• Aug. 28, 2008
from The Tale of Despereaux
"I will be brave," thought Despereaux. "I will try to be brave like a knight in shining armor. I will be brave for the Princess Pea.
How best for him to be brave?
He cleared his throat. He let go of his tail. He stood up straighter. "Once upon a time," he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him.
from: The Tale of Despereaux
writtenby Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering
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• Aug. 17, 2008
Perfect Logic
Our neighbors little grandaughter is playing at our house this afternoon. While the kids were gathering up pillows to play with, she came across our sons field compass, which he keeps safely hidden under his pillow.
The little girl asked D,"Why is this under your pillow?"
"Oh," D replied," That's for if I get lost in my dreams. I might want to find my way back."
Hm, makes sense to me.
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• Aug. 8, 2008
Back to School
Yes, the time has arrived. We are officially back to school. It feels weird to say that because we generally do not take summer off but this year was different. Our oldest three have had swimming practice from 7:30am until 11:30 am five days a week as well as numerous swim meets throughout the summer; because of this extreme schedule, I felt it would be best to postpone "schooling" for the summer months. Then, I thougt, we would just jump back into it in August when every one else goes back to school.
What I did not realize is that homeschooling is a way of life. It is what our lives have become. When I took the routine of "school" out of our day I was completely rearranging our lives. Now that we need to get back into a studying and reading schedule we are being hit with attitudes and groaning that has not been present in our homeschooling before. Our son was especially grieving the loss of our leisure days. The poor thing was almost in tears when he realized that he needed to do math lessons again.
We have been back "in school" for six days now and have taken a couple weeks off from swimming so the routine is becoming familiar again. The children are doing a math lesson every week day and we are working together on a unit study that is preparing us for the Olympics. The blessed quietness of home is settling in on us and I think even the children are looking forward to the school year now.
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• Jan. 29, 2008
My Baby is getting so big...
and it just does not seem fair.
On Thursday, our youngest will turn six. I watch her grow and learn and enjoy life everyday and I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a homemaker, wife and Mommy. Of all of our children C is the most like me. She not only looks like me, she is all girl, head strong, musical, talkative, idealistic, prissy, and bossy. She looks like me to the point that people who know me from a long time ago are able to pick her out of a crowd as "Sonja's girl". She is like her Daddy in that she is very intelligent and picks up on new things very quickly. She surprised me yesterday by counting to one hundred by two's. "Where did you learn to do that?" I asked. "Oh, I heard it a long time ago, when you were teaching D. I just thought I would try it myself." Hum, and why should we put our children in school? So they can be with children their own age and of their own social level? She also learned to tell time on her own by listening in on the older childrens' class time, which makes me wonder... What else has she learned from our time at home? Contentment or contempt / love or hatred / peace or bickering / self control or self indulgence / friendship or strife / submission or rebellion I think I should pay close attention to what I am teaching ... and I am not referring only to text books but life. Again, this is just me being a proud Mommy and "C, Happy Birthday. You are such a blessing!"
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• Jan. 24, 2008
Hello Everyone
We have been homeschooling for five years now and I am just now getting around to meeting and greeting other homeschoolers outside of our area. I know..."Shame on me." What finally brought me over? Well, one word, TEENAGERS. It seems now that our children are getting older Mark and I have had time for a collective breath of fresh air. The children have become much more independant and, with that, we have found ourselves able to delve into things that we enjoy again. Things such as dating (each other of course), hobbies and ahtletics and personal friendships and... Things that during the toddler and preschool years seem to be so foriegn and out of reach. At any rate here we are at a new stage in life and I am looking forward to meeting other parents who share our vision for the future and our vision for our families.
