Last night was our annual end of school program/Kindergarten graduation. None of the pictures turned out from the auditorium because the lights were all off over head. The lighting was bad for pictures. My favorite parts of the program were the songs-God Bless America, Holy Bible Book Divine, both sung Very Loudly! I was impressed.
Jacob’s long long memorization page from his History book brought tears to my eyes. He stood there straight and tall, with a 3-cornered hat on, and a stick in his hand. He recited PERFECTLY, no hesitations and even smiled naturally during it. Wow. I was impressed with that, too. (all of this was a carefully guarded secret, the children didn’t give us any hints of what we would see)
Ethan surprised me with the amount of lines he had to memorize. You could tell these children had practiced hard because they went through everything in good timing, with no hesitations.
It was all cute and I had a huge grin on my face through most of it.
Here are some pictures we took after the program:
Well, this one is before the program. One of ebabe’s former students played through a few piano numbers with no problem. She was even talented enough to look around at us to make sure we were paying attention to her big moment! Well done!
Here are our 2 first graders. Always together, holding hands and giggling. They are the small and innocent friends that you would see on Hallmark cards.
Uh oh. Was that pineapple punch that we served? And here is one of our beautiful teachers serving it up so carefully. . . . . .
Our Ethan
My Hubby holding C, Abbie (our niece), me, Grace, David. See Abbie looking at Grace? She’s always watching and copying her. It’s very cute, they are more like sisters than cousins.
Don’t I look happy? Here I am holding my “roses and cream” niece.
Friends. . . . .This picture makes me get all teary-eyed.
Another very very special friend. . . . . .my friend Jenny-poo
Oh, I just love being saluted!
This morning I am “under-water” tired.
Rich and I stayed up talking half the night, we were both wide awake.
I need some encouragement from you homeschoolers. I received scary input last night from a woman who used to teach in a Christian school and now homeschools using the DVD’s. She was appalled that I had chosen to homeschool from the books, w/no DVD. Basically her message was, “no way will you be able to do it, especially with these two”(gesturing toward my 3 yr. old and my baby).
I feel perfect peace about our decision. I just need some encouragement that I can do it! 
Well, I am going to go get my babies off to school.
Today is clean the kitchen and take care of laundry day.
Good to be Home 
Thanks for the pictures! I’m so bummed I wasn’t there. We lost power with the storm (didn’t come back until 4am) and went over to my in-laws for dinner and we forgot all about the program. I remembered this morning and was so sad I missed it. Did Abbie’s dad and family come? I’m sure you were so proud of your kiddos. I can’t believe they didn’t have you help them memorize things. That had to be fun to see them doing things you had never seen them practicing.Don’t be discouraged by those homeschooling comments. You know this is what the Lord wants you to do, so He will give you the grace, time, energy and patience to do it. I don’t think it will be easy by any means, but I’m sure you can do it.
Writer, I did miss you last night, and wished you had come. Wow! You lost electricity for a while! How exciting! LOL Yes, Abbie’s Dad and grandparents came. It was the first time I had met the grandparents, they are so nice! Thanks for the encouraging words about homeschooling. 🙂
I would have loved it as well! That is amazing that they were able to keep it a secret!
As for the homeschooling are you planning on teaching only Jacob or Ethan and Grace as well?
You have five kids and you are raising them well! I do not know many who can claim that..you should be the one giving out advice! LOL! The choice is really for you and Rich to make, if you have peace about it, I think you could do it. God will give you the strength and guidance just like He has in the past for other things.
Jacob loves to learn and read and is used to working on his own, I don’t think this will be a difficult transition. You will look back and be thankful for the time spent with him discovering together. It is a gift!
JUST JACOB. . . . .
YOU CAN DO IT, YOU GOOD THING DO-ER!
How many times did (maybe even the same woman!) many people tell me I couldn’t do it all (you know what it ALL was). God ALWAYS gives us the strength, wisdom, and grace to do what He wills us to do.
As a wise woman once said: This is not a competition. Yet, in homeschooling, as in any other part of life, when someone chooses a slightly different approach, some may feel unsupported (“why aren’t they like me? they must be wrong!”). Keep smiling, keep trusting the Lord, keep doing what you know is right for YOUR family. Leave the results (even the housekeeping) to His hands.
Call me next time; I’ll help you laugh it off!
Ebabe you are awesome. Love you.I asked R. this morning if he thought it was the latte that kept me up and he said, no, he wasn’t able to sleep, either:)R and I both missed you last night at the program. Your picture was in the slide show. The first one was you w/the students and you looked like Ms. Prim and Proper Music teacher, and the next one is LEA ANN, grinning, w/all the kids around her. It was great, but it made us sad that you weren’t around us here in CT anymore. 😦
I remember when they took those pictures. I wish I could see the one with all the children; that was the day I said good-bye to them. They are such a sweet group.
Did you try the Cinnamon Carmel Latte? Isn’t it GREAT!!! My sister says we need to try a “dirty chi latte.” The Dirty part is espresso; it is a spicy drink b/c of the chi. She said it is way better than the too-sweet lattes. If you want more coffee, less ‘water’ or tea, order “double dirty.” I haven’t tried it yet, but maybe someday … Did I tell you there is a Starbucks manager that lives right down the block here? He is always telling me to try chi, too. The entire Starbucks organization is tired of hearing me belly-aching about “I want more spicy coffees!”
Well, only 2 people have called me Jenny-poo until now. That would be borrowedhubby and my best friend from high school. I’ll only allow it to be used by people I love, and you can use it whenever you want! :)Thanks for being such a great friend!
My husband and I were both homeschooled from Kindergarten through 12th grade, and we plan on homeschooling our own children. I agree with mymeanderings, however, that it is a personal decision for you and your husband to make. God does give the strength! My parents ended up homeschooling all twelve of us, but in the beginning they just took it one year at a time.