First Day

This morning was our first "official" day of kindergarten. I snapped a quick photo, plunked Raina in the play pen with some plastic Lauri toys and began with prayer. I prayed something about the mess and noise we were going to create, and Elisa just giggled. Two hours later, as we finished up, it was clear that I was right on! Mess and noise 101.

Raina played happily in the playpen through our Bible time and Elisa's reading (the most important and concentrated lesson). Then, she was done. She tried to steal Elisa's spelling tiles, but Sadie distracted her with a stack of shape flashcards. Mess #1. She dumped out the pencil sharpener filled with pencils I'd sharpened for handwriting. She emptied a tupperware full of elastic bands used for loom projects while Elisa worked on math and Sadie and I sang the alphabet. The construction paper Sadie and I were using to make a pouch for her K kangaroo was fun to spread on the floor. She stamped the floor and my desk chair pink and yellow while the older girls talked about continents and oceans and made a map of our neighborhood. She emptied a cupboard while we poured water into different containers to see how it conforms to whatever shape it is in.

You know what? She might have had the most fun!

I think we have some planning and training to figure out, though. Any ideas? I do want to train her to play contentedly in the playpen for 30-40 minutes. This morning she lasted about 15-20. We'll get there. :) In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of our ransacked school room.

One Room Schoolhouse

As I've been planning kindergarten (and preschool!) for the coming year, I have enjoyed reading the curriculum line-ups of other homeschool mamas. Sometimes I get new ideas or inspirations, sometimes I am encouraged that we are on the right track, and sometimes I realize that actually I'm missing an entire chunk of something important, and, oops! I better fix that! :)

I am still learning and discovering all the methods and philosophies of education and I don't feel like we have settled in a camp at this point. But my goals for these early days of formal education are to teach the fundamentals simply, to enjoy (lots of) quality literature, to gain an understanding of world we live in, explore the outdoors, and see God's grace and kindness in all of it!



I decided to pull together my own curriculum. There are lots of packaged programs that cover everything... but I couldn't find one that fit our needs. So... we've had fun researching and compiling a program I am quite excited about!

Baby jail... if we need it. :)



Language Arts:
We are using the book "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" as our core phonics program. We are about 1/3 of the way through and are loving it. I like that there are no pictures. She's reading letters! :) It's very scripted and simple for me, and has enough variety in the reading exercises to keep Elisa interested. We are working on long vowel sounds this week. Silent Es. :)

Our spelling program is All About Spelling. I wasn't going to use this originally, but read so many positive reviews I couldn't help myself. :) It has some corresponding readers with beautiful pencil illustrations. I am also using their Level Pre-One reading program for Sadie. I love the clean, basic presentation - no frills, but wonderful illustrations and simple fun with the fundamentals.

We are using A Reason For Handwriting as well. This program bases its writing practice on Bible verses, with each Friday's lesson being a decorative page to write and share the verse. I like the idea of practicing handwriting by sending letters, so we will have a rotating penpal schedule for the verses. Let me know if you want to be on the list! :)

We may add First Language Lessons towards the end of the year for grammar, depending on how far we get with our phonics studies.

Math:
My basic plan for math is to use the 100 chart, clock, pattern blocks and manipulatives to teach basic math concepts. I also have Singapore math workbooks that Elisa loves!

Science:
We are using the program "The World God Made" as our science core, supplemented by a few resource books, nature walks, and the library.

Social Studies:
The elder board at church was asked to commit to a year of praying for the world - country by country. We decided to make that a family endeavor, so our social studies will be weekly country studies. There are several curricula that do that sort of exploratory geography program, and I looked at them... but they are designed for older kids. So, I am putting together my own, based primarily on the books "Children Just Like Me," and "Windows on the World." We will color flags, work on maps, read about the lives of children in other countries, learn bits of language, prepare meals, and pray for those nations. The website www.homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com has helpful printouts and library book basket suggestions for a lot of the countries we'll study.

(these are Sadie's books)

Art, Music, Etc.

We are going to use "Drawing With Children," and try to teach some piano with Bastien Basics. Maybe I'll introduce some classical music with the help of the library.

We will be reading lots of fun read-alouds based on lists from "Honey for a Child's Heart," and the lists from Sonlight and Beautiful Feet curriculum. Right now we are enthralled with the world of Winnie the Pooh. Silly old bear.

Bible:
We will be using "Big Truths for Little Kids." Each week there is a story, a verse, and catechism to learn. Also, we'll be doing AWANA again.





I am looking forward to studying and learning together -- especially the country studies. I know it will be challenging with a strong-willed kindergartner, an easily distracted middle daughter and a rambunctious one-year-old, but we are so thankful we have the freedom to teach school in our little transformed dining area! What a blessing!

Introducing... Micah! Our adorable nephew who visited with his sweet mama for two weeks in July. Erik's brother Adam is serving in Afghanistan with the Army, and brave Kristen is serving on the homefront as Micah's faithful mommy. We loved having them here and wanted to share some pictures!







Pictures of the four cousins turned out as horribly as you can imagine. :) But I'll include one, anyway. We tried to have Erik do manly things with his little nephew. He helped with tools, and barbecuing, and enjoyed the Land Cruiser. :) Come back soon, Micah!

Close Call

It doesn't show up clearly in the photo, but there is a new safety feature in our home. I have always been afraid that a small child would decide to climb through the railing that looks out over our brick entryway. Sadie was my docile baby who never tried anything dangerous, so we never needed to block it. Enter Raina - my mischievous daredevil. Last week, I was cooking dinner and Erik had all three girls upstairs. He came down with Elisa for a quick chat that became a very involved time of discipline. Sadie emerged on the stairway, saying, "Daddy?" to which he answered, "Don't interrupt, please." Sadie, again, said, "But, Dad? Raina's on the railing." I heard her announcement and bolted up the stairs. Erik ran to the brick and stood below her in case she fell. One of the pictures shows where she was. Not on the carpeted area, but on the wood strip on the outside of the railing. A full story over hard brick. Praise God for her big sister. And - we now have a plastic guard.

A Thousand Gifts

In June, I requested a book from the public library: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I savored each beautifully written page, then renewed it twice to savor it all over again. Last night I scrawled a few more quotes in my journal so that I could reluctantly hand it in this morning - no renewals left.

Ann is a farmer's wife and mother to six... and she has written a book so wonderful and challenging and inspiring that I don't even know how to describe it. It is lyrical and poetic, and she writes in a sort of fanciful stream-of-consciousness style without adherence to normal sentence structure or word choice. It might actually drive you crazy if you aren't someone who enjoys the magic of words.

The theme of the book is the word eucharisteo. She discovered the word in the passage of Scripture where Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, and offers His disciples the cup symbolizing His sacrifice of blood. The "thanks" is eucharisteo, and, while the meaning is thanksgiving, the word also encapsulates the Greek words for grace (charis) and joy (chara). When we receive God's grace with thanksgiving, we experience joy.

Ann responded to a simple challenge: write down one thousand gifts of God's grace. Writing gifts sent her on a journey of discovery, joy and closeness with the Giver of each gift. She doesn't ignore the heartache of our broken world, but chooses to see God's grace in the brokenness - in "taking the pain that is given, giving thanks, and transforming it to joy." In her journey of chronicling daily gifts, she learned to give thanks for the beauty and the miraculous, and for the mundane, to enter fully into the noise and clatter and mess of her daily work. She also learned to give hard eucharisteo for the hurt. And she learned that the blessings she was given so freely were hers to then give away....

"I murmur eucharisteo thanks in a pile of laundry and the world expands and heightens and surges with the glory of God... Eucharisteo makes the knees the vantage point of life....

When the eyes of the heart focus on God and the hands on washing the feet of Christ - the bones, they sing joy, and the work returns to its purest state: eucharisteo."

I have started my own list. I am loving the art of capturing moments of seemingly unimportant God-glory with my pen. I haven't figured out how this practice of thanksgiving can so permeate my heart that is a way of life.... how I can give thanks and slow the current of busyness by being fully, joyfully present in each messy moment. When a carton of yogurt topples and strawberry goo slimes the just-mopped floor, and the kids jump in the pool fully clothed and I watch the laundry pile higher, and mugs shatter on tile, and vomit pools on crib sheets.... and, impossibly harder, when families lose loved ones, or jobs, or homes. When orphans sleep lonely, hungry. When famines and earthquakes steal life and livelihood. How to see God's grace in ALL things and give thanks because He is good.

I want to learn. So I am writing down thanks.

Today:

#95 - pushing little ones on the swing
#96 - two kids clambering for my lap
#97 - two ripe red tomatoes on the vine
#98 - my husband bent over index cards, writing verses for his far-away brother
#99 - blueberry ice cream

Three Mommies in Training

Miracles in the Mundane

Today was a quiet day. A normal day.

It started at five minutes before 6:00. I was about to hop in the shower in hopes of a few quiet moments before my little girls awoke. But at 5:55, my towel-clad husband carried in my very awake one-year-old. As I snuggled and nursed her in bed, the other two came clamoring in. So much for morning quiet time! :) Erik needed to be at work early, so after a quick shower, I helped him put together breakfast and lunch before meeting the needs of the girls. By 7:00, everyone was settled at the breakfast table with eggs and toast. I read about two pages of Beth Moore's "Praying God's Word," while sipping PG Tipps tea.

After breakfast, I managed to clean up the kitchen(including a massive cinnamon and sugar spill which occurred while I was trying to read :)) while simultaneously playing "driver" for the older girls' morning adventure of "traveling to Nana's." For this adventure, Elisa was dressed in a sleeveless white blouse, long john pants, and corduroy jacket. Sadie was wearing her blue Cinderella dress over the top of a watermelon print swimsuit. Raina was still in her pjs - and a stinky diaper.

After arriving at the imaginary Nana's house, we headed upstairs. Big girls were instructed to make beds, brush teeth, and finish dressing while Mommy settled Raina-bean for a nap. After Raina was asleep, I sat my Sadie-girl down for some instruction and correction regarding the fact that her bed was unmade and she was still wearing a swimsuit. This time, we got the job done right, with a little help from Mom.

School-time! First - our morning calendar, shapes, weather, and counting reviews. Devotions. Elisa's phonogram writing practice. Reading. While I worked with Elisa on her reading, Sadie got to write in a pan filled with white rice. Yup. That required vacuuming when we were done! :) Sadie reviewed the letter E with me, singing the alphabet song and reading an elephant rhyme. We played a rhyming word matching game. Then, we located Bolivia on the world map and read about a boy named Oscar who lives there.


Ziggy Zebra joins us for Sadie's alphabet lessons. He makes things fun!


Right about then, Raina woke up. It took some time to clean up, and the girls worked on some coloring as I changed Raina and put last night's chicken carcass in a pot to boil into broth.

Outside! We checked out the progress in our greenhouse, noting new arugula and cucumber shoots and then lightly watering. Raina loves dirt! We splashed in mud puddles, and swung, and Mom pulled the wagon around the yard. We found a bird's egg and speculated about how the fragile shell had made it's way into the middle of our grass. We went for a short walk - Raina on my back.








Lunchtime. Bananas and peanut butter. Another mess. :)

Stories. We read a few more chapters in "The Long Winter", #6 in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. Raina sat in my lap and read a board book upside down.

While the younger two slept and Elisa rested, I checked email, quick-cleaned from lunch, folded a load of laundry,



and started dinner.



Elisa got up, and we finished the book. My throat was hoarse, and I somehow burned the edge of my cookbook. :)

Raina joined us, and found the pan of rice from school that I had left in a too-accessible spot. Vacuumed again.

Sadie woke up, and it was time to head back outside. This time, we loaded up the stroller and walked down the road about 1/2 a mile to a neighbor's. "Miss Patty"'s kids are junior high and up, now, and she invites us to use her swing-set and sand box.



Back at home, we rode bikes in the driveway until 6:00.






Dinner. Erik pulled in just as the pasta was going on the table.

Okay. So you're probably thinking - if you made it this far :) - "I get the mundane. Where's the miracle?"

You know what?

It is a miracle that I have three healthy children to love and nurture.
It is a miracle that I have food to nourish their bodies with and clothing to wrap them in.
It is a miracle that I have materials to teach them with, and Bibles to read.
It is a miracle that the sun was shining today and we could play - safely - outside.
It is a miracle that our bodies are strong and we can run and jump in puddles and explore.
It is a miracle that I have a husband who loves me and who adores his three daughters. Who provides for us and protects us.
All of these mundane, simple, quiet, and normal things are made possible because of miracles.