"Do you know what is wrong with people who never read nursery rhymes? I will tell you. When little boys and girls grow bigger and older, they should grow from the outside, leaving a little boy in the middle; even when they are quite grown up, the little child that once they were should be within them. But some unlucky people grow older from inside and so grow old through and through."
We have been reading several poetry books as a family. The book Honey for a Child's Heart has a section about Poetry which inspired me to get back on track with reading the children poetry aloud. We're currently reading "The World of Christopher Robin" by A.A. Milne as a family and we love the silliness of them. Some other wonderful poetry books aside from our favorite Dr. Suess:
Randolph Caldecott's Picture Books-
mostly nursery rhymes, but pictures are magnificent!
Mar. 17, 2009 - Our Homeschooling is Always Improving
I recently found and loved the guidelines set in The Well-Trained Mind. It goes along with TJED so well, but I needed a more rigid idea of what needs to be done for my kids but with the classical mentality that I love and feel strongly about. I've been ordering some of the books suggested.
In addition I have a friend, a mentor, who owns hundreds of Classic children's books I had NEVER even heard of! I thought I had at least a mediocre idea of children's literature. I found that I am but a babe, a child myself in this wide world of classical children's literature. I spent two separate days copying all of the book titles in her many bookshelves. I still have another day or two to go to finish. I have hundreds of books on my list to get. When I have some extra time I will be sharing this list. She then took me to the numerous used book stores and helped me pick out additional titles of children's classics to get, many for $1 or less.
Two of those books are from the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series of which there are four, I believe. We begun reading the first one aloud. I highly recommend this book! It is an easy to read aloud book meaning it is easy to imitate the characters and it is enjoyable. My five year old and up absolutely love this book and beg me to read just another chapter. Even my husband laughs with the kids during some of these funny adventures. We have read almost half of the book in three separate sittings, so it is also a quick read. I am so glad we found this series!
M, my almost eight year old daughter, is listening to the CD that is the audio companion to The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. She loves it and the songs that go with it. I love hearing the younger children repeating all the alphabet sounds too.
Johann Strauss II (October 25, 1825 – June 3, 1899; German: Johann Baptist Strauß; also known as Johann Baptist Strauss, Johann Strauss, Jr., or Johann Strauss the Younger) was an Austrian composer famous for having written over 500 waltzes, polkas, marches, and galops. He was the son of the composer Johann Strauss I, and brother of composers Josef Strauss and Eduard Strauss. He is also the most famous member of the Strauss family. He was known in his lifetime as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century. He revolutionized the waltz, elevating it from a lowly peasant dance to entertainment fit for the royal Habsburg court.
I recently purchased "Johann Strauss Jr Most Famous Waltzes". What a beautiful compilation of his works. It contains over and hour's worth of music that is invigorating and makes you want to dance.
We listened to it again last night while I was cooking dinner. The younger girls were so inspired that they all dressed up in their ballerina outfits, tutus and all and danced around the house. We love all of his music. Our absolute favorites are:
"Tales from the Vienna Woods"
"Roses from the South Op. 388"
"Fruehlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring)"
May I also say he was quite a LOOKER! ;)
Listen to it, I promise you'll love it!!! Johann Strauss was a genius of a musician!
These suggestions came from the book "The Well Trained Mind". I loved them so much I decided to implement them in our homeschool library trips:
Each child picks out one book in each of the following subjects:
*One science book
*One history book
*One art or music appreciation book
*One practical book (i.e. hobby, craft or "how-to")
*One biography or autobiography book
*One classic novel
*An imaginative story book
*One book of poetry
The kids can pick out any title, but they have to have something in each category. Each child has a week to read each book before they go back again the next week.
At our colloquium this week, we had a great time talking about "The Age of Innocence" and planning for the rest of the year. We still had enough books we're dying to read that didn't fit in our year's schedule. *Smile* We thought about having an online discussion forum to talk about the book with those who can't make it for whatever reason, but read the book.
We decided to go ahead and start a second Colloquium meeting, this one for Statesman. We plan to read things like the Federalist papers, etc.
For March we are reading "Follow the River" by James Alexander Thom
Book Summary:
"Mary Ingles was twenty-three, married, and pregnant, when Shawnee Indians invaded her peaceful Virginia settlement, killed the men and women, then took her captive. For months, she lived with them, unbroken, until she escaped, and followed a thousand mile trail to freedom--an extraordinary story of a pioneer woman who risked her life to return to her people."
The book reading list is now as follows:
March: Follow the River by James Alexander Thom
April: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (The first half of the book)
May: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (The second half of the book)
June: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
July: Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare
August: The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
September: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
October: The Short Stories of Edgar Allen Poe
November: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
December: The Other Wiseman (Suggested by Linda)
As far as the Statesman Colloquia we will meet the second Wednesday at the same time. I will send more information for that.
For March we'll be reading: 1776 by McCullough
At the next meeting we'll decide which to read next but our suggested book list is:
1) Future Shock by Toffler
2) The Roots of American Order
3) The Federalist Papers by Russell Kirk
4) Democracy in America by Tocqueville
5) The Constitution of the United States of America
6) The Declaration of Independence
7) Common Sense by Thomas Paine
8) John Adams Biography
9) The True End of Civil Government by John Locke
10) The Social Contract by Rousseau
11) The History of England by David Hume
Mar. 1, 2009 - I Went Used Book Store Shopping and...
these are the books I got today super duper CHEAP! I'm so excited and so are the kids. My Chrisy was intrigued by the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr and she read the entire book while we traveled from store to store.
Kid's List:
Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates by Mary Maples Dodge
A Little Princess by Francis Hodges Burnett
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The World of Christopher Robin by A.A. Milne
The Handy Biology Answer Book by Naomi Balaban
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Parakeet Handbook, The (Barron's Pet Handbooks)by Annette Wolter
Hello Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
I, Columbus: My Journal, 1492-1493 by Peter Roop
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
For Me:
1776 by David McCollough
Sonnets from the Portuguese And Other Poems by Edwin A. Abbott, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Selected Poems of William Wordsworth edited by George W Meyer
Teaching Your Children Values by Linda Eyre, Richard Eyre
The First American Cookbook: A Facsimile of "American Cookery," 1796 by Amelia Simmons
Speaking of Women's Health: The Book
Lost City of the Incas by Hiram Bingham (1948)
America's Garden Book by Louise And James Bush-Brown (1958)
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer
The New York Times Garden Book by Joan Lee Faust (1962)
Herbal Medicine by Dian Dincin Buchman
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette by Nesta Helen Webster
These are some recent quotes I got in my email box and really enjoyed them:
"Sit down that I may tell thee. The thirst for love, without love of learning, sinks into fondness. Love of knowledge, without love of learning, sinks into presumption. Love of truth, without love of learning, sinks into cruelty. Love of uprightness, without love of learning, sinks into harshness. Love of courage, without love of learning, sinks into turbulence. Love of strength, without love of learning, sinks into oddity."
-Confucious
“The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one’s mind a pleasant place in which to spend one’s leisure.”
-Sydney J. Harris
"Never regard your study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs."
Jan. 23, 2009 - Reading System with Rewards and Small Miracles
We began a new system in our home this week. I felt like there was too much television watching and not enough reading. Sure, we read a lot, but when our family curriculum revolves around reading a lot of classic books it cannot be done well when there is too much movie watching. My husband and I discussed this and a light bulb went on in my brain and I came up with this new system.
For every book read they earn an hour and a half of movie watching.
The rules are:
1) They cannot be baby books or below their reading level. Mom approves the book after discussing their book suggestions and if the child has no suggestions then mom gives ideas.
2) They pick the books. Nothing is more boring that reading an assigned book.
3) An in depth oral exam will be issued after each book. If a child is found to have lied about reading a book, that child will lose an hour and a half of TV. It pays to be honest.
4) The television watching will be redeemed when mom or dad gives permission.
5) If all the children read their book(s) and can watch the movie and one child did not. That child will spend their time during the movie in another room reading their books.
We have already presented this to the family. I am so excited to see their enthusiasm for reading flourish. My daughters are requesting set aside uninterrupted times for reading throughout the day and an hour extra at night to read. They also have been having more impromptu book discussions with me and are excited to share with me their future reading lists. I am so excited to see this little fire lit within the children and the rewards for their hard work are motivating as well as appealing.
My husband is a non reader. I asked him if he would take the challenge and lead the family by his example. I am a voracious reader so I will keep up my reading and each year I make it a goal to read more. My husband agreed to try again. The only book he's read all the way through since I've known him (14 1/2 years) is In Loving Hands. We have been listening to Dave Ramsey and my husband really likes him and is interested in learning more of Dave's system. We went to Barnes and Noble and bought The Total Money Makeover. Tears come to my eyes as I see him reading during his spare time. We found something that interests him!
We have a large family library and I continue to add to it so that the children can always have something to read. My son learned that he loves the Magic Treehouse books. My son was a very late reader, but has recently discovered he is getting better at it. To excite and motivate him I bought him another book in the series yesterday- Viking Ships at Sunrise. He began reading it today. Before lunch he excitedly announced to me today that he finished the first chapter.
We also are doing the same thing with music. The older children can earn computer time one for one for each hour of violin or viola practice. The younger children will learn hymns and receive voice lessons from mom for their music time. My older girls have already earned their computer time today and are excited to redeem it! They love getting on www.goodreads.com.
We are thrilled over the excitement the children have in this program. I am excited because reading is happening more which means learning is increasing too. We have had to change television habits, but it has been worth it. We all know it is more fun to earn something and you enjoy it more.
There is a new video coming out that speaks of the family size is shrinking drastically all over the world, but also in our country. The movie is entitled Demographic Winter. Here is a YouTube short preview of the film.
These problems have been happening for years in Germany. Many people chose to have no children or only one child and there are so many elderly adults and not enough young people to care for them. The problem is so bad that the German government will give women KinderGeld or money every month per child, hoping to encourage the women to have children.
I am almost finished reading Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. I have enjoyed this book immensely. I wish I had known this family growing up or even now. It sounds like it was always fun to be with them. I'm at the end of the book and I'm saddened to see the girls rebel against their parents so much. I did some research on their family online to see if their children had large families as well. None of them did. Most had 2-3 children and only one had four. Their great-grandchildren were about the same.
I just hope to share the message on the importance of having large families if it is possible and the health of the mother permitting.
"Virtually every state in the Union is scrambling to radically change its education system. Few people realized that these changes are largely being driven by the fine print in federal laws first passed in 1994. It's the new Federal Curriculum, and it's contrary to everything America stands for."
Take a couple of minutes to watch this video. You may be surprised by what you see. Phyllis Schlafly says in reference to this book, "Many Americans are sensing that something is very much amiss with our system of education...This book is one of the most important works of our time." I think many of us have an underlying suspicion that this sort of thing is going on, but nothing concrete to prove our theories, until now. He breaks down the agenda of the new Federal Curriculum chapter by chapter explaining in detail what Multiculturalism, Totalitarianism, and Environmentalism is and then how they plan to teach this using their own words from The National Standards for Civics and Government, a textbook for High School students entitled We the People: the Citizen and the Constitution, as well as many addition resources. Chapter by chapter I was all the more thankful for my decision to homeschool. There were two points that the author made mention that were the goals of the FedEd curriculum that seemed to bother me quite a bit and they were:
1) "By requiring 8th graders to have careers, society avoids "wasting resources" on their training. The idea is that someone going into truck driving or sales clerking doesn't need much math, biology or literature, so he or she won't study that much of it. Our children are now being viewed the same way we view the stock market- any investment should produce a profit, and if it won't produce a profit, the investment won't be made. That is, our children are not to learn anything that will not make them a more valuable resource to business."
and
2) "...the new education system frequently refers to students as being human resources. Resources for what? ....for large corporations. (Just as businesses need electricity, steel, glass, plastics, and the like to make their products, they also need human resources.) "
I had always wondered what that term meant that is being used more and more. He knows what he's talking about and it increased my knowledge of what REALLY is happening with the schools and what exactly their agenda is. The Declaration of Independence states,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Our rights are slowly being taken away. Homeschooling is always under attack. I thank Heavenly Father that we still have some freedoms left and the freedom to homeschool how we feel inspired to is still here. That doesn't leave us off the hook from preserving these freedoms. They are slowly being stolen away one law at a time. Keep informed and use your voice!
Mothers are mentors where they like to think of themselves as such, they are. We as mothers really do inspire, motive, and we teach.
The past 3 weeks have been difficult for me and many outside things came up. Due to these disturbances I have been feeling "stressed" in our homeschool and thinking I should do more. Then reality hits. I do so much I cannot add anything more or the scale will break. It was during one of those moments when I had to go to my room to think and contemplate life, homeschool, and my role. I prayed that I could sort out the what's and why's again. I needed inspiration and needed to be reminded what I do as a mentor.
When the answers came I realized how I inspire my children. I realized how I mentor them. Sometimes it really is important to re-evaluate life and homeschool.
I'm going to make a small list of things that I came to a realization that I do personally as a mentor and what they do to inspire my children. Perhaps this list will help you remember the things you do too.
I run a business online (for 10 years): it has taught my children how to run a business and all about customer service.
I write articles and wrote a book: my children love to write and are always jotting down notes.
I am a social butterfly: my children socialize well too.
Healthy eating, exercise, and wellness are very important to me: my children are accepting to a variety of foods, are accepting of herbs and vitamins, and study my books with relish.
I love homemaking. It is my passion: my children all love homemaking, one daughter studies cookbooks, my son tries to help cook, my eldest is an expert at all things mechanical around the house like the vacuum.
My religion is my life: my children have testimonies of God, they enjoy scripture study time, FHE, and love going to church. They enjoy being involved in church activities and the older ones try hard to read scriptures often.
Books are like Foodto me: my children are read to from birth. They love reading and being read to. Just tonight my toddler pulled out one of my books from a book shelf and flipped through it with interest for ten minutes.
When you are feeling that you do not do enough, take time to write down things that you do or have done and the positive affects it has had on your children. Your list may surprise you!
This blog is for the purpose of sharing my triumphs, joys, troubles and stresses of raising and homeschooling my seven children.
We are a military family currently living in North Carolina.
"It is in the digging that life is lived.
And I believe it is joy in the journey,
in the end, that truly matters."
Books Read for 2009
FedEd by Allen Quist
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Working on:
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr., Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Thinking In Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin
Books Read for 2008
The Chimes by Charles Dickens
Prevention's Shortcuts to Big Weight Loss By Chris Freytag
Shrink Your Female Fat Zones By Denise Austin
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman
Anna Karenina By Leo Tolstoy
The Virginian by Owen Wister
Feelings Buried Alive Never Die by Karol K. Truman
The Bonds That Make You Free
Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome by James L Wilson
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Hiding in Plain Site By Ken Bowers
Going Home (Brides of Webster County #1) by Wanda E. Brunstetter
Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
It Takes a Mother to Raise a Village By Colleen Down
Ten Peas in a Pod by Arnold Pent III
One Tattered Angel by Blaine M. Yorgason
Finished 2007:
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Homeschooling Methods by Paul and Gina Suarez
I'm Going to be the Greatest Mom Ever by Terri Camp
If it Weren't for Eve, I'd be a Perfect Wife by Terri Camp
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
She's Gonna Blow by Julie Ann Barnhill
I Didn't Plan to be a Witch by Linda Eyre
Things I Wish I'd Known Sooner: Personal Discoveries of a Mother of Twelve by Jaroldeen Edwards
The other Eminent Men of Wilford Woodruff By Vicki Jo Anderson
Arm the Children by Arthur Henry King
Books Read as a Family 2007:
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
King Arthur Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang
Ten and Twenty
Working on as a Family 2008:
The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Mitchell
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Finished 2007:
also known as Johann Baptist Strauss, Johann Strauss, Jr., or Johann Strauss the Younger) was an Austrian composer famous for having written over 500 waltzes, polkas, marches, and galops. He was the son of the composer Johann Strauss I, and brother of composers Josef Strauss and Eduard Strauss. He is also the most famous member of the Strauss family. He was known in his lifetime as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century. He revolutionized the waltz, elevating it from a lowly peasant dance to entertainment fit for the royal Habsburg court.
We began a new system in our home this week. I felt like there was too much television watching and not enough reading. Sure, we read a lot, but when our family curriculum revolves around reading a lot of classic books it cannot be done well when there is too much movie watching. My husband and I discussed this and a light bulb went on in my brain and I came up with this new system.
. He is a 
college professor, business owner, former Minnesota state legislator, and father of ten children.