Kate & Wynn @ 5 & 3

"I'm so excited to use my new toothbrush!" -Kate
"My new toothbrush is so cool! I really love it." -Edwin
Things my kids actually said after visiting the dentist...

Kate and Edwin are growing so fast. Here are a few favorite facts and moments of the past couple months! (In no particular order)

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KATE -- 5 YEARS 4 MONTHS

Kate's favorite colors are red and dark pink. Her favorite animals are elephants, and her favorite number is five (like her age). She told me her favorite shirt is the whale shirt, and her favorite shoes are her light up tennis shoes. :) But that's evolved over the last couple months and her all-time favorite shirt is actually a long sleeve pink plaid one. She would wear it every single day if she could. 

Kate loves being in primary and moves to the CTR 5 class in January! I am loving her helpful and kind spirit as she is getting a little older. She is spunky and fun, and full of sass, and would rather pretend that she is a ninja than a princess.

Kate's favorite movie is The Land Before Time. She loves drawing dinosaurs and pretends to be one whenever she can. When she compiles a stack of books to read, there is always at least one dinosaur book included. Kate says "dino-STOR" instead of dinoSAUR and I think it's really cute! Her favorite type of dinosaur is a pterodactyl. :)

Kate has now been practicing gymnastics since she was three. (See cute throwback video below!)

She loves getting to do more at her gym now with Coach Kelsey. :) It has become a really great outlet for her energy and creativity. Kate is having a little problem with heights, but her Coach is very patient and encourages Kate to try and push herself a little bit more each week. I love watching Kate participate, run laps, and learn new skills.

trampoline jumping!

Kate is LOVING homeschool. I asked her recently if she would rather go to regular school (there's a cute one in our neighborhood we pass often and she sees the kids playing on the playground at recess) and she was like, "no way!" She is getting really good at typing out letters. We are learning the difference between capitals and lower case. She got to print out her typing a couple weeks ago and practice tracing all the letters by hand. :) I love capturing her genuine happiness while learning.  She just works away happily while I am her paparazzi. ;) 

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EDWIN -- 3 YEARS 9 MONTHS

Edwin's favorite colors are green and blue. He said his favorite shirt is his Lightning McQueen shirt and his favorite shoes are his new tennies. But in the last couple months the favorite shirt has changed to his bicycle shirt. It is a comfy long-sleeve tan shirt with red bicycles all over it. He is obsessed! Edwin says "AM-inals" instead of animals. ;) I love it! Edwin told me that when he grows up he wants to be an ambulance guy so that he can help people. He wants me to help drive the ambulance. <3 o:p="">

Such a typical Edwin face ^^ :D hahaha

Edwin tells me his favorite number is three, because he is three. He loves to RUN and is quite fast. He likes dinosaurs and baby elephants. His favorite colors are blue and green. He enjoys snuggles and giving hugs and kisses. Edwin's favorite food is definitely still pickles. He also LOVES yogurts, sauces like ketchup and ranch dressing, red hot candies, sugar of any kind, and butterscotch chips. (Thankfully not all mixed together.)

Edwin just recently started gymnastics and after a few weeks of some separation anxiety we were able to find a good day and time that works for him! He now LOVES going to class, and is getting really comfortable with his Coach. It has made me so happy for him and proud to see that his confidence is growing!

Edwin on the zip line ^^

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Kate and Edwin have been REALLY excited about Christmas. They decorated our tree in about 3 minutes flat.

Kate's favorite person currently is their cousin AnnMarie. She comes over occasionally and the kids get to play with her every week at Nonna and Papa's house. AnnMarie helped decorate the taller parts of our tree under Kate's direction and supervision. ;)

Kate and Jon placed the star on top of the tree together using epic team work.

Edwin has been a great "helper" by re-arranging the tree on a daily basis...

I just love watching him. He has so much personality! Also just a sweet, endearing, lovable innocence. He tells me he is not a baby anymore, but he'll really be my baby forever.

We're looking forward to celebrating our Savior's birth this weekend and are very excited for new adventures, favorites, and milestones 2018 will bring!

Monterey Bay

This past week we went on our first homeschool field trip to Monterey!

I loved watching the kids discover the ocean and all the life it holds. Such an amazing beauty.

Through our charter school, they will occasionally offer group field trips. There is always something happening, and we can opt in or out anytime. There are limits to the number of people that can go, so we kind of have to act fast when one opens up for registration, but when I saw the posting for a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium I was like, "heck yes!" I hadn't been since I was a kid, but I remembered LOVING it. And, the greatest part of being part of the charter homeschool community is that our admission was FREE because it was included as part of the school funds for the year! All we had to do was drive ourselves down there (a feat in itself, let me tell you...) but we were able to be in the comfort of our own car, we could be on our own timeline (except for where we checked in as a group) and we could stay as long as we wanted and travel home at our own pace! Definitely worth it.

It's a pretty long drive, being in the South Bay. (3-4 hours depending on traffic), so my mom came with us while Jon was at work. :) We were so glad to have Gram share the day out in Monterey!

It was a GORGEOUS morning in the Bay Area! I love living just a couple hours from the Pacific Ocean.

Edwin was having a lot more fun than he looks. ;) He's making that zoned out face on purpose. I'm not sure why he wouldn't smile, but we laughed about it right after this picture was taken:

The Aquarium has GROWN since I was a kid. I mean, it's been like 20 years since I was there... but still.

They have an "Ocean's Edge" display building complete with animals and creatures that live close to--you guessed it--the EDGE of the ocean near the shore. This would be tidepools, reef dwelling animals, kelp forest fishes, and birds. The next building over has the "Deep Ocean" fishes and animal life (jellies, larger schools, and tentacled creatures). They also had a whole "Baja California" display highlighting tropical fishes and even some land animal life in Mexico (desert tortoise, tarantulas, and a really cool snake that I can't remember the name of).

When we entered the aquarium, the first animals we checked out were the otters. :) :)

This was one of my favorite parts. I let the kids watch the sea otters swim as long as they wanted. They got to be right up at the glass with the otters twisting, turning, diving, and swimming in front of them!

Oh my gosh, hearing their giggles and excitement was the best! I loved that I could watch the otters be adorable, and ALSO see Kate and Edwin's faces reflected in the glass. :) I could have stayed there all day.

Next, we checked out the touchable tide pools:

Edwin was way more into this than Kate was, which surprised me! He doesn't always like to get messy, but he is more interested in details and how things work than Kate is. We got to see hermit crabs, get our fingers hugged by a sea urchin, and play with kelp! We also checked out a decorator crab (they camouflage themselves with bits of sea grass and such to stay away from predators on the ocean floor) and abalone.

The best part of starting here in the Ocean's Edge building was getting to see how the aquarium works with the natural ocean it's built on top of. Pipes bring water in from the ocean and filter it right back out, so these rescue animals and creatures are getting nutrients and environments as close to their natural habitat as possible while they are studied.

Some HUGE tanks were in this section of the aquarium, showing tall forests of seaweed and the fishes and sharks that hang out there. Some of these guys were REALLY big. I was surprised.

One of my favorite parts was a glass "tunnel" that a wave would crash over every minute or so. It was incredible to stand underneath and watch the water burst between you and the sunlight!

I loved how hands-on much of the aquarium was. So kid friendly! and I don't think I've ever been so up close to some of these fishes and creatures. They even have little bubble glass sections in some of the displays that you can walk right under and see animals like puffins and penguins.

By far the coolest experience for me personally was getting to touch the Bat Rays. I did not expect them to have much personality and sort of just meandered by when we entered the tide pool area, but HOLY COW. They were the cutest and most playful little things! We got to pet their fins, and when they saw us walk up to the edge they would glide by with the tips of their wings out of the water, and one of them even came up and poked his nose out of the water at me to give my fingers a kiss! We definitely had a connection. ;) It was incredible! I mean, I'm already pretty set on my patronus, but I think that maybe in another life I might have been a Bat Ray. New favorite sea creature for sure.

When we had spent a good couple of hours at the Ocean's Edge, we switched gears and headed over to The Open Sea exhibit. When you first walk in to this area, you are directly underneath a gigantic school of fish circling above you. Somehow Kate timed it just right to run ahead of us and be the only one walking in, so I was able to catch this quick picture. I just LOVED it. Her genuine awe, and wonder at the beauty of the ocean in a way she had never seen before was just so cool.

There was a darkened corridor of jellyfish tanks of ALL sizes. They were just fascinating to watch! Kate especially loved the window where you could turn off the black light and see how transparent the baby jellyfishes really are in the ocean. We are so lucky to be able to see them up close this way in all their amazing detail!

The kids each got to pick out one small toy at the gift shop (they each picked a spinning light up wand) and we were able to see the puffins be fed. I loved watching them dive into the water! It was hard to get good pictures because these guys move so fast.

There was a trainer there explaining how they feed the puffins and what sort of diet they prefer. We got to ask questions afterward. Edwin loved it! I took some videos but they are too big to upload.

The kids also got to each color their own fish on a cool touch-screen station, which was then uploaded to a virtual fish tank. They got to watch their creations swim around together!

Ok, last but not least, THIS TANK. It was the hugest tank of water I have ever seen. I don't even know how many thousands of gallons it must have held. And pictures cannot do it justice. When you come around the corner, it takes up the WHOLE WALL. I couldn't even fit it in one picture. It is immense. and Stunning. I literally gasped.

There was a school of fish circling at the top, and other huge fish and creatures that would swim around and occasionally interrupt the flow of circling traffic. It was amazing to see the group break apart and then come right back together.

Being here at the aquarium was such a spiritually humbling experience. I was so reverenced by the beauty of the ocean and the animals that are in this world and we don't get to experience like this every day. There is so much mystery and incredible power in these creations of our Heavenly Father. This world is amazing.

I am incredibly grateful for the work and time put in by these volunteers and scientists who have brought together the Aquarium for us to come and be part of with such ease. We learned about animal life in the ocean and how to take better care of our Earth. It was life-changing for me, and I hope for Kate and Edwin too.

When I asked them questions about our field trip, here is what they said:

Where did we go?
Kate: To the 'quarium.
What do they have at the aquarium?
Kate: Animals! Penguins and fishies, and some other animals.
Edwin: Sharks, and lizards! And other colored fish!
Kate: There's otters there, and bat rays! And at the aquarium they had a spider!
Edwin: Yeah, it was a baby spider--he was so fuzzy.
Kate: And I saw a snake, and his skin had come off inside out and was sitting on a rock, and he had new brown skin.
Edwin: Yeah, and there's a little tunnel of creatures that were just to look at.
Kate: And the aquarium has crabs.
Edwin: Yeah, and we use two fingers to pet softly. Not to pinch. That would hurt them. We have to pet them to be soft.
Kate: And they have water that comes in from the ocean and then goes back out! There's a little pipe.
Edwin: The anemones like to kiss you a lot!
Do you remember what they call a group of puffins?
The kids didn't remember. But it's called a circus ;)

They had so much fun and were worn out on the way home!

Much needed. Thanks, DePaolas!

We're so grateful for these awesome homeschool experiences and can't wait to go back again!

Homeschool

Is it the end of September already?? Wow!

So our Year of Learning is going incredibly well. Not at all because we have it all together (haha) but because we are sincerely learning a TON this year. In so many ways and in all areas.

In the meantime, you may have noticed that my regular blogging has really fallen by the wayside. It's not a bad thing, just a shifting in time management and priorities. :) I hope to keep going, because I love it! It's a great way to journal about our year as a family. But it seems like once a month or so is all I can do for now. I'm good with that.

It's been really important to me to get a blog post out there about our homeschool journey so far. I've been asked a lot of questions about what we're doing, and how we do it, etc.

Kate just turned 5 in August which means she is *officially* school age! Hooray!

We have gone back and forth for years about how or where we would do school for our kids. Public? Private? Charter? Homeschool? With the help of my older sister who homeschools (thank GOODNESS for her as a resource!) we have jumped in feet first to this homeschooling process. I've been observing and asking questions for a couple years to sort of figure out how this all works. And there are LOTS of choices. We decided to go ahead and homeschool this year because Kate is just starting kindergarten, and it's not even a required school-year in California. They don't have to be officially registered until first grade, so I felt like it was sort of a "freebie" year to try it out and see how we felt. :)

Now for the nitty gritty...

We enrolled Kate in a charter school through which we do independent study. We have a Home School Teacher (HST) who is assigned to us, and is there for us to ask questions, and guide our homeschool journey. They check in every month and we provide homeschool work samples for them. This can be a project we did, a worksheet, or even pictures of our activities and lessons at home.

Through Charter School funding we are able to supplement Kate's homeschooling with additional classes through co-op centers, and even music or athletic classes (like gymnastics).

So far my mood about homeschool has swung back and forth. I've been very excited, super overwhelmed, inspired and having fun, while also stressed and worried that I'm not doing enough. It depends on factors of the week.

For instance, when we got Kate enrolled with the charter school and signed up for her first classes at the learning center, I was super excited! I got some great ideas, ordered a world map from Amazon, and bought some binders. I also have a full pinboard on Pinterest of games and lessons I wanted to incorporate.

But THEN the semester officially started and I got an email from our HST with all these curriculum resources and paperwork and STAR testing assessments, and suddenly I felt like I had nothing ready! I didn't spend my summer setting up our home to look like a preschool classroom complete with themes, songs, and art projects for every day of the next four months and I felt like a failure! My friends started sending their kids off to public school and posting "first-day-of-school" pictures and I just felt like I was re-inventing the wheel. :/ I don't have an education degree or arsenals of supplies and child-ready programs for the kids to just show up and work on. I suddenly felt like it would have been WAY easier to just go drop Kate off at school for a few hours where she gets some wiggles out and learns some things and I also get some one-on-one time with Edwin.

I also missed our first day of the enrichment academy through the charter school because I just completely forgot about it, and was still spinning with ideas and online subscriptions and paperwork. :(

Once I finally had a chance to talk to my Inspire HST team, things calmed down a lot. I realized that I had been WAY overthinking the homeschool process, and my (easily worked-up) brain was grounded again in the reassuring excitement that I had initially found over the summer. If I wanted Kate to be in a public school learning environment, then I would have sent her to public school! But having her at home with independent study meant freedom for our family to explore and more personal involvement with her learning. It's just a paradigm shift from how I've always thought about learning and education.

Our homeschool doesn't have to look like public school. It doesn't have to look like anyone else's homeschool either. It can be the Kate and Edwin and Steph and Jon homeschool, and we can make it as formal or loosely structured as we want!

learning about measurements and counting while baking with Gram

The great thing about homeschool so far is feeling like I'm really involved and aware of what Kate is learning, and where her strengths and weaknesses are. For instance, we did a STAR evaluation of math and reading (which we did at home online) and it was really cool to see the way Kate understood the questions, or where she was challenged with reasoning and understanding. I was glad that I could see her working through her first test and know what kind of concepts she was introduced to.

Kate has also had SO much fun with her Learning Center classes each week! On the first day she had her clothes all picked out and came upstairs in the morning dressed head to toe and ready to go :)

It was bright outside, but I managed to get a couple pictures of her as we headed out the door.

She gets to meet new friends and make awesome projects :)

At home we are working on days of the week, and understanding time and schedules. The kids helped me build a reusable weekly calendar with a mounted corkboard.

This way they can help decide how the day is structured, and follow along with our routine. When they ask what day it is or what time it is, we look at the clock and then find the right day on the calendar by sounding out the words and find what activities we have planned.

Our homeschool is loosely structured and based on the kid's interests (instead of following a strict/boxed curriculum). We do a lot of reading, spend time each week at the library, and are studying maps and learning about the world (based on a book that Kate got for her birthday!) She even takes it to bed sometimes at night to look at the pictures, because it's that awesome!

Our philosophies right now with homeschool are that free time is really important, and so is building relationships. We don't want to rush lessons and push academics, but rather encourage the seeking of learning and provide opportunities for projects and exploration.

I worried that maybe I wasn't doing everything right, or that I should be doing a lot more, but thankfully one of the owners of the Learning Center we go to just started a podcast to help others navigate homeschool. Her first interview with Heily Young was exactly what I needed to hear. It helped me realize that I'm not alone and that many homeschool families start off the same way with similar feelings! Her blog and links to her podcast can be found here: http://www.navigatehomeschooling.com/

Over this next year we hope to focus more on life skills, money management, building relationships in our family and with God, and learning great problem solving skills and healthy conflict resolution. haha, simple lessons. ;) Heily Young also recommended getting to know your child's learning style and their love language (which I've read about in the Child Whisperer and Parenting with Love and Logic too.)

I'm excited to incorporate these ideas and build more into our homeschooling! We headed into it slowly to get our bearings, and are hoping to really take off in October. I'll also try better at posting brief weekly updates. :)

Fall, we're ready for ya!