Homeschooling that is!  Many kids that are part of our church family have just started their homeschooling journey.  So we had  a little “old skool” kickball in the green space near our home. Everyone can play from 3 - 33.  Yes dear friends…I played and had FUN!

Jackson is learning the fine art of tagging someone out.  The “littles” were missing this concept.

Mini-Divas play kick ball too!

Do I stay or do I go mom?

Kicking is fun but running is better. 

All his running benched this little guy.  Trust me folks that is hard to do. 

We finished the game with high-fives all around and headed for the pool.

A cool refreshing dip after a good game.  Yes I know it is almost December but it is still CRAZY hot here. All my little chickadees were sleeping soundly by 6:50.

I remember ages ago thinking how fun it would be to homeschool with friends.  Little did I know that between blogs and other online sources I would not be alone but many families homeschooling around the world would be encouraging me along the way, giving me tips, pointers, and encouragement.  Now I have a ton of local friends homeschooling too.  I feel like God has given me such a special gift.

Peace to all kick ball enthusiasts today!

Our dear missionary friends from Peru gave us a hand made creche last year.  We will be staying with them for the month of February as we teach, train and serve God’s people in Peru. Please pray for us.

They found it up high in the Andes by Lake Titicaca in a city called Puno.  Yesterday the children asked why “baby Jesus” was in a little canoe.  I got to tell them how the people who live there lash reeds together to create floating islands.  The weather is hard and cold and the altitude is very hard on their bodies.  Imagine living in a cold wet environment your whole life.  Be thankful for what you have today and where you live.  There are people all over the world who live a very hard life.

I have a 3 and a 4 year old rambling around throughout our schooling day.  I have found several activities to keep their busy hands…well busy if you know what I mean.

Our children love to be in the kitchen and our youngest is no exception.  A “cutting work” is always one of his favorite activities.  Bananas, cheese, watermelon and cucumbers  are all worthy candidates for beginning cutting activities.   For my older children I may try this though.

 Today, I let our three year old spread natural peanut butter on his banana slices.  Focus, control, attention to detail and fine motor skills all come into play.  Plus a bonus, he is getting his own snack.  He was very proud of himself accomplishing this skill…and I was very happy to have him busy.

Our children are all born about 18 months apart.  They have basically done everything together their whole lives including sleeping in the same room.  Big news around here….we have just made the switch.  Our daughter now has her own girly room and the boys have “the boys” room.

In my own quest for making quiet space for myself daily, I have been thinking through how they can get their own quiet space as well.  Everyday we all have a few moments to be by ourselves.  This has become especially important now that they are not napping anymore.  They can think about their day, ask God questions (especially ones that I don’t have the answers for) read, act out stories with figures quietly etc. etc.. Basically anything quietly (no noise) in a room, by themselves. 

This month I began in earnest giving them all 20 minutes a day.  We are now up to 40 minutes a day and are working towards the hour mark by the end of the year.  The boys still grumble a bit on the way up the stairs but Chloe almost runs for her alone time.   Jackson is fine once he gets going and Hudson still calls out every ten minutes or so…”Mom is the timer off yet?”

So we work our way along together, honoring our time we share together and valuing our quiet time alone.  Small simple habits add up to big changes over time.   Every month we weed one “not so helpful” habit out and add one “challenging but beneficial” habit in.  It takes, time, patience, and consistency. 

So I have done it!  I have stopped making excuses about the layout or setup of our home, or the age of our kids, or how close they are in age.  I just decided I am willing to do this hard work because in the end it is worth it.  We will all be better for it.

Let the decorating begin!  I want to be done by the 2nd so we can move into Advent peacfully.  Who wants to join me?

Our family is enjoying a little time off in Gainesville with family.  Camp fires, smores, fishing on the lake, sleeping in, and Florida football.  Good times.

I also have time to work on my “door” art piece.  I took several pictures of interesting doors while in Peru  5 months ago.  I finally have time to start playing with them.  I will get them printed in December and hang them in our home.  Here is one of my favorites.

Not your typical Thanksgiving picture but it does reflect my attempt to stay on track and eat healthy.

Have a Happy, Healthy Day with your family and friends.  Don’t eat too much!

Last night my girlfriend and I went to see a production of Handel’s Messiah.  It was beautiful.  I returned home to a wonderful love note and a sleeping family.

I don’t know about the rest of you ladies, but that is one FINE love note if you ask me:-)

So this am we did this together.  I’ll be mushy all day.

Chloe decided to start the day outside.

I don’t blame her.  A little quiet space in the balmy 72 degree weather.

Have a great day!

This week we are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I will be posting pics of our life and how we are preparing each day. 

Have a sweet and Happy Thanksgiving!

The house is quiet this morning.  My husband and the boys went camping with our church family.  We have had some “princess time” and they are off roughing it.  I feel a family tradition forming.  Like once or twice a year the boys go off and be boys and the girls go off and be girls.  I also want to start a family night once a week where we make some type of dinner together like homemade pizza and homemade ice cream, play games and read out loud to each other.  I think we are getting to that phase so I want to start developing those memories.

Although it has been fun having Mother/daughter time I miss our boys.  The house isn’t the same without them.  I’ve been reading my husbands blog because I miss him.  I know it is silly but I love how he thinks and writes.  He just finished up a series on ethos that I love. 1,2,3,4,5, I love it when he pontificates deeply from the heart about theological matters.  It makes me swoon. 

You know that is how we fell in love.  We met in CCC at UF and just talked and talked about God.  Then one day I realized “OH - I think I have fallen in love with this guy.  Darn it! - I swore I would never do anything like that.  I was going to be a missionary overseas not some mushy girl who needs a boyfriend.”  We had the “DTR” talk at the Atlanta Christmas Conference and the rest is history! This time of year always makes me mushy remembering how the “us” started blooming. Well almost 15 years later my friends I am here to tell you, I need him then and I need him now.  I am so much better because of it.

My 6 year old and I are just beginning to dip our big toes into dictation.  Dictation is a process whereby you write out a sentence for your child.  You give them a few minutes to review it for several days, possibly even a week.  Then you read the sentence back to them and ask them to write it out exactly the way they remember it without looking at the original text.

This accomplishes a few crucial things in one activity.  Spelling, grammar, attention to detail and focus all come into play.  I think the biggest thing I like about the process is the mind training that happens.  Your child has to train their mind to focus and think on something even if they don’t want to or like to.  That is a good life skill and discipleship skill to have.

Jackson and I have started on 3 and 4 word sentences.  He loves the game aspect of it.  As I find out what motivates him and how he enjoys learning, I get to play to that.  He loves to challenge himself with new things so this is fun for him.

 These are seriously good times people!  Can you tell I am enjoying every minute?

Yesterday, I took our 6 year old to the Theater.  We saw an hour long production of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  They took a wonderful, classic piece of rich children’s literature and crammed it into an hour and set it all to music.  You make your own decision about it.

After the performance was over, I asked Jackson “What did you think?”  He said “I didn’t really like it.”  I asked why and he said “It didn’t match up with my imagination. The chapter book was much better.” 

I had to force myself not to laugh out loud because I understood what he meant.  It felt just like when you see the movie of a book you have loved.  It never matches up.  We will see other things and look to go to theater that hasn’t been “dumbed” down for kids.   

Do:  Clean and organize your home.  Take care of what you have been given and nurture the space within which you live. 

Don’t: forget to read the tags on whatever you wash.  Especially rarely washed items like 100% DRY CLEAN only shower curtains.  In your exuberance you may just shrink your shower curtain to the size of a tea towel.

At least the kids don’t take showers yet so we can live without one in their bathroom for awhile.  I do plan to recycle the newly shrunken shower curtain and possibly turn it into a curtain for the boys room.

Last week we did our oral reviews on Monday and Tuesday and had an off week the rest of the week. Daddy was able to participate and see how much we are learning. It was fascinating and exciting  to see how much he is retaining. 

At the end I asked an additional question. “What is your favorite part of homeschooling?”  He said, reading, copy work and dictation.  I asked him why and he responded with, “I keep doing it a little bit everyday and now I am really good at it.”  Reading and writing were not some of his highlights as we began.  Now he has the confidence to go for it.  Yet another benefit of homeschooling with short lessons. A little bit everyday accomplishes so much.

Dictation is one of his favorite activities.  We are starting slowly with small three word sentences but he enjoys the process.  Tomorrow we are off to see a production of “The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe”.  We are excited and will post pics then.

Have a great day~

There was a day I didn’t think I could have kids.  Mike and I tried for 2 years to get pregnant and then our first pregnancy sadly ended in a miscarriage.  I almost needed to be checked into the loony bin.  My whole world was rocked, and my ideas about prayer stretched.  It was a pivotal moment for me.  And then, in His time, our family was born. Life changing to say the least.   I cherish every moment with them. 

They teach me so much. How to stay grounded and in the moment, connected to what I am doing.  How to NOT “Have a care in the world” and not think of tomorrow or the next day just enjoy the time I have now.  The time I spend with them daily, keeps me young.  It is seriously good medicine for the heart.

Thanks Jordan for a great group writing project.   Here are some other thoughts on children.

Anyone read anything from Wendell Berry?  Good stuff.  Makes you slow down and meander awhile.  I started reading Berry when I heard Peterson recommend his work. If Eugene  recommended  it I thought it would be enriching.  Peterson says whenever Berry mentions “farmer” think pastor and when he mentions “farm” think church.  Yowzah! That will give you some food to think about.

His work makes me think about time, and how to use it.  How to be rooted in one place, connected to the land, honoring the Creator for what he has given me.  Time to unwind, relax  and learn to be in one place for a long time, with the people around you for a long time, with your daily life laying down tracks in a given place.  I think we tend to keep thinking of the next thing, or the next place or when………well you know the grass always seems to be greener.  Guess what. It’s not.

So I am working on not looking around at everyone and everything else.  I am looking down, enjoying the space and the day that has been given to me, working “the land” I have been given and thoroughly enjoying every square inch.  So today, enjoy the space of time and land you have been given.  Even if it is hard, if you slow down a bit and ask “God what do you have for me here?” you will find a treasure trove that is just for you!

Peace to all~

I read out-loud the first chapter of Genesis.  I asked the children to listen once.  Then we read it again and I asked them what day they would like to paint.  I then let them draw what the “saw” in their minds eye on the boards and then we let the paints fly.  They really seemed to enjoy mixing the colors the most.  I understand, I like that too.

They wondered how big God was.  Chloe asked if he is very fat.  I was silent and let her explain.  She said if he is all around the world he must be very big.  I then got to explain the vastness of God. (Here is my humble, yet God inspired attempt. I was wondering how I would explain this to them and praying about it one day and this is what God lead me to.)

I said, you know when you go swimming, and when you dive down deep and enjoy how the water holds you? How it is all around you?  They all said yes…they love swimming.  I explained that this is how God is.  He is the water we swim in, he gently holds us in all of our comings and goings. We can never go anywhere that he is not there.  I could tell this struck a chord with them, especially Chloe.  I will tell you where this conversation lead to at the dinner table in another post.  For now enjoy their handy work. 

 ”land & plants” ~ Chloe 4 years old

“water” ~ Hudson 3 years old

“sky” ~ Jackson 6 years old

Here is  a snippet of a conversation our children had amongst themselves while cleaning and reorganizing their toys. I wish I had it  on tape to play it back to them when I need it:-)

Jackson:  It is so fun to play with your toys when they are picked up.

Chloe: Yeah you can see everything you need and I know where all my babies clothes are.

Hudson: Silently stacking blocks on a clean floor.

 Jackson: Yeah you can’t think when everything is such a mess! 

OK - People I have been saying this for years!  I think they are starting to get it!

Step 1:  Be prepared.  It is a lot more fun if you do.

Step2:  We light a white candle.  It is a symbol.  It reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world and no man can come to the Father except through him.

Step 3:  We play classical music in the background.  The more senses we bring into play the more deeply the brain holds what ever information they are learning.

Step 4: We read the Bible out loud.  The King of kings moves among them, meeting them where they are at, teaching them his mysterious ways and sparking their imagination.

Step 5:  After I read out loud, Mommy stays quiet.  Shhhhh Holy work is being done.

More to come. Enjoy your day~

Lindafay has a beautiful post.  Here is a small excerpt. Please read it in its entirety for yourself.  It is Lovely! 

As soon as my children are old enough to understand whose bosom they came from and that he is calling them back to him, I begin to reason with their soul, reminding them of this great beautiful thought. “You were meant to be a prince/princess of God, He is beautiful and holy and wants you to reign with him one day. But earth is our training ground. He loves you dearly, let us not disappoint him. Let us make him proud of us.”

This term we have been studying De Vinci and 6 of his famous paintings.  Over the term, I have put one of his works as the screen saver on our computer.  I would change the picture without telling the children and see if they caught it.  They always did.  Then, thanks to the Homeschooling Diva’s over at Ambleside Online, we printed out all of the works twice and made a matching or gold fish game out of them.  They love playing it and our three year old even yells out “SELF PORTRAIT” when he gets the correct match and our 4 year old asked if it was a picture of God.  I smiled thinking, “Why is it that children imagine God to be an old man with long hair and a beard?”.

A good friend of mine lent me a great book that helped to tie de Vinci’s life together.  It is called Leonardo’s Horse and Jackson loved it. It tells the tale of de Vinci’s one work that never was finished.  Jackson wistfully said at the end of the book “If only Leonardo could of seen it”. We liked it so much we will be adding it to our family library.  I can purchased a gently used one for about 5 bucks on amazon.   Yikes~I can’t even buy junk at Wal-Mart for that price!

Go read a good book today~ Preferably out loud with your kids all snuggled up on the couch.  Not that I am telling you what to do or anything, but I promise it is lots of fun!

I have come to see that your first year of homeschooling is all about creating routine and forming family habits.  Not only for your kids but for yourself as well. I have been digesting and reading over Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles. I really “dig” big picture philosophy and it helps me stay motivated in the day to day repetitive routine. Like I have stated in our HS philosophy it is very important for Mike and I to encourage our children towards thinking critically about the world around them.  #19 and #20 have really been speaking to me.

 19. Knowing that reason is not to be trusted as the final authority in forming opinions, children must learn that their greatest responsibility is choosing which ideas to accept or reject. Good habits of behavior and lots of knowledge will provide the discipline and experience to help them do this.

20. We teach children that all truths are God’s truths, and that secular subjects are just as divine as religious ones. Children don’t go back and forth between two worlds when they focus on God and then their school subjects; there is unity among both because both are of God and, whatever children study or do, God is always with them.

It was interesting to me the other day when Jackson asked me “Mom before Jesus walked on the earth, were all people heathens?”  He was making connections with some of our reading and the time line we have started.  It is true that children really do make connections all over the place in a holistic way if they have the space and time to think about it. 

So I am betting that if we help our kids to think, and give them enough good information to make connections and not necessarily discipline them towards morality and shelter them from the world we may end up with stronger, more grounded, thinking, adults who can live this “way of following Jesus” without it being fragmented and something that is just “fire insurance” or a code for morality.

Just my thinking out loud thoughts today. Peace to all~

Have you heard of them?  As in…all of this Halloween candy MUST-GO!

They are my own secret invention to terminate many of these Halloween goodies.  We are chopping them all up and making them into decadent brownies and sharing them with our church family.  We told our kids they could pick their favorite 15 pieces and the rest we need to get rid of.  Does anyone else hear at 7am, “Mommy can I have some of my treats?”. 

Well, my husband predicted it accurately.  We had clear weather for the party and one trip around the cul-de-sac and then the rain cut loose.  Imagine a costumed group running in mass with candy, fire men helmets, tiaras and capes all a flurry.  Many ended up back at our house soaking wet sorting their loot.  It was a good time. 

I am happy to have our kids interact with the neighborhood kids in limited doses on our terms.  I have already discovered we need to come up with some family rules about it. Like letting neighborhood kids know when they enter our home, they are going to have to interact on our rules and not theirs. Every day is a learning process.  Enjoy the pics!

This is a good investment.  We borrowed it from a friend.  She calls it her portable play yard.

Food galore.  I made Swiss cheese fondue. 

Honestly, I am washing all our costumes and selling them on eBay next year in August.  I am sick of seeing them.  The tallest one is one of the kids Nannies.  Yeap - here they all have nannies, so the moms can work their high powered jobs.  Our neighborhood is a ghost town during the day.  Everyone at work or school/day care. 

Loot sorting has begun.

Our three tired, wet, candy hounds enjoyed the party.  They went to bed tired and happy.  As we all grow together, Mike and I will continue to make space for others in our home and teach our kids that this is what part of being “salt and light” is all about. Go throw a party.  You will have some fun and  just maybe some of your family will rub off on the world, which I am sure would be a very good thing!

Hi all~

My dear blogging friend Mommy Zabs has created a fee downloadable word press skin for homeschoolers.  She will continue to create and add more to her repertoire so keep checking back!