EG the Explorer

Because our nursing time has decreased so drastically, I have found a new way to spend quality time with just EG. EG is the last to go to bed. So she and I go into Boop's room and I put her on the floor. She loves it! It is probably the safest room in the house because it hardly gets used except to sleep. There isn't a lot of little stuff lying around. She can explore in there with minimal amount of worry. So, I plop her down in the middle of the room and just watch.

Because she only sleeps in there, everything is new to her. The train table, the activity table, Boop's stuffed animals, cars and books. She starts exploring at the train table and picks up tracks and trains and looks at them and shakes them and then puts them in her mouth. She notices the rug on the floor and that it has patterns of a city on it with roads etc. so she places the trains on the rug and kind of moves them around. She then goes to the activity table that has wooden beads and shakes it to watch and hear what happens. Next, she spies a random toy left under the dresser and gets on her belly and pulls it out. And puts it in her mouth.

Off to the basket filled with books of all shapes, sizes and textures. She picks out a couple different ones and puts them in her mouth. Next it is to the stackable plastic chairs. They look steady enough but when she tries to pull herself up on them they topple over. Enough of those for now. Aahh, she spots some cords leading to the monitor. Quickly crawls over and grabs them. And puts them in her mouth. All the while she is exploring, she is looking over at me, sitting in the blue easy chair just watching her. She smiles, giggles, and off she goes to something else.

We do this for about 10 minutes. Then I get up out of the chair to get her. She looks at me and then tries to get away. But I am quicker, for now. I scoop her up and cuddle with her. Nurse her. Rock her. And then lay her in her crib. She buries her head into the mattress, grabs hold of the blanket or crib pad and just goes to sleep.

Oh, my beautiful baby girl . . .

Philippians 4:8

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." This is our memory verse for the next week or so.

This scripture verse is on the right side of my blog. I like the verse. It is inspirational. It is positive. It is kind of how I want to approach learning. I want my kids to read, watch, hear and learn about the very best of everything. Great music, great art, great literature. Rich words, inspiring stories, masterful music.

But as with a lot of things for me lately the verse has come to mean so much more. It is the verse I have been trying to use to filter just about everything we do in our everyday life. We have started listening to K Love in the car, a local Christian radio station. At first it was hard. We didn't know a lot of the songs and the kids like to sing along to the radio. But, the more we listened the more we are recognized songs and some of them we have sung in church. And, we are learning new ones. The announcers probably talk a little bit more on this station but it is usually great inspirational stories. And some of the stories have sparked good discussions and "teachable moments." I even listen to it when I am by myself. It is uplifting and positive and best of all, pleasing to God.

The kids were a little surprised by the change of music. I started to explain by paraphrasing Philippians 4:8. That no matter what we do in our lives we need to surround ourselves all the time with that which is good and pure and true and lovely and pleasing to God. Not to make us better Christians (although I guess that would be a byproduct) but because that is what God has called us to do. I shared with the kids that we as a family should use Philippians 4:8 as a filter for everything. Whether it is music, clothing, words, books, movies, friends, hobbies, our time, etc., etc. It is hard! Especially for me!

I would be lying if I said I don't have concerns about the choices my kids make when I am not around or when they get older. Or that it isn't hard for them when they want to watch or listen to something that I have said that they can't. But I have thought a lot about that lately as well. One thing I can do is train my children in the ways of the heart by using and applying God's words. It isn't what I want or what I believe. It is what God wants and what He tells us in His word. Yes, they will disobey me and God. (I disobey God.) When they become adults they will have to find their own way. Continue on their own to develop their relationship with Jesus. They will be responsible for their choices. But until then, God has given them to me for a time and it is my responsibility to train them and guide them. Give them the "tools" to help them make godly choices. Philippians 4:8 is one of those tools.

In the mean time we are listening to K Love and when the kids ask me to turn it up I will do so, gladly. . .

History Timeline

One of the things that has been a work in progress in our little homeschool is our attempt to learn history. We have had a couple of different approaches and it has changed over the course of the last couple of years. With Nature Girl we started using a spiral bound Century Notebook. And I liked that. It worked well. We would add everything we were reading about whether it was a composer, an artist or a person or event from history. But, with the addition of Little Mama to our homeschool, I wanted something that all the kids could do and see together. (The one consistent thing we have done is learn history through great literature! We have read great books such as The Little Duke and Our Island Story.)

Like everything we do for homeschool we get great ideas from other places. One of my favorite homeschool websites is http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/. She does a timeline on her wall using yarn, push pins and color coded index cards to indicate heritage such as Greek, European, Hebrew etc. We get our history figures from Homeschooling in the Woods (little cutout pictures of people and events). Each girl colors the picture and glues it on the appropriate colored index card. We then make a big deal about placing it on the timeline that is push pinned to the wall.

We talk about other events happening around that time. Who else was born, what else was invented, if there was a battle taking place. Last week Little Mama and I read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" out of Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children. And for science we learned about the Galileo thermometer. So this week Little Mama colored a picture of William Shakespeare and Galileo Galilei. We looked at the dates of each of their births and deaths and realized that Shakespeare and Galileo were born in the same year. We also learned that Shakespeare died many years before Galileo. Little Mama was the one who figured that out. She is very intrigued as to when people are born and when they die - how old they are.) I explained to Little Mama that those two men would be considered contemporaries. We also recognized that one was English the other Italian. So, we looked at our globe and discussed the continent of Europe and where Italy is and where England is.

One of the things I wanted to do was incorporate Biblical History within learning World History. I want the kids to understand that the events that have taken place in the Bible are a part of history as a whole. And to be able to see how Biblical History intertwines with other historical events in the world. At first I thought I needed some fancy book or program. But after taking a deep breath and giving it some prayer a very simple idea came to me (I know it probably isn't original.) This year we are starting to read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I purchased a packet of pictures of events that took place BC and we are going to color them, put them on a colored card and add them to our history timeline along with the other history we are reading about. ALL of history will be on our timeline in our schoolroom for everyone to look at all the time.

We are learning (and I say we because I am learning so much as well) history, geography, science, literature, grammar and sometimes math all at once . . .

Silent Sunday

Our Dad is the Best!

I got a call early yesterday afternoon from Daddy. He had a call to a house to get a grey rat snake out of some one's bushes. He wanted to know if I wanted him to bring it home to show the kids. I laughed and said it was totally up to him!!

At about 5 o'clock Daddy calls and tells me to send the kids out. Of course they all go running out to see what Daddy has brought home. In a tan sack is a 3 ft long snake (totally guessing its length). Daddy grabs it by the head and lets the kids touch it. It has little teeth and can bite but is not poisonous. It is a constrictor. That is how it kills it prey. Rats. Squeezes them to death. Apparently there is a red rat snake as well.

Daddy told us that as he drove around with it in his car for a couple of hours, it would wiggle all over the passenger seat and try to get into his lap. Can you imagine?? The week before, Daddy caught a pygmy rattler. He said it was really pretty. He chose not to bring that one home. We looked it up online instead! Pretty cool.

After the kids were done observing our grey rat snake, Daddy took him to the woods at the back of the neighborhood to let him go. I am hoping he doesn't find his way back to our house . . . .

Picnic at the Park

The girls did an informal Book-It program for the month of September. Their reward for reading everyday was a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. And yesterday they got to collect. We decided because it was such a beautiful day that we would take our pizza to the park.

After they ate lunch, they played on the climbing tree and then we all went for a walk around the lake. There were a couple of exciting little surprises during our picnic. First, Little Mama found a Praying Mantis on the tree. I tried for several minutes to take its picture but it was very hard because of all the leafy background. We watched it make its way down the branch. It would rock back and forth as it moved forward very slowly trying to get away I guess. It was really cool to see.

The next thing that happened was we ran into was a 12 week old golden retriever puppy named Cowboy. The kids were in love. The owner was very patient and let the kids play and pet it. We talked with him for quite some time about what an awesome responsibility it is to have a puppy in the house. He goes to the park every night and walks the puppy almost 2 miles just to wear it out. (Nature Girl wants another dog sooooo bad.)

It really is a neat little park with lots to observe. A couple times we have gone, there have been people playing different types of drums. The kids always stop and watch and listen. And it seems every time we go we strike up a conversation with some one. Usually a grandparent type.

Going to that park is one of the things I want to continue to enjoy. It seems to have something for everyone . . .

Weaning

I am in the process of. Yes, I am sad but it is time. I am so happy EG and I made it this far given all the trouble we had in the beginning. We have been struggling again as of late. She wants so bad to be a part of what is going on around us. She gets distracted and doesn't want to nurse. And we don't nurse well in public. I am so fearful of her weight and health and nutrition. It weighs on me when she doesn't eat like she should (or I think she should.) She has a mouth full of teeth and occasionally nibbles. (Could anything be more painful?!?) I know my milk isn't all that great. I barely eat enough for me. At some point I just lose my appetite and that can't be good for my milk. I have made it a slow process and I am in no rush. And I will continue in the morning, maybe naps and at nighttime for just as long as I can.

I am sad. For many different reasons: 1) my baby is growing up and needs me less and less 2) she is most likely my last baby 3) if only I could have held on for a couple more weeks 4) I love having her all to myself in the peace and quiet 4) I am going into a different part of life now and that is a little scary. But, I think I (we) are ready . . .