About Me

Just a little way that I am hoping to give God the glory for all He is doing in our lives. I am the wife of Adam, and Mama to three girls, ages 7, 5, and 1 year old; and 2 sons, ages 3 and newborn. I am liable to ramble on about anything and everything here: how awesome a God we serve, books, homeschooling, scrappbooking, natural health, books, living a more sustainable lifestyle, how cute my kids are, books.... Oh, and you may find a picture or two of my precious ones. (The kids, not the books). "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Acknowledging Him

Apr. 19, 2009
A Big Boy

Posted in Celebrations

Well, I was all set to share more Germany pictures with ya'll, till I remembered that I just had to share these pictures of Ezekiel. So look closely at this picture, what do you see?

Well, you DON'T see a binky. And that is not a fluke! We finally threw away the pacifier. And let me just say, the next time I see a 4 year old with a pacifier in his mouth, I'm not going to pass judgement. That was almost us  .  I told him if he could go binky-free with a minimum of whining, I'd throw him a Big Boy Party. Whether it was the bribe or not, he did great, and so a party we threw. What did it involve, you ask? DOn't get excited, I'm nto that creative. The first step was a Big Boy haircut, during which he got to chose a movie to watch - a special treat.  Behold, before:

(I love that picture!) And after:
Ok, so it's not the best picture or haircut, but you get the idea.

Here's the after after:

That's more hair than I lost at my last cut!
Next, we had to have treats. What's a party without cake (or cupcakes?) Here are the girls singing "Happy Big Boy Day to You" (told you I'm not that creative).


Hopefully, they will remember it as a special celebration, even though it wasn't a big to-do. Emily's up next; I'm determined to only have ONE "baby" in the family. Or at least, I'm determined to be the slave of only one baby's pacifier.

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Apr. 13, 2009
In which I talk about books - again

Posted in The Academy

So Cal Kelly had some questions about my last post, and since I always strive to oblige my readers, and since I STILL do not have my Germany pictures ready for blogging yet, I will try to answer her. Kelly asked:

Would you please post a run-down of how many your library really had, how many you borrowed from friends and how many you bought. That's a TREMENDOUS list! Also did you put the list together from Ambleside Online? I'm just so impressed; and I want to know more.

First of all, this IS a tremendous list, even for me. There are 45 books on it, more than twice what we used when studying the Middle Ages and the Age of Exploration. I was surprised to find that I actually own 15 of these books. And though I don't normally purchase new books for every unit, the planning for this particular one happen to fall shortly after tax return time, so DH let me indulge a little. Thanks, honey! If you're dying to know which books I felt were worth my money, they are: The Matchlock Gun; Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys; Liberty! How the Revolutionary War Began; The New Americans, and Hasty Pudding, Johnny Cakes.  Which means I had 10 other books sitting on my shelf just waiting for such a time as this. If you want to know which ones those are, you must really be a bibliophile, and we should get together 

Which also means that the other 30 books came from the public library. We have been blessed to fall into this wonderful library system, in which not only are all the county libraries connected, but I can also browse for books online, and request that they be sent to my branch with a simple click of the mouse. I click frequently, as you may imagine, and I  feel for those of you whose libraries are poorly supplied, I really do.

As for the second part of Kelly's question, No I did not put this list together from Ambleside Online. While we do use AO for Literature (scroll down a bit), Read-Alouds (there are some from Sonlight there too), and Art and Music study, I am not following their history curriculum.  Instead, I compiled this list mostly from Tapestry of Grace's early elementary (lower grammar) suggestions for this time period. You can see them  HERE and HERE; from my own books, and from books I saw or had seen at the library and wanted to use. We use Story of the World as a 'spine' to help keep us in a somewhat chronological order. Yes, it's sometimes a lot of work, but I enjoy it HTH!



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Apr. 5, 2009
The American Colonies and Revolution

Posted in The Academy

Well, after finishing up with Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare last week, we are now ready to move out of the middle ages and into the American colonies and revolution! I have about 10 weeks of lessons planned and about 14 until our little guy is due, so I don't feel too rushed, and will even be able to take a little vacation in July and August. Which I will probably spend planning next year's studies, LOL. In any case, here are the books we will be diving into the next couple months:

 
 
That's a lot of books! God Bless public libraries! And I won't read aloud every word of every one. We have multiple biographies of George Washington, for example, just for the fun of looking through them :) And a few are for Arianna to read as phonics practice. I really enjoy early American history and am looking forward to this unit!
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Mar. 20, 2009
Germany, part II

Posted in globetrotting

After the monastery and lunch, we made a quick stop at St. Hildegard Abbey. St. hildegard's is only 100 years old, but is still a working abbey, and we did not have a tour set up in advance, so we had to settle for just looking around the ground, and inside the chapel, where I stopped Ezekiel just before he was about to blow out the prayer candles  

The girls were especially interested in the tombs of deceased Abotts and other patrons of the abbey. Are they buried right here?  (step) Here? (step) Here? And that they got to see a real nun before we left. She looks just like Maria! (The Sound of Music, people). And because I know you're dying to know, Emi did great the whole day. The next day, no so much....


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Mar. 20, 2009
Germany, part I

Posted in globetrotting

Just wanted to share a few quick pics with ya'll...

Since we have been studying the middle ages, we decided to take a little field trip the other day. Our first stop was Eberbach Monastery, founded by 12th century Cistercian monks in the German state of Hessen. It is no longer a working monastery, but a museum of sorts, and after our English language guided tour, we got to wander all around a bit. Here we all are, with the monastery in the background. Don't ask me why my kids are making those faces...

Oh, and the lovely lady next to me is my Mother In Law, our long-suffering hostess in Germany. The scary teenager is my sister in law, though we like to pass her off as my sister

Unfortunately for our pictures, the weather was overcast the entire weekend.

Ok, so I have no idea how to use my camera. Sue me.

I think Dh took that one. Artistic, no?

This fountain was right outside the stairs to the dining room. You know, so the monks could wash before they eat. The tour guide asked my kids: "What does mommy ask you do before you eat?"  Blank stares.  Well, I make them wash if they've been playing outside...

Afterwards we had schnitzel and apple juice for lunch in the town of Rudesheim:

Stay tuned for more....


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Mar. 13, 2009
Just wanted to let you know....
We are on vacation, that will likely be a bloggy vacation too. I may try to post some pics, but then again, I may be having too much fun :) See you soon!
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Mar. 3, 2009
Art and music study, Charlotte Mason style

Posted in The Academy

When my first born was in the womb (ahhh, the memories) and I started reading about homeschooling, one of the things I was so excited about was being able to study all the things I never learned about school. My kids, I thought, would learn about the great artists, and be fully familiar with classical music, and speak Latin....And then it came to teach those things and I had no idea where or how to start. Gulp.

And then, O Glorious day! I came upon Ambleside Online and they had it all right there, and made it seem so easy!  It doesn't matter if you are not a strict Charlotte Mason-er (I'm not), and you don't need to use their whole curriculum (I don't; but if you want to, it's FREE!). The wonderful, hardworking people at AO have set up a schedule for 12 YEARS worth of artist and composer study! Here's how it works: they have chosen 3 artists for each "school year,"  and have listed links to 6 or so  works by each. Same for composers, only the composers are not linked, so it would be up to you to get a few CD's (I found great inexpensive ones at CBD). 

Here's what art and music study looks like at our house, though I guess I should mention that I am not strictly following the AO schedule. For no reason other than when I started this year, I didn't want to start with Bottecelli, because I didn't think his work would interest my kids very much. We started with DaVinci last term, because he seemed to fit right into our study of the middle ages, and Bach, who was on the schedule. This term we are studying Pieter Breugel the Elder, who also fit into our history studies quite nicely; and Mozart, because I didn't have a Franz Liszt CD. Another thing I love about homeschooling - I'M the teacher, and can arrange the lessons to suit my needs.

Anyhow, here's what we do (are you still with me?)  Every two weeks or so, I change the background picture on my computer to the one we're studying:
Breugel - Tower of Babel (1563)
Then, the kids all crowd around and we talk about it - what we see, what we think is going on, how it compares to the artists other works, etc etc. Repeat a couple times for each work, and add in a biography or two for fun. Sounds simple, right? It is. But you'll be amazed by how much your children learn and retain. You can also print out the works at home, or have them printed at your fave photo processing place, or order them from one fo the fine ladies at AO.

It's a similar routine for composer study. This week it's Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. All of my classical music is on my iPod. I put it on the little speakers in the kitchen and we listen while we eat lunch or draw pictures or fold laundry, the same piece on repeat 5 or 6 times. We've also enjoyed reading biographies of the composers. The other day I caught my  6 year old humming Piano concerto #21. When I asked her if she'd like me to turn on the music, she said yes, but that she preferred Bach :) I'm in love - my lovies enjoy classical music, and even have preferences!

AO also has suggestions for studies in folk songs, poetry, and even Shakespeare! For folk songs they suggest purchasing The Homestead Picker's Folksongs. It is on my wishlist, but for now we are using I hear America Singing which I purchased many years ago. Because my kids were already familiar with the CD, I am doing more than 3 songs this year. For folk songs I encourage them to dance around and sing along. Because every child should know the words to Clementine and Home on the Range :)

Now I just have to find a good way to teach Latin...
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Mar. 1, 2009
How to Keep Yourself Entertained

Posted in More pictures, less words

First, see my previous post. Then, take lots of pictures of your adorable daughter (or son), completely forgetting about dinner, but saving it just in time from total ruination.


Oh Mom, can't I eat in peace?

Ah well, back to business.


You're still here?

Really, that's enough now.

Alright honey. That's enough - THIS time
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Feb. 27, 2009
How to keep your one year old entertained

Posted in A Day in the Life

Here's another simple trick for keeping your kids entertained: eat an apple, or better yet, have your kids eat apples. Then, take one with lots of meat left on it, and give it to your teething child*:


I bet this kept her busy for a full hour while I was fixing dinner, and a good time was had by all

*Please don't tell me how unsafe this seems to you. She only has two teeth, with the top ones just coming in - she scrapes off tiny bits of pulp at a time. I was also within a foot of her the. entire. time.  She is no where near any seeds. And I was RIGHT there :)

Stay tuned next time, and I will tell you How to Keep Yourself Entertained. You know, for when there are no more blogs to read
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Feb. 26, 2009
Reformation and the Age of Exploration

Posted in The Academy

We have started another unit of history studies, focusing on some important people during the end of the middle ages, and the age of exploration. We read about the plague, the Crusades, and Richard the Lionheart in Story of the World, and we began Robin Hood in literature because it fit in quite nicely. Even in the original language my kids are really enjoying it! Here are a few of the other books we will have been enjoying as well:




We have been reading Shakespeare from Tales From Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb for literature for past few years, but my kids LOVE Coville's books too. I agree, I always enjoya book  with good pictures.
We will also take a week to put the spotlight on the Netherlands:

We actually only have about 4 more weeks on this, before we move into the American Colonies. I have anxiously awaiting the arrival of a large order of books form Amazon!
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Feb. 25, 2009
Wordless Wednesday

Posted in More pictures, less words

How to comfort your brother (and yourself!) during a scary part of a movie



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Feb. 21, 2009
How to keep your 3 year old entertained

Posted in More pictures, less words

I sometimes hear a mother comment to the effect that she "wouldn't  know what to do with her toddler/child if they were home all day." I'm telling you, it doesn't take all that much to keep them entertained. First, make some bread, and let your son or daughter help measure out the ingredients. Then,  let them play in the half a cup or so of flour that they spilled while helping.


I'm pretty sure this kept him occupied for at least an hour.


Don't worry about the clothes. They'll look JUST FINE after a washing. Sort of.

I found quite a few fun pics that I forgot I took while emptying my camera card, so look forward to a few more "how to's" this week. I'm here to serve :)
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Feb. 19, 2009
T-Shirt Dress

Posted in CraftTacular

So, if you have girl children, you may have been frustrated more than once by how difficult it is to find decent clothing for them. I don't think I am asking much - we mostly wear dresses or skirts, and we like them at least knee-length, and not "strappy," like many sundresses are.  The smart solution to this is to make your own clothes. But some friends of mine directed me towards the lazy way, which my model Arianna and I will now share with you:


It's a t-shirt dress!  THIS lovely blogger explains better than I could how to make one by adding a little extra fabric to a t-shirt to make the skirt of a dress, but I was even lazier than THAT - I took an old skirt of mine, sewed it to the bottom of dd's shirt, and Viola! A dress, where there was none before! And I guess she likes it, because she wore it all day.  It's a little longer than she wanted, but I told her hey, you ain't gettin any shorter, kid 
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Feb. 7, 2009
I dressed myself today!

Posted in A Day in the Life

Here's why it's good to let your kids dress themselves:

1. when you've got a bunch, it's all about who can do what without Mama's help. Trust me on this.
2. it's an important life skill, of course!  Teaches responsiblity, fine motor skills, etc.

Here's why it's not so good:

Somedays, your kids will go out looking like this:


Really, I'm not all that concerned about the mess on his shirt. What prompted me to take the picture was that his pants are on backwards AND his shoes are on the wrong feet! It got even better later, when I took him to the bathroom, and discovered that he wasn't wearing anything under those backward pants

Dh and I keep joking about having a button made that says "I dressed myself today" ...it may be time!
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Feb. 5, 2009
Hill of Fire

Posted in The Academy

Today Arianna read Hill of Fire to us and the kids found it fascinating. They immediately ran to draw pictures of what they read, and I decided to take advantage of their interest by asking Noelle to narrate the story back to me - something I had been 'forgetting' to do lately  Here is her drawing and her narration:


The farmer was working in his field and then his plow fell into the hole and sunk, sunk, sunk. Then some soldiers came and said it's not safe to live here and then they moved them a little farther.  (Noelle, age 5)

See all the poor people running from their houses? I love it! And "sunk, sunk, sunk." I love this girl!
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Feb. 2, 2009
One Year!

Posted in Celebrations

It's funny how before Emily was born, we didn't even know how much we needed her, but now, we can't imagine life without her! Happy Birthday Emi!

She received several really cute outfits, and a toy train:


She liked them, really.


She wasn't so sure about the singing and cake part...


We WERE a little off key....


This carrot cake was actually pretty healthy ~ whole wheat flour, organic carrots, local honey....Nevermind the cream cheese frosting


Happy Birthday! And many more!


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Jan. 29, 2009
A school book post

Posted in The Academy



Because I like lists and books, I have lots of lists of books. One is a list of books I wanted Arianna to read for first grade, which was a main part of her phonics instruction (along with Alpha-Phonics). The other night I crossed off the last book, and she was as excited as I was to see her progress and achievements right there in black and white! She was also eager to begin her second grade list, which, because I know you're dying to see it too, I will now share with you

Amelia Bedelia – Peggy Parish (she's actually already read this - more excitement!)

The Big Balloon Race – Coerr.

Daniel’s Duck – Robert Clyde Bulla

The Fire Cat – Averill

Frog and Toad All Year - Lobel

Frog and Toad Are Friends – Lobel (Ok, I can only take so much Frog and Toad. Maybe we'll read ONE fo these? Anyone else with me on this?) 

Frog and Toad Together - Lobel

Greg’s Microscope – Selsam

Hill of Fire – Lewis

Nate the Great - Sharmat

Mouse Tales - Lobel

Owl at Home – Lobel (read this too!)

Pompeii: Buried Alive

The Sword in the Tree – Robert Clyde Bulla. King Arthur’s time

Titanic – Lost and Found - Donnelly

Wagon Wheels – Brenner. Post civil war

 

I guess I should mention that Arianna reads a lot on her own, silently I mean. She reads all kinds of things that are a much higher reading level than these. I let her do that without trying to correct her or quiz her about what she's read - because I want her to love to read. The books on this list are for her to read aloud to me, for phonics practice, so I can gage how she is doing.

Oh, and she aksed me to add The Boxcar Children to the second grade list, becuase she said she thought it was harder than a first grade book 

I love having a reader!


 
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Jan. 29, 2009
Baby Ticker

Posted in Celebrations

I am inordinately proud of myself for figuring out how to get this baby ticker over there in my sidebar. Do you see it? It's like a little womb cam, lol. Though I guess its presence begs an announcement, so here it is: We are expecting blessing number 5 in late July! We are very excited, and if I hadn't told you first here, Noelle would have told you if you so much as smiled at her. She has been telling our whole life story to anyone and everyone lately, bless her heart. The kids are all hoping for "a little brother for Zeke," and though we aren't in the habit of finding out our babies gender's before hand, I think we may this time, so stay tuned.

And for those of you are who are excited to see God's hand at work, here are two praises:  First, I thought I was about 12 weeks along, but it turnes out that I am more like 15 . This is going to go by quick, hopefully! And second, it turns out that the wonderful brithing center that I had Emily at is now considered "in-network,"  which means our insurance will pay 90% of the costs! I am so amazed by God's provision in this!

I thought I had nothing to blog about, but I guess I was mistaken 
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Jan. 20, 2009
Winter wonderland!

Posted in More pictures, less words

We had a snow day today! In the 3 winters we've lived here, the most snow we ever had was maybe half an inch. Today we got nearly 5 inches! Noelle wanted it for Christmas, but people who live in the south can't be choosy ;) And God is so good, because I was afraid my poor little snow bunnies would freeze out there. I mean. we have 1 pair of boots, 1 warm jacket, and 2 pairs of snow gloves between the 3 of them! But they layered up and ventured forth nonetheless, and when they came back inside, their inner layers were warm and dry, though the outers were soaked! I love how God cares about the details! Anyways, on with the pictures: Kids first:





(Don't mind his purple gloves and purple boots...he didn't  )




Now for some scenes, that will probably interest no one but my mommy:




And finally, even though she didn't get to play in the snow, she's too darn cute to leave out altogether:


Pray for us: tomorrow Arianna goes to the dentist to get a cavity filled
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Jan. 17, 2009
Middle Ages Lapbook

Posted in The Academy

I heard about lapbooking a long time ago, but for some reason never thought it was for me. Then I stumbled across a wonderful blog that I wish I could link you to, but really, I just stumbled across it and didn't save it, but it made me realize that this lapbooking this was totally for us and that I could do it at very little expense to myself, and lots of fun for all!

In a nutshell, a lapbook is a file folder (or two) in and on which you can  put all sorts of fun things - maps, charts, games, definitions, paper dolls, and mini-books all about what you've learned about a particular subject. For someone who loves scrappbooking but hasn't done in any in, oh, a year, it was also a great opportunity to being creative and paper crafting!

Our lapbook was on the middle ages. On the front we made a coat of arms. DH thinks it's boring, but we like it. The crane is a symbol of strong parent-child bonds.


When you open it, this is what you see (sorry for the poor crop):


On the left panel is a mini-book of King Arthur legends, narrated by Arianna and illustrated by Noelle:

And behind the door is a knight, in his undeclothes. He stores all of his knightly habiliments in a pocket in the door, and the kids favorite activity is to layer him in all or some of his things. I laminated his clothes, and made an extra knight who is not confined to the lapbook, because what girl doesn't love a paper doll?


In the center panel is a diagram of a monastery (also a favorite) and a stage of "characters." The monastery diagram has flaps to lift and shows you what is going on inside the monastery.

(sorry it's so fuzzy, I'm still no good at taking close-ups).

The stage did not turn out quite like I hoped, but there are three slides to slide through so each character can be front and center on the stage.

On the right panel is a feast day menu that Arianna put together, and another mini-book about Monks and Nuns. This one is an accordian book, held closed by a brad.

The backside has a map of Europe, a scan of an Illuminated letter that Arianna did, and a castle diagram that she labled and colored:


And besides the fact that we had lots of fun making our lapbook, both girls also learned A LOT, which is obvious everytime someone comes over and they pull out the lapbook and start dissertating on the middle ages :) And, when it's all said and done, it's only the size of a file folder - easy to store and keep for years to come :)
I can't wait to start our next one!
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