1. So the unthinkable has happened. I'm warming up to the idea of homeschool. In fact, I'm kind of leaning toward it.
I started looking at curricula and co-ops and even a membership to the Y. And it all started to sound less crazy and more do-able. I'd likely use My Father's World curriculum, because my friend Kelly uses that with her girls and loves it. Plus her girls are in the exact same grades as my girls so we could really feed off each other and work together. It's not cheap, but when I added it all up, it was almost exactly 10% of what we'd pay for Christian school. So maybe cheap is relative . . . And the idea of getting a Y membership relieves some of my anxiety about being stuck at home with my kids all day every day. They have free childcare (with a membership), so I can always drop the kids off and go sit on a stationary bike reading a book. Or I could even do a yoga class or something. I've also been toying with the idea of swim lessons for Lena and Levi. The Y is not super close to our house, but if my goal is to get out of the house, who cares how far we drive, right? And because they do income based membership fees, it actually wouldn't cost us
that much (especially considering how much we'd be saving on tuition!). I still haven't totally committed to it, and I haven't said anything to the girls, so please don't mention it if you see them.
2. Another perk to doing homeschool is the financial freedom to explore finishing my degree. I did a lot of college, but have nothing to show for it. Lately I've been toying with the idea of getting my associates in library science. I know an associates isn't worth much, but it'd be enough to qualify me for my coveted job of librarian at the girls' school. I have so many credits already, that I should be able to transfer all the basics and only have to pay for the library classes. I've already found a few schools that do the library program totally online. Decisions, decisions . . .
3. We had a thrilling Valentine's Day as usual. The girls' parties were on different days, so I didn't have to juggle them. And Justin was even home for Lena's so I could leave Levi with him.
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| Lucy actually got semi-creative with her box this year! |
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| Levi came to Lucy's party and was a major troublemaker. |
On Valentine's day, the kids each got a small toy, Justin and I each got each other a card and chocolate, and we did our traditional Valentine's Day meal of Velveeta Shells N' Cheese. During dinner, we went around the table to tell everyone what we love about them. Lena's were very practical. She loves that Daddy makes money for us and that I clean the house for us. Haha. And actually, only the kids had shells n' cheese. Justin and I dropped the girls off at Awana, then went to Qdoba for buy one get one free entrees!
4. Yesterday we had a belated birthday celebration at Chuck E. Cheese with our friends. Since Lena was sick on her actual birthday we rescheduled for yesterday when Lucy didn't have school. We also hung out with these friends Monday night at the library and I was struck anew by how different Lucy and her BFF Presley are. Lucy showed up Monday night wearing a lacy shirt, fringe boots, and a purse. Presley showed up wearing a spiderman shirt, track pants, and spiderman shoes. Lucy picked out books about princesses and ballet, Presley picked out books about superheroes. But they love each other! And I love that they have each other.
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| There's no denying whose kids belong to whom. |
5. We got to watch my sweet great-niece this weekend. She's 4 months old and is staying with us for 2 nights. Last night she did great, went to sleep easily, and didn't make a peep 'til 6:45 this morning! None of my kids ever slept that well at 4 months old! The girls
adore her.
Levi is intrigued, but annoyed that she garners so much of mommy and grandma's attention.
I figured this weekend would be a good test to see if I can handle 4 kids. The verdict is still out. Stay tuned. Haha.
6. Off to small group. No time for another point. Pictures.
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| Literal cheese face |
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| Levi's a bigger fan of the Bumbo than Nova is |
Choosing curriculum is so hard! I found it totally overwhelming. We ended up with Christan Light Education and I love it. It's way cheaper than most other curricula and I like the simple design (it's also made by Mennonites so you know it's way conservative... and is kind of a fun look into that subculture). Like you said, pretty much anything you choose is going to be crazy cheap compared to tuition!! I know you're not totally settled on the schooling decision, so I hope you find peace in whatever you choose! I truly don't believe there's a "wrong" answer for this one. :)
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