Dec. 3, 2009 Taking a break Nov. 26, 2009 Giving thanks
Today was Thanksgiving. My husband had the day off and the kids loved having their dad here to play with and talk to. We have a lot to be thankful for. We have the Lord, each other and most of our needs met. Its always good to give thanks and consider the many blessings in this life. I am sure many would agree.
I wanted to ask for continued prayer if you think of us. We certainly need it. We have been through a lot in the last month illness wise and felt we were over it 2+ weeks ago but I was mistaken. Times like this I think of Job, he suffered and kept going. He cried out to the Lord and was blessed in the end. It's a hard section of Bible for me to read. I am learning a new appreciation for Job and I've gone through so much less than he did. Yet God still loves me even when I am going through the fire. That is something I need to remember. God's allowance for my sufferings does not reflect his love (or lack of) for me. He is allowing these trials for a reason. Do I trust him to get me through it?
This particular trial that we are going through has been and may continue to be long and drawn out and in many ways secludes us from others and wears me down. But again, Job understood this better than any other man in the Bible. He stood the test. I hope to grow through this trial and be thankful. I already am thankful for the small improvement I've seen in our 1 1/2 year old. None of us know what is to come, what the future holds. But I need to purpose to be thankful in the midst of my trials. I admit I failed miserably today and didn't act thankful on this day that we are supposed to be reflecting on the blessings that God has poured upon us. I feel chastened and need to seek the Lord in how to change my attitude at times when I am not handling stress how the Lord would want me to.
On that note I'll finish with saying that I'm thankful for a forgiving and loving family.
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Nov. 19, 2009 Airplanes and trains
Yesterday we went on a mini-field trip near the airport to look at airplanes. Often there are large airplanes landing overhead but there weren't this day. We still were able to see the ones parked outside from a distance. Our 8 year old who seems to have a mind for Science asked all of the questions about how and why airplanes can make it off the ground. I was able to ask a dear friend with a background in this area and she was able to help explain it. Also their dad wrote up an illustration this morning about lift, drag and air molecules...which was interesting but where he lost me. I was making french toast and busy in the kitchen and listened on. We have read a lot about the Wright brothers and their discoveries as well as visited some of the museums that help explain this but I guess something just clicked for our 8 year old and he's starting to see things a little more clearly and is increasing in his understanding as all children will do. Good thing his dad has a background in physics because I would have to lean heavily on educational videos and books otherwise!  Our one and a half year old decided to play train this morning while the rest of us were sweeping the floor. I thought it was a cute picture and wanted to share. My poor little sweetie has been sick for several weeks now and it's nice to see her playing joyfully despite the coughing fits she still suffers from. I'm giving her bovine colostrum to help her heal and strengthen her immune system. We're also running the vaporizers a lot.  Choo-choo |
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I completed my jumper which came out very well I think. I have decided to sell it and start new because of my shape and size which is somewhat hard to fit.
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Nov. 5, 2009 Sewing projects
Sewing:
Three free hours with our toddler down for a nap and a burst of sunshine coming in the window really motivated me to get sewing. I really don't enjoy sewing but I like the projects I get when I'm done. Don't get me wrong I love to work. I'm strange to some people in that I do like to clean and keep up with laundry though these thing certainly get away from me at times! I'm sure there are other moms out there like that and I am no where near perfect nor wish to appear that I think so! But I think we all have our things we like and don't like. Sewing is something I don't really like as I mentioned but mainly because I don't feel successful at it. It takes a lot of trial and error and there are a lot of trade secrets that just don't come naturally.
 When I got married and started having children I was convicted about clothing and what the Lord wanted me to wear I realized then I would need to learn to sew. It was and still is very hard to find good clothing especially in our modern culture and especially for girls past size 6! I know some moms find great things at the thrift store and I have found some, it's a lot cheaper this way if you can! I still mainly do buy store bought clothing, as you can see but I like to make some things. Plus my oldest now has an affinity for very old fashioned clothing and to admit so do I. It will be some time before I can make some of the outfits we both would like. But it's fun dreaming. I can make skirts, aprons, pajamas, girl's dresses (with some time) and have tried my hand at a few other things like this handbag and have some experience but am no expert by any far stretch of the word.
 My daughter helped cut this bag out and I put it together yesterday. It turned out nicely. It's going to be a bag for a friend's daughter at church next month on her birthday. My daughter asked me 6 months ago to make this and I'm finally getting around to it.
I've also been working on a jumper the last couple of days. I'm hoping to have it completed within the next 2. The bottom is together. The darts are put in on the back. Dresses are hard only because they RARELY fit like you want! I also evidently have a unique shape to the sewing world and if I ever develop an expertise to sewing I would modify the pattern to fit my figure more nicely. I am hoping that despite all of this my new jumper will fit, even if like a tent, lol. Really it's a maternity jumper. We'll see! It's a light weight cotton but will layer nicely I hope. Like the color?
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Nov. 3, 2009 Pregnancy and our schedule
First child had a fever on Monday. He was better Tuesday morning, no symptoms. Second child got sick on Thursday and the first child followed suit and were both sick from Thursday until Saturday. The a couple of days later our Third and Fourth child got sick. They were better within two days. Now this morning our 17 month old wakes up with a fever and vomiting. Not fun. I'm ready to have this over with. In general our kids don't ALL get sick.
I'm the only one who really didn't get it. I wonder...could it be the 5000 I.U.'s of D3 I've been taking? I hope so. What ever the reason, I praise the Lord that I am not sick. I think he miraculously protected me because of my pregnancy. I haven't mentioned it before on my blog so there I said it. My due date is May 14, 2010....Lord willing! I'm 12 weeks and a four days.
So I'm ready to get back on schedule next week likely on Tuesday. I wonder if I should start having a plan for when the kids get sick? I do allow the sick children a DVD video in bed that we have from our collection or if we have one from the library. We also read and sometimes do a little school depending on how they're feeling. But if I have a plan when the children get sick things might go more smoothly when we do start back? I mean almost treat it like a vacation. We've done more than half of our school this week but will admit to wanting to take a day off today to rest! I'm tired and my poor little girl is not well.
I did take time to try finishing up a gift that I'm sewing for my daughter's friend and then hopefully finish up a jumper that I'm making for myself.
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Oct. 19, 2009 How things work
I just ran across a neat resource by "The Discovery Channel" online. They offer how things work videos like how a pencils are made, why fireworks work, how binoculars work, etc. Enjoy!
***I do want to add that a friend said that there is now a video clip on there prior to watching about a scary movie. I am sorry. Please just mute your computer or walk away for a few minutes until the video loads. I didn't see this when I originally posted the link. ***
How Stuff Works Videos |
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Oct. 17, 2009 The little people in my life
I've been working hard at involving the younger ones into my daily schedule but admit I could do more. Our (almost) 17 month old loves to help with unloading the dishwasher, sweeping and carrying things around (rearranging) often as most little ones do. Here she is helping me clean up after I made a birthday cake. Not exactly the spot I want her *IN* my dishwasher, but hey she is helping! Never mind the butter cream frosting on her upper lip and the fact that her leggings were already removed probably because the cake was just too good and went everywhere despite a bib.  A few years ago I heard the wise saying that "play is practice for the future" which motivates me to involve the children when I can. My goal over the next year is to have the children help me with kitchen prep more.
For Kindergarden and preschool we don't spend a lot of time doing seat work, maybe 20 minutes each day. My Kindergardener does a worksheet that we get in "My Father's World" and does some letter recognition, hand's on learning like play-dough letters or other activity, usually suggested by the manual. We also go over a Bible theme that they have suggested and do Bible reading and Bible memory with the older children.
 For Preschool I really like Rod & Staff preschool books and Kumon workbooks when we have them. We seem to go through those very quickly. A big part of our schooling at this age is reading books which sometimes the older two can do for reading credit. |
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Oct. 10, 2009 Rubber stamping
All children enjoy making crafts. It's messy and gets your creative juices flowing. My children especially love to make cards for other people. We haven't always been consistent at having cards available but I really would like to change that. Some of you may know that I used to be a Stampin' Up Demonstrator many years ago so I have ample amount of stamps and supplies in my craft closet. Since the paper is expensive I use the card stock for my cards and my oldest daughter. I give the younger children pieces I have left, computer paper, or have them use construction paper because they don't mind and they like to use up more paper making their own special creation.
You press firmly but don't rock it or you'll get a blurry image.
 Our oldest made these
 A few of my daughter's and a few of mine on the right
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We went to a local farm last weekend that processes sorghum. It was a pleasant day outside with a lot of things to see. We were only there for a little over an hour but that seemed to be plenty of time to look around. There were actors dressed in period clothing showing us the various skills each one had. The first one we stopped at was a woodworker's shop. He wrote each of the children's names on a piece of wood and then sliced a shaving off for them to keep. It wrapped nicely around their wrists. I thought that was very creative.  Then we moved on to where some workers were cooking beans which they did in an enormous cauldron over an open fire pit. They let the children stir the beans that they slowly cooked this way. We didn't try them but they smelled great. It made me want to try cooking beans over a fire.
 They had someone shave ice to make icee's that they added a sugar flavoring with color to. The ice (in the 1800's) originally came from the lake (not very hygienic)! There were young ladies churning butter while another woman was showing how to work a telegraph. They even had our two oldest try their hand at sending one.
 Here they let the children put a stalk of sorghum into their machine that presses the juices. They later boil the juices down to make the finished product which you could buy for $4 a quart which were obviously modern prices.
 There was an area where they displayed their goods that they made throughout the season. Here there was a cider press that our son is very curiously examining. They gave us a sample of cider as well.  |
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Sep. 13, 2009 Reading Milestones
I'm noticing a pattern with my children and milestones. They all of course have them but now that I have several children who are over certain ages I can see similarities with specific ages. Our oldest son is going to be 8 in a few days. He has also been reading for a couple of years but wasn't really very captivated by books with much content. The last few days he's been picking up books with more meat to them and I am very happy about that! We had him in Kumon to help him with comprehension. He was in that for almost 6 months until we pulled him out a little over a month ago. I don't know how much that helped it did seem to give him a leg-up. But recently something clicked and I can't help but think it has more to do with his age and development than it did anything else.
Our oldest did the same thing with reading. It didn't really click until she was 8. Now she is an avid reader and will read books that many older children would find boring. She will easily devour a book in a day. Joyfully I can say that she also enjoys reading God's Word and has told me that her favorite book is Revelations.
So mothers don't be discouraged if you have a late-reader and they are otherwise on-track. Wait until the age of 8 and see how they progress. Chances are they may just surprise you by picking up a book and never putting it down. |
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Sep. 13, 2009 Field trip and co-op
We went to the zoo with our new home school group and have also joined their co-op which was extremely busy and chaotic but fun. I hope it slows down a lot and is more relaxing for me. The children took classes like Elementary Art, Lapbooking, The Recorder, Ohio History, Story time, Manners, cooking, and Science.
The Lorikeets were impressive but did have sharp claws.    I really wanted to hold a bird but my four children were very interested in feeding them and I had a lot of fun watching. Maybe next time I can bring extra money to try my hand at feeding these very hungry birds.When they seen food they flocked. They landed on one of my children's heads when they walked in.
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Aug. 31, 2009 What we've been up to
So far we've gone on two field trips. The first was COSI and last week was the Butterfly house at a local arboretum. There the children were able to look at the life cycle of local butterflies, touch some that have died and talk with butterfly experts. This is the only picture I got prior to my camera battery completely exhausting.
We are planning on another field trip this week to the Columbus zoo. I hope it's a great time. A friend who is going will be printing off a form for the older two to do a scavenger hunt to find various facts. Thanks Sarah. Hopefully they'll learn a bit more this way.
We do a lot of seat work as well as hands-on. 
My girls are both big artists. Here is what our five year old drew today after her Kindergarten lesson in "My Father's World"
 Her subject
 She just loves dogs. We've never owned one but that doesn't stop her!
Now for something funny to me. My kids are currently making as much of a ruckus as they possibly can. Today is trash day and the trash cans are empty. So my kids brought over the empty can and recycle bin to make musical instruments from what they have in the yard including rocks, sticks and a board. They sound pretty good. I hope the neighbors don't mind for a short bit.
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Aug. 18, 2009 First field trip of the school year
We went to a local Science museum in which we're members of. Many of you know about COSI. It's a great place with many learning opportunities for all age groups, adults included. We took my mom this time which was a special treat.
 I try to do one field trip every few weeks, though not this big! It is a huge relief to me to go somewhere and to get out of the house, most of the time. I enjoy the opportunity for a break! I tend to see things that need done in the house and that's a huge distraction to me.
Right now COSI has a really well done display about Egypt. We skipped the part about afterlife, which is just weird to me and my kids are too young to understand it. The rest of the exhibit was fun. They had great pictures displayed as well as hands on things for the kids to do.  Getty-up Mr. Camel
I have a book that has reproducible homeschool worksheets in it called, "A Garden Patch" by Debbie McGregor. On the way home I have the two older children fill out a "Field Trip Questionnaire." One question is: What did God show you about Himself on this trip? Another is what is something new that you learned? We also have notebooks that the children have recently received on a sale at Staples. Last week they had 1-subject spiral bound notebooks for 1 cent. I encourage the children to journal in these notebooks. We did this last year and it was a fun experience. 
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to a pretty good start in school this past week. I would say that it went pretty well but we didn't get as much accomplished as I had expected. We had a few Doctor's appointments to go to which threw us off. I've heard other moms say they start slow the first week and pick up from there. I really like that idea and sort of just fell into the idea. We have a preschooler, a Kindergartner, a Third and Fourth grader this school year.
I finally sat down today and put together the curriculum and list of books and required notification forms for our local school district. It's folded neatly into the envelope which is placed intentionally next to our phone to be brought to the Post Office on Monday to be certified.
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Aug. 5, 2009 Some time away
I've not had much time to blog. We've been busy with our own household duties and some basic gardening and home storage. We've received some peas, cucumbers, green beans, potatoes, and onions from friends. I feel so blessed. We were also away for a while. When we were gone we were able to pick Thimble berries, blueberries, and bilberries when we were in the upper peninsula of Michigan this last week. The children were good at picking berries despite them eating some of them. It gave us enough berries to make jam with extra raspberries bought from a small shop down the road.
Here you can see our 3 year old buried in Thimble berry bushes. You can see that they're quite prolific!  Our oldest found a face painting kit at a yard sale a few months ago and we finally put it to use. Our three year old wanted an airplane, both girls wanted a butterfly and swirls. Our 7 year old decided that he didn't want his face painted. 
On the way to the Upper Peninsula we usually stop near Mackinac Bridge as it is the gateway to the U.P. coming from Ohio. This is one of my favorite pictures of the children that Les took. Despite our 5 year old stuffing her dress in her shorts, which Les said was very practical considering they went into the water a bit. It gives the picture character.
At the camp the day we were leaving we seen a beautiful rainbow over the lake. 
On the way back we did stop on the island. There are no cars allowed on the island so one mode of transportation is to take a carriage ride. This one has 3 horses. We're told the horses on the island are bought from the Amish so that the horses won't scare easily and will be used to heavy loads. Bicycles are also very popular.
Us playing tourists
Long trips make us all so tired
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We have a laminated naturalists field guide with illustrations of common bugs. Occasionally in our home something happens to spark curiosity and I run with it. That is the Charlotte Mason teacher in me.
I go out on the deck on Saturday morning and the children closely follow behind. I notice a black wasp laying dead on the ground and know from experience that they can still sting you even when they're dead. I run in and get one of my many small glass jars with an air tight lid that I had bought at a yard sale with full intentions of making and storing home skin and health care products in them. I show the children who were fascinated with the dead wasp. I then go on to do other things while the children are working hard at locating and identifying bugs with our field guide and proceed to get the rest of my bottles from the cabinet. Les and I are pretty open to the children doing things like that on their own and don't hinder them in any way. I come outside to 7 glass jars a bit later and see that they're filled with various bugs. Good job! I was greatly impressed at their fastidious study of insects! They manage to use our small yard as if it were a vast field waiting to be explored. |
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I've decided to do some housecleaning on my blog. So you will notice if you look very closely that a lot of posts are gone. I went through and kept the ones that I felt might be most helpful or interesting and will now be easier to access. I started blogging in late 2006 so I had quite a few!
Today I had both of our school age children's porfolios looked at by our assessor so I am now ready to send in our notification when the time is right. I'm glad to have that done. We will have one preschooler, one Kindergartner and 2 fourth graders this up and coming year. We have some work to finish up from this last year but we will be starting fourth sometime this year or next. I don't think grade levels matter too much. Our main focus is the learning! |
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Mar. 31, 2009 The parking lot was full
at the abortion clinic today....there were very few interested in materials and there were two girls that looked to be 15 years old walk out with smiles on their faces pretending we weren't there as if it were a game. There was a woman who was tall, wearing heels and very much ignoring my large family and the woman who is there most days who also puts up a sign of a mutilated baby. It was disturbing BUT if it stops a woman or man from going through with it then it is appropriate. My children seen the sign and I hope they remember it well...it is a baby! The baby was 21 weeks, the same age of a baby that can be "terminated" at the center. Why pretend? Termination what a term...it is so obvious that they mean to terminate a life but why is it accepted? These poor women have been sold a lie or they don't care. They need the Lord and I hope that our presence there may make them think twice but the Lord must work within these people's hearts. I hope to go back and be more in a state of mind to pray and sing and possibly reach someone. They need the Lord. If I could just read the Bible then we may at least speak a word to someone in need. The Lord can work miracles.
The woman who is there most days told me that a lot of churches pray for the abortion clinics around this time of year for 40 days. What a neat concept and a wonderful opportunity for the rest of us to cry out to the Lord over this atrocity. There is a prayer vigil at the local at the abortion clinic called, "Vigil for Life" Good Friday April 10 from Noon-Midnight. It is a peaceful vigil (which they all should be) Jesus never called for us to do anything but to be peaceful but I can see why some of the Jews rent their clothing over sin because that's exactly what this makes me want to do. What a shame for our dear children. If you have this on your heart and have thought of going please consider going or at least praying over this.
Across the street there was a women's center for women to go to to get an ultrasound and to look into options for their baby...that parking lot coincidentally was empty but I was glad to see one young woman in there when we went in there to pick up literature.
Oh, I'll put this under community service for our homeschooling. It is after all a part of their education and one they certainly wouldn't get in the public school...they might even have an abortion available to them by their school nurse. My older two loved it and were very excited at the thought of passing out materials to women who were considering abortion or to reach them after they had one (post-abortion resources) as we had these listed on our form. |
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Nov. 6, 2008 Occupational therapy resource
Several of our children have had sensory issues otherwise known as "Sensory Integration Disorder" or SID. Our 7 year old went to SID group therapy and had an OT come into our home for a while when he wasn't talking as a young child. He didn't talk until he was 2 1/2 and the two seem to be related. When he started being able to handle more sensory issues like touching playdough his speech picked up. Not much I could do at that time though! This child has been having a lot of problems with having his hair cut which was why I gave him a close buzz cut! Then exclaimed that I don't want to do that again for a long while so now it's short...this hasn't been the first time!
Now onto my resource. I was very impressed with this woman's ideas. Even if you don't have a child with SID you can use her ideas. She shows how to make many therapy items and/or toys by recycling bottles that you already have in your home! Ingenious! One was a shape sorter, another velcro toy, a toy boat that floats, a squirt toy from a soap bottle...the possibilities are endless. Source: barbarasmithoccupationaltherapist.com/recyclingotcollage.html scroll down and watch the "Recycling OT video" |
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