We are using Child Sized Masterpieces for our art study this year. This whole pack, made my life much simpler in that I didn’t have to recreate the wheel. I must say ALL of the children love to paint, and you know what…so does their Mom.

(Our youngest is REALLY getting into it and focusing his attention on the detail. This is a new thing and of course must be properly documented for all grandparent types who will be duly amazed.)

I am self taught, so I don’t produce amazingly technical work, but I enjoy what I do and create. That is half of it right? Come to think of it…..I am self taught in almost everything I’ve ever loved to do. Music, art, photography, house reno, sewing. I mean isn’t that real life, you find something you love, and you figure our how to do it? Read a book or a blog and get to work. I am not saying I would give myself heart surgery or anything, I am just fairly confident I could do anything I put my mind to, given enough time and resources. Remind me to tell you the time my Mom and I re-tiled our shower. It was so much fun, anyway I digress. I am not being snooty, I am just now figuring out at 34, that this is my personality and I am not ashamed of it, no matter how much people tease me about it. (Wow - where did all that come from - back to Roden)

(Our daughter in her third outfit of the day consisting of ALL of her favorite colors, is documenting her work. Kind of like her Mom.)

I usually do art study, music study, nature study and science experiments in the long afternoons. We all look forward to  the change of pace. This term we are studying Roden.

(Hudson knows the drill and is setting up the tripod. I actually didn’t need it for this but, the thought was nice. He LOVES that thing.)

The man loved flowers. My 7 year old didn’t really want to paint flowers, because they are “girly”. I said the same thing I always say, when he gives me that line. “Just do the best you can”, and I walk away. Well when I came back, he had created the most lovely, almost impressionist piece of art. He was beaming with pride at what he had produced. Currently, our walls are covered with some of my paintings, but after today I think our kids will be covering our walls with their art. I see another trip to Goodwill. No more art paper, we are moving to re purposed canvases.

So don’t ditch the fine arts at the end of the day. It doesn’t take hours and hours of time. Use some well made resources and find a new artist to love today. I think after this term, we all are hooked on Roden. Man could PAINT!

Piece to all artists today!

This week, I enter with a thankful heart, my head bowed low, my arms ready for the work before me. This week, I will stay present to the kids, I will stop and play Lego’s and ponies as if I were a kid myself, and I will remember what it is like to be “like a child”.

I will open my eyes to the beauty all around me, I will cherish every phonics lesson and math problem, and conflict resolution session I facilitate between our growing brood. I will deal with myself before the Father. I will stop ignoring little things that He keeps talking to me about and pretending they are not there. I will say, “Yes Lord”.

Because after all, time is the only thing I own, and relationship is the only thing I can buy with it. I want to spend it extravegantly.

Peace to all~

Yesterday we did a group lesson on the Good Shepherd. I have mentioned that the children are learning the 23rd Psalm among others this term. In my orderly, teacher like mind, I thought it was a big BUST! And yet today I watched something very interesting happen. I laid their little colored pictures of a shepherd on our table yesterday. You know the one I told you about.

We say their work is a gift. We say do your best, because it is honoring to the Lord. We do the simple, seemingly unceremonious act of leaving some simple work there, as a visual clue, that there is so much more going on with what we do, then what we do. And there are days I wonder if any of it gets in. Maybe I am being too… I don’t know hopeful about my intentionality…and today I saw it.

Just a little glimpse. Chloe spontaneously moved her chair over to the the table in front of the cross to do her math work. She has never done this before, and I asked what she was doing, she said, “I wanna work here Mom.” She stopped, doing the math and started drawing the Good Shepherd, in her own hand. This is a child’s way of meditating on the words of Jesus. I wouldn’t of know that without reading The Religious Potential of the Child by Cavalletti and seeing 50 years of her work, and story after story revealing the way children interact and meditate on Jesus. It is much different then we adults.

In some time, she finished her drawing and her math, and went and put it all away and the two of us never talked again about it. I am willing to bet, that she will be an adult and think back to that very moment and something special Jesus was teaching her. So, I keep praying and sowing and watching and…..standing back and letting Jesus be her king without me forcing it.

It was humbling actually, you know like when you walk in on an important conversation that two other people are having and you know you are not supposed to be there. It was kind of like that.

Peace to all~

One of the greatest treasures of homeschooling…..

is the ability to observe your children, and REALLY get to know them. Not to manage them, or cart them around, or teach them, or discipline, or train them. As parents, we can get so busy in the “business” of raising kids, that we schedule our way right on out of it.

Every day, I get to know these little guys as real live people, who think and talk and have opinions, and who are being called by God. It is amazing. Most people say to me, “I don’t know how you do it?”. They must think I am super woman. I am here to say I am not. This isn’t easy, but nether would sending them off to school now would it? Are you kidding me? With all the fund raisers and early morning rat race rush, and homework that you would probably teach them how to do anyway, to me it seems simpler to stay home.

This is what I love the most, getting insight into them as people, so that I may partner with the One who made them. I KNOW I wouldn’t understand them as people the way I do now, if they were away in school for 7 hours a day. I would ask their teacher, and she would tell me. All these little inside conversations that they have are my little gifts to keep for ever and not someone else who wouldn’t really treasure them the way I do…and trust me I do treasure every one.

Grace and Peace to all~

I just finished reading Jesus for President. I read it on my way up to Green Bay and finished it on my way back. I will be honest when I say, that I wept all the way home. I challenge you to read it and maybe you will weep too. I was seated among several large business men, on their phones with their coffee, and I tried to control it, but I just couldn’t. Tears and snot just started flowing and flowing. I didn’t care. It was beautiful.

I will say that I am pretty weepy right now. I was cleaning the floors today, and I just wanted to break down and cry and cry and cry at the faithfulness of God. He is so good, and loving and so many other things I don’t have words for right now. I have been living on worship music right now. I want to say a hearty thank you for the commenter who recommended Kelanie Gloeckler. I wanted to leave you with the lyrics of one of her songs.

Responding
VERSE 1
Anticipation comes up with the sunrise
You’re here again, waiting for me
Relentless love is the rhythm of Your voice, drawing me closer…
I wanna worship ‘til Your heart is satisfied
All I am, I give You gladly
Letting my heart overflow to adore You, beautiful Jesus…

CHANNEL
I will not miss this moment to… tell You I love You
You are the song of my life

CHORUS
I’m weak in the heat of Your glance
And I resonate under Your hand
Responding to the One that my heart loves
With the breath that You breathed into me
In the fire of intimacy
Responding to the One that my heart loves

VERSE 2
Today’s another day to obey and surrender
Bending to hear the secrets You breathe
And You delight to see how I respond to each new revelation…
So I’m searching for language to capture Your wonder
Fold You in worship as You consume me
Ev’ry cell of me sings when I see You, beautiful Jesus…

BRIDGE
When I see the passion in Your eyes
You make all my senses fly
In Your presence I am alive
You make all my senses fly

Well, my time in Wisconsin was beautiful in so many ways. This is just a quick post to drop by and say hello. I hope to post a bit more tomorrow. Here is my friend I went to visit. We made our husbands watch the babies and we went off on a photographic adventure. Then we missed our kids and hubbies so bad, we had to end it and go back to real life.

I learned a ton. I laughed until I cried, and cried until I laughed in that order. I am nailing my manual settings, shooting in RAW (which is crazy by the way if you are a photog) and missing my dear friends in Green Bay.

Looks like the artist co-op is taking flight. I will tell you some about that too. I did upload a few pics to flickr but saved a few for the artist co-op so you will have to check them out on the etsy store once it is live.

Peace to all on this big and wild journey of faith as we follow our King,

Pax Vobiscum

Last week, Vicki gave me this award. I completely forgot about it until now.

I will work on tagging some of my favs later. For now, I am packing and getting ready to go to Wisconsin. Gotta love frequent flyer miles:-)

I will be posting to flickr so stay in touch. See you all next week.

Thanks again Vicki, I am flattered that my little scribbles here are considered “Brilliant”.

CALLING ALL ARTISTS! 

One of the great things about being a creative, is the process or learning curve of finding your own voice. For me, blogging has been a very helpful outlet in finding my voice. Painting and photography, writing…they are what I do to relax. Some people watch tv, I make stuff. Here is the deal, there is only so much stuff you can have in your own home. At some point you have to move stuff out and make room for new ideas.

So recently, I’ve been toying with the idea of creating an artistic co-op with other friends who are in that same groove. My thought was, what if we all banded together and created an etsy store and show cased some of our creative work. We could create a facebook page, and promote the store on our blogs. Then we could raise money for an organization like Lemonade International. There is something lovely in making something that is an expression of your voice, and I think something even more lovely about selling it and donating the money to a worthy cause.

So I have a few blog friends and local friends in mind who I would like to ask to join up with me. I started making my own etsy store awhile back, and it seemed a bit flat and I haven’t moved forward. I think this is why. What about you? Do you create, and want to donate a few items to a collective store that would raise money for those in need? Hey, maybe it is just a small nudge to say, “Yes, I will get out my sewing machine, pick up a paint brush, snap a few photos of my local area.”

I am not going to beg. It is above me…..but pretty please with sugar on top….it will be loads of fun and just in time for Christmas giving. And maybe the money we raise will make life a bit easy for the forgotten ones. We can direct our friends to buy hand made art (instead of things from stuff-mart) from our collective store that gives to those in need.

If you are interested, leave a comment, or facebook me. Hey leave a comment and encourage me ether way. Artists need that ya know:-)

Peace to all~

Today started like this…

• throwing up children (again - what the heck is going on?)
• wet sheets
• I started the day at 4am
• Got through 2 lessons and everyone lost steam.
• Our oldest just said…while laying on the couch”Mama, I feel like a slob.” as he runs to the bathroom to throw up again.

Mama, is second guessing herself today!

Pray with me!

Aren’t road trips grand?

I am back from a few days away with friends. I had a great time of reflection. My journal, my heart and my mind are full.

While away, I had a few wonderful ideas of how to more deeply communicate the kingdom of God to our kids. I will be thinking those things through and if you are good and very polite I may post them here:-)

I am also preparing to leave for a few days to go to Wisconsin and visit a blogging friend in person for the first time. We have developed a wonderful friendship through each other’s blogs, face book, emails and phone calls. Now, we will get to do it real time in person.

Life is good and the weather is feelin’ fine.

So we are rounding the bend on our first month of homeschooling this year. I did have to go clean up a few summer messes that are typical. Handwriting went out the door, so I had to do a quick refresher. We are back on track with beautiful print and numbers all facing the same direction.

Year 2 is a jump from year 1 in terms of material, as it should be. I am totally in love with Math U See and Mr. Steve. Jackson loves his math lessons, and I have no stress in terms of conveying the material properly. Jackson is convinced that I need to send his work in to Mr. Steve so that he can see how well he is doing. I said I would check on it! wink

The kids started their special activities and their homeschool PE class. All of it is gelling nicely. Our youngest is getting all of his particular needs met with our helper who comes in 4 days a week for 2 hours.

I am finishing our core work just right after lunch and life is good.

Peace to all those working at home today~

You have to understand our 3 year old.  He is as loud as he is big.  He is VERY exuberant, so when he finds something new and exciting, the whole world will know.

How his discovery didn’t leave with all of his racket, I will never know.  I actually believe he had it cornered and it didn’t move a muscle out of pure fear. It was fun for me to see too, as I have never seen one ether.

MOM, I FOUND SOMETHING AMAZING.

A BLACK LIZARD WITH A BLUE TAIL AND YELLOW STRIPES. COME QUICK! 

I have been tickled pink this year, to see our little guy start to settle down, and find things to occupy himself. Things that interest him and amaze him.  He particularly likes to take things apart with screws, so I have to watch him on that one. Today he was outside in the courtyard, working away on his stump ( I will explain that one later) , when he ran in with great news of something new to him.

He found this.

I did a little research and we discovered that it is a native Florida skink.  I had to use their photo, as my camera lens fogged up because it is so darn humid here today and the picture was fuzzy

Peace to all skink finders today!

Currently, listening to Paolo Nutini, and uploading to flickr. Last count, addicted to bokeh and now time lapse photography. Oh…. it is good to have a hobby that is just for you. Good, good, good…….did I say it was good?

I just uploaded new images to my flickr page. Check em’ !

Fun with Flowers: Today we dissected a flower.

They had great fun, looking at all of the little parts and I found a fun game online to help them identify them.

In our little homeschool, we strive to get all of our core work done by lunch, so that our afternoons are free, for fun and interesting pursuits, like this flower dissection. I see a microscope in our future. In fact, it sounds like a great Christmas gift.

So, now I am off to pursue my own interests, as Mommy has them too. I think I will create a sign that says “Shhh, do not disturb, Mommy is playing.”

Peace to all discoverers today~

posting my be spotty next week as we have a couple of these coming our way!  So I want to know, would you keep homeschooling in the midst of a CAT3 hurricane?

Pray with us!

It is essential. That is the reality. The truth is, with this, it is always one step forward, two steps back. You just keep plugging away and staying consistent, and over time little habits are trained. Here is a great article on the whole topic.

Right now, I am doing a happy dance, as our children, cleaned up their breakfast dishes all on their own, without being reminded. Yesterday, our youngest, with great enthusiasm, ran in to our room before the house was up to proclaim that he had made his bed. I feel like I am succeeding, if our children, are following through without constant reminders.

As with anything, there is no perfect ideal. Children are not robots and will not perform perfectly in every situation. That isn’t the goal. The goal, and the hope is that they can learn to control themselves and think beyond their own little bodies. The habits they are acquiring now, will take them through life, so we better think about that shan’t we parents?

So I am off to think about what habits I am modeling to them today.

Peace to all~

In our home, over the years, I have tried to keep a special table set up just for the kids to interact with. The last 18 months or so, I’ve let it slide, so I am bringing it back. I am doing this specifically for our youngest, who is 3 turning 4. This is a very special time of wonder. I did this for our older two, and so now, I am doing it for him.

My COGS training inspired me to create a prayer table in our home, that would allow the kids to interact with God on their level. A child under 6 or 7 can not read the bible on their own, they have to have it read to them. But they can interact with the word of God through things that remind them of stories that they are learning, and center their mind on God in a way that is helpful for them. (Hint - this is why I am big on worship playing in our home. The kids can be with God, without my needing to facilitate it.) I have been scoffed at by some, for this seemingly silly table, but again, I don’t care….I just keep pluggin’ along. So here is our table, currently.

Many pieces of art - conveying beauty from around the world. Some purchased, some made by myself or the kids. It is good to create beautiful things.

I leave a timer on the table so the kids, can just sit and think and be silent for a minute. You would be amazed at how much a child loves to sit and watch the sand fall through a timer. This helps my very active, youngest boy, sit still for three minutes without moving a muscle, all on his own. In this I hope to teach them that silence is a good thing. To listen, and not speak is a valuable skill.

I let the kids make small flower arrangements as a symbol of their work. Doing your best, as a gift unto the Lord is a wonderful life long lesson to have. Even the smallest things are precious to the Lord.

I leave lots of natural, nature items on the table. About once a week, this jar of shells is opened and spilled out on the carpet, just to look at. I love to see them find their favorite one, over and over again.

This is a “vintage” needlepoint of an old church I picked up at Good Will for $2.29. I love it, and so do they. If you look closely behind this piece, you will see a few canvases that are “primed out” and ready for some new art. I am just waiting for the inspiration. I pick them up super cheap at Good Will. There is also a picture of a Peruvian boy and the cross. All of them, just adding to the sensory story I am telling.

Lots of books….. (I have to find creative ways to organize my husbands theological library)

and hand made art by the children are proudly displayed…

and baskets to hold, all the little things I find on the floor throughout the day. It helps me stay sane. It is a special treat, to look through it at the end of the week and say “Oh, there that is, I’ve been looking for that!” and off they go for another time of play with some little bobble.

From time to time, I will leave beautiful picture books that I find at the library, sometimes, the picture Bible, some sand tracing cards with new and interesting words. My parents in law have a wooden carved sign that says Jesus. Hudson loves to run his fingers over the letters and trace that precious name. So I need to find one. If you have an extra one lying around - could ya send it to me?

Our youngest spends the most time here. It is his space, and he doesn’t even know it. I made it just for him, and I pray that he finds a special piece of Jesus here as he wonders about all the beautiful things that have been made for him to enjoy and all the wonderful things that we have created to give.

My hope is to keep it interactive and changing all throughout the year, with new things to look at, smell, see, and interact with, all pointing to the reality of the Risen King.

So go make your own table and send me a picture. Don’t worry about those that think you bizarre. You have a special purpose in mind.

Peace to those who are thoughtfully parenting today~