Happy with my choice....

Watch this video!  http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/01/07/this-is-what-happens-when-a-kid-leaves-traditional-education/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h11u3vtcpaY

Now here is a smart young man! I love his approach to life.

I still wonder sometimes if Homeschooling was the right choice for us but I have been reminded so many times this year that it was in fact the right choice for us! Sometimes I think that sending them to school would be the easy way out. It's not easy and it's not always fun being with them 24/7 ... it takes discipline, patients, time and lots of energy and all of those things test me daily. The best part about it for me though,  is that we can be flexible. I try to look at homeschooling as a lifestyle... not a learning from 8-2 pm each day.   We get our book work done and then we continue to learn throughout the day, playing games, nature walks, animal science, building, field trips, etc.

 I love how this boy talks about nature. My children are following in their Father's footsteps it seems. They LOVE the outdoors. Sometimes my son says to people "I hate school!!" I'm like wow... way to show people how fun homeschooling is!  Truth of the matter though is that he just LOVE'S being outside! Just like his Dad. I've realized that if he was in school.. he would get VERY little outside time and he would probably hate it even more.  If that is in his heart and soul... why on earth would I want to take that away from him! He reminds me a lot of Sean. It's amazing to me how smart my husband is and how looking back, he tells me he hated school!  Colton does it and he does it well, but he doesn't enjoy it. I've realized that, that is OK.  He doesn't have to enjoy every bit of it as long as he gets it's done and he's learning. As he matures he seems to show me what he enjoys about it. It also seems that the less I push him to read, the more he enjoys reading! He recently started picking up Magazines and reading on his own time. This is one of the areas where I meant we could be flexible. I can pick, or he can pick whatever he wants to read! It doesn't have to be the book from his grade level. I also like being able to go on trips and just taking work sheets with us.  I don't have to pull him out of class. Also, if we want to take extra days off for field trips.. or if Sean wants to take them on a hike.... I feel confident that they are learning the whole entire time! My kids ask Sean so many scientific questions about everything in and out of this world that I KNOW it's a better experience than they would get in most classrooms. I mean 'com, the ratio is usually 1:1 or at most 1:3.   My children interact with a lot of adults.. some may thing TOO much... but they also get plenty of time with their homeschool friends and church friends.  I feel they are learning to interact with all age levels.  Colton, Carley and Stetson do have their moments of course but most of the time, they do everything together. I can hardly separate the three sometimes cause they love each other so much!

Anyway. I love'd this boy's outlook on life and I wanted to share it.  I will be ecstatic If my kids grow up to be happy and Love God and Love people.  I aim to teach them that we are not perfect nor will we ever be!  Jesus love's them unconditionally. I don't want them growing up thinking they are never good enough or that they have to be or do what society says they need to be or do! All that matters is that they learn to Love and they learn to be happy and content with the simple things in life.

Deuteronomy 6:7 - And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Working with Daddy!

Today we took the day off from school to go on sort of a field trip. Colton is learning about operating heavy equipment and we will be going on a hike.   For now Carley, Stetson and I are just watching and getting eaten up by Bugs! Ouch !!!

Our first Light Sussex chicks!

We incubated eggs from our own hens! I put 21 eggs in and only 4 hatched! We'll do better next time though. I am thinking a few of them just weren't fertile as our hens were really young! Anyway.. these four little guys are thriving! I guess they can't stay in the bathroom forever, so hopefully we will get something built for outside soon!

The kids are loving this new excitement! Can you tell?

Homeschool Day

Today we had our first day of PE, with a certified PE instructor! The kids had a blast and wore off a ton of energy. 

The highlight of the day seemed to be the "King Snake" that Colton brought for show and tell.   The kids crowded around him to touch it and Colton loved answering all their questions. 

Then Stetson found a cricket and was letting it crawl all over his shirt and thought it was so funny!  Can you see it??

Happy 4th Birthday Stetson!

I seriously can't believe my baby is four!!  Can I say we are out of the toddler stage?  I think it's safe to say now that ALL THREE of my kids can wipe their own butts! We had been talking to Stetson about this issue for weeks before his birthday and so the morning he woke up the first thing he told me was  "Now I am four, so today I'm going to wipe myself"  and HE DID!  Praise the Lord, he finally grew up! :)

This baby photo is probably the chubbiest photo I have of him at around 5 months. I don't hardly remember him being that chubby as he wasn't THAT chubby for very long. I'll post one of him underneath that doesn't even look like the same baby! lol

Here's a little collage of the happenings from yesterday!  You can see how excited he was to be four and to have his best friend's over to play. They were all still talking about it in church this morning :)

                                                               (click images to enlarge)

The bottom middle photo he was explaining "this is the best birthday I ever saw!" 

Indoor photoshoot with Stetson Travis King

This little guy has a b-day next month!  This wasn't for anything special but I ended up getting a few good shots that I may just blow up for his bed room wall :) We were up late waiting for Daddy to get home and decided to play with bounce flash while he was comfy and reading a book on Mom's bed.

He is too cute and these shots show is personality just perfectly!

Colton turned seven!!

Appologizing in advance beacause I'm going to load a whole lot photos of one child!  The one who began this whole journey called "Motherhood" which I absolutely love and enjoy!  He is the one that caused my heart to melt for the very first time.... I could stair and stair and kiss and snuggle for hours on end! Thank you Lord for giving me such a beautiful baby who is growing into such a handsome young man of God :)

 Then and now....... 

We had a few or our new friends over, it was crazy and hectic but the kids had a blast!

They got to fee the baby calves, ride horse and roast marshmallows! 

 Sean stacked up a nice new fire pit and brought hay bales over for

everyone to sit on. Kinda feels like camping right in our back yard! 

 I tried to make a snake cake.. it wasn't as creative as I was hoping it

would be but everyone seemed to think it was pretty cool. 

 He opened most of his presents out by the fire, yes, in the dark! So, with that said.. I 

didn't get very good photos of the present opening. Anyway, he had a blast and that's what counts! 

He's already asking when he'll be 8!!!! haha

working with Daddy

Last Monday we were able to join Sean at work while he did some testing.  The kids thought it was great fun to "go to work" and help out.   It's always fun when we get to see some long horned cattle and a cave.   I had to bring the camera of course and I even captured a hawk that was down in the cave trying to cool off. 

 The boys are the ones that spotted the Hawk!

Stetson had to wear his work clothes he said "Mom, I have to wear these pants 'cause I'm going to work!"

 and yes..... we all wear silly hats in the hot Arizona sun :)

 putting on masks so they can watch Daddy crush rocks.

 always a dirty job..... 

 local ranchers run cattle all over the place... watch out for Cow pies!