Mar. 25, 2009 - Recent Sewing Project
I finally got around to making this dress for my daughter, with a matching bonnet and handbag. I thought it looked like something out of Sense & Sensibility! I just love older style dresses and have often wished I could dress like they did in the 1800's without sticking out like a sore thumb! :-)
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Mar. 18, 2009 - An interview with my children
I had so much fun interviewing my children yesteday! For the record, at the time of the interview, Joshua is 6.5yo, Dominique is 4yo and Israel is 2.
1.What is something mom always says to you?
Dominique: I love you
Joshua: I love you
2. What makes mom happy?
Joshua: doing something good, like cleaning up or washing and polishing metal somewhere
Dominique: getting water for you
3. What makes mom sad?
Joshua: disobeying and leaving a mess in the room
Dominique: making a mess in the room
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Joshua: tickling and doing something fun
Dominique: tickling, and ya, something fun like we did yesterday (the park)
5. What was your mom like as a child?
Joshua: playing in the snow!
Dominique: still thinking….
6. How old is your mom?
Joshua: 17? 70?
Dominique: 21!
Israel: 2!
7. How tall is your mom?
Joshua: a yard
Dominique: THIS tall (jumping up with hands in the air)
8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Joshua: play with Joshua and Dominique and the legos
Dominique: making presents when its my birthday and you don’t like when I don’t get a birthday.
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Joshua: cry and gets kinda sad
Dominique: makes food for herself, fixing her hair, changing Johann’s diapers and playing games and sewing diapers and all kinds of stuff
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Joshua: I don’t know – oh! Maybe diaper making!
Dominique: scrap-booking
Israel: Diaper making?
11. What is your mom really good at?
Joshua: diaper making, playing games like perquackey
Dominique: sewing, fixing hair, making piggy tails
12. What is your mom not very good at?
Joshua: k’nex, cause you don’t play with k’nex that much
Dominique: not very good at making towers?
13. What does your mom do for a job?
Joshua: ummm…. I don’t know
Dominique:ummmm….. I know! Scrapbooking!
14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Joshua: uh, I think I know. Oh yeah! It is celery!
Dominique:I don’t know, but Joshua does. He thinks very good!
15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Joshua: she reads books to me and taught me how to read
Dominique: um, HAPPY!
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Joshua: The Flintstone wife
Dominique: Bob the Builder
17. What do you and mom do together?
Joshua: we do read books and go to parties! Read books. Oh, did I already say that? Play with me! Um, take me to my cousin’s house to see best buddy and to church!
Dominique: we play together and we make yummy food
18. How are you and your mom the same?
Joshua: our noses and eyes look so much alike at 6 ½ years old.
Dominique: we have red hair!
19. How are you and your mom different?
Joshua: our eyes are different colors
Dominique: we aren’t different!
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Joshua: she always reads books to me and plays with me and takes us to parks in the summertime! Presents!
Dominique: kisses and giving hugs
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Mar. 10, 2009 - Home Discipleship
Homeschooling has taken a whole different direction for us for the last couple of months. We have always tried to make the Bible the cornerstone of our homeschool (and lives), and we have been sticking to the basics in school ever since Johann was born, but we felt the Lord was leading us to lay off on academics for a time with Joshua, and just work on character training and instruction in godliness.
The verse the Lord gave us was 2 Peter 1:5-11: 5For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith) with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Lord used this verse in a creative way to speak to us, showing us that you have to have faith first, and add to that virtue, and to that knowledge. Without faith and virtue, we would not be serving our children by packing in the knowledge!
Joshua is very bright, and far above where his grade level in every subject, so there is no trouble in that department. That is part of the problem. He is smart, and he knows it, and people constantly tell him so. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1Cor 8:1). He is a very proud little boy, often feeling that he can correct even adults, because he “knows” so much. It’s awful! Knowledge is definitely not a virtue! I read an article this week that summed it up perfectly: Arrogants Anonymous. It is a fabulous read that I would recommend to every parent.
So, what have we been doing instead?
Well, we did finish up the Bible curriculum that we started last summer. We have been continuing to review the verses we memorized and pray for the Bible-less people we have learned about. As a review of this, we are now in the middle of making a lapbook about it. I will post more pictures once it is done. Here is a teaser. :-)
Other than that, we have been seeking to have him do things that focus on thinking about other people rather than himself. We made valentines for his cousins when it was valentine’s day, we learned about Purim and made our costumes for that, and we have looked up things in the concordance like “diligence”, and had him copy some of the verses about the topic in his journal. He really enjoys doing that.
We have also been trying to seek opportunities for him to work with his hands, serving around the home and even going to work with Daddy on some days! This has been SO good for him, to be discipled by Daddy as they work together. Daddy has the opportunity to turn him into a man and shape his character, as well as build a good work ethic in him.
We have explained this process to Joshua as well, instilling in him that the MOST important thing for him to know is Jesus, and that the most important thing he can do is hide the Word of God in his heart.
Daddy recently used this creative hands-on activity to drive the point home with the children:
He got all this rocky “soil” and gave each child a section to “cultivate”. They used forks to get out all the rocks and debris in order to prepare a good soil for planting. Then he gave them each a “seed” to bury in their plot, and on each seed was written: “Thankfulness”. As they worked, he explained to them that this soil was like their hearts! The rocks in their hearts were things like complaining, grumbling, disobedience, and strife. If they wanted to have a good attitude, they had to cultivate a thankful, happy heart!
After they had planted the seeds, they bowed their heads to pray that God would honor their work at cultivating their hearts’ soil, and when they opened their eyes, look what had grown!!
We pray that this will be a true picture of what grows in our children's hearts as we seek to cultivate the soil of their lives with the Word of God!
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Feb. 6, 2009 - Mama Knows Best
I have often mulled over the idea of a resource website for mothers ever since my first child was a baby. I just wasn't sure how to make that happen! Well, a few months ago, my dear husband got onto the idea, and we have been brainstorming about it since then. He has built the site for me, and as of yesterday, it is up and running!!! I am SO excited! BUT.... I really need your help! I do not want the site to be "all about me" - about me writing about all the things that I do that you really should know about, LOL, but rather of mothers helping other mothers with their contributions. I hope to have a plethora of information about pregnancy, breastfeeding, household management, homeschooling, other schooling and education concerns, discipline issues, encouragement for mothers, caring for your family's health, using herbs, and much, much more! So, PLEASE! Come, and contribute! I know all of you mamas have lots and lots of wisdom that you can share to help other mamas out there! I don't mind if you submit things you have already posted on your blog either - and you can even link back to your blog, so you will get more traffic there too!
Two more things:
If you visit the site and find any glitches there, please let me know about them!
and
If you would be so kind as to post this adorable little banner on your blog, I would be very appreciative! You can find it on the front page of the site. Help me get the site out there and known, but even more importantly, help me get helpful content on the site so that it will be a wonderful resource for mothers everywhere!
Thank you all in advance! You're the greatest!
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Jan. 4, 2009 - Happy New Year!
I have been away almost since Johann joined our family and I have really missed blogging! Once I was feeling somewhat "normal" after our new addition joined us, the holidays hit and adding shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking, travelling, partying, writing/sending cards, etc to an already full schedule... well, it was a little stressful. I was trying to enjoy it and not get stressed, but I must admit I was relieved when I could say that the holidays were behind us! I got our Christmas decorations put away on Jan 1st, and planned to reorganize through the weekend to start back on schedule on Monday (tomorrow).
However.... we were apparently exposed to a flu bug at a New Year's Eve party, so that isn't exactly happening... It hasn't been the greatest weekend! Tomorrow is Monday, and I am NOT feeling ready to get "back on schedule"!
We also had a houseguest join us on Friday from England, and she will be staying with us for the next six months.
One more "variation" to our "normal schedule" is Fabio- he has been laid off again, so his schedule is unpredictable and therefore so is mine! He is also trying to start a business building websites, so when he is home, my computer time is limited - er, nonexistent! You can check out his site at www.fabiosdesigns.com, ifyou are interested!
Anyway, I am hoping, among other things, to get back to blogging here! I've missed it a lot and I have a ton to post if I ever get around to it!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
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Nov. 12, 2008 - So about night people...
I really didn't mean to step on toes with my last post - so if you have any rotten tomatoes to throw, throw them at Martha Peace! LOL. I guess you could throw some at me too, since I agreed with her enough to post it, though. 
Anyway, I just wanted to clarify what *I* think, in case anyone cares, lol.
I do believe that there are people with a natural tendency to be either morning or night people. I grew up with an extreme morning-bird mother and an extreme night-owl father. You could not pay my mom enough to stay up late, and you could hardly pay my dad enough to go to bed at 9pm. And, come morning, my mom would spring out of bed, while my dad would drag out of bed.
But even with his natural tendencies, dad never slept late, and he never allowed us kids to sleep late. On occasion, if we were really "lucky", he would let us stay in bed until 8am on a Saturday morning, and then it was "up and at 'em"! I didn't always appreciate that at the time, but I am thankful now for that early training.
I think I am more of a night person by nature. Once I was living on my own, my work schedule was 2pm-10pm, so I would get home around 11pm, without having had supper yet! By the time I had supper and let it settle and "chilled" a bit, it was always at least 1am by the time I'd hit the sack. At first I thought this was fun, but after a short time I quite liking it. I would wake up at 10:30 or so, and still be dragging. Half the day was already gone! It seemed I never got anything productive done.
So, I started making myself get in bed almost immediately upon arriving at home, so I could wake up at a decent hour and then, I had the WHOLE day until I had to be at work at 2pm to do as I pleased. I felt so much better that way.
Ultimately, I believe God designed our world and our bodies so that we would sleep at night and be awake during the day. Sounds almost silly to say so, because it is so obvious! Back not so long ago when people didn't have electricity, Im sure "night owl syndrome" was not nearly so prevalent as it is today! They had to "make hay while the sun shone".
And, as is always the case, modern science confirms the wisdom of God's design. Every hour of sleep we get before midnight is worth two hours of sleep after midnight! It is not healthy for our metabolism to eat after 8:00 pm. Morning is the best time to exercise, etc, etc. If you do some research, it will speak for itself.
And more importantly, what does God's Word say? "Rising early" is all over the Scriptures, from David in the Psalms, to Isaiah, to Jesus Himself who rose to pray while it was still dark. Even the Proverbs 31 woman "rose while it was yet dark" to begin working. (Although it also says her candle goes not out by night - when does this lady sleep??)
I almost always have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. Actually, I think I could safely say "always", not just almost always! But I find it is SO worth it! When I get out of bed, even a half an hour before the kids, take a quick shower during which I begin meeting with the Lord in prayer, and then have a quick quiet time, even if only one chapter - then I feel so ready to greet the day and greet my children with a smile when they wake up! On the other hand, on those days when I give in to staying in bed instead until they wake me up, things do not go so well. I have a hard time getting a shower once they are up, so I feel grungy instead of fresh. I don't get to spend even a moment before the Lord, so I tend to be grumpier as well. And as I have not had a chance to get in the "drivers seat" of the day and figure out what direction we are headed, I feel the day takes off with me being carried along with no control of the direction. Did you ever have this feeling?
I do usually snatch a few quite moments at night after the kids are in bed to spend time with Fabio, read a bit, blog a bit, or whatever, but I try to limit these activities to not more than one hour after they go to sleep. A kitchen timer can come in handy if you find it difficult to limit time spent on certain activities.
So, anyway, I think Ben Franklin had it right when he said, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." (Well, healthy anyway, and maybe wise. Still haven't figured out the "wealthy" part yet.... ) 
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Nov. 5, 2008 - Night Person?
Tonight we had a provoking talk at our church about women being "busy at home", from Titus 2. I especially liked this quote that was read, by Martha Peace:
I have heard of women who pride themselves on being "night people". That means they have trouble getting up in the mornings because they come alive at night. They may stay up till all hours reading, watching television, or pursuing some sort of interest. They next morning they are too tired to get up and care for their family... these women are not "night people". They are lazy and selfish. Who would not rather stay up late to do whatever they please and sleep late the next day? Once a young wife begins getting up earlier than her children and husband, she will cease to be a "night person". She will be tired and go to bed at a reasonable hour so she will be there to serve her family the next morning.
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Oct. 27, 2008 - Bible Time for Busy Mamas
If you are like me, it is hard to have a "quiet time", since the house is rarely quiet! So, I thought I'd share something that has been a real blessing to me lately: the Bible on CD!
We have had the children listening to these CDs for several years now at night while they are falling asleep, but I only started a few months ago, when I picked up an extra CD player at a garage sale. I used to think I wouldn't like to listen to anything at bedtime, but I have found it to be wonderful! Many times, I have a hard time controlling my thoughts after the lights are out. I dont think about anything bad, but I can't seem to shut my thoughts down to be able to fall asleep! Trying to focus on the Bible playing has helped me to keep my thoughts from wandering a million directions while falling asleep. And, as I usually keep the same CD in for a week or more, it has really helped me to "lock it in" my mind and heart, and I often contemplate during the day what I listen to at night. Sometimes if I'm up with the baby in the night and feel wakeful, I will push play then too.
I still try to read my Bible during the day, but getting it in at night provides a richer quantity of Bible time than I would be able to do only by my reading. I highly recommend it, for yourself and your children!
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Oct. 21, 2008 - New Student at our Homeschool
I thought I would post after a long absence... about the newest student at our homeschool! We welcomed Johann Luiz into our family on September 18. He weighed 8lbs 4oz (my smallest yet) and is adjusting quite well to our family life. ;-) We didnt really take a break this summer, so that we could now, so we have officially been "off" since he was born. The plan is to start back the first Monday of November - less than two weeks away now! We have been using that time to wrap up a few loose ends in the academic department, and enjoy some good read-alouds that we don't always have time for otherwise, like Pilgrim's Progress. Here are a couple pictures of our little prince, at one week old:
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Sep. 2, 2008 - The Mayflower Pilgrims Project
We are studying the Pilgrims now and I ran across a really fun idea to mark their voyage. You mearsure a long wall at 22 feet, labeling one side "England" and the other side "America". Then you make your Mayflower (I covered ours with contact paper, of course!) and post a calendar on the wall. I found a calendar of 1620 to make it as authentic as possible, and we started our "voyage" today on the 16th of Sept, 1620, just like the Pilgrims did! Each day, you measure out 4 inches and move your Mayflower that far along the wall, marking off one day on the calendar. In 66 days, you should reach your destination of "America"! (Did you notice how you're fitting in a little hands-on math, too? ;-)
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Aug. 28, 2008 - Mama's Lapbook Project
Mommies are allowed to do lapbooks, too, right? LOL. I wasnt planning on doing this, but I found out about a free download from Hands of a Child on the LAST day it was available, and it was too cool to pass up. It was a lapbook kit to do an interview with your grandfather! I tried to involve Joshua in it as much as possible, but it was a little involved for his level, and an hour-long interview was a bit much too... but I was so excited to record some of the family history this way! A lot of the things focused on childhood memories, and the neat thing about the kit is that I wouldn't have thought of a lot of the questions on my own. :) Things like, "Tell me about your jobs" "Did you get an allowance as a child?" and "How did you get to school?" (I was surprised at this answer - on his pony!) This was the first time we've used a lapbook kit, and it took a lot of the work out of it, since I didn't have to come up with much on my own - just print, cut, paste! (Although, I really enjoy doing our own too.)
The interview was so much fun, and I learned so much I didn't know before about my Grandfather's history! We also filmed it, so we have the little tidbits that didn't make it into the lapbook too.
A few pics:
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Aug. 22, 2008 - Strength to get through the day
Does anyone besides me ever feel tired? Like there are way too many things to do and not nearly enough time to do them?
Right now I am in my ninth month of pregnancy with our fourth child, and with having the other three young enough to still be rather dependent on me for most things, I can approach the end of the day feeling rather exhausted and spent. In that case, I can even start the day feeling that way!
The other day, I was really encouraged by finding this gem of a verse, and so I thought I would pass it along:
“As your days, so shall your strength be.” Dt 33:25b
Isn't that just SO true! I think back to when I was pregnant with our first child, and I found it challenging back then just to keep up with our small house and laundry for myself and my husband! I don’t think I was generally lazy, but I see it rather as the Lord giving strength for what is necessary, when it is necessary. That is why this quiverfull walk is one of faith. If we had made a decision back then, based on the strength that we had available to us at the time, we surely would not have opted for more than one or two children! But, as our days are, so the Lord gives us strength! Praise Him!
Here is another thought: isn’t it also true that so often our “physical” strength is really a spiritual or emotional state of mind? That is, when we feel down emotionally or spiritually, we end up also feeling exhausted physically, lacking desire or motivation to do much of anything? I know that is the truth for me, anyway!
On the other hand, when we are strengthened in the inner man, we find ourselves physically capable of doing more than we thought possible! Finding the above verse led me to look up the word “strength” in a concordance the other night, and it was SO encouraging to read through what the Lord says in His Word! How often even His name is called “Strength”! I honestly felt strengthened in my spirit just in reading, so I thought I would share the following passages:
“The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.” Ps 29:11
Ps 84:3-7
“Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young— even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, My King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the
“Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Neh 8:10
“ In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isa 30:15
2 Chron 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
Jer 17: 5-8 “This is what the LORD says:
Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength (including our own flesh!)
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
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Aug. 8, 2008 - Rice and Beans
Am I the only one who gets tired of picky kids in the house??? I was sure that *I* would never raise picky kids; they would simply be expected to eat whatever was set before them, and that was that. Breakfast and lunch are rarely a problem, but at dinner time it seemed that there was (is) always someone that is unhappy, someone that just "isn't hungry", or something to complain about. We have tried different approaches: disciplining for complaining about the food, clearing the table and making them go without until the following meal, and even then we often saved their plate and gave them the same thing at the following meal, etc.
Still, the problem persisted. It's not like we make them eat liver and brussel sprouts at every meal! I began to realize that they just have too much. Too much variety, too much abundance on the table, too many options to be thankful for just anything they have available to eat. We are SO thankful for the Lord's provision for us, and yet it is so easy to start complaining when things come too easy and not be thankful for our "daily bread". The Lord even warns us in Dt 6 that this is our tendency: "When the Lord your God brings you into ... a land filled with large, flourishing cities which you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant - then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."
So, I had an idea. We set aside a day in which we ate only rice and beans, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No snacks inbetween, and only water to drink. I started talking it up a week in advance, telling the children that we were going to learn to be truly THANKFUL!!! YAY! We were going to experience what the majority of the world live on every day, and we were going to remember that SO many people in the world don't even have that much, and would be ecstatic if they did! We were going to be in missions training - learning to eat anything, so that one day if the Lord should call them to another country, they would not have to wonder or worry about what they would eat, because they were learning to eat anything! It was going to be GREAT, I kept telling them!
Well, the evening before our rice and beans day, Joshua didn't "feel like" eating his supper. I told him that was fine, but he would not eat anything else until the following day, and that would be rice and beans only. He said that was fine, so I cleared the table.
The next morning, I served rice and beans for breakfast and the two older kids just picked at it, eating nothing. I told them that was fine, but there would be nothing else until lunch! And then I cleared the table. We left the house to go garage saling a bit later, and Joshua started to complain about not feeling well. I told him it was because he had not eaten, and that he should have taken the opportunity to eat when he had the chance, and that he would have another chance at lunch. He stayed in the car during all of the garage sales, and even dozed off several times - VERY unusual for him in the AM hours. He was really starting to look lethargic by the time we got home for lunch.
So for lunch, I served more of the same. This time Dominique ate well, as did Israel and I, but Joshua STILL just picked at his plate and said he wanted to go to bed! I couldn't believe the stubbornness! He does not usually take naps anymore, but I do require him to have a quiet time in the study and read while the other two are napping. But this day, he went straight to his bed and slept for about three hours!
When he woke up, I asked him if he wanted his plate? He said no. I was really surprised, because *he* is the one that usually eats rice and beans without any problem when we serve them for dinner. I was not anticipating this kind of battle. I was starting to feel bad, because he was really looking pitiful, but it 's not like I was starving him! His plate was right there available whenever he wanted to eat it! Instead, he laid on the couch the rest of the afternoon, dozing off now and then, until supper time.
That is when I discovered his plan. He figured he would just withstand the hunger for the day, because he could eat something better tomorrow! When I informed him that we would have Day 2 of Rice and Beans if he didn't eat them today, he decided to eat supper, and BOY did he eat supper!
That night with Daddy, we read the account in Exodus about manna in the wilderness, and then about the complaining and the desire for meat instead. The Lord finally "gave in" and sent them quail - but then sent a plague "while the meat was still between their teeth" and they died! (See Numbers 11) So again, we talked about being thankful for what we have, eating what is set before us, we prayed for the many who go to bed hungry every night, without even rice and beans to satisfy them, and we talked about preparing to be missionaries.
The next morning I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to talk to Joshua about spiritual nourishment. As he had gone for about 24 hours without food, and felt weak in his body and unable to function well, so our spirits become weak without the nourishment of God's Word and the seeking of HIs Presence in our lives on a daily basis. We talked about this for a while and a light really seemed to go off with him.
So... Fabio and I decided that we will continue to do this once a week, at least for this season, to reinforce the lesson. I think we will call it "Manna Day"! :)
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Aug. 6, 2008 - Science Plans for this School Year
NOTE: Sorry about the crazy coloring on parts of this post! I can seem to make it behave!
What to blog about today, that is the question! I have about four posts floating around in my brain or in my computer - just havent had the time to post them! lol.
So, I decided to post about our science plans. We are fans of Charlotte-Mason style nature study, and generally take about 3 months per unit. We are also fans of notebooking, so we create a scrapbook-style notebook as we go along. Here is our line-up for this year. We are about half-way through "insects" right now, and loving it!! :) Notice we are taking October off altogether, and then allowing FOUR full months for the next unit, which should be a lighter one anyway. This is all because of our baby blessing arriving the end of September! :)
Plans beyond the tree study, as you can see, have not been fully developed, but I have been collecting resources on those topics, and tucking them away in my private shelf! hehe. I have one section of the bookcase that the children are not allowed to touch in which I stick stuff "for future use". It is so much more exciting that way! So, anyway, I think I already have everything I need for the anatomy study - I just havent organized it all yet. I guess I can post more on that when I do. :)
July, Aug, Sept 2008:
General Ideas:
-In the book of Exodus, read about the plagues in
-Do a scavenger hunt to see how many insects we can find. Be sure to take along a magnifying glass and field guide so we can examine them closely.
-Read the poems from Joyful Noise together. After reading each poem, use the field guide to find out about the insect in the poem. Fill in insect worksheet.
-Insect Parables by Robert Baker
*Week One and Two: General.
-Talk about what an insect is, general anatomy, etc.
-Insects by Alice Field (read aloud)
-Read Aloud: When Insects are Babies
-Independent reading: Strange World of Insects and
-True Bugs and 3-D Thrillers
-Bible verses: draw the bug plagues of
-Bugs: what day of creation?
*Ant week:
-make fingerprint ants
-make and eat "ants on a log" for a snack!
-Read aloud: Fact II in Lessons from Nature
-Prov 6:6-copywork and memorization
-Insects do The Strangest Things: pg 8
-How to draw book: ants
-Independent reading: Story of ants
*Butterfly week:
-put out butterfly feeder
-butterfly life cycle craft
-read aloud: Monarch Butterfly of Aster Way
-Wonder where Butterflies go in winter?
-Very Hungry Caterpillar
-How to draw book: butterflies
-Read Alouds: Nature reader ch11-26, The Bee Tree, A Hive of Busy Bees
-Fact XVII in Lessons from Nature
-Insects Do The Strangest Things: p52 honeybee
-Independent reading: Bees, Wasps, Ants
-How to draw: bumblebee
-Make Bee Book from Danielle’s Place- Children can write Bible verses, words starting with the letter "B", a short story about a bee, or facts about bees in this cute little bee-shaped book.
-Bee and Flower Mobile (Danielle’s place)
-Eat Honeycomb cereal! (glue to projects, use for counting games)
Bible verses:
-Prov 16:24 “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.”
-Ps 19:7-11 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.”
-Plant flowers to attract bees. Plant flowers such as sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, mint, and clover. Spend time in the garden and try to discover which types of flowers they like best. Try to catch a glimpse of the pollen sacks on large bumblebees as they fly from flower to flower. You really can see them. http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/na/bgardn.html
-See if we can visit a bee farm!
*Ladybug Week:
-The Very Grouchy Ladybug
-Ladybug and other insects
-Insects do the Strangest Things: pg20
-How to draw ladybugs
-Find rocks to paint like ladybugs
*Misc Bugs Weeks:
-Read remaining parts of Lessons from Nature: grasshopper and firefly
-read remainder of Insects do the Strangest Things
-Other wrap-up, review and notebooking
- Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears : by Verna Aardema
-Firefly night / by Carole Gerber
-Two bad ants / Chris Van Allsburg
- The napping house / Audrey Wood
- The icky bug alphabet book / by Jerry Pallotta
November, December, January and February
Trees
Read Alouds:
-Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling
-A Tree is Nice
-A Tree Can Be…
Ideas:
-Trees – what day of creation? Review creation lapbook.
-Collect leaves, identify, press and include in notebook (field guide)
- Look at the leaves we collected w/ magnifying glass. Notice veins on leaves.
-Learn about life cycle of tree and the seasons
-Learn about photosynthesis
-Bible: -Psalm 1 and Jer. 17 about righteous vs wicked men
-Good fruits and bad fruits: Mt 7
-Crayon rubbings of tree bark in the forest preserve and yard
-“T” in Proverbs for Preschoolers –verse about trees.
-Independent
-Notebook about all. – Notebooking pages available at hslaunch J
-Here a Plant, There a Plant, Everywhere a Plant, Plant by Robert Quackenbush
Human Anatomy
June, July, August 2009:
Plants and Gardening
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Jul. 28, 2008 - Nature Scavenger Hunt
I grew up in the country, and would love for my children to also. However, we are very blessed in many ways where we currently live, in town, and one of those is that we have a forest preserve right across the street! The area across the street does not have trails, which I almost prefer. Seems more "raw" that way, ya know? hehe. Anyway, today we did a nature scavenger hunt over there that I got from here (for free!). It was a lot of fun! Here are some pics from our adventure:
Above: Israel and I, all ready to go. He prefers this method of exploring nature right now. He isn't crazy about tramping through the brush on his own yet! (Tomorrow I will be 32 weeks along!)
Below: our list and some of our finds:
Above: Joshua and Dominique on the Adventure!
Below: A few other pics of our discoveries:
1. A Dragonfly
2. A beetle (we have yet to identify it - is it a Japanese beetle?)
3. Pretty effective camoflauge!!
4. Dead tree trunk with markings of ?? (we plan to identify this later too.. .:)
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Jul. 26, 2008 - History Plan for this School Year
History
Core Books:
In God We Trust- Stories of Faith in American History by Timothy Crater and Ranelda Hunsicker and
The Light and the Glory for Children and
From Sea to Shining Sea for Children by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, with accompanying activity books (these activity books are really cool and fully reproducible for the entire family!)
I got the recommendation for this book from The Boyers :
This is an AWESOME book for children, and could actually be a stand-alone text, but we are integrating it. American history from a Christian perspective, and with great character lessons along the way. This first one covers up to George Washington, and From Sea to Shining Sea picks up at 1787.
-Read one chapter per week of In God We Trust, possibly more on weeks with less involved or with related chapters (there are 50 chapters total)
-Create a timeline figure for each chapter (see pics below)
-Read accompanying section of The Light and the Glory when appropriate
-Notebooking pages for information, activity pages,
coloring pages, copywork and narrations
-Mapwork, where appropriate
-Crafts and Projects for some (like Indian or Pilgrim theme, for example)
-Additional reading/ biographies (on occasion)
-Bunny trails related to chapter, when there is interest (and time)
-“Who Am I?” history cards for review games
The following is a list of the subject of each chapter, with ideas for supplements and enrichment activities. I will likely add to this list as I go along. I know this is more detail than most of you care to know, but just in case anyone else would like to use a similar plan, this might save you some time and searching!
(note: my sil lent me Truthquest after I had already put together the majority of this plan, and I think it is GREAT, but then I got totally overwhelmed with TOO many ideas, so I ended up giving it back after picking out a few nice things. I did, however, copy a few of the pages of text that I thought would be helpful to read out loud to begin certain units.)
1. Leif Ericson – AD1000
»Read pg 2 in Truthquest
»Learn something about the Vikings:
»Leif the Lucky (Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire)
2. Stephen Langton -1155-1228 –LIGHT WEEK
»Obtain copy of Magna Carta to read and include in notebook
3. Christopher Colombus -1451-1506
»Independent reading for Joshua: additional bios that we have
»Light and Glory ch 1-2 / coloring page 3-11 and GAME pg 8-9
»Notebooking page available at homeschoolerhelper.com – Colombus ships
»Sower Series biography: Christopher Colombus
4. Valient Virginians – 1607
»Light and Glory ch 4 / coloring page 17-19
»Mapwork:
Stories of American History: ch XI
5. Mayflower Pilgrims -1620 –LOTS! (2 weeks?)
»book: If you sailed On the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern
»Light and Glory ch 5-6 / coloring pg 20-33
»Pg 19-21 in Truthquest
»Ch 1-2 in Big American Heroes
»Notebook pg at homeschool helper: Thanksgiving Pilgrims
6. John Winthrop 1588-1649
»Light and Glory ch 7-8 / coloring p 34-42 =Puritans – split up for R.Williams
7. Roger Williams 1603-1683
»Mapwork:
»Light and Glory ch 9 and continue coloring of Puritans
»Truthquest p 32-33, 37
8. James Oglethorpe 1696-1785 – LIGHT WEEK- combine w/ ch 9
»Bible verse: James 2:15-17
»Truthquest p. 70
»Mapwork: GA and Stories of Early GA – ch XVI in American History
9. Calverts 1634 – LIGHT week – combine w/ ch 8
»Mapwork:
»Light and Glory: ch 3
»Talk about/ pray for persecuted Christians
10. John Eliot 1604-1690
»Bunny Trail: Indians
»Light n Glory Coloring pg 12-13
»Truthquest p 40-41,44
»Notebooking pg at homeschoolhelper: Indian boots
11. Father Jacques Marquette 1637-1676
»Mapwork:
»Light n Glory coloring p 14-15
»Truthquest p. 49
»Stories of American History ch XVIII
»Bunny Trail: Lewis and Clark
12. William Penn 1644-1718
»Bunny Trail: Colonial Life
»Truthquest p 62-63
»The World of William Penn by Genevieve Foster
»Hands-on: Try writing w/ a quill and ink
»Mapwork:
13. Eusebio Francisco Kino 1637-1675-COMBINE w/ ch 14
»Learn something about the Pima Indians
14. Father Junipero Serra 1713-1784 –COMBINE w/ ch 13
»Mapwork:
»Bible verse: “No one who has left mother or father…”
15. Eleazar Wheelock 1711-1779- LIGHT week
»Talk about prejudice. Bible verse:
»INSERT about French/Indian Wars also??
16. Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758
»Great Awakening: Truthquest p. 72-73, 81-83
»Light/Glory ch 10
»Trial and Triumph ch 31-35
17. John Witherspoon 1723-1794
»Learn more about the American Revolution: Truthquest p 102-104
»If You Lived At The Time Of The American Revolution (by Kay Moore)
»Coloring pg 46-48
»Big American Heroes ch 4
18. Samuel Adams 1722-1803
»Learn more about the American Revolution cont.
»Coloring pages 49-50
»Big American Heroes ch 5-6
19. Paul Revere 1735-1818
»Learn more about the American Revolution cont: Light/Glory ch 11
»Coloring pages 51-52
»Jean Fritz biography about Paul Revere
20. John Adams 1735-1826
»Learn more about the American Revolution cont-Light Glory ch 12
»Truthquest p 163
»Coloring p 53
21. Patrick Henry 1736-1799
»Notebooking page at homeschoolhelper: Revolutionary war soldiers
»Light and Glory ch 13 AND coloring p 54 and 56
»Stories of American History ch XXIII
22. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg 1746-1807-LIGHT week
»Bible verses: Ecc 3- a time for everything
»Big Heroes ch 7-8
23. George Washington 1732-1799
»Book: George Washington’s Breakfast – by Jean Fritz
»Light and Glory ch 14-15 AND coloring p. 55, 57-63, 67
»Notebook pg printed from consumer help web
24. Benjamin Rush 1747-1813-COMBINE with ch 25
»Doctor. Talk about how each one can use his gifts to serve the Lord.
»Big Heroes ch 9-10
25. John Jay 1745-1829 – COMBINE with ch 24
»Learn more about the American Bible Society
»Mapwork: PA and NY
26. James Madison 1751-1836
»Mapwork:
»Sea to Sea ch 5
»Copywork: quote at bottom of page 109
27. Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790
»book: Benjamin Franklin by Peter Roop and Connie Roop OR
»Benjamin Franklin by Edgar Parin and Ingri d’Aulaire
»Truthquest p 119
»Light and Glory Coloring p 64-66
»Obtain copy of preamble for notebook
»Notebook page at homeschool helper: “We The People”
28. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 1746-1825 – LIGHT week
»Talk about bribes. Bible verse:
»Mapwork:
»Big Heroes ch 11-12
29. Abigail Adams 1744-1814
»Talk about what a good wife is/ does
»Bible verses for copywork from text: 1 Kings 3:9 and Luke 19:42
»Sower Series Biography
30. John Marshall 1755-1835
»Talk about what a judge is/ does
»Sea to Sea ch 6
31. Francis Scott Key 1779-1843
»Learn the Star Spangled Banner!
»Sea to Sea ch 7-8
»Big Heroes ch 13-14
32. John Quincy
»Talk about being a pleasing son. Bible verse:
»Mapwork:
»Sea to Sea ch 9
33. Pilgrims of Hawaii 1819-1841- LIGHT week
»Mapwork:
»Big Heroes ch 15
34. Charles Grandison Finney 1792-1875
»Review the Ten Commandments
»Sea to Sea ch 13
»Mapwork:
»Big Heroes ch 16
35. Noah Webster 1758-1843
»Learn more about using a dictionary; Practice!
»Talk about the importance of words: Bible verse:
»Big Heroes ch 17
36. Samuel Finley Breese Morse 1791-1872
»Learn more about the morse code. Try it!
»Book we have on messanging:
»Big Heroes ch 18
37. Missionaries on
»Bunny Trail on Pioneer Life –Truthquest p 169, pg 83 and book: Children of the Covered Wagon by Mary Jane Carr
»Sea to Sea ch 14, ch 2
»Notebooking page at homeschooler helper: covered wagon
»Trace the
38. Daniel Webster 1782-1852
»book: If you lived at the time of the Civil War – Kay Moore
»The First Book of the Civil War by Dorothy Levenson
»Copywork: quote on page 157
39. Elijah Parish Lovejoy 1802-1837
»Talk about the many ways we can share our faith
»Talk about suffering/dying for our faith
40. Frederick Douglass 1817-1895 - LOTS (2 weeks?)
»Learn about slavery- Truthquest p. 76
»Light and Glory ch 15
»Sea to Sea ch 1, ch 10-11, ch 16
»If You Lived When There Was Slavery in
»Fredrick Douglass : Freedom Fighter by Lillie Patterson
»Notebook pg printed from consumer help web
»Copywork: quote on pg 165 sidebar
41. Sojourner Truth 1797-1883
»The Lord is with us, even in hard times. Bible verse:
»If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad (by Ellen Levine)
42. Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865
»Read Emancipation Proclamation and include in notebook
»Notebook pg: White House from notebookingpages.com
43. Robert Edward Lee 1807-1870
»Sower series biography OR
»America’s Robert E. Lee by Henry S. Commager
44. Clara Harlowe Barton 1821-1912
»Learn more about the Red Cross
»Bible verse: “Inasmuch as you’ve done it…”
45. Hiram Revels 1827-1901
»Mapwork: MS, NC, IN, OH, MD, MO, DC (trace life travels)
»Discuss how blacks rights were limited, even after slavery ended with book: Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
46. James Garfield 1831-1881
»Copywork: quote on page 196
47. Frances Elizabeth Willard 1839-1898
»Mapwork :WI, IL
»Talk about liquor and its effects. Bible vs: Prov 23:32
48. Francis Bellamy 1856-1931
»Notebooking page at homeschool helper: flags
»Memorize the Pledge of Allegiance
»Book: The Pledge of Allegiance (we have)
49. Mary McLeod Bethune 1875-1955
»Copywork: quote from pg 209-210 about flowers
»Bible verse: Jn 3:16 “God so loved ALL the world…”
50. Katherine Lee Bates 1859-1929
»Learn to sing
»Find pictures of
»Mapwork: CO, including
And last but not least, a great little book that I also got from the Boyers about American heroes, many of them children! 
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Jul. 23, 2008 - 100th Comment??
I have seen several people here on homeschool blogger celebrate their 1,000th comment .... but after two years of blogging here, I have yet to "celebrate" my 100th!!! LOL! Anyone want to help me out??
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Jul. 18, 2008 - Curriculum Quandry
I'm sure I'm the only homeschool mom who has been in a quandry over curriculum choice, right? Ha!
I reviewed so many different things, and much of it appealed to me in one way or another, but after much consideration, I decided that, at least for another year, we will continue to put our own things together rather than use a set curriculum. Then next year we can reevaluate again. I like the philosophy of integrated studies, such as unit studies, and I like the idea of “real” books, rather than textbooks for the core of learning. So, we will continue on the track of Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick, having also learned much from Robin Sampson and Jennifer Steward, and having been given confidence by guides such as those by Kathryn Stout, Diane Lopez and Cathy Duffy. (see resources at the bottom.)
Therefore, the main theme for this year is to be “mini” unit studies based on history (early American history), and nature studies (science). Into these we will weave our reading, writing, geography, some Bible, and other topics as we go. I am especially excited about our history plans, so I plan to post more about that later...
Daily we will do math separately, as well as a separate Bible curriculum (which I already posted about).
I think we will try to have two days a week based on our history topic and two days based on our science topic.
That gives us one “extra” day to either wrap up what we were doing in science and history, take some time off, or work in other elective studies.
The only other “curriculum” will be those certain electives when we can fit them in, such as critical thinking activities, and artist and composer studies, which don’t take much time or preparation and, I feel, greatly enhance the educational experience. J Last year we did one artist and one composer for each three month period, which left us a lot of “slack” so we could enjoy it when we were able to fit it in, and not stress about it when we couldn’t.
So, our year may look something like this:
Daily: Bible and Math
Monday and Wednesday: History and related activities
Tuesday and Thursday: Science and related activities
Friday: “Other” (artist, composer, field trip, review, other electives)
Our School's Theme Verses
Isaiah 54:13-14 “All your children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression….”
Main Learning Goals:
*Teach my children the fear of the Lord and work on molding their character according to Scripture
*Impart to my children a love of learning
*Have FUN in the journey!!
My Favorite Resources:
*The Three R’s by Ruth Beechick
*Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach by Robin Sampson
*Everything you need to know about Homeschool Unit Studies by Jennifer Steward
*Design-A-Study Guides by Kathryn Stout. I think I have them all now:
Maximum Math
Science Scope
Guides to History Plus!
Natural Speller
Critical Conditioning
Creative Composition
*Teaching Children by Diana Lopez (K-6 scope and sequence especially geared to those using a Charlotte Mason approach.)
*100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy
*How to Create Your Own Unit Studies by Valerie Bendt
So, that is our plan for this coming school year, which we are currently in our third week of now. So far, so good! 
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Jul. 10, 2008 - Postscript of our School Year 2007-2008
Well, in between trips to the zoo and the park and the forest preserve and the beach and friends' houses and the blueberry patch, and hanging out with our exchange student from Spain, etc.... we have managed to fit a little school in here and there! LOL. We have been thorougly enjoying our summer, but last week we also wrapped up our previous school year, and this week we are beginning our current year. :) I'm not much into labeling grade levels, but I guess you could say that Joshua finished kindergarten now and started first grade, which is good timing as far as a break-off, because his birthday is Saturday. So, new age, new grade! As for Dominique, she just passed from Preschool 1 to Preschool 2, I guess, but they were both excited to decorate new covers for their NEW school year notebooks/ binders, and have some new things to start. :)
So, anyway, as a wrap-up, I journaled a little postscript about what we accomplished last year, compared to what we had planned to accomplish. It was fun, so I thought I'd post it. Pretty soon, I will post our goals for this coming year too. :)
POSTSCRIPT: What we accomplished during the school year of 2007-2008
Dominique: -Learned all her letters and beginning phonics sounds very well!
(preschool) -Completed Heart And Hands
-Read lots of books with Mommy, participated in our Five In a Row studies and our nature studies, memorized several Bible verses, and did many arts and crafts projects
Kindergarten:
(Joshua) -Bible: Read all the way through the Children’s Bible in Portuguese. Memorized several Bible verses. Added timeline figures of prominent Bible characters. Completed unit study on the Ten Commandments. Learned the books of the OT well; still working on New Testament. Included Bible in many of our other studies.
-Phonics: Noah Websters Reading Handbook and various worksheets
- Reading: Pictorial Primer, Rod and Staff Readers 1-3, and *many* read-alouds with mommy, as well as independent reading.
-Math:
-Writing: Worked on copywork notebook and also did other writing activities in lapbooks and other activities
-Portuguese: did some copywork in Portuguese, and towards the end of the year began learning Portuguese phonics.
-Five in a Row –completed the literature-based unit studies of Volume 1.
-Nature Studies: three months each of: birds, mammals, reptiles. Worked on a scrapbook-style nature notebook to record our findings.
Composer Studies: read biographies and listened to music of: Mozart, Handel, Beethoven. Also notebooked and added timeline pictures.
-Artist Studies: found out a little bit about and did picture studies of Leonardo DaVinci and Rembrandt. Added timeline pictures as well.
-Japanese: We did this very sporadically and only got to learn about eleven letters and not as much vocabulary as we started out learning at the beginning of the year… Maybe we’ll do better next school year!
-Geography: I think we were pretty effective at including this in almost all of our other studies and had a lot of fun doing it! We got geography with FIAR studies, art and composer studies, Bible, nature studies, and with other misc. things that came up in everyday life. J
Overall Evaluation: Joshua became a very proficient reader! This was exciting for both of us! Math did not come as quickly as reading, but we have seen great improvements. I think, if nothing else, I learned how to be a better math teacher! I think Joshua has a much firmer grasp on mathematical concepts now, even though his facts are not all perfectly memorized. We are still working on that, but doing more with manipulatives than at the beginning of the year, and hopefully the rote memorizing will come more easily this way.
Best of all, we had a
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Jul. 5, 2008 - FIAR Review, Wrap-Up and Lapbook
Well, as I have mentioned before, we enjoyed doing Volume I of Five In A Row this past year. Now that we finished the last book, I decided to take our story disks off of our table map and put them on an outline map to save, and review in the process. So, I printed an outline map of the US, one of Europe and one of Asia, and also one of South America, as we did a FIAR-style unit study with a Brazilian story as well. Then we went through each disk and talked a little bit about the story, and had such fun reminiscing together! I had Joshua color in the appropriate place on the map, and glue the disk there on its permanent home. Then I covered the maps with contact paper. (Have I ever mentioned how much I love that stuff??!!)
Here are the four maps: 
Here is a little closer-up of the map of Asia. I labeled each disk with the name of the story and the name of the place where it happened, and in some cases, a few other little relative notes.
Following this pic is a closer-up of the New England section of the US map.
I thought this would be a good place to share another lapbook we did last fall that I never got around to posting about! After our first three units, we put together a lapbook of what we learned, which was wonderful, ..... but I decided after that that it was going to be too much to keep it up all the time, so we didn't do another FIAR lapbook until Another Celebrated Dancing Bear, which I have already posted about. I kind of wish we had kept it up, as the units we lapbooked about are probably the ones we enjoyed the most and learned the most from and remembered the best, because of the added reinforcement and enjoyment of putting the lapbook together, and then having it to look back on later!
Anyway, here is the one we did for The Story About Ping, Lentil and Madeline.
The front: 
Open it up and see all the people! Ping on the left, Lentil on the right. (Madeline is on the back.)
Each side has a map of the location where the story took place, a mini book with Joshua's narration of the story (which he decided to do in Portuguese!), a picture I copied from the book and he colored, and something else we learned with the unit, like about obedience in the case of Ping, and about taste buds and how God created us each as individuals for Lentil.
Closer Up:
Then Madeline on the back. a map of France and France's flag, the Eiffel Tower, a few vocab words we learned from the story, a madeline counting game with 12 little girls just like in the story, and Joshua's narration of the story, in English this time. :) He wanted to do this one in English because he quoted much of it from memory in the rhyming fashion the book is written it. Hard to translate that and still make it rhyme! lol. Oh, and after the kids colored and cut out the counter girls, I covered those with contact paper too! I really do love that stuff!!!
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