Totally Random...But Totally Cute

It has been the usual busy, busy life around here! But lots of cuteness and fun to share before I hit the pillow to prepare for another busy, yet cute, day. :) These are Emma's two dadies (babies). She sleeps with them every night and loves to carry them around. If she only has one, she will say "Uh-Oh" over and over again, until you find the other one!

My boys are just the best big brothers. They are so in-love with Emma, and the feeling is totally mutual. They love to play with her and she follows them around EVERYWHERE. The other night Ben was crying, and Emma walked over to him and put both her hands on his cheeks and just started jabbering away. She was really concerned about him and wouldn't leave him alone until he hugged her and told her he was OK.

We were reading Judy Blume's infamous Superfudge book and there was a part where Fudge (the 4 year old brother) puts trading stamps all over his baby sister and says he wants to trade her in for a new bike. Ben could not believe it. He declared, "I would rather trade one of my own eyeballs than Emma!"

Ben saw Emma carrying around his stuffed dog (she LOVES dogs), so he wrapped it up in a blanket, Brad made a card, and they gave it to her as a present!

She loves her swing set! She loves getting in and out and in and out and...well, you get the picture. It's a super fun game! Come on over, and you can play it with her all afternoon while I do something else...anything else!!

The boys' new shoes. They say that they are magic, and make them run REALLY fast!

Emma Leigh loves Ben's basketball games. So much noise and excitement! Ben is still pretty much just running around but usually in the right direction now. He will occasionally get the ball and frantically search for someone to quickly pass it to before anyone gets near him. He really doesn't like that people charge at him and try to whack the ball out of his hands...basketball may not be his sport after all!

James has not been drinking all of his Shakeology (Tsk Tsk!) so I have been sharing a little with the kids. They LOVE it, of course, because it tastes just like a chocolate ice cream shake. Beachbody is coming out with a vegan Tropical Strawberry flavor next month, and I am stoked! I won't be sharing that one. ;)

Emma is part monkey. She has recently learned to crawl up onto furniture! Like my rocking chair, and her brother's bed, and our couch...

YES, I said couch! I finally convinced my hubby that we needed a couch. I found a steal on craigslist and I have to say that for the first time since we moved our house not only looks normal, but really nice! Sometimes you don't realize how ghetto something is until it isn't ghetto anymore...

The kids love it too!

Emma is going to win her first Oscar before she turns two. Whenever she doesn't like something or gets a minor injury, she puts her hand on her forehead and pretends that she is very upset. You can see here that she is even smiling as she tries to pull one over on us (but to be perfectly honest, it works 90% of the time)!

What else?

James is done with his academy in 5 weeks! He is doing very well. He was chosen to be Class Corporal this week which has put him in a leadership position over his class and has made him the liaison between classmates and staff. It has added stress to his week for sure, but he is doing very well with it! We are so very proud of him.

I am just finishing up 60 days of my Turbo Fire! I will be re-taking my measurements on Sunday, but I am feeling great and am really excited to get these last 10 lbs off!

Savanna decided to pull out of her charter school after all. She has been home one week, and is pouring over her books again and getting a lot more accomplished. If nothing else this experience helped her to be very thankful for her home education, and to see that there are many avenues to learning. She is setting some good goals for herself, and I know that she will do great when she just decides to go for them! Isn't that the truth for all of us?

Well, we were trying to get a video of Emma climbing up on the rocking chair..."trying" being the operative word!

Bradley playing Yankee Doodle. He is still doing great at piano!

January 18 - February 1, 2012

True to my word, I started my Turbo Fire program on December 1st! The jury was out for a few days because the moves were fast and I had a lot of new choreography to learn. Surprisingly after doing it for a little over a week, I am able to keep up pretty well. It is super fun- mostly kickboxing and hip hop mixed together. Great music, and I really, really like the trainer Chalene Johnson. I thought she was going to be a little too peppy for my tastes, but she really gets me motivated and keeps it fun. I will be doing it until the end of February and will be in my size 6 sexy dress a week and a half later for my hubby's big graduation!

Chalene also came out with an awesome book called "PUSH." It is basically a 30 day goal setting seminar in book form. Savanna and I are reading it together and watching a series of videos she put out that go along with the chapters. You read a chapter per night and do the "homework" she assigns and by the end, you have a blueprint for success. It's been a great project to do together. Savanna really has amazed me with some of her goals, and I'm excited about her being exposed to another mentor to walk her through the steps of achieving them. Savanna is starting to get the hang of her Charter School as well. Balancing her time has been a struggle with having school 2 days per week and assignments that are due on specific days. I'm not sure she was quite ready for all of this required work, but she is learning some great tools and skills in the process. Many pros and cons when teaming up with a public school. But I keep reminding her that it is HER education. She can make it as deep and interesting and complete as she chooses. Her teacher is great, and is willing to personalize lessons to help Savanna achieve her educational goals. There is the political mumbo-jumbo (attendance, state testing etc.) and busy text book type work which I think is such a waste. But, good things are happening and overall I feel good about her being here right now. We are going to give it until the end of June to decide if there are more pros than cons for continuing with the Charter.

Savanna is still involved in her youth colloquium. I am leading one this week about The Secret Garden and then in December we will read and discuss Anne of Green Gables. I loved the message of The Secret Garden. I read it with the boys and for those of you that haven't read it, it is basically about a young boy and girl who have fixed beliefs about their health and capabilities. They find this Secret Garden, and as the plants and animals come alive in the garden these youngsters find that when they change the way they THINK, they begin to come alive too. They call it magic. I asked the boys what the magic was and Brad responded quickly, "It's the garden, of course!" Ben interrupted, "Nope. It's believing in yourself. That really comes from Heavenly Father." That kid really does get a lot more than he lets on some times!

I am sad to say, that we held our last adult colloquim. I have been hosting it for two years, but the members have been dwindling and the last two said they weren't available for next year. I thoroughly enjoyed those meetings, and have tried many times to invite others to join us. People are just so busy, and frankly I don't think they see the point in reading and discussing classic literature. I'm thinking of selecting one or two books next year and doing an online book group. Maybe a Facebook group or something informal where people can comment when they have time, and I can post some questions or thoughts of my own. Not sure just yet.

Our goofy boys. James recently found out that he was the oldest member of his class at the academy. Apparently the other cadets now refer to him as Grandpa which our children thought was hilarious. Here is Brad doing his impression of Grandpa, aka Dad. :)

He runs fast for a Grandpa!

November 28 - December 11, 2011

On a Personal Note

This may come as a surprise but after much thought and prayer we have decided to enroll Savanna in a Classical Charter High School. It is a hybrid program, meaning she goes to school two days a week and then will continue to be home schooled the remaining five days. This classical academy follows the Trivium Method (and is in fact, called Trivium Charter School). Trivium Method focuses on three elements of a Classical Education:

[1] General Grammar

(Answers the question of the Who, What, Where, and the When of a subject, and lays the foundation for a student's advanced studies.)

[2] Formal Logic

(Answers the Why of a subject, and teaches a student to think through arguments.)

[3] Classical Rhetoric

(Provides the How of a subject, and teaches a student to express himself with originality and force both in writing and orally and apply his acquired knowledge in his life.)

As these disciplines are learned and practiced together, they form the overarching, unified system for establishing clarity and consistency of personal thought called the Trivium.

Other elements that define a classical education: Most of this knowledge is acquired through CLASSICS (not textbooks), and is studied in chronological order split into four time periods: Ancients, Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation, and Modern Times. Savanna is currently studying ancient history so all of her other subjects (science, art, music etc.) also revolve around this same time period. This helps the student's studies fuse together nicely. It also gives her a clear picture of what was going on in the world in a variety of subjects at different times in history, and how they are related and build upon each other.

For more information on a Classical Education or the Trivium Method, here is a GREAT article:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/classical-education/

At Trivium Charter Savanna is learning Science (Biology- a subject known to the ancients), Ancient History (currently they are studying ancient Egypt), and Writing with a heavy emphasis on Rhetoric- learning to express the ideas in her head cohesively and apply them to her life both in written and oral form (lots of public speaking, papers, and group projects). She is responsible for doing math, English, grammar, spelling, p.e. and other electives at home (music, art, foreign language etc.).

Why did we choose this route? I believe that Leadership Education fuses very nicely with the above definition of a Classical Education. In deed in many respects one could substitute the Grammar element with Core Phase, Logic with Love of Learning Phase, and Rhetoric with Scholar Phase. Leadership Education is not about home schooling or public schooling, classes or hours alone in study. It is about the attitude and needs of the individual student. Savanna is painfully aware that SHE is completely 100 % responsible for her own education. It is not my job or her teacher's job or anyone else's job to educate her. She is the only one capable of doing that. That being said, it is Savanna's education and so it was Savanna's choice. James and I have felt that we have given her a lot of freedom the last few years to choose what she studies, how long she studies, how she studies, etc. But there have been times where she did not perform in a way we felt met our expectations and we have given off a vibe (or straight out told her) that we were unimpressed or disappointed. I have realized that in many ways I am still controlling her education through my reactions. I would give her my advice (and I have had LOTS of advice to give) and she would not follow it, and I would make her wrong for it. Overall I feel that due to my desire for her to succeed and also my fear that she would fail, I have given her the impression that I do not trust her judgment and I do not have confidence in her ability.

For the first time, I am REALLY going to let her make a decision in her own education. And then I am going to spend some time genuinely building her up and letting her know that I have her back, and have the utmost confidence in her ability to not only make the right choice, but to be successful in the choice that she makes. This will be a new road for both us, and one that I hope brings us closer together. I am feeling really good about this. I think it may provide some healing on both sides. Also, the way this program is designed still puts me as her main Mentor, and gives me a chance to be heavily involved in her studies both at school and at home. I think it will be fun to help her with projects, and can even involve the boys in what she is learning outside of the home. Because it is a charter school they give us $350 per year to pick curriculum for Savanna's home studies including many books on our Leadership Education lists. Every child is different, and Savanna feels that this would help her so we will get behind her and let her give it a shot. Classes can serve a great purpose, especially for an older child like Savanna who is very social and thrives in a group environment. Ideally a student should be heavily entrenched in Scholar Phase before committing to classes, but I am thinking that a change of environment and outside Mentors will push Savanna to academic levels she may not have achieved at home. That is my gut feeling.

My biggest problem with this charter decision was that I didn't want to make it based on fear. Fear that if she stayed home she would never get an education, job, degree, etc. I wanted the decision to be made on Faith. Faith that it was the right path and the right time. But I have realized that even though I am her mother and I am privy to revelation that will help my children, this may be a great opportunity for her to learn how to study things out in her mind, pray about them, and then follow through with her own inspiration. She has visited the campus, studied the pros and cons, and has prayed about it. She feels she should attend this school at this time, and so she started this past Tuesday. Already I am seeing her struggle with making sacrifices so she has time for her school work. She does not have as much flexibility, and she is still required to help around the house, take care of herself, and get to bed at a decent hour. I think she will figure it all out in time, and I am hopeful that it will be a positive experience all around. We will take it semester by semester and do what is best for her.

Man, being parents is tough, but what a blessing that we have so many resources available for our children's education. It is also a great reminder that what works for one child may not work for another, and what works at one time for the same child could change as she grows. Pulling Savanna out of public school almost 4 years ago was absolutely the best choice we have ever made for her. I have seen her grow and blossom in so many ways at home. So this Charter school may be what she needs right now to motivate her to the next level, but we will be revisiting this issue continually to know how long it will be needed. We will see how it goes!

November 1, 2011