Living Inside the Box???

One thing I've learned throughout the past few years is that plans change.  As much as I like to know what is next, I'm learning that sometimes the best things are unknown.  I've had to open up my mind to change.  Well, a little seed was planted a while back, and after lots of research, we decided to try another mode of transportation for our trips.  At 38, with three young kids, we are living inside the box, literally.  An RV life.

What a great way to get school done!

Alex and Elise relax with a game on the back bed

Tanner gets his math done at the computer desk pull

Dad drives it like a pro enjoying the views

So, I don't mean that we are full time RVing......yet.  The idea of taking our kids on a year long trip around the USA, visiting all the historical sites, national parks, greatest amusement parks and following the sun as we go sounds really fantastic to Matt and I.  However, we both recognize that on our month long trips, our kids really miss friendships at home.  That is the one thing that we can't provide for them on the road.  They have fantastic childhood friends whom they adore in Boise and see regularly (especially the ones in our homeschool group).  Taking them away from those friends for a whole year seems almost cruel.  We all love the family time we get, but it is about balance too.  So, for now, we just plan to travel in style down to our month long trip in Texas and test out living in an RV for that month.  Who knows, we may find that we love it so much, we figure out how to keep it, or I may be putting a "for sale" sign up on the way back to Idaho.  Either way, we picked up this gem for a crazy price and are willing to bet we may even come out in the black when we sell.

Work Hard, Play Hard

I don't have a lot of photos of the kids during school because I never seem to think to take them.  I grabbed the camera last week to get a "school shot" to prove we really do love our learning time.

Elise loves to watch the videos when we have an assignment.  We use a website called "brainpopjr.com", which has all sorts of different subjects that are a nice supplement to any concept.  I'm overwhelmed with incredible online sites that can be used as supplements. 

After school, our afternoons are free to PLAY!  On our trips we find local parks nearby, libraries or other outings.  One of the best benefits to schooling at home is that I know exactly what the kids are learning and those concepts can be practiced all day long.  Alex is working on counting coins and making change.  He's responsible for figuring out how much our slushies are at Sonic and what change I will get back.  Tanner is working on understanding division concepts.  He's in charge of seperating out food at dinner. 

Writing is probably the least favorite subject for both boys to sit and do at a table. So, I've learned that journaling is effective during car trips.  The boys write about a field trip, or make up stories and draw pictures as we travel between places.  It's helped to make writing more interesting to both of them and I have a collection of journaling pieces from their young perspectives.  It's some of my favorite reading material. 

Elise posing in a bathroom stall (yes, in the bathroom) at Tortilla Flats one and only restaruant. 

Where is the 3-year-old?

Elise teaches us many things.  Being that she's the third child, we find ourselves much more lax with.....well, with everything regarding her. In the park, we've all gone looking for her twice so far.  Both times she's been following dogs.

We have learned that the youngest child is somewhat neglected with home schooling.  She participates for the beginning and does some preschool things, but her attention span for table work is limited.  So, often, when she asks to play or read or whatever it is, she is pushed off until math is done or the spelling test is over.  I've tried some strategies such as bring out playdough or a box of toys she doesn't get to normally play with.  I run into the same problem.  She's three, and stays with one thing for 10 minutes if I'm lucky.

So, next month, she will be going to her own preschool two mornings a week.  We are all very happy about it and she seems particularly excited to have her own thing.  I suppose that comes with being the third child too.

Elise does love to be home with us and the three kids play together nonstop.  Why is that the youngest always has to be "in jail", "captive", or "the criminal"?

She has learned one thing just from seeing and doing it with the boys and I every morning.  Just about right, too.

Lessons From Those Who Have Been There

 So, here we are in Arizona in November.  We've always tried to design our life around our extended family, so that our kids can have some quality memories with their grandparents, aunts and uncles.  Most of our "vacations" are wherever our family lives, which is how both Matt and I grew up.  We've found that there are always interesting things to do wherever we end up.  So, this year we've chosen Arizona for our November getaway.  It's warm when Idaho is getting cold and we can spend some quality time with Grandma Ann and Papa Ed.  They set us up in a rental across the street from them in an "over 55" community.  As we arrived after our three days of travel, we found them enjoying a glass of wine with friends for the daily happy hour.  We arrived at our rental which turns out to be a one bedroom mobile home.  It took a little time to get used to, but we've discovered that it's not so bad to bump into each other and sleep all kids in one room (after all, we've done that all summer in our cabin).  

Grandma and Ed's Arizona place

Our rental in the "park".  Uncle Jim's place

A few lessons learned......
1.  After you retire, you can party like you did in college (but with more
     confidence).
2.  We are the same at any age.  We gossip about our friends, we like to play and we have dreams.   
3.  Some old folks are very rule bound and some throw all the rules to the wind (until something something happens that affects their lives).


We hadn't known that there would be so many rules for young kids when we booked our month here.  At the pool, there is 1.  no splashing  2.  no jumping  3.  no running  4.  no one under 18 in the hot tub.

Making the most of a beautiful pool, we've learned the best hours not to bug anyone is  at lunch.  All to ourselves out there.  We even splash.

 Highlight of the trip, driving Papa Ed's golf cart (me, officially driving of course) while we made our way to the pool 

4.  Everyone's got a story.  If you take the time to listen, you'll hear some  

      amazing ones and understand more why people become who they are.   

5.  We are all way to quick to judge.  

6.  Age does not define what you can and cannot do.   It's all about choice.  

I recently met a 70-year-old woman who, through our conversation, I discovered was a national marathon champion for her age. She has run in over 40 of them, but recently tried triathlons with her daughter.  She invited me to do a 10K run with her in the mountains.  I declined at first, because I'm out of running shape, but after a few days of running, I'm contemplating taking her up on it.  Who gets to run along side a 70-year-old  national marathon champion? I'm so inspired.   

One other thing we've learned living here with the 55 and above crowd.  Be a defensive driver/walker/biker. Don't assume that the drivers look before they back up.  Most don't.  

Kids aren't allowed on the pickle ball courts, hitting cages or dog park (kidding on that one).  However, we've been personally invited to do all those things by the residents.  So, even though there are rules, even this crowd knows that they must be broken at times.  The boys are becoming amazing pickle ball players.  

Homeschool? Are you kidding???

Aren't you worried your kids will be socially strange?
I could never do that!  (is that an insult or compliment?)
Home school kids are just weird.  


Believe me, I've heard it all.  I've thought all those same things myself.  


I've always disliked the term "homeschool" because for some reason, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  Maybe it's because I'm a speech therapist by trade and I've worked in a number of schools where families chose to take their kids out of public school and "homeschool".  We would follow up with some families and discover they were not schooling their kids at all, but rather using that term as an escape from accountability of schools.  It kept the public out of their business.  Eventually, the kids re-enrolled in school when parents realized that it was more work to have them at home.


However, there were also moments as a therapist that I would enter first grade classrooms to observe a child on my caseload, and I'd find myself watching the little 6 year old boys wiggling in their seats.  They were struggling to sit quietly, wait for their turn to practice reading a sentence, and then wait for 10 minutes while the others read.  Torture for some boys who would eventually fall out of chairs, pull a girl's hair or just plain zone out.  I realized it was a necessary routine for most classrooms full of 30 little kids and one teacher, but a thought was developing......does it have to be this way?


Pregnant with my first child, I was so glad not to have to make any decisions for another five years.

Tanner, our first born son.  I couldn't bear to leave him, and we made a decision to cut our income and have me stay at home.

Tanner has always been an incredibly fun, a bit shy and sometimes standoffish kid.  We've loved watching this kid grow into the thoughtful boy he is today.

Then came Alex, our second son.  I've always told my kids that God gives mom's another heart for each child, and I think He does. We loved this little guy who went nowhere without a ball in his hand.  

For four years, our lives were "boy crazy"!  A photo in front of the our big house before our transition to a simpler life.

Alex on his first day of preschool.

Then, the big surprise.....Elise, no. 3 in the family.  We couldn't be happier.

Tanner's first day of kindergarten.

 When that day came, the first day of kindergarten, we all happily did the "first day routines", tearing up as we left Tanner in his public school kindergarten.


So, when did we switch to home schooling?


My original thought had always been brewing.  A few things happened that first year of Tanner's kindergarten experience.  I was in his classroom weekly and had a great relationship with is teacher.  I helped her with the overwhelming task of assessing the kids each quarter.  Being a speech therapist, I'm used to testing kids and know the standardized rules etc., so I would spend full afternoons assessing the kindergartners.  I kept thinking, "if I weren't here, how would she get this done and teach?"  One day, I asked her, "who do you teach to?".  She honestly stated back, "the lowest common denominator".  Although I loved her as a teacher and respected her greatly, I knew that answer was all too common.  My average progressing Tanner was not meeting his highest potential because there just wasn't time or resources to keep him on pace.  


Another important moment for me was meeting a home school family with teens.  These kids were a bit abnormal.....but in a great way.  The teen girl was so respectful to her mom, and I witnessed a fun loving relationship that was different.  She worked three days a week at a vet clinic because she was able to get her school work completed more efficiently and had surpassed all standardized testing standards for her sophomore year.   She had time.  I met the siblings in the family and they had such fantastic relationships with each other.  They actually seem to really like each other.  They were fun, easy to talk to, respectful and considerate teens.  They weren't even texting when we spoke!  


The seed was growing, but I still fought the idea of schooling my own kids.  It wasn't my idea of how I wanted to spent every morning of my life for the next year, nor the pressure of fitting it all in.  I loved school as a kid.....could I take that away from them?


A group of friends met and we discovered that we were all feeling the same way.  Could there be a way to co-op?  To meet our kids educational needs and balance family life?  After doing research and meeting with various charter home schools, hashing out the details within our own families, praying and praying and praying about it, the decision was made.   I would home school first grade for Tanner. 


 Little did I know that the benefits were far greater than I could have imagined.  Life opened up for us as our house rented out, business was more and more flexible and we were not tied down to a school schedule.  I sensed that the answer to stepping out in faith were beginning to unfold in a very visible way.

Dad enjoys the science lessons.  Teaching about energy through hands on circuit systems.

Alex, at a Valentines Party with our home school co-op.

The kids gather for a lesson.  These kids have become the best of friends.