Sonlight Catalog 2009

I have been waiting quite some time for the new 2009 Sonlight catalog to arrive. I heard the news on the forum that they were sent out on St. Patrick’s Day, which had me scavenging through the mail each day for the past week. My excitement for next year’s curriculum is hard to contain. I've been reading countless reviews, scanning the Sonlight forum, and searching for sample pages of various books. Yay! The catalog finally arrived on Tuesday, March 24 and to our surprise, Drake and Ava were in it!

Each year Sonlight asks people to participate in their photo contest. They pick the top three or four photos for people to vote on; the winner gets to be on the cover and receives a $500.00 Sonlight gift certificate. They pick from the other photos sent in and sprinkle as many as they can throughout the catalog. I didn’t expect to see ours in there! I’m glad I decided to send a picture in. The kids thought it was really cool!

Home School Curriculum - Your complete home school curriculum program resource.

And the Award Goes To...

Mr. D! He got second place in archery! I am so proud of him! He did so well, and I'm happy that he has found something he loves to do. The session is over for the summer, but he hopes to earn some money for a bow of his own.

New Niece

On March 23, 2009 our new niece was born!

She is so sweet!

She weighed in at 8lbs. 1 oz. and was 20 inches long. She is so beautiful!

~Here is the happy couple~

A day after she was born the kids and I visited and got to hold the baby. Both of the kids love to hold her. It was funny because later when we got home, Drake told me how he didn't know if he wanted to hold her at first, but then once he tried it, he noticed how cute she was and didn't want to give her back.

Cousin Sage is happy to have a new sister!

We just got back from another visit today!

In the Eyes of Children

re·spect

It’s a simple word that we have often heard thrown around: in songs, movies, and on TV.

Definition:

esteem: a feeling or attitude of admiration and deference toward somebody or something; to hold in high regard

state of being admired: the state of being admired deferentially

thoughtfulness: to show consideration or thoughtfulness

characteristic: an individual characteristic or point

We all have a desire to be respected, but do we always show that same respect to others? I am extremely guilty of this offence, especially with my husband; mercifully this morning it was brought to my attention once again. I was going about my day, preparing for school and finishing up the dishes. Drake was in another room reading his Bible passage for the day. All of a sudden, he came up to me and said, “Mom read this.” Hmm…you’ll never guess what the verse said! It was Ephesians 5:33 – “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” His finger was on the “wife must respect her husband” part. I was a little stunned: my son has just thrown a verse from the Bible in my face! What was I going to do? Okay, I thought to myself, thanks God for bringing that to my attention and using my son to show me. I swallowed some pride, smiled, and thought about how I should respond. Then I asked him why he was showing me that, did he think that I didn’t respect his father? His reply with a smile was, “Well, yeah, not really.” Okay, uncomfortable moment! My sin is just bursting out all over the room, and my boy is calling me out on it! Praise God! I know He was trying to get at me today. It was a clear reminder for me to clean up my act. It’s amazing how children can convict us and teach us so much! They are not passively standing by. They see how we treat others, and they know right from wrong. I’m not perfect, and I think it’s good that my kids know that I have many faults and sin daily, and that I need God.

Spring Cleaning & Nail Fun

Last week we decided to take our spring break. I had planned to do a thorough cleaning job which included going through boxes in crawl spaces, organizing closets, scrubbing floors and more. The cleaning event started on Sunday, and I was off to a great start. My closet was first on the list. This is because every time I have something I would like to save—the kids’ art work, magazines, letters, or some other thing I think I might need some day—my closet is the dumping ground. It’s a walk-in closet, which leaves that much more space to clutter. As I was sifting through papers and old shoe boxes filled with toy parts and other junk, I found a bag of fake press on nails. They came with a Christmas gift Ava received a couple years ago; I had put them away for when she was a little older. She happened to be sitting with me in the closet going through all the goodies and saw them. This sparked her interest, and soon my cleaning was put aside. I assumed my nail technician role and began to apply the nails on her. I couldn’t help it. It was a little exciting for me. When I was her age, I remember having my own fake nails: painted gaudy blue with snowflakes in the center. It was always fun until I realized I couldn’t do much of anything while wearing them. Ava was so proud and felt like a grown-up. After I finished with her, I quickly cleaned up the closet and decided I had all week to finish the rest. I took a couple pictures of Ava with her fancy nails and clip on earrings.

After 20 min., she found (just as I had) that they were a little annoying and took them off. As for the big spring cleaning event, it didn't happen. Ava ended up with the flu a couple days later, so I was consumed with that for most of the week. I'm happy that my closet is clean though: something is better than nothing.

Here is a picture of Drake that I took the same night as Ava's short-lived press on nail experience. He didn't have any fake nails or clip-on earrings to model, so we settled for this. ;-) I think he looks like a pirate with his one eye half shut.

Time to Walk

Last Monday (3-16) was a beautiful day, so the kids and I decided to take a little walk. On our way home, we discovered some cute birds searching for food along the road. I don't remember seeing this type of bird before. Thankfully, I had the camera with me to take a few pictures. I tried to look up this species of bird and thought it might be a Eurasian Bullfinch. I'm not so sure that is correct though because the top of it's head is red. I need to look for my bird book. Is there anyone who wants to join me in the search to identify this bird? If you find out what it is, please share.

Archery

Drake has been taking archery lessons and loves it! He does really well. It’s a weekly class that was provided by our park district. Every time he comes home, I see a big smile on his face. I decided I should go and watch at least once before the session is over. It did look fun! I felt like trying it out myself! He likes when they get to shoot at balloons or fake animals.

Enjoying the Outdoors

We had a few nice days of weather last week, and we tried to take advantage of it! On our walk Drake found a feather in a tree. Good thing I had the camera with me! I just love seeing the beauty of nature. A friend had invited us to come along with her and her kids to walk on a trail. The ground was still very mushy, but it was so nice to be out in the fresh air.

The kids found deer tracks in the squishy ground.

We can't wait until summer when we'll be able to do more exploring without the mud. We really like this trail alot and have always managed to see some kind of wildlife on it.

Once we saw this cute little crayfish crawling along the path.

Another time we saw a snake.We have also seen a snapping turtle, wild turkeys, frogs, and birds. That's the fun part about this trail, you never know what you will see next!

Refried Beans, Chips, and Veggies

I'm always trying to find quick, cheap lunch recipes. This is something I like to make when we're in a hurry. All that is needed is a can of refried beans, shredded cheddar cheese, chips and/or vegetables. On this day I used red, green, and orange peppers, but I've used jicama slices before too. I spread the beans on a plate and warm them in the microwave for about 2 minutes. After that, I sprinkle cheese on top and place it in the microwave for about 2 more minutes or until the cheese melts. Sometimes I will add a little sour cream and salsa to give more flavor. It's light meal that costs less than $2.00 per person.

C.M. Book

I've recently started reading through Vol. 1 of Charlotte Mason's home schooling series. I find her philosophy on education very interesting and have felt convicted while reading this book. I see all the mistakes I have already made, but I do feel encouraged to keep on and improve. Vol. 1 is about teaching and raising children under nine years old. There is a ton of good information that not only deals with the intellectual aspects of children, but also their health and well being. I no longer see this book as a "homeschool" book but as a parenting book. There are 6 Volumes altogether. I found a website that summarizes all the volumes for those who might like to check that out. Click Here

All About Spelling

I have a child that struggles with spelling. Now that was a bold confession! But seriously, it has been a cause of frustration for both of us, more so for myself I think, thanks to my English teacher in college. I can still hear his voice drumming in my ear. He was always annoyed with spelling and punctuation errors, which is completely understandable. But this has made me overly obsessive about my own writing: fear of making dreadful spelling or writing mistakes. I suppose that can be a good thing. The point is that we all want our children to do better than we did ourselves right? I know I can’t expect college level spelling or writing from my children right now. All I want is to see improvement. That is what causes the most frustration. We've been home schooling now for two years, and I haven't seen any improvement at all. The program we have been using is called Sequential Spelling. Here's how it works. There are 180 tests/lessons with 25 words for each test. The student has to do one test each day. The words usually start with a base word and build each day, for four days, by adding prefixes or suffixes. For example, fox, foxes, foxed, foxing. After four days, there is a new set of words that build. This method may work for children who can follow the patterns and know rules about spelling such as changing 'y' to an 'i' and add 'es'. For those who don't know a lot of the spelling rules, this can be difficult. While researching various programs, I came across All About Spelling. A friend had also told me that she uses that program and highly recommended it. After reading reviews and seeing such excitement about the program, I have decided to try it out. I’m very excited and can't wait to see results! What I like is that the program teaches the child why a word is spelled the way it is instead of the usual memorization list that most children get.

Squished Butter

I wanted to share with you a poem that Drake wrote a couple weeks ago. His assignment was to write a cause and effect poem on anything he wanted to. Here it is...

Squished Butter

Oh that wonderful mother

With that pitiful brother

Who squished her butter

That pitiful brother, who squished the butter

Tried to hide his shame

“Oh where did I put that butter!” said the wonderful mother
“Under the cover is where the butter is.” says the brother
“Under the cover?” the wonderful mother asks,
“Why is it under the cover?”
Because I squished the butter, and I had to hide my shame
So I covered the butter
“Please don’t hurt me you wonderful mother.” says the pitiful brother
“I will not scold you nor hurt you for I have more butter.”

We were unsure of how to format the poem, but I was surprised that he came up with this subject. I coudn't help but wonder if his feelings were being expressed in this poem somehow. He said he was just hungry at the time. :-)

Pizza

My family loves pizza. Well, what family doesn’t right? I’m not a fan of freezer pizza, and it can be quite expensive to eat out all the time, so I have been making my own (much healthier version) at home. I make 4 to 5 batches of whole wheat pizza dough (recipe found in Weight Watchers Pizza, Pizza cookbook) ahead of time and freeze them in Ziploc freezer bags. On the days where I don’t really have a plan for dinner, I get a bag of dough out and let it sit on the counter for a few hours until thawed. When it’s ready I roll it out on an air bake cookie sheet, throw on some toppings (whatever I have on hand), and it’s ready in no time!

Here is the latest version made with store bought pesto sauce instead of spaghetti or pizza sauce. For the toppings, I used red and green peppers and cheese. Not only did this pizza taste great, it only cost about $6.00 or so to make, and we had leftovers too!

The past couple months have been hard as far as homeschooling goes. It could be the winter, or maybe it’s just the mid-school year slump. I remember the excitement when we first got our curriculum in April 2008. The kids couldn't wait to tear into the boxes and see all of their books.

See the excitement?












That excitement hasn't been as prevalent in our house these past couple months. There are times when I've heard, “Do we have to do school today?” I’m guilty of asking myself that same question sometimes! This past week has been different though. I think we are all starting to get motivated again. I’ve been getting excited for next year. It’s always fun to search for new things to try. I think we have a plan in place, but I’m still searching for a good grammar program. I’ve heard good things about Winston Grammar and Easy Grammar. There are so many choices! It's a good thing that we have time to decide.

Me? Blog?

Well here it is my very first blog post! It is a little scary, since I don’t have a clue as to what I could fill all this space with. I know blogging has been around for quite some time now, but I've always been a reader of blogs not a writer. I find it interesting: to be able to peek into peoples lives and see what they are pursuing, how they are living, and what matters to them. It's a creative way to capture life. It's also a nice way to stay informed with what friends and family are doing. This will be fun!