Alas, Kindergarten

Launching our kindergarten year with Zombie has been a taunting process for me. The realizations of what failed and what (surprisingly) didn’t was a gravitational jerk back down to earth. With the preschool year officially behind us, I am finally ready to lay out for you all the messy truths of homeschooling a 4 year old! 

Disclaimer: I don’t and will not pretend to know it all because frankly, I don’t. But here are a few of my lessons learned from opportunities in our Preschool year.

#1 Find your Style 

Each family has their own rhythm, find yours and run with it. Ours just happens to be all over the place since we’re constantly on the road and we’re night owls. Finding your style early on and being true to yourself about what is achievable on a daily basis will save you many a headache. 

#2 Be Flexible 

YOU WILL NOT COMPLETE THE ENTIRE CURRICULUM BOOK. On a blunt note homeschool is about flexibility. You won’t finish the workbook but that doesn’t mean your child didn’t grasp the concepts. My goal for this year is for us to allow the progression of our learning to move organically. 

#3 The Pressure 

Soooo much pressure. From friends and family and strangers alike who are rooting for you to fail. Analyzing your child each time they approach you in an attempt to point out your failures as a home educator because your child can’t yet spell the word “asparagus”… after all, if she’s homeschooled she should be a genius- right? 

Don’t allow the external and internal pressures to get to your head. You are amazing. The decision you made is the right one. No one cares more about your child’s education than you. 

$3 Be Intentional 

The grocery store, the ride home from church, a visit to the barbershop (in our case). All of these are opportunities to have meaningful conversations and lessons with your child. Be intentional of your time together and you’ll be surprised at just what your child’s take away is. 

#4 Feed their Curiosity 

Never-never-never-never stop asking questions. Our kids do as we do, not as we say. So be curious, ask lots of questions and allow them to do the same. This allows a platform for loving to learn regardless of the subject, regardless of the medium. 

This year we are going minimal. Our goals are attainable and realistic. And with incorporations adopted from “Salty Tribe Co.” and "Homeschool of Belair" I really feel like we are setting ourselves up for success!

[Morning Binder: Homeschool of Bel Air]

Here’s what we’ll be doing: 

Math/Science *alternating 

Reading

Spanish/Geography

Scripture 

Piano 

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Little Beast Takes On Shingle Creek

Our Labor Day started off with some much needed sleeping in, funfetti waffles and massive everything-in-your-fridge omelets. After which we headed to Shingle Creek for our first hike with Little Beast.

We prepared him with some Babyganics sunblock followed by deet-free insect repellent since his chunky thighs would be irresistible to mosquitoes! I have been itching to get back to the outdoors for some time now and bought a Baby Bjourn off OfferUp to get down and dirty with. Its comfort and sturdiness proved to be perfect for the sticky afternoon ahead of us.  

The trail was easy to follow with facts about the plants and the park's natural inhabitants along the way. Our favorite was the one on Poison Ivy, we spent the remainder of the trail searching out ivy plants and explaining to Zombie about the poison and its effects. 

Now, if you know anything about Florida weather then you know one minute its sunny and the next we're experiencing judgement day type storms. We managed to get out of there right as the heavy rain started to hit. Beware of the mud-if you're not careful you will slip and with a 2 month old in hand, that was just not an option. 

Here are some quick tips I would recommend for families when hitting the trails with babes. 

1. Use Insect Repellent (deet-free) 
2. Sunblock
3. Hydrate baby - I had a bottle of milk for Little Beast which worked just fine but next time I will definitely bring along  some water for him. 
4. Hat- another lesson learned. Besides looking so cute in those little boat hats its also best to have added protection from the sun. 
5. Change of clothes- wipe em down, change their diaper and put on a fresh pair of onesies and the drive home will be awfully quiet in the backseat of the car. 

I hope you all enjoyed your labor and can't wait to see how you spent the holiday! 

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When You Cross Borders Like an Amateur

In my short life I have made several moves up and down the East coast- moving with a family is a lot more complex than packing a suitcase and leaving upstate with nothing more than $300 in my back pocket. This past weekend was complicated beyond belief beginning with working an hour an a half before abruptly leaving work- and all its baggage- due to Hub's moving mates bailing out.

Not only did he have no one to help him pack everything into the truck- but he booked the rental hours before we were to move! The following day we got our first peek at our new apartment- needless to say it was everything I had been praying it would be. Stainless steel appliances, wooden flooring, huge bedrooms- okay, okay, I'm done bragging! I happily signed our new contract and quickly began putting things inside.

That night was to be our last dinner together for a few weeks- while waiting for our appetizer I decided to start Hub's check-in process. My heart dropped as I read the email... Check in for Friday April 15th... NOT Saturday the 16th! With deep steady breaths I made my call to Delta and immediately turned to work mode. An hour and a half and a VERY PISSED OFF Delta supervisor later I got off the call with an account credit and heavy disappointment which I thought could be fixed by some retail therapy. I was even more vexed when 3 minutes into the target entry aisle a cashier announces the store was closed and the lights shut off. What Target closes at 10:00pm on a Friday?! REALLY?!

Lazily we awoke Sunday to open boxes and arrange our new home. A good friend told me to decorate a new house room by room- if you look at the place as a whole your imagination (and bank account) get carried away. So we started with the living room as we currently have no furniture and knew it would be easy and the fulfillment of mini accomplishments were much needed.

In the hours since returning to Florida I've had to cringe every time Zombie asks what time her father is getting home and whether or not he's sleeping with us tonight.I found myself under prepared with the multiple questions Zombie has asked regarding her father and why he's not around- i do not believe she understands the magnitude of the distance between her new house and Mama's house and I'm searching for creative and honest ways to explain it to her which pretty much wrapped up any energy left from the weekend.

Stay posted for a list of amateur mistakes we've made on this trip that cost us serious cash and could save you a buck or two!

And if you don't already, add me on SnapChat: Sloanofthemoon

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A Messy Way to Reconnect

As apart of my 2016 master weight-loss plan I decided to plann one 5k a month for the ENTIRE year for myself and my husband! Since we haven't seen much of her lately we decided to bring Zombie on the color run with us. I'd been hyping her for the mounds of chalkish neon paint that would cover her tiny body for days prior.

Hubs and myself had gone to a color run last month and absolutely loved the pre and post party, we loved the random color stations and the energy of the hypeman and volunteers. This one was a little bit different.

We got to the race an hour and a half early as their registration website didn't allow me to use my Groupon code and I, of course, had to make sure we were still good to race. We walked up to the podium, turned in our waivers and were given our packets.

After downing a bourbon pizza pie and running around looking for paper toilet after the (1) women's bathroom stall ran out it was finally time for the race to start! I wish they would have had a disclaimer that said "please bring swords- will be chopping down branches during your run" The first 1/2 mile was spent avoiding splintering tree branches and raising tree trunks.

I'd go on about how unorganized this team was but it doesn't compare to how much fun we had as a family. Zombie ran for awhile and then abruptly stopped. She whined saying she couldn't go on and her toes hurt and we needed to be carried. Well you can't expect a 3 year old walk 3 miles so on daddy's shoulder she went until we saw the finish line. For days after the event it's all she wanted to talk to anyone about. She even kept her sticker tattoo on for 2 days! Hopefully this is a tradition we're able to keep even in our new city (details on that to come!)

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Getting Lost in a 64 Box of Crayons

After 4 months of my "Crayola Experience" tickets sitting in my gmail inbox I finally decided to use them as a mommy-and-zombie playdate. While sitting in Florida Mall traffic I cynically thought "this better be worth the $35 I spent... I do not want to spend more money once inside".

At admissions we were each given a clear bag with 2 silver tokens inside- 2?! What could I possibly do with only 2 tokens...?! I immediately began searching for the token kiosk with zero success.

Fast forward to 4 hours later where I'm arguing with Zombie because I want to make another shark mold but she's ready to move onto the lava stations. The Crayola experience stimulates the right side of the brain through hands on, messy and oh-so-colorful activities, bringing out 5 year old in everyone. You begin with naming your own crayon, making your own puzzle ornaments and Christmas cards, you can even maek your own figurine out of melted crayons... so to answer the question we all have in the back of our minds- YES it lives up to the hype!

I noted a few social trends that scare but excite me about Zombie. She approaches kids her age like they are exotic animals- with added precaution and always starts with a waive to get their attention. While sometimes she's successful, other times kids find her too intense to befriend her. At the watercolor tables when these pompous 6 year olds (who stole our paintbrushes) came back for our paint pallet Zombie stood on her stool and yelled "YOU NEED TO SHARE!" they didn't come back for anything else. My 3 year old is a bad-(M)ass- a socially awkward bad-(m)ass!

At around 6:30 my stomach started to rumble and I remembered it had been hours since we'd last eaten. I would not recommend their "cafe" which has limited choices including: pizza, corn dogs, hot dogs and salad.

Since Hubs was taking us out to dinner in a few hours anyway we relied on a sugar rush of Dippin' Dots and Churros to sustain us for the next hour. After that the hunger was stronger than the urge to make more selfie coloring pages so we called it a day.

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Intimately thankful- a recap of our 2015 Thanksgiving

This past year has been a roller-coaster of mixed emotions and changes for my family. And when I volunteered to host Thanksgiving dinner this year I was nervous as to what it would mean for us and whether I'd be able to meet the expectations of what used to be my favorite holiday before the passing of my grandmother.

Unlike prior years where I make my dishes the day of, this year I prepped everything the night before. Giving me enough time to do some shopping thanksgiving day.For the menu we focused on old favorites (vegetarian style) : Lasagna Sweet Potato pecan casserole Collard Greens- the secret's in the smoked paprika Arroz con Guandules (rice and beans) Dominican pastelon Cranberry and herb stuffing Scallop potatoes (thanks to Brent!) Broccoli Salad w/soy based bacon Pastel en ojas

My mom was in charge of the desert which consisted of: -Sweet potato-coconut souffle -Almond Biscotti, Cranberry white chocolate cookies, mini carrot cakes, apple jam and cheese crackers, tres leche (yum!), Apple Pie (courtesy of Brent)

For the Birds my mom bought a stuffed turkey, hubs did a fall-off-the-bone turkey which was a huge hit and I KILLED a Tofurky roast! My first time (about 2 years ago) making the roast was a bust-but this year I figured out the trick!

This year I seasoned it and let it sit for a day and a half. Then I tossed some orange jam and orange slices and BAM. It was juicy and tender- so good my mom scooped some up herself!

In a long, cut out white and gold dress I felt like a 1920's holiday party hostess (cue the Nat King Cole and Ole Louis).

My family always dresses up and we all happened to wear sparkling gold which complimented our mood lighting, laughter, post-food coma-itis, and jazz music beautifully. It was good food and good energy.

When everyone was gone, and our house was still a moment of overwhelming vulnerability overtook me. And all that was left was hubs and I, dancing to Frank Sinatra at the end of our Gatsby-perfect Thanksgiving night.

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