My girl. Turned 15 Saturday

And here is my Birthday Love Song to Her:

How in the world is it even possible that she is 15? She is supposed to still have 2 little pigtails and run around the house giggling and skipping wearing nothing but her panties and pink plastic high heels. She is supposed to be rocking her baby doll and singing songs to her and feeding her. She is supposed to be falling asleep with her thumb in her mouth and her hand twisted in my ponytail.

But she is 15.

She is this beautiful mix of little girl and young woman.

She has taught me to love unconditionally. She has made me |finally|, after all these years, understand “I would die for you”.

She fills up our house. She is in every nook and cranny. She sings, she talks, she knits, she creates. It is almost like yarn and paint and paper and buttons and music follow her around like Pigpen’s dust. She is messy. She forgets things I tell her 5 minutes after I tell her. Her mind never stops.

She loves anything Science. She loves Hank Green because he is a “smart, geek” but she also loves her bands and Korean dramas. She has finally gotten to the point that she thinks an occasional boy is cute but it’s usually a band boy (but NOT One Direction 🙂 or a Korean boy from her TV shows.

She talks to Nomad in the sweetest voice and gives him 100 kisses and hugs a day.

She prays beautiful prayers and I always smile with my eyes closed when she prays for all of you.

She is the adult in our relationship at times. I have a tendency to overreact a bit and she is always the calm voice of reason. She can be so much wiser than me at times. And then she can turn to me and say, “Fix it Mommy”.

She tells me she doesn’t feel 15 but like a kid at times. I tell her that I still do at times too. She has said to me often lately, “I can’t believe I will be 20 in 5 years” and my heart clutches a bit in my chest.

She is such an introvert. She finds calm and lovely by being alone and creating. She has little patience for people at times. She sees the world in black and white no matter how many times I tell her it’s really so much grey.

She questions everything. She wants to know why and when and where.

She is an amazing writer and blows me away with her stories. She seriously loves to learn. She remembers every science fact or History date she ever hears but forgets her multiplication tables at times. She could never do anything “Math” again and be perfectly happy but she goes a bit crazy if she can’t create often. She can art journal and listen to music and watch tv at the same time.

She loves serial killer documentaries and Cold Case and 20/20. She loves anything to do with the brain and what makes people do the things they do.

She loves theater. She auditioned for her first play 10 years ago. It is now 19 plays and 3 movies later. She doesn’t just ‘act’ she becomes her character. Whether it’s Scout from “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Amy from “Little Women”, The Wicked witch from “The Wizard of Oz” or Duchess from “Aristocats”” she steps onto the stage and she is the character. She has taken a break from acting since March but I pray she gets back to it because it is such a part of her.

I can not imagine my my life without her and it has been a beautiful adventure from the moment she entered it.

So Happy Birthday my beautiful girl. You shine bright like a diamond and I wish for you the most amazing year. I hope 15 is one magical adventure after another.

And she had such a great day

Some of the highlights of the day:

Breakfast at iHop for the 13th year in a row. With the same birthday hat she has worn since she was 3!! (this year she added a birthday sash!!) Ice cream sundae and Happy Birthday sung by the waitresses. Manicure done. A CAR key made. (how can she need a car key??!) Family visits and perfect gifts. Just Dance competition with Seth. Lovely birthday wishes from IG and Facebook. Texts from sweet friends.
And her heart. Keilee always likes to give back on her birthday. When she was 13 she did 13 Random Acts of Kindness.  Last year she took candy to Hospice, baked brownies and cookies for the police and bought and gave a Starbucks gift card.
This year she took her birthday and Christmas money to buy the supplies to make “homeless bags”. These are things that she will always remember long after she has forgotten the gifts received.

And today. She got her permit. How can that be possible?  The last time she had a  “Drivers license” she was 3. And I printed out a fake one. For her pink Barbie car.

 So my beautiful girl, I hope “15” is all you ever dreamed it could be.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

Another week gone.  Seconds turn into minutes turns into days turns into months.  It just goes by so fast.

We are taking a break in December.  We haven’t done much that some would consider ‘school work’.

Last week I got off the treadmill and walked into the kitchen still watching my iPad. I know it was stupid but I know where things are in my kitchen.  What I didn’t count on was Nomad sprawled on the kitchen floor.  I fell over him and since I had my iPad I didn’t put my hands down.  I fell so HARD on my chest.  I am almost positive I fractured a rib.  From all my ‘googling’ it sounds just like it.  I didn’t go to the doctor because they don’t do anything but give you pain meds and while that would have helped I am sure, I didn’t want to pay $75 for them.  It has hurt so badly.  It is a little better than the first couple of days when I could barely breath but it still hurts so much.  So I have tried to basically lay on the couch with the heating pad.  Which is so foreign to me! I hate doing that.  I can always think of 1,432 things I need to do.

Then Keilee got sick.  She had a fever and a sore throat and cough.  She said her throat felt like someone had poured gasoline down it and lit a match.  So I took her to the doctor on Friday.  She has probaly been to the doctor 5 times in her life because she was sick.  He did a strep test and it came back negative.  He told me to get some Mucinex and give her. Which I did.  It was $23 and if he had just given her a prescription it would have been $5!!!  Then she was so sick all weekend.  She felt horrible and slept the entire time and wouldn’t eat.  I called first thing Monday and they called in an antibiotic.  Which they should have done from the beginning!!  She has probably had antibiotic’s twice in her life.  She started taking them and felt so much better the next day.

So basically we have spent the week on the couch.  We have listened to audio books and I have read aloud to her, Christmas picture books and “The Testing”.  We have listened to podcasts and watched documentaries and she has watched her YouTube Science channels she loved.

She did pop into her Knitting Club on Wednesday to tell them she was sick and wish them a Merry Christmas.  This group of ladies are such a blessing to her.  They love her and I love being in the other room and hearing them all laugh and talk.  They also love the things she makes.  As a homeschool kid she needs validation from someone besides her Mom!! Here is a picture of her and some of the ladies.  There is about 10 in all and they come and go.  Also one of them is opening a yarn shop and she asked Keilee to teach a Crochet class!!  Kei was so excited.  She is going to give her all the money that comes in for the class.  Keilee said to her, “I am getting paid?? I would have done it for free!”

She also spent some time at Art For Kids Hub.  He has beautiful art tutorials.  Keilee loves art and art journaling but she has never thought she was good at drawing.  She is such a perfectionist that she is never happy with anything.  After drawing Elsa she decided to “Elsa” herself for the picture.  People always tell her she looks like Elsa.

I decided I was not going to stress over Christmas this year.  I don’t have money and that’s ok.  I got family and friends very small things and most of them Keilee has made.  And I didn’t get Keilee that much which kills me but it will be fine.  We are reading our Advent every day and focusing on what is really important. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas from both  all 3 of us at Homeschool Girls!

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“The magic of Christmas is not in the presents but in His presence” Unknown

It’s been awhile.

I almost just stopped blogging but Keilee ( and Ami ;)) really didn’t want me to do that. So Keilee and Ami this is for you.

December is always a crazy month around here. To be honest mostly for Keilee because she always has things going on.  She creates, I buy.  [Very little this year] I wish I could create like she does but I just can’t.  Our Christmas is going to be VERY small this year.  Most of our family gifts Keilee is making.  I try to help where I can, cutting Tshirts and rolling yarn but there is so little I can do.  I feel so guilty that she is making all these things and I can’t help more.  December marks 1 year since I have been laid off from my job with Stan.  I am so thankful for my little part time job even though I make such a little bit of money it is a blessing to us at this time in our lives.  Keilee and I were talking about how amazing it is that God always provides for us.  ALWAYS.  I have to work from home so there was a job that I could do that with.  I need a certain amount of money each month and it has always been provided.  Every single month for 12 months.  I don’t know why I should be so amazed because God promises to trust and he will provide.  But it still DOES amaze me.

Keilee was very stressed out about a couple of weeks ago and she rarely gets stressed.  She had 9 orders from her IG shop and 7 gifts she was making including 2 really large projects so I told her we could take December off from school.  We are still doing Southern Lit and The History of the World in 100 Objects because I can read or we can listen to those.  Keilee is very good about multitasking.  Me, not so much.

She has made Elsa hats, Elf hats, a hat for Nomad, Anna hats, a rug for my brother, boot cuffs, gifts for me, Abominable Snowman hats, a hanging light for her room and more.  Here are a few of her goodies.

I love that we can do this; take a few weeks off and not get ‘behind’.  I think running your own business is a pretty cool thing to do for a 14 year old.

January and February will be cold and gray and there will be plenty of time to catch up on everything.  That’s one of the reasons I so adore homeschooling.

Here are a few pictures of the last couple of weeks.

Skate Day, Keilee reading one of our Christmas picture books, Keilee taking practice tests for her PERMIT!!!, playing “Don’t Break the Ice”, Keilee and the Grinch and fun with a magnifying glass,

So that’s basically a bit of what we have been up to.  Well a small snippet since I haven’t posted in so long. Maybe I will post again before NEXT year!

Happy December all,
Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” ~Dr. Seuss

We live in the South.  We do have bitter cold weather but it is usually in January or February.  This week it got COLD!  I mean you know it’s cold when I send Jessica our current temp and she text back,  “It’s colder there than here!”

I don’t have Keilee’s weekly list this week because I didn’t do it.  We spent a lot of the week doing other things.  But still, she learned.

She watched CNN Student News every day.  Keilee retains information unbelievably.  So when she hears something, she remembers it.  She is forever telling me things that are going on in the world that I didn’t know.  (We don’t watch news at night).  My favorite thing is when we talk about events; our opinions, our ideas, our feelings.  And we do that a lot.

Keilee did over 3 hours on Khan Math.  She is going through all 904 Math lessons.  She doesn’t love it but she does it by herself so I don’t have to listen to how much she doesn’t like it.

We read 2 stories in Southern Literature.  Both by Truman Capote.  We read “The Jug of Silver” and “Diamond Guitar”.  Truman Capote has written some things I would never let her read but his short stories have been so wonderful.  He was such an amazing writer.
She watched TONS of Hank Green videos because she absolutely LOVES him.  We did 2 objects in History; The “Clovis Spear Point”and “The Bird Sha;ed Pestle”  We listened to the pod cast and she did notebook pages on them both.  She also put the dates in her Timeline and put them on her world map.

Wednesday was her knitting club.  You wouldn’t believe how much she adores these women.  They are sweet and protective and so  encouraging to her.  I hear her back there talking and laughing.  The youngest one besides her is probably about 60.  Then for 2 hours afterwards she tells me ‘stories of her morning’.  I am just so thankful she found this group.,

Wednesday afternoon we went over to Laura and Liv’s house.  Liv was Keilee’s best friend for years and years.  She went back to public school and they have just grown apart the last 2 years.  Liv is doing homebound at the moment.  We were both a bit worried.  Me for Keilee.  I wanted everything to go well and it did!!  It went wonderfully.  We all sat around and talked and laughed.  The girls did a lot of reminiscing.  We made plans to eat lunch at their house on Monday.  It would be wondeful if Kei and Liv could reconnect.

Wednesday night Emma spent the night with Keilee.  They always have a blast together!  They stayed up way too late and then they Art Journaled all of Thursday.  Emma is so very similar to Keilee.

Keilee and Emma Art Journaling
Keilee working on the Tshirt rug she is making me
Keilee at Skate Day.  She won the Poster contest for “Things I am Thankful For”
An Art Journal page.  She took a perfume ad and made the model “Dia da los Muertos”

Today Keilee had Jessica’s class which is always amazing.  They are doing ‘memoirs’ and had to write either a ‘worse’ memory or a ‘best’ memory.  Keilee told me I could share what she wrote.  It was about when my Mom died.

“We sat in a circle on the floor, Heather, Seth, Katherine and I. We held hands and Heather prayed. She prayed for strength, understanding, and peace.

We let our hands go and in that moment the phone rang. We knew what that call meant and we watched her face as she learned the news. Seth and Katherine knew more than me. I was 8 and didn’t fully understand. 

The next few days blurred. The time with Heather while Bull, Mom and Uncle Eddie picked out flowers and a tombstone, to the nights Mom cried, the ceremony and the grave.

I didn’t know why but I didn’t cry. It wasn’t until I was older that I truly missed her. It wasn’t until now that I wished for her back. It might be because I live here; here in her house.   But I can feel her and feel the pain of missing her.”

I was in the kitchen putting dishes away and heard her read it.  I just sat down and cried.
It is such a great class for Keilee.  She loves, LOVES creative writing and Jess is an amazing teacher.

Here are a few “Fall Pictures”.

And this is my favorite picture.  Keilee saw something similar to this and wanted to try it.  She collected all the flowers and pinecones and leaves and used my iPhone to instruct me where to put everything.  It is one of my favorite pictures ever!

Another great week learning at home!

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

• “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” ~Confucius

• “I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”~ Pablo Picasso

We did very little ‘book learning’ this week, but we learned so much.  I used to get so stressed out when we didn’t do ‘lessons’ and truth be told I still do at times.  But learning takes place always and we did so much ‘not HOMEschool learning” this week.

Our city celebrated the 150th Anniversary of a huge Civil War battle and they had so many events lined up.  We tried to go to most of them.

First of all they dedicated our archives.  The archives have been redone with Civil War memorabilia.   There was a ribbon cutting ceremony and our State Representative and our Mayor was there.  Keilee was the youngest person there by about 25 years!

Then we went on a wonderful Civil War tour.  We learned so many things that we didn’t know about the history of our town.  It is always so amazing to think back 150 years and how different things were.  We also got to tour one of the oldest houses in our town.  After the Civil War there were only 5 buildings standing.  One was the Old State Bank and another was the Dancy Polk House.  It is NEVER opened for tours and it was on this tour.  It was lovely and the woman who owns it gave the tour.  It is also for sale.  <Hint Jess Hint> 🙂

Sunday we went WAY back into History to the Renaissance.  We never miss the Ren Faire.  Most years it is cold but this year it was HOT.  We about burned up but we always have a great time.

Then we went to India!  Our museum has a Hindustan Exhibit and we met friends and spent some time learning about India.  Afterwards we went back to the Archives, to the park and they all came over here.  It was such a lovely day. 

When it is freezing cold and there is no where to go we will have plenty of time for lots of ‘book learning’ but now, while the weather is lovely, you can find us outside, learning all the time.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“History is for human self-knowledge … the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.”  ~R. G. Collingwood

Wasn’t it just October 1st???  How in the world does time go by so quickly? 

We have had a good week.  Lots of NOT Homeschooling as in ‘Not being at home’. 

Things Accomplished (This list is not complete because I was really bad about updating and this is from Kei and I’s memory!)

Week of October 13-17, 2014

We went with my brother and sister-in-law to a Ghost Walk.  Keilee has always loved all things ‘ghosty’ which is so funny to me because so did my Mom.  It was really a very historic tour with lots of local history.  Did you know there is a “Ghost App”?  The tour guide suggested we download it so Keilee did and we both thought it was pretty cool.  It ‘showed’ ghosts and while I don’t believe it for a second it added to the ‘spookiness” of it. 

We went to a nearby elementary school to take some pictures this week.  This is the school I attended and the one Keilee would have attended.  As I walked down the covered sidewalks I had a rush of memories of this place.  Of course none of them were actually things I learned.  I am just so thankful that I have been able to homeschool Keilee and that she thinks of learning as a beautiful, fun adventure.

We also went on a Field Trip to an Apple Orchard.  We had been on this same tour 2 years ago.  I love that Keilee still gets to go on Field Trips in high school.  Even the middle schools around here don’t go on them.  I loved seeing kids from Pre K to High School sitting and learning together.

So week 3 of October has come and gone. 
Dear Time,
Please.slow.down.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!”   ~ Rainbow Rowell, Attachments

“There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir: We must rise and follow her, When from every hill of flame She calls, and calls each vagabond by name.”
~William Bliss

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One thing that always amazes us both is how quickly the weeks pass by.  As an adult I notice this but as a child I don’t think I ever did.  Time seemed to drag on.  And I think it is because I was always waiting for something ‘in the future’ to arrive.  Keilee doesn’t feel like that.  She definitely realizes that time speeds by.

Our week wasn’t as busy but we didn’t seem to get any more done really.  Funny how that works. 

Here is a list of her accomplishments this week.  I am sure I have forgotten so many things because as hard as I try to update daily that doesn’t always work out.

As I have said before we are LOVING Southern Literature.  This week we read two short stories.  We liked them both but especially “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker.  She just paints pictures with her words and you can feel the sadness or joy in the stories.  We talked so much about this story and even looked up quilt patterns that were mentioned.  We also talked about what the one thing was we would take with us if we could only take 1 object.  Keilee said her ‘pilly’ which is a pitiful looking pillow that she sleeps with every single night since she was about 22 months old.  Even when she spends the night with people.  It is a very small pillow and over the years has gotten more and more sad looking.  I asked her why not her Art Journal and she said she could make another Art Journal but she could never replace pilly.   Pilly has a stocking at Christmas.  😉

One of the coolest things that happened this week is Keilee was able to join a Knitting and Crochet Club.  I have a weekly meeting for my new job and she always goes with me because it is at a downtown coffee shop.  A couple of weeks ago we had to move the date and there was a group of women in a back room knitting.   She went back there and talked to them and they invited her to join them each week.  This was the first week she did and she LOVED it.  I could hear her in there laughing and talking with them.  It makes me happy for her to be with a group of older women who are so kind to her.

We also went to one of our favorite festivals the Fiddler’s Convention.  We have gone every year since Keilee was very small.  There are people everywhere playing fiddles, banjos, washboards, spoons, dulcimers, mandolins and much more.  There are 70 year old men clogging with 10 year old boys.  It is at a nearby university under huge old trees and it is beautiful. 

* Pirate Day at Skate Day
* Keilee working in the sound booth at church.  This past Sunday was Baptism Sunday.  The first one in our new church and we baptized 190 people!!!!!
* Keilee laying on her bed with Nomad working on her novel.  She worked on this about 3 hours this day. 
* Algebra.  Even Nomad doesn’t like it. 😉

So as October flies by we are moving along.  Learning and living one day at a time.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“The idea of learning acceptable social skills in a school is as absurd to me as learning nutrition from a grocery store.”~ Lisa Russell

“I love making something and knowing that someone will  actually wear it!”  ~Keilee age 14

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It’s our favorite month!!! We both love October. The weather changing, the leaves becoming gorgeous, festivals galore. It is just our favorite time!

Unfortunately this week was not much slower paced than last week. We have promised ourselves next week will be better. But it probably won’t.

We got a lot done this week even though it was crazy. Our list of things Keilee [and I] learned.

We spent Saturday at a Grease Festival, Yup that’s right GREASE!  It is in Athens which is a town near us and it is a play on words.  They have contests to see if all these crazy things will fry and they also tried to break the world’s record for most Togas in one place [well not counting Athens GREECE].  The current record is held by Melbourne Australia,  They didn’t break the record but is was so much fun and Keilee made a new friend.

We spent a day at one of our local cemetaries.  We have always loved cemeteries.  They are full of history and stories.  People who lived and loved and died.  We also visited my Mother’s grave.  This is only about the 4th time I have gone there.  I know a lot of people find comfort in the place where their loved ones are buried but I never have.  So I rarely go.  It was strange and beautiful and sad to see Keilee kneeling by my Mom’s grave.  I so wish she could know Keilee.

*Keilee at the sign of the High School she would attend.  I love that she has on her red cowboy boots and tutu.  I love that homeschooling lets her be exactly who she is.
*Kei attending Jessica’s Creative Writing Class.  She LOVES this class and the chance to interact with girls thousands of miles away.
*A beautiful sunset we had.  It was breathtaking.
*Keilee arranged a photo shoot with a sweet friend’s daughter.    She modeled some of Keilee’s Tutus for her.

 So there you have it, another week in the life of Homeschool Girls.  The weather has been HOT but it’s supposed to get downright cold this weekend.  42°!  That’s Alabama for you.  It goes from Summer to Winter in a single night.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

Keilee and I are both introverts.  We LIKE staying home, not every day but most days.  This week we were running everywhere.  And not fun running, just errands and such. 

I am stealing using Jessica’s brilliant idea and typing up a list of what we do each week.  We have a daily schedule but this list will be things that actually get done!  Even with all the running around we did Keilee got so much done! 

Keilee is loving everything this year except Algebra and lately it hasn’t been THAT bad.  We especially both love Southern Literature.  Southern writers have a unique voice and they paint such lovely pictures with their writing.  The pictures are not always about beautiful things but they always make you feel deeply.  Before every story there is a short biography of the author and almost every, single one of them say they grew up listening to stories from the adults around them.  And it makes me think that we are loosing that.  Keilee has rarely heard old stories from adults.  My Mother loved telling stories and did quite often.  Keilee remembers a couple but not very many.  I wonder if we will eventually lose the “old stories’ that have been handed down for generations?

Epic Church, taking a break at the huge yard sale my Dad had and making an airplane from the yard sale sign.

First Day of Fall! We asked our favorite seller at our Farmer’s Market if Keilee could climb in and take some pictures and he let her. Even cleared off a spot.

So even though the weather is NOT feeling very Fall like we are hitting it with both feet running.  We LOVE Fall and October is Keilee’s favorite month!

Happy Fall Ya’ll,
Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple.”  ~J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and he Deathly Hallows

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