We recently wrapped up our study on Ancient Rome by going to a Roman feast, hosted by our friends. The kids lounged on the floor on blankets and pillows and ate barbarian-style. It was fabulous. Except for the authentic pear and cumin custard pie… rotisserie chicken suits us just fine.
After our homeschool co-op this past week, the kids all went sledding. It was the perfect way to start our Christmas holiday.
Things I’ve been loving about our children:
When Jack wraps his arms around me just because. When he tells stories, his voice gets deeper and he sounds like a little man weaving a tale of seriousness. I love that he is brave enough and has the imagination wide enough to wear a cowboy hat for an entire day all throughout the city of Philadelphia. 
I love how his trusty sidekick wears a pink cast and also a swell hat. I also love that by the time we got home, he had transformed into “Bill” and talked in a cowboy accent and enjoyed his “cowboy soup” for supper. 
I love how they make celebrities out of ordinary people. Like the other day when Jack and Elsie took their mini white erase boards to our next-door neighbor and asked him to please sign his name. They got so excited when he did so, and didn’t erase their boards for the rest of the day.
Betty is so verbal and polite. On Friday we went with some friends on the train to the Franklin Institute. When we got off the train, she said, Thank you for the train, Mommy! After walking through the giant heart, she ran up to me and said, That was amazing! My heart is amazing! Unbelievable.
Jack discovering how polymers work… relieved when the cup of water did NOT dump onto his head!
Nadine did a great job blowing up a balloon!
At the end of the extremely fun day, things melted down on the train ride home. My friend got this great picture of how things REALLY looked those last few minutes. Tired mommies, tired kiddos.
The next morning Betty’s sweet thankful heart was back again after a good night’s rest and she told me: Thank you for the eggs and bacon, Mommy. I’m going to wash my hands. I’m going to do it myself. And proceeded to do so. She is somewhat of a self-acclaimed vegetarian, but she loves bacon!
A couple of weeks of school have finished and I’m thrilled they are still smiling! We even have ninjas who sometimes attend. Elsie wrote everything on her board all by herself. The last line is my favorite, translated: I love God as well.
My fifth student helped me chop a ton of peppers to freeze for the winter. Sometimes she can be very serious about her work, but she is always a really cute and helpful chef!
There are always things I am learning and loving about our children. I always want my eyes to be wide open to the beautiful, amongst the mess and flurry that is life.
Our first week of school flew by at top speed. I have barely had time to sleep, and my head is spinning with Ancient Rome history and what sound “A” makes. We are steadily getting into a routine, and for that I am grateful.
Here is a tour of our school room! My mother-in-law rescued the chalk board from the school where she works, and it fits perfectly on my Life is Beautiful wall. We use it all the time! The desks are made from two Ikea table tops, which Matthew reinforced underneath with metal plates. The top is screwed into the four filing cabinets. The four oldest kids each have their own set of six drawers. We are still getting used to having so much extra space, and we’re trying to keep one subject per drawer, then filing papers straight into our portfolios at the end of each week. Along the window wall is an old Ikea coffee table (again, which my mother-in-law rescued). I wondered if maybe we sawed it in half, if it would make a better window seat. Voila! My live-in-carpenter/handsome hubby did just that! Betty’s puzzles, little toys, blocks, train set, etc. go in the baskets for easy access. On the far left corner, under the red “W” is our reading corner. You can not see the wooden library box which I keep heavily stocked with both books of their choice and along the same lines as what we’re studying in Science and History.
The red lockers contain my school supplies (top 3 cubbies), shared school supplies (next 3 cubbies), kids’ personal lockers for their own projects or collections (next 6 cubbies) and finally the last 3 cubbies are math manipulatives and Betty’s shapes and stacker-type toys.
We have our first morning board calendar, which everyone loves getting a turn at doing. None of these ideas are my own original. What a blessing the internet is sometimes!
Finally, each child has their own school and chore chart, held together with a jump ring. I got this idea from Homeschool Creations. Certain children LOVE their lists, others are more forgetful. We’re all still learning! If it works as it is intended, each person has the ability to earn sixty cents a day. However, if I end up having to do their chores because of ceaseless reminding or bad attitudes, they pay me. Each day there are six (easy) chores required because they are a part of our family, and three (slightly harder) chores for which they can earn money.
Further on in their charts are the school days, with velcro tabs in each of the sixteen boxes. I printed out many many possible school and life things to do. These get stuck in the order which I would like them done.
Once completed, that child can remove the square and put it in their top drawer.
Here you see Nadine has four things done, and a few more yet to do. We are flexible here, and constantly tweaking, but it gives them a good idea of what is expected of them. It takes me about five minutes the night before to set it up for the next day.
So, there is a brief show and tell of our first week of school! I hope you have enjoyed it! There are a lot more things going on behind the scenes. The bright pink cast on Elsie’s arm and the very short bangs are only a slight indication of the excitement which goes on outside the doors of school. But that is for another day. Right now this teacher must hit the hay… which rhymes with… yay.
There has been all sorts of rearranging going on over here. In all of his “spare time” Matthew basically has gone waaaay out of his way to get two extremely helpful pieces of furniture for our growing family! The first was a bunk bed for the little girls. Their room was like a pig pen. Crooked crib, mattresses on the floor. Nowhere to put things. An awful mess. Bunk beds have been a huge space-saver and it is slowly evolving into a cute girls’ room. Still not finished, but much more functional.
I don’t have any “before” pictures here, but our living room underwent another change. Now please don’t think that taking a photo tour through our home replaces a real visit. I still much prefer real life. Then you can see how very non-perfect it is and don’t come under any false impressions. So please, stop by!
As you walk in our front door you see the “listening station”. A new addition to our school year, there is a basket of tapes (yes, tapes!), CD’s and earphones with the stereo. Hours have already been spent here listening to books on tape, Adventures in Odyssey, and music. I want to make piles of pillows for this spot to make it more inviting and cozy, and the shelf on the floor still needs to be hung. We gave away our piano, and this is also where I would like our replacement to go when that should happen. In keeping with “listening”, it will be electric with earphones capabilities so practice can happen at anytime during school or naps without bother to anyone else.
As you look to the left, this is our living room. I would love a more neutral couch to blend everything together and not clash so much. I’m reading about re-upholstering. (Matthew, don’t read that line.)
Not so clashy in black and white.
Moving on to our latest find: red lockers to feed the soul. (Thanks, Sarai! You understand!) I’m so excited to move some not-so-pretty, but needed school supplies into this beauty. The doors lock so I can have a prize locker, or keep things locked away which need permission to be used.
The kids keep telling me they’re excited for school to start, which thrills my heart. It helps that their books are all lined up on the school shelves but they’re not allowed to touch them. I have a few days of planning ahead of me, but I’m starting to feel like my head is screwed on straight again now that things are more in order.
Recently I’ve had a lot of people asking me about why we homeschool, what is our method, how on earth do I manage? To be honest, it’s been a real challenge this year. With an almost two-year old in tow, life gets pretty noisy around here! We are Exploring Countries and Cultures, traveling the world in our imaginations and through books. I absolutely love reading biographies to the kids, and our favorite so far has been Nate Saint. Now we are reading about George Muller, as we are in Europe, and Germany is a part of Europe! If we had the means, we would be hopping on an airplane so we could actually touch and feel and smell the places we are reading about. In addition to Geography, we do independent reading, write letters, do math on the computer (I am relieved not to teach that this year), and grammar. In Science, we’re learning about the world’s biomes, or ecosystems. As to the why we are schooling at home… God wants us to, which equals the fact that He also equips us to follow through with His desire. So, it is not me having or not having the ability, strength, patience, etc. to perform this overwhelming task. It is God working through me and giving me what I need. The days where I fly off the handle (yes, this happens) are most certainly the days where I am depending on my own means and strength to do what’s at hand. Even in the last couple of weeks, my mindset has changed a lot as to why and how I do this. I’m learning, daily, to let go of my own agenda, and surrender to the Lord’s plan for our day. I know I do things a lot differently than many homeschool moms, but I’m a work in progress. As a friend so encouragingly told me this week, being a planner is something that can be learned! I’m so thankful for that, because it is something I need to learn more efficiently.
Here is a sneak peek into a typical day at our school:
Betty, our ever-present babbler, has been calling Elsie, Abby, Abby, Abby! for a while now. Elsie says, She loves brothers and sisters! She loves to sing and say, The B-I-B-I-B, Bible! Often I have one of the older kids watch her upstairs while we do one-on-one stuff at the school table. A lot of the times, Elsie is very capable of keeping her entertained. Sometimes she just sits on my lap, colors, or plays with play dough at the table.
Elsie has been wearing the same outfit she got from a friend… for three days straight. Yesterday we sat on the couch and she read four short stories to me. Just like that. I think she surprised herself! She and Jack are both doing the same phonics program. She shows an earlier readiness than he did, and they work well together.
Jack has turned a corner in reading and small light bulbs are starting to go off in his mind as he unlocks the code of letters and sounds. He is easily frustrated, so we take many breaks, but he now wants to read, which helps so much in the learning. My goal was never to push him until he showed a real desire to read. I really love the books we’re using for phonics. They are called First Start Reading, by Cheryl Lowe, and I couldn’t say better things about this method. Each sound is mastered and built upon, not in the order of the alphabet, but rather in the order of how the sound is made. For instance, since “M, N, P, C, F, S, G, and T” are all sounds made without adding any extra sounds, they are learned first, so there is no confusion. The approach is vowel-consonant blended with word families. This means, in the second lesson, they are reading the words “I am…” and fill in the blank with their name. It’s exciting for them to start reading right away, but words are never introduced that aren’t sounds they have already learned. I highly recommend it.
Elijah has been feverishly building an intricate crane with his new Erector set. For two days now, whenever there is a break in school, in meals, or in sleep, he has been at it. I look at it and wonder how on earth he figured it out. So many pieces, so intricate, and it actually works! His strengths are memory-work, science and art.
Nadine sparkles around horses. She dreams about what she will do with them one day, and wants to help people with the skills she is learning. We don’t know what that will be, but we love to encourage our children’s dreams. During the hours she is not in the saddle, she works hard on school. Her strengths are reading and math.
Today, being Pearl Harbor Day, we stepped out of our regular studies of Europe and delved 71 years ago into history. They became acquainted with the day that lives in infamy, and were sobered by the reality that is war. I love this aspect of home-schooling, which allows us the freedom to study pertinent dates and important historical events. Jack whispered to me during the documentary we were watching, Mom, is this for real? Yes, it really happened. I think it’s so very important for our generation of children to know the heroes of their past, to understand there is more to their world than i-pods, video games, and drama. There were and are real men and women who are fighting for our freedoms. There is an entire generation who has passed from their view, and with them their memories and experiences. I really don’t want to forget.
So, that is a small glance at what we are doing. I am no expert, but I’m working hard to do my best and instill a love of learning to our children.
Yesterday I had some unexpected splashes of color painted into my day. Highlights of joy that I didn’t know I needed, but as usual, my Heavenly Father knew I needed them. After a bit of a rough start with school, things smoothed out. Shortly after, I got a text from a friend saying she prayed for me this morning over her cup of hot tea. I know it’s because of her prayers. Then after a couple of hours of school, sprinkled with lots of loud exclamations from Betty (who loves highlighters and scissors and glue… oh my!) there was a flower-delivery man at my front door! Tucked into a fall pumpkin were yellows and oranges and reds and a sweet note from a friend. I needed that so badly! The thoughtfulness that went into those flowers touched me so much! I love surprises, and that fit the bill completely! I love color & beauty, and both were hand delivered to my doorstep. Thank you, friend, for refreshing this mama’s heart! I’m so excited that I get to look at my flowers with a cozy sweater on (because the temperature smells of fall, even if the calendar doesn’t.)
After school we had to form a search party for our dear bunny. Toby is half-tame and half-wild and we let him roam our basement and sometimes he goes outside. Usually he stays in our yard. Sometimes he doesn’t. We eventually found him under a huge pine tree in our neighbor’s yard. Afterwards, I was able to spend the entire afternoon with just Nadine. We went to the library, got ice-cream, then went thrift-store shopping. For the price of one pair of sunglasses we bought books, a few outfits, two pairs of sunglasses, a few pairs of boots, and six pairs of earrings! It was a lot of fun. I learned that she doesn’t like to be surprised as much as she likes to be “in the know”. She is changing into someone who wants to know ahead of time where we’re going so she can plan and think about what outfit to wear! She’s not like her little sisters who don’t care whether they’re wearing pajamas or not before running out the door. She relished the time shopping. This has never happened before. I almost feel like I felt the first week she was at home. Unsure of how to care for this little person. In awe that this life has been entrusted to our hands. Now, almost ten years later, I’m feeling very much like we’re in an entire new phase of life. Not only that, but the other four will just as quickly be changing and phasing out of their childhood. I pray to be steadied. The other day as she was helping me clean up the kitchen, she had just finished shaking out the tablecloth outside and was putting it back on the table. She said, “What do you really not like about tablecloths? They’re pretty, they’re useful… I wonder who invented them?” Her thoughts are many and varied!
So far everyone is still very eager beaver about school, and it’s almost time to start.
I’m thankful that I have five beautiful faces and some lovely flowers to look at all morning!
Thursdays are a highlight for us this year. Every afternoon we get together with some super cool homeschool families and have a blast doing aspects of school that wouldn’t normally be possible at home. Last week the kids learned all about DNA from their amazing Science teacher. They extracted DNA from a strawberry and I couldn’t explain how… I just know that I’ve never seen a five-year-old stoked about DNA. Then we had a valentines day party with mailboxes and cards and a snack that doubled as lunch!
Today, my friend Kim, from Sanderson Images, came up with this fantastic idea to make the kids’ school portraits really creative. She and her husband took these amazing photos a couple of weeks ago, then today the kids made a collage around their picture of things they like. I love how each one turned out so unique to their own personalities and loves. (I got to decorate Betty’s… fun!)
On other school days, we often break for tea around ten o’clock. It doesn’t take much to convince me that the teapot and fancy teacups need a little love. A fine tea time will often bring out the best in children. When real china is served into their sweet little hands, they feel special and of much worth.
It’s a precious memory that I plan on continuing for the rest of my life.
There is something so sweet when I see two of our children pair up and sit as close as they can to each other.
Then there is the sweetness that is sleeping children. Apparently socks on the hands are all the rage for sweet dreams. No lie, sometimes I sleep with socks on my hands too. It’s not because I’m trying to fit in, it’s just because they’re so cracked that I lather vaseline all over them and then cover them with socks. In the morning my hands are soft again… at least for a couple hours. After laundry, cooking 3 meals, cleaning up from 21 place settings, scrubbing hands besides my own, and a great many other things… my hands are usually dry as a bone once more. I don’t mind, though. I love my job, I love this beautiful life God has given me. In fact, this thankfulness inspires me to try my hand at poetry for the first time in years:
Thank you, Lord for mailboxes and letters.
Thank you for china tea cups and DNA.
Thank you for socks on hands and dreams so sweet.
Thank you for precious friends to grace each day.
The other day Elsie said something so funny, yet so profound. Matthew was working on something and instead of asking him, “What on earth are you doing?” she asked, “What are you doing on the earth!” It is a valid question, you know. One that we all should answer. What am I doing? Besides the obvious course of survival mode we all habitually travel to remain alive? There have been definite days in my life where I barely survive. Days with little feeling of hope, excitement, or feelings of fulfillment. What am I doing on this earth? Is my purpose far-reaching, even eternal? Was I merely put on this earth to wipe babies’ bottoms and cook one-thousand-and-ninety-five meals a year? Or is there a deeper purpose for my existence?
Yesterday was one of those days when it was pretty hard not to feel the breath of heaven wash over my soul. I know that sixty-two degrees in January, in Pennsylvania, is not normal or to be expected. I also know it is fleeting. My entire being craved the sunshine and warm air so intensely that I feel like it was a gift from my Father sent to bless me personally. I also know it blessed many other people as well! I had the privilege of sharing the afternoon with some friends from church, and we took a nature walk through a near-by park. The outdoors called our names and we just hollered right back, “Coming!” And we went.
Betty was so cute with her little friend, Will. She is one month older and liked trying to hold his hand. They were so sweet together!
We explored the water and soaked in our fill of Vitamin D.
This is one reason I’m on this earth: to love these amazing kids who love life and the God who made them.
Oh to see more clearly that when I love them… what I am doing on this earth is making a difference in eternity.
I am so thankful for every moment on this earth. There are glimpses of glory and heaven when the sunshine kisses my skin. Then there are glimpses of how temporary our time on this earth is. On our way home from the park we were almost hit head-on by someone speeding around the corner of a tight turn. A flash of how fleeting and wonderful each moment we are given flew through my mind in an instant.
This morning when I got up, the kids had been awake for a little while and told me they had a surprise that I would really like. Yesterday they had made me breakfast, so I was pretty curious what they had up their pajama sleeves this morning. I shuffled downstairs to my chipper children who had finished two subjects of school already. Neatly and correctly. This has never happened before! It touches my heart when they think of these kinds of things on their own. It gives me hope to counter attack the doubt that sneaks into my thoughts sometimes. My kids are messy, loud, and don’t always make the right choices. Guess what? Neither do I. But they are also growing, learning, and come up with the most brilliant ideas! I learn from them every day, and even though I love them so much, I need to tell them so better. Hug them often. Say, “You’re so smart!” more. I can’t take it for granted that they’re alive! I believe God created them to do unique and awesome things while they’re here. Somehow He entrusted me with this crazy huge job called Mothering.
So, what are you doing on earth?
A few weekends ago the kids and I went to the 300 year anniversary of a church in Valley Forge where they had all sorts of “back then” events. They were a part of a “real” muster in the Continental Army!
These are their “scary” faces!
There was free pumpkin spice icecream from the Franklin Fountain in Philadelphia… absolutely delicious! Then we “met” David Jones, who was the pastor of the church at the time of the American Revolution. He was one of the first chaplains in Washington’s army and helped in gathering supplies for the Valley Forge encampment. Pretty cool!
Last, but not least, there was a real sword fight! I love spending fun with my kids like this!
Today the quiet upstairs while I did school with the older two kiddos translated into two words: blue glitter. One new rule we’ve been impletmenting this school year is “room check”. Done right before lunch, before they’re allowed to eat lunch, their beds must be made and the floor picked up to “decent” status. Thorough cleanings are done on the weekends. This has worked well for oh, four days. Today I forgot to check their rooms before lunch. I did have this passing thought during the morning: Why does Elsie have so much blue glitter in her hair? But it literally didn’t get any farther than that. Around lunchtime, as I went upstairs to fetch Betty from her bed, my eyes caught sight of an ocean of blue glitter flooding the boys’ bedroom floor. That explains the sparkly hair… and the quiet, I thought. Let’s just say that the boys’ room got its thorough cleaning a day early! Elsie also experienced getting her hair vacuumed, which she thought was a riot, and which actually worked to remove the glitter.
Oh, life. Life with boys and life with littles is always an adventure. Sometimes it invovles glitter. Sometimes mud. Sometimes putting on every pair of pajamas to become ninjas.
Elsie asked me the other day, “Mom, why do we have brothers?”
Well, if we didn’t, then… there would be a LOT less laundry, a lot less messiness, a lot less feats of bravery, a lot less, um, glitter to vacuum up… maybe.
Tonight I climbed into Jack’s top bunk and asked him to tell me about his “collection”. He has a whole shelf, neatly organized with things special to him. He’s got his robot guy, his box made out of legos, containing his stopwatch, jackknife, flashlight and one of 3 purses. He has a glass jar for “broken stuff”, a plastic jar full of water with a rock in it and a lid on top, a special car, his wicker basket for “extra special shiny things”, and his sword neatly tucked away behind it all. I’m sure I forgot a few things. It was funny, because after he went through everything, he looked at me, giggled, and said, “You’re in my bed, Mommy!” He gets so tickled when I climb up there.
Tonight we rearranged some of the downstairs rooms to make them more functional for school. I still have a whole lot of organizing to do before it’s done. When I’m finished, I will take pictures. Hey, at least I have one less container of blue glitter to worry about!
Grow Old With Me 