Bouquet of Pencils

Fall is here!  School time has come!  "I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." - a quote from my favorite movie, You've Got Mail.  Ahh!  Love it.  Life is all apples and pumpkins.                      

Last year Justin and I much debated, prayed and discussed where Addison would attend school this year.  Ugh!  He's old enough for kindergarten!  I thought we would never come to an agreement and then of course finally did...this year he's staying home.   

It has had its ups and downs.  I've had a really hard time figuring out how to still do "life" - cleaning the house, preparing meals, making snacks, running errands, run a business, go to the library, doing church, having a garden and still spend time with my kids AND teach Addison stuff.    

This third week I think we may be into a routine and the one I post is the one that's been working, but that is sure to change, I know.  I have to remember that it's only kindergarten and that one of the big reasons we kept him home is so he can continue to be a busy 5 year old boy, playing and using his imagination, not to mention that both classical education and the Charlotte Mason Method (both of which I lean toward) agree that formal learning doesn't need to start before the first grade.

I've been reading, reading, reading and loving what I find.  The following books not only helped us  make this decision, but help guide my days and challenge me to always be trying harder.  The Well-Trained Mind:   A Guide to Classical Education at Home  is  just terrific.  The beginning and end give more of the reason as to why and then the rest of the book leads you through a "how-to"   It also has THE BEST chapter on socialization.  Awesome!  Wish I could memorize that chapter.

For the Children's Sake:  Foundations of Education for Home and School   is lovely.  It introduced me to Charlotte Mason and helped me form ideas for the type of home I want my children to grow up in.

I am in the middle of Pocketful of Pinecones:  Nature Study with the Gentle Art of Learning    This is a different book, sort of a story but full of ideas for nature study with your children.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder I borrowed from a friend and I'm bummed it's not mind.  I want to underline every line and write a blog post including all the amazing and devastating statistics I am reading about the decline of outdoor play and how it is having it effects throughout society.

This summer I was given this book, A Charlotte Mason Companion:  Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning, as I have been exploring more of Charlotte Mason.  This book is terrific.

 I decided to piece together the kindergarten curriculum from Sonlight, adding in some Charlotte Mason elements that I have learned about and love.  I'm using this blog quite a bit as she does the same thing:  http://practicalpages.wordpress.com/ and by piecing together I mean, not buying everything from them - it's expensive.  Instead, I am ordering things through local libraries and shopping my used book sites.

We do school on Tues, Wed, Thurs mornings and Friday afternoons.  Monday is our family day and so from time to time we'll do "field trip" type stuff with Justin.  Last Monday we visited the Minute Man trail from Lexington to Concord and Addison LOVED it.  We can tell he's going to be a history buff.  We've been learning about the Revolutionary War ever since.  Not what a typical 5 yr. old would be learning at school!

School looks something like this...Tuesday:   Memory Verse, Phonics and Writing, Math, History/Geography, and Science.

Wednesday:  We play a game to follow-up with math or language skills, write letters (to our compassion children, friends moved away or family), and focus on artists or composers.

Thursday:  The same as Tuesday.

Friday:  I keep Addison up during rest time as we are at Bible Study at the church all morning.  We do math, some more history/geography and practice the piano.  We might also work on an ongoing project like these planet mobiles...

Everyday we read our "read alouds" (right now we're reading The Boxcar Children which I never read and we both are LOVING IT!)  before rest time and do our Bible reading before bed at night.  We spend cozy afternoons on the couch reading, reading, reading library books.  This all occupies a little of Eliana's time as she wants to be  involved as much as possible, but she usually just prefers to be in proximity to us doing her own thing.

This little guy, however, is off doing whatever please his little heart.  He plays really well on his own.  If it stays too quiet too long, he is definitely a child in which that means trouble.  He really makes this whole schooling things pretty challenging!  But oh, how he keeps us smiling!

So that's what I've learned so far.  It will probably all change next week :)  but we're making progress and having fun during it all!

This Moment

Italia

This month we are studying 4 countries for school - one a week.  I picked 4 countries I have been to so I can show the kids pictures and tell them personal stories.  We are starting with Italy.  I had so much fun finding as many fiction and non-fiction books at the library for us.  Honestly, people always give me 2nd looks when they see the stacks and stacks of books I check out from there.  I used to feel a little self-conscious about it like I was doing something wrong, but last week the librarian told me - "we love it!  it's job security to us!"  great!

Anyway, I made sure to check out some cookbooks too and yesterday Addison helped me go through them and create our menu for the week.  Here it is:
Tuesday - Risotto and Salad
Wednesday - Bruschetta and Fruit Salad
Thursday - We are doing a full blown Italian Dinner...  (serving sizes will be very small!)
     L'Antipasto - tomatoes and mozzarella
     Il Primo - Ravioli
     Il Secondo - Fish and Potatoes
     Il Contorno - Salad
     Cheese platter
     Il Doce - Lemon Granita
Friday - Homemade Pizza
Saturday - Frittata
Sunday - Lasagna and Salad

We started a couple of books right away.  I wasn't sure what I would find for fictional children's books but the 2 we have read already have been EXCELLENT!  Pippo the Fool is about how Fillipo Brunelleschi ignored ridicule when he came up with "crazy" plan for building a dome on top of Florence's Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.  It is a story of determination, imagination and perseverance and well as a children's book that tells the remarkable true story of the cathedral so well.  


I was excited to find out that this is what the story was about since I have been to that Cathedral many times myself and was taught the story, however in a less appealing way!  I was able to show Addison pictures of it and a video that Justin and I took standing in front of it and other landmarks of Florence.  It was great!


The other one we have already done that I was similarly excited about is Michael the Angel.  This is a story about Michelangelo from boyhood to adult.  Obviously a very brief biography, but so fitting to introduce young children to this amazing artist.  One of my favorite books is The Agony and the Ecstasy, an adult biography of Michelangelo.  Addison was enthralled with learning about frescos and how marble was chiseled out of mountains for sculptors to use.

This month for Co-op, we are focusing on different artists, so I was happy to see how our lessons will coalesce.

It is so exciting to teach your child and see them get excited and want to learn more!  Next week we're off to Japan, but we still have a lot of fun in Italy left to have before then!!

Made to Crave

What do you crave?  Maybe it's chocolate, maybe it's relationships, coffee, alcohol, something you don't or can't have?

This past spring my Bible study used a book written by Lysa Terkeurst.  I had never heard of the woman before, but I loved her.  I mean, I loved the book, I loved her writing - her honesty, transparency and down-to-earthness...I felt like we could be friends.

After finishing that book, I had heard that she had a few others and one of them was called, Made to Crave - the premise being something along the lines of God, food and us.  It intrigued me for so long and I've had it on my wish list since then, but never did anything about it.  Then around Thanksgiving time I just ordered it for myself, just out of the blue.

I started reading it and couldn't put it down.  I have underlined almost everything, read many passages aloud to Justin, cried through it, wondered how everything I had ever thought or struggled with about food was worded and expressed just so perfectly - HOW DID SHE DO THAT?  It has brought me to a whole new understanding of myself and my struggle.  It has challenged me in a way nothing else ever has (in regards to this subject) - challenged me in a way to finally get to the end of me and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  I WANT MORE!!!

I may be a bit confusing right now, but my story is long and I'm not sure if and when I'll spill it all, but I do know as I said before that I'm done hiding.  I'm ready to change and for me, that involves opening the closed door.  I can't do this alone and I can't do it in private, pretending on the outside everything is just fine.

Sooo, today January 3rd was the first day.  The first day of some changes around here.  I'm going back through the book, chapter by chapter and am going to be sharing quite a bit of that journey on here.  I'm excited.  I'm scared.  But I'm ready.  Let's go!

Children's Book Review

Thunder Cakes by Patricia Polacco
We picked up this book at the library today just randomly as I was there to get all apple books...but the cover illustration drew me in and I grabbed it.

Addison picked it for us to read before nap time.  LOVED IT!  It is a beautiful story about a grandma and her grand-daughter who is frightened of thunderstorms (and quite a few other things too).

At first I was worried that Addison, who is not scared of thunderstorms, would allow the book to actually convince him that there is something to fear in those big loud storms as he sometimes takes on other people's fears.  But I pushed through and we learned about how the little girl fought one fear after another all to gather the ingredients for a Thunder Cake.

What is a Thunder Cake?  Why it's a cake you make as the storm is approaching and then enjoy as the lights and noises break loose around you.  The book (based on a true story) includes the recipe at the end.  Addison's eyes lit up - "Mom! Can we make that during the next storm?"  Now he can't wait for a thunderstorm!

Thunder Cake


Cream together, one at a time:
1c. shortening
1 3/4c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs, separated (Blend yolks in.  Beat whites until they are stiff, then fold in.)
1c. cold water
1/3c. pureed tomatoes

Sift together:
2 1/2c. cake flour
1/2 c. dry cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Mix dry mixture into creamy mixture.  Bake in two greased and floured 8 1/2 in. round pans at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 min.  Frost with chocolate butter frosting.  Top with strawberries.

Children's Book Reviews by a 4 Year Old

We've started a weekly to bi-weekly trip to the library.  I would definitely go weekly if it wasn't so hard to get three kids in and out in the winter and then try to keep them behaving okay once we're there.  So when we go, we get a lot of books.  I mean A LOT!  This past trip I think we got over 50.  But A and E both could read non-stop, so it's really fun.

Addison loves to retell stories, especially to whichever parent didn't read it with him.  A couple of my favorite blogs review children's books weekly, so I thought we'd shake it up and have Addison review the books.  Sooo, this week's favorite was The Signmaker's Assistant by Tedd Arnold.

Me:  "So you liked this book?"
A:  "Uh huh."

Me:  "What did you like about it?"
A:  "Because it says to eat your hats and they give presents to Norman from the toy store."

Me:  "What is the book about?"
A:  "Norman (the little assistant) loves the old man (the signmaker)."

Me:  "Why should other people read it?"
A:  "Because it's really fun!"