San Antonio Trip

 One of the blessings of homeschooling is that we don't have to wait for holidays or school days off to go on vacations, so 3 weeks after our trip to Peru we went to San Antonio-TX. It was a quick trip but we had lots of fun!!

We stayed in a hotel downtown and the Riverwalk was just behind it, so we had great food and nice walks at nights. I loved the carriages that go all day until very late at night. They had nice lights at nights. It looks like those from the princesses movies.  

The weather was perfect. We wanted to visit the Alamo as part of our learning field trip. It was very interesting and gave us a new perspective. We also learn a lot from the people who are wearing the kind of clothes like those days and a lady even taught us how they used to sew those women and I admire them for the patience they had to do it. 

We also enjoyed SeaWorld. It was the first time Alexa was there and she had a blast.  The kids wanted me to try a roller coaster... I hate them so they had in mind to persuade me to do at least the smallest one. I said ok after a long conversation. It was scary for me even the one for kids. I scream and yelled the whole time there and you know what?.... Yes,! they wanted to do it again!!! so I told them to go to other rides before hoping they forget about it but noooo, they didn't... so I had to go to the same kid's roller coaster and scream...I mean "enjoy" the ride. 

I always preferred to do the merry go round or the little car bumps but for me even small roller coasters are scary hahah. I think what the kids enjoyed the most is look at mommy when she is scared, but it's ok, they can know that mommies get  scared sometimes and that sometimes I just do things that scare me because I need to have new experiences as long s they are good and appropriate. 

I really enjoyed the nights... it was all full of lights. the Riverwalk with the stores and the trees decorated with colorful lights, even the carriages taking people all downtown had light shining. It was kind of busy and noisy but lively too so I really enjoyed it.

Some of the boats in the Riverwalk had light and music and some had guided tours... I didn't know that until we got on one boat and they never stopped talking about San Antonio, the Riverwalk, the stores and its history while the others were all playing Christmas carols. I was kind of not happy about it. We just called the wrong company. I thought all of them were the same but I mean to call the caroling one. The price for my group would have been the same as what we paid for the one we bought but I wanted to sing Christmas carols on the boat!!! Anyway. We didn't have any options and we didn't have more days or the desire of spending more money for another trip. I have to say our boat tour was informational. It was a great trip and we had fun!!

Trip to Peru Lima and Islas Ballestas

 It's been more than 5 years since the last time we went to Peru. It was for my parents 50th wedding anniversary in 2018.  All the kids were so excited about it. It was a great trip, They loved it from the beginning to the end. The kids  enjoyed a lot and so did we since we didn't have to walk carrying diapers or bottles like the other times we went before!

First we had a nice flight that got to Peru before night time which I loved since it gave us time to go to

Downtown Lima

 the hotel take some time to rest eat and walk around for a little while before going to bed. Next morning the adventures started. We went early to a city tours in Lima. The driver was very nice and we enjoyed visiting some touristic and history places.

We tried some delicious fresh bakes bread and many of the seasonal fruits from Peru. I got to eat things that I miss and love a lot. It was great to see my adventurous Eliza trying guanabana and lúcuma yogurt, granadillas, manzanitos (small bananas), churros con manjar blanco and so many things we found in the stores.

In the sand buggies

Next day we went to the Parque de las leyendas. It's a combination of a aquarium and a zoo. The kids could run and see some interesting animals. The kids wanted to spend sometime in the pool on the roof of the hotel so went back to have some fun at the pool and we wanted to get ready for a 4 hour drive by bus to another city in order to visit Islas Ballestas. We had to wake up super early to do that and also go to Huacachina in Ica to go to the sand buggies and do some sand boarding. The kids loved it!! They want to repeat it next time we go to Peru. 

The next day we had to travel to Trujillo, my hometown. Seeing my brother and sister there with their families was amazing!! My kids love spending time with their Peruvian cousins and they love mamita's house

Avocados

We had more amazing food, fruits, desserts, places to visit. Also, we went to tia nena's house. The kids had a blast there. They are already asking me to go there next time we go to Peru and if we can stay there. Tia nena has a farm, animals and fruit trees. We had the opportunity to see cacao trees and how the fruit is inside. We saw the biggest avocado we've ever seen, the kids walked through a bridge made out of just a tree trunk. Amazing experiences. I did not like that we had to come only 18 days later... we usually stayed there for 8 or 9 weeks in our previous trips but this time Krystal  had her orchestra rehearsals and also we had to go to our co-op meetings. I hope next time we go during summer and for longer!!! Peru is just Magical!!

Chirimoya

Huacachina- Ica

Islas Ballestas

Ballestas

We had the chance to see it from the front seat

Parque de las leyendas

Palacio de Gobierno

Lima

Lima

a Church

Life skills

 One of the things we love about homeschooling is that the kids learn many other skills. Eliza loves to cook and help me when it's cooking time. Liam decided to learn how to do some things too. He started doing just fried eggs. he was so proud of himself . he wanted to do it all the time. I think he ate eggs every time he wanted a snack. He also wanted to make his sister a fried egg when they felt snacky and didn't know what to eat.

I am not sure if your kids do the same but for me, my kids are always asking me for a snack and when I say ok, what do you want? they say I don't know. We have fresh fruit and veggies, packed snacks like cookies, chips, crackers, etc. we have frozen snacks and they tell me I don't know... usually I respond to them : It's ok let me know when you figure it out. I'm happy to help but I can't if you don't know what to eat. 

Krystal is my dessert helper... not that she likes dessert. her only favorite is CCC... Chocolate Chip Cookies but she is always helping me when I do desserts. Eliza just enjoys both savory and sweets. She says she wants to be a chef when she grows up. She loves preparing and also eating many new food. For her trying something new is very exciting. She is the skinniest one in our family but the only one that is not picky at all.

We also take advantage of learning about gardening. We e joy planting fruits, veggies and flowers in our front and back yard. We learn about where to grow them, how much light it needs, how long they take to have flowers or fruit. Personally I love days when they are sunny. It gives me energy and makes me happy. I enjoy playing with the kids outside they days are warmer. I am usually cold so during fall or winter my body feels even colder. 

Here a few pics about our life skill lessons. hahah

Back to reality: LONG breaks

How do you feel about long breaks? we for sure enjoy at the moment, but it's kind of hard to go back to our routine. As homeschoolers we try to work on 4 lessons a week, but after our trip to Perú, which lasted only 18 days (I will write about in another post why I say so) we came back kind of tired and with Christmas break so close we were not very in the mood to restart. 

We worked hard to try to go back to normal but we had so many distractions and things that we had to do because we were out of the country and had reschedule appointments and schedule a few others things before the end of the year. We had another small family trip and also orchestra presentation, birthday party to prepare, church Christmas activity to attend, giving machines etc. our calendar was full.

We tried but we were not working as much as we should have. At the beginning I felt overwhelmed because the things we did not do this day or the other but then I had to re think everything and made me focus more in what we HAVE done, and also about how advanced my kids actually are. I had to remind myself that they were 1 grade ahead and that homeschooling is freedom to do more or to do less and it's okay if a few days we do less than what we want or expect. We should not get overwhelmed or stressed about it. They are still learning many other things in a daily basis.

Maybe some of you have had the same experiences after long winter or summer breaks, I just wanted to say that there is no bad day, only good and better days because even in the good ones (that sometimes we want to call them bad) if you pay attention, we are learning, learning to deal with frustration, to recognize that this is a hard work but we CAN do it! We learn that it is not meant to be easy, It's just meant to be the right thing to do. At least that is how I see it. This is what I needed to do, homeschooling my kids. I know it is not just what I think I should do but what the Lord wants me to do and when he asks us to do something doesn't mean it will be easy, it just means it's possible and with His help we can accomplish everything.

Car rides

Meal time is crazy for us. Sometimes we have nice calm meal at the table like normal people hahaha and sometimes we just have it on the go. I am not talking about a fast food. We usually eat homemade meals... but if we need to go somewhere we are just eating in the car. 

I just love that my kids are very flexible with our very busy schedule and also with their crazy mom. I try to set appointments with doctor as late as I can so that our mornings are untouched. My kids work on their school work better when we do it in the mornings, so as much as I can I ask for appointments after lunch but as you know, it doesn't always work as I want so in those days we have to adjust a little. 

Having for kids to care for, be the teacher for 4 different grade levels, care for my elderly parents and be a wife are things that keep me busy but oh! how I love doing my job!! My days are not easy and even when I feel tired most of the time, I enjoy what I do and the many hugs and kisses I get with the hundreds of "I love you" a day, It is worth every second!!!

Great Friends

 

Having great friends is something we all want and even need. Friends that are there to listen, help, motivate, make you laugh and why not annoy you sometimes hahaha. Homeschool has given my kids the chance to have the best friends they can have. 

My kids were always very close but homeschool gives them the chance to spend more time together, play more and just learn from each other. The best part of it is that they really enjoy being together... Sometimes I have to remind them that having homeschool play dates is for them to meet new people or make more friends because they usually play between them even when they have more kids around.

I love that they are making many important memories together and that they still choose them. Seeing that in my family is already a blessing and gives my heart the feeling of satisfaction and success... for this and more homeschool is worth it!!

My artist girl

 Having four kids to homeschool at a time can be challenging. At the beginning is for sure hard (because they are all in different levels) until you get a routine. It could take a few weeks or even months until you get the hang of it, but you will, even if right now you feel like you will never get used to it or even if you feel you are failing. Just keep the great work one day at a time. 

However, even if they all have a routine and know what to do like my oldest (12 years old) who works independently, she might have questions, or concerns about what she is doing, while I'm teaching another child, and the other is asking for a snack, etc. It's kind of crazy!!

One of the things I try is to work with the little one first. she is the one who wakes up the earliest, so while she gets her milk, yes, she loves her milk in a toddler bottle. I can of like it because that gives me some time to work with her. We do reading, reviewing her booster cards until she is done with breakfast. Then we go to the workbooks, and since she is still in kinder/ first level and those lessons are small we are usually done fast and early, so most of the time while I'm teaching the other kids, she is drawing, playing or waiting for the siblings to have their small breaks between subjects so she can play with them. 

She also does coloring, additions, or watches some learning videos or does learning games on a website I really love. Education.com. She can work on whole guided lessons through games or reinforce what we learned. I love that she can entertain herself most of the time.

One of my favorite this she does is drawing. She starts by drawing what she wants, or feel. Then, she is asking us for ideas. I give her themes, so she gets inspired and draw more than one thing. I love seeing her so creative and her drawing skills have improved for just being 5 years old. Maybe this doesn't seem much for you but I am a person with no drawing skills so I think what she does is amazing!! Of course, after she draws she wants to show me her pictures and explains me what she did that and why and how she did it!

!! 

Words of Encouragment

 Not everything is "color de rosa" as we say in Spanish... "Not everything is rosy". Even when we have all the best intentions, life and its turns make some days feel not so great! In those moments we have a few options. I will talk about 3 of the things that help me going in those hard days. Sometimes I use them individually and sometimes I mix two or the three together!!

1. Next to my makeup table, I have two quotes that I read every once in a while. One    of them say : "attitude is everything, pick a good one" and the other one says "
   
   when you feel like quitting, remember why you started."  Discouragement happens to everybody, sometimes because things are not like planned, others because they are taking longer, or because we have self doubts but remember that when there is a will, there is also a way. I think that homeschooling our kids is not an idea we ourselves thought about. I think it's a calling, an inspiration we feel, it is something we have to remember in order to keep motivating us even when the road ahead is not as smooth as we would like. 
2. Sometimes those words or the ones that motivates you don't work, then...We can just rest, have an easy learning day if you still want to feel like you are accomplishing something. There are lots of documentaries, learning show, movies, books where we can find lots of information and have a different "out of the books" kind of day but still working on our homeschool. Just give yourself the time you need while someone else is in charge of the teaching. 
3. NOTHING AT ALL. You can also stop school for that day/days/week. We are not racing with anybody, we are riding the journey with our children and we should do it the best way possible and sometimes the best way possible can't happen and until it can... it's ok!! I promise you the kids will be ok too! Things will be better and school can be back when that happens.

This can be a beautiful journey even with its turns, ups, and downs. Usually for that we need to find the purpose of the ride and the importance of it. It will all be worth it!

Sick kids

 Homeschooling is amazing but as I always say, everything in life, has its ups and downs. Being sick is one of the downs if you want to see it like that. If you want to have the right perspective being sick and homeschooling is better than going to public school. 

Since the child goes at his/her own pace, when they are sick they work as much as they can or nothing at all. We had a few days for each kid when they were sick. It took over a month (taking into account that we are a family of 6 and we were sick for 3 or 4  days each and then the recovery process where you just don't feel enough energy. ) to go back to normal and having everyone healthy again.

The good thing about it is that we won't have to catch up, do extra homework or anything like that. We stop when we need it and we resume when we feel better again. I am glad the kids have that freedom to just stop until they feel better without worrying about missing classes, getting doctor's notes to take to school etc. 

My kids and husband had some extra time to rest and cuddle with Osa. As you can see in this photo, Osa was on top of them and they didn't even realized of that until I showed them the pictures!

Bed time stories

 Our kids spent a lot of the time with me. We really enjoy it and they just love being with their mom. However at bedtime, is my husband the story reader. Our routine is very consistent. We go upstairs where the rooms are, they change into pajamas, brush teeth and go to the restroom. 

When they are all done, we start reading the scriptures, sometimes we do it straight from the real book and sometimes we use our kids scripture stories where they have the stories in a summarized version and with the little pictures.

After we talk about our reading, the principle taught or answer their questions. Sometimes those nightly chats are small, other are long, we share our experiences, testimonies or question are never ending and from one topic we go to the next. Other times, they are not so awake and we just try to keep it small and give them the chance for only one or two questions. 

After our conversation, we do our bed time prayer and go to their beds. Usually they won't sleep unless we listen to a meditation session from the app we have or a reading from a talk or book from church.  

Our days and nights are filled with loud voices, homework, laughs and playful kids but even when some days feel so long we sure enjoy these years and I would not change a thing. I feel so blessed to have a family like the one I have, and even more when I realized it is just the way I wanted!! With this I don't mean the kids don't get mad at each other sometimes, or that I don't get tired or stressed out. Our family is far from perfect... we are just a real family with the good and the bas as all of them but what I mean is that I really try to enjoy the day as it is, some times good and others better. I try to focus on that. The good thing is that we are a family and families are supposed to grow and learn together more over, we are supposed to love each other even with our imperfections.

Easy math

 I wish Math would be as easy for all of us as it's for Liam! He has a gift for numbers. I don't have the same "luck" with all the kids but he amazes me in many ways. Sometimes I teach his the "hardest" way just because I know he will get it. 

He was learning to do division on his level 4 workbook and I taught him what NOW I think it's the easier way, I'm not sure if I thought the same when I was his age. I told him he didn't need to write the product of the quotient and divisor to then subtract that from the dividend just think about the product in your mind and see how many more you need to get to the dividend and then write that in under it. and then bring the next number down and repeat the process. 

He learned fast and now that is the only way he does it. After a few more days when the book asked him to do some more division he showed me the quotient and reminder but no numbers under it!!!  So I needed to divide that to make sure it's the right answer... just to make sure hahaha

When he was still little, and I was reading my oldest daughter a math problem, she was still thinking and trying to solve it when he suddenly was telling us the answer. He had no paper or pencil and he could think all those numbers in his head. and now that he is 9 almost 10 he can do many math problems just in his mind. 

Here is the link to one of his assignments. Order of operations

So far, math has been one of his favorite subjects and he always works on his math workbook first . As all of us, we all have some subjects that we don't really enjoy or take too long to do it and not because of lack of understanding but for what we feel about one or the other. He doesn't enjoy as much language arts and is always trying to find distractions while we work on that subject.  

Another example of his mental reasoning fractions to mixed numbers

Don't feel so bad!!!

 

I know we all as homeschool moms are always judging ourselves too much! We should give us some grace. Homeschooling our kids is a big decision. We want to do it and to do it well and having that goal in mind makes us feel not so confident in our job when we have some difficulties while teaching, or while organizing our homes. cooking, helping them also have fun... all those thoughts make us feel sometimes like failure. 

Let me tell you....LOVE YOURSELF MORE AND HAVE SOME COMPASSION for yourself. I know some of us work part time, some of us work FULL time while homeschooling, other do it full time but waking up so early so you have time to homeschool. Some don't work, like me, and have to live a frugal life in order to make one salary be enough for all the need of the family. Some of us have more kids which makes homeschooling even hard to manage perfectly or as desired. Some of us care for our elderly parents too! So, let me invite you to do a few things:

1.  Don't compare yourself, to others not even compare your day yesterday to today. There will be somedays that everything might seem so hard that will make you feel like throwing the towel. Don't stress days only have 245 hours, tomorrow you will have a new one!!    

                2.  It's not a race or competition, So many of us not only as homeschool moms but  moms in general are trying to (without noticing sometimes) race. We have to take time to enjoy our journey. Days can be so overwhelming sometimes that if we don't stop to see, for real observe our lives, family, we would be missing a lot. 

                3. It's ok to have one day your house clean, your school room/space tidy and it's ok for some days to have it so messy. the world will not end for that. you won't die because of that, I promise you, so my advice in that regard is to breath and do what is more important. Some days for me is just picking what I want to accomplish that day. 

Lets try to be nicer and love us and our job as homeschool moms more as our kids do!! Want to see my video about that topic?? Click the link!!

Messy days

Blessings from homeschooling!!

 What can I say??? I'm living my dream!!! I always wanted to be able to teach my kids and to enjoy my time as a mom!! I can do both now and I am serious when I say it makes me so happy! 

I know that for some people that is not something they would enjoy as much and some others might do but  they just can't for many reasons. I really feel blessed for being able to do it.

I can't express with words what I feel. My heart feels over excited when my kids express their love for me, as all you moms can feel when your little ones are showing their love for you, but on top of that I feel that the time we spend together makes our relationship even deeper. The time we spend together are creating memories that will last forever and I really hope those memories of their childhood makes them feel joy when they are adults.

I love that most of the time when they have to make thank you notes in their classes they pick me as the person they are grateful for. Sometimes as their mom and sometimes as their teacher. I can even count the times they kiss me, hug me, and tell me I love you mommy!... Te amo mami!!  Sometimes I'm just  cooking or cleaning or reading and they come looking for me or even if we are in the same room call me: mami!! I love you! Those words make my heart beat loud and fast.  Sometimes they write that on the whiteboard sometimes on paper or as part of their writing from their books.

I can't say more than I really enjoy being their mom and spending as much time together as we do!! 

Reading time... a time to enjoy!

Reading is one of all my  kids favorite activity. You will always see them with a book, the oldest one can be literally all day with a book and not even feel hunger... the other ones like it too but they do go play outside, eat and run around. I love reading with them. I try to help them find books in Spanish too so they can keep both languages not only in the speaking part but all the other skills too.

Having good books to read that are interesting, fun, and teaches them good values is hard in these times. Being able to be with them while they read also gives me the chance to help them realized something the book is saying is not as good as it should be. I try to do the same with screen time. I like watching what they like so I make sure they learn to notice a good from a not so good choice. Going to the library is one of their favorite too. They can bring so many books that I have to set a limit or I won't be able to lift those bags. 

 Liam also  likes reading but I can't find a picture of him reading... the most funny thing about Liam's reading style is that he can do that in very weird positions hahah I wish I could fine a picture of those.

Krystal, my oldest, can bring books even when we are going to the park, she says I can read them on the ride but she usually finds a place to keep reading unless I tell her: Leave the book in the car!!!