Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

We Went Camping

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Last Friday, we were having a rough homeschool day.  Caleb was not being focused, and I was getting frustrated with him not “trying.”  We both were getting edgy and not at all acting out “a gentle answer turns away rath,” but rather had hearts of  “harsh words stir(ing) up anger.” We needed a time out. We needed to go camping.

We had said for weeks that we were going to go camping that weekend, but now that the day was here we had cold feet.  I think the cold feet was the defense of NOT WANTING cold feet.  As Caleb and I got more and more exhausted by each other and ultimately frustrated, Matt pulled me out of it.  I don’t know what I would do with out him.  He calmed me down and helped me to see the big picture perspective that I needed in that moment.  I have a smart boy in Caleb, and he knows his stuff.  He just needed a “break.”

The further and further we get into our school year, the more and more I am learning about my son.  He loves school, and that was one of the many reasons why I wanted to keep him home to homeschool.  I wanted to be a part of that and see his excitement.  Although he does love to learn and do school, he also loves surprises and adventures.  He needs a certain amount of routine with knowing what to expect, but he also loves for days to be switched up and “out of the norm.”

Matt and I knew we needed to go through with our plans to go camping, so right there in the middle of kid break downs all around us (and a mama on verge of losing it), we packed up our whole herd and headed north.

As we slowly decompressed on the drive and processed more about what matters in life and the important things to learn, I knew we made the right decision.  Caleb was on cloud nine.  He talked endlessly all 45 minutes to our camp site at Red Top Mountain.  His attitude was a 180 degrees different, and he was my sweet boy once again.

We had plans to do math by counting sticks and throwing rocks, etc.  I was going to draw words in the dirt for him to “read.”  They were good ideas and intentions, but once we were there, we just played.

My kids can play, imagine, create, and dream.  Those are equally important things to instill.  Instead of talking about the ABC and 123 of school, we talked about the trees, nature, team work (that is so needed to set up/break down camp), God’s creation in the beauty around us, how to build a fire, the patience needed to fish, and the presence of love and humbleness needed in a family.

Caleb quickly learned how to fan the fire as it started to die down.  I know there were countless other things we talked/demonstrated on this adventure, and it was so worth the change of routine.

My struggle with homeschooling is the temptation to compare what we do to what happens in normal school (the ways/routines and things that are taught).  Every once in a while, I start to question and beat myself up that I am not doing enough.  Those are lies I know Satan wants me to believe and leave me discouraged.

Unplugging and getting away does so much to set my heart at peace.  The reason we are not doing traditional school is to be able to do different things and have different ways to learn and experience life.  Why do I beat myself up for the very things I believe are right for my kids?

Life is so confusing and yet so beautiful.  There are so many lessons to learn beyond sitting in a seat at a desk.  It’s ok to be different at times and to do what is needed for your heart.

Experiencing nature by walking through the woods, skipping rocks in the lake, and freezing our tails off in a tent was so good for my family’s souls.  We had a lot of fun laughing and being together.  We were also so physically reminded how thankful we are to have a warm house to go home to!

Matt and I have joked several times since we have been home about how so many miserable moments (like freezing in a sleeping bag with like three layers on each and trying to get a baby to settle down in a tent) also have so many incredible moments intertwined.  We decided that is the definition of camping.

So, although we had a blast and are so thankful we got away and camped, we will probably enjoy the rest of the fall and coming winter from home.  Next year, we’ll probably find ourselves needing another moment of escape and pump ourselves up to do it again.  I’ll re-read this post and remember how good it was to pull away for a night.

I am thankful for routines and also for spontaneity and the beauty of life when the two are paired together.  This week we have been back doing our “traditional” school methods with reading, writing, mathematics, and everything in between.  Caleb is nailing it.  Everything that I knew he could do and so much more. It’s as if the weekend helped him to reset.

He has caused me to giggle to myself because he has been doing “harder” things than I was asking him to do on Friday, and in some situations showing me things on his own.  He is so smart, and he is teaching me so much about myself through trying to teach him.  Humility is at the top of that list.

What sort of ways does your family unplug and regroup?  Do you have any secret tips on how to not find yourself “comparing”?  I’d love the insight!!

Our Vacation Books

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***First off, congratulations to Becca Stanley for winning my Embroidered Owl on last week’s giveaway!  Thank you to everyone who entered!  That was our largest entered giveaway to date!  I’m going to try to do them more often, since it seemed like a hit.  Please stick around and keep coming back!***

My project I would like to spotlight this week is my boys’ Summer vacation books.  We worked on them all week in school, and they are so completely proud of them!

I have wanted to incorporate making a summer book of our big road trip into our school days, but it kept getting pushed to the following week’s to do list.  Finally, I just decided we needed to do it, and this was the week!  I am so glad we did it!  We have all had a blast with this project!

We have talked about and learned so many valuable things this week through the process of making these books.  One of my main lessons was to try Super glue before many other strong glues needed to hold these thick babies together!  The boys have learned about the author and illustrator of books.  They know the names and the difference between the two roles.  They learned what a title page was and where it is located in a book.  We talked about key events and order and sequence.  We pulled out the map and showed the path we took on our 25 day road trip, while talking about states and distance.  We talked about the difference in opinions and facts.  They did a mock interview and are now doing “show and tell” for all who will sit through their reading of their books.

I love the pride that was earned with the completion of this big project.  Everyday Caleb wanted to “finish” his book, so it really taught patience to work a little at it everyday.

We picked out flag fabric for our cover since we drove across the United States for our vacation.  Caleb created both boys’ covers by glueing and wrapping the fabric around big pieces of cardboard.

We glued postcards that we had collected at our different stops on sheets of paper to insert as pages.

The boys sorted through a huge pile of pictures from our trip to pick out the ones they wanted to use in their book.  It was so fun to see and talk about the different things/events we did as the memories came back to us.  It is really quite funny to see the pictures they actually choose to use in their books.  They might not the the ones I would have chosen, but it is their books!

We worked on writing as they created title pages for their books.

Everyday, Caleb wrote a sentence for his book.

You know we love dictation.  He also dictated lots of stories or memories to me for pages in his book.

We printed out maps and drew the route we took to and from California on our maps.  We talked about distance and the United States, and had a blast talking about places we would like to travel next.  Caleb wants to travel across a different country on the other side of the world now.  Dream big my boy.  I love it!

Once we had finished creating all our different pages, we had to sort them into an order for the book.  We talked about events with similarities/differences as we placed all the “same state” pages in piles.

I get to do my job in my pajama pants. Awesome!

I had plans to sew the pages together with my sewing machine, but our books were too thick with all the pages and card stock.  We opted to punch holes and string thread though them to bind all the pages together.  I then glued the two outside pages to the cover.  It has taken several different types of glue to figure this step out.

The boys are so proud of their creations!!  They worked so hard writing, cutting, gluing, and learning this week.  I am just as proud of them as they are.

Today, we also talked about being a hard worker and finishing strong.  They were not wanting to complete the last steps, but they came around and finished strong and I adore their results!

Thank you so much for reading this week’s Project Spotlight.  Thank you again for all of you who entered my giveaway and might have started following me in a new way!  I really appreciate it!!

Tomorrow, I am attending the Country Living Fair at Stone Mountain with a group of other DIY Atlanta Bloggers, and I am so excited about it!  I will be sure to share it with you next week!

Do you have big plans this week?  Are you going to check out Mitcham Farm?  I hope whatever you do, you have a wonderful weekend!  Happy Friday!!