Home? Schooling?

My goals for this blog experience are (to quote myself): "to share some of my general thoughts on general things, and to capture some of the moments we share during our homeshcooling days." I seem to have found time for the former, so it's time to address the latter.

But man, there doesn't seem to be much HOME or much SCHOOLING going on around here lately.

At the moment, my only goal is to have each of the kids do their reading, math, and writing four days a week. And even that has been a big struggle. For one, we're just not HOME much. Owl Poppa has an erratic work schedule that means he is frequently home during the week, and gone on the weekends. So when he is home, we are running errands, hanging out, and trying to do all the things that are too hard for me to do alone with three kids. And then of course we want to spend time together as a family. Formal desk work seems to take a back burner too often. And we're all recovering from colds, a bout of flu, and terrible cedar fever. So even when we're forced to be home, we're more convalescant than academic.

We're also facing alot of resistance from J. He doesn't want to willingly do anything that seems like work. I certainly don't want to be neglecting his education. But I don't want to rob him of his love of learning in the name of discipline, since instilling a love of learning is one of the reasons I want my children home with me. Left to his own devices, he is still learning... history, practicing math skills, building things in the yard (engineering?), and "reading" (looking through books, though he is not at all fluent with the decoding yet). But I still feel like we should be doing something more formal for him.

Starting tomorrow, I am planning to move our book work back into the forefront, since Owl Poppa would like to see them do something constructive each day. Maybe I'll have more to report later.

Dear John

It is very early... and I went to bed very late. The problem is that I also had more caffeine than usual yesterday, so I didn't sleep. Neither did W, who is still nursing and co-sleeping. I am not sure if my caffeine excess affected him, or just my general fidgeting kept him from sleeping well. I feel like I hardly slept at all. In the seven hours I spent in bed, I was awake at least 12 distinct times. I know caffeine does this to me. I'm very sensitive to caffeine, and I know in excess it not only makes me jittery and agitated, it triggers terrible insomnia and panic attacks.

But I really really love Coke*. Really. Many many mornings in my early days of mommahood, my breakfast consisted of a can of cola and a handful of chocolate chips. I have been known, on a bad day, to drink ten cans of the stuff. Few things sound more appealing to me than an icy cold, carbonated beverage. But I'm realizing that few things sound worse to me than spending seven hours in bed being more awake than asleep, then needing to get up and face the day with three kids, a husband, two dogs, a fish, a never ending pile of laundry, dishes that didn't get done last night, paperwork that must be done for tomorrow, a birthday party to attend, and overzealous plans of finishing a garage clean out project.

So I am going to have to concede that my cola and I can no longer be even the most casual of aquaintences. This is going to be like a bad breakup... the love affair is over, and no we cannot "just be friends". I need a clean break. I'm going to have to be strong, resisting the urge to recollect fondly on those happy times we shared, me and my cola. I will not be swayed by tempts of just one more sip, just to say good bye. I will have to remind myself that cola is no good for me, I deserve better than sleepless nights, and jittery agitation. No matter how much I beg and plead, I am not going to be able to change my cola's double-crossing ways, luring me in with promises of icy cold refreshment and then, once we're through, leaving me with nothing more than an empty can and a racing heart. Ohhh... the tears, the heartache, the midnight phone calls...


and all while trying to convince my sleep deprived system that it is an hour later than it really is. Blech!

*all names may have been changed in order to allow the object of my obsession to remain anonymous

Napoleon Who?

Owl Poppa is watching Napoleon Dynamite... I think this might be the dumbest movie we have EVER had on, EVER.

Whatever happened to the good movies? Here are my top 10, in no particular order:
1. The Princess Bride
2. Ten Things I Hate About You
3. The Brothers McMullen
4. Empire Records
5. Animal House
6. Ever After
7. The Wedding Singer
8. The Blues Brothers
9. Breakfast At Tiffany's
10. The Spit Fire Grill

Where's the Phone Booth?

I think I am ready to let people in on my secret identity as a blogger (this is like my new superhero job description... I am Owl Momma, super blogger!). As this is the fifth post, I guess I didn't stay secret very long! I'm not actually surprised by this.

Since this is my first blog experience (see here), I didn't want to share the news with anyone who might be less than enthusiastic in their assessment of my endeavor. But in all honesty, I can't keep a secret AT ALL. Especially about myself... I am definitely a wear-my-heart-on-my-sleeve kind of gal. Knowing I was up to something new and exciting, but not talking about it with any of my friends, was driving me crazy. So I finally cracked and invited a really good friend of mine to take a look (check out her blog here).

I imagine this is how masked superheroes feel as they trudge to work at their mundane office jobs, knowing they have some super-cool alter-ego, desperately wanting to proclaim to any and all who will listen "hey... I'm really a superhero in disguise!" And while I am totally excited to be Owl Momma, Super Blogger, I will be the first to admit that my blogger status really isn't all that cool... but at least in my real life there are three little owls who think I'm pretty super.

What's Working Wednesdays

NOTE: I stumbled across this idea at exhale. return to center. Erin's blog is really neat. I love the idea of taking some time to really appreciate what IS working for us. I am hoping to make this a regular Wednesday feature.


One of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles I am always facing (besides the laundry, and the dishes, and the... oh wait, let me focus here) is how to keep the hosuehold running with my children. This isn't as simplistic as it sounds. I know how to keep a household running without my kids -- when I send them away for an afternoon playdate with Owl Poppa and I hurriedly check tasks off my to do list. I know how to keep a household running in spite of my kids -- haphazardly putting out whichever fire is burning hottest at the moment, and hoping to play catch-up when everyone goes down for the night. But I spend hours pondering how to keep things going WITH my children -- working together harmoniously as a family to get done the things that need to get done as part of everyday life in a family (like the laundry, and the dishes, and the...)

So, one thing that is working for us has been the creation of two new household roles... the Kitchen Helper and the Baby Buddy. J and K alternate roles each evening. The Kitchen Helper helps Momma prepare supper, helps set the table, and does general odd jobs in the kitchen area. The Baby Buddy spends quality time with the littlest, and is responsible for helping him wash up and get into his booster seat. So now I get to prepare supper without tripping over W or removing him eighty-seven times from the cabinets. But more importantly, I get to spend some time one on one with the older two, and they get to spend some time one on one with W. Plus, I feel like they are learning some real life skills in both roles... learning some kitchen skills (and practicing math and reading) as the Kitchen Helper, and learning to be nurturing and really what it means to be in a family as the Baby Buddy.

Hiccups

So, no matter what I do, I cannot get the font on the first post to default back to whatever the default is (what is the default?!?! Anyone know? This would be so much easier if someone was actually reading this thing... um, yeah, maybe I should clue people in to the fact that I am now a blogger)

Anyway, as the uptight individual that I am, it is driving me crazy. I just can't seem to let it go. So I refuse to spend anymore time trying to fix it, simply as a matter of will. I am willing myself to just accept this imperfection and move on...

It isn't going very well.

Also, I can't seem to figure out what to label these posts. I am feeling overwhelmed... what an awesome weight and responsibility on my shoulders... What if I pick the wrong topic titles? What if no one can relate to the labels? What if I try to be funny and I'm JUST NOT? Does anyone else sense the fate of the entire universe hanging in the balance? Oh yeah... no one is reading this yet!

SIGH.

ETA: I have no willpower... But I do think I've fixed the font issue! YAY!

What's In a Name?

This is to answer anyone who may be wondering what the OWL thing is all about. I love owls... I don't love birds in general (they remind me of beady-eyed feathered lizards, and I am always afraid they're going to peck my eyes out), but I have a real soft spot for owls. Perhaps it is the association with knowledge and learning, those wise forward facing eyes, the mystery of an animal who stays up all night and sleeps all day, but I just love owls. When we wanted to pick a name for our homeschool, it seemed like an obvious choice (to me, since I was the one doing the naming). So, we became Little OWL School. OWL stands for Our Wonderful Learning. Most importantly, the little owls loved it.

The owl theme has been an answer to some organizational challenges as well. Each child has their own owl clip art for labelling their school supplies, chore magnets, and anything else that needs labelling. I have my own owl clip art as well. Even the littlest little owl is now being initiated into OWL School with his own owl.

I found some terrific stuffed owls at Barnes and Noble, that inspired the clip art. J has the brown owl (who was named Archimedes Thundercat Owl), and K has the white owl (lovingly christened Princess Owl). W received his own owl for Christmas, and we are thinking of naming it Bill (from this beautiful book by Martin Waddell).