Where is the time going?! It seems not so very long ago we were enjoying our first autumn back in territory where you can actually SEE the seasons changing. I just got back from a three-mile run in crisp, clear weather, soaking in the morning sunshine and trying to absorb as much of the beauty of the colored leaves as possible--I'll need something to hold me over 'til spring once the trees are naked again and I'm once more shoveling snow off the walk. We're trying to get outdoors as much as possible during the school days, too, as the weather has been beautiful (aside from a few much-needed rainstorms over the past week).
Our "normal" routine is back in full swing after our two-week vacation. Ahhh, schedules! We've finished two more weeks of Sonlight's Core 3. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing the kids beg me to read MORE when we come to the end of a day's history, science, or literature reading. Even Kenna is in on the action nowadays, chanting, "Mo-ore, mo-ore, mo-ore" when I put a book down. Sonlighter in training!
We have discovered the need to tweak a few parts of our daily schedule, but I figured that would happen. For example, Charis and I decided that her piano practice time needs to be during Lucan's room time; otherwise she has some extra fingers on the keyboard! And sometimes I've been doubling up with the boys, doing language arts at the same time instead of one at a time. This helps us finish sooner before lunch and gives the kids some extra outside play time. Some days I'm sure I'll need more one-on-one time, but it's nice to be flexible, right?
This afternoon we're heading to Young's to do their corn maze for the first time EVER! (How can we have spent so much time in Ohio and never have done this yet?!) This is our family celebration for Arden and Charis's birthdays. Charis requested a quiet family party, and Arden seems content with our plans so far, which is a good thing...after our history travels, we don't have a big budget for partying! Arden even wrote out a birthday wish list, which was very cute, written just like this:
A lego set,
A popout light saber,
A Book of sudoku Puzzles,
And a Bionicle.
Ane yes, he had underlined all the items! I was just impressed that the list was limited to 4 items, LOL. Since he already has a pop-out light saber, I think he has a fairly good chance of scoring what he wants this year!
Charis is turning 10, and for her rite-of-passage into double digits, I will take her to get her ears pierced. She opted to wait until next weekend, when Grandma and Grandpa K are here to visit. She's becoming quite the young lady!
I'll sign off here--it's time for me to shower and then get my hair trimmed before we begin our family adventures. I hope wherever you are, you're experiencing a lovely, blessed season!
Showing posts with label Sonlight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sonlight. Show all posts
October 16, 2010
September 03, 2010
It's FRIDAY!
It's Friday! Ted's off work for a 4-day weekend, and we're preparing for the first field trip of the school year. It's a "Wade in the Water" class at Wegerzyn Gardens. The older kids have play dates scheduled with friends for the afternoon, so it should be fairly quiet around here. Ted plans to take Kenna with him when he runs some errands during Lucan's nap time, so I'll have a chance to think about our menu and grocery shopping list--hopefully the last time I will do this before our big Williamsburg/D.C. trip!
The last three days we practiced our daily schedule, minus some key school activities, LOL. But the transitions seemed to go well, and that was mostly what I was wondering about, particularly the time Kenna would be spending with her older sibs. I'm hopeful that we have a workable routine, but we'll see how things go when we have a full day's worth of school to do! This week we just eased back into math (although there was nothing "easy" about that first day--oh, my, I really should have kept on the kids all summer!) and read the one read-aloud book from our Sonlight Core 2 that we missed last year. It was well worth reading! (The Apprentice, for those familiar with the core.) Charis wrote on her blog about the Bible Bee experience during her language arts time, while Tobin sneaked in some workbook time on his new Sonlight language arts books. (I've finally stopped worrying about keeping to the Instructor's Guide schedule! If Tobin wants to work ahead in phonics and vocabulary, why should I stop him?!) Arden spent time reading on his own, and all the kids did really well with their one-on-one time with Kenna. Hooray!
The other schoolish activity that kept the kids busy was Tobin's "Dig a Glow Dinosaur" project. We had bought the kit for him a couple of years ago for his birthday, but we never seemed to have an opportunity to get it out and do it. It's a very messy project--a block of plaster with dinosaur "bones" hidden inside. There are tools to chip away and brush off the plaster, mimicking archaeology, and then you assemble the skeleton and voila! You have a glow-in-the-dark artifact, LOL. The deck is covered with red plaster, and my kitchen floor has been too, though we've mopped a couple of times since! But it has kept all 5 kids intrigued; Tobin has generously allowed his siblings to bang away and excavate bones along with him. (The fact that the project wasn't finished in 20 minutes probably has something to do with him "letting" the kids "help!")
The Sonlight books have at least been separated into piles: Science, history, Bible, electives, and Charis's new readers, which is a VERY large pile! I've teased her that it looks like she gets to read the best books! The rest of the family may steal her readers and read them together, LOL! We will definitely read Meet Thomas Jefferson before our trip, since our first stop is Monticello!
The plan is for me to assemble the IG notebooks and start our regular school schedule next week. We may very well take two weeks to cover one scheduled week, but we'll see how things go. The kids are beyond excited to begin the next core! Tobin came home the other day, puzzled because he had told his (public school) friend that he loved school, and Daniel had basically told him he was weird, because no one else he knew even liked school! That made me feel extra joyful. :-)
Time to go pack lunches so we can enjoy a picnic after our field trip...that is, if it doesn't start raining!
ETA: I should probably mention--though most of our blog readers probably know this from Facebook--that Charis did not make it to Nationals for the Bible Bee. But she did rank #144 out of 912 primary contestants! (Only the top 100 can go to Nationals.) Hopefully this will be encouraging and motivating for her in future years!
The last three days we practiced our daily schedule, minus some key school activities, LOL. But the transitions seemed to go well, and that was mostly what I was wondering about, particularly the time Kenna would be spending with her older sibs. I'm hopeful that we have a workable routine, but we'll see how things go when we have a full day's worth of school to do! This week we just eased back into math (although there was nothing "easy" about that first day--oh, my, I really should have kept on the kids all summer!) and read the one read-aloud book from our Sonlight Core 2 that we missed last year. It was well worth reading! (The Apprentice, for those familiar with the core.) Charis wrote on her blog about the Bible Bee experience during her language arts time, while Tobin sneaked in some workbook time on his new Sonlight language arts books. (I've finally stopped worrying about keeping to the Instructor's Guide schedule! If Tobin wants to work ahead in phonics and vocabulary, why should I stop him?!) Arden spent time reading on his own, and all the kids did really well with their one-on-one time with Kenna. Hooray!
The other schoolish activity that kept the kids busy was Tobin's "Dig a Glow Dinosaur" project. We had bought the kit for him a couple of years ago for his birthday, but we never seemed to have an opportunity to get it out and do it. It's a very messy project--a block of plaster with dinosaur "bones" hidden inside. There are tools to chip away and brush off the plaster, mimicking archaeology, and then you assemble the skeleton and voila! You have a glow-in-the-dark artifact, LOL. The deck is covered with red plaster, and my kitchen floor has been too, though we've mopped a couple of times since! But it has kept all 5 kids intrigued; Tobin has generously allowed his siblings to bang away and excavate bones along with him. (The fact that the project wasn't finished in 20 minutes probably has something to do with him "letting" the kids "help!")
The Sonlight books have at least been separated into piles: Science, history, Bible, electives, and Charis's new readers, which is a VERY large pile! I've teased her that it looks like she gets to read the best books! The rest of the family may steal her readers and read them together, LOL! We will definitely read Meet Thomas Jefferson before our trip, since our first stop is Monticello!
The plan is for me to assemble the IG notebooks and start our regular school schedule next week. We may very well take two weeks to cover one scheduled week, but we'll see how things go. The kids are beyond excited to begin the next core! Tobin came home the other day, puzzled because he had told his (public school) friend that he loved school, and Daniel had basically told him he was weird, because no one else he knew even liked school! That made me feel extra joyful. :-)
Time to go pack lunches so we can enjoy a picnic after our field trip...that is, if it doesn't start raining!
ETA: I should probably mention--though most of our blog readers probably know this from Facebook--that Charis did not make it to Nationals for the Bible Bee. But she did rank #144 out of 912 primary contestants! (Only the top 100 can go to Nationals.) Hopefully this will be encouraging and motivating for her in future years!
June 04, 2010
Another Fabulous Year with Sonlight
Wow...today we actually completed Sonlight's Core 2! Did we do everything? Well, no...we didn't even come close to doing ALL the science experiments; there were a number of writing assignments that I opted not to assign; there were a few writing assignments that kids started and never finished; there are some activity sheets that are completely blank; and there is even one book from the Read-Aloud pile that we flat out didn't have time for when it was scheduled. (We plan to read it this summer.) And frankly, I did skip a few (but a very few) of the poems that looked like they would bore the kids (and me).
But, we did get a GREAT overview of world history, picking up from where we left off in Core 1 with the early Middle Ages and continuing through the 20th century. We ignited curiosity about new people, places, eras, and inventions. We had lots of discussions, laughed ourselves silly, and had opportunities to incorporate God's truth and His passion for people into a variety of lessons. We prayed for countries and people groups we had never heard of before, improved our geography and map skills, and memorized a lot of Bible verses, including at least 3 whole chapters in Psalms.
So when I think of Core 2, this is what will come to mind:
Minus, perhaps, Kenna's totally cheesy grin and flash of underwear. Sigh. Guess that picture won't be submitted to Sonlight for them to consider using for next year's catalog cover.
But, we did get a GREAT overview of world history, picking up from where we left off in Core 1 with the early Middle Ages and continuing through the 20th century. We ignited curiosity about new people, places, eras, and inventions. We had lots of discussions, laughed ourselves silly, and had opportunities to incorporate God's truth and His passion for people into a variety of lessons. We prayed for countries and people groups we had never heard of before, improved our geography and map skills, and memorized a lot of Bible verses, including at least 3 whole chapters in Psalms.
So when I think of Core 2, this is what will come to mind:
Minus, perhaps, Kenna's totally cheesy grin and flash of underwear. Sigh. Guess that picture won't be submitted to Sonlight for them to consider using for next year's catalog cover.
May 30, 2010
The Home Stretch
It's really true that time goes faster as you get older. Where did last week go?! It was a blur of school along with an intro to summer activities. We picnicked at the park with friends on Monday; went shopping at the BX for a little plastic pool and water toys on Tuesday; played with said pool and water toys on Wednesday; went to The Greene with two other homeschool families Thursday morning to play in the fountains; and went on a family bike ride and played at the park Friday morning since Daddy didn't have to go to work.
Believe it or not, we also did about 8 days' worth of Sonlight reading! We are really enjoying the last books of Core 2. I confess we're skimping a bit on the language arts and math side of things, but since we plan to do those throughout the summer, I'm not all that concerned about it.
Yesterday we had some old friends roll into town! Brian and Joy L and their 3 kids arrived en route from North Dakota to Georgia. Brian will be serving in Iraq for a year, while Joy and the kids will be close to her parents. We were all stationed in Ohio at the same time in 2001-2004, and Joy and I have kept in touch through Stampin' Up!, getting to see each other at conventions and leadership trainings. But it has been SO fun to get to hang out as families again and exclaim over the growth and maturity of our older kids and grin in delight at the newer additions. We visited a long time last night and enjoyed a leisurely morning with a pancake breakfast before the second service at church (which is where we all met the first time we were here). The kids have played so well together. Ian is just a couple of months older than Charis, and he and Arden especially have hit it off, though Charis just came in and announced she and Ian were having fun playing badminton. Eliana is just a few months younger than Kenna, and the two girls have had many adorable moments playing together. And Josh, having just finished his first year of college, is practically unrecognizable to us! (Good thing I keep up with Joy's blog--otherwise I'm not sure I'd believe it's him!)
We just got back from Young's and are getting kids cleaned up and in bed. The L's have to leave in the morning, so it's just a brief visit, but we're thankful for the time we've been able to share.
Believe it or not, we also did about 8 days' worth of Sonlight reading! We are really enjoying the last books of Core 2. I confess we're skimping a bit on the language arts and math side of things, but since we plan to do those throughout the summer, I'm not all that concerned about it.
Yesterday we had some old friends roll into town! Brian and Joy L and their 3 kids arrived en route from North Dakota to Georgia. Brian will be serving in Iraq for a year, while Joy and the kids will be close to her parents. We were all stationed in Ohio at the same time in 2001-2004, and Joy and I have kept in touch through Stampin' Up!, getting to see each other at conventions and leadership trainings. But it has been SO fun to get to hang out as families again and exclaim over the growth and maturity of our older kids and grin in delight at the newer additions. We visited a long time last night and enjoyed a leisurely morning with a pancake breakfast before the second service at church (which is where we all met the first time we were here). The kids have played so well together. Ian is just a couple of months older than Charis, and he and Arden especially have hit it off, though Charis just came in and announced she and Ian were having fun playing badminton. Eliana is just a few months younger than Kenna, and the two girls have had many adorable moments playing together. And Josh, having just finished his first year of college, is practically unrecognizable to us! (Good thing I keep up with Joy's blog--otherwise I'm not sure I'd believe it's him!)
We just got back from Young's and are getting kids cleaned up and in bed. The L's have to leave in the morning, so it's just a brief visit, but we're thankful for the time we've been able to share.
April 21, 2010
General Update
I'm sitting outside on a beautiful, sunny day, watching Kenna enjoy the simple pleasures of a bucket full of sidewalk chalk. Charis is in the middle of her piano lesson, the boys are enjoying some rare time on Dad's computer playing a game, and Lucan is amazingly still asleep after 2 1/2 hours. He had a rough evening and night, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. All signs point to more teeth...and from past experience, we know this is never an easy time for our little guy.
Perhaps next weekend I'll be able to write up some more notes from our convention sessions, but for now I'll just blather on while inhaling the soft scent of the honeysuckle bush by the driveway. Not so pleasant is the occasional wasp that hovers precariously near my face; I suppose that's the trade-off that comes with spring.
Kenna has abandoned her driveway artwork in favor of a sidewalk stroll. She is holding Charis's purple umbrella to shade herself from the sun. It clashes nicely with her orange shirt and green pants--she needs an "I Dressed Myself" sticker today. Oh, to be three again! Why worry about schedules and what's for dinner when there is a neighborhood to explore?!
This week has been a good one thus far. I was somewhat dreading the necessity of starting up our full school schedule again, but somehow Sonlight must have known that spring is here--our reading assignments have been very light. Of course, the fact that I opted to skip science altogether this week may have something to do with that...hmmm. The kids did some electrical experiments yesterday afternoon with Ted while I was at the dentists getting my teeth cleaned, and Charis and Tobin did an internet search this morning to find out what bag worms are and decide if what was hanging on our bush was a harmful sack of parasites or something friendly. (The jury is still out on that one...they don't LOOK like the pictures online, but our neighbor was quite certain, so out they went, just in case.)
Anyway. So we've done some science, but not the assigned reading. I love being able to choose what learning paths we pursue! The kids have done very well with their independent work, and our read-aloud times have been very satisfying. We just finished A Little Princess yesterday. I LOVE that book! I was glad that Tobin got so into the storyline; he was not at all thrilled about a book with the word "princess" in it at first. Arden was not very excited about the whole thing, but the rest of us enjoyed it. The story went perfectly with our current character quality study, compassion. There were numerous examples of times Sara showed compassion to those around her, even when she was a person who desperately needed compassion herself. Good discussion times!
In other news, I've begun a new exercise program, P90X from Beachbody. While I can't get too enthused about the worldly perspective on health and body image, I have to say I'm enjoying the program thoroughly. (Don't get me wrong--it's nothing terrible, but the instructor is definitely pleased with himself, that's for sure!) I needed something to get me going again. I had fallen into a lull with the other workout DVDs I was borrowing from a friend, and since I haven't purchased running shoes since before Lucan was in utero, running has been out of the question until I can make an appointment with a shoe store and get fitted with some proper foot gear. So when a few acquaintances started talking to me about this program, I did some looking into it and took the plunge with Ted's full support. He has even done 3 of the 6 workouts with me, only neglecting the days when he has his own strenuous workouts on base with the mandatory PT program. His help has helped me so much--there have already been days when I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep instead of getting out of bed at 4:30 a.m., but so far we are 6 for 6 days!! Only 84 more to go, LOL!
We have a busy weekend ahead of us, full of fun church activities. Friday afternoon the kids and I have a field trip to the Sunwatch Indian Village, and then in the evening we host our monthly Family Community gathering. Ted will be doing the kids' devotional time. Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon we'll be at church rehearsing for the Kids Street Live program that will be on Sunday in between the two services. The older kids have birthday parties to attend on Saturday as well, so I'm sure we'll be ready for a day of rest come Sunday afternoon!
Next week will be a bit of a spring break, as if we haven't already had some spring breaks with the grandmas in town and other things going on! But the kids will be joining with the homeschool co-op to take their first ever standardized tests. Testing will happen Tuesday through Thursday mornings, and then Charis has a field trip on Friday that I will blog about later. (Going to school in a one-room schoolhouse in an 1800s school setting!) So there is simply no point to trying to get any schoolwork done next week, in my opinion, LOL.
Well, Lucan is now awake, so it's time for his late lunch and some practice test sheets with the older kids.
Perhaps next weekend I'll be able to write up some more notes from our convention sessions, but for now I'll just blather on while inhaling the soft scent of the honeysuckle bush by the driveway. Not so pleasant is the occasional wasp that hovers precariously near my face; I suppose that's the trade-off that comes with spring.
Kenna has abandoned her driveway artwork in favor of a sidewalk stroll. She is holding Charis's purple umbrella to shade herself from the sun. It clashes nicely with her orange shirt and green pants--she needs an "I Dressed Myself" sticker today. Oh, to be three again! Why worry about schedules and what's for dinner when there is a neighborhood to explore?!
This week has been a good one thus far. I was somewhat dreading the necessity of starting up our full school schedule again, but somehow Sonlight must have known that spring is here--our reading assignments have been very light. Of course, the fact that I opted to skip science altogether this week may have something to do with that...hmmm. The kids did some electrical experiments yesterday afternoon with Ted while I was at the dentists getting my teeth cleaned, and Charis and Tobin did an internet search this morning to find out what bag worms are and decide if what was hanging on our bush was a harmful sack of parasites or something friendly. (The jury is still out on that one...they don't LOOK like the pictures online, but our neighbor was quite certain, so out they went, just in case.)
Anyway. So we've done some science, but not the assigned reading. I love being able to choose what learning paths we pursue! The kids have done very well with their independent work, and our read-aloud times have been very satisfying. We just finished A Little Princess yesterday. I LOVE that book! I was glad that Tobin got so into the storyline; he was not at all thrilled about a book with the word "princess" in it at first. Arden was not very excited about the whole thing, but the rest of us enjoyed it. The story went perfectly with our current character quality study, compassion. There were numerous examples of times Sara showed compassion to those around her, even when she was a person who desperately needed compassion herself. Good discussion times!
In other news, I've begun a new exercise program, P90X from Beachbody. While I can't get too enthused about the worldly perspective on health and body image, I have to say I'm enjoying the program thoroughly. (Don't get me wrong--it's nothing terrible, but the instructor is definitely pleased with himself, that's for sure!) I needed something to get me going again. I had fallen into a lull with the other workout DVDs I was borrowing from a friend, and since I haven't purchased running shoes since before Lucan was in utero, running has been out of the question until I can make an appointment with a shoe store and get fitted with some proper foot gear. So when a few acquaintances started talking to me about this program, I did some looking into it and took the plunge with Ted's full support. He has even done 3 of the 6 workouts with me, only neglecting the days when he has his own strenuous workouts on base with the mandatory PT program. His help has helped me so much--there have already been days when I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep instead of getting out of bed at 4:30 a.m., but so far we are 6 for 6 days!! Only 84 more to go, LOL!
We have a busy weekend ahead of us, full of fun church activities. Friday afternoon the kids and I have a field trip to the Sunwatch Indian Village, and then in the evening we host our monthly Family Community gathering. Ted will be doing the kids' devotional time. Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon we'll be at church rehearsing for the Kids Street Live program that will be on Sunday in between the two services. The older kids have birthday parties to attend on Saturday as well, so I'm sure we'll be ready for a day of rest come Sunday afternoon!
Next week will be a bit of a spring break, as if we haven't already had some spring breaks with the grandmas in town and other things going on! But the kids will be joining with the homeschool co-op to take their first ever standardized tests. Testing will happen Tuesday through Thursday mornings, and then Charis has a field trip on Friday that I will blog about later. (Going to school in a one-room schoolhouse in an 1800s school setting!) So there is simply no point to trying to get any schoolwork done next week, in my opinion, LOL.
Well, Lucan is now awake, so it's time for his late lunch and some practice test sheets with the older kids.
April 14, 2010
Planning for the Summer and Beyond
So I still have a lot to process from the convention last week, and I'm running out of time today already. But there is one major change I'm making to our school plans that I will write about now.
PLAN A was to hurry up and finish Sonlight's Core 2 so we could hurry up and start on Sonlight's Core 3! Why the rush? We are planning to attend the homeschool days at Colonial Williamsburg this fall, and I thought it would be a good thing to get some of the American History core under our belts so the kids would be even more excited about the experience. We typically school year round anyway, with last summer being the exception since we had a newborn and a cross-country move throwing school plans awry.
When I visited the Sonlight booth in the Exhibit Hall last week, I had one question for Jill, and it's a question my friend Megan has asked as well as she has looked into this curriculum. By Core 3, the language arts readers are lining up with the history portion of the core. Charis is ready for LA 3 to go along with Core 3, but the boys are 1-2 levels behind. My question was...does this really matter? What should I do?
Jill suggested doing something different--instead of rushing into Core 3 and working at our one-core-per-year pace, stretch out Cores 3 and 4 (both American History) to last for three years. This will give the boys time to catch up, as we can continue their current LA pace. Also, she pointed out the opportunity to have Kenna join in Core K at the same time we start Core 5 with the older kids--both cores are "World Culture" oriented. Also, Core 1 goes very well with Core 6.
Light bulb moment for me! The thought of schooling Kenna has obviously crossed my mind, LOL, but I hadn't even begun to think that far down the road in terms of lining up our cores. I had read in the past about other families doing that, but since it didn't apply to our family at the time, it just sort of flew out of my brain.
I love this idea for several reasons. First of all, I hated feeling rushed with the core we're on now. I want to enjoy it! And I was finding myself in a box-checking mentality, and our school time was feeling very dead. Suddenly I feel free!! Funny, isn't it, how we as homeschooling moms--who plan our OWN schedules--often feel tied to something that may or may not be working?!
Also, I realized that there truly is no need for us to "cover" any particular American history information in order to enjoy being at Williamsburg. The kids have done some reading on their own, and we can definitely get books from the library and talk about things ahead of time...but why start a new core simply to learn certain facts ahead of time?
Another reason I'm happy with making this change is that there is simply too much great stuff out there! While I am a perfectly happy Sonlight customer and plan to remain so as we see all our kids through to graduation and beyond, I just love some of the other resources out there. Taking the summer "off" will allow me to incorporate some other activities into our schedule...like the National Bible Bee, for example! I'm looking forward to organizing a light school schedule that will keep us busily learning and doing worthwhile things through the summer while still giving us a bit of a break that will allow me to re-organize some things in the house and plan for some travel.
PLAN A was to hurry up and finish Sonlight's Core 2 so we could hurry up and start on Sonlight's Core 3! Why the rush? We are planning to attend the homeschool days at Colonial Williamsburg this fall, and I thought it would be a good thing to get some of the American History core under our belts so the kids would be even more excited about the experience. We typically school year round anyway, with last summer being the exception since we had a newborn and a cross-country move throwing school plans awry.
When I visited the Sonlight booth in the Exhibit Hall last week, I had one question for Jill, and it's a question my friend Megan has asked as well as she has looked into this curriculum. By Core 3, the language arts readers are lining up with the history portion of the core. Charis is ready for LA 3 to go along with Core 3, but the boys are 1-2 levels behind. My question was...does this really matter? What should I do?
Jill suggested doing something different--instead of rushing into Core 3 and working at our one-core-per-year pace, stretch out Cores 3 and 4 (both American History) to last for three years. This will give the boys time to catch up, as we can continue their current LA pace. Also, she pointed out the opportunity to have Kenna join in Core K at the same time we start Core 5 with the older kids--both cores are "World Culture" oriented. Also, Core 1 goes very well with Core 6.
Light bulb moment for me! The thought of schooling Kenna has obviously crossed my mind, LOL, but I hadn't even begun to think that far down the road in terms of lining up our cores. I had read in the past about other families doing that, but since it didn't apply to our family at the time, it just sort of flew out of my brain.
I love this idea for several reasons. First of all, I hated feeling rushed with the core we're on now. I want to enjoy it! And I was finding myself in a box-checking mentality, and our school time was feeling very dead. Suddenly I feel free!! Funny, isn't it, how we as homeschooling moms--who plan our OWN schedules--often feel tied to something that may or may not be working?!
Also, I realized that there truly is no need for us to "cover" any particular American history information in order to enjoy being at Williamsburg. The kids have done some reading on their own, and we can definitely get books from the library and talk about things ahead of time...but why start a new core simply to learn certain facts ahead of time?
Another reason I'm happy with making this change is that there is simply too much great stuff out there! While I am a perfectly happy Sonlight customer and plan to remain so as we see all our kids through to graduation and beyond, I just love some of the other resources out there. Taking the summer "off" will allow me to incorporate some other activities into our schedule...like the National Bible Bee, for example! I'm looking forward to organizing a light school schedule that will keep us busily learning and doing worthwhile things through the summer while still giving us a bit of a break that will allow me to re-organize some things in the house and plan for some travel.
March 13, 2010
A Day in our Homeschooling Life
[Note: This particular "Day in the Life" happened on Thursday, March 11, 2010.]
It's 8 a.m., time to get going for the day. Arden and Charis are still sound asleep...
Tobin, however, has been awake for awhile and is coloring in one of his "hidey-holes," the boys' closet.
Lucan, who always wakes at the crack of dawn or earlier, often does Crib Time while I eat my own breakfast, clean the kitchen, or whatever I need to do without him crawling around. He's pretty happy when I go to get him today!
We start our morning by watching a worship video.
At the breakfast table, we do our Bible reading (Joshua 9 today), review Bible verses, talk about our day, etc.
With breakfast cleaned up, it's time for our morning activities--checklists and "Funvelopes." (I still need to blog about those sometime, don't I?!)
Arden is finishing Explode the Code book 2 today!
Tobin works on his Sonlight science activity sheet.
Charis opts to type her writing assignment today, a paragraph about an animal with descriptive details. She chose to write about CeCe, a neighborhood cat.
Kenna notes that it is raining outside and decides she still wants to be outside...in her pajamas...and thinks it will be OK with me since she has her rain coat on.
After checklists are finished and all kids have had their "appointment" with Mom, I fix lunch for kids 1-4 (Lucan is napping by now) and read our history and science assignments aloud while they eat. Since we have P.E. in the afternoon, it's easier to get the reading done while they eat rather than try to do it after we come home. (I totally meant to have Charis take a picture of me reading at the table but forgot.) So, when we are finished with this and the table is clear, school is "over" and it's time for me to have my lunch. Today: grilled cheese and leftover Tomato-Ravioli soup from my friend Lisa's blog. (You can see the recipe by scrolling down just a few pictures.)
Lunch for me is normally when I have a few moments of peace to eat and read the paper or work on the crossword, which I typically start during my breakfast. Today, however, I haven't had much peace with Lucan waking at 5 a.m.! And he woke early from his nap, so he joins me for lunch today and also eats a grilled cheese sandwich.
Our late lunch is finished, and now it's time to load everyone up to go to homeschool P.E. Kenna's latest accomplishment is learning how to buckle all by herself. This is GREAT! Still need to check for twisted straps, LOL, but it is very much a timesaver.
Since it is SUCH a long way to the rec center (about 15 minutes, LOL), the kids always scramble to grab a book to read on the way. Did I say we were "done" with school for the day?! How cool is it that Arden chose a historical book to read on his own?!
I took the camera to P.E. with me but got caught up in visiting with the moms and trying to keep Lucan from melting down and Kenna from crawling up the walls and...yes...forgot to take any P.E. pictures. But soon after we got home we were treated to our second Happy Box of the season. Man, I missed those boxes in January and February! This is what all we got this week. YUMMY!
And let's not forget that Thursdays are also Laundry Days at our house. Only 3 loads of laundry today since I had done two loads on Tuesday.
A different ending to my Thursday...the ladies from our neighborhood Bible study came over after the kids were in bed for our not-so-weekly study. We try to meet on Mondays, but we've been having other events pop up for various people, so we decided to try for tonight. We're reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and discussing a chapter when we meet. It's good so far! Love my time of fellowship and prayer with these sisters in Christ. Beside me are Eilene, Sidra, and Chris. I'm so thankful for each of them!
It's 8 a.m., time to get going for the day. Arden and Charis are still sound asleep...
Tobin, however, has been awake for awhile and is coloring in one of his "hidey-holes," the boys' closet.
Lucan, who always wakes at the crack of dawn or earlier, often does Crib Time while I eat my own breakfast, clean the kitchen, or whatever I need to do without him crawling around. He's pretty happy when I go to get him today!
We start our morning by watching a worship video.
At the breakfast table, we do our Bible reading (Joshua 9 today), review Bible verses, talk about our day, etc.
With breakfast cleaned up, it's time for our morning activities--checklists and "Funvelopes." (I still need to blog about those sometime, don't I?!)
Arden is finishing Explode the Code book 2 today!
Tobin works on his Sonlight science activity sheet.
Charis opts to type her writing assignment today, a paragraph about an animal with descriptive details. She chose to write about CeCe, a neighborhood cat.
Kenna notes that it is raining outside and decides she still wants to be outside...in her pajamas...and thinks it will be OK with me since she has her rain coat on.
After checklists are finished and all kids have had their "appointment" with Mom, I fix lunch for kids 1-4 (Lucan is napping by now) and read our history and science assignments aloud while they eat. Since we have P.E. in the afternoon, it's easier to get the reading done while they eat rather than try to do it after we come home. (I totally meant to have Charis take a picture of me reading at the table but forgot.) So, when we are finished with this and the table is clear, school is "over" and it's time for me to have my lunch. Today: grilled cheese and leftover Tomato-Ravioli soup from my friend Lisa's blog. (You can see the recipe by scrolling down just a few pictures.)
Lunch for me is normally when I have a few moments of peace to eat and read the paper or work on the crossword, which I typically start during my breakfast. Today, however, I haven't had much peace with Lucan waking at 5 a.m.! And he woke early from his nap, so he joins me for lunch today and also eats a grilled cheese sandwich.
Our late lunch is finished, and now it's time to load everyone up to go to homeschool P.E. Kenna's latest accomplishment is learning how to buckle all by herself. This is GREAT! Still need to check for twisted straps, LOL, but it is very much a timesaver.
Since it is SUCH a long way to the rec center (about 15 minutes, LOL), the kids always scramble to grab a book to read on the way. Did I say we were "done" with school for the day?! How cool is it that Arden chose a historical book to read on his own?!
I took the camera to P.E. with me but got caught up in visiting with the moms and trying to keep Lucan from melting down and Kenna from crawling up the walls and...yes...forgot to take any P.E. pictures. But soon after we got home we were treated to our second Happy Box of the season. Man, I missed those boxes in January and February! This is what all we got this week. YUMMY!
And let's not forget that Thursdays are also Laundry Days at our house. Only 3 loads of laundry today since I had done two loads on Tuesday.
A different ending to my Thursday...the ladies from our neighborhood Bible study came over after the kids were in bed for our not-so-weekly study. We try to meet on Mondays, but we've been having other events pop up for various people, so we decided to try for tonight. We're reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and discussing a chapter when we meet. It's good so far! Love my time of fellowship and prayer with these sisters in Christ. Beside me are Eilene, Sidra, and Chris. I'm so thankful for each of them!
February 16, 2010
Homeschool Update
It's another snowy day here in Ohio, so snowy, in fact, that the base is actually closed and Ted had another day off work. Of course, they called us at 4:30 a.m. to tell us there was a two-hour delay (the original plan), so it wasn't as relaxing as it could have been. Still, with all the snow of late, plus Monday holidays, I wanted us to do schoolwork regardless so that we wouldn't fall "behind." I guess that seems a little silly, since I'm the one who controls our schedule, and we don't need to compare our progress with anyone else's!
We're in Week 21 of Sonlight's Core 2 and are thoroughly enjoying it as usual. Recent history readings have brought us through the Renaissance (with a deeper study of Michelangelo and Queen Elizabeth's lives) and into the Reformation. The Age of Exploration has been exciting as well and has captured the imaginations of the kids. Even Kenna seems to enjoy sitting in on our readings nowadays, and while I don't harbor any illusions about her capacity for historical understanding, I am impressed that she has the attention span to sit fairly quietly and not get into trouble!
We've been starting our mornings with a song from a worship DVD, followed by prayer time. Then, at the breakfast table, we go over our verse(s) for the week and do our Bible reading, which sometimes includes a reading from The Awesome Book of Bible Facts, which the kids enjoy very much.
History is definitely the favorite around here, but our science readings about weather have been interesting as well, especially with all the snow we've been getting! We're on a bit of a break with Geography Songs, having learned South America, the West Indies, and Oceania recently. Arden is our geography guru. That kid soaks up the country names and locations like you wouldn't believe! At 6 years old, he knows his way around the globe better than I do! That CD is a GREAT addition to this world history core, and I've learned a lot by listening to it in the mornings with the kids. (Now, if I would sit down and color the maps along with them, maybe I'd do better on those geography games, ha!)
We LOVED The School Story, the read-aloud we just finished this past weekend. Our new one promises to be just as exciting, The White Stallion of Lipizza. Aesop's fables continue to be popular with the crew, though Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses is merely tolerated by the boys, while Charis truly enjoys it.
As for math...Charis is about halfway through her Delta book and doing quite well, though she seems to think math is "hard" for her because she "needs help" when she begins a new lesson. [Insert Mom's eye roll here.] I've tried to explain that EVERYONE needs help when learning new things--that's what parents and teachers are for, for cryin' out loud! I'm thankful that she seems to be getting a solid grasp of the concepts, even if now and then she does make silly little mistakes. Tobin is about halfway through the Gamma book and is also doing very well. In fact, he's breezing through these lessons, having already learned his multiplication facts a long time ago through a computer game. Likewise, Arden is doing his work in a token fashion, as his skills are way beyond his writing abilities right now. I'm sure I could skip over a lot of lessons, but I hesitate to get him too far ahead...
In Language Arts, I feel we have finally hit a groove with our schedule. Our morning checklists usually allow me enough time with each child individually, and their writing skills are growing by leaps and bounds. I've been SO pleased with their progress! I think back to a couple of years ago, when it was like pulling teeth to get Charis to write 5-6 sentences in one paragraph. We would have major attitude and tears on her part and mucho loss of patience on my part. Now, she's writing not only for school, but often on her own! A simple assignment calling for a paragraph may result in a story two typed pages long, and single-spaced at that! She has put some of her work on her blog. She has some other writings from recent days that I should help her post soon. Right now she's working on her spelling list for the Spelling Bee on March 1. I realize, now that I have actually printed the list, that we should have started working on this a LONG time ago, but I'm proud of her for the effort she's putting forward so far. Additionally, she is learning what "to cram" means, LOL. Lesson learned for Mom--open emails and print attachments earlier!!
Tobin is also doing well with writing. It may not be his favorite thing to do, but at least I rarely get attitude from him. Silliness, yes, but attitude, no, thank goodness. (And anyone who knows Ted and Tobin will NOT be surprised by the silliness, ha!) He's getting the hang of connecting sentences into a fairly cohesive paragraph, and for a 7-year-old, I think he is doing just fine in this area.
Arden's writing assignments are mostly dictated to me. I'm doing a lot more of this with him than I did with Tobin or Charis, mostly because I'm actually thinking through our schedule and am not afraid to ask him to do something that I'm not certain he's capable of. Once I explain what the task is, Arden jumps right in, dictating his thoughts, and I type them out for him. His handwriting has come a LONG way since the beginning of the year, so I've let myself off that guilt trip, LOL. He's still not as coordinated in those motor skills, but such vast improvement is easily seen that I'm no longer concerned. Really, in the scheme of things, who cares if he writes a capital K instead of a lowercase k? Yes, I point it out, and we do work on it, but one thing I've learned about educating my children--perfect handwriting just doesn't make it to the top of my priority list. Legible handwriting, yes; perfect, no, LOL.
All three kids LOVE their readers--no problems there, getting them to read. I ask them questions from the IG after they're finished with a few chapters--very helpful when I don't have time to read the book myself, as is getting to be the case with Charis's longer books. I still have Arden read his daily assignment out loud to me, and it's a good time to cuddle on the couch with him. He's a good little reader, not quite as fluent as Charis or Tobin was at this age, but his understanding and pronunciation are very good. He doesn't read to himself quite as much as his older siblings do, but he does enjoy reading outside of school time.
As for extracurriculars, Charis continues to do well with her piano lessons. I rarely have to help her with anything, and she is completely self-motivated. Hooray! I hope she holds on to this passion and enthusiasm for a long time. We try to make it to P.E. at the rec center on Thursday afternoons, but with snow and grumpy babies, it isn't every week. But it's a great thing when we do go--all of us, kids and myself, have made new friends there, and giving wiggly children a chance to run off some energy is always a good thing. Other than that, we don't have any other organized activities, and it's actually been a long time since we went on an organized field trip, unless you count their trip to the Boonshoft Museum February 7 when Ted took a day off work so I could get my business paperwork together for filing our taxes.
So, that's where we are in a nutshell!
We're in Week 21 of Sonlight's Core 2 and are thoroughly enjoying it as usual. Recent history readings have brought us through the Renaissance (with a deeper study of Michelangelo and Queen Elizabeth's lives) and into the Reformation. The Age of Exploration has been exciting as well and has captured the imaginations of the kids. Even Kenna seems to enjoy sitting in on our readings nowadays, and while I don't harbor any illusions about her capacity for historical understanding, I am impressed that she has the attention span to sit fairly quietly and not get into trouble!
We've been starting our mornings with a song from a worship DVD, followed by prayer time. Then, at the breakfast table, we go over our verse(s) for the week and do our Bible reading, which sometimes includes a reading from The Awesome Book of Bible Facts, which the kids enjoy very much.
History is definitely the favorite around here, but our science readings about weather have been interesting as well, especially with all the snow we've been getting! We're on a bit of a break with Geography Songs, having learned South America, the West Indies, and Oceania recently. Arden is our geography guru. That kid soaks up the country names and locations like you wouldn't believe! At 6 years old, he knows his way around the globe better than I do! That CD is a GREAT addition to this world history core, and I've learned a lot by listening to it in the mornings with the kids. (Now, if I would sit down and color the maps along with them, maybe I'd do better on those geography games, ha!)
We LOVED The School Story, the read-aloud we just finished this past weekend. Our new one promises to be just as exciting, The White Stallion of Lipizza. Aesop's fables continue to be popular with the crew, though Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses is merely tolerated by the boys, while Charis truly enjoys it.
As for math...Charis is about halfway through her Delta book and doing quite well, though she seems to think math is "hard" for her because she "needs help" when she begins a new lesson. [Insert Mom's eye roll here.] I've tried to explain that EVERYONE needs help when learning new things--that's what parents and teachers are for, for cryin' out loud! I'm thankful that she seems to be getting a solid grasp of the concepts, even if now and then she does make silly little mistakes. Tobin is about halfway through the Gamma book and is also doing very well. In fact, he's breezing through these lessons, having already learned his multiplication facts a long time ago through a computer game. Likewise, Arden is doing his work in a token fashion, as his skills are way beyond his writing abilities right now. I'm sure I could skip over a lot of lessons, but I hesitate to get him too far ahead...
In Language Arts, I feel we have finally hit a groove with our schedule. Our morning checklists usually allow me enough time with each child individually, and their writing skills are growing by leaps and bounds. I've been SO pleased with their progress! I think back to a couple of years ago, when it was like pulling teeth to get Charis to write 5-6 sentences in one paragraph. We would have major attitude and tears on her part and mucho loss of patience on my part. Now, she's writing not only for school, but often on her own! A simple assignment calling for a paragraph may result in a story two typed pages long, and single-spaced at that! She has put some of her work on her blog. She has some other writings from recent days that I should help her post soon. Right now she's working on her spelling list for the Spelling Bee on March 1. I realize, now that I have actually printed the list, that we should have started working on this a LONG time ago, but I'm proud of her for the effort she's putting forward so far. Additionally, she is learning what "to cram" means, LOL. Lesson learned for Mom--open emails and print attachments earlier!!
Tobin is also doing well with writing. It may not be his favorite thing to do, but at least I rarely get attitude from him. Silliness, yes, but attitude, no, thank goodness. (And anyone who knows Ted and Tobin will NOT be surprised by the silliness, ha!) He's getting the hang of connecting sentences into a fairly cohesive paragraph, and for a 7-year-old, I think he is doing just fine in this area.
Arden's writing assignments are mostly dictated to me. I'm doing a lot more of this with him than I did with Tobin or Charis, mostly because I'm actually thinking through our schedule and am not afraid to ask him to do something that I'm not certain he's capable of. Once I explain what the task is, Arden jumps right in, dictating his thoughts, and I type them out for him. His handwriting has come a LONG way since the beginning of the year, so I've let myself off that guilt trip, LOL. He's still not as coordinated in those motor skills, but such vast improvement is easily seen that I'm no longer concerned. Really, in the scheme of things, who cares if he writes a capital K instead of a lowercase k? Yes, I point it out, and we do work on it, but one thing I've learned about educating my children--perfect handwriting just doesn't make it to the top of my priority list. Legible handwriting, yes; perfect, no, LOL.
All three kids LOVE their readers--no problems there, getting them to read. I ask them questions from the IG after they're finished with a few chapters--very helpful when I don't have time to read the book myself, as is getting to be the case with Charis's longer books. I still have Arden read his daily assignment out loud to me, and it's a good time to cuddle on the couch with him. He's a good little reader, not quite as fluent as Charis or Tobin was at this age, but his understanding and pronunciation are very good. He doesn't read to himself quite as much as his older siblings do, but he does enjoy reading outside of school time.
As for extracurriculars, Charis continues to do well with her piano lessons. I rarely have to help her with anything, and she is completely self-motivated. Hooray! I hope she holds on to this passion and enthusiasm for a long time. We try to make it to P.E. at the rec center on Thursday afternoons, but with snow and grumpy babies, it isn't every week. But it's a great thing when we do go--all of us, kids and myself, have made new friends there, and giving wiggly children a chance to run off some energy is always a good thing. Other than that, we don't have any other organized activities, and it's actually been a long time since we went on an organized field trip, unless you count their trip to the Boonshoft Museum February 7 when Ted took a day off work so I could get my business paperwork together for filing our taxes.
So, that's where we are in a nutshell!
January 10, 2010
Arden's Dictation Assignment
Last week one of Arden's Language Arts activities was to dictate an essay about a pet he would like. This is the paragraph he dictated to me, with a couple of questions on my end to keep him going. I thought it was cute. :-)
I would like two dogs, one a girl, and one a boy. I want the girl one to be in the family because I like baby puppies, and they might like my stuffed animal Ruff. [I want a boy dog] because I'm a boy and all my stuffed animals are boys. [The dogs] are the same color as Ruff. Baby ones like to stay in my room. I would like making them play fetch with one of our balls. The grown-up boy one would be Bill, and the grown-up girl one will be Sally. I'd have Bill, and Charis would have Sally.
I would like two dogs, one a girl, and one a boy. I want the girl one to be in the family because I like baby puppies, and they might like my stuffed animal Ruff. [I want a boy dog] because I'm a boy and all my stuffed animals are boys. [The dogs] are the same color as Ruff. Baby ones like to stay in my room. I would like making them play fetch with one of our balls. The grown-up boy one would be Bill, and the grown-up girl one will be Sally. I'd have Bill, and Charis would have Sally.
November 17, 2009
Spotlight on...TOBIN
Those who know and love Tobin are already aware that he is 110% BOY!! From playing Star Wars with foam light sabers to building and crushing Lego structures, from sword fights to wrestling on the furniture, he seems to have an endless supply of energy. Thankfully, he also truly loves to read, and this keeps him quiet when I need him to settle down. :-)
In school Tobin is buzzing right along with math. He just started the Gamma book from Math-U-See, and I expect he'll breeze through the first part of it quickly, since he also knows all his times tables from the aforementioned Timez Attack game. I truly believe that Tobin could learn ANYTHING if it is in computer game format. He is definitely our media boy--anything with a screen mesmerizes him. It's a bit scary, frankly...I suspect we will battle an addiction to gaming with this one! Thankfully he is also extremely social and loves playing with his friends in the neighborhood and at church.
Anyway, back to school. This year I've seen him grow in leaps and bounds with his writing skills. He does his language arts and seatwork activities with no complaints, and he has even started to enjoy creative writing. He is currently writing a mystery book--no surprise there, since that's one of his favorite genres.
His passion for reading is amazing considering he is only 7 1/2 years old. He recently completed Stephen Lawhead's novel Hood, one of Ted's and my favorite books from one of our favorite authors. Last year his reading project was the Lord of the Rings trilogy--he still hasn't made it through the whole saga, but he did make it through the middle of The Two Towers, the second installment. His library stack right now includes books from the Magic Tree House series, the 39 Clues series, The Adventures of Ordinary Boy, and the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, as well as a few Curious George books. :-)
Like his father, Tobin is a major history buff. He amazes me with the knowledge he brings to our reading each day, informing me he read about So-and-So or Such-and-Such in another book and filling in extra details that aren't included in our school reading. I love that he gets so excited when it's time to read history--I certainly never felt that way when I was his age! My love for history has developed AFTER graduating...which is just one reason I wanted to homeschool our kids with Sonlight! Since Tobin is quick to inform me when things get BORING (according to him), I'm sure school will be a constant flow of mesmerizing entertainment, ha!
Though we still have our spiritual battles involving our impetuous firstborn son (one night saw him raging at us and screaming threats to run away when we sent him and Arden to bed without dinner), he has definitely grown and matured in many areas. I'm pleased to note that I am starting to see glimmers of altruism shining through the self-centeredness. He has genuine concern for other people's salvation, if not their well-being, LOL.
Favorite foods: Ice cream, chicken pot pie, ice cream cake.
Favorite toys: Star Wars Legos, army men
Favorite activities: Playing Lord of the Rings and Fortress America with Dad
Favorite animal: Lion
Favorite color: I think it's black.
Favorite subject: History
What I want to be when I grow up: An army man.
In school Tobin is buzzing right along with math. He just started the Gamma book from Math-U-See, and I expect he'll breeze through the first part of it quickly, since he also knows all his times tables from the aforementioned Timez Attack game. I truly believe that Tobin could learn ANYTHING if it is in computer game format. He is definitely our media boy--anything with a screen mesmerizes him. It's a bit scary, frankly...I suspect we will battle an addiction to gaming with this one! Thankfully he is also extremely social and loves playing with his friends in the neighborhood and at church.
Anyway, back to school. This year I've seen him grow in leaps and bounds with his writing skills. He does his language arts and seatwork activities with no complaints, and he has even started to enjoy creative writing. He is currently writing a mystery book--no surprise there, since that's one of his favorite genres.
His passion for reading is amazing considering he is only 7 1/2 years old. He recently completed Stephen Lawhead's novel Hood, one of Ted's and my favorite books from one of our favorite authors. Last year his reading project was the Lord of the Rings trilogy--he still hasn't made it through the whole saga, but he did make it through the middle of The Two Towers, the second installment. His library stack right now includes books from the Magic Tree House series, the 39 Clues series, The Adventures of Ordinary Boy, and the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, as well as a few Curious George books. :-)
Like his father, Tobin is a major history buff. He amazes me with the knowledge he brings to our reading each day, informing me he read about So-and-So or Such-and-Such in another book and filling in extra details that aren't included in our school reading. I love that he gets so excited when it's time to read history--I certainly never felt that way when I was his age! My love for history has developed AFTER graduating...which is just one reason I wanted to homeschool our kids with Sonlight! Since Tobin is quick to inform me when things get BORING (according to him), I'm sure school will be a constant flow of mesmerizing entertainment, ha!
Though we still have our spiritual battles involving our impetuous firstborn son (one night saw him raging at us and screaming threats to run away when we sent him and Arden to bed without dinner), he has definitely grown and matured in many areas. I'm pleased to note that I am starting to see glimmers of altruism shining through the self-centeredness. He has genuine concern for other people's salvation, if not their well-being, LOL.
Favorite foods: Ice cream, chicken pot pie, ice cream cake.
Favorite toys: Star Wars Legos, army men
Favorite activities: Playing Lord of the Rings and Fortress America with Dad
Favorite animal: Lion
Favorite color: I think it's black.
Favorite subject: History
What I want to be when I grow up: An army man.
September 23, 2009
A Day in the Life
People often ask me questions such as, "How do you homeschool with a baby and a toddler?" Or "How do you keep up with a home business?" I've even heard comments such as, "You seem so sane!" "You look so calm!" And, my favorite: "You must be very patient!"
Well, my friends, I am here to tell you it's all an illusion. Any semblance of goodness, order, and accomplishment in our family comes as a result not of my feeble efforts, but by God's grace alone.
Take today for example. Here are some snippets of "highlights" from the day.
6:30 a.m. Kenna wakes up. Sigh. She's been waking early and will NOT go back to sleep. If I don't get her up immediately, she wakes Charis and Lucan, who nurses anywhere from 5 - 5:30ish, usually after I get up to pump around 4:30. (Not by choice, I assure you, but when your body tells you it's time to feed, you have to do something!) Since I prefer to feed Lucan again around 8 or 8:30, I most certainly do not want Kenna waking him at this hour.
6:33 I am changing Kenna's wet diaper and telling her that it's still nighttime. It's dark outside, so I hope she will fall for this and go back to sleep. It has happened on rare occasions, but I'm not optimistic that it will work today. Still, a shower is very much in order, since I have been running in the warm, sticky outside air. Besides, I just sat down to do my quiet time and got no further than about 2 verses in Matthew 13.
6:35 I am at the kitchen table doing my quiet time so as to not have the lamp on in the living room, thereby keeping the illusion that "it's nighttime" since Kenna's door is open and overlooks the area where I usually read my Bible in the early mornings.
6:55 If I'm to shower, now's the time...Kenna is still quiet, so I'm hoping she did go back to sleep. A short quiet time is better than none, right?
7:15 Kenna greets me as I open my bedroom door. Apparently Charis unzipped the crib tent so she could get some peace and quiet--I don't blame her. Having just prayed for supernatural patience, I take Kenna's hand and lead her to the kitchen to feed her. She is not a happy Kenna if she is hungry. She opts for oatmeal, so I fix an instant packet for her and we pray and eat. Then she asks for another bowl of oatmeal. This is not unusual--Kenna's MO is to eat 2 1/2 bites of dinner and make up for it by eating 30 pounds of breakfast food the next morning. I prepare another bowl of oatmeal and set it down in front of her, only to have her tell me that she is "full" and "wants cereal." This is probably because she sees me eating cereal. I tell her that she asked for oatmeal, and when she finishes her oatmeal, she may have cereal.
7:35 Kenna is screaming at the top of her lungs that she wants cereal. I am determined not to give it to her, because I hate seeing parents give a child what she wants just to make her stop whining or crying. I will not allow my daughter to "learn" that she can get what she wants eventually if she simply perseveres in a tantrum. I calmly exit the kitchen, deciding that it's better not to give Kenna an audience and figuring it will be easier not to cave in if I'm out of the room.
8:00 Other kids are starting to wake, so we move on with breakfast. I learn that Arden has a sore spot on his foot, and it looks like a splinter, but I can't tell because his foot is dirty. (I thought he showered last night?!) I get a bowl of warm, soapy water for him to soak his foot in while he eats cereal. Kenna, having been distracted for awhile, returns to her seat at the breakfast table, and decides she is starving for oatmeal. She eats it all as if she had not been vehemently resisting it for the better part of an hour. Toddlers!
It's during this time, when the kids are eating breakfast, that I usually like to review our Bible memory verses, the current character quality we're working on, pray, and sometimes listen to CD tracks of the memory verses and geography songs. This week we have 2 new geography songs to learn, so we're trying to review past songs plus listen the the new ones.
So today, in the midst of trying to review verses and listen to songs, Lucan is waking and wanting to be fed. My multi-tasking skills are stretched to the limit here, and I'm thankful that Charis can work the CD player. At one point during breakfast, Lucan is screaming, I'm frantically mixing up his cereal, Arden and Kenna are fighting over the bowl of water because Kenna has decided her foot hurts, too, and she needs to soak it in the water, and a happy voice on the CD is chirping something about Scandanavia. We pause the CD, dry Arden's feet and let Kenna stand in the bowl of water, then resume the music. Not two minutes pass and Arden is screaming--Kenna bit him on the leg. (What in the world?!) We stop the CD again, discuss appropriate ways to use our teeth, pull Kenna out of the water bowl, and continue listening to the CD. In the middle of Greenland Kenna decides she wants cereal, and since she has finally finished her second bowl of oatmeal, I pour her some cereal hoping to buy a few more minutes of peace so I can finish feeding Lucan, who is now yowling because his breakfast has been interrupted.
8:45ish So much for training in godliness at the breakfast table. I am more than ready to move on to our next bit of schooling, which consists of math, language arts, and various notebook/seatwork type activities, with some "fun-velopes" sprinkled in to keep things interesting. (Today's funvelopes include a drawing assignment using an Usborne I Can Draw Animals book, a book about Rosh Hashanah from the library to read as an introduction to Jewish holidays, something I had hoped to cover this year but am already behind on seeing as how the Jewish New Year was last Friday, a coloring assignment in their geography books, and instructions to write a letter to our nursing home friend Mr. Mel from Las Vegas.)
9:00 I go down to the basement to pick some toys for Kenna to play with during room time, then take them and her up to the girls' room. After scouring the room for writing utensils and reviewing with Kenna House Rule #78--no marking on the walls, which she broke yesterday when she found a pencil and proceeded to scribble all over the wall next to her crib--I leave her happily playing in her room and go to get Arden's bedding to wash. It smells faintly of pee, though he hasn't had an accident per se. He is still wearing pull-ups at night because he is rather inconsistent, but despite the pull-ups, we still seem to get pee smell on the sheets and blankets far more often than one would think.
Back downstairs to start laundry and move Lucan to another location, since he is now thoroughly unhappy in his feeding chair. The next hour passes in a blur as I clean up the kitchen, mind the baby, and prepare some envelopes to mail in between helping kids with assignments, checking their work, and offering correction and encouragement as needed.
10:00ish Arden continues reading aloud to me while I change Lucan's poopy diaper, and then I head back upstairs to put Lucan down for his morning nap. He should definitely be ready to sleep now. I open the door to check on Kenna, who also has a poopy diaper. We clean her up, and she announces she wants to come downstairs. I decide that trying to lock her back in her room for more room time is not a good idea with Lucan trying to nap next door, so I supervise the cleaning of the toys and we go back downstairs.
11:00ish Where is the time going?! The kids are working hard on their checklists, and we are making lots of progress. I am proud of them all for doing so well in math--Charis is on the very last lesson of her Gamma book; Arden is wrapping up his Alpha book; and Tobin just has a few more lessons in Beta. I hand out tickets for 100%s for the math practice pages they did--we've been trying a new reward system to encourage good behavior, diligence in schoolwork, and initiative with chores. Charis has a great attitude during her writing assignment and even gets excited about what she ends up typing. Whew--this has often been a struggle, and I am pleased not to have to butt heads with her today in this subject.
11:30 I begin to work on lunch--I've had multiple requests for snacks, so I know the troops are getting hungry. They are wrapping up their morning activities, so I quickly put together grilled cheese sandwiches from our leftover sourdough bread and some tomato soup. Kenna decides she wants to "help" and ends up flinging tomato soup drips all over the stove, then screams when I move the pan to the back burner to begin cooking the soup safely away from her stirring efforts. The phone rings during her fit of rage. Normally I would let it go to voice mail, since technically we are still doing school, but I see that it's someone from Stampin' Up! calling. I answer the phone only to be asked which stamp set I want for free--apparently I get a free stamp set for presenting a Workshop Wow at the Regional Seminar recently! I somehow was never told this, possibly because I was a last-minute fill-in for someone else who cancelled. I ask the lady for 10 minutes, then scramble to look through the catalog while telling Kenna she most certainly may NOT stir the soup anymore and hollering for the other kids to clear off the table so we can eat.
12:00 Somehow the soup and sandwiches are ready, and I am getting the kids to sit down as the phone rings again. I've picked a set from the holiday mini-catalog, and I'm glad to finish the conversation before any chaos erupts again. I move back to the stove after we pray so I can make myself a sandwich and find the monitor showing that Lucan is awake and crying. Sigh. I bring him down and hold him on my lap while eating my 3/4 of a sandwich--we only had 3 half slices of bread left.
12:30 The kids disappear for some free time while I nurse Lucan and feed him cereal.
1:00 Time to start herding Kenna in the direction of naptime. She's poopy again. So we take care of that and I tell her to go pick out her stories. I call for Charis, who has escaped to the craft room in the basement, to come and take her shower since we forgot to have her do it in the morning, telling her that Kenna will be in the room for naptime before long. I send the boys to gather their supplies for AWANA. I'm determined that this week we will not have a mad scramble in the evening to get to church!
1:20 I read Kenna's stories to her and try to enjoy our brief time of cuddling. Our afternoon is ticking away, and the big kids and I still have history, geography, and science reading to do. Kenna informs me she needs to go potty, so we go to the bathroom and wait for her to perform. She asks for M&Ms when she's finished, but I tell her flatly that she no longer gets M&Ms unless she poops in the potty. The news doesn't seem to phase her, thankfully, as I have no energy for any more tantrums.
1:30 Kenna is in bed!!
1:35 Lucan is poopy again.
1:40 We are on the couch, ready to begin Sonlight reading. Lucan is in Charis's lap because she wanted to hold him during reading time. I take a hold of the first book and prepare to read. Lucan begins kicking and screaming.
1:45 Lucan and I go upstairs for his naptime.
1:50 I return to the couch to find Tobin reading a magazine and Arden pretending to stab himself with a toy knife. Charis is waiting dutifully for reading to begin.
1:51 Tobin announces that he needs his glasses and runs upstairs.
1:52 Tobin is back on the couch.
1:53 Tobin needs to use the bathroom.
1:55 Arden needs to use the bathroom.
1:58 I wonder why the older children can't use the bathroom during the times I am dealing with the little ones.
2:00 We finally start working our way through the pile of books on the couch. Brief arguing over who gets to sit by Mom ends when Arden decides to sit on my lap. Ooof.
2:40 We are finished with Sonlight reading.
2:45 I apparently fall asleep on the couch.
3:00 I wake up to hear the boys play fighting loudly (Star Wars, you know) and send them to the basement so they don't wake up the napping kiddos.
There you have it, my friends, a typical school day with our family. Five poopy diapers, numerous sibling spats, more trips up and down stairs than I can count, and lots more little incidents and interruptions than I can possibly remember. Would I trade all this for the "peace and quiet" I could get if I sent my children to school? Definitely not. Our school schedule may leave some things to be desired, but I know we're following God's direction for our family. The privilege of shepherding my children's hearts as I keep them here at home far outweighs the temporal cravings for "me time" that I admit creep up in my heart on occasion. I can let myself get discouraged and frustrated by the interruptions and the messes, or I can embrace the opportunity to let the Spirit bear fruit in me so I can be a godly example for my kids. How can I teach them about self-control if I lose my temper over spilled milk? How can I teach them to be patient if I respond impatiently to a toddler's demands? How can I teach them to persevere in doing good if I act like I want to quit when things get tough?
No, today has not been an ideal day, but I want to hold onto the good things and believe that He who has begun a good work in me--AND in my children--is being faithful to carry it on to completion. Someday we'll stand before Him in heaven, and I can't wait to see Him smile at each of us and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
Now, if you'll excuse me, I just remembered that I have laundry that needs attending to...
Well, my friends, I am here to tell you it's all an illusion. Any semblance of goodness, order, and accomplishment in our family comes as a result not of my feeble efforts, but by God's grace alone.
Take today for example. Here are some snippets of "highlights" from the day.
6:30 a.m. Kenna wakes up. Sigh. She's been waking early and will NOT go back to sleep. If I don't get her up immediately, she wakes Charis and Lucan, who nurses anywhere from 5 - 5:30ish, usually after I get up to pump around 4:30. (Not by choice, I assure you, but when your body tells you it's time to feed, you have to do something!) Since I prefer to feed Lucan again around 8 or 8:30, I most certainly do not want Kenna waking him at this hour.
6:33 I am changing Kenna's wet diaper and telling her that it's still nighttime. It's dark outside, so I hope she will fall for this and go back to sleep. It has happened on rare occasions, but I'm not optimistic that it will work today. Still, a shower is very much in order, since I have been running in the warm, sticky outside air. Besides, I just sat down to do my quiet time and got no further than about 2 verses in Matthew 13.
6:35 I am at the kitchen table doing my quiet time so as to not have the lamp on in the living room, thereby keeping the illusion that "it's nighttime" since Kenna's door is open and overlooks the area where I usually read my Bible in the early mornings.
6:55 If I'm to shower, now's the time...Kenna is still quiet, so I'm hoping she did go back to sleep. A short quiet time is better than none, right?
7:15 Kenna greets me as I open my bedroom door. Apparently Charis unzipped the crib tent so she could get some peace and quiet--I don't blame her. Having just prayed for supernatural patience, I take Kenna's hand and lead her to the kitchen to feed her. She is not a happy Kenna if she is hungry. She opts for oatmeal, so I fix an instant packet for her and we pray and eat. Then she asks for another bowl of oatmeal. This is not unusual--Kenna's MO is to eat 2 1/2 bites of dinner and make up for it by eating 30 pounds of breakfast food the next morning. I prepare another bowl of oatmeal and set it down in front of her, only to have her tell me that she is "full" and "wants cereal." This is probably because she sees me eating cereal. I tell her that she asked for oatmeal, and when she finishes her oatmeal, she may have cereal.
7:35 Kenna is screaming at the top of her lungs that she wants cereal. I am determined not to give it to her, because I hate seeing parents give a child what she wants just to make her stop whining or crying. I will not allow my daughter to "learn" that she can get what she wants eventually if she simply perseveres in a tantrum. I calmly exit the kitchen, deciding that it's better not to give Kenna an audience and figuring it will be easier not to cave in if I'm out of the room.
8:00 Other kids are starting to wake, so we move on with breakfast. I learn that Arden has a sore spot on his foot, and it looks like a splinter, but I can't tell because his foot is dirty. (I thought he showered last night?!) I get a bowl of warm, soapy water for him to soak his foot in while he eats cereal. Kenna, having been distracted for awhile, returns to her seat at the breakfast table, and decides she is starving for oatmeal. She eats it all as if she had not been vehemently resisting it for the better part of an hour. Toddlers!
It's during this time, when the kids are eating breakfast, that I usually like to review our Bible memory verses, the current character quality we're working on, pray, and sometimes listen to CD tracks of the memory verses and geography songs. This week we have 2 new geography songs to learn, so we're trying to review past songs plus listen the the new ones.
So today, in the midst of trying to review verses and listen to songs, Lucan is waking and wanting to be fed. My multi-tasking skills are stretched to the limit here, and I'm thankful that Charis can work the CD player. At one point during breakfast, Lucan is screaming, I'm frantically mixing up his cereal, Arden and Kenna are fighting over the bowl of water because Kenna has decided her foot hurts, too, and she needs to soak it in the water, and a happy voice on the CD is chirping something about Scandanavia. We pause the CD, dry Arden's feet and let Kenna stand in the bowl of water, then resume the music. Not two minutes pass and Arden is screaming--Kenna bit him on the leg. (What in the world?!) We stop the CD again, discuss appropriate ways to use our teeth, pull Kenna out of the water bowl, and continue listening to the CD. In the middle of Greenland Kenna decides she wants cereal, and since she has finally finished her second bowl of oatmeal, I pour her some cereal hoping to buy a few more minutes of peace so I can finish feeding Lucan, who is now yowling because his breakfast has been interrupted.
8:45ish So much for training in godliness at the breakfast table. I am more than ready to move on to our next bit of schooling, which consists of math, language arts, and various notebook/seatwork type activities, with some "fun-velopes" sprinkled in to keep things interesting. (Today's funvelopes include a drawing assignment using an Usborne I Can Draw Animals book, a book about Rosh Hashanah from the library to read as an introduction to Jewish holidays, something I had hoped to cover this year but am already behind on seeing as how the Jewish New Year was last Friday, a coloring assignment in their geography books, and instructions to write a letter to our nursing home friend Mr. Mel from Las Vegas.)
9:00 I go down to the basement to pick some toys for Kenna to play with during room time, then take them and her up to the girls' room. After scouring the room for writing utensils and reviewing with Kenna House Rule #78--no marking on the walls, which she broke yesterday when she found a pencil and proceeded to scribble all over the wall next to her crib--I leave her happily playing in her room and go to get Arden's bedding to wash. It smells faintly of pee, though he hasn't had an accident per se. He is still wearing pull-ups at night because he is rather inconsistent, but despite the pull-ups, we still seem to get pee smell on the sheets and blankets far more often than one would think.
Back downstairs to start laundry and move Lucan to another location, since he is now thoroughly unhappy in his feeding chair. The next hour passes in a blur as I clean up the kitchen, mind the baby, and prepare some envelopes to mail in between helping kids with assignments, checking their work, and offering correction and encouragement as needed.
10:00ish Arden continues reading aloud to me while I change Lucan's poopy diaper, and then I head back upstairs to put Lucan down for his morning nap. He should definitely be ready to sleep now. I open the door to check on Kenna, who also has a poopy diaper. We clean her up, and she announces she wants to come downstairs. I decide that trying to lock her back in her room for more room time is not a good idea with Lucan trying to nap next door, so I supervise the cleaning of the toys and we go back downstairs.
11:00ish Where is the time going?! The kids are working hard on their checklists, and we are making lots of progress. I am proud of them all for doing so well in math--Charis is on the very last lesson of her Gamma book; Arden is wrapping up his Alpha book; and Tobin just has a few more lessons in Beta. I hand out tickets for 100%s for the math practice pages they did--we've been trying a new reward system to encourage good behavior, diligence in schoolwork, and initiative with chores. Charis has a great attitude during her writing assignment and even gets excited about what she ends up typing. Whew--this has often been a struggle, and I am pleased not to have to butt heads with her today in this subject.
11:30 I begin to work on lunch--I've had multiple requests for snacks, so I know the troops are getting hungry. They are wrapping up their morning activities, so I quickly put together grilled cheese sandwiches from our leftover sourdough bread and some tomato soup. Kenna decides she wants to "help" and ends up flinging tomato soup drips all over the stove, then screams when I move the pan to the back burner to begin cooking the soup safely away from her stirring efforts. The phone rings during her fit of rage. Normally I would let it go to voice mail, since technically we are still doing school, but I see that it's someone from Stampin' Up! calling. I answer the phone only to be asked which stamp set I want for free--apparently I get a free stamp set for presenting a Workshop Wow at the Regional Seminar recently! I somehow was never told this, possibly because I was a last-minute fill-in for someone else who cancelled. I ask the lady for 10 minutes, then scramble to look through the catalog while telling Kenna she most certainly may NOT stir the soup anymore and hollering for the other kids to clear off the table so we can eat.
12:00 Somehow the soup and sandwiches are ready, and I am getting the kids to sit down as the phone rings again. I've picked a set from the holiday mini-catalog, and I'm glad to finish the conversation before any chaos erupts again. I move back to the stove after we pray so I can make myself a sandwich and find the monitor showing that Lucan is awake and crying. Sigh. I bring him down and hold him on my lap while eating my 3/4 of a sandwich--we only had 3 half slices of bread left.
12:30 The kids disappear for some free time while I nurse Lucan and feed him cereal.
1:00 Time to start herding Kenna in the direction of naptime. She's poopy again. So we take care of that and I tell her to go pick out her stories. I call for Charis, who has escaped to the craft room in the basement, to come and take her shower since we forgot to have her do it in the morning, telling her that Kenna will be in the room for naptime before long. I send the boys to gather their supplies for AWANA. I'm determined that this week we will not have a mad scramble in the evening to get to church!
1:20 I read Kenna's stories to her and try to enjoy our brief time of cuddling. Our afternoon is ticking away, and the big kids and I still have history, geography, and science reading to do. Kenna informs me she needs to go potty, so we go to the bathroom and wait for her to perform. She asks for M&Ms when she's finished, but I tell her flatly that she no longer gets M&Ms unless she poops in the potty. The news doesn't seem to phase her, thankfully, as I have no energy for any more tantrums.
1:30 Kenna is in bed!!
1:35 Lucan is poopy again.
1:40 We are on the couch, ready to begin Sonlight reading. Lucan is in Charis's lap because she wanted to hold him during reading time. I take a hold of the first book and prepare to read. Lucan begins kicking and screaming.
1:45 Lucan and I go upstairs for his naptime.
1:50 I return to the couch to find Tobin reading a magazine and Arden pretending to stab himself with a toy knife. Charis is waiting dutifully for reading to begin.
1:51 Tobin announces that he needs his glasses and runs upstairs.
1:52 Tobin is back on the couch.
1:53 Tobin needs to use the bathroom.
1:55 Arden needs to use the bathroom.
1:58 I wonder why the older children can't use the bathroom during the times I am dealing with the little ones.
2:00 We finally start working our way through the pile of books on the couch. Brief arguing over who gets to sit by Mom ends when Arden decides to sit on my lap. Ooof.
2:40 We are finished with Sonlight reading.
2:45 I apparently fall asleep on the couch.
3:00 I wake up to hear the boys play fighting loudly (Star Wars, you know) and send them to the basement so they don't wake up the napping kiddos.
There you have it, my friends, a typical school day with our family. Five poopy diapers, numerous sibling spats, more trips up and down stairs than I can count, and lots more little incidents and interruptions than I can possibly remember. Would I trade all this for the "peace and quiet" I could get if I sent my children to school? Definitely not. Our school schedule may leave some things to be desired, but I know we're following God's direction for our family. The privilege of shepherding my children's hearts as I keep them here at home far outweighs the temporal cravings for "me time" that I admit creep up in my heart on occasion. I can let myself get discouraged and frustrated by the interruptions and the messes, or I can embrace the opportunity to let the Spirit bear fruit in me so I can be a godly example for my kids. How can I teach them about self-control if I lose my temper over spilled milk? How can I teach them to be patient if I respond impatiently to a toddler's demands? How can I teach them to persevere in doing good if I act like I want to quit when things get tough?
No, today has not been an ideal day, but I want to hold onto the good things and believe that He who has begun a good work in me--AND in my children--is being faithful to carry it on to completion. Someday we'll stand before Him in heaven, and I can't wait to see Him smile at each of us and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
Now, if you'll excuse me, I just remembered that I have laundry that needs attending to...
September 03, 2009
Hitting Our Stride
Today was very nearly the perfect day...and I didn't even eat any chocolate! It was just one of those days where everything seemed to finally come together in various areas of my life. If you'll indulge me, I'll share...
**************
Lucan wakes at 4:30 a.m. (This has been roughly his first meal of the day, anytime between 4:30 and 5:30. I actually don't mind. We put him down around 8:30 or 9 p.m. and are in bed not too long afterward. I've been sleeping so soundly that by the time he's finished nursing, I'm actually rarin' to go!) I put Lucan back down (he's already asleep by now) and get ready for an early morning run. The air is moist and quite cool; I almost wish I had gloves. The sky is so clear--I can see Orion and hundreds of other stars, so many more than I ever saw in Las Vegas.
My feet pound the pavement on what has become one of my favorite routes. It's really one of the only ways I can run this early in the morning, since there are no street lights here and I rely on the lights from the little lampposts in each yard. (Phooey to those folks who leave their homes shrouded in darkness...don't they realize I'm trying to run here?!) The route is a perfect 30-minute run and gets me home in time for a good stretch while reading the newspaper, followed by a nice quiet time with some hot tea.
Now it's time for a shower. Ah, a kink in my day already--Lucan is awake again, and it's not even 7:00. I prefer for his feedings to be at least 3 to 3 1/2 hours apart, so I briefly contemplate seeing if he'll settle himself back down, but then I hear Kenna also. I dash upstairs to get her out of the crib before she wakes Charis (who often unzips her crib tent and stumbles back to her own bed to go back to sleep) and discover the reason Kenna is already awake: she soaked through her diaper, jammies, and sheets. Well, I suppose I'd wake early too. I take her and Lucan downstairs, get her cleaned up, and find that Lucan has pooped. No wonder he woke early! I should have known...he's had blowouts every morning since Saturday. Thankfully this one is contained in his diaper.
A baby DVD started for Kenna, Lucan in his bouncy seat in my bathroom, and I am ready to shower. Quickly! I don't trust Kenna for long, and Lucan may very well decide he's ready for his second breakfast after all. Sure enough, he is ready to eat again by the time I'm dressed, so I feed him as Kenna finishes her "God Made Me" movie. Then we girls have our breakfast, as has become our habit; Kenna is pretty much ready for cereal before she makes it down the stairs, so I'm pretty fortunate that she allowed me to complete my shower. It's kind of nice having breakfast with a toddler who can feed herself--she's much more interested in eating than talking, giving me a chance to eat in peace while doing the daily crossword and skimming the paper. Lucan gurgles beside me in the exersaucer and goes down for a nap after I finish eating.
At 8:00 I go to wake the older kids, who are still zonkered. They very much enjoyed chapter 2 of Red Sails to Capri that we read outside on our back deck last night and would have stayed up longer listening if we had let them, but I see now that our decision to get them to bed was wise.
After breakfast I inform the kids we're trying something a little different, a transitional approach as I try to work my way into doing workboxes--probably not the way Sue would want me to, but I must do what I need to for our family and environment. I've been googling ideas and thinking and praying about how to organize our homeschool day, and I think some version of this system is for us--I'm just not quite ready to implement it all yet. So in the meantime we're working on following instructions, working independently, and maintaining order during the morning school session! I hand out printed checklists for the kids with 8 different activities on them. I tell them that after 3 assignments are complete, they may choose a "Funvelope," a closed envelope with an activity inside. (Today the 3 funvelopes contain a spelling game, Tangrams, and headphones with instructions to watch some fun and educational videos from a great website I would set them at).
The morning progresses very smoothly. I actually find myself with time on my hands to finish my crossword! I have a good one-on-one language arts time with Arden plus check everyone's math and language work without feeling frazzled or pulled in various directions. I smile to myself when I hear an exclamation of delight upon the finding of a fun new task to do.
We finish school before 11:00, so I have time to put some ingredients in the breadmaker for a new loaf of wheat bread. (We finished the last of the bread when the kids had toast this morning.) Charis and Arden wash the empty containers for our Happy Box so we can be sure to set it out by 4 p.m. Then it's time to warm up leftovers for lunch. The kids eat while I read a book about safety regarding strangers that I checked out from the library last week. We discuss safety measures, and then we take advantage of the gorgeous weather and head outside for "PE." The kids ride bikes and run around while I chat with Debi on the phone, the first time in quite awhile that we've talked. It's good to catch up, and we visit 20-30 minutes before I take the kids inside. Tobin vacuums the kitchen floor, and then we watch the rest of a sign language DVD we got from the library. It's a pretty good one, and I'm thrilled that I learn some new signs while feeling that I remember quite a bit. The kids enjoy it, too, begging for one more session until we actually finish the program.
Kenna and I read Bible stories together, and then she's ready for her nap. Lucan goes down also, and finally the rest of us are ready for Sonlight reading. First I quickly mop the kitchen floor, and then we gather on the couch to finish up Timeline figures from Core 1 (!!!) and do readings from Bible, history, and science. Not even finished with week one and already we're in love with Core 2.
In the afternoon I talk with a neighbor friend and ask her if she will schedule a Stampin' Up! party for me. She agrees and we set the date for September 24. Woohoo! More playtime outside--I've already put together tonight's casserole, so I enjoy chatting with another neighbor while her son, who has Down's Syndrome, jumps with my boys and Kenna on the trampoline with the sprinkler going underneath.
*****************
It's been a great day. Now the kids are in bed and I'm about to nurse Lucan for the last time before bedtime (it's 8:30 now). I know not every day of homeschool or business activities will go so smoothly, so I smile and thank God for the little blessings when they do.
**************
Lucan wakes at 4:30 a.m. (This has been roughly his first meal of the day, anytime between 4:30 and 5:30. I actually don't mind. We put him down around 8:30 or 9 p.m. and are in bed not too long afterward. I've been sleeping so soundly that by the time he's finished nursing, I'm actually rarin' to go!) I put Lucan back down (he's already asleep by now) and get ready for an early morning run. The air is moist and quite cool; I almost wish I had gloves. The sky is so clear--I can see Orion and hundreds of other stars, so many more than I ever saw in Las Vegas.
My feet pound the pavement on what has become one of my favorite routes. It's really one of the only ways I can run this early in the morning, since there are no street lights here and I rely on the lights from the little lampposts in each yard. (Phooey to those folks who leave their homes shrouded in darkness...don't they realize I'm trying to run here?!) The route is a perfect 30-minute run and gets me home in time for a good stretch while reading the newspaper, followed by a nice quiet time with some hot tea.
Now it's time for a shower. Ah, a kink in my day already--Lucan is awake again, and it's not even 7:00. I prefer for his feedings to be at least 3 to 3 1/2 hours apart, so I briefly contemplate seeing if he'll settle himself back down, but then I hear Kenna also. I dash upstairs to get her out of the crib before she wakes Charis (who often unzips her crib tent and stumbles back to her own bed to go back to sleep) and discover the reason Kenna is already awake: she soaked through her diaper, jammies, and sheets. Well, I suppose I'd wake early too. I take her and Lucan downstairs, get her cleaned up, and find that Lucan has pooped. No wonder he woke early! I should have known...he's had blowouts every morning since Saturday. Thankfully this one is contained in his diaper.
A baby DVD started for Kenna, Lucan in his bouncy seat in my bathroom, and I am ready to shower. Quickly! I don't trust Kenna for long, and Lucan may very well decide he's ready for his second breakfast after all. Sure enough, he is ready to eat again by the time I'm dressed, so I feed him as Kenna finishes her "God Made Me" movie. Then we girls have our breakfast, as has become our habit; Kenna is pretty much ready for cereal before she makes it down the stairs, so I'm pretty fortunate that she allowed me to complete my shower. It's kind of nice having breakfast with a toddler who can feed herself--she's much more interested in eating than talking, giving me a chance to eat in peace while doing the daily crossword and skimming the paper. Lucan gurgles beside me in the exersaucer and goes down for a nap after I finish eating.
At 8:00 I go to wake the older kids, who are still zonkered. They very much enjoyed chapter 2 of Red Sails to Capri that we read outside on our back deck last night and would have stayed up longer listening if we had let them, but I see now that our decision to get them to bed was wise.
After breakfast I inform the kids we're trying something a little different, a transitional approach as I try to work my way into doing workboxes--probably not the way Sue would want me to, but I must do what I need to for our family and environment. I've been googling ideas and thinking and praying about how to organize our homeschool day, and I think some version of this system is for us--I'm just not quite ready to implement it all yet. So in the meantime we're working on following instructions, working independently, and maintaining order during the morning school session! I hand out printed checklists for the kids with 8 different activities on them. I tell them that after 3 assignments are complete, they may choose a "Funvelope," a closed envelope with an activity inside. (Today the 3 funvelopes contain a spelling game, Tangrams, and headphones with instructions to watch some fun and educational videos from a great website I would set them at).
The morning progresses very smoothly. I actually find myself with time on my hands to finish my crossword! I have a good one-on-one language arts time with Arden plus check everyone's math and language work without feeling frazzled or pulled in various directions. I smile to myself when I hear an exclamation of delight upon the finding of a fun new task to do.
We finish school before 11:00, so I have time to put some ingredients in the breadmaker for a new loaf of wheat bread. (We finished the last of the bread when the kids had toast this morning.) Charis and Arden wash the empty containers for our Happy Box so we can be sure to set it out by 4 p.m. Then it's time to warm up leftovers for lunch. The kids eat while I read a book about safety regarding strangers that I checked out from the library last week. We discuss safety measures, and then we take advantage of the gorgeous weather and head outside for "PE." The kids ride bikes and run around while I chat with Debi on the phone, the first time in quite awhile that we've talked. It's good to catch up, and we visit 20-30 minutes before I take the kids inside. Tobin vacuums the kitchen floor, and then we watch the rest of a sign language DVD we got from the library. It's a pretty good one, and I'm thrilled that I learn some new signs while feeling that I remember quite a bit. The kids enjoy it, too, begging for one more session until we actually finish the program.
Kenna and I read Bible stories together, and then she's ready for her nap. Lucan goes down also, and finally the rest of us are ready for Sonlight reading. First I quickly mop the kitchen floor, and then we gather on the couch to finish up Timeline figures from Core 1 (!!!) and do readings from Bible, history, and science. Not even finished with week one and already we're in love with Core 2.
In the afternoon I talk with a neighbor friend and ask her if she will schedule a Stampin' Up! party for me. She agrees and we set the date for September 24. Woohoo! More playtime outside--I've already put together tonight's casserole, so I enjoy chatting with another neighbor while her son, who has Down's Syndrome, jumps with my boys and Kenna on the trampoline with the sprinkler going underneath.
*****************
It's been a great day. Now the kids are in bed and I'm about to nurse Lucan for the last time before bedtime (it's 8:30 now). I know not every day of homeschool or business activities will go so smoothly, so I smile and thank God for the little blessings when they do.
August 26, 2009
Our "Not the First Day of School" Field Trip
Yesterday the local public schools began. Ideally I had hoped for us to also begin our regular homeschool schedule, but alas, I still have some organizing to do. We've been doing math and handwriting for a couple of weeks now, but our whole Sonlight schedule needs to wait a little. As much as I want to jump right in...for one thing, I forgot to order the Language Arts pack for Charis and LA activity sheets for Arden. When I ordered Core 2 with Advanced Readers, I guess I assumed that everything Charis would need was included, but after review, I realized I needed to get the LA separately. Good thing we have free shipping!!
Anyway, I decided it would be fun to do something completely different on the day that all the neighborhood kids were enjoying (?) their first day of school! You know, to celebrate NOT going to school! I surfed online a bit to see what was happening in the area and finally decided that we'd go to a place we used to take the kids when we lived here before, the Boonshoft Discovery Museum. I made this decision a little after 8 a.m., and I have to admit I'm rather proud of myself for being so spontaneous! (That's not normally like me!) I packed a picnic lunch for us, nursed Lucan, and loaded the kids into the Suburban, along with the stroller, diaper bag, water bottles, picnic blanket, and of course lunch.
The parking lot was nearly empty when we arrived--ah, another perk of homeschooling! I purchased the military family membership for $59, which allows us free access to the museum for one year, plus free access to some other places and half-price or discounts to others, including the Columbus Science & Industry museum, one of our favorite places in the area. The Boonshoft is much smaller, but in a way that's good--I was able to manage all 5 kids without going too insane. They have some nice play areas, including a "town" where the kids can shop for groceries, sort recyclable materials, doctor sick animals, be involved in court, etc. One exhibit that will end this weekend was on dragons, and all the kids enjoyed playing in that area, as you can imagine! Dress up costumes, puppets and a theater, plus lots of hands-on activities tickled their imaginations.
We spent 3 hours at the museum before coming home to give the little ones naps. Charis, Tobin, and Arden then did math and handwriting, so all in all, it was a pretty well-rounded day of homeschooling!
Anyway, I decided it would be fun to do something completely different on the day that all the neighborhood kids were enjoying (?) their first day of school! You know, to celebrate NOT going to school! I surfed online a bit to see what was happening in the area and finally decided that we'd go to a place we used to take the kids when we lived here before, the Boonshoft Discovery Museum. I made this decision a little after 8 a.m., and I have to admit I'm rather proud of myself for being so spontaneous! (That's not normally like me!) I packed a picnic lunch for us, nursed Lucan, and loaded the kids into the Suburban, along with the stroller, diaper bag, water bottles, picnic blanket, and of course lunch.
The parking lot was nearly empty when we arrived--ah, another perk of homeschooling! I purchased the military family membership for $59, which allows us free access to the museum for one year, plus free access to some other places and half-price or discounts to others, including the Columbus Science & Industry museum, one of our favorite places in the area. The Boonshoft is much smaller, but in a way that's good--I was able to manage all 5 kids without going too insane. They have some nice play areas, including a "town" where the kids can shop for groceries, sort recyclable materials, doctor sick animals, be involved in court, etc. One exhibit that will end this weekend was on dragons, and all the kids enjoyed playing in that area, as you can imagine! Dress up costumes, puppets and a theater, plus lots of hands-on activities tickled their imaginations.
We spent 3 hours at the museum before coming home to give the little ones naps. Charis, Tobin, and Arden then did math and handwriting, so all in all, it was a pretty well-rounded day of homeschooling!
June 15, 2009
Keeping Busy
My goodness, time is flying! In the last couple of weeks, we:
* had friends over for a play date while I talked to their mom, my friend Carol, about Sonlight--she's interested in possibly using it next year.
* went to the water park with Sonic lunch bags, then played for the afternoon.
* drove to Mt. Charleston for a picnic with my friend Julie and her kids, an outing that was scheduled for a few weeks ago but got rescheduled and ended up being the perfect way to celebrate our "last" day of school! Julie also wanted to take a look at our Sonlight materials, as she is for sure using Sonlight next year with Zachary and Alyssa. So I got to share Sonlight with two moms in one week!
* celebrated the first day of "summer vacation" by having our neighbor kids over for a day of playing, complete with lunch and chocolate chip cookies.
* took those same kids to Red Rock Canyon for a morning/early afternoon of exploring and picnicking.
* got the boys examined and on allergy meds to help with their breathing.
* went to Cindey's for some scrapping. (I only got 2 pages done, but 2 is better than zero! And I did 4 more pages at home the next day.)
* got a great start on cleaning and organizing the office--Charis's craft corner looks BARE!!
* cleaned and organized a good chunk of the garage.
* attended the EAGLES homeschool group's promotion and graduation ceremony.
* attended the EAGLES end-of-the-school-year picnic.
* went on our first date night ALONE as a couple since before Lucan was born. (Thank you, Debi, for babysitting!)
* enjoyed an afternoon with the F family playing Catan while the kids swam and played together.
I guess at some point I'll write more details, but my good intentions to write about all of our adventures are slipping by the wayside, and at this point, I don't think anyone wants to read more than a snippet description anyway!
* had friends over for a play date while I talked to their mom, my friend Carol, about Sonlight--she's interested in possibly using it next year.
* went to the water park with Sonic lunch bags, then played for the afternoon.
* drove to Mt. Charleston for a picnic with my friend Julie and her kids, an outing that was scheduled for a few weeks ago but got rescheduled and ended up being the perfect way to celebrate our "last" day of school! Julie also wanted to take a look at our Sonlight materials, as she is for sure using Sonlight next year with Zachary and Alyssa. So I got to share Sonlight with two moms in one week!
* celebrated the first day of "summer vacation" by having our neighbor kids over for a day of playing, complete with lunch and chocolate chip cookies.
* took those same kids to Red Rock Canyon for a morning/early afternoon of exploring and picnicking.
* got the boys examined and on allergy meds to help with their breathing.
* went to Cindey's for some scrapping. (I only got 2 pages done, but 2 is better than zero! And I did 4 more pages at home the next day.)
* got a great start on cleaning and organizing the office--Charis's craft corner looks BARE!!
* cleaned and organized a good chunk of the garage.
* attended the EAGLES homeschool group's promotion and graduation ceremony.
* attended the EAGLES end-of-the-school-year picnic.
* went on our first date night ALONE as a couple since before Lucan was born. (Thank you, Debi, for babysitting!)
* enjoyed an afternoon with the F family playing Catan while the kids swam and played together.
I guess at some point I'll write more details, but my good intentions to write about all of our adventures are slipping by the wayside, and at this point, I don't think anyone wants to read more than a snippet description anyway!
June 02, 2009
Winding Down
We're in Week 36 of Sonlight's Core 1. It has been a GREAT year! I'm sad that I haven't yet ordered the next core, but Ted and I agreed it would be better to just wait until we get to Ohio. I know once we have the books in our possession it will take some heavy-duty locks to keep them out of the kids' hands, LOL!
Mostly we are on track to finish by Friday. Charis just today finished her week 35 Language Arts, so she'll need to crunch if we want to finish by Friday, but she and I agreed it would not be a terrible thing if she finishes things up next week. Tobin is finished--I think that kid needs more work next year! I will definitely make him do more of the writing assignments. He got a pass on a lot of them because, having done this LA with Charis last year, I realized how frustrating it was to throw out a writing prompt with little guidance and expect a 6 or 7-year-old to be able to write a paragraph. This year I was a lot more laid back about it, sometimes letting Tobin dictate to me, sometimes changing the required topic to something he was more interested in (usually Star Wars, LOL).
I've begun realizing that Arden has gotten the short end of the LA stick--he breezed through his Ready for the Code phonics books, but since I had a hard time keeping track of everyone, he usually finished before I was ready to watch him with the writing part...and I've noticed that he's making some of his letters backwards now, particularly the lowercase "b" and "d," which is understandable. His capital letters are fine, and he's reading quite well, so I'm not terribly concerned...it will just take some concerted effort on my part to help him with his practice, which I intend to continue through the summer.
We will also continue math at an unhurried pace over the summer. Charis has had some troubles with multiple-digit multiplication, but she seems to be getting over the hump. We've had to take it pretty slowly with these lessons, but I don't mind. She only has 5 more lessons in her Gamma book, and I'm confident she can start the next level once we're ready to start "school" up again. Arden is nearly finished with the Alpha book, and that's with me trying to slow him down! Tobin is about 2/3 of the way through Beta. Once again, I'm sure if we want him to, he can be ready to begin the next level when we start Core 2 with Sonlight.
PE has come to an end as of last Thursday. I am really going to miss the SAINTS program! The kids are, too! They have learned so much about so many different sports. They've gotten to try everything from archery to baseball to Capture the Flag. They've played tennis, kickball, flag football, soccer, and run relay races. They've learned to listen to a coach and get along with teammates (and those on the opposite team!), and they've learned about glorifying God with their attitudes and abilities. Coach Chris, shown in the picture with the kids, is a great guy, and I'm so thankful for the time and effort he and the other coaches have invested into our kids.
AWANA has also ended for the year. The awards ceremony was last Sunday. I don't have the pics downloaded yet, but maybe I can come back and insert a picture here. All three kids finished their books this year, and both the boys also completed their review patches. The church we're going back to in Ohio also has AWANA, so we look forward to continuing next year. And the year after next, Kenna will be a Cubbie!! Wow!
It looks like I'm down to just one or two more business events here in Las Vegas. As much as I want to reach $2000 in sales for this month in order to keep my current career title, I just don't see that happening with a trip to Idaho scheduled for 10 days and only one stamp club meeting!! I'm not complaining...my focus now is on sorting and organizing our stuff, weeding out things I don't want us to have to unpack later, and preparing our family mentally, emotionally, and physically for our move.
Mostly we are on track to finish by Friday. Charis just today finished her week 35 Language Arts, so she'll need to crunch if we want to finish by Friday, but she and I agreed it would not be a terrible thing if she finishes things up next week. Tobin is finished--I think that kid needs more work next year! I will definitely make him do more of the writing assignments. He got a pass on a lot of them because, having done this LA with Charis last year, I realized how frustrating it was to throw out a writing prompt with little guidance and expect a 6 or 7-year-old to be able to write a paragraph. This year I was a lot more laid back about it, sometimes letting Tobin dictate to me, sometimes changing the required topic to something he was more interested in (usually Star Wars, LOL).
I've begun realizing that Arden has gotten the short end of the LA stick--he breezed through his Ready for the Code phonics books, but since I had a hard time keeping track of everyone, he usually finished before I was ready to watch him with the writing part...and I've noticed that he's making some of his letters backwards now, particularly the lowercase "b" and "d," which is understandable. His capital letters are fine, and he's reading quite well, so I'm not terribly concerned...it will just take some concerted effort on my part to help him with his practice, which I intend to continue through the summer.
We will also continue math at an unhurried pace over the summer. Charis has had some troubles with multiple-digit multiplication, but she seems to be getting over the hump. We've had to take it pretty slowly with these lessons, but I don't mind. She only has 5 more lessons in her Gamma book, and I'm confident she can start the next level once we're ready to start "school" up again. Arden is nearly finished with the Alpha book, and that's with me trying to slow him down! Tobin is about 2/3 of the way through Beta. Once again, I'm sure if we want him to, he can be ready to begin the next level when we start Core 2 with Sonlight.
PE has come to an end as of last Thursday. I am really going to miss the SAINTS program! The kids are, too! They have learned so much about so many different sports. They've gotten to try everything from archery to baseball to Capture the Flag. They've played tennis, kickball, flag football, soccer, and run relay races. They've learned to listen to a coach and get along with teammates (and those on the opposite team!), and they've learned about glorifying God with their attitudes and abilities. Coach Chris, shown in the picture with the kids, is a great guy, and I'm so thankful for the time and effort he and the other coaches have invested into our kids.AWANA has also ended for the year. The awards ceremony was last Sunday. I don't have the pics downloaded yet, but maybe I can come back and insert a picture here. All three kids finished their books this year, and both the boys also completed their review patches. The church we're going back to in Ohio also has AWANA, so we look forward to continuing next year. And the year after next, Kenna will be a Cubbie!! Wow!
It looks like I'm down to just one or two more business events here in Las Vegas. As much as I want to reach $2000 in sales for this month in order to keep my current career title, I just don't see that happening with a trip to Idaho scheduled for 10 days and only one stamp club meeting!! I'm not complaining...my focus now is on sorting and organizing our stuff, weeding out things I don't want us to have to unpack later, and preparing our family mentally, emotionally, and physically for our move.
May 25, 2009
Homeschoolin' in the 'Hood
Since Ted is at work today (Memorial Day), I decided that our daytime hours would be spent normally, especially since we have taken so much time off school lately. I did let the kids sleep in. OK, so Charis was the only one who took advantage of that, but while she slept until 10:00, the boys got math done and I enjoyed reading some of Arden's Sonlight books aloud to them and Kenna, who was remarkably game to sit and listen. We probably read for nearly an hour!! Very cool.
I chatted on the phone a bit with my friend Julie, whom I sadly see very little of, while Kenna and Arden entertained themselves in a bucket of soapy water in the back yard. (Yes, I should have taken pictures, but I don't multi-task well these days.) After a lunch of yogurt and nachos, Charis began her next math lesson (multiple-digit multiplication, i.e. 325 x 52), which definitely needed my supervision. Unfortunately, so did Kenna, whom I caught happily coloring the table and surrounding chairs purple. In the midst of the commotion a neighbor girl from down the street rang the doorbell wanting to play, but as I was dealing with a diaper change, I told Charis to tell the gal we needed to finish school.
Things settled down after we waded through the math lesson, and Charis finished feeling quite a bit more confident with her skills and I feeling more confident in her comprehension of the whole concept. Then it was time to put the little ones down for afternoon naps and prepare for Sonlight reading (Bible, history, science).
Tobin asked if we could read outside while they had Otter Pops, which has kind of become a ritual around here the last few weeks with nicer weather. We take blankets under the tree in the front yard and plop down to read. I'm sure we're a sight for all the cars that drive in and out of the gate, which is right by our house, and I've often wondered if anyone would ever stop and ask me what we were doing and why our kids weren't in school, but it hasn't happened yet, and with today being a holiday, there was certainly no danger in that. At any rate, I couldn't think of why we shouldn't go read in the front yard with Otter Pops, so out we went...and discovered the neighbor girl sitting on our lawn waiting for us!!
At first I was a bit grumpy...we had told her we were busy, for goodness' sake! But then my heart softened, and I realized this was actually a fantastic opportunity. We invited her to stay and listen with us and let her pick out an Otter Pop as well. She has attended church with us a few times, and her family has a semi-Catholic inclination; at least, the mom's family is rooted in Catholicism. I wasn't sure what she was going to think of our activities, but I figured if she wanted to hang around, she'd just have to listen quietly!
So...she listened in as we read Psalm 8, Lesson 82 in Leading Little Ones to God, which talks about the end of the world and how God's children have eternal security, and--get this--Jesus Christ Himself from our history lesson in A Child's History of the World! Last week we had read about Augustus Caesar, and this lesson began by explaining that at the same time that man lived, another Man lived who changed the world, etc. During the lesson it mentioned that followers of Christ the Messiah are called Christians, and Tobin piped up, "I'm a Christian!" I asked him what that meant (for our friend's benefit), and he basically gave the plan of salvation (with a bit of questioning prompts from me!)! I love it!
The girl was called home after this point, so we continued with our science reading and concluded with a chapter from George Muller's biography, at which point she arrived back at our house. Now the kids are playing together again, and I'm praying that my kids can continue to be a testimony to her.
I chatted on the phone a bit with my friend Julie, whom I sadly see very little of, while Kenna and Arden entertained themselves in a bucket of soapy water in the back yard. (Yes, I should have taken pictures, but I don't multi-task well these days.) After a lunch of yogurt and nachos, Charis began her next math lesson (multiple-digit multiplication, i.e. 325 x 52), which definitely needed my supervision. Unfortunately, so did Kenna, whom I caught happily coloring the table and surrounding chairs purple. In the midst of the commotion a neighbor girl from down the street rang the doorbell wanting to play, but as I was dealing with a diaper change, I told Charis to tell the gal we needed to finish school.
Things settled down after we waded through the math lesson, and Charis finished feeling quite a bit more confident with her skills and I feeling more confident in her comprehension of the whole concept. Then it was time to put the little ones down for afternoon naps and prepare for Sonlight reading (Bible, history, science).
Tobin asked if we could read outside while they had Otter Pops, which has kind of become a ritual around here the last few weeks with nicer weather. We take blankets under the tree in the front yard and plop down to read. I'm sure we're a sight for all the cars that drive in and out of the gate, which is right by our house, and I've often wondered if anyone would ever stop and ask me what we were doing and why our kids weren't in school, but it hasn't happened yet, and with today being a holiday, there was certainly no danger in that. At any rate, I couldn't think of why we shouldn't go read in the front yard with Otter Pops, so out we went...and discovered the neighbor girl sitting on our lawn waiting for us!!
At first I was a bit grumpy...we had told her we were busy, for goodness' sake! But then my heart softened, and I realized this was actually a fantastic opportunity. We invited her to stay and listen with us and let her pick out an Otter Pop as well. She has attended church with us a few times, and her family has a semi-Catholic inclination; at least, the mom's family is rooted in Catholicism. I wasn't sure what she was going to think of our activities, but I figured if she wanted to hang around, she'd just have to listen quietly!
So...she listened in as we read Psalm 8, Lesson 82 in Leading Little Ones to God, which talks about the end of the world and how God's children have eternal security, and--get this--Jesus Christ Himself from our history lesson in A Child's History of the World! Last week we had read about Augustus Caesar, and this lesson began by explaining that at the same time that man lived, another Man lived who changed the world, etc. During the lesson it mentioned that followers of Christ the Messiah are called Christians, and Tobin piped up, "I'm a Christian!" I asked him what that meant (for our friend's benefit), and he basically gave the plan of salvation (with a bit of questioning prompts from me!)! I love it!
The girl was called home after this point, so we continued with our science reading and concluded with a chapter from George Muller's biography, at which point she arrived back at our house. Now the kids are playing together again, and I'm praying that my kids can continue to be a testimony to her.
May 13, 2009
Maybe We Should Work More on That...
Part of Charis's language arts assignment from last week was:
Write a [short] sentence about school and then a longer one.
Charis's answer...note the italics:
"We homeschool. We have to do copywork, handwriting, fhonics, math, and Sonlight reading."
Write a [short] sentence about school and then a longer one.
Charis's answer...note the italics:
"We homeschool. We have to do copywork, handwriting, fhonics, math, and Sonlight reading."
March 04, 2009
Definitely a Sonlight Moment!
I just posted the following letter in the Sonlight forums and wanted to share with our loved ones. I LOVE homeschooling, and I LOVE schooling with Sonlight materials!!!
*******************
Dear Sonlight,
I have to tell you about a precious conversation with my 8-year-old daughter, Charis, yesterday. We've been reading the biography of George Muller, which my kids are LOVING. Yesterday we read the chapter that described the confrontation that happened between George and his father, who was not at all thrilled with George's decision to become a missionary. We talked about how sad it was that his daddy didn't think being a missionary was as worthy as being a well-paid pastor.
Somehow our discussion progressed...I think I was telling the kids that Mommy and Daddy pray for them every day, and that we want them to do whatever God calls them to do and to use their gifts and talents however He leads them. At this point, Charis announced something: "Mommy, I know that God wants me to be a missionary to India."
Now, my daughter has always had a tender heart towards people who don't know the Lord, but I hadn't heard this before! I asked her when she felt God laying this on her heart, and she said she didn't know, but it was sometime this year. (As a side note, during this past year, we have said goodbye to friends who are now missionaries in India; we have participated in the Rice Bag Project; and we have read tons of great stories about missionaries, many of whom served in India, through our Sonlight reading.) Charis then went over to our markable map and pointed straight at the southern tip of India. "This is where God wants me," she said. I encouraged her and responded that Mommy and Daddy would be so happy if she followed God's call to India, if that indeed is where He will lead her, and then we got to talk about learning a new language and culture, etc.
Not to be outdone, my oldest son then said that he wants to be a preacher in Brazil. ;-)
I believe God is using all of our readings, prayer times, and discussions even now, at their tender ages, to plant seeds in the hearts of my children! I am SO GRATEFUL for these times with my children!!!
THANK YOU, SONLIGHT!!
*******************
Dear Sonlight,
I have to tell you about a precious conversation with my 8-year-old daughter, Charis, yesterday. We've been reading the biography of George Muller, which my kids are LOVING. Yesterday we read the chapter that described the confrontation that happened between George and his father, who was not at all thrilled with George's decision to become a missionary. We talked about how sad it was that his daddy didn't think being a missionary was as worthy as being a well-paid pastor.
Somehow our discussion progressed...I think I was telling the kids that Mommy and Daddy pray for them every day, and that we want them to do whatever God calls them to do and to use their gifts and talents however He leads them. At this point, Charis announced something: "Mommy, I know that God wants me to be a missionary to India."
Now, my daughter has always had a tender heart towards people who don't know the Lord, but I hadn't heard this before! I asked her when she felt God laying this on her heart, and she said she didn't know, but it was sometime this year. (As a side note, during this past year, we have said goodbye to friends who are now missionaries in India; we have participated in the Rice Bag Project; and we have read tons of great stories about missionaries, many of whom served in India, through our Sonlight reading.) Charis then went over to our markable map and pointed straight at the southern tip of India. "This is where God wants me," she said. I encouraged her and responded that Mommy and Daddy would be so happy if she followed God's call to India, if that indeed is where He will lead her, and then we got to talk about learning a new language and culture, etc.
Not to be outdone, my oldest son then said that he wants to be a preacher in Brazil. ;-)
I believe God is using all of our readings, prayer times, and discussions even now, at their tender ages, to plant seeds in the hearts of my children! I am SO GRATEFUL for these times with my children!!!
THANK YOU, SONLIGHT!!
November 14, 2008
Fun Friday
And by "fun" I mean rollicking, clean-baby-vomit-off-the-plush-rocking-chair kind of fun, followed by clean-pee-off-the-carpet-in-the-boys'-room kind of fun.
Oh, yes, it's been a barrel of laughs around here this morning. Kenna has since eaten 2 crackers and seems to be her normal silly self, and Arden has been banished to the land of Pull-Ups for the next week. This pee incident has to be at least the 10th one in the last 2 weeks. I'm not sure what is causing the regression, but I'm tired of accidents happening on the carpet, on the trampoline, and generally anywhere it's not convenient to clean. At least I'm keeping up with laundry...
Somehow, we've managed to finish math and language arts lessons. Charis has written a fabulous little sketch that she (and I, truthfully) thought would be difficult for her--week 15 of Sonlight's LA for her level has them rewriting a fairy tale from the perspective of a completely different character. Think The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and you'll get the idea. Unfortunately, as fun as that book is, I do not have it on our shelves, and Charis has never read it...wish I had planned ahead and checked it out from the library so she could have a better idea of how to approach the assignment.
Anyway. On Wednesday, when we did her pre-writing assignment, she chose the story of Peter Pan for her "fairy tale." Then she decided Captain Hook would be the character from whose perspective she would be writing. Today, as we prepared for her to begin writing, I encouraged her to pick just one scene to focus on, as she would have been completely overwhelmed otherwise--and besides, the assignment is supposed to be basically just a paragraph. I'm pretty proud of what Charis came up with...remember that writing is not her thing, unless it's her own idea! Here it is, verbatim from what she typed just moments ago. (We'll work on editing the errors next week! She was fairly distressed about the misspellings, but between keeping Kenna off the computer chair and refereeing the boys' spats, I'm giving up on LA for today.)
*************
My name is Captain Hook. I am a Pirite. I am serching for Peter pan. When I find him we fight. Peter pan pushes me off the clif, where I battle with my enemy the crocadile. Smee chases us in his rowboat. I manage to climb in. Standing up I cry "row!" "Row to the ship!" When we go through a hole in a rock in the sea my head hits the rock and I fall into the sea where I fear I will die.
*************
OK, so the ending is a little depressing, but I thought she did a good job overall! Her verb tense is consistent, and she sticks to the main details and manages to convey a lot of action and emotion. Perhaps this day will be a good one after all!
Oh, yes, it's been a barrel of laughs around here this morning. Kenna has since eaten 2 crackers and seems to be her normal silly self, and Arden has been banished to the land of Pull-Ups for the next week. This pee incident has to be at least the 10th one in the last 2 weeks. I'm not sure what is causing the regression, but I'm tired of accidents happening on the carpet, on the trampoline, and generally anywhere it's not convenient to clean. At least I'm keeping up with laundry...
Somehow, we've managed to finish math and language arts lessons. Charis has written a fabulous little sketch that she (and I, truthfully) thought would be difficult for her--week 15 of Sonlight's LA for her level has them rewriting a fairy tale from the perspective of a completely different character. Think The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and you'll get the idea. Unfortunately, as fun as that book is, I do not have it on our shelves, and Charis has never read it...wish I had planned ahead and checked it out from the library so she could have a better idea of how to approach the assignment.
Anyway. On Wednesday, when we did her pre-writing assignment, she chose the story of Peter Pan for her "fairy tale." Then she decided Captain Hook would be the character from whose perspective she would be writing. Today, as we prepared for her to begin writing, I encouraged her to pick just one scene to focus on, as she would have been completely overwhelmed otherwise--and besides, the assignment is supposed to be basically just a paragraph. I'm pretty proud of what Charis came up with...remember that writing is not her thing, unless it's her own idea! Here it is, verbatim from what she typed just moments ago. (We'll work on editing the errors next week! She was fairly distressed about the misspellings, but between keeping Kenna off the computer chair and refereeing the boys' spats, I'm giving up on LA for today.)
*************
My name is Captain Hook. I am a Pirite. I am serching for Peter pan. When I find him we fight. Peter pan pushes me off the clif, where I battle with my enemy the crocadile. Smee chases us in his rowboat. I manage to climb in. Standing up I cry "row!" "Row to the ship!" When we go through a hole in a rock in the sea my head hits the rock and I fall into the sea where I fear I will die.
*************
OK, so the ending is a little depressing, but I thought she did a good job overall! Her verb tense is consistent, and she sticks to the main details and manages to convey a lot of action and emotion. Perhaps this day will be a good one after all!
November 06, 2008
Back in the Saddle Again...
Despite the election results (which could be a whole separate series of blog posts if I had the time and inclination), this has actually been a pretty good week in various ways.
1. SCHOOL...We are back on track with our school schedule and are nearly finished with Week 14 of our Sonlight Core 1 curriculum. The kids loved reading Henry & Ribsy (a favorite of mine and Ted's from growing up, too) and are enjoying the Usborne Time Traveler as we learn more about ancient Egypt. We're starting a new unit on magnets in science, which promises to be fun. Arden completed his Math-U-See Primer book and is anxious to begin the Alpha book, which I'm sure we'll do tomorrow. Tobin is about 4-5 lessons away from completing Alpha and moving on to Beta. Charis is doing pretty well with multiplication, and Kenna is playing with the math manipulatives anytime we let her. :-)
2. BEHAVIOR...After a fairly miserable week (actually longer, I'm sure) of bickering, arguing, complaining, whining, and general grumpy behavior (admittedly on the part of us parental units as well as the kids), we had a family meeting Sunday night to discuss why this is NOT acceptable. With some concentrated efforts, I've seen noticeable improvement in this area, and I think the kids and I are ALL looking forward to Daddy's removal of the media ban!!! No TV, movies, computer, or video games at all until his approval!
Now, we are not generally a media-oriented family; the kids may get a PBS show now and then, a movie night on Fridays, and a Veggie Tale now and then when Mom needs an afternoon nap. We haven't purchased (and don't plan to purchase--please take note, those who might be buying gifts anytime for our kids!!) any video game devices, and we've just said NO to computer games of late because of the problems that usually ensue. But still...not having the option of letting the kids watch TV has forced us to be more creative (and has deprived me of the opportunity to take naps, ha). But I've enjoyed some game times with the kids during Kenna's nap as well as listening to their creative play. They particularly have liked the chance to "play school," as I got down the chalk and a stand-up easel with chalkboard on one side and whiteboard on the other. (For some odd reason this ended up in Kenna's room when we moved here last year and has remained there ever since.)
Anyway. The kids haven't been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but overall I must admit their behavior and attitudes have DEFINITELY improved over the last couple of weeks. Praise God!! (Some concentrated prayer every morning on our part has probably had MUCH to do with this!!)
3. WEATHER...It's beginning to feel a lot like autumn for real! In fact, we had a cold front a couple of nights ago, and we were downright cold as we left church last night. (And by "we" I mean the normal people in the family. Ted meandered around in short sleeves.) Today was gorgeous--quite cool in the morning and getting colder now that it's evening, but the late morning and afternoon were warm with a cool breeze. Nice!
Well, time to go work on dinner. We're having Cajun bean & sausage soup with cornbread, a yummy hot meal on a cold evening!
1. SCHOOL...We are back on track with our school schedule and are nearly finished with Week 14 of our Sonlight Core 1 curriculum. The kids loved reading Henry & Ribsy (a favorite of mine and Ted's from growing up, too) and are enjoying the Usborne Time Traveler as we learn more about ancient Egypt. We're starting a new unit on magnets in science, which promises to be fun. Arden completed his Math-U-See Primer book and is anxious to begin the Alpha book, which I'm sure we'll do tomorrow. Tobin is about 4-5 lessons away from completing Alpha and moving on to Beta. Charis is doing pretty well with multiplication, and Kenna is playing with the math manipulatives anytime we let her. :-)
2. BEHAVIOR...After a fairly miserable week (actually longer, I'm sure) of bickering, arguing, complaining, whining, and general grumpy behavior (admittedly on the part of us parental units as well as the kids), we had a family meeting Sunday night to discuss why this is NOT acceptable. With some concentrated efforts, I've seen noticeable improvement in this area, and I think the kids and I are ALL looking forward to Daddy's removal of the media ban!!! No TV, movies, computer, or video games at all until his approval!
Now, we are not generally a media-oriented family; the kids may get a PBS show now and then, a movie night on Fridays, and a Veggie Tale now and then when Mom needs an afternoon nap. We haven't purchased (and don't plan to purchase--please take note, those who might be buying gifts anytime for our kids!!) any video game devices, and we've just said NO to computer games of late because of the problems that usually ensue. But still...not having the option of letting the kids watch TV has forced us to be more creative (and has deprived me of the opportunity to take naps, ha). But I've enjoyed some game times with the kids during Kenna's nap as well as listening to their creative play. They particularly have liked the chance to "play school," as I got down the chalk and a stand-up easel with chalkboard on one side and whiteboard on the other. (For some odd reason this ended up in Kenna's room when we moved here last year and has remained there ever since.)
Anyway. The kids haven't been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but overall I must admit their behavior and attitudes have DEFINITELY improved over the last couple of weeks. Praise God!! (Some concentrated prayer every morning on our part has probably had MUCH to do with this!!)
3. WEATHER...It's beginning to feel a lot like autumn for real! In fact, we had a cold front a couple of nights ago, and we were downright cold as we left church last night. (And by "we" I mean the normal people in the family. Ted meandered around in short sleeves.) Today was gorgeous--quite cool in the morning and getting colder now that it's evening, but the late morning and afternoon were warm with a cool breeze. Nice!
Well, time to go work on dinner. We're having Cajun bean & sausage soup with cornbread, a yummy hot meal on a cold evening!
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