For Jerralea

What About Socialization? Or Why I'm Glad I Was Homeschooled

Here's a good article:

http://theparsonsdaughters.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-im-glad-i-was-homeschooled.html

Rainy Day!

It's been raining all day here. A nice slow drizzle sometimes, a harder rain for a few minutes, just the kind that's good for the garden. We have some candles burning, which is nice - the house smells like butter-pecan.

I was gone over Monday night until Tuesday night with my husband, so today has been catch-up day. I unpacked the suitcase and Carrie did all the laundry, I folded it, and she put it away. I've made peanut butter cookie dough, but haven't had time to make the cookies yet, which are destined to be given away tomorrow. I've taken Anna back for an eye recheck (all clear! we just have to taper off the meds now!). I'm working on a grocery list and a library list for tomorrow's errands. Abby finished the Reading Made Easy book (yea!) and Carrie did heaps of math, hoping to finish her math book this week. Thomas moved into 3-digit multiplication today and is almost finished with his math book. We finished our bio about Jim Elliott and won't start another missionary book until we start school again this summer.

I'm waiting for someone to come over and work on the leaky sink (again!). Still have to walk with the Leslie Sansone tape since it's too wet to walk up to the church gym. Have to bake cookies, which is an enjoyable late-afternoon activity for today.

I love a rainy day!!

For Today (March 23, 2009)

Outside my window...

The sun is shining, the grass is green, the pear trees are changing from blooms to leaves, the forsythia has been blooming for about 2 weeks, the daffodils are almost at the end, and the air is warmer.

I am thankful for...

My full bench at church yesterday because everyone was well enough to go together!

From the learning rooms...

Finishing up a lot of books over the next 2 or 3 weeks. Figuring out our next couple of Five in a Row books. Finishing The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar this week and making a lapbook. Getting quarterly grades done sometime this week so I can see how many school days we have left and deciding just what needs to be finished before I let us out for spring/summer vacation.

From the kitchen...

Peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies to give away this week. Tacos today. Chinese with homemade eggrolls sometime this week. Our Thursday meal is beans and rice with tortillas in the summer, chili in the winter. I'll continue making chili on Thursday until the weather gets warmer.

I am creating...

I'm going to be away with my husband for a day while he's at an important meeting. I'm hoping to use that time to work on some menu ideas, blog ideas, school planning for next year, next week's Sunday School lesson, read a bit, and just generally have some spiritual renewal time (it's a loooonnng meeting!).

I am going...

On an overnight trip to a very quiet, woodsy place with my best friend and staying in a very nice hotel room - camping and Joy are not two words that go together!

I am hoping...

That life calms down after this week.

I am hearing...

The sounds of 3 children quietly eating and playing while the others are asleep, my daughter getting ready to go to work.

One of my favorite things....

Again this week, the things my small children say.

Katie and Abby (6) looking at the garden.
Abby: When are we going to plant the bikinis? (zucchinis)

No bikinis in THIS house! lol (We're not big on zucchinis, either!)

A few plans for the rest of the week...

I don't think I'm going to list any. For the past 4 weeks, plans have changed daily, even hourly. I think I'll just wait and see what the Lord has in store for us this week and work on my Lenten resolve of learning not to complain and work on contentment a bit more.

Here is a picture thought I'm sharing....


Look at what we got for free at the thrift store last week! They are now happily residing on top of my grandmother's Hoosier cabinet, next to a basket of pink geraniums.

Saturday Sweetbriar

Saturday is a "catch-up" school day for us. I look at the planbook and see what we've skipped or which things we need to finish or do a little more work on. Today I read from A Child's History of the World to Thomas and Carrie and had spelling with Thomas. We worked on Shakespeare for awhile, Carrie typed it out, and I looked over her work. We could skip math today because we accomplished a lot this week. Abby and I had a reading lesson. Anna did a lot of algebra and some writing and a lot of Bible. Emily practiced the piano, but she could skip Algebra II today because she finished the course this week. Yea, Emily!

Since we are rowing The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar for 2 weeks and it's a long book, we didn't read it today. Instead we looked at our 3-D Explorer book about Oceans, which is an interesting book with neat fold-outs of different ocean scenes. We read The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow, Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie by Peter and Connie Roop and Now I Know Horses. Abby and I made a loaf of orange-blueberry bread to have for breakfast on Monday morning, which is our sleep-in day. Meanwhile, I've found an illustration of pints, quarts, and gallons and we'll use it in the kitchen tonight to learn about measurement.

We've made the BBQ and mixed the baked beans and made some great-looking brownies from a new recipe for tomorrow's lunch. The laundry is all done (but I have to fold it and put it away in a little while), the house is clean, the clothes for tomorrow are ironed, my Sunday School lesson is prepared. David, Katie, Rachel and I have read our Lenten scriptures this week and kept up with the Lenten Challenge. Ready for Sabbath!

The Garden Chronicles: Potatoes and Strawberries

My guest poster today is Abby, who wrote a story about her afternoon in the first person point of view for her FIAR language lesson.

I planted a garden this afternoon. We gathered all of our tools, seeds, and plants and our bucket. We walked to the garden. On another day we planted cabbage. But on this day we planted strawberries, onions, and potatoes. First, we dug a hole, not too far down, then we put the strawberry plant inside. We patted the dirt beside the plant. Then it will grow. We dug a hole and put the onion in it and we patted the dirt
down. We put one or two potatoes in a hole and patted the dirt down. We toted bucket after bucket of water and gave the plants a drink. Then we stopped. It was tiring, but I could do it anyway.

After working in the garden, we came in and read The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar and Abby ate plum jam on bread while I read Island Boy by Barbara Cooney. She looked at our Usborne First Encyclopedia of Seas and Oceans while I read a chapter from Misty.

My husband brought us some Lindt for Lent, so I'm off to lie on the couch and eat bon-bons!

Life Today

Today we finished our project of dictating/illustrating The Taming of the Shrew. I read the story from Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare online. Abby and Thomas narrated it back to me, Carrie typed it and I checked her punctuation and form and printed it, then Thomas illustrated each page. He has learned to look up vocabulary words in the dictionary and he illustrated each word after I typed it and printed out the page. The Taming of the Shrew was a good story to start with because it's funny and exciting. We began Measure for Measure today and when that one is finished, we'll probably comb-bind both into one booklet to keep on our bookshelf.

Abby started The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar yesterday. Today we started reading Misty of Chincoteague, looked at our DK Seashore book, learned the parts of a horse, and will color a map of Massachusetts as soon as I get a copy made (I use The Big Book of Projects by Dinah Zike). I have a good-sized stack of books to read and a couple of projects, so we'll stay on this book for 2 weeks.

Abby is almost finished with Reading Made Easy and is doing great! She's trying to read everything and has enjoyed the Dick and Jane reader I picked up at the library last week. I'm so proud of her!

Off now to bake cookies, fold the rest of the laundry and put it away, finish the weekly ironing (although Carrie has done most of it except ironing for me and creasing Thomas' dress pants), finish my grocery list for tomorrow, run up to the church to make a copy and get some quarterly grade sheets to fill out, finish my daily walking, make sure the evening chores get done, and work on tomorrow's lunch. And perhaps fit in a little reading and talk to my hubby when he gets home tonight. ;)

Please pray for Anna - she's still seeing spots in one eye and is back on her med for shingles and has an eye re-check tomorrow. The chicken pox kids are much, much better and will probably be able to get out in the world again in a day or so. Thank you for your kind get-well wishes!