(Sometimes it helps me to just think aloud, so please forgive me if I'm rambling.)
Lately I've spent a lot of time pondering our choices for next year,
because next year... (gulp)...all 4 children will be in school!
So, I have been pouring over catalogs and websites looking at all of the options. Choices. Choices. Choices. (It gets to be overwhelming - doesn't it?!)
Right now I am very torn. *I* want to stay with something like My Father's World or Heart of Dakota because they are biblical, academically strong programs - and yet they are full of fun, enriching projects and activities that allow us to express our creative side.
That being said...
this year I have found that I have at least one child that honestly prefers text/workbooks.
All of those enriching projects are like drudgery to him, so there is much whining, complaining, and tears of frustration when we attempt those sorts of things.
(Oh...and Joseph gets upset, too.)
So now I am left wondering - are our days of unit studies behind us?
Would we be better off buying everyone individual books and materials that are suited to their age/grade level, or are textbooks just the 'easy' way out?
The question I have been going over and over in my mind is....
Is it about the learning itself? Or is it about the experience of learning?
(That whole "Education is like lighting a fire, not filling a bucket" quote keeps ringing in my head.)
I was so excited to do unit studies because it gave us a truly different experience than just 'school at home.' I felt like we were learning AND building memories.
What sort of memories are the kids going to have if they are sitting at their desks all day?
And what about the littles? If we switch to all textbooks are they going to feel 'cheated' that they missed out on the fun that Julie and Joseph got to experience?
At the same time - there are some beautiful, quality textbooks out there - put out by Godly companies who truly want children to live for the Lord, and excel academically.
Using textbooks would also allow me to not worry so much about 'fitting it all in.'
I wouldn't have to stress because I forgot to plan ahead and all of a sudden find out I need modeling clay, pipe cleaners and a box of Jello. And, perhaps if we weren't focusing on all of the activities - maybe the kids would have more time for free play.
The good news is that I have several months to think and pray
And more good news....
The beauty of homeschooling is that I'm not locked into anything.
If it doesn't work we'll either tweak it until it fits - or we'll scrap it and try again.
We bought them a new cat tree because the 'boxes' on the old one were too small.
(Our fat cat, Max, was literally spilling over the edges!)
So, we spent a 'pretty penny' on a new cat tree, and what do they do?
We sure do love 'em though!
...And yes, they are brother & sister/ litter-mates.
They do look very much alike - however, if you could see them in person, you would see that Max is a striped tabby and Lucy is actually a tortoise-shell.
Wanna know what it takes to melt the heart of a big strong fireman? ....
A 5 yr old girl....
Joseph's Pioneer troop went on a field trip tonight to the fire station.
Because of 'transportation issues, 'Annabelle and I ended up tagging along.
I was SO nervous about this because
a) she didn't get a nap today, and
b) she was the only girl - the rest of the troop was all older boys.
BUT.... it was quite hilarious because the head fireman, (a big strong guy,)
was 'smitten' with little bitty Annabelle.
He was down on her level, talking to her almost the whole time....
...even when he showed us the 'jaws of life' -
which she immediately likened to our hermit crab's claws.
She got a tour of the big fire engine
and she got to sit in 'his' chair - which she thought was really cool!
We also got to see where the firefighters eat, sleep, work-out, go to class, and - how cool is this....
We watched them slide down the fire pole!
And Julie has been teaching Katie how to use the Easy Bake oven. (Katie is thrilled, and she has a lot more patience than I do.... Each cookie takes 10 minutes! )
Annie is busy being Annie...
which means that lately her 'schooling' is more character training than academics.
She is so mature for her age - sometimes I forget that she's only five.
(Which results in many 'character building lessons' for me, too.)
Julie is in the back row so you can't really see her - but she's there. ;-)
(and ...mind you...this is a middle school orchestra...so prepare yourselves)
Can you tell I am really enjoying my new hat making hobby?
I've only tried a couple of (cloche) styles so far - but I'm hoping to try a beret and a 'flappy' hat one of these days.
Many of these were to be gifts for my friend going through chemotherapy.
I think she may have inspired me to start a new charity/ministry for 'chemo caps.'
I am getting quite disappointed in the fact that I have to to pre-read almost everything that I give to my children these days. Even books that come 'highly recommended.'
The book I'm about to review takes place during the Middle Ages and was highly recommended on several homeschool reading lists for books about that time period. It is even a Newbery Medal winner.
The title is The Midwife's Apprentice and it is written by Karen Cushman.
I'm sorry to say - this is NOT a book I would recommend - most especially for pre-teens -
which is the 'target age' I believe it was written for.
(SPOILERS AHEAD!)
The main character in the book is an orphaned, homeless girl who has no name.
People call her Brat or Dung Beetle, (Beetle for short,) and it says she doesn't know how old she is, but that she gives off ... "a hint of a woman so perhaps she was twelve or thirteen." (quoting the book.)
My first objection was that there was swearing/crude language within the
first two pages of the book. (D_mn, fart)
I could have possibly even have tolerated the occasional bad word,
but this did not offend me as much as the blatant se_ual innuendos throughout the book.
To start off, the midwife was having an affair with a married man (who had 13 children.)
Another young girl was caught having s_x in a barn with a boy.
(It wasn't described in a lot of detail... but it did say that he ran off without his trousers when they were caught)
The main character had grown men pinching her rear, and asking her for "wet sticky kisses,"
and one man told her that if she would only comb her hair she could get a lover before nightfall.
A 12-13 yr old !!!
The main character also used blocks of wood to make 'hoofprints' to scare the townspeople into thinking that the Devil was walking around the town.
The midwifery scenes were interesting (but talked a bit about 'spells' being used)....I guess this would be the main message of the book. The girl learned that it wasn't really 'magic' that brought babies into the world - just hard work.
The midwife herself was a cruel woman - she hit and belittled the girl (AND she slapped women in labor!)
She was greedy - (she was going to let one mother and baby die in childbirth because there was a richer woman giving birth at the same time,)...and as I mentioned before she was adulterous.
I thought it was just awful that this book was aimed at pre-teens.
This is what is considered 'quality' (award winning!) literature for children?!
It just shows me that I need to be so careful about not just handing books to my kids without pre-reading them - even if they are 'highly recommended medal winners.'
Julie now has something else, (besides the ability to make lovely music,)
to show for her determination and hard work in orchestra.
Last night she was awarded a medal for finishing the 'first year' book of study...in just 4 months.
We are very excited to here her play once again at her Winterfest concert this weekend.
Her group will be playing selections from Handel's Messiah, and Vivaldi's Four Seasons...some of my all-time favorites! ;-)
My dear friend Diana passed away this weekend, just three weeks after being diagnosed with leukemia.
Diana and I met in junior high German class, and we both continued our language studies well into high school - so many of my fondest (and funniest!) memories of Diana revolve around "Deutsch."
We were always being partnered up for projects and 'conversations' - so the phrase
"Ich habe eine party, cannst du kommst?"
and then a reply "Ja" - (and something about offering to bring kartoffelsalat (aka.- potato salad) - always sticks in my mind whenever I think of Diana. (LOL)
After high school we went off to college our separate ways, only to be reunited again - as neighbors - when we were both young and single, living in Madison. I can't tell you how many nights we spent together watching episodes of 90210, going to the ice cream shop, or making impromptu trips to the craft store (Diana shared my passion for crafts. She even helped me pick out the flowers that I used in my wedding bouquets.)
Most of the time we just sat around and laughed until we cried. Diana had a beautiful, and very infectious laugh - and once she got going it usually meant that everyone in the room would soon be in fits of giggles. Diana was a sunny, bright spot, in an otherwise very difficult portion of my life.
But after that that, our lives took a dramatically different turn....we met our spouses.
While I can say that marriage has brought me love, happiness, and security - poor Diana had a much sadder experience. She was just starting to rebuild a life for herself and her two precious children... when the leukemia claimed her.
Yesterday was her visitation.
I was able to go down and spend the afternoon saying goodbye, and what was really nice is that two of our other mutual friends rode along with me. It is true....there is strength in numbers.
I did okay, until I got up to her casket and saw that she had a baby doll tucked under her arms, and she was covered in pieces of candy and drawings that said "I love you Mommy"...
gifts from her 5 year old....
Please pray for Diana's family.....especially her little ones
We will miss you, dear Diana.... (Diana is the lovely one in black on the far right)
He had to work for most of the day,
but in the evening there were presents, cake, and a nice dinner out.
Make a wish.......
I know mine has already come true
Katie-Noel continues to make progress every day...but that isn't to say that she isn't still facing many challenges. It is very much a two steps forward one step back sort of process.
Here is Katie reading some of her words from the CLE program
(Her list is made up of mostly 3 letter words but there are a few 'sight words' in there, too.)
Starting at around 40sec in you can see her 'typical' struggles, and again around 1:40
The words at the end that she was really struggling with were did and the.
She did eventually get did - but the still came out as 'duh'.
Still - she is leaps and bounds ahead of where she was even just last year,
and we continue to thank the LORD for the amazing progress we have seen.
And...as an interesting side note...(while i am not promoting Harry Potter)...I was very encouraged to learn that the actor who plays him in the movies (Daniel Radcliffe) has Appraxia/Dyspraxia!
It was so inspiring that someone with such a disability could be so successful!
Since we came back from Christmas break I think our school days are flowing a bit better.
One of the changes that I made was to make and print out my own schedules.
Up until this opoint we have been using he 'master schedule' in the MFW TE - but since we have tweaked and changed quite a bit - there were so many sections that I was having to white out or write over... and since there was hardly any room for math, language arts, etc....I was having a hard time squeezing it all in.
So I made my own. I just used the free "Open Office' program and make a grid. And on the reverse side there is plenty of room for our 'main' subjects
It has been working out nicely.
We have started using the pre-made worksheets and tests in the SOTW2 activity guide in place of the notebooking' pages that MFW. I have the children use the tests as a worksheet.
We read the story (or listen to the audio CD) together, and then the children fill it out immediately afterwards. It serves as a good review, and lets me know if they were listening or not.
We also have enjoyed the map work in the activity guide. For as much as we enjoy the stories in the Story of the World books - I think that the best part of the program are their activity guides.
I also found some wonderful additions for our 'book basket' .
At our library's last used book sale I was able to pick up a TIME/LIFE set of books spanning history from the fertile crescent to about the 1970's. The kids have LOVED paging through them!
And speaking of old treasures....a dear friend sent me this book this past year. We enjoyed the Wheeler book on Haydn so much - we are really looking forward to reading this one, too!
It will be a wonderful addition to our Mozart study!
On one of the homeschooling forums that I frequent, the question was asked
"Do you like to wear hats?"
(Me? No way - I look awful in them!)
But....this then spun off into a whole second conversation about Kit ( the American Girl), and her specific type of hat - known as a cloche.
The question was posed to me -(since I love to crochet)- could I make one?
And I've been obsessed ever since.
I've been researching patterns, and yarn, and I've even tried my hand at a few hats
The first one is a gift for my dear friend , Tara - (and is a surprise) -
so I can't divulge a photo of it just yet.
I sort of made it as a 'joke'....since this person (despite being a wonderful friend)
happens to be a Vikings fan - (oh the horror!)
But...seeing as the Packers lost in the playoffs, and the Vikings are moving on...
I guess maybe the 'joke' is on me....
The next hat was pretty much a disaster
It was supposed to be a cloche....but it was too big, too heavy,
(since it was made of 2 strands of wool,)
and...DH said it looked like a deranged top hat.
So I pulled it out, re-worked it a bit, and turned it into more of a 'bucket hat.'
It still isn't perfect...but someone seems to like it....so I guess it's found a head to call home.
And finally - I got the heartbreaking news this week that an old friend was diagnosed with leukemia.
So this one (worked in her favorite color) is for her.
While I can say that Tara's hat will be similar....
it ...(ahem...) will NOT be purple and white!
Julie has some news to share
As of today....there is something a bit 'different' about her...... (Can you guess what?) She was a bit apprehensive about the whole ordeal, but after her appointment she said with relief, "Well....I guess it's not too bad."
(Dad, on the other hand, did not express the same sentiment when he was handed the bill!)
In other news....
She has another (unexpected) concert coming up at the end of January, because she has been asked to sit in with the intermediate orchestra!
I think the reason she's progressing so fast is because she has had 4 years of piano lessons, and she already knew how to read music/notes. Her teacher said that while the other kids are still drilling notes, Julie has time to focus more on fingering and technique. Either way - we are just thrilled that she enjoys it so much.
At her concert - she will be playing Autumn from Vivaldi's Four Season's . (One of my favorites!)
Do you know about Currclick?
I think that Currclick may just be one of the best kept 'secrets' out there for homeschoolers.
I'm actually amazed at the number of people that aren't aware of it.
Curclick is a website that offers 'downloadable' homeschooling curriculum.
There are unit-studies, lapbooks, project packs, e-books, even online classes.
But best of all...once a week Currclick has a 'freebie'.
I have gotten SO many nice things through them - for absolutely FREE - including the latest additions to our music and art studies...
Since we didn't buy all of the art and music resources in the 'deluxe' MFW package, I have been looking for things to supplement these areas. I think that these two lapbooks will be wonderful additions!
Today we worked on a bit on the art one.
We read a bit about Leonardo daVinci, and we also learned about the 4 main types of painting: fresco, oil, tempera and watercolor.
Then the kids made a 'mini booklet' on the styles of painting.
I had some scraps of watercolor paper (from way back in the day when I used to take painting classes,) so I passed them out and they each painted a 'still life.' (It wasn't too easy because the papers were tiny!)
Julie made a nice vase of flowers on a table
And Joseph painted a bowl of fruit on a table/surface.
He was a little bit upset that the paint 'bled' ....until I remarked that it almost looked like a shadow.
I'm very excited to begin the music lapbook next week!
(* Don't forget to check out Currclick! Their freebie of the week is a copywork book of verses from the Book of Daniel! )
Hello....I'm Michelle!
I am a Christian wife, a homemaker, and a homeschooling mother of 4 wonderful children! This is the journal of our adventures in homeschooling!
Homeschooling is not just our method of education....it has become our way of life.
Choices. Choices. Choices. (It gets to be overwhelming - doesn't it?!) 
![[image]](http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k131/ellisrelocation/smiley%20codes/giggle2.gif)
(Katie is thrilled, and she has a lot more patience than I do.... Each cookie takes 10 minutes! )
(Diana is the lovely one in black on the far right)
And on the reverse side there is plenty of room for our 'main' subjects
The kids have LOVED paging through them!
We enjoyed the Wheeler book on Haydn so much - we are really looking forward to reading this one, too!
She was a bit apprehensive about the whole ordeal, but after her appointment she said with relief, "Well....I guess it's not too bad." 
