We celebrated the end of our first year using Tapestry of Grace last Friday.  Whew!  It was a busy couple of weeks but I think we finished strong and had a great time with family to celebrate.

Here are some photos from our "Ancient Roman" meal....

 We used the recipes from the Classical Kids and I found another one for the chicken online.  The sauce ended up burning...it shouldn't be that dark in color.  I'll post the chicken recipe later today.

Pickles REALLY struggles with "stage fright" and stammered during his oration of Mr. Nobody (from First Language Lesson for the Well-Trained Mind).  He also got really hot in his toga and that is why he is trying to take it off.  He did a great job and kept trying though.

Showing Grandma and Grandpa his Tapestry of Grace work from this  year.

We were so excited to share our Year End Celebration with Grandma and Grandpa W.  Pickles spread all his projects out on the table and told about each one.  We also had our dinner in the living room while reclining on pillows and enjoyed trying new things like artichoke and garbonzo beans.  The children were quite brave and at least tried everything.  We all agreed that dessert was the best....cinnamon raisin rolls! 

Now we are taking a break from organized school for the summer.  I'm planning to blog about our summer plans later. 

I've been meaning to post about our fun this fall but it hasn't happen due to one-thing-or-another.  The four biggest reasons are sleeping snuggly in bed right now while momma suffers from too-much-on-the-brain syndrome.

We have truly loved using Tapestry of Grace this fall.  Pickles is so excited each week to find out what we are going to be learning about.  He is also doing a great job using his "planner" to keep track of what we have to do each day.  He got a little concerned this morning when I told him he could just go and play..."but there are two days of school in my planner for this week?"  It's fun being the teacher and assistant principal because I can bump vacation time as wanted needed.  :)

Here are some photo highlights from our first 15 weeks with Tapestry of Grace.

Our first compeleted salt map...Gooey Geography Island

Pickles in his High Priest costume

Making our Fake Locust Biscuits

Our little Israelites getting ready to enjoy their feast at our Unit 1 Celebration

Our yummy Challah bread

Pumpkin and Pickles sporting some fine Egyptian Jewelry....Obviously this photo was taken before we got 52 inches of snow. 

Hope you enjoyed the quick photo tour of our studies.  If anyone thinks you can't do Tapestry with little ones...just send 'em my way.  We love Tapestry for the early grades.  It has been a rich and full experience to learn about the ancient world and to study God's Word together.  Thanks all you folks at Lampstand Press.  We LOVE Tapestry of Grace!

Hayden completed his first full week of Kindergarten and Kate is enjoying doing some fun hands-on Preschool activities.  For the first few weeks of school Kate will be working on completing projects that go along with the song "The Wheels on the Bus" and then putting them together in a lapbook (from Hands of a Child, I Love Hands of a Child Lapbooks!).  Hayden has really enjoyed studying Egypt this week and likes our switch to Tapestry of Grace.  I think one of the big positivies in his mind are the hands-on projects. 

I love our switch to Tapestry of Grace!  I have found this week that I'm homeschooling my children the way I've always dreamed of.  I think that switching to TOG has given me freedom and structure at the same time.  Once we made the decision to change direction last spring I started to really evaluate the curriculum I use in the other subject areas.  I long in my heart to try to be a Charlotte Mason home educator but struggle with the implementation while juggling the logistics of managing my home.  So, I've taken the attitude that I'll try to do things as well as I can and use whatever helps I deem worthy through careful analysis and prayer.  That journey led us to the different curriculum we are using this fall and momma loves the choices so far!  I do not feel that anything we are using is laborious and yet I am quite happy with the amount of learning that is happening.  Yea! 

I am so grateful that I took the summer to diligently plan our Tapestry units out in detail.  I know that this will help me to stay on task and actually accomplish the goals I've set for this year.  I told dh that this week has been almost like a big sigh for us.  I have been able to relax during our rest times and not stress over unfinished projects.  I've also noticed that the children are not squabbling as much because they have focused things to do.  I love a vacation and a break from the norm but I truly believe a home runs much better on a schedule and that children long for activities that engage their minds in a deep way.   

We did well with our schedule this week but are still learning to manage it.  I will give it a few weeks before I consider readjusting too much.  There weren't any obvious kinks in it (except momma being late to start the day).  We didn't manage to complete any chores (outside of personal hygenine and dishes/meals/laundry) this week so we momma will have to ramp up on time management in the next couple of weeks.  I'm so thankful for a dh who gives me lots of grace in the area of housekeeping during these years when the children are all small.  I'm also quite thankful for the women that God has blessed me to know over the years.  I've heard countless times that they [the children] are only small once, so enjoy it!  I try to not fuss over how little my house gets vaccumed and enjoy reading stories with them instead.  It is a hard balance to strike sometimes but I'm thankful for the message of grace I've received and the grace dh gives me on a daily basis. 

We are off on our journey and looking forward to all the fun ahead!

Here are a few of my favorite moments from the week.

  Pickles loves  Math U See!  Especially when you eat peanut butter crackers while you work.

Pumpkin making soapy letter B's (and eating peanut butter crackers).

RECESS! 

Bible Time...We finished studying Joesph this week.

A tissue box bus. 

Pickles painting his paddle doll.  He did a great job using the brush to outline the doll's features!

Pickles making his "Gooey Geography Island".  He loved mixing the dough and making his first salt map.  We'll paint it next week.

Today is the day.  I even made the bed this morning (something that hasn't happen for awhile).  Today Pickles begins Kindergarten.  I have been planning, praying, and preparing all summer and now its here.  I have wondered what the moment would be like.  I honestly didn't think that I would be as emotional as I am.  I was a bit teary last night while talking to dh and again this morning as I spoke with the Father.  It really does seem like a milestone even though I'm not changing our routinue too much. 

I think the part that makes me emotional is thinking about how much he will change this year.  I remember teaching Kindergarten and seeing all the growth and maturity that happened during that year.  I'm excited and sad at the same time.  The conflicted moments of motherhood.  I just praise God that I get a front seat to see how God will continue to form and fashion Pickles into the man He desires.  I'm also humbled that God has chosen dh and I to be the ones to be Daddy/Principal and Momma/Teacher to a little person created in His image.  Wow!   

I finished the notebook for Pickles to use for our first Unit of Tapestry of Grace.  WooHoo! 

I had a request for some pictures.  So here they are.  I'll have to come back later tonight to explain them a bit more. 

These first two show some of the pages I took from the History Pockets Book on the Ancients.  I like that a few easy hands-on projects are here for ds to do. 

This picture (below) shows how I reformated the SAPs from the Loom.  We will probably just discuss the Bible questions and I will be the scribe for ds. 

I'm also going to insert card stock (as needed) to put pictures of our projects in the appropriate weeks.  I dispise clutter so this is my solution to having a record of our work without having to save all those projects for eons. 

Hope that gives you an idea of what I did.  Oh, and I used my new proclick binder!!!  LOVE THE PROCLICK!

Pickles was getting ready to use his computer ticket when he saw the blog I had been reading up on the screen.  It was from Molly's blog about their recent Mummy project for Tapestry of Grace year 1.  He started to excitedly point to the picture and say, "it's Knox, the boy we prayed for".  It was so sweet and made me cry. 

Glad you are doing better Knox!  Praise God for His work in your life through this trial.  Oh, and pickles thinks the mummies look like fun!

It has been such fun to wade through the materials we will use and organize our days for the coming school year!  I know...I'm a bit of a freak in that sense.  I love to organize and plan.  I especially find it fun when I see God directing us to such wonderful tools to use in our Homeschool.  I have always been a lover of books and learning so it makes me excited to see the fun things we get to learn together next  year.

Our Fall will include:

Kindergarten for Pickles

Tapestry of Grace Year One (this includes Bible, History, Geography, Writing, and Fine Arts)

Math U See - Alpha

Handwriting Without Tears - 1st Grade Bk

First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind

Apologia Science - Exploring Creation with Zoology I (Flying Creatures)

All About Spelling Level 1

Preschool for Pumpkin

Handwriting Without Tears - PreK Book (the PreK Book has a lot of Readiness Activities in it)

Counting/Patterning

Learning the ABC's and phonograms

Learning activities during "blanket time" (30 min. on a blanket with an appropriate activity)

Listening in to Read-Alouds for History, Bible and Science

Listening to lots of stories too!

I stubbled across a website that has helped me organize my brain for planning the Tapestry part of our school days.  TOG Set Up.  It has been tremendously helpful!  I also found a plan sheet at Donna Young's site which was just what I had dreamed of using.  DH tweaked it a little bit but it is just how I wanted to record my lesson plans in Excel.  I was able to get the entire first 9 weeks of school typed in last night.  I also like that this plan page includes a sheet for goals and objectives every 3 weeks.  It helps to give me a snapshot of where we are and where we are headed.

I forgot to mention that before I get busy with all this specific planning I have spent considerable time in prayer asking for direction in this process.  I have found that with a home full of littles we function best when momma has a good offense plan going.  We've all heard/read that children thrive on some amount of structure and I have certainly seen how a schedule is a blessing my family.  I try to pray/think through all the variables in our days and how those pieces can best fit together.  I've read through MOTH, lurked on the TOG Loose Threads Yahoo Group, read through the scheduling tips from the Loom   and done trial and error tests in our home with different schedules throughout the years.  I ended up combining the wisdom I've gleaned from others with a heap of our personal experience to organize our upcoming school days.  I also start each day knowing that my plan schedule may fall apart and have to be tossed to the wind for the day.  I like to think of myself as a flexibly scheduled person.

I need to get going for today...Pickles wants to use his computer ticket.  More later....

Warning!  DH says this is full of run-ons and typos...proceed with GRACE...I'm not sure my brain is all in one place right now.  Thanks!

I had not intended to take such a long bloggy break but that is how it has happened and it has been good!  We have been in transition mode since Peanut joined our family in late March.  I've barely had time to respond to emails let along organize my thoughts and remember how to navigate the creation of entries.  So, I would walk by my cluttered desk and glance at the computer but choose to not stop for a chat.  It was good to have a break!

Now, I have had several absolutely awesome posts written in my head over the past few weeks but of course they are now lost to the unknown.  You'll just have to take my word for it...

..there was the one about the bumpersticker that read "When Clinton Lied, No One Died"

..there was the one about how poetic it is to watch a baby move their hands (lots of momma sap in that one)

..there was the one about the time when all of the children were awake and in our bed at 3:00 in the morning and momma could hardly move because her pain pills had worn off (that was a day or two after we got home from the hospital)

..there was the one about Pumpkin getting her hair cut at a "real" beauty salon for the first time

..there was the one about my new workout

..there was the one about watching the PBS Jane Austen movies while nursing during the first two weeks home...that was bliss

As you can tell a lot has happened in the past six weeks.  Wow, little peanut is six weeks old!  He looks like a three month old and I'm sure weighs almost 12 lbs.  He has outgrown most of his 0-3 month clothes and fills out the 3-6 month ones pretty well.  He still doesn't look "pudgy" to me though.  He just seems "big". 

He also is the loudest burper out of the three of our babies.  I don't think I've ever belched as loud as he has.  It catches me off guard, makes me laugh and so far (thank the Lord) has only happen at home.  I'm waiting for the day that it happens in church....let's just say a cell phone ringing would be LESS distracting.  Smooch...love you bunches baby, peanut!  I hope your burps don't grow with you though. 

Peanut also has the BEST sleepy faces, ever!  I think he looks like Elmer Fudd when he yawns.  He has a little bald head and always yawns with his face squished up on the right side.  Very Cute!  You just wanna kisses those cheeks when he does it. 

Ok, enough baby blubbers...

We also have news on the curriculum front.  Dh and I were quite happy to attend the State Homeschool Convention a couple of weeks ago.  We enjoyed the time alone to talk, see resources in person rather than online, and to purchase most of the things on my list for the year.  We were also quite encouraged, convicted, and renewed through our discussion and time in the sessions.  I find it so helpful that my dh goes with me to these events.  I feel like we are a team rather than me doing it all myself.  He also helps to keep me on budget and to sort out the best choices for our family.  He is good at reminding me that I can't "do it all" nor does he desire me to. 

This year we felt pretty sure about our curriculum choices and I was excited to go to convention and not feel pressured to make BIG decisions.  Well, God had other plans.  You see it all started a couple of years ago when a friend introduced us to Tapestry of Grace.  We had a three year old (who was eager to read) at the time so I thought it was a great curriculum but not for us at that time.  Then we began to use Sonlight with Pickles and loved it (mostly).  We thought we were a "Sonlight Family".  All during that time I continued to quietly research and ask questions about Tapestry and even thought that maybe someday we would use it...down the road. 

This fall we officially begin Kindergarten with Pickles.  We were planning on trying to combine Pickles and Pumpkin in one Sonlight Core but that would require us to put-off things for another year and a half at least, until she caught up.  I was in a quandry of what to do.  He needs to move on but she isn't ready for anything formal.  There were also other things about Sonlight that just seemed to wave red flags for us.  Now, don't get me wrong...I love Sonlight...I just wasn't sure it was what we needed for our family. 

So, I was excited to actually see samples of Tapestry at convention.  Well, we visited the booth three times and asked loads of questions.  Dh did save me from buying the whole thing right then and there (I'm the spontaneous one) .  We decided to pray about it and talk it through some more.  Since that time I've talked with a dear friend who uses the curriculum with her Lower Grammer children and loves it.  I've read some encouraging posts from other users who highlight the thing that draws us to the curriculum, the discipleship aspect, and we both agree that this is what we desire for our children.  I've been hesitate to use it because others had told me it was too hard to plan and with three children under 5 I don't have a lot of time lying around to make grand plans.  Well, the Holy Spirit convicted me that I was being lazy. 

Lazy you ask, how?  Well, we desire first and foremost that our children love, service, and honor God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength.  That isn't going to happen unless we disciple them.  We believe that part of that discipleship process is to show them how God created our world, redeemed our world, and continues to work His will in our world.  Therefore, the study of history becomes more than a study of dates and events but of how the secular world interacts with Biblical history.  We thought we would be able to weave those thoughts in with whatever curriculum we were using...well, in reality does something like that ever happen?  Not here!  I get too caught up in the laundry, meal prep, sick kiddos, and family picnics to get that much time to plan and research. 

I guess you could say I'm getting wiser...I am more aware of my own limitations and I own up to them (usually).  So, as I stood at the booth that first night of the convention I felt in my heart the Holy Spirit asking me to give more of my time (in planning) to my children's discipleship.  To view this curriculum as a tool to reach their hearts with the Gospel and not just fill their minds with "stuff".  Now, I am excited about the "stuff" we get to learn but I'm more excited to see how it points us to Christ. 

So, there you have it.  We are going to use Tapestry of Grace.  I'm excited, a little nervous, and feeling very unprepared but I am so at peace with where God has me in life.  I'd rather be here learning about the Egyptians with my littles (between laundry, nursing sessions, and pb&j breaks) than anywhere else. 

God is so very Good!  I pray He renews your vision for your homeschool this summer and gives you the joy to continue on this awesome journey of family life!