Confession...

Hello faithful readers :-) I realize I have not made a post since the time I made a goal to start blogging more! But, I am so glad to know that you all are still here!

I had a realization the other day that I wanted to share. I am hoping I might get some feedback from you.

For the past ten years I have been reading books, magazines, and blogs about how we need to teach our children to do work around the house, even if their work takes longer and isn't done as ours would be. A few weeks ago I realized that I am one of those Mom's that won't let their kids do any work around the house because it takes too long and it never gets done "the right way". The problem is... I can't do everything. Therefore, the chores aren't getting done at all. I can't even begin to tell you how many different chore charts and schedule's that I have started that only lasted a few days (or hours). I usually give up because I get tired of the constant reminding and  nagging I have to do every day. I know this inconsistancy is not good for my kiddos.

One of my goals for homeschooling is to teach my children life skills. Right now they are learning they can put things off until they get REALLY bad and then have a marathon cleaning day. I want our cleaning schedule to be more consistent than this. I would like for everyone to have their own jobs that need to be done daily and then have additional jobs that they can do to earn money. That is so much easier said than done for me!

I have a couple of specific questions that I am struggling with.

• How much should a child be responsible for at each age? (My kids are 9,7, and almost 5)
• Should the same child be responsible for the same job every day or should the jobs rotate?
• How do you stay consistant without nagging all day?

I know blogs typically offer advice on what works for the author, but in this case the author is asking advice on what works for everybody else! Even though most of you have children who are younger than mine I am hoping you have ideas about how you are going to handle chores in the future or what your parents did when you were young.

I know that if I don't get a handle on this now they will be teenagers before I know it and then I will be in even more trouble!

First Day of School 2012-2013

Is anyone still there???

I am not sure if anyone is still following my blog or not, it must have been 2 years since my last post. I would love to get this thing going again. There are so many great reasons to blog! I would love to use the blog to document our homeschool adventure.

I am going to start with my monthly goals. I have seen what my friend Keri Ronk has accomplished by doing this and I think it is a great idea. I wrote down my goals for March, but I had no one to hold me accountable. Here they were:

1. Read the book of Matthew everyday. Fail. I know I need to better with this.

2. Organize homeschool books and papers. Success! They were a mess too.

3. Organize filing cabinet. Fail. It has been a mess for years, why fix it now?

4. Visit somewhere on Okinawa that I have never been. Success! Derek and I ate at a new restaurant and it was delishus. (yes mother I know that is spelled wrong!)

5. Go running three times a week. Fail. I hate running.

6. Pray more for our family and our future. Success! But I know I could always be praying more.

7. Eat a healthy breakfast everyday. Fail. I need to do a better job of getting all of us breakfast in the morning

8. Do not turn any late assignments for school. Unfortunately Fail. I was late posting a couple of my weekly discussions.

Goals for April

1. Read the book of Mark everyday for the rest of the month.

2. Keep praying, specifically for my children and their future

3. Visit a new place on Okinawa.

4. Stick with my diet and exercise.

5. Make lists and begin preparing for our move.

6. Post two more times on the blog.

7. Do not turn in any late assignments for school.

8. Do a better job of planning weekly for homeschool lessons.

9. Accomplish at least half of these goals.

If there is anyone still out there please let me know!

Update

I wanted to give everyone a family update. I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything. I really would like to make blogging more of a habit.

Some of you already know that Danielle has been to the doctors many times in the last few months, she even has a short stay in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. It started back in February when she had her first UTI, after she had another one in June we had some tests done. We found out that she has kidney reflux, which is when some of the urine goes back into the kidneys from the bladder. She is a stage 3 out of 5, we are praying that this problem starts to fix itself so that she will not have to have surgery. She will be on a low dose of antibiotics until the problem is fixed; they will also continue to monitor her through ultrasounds and eventually another VCUG (injecting dye into her kidneys and taking an x-ray) Her hospital stay was because of bronciolitis, the same thing she had when she was just a couple of months old. They admitted her because her oxygen levels were low. She isn't very fond of doctors anymore, but she always puts on a brave face. One time on our way to the hospital she told me she didn't want to feel better anymore, because she really didn't want to go back. It is heartbreaking to see your child going through this, but I have faith that God will get us through it.

Brandon made it through the first grade and now we are officially homeschoolers. I plan to start blogging more about this adventure. I am really excited, and nervous, to get started. I really believe he will benefit from the one on one instruction that he cannot get in public school. Brandon is also facing surgery! He will have his tonsils and adniods "pulled out" (as he put it) on the 18th of August. The doc wanted to schedule it on the 11th, which is his birthday, but I just couldn't let that happen. He only turns 7 once. The dr. said we could just celebrate it the week before, I think he was only thinking about what worked best for his schedule! Brandon is pretty nervous, but he knows Caidence recovered and he will too.

Caidence is growing up. Derek and I have noticed how tall she has gotten lately. I can't believe she is going to be a Kindergardener. We have decided to send her to school so that I can step into homeschooling slowly. If everything goes well, and I pray that is does, we will homeschool her the following year as well. A part of me really wants to keep her home this year too.

Derek and I are doing well. He has been gone a lot since we have been here, but we really enjoy the time that he is here. We were able to go out on Saturday, some of our church friends kept the kids for us so we could have a date night. He will be leaving for Yuma, AZ in September. He is going to be going through a weapons course. He is going to leave about a week early so he can go back and visit family in PA. I know he would really like to make it back to North Carolina also, he wants to see our friends from Pleasant Acres and hear a sermon from Pastor Scott. (and see my mom) My mom is planning on coming out to Japan while he is gone on his trip to the states, she is bringing my Grandma with her. The kids and I are really excited about their visit, we can't wait to show them around Okinawa.

Sorry about the lack of pictures. My camera isn't working too well, and I haven't been taking many pictures. I really need to get another one, I guess my birthday is coming up!

???

OH NO... All of the blogs that I follow are gone. Did this happen to anyone else? Could all of my blogger friends send me their links again.

http://www.whattoexpect.com/healthyhome

I found this link to a What to Expect Guide to a Healthy Home. I thought some of you might find it helpful. It is while supplies last.

Silly Kids

I took the first picture, and then they got ahold of the camera!!

Who does this kid think he is?

Peek-a-boo... I think she was trying to make a silly face

Mischevious.

Our visit to IE Shema

The kids and I went up to see Derek on his only day off. We had a lot of fun, we took a ferry over and went over to the airfield where Derek and "his" marines are laying mat.

This picture was taken by Derek during one of his twelve hour (or more) days.

Here he is with the kids sitting on some of the matting that they have already lifted up. Danielle was sleeping in the car. We had to get up early to make the first ferry across.

Then we went down to see some caves. There were a lot of good photo opps there!

We also went to the memorial service for Ernie Pyle (who was from Indiana) He was a journalist during the war and was shot by a Japanese sniper.

This is the mayor and another VIP from IE Shema, they are bowing to show respect. But... I have heard that the mayor wants this land back from the American Legion!

I just accidently deleted a picture of some cliffs that we saw. Sometimes this blogger thing is frustrating. I can't put it back because it will go to the top of the post. Errr

Anyway. This is Danielle's cow! We had just seen some on a farm and when we were walking past this huge rock Danielle said "COW!"

Danielle was not into pictures today...