Overheard on the 4th Day of Christmas

Bluejay and Chickadee to one another this morning several times this morning~

"Are you the innkeeper?"

"Yes"

"Do you have a room to rent?"

"I'm sorry, there's no room.  Well there's one place..."

"Anything will do as long as it has a roof"

"You can use my stable in the cave back there"

"Thank you!"

And then Chickadee said "Joseph and Mary went to the stable..."

These were not either of their roles in the Nativity play they performed before Christmas, but I guess they were memorizing them as well. Such busy little minds... Chickadee was the one who particularly remembered the exact lines and told Bluejay what to say, but they took turns being the Innkeeper and Joseph.

December Daybook

Outside my window... it is sunny and beautiful and now that we've had a few heavy rains, everything is starting to look green again, after a very very brown drought year.

I am wearing... maternity skinny jeans (the only maternity jeans I've ever had that actually stay up!), a white shirt with pretty details around the neckline and my favorite boat shoe crocs.

I am thankful for... Lots of things:

1) A lovely weekend of Christmas joy for our family, especially the little ones. Yesterday night was the Nativity Play we've been rehearsing for the last five weeks, and it was delightful. The children were terrific, and I think, greatly satisfied with the whole event, even despite the significant delay between getting into costume and actually performing the play.

2) A wonderful, comforting visit with my midwife this past week. Not that there were any reasons I needed the comfort, it's been a good pregnancy, just that I always feel happy and good after visiting with my sweet midwife.

3) Squeezing in a few precious minutes to chat and connect with my husband during these busy days, when it seems everyone's conversations take precedence over ours!

I am thinking about... keeping a list of books I read this year.  This is an exact repeat of my daybook from last January. So I'm guessing I won't do it :-) Last year, I know that I read lots of PG Wodehouse, some Wendell Berry, Driftless (a wonderful book my sister-in-law recommended), and The Brothers Karamazov (a re-read, but from a beautiful new translation so it feels like new) - I'm just at the end of this one, but haven't quite finished yet.  On my wishlist for next year is Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry, and maybe some Anthony Trollope. I'm also thinking about homeschooling plans for the New Year (not the new school year).

Learning all the time... For my own learning, I think I'll probably stick with some serious classical literature (finishing The Brothers Karamazov for starters and probably starting something new along that line after a brief break) and hopefully some good spiritual reading. There is finally a women's retreat planned by our church coming up, and I'd like to go to that, if I can figure out childcare. There is a second one later in the year, but it's an overnight retreat and I'll have a newborn by then, so that seems unlikely.

From the kitchen... planning our Christmas menu with my brother Gabe is on the to-do list for today. I know we are sticking with our traditional roast beef and yorkshire pudding (so yum!) but we need to discuss side dishes and dessert. Food is a (the?) KEY part of every holiday, on my side of the family. In the pre-Christmas fast period I've been more or less good at keeping home-cooked or partially homecooked food on the table... but fasting, nursing and pregnancy, and young people have been a bit challenging to navigate.

I am creating... not really anything at the moment. I was working on a craft for our sisterhood Christmas bazaar, which was a candy-cane with a mouse (a kit someone gave me) but Chickadee ripped one of the pieces and I haven't found time to get a replacement piece of fabric yet. Craftiness otherwise has been a batch or two of granola for our Christmas packages we recently mailed, and Christmas cookies with the kids which they decorated last night.

I am working on... not losing it. I think I had gotten in the habit of losing it lately, often because it has been extra hard to pick things up, my back has not been great this pregnancy, and I've gotten frustrated with the kids when things got crazy. But also because the huzz and I hadn't been making time to talk and connect when things got busy, and so I was holding everything in. Not a wise thing to do when the majority of your household and interactions are with the under 6 crowd.

I am going...  grocery shopping one more time before Christmas.  Then to Vespers for the Nativity and to Christmas liturgy on Christmas day in the morning!  I can hardly wait.

I am hoping... for a peaceful, joyous Christmas.

I am reading... The Brothers Karamazov. Such an amazing book. I almost never write in my books, I have a weird thing about it, but this time, I had my pencil at the ready. I'm at the very end of the trial, so almost done, but am taking it very slowly, as I want to be able to really grasp what is happening in one of the best novels ever written.

I am praying... prayers of praise and thanksgiving, I hope.

I am hearing... Sparrow getting frustrated with his backhoe/dump truck. It is not doing what he wants it to do. Chickadee is running another game in which Bluejay is her dog Patch, and Sparrow is her donkey Poula. Sweet Mr. Bluejay just fixed Sparrow's truck problem.

One of my favorite things... When these kids play together so nicely. How little Sparrow hardly needs me except for things like food and diaper changes, and important cuddle time when it's been a while.

A few plans for the rest of the week... My aunt arrives tomorrow, so dinner with her and my dad in the evening. Aaron is taking Christmas Eve off (hurray!) and two of my brothers (Gabe and family, and Marcus and his friend) arrive that day too. Then... Christmas! and Feasting! 

Some picture thought I am sharing with you...

  

The Shepherd (Bluejay) and the Innkeeper

The angels. That's Chickadee in the middle.

The boy and the cat.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Homeschooling Week 12 - 15

Week 12 is the last week of our first quarter already!  I can hardly believe it. I am reviewing the curriculum to see what we will be doing new next quarter. Much of it is things we are already doing, actually, Bluejay is really just doing naturally, without any forethought or prompting by me, such as seeing numbers and patterns in real life, counting things, etc.

Monday, week 12 ~
Prayer and circle time. Circle time was a free-for-all poetry extravaganza, in that I read every poem they asked me to in our current favorite poetry book A Child's Book of Poems illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa. 

I told a story for the number 9.  I made this one up, and I think it was one of my best so far... which included 3 rivers and 3 bags of gold at each river, completing in reaching the number 9. I got ideas from the curriculum for this.  Then we drew the story in our book.

Bluejay, as mentioned above, occupied himself counting the number of pictures in a collage Aaron had done some time ago. There were 121. He did not miss one, and he did this several times.  Then he practiced writing all his numbers on the chalk board. He needs help with 5 and 8.

Chickadee set up some of her animals for school, and some for bedtime. She sat in a chair in front of the school animals and taught them their lesson. Sparrow found a way to take part in everything, especially the counting, or if he saw me taking a picture. He really likes to be in all pictures.

Tuesday, week 12 ~
Prayer and circle time.  Sang "Over the River and Through the Woods" - talked about upcoming Thanksgiving. Finished writing number 9 in our books. Decorated book cover and back with the full alphabet and all the numbers. Read from the Red Fairy Tale book by Lang (Brother and Sister).

Wednesday, week 12~
My mom came over and led the kids in an exploration of the calendar. Reviewed the months what happens each month, as well as what season it is in. Further work with numbers in the afternoon.

Thursday, week 12~
Prayer and circle time. Talked about how, although it was still fall, the season was starting to change. Weather no longer matches When the Frost is on the Punkin'. Now it matches "Over the River and Through the Woods" more, some people have snow, we have rain. Did more focused work on the calendar. Poem "Thirty Days Hath November...".  Wrote out all the months, in order, with a different color for each season, so Bluejay could see how each season has 3 months.  Bluejay wrote in the number of days for each month as we sang the poem again.

Homeschool group music class.

Thanksgiving week ~
We did not do school per se this week. We did some circle time, poems and songs, practicing the children's lines for the Christmas play. We did lots of coloring and reading books and listening to music. By Wednesday, sweet Bluejay said to me "We didn't do school!" "Yes" I said, "we are taking a break for Thanksgiving. Do you want to do school?" He most certainly did. So we added a little more of the above activities, and called it School, and he was satisfied.

Monday, week 13~
Prayer, circle time. We talked about preparing for Christmas, the Advent season, and made beeswax holly leaves and berries. Sang Away in a Manger.

Told a story about a volcano, erupting and spewing hot lava and ash into a valley, where the villagers had to evacuate. Drew a picture of the valley in the shape of a V, with the volcano in the background.

Preschooler had a project to cut and glue pieces of her previous artwork to cover the box that will hold our in-process artwork.

Learned about pomegranates, and how to open one and find and eat the seeds. I did not appropriately think this through and put aprons and bibs on everyone and roll-up sleeves before hand! But they greatly enjoyed it, even though it took some convincing for Bluejay to try a seed.

Packed up our fall decorations from our school table, and began to decorate with Christmas decorations (pinecone trees and a Christmas candle for starters).

Tuesday, week 13~
Chickadee had ballet class. Bluejay practiced writing all the letters of the alphabet in a workbook.  Then he wrote Christmas letters freehand, with my spelling words for him.

Wednesday, week 13~ 
This was a nature study day. We spent much time immersed in rain, walking around our neighborhood, getting soaked, watching where the water went and what it did in deep areas and shallow areas, with the leaves, etc. We also spent a lot of time talking about animals of key interest - a huge topic with Bluejay lately. The primary focus these days is on Cheetahs.

Thursday, week 13~
Prayer and circle time. Worked on the number 10. Talked about how we have now learned each number symbol, and are starting a new series of numbers with 10. Talked about what 0 means and what it stands for in a number. Wrote the number 10 in our book, drew our two hands and numbered each finger.

Homeschool group music class. Afternoon work with modeling clay (especially our little preschooler Chickadee).

Monday, week 14~
Prayer, circle time. Practiced our lines for the Christmas play and read poems.

Made Christmas chains for decoration out of red and green construction paper.  The children practiced cutting along straight lines, and Bluejay learned how to staple to create the rings of the chain.  Also did drawings of Christmas trees, etc.

Tuesday, week 14~
Chickadee had tap/ballet class. Bluejay brought one of his favorite National Geographic books and we read about how different animals move: three-toed sloths who only hang and are not well equipped for walking, kangaroos and crickets who can jump much farther, body-length for body-length, than a person, and herds of wildebeests who travel great distances following storm clouds and thunder to find grazing pastures.

Bluejay practiced writing numbers.  He still needs lots of practice with this, although he has his letters (capitals) pretty much down.  Later my mom came over and she and Bluejay continued with learning to use a stapler, making books out of construction paper, in which he wrote numbers (numbered the pages, his idea) and drew Christmas trees.

Wednesday, week 14~
Prayer and circle time.  This week for circle time instead of singing 'O Heavenly King' we are singing the Christmas Troparion, and will probably do that until Christmas, so they can learn it.

Read the story of Christmas, poem from the Nativity episode of the 12 Great Feasts books for children.

Read The Golden Key (Grimm's).  Made guesses as to what was in the iron chest, that might start with K.  Drew a key that looked like a K in our book and colored it in.

Thursday, week 14~
This day was the day the big Northern California storm of the year hit. We were overjoyed to get some rain, and it was a staying in the house kind of day, as the roads around us weren't safe, but it felt different. So instead of regular school we had lots and lots of imaginative play. I'm going to try to upload a video of some of the action. I parked myself on the couch in our play room (converted garage) with The Brother's Karamazov, and read and kept them company for over two hours, while they just played - first they played with Mr and Mrs Potato head for a long time. Sparrow brought me trains and asked me to drive them over his head and down his tummy. Then they played with the train table. There was a raging inferno. They needed all hands to put it out. It was very exciting and intense. 

The rest of the day was spent in similar fashion, cooking and eating yummy food and hot tea, reading books and being cozy, with a little bit of very muddy outside time when the rain and wind was a less intense in the afternoon.

Monday, week 15~
Prayer and circle time - sang the Nativity Troparion. Sang the St. Herman song, as his feast day was Sunday - it is a modification of one of the Bruderhoff songs (Land of the Silver Birch). Read poems, mostly Christmas poems but others that appealed to our fancy as well, like 'How Doth the Little Crocodile', and The Eagle ("He clasps the crag with crooked hands" - I love this one). It thrills me how much my children love poetry.

Made a list of all of the letters we've done in our book so far. I told the story of the Three Bears, which, although they've heard many times, never ceases to be a fun one. Then we drew the Father Bear in the shape of a B in our book.  Chickadee also drew the Mama Bear, and practiced writing B's. She is starting to want to learn how to write the letters too.

Tuesday, week 15~
Chickadee's last tap/ballet class which we got to watch. She was very pleased with the whole thing.

Prayer and circle time, then Christmas crafts - made reindeer antlers out of cardboard and an old head band.  Read nature stories from Bluejay's National Geographic book about how animals move.  Made a Christmas gift (food) to give to our family members.

Wednesday and Thursday, week 15~
Well, I don't remember much of the last of this week.  We did more writing as we made more Christmas cards for family members far away and put them in packages. Bluejay is getting quite comfortable writing as I spell for him, although he does not line up his words quite accurately on the page, in his efforts to fit them all in. Chickadee just started, with this Christmas card business (and especially her notes to Santa - one in which she told him what she is giving HIM, and one in which she made her requests) to actually try to write out words that I spell. She has quite a few of the letters down, but makes up others and is very content in the knowledge that they are suitable for her purposes.

We had a fun time at the last of our homeschool group music classes, 6th hour service and picnic lunch together on Thursday, and Friday evening was the final dress rehearsal for our Nativity play at church.  The play took place Saturday after Vespers and was just completely adorable. The kids were so so excited and the whole event was lovely, plus, St. Nicholas made a visit after the play and caroling.  

And, I think, that may be it for homeschooling this year!  We'll see though, I'm not sure Bluejay will let me get away with taking a two week break...

Do Less

Even as I draft this post, I wonder if I will have the courage to post it.  One of my primary philosophies as a parent (and as a wife, a co-leader of this little kingdom that is my family), is that doing too many things, no matter how good each individual thing is, is detrimental to a child's ability to grow and develop, as well as to family peace and harmony, and living a family life of Godliness. It is actually one of the primary reasons I have chosen to homeschool. The thought of the amount of "things" you have to do, once you start driving your child to school in the morning (and I mean paperwork, activities, unnecessary doctor's appointments, field trips, homework!) gives me the heeby jeebies.  And that is just for ONE person, one aspect of life, school.

We live a very small life right now. We hardly ever shop. We go to vespers on Saturday evening and Liturgy on Sunday morning. We go once a week to our little homeschool group music class, with other families from our church. If we add an extra activity into one of our days, I make sure that that is the ONLY activity that day (and this includes me going to work - when I go to work, there are not other places that the kids have to go as well). Other than that, we stay home. 

This is what we DO...

I turn down most birthday party invitations.  I say yes to, and actively seek out, one on one play dates with another family (or two). I do not sign them up for sports, unless it is a short term commitment (Chickadee will do a three week long ballet class, one class/week, next month, because she has asked so persistently). My children are 5, 3 and 1. They are TINY.  There will be so much time in their lives for "doing things". Everywhere the 5 year old goes, the 3 and 1 year old must come too, let alone their pregnant mama. I am amazed already at how much pressure there is to do more (at least I perceive it as pressure, even from other homeschoolers who generally have a similar philosophy to mine); to fit in several things at once. 

Also this: they just got married. They are wearing plastic washers for rings. All Chickadee's idea.

Our church is doing a Christmas play, and my children are thrilled to be involved. They talk about going to practice all week, and they work on their lines (one sweet little line each) every day with enthusiasm. But I struggle with how much is added on to these activities.  Rehearsal starts 2 hours before vespers - first a craft, then time rehearsing, then a snack, then play time, then an hour of vespers.  And while the age range obviously goes up a bit from my 3 and 5 year old, it doesn't go up by much, most of the children are under 7. So I have difficulty appreciating with the why and wherefore of these decisions. I wonder if it comes from a perceived need to make it "enough" for the kids. Sometimes I will bring them a little late, and inevitably, we miss some key part of the practice. Sometimes we skip vespers, which seems so counterintuitive to the whole point of this thing. What I'm saying is, I struggle. 

And we definitely do a lot of this. It's the lifeblood of our homeschooling routine.

I mean no judgment or disrespect to those who organize these activities. I see a real love for the children, and a true desire to offer them participation in the deeper meaning of God becoming man, and entering our world, each year, each Nativity season. I guess we will continue to find balance in ways that we can, and I trust that it will get easier, and I will become more confident in the judgment calls I make, as a wife and mother, on how best to incorporate these things into our family life. In the meantime, prayers are my answer. And I ask for forgiveness of the families whose parties and other activities we have not attended. We were probably already doing one other thing that day.

Homeschooling, Weeks 8 - 11

Monday, week 8 ~

Our first field trip. Our little group of homeschoolers (four families and about 10 children) went to a monastery of nuns about 40 minutes east of here. The children had a marvelous time. They have a huge koi pond full of enormous and beautiful koi. Sparrow could hardly tear himself away from this. He just wanted to watch and touch those fish. They will suck on your fingers with their powerful mouths. Sparrow practically jumped in the pond, and he was very offended when I tried to hold on to the seat of his pants.

They also have a parrot and two large parakeets (all rescues), and two rescue rabbits, as well as a number of rescue cats. The monastery is not large, but they have used the land beautifully for their gardens and fruit (pomegranate and persimmon) trees and olive trees. One of the nuns gave the children a tour of the grounds and told special stories about different features. Then we joined in their 6th hour service in the little chapel, and had lunch with Mother Melania and the rest of the nuns before leaving.  During lunch, the reading was one of the stories Mother Melania writes for children. We brought back coloring pages from the story and also coloring pages of koi.

Tuesday week 8 ~

Prayer and circle time. 

Read the story of the Old Woman in the Woods (Grimms). Bluejay really liked this story. Drew the tree (which was really a handsome prince) in the shape of a T, as well as the servant girl and the dove with the plain ring.

Wednesday week 8 ~

We did have school this day, but I do not recall exactly what we did.  It was not another number or letter.  I believe we did art and stories. Oh, and sometime this week, we added the letter U to our alphabet wall (cut outs of the letters, with an item starting with that letter glued onto it).  We have also been doing a lot of nature study, child led by Bluejay.  He has been watching some nature shows, and we have a series of National Geographic books which cover things like nocturnal animals, animal movement, national parks, etc. etc. which he is continually asking to read.

Thursday week 8~

Homeschool group, music class and 6th Hour.  Outdoor play time.

Monday week 9~

Prayer and circle time.  Sang the Jack o' Lantern song in addition to our others.

Talked about the number 7, how men throughout the ages have regarded it as a perfect number.  Number of days in a week, colors in a rainbow. Combination of the strong 4 (square) and harmonious 3 (triangle).  I made up a story, with some guidance from the curriculum and some elements from recent Grimm's fairy tales, about a selfish prince, who wanted to marry a beautiful princess in a golden castle in the sky. He could not figure out how to get there, but as he travelled around trying to find a way, he did unselfish things for others. After he had helped several others, a rainbow bridge appeared and he was able to climb it to reach to golden castle and the princess.  Drew a picture in our book of the rainbow with 7 colors, and the castle.

Decorated for Halloween (just a few little additions to our fall decorations).

Science experiment: milk and drops of food coloring, add a touch of soap and colors move (color-changing-milk).  Bluejay did this at his preschool last year, and Chickadee was anxious for a preschooly activity so I thought of this one.

I wish I'd gotten a good picture of the colors swirling when the soap was added. These are after the children encouraged the colors to fully combine, ha ha.

Sparrow, being a part of it all.

Read Ox Cart Man

Tuesday week 9 ~

The school day started with impromptu gymnastics and band time (harmonica's, marracas, train whistles, various other instruments).

Prayer and circle time. Did poems - Five Little Witches sitting on a Gate, and Three Little Ghostesses, in addition to our others.

Read the story of Mousekin's Golden House.  Read The Princess and the Pea (Hans Christian Andersen).  Drew the princess putting on her crown, in the shape of the letter P.

Practiced writing P's.

Wednesday week 9 ~

Thursday week 9 ~
Prayer and circle time.

Nature study - researched wasps, hornets, yellowjackets vs. bees.  Study initiated due to Chickadee getting stung by a wasp earlier this week, and the many questions that ensued.  Learned that yellow jackets, hornets, etc. are all different names of various types of wasps.

Homeschool group music class, 6th hour and picnic/play time.

Friday week 9 ~
Halloween activities, including art (with daddy) - making orange construction paper jack'o'lanterns on black construction paper.  Also lots of coloring.  Carving pumpkins.

Monday, week 10 ~
Prayer and circle time.  Talked about the upcoming feast of the Archangels and all the Heavenly Hosts.  Sang "Oh Michael the Victorious" and looked at icon of the Archangel Michael, as well as our usual songs.

Read the story of St. George and the Dragon.  This was a huge hit with Bluejay. When we came to the moment where the Red Cross Knight cuts off the end of the dragon's tail, he leapt from his seat and shouted "Wow!"  Drew pictures of dragons and of course some dinosaurs too.

The "big" kids watched me work on a sewing craft project for our church's Christmas Bazaar and asked lots of questions about sewing, while handing me pins or replacing them in the pin cushion.

Tuesday, week 10 ~
Prayer and circle time. 

Read the story of Semeli Mountain (Brothers Grimm) which is basically similar to Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.  Drew the mountain in the shape of an M.  We did several other things this morning which I cannot fully remember.  The kids (especially Chickadee) have been asking to read St. George and the Dragon repeatedly since we read it on Monday, I think we may have done that again.  Lots of coloring.  They are hooked.  

We also read Rumpelstiltskin.  

In the late afternoon we went with a few of our close friend families to a real working farm, which does a traditional form of community supported agriculture.  Members come each week and select whatever (and however much) of the gorgeous vegetables they want, pick there own flowers from the amazing flower garden, pick whatever herbs they want from the herb garden and buy beef grown at the farm.  It was incredible. We stayed for a few hours and the kids were just free to roam and play.  There was a huge swing in a tree, I understand there is a pond on another side of the farm where in summer they had built a little beach.  The farm is owned and run by a young couple with three children.  Their goal is to have an entirely closed farm, growing crops to feed the animals, and breeding the animals from their own herd. They are adding pigs, as well as chickens and turkeys, so next year the CSA will include eggs and a Thanksgiving turkey.  I want to join so much.  It is a little far away which is my biggest concern for a weekly pick-up.  But...

The littlest boy of the farm was just Sparrow's age, and the two of them hit it right off and were a site to behold, wandering alone in the strawberry patch eating their fill, and driving dump trucks around the barn.  

Sparrow is the little fellow on the tractor.  His new friend is the one with the yellow balloon.  I didn't have my phone/camera with me so only got this one picture at the farm before we left!  Sad.  The flower and herb gardens were still very beautiful despite it being November.

As perhaps you can tell, this experienced pulled on all my back-to-the-land yearnings in a big way.

Wednesday, week 10 ~
Prayer and circle time, with special focus again on the Archangel Michael, the kids were very enthusiastic to sing Oh Michael the Victorious.

Drew the number 8 in chalk outside and walked it over and over, to show that it's a number that doesn't start and end, but just keeps going and going.  I told them a story (made up with guidance from the curriculum), about a spider, who has 8 legs of course, and lures a fly into it's web.  But the fly is tricky and with flattery, convinces the spider to bit by bit free it's legs, and wings, and then head from the ropes so it can admire the beauty of the spider's web.  Then it escapes.  Drew the web and spider and fly, and the number 8 in our workbooks (Bluejay and I).  Bluejay's thoughtful comment of the day: "How does the spider not get stuck in its own web?"  I'm going to have to look that one up.

Chickadee really wanted to do Show and Tell.  So she did a presentation for us prior to which she set up stuffed animals in chairs, as most of her show-and-tell involved her being the teacher. 

I have the sweetest little movie of Chickadee presenting her show and tell.  But it is too large to upload and I am not motivated enough to learn how to edit it.  Sigh!

Bluejay just started asking me to teach him "math" (I'm not sure he quite knows what that means) and how to read.  So I am at a bit of a crossroads and am looking forward to meeting up with some experienced friends of mine, with similar education philosophies, to get some advice on how to respond to these requests.  I am anxious not to rush reading, but more importantly to ensure the right foundation is laid before we go to far with actually reading.

Thursday week 10 ~

Homeschool group music class, 6th hour and picnic/play time.

Art and drawing/coloring. Introduced colored pencils. Bluejay in particular is having a great time with them.

Monday week 11 ~
Prayers and circle time. Bluejay wasn't ready to move on from the feast of the Archangels so we sang more of Michael the Victorious and the archangel hymn.

Read two Grimm's stories: Little Red Riding Hood (also known as Little Redcap), for the letter R, and The Bremen Town Musicians, just because the children love that one so much.  Drew Red Riding Hood, with her red hood in the shape of an R, and the wolf disguised as the grandmother.

Tuesday week 11 ~
Veteran's Day.  We did not do normal "school" but instead, all three of us cleaned the entire playroom, which was a disaster.  We listened to music and made sure each item went in its appropriate place. Then for our reward we had a nice mid morning tea with sourdough/cream cheese and raspberry jam treats, and talked and drew pictures.

Wednesday week 11~
Prayers and circle time.

Practice writing letters, and especially numbers. Bluejay really has the capital letters down, but still getting the hang of writing numbers. So, he wrote a letter to his east coast grandpa, and in it printed every number we have reviewed so far. It was a pretty long letter for him, and he worked very hard on it. I am not having him use lined paper yet, as we are sticking with the curriculum's encouragement to write freeform at this stage, but it's still readable :-)  I just love that serious, dedicated little guy.

Thursday week 11~
Mama was sick sick sick this day so there was no school. Daddy actually stayed home and took care of the kids all day. Lots of reading and drawing took place of course, it's never true that we go a day without doing standard kindergarten and preschool activities.

 

Homeschooling - Weeks 5, 6 & 7

Monday, week 5~

Prayers and circle time (When the Frost is on the Punkin', and the Johnny Appleseed song, plus our old ones).

Read the story of John Chapman - Johnny Appleseed.

Painting - free painting, with 3 colors each.

PE - this was completely child driven. I have a great video of it, which I'll try to upload.  Basically my (assigned) job is to be the coach, tell them when to run, when to "time out" and stretch, and when to start running again. They do not need or want breaks.

More painting.

Tuesday, week 5 ~

Prayer and circle time.  Bluejay and Chickadee have the first verse of our fall poem pretty much down.  Bluejay pretty much lead circle time today.

Read the story of Jonah, and the story of Christ walking on the water, from our Children's Reader Bible.  Talked about the Wind and the Waves in the Water, and the Whale, and Walking, from these two stories of great storms, as well as Noah's Ark, and the Fisherman and his wife.

Kindergartener drew a picture of Waves in the shape of a W, and wrote W's in his workbook. He then asked for homework.  So for homework he can practice writing Wave, Wind, Water.

Bluejay drew a rainbow, Chickadee drew lots of pictures.  Sparrow ate crackers and peanut butter and cheese and apples.  Clean up.  Closing prayer.  Outside time.

Wednesday, week 5 ~

Prayer and circle time.

Packed up all of the summer items from our school table, shells, pictures, driftwood, carved beach-houses.

Got out the autumn box and re-decorated our table with an autumn cloth, picture, little walnut shell mice and gnome, our beeswax apples, some colored corn cobs.

Read the story of Samson.  FINALLY.  Bluejay has been asking to read it for weeks.  Warmed gold beeswax while we read the story, then made leaves and a sheaf of wheat for our table.

Had a snack of apples and talked about what the animals do in the autumn.  We've been reading Little House in the Big Woods, the first chapter of which is about stocking the attic with all the food for winter.  Just like the Ingalls, the animals find food and store it, or else eat it and store it in their bodies as fat.  Got out Singing Through the Seasons and sang "Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, we must all get fat and furry".

Outside play and fort building.

Thursday, week 5 ~

Prayer and circle time (including our new fall song Hurry hurry).

Talked about the number 5 - how it represents a human being.  5 fingers on each hand, 5 toes on each foot, when you stand with your arms and legs out, it makes a five pointed shape, including your head, and 5 senses (sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch).  In our workbook, drew and colored in an outline of our hand with all 5 fingers, and wrote the number 5.

Read the story of Mousekin's Golden House.  

Closing prayer.

Homeschool group music class.

Weekend ~

Woodworking for Bluejay with Aaron, clamping, gluing and nailing.  

Monday, week 6 ~

Prayers and circle time, including Hurry Hurry and a few others from singing with the seasons.  Bluejay has the James Riley poem memorized.

Story of The Wild Swans, from Grimms.  Read the first half.

Nature walk, saw a huge spider web with gnats in it.  Talked about how the spider wove it, attached it to the tree and ground, eating the bugs, etc.  Collected fall leaves for crafts.

Tuesday, week 6 ~

Prayers and circle time.

Read the rest of The Wild Swans.  Drew a picture of a swan with a crown, in the shape of an S.  Wrote the letter S.

Outside play.

Wednesday, week 6 ~

Prayer and circle time. Bluejay frustrated with this today.  He wanted to do a certain song about leaves, but I could not figure out which it was.  He finally was happy with Hurry Hurry.

Made chocolate pudding from scratch. Stirred constantly and watched for bubbling and boiling and thickening. Prepped our ingredients and pudding dishes. Dished it all out for dessert and some in little containers for Daddy's lunch.

Helped with recycling, sorting through old magazines and taking them out.

Thursday, week 6 ~

Prayer and circle time.

Go over the story again of the Wild Swans.

Gather our artwork from the last few weeks.  Select pieces to mail to far away family.  Kindergartener wrote notes on all of his in his best handwriting. Addressed, stamped and mailed our envelopes.

Homeschool group music class, Sixth Hour prayers and picnic and play with the other kids.

Monday, week 7 ~

Prayer and circle time.  Then I spontaneously decided not to make this a "formal" school day.  No one was grumpy or difficult, it just seemed like a good day to be with each other and play. Bluejay found the Junior Classics books on the shelves and started looking at the drawings, and we ended up reading a tale of magic from Honduras. But mostly they just played and I sat in the room with them and kept them company. In the afternoon, Grandpa came over, and then the story telling/reading, including The Lost Half Hour (one of the great fairy tales), and the understanding of the metaphysical nature of a book, and the questions (oh the questions) really took off.  So to be fair, it was probably an even more successful school day than usual.  Grandpa and Bluejay even read and discussed a little Beowulf.

Tuesday, week 7 ~

Prayer and circle time.  Bluejay led Sparrow in circle time while I took Chickadee to her room to think about why everyone didn't want her to be there for a while.  

Discussed the story of the Wild Swans.  Talked about how Elise made her swan brothers coats of mail out of stinging nettles.  Drew a picture of Elise picking the nettles in the church yard.  Nettles in the shape of an N.

Closing prayer.

Played Sorry. Got a marvelous package of art supplies from Aunt Hilaree and spent some time drawing and sculpting.

Opening our package.  We were also hoping for rain, thus the rain gear.  We did get a tiny bit.  But not enough for stomping in puddles :-(

Wednesday, week 7 ~

Prayer and circle time.  

For the preschooler's activity, with which we all participated, we took all of the containers and bins and bags and boxes of small treasures, jewelry, hairclips, etc. from her room and organized them. We put hair clips, bands and the like in a little tin.  We put all her treasures (pretty rocks, shells, marbles) into a little 3 drawer jewelry box she got from her aunt, her necklaces and bracelets in another drawer, and her little crafts (painted wooden things, etc.) in the third. In one small bin we put her pretty cards, her crowns and scepters/wands from her princess costumes, and her Rainbow Dash My Little Pony.  She was very satisfied with this, but I was even more satisfied, because we got rid of two bags and a box. Phew. All my children will collect and collect treasures if they have containers to put them in. I've found the trick is to try to limit the containers.

For kindergarten, we discussed the number 6.  Lots of things in nature have 6 - like the shape of the pieces in a beehive, the number of legs on an insect, many flowers have six anthers.  We drew a six pointed star with two triangles (the Star of David) and colored other things from nature.

My mom came over in the afternoon and they watched little instructional French videos with her.  Then later we visited friends who live on a farm, and saw sheep, lamas, emus, cows, goats, chickens, ducks and geese.  We got to feed the goats and the poultry.  Much fun was had by all. 

Thursday, week 7 ~

Prayer and circle time.  

Preschool/Kindergarten. workbooks.  We haven't used these a ton, as I'm not a huge fan of workbooks (as in the kinds you can pick up at Target), but I do have a few on hand and they were a big hit this particular day.  The kids just kept going and going and wanting to do more. 

Homeschool group music class and sixth hour, followed by our weekly picnic and playtime with the other homeschoolers.  This is a big hit, especially for Bluejay, who just thrives on some rough and tumble play with the bigger boys.  There is one boy, I think he's about 10 or 11, who is just fantastic because he likes to coordinate games, wrestling matches or "ninja training" for the littler guys. Bluejay goes full force into all of this, and I usually don't stop him, although I do think he needs to learn how to throw a "pretend" punch... I have a feeling he'll get there through direct experience better than if I over-coach him.

PHFR - A Day in the Life - Homeschooling a kindergartener + two littles

I am linking this post up with Like Mother Like Daughter...

...because this day was most certainly ALL of those things.  Also, I have to say, it gave me quite a sense of contentment with everyday life, as well as little bit of enthusiasm, kind of like documenting an experiment in process... Sorry it's a bit of a long one.

[Pretty], [Happy], [Funny], and [Real] are all mixed in.

I thought it would be fun to do another Day in the Life, now that we've started homeschooling.  It will be interesting to compare this to homeschooling a few years from now...

Last night was a bit rough, following a pattern of rough nights in recent days.  Chickadee woke once or twice and Aaron went to her (which is rough in itself, because he gets up so early, and needs all the sleep he can get).  Sparrow woke up around 1, and nursed and fussed for over an hour.  Finally, I gave him a bottle.  He devoured it, hollered with frustration when it was empty and finally fell back to sleep.  I stayed in his little twin bed (with rails) next to him for a good few hours before finally waking and feeling like it was safe to leave.  

Aaron kissed me goodbye around 5:30 (after, like the wonderful husband he is, leaving the kitchen and living room nice and tidy for me to start our day), and I slept in semi-alert state for a little while, until I heard Chickadee crying.  I went and got her and brought her into our bed around 6:20.  A few minutes later we heard Bluejay get up, and he came and joined us.  We cuddled and talked and slept until Sparrow woke at around 7:15, and then Chickadee and Sparrow started our day (Bluejay generally likes another hour in bed when the rest of us are up). 

We nursed and talked and changed diapers and read books for a while, then I said morning prayers, logged in to take care of some bills, and began to get breakfast (around 8) while Sparrow rearranged the rubber bands in a kitchen drawer, and Chickadee had a ballet costume emergency.  She needed to wear her tutu but she was cold and had no leg warmers like real balleters (as she calls them). We solved it with warm tights, leggings and a sweatshirt over her leotard and tutu. Then she helped Sparrow with his rubber band project, which was actually helpful, as she picked them all up off the floor, while I scrambled eggs, cut up potato patties and made my tea. Bluejay woke up somewhere in this and went about his own business. He refused to join us for breakfast. He (like me) can't eat when he just wakes up. Sparrow and Chickadee take after their father and must eat immediately after the labors of sleep, or the world is a terrible place, mainly for everyone around them. Those three are the definition of "hangry".

8:30-9:00 We ate breakfast and watched Sister Vassa on my phone. Bluejay came in and got them all involved in a game of pretending to be babies. I cleared the table and headed off to start my "day in the life" notes. Soon, the "babies" joined me in the garage by the computer. I went to the bedroom to do my ablutions, put on my contacts, make the bed and get dressed. They followed me, continuing to play their baby game, as well as jumping from the changing table to the bed, and sprinkling water from their "bottle" on each other. Sparrow, always close to my leg, occupied himself by taking things out of the trash and throwing them in the toilet. I talked to the "older" kids about how we have to keep our toilet lids closed during this stage in Sparrow's life. They agreed with understanding and gravity. I made my bed and stopped the jumping, so they went to the boy's room to "make"/jump on the bed there. Sparrow stayed by my side and distributed a package of diapers around the room. I got dressed and then convinced Bluejay to finally get dressed. I had Chickadee pick up her dolls and doll clothes so we could start school. Bluejay then decided he was finally hungry, so school start was delayed while he and Chickadee had apples, cheese and cereal. Sparrow, who had been following me around calling out "Maaaaaa, Maaaaa" and "mowk, mowk, mowk, bo-ol" (Mama, milk and bottle) had a bottle to drink while I took some more notes on our day. 

Almost 10:00 AM. Finally, school time. I'm not going to notate it here, as it will be in my Week 5 post, but it took about an hour, and went very well. I will say that I brought the coloring back a notch, as it had gotten too much for Bluejay, and brought the story reading up a notch, and that was a huge success, for both of us. Sparrow joins right in at circle and story time, I love how he plops himself right down in the circle as soon as prayers are done.  He LOVES routine.

After school, Bluejay helped me clean up a little and headed outside with Sparrow, they climbed on things and played with tools. 

Chickadee headed back to change into a NEW leotard, leggings and faux fur boots. Wardrobe changes are important. 

I did the breakfast dishes and made tea. I would like to note again here that this has been an unusually GOOD day. Yesterday, I did not feel well all day, and just slogged through. I may have done a few dishes. I forced myself to keep going, but I really wanted to just lie on the couch all day and feel sorry for myself. And Sparrow felt that it was therefore necessary for him to whine and need me and whine and also whine, all day, while Bluejay and Chickadee got loads of sheets and blankets out of the linen closet and made forts all over the house. And did I mention I felt sorry for myself? And the whining?

11ish. Snack time for me. I sat outside and had chicken salad and bread and cheese and a cup of tea. Sparrow and Chickadee came by and ate all my cheese. Bluejay brought some of Aaron's sharpies and asked to draw with them, which I let him do with great reservations. They all played in the back yard for a while, then Bluejay and Chickadee asked to go to the front yard to do some weeding. 

 

I let them, as long as Sparrow didn't catch on... he hung around and brought me his current favorite book, Chikka Chikka Boom Boom, saying insistently "BOO BOO! BOO BOO!" (which means Boom Boom).

Here he is, saying "Boo' boo'" to me.

After reading I changed his dirty clothes and loaded all the kids in the van. We made a quick trip out to get diapers and a few other essentials - it was right around the time I usually put Sparrow down for a nap, but I don't trust my afternoon energy levels so I thought we'd better go now. I wore Sparrow in the ergo and the other two walked and did not ask to buy things! And I remembered to bring my bag! Score! (plastic bags have been banned in our county, so you have to bring your own, or pay for paper bags at all stores now). Sparrow ate a babyfood squisher on the way home, since I wanted to get a little lunch in him before nap, but knew he was almost out.

12:30 - we got back, I put a show on for the kids and sat in the rocker in the boys room, cuddling and nursing Sparrow to sleep. It didn't take long today.  He was almost asleep by the time we got home.  I transferred him to his bed and logged into my work computer. 

1ish I responded to a few emails and reviewed some data quickly. Aaron called. We got to chat for a short minute. Then I got the kids some lunch. They just wanted snack food, apple sauce and yogurt, and I didn't push it today. I sat down at my other computer and updated my work hours. They came in to ask to watch another show. I said yes! 

While they watched I microwaved a piece of leftover pizza, and tried to get a little more work done, entering new data into the report I'm writing. I got a little bit done, but then Chickadee came in, wanting to change her clothes again. She needed a dress this time. NOT one of the dresses already out in her room. It must be a new one from the closet.  Opening the closet (and her high-pitched voice) woke the baby. I looked at the clock, not even 2 yet. Not a long enough nap. I charged her to STAY QUIET and went into his room, with the vague hope of getting him back to sleep. I lay him back down, got ready to nurse and climbed in the bed next to him. He didn't even try to nurse. I stayed very still and quiet, worrying that Bluejay had gone into the front yard by himself (which I let him do, but only when I can hear/see him from the window). Sparrow went back to sleep! I heard Bluejay whispering my name at the door and prayed he would stay quiet and not open it. I snuck out of bed.  He did not actually need anything. I helped Chickadee put on her dress. Bluejay asked me to work in the front yard with him. I did not want to. It was hot and the sun wears me out fast. I watered a plant and then headed back to the garage to play "bakery" with Chickadee. She got out her little bakery and gave me instructions on how to set it up, and which hedgehogs to put aprons and chef hats on. Bluejay wanted to play, but she didn't want to let him. I gave her a bit of a lecture about how she should be grateful that he wants to play her games with her. I played for a little while, then said I was done, and she let him play. I worked on my blog post and listened to their game. I read a few of my blogs. The game finally ended when Chickadee refused to let Bluejay's characters eat her food. 

This is an "after" shot of the bakery.  I didn't get one when it was all set up and they were playing nicely.

3ish They asked to watch another show and I let them. I went into the living room to take a bit of a break. I watched my own show (The Office) and ate a chocolate mochi. Yummy! They came in right towards the end. Bluejay, who had really not eaten much today, asked for food. I said yes. He asked for cereal. I gave in. He got a big bowl of rice crispies and a cup of keifer and looked through a version of Homer's Odyssey he'd climbed up on a shelf to get. First he said he wanted to learn about ships from this book of ships. Then he asked me lots of question about who the characters in the pictures were, and if they were before Adam and Eve. Then he asked me if God was in his mother's tummy when he made Adam and Eve. Then he asked me why there was a battle in heaven. "Mom, I just want to know the main reason why there was a fight in heaven." He asks me these types of questions all the time now. Talk about homeschooling. Chickadee looked at pictures on my phone and then asked for cereal too. We talk about Odysseus and Telemachus and a great sea voyage. 

3:40 - Chickadee and I go out to get the mail, because she didn't get to yesterday and was very sad about it. There are some ads and an LL Bean catalog. We sit in the back yard and the children read the catalog while I play with my phone. Chickadee starts crying because there is nothing in the catalog she wants to buy. She wants to buy a bath tub for her babies. They start a game which turns into an argument which runs roughly as follows:

C: I am the boss of this game.
B: You are not the boss! God is the boss.
C: Well, I am the boss of this game.
B: You are not the boss! God is the boss of everyone! Even grown-ups.
C: I am the boss!
B: God is the boss! He is even older than dead people!

Somehow this argument gets resolved. I do not understand how. They team up together to take all the cushions off the lawn furniture and rearrange them into some sort of fort. I sigh. Aaron JUST put it all back into shapely order after having been randomly set around the back yard covered with toys and junk and leaves for a few weeks straight. I mention that they will have to put EVERYTHING back when they're done. They agree and proceed with their project. 

Sparrow is STILL ASLEEP!  Sparrow wakes up. 

4:00 I go get him and bring him outside to see the kids. The fort game is going on with mixed success. There are still some issues with one person wanting to run the show and one person not wanting to be told what to do. Sparrow sits in my lap and I pick at his cradle cap like a mama gorilla while Bluejay practices "reading" Chikka Chikka Boom Boom. He has memorized most of it. Chickadee has memorized pretty much all of it, but he gets mad when she tells him the next line. Sparrow gets fed up with my picking at his head and leaves my lap. I call one of my friends. While I'm on the phone something goes on with the jumping on the pillows and Sparrow screams "Naw naw!" Which is the thing he says most these days. There is much crying and yelling by Chickadee. She is always tired at this time of day, but doesn't often nap any more. She wants Bluejay to play her game with her and is mad because he's pretending to sleep and snoring in the fort. She cries louder. Bluejay runs inside to check for daddy's arrival. Chickadee cries because she wants him to play with her. She goes after him. I hear him say "I'm really really sorry I didn't play with you. I'll play with you now". I think what a nice boy he is. She wants to have real breakfast in their game. She wants potatoes and eggs and cereal. I tell her she just had cereal. I get keifer for everyone. Chickadee cries because her cup is not full enough. I take Bluejay's cup and pour some into hers, defying them all to throw a fit. They do not. Chickadee wants apples. There is one apple left in the house and it's the one she was eating earlier. I cut it up. She cries because she doesn't want it cut up and it's brown. I put it on the table. She eats it and drinks her keifer and stops crying. Bluejay starts in on the questions again ("Is there more numbers than a gugol?"). Sparrow gets things out of the kitchen cupboards. 

4:50 - Aaron arrives home! Hurray! Sparrow jumps in his arms and starts saying "Moow! Moow!" He wants Daddy to show him the moon. It's his favorite thing in the world. Aaron goes to take a shower, after saying hello to all of us. I sit outside with the kids. Chickadee continues to melt down. She cries because she wants Bluejay to play with her. She screams because she is stuck. I ask Bluejay if she is really stuck. He says that the table that they moved for fort building is in the way, and there is a pillow in front of the table so she can't move it. I ask him to move the pillow. I ask her to move the table. She screams. I finally come over there and no one is stuck. I pick her up and put her in her room and tell her that everyone, including all of our neighbors, can't listen to her scream anymore. She will have to do it in her room for now. I leave and shut the door. She screams until the door is shut. Then she stops and is completely fine - I'm pretty sure I even saw her try to hide a smile from me. Sparrow sneaks this opportunity to go in the bathroom and open the shower door, where Aaron is still showering. I take him away. I tell Aaron that I promised the kids we would go to Mike's Produce Stand, just down the street, to get apples.  

5:15 After his shower, we load all the kids in the van to get apples. I try to put the key in the ignition and it won't go in. I panic. Aaron tells me to turn the stearing wheel. It still won't go in. More panic, something is wrong with our van. Aaron tells me I have the keys to the wrong car. Sparrow sees the moon. He shouts "Moow! moow! moow! moow!" all the way to the produce stand. We occasionally acknowledge that yes, that is the moon, and he is satisfied. The kids are making plans to buy honey sticks. We get lots of apples, and they pick out their honey sticks. The girl at the register admires all of their eyelashes.  This happens everywhere we go. We load back in the van and head home. Aaron puts a show on for the kids while I get dinner. Sparrow sits with him and reads Chikka Chikka Boom Boom. When we like something around here, we are serious about it, at least for a week or so. I make salad and put chicken drummies and vegetable samosas in the oven. That's the extent of my cooking generally, these days. Their show ends just in time for dinner and they sit down at the table while I'm finishing up.

6:00 Chickadee asks what is for dinner. I tell her. She asks if they are dinosaur chicken nuggets. I say no, they are drummies. She starts to cry. Aaron gets them all fizzy water while I serve up the plates. Everyone eats their chicken, even Chickadee. Aaron is tired. Sparrow says he is done right away, but Chickadee hand feeds him his chicken and he eats it. Bluejay clears his plate and the kids go outside. Aaron rests for a minute and I show him our shopping scores finds and update him on our day. Then the kids start calling for him. He goes to them and I deconstruct the fort and set the chairs back together.

7:00 Aaron goes to lie down with an ice pack while the kids play outside and I work on my blog. Bluejay is digging a trench and Chickadee is planting seeds. I get Sparrow and put him in the bath (which he loves). I remake Bluejay's bed, which he had completely stripped during the morning jumping. Bluejay and Chickadee come in. I ask if either would like to get in the bath with Sparrow, Chickadee declines because she does not want a bath with boys tonight. Bluejay gets in. I go clear the table and start the dishes. Bluejay shouts with excitement that Sparrow pooped in the potty! Indeed, he had climbed out of the bath and done his business in the appropriate place. General excitement ensues. Aaron goes to take care of it and I start making his lunch for tomorrow. Chickadee visits me. The boys get out and everyone wants food. They get cheese crackers. Aaron puts Chickadee in the bath, and then sits at the table with me. We breathe. The boys come in and Sparrow is still naked. Aaron goes to put a diaper on him. He comes back and as he sits down, Chickadee shouts that Sparrow has gotten in the bath tub with his diaper on. I go get him out and change him again, while telling Chickadee to empty the tub to prevent further mishap. I put on his pajamas despite his strong protestation. Aaron takes Chickadee out and puts on her pjs, the kids brush their teeth and play hide and seek in the house. I brush MY teeth and put on my pjs. Lights are turned off.

8:00 Bedtime. Aaron takes Sparrow off to bed. I read a chapter of Little House in the Big Woods to the other two, while they each have a glass of milk and half a newton. I tell Bluejay I am taking Chickadee to bed and he needs to find a book to look at while I do that. He is a little sad to be alone (even though we do this every night), so I take him to our bed and get him set up. He brings his glass of milk and spills it all over the floor, Aaron's clothes and a curtain. I clean it up. Chickadee calls to me from her room because I'm taking so long. I shush her from the other room, knowing that Sparrow is not cooperating with Aaron and will use any noise as an excuse to avoid sleeping. I get Bluejay set up and climb in bed with Chickadee. We say a prayer and she is asleep in a few minutes. I sneak out of her bed just as Aaron is leaving the boys room. We go in to Bluejay, and Sparrow wakes up. Aaron goes back to him. I go in the living room and turn off the last lights, shut the sliders, etc. Aaron comes back and and we tell Bluejay needs to go to bed. I offer to go with him, since I know Aaron is extra tired today. He says he doesn't need me and can go to bed by himself. Aaron and I get in bed. Bluejay comes back. He says he is cold. I get a blanket and go tuck him in and whisper his prayer with him.

9:00 Aaron and I get in bed and turn off the lights. We talk for a few minutes, and go to sleep.

THE END.