Quiver0f10 Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 And I realized A)how little I have saved from my youngest 5 kids and B)how unfun I am. My older kids went to PS until my oldest was entering 7th. Today I saw all these fun things they did, funny journal entries and cool projects. My younger kids don't have many of these kinds of things and I feel bad for them. I tossed most of just regular school papers and books ( I had every single paper and book since we started homeschooling lol) and saved a few treasures, but I want to have more special, funny, cute etc things for my younger kids to look back on! I feel like a loser mom today. :sad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in AZ Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 First, you probably only saved the really wonderful projects from public school, not the boring worksheets done day after day. Second, most of your little ones are still little. Perhaps each one can make an "All About Me" book this fall. I have one I made in 6th grade. I'd like to see one from when I was an early teen. Third, I imagine most adults don't care to look through a huge pile of old school things. My dh doesn't have much and doesn't care. Same with my brothers and in-laws. Finally, you've got plenty of time to add in some fun writing or projects if you feel they need it. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaMamaMama!! Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Yep its never too late! Make it a FUN summer! Make some memories snap some pics and smile! :) Your a great Mama with your hands as full as they are to have HS'd at all! Way to go!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mejane Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Aww... you are not a loser, and you can still do some fun stuff if you want to. I feel the opposite way when I look at the stuff my kids did in ps - like all they did was make paper bag puppets and shoebox dioramas. :001_smile: When did the learning take place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 I feel like a loser mom today. :sad: :grouphug: Totally not! I've had a similar experience! My two oldest went to preschool and K and they have such cute projects! Their baby boxes are bulging. I try to hang onto things the others have made at church. I'd put one of your dc in charge of having your littles make some fun projects. :D Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Jean, I think you're a great Mom and I'm sure your children think so, too. Mementos may be nice, but there's more to life than a cool "project". Actually living life and having fun in the moment may not give you a physical thing to look back on, but it sure makes for great memories over time.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 ...you a loser mom??? No way. You're a mom I respect beyond my ability to say. You just seem to swim through everything without losing your equilibrium, always trying to do better and better. You take on very challenging curricula. You have 10 children to love and nurture, and you even homeschool them! You are always trying to cook better, to eat better, to teach better, to improve improve improve. Didn't you even work in the afternoons for a while when you still lived in the old house? After homeschooling all day? Himmelreich. Loser mom? Ridiculous! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennifersLost Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 I didn`t have quite the same experience, but a similar one. I remember when the kids were young I thought we`d get to some magical point where we did wonderful, pull-it-all-together projects. The reality: the kids liked "my" ideas less and less, did just enough "school" to get by and then pursued their own dreams and projects. Those dreams and projects turned out to be pretty cool - just not my vision of what they would be. I really wish now we'd had a lot more fun when they were little. Heck...I just wish they were little. (Feeling very nostalgic...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted July 11, 2010 Author Share Posted July 11, 2010 Thank you all. I think I was feeling a little bit nostalgic too. Friday I sent in our home school paperwork and had to register my youngest as a homeschooler for the first time. Seems so weird to have no babies and I realized how fast the time has gone. Then seeing that box of memories made it worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie in AR Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Thank you all. I think I was feeling a little bit nostalgic too. Friday I sent in our home school paperwork and had to register my youngest as a homeschooler for the first time. Seems so weird to have no babies and I realized how fast the time has gone. Then seeing that box of memories made it worse. Your youngest is 5?? Oh, wow, time really does fly. There's no way you are a loser mom, Jean. My hat is off to you, girl! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Thank you all. I think I was feeling a little bit nostalgic too. Friday I sent in our home school paperwork and had to register my youngest as a homeschooler for the first time. Seems so weird to have no babies and I realized how fast the time has gone. Then seeing that box of memories made it worse. :grouphug: Gee, I feel like all I have been able to do is keep up. I have very few pictures even of my middle set of kids!!! Who has time to snap pictures when you are pulling the toddler out of the toilet or driving you 15 year old 100 miles away at 6 am for a swim meet?? It has nothing to do with being or NOT being fun, it has to do with survival!! And YOU have almost twice as many kids as I do!! I think you are awesome! And beautiful too.... Feel proud of yourself! You are not a loser...quite the opposite! Faithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 :grouphug: I don't know if this will help or not, but whenever I read your sig line, I get rapid heart palpitations. I wouldn't know how to BREATHE with ten children, let alone be "fun" -- whatever that is. Give yourself some credit! My mom gave me a packet of MY old school papers. I'm 43 years old, and my husband and I had fun looking back at the stupid things I wrote when I was, say, nine years old. But it all -- well, almost all -- went into the trash. It's just ancient history for me. In fact, I sorted through my stuff from college and grad school, too, and pitched most of that stuff. Saved a few papers, that is all. You know what fun thing I remember from elementary school? My "Ant Project." Yes, I had a teacher who let me go out on the playground (alone, like I said, this was years ago), and collect different types of ants, Scotch tape them to a poster board :001_huh:, and write little blurbs alongside each type. What school teacher would allow this today? But I learned so much about ants, and had a blast doing this -- and there is NO written/paper record of it. Ask your younger kids and your older kids if they have any MEMORIES that they treasure, that's where the real fun is. No guilt, Quiverful! Life is too short for regrets, I think. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charmama4 Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 I wanted to chime in and say first and foremost you are not a bad mother, busy but not bad. I too had my 3 boys in PS up until the oldest was about to enter the 7th grade, then homeschooled. I am looking at their clear totes full of school stuff and feeling a wee bit guilty about not doing any of those cool projects like they did in PS. But, here's something to think about, when they were in PS they were away from you 7-8 hours a day and when they came home from school with all the neat things to show, it was liking making up for being away from you so long. They're home with you now, you SEE all the projects they do because you are with them. You watch the process of the project NOT just the end result. You see their faces while they are constructing, you see their eyes light up when the see their finish result. I don't know about you, but I like to see the process not just the end result. Enjoy and I'm sure you'll have time in some (far off) future to make somekind of keep sake for them and for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 But, here's something to think about, when they were in PS they were away from you 7-8 hours a day and when they came home from school with all the neat things to show, it was liking making up for being away from you so long. :iagree:And my school teacher friends say that they HAVE to "send home product" or the parents feel disconnected from their children. Hence, the cutsie projects, etc., etc., etc. But if you don't feel disconnected from your children, you have nothing to regret. In fact, you can rejoice because you are not focused on making tangible "products" -- but incredible PEOPLE! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted July 11, 2010 Author Share Posted July 11, 2010 They're home with you now, you SEE all the projects they do because you are with them. You watch the process of the project NOT just the end result. You see their faces while they are constructing, you see their eyes light up when the see their finish result. And I wouldn 't trade this for the world. Thanks for the reminder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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