Daily Trailer Fun Fact - Day One

Day One: It gets windy (so far) every evening and howls all night.

Our first night here was rough because the tree branches scraped the roof all night. I was pretty certain it was a giant squirrel. The ductwork underneath was creaking all night, too.

Thankfully, Jake was able to fix the ductwork and trim the branches the next day. Now if only we could get the kids back on their sleep schedule. Soon enough it will feel like home and they'll (actually only one of them is having troubles falling asleep and staying asleep)be sleeping through the night again.

The view from our bedroom

Road Bumps

We've hit a view bumps in the road.

The fridge wasn't working.

The toilet wasn't working right. And that's sorta necessary ...

There was a family of squirrels or rats living under the kitchen sink.

And last but not least ...

The roof leaks.

The guy we bought it from said "IT HAD NEVER LEAKED. EVER!". He lied.

He also said everything worked. He did tell us about the squirrels ... so at least there is that.

Good thing Jake is handy. He did get the fridge working. He tried to fix the toilet but it isn't fixable. So he did a little research and is figuring out how to put in a "normal" toilet. Yay! for normal toilets. He and Mike (our friend whose land we are parking on) cleaned up the rat poo ... though there is still more to do where that is concerned ... YUCK!

Jake plans on temporarily fixing the leak and will really fix it in the next few weeks.

Obviously we are not living there yet. We did move everything over there though. Our awesome friends aren't just letting us park our lovely trailer on their property but are also letting us store EVERYTHING under their house in their storage area. EVERYTHING! They are also letting us have a portion of their downstairs office/media/laundry/workspace area. Which means I'll have a space for our washer and dryer, craft stuff and the use of their extra fridge.

The plan as of right now:

Jake is taking a few days to smooth out those bumps we've encountered. Then we are heading "home" for Thanksgiving. Just a quick trip though because we have a trailer to make "home".

I have been getting mixed reactions from people about this. I don't expect everyone to "get it" and for the most part everyone has been supportive. The main reason we are doing this is to save money. Between the student loan debt, feeding a family of 6 and rent every month we just can't get ahead. And let's be honest .... I like to shop. So that doesn't help either. But I won't be shopping ever again much anymore. Jake and I have often talked about doing something like this. So when the opportunity presented itself we jumped at the chance and are hanging on for dear life even through the bumps in the road.

Miss Claire

So, it's been awhile and a lot has changed and a lot is about to change...

The last time I posted was 18 months ago.

I don't have time to catch you all up on the last 18 months so for now I will just fill you in on what's about to happen.

Some of you already know, many of you might suspect and the rest of you are in for a shock.

We are moving our family of 6 into a 37 ft travel trailer. A camper. A 5th wheel. A toy hauler. An RV. Whatever you want to call it ... it's still the same thing - crazy and small but totally doable.

First I'll answer a few questions:
Yes. We are crazy.
Yes. It will be trying.
Yes. We are excited.
Yes. We are nervous.

I will share more when I can. We are making the big move this weekend and I still have a lot of packing to do. I can't pass up this opportunity to share our adventures with family and friends. And appreciate that I can document this new part of our lives. As we finish up the actual move I will be making a few changes around my long forgotten blog and hopefully making many posts a week.

Until then here is your first peek of our new home.

We are homeowners! ;)

Meditation Monday

I'm thinking: that the next 12.5 weeks are going to fly by before I know it and I'll be meeting my baby girl. I'm excited and not ready at the same time. So much to do around this little house of ours.

I'm reading: The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer, Eat Fat Lose Fat by Sallon Fallon & Mary Enig (pretty much done reading it but I've been researching and finding things so that I can start the diet soon ... hopefully by next week!), Leaving by Karen Kingsbury and Shepherding A Child's Heart by Ted Tripp.
I'm listening to: Madie pretending to read a story ... over and over again! And Delia drawing on the chalk board.
I'm learning: a lot about homeschooling! And I'm super excited about it. =) My eyes are being opened to the different methods of homeschooling. And I'm realizing that there isn't a perfect method. Which is hard because I want to do all or nothing of something. I need to find a balance of options. I think I'm slowly getting there.
I'm watching: nothing new. Jake's been working from home at night and I've been researching curriculum so we haven't been indulging in our usual nightly show. It's been nice. I actually feel like I'm getting more done ... because I am. =)
I'm cooking: beans beans beans. This Friday we are having Supper for 6. It's something we do through our church. Three families get together three times over three or so months. We are hosting this time. I'm planning our menu and looking forward to spending time with these two great families.
I'm buying: presents. I have a problem. I am obsessed with Excel spreadsheets. I know I know! NERD ALERT! So the other day I made an excel spreadsheet with everyones (extended family included) birthdays. I'm always sending birthday presents or cards late and I HATE it. So hopefully this will help me be on time. So anyways Zulily.com (great deals!) had a few things I couldn't resist for a few of my nephews and neices and my own children too. I even got a couple of Christmas presents for the girls. =)
I'm thankful for: my husband. Last week I was not feeling well because of allergies and he was able to come home and help quite a bit! Thanks JAKE!
I'm creating: more spreadsheets....
I'm praying: for Jake's cousin Don. Don is in the hospital with pneumonia. He's on the mend! YAY!
I'm planning: to get this house in tip top shape before company comes Friday. And hopefully to get this school room organized!
I'm looking forward to: Friday with friends, the possibility of my mom coming this weekend and an IKEA trip on Saturday. We are hopefully going to figure out how to make our kitchen more kitchen-like. =)
A picture to share:

Sept. 2011

Thoughtful Thursday ~CONTINUED~ Our Homeschooling Journey ... So Far (Part 3)

 PART THREE

So that brings us to now. After I planned out the rest of this school year I realized that I needed to figure out next years curriculum before the new baby is born. Because I'm afraid like the last two times that I will be too overwhelmed by everything. I plan on starting in Sept. That means we will have a newborn, a 2 year old, a 4 year old and a 7 year old ...& a (still very much a puppy) dog and a kitty. I get scared just thinking about it. =) Okay. Not really but it sure did give me the motivation I needed to figure things out before hand. I don't want to cram the whole year into a few months like the last two times. I want to be able to have a bit more wiggle room. Be able to plan some field trips around our lessons. And just relax a little while we go through the school year. And hopefully NOT MOVE! The moving really gets me. I'm tired of it. But I'm also tired of not living in our OWN house ... living somewhere that we can't make our own ... but that's another story. =)


So I got online and started planning out the curriculum for 2nd Grade and Pre-K (because Madie will be doing WAY more this year). I figured I would just use the same workbooks we had been using. So I worked out the numbers in excel, calculated it all out and showed Jake my plan. My plan consisted of:

For Delia:
Bible Quest for Bible
Horizons 2nd Grade - Math, Phonics & Reading, Spelling & Vocab., & Penmanship.
Lifepacs 1st Grade - History & Geography & Science (Units 6-10)
Lifepacs 2nd Grade - History & Geography & Science (the whole set)
Draw Write Now for Art
Teach Yourself Piano for Music
and a long list of books to read-aloud.

For Madie:
Bible Quest for Bible
Horizons Preschool Kit
Draw Write Now for Art
and the same list of read-aloud books as Delia.

It basically consisted of a bunch of workbooks. I was okay with this until one day not that long ago I received a catalog from Sonlight in the mail. This catalog changed EVERYTHING! Sonlight is a Christian homeschool company that specializes in literature-based curriculum programs. I had seen their catalog before, had clicked around their site a few times but didn't actually read the information. All I saw was the price and knew there was NO way we could EVER use them.

This time it was different though. I practically read the catalog from cover to cover. And something clicked. I began to realize that a bunch of workbooks just wasn't the route I wanted to take any longer. I mentioned it to Jake and he agreed. So I dove in head first and began making a spreadsheet in excel laying everything out. Sonlight isn't a cheap curriculum so if we were going to do this I wanted to make sure I did it the cheapest way possible. Being a literature-based curriculum there are a lot of books involved which is why it is understandably more expensive. So I looked into how much it would cost to just buy the Instructor's Guides and get as many of the books from the library. I looked into how much it would cost to buy the books used or from another book store like Amazon or Half.com. I looked at everything. And in the end the cheapest option was obviously using the library. But I quickly realized how hard that would be. I would have to make sure I requested any books needed at just the right time so that they were available when I would need them. Plus I'd have to pack us all up and go get them. That didn't sound very appealing to me. I know it's going to be hard for a few months after the baby is born to go anywhere with out Jake's help. I can do it ... I'm just not sure that I want to.

So the next option was to look at buying the books somewhere else and low and behold it was actually more expensive to do it that way. So after more talking with Jake and showing him all my impressive nerdy spreadsheets we agreed to go with Sonlight. One thing that also helped us make our decision was the fact that Sonlight has a payment plan. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to afford to do it. I placed the order. I was so excited. I couldn't wait to get the box in the mail. Now I had Delia's 2nd grade year all planned out ... I mean literally. Everything is all scheduled out for you. So nice! And I just needed to merely plan out something for Madie's Pre-K. I really wanted to just get her the Pre-K curriculum through Sonlight but I don't know that I can spend that much money for preschool. Plus if I take the time now to plan something out for her I will be able to do it. I just have to get to planning!

After all that time spent figuring it out (we're talking days and days of crunching numbers, etc) I was sad that my work was done. I wanted to figure something else out. I wanted to keep planning and working out numbers. I clearly was not ready to stop "learning". I requested a TON of homeschooling books from the library. I only wish they had come before I had put in my order through Sonlight. Especially this particular book by Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Wise called The Well-Trained Mind A Guide to Classical Education at Home. I'm only on the third chapter and I'm so excited. My eyes have been opened and my heart and mind are ready to learn. I'm finally ready to absorb it. To learn and figure out this style of homeschooling. I just wish I had done it earlier.

While I'm sure Sonlight will be fine. I'm sort of wishing I had learned more about the classical approach before I jumped in and ordered it. I'm wondering now if I could have taken a more classical approach on my own. Sonlight isn't technically classical as they don't follow all of the rules of the Trivium but it is a lot closer to it than all those workbooks I was using. Which don't get me wrong, they worked and we did enjoy them. But I'm ready for a new approach.

We received our Sonlight box last week. It was exciting and fun. And I really liked most of what I saw. Some of our items were backordered so we are waiting on a few more things. Delia especially enjoyed seeing all the books. But I am not letting her read any too many of them yet. She just can't help herself though. She loves to read.

There are a few things I don't agree with though. I'm fairly certain I will be returning the books they required for Bible and using a different curriculum for Bible time. I think we'll use the same curriculum we used this year. The kids all really enjoyed it.

I may also be returning the Science portion that I bought. There are a few things in it that I don't agree with and would rather find something I don't have to worry about. But I will look through it some more once we get the rest of our books and I can see it all laid out.

Once I've finished reading "The Well-Trained Mind", I'll return to the topic of homeschooling and share what I've learned. Until then this is the end of our Homeschool Journey ... the end of the stories up until now at least. Our journey through homeschooling is only just beginning and I can't wait to see where it takes us and to share it all with you (whoever you are!)

Thoughtful Thursday ~CONTINUED~ Our Homeschooling Journey ... So Far (Part 2)

PART TWO

I knew I had to do something more for school. Delia was 5 after all. She should have more structure to her day and use that little brain of hers. So I looked online and found a few workbooks. I decided on Horizons Kindergarten Phonics & Reading Kit and Horizons Kindergarten Math Kit for Delia's first non-official "official" school year. I say "non-official-official school year" because she was only 5 and in the state of California you do not have to register as a homeschooler until your child is 6.


I had great plans to stretch the workbooks throughout the whole school year. Starting in September and ending in May or June. We sort of started in Sept. but remember I had a new baby, a 2 year old and a 5 year old and we had recently moved and everything was CRAZY!

Things started to settle down after the new year. I was able to focus a little better. Jude was sleeping through the night for longer periods and I think even in his own room at this point. So I sat down and scheduled out the rest of the school year. I had Delia doing 4 lessons a day. 2 of each subject. She excelled at it. She enjoyed it. She learned. And it was great. We were also going to the library at least once a week. She was reading on her own and reading ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! We made it through her Kindergarten year and celebrated by getting ice cream on the VERY LAST DAY! She had done all the lessons, was a better reader, and knew basic math.

In July we moved again. Jude was almost one. Madie was 3 and Delia was 6. I got online towards the middle of Summer and planned out the curriculum for the next year. FIRST GRADE! I couldn't believe I had a first grader. Since she had done well with Horizons I decided to use them again. So we got Horizons 1st Grade for Phonics & Reading, Spelling & Vocab., Penmanship & Math. We also got LifePacs 1st Grade Science (the first 5 units of 10) and History & Geography (also the first 5 units of 10). At first I wasn't that impressed with LifePac. I didn't really like the structure but as I started using it more and more it was easier and she really enjoyed it. Madie even enjoyed listening in and would answer questions too. So September rolled around and I got really sick. So we put off school for a week or so. We finally started in Mid-September. I was beyond frustrated. Delia and I tend to butt heads. She would fight me on things, cop an attitude, not listen, want to do it her own way ... I'm not entirely sure where she gets it from ... ;) Anyways, I was DONE! I was seriously contemplating putting her in school. I would NEVER do public school though. So I was looking into the private school here. I only just kinda looked. Because I already knew we wouldn't be able to afford it. And I knew that deep down it wasn't what I wanted to do. We continued doing school time but it was not very consistent. I had lost my zeal somewhere along the way. I had no motivation and was just plain unhappy with everything.

Looking back I think part of the reason was my hormones. Jude was still nursing and my body was trying to get back into balance again. Then I got pregnant for the fourth time in 7 years. Which may not seem like a lot but it is when it's your own body doing all the work and factor in that you are pregnant for 9 months each. It takes time baby.

Anyways. So here we were pregnant again ... a new house, a 1 year old, a 3 year old, a 6 year old, and a puppy. I had to figure out how to get around this new city. I was trying to get in a walk for the dog every day with three kids on our busy street. I was trying to do Pre-K with Madie and 1st Grade with Delia. And it just wasn't happening. I was tired from being pregnant. I was missing our old city (only 30ish minutes away). I was overwhelmed with housework, laundry, and KIDS! And feeling secluded and without any help.

And so we slacked majorly on our school time. We did it here and there. But mostly we just survived. Then like the last time things got better after the new year. I was able to focus more. I wasn't as tired because I was in my second trimester. I planned out the rest of the school year so that we could finish by early July. And we started doing school everyday. Delia was enjoying it. Madie was enjoying doing some school time. And I was enjoying it too.
(stay tuned for PART THREE)

Thoughtful Thursday ~ Our Homeschooling Journey ... So Far (Part 1)

Thoughtful Thursday ~ Is going to be a new addition to my blog. It will hopefully be a way to get me back on here and blogging more. I need a place to put down my thoughts and Facebook isn't really ideal because I can be quite long-winded. ;) And lately I have had a lot on my mind. So I plan on sharing it ... to whoever it is that actually reads this. This may or may not happen every week. It just depends on how much I have to say. For today I will be blabbing on and on about our homeschooling journey ... so far.

PART ONE:

Homeschooling is a wonderful thing and I enjoy it immensely. Jake and I agreed long before our first baby was born that we would school our children at home. And having only one child for almost 3 years made it fairly easy to instill the early learning skills. And honestly I didn't really realize I was teaching her anything until she had already learned her alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, had memorized a few books all by the age of 2.5. Around this age I started teaching her the letter sounds which she picked up just as quickly as everything else.

Then almost a month shy of turning three her little sister was born and things happened a little slower after that. We still worked on some stuff and read a lot of books but I wasn't actively teaching her anything new. This was also when we lived in the dreaded "moldy" house. We all got really sick and that didn't help things.

We did do some workbooks while she was 4 but not anything super consistent ... or at least I can not remember. Then at about 4.5 I bought a Hooked On Phonics set from Target. We worked everyday and she was reading before she turned 5 and hasn't looked back. At 6.5 years old and in 1st grade she is reading at a 5th grade level ... though she doesn't necessarily understand the words; she can read them. =) And that seems pretty good if you ask me.

Now that Delia was 5 I started to get a little bit more serious about homeschooling. I wish I had been more serious earlier but the circumstances didn't allow for that I suppose. There are so many homeschooling moms in my church that I have tons of help and information and answers to my many questions from ladies I look up to and who have been where I am and have homeschooled their children (some through high school) ... and have done it well. So I talked to a few of them. Got a bit of advice and couldn't grasp any of it! I was SO not ready to learn about ALL the different styles of homeschooling. I just could not wrap my head around it. It was all so overwhelming.

I can remember borrowing a book and barely glancing through it because it was so overwhelming. I didn't know where to begin. I didn't know what I was reading. There were words I had never heard of before. "Trivium" was one of them. "Classical" was obviously one I'd heard but without looking into it I judged it and assumed it was old and didn't see why I would use it. In my sleep deprived mind I couldn't figure it out. So I didn't.

Keep in mind that at this point we had moved every year or less (and still have). This greatly impacts how things get done and every time you move it messes up the whole equilibrium of your house. I think I've been behind on laundry for the last 3 houses ... but that's another story.

Less than a month after we had moved for the 11th time in 7 years Jude was born. Madie was 26 months. It was her 3rd move. Delia was 5. It was her 7th move. I never really felt like we moved into that house. In fact I was so stressed about it that I had to go in for monitoring because my blood pressure was high and normally it is quite low. I realized why my blood pressure was high later after the stress put me into labor 3 days early. But again. That is another story.

(stay tuned for PART TWO)