~Dulce Domum~ - Homeschool Blogger

Making the move;)

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:36:00 -0500

Ok, I think I am ready to be brave and make my blogger blog public;) It is NOT what I want it to be at all yet, but if I don't tell you about it, it will take forever and ever to do it *right*!! So...since I know you all are waiting with bated breath...here is it:

the new and improved Dulce Domum!! Leave me a note and let me know if you have found it (here or there;) Since school has started again, and I am training for a 1/2 marathon and I will start teaching gym every friday, I thought I would just start blogging again too. Makes sense doesn't it? The truth is, I love it, and I love keeping up with myself with it, and updating my family and friends (which is why I started). So get over there will ya?? What are you still doing here???

Its that time...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:59:00 -0500

The school bell is almost ringing around here! Oh, wait, that was the coffee pot;)

If you have read this blog for any amount of time at all (all five of you;) you know that I am ready for a *normal* year! Well, I have MUCH to communicate, but first, step into this ADD mind of mine and see how our schedule came together.

First, it started with fear and trepidation at homeschooling a middle schooler, a 3rd grader and a 1st grader who thinks she is a middle schooler...

Then, I needed to figure out HOW in the world I was going to do it. I use the BEST curriculum guide in the world, with the BEST philosophy (IMHO of course;). But there is that applying thing that gets the best of us stuck at times! Plus, three kids, with three different book lists, one three year old, four days a week equals crying out to God (and of course a glass of wine...).

Here is what I did:

wrote everyone's initial and subject needed to be covered in the next 12 weeks on a piece of paper and threw it on the floor:

this is just a portion

I am not good at processing AND making a chart on the computer at the same time, and I needed to see the whole week at once.

Then I put the lessons times along one side of the room and started to fill in the gaps.

On Monday mornings, I decided to do everything we can together, which isn't too much, but every little minute I can squeeze out of the week helps. Together we are going to do our quartly Composer Study, Artist Study, Shakespeare, Hymn Study, Folksongs, scripture reading, and handwriting.

I worked on one day at a time, and I think I have it all figured out. At least it looks really good on paper!

Here is what my paper squares week looks like after rearranging a couple times. We only school 4 days a week and each column under each day is one of the kids schedules. Nik was a little overwhelmed at the amount of his squares.

The final schedules are here...they even each got their own font;) So, it fits on paper (even with some of the books they didn't finish up last year), we will see if it works in real life!! I will keep you posted!

Boycotting the Olympics?!?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:33:00 -0500

Warning...rant...proceed with caution;)

There is talk in the Christian circles of boycotting the Olympics because of where it is this time...

I am having trouble following why its necessary, let alone helpful on any level. First of all, I GET where its coming from. They are Communist, horrible to families, hate my creator (as a Government), give no human rights to their people AND put lead in our toys, etc, etc, etc. But what purpose on any eternal level does it serve? What does it DO???

Why not support our athletes and use it to pray for all the Christian organizations that are using this event as a ministry opportunity and for the Chinese people in general! Why not just PRAY!

We as a nation commit infanticide almost FIVE THOUSAND TIMES A DAY! We are more worthy to host an event like the Olympics? Where is the *Christian*-Boycott-line-in-the-sand?

I know I am really really simplifying the issue, but we as Trinity believers NEED to PRAY and infiltrate, not boycott. (Boycott things MADE in China if you MUST boycott!)

I think I got it all out, what are your thoughts?

A Sweet Shaye Moment!

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 20:27:00 -0500

Shaye: (after watching Spiderwick with us & hugging me;)) We had a Grandma and she died...I miss her!

Me: I know, we will see her again someday!

Shaye: I know, up, up, up in heaven. I love you momma so much.

Me: Thanks Shaye, I love you too!

Shaye: You are my bestest mom.

Me: Thanks Shaye, you are my bestest fourth child (I counted on my fingers to show her).

Shaye: I am three! I am not three anymore???

A Great Way to End the Night

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:05:00 -0500

Today before church Henry got our local community paper the Grand Ledge Independent and was flipping through it. He read this aloud to me and Seth:

Lowest of lowbrow to steal wheelchair

To the person or persons who stole the wheel chair in front of a house on Jenne St. of a 96-year-old lady that used it outdoors to enjoy herself. You ought to be proud of yourself. It took a lot of courage to do this.

She used to make mittens for the children and is called the Mitten Lady. She is the widow of a war veteran that was wounded in the war.

Do the right thing and return it to where you took it. If anyone sees a red wheel chair anywhere, call the Grand Ledge police and they will return it to the lady.

I cannot even imagine someone stealing from a handicapped person. You need our prayers.

I told Steve that I just folded Grandma's and put it in her closet! Seth yells, "Let's give her Grandma's!"

Her house is less than a mile from ours and we pass it all the time. We knew exactly what house on Jenne St. they were talking about. We passed it on the way to church and everyone got excited about maybe delivering a wheelchair later.

Well, it ended up being around 5:45pm when we finally got to it after the days activities. We could hear that the TV was on through the screen door, but she never made it to the door. We left the chair on the front porch with a little note. I just explained how we had lost our Grandma and thought she could use it. Love The Steitz's. We went to dinner with my inlaws and when we got back there was a message on their answering machine asking that we call, and that this chair was so much better than the one that was stolen. We decided to go by her house on the way home.

The kids were SO excited. After Grandma died, they kept asking if we could have another Grandma come live with us! So here we were all of us on her tiny porch. She came to the door in a chair she keeps inside and immediately invited us in to "see how she lives" as she put it. It was like stepping back in time! Here was this 96 year old woman who lived on her own and was a widow of a World War ONE veteran!!!

We probably spent about an hour there talking to her and hearing about her life! Here was this woman pretty much living on her own right around the corner from me!! I have driven by her house at times wondering about her because I knew an elderly woman lived there. It was an amazing time! She was so greatful and kept wanting to pay us. She gave Shaye a stuffed animal and the kids candy corn from probably 1973! (Alexandra spit hers in the garden and Shaye said hers tasted great!) She hugged Seth when she found out it was his idea. She doesn't go to the doctors and is not on any medication. Cooks her own dinners and has encouraging handwritten notes all over her walls! One that says, Slow Down Inez (her name); Be patient, stay humble! The man that wrote the letter to the paper checks on her every day and makes her her morning coffee. He is just a friend from town.

I was blessed tonight! By my family, by my community (well, NOT the ones who stole her chair;) and by her! She has the BEST attitude and loves her little house and life! Pray we are able to share the Gospel with her soon!

Inspired Husband

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:20:00 -0500

So, we have been on a journey lately...and its all Henry's doing (inward cheering;).

We have made the switch to raw milk and Henry is officially baking our bread. I know that I have been pretty sappy lately, but when your husband buys items from Urban Homemaker (which by the way is a GREAT site, and Marilyn Moll has a wealth of info to share in her newsletters!), shouldn't I be??? (sappy that is!)

Nutrition is very important to me. I was raised with an awareness of health & nutrition (even if I wasn't always practicing...) and Henry and I have slowly been taking steps to a more organic lifestyle. But recently, Henry has been bitten with the bug! The milk and bread thing is ALL him, and he even does a two step process now with his bread making. (I don't even know how to use the bread maker yet;)

But this morning, he just outdid himself!!!! This is what we had for breakfast.

Cinnamon Bread

The Proud Baker

Of course, then I had to make glaze and added even more nutritional value to it~haha!

Seth the Tadpole Hunter!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:10:00 -0500

Last summer Seth decided to turn my perennial beds into a vegetable garden by planting and harvesting watermelons (from the seeds in HIS piece of watermelon) a pumpkins.

This year, he decided to *raise* (as he puts it) Toads from teeny wheeny tadpoles. We are blessed with 9 acres of woods behind our house in the suburbs where we do many of our nature walks.

Our new little duck family in the pond out back.

Seth discovers the tadpoles

Seth found some in a pond that comes and goes through the rainy seasons and on one of our nature walks we found tons of tadpoles. We later learned that the black ones are toads. We got out our handy dandy Handbook of Nature Studies. We used an old aquarium and got pond water and rocks so they could eat the algae off of them. Ever since then (May 24th) Seth has gone out and *raised* them on our deck.

A couple days ago, we discovered tiny tiny toads! We have only had to have one burial so far because we didn't have enough land. We learned that after their legs start appearing, they lose their gills and grow lungs...so he quickly went out back to build up one side of the aquarium. Thus, the happy results...

Some babies left to be raised!

A Philosophy of Education

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:52:00 -0500

The attempt to read A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason has begun again;) This time I think it is going to stick though, because all of a sudden certain things are making sense like never before.

I have always tried to use AmblesideOnline as more than just a book list (mostly because IT IS...), but taking the time to read and dig, well, just takes time. So for many many months, I have been living off of the knowledge of the wiser women on the Ambleside yahoo groups (which has many wise women on it!!).

Anyway, because my daughters were being very shy and would not let me leave them at a Day Camp (at a friend's house none the less...her daughter was doing the camp, still couldn't leave...) I sat in my suburban and read for almost 2 hours. It was actually quite nice to have them time to read a whole paragraph all at once. In between phone calls from the boys back at home (homeschooling via phone, a first for me), I was able to just absorb so much info just in the introduction!

Miss Mason seems way more candid in this volume (I have only partly read Volume One). But it really sparked a fire in me and now can't wait to just delve into it.

She starts off pointing out how the mind, just like the body NEEDS nourishment. But to her, that is not just to use it on a daily basis. Its even more than just doing math actually, that would just be exercising it, which it good to do, but not enough.

Here is one quote:

...mind appeals to mind and thought begets thought and that is how we become educated. For this reason we owe it to every child to put him in communication with great minds that he may get at great thoughts...

To get to those great thoughts they need to read many many worthy books.

She draws the line in saying that the mind can only get it from within and not without. Instead of giving them *ideas* from other authors' wisdom, we (teachers and home school moms alike) use incentives, marks, prizes etc. insead of *knowledge-hunger* (which comes from again, ideas they get from the worthy books and authors), which she says for a child is incentive enough to learn, but we don't give them the chance.

She also explains the difference between memorizing and assimilating. I was raised in public schools (many different schools in three different states). I can tell you that memorizing (usually for the test) was how I learned!! I have my kids narrate to me what they just read in their own words, and instead they are ASSIMILATING the information. She says here...

...all reading was tested by a narration of the whole or a given passage, whether orally or in writing. Children working on these lines know months after that which they have read and are remarkable for their power of concentration (attention); they have little trouble with spelling or composition and become well-informed, intelligent persons.

Now I have to say, that I read that yesterday and thought, hmmmm, does this describe my kids? With all that we have been through the past, what?, two years, have I been challenging them enough to live up to this? Do they have (true) knowledge that they can recall months later of something they read so long ago.

And then it happened! I have a son in Year One and a son in Year Two. My Y2 son we were very inconsistent with Shakespeare and our Parables of Nature readings, so I decided for the Summer to do those two together with the boys. My Y2 son *hated* Parables of Nature, but after doing Ambleside for a couple years now, I feel like I am able to challenge them with it. Well, today we read Training and Restraining and I read the first line and Nik (Y2) stopped me and said, "OH! I remember this!" And continued to narrate the WHOLE dang thing to me. I read this to him (because I printed out the book and the date is at the bottom) TWO years ago! And he HATED every minute of it! But today, he just unloaded after ONE sentence of the story. (Seth, Y1, was quite impressed by the way!)

Do I even need to explain HOW encouraged I was to continue school today (we are schooling through the summer after taking almost the whole fall off because of construction)?? All my guilt of schooling them until 1ish every day during their summer went right out the window, and the encouragement came from Charlotte Mason herself;)

I so want my kids to LOVE knowledge, because quite honestly, they were created to love (and NEED) it. I so don't want them memorizing to pass a test! I have already proven where that gets a person!

Win-Win

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:41:00 -0500

Nik: (10:38am) Dad said you have to give us an easy day at school today.

Me: He is golfing and I can have your full day of school done by the time he gets home and he will never know...(evil little laugh)

Nik: Mom, please can't we have an easy day?

Me: What is an easy day? Your schedule says: Math, Joan of Arc, Wind in the Willows and Robin Hood.

Nik: Can't I just skip Wind in the Willows and do the rest?

Me: Fine...

Me inside: I have done it! I have brainwashed them! (more evil sounding laughter...)

The Gospel of Personal Relationship

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:45:00 -0500

One day, I will be able to articulate exactly what I think and feel (especially spiritually). For now, I will just rely on people who really KNOW how to articulate themselves spiritually. (And on people who know how to link to sound bites;)

I have a favorite radio show that I actually listen to on a podcast because I can't pick up the show in Michigan. Its the White Horse Inn. I just think these guys get it. They understand the Gospel and know how to present it. I do occassionally have to listen to an episode a couple times to grasp everything they communicate in 33 minutes. But its worth it.

Tonight, I was going to some of my favorite blogs (which I have not done is quite a while!) and found theMangoTimes post about a White Horse Inn episode that I listened to today while working out. This episode is so worth your time and energy to listen and comprehend. theMangoTimes has a clip for you to listen to, but please listen to the whole thing.

The depth of the Gospel is SO much more than we give it credit for. Our God wants MORE than for us just to *love* Jesus, or for us to communicate *Jesus Loves You* to someone who doesn't know (yet, all of those are true). Its deeper than that, its more complex, and yet easy for even (tongue in cheek) a sinner to understand. I am tired of the dumbed down gospel. People DESERVE more!