Our Homeschool Journey

When I decided to homeschool, Becca was starting 4 yr old preschool at our church. And it was not something I EVER thought I'd do. Not really in my realm of thinking. I knew some people who homeschooled. They were actually some of my favorite people. And I thought, "well good for you, but I'll never do that." Famous last words, right?

But the subject just kept coming up. The year before, when I was pregnant with Hayes, I was in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). The majority of my small group were homeschool moms. And I didn't really like BSF (don't judge me, BSFers. It just wasn't for me) But I stuck it out, all the while wondering "why am I here?" Now I know the Lord was just preparing me.

After much prayer and seeking advice, I talked to my husband about it. I knew he didn't have a negative attitude about homeschooling at all. But I also knew we had never even considered it so this might be a shock. And not surprisingly he was his typical rational self. "Let's look into it and talk about it some more." When he found out all the praying I'd been doing and confirmation I'd already gotten, he said, "well, if the Lord is telling you to do this, we'll do it."

The next step was telling our parents. Honestly, I wasn't that worried about telling mine. I knew they knew some homeschoolers and had a positive view of it. I also knew that even if they didn't think it was a great idea, they would support us totally. I found a book called You're Going to do What?! by Laurajean Downs. It's a book by a grandmother of homeschoolers to grandparents of homeschoolers, explaining the ins and outs. I took that to my parents when I talked to them about it. They asked lots of questions and were very interested and in the end said they would help us and support us in any way they could. They were also very relieved to not have their grandchild in the public school system where we live. (us too!)

I left it up to Daniel to tell his parents. Let me preface this by saying that EVERYBODY besides us in his family, including both sisters-in-law, work or have worked in the public education system. (with the exception of 1 brother) That's big right there. He had to go to his hometown for work one week and stayed at his parents'. Perfect opportunity to talk to them! And while they were not terribly excited about it at first, they have been very supportive. To the extent of helping Becca with school when we were out of town on a few occasions. We are so blessed!

And now here we are, finishing up our 2nd year of homeschooling and loving it more and more every day. AND I just went to our state homeschool conference and bought some cool stuff for next year! I'm excited! Becca just THINKS we're finished until August. haha!

Next post will be some misconceptions I've noticed about homeschooling. Things people have said to me or assumed about us. I'm sure they are things that most of my fellow homeschoolers have experienced as well. Stay tuned!!

AND I plan to learn to samba!

Guess where we're going! Go on, guess!!

Do you know your country flags? Maybe this will help:




Sim, Brasil! And THAT is all the Portuguese I know! Yay for me!


We're leaving for a mission trip soon. Not getting specific in case there are some crazy people out there. In case, ha! It's called a security system, people, and the police, they do love to respond to it. So if you set it off, please stay or make it obvious that you were here so we don't get charged $250 for a false alarm, 'k?

So pray for us if you think about it. Or if you think about us. Or Brazil. Or see some Mardi Gras beads. Or a soccer game. Or if you wake up at 3am. You know. Just pray.

Adeus!

(Oh, and to my friends down south of me who I just found out are reading? Hey y'all! Miss seeing you!)

The finale. I mean, THE FINALE!!!

It's just the opening and I'm already rolling my eyes. How dumb is that, standing there in all white facing each other. 97.5 million votes! Wow. 56% to 44% of the votes. Hey it's Mikalah from last season (?). She got on my nerves whichever season it was. And Matt from some season. I think I liked him. Oooo my other favorite Fox show, So You Think You Can Dance. I just watched a marathon of that on MTV this weekend and I am ready for the new season.

The Davids are doing a duet! I like that song, Hero. Hey they sound really good together.

Now we have some cheesy promotion for the new Mike Myers movie. I like Mike Myers and all but can you say, "filler"? "Mariska Hargatay!" Mr. Seafoam almost went right off that stage! Oh I laughed out loud.

Dude, Syesha is singing with Seal!! Third place not looking so bad now, huh?

Oh, Jason Castro makes me want to take a nap. Although I do like his song.

I've missed hearing Carly sing! She went home way too early. They seriously need to leave the dancing to the professionals. Donna Summer has a new single? Is it 1975? Oh people, disco is BACK!

Now that would have been a good finale, Michael and Carly. Daniel asked me if I wanted to get tickets for the Idol concert and I said no. But if this is a preview then I might change my mind.

Summer of '69. Yeah, I wasn't born yet.(I forgot about that guy, the stripper guy. David?)
I love me some Bryan Adams. One of his better haircuts, I must say. I can't even type, i'm too busy singing EVERY WORD!! I need somebody. Somebody like YOU!!

Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man. Funny enough though we don't really dig the beard down to the waist. How about David Cook singing lead for ZZ Top. That's got to be surreal for him. Very cool.

They couldn't have gotten anybody more perfect for Brooke to sing with than Graham Nash. I can't wait to buy her CD. Great song for her. I really want to be her friend and talk about hair and stuff.

What is up with the old lady on the stage. Poor Pat. It's too late to apologize for bringing you up on stage with your red pocketbook and red outfit. It's too late. And it's too late to apologize for Jordin's gold dress. She looks like an Oscar. How unfortunate.

So apparently skirts aren't even in fashion anymore. Just a long jacket and you are good to go. What IS UP with Carrie Underwood's outfit? But she always has good hair, so I might forgive her the clothes.

George Michael is SO getting ready to come out, right? On stage, I mean. ha! Told you!! Ok, I just fast-forwarded through his song. Creeps, creeps, creeps, he gives me the creeps!

Finally it's time. I'm so underwhelmed right now. (Randy's jacket....there are no words.) What is up with Simon apologizing to David C? Wow. That's pretty big. Kinda weird that they're dressed alike, right? I guess from the last song? Anyway...

David Cook wins!! I think I'm surprised. Oh, he's crying. You know I can't handle that. Stop it! Aww, there's his brother. And I didn't cry until the end when David's brother looked in the camera and said, "That's my brother." Sweet.

That's it people. It's been fun. Mariska Hargatay.

Alright already!

I'm pretty sure I've never had this much interest in my hair before. So here it is:

Now I didn't think to take a before picture and I can't find a good one where my hair isn't in a ponytail. It was basically like this but well below my shoulders and layered a little. (Just remembered that Faith posted a picture of me recently, if you really want to see my old hair. And you can see fried pickles. You're welcome) You can't tell from this, but it is shorter in the back and angled toward the front now. It's the shortest my hair has been in over a year. Nothing fancy, just different.

And little Miss Becca wanted a cut too. This was just hours after telling me she wanted to grow it out so she could wear ponytails this summer. So she decided on chin length.

And apparently the guy doesn't know where a chin is because this is definitely shorter than that. She thinks she looks like Faith now. It's not the best cut (don't-know-where-a-chin-is guy wasn't the best hair cutter guy), but she likes it so that's all that matters.

So the Bridges' girls are sporting the shorter do's now. One of us can't do ponytails anymore and one of has a sad little 1 1/2 inch one.

Hmmm, maybe I should have waited until AFTER Brazil, what with all the NO hairdryers or flat irons. Did I mention I LOVE baseball caps?

The Night the Lights Went Out In....NC

Apparently the DVR runs on electricity. And when the power is out, it DOES NOT record shows. And since the power was out from about 7:15 until almost 10, guess what I didn't get to watch. And I'm kinda under some pressure from my friend Chad to bring the funny. Sorry dude. Since you live in the same neighborhood I'm guessing you didn't get to watch either. Guess we'll both have to head over to BooMama's to get a recap. I'm SURE she'll bring the funny for ya.

On the bright side, I did see Archuleta's Imagine performance and Cook's Dream Big on YouTube. I thought they were both really good. I don't know how to compare them though since they are so very different. Although I will say that Archuleta went all squinty again which drives me nuts. And now I just watched Cook sing The World I Know and he's tearing up and that's totally messing with my view of him as arrogant.

Though I will admit I may have been a bit distracted while also watching Priscilla Pressley talk without moving her face.

Go Kristy!

Ok, back to Idol. I think it's going to take me forever to find all the songs on YouTube. I'm pretty much over the whole show anyway. I'll probably try to find them tomorrow but by then I'll have read everyone else's recaps and, well, what's the point then?

So here's my recap: David sang some songs. David's performances were better then David's, in my opinion. David is totally going to win this thing. The end.

And more importantly, I have a cute new haircut. Priorities, people. Priorities.

Tot School

I've been reading Carisa's blog for a while now and even though her kids are younger than mine, she's really inspiring me in my homeschooling. We've used some of her lapbook ideas and Becca LOVES them. I'll have to take some pictures of them soon. Carisa's Tot School idea is really taking off and it's amazing to see what moms are doing with their toddlers. I guess I have "Tot School" almost every day, but I haven't been documenting it or even really thinking about it that way. So I decided to start being deliberate about it and participating in this will keep me accountable.

Hayes learning shapes and sorting

Working in the new workbook we got at Target. It's for getting ready to write, practicing straight and curved lines. He's really getting into it.

I was working with Becca and I heard Hayes talking to himself. It was cute so of course I tried to get him to do it again for the camera. And really the grin at the end makes it all worth while.

Head on over here to see what other Tot Schoolers are doing. (FYI, they are a neat family, serving as missionaries in an inner city here in the US. They are from this area and her mom still lives in Charlotte.)

So I'll meet you by my locker after 3rd period

So I found out a while back that NKOTB were getting back together. And the excitement? It was palpable. Friends were coming out of the woodwork to admit to being die hard fans back in the day. We figured out that Daniel was at the same concert as at least 3 of our current friends when he was a freshman in college. Fun stuff.


The comeback concert was today on the Today Show. Outside. In the rain. And the crowd, mostly women, were re-living their teenage years right there on live TV. And don't think I didn't BEG to go. I thought "what a fun anniversary trip! NY and New Kids!" We went to NY for our first anniversary and I do want to go back. But apparently a New Kids concert is not how he wanted to spend our 9th anniversary. He acted all high and mighty, like there's NO WAY he'd ever go to their concert. We'll just try to forget that "back in the day" HE was the one who paid money and drove 3 hours to a concert, not me. With Tiffany as the opening act. I'm just sayin'.

So anyway, the concert. Here they were, looking a little (15 yrs) older, moving a little slower (admittedly it WAS raining), singing the same songs. It was a little weird. Seeing all those women, most of whom were AT LEAST my age, screaming and waving their hands, reaching out to touch them. They have wives, people! And kids! And so do you!! (the kids part, not the wives)

Anyhoo, it was weird to watch. I fluctuated between feeling uncomfortable and awkward watching these men sing songs that I knew and loved as a teenager and wanting to call my girlfriends to go roller skating. Like I was being forced to take a peek back to my childhood, with MY kids right beside me. Odd.

Hey I wonder if I could find my copy of "Funky Funky Christmas" at my mom's house.

Nine Years!!

Nine years ago today I married my sweetie. It was a super fun day although if you know me you know I was NOT excited to be standing up in front of tons of people. That's really what I was most nervous about. I kept telling myself that at least they were all looking at my back or side for most of it. By the time I had to face them all it was time for us to high-tail it back up the aisle!

We have a lot of great pictures but none are digital and my scanner is broken. Maybe I'll get Daniel to take some to work to scan them. I do have one that we scanned a long time ago, but I hesitate to post it as it shows some cleavage that could actually be considered a wedding miracle. Nah, I'll wait to post one of both of us.


So I recently posted Top Ten Things I Love About My Husband here. I'll say that Daniel works so hard for our family and I'm very proud of him. His work has taken him out of town a lot over the past 6 months and while that makes it hard on me and the kids, I know it's hard on him too. He misses ballgames and bed times and just general stuff and I know he'd rather be here. But he's doing a great job and it's a big opportunity for him and most importantly we believe this is where God has us right now.


Thank you for all you do for our family, honey. You are the sane to my crazy. The laid back to my uptight. I love you and I'm so glad we finally got our act together and realized what everyone else already knew----that we were supposed to be together!

Top Three!!

Final three!! Yippee! Lots of songs tonight and I'm pretty sure I won't catch the names of them all. And I KNOW I won't have heard them all before. So aren't you excited to read my critiques? Thought so. Got my kids in bed, caffeine free Dr. Pepper by my side so let's hit it.

David A: "And So It Goes"-- First song and I've never heard it. Great. Of course it was great because he can sing anything. Moving on.

"With You"-- Did he just mess up the words? I couldn't understand some of them. I like him singing something newer. It was ok. I can't believe I'm saying that about him! I kinda agree with Simon here.

"Longer"-- Oh, not really a hand waving kind of song, girls. Hey they stopped!! I liked that better than his first two. He's going to the finals.


Syesha: "If I've Got You"-- She looks so sparkly and pretty. I didn't really like the verse, but she pulled it out in the chorus, for me anyway.

"Fever"-- I don't know what she's going to do with that chair but I hope she remembers how short her dress is. Ok I liked the singing, the chair I could have done without. Judges are not crazy about that song choice at all.

"Hit Me Up"-- Much better than the other two, I thought. Man, I agree with Simon again! Syesha might be in trouble.


David C: "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"-- Kind of weird choice, but we'll see. Ok I really like this. Awesome. So good. (Oh look at his dad, he's so cute!) "It's so funny this is all about you 2." Great line, Paula!

"Dare You To Move"-- I REALLY wanted to like this. I like the song but am I crazy to say that I didn't care for it. Let's see what the judges say. Hmm, they pretty much agree with me. Guess I'm not crazy after all.

"I Don't Want To Miss A Thing"-- WAY better than the last one. I think it's going to be an all male finale, people. Yep, me and Simon. We're of one mind tonight.


Ok I know this is long, but I have to comment on The Bachelor. Actually my husband wants to. And since he doesn't show much interest in this bloggy usually, I'll humor him. He sent me this in an email. He's out of town. And can I just say that for someone who SAYS he doesn't watch the show, he certainly has some opinions. (And I should say that for all the times he "hasn't" been watching it, his favorite is Chelsea)

"Here are some quotes from your husband that you can put on your site
concerning the show:
1. He is a fool, He is a fool.
2. If you have to hold the front of your dress below your c. rot c. h when you walk then that may be sign that it is a wee bit too short or that the slit is up a little too high. (referring to Chelsea’s dress)
3. Girl, fix your hair and get that crap out of your eyes. What, did you put your hair up working in the yard before you went to the finale? (referring to the other chick what ever her name is) [Um, Shayne, baby. And I'm pretty sure she's never worked in the yard]
4.He is a fool, He is a fool. "

God love him. And for the record I was pulling for Shayne. She grew on me throughout the season. Although my fave was the Meeper and I was SO mad when he sent her home. And then she called him a ********! I didn't know she had a potty mouth.

Dancing's already started. Gotta go!

Happy Mother's Day

Well, it's Mother's Day and this is my space to write, so I want to brag on my mom. Here she is:


She'll LOVE that I posted a picture of her. I need to take some pictures of her because this is at least 3 years old. Anyway, her name is Becky (Rebecca). It was her mom's middle name, my middle name, and my daughter's name. I LOVE that. I love the legacy and having that connection with the women in our family.

My mom is a nurse, officially retired I guess, but once a nurse always a nurse. She's still the go-to nurse among friends and family for nurse questions, especially about kids.

She taught me to love the Lord, to speak my mind (although she probably wished she hadn't at times-ha!), and to play the piano. She showed me how to make your marriage a priority, to support your children, and to be a loyal friend. I love that she loves my husband like he's her son and she dotes on our children like any great Nana does.

All that and she makes a mean lasagne. What more can you ask for?

You're the best, Mom! I love you!

And if it was an Olympic event, I'm pretty sure they could win gold

My daughter had her last night of Team Kid on Wednesday night. She got a bag of goodies for learning her memory verses, attendance, etc. Well. In that bag was a Whoopie Cushion. She actually knew what it was by the time I picked her up. I don't know if some other kid enlightened her or if that's just something kids are born knowing about.

And since Wed. night, that thing has provided hours and hours of hilarious and probably inappropriate humor around this house. And it's not exactly a good quality (seriously?) whoopie either. It's pretty much the equivalent of a plastic baggie and keeps ripping open. So it has been taped up so much I can't believe it still holds air. But lucky for us it still does.

And my 3 yr old absolutely thinks it is the funniest thing EVER. And he's a boy so you'd expect him to like potty humor anyway, right? He calls it the tooting game. THE TOOTING GAME!!! It makes me laugh every time he says it. And the "game" is basically blowing up the cushion, someone sitting on it, and kids rolling in the floor laughing for a few minutes. That's IT. Doesn't take much I guess. Here it is in it's beginning stages.

And suffice it to say I couldn't be more proud.

Rock and Roll Idol

It's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame night. I'm not a big rocker and if you know me personally I know that just shocks you. Let's go, peeps!

Glad they explained things to Paula tonight. Although that crazy awkward moment last week was classic Paula. Loved it and wanted to watch with my hands over my eyes.

David Cook: Hungry Like the Wolf---So obviously this should be a good David Cook night. I liked it. I'm pretty much on the David bandwagon, but there's just something about him, arrogance I think, that bothers me. What in the world is Paula talking about? You'd think after last week they wouldn't let her talk.

Syesha: Proud Mary---Wow, a Tina song. She really better BRING IT. Ok well that explains the dress. (I must say I really like her hair last week and this week. She looks so different and very pretty.) Oh the dancing. Those short dresses make me nervous. I guess that mosh pit is really getting to know her, if you know what I mean. Hopefully she's not pulling a Britney. Anywho, she's quite the performer. She's no Tina Turner, but really who is? Surely she expected a critique like that from Simon when she picked that song.

Jason: I Shot the Sheriff---Oh what a stretch, Bob Marley. That hair. Please. Somebody. Cut. It. Did he play the guitar at all? I think he's going home this week. Of course I thought so last week too. Apparently he has quite the following. And apparently Simon isn't one of them. Oooo the judges are brutal.

David A: Stand By Me---Ok, 2 lines in and I love it. I couldn't even type while he was singing, I just had to watch. I LOVED IT!!!

Round Dois (practicing my Portuguese)

David C: Didn't catch the name---I don't know that song and I don't really like it, but he did well. He can sing anything and this is his thang, so rock on dude. (I just said 'rock on dude.' Not sure I can pull that off.)

Syesha: A Change is Gonna Come---Don't know what to say about that. It didn't blow me away. She looks pretty though. Oh Paula's making her cry. Well Brooke's gone so somebody has to be the crier.

Jason: Mr. Tambourine Man---He forgot the words. Yikes. Oooo that last note hurt my ears. He's too laid back for his own good. It makes him seem like he doesn't care.

David A: Love Me Tender---Love me some Elvis. I like this arrangement. He could record this. To quote Simon "You didn't beat the competition tonight, you CRUSHED the competition tonight." Yes. Yes, you did.

So I think Jason is going bye-bye. Next week, final 3! Woo hoo!! I'm off to watch Dancing! So much TV, so little time!!

Planes, Trains, and Field Trips

The past few weeks seem like a blur to me. I haven't really had time to post about anything so this might be long. You've been warned!!

A week or so ago my friend Katie and I took our kids to the NC Transportation Museum that is nearby. If you live in the area, you should really check this out. The museum part is free and you can pretty much see everything in about 2 hours, which is probably all little ones can handle anyway! They have trains, cars, and airplanes. You can ride on the turntable for $1 and they also have train rides at various times, but I can't remember how much that is. We couldn't stay for that, but the kids had a great time anyway.

Hayes thought this looked like Doc from the movie Cars.

Here's Becca pretending to fly with the Blue Angels.

Today we rode a real train, our city's new light rail system, into work with Daniel. He took the day off but needed to go in for a few hours so we rode along. The kids and I went to ImaginOn, a children's library and theater. While I'd like to say that we spent those 2 hours reading books, alas most of it was spent exploring and playing on the computer. We'll say Hayes was working on his fine motor skills and call it a day, 'k?

Playing on the "art" outside the library (is that what you call it? It's really typewriter keys and big stamps and pencils. Pretty neat actually.)

We love books!

With Daniel travelling so much lately, family time has been limited. So when he said he was taking the day off, I was thrilled. And he suggested the train ride and library. As my friend said today, "what a fun dad!" Of course that was after she had said "what a fun mom!" when I told her what we were doing. So I had to admit that it wasn't my idea.

My idea of a Monday would have been to sleep in, stay in pj's until lunch, do some math and reading, and catch up on laundry.

Oh yeah. I'm fun alright.

A whole truckload of fun. That's me.

Tomorrow we go to the dentist and pull weeds in the flower beds. Field trips, smield trips.