Weekending

The last soccer games of the season.

Words of thanks for fantastic coaches.

Peter took these next photos of Will's game. 

Those times when I get up the courage to hand Peter my camera, 

I always love the moments he captures...

photo credit: Peter, age 6

photo credit: Peter, age 6

And then on to the last game for Hannah's team - the Angry Birds. 

They won 5-0. And finished the season undefeated! These sweet girls have played together for 4 years and will be splitting up next year to play at different levels. My husband/head coach was feeling pretty proud of this crew. It was a perfect last game.

Then on to the piano recital. This was Will's first recital. He has been out-of-this-world-nervous (his words) for weeks about this moment. Both Hannah and Will played beautifully.

Will played a duet with his teacher. 

Whew! "It wasn't that bad!" he tells me.

Still sorting through Rome photos. Coming soon...

Photo Dump

My mom and I had a nice little chat last night. And then, as we were saying goodbye, she mildly scolded me for not posting here recently. Sorry, Mom.

It's just been a busy couple of weeks with a few house projects in process. And I haven't forgotten to share my 21-day challenge. I will. Maybe tomorrow. But tonight, I need to get some photos up here - however random - before I get call from Mom.

Confession: Yesterday (Valentine's Day) I didn't take a single photo. None of the lovely treats we made. None of their little class parties. None of our family dinner out. Nothing. I'm really slipping here.

Here is a (very) little of what we've been doing....


We took the kids ice skating a couple times. I sat in the stands with a book. The last time I skated was probably 11 years ago. And it really didn't end well. Maybe next time I'll get out there. Or maybe I'll save the $9 and go to Starbucks instead.

Hannah and Will caught on quickly. Peter was happy to find those walker-looking supports. Yes, this was their first time. Somehow I missed (maybe avoided) having them learn this very important childhood skill.

Will's class celebrated the end of their unit on modern Japan with a Japan Day Celebration. His teacher had a kimono for each of them. Here they are singing to us in Japanese.

The feast was impressive. Will's favorite food is sushi, so he was in heaven.

Will and Peter's classes celebrated the 100th day of school last Friday. Peter needed to bring in a project made with a hundred of something. He chose marshmallows, and then suggested we make a hundred snowmen. We settled on fifty - using a hundred marshmallows.

Will needed to decorate a shirt with a hundred of something. Was there any doubt what he would chose?

8 : 25 {authors' tea}

Every couple of months at school, they hold an Authors' Tea to honor two students from each grade that are selected based on their writing by a panel of teachers.

Will and his buddy, Juanita, were the 2nd graders honored this afternoon. They read their stories from the podium and then enjoyed cupcakes. So cute.

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And to show you what I mean about his costume-love, here is Peter's Thursday creation. He tells me that he is planning to make one for each of his friends to wear to his birthday party.

A Little Hula Action

He wasn't keen on the idea, but he got over it and wore the skirt. Love that kid.

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Passing this along for you to enjoy...

A friend forwarded me this post from Kelle Hampton likening 'fitting it all in' to the Kentucky Derby. Funny... and true.

My fitting it all in works a bit like the Kentucky Derby. It's a constant race of horses that pull forward and fall behind. They all have their turn eventually of running free and confidently from the front lines, but the poor derby announcer’s frantic commentary is always changing:

“And Family Dinners is in the lead but here comes Sir Craft a Lot from behind with Jog in the Morning gaining quickly. Date Night’s coming in at fourth with Alone Time only five lengths behind. But wait! Family Dinners is falling in the far turn while Playing with her Kids takes the lead and here comes Writing at Night moving fast into third while Read for Pleasure comes down the center of the track!” And I would spare you the heart palpitations and tell you the outcome, but the race never ends. And that’s what makes it work. I never have to feel guilty for the poor horse that didn’t get his rose wreath because every horse has a chance to feel the hooves-slamming glory of First Place—even if it’s just for a little while.

read the whole post here

Piano Lessons

Will started piano lessons this month and is loving it. Our wonderful teacher knows how to inspire him... a visit to her famous cookie jar for well-prepared lessons.

I can't get Hot Cross Buns out of my head.

The First Day

It was a great First Day. They were up and dressed before the sun, bundles of excitement and nerves. I held it together until the last one walked into the building. Then I was a bit of a mess.

I had a terrible time with my camera yesterday morning (pretty sure my nerves/emotions were affecting my brain, rendering me unable to fix the settings). I did salvage a couple photos. And I sloppily edited out the school name from boys shirts... just don't want you to think I sent them off on their first day with strange spots on their uniforms.

My sweet girl is in 4th grade!

Hannah (after school): "Mom, I really, really, liked being there with my friends all day."

My baby is in Kindergarten.

Mom: "What was your favorite part of the day?"
Peter: "Every part. And especially Spanish."

Will - who has decided he is now 'William' - 2nd grade.

Mom (as they climb in the car at pick-up): "So...."
William: "Awesome!!!" followed with "It wasn't as long as I thought is would be."

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Later that evening, we enjoyed a beautiful evening concert - Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. Such a fun show!

Dinner Club goes to Wolf Trap. Love these people!

School

When we started homeschooling we committed to take it one year at time. And after much prayer and consideration, my husband and I decided earlier this summer that all three would go to school this coming year.

Gulp.

We have a unique opportunity for our children to attend a small Christian school with which we are closely connected. My husband meets regularly with the headmaster and often leads the school's chapel. The teachers are wonderful. The campus is beautiful. My kids have many friends there.

So with that, it did seem a bit crazy for us to homeschool these past three years. And, honestly, having the option for my children to attend this school made those hard homeschooling days harder, but we loved being home for school. I could go on and on about all that we have enjoyed and cherished... and the things we will miss. These past three years have been a wonderful gift to our family. And my husband and I both feel by homeschooling we have set a tone, created an atmosphere for a love of learning in our home. Schooling at home was the right fit for our family for a season and we may return to it.

This week we are busily preparing to begin this new adventure. Kindergarten, Second Grade, Fourth Grade... the kids are ready, a little nervous, but very excited!

Clearly, my days are about to drastically change. From about 8am to 3pm everyday, my kids will be at school. I feel a little like someone has cut off my arm. It's strange for me to respond to "What are you going to do all day?" Well, I'm not all that sure, but I am excited to take care of my home in a way that I couldn't these past three years. And I'm thankful to have more time with women (in Bible study, mentoring relationships, and volunteering at school and church).

I'll still be here. Blogging about our family life with gratitude posts, craft projects, books, housekeeping thoughts, meals and recipes... just not a lot of nitty-gritty homeschool stuff. Not this year anyway...

Almost Finished

Hannah has been doubling up on work so we can finish this week. It's time. All the "lessons" will end this Friday. The beginning of next week, we will clean up our history notebooks and work on our timeline. Oh, and plan for our big school show. Yes, last year Hannah and I planned an end of school performance for my husband and parents (in town for Hannah's ballet recital). We had programs, costumes, a prelude, diplomas... it was hysterical.

Well, Hannah has been working on the school show for weeks now. I seem to have started something. And my parents are in town next week... maybe for the school show? : )

The kids will recite poetry they have memorized. Hannah will read her Abraham Lincoln report in costume. We'll sing the States Song. Hannah will recite a lot of memory work: the Presidents, the Preamble, the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, the list of prepositions... you get the picture. It's a fun end to the year. And the kids love showing off what they have learned. Thankfully, my husband and parents are a very enthusiastic living room audience.

As we finish up, I have been going through the piles and thinking about all that we have learned and loved this year. Here are a couple of our favorites...

:: Beautiful Feet's Early American History (for Primary Grades)


I cannot begin to explain how much the kids LOVED every single book we read. And our history lessons are always being carried out in pretend play. I love overhearing them becoming the children of a particular time. "I'll be Squanto and you be..."

We will finish the last book tomorrow and Will has already asked if we can still do history over the summer.

:: My Father's World State Sheets

We do geography during lunch, learning about a few states each week (in order of statehood). Everyday I pull out the U.S. map placemat, Our Fifty States, and the MFW state sheet while we eat. Hannah reads the fact sheet, brief history, and interesting trivia on the back of the sheet. Then we flip through the photos in the book. The history of each state has fit nicely with our history studies. And we have all loved laughing together over the funny information included on each sheet.

Did you know that in Kentucky it is illegal to carry an ice cream cone in one's pocket? and Texas law allows astronauts to vote while they are in space? and it's against the law the gargle in public in Louisiana?

I love that Will is dying to visit Wisconsin because it's called "Land of Lakes." And Hannah wants to go to Montana because there are only 6 people per square mile. That girl needs to move to the country. I think I may need to go with her.

Shakespeare's Birthday Bash

Hannah and I went to the Folger on Sunday afternoon to celebrate the Bard's 446th. Good ole Elizabethan fun... making paper ruffs, designing gold brooches, drawing for the portrait contest. We were able to sit in the theater during a working rehearsal of Hamlet... thankfully, Hannah was there to tell me who was who. : )



The highlight... the arrival of Queen Elizabeth to cut the cake. "God save the Queen!"

Mid-Year Homeschool Report

We are a little past the halfway mark! A good time for me to evaluate how things are going. Truly, I am always doing this in my mind, but it's good for me to get it down on paper/screen.

Way back in July I laid out all our plans for the year... now to see how we're really doing....

Hannah, 7-8 years : 2nd grade

Math:
Saxon 3 continues to work for us. I know many don't like the colorless pages, the hand holding teacher notes, the endless timed drills ("drill and kill" is one name I have heard), but Hannah and I don't mind a bit. I find she really benefits from all the built-in review. I do feel it doesn't include as much mental math as compared to Singapore, so I add a bit of that for fun. :)

Language Arts:
First Language Lessons - second half of book (supplementing with Evan-Moor's Grammar and Punctuation 2, Write a Super Sentence, Paragraph Writing). I really like FLL and the Evan-Moor worksheets have been a nice complement.

Explode the Code - She has finished Book 6 and is well into Book 7.

Spelling: I decided not to use Spelling Wisdom before school started and switched to All About Spelling. I had heard so many good things about AAS, and a friend let me borrow it, so we gave it a try. We used it for the first half of the year, but neither of us liked it. Hannah was bored to tears (and it required me to do the lessons with her). I imagine it would be a wonderful program for a struggling speller, but Hannah is not that. We usually glossed over it and had Spelling Bees using words from Explode the Code. I ended up going back to Spelling Workout C and we are both happier. Next year, I will use Spelling Wisdom.

Poetry Memorization (pulling mainly from The Harp and Laurel Wreath and other lovely books of poetry from the library): Hannah loves poetry. It is a joy for her to decide on the next poem to memorize.

Writing: Hannah is always writing... poems, stories, filling up diaries. We have not started a writing program, but I have been looking at the Institute for Excellence in Writing/Pudewa which many of my friends use. I think we will wait until next year.

Handwriting - Cursive: A Reason for Handwriting C. I really like the way this program divides up the lessons for a week. Her cursive is beautiful.

Reading: I have been lazy about keeping a book list of all that she reads. She is constantly reading. I really should compile a list of her favorites.


Will, 5-6 years : Kindergarten

Math: Horizons K. Math is his thing. We are moving quickly through this.

Reading: Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, Explode the Code - Books 1 & 2, Evan Moor's Phonics Skills. We are moving along... perhaps a bit more slowly than I had hoped. He reads well during his lessons, but will rarely pick up an early reader and read independently. He is just not eager to labor through a book when one could be read to him. I am hopeful... it does seem it is all beginning to click.

Handwriting:
A Reason for Handwriting K - He just finished this book. Now we are just doing simple copywork, knowing that one short phrase beautifully written is better than a whole page of sloppy letters.


Peter, 3-4 years

We are enjoying puzzles and books, while learning letters and numbers. He is almost always with us during Music, Art, History, and Science.


Everyone:

Bible:
Leading Little Ones to God, The Child's Story Bible, The Jesus Storybook Bible, Scripture Memory. I am currently setting up our scripture memory box following Simply Charlotte Mason's system (very excited about this). We will finish Leading Little Ones to God (which we have enjoyed) very soon, and will then move on to the Shorter Catechism/Children's Catechism to guide our devotions. Hannah has her own daily Bible reading time using the Children's ESV Bible.

Latin:
I had planned on beginning Latin this year using Song School Latin. But Hannah had the opportunity a few months ago to join a weekly, homeschool Latin class taught by a homeschool mom who used to be a high school Latin teacher (Perfect!). There are six kids in the group that meets at a friend's house. Hannah LOVES it. Hannah missed the first year of this group, but is catching up quite well using Minimus Secundus for the text. She is reviewing the vocabulary she missed last year through online flash cards and games. It helps that dad knows Latin. :)

History:
Early American History, A Literature Approach (Beautiful Feet Books). We LOVE this! All of us. We often read much more than the lesson requires. The books have all been wonderful. I'm very happy with this choice.

Geography:
States and Capitals using My Father's World state sheets/cards. I decided to wait for next year to use A Child's Geography, Explore His Earth next year. We are slowly reading Hillyer's A Child's Geography of the World. Hannah loves online geography games.

Science/Nature Study:
We are following The Well-Trained Mind's suggestions for 2nd grade Science using the Usborne First Encyclopedia of Our World, the Usborne First Encyclopedia of Space, and piles of library books. We have also been thoroughly enjoying our study of birds using the Burgess Bird Book and Peterson's field guides. State birds and flowers are also included on MFW state sheets/cards which has worked well. We use the library heavily for our science lessons. We haven't done nearly as many experiments as I had hoped, but I knew that would be the first thing to go. We are anxious for the weather to allow for more hikes and outdoor nature study.

Overall, I've been pleased with our choices. It's been a good first half.

Painting-Cutting-Sewing

Just a few things we've been working on this past week...

Hannah wanted to hang something by her new desk in the school room. So, I gave her an "assignment"... draw-then-paint something in the house, fill the space, go off the page on at least one side, and use only 2 colors. I love what she created!

Will...
We replaced the nativity scene painting hanging in the kitchen with this Valentine decoration. I gave Will a few valentine-colored chalk pastels and told him to fill his paper with color, blending one color into the next. We hairsprayed the paper to keep the chalk dust from going everywhere. Then we cut hearts from the paper (much like the letters we did last week) and glued them to black card stock.


And I made this for Peter....

I am finally learning how to use my sewing machine. For years I was completely intimidated by the thing. The only one who had ever used my sewing machine was my mom. I'd seen these pencil/crayon rolls a few places and thought... I need to learn how to make those. Skip To My Lou has a helpful tutorial for a simple felt roll. My mom helped me create a pattern and get comfortable with my machine last time she was here (aren't moms great?). A whole new world of projects is open to me now! I've made a few for gifts. And before Peter's, I made pencil "rolls" for Hannah and Will. They use them all the time. Perfect to throw in a bag with a sketch book.

O Holy Night

As we painted, we talked of the wild, night sky...
that night filled with angels announcing His birth.

And the Word became flesh, entered the world as a baby,
and made His dwelling among us.


Thanks to That Artist Woman for another beautiful project.

Will (top painting) needed a little help with cutting the silhouettes. Both loved the final outcome. They are now framed and hanging for Advent.

A Few Turkeys

Coffee-painted turkeys.
We used sharpie markers instead of paint for the red and yellow. Sprinkling the coffee painting with salt created a neat texture pattern.

Hannah likes her coffee a little stronger than Will's.

Peter's hand-print turkey...

and another little turkey... and F and G.

Living History : Colonial Williamsburg

Will tells me he would be a silversmith if he lived in colonial times.

No, definitely a blacksmith. So many fun tools... and fire!

Hannah on the spinet in the cabinetmaker's shop.

We met up with good friends that moved to Southern VA a few years ago. These two were fast friends.

The end of a long day.