quite possibly the most beautiful sound on earth

a baby's first cries

fresh from God

Levi Daniel

8 lbs 10 oz

21.5 in

May 20, 2009 ~ 5:57am

I think I'm in love.

Welcome to the world, little Levi...there is a lot of love for you in our family!

what happens when you play "bus trip" with older siblings

You might "accidentally" be stranded in the van seats in the garage when the other "travelers" deboard and move onto other destinations. Oops. :)

Wordless Wednesday

listening to a little baby heartbeat

I'm at the hospital eagerly awaiting the birth of my new nephew! I'm sure the rest of you are sleeping, but if you happen to read this, please pray for my sister and the little man that God would give them a safe and healthy birth!

We are so excited!! I should be able to post pictures shortly after the birth...at least that's the plan anyway. :)

the weekend: the list edition

• 1 vacation day
• 7 yards of playground mulch
• 1 sod-cutter
• 1 edger
• 2 new flower beds
• 1,200 lbs of play sand
• 5 blisters on each hand
• 0 rain showers
• 2 gallons of iced tea
• 12 kids in the new sandbox
• 900 sq ft of landscaping paper
• 1 helpful neighbor boy
• 10 very, dirty feet
• 2 weary parents
• 5 victory ice cream cones
• 1 long soaking bath for Mommy

= equals

many hours of enjoyable playtime in our backyard!

my two favorite men

one working hard

the other learning his ways

Goodness, I love my men!

something to shoot for

When home is ruled according to God's Word, angels might be asked to visit with us, and they would not find themselves out of their element.

--Charles Spurgeon

some recent Gracie-isms

Gracie has hairy legs. It's true. So the other day while rubbing her legs, she said to my dad, "Pop-pop, I have hairy feet!"

In three-year old fashion, Gracie has her letters and numbers mixed up. We bought a Bible Alphabet book and accompanying activity book at the homeschool convention so she would feel like a big girl when the other kids looked through some of their new stuff. (Plus maybe this will keep her busy in the fall, at least briefly, while I homeschool the kids.) She got so excited about her very own "leddoohs (letters) book" and she proudly proclaimed to Scott, "Daddy, this is my leddoos book and I'm going to learn to count to 10 with it!"

And lastly, Gracie likes to step on the digital scale in my parents' bathroom. When she hopped on recently, and the numbers flashed on the LED, she happily turned to my mom and exclaimed, "It says I'm pretty!"

Oh to have the self-confidence of a three-year old!

Or at least her scale. Because mine says nothing of the sort to me.

kindest regards of the day

Just wanted to wish all of you mothers a very happy day! The Lord blessed me with a great day and a great mother! I hope the rest of you Mamas have had a lovely day!

does this make me a bad mom?

After many rainy days, my kids beg for TV. And then they beg to eat lunch while watching TV.

And then they beg to sit at the half-wall to eat lunch while watching TV. They think it's their own lunch counter.

And then their desperate mother sneaks in some Coffee Haagen-Dazs while their unsuspecting, little backs are turned.

Does this make me a bad mom?

my ankles hurt

Scott and I had a great day at the homeschool convention today! I looked at books until my eyes crossed! Scott was the professional-workshop-goer. He sat in on several of them and enjoyed himself. Being the science-man that he is, his favorite speaker of the day was Jay Wile.


I found some really cool stuff...maybe I will get a chance to post about a few of the fun, little books that we picked up. The kids were pleased with them!

And I won a $2 bill!

Awhile back, I read this phonics rule to Joey:

It's "k" and not "c" before "i" or "e"

He liked the silly way I read it, so we said it together several days in a row. I couldn't remember ever hearing that rule before in my life, but we had fun with it.

So then today, one phonics vendor had a little poster saying that you could win a $2 bill if you knew why the word 'kitten' started with a 'k' and not a 'c'. Thanks Joey...I would never have remembered that without you! See. You learn something new from your kids every day. :)

another case of mommy-brain

You know it's been a long, hard week, when you regrettably lose it with one of your kids. And while hugging them and apologizing, you whisper into their hair...

"I'm sorry for losing my temperature with you."

this brings me joy

It's been so long since the arrow pointed due-north. :)

our school resources for this last year

Several of you have asked what we have used for school this year, so I thought I would finally type it out. Especially because I've been reviewing this past year and planning for next year with our homeschool convention right around the corner. So here goes:

A little preface: Reading skills are my #1 priority when it comes to academic learning in these early years. I think that if they can learn to read well, then the sky is the limit in terms of learning. Consequently, I tend to focus on reading and if some of the ancillaries (history/science/etc) get neglected in the early years, so be it.

That being said, we have had an awesome year in the reading department! Lily reads very well, in my opinion. (but what do I know? I have no one to compare them to but the textbook!) She finished her 2nd grade readers, and already has finished about a third of the 3rd grade readers that I bought a few months ago on ebay. She independently reads the Bible and chapter books and does her own King's Kids devotions in addition to the assigned reader chapters. Plus, I have a long list of books she has read since the beginning of the schoolyear...picture books, chapter books, library books etc. Despite being taught by her newbie mother, I think she is turning out alright. :)

For Lily (age 7, 2nd grade) we have used:

• Bob Jones readers
• Explode the Code workbooks for phonics
• Easy Grammar
• MCP's Spelling Workout
• Queen's Copywork for Little Girls
• Math-U-See
  

Joey (age 5, kindergarten)

As I already mentioned before, it has been a delight to teach Joey to read this year! He has picked it up so well, and I credit that to answer to prayer and the Lord giving me some insights to enhance what I did with Lily, plus being more consistent with this year's schooldays has really made all of the difference with Joey! We used:

• Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
• Phonics Pathways (as a supplement when needed)
• BOB books
• Sonlight's Fun Tales
• Itty Bitty Phonics Readers from Veritas Press
• Explode the Code books (he started with the "kindergarten" ones, but finished those by November...they're really easy, and is working on the "1st grade" ones now and through next year)
• We used a variety of different phonics games to reinforce phonics and sneak in "reading" opportunities

After a few weeks of school, I could see that his attention span was lengthening without overwhelming him, so I added a worksheet or two from other sources like dot-to-dot with numbers and letters etc.

• And then sometime mid-year, I added Christian Liberty's In the Beginning for handwriting.
• Joey also uses Math-U-See
  

Plus my kids craft, and craft and CRAFT all. day. long. Seriously.

History and Science are some of the subjects that we all do together:

We haven't done too much with formal science this year. I purchased Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day and we started it but I would like to dig into it more for fun over the summer. Plus, we did some little "nature" type things and Lily takes a monthly science class at our science center. Joey will be old enough for that next year.

For History, we read historical living books as read alouds. Plus we used Scholastic's "If You Were" series to learn about what life was like in different timeperiods. We still have several more of those for the next few years.

Earlier in the year, we worked on Fifty States Under God for geography, but haven't finished that. I think I am going to put it on hold until we get to modern history in The Story of the World (see below).

Recently, we started The Story of the World: Ancient Times and we are loving it! The kids color the activity page while we listen to the chapter on the audio CD together and then we do some narration or review questions and they do some mapwork for each chapter.

They also started lapbooks that coordinate with On the Banks of Plum Creek (our current read aloud) and they are LOVING the lapbooks! In fact, they daily beg me to do "history and lapbooks!"

I have to share sometime soon how Joey started us on a fun geography "unit" without even realizing that it was going to be educational...seriously, it has been so much fun...combining science and geography...maybe I can post about it soon.

I keep a list of extra-curricular activities/adventures that we have gone on this year. It calms the homeschool gnomes in my brain to have listed them this year so I can literally "see" what we have done as a supplement.

For Bible, the kids have memorized several Scripture passages this year. (I am hoping to post about that one of these days.)

• Plus Lily has done a tremendous amount of work in King's Kids: daily devotions, weekly memory work, a manner's notebook, etc.
• Scott leads Bible Time each night where they memorize more Scripture (topically) and discuss Biblical truths. He also has read several biographies of Heroes of the Faith to them during Bible Time.
• We have read some Bible stories and baptist books, and the kids and I are also reading through Genesis (with discussion) in the mornings.

I have SO many great ideas for next year that I am looking forward to! I can't wait for our convention because I love looking through all of the wonderful books that are there...seriously I could peruse them for weeks. :)

I'm glad that I force myself to list out what we are doing from time-to-time, because we are like your average homeschooling family...some days are great, others are terrible and leave me feeling like a flunkie of a homeschooling mother. But the Lord gives grace and has made each of our children in His image with brilliant minds to comprehend the wonders of the world around them! (Regardless of how and at what pace they learn.) And I am thankful that I get to daily observe this absorption of knowledge on their part! I think I can accurately say that they are learning in spite of their mother. :)

a philosophical homeschooling post: feel free to ignore

Several people have asked me to what homeschooling philosophy we ascribe? If asked that question a year ago, I would have immediately answered, "Charlotte Mason." With our third year of homeschooling almost finished however, my homeschooling philosophies have changed a little. Granted, they could change again by this time next year, but for now, these are my thoughts...

I still agree with Charlotte's ideas as they relate to education. Perhaps I don't so much disagree or separate from that philosophy so much as I don't align myself with the way that some people interpret it or teach it. Does that make sense? Sometimes the Charlotte Mason method can be a cover for "unschooling"...which is certainly necessary for certain subjects at certain times and we mamas need liberty and flexibility in each school day. But unschooling is clearly not Charlotte Mason. And while I love flowerly language and beautiful black-and-white Victorian sketches, I don't automatically think the educational content of something is elevated merely by their presence. That being said, I still love Charlotte and her ideas!

However, now I would say that I fall somewhere in between Charlotte Mason and Classical homeschooling. What I dislike about the Classical method (or the way some people interpret it) is it's rigidity. Now that I'm an adult, I don't like flashcards and the word "drill" gives me hives. :) The same goes for Teacher's Manuals...I'm a mother not a teacher. However, I have learned from my reading and also homeschooling experience that there needs to be a balance of both. Practically-speaking, I probably gravitated towards Classical learning when I was a student myself.

So those are my meager thoughts on homeschooling approaches. I'm a "Classical Charlotte" or a "Charlotte-ish Classical Homeschooler" if there is such a thing. :)

If you have no idea what I was just talking about, here is a good explanatory article on the different homeschooling methods, if you are so inclined. Coming tomorrow: a long, boring list of the resources we used this year. :)

rainy immersion day

A couple of weeks ago, I swapped girlie for girlie with my sister (she took Gracie and I took her daughter Sophia) and we went on a fun homeschool immersion day at a Canal boat park not far from here. It was a great day, despite the rain. I think the kids learned a lot. Personally, the songs from "A Farmer Takes a Wife" (an old Betty Grable movie set on the Erie canal) kept running through my head the whole day.

We took a ride on the canal boat pulled by Hank and George, the trusty mules (Joey's favorite part)...





Learned about friction, buoyancy and teamwork...

And then the kids actually did the work of a mule by pulling the 8-ton boat themselves! They thought that was pretty cool...

They learned about canal life...


...and tried their hand at doing laundry the old-fashioned way...

(I don't think she will complain about doing laundry the modern way after this!)

They did some science experiments with simple machines and did some little group projects with simple machines that they used in the canal days...


And we also had a session with a real-live blacksmith "shop"...just like in canal days. This was the part that my timid children were afraid of. They have quite a bit of fire-fright ever since Lily was burned, so they adamantly insisted that they did NOT want to actually do the blacksmithing part. I told them that they could just watch if that's what they wanted. But then the gentlemen explained that after they all "worked" in the blacksmithing shop by turning the crank on the forge and hammering on the anvil, they would make an "S" hook that they could take home. The promise of a real-live souvenier of their labors worked on their fears a little bit and they decided to get a little closer to see if they were brave enough to try it once.

And I'm happy to report that each one of them came home bearing their very own "S" hook!

This was lots of fun and now I hear snippets of "canal life" popping up in their play almost daily. Plus, they are better able to visualize what life was like on the canals as we read some great library books pertaining to that!

the May-crazy

It has begun. One of my favorite months of the year...also the craziest. But I love it, just the same.

• We finished ALL of the painting a week ago...woo-hoo! It looks so awesome and I'm so glad that the paint rollers and brushes are put away. I will post some pics of the last few rooms when I get some pictures. They look really nice and I especially love the dining room (which we use every day for school). But then again I say "I especially love the [fillintheblank] room" after every room that we paint, so I guess that doesn' t mean much. :)
  
• I bought some new towels for our bathroom. They make me smile whenever I am in there. Can't wait to concentrate on decorating in full-force...but I will probably wait until June to go too crazy with picture-hanging, because...
  
• We have so many outside projects to do now that it's warming up outside. Our lawn is starting to look great...so happy about that. And even though I was totally ready for summer during our heatwave last week, I am loving all of the rain we are getting because my grass is a vivid green right now, which makes me happy.
  
• The kids are doing so well with school, which is yet another thing that makes me happy (these are listed in no particular order, mind you). I am gearing up for our state's homeschool convention and am starting to get giddy with excitement about it. :) (more about homeschooling in posts this week. Hopefully.)
  
• But I'm hoping that my new nephew doesn't make his grand entrance on or during the convention. Because I will be more giddy and excited about his birth and would gladly miss the convetion for him. However, I would really like to be giddy and excited about both...preferably within a few days of each other.
  
• I got a whole bunch of stuff listed on ebay. So glad that they're listed...now to actually sell and ship. (ugh) But I will be so glad when they are gone, and I hopefully have a little bit of cash in my pocket. The listing and the shipping are the worst parts...one down, one to go.
  
• Lastly, I am happy that it is May because of field trips, the anticipationg of summer, the end of school, bridal showers, weddings, and birthdays! I was a May baby, so I have always loved this month. And then my first little lady decided to be born the day after my birthday, so we really get to celebrate in May. Speaking of Lily...yesterday during the sermon, our assistant pastor was using the analogy of a lady making herself more "becoming" by putting on make-up and jewelry and getting all fancied-up. And Lily turned to me with an animated expression and very excitedly whispered, "And you know Mommy, I'm getting to that stage too!" And I sat there dumbfounded for a few minutes, unable to comprehend how on earth I have a daughter old enough to imagine such a thing! She is going to be eight in a few weeks, people! EIGHT! I remember, clearly, when I was eight years old. I'm flabbergasted, really, because I am not exaggerating when I say I feel like just yesterday she looked like this...
  
  

and this...

and this...

(Isn't my dad handsome? And WHERE is that child's bow??)

Anyhow, here's to May and birthdays and some of God's richest blessings! Have a great Monday!