Homeschool October

Dear God, 

Help me love these children's hearts

more than I idolize their potential, 

more than I crave their performance. 

You made them for more than good grades, 

sports, and piano lessons. 

Calm me. 

Still me. 

They are somebody today. 

Don't let me get so caught up, 

being afraid to mess up, 

that I miss this time, 

let it fly by

in a haze of errands, 

appointments, and lessons. 

     Love, Me

I am grateful for the connection I have to other homeschooling moms who have like-minded feelings and who lift and support each other in this great responsibility of homeschooling. Sometimes it's working together to create experiences for our kids. Sometimes it's sharing resources for things that can improve the homeschool. Sometimes it's reminding each other of the real heart of homeschooling. This month I am praying this homeschool prayer as I pray over my children that they will learn and grow in all the ways that they need and that they will know how important they are to me. 

Here are a few snapshots from our homeschool this month. They give a beautiful picture of why I love our homeschool so much. 

Children need to move and can learn better when their bodies are allowed that needed movement. Austin and Caleb were doing their language arts while I stepped out of the room for a minute. When I came back in, this is how they were. Both of them intently focused on their individual work, and both of them engaged with their bodies and their minds. When I showed David this picture he commented that it shows their bodies allowing their minds to work. I loved that description. Obviously, there is value to sitting and such - but this abilily to move instead of sitting in a desk for hours and hours each day is a gift of homeschool. 

Doing some order of operations work on the kitchen window. 

Doing some math on the grass at the park while the kids played. Truly, it was a beautiful day and I loved being able to take our schoolwork on the road. Also truly, Austin and I had been battling over his math lesson all morning and the other kids got to play while he sat with me to finish it and he was. so. mad. But once we sat on the grass letting the sunshine warm our skin he calmed down, did his work, and ran off to play. Sunshine does wonders for a cranky homeschool day. 

We have started back with our weekly visits to Cal and Sue. The kids mostly play while I visit with Sue and help with some things around the house. Cal always gives the kids fruit snacks. It's a blessing to spend so much time with them - and something we wouldn't be able to do in the same way otherwise. 

Our Monday Coop has been a really great addition to our homeschool year. The kids are all doing really well with their classes and even with some bumps in the road (like having to change buildings from Lehi to Lindon) it's been a blessing for us. 

I've been teaching sewing classes to Lydia and a sweet girl in our neighborhood each Wednesday morning. It's been something really fun for me and helps me make sure that Lydia gets time for sewing each week and that she learns the skills that can help her grow. 

Field trips in the fall are some of the very, very best. Orchards and pumpkin patches and crisp fall leaves. Here are some of our fall field trips this month: 

Red Barn in Syracuse: Back 40 (Play Area), Pumpkin Picking, Apple Picking, Apple Cider Donuts

Burgess Orchard: This was the most magical field trip of the year. We had a great host who took us through the orchard teaching us all sorts of interesting things. Even though we were late in the season each child got to pick an apple then come back to their main area to see how apples are sorted and stored in a giant walk-in refrigerator. The magic really started when our host brought us back outside and around a corner and let the kids make appe cider with their big cider press. They took turns throwing apples from a bin into a giant apple chopper - they must have thrown in 200 apples. When the bucket was full, the host turned the press on and we watched the cider emerge from the apples. It was SO fun, true fun. A homeschool field trip at it's finest. The kids were learning, they were engaged, and they were having funas they were exploring the world around them. 

We loved it so much. The kids loved buying the jugs of apple cider and bringing it home to drink. 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Lucy's Eyes & Skin 3.5

This Lucy girl is 3 1/2 now and she's just amazing. People often ask me how she is doing and how her sight is and all I can ever say is just what a miracle she is and how watching her learn and grow and develop often brings me to tears. It often hits me in the simplest, most ordinary moments - her picking up a cheerio on our tan carpet, watching a marble roll across the church floor then running to pick it up, climbing on top of the counter to grab the ADJ gummy vitamins. Sometimes I'm just stopped in my tracks thinking about how normal and beautiful it is to watch her live her life - so happily and confidently. 

We still really have no idea how her eye conditions will affect her future, but we will deal with that when it comes and be grateful for the beautiful life she is living now. 

 

At her most recent eye appointment (which she HATED, do not let these happy pictures fool you) it was recommended that she start wearing glasses. The level of correction that her lenses give her is so minimal that they would never recommend it for another child her age, but they say that when you have other vision issues, they just want to give every benefit that they can. I was mostly convinced when we decided to get transition lenses that will change into sunglasses when we go out into the sun. She absolutely DOES need sunglasses and sometimes it's hard to remember them or we are just walking from the car to a building so she's not wearing them and the sun hurts her eyes.  I think it will be so nice for her to just get used to wearing the glasses and have them automatically protect her eyes. 

(Pictured left: Glasses that she picked out at the doctors office that day. Right: Glasses she ended up picking and purchasing. )

 

I also wanted to add a bit in her about her skin.  Early this summer I set up a Dermatologist appointment for Lucy and had her skin completely examined. We liked the dermatologist and I feel happy that we have added another person to our care team for Lucy. We will start going on annual skin care visits and she will have that as part of her care plan. Clearly she's young and we weren't particulaly worried about anything right now, but I wanted to talk to a skincare expert and help put together a care plan for us to follow. I've been worried for a long time about what the best way to care for Lucy is. When she was a baby they told us to apply sunscreen multiple times a day, and to put it on her whole body first thing even if we weren't sure she was going outside. (Also, to note, the internet/google swears that sunscreen is poison and you're a terrible parent if you use it.)

I guess I just wanted to talk to someone about what wearing a hat/sunscreen realistically looked like. I wanted to talk about regular long sleeve clothes vs UPF clothing. I wanted to know if it was okay if she wore a regular swimsuit if she was well sunscreened or if she really did need to be in a long sleeve long legged sunsuit. If she's wearing long sleeves will it protect her, or does she need UPF clothing?

Overall, I feel very happy with our discussion and I left the meeting feeling confident in my ability to care for Lucy's skin and protect it from the harmful rays of the sun while still allowing her to have freedom and enjoy her time outdoors. Using a combination of hats, sunscreen, protective clothing, etc.. we will be able to help her have a childhood that doesn't feel overly restrictive while still making sure she's protected.Looking back at my pictures from the summer, I catch myself wincing when I see pictures of her bare legs exposed, or without a hat - but then I remind myself that there are lots of ways to protect her from the sun and that we are doing a good job. I still have a ways to go to make sure I'm remembering sunscreen for ALL of my kids, not just her - but we are doing better and will all be well protected because of it. 

Peaden Family Gathering

My Mom's health has not been very good the last few years. She has spent a lot of time mostly in bed. She had a little bit of time in 2021 when she started to be doing better and even went our our trip to the Redwoods, but since then has been mostly stuck in bed. 

In August my Dad wrote a letter to each child and asked that we all have a family gathering as soon as we could all get together. I think my parents wanted to make sure that we could have the family gathering before something happens and one of them is not here anymore. 

We planned out a date in October that worked for everyone (even for Matt and Julie to be able to travel from Indiana). My parents had been planning to just do a dinner at their house. However, Shantel and I really felt like it would be special if we could do an Airbnb so that everyone could come together, stay the night together and do something different. We found an awesome place near Park City that had enough rooms, had a fun kids area and basketball hoop, a hot tub and a huge movie theater. 

We got there around 5 pm on Friday and all took a tour and it was so fun. We did Pizza for dinner and then we just hung out together. This included games and getting in the hot tub. It was really nice for my parents to have us all together. (Bruce drove from Colorado and was there all night, Matt and Julie flew in from Indiana, so they got there very late that night.) The whole family was able to come the whole time except Michael and Jeff. Jeff came for just a couple hours on Saturday. 

The kids playing with Shantel in the hot tub. 

Lucy and my mom. 

Austin chose to watch a movie and was so happy to have this giant theater all to himself. 

On Saturday we played games together, went on a hike, watched the BYU football game, and then did family pictures. We have not had family pictures for a long time, and even though we were missing a few people, it was really good for my mom to get new pictures with as many as she could have. My mom was leaning towards not doing it, but Shantel talked to our friend about doing it and we decided to pay for it. I think it turned out really nice. After pictures we did dinner and then did the official family gathering. 

Kids playing air hockey. 

Us out on a hike. 

Eating dinner. After dinner we all got together and we watched a video that Shantel made with a slideshow of pictures from my parents life with all the kids and grandkids. Then my Dad shared a few thoughts and Wendy brought some questions and each grandkid asked my parents a question. They spent about 40 minutes answering questions and telling stories from their lives. It was really nice to be together and hear those stories. 

The next morning was mostly just clean up and a last trip to the hot tub. 

Here are the family pictures.