Category Archives: The DLM

Sunday Afternoon Rambles

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Steady Eddie and the girls are gone this afternoon to set up for a training for his job, the DLM is asleep, and I have spent some quality time already in reading, journaling, praying, and napping, and now I’m ready to work on the ol’ blog.  First, though, I want to clear my brain of all the stuff whirling around up there, in hopes that it will result in more clarity when I get down to reviewing some books.  Here’s what I’m thinking about today:

  • How to make the most of my time in terms of balancing all the demands I face as a homeschooling mother (not to mention all the other things I try to do at home:  cooking,  minimal cleaning, keeping the laundry going, etc.) and still have a little bit of time to do the other things I enjoy.  This is called “sharpening the saw” in 7 Habits lingo, and it’s really, really important for me, but my saw doesn’t get sharpened some days (weeks, even), and I really feel it.  I can’t go without sleep, so how do I “make” time for the other things that are important?
  • How to have a consistent spiritual life.  I’ll admit this has been a struggle for me since the DLM was born for a really long time.  It’s either boom or bust with me.  It’s not that I don’t read my Bible or pray; it’s just that I don’t feel like I’ve done it “right” unless it’s involved and passionate.  Sometimes, though, it just has to be “done”–not “right,” not “passionate,” just done.  However, it still must be heartfelt, or I don’t feel like I’ve made any progress or done anything worthwhile.  How can I find the balance between going through the motions and something that completely sweeps me away and makes me want to run off to the inner city and start a ministry?  ;-)   I want to walk with God consistently in the small things here at home, and more than that, I want to (as Eric Lidell put it), “feel His pleasure” in my life as I serve Him.  Thoughts, anyone?
  • I’m still reading The Narnian on my Kindle and enjoying it, but it’s a slow go.  It’s not that the book is too dense or arcane; I think it’s more that I feel like I’m reading more than I am because I “turn the page” on the Kindle (because of its small size) more often than I would actually turn the page in a real book, so I’m not making as much progress as I think I am while I’m reading.  Too, I’ve been sidetracked by other things–the internet (boo!  hiss!), and as of last night, another Kindle book–The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers by Dr. Meg Meeker.  I first read about it on Elizabeth Foss’s blog, and last night I just hopped online at Amazon and bought myself a copy, just like that. (Amazing, huh?)  There’s nothing earth shattering in this little volume (at least, so far), but it’s like a good shot in the arm for my mothering, a skill set that I’m finding tried and tested as my girls get older and I’m faced with another toddler.  (Who, by the way, started taking more than one step in succession last night at my parents–watch out, world!)
  • Charlotte Mason dominates my thoughts.  Like Janet mentioned in the comments on last Weekly Wrap-Up post, the CM method “seems a bit gentler and more flexible. . .and somehow more wholehearted than so centered on training the mindmindmind.”  I couldn’t have said it better.  Like I mentioned in that same post, I’m really looking forward to hearing Sonya Shafer next weekend and trying to nail down what this is going to look like in our homeshcool.  I’m also inspired by Jimmie @ Jimmie’s Collage, whose posts are so practical and concise.  This recent one on narration was just something I needed to read.  Of course, Barb @ Harmony Art Mom and Handbook of Nature Study is someone I consider a real mentor, since she has put these methods into practice for so many years now.  I have a vision of what I want my children’s education to look like, and Charlotte Mason’s teachings approximates it very closely.
  • I need to get back into a regular routine of menu planning and grocery shopping.  For too long now we’ve just gone to the grocery store by necessity, more or less.  I want to be more organized!

The DLM is stirring, so the rest of my thoughts will just have to keep a-swirlin’, I guess.  :-)   If you have a suggestion for any of the issues I’m contemplating, please, do share!

Have a blessed Sunday evening, friends!

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

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In honor of the DLM’s first birthday yesterday, I wanted to share this sweet, sweet board book, a gift to him from us and the girls.  The girls went to work with Steady Eddie for a few hours yesterday afternoon, so I pulled ou Little Blue Truck sans wrapping paper or anything festive, just to see how the DLM (and, I confess, I) would like it.  (I thought we could wrap it up later for his party, right?)  Well, the DLM enjoyed opening and shutting the cover a lot, and I enjoyed reading it to him as he crawled out of my lap and I caught him by the ankle, just in time to avoid his plummeting over the arm of the couch and onto the floor below.  :-)   Knowing what I know about repetition, rhyme, and onomatopoeia and how they are some of the first “hooks” into reading for babies and toddlers, I don’t think it will be too long before he’s “reading” along with me on this one.

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle is the story-in-rhyme of none other than the Little Blue Truck, a friendly little old-timey pickup that encounters all kinds of animals as he makes his way down the road:  a toad, a sheep, a cow, a piggy, a chicken and her chick, a goat, a horse, and a duck.  All of the animals greet Little Blue Truck with their various sounds, but this neighborly give-and-take is rudely interrupted by a brash and self-sufficient dump truck as he zooms down the road, yelling

Coming through!

I’ve big

important

things to do!

I haven’t got time

to pass the day

with every duck

along the way!

Well!  Dump (as he is called) gets his comeuppance when he gets stuck in a huge mud puddle, and who comes to the rescue but the Little Blue Truck and all his animal friends?  The cherry on top of this fun romp is when

They couldn’t quite budge

that heavy load.

Then who hopped up

but big green toad.

Big green toad, muscles flexed, provides the last bit of oomph needed to get the Dump out of the muck.  Alice Schertle’s poetry is perfect in this tale, but I have to mention the gorgeous illustrations by Jill McElmurry, too.  I would love to have prints of some of the pictures from this book for the DLM’s bedroom!  They are old-fashioned and warm and just plain old fun.  From Little Blue Truck viewed through Dump’s mirror, coming to rescue him from the mud, to the big green toad flexing his muscles and with a gleaming white smile, these illustrations are playfully humorous and a perfect match to this rollicking story.  Highly Recommended! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008)


I’m adding this book to my Best Picture Books list ,  a list I haven’t worked on in a while. (That list is always up there at the top under Booklists.)  With the DLM coming on, though, I bet I’ll find lots of new gems to add to it!  I would love to add Little Blue Truck Leads the Way to our collection at home, too.

I’m linking this post up at Poetry Friday, which is hosted this week by poet Toby Speed (yes, that Toby Speed) at The Writer’s Armchair.

Buttercup

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Our buttercups have bloomed, faded, and fallen off the stem since this picture was taken, but I wanted to document this little exchange, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to include the appropriately illustrative photograph.  :-)

Back at the beginning of March, we went to visit Steady Eddie’s grandmother for her birthday.  We were discussing nicknames we have for the DLM.  I remarked that I sometimes call him Buddy Bear or Brother Bear; Lulu responded with her nickname, which is based on his actual name.  When Steady Eddie’s aunt got around to asking Louise, she responded with “Buttercup.”  Just like that–quick as a wink, no thought required.  “Buttercup.” 

Now, we had never, before that day, ever called the DLM buttercup.

We do now.

Do you think he’ll thank her one day?  ;-)

Louise keeps us on our toes.

Weekly Wrap-Up::September 6-10, 2010

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This sixth week of schooling was one in which we threw our schedule out the window.  Steady Eddie was off work for Labor Day and he took a vacation day on Tuesday, so we headed to Memphis, Tennessee, to visit our favorite zoo and take in a few Egyptian sights.  Memphis is the perfect choice for our first official field trip of the year since we’re first year WTMers and we’re studying ancient history and animals.  A city with a large zoo and an Egyptian connection–perfect! 

Zoo Entrance

The front of the zoo is covered in hieroglyphics!

This obelisk is just inside the entrance of the zoo.

We drove by the Pyramid after leaving the zoo on Tuesday. It's an awesome sight!

Of course, there’s plenty at the zoo that doesn’t relate to Egypt, but it was perfect for where we are in our science studies:  animals, mammals in particular.  Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Obviously, I love giraffes! :-)   We got to hear a zookeeper chat at the giraffe habitat, and we really enjoyed that.  Steady Eddie even heard the zookeeper refer to the male giraffe (the father of most of the giraffes at the zoo) as selfish because he was trying to eat all of the leaves and branches she was attempting to hand feed the other giraffes.  (To understand why we found this humorous, watch the video clip at the bottom of last week’s Weekly Wrap-Up post.)

It was our first time to see the grizzlies since they are a part of a huge new habitat that recently opened.  There were three of them in the habitat on the day we visited and watched them feed, and the zookeeper there told us that they were a set of siblings that were orphaned as a result of their mother’s run-in with a hiker out in the Yellowstone area.  Apparently the hiker and the mama bear surprised each other, and it ended up badly for both of them.   The hiker shot the bear, but not before being critically injured by the bear.  Anyway, these cubs are right around a year old, I believe. 

 

I couldn’t resist taking pictures of these trumpeter swans, despite the fact that they were too far away for me to get a good shot with my short lens.  The reason?  We love Louis! 

Louise’s only request at the zoo this year (besides repeated requests for Dippin’ Dots, of course) was to watch the sea lion show, so watch it we did.  I was amused to learn that the larger of the sea lions (not the one pictured above) is named Andre.  Ah ha!  Another literary connection!  :-)

The girls did complete an animal observation form from the student workbook in our science curriculum.  They both picked the panda to observe.  I have mixed feelings about requiring anything at all on such a field trip, but it didn’t take too long.  :-)

We had a great trip, and of all the critters we saw, these were my favorites:


A milestone was reached on our trip, as well: Lulu finished her first independently-read chapter book!

Wednesday was spent reacclimating to normal life here at home.  The only thing we did that remotely resembled a normal school day here was finish reading Ginger Pye.

On Thursday we did business as usual.  However, it was pretty much just “do the next thing,” so I won’t make this lengthy post any lengthier by elaborating on that, other than to mention some of the books we read.  For reading this week, aside from finishing her first Magic Treehouse book,   Lulu also read Don’t Call Me Special: A First Look at Disability and The Dog That Dug for Dinosaurs.  The girls really enjoyed listening to Fifty Famous Fairy Tales via my iPod on our trip, and Steady Eddie and I enjoyed not answering the “are we there yet?” question repeatedly due to their involvement in this audiobook.  ;-)

I do like to mention any science-related books that we read and enjoy each week, and although we didn’t do any formal science lessons this week since we spent so much time at the zoo, I do want to mention this title.  I bought My Visit to the Zoo by Aliki in the zoo giftshop, and I have to give it a Highly Recommended if you’re looking for a book that discusses the importance of zoos in terms of saving species from extinction, etc.  This book is very detailed in terms of all the types of animals it covers, and each animal illustration is labeled with both common name and where in the world the animal lives.  This is an excellent animal and zoo resource that I’m glad to have added to our home library. 

Today was a special day for us because our homeschool group resumed its three-meetings-a-month schedule, and we were all glad to see our friends after the summer break.  Steady Eddie and I even got to sneak away for lunch by ourselves since my mom was keeping the DLM and this isn’t my month to be on duty for our group meetings.  What a treat!  :-)

Whew!  I’m tired, folks.  Although I do love traveling, I feel about it like Wanda Wizowski-MacPherson feels about taking her brood out to eat.  ;-) I’m hoping for a little down-time this weekend to recuperate from a busy, busy week!

For more Weekly-Wrap Up posts, visit Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Weekly Wrap-Up::August 30-September 3, 2010

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This week at the House of Hope might aptly be called “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” or perhaps “The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat.”  This was our fifth week of schooling, so I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Actually, in terms of learning, we had a good week.  It was more the organizational/logistical side of things that went awry.  Let’s address the good stuff first, shall we?  :-)

Bible and Devotions

We continued reading about the prophet Elijah.  He went head-t0-head with the prophets of Baal this week, and then he fled from Queen Jezebel.  We read a couple of devotionals from Leading Little Ones to God and continued learning the verses to the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy.”  We pretty much have the first three verses down pat; we’re still working on verse four.  Our memorization of Psalm 24 continued, as well; we’re up through verse seven now. 

Reading
Lulu finished section ten and began working on section eleven in OPGTTR this week.  These were her independent read-alouds:

I know she read more than this; I’m pretty sure she finished a book a day during her mandatory ten minutes of quiet reading time prior to rest time, but I didn’t keep up with the titles.  I’ve tentatively put out a copy of a Magic Tree House book, Mummies in the Morning , in hopes that Lulu’s interest in mummies and Egypt (thanks to our history studies!) would give her the incentive to delve into a chapter book on her own.  I’m not pushing it, though–just offering, gently.  I think this is something that can’t be rushed.

Louise completed two lessons in OPGTTR this week:  lessons 34 and 35 (minus the game).  She also enjoyed all of Lulu’s read-alouds!  :-)

Math

Lulu was introduced to writing equations this week in RightStart level B.  She also began keeping her math journal for RightStart, which is something I’m glad is a part of this particular curriculum.  (It’s something that I’ve always wanted to have her do, but not something I usually think of on my own.)  As I mentioned last week, we began using Math Mammoth this week, too.  We’re working in the light blue series, which is arranged topically.  Lulu worked on counting in groups of ten and naming and writing numbers.  I decided to not worry about aligning the curricula, but instead to let Lulu think about and work on the topics as they come.  I like both curricula and how they teach math conceptually (I believe this is the correct terminology), but I’m going to have to rein in my enthusiasm and limit how much I try to do in Math Mammoth, which I’m looking at as our secondary curriculum.  If not, math tends to go on and on.  :-)

History

We had something of a difficult time getting history done this week, for some reason.  I only intended for us to cover one half of chapter four in SOTW 1–the “Making Mummies” portion of “The Old Kingdom of Egypt.”  We finally got around to writing hieroglyphics from last week, but we didn’t finish making our scrolls.  (Note to self:  Buy whatever school materials we need on the weekends; if we don’t have the materials by Monday, we’re not likely to get them through the week!)  We read a couple of supplemental books and began working on our Ancient Egypt history pocket (from History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations, Grades 1-3).I wasn’t sure how the girls would like reading and studying about mummification–it’s pretty gruesome.  In true kid fashion, they liked it.  :-)   Stay tuned to find out if I actually go through with my plan to mummify a chicken! 

Science

Our animals of the week were the giraffe, the camel, and the deer, via Elemental Science Biology for the Grammar Stage.  As usual, we read several supplemental books, and Lulu read aloud a few books related to our animal studies, as well.  We completed our first “experiment” this week (not including the one we did a few weeks ago that didn’t work out).  The idea behind this experiment is to figure out the importance of a camel’s large feet.  We took a large cardboard disc and a small cardboard disc and determined which one was easier to push down into a bowl full of salt (to mimic sand). 


I like to highlight any good books we read for our science studies, and this week, the camels won out.  This book is a fiction title, but it is a fun read.  What’s the Matter, Habibi?, written and illustrated by Betsy Lewin, is the story of a camel, Habibi, who gives rides to children to make a living for her master, who loves her and calls her “my darling.”  One day, Habibi refuses to get up, and her master is unable to figure out why.  It turns out that Habibi yearns to improve her appearance, and she steals her master’s shoes to make it happen.  This one made me laugh! 

We’re really enjoying this approach to science this year!

Language

More First Language Lessons and Writing With Ease.  Lulu finished memorizing “The Caterpillar” several weeks ago, but we finally got a new memory piece in FLL:  “Work.”  We managed to complete three lessons in each of these books this week. 

This is actually where Art should go, but this is also where “the Bad,” which I alluded to above, comes in.  On Thursday, our usual art lesson day, Louise had a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon.  This necessitated that I take Louise and the DLM out to my parents’ house, about fifteen miles in the opposite direction from the doctor’s office, and then get Louise over to the doctor.  I also try to mix it up a little on Thursdays–for all intents and purposes, it’s Friday for us here at home (the girls’ homeschool group meetings will resume next Friday), so I try to add in a little bit of fun.  After all, we’re homeschoolers, and we can do that, right?  Right.  I decided to bake cookies on Thursday, in addition to trying to accomplish most of what we usually do.   Well, we did make the cookies, but it was not a good day.  I do not handle stress well ( :-) ), and I was a near-basket case all day, trying to get lots accomplished but still get out the door in time to make Louise’s appointment.  This is also where “the Ugly” comes in–as in, my attitude and dealings with my girls.  I don’t want to dwell on the bad here, especially since this is a record of our school year, but let’s just say that mama has a lot to learn about patience and letting things go.  :-(  

But like I said, we did bake cookies, and they were good.  (We used this recipe from Alton Brown.)

Chocolate works wonders, doesn’t it?  ;-)

On Friday we had to take the DLM to the photography studio to have his 3 month picture taken, and after lunch out and a few errands, we came home to have rest time.  The girls and I began working on our art lesson before we left this morning, and we finished it after we returned home and had rest-time.  I’ll post what we drew for Sketch Tuesday next week.

The girls have enjoyed listening to The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean, Caddie Woodlawn, and The Cricket in Times Square in audiobook during rest-time and in other little snatches of time this week.  We’re still reading Ginger Pye as our read-aloud.

I don’t usually mention Louise as much in our weekly report because since she’s not officially school-age yet, I often let her just play when she’s willing.  I try not to push, but as a not-much-younger sibling, she’s all about keeping up with big sister.  Louise did reach a milestone this week, though.  She finished her last toddler/little kid music class and will begin class piano lessons next week!  :-)   At Louise’s little mini-recital, Lulu tickled my mom because she brought in the book she was reading in the van on the way over so she could finish it.  Mom said that this was just like me growing up, and I suspect it was just like Steady Eddie, too.  We’re both bookworms from way back!  :-)

The DLM–well, he just keeps getting cuter and more engaging.  This week he began making those cute little growly noises down in his throat.  We’re all quite taken with him. 

Well, it was a good week, despite my failings.  :-)   I just need to work on the organizational and planning end of things–how much can we realistically do when we have afternoon appointments?  Any ideas or advice?

I don’t want to end this week down in the dumps, so I’m going to end with a clip from one of my favorite t.v. shows.  When we studied giraffes at the beginning of the week, this clip kept playing over and over and over in my mind.   Enjoy!  :-)

(I’m linking this post to the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.)

A Day in Our Life::Monday, August 23, 2010

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I decided to document a day in our homeschooling life for the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop over at Heart of the Matter Online–it’s Day-in-the-Life week this week.  This is our fourth week of schooling, so we’ve settled into the way we’ll do things for a while–at least until the DLM throws us another curveball.  ;-)   I’ve always loved reading “A Day in the Life” posts.  I remember before I was an official homeschooler I’d read such posts and try to imagine life in our house once we began homeschooling.  So here it is–the good, the bad, and the stinky.  :-)   {To acquaint yourself with our curricular choices, go here.  Please excuse the constant shifting of tenses in this piece.  I have written this piece-meal over a period of two days, and I’m tired of fooling with it!  ;-) }

As much as I’d love to, we don’t really have a daily schedule.  I’m more of a routine kind of gal anyway, but with a young baby (the DLM will be 3 months old next week!!  How did he get this old?!?!?) in the house, a real schedule is more likely to cause me all sorts of stress than to alleviate any.  I say that with a little bit of embarrassment because I really am a “cover all the bases” kind of gal, too, but at this point in my life I don’t need anything to add stress to my day-to-day goings on! 

I don’t know about you, but my day begins the night before.  That’s sort of a cliche, but it’s a true one for me–especially since I know I’ll be up at least once during the night with the DLM.  I have to go to bed with things somewhat in order, or the next day will not begin well.   Sunday night, I went to bed around 11 p.m. because I was catching up on my reading for the Bible in 90 Days challenge.  I always mean to get in bed earlier, but it almost never happens. 

1:30 a.m.- 2:00 a.m.–Up with the DLM–Steady Eddie also got up and changed the DLM’s diaper

5:30 a.m.-6:10 a.m.–Up with the DLM–Steady Eddie tried unsuccessfully to get him back to sleep before I got up :-)

6:45–I’ve ignored the alarm clock several times now when Lulu joins me in my bed.  Steady Eddie left for work about 45 minutes ago.

7:30–I finally get up to shower.

7:50-8:10–Quick peek online to link up to blog challenges, etc. 

8:10-8:30–Start a load of laundry and begin breakfast preparations.  Louise makes her appearance just before breakfast. 

While I was making and we were eating breakfat (frozen pancakes, juice or chocolate milk for the girls; cereal for me), we discussed

  •  how to spell a word with an r-controlled vowel
  •  the days of the week (“Is this Friday?” queried Louise, which prompted a run-through of the days of the week)
  •  the meaning of the word procedure
  • and a cicada coming out of its shell, thanks to a reader-submitted photo in our local paper
  • Psalm 24, our memory passage.  It appears that Lulu has been studying it on the sly.  :-)   She knows more of it than I know now!

Louise also announced, “I wish we had a big, big house and a trumpet and you blew it to wake everyone up.  Even the servants up!”

Who needs fancy-schmancy bulletin boards with things like word walls and calendars–we have the breakfast table!  ;-)   (A few servants would be nice, though.)

8:55-9:30–The DLM woke up, and I quickly learned that he had had a major “blow out” in his diaper.  This necessitated a bath, which would NOT have been on the schedule, if I had one.  For the next thirty minutes, I

  • bathed the DLM
  • redirected the girls to complete their chores of wiping down the kitchen table and chairs and sweeping the kitchen floor
  • changed the DLM’s sheets
  • switched out laundry and put the DLM’s sheets in the washer
  • took out the trash

9:30-10:20–The girls brush their teeth and we settle down in the nursery where I can rock and nurse the DLM while I read to the girls.  We did our morning devotional reading, some fun read-alouds, and some science reading.  By this time, the DLM was asleep, so I laid him down so we could get on with our school day.  (Come back on Thursday for Read Aloud Thursday and Friday for our Weekly Wrap-Up to find out more about what we read!)

10:20-10:30–Lulu began piano practice, but by the time she got down to business, the DLM was awake again.  :-)

10:30-10:45–I picked up the DLM and put him in his swing.  This lasted for about five minutes, which is four minutes longer than it usually lasts.  Meanwhile, I also listened to and assisted with Lulu’s piano practice, switched out laundry, and put a mattress cover back on the DLM’s bed.  During this time, Louise was likely playing with her ball in the same room that everything else was going on.  (I usually discourage rowdy play in the house, but the girls have been cooped up for so long because it has been such a hot summer that I’ve really relaxed my standards as to what is appropriate indoors.)

10:45–I actually took a bathroom break (I only note this because I often find during the day that it has been a looong time since I’ve actually taken one of these!) and we all headed to our school room to continue our lessons.

10:50–I did a phonics lesson with Lulu while Louise opted to write a story.  The DLM was in his bouncy seat, content for the moment.

11:00–By this time, the DLM was in my lap.  Lulu read us a story aloud.  The DLM had another exploding diaper, so we had to take a brief intermission in the story so I could change his diaper and his clothes.  I did this quickly and returned to the schoolroom, stopping by the laundry room to drop off his poopy onesie.  I’ve learned to pre-treat.  :-)   By this time, it was 11:06.

11:20–The DLM was getting fussy, so I knew he was ready to take a real nap.  I put sheets on his bed and retired to the rocker in his nursery.  The girls joined me in there.  I rocked and nursed the DLM while I read our current chapter book read-aloud, Ginger Pye, to the girls.

11:45–I laid down a (finally!) soundly sleeping DLM and headed to the kitchen for lunch preparations.

11:45-12:45–Lunch preparations and lunch.  The girls take a little break during this time.  They’re free to do just about anything, as long as they steer clear of the kitchen while I’m getting things together.  :-)   I had Texas caviar (see above) and tortilla chips.  The girls had cheese quesadillas, pinto beans (homemade, from the freezer!), 1/2 a fresh peach, and some grapes.  Steady Eddie also showed up for lunch at home, but he had to eat and run.  He made himself a PB & J sandwich.  :-)

We even have lunch trays like they have in "real school"! ;-)

12:45-1:03–We all sat on the couch in the living room and Louise read aloud to us.  We then returned to the school room where I taught Louise a phonics lesson.  While Louise worked on phonics, Lulu wrote the title of the book she read earlier in her reading log and read silently.

1:03-1:15–Louise wrote her book in her reading log and read silently while I taught Lulu her language and writing lessons.

1:15-1:19–Louise worked on her handwriting.  I’m not sure what Lulu did at this time.  :-)

1:19-1:40–Lulu and I did a math review lesson together while Louise built towers out of Wedgits.  After this, we all played Go to the Dump together.

1:40–I read this week’s chapter from Story of the World for our history lesson.  While I read, the girls colored a picture from the activity guide.  Lulu did her first narration for history.

2:00–The girls went to their room for ten minutes of silent reading.  I browsed online during this time.

2:10-3:10-–The girls listened to an audiobook and played quietly in their room.  I think today’s selection was Heidi.  I had good intentions of reading my Bible during this time, but the DLM woke up right around 2:20.  He was somewhat fussy, so I rocked him and surfed the ‘net on my I-Pod.  (This is another reason why I can’t stay caught up on my Bible reading or finish reading To Kill a Mockingbird for my own challenge!  Too much internet capability in my home and too little self-discipline!)

This is a hint. Come back on Thursday to find out what book we read that inspired this meal!

After this, things are a blur.  Steady Eddie got home around 4:00, I think.  Before then, the girls had had a snack and we had walked a mile with Leslie Sansone.  I spent a good deal of time with the DLM in the rocking chair.  I cooked supper, which was inspired by one of our read-alouds from earlier during the day, while Steady Eddie helped refereed the girls and the DLM.  After supper, I rocked and fed the DLM again, prepped Tuesday’s supper, distributed a 25 pound sack of whole wheat flour into gallon bags for the freezer, worked on my blog, folded laundry, went for a walk (all by myself!), and I think we even managed to get in another mile with Leslie Sansone somewhere in there.  Maybe.  Oh, and I fed the DLM again and rocked him to sleep.  After doing a little prep work for the next day’s lessons, I went to bed and caught up on my Bible reading.

Believe it or not, we accomplished everything on my lesson plan except for a little science experiment.  Most days are really not quite this chaotic, but again, it all depends on how things go with the DLM.  This is simply the reality of homeschooling with an infant, and I’ve learned I’m learning to roll with it.  I figure this is but a foretaste of what it will be like when he’s a toddler!  :-)   There are a lot of things that I’d like to do better, but for this season of our family’s life, I think we’re doing well.  Thank you, Lord, for helping me to realize this!

For more Day-in-the-Life posts, visit the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop at Heart of the Matter Online.

Not Back to School Blog Hop

Weekly Wrap-Up X 2: August 9-13 and August 16-20

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I tried and tried to find or make time to post a wrap-up post last week, but it just didn’t happen.  We had a tragic death in my family last week–my uncle was killed in a motorcycle accident.  We spent the end of last week attending his funeral and spending time with the family.  The weekend went by in a blur, and the new week was upon us almost before I knew it.  We’re schooling Monday through Thursday now until our group meetings start next month.  I have decided that if I am going to keep up these weekly wrap-up posts (and I really want to!), I’m going to have to hit the high points of the week instead of giving a play-by-play.  This is what I’ve decided to focus on:

  • anything that we produce that is interesting visually since much of our work is oral and/or rather boring visually (i.e. narration pages produced over and over; handwriting work; etc.)
  • the books we read, both together and alone (this one shouldn’t come as a surprise!)
  • any growth I see in my girls (and the DLM, too!)
  • anything unusual we do that contributes to or illustrates our learning

This Weekly Wrap-Up post will be a mish-mash of weeks and a post that I started last week and didn’t finish and my new resolve of “less is more” (which is so hard for me, as regular readers here already know ;-) ).  Anyway, the goals above are ones I aspire to, not necessarily ones I’ve attained.  :-)   Okay, on to our weeks-in-review!

 Remember the end of our first week when I said that things went sooooooooooo smoothly?  Well, the honeymoon’s over.  :-)   All things considered, we have had a good couple of weeks, but that nice little tidy schedule that worked most of the first week simply isn’t happening anymore, mostly due to a shift in the DLM’s sleeping schedule (and I use that term loosely!).    It was bound to happen, though, right?  I have a few theories on how I might better order our day that I’ll share at the end of this post, and I’m ALWAYS open to suggestions from you veteran homeschoolers out there!

First, though, the good stuff–what we accomplished!

Bible and Devotions

We continued to read in our Children’s Bible in 365 Stories, and this week it was all about Solomon and his successors.  The girls were quite fascinated by the most famous story that showcases Solomon’s God-given wisdom.  :-)   We learned about the hymns “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” and “This Is My Father’s World”.  We also continued with Leading Little Ones to God, although at this point the girls much prefer spending time with the hymns.  Much of what we’ve read so far in Leading Little Ones has been somewhat repetitive of what we’ve already done, but for now we’re continuing with it because I like how it discusses theological issues systematically.  We managed to get in a couple of days (I think–I forgot to mark it down!) of JBQ practice, too.  This past week we began memorizing Psalm 24, and in answer to my own query about a good system for keeping up with and reviewing our memory passages, I think I might give Simply Charlotte Mason’s Scripture Memory System a try.  Does anyone out there use this?  Do you like it?

Reading

Lulu finished up with the review lessons I intended for her to work on from OPGTTR this week and moved on to new material.  Right now I’m planning for Thursdays to be a free reading day on which she simply reads aloud instead of doing another phonics lesson.  (Lulu actually reads aloud to me every day, but I hope to increase the amount she reads, at least on Thursdays.)  These are the books Lulu read aloud these two weeks:

We also played a rousing game of W-I-N-G-O Set 3: Blends and Digraphs on both Thursdays.  (Those are Wingo tiles pictured above.)  Louise hasn’t officially learned about blends and digraphs yet (‘though what she hasn’t learned has yet to stop her. . . ), so she’s mostly along for the ride here. I had an epiphany this week, though, in teaching this girl to read. I am a “cover ALL the bases” kind of person, and so I had determined that it would be best to start all over in the Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading, despite the fact that Louise was well into reading CVC words last year, simply because I felt like last year I wasn’t consistent enough in my attention to her phonics lessons.  Well, on Thursday of last week, Louise surprised me by reading Rub-a-Dub from Bob Books Set 2-Advancing Beginners.  I was already beginning to feel like we were spinning our wheels by going back over all the phonemes, etc. (not to mention the fact that Louise was extremely antsy bored doing all of this!), but this absolutely confirmed it and convinced me to move ahead some twenty-five lessons in the book.  Louise also read Puppy Mudge Has a Snack aloud to us.  This is a pre-reader type of book, and it contains quite a few sight words.  This is not my preferred method of reading instruction and practice, but I thought reading a book like her big sister might boost this middle child’s confidence.  :-)   I also pulled out the magnetic letters and my old cookie sheet for Louise to practice her word-making skills.  It was a good week for reading at the House of Hope!

Math

We’re plucking right along in RightStart Math level B, and much of what we’ve done up until this week has been review.  Lulu is all about math!  She really enjoys thinking mathematically, and for this I am thankful.  I made up a Mommy Store this week so she could practice counting money, and she and Louise both got a big kick out of this.  (Louise declared it to be “hundreds of fun,” and then she amended that to be “105 cents of fun.”  ;-) )RightStart has been a great fit for her, and although I admit that I went back to it this year with a little trepidation (because of the teacher-intensive nature of it), I think this week I began to see the fruit of all those many, many hands of Go to the Dump we have played.  Lulu has pretty much mastered her math addition facts up to 10.  Yay! 

History

Story of the World volume 1 continues to be a hit around here.  Last week we learned about the earliest people and their nomadic ways and how they came to be farmers in the Fertile Crescent.  Lulu was obviously impressed by this; she announced after learning about the Fertile Crescent, “Maybe I’ll go there on my honeymoon!”  :-)   The girls got to do a little painting at the end of last week when they made their own cave paintings on crumpled up paper sacks. 

This week we’ve learned about the unification of Egypt under King Narmer and how the Nile River floods, creating a fertile delta.  The girls also heard a story from Egyptian mythology.  I had a little bit of hesitation about sharing this story with the girls, mainly because I don’t particularly like learning about mythology myself.  However, after discussing the issue with Steady Eddie (and after reading this post on Susan Wise Bauer’s education blog) we decided go ahead with it. 

Science

Here’s a confession:  I love science.  My love affair with science goes back to high school where I had two fabulous science teachers who really made it fun and interesting.  (How I came to study English and history is still something of a mystery to me.  ;-) )   Studying animal habitats with my girls last week was so much fun.  We read a lot of books, many of which were run-of-the-mill series nonfiction titles that most libraries have in abundance.  However, there are a couple that we really enjoyed on the topic which I think added a lot to our study.  The first one is an Usborne title that covers at least two of the habitats we discussed (based on our science curriculum, Biology for the Grammar Stage).  The Usborne Book of Wild Places:  Moutains, Jungles and Deserts contains lots of illustrations and snippets of information.  Although this is actually not my favorite lay-out for a book, I’ve come to appreciate this style more after discussing somewhat complex topics with my young children.

Another title that we really enjoyed last week is One Small Place in a Tree by Barbara Brenner.  We began the week by talking about forests (both deciduous and boreal, a word I had not encountered before last week), so this little story was a good introduction to the complexity of nature and how just “one small place in a tree” can be home to so many creatures.  (We read a similar title by the same author some time ago and really enjoyed it, too.)


I just have to mention one more title that relates to habitats.  The Water Hole by Graeme Base is a beautiful book that is wonderful and useful in so many different ways.  It’s the story of a water hole that is shrinking (and thus negatively affecting the animals it “serves”), so it gets across the idea of conservation, first and foremost.  However, in addition to that, this is a counting book for the numbers 1 to 10; it’s a look-and-find book, with very visually complex and interesting illustrations; and it’s a book about habitats, since each two-page spread highlights a different continent, country, or habitat.  Highly Recommended!


This week we began learning about mammals and focused primarily on lions, cheetahs, and elephants.  We read quite a few good titles to go along with this study.  By far the best title we read is Grandma Elephant’s In Charge by Martin Jenkins.  This picture book is nonfiction, but it’s written as a story, so it has great kid-appeal.  The main idea in this story is that the female elephants live together in a herd, and the most important female is the “grandma” of the herd.  Ivan Bates‘ illustrations are realistic but still playful (where appropriate).  I give this one a Highly Recommended, also!

We read all of these books in addition to our science spine, The Kingfisher First Encyclopedia of Animals .  Lulu also read an appropriate science book every day.  I wanted to mention one series of books that we’ve found particularly good, both for my reading aloud to the girls and for Lulu to read–Pebble Plus books .

The girls completed narration exercises about each of the animals we studied, and they also placed each one of these animals in the correct category–omnivore, herbivore, or carnivore.  We did a science demonstration on Wednesday, but it didn’t work out very well, so that’s all I’ll say about it.  ;-)

Language

We plugged along in Writing With Ease and First Language Lessons.  We even did our first picture study/narration in FLL!

Handwriting

As much as I want Lulu to finish her handwriting book, it’s just hard for me to make her do it when I’m requiring her to keep a book log for both the books she reads aloud for reading and for science.  Plus, she does copywork for WWE.  Will someone please tell me just to let it go?  :-)   Louise, on the other hand, did several pages in her handwriting book this week and enjoyed every minute of it. 

Art


After discovering that Barb from Harmony Art Mom and Handbook of Nature Study has divided up the lessons in Drawing with Children into a manageable form (and adapted them for nature study, too), I decided to take the plunge this week and officially call Thursday afternoons our art lesson time.  This is one study I really hope to gain something from.  This week we worked on getting accustomed to the imperfect-ness of artwork and letting that go, as well as learning how to relax and acquaint ourselves with our new markers.   I’m excited about the prospect of all of us (me included!) learning how to draw! 


During rest time, the Lulu read several books and they listened to the unabridged versions of  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Heidi in audiobook format.  We finished our last read-aloud chapter book, Betsy-Tacy and Tib, and started on Ginger Pye. 

All things considered, we’ve had a fantastic two weeks.  I think I’m enjoying it more than the girls!  That’s not to say it’s without its difficult moments, though.  My biggest challenge is, as always, how to balance it all.  The DLM threw a monkey wrench into my nice little schedule by deciding to not always take a nice, long nap in the mornings.  I know that one way to handle this is to try to keep him awake the last time he wakes up to eat (which is anywhere from 4-ish to 6-ish each morning), but most times (especially when it’s still dark outside), I’m just too sleepy.  I am working toward it, though.  If I do that, he’s awake through breakfast and then I get him back to sleep while the girls and I share our Bible story and devotion.  He then usually sleeps long enough for us to get most of our work done.  He’s quite the charmer now, though, with lots of grins and laughing out loud, so it’s hard for the girls (and me!) to focus when he’s awake.  :-)  

If you’ve read this far, thank you.  This is probably the longest post I’ve ever written, and I HOPE I can make it more manageable next week.  I’m linking this up to the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

First Grade and K-4: The Curricula

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I’ve been meaning to get this post up forever, but since we started school this past Monday, I’ve been too busy actually using the curricula to write about it this week.  :-)   I hope that starting tomorrow, I can write up a School Week in Review sort of post, so I’m putting this out there so that tomorrow’s post won’t require a lot of explanation. 

Steady Eddie and I got away a couple of weeks ago to plan out the year.  Normally we would’ve chosen to actually go away–maybe to a nearby town with a Panera Bread restaurant so we could eat yummy food and have wireless internet access.  :-) (Doing this sort of task at home is completely out of the question.  At home, all I see is dust and laundry.)  However, since we would be bringing along the DLM, we opted to just go over to the church that hosts and sponsors our homeschool group so we could use the copier and spread all the goodies out on the table.  No one was at the church, so there would be no one to bother if the DLM decided to get fussy.  While we worked, the DLM was unusually good.  (We’ve since concluded that the little charmer has finally found his sense of humor.)  Thankfuly, he spent a good deal of his time doing this:

We had actually made all of the curricular decisions before this workday.   I just wanted to point out the fact that prior to this workday, I was feeling panicky about this year.  After the workday, my panic was a little more manageable.  I still had an infant who likes to cry a good bit when he’s awake (but he’s getting better–see above) and still doesn’t know that night time is for sleeping; a four year old who wants desperately to be as old and as capable as her sister, but isn’t there yet; and a six year old who loves learning but definitely has her own idea about the way this all should work.  At the end of that day, I had our first week planned (in my new homeschool planner!) and a new lease on what our year might look like.  Mostly, I was excited about what we would be learning and discovering together!

Before getting into the curricula that we’re using, I need to give a little bit of background about my middle child.  Yes, Louise.  As I mentioned above, she really wants to do everything that Lulu does, but she’s just not quite there yet.  Since she has a late fall birthday, I have been torn about whether to go ahead and “do” kindergarten with her this year, even though she won’t officially be old enough until next school year.  What I’ve decided is this:  I am going to do my best to teach this girl to read this year because she wants it so badly, but I’m not calling her a kindergartener until next year.  I mean, so far as I can tell, there’s really no advantage to graduating high school a year early.  However, how can I not teach a child who is determined to spell things out for herself?  She gave me this note which she composed during rest time one day last week.   She wrote,  ”You are my mom.  I love you because you [are] pretty.”   She did this unaided, and so I think she’s ready to tackle the finer points of phonics, don’t you?

Bible and Devotion

I mentioned earlier this year that we were working our way through The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories, and we’re continuing with this daily in the new school year.  I’m even noticing that this little children’s Bible is helping me in my own quest to read the Bible through–I am already familiar with some of the more obscure Old Testament stories that I haven’t read in a while because I just read them to my girls.
  In addition to this, we are using volume one of Hymns for a Kid’s Heart by Bobbie Wolgemuth and Joni Eareckson Tada.  Although I grew up singing hymns and “convention songs” in church, at our church now we mainly sing contemporary praise and worship songs.  However, I don’t want my girls to be ignorant of the great songs of the church, so I hope we can work our way through this series.  I love that it comes with a CD of the hymns so we don’t have to hunt for them.  Each hymn has a little story about the composer and then a devotion based on the hymn, so we spread this out over two days.  On the days we don’t read about a hymn, I share a devotion from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian M. Schoolland.   

Reading

The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading is what we started with a couple of years ago, and it has been very effective so far for Lulu, so we’re continuing on with it for first grade.  Lulu is picking up around lesson 80.  I’ve actually worked through a good bit of it with Louise, too, but it was rather hit and miss last year.  We’re starting all over at the beginning for her K-4 year.  Lulu will also read aloud to me one book (or a chapter in a longer book) per day and for ten minutes silently at the beginning of rest time.  Louise will read aloud to me as she is able.

Language

I hope this isn’t overkill, but Lulu will be working through both volume one of First Language Lessons  and volume one of Writing with Ease this year for first grade.  Louise will listen in and participate when she wants to.  :-)


Math

We’re sticking with RightStart Math again for first grade, and this year Lulu will be in level B.  I commission Steady Eddie with the task of choosing a math curriculum each year, and he likes this one.  I like it, too, but it is very teacher intensive–I really need to prepare these lessons in advance.  (I’m guessing that most math is at this age, though.)  Louise has a kindergarten math workbook that she can work in if she chooses to, and she will join us in playing the many math games that RightStart is known for. 

Science

After much deliberation and studying of the forums over at The Well-Trained Mind, we decided on Elemental Science.  We are working through Biology for the Grammar Stage for first grade, and Louise is along for the ride. 

History

This is the subject we went back and forth about this most, I think.  I had actually purchased volume one of Story of the World and its activity guide back sometime last year, but I began to panic about it when I was contemplating homeschooling and caring for an infant.  Steady Eddie really wanted me to choose something that I wouldn’t have to plan, and we seriously considered going with Sonlight.  In the end, though, I realized that simply doing history The Well-Trained Mind way would be simple enough, and I resisted buying anything else.  Of course, we’re adding plenty of picture books, etc., which I have gleaned from various threads on the forums. Again, Louise will be accompanying Lulu in her history studies.

In addition to all of this, we’ll continue our read-alouds.  I’ll also try to sneak in an art activity or two when I can.  Both girls will be taking class piano lessons as of September, as well.  The only thing we don’t have a plan for is physical activity/education (beyond our homeschool group meetings three Fridays each month beginning in September), but I’m counting on this horrid heatwave that has swept the South to end some time so we can get outdoors again.  (No one should have to be out when the heat index is 108 degrees!)  We’ve talked about putting the girls in Upward soccer again, but we might sit this season out and try basketball in the winter.  We’ll see.

It’s going to be a good year!

 

Read Aloud Thursday

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I’m flying in on a wing and a prayer with this post.  Things have been a little unsettled here the past few days.  Steady Eddie has had a few long days at work with a couple of hours driving time each day for some training he’s involved with.  That makes for a long day for him and for me, especially since the DLM tends to be something of a night owl.  Oh, and then there’s the 90 Day Challenge that’s keeping us both busy. . .


Anyway, I wanted to share a book today that really tickles my funny bone.  My girls think it’s funny more because I think it’s funny than for their own sakes, but hey–I’ll take levity where I can find it these days!  :-)   The book is entitled Once Upon a Time, the End (Asleep in 60 Seconds) and it’s sort-of like a fractured fairy tale.  However, instead of focusing on one particular story, Geoffrey Kloske created a framework in which a “noble and tired father” of a child who refused to go to bed began “cutting little words here and there” in the bedtime stories “so the stories would go faster.”  What results is a very funny retelling of a few folk tales, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and even a few jokes.  Here’s one that made my girls look at me like they thought I might be losing it the first time we read it: 

Hickory, dickory, dock

A mouse ran up the clock.

The clock struck eight.

Oh, my, it’s late!

So the mouse went straight to bed.

They might not have gotten it, but I sure did!  In fact, lately I can totally relate to the tired father!  Barry Blitt‘s illustrations are really funny–I especially love the one of the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.   Her head is sticking out of the top of the shoe, her face is blue (the rhyme says “Stories were read/Until her face turned blue”), and she is obviously screaming.  (I’m not saying I’ve ever felt that way.  No way!  Not me!) 

 Parents, this read aloud is for you!  If your children enjoy it, then that’s a bonus.  :-)   Actually, reading this book helped me realize that my girls aren’t as familiar with nursery rhymes as I think they should be, so guess what we’re adding to our read-aloud stack?  :-)

We have been reading other things that the girls have loved, though.  We finished up Prince Caspian a few days ago, and I hope to have a few thoughts posted about it in the next day or two.  What are your reading aloud with your little (or not-so-little) ones?  Please share a link to your blog post or tell us about it in the comments!

Have a wonderful Read Aloud Thursday!