Visit with Friends

A few weeks ago, our friends Alfie and Maria made their way up here and stayed the weekend. It was so much fun! Below are pictures from a hike we took with them while they were here.

Alfie and Joshua

Joel, Rachel, Renee, Joshua

Rachel and Maria

A New Wedding Ring

Some of you may know that I lost my wedding ring earlier this year. I'm not surprised it happened as my fingers have shrunk a size since I got married six years ago. Last night Joel finished making me a new temporary wedding ring! It is made of hemp with a strand of silver woven through it. Thank you Joel!!

(You can click on the photo to enlarge it)

More This and That

The first week of homeschool went very well. We were busy, but not overly busy, if you know what I mean. We did many things and talked about many things. The kids ask so many questions! I think the highlight of the week (or one of them) was making green and pink bread. Josh wanted green wheat bread and Rachel wanted pink Gluten Free bread. So they helped make each accordingly. They turned out fine, but the green one seemed to make my stomach turn a bit... So I pretended it was March and it was for St. Patrick's Day and that felt a little better. A little.

We have fallen into a general routine. It's great because I want the kids to know what is expected of them each day. Especially when Bean Sprout is born. The more good habits we form now, it will pay off big time later.

This week we started off making a solar system. Nothing over the top, just some sparkly sheets of foam and glow-in-the-dark stars. Some books from the Library helped us get an idea of the size and order of the planets, and also some constellations. The foam we cut into different sized circles and sticky tacked them up onto the kids' bedroom ceiling. Some of the stars are in the shape of the Big and Little Dipper, the rest are random. It was a lot of fun and a great science lesson for the day!

Rachel is very excited about two things. Her birthday and when Bean Sprout will be born. She asks me several times each day when these two events will take place. Tonight she and Joshua were both "pregnant" and having little "Rachels" and "Joshuas".

I've been feeling Bean Sprout kick and move each day. His movements are soft enough to ignore (which is nice late at night) but it is fun to feel him move around.

Update on Housing... We've decided to stay put where we are. Our landlord informs us that no one has taken an interest in buying this house and that we are welcome to stay for the winter. Other options have fallen through, so this is where we are. I am starting to make plans on fitting four children into the kids' room. I think it can be done, we'll see.

Joel is still working for Jerry and will continue to do so.

Joshua has been diagnosed with asthma. It's mild, not too severe. There is a possibility he will grow out of it. But for the time being he has a couple inhalers.

Madelynn knows where her belly button and her nose is. She also posed for this picture:

Yes, posed. I was trying to get a good photo of her pigtails, but she wasn't cooperating. She kept wanting to see the other side of the camera. Once she saw the few pictures I had taken, she pointed at the camera, sat down, and posed. So enjoy!

All the World is Our Classroom

I wanted to share what Joel and I are doing as far as our children's education. We have heard God's prompting to teach our children at home. Some of you may be interested in how we are doing this. Well, to start off with, I am very excited about all of this, and, thanks to Jesus, I am relaxed. Relaxed as in, not anxious about cramming everything into my Kindergartener's and Preschooler's brain as quickly as possible for fear of falling behind the public school. No, I am relaxed and letting the Holy Spirit lead what we do each day. Every so often throughout the day, I keep track of what we have done in a specific yearly planner. Why do I do this? Before I am accountable to the government when Joshua turns seven, I would like to find my "groove" for a record system that works for our family. And why am I letting the Holy Spirit lead our day instead of following a set schedule?

For starters, I am a Christian. I have given my life to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit lives inside of me. He is my boss. Not the clock. Not a list or a schedule. He knows what the day is going to be like and He knows what is best for us. Therefore, I have more joy (no anxiousness) when I listen to HIM instead of looking at a list or a schedule.

So to start off, I'll go through the main subjects we're focusing on this year...

Bible: Every morning, before breakfast and every evening before bedtime, Joel or I read the two older children a bible story from their children's bible. They love this and ask lots of questions! We also are memorizing a weekly bible verse corresponding with the letter of the week.

Science: I am adopting the Charlotte Mason method for this one. Josh and Rachel each have a "science bag" and within the bag is a small notebook, a pencil, and a magnifying glass. We go outside (when it's nice out) and look, discover and draw pictures in our journals. The kids love it! On not so nice days, we look and read from our science books from Sonlight.

Reading: Every week we have a new letter of the week. I read to the kids everyday from good, wholesome books either from the library or from the curriculum I purchased from Sonlight. In the afternoon when the girls are napping, Joshua and I do his sit-down schoolwork which includes him reading a small book or two out loud to me. Joshua and Rachel also participate in an online program called Starfall. It's a great phonics website that is all educational and very fun.

History: Sonlight has some great books that we are reading this year on world cultures and how people used to live compared to how they live now.

Geography: Every week we are focusing on a specific country, it's flag and where it is located on the world map.

Writing/Spelling/Language Arts: Joshua is continuing his handwriting with Handwriting Without Tears, an excellent workbook. When he is finished with this, we will begin what is called "copy work". Sounds boring, but it is a great natural approach to grammar, spelling and language arts. I will have him copy specific (small) portions of Scripture and fine literature everyday. This method is from Charlotte Mason and also Ruth Beechick.

Mathematics: We are using Alpha Omega's Horizons program for this subject. Joshua really enjoys it.

Art and Music: They are casual and seem to come into our life very naturally. With Joel playing guitar and both of us playing CD's throughout the day, our children already have a love for music. Arts and Crafts also happen naturally. It's great fun to sit at the table and color a picture or do something more special like collecting leaves from outside and creating leaf rubbings.

So that is mostly all for this year. Of course there is so much more kids learn. Like manners, emotional stability, sharing, social skills, doing chores, feeling free to ask questions and have them answered by people they trust, good hygiene, treating the earth and its resources with respect, how to talk on the phone, sports and other outdoor activities, using their imagination and so much more! That is why I titled this post: ALL the World is our classroom. Learning doesn't just take place in front of a workbook or a textbook. When we have that attitude, the day seems to go smoother. Joel and I take opportunities to teach anytime we are with the kids.

Backyard Bear

I (Joel) was feeling a little silly as we ate our picnic supper on the trail. The homemade buns, cheese and apples were great. But it was the broasted chicken, still warm from the grocery store, that worried me. The berries are gone but the bears are a long way off from hibernating yet, and still hungry. So we practiced our bear-scare roars on the hike out. That was a lot of fun and we didn't see anyone more interested in our chicken than us.

An hour later we were in town roasting those giant marshmallows over the fire with the H's and Danielle in Danielle's backyard. John got up to check on Joshua, Boston, Rachel and Trinity who were running around the garage where we couldn't see them. Instead of the kids he saw a bear! I ran over and saw that it was a small black bear so I got the kids to come see it and practice their roaring. But we decided to not try to scare it in case it went out on the road. The officer who answered the phone at the sheriff's dept said that there was actually a mother and cub in town. He also said that the conservation officer would rather not shoot it so they are letting it roam around. Happy Labor Day weekend tourists!