Walking?!?

So Quinten has decided that it is time for him to walk.  He has started standing up at every opportunity and even taking the occasional step on his own.  He is already showing us that he is a go getter.  Holy moly.

Nolan is quite happy to continue crawling for a while.

Ned is showing the boys all about getting in trouble.  When the twins nap, he and I go for a walk to the mailbox or swing on the swings before he goes down for his nap.  Today I had a quiet house for a whole hour. Maybe an hour and a half.  It was wonderful. 

Oh yeah, we gave up on home schooling this year.  We just couldn't get organized enough to make the situation work.  There wasn't enough of me to go around.  I realized that I can't be a mom to 5 kids, wife, cook and clean, and have time for myself, and be sane, all at the same time.  It was to much.  So I gave up and put the girls back in school yesterday.

They loved it.  I didn't realize how much they missed their friends and teachers and school in general. And hot lunch. I'm not sure why, but they love hot lunch.  I guess hot leftovers, or hot mac n cheese just wasn't the same :)

So, we've given up for now.  I may revisit next year, or a few years from now.  In the meantime, I am continuing to keep my options open.  We still have 3 charter schools within a mile of our house that we can't seem to get into.  Maybe one of these days we will win the lottery. But it hasn't happened in the past 5 years, so....

Being at home with 3 under 3 is strangely quiet.  Its boring after the crazy schedule we've been running with the past month or so.  The thing I miss is how stimulating teaching the kids was.  I enjoyed it quite a bit. Especially teaching math.  I enjoyed the challenge and exploring together with my kids.

One thing I've come away with from this experience is to be more involved with the projects and subjects that my kid are learning.  For instance Cecilee is dissecting owl pellets at school this week.  It is exciting and fun to hear about and learn about.  Homeschooling has really awakened an interest in me about what the kids are learning about. Its not just the basics anymore. 

I've also learned about the resources available to everyone. Online and elsewhere. 

So lots of good things have come from this experience.  Also, if we decide to do this in the future I'll be a lot more prepared and ready for the challenge.

For all of you homeschoolers out there.  I have so much respect for all you do.  It is not an easy thing to do.  It can be fun, but its challenging and takes a LOT of your time.  You are amazing.