Where I've Been...

~What I've been working on ~

pizza sauce

diced tomatoes

salsa

green beans

apple pie filling

~Yes, it's school time again!  Two weeks down, how many more to go?  Sure keeping me busy, but I guess the schedule is a good thing~



~So very thankful for the peaches brought from PA~

and for my mother who willingly helped fill these jars and stuck it out through the bushel of apples for the pie filling.  She sure saved my sanity.

~Hitting the books.  We're trying a new curriculum for our Bible, Science, and History this year.  So far, so good!  Sticking with it through this busy gardening time...something {maybe all the baby kicks?} tells me we're going to need some time off come December.   :) ~

~Pears: On the agenda for next week~

{along with corn and more tomatoes}

I don't think we'll be going hungry this winter.

Praising HIM for the harvest!

Don't Blink

Yesterday was quite possibly one of the worst days we've had homeschooling ever. There. I said it. Just in case you think my blog comes across as "every thing's perfect!"

It was one of those "if-you-say-another-whiny-word-I'm-going-to-scream"

Or

"if-I'm-not-gray-by-the-end-of-the-day-it'll-be-a-miracle"

Or

"who-in-the-world-ever-thought-homeschooling-would-be-fun"

Or

"if-you-don't-hurry-up-you'll-miss-lunch-and-supper" days.

Or

Perhaps a combination of all!

I may or may not have said things like

"No, you may not get to play at all today"

Or

"I'm sorry that you think you'll never see sunshine again, but you have to finish your work"

Or

"I'm sorry you're lonely downstairs by yourself, but you made the choice to dawdle."

This pretty much was an all day affair. Just so you have it all in perspective :)

After a quick run in the evening to Goodwill {it helps that hubby's office is next door, so I can drop off the kids} {no, retail therapy to stress is NOT the answer} I ran to get some milk. K-Love came on and was playing "Blink by Revive". click here to listen. I sang along and halfway listened to what the lyrics said....

Teach me to number my days

And count every moment before it slips away

Taking all the colors before they fade to gray

I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

It happens in a blink

It happens in a flash

It happens in the time it takes to look back

I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time

What is it I've done with my life

It happens in a blink

Slow down,

slow down

Before today becomes

our yesterday

Slow down,

slow down

Before you turn around and it's too late

It happens in a blink

it happens in a flash

it happens in the time it takes to look back

I try to hold on tight but there's no stopping time

What is it I've done with my life

..la la la la la...

Repeat everything umpteen times..la la la..

It wasn't until I got to the part that says:

...Slow down

Slow down

Before today becomes

our Yesterday...

that it 'started' sinking in. I say 'started' because I still was NOT in a good mood when I went to bed last night. I think I have some lessons to learn along with my children this new school year.

Lamentations 3:22-24

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,“therefore I will hope in him.”

*no infringement on copyright intended. all credit goes to Revive for the song*

A Quick Fix-up

Before

~ This soup can pen holder was really starting to bug me~

After

*tutorial here*

A Mysterious Phenomenon

We have this strange thing going on at our house/school. It seems that no one can ever find a pencil to use, because they are always on the floor:

I'm thinking of naming it Pencil-droppy-itis!

It's a constant thing...We find pencils everywhere! Except beside the school books, where they belong!

Oh and it happens to erasers too:

Maybe I need to consult with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. She seems to have a cure for all childhood maladies....like "The Won't-Pick-Up-Toys Cure"...and "The Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders Cure!" Maybe she could come up with a "Can't-Seem-To-Stop-Dropping-Pencils Cure!"

Am I alone here??

No, I'm not on vacation or a blogging sabbatical. I just have a few things keeping me busy:

This

This

and this.

Hopefully someday my days will slow down (wishful thinking, I know!) and I can get back to blogging!

School Is In Session @ Our House!

Today was our first official day of school. Third grade and Kindergarten...seems like yesterday L was starting, now we're beginning our fourth year. Wow. Time flies when you're having (most of the time!) fun.

(Yes, we had to sneak in a little last week. The children couldn't wait to use the new schoolbooks and I knew we had apples and pears to take care of this week!)

Our first day breakfast. And no, I didn't get up and make waffles. They were leftover in the freezer from a lunch last week. ssshhhh...don't tell anyone we eat waffles for lunch!

New books...anticipation!

A rainbow of dry erase markers....

Math..Math..Math!

And of course...my little monkey. If anyone has ideas on how to keep him busy while we study, I'm open for suggestions!

Gym Day

Our local YMCA has homeschool gym days. L and BigM love to go...BigM likes it because he is 5 and is now old enough to participate.

L's age group is taking swimming lessons right now. I think this is her favorite activity.

Playing kickball. I think he spent more time leaning down like this than standing.

Fun with scooters during free time!

We enjoy this because it gives us a way to burn up all our stored up energy. It also gives the children the opportunity to meet other children and to learn all kinds of group games: Kickball, basketball, soccer, etc.

Welcome to Our "School"

I sure wonder why my children like to 'play school' way more than they like to 'do school'! I suppose it has something to do with the fact that they can do whatever lessons they please. And recess/play time? The rest of the day, if they like!!

They even have names for themselves:

"Maria" (the teacher)

"Michael"

They told me that LittleM is just now big enough to go to school so they don't have a pretend name for him yet!

When they are playing school..I tell myself that they're playing nicely together and at least they're learning how to spell the names Michael and Maria! The scary part is when "the teacher" sounds exactly like me.

Skating Lessons

L and BigM have been taking ice skating lessons. They enjoy it alot...and I like to see them gain confidence on the ice.

Picking up skates

Learning to skate backwards

(this picture is extrememly blurry...thanks to the plastic guard things)

This class sees lots of falls, hence the helmets. It sometimes gets quite humorous to watch them fall, then get up, only to fall right back down. Or the domino effect? Comical! But most of the time they just get back up and keep going!

Free time/practice

I think a little competition between siblings is sometimes a good thing. BigM was trying to keep up with L. He would skate for all he was worth and then, bam!, down he would go...and then he was up again with a smile and off he would go..chasing her down!

And we can't forget the little one! He was NOT impressed to wait through this session!

Your Word is Light!

We have been studying ancient civilizations in history.

Today we made our own oil lamp...and talked about how before there was electricity, people needed lamps to see in the dark.

Then we discussed how the Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. It was inspiring to see the 'light bulb' moment when L realized the comparison that I was making between needing physical lamps and needing the Word of God as a lamp and light.

This is our aluminum foil, olive oil, and cotton fabric wick lamp!

Then for lunch we had a "middle eastern" meal. Pita, cheese, olives, and hummus.

Some things never change...why is it almost instinctive to stick olives on your fingers?!?

And guess what? LittleM is watching...and learning!

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

Hieroglyphics

Jesus Loves Me!

My Artist

L received a paint-by-number last year for Christmas. We saved it for a time when she needed a special project. We didn't have our regular art class last week...so we pulled it out. Anytime she had a spare moment...out came the paintbrush!



In Progress



The finished product!

I think it's pretty good....but then, I am her mom and think she's the neatest daughter too!
Maybe she'll like to paint like her daddy??!!

Dinosaurs

In Science/History today, our topic was God's Creation. L was supposed to pick something she liked that God created and write about it. I was surprised that she chose dinosaurs....wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that she was able to visit the Creation Museum recently?

Even BigM got in on the action. This is his drawing of a dinosaur. As he was coloring he said, "It's kind of like I'm an artist!" I assured him that he was, in fact, an artist!

These are the school days that I really enjoy. Not alot of pressure to hurry, hurry through our day. Time to talk and create and learn more about my children. My daughter thinks dinosaurs are cute? Never knew that before!

Silhouettes

We were learning about shadows today...so we tried this fun project!


They turned out a little funky, but they do resemble them.

The children also traced my shadow. I either have a funny face or their tracing was a little off. Maybe I just have never realized what I REALLY look like. Shadows don't lie!

Seeing these silhouettes made me think that our children are a shadow/image of us, as parents. They take on our quirks and characteristics by default. I guess the main thought I had was that we need to be the shadow/image of Christ...so that our children pick up on that and reflect HIM in their little lives too.

Because you know there is not a whole lot more humbling than seeing your child act in a certain way or say an unkind thing....and then realizing they are just copying the behavior they saw in their mother.

Is A Mom Allowed to Bribe Her Children??!?

I'm not sure if this is considered a bribe or not...but I did it. (And I like ice cream!) I told L that if she did her handwriting without complaining she could fill in this chart:

And when it was all colored, we would go for ice cream. You see, handwriting is not her favorite thing to do..but she rallied around and accomplished this in 16 school days straight!!!

yum, yum!

Must be tasty!

Even the little guy got in on the action..he loves ice cream. I guess he can't hardly help it with a dad who would eat ice cream twice a day if it was around!

So this worked out good for the whole family. What mom doesn't like a peanut butter sundae when her daughter accomplishes a goal?

I'm not sure what we'll do next..she suggested going to grandma's or eating at Red Lobster as the next prize. (Yes, my children have expensive eating out choices! They don't ever pick the normal McDonald's.)

Any ideas for a fun incentive? I'd love to hear some other ideas. This homeschooling mom runs out of creative ideas by September!

Applesauce, Applesauce

I think the post title says it all. Many hours, sore hands, 37 quart later, and thanks to the willing help of my children -- the applesauce is done!


Once again we were blessed with food to can for the winter. When I look in our freezer and on our shelves, I am humbled again to think that we could eat for a LONG time without having to buy food. God has been so good to us. He has provided veggies and fruit summer after summer. And he gave us parents so willing to share the harvest of their trees and garden with us. HE IS SO GOOD!

We finished the first full week of school today. A good week. I'm still getting used to the idea of being a homeschooling family - and this is our third year! It sure has been a learning experience for me - hopefully for the children too.

We are trying a couple of new things this year. So far so good. We're using Christian Cottage unit studies for our Science and History. It has quite a few projects - hopefully we can get some accomplished and learn something. This week we made a Jesse Tree. We made a tree to hang on the wall and then hung pictures/verses that tell about the family tree of Jesus. It was exciting to me because L was able to tell me some things about people that I didn't know or had forgotten!
Anyway..this unit is about families..we will now go on to study family traits and our family tree.

Grandparents beware: we'll be calling for names of some of our ancestors!!

Thank you, Lord, for food and families!