School time!

Yes, as July is quickly coming to a close, it's time to start gearing up for another school year. This year I've got 2 in school! Yikes. I'm not sure I'm ready for this! Luckily, Luke's work is still very low key and flexible. And since they are only a year apart in grade they will be doing a lot of things together, which will make it easier on me! I decided to try several different books this year. I just couldn't find one curriculum that had everything I wanted. So, I hunted around and am experimenting to see what is going to work best for us. I wanted to share the choices that I made and maybe at some point a little later I'll share my schedule for the year.

For Luke:

I decided to go with Christian Light's Kindergarten program. Luke LOVES to do workbooks. I really liked everything that these workbooks covered (mainly-math, reading, and bible) and the fact that they were Christ centered. I think it will be a good fit for him and I think he'll feel very grown up having his very own workbooks. :)




For Lilly:

I decided to do some review with Lilly instead of moving her directly in to first grade. I figure if she whizzes right through the reviews then I can just move her ahead to first grade. But with this being such fundamental information I want to make sure she's got a firm grasp of it. With that being said...

Reading:

I'm going with Christian Light's Learning to read program. It's somewhat like a transition between Kindergarten and first grade. I know she'll enjoy the stories and hopefully think the workbooks are challenging too. Again, love that God is incorporated into everything and several people around here would use CL so I would have some people who I could ask questions should I need to. We will also be beginning each day with reading either a fiction or non- fiction book. (Plus, I read to them through out the day, anyway!)

I'm also ordering Bob Books for Lilly to practice her reading skills on. In reality, these books are pretty easy for her but they are supposed to be great confidence builders.



Math:


Okay, so...technically this is a first grade book. But, I really think she's ready for it. We are going to take it pretty slow. I like the way this book is very hands on. It has lots of activities to do with the children, which I KNOW they will love. One thing this book lacks (from what I hear) is workbook pages. At least, people seem to say there is not enough of them. So I'll be supplementing with worksheets from edhelper.com and education.com



Science (for both Lilly and Luke):
L & L are still pretty young to have a daily course in science. So, we'll be taking one day a week to do some sort of fun science project. I have two great books that I actually used when I was in elementary school that my mom passed onto me when I started homeschooling. They've got some very fun crafts that we can get the whole family involved in! I'll probably also pull a couple activities from education.com too. That website is just so handy!

Writing: (for both L&L)
We'll be doing a good bit of writing in our workbooks but at the beginning of every school day we will be doing journaling as well.

Art (for both L&L):

Three days a week we will be having art class. Two of those days we will be going through "Draw to Learn" This book is so neat! Each lesson is based on a passage of scripture. We will be going through Proverbs but they have several other choices! Check it out!

Also I've set aside some extra time one day a week to do a bigger (possibly more messy) art project. Fun, fun!




Bible:


Three times a week we will be reading out of Luke's Bible workbook that he will receive with his curriculum and then the other two days we will be reading and working on memorizing scripture from "My ABC Bible Verses". I've had this book for several years and have yet to make it through it with the children. It's such a good book though. The stories are very well written and engaging.




We had hoped that one night a week we could work on learning Spanish together as a family but I have yet to find a curriculum that is well suited (and affordable!) for little children. I've decided to do a little more research and hold off until next year.

Those are the books I've chosen to go with for this year. Hopefully things work out as smoothly in real life as they have in my head! I told Lilly we were going to be ordering her school books soon and she literally teared up and starting jumping up and down on the couch saying "Yay! Yay!" I'd say she's excited! We are planning on having a back to school party. I have no idea what that is going to look like but we thought it would be a fun little tradition to start and a nice way to kick off the beginning of a new school year. We are also planning on taking them shopping for their (and my) school supplies here in the next couple weeks. Every time we are at a store they ask me if they can get their school things now! How fun!

Well, I hope I haven't bored you to death with all my homeschool talk. As a homeschool mom I just love looking at what other people are doing and getting ideas. As I said before, I'll probably post my schedule in the next few days, so you can get an idea of what our school time is going to look like. I even made a spreadsheet. John was so proud! :)

Thanks for reading!

~A

What are mothers teaching their daughters?

I love having daughters. Already I can tell there is such a special bond between us. Lilly is 5 years old now. She soaks up every little thing I do and say. I know many of you who read this blog are young moms and this morning I read a very important blog post that I wanted to share. So if you have a few extra minutes, hop over to A Wise Woman Builds Her Home and read what she has posted today. Think about it. Pray about it. Because, isn't bringing our children to the Lord our most important calling as mothers?

Running the race,
~A

Love this guy

We've been talking to our children about adoption lately---why, you ask?...well, we just have! :) Anyway, the other day Luke came running up to me in the kitchen in full farmer gear. He proudly pronounced:

"Mama! I'm a farmer! I take care of animals who don't have mommies and daddies. They come to my farm and then I raise them."

Then he ushered me into the school room where he had set up all of his stuffed animals. Here's a picture of him with his frog. Can't you just tell he loves his little farm? (Please ignore the fact that he's got a choke hold on the frog...it's a loving hold, I promise.)

But he was very careful to add:

"But I don't have a wife yet. I'm not married."

I love this little guy!

Thanks for reading!
~A

Down time

So, about 5 days ago I woke up with a stiff neck. I thought maybe I had slept on it funny and kept on going. Fast forward about 3 days and I was in some serious pain. I finally broke down and went to a chiropractor yesterday. It was my first time and, I'll admit it, I was a little unsure. John has been several times before. One time, John and his macho co-workers decided to see who could pick a gazebo up the highest....gazebo! As in, small building! (Love you, babe!) All I know is that John was brought home by his boss, unable to walk, and in pain. His boss took him to the chiropractor and it was like a miracle. John was all better! But, I digress...so, I went to the chiropractor yesterday and he made my neck crack in ways I had no idea a neck could crack. It's still pretty tender this morning but a little better. I'm supposed to go back tomorrow.

I haven't been able to do much because of it. It has been insanely hard for me to sit around and do nothing when I see the laundry, dishes, and clutter all piling up! At least today I am able to do things in short bursts. But lifting and bending are pretty hard for me. When you have 4 small children how are you supposed to get things done without lifting and bending???Yesterday, Lilly had some encouraging words for me:

Me: Ow! My neck hurts.
L: Maybe God did this because He wanted you to have a rest because you do SO much work for Him.
Me: *pondering*.....maybe.

It did make me feel a little better. :) Needless to say, I've had a lot of time to sit around. And I have been somewhat productive. It's almost time to start another school year! These past couple days I've been working on coming up with a schedule, looking at different reading materials, and making final decisions about which curriculum(s) we are going to be using. One of the beautiful things about home educating is that you can choose bit and pieces of different curriculum's. If this one has a good math program but that one has a better phonics program we can use the best of both! This year we are thinking of including some structured Bible time as well as Spanish and fine arts. I found a fun Spanish program designed for ages 3-5 that we might be doing. I'm sure once John and I sit down and go over everything and make our final choices, I'll write about it. But it sure is fun to look!

My big question right now is what to do with Lilly. She's actually on a first grade level for math and phonics. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and start her into first grade or if I should continue on with kindergarten material to reinforce what she has already learned, seeing as how this basic stuff is pretty fundamental. I've been thinking of maybe beginning with kindergarten stuff and if she whizzes through it then starting on first grade...I don't know yet. All things I need to discuss with the principle (John).

If you think of it today, please, lift up a little prayer for me. I have been praying that God would heal me of this neck affliction! It's so hard for me to serve my family the way I want to right now. Any prayers would be MUCH appreciated!

Thanks for checking in!
~A

Experiments in parenthood

I am exhausted today. For some reason, Kate hasn't been sleeping well the past couple nights. I blame it on the cantaloupe I've been consuming lately, but I'm not too sure. Lilly had a tummy ache the night before last and Bradley woke up an hour a half earlier than normal this morning. All of this combined makes me one tired lady! John is working an 11 hour day today and I seriously was questioning whether I could make it all day with no rest.

Today after lunch I flopped down on the couch and closed my eyes. I decided it would be interesting to see what would happen if I pretended to be asleep for just 15 minutes (possibly testing to see if maybe, just maybe, I could catch a little cat nap). Lilly comes into the room. "Mommy! Are we goi-...." She stops when she realizes I'm "asleep". I hear her go into the other room and say "Boys, you need to be quiet because Mommy is sleeping in the other room." She then proceeds to get a blanket out of my room and cover me up. When she sees that the blanket isn't quite long enough she fetches some socks (my favorite, cozy pair, might I add) and puts them on me the leaves the room. So sweet! Then enters....the boys! Luke sees me on the couch and uses his toy rolling pin to roll up and down my body over and over. From my toes...to my chin, singing his "rolling pin" song. Bradley, my little trouble-maker, decides this is the prime time to venture into Mommy and Daddy's room to do a little exploring (a big no-no in this house). My experiement was cut short when I heard Luke yell "Mommy! Brad got into your deodorant!" It lasted 5 minutes. So, no cat nap was taken. Too risky. But thankfully, Oh! so thankfully, everyone was willing to lay down for a little quiet time this afternoon and I got a good 45 minutes of peace and quiet.

So the conclusion of my little experiment?
Children are funny!

Hope you enjoyed this little snippet of my day! :) How's your day?

~A

Thirsty

I'm currently reading a book called Thirsty by Amy Nappa. It follows the story of the woman at the well that Jesus met with. It's a cross between a fiction and christian living book. As I was reading today I came across a paragraph that struck me so much and was so meaningful that I had to share it.

"Like that Woman at the Well, you are so much more valuable than your society is telling you. You possess within you that beauty of soul that comes only from the hand of an infinite Artist. God smiles when he looks at you, because he alone can see the heart that reflects his creative light and genius.
When you are a wreck- physically, emotionally, and spiritually; when you find yourself an outcast with voices on all sides spreading gossip about your great failures and hurtful deeds; when you take a good look at yourself and realize the accusations are true, that you really are guilty as charged; when your worst accuser is the voice of your own conscience- then lift up your eyes. Like that Woman at the Well, catch a glimpse of Jesus' gaze. His eyes see who you are meant to be; his arms are open, ready to welcome your soul back into his healing presence.
When you hear your world (or your own voice) telling you something less than that, just smile and suggest that those thoughts go jump in a lake, because you know what your society finds unpopular to admit:
God hides you in his heart.
And that's what really matters."

What a beautiful God I serve!
Be blessed!
~A

It's official. She's a keeper!

My little Kate is 4 months old now. 4 months! Where has the time gone? It's hard for me to believe in a few weeks she'll be starting solid foods (well, semi-solids). She's changed so much during these last four months!

Her eye color has started to change. It's hard to tell by this picture but it looks like we might finally have a baby with the same color eyes as us! John and I both have hazel eyes. Lilly has these gorgeous dark brown eyes, while the boys both have beautiful blue eyes (we get comments on them all the time). It looks like Kate's are either going to be hazel or green.


In other exciting news, I feel her hair is officially long enough to warrant the use of a barrette. If you remember she was born with a good head full of hair. We lost a little bit of it during the cradle cap stage but she still has a lot. If I brush it down it hangs down over her eyes. Barrette time! What is it about baby girls? Why are us moms SO excited to put things in their hair? I'll enjoy it now before she's old enough to rip it out!

Lilly continues to be absolutely IN LOVE with her, as we all are. She begged me to take this picture of them together. The other day she was playing with Kate and turned around and said "Mommy we are gonna be best friends when we grow up!" I said "You and Kate? Or You, Kate, and Me?" She got a big smile on her face and said "All of us!" Ah...warms my heart.


Yep. She's definitely a keeper. I was telling John the other day that I can't think of one thing I wished she did better at. She is SUCH a carefree baby. Which with 4 little children is a major blessing! We are all enjoying her so much. Her giggles, smiles, coo's, even her cry's are so sweet! God is so amazingly good to me even though I deserve none of it.

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." ~Psalm 127:3-5

Running the race,
~A

cool summer treat

I don't know about you but it sure is heating up here in southern Georgia. By 9:30 it's already pretty hot and if we want to get anything done outside we've got to start pretty early. I was looking over my past couple blog posts and realized I haven't shared a recipe in a while! Goodness me! I love to share my recipes! So, today I thought I'd tell you about my no-fail, super easy, no-sugar, wonderful on a hot summer day treat.

Yogurt Popsicles

1 container plain yogurt
1 can frozen juice concentrate (100% juice is preferable)
dixie cups
popsicle sticks (optional)

Mix yogurt and juice. Spoon or pour into Dixie cups. Freeze for half an hour and then insert popsicle sticks into each one. Continue freezing until....well, frozen. That's it!

A couple of tips- you can get some pretty fun juice flavors. In my freezer right now, I've got pomegranate cherry! For little children I suggest just letting then eat it with a spoon and skip the sticks altogether. It can get pretty messy! If you look around you can find plastic dixie cups (not dixie brand...just that size) I use those, as dixie cups tend to fall apart if you eat it right out of the cups, and just wash them and use them again.

Hope you enjoy!
~A