VBS: Nightmare or Blessing?

A few hours ago my church wrapped up another year of a successful VBS. We had the most kids EVER and they seemed to have a blast as they "Walked This Way." They learned that Jesus is the only way and to follow Him, we turn to the Bible as our guide. We raised over $1300 for our missions offering and had a great time watching the pastor make a human sundae out of this summers interns!

As I sat down trying to come off of the VBS adrenaline high, I thought about the conversations I had with various helpers and I came to the conclusion that for some VBS is a nightmare, but for others it is a great blessing.

Where do you stand?

Last year I taught rising kinders and oh boy did we have our hands full. We had three adults and one teen and those kids were wild. I vividly remember a few little ones standing on tables and launching themselves off. We soldiered on and by day five, the kids knew the routine and knew they couldn't use the church as a giant jungle gym.

I learned that teaching 4/5 year olds is tough! I also learned that some parents scout out the churches in their area and take their kids to VBS for free childcare. Some of these kids bounce from church to church all summer and participate in various VBS programs. In reality this is kind-of sad, but I say it's a huge win for the churches! Maybe, just maybe, these kids will come to Christ and be an example for their families!

This year I was asked if I would help in VBS again. At-first I genuinely didn't know if we were going to go on vacation that week so I gave a tentative no. Then as we got closer to the big week I started getting selfish. I helped last year, why can't someone else do it? I'm with Opal and Mae 24/7, literally the only break I get is Wednesday night church and Sunday morning connect group. The rest of the week they are with me EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. OF. MY. LIFE! So when the pastor announced they still needed helpers I made up my mind that this year I wasn't going to help. Then with about 1.5 weeks to go before VBS, the pastor personally emailed me...as soon as I saw his name I just knew I was being asked to help. BINGO...they needed a third grade teacher.

I have this problem of not being able to say no if I know my answer can be yes, so I immediately put away my Selfish Mom Hat and donned the VBS Helper Hat. And you know what? I am so glad I didn't let myself be selfish this year.

A friend who goes to another church said her week was going awful because she had 9 boys, 6 who had less than desirable behaviors, and 1 girl. After reading her message I sat back and thought about my week. I had a few kids who didn't quite get along with each other, but in the end, I concluded that I really had a good group of kiddos. So I shot her off a message that it's still a blessing to help! I told her to use that as her mantra, and she overcame the troublesome behavior issues and kept her eyes on the bigger picture. Sometimes we need a reminder to help change our outlook on a situation. I'm glad God gave me the chance to change her outlook. Often times our roles would have been reversed and she is usually the one having to change my outlook...I'm glad I got to wear the Miss Optimistic Hat for once! Love you K~

Back to VBS: The bigger picture is what VBS is all about. Instead of looking at the inconveniences, the exhaustion, and the frustration; look at the blessing that comes from this. I can't tell you enough times how blessed I feel to have the opportunity to teach these kids from all walks of life. They made me laugh and the secretly made me cry. For example, on day 2 we asked the kids to write down a prayer request and then we had them lay their requests in a circle. The kids walked in a circle and wherever they stopped they had to pick up the request and pray. One child asked that God would help mom not be mean to dad anymore. At that moment, my whole outlook of VBS changed. These kids need VBS and they need compassionate leaders. Reading that prayer request was a gut wrenching wake up call.

The Bottom Line: It's not about ME; it's about what GOD is doing through me. We taught that to our kids this week, but what a lesson for adults as well. It's very easy to get wrapped up in ourselves. When we allow the world to revolve around us, we miss out on the opportunities to receive a blessing from God.

I challenge you to hang up the Selfish Mom Hat and don the VBS Helper Hat. Try to find the blessings through the chaos. Try to connect with those put in your care. Try to see the world through the kids' eyes. I guarantee with the right attitude and outlook, your world will be ROCKED!

To Homeschool or NOT to Homeschool??

I don't know about you but sometimes I really question if I am doing the very best for my girls by pursuing the homeschool route. When we made the choice to homeschool we completely felt that God led us to this decision. However, each year I wonder what Opal and Mae's futures will look like if we continue down this path. I'm grateful to live in an enormous homeschool community and I have several friends who have graduated their children from homeschooling to college.

My newest bout of anxiety over whether I made the right choice to homeschool came with the hundreds of Facebook posts showing prom pictures. I sat down and talked to a few of my homeschooling mom friends to see how they felt. My largest concern was that I was taking away an experience from Opal and Mae.

The conclusion from this discussion was that the majority of teens get into way too much trouble after prom. Some kids are well behaved and they go to the dance and go home. Others, and I'm hazarding to guess that A LOT, get themselves into major trouble and engage in illegal and immoral activities. Do I want Opal and Mae to be tempted to engage in these dangerous activities...NO. I can't protect them forever, but if I can prevent them from making the same teen mistakes that I made, well a mom has to try right?? With that being said, the girls can still experience prom even in homeschool. Some homeschooling parents get together and throw a prom for their kids. When we approach that age, I guess we will look into the whole shebang!

My next anxiety came after seeing the billions of high school graduation pictures. Sadly, this year's graduation pictures included former students from my first year of teaching...now I feel old and sad! If I continue to homeschool through 12th grade, Opal and Mae will miss out on their graduation march to "Pomp and Circumstance." I'm actually a little sad about my girls missing out on this experience. However, we can still get senior portraits made, we can still celebrate the end of a milestone, the girls still have friends to celebrate with, and they will still have a diploma.

The Pros and Cons of School:

• We tried the school route and it was great.
• The girls attended my school and I knew their teachers and chatted with them daily.
• They received a Christian education and they had great ladies that led them in their walk of faith.
• The girls had many friends and had lots of fun.
• They made good grades and engaged in extracurricular activities, BUT...
• Did Opal and Mae have gaps in their education? YES. 
• Did we enjoy waking up super early and making a mad dash out of the house five days a week? NO.
• Did I enjoy giving other children more attention than my own? NO.
• Did I enjoy the exhaustion that came at the end of every day? NO.

The Pros and Cons of Homeschooling:

• I have been able to give Opal and Mae individualized education on a daily basis. In a school setting, they would not receive this type of education because they are not special needs.
• I have been able to fill in the gaps in their education and I feel confident in knowing that they have a fuller grasp of educational concepts due to my instruction.
• I get to spend my every day with them and not focus the majority of my attention on other children.
• They still receive a Christian education.
• They still have tons of friends. Actually, I would say they have better friends now than when they were in school. You see schools pretty much pick a child's peers. They lump kids of the same age together and they become de facto friends with certain kids in this grouping. It doesn't matter if these kids have things in common. With homeschooling, the girls have made friends with kids that share common interests. Age isn't a factor. For example, Mae likes to play with LPS (Littlest Pet Shop) and her friend Evelyn, who's four years older, likes to make LPS videos. Together they make the funniest little videos and Evelyn is Mae's best friend. Evelyn treats Mae as a little sister and loves hanging out with her. At first is seemed weird to us that two kids with such a large age difference could be friends, but now I understand that age doesn't really count when making friends...friendship is based on common interests. 
• The girls are engaged in more extracurricular activities now than they ever were when we were in school.
• We can sleep in every day of the week if we need to and honestly, I have less cranky kids now than five years ago!
• I rarely go to bed mentally drained compared to when I was teaching 20 kids.
• Finally, the girls still go to school in an actual classroom with a great view!

In conclusion, will I homeschool Opal and Mae through high school? I hope so, but it ultimately depends on God's plan for us and what the girls want. Are they really missing out on life experiences? I'd like to think that they are experiencing more through homeschooling than they ever would sitting in a classroom!

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A Summer of Coding

Happy Monday Everyone!

In my attempt to not let the girls waste away every brain cell on meaningless electronics over summer break, I've decided to let them work on coding!

Let's talk about coding first. A good friend and fellow homeschooler pointed me to Khan Academy a few months ago. This website is amazing and FREE! Let me say that again...FREE. Anyone can use Khan academy so it's not just for homeschoolers. After reading through my review, hop over and check it out.

You can click HERE to access Khan Academy.

Opal was super excited to code, Mae not so much. I promised Opal that if she finished fourth grade strong, she could work on coding during the summer. Khan Academy has an hour of coding and then tons of other computer animation and website design tutorials. Opal LOVED coding and I LOVED that I didn't have to do anything other than create a student account for her. She breezed through the coding class but struggled a bit in the computer animation once it reached more difficult levels. Mae hardly made it through the simple coding so we agreed she can come back to it in a year.

Khan Academy Review:

• The coding class has kids create a snowman and add color by watching videos.
• Khan Academy partnered with Pixar (aka Disney) to teach kids how to do computer animation. Opal was able to create a ball and make it bounce.
• The more kids do, the more they unlock.
• Khan sends a parent report each week detailing time spent in each activity.

Mom review: 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up!

Once I saw Opal's love of coding, I decided she needed to really learn this concept. I am not familiar at all with coding, so me teaching this is a no go. I found one group, but I had to learn coding in-order to teach Opal. Not gonna happen. Then I found an online coding class called Homeschool Hackers that will teach basic coding using Minecraft. Just like Khan, anyone can join this group, not just homeschoolers. Homeschool Hackers does cost money, but it's only $9.95 a month! As soon as I found this group I was jumping for JOY!!

You can click HERE to access Homeschool Hackers.

Something I learned from this coding adventure is that coding has different languages! A few of my husband's coworkers are true computer geeks and when he mentioned this coding class, they gave him the 411 on coding. They literally peppered him with questions and the final result of the conversation was that Python is a good language for kids to start in when learning to code. Homeschool Hackers teaches Python by using Minecraft and creatively combined the two into Pycraft!

A few things you should know about this group.

1. You must purchase the full PC version of Minecraft. It costs $26.95 and you can get it HERE.
2. After you purchase PC Minecraft, you need to register at Homeschool Hackers and pay the $9.95.
3. After you register and pay, Homeschool Hackers sends you a video link with instructions. We have to wait until July 1st for Opal to get into their Pycraft server and start coding.
4. You have to pay by the end of each month to receive the video instructions for the following month.
5. The Pycraft servers are secure and monitored to protect your littles!!!!
6. The recommended age starts at 8, but if you have a younger child who is interested, you can sign him/her up!

Homeschool Hackers Review:

• It was easy to register.
• It's a cheap way to learn coding.
• It's secure and safe!
• The video allows kids to pause and view over and over.

Mom review: 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up!

Happy Coding Everyone!

DC ~ The Good, the Bad and the WEIRD

We just concluded our trip to our nation's capital and we had a lot of good memories, a few bad and some that were just plain WEIRD.

God blessed us with great weather. The first day was a little on the hot side, 92 degrees, but the rest of the time it was in the 80s. We didn't get to see the White House or the Capital Building but we were able to visit everything else on our agenda. Opal didn't care for the journal aspect of my book, but she liked the check-off list for the museum. Mae loved the journal and she wrote insightful notes.

Smile!

It doesn't seem that big...never mind, it was huge!

 Day 1: Arlington National Cemetery and the National Archives

~A few must sees at Arlington would be the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the museum in-front of the tomb and the JFK memorial. FYI, if you have a child who cannot be quiet then do not approach the tomb, the guard will yell at anyone who is not respectful and quiet.
~The National Archives was really cool. They stress that photography is NOT allowed and they have several guards stationed around to monitor picture taking. The girls were very disappointed that they Declaration of Independence was so faded. We could barely make out John Hancock's signature. Fun fact, the document was mounted on a wall across from a window for 30 years which lead to the fading. The Bill of Rights and the Constitution were more legible and we were tickled pink to see the signatures of John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. It was hard to read many of the signatures and so many people were pushing and crowding so we didn't get to spend as much time as we wanted perusing the documents that helped forge the country we have today. In the education center, they give away free copies of these documents, but it is closed on Sunday so we did not get our copies.

Day 2: Smithsonian National Zoo

~We debated on how to get to the zoo and ultimately decided on driving and reserving a parking space using Parking Panda. The metro would cost $60 round trip for the six of us and they were doing construction on two lines so it would take over an hour. Driving took just as long in the end. The zoo was probably the most disappointing because many exhibits were closed. Only a few of the open exhibits had visible animals. The girls did enjoy seeing the zookeepers feed the beavers and we discovered the sloth bear! A definite highlight. The giant pandas were very neat to watch. The male was eating bamboo and the girls got a kick out of watching him eat. The female lay sprawled out on a rock and somehow my mother and I could relate immensely with what seemed like pure exhaustion. The baby was outside in a tree so we only saw the backside of it. Later, we happened upon a friendly seal who was playing with a boy. The boy would toss a pebble up in the air and the seal would do a flip every. single. time. he. threw. the. pebble. Totally cool!

~The drive back to the hotel was awful. The road we needed to take was closed and the GPS would not reroute us. We ended up going down a road that I'll call Embassy Row. I don't know the real name, but all of the embassy's were on this road. It was really cool to see all of the different countries. Then we ended up driving through Georgetown. I was thrilled at first because I really wanted to see this historic district. My pleasure turned to horror as my dad was forced to aggressively navigate the narrow streets and avoid sideswiping the lines of parked cars. It seriously reminded me of England. The designers took a narrow two way street and allowed parking on both sides so it turns into a one lane road. Every time you have an oncoming vehicle, you have to pull over into a parking spot to make room for them to get by.

This was so funny to me because my dad was a navigator for the AF and here my husband is navigating DC for him!

Day 3: The National Mall and the National Museum of Natural History

~We chose to drive again because of the same issues with the metro. We found parking again using the Parking Panda app. We thought the mall would take about 2-3 hours to walk and explore, but we ended up spending 5 hours there. We walked the farthest on this day ~ 8 miles total. Over 15,000 steps. The Washington Monument was terrifying to look at when you stand at the base. We missed getting there early enough to score free tickets to trek up to the top. Opal was most disappointed about this. We did talk to a park ranger and he said there are two cornerstones in this monument. The first one is buried underground and the second was placed where the new construction began. You can see a coloration difference about half way up the monument. Mae was amazed to learn it was 555 feet tall. The Lincoln Memorial was an awesome rendition of Lincoln. The girls both thought the statue would be larger. It was so pretty to face the Washington Monument and see it in the reflecting pool. We ate lunch and made our way around to the MLK Memorial. The girls were amazed how the artist made it look like MLK was coming out of the mountain behind him. The FDR Memorial was huge compared to the other monuments/memorials. It seemed like they had several sections devoted to him. We tried to make it over to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, but by the time we made it over there we only had a few hours left till the Natural History Museum closed.
~The museum was pretty cool and being indoors after spending hours outside was a welcome relief for all of us. Our favorites were the gems, the butterflies, the mummies,  and the dinosaur fossils.

Mae copying the quote on the side of the MLK Memorial for her journal

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The bad:

Hotel: Our hotel was terrible. We had two rooms that cost a grand total of $800. They came with kitchens, but you had to checkout plates, cups and utensils. No tissues were in the room so we had to use toilet paper to blow our noses. We had to empty our trash in a disgusting trash room on the second floor. Two out of three lights were blown. The room was dirty and the largest complaint of all: The WATER....the hotel had no water on the second night. That meant flushing the toilet was impossible. Taking a shower didn't happen either. You can imagine the stench of the unflushed toilet that lasted FOR. SIX. HOURS...

Zoo: Confusing and exhausting. It was pretty much a down hill hike and an uphill return hike after we were worn out. Tons of exhibits were closed and the majority of open ones still had no animals to be seen. The reptile house had a nasty smell and the primate house was either just cleaned using ammonia or the zookeepers had not cleaned up the cages in a while. Maps cost $5 and paths were poorly labeled. We found ourselves turning around several times because we hit dead ends.

National Museum of Natural History: It was disappointing to walk around and see the THEORY of evolution be professed over and over again as a fact. Luckily, the girls view what they see through a biblical worldview, so they questioned a lot of the exhibits. We didn't even walk through the evolution of man section because the first thing we saw said the ocean was our ancestral home and we come from the ocean.

The weird:

On our first day, after we viewed the archives, we walked towards the capital. To our surprise the road was blocked and there was a giant party going on...then we realized it was a gay pride festival on the lawn of the capital building. Now don't start thinking that we have a problem walking around people who are gay. I have no problem AT ALL....my problem lay with the attire that many choose for the occasion and how they expressed themselves. A creepy guy was holding a sign that said "Free Hugs" and he actually motioned to our girls for a hug...UM HECK NO DUDE. Then Mae and I crossed the street and as soon as we turned the corner a grown man was strutting towards us. He was wearing a red, lacy, frilly (a tutu according to Mae) woman's lingerie robe. The robe was open and underneath he was naked except for red and white stripped ladies panties, we'll call them Where's Waldo underwear. To top off the ensemble he wore a red beret and gladiator sandals. Now the man's private area was directly in Mae's line of vision and she was completely mortified. Let's just say we found Waldo...Today when I asked her what she remembers most about DC, this weirdo is the first thing she mentions.

Thanks to this ridiculous man (and I use the term "man" loosely in this case because a real man wouldn't dress like he walked out of porn set and walk through our nations capital), my 7.5 year old daughter lost a little of her innocence that day. Why can't people exercise a little bit of modesty today? I blame Hollywood, but I also blame parents. What has happened to our society that people are motivated to dress and act in ways that will get them attention? We are turning into such a vain and selfish world. The word selfie is practically spelled selfish. It screams, "Look at me world!" It wasn't just this guy and I'm not saying only gay people lack in modesty. It seemed that a lack of modesty was everywhere we went. Daily my husband had to advert his eyes because girls on school field trips were wearing shorts so short that their butt cheeks stuck out. Seriously, who are these girls wearing these shorts for? Certainly not for themselves because they can't see their butts. What happened to school dress codes? What happened to MODESTY? When I was in school, we had the fingertip length rule. Our shorts couldn't be shorter than our fingertips. Do kids today have freakishly short arms? My best guess is no, arm length has not evolved to shorter T-rex like arms. So parents, I ask you, do you see what your kid is wearing? Are you okay with your daughter's butt hanging out of her shorts? Do you like creeps ogling your baby? If the answer is NO, I say parent them for goodness sake. If we don't teach modesty, our kids will turn into the strutting raspberry beret dude and everyone knows where his Waldo can be found.

Washington DC Journal

Happy Saturday! I have a freebie for all of you that will come in handy if you go to DC with your kiddos. I seriously had so much fun making this and I hope it will engage Opal and Mae as we take our four day tour of our nation's capital.

Our agenda includes stopping at:

• Arlington National Cemetery
• A drive by of The White House (I didn't know you have to call your congressman to get a tour 3-6 months before your trip...womp, womp)
• The US Capital Building-Visitor Center (womp, womp again on our poor planning)
• The National Archives
• The National Mall
• The National Zoo
• The National Museum of Natural History

As I sat down looking at our agenda and trying to make up a super cool journal, I found a lot of interesting freebies online. For example, the National Zoo had a neat scavenger hunt with a map included and the US Capital Building had tons of activities.

Go here to get the zoo scavenger hunt: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Visit/PlanYourVisit/ActivitySheets/125ScavengerHunt.pdf

You can get US Capital activities here:

https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/education/students/resources-and-activities

Now for my creation! I must say I'm super proud to have thrown this together so quickly. In the past it has taken me a few days to put stuff like this together, but I worked super fast due to our upcoming trip. Here is a link of my journal that is FREE on TeachersPayTeachers!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Washington-DC-Sightseeing-Journal-2589340

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did making it!

Accountability

Hello and welcome to A Primitive Schoolhouse. With so many homeschooling blogs out there in the Internet world, you might be wondering why do we need another one?

We need another one, because I need it. I need to be held accountable for what I do in my classroom with my children. Don't get me wrong, I keep a lesson plan book and a grade book, test my children with the standardized "bubble" tests, and I make sure they fully grasp new lessons before I move on. But I don't really feel like I'm being held accountable. Not really.

When I taught school my peers held me accountable. We sat around and had weekly curriculum meetings where we discussed what we were doing in our classroom. We had the curriculum, but we also went above and beyond to make learning fun for our littles. We bounced ideas off each other and shared the freebies that we found online.

Fast forward five years and here I am in our fourth year of homeschooling. I purchase my curriculum and my girls do every last bit of it. I do no more and no less than what I have purchased over the previous year. BUT, I realized this morning that I have become completely reliant on my curriculum and I have ZERO creativity in my classroom.

Perhaps this lack of creativity has stemmed from teaching two different grade levels EVERY SINGLE DAY (can I get a witness?)! But then I think, "If I can provide a fun and engaging learning environment for 20 kids, why can't I do it with my two girls?" The past few years we have pushed through schoolwork in-order to have fun after school. I have to wonder, "How did this become my motivation for them?" Where did my creativity go?  So the answer to my quandary is starting this blog. I need to have a way to be held accountable for ensuring my girls get the BEST TEACHER they can instead of the check-the-box teacher.

In a few days we are taking a field trip to Washington DC. Opal and Mae are so stinkin' excited to see the Declaration of Independence, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial to name a few things on our agenda. Now I can be the lackluster educator that I've transformed into and we can go and "see" the sights; or I can create a TOTALLY AWESOME journal to help my girls document all they will learn on our trip! A journal that spurs their interest in our nation's capital. A journal that will give them motivation to actually learn about what we are seeing vs. seeing and then brain dumping as soon as we move on to the next sight. Today I'm choosing the totally awesome journal! Today I choose to say goodbye to that boring homeschooling teacher I have become and say hello to the teacher I always dreamed I could be. I'll post the journal as soon as it's created...