The First Week

This last week we began our official homeschool. Overall it went rather well. The first day of school was not great. In fact, it was terrible. I had to leave the house and take a time-out in the shed. Yes, Mommies have time-outs, too. But God is merciful and heard my cries for help and He helped me. He gave me some ideas on how to rearrange the schedule/routine/rhythm of the day. And days 2-5 were so much better!

I also finished a great book by Ruth Beechick. "The Three R's" comes highly recommended by "expert" homeschoolers. It has great hints and helpful explanations for the basics for Kindergarten-Grade 3.

The kids and I have been loving this book:

It is a great science book, talking about the weather, the calendar, holidays, wind, animals, all kinds of things! I think we could just keep reading this book all day! We are way ahead of the curriculum schedule because of it, but who cares? The point is that the kids learn and have an enjoyable time, not to stick to a rigid schedule. So I use the schedule as a guide, which keeps me accountable and keeps me from laziness.

Joshua is really enjoying math and science. Handwriting- not so much. Rachel just enjoys being read to and enjoys the games/activities we play that sometimes go along with specific stories we read.

Another thing we did this week was... haircuts! All three kids received haircuts. I will try to get pictures, but Madelynn has bangs now with cute curls around her ears. Joshua has a short-all-over, sorta spiky haircut. If you can picture a "bob" haircut only longer, to about the middle of her neck, that's what Rachel has now. So cute!

An update on our housing: Our landlords are selling the house (as far as I know) officially now. We are still living here, with a roof over our heads, and trying to be content and patient as we wait on God to bring about another home for us.

Some Madelynn Joy for a Moody Monday

Madelynn loves baths. Rocking back and forth, crawling, splashing, scooting, she loves being mobile!



One Sunday morning before church, Madelynn laughed so hard I think she had tears on her face:




Madelynn is pulling herself up now! Yes, she's still crawling and she's getting better at it. She's faster, and is exploring rooms other than the living room. Namely, the kids' room. Up go the legos and the play jewelry. Forgot about the marbles though. Josh brought them out to play today. Madelynn found two (at different times) and Mommy found them in her mouth. Yikes! This pre-toddler phase is a little different than last time with Rachel. Older kid toys are harder to deal with!


I'm still figuring out "homeschooling" and our routine. If you happen to call us between 8:30ish-11isham and get the answering machine, that means we are "doing school". Just leave a message and we'll call you back whenever we can.

Spring Treasures

The kids and I went on a local nature explore (local as in, our yard) earlier this week. Here is what we found:

Tulips:

Checking out some other tulips in the yard:

Some Perennial (Bachelor Buttons?):



Tiger Lilies:

Our first Dandelion (yes, this is exciting!):

Watering the baby White Pine:

Checking out the Rose Bush:

Close-up:

MACHE Conference April 15-17

Joel and Renee attended the Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators Annual Conference last week. It was refreshing, insightful, and so great!
Here is a recap of our time there:

This is the arena area in the Civic Center:

Yes, that is dirt, and yes the speaker is riding a horse. Joel attended this "workshop". This specific speaker (we'll call him Mr. Speaker) was teaching on boundaries and winning our children's hearts. The horse that the rider is on, is a trained horse. A little while later he brings in an unbroken (untrained) mare. The mare is frightened and skittish. She is afraid of a specific blue tarp that Mr. Speaker has in his hand. He continues to teach and quote Bible verses and he eventually, by the end of 45 minutes, has trained this mare to walk across a board covered in the said blue tarp. His point? The point of training wasn't to get the horse to walk across the blue tarp and thus not be frightened by it. No, the point was to trust Mr. Speaker. So likewise, with our children, our point of parenting is to have our children trust us, to have their hearts and they have our hearts. A relationship of trust.

The whole conference was filled with workshops like this (as in, good teaching, not horses). Joel and I learned so much about homeschooling and how to support each other through that lifestyle. We browsed through the Used Curriculum Fair and the Exhibit Hall where all the curriculum vendors were. We ordered our curriculum (it should be here this week some time!). And now I am so excited to "begin". Don't worry, I am taking this slow. I know the burn out rate is high. I have a very supportive, helpful husband, I have The Lord who has given me inspiration, conviction, and wisdom, I have friends who are supporting me, and I have a son who is just aching to "start"!


Joel and I were also able to do some visiting! Our Lord allowed us to visit with Ryan and Emily (Renee's brother and his wife) in Minneapolis; we were able to meet Emily's sister, Andrea and her two girls; we spent some time with Alfie and Maria celebrating Joel's birthday; and we even got to see Patty at the conference (there were 5,000 people there!).

So all in all, it was a refreshing weekend with sunshine, warm weather, good teaching and no children.

Madelynn is Crawling!

Yes, she just started. Actually, I think she's been crawling for almost a week now. But Mommy (me) has not officially seen it until now. Joel saw it first about a week ago, then a few days later, Rachel saw her crawl. And then, yup, a few days later...Joshua saw it happen. But not me!! How does that happen?? Well, now Madelynn is doing it often enough I guess, that Mommy has watched her crawl more than a few paces...

Daddy - Daughter Day

Last week Joel and Rachel took a trip to Duluth. Just the two of them. It was mainly to run errands and fix the van (minor repairs) but I think they tried to make the most of it...

Happenings That Have Happened

Joshua and Rachel finished up another few weeks of swimming lessons. Joshua, Level 1 and Rachel, Preschool Aquatics. They both enjoyed it very much and are more comfortable in the water now. Here is a video of Rachel, her first time in the big pool with a life jacket:




For the last few weeks Daddy and the kids came down with some bad colds. So now we are in recovery mode and I am thanking the Lord that I (Renee) did not get any of the sickness. :D
Here is a comical video of Daddy sucking Madelynn's nose. The other two kids hated having their noses sucked when they were babies but not her! If you notice Madelynn's eyes are a little watery, it's due to the cold, not from crying.





The Easter Eve concert was such a blessing. Hopefully you were able to be there or able to watch it on Live Stream. Wow. I'm still thinking about it and remembering how grateful I am to the Lord for Jesus and for His death and resurrection. I am also grateful for what a blessed husband I have, talented and mature in the Lord.
Joel is working on getting a copy of the concert from our church and hopefully putting it here on the blog, we'll see!


You can continue to pray for our housing situation. We are listening to God as to when and where He wants us to go. We do have good favor with our landlords, though. They are letting us stay here until the house sells!

The kids and I have been enjoying the early Spring. Madelynn usually eats at about 11 am so the kids and I have lunch with her and then are able to have some free time before naps at 1 pm. This way we've gone on lots of walks!
The grass is getting greener everyday. It's fun pointing out all the green things to the kids: tulips and chamomile coming up, buds on the bushes, and we even saw bluebells in bloom two days ago!

One last happening that has been on my mind is preparation for homeschool. Yes, we've been homeschooling currently but it has been relaxed and almost experimental. There is so much to figure out! For example, which subjects do I teach with both the kids, and in what order should we do things? Should I read books to them, do Bible, Science, and Geography all together, and then have one on one time with Joshua for his writing and numbers? What do I do with Rachel at this time? And Madelynn? Do I answer the phone during "school hours"? Is printing off worksheets off of the internet the best thing for Rachel, even though she loves it?

That's just one bite of the questions I'm trying to figure out the answers to, I'm really looking forward to when we have curriculum, a schedule and a routine that we are all comfortable with and I am prepared for.

Currently I've been poring over the Sonlight Catalog, trying to decide which curriculum to buy. Praying, writing my ideas down, thinking, letting a few days go by, praying, changing my mind and writing new ideas down, thinking, on and on and on. I think I've finally got it though. I think. I better have figured it out because the Homeschool Conference is less than a week away, and we're hoping to buy the curriculum there. Do I a) buy a curriculum geared for Joshua's age and let Rachel listen in and be on the outside? Or b) do I buy a curriculum that is geared for both Joshua and Rachel's ages and teach them together, buying separate age-specific subjects for Josh?

Well, after weeks of pondering and praying, I have decided on choice b. I'm going to teach Joshua and Rachel together doing History and Culture, Geography, Bible, and Science (Core P4/5 if you want to look at it). Then Rachel will have her own Language Arts (it's as simple as the ABC book by Dr. Seuss, don't worry!!). Joshua will have his own Math, Readers, Language Arts, and Handwriting.

I think that's what I'm going to do. Joel has been very patient with me the last several weeks as I go back and forth on this!!

And, (I think) once we've bought the curriculum and I become familiar with it and map it out over the course of a year, (I think) we'll start right away. No need to wait for September when the kids are so ready and eager to learn!