A New Calling for our Family

This is a post I never thought I would actually get to type.  I see many others type on the subject, but never thought I would be doing it.  We have been brought to the world of homeschooling!!!!!! EEEK!!!!!!!

A little background: I have my teaching degree in elementary education. I soon realized after graduation and substituting some, that it was not something I had a huge love for. You see, this is because I graduated college with a 16 month old and newborn. How I got through that time in my life, I still don't know.  With God's help.

My heart was at home with my babies. There was NO way I could leave them to go teach in a classroom all day. So I didn't. I stayed home.  I will say that some years, the world got me. It sucked me in saying "Stacy, you have a degree for this you must do something with it." I listened, and was miserable. I was away from my boys and we were all miserable.  So off the teaching wagon I went. Back home to my happy place.  When our oldest son (we have 3 boys 9,7,2) was in Kindergarten I brought up the idea to my husband that we should look into homeschooling. He shot that idea down.  Would not even talk to me about it.  I asked again when my son was in 1st grade. He shot it down again.  It wasn't until the end of my son's 1st grade year when the transgender bathroom issue hit the news. He said, you may be right on this. Let's look into it. At that point, I got scared. Our good friends who have 6 children were pulling their children out of public school and so we had the support. However, I got cold feet. So I dismissed the idea.  The next school year came (my boys were in 2nd and 1st) and the thoughts would come to mind about homeschooling, but I really was scared and worried that I couldn't do it all. I would become a failure. 

My oldest son had a very hard year. With a teacher with no compassion and love. It was super hard to hear his stories each day, but we survived.  It wasn't until this year come November (boys are in 3rd and 2nd grade now) that we are both ready for this new calling. Many circumstances have come and we feel this is best for our boys. I don't want to share many details in our reasons why because I wouldn't want to down our public school system. Even though I don't agree with their ways, I also know many great teachers who give 100%. Sadly, not all of them love teaching and it only hurts the children.  First my husband and I said, well we will pull them out at the end of this year. Let's let them finish the year and then pull them so it's a quiet leave. Then as time went on in December, we realized we were only keeping them miserable week by week, day by day. My husband actually made the choice to pull them out.  In our state of WV we must give the 2 week notice of intent to homeschool. We drove while they were in school and did that. So we now are waiting out our 2 weeks. This coming week is our last week of public school. I can't tell you how freeing it feels, and how excited and ready our whole family is. I feel ready, not scared or worried like before. My husband is fully on board. It is just a wonderful feeling.  Our boys do not know. We have ordered the curriculum and supplies needed and we will give it to them on Christmas morning. I believe this will be the best Christmas we have ever had. That is my prayer. Attached to the supplies and books, we will write a letter saying that they will not be returning.  We are thrilled, and so excited for just 9 more days. It has been quite hard for me to keep quiet. I like to share everything with my kids, and it's been hard keeping this from them. 

If any of you, have read this long post and are still awake :) please let me know if you homeschool. I would love and like any advice you have. I have met some awesome women in the blogging world that have just shared and prayed for us. I am so thankful for these Godly women.  I hope that your December is filled with love and peace during this season.  I will update everyone with pictures once they open this package :)

Happy Saturday! *I share these pictures with you, because it warmed my heart to see our family in the past and present. We have all grown so much. Physically and spiritually. Boy am I thankful.* My husband was driving us home from his parents yesterday evening after we went for a visit. Out of now where he said "Isn't it so great how God gives to those who are patient? I am in awe that once we started living out the bible, things were just easy." Not to say our life is a piece of cake, but I think he means that everything has fallen into place. With his job, homeschool, etc. I just couldn't help but cry. Tears just streaming down my face. Here is this man who was not raised or brought up in church, and was the farthest from the Lord when we first met. He has changed and turned his life around. I am so blessed and thankful for what prayer can do. 

My great white hunters!

The theory "Whatever Dad is interested in, his boys will be interested in". It's so true! My boys LOVE hunting, fishing, 4-wheeling, farming, boating, shooting guns, gardening, working, basically anything that has to do with the outdoors. So winter is hard on us. ALL. I'm not crazy about being cooped up in the house but I manage to get through. 

The boys however, well they need out every day. In some way, whether it's to take a walk, play, even put on snow suits because it's so cold it's worth it just to be outside. 

We have been very strict on gun safety even though these are BB guns. Karson is a great helper to Kipton and reminds Kipton of the rules. He knows if he doesn't obey them, his gun will be taken away. 

I love having boys! I seriously can't imagine my life any other way. 

Taking a stroll through the country...

We take a lot of walks here. It's not like the walks we used to take at our last home in a subdivision. It's way better! We do live on a gravel road, so that means no riding bikes down the road or being able to pull the wagon easily, but we love it and would not trade our gravel road for any other place. 

(My boys do get to ride bikes at my parent's house just over the hill because they have a lot of concrete)

I had my camera with me yesterday as I was pulling the boys on a morning walk. I thought I would take some pictures of our views as we stroll through our property. 

Walking down our gravel road. So pretty with all of the green trees!

A look at our garden. It is doing so much better than last year. Our new area is working out really well. 

Brussel Sprouts

Pumpkins are growing so fast! My dream is to have a pumpkin farm someday where people can come out and pick their own pumpkins on our land. 

There is always some kind of work going on. Kevin and my dad had just finished cutting a tree down. It was dead, and I was afraid the dead limbs would fall on the boys when we were down with the chickens so down it went. It's always a fun thing to watch!

This gate leads into another piece of property. There is a small cabin/house out there. 

We always check on our girls first thing in the morning. 

Feeding time! (I will be posting about our chickens here soon)

After living here for 2 years now, we are finally getting good grass. We have figured out that we have to keep the lawn mower blade REALLY high or it will kill it so fast. That means we have to mow about every 4 days. We have a lot of weed eating areas, which is very time consuming, but so worth it. 

Out back of our house we have lots of creek to play in. The boys love it!

We love the country! It is the best place to raise a family. Or so we think. 

We are hardly EVER inside unless someone is sick, or tired. I mentioned before that we had our cable TV turned off and I do not miss it much at all. Kevin on the other hand, is missing it bad. I think it's mainly the sportscenter that he misses. We have Netflix and the boys watch about 1 hour of TV per day, and really don't complain at all. They would rather be hiking, walking, playing outside.  

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of the country. 

Haircuts & Critters

I thought I would write about a few things so that I remember. I started cutting the boys hair when Karson turned 2. It was really getting expensive with each cut being $10.00 at the barber shop plus the drive there every 2 weeks. With three boys in our house that was $30.00 every 2 weeks and you can see why I learned to do it myself. This is a great way to save money if you have multiple boys in your home. 

Here are a few tips if you are going to start cutting boy hair! 

1. Cut it outside! I have a chair on the porch that I have them sit in. In the winter we cut it in my bathroom and they sit backwards on the toilet. It's just easier to clean up. 

2. Watch your barber a few times before or watch you tube videos. I watched the barber we went to and soon realized I could do it on my own.

3. Get a good set of cutters with different guards to go on it. You will need a No. 1, 2, 3, 4. 

4. Give your child something to play with. My boys like to play with the little trimmers and of course they were not turned on and they pretend they are cutting hair too. I also give them a sucker during the hair cut. 

5. Do different guards. Both of my boys have wavy hair and it's just not good hair to leave long. So they both have short haircuts. I use a No. 1 on the back and sides, and then have the No. 2 guard on it for the too. Then when you get towards the front I use scissors to cut their "bangs". I normally leave longer "bangs" because I like to use gel on them and spike them up. 

6. If you are nervous ask questions! Ask your barber what settings/guards they are using the time before you start doing it. 

Kevin was next to get his hair cut and he let Karson do a little swipe. 

*Of course do not try this at home if you think your child would do harm!*

Hoe you can save money by cutting your boy(s) hair at home. It is a lot easier to give the haircut every 2 weeks whether they need it or not. When it gets really long it's harder. I like to keep them trimmed up so I normally do it every 2-3 weeks. 

I'll leave you with some pictures of our boys after catching some critters in the country. 

We now have 4 frogs and 1 lizard in a little cage on our porch. O boys are so fun!

Bulldozers

Our boys are pretty lucky! Growing up little boys love trucks, trains, cars, firetrucks, bulldozers, anything that moves. It just so happens that my boys LOVE anything that will scoop dirt.

 

So having a papaw (and neighbor) with a bulldozer is about the best around!

 

We had about 6 trees cut out of our backyard last Sunday. They were pretty dangerous and too close to our house and we needed to get them out before winter. My dad and his friend and Kevin all helped to get them out. I was soo thankful it went smooth and it was finally over.

 

 

After the trees were cut down, it was clean up time! These boys were ready to get to work. Karson has always loved tractors, bulldozers. But I really think Kipton is going to be our dozer man. He LOVES them and plays with them most of the day. He has been asking everytime we go to Target or Walmart to see the bulldozers. I will normally take him back to that isle in the toy section and we stay at least 10 minutes looking at this one particular bulldozer he loves. I really need to get it for Christmas and put it back, but I am never at a store alone :)

 

 

He worked worked worked his little heart out on this bulldozer. He really thought he was big stuff!

 

 

Bubby has a few lessons he tries to teach Kipton. How to move this lever and how to push this button, etc. He thinks he is "Mr. Teacher" to Kipton.

 

 

Giving Kipton a lesson

 

 

Hauling a tree off..this is tough work!

 

 

 

Loving every second of living in the country! Thrilled that these boys are healthy, and happy loving the country life.

Pros/Cons of Country Living

I thought I would share a little about how we moved from the "subdivision" life to the "country".

 

I grew up in West Virginia and lived in the "country" my whole life. My husband  Kevin grew up in a small city but it was still near local stores (Walmart, McDonalds, etc). He could walk to school and always had a buddy to play with. I on the other hand, did not. It was a lot different having friends over. Their parents had to drive them so it was harder to get together outside of school, but my sister and I still managed to have a "social life".

(Our old house - Halloween Night 2011)

 

When Kevin and I got married in 2007 we moved to the city where he grew up and rented a house in a subdivision with intentions on soon buying the house. I seemed to like this life but there were the cons and the pros to it just like the country life has it's ups and downs.

 

 

*Note that this is my personal opinion :)

 

Subdivision Pros

 

-Easy to take walks around the neighborhood

-Local parks nearby

-Always a close person if you need a quick babysitter

-Close to Walmart, Fast Food, etc

-Other kids for our boys to play with

-Always something going on around in the neighborhood

-Block Parties

-Kids Parties

 

Subdivision Cons

 

-Nosey neighbors (this was #1 on my list)

-No privacy

-No land or space

-Competition between neighbors

-Keeping up with "The Joneses"

-Gossip

-The kids are constantly coming over. When we were outside it was

free game for the backyard to be flooded with kids. No family time.

 

*These are just some of the things that happened in our subdivision. My main reason for wanting to leave the subdivision life was the competition/gossip portion of it. It seemed like everyone was so worried about what the other was doing and gossiping about it. When we were just married it seemed ok. I will also admit that I was in on all of the talk. But after I had kids something didn't sit right with me anymore. God had put it in my heart to stop the talk and raise my kids the right way. The together family way, and that just wasn't with the subdivision life anymore.

  

 

There are also the pros and cons of moving to the country. It is not the life for ALL but definitely for our family. We are so happy with our move, and I am pretty sure the boys would say the same.

 

Country Cons

 

-Gravel roads (not great for pushing a stroller or wagon)

-No houses/people in sight!

-No kids to play with nearby

-Some flat land but more hills to mow, walk, etc.

-More land to keep up with (we have 4 acres)

 

Country Pros

 

-We like to work! So living here we have plenty to do. We love being outside as a family and working on something. (mowing, planting, having a huge garden, cutting/splitting firewood, building campfires)

-Having so much space! We have plenty of room for a barn, chicken coop, to have our boat, our house, plus about 3 more acres of land.

-So much privacy! No one is constantly watching you and when you come and go!

-More family time with no distractions from others coming over

-Plenty of places to ride our 4-wheeler

-Ponds nearby to fish. Acres in our backyard to hunt (Kevin)

-The boys can be boys and enjoy nature and "boy" things

 

We love finding treasures like acorns, nuts, pinecones

 

 

Enjoying and raising our chickens

Getting fresh eggs

 

 

 Rides on the tractor in the open fields

 

 

 

 

Nature walks

Bonding as brothers

Finding treasures

 

 

Sleeping on the front porch swing

Being on the front porch in your pj's  :)

 

 

Beautiful trees/scenery

 

 

 

 A pro & con - all the hard work!

 

 

Enjoying the barn

Riding tractors

 

 

Digging away with no cares

Sharing life with his best friend - his brother

 

 

Loading the deer feeder with corn

Watching the deer from our back door while eating breakfast 

 

 

Pretending to "cut the trees" down

Using a screwdriver to cut the tree down. HA 

 

 

Building small fires in our fire pit

 

Building BIG fires all around our property 

 

 

I hope that this post doesn't come off to some people that the subdivision life is not a good life for raising a family. To some it is. But for our family the move to the country was the right one for us. Of course I feel like you must love the outdoors and have a passion for working in nature to make you LOVE living in the country. I think because of the fact that we have BOYS makes our move much easier. I don't know that we would have made the move had we had 2 girls. I know that sounds strange but I think raising boys in the country is pretty easy. I try to think what it would be like if we had two girls living in the country. I'm sure they wouldn't be too happy with lots of hard work and dirt all the time, but maybe?? I was raised in the country and it was fine but who knows?

 

I am glad to have documented this so that I have a record of how I felt about our move to the country. Hope you have enjoyed it!

(October - 2011)

 

(August - 2012)