Crazy, crazy

This week has been nuts. I had a tooth (THE TOOTH) abscess. I rate the pain up there with labor. I finally got in to see the dentist, but he put me on antibiotics and told me to come back in a few days. I didn't question him. After all, he is a dentist. But I left wondering how in the WORLD I was going to put up with the constant pain!?! Long story short-in the mean time my mother-in-law came to help out (because Andy was out of town for work), but fought a sinus infection one day and back pain another. And my friends helped by taking the boys on a field trip, but one of those families had to leave early because the daughter was vomiting. I feel a little like we are a dark cloud that no one should get near! :)

Finally yesterday the tooth was pulled. I am 34 and I had a tooth pulled! It has had 2 root canals and it was determined that there must be a crack that can not be repaired. In 6 weeks when my mouth heals I will get a "new tooth". Lovely. My mother-in-law made it safely home. The kids had a wonderful week because of our AMAZING friends who brought flowers, treats, and let them come over to play until dark. Today I have to make one more trip to the dentist. If he is not satisfied with how much the swelling has gone down, then I will have to get an iv of antibiotics in the ER. But I do not think that will be necessary. Here are some sweet moments from that last few crazy days:

The kids' Lego gift for me ("35" because its almost my 35th birthday)

Lydie's thanksgiving party at her preschool. The kids are so cute!

Lydie's little friend. Four year olds make the goofiest faces. This one made me laugh.

Our thankful jar is almost full. Good reminder of our blessings!

The kids wrote and performed a puppet show for me. SO DARLING!

Flowers from two sweet friends and a REALLY yummy meal!

Thanksgiving party with friends

My sweet friend, Tammy, hosted our home school group for a Thanksgiving party last week. We really enjoyed seeing our friends, the beautiful weather, and having an afternoon break from our routine. (I'm feeling the need for a vacation lately. So any excuse to break away, even for only a few hours, is nice!) We made Operation Christmas Child boxes, a fun tee pee craft, and played outside. I brought some Native American games to play, but mostly the kids just wanted to rip and roar. We are SO thankful for this group of friends!

Girls' weekend

While the boys were shooting rifles, camping, playing chase, and getting dirty last weekend, we were doing some girly stuff together. (I am not much of an over night camper.) I really treasure time alone with my children.

We had a very fun Saturday morning sewing with friends.

And on Sunday we went to the American Girl Bistro for lunch. It was a very, very fun and sweet outing. We also watched Beauty and the Beast together, played dolls, and had a "sleep over" in my room. Great memories!

One seed at a time

My boys get Bible story lessons in various places. So when it came time to look for a new devotion book for breakfast time, I knew I wanted something that would model for them how to apply biblical teaching to their lives. I have been very pleased with Josh McDowell's Family Devotions. If you are looking for a simple way to teach your children how to apply simple truths, this book is for you. It has a short Bible reading, a verse for the day, a story of children applying the truth of the verses in every day life, discussion questions, and a prayer. The kids take turns looking up and reading the verses, I read the story, and they read the prayer. It initiates great discussions. And I can see where they have reaped the benefit of these little, singular seeds being planted slowly but surely. We love it!

"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders."~Henry David Thoreau

Just to name a few

Today, I am thankful for...

A driveway that acts as a roller coaster.

A boy who overcomes his fears.

The very small piece of hair that was cut when my daughter said, "Look this is cool. I can cut my own hair!" and snipped before I could stop her.

The same daughter who spilled the beans about my birthday present and the husband who gave in and let me have it early.

Parents who love us so well and listen to us as our emotions ebb and flow. Particulary, the late night talk with Mimi and the lunch, all by ourselves, with Dad.

A husband who assures me, "If you will just submit to me in this, I promise I will tenderly lead you. Please trust me." (Doesn't that sound like Jesus?)

Children who really miss me when I spend the night away.

His eleventh hour answer.

These words that encourage:

"The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servants will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." John 12:25-26

And these that spur me on:

"One of the greatest powers for good is a family whose members respect each other and who have learned to function, however poorly, with the rich concepts of the Word God gives us as human beings. It is almost incredible to think of the stabilizing effect ordinary families can have: not only for themselves, but as a light in a troubled generation."

~Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

School plans, Take 2

So here we are in November, and I am making some startling discoveries about our homeschool curriculum. We are using My Father's World (MFW) for Bible/History/Science/Art history/Composer studies. The other stuff I pieced together. Well, I am not really in love with My Father's World. It is okay for us, but not a perfect fit.

I love the books they use for science. We have REALLY enjoyed our Answers in Genesis science book. It is called God's Design for Life: The World of Animals. I love that it begins the chapter with a shorter, slightly easier version of the text for "beginners". My 2nd grader can understand and retain the amount of information in that summary very well. Then it proceeds with a more complex version for older kids. Perfect for my very verbal, brainy 4rth grader. I love that each chapter includes experiments, review topics/questions, and a "taking it further" section. We like to take it further! And we very much like hands-on learning. We have done some cool experiments with animals!

The part of MFW that is not the best fit for us is the history, composer, and art sections. The history is something I am not willing to change simply because I spent a small fortune on all the books it requires and we are right in the middle. We enjoy the content. But it mainly calls for reading text, some of which seems to be written for an older age group. My boys can learn auditorally, but they learn better with more discussion and less reading. I loved Mystery of History for this reason. The author wrote like she was in a personal discussion and not so much in textbook prose. My second grader is finding it boring, I'm afraid. (He hasn't said so, but it's pretty obvious.) And I do not think history is my older son's favorite subject any more. I hate that. I am hoping that when we get past the European wars, which is mainly what we are studying this month (mid 1600s), and focus more on American history it will be more interesting for them and I can be more creative as a teacher. (How do you spruce up a lesson on Charles II? Another war against Protestants and Catholics?)

Regarding the artist and composer studies, I have pitched them. For us, the composer studies moved too slowly. We have been on the same composer for 2 months. But, I do love the cds that narrate their lives. (The Story of ______ in Words and Music) The artist studies from God and the History of Art move too fast. We were covering several artists a week! Their information was becoming a mile wide and an inch deep (in other words, they were retaining nothing). So, I have decided with composers and artists to go back to my tried and true method. We choose an artist and a composer to study each month. We focus on our artist and composer on Fridays. So much for a pre-packaged curriculum!

That brings me to our last change. We are sticking to the basics (Memory work, Math, Language, Phonics, Spelling, Latin, Science and History) Monday through Thursday. On Fridays we have "Fine Art Fridays". We will do a math lesson, language lesson, and take our spelling tests. Those things should take a total of around an hour. Then, it's all about the arts (with a little logic and geography thrown in)! We seem to frequently cram them in, and I do not want the kids to look at their artwork as something that can be rushed. Also with this schedule, we should be done with school by 1:00 every day again. Here's my new Fine Arts Friday schedule:

1st Friday
Read library book about our artist and fill book basket with other books
Read a story explaining our hymn for the month (Hymns for a Kid's Heart)
Logic puzzle
Map skills book and add to states and capitals memory map
Pit stop: I bought a packet of flashcards of American landmarks. The front has a picture (Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam, Old Faithful, etc.), the back an explanation. We read it together and then mark the landmark on our USA map. It's fun and I am learning so much! If we go through them all we will begin with US Presidents next.

2nd Friday
Do a "fill in the blank" about our artist's life (I make these on the computer)/put our artist on our timeline
Read a book about our composer and color a picture of him
Logic Puzzle
Map work
Read the second story about our hymn
Seasonal art project
Pit Stop

3rd Friday
Do a project with our artist study (Discovering Great Artists)
Listen to our composer's music and draw what we feel
Do the first half of our drawing project
Logic puzzle
Map work/Add to states and capitals
Pit Stop

4rth Friday
Do a picture study of one of our artist's works of art
Add our composer to our timeline
Complete our drawing project
Logic puzzle
Map work
Seasonal art project
Pit Stop

Bookshelf

This fall I have really enjoyed reading. I haven't had the time that I did in the summer. But I really look forward to traffic lights (only red ones, of course), rare quiet moments during the day, and mostly the late evenings when I can end the day with a book. Here are the ones I have read since school started, all of which I recommend. (Not including the loads of books I have read to the kids.)

The Help was on my book list for months. I randomly saw it on the library return cart and grabbed it. I am SO glad I did. I love historical fictions. We were studying the beginning of the slave trade in colonial America in history when I read this book about civil rights in the 1960s in the South. My heart broke, not only for the African American people, but for women in general from this era. This book gave me a renewed and more impassioned thankfulness for the freedoms we enjoy in our country as women, as well as a grieved spirit for the effects of slavery and racism. I really enjoyed reading The Help.


I am very glad that I read Laura Bush's autobiography. I learned many interesting things about our country, life at the White House, and her life. Although her writing is chocked full of details and she is simply lovely, I did not enjoy her style of writing. Her viewpoint is very factual, with little expression of emotion. Maybe this type of writing reflects her personality, and quite possibly may be why God providentially made her a First Lady. But it just did not appeal to me as a reader. It took me a full month to read this book.



If I could choose any mentor in the world (besides the wonderful ladies at my church), I would choose Sally Clarkson. I love her parenting and education books. They are filled with exactly what I believe to be truthful, wise, and successful. Her writing is full of heart, encouragement, and goodness. This book has been around for a couple of decades, I think. I have skimmed it before. But this time around I bought it and read it cover to cover. It is FILLED with notes and highlights!

My favorite genre to read is fictional series. I LOVED the Hunger Games trilogy! I read each book in a couple of days. At first the story seems strange and a little bizarre, but focusing on the symbolism reveals phenomenal writing. I was SO thankful that I discovered these books so late. I bought/checkout out all three so that I could continue seamlessly from one to the next. No waiting months or years for the next book for me! I highly recommend these books. Heidi wrote some great comments on all three books here.





I am currently reading the following two books. The Noticer is the book that my book club chose for the month. I think the author is attending our meeting. I am enjoying what I have read so far.



And this was another random find that I picked up from a cart. I liked the title. I thought Cure for the Common Life: Living In Your Sweet Spot might be good for a city girl moving to a farm in the near future. I guess my cure for the common life is playing out before my very eyes. But nevertheless, I am enjoying the content of the book. The theme seems to be to discover your gifts and talents, and then use them to serve the Lord. Andy and I believe in this ideal and have found the joy that it produces.

My book wish-list was lost on our old computer. (I seem to have a knack for crashing computers.) Any recommendations for what to read next? I am looking for some good fiction now that it is cold enough for a fire at night. So exciting!

Happy crafting!

Last year I tried something new for the holidays. I hand-made most of the female adult gifts, along with baby gifts, that we gave for Christmas presents. It was a little stressful, as time is of the essence during the busy holiday season. But I really enjoyed it and it was a penny-pincher, as well. For some really fun, creative ideas for home-made gifts look over at Edie's blog. She has invited 12 guest bloggers to share their ideas during the first 12 days of November. I already plan to use the applique tutorial for some baby onesies. I have ALWAYS wanted to know how to do that! (And I have an almost one year old sewing machine that has never been used!)While your there, check out some of her house projects. She has a fun style. I was particularly partial to her turquoise kitchen. LOVED it!

Halloween weekend

The boys as Ron Weasley (from Harry Potter) and Luigi
Little Dorothy and Toto

Jack's friends as Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy

Joshua's friends as Mario and a Nintendo DS

Our trick or treating group (including Lydie's friend as Laura Ingalls)

Homeschool highlights from October

Lydia Joy's projects (a few from her class, a few at home)

The Boys' Projects

Drawing project: Dutch windmills (Pilgrims)

Art project: Fall trees (from here)

Science project: Dissecting owl pellet

History project: Puritan horn books

Science baking project: bird nests

Science project: Magnifying bird feathers (Joshua looks thrilled)