Christmas Menus and Traditions

I should have posted this earlier, but like most of you, I have been too busy. I love to hear others traditions. We are just starting to establish some. Early in our marriage we traveled the entire Christmas break. We were in a different home every Christmas, so it was hard to start traditions. After getting Isaac we decided to stay home, but do to a Christmas miscarriage one year, pregnancy bed rest the following year and still having to travel at some point during the break to see grandparents, it has been hard to establish our own traditions. For the past three years we have done a few things that I guess are becoming traditions. On Christmas Eve we go to church and come home to have our big meal. The children then will open one present before going to bed. It has been pajamas(I want nice clean pictures on Christmas morning), but after a year of Isaac crying because he was so excited and then deflated to find pajamas, I have changed that. They always each get a box of new books. We will let them open that so they can read them while they are too excited to go to sleep. On Christmas morning we will open presents one at a time and try to spread it over time. We always read the Christmas passage from Luke and we have a breakfast of breakfast pizza and Cinnamon rolls. For the rest of the day we have left overs from the night before and other favorite heavier snack foods. We will leave the day after Christmas to visit with all of the family and we will be gone a little more than a week. That means on Christmas I will be packing last minute things and getting the house ready for us to leave. That is why we do our main meal on Christmas Eve. It leaves Christmas day for the kids to play with their new things and I do not have to be in the kitchen all day. Bruce is trying to talk my into taking the tree down on Christmas so we do not have to come home to it. I don't know yet.

Our menu this year will be:

Prime Rib Roast
Broccoli Casserole
Green Bean Bundles
Twice Baked Potato Casserole
Rolls
Chocolate Chess Pie

What are your traditions?

The Father, The Mother, and The Child

We are going through Training Hearts Teaching Minds in our Family Worship Time. If you have not heard of it, it is a great book. It is a good tool to not only teach the children (and adults) the Shorter Catechism but to assist them in understanding it as well. Zachary (4) learns a lot by just listening to us work with the older two. Last night we were going through the questions and my husband asked, "How many person's are in the one true God?" Zach says, "I know, I know, let me try! Three persons are in the one God. The Father , the mother, and the child." I think we have more work to do.:)

Merry Christmas

One of my husband's Online students forwarded this Christmas greeting to him. I thought it was really funny.

To All My Democrat Friends:



Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.



To My Republican Friends:



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wedding Costs

When we found out Jackson was a boy, my husband's very first thought was "Yes! One more wedding I don't have to pay for!" That's a man for you. Well, I was reading this article, and I thought maybe we could get out of huge expenses for Sarah's as well.

Let's Talk Christmas Baking

I am not a baker. I plan and get excited about holiday dinners weeks ahead, but not the baking. I do not enjoy the mess and I imagine one day it will be fun with the help of the children, but not so much now. They REALLY want to help and it is honestly just tiring for me. But, I am a traditionalist and can not let Christmas slip by without doing it and the kids do enjoy it, so we will spend the week doing something different everyday. I polled everyone to determine favorites. Sarah has a choir concert tonight and we need to take cookies. Today we will make them. When I polled everyone I was very surprised to find they all (husband included) only wanted just plain old chocolate chip cookies. All of these years I have been making a variety of cookies and they just want chocolate chip. Well, that is easy enough. We are doing salsa for the neighbors this year. Several are elderly and diabetic. Here is the list of what we will cook/bake this week:

Chex Mix
Fudge
Salsa
Chocolate Covered Cherries
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sprinkles

What is on your list?

Stop, Rewind, Start Over

It is 8:54 Saturday morning. Can I go back to bed? Jack is cutting 4 teeth. Yes, I said 4. Therefore, NOTHING makes him happy. Bruce, Isaac, and I are passing him around. I fixed oatmeal for breakfast. I thought I was putting cinnamon in. When Bruce started to eat, he says, "this smells like tacos." I looked at my seasonings and I was looking at ground cumin. That pot was dumped and another one started. Now I am off to the grocery store. I meant to go yesterday, but took the older three to the movies instead.( That was really fun and time well spent. It was Zach's first time. It is always fun to see their awe at the theater.) We have a storm coming in tonight so the grocery store and Costco will be CRAZY. Not to mention it is Saturday two weeks before Christmas. So, here I go determined to turn my day around despite the circumstances.

Feasting This Week

Since joining my blogs I have been quite lazy at posting on Sabbath Feasting. We do still feast almost weekly. It is just easier to post about things I do not have to think about. I will be changing that.I am going to attempt to get back into the habit of sharing feasting menus and ideas. That said this weekend is the Christmas party for the employees at school. We will be eating there. I will have a brunch on Sunday after church for our feast. I grew up having this appetizer around Christmas. It goes well with a brunch so we will be having it along with a breakfast strata and a breakfast bread. I have never known the name of the appetizer. But here is the recipe.

1 lb ground beef (browned)
1 lb ground sausage (browned)
1 lb Velveeta Cheese
1 loaf party bread

Mix the first three ingredients together until the cheese is melted. (It melts faster if it is cut in small pieces.) Spread the mixture on the bread and bake at 350 until the mixture is warm and the bread is toasted.

Pen Pals

One of the best things we have done for Isaac's schooling this year was start a pen pal relationship with an older homeschooled student. I have to admit it was not our idea. My husband has taught this student online and Isaac really thought he was "cool" when he met him. I am sure mom had a little to do with it, but Luke asked Isaac to be his pen pal. The first letter Isaac wrote was painful for me. I had to resist every temptation to sneak the letter and rewrite it. I did not and I am so glad. It has been encouraging to watch him improve, on his own, in his letter writing skills. I did not want to take something fun and turn it into a struggle. So, this brings me to a story about today's letter writing. He wanted to ask Luke how Omnibus II was going. It was not enough to just say Omnibus II, he wanted to list specific books. He said a title and I told him I thought that was Omnibus III, but he could write it and then have Dad check it when he got home. He then proceeds to explain the genre of books in each Omnibus level and the reasons why certain books are read certain years. Guess what!?! He was 100% correct! You gotta love a classical education.

For Unto us a Child is Born!!

We are upon a very busy season of the year. I am looking at the next few weeks and wondering how to get through.In the middle of being so busy I am tempted to wish this Christmas season through and be done with it. This morning I was going over Isaac's copy and memory work with him. I have chosen Isaiah 9:1-7. I read that and immediately realized my sin. So, instead of downsizing my Sabbath feasting to save time I should be making it even more special as we celebrate the hope which comes in Christ. Yes, I should and will cut out a few obligations, but we will not cheat on the celebrating!


6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this

First Snow of the Year

We are so excited! No one wants to do school. I am trying to get through. We have missed too much due to illnesses. It does not matter they are only calling for an inch. It is still enough to make a snowball.

The Stockings Are Hung

The season has officially started. We sang Joy to the World at church and the tree is up. Now, if I can only keep the one year old out of the tree we'll be doing good.

Today's Advent message will be. "Find the candy cane and eat it!"

First Day of Advent

Today begins our first day of Advent. The note in the children's box will instruct them to decorate the Christmas tree. I stayed up last night getting the lights on so they could go at it. Tonight will also be the first Sabbath Advent for our home. We will light the first candle at our Sabbath dinner and let it burn through our Sabbath festivities. My husband will explain the wreath and candles to the children. He will then read the scripture for this week. There are several websites which give good information about the Advent season. I liked this one because it was simple. With my little ones I needed something quick. They tend to get very antsy with long devotions at the dinner table.

I pray you all have a joyous Advent season. That your hearts and minds will focus on Christ's love for us.

We are Adopting!!

I mentioned a few posts back we were looking into adopting again. Well, it looks as though it is going to happen. Adoption is always risky and there are lots of hurdles to jump, but we are moving forward. The baby is not due until the end of February. Please pray for our birth mother. For me it is always bittersweet. While we are beyond ecstatic, as a mother I can not shake what the birth mother must be going through. So, if you think of it please remember her.

That Thing

"Can you get that thingy on the thing behind that thing?"

That is the question Zach asked me today. He then had the nerve to be upset with me because I did not know what he was talking about!:)

Advent

I have been busy this week planning our Advent season. In the past we knew this would be a busy season and just took it as it came. A few years ago we decided to try and control the insanity a little. We have a box with 25 smaller boxes and I will put a treat and note in each one. The notes will be some sort of Christmas activity for the day. They range from decorate the tree, bake cookies, wrap a siblings present, to eat a candy cane. I will put them in the night before so I can be more realistic about these activities actually taking place. The kids LOVE this tradition and it does make the entire month seem festive. I will make and Advent wreath which we will light at our Sabbath dinners. We will start with one and add one each week. Do you have any Advent traditions?

Happy Birthday Zach!!

Today Zachary is 4 years old. Everything you have ever heard about being a boy is wrapped up in Zachary. He is tiring, but so much fun. Zachary and I had a little extra time to bond when he was a baby. He had to have surgery at 5 weeks old and was in the hospital with RSV for a week when he was 11 weeks old. He has always been my sweet, but VERY active and athletic boy. His birthday menu is hilarious. We always let them pick a junk cereal for their birthday. Zach's pick was Raisin Bran. His siblings are so disappointed. They were really looking forward to a treat. His dinner choice is chicken nuggets and Doritos. Now we are off to Chocolate World in Hershey to celebrate. Happy Birthday Zachary!

Christmas Shopping

The outlets here opened at midnight last night. I debated most all day as to if I should go or not. I decided not to. I am not really a shopper and staying up all night did not appeal to me. I did, however, go out this morning. My first stop was Target. I told my husband I was not going to wait for a parking spot. If it was that busy, than I would just come home. Well, I found one right away! I had so much success at Target that I decide to go across the street to the outlets. Again, I am not a shopper so when I say go to the outlets I really am saying I will be going to one or two of my favorite stores. After my first stop there I had spent all of my Christmas budget for the week. Now I am trying to decide of it was really that big of a deal to go out today. I do not think so. I think you have to be one of the midnighters to really get the deals. But hey, at least I can say I crossed a few more names off of the shopping list. Which brings to mind a question. Are you a last minute shopper or are you all ready done?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We have been busy today with Thanksgiving preparations. The maple pecan pie has just been pulled from the oven and the sweet potatoes are in. The gingerbread pumpkin trifle just has to be put together now. I am trying to prepare everything to the point of just having to put it in the oven to cook tomorrow. The turkey will be smoked to save room in the oven. I am excited about my turkey. I am trying a new way to season it. I'll let you know how it turns out. I am hoping by preparing early there will be time for lots of parade and football watching.

I wanted to wish you all a truly blessed Thanksgiving. I pray you will have a time of thanksgiving with those that you love. Cherish what God has given you and savor the precious time you have with friends and family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Things I love About the Fall

One thing we have really enjoyed about Veritas Academy are the great feasts and celebrations in each grade. It has inspired me to be more creative in our homeschool celebrations. The first grade does and Indian Feast. Sarah was soooo excited. I love all of the fun Thanksgiving activities to do with the children. This coming week will be full of them.

The first fire of the season is always fun. This is the first place we have lived where we had a fireplace.

The foliage is absolutely beautiful!

I look forward every year to our trip to the pumpkin patch. My one and only rule for picking pumpkins: You have to be able to carry your own pumpkin.

I love the fall and spring here because the Amish are always out working in the fields. Everywhere you look they are harvesting their crops.

Thanksgiving

For the first time we have decided not to travel this Thanksgiving and stay home to do our own thing. I was just home for a week in October with the kids and we will spend time with both families the week after Christmas. Not to mention the price of gas. Part of me is so happy to prepare the meal. The other part is thinking how fun can this be? To fix this huge feast and then sit down to a table full of children who would more than likely rather have chicken nuggets and potato chips. Regardless, I will "do it up big." I just like to. One day they will love the tradition and appreciate the work. I will think of ways to include them each in the preparations. We will have turkey, of course. I am thinking of smoking it to keep my oven free for side dishes. For the potatoes I will do parmesan mashed potatoes. I love this recipe because you can make it up to three days prior to serving it and it still tastes great with gravy. I just found this recipe for my cranberry sauce. I think I will try it. I am undecided on the italian stuffing with sausage I usually do or a mushroom stuffing I found in a magazine. Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without my mom's corn pudding or Bruce's mom's green beans. There will be sweet potato casserole and rolls with honey butter. For dessert I will have Bruce choose between this Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle or a Maple Pecan Pie. I would do both, but with my kids being so little it would never all be eaten. I am up for changing any of my dishes if yours looks better. So, what are you planning?

This Week's Feast

This weekend we will feast on Sunday. Bruce is taking the older two to a symphony performance Saturday night. It's a violin concert. His hope is to encourage them to practice, practice, practice so they can one-day play like her. I am going to predict the reactions. Sarah will be in awe and come home to practice constantly for a few weeks. Isaac will shrug his shoulders in a good for her , but not for me, kind of way. He's not there. Dad says he has to stay in it until he can read music well enough to play when and what he wants. What he doesn't realize is that if he would just work at it he would be there very soon. Anyway, back to feasting. When we feast on Sunday I usually do a brunch after church. We are out at 10:30. We will have a bacon and cheese quiche, a fruit salad, something I do with sausage, cheese, and party bread, and some pumpkin bread. So, that is our plan. What is yours?

Start the Tradition Now

Nancy Wilson posted on Sabbath feasting a few days ago. She had a lot of good things to say. Like her, I have heard so many people say it is not for them now. They will wait until their children are older. I cannot stress to you how important it is to start when they are young. I have also heard those with older children say I wish I had started when they were younger. It just seems awkward to them now. Starting traditions when they are younger is definitely easier. I know it is hard to get a nice meal on the table with little ones all around. Believe me I know!! Enlist your husbands help. Put something in the crock pot or a piece of meat in the oven that you do not have to think about until it is done. Ham, whole chickens, and turkeys are good for this. Put a couple of extras in a bag salad and you are on your way to a great meal. Frozen rolls are a huge hit in my house. You only have to put them out a few hours ahead to make sure the thaw and rise and they taste homemade. In my home we only do dessert for our Sabbath feast, so anything is great. I do not have to slave over it. Sometimes it is just ice cream sundaes. Do not make it more stressful than it has to be. Do anything you can ahead of time. If you have a separate dining room, then you can set the table on Friday. If you cannot swing the meal quite yet, at least make sure your children know the specialness of the Sabbath. It is a tradition they will never forget.

Getting it All In

The most difficult part of homeschooling for me has been getting in all of the extras. The reference books, the memory work, art projects, extra reading, etc. I feel like I have two options. 1. Finding creative ways which do not fit in the 8 to 3 school model. 2. Lowering the standard and make myself believe that the extras do not matter. 2 is not an option for us. First my husband believes in raising the bar it would never do to lower it. Second I am just an extras kind of person. The messier the work the better. I cannot stand the thought of a beautiful book sitting on my shelf and the children never seeing it because I did not take the time. So, looks like we are looking for creative ways to fit it in. It takes us 5 to 6 hours a day to do the everyday work. This is if we do not do co-op or anything else during the day. I decided some of the extras would have to happen at night and on the weekends. Doing art together as a family on Sunday afternoon has been fun. It helps that Dad is home to keep Jack away. Reading some of the historical fiction as the family read aloud has been successful. We are working on a lap book now. I knew there would never be time to just sit down and do it. We are doing one thing a day and then putting it in a zip lock. When it is all done we will assemble the book. I am looking for more ideas. How do you get it all in?

Sabbath Feast

I am late planning our feast for this weekend. Because I am behind and have not done any shopping, I am going to rely on what I already have. We will be having London Broil in an oriental marinade, broccoli casserole, and garlic smashed potatoes. You can find the recipes for these dishes at Feasting Fun, but I will post them here later. With all of the candy we have right now I am skipping desert. Anyone else feasting this week?

Please Pray

I usually do not use this as a forum for prayer requests, but I have two heartbreaking requests. Last Saturday we received word of two separate families whose babies died. One was a three year old who had suffered from cancer for the past two years. Her mother is one of Bruce's former students. She and her husband are so young to go through such heartache. Please pray for them. The other were a set of twins who had a tragic accident. It was a freak accident that could happen to anyone. I cannot imagine losing them both this way. So, please hug your babies and pray for these families.

Potty Training, Again!!

You read the title and thought I was talking about one of my children, right? If I were only so lucky! When I went to the SPCA I said I would only consider a dog who was house broken. The paper said Rusty was. Well, they lied and I can't complain because I begged for the dog. Actually, he shows signs of being trained but I think being in the shelter threw him off. I heard dogs would not relieve themselves in the place they are living. That seemed to be true because he goes to Sarah's room to do his business. Since this is only a problem at night, I decided to put him in the bathroom. If he is locked in there I am thinking he will hold it until morning. Well,he barked and barked. Bruce decides to sleep upstairs with the children and leave the dog to me. I think okay, he will not relieve himself in the bed(I hope) so I will put him in the bed with me and not let him get out. So long story short, after a night of not sleeping to make sure he did not leave my bed, we got out of bed to the absence of a dog mess!! Woohoo!!

It is too Hard to Feast

This weekend was a tough few days for us. It seems as though sadness was everywhere we looked. I will not go into to details, but after the third report of upsetting news within two hours on Saturday,I was ready to call it a day and start over. As you know I had planned a huge Reformation Feast for our Sabbath dinner. When we sat down to begin the festivities one of the children noted that it was "too hard to feast when everyone was so sad." My husband (he is wonderful in times like this) noted that this was true, but it is even more cause for celebration. In times of despair it is all the more reason to celebrate God's sovereignty and the fact that though emotionally it is all hard to swallow, He has a plan to pick up the pieces so we can go forward. I cannot imagine what life would be if I did not have that to lean on. So, we feasted and talked about the Reformation and Martin Luther. It wasn't the most festive we have ever been, but it was a great time to dwell on Christ and not our sadness.

My husband decided something was in order to cheer everyone up. I had been bugging him for a few weeks about getting a dog. Yesterday he told me to go to the SPCA to see what they had. We are now the owners of a Border Collie/Shetland Sheep Dog mix. He immediately took to the children and they are loving him. We can't decide on a name so they are calling him three different things. Sandy, Rusty, and Rover. I'll let you know what sticks.

Today is mine and Bruce's 14th wedding anniversary. We will celebrate with a meal tonight of some of his favorite things. We will have smoked brisket, corn pudding, roasted potatoes, and salad.


Rusty (AKA Sandy or Rover)


Beautiful flowers that my husband sent me for our anniversary.

Scratching Zeus Family Reunion

Okay, we are not actually scratching it, just postponing it. When my husband remembered it was the weekend before Reformation Day, he could not believe I was not planning a Reformation themed Sabbath feast. I am changing the menu. I am not sure yet what it will be, but I have ideas. I am off to google some menu ideas. Does your family do anything to celebrate Reformation Day?

What Kind of Teacher are You?

We participate in an 8 week co-op. There is a prayer and share time for the mothers. This week's devotional was on the fact that even outside of our "school" time we are still teachers. God has put every mother, homeschooler or not, in this role. God has ordained it this way, I have no choice in the matter. Like it or not, I am a teacher to my children. I have two choices. I can put my best into it and seek His guidance and wisdom or I can float through life hoping I get it right. Therefore, I am either a good teacher or a bad teacher. There is no option to not be a teacher to my children. It is like the role of headship that our husbands have. God ordained them to be heads of their homes. They cannot hide from that. They are either a good leader or a bad leader, but still a leader. So, what kind of teacher are you? Good or bad?

Zeus Family Reunion

We are studying Greeks Myths in history this week. We will have a Zeus family reunion to finish it off. The children will pick a character to dress as and Isaac will give a report on his favorite myth. We will end with a feast. I am still working on the menu. It should be fun!!

Time to Clean

I am going to take the lead from Anne and give you my fall cleaning list. Maybe if I know you are reading it, I will actually accomplish it. I always say a project a day, but in reality it usually takes me a few days and then I am weary of projects. So, here it is.

Clean out the boy's closets and drawers and change over the clothes.
Clean out Sarah's closet and drawers and change over clothes.
Clean out mine and my husband's closet.
Clean out the basement(including the laundry area).
Clean out the pantry and kitchen cabinets.

I'll let you know if it happens.

We're Trying to Get Another One

Most of my entertainment,and in this case embarrassment, comes from my children. My husband teaches online classes to homeschooled students. He has access to the Webex classroom 24 hours a day. Through this experience we have met a lot of great people. One family is a family from Mexico. They have a son the same age as Isaac, so occasionally after class is over Isaac and Nicholas will get in the room and talk to one another. Another thing you may not know about our family is that Isaac is adopted and for the last year we have been casually talking about adopting again. Lately we have become very serious about it and hope to do it soon. (I promise this all ties together.) So, Isaac is talking with Nicholas, and because the computer speakers are on we can hear everything. I believe Nicholas' speakers were on as well because we could hear laughter in the background after some of Isaac's comments. Nicholas asks Isaac "Do you like your brothers?" Isaac says (in a very excited voice), " Yes,we are trying to get another one right now!" Nicholas' family does not know we are trying to adopt and from the laughing in the background I can only imagine how they took that comment.

Feasting Menu

I am thinking about our feast this weekend. Isaac really likes the whole feasting thing. He is always asking what our menu will be. This week I told him what was in the freezer for the main dish and let him decide what it will be. It is going to be a roasted chicken. I will put a glaze on it, but am not sure what yet. We will have roasted sweet potatoes with a little brown sugar and cinnamon. We will also have green beans tossed with pine nuts and for dessert there will be a pumpkin roll with whipped cream. Oh yeah, I cannot forget about the bread. We will have rolls with honey butter. I only fix bread with special meals, so my kids look forward to it when we have a Sabbath feast. Sarah could live on bread and butter. Are you feasting this weekend? What are you having?

It's Working!

I told you one of the reasons we were homeschooling was to help Isaac love his siblings. In his mind there was too much outside our home to distract him and all of that stuff was way more fun anyway. The reason this was so concerning to us was because he had always been known as the "great big brother". He was always so proud of his siblings and loved helping to take care of them. Well, we are starting to see the old Isaac return.He is such a happy person lately. He is loving and kind with siblings. Yesterday we had a conversation which went like this,

Isaac: "It is hard being the oldest."
Me: "Why is that?"
Isaac: "I have to be careful because the little ones copy everything I do."
Me: " Isaac, what you say is true, but we are all sinners. Do not put pressure on yourself to be perfect."
Isaac: "I know, but I hate seeing them be disciplined when they have just copied me."

Major break through here.Don't get me wrong. Isaac is a great kid. He is begging now for another sibling. He has just been going through the transition of little kid to big kid.

Do not be fooled. Our home is not so Pollyanna. Very soon after this conversation he made a comment a little like this. "I hate it when people try to act cool. I don't act cool, I just naturally am." Oh, brother!!

Come On Already!!

I know it gets earlier every year and people fuss about this all the time. But!! Christmas lights already?? I was in Target today looking for Halloween stuff (I know, we are bad parents for letting the kids do this:). Guess what was replacing the empty aisles. Christmas Lights!! I cannot think about more than one holiday at a time. I am a person the relishes in the quaintness of things. I think, in typical American fashion, we are rushing through our holidays so quickly they are losing there quaintness. We are so worried about getting at all over and done that we forget to enjoy the preparation and togetherness of it all. I am just now getting my fall center pieces out and now I have to think about Christmas!! Okay, rant over

Plymouth

I thought this picture looked very New England. We had a great time in Plymouth. The picture of the light house was a view on the boat when we were leaving to go whale watching. The whale watching was the highlight for me. They gave us quite a show. Isaac loved Plymouth Plantation. Sarah collected enough rocks along the way to make a great show and tell at school, so she is happy. I will try to post more pictures tomorrow. It is late and my computer is giving me problems.

Off to Boston

Veritas Academy takes a Family Field Trip every two years. If you are in 7th grade or above you and your family are invited. Since Bruce teaches this age group we get to go. This years trip is to Plymouth and the Boston area. We will tour Plymouth and a replica of the Mayflower. The thing I am most excited about is the whale watching trip. So, I am off to finish packing. I'll come back with pictures.

Sickness

It has begun! We left our homeschool co-op on Monday to Isaac saying he was about to die. We get home to discover he had a temperature of 103. Wednesday Zach woke up with it. Wednesday night Sarah went to bed with a headache and woke up with a fever. I keep checking on Jack, but so far so good. It always seems as though from October to March someone is sick. AGH!!! Anyway, that is how our week is going. How is yours?

She Ate the Ring!!

The children were outside playing while eating pretzels in the shape of a ring. The nine year old comes in irate because "She ate the ring!!!" I calmly explain it is only a pretzel everything is okay. The three year old in tears now says,"No, we are playing Lord of the Rings and Sarah(6)ate the ring!" I look to my husband to give some sort of lecture on arguing and being hateful with one another. His response,"What? They are playing Lord of the Rings at 9, 6, and 3. YES!!" That is what I get being married to an Omnibus teacher! Anything having to do with Literature, History, or Theology is great whether the get along or not!

Biblical Worldview

I am reading through the book Family Driven Faith. Very good book. It is an easy read, something good for those who are new to the concept of training your children to have a Biblical worldview.

Here is a quote from the book:

A proper understanding of biblical love is the foundation upon which a child's spiritual life is built. However, that foundation is only the first step. If biblical love is the foundation, a biblical worldview is the frame. It is imperative that we prepare children to think biblically. A child without a biblical worldview is like a ballplayer without a playbook. He may have spectacular abilities that will allow him to make the occasional jaw dropping play, but more often than not he will end up at the wrong place at the wrong time, and worse, not knowing how he got there or how to get back.

So this is What it is All About

One of the concerns we had about our son was his desire to be with his friends. I am not saying we are opposed to friendships, but when a child only shows contempt for his siblings and is continually pleading to be with friends from school, there is a problem. One of our goals for this school year is to teach our son to love his siblings. So, I had some errands to run today that could not wait until after school. The teacher in me was anxious because we were missing out on school work. I was mentally reworking my plans to make up the work. As we were going about our errands I saw a transformation taking place in my eldest. He ASKED to carry his 1 year old brother as we walked through the store. It was very cute. The baby laid his head on his brother's shoulder the entire time. My son was a great help. So much so that it was not a burden to have the baby with us. When we were in the car Isaac made the comment that Jack is becoming attached to him. When I asked why he thought that was so, his reply was, "when I am at school all day he does not know me. Now he knows me and likes me and I am realizing that my little brothers can be fun sometimes." YES!! I know it is only a small part of one day, but it gives me enough hope to keep going. It is also encouraging to see he realizes what we are trying to achieve.

First Week Down

Well, we did it! We finished our first week and actually completed all of the lessons. He is doing better with it. I do not think he will ever say he loves being home schooled, but he is finding some things cool about being at home. Any suggestions on what to do with a 1 year old while teaching? The 3 year old I can keep busy, but the 1 year old, another story!

Reading. Writing , and Tarantulas

So we started our schooling yesterday. We had mixed reactions. He was excited at first. We went out to breakfast and then came home to start. After about and hour he was picked up by some friends to go and buy a pet tarantula!! According to them every child has to have a tarantula when they read Charlotte's Web. I am learning that it is okay to sleep in a house with a pet spider and a 3 year old who is determined to hold it. I was counting on my husband to help take care of this thing. But, looks as though he has the same feeling about spiders as me. The only good spider is a dead spider. Please tell me homeschooling will not require me to conquer every phobia I have.

Things continued well until the afternoon. While doing history he just started crying because he missed his friends. He was imagining for most of the day what they wee doing at certain times. That was hard. I know he will adjust, it just may be a hard road.

So, here's to another day!

Are We Done Yet?

I am busy this week getting everything together to start school next week. Yesterday I decided to fill his folders for the first week. I will have a folder for each day of the week. I will fill them the week before. The night before each school day I will move the worksheets to his seat work folder. I am not a work from the workbook kinda girl. Too many other pages to distract me. Anyway, trying to do all of my prep work has been difficult today. When the kids go to school you get to this week and it cannot go quick enough. The kids are ready and your head is screaming "Isn't summer over yet?" It has been one of those days. I am a little discouraged thinking if I already feel this way how am I going to survive? I know once we are busy with school work there is less opportunity for the children to be into things. I also know this is one day and tomorrow is a new day. Okay, I have vented now I feel better!

Kind of Boy and Kind of Girl

Today is Sarah's 6th birthday. We took a trip to Toy R Us to spend birthday money. This was her first trip there. Imagine the utter amazement! This may have been her first time in a real toy store. It was a lot of fun. As she was trying to decide what to buy she was torn between a cap gun to play secret agents with her brothers or a princess diary with a lock. I tried to encourage her to pursue the more girlie choice. I reminded her she was a girl and needed to behave that way. Her response after pondering this for some time was, "Well, I am kind of boy and kind of girl. Can't I just have both?"

Reading List

I will posting my reading list in the side bar. You will find a variety of titles. I will be rereading a lot of literature with my third grader which will be fun. I am trying to read everything I can find right now on keeping the hearts of your children. Any suggestions? I am starting Family Driven Faith and next I will read The Closing of the American Heart. I'll let you know what I think.