Jan. 6, 2009 - Blog Address
http://thepellerinfamily.blogspot.com/
Sep. 23, 2007 - in a world with 48 hours in a day
So I had lofty ambitions of blogging everyday, and writing what we did every day. Not only for me, to keep a record for myself but for family and friends to keep up to date on or daily ongoings. Last week however I discovered that it's just not going to fit into my daily schedule. In a world that had 48 hours in a day maybe I could have squezed it in. So I bid farewell to the daily blog and I am aiming now for a weekly blog with just the highlights. At first I felt like a failure not being able to keep up but you know what I discovered....it's ok. So I am thinking maybe Saturday nights I'll post a little something something.
Sep. 18, 2007 - Earth Lapbook (Monday 9/17/07)
I am going to try to figure out why I can post pics today. Once I figure it out I will post pics of our Earth Lapbook, it came out really cute.
With the lapbook, I decided to let my son direct on what he thought were the important things from the unit to include. I was really impressed with what he remembered without looking through the book. He remembered that the earth is flat at the north and south poles, that it turns on an axis which isn't a real stick it turns on. He also remembered lines on longitude and latitude. He could tell me about the climate of the earth and that the closer you are the the equator the warmer it is. Then we both looked through the Usborne First Guide to the Universe for more ideas. I struggled for a bit with how much he should actually do and how much I should do. But the Lord is faithful to give me guidance and we found a nice balance. All in all a success.
Handwriting for a Reason: (I)Lesson 5 day one and two
Bible (I) Ways I can enjoy a friendship with God
Math (I) Started new Saxon Math Lesson 1(Calender,graphing, counting to 100, left and right)
Social Studies (I) A child's History of the world Ch6 Tomb Builders Map work "Egypt"
Bigger and Smaller (E) Series of worksheets (tried playing with a bowl of cotton balls today for an activity and he loved it. Cotton balls everywhere but worth it.
Science (I) Completed Earth Lapbook
Language Arts (I) Dictations Sheet, Spelling words with long e, long e worksheet,
Reading (I) The Cat in the Hat
Read aloud (I &E) Mr. Poppers Penguins
Sep. 16, 2007 - Just a cute story
We do family bible study every night. My husband is teaching through the book of John. The kids really enjoy not only the "daddy time" but they enjoy hearing him talk about God and the Bible. He is very faithful to do this every night. Last week, friday night we were all totally exhusted (we were in the ER the night before with our youngest for croup, the hosipital is a 45 min drive away...so when all was said and done we got how about 3:34 am) So we thought we'd just all hit the sack early. My youngest son yells out "WAIT I want to read the Bible, it's time to read the Bible" We couldn't resist such a cute request and it reminded us that even though our earthy bodies mayb be tired, He will give you the strength to come to Him and learn more about Him. What a blessing that my youngest looks forward to reading the Bible as a family and that it's become such an important part of his life. I praise God for these little "pick me ups" because honestly I had a really hard day that day and just felt useless, then to hear those words from my son and the Lord speak to me "I am using you" just made it so much easier to rest that night. Praise God for His Faithfullness!
Sep. 13, 2007 - Soccer Time (Thursday 9/13/07) And I NEED Help
Another beautiful day in Maine. I mean it's really beyond words. We had a pretty good day today. We had a little downer. My oldest son had his spelling test today and he got 6 wrong and he just burst into tears. I tried to encourage him that not everyone will get 100%, 100% of the time. And that what matters most is that he did his best and did it unto the Lord. He nodded through the tears and corrected his mistakes. I felt so bad because he is usually spot on. I think he partly didn't study enough and partly he was rushing. Whatever the case was I didn't want him to beat himself up over it. I had him rewrite his mistakes 5 times each and said he could have a retake tomorrow if he wanted. He agreed so he'll have a retake test tomorrow.
We live in a very small town...literally maybe 200. The little public school up the street has a small little student body. If I sent my oldest son he would be in a combined class of 8. Anyway they have after school sports. Last year my oldest did basketball, and softball. And now it's soccer time. He LOVED it. They just learn basic soccer techniques and they play a mock game at the end. He really enjoys all the kids and just playing the game. He ran up to me at the end and wrapped his arms around me and said "thank you mom for bring me to soccer. I had a blast" Everyone commented on how sweet that was. And although I agree it's typical of him. Just a thoughtful, thankful kid.
So here's my problem and I NEED HELP! My youngest is 3 1/2. He is his brother's best friend. They are the two peas in a pod. The problem that I thought I had confronted is that my youngest has NOTHING to do while we're doing more instruction intense lessons. Ok I say nothing, he does have things, he has his "homeschool box" filled with all kinds of goodies, but obviously none of them hold his interest. I do his school first and give him my complete attention. That is about 20 min right now. Then he just looks so lost trying to entertain himself. I don't want to put him in front of the tv. It makes me sad and I feel torn. My husband suggested breaking the day up more. Doing two lessons and then a group project, or a walk outside, or a read aloud, something to get him involved more so the time that I do spend doing instruction is in smaller time blocks. Anyone have experience in this?
So here's what we did
Bible (I &E) John 3 (I) What is a friend? How can I be a friend of God?
Social Studies: (I) Ubsborne Book Of History A farmers day
Science (I & E) The power of Magnets
Math (I) Ice Cream Scoop game practicing Math Facts
Shapes (E) Same and different worksheets
Language Arts: (I) Spelling test,Activity sheet with Rhyming,synonyms, antonyms, number words
Reading (I) Finished Put me in the Zoo a day ahead because "I have to know if they let him in the zoo"
Read aloud (I & E) Mr Poppers Penguins
Sep. 12, 2007 - Homer Price and Donuts (Wednesday 9/12/07)
What a beautiful day. "After school" we took a nice walk outside. I will say that I am very blessed to live in Maine. We have the most beautiful seasons. And where I live is simply breathtaking, we are snuggled right in the woods. We are now coming into my favorite of all season of all, fall. First I love the change. I love the colors, red, orange, it's something. We spent about an hour collecting leaves and looking at the differences between them. I love the memories fall hold for us as a family. My husband and I were married in the fall. And one year later the day before our one year anniversary we had our first son. It's just a joyous time of year. It's always a time to look back and say "wow God you've done so much"
Here's our daily activity
A Reason for Handwriting (I) Lesson 4 day one and two
Bible (I &E) John 3 (I) God's People and Friendship
Social Studies (I) A child's history of the world ch 6 ("I" was very interested in the Egyptians which excites me because he's in for weeks of study into them)
Math: (I) Subtraction from 11 and 12 Simple word problems
Shapes (E) Diamonds with worksheets
Science (I) Usborne First Guide to the Universe Vocabulary review with worksheet, started our "Earth lapbook" "I" is so happy to do his very first lapbook
Language Arts:(I) Dictation Sheet ; spelling pretest
Reading (I) Put me in the Zoo
Read Aloud: (I&E) Mr. Poppers Penguins
Since we finished Homer Price yesterday I decided today we would make donuts in honor of the kids favorite chapter. Of course we didn't make as many LOL . I simply bought some premade biscuits and had the boys cut holes from the middle using a cookie cutter. Then we rolled them lightly in sugar and cooked them in a pan of oil (of course mommy did that) then we sprinkled powdered sugar on them. I must admit I snuck a "hole" from the batch and it was pretty tasty. The kids loved this. I have pics but for some reason it keeps telling me I don't have enough space to post it. Does anyone know what that means?
Sep. 11, 2007 - Nile (Tuesday 9/11/07)
September 11 is always a day of rememberence and saddness. I remember this day 6 years ago. I had called my husband at work to tell him about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. As we were talking the second plane hit. I remember crying out "OH God help them" My son was about to turn a year old in a few weeks. My prayer that day was "come Lord Jesus" I was just sickened by what an evil world we live in. Today I am reminded of God's mercy and longsuffering.
Today we had another great day in school.
A Reason for Handwriting (I) Lesson 3 Day three and four
Bible: (I &E) John 3 (I) part 2 God made me to have a relationship with Him
Social Studies: (I) Usborne Book of World History "First settlers of the Nile Journal entry. What did the early setters do when the Nile would flodd?
Math:(I) Fact families subtracting from 11
Shapes:(E) rectangles and ovals with worksheets
Science:(I) Usborne First Guide to the Universe "weather and climate"
Language Arts:(I) Activity Sheet rhyming, synonyms, antonyms, adding "ing" worksheet, review of spelling words ending in ing
Reading:(I) Put me in the Zoo
Read Alound:(I&E) Homer Price
Art:(I&E) Usborne I can draw people
Sep. 10, 2007 - And We're Back! I have a little poet and more! (Monday 9/10/207)
Sep. 4, 2007 - hubby home this week
My husband is home this week. We'll be back!
Sep. 1, 2007 - Saturday Morning Reflection
We just finished our second week of homeschool. It's been a really fruitful and fun two weeks. I am very pleased with the direction we are headed academically. I love the Sonlight curriculum. It just works us. I love not being bound to a text book. I think it has really helped my sons love books. And my oldest son is sprouting into a willing reader. His goal this year is to be able to read his Bible by himself. (His beginners Bible)
That was a goal that he came up with himself and I started to think of our goals for this year as well. There are academic goals of course, and those are not to be undermined, but honestly the Lord has been speaking to me about character and spiritual goals, which are one of the main reason we are homeschooling in the first place.
We decided to homeschool because we love our children. We want them to see all that God has for them. We want them to love Jesus, know that He has a purpose for their lives, and that they will follow Him all the days of their lives. I told my oldest upon his question "mommy why do we do homeschool?" we want his teacher to love Jesus and we want you be able to grow in knowing Him" and in a nutshell that's it.
That being said I began thinking about our goals. I am more concerned with their relationship with God than how well my sons add and subtract. I am more concerned with their compassion for others than if they know how fast light travels. I am more concerned with eternal destiny than if they are more advanced than the kid next door. I am not saying this as a way to escape academics but I am very convicted that as Christian homeschoolers we should be above approach. We should be following the laws of our state and teaching my children in the area it requires and even go above and beyond giving my children the best education I can possibly give.
When I taught in a Christian school many years ago (I had 3/4 graders) I told my student on the first day that "to love Jesus is more important than getting an A on a test, but if you love Jesus you want to want to do everything unto HIm and do your very best for Him" Through spiritual training and showing them that I meant what I said, everyone of those students exceeded my expectations for them academically. But more importantly the spiritual growth was astounding. Because looking back I can see they got a huge lesson on grace. They were no longer under the law of pleasing a teacher, a parent, or even themselves. They were pleasing God and He loved them regardless. It gave them freedom to love to learn and they had the right motivation for learning.
I starting to look to see if that teacher I was is the homeschool mom my children have. I want to be. I want to see that growth in my own children. So just like in Revelation where the Lord says to return and do the first works again, so I remembered what I did with those students. The first thing was God's word was number one. We spent the first part of every morning, really studying God's word, verse by verse, book by book. The next part was prayer. We spent time in prayer every morning really seeking the Lord for gaudiness and laid our burdens before Him before the start of each day.
So we are going to try this in our home. Now my boys are younger but I know the Lord will give me wisdom how to do this in a way that is age appropriate for them. Our days will start by studying God's word, asking questions and in prayer. Now we do this now, but to be honest we have been doing it as almost as an academic subject...bible check prayer check. How shameful to admit.
So this coming week our spiritual goal is to hold the Word of God above all else. To spend time sitting and reading and time in prayer before a single worksheet is done or a single other book is opened.
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