Weekly Wrap-Up: The Pinteresting Project Edition

 

Most of this week was pretty basic. Wake up. Make steaming cup of morning goodness (hot tea for me, hot cocoa for the kids). Read the Bible, pray, write in my journal. Teach my lovelies. Consider how blessed I am because I get to teach my lovelies. Cook a few meals. Spend time with hubby. Discover Pinterest. 

Oh, Pinterest! That's worth mentioning. It's my new addiction. Do you know what it is? It's this fantastic site that lets you save every little thing you love that you find on the internet that you don't want to forget. And it's more than that, of course, but for me, this is what it is, and it allows me to organize these bookmarks and includes photos. It's social networking on top of this. I love it. I think I will have 50 boards on Pinterest by the time I'm done organizing everything I want to save. You should see my list of bookmarks on my laptop, and then you will understand my new found love of Pinterest. Go check it out (but please don't blame me if you become addicted).

Today was project day. I always plan a light day on Friday. This way, if we get behind during the week, we have an opportunity to catch-up, and, if we don't get behind, then we get to do some fun things or relax a little. On Wednesday, I decided to push a couple projects off and do them today. It worked perfectly.

Our first project for today was making dividers for the kids animal notebooks in science. I was supposed to purchase notebook dividers, but I didn't. Instead, we got creative by hole punching some white cardstock and using some post-it labels that I had on hand. This was Eric's idea (sometimes it's good when he's working at home). The kids loved this simple project as well as the animal charades we played during our science lesson on Wednesday. This was good news since, on Monday, they told me that science wasn't as fun because we weren't "doing" anything. I'm glad we're past that hump. I hope. More on that in future weeks.

Our second project of the day was a food groups collage. We spent the month of September discussing food groups, so today's final projects involved making collages and planning a meal using all the food groups. We'll make that meal next week some time and hopefully post pics for you. The collages turned out great! For those interested, I did tell them that they could overlap and put the pictures on crooked, but they insisted they wanted them this way.

Our third project was to make a Spanish meal. This is because we've been learning about Spain in our Five in a Row study of The Story of Ferdinand (we stretched it over 2 weeks because this book was so full of material). Side note: If you have elementary aged children, read this book. It is a new favorite in our house! Plus, Robert Lawson's illustrations are just fun to study from an artistic perspective.

I did a lot of research for this meal. My goal was to find inexpensive recipes that were authentically Spanish, NOT Hispanic, but actually Spanish. It seems like many people don't know the difference, and, while I knew there was a difference, I wasn't sure what the difference was. I am now much more informed.

The first recipe I made was this Cauliflower with Cheese casserole. I didn't bake it in individual ramekins as the recipe suggests, and, if you aren't someone who likes to spend time in the kitchen, you should know in advance that this one is a little time-consuming and slightly more technical than your average recipe, but it was worth it for me. My husband's reaction to this recipe was my favorite. He said, "This actually makes me like cauliflower," and then he got seconds. Recipe success!

The second recipe was Pasta in Chorizo and Tomato Sauce. The only downside to this recipe (other than neither child liking it) is that I couldn't find Spanish Chorizo. This is a small town. I was amazed that I found Mexican Chorizo. It totally changed the intended flavor, but it was still tasty(but so much for going 100% authentic). I would make it again if the kids had liked it, and I might make it again with a few less-authentic tweeks. Here's the sauce:

(I think this photo is kind of cool with the steam, don't you think?)

The third recipe was Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding), which I didn't realize was an authentic Spanish dessert until my research this week. The entire family helped to make this recipe, and everyone loved it. Lukas said it tasted like oatmeal, which this particular recipe sort of did, but it was fun to make and eat it this evening. If we make rice pudding again, I may try a different recipe. This needed more milk as it was extremely thick and sort of pasty, but the flavor was perfect. Even Lukas liked it. Score!

(Don't you just love my super-creative labels on my different flour canisters in the background?)

That's a little window into our week. I hope that your week was filled with fulfilling moments!

If you would like to see how things are going for other homeschooling families and to borrow some great ideas, hop on over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers to find links to lots of other blogs filled with great ideas!

Ava's Journal

The kids have a renewed interest in journal writing right now, so I am indulging it, of course. I found these great journal prompts HERE (Yes, they're the same ones I posted once before). Today's journal prompt was, "I really don't like." This one came with a few rules, one of which was, "You have to be nice." I'm sure any parent can understand how a child could take that journal prompt and run in many wrong directions with it. 

Ava still draws pictures with her journals. Lukas has decided he doesn't want to do that as of this school year, which is fine. He's 10. Today, Ava drew her picture, and then we wrote her journal together. Here are her words.

I really don't like tomatoes. I don't like the texture or the flavor. Peppers, all of the colors, are not so bad, not as bad as tomatoes, but I don't really like 'em. Then, of course, I really don't like to play Star Wars because I am a girl. And then, I don't really like doing my reading lesson.

Of course, girls don't like to play Star Wars with their big brothers (but she does it. Nearly every day).

Do you see what I'm up against with that last part? She drew a nice little picture of her reader, so I knew it was coming. I love this child. She reads. And someday, she will read well.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

 

In my life this week...I'm considering living in a drama-free bubble.

In our homeschool this week...We're beginning a study of animals, finishing a basic overview of food groups, continuing with another week about Spain and The Story of Ferdinand just because we want to, finishing The Silver Chair, beginning The Last Battle and learning about how artists uses shapes.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share...Plan for bumps. Catch-up days are essential.

I am inspired by...great music.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...Tomorrow, we head to my folks' house to mow the grass.

One of my favorite things...rainy fall days.

What's working/not working for us...We need to get a better grip on the morning routine. Ava has asked for a little help remembering to practice piano and have her quiet time with the Lord.

Questions/thoughts I have...The people who choose us and whom we choose to be closest to in our lives are sometimes more like family than those who are actually related by blood.

Things I'm working on...gentleness and grace.

I'm reading...Sheet music. Does that count?

I'm cooking...Today was meatless Monday. We had curried lentils with rice and yolky eggs on top. I know it sounds weird, but it was surprisingly tasty. Find the recipe HERE.

I'm grateful for...my husband and children who remind me that it doesn't matter what others say or think as long as I am serving the Lord.

I'm praying for...restoration in several relationships.

A quote to share..."I have plans for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

A Little or a Lot

Today, as I was writing an email to three dear friends of mine, I realized how much the Lord is blessing us lately. These blessings are not the kind of blessings that the world recognizes since they aren't things that you can see or touch, but they are things that touch our hearts, which are the best kind of blessings. God is growing us, stretching us, humbling us, pushing us, challenging us, and generally keeping us on our toes. Alas(yes, I really did use the word alas. Nothing else seemed to fit), it is rewarding, isn't it? To be able to look back and see the path we've traveled in spite of all the pain and frustration is sometimes like looking at a television, as if it isn't really us that we look back and see because we have changed so much and learned so much.

I'm not sure where God is taking us, but He never promised to show us the future, just the step that He desires for us to take right now. As we obey in spite of not having the ability to know what lies ahead, our faith in Him is strengthened step by step, day by day. Obedience isn't always easy, but it is always rewarding.

We still don't know how we're going to make it financially as Eric builds his business, but we know God is going to make sure all our needs are provided. Right now, we're memorizing I Thessalonians 3:16-18 which says, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Along with this we're studying Family Way #9 (Our 24 Family Ways is a great family devotional)which says, "We are thankful to God for whatever we have whether it is a little or a lot." Good stuff, isn't it?

The thing is that even in these times when we aren't splurging on anything and find ourselves struggling to know where our daily living expenses are coming from, I don't feel like we have a little. I look around, and I see a lot. Toys for the kids, a piano which I have not forgotten was free to us and in great shape, a cozy living room, a big house, family nearby, friendships that are growing, opportunities to minister to our neighbor girls, and much, much more. 

Even more than things and relationships, God is growing us as a family. He is teaching Eric and me so much right now and rocking our world in some ways. The very way that we look at church and ministry is changing, and I'm not sure what the Lord is going to do with us now that He has planted this new vision. He has placed a longing in our hearts to give our kids a family life that will leave a legacy of love, thus blessing not just our children but generations to come. It's amazing. It's overwhelming if we think that we have to do it on our own, perfectly orchestrating our every move. Thank Jesus for grace for we need it and the forgiveness that our children offer us when we miss the mark and for the fact that they are learning to admit when they are wrong and to seek forgiveness. 

Yeah. They're learning that because we mess up so much, but isn't that the way it works? We want them to see Jesus in us. I see all the areas in which I need to grow and change, so I hope they can find Jesus in there somewhere. I see Jesus in them, so I know they're getting it somewhere!

How is God growing and stretching you right now? In difficult circumstances, is He showing you that you are his pride and joy? Giving you blessings in the dark corridors of life? Watch for Him, and He will. I promise!

Weekly Wrap-Up: The Headache Edition

  

Don't worry. I won't go on and on about my headache or whine about how I have felt for the past week. That would make you all come running back to read my blog, wouldn't it? Having a week-long (so far) sinus headache has lead to some humorous moments. On Monday, for instance, I forgot to make half of our dinner. It was almost 8:00 before we ate that evening. Even worse, our entire meal was ham and beans with cornbread. We chose this meal because it was similar to the meal that the grandmother made in last week's Five in Row book, When I was Young in the Mountains. The point was to have Ava help make it. Not only did I forget to make the cornbread until it was actually time to eat (I make it from scratch, so it takes about 45 minutes), but I also forgot to have Ava help. Then, as if I didn't learn my lesson on Monday, on Thursday, I forgot to put dinner in the crock-pot all together before leaving town to take Lukas to his vision therapy appointment. Ridiculousness right? The lesson learned this week is that headaches make me forgetful. Very, very forgetful. Also, if you live in my house and you know I have a headache, you might want to make sure we have milk for the cereal I serve you when I forget to cook your dinner.

This was the first week that the newness of the school year began to wear off a little. We're working an established routine each day, although adding piano practicing has been an issue since we keep forgetting to do it before school. It's a new habit for Ava and one that we allowed Lukas to get lax on this summer. We will all get better at remembering (especially if the kids keep losing afternoon playtime)! Ava's concern this week was about her hand writing practice. Last year, I neglected handwriting a little. Or a lot. Last year was...well, not our greatest academic school year, but we learned many more important lessons about taking care of those we love, moving and settling into a new community. Ava is not consistently forming some of her letters and numbers correctly, and it greatly disturbs her that I am sitting at the table next to her making sure she does it right. I don't watch her do the entire page. We just practice together on the white board before she does her independent practice. I can't blame her for asking, but I am glad to say that, so far, she is getting a lot more of my time this school year.

Since I mentioned the white board, check out these little white boards I found at Hobby Lobby a while ago. I love them! I wish I had them from the beginning of our homeschooling, but I'm glad we have them now. No more scribbled lines to practice handwriting!

I am loving, loving, loving the Answers in Genesis science curriculum that we are using. We're using the year that focuses on life sciences. I decided to do the first unit in the Plants book because it actually has the intro to life sciences in it including the definition of taxonomy and why animals and plants are classified. Since the Animals book is organized by their scientific groups, it made sense to me to do it this way. AIG seems to have it planned so that you teach the entire plants book first, but I decided it just made more sense and made things simpler if we waited and learned about plants in the spring when things are growing instead of when they are dying. Right? Right. We'll be finishing unit 1 on Monday and moving into the Animals book on Wednesday of this coming week. The kids are loving it as much as I am so far, which is great. I've never looked forward to teaching science before this year, so let's hope that our honeymoon season with AIG leads to a long-term friendship.

Today was the highlight of our week. Lukas turned 10 on the 6th, and we finally got around to celebrating his birthday. It worked out well that our local theater was showing the new movie, Dolphin Tale, that opened today. Helping out even more is the fact that our local theater only charges $2 for a matinee!!! Might I just mention again how much I love living in my hometown? All four of us can see a new release movie for the cost of ONE ticket in Columbus!!! The movie was fantastic!!! I highly recommend it. It is based on a true story. The themes in it are heart-warming, and one of the main characters is even homeschooled! This is a movie that we will own on DVD when it becomes available. We all loved it!

After the movie, we came back to the house for pizza, cake and ice cream. Our friends, the Bonars joined us at the movie and at our house afterward, and my folks came over as well. Here are a few party pics:

 Captain America cake

 Pizza time!

 Can you tell he has a headache? Pink cheeks and all. :(

We had a nice time visiting. Unfortunately, Lukas seems to have caught my dreaded headache. It came about just after the movie. Today is the first day that my headache is manageable (i.e. annoying but not exhausting), and now he has caught it too. Eric is feeling the same way, but at least it wasn't his birthday party. Lukas didn't even eat his own cake, but I'm sure he'll have some of the leftovers. All our company left just before 9, and I think Lukas was tucked into bed by 9:15! I'm praying his doesn't last as long as it has for me. I'm so tired of it and would just like to feel normal (of course, now I have the runny nose to go with the sinus headache).

Since I said I wouldn't complain about the headache too much, I'll finish this post. In spite of the headaches, it was a good school week. All subjects seem to be going well right now, which is a blessing. Lukas' written work is taking much less time (yay vision therapy!), and Ava isn't complaining about reading lessons for the time being. It's all good!

I have to give a shout out to my parents before signing off. Yesterday, Lukas and I were in Columbus for vision therapy, and Eric needed to be in Newark, so we carpooled and then had to wait for him to be done working around 5. Ava stayed with my parents who took her to dance class for us. Ava thought this was fantastic, and we were grateful for their willingness to help us out like that! Again...I love living here. :)

If you would like to see how things are going for other homeschooling families and to borrow some great ideas, hop on over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers to find links to lots of other blogs filled with great ideas!

Acknowledging God

Head on over to The Intentional Journey to see my most recent post called Acknowledging God. The Intentional Journey is a collaborative blog featuring several different authors who all possess (from my understanding) a biblical worldview. None of us are in the exact same place in our journey toward heaven, but we are all intentional about our journey, which is why my friend, Chris, brought us all together to form this blog. After you check out my post, meander through a few others. Some of them are pretty good!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

 

In my life this week...I am hoping that the Lord moves in a mighty way in two specific situations.

In our homeschool this week...we are learning about animal and plant classification, Spain and bull-fighting courtesy of this week's Five in a Row book, Ferdinand, penmanship through a variety of copywork exercises, the unfortunate consequences of Solomon's choice to turn away from the Lord, and learning to be content whether we have a little or a lot.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share...If you have little kids, let them be little. Save the curriculum for kindergarten or even first grade, and then choose something like Five in a Row, which will give them the gentle start to learning that will teach them that learning is fun, exciting and worthwhile.

I am inspired by...families who have figured out how to leave a legacy of faith and love in spite of the baggage they may have once carried.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...we plan to see the  Bonars and my parents on Friday evening to celebrate Lukas' birthday (finally!!!).

One of my favorite things...reading and discussing a book with my husband.

What's working/not working for us...starting our school day mid-morning so that things like a good breakfast, piano practice and Bible study/quiet time are prioritized.

Questions/thoughts I have...Why do I sometimes feel like I am expected to do things the way other people do even though something better may work for our homeschool?

Things I'm working on...submission, speaking good words only and prioritizing school over household duties and errand running.

I'm reading...Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham. Go. Get a copy!!!

I'm cooking...a crock full of ham and beans and from-scratch corn bread in my iron skillet (we read When I Was Young in the Mountains last week, and this is a similar meal to the one Grandma makes in the book. This is our first opportunity to actually prepare it).

I'm grateful for...Monday. Everyone seems to dread it, but, most of the time, I love Monday because I love the way I spend my days.

I'm praying for...my headache to GO AWAY!!!

A quote to share..."The idea that motherhood, fatherhood, and family are not as honorable as high-income careers or highly visible ministry positions is biblically uninformed at best and grossly heretical at worst." Voddie Baucham in Family Driven Faith.

Weekly Wrap-Up: The All Things New Edition

  
 

It was a great, full week of school at the McEvoy house. After last year's craziness, we are working very hard to set our priorities on school. So far, so good. There is dust on all the furniture, the floors need to be swept and mopped, the downstairs bathroom is a disaster and you're all starting to wonder why I'm taking the time to blog at all, BUT, school was accomplished, the laundry was washed and I actually folded a bunch of it on Monday, homecooked meals were prepared, the habit of actually putting the school books away is going well, and the routine of school is encouraging us along each day. Tomorrow, the furniture will be dusted, the floors will be cleaned and the bathroom will be cleared of grime and dirty laundry.Saturday is cleaning day around here. I just wish I got two Saturdays so that we could really get it all done!

Because we like to pack it all in (haha), we added several things to our schedule this week. Ava started a new copy book from Memoria Press. I don't know why she loves it so much more than the old one, but she does, so we're going with it. Her handwriting is much improved all of a sudden (since she used this new book 4 days, I am not crediting it yet). If you saw her handwriting a few months ago (or a few weeks ago), you would know this is a really big deal.

Lukas added language arts into the mix. He's continuing to work through Intermediate Language Lessons. I was surprised all week at how quickly he finished each lesson, and it just occurred to me about 20 minutes ago that it is likely because his VISION THERAPY IS WORKING!!!! It's amazing how quickly a bright child can breeze through his schoolwork when he isn't seeing double all the time! We still have work to do since he's still shutting one eye off as he reads, but he'll get there. He's working hard!

On Thursday, Eric started teaching piano lessons to both kids. It went exceptionally well! This will be Lukas' fourth year studying piano, and, while he is currently trying to convince us that the composer of the piece he's working on "doesn't make sense," I think it's going to be great for Eric and Lukas to have that weekly lesson time together. Ava absolutely loved her first lesson. She has been wanting desperately to take lessons for over a year, but she really needed to mature a little before beginning.I think our big problem is going to be working out a practice schedule since both kids want their fingers on the keys all the time. I'm so grateful to Eric for taking on this weekly lesson task. He's excited about it, and so are the kids!

A couple interesting things happened this week. Lukas started to beg me to allow him to write more journals. I didn't plan journal prompts for the week other than two days, so I sort of blew him off until today when I thought to myself, "WHAT AM I THINKING??????" So, next week, we're going to take a daily journal approach. First, he wants to do it. Why? I suspect it is because I don't make the kids correct their journals. I use them as a guide for myself to see how well they are writing without worrying about the correction process. He likes to write like this. He HATES having to correct his work. Sometimes, I think we need to give our kids some space to make mistakes so that they learn that it's okay to make mistakes, especially when one of your kids is a perfectionist. Second, HE WANTS TO DO IT.Does there need to be a second reason to write journals everyday? I found some new journal prompts that will keep us busy for a while. Check them out HERE.

The funniest thing that happened this week gets blamed on Eric. He pronounces the word "offense" as "afence." I realize that this is fine, but I say "off-fence." This week, in our family devotional, we are learning that "We forgive one another, covering an offense with love when wronged or hurt." On Thursday, I asked the children to draw a picture illustrating this concept. Part of Ava's drawing involved a building with A FENCE around it. She was covering A FENCE, not an offense. All I could do was tell her how beautiful her drawing was since I didn't have the heart to tell her what it really meant in that moment. Then, I texted Eric and told him he needed to explain what an offense was that evening during our worship time. Heehee. I love that girl!

Tonight, we finished our week with a bonfire and carry-in dinner with our new homeschooling group in Zanesville. It was a perfect night to be outdoors by a fire. We met some great, like-minded people and very much enjoyed the evening. The kids had a blast and got to go on a hay ride. It was nice to be having conversations with people who believed the way we do. We will all be looking forward to the next opportunity to enjoy some fellowship with this group.

At the end of this very busy week, I am looking forward to Saturday and wishing I could just laze around on the couch all day. It's tempting, isn't it?

To see what other homeschoolers have been up to this week, check out Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Join us!

2011-2012 Curriculum

I always post our intended curriculum on my blog for anyone who might be interested (these things always interest me when others post them, and it is an easy way for me to look back and see what we did on a particular year). I realized last week that I hadn't taken the time to do so. It isn't too late, so here it is!

Lukas:

Intermediate Language Lessons (This encompasses grammar, writing, poetry, literature, speaking and more!)

Teaching Textbooks Math 5

Various Chapter books from library and personal resources

Bastien Piano Level 2

Ava:

Explode the Code 3 and 4

Pathway Readers

Sonlight Readers (after we finish the Pathway)

Math-U-See Beta (after we finish a few units in Alpha)

Memoria Press Copy Books 1 and 2

Bastien Piano Primer Level

Both:

Answers in Genesis God's Design for Life (Animals, Human Body, Plants)

Victor Journey Through the Bible

Bible: New International Reader's Version

Homeschool in the Woods New Testament Lapbook (possibly in the winter/spring)

Homeschool in the Woods Civil War Study

Five in a Row, which is really for Ava, but Lukas always sticks around for it and sometimes helps with the teaching and reading 

Artistic Pursuits

After we complete the Civil War study, I'm not sure what we're going to do after that, but, at this point, I'm leaning toward spending some time on Ohio history. I don't have a curriculum for that yet, so I have research to do before making a definitive decision, but we've got a while before that matters anyway. We're also doing regular journals using some prompts I found on-line and a nutrition program that I found on-line as well.

If you post your curriculum on your blog, leave me a comment so I can come and see what you're using!

The Simple Woman's Daybook #101

Outside my window...the temperature is dropping.

I am thinking...about ways in which the church divides families.

I am thankful for...our school routine.

I am wearing...black skort, orange top.

 
I am remembering...playing great flute music.

I am hearing...Bach's Brandenburg Concert #5. 

I am creating...a chart to encourage Ava to have a better attitude during her reading lesson.

I am going...to find time to do more than two loads of laundry tomorrow(update: I did 3 on Tuesday and 2 today). 

I am reading...The Silver Chair (we took a break for a few months from the Narnia series, and now we're finishing it).

I am hoping...to enjoy some time with my dad tomorrow.

On my mind...how to create a more peaceful home atmosphere.

From the learning rooms...taxonomy, subtraction, properly formed letters and When I Was Young in the Mountains.

Noticing that...I might be a little busy. I started this post on Monday, and I'm finishing it on Wednesday. 

From the kitchen...corn salad and grilled steak.

Around the house...just the basic stuff this week. Laundry. Cooking. School.

One of my favorite things...being a homeschooling mom. There's nothing like teaching your own kids.

Praying for...Eric's appointments to follow through for work.

A verse for you...Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13

A lyric or two...

In the presence of Jehovah,
God almighty, Prince of Peace.
Troubles vanish. Hearts are mended.
In the presence of the King.

A few plans for this week...two appointments with Dad tomorrow, grocery shopping and a bonfire with our new homeschooling group.

If you enjoy dwelling on the simple things in life and want to participate in this, CLICK HERE to read all about it and join us! Leave me a comment so I know to check out your blog to see your post!

10 on 10

My friend, Amy at This and That, has been doing the 10 on 10 blog post for months. I loved the idea the first time she did it, but every single month, I forgot to do it. Once, she was even AT MY HOUSE taking some of the photos, and I STILL forgot to join her. This month, I somehow remembered, and, while I didn't take one photo every hour, nor were my photos super artsy or creative, I did manage 10 photos during my day. It was a lot of fun, and we had some interesting discoveries that made it even more fun! Here are my 10 on 10 photos...

 Whole wheat/spelt apple-cinnamon pancakes. We enjoy brunch together most Saturdays. These are delicious and easy to make from scratch (you don't have to use spelt or whole wheat unless you want to).

 My Bible and journal. I spent some time with Jesus after brunch. I bought this Bible cover on my honeymoon 13 years ago, and the Bible inside is the Life Application Bible that was given to me by my church when I graduated from high school. It is still my everyday study Bible. I love it!

 Eric mowed the grass and unstaked tomato plants and pulled and trimmed weeds. I took this shot through the kitchen window because I was still wearing my PJs. It is Saturday, after-all!

This smells SO good! It's a super cheap mulled cider candle from Wal-mart. I suggest you all run out and buy it because IT ROCKS!

 When you wait too long to mow your yard, little things build nests in your field. Eric discovered a nest of baby bunnies(more like, he nearly scared them to death so they decided to hop out of the nest). We saw at least 4 in the nest, and then he decided to leave that little patch un-mowed. We held this little guy and then put him back into the nest (and also returned 2 others to the nest when Eric tried to mow too near to them again). They were too little to even be afraid of us! I hope their mama comes back.

The kids wanted frozen vanilla yogurt pops. These should be ready to enjoy tomorrow.

This was the next back yard discovery. It was almost dark when Eric discovered this praying mantis. It was seriously at least 4 inches long. We had never seen one so big!

 I spent quite a while doing library book reserves for school today. I'm checking out the Zanesville Library to see if I like it better than Coshocton. I probably miss the Columbus Metro Library system more than anything since moving!

 I updated the verses in our Bible memory box by adding the new verse we'll be starting to memorize this week and adding the verses that we discussed with the kids because they already know them (good for review). If you want to read more about this project, see my Weekly Wrap-Up post from yesterday. 

This was the principal's first day of school gift to me. I love it! I had fun this evening getting it all set for the month. Yes, I even added the stuff we already did just because it would have looked weird if I didn't have anything written on the first two weeks. ;)

To join me and lots of other 10 on 10 participants, go HERE and find out the details.

Weekly Wrap-Up: The Back to School Edition

  

Usually, I write a sappy post detailing our first day of school. This year, the first week of school was probably the most hectic first week we have ever had, so that didn't happen. In fact, if you look back, I technically wrote Lukas' birthday post on the first day of school, which was not his birthday. I think. Did I mention that this was a hectic week?

As busy as the week was, it was a great week for us. Monday was Labor Day, and we had a small cook-out with some friends and my mom. Tuesday, we celebrated Lukas' birthday and did last minute school planning and house cleaning and organizing. My amazing husband moved the awful looking craft shelves out of my dining room and put everything into a closet instead. We still have one set of bookshelves in the dining room, but I don't mind that. They look organized (for now) and are actually mostly filled with books and our everyday supplies. Hiding the craft disaster has made me so, SO happy.Clutter clutters my brain. How's that for a sentence?

School officially started at our house on Wednesday. We have some fun first day of school traditions. I always loved going back to school when I was a kid (Here's an unnecessary tidbit for this post...I recently had a conversation with another homeschooling mom about how much we loved the smell of the first day of school, as in, the smell of the school building. She wondered what we were smelling. We may never know...), so we have incorporated a few fun things that make the day special. We start with a special breakfast for which the kids plan the menu. This year, they chose this:

Homemade biscuit sandwiches with sausage and egg.

After breakfast, we generally take our annual school pictures. This year, we did take some photos, but I'm not sure they're our official school pics. It was rainy and cool outside, so we took them all indoors. I have a vision of what I want their actual school pictures to look like this year since I am really, really, really going to get them printed and placed into our 8x10 frames (which currently have Lukas' 2nd grade and Ava's kindergarten pics in them. Oy). Here are some shots that we took in the house:

Because the kids are used to Daddy giving them some little things on the first day of school, we did that next. The part about this that humors me is that he always gives them stuff they'll use for school anyway, but the kids get so excited that you would think it was Christmas. They love it, and so do I! Here they are with this year's special treats:

 The slap bracelets are rulers on the other side. Incidentally, the teacher had to make a rule against their presence in the classroom (um...entire house) during school hours. Uh-hem.

 There was great excitement about getting to color their own journal covers, and the other notebooks were specifically asked for by the kids (though they didn't know that Daddy knew about them). Find them at Wal-mart, by the way!

After ALL of that, we finally started our school day. We are not die-hard about the first week. It is most important to me that our first week is positive and successful, so I don't plan all subjects, nor do I plan anything extremely intense. Easing into school works well for us, and it only scares me a little that this easy approach still took us over 3 hours each day (including 20 minutes of vision therapy). 

We started two new things this week that we haven't done in past school years. The first is a nutrition program that I found last spring and decided to put into place for this school year. It's not very detailed, so you can do as much or as little with it as you like. I found some free print-outs that mostly center around the food pyramid, which I'm not big on for reasons that I won't go into in this post (basically, protein, protein, protein), but my kids like doing worksheets once in a while, so we're using a few and adding some of my own simple projects and recipes along the way. You can find the program HERE.

The second is a Bible memory box that I found at Simply Charlotte Mason. I'm going to tell you this rather detailed story because I truly think it was a God thing that we discovered this, and I want to remember this story. First, two Sundays ago, one of our pastor's referenced Psalm 119:11 in his sermon. It says "I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you." I must confess that in the past I had this idea in my head that scripture memorization was a good thing because if Bibles were ever outlawed, we would be able to share the Word with future generations, but I didn't put much effort into scripture memorization because I figured that we had Bibles for now. That kind of brings about a crazy, humorous picture in my head, but lest you think I'm completely off my rocker, I'll leave out the details and move on to the rest of the story. 

It struck me during that service, which was actually about the purpose and proper way to observe communion, that the reason we memorize scripture is to help us not to sin!! If you are really thinking that I missed the boat on this one, you are so right. It isn't as if I became a Christian yesterday (try 27 years ago). Of course, there are actually lots of other reasons that have come to mind since then, but this is what got the ball rolling and helped me to realize that scripture memorization needed to be a bigger part of discipling our children. I do always default to my husband on these issues, but he totally agreed with me, so I decided to make it a priority having no idea how I was really going to implement a better memorization system.

Later that same week, I was in Eric's office (which is really a room filled with unpacked boxes which I realize is complete ridiculousness), and I saw this:

It's designed to be a greeting card organizer and had dividers for each month. I don't remember when or where I got it, but I know it was given to me by someone along the way. I thought to myself, "There must be some way we could use this for school." Why? Because that's how homeschooling moms think.

That same day, I was searching for something on Simply Charlotte Mason, and I accidentally stumbled upon this idea for a SCRIPTURE MEMORY SYSTEM. I don't believe in coincidences. I believe God was making it very clear that Bible memorization was on His priority list for our family for this school year, and He even provided a new method that truly simplified the process. Of course, if you do this project, you can use a simple index card box, but we're using this pretty box because we already had it. I flipped the dividers around and re-labeled them and added more dividers to complete the project. We've been using it 3 days, and, so far, I'm sold on it. My kids learned this week's verse in three days flat. I'll keep you posted on whether or not it keeps working as we add more and more verses.

Oh...one last thing. We started using Teaching Textbooks for Lukas this week. I know it's still in the honeymoon stage, but he loves, loves, loves it! I assigned him 3 lessons for the week, and he has completed 5 and would have done more if today hadn't been such a busy day. I hope this new fervor for math continues. I'm sure the vision therapy he is doing is helping (the poor child has had double vision, and we didn't even know it!!!), and the fact that everything in the first part of the program is review, but he's enjoying it and learning at the same time. That's a super huge blessing!

This was a truly fantastic week of school. I think I quoted, "Do everything without complaining" to each child only once (reading lesson for the young one and doing copy work in the dreaded cursive for the old one), but that was it. I'm looking forward to our first full week this coming week, and so are the kids (even though just 3 days of our blessed routine has left me exhausted). We'll be adding science, language arts and piano(taught by the principal) to the schedule. Check back for more news next Friday!

To take part in your own Weekly Wrap-Up or to read some great ideas that other homeschooling bloggers have posted, CLICK HERE.

10

10. The number of years in a decade. The number of decades in a century. The number of fingers on our hands. The number of toes on our feet. The number of children my grandparents had. The number of places I have lived since becoming an adult. 

The number of years since I became a mother.

Lukas turned 10 yesterday. It is...unbelievable. 10 sounds like such a long time. The person I was 10 years ago is so different from the person I am today in a very, very good way. The person my child has become is incredible. He is...incredible.

In the past year, I have watched as this little boy became more and more independent, more and more helpful around the house, more and more inclined toward spiritual matters and more and more of what Jesus wants him to be. He struggled through fourth grade math, but he never quit. He pushed through a very challenging level of swimming lessons and rejoiced when he passed. He put on the bravest face possible when we told him we were moving. He never complained when he voiced his concerns. He cried a couple times. He once asked if we could move back to Columbus, but he never complained and always understood and supported our decision.

This is a child who has begun offering to do chores around the house, and he loves to help his grandparents too. He willingly vacuums, helps Nana grocery shop, helps organize, sweeps floors and mows the grass. I love seeing this attitude of service being cultivated in his young life. It will take him far someday.

Recently, we spoke to the kids about some things that we believed needed to be changed in our household, and Lukas spoke up and confessed why he agreed with us. I was so proud of him in that moment. Confessing sin is hard sometimes, but he knew he could safely share with us just as we were sharing with him. It showed great maturity on his part.

10 years old. He is so big...and still has so much growing to do. This boy will become a man of God someday. I know this because I can already see the roots and sprouts of that man of God. He is a young man seeking the ways of the Lord. He is funny. He is kind. He gives the best hugs a mama could ask for. He loves his little sister. He enjoys his friends. He is learning fortitude, diligence and compliance.

He is...amazing. I love this boy. I'm so glad the Lord gave him to us. 10 years of motherhood...has been my greatest joy.