A New Kind of Day

We have been having "new" kinds of days lately here at the Castleberry Clan. I haven't posted much (at all?) about our decision to start homeschooling Ella Beth and Landon. It was not a decision that we made lightly, nor was it an easy choice.

When I made the change to stay home full-time it was so that I would be with my kiddos full-time. I struggled with the thought of keeping Ella Beth in school. Ella Beth loved going to her Montessori school, and to be honest we really enjoyed having her there. She was learning SO much, and she was thriving in the Montessori environment. But...it seemed counter productive to my decision to stay at home. Why would I send her away for half of each day when what I wanted most was to spend all of my time with her and Landon? So...that's one of the major factors in starting to homeschool.

Now, I ain't gonna lie...homeschooling is not exactly easy and every day presents a new adventure/challenge. Mostly, the biggest challenge for me personally is with my patience. But, I feel that God is using my kiddos (especially Ella Beth lately!) to teach me more and more.

Here are some pictures to show some of the fun things we have been up to.

Painting is a huge hit in our house! One thing I had to adjust to was Landon wanting to be involved in everything. He's no longer taking a nap, so there is no "secret" painting time any more. :)

 He sure does enjoy it!

And, Ella Beth is our "crafty girl." If an activity has any type of art/craft/coloring/gluing/etc. in it, she is ALL ABOUT it!

 There are always big smiles.

And, one fun math activity that we did recently really held Ella Beth's attention. For the last couple of months Ella Beth has been absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs. I'm talking, OBSESSED. She can name and identify any dinosaur - and some of them have names like Quetzalcoatlus and Euoplocephalus. 

So, one morning we found a HUGE dinosaur footprint in our house. "It's a Tyrannosaurus Rex footprint, Mama!" she said. Yup. We measured things around our house with the T-Rex footprint and her tiny footprint, and then we compared our measurements.

So, right now, homeschooling is going well. There are easy days, and there are short-on-patience days. But, I have asked Ella Beth regularly if she wants to go back to Montessori school. She gives the same answer every time, "No, Mama. I like homeschool, and I really like being with Landon." With an answer like that, I guess I've made the correct decision!