The New RV

Here it is!

Jeff and I sleep on the queen size bed above the cab.

The Kitchen and couch wall slide out to make it much more roomy than you see here.

The girls bunks.

The bunks and back bedroom wall slide out also (very nice living space).

The back room is S’s (he sleeps in the porta crib). It also doubles as a playroom/storage room. There are cabinets above the porta crib (not shown), so there’s plenty of storage.

Maybe some other time I will put up pics. of it with the slides out. But for now you can see what a blessing this is to us. And we plan to use it to the fullest; for the good of our family. Remember there is a long road trip coming up in March! I’ll have lots of stories to tell then .

Proud of My Girls

I am so proud of my girls. Each of them spent their own money, that they had earned, to buy each other gifts this Christmas. They spent almost all they saved  to buy these gifts. And it was their idea! It’s times like these that give me hope that I am not totally ruining them. Giving hearts were not only my girls gift to each other, but to me also .

Montezuma’s Well

We have a new RV! I will post pics of it in another post. But for now we took our maiden voyage in it. This trip we decided, on one of the days, to visit Montezuma’s Well.

The girls are really starting to enjoy these educational trips. They ask questions, read the plaques, and explore. They are now truly interested for themselves. It is no longer us trying to excite them about the history or significance of a certain place.

Here are some pics:

In March we are going to go on our longest RV trip yet. We will be visiting the fine States of California and Oregon. We plan on being gone for 2 months! We’re take a break from our normal History and Science curriculum and instead we’ll be learning it through the  many different places we visit, on the road. The girls are going to learn sooo much. We are all very EXCITED!!! 

My Little Sweety Bird

Here S is playing like he is a “little baby bird”. He went and got his sister’s hamper lid and made it his nest. He pretended he was a new baby bird that had not yet learned to fly. So when he would try he would fall to the ground. This was the day after watching the Planet Earth dvd where the baby ducks fall from their nest in the tree. He was falling and “bouncing” just as they did .

“Next Year’s” Plan

Since we do school year around our new “school year” will begin in January. I am becoming more and more eclectic in my curriculum choices. I am very draw to Charlotte Mason and Classical ideas. Next years plan is like this:

For our family subjects

History & Geography–

The Story of the World Vol. 1 by Susan Wise Bauer w/ some of the activity guide

The books we will use along with this are these from Sonlight’s Core 1 :

The Usborne book of World History

The Usborne Time Traveler

Archaeologist Dig for Clues

The Great Wall of China

(And some library books thrown in.)

Science– All of SL Science 1 ( I might stretch this into 2 years), and Nature Journals

Read-alouds– (from SL Core 1)

Charlotte’s Web

Henry Huggins

The Wheels on the School

The Year of Miss Agnes

Homer Price

Greek Myths for Young Children

Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Mountain Born

Understood Betsy

Detectives in Togas

A Grain of Rice (Core K)

(I might stick to these. I might choose others at times. This is just a rough idea of what we’ll be reading.)

Poetry– (read from once a week & memorize one a month)

When We Were Very Young

Favorite Poems of Childhood

Composers– (listen to in the car at least once a week, and discuss)

Strauss

Vivaldi

Beethoven

Handel

Rossini

Picture Study– (once a week)

Mary Cassatt

Monet

Van Gogh

Homer

Da Vinci

Bible– (during breakfast)

Read one week from the O.T. The next week from the N.T.

The Scripture Memory System from SCM

http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/ 

with their list of Scriptures

 http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/verseslist/

Singing/Drama-

Choral Group

Spanish– (once or twice a week)

Rosetta Stone & Teach Them Spanish workbooks

Literature– books that they will both read separately (connected to our history study)

Tut’s Mummy Lost & Found

Pompeii : Buried Alive

The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth

Fa Mulan: the Story of a Woman Warrior 

Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures: Ancient Egypt

P’s Core Subjects

Math– Math-u-see (Beta), & math games

English-Rod & Staff English 3

Copywork/Spelling- Simply Spelling

Cursive– A Reason For Handwriting C

Literature– (look above and whatever else they wish to read from the library or home .)

Handy Craft– crocheting

R’s Core Subjects

Math– Math-u-see (Alpha), & math games

Copywork/Handwriting– Draw Write Now

Phonics/English– finish Phonics Pathways, then start Language Smarts Level B ( Critical Thinking Co.)

Literature– (look above, and whatever else they wish to read from the library or home )

Handy Craft– loop and loom weaving

I used SCM’s “Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education”

http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/planning-your-charlotte-mason-education/ to plan this all out. I think it is going to be a great “year”.

“Simply Spelling”- Will this be it?

Ok so my idea of using P’s creative writing stories as a place to get her spelling list from, was a flop. Sometimes I would pick words that turned out to be just plain too hard for her. So she still does a cw story ever so often, but I do not use it for spelling purposes. I tried Rod & Staff’s 2^nd grade spelling (since we love their English), for a few weeks. P found it to be too easy, and boring. I finally decided that I don’t like spelling LISTS! So after much searching; I found this book that uses the copywork/dictation method for spelling:

http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=1490908

P copies  the  selection 3–4 days a week (along with the assignments and recommendation in the book for each day),then on the 4^th or 5^th day I dictate the passage to her. We have used it for 6 weeks now and P hasn’t gotten a single word wrong! Plus she is getting all the capitalization, and punctuation (including commas) correct! She likes doing things this way because it combines her copywork and spelling into one, making less work for her (and me). It is building her confidence in spelling since there are always words that she knows along with the words she doesn’t. Seeing the words in context of writing also helps a lot. Now, I am not going to say we will do things this way forever, but for now it’s working. However, we’ll see what happens over the next few weeks  .

Christmas in October

My girls love to throw parties in the evenings for the family. They plan during the day, set their room up,  & send out invitations. Then after dinner we have a party! P found this invitation on the Crayola web sight, which gave her the idea for a Christmas party:

( the RSVP is a fake #)

P printed this off the Crayola sight also, and came up with the game “pin the ornaments on the Christmas tree”:

R made a Christmas tree & angel, and they both set this little scene up:

They sang one of the songs that they are learning in Choral group for the Christmas production; including their duet of “Away in a Manger” (there is something about siblings singing together ). R read the Christmas Story to us. They ended the evening by putting on a Christmas puppet show. We had a jolly good time!

There was a discussion on a homeschool forum this week about Charlotte Mason’s dislike of unit studies. It got me thinking. Unit studies can be great fun for the teacher (finding ways to connect all the subjects into one core topic, yippee!). Children do tend to have fun doing things this way also. However, is fun the objective or is real learning the objective? When I see my girls get their own ideas and implement them, without any interference from me; I can’t help but think that it is better for them to make the connections themselves. They are putting their thoughts, their passion into the topic. They are doing all the work, and planning. They are not simply along for the ride. I’m not taking them step by step, project by project connecting all the dots for them. There is nothing wrong with projects or connecting subjects as long as it’s not forced and makes sense, or is just for fun. I think I’ll be focusing more on stimulating the ideas, and let them grow those ideas in their own play and creativity. No more silly projects that are nothing more than busy work here.

I know that the girls did not get this party idea form something we were studying. However, they often do come up with amazingly creative ideas from things we’ve studied. This party just reminded me of some of them. See how our minds are always making connections . 

School Room?

 I don’t really have a school room. I do have a school area though. Here are some pictures of where some of the learning happens at our house:

My Desk:

Girl’s Desk:

And art area:

“Current books we’re working on” book shelf:

The girls work station:

(R’s)

(P’s)

Our library in the foyer:

So there you have it, our “school”. But really the world is our class room! 

The Suffering of Those Who Love Jesus

 I have been studying the suffering of believers in Scriptures lately. Here are some of my thoughts:

 Phil.1:29 says “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake…” The word “granted” there means “to grant as a favor or to show kindness” it is the verb form of the noun for grace. Grace? Kindness? Hmm, how do I look at the little ( and I do mean little) trials that come and go in my life? Do I view them as a gift, a blessing, God’s grace and kindness toward me?  Mind you I am not talking about things I bring on myself through my sinfulness, rather the things granted to me by God. There are others around the world who are in the thick of it EVERYDAY, and God is showing His favor on them. It amazes me how God’s way are definitely not our ways.

I know that there is a reward in heaven far greater than any suffering I may face. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”   Romans 8:18. Do I want the process, or just the end result?

Some suffering is allowed by God, some is given by Him. Why does God test us? I have heard the argument, “Can’t God just see my heart and know what I would do?” I ask, “How did your heart get to the point where you “might” be willing to suffer for Christ?” If we all remained as children, being protected from the harsh realities of life; would we be who we are right now, with the hearts we have right now? No, hard things breed character. Even the small things in life produce growth. My daughter just came to me crying because she was hurrying around and tripped over her play cash register, scraping her leg. This incident, along with many others like it, will eventually produce a more cautious  little girl who watches where she is going .  Everything is a process. Yes, I don’t want to remain in the timid state of childhood. And unless I have gone through suffering how do I know that my heart would respond purely? I know that my heart is very often not pure, in its response.  Even the before stated question shows a heart that needs refining, because of its desire is for self preservation (selfishness). My Father’s focus (as any good parent’s should be), is not that life is easy, and “happy”; but rather that I become a person of character who blesses those around me, living to my purpose, this produces a joy filled life!

Yes, I want to be refined. I want the process. Wow, that is hard for me to say . As the blacksmith keeps the silver in the fire; removing the impurities till he can see his reflection in it. Lord may those around me see your reflection in me! If  I choose to complain and whine about the little insignificant thing that come my way; I am not excepting your gracious gift to me. I know it may hurt, but if  I choose to view it as a blessing, a gift, your kindness, and ultimately LOVE; what JOY there is to be had! What rest. Thank you Lord for the grace you promise in the midst of the flames. Not only in the midst, but that the actually the flames themselves are your grace toward me.  Help me to view these things the way you do, and do what you must in my life.

Love Your Daughter, 

Coral

Father’s Day

I wish I could say that Jeff had as wonderful of a Father’s Day as my Mother’s Day was . However, we had a house full of sickies. R started it all, actually I think Burger K did, but that’s another story. I was still recovering from becoming dehydrated from hours of non-stop vomiting and other unmentionables ; followed by a visit to the ER Thursday night.  Jeff & P had thrown up Friday and Saturday. Thankfully, S never got it. My dear mom took R and S to her house on both Friday and Saturday.We were a bunch of sacks of potatoes, sitting around doing nothing on Father’s Day. 

My Mom, after staying in the ER with me, only getting a few hours sleep, then taking  my children home with her for 2 days; managed to make a wonderful chicken noodle soup with corn beard for our Father’s Day meal. It was very yummy, but not exactly the prime rib that the dads were expecting on that day. To top it off, the mini pc carrying case that I got Jeff was still way too big for his very tiny computer . Hopefully I can make this years up to him next year. He is such an awesome man, and he could care less about all this. However, I need some really good ideas for next year, if you have any let me know. His likes are -tech stuff, drum stuff, and golf stuff .