It is Almost September

• We have completed 4 weeks of school and working on week 5.
  
• I am looking forward to our 3 day Labor Day weekend next weekend! Yay for Jamie not having his nose in a book all weekend too!
  
• The windows are up, fans are on, and the kids did part of their reading and homework outside. Wonderful!
  
• My sinuses are no longer functional, I am very sleepy, and I feel like my head is in a drum (welcome almost fall).
• We bought our first gas grill this weekend (look at us getting all modern).
• Upon noticing that we were out of milk this morning, my wonderful husband hurried and got dressed and got us stocked up, so I didn't have to drag 4 kids out to do this menial task.
• Soccer season is upon us, and I'll have 3 girls playing this year.
• My kids went to their first neighborhood birthday party this weekend.
  
• You know you are in the year 2011, when your child's phonics lesson includes the word "internet."
• You practically have to give away your first born child just to buy Sudafed anymore.
  
• Did you know that Dorothy never had ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz book? They were silver!
  
• Sign language is fun to learn.
• Sweet tea in the morning is my "coffee"
• I'm looking forward to colorful leaves.
  

Congratulations Trevor!

Right now (at this very moment), Trevor is in the midst of achieving a life long dream! He has spent the last 18 weeks at the Police Academy. We were unable to be there since it was a Friday and 4 hours away, but we are thinking of all of them. What an exciting time in their lives and I know that he will be glad to be home and Denisha will be glad to have her husband back full time also. He has been maced, beat up, and will be tazed at some point upon his return. It has been challenging academically, physically, and emotionally, but he is at the finish line!

He will be keeping the streets safe in my little town here and while I know he will do an excellent job, I will be sure not to speed in his jurisdiction:-) We need more men and women that are willing to work hard and put God first no matter what job they are doing.

I love it when that happens!

It seems to happen a lot when 2 or 3 totally different events, conversations, lessons, etc line up and are about the same thing. I love that and it shows me how God is really in things even before we give him credit perhaps.

Here are a couple of examples. We are studying explorers in homeschool and Christopher Columbus was first. I have a totally unrelated book (different curriculum altogether) that is about Native Americans and mission focused and we read it every day for part of our Bible/Prayer time. The same week we studied Columbus, we also studied the Native Americans that he stumbled upon in 1492. It was totally a coincidence and I didn't read ahead to intentionally coordinate them. Very cool!

This past week, we are studying reverence to authorities in Bible with the kids, Jamie and I actually had a conversation on this topic Saturday evening (due to a facebook posting by somebody else actually), then the preacher did a sermon about it on Sunday. All totally unrelated yet intertwined in my life.

I cannot even begin to tell you the number of times this has happened. I really began to notice this more strongly once I started homeschooling, but it has probably always happened and maybe I'm just more in tune. I'm really not sure, but I can honestly say that I love it! I don't know why, but it just seems to amazing to me, but I'll admit that I'm easily amused;-)

On another note, our pictures are hung on the walls of our home, so it really feels nice now. I still need to paint a picture frame to match and print a picture we want to display from vacation, but otherwise, the house is pulled together. I know the garage is still in need of organization, but at least I can hide that from company. Ha Ha! It has been a lot of work, but so cool to see it all come together. We moved exactly 1 year ago yesterday and it is our 'home' and so cozy and comfortable to us now.

Why such criticism?

I saw on facebook the other day where someone mentioned how expensive supplies, school fees, clothes, field trips, etc were each year and they were considering homeschooling. Now, I don't know whether this person was serious or it was more of a 'tongue in cheek' statement, because there was no indication either way. I just kind of shrugged it off.

Out of sheer curiosity, I looked later to see what her comments were. Most people were also complaining about how expensive 'back to school' season can be, but later there were 2 comments that kind of stuck out to me. I'm paraphrasing, but one said something like, 'homeschooling!?!?! Ha Ha Ha, please tell me you aren't serious' and the other was something like, 'ummmm...homeschooling? We need to talk'

I've really had mostly positive or indifferent opinions when we tell people what we do. Some people have questions, and I gladly answer them, because there are varying misconceptions that fly around about it. I have had 1 man from church that questioned me and then hysterically laughed in my face about it while I stood there dumbfounded. In his defense, he did come to me the next time and apologize (Ok, so I think his wife told him to, but it was still nice). I don't really care what he thinks or anybody else, because I don't do it for them. I also know that his laughter and jeering is not all that uncommon either though (even if done more discretely).

I've been at this for 18 months. I'm not an expert in the least, and I don't claim to be (I'm just willing to learn and take things 1 step at a time), but why do people care so much what other people do? Why such criticism of something that most people (I find) are pretty darn ignorant about. I truly don't spend that much time thinking about what other families do, so I think that is where most of my confusion comes in. If you are taking care of your children, pay your bills/taxes, and are a good law abiding citizen, I'm probably going to think that you are doing a darn good job at whatever you decide to do in your own family.

Proud of Hard Work

Jamie started his new position at the end of June, so July was the first full month he had the job as a recruiter for the online operations. The recruiters at MCU have a little friendly competition each month and whoever has the most applicants gets to drive the MCU car. Guess who won it their first month on the job?!?!

I told my kids, "Daddy gets to drive the car, because he works very hard for us" and Abbi's response was, "I think he should work hard all the time" Ha Ha! I want them to know and realize the sacrifice that Jamie makes for this family. I appreciate it more than he'll ever realize. Because of his sacrifice, I'm able to focus my thoughts and attention to our kids, which is my main ministry during this season of my life and has been for almost 12 years.

The kids were so excited to have this snazzy car in the driveway (and to take a spin around the neighborhood), I was proud that he gets free gas for the month, and Jamie was thankful for the air conditioning since his Focus's air is busted.

I'm just really proud of Jamie though and I'm allowed to gush a bit for having the most fabulous, hard-working, selfless, and loving husband any woman could ever dream of. It is not because of this car. I don't really care about material things that much, but it is fun to have a little job perk for doing a good job. I'm so glad that he loves his new place of work and position.

How do you spell that?

Yesterday as I was helping Chloe with her phonics workbook, we came to a picture of a rat. I said, "what is the beginning sound in rat?" She paused for a moment and said, "squeak squeak" in a little high pitched voice. I busted out laughing! I couldn't help it. When she realized her mistake, she started laughing too.

Teaching my kids brings me such joy:-)

First Day of School 2011-2012

Today we started school. It is a big year around here! My last "baby" is now in Kindergarten (officially speaking)! She is the only child I have that has never stepped foot into "regular" school and so there were no tears from either me or my child. I cried at least a little when all my other 3 started Kindergarten. This is a big milestone in a child's life though, so don't think that this has not been a 'big deal' around here. I've pumped it up all summer and she was so excited!




My 2 big girls are smack dab in the middle of those elementary years being in the 3rd and 4th grades. So not huge milestones as far as their grade levels, but certainly growing too fast. 3rd and 4th grade does seem to be where kids turn the corner from being "little" to "big" though and their knowledge, work, and maturity start to show this. They are such sweet little ladies!




Micah is in 6th grade. This is "middle school" age around here, and he has not let me forget this. I know that entering youth group next year will be the major turn in our lives, but I will let him be proud of the fact that he is "middle school" for now. The hat he is wearing was something that he just had to have a couple of weeks ago and it has barely left his noggin since. Perhaps we need to invest in some different colors or something at least. It was one of the first real signs he's had to showing that he will be a teenager soon in his dress and style. I didn't even realize kids were wearing these until he got his and now I've noticed them. My oldest child and the one that basically started this whole Hughes Homeschool adventure.

It was a good day though. There is a bit of an adjustment period going on since we changed out some of our curriculum, but I think it is good changes. A little of their work is on the computer (not Chloe, of course) and they liked it even though we need to get used to how it all works. Jamie and I wrote them little notes to kick off the first day (words of encouragment). They really liked that. We got up and got doughnuts this morning and had a fan-tab-ulous day! I'm glad to be back in the swing of the school routine.