Teachable Moments

R.A.K. Day 1....

2012-02-13T06:02:00.000-05:00

I love that my girls each have their own email account. As I come across random bits of goodness, I forward them their way. Some get completely ignored and some stick. Like this link. Did you know this week was Random Acts of Kindness Week? Pay it forward people. Share your love.

Day 1: Cake. Valentine's Day Cards. Homemade frosting. M&Ms. Delivered to our elderly neighbors who are surrogate Great-Grandparents. This is sharing love.

Be My Valentine

2012-02-09T11:21:00.000-05:00

Some days are just so wonderfully amazing that they live on in our memory for a very long time. Yesterday was one of those days. It was a day when love collided head-first into community.

Lilah threw one heck of a party for her closest friends. All 20 of them! This was the girls who in school had just one child that she could call her friend. We are truly blessed to have these families in our lives. They bring us joy, support, wisdom and laughter. We have fun sharing time together.

We called this week our "February Vacation" week in order to devote the time necessary to prepare for such a momentous occasion.

We cleaned:

We prepared:

We shopped and displayed:

And then we played!

Cake

2012-02-08T06:28:00.000-05:00

A cake chosen with care.

Baked with love.

Decorated with glee.

Shared with friends.

Thank you Grace. It sure was yummy!

Art Journaling

2012-02-07T05:00:00.000-05:00

I would love to keep a journal like this:

http://allnorahsart.blogspot.com/2011/09/things-that-flutter-forth.html

For now I settle for my blog and the little bits of art journaling that I do with my Monday writing group. My goal is to move these amazing girls away from the idea that their journal is for drawing and towards the idea that it can be a place where art and words merge and meld into something that is unique to the artist and writer.

The creative process is soothing. When you are painting, or drawing or writing, your mind is very focused. Those little distracting, annoying thoughts that pop up all the time are held at bay. For 90 minutes it does not matter that the carpets need vacuuming or the laundry needs folding. All that matters is that your words and ideas are transported from mind to paper in a way that is visually pleasing.

I think the girls’ work is visually pleasing.

Home School Mother's Journal: Week of Jan. 30th

2012-02-04T20:34:00.000-05:00

In My Home This Week: This home has one tired Mama! Two full weeks of a new routine. I am not able to call this a habit yet for if I did not have Greg waking me up at 5:25 I would never, ever, be able to pull myself out of bed with just an annoying alarm clock! Monday I start off strong, up and ready to tackle “stuff” but by Friday all I want to do is slip back into my dream for a little longer........

This is working for us. The house is not a wreck. I love coming downstairs in the morning to a decluttered living room. I still have a few things left to be put away like some holiday lights and a few books but that is easy-peasy. In fact, I will do that this morning! I love being able to come home and not see piles of work everywhere. There may be dishes in the sink left over from breakfast but even that is rare because for the most part we are home every morning and our activities/play time is not until the early afternoon.

In My Homeschool This Week: Honoring our morning time is now a habit. It has been one full month of no morning appointments. This will change in two weeks when co-op begins again but I don’t fret about that as their opportunities to learn with friends is so worth giving up a morning at home. It looks like I may be teaching Into to Blogging! That should be fun!

Our lessons have been moving along. Nothing new has been started, we are just in a groove of perpetual motion thankfully in the forward direction.

math: Grace has to take the test for book 2 and she will be complete with Key To Fractions Book 2! In this book she has learned how to find the Greatest Common Factor, how to simplify, how to multiply and divide by using reciprocal fractions. Lilah has mastered rounding through the millions place. Her understanding of place value has improved through this concept. She has worked on addition, subtraction and multiplication this week with some check writing thrown in for fun!

geography: both girls are working their way through a map skills workbook, one or two pages a day. They have worked on compass skills, identifying the continents and the major oceans. I did not plan to have this happen, but their next Girl Scout meeting will take place at our favorite nature center and they will be trekking through the woods learning how to use a compass and read a map! I could not have timed this more perfectly.

poetry/cursive: Both girls added a new poem copied in cursive to their binders. Grace asked me why I feel strongly about this exercise. I told them it gives them an opportunity to read poetry (both girls take care in selecting their piece). They get a feel for different poets and hopefully find some whose words resonate in their soul. They practice cursive (despite the popular push to rid our culture of cursive, I feel good handwriting is vitally important). Their binder is a place to look back at and see how their artwork has grown, their handwriting has matured and their choices of poems have range and show their maturity as girls. I love this activity. It brings them peace and makes them concentrate on a focused activity. I hope one day they will thank me!

grammar: We talked verbs this week. Mostly the difference between action verbs and verbs that represent a state of being.

science: We completed the reading for Chapter 1 of Flying Creatures. I had to purchase straws in order for the girls to complete the experiment of constructing and flying their own glider. That will happen next week. Grace added two new slides to her PowerPoint presentation. It looks beautiful. I love that she is throwing in anecdotal information from the show. It gives her project a personal touch. Lilah is almost done with her mosquito lap book.

writing: Our little writing group kicked off a new year by working on an art and writing activity about goals for 2012. I shared some of my old journals and pointed out how each began with a list of personal goals. Some I met and some fell by the wayside. I loved being able to open to the first page and read a list of what I would like to accomplish. The girls came up with great goals for this new year. Some listed being able to do a back handspring, moving up a level in ballet, making it to the DI finals in Tennessee. Others listed going out into nature, taking a class, traveling to a new state.

Random Pictures:

1. My growing girl. Heaven.

2. My favorite eggs. Fried with a bit of cumin and turmeric with Trader Joe's Refried beans and a tortilla. Heaven.

3. New organic vegan/vegetarian spot. Kale, beet, celery and apple. Heaven.

4. Dinner with friends. Homemade pad thai. Heaven.

What I am Pondering: What an amazing day I had at our Destination Imagination Instant Challenge Day. More to come on this topic....

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Gift

2012-02-04T05:00:00.000-05:00

From Merriam Webster Word Central:

Gift:

Function: noun

Text: 1 something given to someone without expectation of a return (gift for his birthday)

Synonyms bestowal, donation, freebie (or freebee), giveaway, lagniappe, largess (or largesse), present, presentation

Related Words alms, benefaction, beneficence, benevolence, charity, contribution, dole, generosity, offering, philanthropy; grant, subsidy; remembrance, tribute; bonus, boon, windfall; favor, valentine; gratuity, tip; award, prize, reward; bequest, legacy; sacrifice

2 a special and usually inborn ability gift for making guests feel right at home

noun: My friend gave me a gift today, from her home to mine.
verb: She has a gift for touching lives and making friends feel special.

These are too beautiful to eat....almost.

New Heights!

2012-02-03T05:00:00.000-05:00

When I was in my 20s I studied karate. It was not something I had a burning desire to do, the only reason I went was because of a bet. My friend bet me to go take a lesson with her instead of sitting at home on the couch watching Melrose Place. I don’t remember what the bet was, but it led to me discover a passion. I loved kenpo karate.

Karate made me strong both physically and mentally. It is not only about kicking and punching and putting the two together in certain combinations for self defense, but there is an artistic side to karate as well. The forms are ancient and some take lifetimes to perfect. The study of the forms is an exercise in control, patience and perseverance. My goal was to become a black belt, but children disrupted this plan. Green belt was the highest level I achieved.

Karate gave me an opportunity of a lifetime, a trip to China as part of a cultural exchange program. During this trip I was able to visit the Beijing Sports University, study Tai Chi on the streets of Shanghai at 5:00am and perform in front of the Shaolin Monks at the Shaolin Temple. What a humbling experience that was!

Today my girls had a taste of empowerment. They climbed 40 feet to the rafters of a warehouse outfitted with rock climbing walls of many shapes, sizes and difficulties. They strapped on a harness, a helmet and with their fellow Girl Scouts, climbed as high as their muscles, willpower, and determination would let them. Some of the girls overcame a fear of heights. Others pushed through muscle fatigue and reached the top of ladders and sat on ledges looking down at the astonished parents.

I did not attend this whole session, but just popped in to take some pictures at the end. I wanted them to have this experience without me present. I took my trip to China alone. No close friends, no husband, no family, just the other students of the karate dojo. It was very hard for me. At times I did not think I would be able to board the plane. I am sure my 9 and 11 year old girls walked into this facility with doubts and insecurities. They walked out with heads held high and smiles plastered on their faces. They did this without their mother or father. This experience was shared with their Troop Leaders and the facility staff who were absolutely amazing with the girls. Grace and Lilah loved the experience so much, they both want to sign up for a 1/2 day vacation camp session.

This was a day that will live in their memory as a day they reached new heights. This is a day that they will carry with them when they confront their fears head on. Whether it is traveling alone one day, or trying a new sport, or starting a business or choosing a college, or deciding on a job, they will have this little moment in their back pocket. I hope it is only one of many times they will be able to recall the feeling of being able to do anything, just one step, one climb at a time.

Thankful Thursday

2012-02-02T07:06:00.001-05:00

It seems I just close my eyes and suddenly I am being roused from my sleep by Greg. Against every impulse I have, I swing my legs out from under my warm fleece sheets and hit the cold hard wood floor. Another day. Each is a gift. We have the opportunity each time we wake to make the most of our day.

I have been trying so hard to make the most of mine.

5:30am wake up has been the best thing I have done for myself and my family. What I have accomplished in two weeks has been remarkable. My house is clean. My laundry is current. My piles are diminishing. At this moment, my house is not causing me stress. That is my motivator to say hello to a new day when it is still very very dark outside. The few minutes I get to chat with my husband is really nice too!

Come 8:00 I am tired. I was falling asleep on the couch. The girls were watching television. Bedtime was getting later and later. Arguing in the bathroom, tears at tuck in. That is not how I want my family to feel before closing their eyes on their day. We have gone back to the “no technology after 6:00pm” rule. I guess we did not stick with it long enough to become a habit since it was so easy to slip into our old habits. There is something about television and my children that does not click. It is fine during the day but at night it is stimulating and causes stress and anxiety, even the educational shows. Having a quiet home at night, with children reading, or drawing, or playing in their rooms is far preferable. Having a peaceful bedtime last night was proof that it works for us.

I am back on my green smoothie kick. I thought that this was a habit as well. I drank them daily for months. Then suddenly, I stopped making the time for myself and my girls. My blender was still. My juicer lonely. I feel better when I nourish my body. The amount of kale and spinach I drink far exceeds the amount I would ever eat. I am now juicing and blending every day. I owe myself this gift of health. I am thankful that I have found something that makes me feel good. A happy, healthy Mom is much preferable over a tired, cranky, crabby one!

I am doing something else for myself. Something I have wanted to do for a very long time. I have picked up a book that will take me an entire year to read. That is a lofty goal! All I have to do is read a few pages every day. My Aunt gave me this book over a year ago. I have picked it up, put it down, moved it from shelf to shelf. Last week I had a great conversation with my Sunday School class. This year my class is small, just 4 fifth grade boys. Last week all they wanted to talk about was football and the Giants. First of all, we had work to do. Secondly, I am a Patriots fan! I kept the talk focused on football but turned their attention to Tim Tebow. Yes.....I am still quite smitten with him. No....my shirt has not come yet (but it should this week). We talked about the story behind his eye black. We looked up John 3:16. I pulled out my phone and googled Tim Tebow Eye Black and found more examples of scripture passages. We looked up EPH. 8 -10. We talked about why he may have chosen these passages. We talked about using fame and celebrity to inspire and promote charity. We discussed the misconception that Tim prays to God for success, when in reality he is praying to God thankful for the success he has had.

Anyway.....I totally digress. In the same way that Tim’s eye black inspired the boys to think of the Bible as “cool”, he inspired me to actually READ it. I never knew that Cain and Able were the children of Adam? How could I not know this? I love reading the Old Testament and actually understanding the geography of the region. Ur? Sure, I know where that was. Babel? Yup. We covered that too. Story of the World rocks. Little by little, I am going to make my way through this project. I love that this version of the Bible links the stories so that it is actually a story rather than writings from different people from different times about different topics. I wish I picked it up sooner!

These are some things I am thankful for this week. My days are going by fast. My nights...even faster! I have so much to be thankful for. It is good to keep those things close to my heart.

Dreams

2012-01-31T06:35:00.000-05:00

Dreams. *Photo curtesy of Pinterest

What are the thinks that I think about in the quiet corners of my day? What do I pull out now and then and toss around, work on for a while, then tuck back inside me to be saved for another time or space? We all have dreams. Goal. Desires. Many of my dreams have come true. The big dreams, like my Prince in Shining Armor, the castle and the carriage, and the Princesses in poster beds. I have the big things, and for that I am eternally blessed. These are the little things. The things that to anyone else may seem unimportant or unnecessary but to us are as vital as the air we push in and out of our lungs with each breath.

These are my dreams. My words. Attach to the end of these what you will. It is not the details that matter as much as the state of being. For it I can have these things, I can do anything.

Read

Write

Strive

Remove

Empower

Surround

Appreciate

Beauty

Explore

Grow

Construct

Love

Express

Yes

Less No

Please

Thank you

Bless you

God bless

Peace

Peaceful

Namaste

Homeschool Mother's Journal: Week of Jan. 23rd

2012-01-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

In My Home This Week: Wow. It has been a very long time since I can say with satisfaction that I accomplished things this week. My new routine is not easy. Five days in a row, I have woke to the gentle shake or kiss of my husband. I only see him for about 15 minutes before he leaves to catch a train, but those 15 minutes are the best way to start a day. Sometimes, if I am really lucky, he will have the coffee on for me.

I refuse to slack off, even when the call of my bed is stronger than the call of my coffee cup. I have to look to my accomplishments to propel me forward. I have: reorganized our daily bookshelf, reorganized the closet space that hold our books and tools, cleaned out the old office which is now a reading room. I have caught us up on laundry, taken the curtains to the dry cleaners, hung up new ones (borrowed from my bedroom which may never go back), found a new recipe for pumpkin-flax breakfast cookies, baked those twice! and many more things that were on my to-do list.

My new way of thinking is: put away, throw away or give away. No more piles. No more shifting something from one place to the next. If something is sitting that long unused, it must not be very necessary and gets put in the Goodwill pile. I have given away two bags of clothing and one bag of unused school stuff. It feels good.

It feels so good that when 5:30am comes Monday morning, I will meet my day head on, coffee in hand!

In Our Homeschool This Week: Greg made a comment to me about my post last week. He said that if the girls come downstairs and I am at the dining room table in my pajamas on the computer it must feel no different from a Saturday morning. If they know there is no sense of urgency or agenda, he can see where the temptation to balk at schoolwork could occur. But if they come down to the smell of something cooking, to work laid out on the table for them, and to their mother, at the dining room table, on the computer, with her coffee, but showered and dressed, it sets an entirely different tone for their day.

They have responded positively to the changes. There is still the balking over math. Lilah does not see the need to memorize her multiplication tables and Grace really does not see the need to simplify fractions, but I guess even waking up at 4:30am would not change that!

math: While they may balk, both girls are progressing. I have to come up with a plan to help Lilah memorize the facts. It was so easy when Grace was in school and had her test every Friday. I am thinking about having Greg give her a test every Saturday. He is not here during the week so she can’t moan and complain to him about it! Grace will finish book 2 of Key to Fractions this week. Now that she has moved into multiplication of fractions, she is enjoying it once again.

history: Grace added a few people to her Book of Centuries. She is still reading her biography of Clara Barton aloud to me. She looked up information about the Clara Barton museum in Massachusetts and emailed her Aunt to see if she could personally recommend this for a field trip.

geography: I have decided to expand beyond the map work we do weekly with Story of the World. Now we are working on map skills. This week each of the girls had fun with the compass rose and finding mystery numbers by using the compass.

writing: Grace has combined writing and technology this week by beginning a Powerpoint presentation about the animals we learned about while watching Billy the Exterminator. She listed 25 different animals from memory. After completing a title page for the presentation, she began with alligators. She included 4 facts from her sister’s animal encyclopedia that referred to Billy’s teaching that episode. Her plan is to mail a copy to Billy when it is completed! Lilah continued to work on her story..........

science: We continued to read from Flying Creatures and we continue to watch our window for any signs of live flying creatures. Our bird feeder has been up for almost three weeks and no sign yet! I don’t understand. We had a successful bird walk at Yale University and I have our next bird walk planned! Lilah is almost done with her mosquito lap book, it will be finished this week. She has put many hours into this project (I would guess 4-5 so far). We are going to browse through CurrClick to find another she would like to do. I also found a insect guide available for download at Terminex. There are many fun activities relating to the study of entomology. Hopefully she will be inspired!

grammar: The girls continue to enjoy our lessons! We worked on identifying nouns and pronouns in sentences. My Aunt gave me a book: Skill Drill Grammar from her classroom. I have been using it for additional practice after we learn from First Language Lessons. Thanks Aunt!

What We are Reading:

me:

While this is a YA book, I would not recommend it for my daughters, until they were adults. I came across it on a blog and just like that blogger, I could not put it down. It kept me up until 11:30pm, despite the fact I had to get up in six hours! The author has a way of really making you care about this flawed characters despite the fact that they make the wrong choices over and over again. There are also darker sides to this story, co-dependency, binge drinking, sex, and violence. These two characters have a relationship that I would never want to serve as a model for my daughters and I would hope they would not read this until they know what it is they do want from a relationship.

Lilah:

What I am Pondering: An update on Grace’s basketball game last week. The coach I wrote about was given a one week suspension but was allowed to be with his team for the team photos last night. I am happy that action was taken because our town leaders have a history of apathetic reactions to the complaints of its residents. However, I do not think a one week suspension is fitting as a resolution. I would fully support our team sitting on the bench for the next game, refusing to play out of protest, gladly forfeiting. Grace would disown me. She thrives on the competition and will be looking forward to a rematch. However, if the coach would agree to a forfeit, I would hope she could see the bigger issue at hand.

Interview at Interest Led Learning

2012-01-28T10:48:00.001-05:00

Today my words are featured at Interest-Led Learning.

In my interview I explain:

Why we chose to homeschool.
What I encourage new or prospective homeschooling families to ponder.
How I facilitate learning by following my daughters' interests.
What helped me survive my first year.

Christina's blog is a wonderful resource for all families,

those homeschooling their children,as well as those who are not. Her words have given me inspiration, knowledge, wisdom, and comfort. I am honored to have the opportunity to share my story.

Day In and Day Out

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

Deep breaths. Sometimes as a family who lives, learns and plays together 24/7 you need to take deep breaths. I have spent the past few days examining how to better manage my home. It seems like I am always doing that.

When my girls were in school, there was no need for this type of reflection. Each day was the same from 9-3. It did not matter what phase of life my girls were in, whether they were barely out of their toddler years, losing their first teeth or walking themselves into school, my days looked the same... day in and day out.

I have tried every home management system I have come across. My favorite was Fly Lady, but I have not been able to incorporate her system into my life as a homeschooling mom. It took me about two years to figure out that our home is constantly in flux. A routine that worked six months ago may not work now due to changing sleep habits, meal frequency and activity load. I need to re-evaluate and re-adjust.

I am adjusting. I have asked for help. I have asked for an increase in responsibility. However, I also have to look at how my actions and inactions contribute to a chaotic environment.

Wake Time

Being home makes it so very very easy to slip into a life of idleness. No place to go until noon? Well then...no need to get dressed until ten! Or have a rough night’s sleep? Kid's knees in your back all night? Sleep in! However, the later we get up, and the later we get dressed, the less likely we are to get to what is important that day. I am now waking up at 5:30am. Greg makes sure I am up before he leaves the house to catch the train. When I stick to this, I am able to have coffee and blog in peace. I can do laundry and focus on certain tasks on my to do list all before the girls’ feet hit the floor. I can have breakfast made and ready to go when they do wake. I have been gently waking them at 8:00am and requesting that they come down to breakfast at 8:30 so we can begin our day at 9:00. Usually this is sufficient even if they had a rough night's sleep or are extra tired and need a bit more time.

Help Around the House

I can’t take credit for this idea and I don’t remember whose brilliant words inspired me. If it was you, please comment! I don’t want to be a House Elf. I welcome assistance in cleaning, cooking, yardwork, trash, etc. But I noticed that my girls need a bit of a reminder what needs to be done to help our home run smoothly. I hung up Dobby the House Elf signs in key areas of our home. These are just a gentle reminder, and will come down when we are back on track with simple routines.

image courtesy of iTunes.com

Do you know Yada Home? It is an app that allows Greg and I to sync grocery lists (separate lists for each store we shop at! and our to do lists!). This will be helpful beyond words. Just last night he helped take one item off our to-do list. Yeah!!

Cooking

Greg has been helping by cooking on the weekends, mostly soup. We freeze some for reheating during the week. Last week we simmered a whole chicken for hours. During the week I brought it to a boil, added pasta and had a healthy homemade chicken noodle soup in less than 20 min! This is so simple but time has to be set aside for meal preparation.

Decluttering

Ahh...this is the bain of my existence. My house is about 1700sq ft. It is old. It has no real linen closet and no foyer closet. Heck, we don’t have a foyer! Our bedroom closets are tiny and since Lilah’s room has no closet at all, just the walk up stairs to the attic, we repurposed our hallway closet to be hers. Despite making several attempts before to declutter, I realized that we still have too much stuff. Why do we have so much stuff? Why are blogs devoted to the concept of getting rid of stuff? Television shows focus on this topic. Magazine articles are written about it. What is wrong with us that we have purchasing more items than we need in our life? No more. Thanks to Andrea, I have renewed my quest for a zen-like home.

Before:

After:

Being together as much as we are requires usable, functioning space. If something is not usable, functioning, loved and needed, it is gone. I am amazed at how much easier and quicker it is to clean up at the end of the day. Things now have a home since what was there before is gone. All my old cookbooks, gone. Old clothes, gone. Unused hats, scarves, mittens, all gone. Unused curriculum, in the basement. Art supplies will soon have a new place to stay other than in a pile on the floor. Maybe I will post some before and after pics to motivate myself to tackle my few problem areas like the bookshelf and the curriculum cabinet.......

Before:

Better:

Our Accomplishments

I came across this great site: www.280daily.com . It a private journal meant to capture quick thoughts, just 280 characters every day. You can then print your month or year as a blog book. I am using it every day to capture what we are learning. Then when I write my end of the week wrap ups, I have not missed the little things, like what we learned from an episode of Billy the Exterminator, or that Lilah drew an amazing picture and Grace was given the full sheet music to Fur Elise. Grace is also working on this site as a private journal.

This is where I am at this moment in my life. Thank you to my “trainer” who literally drags my butt out of bed at 5:30am despite my protests and pleading. Thank you to my girls who are willing to meet me halfway on this and chip in to restore peace to our home. Every little thing you do helps. Every little thing you do is appreciated. Every little thing you do helps you to become more independent. This is all good. Hard, but good.

One Day

2012-01-26T06:08:00.000-05:00

In one day you have countless opportunities for love, wonder, awe, admiration and humor. You also have countless opportunities for stress, aggravation, frustration and despair. Which ones will you choose today?

Yesterday we chose option #1.

Joy...

over frustration...

Find your joy in this day.

Urban Bird Walk

2012-01-24T06:44:00.000-05:00

The Peabody Museum sponsored a bird walk around the Yale Campus during lunch. They were hoping to attract Yalies on their lunch hour but what they ended up with were two Mamas and their five hatchlings looking for a birding adventure!

This was the walk I was looking for. Of course Mother Nature would not cooperate with me and has something against this Mama taking a bird walk. I was armed (well...legged) with my silk thermals (and did not hear one single tease), my down jacket , three umbrellas, two water bottles, binoculars, a camera and a cell phone. Cell phone? Very important to take notes on what we saw, since I forgot the now seemingly old fashioned pen and notebook!

We strolled the Yale Science Campus with our necks craned upwards on this misty day. Not good for a glasses wearing Mama who really needs to make an appointment for contacts.....

We had fantastic lessons on how to use binoculars and where to look for certain species of birds. We checked tree tops for cardinals, building ledges for raptors, the skyline for gulls, brush for sparrows, and parks for geese. We did not see much on this chilly, damp, New Haven day. But we enjoyed the time outside with our fine friends, those feathered and not!

We learned the importance of taking many walks and reporting your findings to compare against other days with different weather days, weeks, months apart. We counted the number of birds we saw (which was too easy unfortunately) and recorded both the type of bird and the time it was spotted on an official form. We were able to ask questions and have them answered with kindness and genuine affection for both children and birding. We learned that The Peabody is just beginning this program of urban bird walks and were encouraged to participate in future walks. We also learned about the Eli Whitney Museum, which I had never heard of and now is tops on our list of places to go!

Good times. Good friends. Good lessons. Good life.

What if?

2012-01-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

How do you become this kind of parent?

http://news.yahoo.com/teen-ends-globe-circling-voyage-st-maarten-185846639.html

or this kind of parent?

http://twyladill.blogspot.com/

How do you become the kind of parent that in fifteen years has shared enough pertinent information with your child to keep them alive while living independently in hazardous conditions? How do you hug them and kiss them goodbye?

I would like to think that this is the goal of this journey we are on. To raise our daughters to become independent, risk taking, passionate, courageous, fearless young women. When presented with an opportunity to pursue their passions they would be prepared enough to meet the opportunity head on with determination and perseverance.

In just four years would I let Grace go off on a storm chasing adventure? I can’t see Lilah desiring anything so dangerous but what if she had the chance to accompany a biologist to the Galapagos Islands?

What if?

Am I raising daughters who will be prepared to accept these kind of offers? If I am honest with myself, I don’t think so.

What types of life skills would you need to take on an challenge of living independently at a young age?

money management
homemaking skills such as laundry, food preparation,
necessities for travel like passport documentation, packing skills, ability to navigate an airport, connecting flights, hotel bookings, hostels, foreign currency, exchange rates.
natural medicine to keep them healthy, first aid, how to seek medical care in a foreign land.

Over the past year I have begun to teach these things. I know that my girls could sustain themselves with their basic cooking skills for a few days. They can make eggs, pancakes, salads, sandwiches, quesadilas, pasta, meatballs, and if need be, we are close enough to walk to a grocery store for supplies.

They can do laundry but choose not to, simply because why do your own laundry when your Mom and Dad will do it for you? Hmmm.

They can clean a house much better than I can but again, choose not to because it is done for them. Hmmm. (I have to compliment my girls again on the job they did last week on the back room, front room and bathrooms. Well done girls!)

Many of the other things on my list could be introduced the next time we travel with Greg, which hopefully will be this spring. Rather than take on everything myself, they could look up airlines, pack their own carry on, determine what is necessary and what can be left home. We can go together to get the documentation to apply for passports and to have mine renewed. The next time we travel to New York, they can use Metro North to look up schedules and determine if our travel will involve peak rates. They can handle the taxi and the subway.

I would love to know what the parents of these children did in preparation for these trips. Was it conscious preparation for the realization of a dream or was it unintentional preparation through the daily routines we all go through? How did they have faith to let their children go? Would they have done anything different? Would they say yes if they could have a do-over?

These stories make me wonder. I want to be that parent. I want my children to discover what makes them happy. I want them to pursue their passions, either on a traditional route or one that they make up as they go. I wonder.

I wonder if they will want to do something like this when they are older. I never did. I just did not have that gene in me. The most I wanted to do was attend college in New York City but ended up pursuing a different area of study. I wonder. I wonder if I would say yes. I hope I ~~would~~ will.

Homeschool Mother's Journal: The basketball edition: Week of January 16th

2012-01-22T10:23:00.001-05:00

What is Happening in My Home this Week: I was fortunate to spend some quality time with my friends this week while my daughters played with their children. We talked about important things, things that matter to who we are as women, wives and mothers. We had tea and shared meals. We shared friendship. Thank you to all my friends, who enrich my life more than you know!

What is Happening in Our Homeschool:

math: Grace is half way through book two of Key To Fractions and has learned to simply fractions by finding the greatest common factor. Lilah’s lessons this week took her back to her learning from her Business Math program. She was adding with decimals and writing checks!

grammar: My girls are loving the lessons from one of my favorite books: First Language Lessons. We are technically on the second grade - but I don’t consider it to be leveled by grade. Since my girls are significantly older we are able to skip lessons, condense lessons and compress several lessons into one. We have been focusing on different types of sentences and the use of pronouns. I think we did six or seven “lessons” this week!

language arts: Lilah’s story is growing page by page. In her head she is writing a movie which she will direct and her friends will play the parts. She does not have an outline or a clear ending to her story yet but every day she reads it to me and I am amazed at what is developing. She is taking the approach of M.J. Allaire, write the story day by day, page by page. She is now up to 10 or 11 handwritten pages. What amazes me is the connections she has in this story to her everyday life. When it is done I would love to share it on my blog and demonstrate how she is inspired by her relationships, books she has read, stories I have told her, and more.

Grace is using the calendar on her laptop to keep track of topics she wants to write about. Her goal is to blog every day. What is happening is she writes one day, edits it the next day and publishes it to her blog. Realistically her goal should be amended to blog every other day. I am happy that I see an spark of interest in writing. This week she plans to write a complimentary letter to Hampton Inn and Suites as well as write about her last basketball game.

science: I hope that our scheduled bird walk at Yale happens Monday. The forecast is for rain. Why is nature working so hard against my efforts to learn about birds? The birds have not found our bird feeder after more than a week, our first bird walk was a disaster, and now our next one might be a bust. How fun can it be to look for birds while holding an umbrella and trying not to get water on your binoculars?

What We Are Reading: We are plugging along on the books we have in progress. Grace is almost done with her Clara Barton biography. Lilah is happily reading the second installment in the Books of Elsewhere series and I have been doing more knitting this week than reading. When I am reading it is still Free Range Learning. I never finished Organized Simplicity and I have gone back to it.

What I am Pondering: Friday night I took my girls to their basketball games. Grace’s game was a nail biter. For two years Grace has studied the play of one particular girl on the opposing team. The two girls played together their first year, as third graders. Their coach did not teach them how to play, he just had Grace shoot the ball whenever she got it and the other girl stand under the net for rebounding. Grace is tall. I am guessing she is already 5’2”. This other girl is taller than me and I am 5’8”. She easily has twenty pounds on Grace.

Their first year was their only year of playing together. Now there is a bit of a rivalry between them. Nothing bitter or fueled by animosity, just a sports rivalry. Grace knows that you can’t go through the middle to the basket with this girl. You have to go to the sides and shoot over her and make the shot. She advised her teammates on this. They guarded her, they blocked her shots, they prevented her from getting under the basket. They could not shut her down however, and this girl scored most of the points for her team that night, like most other nights. This team is used to winning. Their style of play is not fun to watch, it is aggressive for a 5-6th grade level and I get angry when fouls are not called. They win, and their coach likes winning.

When a foul was called against them, the coach lost his temper. He got angry. He became aggressive. He crossed the court to yell at the referee. (this should have been an automatic expulsion from the game in my humble opinion). He was sent back to his bench. He became incensed. He crossed the mid court line and tried to provoke a confrontation with my daughter’s coach. (again...why was this allowed to happen? He should have been in his car on his way home). Our coach was stoic. He showed no emotion. He led his girls by example, just like the aggressive, confrontational, emotional coach leads his girls by the example he set. I got out of the stands to find a town representative from the Recreation Department to complain and ask for his removal. There was no representative in the building.

Thankfully the moment passed. The teams were tied at the end of the game and tied at the end of a two minute overtime. They declined to offer a second overtime, which I thought was wise.

This was a teachable moment. This is how adults should not behave. Ever. Under any circumstances. This was poor sportsmanship epitomized. If not for the level headed, calm behavior demonstrated by both the referees and my daughter’s coach, this incident could have easily escalated into a dangerous situation. I hope my girls learned the importance of playing with dignity and respect, not only for yourself and your teammates, but also those girls you are playing against. I hope my girls appreciate how honorable their coach is. Winning is an integral part of playing a sport. My daughter is naturally competitive. I support that spirit within her. I can tell her over and over to be a good loser as well as a good winner but now she will understand why. Wining at all costs is worse than losing.

After the game I did find a Recreation Department employee and voiced my concern and my request for him to be removed as a coach. I will follow up it in writing and deliver it to the Recreation Department office with the Mayor cc’d on Monday.

The Perpetual Quest for Balance...

2012-01-21T09:48:00.000-05:00

Something interesting is happening in the nature of how we schedule our time to play. We have gone from having long stretches of time to play and play to short bursts of time that usually fall in between activities. Our weeks have taken on a steady rhythm that was missing in the fall.

The fall seemed chaotic. Too much activity. Too many playdates. Too many activities. When I had a day free I did not do my best to honor our time at home like I promised myself I would. It is so easy to say yes to tea with your friends and conversation that can stretch on for hours. In fact, there are times when we should say yes to this. Being home with our children 24/7 is a blessing. However, just like they need to be with friends their own age, so do we as mothers, need a chance to interact about things other than grammar, medieval history and fractions. But what was happening is that my only free day at home was taken up by playdates or appointments and the housework was not getting done, the meals I wanted to cook went uncooked and the dogs were getting lonely.

When December arrived and with it a much needed break from coop and Girl Scouts, the ending of Meteorology and a month long hiatus from Sunday School, I had the change to re-evaluate how I wanted our days to look like. I became frustrated with myself because I have had this conversation before. “I will honor my time.....I will not overschedule....blah...blah..blah.” If I continued to break my promises to myself I was threatening to compromise the one thing I set out to do in this homeschooling journey which was to give my children the time to explore their interests and the opportunities to learn as much as possible in a setting that is both peaceful and stimulating. While we certainly had stimulation, the peace was lacking a bit.

Now we have a flow to our days of work in the morning, play in the afternoon with a few activities thrown in for good measure. The girls kept their dog walking job. They have had this for two years and it is very important to them. They wanted to keep our artist/writer’s workshop, although this too has been on an extended break until the end of this month. They are keeping coop. They have added basketball. We still have Girl Scouts but we added Destination Imagination, which is a huge commitment, especially since the girls are on different teams that meet in different towns (each at least 30 minutes away).

To keep all this balanced we have to be very intentional in our scheduling. Through these activities the girls get time to play with their friends. What must be scheduled is the time to play with those friends that are not involved in the same activities as we are. I am eternally grateful that my iPhone allows me to sync my calendar with my computer. It is the first time I have been able to successfully manage our busy lives with ease. And so, rather than have the spontaneity of impromptu playdates that turn into sleepovers that result in lots of fun but also a bit of stress over missed math and incomplete stories and unfinished geography programs, we now have playdates that are shorter and definitely less impromptu but still magical in that these children can play. They take the time they have and make the most of it.

This is good for us. This is balanced for us. This is why I work so hard. Not a day goes by that I am not at my computer emailing asking about free time, trips to local places and dinner dates. We are spending quality time with people we care about. And if we have a play date at 2:00, it is a great incentive to get that math lesson finished!

Instagram

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

I've discovered Instagram.

Love.

My Fair Lazy

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

I recently read a book I picked up for $3.00 at a library book sale titled: My Fair Lazy, A Memoir by Jen Lancaster. The premise of this book gave me the misguided impression that this was "chick-lit". The author was having an interview with Candace Bushnell and was the topic of Baudelaire came up. She had no idea what or who Baudelaire was or is (it is a he actually, a French poet, but I had to google it to make sure). This leads her to question her life of writing and consuming massive doses of reality television while caring for her menagerie of pets and trying to rid her home of pesky vermin.

Wanting to be able to participate in social settings and discuss more than pop culture, Jen enlists the help of her friends to give herself a cultural makeover. I found her references to movies such as Clueless, the debut episode of MTV’s Real World, and Gossip Girl (all well known to me!) completely endearing. I think that Jen is someone whom I would love to talk to in real life but I will have to settle for a good read instead.

She reads poetry until she finds poets that she adores.
She attends the theater until she is fluent in the different styles of theater.
She visits practically every ethnic restaurant in Chicago.
She takes a wine and cheese tasting class with her husband.
She reads literature (which she finds is the original inspiration for much of Gossip Girl).

She discovers that she can remain true to her couch loving, reality show watching, snarky commenting self while expanding the definition of her “self”. As I read this book I could not help but make comparisons to the type of education I am trying to provide for Grace and Lilah.

Jen home educated herself, with the help of her friends, while having a very good time. I am educating my girls, with the help of many friends, while having a good time.

We are reading poetry, copying poetry, memorizing poetry. The girls know who Langston Hughes is as well as Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein. They have been to children’s theater performances at Fairfield University, Broadway musicals and concerts at Yale. They know several major composers and artists. They know that they love the Impressionists but do not love British and early American works of art. They are beginning to branch out with their food choices, trying Indian and Chinese as well as Mexican and Polish. They have read books ranging from biographies to fantasy, to realistic fiction. They recommend books to friends and receive recommendations in return. Oh my gosh.....they are educating themselves!

In the process I am also expanding my horizons. Education is never stagnant. It does not take a break in June for the summer or take three vacations a year. It does not end when you graduate. In fact, it has been my experience that this is when education really begins. When I was studying karate, my instructor told me that the real study of karate begins with a black belt, for this is when you can apply everything you have learned and put it together in new and interesting ways. I never made it to black belt, but I knew that what I was learning was just the foundation for what was to come. I feel this is the same with the learning we do up to grade 12. It is the foundation for what we will go on to learn once we have covered the basics.

I had no idea twenty years ago that I would want to learn about gardening, organic food, worm composting, homemade cosmetics and beauty products, and that the majority of my reading would be for information rather than just for pleasure. Who knew?

Jen turned her experience into a memoir. I have turned ours into a blog. I love that my girls will one day understand that their education was unique and created just for them. They are getting the basics on which to build their lifelong relationship with education. All these books, poems, movies, performances, and culinary experiences are the building blocks. Whether they decide to build a castle, a cottage, or a yurt is up to them, the ultimate owners of their educational experience.

Dream Big, Act Small

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking lately that God placed some people on this earth to accomplish very special things. They are able and willing to use their lives as a vehicle to inspire, educate, and transform others either directly or indirectly. I also think that we all have the ability to learn and transform our lives to better humanity in our own small way. We may not have the ability to impact millions, but if we can impact just one person with a gift of kindness then we have changed our own little corner of the world.

Take Tim Tebow. He had a hard night Saturday night. His team suffered a crushing defeat. But Tim did not. While his fans and his critics were analyzing each incomplete pass, each sac and whether or not his unconventional style will make him a great quarterback, they are missing the point. This man is great for reasons other than his ability to roll out of an onslaught of defenders. He is great because while others were celebrating their teams victory or mourning the loss, Yahoo Sports reported that Tim was taking time to visit with Zach McLeod, a young fan who suffered traumatic brain damage while playing football. He was not drowning in defeat, he was celebrating a young life. That is what makes him great. Not his passing yards or his jump passes.

I contributed $25 to The Tebow Foundation to help him continue the work he has begun. This man is really just a boy....all of 24 years old. Look at what he has accomplished. He will truly do great things.

Take Mother Teresa, my own spiritual guru. I have spent time this past year reading about her, and teaching my Sunday School students about her life. She was a nun, someone who devoted her life to her faith. In doing so, God choose her accomplish what some consider miracles. When I question if my actions really amount to much I remember this quote:
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

Take Bethany Hamilton. I am struck by how inspirational her story is. Through her faith she was able to overcome a devastating injury and continue on as a surfer and a humanitarian. Her determination inspires others who may have had hardship in their lives, yet choose not to be deterred. Grace has been reading Bethany Hamilton's devotional in her Sunday School Class and I am grateful to her teacher for showing the students that you do not have to be a Saint to accomplish great things in your life. You need to trust in your faith, or your spirituality, trust that there is a greater purpose for your life and move in that direction. Live life well, with kindness and compassion, smile, laugh, say please and thank you, offer assistance when not asked, thank your God, dream big and act small.

I think that may become my family motto for 2012, dream big, act small. Tim, Bethany and Mother Teresa give us examples of how we can do this but there are examples around us everywhere. Lilah’s friend over at Frog Creek raised money for endangered animals. She wants this to be a year of giving. The girls’ Girl Scout Troop has raised money for the Red Cross and lots of food for the local food pantry. My Sunday School classes have raised money for Haiti, donated jeans to Aeropostale’s Teens For Jeans program, and baked dessert for a monthly dinner our church sponsors at a residential treatment facility. Our family has raised over 1,000 books for local charities. We have also sponsored a child in Tennessee through Save the Children. My goal is to accomplish more small acts of charity often.

Check out The Tim Tebow Foundation to see if his philosophy and intentions align with yours.

I will post my shirt once it arrives!

**These are my unsolicited thoughts and opinions. I was not contacted to act on behalf of The Tim Tebow Foundation, despite wishing that very much!

My life...our lives....the way we live them

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about blogging. Specifically, how my blog has evolved as I have evolved. When I printed year 2010 out as a book, I read through it and was taken back to that time in my life when I was having a viscous internal debate over the merits and the flaws of the public school system. Because I was a teacher in my former life and I am the relative of many teachers, I tried to word my internal debate in a way that would allow me to question the validity of school while at the same time respect the fact that we need good teachers. Perhaps this internal debate should have been kept internal. Perhaps I ruffled a few feathers. I hoped to have a dialogue and many of my posts were catalysts for what types of changes we would love to see in public schools.

I no longer really feel the need to comment on schools. I still get aggravated when I see how stupid some rules and regulations are in a system that simply could not function with our the categorization of students and a strict adherence to conformity. Like this sign in the school where my daughters play basketball. Really? It makes me grateful that they can have water, as much water as they would like, anytime they would like, without having to raise their hand, wait for permission and then be told how much (or how little) water they can consume.

Now I think very little about school....well....that is not true. I do think about what would happen if my children went back to school. Where they would go. Where would be the best fit after an experience such as this. We have no democratic schools close by. But since neither of my children want to return to school, I have begun to turn my thoughts towards higher education, despite the fact that Grace rolled her eyes and told me I am being crazy. Perhaps I am, but I never want my girls to miss an opportunity because of the fact that they were not prepared.

For most of 2011 I wrote about my new found education -- obsession with food, nutrition, and the food industry. The Omnivore’s Dilemma literally changed my life. It was not, as Oprah would label it an “ah ha moment”, nor was it a “lightbulb moment”. It was a getting smacked in the face with a sledgehammer moment. Once you are enlightened to the likes of Monsanto and the term GMO, of the neurological implications of food coloring and the evils of processed food, how can you turn away from that knowledge and pretend you never learned it? Then, you digest the knowledge and it eats away at you. You start to change. You rip apart your cabinets, you purge, you budget and you change the way you purchase. But you also want to share. Not because your way is the “best” way or that you are suddenly “enlightened” but because you care. You care about those you love who may or may not have read the material you read and who may still never have heard of GMO, Monsanto, know the real reasons why grass fed beef is best and every product that contains aspartame should also contain skull and crossbones. You want them to know. You want them to be safe and healthy and nurtured by their food. You talk to them and you write on your blog and you recommend books and you talk about Michael Pollan as if he is your new best friend. Perhaps I was overzealous. Perhaps I came across as elitist. I meant to come across as concerned.

Now I don’t write so much about food. That does not mean that my education has ended. Nope. Now I subscribe to Mother Earth News, and Urban Farm magazines. I watch every documentary about the food industry on Netflix. I am learning how to make homemade cosmetic products. I love beeswax. I have beeswax. How cool is that??!! I have also realized that people have to take their own journey, make their own choices and unless you have that “ah ha” moment, my words are going to sound judgmental. I don’t blog to judge. Just to share my thoughts with who ever wants to listen and share back with me.

So where does that leave me now? It leaves me with a blog that is about a family, who happens to homeschool, who enjoys eating locally grown organic food when they can, who is learning all the time and trying to fit in as many adventures as possible. It is a place where I share my thoughts as they are at the time they pop into my brain. I may change my mind, the readers may help me to see things in a different perspective. My opinions are just that, my opinions, based on what I know and what I am willing and able to validate. There are somethings I know for sure. But those things may be different that what someone else knows for sure. That someone may be my friend who may happen to be a teacher, my friend who may happen to be a democrat, my friend who may happen not to practice a religion, my friend who may happen to be send their children to public school, my friend who may happen to not. It is a big world. There is room for us all.

I hope that in my sharing of my thoughts and feelings and internal dialogue, part of my journey may connect with others. I have grown exponentially from the questions raised in blogs that I read faithfully. I often read blogs that differ philosophically from me so that I can seek an awareness of other points of view and be able to constantly support my own views with critical analysis. I have learned about many different teaching styles and philosophies that I have implemented to varying degrees in my home. I have tried new recipes, discovered new products, and been inspired to step out of my comfort zone. Through this blogland, I have made friends....real friends. Friends I have met in person, spoke to on the phone and like a whole lot.

This year I hope to continue those relationships and perhaps begin new ones as I continue to keep on keepin’ on. I will keep writing. Some may keep reading. Some may not. The thing about blogging is even though it is personal, at times deeply so, it really isn’t. This is just my little part of the world, in a little house, with two children, two dogs, two frogs and two parents who happen to be best friends. What we do or don’t do really doesn’t matter to anyone but us......but to us it matters more than words and pictures. It is our history. It is for me to write and print and read someday when I am old and ~~gray~~ grayer. I will smile at the pictures of my girls making a garden with their Dad and I will remember fondly our road trips and tag along trips. I will reminisce about the trials and tribulations of educating your children at home. I will laugh over the little things that make me angry or frustrated and realize that there are so few things that really should make me angry or frustrated because each and every day is a gift. A gift I plan to cherish. Each and every day.

This is my life...our lives....the way we live them. This is how I will blog for 2012.

Homeschool Mother's Journal Week of January 9th

2012-01-14T21:50:00.000-05:00

In My Home This Week: The girls had their first basketball game. For Lilah, it was her first game ever. Grace has been playing with the Rec League for years and has participated in many clinics with another favorite coach of hers, but this was her first game with a new team and she was apprehensive. I have never played on a sports team, so I am not the best person to give advice, but the advice I gave was to play hard. Do not hold back. Do not give up. Earn your place on this team.

There is so much about competitive sports that I do not like. But I have to say my girls are fortunate. They have a coach who cares about each girl as a person as much as he cares about how well they know the game. He is supportive while being an authority figure. My girls want to play their best for him. I don’t know if it gets any better than that!

They both played their best. At first Lilah looked like a deer caught in headlights as she played the position of center. By by half time she was catching on. She made two beautiful assists. She drove with me to the game full of apprehension and fear. She left the game eager to play again next week.

In My Home School This Week: Both girls are part of two separate Destination Imagination teams. Grace’s team has been established and she was asked to join. Lilah’s team was just formed this past November. They are working very hard on instant challenges and developing their big team project. This means lots of driving for me, but it is worth it. They have their first event: Instant Challenge Day next weekend.

math: Grace completed Book 1 of Key to Fractions and scored a 96% of the test. Lilah is working every day on Horizons and still seems to be happy with the choice, even if I can’t yet say she “enjoys” math. I am disappointed that Horizons does not offer a middle school math program. I was hoping to use it for Grace next year. I have looked at A Beka math and like the content but I am not sure how Grace will connect to the text. My friend has the books and I may ask to borrow it for a week and have her try it out.

science: We are working on Flying Creatures. We did the experiment in Chapter 1 with two straws that demonstrates how differences in air pressure create lift.

writing: Grace wrote a lovely letter to the President of her father’s company thanking him for the Holiday Party that made one of her dreams come true. She is not loving writing. I asked her what she would like to write about, and now we are discussing how to incorporate her interests into her writing. Lilah is up to page 9 (hand written 8x11 pages) of an amazing story. Every day she reads me and every day I laugh out loud. You will see why....I truly hope she lets me share it when it is complete.

history: We rocked. We finished mapwork for Chapter 7 and completed reading chapter 8. I still have to update our Book of Centuries but we have the entries listed on our chalk board door. They include Amelia Earhart, Clara Barton, Pres. Lincoln, Yang Chien and Li Yuan.

What We Are Reading:

Lilah was the only one to finish a book this week. She held off on reading this book because it is the last book in her series and it was very bittersweet. She is hoping that authors are furiously typing so that new releases may be coming soon.

What I Am Pondering: My 15th anniversary is this spring and I am tossing around some different ways to celebrate it. Greg and I had one of those masses that people still talk about 15 years later. Unfortunately, not for the right reasons. The priest did not know us, he forgot my name, he insulted my cousin who graciously agreed to play the violin, he was snarky with my flower girl nieces, and he gave the worst sermon in the history of wedding masses. As I knelt at the alter, I heard Greg’s college friends snickering behind me. Ah....the memories.

We are now at a church where we are actively involved and the priest knows my family. I would love to find a way to commemorate 15 years of marriage in a way that celebrates our love, our family and our faith. Shel planted an idea in my head. We’ll see if it sprouts!

Tales 2 Go

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

When it comes to purchasing things that the girls will be using for their learning, I can be pretty picky. I hate to waste money on things of poor quality or content. We invest our money in art supplies, books, Amazon Prime, Netflix and the curriculum items they need for their content areas.

I was recently made aware of Tales 2 Go, a subscription based, database of children’s audiobooks. The library of stories is vast and the selection of stories range from 10 minute tales of Anansi the Spider, to unabridged versions of classics like Black Beauty. The subscription was on sale at Homeschool Buyers Coop for half off, or $39.99 for one year. This is about the equivalent of purchasing two audiobooks off iTunes, or probably what I would owe for a year to the library in late fees on all the books we take out and linger over past the due date.

I have the app on my iPhone so if we are out and about, and I have only one child, she can pick a short story that can be listened to in the duration of our car ride. If it is not complete, she has the choice to pop in some earbuds and listen to it at home, or just wait for our next trip alone in the car. Today for example, while driving home from dropping Grace off at DI practice, Lilah picked one of her comfort reads, a 60 minute Judy Moody story. We will finish it on the way back to pick Grace up. Viola! One extra book in her literary repertoire! Love it!

** I was not asked to review this product and received no compensation for my endorsement.

Taking Flight

2012-01-12T07:58:00.000-05:00

Lilah has wanted to do this forever. It just so happens that it ties in to our science study of flying creatures. Love it when that happens.

You would think that four children, elbow deep in peanut butter and pine cones would make one heck of a mess. Actually, they did. But something really amazing happened to this mess. It was cleaned up. When I went into the basement to check on their pine cone creations there was not a stray seed to be found.

Perhaps because I am letting my children stretch their own wings and take those tentative first test flights out of the safety of their mother’s nest, they are feeling a bit more responsible and connected to the family. Before this “mess” was created, the pine cones had to be gathered. The children wanted to walk to the park alone. This is the furthest I have let them wander but since they had a purpose, several people, and a cell phone, I let them. They returned 15 minutes later loaded down with pine cones and covered in sap and smiles.

Lilah took care in placing her pine cone gifts around our yard. We know the squirrels appreciated her gift. We are still waiting for the birds to come around.

These pictures were taken by Lilah with my camera.

Tim Tebow

2012-01-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

I never thought that I would say that I am jealous that Greg is going to a football game without me. Lucky dog gets to go to the Patriots/Denver game Saturday and watch Tim Tebow compete head to head against Tom Brady. For this game I would suit up in my now famous silk thermals, stick some boot warmers in my Uggs to help brave the Massachusetts' cold and while I am sure I would still freeze my tookas off, I would actually care about the outcome.

Last week I finished reading Through My Eyes, the auto biography of Tim’s young life. I find him and his story fascinating. He first came to my attention when the Super Bowl advertisement he made with his mother for Focus on the Family received attention for the assumption it would be nothing more than propaganda for the pro life side of the abortion debate. Then this season his name began popping up here and there. Suddenly people were doing the “Tebow” and my friend from church was wearing his jersey. He was fodder for late night comedians. I listened to Piers Morgan interview his co-author, Nathan Whitaker. I read Bill Maher's distasteful tweet. I needed to know more about this man and his life.

To highlight:

Tim won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore while playing at the University of Florida.
He led the University of Florida to a national championship.
Tim was named the Offensive MVP in the 2008 National Championships.
He was selected in the 1st round of the 2010 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos.

When I told Greg that he has a biography and I was reading it he was surprised wondering why he has a biography out now when he is so young and his NFL career is just beginning. Tim addresses this in his introduction. Having received so much publicity for his religious views, his homeschooling, and his birth story, he wanted to tell the world his story, through his eyes.

I enjoyed his story. His mother was advised to end her pregnancy as his birth posed a threat to her health and survival. She declined this advice and delivered a healthy, albeit small, baby boy. This boy grew up in the Philippines where his father was a missionary spreading the word of Jesus to those living in remote villages. Upon returning to the United States, he was homeschooled in Florida with his brothers and sisters and grew up on a farm. His childhood was built upon a loving family, solid values, a hard work ethic, and athletics. His faith shaped his soul.

Unlike many teenagers who grow away from their faith, Tim embraced his. I admire that for every phase of his life, every hardship, triumph, frustration and celebration he can recite scripture verbatim, from memory. I do not know the Bible well enough to do this and I respect that he does. I also respect that unlike so many celebrity athletes, musicians and actors, he seeks the role of role model rather than shirking from it.

The news has given prime time coverage to Chris Brown’s domestic violence, Lindsay Lohan’s stints in rehab, Kim Khardashian’s 70 day marriage and Tiger’s infidelities. How refreshing to see a young person actually want to be a positive role model, to want to show a younger generation the power of prayer, hard work, dedication and perseverance. How inspiring to see someone thrive in the face of criticism and win in the wake of negativity.

I can’t say that I read every word of Tim’s book. I skimmed the account of football game after football game. The details of who caught a pass and who fumbled did not hold my interest. However, there is something to be learned from how hard this man works to prepare himself for life. He works as hard on the field as he does off the field.

He is someone who clearly walks the walk.

He is leading his teammates to victory, he is leading strangers to the Bible.
He is inspiring children,.
He is working in orphanages.
He is building playrooms in hospitals.
He is saving himself for marriage.

He is someone that I hope my children look up to.

He has inspired me.

Deer Cam

2012-01-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

The cycle of life is something than can be a challenge to observe in a city. We have had a few opportunities over the years, like when a hawk was dropping dead squirrels onto our sidewalk from the tree tops. That happened to us twice, while walking! Ewww and way cool at the same time.

We have a pond where we can observe aquatic birds feeding, snapping turtles mating and an occasional deer stroll by. But for in the woods wildlife, there is only one place for us to go.....to Frog Creek! (pop on over for more pics)

On the last day of hunting season, the Papa at Frog Creek shot his first deer! It was cleaned and butchered and the meat frozen to be used over the long winter. The parts that cannot be consumed by humans still serve a purpose. They were consumed by the wild things that live on the edges on Frog Creek. Since MamaK is so amazingly cool, she let us hike to the edge of her property where the deer was dragged and dropped. A night cam with motion detector photography was set up five feet away on a tree. We went to collect the camera and identify what came to feast while we were sleeping....

Red Fox

Coyote

Red Tail Hawk

At Frog Creek we:

have seen baby chicks emerge from their shells.
have seen goats just hours before and after birth.
have seen ducklings grow from adorable sweet creatures into nasty fowl who attack without provocation.
have learned about carnivorous plants.
have identified paw prints.
learned to ride a horse.
caught toads by the creek.
picked fresh eggs from the chicken coop.

These things I could not give my children on my own.

Thank you Creeklings for sharing your world of nature with us!

Homeschool Mother's Journal: Week of January 2

2012-01-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

In my Home This Week: We spent a great deal of time while Greg was off working around the house. Many things were scratched off my to-do list like: steam cleaning the bathroom, cleaning our my closet and deep cleaning my bedroom. Greg took apart our office desk and transformed the room into a reading nook. This freed up space in our family room for more Lego creating and hopefully we will be able to move the piano in there now to give Grace a room with a door to play ‘till her heart’s content. We took several trips to Goodwill with clothes, books and knick knacks. The result is that our house is getting easier to pick up at the end of the day. Things are finding a home and putting them away is possible. Before we would pile things up. Now we put things away. It feels good...really good.

In my Home School This Week: After our two week break for the holidays I am enjoying being back on a routine. I think the girls are as well.

History: We read Chapter 7 of SOTW. In Chapter 6 we learned how similar Christianity is to Islam and in Chapter 7 we learned how different they are at the same time.

Math: Grace completed 20 pages in Key To Fractions Book 1. This is mostly review right now but it solidifies her understanding before it gets more complicated. Lilah has completed three lessons in her Horizons Textbook. We have decided that Fridays will be “Business Math Fridays” and they will try to do as much as possible to finish up their simulation with the help of calculators!

Science: We began Apologia’s Zoology 1: Flying Creatures. We learned how to classify animals, and reviewed binomial nomenclature. We had high hopes for a bird walk sponsored by The Audubon but it did not match our expectations. The independent pet store in town has ordered us a small bird feeder for our kitchen window. That should be in next week and we are looking forward to picking it up and attracting some flying creatures to watch from the warmth of inside our home!

Writing: Grace wrote a poem that was inspired by hand soap her Aunt gave her. Lilah wrote 4 hand written pages of a story that she aspires to turn into a movie with her friends. She is writing every day, sometimes until ten o’clock at night when I have to tell her to go to bed so she has energy to write some more the next day! I hope she gives me permission to share it...hint...hint Lilah!

What We Are Reading:

Me: I love both these books for different reasons obviously. I will be doing posts about both in the near future...

Lilah:

Grace:

What I am Pondering: “I do not know what the future holds, but I know who holds my future.” I read this in the epilogue of the Tim Tebow biography and it struck a chord with me. As this new year begins with so much promise for those in my house, a member of my extended family is ending her three year battle with cancer. She is only 45. She is constantly on my mind. What eases the pain of loss for me is knowing with certainty that this is not the end. This is just the beginning. We will see each other again in the future when we meet he who holds us in the palm of his hand.

Epic Fail

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Just as I finished the reading for our first day of Zoology, and we reviewed binomial nomenclature and animal classification, created our title page in our nature journal and wrote the clever reminder: Kings Play Chess On Fine Glass Sets (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, etc), I popped over to the Audubon site page to see if there were any upcoming events in our area.

"Connecticut Audubon Society will lead a public bird walk on January 5 from 9-11 a.m. We will take a look at what wintering ducks are present and see how many species we can find at the mouth of the Housatonic River. This is a great opportunity to bird one of the prime locations in Connecticut and get a head start on your list for the New Year.

The walk will be free and we suggest bringing binoculars and a spotting scope, if you have one. Make sure to dress for the season! It is usually safe to assume that this exposed coastal spot is windier and colder than much of the state. We will definitely be looking for another Snowy Owl and other beautiful rarities!"

http://www.ctaudubon.org/

Sweet, yes?

Actually....no.

We dressed for the weather. I was toasty in my new silk thermals from LL Bean but my children made fun of me. Even though I thought they were appropriately layered with hats, scars and gloves, they were cold.

“Mom...my feet are cold. Actually, I can’t feel my toes.”

“Mom...my hands are numb.”

“Mom...my legs are cold.”

“Mom...my nose hurts.”

“Mom...it is so cold I feel sick.”

That was the first five minutes. Even though my body was toasty roasty, my fingers were indeed turning numb and my cheeks felt like frostbite was setting in. We decided it would be better once we were moving.

Have you ever been on a bird walk with avid bird watchers?

There is not much moving. There is the picking of a spot, the setting up of binoculars and not much else. I was disappointed. The guide did call out the species of birds he saw. Loon, black duck, other birds I can’t remember. No teaching though. No interesting facts and tidbits about the birds native to our area. Nothing on their habitat, diet, nesting, mating. Nada. Even more disappointing was that a gray seal was spotted but we missed it.

What did we learn from this outing?

Well....that we have no desire to pick up bird watching as a hobby.

That grey seals can be spotted at this site and we will return to gaze out upon the Long Island Sound on a warmer day.

That it is time for Grace to organize another beach clean up.
That Lilah has the same weird reaction to wool as her father.

That they will never ever make fun of their mother's silk thermals again.

Curriculum Changes

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

We have made some shifts in our curriculum for the winter semester which began for us on January 3rd.

Math- we are still plugging away at Business Math but at this point the girls are getting a bit bored. Running a business with a fiscal year of 12 months is too long. We need to see if their efforts produced a profit for their business at year-end but it is time to move on. We decided to make Fridays "Business Math Fridays" and plug away a little bit at a time with lots of calculator usage!

Grace began Key To Fractions and is 20 pages into Book 1. I am using this series with a 7th Grader that I tutor and I love it. It has 4 books that give comprehensive instruction of fractions. My plan is to have Grace work on the Key To books for the remainder of 6th grade (including the Key To Decimals, Percents, Measurement,and Geometry). Then she will have everything she needs to begin a middle school program next year.

Lilah has moved back into a text book. Despite my love for experiential learning, Lilah still disliked doing the Business Math program. In order to insure that she is exposed to what she needs, I have placed her in Horizons Grade 4 text. Each lesson is three pages and takes about 30 minutes to complete. She is not fussing too much...yet.

Science - This time last year we began our in depth study of botany. Since Lilah knows so much about animals, and she has a love for learning about insects, we chose Apologia’’s Zoology 1: Flying Creatures. We pulled out our nature journals and began a new title page. We ordered a small plexiglass bird feeder that will suction on to our kitchen window so we can feed birds and watch them from the comfort of our dining room table, where we will be learning about them!

As far as our other areas of learning like reading, writing and history, things will stay the same. We are not going to mess with what is working so well for us!

Hopes and Dreams

2012-01-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

I am not the kind of person who makes and keeps resolutions. I feel like I am setting myself up to fail if I make unrealistic goals like: I will exercise 30 minutes every day or I will give up coffee. Both those things are not happening in 2012. Rather, I like to focus on what I have accomplished in the past year and build on those successes. 2011 was a very successful year for our family. We:

improved our diets through the increased consumption of locally grown and sourced food and organics when feasible.
mastered the art of the green smoothie and purchased a juicer. Greg could seriously open his own juice bar. His blends are that good.
maintained two plots at the Community Garden and created our very first back yard garden.
experienced successful vermiculture (worm composting)
created beautiful meals from our efforts and shared them with others.
traveled more than I had anticipated with two trips to Chicago, an overnight stay in Ohio, a long weekend in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a week in Tennessee, a week in Cape Cod, a long weekend at the Marine Science Consortium in Virginia followed by two days in Washington, DC.
day-tripped to New York City.
visited new museums, galleries, and ethnic restaurants.
reduced our television viewing to the point where we are debating canceling our cable subscription.
read more books than I thought possible and listened to some amazing audio books.
joined a coop where the children are learning in a nurturing environment.
learned new sports such as tennis for both girls and for Lilah...basketball!
joined a competitive problem solving team where the girls have fun while working with their friends on some pretty tough scenarios.
saw the safe return of an Uncle from deployment to Afghanistan and a cousin from Iraq.

There are so many opportunities that are in store for us this year. I realize that this year my girls will turn 10 and 12, which to me seems like a stone’s throw away from becoming teenagers. I want to hold on to this time and live in the moment. I want to spend time with them, learning alongside them, laughing with them, crying with them, holding their hand while they will still let me. I want to stand on the sideline as they take their first steps away from me giving them a gently push when needed, or helping them to move out of their comfort zone and soothing them when something they had their heart set on does not work out quite the way they planned.

This year I hope to continue to educate myself on matters that matter to me. I want to explore the state we live in more thoroughly and through it learn its history and legends. I want to read fabulous books, write fabulous words and create fabulous meals (to be accompanied by fabulous wine). I want to embrace being 40 and finally, for the first time in a very long time, enjoy the feeling of being comfortable in my own skin. I want to nurture my marriage and spend as much time together as possible talking and interacting and enjoying my best friend. I want to celebrate our 15 years of marriage and 17 years of friendship.

This year I want my girls to enjoy one another yet find time and space away from each other as well. Their unique interests may lead in completely different directions this year and I hope they grab each opportunity with both hands and hold on tightly. I want them to continually build on their knowledge, applying what they have already learned to what they are just being introduced to. I want them to take classes, go on trips, play with friends, compete, create, read, dream, imagine, explore, discover, ponder, debate, decipher, write, and wonder.

2011...I will remember you fondly.

2012....I have big hopes for you.

Good Fortune

2011-12-31T08:29:00.000-05:00

Friends. This past year we have been blessed to develop deep friendships with some amazing families. These are children you want to have hanging out with your children. These are children you have to invite to stay for dinner because the play time is just not long enough.

Last night Lilah had one of those friends over. Give these girls free access to anything in the kitchen and wonder never ceases. (to clarify....if the past if I have organic flour, this would not have been allowed and I did ask them not to use the organic eggs. But since this is plain old flour, they could go wild!)

Flour, baking powder, food coloring, water, sugar. I’m sure there were a few more ingredients but I was not in the kitchen while they were concocting (other than to snap a photo or two..).

They made beautiful play dough.

But before it turned into the doughy consistency, it was mostly bright red and liquid....the perfect color and consistency for fake blood. Remember, this is the girl who enjoyed making fake poo out of mud and leaving it around the sidewalk to fake out those passing by.

She totally faked out her Dad and sister with a story about a fall off her pogo stick.

After we all sat down to a lovely meal, we were treated to handmade “future fortune” cookies. What a perfect way to end the day!

A New Game

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

Now that I have maps up in between our dining room and kitchen, the girls spend time marking the states we have visited and the countries we have covered in Story of the World.

One evening Lilah was looking at the map and wondered what the traditional dress of Hawaii is. The next thing I knew she ran upstairs and came down dressed like she was about to visit the beach in Waikiki.

A game was created.
We call it:

ResearchACountryAndComeDownstairsDressedInTraditionalDressGame.

Did you catch that? This is how you play:
Mom picks a country randomly.

Lilah and her friends look it up the traditional dress of said country on Google.

Lilah rummages through her closet, my closet and the attic until she recreates the look of the country.

She models it.

Mali

Mongolia

Russia

The only downside to this game is the mess that was created and left on the floor after the game was finished. My silk vest that came from Shanghai may now be officially off limits!

So Proud

2011-12-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

Greg’s company is located in an office building that has at least 20 floors. When we were visiting the day of the corporate holiday party, we noticed the building had a Toys For Tots bin set up in the lobby. It was practically empty.

We have a soft spot for Toys For Tots. My brother is a Marine after all! My girls were concerned that so few toys had been donated just days before Christmas. I don’t know if the donations were scant, or if Toys For Tots had already arranged for a pick up and these toys were part of a second pick up. Regardless, my girls wanted to do their part for both the Marines and children in need.

When we were running to Target to get some gifts for my nephew, Lilah asked if she could have her dog walking money. Normally I would go into the typical Mom speech of “It is so close to Christmas....I don’t think you need to buy yourself something right now....don’t waste your money...blah...blah..blah.” This time I just shut my mouth and handed her the $5.

At Target she looked in the book section. I assumed she was looking for the elusive last book in her Poison Apple Series. She moved on. She looked in the toy section. Just as I was about to ask her what she was doing, she said she found what she was looking for -- a $5 Lego kit. She informed me she was purchasing it so her Dad could bring it to work the next day and place it in the Toys For Tots bin. Oh my, I was proud of my little girl.

She could not understand why I wanted to snap a picture commemorating this moment in her childhood, but I took it anyway!

She went home and told her sister what she had done. Grace immediately went and got her money. She chipped in $10 of her dog walking money. Lilah took another $5 and they went with Greg after he got home from work to buy more.

He brought the gifts and and sent the girls this message:

The drop off...

Gregory

Dec 19 (9 days ago)

to me

Is done. So proud of you girls!

2 attachments —

Proud is exactly what we are of them.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T09:12:00.000-05:00

There are few things in life you can count on as absolutes. Yet, every Christmas we know that there will be at least one child spending Christmas Eve in our bed, too excited to allow her tired body the rest is so needs. I wonder when she is 16, will she still snuggle in with us? There will be cinnamon rolls for breakfast and coffee made before any presents are opened. Our day will start at 6:30 and there is no need for an alarm. The presents we give each other will always be the favorites. These things I know for sure.

There will be joy on this child’s face. This child loves holidays, with Christmas being her favorite. This child prepares. She spends the weeks leading up to Christmas making handmade cards, gift for her dolls, gifts for her friends and family. She finds joy in lighting candles, wrapping presents, and watching other open the gifts she carefully selects. Nothing makes me happier than watching this child enjoy Christmas.

This child feels. She feels the joy in the season and she is aware of the sadness. She understands that she is blessed and feels for others who may not have the same opportunities as she. She looks at her new things and is willing to part with her old things so that they may be rehomed, given away to others who need them more. This is the child that along with her sister, spent her own money to help fill the Toys For Tots bin at her father’s office building. This is the child who asks how we can help. This child will grow up and use that character trait for great things. I just know it.

This is the Dad that we adore. He is our rock. He sacrifices for his girls. He is away from us for many hours at a time. But when he walks through the door, he is all ours. He never brings his work home with him. His office issues stay at the office and he devotes 100% of himself to his girls. He is the kind of Dad that plays. Uno, Clue, Legos, Wii, he hardly ever says no. He has given the girls countess memories of quality time spent with their Dad.

I am the Mom who tries her best to pull it all together. I am the one who makes sure their clothes are clean for Christmas Eve mass and beams with pride at her daughter on the alter. I am the Mom who sits back and takes it all in, this family of mine, as we celebrate a very special birth. I hold onto the joy and the love and the peace and the harmony. I hold it very deep within my heart. We are blessed.

Hark The Herald Angels Sing!

2011-12-24T10:57:00.001-05:00

Spectacular!

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas in New York is magical. The city truly does have a palpable energy, and Christmastime is New York’s moment to shine. The Salvation Army collectors ring their bells while dancing and handing out free cds to those, like my Grace, who gave their own pocket change. The crowds seem more pleasant. The pace slightly slower.

Grand Central Station

This was our second trip in as many weeks. Greg scored another point for getting tickets for us to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular! Having a Dad that works in Manhattan has some advantages.... It has to, in order to offset the major disadvantages (mainly that he is never home!).

Outside

Inside!

Our seats...

The show is nothing short of spectacular. My girls were enthralled. Flash photography was not allowed, but I was able to catch some of the main acts with my flash-free setting.

The Reindeer opened the show.

A visit to the North Pole.

There was 3-D incorporated into the show. I did not like this. Not only do I dislike 3-D movies, this scene was meant to be a video game being played at the North Pole. The point of the video game was to spread Christmas cheer. I felt this update took away from the nostalgia of an old-fashioned Christmas show.

My favorite....Christmas in New York.

Nutcracker Suite!

The closing....the live Nativity Scene. Breathtaking.

Fortunately for us, due to a misprint or miscalculation on the part of Radio City, our tickets were assigned for the 21st rather than the 22nd. This meant we were going the very same day as some of our favorite people! They saw the 2:00 show and we saw the 5:00 show, but our paths were able to cross at Rockefeller Center for some hot cocoa and a bit of holiday merriment.

Merry Christmas!

Cookie Day!

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

As children grow and mature it can be harder to hold on to the traditions that began when they were just infants. This has been especially true this year. My nieces who were once flower girls at my wedding are now in college. My nephews play winter sports. Finding the time to get together on a weekend is pretty close to impossible. But we try. Before my girls were born, my sister-in-law began a tradition of cookie day.

Cookie Day became something my girls look forward to every year. Peanut Butter balls dipped in melted chocolate, Gram’s famous butter cookies, and fruit cups are what my girls chose to bake this year. Thankfully both my girls and their Aunt were willing to roll with the changes that growing up can bring. It was a much smaller event this year. Their 9 year old cousin came over to bake and ended up spending the night. Our traditional cookie day of 9 kids has been reduced to just 3 but the holiday spirit of this day has not changed.

My girls no longer need much guidance in the kitchen. They learn that if they make a nut cup too large it will not cook right. They know if they roll the butter dough too thin, it will burn. They have learned this through trial and error over the years.

The result of their efforts are cookies for us to eat and share. A platter was hand delivered to our neighbors next door who kindly look upon my girls as their surrogate great grandchildren. Another platter was brought to dinner at their Grandmother’s house. Some went home with their cousin. My girls are like little mice. Every time I open the refrigerator door, I notice one more peanut butter ball has disappeared. The mice. It must be the mice.