Happy Birthday to Zachary!!!

Zachary turns four today. :)

This last year with Zachy has been so much fun. He's beginning to develop his personality, & become his own little self. It turns out he's extremely sensitive. (i never would have thought that before). He loves quiet cuddle time with me, & likes to have serious talks -- and loves to tell stories. But it takes him awhile to get out exactly what he wants to say. (hmmm sounds like me). He doesn't like to be teased, or to wrestle too much. But he's all boy, and loves to tease & has a silly sense of humor. :)

UPDATE: LOL! just went back & read this. it sounds like a "personals" add. :)

"sweet senstive SWM, who enjoys serious talks and cuddle time with Mommy seeks SWF... "

More Legal Stuff regarding homeschool

okay, i know i've not been posting for ages, & now you're probably drowning in my posts, but a lot of you have been asking about what's going on w/the homeschool laws in California. So, here's the latest email I got from the Homeschool Legal Defense Association:

California : Court Filings Complete

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends,

On May 19 all the filings of the legal briefs to re-hear the case In re Rachel L. were completed.

The Court of Appeal, which made the fateful decision on February 28, 2008 to declare all homeschooling illegal unless the parent is a certified teacher, will now begin the process of considering the arguments. The current schedule anticipates oral arguments to begin this June.

HSLDA has been at the forefront of the process to defend the right to homeschool in California and across the country. In this case, we were able to successfully help Gary Kreep of the U.S. Justice Foundation, who represents the father at the center of this case, Mr. L., to prepare the arguments to grant the petition for re-hearing. When the Court of Appeal granted the petition for rehearing, the original opinion was vacated and no longer has any legal effect.
Furthermore, in the latest round of filings, we have also been able to provide substantial assistance to the Alliance Defense Fund, which is partnering with the U.S. Justice Foundation in order to make the strongest argument possible to preserve homeschool freedom in California . So much is at stake, and all parties involved have shared their unique perspective to present the best case possible.

HSLDA has also filed a friend-of-the-court brief in conjunction with Focus on the Family and Family Protection Ministries to show the benefits of a home education. These arguments draw on the extensive development of homeschooling and the successful track record of parents educating their children at home.

Also, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has filed a brief in conjunction with the Attorney General of California, which supports a parent’s right to homeschool. Their brief begins with this statement: “Recognizing that home-schooling has a long and positive history in California and across the nation, the State of California provides a broad statutory framework that authorizes and regulates the practice.” In other words, the Governor and Attorney General are strongly arguing for no changes to the current law. To read the brief click here.

While we do not know what the court will decide, you can be confident that hundreds of hours were spent by many different organizations to defend your right to homeschool.
We hope and pray for a successful outcome in this case.

Sincerely,
J. Michael Smith
HSLDA President

Our New School

Well, we just finished a meeting with the principal of the new home school. She really has great plans for this school! She's eager to let parents keep their independence, but give as much support and resources as are available. If I wanted to, I could send my kids to school from 9-2, three days a week. Or i could never set foot in the school, and do whatever I choose. I can have my kids do assessment testing. or not. I can use only their curriculum. Or whatever I choose.

They'd like to offer PE - like basketball, or swing dancing, or jazzercize (and get this! the parents can do it too! --for FREE!). And electives, like kindermusic (again, for FREE!), or language, or pottery, and science experiments, and lots of hands-on exploration & field trips.

This is their first time to try this, so i'm sure it will have some kinks, but the heart of what they would like to do with the school sounds really great! So i'll be signing the kids up to begin next August! YAY!

And if worse comes to worse -- or is it: "worst comes to worst" --or "worse comes to worst?" or "worst comes to worts?" ... whatever.... if it all goes bad, I can just withdrawl the kids, & i've lost nothing. sounds like a good deal to me. :)

oh.. and one more interesting tidbit... ANYBODY can enroll in this school --anywhere in the country. isn't that interesting?

a serendipitous misfourtune

You would think, that because I live in a beach town, I go to the beach all the time. But the unfortuante thing about *living* in a vacation area is that you're not vacationing. In the ten and a half years that I've lived here, I've probably been to the beach less than twenty times. Mainly because it's a pain to deal with four kids & all their stuff & all the sand they come home with. Again, not a big deal when you're vacationing, but a very big deal when you have a day's worth of To Do's, to do. I *have* decided, however that *this* summer, i'll actually spend some time at the beach. Now that my kids are a little older & can take care of themselves a little more, I think it will be easier to venture out.

So anyway.... yesterday, just as I was sitting down to do school with the kids, when my mom (who's in town for awhile) called to tell me that she was at the beach & had locked her keys in the car. So I loaded up all the kids & we ran out the door, in whatever we were wearing, to pick her up. Instead of going home, she decided to have a tow truck come unlock the car. As she was talking to them on the phone, we drove to starbucks & picked up some yummy drinks, & then drove back to the beach to wait for the tow-guy, who was about an hour away.

While we waited, kids went and splashed in the waves, - zachy & evy stripped down to their undies, & Chloe wearing a very serious black dress with fur trim - what a sight! And Mom and I forgot about all of the many things we had to do that day, and relished the moment. What a special time, for us, being forced to sip starbucks on the beach, & enjoy eachother's company. :)

I definately need to make it a point to go to the beach more often.

finally something interesting -or- Public Home School?

I don't know how it is in the rest of the country/world, but here in our city, the schools get paid for each day that each child attends. So if a child is sick, or goes away on vacation, the school doesn't get paid. Becuase our state government is financially irresponsible, money is really tight for the local schools. Some of them have gone so far as to ask parents to pay them out of their own pockets if their child is going to be absent for an extended amount of time.

Many parents are dissatisfied with the public school system and have chosen alternative "non-public" methods of schooling (such as private or homeschool). Because students equal money to the local schools, the school system is losing money with each child that goes somewhere else. So they came up with this great idea to keep students in their district: "If they want to home school, we'll make it part of the school system, so we can still make money!"

So our city is now offering a "public home school." If we join the school next year, I will still be teaching my kids at home, but i'll get a mentor teacher who will help me plan & set goals each month. There will be optional classes three days a week (including foreign language, art, & some staples: math, science etc). I could do as much or as little of those as I would like. And, I'm told that I can use whatever curriculum i choose!

This is all very exciting to me, because i really like to be able to choose *how* my kids do school, but I feel like i'm drowning in the world of homeschool, and could really use some extra (free!) classes for my kids to be involved in, as well as someone to coach me through it all. This feels like the best of both worlds. I'm a little leary, feeling like this is too good to be true, and there must be some sort of catch, but assuming everything is as good as it sounds, I think i'll enroll my kids for this coming fall! yay!

stay tuned

Whoa! I just noticed that my last post was in APRIL! my deepest apologies to all of my regular reader. I'm not actually going to say anything interesting right now, either. I'm just going to say, I'll say something interesting soon. :)

Congratulations to Gideon!

I love my kids' gymnastics class! Their coach works them hard from the second they walk in to the gym, to the second they leave. he has them doing push ups and chin ups and hand stands and cartwheels and all sorts of stuff. At the end of every class, when they're worn out and exhausted, he has them climb a rope to the top of the gym. We've been going for a couple months now, but neither of the kids could get to the top, to ring the bell. They're always so close, but they quit right before they make it. Every day after gymnastics, i take the kids to get $1 chicken sandwiches at Jack In The Box. So last week, I told Chloe and Gideon that if they rang the bell, they could get **whatever they wanted** at JITB. This never happens, because if it did, i'd be broke. So... they both tried with all their might. Chloe got *so* close, but didn't quite make it. But Gideon, after much struggling, MADE IT TO THE TOP!!! Yay, Gideon!! so we went to JITB and celebrated with a strawberry milkshake, curly fries, and two tacos (which he didn't eat beacause they were too spicy).

Only One Did That For Me

Okay this is my new favorite song. LOVE IT!!! it supposed to be a christmas song, but i think it works all year round.

don't necessarily love the video. I think it takess away from the words. so maybe you can close your eyes while you listen or something. :)



How Many Kings by Downhere

Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger

Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliness hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for?

Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior
All that we have whether costly or meek
Because we believe
Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer
Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?
It’s who we’ve waited for

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me
All for me
All for you
All for me

More Pics

my friend asked me to take some pics of Lindsey's sister, so she could have matching sets on her wall. here are a few of my favorites. :)

Can you tell I like black and white? I have 'em all in color as well... just like these better.

ber mam idoo Not wot too bo skool

The other day, Chloe wrote me a note informing me that she didn't want to do school that day. So, like the good teacher that i am, i showed her how to write it correctly. Then I had her trace what I wrote. Then copy it. Then I made her write it two more times, until she could do the proper spelling without looking.

Hey, if she's gonna be writing me notes about not wanting to do school, she's going to write them correctly! :)

I'm such a mean mom. >:)

poor evy

So our family has started a sunday evening tradition of going up to a cliff over the ocean & watching the sunset. It's always beautiful & peaceful. But every day at the end, when the very last little drop of sun disappears behind the mountains, Evy busts into tears because she can't see the sun anymore. it's just so dang cute! :)

Checking In

Lots going on in my life right now, which is why i haven't had much time to post. Kinda funny...when i have lots of time to write, there's nothing exciting to talk about. but when i have lots to tell you about, there's not time. :)

So... our friends who are going to England as missionaries have been delayed, so they've come to live in our house, until they can get their visas in order. I've really enjoyed this whole communal living thing. :) They have 2 little girls, 5 and 2; and all the kids just love playing together. And Shelley and I have someone to keep eachother company while we do the housework. Then in the evening, after all the kids are in bed, we hang out & play games. so fun! :) But until they leave, i'm just not going to have as much time on the computer.

In other news, we went to Yosemite last weekend & had a blast. We spent 6 hours hiking 4.5 miles up (& down) a waterfall. it was a LOT of work & got a bit dangerous in a few places, but it was SO fun!! Most impressive, is Zachary who did all that hiking w/out anyone carrying him! the next day, he informed us that he didn't want to do it again, because his "feet just got so tired, and I was so sweaty" :)

Here's a picture of us, after hiking 1 mile to the bottom of the waterfall, before starting the BIG hike. See how we all look happy and energeitc? :)

We took a break about half-way through our hike. This waterfall is just above the one that we were hiking to.
Here it is! vernal waterfall! If you look closely, you can see the double rainbow at the bottom. :)

More pictures to come. :)

This weekend, i'm going to a Ladies' retreat at church. i'm looking forward to that. I always enjoy getting away & having time to myself. I'm taking a car full of 4 other women, so we should have lots of fun. :)

And on the church subject, we've started anther class, going through the book, "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality" by Peter Scazzero. The title makes me cringe, but i think it's going to be really good.

In addition to all that, Mom's planning to come back next Friday. She's feeling like she needs to be here to help take care of Grandma. She's planning to stay here for several weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing her again. :)

That's about it everything, in a nutshell. Some day my life will slow down a little more, & i'll have the time to check all of your blogs, & update this one more frequently. :)