Over the Mountains and through the Woods

Monday

I was having a rough day so I felt like a bit of a failure and didn't do much especially with a daughter who just kept fighting me.

The kids helped get supplies ready for their field trip the next day though. 

 

Tuesday

We left the house at 8:30am and didn't get home until a little after 7pm with our day today, but the kids all seemed much happier despite the long day and long time in the car. 

We went to Camp Tracy, a boy scout camp area, where they had a Fairy Tale camp that a local youth group put together. We were split into groups and went to different stations. At each station, they read a shortened version of a fairy tale and then we did a activity related to it. It was such a beautiful place! The leaves were gorgeous, and there was a crystal clear lake. 

It was a bit cold, so my 3 year old struggled at first. I forgot a coat, just had my vest and a blanket from the car which I shared most of the time with my 3 year old. 

There were 6 stations total with activities like a scavenger hunt, making catapults, planting seeds, brewing potion, playing with slingshots, making foam swords, decorating gingerbread men and more. Plus it was all free!
With the long car rides, it's been an opportunity for my oldest to ask questions. Today he asked about sun which led to the Ozone Layer. He's excited to learn more about that.

Wednesday

Since it was such a long day yesterday, I did a pajama reading day in the morning. My daughter read Princess in Black books, one about a Bathtime Battle. My son is in the middle of reading Allies, book 2 from an Allen Gatz series. The first one being Refugee which he read for school last year.

 

Then they did their Homeschool Support Group Let's Create class where they could create out of anything: paper, Lego, clay, etc. They watched a video clip of Winnie the Pooh so they chose to do Lego Creations of Pooh's house.

 

Then they played Minecraft. Their creations have been impressive on there. Plus today they've been working together with minimal fighting so that's a major win. 

Wednesday night I had my second Mom Mentoring session with the Homeschool Support Group and this time we had to share. Well I was called 2nd to share. I figured I would be. I had just posted on the Dressing your Truth, I Love My Life event that I wanted to improve my relationship with my daughter. It's just always a power struggle. So I shared those sentiments on the mentor call, and Marlene asked further questions to get deeper to the heart of the matter. I shared about how my daughter fought me with reading this morning even though I tried to make it fun and try to give her choices. She's been asking about returning to public school next year and what it would look like and if that's what she wants I'm afraid she'll get held back and/or be so behind. With the support we have through our online charter, My Tech High, I would prefer they did homeschool, but I won't survive if my daughter and I keep butting heads. Marlene basically said I need to stop looking for Proof and Results and just let her lead so learning can be exciting for her. Then I was given the assignment to create my Homeschool Vision and what kind of person I want my daughter to look like around 18-20 years of age. (It took me back to when I learned Ideal Life Vision at Elevation with Tiffany Peterson). Luckily I've already thought about all of these things, but have been needing confirmations that this is right and this is still a good path. A

Thursday
I woke up early again at 5:30 and just started crying with some of these thoughts.
I hope I can learn how to balance this type of learning with her and still support my son who does well with learning traditionally as well. I hope to learn how to still teach consequences with this approach because right now consequences just seem to be about power struggles too even though to me they sound like natural consequences. But of course I have no map for this. I have no support outside with friends or family. I'm afraid of being judged thinking my kids aren't learning anything.
I should make a sign of Miyagi Homeschool to remind me.
I do feel God has led me on this path, but I'm getting tired of being hit with so many so changes so fast. Then I think about the Prophet and how many changes he's made with the church so quickly and told us to take our vitamins.
I think about how in the scriptures so many had to stand alone in the right paths (I feel alone in this path for my family and I better learn fast or I will drown.)

Here's a comment I shared on Latter-Day Homeschoolers group where another momma posted a situation similar to mine.

I have a similar situation and it's major power struggles and the mentoring I'm receiving sounds like to do some un/de schooling. I'm just at the start of my mentoring thanks to the Homeschool Support Group if you're in Utah! 

 

First have to create my homeschool vision for each child (choose hardest first) and the kind of person you want them to be between 18-20 years old and then focus on activities to foster that.

I have an Elementary Education degree and following a public school format isn't working for her at home. I love seeing results and proof and I was told don't press that right now. We started back mid August so I thought I had waited enough time, but for my daughter I still have to not look for that and just focus on being excited about learning and finding out what she wants to learn and fostering that.

I've been trying to focus more on cooking, gameschooling, field trips, and online classes (again through the Homeschool support group: Art, PE, and Cooking) along with our morning routine of prayer, pledge, scripture recite, affirmation, reading scriptures, and a sharing positive comment about each person.

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So today I focused on my Morning Routine with the kids.

• Prayer
• Pledge
• Recite Luke 2:52 (I hope to print out more scriptures to recite now that we've got this one down).
• Affirmation - This week it's been, "I Can do Hard Things" (ha the irony for me in learning more and going deeper into this homeschool process).
• Read Scriptures Aloud. We use this 5 min. version. 
• Compliments - we just added this week saying 1 Positive Thing about each family member
  

Then we played Unstable Unicorns which my daughter had wanted to play. We played 2 rounds which I both won. I don't feel bad about winning anymore especially because I don't find this game too difficult for my kids, and I feel like they are old enough to know it's okay to lose. This game I feel teaches them strategy and communication. Then a bit of team work as they started to try and work together to beat me. 

Then I said they could play Minecraft again until we had to go to the doctor's for their yearly check up. When my daughter was done with Minecraft, I let her play with the phone since she did a really cool Siren Head video with her brother last night. This was another way she could practice with technology. While I was getting ready so we could also take my picture for the I Love My Life event virtual parade, she took some pictures with me with some of the special effects with Facebook messenger. I admit they are fun.

Today during the oldest two's annual check-up, the doctor said that all three were the happiest kids he's seen all month. They were super chatty about their Among Us Halloween costumes, joking back and forth with their doctor, showing their muscles, sharing their favorite songs and singing "Watermelon Sugar High" and dancing. We love our pediatrician. He spent extra time with us though I'm sure he's busy. My oldest had to get shots which he wasn't happy about, but spending some time joking with the doctor helped him to not be as anxious. Though he did joke about hiding behind the chairs (just like he used to when he was little and terrified of doctors after all his challenging experiences with doctors at a young age).

 It was a blessing to hear those words from our doctor to give me some sort of affirmation that I'm doing okay with my kids especially now that we've been homeschooling for almost 2 months now and with all the fun mentoring. With homeschooling, you don't get Parent Teacher Conferences to hear how amazing you're children are and how well they've been doing in their classes. I'm used to results. I like results. It helps me track my progress and is easily visible. Emotions, spiritual promptings are hard to hold on to and remember sometimes even when you do write them down. Charts and spreadsheets help me....I guess that's my Secondary 4 coming into play a lot. I guess I just need to rely on the Spirit more this year, but it's been a much harder year to hear with the chaos of the world. 

After their appointment, the building had a good space of brick wall for my picture. My oldest took several shots of me so I could send it in. Here's the picture I chose which I brightened up. My kids are pretty good with a camera and the basics. 

You guys get the first look! This won't be posted until Friday I think <3

I did a Hybrid Yoga this evening with Marlene's Homeschool Support group, and she said I hope I was gentle with you the other night. It's what I had to hear, but doesn't make it any easier.

My Yoga look.....
 

 though it was more of Mindfulness Stretches for me since my yoga teacher since I'm probably intermediate level with yoga =)

 

FRIDAY

Again we just focused on the Morning Routine. We played a few games of Unstable Unicorns and Exploding Kittens. Then I tested the waters and had them practice Math Facts with Minecraft though my daughter preferred to do hers on the white board.  Once they completed their math facts. My daughter practiced 7 and 8 multiplying and my son practiced 13 and 14. She did push a bit again, but eventually finished them so she could play Minecraft.

My daughter has made 3-5 different houses, a farm, a Panda Express restaurant and more on Minecraft.

Since they like Minecraft so much I've been searching today for some Minecraft challenge cards and other educational activities.

I tried to not feel guilty that I'm not seeing Proof of their learning right now especially since Fall Break was this week for many of their friends, little did they know ha. I'll probably let them have Fall Break on the Friday of my I Love my Life event and still keep things simple and maybe focus on the holidays, gameschooling, cooking, and service the rest of the year until I can get more mentoring.

Here's a bit of my Homeschool Vision for my daughter right now.

My daughter is self-reliant and a problem solver. She can cook a variety of healthy meals for a family. She is joyful and shares her light with others bringing smiles to their faces. She is creative through technology and the arts. She is capable in helping take care of the home with basic cleaning. She easily can do mental math to help with everyday life and interactions. My daughters asks for help when she is stuck or needs advice to move forward or confirmation she's on the right path. She seeks the Lord through prayer, scriptures, service, and church attendance. She finds joy caring for young children and interacting with her siblings and cousins. She is quick to apology when she realizes she did something hurtful. She stands up for friends and family and communicates effectively to share her ideas, thoughts and feelings.