Why we do what we do

This time year I get questions of what we are doing next year, if we are sending our oldest to "real" school. These conversations make me think back to why we decided to homeschool. I can't say we will always homeschool and when asked how long we will continue to homeschool my answer is " still it stops working for us" and that is the truth. As the reason we even started in the first place it fits our family and works for the needs of our kids and ourselves right now. So specific I know, but it is the best way to explain it. I will try and break it down for you. Ready, here we go.

1. We are a military family, with that comes long absences from my husband, moves when we are told, and we take leave when they let us. With homeschooling we can take the breaks we need when we need, for a move, a trip home what ever comes up. We can always take school with us for the longer trips.

2. We don't get to pick where we live and can't always count on decent schools. We are in a place now that, though we love it, has kind of terrible schools. We don't have to worry about gaps in our kids education with the moves, we control the education.

3. We get to move at our sons pace. We move on when he is ready and pick up the next thing.

4.If something seems really interesting we can just sink our teeth in and learn all we want.


That is why we do what we do and we love it  most days :)

Day 12

So i forgot to post yesterday but we are almost half way through our giving challenge and it has been wonderful. Today we made some cards to send off to the wounded warriors for Christmas. Being a military family this is something that is close to my heart. Ayden came up with  something thoughtful for each card and last night before bed prayed for all the wounded warriors. It is an honor to see him growing like this!

The addresses are below for anyone else who would like to send cards to these hero;s this holiday season!

Audie Murphy VA Hospital
Spinal Cord Injury Unit GLD
San Antonio, Texas. 78229

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center
Wounded Warrior Ministry Center
CMR 402
APO AE 09180

Walter Reed Medical Center
Medical Family Assistance Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001

Michael De Bakey Veterans Hospital
Spinal Cord Unit
2002 Holcombe Blvd.
Houston, TX 77030

Brooke Army Medical Center
3851 Roger Brooke Drive
Fort Sam Houston, Tx 78234

Day 11

Today  I had Ayden go through his toys and pick some to donate to the local womens and childrens shelter. It was fun going through his tows and him thinking about what ones he thought other children would like to play with.

We had a box full of toys to donate when we were done. It was a great project for Ayden :)

Day 10

We have been talking about how not everyone is as lucky to have what we have. During that conversation we talked about how some families we know won't have their mommies or Daddies home, due to deployments and assignments overseas. He remembered one of the neighbor kids talking about her daddy leaving and he thought her mommy would be really sad right now and that lead us to our RACK for today ( thank you to a reader who suggested the acronym)

So today we put some candy and a small trinket from our present closet in a box and left it on the front porch of a neighbor whose husband just deployed at the beginning of the month.

Day 9

Yesterday I mentioned our pumpkin cookies and the recipe was asked for so for anyone who is interested in trying these wonderful cookies here it is :

• 4 cups all-purpose flour ( do 2 whole wheat and 2 all purpose)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Add pumpkin, oil, eggs, milk and vanilla; beat on medium speed until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees F for 13-14 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Cool for 2 minutes; remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

I hope your family enjoys them as much as we do!

 

For our kindness today I am making some cookies and attaching the recipe for my FRG leader who I have hooked on these delicious cookies. Ayden thinks it is perfect since they are the best cookies in the whole wide world and she can know make them when ever she wants. 

 

Hope you all are able to spread some Holiday cheer this weekend! 

Day 8

First off I want to do a shout out to Money Saving mom, she featured me on her blog and I am so thankful for that. I am also thankful for all the wonderful ladies that have been checking out my blog from that post. It is great to hear about you who are challenging to reach out to others this holiday season.

Second, I want to share what has been happening in our house since we have started this challenge. My five year old has been changing. Kindness is spilling over in to all parts of his life, yesterday he let a child get in front of him to use the slide. Also when we went to see Santa instead of asking for a bunch of things for him, he asked that all the boys and girls whose parents can't get them much would get extra presents from him this year. The talk of presents has pretty much stopped here all together. Which was my goal. Presents at Christmas are great and wonderful, but I really don't want that to be the focus in our house. I want him to think of others and it is happening. It is so great to see this wonderful character trait growing in my little boy.

Now on to our act for the day, I have been baking pumpkin cookies for a few get togethers we have coming up. Pumpkin cookies are a staple in this house at the holidays, we call them Christmas Crack because they are so good and equally addicting. So we wrapped up some cookies with a note and left them for our neighbors! Ayden had fun sneaking up to their front porch and leaving them there. Maybe I need to invest in some Santa hats for us to wear while we are blessing others.... defiantly something to think about!!!

Day 7

Today was shopping day. Ayden had a great idea to gather up all the carts that were not put away so they didn't bump into anyones cars and scratch them. I thought this was a great idea for the day.
We gathered up the carts there and then later at the px where we saw santa. It has been great to see Ayden thinking about others this week. I have seen it spill over in to all parts of our life, I think this lesson is working :)