Homeschool update

A lot of you asked for me to let you know how home school was going. Let me first say that I am not, by any means, a home school expert. What I am about to say is what is working for us, but it may not work for other families. Let me also say that I love public school. I love the school my kids go to, I love their teachers and the principal and how the school is run. I feel like they learn so much at school and that their teachers do an amazing job with my kids. I did not take Trevor out of school because I didn't like the school or his teacher. I took him out because he was struggling, he was not focused, he was not improving. I took him out because I felt prompted to. I felt inspired to. I felt like he needed to be home so that he could grow and learn to love learning. I took him out because he was feeling defeated and I needed to do what I could to lift him up, to put him in a place where he could succeed and feel good about himself and the things he did. I needed to work with him on learning from mistakes and realizing that it's okay to fail sometimes because it teaches us what we need to do better the next time. I will send him back to school for 5th grade, but never again will I hesitate to bring my child home if I feel prompted.

I have a very structured home school schedule. I know some people like to be more relaxed, but for us, we needed something that mirrored a public school schedule and kept us on task every day. Mondays and Wednesdays we do scripture reading, math, spelling, fiction reading and comprehension, essay writing. Wednesdays we also do science. Tuesdays and Thursdays are: scripture reading, computer math games, cursive, grammar lesson, non-fiction reading and comprehension, social studies and Thursdays we also do science. Fridays are for math and spelling tests, final draft essay writing, and Nevada history. We read from a novel every day at the end of the school day and then he writes about what he read, what he thinks will happen next. I grade his work and I put it in a grade book and right now he's on the A/B "honor roll" and he is so excited about that. When he gets something wrong we talk about WHY and we figure out where the mistake was made. Last week I typed up a story he wrote in school and he drew pictures to go along with it. Now he is working on part 2 of his story, on his own, not even as a part of school. He did a research project on Mars and tonight he'll present it to our family. I used to fight with Trevor over homework almost every day but since he's been home we rarely fight over home school. Sometimes he gets discouraged or upset when he gets something wrong, but I'm trying to teach him that it's okay, it's not the end of the world, he can try and do better the next time. I can tell that he's happier, that he feels better about himself. I can tell that he is becoming a little more independent. Our relationship is better. His relationship with Logan is better. So far it seems to be working for us. It's not easy and my days are very different now, but I would not change this for anything. When I look at him now I see his potential, I see who he will become someday. Maybe this whole home school thing was more for me and less for him. Maybe I was the one who needed to learn the lesson. I needed to learn to love my son more and see him the way his Heavenly Father sees him.

Recipe - Lemon Rosemary Chicken

I saw this picture on Pinterest and it looked so good to me. It looked like something that you would make for dinner in the Spring or Summer. It's been getting warmer here and I have been anticipating Spring, so I decided to try this new recipe for dinner last night. I changed it a little from the original. Here is my recipe for Lemon Rosemary Chicken:

1 - 2 lbs Chicken Thighs (bone in, skin on)
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 - 1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped (I got mine from my front yard)
salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, whisk everything together (except the chicken, of course). Place chicken in a Ziploc bag and pour marinade in. Refrigerate for 2 hours, turning bag often to get all of the chicken coated. Preheat oven to 425. Place chicken in baking dish skin side up, season with salt and pepper and pour marinade over chicken. Bake for 50-55 minutes until skin is crispy and golden brown and chicken is cooked through. 

I made mine with diced potatoes in the same dish as the chicken. So good. The marinade got all over the potatoes and made them so yummy and lemony. Everyone loved this dinner. Colin and Logan asked for seconds and Trevor said the crispy skin was very tasty. Dave broke the rules and pulled out BBQ sauce....he and Logan can't eat anything without dipping it in BBQ sauce or ketchup. I loved it. I will definitely make it again. (If you want to see the original recipe just click HERE).

Game Review - Labyrinth

Our boys love mazes, so when Dave saw this game he thought it would be a perfect family Christmas gift. And since Christmas I think I have played this game at least 20 times with Logan. I think this is a really fun and simple game for kids to play and adults will like it as well. It can be challenging, but it's easy enough for younger kids to pick up quickly. The fun of this game is that the maze pieces on the board are removable, so every time you set up the game you get a different maze. Each player gets five "treasure" cards and the object of the game is to be the first one to collect all of your treasures. When you take your turn you use an extra maze piece to move the maze around, so with every turn the maze changes making it easier or harder to get to your treasure. Logan loves this game and wants to play it almost every day. Some of the games go very quickly, while other times we have played it's been more challenging. We played last night for FHE and it was fun having everyone play together and seeing how the boys figured out the maze and how to get to their treasures. Logan has even set up the game before and played on his own. This is by far one of our favorite new family games and something I think the kids will still enjoy playing as they get older.

Never say never

I have said in the past that I could never, in a million years, homschool my kids. It just seemed silly to have my kids home doing school when they could be at school doing school. But things happen and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. This past weekend we made the decision, as a family, to take Trevor out of school for the rest of the year and try homeschool. I really do love the school my kids go to and I love their teachers, but right now Trevor needs to be home. This has been a very challenging year for Trevor and I know that if he's home and able to work one on one with me that he will get stronger in the subjects he's been having a hard time with. Our goal is to work with him for the next few months and over to summer so that we can re-enroll him for 5th grade. I've felt for a long time I needed to do this and I wish I would have listened to that still small voice months ago. But I'm doing it now and I am really excited for what is to come. I've had lots of great advice from friends on what to do and I have really enjoyed these last few days setting up his room, making lesson plans, figuring out a school schedule, etc. I know it won't be easy and I know there will be days when neither one of us want to do it, but I know we need to just take it one day at a time and not worry so much about what's going to happen tomorrow.

I rearranged Trevor's room so he could have a "classroom" in his bedroom. I got a white board so we can work on math and spelling together and a bulletin board with a calendar, classroom rules and an award system for staying on task and getting his work done.

 Trevor's desk with everything he needs to start school on Monday! Maps for social studies (he's learning Nevada history this year), file folders to keep his assignments organized; jars filled with pencils, pens, crayons, highlighters, colored pencils; new notebooks

The Wedding Dress Challenge

A few years ago I got a magazine and the January issue was all about resolutions, losing weight, looking and feeling better. The weight loss challenge for that year was The Wedding Dress Challenge. Readers were challenged to do what they needed to do to fit back into their wedding dress. I thought that sounded fun so I decided to try on my wedding dress and see what I would need to do. Well, I was pretty surprised when the sleeves of my dress wouldn't even go up all the way.... how did my arms get fat after 10 years of marriage? I put my dress back on the hanger, and instead of taking that challenge to heart I forgot all about it. I'm really good at making lists and schedules and goals, but I'm not very good at following them. I get distracted or I lose interest, or I get lazy and I just forget. But I spoke in church on Sunday and the words from my talk keep running through my head. I have realized how much time I have wasted being lazy and not really doing what is most important. Saying we want to change is good, but actually making those changes is better. Saying we want to be happy is good, but actually changing our attitude and outlook is better. Saying we want to fit back into our wedding dress is good, but actually working for it is better. I've got some work to do. Not just to get back into my wedding dress, but to change my attitude so that I can be a better wife and mom, a better friend, a better sister, a better teacher, a better person. Anyone else up to the challenge?

Homemade Citrus Cleaner

My little cuties are in love with these cuties. I buy a bag every week at the grocery store and they are gobbled up. But I kept wishing I could do something  with all the lovely peels because they smell so good and I know that orange peel is full of good oils and other stuff. Then, one day while I was on Pinterest I came across this LINK for homemade cleaner using vinegar and citrus peels. I decided to try it and see if I liked it. Every time we peeled a little cutie I put the peels into a small mason jar. When I had the jar almost filled with peels (only 2 oranges worth) I filled it with White Vinegar, put the lid on and let it sit for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, I strained the liquid into a measuring cup. The liquid came out almost like a syrup. My liquid measured 1/3 cup so I poured it into an old cleaner bottle, added 2/3 cup water and got cleaning. I love the way this stuff smells! There is a little bit of a vinegar smell, but it disappears after a while and leaves behind a light citrus scent. It was super easy to make and because the vinegar/citrus liquid is concentrated it makes a lot for just a little bit of money. There are lots of different recipes for these cleaners, but so far I have kept it simple and just used the orange. It's great for an all purpose cleaner (but DO NOT use on granite or marble) and I love the way it make my kitchen and bathroom smell clean and fresh. It takes away the cooking smells and the pee from the bathroom (yes, with three little boys my bathrooms always smell like pee). It can even be used on wood floors! I use it to clean my wood table top. The link I provided has some great recipes to try for different scents and gives some great tips on how to make and store the cleaner. It also has cute printable labels for your cleaner. It would make a cute bridal shower or housewarming gift. I think I will never have to buy all-purpose cleaner again.

How does your garden grow?

 By the time Christmas is over, the decorations down and gifts put away, I am ready for Spring. I am not a winter kind of girl. I like the sunshine and the warm weather. I love swimming in the summer and cooking outside on the grill. I love when it's warm enough to open the windows and let in the fresh air. I'd take hot over cold any day. The last few days have felt like Spring to me and I've spent lots of time outside cleaning up my yard, pulling weeds and planning out my garden for the year. Last year I planted a garden and the plants all grew, they just didn't produce anything for us to eat.  I always imagine walking out my back door and going to my garden and getting fresh herbs to use in my cooking, picking vegetables to make a salad or watermelon or berries for the kids to eat. I want a garden like the ones I see on Pinterest or blogs and and I determined to have one, even if it's small and simple. The past few days I have been doing research and reading up on gardening in Vegas. I have been taking notes and making lists and sketching out plans for my garden. Today I went to Home Depot and filled my basket with soil and seeds, flowers and plants. I planted flowers our front and some strawberry plants. I'm going to get my garden beds ready these next few days so I can start planting. And hopefully soon I can walk out my back door and pick some of the food I grew.