Hands Free Mom

Last week, the boys and I took a trip to California. It was the first time we flew there for a spring break and it was a blast! However, details of our trip will come in a future post.

I realized as I went through the airport that it was the first time my hands were totally free as we traveled. Connor and Brody are both growing up so fast and were extremely responsible on the trip. They almost packed all by themselves, they carried their own booster seats, and even insisted on carting around my backpack the whole way. After we checked in our bags, I literally had only my purse. It was such a great feeling and I loved seeing my boys rise up to being independent and even to serving me in that way. I was really on Cloud 9, then we got to Oakland.

While we were sitting at the gate waiting to board munching down some Annie's pretzels in the airport, I found I could not take my eyes off a young man and his parents seated directly across from us. He was probably about 15 and loved football, trust me, I could tell. It dawned on me how fast it will come for me to be sitting somewhere with teenagers! It made me a little sad in a way. It seemed like just yesterday I was in an airport struggling my way through with two little ones in car seats and diapers watching a mom with older kids, thinking how much easier it would be one day. It was an incredibly surreal moment for me.

So, I came down from Cloud 9 and remained a little stunned (for lack of a better word) for a while. Luckily, it didn't last too long. I decided to just enjoy the moment I was in appreciate this stage of parenting without dwelling on the future....sounds funny, huh? Don't we normally dwell on the past? I know the future will come fast enough and one day before I know it one of them will be driving me to the airport! I want to look forward to it, and embrace the process God has designed. I love being a mom, I can't imagine not having them around all day every day, but I am raising adults and that is what I pray they become; adults who can get themselves through an airport one day, and maybe help someone along the way. I have to admit, it is looking great so far!

Waiting to go through security with all the "stuff"!

They wouldn't even let me help them carry them up two flights of stairs! The escalators were not working anymore and without the stroller, we can't use the elevator anymore!

Hanging out in an airport....I just LOVE the looks on their faces in this picture!

The Apple Pie Experience

One of the many things I love about our co op is that Connor and Brody are exposed to so many things that I would most likely not do on our own! A prime example of this was Apple Pie Day that took place last week. For our community service project one of the moms had the idea for the kids to work together to make apple pies to take to "Apple Pie Day" at the capital. The purpose of this day is for homeschoolers to gather at the capital to show our desire for freedom in home education and to take each member of legislature an apple pie. I had never been before and wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a great day. The event is sponsored by OCEAN Network which we are a member of, and who works hard to protect homeschooling freedom here in Oregon. It started on our regular co op day which was Wednesday. My friend Kim gave a great class and presentation on the basics of the process a bill takes through the House of Representatives, the Senate and on to the Governor. Then we broke the kids up into groups. There were three groups of pie makers...

Connor went with the kids that worked on the dough...

Brody got to be an apple slicer!

When they weren't in the kitchen working, they were busy writing letters to their Representatives and Senators. I am pretty impressed that Connor can tell you the names of the people holding those titles in our district. I couldn't do that before last Wednesday! They told them a little bit about themselves, something they like about homeschooling, and asked them to support our freedom that we currently enjoy. It was such a great thing and I am grateful to my friends Tera and Kim for organizing it all! Then the next day we were off to the capital! We went with our friends Kim, Sam, and Grace. We didn't have much to do until our tour time, but we had fun. The tour included a walk up over 100 stairs to the top of the capital which Brody decided not to do. I stayed with him, and luckily Kim took Connor with them, because he was thrilled! Older homeschooled kids had an opportunity to be volunteer pages for the day and a lot of people had appointments with their representatives and senators, which we just might do next time. Then there was a rally at 12:00 which included children performing and a special speaker that is with HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) and it was very informative and encouraging!

I tried so hard to get the golden man in the shot...oh well, the kids are much cuter anyway!

I don't know how many people were there, but it was a lot! Here is just a piece of the crowd that we were in...what a great thing! The rain even held off for us!

Oh....and there were baskets and baskets of the yummiest, juiciest apples;) Here is Connor's journal entry about the whole thing....

For Apple Pie Day, we went to the capital! There, we went (or I went) to the top of the building! That was really cool. We learned how a law is made and about the legislature. OCEAN Network supports homeschooling. If someone wants a law, a bill is taken to the House of Representatives. If it passes it goes to the Senate. From there, it goes to the Governor. The Governor can like, or dislike, and it will pass either way. If the Governor hates it, he or she can veto it and it goes through a process I don't know about. Our trip to the capital was really fun!

Turns out all this interested Connor a great deal and now he even wants to participate in an event coming up in May called Teen Pact. They offer a one day "class" for 8-12 year olds where they can learn more about the legislative process, which I am looking into!

Ugghhh....the "classics"

After reading the book, "A Thomas Jefferson Education", I was impacted in a number of ways. One of those was an encouragement to continue to pursue my own education particularly in one area. I really want my kids to be thinkers. I want them to read or learn something and be able to discuss it rather than "parrot" back some details. In order to teach that, I have to learn to do that myself to be able to teach them and participate with them. I am such a classic example of a "typical" public education. I didn't even take advantage of the education I did receive. I memorized what they told me to, read really fast, and just happened to be a great test taker (then forgot all those pesky little details)! I was real good at finding the "answers" and got great grades all through school. Every day as I teach my kids I am embarrassed at what I didn't retain, but excited to be learning along with them. Part of me thinks that every almost 40 year old mom should take an elementary history class;) So...I threw the idea of a book club out to some friends and we have quite the little group going. We have committed to pick books from the reading list and get together once a month to discuss these books. We just finished "A Tale of Two Cities" and I will admit, it was quite painful for me. I read it out of duty and accountability more than desire, but it turned out to be a great experience for me. I have to re-train my brain as I read and learn and it was a good first step. We had some great discussions and it made it worthwhile. Our next assignment is "Jane Eyre" and although I was dreading that a little bit as well, I am loving it so far! I also realized that as much as I embrace most of the new technology, I just can't get excited reading a book on screen yet. I had to go get the hard copy after downloading it for free to two different apps. I thought it would be so convenient, but it just isn't the same. Bryan teases me because he reminds me how much I was opposed to the digital camera saying that I would never make that switch;)