Our Busy Little World
Sep. 23, 2009 - Autumn Is Here Again!
Happy Autumn everyone! It's my favorite weather season at last, and soon will be my favorite season of the church calender, too - Advent...happy times! We're a couple of weeks into our school year, and I'm rather pleased with how things are going at this point. The first week was a bit choppy, as we all managed to come down with swine flu. Now that we're well and have gotten past the preliminary "lessons", its lovely to find out what works well, and to tweak what doesn't work for us.
I do believe today might have been summer weather's last hurrah at 92 degrees, and hopefully it will get cooler from here. In the midst of starting school, we also enjoyed visiting the apple orchard - fresh pears and apples, fun with dear friends, and lots of freshly pressed cider! It will be nice to have the cooler weather come just as we're feeling more settled into our school routine - I must admit the first couple weeks were rocky in ways other than illness with plenty of attitude troubles!
I'm always amazed at how school seems to be largely for teaching character at this point - cheerfulness when corrected, working happily under authority, doing one's best, being diligent and honest, being patient for one's turn, doing our duty with a glad heart, and so much more is addressed more thoroughly than any math or reading lesson! But the math and reading lessons are there, and it's fun to see how much each of my girls has grown. Isabelle writes just beautifully, and is very excited to be starting cursive (among other things) this year! Hannah has decided to write her lowercase "a's" the way they are typed, so I often find her with her cute little tongue sticking out the side of her lips as she tries to get that little curlicue on top of the "a". She's such a hard little worker, and seems to have quite the brain for numbers. Naomi's speech has improved amazingly since last year, and since we use a lot of phonics for her speech practice, she's learned all of her letters, too! We've also discovered she can draw a very convincing little pig. Juliette delights in drawing princesses and cakes, and making many, many "letters" for us to read. Alyssa has become quite the sweetheart at playing quietly during the big girls' reading lessons (which is saying a lot for her!), and her favorite part of "school" is drinking a bottle and watching PraiseBaby in the middle. I think the little girls all like silly putty the best (they get to play with it while I read aloud), and the big girls all like the new Notgrass "Draw The Bible" lessons best (though I'd have to ask them, perhaps they'd pick a different favorite).
Today was one of those rare (and lovely) days in which we actually finished all of our planned schoolwork early, as well as our afternoon "fun" school. The girls got to veg and watch Tinkerbell while I was able to re-lock all of Naomi's little braids! And Isabelle and I still made it to choir in time. It was a good day! Here's hoping we all have more of the pleasant days and fewer of the challenging ones - though I suppose those are the ones God uses to sanctify us all the more. Happy new school year to you all!
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Aug. 14, 2009 -
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Aug. 11, 2009 - On Thanking God For The Little Things...
...Fast forward to this morning. I was up most of the night taking care of Isabelle - she always seems to get the highest fevers! Long story short, she ended up in my bed, and finally went back to sleep at 6:30am. I was trying to figure out how to get up and get ready without waking her when a phone call endangered her sleepiness. I quickly snuck out and managed to do so with her still asleep. I'd been puttering about downstairs for a bit, getting some morning things accomplished, and thinking about making breakfast. I finally decided to make some food, but was disappointed that I'm still in my jammies, which don't happen to be what I want to wear in front of our neighbor-facing window. It would be impossible to sneak in and get clothes without waking the little one. Knowing this, I was right in the middle of thinking to myself (hadn't even got as far as praying yet) how much I would really, really like some clothes, when I passed the dryer. Voila! All those dripping, icky clothes from yesterday are now clean, fresh, dry, and just waiting for me to wear...Thank you, Lord, for a lovely morning gift!
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Aug. 6, 2009 - Summertime....
Well, I have all sorts of fun curriculum waiting for the fall (well, actually we plan to start school again in August, since we ended a bit early in the spring). and I'm hoping to get a day to myself so I can organize and plan everything out. We also have the busiest little autumn I've planned yet - piano lessons, choir, Schola Cantorum (happily, our church is starting a singing school for the wee ones!), and a few other things we're still deciding if we can fit in. In addition to all of this, we're pondering moving (again, I know - we're terrible at keeping the same house for more than two years!) We are thinking of buying a little farm - or at least a couple of acres where we can keep our horse, have some chickens, let the girls run about and also learn "farm chores", and all that lovely sort of stuff! We'll see how this all plays out - and how I manage to get any schooling done if we do move - but it does make for some exciting things to look forward to! Before we say farewell to summertime play, here are some summertime photos:
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Aug. 5, 2009 - Part Two....
Here are a few more of my thoughts on the adornment thing. I wrote this as a response to this post on Femina.
I really enjoyed this post, Rachel, and I think you made some great points to ponder. But I still think it misses the point overall. Much of what I was going to say (whilst waiting for my little girls’ naptime), Aubree already pointed out very well. But I’ll still add a few things.
One thing, however minor, is that I genuinely do think earrings and nose rings are essentially the same type of thing - Biblically speaking. No, I wouldn’t put a nose ring on a baby, but I also wouldn’t put makeup on my baby - that doesn’t mean I think it’s any less appropriate at a different time.
I also have to point out, in the vein of what Aubree said, that just because we as Christians *do* something that is similar to something to the world does, it does not logically follow that we therefore are imitating the world. Examples abound, from the mundane and simple like eating three meals a day and enjoying wine, to issues which could seem more complex like home mortgages, nose studs and blogging! Honestly, being that we all live in this world God created, and are working with the same “raw material” of creation, we are bound to come up with similar things. Sometimes, yes, and even often, our modern American *church* culture tends to struggle with wanting to imitate the world. But you can’t just throw the baby out with the bathwater and assume that any fashion statement we make, if it was made previously by someone ungodly, is therefore made in imitation.
I’m guessing most of you ladies wear modest jeans, and don’t have pierced noses - is that really the “uniform” of a Christian? Because honestly it seems to me you might look just as much like a conservatively dressed atheist, a mormon, or any other group of people which uses that same style! I am all for Christians being the trend setters, but as there is “nothing new under the sun”, it’s likely that some group at some point in history thought of the same creative style idea a Christian might come up with while they trying to look different from the world. Of course I’m not saying that some group in ancient history dressed in the unpleasant punk style of modernity, but piercings, body art, jewelry, makeup, hair styling- these things have existed in various forms throughout most, if not all cultures - people define beauty very differently, but most cultures still strive for it. I still believe as Christians we are called to seek to adorn ourselves in a way that we believe (reasoning from Biblical principles) is honoring to God, and appropriate and lovely for one bearing His name. I also believe that this WILL look different to different people, and we must make allowances for the fact that our personal opinions do not constitute a binding Biblical standard. We have obviously allowed for some creativity of appearance, or I think our community would look a bit more like the Amish.
The other main point I wanted to mention is that although the Bible teaches much about how to array ourselves in a way pleasing to God, it doesn’t say that is what should identify us as Christians. God says others will know we are Christians by our love. Also, since I’m already being rather long-winded, I’m going to post one of these key “principle” passages in it’s entirety here:
1 Peter 3:1-6
In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely external–braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses;but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.
Does this passage say we should not have adornment? Absolutely not! It says our adornment should not be merely external. Meaning, again, that we are not defined or identified as Christians by our externals alone. We are shown to be Christians by our love, or as this passage puts it, by the hidden person of the heart…a gentle and quiet spirit, etc. If Peter is talking about making sure our loveliness is shown in the ‘conversation’ of our lives, and not relying on braids and gold jewelry, etc to make us seem beautiful, then it seems to me that the braids and gold jewelry were indeed there. And that brings us right back to the point that we as Christians use wisdom in choosing our adornment. If we choose an adornment which looks like one the Egyptians used, perhaps we are imitating them wrongly; or perhaps we are rightly ‘plundering the Egyptians; or perhaps we thought of it all on our own and it’s entirely coincidental that it looks like the Egyptians. God looks at the heart. I think it’s great that we are able to pound these things out together in seeking to come to a greater understanding of how to form a lovely Christian culture. And I will still happily admire a friend’s beautiful tattoo, or nose stud, in the context of admiring her godly life and beautiful heart.
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Aug. 4, 2009 - "Trousers, Ankles, and Other Forms of Immodesty"
Ok, so this is a random re-entry into the foray of blogging, but since I actually took the time to sit and write something, I thought I'd put it here on my little blog as well. The wonderful Wilsons, over at Femina and Blog&Mablog have brought up the subject of piercings, tattoos and the like. It's been quite the lively discussion on the comment streams! While I have to disagree with their conclusions, I hope the discussion has included kindness and charity from all parties. Here are some of my thoughts on the whole thing, if anyone is curious to read them.
PS. I don't mind if you have different thoughts on the matter - we're all hashing things out and trying to do it in a way that glorifies God! I wrote this particular comment mainly in response to the question of why a Christian should ever get a nose ring.
I’ll happily offer a possible reason for getting a nose stud, tasteful tattoo or any of these other forms of adornment. Assuming right motives, respect of one’s authority, love of God’s temple, and lack of insecurity behind it, I would think the simplest reason would be the same reason for getting your ears pierced: beauty and adornment. I also know those who have taken the Biblical principle of a piercing or adornment being a symbol of submitting, and have chosen to show that they are cheerfully under their authority in that way. I could probably think of a few others, but I am confused as to why I don’t see anyone asking for a valid reason to get one’s ears pierced.
After enjoying reading through all of these posts and comments, I just can’t see any huge fundamental difference between getting a nose ring, etc, and getting earrings. I think Hannah nailed it when she pointed out that there is certainly a progression of what is deemed lovely at different times and in different cultures. I wouldn’t want to assume that anything was “universally” considered lovely, simply because it is widely considered lovely. I also wouldn’t want to say that adornments from certain cultures or times are ok, because somehow those cultures or times had the market on the ideal Christian “look”.
I would consider a daughter’s request to get a pierced nose, or a floral anklet tattoo as perhaps a step beyond earrings culturally, but honestly they’re all pretty equally common where I’m from. I wouldn’t eschew wearing trousers because it was first done by rebellious women - I would simply make sure that I wear trousers in what I deem to be a God-honoring fashion. Likewise, I wouldn’t eschew more permanent forms of adornment/jewelry such as earrings, noserings, etc, because they were once only worn by rebellious women, but I would seek to wear them in a way that is lovely and consistent with Christian character - I don’t think those things are mutually exclusive.
I realize my opinion may not be shared by a majority of readers here, but it doesn’t change the crux of the matter: that these things really fall under the heading of Methods, rather than Principles. I appreciate the Biblical principles outlined here, but I would be cautious not to confuse the Biblical principles with the personal opinions of what they should look like. My husband gave me a chuckle by pointing out that a few generations ago, this blog might have been titled: “Trousers, Ankles and Other Forms of Immodesty”. Likewise, I’m sure we could find (and have, in many of the blog comments here) all manner of varying opinions about whether and how we should wear makeup, jewelry, clothing, and many more issues relating to the body than we could count! But the fact remains that these things ought to be reasoned out from the same Scriptures, and we as fellow saints ought not to assume that a brother or sister didn’t have a valid or good reason to get an adornment, simply because it is against our personal taste. I just can’t see Scripture extending to say that “earrings are fine, nose studs aren’t” or anything of the like. May we grow in beauty as we learn to kindly discuss these things, and seek to adorn our bodies to be lovely expressions appropriate in godly lives!
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Jul. 12, 2009 - One Of My New Favorite Quotes
Your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all
Thomas Brooks
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May. 5, 2009 - Curriculum Sale!
Hi everyone! I'm attempting to make some room in our house, and have a bunch of homeschool/curriculum books to sell. If you're interested in any of these, just shoot me an email at matthewmelissa (at) aol (dot) com ! The price doesn't include shipping, but I don't mind splitting it, so figure on maybe a couple of bucks max unless it's something really heavy! Hope you all are having a lovely spring!
with most, if not all, manipulatives pieces included! $90
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Apr. 9, 2009 - Isabelle
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Apr. 8, 2009 - Great Experiments In Braiding
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Mar. 19, 2009 - First Days Outside
We were thrilled to be able to go outside without winter jackets this week! I love spring...and fall... it's just those really hot and really cold months I'm not a huge fan of! Having grown up in southern California, I never thought I would consider 44 degrees a warm day. But I suppose I'm officially an Idahoan since it seemed bliss to me! Here are some pictures of our first real outside play day, some older pictures which have been stuck on my iphone, and also some pictures of Dobby, the House Dog, since I've been quite remiss in posting any. Hope you all have a lovely week! We are hoping to get back into our school days since we took a "spring break" while we were all sick (last month it was chicken pox, this month the never ending flu/cold)...
Naomi and Isabelle love Dobby! Actually it's pretty unanimous among the girls that they love Dobby. Juliette probably most of all...when I get some more time I'll have to download the host of pictures I have of her snuggling Dobby!
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Mar. 14, 2009 - Fair Farah
I really need to have someone come out and take some pictures of Farah that actually show how pretty she is! It's rather a tall order for me, since I'm usually leading her and it's not the best vantage for taking pictures. But here are a few that I took when I was out at the barn today. I am so thankful for what a lovely respite it is to have our little horse!
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Mar. 11, 2009 - We're still here!
Hi everyone, thanks for all the notes of hello! We're all still here, just busy! I'm not sure when I used to find the extra minutes to write on my blog, so I am sorry for the long absence. I will try to update when I get a chance here and there . I am very behind on getting pictures into my computer, so Hannah gets to top the blog for now, until I get new pictures of them all together!
We're still schooling, of course. It's funny, I seem to start the school year with so many grand plans and schedules, and by this point in the year we find our selves just keeping up with the basics - phonics, writing and copywork, Bible, and reading aloud and such. I suppose that's the joy of having little ones! I realized next year Isabelle will be starting second grade, so we'll have more latin, cursive and other things to keep up with. For now I'm enjoying listening to Isabelle read her McGuffy's Third Reader lessons - I love all the old fashioned words she learns this way. She likes me to "recorderate" while she reads, and she does a lovely job putting "feeling" into the stories. Hannah has learned to read simple words, and I love snuggling her while she works hard to sound them out. She was quite excited to be able to take a little book to bed that she could really read - "just like Isabelle", she said! Naomi is still working with speech therapy, and we've started combining phonics into that. She's wanting to start writing letters like her big sisters. We found out she may have some hearing loss in one of her ears, so we're looking forward to the audiology test results to hopefully help her hear and speak even better! Juliette likes playing with the preschool toys, and little princesses while I read, and snuggling for her favorite kinds of stories. Alyssa sits with us for circle time now, and she's very cute and rather grown up about it! She's had a bit of a "language explosion" in the past few weeks, and she's saying all sorts of words. I just love this age, and we delight to hear her sweet little voice saying things we can actually understand!
In other sorts of news, we have a dog now! Matt was so sweet to get me the horse I loved that I wanted to do the same for him. He's wanted a basset hound for awhile now, and since the girls are a bit older we started looking for one. We found a "hound from the pound" who, thankfully, has turned out to be the perfect dog for us! Matt named him Dobby, The House Dog (we all call him Dobby, of course), and he is incredibly sweet! He loves the girls and is wonderful with them. And they all just adore him. Alyssa often wakes up from her nap saying "Where Dobby? Need Dobby!" I like that he's already housetrained, and incredibly mellow. We've affectionately nicknamed him the great lump! I'll have to get some pictures of him up soon, but they're all still on my camera!
I am sick with a respiratory bug this week, so I should probably sign off now and get some sleep! Hope you all are enjoying winter... which will hopefully be spring soon! The snow is lovely, but I'm quite ready for it to melt and the sunshine to stay! Here are some more recent pix of the girls, since it's been a few months and I'm sure they've all changed!
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Dec. 29, 2008 - Merry (Late) Christmas!
Merry Christmas, and greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ!
As I sit here typing this letter, our yard has been snowily transformed from Autumn into Winter, with one fell swoop. It's still amazing to me to see that, having grown up as a California girl with no snow! I must say I am very thankful for a warm fireplace! I'm going to attempt to write this Christmas letter with the help of my three biggest girls, so it shall be interesting to see how it will read!
Another year has passed so quickly, filled with many new adventures, birthdays, books to read, and all sorts of other happenings. We took our first official family vacation to California – we loved the ocean, and were blessed to see family and sweet friends, too!
Matt is in his fourth year with his Police Department and is quite settled in the department. He was recently assigned as the new motor officer, so he's looking forward to learning to ride a motorcycle, and all the differences the position will bring. He's just finished building us a lovely picket fence, and a nice tall fence in the backyard so the littlest ones can play outside as much as they'd like (though with all the snow it only takes a minute or two for them to exclaim that they're freezing - or "beezing", as Juliette says!) If he manages to find a few minutes to read, he still loves his PG Wodehouse books, and studying church history and such. And he's taken to reading aloud to the girls from longer books - the Hobbit and Heidi were their most recent reads. The girls love when he reads a book in his "British" accent! Isabelle says "Daddy seems to really like his new job of being a motorcycle cop."
I am thrilled with my "birthday present" from Matt – a gift for our whole family, really! This year Matt decided we could get a horse. God blessed us with a very sweet Arabian filly named Farah (which means joy in Arabic). She has a lovely, kind disposition. The girls love to brush her, and we all go out on walks together, since she's too young to ride yet. We're all learning quite a bit more about horses as we go along, and we are hopeful that we will be able to enjoy Farah for many, many years to come! We've been blessed with friends who are able to help us out, having had horses much longer than us. I love having a place to go for some time away from my normal routine, and Matt's so kind as to let me go out and play with my horse - I always come home refreshed and ready for all my little girls! Bella says "my mommy seems to be extremely pleased with her horse that my kind, kind daddy bought for her!"
We girls all have school time when Matt's at work, and we've been enjoying it very much this year. Isabelle is a full-fledged first grader, and Hannah's a K/1 girl. Juliette and Naomi are my preschool bunnies. Alyssa sits in with us for circle time, and then thankfully naps quite nicely through the rest of school time. We read and pray and sing, practice letters and numbers, write and trace, and practice our church liturgy so the girls can enjoy it on Sundays. Isabelle wants me to say "we have cancelled school time for a bit because we have had such a busy week; and today is very exciting because after dinner, guess what?! Are you going to guess when you get this letter? We get to roast marshmallows, which Hannah calls marshwiggles, and I call marshabiggles!"
Isabelle, who just turned six, is so much like I was when I was a little girl - she's a bookworm! Once she started reading, she sort of jumped into longer books, and I think she reads almost as fast as I do now! I certainly can't keep up with her, so we're thankful for books like Narnia that we know are great for her to read! She says some of her favorite reads are Rosa of Linden Castle and the Narnia books (she said to tell you that "Rosa is a book about a knight and a girl who seems like a princess, but really isn't - that is Rosa. And her mother dies, sadly enough, in the story, and her father is captured by his cruel enemy, Kunerick. And Rosa works as a servant to the gatekeeper and she gets to see her father. And she finds a way to get him out of prison - that is her pleading when she asked Kunerick to let her father out. In the end Kunerick repents, and Kunerick was as surprised as anything to hear that! It's a very happy ending in the end!") Isabelle also wants me to mention that she loves our horse, and babies, too. Happily enough for me, she's even learned how to dress and diaper Alyssa when needed!
Hannah, who is four and a half, is our sweet little Penny, and a very hard worker in school - she tries her best to make letters and to read words. It's very endearing to see the cute looks of concentration upon her face. She still loves her food - she wanted me to write in this letter that today for Sabbath they had little mini-cakes in small pans. She loves her little toy horse, named King, her little toy puppy named Legolas, and her dolly named Jane. She has had her hair cut this year, and looks adorable with what we have dubbed the "Penny-Bob". She wants to tell you that she loves horses like her mommy, she loves to roast marshmallows, and she loves to put ornaments on the Christmas tree! I will add that she also loves to color and have James Herriot's children's books (and other great stories) read aloud to her! She just came in from playing in the snow, and very profoundly mentioned that she's cold!
Naomi, who's almost four, is growing tall and lovely, and we think she's even a bit taller than Hannah! She's enjoying her speech therapy classes - she gets very excited on Wednesdays to go practice words and make projects there! She and
Juliette are little buddies, and they play together very sweetly (well ... most of the time!) She is sitting next to me right now, and says to tell you that she likes her brown shoes and her boots. She was quite afraid of animals at the beginning of the year, and thus has been quite the little trooper around all our friends' dogs and horses. Now she loves Farah, and can't wait for her turn to brush her. I think the highlight of her year was playing in a giant sandbox when we went to the ocean! She also wants you to know that she likes having purple beads in her hair very, very much!
Juliette is almost three, and still so petite! She's our little Juli-bunny. She LOVES to read books. Just about every day after breakfast, she gets a giant stack of books from the shelf, and curls up with them in a flower chair (for some reason she calls this swimming, or rather "wimming"). She loves to practice "speech therapy" with Naomi during our school time. Isabelle, who is now sitting with me, says "Juliette is a very cute little girl and she is extremely obsessed with her blanket and horsey that she takes to bed every nap and every night."
Alyssa is sixteen months old, and I'm quite sure she's the busiest baby I've ever had! In no time flat that girl is into some sort of mischief! Mommy is never bored when she's awake! She's excessively cute and has a darling little voice. And she gives her mommy the best baby snuggles in the whole world! Isabelle says "whoever sees her just can't help loving her, as I can't help loving her myself!" (Can you tell Isabelle's a bit of an "Anne of Green Gables" sort of girl?) I think Alyssa's biggest accomplishment this year was learning to sit nicely on my lap for church (well ... most of the time!) All in all, she's a very sweet baby and we all adore her!
I think our Christmas letters are destined to be longer than one page with all these little girlies to write about! All four big girls are in here now, and say "We love you, and hope you have a very, very Merry Christmas!" I'm sure Alyssa is thinking that, too, whilst she naps! May God bless you richly during this season as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our Saviour!
Love Always,
Matthew, Melissa, Isabelle, Hannah, Naomi, Juliette & little Alyssa
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Dec. 9, 2008 - Happy Advent!
Juliette likes to collect a stack of books and a couple of toys, sit next to or on top of them in the flower chair, and read the books. Oddly enough, she calls this "swimming" (or wimming, as she says it)
Naomi and Juliette like to play together, so Naomi has lately been joining Juli in "wimming"
My Bella reading James Herriots children's stories.
My Penny being silly . . . which is pretty normal! She had us all confused this week running around talking about some sickness called HenPos - took us awhile to figure out she meant Chicken Pox, and had translated the chicken to hen!
Ok, I'm totally perpetuating her being a stinker by taking a picture of this, but it was really funny to walk back in with a washcloth expecting to find her still waiting in her highchair and find this . . . .
Some impromptu Christmassy pictures
Pretty little Lys!
Miss Juliette
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Oct. 28, 2008 - School Days
Oy, I'm terrible at posting lately! And why I'm choosing this moment to begin a blog entry I do not know. I am sitting here listening to my four older children tidy the living room (at least I hope that's what they're doing since I told them to) and my baby flushing the toilet (she's recently learned this skill, and while it is somewhat annoying to hear a thousand flushes a day, it's better than if she was sticking her hands in the toilet!) We're a few weeks into school for this year, and as we've worked out a few bugs and are pretty happy with how school is going, I thought I'd post what we actually ended up doing, at least thus far, for the year.
We have about two or two and a half hours of school each day, four days a week. The first half hour is always circle time, which is kind of our little "Bible School" time. It's always tempting for me to start with phonics or something that feels more "schoolish", but if we live by God's Word, I would prefer to send the message to my girls that it is the most important part of our school day, and therefore we start with that. I actually think circle time is my favorite part in many ways, and we're able to fit quite a lot in thirty minutes. This is when Alyssa is still awake, so she practices sitting nicely on my lap. We start with practicing our chruch liturgy - every other day we practice the songs we sing each week (I love to sing with the girls!), and every other day we practice all of the spoken liturgy. It's been a joy to see the girls learn our liturgy so they can enjoy being more involved during service - and they can memorize it so quickly! Next we read our memory verses - right now we're learning I Cor. 13 and Eph. 6:1-3. Then we read a passage of either Proverbs or Romans and talk a bit about it. We practice the children's catechism - which I think is always the girls' favorite! We look over our Doorposts charts to help them apply Bible truths and they love these colorful charts. Then we finish up with a story from Elsie Egermeier's story Bible. Then baby is off to bed, and we're on to table time.
Table time is usually about an hour. Naomi and Juli sit at the table and play with the toy of the day: play foam (much less messy than play dough!), lacing beads, little chalk boards, or paper and markers - I try to rotate this so they don't get bored. If they aren't quiet at the table, they can go play in the living room, but they prefer to stay at the table with us, so they're usually pretty good. This is when I work on phonics and a bit of math with Isabelle and Hannah. We are trying a new phonics program which we are really enjoying. I print out an alphabet for Hannah to trace each day since she's still learning to write letters, and Isabelle does some copywork from Queen Homeschool Supplies' Copywork For Little Ones series - I really like it! It's a great way for her to learn some grammer principles and practice making beautiful letters. Isabelle and Hannah are very opposite in what kind of students they are, so it's interesting working with their little personalities! We go over letter sounds, reading rules, etc - I usually have each girl review seperately while the other works on writing, so I can make sure they are both learning well. They each get a turn to read aloud to me a bit at their level (Hannah can do Bob Books, Isabelle pretty much anything I give her). I also try to work on some number counting charts with them, so they can learn to recognize large numbers - we count by 2s, 5s, 10s and 1s. After we finish the big girls' work, they take over the little girls toy and the little girls get their "preschool" time. I save this for last because they are so excited that it helps them remember to be good for phonics time. It's funny, we just say the letters of the alpabet, or look at pretty flashcards, or practice colors and such, but they just love "their" time. We also work on speech therapy together. Oh, I must mention table time is when I enjoy my coffee!
We finish up with couch time, which is when I read aloud to the girls. Some days I let them play with quiet school game toys on the floor, other days we just all snuggle on the couch while I read. I was reading Story Of The World, but after finishing the first volume, I became frustrated with the feeling that the author was trying to make history "neutral". History just isn't neutral - God's Hand works in all of it, and I grew weary of trying to reword the stories so they taught that. So now I have been reserving books at the library which tell different stories throughout history - biographies and stories about important countries or events. I glean ideas from the tanglewood school website for good books for 1st grade. It's been really enjoyable to just enjoy these "living" picture books with the girls - so far we've learned about Abe Lincoln, Pompeii, Gilgamesh, the Great Wall, the tulip craze, and lots of other things. Isabelle usally sneaks the book away to read before we get to it, so she always tries to hold it in and not tell us what's coming. I plan to make a nice long timeline and put on there things the girls would recognize - especially Bible stories - then mark on the timeline each time we read a book like this - so they can see what else was going on and to help tie it together a bit. We also read science stories - we have the StoryBook of Science, which I LOVE, but I will admit the old fashioned language makes it harder for the girls to understand, and also a Christian Liberty science reader. And we read stories and poems - A Child's Garden Of Verses, Now We Are Six, Milly-Molly-Mandy (LOVE these stories!), Elsa Beskow books are some of our favorites. I wish couch time were longer, but it's usually about 30 minutes. We try to read aloud later in the day, too.
After this it's lunch time. The older two girls have some workbook pages they do. Hannah does a Kumon workbook where she traces and reads words, and sometimes a number page. Isabelle does a couple pages of Rod and Staff 1st grade math. One of them works on her pages, while the other plays a computer game like Bella Sara or Quarter Mile Math, then they switch. The little girls usually play or watch a singing movie here.
In theory I have a half hour with just the two older girls before nap to work on music, art, french or math manipulatives, but I don't often get to this to be honest. I don't worry, though, as I am quite happy with what we get done in circle, table and couch time!
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Oct. 25, 2008 - Some Autumn Pictures
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Oct. 10, 2008 - Walkin' and Talkin'
I apologize for the sideways video - didn't remember that it would do that until after I downloaded it! Nonetheless, I had fun making a little movie of Alyssa, who can now walk and talk . . . sort of.
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Oct. 9, 2008 - Conversations and Strange Happenings
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Oct. 7, 2008 - Bows And Arrows
Matt's just finished building a fence in the backyard, and Isabelle is very excited that she can go out and practice archery by herself now. Her little "range" is in the perfect spot for me to watch her while I cook, and she and Hannah can take a few minutes to practice on their own. When Matt was showing Isabelle some archery tips, he made sure to caution her to keep her arrow aimed low, for the target, because if it went high up in the air it might come down and hurt someone. She sagely replied: "Yes, it shall soar down like a raven's wing . . . but it would be a good thing if it hit a burglar." Spoken like a knight's daughter, I suppose, but I'm glad she manages to keep it to the target! Here are a couple of pictures through the kitchen window - the cloak adds nicely to the elfin effect, I think.
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