Week 2 - DONE!

We finished the second week of school today.  Of course, it looks so very different from a public school.  I submit Exhibit A as evidence:

Exhibit A:  Spelling and Math Bangsund Style
(Where is his shirt?  SO thankful it's not his pants that go missing all the time!)

Overall, I am hugely pleased with how our year has started.  Both boys are coming to the school table quickly and with decent attitudes.  More often this week, both boys have worked simultaneously at the table.  Again, this feels like victory each time.  I just wasn't sure what it would look like.  See Exhibit A.  :-)

Sometimes one boy has to wait while I help the other boy.  This is such a good thing.  I will admit that homeschooling means my kids are not good at waiting in lines.  They just don't get much practice.  But at least now they are getting more practice at waiting for my attention.  It's the little things.

I've managed to stay organized using our handy dandy green tubs and my fabulous rolling cart.  Have I shared a picture of this with you before?

This puppy is on wheels and I love it.  All our science, history, and literature books in one place, along with my Instructor's guide and clipboards with science worksheets.  I roll it over to the couch for these subjects - instant classroom -  and roll it back over to the wall when we are done - instant playroom.  So. Awesome.

This coming week we will add in our final seatwork subjects, Writing for Luke and Grammar for Paul.  I'm excited to run the complete schedule to see how it flows.  If I've learned anything on this crazy journey, it is that flexibility is the key.  Let 'em jump when they need to jump, or if they want to do all the seatwork in one sitting, let 'em.  Right?  That has never happened, but I'm prepared for it if it does!

Birthday Bizz and Big Gaps

My oldest child turned nine this past Saturday.  Let's see if I can find a picture of that guy as a baby...

Four day old Luke

Lots has changed since then.  In fact we bought him a nerf bow and arrow set for his birthday.  I know.  It seems crazy, but it has very specific rules which he adheres to with all diligence in order to avoid losing it.

 Same expression nine years later.

He was pretty jazzed.

In Paul news, he lost both his front teeth within about 36 hours.  The results are adorable, especially the lisp.

Eck-the-lent.

First Week of School

We began our school year this past Monday morning, and a rather monumental year it is for us.  Let me explain.  Although I have been homeschooling for awhile now, our youngest is now seven, the magic age for boys in our house.  At seven, you do seat work.  At six and five, you can come to the school table if you so desire.  Mom will have something fun for you to do there.  But if you prefer to sit on the carpet and play with LEGO, that is fabulous.  Or maybe you want to come to the table but prefer to simply color a picture or watch your older brother do his math.  Awesome.  At seven, all that changes.

Having said that, I realized about a month ago that this is the first year I would actually be homeschooling two children at once.  (Side Note:  The non-seat work subjects like science, history and read aloud are so engaging that neither boy has ever once willingly missed them.  At the same time, they share curriculum in these areas, so dual planning is never required.)  Anywho, I was a little nervous to see how all this would go down.

Monday morning, Paul was up early and ready to go!  He was pumped for his new adventure.  So, we started!  Paul did his First Day of School Questionnaire, his Writing With Ease assignment, his math assignment, and read his first reader in its entirety, followed by twenty minutes of keyboarding before 8:30 am, in true Bangsund fashion.  Luke was barely awake at that point.  When Luke finally joined us, he completed his First Day Questionnaire, his spelling assignment, a math assignment, a chapter in his reader, and his twenty minutes of keyboarding before 9:30 am.  Not bad.

We completed our day with Science, Geography, History, and Read Aloud on the couch, everyone's favorite time together.  All in all, it was a super successful and fun day.

I feel the entire week has been fabulous.  We will add in more seat work subjects in the coming weeks, eventually including grammar for both boys, spelling for Paul, and a writing component for Luke.  It will lengthen our school day to be about three hours total, giving us plenty of time for LEGO, playdates, and all the other fun adventures of being a kid.

Wanna see the pictures?  I knew you did.

 Our Second Grader - awesome gap included!

Our fourth grader (!) smaller sweet gap to the left of center

 Paul doing his first ever Writing With Ease assignment.

 Luke works in his cubicle while listening to classical music.  Yes, we rock.

37% to Goal; 100% to Awesome

We are raising money this summer to fund the refurbishing of a well in Haiti.  It's been crazy awesome to see our friends, our family, our neighbors, and even folks from our days in Puyallup give generously.  When we put up the Give Well page about a month ago, we had no idea what to expect.  Twenty seven days later, we are overwhelmed by God's faithfulness and awesomeness.  Add to that the events of this evening, and this family has a TON for which to be thankful.

Tonight was the boys' combined birthday party at J.J. Jump in Clackamas.  It rocked.  We arrived at 5pm and had the entire place to ourselves.  And this is a big place, people.  Two huge rooms with four bouncy houses apiece and only eleven kids!  It ROCKED!  Did I mention that J.J. Jump gave us a cut rate so that we could donate more money to the well?  They did and we did!  After an hour and a half of jumping, it was time to head for our party room.

Somebody else, a saint in my opinion, had set our tables and put out our food.  The kids arrived hungry.  They ate pizza and watermelon while the grown ups enjoyed a lovely quinoa salad made by yours truly.  During the meal we showed this beautiful video produced by Living Water International.  The kids were super attentive.  When the video was done we let them know that they are now a part of this project.  They are helping to fix a well in Haiti so kids can go to school, so moms and dads can go to work, so people can hear about Jesus Christ, the source of living water that never runs dry.

And then we opened the "gifts."  It's in quotes because these fabulous kids brought their own money to stuff into a jar to help fund a well being refurbished in Haiti.  Nine kids brought $76.50.  People.  That's SO much money in their worlds.  It's a lot of Lego, a lot of pizza, a lot of My Little Pony.  And they gave it away tonight.  THEIR OWN MONEY.  I just love it.

Sidenote:  We homeschool, right?  So my kids will never sell cookie dough or magazine subscriptions.  They won't ask you to buy a wreath at Christmas or a plant at Easter.  They are going to raise money to give people in the third world clean water and help them know the truth about Jesus Christ.  I think that is so cool.  Okay.  Enough with the preaching.  Pictures?  I thought so.

 Our goodie bags were largely filled by Jeff at Living Water International.  Bracelets, stickers, window clings and cool brochures with great pictures.  I bought the shiny blue bags, glow sticks and sticky frogs at the dollar store.  Frogs because we were jumping.  Glow sticks because they are cool. :-)

The finished products.  Is it me or does that kid's face make these pintrest worthy? ;-)

 Awesome kids on their way to the party place!

 This was a super fun activity that I don't really understand.  Stuff shines on the floor and the kids interact with it and it responds to them.  Oh, technology.  You amaze me.

Super awesome seven year old at his birthday party!

 Sweet awesome guest stuffs the jar while Luke watches and eats pizza.  Cool party?  I think so.

 More jar stuffing from fabulous guests!

 Dividing the money between herself and her little brother so they can both stuff the jar.

 Paul clapping with his hands and feet while people stuff the jar!

 Final jar stuffers.  Excellent.

 The boys received this gift to share and one other small Lego set individually.  It was the perfect amount of presents.  They were thrilled.  It was so good.

Paul with his Lego.  He's pretty ecstatic.  This cost $4.95 at Target.  It doesn't take much.

Final sidenote:  I have no doubt that at some point, Paul will realize his birthday is over and there are no more presents.  He's not some sort of saint people.  He'll get a little grumpy that the gifts are done.  I already have a plan for that moment.  We will pull out my computer.  We will watch a few Living Water videos.  We will pray for God to provide the folks who will give to get us to our goal.  We will help him refocus.  I understand Paul's heart.  I am so like him so often.  I want a new kitchen or at least floors and counters that aren't white for the love of Magic Eraser sponges!  But I watch these videos and I read these testimonials.  Suddenly white counters and cracked linoleum matter less.  Giving life, giving clean water, giving opportunities to hear about Jesus matter more to me when I take the time to think about it and refocus my heart.  We will prayerfully help our kids do the same.