Busy, Busy.

This last month or so has been so crazy.  Although we have had so much fun and so many hilarious, documentable things have happened... I have been stretched too thin to write them down!  Things are so busy because we are gearing up for another year of our hybrid class.  This year as our first in the program, and we had a small class of five.  Next year, our class will be growing to eight or nine students.  It is the beginning of April, and there is only one more spot to fill.  I have even lined up most of the teachers, set the calendar for the year, chosen most of the curriculum, learned to use a spreadsheet to set the budget (thank you, Hal), and created the daily schedules.  Not only that, but... we may be adding a 1st grade class to the mix for next year.  We have five more openings to fill, but the teachers are all lined up, and the vast majority of the planning is completed.  If the need is there, and if students sign up, we will have a one day per week 1st grade hybrid homeschool class, as well.  Oh, and we are adding an optional drama program, beginning suzuki piano class, and 1st grade Spanish.  Let's top it off with adding in an agricultural workshop for the homeschool community at large, that will run for the next four Thursdays.  The class is now full, at 14 students!

It has been busy, and it will stay busy for a while.  But, with all of this planning and with all of my synapses firing at full force, even as four little people run circles around me, comes the excitement of a new group of friends, of parents, and of teachers to share our educational experience with.  My boys are getting exactly what I had hoped for:  friends, support, and a great education.  It is all well worth it!  By the time my girls are in 1st grade, I should have this all down pat, right?

Even though life has been pretty hectic lately, we have still had a great time.  The weather has been beautiful, and we are spending a ton of time out in the yard.  Our gorgeous marans have just started laying eggs (okay, so only one splash maran has caught on so far, but I'm hoping for some peer pressure), the garden is tilled and Mom has planted brussel sprouts, lettuce, green onions, spinach, and sweet peas.  The kids and I put potatoes in the ground... We shall see if anything comes of them!  Only one of our five guinea eggs hatched, leaving us with a very needy guinea keet named "Winnie the Guinea".  We are hoping to get this little girl some friends soon.  Until then, she lives in an aquarium and comes with us, on occasion, to the school house.

Our near the garden, the kids pulled out the big black culvert that Jeff bought to put under our new driveway at the property.  They took the culverts, a water hose, and I gave them a bottle of dish detergent.  The combination has led to hours upon hours of pure fun.  All four of them will go out, together, and play in those culverts... sliding and stomping!  To me, this is one of the most important benefits of homeschooling.  The ability to go out and honestly play... and the fact that these four kids really spend some quality time together.  We only get to do this once.  One childhood.  Asa and Addison are eight now... but not for long.  There are not nearly enough of these precious years that we, as parents, get to spend with our child.  I am glad that I do not lose hours and hours while my kids wait on a bus, wait in line at lunch, wait to use the bathroom... wait... wait... There is plenty of time in adulthood for waiting.  For now, we can ignore the small stuff (like having to change clothes on a daily basis or fix our hair), and we learn hard, we work hard, we sleep hard, we love hard, and we play hard.