Picture Catch-up Post

I've taken some really cute pictures the past couple of weeks that have just been sitting on my computer. Each set could really use its own post, but I know that I just wouldn't get to it.

Some days Emily plays really, really hard. To the point that she just can't keep her eyes open anymore, no matter where she is or what she is doing.

Robbie found her bike helmet and brought it to her, so she had to put it on while she was watching her Noggin. A few minutes later she just collapsed. We actually left her like that for several hours, until her daddy took pity on her and removed the helmet. And, that is where she slept for the night.

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I feel like I have spent quite a bit of time the past couple of weeks talking about how hard it is for Katie to do any schooly work lately.
My theory is: she is expending a lot of energy developing very important gross motor skills. Earlier this month she tackled riding her two-wheeler. She also started soccer for the first time. And, here she is conquering her old nemisis - pumping herself on the swing.
Way to go Katie!!

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Squirmy Eggs

Sounds appetizing, doesn't it. It is Emily's way of saying Scrambled Eggs, but way cuter. Even more than eating squirmy eggs, Emily loves to make squirmy eggs.



Emily mixes them, Mary cooks them - and I get to stand back with my camera and enjoy. Or, go start a load of laundry and get dressed, whatever.

Sleep, play, eat ... important things in life.

Peace,

Amy

Orange Moon Rising

I hope everyone had a good Easter Sunday. Ours was so-so. Mainly, because I'm just not a holiday sort of gal. Not Christmas, not Easter, not Halloween - and so on. I just cannot get into them, at all. Sorry kids that you end up with a ba-humbug for a mom. We did the requisite chocolate candy and small toy at the breakfast table and I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Otherwise we spent the day like any other pretty spring Sunday. I still have not made peace with my current crisis of religious involvement (I won't sat faith, because it is so much more earthly-based than spiritual), so no church for us this weekend.

I have really been enjoying the rising moons the past few nights. The glow has shifted from white, to golden, and tonight it is a beautiful orange color. It is a marvelous thing, how the atmosphere colors our world. But, why, oh why do I keep staying up so late? The house is so quiet, and nobody around to ask me a thing!

Our days have become somewhat hectic, but with a schedule to them. So, really not too bad. Just busy from 7:30am to 11:00pm. This evening I actually had some time to weed through my educational 'game' and 'centers' baskets. Cards, die and rubberbands had all become jumbled. No wonder nobody ever wanted to pull them out. While rummaging I came across the Yahtzee pads I *knew* that we had somewhere. So, of course we had to play a game. Katie is now able to join us in playing games together and it has started to become a somewhat normal thing for us to have a game night every couple of weeks, once the littles are in bed. The feeling I get from nights like tonight just seem to jazz me up. Even though we played a round of Yahtzee, then Katie and I did a puzzle, while DH and Mary played Battleship, and then I read individually to both Mary an Katie - I was energized. Whereas, most nights I am wiped out by the time the big girls go to bed.

The whole reason I was sorting out the baskets was that I was trying to figure out what we had. I am so bad about picking things up here and there and then forgetting about them. I am trying to put together some activity boxes for Katie. She has hit the wall with her schoolwork, and after going through this with Mary a few years ago, I am not going to even try to force the issue of school with Katie. Once Mary was seven yrs old there was a huge shift in our schooling that has only continued to get better. But the first two years, it was like trying to give a drowning horse more water to drink.

Hopefully, I am a little smarter this time around. We are stopping, pretty much cold turkey. The workbooks and handwriting are gone for a little while. I'm going to pull together all my card sets, manipulatives, small games, file folder games and such , and make her activity boxes to use during our school time. I am in the process of trying to sort between preschool and early elementary so that Emily will have one also. We'll do this and read, read, read until Katie is 7 or so. I've already talked with Mary and explained why things are going to be a little different. She is looking forward to playing some of the games with Katie and Emily.

Once I am all set up, I'll be back to lesson plans for one, and that one I almost have good to go.

I'm starting to get the nods. A few more pages in my Ancient China history book and I will be asleep.

Peace,

Amy

Just another average homeschooling day

Today has been a roller coaster of sorts. We started off with reading our current read aloud, The Wizard of Oz. We are reading the children's illustrated version, and Mary and Katie are loving this book. I'm enjoying it as this is the first read aloud that Mary keeps jumping in and reading paragraphs aloud to us. It started because she didn't like my 'munchkin' voice and thought she could do it better. I don't ask and I don't expect and I'm pleasantly surprised every time she does.

After that we left to go run our errands, and something happened to me for the first time ever. I actually lost a child. Or, I should better say, a child got mad at me and decided to leave. We had picked up the items we needed and had gone back to the toy section to look at the selection of guitars. Mary's had recently been broken (not her fault) and since she was just learning how to play we are going to replace. Walking through the toy section Katie decided that she had to have a certain toy. I said "No" and moved on. She sullenly followed me, then when we got to the aisle with the musical instruments she wandered back over to the toys. A couple of minutes later we finished what we needed and went back to get her and she wasn't there!!! We went up and down every aisle and she was gone. My heart was thumping! We asked one of the associates for help and they called a "Code Adam" over the speaker.

Two minutes later they brought her back. She was crying and I told her everything was okay, but she replied that "You embarrassed me". They had found her over in the sheets and towels sitting on the floor with her arms & legs crossed. A fun little temperament on that one.

We finally got out of the store and came straight home where I could "keep everyone in my sight" for a little while.

This Winter/Spring I have slowly been increasing Mary's daily workload. I am still so impressed with her willingness to do her work. Especially over the last month on her medication. Today she needed to write her spelling words two times and she did it three times, just because. Next week is Spring Break and I so don't want to take the time off. I just hope we don't lose this rhythm in April.

When she wasn't doing her school work today she was working on her new project inspired by her class last Friday, a bow and arrow.
She started by finding a soft rock and shaped it to resemble an arrowhead. Then finding just the right sticks, using her pocket knife to shape them. Of course we don't have the right cordage, but she really tried and spent hours entertaining herself.

With Mary finally on track, I need to devote a little more energy to some hand-holding with Katie. She doesn't want to be doing schoolwork, would rather be spending 10 hours a day on the computer. Katie will do what I ask her, and doesn't seem to suffer from the low frustration threshold that her sisters do - it is just very lackluster and s-l-o-w no matter what we do. Today Mary completed seven subjects in the same time it took Katie to do 4, and Mary's individual assignments had more to them.

Yep, just another average day.

Peace,

Amy

I'm going crazy

care to join me?

I have spent so many hours the last couple of weeks thinking about our curriculum for next year, and how we are going to do things, when we are going to start and take breaks...and just all those other things. I have filled half of a composition notebook with nothing but ideas and different choices.

Yesterday I felt as if I finally had a really good and doable list. Then as I was laying in bed waiting to doze off it struck me that *I* really like those materials, but do they really fit the kids' learning styles? Have similar materials that I keep picking out time and time again really been successful? The answer was: No. What has worked - worksheets, close-ended projects, work that doesn't require long, drawn out discussions by moi. And, limited read-alouds (there went my dream academy of us all curled up together reading book after book).

Then this morning as I was perusing some of my haunts I came across a link for Home School Learning Network. What caught my eye first was unit studies because I plan on using a number this coming year, but then I started reading my way through the 'structured' plans. And while I wouldn't put them up in the spectacular bracket, it really got me thinking that for this coming year I would like to have a little more 'help' in the planning.

Since we have begun I have been all about planning just about everything myself, except for math. And, I'm kind of tired here at the end of this year. Next year Mary will be in 3rd grade, Katie in 1st, Emily has already started asking for things and she will join us more in the middle of the year, and Robbie turns two in October and he is already pretty curious and headstrong at just shy of 18months. My priorities for the year are for Mary, writing; and for Katie, reading.

I was looking at the HLN plans for 1st and 3rd, with a little tweaking and rearranging I can have the schedule so that Mary and Katie are studying similar topics in history and science, sometimes sharing the same unit study and sometimes two different levels. But, I also feel a little bit like I'm selling out my ideals and settling for a school at home. It isn't like I have to use everything there - I can use what I want and leave the rest behind. Me not being in total control - it is a little scary and a little freeing.

What I have as of bedtime tonight:
Mary:
foreign language - Prima Latina (Mary's request to add it in, again)
Math - Horizon's Math 3rd Grade
Phonics - OPGTR (last half of the book)
Grammar - Simply Grammar & online grammar worksheets
Handwriting - Cursive
Literature - Ambleside Online Reading List - Year 2/3
HLN's: spelling, history/geography, science and art programs and unit studies
Nature walks & journal
Piano Lessons
Gymnastics
Soccer

**Mary's writing will definitely be getting a workout. There is a big jump in the expected amount of writing on projects from 2nd to 3rd grade. I will also be employing writing prompts and journal writing.

Katie:
OPGTR
Horizon Math 1st grade
Handwriting Worksheets & copywork
Older Dick & Jane-type basal readers
HLN's: spelling, language arts, history/geography, science and art
Ambleside Online - Year 1 Reading list for literature
Nature walks & journal
Piano Lessons
Gymnastics
Soccer?? (we'll see how this season goes)

This seems doable for us, especially if I can gel my ideas for working around a toddler & preschooler better. I just need to get over the guilt of not doing it all.

Peace,

Amy

Verdict on the bread

Last week as part of our Chemistry curriculum we made bread. I've been hunting for the 'just right' bread recipe for our family. They like my bread, but more in it is a good side dish for a meal. I've been looking for the bread that will replace the store-bought loaves for sandwiches and such.

To make the bread on Thursday I went back to my traditional 'white' bread recipe. Only this time I replaced half the white flour with whole wheat and added extra honey. Mmmmm! This bread has replaced our store bread. The kids love sandwiches made with this bread. Today I had to make two more loaves and this should last until Wednesday when I will have to make more. Every week the list of foods in this house that contain high-fructose corn syrup gets smaller and smaller.

Peace,
Amy

Another installment of Field Trip Friday

I spent today with Mary and Katie along the Eno River in northern Durham. Last fall, we were supposed to attend an outdoors/Native American class. Unfortunately, it ended up being one of our few rainy days of the Fall and we had to reschedule. How lucky we ended up being!

My neighbor offered to watch Emily & Robbie for me so that I could actually tag along with Mary and Katie. That worked out wonderfully, as the little ones could stay here, play with their friends and nap in their beds. And, I could spend some time focusing on the big ones.

I went with Katie's group for the first half of the day. We hiked, found walnuts, talked about the trees, observed the waterfall (testing it by throwing sticks and watching them flow over), and visited a traditional Cherokee cedar hut.

Everyone meet back at the field to have a picnic lunch together. It was so relaxing to sit back and let the kids visit with their friends, playing tag and climbing trees. At the end of lunch we had a large group session with music and Native American stories.

The second session I hung out with Mary, but because they ended up on two different tracks we did similar things, just at a more advance level. Their teacher took them down to the mill and showed how the water wheel worked. Then, they went down to the river and practiced "spear fishing." A hike along the river bank and a game that helped them practice their 'Heron' walk (walking quietly). Mary won this game, twice - something I may have to keep in mind.

The session that I didn't get to do was focused on Native games and Mary learned how to make fire, something she was really looking forward to doing. The girls both gave it two thumbs up.

I wish I had more pictures, but halfway there I realized that I had forgotten my camera. We found Mary's camera in the car but the batteries were going dead. We will definitely return to the Eno River for another field trip.

Peace,
Amy

Delicious Education

We talked about mixtures today in science...

What do you get when you mix these separate ingredients together:
~yeast
~water
~sugar
~honey
~eggs
~flour
~salt


Tonight we will be enjoying our science experiment with baked fish and steamed broccoli.

Mary also joined our newly homeschooling family down the street for their math lesson on adding fractions. Dessert tonight will be our half of the double batch of brownies they made.

Peace,
Amy

Repreive

At this time I should be digging through my closet trying to find something business casual and appropriate to wear and then hopping in my car and fighting though rush hour traffic to drive downtown and fight over the half-dozen available parking spots in order to fulfill my civic duty. But, last night when I called to find out if I was still required to show up for Jury Duty I was informed that "the court's business does not require your attendance," and I should "go about your daily business and disregard your summons". SWEET!

I really did not mind going all that much. DH just served last year, and he got to sit in the jury lounge and read a book all day, and then was sent home when the case was resolved at the very last minute. But, when the weather forecast said that it was going to be almost 80 degrees today and sunny, I really did not want to go. Let me serve on a jury any cold, rainy day that I would otherwise be housebound with my four little darlings.

DH is also going to be home today as he had already requested off, and who is going to give up a day like today to be inside a windowless office when one has a choice. This morning I am going to do some quick lesson planning for today. Not much, just enough to keep the inmates from getting to restless. Outdoor lessons seem like a really, really good idea today.

Peace,
Amy

Productive Monday

The time change has thrown us for a loop. I really dread the 'Spring Forward' every year. For some reason Emily and Robbie were up bright and early yesterday, earlier than they would normally wake. But, it was like pulling teeth trying to get Mary and Katie out of bed. I started off the day feeling behind. On top of all the things I had planned, I also had the mountain of doom laundry from where we had done a down and dirty clean up in the girls' bedroom. And, the kitchen was a mess from our dishwasher just being to darn small to keep up with a family of six with me making most everything from scratch.

But, the dread slowly dissipated as we got into it. We started off with the yarn dying project as that has been on our list for awhile. That allowed us to work at the table during the various simmering and soaking times. This did not turn out quite as well as we would have liked, although I am sure there are various ways that *I* screwed up the process. The main one was probably not using enough Alum or Cream of tartar. I was trying to reduce the size of our process from the recipe that used a 4 gallon pot to a much smaller scale using one of my stew pots. But, we did the process and did see how the dye can be leeched out of natural materials. Our result was a couple of skeins of light, tea-colored yarn, which was originally bright white. So, at some level it did work.

Messing with the yarn led to Mary insisting, again, that I teach her how to knit. She has a tendency to become frustrated easily so I've been trying to hold off teaching her this. But, she insisted and really seemed motivated. So we found the some spare needles and a skein of yarn and sat down to knit. The child might just be getting it this time. She is still having some trouble holding the yarn to keep tension, but she has the basic stitch. More importantly, she is self-motivated to do this.

The next 'craft' we are going to do is make our own "lap looms" and try our hands at weaving. I made one of these in Girl Scouts many years ago and really had a lot of fun weaving little pot holder squares. I have a perfect size piece of cardboard for her to weave me some placemats we need.

The reading, writing, and 'rithmetic were accomplished. The laundry mountain didn't completely disappear but it is a more manageable pile this morning. The girls spent the long evening hours playing with their friends, teaming into pairs and making scavenger hunts for each other. Katie and her good friend taking off on the bikes every so often for a sprint down the street. Those two are so excited to be on two wheels!!

While it was still light, which seemed so strange, we sat down to a really great dinner of chicken&sausage pasta and fruit salad. We had not had strawberries in awhile and I had pulled out one of the bags from our freezer supply (last summer's harvest), the kids loved them. For the next few days we will go through a spell of them begging me for strawberries constantly. For dessert, like the fruit wasn't enough, Mary baked us a cake earlier in the afternoon. Some days I feel like we eat like kings around here, but in all honesty I probably had around $5 invested in that total meal and we fed all six of us, plus Mary's friend; and DH took the leftovers to work today.

Now to go see what we can do today...

Peace,
Amy

Planning for this week

We have a busy week happening this coming week. Soccer practice for both Mary and Katie begins, which means we will be out of the house two evenings this week. And, lucky I am, I have jury duty on Thursday so DH will be subbing for me. Today has been my day to try to get things organized for the week.

I was able to go out grocery shopping - all by myself today. That was very nice, and allowed me to hit multiple stores. I've finally come to grips that with the rising grocery prices our monthly groceries will be in the $600 range. And, if I am going to pay that much for food I am going to get GOOD stuff. Recently it has been as cheap for me to by fresh or organic, or all natural foods as it is to be the more processed foods. Our larder is filled for the week with fresh fruits and veggies!!! I am so ready for a spinach salad.

Before I left for the stores I asked for meal requests for this week. These are the dinners we came up with:
~Homemade Pizza
~Homemade Chicken Fingers & crockpot mac n cheese
~Baked Salmon w/ Wild Rice and steamed broccoli
~Sausage & chicken Linguine
~Baked Spaghetti w/spinach salad and homemade garlic bread
~Baked Ham w/roasted potatoes
~Tacos

Lunches:
Chicken Noodle Soup
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Tortilla roll-ups
Hamburgers


I've also worked out the general school plan for this week. We have our 'normal' work which is math, reading, spelling and the typing program. Piano is on Wednesday, gymnastics on Thursday, and both Mary and Katie will be at an 'outdoors' class all day Friday.

For our history unit this week:
~ continue reading "Patriots in Petticoats"
~ read Betsy Ross biography
~ listen to "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas Allen
~ make 2 history notebook pages
~ yarn dying
~ play jacks

If I don't meet myself coming I'll be back later this week, hopefully with pictures of our going-ons.

Peace,
Amy

Drought Busting

The good news is that it is raining...and raining. The bad news is that we have an undesired moat forming around the front of the house. I don't even want to think about the crawl space as earlier this winter I discovered that our pump had stopped working and just have not been very motivated to work on that yet.

My original "To Do" List looked something like this:
1. Clean off front porch - the warm spring-like temps has resulted in the outside children dumping a lot of their paraphernalia as they move in and out of the house. If not remedied soon we will be that house in the neighborhood.
2. Go to store and buy new cell phone card - mine expired earlier this week and I just forgot about it. Tells one how much I use the thing.
3. Go to grocery store and pick up the two items I needed to make Mary's special request of stroganoff for dinner tonight.
4. Have our 'project' period for school today - today we were going to make dye using onion skins and dye some spare yarn I have. Unfortunately this project also requires a period of drying time for the yarn.

So, have I mentioned that it is raining. Not just a gentle, soothing spring rain. But, torrential "the skies have opened" type of rain. What ended up happening today:

Mary has been so very anxious to try out recipes from her cookbook I found at the used book shop on Wednesday that she banished me from the kitchen and made "eggs in a nest" for breakfast. They were very tasty. She really is a very handy cook.

We did go out to the store, but with the rain I decided we had to be content with ONE store to get everything - Walmart. I don't necessarily hate Walmart, I just really would rather shop other places. But today it fit the bill. So we wandered for an hour or so adding things to the cart, and I did remember the things I needed to get. That is a success for me.

I came home and there was a phone call from my mom that she and my step-father had decided to cut their trip short and were on the way home, could they stop by for lunch. I did a mad rush clean up of all the things we had just left 'as they were' on our way out of the house earlier.

We had a nice lunch and an all too short visit with my parents. The kids were so wound up seeing them again after what seems like a really long time. Everybody it seemed had something to share with Mamaw.

They left, Robbie went down for his nap and I put Little Einsteins on for Emily to watch and she promptly fell asleep. Watching the children sleep and the rain fall made me realize how tired I was. I started the stroganoff in the crockpot and laid down on the sofa. The older kids were content; Katie had her new set of makers and Mary had a new computer game to figure out. I had a nice nap until the parade of school kids arrived.

Needless to say very little on the "To Do" list was done. We've had fun, rested - what a rainy Friday should be. Later tonight I'll pull out some card games and Mary will read to daddy or I - and we will call it a day.

I mentioned above about going to a used book shop earlier this week when Mary got a new cookbook. I found some awesome additions for our library:
This is a collection of childhood biographies, mainly composers but one is of Picasso. I picked up every one they had.
These are small country guide books put out by Highlights. The copyright is 1996, but as it is mainly general info and pictures they should still be usable for our country studies. Mary, Katie and I have already decided that next year we are going to do "Country" unit studies for Social Studies. They have chosen: China, Japan, Greece and Italy.

Mary wants to do some more baking today - hot choc chip cookies. Mmmm, I think that sounds very good on a rainy evening.

Peace,
Amy

Waiting on the storms

After whining a bit this morning, I feel like I need to come back and give an update on our really good day today. When the big girls woke up, Mary decided she wanted to back some muffins for our breakfast. Which she did totally independent of my help. Then she packaged up some to share with our neighbor. The very same neighbor she made a pizza for Sunday night.

Once I was no longer necessary inside to oversee the oven use, I took Robbie and Emily outside while Mary and Katie worked on some bead art projects. They ran around while I finally got to putting my new blueberry, raspberry and blackberry plants in the ground. In the area I wanted to plant the blackberry I actually found some wild blackberry shoots, so I am hoping that it will be a good spot for the plants.

We totally took advantage of the 70-degree weather by staying outside up until lunchtime. Katie loves being able to ride her bike and being able to 'go as fast as Mary'.

Once we had lunch and got the littles down for their naps it began to rain on and off. I am glad we got our outside time in early. It was a good time to pull out the books. We read "Life in a Village", a history book about what a village was like during the colonial period and how people produced the goods they needed. It was an excellent lesson on what makes a community. The girls then took turns reading to me, Katie is willingly branching away from her readers to read me a variety of books.

I did have Mary run through a couple on-line games at IKnowThat targeting capitalization and punctuation rules. In a couple of months she has to take the IOWA test and I know that it will be on there and I also know it isn't anything we have spent a lot of time on. Surprisingly (for me) she did very well. Now I know that she has managed to pick up this information here and there and that eases my mind a bit. We will do more in this area over the Spring so that she can be comfortable with this at testing time.

This evening Mary caught me getting ready to dispose of the chicken parts (heart, liver, etc.) from the chicken I am roasting for dinner. She decided that we needed to dissect them. And she did. I helped identify the different pieces on the internet, but she did all the cutting. Pictures follow for the non-squeamish. After she was done with what she considered a "Cool" activity she diced them up and is going to feed them to the dogs with their dinner tonight.

Now I'm just waiting for our bad storms to hit. It will be a high-heart rate night for me...I HATE severe thunderstorms.

Pictures coming - click away or scroll fast if you don't care to see what is normally packaged in a chicken cavity.

The fun never ends around here.

Peace,

Amy

Expectations

I've been writing this post in my head for a few days now. Having a had time finding the right words for it, but knowing I need to get it out there.

I've been thinking about expectations, specifically mine regarding Mary for awhile. I'm able to relax so much more with the others regarding their development. But, it seems like I am constantly putting Mary under my own personal microscope. So, this is written to remind myself, AGAIN, to chill.

Somewhere along the way I've gotten it into my head that Mary is 'behind' in her reading skills. I guess it came about because she started off early learning several words by sight, and then just stopped. Her interest in the written word has never been great. Which honestly has been a little heart rendering for me since I am such a reader.

I get myself all worked up about how she is reading and what is she reading and why isn't she interested in reading. That last one I lay squarely on my shoulders. It doesn't help me that I just can't stay away from the wonderful homeschooling blogs and forums and hear all about the chapter books their 7/8-year-olds are reading. I begin to stress and yes, honestly push Mary.

Then, recently, while doing some research for word lists and such I came across a bunch of pages about what second graders should be reading, how second graders are reading. And, the light went off! Mary isn't behind, my expectations are not appropriate for her. And, it isn't the level that my expectations are that are the problem, it's that I even have them and express them.

It is really hard being a homeschool mother when it comes to this area. How much pushing is good, especially for a child that needs that little encouragement to go forward, and how much is detrimental and discouraging. And, when, Oh when do we ever figure this out?

Relax! Breath In...Breath Out!

Peace,
Amy

Welcome March

Today was a great day to re-institute our warm weather schedule. Mornings for outside activities and after lunch, lessons. Since it is the beginning of March, kite flying seemed to be appropriate. We packed a lunch, stopped by the store for some inexpensive kites and headed for the local soccer fields.



It was a beautiful day outside!!!

We even had a cultural lesson when we bought the kites. The clerk checking us out had grown up in Afghanistan and told the children all about kite flying and how it was the national past time. On the way to the park we talked about the history of kites. Which led to a discussion about China and its' one-child per family laws. (They have a friend who was adopted from China, and told them about that practice. ) It is funny how something as simple as kite flying can lead to discussions about how much control a government should have over their people. But, those are the rabbit trails that we can follow each day.

Peace,
Amy

Katie's Big Weekend

Mary taught Katie how to ride her bike today, in about 5 minutes. Can you see the grin on this face.

Peace,
Amy

What Happens...

when the teacher is sick and there is no substitute?

The feline family curls up on the sofa
A day spent chasing Carmen Sandiago though time

Hard core literature being read

I was just so happy when DH crossed the threshold last night. Amazingly, the children were all happy and sound, the house was in one piece - although admittedly the playroom was a disaster area. The big girls did make it to gymnastics, thanks to my MIL. We did okay.

My fever finally broke sometime during the night last night. So, I am feeling much more aware and awake today. Today, being "Leap Day" I had promised the girls a day off. Although, I should feel guilty considering they have had a couple days off now with me being sick, I don't. This only happens once every four years. I was going to take them to the History Museum as a special treat, but don't feel quite up to that. We are just going to hang out here.

What will you do with an extra day?

Peace,
Amy

Present from the Kids

The big girls got to go visit their grandmother yesterday afternoon while I tried to catch up on some sleep during nap time. They went off with a bag full of craft goodies and came home with these tissue paper flowers. Mary even added some of her g'mom's perfume (not that I can smell it right now).

Unfortunately, I'm still under the weather even this morning. DH came home and took over last night allowing me to sleep for 12 hours. Today I am swigging Tussin an OJ hoping that this will pass soon. We are trying to save DH's time off, so unless the dizziness of yesterday afternoon returns I'm going to try to sludge through today as best as I can. Movies anyone?

Peace,
Amy

Isn't that the way

It always seems that as soon as we get a good routine running and things are getting done, something happens to slow or stop us in our tracks. I know, I know - it is life. Thankfully, this time around it is only a cold and not the flu that so many are struggling with. By the middle of the day yesterday I was squinting through my runny eyes at what we had left on the 'To Do List' and wondering if it was worth it.

Mary and Katie seem okay - nothing ever seems to slow them down except for stomach bugs. Emily is cranky and spending a lot of time laying down with her blanket and whining for me to turn on Noggin for her. Robbie and I seem to be the two hardest hit. If I wasn't worn out by my own cold, Robbie would have done it. As it was he spiked another one of his absurdly high fevers last night so I laid awake most of the night checking and worrying about him.

Most of what was on our list yesterday didn't get done. The basics we did, but the extras and the history unit barely got touched. Instead the girls played a number of card games, colored their sheets for the Easter Coloring Contest at the local grocery store, "read" their magazines and played outside between rain showers. In our eclectic way, we will call that a fairly good and interesting day.

DH has taken on the task of encouraging Mary to do more reading by having the two of them read together every night. From the sounds of the laughter and giggles you wouldn't think they were doing very much. But wow, in a short period of time he has manage to get Mary to start slowing down and thinking about new words before blurting out just anything. After Mary reads to him then they read though one of his old "Garfield" collections together. If I had actually had the energy last night I would have tried to sneak a photo of them to share, but I didn't.

I have no big plans for today; the basics, maybe a little history reading, get Mary to piano... . I may call in some reinforcements to do something special with Mary and Katie in the afternoon so I can nap with the two little ones.

Peace,

Amy

Fun & Games

Since I've decided to go in a more decidedly *whole-language/sight word approach for reading instruction I've had to come up with some fun ways to introduce words and to help imprint the words in their memories. We have the weekly word wall - a list of some 60 words (most of which Mary knows now, the list will get smaller as we come to more and more difficult words). Mary likes to challenge herself to see how many she knows or can decipher the very first day it goes up. To make it even more fun, I am picking out 20-30 of the words to make cards out of for games like Go Fish and Memory. Mary is having so much fun with these games that I have also made up math equation cards for us to play 'War' with. I hope that these will help her recall her Math facts quicker.

*I have not totally abandoned phonics, but it is so stressful for and not working very well for Mary that I have taken to implementing covert phonics instruction. For example, her typing program, that she really likes, does phonics enrichment while teaching typing.

In addition to the games we are playing, Mary and Katie have really been on a creative streak lately. They spent the afternoon putting together and decorating a box fort in our side yard. of course this is when they weren't digging their hole, a la the movie "Holes" in our backyard. And, last night Mary brought me "The Rainy Day Book" a craft booklet we got from a visit to Chick-fil-a asking to make the tissue paper flowers to use as spring decorations.

It feels so good to be having fun with learning again.

Peace,
Amy

Geared up for another week

I woke up this morning feeling energetic and ready for this week. We have finally gotten the umph back into our days that have been missing for a few months. This Colonial/Revolutionary War impromptu unit study has been very invigorating for all of us.

Not to mention that we all can feel that Spring is just around the corner. As I sat here this morning I heard the geese flying, a sound I haven't heard since last Fall. It might still be on the chilly side of things, but there are green things in my garden (that are not weeds) and birds all around. And, I received emails reminding me that I need to sign Mary up for Spring soccer. Each day we will be spending more and more time outside.

Last night I stayed up a little late putting together this week's lists and even going forward and making lists for projects for the next couple of weeks.

Our reading list for this week includes:
Sam The Minuteman Nathaniel Benchly
Meet Felicity Valerie Tipp
The American Revolution Bruce Bliven, Jr. (this book is being read only a few chapters a week so it will take us awhile)
Visiting a Village Bobbie Kalman
Food and Recipes of the Thirteen Colonies George Erdash
Paul Revere's Ride Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Patriots in Petticoats Shirley Raye Redmond
American Kids in History: Colonial Days David C. King
The Story of Clocks and Calendars: Marking a Millennium Betsy Maestro
Picasso and Minou P.I. Maltbie
Trouble on the Tracks Kathy Mallat
My Rows and Piles of Coins Tololwa M. Mollel
DK Eyewitness: Chemistry

Our projects for this week:
"Knowledge" web for what we have already learned on the Colonial/Revolutionary Period
Make Maple Sugar Candy
Learn how to play 'Jacks'

Can you tell I am having a lot of fun with this one. There are just so many hands-on activities and ideas I am finding. It just fits so well with us. By the time this unit is finished (we will be doing field trips in April) it will be time to look back outside for our next study.

Peace,
Amy

Eclipse

After I checked the weather on Wednesday I added to Mary's 'school' list "View Lunar Eclipse from 8:30-10:30". She saw it and went wild with the anticipation of finally being able to stay up late again, especially since I have become the bedtime Nazi over the last week. The weather yesterday was gorgeous!! It was clear right up to...7:30PM, then the clouds rolled in.

Ever the optimist, kept checking the local weather on the web. The girls kept running outside and giving me field weather reports. Finally pay dirt. At 9:45 the clouds broke up enough that we could see the moon. Although it became might cold with the passing cold front, we set up our lawn chairs in the neighbor's front yard (she had already given permission) and pulled out our cheap-o school telescope. After 30 minutes or so of fiddling we finally had that all set up. But, the girls were right it was more fun to roll around in the grass at 10:30 at night under a red moon.

It was a beautiful lunar eclipse, and we were the only ones in the neighborhood outside viewing it. It is not like it was at 2am, as some have been recently. But, then again I am able to let my kids sleep in a little this morning. They don't have to be at the bus stop at 7:05 in the morning, thank God!!

This is what homeschooling brings back into our lives. The ability to pause and appreciate the beauty of the natural world around us. The larger world that isn't run by time clocks and productivity measures. And the chance to celebrate lunar eclipses by rolling around in the cold grass and batting at balloons on the wind.

Peace,
Amy

Lists and schedules, Oh My

OK, I am finally admitting it to myself that at least one of my children is most likely ADHD, and well their mother too. Last fall in my attempt at that time to get things under some sort of control I created a really good schedule for us and hung it on the wall in the kitchen. It makes a mighty nice wall decoration.

Anyway, we had a good fall. Lots of outside therapy and the diet seemed to be working. Hell, the stars and the moon had lots of alignments going on. Things just kind of flowed. We had issues, but they didn't seem like issues.

Fast forward to this winter...too many days inside the house, and well whatever. We are struggling. We are struggling with time management, discipline issues and even learning. I feel some days as if I have taken a step off the cliff into chaos. Since my surgery I have been absolutely exhausted. I don't have any back-up energy resources for this.

Last week it was finally time to step up and take charge. Mary was/is miserable most days about it. I was toast by the time DH got home and just haven't been up to keeping the house in any sort of order. Over the weekend I attacked the 'front room' in our house. The room that is our office/playroom and homeschool staging area. Piles everywhere, little hands had pulled things out and mixed them up. I cleaned, threw away, organized and straightened. That looked so nice I moved on to the family room, where we actually do most of our day-to-day studying. Piles of books were put away, table tops were cleared and I actually think I know where most of my materials are now.

So with chaos confronted, it was time to come up with a gameplan to prevent our downfall again. I still like our schedule, but need something to reinforce it (for all of us - remember I am just as guilty as my kids). Mary loves her checklists. She likes to count how many things she has to do and she likes to physically mark off her accomplishments. So using that I now have a daily checkoff list for her. From waking up, to brushing her hair, doing schoolwork and chores, and even going to bed at night.

And, since we are adding things anyway, they now have two chores each to do daily on a rotation. Mary & Katie are also trading off kitchen duties (fixing vs. clean up) for the three daily meals. They have had way too much free time for getting into trouble.

Everything went into place as of this morning. Everyone now has a wake-up time and something to keep them busy for most of the day. The plan seems to have gotten favorable reviews. The biggest complaint is the wake-up time and bedtime. Chores have never really been an issue, it is more that I don't let them do a whole lot because it takes me a lot less time. So, I am teaching them how to do them. Today the family room was vacuumed, kitchen floor swept, kitchen cabinets wiped down and Mary did an awesome job on the bathroom - even cleaning the toilet.

It will take us some time to get used to it, and I'm sure a certain amount of patience before it is all routine for us. But, if *I* can just stick with it I really think the kids will be behind me. It may be time for me to dust off my daily to-do list.

Peace,
Amy

Beginnings of the Garden

Since it is the middle of February it is time to get the cold weather crops in the ground. Last year I waited until March like the seed packs said, but then I didn't get much before all the warm weather set in. When I was talking with a gentleman at the local farmer's market about my lack of lettuce and broccoli, he said, "Honey," (the older ones always say honey around here) "those crops need to be in by middle of February 'round here."

So, here it goes:

DH and Emily enlarging the bed last weekend
The garden bed's squares all laid out. I have 50 sq. feet this year in the raised bed. There are also some other containers I will be using.

No, I didn't use miracle seeds. Mary and I stopped by the garden shop today to get twine and they had flats of baby lettuce and broccoli. I decided to try them out along with some seeds so I can have a continuous harvest for as long as I can.

Today I planted red-tipped lettuce, buttercrisp bibb lettuce, lettuce 'mix' of seeds, broccoli (both transplants & seeds) and spinach seeds. I can already taste the fresh salads....

While we are talking food; we had the best dinner last night if I do say so myself. One of our goals this year is to add more fish to our diet. I grew up on the coast, and like a lot of my friends that grew up down there we are not really fish people. It just always tastes and smells 'fishy' to me (go figure).

I picked up some frozen salmon fillets this week at the grocery store while they were on sale. We baked them last night with a little lemon juice/olive oil marinade. I also made homemade roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli. If it wasn't for the kids swinging from the chandeliers I could have closed my eyes and imagined us at a restaurant for dinner.

Peace,
Amy

The Days that flew

Where has my week gone? It should only be Wednesday, but no my calender says Friday. I think it has something to do with the holiday that really isn't a holiday. Our last two days have been spent on Valentine's Day. Which means in the scope of our life, almost nothing else got done. How does this always happen to us?

Wednesday we had errands to run for all those last minute "holiday" things. The first stop was to Dollar Tree. In our family a trip to any store, no matter the proximity, isn't a hop in the car and go around the corner type of trip. There is the hour beforehand getting everyone motivated, dressed (in something somewhat appropriate) and referring the squabbles over this and that. Then having to change the diaper that suddenly needs changing as we walk out the door.

We walk into Dollar Tree to find that someone has gotten a little happy with the helium tank and there are balloons floating everywhere throughout the store. All with strings hanging down at my shoulder level. Perfect for little hands in shopping carts to pull at as we go.

We got some of our supplies, but not all. So we also had to go to the grocery store to finish picking up baking supplies. While we were there I figured we should pick up a few groceries we needed to save me the extra trip later this week. I won't go into any details, but lets just say that I was constantly sidetracked by one issue or another and totally lost my concentration several times. I ended up driving away from the store while my really good, local, organic and somewhat pricey milk sat in the cart in the cart return. Of course I didn't remember this until I was home unloading the car.

This little excursion was so exhausting for all of us that once we were home, Emily grabbed her blanket told me she was taking a nap and went to her bedroom. I checked 5 minutes later and she really was asleep. With both the little ones napping it was safe enough to give the big girls the construction paper, craft scissors, glue and markers while I had "quiet time" on the sofa. The next thing I know it was 3:00 and the two big girls had finished their valentines, put a movie on and joined me on the sofa.

From Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon we have been baking and decorating, and me - cleaning. They made valentine cupcakes (in heart-shaped tins) for their friends at gymnastics, their friends in the neighborhood and the friends we saw at the get-to-gather Thursday afternoon.

For me, coming home to dinner (cooked by DH) last night was the best gift after the racing around and disjointedness of the last couple of days.

And school - well CD players are a wonderful invention in a car.

Peace,
Amy

AAAAaaaa

I came home from a meeting this evening, opened the internet and clicked on "Bookmarks" and it was EMPTY!!! Nada, nothing there. Definitely not my YEARS worth of bookmarked materials. I could have started crying right there. Then I remembered that I do have a back-up from where we had to transfer the bookmarks when we got the new computer. So, I only lost a year's worth of additions.
A few things come to mind:

(1) My bookmarks are some of the most important files I have, I should have a better back-up system
(2) Which child of mine is the hacker-to-be?

Peace,

Amy

Dinosaur Exhibit and Getting Ready for Spring

We have spent the last week since returning from the mountains trying to buckle down and focus on our studies. Boy has it been difficult. The weather this week has been so wonderful. Temps in the '70s and clear. I did have the advantage though of a trip to the Museum of Natural Science on Friday with their friends. If we couldn't get our schoolwork done there would be no trip this week.

Public schools had a half-day on Friday so we went with some neighborhood friends and had a great time at the museum. The special exhibit they have right now is on Dinosaurs.








Since most of the other children had never visited the museum we also went through all the other exhibits. Mary and Katie really enjoyed showing off one of their favorite places to their friends.

This week we also got our income tax refund, and after paying some bills and socking away a lot in savings, I was able to take a small amount and do some special shopping for me. I am trying to teach myself how to knot socks and needed some supplies. I've been really good this winter staying away from the craft stores. Boy, it felt great to splurge and I did find a really good deal on some fancy yarns for only $1 (normally priced $6). I did pick up a book on knitting socks, some more double-pointed needles, and some beautiful sock yarns to make house socks for all of us.

And, since the weather has been so spring-like these last few days, it has made me start to think about the garden. It is actually about time to begin planting our cool-weather crops. I stopped by the garden store to pick up some more compost and some seeds (lettuces, spinach & broccoli). I was also able to get two more blueberry bushes, raspberry bush and blackberry. It will still be a couple more years until we will have fruit - but yum, yum!

Today, DH is out expanding our garden bed about another 20 sq. ft. Later this week we will plant our first crops for 2008. Then we need to plan on what we will have for our summer garden and how we will fill our extra space. It probably won't be that hard.

Peace,

Amy

Ski Weekend

This past weekend I did something new and fairly exciting. No, not skiing, packing up a car for a trip that didn't include diapers, wipes and sippy cups. Each year my SILs take their nieces and nephews over age 5 on a weekend ski trip. Since this was Katie's first year and the number of kids had bloomed to 5 I decided to tag along. DH's other sister also came which gave us a 5 kids-4adult ratio, not too bad. Emily and Robbie were left behind to have an exciting weekend with their daddy.

The weekend was AWESOME!! I have not skied in 10 years and was worried about how I would do. But, apparently, it is like riding a bike. I strapped on the skis and my instincts just took over. Not only did I amaze myself, but Katie also amazed me. I was apprehensive about Katie as she doesn't tend to be the most graceful and doesn't like it to be cold and wet. But, wow! She took to skiing like she was born to it. A few trips down the bunny slope and she was telling me to back off and leave her alone. She skied from 9:30am until 3:30pm, with me basically dragging her in to take breaks and eat lunch.

ME

Katie

This was Mary's third year skiing. She was so thrilled to be there with her two older boy cousins. They spent the day racing each other down the intermediate and advance slopes.


We've already decided that we are all going to have to go again next winter. And, if I can I want to get the girls back up there one other time during the winter.

On the way home Monday we interrupted the school day lessons at Melora's, Accidental Blogger, for a quick visit. She thinks she talked my ear off, but that is untrue. It was so pleasant to sit and talk 'shop' with someone and not having to jump up every 5 minutes to chase a toddler down, that nearly three hours passed before I realized we had to get on the road again. Her family is truly a joy to visit. Thank you so much for letting us intrude and for feeding us lunch.

It was a nice little early February break. Now we have to buckle down to get our Spring quarter in. I've got my lists and am geared up to get things done. Of course the last couple of days being in the '70s have been so very tempting...

Peace,

Amy

A Book that Inspires

Last weekend I took Mary and Katie to the library to pick up some books for the next few weeks. The two of them did their best to decimate the natural science/animal books. Out of the massive quantities of easy read books on Tigers, Koalas, Snakes and Sharks, a book by the title of Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea landed in our bag.


Who knew that there was a kangaroo that live in trees like monkeys? Not me...never heard of them. These creatures are absolutely adorable. Quite possibly the cutest animal I have ever seen. But, more than the intriguing topic, this has to be the best juvenile non-fiction natural science book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It isn't an "easy reader", written on what would probably be a 6th grade reading level, which makes it a really good read aloud for my children.

The author, Sy Montgomery and photographer Nic Bishop join a conservation scientist on a trip to study Tree Kangaroos in the Cloud Forests of New Guinea. The two of them document the entire trip from introducing the scientist in the group, discussing the supplies needed to undertake a two week trip into the bush, exposing the reader to the lives of the people of the native villages and how these natives have been convicted to no longer hunt the tree kangaroo. What a great book not just on the science of these creatures, but how scientists actually work out in the field.

This 'science' book has been a springboard for geography, cultural awareness, comparisons of how different people live and why conservation of our resources are important. The awareness that scientist and conservationist they see on TV don't work in a vacuum and the enormous amount of supplies and help they receive from people all over the world to do their jobs. It oesn't just report what scientists have discovered about Tree Kangaroos, but How.

Very inspiring for us.

Peace,
Amy

A Day at the Lake

In celebration of me starting to feel a little more normal, and considering the forecast for tomorrow is mid-40s rain and 30mph winds, we put away the school books and headed out for a day at Jordan Lake.

We ate lunch by the lake, played on the playground and then headed out on the 1.4 mile loop trail. It only took us 1 1/2 hours to walk the trail and we got passed not once but twice by the same woman. But it was so worth it.

After uploading the pictures I realized that there are none of Robbie, but rest assured that he is with me - I was just the one with the camera.

Mary swears she saw a bat inside this hollow tree.

This tree was about 100years old.

Again, I love images of them walking away in a line like this.
The water levels are way down. I am standing in a clump of marsh grass that should be in the water to take this photo.
One of the reasons it took us 1 1/2 hours to walk a mile-and-a-half, frequent rest breaks.

We did manage to see several hawks, a pair of egrets and a very large squirrel nest. I love our nature days.

Peace,
Amy

The Lost Month

January is almost gone and I am left feeling like I have lost a whole month somewhere in here. It took me days after the surgery to feel as if all the pain killers and anesthesia had left my system. Since then I have slowly been building back up to some 'normal' level of activity. By the middle of the day I find myself exhausted, counting the hours until DH can come home. I still can only bend over and pick up so much so the house has been in a constant state of chaos and by the time I need to fix dinner I'm so tired I'm not even hungry, so DH has been basically working two jobs this week. Went back to the surgeon for a follow-up this week and all is fine. The tiredness is normal and should slowly clear up of the next couple of weeks. I just hate not having the energy.

Of course it isn't just the surgery making me feel tired. Walking and climbing 16month olds are exhausting just by themselves. We have been working on teaching Robbie what "NO" means. He has been giving us lots of opportunities for these teaching moments. His two favorite activities right now are climbing up the computer desk to get to the items on top of the hutch - you know those items we purposely put away up there so no little hands can get to them; and climbing on top of the kitchen table.

When he gets tired of those games he and Emily team up as the destructive duo. The other day while I was fixing lunch and they were supposed to be playing in Robbie's room, I found them in the bathroom with a container of baby powder.
Emily was making powder soup - all over the bathroom floor.

On to better news, it does appear Emily has climbed over the potty training hump. Emily loves my mother so much that she will do anything for her - including finally using the potty. She is now in underwear during the day, and although she still has the odd accident, she is using the potty mainly. Can I just say how happy I am that this day has finally come to our house. Three down and one to go. How early can I start training Robbie????

School has been going okay. We have been getting our work done and reading lots of magazines and library books. But crafts and science projects have been put on hold lately. Playing outside has been hit-and-miss and only lasting short periods of time as the weather has been cold, or wet, or cold and wet. Our days are often so little about the workbooks and more often the other things, so I feel like a lot has been missing since we started back at the beginning of the month.

We have finally gotten our timeline made and hung on the wall. We are using some dot matrix printer paper that Mom had given me and made an approximately 13ft. long run of the paper along the wall. We added the dates for the ancient history that we have already covered. Now, we will be able to just add all the things we come across in reading, math, science and so forth.

And, I have pulled together the information for our big winter/spring project of creating an official backyard habitat. Mary is supposed to do the design and we will work together to finish the manual labor. When it is all done we can apply for a certificate and a sign for the yard.

My computer time is up - sounds like Robbie is somewhere he doesn't need to be.

Peace,
Amy

It got interesting

After several weeks of calm life it got interesting again.

Monday morning I woke up to the heat not working, again. Based on the symptoms this time I knew it was going to be a relatively easy & inexpensive fix, but had to wait until DH came home from work. He diagnosed it as being the second motor and we just had to track it down.

Monday night we had a really fun time. DH started a good fire in the fireplace, we moved our three small space heaters around the house and managed to keep the house a comfortable 66. The girls wanted to watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - so we just cuddled up and watched it together.

Then...at 1:30 Tuesday morning I woke up in excruciating pain. I had to wake up DH several times. I thought I was going to die. As soon as we could get someone over Tuesday morning, DH drove me to the ER at the hospital. Apparently, my Gallbladder had been in bad shape for awhile. I spent the entire day in the ER waiting for space in the operating rooms to do the surgery. I didn't get into surgery until 10:30 that night, so I also ended up spending the night at the hospital.

DH had the nearly impossible task of coordinating help with my SILs, finding the part to fix (and actually fix the heater) and be with me to be able to sign paperwork and be my voice as they had me on heavy narcotics throughout the day. Yeah for DH as he managed to get all this done and really be with me throughout all of this.

The heater fix ended up costing only $6 for the part and took him about 15 minutes to replace. The house I cam home to is pretty clean and the chores are all done. The kids were happy, although they did miss me. And, apparently all my little niggling body pains and issues were mainly related to the gallbladder - so here is hoping I will be in better shape in a couple of weeks.

Now the pain medicine is kicking in and I'm going to take a nap.

My new project

On our way home this week from piano I came across this bicycle sitting in a neighbor's yard with a "Free" sign. I brought it home to see what DH thought. It is actually in okay shape. We have put air in the tires and they are holding. The front gears were stripped so we put the chain on the middle gear in the front and it still gives me seven mid-range gears. How many do I really need for puttering around here.

I want to replace the seat with one that is padded. My old behind can't take these pointy un-cushioned seats for very long. And, I have been 'window' shopping on-line for baskets. I can't decide if I want a front basket, rear basket or even just go ahead and get both.

My thoughts are that I will be using it not only to get out and exercise with the kids, but also for quick trips to the store and library. Yesterday Mary and I rode our bikes to the library and had a great time, although I do have to say my legs were burning by the time we got home. It really didn't take us any longer on bike than when we take a car since we can cut through the woods as opposed to going around a couple of neighborhoods.

For the last six months I have been wanting a bicycle, but with all of our other expenses could not justify the $100-$200 expense. Again, I am reminded that if I wait long enough good things will come. Now we are on the lookout for a really big bike for my 6'5" husband.

Peace,
Amy

I cannot believe this story????

POLICE STATE, USA
SWAT officers invade home, take 11-year-old at gunpoint
Cops demand boy go to doctor because of fall during horseplay

I have no words....

Peace,
Amy

I'm sorry...

but I have to put this up. This video is too creative and too true to not get out there. It has been all I can do over the past couple of weeks not to post any political stuff. But the truth is I think there is an inner activist I have never seen before inside me.



**********************************************
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost

Peace,

Amy

End of week cap

Our week has been pretty uneventful. Trying to get back into the rhythm of school and chores and fun, and that always means a few testy days. Unfortunately it has been cold. Cold - Cold, and dry to boot. None of us want to spend more than the minimum amount of time outside - which means they are all getting somewhat antsy, and not a little irritating. Outside, active nature time is a must for us, obviously.

Wednesday was a struggle all day in regards to schoolwork. They wanted to do it...and they didn't. I tried to light a fire, but the wood was still a little damp and my fire building skills are not the best. I had visions of a nice roaring fire and all of us curled up listening to me read. Instead I spent an hour or so messing with the blooming thing. By that time the children had decided to occupy themselves with the motherload of playdough Emily received for her birthday, and they were not in any mood to be dragged away from that. In the end we did manage to do reading, math and science, and DH built us a nice, warm roaring fire when he came home from work.

Thursday went better, thanks to gymnastics in the middle of the day. Once they had expended all the cooped up energy Mary and Katie were much more inclined to finish their work. We worked through the first couple of chapters of the math book I found at the library. It surprised them, as they thought it was going to be BORING. Mary even did okay having to re-read her poem three times in order to answer my questions.

Today, being Friday, is game day, crafts and science activities. And, since I haven't planned out any science activities for today, it was games and crafts. Mary has been busy making God'sEyes and asking me to teach her how to sew (I told her to get back to me after I take a sewing course). After lunch they pulled out a few games and have been busy occupying themselves. I really wish they would go outside...really wish.

*******************************************
We have done well this week eating out of the pantry and avoiding grocery stops. I did go by the store after my appointment Wednesday evening, mainly to pick up more eggs, oatmeal and a box of baby wipes. I also had to get a refill card for my cellphone. I ended up spending $59 all together, since I found chocolate chips on sale, decided to treat Mary to some cream cheese and myself to M&M's that were on sale(these are my evening sanity medicine). All-in-all, not to shabby for me. This weekend I am going in search of soy flour to use as an egg replacer in my baking - eggs are just getting too expensive to use.

We have been eating well this week (always the case at the beginning of the month).

This was dinner last night:
1/2 lb Kielbasa
1 small onion
2 TBS roasted garlic
1 can kidney beans (rinsed)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup instant rice
1 can corn
~ 2 cups of water
dash cumin
dash oregano
salt and pepper to taste
a few drops of hot sauce

I have followed recipes for red beans and rice in the past, and they have never come out as good as this quick and easy stove-top recipe. I could have precooked some rice and used that, but I had this box of minute rice that only had a cup or so left. It made enough for a small army, or at least for our dinner and leftovers for DH today.

So, like I said the beginning of the month in a pantry challenge is always fairly easy. Wait until the end when I start coming up with some real creations ;)

Peace,
Amy

Back to the Grind - Yeah

After nearly a month off we are totally ready to hit the floor running today. In fact the girls have been asking when we are going to start lessons again for the last few days.

The holiday has been a bonanza of finding books and materials for us to use this coming quarter. Mary received both The Daring Book for Girls and The Dangerous Book for Boys (I couldn't decide as both books had really good ideas and activities. Of course Mary thinks the girl's book should also be named "Dangerous", because girls like being dangerous too. Mary also received a box set of Felicity books from the American Girl collection, which has led to an interest in the American Revolution period.

Whereas, Katie received more miniature animals for her collection, including a whole tube of sea animals. She has decided that we need to study oceans this period for her. Which works out because I can do a unit study for both of them incorporating geography and all.

At the library I found where they hid all the good math books in the adult non-fiction section, and came home with Math Magic for your Kids by Scott Flansburg. Lots of great activities and games for adding a little more natural math into our day. I can already see a renewal and a fine to get through this book with the kids.

I cleaned the girls' bedroom and went through all our board games (getting rid of the ones that are broken or too many missing parts) and am good to go today. The girls made a list of what they would like to do today: math, reading, science and making God's Eyes following the directions in Mary's book. I would like to go on a walk, but it is only going to be in the upper 30s with a howling wind out of the NW.

Anyway, I'm still really looking forward to this coming year. The break was good for us, we needed it and now we are ready. At least until February/March when the late-winter doldrums set in.

And, for Melora, I am taking the Mary and Katie skiing the first weekend in February and they have asked if there was anyway we could stop by and visit you again? They still talk constantly about our visit this summer.

Peace,
Amy