MFW 1850's to Modern Times Week 4

This was the week I was just so happy to finish out, because I could finally see that I could do school with all three boys and be consistent about it! And, it just seems to get more and more fun each week.  ALL of us keep looking forward to school, and that is huge!

This week, we wrapped up our hymn, "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus."  I think I can safely say it is a favorite for all of us.  Every single one of them was belting it out by the last day of the week.  It makes it a little tough for a mama to sing when she's trying not to cry!  ;-)

We did quite a variety of things for our Bible time this week, including learning about missionaries David Livingstone and Hudson Taylor, reading out of "A Young Person's Guide to Knowing God," and praying for protection over the United States from our enemies.  Our memory verse was 1 John 3:16:

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

The boys were excited that we finished up the beginning-of-the-year handwriting practice this week!

For history, Andrew learned about the Pony Express, and he also learned more about how to read maps.  With Vincent, we read about David Livingstone's trek through the African interior, the "resurrection" of Italy, and the Taiping Rebellion in China.  One of the activities for this was to make a stencil of the front side of a Taiping coin and use it to dust powdered sugar onto a cake.  I found the last non-gluten-free cake mix in the cupboard and made a couple of round cakes for the occasion.  Strawberry!  The temptation was definitely there, but my last experience with gluten is a VERY strong deterrent!

The boys also played a round of States Rummy together, and learned about President Franklin Pierce.

For science, Andrew learned about solids, liquids, gases, melting, freezing, evaporating, and floating.  Sorry I don't have a lot of pictures from this week, but here is one of the experiments.  One plate of water went in the toaster oven (warm), and the other went in the fridge, to learn about how different temperatures affect evaporation. It's hard to see, but the one on the right (on the hot pad) has almost no water left.  Big stuff for a second grader! ;-)

I continued to read "Farmer Boy" to Andrew, and started a book called "Courage to Run," by Wendy Lawton, with Vincent.  It's about the childhood of Harriet Tubman.  It had me crying in the very first chapter.

We finished out our week with a nature walk.  This time we went to a county park reserve near our home, and I think we will be spending a lot of time there this year...we haven't even come close to exploring half of it!

MFW 1850's to Modern Week 2

It was another wonderful week in My Father's World as we wrapped up memorizing the states!  Vincent and Andrew played states rummy, adding more cards as we learned more states, to help them learn.  Well, it was really to help Andrew, Vincent's an old hand at this.  ;-)

They also filled in their maps and colored them.  At the end of the week, I gave them a blank map and had them write in the states without looking at anything (I spelled for Andrew, but he pointed and told me the names).  Vincent got all the states, and Andrew only missed 5!  In 2 weeks, my eight-year-old memorized all those states.  I am so proud of both of them!

 

 We read wonderful stories in a book called, "A Young Person's Guide to Knowing God" alongside our Bible reading, and continued on our hymn from last week, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."  We also sang "This Land is Your Land."

Vincent wrapped up learning the history of science, and Andrew continued to learn about atoms and elements.

Isaac started his next lesson in K, T-t-Turtle.

We wrapped up the week with our first "real" nature walk, which we just took through our neighborhood.  :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

My Father's World 1850-Modern Times Week One

This past week was the first week in a new school year for us.  I now have a seventh-grader, a second-grader and a Kindergartener.  This year, we are using 1850 to Modern Times from My Father's World.

We started each day, of course, with The Pledge of Allegiance.  Then we sing the hymn that we're learning, which is currently "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." This is the video we've been using.  I LOVE the sound!



Next, I work with my Kindergartener on any activities he has for the unit he's currently working on, which is N-n-Nest: God takes good care of me.

This week, Isaac learned about animal homes, particularly birds and their nests.  We studied all kinds of different ways birds make their homes, and in seeing what good care mama and daddy birds take in making sure they have a safe, warm nest and food for their babies, we realized how much more so God takes care of His children.  We also made rice crispy treat nests and filled them with candy eggs and those famous marshmallow chickies.  :-)

After spelling, handwriting practice, and English lessons for the older two, we learned and memorized the states along the northern and southern borders of the United States.  We also prayed for our country and it's Executive Branch.  We sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "If My People," which is based on 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

In science, Andrew began learning about atoms and started his science notebook.

We learned about chain reactions when we added vinegar to heated milk, as well as when we whipped egg whites into foam, added sugar, and baked up some yummy meringues.  :-)  Vincent studied the history of science and conducted a few experiments of his own.

We learned about different densities of solids and liquids.  In the jar above are three different liquid layers.  Corn syrup, water and oil.  We dropped in a cork, an ice cube, a grape, and a rock.

We also learned about how a reaction between vinegar and baking soda made a gas that filled up a balloon.

At the beginning of the week, we enjoyed a dinner from Colonial times of ham with cherry sauce, corn chowder, with apple crisp for dessert.

We started our new math and reading activities, and added learning Spanish to the mix.  We also started Andrew's read-aloud (which Isaac has also been listening in on), "Farmer Boy," by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I loved that book when I read it to Vincent when HE was in second grade, and I'm so excited to be sharing it with my other boys as well.

Finally, on the last day of the week, we were supposed to go on a nature walk, taking clipboards of blank paper and colored pencils to draw something that catches our eye.  Well, the night before and throughout the morning, we got about six inches of snow.  So, rather than trudging through the snow and leaving our paper white (which Vincent joked we should do, since that's all we would be able to see anyway), we looked on Netflix and found a movie about the sun.  The boys paused when they saw something they wanted to draw, and I filed those pictures in their nature notebooks.

All in all, a wonderful first week, and we're all excited about the second.  Which, we're starting today, since hubby is working, and we try to follow his work schedule with school as closely as we can.  :-)

Laundry and Kids: Choose Your Battles Wisely

With three boys ages 12, 7,  and almost 5, laundry can get to be quite a daunting task.  If I let it.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't have all the answers when it comes to taming the laundry beast.  For instance, what do I do when I find a bunch of clothes in the dirty laudnry that I KNOW haven't been worn?  It could be they weren't put away properly, but it could also be that they were dug out, tried on, and discarded for the next experiment.  But, I digress.  It's a battle that, for the moment, I choose not to fight.

Another battle that I choose not to fight is whether or not the laundry even MAKES it to the laundry room.  I used to be a total nag about this, until one day I learned the sweet relief of just saying, "Tough!"  Ironically, my younger two, who share a room, are pretty good about getting their dirty clothes to the laundry room on a daily basis during their morning chore time.  They both have favorite PJ's and clothes they like to dress up in to play super heroes or Indiana Jones.  So, they're pretty good at keeping each other accountable for their dirty laundry.  They are to take turns bringing their shared basket to the laundry room each morning.  My oldest, however, used to be really bad about bringing his dirty laundry to the laundry room.  He's definitely learned his lesson, though.  I told them all one day that I wasn't going to remind them to bring their laundry to the laundry room anymore.  And I didn't!  I also told them that if they wanted something washed after I was done with laundry for that day, tough!  They would have to just wait until I did laundry the next day.  I usually do at least one load of darks every day, while it takes 2-3 days to get enough whites for a load.  My oldest still doesn't bring his laundry to the laundry room daily, but he has quickly learned to bring it there before he runs out of stuff to wear!  Of course, he is also welcome to do his own laundry.  ;-)  He does know how, and I do have him do it sometimes.  But laundry is actually something I have learned to enjoy, and you're about to find out why.  :-)

Here's how laundry works in our home.  Everyone, of course, is responsible for getting their own laundry to the baskets in the laundry room.  Everyone knows how to separate the whites from the darks.  I have two baskets in my laundry room.  In one goes all the darks and all the bath towels and wash cloths.  In the other goes all the whites and dish towels and dish cloths.

I start the process.  The first load of the day is always the darks, since that's what we have most of.  I will start the washer and load dark clothes in, leaving the towels and wash cloths for another load.  When that load is done, I will call any one of the three boys to reboot it to the dryer.  All three know how to do this, from emptying the lint trap to putting the dryer sheet in to getting the dryer started.  Usually the younger two do it together, but that's usually because whichever one I called was interrupted from playing with the other one, so they try to get it done as quickly as possible.  LOL!  After that's done, I'll start the next load in the washer if another load is needing to be washed.  Then, one of the boys will unload things from the dryer onto my bed and do another reboot if needed.

And now we get to another choice to make in picking battles.  First, I'll tell you what I used to do.  I used to give my oldest his clothes to fold and put away.  Then, I used to fold both of the younger boys' clothes into separate piles and had them put them away.  Then, I used to get frustrated as they dug through their dressers and messed up all those nicely folded clothes.  Then, I taught them how to fold their own clothes and got frustrated with their own frustration, and how long it took, and how their folded clothes never quite looked like folded clothes.  You see the struggle?  No more!  I chose to make this a non-battle.

What do I now do with that pile of clothes laying on my bed from the dryer?  I separate my husband's and my own clothes and put them away.  Everyone else's gets thrown over to the floor by my doorway into one pile.  Then, I call for everyone to come get their clothes.  They come sort out which is whose and they know they have to get them put away right away.  The oldest folds his.  Sometimes the younger boys make a sloppy attempt at folding them, but more often than not, they stuff them into their dressers.  And I am seriously okay with that.  Because now, when they dig around for that cape (or whatever), I'm not stressing out about how they're undoing the work that I did.  The clothes are clean, they're at least put away in appropriate drawers (socks in one, shirts in another, etc.) and they're doing it on their own.  Having clothes folded neatly is simply a battle I choose not to fight.  Just like their big brother, one day they will "get it," and will appreciate how much easier it will make their life to keep their clothes neat, and will be able to do it just as easily as the rest of us.  Until then, at least in our home, pushing the issue into a battle is a completely unnecessary stress.

Exploration to 1850 Week 1

We finally got our curriculum last week and so, this past Monday, Vincent started his first week of sixth grade.  Andrew has already been in first grade for awhile...he is about half-way through.  But, since we had been on a break, Monday was just like a first day for everyone.  :-)

We start every day (yep, even the one who is not "officially" doing school yet!)...

I pledge allegiance to the flag

Of the United States of America

And to the Republic for which it stands

One nation, under GOD, indivisible,

With liberty and justice for all.

As the name of the year implies, we started out learning about the exploration period, picking up where we left off last year.  Monday we learned about the Vikings and decorated a cake (that Vincent had made the night before!) to look like a world map.

Tuesday and Wednesday, we learned about Christopher Columbus and Vincent made tin foil boats for himself and his brothers that represented Columbus' three ships, the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria.

Then, they filled the bathtub and tried to blow them from one end to the other, as if from shore-to-shore across the Atlantic Ocean.

Of course, with three boys, it doesn't take long for them to start getting competitive...it turned into an all-out race!  I'm not really sure who won, but those boats were not fit to sail by the time they were done.  ;-)

For Bible, Andrew is currently memorizing select verses in the book of Proverbs, and Vincent and I will be studying and learning (together!) the book of James.  Yep, you read that right...memorizing the ENTIRE BOOK of James!  Now as far as books of the Bible go, James is not that long.  However for us, that is still A LOT of memorizing!  I know Vincent can do it, and hopefully, I will be able to keep up!  ;-)  We are also learning some hymns this year, and we will be spending two weeks on each one.  For these first two weeks, we will be learning My Father's World.  It is the name of the company we buy our curriculum from, and, we will be studying many things in our Father's world for science this year.


I am very happy with how this week of school has gone.  I commented to my husband that this is probably the best first week we've had.  Despite our long break, attitudes started out and STAYED good throughout the week.  Now hubby and Vincent have gone to deer camp for the weekend opener, so it's the perfect end to a great week!  Well, for him and hubby anyway.  I never get used to hubby (and now a son already!) going away for the weekend, but at least I have the little guys to keep me company until they go to bed.  :-)

Finally Friday!

Weekend plans, anyone?  I think this is the first weekend this year that is both A) supposed to be nice (weather-wise, anyway), and B) is a weekend that my hubby has off at the same time.  :)

Number one priority for me is getting my 2 1/2-year-old boy potty trained.  We just started today, and so far, we've had 2 accidents and NOTHING in the potty so far.  This time, I'm not worried or stressed in any way like I was with the first two.  I'm just going to keep on with the training, and it will happen in God's good time.  :)

Another big happening this weekend is the spring cleaning of our shed.  Hubby and sons will be going through the shed, sorting, getting rid of things, and making room.  Then, we can finally put away the Christmas bins that are taking up precious space in my laundry room.  LOL!  Yes, I am very excited.  We had meant to do this for the last few weekends now, but the weather just did not want to cooperate.  Now the chilly, gloomy part of the week has come to a close and has made way for blue skies and sunshine!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Renewed Goals: Godly and Bible Habits

This first goal really needs to be dealt with by getting my heart, mind, and body aligned to the right priorities.  The very first thing I need to do each day to make sure things go right (and to make sure I'm truly ready when things go wrong), is to make sure that line of communication is open between me and God.  Of course, on His end, He is ALWAYS ready, but there are days when *I* forget to turn to Him, especially before I react.  And, those are the days when I didn't get up early or just plain "didn't have time" to just start out spending time alone with Him...talking with Him...and most important of all, LISTENING to Him.  And my excuse for those days?  I couldn't concentrate because the kids were distracting me.

But, let's get to the real heart of the issue here.  WHY were the kids distracting me?  Because that's what kids do, especially when they first get up in the morning and there is so much activity.  Did I know about this?  Yes.  Do I do anything about it?  I try, and I've had some good stretches in the past.  But, let's face it.  With all the sickness we've had in our household over the last couple of months, and then all the holiday chaos taking over after that (complete with some time off from homeschooling), trying to sleep in has become the norm lately.  And it has been showing, not only in where my heart is a lot of the time, but also in the behavior of my kids.  So, it's time to re-purpose to work on my morning wake-up time.

Now, in a way, this is going to go against my wanting to NOT go into things full-hilt.  But, there are just some things that are not an option.  I always say I'm "working on it," which leaves room for the option of just plain not doing it because I don't feel like it.  So, this is one of those things that I need not say "I will work on it," but rather, "I'm going to DO it."  From past experience, I know getting up in the morning with sufficient time before the kids get up is not something that I can "work towards."  Don't get me wrong, there ARE times where I need this option...this just isn't one of those times.

So, 6:00 AM.  That's it!  It's not a "goal," where I'm going to set my alarm clock 15 minutes earlier until I reach it, that's just when I am going to get up from now on.  Some people need to work toward it gradually, but I have learned that I can't do that because I will never get there!  ;)  Now, once I'm at it for awhile, I can always change it to an earlier time if I feel like I need to (for instance, if I'm barely making noise but the kids are still getting up 10 minutes after me...ask me how I got that idea...wait, don't).  And, of course, I WILL be going from a very simple morning routine at the start to adding things as I get used to it.  But, 6:00 is my desired wake up time, so that's when I'm going to wake up at the get-go.  No, I will NOT like it at first, and it WILL be tough, but as long as I'm sticking to it, my bed time will automatically adjust and before I know it, it will become second nature.  :)

Okay, ALL that build up, and then, here comes my teeny, tiny morning routine to start out with:
Wake up
Get dressed (because I know from experience, reading in bed usually ends with me waking up later using the book as a pillow LOL!)
Daily bible reading for about 30-60 minutes
Get the kids up and started on their chores
Breakfast

Tomorrow is not going to be pretty, but hopefully by the end of the week, I'll be used to it and ready to tackle the next things.  :)

A new school year begins

Today was the first day of kindergarten for my middle son.  He is so excited to finally be doing his own school!  The curriculum we use for all the boys is from My Father's World, and if you click here, you can see their K curriculum.  It is wonderful!

Today, we are starting off a two-week introduction by focusing on the seven days of creation.  We started a creation poster and a creation book, after reading about the first day of creation.  I will post pictures when they're complete.  We also sang the alphabet song and I reviewed letter recognition with him...he already knows a lot of them!  We finished our day by learning the hymn, "My Father's World."  It was a pretty short school day...I think it only took us 20 minutes!  But, it's a good introduction to school for him, and once the first two weeks are done, we will take about an hour to an hour-and-a-half, and it will be a little more intense.

My oldest is still plugging away at fourth grade, which is great!  At his age, he's almost a year ahead, and we have taken our time with this year, as it is our first big year of history.  I'm hoping he'll be done before Christmas, then we can move on to fifth grade after a short break after the New Year.

That's all on the homeschool front for now.  We are down to one car, which I have for the day since we dropped hubby off at work this morning...therefore, it's errand day.  ;)  All that to say, I better sign off for now and get some things done!

Toddler toys: minimize the clutter to maximize the fun!

I have to sigh as I go through the kids' toys...again.  Yikes, there's just too many!  Instead of asking, "Okay, what don't they like to play with?" I find myself having to ask instead, "What can I get rid of that they won't care about being gone?"  Because inevitably, they "like" to play with practically everything!  Each of my kids have their favorites, but are the plethora of toys that get played with once in a blue moon worth keeping?  Unless they're special to you or your child (and that's why they don't get played with), I say NO!  As a mother to three boys, I think I can say, it's just not worth the stress.

Here are my plans over the next week.  Take special note of which toys are out and being played with the most often.  I'm going to try and do this in my head ;) although I should probably write this down...you can make the choice for yourself.  Gradually, take those toys getting left in the dust and stick them in a 5 gallon bin, somewhere where the kids won't be able to get to them.  Just one or two toys (or a handful) here and there.  Once it's full, keep it for a couple of weeks.

Now, the kids may notice toys are missing, but it they can't even really remember what's gone, obviously it needs to go.  Don't ask them if they want xyz back, because of course you will remind them of what's missing!  Just tell them you are going through the toys because they have too many, or something like that.  :)  If they whine, explain to them that if they can't even remember what's missing, it must not have been very special, and now they can have more fun with their favorite toys.  If a child requests a specific thing, tell them you will set it aside, but that you're not welcoming it back quite yet.  If they're anything like my oldest, he remembers everything that was there, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's special to him, he's just resisting the change.  LOL!  If the same child repeats the request a few times, then bring the toy back, but make sure to watch how often they play with it.  If after a week, you've seen him barely touch it, point that out to him and ask him if he REALLY enjoys the toy.  I may even go so far as to ask if it's fair to the toy to be in our home not being played with, when it can live in another home, where it's enjoyed and played with often.  But, really, that's up to you.  ;)

Once two weeks have gone by and the bin is still full, get it out of the house.  Donate or sell, just don't bring it back to the "keep" collection!  Every time a new toy comes in, find one that can leave in it's place.  Either that, or plan to do the above session once or twice a year.

Now, I was thinking about what kind of toys to keep, and I am actually kind of picky in this regards.  If I can help it, I like to have AS LITTLE TOYS AS POSSIBLE THAT REQUIRE BATTERIES.  I mean that with all my heart.  All you who are parents, I do not need to explain this one, it's pretty self explanatory.  :)  I also LOVE good quality wooden toys and puzzles, such as Melissa & Doug products.

Thinking about the toys I like to have around made me want to browse toddler toys, and here, I'll feature a few I think are cool.

My middle son totally wants one of these.  I LOVE pillow pets (instant lovey!), and thought it was so cool they had a moose, since my middle son's nickname is Moose.  :)











No puzzle pieces to get lost!  They're all attached.  :)













Especially fun for preschoolers.  :)  Introduces colors, shapes, and sorting.  Okay, seriously, anything Melissa & Doug, I think, would be cool.  :D  They make really good quality products!  Just do a search on Amazon for Melissa & Doug and you will find all kinds of amazing things.










Okay, and this one is TOTALLY ridiculous, but all in fun, you've gotta admit it would be SO fun to be the kid who got to ride in this!  LOL!  And, it has cup holders, which, as my hubby will tell you, is always a plus for me.  ;)

Busy season and life lessons

This is probably our busiest time of the year.  Unlike many families, we are plugging away at school...we school year-round so that we can take breaks as needed in addition to our planned breaks.  But, we are also squeezing in as much "summer vacation" as we can as well.  We are big-time campers, and have been taking advantage of my husband's time off as well as the beautiful weather we've been blessed with lately.  We just recently got back from a week-long camping trip up north, and had an absolutely wonderful time.

The chaos that ensued when we got home, however, really showed me how NOT consistent I've gotten lately with the boys.  Our first full day back when we got home was pretty rough.  So, hubby and I did an evaluation and made sure we got our own hearts back in the right place.  This is so very important with kids!  If you're having problems with obedience or attitudes, the first thing you should ALWAYS look at is yourself.  I will admit from first-hand experience, this is an extremely hard thing to do, but it's an important first step (and believe me when I say, this isn't the first time I've had to do this!).  If you really want a piece of humble pie, sincerely pray and ask God to show you where you're going wrong.  Okay, even if you don't want that piece of pie, if you want to effectively lead your children, you really need to do a self-evaluation and ask God to show you where you need to change.  The humble pie is a side-effect, but I think it's an important one, too.  Ask God for forgiveness, and ask Him to line your heart up with His will.  This alone will work wonders.  Today was a wonderful day, and I feel like not only do I have my boys back, but that I have myself back as well.  :)  Seriously, today was just amazing, and I just need to say thank you to my Father.  He is truly amazing and He is GOOD, all the time!

Another thing that I'm excited about is school.  Vincent has been showing so much more excitement about learning lately compared to the past, that it's catchy.  :)  So, I have decided that whatever books I assign him to read, I am going to read, too.  Even though I read a LOT when I was younger, I didn't really read a lot of the classics, and I didn't really read any informational books unless I "had" to for school.  So, I'm reading the informational books I assign him for the subjects we are studying, and I will even get "adult" books on those subjects if they really interest me.  He is also going through a list of age-appropriate classics as part of his free-time reading, and I am joining him in those, as well.  So, don't be surprised if you see a lot of kid books in the sidebar.  ;)  It's never too late to get in some good reading if you missed out when you were younger!

Ah, Spring!

It may not be the official date yet, but Spring is definitely in the air! It actually got too hot to wear a sweatshirt outside today. We were able to throw open the windows, air out the house, and spend quite a bit of the day outside. My two older sons spent much of the morning outside. Then, after nap time, we all took a walk to the park that's about a block from our house.

What a joy it was to watch my youngest (20 months) discover fun new things! He LOVES to slide, and this Mama got a lot of exercise helping him get to the top! It was so cute the first time he fell in the sand as he walked across it...he put his hands up like he was saying, "Ew, I don't want to touch this!" LOL! But then I stuck my own hands in the sand and let him watch it sift through my fingers. After that, he was trying to pick some up every chance he got. :)

My oldest was a big help, standing at the bottom of the slide to wait for his youngest brother, and pushing his middle brother in the swing when I had to be with the youngest. We decided to take a round-about way home, and got in a little walk before dinner. :) We came home, had some simple sandwiches, and watched a movie together. What a great day!

A bit later, it did get a little rough as some attitudes flared up, so I'm definitely going to have to keep them closer to me tomorrow, and make sure we get back on track. Because I definitely want to have many more days like this one! :)

Getting back into the swing of things

Oh, boy, there is so much on my plate right now it's not even funny. But the Good Lord has been getting me through. :) Yes, I have obviously taken a blogging break, and for now, I am taking a bit of a break from my Proverbs 31 study.

I kicked off the New Year with my birthday, and then an exacerbation of my MS symptoms. We had hosted Christmas, and with all I had going on, I had missed a few of my shots. The medication I had to take to help with the exacerbation took me on a whirlwind of not-so-fun side effects that lasted longer than usual. But, I'm all better now, and don't plan on missing my shots like that again!

The hubby took on another job as a paid on-call firefighter at our local fire station. As such, he is now going to school again to further his training. I am so proud of him! It has meant even more diligence is needed from me on the homefront, but I thrive on the pressure. ;) I came up with a much better routine for my household tasks, and it has been working great so far! I will try and post more details sometime this week.

Also, both the hubby and I have been losing weight! We are not on any particular diet (I have been sworn off diets for quite awhile now), just watching our calories and making sure we try and get in some exercise everyday. During these winter months, the Wii Fit has been working great for us. I have lost 11 pounds since mid-January, and I feel great and am looking forward to many more pounds lost! :)

Speaking of winter months, I do believe it is officially March and I have a bad case of spring fever! During the day here, it's been beautiful, and the snow is quickly melting away. I cannot wait to throw open all the windows and get some fresh air into this house.

As far as the kids go, I see it's time to get back to training better. Isaac, who's now almost 20 months old, has not been responding to "no" very well and has begun throwing tantrums over everything! Most people say it's because of his red hair, but I know better...it's because of a lack of consistency from Mamma.

I'd like to get back to the Proverbs 31 study soon, especially during this season in my life. It may be busy, but what better time is there to study what the Proverbs 31 woman does? :)

What a day! Whew!

First, as part of my internet de-clutter, I will soon be permanently closing my other blogs. That means I will be copying posts from those that are important to me over here. Last night, I reduced the amount of blogs in my reader from 86 to I think 23. Wow! It feels nice to not feel "obligated" to read so much. :)

Second, I spent some major time in the Word today. I read all of Ezra and am about halfway through Nehemiah. I have obviously been thirsty for the Living Water! I have been working on reading through the bible from cover to cover, and I can't tell you what good it's done my soul to just spend so much time getting to know my Lord better!

Also today, we started our first major project around the house. TOYS. I was listening to a CD by Michael Pearl recently, and he was talking about how we always want our kids to "have it better" than we did, but a lot of times, we do them a serious injustice by making things *too* easy for them. This is evident in my own family. Our boys have so many toys, so many that they don't even play with. I know that having clutter around all the time definitely affects my attitude, so, it has to be the same way with kids, too. Plus, our (as in, mine and dh's) kids have no idea what it means to work to earn things. Dh and I accept full responsibility for this. It shows in my oldest when he whines every time we give him something to do that's "too hard."

So, I came up with a plan. We took every single toy out of the older two boys' room today. I did leave ds3's teddy bear and a couple of stuffed animals ds8 likes to have for bed time. But everything else went.
See the empty bins? Everything except for ds3's books are gone (we didn't take ds8's books, they're just kept on the shelves in the dining room with the school stuff).

This was not done as a punishment. I had already gone through about a month ago and culled a bunch of toys. I still felt they had way too much, though, but couldn't figure out what to get rid of (mostly due to feeling guilty because most of them are gifts from relatives). So, I thought I'd combine a lesson in getting them to work for what they have (thus, they will be able to appreciate it better), and figure out what they *really* want, and what they don't really care about. I moved all the toys to our laundry room (and they KNOW not to touch them!).
I will randomly ask each boy which toy they would like to earn. They will each pick one toy (or set, for instance, Legos, or something) and we will put it on the kitchen counter. Depending on the toy, I will choose a job for them to do (*outside* of their normal chores and duties) to earn it. For instance, the bigger or more complex (or in real life, more expensive) the toy, the bigger job they will have to complete to get it back. The boys know (um, obviously I'm not doing this with the 10 month old LOL) that I will *not* keep nagging them to get the job done, they cannot whine, complain, or anything else, they have to work nicely together (if I have them working on the same project), and the job *cannot* be done sloppily, it has to be done right and to my (or hubby's) satisfaction. Hubby and I haven't set a time yet, but after a certain amount of time (2 weeks? a month?), whatever's left in the laundry room goes.

So, I set them to work on their first job this evening. Ds3 barely got started when he decided he didn't want to earn his toy. So, I put it back. Then, when ds8 was almost done with the job, ds3 decided he wanted to go back to work. I told him no, he would have to wait until I gave them another job, that it wasn't fair that ds8 had to do most of the work and for him to get the same reward. He was not happy about that, but oh, well! It's teaching him that if you don't work, you don't earn the things that you would like to have.

In other news, I felt like the worst mother in the world with what happened after that. I realized that we were almost out of milk, so we had to run to the corner store to get some. As we were leaving the house, I checked to make sure the kids were clear of the door, while holding ds10mo. It didn't do any good though, because as soon as I turned and shut the door I heard a blood-curdling scream. Ds3 had grabbed the door frame as he was walking down the steps and got his hand stuck in the door (the other side from the handle). The knob was already locked, so I had to unlock it to get his hand out. :( Poor thing. The fingernail on his middle finger was purple, so I got some ice for him and we headed off to the store (it's so close it took less than 10 minutes there and back, and I just had ds8 run in to buy the milk) after a few minutes of hugs and kisses. Luckily, when we got home, I observed that it wasn't swollen, just very purple. So, I kept it on ice and gave him some infant's Tylenol to help out with the pain. He's sleeping now, but he is going to be so sore for the next couple of days. Poor guy. :( If you think of it, please keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery.

Yikes, this post turned out longer than I expected! I will continue to post updates on our journey as I have time. :)

Lisa

Back to school???

Not really…I may have taken a blogging break, but we have been chugging along at school the entire time.  By the end of October, we will be finished with kindergarten (which V would have just been starting today) and moving right into first grade.
The big thing is, reading is coming along GREAT.  V is reading very short stories from his curriculum right now and it is so exciting!  I taught him how to do it!  Isn't that a wonderful feeling?  Now, I know if I can teach, anyone can!  V is also doing really well in math…he finished up the kindergarten workbook I had got him, so we got him a first grade workbook, and he is just sailing along in that.  I love this!   We are both having so much fun.  I'm still just reeling from the fact that I TAUGHT MY CHILD HOW TO READ.  LOL.  I know so many of you out there know what I'm feeling.  It just gives me so much encouragement to keep on with this because I have seen that I can do it!
Heehee, time to get off the high horse LOL.

Wednesday

What another beautiful day!  We just got back from our walk.  Before that, we enjoyed a picnic lunch out in our backyard.  Our whole neighborhood smells like flowers right now, and it is so lovely to just walk through it and breath in all that wonderful air.  Lilac bushes are becoming more and more popular around here, and those are my absolute favorite flower.  It seems that they're popping up everywhere and they smell sooooo good!
V is doing so good with his phonics!  I am so excited, because the workbooks we had before were doing absolutely nothing for him and it had me worried he wasn't interested in reading LOL.  He is getting better and better at sounding things out and he should be reading short stories in no time.
V is up taking his nap right now…A started his on the walk and woke up when we got home.  I'm hoping he wants to go back to sleep for a little while because I really want to get our cabinet in the living room de-cluttered today…was supposed to do it Monday, but I just haven't had the time.  I think I will try putting A in his swing, as I can tell he is tired.  It's so funny, at night now he goes to sleep right away, but fights it so hard during the day.
I'm off to done my apron once again! 

A Beautiful Tuesday Here! And a CM Question

Ah, it is such a beautiful day in MN! This week in school we are learning the letter O and about Octopuses.  You know, I always thought the plural was octopi, but everything I've looked up says octopuses.  Hmm…
Anyway, V is loving school more and more, and he absolutely LOVES math!  We use Math Sense Blocks, which are kind of like Cuisenaire rods.  He just asked me (long after the school days over) if he could do some more math!  LOL.  I said “Okay!” and printed another worksheet for him from here.
After supper today, I loaded up A in the stroller and the three of us took a walk around our neighborhood, ending at the playground right across the street from our house.  I have been guilty of not getting the boys out enough (for leisure time, anyway) and I am resolved to do this way more often.  We all had a great time, and A didn't even fuss once!
Right now, I'm reading For the Children's Sake, by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.  Has anyone else read this?  There are some points that I disagree with (as I'm not 100% CM), but I am getting a lot of really good ideas from the book already.  It reads pretty easy, too.  I also have The Joyful Homeschooler, by Mary Hood, but haven't really started it yet.  Has anyone read this?  What is your opinion?
Yikes, I also have a question for those of you who have been following the CM method…did any of you have a hard time getting your child to narrate back to you what you read to them at first?  It seems like V is paying attention, but when I ask him to tell me what happened, he usually says “I don't know,” after hesitating and/or thinking about it.  I'm just reading small chunks at a time (about 5-10 min for now) before asking him to narrate and am wondering how to help him along.  I'm not sure if he's just “shy” to tell it again, although he's not usually shy in nature.

Lots of smiles!

Oh, how I adore baby smiles 👶.  A smiled for the first time at a little over 4 weeks old, but now, he's doing it all the time!  As long as he's not cranky, I can usually get him to smile whenever I want him to, and I absolutely love it!  He even makes happy noises along with his smiles.  It totally melts my heart every time he looks into my eyes and his mouth opens in the biggest smile I have ever seen. *Happy sigh*

Tuesday for school

Well, after V's nap, he calmed down and had a pretty good day for school.  I also found a Kindergarten skill test online at www.tampareads.com/skills/kindergarten/test-html.htm
I don't really like public school “standards” but it's nice to know where most kids need to be before they enter the 1st grade.  V is doing preschool right now, and he already knows about half the stuff on this test.  Now I'm working on some of the other things in addition to what we're already doing.
V has learned “The Pledge of Allegiance” per the request of Hubby, and we start out every school day with that.  Then we do prayer.  For one of his AWANA activities, V has made his own prayer list, and that's what we pray to start out his school time.  Then we read a chapter or two out of the bible…right now we are reading the Gospel of John and just finished chapter 5.  After bible reading and discussion, we pick a devotion out of his devotional, “Gotta Have God,” which is a devotional for boys ages 2-5.  If he has a lesson to do out of his AWANA book, we will do that after this.
Next, we move on to worksheets I pick out from his book.  We bought a complete kindergarten basic curriculum workbook up at Sam's and he is working his way through that.  Plus he has a thinking skills workbook and a fun maze book (he LOVES mazes and is very good at them) that we got him from Walmart.  Today, he learned how to write his uppercase and lowercase U's and did some activities involving the numbers 13 and 14 (we're working our way up to 20).  Also, since he finished working with 12 yesterday, we dabbled into time a little bit.
Then we do a little break and have a snack, and if he wants, he can do an activity out of his Precious Moments activity book (which is usually more learning anyway).  Then we do our reading and any added activities.  Right now, we're reading out of Dinosaurs by Design.  We also have a sticker book that has all kinds of dinosaur stickers with a small blurb about the dinosaur.  We do one per day and then go to enchantedlearning.com to learn a little more about that dinosaur and print out a coloring page for V to color.  Then I hang it on our wall above our desk so that he can look at them and once in a while I will quiz him out of nowhere on what the dinosaurs are called…he's getting really good at remembering the names.  So far, we have learned about the Pterodactylus, the Diplodocus, the Compsognathus and the Brachiosaurus.
I also made reading flashcards for color words and also for number words 1-10 and we are going through that right now.  I am also going through the calendar with him now, too.  Besides the color and number words, he can read about 10 other words without help as well.  He can also spell and write his name and the word apple and ball without any help.
So, now that I've written a novel, can you tell I'm excited we're back into our school routine?
For Kindergarten, we are considering either My Father's World or KONOS.  I would love to hear opinions of those who have used either of these.  Any other suggestions are also welcome!

Sugar highs...or lows?

Oh, my, what a week it has been!  Last Monday, we finally settled back into our homeschooling routine here with V.  He has been doing really well, too, and excited to get back to it.  We started learning more about dinosaurs, as he is really into them right now.  We are reading out of a book called Dinosaurs by Design, by Duane T. Gish.  It is a really good book, as it takes on a biblical approach to the dinosaurs.
Despite being back to school, V had been acting impossible for the last few days.  Hubby and I couldn't figure out what was going on, especially since once he has school work to keep him occupied, he's usually pretty mellow.  Well, today we found out what was going on.  Hubby found on the floor a little round pink thing and we weren't sure if it was a piece of candy or some sort of pill or something.  V claimed he found it in his pocket.  I was freaking out looking on drugs.com (they have a very good pill identifier there) to see if I could find this thing on there.  Meanwhile, Hubby tried to get out of V where he got it from.  After lying and throwing a bunch of fits (very unlike V), he finally broke down and led Hubby to the kitchen closet/pantry.  In there, I have a box with holiday baking supplies, including many different kinds of sprinkles and such.  Well, he had been getting into those and he proceeded to show Hubby which ones he had tried and whether or not he liked them.  I could not believe it, but at least we know where this behavior was coming from.  By this point, V had calmed down enough to go take a nap without throwing a fit about it.  And all the sugar (and I'm sure there was tons of red 40 in that stuff as well that was contributing just as much) is hidden out of reach again, at least I hope.  I thought it was last time, too, but apparently, those darn kids keep growing and getting smarter!
So now, V and A are both taking naps at the same time…praise God!  And Hubby has gone off to work for the evening, so for the first time in a while, I've had time to get on this…this…oh yeah, it's called a computer!  I've had time to get on the computer and do a little update and catch up on A LOT of email.

Announcing...

A is finally here!  He was born Tuesday December 27 at 4:54 pm.  He weighed 9 lbs 7 oz and was 22 inches long!  I was able to have a successful vbac, so I am very happy about that.  

We're all home now and adjusting to life with a new baby.  The first couple of nights were rough, but A's only been up 2 times a night for the past few nights, so it's already getting better.  Although, I've had a case of the “baby blues” or as Nick calls it, “the hormone dump.”  That's one thing I had with Vincent that I completely forgot about.  Out of the blue without any trigger whatsoever I will just start crying.  This is really where I remember how lucky I am to have the dear husband that God has blessed me with.  As long as he's not occupied with A (or at work), he takes the time to come over and just hold me until the moment has passed.  He has been so great throughout all this transition…I could just brag on him all day 😊.