My Oldest Girl

I find myself being really hard on my oldest a lot. Anyone else have that experience? I expect a lot of her. I expect her to set an example for her sisters. I expect her to lead by example and not by strong arming...to keep her temper in check. I expect her to do her jobs independently, but not try and be "the mom" when it comes to making sure her sisters do their chores (this is a REALLY hard one for her). I think those are good expectations...Yet, I think, I need to do more to encourage and praise her.

This last one is a particular issue with her. I'll send a sister in to help her with a chore because she often takes the brunt of chores because she's in charge of the chicken eggs and because she is just very good at doing jobs. Then, instead of it being a help, she practically stops doing the chore and gets after her sister/s for not doing the job right or staying on task. Then, almost every time (because I want to be consistent with the consequence), she ends up having to do that job all by herself. Somehow, I've got to figure out how to break this cycle.

Unit Cubes

 

Only my girls would play with unit cubes like this. The black and white cubes on the end have to do with whether the person is a boy or a girl. The other colors denote which family they are related to. The number of blocks have to do with how old they are. :)

The Girls

The Youngest Girl - Yes, I am cute.

 

Yes, I did want you to look at the lens, but I didn't mean with your mouth open.

 

That's better.

 

A Couple Of Beach Shots

Just a couple of beach shots. I took the older girls out to the beach Saturday. We had a hard end to our day as I ended up in the ditch in the evening on my way home and the girls and I had to wait for a tow truck in the dark. Fortuneately, my car doesn't seem to have been damaged.

Jon had a bad day too, since the siding project revealed a rotten beam under the house that he'll have to replace. We live in a Manufactured Home which has no value on the books (in terms of appraisals). The previous owners put in their own decking, and unfortuneately bolted the decking into the siding precipitating its demise and allowing a place for moisture to get in under the house and onto the beams. Jon already replaced a beam under our kitchen when the front deck fell apart. He discovered the rotten beam then when he was demolishing the front porch. We really don't want to put any money into this home as it doesn't have any value. But, we've got to keep it livable. Anyhow...that was his day and he watched the little young'nn while discovering this. What a man. :)

Here was our day (the good half):

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Seamstress?

I'm not too much of a Seamstress. Not yet, anyhow. But, while I was gone my 8 year old wrote this up. Do you think she's going to be a Seamstress? Or, maybe a Pattern Maker?

My Day

My Six Year Old

My six year old is outside singing at the top of her lungs "get your energy out!". That is after all what I told her to go outside and do (get her energy out that is).

My Oldest

My oldest has been trouble hearing the last few weeks and her ear recently started hurting her, so we went to the doctor this afternoon. Wax in her ears and Swimmers Ear. We got some drops for the Swimmers Ear.

Studies

We went to the zoo yesterday and after our schooling today, we went to the doctor, so things seem hectic. But, so far, so good. The girls are enjoying their studies and doing well. I'm really working with Rachey with reading - she still struggles with basic phonics. I think she's bored with math though. I think I'm just going to print off worksheets from Math U See's worksheet generator - because basic adding/counting is too easy, but lots of words too hard. I'm being flexible with our schedule this year and I'm just counting days - to 180+. The zoo doesn't count. Today was our 7th day.

Tomorrow

We start dance tomorrow. The girls are too excited. Oh, the energy!

My Ever Evolving Schedule

I just keep altering my schedule. I've been reading a lot about Robinson and watching his video on his site, and I am persuaded of a couple of things.

First off (and Charlotte Mason supports this as well), that kids can and should teach themselves. Charlotte says (loosely paraphrased), don't do for a child that which he or she can do for themselves. I'm also convinced that we can expect a lot more out of children than our society expects of them. Particularly, they are much more able to do math and to read and understand reading than society gives them credit for. Robinson says that the schools now are two grade levels behind schools from the 1960's. Additionally he says that those schools were two additional grade levels behind the schools of the 1930's. With all of the "systems" of learning that have been implemented, what has happened?? Charlotte Mason speaks of this a lot - systems of learning get in the way of real learning quite often. Could it be that teaching to the bottom of the class doesn't work? Could it be that giving the child something currently out of his reach, but something to shoot for, something engaging is key to learning?

Secondly, Robinson believes you shouldn't bother teaching science until after the child has mastered Calculus. Under his program a student usually masters calculus sometime between the ages of 14 and 16. He says the science taught in public schools is really just propaganda and that students can't do proper science until they have a strong foundation of algebra and calculus. I absolutely love math, so I'm glad to hear it said that almost all children can reach this level of math - with enough fortitude. Charlotte Mason is definitely strong on science, but not through text books or other systematic methods of learning, but through nature study.

Lastly, Robinson urges parents to do extensive amounts of math, followed by reading and writing, with the reading being primarily high quality classic literature. Pretty much with Robinson you would do two hours of self-taught math, followed by two hours of reading, followed by two hours of writing. He has had tremendous success with this (in terms of college readiness) both with his own children and with many others who have decided to follow his program. The problem, to me, with Robinson, is that it is very narrow. There are other topics I want to cover with my children. And, while I want my children to learn to be primarily self-taught, I also see the value of having a teacher direct you - especially with certain subjects - like geography, spelling, art, music. Robinson argues that you can't do it all, and that when you try to do it all you end up not being very good at any one thing. That is an argument that I need to keep in mind! I am queen of distractibility and sometimes I make my life quite misterable by spreading myself too thing. Yet, I think there is a balance. I can choose a liberal education, such as Charlotte Mason promoted, and I limit some of my activities, so I and my kids don't go batty! One such subject is science. I am tortured about this, since I have already bought the text, but I think that I am going to go with a nature study gentle style of science, like Charlotte Mason suggests. This takes one subject off my plate and affords time for nature walks. I'm also extending child-taught math time and reading time in my schedule, encouraging my eight year old to teach herself and giving me a break from hands-on time.

So, here is my new daily schedule I am hoping ot follow. The booklists will be the same, except for the science text.

 

My Middle Girl

 

Maps

I was adding some map references to my sidebar today (mainly for my own reference). In the past, I've had the hardest time finding good map resources. I know lots of pre-packaged curriculums come with good resources, but since I'm not going that route, I needed to find some good resources. Here are some good ones, if you are in need of these too.

I think it is neat to do geography with whatever studies you are doing. Geography is just like a time line, but instead of giving your subject a place in time, it gives them a place on our globe, and puts what the kids study in reference. Geography doesn't need to be anything fancy. Just find on the map where it is, mark it, draw a picture if you like, color in if you like. And, if the process is simple, kids just love maps.

Here are some resources:

Resources To Buy

• Knowledge Quest MapsExcellent Historical Maps - tied in with history
  
• Evan-Moor World Reference Maps & Forms (includes U.S. but not individual states)
  
• Evan-Moor Maps of the USA
  
• Instructional Fair Blank Map Outlines - United States and the World
  

Free Online Geography Resources

• Owl & Mouse (Including Free Large Wall Maps)
  
• Free Outline Maps Of The Fifty States
  
• Free Outline Maps
  
• National Atlas
  
• MSN Encarta Atlas
  

Natural Gardening

Natural Slug Treatments

• FLOWER POT - Prop a flower pot upside down with a stick to allow the slugs to get in. Check the pot toward the end of the day and remove the slugs.
  
• BEER - Place old plastic containers in the soil around damaged plants and fill with beer. Dump in the morning. Repeat every evening.
  
• COFFEE GROUNDS - Surround the damaged plants with coffee grounds. Slugs won't want to cross and you'll fertilize your soil.
  
• VINEGAR - Spray vinegar on slugs that aren't on your plants. It will kill them, just don't spray on your plants, it will kill those too.
  
• Toads, rove beetles, lightning bugs, and ducks all eat slugs or their eggs.. I'm fresh out of the first three in the Northwest and somehow I think putting a duck in the garden would be a detriment to my garden, not just the slugs.
  

 

Natural Grasshopper Treatments

• Chickens will eat grasshoppers if they have access to them. My problem is that our chickens don't have access to our garden or my greenhouse.
  
• Sink glass jars into the soil. Fill to the halfway point wit a mixture of 10 parts water to 1 part of molasses. The hoppers are drawn to the sweet smell of the molasses, they dive in and drown. Clean traps as needed.
  
• Black Strap Molasses: combine 4 ounces of this with one quart of water. Spray directly on hoppers. This will clog their pores so they cannot breath resulting in their death.
  
• The other encouraging thing I read is that there are worms that eat grasshopper eggs and when grasshopper populations go up, then the worm populations go up and then eventually grasshopper egg populations go down.
  

Also, just a note in years past, we've dealt with other problems.

We've dealt with flea beetles on our tomatoes. I was happy to treat my tomatoes with a concoction made of garlic, hot peppers, onions that I sprayed on my fledgling tomatoes. It worked. It kept them off enough for the tomatoes to develop. And, funny thing is we haven't had a problem with those since.

Last year we had corn borer worms in our corn. We just cut off the ends of the corn and we put that end of the corn in our burn pile. It was a pain, but we didn't have a repeat with the corn this year.

It's cyclical and rather than killing off all bugs and creating super bugs and risking potentially harmful residues, I'd rather take the extra steps.

Oh...and...I'll just have to learn that things don't have to be perfect.

Busy

I have been so busy lately, and handling it all right. Well, the truth be told I've been less busy than the past. That is I gave up soccer for my girls - at least for now and since dance hasn't started yet and Natalie is without a violin teacher, my schedule is oddly empty of extra-curricular activities.

But, I've been busy because I've had to put my heart and soul back into our business. Business has been slow to say the least. I am grateful I am able to focus better and do my work more effectively than in years past. This week will be about a three times six hour work week for me (three evenings this week, but other times I will switch days with my husband and make it into work that way). Plus, today, I sort of cheated and did some work in between assignments for the girls. That sort of stresses me.

My work is web related. Our business isn't related to homeschooling. And, it isn't my desire to work outside my home. So I've fought our business in years past. My husband agrees, if there were another way, we'd do it. But, we need to be able to provide for our obligations, not to mention provide for employees. So, this is where we are at right now.

It's funny...how your kids' books can speak so strongly to your heart as you go about this homeschooling thing. Laura Ingalls Wilder didn't want to be a farmer's wife. Shortly before she married Almanzo, she asked him to not be a farmer. He told her to give him three (or four - I can't remember) years to make a go of it and then, if she wanted, at the end of the three (or four) years, if they weren't making a good living, he'd do something else. Funny thing is by the end of the book the first four years, Laura realizes farming is in her blood too, and that it is worth it. I'm not saying I want to farm. But, more than that end conclusion, what I am compelled by in the book, is Laura's attitude. She's working hard, she's by herself and she just figures it's her "job". If you've read the book, maybe you know what I'm trying to say. Well, I just figure, right now, if I've got to do both roles, it's just my "job". No matter how many children I have, despite doing two roles, I still have it so much easier than past generations. Why do we complain so? Most of our stress is of our own making. A lot of mine was trying to attain a standard of perfectly pleasing my husband, my relatives, or others I know.

I hope these are truths I can hold onto. I hope what I'm saying is true.

How Often?

Today I was driving on my way to a dentist appointment and I felt led to pray for my family (immediate and extended) and our country. I thought as I was driving..."how often do we listen to Christian radio, singing what are basically praise songs to our creator, yet we don't really contect with Him directly?"

In my early days as a Christian, I connected a lot, I felt driven to connect to the Lord, yet it wasn't a deep connection, I don't think. As I walk with the Lord longer, I have the opportunity to really deepen that connection - to turn to Him for absolutely everything.

Here I am...this woman of God...really a disappointment, to myself at least. But, isn't that the point? We fail. He picks us up. He picks up everyone who is willing to come to Him with a sincere heart. And, so, once more, I think I want to be like, what I heard (but still have not read for myself) the mother of John and Charles Wesley was like, constantly putting her prayer apron over her head and communing with a living God. Look at the fruit that act produced.

Regarding Susanna Wesley read this, taken from Wikipidia:

“Under no circumstances were the children permitted to have any lessons until they had reached their fifth year, but the day after their fifth birthday their formal education began. They attended classes for six hours and on the very first day they were supposed to learn the whole of the alphabet. All her children except two managed this feat, and these seemed to Susanna to be very backward.” (Haddal, 1961, pg.14) “The children got a good education. Daughters included, they all learnt Latin and Greek and were well tutored in the classical studies that were traditional in England at that time.” (Haddal, 1961, pg.15)

And from In Touch Ministries:

Shortly before she died at age seventy-three, Susanna wrote Charles to describe her faith. She admitted that for years she struggled with doubt and confusion about her salvation, but that she finally had complete peace. 

"When I had forgotten God, yet I then found He had not forgotten me. Even then He did by His Spirit apply the merits of the great atonement to my soul, by telling me that Christ died for me."