Ramblings.. Teaching my kids how to deal with "b" word.. boredom

**Disclaimer: The opinions in this post are my own and are ramblings concerning MY children and how I choose to deal with them. They are not meant to make anyone defensive or make anyone feel judged. Everyone is different and this is one of those topics where my way is not the highway but well I was bored and decided to write a blog post about what I was thinking. :)**

A wiser older mother was giving me advice the other day on an issue with my son and she mentioned that parents spend a lot of time telling their kids what not to do instead of telling them what to do. It was related to a different issue but it came back to me while I had insomnia tonight when I started thinking about my kids and boredom. 

My kids rarely say that they are bored. But when they do, I have previously done what many other moms before me have done.. I make them clean. Seems reasonable, right? Ohh you're bored... let's clean! Now cleaning to combat boredom is not necessarily such a bad thing. I mean it does give them something to do and it's productive and well, depending on what I give them, they actually enjoy it. 

But the other day when my child was bored and stated the problem to me, I hesitated... see paragraph #1.. It was a "do not" moment. My first instinct was to say (in not these exact words) "No, you are not allowed to have the emotion of boredom".. Wikipedia says "Boredom is an emotional state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, and not interested in their surroundings. "  Well  is that really such a bad thing? If they view cleaning as punishment, do they really need to be punished for being bored and stating so?  Because yeah, sometimes I am punishing them. Sometimes it is the forbidden "b" word. 

I decided no.  Because truth be told.. I was bored. It was a boring day. It was raining. I had reached the end of the internet. I didn't feel like cleaning. I had no idea what to do. So I just sat there and was bored. And I decided that sometimes my kids need to learn to just be bored.  Because life is filled with boring things.  And spending 15 hours in a house is a long time to come up with things to do so it's actually kind of understandable that they were bored. 

Furthermore, I don't want my kids to view our house work as something that we do when we don't have anything else to do. I don't want them to think that we wouldn't have washed the mirrors if they hadn't stated they were bored. So really all this thinking made me think that I should never use cleaning as a consequence. 

So here's what I came up..   I am sorry that you are bored but there are a lot things to do in this house. You might even need to use your imagination to come up with them.  If you don't want to do any of them, that is fine but if you want to whine about it then you need to whine by yourself in your room.  I have a list of things that I need to get done today and you can help me with the list if you want to. 

Ideas from around the internet that also sounded interesting 

• Have child or help child make a "What to do when I am bored" list and refer to it when needed. 
• Maybe child is bored and needs adult interaction (gulp.. guess I should play that board game) 
• Some children need to be taught how to entertain themselves - I have zero suggestions on how to do this but to all the moms out there that are tripping over their child who is following them around, I feel for you.. It's a hard stage! 
• TV/video game exposure will increase boredom at other times. Being bored in a 15 hour rainy day is one thing but being bored 5 minutes after they turn off the TV would probably lead to a TV ban in my house. 
• Have a boredom contest.. Sit facing each other and see who can be the most bored for longest.  Depending on your child and their age, this will either erupt in scowls or giggles. :) 

So there we have it.. new rules .. my kids are allowed to be bored. They are allowed to state that they are bored.  No whining allowed but that is a house rule.  And many houses have a you are not allowed to say you are bored rule.. And I totally respect that!! 

Oh and suggesting they take a nap.. always appropriate. :) 

A Year of Adventures - Part 1 (Aug 2012 - Nov 2012)

A Year of Adventures - Part 1 - August 2012 - November 2012

I don't think there will be another year quite like this one. I am pretty sure that this will be known as the year that we went on ALLL those field trips. Sadly, I don't have pictures for all our adventures but here is the first part of our year in review.

August 23, 2012 - Kicked off the year at Morgan Falls Park with JFBC Homeschool group. Met some new moms and a dad!  Beautiful park! Alas, no pictures.

August 25, 2012 - Bike Rodeo with Pack 710. Andrew is a Wolf this year.

September 3rd - September 9th - Make up date for our summer trip to Hunting Island (canceled due to Tropical Storm Beryl)

September 10th -  Chattahoochee Nature - Membership this year.. the first of many trips with a lot of great friends! 

Wed September 26th - Etowah Indian Mounds - Trip 1 of 2.. we went back in the spring.  Etowah Mounds was a great field trip. We learned about the mounds where the chiefs lived, the fields which was a burial grounds, their use of the gorgeous Etowah River,  and the favorite part by most - the weapons demonstration!! 

Sat Sept 29th - Peter turned 5 on September 21st and we celebrated his birthday the following Saturday with a party at East Cobb Park with a bunch of our friends. We made him a Lego Ninjago cake. 

Saturday October 6th - We went to Berry Patch Farms to get photos in the pumpkin patch. The kids enjoy all getting to take home one baby pumpkin. The boys cousin, Evelyn, is only 2 months old in this picture and the boys feel pretty special that they get to hold her and touch her. 

Tues October 9th - We grabbed our cousin Pearl and headed to Carlton Farms with the JFBC Homeschool group and had a fun fall day. We saw the cows out in the field and fed them hay, a baby cow getting milked, other animals in the petting area. Josh got bit by a donkey..he didn't like that part.  We split into groups and did the corn maze. They love the giant PVC pipe slide. There was a big bale of hale that the kids had fun running and jumping off. 

The "gang" 

October 19th - 21st- Chris is "camp masto" at Bert Adams Scout Reservation the same weekend at Atlanta Area Council's "Spooky-Ree". He was off telling parents to move their cars back to the parking lot while the boys and I enjoyed fall festival type events.  For this weekend, we get to stay in the camp master cabin which the boys love. 

October 26th - 28th - The very next weekend, we went back to BASR.. this time as campers with Pack 710 for Foothills Fall family camping. We stayed in a canvas platform tent which was fun and different. We made survival bracelets, hung out with a lot of new Cub Scout families in our pack, participated in an outdoor worship service, viewed the stars with Mr. Ellis' cool telescope, played tug of war.  Peter's favorite part is collecting all the trading cards. 

 





Saturday November 10th - Andrew celebrated his 8th birthday with a spy party. Many friends were able to come - James, Jordan, Jayden, Kyle, Isaiah and Christopher (np) and of course, the brothers - Peter and Josh.

Monday November 12th - Our play group had a joint birthday party for Kaley Savasuk and Josh. Kaley turned 4 on November 9th and Josh turned 4 on November 12th. I have know Kaley's mom, Tina, since she was Andrew's Sunday School teacher when he was 1.  Since then, I have been blessed with an amazing friend for both myself and my boys.  Josh is starting to get into being friends with boys now (esp cool older ones) but he still likes Kaley a lot. She is a super cutie! I don't have a pic from that party but here's a pic of our birthday buddy, Kaley. 

Thursday - November 29th - Southern Museum with GCA We met up with the Rowans and toured the Southern Museum in Kennesaw with other GCA families.  The coolest part is when they got to practice being in a line and holding a musket on their shoulder like the soldiers in the Civil War. I also enjoyed learning about their uniforms. As part of the field trip, they also shot off a musket. It was loud but not too bad. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera this day. 

December is pretty busy so it can get its own post. And then there is January through May 2013 where we were just as busy or even more busy than we were in the fall! 

Our 2nd 1st Day of School and Andrew's schedule

It's funny to see that one of my last posts was why I am leaving GCA. I have said that every year and then somehow I manage to justify another year. So we are doing it another year but I swear it's the last because I don't want to do CRCT but the good news is that next year Peter will be in GCA. It has its flaws but I really do like GCA.

So tomorrow is our 2nd 1st day of School because it's the 1st day of school for GCA. But we as a family started last Monday and despite being really sick all week, we did pretty well.

Decided to organize a little bit different thanks to tips from my friend Victoria. I have a hanging file folder for all boys and for the older boys, I have 5 folders labeled Monday - Friday. For half the night, I have been printing and copying the worksheets that they need for each day.

So that Andrew knows what he needs to do each day, I printed him out a daily schedule. This will work well for him because sometimes he needs to do things with me before he can do a worksheet.  For Peter, he mostly just sits and does worksheets all day long. My challenge with him is to convince him to not do the whole week in one day.

So here is Andrew's schedule for tomorrow. I hope we get it all done and smoothly. It's 10 PM and I am going to bed. Alarm clock (for me) is going off at 6:45 AM. Kids roll out of bed around 7:30 AM.

Today's date: Monday August 13^th

Today is the first day of school of GCA!!!

Here is what ANDREW is going to do today:

Bible Story – Simeon and Anna

• Read Luke 2: 25-38 in your Bible
• Do Bible worksheets in your file
• Memorize verse -Luke 2: 26 - And it has been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ

Story of the World

• With Mommy, read story from ch 40 Rome begins to weaken – The British Rebellion
• Mommy to copy down narration for the story (narration page in school file)

Handwriting – pg 14 (Capital Partners) and pg 15 ( T and t)

Math

• Work with Mommy on 4s flash cards
• Unit 4 Lesson 8 – Log onto K12 for online portion
• Skills Update – xGerms Subtraction
• Online – Get Ready Multilpication review & Recall 4s Facts
• Offline – pg 78 Practice Multiplication worksheet (in school file)

Science

• Color My Science Notebook worksheet. With M & P, make Science Notebook
• Participate in Peter's Science lesson
• Usborne's Our World – pg 4 -5 Our Planet, Narration & Pictures
• Experiment – Hot n Cold – worksheet in school file
• Memorize Vocab – Space – the region beyond the atmosphere of Earth

Language Arts

• Spelling – Go over new spelling words with Mommy. Then write heart words on index cards and practice.
• Grammar – Review subjects and predicates. Complete Subjects and Predicates worksheet in file.

Independent Reading – Continue reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle. If finished, choose a new book! 

Coconut Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal

If you have never been over to Lynn's Kitchen Adventures, you gotta check it out. She has a lot of great recipes over there including all the baked oatmeals I love to make- Peanut Butter, Pumpkin and now Coconut.

I made adjustments to her recipe and came up with the following. I make a lot of changes because I don't want it to taste like straight oatmeal but I still am guessing it's better for you than Cookie Crisp cereal. :)

Coconut Baked Oatmeal

3 cups quick oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
2 TB melted butter (Lynn's recipe calls for coconut oil which I couldn't find)
2 eggs
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup yogurt - plain or vanilla - I used vanilla Greek yogurt
3/4 cup coconut (I used sweetened)
3/4 cups to 1 cup chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)
1/2 cup brown sugar (optional topping - gives it a crispier top)

Combine all ingredients from oatmeal to coconut. Then mix in chocolate chips. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle brown sugar on top. Bake in 350 oven for 20-25 minutes.

My kids and I will eat through a 9x13 pan of this and any of the other baked oatmeals in no time flat and I even have one kid who won't touch traditional oatmeal but likes this.

Next year's school decisions

I know that people will continue to ask me why I am leaving Georgia Cyber Academy which we have done for 2 years so I figured I would write a blog post. Now in Kindergarten, I wrote a similar blog post and then we ended up doing it in 1st Grade. I feel more confident that my decision is going to stick this time but don't hold me to it. :)

Pros of GCA - I like their Math and their Language Arts (sort of). And their History tied into what we were doing with Story of the World. Andrew really likes all of it. He likes the online math lessons, the reading room with audios. He didn't like phonics or grammar but he wouldn't like that with any curriculum. It's free.

Cons of GCA - teacher conferences, quarterly portfolios, remembering to enter attendance, health and PE hours, dealing with public school stuff, phonics. And for us, we were doing 2 curriculums since we were also doing classical education stuff and we also did Timothy Ministry on Fridays. So it was a lot for us.

What we are moving to..

Language Arts - Sonlight Grade 3 reading schedule and companion guide. Going to get most of the books from the library. Shurley Grammar - I like grammar but this is going to be a lot of work! No more phonics. Haven't decided on a Spelling program or whether or not to do Worldly Wise. Continue to read independently and suggested literature from Well Trained Mind. This by far is the MOST overwhelming subject because there are so many parts of it!

Science - Elemental Science - will be studying Earth Science and Astronomy. Excited about family membership to the Tellus Museum! This fits into the Well Trained Mind classical schedule.

History - Story of the World - Book 2 - Rome and Medieval times - Part of WTM classical schedule.

Math - Going to compare Saxon 3 with Horizons Math 3 and see which one I like better. Looked at online curriculums and not sure I liked anything except my kids are in love with Dreambox.com so we might use that as supplemental. Thought about k12.com since Andrew likes GCA math but it's not the same as what we are doing and repeats entire units in 3rd grade that we already did this year. Plus I don't want to spend $300 on a curriculum each year that I can't use on the next kid. So it's out.

Andrew will continue in Timothy Ministry and Peter will join him in the pre-K program. If there are any more curriculum decisions that I have to make, it's going to have to wait because my head is spinning right now!!

Truth in the Tinsel Day 2

Truth in the Tinsel Day 2

My idea of starting in advance didn't really work out (laziness) so I got on track with the normal schedule today. It being December 2nd - we did Day 2 which was Kingdom. The magnets on the fridge give clues and the clue for day 2 is "crown" so Andrew was beyond overjoyed that we were going to be making paper crowns and kept waiting for the day 2 craft to come. But surprise! The day 2 craft is making a crown ornament not a crown for your head. Ohhhh. But lest you think I am a mean mommy, we made both. :)

The passage again today was Isaiah 9:2-7 with the focus being on verses 6-7

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing it and upholding it with justice and righteousnesss
from that time on and forever.

In our short devotion, we talked about how God spoke to the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus was even born and how it describes Him as being the King who will rule forever. Jesus didn't come to just to be a baby. He came to be rule and reign in our lives forever.

Here is a picture of Josh painting his crown. That's about all he painted before he gave up. What can I say? He's 3. We do most of the crafts when he is in bed.


And here are Peter and Andrew with the completed crown ornaments and their jeweled crowns for their heads. My prayer for all my children tonight is that they will grow up and worship Christ as their King in their lives.

Truth in the Tinsel Day 1

As we all know, I am not the greatest blogger so this may be my one and only post on this. Ha! My friend Tina posted on FB about an advent book called Truth in the Tinsel. I got it on Black Friday for $2.99 but to me, it is totally worth the list price of $4.99. It has a scripture verse, little lesson and craft for 24 days. It includes the templates, list of supplies (most of which were basic), strips for a paper chain and little squares with the day and topic if you wanted to make an advent calendar out of it.

Day 1 - Candle.

First I took the little squares and added magnet tape on the back. I love magnet tape. I had the kids put them all on the fridge. At first I thought it would be fun just to put them all over the fridge and make it sort of like a scavenger hunt to find the correct day. But my beaverish 7 year old had other ideas...
All nicely in order. That is sooo Andrew!

I had the boys get the 1st magnet off the fridge. . Then we did the Bible verse which was Isaiah 9:2-7 which talks about the people being in darkness and then ends with the well known message.. Unto us a child is given, a son is born and the government will be upon His shoulders.. It was over my children's heads except for all the names of God that is listed. But that's okay. I think most of the passages will be fine for them and I love that we are reading the actual Bible rather than just doing a story. We then light a candle and talked about how we have darkness in our hearts of sin and how God gave us the light of the world through his Son, Jesus.

Then I dashed off to Walgreens and Chris made these cute candle ornaments with Andrew and Peter. Peter very excitedly showed me his on the Christmas tree as soon as I got home. :)