Homeschool

I really wanted to enroll Olivia in preschool this year but the place I wanted to get her into has a strict policy with being 3 by September 1. Well her birthday is September 23 and Mike and I don't think that we should have to hold her back a whole year because she missed a deadline. I know that there are other preschools that don't have this strict cutoff but it does bother me that the school system has this cutoff date when really it should be based on the child's ability and maturity levels. I have also met a lot of people who homeschool in Boise so I have been reading a lot of books and blogs and checking out a lot of curriculums in the homeschool world.

Mike and I have discussed it before but I figured I might as well see what is out there. I found a lot of great information and I chose the Sonlight curriculum. There isn't much for the preschool years but I though it would be a good test run this year and next year to figure out if this is something we really want to do. I think I am a well rounded person in education but teaching little kids kind of freaks me out. Plus with our current situation Mike would be doing most of the teaching.

Things I like most about the Sonlight curriculum is it has a bible section where kids learn about bible stories and learn scriptures, it is literature based and it has everything planned for you. I am a firm believer that having good reading/writing and reading comprehension skills is essential to learning other subjects and that is what they focus on the first couple of years. The books on the reading list are classics and I checked the curriculum for middle school and high school and it was a meaty list. I also liked that even though the bible is a huge component they incorporate exposing kids to other religions and backgrounds. The curriculum incorporates other homeschool packages that have received awesome reviews like Break the Code to teach reading and Handwriting without Tears.

We already read to Olivia almost daily but this will be nice to expose her to more classics and give Mike and I the opportunity to spend some quality time with her. The preschool schedule only requires about 20 minutes a day. Plus money was another factor. Preschool would be a huge expense in our budget.

Wow time flies

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. I have been busy with some thing and lazy with others and the blog has fallen by the wayside. I thought I check in because I am suppose to be journaling all these memories about my family. Mike's parents have come to visit us several times which Olivia loves. We love it too and we were able to go to some awesome garage sales. Mike and I have been meeting lots of new people in Boise and hanging out which has been nice for Olivia to play with other kids. We have also found some fantastic babysitters. One girl is in our ward and she is 13 and she is just in the awkward stage of getting braces and going through puberty but she is the absolute sweetest. I was concerned about finding a sitter because Hazel is so young but this girl babysat for another couple over the summer and they have a set of twin boys that are only a few months older than Hazel so she has had a lot of experience. Plus her mom lives close by.

My working out has been non existent. Not surprised at all. As soon as things picked up at work that was the first thing to go. One day it will happen. Also Mike has a herniated disc so I don't have a workout partner anymore. :( He has been in a lot of pain so that has been hard in a lot of ways. He is at home with the kids all day and he is suppose to take it easy which is really hard for him. That means there is a lot of cleaning stuff that he can't help out with. The doctors have a fairly aggressive plan that I don't really agree with but that is a big story within itself.

I have been reading reading reading. I am trying to research all these things and I feel so overwhelmed so I end up wasting a lot of time on FB to give my brain a break. Then I started my pintrest account and boy is it fun but it surely can eat up a lot of time. Productive time. I have been researching homeschooling. I think I'll save that for another posts. I have also been researching some business ideas and then there are the parenting books. I have read them once but there is no way I can remember stuff from 3 years ago.

And then my rash comes and goes with my TOM and when I get stressed. So I got pretty stressed a few weeks ago and it broke out on my back, it crawled up my shoulder, up my neck and now is on my face. Makes me self conscious but Mike says it isn't noticeable but I don't believe him. The nice thing is I work with a bunch of guys and they probably don't notice. I can't take anything for fear of it crossing into my milk or affecting my milk supply. So I can't wait to stop pumping so I can do a detox.

I am going to end with my pumping woes. I never experience any of these things with Olivia but I know most nursing moms do have these problems. I got Mastitis in June. Wow that really sucked so I have been more aware about plugged ducts. I recently have dropped a pumping session so I now only pump 3 times a day which is so much more convenient than 4. Then I got a plugged duct on the left side and I was able to get it worked out. Then I took a nap on my belly the other day and have been battling this plugged duct on the right side. I thought I cleared it out 3 times before but it kept plugging up so I finally pop the milk blister and hopefully I am okay now. Lesson learned is I can only sleep on my back and popping the blister with a pin wasn't bad at all. And hear is my apology if that was TMI but being a mom of a new baby is a dirty job.