Running! Okay... walking. Slowly.

Okay, deep breath... I'm going to level with you. I'm fat. Not fluffy. Not big boned (okay, well I do have big bones, but not THAT big). Anyway, you know what didn't make me less fat? Getting pregnant and having a baby.

Around two years ago I decided I needed to get in shape before I turned 30 and started running. Well, I started walking. It progressed to jogging, which I call running because it's as close as I've ever gotten. I started a blog then too, Diary Of A Fat White Woman. I set out to run a 5k, and I actually ran a few of them. The highlight was definitely running Mickey's Halloween 5k at Walt Disney World.

Look! It's me! 

The Castle!!

I didn't even pass out before the end!

About a month after this picture was taken, I got pregnant with the little dude. I stopped running. Cold. I'm not cool enough to run through morning sickness, and my morning sickness lasted until about 25 weeks. By then I was rather pregnant, it was the hottest summer in... ever, and running was just about the last thing I wanted to do. To be honest, all I wanted to do was sit in the air conditioning and eat pie.

Anyway, after the baby came, I didn't run either. Not one step. I mostly just did a lot of this....

 Look at my teeny little dude!

Oh, I intended to run. I was all, "Look! A fancy new stroller for to run with!" And then time for actual exercise came, and it always seemed that sleeping in, not getting sweaty and hot, and generally not moving were all more enticing than jiggling in public.

And then I found out about these two really cool races in my area. One is called The Color Run. Basically, you run (or walk) and they throw colored dust on you, so you're kind of tie dyed at the end.

Here's a promotional picture. 

Doesn't that look fun? And messy? But mostly fun? I probably won't rock the beard, but that guy totally owns it!

A friend of mine also convinced me to sign up for another race that takes place at night called The Glow Run. Hint - It involves glowsticks. Which sounds AWESOME! So I was like, "Yeah! Those sound great! Sign me up!"

But...um... I haven't run farther than the bathroom in a year and a half. And both races are this summer.

OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE?? I'M GOING TO DIE IN FRONT OF A HUGE CROWD OF PEOPLE!

Okay, maybe that's a little melodramatic, but I have to start walking, like, yesterday,  or I'm going to be in trouble. Big trouble. Big sweaty trouble.

So, I guess I'll be talking about that here too. Because who is more judgemental than the internet? Answer? No one.

Okay, internet. Fine. I'll start walking. But I won't like it. Not one bit. Because the only "runner's high" I've ever gotten is arriving back in my own driveway at the end and knowing I get to go inside and shower.

And just for the hell of it... my teeny little dude?

He's less teeny now.

Home School

So, since I'm constantly thinking about it (aka "driving my husband nuts") I'm going to talk about the home school plan here.

Let me start by saying that I don't have any major issues with public or private schooling. Our little lass went to kindergarten at our local public school and had a great year! We packed her up on the first day of school and sent her on her way with lots of hugs, kisses, and of course, pictures.

Although it started off great, by the end of the year our girl was pretty burned out. Long days were pretty rough on her, and I was worried that we were going to end up with her not liking school. I mean, I got to where I didn't like school much either, but not in kindergarten.

That was something in the back of my mind, but it wasn't the catalyst for us deciding to bring her home for first grade. Mostly we decided to bring her home because my husband is going to be taking a sabbatical from work in the next year or so, and he can't take it during regular school breaks. We'd like to do something like a big road trip and see lots of sights. We can't very well take her out of school for a month and drive off into the sunset. That's where our little idea was born.

After talking it over with her school I came to a few conclusions.

1. They were supportive of our idea, and were excited for her opportunity to see and learn things they couldn't provide.

2. I had (have?) done enough research and am enthusiastic enough that her education potential here at home is pretty great.

3. Even I can't screw up first grade too badly.

So, naturally the first thing I did was take to the internet to find out how to go about doing this thing I wanted to do. Full disclosure? I was home schooled for one year in high school when we moved from one state to another, and it was awesome. My mom just bought the whole grade level for me from Abeka books, and we waded in together. I learned a lot that year, not just from the books, but about myself. It gave me a lot of confidence.

I set out intending to do the same thing with the little lass. I looked at the Abeka website, and was all ready to order and start digging through supplies. But, as is my nature, I dug further in an attempt to make things easier on myself by completely overloading on every bit of home schooling information I could find. I happened upon a post in the Homeschool section of Pioneer Woman's blog where guest blogger Heather Sanders was talking about the program she uses. (Here's a link to the original post) It's a literature based curriculum, which means all real books. No textbooks. I felt like my dog when he's confused. Rrrrrr? (head cocked to the side, total confusion). What is this trickery?

It's a company called Sonlight. As soon as I looked at the website I was hooked. Just look at all the books!! Ohhhh.... The thing that excited me the most though was the Instructor's Guide. It's basically a daily schedule and script that walks you through each day of the curriculum. As someone who is new to all of this, and a little nervous, that sounded fantastic.

It is more expensive than some other programs, largely because it comes with so many books. My husband and I talked about it for quite a while before we decided to go for it. They do offer a payment plan, which is very helpful!

I ordered Core B, which comes with all those books(!) and the accompanying instructor's guide, along with all the student pages. I also ordered the matching Science B, which comes with another instructor's guide (woo hoo!) and all the items we'll need to perform all of the experiments for the year.

I ordered Saxon math, which seems to be either a love or hate thing. I used Saxon when I home schooled, and I learned a tremendous amount from it. It uses a lot of manipulatives in the younger years, so I ordered those too.

I also added an additional spelling program called All About Spelling, and an art program called ARTistic Pursuits (again, I added the package with all of the art supplies you need for the lessons in the book).

When it all came in the mail, we were pretty excited. The little lass was pretty intrigued with all of those books, but I really think she was most excited about the math manipulatives. She couldn't wait to get into that box.

We unloaded everything and set it out to admire it all...

I added in a map with markers to go on the wall, and a few extra books that I thought she'd enjoy. They even included a free gift! (The tote... the baby we already had.)

Now we have it all organized into our little school corner. Doesn't it look tidy?

We'll see how long that lasts. I've still got several more things to order from a few other companies, and I'll update as those come in. I'll also update as we get our room pulled together, and of course on how things are going as we start to use our materials.

Beginnings

  This is me. My name is Brooke, and I'm 29. No really. Only for a few more weeks, but I'm taking it. That's my daughter. She's six years old, and a live wire. She keeps us on our toes. We've decided to remove her from public school and home school her for a bit. I'm excited, and terrified. It's going to be an adventure.


 "We" is me and my husband, Adam. We've been married for almost 8 years, but we've been together for 12. We were high school sweethearts, and we've pretty much grown up together. This is us...

Last August we added a new little man to our family.

He's a happy little guy. He's just started crawling, and is everywhere at once.


So, to finish, we have two dogs and three cats. Our house is a little nuts, and I am forever fighting animal hair and general kid grubbiness. I like to cook, but my family is pretty picky, so it's generally an effort in futility. I keep making the effort though.

I guess this blog is going to be a little bit of everything until I find my focus. I'm overweight, and determined to get healthy for myself and for my family. I had just discovered and started to enjoy running when I got pregnant with the little man, and I'm just now getting back out there and easing back into it. Slowly. So very slowly. I'm signed up for two 5K races this summer, so I have to get back in shape at least enough not to pass out in front of a crowd of people.

Oh, and I curse too much. So if that offends you, you'd probably better jump ship now.

My brain is also a little disjointed. I'm pretty sure it's from having children. They never let you finish a thought, and then when you finally have the opportunity to finish a thought, you can't remember how.

Anyway, I get off subject sometimes and have to remember what I started out to do. Like now.... Oh yeah, figuring out my mission.

I just figured it out. I don't have one yet. We'll just agree to let that develop organically, okay? Okay.

So I hope you'll join me as I figure out how to home school a rambunctious and ornery 6 year old, while trying to navigate a baby and 5 pets, and not have my house melt down in the process. Oh, and while I'm trying to lose weight, budget our finances, and generally not fall on my face on a day to day basis.

Thank you Lord for this day. And alcohol. Amen.