooler decided that he was no longer interested and that he would go lay on the couch. I ignored him for a while, but he got bored with that and decided to get his scooter and scoot around the school table. This I couldn't ignore. Not sure anyone could, so I gently picked him up and placed him in time out. When it was up he came back to the table and wanted to color. By the way, he is so good at coloring. He always stays in the lines and chooses appropriate colors. Today, not so much. He picked a fat brown marker and scribbled in one color on all of his pages. I guess if I  psychoanalyzed that color choice for too long, I may be offended, but I just chalked it up to this whole thing being new.  When it was time to do one on one for math everyone was loud and no one could focus. Little man also later complained of a headache and then fell asleep at the diner table so I decided that him not feeling well caused him to push the limits today.

Isn't that just precious. No matter how they have acted during the day they always look like little angles when they are sleeping.

So, all in all, it wasn't that bad of a day. At least we got to feel a small earthquake. We are going to discuss that in school tomorrow morning. That should hold their attention. 

I"m trying not to get discouraged. I know that Satan likes to make me doubt. He pulls that trick on me constantly. I just know that I have to constantly draw near to God, and lean on him for guidance, wisdom, strength, and patience. Tomorrow is a new day!

Our classroom!

I know "they" say that you don't need an official home school classroom, and that some even say that you shouldn't, but we just couldn't help ourselves. When we bought our home a little over a year ago we had no idea what we would use the basement rec room for. So far, we have only used it as sort of a mud room/place to store junk that we don't really need.
When we finalized our decision to home school we immediately knew the rec room would become our class room. First we cleared out all of the junk which included several trips to the Goodwill. It feels so good to purge your home of unneeded stuff. Next, it was time to paint! My husband let me pick out the color and I knew exactly what I wanted.  The actual name of the color is "Frolic" by HGTV home, found at Sherwin Williams, and let me just say that it is the best paint that I have ever used, and I have used a LOT of paint.  I may actually have a painting problem. Anyway, it totally brightened up the space with it's greenish/yellow color.  No snoozing in here!
 We had to do something with the nasty, smelly, old carpet and we thought that linoleum would be the best chance since we will be using the room for science experiments as well as art. 
With that done, we weren't sure whether to look for small school desks (like the old antique kind, that would be really fun to refurbish) or to go with a table which is what I hear works the best when home schooling more than one child. We opted for the table since we already had an old one we could use, (after a good coat of pain of course).  At this point my kids aren't that keen on sharing space so I decided to make a big X on the table from corner to corner and paint four triangles. I painted two the same Frolic color I used on the wall, and the other two a bright blue that I'm not sure the name of. Then, I covered the chair seats with matching solid blue.
On the wall  I hung the world map that came with our curriculum and a cute little alphabet along the top of the ceiling.  I know, it's cliche, but I just couldn't help myself after spotting them at Michaels. Especially since we have a four year old.
Do any of you have a dedicated room in your home for school? If so, I would love some suggestions of the "must haves" that you have in your space. If not, what is your favorite room to home school in?
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Julie

Excuse the rolled up rug and storage container. They haven't found a home yet.

Yep, we are going to homeschool!

Oh yes, you read that correctly. We have decided to homeschool our children this year. Ofcourse, this was not without much prayer. You see, I have always been an advocate of sending my kids to school all day. What a perfect time to relax, clean the house, or start other projects. Not to mention how quiet the house is when they're at school. Actually, I still have one that hasn't even started school yet so I haven't even experienced true peace and quiet. Anyway, back in March while driving home from picking the kids up from school, I heard that still small voice.

This is how it all started. The kids were all grumpy, hungry, tired and fighting with each other after a long day at school. We still had to get home, do homework, cook and scarf down dinner, get to soccer and piano practice, rush back home, get baths, get ready for bed, and go to sleep early enough to start all over again tomorrow. I was completely overwhelmed and stressed out and honestly wondering how much longer we could function like this, and even why we had to function like this. That's when I heard it. God's whisper. He said, "you don't have to". What? Ofcourse we do, we don't have any other choice. Next came, "you can homeschool".  Yeah right I thought. I'm the last person who could ever do that.

I decided to ignore the fact that that had ever entered my mind. How crazy would that be. My kids don't listen to me, they fight with each other, and they make terrible messes. What a recipe for disaster.
Several days passed and still the idea of homeschooling wouldn't leave my mind. I decided to talk to my husband about it. Surely he would tell me I was crazy and must be mistaken. But, he didn't . He actually thought it was a wonderful idea and had sort of been thinking along the same lines himself.
Wow. What a shocker. Anyway, to make a long story short, we prayed hard and long for God to make clear if this is what we should do. Eventually we both developed a deep peace about it and even became excited.  Still, we didn't want to tell people just yet. I mean, what do you say to people.

So, now it's out! We are submitting to Gods call and homeschooling our children. I am fully prepared to have some completely horrible days, but I know we will also have some incredible days. I realized how selfish I was being by wanting them gone all day. It was all about me. My thinking has drastically changed and I can't wait to spend more time with them, shaping their character and watching them grow in the Lord. My time with them will be too short and I want to make it count.  I can't wait to see the excitment in their eyes when they learn something new, or when they accomplish something great. I'm looking forward to them spending more time together and strengthening their sibling relationships. I look forward to more laid back afternoons and evenings, when  the five of us can spend quality family time together without having to rush around so much.
I invite you to join in this journey with us following just "one Moore homeschool adventure".