"Boo Wice" and Other Stories

The other night Ethan and I went out to help our friends prepare for the very first service in the church they are starting.  How will God work through it?  I can't wait to see.  It's exciting!

While we were out we left our little monkeys in the hands of teenage twin brothers who have babysat for us before.  The two of them do a great job with the kids. When they gave an account of the night, it came up that Bubba wouldn't eat his dinner.  (It was Louisiana red beans and rice.)  That's nothing new.  However, he did keep asking for "boo wice".  After a few attempts to understand him, Spunky finally asked if he wanted blue rice.  And strangely enough, that's what he wanted.  No, he's never had blue rice.  I have no idea where that came from, but they mixed a couple drops of food coloring in and he was as happy as could be!

Now on to the slew of pictures . . .

 Here's Spunky in a career class she took in our co-op learning to do web design. 

 Some of the girls from our co-op on a field trip to the science museum.

 Bubba strikes again!  He thought is was absolutely hilarious to put stickers on the dog.  Archer had no opinion.

 Our sweet girl getting her ears pierced! 

Game night with friends.

I'm super proud of my little reader, Giggles.  We were trying to figure out which Magic Treehouse books she still had to read and discovered that she read ALL of them this winter.  (Okay, all except two, because I didn't approve them.)  That's like 45 books.  She's bummed that the next book isn't supposed to come out until fall, so we're trying to find some alternatives.  We decided to start the illustrated classics.  She's currently reading Pollyanna.

Calico is keeping our hands full right now.  Two-year-olds are SO much fun!  Her daddy has been working with her to chew with her mouth closed, and the other night at dinner she got a reminder.  I wish I had a picture of her reaction.  She just stared at him for a second, then put one hand under her chin and one on top of her head before slowly and deliberately chewing (while staring defiantly).  I really think she was being sarcastic, although I've never seen someone that little exhibit that behavior.  We'll be keeping our eye on this one.  :)

A Time For Testing

I've been asked a lot about how homeschoolers do testing.  It really varies from state to state.  Some require certain tests to be taken and some none at all.  We are not required to turn in any kind of documentation in our state, but you will find that the vast majority of homeschoolers happily participate in standardized testing.  It's a great way to measure results and adjust your teaching to fit your child's unique needs.  It also protects the freedom we have because the results are so positive. 

Third grade is the first year you can participate in the Iowa tests, and that's what we were planning to do.  However, the registration for them was last summer and I barely missed it.  So, there's an opportunity for the girls (yep, both) to take the Stanford Achievement exams this April, and we're going to do it.  I'm going to carve out some time that they can practice in peace, because this is what our schooling often looks like:

Okay, so if you look close you'll see that Giggles is actually reading a Magic Treehouse book, so this wasn't really schooltime.  :)  But it does accurately represent schooling with little ones around.  Lots of being loved on and learning patience.  Sometimes one of the big girls will take a quick break from their book work to read a story to Calico and she loves it.  Little sisters have it made! 

Happy Heart Day!

In honor of Valentine's day, I have some special pictures to show you.

This was our latest science project; taking a peek at the heart of a sheep!  Yay.  As you can see, the girls are overjoyed.  :)  I was in my element, showing where the different parts were located, as the girls were making gagging sounds.  Perhaps second and third grade is a little young?  But no matter, we're studying anatomy this year so they better get used to it!

And now for a more traditional Valentine's picture:

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super Pop!

I know.  Lame.

But, I personally thought our little superman lollipops were adorable.  The tag reads "Have a SUPER Valentine's Day!"  Thank you very much, Pinterest.  You're the best.

Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day!

A Different Approach

Next week our life will be getting a little bit busier as we start up with our homeschooling co-op again.  It will be a big change for me as I'm going to be teaching a dance class for the co-op.  The girls are all between the ages of 7 and 11.   I am super excited. 

This is going to be a unique class.  The director of the co-op gave me an update to the class list last week, and there are two sisters who have no arms.  Yes, that's right.  In my wildest dreams, I wouldn't have imagined this.  I think it will be a good challenge for me, to be more creative with the choreography.  And I think it will be good for the other girls in the class.  Prayers for our group are appreciated!

Here Comes the School Year

I am getting so excited for our upcoming school year. This is our 5th year of homeschooling . . . can you believe it? Spunky will be in third grade, Giggles in second, and Bubba in Pre-K. I've always used Sonlight as our curriculum but am adding some additional resources this year. We're using Math-U-See which we did last year and loved. We have this amazing history wall chart from Konos that is like 4 ft by 6 ft. Our little history characters (that will stick to the chart) are coming in the mail next week. Still not sure where we're going to put such an immense teaching aid . . . the ceiling, maybe? :)

I've been researching different spelling programs to see what's best for us. One that I'm intrigued with is called "Spell to Write and Read". But I'm not super interested in it because while reviewers speak highly of the results, they also say that mom has to put in serious hours to learn it. (One reviewer claimed to have spent 100 hours learning it before she felt prepared to teach.) Yikes! So I'm still looking.

There are several homeschool co-ops here in this area. We've actually been on a waiting list for 2 separate ones in the past few years, but a new one is opening up and I think we'll be a part of it. I'm not sure what to teach or assist with yet . . . maybe dance or music? The girls think their baby sister needs to teach drama. :) Some classes available for my kids to take would include Spanish, public speaking, and zoology.

If you could teach a class on anything, what would you choose?

Letting Go

Thank you to those who spoke such encouraging words after my last entry. I never intended to write a "poor me" post, but just to give a glimpse into our lives. As time goes on I am starting to realize that parenthood is just a daily exercise in being poured out. Emptying ourselves of our selfish wants and serving our little ones. All parents do this, it just looks different for each family.

On that note, I recently decided to let go of my desire to learn to sew. You have to understand, I have had this deep-seated need to do this. It's what homeschooling mom do: we sew, we plant gardens, and we raise chickens. And so far I'm zero for three in that. The chickens were flatly opposed recently by the hubby when the subject was raised. Apparently he grew up with them and happy memories they did not make! (My mother-in-law begs to differ, but I digress . . .)

Sewing probably isn't a selfish want, yet there's only so many hours in the day. And there's only so much space in our house. And even if "all the other moms are doing it," this mom has to say no, or at least not now. And I'm okay with that, I think. :)

Saluton!

I have wanted to start a foreign language with the kids for quite a while. As I am not well-versed in any particular language, I've had a hard time deciding. Spanish seemed like the obvious choice and we also have a friend who is fluent in sign language, yet neither of those appealed to me. So, after much research, we've decided to learn Esperanto as a family.

Never heard of Esperanto? From wikipedia, it's "the most widely constructed international auxilary language". It doesn't belong to one people or country; there are speakers in every country in the world. The structure is much easier to master than other foreign languages.

The kids are loving it already and I've found we can incorporate it into other parts of our school day. For example, the kindergartner who's practicing addition can be asked, "What is kvar plus ses? (Answer: dek)

Since I don't know how to say "Have a great day!" in our new language, for reading this post I say

Dankon!