Weekly Wrap-Up - February 6

This week we had really nasty, messy, no fun to play in ice, ick! And, *pout, pout* it kept Rodney & me from going on our date night (grumble, grumble . . .) Good news is, we rescheduled the babysitter for Valentine's Day, so that's kinda cool.

We made abit of a breakthrough on Spanish this week, part of it was just consistency, when we actually go over the flashcards every day, they remember better. Another possible help . . . one day when we had gone over the last 3 or 4 cards OVER AND OVER and they, especially L, were to point of mumbling "I don't know" and not paying any attention whatsoever, I told them "if you can get through the rest of these cards in the next 5 minutes, we won't watch Speekee today" it worked! They were through them the next time through, woo-hoo! I'll take mastering vocab over watching a program that I think is awesome, but isn't a good fit for my big girls (if Little Bit were 6 mo to a year older, I think she'd eat Speekee up and be fluent in the words they teach in no time, we may revisit it at that point, though if we continue working on Spanish with the big girls, I think she'll get her own version of immersion just by listening to us without really listening).

We also made the decision to change what we're doing for Bible. I don't want to put down the PAC curriculum AT ALL! After I wrote my review, someone from the company e-mailed me (gotta love that personal touch, seriously, I think it's SOO COOL when companies really take to heart our reviews!), and apologized for the curriculum being below the girls' level. Which (a) wasn't their fault AT ALL, *I* stated the grade level when I signed up for the reviews (I had to state a level in general, so I couldn't specifically say "we're at 3rd grade level for Bible, but 1st grade level for spelling and . . .etc), AND the bottom line is, in creating a curriculum, especially a curriculum to be used in schools, they have to assume that some of the children aren't going to have had much, if any, Biblical instruction at home, and therefore, start with the basics. I understand that, I agree with that, it just so happens that it makes it not a good fit for US and that's ok too. . . So anyway . . . now we're going to spend the next month or so digging into The Princess and the Kiss in depth, (using the Life Lessons) I think it will be fun, and a change of pace, and they'll learn more than they would if we just continued through the PAC curriculum. I'd also gotten the Princess and the Kiss coloring book. When I asked the girls if they wanted to color the pictures as we went through the life lessons, A said yes, and L said no. So, I just handed her the coloring book, instead of photocopying it (it does allow reproduction, so I COULD have copied it). THEN L decided she wanted it too. Because the coloring book ends up being a slightly abridged version of the book, I figured it was worth buying a second coloring book so that they could each have a "book" when they're done. So now I need to order a second coloring book for L. A spent most of Sabbath (we were "iced" in) coloring hers, so it will probably be done before we finish the life lessons.

The second volume of The Story of the World on CD finally came in at the library. So as soon as the weather allowed, we picked it up and have started listening to those, and adding some of the things we hear about to our timeline.

A took advantage of icky weather and Little Bit's naptime to work on her potholder some more. She finished the top is now done, her next step is to cut out the back and then sew the 3 layers (top, backing, and batting) together, then she gets to actually quilt it.

L's busily knitting.  Last Sabbath at church, Miss P (mother of Little Bit's friend J) asked L if she would knit a "travel size" blanket for J, since he seems to have adopted their full-size knit/crocheted baby blankets as his "lovey" she wanted a small one to carry around.  Her husband dropped the yarn off this week, so L is now busy knitting her "biggest project EVAR!" Up until now she's only knit washcloths, which she knits on larg(ish) needles with cotton yarn, and only does 20 stitches and not a huge number of rows. This is knit on size 6 needles and the yarn is thinner than the cotton yarn she's used to, so instead of 20 stitches per row, she has 77 stitches, and approximately 100 rows. It should keep her busy for at least a week or two, hee hee.

And that's been our week . . .

Book Review: The Sacred Meal by Nora Gallagher

The Sacred Meal, by Nora Gallagher is another book in the Ancient Practices series. In this book, Nora Gallagher looks at the ancient practice of taking Communion. She discusses what Jesus' purpose(s) may have been in asking us to "do this in remembrance of Me", as well as discussing what Communion means to her personally. 

I must admit, I was disappointed, to find that the practice of Communion, as discussed in this book, is quite specifically the type of Communion practiced by Catholics and Episcopalians (and perhaps other denominations). I found it difficult to "translate" much of what she said, so that it would also apply to Communion as practiced in our church. Lots of emphasis on standing in line waiting her turn, and her experiences serving people Communion. Which is all fine, but, had I realized that this was the focus of the book, and not a broader look at Communion that can be applied to the various ways various churches choose to keep this command, I probably would have chosen a different book to review.

I did appreciate how she compared the symbolism of Communism and the practical service opportunities she's experienced in helping at a soup kitchen.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Stylish Blogs . . .

We're stuck at home today thanks to MORE ice! Rodney went out this morning & said the sidewalk is literally a sheet of ice, we assume the drive is too, but he didn't attempt to navigate the sidewalk to confirm that. Soon after we'd made the decision that WE aren't going anywhere, we got the "official" e-mail saying that church is cancelled today, so we're getting to hang out at home on this cold, icy, icky day.

On the positive side, 2 kids are happily drawing/coloring, and the 3rd one is knitting, so I get some computer time.

And coinciding nicely with this extra few minutes of computer time, was a message from Blossom at North Laurel Home & School, nominating me for the Stylish blogger award, awww . .. thanks, how sweet!  Now, there's nothing stylish about me (although, I like the way Blossom thinks, she says "comfort" IS a style, so in that case . . . I'm VERY stylish, hee hee . . .) but I thought this sounded fun, so I'll play!

The rules are:

Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award

Share 7 things about yourself

Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers

Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

So, 7 things about me . . . hmmm . . . 

1. I hate having to think of things to say like this . . .my mind goes COMPLETELY blank . . . 
2. I LOVE books! I can't imagine NOT reading . . .when I was in high school I figured out that I could slide a paperback book into my coat sleeve, and keep it with me at all times to read whenever I had time, lovely trick! Now one of my favorite things about having a smart phone is the kindle app!
3. I always assumed I'd have boys, don't know why, but I did, instead, we have 3 beautiful daughters!! 
4. I don't mind cooking, but I REALLY struggle to come up with things to cook. I'd love to have someone tell me WHAT to cook, that my whole family would eat, every day, then maybe I wouldn't be scrambling every mealtime.
5. I love fireplaces, and really wish we had one, a REAL one, not a gas one, (especially on days like today), I love the smell and the sound, which is why the gas fires just don't do it for me. . . when I heard we were going to be able to rent "the old farmhouse", I had high hopes of a fireplace, but alas, the only fireplace was long ago converted to a "desk nook" (it's a huge walk-in fireplace area in the kitchen, so wouldn't have been ideal for snuggling around anyway).
6. I taught myself to knit so that I could knit diaper covers for Little Bit.
7. When I was in college I'd go to bed early, then get up at 4 or 5 am to study, it was nice & quiet then, no distractions! (I started doing it when my roommate worked nights, was easier to sleep when she did and study when she was at work, but I kept doing it when I had other roommates, and just went out to a nearby sitting area to study while my roommate slept).

Ok, now on to the 15 GREAT blogs I've discovered recently . . . 

1. A Life Less Sweet 
2. Season of Joy
3. A Planting of the Lord 
4. Confessions of a Homeschooler
5. Living Sola Gratia
6. 1+1+1=1
7. Our Busy Homeschool 
8. Legacy of Home
9. Susan's Spot
10. The Crafty Crow
11. Happily Domestic
12. Heartfelt Homeschooling
13. The Modest Mom
14. Keeper of the Home
15. Raising Homemakers

Whew, 15 is alot!! Now to go tell them all I nominated.  Happy blog-reading!! 

The Homeschool Mother's Journal - 3

In our homeschool this week...

Was a lot of ice! Well, not IN our homeschool, but outside our window. Snow is fun, ice . . . not so much!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We've got more ice & snow coming, but hopefully, we're going to church tomorrow . . . other than that, we're staying pretty close to home.

My favorite thing this week was...

Something "clicked" for both girls in Spanish this week. They are FLYING through the flash cards, and so proud of themselves for their progress. Ironically, considering our recent weather, the word they continue to struggle with is, "the snow".

What's working/not working for us...

While I think it's a great program, the Bible curriculum we've been using since Christmas wasn't working for us. There's nothing WRONG with it, but it's not challenging my kids. I don't think, given what the curriculum is (a 1st grade Bible curriculum for Christian schools), it should be made more challenging, because, it's all stuff a child NEEDS to know, it's just stuff that OUR kids have already learned. So the girls & I talked about that some this week. They like the curriculum well enough, but they agreed it wasn't teaching them anything new. A couple years ago, when I purchased The Princess and the Kiss, I'd also purchased the Life Lessons. But, while we've read the book numerous times, and they love it, we'd never worked through the Life Lessons. I happened to see that on the bookshelf when I was looking for something else I was thinking about using, so I suggested that idea to the girls & they loved it. So, we started it on Friday. I think it will be a great February Biblestudy for us!!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

My personal Bible studies this week challenged me to remember to "number my days"  (Ps. 90:12) and really look at how I'm spending my time. I think this is something most (all?) Homeschool Moms need to remember (I've written this at the top of next week's planner page, as a reminder, as I look at the schedule each day). What's REALLY important that we teach our children? And how much time do we focus on those things, vs. the minutia that is life on this earth?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

See what other Homeschool Mothers have been up to here. 

We've Got It All Wrong . . .

I don't do many "religious" posts per se, but this one has been brewing in my head for awhile now, so I'm going to see how it looks on "paper" . . .

Something that's been striking me more and more lately is how "backwards", we, as Christians tend to have things . . . our tendency to view things as "have to" instead of "get to" . . .

The book I recently reviewed about the Sabbath, highlighted one area where we do this.  The whole premise of the book is "the Sabbath is a delightful, exciting celebration that God wants to share with us each week".  And yet, it seems like we all (or at least most of us) don't "get" that . . . many Christians, of course, don't "keep Sabbath" and accuse those who do of being legalistic and sticking to the law that has been done away with.  I'm not going to get into a discussion here, at this time, as to what laws were and were not done away with or anything like that, because in this case, I see it as a moot point. . . The Sabbath is not about a LAW! It's about a wonderful chance to celebrate!! To say "well the law was done away with, you don't have to keep Sabbath anymore" is (or should be) like me telling my children, "hey, guess what, they've proven that Santa doesn't exist, so now we don't have to have Christmas anymore!"  Think it would go over well? (and just to clarify, my children have known since they were old enough to know who Santa is, that he's not real, and yes, we tend to focus on Christmas being about Jesus, not Santa, but just go with me here . . . for the sake of the illustration . . . ).  I can tell you, my kids' response would be WHO CARES?!?!?! We LIKE Christmas, we want to keep having Christmas!!! And THAT should be our response to the Sabbath "law" question.  WHO CARES if it's no longer "required"!! God still wants to spend one day a week celebrating creation with us, Woo-Hoo!! Let's PARTY!!!

Which brings us to those of us who DO "keep" Sabbath . . . at least the vast majority of those of us that *I* know . . . that's what we do, we KEEP Sabbath. We don't CELEBRATE Sabbath  . . . and therein, I think, lies the problem. Others don't see us reveling in our celebration, so they don't get why we do it . . . and ummm . . . sometimes I don't either.  I once mentioned to a friend, that if the Sabbath is truly a day of rest, FOR ME, it would be a day spent alone in nature instead of getting up and rushing to get children ready and to church on time, and such . . . And I'm not sure how to address that issue, in my life, right now. . . I'm not sure how, within the body of Christ, we balance the fact that a celebration and rest mean different things to different people . . .I love my church family, but for ME, getting up early and getting dressed (and getting 3 kids dressed) and wrangling said kids in a setting that isn't always the most interesting and exciting for them, isn't quite the celebration that I would like Sabbath to be.  I'm not sure how to address this with my kids either. They love our church family, they love Sabbath School, they love our pastor. But understandably, sitting quietly listening to an adult-level program isn't quite their definition of a celebration either.

So, I don't have all the answers, but I do know this . . . when Sabbath becomes a day of "have tos" and "can'ts" we're not celebrating the Sabbath the way God intends us to!

And that's not the only area where we tend to get it backwards . . . tithe is, in my opinion, another one. My husband and I were talking about the home church movement recently, from a bookkeeping standpoint (don't ask, we're accountants, we get into these discussions from time to time . . . ) and I pointed out that, a home church wouldn't have need of much, if any, bookkeeping. That there would be no "facility costs" because people would meet in each others homes. No rent, no utilities . . .. meals are potluck style . . . no corporate structure to support. If, as individuals or a group, the church decides to help those in need, they just pool their money and DO it! (well, if they decide as an individual to help those in need, they just . . . help those in need, but you know what I mean).  To which my husband replied "But then who do they pay tithe to? You have to pay tithe".  And it struck me, we have that backwards to . . . God set up the laws about tithe (and again, not getting into the whole law abolished or not thing here at this time), because the people weren't giving willingly. When we're only giving because we "have to", we ask "so how much do we have to give?" and God says . . . well, give at least 10%. BUT . . .if we're giving from a loving heart, we don't ask how much do we have to give, we ask, how much CAN we give?  A couple years ago a friend was sending Christmas boxes to an orphanage in Hati. I read the e-mail I'd gotten to the girls, describing the conditions at the orphanage, and what these children did and didn't have. And then I took them shopping and let them each make up a Christmas box to send. And you know what? They didn't ask "how many things do we have to put in the box?" they kept begging, "Please Mommy, can't we put this in too? Just one more thing, PLEASE . . . those kids don't have this . . . " Now granted, they were spending my money (although they did also share some of their Halloween candy, and some money from their piggy banks), but I don't think that matters here. They WANTED to give to these children. They felt compassion for children living in a world they couldn't fully fathom. And I didn't have to put a bottom limit on their giving. And THAT is how we should be! We should be looking at our budgets and saying "how much can we give, where can we cut back in order to give more? And if we are doing that. If we are truly embracing God's love for ALL people, and are trying to help as many people as we can, as much as we can, with the resources God has given us, I can guarantee, we'll be giving well over 10%!!

And finally . . . children.  I have a quote in my sidebar that says

"The Bible calls children blessings and debt a curse. Yet in our society we apply for curses and reject blessings. Something is wrong with this picture. -Doug Phillips"

and it is SOO true of our society! Even in the church.  Recently I happened to read my church's "official statement" on birth control, and a portion of it says


 "The perpetuation of the human family is one of God's purposes for human sexuality (Gen 1:28). Though it may be inferred that marriages are generally intended to yield offspring, Scripture never presents procreation as an obligation of every couple in order to please God." 


And I thought . . . that's true! God doesn't want the bearing, or raising of children to be an obligation! He intends it to be a blessing!! To say "God doesn't say we HAVE to have children" is, in God's eyes, like my child saying "well, Mom doesn't say we HAVE to eat dessert!" It's a true statement,  BUT . . . just like the Christmas example, my children would find it ludicrous. Of course they don't HAVE to eat dessert, they want to and they beg to and they are very excited when they get to eat dessert. And THAT should be our view of children. Children are an amazing, miraculous blessing from God! But we, as a society, have come to view them as an inconvenience. Have you ever stopped to consider how many parenting articles, and baby/kid STUFF is designed to make children "more convenient" to parents? There are countless books, articles, message board posts, facebook statuses and playgroup conversations about getting baby to sleep through the night. And yet, a baby is a baby for such a short time.  Now don't get me wrong, there are nights when I've BEGGED Little Bit "PLEASE, just let me have ONE NIGHT of sleeping all night!!". There are days when I don't think I can handle the sleep deprivation . . . but then, I look at my big girls. And I remember feeling the same way when they were babies/toddlers, and it seems like it was just yesterday, but it was SIX YEARS AGO (they're almost 8).  Now, I tell them to go to sleep and, unless they are sick or something else completely out-of-the-ordinary, I don't hear from them until morning. And suddenly, as I look at how big they're getting, I find the strength to cuddle Little Bit when she wakes up at night. And keep on going when I'm tired during the day (because I DID cuddle Little Bit half the night instead of sleeping . . . she's a wiggle worm, I can't sleep through her nursing like I could the big girls AND she has a rather frustrating habit of sitting up next to me and flinging herself back against me, and she has a HARD head . . .).  So, I "get it" sleep deprivation can be hard. But it's a short time. And they're SOO little and SOO special and before I know it, instead of Little Bit pushing herself against me at night, as if she couldn't possibly get close enough, she'll be jumping up and down, excited to go on a trip "without Mommy" like the big girls did this fall . . .  I'll take the cuddles, and sleep deprivation, thankyouverymuch.  And that's just one issue.  My girls and I somehow got into a conversation about bed & breakfasts recently. Over the course of the conversation, I explained that often B&Bs don't allow children, and then, in trying to verbalize how a B&B is different from a hotel (afterall, we generally stay in hotels that offer free breakfasts, so to a literal child, with no true point of reference . . . what's the difference?), I described it a being more "like a family" . . .But Mommy? They don't allow CHILDREN?!?! Hmmm . . . good point . . . don't ask me, I don't make the rules . . . 


So, what's my point? I'm not really sure . . . I think it's that I know *I* need to focus on my relationship with God, and seeking His will, because it is HIS WILL . . .not just HIS REQUIREMENT. Perhaps it's that, if we are truly focused on a relationship with God, so many of the rules and arguments would become non-issues . . . maybe it's just to give us all a little something to think about . . . 


What do YOU think? 

Introducing . . .Little Bit's TOT SCHOOL!

Little Bit is 22 months old

I came across this blog awhile back, and loved all her ideas for fun things to do with the little ones. I finally decided to start doing my own weekly(ish) Tot School posts.  We don't do a formal "school time" with Little Bit, but we do have some special toys that we only pull out during the big girls' school time (she calls her Lauri Toddler Tote "school" because that's when she gets to play with it, hee hee), but those are generally things that don't require much supervision, since I'm busy with the big girls.

But at this age EVERYTHING is educational . . . so I decided rather than trying to show something specific we do each day (since we don't introduce new toys every week, so it would get repetitive fast . . . ) I'd just highlight one or two things that she's currently enjoying each week.

I already mentioned her Lauri Toddler Tote otherwise known around here as "kool" (school, in Little Bit talk).  She LOVES it! And it's something she can play with all on her own. Though it took us awhile to learn that we can't eat the foam pieces. She really likes building with the little peg things in it, I'm thinking next time we need a new distraction I might get her some more of those . . .

Another favorite right now is puzzles.  This is a Melissa and Doug farm puzzle she got for Christmas when she was a baby.  It's fun because as a baby, very young toddler, the wood animals were fun toys all on their own, and now it's a fun puzzle, AND she likes to stalk all the animal pieces up like blocks.  She's really moving beyond this type of puzzles, and starting to enjoy ones where the pieces fit together, but she still likes this one. Especially since just this week she found the long-lost goat piece (we somehow had misplaced it when we were in the baby, just-play-with-the-pieces as animals phase, and I couldn't find it when she started wanting to do the puzzle. Then this week we pulled out the basket of wood blocks for her & ta-da there it was. She was VERY excited.

She CAN do her puzzles on her own, and does sometimes, but she seems to prefer them as a group activity, so the above pose, with the puzzle in my lap & her standing in front of me to put it together, is pretty common (the lack of clothing is pretty common too, though she's starting to voluntarily wear clothes abit more often, finally . . . ).

And THAT is Tot School for this week! Hope you enjoyed peeking into the world of an active 22 mo old. You can check out what everyone else is doing for Tot School here.

Weekly Wrap-Up - January 30

This was a very snowy week! First we got snow, and then we got SNOW!! And then we got snow and more snow . . .  And of course, we still HAD snow on the ground when the week began. So by now, when I try to walk through our yard the snow comes in over the top of my boots, sigh . . .

Needless to say, the girls have LOVED all the snow. They have an ever-changing fort at the end of our driveway where the plow pushes the snow. They built an AWESOME snowman (see the last post for a picture) with the "snowman kit" that Miss Judy gave them for Christmas. They did some sledding early in the week but by now it's too deep for good sledding.

Little Bit is starting to get over the "mess" factor of snow, but now it's way too deep for her. I took her out a couple days ago, and she couldn't even walk in it. Needless to say, we didn't stay out long.

Sunday we visited some friends who recently moved closer. They have an 8 mo old, so Little Bit had fun exploring his toys.  He has a walker, and Little Bit quickly figured out how to climb in and out of it all on her own. At least she was big enough to not be able to make it go very fast when she was in it, she was kind of scrunched up, hee hee. Pastor Andy let the big girls choose their kinds of tea and help him make it, and pour it out of tea pots, so they had fun with that. They had small (not as small as the girls' play tea set, but still small) tea cups, and Little Bit LOVED that. She claimed mine for herself and drank several (small) cups of tea out of it, soo cute! I think I have a couple smaller tea cups in the china cabinet that were my grandmother's, I need to find one of those for her when we have tea here at home.

We've done a relaxed school week. We've continued with our Bible curriculum most day, Speekee a few days. The Spanish calendar for the week . . . not alot extra though, it's been a primarily "PE" week with all the snow play.

When we were visiting Miss Judy this week her niece Sara came over. When Sara drove up we asked Little Bit "who's here?" so she climbed up on the sofa to look out the window. She looked kind of confused for a minute, until Sara got out of her car, then her face just LIT UP and she jumped down off the sofa and ran to the door, saying her version of Sara which I can't begin to figure out how to spell LOL.

I thought such a "bad" week, weather-wise might mean lots of fun kitchen and sewing projects, but it didn't, the girls were outside all the time. They DID make bread though, and we made butter. I can't begin to figure out why I haven't been making our butter all along! With the price we pay for raw milk, I can make butter for $0.78/lb! And it's fresh, raw, and as good as organic. So, making butter is now going to be a regular part of our schedule too. The girls think it's great fun too! We timed things well and made the butter and bread on the same day, YUMMY!!!

I feel like I'm forgetting something we did during the week, but I can't think of it. And my phone's being annoying uncooperative so I can't get my pictures I took this week, sigh . . .