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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 - I'm shocked
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For those of you who are familiar with Spunkyhomeschool, she has just written her last blog entry. I am so sad to see her go. She is a passionate, articulate homeschool advocate and she will be missed greatly.
(my link is not working again. Has there been a problem with it on HSB?)
Her addy is:
www.spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com
One more day to join the great Art debate and enter the drawing for geeART16. I will announce the winner on Thursday.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamaduso/246669
Susan
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Sunday, December 3, 2006 - Art comparison
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Below are two paintings, one from Princess and one from Pixie. Based on how I described their particular gifts in art, can you tell me who painted what picture? This is our tree as it stands now by the fireplace. This isn't the best example, but I thought because they both painted the same object you might be able to tell who did what. Don't forget to leave a comment and join the Art discussion. It has been very informative. You all have lots to say about art!
1.
2.
I am sorry it took a while to get this up. I lost my USB cord for my camera and couldn't plug it into my laptop. So I used my other camera and other computer. I was hoping I would find the cord. I guess that just tells you how organized I am. I actually remember doing something with it, hoping it wouldn't get lost and wouldn't you know it, I can't find it anywhere. I should have just left it on the floor with all the other camera attachments!
Susan
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Tuesday, November 28, 2006 - Let's talk Art --- Art contest
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No, you dont have to draw anything. I promise. What you have to do is leave
a comment and answer a few questions.
I have noticed with my two oldest girls that they are both very good at
drawing. There is a difference in their art and it is very interesting to
notice. Princess is not a detail girl. She doesnt care if her lines are
straight or her coloring is exact. In fact, I would say most of the time
her art is a bit sloppy, if you look at the details. However, if you step
back and look at the big picture, she has created something very wonderful
to look at. I would describe her work as a little bit abstract.
Pixie is exactly the opposite. I have shared some of her photos so you may
be able to relate to what I am saying. She is exact. Every line and color
is perfect. She tries to make something exactly the way she sees it. When
she was very little (3 or so) I would get comments from Sunday school
teachers about her coloring ability. She has always colored in the lines.
That exactness is carrying over in her creative art.
What I am wondering is, should I use an art curriculum for the girls? Would
teaching them art skills be helpful for them both in art and in other areas
of their learning? Or would it squelch their creativity?
Studies show that students with an art education excel nearly 30 percent more in other subjects, as well as in standardized tests, when compared to those students without an arts background.
Both my mother in law and father in law have a masters degree in art. My
sister in laws skill in art led her to a masters degree in interior architecture. Encouraging my children in art now will likely shape what they do as adults. The question is, should I just allow them the freedom to draw or do I give them something formal in which to develop their skills?
I have been approached by a representative of GeeGuides, an animated,
interactive, web-based art education company . I have not heard of their curriculum before but was intrigued when I had the opportunity to
test it out. Their art curriculum, called geeART16, has 16 lesson modules
each teaching a different topic. It is interactive and interesting. The
characters are sweet. I am confident that any homeschool parent would be
pleased to have their child interacting with them.
I have been given the opportunity to host a discussion on art education and award a random participant a one year subscription to geeART16. All you have to do is answer some of the questions I asked above , give me your opinion on art education or, tell me what you use for teaching art and why. Leave your comment and post about this discussion on your blog linking back here. I will choose a random winner next Wednesday.
Susan
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Sunday, November 26, 2006 - Gearing up!
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We had a very nice Thanksgiving. I especially enjoyed the four day weekend with hubby home. Saturday we had a window of opportunity from the rain to get our Christmas tree. I look forward to getting it set up. It is still in the truck. Friday morning I went to get my eyebrows waxed. Yes, I do that. They get very unruly if I don't but thats another story. The spa I go to is inside an upscale store with home decor, kitchen supplies, wedding registry etc. It is a great store that I love to visit, however going with 3 kids in tow is not really fun. Since hubby was home with the kids, I had the opportunity to browse and enjoy all the lovely things in peace. I was able to get a Christmas present for a nice discount too. I am proud to say that that was the extent of my shopping experience on Friday.
Tonight I spent a couple of hours trying to figure out what I am going to do with the girls for school/Christmas preparations. I chose several things. There is so much out there, it was difficult to decide what to use. I decided not to do the advent wreath this year. We have done it in the past. Since we will be going to my parents on the 23rd I needed to find something that would travel well, and I didn't want to pack the wreath and candles with all the other stuff that will come with us.
I plan on reading aloud the book, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". I purchased "The Glorious Coming" by Ann Voskamp. It is a Jesse Tree devotion. We have not done that yet and I look forward to learning more about the Jesse Tree. You can purchase this ebook online here. I also purchased a lapbook kit from homeschoolestore for Peanut for grades preK-1st grade. It is called Christmas Cheer. We are also going to do a unit study called "Good Christian Men Rejoice" from Easyfunschool. This is a study of some of the popular Christmas Hymns. It gives a little history of the hymn including who wrote it and some activities to go along with the study. Ann Voskamp shared with me a website that has all the songs set to music for those of us who don't know how the songs go and can't read music, or sing for that matter. I am hoping the music will help us. I also purchased a collection of old radio show programs that has Christmas stories. This is put out by homeschoolradioshows. If you go to their website and sign up for their free newsletter they will send you each week a radio show to download in mp3 format. They are really fun to listen too. Homeschoolradioshows previews them for wholesome content and since most are from 50 years ago or so, chances are they are pretty wholesome.
Well, I hope that gives you some ideas if you are looking for some.
Bless you as you prepare for this season of wonder.
Susan
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Sunday, November 5, 2006 - Thankful - Day 14
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1. I am thankful that I found the source of the flies. This is a bit gross. For the last week and a half we have been having flies in the house. We keep killing them and they keep showing up. I could not figure it out. Today, while cleaning the kitty box in the laundry room/pantry, I found an old bag of potatoes. They were very old and that is where the flies were coming from. I tossed the bag of potatoes but I needed my hubby to come and get the container they were in and clean it out. That stuff really makes me sick. So I thoroughly cleaned the floor and I am glad we won't be haivng any more flies.
2. I am thankful for a cozy Sunday afternoon at home. Hubby is napping, the kids are playing quietly, by themselves surprisingly, and I have time to write and blog. We usually eat a big lunch out so dinner on Sunday is usually very easy, like popcorn or a bowl of cereal and toast.
3. I am thankful we filed an extension for our taxes because we just got our check in the mail and now we have Christmas!
For the the two of you who were wondering what I decided for Spelling, I will give you an update. I went ahead and purchased Sequential Spelling. It arrived on Friday so we will get started with it on Monday. I am happy to realize that I can use it for two of my children simultaneously. I will let you know how it works for us.
On another school topic. I am wondering what to do about writing for Princess. She is 9 and the writing isn't taking off too well. Part of the problem is spelling so hopefully that will improve soon. We have done copywork for a while now, and we have done some grammar and are currently doing it now. She wrote a couple of pages of what she has learned so far with our Thanksgiving lapbook and the information was great. She really was able to remember a lot of details. I am convinced that she knows our material. However, her sentence structure isn't very good. She puts periods in randomly or not at all. She has run on after run on. The problem is, in regards to her writing, she has never responded well if I correct her. She takes it very personally and she feels criticized. I know some of it is my fault, but part of it is that she is very creative and I think she feels like the writing is a part of her creative side and she doesn't do well with criticism in that area. We are using Simply Grammar right now and I like it. I have looked into Writing Strands and I am thinking of getting it. Any ideas from you? Should I wait for a while to address this subject? Or should I find a way to work on this?
Thanks, for any advice.
Susan
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Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - Pixie's artwork
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I wanted to share a couple of Pixie's (she will be 8 in Jan.) drawings she has made recently. I really like how unique they are. I was really surprised with the lady gardening. She has never done anything like that before. I really think she may have a gift. I am excited to be able to give her an opportunity to pursue it as she grows and develops. The old lady looks like something that should be in a comic book or cartoon.
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Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - Spelling
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I am trying to decide if I need to start using a spelling program. I keep thinking that copy work will be enough to improve those skills but when my daughter comes up and asks if I can teach her to spell, I think maybe I need to do something more. I have never been fond of the spelling list and writing them out day after day, but then maybe that is the best way. I don't know. I am looking for your input. What do you use? What do you like about it? What don't you like about it?
Thanks so much! You all have always been so helpful.
Susan
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 - OH NO!--and pumpkins
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I just realized my subscription to TOS has run out. Oh, I hope it isn't too late to order and get the fall magazine.
For the last few years our homeschool group has taken a field trip to a christmas tree farm to pick pumpkins. It is a great place, with a hay Mayflower, two sheds to learn about barn owls and spiders, a hay/tractor ride through the farm, a catapult with a pumpkin toss, gourd picking, pumpkin picking, broom making, and lots of fun. It is a wonderful time learning about trees and farms and all the fun harvest stuff with no emphasis on Halloween. It is perfect for us. This year we are not going. You see, we don't have enough people in our group. There needs to be 30 people paying to total $150.00. Our group is not that big, so it ends up costing us quite a lot. It is a bummer and I am disappointed. I really look foward to this time. There is another farm our family goes to but it has decided to add a lot of Halloween decor and my kids really don't like it and neither do I. Hubby is home on Friday for a work holiday and so we promised the kids we would get pumpkins, and since we have not ever carved pumpkins with them we promised to do it this year. Does anyone have the pumpkin parable story for carving a pumpkin? I would love to use that when we do.
On another note, school is going well. I am so pleased. I am really enjoying it too. The girls are learning a ton and we haven't missed a day yet. I have been learning to balance the importance of getting assignments done with giving time to complete a project before moving on. Pixie is slow. Really. She is very smart, but moves at a snails pace. It doesn't do to rush her. It gets her upset and me too. I really need to allow her the time to process and finish what she is doing. We do history first thing after our character learning. The girls get a coloring sheet while I read. She is never finished by the time I finish reading. I allow her the time to work at her pace (as long as she is working). I still fight internally with wanting to get school done, even though I am much better than I used to be. This week history has included some personal reading of historical fiction, some narration, drawing a picture, labeling the picture and posting it on a board. Even though she didn't get some of her other work done, she was allowed time to work on this project. It turned out beautifully. She drew two men wrestling (an ancient olympic sport) as well as a horse and chariot. She also wrote her name using the Greek alphabet. She is preparing this for our once a month literary group. I will write more on that later. Her drawings are completely freehand however, she did look at a picture in a book for the horse and chariot. This is a little bragging moment. You don't mind do you?
Susan
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Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - Pacific Northwest Homeschool Blogger Picnic
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Finally here is my post on our picnic. For those of you who couldn't make it but wanted to, well, you should have been there. Nor worries though because after this first picnic I promise you there will be more. We had six ladies and 4 men and a whole bunch of kids that I didn't end up counting, but it was over 10. Conversation was great and our comfort level was just as if we had all met many times before. The kids played well, and my oldest said as we were getting into the car, "that was so fun mommy." So here are a couple of pictures to entice you all to make it to the next one and we promise to plan it farther in advance to give you more notice.
(these were just some of the kids there)
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Thursday, September 21, 2006 - Homeschooling and heaven
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I was thinking again today how much I long for heaven. It has become a more frequent thought of mine. I think of the song that says "Come Jesus come", and thats all you get because I stink at songs, music, lyrics etc. I don't know where this is going except that I am so looking forward to being in heaven where there is no sickness, sadness, pain. I am looking forward to joy, peace, time with the Lord Jesus, perfection, a job to do, beauty all around. I used to think after I became a christian that I could wait for heaven until I was married, then until I had kids, then until they grew up, then until I watch them get married and have their own kids. Now, I am married and have kids, but I am not as anxious for all those events to take place first. I have realized that while those are wonderful joyful events in this life on earth, our eternity in heaven is going to be so much better.
Now, about homeschooling, I am going to make a big public confession. Here goes.....this is the first year of the 4 previous years that I can honestly say I am enjoying homeschooling. It sounds horrible doesn't it, that I have not enjoyed homeschooling my kids. For quite some time I have battled with the Lord. Why me? Why did God convict me so much that I could not send my kids to school. Don't get me wrong, I love my girls dearly and I love being with them. I just didn't enjoy the teaching part of homeschooling. I have felt much pressure, and I have not felt much success. Even though I am a research queen, I have not had much confidence in my abilities to home educate my kids. I have not felt capable to do the job that God called me to do. I have been intimidated with subjects like history and science. I feel like the first three years were just one big experiment. I am feeling more settled in what we are doing. I still like to research curriculum and I still sometimes think there is the next better thing out there that I must find. But all in all I think what we have works. It fits me, and it fits my kids. I will tell you though what has been the biggest change this year. I have surrendered. Homeschooling is my job. It is what I do and as a job I must treat it like one, giving it my full attention, and putting my all into it. Now we have only been back at school for 2 1/2 weeks and granted not much else has been accomplished, in the way of home care, besides the neccessities, like meals, laundry and general clean up, but I have felt successful. I have put all things aside during school time and have given it my full attention. So for 3-4 hours during the day I am 100 % available for my kids. That has made a huge difference in our days. The girls are learning, I am learning and I feel the peace of knowing that I am being obedient not only to God but to my husband. The result is more confidence, less insecurity, less comparison, and a true contentment that this is my life and I love it.
Susan
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - History
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If you were like me and grew up in public school, your History knowledge is slim at best. Not only was I not exposed to much History, what I was "taught" (used loosely) was so boring. Dates and facts held no place in my brain even though I have an elephant memory and can remember what I paid for things, what the last 5 phone numbers I had were, what my address was when I was a kid. History was boring. Really. Boring. The only time it was mildly interesting to me was once in college, at a night class (not recommended), we were required to read a book about a time period. I finally made a connection.
As an adult, I realzied through reading fiction that I am fascinated with the American migration. Learning about the men, women, and children that walked miles and miles for days, some living and some dying, taught me about the human spirit. I realized that you can indeed learn history from good historicl fiction and it was fun. I also knew that is what I wanted my children to experience.
Here's the catch. I am so unknowledgeable in history that I had no idea how to go about teaching it. Where do I start? How can I teach what I don't know? When do I begin? It terrifies me to be honest.
Last year I bought at a second hand sale The Story of the World. It looked simple enough. I read to them, they learn, I learn. We didn't get far last year so I thought I would pick it up again this year and make it a priority in our school day. I bought the activity guide to go with it. So, each day I read a chapter. the girls color the coresponding sheet and when we are done, I ask them questions on what I read to check their memory. Then they each get a map for the chapter and have to follow directions on the map, like "find the Nile River and color it blue", or "color in the area between the Euphrates River and Tigris and label it Babylon". We also visit our big wall map to find the exact same place as our paper map. We see how things have changed. We talk about what we are learning. Then they put the pages in their notebook (three ring binder). At the end of the year we will have a record of what we did for history. Can I tell you too how much I have learned. I feel like I am in school with them.
Yesterday I said we would skip the story to have more time for our other work. They all said, no mom, we love History, it is our favorite subject. Do you know how happy I am? Besides, how many children their age are learning what monotheism vs. polytheism is? I'd say they have a head start.
Susan
PS- The only frustration I have with The Story of the World is that it teaches history without the bible, so we don't know what is going on in the Old Testament at the same time. That is a bit frustrating to me because I like to tie it all together and get a full understanding. Oh well, we will finish this book and then I will look for something similar but with a more biblical worldview. Any ideas?
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Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - And the results are...
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a good day in the mamaduso home. Attitudes needing a wee bit of adjusting this morning but other than that school go off to a good start. The cutest thing was that as the girls were getting ready for school they packed their backpacks with all their folders and books and brought them to the kitchen table for school. It was adorable. We took a little detour around lunch time to pick up our new kitten. She is so cute. Her name was Bella and we kept it. It fit. She is playing with Lucy right now. Lucy hasn't been around other animals for a year so she is adjusting to this new toy. We finished school in the afternoon and then I was off to run an errand and an appointment. It was a busy packed day but it was good. I am thankful for our good start. Hoping for another tomorrow.
This evening in the car Pixie asked us why the moon is sometimes a crescent and sometimes it is half and a whole. Well, that led us to a great opportunity when we got home and dad got two balls of different sizes and a light and he demonstrated how the moon changes sizes, as well as how we get day and night. The other day he was telling me how impressed he was that Peanut had asked what the moon was made out of. Wow- that is a great question. I asked him what he said. "Cheese"
I am really enjoying these learning opportunities we have at home with the kids. Think how much they would miss being gone all day. Think how much we would miss.
Susan
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Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - Let's talk school
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I have finally put together our school schedule for this year. I wanted to share what we are doing.
Princess: 4th grade
Developmental Math
Simply Grammar
Reading- Robinson Curriculum
Story of the World-read aloud and activity book
Copywork- various good literature and bible verses
Awana-2nd year TNT
Typing- Maevis Beacon
Pixie: 2nd grade
Developmental Math
Primary Language Lessons-grammar, dictation, copywork, narration
Reading- Robinson Curriculum
Story of the World-read aloud and activity book
Awana-3rd year Sparks
Cursive- Handwriting Without Tears
Peanut: Kindergarten
Reading time with mom
Phonics practice with Hooked on Phonics
Story of the World-read aloud and activity book
Get Ready, Set, Go for the Code
Math-lots of play with manipulatives-no workbooks as of yet.
Awana- 1st year Sparks
Extracurriculars will include sewing, possible flute for Princess and Pixie. Princess will be working on cooking with mom this year. I hope to have her learn 5 dinners and 2 breakfast meals and 2-3 desserts including cookies.
Character Training: We will finish up Big Truths for Little Kids before moving on to Our 24 Family Ways by Wholeheart Ministries. We will also be going through Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends. We are having struggles in this area and it needs to be delt with.
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Sunday, May 21, 2006 - New blogger
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I have a friend who is a new blogger. She is someone whom I knew a few years ago. She taught my daughters Awana group when she was a Cubbie. We met at church and knew each other from the small homeschool crowd at our church. She was always very encouraging to me when I was so insecure with what I was doing in our homeschool. We emailed quite frequently. Then she moved away. Every once in a while we'd run into each other in town and say hi. Well, last week we ran into each other again at our daughter's testing. We spoke and I gave her my blog address and she made a visit. I encouraged to start a blog because of the community that we have and the online fellowship and the encouragement. She's joined the HSB blogging community. Please go say hi and welcome PammySue. She is a good writer and I know you will be encouraged too.
Susan
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Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - Testing
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Tell me again that state testing isn't that important. Tell me that my child at some point will get that a capital letter begins a sentence and a period ends a sentence. Tell me that a parent can worry more over this than the child, yet the parent can stress the child for no good reason. I have to let go that state testing is just not that important. Its the first test we will take (get that?-- we, as if I am taking it with her). But in a sense it is a test for mom/teacher too. After all if she doesn't do well I am to blame right? And if she does great, well then, good job mom! I know that the most important thing for her to have is the knowledge of God and a character that shows godliness and righteousness. I also know that these character traits take a whole childhood and beyond to develop. It's funny because I still shake my head in wonder-"why did God call me to homeschool?" I wouldn't change it; I couldn't do anything different. I just wonder if there is more for me to learn in all this than my children.
Susan
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Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - learning in the car
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In the past I have mentioned our simple homeschool style in covering the basics and how we don't do a lot of extracurricular subjects like science and history and geography. In light of that and also mentioning our desire for learning to happen naturally I wanted to share our daughters adventures in geography in the car on the way to and from Seattle. Princess brought with her a compass and made sure to tell us exactly what direction we were driving on our trip. During the weekend we took the bus a lot (their favorite part) and the girls collected bus schedules with maps on them. On the way home they wanted to look at the maps I have in the car. Thankfully or strangely I had three Oregon Washington maps in the car so the two older girls got to look at their own map. Pixie decided she wanted to know more about the map so at a rest stop hubby showed them exactly where we were and they could follow the map as we drove. They watched for city names and exit numbers and learned how we tell how many miles between each city. They were so "into it". It was very fun to watch them learn in such a natural way "in the moment" of what we were doing. As far as I am concerned, I think that is the best way to learn.
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Saturday, March 11, 2006 - And the winner is.....
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But before I get to that I wanted to say thank you to everyone for participating. There were so many great names to choose from. I wrote them all down and gave the list to my husband and after looking them over he decided that "Narrow Way Acadamy" was the winner. Now we actually have not decided for sure and for certain that that is our homeschool name but that is the one closest to what we would pick. We liked it best because of the hidden play on words. Our last name means "from the narrows" and we do want to teach our girls not only to be ladies but more importantly to follow the narrow path. Also, there were several variations of it listed and we chose the very first one that was entered. So, Mrs. Nehemiah is the lucky winner of a pair of earings.
Susan, who has to get busy making earings!
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Monday, February 20, 2006 - Homeschool insecurities
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I'm sure we all get them from time to time. I try not to get them at all, but they do sneak in every once in a while. Honestly I feel better when I am confident that we are doing what we need to be doing. But when I start to hear what others are doing then the ugly insecurity monster rears its head. Spunky wrote a great post about the homeschool ten commandments. If you haven't read it yet go do that now.
So, here is how it started. A couple of weeks ago I went to a homeschool meeting and the topic was lapbooking. They had some great ideas and it was very exciting to see these new ways to display your childrens work. It had the creative flare that my kids typically enjoy and I thought surely we will do those and the kids will love it. But then as I looked at all the examples I saw that kids were studying things like Egypt, ocean life cycles, animals and on and on. Then I thought about what we do: Reading, writing, and math. I don't spend much time at all on any axtra curricular subjects. That would mean if we were to do lapbooking then I would have to come up with something to teach them. How on earth do I choose a topic. When there are so many things for children to learn where does one begin?
I talked with my mentor and she helped a lot. She said her kids knew a ton about flowers and yet they never studied flowers. How did they learn? They went to the nursery and the kids bought flowers and they talked about them. They discussed where they like to live (sun/shade), how tall they would get, what colors were they, would they look good with the other selections in their pot. And they did this year after year while the kids grew up. That is how they learned about flowers and plants. Then she told me about a friend who said that they looked at some geography projects her kids did while young and not only did her kids not remember the information, they didn't remmeber doing the projects. None of them did. They looked and saw their writing and confirmed that it was their project but they had no recollection of ever having done it. What does that mean? Should a parent not do projects with their kids? I don't believe so. But I think the reasons why a parent does it might be different than we think. It may not be for the imformation learned (or not learned as we see in this example), but for the relationship that is established and nurtured through doing these projects. The talking, teaching, learning, and relational time spent doing these activities is invaluable and it should be done.
That brings me back to exactly what do I teach my girls. Do we study the stars, or animal life cycles, or some other science, biology, history, geography subject? In order to figure this out I needed to really think again about what my goals were for my girls and what my educational convictions are.
My conviction is that the young elementary years should be spent learning the basics of reading, writing and math. They also need to learn how to learn. Meaning, they need to learn how to get information from the material they are reading. So, they will read a variety of books and a lot of them and as they mature they will learn how to learn. Then as they are adults they can learn anything they want through reading. If they want to learn another language they can. If they want to learn about anatomy they can. I believe that bogging a childs mind with too many subjects interferes with this process. It doesn't give them enough time to develope these skills. When they work on their math they do as much of it as they can on their own, including reading the text, and correcting their mistakes. I have seen with my own children that they are capable of doing far more on their own than I realize and when they buckle down and do it they have learned it. When I try to spoon feed them they don't learn a thing. The more I try to explain something to them the more they look at me with a blank stare. When they discover something on their own, it is set in their minds and the confidence that comes with that is priceless. I cannot give them that confidence except to allow them to aquire that on their own. Most of this philosophy comes from Dr. Robinson. I know I have mentioned this curriculum before. I also know that many people will disagree and that is ok. There are many right ways to an education and this happens to be the right way for us.
Back to my conversation with my mentor. We discussed what else the girls were doing currently. The girls go to Awana which gives them an opportunity to put Gods word in their minds and hearts. We also work through a catechism book. So bible is a big part of our school as well. Then they just started with sewing. Sewing for my girls is a great activity and skill to learn. And we just recently started a childrens choir. I saw value in spending time learning both of these things. For the time being that is enough extracurriucular learning.
As I was talking to hubby about this I remembered a book that I have that I bought several years ago. It is called Keepers at Home. As I looked through the book I realized that I would want my girls to know many if not all of the things in it. It is meant to be worked on throughout the childs schooling at home. It covers acheiving goals in personal bible studies, creative skills, homemaking skills, knowledge skills, nature, recreational activies, and servce/etiquette/hospitality skills. This little handbook encompasses all that I believe are what God wants my children to know. It was an answer to prayer. When I think of what a Proverbs 31 wife is like I think that this book will help me teach my girls the skills they will need in order to be a Proverbs 31 wife themselves someday. That really is my goal for my children.
My conclusion is that as those little nagging insecurities creep in my head I can go back to this post and the handbook and remember that God has given me a direction and that unless HE leads me elsewhere I don't need to worry that my kids are not learning about the same things that other kids are learning about. Of course if my girls tell me they want to study something then that is what we will do. By the way, we do not limit what is learned in our home based on our educational philosophy mentioned above. We try to visit many museums and take fieldtrips and we have big maps hanging on our walls and we incorporate lots of lifestyle learning. As questions come up we pursue answers to them for the sake of teaching our children that there are answers and we care enough to find them. I also realized that we can make lap books from learning some of these skills in the Keepers at Home handbook. I already have a few ideas about our sewing projects!
Susan
PS- There is also a book for boys called Contenders for the Faith.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - Hands on learner
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I read an article in the No Greater Joy magazine by the Pearls. Rebekah Anast wrote it on choosing curriculum. She suggests learning how your child learns best and then choosing a curriculum based on that information. As she spoke about the child who learns by touch I realized that this describes my third child completely. She had a wonderful recipe for the hands on child that I will share. I made it this morning for my dd4 and she wiggled in anticipation for it to be completed and had a blast getting all gooey and sticky.
Peanut butter Playdough
1/3 part peanut butter
1/3 part dry powdered milk (I actually used more, our peanut butter was really wet)
1/3 part honey
Mix together and knead until dough sticks together. Refridgerate left overs in an airtight container for a week or more. Use decorations such as chocolate chips, raisins, cheerio's, M&M's, etc.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - Smiles to my face
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A few things have brought a smile to my face lately.
*My dd7 reading books to her little sister after we tuck them in at night. They can be seen in the rocking chair with a blanket on their lap.
*Dd7 on the floor with the vacuum hose picking up all the bits that get stuffed under the bed, all without being asked.
*Dd8 with her head buried in a book either on the couch or on the bed. Her quote yesterday was "when I read I feel like I am in another world". I am so glad she discovered the wonders of reading a good book.
These things encourage me and bring me hope. Even though I may not always feel like I have done a good job as a parent, when I see young fruit like this I can thank my Lord.
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