That Want to Learn, An Upset Stomach and Fun With Homemade Pizzas

The morning started out like most mornings we have here in the Sanderson household with much going on.  I normally wake up pretty early.  But, just to clarify, it is not as early as my husband who is a truck driver.  Let's say that he gets up when the moon and stars are still lit up in the sky (now that is beyond early).

Well, because of my getting up early my son is usually up early as well.  I know I am not the quietest person to get things ready for the day when the kids are asleep, or anyone else for that matter but I try my best.  I never said that I have magic powers to make that happen!  I do the best I can and that counts for somerhing, right!?!  It's more like he is a light sleeper.

My son will either read a scripture with me, draw, read aloud to me from one of his chapter books (so I can be near to help him with any words if needs it) and much more.  Something that he has been excited about lately are two workbooks.  I know!  Some like to use workbooks and some do not.  As for me, if it is something that my child wants to do and learn from, I am all for it!  It is a wonderful tool and all three of my children LOVE workbooks and worksheets.  It is a great tool for my family.  They like to do these activities during what we call our "Tablework Time" and I enjoy helping them when needed.  Seriously one of my twins could sit there for an hour and it has been really fun for her to do the whole time.

Lately, my son Caleb has been taking two workbooks out of our cabinet a lot.  One is a Sylvan learning Spelling and the other is a 100 Words to Know by each grade.  I really could care less about the specifics, but I chose these because they had such a variety of activities within the workbooks and with ones that my son finds fun to do.  It was cheaper than printing off a bunch of sheets in this case.  Besides, he has been working on his reading and spelling.  It is something that he is excited about right now and as a parent I chose to run with it.

My kids must make special sound effects with almost everything they do.  Seriously! Caleb even more than his sisters.  Here's one time that I was super excited to hear these noises.  I was in the kitchen preparing lunch and all of a sudden the sounds had begun, along with bursts of excitement.  Shouts of phrases like "I did it", "Come here, Mom" and more.  Thankfully our kitchen is smaller and I can go back and forth quickly.  I took a look at what he was doing.  Each time he worked on a question and answered it without my help he would get excited.  He was so proud of himself.  It was a wonderful moment.

I know that he works on a lot of things on his own, but I see more of a passion now and a want to do his best job at things.  I was very happy to have been able to witness that while preparing lunch.  It made my heart very happy.  I just had to stop what I was doing to capture a picture of the moment.  So glad that I did.  He could not stop smiling.  

Later on my stomach was upset and I had to sit down.  It was nice to listen to my kids play nicely together for a bit and help each other out.  Caleb truly is a great big brother.  We listened to an audio book from earlier and thankfully I already had the pizza dough going in my bread machines.  It felt great to know that dinner would still be served later and that pizza night did not need to be changed to another evening.  I promised my husband pizza!

I still taught my cardio class that afternoon.  I am glad I was able to do so.

By the time we got back home it was time to get dinner in the oven.  I just really needed help.  My twinsies came to the rescue.  I am very grateful to have been bringing my children up all along to know that family work, chores and helping out when can is very important.  Helping out in the kitchen is one of those things.  Yes, there has been many times that I could maybe get things done much faster without the help, but it would not benefit anyone in the family if I have not tried to make an effort.  Helping to get dinner going so we could eat was one of those times.  Unless you do not like pizza it is fun to help make.  Especially, when you are a kid!  The dough was already made and cheese was grated.  We were off to a great start.  My girls helped with making the pizza sauce and putting the ingredients together on the pizzas.

Happy twinsies!

That's right!  I let my kids lick the spoon when they are finished spreading the sauce on the dough and eat a pepperoni slice when I know they are finish preparing a pizza.  Oh, the horror!  I know.

Smiling faces after a job well done.

The whole day was not perfect by any means, but we had some awesome moments that really helped me to get through the day in great spirit.

My Love For Barbara Keeps On Growing...She totally is a TJEd Mentor All The Way!

Well, this past school year just flew by with our charter homeschool.  We definitely will keep a schedule during the summer, but will have a lot of outdoor and fun activities throughout!  We are so fortunate to have our ES Barbara.  She is such a gift.  My kids and I are keeping her.  As summer approaches, we only have one more meeting for the school year and it makes me a little sad, but we will be keeping in touch over the summer.  We also will be having a lunch date with just us adults and my friend who also happens to have Barbara as her ES.  We are the lucky ones.

Let me explain what an ES is.  It stands for Educational Specialist.  At our charter school each family is given an ES and they are there to help support you.  They also take care of monthly samples to put in each child's portfolio, help the parents with choices in curriculum (if you choose to go that route), help in putting purchase orders together, enroll students in classes if they want to take any, keep attendance and records in general, along with so much more.  I would say that the main thing is to serve as a huge support system for you and your family.  I will say that Barbara has been the most supportive ES that I could ever ask for.  Honestly, she listens to me and values what I feel is best for my children.  She always gives such great advice and at the right time when it is something I need to hear.  Always!

Again, she has always supported my wanting to use the TJEd philosophy.  This woman gets it and totally is a TJEd mentor!

Seriously!

Yesterday we had our monthly meeting and we were chatting like normal about books (we love books and so do our kids), along with taking care of the attendance and all that good stuff.  Then, we moved on to what our kids were learning about and how one of her son's were all registered for the upcoming school year with South Sutter (the charter school we use).  I mentioned how my son Caleb is all signed up with Duolingo to utilize the free program for his French.  Learning a language young is awesome and French is part of our heritage.  Totally making my Grandma proud!!  My kids and I are having a fun time with it.  Truly something special.  It just so happens that one of her son's is taking Spanish in school right now and Barbara decided that she is going to learn Spanish as well to help out, along with just to learn for herself.

Here we go with

You, Not them and

Inspire, Not Require

I am very excited that she will have all three of my children under her watch for the upcoming school year.  I would not have it any other way.  Again, we thank you for all that you do for our family and for your friendship too.

We love you!