5 kids

For most of last weekend we watched my three nieces.  Overall it was pretty good.  I felt bad for my nieces because we don't have many older toys, but they found a few things to entertain them.  They were all pretty good and helped out when I asked them too.  Only Michael seemed to have a tough time, but he loves his cousins so he got over it quickly.

Because of their ages (they are all about two years apart and the youngest is 18 months older than Michael) and the fact that they look like my kids led to some interesting looks and conversations.

Sunday we had a Regional Conference instead of normal church meetings.  We just went to our normal church house, but there were a few wards there.  We got a lot of interesting looks.  I overheard someone in our ward trying to figure out where the extra kids came from.  I'm still not sure if they figured out they weren't ours, or if they think Josh has kids from a previous marriage.

On Monday I had to run to the grocery store and pick up a few things and took them all with me.  People just stared at me and shook their head.  Well, a lot of older ladies smiled, but anyone under fifty just stared wide-eyed.  It probably doesn't help that I'm very obviously pregnant.  When I was checking out the cashier even asked if I knew what I was adding to my brood.  Yup, she called them my brood.  I just told her I didn't know and left, I didn't want to correct her.

So is it when you hit 5 kids that people think you are crazy?  Or is it when they think you are about to have 6 kids?  

Homeschooling

Lately I've thought about homeschooling.  I've made a pro's and con's for possibly homeschooling through elementary school. 

Pro:

• My kids can learn more of what they want.  I would follow a curriculum, but if they really enjoyed learning about Greek myths then we can spend extra time on it.
• School is a waste of time.  When I was in school there was so much down time.  We usually were told how to do our math and then had an hour to do it while the teacher helped anyone who didn't get it, but we were encouraged to ask our neighbors before going to the teacher (but told that we couldn't talk to each other about anything not math related).  I didn't develop my love of reading until probably high school, so during that down time I did nothing.  There were days where the teacher would read books to us after lunch.  We weren't required to do anything but listen, we were even told to sleep if we wanted to.  Some days I came home feeling like so much of the day was wasted.  Most programs I've looked into are 3-4 hours a day max. 
• I can control what they learn about.  This isn't some power trip.  I can gauge my kids better than other people.  I can tell if they are really ready to learn something or not.  I can tell if they are ready for health class or not, not the average maturation program at 10.  When I was in 3rd or 4th  grade we learned about the eyes.  Eyes make me queasy.  I've gotten much better, but that day I sat at my desk with my head down ready to throw up.  The thought of something happening to someones eyes still make me a little sick.  I would be fine with my kids telling me that this really isn't making them feel good and I could stop.  It could be the same with war, or reading To Kill A Mockingbird.
• They can be a little sheltered.  Now sheltering your kids isn't always the best thing, I know.  I would like to wait until they are ready to learn certain things, not just force the world on them.  Sheltering can cover everything from swear words to the truth about Santa Claus.  Now I'm not saying they will always be naive, you hear every swear word on tv now and the news is full of things to keep kids in the real world.  But I'd like to not explain at the age of 6 that the "F" word shouldn't be said.  I'd like to save that until maybe 9 or 10.  I want my kids to be kids a little longer
• I can still provide the extracurriculars.  We can still have something similar to recess like going to the park.  We could even stay at the park longer than 15 minutes (is recess still that short?).  They can eat lunch and then go outside if they want, or play inside.  We could do music lessons during the day.  We could meet up with other homeschoolers for some social interaction.  Field trips could happen once a week instead of twice a year.
• They won't have excuses for some of the things kids today "need".  I will still buy my kids decent clothes, but they don't have to be Abercrombie Kids.  They probably won't ask for that stuff because they won't see it as much.  They also won't need a cell phone, or whatever will be the new thing in 5 years.  I used to teach piano and one of my students that was in Elementary had a cell phone....I thought it was ridiculous.  Why would they need a cell phone?  I'll know where they are, they will know where I am. 

Cons:

• They could be weird.  I say this in the nicest way, if it can be said in a nice way.  They might not have the social interaction they need.  They might end up too sheltered.  They might be scared of the real world (even though I think homeschooling could prepare you for the real world better than high school).
• They need to learn discipline (and respect).  I worry that as their parent I can't teach them this as well as a teacher.  However, some teachers do things out of fear, not respect.  Like threatening the principles office instead of talking to them and teaching them respect for others.
• Would they listen to me?  My mom tried to teach me piano once....horrible idea.  On the other hand, would this make it so they would listen to me more?
• Would they need to go to school for just a week to understand what school is like so they can sit and do what we need to do?  Or can they just pick it up out of nowhere?  Do they see it enough on tv to get an idea?  Do I just sit them down one day and say we are starting school today, so we will be sitting here for the next 2-3 hours.  I'd have a mutiny on my hands.
• Can I maintain my sanity?  I would like to think so.  Reading Charlotte's Web and going over spelling words, showing them pictures while teaching a history lesson, making human skeletons out of paper with the bones on them, and doing math flashcards sounds like an awesome 3 hours with my kids, leaving the rest of the day free for going to the zoo, the park, the store, field trips, all of the sports they will want to do, and hopefully some play-dates. 

I really want to try, but I'm nervous mostly about my kids being weird thing.  I know in Utah kids can go to middle and high school part time to take advanced classes or extra curricular's, so that might work.  They can also play sports for the schools.  So maybe by doing that they won't be so awkward?  It's finding the perfect balance of everything. 

I also know what curriculum I would use with my kids IF I ever did do it. 

Maybe I could try just through pre-school first, but preschool is $$.  If it doesn't work then they can go to school the next year and not worry about me ever trying to actually teach them again.

Parenting Decisions

I have a few blogs I regularly read.  A month or so ago a woman posted about how she let her little girl read any books she wanted for the most part.  She even read To Kill a Mockingbird.  Her daughter was 9.  Then she went on about how she let her daughter read Harry Potter, but she was to scared to finish.  The mom then went on to say (of course after bragging about her daughters reading skills) how she refused to let her daughter read The Hunger Games.  This is what I pictured happening...

I'm all for parent censorship; especially when it comes to TV and the internet.  Then I think of books and wonder if they should be censored.  If I have read the book, I wouldn't stop my kids from reading it.  So if The Hunger Games and Harry Potter are still popular when my kids are older, they will read them.  But what about other books?  There are very few books I wouldn't let my kids read, probably consisting of anti-mormon books that are completely inaccurate, and romance novels.  For the life of me I can't see why they would ever read a romance novel.  I don't see where they would ever pick up an anti-mormon book.  So in my mind I'm really not censoring any books from them.  

Ever since that woman posted that story I haven't returned to her blog, I just think she's a little weird now.

I can't think of a book I would keep from them.  Is there a book you would keep from your kids?