Simplicity

Simplicity. I was reading two blogs today, each talked about simplifying their life. This is a topic my husband and I have been talking about alot over the past few weeks. We feel that we have been spending to much time running around and not enough time as a family. We have decided to make a few changes. First, my husband has started going into work earlier so he can be home earlier. This has allowed us more family time to go bike riding or for a walk. We are now eating at 5pm instead of 7pm. Now, the twins eat with us as a family. I call my 5yr old home from his friends or tell his friends it is time to go home at around 4:45pm. We have found that our son does alot better with the wind down time with family. We are enjoying this extra time together. Also, we are staying home more. We are limiting our eating out to maybe once every other week from once a week. This has saved money. Being home is nice and relaxing. I need to learn to turn off the ringer more though. This has been hard for me, but I know I need to do it, especially when reading with the children. I have committed myself to "ringer off" for three hours everyday starting on Monday, May 5th. I will wite about how this goes in later blogs. Decluttering is another thing we are undertaking at our home. We are taking one room at a time. Next week will be the laundry room and mud room. This week was my bags- work, church, diaper, and purse. Yes, it took the whole week to get it done. I know some rooms will take several weeks to get done, but we are going to stick to one room til the room is done. We are doing a little everyday, around an hour's worth and that is all. We do not like a lot of "stuff". We like our house open and simple. Besides, I hate to dust, and with little ones, this also limits breakage of things. Speaking of little ones, they are calling. Many Blessings.

Preparing for Fall 2008

We have decided to use Ambleside online year one for our curriculum starting in the Fall. Over the past year we have tried many different things with little success. I discovered Charlotte Mason through research. I love the idea of short sessions, reading "good" wholesome books , character training, and nature study. I have been spending the last few months collecting the year one books and establishing a schedule using Ambleside's online schedule of readings. This took some time, but I think we have a schedule that will work for us. I am sure we will be tweaking it as we go, but that is the great thing about homeschooling, you can change. We want our home school to be Bible based and family involved. I will be posting our tentative schedule soon. Many blessings.

Our Nature Walk

My three sons and I went on a nature walk a few days ago and here are a few pictures we took. The first one is of a bird perched up on a plant hanging at a relative's house. This is as close as we could get. When we got any closer, one of the twins would giggle or talk and the bird would fly away. The second picture is a rabbit viewed from a window at our house. My 5yr loved just watching him eat the grass. We saw four rabbits on our walk. The third is of a view of the marsh from our street. We took a moment and just listened. My 5yr old said he heard an alligator, I hope not, but it is possible. That's why we have a hard rule of no playing in "the tall grass." The sunsets are beautiful here. We also saw a bird lose a feather. We watched the feather glide down to the ground. Of course we brought it home.

Why Barefoot Cowboys

All blogs have to have a name. I had a hard time thinking of one. Then one day as I watched my 5yr old son running around chasing the twins while watching Davey Crocket, I thought to myself that they looked like a bunch of cowboys. Cowboys that I have to round up for meals and what not. Thus the name Barefoot Cowboys. Besides I think the word cowboy describes our sons perfectly.

Getting Started With Blogging

Here goes. I can not believe I have started a blog. This blog will be about our family's journey with homeschooling. It will also be about anything that catches my fancy. I am very limited with my computer skills, so the idea of a blog is a little intimidating. But, others have encouraged me to go for it. I am. I will post as often as I am able. Looking forward to the challenge and the joy of watching my children grow.