Swim Lessons Vol. 1/ our summer

Our first time to take swimming lessons was the best experience! I have always said, "the kids can do this or that when they get older.. well, my friends, they are older".. and this is one of those things I am so happy we waited for. Now that the kids are older they were extreemly excited about learning, and all improved greatly through the classes. Jo, who had what I call a great fear of water and swimming is now (as you can see in the photos) swimming with both arms and legs just a going! Nate, who loved the water is close to getting the hang of swimming and lessons gave him confidence and I know by the end of the summer he will be a swimmer. Cat had a great time and learned, water safety, the breast stroke, front crawl, back stroke and floating. What a great experience!






This summer is flying by! I have been working hard on getting our home organized and the kids chores down so when the fall comes we will be a well oiled machine around here! I will have a bit of tweaking to do of our homeschool as Jo was diagnosed with a eye condition that keeps him from doing close work for longer than 20 min or so.. The solution for us will be to do our schooling with Jo in spurts throughout the day. I am very thankful that we homeschool so we can adapt to his needs.. what a blessing!

I am ever amazed at what the children learn when we are not "doing school" .. the conversations they have are great... the questions are non-stop.. "Dad, is a hedgehog a real animal?, How do the birds know there are seeds there?, Do you think that is from latin or greek? How do the lights know when to change to red or green?, What was (insert a president) middle name?, home state? Who was the tallest president? Could we really dig this hole to China? Do you think the Lava would come out if we dug deep enough? Why did the dogs toenail bleed so much? ".... I could go on forever! I really believe that my job as a homeschool mom is to encourage a thirst for knowledge, a quest of answering the questions, how to find the answer, and to never be afraid to ask. I use to think.. "what is our schooling going to look like when the kids are older.. (when I had two babies and one in kindergarten).. " Well, now I know.. the kids are older.. I will be officially schooling all three this next year and I must say it surprises me that its the same, if not easier now than it was then. I, of course am much more relaxed, use to all the questions people ask and confident in our decision to homeschool. I am also certain that this is the best choice for our family. I recently found some photos in a little scrapbook that was made by Cats teacher when she was in preschool. As I looked over those pics I found myself seeing somethings that were interestingly enough, not seen by me when she was in that preschool. My sweet baby girl (4 years old), sitting close to some man (a teacher) as he read a book to her, another pic of a little boy pushing his way past her to so see something he was interested in, and smiles on my daughters face that were not those of the happy girl I had at home. I dont even remember most of the things she learned that year, or the field trips she went on but I do know that I was so busy working I missed out on so much. It was the experience with preschool that sent us into homeschooling. The teachers there were wonderful .. but it took two to three hours for my baby girl to get back to herself again. We did have some playground issues and name calling etc but the main reason we chose to homeschool was because sending our daughter away so young changed her, changed who she was, and we wanted Cat to be herself! So... as I homeschool ... I remember...
Its a joy, we learn together, read together, and make mistakes together. Life is good. We are so very blessed.