Back to Homeschool! Also: Why We Homeschool

So... we started back at school last week! We now have a 4th, 3rd, and 1st grader! The first grader would be traditionally going into Kindergarten, but he was absolutely insistent he must go into first grade this year. Of all the children, Caleb is our most rambunctious, high energy and loud one. Since the beginning of his life, his personality has made itself clear. Life is somewhere between a party and a show for that one!

Anyone with a child who has a wild personality knows what a blessing... and a challenge parenting this type can be. You want to encourage their love of life and bold attitude, but along the way there can be so many attitude issues to work through. You want to train them up and teach them the way to behave, without breaking their spirit! This is one of the instances where homeschooling has really helped us.

There are so many ways to teach and socialize, that's just the surface of homeschooling. The heart of homeschooling, for us, is the hearts of our children. Homeschooling helps us to get a good and personal look into the unique physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs of each of our children. As we learn those things, it helps us tailor the way we teach and educate each of our children. I love that, I love that so much! Of all the things we can do in this world, training our children to love the Lord and enter the world with a strong sense of self and a love for others is such an important thing we can do. There is so much more I can say on the subject, but for the sake of keeping this a blog post and not a book, I'll just leave it at that.

Also, our crazy little Caleb may be still doing a lot of kindergarten work this year, but he'll also be doing some first grade. We'll see how it goes. All I know is that if one of my children wants to reach higher, I'll stand by their side and help them.

It's only been a week, but the pride my son shows when sitting down to do "big boy school" has helped both during and after school time. I am excited to see the growth of all my children this coming year!

Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library, Houston TX

Library Day! If we're not at the beach, we're probably at the library! This is from our day at the Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library, part of the Houston Public library system.

We have made it sort of a mission, to seek out and explore new libraries. We hadn't been to the Montrose neighborhood library yet, so made it a side destination when we were in Houston's Museum District. This little library did not disappoint!

The building itself was stunning. All the librarians were super nice and welcoming and encouraged the children to explore! Which is a huge relief. I am trying to teach my children a love of the library, and you don't go from rambunctious toddler to calm library patron. It's a process. And it seems most librarians understand that. They know that young children who learn that the library is a place filled with new and interesting toys and books will grow up to love the library. Some noise may be made in the process! Last thing I want is for my kids to dread the library, which will happen if I do nothing but get on them for noise the entire time!

Biggest tip for the library with young children: keep the visit short and sweet!

Anyway, the kids played, made some new friends, checked out the computer area and wandered around a bit.

The library itself is quite small, but the perfect cozy library size! And remember, this is just one of the many Houston libraries. 
It had beautiful architecture, large dreamy windows and a wonderful selection of interactive and creative kid's toys. We'll definitely be back!

Here is the link to the library: Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library 

A New Start

Good morning world! I am not new to blogging, but this blog is new! Although I have gone through periods where I have changed and updated my blog, it was time for a new start entirely. I have included a link to my old blog, but I hope you all will follow me here!

Old Blog ------->   A Meg Moment

When I first started blogging, I was a young wife and mom with two baby girls living in a little apartment in Wisconsin. Fast forward almost 10 years and here I am now. Homeschool mom of 4, living somewhere between Houston and the gulf of Mexico.

I will be sharing our everyday life, beach trips and a little bit about my faith.
Aside from the journaling aspect of blogging, my favorite thing about blogs and bloggers are the sense of community. I hope you find one here on this blog as you follow along on our our journey. I look forward to getting to know and following you too!

doTERRA Convention 2018

Oh my goodness ya'll, I'm going to Convention! The 2018 doTERRA Global Convention in Salt Lake City this fall!

I have been using doTERRA for almost 5 years and have always dreamed about going the big convention each year. There is just such a wealth of product knowledge, listening to the founders share their hearts and their knowledge and so much oily info!

This past year especially, now that I follow so many fellow oil users, I watched many convention stories, live feeds and followed every bit of new information I could get my hands on. I loved gleaning all the knowledge I could post convention. But the one big missing component to learning what I could, was actually being there and soaking up everything first hand. I can read about things later or watch recorded sessions, but that is kind of like traveling the world though your tv than actually going to places.

God is so good and I am so excited to see this dream of mine, to go to convention realized! I can't wait to not just learn, but meet so many new friends ( and maybe stalk my favorites from instagram, ha!) I even have a gala ticket, which I am ridiculously giddy over!

This is doTERRA's 10 year anniversary and I have a feeling this year is going to be big. Even this year's theme is so close to my heart ( another blog post! ) Even the color scheme, totally my colors!!!!

Oh my word I cannot wait! Who's joining me this year?!