Happy B-Day Daddy!

Yes, Kristian was a Valentine's baby! He hates it! Even though he is now 34, he still hasn't gotten over the fact that he was born on Valentine's Day. 34 years to come to terms with it...no. It's a "gay" holiday. Well anyway, his parents came up to visit. We had a really nice time and went out to Kristian's favorite restaurant, Margaritas.

First Time on the Train

This morning, we took the boys to the Museum of Science by train. This was their first time on the train. They were SO excited! Ryan especially, considering his obsession with all modes of transportation. Here are some pics of our day:

Ry on the train


Dev on the train

Devin is a firefly


Ry is an astronaut


Ryan and Mommy were a raindrop, traveling through the water cycle

Baby chicks born that day


"Dinosaur poop rock"

My Two Rockstars

I knew that they'd be musical like their mom! We were jammin' out on the guitars yesterday. Today, were the drums...

Devin started the set...

Ryan closed out the show...

First Day of Homeschool

Today we started our first official day of homeschool. We've done baby school here before, but that was with our friends. The other day I rearranged some furniture and made a school room for us. The boys were so excited about using this new area. We had a schedule similar to what we normally do in our baby school, but we used different songs and some additional activities. Basically, each month I will pick a theme and all the activities we will do will relate to that theme. There are still some materials we need to get, but soon I will add a calendar and weather piece to our schedule. I think we'll do this once or twice a week. We didn't have baby school today because the boys were a little under the weather. Normally though, we will have baby school on Thursday mornings and we will do our school on Tuesdays and maybe one other day depending on our schedule.

The boys

Our Schedule

Ryan Starts Soccer!

Today was Ryan's first day of soccer! He's a "Striker" now! He was so excited to go, but when we got there, he got a little nervous. We were a little early, so I stayed with him until the class started. This was really his first experience having to do something on his own without me, Kristian, or Devin. Whenever he is scared, I find it's better if I leave since he'd probably warm up more quickly, so I left the field and decided to go out of sight and see if he would warm up...

Well, they weren't having much luck. I could hear him say, "Ryan's scared" to one of the guys there. After about 10 minutes, I decided I would go down and help him out. I came back and gave him a choice: if he wanted me there, he'd have to play. If he wasn't going to play, I was going to leave. It took a few reminders, but after a little while, he started to play. He looked over at me a few times for reassurance. We'd wave to each other and he'd run off and start playing. I am so glad that it worked out. He really needs to have some experiences so that he can feel comfortable being on his own. Next time, Devin and I will go watch and we may work up to a point that we just drop him off, but for now, I am happy that he will be able to play and have fun. Plus I am happy that I was able to watch him. So cute!

Anyway, his coach's name is Adam and there were two girls in his class, Page and Morgan. Everyone was so nice there. They said they are used to kids being shy at first. With this age (3-4.5), it happens a lot. I took some pictures, but the lighting is weird in there on any normal setting, they came out dark. So, I had to take pics in night mode, but then they were a little blurry, so I did the best I could.

Ry in front of the Tyngsboro Sports Center

They had really cool soccer balls there!

From the left: Morgan, Adam, Page, and Ryan

Favorites

Here are some of the boys' favorites:

Favorite Books:
Goodnight Moon
The Very Lonely Firefly
Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore
Going to the Zoo

Favorite Songs:
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Wheels on the Bus
Banana Phone
Rondo a Capricchio in G (from Baby Einstein)

Favorite Toys:
Ryan loves all motor vehicles (sunshine truck, nana's car, ambulance)
Devin loves throwing balls. His favorite is the football

Favorite Movies:
Ice Age
Wall-E
Curious George

Favorite Shows:
Curious George

Favorite Foods:
Pizza (pepperoni)
Cheese
Cheez-Its

Favorite Color:
Greeeeen

Favorite Sport:
Football

Best Friend:
Kyla

Homeschooling

Kristian and I have officially decided that we are going to homeschool the boys. We've actually been considering it since Devin was born and we've had a lot of time to think about all the benefits and challenges that we will experience. Kristian actually came up with the idea. It was something that had never occurred to me. At the time he brought it up, I really didn't know much about it. Since then, I've read numerous books and have talked to many people and learned a lot. In fact I am even doing my graduate thesis on it. There were a lot of things we considered before making our decision and one important one was that we will take things year by year. Just because we decide to homeschool now, doesn't mean that we will do it forever. Our plans would be to homeschool until the boys are in high school, but if they decide earlier that they want to go to public school, they will be able to make that choice themselves, when they are able.

There are many different models of homeschooling and ours will definitely be eclectic. I would love to teach by their interests, but will either develop a curriculum or use our district's as a guide as well. The thought of combining my two of my favorite loves, my boys and teaching, is such an exciting thought. As of now, the boys are in baby school with a few friends from my mom's group. We get together once a week and basically have pre-school. The kids love it and I love watching them learn. At some point, I am going to start a homeschool cooperative in my area. Similar to the group I am in now, but it would be for homeschooling families. We could have fun/social activities, but also some academic type stuff, like maybe one meetup could be doing a science experiment or something like that. As far as I know, there is not another group like that in the area, so it will definitely be a big undertaking, but I think it would be extremely beneficial for the kids to have variety. We plan for the kids to attend the specials at the public school down the road, so each day they will go there and have art, gym, library, or music. I think it is important for the kids to have social experiences without me. That's also why I signed Ryan up for soccer. I want him to feel confident being on his own. He's a little on the shy side and although that's ok, I'd like to create as many opportunities as I can that he will be able to feel confident in himself.

There is still a whole lot to figure out, but with my background as a teacher and in special ed, I think I have a great understanding of what a child needs both academically and emotionally and we hope to balance everything nicely. We are very committed to this idea and I know that many people have different views of what homeschooling looks like or even experiences of other people who have done it. All I'd like to mention, without sounding too conceited is, I really think I am a great teacher and a great mom. I would only agree to homeschool if it was something I think I could do without my children having to sacrifice anything. Although it will be a huge amount of work on my part, I am willing to put that in for my children.

There are some other factors Kristian and I needed to consider. We are not in the best financial state, but we really didn't like the idea of money being the driving factor for our choice, but we do agree that we do need another source of income. And although being a music archivist ;0) helps pay the bills, we still really need to have some other money coming in to cover the materials we would need. We've been tossing around the idea of doing foster care. The initial reason for considering this was of course money, we could really use it BUT, there are really so many other benefits of doing foster care. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for little children who are in bad family situations. In the past, I've had some foster kids in my classroom and they really need someone that will care about them and give them the love they need. I think we are a great family and would really have a lot to offer someone. I do know along with bad family life comes challenging behaviors, sometimes. One of my strengths as a teacher I feel was classroom management and behavior modification and I really think I can handle it. This is the main aspect that Kristian is still reluctant to completely agree. He doesn't feel like he can handle other people's children and I totally understand where he is coming from, but I will be there to help guide him, but really, this would be my job and mainly my responsibility. Jamie is doing foster care and she put it best, "I am actually getting paid to be a mom!" It's so true and the pay is actually really good...about as much as I would make if I went back to work part-time, but it's not taxed, so even better!

Wow, this is a really long post and I normally don't go on and on, but I felt it was important to document our thoughts about this important decision that Kristian and I have made. I am really excited about our future and am up for the challenge!

This is from when the boys started baby school. I'll have get an updated one.


From left to right: Devin, Ryan, Aly, Aidan, and Jack