Walking Therein

May 21, 2008

Isaac and Caleb love to type on the keyboard. I took the opportunity of this love to teach Isaac about touch-typing this evening. Isaac is four. I had him feel the little marks on the letters f and j with his fingertips to show him where to put his index fingers. He placed them on the keys and started ‘typing’. Then he got tired and asked me to type up a few things for him.

Here is what he had to say:

I play outside.

I go in the barn, and I like the chickens running.

I go in the barn, and I see the bats.

I get the bikes out.

I like the roosters.

I go and eat on the table.

I drink lemonade out of cups.

I draw hats.

I draw pictures.

I like the blankets and the robes.

I like the pillows to lay my head on.

I like the lotion to put on my hands and feet.

I like the cowboy boots that Dad got me.

I saw a fire engine and a shriff’s truck go by again.

I love the best of the flowers and the hyacinths too.

He left the room for a few minutes, and as I was adding the rest of this story, he came in and asked me what I thought I was doing. It was not mean, but boy was it cute!

Here is his practice. It is so cute to see him typing the letters while he looks at the screen, instead of the keyboard.

erfvhjkjlopsjkfdjfkduturheryehyegeyeteteheyetytttet

hgfhfgdfgdgfghtweytetetetregetretreretrerertrwtrtwwtr

geteewrewrewtrewrertewtergeydyfrfyyfythyreruyry

xgxhgdddddctdtdtgtwdegwtegteteeteretrettrttreretrrwertrw

trwrwrwtrwrtwtwrwrwwedgs

dewtetrewtdrtretreretrertdrrewtwtrtrwtrwtwtrwgwerftwererttre

trtrwtr

xgxzsgsssxxfgsgsdgsgsgdrtsdtdgst6hsdggdshdgdsgdydtde

xfxczzxfssfsxdstsfgsgfsvvsvtsgrsdshtdjmgcmch,gxl;dydrjsjhgdytsy

tsgaskjsraywe6we

dgdcgdsgdbgydsdghdgddgfdgsdgfsdgsdgfsdgdsfsdgfwggdsfsgfgfgfgg

fggfgfgsdfsxgsgss

gsgsggdgasgsfgtwgshyfddhdysdhtdhddgdhgfdhgddyfhgfyhf

I love this little boy! Here he is with my sister when she and my mother were here.

Our children grow up way too fast. It is such a joy to use every opportunity to teach our children even the smallest things. Isaac may not keep an interest in typing, but offering him the opportunity when he shows an interest is the way to see just where that learning might go.

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

It has become a part of my mantra in our home educating. Train them up according to the bent that the Lord God created in them.

It is quite an adventure to see what interests each child. It is even more of an adventure follow that interest and walk it with them, learning everything you come across together.

blessings~

I had the best swap gift of all of you this time. I got to actually meet my swap buddy irl. No, I am not gloating. At all. Ok, well, maybe a little. Here is my swap gift that arrived via FedEx a few days before she came. I am sick the we didn’t get a pic of both of us with it! I guess I will have to take it with me to Austin when we go visit on vacation!

I am not sure if my info sheet says I collect mugs, but I do. This is a “Really Woolly”. I thought it was funny that my sister asked me if it was a “Woolly”. I love green too, so it is such a great gift! I may even have to buy some more teacups and the teapot that goes with it, so my girls and I can all have matching ones!

This is all of the blogger gals outside of Chipotle’s in Fort Wayne. This is Heather’s favorite restaurant. It has kinda’ become a running thread on the HSBA yahoo group with all of us… who has been to Chipotle’s and in which, er, how many, states. So, that was fun!

There are so many more really neat photos, but I am posting this since I am so late on getting it posted!

blessings~

I was emailed about the news about the Duggar Family’s new baby, due in January 2009. Then, their name even came up at Jocelyn’s birthday party. I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous after thinking we were going to be expecting before the end of the year, but we won’t go into that right now. This post is about the video on their website that shows their home. Amanda said she thought it was a bit extravagant, because it looks like a hotel, and I asked her what it was supposed to look like when they are expecting their 18th baby! I love our farmhouse, and I will hate to leave it, but - oh! - all of that open space inside the house! Ahhhhh….

So, if you would like to see a very well-planned-out home for a large family, take a look at The Duggar Family Home. That big, long dining room and table… that is one thing on my list for our new home. I have a great list, you know. Two years into the addition on our house, our children almost wrote to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition about helping us finish it, but I pretty much discouraged that. We don’t need it all torn down and started over, just the next 25% of the job completed! Jocelyn’s letter to them that I found in the trash was really cute, though! (Anyone looking to donate time, email me!) But, I digress… I love their kitchen and laundry room set-ups too. Two stove tops and two sets of washers and dryers would be great. That is on my list too.

The funny thing I noticed is that we have already come up with some of the ideas they have implemented. We have a laundry room that is quite large almost finished, and we had planned to put all of their clothes in it and get rid of dressers. Matt already wants them to hang up all of their clothes, so that would make it easy to do it right off of the laundry area. No dressers in the bedrooms makes for plenty of rooms for beds, too. Rachel would love that, since she would love to share a room with Amanda and Jocelyn…

I never would have thought about a cafeteria tray rack, but it makes sense. I love the windows. I could get used to all of those huge windows.  And a real prayer closet… Anyway, I went through the video a few times. The third time, I used the pause button so I could read and inspect. I love the layout. Let me know what you think!

blessings~