The Food We Eat - Peanut Butter is no good!

Now don't go getting up in arms thinking I'm telling ya'll how to eat! By 'peanut butter is no good' I mean, for OUR family. Many of you know that Adam and Reagan have food sensitivities which have affected their skin, behavior, tummies, and health in general. And although we have worked hard to avoid certain items, we have been blessed that MOST of these sensitivities are not a true food 'allergy' or "first response" allergy in which, the body reacts negatively, strongly and directly to a certain food.

However, it seems that Adam does have a direct allergy to PEANUTS. We discovered this 2 years ago when we gave him his first pb&j. He ate 1/2 of a quarter before we noticed him start to look like he had an instant cold. Since he was already (18m) sick much of the time, I wouldn't have thought it was the food except that this is the same time period that we were getting him tested for food allergies. When his tests came back negative for an immune response to PB we were very surprised and decided to completely avoid it anyway.

And he hasn't had a lick in the 18 months since then.

Until this past week, when I stupidly took this allergy lightly and figured that maybe his gut had healed enough or that he may have grown out of it. I had him help make my favorite Christmas cookies (almond bark candies) involving melted white chocolate, peanut butter, rice crispies, M&M's, and marshmallows. He loved helping and of course, I thought I must reward my cute and happy little helper (see the lovely 'before' photo) with a tiny (and I doooo mean tiny) half of a finished cookie.

No more that 5 minutes later I noticed red on his chin as I wiped his nose ("Hmmmm", I thought "Why is his nose running?") and thought at first it was just chapped from playing the snow that morning. But as I looked closer, I noticed that they were red WELTS all around the area that his saliva had been!

All I could think was "Bad Mommy! What were you thinking??" and "Crud! Where'd I put the Benedryl?"

Thankfully, he didn't seem too disturbed by the itchiness (as seen by the smile in the lovely 'after' photo) and was all too happy to take the nice, sweet medicine (which, b.t.w was red - why does medicine have to have red dye in it??? Grrrr.....). Thankfully, it was soon time for his nap. But after his nap he was terribly, terribly fussy all evening long. I was reminded that this is how he used to behave an entire year ago, BEFORE we took out from his diet the foods to which he is sensitive. It reminded me to be grateful of how far God has brought us with his nutrition, speech, and behavior! Now, whether his behavior in this case had to do with the small amount of PB that he ingested or the Benedryl itself, I do not know.

But what I DO know is that in this house - peanut butter is NO good!

Multicultural Night

One of our favorite things to do each week is heading to our homeschool co-op group. This is our 3rd year at our co-op and we really enjoy it - it's good for us right now. I enjoy the break from our normal schoolweek and the kids love taking different classes.

This past fall Jefferson took a unit on astronomy, plants, and Europe. Reagan and Ashton learned about bugs, plants, and Africa. They worked on lapbooks, cooking projects, and crafts. It's really turned out well for us and thankfully so, since the last 2 years were a bit more difficult due to babies, illnesses, and Rae's behavior.

So for the end of semester, the kids all worked on projects for a multicultural night. Jefferson's class worked on lapbooks and poster board displays for Europe while I helped the Kindergartener/Prek learn about Africa. Unfortunately, a large chunk of the little kids' crafts were misplaced 2 weeks before the big night! So we worked hard on some dioramas and costumes to show instead.

They all had so much fun checking out everyone else's projects and tasting foods from different countries. We had a pastor from an lepar & orphan mission in India, an Asia dance from the middle schoolers, and a funny Aussie skit from the highschoolers! But my fave were the 3 little preschoolers in their funny little African costumes and face paint!

Wordless Wednesday

Lincoln's (13months) typical hollar to get someone to pick him up. He is just. so. loud.

Wordless Wednesday

Poor dog!

This boy had a death grip and tortured my parents' dog every chance he could get on our last visit!

Our Three Year Old

Adam turned three this past week - we celebrated with a Veggie Tales party this past Saturday. It was so exciting for all of us because this is the first year that he was old enough to understand the excitement of it all. Just six months ago he could only say the words 'Mama', 'Dadda', and 'ca.' But this past week the words 'Ma appy bird-day?' were all he wanted to say! He jumped in joy everytime we listed all the fun things that would be at his party - balloons, cake, people, presents, and Bob the Tomato.

He has really opened up in this last year and we are so thankful. Last winter was particularly tough on him since he developed so many food sensitivities that his immune system couldn't even fight a small cold virus. It was often the norm for him just to be hollering and fussing in his misery through yet another cold since he couldn't yet talk to us with words. But every once in a while his silly and sweet personality would shine through.

With the past six months of speech therapy, Adam has learned to copy almost everything that we say. He can make his needs clear and express himself exponentially more than ever before. But mostly, he can BE HIMSELF! Oh...he is soooo sweet and smart and silly and clever. He loves to pretend with his cars and his sister and to oogle over his baby brother. He loves to get chased around the house and to hide from the 'ba guys' (bad guys). He super-duper loves to play with play dough! And he definitely loved his third birthday party!

Happy Birthday to our little guy! We love him so much and can't wait to see what God is going to do in his next year!

Those blessed little moments...

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is being there to witness those blessed little moments when my kids show me that they really 'get' something. This morning I was starting a phonics lessons with Reagan and I reviewed the 1- and 2-vowel rules with her since she is just learning how to read long vowel words. But before I could say them for her to repeat, she beat me to the punch and spit them right out! This, after a week of break and only hearing the 2nd one once before. I'm telling you, she has such a great memory!

I am so thankful that this will be one of her strengths but also that I can witness it. Little things like these help me to realize that the Lord has given me the blessing of having a close relationship with my kids, which is helped further by the fact that I must work so closely with them each day in their education. I love to see her beam with the joy of knowing that she has learned something and the realization that she is doing well. I get to see her push through her frustrations as she remembers what I've told her about the goal being practice rather than perfection ... and then beam again as she earns a sticker for not getting frustrated. I love that she smiles at the prospect of sitting down to read... because she's learning bigger words now.

Of course, we all know that not every moment of this homeschooling journey is delightful. But oh how worth it is the work for these blessed little moments....

My Own Pressure

I find it difficult to find the line between applying too much pressure to achieve unattainable goals for our kids' education and not enough to keep us moving along consistently towards our goals. More often than I slack, I push too hard - not allowing a lesson to get skipped due to 1 or more bad moods at the table and therefore causing undue stress to the student, who in reality is progressing more than well enough.

This brings me to think that I need to reassess our goals for this year.... or maybe not. Maybe I just need to keep them somewhere more visible to me so that I don't feel so easily frustrated or freaked out by missing or repeating a lesson. How else can I remind myself that my kids are doing just fine? I know logically that they are, but don't want to be so overly flexible with our lessons that we fall behind anywhere - especially since these foundational years are so crucial.

Maybe the pressure I place on myself and my kids is from a fear of failure. I surely can't blame another teacher if my child doesn't progress well enough. Or other kids if they pick up bad habits (such as my tendency to holler or inability to focus - yikes!). Since I know that my kids are doing well (I'm reading enough to know where they should be and seeing enough other students also) and I have well thought out goals for them, I'm afraid that this fear is simply a symptom of a lack of faith! After all, dh and I are making this time-consuming, against the grain educational choice for our kids because we feel that God wants us too do so. Why then would He not be faithful to provide wisdom and guidance to get our children where they need to be?

So my plan is to take the Thanksgiving weekend coming up to pray and refocus on our priorities around this little academy. I'll print out the year's goals as well as something physical (computer software provides this) to show how we've progressed and a list of to-do's along with re-do's. I need more sleep, less junkfood, and less tv. But above all, I must become more and more consistent in my prayer for this school. I know that I must give all that I am doing completely to the Lord so that He can carry the load and relieve me of this pressure that I bring upon myself.

1 Year Old Lincoln

Wow! Can it really have been an entire year since your amazing entry into our lives?


It felt like such a long time to wait for your arrival once we knew of your creation and your siblings waited so excitedly too. But you took your own sweet time, baking for 40 1/2 weeks until you had reached the ripe and hefty size of 10lbs 14 oz and 23 1/2in long. However, when it was time, you didn't waste any. The Lord must have known what a wimp your mommy is (seriously - I whine about paper cuts and pulled cuticles!) and spared me with your 3 hour labor and delivery! I was surprised that your first cry sounded so much like your big brother Adam's did and I thought it was strange that I could remember that detail over 2 years later.


Your daddy and I were so happy to welcome you to our family that chilly October day. You were so alert and looked so much like Adam.....

But this past year has shown you to be as unique and specially made as your three siblings. Your looks seems to be different everyday that we see you. So many who've met you remarked that you were the sweetest and happiest baby they ever met (okay, I may be a bit biased.... but they really did say it was so and I agreed!).

You have learned quickly that you need to make noise to be heard in this house - and make noise you do! Anytime that Adam comes near you to try to poke your nose, you start swingin' those arms and screeching. You often attack your offender by diving at them with your teeth bared. Yikes! This was cute at first but it is something that has shown us your strong determination as we've tried to teach you not to bite. Your curiosity is insatiable at this age, and house proofing you is quite the task. I can't help but smile as you chuck off the opposite direction as fast as your fat legs can crawl when you hear me approach while you're doing something "no-no!"

How amazingly adorable you are - you are so valued by all of us! We love to watch you learn and grow and we enjoy every day with you. What a wonderful year this has been with you, my darling Lumpy (don't worry, we won't call you that for long - you're already slimming out, much to my dismay)!

Happy First Birthday!

I love Kitties!

Could not resist the little lickin' kitty! Don't have one now but I've always loved cats and would love to have one again (after daipers...?).

So for now, this cutey will have to do...

Figures!

I don't know about you but I find it quite difficult to protect the innocence of my children in this day and age ... in this culture. I struggle with the fact that society doesn't value ANY of the things I do (namely God, family, fathers, women, children) and know that I must preview the things to which I expose my children. I read most books ahead and watch most movies in advance.

The key word being "most" in the above statement. *SIGH*

But this week I didn't take time to preview a movie that I, myself, chose for movie night with the kids. And I was shocked to find a clip in which the 2 main characters (10yo boys) are flipping slowly through tv channels and land for at least 30 seconds on a nasty music video! It was "Girls, Girls, Girls' by Va.n Ha*len (I think Va.n Ha*len - it's been a few years) and was loaded with half naked women dancing more than provocatively. And the boys acted and talked as if it wasn't degrading since it was just tv ("No, it's not .... it's just tv. It's not real." says one boy).

Call me ultra-conservative. Call me overprotective. I don't care. But this is NOT how I want my boys to think of or treat women or my girl to think of herself as such. I do not want them de-sensitized to immoral junk just because they view it on the tv! I am irritated at the makers of this movie for wrecking a classic story AND I'm irritated at myself for thinking that a PG movie would be okay for my 7 and 5.5 yo kids.

This serves as a reminder to myself and dh - our children are gifts loaned to us for only a short time. Their innocence is more fragile and valuable than many people think.

So if you haven't seen it or haven't shown it to your kids,

please don't rent the movie

"The Indian in the Cupboard"

Wordless Wednesday

Simple things make the best toys....

Wordless Wednesday

It takes such effort and concentration to get one's first piece of birthday cake into the mouth! Happy 1st Birthday Lincoln!

Normal frustrations, I'm sure...

So I'm sure I'm not the only one who deals with such things, but refuting a negative attitude during lessons is becoming more of a struggle as the kids get used to this homeschooling thing. I'm finding it hard to divide between the teacher-me and the mommy-me and I think this is showing up as more occasions for discipline occur during lessons.

*sigh*

I guess this is just one of the realities of being a home educator that is starting to set in. Or maybe it's just part of our personalities clashing as the kids get older and more independent? I mean, Jefferson and I are practically identical so when my tendency to be controlling or bossy comes out in me and in him at the same time -it's a recipe for arguing and tears. And then, why is it that a 7yo boy is so insistent that he already knows everything anyway? And when the slightest request for repetition or giving of direction on my part causes Reagan to whine and fuss so the lesson gets dragged out forever, I have to bite my lip and persevere in my own self-control. Her slowness in accepting my direction or her insistence on completing a sheet perfectly, makes me want to pull out my hair at times.

If I didn't have the Lord Jesus as my savior, I would be angry and sad and hopeless and frustrated (actually I likely wouldn't be homeschooling, as He is the one who called us to it). But I am so thankful that He helps me to remain calm, to be better than I was yesterday, to show patience in the face of 7yo attitude and 5yo whining, and to show love instead of barking my anger. I am never more aware of the difference the Lord makes in my relationship with the kids than during school lessons sometimes, since these can be such testing times. I am so very far from where I think I need to be, but I pray for His grace to cover my failures and I am thankful for each opportunity that I have to spend teaching them through my actions and responses.

3rd week of our 2nd term - excitement of the new year wearing off. Yeah... just normal frustrations, I'm sure...

Wordless Wednesday

Lincoln is the one our 2.5 yo calls "Pat, pat baby!" (as in fat, fat)! Quite an armful for our oldest, but Jefferson is so proud that he can lift him (although you should see him get down to put his legs into it!). At one year old, Lincoln is weighing in at about 28 lbs and he's breaking my back with his fatness...

So much for "wordless"....

Never enough time, huh?

Lincoln's first birthday party is at the end of this week - party prep ALWAYS makes me crazy (just ask anyone in the house - they'll tell you I stop talking and start barkin' a few days prior). Add to that that I'm trying to stuff 4 days of lessons into 3 (Reagan's in a Tues. class for 6 more weeks), we're having out of town guests in a few weeks, and the weather is fabulous (calling me to outdoor chores), and we've got a recipe for crazy busy around here.

By 9pm I just don't feel like sitting down to blog/surf/shop/research curriculum. We are in our 2nd week of our 2nd term ad I still haven't finished my Term 1 progress post (for my sake - none too interesting for anyone else). Thankfully, lessons are going well.

*sigh*

Right now I'm breaking my own rule about sitting at the computer before lessons are finished for the day. Lessons, dishes, dinner prep, window washing, laundry are call calling....

So another time for this....

Wordless Wednesday

Adam loves playing with Daddy's glasses!

For more Wordless Wednesday head over to 5 Minutes for Mom!

A New Friend

Of what value is a good friend? Can we ever truly measure?

I have found (as you may have also) that homeschooling can take so much time that I don't have (hmmm... or should I say 'make' in order to take due responsibility) enough time to connect with other homeschooling moms, to develop and cultivate relationships that support the path that God has put me on, keep me spiritually nourished, as well as enable me to encourage and be of use to other women on this path.

This is why I am so pleased that God has placed another wonderful family in our lives! Today we had over a mom and 3 of her 4 homeschooled kids, whom my dear mil recently introduced to us. I met her a few months ago at her home and drooled over her spacious and organized lesson room while Jefferson played outside with her kids. I noticed right away how gentle her nature was and how kind her children were. She is interested in the same type of nutrition as I am, has 3 kids of similar age as mine, uses Sonlight curriculum. She and her dh manage a campground facility and have done great things there in the short time they've had the job.

Today we got to know each other better amid (amazingly!) 7 kids. Hers were so well behaved that I prayed silently that our little bolt of lighting (Reagan) wouldn't let loose one of her lovely tantrums. But then I realized that she wasn't the type to judge anyway - phew. Jefferson was at ease and acting like himself (he's usually quieter with new people), Reagan dove right into the mix, and I was surprised that 2.5 yo Adam warmed up so quickly too. Of course, kids know when someone is a "kid-loving" kind of person (aka "genuine") and he loved it that their mom got right down to play with him. I just love people who are able to love other people's children! Their visit was lovely but when it was time for them to go, their mom said, "Children -it's time to go." And guess what they said (practically in unison!)? "Okay!" In my mind, my jaw dropped. But with their good behavior, I guess I wasn't really that surprised.

What a blessing that God places people like this in our lives, huh? I am so glad to meet someone with whom I can feel comfortable and share my journey as a mom and teacher as well as to find kids that my own kids enjoy so much. I am so glad that God provides friends!

Uh oh - new addiction on its' way!

My sil was kind enough to call my scrapbooking supplies out of hiding and invited me to crop last Friday. It had been 12 months since I poured over my most favorite hobby and in the 6 hours that we were there I almost got 2 pages done (don't even ask! I am way too particular about my pages as well as the fact that my creative brain was rusty).

As I was lamenting the fact that I just don't have the time to sit down to crop the beautiful photos of my favorite little people, the Crea.tive Memo.ries consultant introduced us to the company's new digital scrapbooking software. I had always said I wouldn't scrapbook digitally - I never liked what the pages looked like and I love the hands-on feel of scrapbooking with paper. But since blogging has taken over most of my spare (did I say "spare"? HA!) time, I recently realized that my blog was becoming my 'scrapbook' - my journal and heritage of our kids.

So when I found this CM digital software that produces beautiful pages as well as being convenient (I already almost live in front of this screen), I could not resist! I bought it and have spent too many hours playing with it already! I don't know how to use all the features yet but here are some examples of my practice. I think they turned quite well and I can't wait to do some more! What do you think?

2nd Grade Science

We are finally feeling more in the groove about science around here. I hadn't gotten our astronomy lessons planned when we started in August so we were just working on finishing up our plant lapbook from the summer.

But four weeks ago we finally started in on Exploring Creation with Astronomy (Young Explorers Series) by Apologia. Initially, I thought that it was a little too heavy for 2nd grade and that we would have to spend 2 weeks on each chapter. But I have been pleased to discover that it fits Jefferson perfectly this year! He is interested in the topic so he is listening well and understanding most of it. I am finding that we hardly have to review our vocabulary cards - the book reviews many terms as it goes and builds upon previous concepts.

As for projects, the book offers from 1 to 2 per chapter, some some quite easy and some more in depth. Each chapter also has an assignment for the student's 'Astronomy' notebook. We have been using the blank sheets from History Scribe for these assignments. Jefferson illustrates what he las learned and then writes his narration (with my help still). So far he has in his notebook, the sun, Mercury, Venus, and a mnemonic sentence he made up to help remember the order of the planets (My Very Easy Motorcycle Journey Seems Uniquely Normal Presently).

We've blown up balloons and hung them so he can see the difference in size. This was time consuming and then they didn't stay inflated for more than 2 days, but we had fun doing it and seeing how the planets compare. We've made a Mercury out of flour and craters with pebbles dropped into it. This week we poured hot butter over a mountain of flour to show how the lava on Venus flows and then hardens. We skipped the solar eclipse viewing box until we are ready for an actual eclipse. And we looked through The Astronomy Book (Dr. Jonathan Henry) from the Wonders of Creation series for more creation based info - nice book but a little over his head right now.

Can't wait to continue our exploration of God's universe! After our next week's break, it's on to Earth, Mars, and beyond.....

Boycottin' the computer for a bit

Not looking at it or even sitting down in front of it. We've had a productive couple of weeks in school but this weekend I decided to ignore the computer.

We enjoyed the beautiful cool weather. We weeded and mowed and played in the sand box. We kicked the ball around and took "wok uh woks" (Adam's term for walks). We observed lovely copper praying manti and millipeds. We had church at home and learned about Jacob's ladder. We even had pancakes (a huge, huge, huge treat in this normally gluten free house)! Oh, do I love my family. There is nothing next to Jesus, more wonderful and amazing than simply being with them!

So no more than this for a post and no comments to other bloggy friends. I'll post some of our photos another time....

My Oldest Turns 7!

Oh, how could it be that I've blinked my eyes and my precious, tiny, bald firstborn has blessed our lives for 7 years already! I couldn't believe it as I watched him romp and play excitedly with the friends at his party....

He arrived 4 weeks early, scaring the daylights out of me (and I'm sure dh also, although he stayed strong to keep me stronger). But thankfully, he was healthy and the most beautiful thing I had ever seen (to date, anyway)! I remember worrying that his feet were blue - they whisked him away from me over to examine him since he was early - but realized it was the leftover ink from his footprints. When they finally let me hold him (what an eternity that felt like), I couldn't take my eyes off of him!

I never expected this boy to look like me since his daddy has more dominant Romanian genes. But we have found over these years that he doesn't only look just.like.me but he acts just.like.me as well! Sometimes this is wonderful for me, since I find myself understanding him better than anyone else. And other times, it frustrates me to see him making the same mistakes I have made! He often cries when something is too hard for him or can't put his thoughts into words.

He amazes me in so many ways.....

• his curiosity is insatiable - his favorite question right now is "How did it?"
• he loves to figure out how things work (Legos, rc cars, ANYTHING his daddy is doing)
• he wants everyone else to be involved in every aspect of his life - he wants to be with others
• he cannot resist the urge to tell others the 'right' way to do things (much to Reagan's dismay!)
• he loves to help others - "Look Mommy, I loaded the laundry for you!" (nevermind that he didn't notice the diaper that somehow got in the basket!)
• he loves, loves, loves to read
• his energy is non-stop - so typical boy
• he is always hungry - I am so thankful that he is not a picky eater
• he LOVES babies
• he is sensitive and caring
• he is growing too, too, too fast!

We took him to a gymnastics gym for his party. He and his friends had so much fun running/jumping/bouncing around (even though he was running a fever when we got there) that we barely made it home with him awake. He wanted a Transformers theme - although he's never seen the movie or the cartoon. So, although I told myself I wouldn't, I made him an Autobot cake myself (after he saw this one and had to have it). Strangely enough, he received a tons of LEGO sets (perfect!) but not a single transformer! He was so excited to share this fun with his friends and he was so thankful for the gifts he received!

Dh and I let him open our gift earlier - an RC truck. I love that he's getting old enough for big boy toys that he can use with his daddy! He'll use this every time they go to the air field (dh flies model airplanes). We also got him a gift card to B&N - I was glad that he enjoyed choosing the books on his own and doing the math to figure out which ones he could afford with it. I was also pleased with his choices!

It's always such work to coordinate a day like this. But it is so worth it when we hear him say, "That was the funnest birthday party ever Mommy!"

Now if I could just figure out how to keep him from continuing to grow up....

Introducing.... a new bloggy friend!

I'm excited to welcome to the bloggy world a good friend and neighbor of mine!

Joyful Mama

We met online through No Greater Joy ministries and found out that we have many similar interests in addition to child-training. She and her dh have 5 wonderful kids (3 of them delivered at home) and she does an amazing job in her role as helpmeet and mother! I look to her as she plans and cooks whole, nutritious meals (full of raw milk, coconut oil, fermented foods, whole grains, homegrown veggies and other Nourishing Traditions types food). She is also a wonderful encourager to me as she works one year ahead of me in homeschooling 3 of her oldest children. She does not let fear keep her from letting her children learn and grow - she let's her boys try to be men and her girl to keep up with the boys while still being a lady. I love how laid back she is and how her love for her family literally shines from within her! I can tell that this is because she loves the Lord first and teaches her children by example.

She is a woman of good repute and godly character and I have been glad to get to know her over these few years. I know that our meeting was not by chance but a part of God's work! I hope that those who know me will join me in welcoming her to our fun and encouraging bloggin' network (only, that is, if you can get past the HUGE yellow dog at the front door! ;-0)!

Week 5 (T1) 2008

This was a tough one just due to my own lack of motivation. Don't really know why, but I didn't have the perseverance that I needed to push through this week's busyness and get school done as well. Don't get me wrong - we got a lot done. But I just don't feel like the week was complete.

First, Labor Day was a wash. I hadn't planned anything for this day but can't quite figure out how to tell my hs software that. So it thinks we just didn't get the lessons for Monday in! I'll have to find out how to adjust that since we will be adjusting things in the future as well. We read a little in the am and went to a great picnic in the afternoon. It was hosted by old friends. We thought is strange as we left as we realized that we feel soooo much more comfortable with the family of this friend (she has a large, large family who were all there) than we do amongst our own church family. Hmmm...

Tuesday was completely nuts! We were all dead-tired from the late picnic and slept in an hour. The cleaning lady woke me up and I spent the next hour just picking up (so SHE could clean up - you know how that goes! LOL!) and trying to get the kids awake and fed before the speech therapist arrived for Adam. By the time they both left, I had to get lunch ready and no one had gotten ANY lessons done! I think I managed to teach Jefferson grammar, math, and spelling and Reagan got her phonics lesson. Reading didn't happen since I had so many errands to run in prep for Jefferson's party.

Wednesday worked but only slowly. We did manage to get some very good reading time in for history and plan the mosaic that they were suppose to do on Friday. Jefferson is finished with his CCC phonics lessons and I have forgotten to order the next book! So we'll just skip that for a couple weeks, I guess. He's good at it, but I can tell that it's not his favorite. I think that we'll take the extra time (*hahahahehehe* Did I just say extra time? As if!) to start a few minutes of cursive practice each day since our Veritas Bible Primer Book 1 has arrived. I think that Reagan's math lesson got skipped! I had much food planning to do to get ready for our first day of homeschool co-op on Thursday.

Thursday was as tiring as I knew it would be with the co-op. It runs from 10:30am til 2:30 and I have to have everyone's lunches ready the night before if I'm going to get any lessons done in the morning. Even so, I was already tired (thanks to Sarah Palin's late speech Wednesday night) and we barely got out the door with all our stuff. Jefferson finished SWB. Reagan did get her phonics lesson this morning - we are working on short i and more penmanship. I know that she can blend and even sound out short words but need to continue emphasizing these basics for a while longer. Co-op was lots of fun for the kids and even I was as tired out by it as I can get. I will be assisting the teacher in the nursery/pre-k/K room, so I'll be with 3 of my 4 kids.

Friday I tried to get through the lessons that were planned but small details related to Jefferson's birthday kept getting in the way and I finally gave up. I was also very cranky. :-/ I think that days like these are why I have planned to school year round - I don't want to start yelling at the kids just because it HAS to get done. So we didn't - the mosaic will wait until next week. Jefferson played with his Legos (gift from his Nana), we read a bit and I worked on food lists/prep for the party. I also had the kids help me with some extra chores since we weren't doing lessons. The head cold that started Wedns for me is finally getting better....maybe that's what pulled me down this week?

Next week will be a better week I hope. I do feel like we are in a groove and I know that a break is coming soon. I can't actually believe that we have been at this for 5 weeks already - it's feels normal again! We will be skipping Tuesday so that Jefferson can go with dh to hear McCain/Palin speak at F&M University. Dave bought him a McCain booklet to give him some more info and we will be learning more about other presidents over the next couple of months. We just want him to have an awareness of this part of our country's democratic process as it happens!

Adam's Favorite Song

This is the song that Adam (2.5 yo ds) asks me for first when I rock him before bed. He calls it 'Sssss 'n psssss' for "Grace and Peace." I just LOVE the music of Fernando Ortega - it is beautiful and a blessing of talent from the Lord! Check out his website for more.

SOTW2 Copywork Printouts

I can't stand having to come up with something last minute for Jefferson to use for copywork for history. And when I do come up with something, I don't like to have to hand write it on the whiteboard or paper anyway. Who has time for that? So I've typed up and printed out his history copywork for each chapter of SOTW2 - Medieval Times. Here is the link, for anyone wanting some easy copywork printouts for this book!

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd7pqd69_2ghwfq5fj

Now, if I could just get those Astronomy lessons dealt with....we're still putzing around with the plant lapbook!

Wordless Wednesday - Mommy's Helper

For more Wordless Wednesday head over to 5 Minutes for Mom!