Becoming Wiser

Aug. 1, 2006 - Blessing Time Day 6

I am just so thankful that God inspired me to do this Blessing Time every day. The kids are really getting into it. Yesterday, we collected a whole bag of garbage at the park. The kids were actually disappointed when it was time to go, so we'll go back again today with a new bag. They were so surprised by all the garbage and felt really good that they were cleaning it up for other people to enjoy the park more. I am noticing a SLIGHT change in them - thinking of others a little more. This is wonderfully encouraging to me.

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Jul. 26, 2006 - THIS IS WHY WE HOMESCHOOL!!!! Yay Day 3!

Well, as some of you may know, I have incorporated a half hour of Blessing Time in our day. The first day, we sent a letter to our sponsered child in the Dominican Republic. The second day, we made a list of all the possiblities for future Blessing Times. Today, we had what I hope to be the first of EXCITING blessing adventures!

There is a lady who works at one of the local grocery stores. I don't know her name, so we'll call her D. D is the most pleasant service person I've met in years. Over the course of the last year or so, we've managed to make small talk enough times that she knows the names of my dc, she knows dh had a hernia surgery earlier this year, and we know we live in the same neighborhood, etc. We've casually chatted about vacations, etc.

ANYWAY, she is always so cheerful and goes the extra mile. She seems very grandmotherly. She talks to me like a daughter, in a way, and we don't know each other's names.

Well, I love this lady dearly. She makes me feel like maybe this town isn't so impersonal and un-family oriented. I feel like there's still hope for society after our grocery shopping trips because of HER.

So today we made banana bread and I wrote out a card for her describing the above. The kids all added their own names and stickers. I happen to know where she lives because it's around the corner from our house and I saw her and her dh on the porch last summer.

So, we walked over there this afternoon. We happened to arrive at her house the exact same time she got home from work. She was pleased to see "little visitors" at her door, and when she saw the card and banana bread (the girls gave them to her) she looked at me with that "I'm so surprised and don't know how to react to someone being so nice" look and said, "WHAT are you doing?" to me. I told her "I'm teaching my children to give." She basically chatted with the kids, gave them each a cookie to feed to the bunnies who were on her lawn and opened the card in the meantime. It seemed like she was SO pleased, but really, really unsure about what to make of it all. I LOVED IT! I can't wait to do this kinda thing again. THIS IS WHAT HOMESCHOOLING IS ALL ABOUT!!

I don't care if nothing ever comes of this (that we can see), but I love what my kids are learning and experiencing, and I love knowing that we just made a difference in someone's life today. And it only took HALF AN HOUR!

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Jul. 25, 2006 - Day 2

Well, we're done school for today. It wasn't quite as exciting today, but it was good anyway. Gabrielle had no problem reciting her memory verse. The easel is still a hit and I think I need to have strict individual time slots for its use. Gabrielle is finding LA kinda boring at this point, but it will get more difficult quickly. OH! But she thought today's creative writing assignment was hilarious! She had to describe a piece of dirt in as much detail as possible. Here is what she wrote:

"The piece of dirt is a bit small, like a grape. It’s light like an ant. It is brown. It is easy to break. It can roll. You can pinch it and it breaks. It feels soft. It is cold because it’s been in the rain. It is made of a lot of other smaller dirt pieces. When you break it, it turns into small crumbs. It’s dusty. It doesn’t smell good. It smells like grass. It doesn’t make any sound when you listen to it closely. "

She dictated, and I typed. The last picture is of her smelling the dirt.

Maya enjoyed her stuff a lot more today. We played a game and learned a new Hokey Pokey song.

We made a list of things we could do during Outreach/ Blessing time. We went to the park for outside time.

Anyway, that's the news.

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Jul. 24, 2006 - Our First Morning of School

I thought you'd want to know how our morning went. It went great, of course! The kids LOVED the easel so much that they fought over it. Even though I had scheduled times for them to EACH use it, any SECOND of spare time was spent fighting over that thing!

Alexander surprised me with his interest in everything. He loved the wood pieces we use for Maya's handwriting program. They kept him busy while I taught LA. He also loved the easel and the pre-writing center. He LOVED cutting with his new scissors that actually work. It was his first time being allowed to use real scissors.

Maya wasn't sure about it all. It was hard for her to understand that this is stuff we have to do. She seemed embarrassed at first when I put on the CD that went with her Handwriting program, but near then end she was loving it and has already learned which is her right and which is her left because of it. She colored an AMAZING picture during Bible.

I was actually surprised that Alexander colored during Bible as well. He's usually not all that interested.

Gabrielle did great working on her Bible Study this morning and learned about authority. She's also already got her memory verse down pat. (Are we surprised?) She did her first 15 min. of Spanish with the program that was given to us. I'm not sure how effective it'll be - it's not Rosetta Stone, but it's a start.

They all helped with the dishes for breaky and lunch. Alexander helped me get breaky ready. The girls set the table. Maya helped me make Ceasar dressing for our lunch, and she set the table. This morning, we all did chores......got laundry done, vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms - including the tubs - and swept the floors, beds were made, etc.

Gabrielle's having sinus troubles today so I've asked her to lay down for 45 min. They're all in bed for now. I'm very thankful it's not as hot today.

OH! We also had our 1/2 hour of outside time this morning. I tried to teach a simplified version of baseball to Alexander. I wanted him to hit the ball from the tee and run to a certain spot before I could catch him with the ball. Pretty simple. But he's not interested. He says he's just good at throwing and hitting. Oh well!

We also had our 1/2 hour of Phys. Ed. We walked to the mailbox and played at the park for a bit.

Whew. This morning has been more jam-packed than my DAYS lately!! I think I'll read or something on the deck for a bit this afternoon. I love my life!

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Jul. 22, 2006 - Busy Getting Ready for School

Well, it's over 30 degrees Celsius here today and I'm HOT! I'm also tired. I've been trying to get my school stuff in order and found a BUNCH of extras I need to do at the last minute.

We will be easing into school starting on Monday. We will follow our schedule for the morning only (plus the bedtime routine) for the week, then NEXT Monday, July 31st, we will start full days. I thought this would make it easier to get into the routine, stick to it, and really get the kids excited about the year without overwhelming them.

I will try to attach our daily schedule below. Feel free to take a look. And yes, I DO have my phone turned off for most of the day. I find that it helps me to focus on what I'm SUPPOSED to be doing. It helps me to take homeschooling more seriously. I really slacked off last year.

I'm so excited about the year ahead. Here's what we'll be using:

GABRIELLE:

Sonlight CoreK
Sonlight Bible K
Sonlight Science K
Sonlight LA1
Handwriting Without Tears Level 1 (My Printing Book)
RightStart Math Level B
Abeka Art Level 1
Abeka Health Level 1
Music: recorder and Usborne's Very Easy Recorder Songs

MAYA:

Private Preschool Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday afternoon
Rod & Staff Preschool Workbooks
Handwriting Without Tears PreK

ALEXANDER:

So far, he's still napping in the afternoons, so he'll just join us in the morning with Handwriting Without Tears

I've also bought a DVD called Preschool Power which is INCREDIBLY educational and the kids LOVE. They've already learned from it and I've only let them watch it once - in MAY! It's actually 8 half-hour movies on one DVD. I plan to use this, along with Magic School Bus DVDs and any other really good DVDs (hoping to get Leap Frog ones) for a half hour in the afternoons.

Well, I'm off to clean up the paint stuff. I painted our fence today. And then I need to tidy up the house and find a way to cool off!

WeekdaySchedule.pdf

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