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Showing posts from 2013

More Thinking for Early 2014

Thinking Aloud Item #8: I want to set aside one afternoon each week for service.  We might pick up trash at a park, visit someone in need of company, write letters, make cookies for neighbors, or . . . I don't know . . . seek inspiration as it comes. I don't serve much beyond the walls of my own home.  I know that serving my family is truly good work.  But I think my kids need the opportunity to see me reach further, so that they can reach further, too. Back to #6: I'm really thinking hard about the "mom-school" idea in conjunction with the new homeschool group. One idea is to use Mathematicians Are People, Too --one story and a hands-on math "play" session to follow. Another idea is to use Magic Tree House books as a guide for classes. Another is a bread-making class. Could I really do this? How hard would it be?  Too hard?  Just hard enough? Thinking Aloud Item #9: I'm making chore charts/schedules/lists for the new house.  We&#

Thinking "Aloud" About School Again

It is 5:30 am the morning after Christmas. We are (mostly)  moved in to our new house. The holiday hoopla is (mostly--we still have to celebrate J9 becoming J10 and do something for the New Year) over. We've had a month or more of no school, and the littles have missed doing preschool with mommy for months now. I mentioned yesterday to the kids that it was time for them to start thinking about school and work routines again.  E13 said, "YES!!!!  I am so ready!!!" Kind of took me by surprise. My brain, the same brain that has been utterly stagnant regarding school thoughts, is awake and working again.  That's why I'm up; I'm thinking too much to sleep. Thinking Aloud Item #1: I read a great post one morning recently (I'm so sorry I didn't take note of it to give the author credit and provide a link) about how to schedule for sanity.  She said to imagine the worst scenario possible for each item on your schedule and budget enough time for it

Geography--In the Middle of Life

We moved into our new house just over a week ago.  We didn't have internet service for a full week. We spend nearly half our time up at the old house finishing up the work that is needed to make a small house that used to hold a large family look good to the general public.  The other half of our time is spent driving to and from the old house . . . and sleeping.  And no one is getting enough sleep these days.  Soon, soon, we'll be able to find a rhythm to a life desirable. Right now we're in survival mode. Internet service was installed a few days ago.  Then we found out our computer is NOT wi-fi compatible.   So we ran errands and found the part that would allow our computer to pick up the signal that is now filling our house. Then we hooked it up. Daddy did it. And when Daddy plays on the computer you can bet there are either sports updates or maps on the screen.  On this first day of internet access there were maps.  A6, H4, and I2 (he had a birthday in

A Door Closed

We closed on our new house on Tuesday. We also spent 6 hours at urgent care, in an ambulance, and at the hospital keeping H4 under observation for her bumped head.  It's a concussion.  It was terribly scary for a while, but she's all better now. She bounced back from her injury faster than I did from my worry. Then there was Thanksgiving to prepare for and celebrate (at our old home, just us, because we still have pinkeye going through the family).  Now it is time to prepare to move.  We take possession tomorrow at noon.  The sellers have been in that house for 40 years--long enough to lose their house keys and just use the garage "clickers" as their means of entrance and exit.  That makes me smile. Even though it means we have to replace the locks on every exterior door on the house. S11 came to me yesterday and asked, "Could I just try one day of public school?  Just to see what it's like?"  I explained that public schools simply don'

Sharing What Works

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I've been hard on myself for the shape of our homeschool in 2013.  We've prepared our home to sell (it hasn't, yet), we've searched for and purchased a new home (we close on Nov. 26), and we took a giant vacation to see family and friends whom we haven't seen in 4 years or more.  We still have to actually pack and move!  All of these have sucked the life out of me, and the "good" parts of school have fallen by the way. Today I read an invitation to share what works.   I'm taking that invitation as one of my Father in Heaven's tender mercies reminding me that I am not a failure.  I should take a moment to review just one thing we're doing well. Instead of forever focusing on my failings. What works? Composition books. (Image borrowed from here ) We love composition books.  I buy them by the dozen when they are on sale before school starts.  I pass them out liberally to my kids and keep quite a few for my own use.  One for scrip

One Thing Right

We are in the middle of buying the house I wrote about before. It is a nightmare of paperwork and hoop-jumping. School remains minimal--the older 4 are doing their independent math, reading, and writing.  S11 and J9 continue to work on NaNoWriMo.  We attend Explorer's Club meetings, extracurricular lessons, and church activities.  Preschool is nonexistent, and A6 is teaching herself how to write in cursive (M11 gave her some lessons, and I printed a template for her to copy).  The kids read whatever they can get their hands on--E13 recently read The Great Gilly Hopkins and is currently working on The Hero and the Crown .  I read aloud at night; we finished A Wrinkle in Time , read half of The Complete Peterkin Papers before giving up because they were too silly to even be funny, and we're in the middle of Milly-Molly-Mandy for the littles and Mama's Bank Account for us all. Scripture study and devotionals have fallen by the wayside (except for evening family praye

NaNoWriMo Begins

November 1st has come and gone . . . already!  I did none of the hoped-for NaNoWriMo writing exercises in October that I'd kinda-sorta thought about.  I, in fact, forgot completely about NaNoWriMo. But my children did not. The experience of last year must have been powerful because when the medium-sized girls saw the calendar, they immediately asked for a journal.  I let them get their own. They set their goals:  5,000 words each.  It is not even close to the 50,000 NaNoWriMo encourages, but this is self-motivated activity.  Who am I to argue? S11 and J9 opened their journals after their regular school was done and wrote all day long.  They both wrote more than 1,000 words their first day.  I suggested they set their goals a little higher. They declined. Today they've written and written and written.  I forced them outside into the autumn sunshine for several hours, but they've still managed a healthy several hundred words each. I asked M11 if she was wr

Home?

I'm just thankful that my older 4 can work independently . . . and that they are.  I'm thankful that my little ones can crawl into my lap for some love whenever they need it.  I'm thankful that A6 is reading and reading and reading, so that my inattention to her little school lessons has less impact than it might otherwise.  But I still feel so guilty for my inability to provide rich, stimulating, family-love-increasing school hours for my children. I'm not ill.  I'm distracted. Our house has been on the market for almost 6 months.  It took 5 months to even get it ready to list, so that's nearly a year of being unsettled and living in between. We've been searching for our dream home/dream land for even longer than that.  Painting, cleaning, redecorating, cleaning, mending, cleaning, showings, cleaning, and so forth and so on have left us with few if any hours for really great school. Add in the away-from-home activities I'm allowing the kids at

Process over Product

I love my children's art much more for the process than the product. Today I watched H4 draw a tree and put a cut-out picture of a nest in it (today was N is for nest day). She drew a fat tree trunk with two thin branches extending from either side--like a T.  Then she got discouraged and said, "You do it, Mom.  I can't do it right." That's when I go all cheerleader-y and pointed out all of the tree-like parts I could see.  I told her it looked like a perfect tree for safely holding a nest full of eggs.  She thought about what I said, studied her picture for a moment or two, then drew what looked like a second trunk next to the first one.  "It will hold the baby birds without letting them fall, Mom," she said. We colored and cut out her nest and eggs. We glued them in place. She colored in a sky above. I asked, "Do you want to make leaves on your tree?" She looked at her picture again.  "It needs more branches, Mom."

At the Nature Sanctuary

Today our science club met at a local nature sanctuary.  The group leader had 2 different scavenger hunts prepared--one of items to find (and leave) and one to use multiple senses (but not tasting!).  My littles chose the senses list, but my older ones chose just to look.  We divided into groups, and I stayed with my littles. I so like my little ones. We meandered along, admiring leaves and sticks and rocks.  Our list included things like "See sunlight shining through the trees,"  "Watch clouds move across the sky,"  "Smell moss,"  "Touch mud,"  and other delightful ideas. I'd never thought of smelling moss before! I learned about Scour Rush--a bamboo-like plant that grows in temperate climates the world over.  It's considered indigenous.  I never knew that before. The kids climbed one side of a dam--it's a big grassy hill.  I haven't the faintest idea how tall it is, but it is very, very tall.  They climbed, then turn

Field Work --> Home Works

Today E13 got to spend the day with an adult friend who works as director of a leadership camp.  She runs camps for public school kids both at her facility at on the schools.  I think she offers corporate leadership workshops, too.  But today was all about 8th graders learning to identify their personal strengths and to acknowledge the strengths of their peers. E13 was there to soak up the philosophy under the guise of being a peer evaluator.  She carried a clipboard and evaluation sheet around with her to "grade" the kids' abilities to follow directions and achieve their goals.  This is supposed to help our friend see where the strengths and weaknesses of this particular camp reside. I hope that her feedback is helpful. We asked E13 how she felt about the day.  She answered, "Sister B----- is sure patient.  I know that sometimes I'm immature, but these kids were like 2-year-olds!" They were her exact public school peers at the exact public school s

Oh, Ewe!

I was reading aloud to I1 the other day.  A6 came over to listen.  She'd read the very book I was reading ( Gideon and Otto by Olivier Dunrea ) aloud to her little brother herself, but my kids know to seize the day when Mom actually sits down for a little bit. I got to the line, " . . . he bounced on the back of the ewe." I heard A6 mutter under her breath, "Oh!  Ewe!" I realized she hadn't known how to pronounce that interesting word and had just learned something new. An "ah ha!" moment that made my heart sing.

House Showing

Got a call at 8:15 am, "I'd like to show your house to my client between 1 and 3 this afternoon." It would be our first house showing in about 3 months . . .  and I'd made up my mind that we'd go back to regular life instead of "museum house" life about 2 of those months ago. I agreed, turned to the breakfast table and announced, "No school today.  We're cleaning." And, to my surprise and joy, they cleaned.  We worked steadily until 1 pm.  It took all hands (most hands--J9 babysat the littles on her own all morning--she did a fine job, too) and every bit of energy we had to get the house in showing order. Then everyone was banished from the house until the showing was over. Good thing the weather was beautiful! The real estate agent and her clients arrived just after 2:00.   The only comment I overheard was, "Oh!  We'd have to hire someone to mow the backyard!" Rats. But we did it.  The house is very clean.  It

4 Pictures of my 4 Youngest

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J9 and A6 are reading aloud to H4 from You Read to Me, I'll Read to You H4 is working on a jet on J is for Jet day. Here's I1, complete with bandage over his 1 day old stitches, showing off his latest art project. One of the older girls took this perfect picture of my precious A6.

Activity Du Jour: Bows and Arrows

Before breakfast even, the girls were outside with their mini bows and arrows--fashioned out of leftover dowels and rubber bands from the book-binding we did for Explorer's Club.  I was annoyed that they'd raided my preschool cupboard without permission, but after giving them a good dressing-down realized that this creative activity was far more valuable than anything I could think of. When I can relax and let them be before the dressing-down I'll know I've arrived at good-motherhood. They've used crayons to color the dowels and have given their bows names like "Rainbow Shooter," and "Silver Strike."  The arrows at first were plain dowels, but along the way someone thought of the idea of sharpening them against the asphalt of the street, so now they're real arrows. A6 shot herself in the chest before they thought of sharpening their weapons (she had her bow backwards and lost control of the rubber band); it left quite a mark.  I've

Waking Up--Catching Up

As I've dealt with my broken heart, I've written faithfully on my private blog trying to find the good, exercise faith, and record my hurts . . .  I have had nothing left over for this one. I had a turning point at the Relief Society General Broadcast .  I feel as if I were a convalescing invalid, which I imagine I am.  I'm over the worst, but there's still a long road of recovery ahead. Through it all, I've continued to prepare meals, run errands, cuddle small people, encourage and correct larger ones, oversee school, participate in family prayers, scripture study, and devotionals . . . in general I've continued managing our home and family through this season of living death.  Every step was hard.  Every step felt like swimming in jello.  I'd often find myself in the middle of the living room wondering what I should, could, or might do next.  Everything seemed too hard. Everything. Along the way we finished Snow Treasure .  It based on a possibly

What We've Been Doing: Sunday-Tuesday

We wrote letters on Sunday.  A6's was the sweetest of all--composed ever so laboriously, all by herself. We also had Family Home Evening.  It was my turn to present a lesson.  My children know how to work, but they so often choose not to.  We had a lesson on stewardship--how taking care of our home and environment show respect for ourselves and our Father in Heaven.  I told them how pleased I am with their abilities and how I hope they choose to do good work in the future. My favorite part of the lesson was when I had H4 give her favorite stuffed animal to E13 for safe-keeping.  E13 has a history of taking stuffed animals apart for whatever reasons that the rest of us cannot understand.  Her little eyes got so very round, and she clutched that orange bear close to her heart! Point made.  We don't want to entrust our belongings to those who will not take care of them. My second favorite moment was when I had E13 give her favorite earrings to I1.  I thought she'd sque

On Being a Lady

I'm not doing well.  I'm going through the motions:  school, chores, devotionals, personal prayers, scripture study, meals, playtime.  All of the outward actions are in place.  No one is suffering, but the kids have caught me twice with tears on my face, and my excuses are getting thin.  The good part is that kids don't really want to know what's going on in their mother's heart as long as they're fed, have clean clothes and get to do fun things.  There is no reason to confuse them with my confusion. Last night we finished Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink .  This passage, in which Caddie's father speaks to her, touched my heart: "It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world sweet and beautiful  What a rough world it would be if there were only men and boys in it, doing things in their rough way!  A woman's task is to teach them gentleness and courtesy and love and kindness.  It's a big task, too, Cadd

'Nuff Said

Tuesday morning. Made oatmeal for breakfast. Made 5 pints peach jam. Made 4 loaves organic wheat bread. Helped kids with school. Spent the afternoon in urgent care. I1 got 4 stitches in his forehead. Picked up meds for J9--she's suffering from the poison ivy but complaining so very little. Kids watched movies. Made peach cobbler for dinner--even had a scoop of vanilla ice cream each. I1 is in bed, barely resting--his head hurts. The rest of the kids will soon follow. And my favorite pink shirt has bloodstains on it.

Just Another Monday

Autumn came for a brief visit today.  Summer is coming back in just a day or two, but today was chilly and cloudy and drizzly. E13 had planned to mow the lawn for our elderly neighbor, but the rain put a stop to that.  However, E13 did manage to not shower or get dressed ("I'll shower after I'm all sweaty instead of before!") until after lunch. M11 had a violin lesson this afternoon. Yesterday she was inspired by a beautiful violin number performed by one of the sister missionaries at church.  She told me today that she complimented the missionary and got a hug in return along with the advice to, "Practice, practice, practice!"  It was advice that M11 doesn't really need to hear, but it certainly won't hurt. S11 got to go babysit our neighbor's toddler daughter while our neighbor worked on prep work for a catering gig she has this week.  She's a professional pastry chef.  S11 had a blast all afternoon and came home $20 richer.  "I&

The Rest of the Week . . .

 . . . didn't go exactly as expected.  For some reason I thought I could just get up and go, resuming life as usual. I was wrong. I'm definitely in a post-partum recovery period. Getting up the next day, doing normal chores, decorating my new scripture journal along with my older girls, working for 3 hours at the horse barn with J9 doing hard manual labor, making dinner, cleaning up, and doing our normal evening routine was the wrong move. Getting up extra early the day after that (Friday), preparing breakfast and lunch, packing the car and organizing the kids for a 50 mile drive to the closest natural history museum, spending 3 hours walking around the museum, having a picnic lunch, driving home, preparing a picnic dinner, packing stuff and kids again, driving 20 more miles to the lake for the church camp out (we didn't stay the night),  feeding my crew, cleaning up, being social, packing them back up, driving home, cleaning them, and putting them all to bed was th

The Bright Spot in My Day

Yesterday was not a dreadful day. We went to our first Explorer's Club meeting--a hiking day.  The big kids got to hike fast and far; the little kids got to hike slowly and not so far.  (I think the little kids had the better hike.) E13 attended her second gymnastics lesson. The big girls did their school work in the afternoon. We played in the sprinklers with a neighbor until the bees got too aggressive. I went through the climax of this miscarriage. I read stories to I1. Last night he was through with his bath and was searching for his favorite books  We are fans of Olivier Dunrea , and I1 was collecting all of the books by him that we currently have checked out from the library. He had Boo Boo in his hand, but he came walking down the hallway saying, "Peebee ha'.  Peebee ha'," and signing "hat" at the same time.  "Are you looking for Peedie ?  Do you want to read about Peedie and his hat?"  I asked. I1 nodded happily.  &q

Officially a Miscarriage

I called the doctor's office, as directed, in the early morning to get my lab results.  I knew the pregnancy was ending, but a tiny bit of hope kept rearing it's irritating head.  It was hard work to talk it back down over and over and over again. The doctor's office did not call me back for hours. In the mean time: *We had blueberry muffins for breakfast. *The older girls and I finished our Old Testament Study. *H4 and I had preschool--we made a kitten out of circles .  I1 wanted to be part of things, so he climbed into my lap, grabbed glue, scissors, crayons and paper, and generally made everyone crazy.  Fortunately I'd printed the craft pattern incorrectly at first, so I had a second copy of inferior quality that made him perfectly happy.  Looks like it's time for I1 to have some pre-preschool of his own. *A6 and I had school.  She's quite a good speller! *I did some laundry. *I cleaned the kitchen. *I read some stories to I1. *I wandered about

Stuff We're Doing

This weekend found my girls making, decorating, and flying dozens of paper airplanes.  I do not know what prompted such a frenzy; I only know it happened. I have no pictures--only memories that I have tucked away for my own personal enjoyment.  I sat on the front porch Friday evening just watching.  We live on a cul-de-sac, so the street is our playground.  All 7 of my children ran out into the street with one, two, or three paper airplanes in their hands.  The air was alive. Children running, laughing, playing. Airplanes zooming, looping, crashing. I'd told them, "You have 15 minutes!"  Then I let them play for over an hour. I could not stop watching. ************ Today was hard.  Yesterday was hard.  I am miscarrying for the 8th time . . . or not . . . but I'm sure I am. We did not write letters, but we did watch movies together as a family, and we had Family Home Evening, complete with berry jell-o (made with juice and real berries--not the gross st

The Pears are Ripe

I bought a 38 lb box of pears through Bountiful Baskets . They arrived on Saturday completely hard and green.  We put the box in the basement so they'd stay cool (and out of the way) as they ripened. Which they did . . . today. All 38 lbs. The older girls settled into school, while the little girls and I washed and cut and peeled pears. Then the little girls got bored and made paper airplanes. Then the paper airplanes didn't cooperate, so E13 helped them. Sometimes I want to strangle that girl, and sometimes she is so patient and kind and wonderful I can hardly believe it. Today she was that wonderful girl. I made pear cobbler for breakfast with about 3 lbs.  I made pear crisp for lunch with about 5 lbs. I peeled and quartered about 40 pears for dehydrating--nearly 20 lbs? I peeled and chopped another 5 or 6 lbs for spiced pear jam. I think I have 5 or 6 lbs to go. I'll probably make another batch of jam. It would be a good day . . . except that I th

Decisions, Decisions

Just as I was feeling good about the activities the girls have chosen (E13--gymnastics, M11--violin, S11--choir, J0--horseback riding) and about our schedule and plans in general, a good friend threw a wrench in the works.  She is the director of a children's performance group--singing, clogging, dancing--that just lost several members due to a surprise change of address for one of the principal families.  She emailed me with a specific invitation to join this group, along with the plea, "It would be a favor to us, too." This group is terrific.  All 6 of my girls could participate, and at the same time.  It is practically free.  The kids are encouraged to develop their own choreography, costumes, sense of showmanship, and leadership.  The kids will be taught a lot of excellent performance skills.  The group is pro-America, pro-family, pro-good values.  I have not one criticism or concern. Except one. Is it the best use of our time? Should we do this or should we b

Spontaneous Swimming Party (Sort of)

Our flexible schedule has proven itself a blessing today.  Some friends announced that they were throwing an un-birthday party for their daughter this afternoon.  Anyone who wanted to could come swim for the afternoon at their house and have snacks and fun. We had to arrange transportation for E13 to get to gymnastics, but that was doable. We had to finish school by 11:30 am, but that was doable, too. I had to get dinner in the crockpot, so it would be ready the minute we walked through the door tonight, but even that was doable (we had a veggie/meaty/pasta "bake"). So 6 kids and I drove the 50 miles it took to drop E13 off at a friend's house and up to the un-birthday party.  We had an exceedingly good time. I1 had his very first lollipop . . . and his second . . . and his third . . . and so on. It was hilarious to watch his face light up at each new color.  He'd suck on it for a few minutes and then search out a new color.  He'd take it out of his mo

S11 Sings

S11 has been so desperate to find a "special thing."  This is not an object but a talent or hobby that can be uniquely hers in our family.  M11 seems to have one.  J9 seems to have one.  But S11 has been really struggling. She wanted it to be surfing . . . but we live well over 1,000 miles from any oceans. We thought it was going to be joining the homeschool band.  We had the open house marked on our calendar for 2 weeks.  At the very last minute I looked up the address, and found the rehearsal schedule at the same time--right in the middle of our science club. We are all committed to the science club; homeschool band suddenly was not an option. My heart broke for my poor, disappointed girl. I began scouring websites, local forums, and community education catalogues for something special for my girl. Success! I found a local children's choir that was open for auditions this week.  S11 loves to sing.  We've talked about voice lessons for quite some time,

Monday Was Hard

Pride goeth before a fall. My last post was about how school and our routines were almost too easy. Then came Monday. A6 had a fever and was listless all weekend.  I'd promised to help in the church nursery, so my husband stayed home with all 3 littles (because where one fever is, others usually follow) while I took the 4 bigger girls to church.  It was good to sit quietly through an entire service.  Then I spent 2 hours in the nursery.  All was fine--even boring--but I came home quite tired. We wrote our letters; I remembered to scan them into the computer this time. I made dinner. I closed my eyes for an hour. But it wasn't enough. I was still so very tired. And then Monday morning came so quickly! My sweet M11 helped me through a few mistakes--like forgetting our memorization scripture and devotional moment during our morning meeting.  But E13 was having a hard day, and she made no bones about making it hard for the rest of us.  By nightfall our family wa

Almost Too Easy

My oldest said to me, "I'm glad we started school this way.  It's been less . . . I don't know . . . hard." :) I agree. We've started with the bare minimum.  If nothing else, we can do this with our hands tied behind our backs--or on really bad days. After less than a week we're used to getting up, getting chores done, getting school done. And we have enough time on our hands to start doing some good stuff. Now we just have to figure out what that good stuff is going to be.

How Much Voice?

This morning we gathered for Morning Meeting to prepare for our school day.  J9 is still angry about her reading book--she's cooperating, but barely.  As she voiced her frustration, the other girls all had suggestions for how to make the experience better. So did I. The other girls all talked at once in a jumbled, hurly-burly, impossible to understand mess. I raised my voice firmly above theirs and demanded silence. Order was restored; I spoke my piece; we moved on. It was only minutes later that a little voice spoke in my head, "Why did you have to be the boss?  Why were your words more important?  Why didn't you let the other girls speak?  What if (E13) had just the right motivating words and you shut them off?" I think that voice has a point.  My personal goal in treating my children with greater charity is that I will listen more.  I believe that parents need to be the voice of authority at home, but not a dominating, bossy, selfish voice.  I will li

Technology Has a Place in Our Homeschool

I think that the opponents of technology during school hours have a good case; I also think proponents of  technology during school hours have a good case.  I waffle back and forth philosophically over the issue, but in practical life, we use it. My little guys play on starfall.com --some of them have even learned their letters and sounds there. My middle kids are currently working on memorizing their math facts with apps that drill them. I use the computer to document our days. Today we found ourselves with some time on our hands, too hot outside temperatures, and a cool DVD about caves .  All 7 kids and I settled onto the couch to watch.  We learned about caving, biospheres, microscopic life, and a bit about what scientists do.  The scenes were breathtaking; the scientists were inspiring.  We talked and talked about our reactions. I can't think that watching that DVD together was a bad idea. I'd just been wishing this very morning that school with my older kids cr

6 Can be Hard

I don't know what happened.  I never got to the bottom of the problem . . . but that wasn't for lack of trying. Little Miss A6 fell apart about 30 seconds into her "school." She loves to read.  She loves her books.  She loves her spelling, copywork, games, and assignments.  She smiles her little gap-toothed grin, grips her pencil in her pudgy fingers, and works her little heart out. Usually. Today she cried, screamed, yelled, pouted, folded her arms, stamped her feet, and generally was a mess. I tried sympathy and understanding first.  When that didn't work, I simply closed her book and said, "School is for people who want to work.  We don't do school when we're tantruming." She ran down the hall to her room and let it all out . . . dramatically. I kneaded bread dough and pondered. In retrospect, I wish I'd prayed.  I didn't do any damage, but perhaps I could have been a greater force for good had I prayed. She came back

Good Reads--Beatrix Potter

Hands down, the best part of the second day was pulling out our Beatrix Potter collection, curling up on the couch alone and starting to read aloud. First H3 climbed into my lap as I read A Fierce Bad Rabbit . Somewhere near the end of The Story of Miss Moppet , A6 showed up. We started into The Tale of Tom Kitten , and J9 curled up on the arm of the couch to listen in. S11 was off trying to get some socializing in. M11 was practicing the violin. I1 was sleeping. But E13 surprised me by peeking over my shoulder as I read The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck and saying, "I love these books!"  She stuck around for only a few minutes, but as she usually considers herself above such things, I was tickled. A good book is a good book . . . period. And Beatrix Potter wrote good books.

It's Only Noon?

I cannot say how thankful I am that my only real goal was to practice our new school year schedule rather than diving right in to everything! I am exhausted. Our main goal is to sell our house, therefore we have lots of cleaning times scheduled throughout the day--daily chores, breakfast clean up, lunch clean up, afternoon tidy up, dinner clean up, and extras. H3 gets her preschool back.  We went through her past projects and put them into a binder.  We discovered that we never made our mini letter "D" book and that "J" and "K" are missing from the box.  Tonight's assignment is for me to reprint those files. A6 is doing her copywork from Sonlight grade 1 Language Arts.  That's her only formal school.  Everything else is icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned.  She's a good reader, and the spelling and writing practice are just fun for her. J9 completely melted down this morning.  It's been 2 hours, and she has finally come

And the First Day is Here

Today is Sunday--not a school day--but we started our school year anyway. We wrote letters after church this afternoon.  I required 2 from each of the older 4 girls and 1 from the 2 little girls.  I sat and wrote right alongside them all.  The littlest fellow napped. It was a whopping success.  H3 drew a picture of her Grandpa and herself and printed "I love you Grandpa Chad" across the top.  A6 told me what she wanted to say; I wrote it out for her; and she copied it then drew a picture.  I was charmed to see that she included a note to her Grandpa's dog. E13 didn't want me to read her letters, but I told her I needed to read them and help her edit them.  She conceded and was relieved to only have 1 or 2 spelling and punctuation corrections in each letter.  She expected a disaster, but it actually built up her confidence. All of the letters made me smile.  What fun it will be if we get letters in return!! I'm a lot more tired than I would be had I let e

A Bit of Inspiration

I've been thinking more about homeschooling this year.  We just spent 24 hours in the car driving home from our trip out west. There was a lot of time to think. To ponder. Here are ideas that are important to me: *Letter writing.  We just renewed friend and family relationships.  What a perfect time to work on letter writing!  I think Sunday afternoons will be letter writing times.  I'll invest in a bunch of stamps and envelopes so that we won't have any excuses.  And the kids can email, too. *I need "available" time each day.  I tend to overfill my day with tasks.  I'm going to be sure to block out 30-60 minutes each afternoon to simply be available to answer questions, run errands, listen, and otherwise help my family with what is important to them. *E13 needs karate lessons. *I still think that small unit studies might be the way to go . . . especially as we're hoping our home will sell and we'll get to move soon.  We're facing a g

Going Home

Today is the day we head home from our 3 week super-vacation in the west.  We've celebrated a wedding, a baby blessing, and a birthday; we've attended family reunions; we've driven across country completely new to us; we've renewed friendships; we've gone surfing! It is time to face school again. I have such mixed feelings. Partly because our house hasn't sold yet, partly because I'm newly pregnant with baby #8, partly because we've been so out of the schooling loop I don't even know where to begin. I know these things: *I miss preschool with H3 and she misses it too.  We'll pick up where we left off of the plans I made for her last year. *I miss school with A6 and she misses it too.  She's a full-fledged reader now.  She doesn't need much more than encouragement from me, but we can do some school as an excuse to be together--a little reading, writing, and spelling with some math games thrown in for fun. *I want to start the litt

Unschooling? . . . Nah, It's Just Called No School

We are trying to prepare our house for sale.  All of the little fixes and repairs that would have been nice but were deemed unnecessary over the past several years while my husband was in school are absolutely necessary now.  Things like replacing the broken basement window with something other than cardboard, fixing the leaky shower drain, replacing the screens with holes in them, painting the interior walls after 10 years of kids using them as art surfaces, installing the baseboards in the little girls' room, and so forth and so on ad nauseum . At least the list makes me slightly nauseous. In January I reduced our school plan to about 2 solid hours per day.  I still did preschool with H3 and A5 and still did language arts activities with A5.  I also worked on completing our Old Testament reading/study/journals with the older kids.  On their own they had to do math, their choice of workbook subject matter (more math, reading comprehension, grammar, whatever), and work on thei