Update...

You know, several times a week I think to myself that I need to get X written on my blog but time and inclination have been getting away from me.

We started back on the kitchen. The kitchen we have not touched since, oh, late last February? What can I say, it was functional and we had other priorities such as the children and down time. I am halfway finished painting the room. No small feat with all the stuff on the go and two children under foot. We started on the weekend when the kids were away at their aunt's house.

The kids are doing really well right now. Alex has hit his stride in piano. He is playing with two hands now and not really shuffling back and forth when he had to switch hands. He is reading the notes really well and best of all, he now plays for himself! I no longer have to prod him to sit at the piano each day.

Izzy is a little worker bee. She always has a pen in hand and is writing letters, numbers, words...and pictures, lots and lots of pictures! She is really getting into art class now and the teacher sees a real difference in ability since the last session. Reading is coming along very slowly but she is interested and we aren't pushing it. She asks how to spell things and what words say. I think it will just come one day when she finds the material that motivates her. With Alex it was Calvin and Hobbes.

I have new science books that came in last week but we haven't touched them yet. I'll post about those when I have something to review. It is the R.E.A.L. Science books and there are 3 subjects - Earth and Space, Life and Chemistry. It is set up to do 2 days worth of material for each week. I am looking forward to it. Quite a bit will be review for Alex (my science buff) but new for Izzy. The material ranges from grades 1 - 3, I think and I hope to cover any gaps I may be missing right now.

The really big deal lately is all this planning going on for some exciting new homeschool ventures. The co-op is going well but we are still trying to cement a core group of families that will actively participate in the club. We need a certain number for the library to keep giving us free space.

It looks like we have scored big with a french teacher for the kids too! One of the mom's started looking into a french tutor to hang out with our kids (about 9-11 of them) and teach them a little french. The search took us on an unexpected path and we discovered a real french teacher with a Montessori bent that is going to come up with a full curriculum and lesson for our kids once a week. The only problem is that this will not be a cheap venture. For at least $30/week for both kids it will certainly put a dent in the pocketbook but I think she is worth it. I hope so!

I am so excited about french. A little sad that I know a few families that were interested won't be able to afford this class but I think it will be amazing for my kids. Here, the kids don't start french until grade 4 unless you are in immersion and it sounds pretty half-assed, if you ask me. Growing up in Northern Ontario, I have higher standards for the kids and their french lessons. This will be a very small class, with 5 or 6 kids, and we should be able to do quite a lot pretty fast.

It feels good to have someone else take the reigns a bit, educationally speaking, and I hope this works well for us. I can't bring the enthusiasm and freshness the kids need to get jazzed about a subject like french. Rob and I talked about what was important to us, what was important for the children to learn (from good teachers and resources) and we know that when it comes to the arts, music and foreign languages we have to fork out the dough to give them the excellent education we are striving for. Between the two of us, we can easily handle the rest.

I have to say that overall I am very happy with how homeschooling is turning out. It is pretty close to what I imagined in my head. Over the weekend Rob and I were out snooping in new home developments and drooling over some pretty (large) homes. Wondering what we could afford in two or three years. Daring to dream big. A few days have passed though and while we will definitely want to upgrade houses in a few years, I think we should do what we did when we bought this house. Figure out what we can afford and spend a lot less. We aren't exactly where we want to be, financially, but I like being able to give the kids what they need without worrying about the bills.

Back to School Shopping

Today was blow all my money at the mall day. It started innocently enough. I just needed to see if I could find an outfit to make Alex look like a pioneer for the children's program in September. I found a great hat, some khaki pants, a plaid shirt and suspenders. I also wanted to see if Payless finally had their BOGO sale. Score! Each kid got two shiny new pairs of shoes. Actually, runners for the Y and homeschool gym classes and for Izzy to keep as inside shoes at school. We also happened across some great sales at Old Navy and The Children's Place. I don't think I spent more than $10 on one single pair of pants or shirts. We did well. Izzy could use a bit more but it's a start.

I think, or just assume, that taking care of supplies will be pretty easy this year. It is just Kindergarten - how much could they need? Izzy has her shoes and her backpack. Something to put her snacks in. They both would have needed clothes and shoes anyway - damned growth spurts! The biggest costs are yet to come - Beavers, art classes, gym classes, etc... My pocketbook is starting to dread September as much as it does December.

My $1/Kid per Day Experiment

I bought the bullet and spent a small fortune on supplements today. Something for everybody but I am most interested in the kids formulas. Alex is a fantastic eater. I often wonder what he would be like if he lived off Kool Aid and chicken nuggets. He loves whole foods and natural tastes. As long as it isn't spicy, he will try anything. So getting this boy all his nutrients is no big deal. Izzy is another story. My kid who would eat condiments with a side of condiments is slowly improving. She ate salad last night. That was a first. She is slowly coming along with breakfast. Steel cut oats and Kashi Go Lean are now two things she will digest willingly. Her big issue is vegetables and after the baby food went away, so did her vegetable intake. I have never seen her eat a carrot - though she once dipped it in ranch dressing and licked it off. I can hide some veggies in her dinner, as long as it is casserole form. She is coming around to beans and rice too. There may be hope yet.


So I did some research and decided to try some products by Genuine Health, a Canadian company based in Toronto. A mom I met recently was extolling the virtues of dha in her son's diet and how he was settling down and his concentration was better. Well, this would be fantastic for Alex. I read that when looking for fish oil supplements the company should be using small, wild fish, such as anchovies and sardines, that have been molecularly distilled. I prefer the oil to the pill because you take a smaller, more concentrated dose and I doubt the kids could swallow those large capsules anyway. Plus it is easier to lower the dose. Alex is taking 1/2 tsp per day and Izzy will take 1/4. This brand has a natural orange flavour to it. No fishy taste or smell at all. I bought a different omega fish oil for Rob and I to try, o3mega+3679. It adds some other healthy oils, such as macadamia nut and comes in vanilla. It tasted fine. This from someone who refuses to eat fish, lol.

I also picked up some powders from their Greens+ supplement line. The kids formula has a berry flavour and can be mixed in water or juice. My neighbour and I tried it and thought it was quite yummy. All natural. No dyes or sugar. It contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants from 25 organic fruits and vegetables. I should have had Izzy on this years ago. Again, I picked up one of the adult versions too. The one with the added vitamins.

So we'll see how it goes. Our diet has improved even more over the last few months. Everyone is exercising more. Hopefully this will give us all a little extra boost. For $180, I sure hope so!

Here is the Genuine Health website if you want to check it out. We just started the supplements so I can't say anything about how effective it is yet but everything tastes great and the customer service people at the office were very friendly and helpful.

Cha-ching!

I just need to complain a bit about my grocery bill. Every few weeks with sit with my spreadsheet budget and think how can I trim the excess? We ditched cable because other than the odd tv show Rob and I rarely watched it. The kids obviously preferred cartoons but the commercials made me nuts. I would rather spend $60/month on music lessons. Then we cut the home phone. Rob and I both have cells and the house phone got maybe 3 or 4 calls a week, so why waste the money? We stopped eating out. I am choosier with our activities. But the food bill? Crazy!

Over the past few months we having been moving towards whole foods. Home-made everything. I'm home and, in theory, have time, lol! I've been making our bread from scratch. We've stopped buying commercial snacks like granola bars and single serving yogurt (so much sugar!). I try to include protein in every meal. I've got the kids eating organic brown basmati rice, quinoa and steel cut oats. Next up I tackle the meat. I will be splitting a cow with a few neighbours this Fall. Maybe a quarter hog too. This meat will last throughout the winter for us and then some. I am still on the hunt for organic, free-range birds and eggs.

It is not cheap eating this way. We buy only fresh produce and go through it like crazy. I've had to ration it with the kids. So, on the fridge we write a list with two days worth of meals - with the kids' imput. For example:

Breakfast - Kashi crunch w/ plain yogurt & strawberries; turkey bacon.
Snack - Chocolate milk.
Lunch - Whole wheat wraps with hummus, peppers and cheese.
Snack - Banana.
Dinner - Pork chops; apple sauce; grean beans and salad.

Breakfast - Oatmeal raspberry muffin; fruit & soy smoothies.
Snack - Raisins.
Lunch - Tuna sandwich; celery sticks.
Snack - Yogurt.
Dinner - Turkey meatloaf; carrots; mashed potatoes; salad.

If I didn't do this, the kids would eat through all the fruit and dairy in the fridge in two days and still complain about needing more food. I am finding it easier to balance our diet by creating the posted 2-day meal plan. I actually do two week menu planning with the spreadsheet before payday.

I try to keep the bill under $600/month but it is hard. Feeding four people healthy, unprocessed food is not cheap. I should institute more "cheap meal" nights but when your kids will eat chicken cacciatore it is hard to serve them Kraft Dinner. Alex is the one who scares my wallet most though. This morning he ate his granola and fruit but needed 4 slices of turkey bacon and a full glass of OJ. Trust me, he'll be starving again in no time. My 58 lbs, 4'4" six and a half year old son hasn't slowed down once post-womb. Thankfully he is the best eater I've ever seen. He can pack it away better than most adults and would take sushi over chicken nuggets any day.

It could be worse, I suppose. I could be freaking out over kids lived off air alone. We know a few like that too.

***I should add that I am not a fanatic, nor are my poor kidlets deprived. They have had their share of cakes, cookies and fruit roll-ups. Just sparingly. And after a proper meal.

What fun is a recession...

...if you aren't worried about your job too?

Very shitty news, or rather lack of news, on the job front. Rob's firm is neither confirming or denying that they will be contracting out his entire tech department to India. Fun!!! Or, rather, the complete opposite.

So this begins a week of lessons I hate to impart to the children but will probably make them stronger in the end. The education involving wants versus needs with some old fashion Boy Scout lessons on how to be prepared. We are a team, I always tell my kids. We stick together and help each other out. Sometimes we have to put each other before ourselves. Well, daddy needs us to help him. He works everyday to give us everything we need and a whole lot of what we want. Now he has the stress of losing the sole family income hanging over his head. It sucks and its not fair so we all need to be part of the solution.

So, as of this week, needs take priority and the wants fund is to be funneled into a very rainy day account. The kids have been asked to give up some activities. Only one Spring activity is allowed, and they chose art class. No more quick trips to Chapters or lunches out. We are going to all pull together so that if the worst should happen, we can weather it without too much pain.

I am impressed at how well they are handling the giving things up portion of this lesson. Alex said that it was okay if he didn't do gym class because he could always see his friends at the park or playdates, and that was free too! I am very proud of them. Best case scenario, nothing happens and we've learned that we can make do with less and save lots of money. Unfortunately, it will probably take until early 2010 before we can really feel secure again. Worst case scenario, we muddle through like everyone else.

I want the kids to be aware but not scared. Never scared. Rob is too talented and educated to ever fear too long a bout of unemployment. Still, so much uncertainty hangs in the air. The kids know that they will always have what they need and that alone makes me feel better. So many people can't even say that. Especially in this economic climate. I was told, long ago by a very smart man, that kids can't learn all the life lessons they need when their worlds are too perfect. As much as I dream about pretty bubbles to stick my children in, I know that one day they will be grown up and face some pretty difficult days themselves. Just like earlier lessons faced during times of loss and grief, they have seen that there is a beginning, a middle and an end to all these situations. We can be sad, mad and even scared but we come out the other side in tact. Always.

Money, money, money!

Funny, much to Rob's horror, one of the few things that gets the kids quiet in the car is the new Mama Mia soundtrack. You know, the one with the crappy singing by the actors in the movie. They love it! Thankfully Rob usually carries his Ipod on him so he can tune out our car karaoke.

But I digress...

I have heard it many times before, the adage that homeschooling is only as expensive as you make it. Still, I have to wonder how some people manage it. I know that the money I spent stockpiling notebooks, pencils and art supplies would have been spent on back to school supplies. Still, this venture, at least for us, isn't cheap. Dance lessons, art classes and fees for scouting, etc. all add up quickly. I haven't even mentioned the memberships to various venues, field trips and the gas to drive all around.

I guess I am just in a mood to complain. My excuse, it's payday and everyone one of the kid's activities had to be paid this week. That and I made the mistake of reading about some of the awesome funding and programs available to homeschoolers in B.C. I guess the cost of housing wouldn't be worth the relocation in the end, lol.

All done complaining now.