The fine balance of the Homeschooling Momma

 My motto for this homeschooling year was "to make learning fun!" And, as any homeschooling Momma's will know, the checklist of things to complete with a limited schedule gets the best of you and you become this yelling stressed beast long before the word "fun" was ever defined. This is me. Although, my heart was aiming to be fun, adventurous, explorative, my type A personality beat it to the punch.

Its a fine balance between meeting a checklist of criteria that needs to be taught/learned and creating a fun way to learn it. I believe one of the greatest opportunities in homeschooling is having the freedom to design a fun agenda of events (curriculum, crafts, activities, field trips, etc) that allow our children to learn great and exciting things. 

Here are just a few examples of the events I've worked on to become more of that fun adventurous mom.

Homeschool Monday's are one day a month that the Hidden Valley Nature Preserve offers a two hour class for 2nd grade to 6th grade homeschool students. Classes are just $8 and are great for outside the home learning and lesson plans mom's don't have to think up. Today we learned about bats (appropriate for Halloween) and had a great little hike. 

Black Walnut tree

Dormant Elderberry Tree

Salt bush

Willow Tree

Note the leaves. Wherever you find a Cottonwood Tree know that there is water nearby!

What we believe to be mountain lion paw prints.

Recently, the preserve placed these bat boxes for bats to come hang on. Bat poop is called bat guano. Bats interestingly have a heart rate that ranges from 1,000 bpm and 11 bpm, just dependent on if they're sleeping or flying.

Here are some neat preserved bats and skeletons.

A micro bats skull as small as a penny.

Fun crafting time.

We have three more classes scheduled at the Nature Center and the boys have already expressed their excitement to return. 

I don't want to detour any mom's of littles. The Hidden Valley Nature center has events for preschool aged kids as well. Here are a picture of my boy's five years ago doing a craft at the nature center. 

For those of you living in the surrounding area, a new treasure we found locally was the El Cerrito Public Library. El Cerrito is also a school with a school/public library. The boy's loved their library and their books. It's just another option of libraries to venture off to. We recently joined a local homeschool facebook page and we got a great opportunity to have a tour of the library. Great learning day!

 The boy's were able to scan some books for a better understanding of the process and tracking of books.

In 3rd and 4th grade it's the year to explore California (our state) and it's history. Another perk of homeschooling is having friends over and just including them along in our studies. We explored the maps of California's neighboring states, major cities, oceans, and different climates. Pinterest was a great avenue of fun ideas and crafts to do with the boys.  

Making our state flower. The golden poppy. Or as the boy's got a kick out of it "poopie". #motherofboys

Identifying the different types of climates in California.  We used snap peas, pinto beans, rice and corn kernals to identify the coastal, mountain, desert, and valleys of California. 

Major pinterest nab but well worth it. We have started creating a 'My state book'.  This is another page added to our state book!

Stay tuned for hopefully more great ideas and sources for making your homeschooling a fun filled opportunity to learn.

Redeemed indeed

"and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 3:21

It has been a long time since I made the commitment to follow Christ yet I had never been baptized. Oddly, I have had a strange fear of being dunked under water by another person. John had been reminding me that I needed to get baptized but I didn't want to, or perhaps I just didn't feel I needed to after all this time. But this past spring, when church started announcing the dates for this years baptism I started to get excited. I knew in my heart I was ready to get baptized. 

Even though Josh and Kaleb have been raised in a Christian home and have attended church all of their lives, they made their own decision this past summer to accept Christ into their hearts. This was a beautiful thing for John and I to hear. Our sons had made the choice at summer sports camp to follow Jesus! Nothing is more incredible than knowing your child's heart desires to follow Jesus. After explaining the importance and meaning of being baptized and after some prayerful nights, Kaleb and Josh both asked to be baptized. 

October 9th, 2016 at Pirates Cove in Corona del Mar the boy's and I were baptized by Pastor Morgan. The Lord's timing of preparing both my heart and my sons hearts at the same time was unthinkable and unplanned. Only by His sovereign planning did this memorable day become as precious as it was. It will forever be a special day for our family. 

 "Go down into the river and let it run

 And wash away all the things you’ve done  

Forgiveness alright."-Farther Along, Josh Garrels

Our family who witnessed us getting baptized made our day all the more special. Their support, love, and excitement was encouraging and highlighted the importance of this decision we had made.

I can still vividly remember the sounds, the feeling, and what I saw as I was being carried out of the water. I pray those vivid memories never fade. I pray they are as real today as they will be in twenty years when I may be talking to my own grandchildren about  the importance of being baptized. I'm so glad I didn't wait any longer than I already had.