My Funny Middle Child

Yesterday, in the car, my middle one (who is four) very seriously asked me:

"Mommy, when Daddy grows up, will he be the Grandpa that lives with you?"
"Yes, sweetie, he will."
"Oh, he will be such a good Grandpa to my children."

It's so much fun for me to see their little minds figuring things out. For some reason, all of those family relations get a little tricky to figure out. Like Grandma is Daddy's Mom, and when he was little, he lived with her.
That kiddo of mine; she's always thinking, I can't wait to see the things that she writes someday!

C-section woes

My firstborn came as a huge suprise, and brought about a major shift in my lifestyle and thinking. Having her was the main way in which the Lord brought me back to himself. And, I am so thankful. Everytime I see her beautiful little face, I remember his goodness in restoring me. (well, maybe not everytime, but at least most of the time). Over the years, adding to our family has been such a joy.

I love the feeling of those first little kicks in the womb.
I love beholding my new child for the first time.
I love watching as older siblings immediately love their new little one.
I love having a baby to hold and rock.
I just love this stage.

And so, this fourth baby is difficult for me, because it means the end of a season. This will be my fourth c-section, and with my massive amounts of scar tissue, even this one will be a high risk surgery. My husband and I feel sure that this ought to be the last one, for the sake of my health - I just can't do this again.

And so, I cherish these last few months as I feel my little unborn one move and kick. I look forward to meeting her and holding her, rocking her and nursing her. And, with teary eyes, I anticipate this next season knowing that God is good, and He will continue to be so.

New Music

This morning I downloaded the new Feist cd off of itunes, and I have to say that it was well worth the $9.99. I have been a fan of this group for a couple of years now, and the new album does not dissappoint. It has made our morning of laundry folding and ironing much more enjoyable!

Homeschooling, year in review and planning

We are currently wrapping up the first grade at our house. We follow a classical/Charlotte Mason model. I would like to use this post to review what we've done and ask for suggestions for next year. I would also love to hear what you've been studying.

This year, I have followed the literature lists from ambleside online. I liked that the lists included excellent, classic books. My daughter has expecially enjoyed the fiction reading. The only thing that I would do differently is that I feel a study of American History would've been more beneficial to our family than a study of English history. I will probably use them as a resource in the future, but never exclusively.

I have done 'some' nature study for science. We can identify some of our local birds, flowers and trees. We also started Apologia's Astronomy book which I will likely continue next year. I think that Nature study is a wonderful way to slowly introduce the world of science to little people. My only trouble is that I don't know any of it, so it becomes difficult for me to learn and teach very effectively. I see this as something that we'll master over many years. And, we really liked Apologia.

We used Phonics Museum for Phonics, Reading, Spelling and Handwriting. (it includes Modern Manuscript) This program was thorough, but hasn't produced as fluent of a reader as I'd hoped for, and was rather laborious at times. The readers, while certainly well-intentioned are full of contrived phrases which strive to incorporate the current phonics over making sense. One example is that we read a whole book about Rockwall Jackson. I am certainly open for considering a different curriculum to use with my kindergartner next year.

I used Singapore for Math. And, I really like it a lot. It encourages thinking about numbers and how they fit together over rote memory of facts. In my opinion, memorizing 2+2=4 doesn't mean much unless they understand why. I have loved the conversations that my daughter just starts up about numbers. Also the lessons are short, we rarely spent more than 30 minutes per day on Math. And, the books are cheap! The whole year cost us about $25. We'll keep this one.

For Grammar, we used First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind. This program is written to be covered over two years (first and second grade). My daughter knows what a noun, pronoun, and verb are. She has also learned the Months, Seasons and Days of the week. The program also includes story and picture narration. At about 5-10 minutes per lesson, this is a nice, gentle way to begin Grammar. We will probably use Shurley in later years, but this is great for now.

I took my kids to the symphony, but didn't formally cover art or music appreciation as much as I would've liked to. I think that I might need an informal coop for next year to be sure that this gets covered.

As for next year, here's what I'm considering. Let me know if you have any advice or experience on the following subjects:

Reading (kinder) - considering Phonics Pathways, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons, or just using Phonics Museum again. I am definately open to ideas.

Spelling (2nd) - considering the Grammar of Spelling, or Spelling Workout. Ideas?

History/Geography (K & 2) - TruthQuest History American History part 1, I'm pretty much decided on this unless you know of a better elementary early American History program.

Math (K & 2) - Singapore! And will add in some fact memorization work for the second grader.

Spanish (K&2) - Phrase a Day looks pretty good, I don't want to spend a lot of money. Any other ideas?

Science (K & 2) - Either Apologia or NOEO, any experience with either?

Handwriting - StartWrite, I just found this computer program that allows me to print out my own custom sheets in a variety of different handwriting formats. It looks like all I'll need for all four of the kiddos! At $35 dollars, it's kind of a lot up front, but I'm sure that it will save me plenty over the years.

Literature - I will probably just pull from a lot of different lists and keep on readin' good ones! I think that I might like some early readers with study packets for my older one - any suggestions on where I could find that?

Wow, if you read this huge post and are commenting for me, you are one amazing woman!

Random Thoughts on Crafts and Cheese

At age 21, I was already a wife and mother to a one year old. I was also a fulltime student on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; and a preschool teacher on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I taught a two-year-old class at a Mother's day out. At this particular preschool, crafts were an essential part to each day. They needed to be planned, supplies gathered and executed. However, I found that it was extremely rare that the children were ever able to complete even some of the project on their own. And so, I would neatly assemble 8 crafts, often with a fingerprint or two from the little one, and send them home.
I began to feel that the absurdity of this practice should be obvious to all. However, I was mistaken. Many, many teachers are convinced that craft projects are a necessary part to any classroom experience. Now, I am certainly not knocking creative activities. I think that it is wonderful for children to experiment with watercolors and different types of papers, crayons and clay. As they grow older, and more capable, I love the idea of learning through doing, especially when studying the great artists. What I am talking about here is a three-year-old teacher feeling compelled to provide supplies for the children to create their own cardboard Noah's Ark (which they really can't do) and send it home only to be stomped on in the car and sent directly to the garbage can. I, for one, really don't have the space in my home for acquiring 25 painted toilet paper tubes shaped into a Christmas tree by my child's teacher.
With homeschooling, we are free from the obligation to have 'craft time' as our principal shares my sentiments. However, I recently visited a homeschool coop where this practice is alive and well in the 3 & 4 year olds classroom. Upon exiting the building at the end of the day, I observed about 12 green paper towel rolls standing up in green paper bowls with flowers coming out the top. What was obvious was that no child had assembled them, what was not obvious was exactly what they were supposed to be.
If you are a pro-crafter, I hope that I have not extremely offended you but rather inspired you to think outside the crafting box. If you were already an anti-crafter, I hope that I have encouraged you to be more vocal in your efforts to stop the preschool cheese. If you were undecided, I hope that you have now made up your mind.
Also, I apologize for my harsh tone. I am acquainted with many pro-crafting women who I deem to be very kind and caring. I just happen to disagree with them on this issue.