Birthdays and The Runway to Homeschooling

It's been awhile since I wrote and I'd have to say it wasn't for lack of desire. I wanted to write but sometimes I just don't have the brain power to sit down and order my thoughts.

This past week was eventful. Walker TR had a birthday. His excitement was palpable. He has a list of requirements for his day and FP and I tried our best to accomodate. It was strange though. It was almost as if we were still across country for his birthday. It was just our family that celebrated. All extended family was absent. It felt odd to be so close and yet still fairly alone.

Walker had a specific idea about how is day should go. He planned his dinner menu and the evening activity as well. What he didn't know is that FP and I had plans for him as well. It worked out. His plans were as follows.

Walker TR's plans.

Play Nuke'em in the backyard with dad and siblings. Accomplished.
Have Mom's mac n cheese with chicken , three kinds of green veggies with cheese sauce ( broccoli, peas and green beans) His favorites. Dinner. Accomplished.

Bake a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting with sliced strawberries with Dad. No FP was not a cake topper but baking with Dad was the topper for the day as far as WTR was concerned. It is funny because WTR likes strawberry anything but not as much as this cake confection might indicate. His real reason for such a strawberry carnival? Sketch HATES strawberries. He said to me when we were planning his menu " Oooh Sketch is gonna hate me!" *insert wicked wicked giggle here* All in all it was a yummy cake and even Sketch liked it. He picked off his strawberry though.( he has an odd strawberry seed phobia, don't ask me). Accomplished.

After dinner watch Spongebob Squarepants marathon. accomplished.

Mrs.F and FP's plans for Walker TR :

We decided to take him shopping for his present. Make him part of the experience. He loved it. This was a special birthday , he turned 8. That means he will be baptized this month. Very exciting. Very important. FP started a tradition. Upon turning 8 every child receives their first pocket knife. ( please no drama about kids and knives. This is about teaching your child to be safe with knives and the proper use of knives. As a tool etc. All of our children were/are Scouts and as such need them for activities and for emergency preparedness.) The children love this birthday. They wait for it like none other. So FP picked out his pocket knife and presented Walker TR with it and he has not parted with it since. He carries it everywhere. Thank goodness he isn't a frequent flier. lol.

So after picking out his knife we went on to shop for ingredients for his meal. He was very serious about it and it was nothing short of adorable. " Mom we need this and don't forget that. " So like his father.

After shopping we took Walker TR out to lunch for his Birthday lunch. Chik Fil A. I should tell you that we have the BEST store near us. The Manager and owner are soooooo nice. They made him feel special. They made us feel valued. It was a great experience. Thank you Chik Fil A.

We left with our ice cream cones in hand and headed home to commence baking. All in all a good day. Walker TR said it was his best birthday yet.
That was great to hear.

His birthday was a geat lead in to the week. MTA and I spent the last several days printing hundreds of copies for the homeschool year. I found some awesome resources online and we will begin with this material until their tangible books arrive. Such a blessing the internet is. Of course you have to be thorough and careful what you choose to use. Not everything you find is a gem. However I have spent years compiling my net resources and I could confidently teach just about every grade from material I found off the net if I chose to do so. I buy the core curriculum so that we have physical books to use as well 1. because its a great curriculum and 2. because we all love books.

So here I sit with a good grasp on the rapidly approaching start date for homeschooling, feeling confident and mostly prepared. The kids need school supplies and FP and I don't have the funds to do that yet. So we are scrounging for stuff we used last year. Anyone have any three ring binders? folders? LOL

More later.
Mrs. F.