Oct. 30, 2008 - Mealtime Fun

We were eating breakfast the other day when H looks and me and says, “I have ham in my body.”   ???  She continues…”no really, N said that I have meat in my body.”  Why ham is all I can wonder.

Speaking of body, around the same breakfast time, S informs me that “God lives in my belly.” She told me again tonight that God lives in my body.  Talk about a new spin on Jesus living in your heart.

During dinner last night Q asked for another pancake.  I could have leaned over and handed it to him except for the very large beach ball in my lap, so I flipped it to him,,,across his brother.  It hit the edge of the table and fell to the floor.  All he said was “Well,,,that didn’t work.”

Finally, (though not actually mealtime for us), we were finishing up our woods study in science and were reading about owls.  I told the kids how owls swallow their prey whole when N says to me “Man, that must not have ANY flavor.  I swallowed A LOT of raisins yesterday and they didn’t have any flavor.”  I wonder if the mice know they are dying in vain?

To add to this mealtime enjoyment, here are some pictures of the kids dissecting owl pellets.    


Q unwrapping his pellet.


N finding skulls of mice.


S wanted a paper to do the project, but once she saw what was going on she said "That's gross to me."   Hey, at least she used her pronoun correctly!

I didn't have any stills of H's work, but I added the video in the sidebar.  I accidentally cut it off too early as right after it stops she said "This is Scientist Harper signing off, have a good day."

It was a good day.

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Oct. 29, 2008 - A Day in the Life of a Seven Year Old

You know, when we first started homeschooling I used to check out homeschooling magazines from the library.  I figured I needed to learn as much as I could, (Still do), and loved reading them. (Still do!)  However, my favorite articles were not the ones that talked about teaching methods or curriculums, but rather, the real nitty gritty, “this is how my day goes”, articles.  You know the ones.  The ones where the perfect family of four neatly dressed children ages 2, 4, 6, and 8 are sitting contentedly around the table, smiling during Bible time.  Those.

Well…I’ve decided to record one of our days.  Straight from the mind and mouth of my seven year old.  I didn’t make anything up and if you would like a picture of our entire day, just multiply these experiences times 4 with various moods and temperaments thrown in for fun.  Enjoy. 

Said day begins:
Upon waking:  “What’s for breakfast?  No, I don’t like that, can I have toast?  What?  What’s a short order cook?  Fine, I’m not eating.”  “Is the coffee done yet?”
   
After finally choking down breakfast:  School Begins

Bible Time:  Read Judges 7 – Stated that “the Bible is cool, it has action and man is it gory”        

Science:  drew this…while humming…



Switched over laundry.       

Reading:  Read aloud Adventures in Sound…while humming…
 
History:  Asked me “if Pedro Menendez was going to hell for killing all the Frenchmen.”  (Which, by the way was a nice time for me to once again explain the Gospel)   

We also watched a video on St. Augustine in which he asked me “if the bellows used in the forge were the same as in Gulliver’s Travels, on the dog?”…my my my…too much to explain there, all I can say is read it, it’s interesting, sorta.
   
Lunch:  Ate exactly one teaspoon of soup with 15 crackers and called it good.
   
Switched over Laundry, while spinning on the ground like a breakdancer and whistling.

Playtime:  Pestered one sister.  Pestered the other.  Looked awfully sweet while giving his mama a kiss.  Put several puzzles together.  Stated that “it is too cold to go outside.”  (It was 65 degrees)  Made a funny face at his brother.  Built a domino line, while whistling.  Knocked down his brother’s line first, then his.  Ran away.  Found the dress up stuff.  Pulled it all out.  Found what he wanted.  Walked away in said costume.  Brought his mama a glass of water while sliding across the kitchen floor.  Climbed up on the furniture and jumped off. 

Switched over Laundry.  Asked “is this the last time?”

Schoolwork resumes:
   
Progeny Press:  Asked “if we lived back then, would we have helped the slaves escape or what?”  Good character question or what?

Handwriting:  Loves cursive and proceeds to make pictures out of the words.  Like this…



Math:  Manages to finish math, but not without more interesting artwork…Like this…


(I thought the reference to math being as hard a rock pretty clever actually)

More artwork from today's math...


Yet more...


(He said, "it's a flower child"...I don't know what to think about that...)
Anyway... he decides to be a conductor while listening to Beethoven and drawing above artwork.  Still math time.  States that he “can’t find my math test book.  I’ve looked everywhere.”

Spelling:  Did SpellingPower.  Missed:  water, better, teacher, giraffe                   
Wrote this as his final sentence for the day, while humming.  “I have a teacher that is not a person, but a giraffe that has bad teeth and drinks water better than I do.”  Honestly.

Switched over Laundry, dropped it to the floor in exhaustion.  Perked right up when it was stated that free time was coming.

Was sent to feed the dog.  Looked for the armadillo.  Looked at the giant dirt piles in the backyard.  Decided he was cold and came back in.  Was sent back out to feed the dog.

It was here that I realized that he was dressed like this:


Free Time:  Many many many more times spinning on the floor.  Opened the garage, spent time riding his bike.  Made a ramp in the driveway.  Tried to get up it belly down on the skateboard.  Came back in.  Pestered his sister.  Hugged his mama.  Wrestled with his brother.  Cried.  Kept wrestling anyway.  Found his math test book that was “lost” during math time.  Listened during lecture on keeping things put away…sortof.  Leap frogged his sister on the way back to the living room.  Grinned. 

Switched over the laundry and asked “Seriously, mama, is this the last time?”

Dinner:  Asked “What’s for dinner?  What’s in that?  Oh.”  Helped get something from the top shelf of the pantry.  By climbing.  Broke apart chips during dinner and pretended that they were rocket ships going up, then coming down in his mouth.  Discussed elusive armadillo during dinner.  Discussed frying it.  (We are reading My Side of the Mountain)



After Dinner:  Galloped to and from the table while clearing the dishes.  Spent time with Daddy making “really cool” domino lines.  Played outside.  Looked again for the armadillo.  Braved looking under the shed.  Came back in.  Spun in a circle with a pillow, said it was a new game called “Hurricane”.  Scared his sisters by telling them that armadillos spread diseases.  Grinned.  Picked up dominoes while pretending that there were dangerous gases coming from the domino box.  After he was finished he stated “level complete”.  Put on a birthday party for his stuffed dog, Scooter.  Wrapped and presented his present, while humming. Played spies with his siblings.  Never once this evening was he without his trusty pistol stuck in his belt. 

At this point in the evening I crashed.  It was about 8 and by the time I woke up at 9 the kids were all in bed, thanks to their daddy!  This was definitely not a perfect day, but I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those. 

It was a good day for me.  I pray it was for him as well. 

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Jan. 22, 2008 - Cute Associations

Ok, so I realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog, but then again, the holidays were as crazy as ever and life hasn’t really slowed down much since! I started this blog because I wanted to remember all the funny things my kids say before they slip into the abyss of my mind, and I have had loads of opportunities to do so, but today provided me with one that I just can’t pass by. 

I was helping Quinn with his spelling lesson this morning as he was having a little trouble finding the spelling word that went with the group “pretty, adorable, ___________”.  I made sure that he understood what kind of word he was looking for and then we just went from the top of the list to the bottom.

#1:  Pretty, adorable, rule?         Quinn:  No
#2:  Pretty, adorable, use?          Quinn:  No
#3:  Pretty, adorable, mule?       Quinn:  Nope

Now this pattern continued on all the way to number 9.

#9:  Pretty, adorable, you?              Quinn:  YES!  (Said with adorably cute bright eyes and a huge smile on his face!)

As true as Quinn’s answer was, the real answer was number 10:  cute. 

Yep, CUTE!  Or at least I thought so…………..

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Aug. 30, 2007 - You Know You're a Homeschooler When...

You trip while carrying a box of books to sell and realize that you’ve tripped over a book…

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Jul. 31, 2007 - Stairway Poetry

It's funny how kids latch onto certain poems and others they could care less about.  I guess I am that way too, so I shouldn't be surprised.  However, my kids have really enjoyed A. A. Milne.  We read this poem yesterday, from When We Were Very Young.

Halfway Down

THEN, I found them here this morning.  This isn't the best camera quality, but I thought it was pretty cute and thought I would share.

The girls aren't exactly halfway down, but I thought it was pretty sweet of them to join in...

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Feb. 25, 2007 - New Project

Ok,,,well, if you have ever been to our house, you know that we are not a family that is big on household projects.  We would much rather go letterboxing or to the park than paint a room or work in the yard.  We are just that way.  I personally don't think that is such a bad thing.  When our children have left our home, they are not going to remember that their bathroom was decorated just so, or that their kitchen always had the latest gadgets.  They are going to remember that we took the time to fly a kite with them, that we rocked on the back porch in the cold, all snuggled up, and watched the birds, or that we took an evening and searched the heavens with our telescope, together.  They are going to remember that we spent TIME with them.  The way we see it, we can do all those projects and things later, (granted, we might not have as much energy and they may take longer, but hey, we'll have nothing to do then, right?!)  :)

Sooooo...about once a year we get the hankerin to do a room.  This year the boys lucked out.  Or maybe not.  We remembered that oh yeah, we homeschool...this kind of thing offers a lot of opportunity.  Here's the lessons I came up with on day one:   

measurement
area
conversion from inches to feet
budgeting
thrift
rounding/estimation
mapping
spelling/writing
shopping with a list and budget/calculator
problem solving
cooperation
hard work/finishing a job

Now these are the things that I noticed on the first day.  On the second and third days I have noticed the need for the following:

patience
persistence
listening skills
self-control
balance (ask me later)
dexterity
forethought
kindness
love
Pretty much all the fruits of the Spirit
COOPERATION

The thing is, we think the second list is just as important as the first.  More so.  These are qualities that we want to see our children exhibit even more than we want to see them excel academically.  We would love for them to do well in academic subjects and we work really hard toward that goal.  However it is not THE goal of our homeschool. 

Our pastor gave a great message on Romans 6 today.  At the end of the sermon he talked about keeping our focus on things above and not the things of this earth.  I want to teach my children this lesson.  I want to teach them that the reason we learn to read is to glorify God.  We can read His Word.   I want to teach them that the reason we learn math is because God Himself is a God of order.  I want to teach them to write so that they can effectively communicate with others to the Glory of God! 

We are taking on this project to try and teach them these lessons...and make their room look better,,,naturally...(see the slideshow above for the latest!)...We might miss a spelling test or two over the next few weeks (gasp!), and we might not get every book read that I would like to read to them...but maybe, hopefully, some lesson from this project will sink in and they will exhibit some of the list two behaviors.  But, more importantly, that they will feel the need to behave in this manner (i.e. The Fruits of the Spirit) because of the attitude of their heart toward the Lord. 

Please pray for my children.  Pray that they will know the Lord.  That they will walk with Him all their lives and that they would be used mightily for His purpose.  Please pray for Ben and I.  That God's love would fill our hearts and overflow to the kids.  That we would be patient, kind, loving, and ALL the other fruits of the Spirit.  That we would seek after God, without wavering, so that our children can learn from our faith.  That we would walk with God daily and allow Him to do the job of raising these guys, instead of trying to do things our way.  TO HIM BE THE GLORY!!! 

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Feb. 24, 2007 - Mad Grammar

We have a great used homeschool bookstore in our area.  Sometimes people will come in and bring things that they designate to be given away instead of sold.  The store has a special corner just for these things.  I check it every time I'm in there.  Hey, I'm not cheap, just smart.  Well...on second thought, I'm pretty cheap...hey we homeschool we have to be.    Anyway, someone had brought in a huge stack of Mad Libs and I just happened to be the lucky mama that got them. 

Mad libs are so cool!  We use them to teach parts of speech, and the kids don't even realize they are learning something.  I recently found Mad Libs Junior.  Now, I've never used the Junior books, and I've always struggled to explain exactly what an adjective is, what a verb is, etc, to these young guys.  Well, these books give the kids choices of adjectives, verbs, etc.  After a few times of doing them with choices in front of him, Q is starting to understand and can give his own answers. 

We have been doing them daily since we happened upon this treasure (seriously, the stack was so big that if we did only one everyday I think we would have several years worth).  The kids have been having a great time and laughing their heads off.  Here's one example:

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Once, there was a little girl who everyone called Goldilocks because she had lovely yellow mouths.  Goldilocks was running in the woods one day when she discovered a sticky cottage.  She went inside and saw three bowls of snails.  The first one was too stinky, the second too slimy, but the third was just right.  Then she went upstairs and saw three beds.  The first one was too gooey, the second too crunchy, but the third was just right.  Goldilocks fell asleep, but woke suddenly to see a family of bears with big scary feet surrounding her.  Goldilocks started dancing as the bears chased her out of their house. 

Here is a great mad libs site.  You can play a few online and there are ideas on implementing these little gems into your curriculum.  Who said Language Arts can't be fun?

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