Pyramid Art

We are enjoying ancient history this year.  Our history curriculum has some fun hands-on activities to go along with our studies, but I was also pleased to see some neat ancient art lessons in the art book I use with Jaylyn from time to time.  So, during our week we were discussing pyramids, we were able to complete the lesson about pyramid wall art.  We went to the upstairs hallway so it seemed a little more like a passageway in a pyramid, hung up some paper and let them create their own masterpiece.  Jaylyn was to try out oil pastels to draw with and we used a chalk line to make a grid on their paper like the Egyptians did for their wall art.  As usual, Jaylyn got into this creative kind of activity.  She worked hard to create her art and then wanted to keep going.  She did three big art pieces while Adley actually joined in with two.  I think they would have kept going!  Then Jaylyn began giving pretend “tours” of their passageway.  :-) 

Egyptian artists at work

Working away!

Leighton wants to do art too!  Hooray for the cap being on that marker! 

Working on the details

Leighton and I had to play a bit while they were being creative

Cheese!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. . . .

This is that time of year (aside from the itchy eyes that actually makes me say, “Aaaarrrrrrggggg!”).  It is not so hot and not cold and you are tired of the sweat.  You step outside and that cool breeze says, “Hi there! Did you miss me?”  And the kids run through the grass and squeal because mom is willing to go outside again. :-)  Jaylyn has been insisting on doing some of our lunches and reading time outside.  Actually, one morning (on Adley’s first day of preschool – post for that coming soon) we did pretty much all of her main school stuff outside.  So, here they are enjoying the weather. . .

Here I come!!!!!!!

Swinging is a favorite.  Adley is working hard to learn to pump those legs and keep going herself.  Jaylyn likes to step in and push her sisters sometimes.  Leighton LOVES the swing, of course.

Three girls in a two-girl jeep.  I am envisioning them in the future and I think they all may need to wait until they are 18 to get their license.  :-) 

Two is better!

Sometimes, Jaylyn does let Adley drive.  :-)

Curly

Sisters having fun!

Slide!

What a face!

Wheee!

What is down here?? 

Lots of little acorns in our yard.  

Climbing

Push me!

Higher, mom!

Today, I learned. . .

Today, I learned not to try and read a book about lions for science class when Leighton is around because it is impossible for anyone to hear anything while she is roaring over and over - very loudly!!!

Sweet Mavery

For those of you wondering how our sweet cousin Mavery is doing, I have an update. She had a heart cath today. Mostly good, but there is a leaky valve that will need help in the future. They will test it in 6 months maybe and then will need to repair it. That may be able to wait for a couple years. She is doing fine right now! Keep her in your prayers!

The not so pretty side of homeschool

Ok, so I shared quite a few things about why I loved homeschooling last year, but I must say, that I should also share about the not so pretty side.  Here is a list of things you might have heard during our first week of school (this includes things I might have been thinking):

• What are we doing today?
• What are we doing today?
• What are we doing today?
• What are we doing today?
• What are we doing today? (There might be a few more of these)
• Are we going on a field trip today?
• Are we doing a science experiment today?
• Are we doing art today?
• Can we go swimming today?
• I want to do what she is doing.
• Mommy, I need wiped.
• Mommy, I need wiped.
• Mommy, I need wiped.
• Hold on a minute, I have to change her diaper.
• Hold on a minute, I have to change her diaper.
• Have patience please, I need to change a diaper.
• Mommy, I need wiped.
• Hold on please, I need to go to the bathroom.
• Hold on a minute, I need to go to the bathroom. (Did I mention that we were all battling a stomach bug this week?)
• Did you flush?
• Did you wash your hands?
• Please make sure you are making lots of soap bubbles on your hands when you wash them.
• I don’t think you washed your hands long enough.
• Mommy, I need help.
• Mommy, I need a snack.
• Mommy, I’m hungry.
• Can you please wait your turn.
• Can you please put your sister down.
• Mommy, I’m hungry.
• “Shoes, shoes. . .” (Leighton likes to find her shoes and make you put them on her.)
• “Boo-uh, boo-uh” (Leighton likes to find a book and plop down on your lap and make you “read” to her.”
• “more, more” (Leighton knows where her drinks and snacks are and comes to get you and take you to those places.)
• Hold on please.
• Hold on while I put Leighton down for a nap.
• Hold. . . on. . . please!
• Remember I said you would need to be patient this week because I have to show everyone how to do everything.
• Show patience please.
• Stop making your sister scream.
• When she screams like that, she is telling you to leave her alone.
• I don’t think Leighton likes that.
• I don’t think that sounds like you are showing love to your sister.
• You will have to take turns.
• You will have to take turns.
• You will have to take turns.
• Did you finish your morning duties yet?
• Did you finish cleaning up yet.
• The timer is set, please finish before the beeper goes off.
• Are you listening to me?
• Are you listening?
• Did you hear what I said?
• No I will not get your pencil for you.
• Please don’t pick your nose.
• Please stop sucking your thumb.
• Mommy, I need a bandaid, I’m bleeding.
• She hit me.
• Is it rest time yet?
• Please get Leighton out of the bathroom.
• Leighton, stay out of there.
• No, no Leighton.
• You can’t eat that Leighton.
• What does Leighton have in her mouth?
• Don’t leave the scissors out or Leighton will get them.
• Put away your markers so Leighton won’t scribble all over everything.
• Can I play now?
• You need to change your attitude.
• Close the door so Leighton will not go in the bathroom.
• Keep the gate closed so Leighton will not go up the stairs.
• Why is Leighton still crying, she is supposed to be sleeping.
• Leighton, go to sleep.
• Why haven’t you finished that yet?
• Mommy needs a nap.
• Why?
• Why?
• Why?
• Why?
• Why?
• Why?
• Why?
• Because
• Because.
• Because.
• Because.
• Is it my turn yet?
• Where is my _________.  (Lots of things might fit here.)
• I don’t know, where did you leave it?
• Can you pick that up please.
• Did you spill that again?
• I need to switch the laundry.
• You missed a spot.
• I forgot to get that ready.
• I can’t find that paper.
• I should have. . . .
• We will have to wait until Leighton goes to bed.
• When does preschool start??? 
• You are making this very difficult.
• Leighton, I can’t read when you are closing my book.
• You need to back up so everyone can see.
• Hey, you are in my way.
• She pushed me.
• I don’t want to!
• Sorry, you have to.
• I can’t do it.
• Yes, you can.
• The bible says to do everything without complaining or arguing.
• You are not honoring God.
• Was that obeying.
• Did you obey the first time???
• It does not count as obeying when you are pouting and whining.
• It does not count as obeying when you don’t do it right away.
• Stop arguing with me.
• Leighton is scribbling on your calendar.
• Leighton has a pencil.
• Leighton is tearing that up.
• Stop, Leighton.
• That is annoying me.
• “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!’
• Please stop crying like that or you will have to go to your room.
• No one wants to hear you crying like that.
• Stop throwing a fit.
• If you want to throw a fit, you will have to do that in your room.
• Stop, You are going to hurt her. 
• I don’t like that.
• She’s not sharing.
• Yes, you have to do that.
• I asked you to ___________.
• Sit down in that chair Leighton.
• Sit down Leighton
• Sit
• SIT!
• You have to move your cup so Leighton can’t reach it.
• No, don’t put your toothbrush in Leighton’s mouth.
• Stop eating Leighton’s food.
• Kitchen is closed!
• Can you please stop that!
• I have a headache.

Will this help you so you won’t picture us here nicely sitting in a circle singing Kum-bah-yah each day? :-)

Are we getting a moat??

This is what we saw when we looked out of our window a couple weeks ago.

Sorry for the bad blurry picture.

Yes, this is right through our driveway and all the way across our front yard.  Pretty, huh?

It looked pretty much like a giant moat across the front and we were trapped that day.  TJ was working from home and we looked out the window and there they were!  And there was a giant trench all the way across.  They are preparing to do work on 158 and a year or two ago, they came to talk to us about how they needed to move a line in order to do the work.  I guess they are moving the line now.  :-)  I thought I heard a knock on the door, but then I didn’t hear anything else.  I suppose they were trying to warn us that we wouldn’t be able to use our driveway.  I would think that they might have tried a little harder.  Good thing we didn’t have any where to go!  They did have it filled in by the end of the work day.  And now, I must say that their work is finished and they have fixed the driveway and covered the yard in grass seed and hay.  Stay tuned for more yard disasters in the future. . .

First Day of School Success

Aside from the fact that Jaylyn, Adley and I all have a nasty stomach bug, we had a wonderful first day of school!  I’m grateful that Jaylyn did not have to miss her whole first week of school because of a virus and could conveniently begin at home!  :-)  She was all hyper before bed, ready to start school.  She woke up cheering!  She was ready to go!  I was hoping that I could live up to her first day hopes.  Adley was also ready to participate, so I have been preparing for some “preschool” activities for her to complete when she is home. 

First up – the requested “muffin tin” breakfast and their assigned “morning duties”.  They each have a set of cards to remind them of what needs to be done before we begin our other activities for the day.  This is the first time that Adley has her own set of cards for her morning duties.  She is old enough now and is very eager to complete them. 

Secondly – I am trying a tweaked version of the “workbox” system (for those of you that even know what that is).  Basically they each have a binder with pages of activities and school subjects for the day.  I have marked the activities in their binder that is planned for that day.  They can see what will happen and can keep track of what activities are completed by moving designated “cards”.  The activities that can fit in their binder are there ready for them to pull out.  This will hopefully lead to some independent learning and teaching them how to organize their own time and assignments.  We will see if this system is beneficial, or if it is just more work for me.  :-)  So, they began flipping through their binders to see what activities awaited them.  They did a great job completing their tasks and they were both very excited when they were able to mark that all tasks were completed.  Woohoo!  So far, it is a success, but I can already see the need for a little more tweaking.  Just a few of the activities for the first day included: shaving cream squishing, scavenger hunt phonics fun, trip to the library, decorating pages for their binder covers, gymnastics activities at home on their mat, and even chores. 

Thirdly – A sigh of relief as Jaylyn goes to bed cheering and excited for the next day of school.  I am happy to say it was definitely a success.  And, I will also add since I am typing this after completing our second day, that it was also a success.  The favorite activity of today was finger painting with pudding.  Yum!  And now, I am even typing again on the third day.  A lot of time today outside enjoying the nice weather – finally!  We even read about Arabian horses out there as Jaylyn pretended that our fence gate was her pet horse gate.  :-) 

This is from the night before school.  We were playing with foam letters and numbers.  TJ put a 6 on Leighton’s arm and she loved it.  She FOUND the 9 and brought it to him.  :-)  She knew just which numbers to pick up and fit on her arm and she did not want to give them away.   Have you ever had this kind of fun with numbers??? Muffin Tin Breakfast – Who would have thought that normal breakfast food in a muffin tin could be THAT exciting?  You can see that one of them was a little farther along in her morning duties than the other.  :-)

Excited for first grade!

Still excited!

Labeling oceans and continents 

What should I do next??? 

Pudding paint ready! 

It is fun to lick!    

You can lick it?????  Let me try that!  

You can drink it!

Then there is the dip!

And then there is the art of smearing it all over your face!

Ta da!

Can you tell whose art page is who’s? :-) 

Homeschool Reflection

We start first grade tomorrow.  Here is our reflection of our first year homeschooling.

For those not interested in details, my reflection can be summed up as “I loved it!”

For those that would like to know more about the year, here are some bullet points.

• We felt this is what God wanted us to do, we did it, and we are glad we did.
• We weren’t certain before that this was the route we would take, but as we go along, we are more certain that we will stick with it.
• We never get ahead of ourselves though, so we will take it one year at a time. But our goal is to keep going.
• You do face lots of people who think you are crazy and that is okay because we are more worried about obeying the Lord.
• The most common phrase I have heard this past year is “I/We could never do that.” No, in my own strength, I could not do it either. It is not always easy, but the Lord provides! That doesn’t mean that there are not days that you wonder why you don’t just send them somewhere. :-)
• I absolutely loved that I did not have to turn in to the “Go! Go! Go!” mom. Yes, we stayed busy, but we did not have to keep up with the hustle and bustle that our culture has developed. I was free to do what was best for my family. If we had a big event over the weekend, we didn’t have to start out our week on a bad note by being super sleepy and crabby. I could let the sleep in if they really needed it. That is just one example. I was able to control our home life. I could go on and on about this one! Unfortunately, we are letting Adley go to preschool this year and so we will have to get back into the hustle a bit. I don’t like that at all! :-)
• There are so many that have gone before me to pave the way and make it so much easier for me. It is actually overwhelming to see all of the advice and resources available for homeschoolers now. I have had great friends and family to interrogate. :-) (Thank you!) And we have a great homeschool group in our county that has been awesome. In fact, they just said at their last meeting that they are the largest homeschool group in the state of Illinois and that includes Chicago. Pretty amazing.
• Yes, I do have a degree in elementary education so this is kind of up my alley. But, as I have looked at all of the available resources out there, you certainly do NOT need a degree to homeschool. There is such great curriculum and how-to’s out there. And nothing is impossible with God!
• There are even great homeschool conferences out there. As a teacher, you have these great encouraging and educational conferences and these are similar: speakers, workshop classes, vendors with curriculum to browse, etc. Very helpful! Shannon took me along to one with her when I was trying to figure out if we were going to homeschool. And then I have attended a couple other ones since then.
• Another BIG thing I did was read, read, read! I borrowed books and bought books and read websites and blogs and tried to check out lots of reviews and info on different options. Two helpful books that were good to start with are The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise and also 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Educational Philosophy for Your Child's Learning Style by Cathy Duffy. The first is mainly a great resource regarding a classical education, but even if you choose to do a different teaching approach, it is still a helpful read. I cannot begin to explain all of the info that is in that book! The second is nice because it has several helpful questionnaires and charts to help you sort through the different teaching methods available. These give you a guide to help you decide what teaching style is comfortable for you and also what kind of learning style your children have. Then, it gives you some of the top picks in curriculum out there and how these fit with the different teaching and learning styles. We decided to go with the classical education method. As I have studied more about that, I have discovered that there are still variations on this method. I will refrain from going into a long description about what that method is. :-)
• We have only done kindergarten, so it really was pretty simple. There are a lot more difficult things ahead of us. :-)
• I LOVED spending that time with my children. I know everyone thinks it is good to let your children go and have time with their friends. But after taking a look at what instructions God has given parents, we knew there was no way that we could accomplish those around a school schedule. (Please don’t assume that I mean others with children in school are NOT accomplishing God’s commands! We just knew we would not be able to do it.) So, yes, they drive me crazy sometimes and I have been known to try to find a place to hide away for a moment or two. But, I really love being able to be the one to teach them and play with them and cook with them and do chores with them without the stress of knowing we had to hurry all the time. There is a lot more I would like to say, but once again, I will refrain! :-) And once again, please remember I am not saying that parents who send their children to school do not love spending time with their children.
• I didn’t have to spend my evenings fighting or undoing all of the negative influences they faced for the majority of their day. And don’t get me wrong! That doesn’t mean that they never have a chance to be around others and other negative influences. They are not THAT sheltered. We are out and about plenty, but it is not the majority of their day. And, there is enough time that I can provide instruction about what they have seen or heard. I can feel good about the time I have in my day to follow what God says in Deuteronomy “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. . .”
• I am able to adjust my teaching to fit her learning style. I can accommodate her and not just accommodate the average in a classroom. I want her to love learning. If she is frustrated, she doesn’t have to get behind or stay frustrated. We can work through it.
• We had more social activities available than we had time for. So, don’t worry about her being stuck in our house without being able to learn how to speak to others. :-)

I actually think I could go on even more, and I should probably read back over what I wrote, but I am tired and not feeling well and we are going to start first grade tomorrow! So, I will stop. I just wanted to share how much we loved homeschooling and maybe encourage some others who are on the edge to at least give it a little more thought before you automatically count it out! :-)

Shane is in China!

Here is a picture of us with Shane, Mark and Shannon before he left.  Praying for you, Shane!  We have received one update so far.  He is doing well and I know he is very excited about the adventure ahead of him.