I loved this post over at Amy's Humble Musings:
If you happen to be a conservative Christian, you also have to navigate whatever current trend is making the marketing rounds in evangelical circles. Parenting is stressful enough, but add to that the guilt and stress of fitting in with your particular homeschooling homebirthing homesteading micro-culture, and it’s no wonder more women don’t call it quits.
I’m not advocating that, by the way. I think we should call it quits, but only with the defensive posturing we assert on the playground.
...
There is a certain imbalance mothers fall into, especially new mothers—a sort of hyper-interest in all things motherly, which is well and good when it is balanced with the most important things in life and not tangled with the gospel. By that, I mean that the gospel stands on its own merit and that our justification is dependent on Christ’s work and not our failure or success as a parent, perceived and otherwise.
Head on over to read the whole post. You'll be glad you did.
Category: Christian Walk
Vegetable garden 2009 is coming along nicely ... check out the beautiful grape arbor that my husband built for me!
I let the grapes grow as they wished last year after planting them, and trimmed them back to 8" or so early this spring. You can see here that the left plant has finally reached the arbor trellis while the right plant has a few inches more or so to grow. The three short beds directly behind the arbor contain: corn (left), pickling cucumbers & green beans (middle), and cherry tomatoes, green, red, and hot peppers, and marigolds (right). As soon as the cucumbers get a little higher, we'll set the netting up, but for now it's not needed. The two long beds directly behind the short beds are tomatoes (left) and strawberries (right). Between the garden fence and our property line fence on the right you can see our raspberry bushes!
Here's a close up of our tomato and strawberries. We planted more tomato plants this year than we did last year. Last year we didn't have nearly enough for canning! I think we canned a few quarts of diced tomatoes, a few pints of tomato sauce, and a few pints of salsa. Everything was gone by mid-December! This year we are hoping to can a lot more of the above things in addition to making ketchup. I hear my mother in law has a killer recipe for ketchup and I'm anxious to try my hand at it!
We go through a ton of jam around our house, too. PB&J is for lunch almost every day . Last year we canned quite a few pints of raspberry jam -- it lasted until February, I think -- but hopefully this year we will be able to add jars of concord grape and strawberry jam to our pantry, too. Yummy!
Behind the tomatoes and strawberries, you can see my square-footish (with dirt, not Mel's Mix), totally anemic herbal/salad/onion/radish garden. Of all the herbs I planted, only the dill and cilantro are growing. The spinach, leaf lettuce, onions, and radishes are coming up, but there are huge gaps where weeds are taking over. The dirt looks terrible -- ashy gray and cracked within an hour or so or watering it. It is a little disheartening and I deal with it by avoiding that part of the garden, LOL!
Oh well. I'll just keep looking at these:
Category: Homekeeping
We had a great time studying American history 1600-1850 this year. As you may or may not remember, we began the year with Winter Promise American Story 1, but realized quickly that it wasn't for us. Our first history update is here. An update around the time we were studying the American Revolution is here, and our most recent history update is here.
Here is the final list of all the books we read aloud this year in the order that we read them. Each book is listed only once, even if we read more than once from it (like we did in the case of A First Book in American History).
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Edward Eggleston
The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty
A Child's Story of America by Michael J. McHugh
A First Book in American History by Edward Eggleston
If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern
The Story of the Thirteen Colonies by Clifford L. Alderman
Colonial America (Easy Make & Learn Projects) by Donald M. Silver
Colonial Life by Bobbie Kalman
Rogers Rangers & The French and Indian War by Bradford Smith
George Washington: Frontier Colonel by Sterling North
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
Liberty: How the Revolutionary War Began by Lucille Recht Penner
Know Your Declaration of Independence and the 56 Signers by George E. Ross
The Minute Boys of Lexington by Edward Stratemeyer
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution by Kay Moore
John Paul Jones: The Pirate Patriot by Armstrong Sperry
Fighting For Freedom or The Birth of the Stars & Stripes by Lieutenant Lionel Lounsberry
Our Independence and the Constitution by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The American Revolution by Bruce Bliven
How the U.S. Government Works by Syl Sobel
A History of the United States and Its People by Edward Eggleston
The U.S. Constitution and You by Syl Sobel
The Barbary Pirates by C.S. Forester
The Louisiana Purchase by Robert Tallant
War of 1812 by Kathlyn Gay
The Pirate Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans by Robert Tallant
Old Ironsides: the Fighting Constitution by Harry Hansen
Trail Blazer of the Seas by Jean Lee Latham
The Mexican-American War by Ruth Tenzer Feldman
To California by Covered Wagon by George R. Stewart
Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan by Ferdinand Kuhn
It took approximately 35 weeks to cover everything, although we didn't read the history spine-type books (Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans, A Child's Story of America, A First Book in American History, etc.) from cover-to-cover. It seems like a big list now that I type it, but it really was manageable and interesting. I certainly learned a lot, LOL!
Category: Homeschooling
I haven't been blogging much lately. I just haven't had much to say, I guess. But, I suppose it's time to break the silence.
I had a miscarriage about 6 weeks ago. After hoping for a very long time to be blessed with conception, it finally happened in early March. We were so excited! After losing Benjamin at 22 weeks back in 2003, I was a little apprehensive, so my doctor scheduled me for an ultrasound at 7 weeks. Imagine my delight when we got to see our tiny baby with a strong heartbeat! A week later I had some minimal spotting, and called the doctor to make sure everything was okay. She brought me in for another ultrasound -- the baby had grown appropriately, still had a strong heartbeat, and there were no signs of threatened miscarriage. There was a huge sigh of relief and I felt foolish for being such a nervous-Nellie. Unfortunately, a few days later, the signs were unmistakable. I lost the baby at 9 weeks. :-(
The Lord is good though, and provided great comfort to me through it all. An especially dear church member sent me the lyrics to a wonderful hymn which greatly encouraged me in those sad times. I thought I'd share it here:
God shall alone the refuge be,
And comfort of my mind;
Too wise to be mistaken, He,
Too good to be unkind.
In all his holy, sovereign will,
He is, I daily find,
Too wise to be mistaken, still
Too good to be unkind.
When I the tempter's rage endure,
Tis God supports my mind;
Too wise to be mistaken, sure,
Too good to be unkind.
When sore afflictions on me lie,
He is (though I am blind)
Too wise to be mistaken, yea,
Too good to be unkind.
What though I can't his goings see,
Nor all his footsteps find?
Too wise to be mistaken, He,
Too good to be unkind.
Hereafter he will make me know,
And I shall surely find,
He was too wise to err, and O,
Too good to be unkind.
Life has slowly returned to normal since then. I am at peace and know that the Lord indeed is too wise to be mistaken, and too good to be unkind.
We finished up our school year and are enjoying our first day of break today. Yay! Of course, nerdy mom that I am, I bought some workbooks for the boys to do over the summer and they are eager as ever to dig into them. Silly boys!
The garden is in full swing. Everything is planted and seems to be growing well. I'll try to post some updated pictures soon. :-)
Category: Miscellaneous
Grab your Swiffers and start spending more time organizing your home—it could make your child a better reader, says a new study by researchers at Columbia University’s Teachers College and Ohio State University.
Yes, beyond reading to young children, there are other things parents and caregivers can do to help early literacy skills. “Order in the House!” examines the relationship between household chaos, the home literacy environment, maternal reading ability, and children’s early reading—and it concludes that there’s a link between the reading abilities of five- and six-year-olds and the orderliness of their homes.
Household order—characterized by regular bedtime routines, mealtimes, and chores, as well as cleanliness and being able to stay on top of things—has a positive effect on a range of early reading abilities, the report says.
Category: Homekeeping
We love this puzzle by Melissa and Doug. Most alphabet puzzles for preschool age children teach only the uppercase letters. However, as children begin to read, they will encounter more lower case letters than uppercase, so it is nice to start them out on the right foot right from the beginning!
I did this project with John and Noah when they were younger and recently finished it with Jacob. We took one letter from the puzzle a day (both upper & lower case) and traced it onto white paper. Then Jacob colored it in as best he can while we said all the things we could think of that started with that sound. So, for example, I would say, "A says, ah, ah, apple, ah, ah, ant, and ah, ah, alligator .... etc."
Don't worry about them getting sounds wrong -- when they are first learning they will say things like, "B says Buh-buh- Mommy!" LOL! I gently correct and say, "No, Mommy starts with M. Mm, mm, Mommy. This letter is [fill-in-the-blank]." After Jacob was done coloring, we cut out the letters and pasted them on to poster board. He loved this activity and could not wait for his turn to "do school" every morning.
Here he is with his masterpiece:
Category: Homeschooling
Who says money doesn’t grow on trees? Homeowners expect their yards to cost them money. Few ever consider the possibility that instead of costing money, a yard actually can help save money.
The average yard in this country consumes money in three major ways. First, hundreds of dollars are wasted because few yards are planned to take advantage of solar heating or basic cooling techniques for the house. Second, yards that have large lawns, particularly in the arid West, where constant watering is necessary, often have high maintenance costs. And, finally, few yards are designed to cut food and gift-giving expenses.
Category: Homekeeping
I am so happy with doing our own thing for American History this year! We finally finished our study of the War for Independence. After The Minute Boys of Lexington, we read John Paul Jones: The Pirate Patriot, Fighting for Freedom or The Birth of the Stars and Stripes, and The American Revolution.
Now we are studying the Constitution. We are reading Our Independence and the Constitution, How the U.S. Government Works, and The U.S. Constitution and You this week.
I tied many of John's memorization items to our history study this year. He memorized the outline of the Constitution last week and is memorizing the Bill of Rights this week. After he was able to say the entire First Amendment, I was explaining what it meant.
He looked at me and asked, "So, are these my rights, too?"
"Yes ... These are the rights of all American citizens."
"Wow. We're really lucky to be Americans."
Yep. That is why I do this … to have moments like this. :-0
"Every member of the State ought diligently to read and to study the constitution of his country. ... By knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they are violated and be the better prepared to defend and assert them."
Chief Justice John Jay, 1777
Category: Homeschooling
But of all the views of this law [The Diffusion of Knowledge] none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe, as they are the ultimate, guardians of their own liberty. For this purpose the reading in the first stage, where they [grammar school children] will receive their whole education, is proposed, as has been said, to be chiefly historical.
History by apprising them of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experiences of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views. In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate, and improve. Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe their minds must be improved to a certain degree.
Category: Homeschooling
Great article in the NYT today:
New research suggests that play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades.
A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among about 11,000 children age 8 and 9. Those who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day showed better behavior in class than those who had little or none. Although disadvantaged children were more likely to be denied recess, the association between better behavior and recess time held up even after researchers controlled for a number of variables, including sex, ethnicity, public or private school and class size.
(Click on the link above to keep reading.)
We are believers in recess around here. I don't think it's an either/or with academics .... it goes hand in hand in my experience with the boys. They have about an hour in the morning to get their energy out and then we have a few hours of focused academics. We take another hour or so break and then focus again on academics for the afternoon. Isn't this just common sense though? I can't imagine having a classroom full of children (or a homeschool full of children, LOL!) who are chained to their desks all day with no chance to burn off that endless amount of energy they seem to possess!
Category: Homeschooling
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