...on the flip side.

It's moving day, and we will be without internet OR phone for about a week.

We all blow you a kiss until we connect again!

...  will shovel ice, snow and slush for his wife...

In his shorts, boots and toque.

((He totally get bonus points for posing for me when I said I was going to blog this!))

(((Damn, he sure is hot!)))

((((I totally married him for his legs.))))

The lovely OMSH has decided to do another colouring un-contest! 

So, I was waiting patiently until I could get downtown to get some more black ink for the printer, and it just never happened.  Well, I made it down there, but forgot the ink cartridge and was foiled!  It's unfortunate, because these contests usually occupy the children for at least five minutes allowing me to go pee by myself.

So, the story in pictures.

Keyzia and Ephraim got right down to work.  This is serious stuff, you know, a colouring contest.

Talya is at that age that she MUST be included in every.  single.  thing.  Or there is screaming.  Much screaming.

She lost interest fairly quickly.

"Tummy!"

I've always thought that the feel of nice waxy crayons on my tummy was soothing.

The finished product.  Note the fake smile and the name scrawled in the corner.  Also note how every last bit of the paper is coloured.

More of the fake smile, along with Eph's insistance that he colour the back of the page too.

Another fake smile, and very carefully chosen colours.  Zi took the longest and the most care to finish.  She's very particular about this kind of thing.  She also wanted it to be known that she will be six in 12 days, so it's okay with her if she goes in the six year old category.

Oh yah, that fake smile is MUCH better.

Talya wasn't interested in posing with her picture at all.

In fact, after this shot, I believe she threw her picture on the floor, sat on it, and took a bite out of the crayon.

Heather, I'm not terribly sure that she DESERVES to win.

"Bulls will kill us."

"Oh?"

"Mmhmm, if we pull on their fur, and then they chase us and knock us down, and then they kill us."

"Really?"

"Yup.  And then they eat us."

I had no idea that we were moving to a place with human eating bulls... 

Gee, ya know those buncha kids I have?  Ya know how I said I was going to educate them at home?  Well yah, we're still doing that.

I will admit that it's been a tad waylaid what with the big stupid move and all, but we actually take a pretty laid back approach anyway.  We don't want to bring the school to the house, we want to educate at home.  No need for strict textbooks and etc... 

I've been reading Jessica over at Kerflop for years now, and she has recently been rambling around with the homeschool decision.  Much in the same way that we did last year.

She also started herself up a new blog that I've been intrigued to read.  It's great to see someone follow their train of thought through the whole homeschool/public school/private school debate.  I'm not sure that I ever really documented the wavering, the talking to people, the MASSIVE amount of research that we did.  I don't think that home education is anything that people walk into lightly.  Parents who are serious about it have agonized for hours, looked at the statistics, weighed the pros and cons, the whole bit.  It's a big decision, one that will affect your children for years and years to come.

I love Jessica's description of her own public school experience, and this thought is something that I tell people who ask me about the 'socialization' aspect... although I'm pretty sure I've never worded it as well as she has.

The public school experience is touted as something that will prepare us for the real world. Yet, I often wonder where else in the real world are you organized by age, grouped into classrooms, and asked to sit for hours on end with 20 other individuals who happen to share your birth year?

I love that my kids play really well with kids of all ages.  Now, I'm not saying that public school kids CAN'T play with kids not their own age, but mine have no trouble with finding common ground with kids of any age.  They've never really, other than Sunday school, soccer and ballet, been grouped with kids their own age.  I love that part of it. 

I love that they can 'socialize' with anyone anywhere.  I love that they have this incredible joy for learning.  I can't believe the other week I actually said, "you are NOT doing any math until this living room is cleaned up!"

I had a hard time in school.  I was smart, reasonably well adjusted, but socially I was inept and immature.  I wanted to play with dolls when the other kids had boyfriends.  I never had the 'right' clothes, never really knew what to say, never really fit in.  I was teased mercilessly in public school.  For years I held my hand over my face when I smiled or laughed so that people wouldn't see the teeth that I got teased about on a daily basis.

School is ferocious.  Survival skills are necessary, and I think that that aspect of it so detracts from kids being able to focus their whole being on learning that they don't learn as well.

Teachers are often stuck teaching in the way that the majority of the children learn.  I love that I can teach my kids in the way that they learn best.  One is a visual learner?  No problem.  We'll have a blackboard.  One is an auditory learner?  Easy, we do a lot of talking things out.  Teachers simply don't have the time or the freedom to be able to do that on a daily basis for 35 or more kids at a time.

For now, homeschool is what we plan to do.  Homeschool is working for us.  I don't know how long the Lord will keep us homeschooling, nor do I know how He is going to provide for us to do so.  I simply trust that He will make it clear if and when it's time for us to stop.

Now, I just have to get over trying to validate the decision that WE made for OUR children.  I have to stop saying, 'we homeschool, but Keyzia is a year ahead of where she should be!'  I don't need to tell people that.  Just because we are homeschooling, doesn't mean that I think everyone should, and I certainly hope that people who send their children to school don't feel that they can impose that decision on us and our family either.

We are moving in 17 days.  2 1/2 weeks.  And I.  Am.  Freaking.  Out.

It is ridiculously difficult to prepare for a move while making sure that the resident hooligans of the house are fed/loved/cuddled/kissed/educated. 

What do we pack?  What do we leave til the last minute?  Can I just pack the children now?  Cuz that would make things a heck of a lot easier.  ((Now now, I would leave HOLES in the boxes for them to breathe, yeesh.))

Currently we live in subsidized housing here in town, and the neighbourhood isn't so great.  Unfortunately we are surrounded by people who see nothing wrong with swearing at their kids, fighting in broad daylight in the common area, and just in general being neglectful and not very nice to be around.

The past couple of years it hasn't been such a big deal.  The hooligans were small enough that they stayed in the yard, and were carefully supervised when other children came in.  Unfortunately, they are quickly outgrowing the confines of such a tiny backyard, which means that contact with some of the other children is getting harder to control.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't ever play with these children, just that I would like to limit the contact as much as possible.  Some of the kids that live around here are very sweet.  Some of them are not.  Ja and I take very seriously our job of protecting our kids, and we KNOW that it is time to move on from this place.

And off we go to the country in 17 days!  Thus far it's looking like we'll be living in a farmhouse, on a farm, with the run of about 85 acres.  We have thought long and hard about this place, there are a few things that aren't 'ideal', but I think we can make it work.  Not to mention that we have absolutely no other options.  We were praying for clarity, for a positive note that this is where God wants us to be, and voila!  There have been no appropriate listings for us since we saw this house. 

It's weird though, knowing that we're leaving this place in a couple of weeks.  I feel like I am stuck here.  Like I can't impliment any new kind of structure or organization.  Like I have to just abide for a while...  unfortunately, I also feel like this house is drowning me.  I'm deluding myself into thinking it will be 'so much better' in the new place.  Because of course a new house will mean that we will pick up toys when we are done with them, wash dishes right after a meal, and put away laundry as soon as it's dried.

Location, location, location, right?