Home Schooling v. Public Schooling: Decision

Public schooling.

Let me esplain why.

I think it may have been obvious that I was leaning toward home schooling Henry when I wrote my initial post on home schooling v. public schooling. I still do believe that home schooling may be the best thing for Henry and our family. There are 3 main reasons why we've decided to go the public school route for now though:

1. The age difference between Henry and Dorothea. I feel if they were closer in age, say only 18 months or even 2.5 years apart, I could adapt the lessons I was doing with Henry to also be of benefit or fun for Thea. The fact that they are a full 4 years apart makes that much more tricky especially since she'll just be a toddler when he starts K. As I pictured it, it seemed like I would be giving Thea things to keep her busy and she wouldn't have much attention, or she would be getting into everything while I tried to work with Henry.
2. Homework. I found out the school we are zoned for doesn't give homework in kindergarten. This was a big one for me. They have a reading log and a monthly art project they do. That's it. I think our family can adapt to that. Now when we read to Henry we just have to mark that we did and when he feels like drawing or doing an art project, we just have to have it follow the guidelines for his monthly project. It shouldn't take too much away from our family time after work. I was very, very happy to hear about that!
3. Our location. One of the people I talked to about homeschooling lives in an area where they can send their kids to art classes, music classes, creative writing classes etc. Most of the kinds of classes I would like Henry to be in are about an hour away from where we live. I am happy being in a quiet town but lack of outside classes/programs is definitely one of the drawbacks.

For those 3 main reasons, we've decided to go ahead and have him in kindergarten for this year. Also, his teacher will be someone I grew up with and was in my homeward for a number of years, the school is five minutes away and, I remind myself often, I can always pull him out if I feel it isn't working.

Since making the decision (about a month ago) I vary from feeling sad and missing him to relieved and excited (you know those days where you would send your kid with the circus if it came by). I will miss having him around to be sure, but I am also trying to remember the positives about it and if Thea allows it or I can find someone to watch her I'll volunteer in his class and still be as much a part of his education as possible.

Now on to the next decision-to have him wear the school uniform or get a waiver? =)

8 Months

The little woman is 8 months old! Her personality is starting to come out more and more every day and it is fun to get to know her better. Here's a bit about miss Thea Bea at 8 months.

Health/Stats: She is a healthy little girl with no issues to report and is now almost all caught up on her immunizations. While her health is good, I may need a back adjustment from carrying her about because she is now 21.5lbs! Henry was only 19 when he turned 1 so this has been something I have had to get use to especially since she likes being held a lot. She's 26.25 inches, so on the shorter side too. She a little chubby ball of cuteness.

Eating: She still primarily nurses but I also take snacks with me to church or when we go out for when I want to wait to nurse her. I also give her bits of what I eat when I can- banana, bread, peas etc. She is not at all picky. She even sucked on a mandrin orange the other day which is something Henry never would have done. I've decided that baby food is a racket and also totally unnecessary for her since she'll already eat whatever I have anyway. I still have a package of peas and carrots so I'll use those up and then no mas.

Mobility: I'm fairly certain she will never crawl. I guess it's too undignified for a lady or something. She is interested in walking still and in the past two days she has pulled herself up several times and can walk along objects like the couch, crib, toy trunk etc and go from one object to the next to continue walking around. She does seem to have a harder time going right than left for whatever reason. She still does her backward scoot when she has to be on the ground and is a pro at scooting around on her bum.

Personality: It turns out our little miss is quite a cheese ball. And a screamer. eek. She was doing her pterodactyl screech almost constantly for a while about 2 weeks ago but has finally calmed down on it. Now she does more growling noises than screeching. I'll take it. She makes a noise and when I look at her she just smiles and laughs. She is more interested in toys, her surroundings and people than ever before. She loves being tickled and cuddled and has started giving lovely opened mouthed slobber kisses on the cheek. Henry makes her laugh more than anyone else but she also knows to be wary of him at times and will give him the funniest look. It's fun to see more of who she is each day.

Hey! I want my hat back. 10 points to anyone who names the author!

Happy 8 months to our sweet baby girl! 

Sleeping Habits

Johann recently described Henry as, "anything but boring." I have to concur. The kid doesn't even like to sleep in the same old boring way every night:

 Sleeping under the table

 Upside-down with a space helmet

And finally, in a play tunnel.

Oh, Henry, we do love you! 

Drawing

One of the things I'm grateful for is that Henry likes to draw; he likes it so much that sometimes he will go into his room and draw for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour some days. He also draws in the car and makes traveling easy. He finally went through one of his notebooks, he usually switches between the three he has, and I thought I'd post some of the pictures I found in there that are typical Henry drawings. 

The well used notebook. This one usually accompanied him in the car. 

Captain America. Johann did some of the blue shading. While he likes drawing he isn't a fan of coloring and says it's boring.

 Evil robot. 

Nice robot. 

"Roader Man" I don't know what that means, just what Henry called this guy. 

 Most of his drawings are robots, super heroes, robots or haunted or scary something-monsters, houses etc. It's interesting to see how he is starting to try and draw motion. Now if only he wouldn't make his drawings sloppy while he worked on motion we might have something! I hope he always continues to like drawing because I stink at it and I think it's a nice talent to have.

February Recap

February is over and I am turning into a bad blogger. Here is a  little recap of some of the things we did in February:

I finally got the kids in to see a doctor. He's fine. I guess. I think I just hate doctors and will never find one I really like. Oh well. Henry freaked and screamed for shots (to be fair he was good for the legs but when they went for his arm and shot number 5 he was done), Thea whimpered for a moment. Seems an accurate reaction for both of their personalities! 

We started going to drop in gymnastics on Thursdays.

Henry started Tae Kwon Do and loves it. I signed him up through May yesterday.

They even got to break boards which was very exciting for the kids. 

Henry is always wanting to buy something and I'm sick of it! So I told him he can start doing chores and earn his own money if he wants to buy toys. He now folds socks for a nickel a pair. He learned really quickly how to ball them up.

Dorothea started learning how to pull herself up on things. She was about half way then when I went to snap the picture she had started sliding down already.

She also continued to be inconceivably adorable.

We celebrated Valentines day and when I went to my mom's class the day after some of the kids had saved some Valentines they made for me. Awww. 

We went to the Apple Valley airport for lunch and to watch planes land and take off.

The boys got and flew a big dragon kite. 

Our friends Bert and Charlie made a quick trip out to CA and we got to hang out with them. We miss them!

I discovered my first white hair. I'm pretty sure this is either from the thesis or other recent life stressers. 2012 was nuts.

 Daddy showed Thea the joy of drumming

Henry wrote a letter to the Aquabats. 

We made Groundhog's day cupcakes for my mom's k-class.

Thea started getting more interested in toys and now pulls everything out of the changing table shelf.

She started putting things in her mouth and then letting go with her hands and then laughing. She thinks it's just so funny and I think she looks like a puppy. 

I helped in a Stake Primary day by showing the 10-11 year old girls how to make this game to take when they go babysitting. I'm not crafty, but they were desperate and I was happy to help, though I wish it had been for something I have some talent in! They seemed to have fun anyway. 

Thea was abducted by a monster.

Henry wanted to be a sumo wrestler. 

And an astronaut. 

Finally Thea started drinking water from a sippy cup. Her first time she spit out the water and looked at me as if to say, "What on earth is this stuff? Give me my milk!" She is now use to it and sips away, though if she wants a good drink, I usually have to help her out.

Well, there are some of the things we did in February! This month promises to be just as busy with our trip to San Diego for Spring Break and Easter. 

On to a new month!