Woodhaven - Homeschool Blogger

Homeschool Conference

Sun, 21 May 2006 13:45:00 -0500

We went to our state homeschool conference. I was only able to attend one lecture. The presenter spoke about Art and how Christians should not abandon art just because there are artists that are producing art that is not quite Godly (to put it mildly). I enjoyed the lecture and learned a few things. I love looking at all the curriculum. I was able to buy Jeannie Fulbright's Zoology book which fits perfectly with all the bird watching/bird feeding we are doing lately. I picked up a few other things, mostly Dover coloring books.

I told my sons (7,5) that all of the families that were at the conventions were homeschoolers and quite a few of them were Christians. They were very surprised to see so many of us! That is one of my favorite things about Homeschool Conferences is just enjoying the moment...we are all Homeschooling!

Irish Folk Dancing

Fri, 19 May 2006 13:25:00 -0500

We took the kids to Irish Folk dancing which was A LOT of fun! It was mostly older people so when a bunch of homeschoolers showed up-they were most certainly happy! My oldest son (7) did really really well. He did all the steps and clearly enjoyed himself! Son (5) liked it. Daughter (3) mostly stayed with mommy and did get up there when there was some kind of twirling waltz. She had on a skirt that looks nice when you spin...so she wanted to do anything that involved twirling so her dress could "look like a flower". I mostly stayed with the baby. I'm a TERRIBLE dancer and really don't enjoy it either. I am not graceful and have no sense of rythmn either. My husband danced with kids and he said it was quite a work-out.

Mother's Day was nice. I got a nice diamond cross necklace and some cake etc. The kids were so excited-they just love a party!

More on Mother's Day...

Sat, 13 May 2006 09:34:00 -0500

I was just reading that prayer and was feeling so sad about the loss of my mother when my daughter (3) popped into the room carrying a gift bag. She climbed on the bed next to me and said "Happy Mother's Day!!!!". She didn't realize that tomorrow is Mother's Day. She handed me the gift bag and said "thanks for giving me my baby sister". I opened the gift bag and inside were a whole bunch of handmade cards from my kids.

A few mintues later the boys came tearing into my room yelling that tomorrow is Mother's Day and my daughter (3) gave me the gift bag on the wrong day. She felt bad and the boys were upset.

I explained to them that she actually gave me exactly what I needed at exactly the right moment.

To My Mother on Mother's Day

Sat, 13 May 2006 09:23:00 -0500

I miss you. You gave me life. You were my protector, my teacher, my mentor, my moral compass, my comfort. I feel so alone without you. No one worried about me the way you did. No one loves me the way you did.

Please forgive me for the times I caused you pain and for the times I took you for granted. I can't begin to fathom all the scarifices you made for my sake.

I want to thank you for all the ways you blessed my life. Nothing can replace the gaping hole your death has left in my life. But mixed together with all my sadness there is a great joy for having known you.

I will remember your smile, your touch. I will remember your laughter, your kindness, your generosity, your determination, your love.

Thank you for the time we shared, for the love you gave, for the wisdom you spread. I will always treasure the lessons you taught me. I will carry them with me all the days of my life. I am so proud to be your child.

Mayb God watch over you and bless you with gentleness and love. As you blessed me.

~Amen~

*Talking to God by Naomi Levy

Horse Farm!!!

Tue, 9 May 2006 20:20:00 -0500

Our farm class took the boys to a horse farm. I have never been to real horse farm that has horses that race and show etc. I was surprised at how immaculately clean and organized it was. There are horse farms everywhere here and we live right by one of the biggest horse areas in this state. Going to the supermarket often means following behind a horse trailor going very slowly on a long road. The boys got to practice grooming the horses and did some "horse chores". They were really excited and learned some completely new things!

Baby's laughter fills the air

Tue, 9 May 2006 16:29:00 -0500

The music of my baby daughter's first laugh filed the air today! All the kids heard it too. How sweet is that????

Bronx Zoo!

Sat, 6 May 2006 11:23:00 -0500

Yaah! We finally made it to the Zoo! I finally got to see my New York friend (Dominique, you are famous!) who I have not seen in 11 months since moving and having the baby. And of course the kids got to visit too.

We saw a whole bunch of animals and took some pictures...did the standard zoo stuff. We missed the Gorillas because you could not take the strollers and we decided that we didn't want to carry the children just to see some apes.

We also could not take the strollers to see the tigers which disppointed son (5) but what can you do? I think we did really well taking 7 children to the zoo (including one infant). No one got lost, no one got hurt and they all had a nice time. Dominique even had her daughter taking pictures just to give it that nice "educational" touch! I wasn't that educational.

Too much family fun in one day

Fri, 5 May 2006 17:33:00 -0500

Just when you thought you couldn't have enough family fun...I decided to have a picnic at the beautiful park about 20 miles away from our home. Where do I begin? We pack up some food, badmitton set and all the blanket. Four kids in the truck and we are off! We arrive safely and find a scenic place to sit in this 324 acre park. We unpack and start to eat our lunch. The baby is snoozing nicely. All is well. UNTIL the local high school track team decides to exercise about 20 feet from us. The girls are wearing what is known as "booty shorts" and a bra tank top. My son (5) says "wow, you can really look up their shorts" He is my opinionated child. He is concerned that the teens are not wearing enough clothing. Funny, I'm haivng the same concern. The baby wakes up. The girls start doing cartwheels. . I turn the boys around away from the "show" and decided to nurse the baby. Maybe they will do their stretches and jog away??? NO, not a chance. What was I thinking? They are now going to practice sprinting right near us in this 324 acre park that is pretty empty. So, we pack up and decided to take a nature walk (which consists of me yelling at son (5) to be careful not to fall into the lake). We return back to where the girls are and they are starting to leave. We try it again with the blanket and all of our stuff. Within about 10 mintues my son (5) who never is still decides he doesn't want to play badmitton and is "bored". I encourage him to play with his brother but he wants no part of it. My older son (7) informs me that he hit the birdie thing into the tree and it's stuck. He feels the need to YELL this information to me and wakes up the baby. The baby cries, of course. I get up to check out the birdie thing situation and ntoice my daughter (3) is holding herself. She tells me she has to use the bathroom. There is no bathroom close by and we can't walk that far. She has an "accident". Ok, we pack up everything and jump in the truck-heading home. Not so fast. We try to take a short cut to go around the rush hour jam-up on the main road and land up going about 20 miles out of our way. We don't get lost but clearly that was not a direct route. It looked good on the map. I unload everyone from the truck and notice that the baby has "exploded" out of her diaper. Now I have two girls in poopy pants. Oh, and I forgot to set up the crockpot. Now we don't even have dinner. My husband called and wanted to know how the picnic went.

Enough family fun for one day.

Saw Some Sheep....

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:11:00 -0500

We went over to a local park that has a "living history farm" on its grounds. Today they did some sheep shearing and sheep dogs did sheep herding. My son (5) has a favorite animal and it is SHEEP. He loves sheep and always has...since he was a little guy. So, we saw the sheep get a haircut and watched the sheep dogs do their job. My baby clearly had her guardian angel on duty today. I was holding her and all of a sudden a rock grazed the side of her head. Some little boy decided to throw a rock; his mother was very apologetic and concerned. It was a little boy and every child has done something crazy like that...I'm just so grateful it didn't hit her in the head hard or in her eye. Thank You God.

We then took a long walk around a huge pond. The boys were in their glory running around and discovering things. They think they found a beaver dam. I have no idea because I don't know anything about beavers but if they are happy with their discovery-let them have their fun. It is so true about boys-they need motion and they love to explore. My daughter (3) was having fun but not as much as the boys. A few times I thought son (5) was going to fall into the pond but he managed to stay on dry land. He did take a couple of bad falls on the gravel but that didn't slow him down.

We are working on making a nice garden on the side of the patio but can't fit all the plants we need into the Subruban in one trip. So, my husband will be stopped for a few more platns on his way home from work today. We are planting Welgia, which is supposed to be a good screen-privacy type of plant. I have no idea but nothing ventured-nothing gained. I'd like to grow some herbs but I'm afraid of the deer getting the nibbles and eating my plants. Maybe I can grow them inside? Ok, time to end this not ebecause the baby needs some attention from her mommy.

Hey! Who taught my daughter how to write????

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 08:41:00 -0500

Being the third child has its advantages. My daughter (almost 4) was bugging me to spell her brothers names for her. I told her they are long names but she told me "mommy, do it one letter at a time" with that very serrious face she makes. OK, fine. Just to keep her quiet I dictated the spelling. Guess what? The child can write! The letters were neat and well formed. I guess she really does listen and watch everything that her brothers do during school.