Mt. Hope Chronicles

18 Essential Books for 18 Years of Childhood

2012-01-22T13:26:00.001-08:00

I think you all know how much I love books and lists. Put those together, and I simply cannot resist.

I’ve shared various book lists before, but just today I decide to create my own very short essential list. One fiction book for each year of childhood. (Yes, I cheated and listed a couple series or trilogies. I also left out plays, poetry, myths, and non-fiction.) I chose books that would be varied and rich in message, meaning, and ideas as well as delivery. These are the kind of stories that a reader could think about and mull over for years to come. Books that could stir up discussion and debate between child and parent or student and teacher.

Last time I shared an even shorter essential list, one reader commented that as fun as it is to make our short lists, aren’t we glad that our children in reality can read thousands of wonderful books before they leave childhood behind forever?! And that we have years of books ahead of us as reading adults?

Without further ado:

1. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

2. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (or The Little House) by Virginia Lee Burton

3. Tales of Beatrix Potter

4. Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall

5. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

6. Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith

7. The Chronicles of Narnia (series) by C. S. Lewis

8. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

9. Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

10. Little Britches and Man of the Family by Ralph Moody

11. Animal Farm by George Orwell

12. Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

13. The Hunger Games (trilogy) by Suzanne Collins

14. Watership Down by Richard Adams

15. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

16. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

17. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

18. Perelandra by C. S. Lewis

What books would be on your list, and why?

Seriously. We’d be glad to share.

2012-01-19T09:36:00.001-08:00

But we’re homeschoolers, and we never waste an opportunity.

Do you think the pizza guy would deliver to a canoe?

We’re safe and dry. Our house is much higher. But we do have an awesome waterfall of water running under our house from the huge hill behind us. I guess I’m glad we don’t have a basement.

Anyone Want to Borrow Some Water?

2012-01-18T15:58:00.001-08:00

We have plenty to share.

The boys are begging to launch the canoe. If this downpour continues, it’s the only way we’ll be able to get out of our driveway.

ETA: At 10pm now the water is covering the main road. Over six hours of solid rain since I took the above picture. If it continues to rain, we won’t be able to get out of the driveway…even with the Suburban. Guess Russ is working from home tomorrow… A car in town was swept out of a grocery store parking lot and into a creek. A man and a child were rescued, but they are still searching for the second child. Prayers would be appreciated. Rain is in the forecast for the next two days.

A Day in the Life ~ Day 4

2012-01-15T14:12:00.001-08:00

Okay, I didn’t really keep track of the ins and outs of our day for the fourth day in a row, nor did I take pictures. (Y’all might be getting sick of hearing about every little detail of my unexciting life, anyway.)

It was Saturday, and I was in the mood to do something—something we would all enjoy. I had NO IDEAS. Whenever I try to think of something everyone would enjoy the only thing I can think of is Disneyland, and that wasn’t really an option. The weather was cold and wet. I needed some inspiration, so I went to the obvious source: facebook.

I received some lovely, well-meaning suggestions. Have a camp-out in your front room. Let the boys make a fort. Let them nap in it. (Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!) Have some hot chocolate. Bake some cookies. Scavenger hunt.

Now, I’m sorry if this ruins your perception of me, but all of those sound like fun for the kids (except for the nap) and work for me. I’ve lost my childlike sense of wonder and excitement. That, and I wanted something out of the ordinary.

Then it occurred to me: over the course of this past week I had been home with my children every day. They had outside classes on Monday and over an hour of free gym time with friends. They had hot breakfast every. single. morning—complete with hot chocolate with whipped cream. They had a picnic outside. They donned costumes and put on a play. They built a blanket fort in the front room. We baked cookies. They had book club with friends, including an hour of social play time afterward. They had been to the pool 2-3 times for lessons or team practice. They went to the library. They watched tv and movies. They played video games. They had lots of quiet reading time. They had special time with Dad. They had play time outside in the country where they could roam free.

By golly, it was time I did something for me. And I wanted to hang out with my husband sans children. Grandparents to the rescue. The kids had an evening with Bambi and Poppy. Russ and I went to a movie and out to dinner. That was fun. I think it had been almost a year since we went on a date—with a tag-along baby. It is high time we start scheduling some regular date nights. I’m making up a babysitter list and checking my calendar…

A Day in the Life ~ Day 3

2012-01-14T13:45:00.001-08:00

2am Lola wakes up. It’s really cold in her room and I realize her heater isn’t on. I turn on the heat and cover her up with the blanket.

4:50 Russ is up for his day.

5:30 Leif has a nightmare and climbs into bed with me.

6:50 Lola squeals. Oh, please go back to sleep baby. She must, because I fall asleep again.

7:45 Lola is up. She goes in her playpen with Cheerios and I put in a Bill Nye DVD for Luke. Levi’s reading on his bed and Leif is still asleep. I check email, turn up the heat, open the shutters. Ahhh, the house is all nice and neat.

8:15 Levi joins Luke (and Lola) for a story DVD (John Henry). I hop in the shower. I’m down 1.5 pounds. Ha! I decide that cookies and soda are good for me. {grin}

8:40 I get Lola changed, Levi works on math (Lola helps), Luke empties dishwasher, Leif is finally up and gets dressed.

8:50 Breakfast. We play the one note samba: scrambled eggs, sausage, and hot chocolate with whipped cream. Hot chocolate gets spilled all over. I get meat out to thaw for dinner.

9:20 Clean up. Boys ready for the day. I work on miscellaneous paperwork. Luke practices piano…

10:20 The boys do some assigned reading while I put Lola down for a nap.

10:45 The boys watch This is America, Charlie Brown on YouTube. I cut up apples for their snack. I eat a banana with almond butter.

11:15 Lola still isn’t asleep so we snuggle again.

11:30 We finally make it down to the studio. Luke does math. Levi writes a letter. It's so nice and clean down here! The benefit of having company...

12:15 Luke does some writing. We review Bible memory. My command station:

12:30 Our favorite person, April, arrives to clean our house. I only scratched the surface yesterday, so now it will be really clean! (Minus the school room/office, which is currently the dumping ground.)

1:00 Geography-map drawing. I don’t feel like searching for the tracing paper, so I put Luke up on the windowsill to trace his map on the window. He thinks that is just awesome. Lola wakes up. We do a little bit of grammar.

2ish I round up the kids and we head to grab a bite to eat (shhhh) and then go to the library. Lola has a large playroom at her disposal and she goes straight for a computer keyboard. Daddy’s girl. I pick out a bunch of books for the kids. Levi reads a book he had on hold. Leif plays. Luke looks up a wii game and books on the computer and places holds.

4ish (I stopped keeping written notes.) We’re home. April and I chat for a while while the kids run amok.

5ish Dinner prep while the boys watch a DVD from the library.

5:30 Russ is home.

6:00 We sit down to dinner. Two nights in a row. Fabulous. BBQ bacon-wrapped beef filets, spiced and roasted cauliflower, sauteed onions and peppers, and spinach/fruit smoothies. YUM!

6:30 Russ plays Playmobil with the kids in the front room, while I put food away.

7:00 I escape to the grocery store and a couple other quick errands while Russ is hanging out with the kids. Listening to Bonhoeffer on the ipad. (I have such a hard time listening to audio books. It goes in one ear and out the other. And Bonhoeffer isn’t an easy book… And I hate having things in my ears. C’est la vie.)

8:00 The boys are still playing with Playmobil when I get home. Russ is watching How It’s Made. (That’s such an interesting show! I remember loving watching how things were made on Mr. Rogers when I was little. Did you ever watch that?) I feed Lola some yogurt. By the time I get her out of her highchair, it is apparent that she is waaay over-tired. She has a lovely screaming-crying fit while I get her jammies on and take her upstairs. She won’t let me snuggle with her, so I lay her down and leave.

8:30 The boys are in bed. Sorta. Lola continues to scream, so Daddy goes up to snuggle and she settles down and goes to sleep. I put away groceries, put in a load of laundry (it never ends!!!), and return a bunch of emails. The house that was so lovely just a few short hours ago is rather disastrous again and my back and neck are still hurting.

9:15 The boys are having a hard time settling down, so I go and snuggle for a few minutes with each one of them.

9:45 More laundry, computer stuff, record keeping, kitchen clean-up, house straightening, scheduling stuff (wow, did January and early February fill up!!), blogging, watching the last ten minutes of the movie I’ve been watching in ten-minute increments for the past two weeks while folding laundry…

12:00 Bed. (How did it get so late?!!!)

A Day in the Life ~ Day 2

2012-01-13T23:37:00.001-08:00

In which you find out that no two days are alike at our house, some days aren’t very impressive ‘school days,’ we don’t have much of a routine, and it takes me all day to clean my house (I use that term loosely) when company is coming over. Oh, and I don’t move very quickly when I’m tired.

12:05 am Russ and I fall into bed.

2ish Luke crawls into bed next to me.

4:30ish I tell Luke to go get in his bed because I’m not getting much sleep.

4:45 Russ gets up for his day.

4:50 Russ tells me that Luke’s legs are hurting and he needs some Advil. I get up and take care of it.

5:00 Luke sneaks back into bed with me…in his Daddy’s spot.

6:45 Lola is up. I put her into her playpen with Cheerios and cartoons and go back to bed. I’m not going to win any awards today. I can’t fall back asleep, but I can’t make myself get out of my warm, cozy bed.

7ish Levi is awake and reading in his room.

7:45 Leif and Luke are up. Leif is eating yogurt.

8:00 I make myself take a shower. I weigh myself and I gained more than a pound. {sigh} I think I’ll have cookies and soda today.

8:30 I waste time on the computer.

8:45 Finally we get going. I open the shutters and let some light in, turn off the tv, change Lola, have the boys get dressed.
Luke empties the dishwasher and teaches Leif (I think he’s grooming Leif to take over his chores). Levi starts his math. Luke puts on the hot water for cocoa.

9:00 Breakfast prep. Mental note: need to go to the grocery store and the library tomorrow.

9:15 Breakfast. Repeat of yesterday. Luke makes hot chocolate with whipped cream for the boys.

9:30 I clean Lola up and get her dressed. We go up to her room and play, talk, and snuggle, then I put her down for a nap.

9:45 I’m on the computer again.

10:00 Levi still hasn’t completed his math. I threaten consequences. We both have a meltdown. He finishes. Luke and Leif play while I clean up the kitchen, make some tea, and switch the laundry. I succumb to the mini marshmallows on the counter. (Who didn’t put them away yesterday?!!!)

10:45 Lola squeals. That was a short nap. The boys escape outside without permission. I hunt them down and threaten consequences. Luke goes back to reading. Leif plays upstairs with Lola.

11:15 Levi switches places with Leif and hangs out with Lola. Leif pounds out Mary Had a Little Lamb on the piano. Repeatedly. I start facing the fact that company is coming this evening, and the house is a disaster. I go through STACKS of papers on every surface. A pizza ad catches my eye. I decide to fix an early lunch to avoid whining.

11:30 Grilled cheese and veggies for the boys. Leftover spaghetti for me. Levi reads at the table.

11:45 Clean up. More laundry.

12:00 Clean Lola up and change her diaper. The boys are playing. Levi has the Dangerous Book for Boys and is making paper airplanes. I’m still trying to clean up the house.

12:30 We need an outing. And I need a Dr. Pepper. We work on memory review in the truck. I pick up a ready-to-bake pizza for dinner. I’m ready for low-stress.

1:00 We’re back home. The boys play outside. Lola plays inside. I do MORE laundry and bake cookies. I snitch. A lot. I do more house tasks.

2:00 Boys are in for quiet assigned reading. Lola goes down for a nap.

2:30 The boys get on the computer to play geography quiz games. I do more cleaning and organizing in the kitchen. Dishes. Sweep. Mop.

3:15 The boys clean up their room while I clean the bathroom

3:45 Lola’s up. She goes in her playpen with a snack. Luke practices his piano. Levi and Leif head outside to pick up stuff in the yard.

4:15 Pizza’s in the oven. The boys watch a Bill Nye DVD.

4:30 Russ is home. Lola squeals and goes running to him with her arms in the air. Pizza’s done.

4:35 We sit down to eat as a family. It’s only pizza, but no one is complaining. Russ feeds Lola and cleans her up.

4:50 I clean up the kitchen (again) while the boys wash up and finish their Bill Nye DVD.

5:15 I head down to the studio to clean. Russ loads up all four kids and takes them to the pool. Luke and Leif have swimming lessons. Levi has swim practice. Lola is along for the ride. (thank you, thank you, thank you)

6:15 I finish up the cleaning in the studio and am feeling great. I think it was the Dr. Pepper and chocolate chip cookies. And not cooking dinner. And the fact that I’ve been all by myself for an hour. And my house is kinda clean. I get the last few things ready for our parent-child book club.

6:40 My niece arrives to help. We take the cookies down to the studio.

6:50 My sister arrives and we go over our discussion material. (Nothing like the last minute.)

7:00 Everyone arrives, including Levi and Luke. Russ takes Leif and Lola up to the house to play. One of the moms brings her phenomenal caramel corn. Well, if today is a cheating day, I’m going to make the most of it. We have a fabulous book discussion with our wonderful families. The book turns out to be even more wonderful than we thought!

8:15 The kids are turned loose to play. Some in the studio. Some out in the dark and cold. The moms have a lovely time of chatting. Russ brings Leif and Lola down to play while he gets some computer work done.

9:20 I head up to the house to feed Lola some yogurt and crackers. The boys get ready for bed.

9:45 I put Lola in her crib after giggles and snuggles.

9:55 I give the boys snuggles and tuck them in.

10:00 My house is quiet. And clean. Ahhhhh. I run the dishwasher, check my email…

10:45 Both Russ and I get to bed at a decent hour. My stomach is grumbling and I can’t stop thinking about the leftover pizza in the fridge, but I’m too cozy and tired to get up and get it. It’s a good thing I’m going to fall asleep in about two seconds…

A Day in the Life ~ January 2012

2012-01-11T23:45:00.001-08:00

A day in the life of Heidi, with three boys (10, 7, and 5) and a fifteen-month-old girl.

I’ve spent some time thinking about the different kinds of days we have over the course of weeks, months, even years. There are general reality days. A few lovely days. The dreaded fail days. And the once-in-a-blue-moon utopia days. Most days are a mixed-bag.

I want to post a series of a day in the life—posts that will give a better over-all idea of what life is like around here. Some days will sound really productive, but that isn’t necessarily indicative of what we accomplish on a daily basis. This series is sorta tied into my theme for the year—which I sadly haven’t even posted about yet. More about that later.

I woke up this morning feeling like this could be IT. One of those days when we are humming along, doing it ‘right,’ living in the moment, getting things done…and make it to bed feeling like ‘this is the life.’ I had stayed up late last night getting the house in order, the studio in order, our lessons in order. Lola slept all. night. long. Which is astounding considering she is working on getting four molars and her nights have been rough. I woke up ready to seize the day. Okay, that’s a lie. I NEVER wake up ready to seize the day. I could happily sleep in until 10 am every morning. It’s probably more accurate to say I got out of bed determined.

Well, I’ll let you decide what kind of day it was. Here’s the unedited version:

6:35 I’m up. (Russ left for work long ago.) Check email. Turn up heater. Turn on lights.

6:40 Wake up boys. Hop in shower and get dressed.

7:00 Luke empties dishwasher. Levi works on math. Leif is still asleep.

7:15 I start breakfast prep. Levi isn’t making much progress, so I set the timer. Lola wakes up. I put her in her playpen with Cheerios and Little Einsteins.

7:30 Luke and Leif join Lola. I boil some water for tea.

7:45 We sit down to breakfast: scrambled eggs and chicken apple sausage. I’m trying to eat Paleo again (whaaaa!!). I’m on day 9 sans Dr. Pepper, sugar, and grains. Levi makes himself an egg sandwich. Levi and Leif have OJ. Luke and I have green tea. I feed Lola a big bowl of yogurt.

8:00 The boys clear their plates, get dressed, and brush their teeth. I do a few dishes, put poison oak cream on Luke’s face (when will he learn?!), clean Lola up, change her diaper, get her dressed, comb her hair.

8:15 I set Lola loose in the front room and give the boys some assigned reading while I finish getting ready.

8:35 We grab water bottles and walk down to the studio. It’s a frosty cold morning. The boys say ‘oro et laboro’ as we walk in. (‘Pray and work.’ It’s a silly little tradition, but they get a big kick out of it for some reason.) Lola goes in the playpen. The boys sit on the couch. We sing a hymn, pray, read a lesson from Telling God’s Story, and read a story from the Children’s Illustrated Bible.

9:00 The boys do a little independent Bible reading. We listen to our Bible memory CD.

9:30 Lola’s ready for a nap already, so I put on a DVD lesson for Latin and take Lola up to the house for a nap. Leif comes up with us to use the bathroom. Lola and I snuggle for a few minutes, then I put her down. I put in a load of laundry, check my email, and grab bags of pretzels and goldfish to take down for the boys.

10:00 We work on memory work while snacking. I use all my will-power to stay out of the goldfish and have almonds and cranberries instead. They don’t taste as yummy as goldfish.

10:30 Lola still isn’t asleep. I snuggle with her for a few minutes and then put her back down. The boys and I spend some more time on memory work.

11:00 I put Levi and Luke on their computers to do geography quizzes while I watch Leif do his handwriting. I check on Lola. The boys dissolve into mayhem while I’m otherwise occupied. Everything comes to a screeching halt and I spend some time on character training for one of the boys. Arrrgh! (That reminds me of a sign I saw recently: ‘To err is human, to arr is pirate.’ Ha, ha!)

11:30 Leif plays educational games on his computer while I work on spelling with Levi and Luke.

11:50 We sit on the couch and read about Rudyard Kipling.

12:05 We break for lunch. The sun is shining, so I switch gears and tell the boys to go run around. Lola is up, so I put her in her swing outside. The boys take turns pushing her while I switch laundry and make a salad for myself. Leif comes busting in the house and says, ‘Mom, we’re putting on a play!’ I switch gears again and get a tray of food to take outside. It looks like it is another picnic day. The boys don their costumes. We eat and they do, indeed, put on a play.

1:00 Lola and I are cold so we come inside. I clean up and check email and facebook. I tell the boys to come inside.

1:30 Luke gets on the computer to work on math. Leif is watching Sid the Science Kid. (I think he has already watched every single episode on our DVR, but he just had to borrow a DVD from the library.) Levi is taking care of Lola. I’m pretty sure he has re-arranged her whole room upstairs, but I need the break so I’m trying not to think about it. I get derailed on the computer, and think about how nice it would be to take a nap. I fold some laundry and look longingly at the bed. I straighten up the house and wonder how it could possibly get so messy so quickly!

2:05 I lie down on the bed…just for a minute.

2:20 I muster every last bit of energy and get off the bed, gather everyone, and return to the studio. I don’t think Luke got much math done earlier, so I put him on another lesson. Levi is assigned a few pages in the history encyclopedia. An un-thrilled Lola gets placed in the playpen. Leif distracts everyone.

2:20 Luke, Levi, and I work on some sentence grammar analysis/diagramming. They are insanely distracted by Leif and Lola. Everyone is whining about being hungry.

3:00 We go up to the house. Again. I feed Lola while the boys have a free-for-all snack-fest. Luke picks dates with cream cheese, and I join him. But just one, I swear. I try to put Lola down for another nap (she was rubbing her eyes a little bit ago). Everything gets derailed again. Lola is not liking the nap idea.

4:00 I try to return to lessons. Leif works on a train track. I start reading a grammar lesson with Levi and Luke. Lola still isn’t asleep. We’re all distracted. I finally get Lola out of her crib. I put some spaghetti squash in the oven. I am so hungry and cranky. All I want is a batch of chocolate chip cookies and a 44 oz Dr. Pepper. And bed.

5:00 We re-group on the couch. Grammar (take 2) lasts about 5 minutes. The boys simply cannot pay any attention to the lesson when Lola is being so silly in the hallway. (I don’t blame them. She’s stinkin’ cute.) I start to lose my mind and fantasize about bedtime. We scratch the group lessons idea, and I have Levi play with Lola while Luke and I do a narration lesson on my bed with the door shut. That works.

5:35 Russ arrives home. Lola is ecstatic and attaches herself to him. She won’t be put down. He has to return a computer to a client, so he takes Lola and Leif with him. I am finally able to work on a writing lesson with both Levi and Luke.

6:00 I start some dinner prep and sneak a few almonds so I don’t lose it and attack the bag of mini marshmallows on the counter. Who left those there?!!! The boys build a blanket fort in the front room. I really want that batch of chocolate chip cookies. Instead I make meat spaghetti sauce with grated zucchini to go over the spaghetti squash and some noodles for the boys.

6:30 Dinner is ready, and Russ isn’t home yet. The boys and I are starving, so we eat willy-nilly. So much for the one evening we had available for a relaxed family dinner this week. This is the first time I’ve ever made spaghetti squash. It’s actually delicious in place of noodles. Who knew. (Well, lots of people, I’m sure, but I wasn’t one of them.) I do a little clean-up and put away laundry.

7:15 Russ arrives home with Leif and Lola. The second dinner shift begins. I get a bowl of spaghetti for Leif and feed Lola while Russ finishes off a bowl and heads back down to his office to work. The boys beg to sleep in their blanket fort tonight. I consent under duress. At least it gives me a little leverage. The boys get ready for bed and Luke practices the piano (or else).

7:45 I put Lola in the bathtub. I give her gas medicine, Advil, and Benedryl while she’s in the tub. I really want to sleep tonight. Between tummy issues, a weird rash on her torso, and four molars coming in, I hope this covers my bases. I slather prescription cream on Luke’s face of poison oak. I brush Leif’s teeth and slather his dry face with lotion. Levi comes to tell me that the light bulb from the lamp under their blanket fort broke. I obviously can’t deal with the broken glass while Lola’s in the bath, so I ask the boys to go to their room and not set foot in the front room. They don’t seem to understand the directions, so I tell them that they won’t be sleeping in their fort tonight. Wailing ensues. I get Lola out of the bath. She HATES getting out of the bath.

8pm Even though I told the boys repeatedly not to go in the front room, Luke sneaks in to get his bed stuff. I’m drying Lola off and getting her diapered in my bedroom and Luke comes in….bleeding. Not badly, but still. He asks for my help to get him bandaged. I tell him ‘tough luck, there’s only one of me and she’s busy.’ Lola has a diaper rash, and I realize the diaper ointment isn’t in the bedroom. I go searching through the house holding a naked baby. I finally find the ointment in the front room of chaos. I get an unhappy baby diapered and have nowhere to put her while I take care of Luke, since the front room is a hazard area and her playpen is part of the fort. I call Russ’s cell phone, but he doesn’t pick up. (The reception is bad in the studio.) I juggle Lola in the bathroom while getting Luke cleaned up and bandaged. I rescue a few blankets from the front room, tell the boys it’s lights-out time, and threaten them with certain pain if their heads come off their pillows or if a squeak is heard.

8:30 I finish getting Lola in her jammies and take her to her room to snuggle. She flails around and won’t settle down, so I just put her in her crib and leave.

8:40 I heave a sigh at the sight of the house. How can it be this disastrous? And I’m starving. I spend a few hours cleaning up (including the blanket fort and broken light bulb) and blogging (which admittedly takes me much longer than usual).

11:15 Lola is crying. I spend a few minutes trying to get her settled back down. We might be in for a long night. And I haven’t even seen Russ yet. He must still be working in his office…

11:45 To bed. Bed, sweet bed. And, you know what? This is the life.

And that, my friends, is way more than you ever wanted to know about a day in the life of Heidi.

January Picnic

2012-01-10T16:17:00.001-08:00

Because, sometimes, one just needs a picnic…

10

2012-01-09T15:21:00.001-08:00

Yep. I have a son in the double digits. That’s just wrong. Of course, I’m used to a son who either acts 2 or 22 with no in between. When I began this blog, he had just turned five. That blows my mind.

Levi is my New Year’s boy. 12:06 am, to be exact. We start off every year with a bang. (And, yes, I’m slightly belated in my posts, but that is nothing new.)

I don’t know what to say about him that hasn’t already been said. He’s vivacious, funny, sentimental, talkative, smart, affectionate, imaginative, chaotic, argumentative, and emotional. He loves words. He loves to read. He has an astounding vocabulary. Everyday I hear words such as scrutinize, apparel, vicinity, jurisdiction, and hundreds of others in casual conversation. He keeps us highly entertained.

He is an awesome ring-leader when it comes to imaginative play with his brothers. I am so thankful for his willingness and interest in involving them in everything. Sometimes that backfires, but in general it is one of my most favorite things about him.

He loves swimming. He loves to draw. He loves fantasy. His favorite books are the Percy Jackson series and the Peter and the Starcatchers series, and usually he’ll also add the last couple books he has read to his list because he just loves books in general. His favorite movie is How to Train Your Dragon.

Another one of my favorite things about Levi is that he could play with his little sister all day long. They are the best of pals. Here is one more moment in a morning with Lola:

Were you surprised to find out that I have children other than Lola? I know, I’ve been posting pictures of her a lot lately. I really do have some other things to say and quite a few posts half-finished. As always, I’m just trying to find enough hours in the day…

(I have NO pictures of his birthday party. How sad is that? I really can only do one thing at a time. Hosting/entertaining and taking pictures is really difficult for me, especially if I want to enjoy the moment. Which reminds me—I never even posted pictures of Lola’s 1st birthday party! I’m really slipping…)

A Morning With Lola ~ Take 3

2012-01-06T21:53:00.001-08:00

This is a girl who loves her some piano. Poor Luke rarely gets to practice in peace, because she MUST play if he is playing (or we get to listen to her shrieking—lovely (not)). When she gets bored with playing the keys, she STANDS on them to play with whatever is on top of the piano. Yep. I think my hair is turning gray.

Blurry action shots…

Her little pointer finger cracks me up.

A Morning With Lola ~ Take 2

2012-01-05T17:01:00.001-08:00

Wahooo! Someone left the bathroom door open….

While we’re hanging out in the bathroom (and I actually did my hair and makeup…)

Oooh, look. A drawer to empty onto the floor while mommy’s busy taking pictures of herself…

I don’t like stuffed animals and toys, but this is right up my alley.

A Morning With Lola ~ Take 1

2012-01-05T11:33:00.001-08:00

I’m finding a certain little girl in all sorts of interesting places these days.

Cleaning up:

15 Months

2012-01-03T18:26:00.001-08:00

I would have never guessed (during her quiet, sleeping, watching, serious babyhood) that my Lola Bug would turn into an independent, daredevil, opinionated, adventurous, silly little girl. She is climbing all. over. the place. (And has the bumps and bruises to prove it.) She is fiercely independent…and, boy, howdy, will she let you know if you are in her space or messing with her things. Daddy is still the most favored one, with her boys coming next in line. She weighs about 24 pounds. She LOVES to play the piano. Her silly bum-scoot is gone (sniff), and she is a fast one on her feet. Her fingernails are lethal sharp, but she hates to have them trimmed, so we both often wear ugly red scratches. She has a very pitiful ‘you broke my heart’ cry that starts with a lower lip out to *there* when she gets in trouble. And then there is the mad cry which lets you know that there is *nothing* wrong with her lungs.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this little girl? And how much her Daddy and boys adore her? I think we’ll keep her.

Asking for Prayers

2012-01-02T19:04:00.001-08:00

This beautiful and, oh, so loved and adored baby girl is going in for open heart surgery tomorrow. I know that her family would appreciate all prayers on behalf of Charlotte Joy. Faith has started a blog documenting their journey at Getting By On Grace… and Coffee.

UPDATE, 1pm on Tuesday. From Faith:

"The latest about baby Charlotte: Yay!! Charlotte's out of surgery and in the PICU. The surgeon came and talked to us, he sounded quite pleased with how things went. No leakage at all, all electrical signals looked good. He said the heart looked quite healthy and he expects it to serve her very well."

Thanks for the prayers, everyone!!

Mt. Hope Academy @ The Live and Learn Studio ~ December 2011

2012-01-01T10:16:00.001-08:00

This isn’t a very fascinating post for the first day of a New Year, but I have a few things on my plate today, including a 10th birthday party for my first-born son. Maybe I’ll have some fascinating, inspiring, colorful posts this coming week (or not), but for now this is it.

Making Men without Chests: The Intellectual Life and Moral Imagination by R. J. Snell

Where does such courage come from? Or honesty? Generosity, magnanimity, dignity, liberality, patience, industriousness, modesty, forbearance, good humor, nobility, and reverence? Where do these come from? All these virtues we need to live well—where do we get them?

They don’t come from argument. And they don’t come from theory. They come from imagination, or a certain kind of imagination which some have called “moral imagination.” They come from stories, theater, images, symbols, ideals, character types and archetypes, and, in an eminent way, from liturgy. From knowing the stories of David and Bathsheba, Samson and Delilah, Joseph and Potiphar’s wife.

The Gospel According to Sleeping Beauty by Angelina Stanford

When sleeping beauty awakens, her entire kingdom awakes as well: her attendants, the horses and dogs, even the flies on the wall. Likewise, when Christ calls for His bride, the whole of Creation will be redeemed as well.

All in the Timing: Why reading ahead of your grade level isn’t necessarily a good thing by Dashka Slater

As a children's book writer who has yet to outgrow the habit of reading picture books for pleasure, I find all of this a bit disturbing. Of course it's wonderful that children are reading, and wonderful when they read complicated books. But in the fuss about literacy and reading levels and school achievement, something fundamental gets lost: the pleasure of the book for its own sake.

Between Christmas and illness, we didn’t do much formal school work

Christmas:
Storybook Land
St. Nicholas Day Celebration
Lots and lots of Christmas books

Faith:
The Handel's Messiah Family Advent Reader

Math:
Teaching Textbooks
The Critical Thinking Co. math workbooks
Life of Fred (all 3 boys; finished Apples, Butterflies, Cats, Dogs, Edgewood, Farming, Goldfish, and Honey)

Science:
Nada, unless you count Sid the Science Kid, Wild Kratts, and How It’s Made

P.E.:
Swim Team (Levi)/Swim Lessons (Luke)

Fine Arts:
Monthly Fine Arts Study (Handel, Rockwell, and Christmas Poetry)
Piano lessons (Luke)

Language Arts:
MCT Vocabulary and Grammar (+sentence diagramming) (just a little)
Writing With Ease (just a little)
All About Spelling Level 2 (just a little)
Handwriting Without Tears custom worksheets (all 3 boys)

Geography:
BrainBox USA and World games
Place the State online game

History/Literature/Historical Fiction:
The Story of the World: Early Modern Times (chapters 22-23
DK Children's Encyclopedia of American History
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Levi-IR)
Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson (Levi-IR)
Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley
Phoebe and the General by Judith Berry Griffin
Where was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? by Jean Fritz
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz
Let’s Ride, Paul Revere by Peter and Connie Roop
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, graved and painted by Christopher Bing
The Many Rides of Paul Revere by James Cross Giblin
Yankee Doodle Boy: A Young Soldier’s Adventures in the American Revolution by Joseph Plumb Martin (Levi-IR)
Why Not, Lafayette? by Jean Fritz (Levi-IR)
Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit (Levi-IR)
Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold by Jean Fritz (Levi-IR)
Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George by Jean Fritz
…If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution by Kay Moore
When Mr. Jefferson Came to Philadelphia: What I Learned of Freedom, 1776 by Ann Turner
The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds
Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborne
Independent Dames by Laurie Halse Anderson
Farmer George Plants a Nation by Peggy Thomas
When Washington Crossed the Delaware by Lynne Cheney
The Revolutionary John Adams by Cheryl Harness
George Washington: A Picture Book Biography by James Cross Giblin
Liberty’s Kids (Netflix streaming)

Literature Study:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (unabridged, Levi-IR, part of the Michael Clay Thompson Time Trilogy Literature Study)
The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm selected by Lore Segal and Maurice Sendak (Levi-IR)

Levi’s Reading:
More All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown by Sydney Taylor
The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
The Road to Oz
The Fire Within by Chris D’Lacey
Icefire
Fire Star
The Secret Zoo by Bryan Chick
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
The Jack Tales: Folk Tales from the Southern Appalachians Collected and Retold by Richard Chase
Parzival: The Quest of the Grail Knight by Katherine Paterson
The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban

Luke’s Reading:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Pippi Goes on Board by Astrid Lindgren
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Leif’s Reading:
Twister on Tuesday by Mary Pope Osborne
Night of the Ninjas
Civil War on Sunday
Pirates Past Noon
Polar Bears Past Bedtime
and a bunch more!

And a bunch of wonderful picture books from the library and books from our Christmas collection.

Whole(ish)30(ish): Take 2

2011-12-29T08:05:00.001-08:00

We’re going to get a good start on our new year. Our menu will be mostly Paleo but with some cheese snuck in here and there. This time I’m going to work in some form of exercise. I’m posting my general menu ideas for reference.

Anyone joining me? {Come on. You can do it!}

Breakfast:
Sliced bananas or sauteed cinnamon apples with pecans and coconut milk
Banana with almond butter
Chopped nut, seed, and dried fruit cereal with coconut milk
Eggs, eggs, and more eggs
Sausage or Bacon
Green smoothies (banana, OJ or canned unsweetened pineapple, baby spinach, and frozen berries in Vitamix)
Sauteed steak and veggies
Pumpkin/apple/bacon biscuits

Lunch:
Tuna, lettuce, cherry tomato, and sunflower seed wraps
Various soups, salads, or leftovers

Snacks:
Deviled eggs
Almonds and dried cranberries
Veggies
Black olives
Celery with almond butter
Sweet potato chips

To Go:
Lara Bars

Dinner:
Bun-less loaded burgers
Grilled meat + roasted veggie (cauliflower, cabbage, sweet potato) + green salad
Roasted broccoli with chicken apple sausage and slivered almonds
Pizza salad or taco salad
Pizza with chicken or cauliflower crust
Grilled Lemon Chicken and Faux-tato Salad
Ginger and Cilantro Baked Tilapia
Chicken antipasto kabobs (chicken, artichoke hearts, olives, cherry tomatoes (mozzarella))
Slow Cooker Latin Chicken
Egg flower soup and Chinese meat and veggie platter (take-out)
Shrimp and Egg Flower Soup
Beef and veggie stew
Chicken and veggie soup (or pumpkin veggie chicken soup)
Sausage tomato soup
Cabbage soup with chicken and pork
Moo Shu Vegetables
Almond-Crusted Chicken Fingers with marinara sauce and green salad
Indian Chicken Curry
Garlic Shrimp and Tomatoes
Zucchini Lasagna
Fajitas in lettuce bowl or fajita chicken salad
Spaghetti meat sauce over spaghetti squash
Roasted Brussels sprouts, apples, and bacon
Avocado, tomato, cucumber, (mozzarella) salad
Chorizo Mini Meatloaves with Chipotle, Tomato Relish
Pulled pork spareribs with coffee/molasses barbeque sauce (for cheat-nights :))

Cook hamburger and onion in olive and sesame oils. Add a teaspoon of coriander then toss in a bag of frozen chopped broccoli. Serve as is or stuffed into a baked acorn squash or bell pepper.

Sautee zucchini, yellow squash, and onions in bacon fat. Add shrimp and crumbled bacon. Add baby spinach at the last minute. Top with lemon juice.

Drinking:
Good Earth Lemongrass Green Tea
Lots of water

Desperation:
Chocolate milkshakes (frozen banana, coconut milk, cocoa powder, a couple frozen strawberries in Vitamix)
Chocolate date balls (pecans, dates, and cocoa powder in food processor; roll into balls)

Cheating:
Chocolate Mug Cake (with coconut milk and almond flour)
Dates with cream cheese

Contemplations

2011-12-27T22:04:00.001-08:00

It never ceases to amaze me, this time speeding by like a freight train. I feel all funky, and busy, and lazy—all at the same time. Life is good, so good. I want to be content, but not complacent. I’m thinking of this past year, so close to an end; this new year, just on the brink.

My reading was almost non-existent in 2011 because I had so little ME time and I just needed sleep. I need to return to intentional reading.

May was a great month of healthy eating, but bad habits slowly returned and December has been a very unhealthy one. I haven’t spent regular time exercising since I stopped walking with my sister in 2010! I need to return to healthy eating and exercising.

LIFE was my one little word for 2011. (I’m all about 4-letter L words…) What will be my focus for 2012? Will it be just one little word?

Are you thinking about the new year? Are you making plans or taking each day as it comes?

Celebrate

2011-12-26T11:21:00.001-08:00

Homemade breakfast burritos and pre-Christmas crafts and baking.

Christmas day at ‘Bambi’ and ‘Poppy’s’ house.

(Manger built by my nephew, Drake:)

(Luke reading the Christmas story:)

(Drake made catapult kits for the boys, wrapped them himself, and then helped the boys build them!)

(Bambi made capes, tunics, and Robin Hood hats for each of the boys. I’m pretty sure Levi is going to live in his.)

(My Dad came walking with us! It’s been six weeks since his open-heart surgery.)

Messiah

2011-12-24T07:07:00.001-08:00

From Our Family to Yours

2011-12-23T09:05:00.001-08:00

J’ Adore

2011-12-22T19:31:00.001-08:00

Have you watched Hugo, yet? GORGEOUS, LOVELY, SPECTACULAR film. The lighting, the characters, the atmosphere, the history, the theme, everything. We loved it. Levi and I read the book last year; Luke just read it last week. (It’s a little traumatic for the younger folk. I’m glad the five-year-old stayed home.)

The Hayes Family

2011-12-22T12:19:00.001-08:00

I thought for certain I had already posted photos of this awesome family, but it appears I haven’t!

Faith and I met years and years (and years ago) when we were kids. We had mutual family friends. The beauty of the virtual world is such that time and distance are of no consequence. We reconnected over a couple blog posts and then through facebook, even though Faith and her family were living as missionaries in Mexico at the time.

Their family has gone through so many changes and upheavals in the past two years, but they now live within driving distance of me. Their beautiful daughter, Charlotte Joy, arrived in this world a couple months ago. She was born with Down Syndrome. I have been tremendously blessed by this family and their love for one another! I asked Faith a few weeks ago if I could drive to see them and take pictures of Charlotte and their whole family.

We had a wonderful afternoon spending time together, chatting, and taking pictures. It was a much-needed time away for me, and I felt doubly blessed!

Christmas

2011-12-19T20:34:00.001-08:00

When I say that we are having a low-key Christmas, I really do mean it. We’ve hardly left the house for a week and a half. We are all feeling so much better, though, and who knows what this week will bring. The pictures from the first week of December have been begging to be posted. I ended up hosting my book club Christmas party at the last minute (due to my own poor planning), and it was such a wonderful, cozy evening with friends!! I wish I had pictures to share, but I have trouble hosting and taking pictures at the same time.

Advent reading:

Christmas Storybook Land:

Our traditional St. Nicholas Day celebration with friends:

Making marzipan: For the kids, this is the highlight of the celebration. Char and I have to practice letting go of all perfection and preconceived notions of what the marzipan fruits and vegetables are ‘supposed’ to look like, and allow the kids to experiment with aliens and volcanoes. (Char does well with letting go; I…not so much, but I’m getting better.) Lola thought marzipan was delicious.

We were so preoccupied with the marzipan that we almost forgot to put out our shoes for St. Nicholas!!

Bleh.

2011-12-15T20:58:00.001-08:00

There were all these hopes and dreams of a productive, active, creative, lovely Christmas season. Then the past week happened. Today, after a visit to the pediatrician with three of my children and also a visit to my doctor, I picked up four, yes, FOUR prescriptions for antibiotics. Conjunctivitis, bronchitis, double ear infections, and strep (among other things). How Levi has escaped (so far), I’ll never know.

The house is a waste land. Our productivity is low, LOW. I’d love to say that the boys have just cozied up with books and charming Christmas movies all week, but I think there was much more Phineas and Ferb (and, ‘quick, Mom’s not looking, let’s do whatever we want’) happening. No read-alouds because my throat feels like it is full of glass shards.

Fun times. I am so ready for a decent night’s sleep.

But life is still good. It just ebbs and flows. And it is okay if December is not quite the wonderland I had pictured in my head (and on Pinterest).

We’ll make up for it next week, right? Tonight I’m going to bed early, and I’m POSITIVE (children, did you hear that?) everyone is going to sleep all. night. long.

Fiction?

2011-12-14T16:35:00.001-08:00

I’m on a roll today. Actually, I am practicing creative procrastination. Or maybe it is my version of couch potato for the sick person. More Facebook goodness. Well, it is from The Circe Institute blog, but their posts are linked on FB. (Do you see how I justify my FB habit?)

True Lies by Angelina Stanford @ The Circe Institute:

When I was a kid I was taught by my elementary teachers that non-fiction books are true and that fiction books are not true. I bet most of us were taught that same distinction. But as an adult I have discovered that these categories are very misleading and problematic…

Works of fiction, especially fairy tales, can develop a child’s moral imagination, can help them distinguish right from wrong, and can prepare them for the great battles of their lives.

Comparing truths in fiction and nonfiction recently came up elsewhere in my reading. From Classics in the Classroom by Michael Clay Thompson:

A point about fiction and nonfiction: we must teach our students not to mistake the natures of fiction and nonfiction. The amateur’s specious idea that nonfiction classics such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X are true and fictional classics such as Silas Marner are not true must be carefully avoided. Some of history’s greatest and most evil fictions have appeared in nonfiction works (Hitler’s Mein Kampf is an example), and some of humanity’s truest truths have appeared in works of fiction, such as Oedipus Rex, Moby Dick, or Les Miserables. There are forms of truth that only fiction seems capable of reaching…

Of course, the heart of this discussion about classics, ideas, thinking, and intellectual freedom is that education must be, in essence, a search for truth. It is a mark of how cynical, feckless, and decadent we have become that to view education as a search for truth seems naive and idealistic. But what is the alternative view? Would anyone feel comfortable seriously articulating it? The hard fact is that if education does not concern itself with the search for truth, it is fraudulent….

If teachers are engaged with their students in an exciting…search for truth, rather than in an endless concatenation of time-consuming, unfocused, pseudo-educational hubbub, then truth can be found, and students can be instructed.

Santa Lucia

2011-12-14T11:40:00.001-08:00

We missed St. Lucia Day yesterday due to sickness at our house, but we might have to have a belated celebration next week when we are all feeling better. I also have pictures to share from our St. Nicholas Day celebration last week. All sorts of lovely.

(LOVE this next song...)

See the Beauty of the Thing

2011-12-14T09:45:00.001-08:00

Did you know that there are beautiful, passionate, intelligent thoughts on Facebook? ‘Tis true. Such as this quote by Richard Bausch:

“Had an algebra teacher, Mrs. Croft. She'd step back from it all and ask us to see the beauty of the thing itself. "Look at this. This is always true." I got a C that year, first grade in math above F or D. And I took it with me, that stepping back, into my working life as a teacher. So. Take a step back and look at how beautiful it is, what you are aiming to do. You are taking part in one of the greatest miracles of human life: the triadic event, the linguists call it. We do it as a species; at its lowest level, it is nothing more than gossip: two minds concerned with a third thing. But look where it leads. Homer in 700 BC, writing about Hector with his shiny helmet on, and his baby son doesn't recognize him and is frightened, and so Hector, who has to die and knows it, takes the helmet off so the boy can see his father. And it breaks our hearts to read it, here, in 2011, and the mind that made it up was dust 700 years before Christ walked the earth. Think of it--think what you are involved in: that ancient mind is speaking to us from two thousand seven hundred years ago. And it is this miracle that defines us as a species; it cheats time and distance and cultural variance and death itself. And when you try to write you are taking part in that miracle no matter what else you call it. You are not different in kind than anyone who ever tried to do it. This is why I say celebrate it. Be glad of the good fortune of having the will and what time there is and the gift of having it to do. It is a generous and loving act of grace, not an indulgence. The indulgences are what you give up to do it.”

We Read.

2011-12-11T17:16:00.001-08:00

It’s just what we do.

My mom and dad read. My sisters read. My husband reads.

Lola falls asleep with a book in her hands while we snuggle at bedtime. Every time.

My boys read.

Yes, I have boys who read.

They fight. They wrestle. They are so. very. loud. They jump off the bunk beds. They play computer games. They watch (sometimes brainless) television. They are social (understatement alert). They ride bikes. They swim. Their bodies are in constant motion. Their mouths are in constant motion. (I have three of the talking-est boys you will ever meet.)

And they read. A lot.

Sometimes I imagine a little conversation going on in heaven. It is one where God is planning all the ways in which the blessing-boys He chose for me will ~~break~~ stretch and challenge and teach and refine me. And then He decides to give me a… reward, if you will, and make them all readers in addition to their other, uh, qualities.

The reading thing—it is my sanity. It is wonderful to be able to sit the boys down with a book while I'm otherwise occupied or when I am in desperate need of some quiet space.

They read at home. They find books when we are out and about visiting—and just sit down to read. They read in Costco. They spend most of our driving time reading (thank heavens they don’t get car sick!).

I don’t know how it happened. Not only are my boys strong, independent readers, but they are willing to read almost anything I put in front of them. I work hard (sometimes very hard!!) to find quality books that will appeal to them in a wide range of subjects and reading levels. If they really don’t care for a book, I try not to push it.

Levi, in particular, is such a good sport and reads such a challenging variety, that if he tells me he truly doesn’t care for a book I’ll just let it go. (And in return, I also overlook many of his own book choices that I don’t care for, knowing his main literary diet is a quality one.)

I often ask Luke to read just a couple pages or the first chapter or two of a book. Sometimes that does the trick, and he finishes the book. Sometimes he doesn’t like it at all, and we find a new selection for him.

Why am I telling you this? I’ve gotten several comments and questions about the reading lists I post as part of our weekly or monthly ‘reports.’

Are the books on our list read aloud, cover to cover? When I began this homeschooling journey, one of the things I was most excited about was being able to read all the great history and literature books with the boys. As it turns out, there are only so many hours in a day. And somehow I couldn’t wrap my head around that before. I WANT to read all those books aloud.

But the rest of our subjects are teacher-intensive. Keeping up with life is me-intensive. I have a 1 year old who needs a lot of attention. The 5 year old needs a lot of attention, and he would have to be duct-taped in order to sit still and quiet enough to sit with us. The 7 year old is profoundly visual, and he can only stand to be read to if he is smack-dab up against me with my fingers running under each word as I read. (I still hear ‘where are you?’ incessantly while I read.) (For what it’s worth, I hated being read aloud to when I was young for the same reason, and a great deal of the books would float by me unheard while I was daydreaming.) My 9 year old loves to hear books read aloud, but the interruptions are annoying and he could read about 10 books in the time it takes me to read one aloud.

Excuses? Yep. But I’m human (even lazy on occasion, gasp), and I can only do so much.

And so—most of the books on our list are read independently (cover to cover) by Levi and Luke. I read The Story of the World aloud. I try to have one book in process of being read aloud, even if it takes forever to finish. The other books range from simple picture books to much more challenging chapter books. I assign specific pages in the history encyclopedias to correspond with our studies (though they will probably have read them cover to cover by the time we’re done with our 4 year history cycle.) The longer chapter books are usually only read by Levi. I try to indicate which chapter books were read by which boy (or both) for my own records. Leif reads books here and there, but his reading is much more difficult to keep track of.

How do I choose which books to read? The history and literature selections correspond with our history studies. Last year they generally lined up with our Classical Conversations topics. This year they line up with the topics we are covering in The Story of the World. Many books are from the book lists in the SOTW activity guide. My sister and I own a large (ahem) collection of books, which we share. Otherwise, I keep in mind our up-coming history topics and see what our library has to offer. I scour Amazon for ideas.

For literature, I am trying to have the boys work through some classics chronologically. I use the literature lists in the reading sections of The Well-Trained Mind as a spring-board. I’d love to have our literature reading line up perfectly with our history studies, but I’m not that talented. As much as possible, Levi is reading unabridged versions, but we also do retellings (picture books, simple chapter books, audio CDs, and even movies). I try to find biographies of the authors as well. I love a good picture book biography!!

For free reading, I consult multiple book lists, recommendations from friends, see what pops out at me when I visit the library, and (again) scour Amazon.

How do I keep track of our reading? Right here. At the beginning of the month I start a post, add to it as we finish books, tasks, or activities, and publish it at the end of the month. That’s it. This blog is the sum total of my record keeping. Everything in one place, tagged by subject. Memories? Here. Photos? Here. Recipes? Here. Ideas? Here. Links? Here. Book lists? Here.

If you have managed to get this far, let me sum up: My boys are boys. But they are also readers. They make me (and our book lists) look really good. Nothing else in our lives is as consistent. (House cleaning, routines, meals, discipline, activities, bedtimes, whatever. At least the boys read. Ha!) And, in a sad turn of events, my own reading has gone ‘poof!’ into thin air.

Any questions?

Why Beauty Matters

2011-12-09T09:28:00.001-08:00

More on beauty. (HT: Tucker Teague, of course.)

“If a work of art is nothing more than an idea, anybody can be an artist, and any object can be a work of art. There is no longer any need for skill, taste, creativity.” ~Roger Scruton

(Heads-up: There are some very crass, un-beautiful images in this documentary.)

Fine Arts Study: December 2011

2011-12-05T14:02:00.001-08:00

Composer: George Frideric Handel

We spent some time with Handel last December, but we’ve added a few things to our studies this year.

Watching: Handel’s Last Chance

(We recently added this 6 DVD set to our collection. We’ve watched and loved the artists and inventors sets.)

Reading: Handel, Who Knew What He Liked by M. T. Anderson

We are still enjoying all our other books and CDs (at the link above), especially our Handel’s Messiah Family Advent Reader.

Artist: Norman Rockwell

Reading: Norman Rockwell: Storyteller With a Brush by Beverly Gherman (Have I ever mentioned how much I adore really great picture book biographies? Put this one on the list!)

(We also have a couple great over-sized books of Norman Rockwell illustrations to pour over.)

Watching:

And the perfect blend of art and poetry for this December:

Norman Rockwell’s Christmas Book--filled with Christmas poetry by Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, and more. Synchronicity!

Christmas Poetry

Memorizing:

Christmas Bells

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
    And wild and sweet
    The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
    Had rolled along
    The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
    A voice, a chime,
    A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
    And with the sound
    The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
    And made forlorn
    The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
    “For hate is strong,
    And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
    The Wrong shall fail,
    The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Mt. Hope Academy @ The Live and Learn Studio ~ November 2011

2011-12-04T17:36:00.001-08:00

I wish that I had more time (and more brain space and ability) to be able to express my thoughts more completely and more eloquently. This may be a long and disjointed post. (Char, if you’re working tonight, this one’s for you. Grin.)

I’ve been thinking so much this past month on how God’s creation speaks to His nature. How man is made in His image. How He pursues us. And how our purpose is to reflect and glorify Him.

Classical Conversations states that our purpose is ‘To know God and to make Him Known.’

The Circe Institute states that ‘Christian education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty by means of the seven liberal arts and the four sciences so that, in Christ, the student is enabled to better know, glorify, and enjoy God.’ And then, ‘St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is the man fully alive.”’

In so many ways, I have discovered that the fullest education (and life) reflects both ORDER and ARTISTRY. That there is beauty in truth. And that when there is a balance and harmony to these two seemingly opposite sides, it can result in great joy and delight.

Charlotte Mason speaks of ‘living books.’ SimplyCharlotteMason.com defines living books in this way: ‘Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject “come alive.”’

Passion, Pleasure and Delight, and Profound Skill, Knowledge and Wisdom

These are qualities that create amazing learning experiences. The perfect synthesis of order and artistry is manifest in such areas as classical music, but previously I have expected it less in areas such as grammar or math. And then—along came Michael Clay Thompson:

"Why is grammar fun and valuable? Grammar reveals to us the beauty and power of our own minds. With only eight kinds of words and two sides (subject and predicate) of each idea, we can make the plays of Shakespeare, or the novels of Toni Morrison, or the poems of Elizabeth Bishop. No system, so gorgeously elegant, could be expected to make such a language. Through grammar we see the simple form of our binary minds; in all of our sentences, however elaborate, we are making a predicate about a subject, and this reveals the meaning of clarity. For each sentence or idea, I must know both of these two things: what you are talking about, and what you are saying about it. For each paragraph of sentences, I must know what the paragraph is about, and what you are saying about it. For each essay of paragraphs, I must know what the essay is about, and what you are saying about it. A sentence, with its two sides, is a model of the mind.......

Another way to think about why grammar is fun is to ask, what is not fun? The feeling of confusion...is not fun. The off-center feeling of struggling with one’s own ignorance to accomplish just an ordinary thing is not fun. The private knowledge that you don’t even know which pronoun to use in your own language, this is not fun. The low self-esteem of guessing your way through commas, and spattering words around like a wordy Jackson Pollack, not really controlling where they will land or why, this is not fun. It is not fun to have a peer correct your usage, make your verb plural, shift your wrong pronoun to the object case where it belongs, or gently remind you that your sentence is a fragment."

I don’t know when I’ve read anything with such a passion for both perfect order and astounding artistry as Michael Clay Thompson’s rigorous language arts series for elementary students. His writing screams ‘delight!’

Just when I thought life couldn’t get any better, along came Stanley F. Schmidt, Ph.D.: Passion, profound skill and knowledge, CREATIVITY, and sheer joy in a math book. From 5+2 to calculus, statistics, and linear algebra—in narrative form. Yeah, baby. If given a chance, all three boys would read Life of Fred for hours.

I cozied up on the couch to read Life of Fred with the boys (incidentally, both Michael Clay Thompson language arts books and Life of Fred math books are ‘snuggle up on the couch to read and discuss’ sort of books) and opened up the first book. On the dedication page (of each book) Stan writes ‘for Goodness’ sake, or as J.S. Bach—who was never noted for his plain English—often expressed it: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (to the greater glory of God).’ Delightful math, glorifying God, Bach, Latin. Perfect synchronicity. (Not to mention the boys just watched a wonderful movie about Bach…)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
(to the greater glory of God)

Wait, there’s more. After all of this, I read another article by Tucker Teague. (This guy is on a roll.)
‘Incarnational’ Homeschooling @ Classical Conversations:

We live in a world created by God. We are creatures of God’s imagination. Our rationality comes from God. The longings of our hearts are put there by God. Both our desires and our capabilities to teach and to be taught originate from God. And yet, God is a mystery. We cannot know God unless He reveals Himself to us, and even then, we will always remain incapable of knowing God in His essence. He is wonderful and good, He is faithful and sovereign, but He is also transcendent and we are not. Still, God has made us to know Him and to enjoy Him. Praise be to God that in poignant and substantial ways He has made Himself known to us. To know and enjoy God is, or should be, our foundation as educators.

And then I came across this TED video:

And this quote:

"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."
~Albert Einstein

With all the thoughts of God’s creation, order and artistry, swirling around in my head, Fibonacci numbers fit right in. The boys read Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D’Agnese.

My book club, ChocLit Guild, read Perelandra by C.S. Lewis this past month. We had an amazing conversation about the fact that we can’t separate knowledge (and education) from God, because all truth is His and all knowledge, and He is reflected in all of creation.

After our Book Detectives meeting was over, the moms had a fabulous discussion about using the story chart with the Bible to see the ‘big picture’ of God’s story, where we stand in time, and our purpose as God’s creation.

Then we started The Handel’s Messiah Family Advent Reader. Order, artistry, passion, goodness, truth, beauty.

I’m telling you, it has been a month of big thoughts. But I need to get back to parenting, so, without further ado, here is our basic educational outline for the month of November:

Classical Conversations
Weeks 9-12 (now halfway through and on a long Christmas break!!): Memory work in science, history, history timeline, geography, math, English grammar, and Latin. Weekly presentations (public speaking), science experiments/projects, fine arts unit studies, and gym/social time.

Faith:
Bible Memory:
A New Commandment (CD)
Independent Bible reading:
Levi: The Day by Day Bible
Luke: The Action Bible
Leif: The Jesus Storybook Bible
Telling God's Story
Hymns For a Kid's Heart (Vol. 1, 2)
(Luke and Levi: weekly hymns on piano)
(weekly patriotic hymns/songs)

Math:
Teaching Textbooks daily (Leif:3, Luke: 3/4, Levi: 4)
The Critical Thinking Co. math workbooks
Life of Fred elementary series
Singapore
CC weekly memory work (skip counting)

Science:
DK First Human Body Encyclopedia
The Visual Dictionary of the Human Body (Eyewitness)
My Body (human body project @ CC)
What’s Science All About? (biology, chemistry, physics by Usborne) (The boys LOVED this book!!)
CC weekly science memory work (human body)

P.E.:
Swim Team (Levi), Swim Lessons (Luke)
(mini trampoline and outdoor play)

Fine Arts:
CC tin whistle/music theory
Monthly Fine Arts Study (Robert Louis Stevenson, N. C. Wyeth, Edvard Grieg)
Beethoven’s Wig 2
Piano lessons (Luke)
Bach’s Fight for Freedom (DVD)

Language Arts:
IEW Writing (Luke: Primary Arts of Language Writing, Levi: Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales Writing Lessons)
IEW Poetry Memorization
MCT Grammar and Vocabulary (Town level)
Writing With Ease
Sentence diagramming
CC English grammar memory work
All About Spelling Level 2 (Steps 11-14)
Handwriting Without Tears workbooks
Copy work using custom handwriting worksheets
(I shared more details about our Language Arts line-up at this link.)

I’ve been trying to diagram our history sentences. It is a great challenge for me, and I always learn something new. I got the appositive wrong on this one. The ‘the’ should have be on a slanted line under ‘(Fugitive Slave Act)’ I think.

Latin:
Prima Latina (review: DVD lessons ?-16)
CC Latin memory work

Geography:
CC U.S. geography (states, capitals, and more)
Drawing the U.S. (outline) free-hand
Place the State online game

History/Literature:
The Story of the World: Early Modern Times (ch. 17-21)
CC weekly history memory work (American history)
DK Eyewitness: Russia
Peter the Great by Diane Stanley
Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled by Milton Meltzer (Louis XIV and Peter the Great)
Baboushka and the Three Kings by Ruth Robbins
I-Know-Not-What, I-Know-Not-Where: A Russian Tale adapted by Eric A. Kimmel
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship: A Russian Tale retold by Arthur Ransome
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave as told by Marianna Mayer
The Pearl by Nan Richardson (a true Cinderella story, set in 18th-century Russia) (gorgeous picture book!)
The Spider’s Gift: A Ukrainian Christmas Story retold by Eric A. Kimmel
The Sea King’s Daughter: A Russian Legend by Aaron Shepard
The Language of Birds by Rafe Martin
The Khan’s Daughter: A Mongolian Folktale by Laurence Yep
All the Way to Lhasa: A Tale From Tibet by Barbara Helen Berger
Tikki Tikki Tembo and more stories to celebrate Asian heritage (6 stories, Storybook Treasures DVD)
Cowboy on the Steppes by Song Nan Zhang
Duel in the Wilderness by Karin Clafford Farley (George Washington during French and Indian War, Levi-IR)
Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars, 1689-1763 by Betsy Maestro
Mystery History of a Pirate Galleon by Fred Finney
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (Levi and Luke-IR)
The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (Luke)
The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (Levi)
DK Children's Encyclopedia of American History
CC Veritas History Timeline Cards (memorizing)
Liberty’s Kids (Netflix streaming), Schoolhouse Rock America, and This is America, Charlie Brown (DVDs)

Literature Study:
Book Detectives
Once Upon a Time: A Story of the Brothers Grimm by Robert Quackenbush
Ever After (DVD)
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (Levi and Luke-IR)
The War of the Worlds (Classic Starts, retold from the H.G. Wells original, Luke-IR
The Time Machine (Classic Starts, retold from the H.G. Wells original, Luke-IR

Other Reading:
Miscellaneous library books
Thanksgiving book collection

Luke’s Free Reading:
Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues (and others?) by Donald J. Sobol
Magic By the Lake (and others?) by Edward Eager
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Classic Starts: Greek Myths (retold from the classic originals)
A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time by Mary Pope Osborne
Pilgrims (Magic Tree House Research Guide) by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Magic, and Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
and others

Levi’s Free Reading:
Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall
Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! by Jean Fritz
Blue Willow by Doris Gatesz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Lots of library books about dragons (bleh) and lots of re-reading of books at home

Book Detectives: Take 3

2011-12-02T22:47:00.001-08:00

Alrighty. We're going to take a stab at this one more time. If you want to play along, go read Brave Irene by William Steig, try your hand at the story chart, and come back and read this post when you are finished. Did you come up with the same analysis or something different? I’d love to hear about it. {grin}

It has been a couple weeks since our last Book Detectives meeting, so I’m winging it a little on the review.

Last month we talked about the various types of conflict. This month we wanted to focus in on protagonist and antagonist. Brave Irene was the PERFECT book to illustrate this new concept for the kids. After we read the story, I closely followed the discussion about protagonist and antagonist from Deconstructing Penguins (because I’m original like that). I asked if anyone knew what a protagonist was. We got some good guesses: the good guy, the person telling the story… I told everyone that a protagonist is the person trying to move the action forward, and the antagonist is the person (or thing) holding it back. We talked about some real life examples (again, the ones in Deconstructing Penguins).

We set up our story with the exposition (and I spelled resilient incorrectly).

We used the question ‘What does Irene need or want?’ to identify the conflict. In this book the conflict is an actual physical struggle, with Irene trying to move forward and the wind pushing her back and the snow making it difficult for her to walk. It was easy to see Irene as the protagonist trying to move the action forward (get the dress to the duchess) and the wind and snow pushing the action back.

We talked again about the climax being the first moment we know the conflict will be resolved (even if only in hindsight). It’s the turning point of the story. Irene’s rush down the hill on her box-sled was a terrific way for the author to build up a sense of increasing motion (forward!) and excitement right before reaching the climax of the story: when Irene sees the dress near the palace.

Then we moved on to the denouement. What happens next? Are some loose ends tied up?

And the conclusion. I liked how the story seemed to come full-circle in this book. Irene started out in her cozy home with her mother, who wasn’t feeling well and needed to get a dress to the duchess. (That is an awkward sentence, but I’m tired and my brain isn’t functioning.) She ended up back in her cozy home with a doctor for her mother and treats from the duchess.

The theme is the heart of the story. It is what the clues lead us to discover. It is what the author is really trying to tell us. Picture books often give some obvious clues. This time it was in the title. Bravery. Courage and determination.

The kids wanted to talk about the conflict from the very beginning. Man vs. Nature!! It was a nice change from the
Man vs. Society conflicts in the previous two books. We reminded everyone that Man can be any human, or even animals that are given human traits. We pointed out the personification of the wind in this story, as well.

That about wraps it up. Interesting? Helpful? Or did we get it all wrong? {poor guinea pig children}

Lola’s World

2011-12-02T16:28:00.001-08:00

My bitty baby is now 14 months. Ack!!!

She started walking about a month ago, and now she is all over the place. Everywhere. Quickly. And trying out her new climbing skills. Eek!

She doesn’t like to be held a bunch. Too much to see and do. Heaven help the person who comes between her and what she wants to touch or where she wants to go. In this house, there isn’t a lot of space for her to go and touch and climb without someone needing to interfere, so she spends a fair amount of time frustrated with us. She doesn’t sit in one place to play with toys. She prefers hightailing it to open doors, opening cabinets, playing with outlets, or climbing on chairs or beds. She likes to play with phones. Or pull all the clothes out of a dresser drawer.

I’m pretty sure her first sentence will be “Lola do it.”

She enjoys attention from other people as long as they don’t get in her personal space. She has no problem being put down in the nursery to play with toys, but does. not. like to be handed off to a person. During gym time at CC, she has no intention of staying on our blanket to eat lunch (we eat picnic-style in the gym). She boldly goes straight into the chaos of 30 rough-housing kids. (I have to work really hard at not being an over-protective mother…)

She loves yogurt, pizza, roasted cauliflower, chicken noodle soup, chocolate, and Costco samples (you should hear her let us know if we don’t share with her quickly enough!!). She drinks water out of a cup with a straw. (She doesn’t like milk, so I feed her lots of full-fat yogurt.) She’s not too big on fruit other than gnawing on apples. (We stopped breastfeeding only a couple weeks ago.) She likes to stand up in her highchair.

She couldn’t care less about stuffed animals. She’ll tolerate dolls. But she really likes books. (Wahooo!!) When we snuggle up at nap time she’ll throw a stuffed animal on the floor, but she’ll smile really big if I get out a board book and she’ll start giggling when I read. It’s getting more difficult now that she is determined to hold the book (not necessarily right side up) and turn the pages on her own schedule.

She just cut teeth #7 and 8. I am really ready to be through with this teething business. It doesn’t make her cranky during the day, but it’s brutal at night and they take for.ever. to come through.

Lola usually takes two 1.5-hour naps during the day, but if our schedule is messed up she’ll sometimes take just one. She goes to bed around 9, wakes up a couple times at night for attention (more or less, depending on teeth and what-not), and wakes around 7 or 8 in the morning. We usually snuggle until she’s asleep (partly because I enjoy it), but she does fall asleep on her own occasionally. Her going to sleep routine is MUCH better than it was a couple months ago!

She ADORES Daddy. She gives him the sweetest, happiest smiles! And she says Dadada.

Her eyes are dark blue. I have no idea how much she weighs. (I’ve been procrastinating on her 1 year Dr. visit.) She wears mostly 24 months/2T clothes and size 6 shoes. Her hair is beginning to grow a little in back--enough to be curly after a bath and look scary after a nap. We are still a LONG ways from ponytails. Sob.

The boys think she is the most entertaining play-thing EVER. Levi would rather play with her all day long than do just about anything else. There is a lot of rough-housing going on between the four of my crazy kids. I’m pretty sure that Lola will be able to take care of herself in any situation as she gets older.

She doesn’t like to smile for the camera, but she’ll smile for her brothers. This smile was for Leif:

She growls. A lot. She loves to play patty-cake. She waves and says hi and bye (they both sound like a breathy long ‘eye’). She says ‘uh-oh,’ which the boys think is the funniest thing ever. She blows kisses.

She is finally (barely) tolerating hats or jacket hoods (thank goodness!), but still no headbands. And she takes shoes off immediately (except for her soft Robeez).

She hates sand and other suspicious surfaces or textures. She doesn’t like her hands to be dirty. She loves playing in the water at bath time.

We call her Lolo. Lo-Bug. Lala. Lowes. And pretty much anything else that rolls off our tongues at the moment. Lots of terms of endearment for this girl.

I’ve decided I’m just going to wrap Lola up and put her under our tree for Christmas. And everyone will be happy.

The Liptac Family

2011-11-30T17:45:00.001-08:00

This is my third year in a row taking family pictures for Cheris! Her family is just gorgeous, and I’m glad to count them among our friends.

Green Friday ~ The Long Version

2011-11-30T13:12:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving was a quiet, dark and rainy day. The morning after, our house was dark and disastrous. (We didn’t host Thanksgiving dinner, but just getting OUT of the house seems to produce a disaster…) I felt like I had three million things on the to-do list at home (including cleaning up the disaster), and getting out of the house with all the kids is a huge undertaking in itself. But I saw the sun peeking out and I KNEW that we needed to get some fresh air.

It was our traditional Green Friday. Lola took her morning nap. I got a few things together. We left the house just after noon. The drive was beautiful. The sun was shining. Christmas music was playing. The boys and I had some deep conversations about land zoning (and the difference between commercial, industrial, professional, residential, and farm zoning), euthanasia, the Deity of Christ, and inertia. (Yep, really.)

It was a bit overcast when we first arrived at our favorite nature hike spot.

Leif wasn’t sure a nature hike was on his agenda for the day, but it helped that his favorite Ivy was along to keep him company.

Lola was excited to participate for the first time.

And so we set out.

The little kids played. Ilex helped. Holly gathered. I took pictures, including a kajillion of Lola. (More of those later.)

Halfway through our walk, the sun came back out to play. It was glorious.

Then we meandered back to the truck. Levi observed that ‘excessive use of legs results in pain.’ Yeah, that’s my boy.

We ended our afternoon with snacks and hot chocolate at Aunt Holly’s house.

Living. Lovely.

Drowning in Real Life

2011-11-29T14:21:00.001-08:00

…. Or at least the laundry. But these moments are the moments that all together make a good life. And a good life it is.

Maybe she can teach me how to text.

I have a bunch of pictures to post, including two family sessions, but my computer is hating me and all my photos right now. My hubby has to work some magic on the memory situation (if only he could do that with my actual memory…).

Breathe.

2011-11-25T16:48:00.001-08:00

Green Friday~Take Three

Three years ago, my sister and I began our Green Friday tradition: a nature hike on the day after Thanksgiving (instead of shopping). Last year, the weather was nasty and I had a bitty baby.

This year: the weather was GORGEOUS.

I have a multitude of pictures to post, but this is all I’m getting to right at the moment.

Quiet Moments

2011-11-25T11:17:00.001-08:00

We had a very quiet sort of Thanksgiving. Well, as quiet as it gets with three little boys. We missed my grandparents, who were unable to travel up from California (love you Grandma and Grandpa!!); we missed my sister, Holly, and her family, who were spending time with the other side of their family. My dad just had open-heart surgery two weeks ago. So, we kept things simple.

My brother-in-law, Casey, made the turkey and delivered it to us before heading to his parents’ house. My sister, Shannon, made twice-baked potatoes and roasted green beans. Mom made bread dressing and candied yams. I brought hot rolls and our traditional jello salad. We set the table with my grandmother’s dishes.

I didn’t snap very many pictures.

It was dark and rainy. Not the best weather for our traditional walk after dinner. It’s a good thing Aunt Shan and Uncle Ben were such great sports and played games with the boys. Mastermind is the current favorite. When there is only one game board and only two people can play, a Mastermind iphone app comes in handy…

I am blessed. Yes, I certainly am.

The View From Our Kitchen Window

2011-11-23T16:45:00.001-08:00

Do they not know what day it is?!!!

Happy Turkey Day! {grin}

A Song in My Heart

2011-11-23T08:28:00.001-08:00

More Than a Holiday

2011-11-22T08:26:00.001-08:00

Because Thanksgiving is More than a Holiday by Ann Voskamp @ {In} Courage

Then the stress roils and I’m heavily under the influence of speed, then is the time for the stress intervention, and I’d breathe deep and I’d say it out loud:

“Thank You for crazy towhead kids. Thank You for ridiculous legos. Thank You for socks even if they mismatch. And thank You that we’re here together, breathing together right now…that there’s now.”

And I’d be doing that, breathing deeper.

Giving thanks is profoundly life giving.

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

2011-11-21T17:36:00.001-08:00

Another Day

2011-11-18T19:06:00.001-08:00

Uploading photos without any editing, and without feeling obligated to share a bunch of commentary, was liberating (and fast!) yesterday. I think I'll try it again today.

Only the beginning, people. Only the beginning.

Luke’s breakfast creation:

Snack time in the studio:

(This is a boy who hates to write. But he loves All About Spelling, his writing has improved by leaps and bounds this past year, and he is so proud of himself!!)

Just Because

2011-11-17T20:38:00.001-08:00

Life unedited and without commentary. Grin.

ETA: I’ve started attempting to diagram our weekly CC history sentences. It gives me a chance to stretch myself in the grammar department. Not only that, but I’ve found that, because I am a visual learner, I memorize the sentences much more quickly when I have a concrete, organized picture of them. This week’s sentence is rather awkward (like most of my own). Often, after I take a picture, of course, I realize I’ve misdiagrammed. (Is that a word? Maybe it’s mis-diagrammed. See, I’m always second-guessing myself…) Anyway, I was thinking that ‘realized’ was a subject complement, a past participle being used as an adjective with a linking verb predicate, but it is part of a verb phrase. Yes? No? It is really frustrating being on a 4th grade level in grammar. Sigh.

Have you ever had one of those days…

2011-11-14T08:32:00.001-08:00

When things just got worse and worse....

And then all the world's problems were solved with a piece of buttered toast?

A Birthday-Girl Quilt

2011-11-13T13:30:00.001-08:00

Lola's Bambi made her a very special patchwork quilt for her first birthday. (Levi couldn't say 'Grammy' when he was little. It sounded more like 'Bambi' so that is what stuck, and that is what we have called her ever since.) It looks so darling on her bed in her room. Perfect. It will be such a treasure for her!!

I know, I know. Her face is hiding in the pictures. She and I (and the light) were having a hard time getting our photo-shoot act together. But check out the little curls she’s got going on in back, there. She still looks bald from the front, though.

Lola is 13 months now and has just starting walking. It is as if my baby was replaced by a little girl overnight!! How can this be?

Oh, wait, her face snuck in this picture...

Homeschool Blog Awards

2011-11-11T10:36:00.001-08:00

I didn’t realize it, but voting for the 7th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards @ The Homeschool Post is underway!! There are so many great blogs worth checking out. I’m up for Best Photos Blog along with a great number of other bloggers.

Dad

2011-11-10T09:29:00.001-08:00

My dad is having open heart surgery this morning. I would appreciate any prayers!!

ETA: Thanks for the prayers. They are appreciated!! I was able to talk to my dad on the phone this morning (Friday) and he sounded really great!

Fine Arts ~ November 2011

2011-11-06T13:11:00.001-08:00

Poet/Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Reading:

Poetry for Young People: Robert Louis Stevenson
A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

Memorizing:

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
’Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--

‘Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Listening:

Artist/Illustrator: N. C. Wyeth

Reading:

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth (How is that for synthesis?!)

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth

N.C. Wyeth’s Pilgrims, text by Robert San Souci

Watching:

Composer: Edvard Grieg

Printing:

Edvard Grieg at Making Music Fun.

Listening:

Radio shows about Edvard Grieg at Classics for Kids.

And (be patient…it really gets going about 1:40):

Mt. Hope Academy @ The Live and Learn Studio ~ September-October 2011

2011-11-02T17:48:00.001-07:00

This is my new version of keeping track and sharing where we are! I’ve posted here and there over the past two months, but this is mostly a record of our book lists. (A longer resource list and links can be found here.)

Classical Conversations:
On week 8!! of memory work in science, history, history timeline, geography, math, English grammar, and Latin. Weekly presentations (public speaking), science experiments/projects, fine arts unit studies, and social time.

Faith:
Telling God’s Story (love!)
Sing the Word: A New Commandment (CD) for Bible Memory
Hymns for a Kid’s Heart
Independent Bible Reading

Math:
Daily work in Teaching Textbooks and/or several Critical Thinking Co. Math workbooks
(Balance Math is our favorite!)

Science:
Human Body unit study through CC
Science experiments (learning the scientific method) through CC
Various books on the human body
DK Eyewitness Human Machine (DVD)
Bill Nye: Eyeball (DVD)
Bill Nye: Respiration (DVD)
Bill Nye: Digestion (DVD)
Bill Nye: Bones and Muscles (DVD)
A visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium
IMAX Under the Sea (DVD)
Kid Guides: Aquariums (DVD)
What’s Physics All About (Usborne) (For SOTW 3, Ch. 16)
Mechanical Harry by Bob Kerr (For SOTW 3, Ch. 16)

P.E.
Swim practice and meets (Levi)
Family swim night
Outside play

Fine Arts:
The Boy Who Bit Picasso by Antony Penrose
The Art Collector by Jan Wahl
Monthly Fine Arts Study (Robert Frost, Edward Hopper, Igor Stravinsky)
Drawing and tin whistle @ CC

Language Arts:
MCT Town Series (LOVE Caesar’s English. Wow.), All About Spelling, Writing With Ease, IEW, Handwriting Without Tears…
Really loving the line-up this year!!

Latin:
Prima Latina DVD lessons

Geography:
Learning all the states and capitals through CC
U.S. States puzzles
Place the States online game

History (and historical fiction/literature):
By the Dawn’s Early Light: The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner by Steven Kroll
The Story of the World Vol. 3 (chapters 11-16)
Books about India and the Taj Mahal
(Through Time) London: From Roman Capital to Olympic City by Richard Platt, Illustrated by Manuela Cappon (one of my favorites!!)
At the Sign of The Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper (historical fiction-London 1665, Levi-IR)
Magic Tree House Research Guide: American Revolution
How did Tea and Taxes Spark a Revolution And Other Questions about the Boston Tea Party by Linda Gondosch
The Boston Tea Party by Steven Kroll, illustrated by Peter Fiore
Uncommon Revolutionary: A Story about Thomas Paine by Laura Waxman
(Levi gave three presentations about Thomas Paine)
(Dear America) The Second Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart: Cannons at Dawn by Kristiana Gregory (Levi-IR)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Levi-IR)
Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare (Levi-IR)
The Man in the Iron Mask (DVD with Richard Chamberlain—set during the reign of King Louis XIV of France)
Colonial Life for Children: William Penn & Pennsylvania (DVD)
Books about Native Americans
The New Americans: Colonial Times, 1620-1689 by Betsy Maestro
Century Farm: One Hundred Years on a Family Farm by Cris Peterson
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Levi-IR)
The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History: Changes in Farming (Luke)
The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia: Agricultural Revolution 1650-1800 (Levi)
The Year at Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen

Literature:
Book Detectives (literature analysis book club)
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (finished read-aloud)
(The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (Levi read previously, noting it here for my own records)
The Last of the Mohicans (Stepping Stones Chapter Book) by James Fenimore Cooper, adapted by Les Martin (Levi and Luke)
(The Last of the Mohicans (animated DVD))
Russian Fairy Tales collected by Aleksandr Afanas’ev, translated by Norbert Guterman (Levi-IR)
The Fairy Tale Life of Hans Christian Andersen by Eva Moore (Levi and Luke-IR)
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen retold by Amy Ehrlich, pictures by Susan Jeffers
Hans Christian Andersen’s The Nightingale translated by Eva Le Gallienne, illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert
East of the Sun and West of the Moon by Mercer Mayer
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Eyewitness Classics) (abridged) Robert Louis Stevenson (Levi and Luke-IR)
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (abridged), illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (abridged), illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (unabridged) (Levi read part way through and decided not to finish)
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (unabridged) (read-aloud)
Remarkable Journeys: The Story of Jules Verne by William Schoell (biography, Levi-IR)
Eyewitness Classics: 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea (The classic story, plus fascinating background facts and photographs) (abridged) by Jules Verne (Levi and Luke-IR)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea retold by Jim Weiss (audio CD)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (DVD)
Around the World in 80 Days (Classic Starts) retold from the Jules Verne original (Levi and Luke-IR)
Five Weeks in a Balloon (DVD)
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (Levi-IR, Luke read portions)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (DVD)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Netflix Streaming)
Dracula (Stepping Stones Chapter Book) by Bram Stoker, adapted by Stephanie Spinner (Levi and Luke-IR)
Eyewitness Classics: Dracula (The classic story, plus fascinating background facts and photographs) (abridged) by Bram Stoker (Levi and Luke-IR)
Kim by Rudyard Kipling (unabridged, Levi-IR)

Levi’s Free Reading:
The Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
The Time Pirate by Ted Bell
Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Calling on Dragons “
Talking to Dragons “
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
Beauty: A retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley
The Borrowers Avenged by Mary Norton

Luke’s Free Reading:
The Real Thief by William Steig
The Dragon of Lonely Island by Rebecca Rupp
The Return of the Dragon by Rebecca Rupp
The Waterstone by Rebecca Rupp (275 pages!! :))
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
Centerburg Tales by Robert McCloskey
Money Matters: A Kid’s Guide to Money
DK Eyewitness Money
Roland Wright, Brand-New Page by Tony Davis
Roland Wright, At the Joust by Tony Davis
Roland Wright, Future Knight by Tony Davis
Half Magic by Edward Eager
Seven Day Magic by Edward Eager
Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
Encyclopedia Brown: The Case of the Dead Eagles and Other Mysteries by Donald J. Sobol

Extras:
‘Night of the Notables’ with Distance Learning Group
Field trip to the Fire Station with Distance Learning Group (and several firefighting/safety-related DVDs)
Several costume and candy parties (grin)
A lovely trip to the coast

"If you want your children to be intelligent,
read them fairy tales.
If you want them to be more intelligent,
read them more fairy tales."

~Albert Einstein

Fine Arts Study ~ October 2011

2011-11-02T17:37:00.001-07:00

(Finally adding to my Fine Arts Monthy Features resources…)

Poet: Robert Frost

Reading:

A Swinger of Birches: Poems of Robert Frost for Young People illustrated by Peter Koeppen

Poetry for Young People: Robert Frost

Listening:

(Which led to the interesting discovery of birch swinging.)

Artist: Edward Hopper

Reading and Looking:

Edward Hopper: Summer at the Seashore (Adventures in Art by Prestel)

Edward Hopper (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists)

Art Appreciation Lessons at Garden of Praise

Watching:

(An excellent, short, family-friendly, biographical video about Hopper.)

Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist.

~Edward Hopper

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

Listening to radio shows at Classics for Kids.

Reading Igor Stravinsky (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers).

Listening and Watching:

(The complete ballet is available in five parts on YouTube.)

In Which the No-Fun Mom Has Fun

2011-10-30T21:25:00.001-07:00

We made it OUT OF THE HOUSE for a day of family fun. I think this is the FIRST actually fun day we’ve spent out of the house as a family since Lola was born. Gasp!!! I wasn’t sure it was possible (maybe it’s because I’m not a fun mom), but I was absolutely determined to give it a shot.

Our favorite aquarium was having a holiday event. It was only $2 + 2 cans of food per person for admission. Admission is usually over $60 for our whole family. I looked at the weather forecast. It has been rainy here, but the forecast said partly sunny and 62 degrees for Saturday at the coast (with rain Friday and Sunday, so I hoped they were right!!).

Now, I knew that spending the day driving to the coast and back was a considerable commitment in the effort department (because I’m not the fun mom). It also was a bit of a stretch considering this was a costume event, and, as of Saturday morning, the boys had no costumes (where is the fun mom when you need her?). But we persevered.

Morning came and I dragged the costume bin out of the attic (where most of the boys’ toys live since they don’t like to pick them up—remember, I’m not the fun mom). I helped the younger boys put themselves together. Levi was all cloak and dagger. Without the dagger. And just a blanket for a cloak. But he was dressed in all black under that ‘cloak’ and felt good about it. I bought Lola’s costume weeks ago. Unfortunately, the tights didn’t really fit when we put them on her before heading out the door (and they got a hole in the knee a little later) and she wouldn’t allow the cute hood to stay on her head, but who’s complaining?

Speaking of heading out the door, we were on our way only two hours after I had hoped to get going. Not bad. Not bad.

Lola took a nap on the way (the upside of leaving late) while the rest of us listened to an audio retelling of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

We arrived at the aquarium right in the middle of the day. The weather was GLORIOUS. I was so afraid the crowds would be unpleasant on a cheap event day with beautiful weather, but it was just busy enough to feel like a party. We had a GREAT time.

We were all in need of a meal by the time we got out of the aquarium, so we headed down to Mo’s on the waterfront for some clam chowder. It was perfect timing. The restaurant wasn’t busy, and we had a great view. The kids each got a cute little shark toy with their meals. They all thought that was just terrific.

After our late lunch wrapped up, we headed to the beach. Russ humored me and let me pick my favorite little spot. It is a secluded, gorgeous little beach. The sun was shining through an odd mist. The sky was lovely blue.

The boys played. Lola was quick to remind me that she hates sand. I distracted her with the blue beads she got as a prize at the aquarium (she’s a sucker for bling) just long enough to get her picture, sans smile. We watched the mist and clouds roll in.

Then we loaded the kids back in the truck and had a lovely drive home through the changing autumn colors and occasional drops of rain. I read aloud a chapter of Treasure Island as soon as we were out of the curves. Lola sacked out almost immediately and did well until about the last 15 minutes.

And that is my account of a successful, lovely, FUN family outing.

Drama King

2011-10-30T08:33:00.001-07:00

Glorious

2011-10-29T21:55:00.001-07:00

Book Detectives: Take 2

2011-10-26T11:47:00.001-07:00

I posted last month about our new parent-child literary analysis book club. Several people have expressed interest in more information because they are hoping to start their own book club. I won’t post every month’s analysis, but will keep you updated on how things are going. I’ll share this month’s book, though, in case anyone would like to see another book presented.

I reviewed our book detective mission with the group. We talked briefly about the definition of ‘genre,’ how we are treating all fiction as mystery, that we have to look for clues to find out what the author is really telling us, and that listening ears are our most valuable detective tools!

My sister read The Bear That Wasn’t by Frank Tashlin.

I drew the story analysis diagram on the white board. (I’m rewriting all our notes in a large tablet after the meeting so we have it for our records. The white board was much messier that this. Wry grin.)

We had the kids try to remember what each circle represented.

First up: Exposition. We asked the ‘W’ questions. Who? What? (What did he look like? What did he say?) Where? When?

Next: Rising Action. What was the problem? (We asked several questions here.)

Then: Climax. (One mom (a really fabulous CC tutor who is used to making things memorable for kids) suggested that we climbed to the top of our mountain to use our ax.) We clarified with another mom that the climax isn’t the height of the action, but rather the first moment that we realize the conflict is going to be resolved, for better or for worse. It is the turning point of the story. The climax doesn’t happen at the same place in every book. Sometimes it is in the middle. Sometimes it is at the very end, and the denouement and conclusion are only one or two sentences long! When do we know the bear is still going to be a bear, no matter what others have told him he is (a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat)?

Denouement. What happens next? What is the result of the climax? What loose ends are tied up?

Conclusion. How does the story end? Was a lesson learned?

Theme: What was the author really trying to tell us about? Is there something we can take away from this story? What is the universal idea behind the story?

A mom pointed out that the bear is actually TRYING to be himself throughout the whole story. We kept it simple and wrote the theme as ‘be yourself’ but discussed the idea of perseverance in believing in who God created us to be—even when we are a fish out of water, and even if/when we aren’t (ever) able to convince those around us.

We decided to introduce the idea of conflict this month. We talked about the main character. Even though he was a bear, he was given human traits (as was the mouse, Anatole, in our story last month). Conflict is expressed as Man (protagonist) versus something else (antagonist). We wrote the options on another white board and briefly discussed them. Man vs. Man. Man vs. Self. Man vs. God (or Fate/Destiny). Man vs. Nature. Man vs. Society. (We didn’t talk about Man vs. Machine/Technology or Man vs. Supernatural.) This is often posed as a question: Will the factory men (society) be able to convince the bear (man) that he isn’t a bear?

Our meeting lasted about an hour, which is our target time-frame. Holly and I have a picture book picked out for our next meeting, but after that we plan on offering the other families a chance to chose the book and lead the discussion (either one or two moms or a parent-child team) if anyone is interested in doing so. We’ll stick to picture books for a few more months and then try our hands at a chapter book to be read ahead of time.

And that is about it! Feel free to ask questions in the comments.

Swim, Levi. Swim.

2011-10-22T17:54:00.001-07:00

We spent a couple hours at a mini meet. Just the way I like them. Mini, I mean. So much easier than full days spent at a packed swim venue. (Not so terrible when I was a newlywed coach’s wife. Not so wonderful as a mom of 4 little people.) Russ is in charge of Levi, which is nice, as well as helping out with the team and competing himself! Luke likes to wander around unattended (sigh), but both Leif and Lola need a lot of mom attention. Today there was lots of room on the bleachers, so Luke and Leif spent some time drawing together. I had the playpen up for Lola, which meant my hands were free to hold a camera. And there weren’t 500 people in my way. Wahoo!!

Levi seems to really enjoy being on the swim team. He swims three days a week for an hour each day. It is so good for him. I think the water is good for him. The exercise is good for him. Learning swim skills is good for him. Being a part of a team is good for him. Competition is good for him (both winning and losing). Spending time with his dad is good for him. All around, it’s been a great fit.

And a picture of Russ leaving the young whipper-snappers in his dust. (Nicely done, Honey.)

At the Fire Station

2011-10-22T17:15:00.001-07:00

Field trips haven’t been much of a priority lately. I’m not big on hauling around three boys and a baby to do something ‘fun.’ It usually isn’t. I guess I’m not the fun mom. That, and we have a lot to do during the week! After spending much of our Monday at Classical Conversations, it’s tough if we have another thing scheduled during the week. Even if an outing should only take an hour or two, it seems the whole day is shot before I blink an eye!

When we had an opportunity to go visit the fire station, though, there was no way I could say no. Luke is so determined that he will be a paramedic/firefighter when he grows up. He browses the National Fire Protection Association catalog like it was a toy catalog (and circles everything). What a goose.

So we managed to get out the door (sans baby) and had a wonderful time. Those firefighters are great sports, for sure.

Bedtime Stories with Daddy

2011-10-21T22:03:00.001-07:00

Family

2011-10-21T09:19:00.001-07:00

We celebrated my dad's birthday a little while ago. It was a great excuse for getting the whole family pictures that were waaaay overdue. The last time my whole family got pictures taken together was when Levi was a baby!! Our photographer friend, Bethany Haile, was so kind to help us out.

Have I mentioned that I have the coolest family, ever?! (Yeah, you’re probably sick of hearing about it.) Just this morning I was thinking about how long we’ve all been together. Holly and Casey have been married for 19 years! Ilex is 15, Drake is almost 14, and Ivy is 7. You aren’t going to believe it, but those newlyweds (Shannon and Ben) in the middle? Together for 20 years. Yep. Married for 14. Russ and I have been married for 15 years. Awesome stuff.

Mom and Dad have been married for 42 years!!!

The ladies of the family:

Dad always said God knew what He was doing when He gave Dad all girls. And Dad was happy to add boys to the family the easy way. The guys never get the picture taken all together, so I'm thrilled we got this one:

And a post is never complete without Lola Love:

My mom has more pictures on her blog, Treading on Moss. We totally failed to get a wonderful picture of just our family. The boys were having a rough time standing still, looking at the camera, and managing a pleasant expression (as you can tell from the outtakes on Mom’s blog).

Today and the Hideout Explorers

2011-10-18T21:19:00.001-07:00

I would take 100 days like today. Cool morning. Gorgeous sunshine. 70 degree afternoon. A productive day of lessons. The cutest baby girl in the whole world. Leif spending the afternoon running errands with his grandma and working in the yard with his grandpa. A scenic drive through the sun-soaked countryside—fields a shocking, vivid green from the recent rain. Piano lesson for Luke. A play area in the middle of a filbert orchard. Watching tractors dart through the dark passages of the orchard, harvesting the nuts within feet of where we played. (Why, oh why didn’t I have my camera with me?) Levi swinging with Lola. Leif pushing a toy tractor through the gravel. A flock of geese flying overhead. Barbequed steak, roasted cabbage, and spinach and fruit smoothies for dinner. An episode of Psych (or Piescotch, as Leif calls it) before bed. Life is so good.

The boys spent quite a bit of time outside since the weather was so beautiful. My grandpa requested video of the boys showing off their hideout. The boys were thrilled to oblige, so these are for you, Grandpa! (It was really bright and sunny, and I lack mad video skillz, so you might have to use your imagination.)

And just for random, unedited fun, we'll add in a couple pictures of Lola hanging out, drinking out of her sippy cup, and walking while pushing a stool around. (Still not walking on her own, yet.)

Six Weeks In

2011-10-17T22:03:00.001-07:00

We completed week 6 of Classical Conversations today. That means we are already 1/4 of the way through our year! Well, in work if not time, anyway. We’ve also gotten a good start on our other lessons. Not anywhere near 1/4 of the way through our regular year, but I’m happy with our progress. As I mentioned before, I will be posting our reading lists and such on a monthly basis rather than weekly, but I’d like to keep posting general updates or photos as I have time or inclination.

The boys are doing really well in their CC classes. Just as last year, I think each of their tutors is doing a fabulous job. The boys are so comfortable with the routine. In general, things are going so smoothly. That’s not to say the boys aren’t still being their normal boyish selves, but that’s a given. {grin}

It is strange to think that I had a two week old baby at this stage of the game last year!! I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have Lola in the nursery this year and not have to juggle taking care of her while sitting in the classes. It seems that she is adjusting very well to being in the care of others for one morning each week, and it is quite possible that being in the nursery is as good for her as the classes are for the boys.

(Yeah, some days we have a hard time getting baby out of jammies...)

Life and lessons are good at home. We’re just plugging away. There are always ways to improve, things that need planning and organizing, and things falling through the cracks (like, say, dinner), but that’s a fact of life. One thing at a time, one minute at a time. At least my house is staying relatively clean thanks to my new friend, April. {You’re the best, April!!}

And that’s about it for today’s update, but I have lots more posts to share this week if I can squeeze in some time for blogging!

What Happens When You Have an Early Reader

2011-10-16T09:23:00.001-07:00

I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day, and Leif came in.

Leif: “I need to look through the Deeguest.”

Me: “The what?!”

Leif: “The Deeguest.”

He starts going through the stack of Reader’s Digest magazines on the back of the toilet. Oh, DIGEST.

Me: “What are you looking for?”

Leif: “When Dad is 41, he will lose 8 of his muscles every time he has ten birthdays. I have to find it and show him. I think it is in this one.”

(It seems the boys were having a conversation about how old Dad would be on his upcoming birthday.)

He takes the Reader’s Digest to his Dad and shows him… “Over 40? You can lose 8% of your muscle every 10 years (You do the math.)”… An add for Ensure.

“Daddy, you need this.” Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! I guess that is what happens when your 5 year old reads every page of the Reader’s Digest while doing his business.

Meet Levi

2011-10-14T16:41:00.001-07:00

I know, I know. It’s about time. I finally got him under three minutes. His other videos wouldn’t load for some very odd reason. But I think this one is going to work.

Did anyone enjoy seeing the ‘real us’ rather than just pictures? I’m thinking I should make videos a regular feature here at Mt. Hope. But I’m getting a little tired of doing the interviewing. Does anyone have any burning questions for a member of the Mt. Hope family? Share them in the comments. We’ll see if we can get them answered!

ETA: Did anyone catch Luke in the background? He’s shouting, “I found gold! I actually found gold!” (He was panning for gold in the driveway with a tennis racket. Now, if that isn’t a realistic moment of my life with boys, I don’t know what is.) {big grin}

The family that reads together…

2011-10-09T22:14:00.001-07:00

...stays together.

Girls’ Night Out

2011-10-08T07:54:00.001-07:00

Lola and I enjoyed our girls' night out a short while ago. I always look forward to my ChocLit Guild evenings. Our book and chocolate club has been going strong for close to *eight* years now! Lola is my third baby born into the club, and this was her last night in attendance. I think she is going to stay home with daddy and the boys next month. (Wahooo for mommy getting a night out on her own!!) What a phenomenal group of ladies I have the privilege of spending time with!

Meet Heidi

2011-10-04T15:39:00.001-07:00

I had planned on posting Levi’s first, but I’m still trying to get his under four minutes. :) I’m trying not to think about it and just clicking ‘publish.’

Meet Leif

2011-10-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

My silly, sweet youngest son:

Meet Luke

2011-10-04T14:05:00.001-07:00

My crazy, expressive middle son:

Just Us

2011-10-04T12:43:00.001-07:00

I’ve been finding myself happy lately. Very, very happy. In the midst of full days, piles of laundry, not enough sleep, and a huge to-do list, I’m still ridiculously happy. How blessed is my life!!

Two of the things on my to-do list are photo sessions: ‘school photos,’ and Lola’s one-year-old photos. But I haven’t had a chance, and it is now raining and yucky outside. So I will be doing ‘meet the student’ videos instead! (Now that I have mad video skills….not.) Today we’ll start with Lola. Only because her video was the shortest and the others are taking forever to upload. There will even be a video of, gasp, me…if I’m brave enough to share it. Because self-portraits are bad enough, but videos are 1,000 times worse.

Without further ado…

Bella Art Girl and Mt. Hope Heidi

2011-10-03T19:21:00.001-07:00

I have so much to post: thoughts, events, pictures (of course), but never enough time. This chronicle of our life is so important to me. It is something I have no desire to abandon. I look back at the years worth of posts (four and a half years!!!) and know without a doubt that I am glad to have spent time gathering and recording these word and images. And so I continue, finding minutes in the cracks of my days.

Then there are the friendships I’ve been blessed to cultivate through this crazy virtual world. Not virtual friendships, but real, life-giving friendships. Bella Art Girl, Maricel, is one of those dear friends. We’ve only met in person a few times, but she and I could talk rapidly without taking a breath for three days straight and not scratch the surface of what we want to share and contemplate together. Instead we had only three hours this past week. We are both in a season of life where we are, sometimes precariously, straddling the worlds of baby/toddlerhood, early childhood/beginning student, and rising/earnest student. We share so many family and educational ideals. It is just a joy to spend time together, even when we have to create time in the midst of overwhelmed schedules.

The dear even brought flowers, coffee cake, and hot chocolate! We ate, enjoyed spending time outside in the beautiful weather, and talked, and talked, and talked. I felt absolutely renewed and refreshed by our time together (which is saying a great deal for this introvert!).

I wish Maricel had a public blog, but her husband, Tucker, has been posting some phenomenal stuff for Circe Institute and the Classical Conversations blog. You can also find his writings at his own blog, Satellite Saint. My absolute favorite lately was his article Leaving Behind the Adolescent Self. Very, very convicting, as I often feel extraordinarily adolescent in this parenting and educating journey.

This is hard work, but what haunts me is that the gap I may need to close is not so much a knowledge or method gap as a character gap. In other words, am I trying to teach my children to become virtuous while I, myself, remain largely an adolescent in my values? If by virtuous we mean something akin to becoming the kind of people we ought to be, then I am failing miserably. And really, how hard have I tried? It is frightening that the idea of seeking virtue, and correspondingly, that education should be about cultivating virtue, was never in scope for my entire educational career; it just was not on the radar. Could it be that, while I seek to create a classical education for my children, I and my adolescent mind are the main roadblock to its success?

Happy 1st Birthday, Little Miss Lola Colette!!

2011-10-01T08:07:00.001-07:00

Oh, what a year it has been!!

Baby for One More Day…

2011-09-30T13:38:00.001-07:00

I have so much to do today, and I can’t get myself moving. Instead I’m on the computer playing with pictures. But can you blame me?! She turns ONE tomorrow, and I’m sure that just isn’t right.

A Quick Hello

2011-09-27T21:39:00.001-07:00

I miss being here on my blog, but real life is where it’s at right now. {grin}

We are working so hard at getting our routine down. It’s been a little tough with everyone sick this past week (the downside of being in a weekly class), but we’ve kept shockingly close (for us) to the basic schedule I have outlined. It’s the same old story. Not enough hours in a day. And NEVER enough hours in a night.

We are getting up early (for us) and starting our day with a bang. Shower and breakfast prep for me, math for Levi, and dishwasher and piano for Luke. We eat breakfast, finish up our chores, grab water bottles, put on our boots, and head down.

Someone asked how far the studio is from our house, and whether we get snow in the winter. It is about 80 feet from door to door. No, we don’t get snow (or much cold weather)—just a lot of rain. We’ll just slip on hooded jackets and rubber boots on the front porch. They’ll slip off at the studio entry. Not a big deal.

The morning starts with Bible (I’m loving Telling God’s Story), including independent reading, Bible memory songs, and hymns. Then spelling, geography, memory work (CC and poetry while jumping on the mini trampoline), Latin (on DVD, usually while I’m putting Lola down for a nap), literature read-aloud (snack and bathroom break), and grammar/language arts. We wrap up the morning with a poem by our monthly poet, then head up to the house for lunch.

Grammar is still my favorite subject. And I adore Michael Clay Thompson. We are adding in some sentence diagramming, and I think it is going to be a hit with all of us!

The afternoon lessons consist of math for Luke, writing (loving IEW’s Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales Theme-Based Writing Lessons for Levi), and science or history. We sneak in presentation prep (public speaking for CC), literature reading, and other fun stuff in the cracks.

Late afternoons are filled with swim practice, piano lessons, and library trips. I am overwhelmingly thankful that Russ has taken on the swim practice responsibility, and even takes Luke to piano practice every once in a while.

I have never been good about getting everyone to bed at a decent hour, but that is a huge thing that we’ve been working on recently. And succeeding!! If only I could be so successful at making a decent dinner every night. Well, I can’t work on everything at once, right?

This is our basic routine for Tuesdays-Fridays. I have a feeling that at least one day each week will get interrupted with appointments or activities, so we’ll just listen to CDs in the car, do assigned reading, and fit in other lessons as we can. Mondays are reserved for our Classical Conversations classes in the morning. With lunch and social time we often don’t get home until 1:30 or later, and then we all need some down time. Quiet reading time for the boys and lesson prep time for me might be all we can fit in before swim practice.

So, that’s a basic week for us. I decided not to do weekly reports like I was doing earlier in the year. I’ll probably keep track of highlights, reading lists, basic updates, and links and post them monthly.

How is the new school year going for all of you?

Book Detectives

2011-09-19T17:05:00.001-07:00

(Oh, look. Two big posts, two days in a row!!)

I had a request to share notes from our book club meeting(s). I don’t know if anyone else is interested or if this is helpful, but here they are.

My sister and I started a monthly parent-child book club called Book Detectives. We invited a few families (enough so it felt like a group, but not so many as to not fit in our space or make discussion cumbersome) to participate. Dads are encouraged to attend, but we only had moms at our first meeting. The kids are ages 5-10. Younger siblings are encouraged to stay home so that we can be focused and they aren’t miserable being still and quiet! (We have about 10 moms and 12 kids plus a couple older sisters and one aunt to help out. We REALLY wish we could have invited several more families!!)

(Disclaimer: My sister, Holly, and I are learning right along with the kids. We don’t have all the answers, much less all the right answers. I can only tell you what questions we asked and what we came up with together.)

I purchased magnifying glasses at the dollar store for each of the kids. The two older sisters dressed up like detectives and handed them out to the kids as they arrived for our first meeting. We also served cookies and little cups of water. The kids sat right in front and the mothers in back, but I think we’ll have the kids sit with their parents and get the moms involved a little more in the discussion next month.

I used the ideas from Chapter 2 of Deconstructing Penguins, Everyone Loves a Mystery: Learning to Be a Book Detective, to open our meeting. I asked the kids if they knew what a genre is, told them it came from French and means a style or type. We listed types of books. I told them that we think there is only one kind of genre in fiction and had them guess what that was. We discussed how every fiction book is a mystery because we don’t know what is going to happen until we finish the book. But what happens in the story is the mystery on the surface, and that we had to solve the hidden mystery—what the author is really trying to tell us—by using the clues of character, setting, plot, and resolution.

We talked about how we needed to be detectives and analyze the suspects’ (characters’) behavior for clues, come up with potential solutions, rule out false leads, and then solve the mystery. I explained that we had to be very careful to stick to hard evidence—it’s against the rules to make stuff up! Our theories had to be supported by the text.

I told the kids that their most important detective tools were listening ears. If they didn’t listen, they wouldn’t be able to solve the mystery! Then I read aloud Anatole by Eve Titus. (We are using picture books read at the book club meetings for several months to get the hang of things before moving on to simple chapter books to be read at home before coming to book club.) When I finished reading the book (the kids listened well and stayed focused), I told them it was time for the detectives to discuss the evidence!

My sister led the book discussion while I wrote our notes on a white board and searched the text when we had questions or to verify evidence. I drew a blank story chart from Teaching the Classics. Holly used the Socratic questions from Teaching the Classics as well as the Story Sequence Chart from Primary Arts of Language Writing (IEW) as a jumping-off place. We introduced the kids to the elements of the story chart one at a time and filled the circles with notes as we went along.

We started with Exposition. Who is in the story? What is he like? What does he say/do? When does it happen? Where does he live? Where does he go? (I wrote on a white board, but I am re-writing and saving all our finished charts in a huge white tablet so that we have them to review and refer to. Please excuse the messy ink blob.)

Then we talked about Rising Conflict. What is the problem or surprise? What do they need or want?

Next up was Climax. At what point do we first know the problem will be resolved? How is the problem solved?

Then Denouement. We had fun with that word. It was a French sort of evening with genre, a mouse village in Paris, and denouement. (It sounds a little like day-new-mah (with a nasally sort of mah).) What happens after the problem is solved? What loose ends are tied up?

Then Conclusion. What is the result? What is learned?

We finished up with Theme. This is the hidden mystery, what the author is really trying to say. What is the universal idea that we can take away from this story?

At future meetings we will explore protagonist and antagonist, conflict (man v. man, man v. fate, man v. society, man v. self, etc.), context and authorship, and literary structure and style. But we’re taking this s.l.o.w.l.y. and trying to keep the kids engaged!

Our meeting took about an hour, which was our estimated ballpark. Holly and I talked about thinking of something to give the kids a break or change of pace somewhere in the middle of the meeting, but we haven’t come up with specific ideas, yet. And that’s about it!

Mt. Hope Academy @ The Live and Learn Studio ~ Week 1

2011-09-18T21:51:00.001-07:00

I’m packing at least a week’s worth of STUFF into one post. Which is good because I haven’t posted in a week. Oh, and I probably won’t post again for another week. So feel free to digest this one in small chunks…

We’ll start with the most exciting STUFF, shall we? I know you have all been on pins and needles—or maybe I was the only one with sharp things relentlessly annoying me—but I am FINALLY ready for the big reveal. There are still many finishing touches to do, but you’ll get the idea. I know I’m going to get questions, so I’ll try to add as much commentary as possible for those of you who are interested. Feel free to ask questions in the comments if I’ve missed anything.

Drumroll, please!!!!!!

Welcome to the Live and Learn Studio @ Mt. Hope!!!!

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

~Albert Einstein

(Is that not perfect?!!! Unless, of course, Einstein didn’t actually say that.)

No, wait. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? As many of my regular readers know, we live in a small house. At its very, very, very best (once a year, or so) it looks something like this. When Lola was born we turned the small upstairs playroom into the princess tower. We do have a school room, as well. It used to look something like this. It hasn’t looked like that for a very, very long time. In short, we needed more space. More space for living. More space for learning.

What most of you don’t know is that we have a detached shop in front of our house. The reason you don’t know this is because it is big and ugly. And I don’t like ugly things in my pictures. Let’s call it creative license. Inside this shop was a ‘finished’ office space. I don’t want to describe what it looked like a few months ago. Let’s just call it ‘the abyss.’ I posted an ‘in progress’ picture of this space a short while ago. That was after a lot of progress. Everything that had no home in the house (which was a ginormous amount of stuff) lived haphazardly in this ‘office space.’

So, a few months ago I mentioned to Russ that my new book club didn’t have a place to meet. He casually suggested we clean out ‘the abyss’ and use that as a meeting space. He had no idea what force he was setting in motion. In about 2 minutes I was down there with a measuring tape. In two hours I had a scale drawing of what I wanted. In two days I had pictures, links, and magazine clippings for inspiration. Then I discovered Pinterest. Poor guy, he didn’t stand a chance.

Then we worked and worked and worked. Well, Russ did the lion’s share. We are FINALLY finished enough to share pictures and use the space. I am so. stinkin’. excited.

Back to the tour.

Someday we will paint the shop, but at least the front door isn't an awful burgundy-purplish anymore. Vinyl numbers from Etsy.

In the far right corner you can see the front door. We have shoe and coat racks from IKEA. Russ’s office nook is to the left when you come in the door. (You’ll be able to see that a little better in a later picture.) Book shelves are also from IKEA. I have lots of shelf-filling to do. We’ll still be using our school room up at the house for most of our books and just keep the ones we are currently using down in the studio.

The Dr. Pepper cooler (it works!!) was a treasure we found a few years ago. It had been stored in the abyss. Russ is still working on shelving for the electronic equipment. Lola has her own little playpen nook. Highchair is from IKEA.

The orange dresser holds games, puzzles, and math manipulatives. It was an ugly old brown thing left by the previous owners. I spray-painted it and added glass knobs. Fine art prints (above dresser and on bulletin boards) are from Costco.com’s photo center. They have a huge gallery of free artwork. You only pay for the inexpensive printing. Turquoise chairs are from IKEA (I spray-painted them). Scrabble tile pillows are from Etsy. Wooden desk is from my grandma’s home (was stored in the abyss) and will be my work space.

Chalkboard wall calendar is from Etsy. Oar from my childhood. Letter tray from IKEA. Records were a garage sale find. I bought the printer’s tray ages ago (Ebay) and never got around to doing something with it until now. I created the canvases (paint, fabric, whatnot). My sister Shannon and my mom helped create and arrange the wall display.

The boys each have a desk station along the back wall. (One of the bulletin boards (Amazon.com) came damaged so we’re waiting for a replacement.) Desks, bookshelves, and computer chairs are from IKEA. The white cabinet on the left wall hides the AC unit. Our chest freezer is next to that, and I will be mounting a world map on the wall space above the freezer.

I mounted tension rods on the back of the bookshelves. The top one is held by hooks so that it can be easily removed and holds posters mounted with clip rings. The bottom rod holds clipboards for handwriting pages, etc.

A view from the other angle. Obviously we have more bookshelf organizing to do.

The table behind the couch is an awesome work space!! I am so glad to finally be using it again. It was the first nice piece of furniture Russ and I ever purchased, and it was in the corner of our school room covered with STUFF. The table leaf is painted with chalkboard paint, which didn’t work as well as I had hoped. C’est la vie. Black chairs from Target.com. Fabulous floor lamps from Target, also.

The door in this picture is also painted with chalkboard paint, though I haven’t tested it yet. Clock. Wall-mounted pencil sharpener. Russ’s office nook, which he is still in the process of completing. Printer station is easily accessible. Inexpensive stacking black stools (we have 8 ) from IKEA. Rug borrowed from my mom. Couch was originally in our house, then stored in the abyss. Orange throw from IKEA. Pillows handmade. (Okay, who am I kidding. I just draped the fabric over the pillow forms. Add ‘finish pillows’ to the to-do list.)

What am I forgetting? Light fixtures and fan are new. Everything was repainted. Wall color is an old Martha Stewart paint chip called Celery. Floor is new. (And what a nightmare that was.) The room is about 450 square feet. Yes, we have tons of stuff to sort through that didn’t make it back into this room. I’m dreading that process.

Yes, we’ll be spending a lot of time in here. I’ll share how that works and what our days look like in another post. No, there is no running water. Drat. I would have LOVED to add a bathroom to this set-up. I HATE having only one bathroom.

I can’t think of anything else. What did I miss?

On to other things…..

This week’s highlights:

1. Finishing up the Live and Learn Studio certainly tops the list. It isn’t quite finished, but now we just have the fun settling in to do.

2. Why did we finish the studio this past week? A deadline, of course. I hosted our first meeting of the Book Detectives. My sister and I are leading a monthly parent-child book club (with our grammar stage students) focusing on literary analysis via Socratic dialogue a la Deconstructing Penguins and Teaching the Classics. (That’s a mouthful.) This is out of my comfort zone (the leading part) and expertise (we’re all learning together), but I have to say it went even better than expected. I am THRILLED and excited to see how it develops. We’re in the guinea pig stage, and I wish we had room for 10 more families!!!

3. I hired someone to clean my house. Now, at first glance, this might not seem to have anything to do with ‘school,’ but I assure you, it does. I won’t deny that the teacher-student ratio of homeschooling is a huge benefit to doing this thing. BUT (and that is a big ‘but,’ ha!) there is a downside. The downside is that the teacher does EVERYTHING. I plan scope and sequence. I create benchmarks. I choose and order curricula. I do lesson planning and prep (without a prep period). I teach all subjects for K, 2nd, and 4th—this year. Every year the children’s ages change. As do the subjects. I am in charge of nurturing these precious, creative little souls as they become mature, intelligent, well-rounded, pleasant, humane humans. I also am the nursery worker with a still-breast-feeding, non-sleeping, mobile, tenacious baby. I am the bus driver. And the food service worker. And the teacher’s aide. And the school nurse. And the administrative assistant. And the counselor. AND the janitorial staff. Oh, and I’m the parent, too. By golly, I was ready to give up one of those hats. Have I mentioned I hate cleaning house?

4. We had our first week of our second year of Classical Conversations. It, too, went more smoothly than I expected, and I adore each of the boys’ tutors. It is going to be a phenomenal year. Last year (the first for our group) we had 25 families. 21 families returned, and we’ve added 21 more families for a total of 42!!! The Foundations program is FULL with a waiting list, and we have two FULL Challenge programs! I’ve loved seeing all the new faces and look forward to getting to know everyone!

Food for Thought:

What if the secret to success is failure? at the NY Times.

The most critical missing piece, Randolph explained as we sat in his office last fall, is character — those essential traits of mind and habit that were drilled into him at boarding school in England and that also have deep roots in American history. “Whether it’s the pioneer in the Conestoga wagon or someone coming here in the 1920s from southern Italy, there was this idea in America that if you worked hard and you showed real grit, that you could be successful,” he said. “Strangely, we’ve now forgotten that. People who have an easy time of things, who get 800s on their SAT’s, I worry that those people get feedback that everything they’re doing is great. And I think as a result, we are actually setting them up for long-term failure. When that person suddenly has to face up to a difficult moment, then I think they’re screwed, to be honest. I don’t think they’ve grown the capacities to be able to handle that.”

Weekly Report ~ Week 1

Guess what? We didn’t ‘do much’ this week. That’s okay. I wasn’t planning on starting our full schedule until this next week. (Wish us luck. Or pray for perseverance….)

Classical Conversations Week 1: History time line, memory work (history, science, Latin, grammar, math), geography, science experiment, fine arts (drawing), public speaking, and social time.

Faith:
Independent Bible Reading

Math:
Daily TT math lessons

Science:
Bill Nye: Skin (DVD)

P.E.:
Swim practice started up again for Levi this week.

Fine Arts:
Piano practice and lesson for Luke.

History:
Christopher Columbus by Stephen Krensky (Step into Reading Level 3) (Leif, Luke, and Levi, IR-independent read)
Where do you think you’re going, Christopher Columbus? by Jean Fritz (Luke and Levi, IR)
Christopher Columbus: The Great Adventure and How We Know About It by West (Levi, IR)
Pedro’s Journal: A Voyage with Christopher Columbus by Pam Conrad (historical fiction) (Luke and Levi, IR)

Literature:
Robert Louis Stevenson: Teller of Tales by Beverly Gherman (biography) (Levi, independently)

Book Detectives (parent-child literary analysis book club)

Mt. Hope Academy 2011, Summer Edition ~ Week 23+

2011-09-12T19:47:00.001-07:00

My weekly reports dropped off sharply at the end of spring. Not much of a surprise there! I kept track of a few of the things we did over the summer (mainly reading lists) and am posting those today, mostly for my own benefit/records. Weekly reports should resume next week with pictures of our new studio!! I think you’re gonna love it just as much as we do! {ridiculous grin}

I also have a few great links to share with more thoughts on education, so we’ll start with those.

:::It’s as much about your education as it is about theirs. by Jamie Martin @ Simple Homeschool:

‘Charlotte Mason, an educational pioneer from 19^th century England, summed it up well when she said this:

“Self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child’s nature.”

When we’re able to let go of this false notion and heavy responsibility, we’ll discover a new freedom. We’ll also discover what our job actually is: to create an inspiring atmosphere and to educate ourselves. This is where it gets really fun–because this is where we get to develop and nurture our own passions.’

:::Saint Paul and Christian Classical Education by Tucker Teague @ Satellite Saint. Very good stuff, here.

”But a true dialogue can seem to be unfocused and wandering, which is also antithetical to teaching in the modern sense. Our modern education system is partially based on a sense of urgency–we cannot afford to waste time with thinking when we have so much knowledge to get into those little brains. It is a system that must swap dialogue with lecture. But this modern system denies the existence of the human soul. Is that what we want?”

:::Technology in Schools Faces Questions on Value @ NY Times

:::Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful @ SmithsonianMag.com:

“If you only measure the statistics, you miss the human aspect.”

And then:

“We prepare children to learn how to learn, not how to take a test...”

:::A very long and phenomenal article on Socratic dialogue @ Classical Academic Press, An Invitation to Socratic Dialogue and Learning: Becoming an Artisan of Thought.

:::For a little bit of life inspiration, we have For the Days That Aren’t So Spectacular by Hannah @ A Quiet Spot:

‘And I remembered ... we are all toddling through this remodeling journey together. We are all that messy room. The clutter of perfectionism, of disappointment, of unreasonable expectations, of misplaced hopes ... it all has to go. Sometimes, the room looks worse before it gets better, right?’

:::And for a little bit of funny (especially for moms of boys), we have The Kids Are Alright @ The Weekly Standard:

‘The boys become more invested, however, as the tasks grow increasingly physical, and even mildly dangerous. For Jousting, we balance ourselves on a board, then try knocking each other off with baseball bats. “Ow!” exclaims Dean. “You hit me in the crackers!” My mistake—next time, we should use pool noodles, as per the instructions. We ride a mattress down the stairs, nearly crashing through the wall at the bottom. “This is fun,” says Luke. “We haven’t done this in a while.” “We’ve never done this,” I say, confused. “Me and Dean have,” he confesses.’

Whew! Did you get a chance to read all those? You can skip our summer report, as it is not nearly as interesting as those fabulous articles. But, for the curious, here it is:

Faith:
Bible Reading

Math:
Daily math (Teaching Textbooks or Singapore workbooks)
Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature by Sarah C. Campbell

Science:
Various DVDs and books
Day Camps:
Going Buggy (bug habitats)
Regurgitation Vacation (dissecting owl pellets and a frog!)

P.E.:
Swim practice
Family swim night
Outdoor play

Fine Arts:
Piano practice/lessons (Luke)
The Mona Lisa Caper by Rick Jacobson
The Artists’ Specials: Degas and the Dancer (DVD)
Degas and the Little Dancer by Laurence Anholt
The Artists’ Specials: Monet, Shadow & Light (DVD)
The Magical Garden of Claude Monet by Laurence Anholt
The Story of the Orchestra: Tchaikovsky
Classical Kids: Tchaikovsky Discovers America (CD)
Degas and Tchaikovsky on YouTube
I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina: A Girlhood Story by Anna Pavlova illustrated with art by Edgar Degas
Swan Lake retold and illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

Owls and Pussy-cats: Nonsense Verse by Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll
Poetry for Young People: Edward Lear

Language Arts:
Handwriting Without Tears workbooks/copywork

Latin:
Song School Latin review (Headventureland.com)
Prima Latina DVD lessons 1, 2, 3

Literature:
The Trouble Begins At 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West by Sid Fleischman (biography, Levi)
Who Was Mark Twain? by April Jones Prince
A Brilliant Streak: The Making of Mark Twain by Kathryn Lasky
River Boy: The Story of Mark Twain by William Anderson
The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (unabridged) (read aloud)
Classic Starts: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer retold from the Mark Twain original (Levi and Luke, independently)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (unabridged) (Levi, independently)

Levi’s Reading:
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
The Roman Mysteries Series by Caroline Lawrence (2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,15,16,17):
(The Secrets of Vesuvius, The Pirates of Pompeii, The Assassins of Rome, The Dolphins of Laurentum,
The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina, The Enemies of Jupiter, The Gladiators From Capua, The Colossus of Rhodes,
The Fugitive From Corinth, The Sirens of Surrentum, The Charioteer of Delphi, The Slave-girl from Jerusalem,
The Scribes from Alexandria, The Prophet from Ephesus, The Man from Pomegranate Street)
The Roman Mysteries Mini Mysteries: The Legionary from Londinium (and other stories) by Caroline Lawrence
(My America) Freedom’s Wings: Corey’s Diary, Kentucky to Ohio, 1857
(My America) Flying Free: Corey’s Underground Railroad Diary
(My America) A Perfect Place: Joshua’s Oregon Trail Diary
Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
The Borrowers Afield
The Borrowers Afloat
The Borrowers Aloft
Escape From Warsaw (The Silver Sword) by Ian Serraillier
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall
Escape by Night: A Civil War Adventure by Laurie Myers
George Washington’s Socks by Elvira Woodruff
George Washington’s Spy by Elvira Woodruff
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Nick of Time by Ted Bell
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
All sorts of other books…

Luke’s Reading:
The Most Beautiful Place in the World by Ann Cameron
Riding the Pony Express by Clyde Robert Bulla
Lots and lots of Dragon Slayers’ Academy books (15? 20?)
Finished the Magic Tree House Books?
The Boxcar Children (a couple/few books in the series)
The Adventures of Sir Gawain the True by Gerald Morris
The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill
Things Will Never Be the Same, For the Duration, and I’m Still Scared by Tomie DePaola
Dominic by William Steig
All sorts of other books…

Leif’s Reading:
Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne
Night of the Ninjas
Pirates Past Noon
All sorts of other books…

Miscellaneous:
Paddle to the Sea (DVD based on the book by Holling C. Holling… what a neat film!)
Just Being Audrey by Margaret Cardillo

A week of morning VBS (Panda Mania)
A week of evening VBS (Gold Rush)
3 Days of morning VBS (Son Surf)
A week of evening VBS (Egypt Files)

BOYS’ CAMP with Dad!!
Evening concert in the park
A weekend at the coast
Softball with family
An airplane ride for Luke
Cool Pool (outdoor splash pool)

A two-day teaching conference—in-service for ME!!

Scooting and Sneak Peek

2011-09-10T09:35:00.001-07:00

or In Which a Jammied, Bum-Scooting Lola Gives a Sneak Peek of our Project Still ‘In Progress’
(or Readers Beware, Heidi Has Figured Out How To Do Video)

Sweetness in Overalls

2011-09-08T18:46:00.001-07:00

I'm finally posting a glimpse of the family photo session I did a couple weeks ago. Is this boy not the sweetest thing you've ever seen?! What a doll. It was hard to pick and choose, so here are a bunch!

Tenacious

2011-09-06T16:52:00.001-07:00

That should have been my one little word for 2011.

Tenacious isn’t in my nature, but I am determined to hang in there. {Everyone sing it with me: I Will Survive.}

Tenacious does happen to be in my husband’s nature. He is working like a mad-man! Here is a depressing photo of ‘project in process.’ I was asked not to post before pictures. Yeah. This room is going to win transformation awards. I promise. But we’re not there yet.

So my husband has been working around the clock. Remodeling. Picking blackberries. Scraping adhesive off cement. Taking half-night shifts with a non-sleeping baby. Installing light fixtures. Miscellaneous projects around and about. Prying up vinyl tile. Running the tractor on our over-grown property. Painting. Taking boys to piano and swim practice (and swimming and competing, himself!). Trips to Home Depot. And IKEA. Working for his private consulting clients. Oh, and working at a full-time job with a 45 minute commute each way. He is the man. And he deserves a vacation. But there’s more work to be done.

Tenacious. That would also be a certain little girl who is having a rough time sleeping. For those of you who might suggest co-sleeping: Do you sleep 13+ hours, or does your child only sleep 8, or do you leave her unattended on a flat surface (and does she just lie there peacefully, instead of falling off the bed, when she wakes up? Really?)? Yeah, none of those options work for us. Even if I could sleep well with a baby in bed with me…or on top of me as she thinks she should. For those of you who might suggest letting her cry it out: Well, we tried that, too. Did I mention tenacious? I will laugh (slightly maniacally) if you tell me it might take 30 minutes. Or even an hour. Or even two hours. Or even four. Did I mention tenacious? Y’all have no idea. We’ve come to a slight compromise, she and I, and we’re are working on our routine. I’m PRAYING this sleeping thing improves. (P.S. Yes, I was being rhetorically cranky. No suggestions needed.)

Tenacious. That would also be a certain first-born son who will, when he so chooses, NOT do his math. Will you suggest rewards? Consequences? He can sit in front of a 15 minute math worksheet, which he is more than capable of completing, for six hours. Including while at the beach watching his brothers play. And out to dinner, sitting in front of a glass of water, while the family eats. (P.S. Again, being rhetorically cranky. No suggestions needed.)

Hey, and while I’m being real, you might want to imagine a 10 hour trip to IKEA on a holiday weekend with three little boys and a baby. You can imagine one over-loaded cart (and a baby) being ‘manned’ by the 9 year old. And THREE flat-beds ‘manned’ by Russ, me, and the 7 year old. The five year old was in charge of the empty stroller, but that was just. too. much. so it was folded up and added to one of the flat-beds. You can question my sanity or be extraordinarily impressed. I’ll let you choose.

All this to say—we are still not there, wherever there is. Maybe we’ll start school in October. Yeah, that’s it.

Mt. Hope Academy ~ 2011-2012

2011-08-29T10:34:00.001-07:00

I’ve updated my resource and planning list for the 2011-2012 school year, so I am reposting it today.

The boys are all pre-registered for Classical Conversations 2011-2012. We are also currently registered with a distance learning program. They help pay for some of our non-faith-based materials and activities as well as administer standardized testing.

It has come to my attention that my boys need to be kept busy and quite structured if I wish to keep the house (and its inhabitants) from being destroyed. Now that I look at my list, however, I'm bemoaning my loss of Dr. Pepper. Will there be enough dark chocolate to keep me alive? (And, oh Lola, please be an angel toddler...)

Much of our work will be done together (with allowances for individual abilities and attention spans) unless otherwise noted.

Why homeschool? Because learning is a constant and essential component of a deep, rich life in God’s huge and fascinating world. Homeschooling is the best way for us to embrace that.

LEVI ~ 4th grade
LUKE ~ 2nd grade
LEIF ~ Kindergarten

Classical Conversations (Cycle 3) (One morning each week for 24 weeks; includes social time and public speaking.)

Faith:
Bible Memory:
CC Memorize John 1:1-7 (in Latin and English)
A New Commandment (CD) (daily review) (Psalm 1, Psalm 23, Psalm 150, John 3:16, books of the New Testament, and more)
Daily Independent Bible reading:
Levi: The Adventure Bible
Luke: The Action Bible
Leif: The Jesus Storybook Bible
Telling God's Story (one lesson weekly with possible activity on another day)
Hymns For a Kid's Heart (Vol. 1, 2) (one lesson weekly)
(Luke and Levi: weekly hymns on piano)
(weekly patriotic hymns/songs)
(Christmas: The Handel's Messiah Family Advent Reader)

Math:
Teaching Textbooks (Luke: finish 3, Levi: 4)
Singapore workbooks and CD-ROM math games
The Critical Thinking Co. math workbooks
Life of Fred
(I shared a little more about our math approach at this link.)
CC weekly memory work (skip counting/formulas/laws) (solidify memorization, practical application of formulas)

Science:
Christian Kids Explore Chemistry (finish)
Exploring the World of Chemistry by John Hudson Tiner
DK First Human Body Encyclopedia
The Visual Dictionary of the Human Body (Eyewitness)
My Body (human body project @ CC)
Bill Nye and Eyewitness DVDs (human body)
CC weekly science memory work (human body and chemistry)
CC weekly science projects and experiments
Christian Kids Explore Physics (after Chemistry and human body, if we get to it!)
The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia
What’s Science All About? (Usborne) (covers Chemistry, Physics, and Biology)
The Story of Science series by Joy Hakim
Supplemental books and DVDs

P.E.:
Swim Team (3x week, plus swim meets and family swim nights)
(mini trampoline and outdoor play)

Fine Arts:
CC drawing, tin whistle/music theory, fine art/art projects, composers/instruments of the orchestra
Monthly Fine Arts Study (one composer/artist/poet each month)
Draw Write Now (books 2,3, and 5)
Piano lessons (Luke) (loving this piano book series!)
Piano review (Levi)

Language Arts:
IEW Writing (Luke: Primary Arts of Language Writing, Levi: TWSS/Student Writing Intensive A/Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales Writing Lessons)
IEW Poetry Memorization
MCT Poetry, Grammar, Writing, Vocabulary (Town level)
Writing With Ease/ First Language Lessons
(Online sentence diagramming)
CC grammar memory work (verbs, parts of sentences)
All About Spelling Level 2 and 3
Handwriting Without Tears workbooks
Copy work using custom handwriting worksheets
(I shared more details about our Language Arts line-up at this link.)
Typing (still haven’t purchased a program)

Latin:
Prima Latina (review with DVDs)
Latina Christiana I (one lesson weekly with daily review when finished with Prima Latina review)
CC Latin memory work

Spanish:
El Espanol Facil Jr. (with Spanish-speaking Grandpa!) (probably won’t start until January)

Geography:
Maps & Globes
CC U.S. geography (states, capitals, mountains, rivers, lakes, features, and more)
Postcards across America project (use with coloring pages to create our own U.S.A. notebook)
State coloring and fact pages (free printable)
Passport to America (free printable game)
Geography games (capitals, states, landscapes) (free online—site is wonky, have to scroll a lot to find game links)
Place the State online game
States games and puzzles
Continue map drawing and 'blobbing' continents (CC)
(review CC cycle 2 geography)
(history related maps)

History/Literature:
The Story of the World: Early Modern Times (finish) (with Activity Guide)
The Story of the World: The Modern Age (with Activity Guide)
CC weekly history memory work (American history)
The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (Luke)
The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (Levi)
DK Children's Encyclopedia of American History
CC Veritas History Timeline Cards and U.S. Presidents (solidify memorization)
Mission US (free online American history role-playing game)
Liberty’s Kids (Netflix streaming), Schoolhouse Rock America, and This is America, Charlie Brown (YouTube)
Supplemental books and DVDs
Literature study (1800-present using lists from The Well-Trained Mind)|
Parent-child monthly book club focusing on literature analysis via Socratic dialogue (a la Deconstructing Penguins and Teaching the Classics)

Lots of free reading and library visits

Review CC memory work from cycle 2

Leif:
"Grammy School" (one or two afternoons each week at Bambi's house)
(reading, phonogram cards, handwriting workbook, workbooks from The Critical Thinking Co., cooking/baking, crafts)

(Not) Back to School…

2011-08-24T22:58:00.001-07:00

…And all that.

So many people are back in the school routine. We are not. For several reasons:

1. Our summer just began. Sad, but true. This past week we’ve had our *first* couple days of 90+ degrees. It probably wouldn’t be right for me to complain about how hot and crabby I’ve been, so I won’t. But it is really weird for me to think that there is less than a week left in August.

2. I’m getting very little sleep, and my days are full. full. full. just getting the basics done. I’m trying to keep these little people fed (I use that word loosely), clothed (I also use that word loosely), and safe (“). After that, there are about 2 minutes left in my day to clean house (and I probably shouldn’t use those words at all…).

3. We are still in the middle of a remodeling project. One that has to get finished before I can organize all our school things and get our routine in place. My self-imposed dead-line is September 15th (nothing like company to get me motivated), so we have three weekends of work left. I can. not. wait. to show you what we’ve done. Mostly because that will mean it’s done. I like done. I really hate the worse-than-when-we-started stage.

4. Our year of Classical Conversations doesn’t begin until September 12th. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I still have a little bit of breathing room.

For those of you who are eagerly awaiting the return of our weekly reports (anyone?)—you might be waiting a while longer. I’ve been keeping track of a few things over the summer (mostly Levi’s reading), and will post that before our new year begins.

For those of you who are wondering what happened to my monthly fine arts studies, we’ve still been following our schedule, but the posts haven’t made the priority list. I’ll try to resume those in September with our weekly reports. (Speaking of weekly reports, our fine arts resources have been posted there under, get this, fine arts. {grin})

For those of you who would love for me to post detailed lists of studies corresponding to our year of Classical Conversations—well, that isn’t going to happen. Rather than re-inventing the wheel, I’ll just send you over to Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood. There, Brandy has posted links, resources, lists, and ideas. More than you could ever want, need, or use. And it’s all ready to go. Me? I’ll be posting what we did AFTER the fact, and behind most other CC schedules since we are starting so late. Impressive, I know.

Speaking of what we’re doing: This year we won’t be tailoring our lessons around the CC schedule quite as much as we did last year. We’re kind of doing our own thing and plugging in the memory work as we come to that information in our studies. I posted a list of what we’re working on this coming year, but I’ll be updating it and posting it again in the next week or two.

I am hoping to do bare-bones schooling the week of the 12th, getting our routines into place and hosting/facilitating our first parent-child literary analysis book club (a la Deconstructing Penguins and Teaching the Classics). Here’s *praying* we can get up to speed by the following week.

For those of you who have enjoyed my food for thought links in the past, I’ve got a great one to leave you with today:

Saint Paul and Christian Classical Education by Tucker Teague @ Satellite Saint. (I’m happy to say that I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Tucker when I was visiting his wife a while back. They are two of the neatest people I’ve had the privilege of meeting.)

But a true dialogue can seem to be unfocused and wandering, which is also antithetical to teaching in the modern sense. Our modern education system is partially based on a sense of urgency–we cannot afford to waste time with thinking when we have so much knowledge to get into those little brains. It is a system that must swap dialogue with lecture. But this modern system denies the existence of the human soul. Is that what we want?

Quick Hello

2011-08-23T22:33:00.001-07:00

I’m checking in with a quick hello. And, of course, a ‘few’ pictures of Lola. Hey, it’s the Lola Channel. All Lola, all the time.

Speaking of Lola… she’s on the move. And teething. That is all.

I also wanted to thank everyone who responded to my postcard request. You are fabulous. Yes, YOU!! Thank you! It looks like I still need the following states: DE, ME, MS, NH, ND, RI, VT, WV, and WY. Only nine states left! If you are interested in sending us a postcard from one of those states, please email me at heidi (at) poetsgarden (dot) com.

Sami Sneak Peek and Random Life

2011-08-22T10:22:00.001-07:00

I just did my last senior photo shoot of the season last night. One more family photo session this evening and I’m hanging up my shingle for a little while. Just not enough hours in the day.

I had a blast with Sami. She really knows how to work the camera. The editing on that second picture was something of an accident… then I liked it so much I thought I’d post it.

After getting home from the beach last weekend, we had a busy week. Russ’s family from Washington was here visiting, and the boys got to spend a bunch of quality time with their Grandma.

Leif turned five (FIVE!!!) on Thursday. We went to the Cool Pool to swim and Cold Stone for ice cream treats, then partied at my parents’ house on Saturday.

Today is overcast and cool compared to the past two “hot'” days. Saturday it hit 90 for the FIRST TIME this YEAR. I think we’ll be cleaning house and reading books. How is that for a boat-load of fun?

And that is all the “excitement” I have to share for now…

Five

2011-08-19T21:42:00.001-07:00

Two.

Checking Out

2011-08-16T22:10:00.001-07:00

I’m going to be MIA for a little while. Just trying to get life done. I may not be able to respond to emails and comments in a timely manner.

Thank you so much for all the responses to our postcard project!! I am so excited. It makes me want to hop in our truck and go on a cross-country trip to see all of you! You wouldn’t mind if we showed up on your door step one day, would you? {grin}

If I kept track correctly (and that would be a miracle), some states still up for grabs. If you are interested in sending us a postcard from one of these states, shoot me an email and I will try to email you back shortly with our address. Let me know if you would like a postcard in return! Still needed: AZ, AR, CT, DE, FL, HI?, IN, KY, ME, MS, NE, NH, NJ, NM, ND, OH, RI, SC, SD?, VT, WV, and WY. (If you’d like to send us a postcard from a state not listed, we’d love to hear from you. One can’t have too many postcards. And if you’d like to send us a postcard from somewhere out of the U.S., we’d LOVE to hear from you!!)

(ETA: AZ, AR, CT, IN, FL, KY, NJ, OH, and SC now spoken for!)

Thanks, everyone. ‘See’ you in a week (or two….).

Beach Babe

2011-08-16T20:56:00.001-07:00

Oceans of Truth

2011-08-15T22:00:00.001-07:00

Last year, our 'school motto' was this photo, but I think we've found a new one for this year!

In Which We Go to the Beach

2011-08-15T11:01:00.001-07:00

I could share the unedited, very un-beautiful version of our beach story. But—today—it is a very important thing that I give the glorious version. It is a gift to myself. A reminder that the (short) little moments are worth it. A reminder that I need an attitude adjustment.

Because life, right now, is so. much. work. Even for the fun stuff. Especially for the fun stuff. I find myself struggling to relax and enjoy myself. EVER. There is always a sense of being ‘on duty.’ A weight of things needing to be done. A frustration over things not going the way, being the way, they should. A fruitless yearning to be enough ME, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, physically. And, more often than I’d like to admit, a feeling that things aren’t worth it (such as 48 hours of ‘work’ for 2 hours of ‘fun’).

(More pictures tomorrow, including Lola Love.)

Beach, Beach, Baby

2011-08-14T23:27:00.001-07:00

What do you think of your first day at the beach, baby?

Summer Swiftly Sails on By

2011-08-12T22:21:00.001-07:00

I’m going with the ‘just do it’ posting method tonight. I’m tired and I want to go to bed, but if I don’t post now, it will be a while before I get a chance again!

Life, Unedited:

I’ve been thinking a little about school plans. So many people are already back to school. Not here. Our summer feels like it has barely begun! Our year of Classical Conversations doesn’t begin until September 12th. I missed out on the (Not) Back to School blog hop because I’ve got nothin’. Maybe I’ll do my own Back to School blog series in mid-September.

While I was thinking about school plans, Latin was on the docket. I was trying to decide whether to review Prima Latina or go straight on to Latina Christiana. My sister mentioned she had the DVDs for Prima Latina. I thought we’d start there and go through the lessons quickly. I popped in the 1st DVD one evening just to preview. Luke got so excited, you would have thought it was Transformers or something. I promised he could go to bed with the Latin book if only he would get ready for bed quickly and practice his piano cheerfully. He raced off. Halfway through his piano practice he was dragging. Then he started chanting, ‘Latin, Latin, Latin,’ with a smile on his face and finished strong. He then happily snuggled in his bed with both the Prima Latina book and Song School Latin. I think an alien lives here. Or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the very least.

The picture on the right, above, is of Lola and the boys watching the 1st Latin lesson on DVD. I guess we’ll start that early…

The boys finished their fourth week of VBS tonight! The evening VBS schedule is really tough on us. We have a hard time getting there at 6 pm without feeling rushed and throwing together something to eat at the last minute, and the boys have a VERY hard time getting ready for bed when they get home and falling asleep. So it has been very late nights for us all.

Lola is into EVERYTHING. And she’s getting very opinionated. And she doesn’t want to sleep much.

I LOVED this season of So You Think You Can Dance (the only season I’ve actually watched). Really amazing choreography and dancing. Phenomenal.

We are headed to the beach tomorrow. It will be Lola’s first time!

Grandpa and Grandma, I’m so sorry I don’t have any pictures of Boys’ Camp to post. I thought the camera battery was charged, but Russ said it went dead after one picture!! I never posted last year’s pictures, so maybe I’ll finally do that and pretend they were taken this year. {sheepish grin}

I’m reading two books at the moment. That it is even worth mentioning should say something, sadly. I’ve done very little reading this year. Thank goodness for book club keeping me accountable for at least one book each month!

I had an awesome visit with a friend today whom I hadn’t seen in twenty years!! She was a wonderful friend during our middle school years. She and her family were visiting from out of state and made the time to come hang out with us for a few hours. Thanks, Sonia!!

Have I mentioned that I love grammar? We’re going to be doing some sentence diagramming this next year. I took a crash course during the teaching conference last week. And then a couple facebook friends posted this link. It is so addicting. Just type in a sentence and the program will diagram it for you. I could play with that all day. Who needs dinner?

Another link for you. I loved Reason Enough to Homeschool by Sarah Small @ Simple Homeschool today:

We started homeschooling for a bunch of reasons, and the list has grown year after year.

But sometimes it is just one reason that stands out above all the others. Forget academics, test scores, long days, busy work, and tedium. What we give them now is this: an August day. A river to wade in. The feel of dry grass beneath our feet, and a sliver of silver moon at night.

Sometimes that whole stack of “reasons why” comes down to a knowing feeling—a conviction that this is the way life should be.

One more thing (if you’ve even read this far), and then I’m going straight to bed. I got the great idea from an online friend to work on a postcard project for our states and capitals study this next year. Would any of you be willing to help us out by sending us a postcard from your state? I think I have the following states already spoken for (though we certainly wouldn’t complain if we got more than one!): AL, CA, CO, DC, GA, IA, KS, LA, MD, MN, MO, MT, OR, TN, TX, VA, and WA (and possibly AK, HI, ID, SD, and UT). But that leaves quite a few that we are missing! Email me at heidi (at) poetsgarden (dot) com if you are interested, so that I can give you our address. And we would be more than happy to reciprocate if anyone would like an Oregon postcard! (I’ll probably post this request a couple more times to see how many states we can cover.)

Good night, all!!

Formative Value

2011-08-10T08:54:00.001-07:00

The education process is as much about mental and character formation as it is about information and subjects. The formative value of the subjects we teach in school is as important as—if not more important than—the actual content. Math teaches logical, accurate, precise thinking; history teaches judgment, discernment, prudence; literature teaches sensitivity to the human condition; penmanship teaches the beginning student the basic skills of concentration, accuracy, correct spelling, and the patience and persistence required to do quality work. These mental habits, work habits, and skills transfer to every area of life. They distinguish the educated person from the uneducated.

From The Real Hands-On Learning by Cheryl Lowe

Have you read the articles available at Memoria Press? Good stuff, those.