Saturday, September 4, 2010
WWI
We are studying WWI in history. In keeping with my desire to make school a little more "fun" this year, I bought WWI army men for my boys. I found American and German soldiers in Hobby Lobby recently. The boys have really enjoyed them. They are looking forward to taking them with us to the beach next week.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Birds of a Feather
This year in science Hayley, Luke, Will and I are studying Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. Apologia divides zoology into 3 years and introduces animals in the order of God's creation. This year we will be studying birds, bats and insects.
In order to study birds, we needed to be able to see birds. We have set up several bird feeding areas in our yard. We hung a thistle feeder to attract goldfinches. We used an empty soda bottle to make a feeder filled with sunflower seeds. To attract insect-loving birds, we made suet. We mixed together oatmeal, peanut butter, lard, cornmeal, sugar, raisins and birdseed.
Before we began this study, birds in our yard didn't receive much notice. Now as soon as someone spots a bird whatever else we are doing stops, the kids grab the binoculars and the guide book and start trying to make an identification. So far we've seen a Blue Jay, male and female Cardinals, Song Sparrow, Eastern Wood-Pewee, lots of Mourning Doves, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Mockingbird, Robin, Wood Thrush and the Carolina Chickadee.
In order to study birds, we needed to be able to see birds. We have set up several bird feeding areas in our yard. We hung a thistle feeder to attract goldfinches. We used an empty soda bottle to make a feeder filled with sunflower seeds. To attract insect-loving birds, we made suet. We mixed together oatmeal, peanut butter, lard, cornmeal, sugar, raisins and birdseed.
Next we placed the suet in zip top bags and then in the freezer to harden. Once the suet was hard, we removed one block from a bag and placed it into our suet feeder. The suet is now hanging in our backyard. It took about a week for any birds to find it, but we have had several visitors this week.
Before we began this study, birds in our yard didn't receive much notice. Now as soon as someone spots a bird whatever else we are doing stops, the kids grab the binoculars and the guide book and start trying to make an identification. So far we've seen a Blue Jay, male and female Cardinals, Song Sparrow, Eastern Wood-Pewee, lots of Mourning Doves, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Mockingbird, Robin, Wood Thrush and the Carolina Chickadee.
A New Year...A New Resolution
No, it's not January and even if it was, I wouldn't be making a New Year's resolution. We are into our 5th week of the school year. So far things are going fairly well. This year we have a 9th, 7th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd and Pre-K student. Andrew (2.5) has a different playmate every 30 minutes to help keep him out of trouble and Daniel (16 mo.) naps through the majority of our school time. I've probably got about another month of relatively smooth days until Daniel gives up his morning nap. Once he does that, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm praying now that the Lord will give me wisdom for handling that new "wrinkle." (By "smooth" I don't mean perfect, I mean Andrew only interrupted 5 times as opposed to 20, no one has "lost" their reading book, I have all the supplies for the science experiment and Luke and Will aren't wrestling in the floor as opposed to doing their math!)
My resolution for this year is to make school more "fun." When I taught public school my students didn't use a textbook and at least 1/3 of my lessons were hands-on. When I first started teaching my own children, we did a lot of hands-on projects. As our family/school grew those types of activities began to fall by the wayside. Somewhere I became more concerned with "getting school done" than with making learning come to life. Now I don't think everything a kid does needs to be fun. Not all of life is fun. It happens to be a lot of work, and school is a place where kids should learn to be diligent. However, that doesn't mean we don't need to mix in fun projects along with memorizing multiplication facts and writing reports.
I think a lot of my hesitation about doing projects/activities is related to my "Yes Mom" post below. I don't like messes. I don't like being inconvenienced. I don't like getting side-tracked and not accomplishing my "to-do" list for the day. Notice a pattern? All of my excuses are about me, me, me. Christ asks us to die to self and serve others. This year I'm going to try to die to my own selfish desires and do the things that I know will help my kids have wonderful memories.
So quiet down textbooks, spelling tests go to sleep
I'm making memories with my kids...memories they will keep.
My resolution for this year is to make school more "fun." When I taught public school my students didn't use a textbook and at least 1/3 of my lessons were hands-on. When I first started teaching my own children, we did a lot of hands-on projects. As our family/school grew those types of activities began to fall by the wayside. Somewhere I became more concerned with "getting school done" than with making learning come to life. Now I don't think everything a kid does needs to be fun. Not all of life is fun. It happens to be a lot of work, and school is a place where kids should learn to be diligent. However, that doesn't mean we don't need to mix in fun projects along with memorizing multiplication facts and writing reports.
I think a lot of my hesitation about doing projects/activities is related to my "Yes Mom" post below. I don't like messes. I don't like being inconvenienced. I don't like getting side-tracked and not accomplishing my "to-do" list for the day. Notice a pattern? All of my excuses are about me, me, me. Christ asks us to die to self and serve others. This year I'm going to try to die to my own selfish desires and do the things that I know will help my kids have wonderful memories.
So quiet down textbooks, spelling tests go to sleep
I'm making memories with my kids...memories they will keep.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Being a "Yes" Mom
My friend, Kimberly, at Raising Olives wrote an excellent post on being a "yes mom."My kids would definitely call me a "no mom." I admit I am guilty of often saying no, because I don't want to be inconvenienced or deal with the mess. Kimberly gives 2 questions she always asks herself before giving an answer. I am trying to make changes in this area and have adopted her questions.
1)Is there a real reason to say no? (dangerous/destructive)
2)Are they supposed to be doing something else? (schoolwork/chores)
If they answer to both of these is "no", then I am trying to say "yes." Tonight I let my kids go out and play in the rain. Some might wonder, "What's the big deal?" For me, it was a huge step. They had fun and I enjoyed watching them have fun. Maybe next time I'll take an even bigger step... and join them!
1)Is there a real reason to say no? (dangerous/destructive)
2)Are they supposed to be doing something else? (schoolwork/chores)
If they answer to both of these is "no", then I am trying to say "yes." Tonight I let my kids go out and play in the rain. Some might wonder, "What's the big deal?" For me, it was a huge step. They had fun and I enjoyed watching them have fun. Maybe next time I'll take an even bigger step... and join them!
Friday, January 1, 2010
A Snowy Adventure
Our Christmas season began with a beautiful snowfall on Friday, Dec. 18th. It was the kind I love to watch...large, fluffy flakes. My house was fairly quiet as 3 were napping and 2 others were with friends; so I pulled my rocker up to the window, opened a Christmas novel and enjoyed watching our lawn turn white.
Brian had planned to leave work early that day. When he left work at 2:30 it had just begun to snow. He ran a few errands and picked up the girls at 3:30. He went by the grocery store to pick up a few items and then headed home. When he was about 2 miles from home traffic stopped moving. Evidently vehicles ahead of him were unable to climb the small hills. He called to tell me he was stuck and not sure what to do. He eventually gave up on that route and turned around to try getting home a different way.
An hour later I called to check on his progress. He told me he had given up on route A and was having no better luck with route B. Again cars were unable to navigate the a hill and no traffic was moving. He parked in a nearby parking lot. He felt his only choice was to walk the 2 miles home. My heart sank. Neither Kathryn nor Ashley were dressed for that type of weather. Neither of them had hats, gloves or heavy coats.
I hung up and prayed for God to get them home safely. I tried calling Brian again to tell him just to drive back in to town and stay with friends. He told me they were on their way home. As soon as he got the girls out of the Suburban to begin walking, a gentleman drove up and offered them a ride. He was a native of the area and knew of a 3rd way to get them home. I am SO thankful for God's answer to my prayer.
Once Brian and the girls were safely home, we settled in to enjoy our snowy week-end. Our power blinked several times, but each time it came back on. Around 10:00 it went out for good. We went to bed hoping it would be back on in the morning.
We awoke on Sat. to a cold and dark house. We don't have an alternate heat source, so we put on lots of clothes. We couldn't let the kids play in the snow ,because we had no way to warm them up when they came inside. The "fun" of being Laura Ingles Wilder was quickly dissipating (at least for the grown ups). We spent the day snuggled under blankets, reading books and playing games. At one point I decided to clean the kitchen as there wasn't much else to do and working made me warmer. After a cold breakfast and lunch, Brian knocked the snow off the grill to cook dinner. Having warm food again was wonderful. Finally around 8 p.m. our electricity was restored.
The temperature in our house had remained in the 50's while the power was out. Once it was back on the heat pump began getting things back to normal. I awoke at 4 a.m. however to find Brian getting dressed. He said the heat pump wasn't working and he was going to check the unit. He couldn't find a problem with the external unit. A call to our former neighbor and heat/air guy gave Brian some more things to check. Problem was our friend was out of town. It would be 2 more days before our heat was back on and we could all finally thaw out.
All of this sounds bad, but we were some of the lucky ones. We had friends who didn't have electricity for 4 days. Others in neighboring areas were without for almost 2 weeks! This wasn't exactly the way we wanted our Christmas break to start, but we are thankful for God's provision.
Brian had planned to leave work early that day. When he left work at 2:30 it had just begun to snow. He ran a few errands and picked up the girls at 3:30. He went by the grocery store to pick up a few items and then headed home. When he was about 2 miles from home traffic stopped moving. Evidently vehicles ahead of him were unable to climb the small hills. He called to tell me he was stuck and not sure what to do. He eventually gave up on that route and turned around to try getting home a different way.
An hour later I called to check on his progress. He told me he had given up on route A and was having no better luck with route B. Again cars were unable to navigate the a hill and no traffic was moving. He parked in a nearby parking lot. He felt his only choice was to walk the 2 miles home. My heart sank. Neither Kathryn nor Ashley were dressed for that type of weather. Neither of them had hats, gloves or heavy coats.
I hung up and prayed for God to get them home safely. I tried calling Brian again to tell him just to drive back in to town and stay with friends. He told me they were on their way home. As soon as he got the girls out of the Suburban to begin walking, a gentleman drove up and offered them a ride. He was a native of the area and knew of a 3rd way to get them home. I am SO thankful for God's answer to my prayer.
Once Brian and the girls were safely home, we settled in to enjoy our snowy week-end. Our power blinked several times, but each time it came back on. Around 10:00 it went out for good. We went to bed hoping it would be back on in the morning.
We awoke on Sat. to a cold and dark house. We don't have an alternate heat source, so we put on lots of clothes. We couldn't let the kids play in the snow ,because we had no way to warm them up when they came inside. The "fun" of being Laura Ingles Wilder was quickly dissipating (at least for the grown ups). We spent the day snuggled under blankets, reading books and playing games. At one point I decided to clean the kitchen as there wasn't much else to do and working made me warmer. After a cold breakfast and lunch, Brian knocked the snow off the grill to cook dinner. Having warm food again was wonderful. Finally around 8 p.m. our electricity was restored.
The temperature in our house had remained in the 50's while the power was out. Once it was back on the heat pump began getting things back to normal. I awoke at 4 a.m. however to find Brian getting dressed. He said the heat pump wasn't working and he was going to check the unit. He couldn't find a problem with the external unit. A call to our former neighbor and heat/air guy gave Brian some more things to check. Problem was our friend was out of town. It would be 2 more days before our heat was back on and we could all finally thaw out.
All of this sounds bad, but we were some of the lucky ones. We had friends who didn't have electricity for 4 days. Others in neighboring areas were without for almost 2 weeks! This wasn't exactly the way we wanted our Christmas break to start, but we are thankful for God's provision.
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