Our Week

Last week is over, and now we are heading into a new one. I have not blogged in at least a week.

We went to the pumpkin patch!

   Our week was a good one, changes, fun, and we made a lot of progress with our home schooling this week.

I thought I would also share some photos tonight as well, since I really have not posted many recently.

What went on this week.

   We have been cleaning house, getting rid of things we don't need or really have a place for. It has been a long hard process simply because our time is precious and limited to do projects as that. We have the back, extra room nearly cleaned out to make a space for Norah to have her own space. Right now it will be a play room, and eventually, her own bedroom. I have her room already decorated and done in my head, lol, and someday will make it reality. Very excited about it.

   We quit co-op, lol, after two weeks. We decided it wasn't for us. Why, you ask? Well......It's a Christian co-op group. In theory this sounds great, and welcoming, but I found it the opposite, and was actually quite disturbed by some of the things I saw and heard there. 

   The fact is that as a standard "Christian" most believe that God is both good and evil, a hypocrite, an abusive father, and that he can change his mind at any given time causing confusion for no apparent reason, other than to "Teach us a lesson". They have created God out of their own image, and believe he has all of the characteristics of them, including the desire to control, confuse, manipulate, and discipline their children with physical, corporal punishment. The first issue for me was just that, most of these parents seemed to fully embrace the old testament and the belief that physically disciplining their children is of god. I obviously disagree with this. We do not spank in our home, we implement positive reinforcement and time outs, and my children are very well behaved. I do not spank, because spanking is hitting, and hitting is wrong. Spanking hurts, I have no desire to hurt my children. I have no desire to threaten them with a spanking to get them to comply, I have no desire to put fear in my children. How can I possibly teach my children that hitting is wrong, and then hit them? I can't, this causes confusion, it teaches them that I am better than them or elite because I am an adult and they are not, (as if they have any choice in the matter). It also teaches them that I am a hypocrite, and that the "double standard" is okay. I respect my children, I love them, and their innocence, and in our home we use our words to communicate, and we don't kill their right to express themselves. Patrick knows the rules, and he knows the consequences as well, but we do not hit. We practice Attachment Parenting in our home, and spanking is just one of those things I believe is wrong, based on my own experience, based on my heart, and based on documents, studies, and research that prove that spanking injures your child in more than one way. 

   So that was the main reason, we just don't fit in. I see these women snarl, threaten, and lead children by their arms with a firm grip. They exercise their "eliteness" over them, as if they have no worth, feelings, as if they are not human and deserve respect. What ever happened to, "Treat others as you would like to be treated"? So as you can tell, I had an issue with this, big one. 

   I also hated the fake everything. The, "Hi, I'm 35 but look 50, I have 10 kids, and home school, and my husband is never home but I am extremely happy and I always have a smile plastered on my face" kinda thing I kept running into. I also had issues with some of the things they were telling the kids. Anyway, we are not going back.

   We have started our own little home school group, a non religious one, just me and a few friends, who knows it may grow.

   Patrick has been doing so great with his schooling and I am so proud of him. He is learning so much. He is starting to read, is learning to tell time, can now count to 100, and we have started on 1st grade math because he is that awesome. This last week we were doing the Letter D and the Number 7. Here he is writing his 7's.

This is Norah, Friday morning eating her eggs for breakfast in her adorable long johns, lol.

   She is communicating so much. She shakes her head yes an no when you ask her questions. She talks constantly, and voices her opinion 24/7 with screams and squeals. She is running, and wrestling with Patrick. She loves to hand out "High 5's" to everyone she meets, she climbs everything, and she loves animals. She now has her two top and bottom teeth, and I suspect more are coming very soon.

   This week I went by Lowes to see what was on sale since fall is in the works and I found a Mexican Lime tree for $13.00, so I bought it. I picked the only one that had a "big" lime on it, and the day after I bought it I potted it and took a photo. Little did I know someone with sneaky little hands would follow shortly behind me and pluck it from it's little branches. Have a look.

Oh, I made mittens for Patrick today. I went yard selling about 2 weekends ago and found an old mens wool sweater. I cut it up, and made mittens. Patrick will be in style and comfort this winter. I lined the inside with fleece, they feel mighty fine he tells me.

And thats about it for now. We have a new week starting tomorrow, and we are excited about what is before us. I still have some blog catching up to do, and maybe I will find time tomorrow.

Good Night!