Logan Turns 5

Logan is very proud that he was the easiest birth.








Logan is a quiet nonconformist. "Logan, what color crayon would you like?" Slowly he stands, looks the teacher in the eye, but the teacher feels as if his focus is more inward than out. Then he quietly climbs under the table and sits down, almost oblivious to the fact that the other children are coloring.







Logan is a thinker. "It is time for bed, hon," and I lean over to kiss him. He doesn't move, he is focused inside again. Then, right before I am going to scold him, he asks his question, "Mom, can I be a kid another time? Could I be a baby again?" "No, we only get to be children once." There is a pause, then he says, "I guess that is one of those things God can't do. Make me be a child again."








Logan is our overseer. "Kam, the plates are a little dirty. It is hard for you to wash dishes as good as me. I'll do it if you want."






Logan is fiercely loyal to his big brother. "Mom, if I get done cleaning the hall fast, can I help Kamron with his chores?" "Kamron is my best bud."







Logan has his own time table. "Logan, please get your shoes on." "Okay." Wander. Sit. Lay. Stand. Sit. "Logan, shoes." "I am getting them." To drawer, the shoes are in his hand. Sit. Stare. Sit. One foot in. "Mom, I have a question. What does shirked mean?" A brief explanation is given, as I push the other shoe towards him. "Oh, okay." Second shoe is now on! And he's up and running. He's in the car!







Logan is giving. Brother-"I don't want this cup." Logan takes his cup, gets down out of his chair, walks around the table and says, "here you can have mine."



Logan is a joy and Logan is 5.


Nanny got him ready for summer. He wore his cool glasses all night.

Two family parties, same kids at both parties, same type of cake at both.
Grandpa could not make either party, but came during the day and to the amazement of all performed magic tricks.

A Week of Renewal

Spring has begun and it is spring break, which means the kids are off “school.” The term gets fuzzier every day as I watch learning and life mesh more and more. On their own the kids have still been doing reading, piano lessons, dance class, political discussions, grammar lesson, piano practice, discussion for starting a business and learned about bills, laws and how common people create change, writing and drawing. They are also meeting friends to go ice skating later. They’ve asked me if we could also take summer off, except for me reading to them-sure we can be “off.”

So while we are living life this week, and I am still working I am also taking a little time for my own much needed renewal. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed lately, mostly because I am not doing all the home making things I am craving. So this week I am cooking, baking, organizing and beautifying, while listening to audio talks. Today I listened to “The Biggest Gap in Education and How to Fill it,” by Rhea Perry. It can be found free here, http://talk-a-latte.com/. It is over on the sidebar. I loved this! She talks about raising here children with respect and allowing them their individuality. The education should conform to the child not the child to the education, with and emphasis on entrepreneurship. Her husband was a public school teacher, and she was trained to be one. As her husband taught he began to encourage her to not send their kids to the schools. She did bring them home to learn and had a difficult time until she starting asking them what they wanted to learn and letting them lead. They moved the family to forty acres and told the kids they could do any project they wanted, but they would have to finance it and take care of it. Some awesome things resulted.

She also talks about some problem areas and how to keep the children’s hearts. I need to listen to this again with a pen and paper. This time I was baking.

Sunday Thoughts on My Home Town

We had stake conference today. Since we have moved across the freeway in our town, we are attending church in the building I went to as a child. Stake conference is where between ten and fifteen congregations meet together. This meeting was held yesterday and today in the building I went to as a youth. My children love to hear about me as a child, so I told them about attending this two story, two chapel building that even has an elevator. We used to sit with another family that had nine young children and no father. I would sit with the little ones and tell them stories before the meeting began. During General Conferences (thoses meetings broadcasted to the whole church twice a year) we would stay at the building and eat in the kitchen as it was too far to drive back home, and we had no cable then. This building is also where much of my husband's and my courtship took place and where we took our engagement pictures.

As we sat and I looked around the room I saw so many people I knew as a child. I had witnessed many of their trials and had seen much of their growth as people and in the gospel. As a child, I can remember thinking that some of these families were perfect, only later to discover that they weren't, but that they struggled and worked towards better following God just as I did and do. I can remember first attending Relief Society, (a class for women) with all of these grown up ladies, when I was eighteen, to discover that these were real women with trials and triumphs and that they were intimate friends of my mom. I sat next to her in that class and felt that they cared about her deeply, like she was their sister. That was the first glimpse of the sisterhood in the church that I received.

I listened to the speakers today, and I have thought about all that was said. One thing struck me. One speaker said "we are in eternity." This life we are living now is part of eternity. We do not need to be in a hurry for we have eternity. Another speaker talked about advice he had received once, "don't be a busy bishop." He applied this to all of us. If we appear to be busy how likely is it that our children will say, "hey, Mom, can I ask you something?" How likely is that the shy neighbor or ward member will come to you for help? This hit me, because I am busy.

How can I be less busy? How can I make time for my little ones and for others? I may need to be creative. My mother always had things to do. She had a sewing room, where she constantly was making something. It was also a room where her children were always welcome. She had lots of places we could sit and talk to her as she worked, and we did. We sat and told her everything, and she listened and didn't judge. She listened, sympathized and encouraged. She could have locked that room and declared it her room and her spot for me time, but she didn't. We were welcome, and she made sure we knew it. Oh, how we loved her for it. We also avoided a lot of trouble, because of her quietly inviting us into her room. As a youth I remember a speaker say that if we were on a date and a boy was getting a little too close for comfort to casually mention that we couldn't wait to get home and tell our Mom about the date, because we told our mothers everything. He said it in a half joking way, but for me it was pretty much true and it was because my Mom was not rushed and she had arranged her home in such a way that we were encouraged to come in and talk.

As we left the building today a woman stopped me, introduced herself and said I was her big sister at girls camp when we were youth. After loading everyone in the car we drove home and I pointed out the place my husband proposed to me, a little restaurant called "Vince's" set back off the road and closed except for dinner.

Once I wanted to move away from this town where everyone seemed to know me. "You are Ken and LaRyce's daughter." But, now, I am glad to be back. This little town has exploded into a large busy town with new stores and a lot of traffic. There are many new faces and special people I have not met, yet under it all my hometown is still there, and now it is me that introduces myself to those, who have not seen me in many years as, "Ken and LaRyce's daughter." The reply more often than not is, "oh, LaRyce! I just loved your mother." Yeah, me too. Mother meant home, but in a way so does this town.

A girl named Mary Frances

"Mommy, I got hurt!" How often do we as mom's hear this phrase? Some moms jump up with a gasp and rush to their children to inspect their injury. I, on the other hand, usually tell my kids,"aren't you glad bodies heal?" or "show it to Nanny next time we are there." My oldest son politely suggested a couple weeks ago that I learn more about how take care of hurts. I am planning a human body study next year and thought this might be a good place to start. I was also ready for a more spring-like (light and home-makey)book. What could teach us about first aid, introduce the human body and fulfill my need for a light, home centered story? Enter "The Mary Frances First Aid Book." This book was perfect! I love Mary Frances.

When Aubrey was about five we read "Mary Frances Housekeeper." It comes with paper dolls and furniture to cut out and advice on wallpapering and carpeting a home, etc. We created a little paper doll house and decorated it as each new piece of advice was offered in the subsequent chapters. Earlier this year Aubrey read "Mary Frances Cookbook: The Adventures Among the Kitchen People." She worked through many of the recipes as she followed the story. We loved the story and all of the recipes.

So, I knew the First Aid book would be just as good. In this story Mary Frances has had a birthday and her brother, Billy, promises to play anything she wants for a whole day, so she asks him to play with the dolls' house and she will show him through the play all the first aid she knows. And so the doll family begins with a runaway automobile, which has brakes that have gone out.

We spent several mornings and several afternoons reading this book-the whole thing in about a week and a half. One afternoon the children, who have no muslin squares, used their play silks to practice bandaging different parts of the body, It was rather amusing to see them with bright blue and green bandages on arms and legs, hands, feet and heads. A free online version of this book can be found here http://www.archive.org/stream/maryfrancesfirst00fryeiala/maryfrancesfirst00fryeiala_djvu.txt.

We enjoyed this book so much that I ordered "The Mary Frances Gardening Book." We have been studying botany this year, and this book will be the perfect conclusion to that study and introduction to gardening, along with just great summer reading.

Relating to Authors

Kamron has been reading "The Aaronic Priesthood: Seven Principles That Will Make This Power a Part of Your Daily Life" by Chad Daybell. It is his first pick of what to read each day. I have been getting comments, such as, "You know Chad's list about how we know we are feeling the spirit, I have done all of those." "Chad said I should go camping at the bottom of a mountain, that would be fun." "You know those guys that almost hurt Chad by jumping over him on their bikes, it is probably good he found out how bad they were and didn't become friends with them."

When referring to authors some people use their whole name, others use last names, around here we are on a first name basis=)


Unrelated side note-my baby is gently snoring with her head on my shoulder and her little arm dangling down right now. Why do little things like that make a Mamma's heart swell?

Can We Drop This Book?

We had a breakfast discussion this morning. I let the kids have a say in a lot of their school work, so this morning I brought up my thought of dropping "Gulliver's Travels." I know it is a great book, a classic. It is also a classic I would not hand over to my kids, because I need to edit as I read. Also, to be honest we are not getting all of the political references. He is calling up the ghosts of historical figures only to find everything written about them is pretty much false, interesting, but heavy-very winter. We are almost done with his third adventure, only one more to go, but I want to read something more springish, more homemakingish, like "Little Women." Yes, "Little Women," and then "Little Men." I know my kids would love these and we would have great discussions.

So I brought up dropping the book. It took about three seconds to be firmly vetoed. Brennen said we couldn't drop it, because he had seen the movie, and that meant he had to hear all of the book. Kamron said the movie only had the first two adventures and he wanted to find out what happened in the last two, although he knows he goes home at the end. Aubrey said, yes, and we hadn't even visited the horses and we needed to hear that one. So another hundred pages of heavy reading to go. Now, I am just wondering how fast we can read those hundred pages so I can read them "Little Women."

A Woman Wants a Little Corner to Call Her Own

"The beauty of the house is order. The blessing of the house is contentment. The glory of the house is hospitality. The crown of the house is godliness.” ~Author Unknown

I am wishing for more order, more contentment, more hospitality, more godliness. I am also wishing for a house. I'll be honest and say six children, homeschooling and working from home in a two bedroom duplex is getting taxing. So I am seeking order, soft words, and godliness. I do not really want anyone over in this place so hospitality is out for now, which probably means I should be seeking humility. Oh, how I pray for a house to close soon. I am dreaming of a home to organize, to decorate, to bake bread in, and to plant a garden.

We have offers in on two houses, which both look possible-both we offered on last year and came back on the market. One is waiting for a response from the bank, while the second is waiting for the neighbors house to close-to bump their appraisal. Pray for us to get a house, so that we can build a home.

Baby Girl

Yes, we call her Baby Girl. We have called most of our babies Baby. There is something so cozy about Baby, something so precious. We also call her Baby 'Mila. And Princess. We've been asked if we will call her Milly or Amy or Mia. I don't know, whatever we call her will come. After all, my mom named me Melissa intending to call me Missy. It never happened-I was Melissa and occasionally Mel. So what shall we call her? Baby. For many years I'm pretty sure.
This is at almost two weeks, in a sweater I made her.
Here, she's in another.
This is what our Big Girl wore today, 2 weeks, 6 days in a size 3 months dress.

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Moments At Our House

Kamron’s method of persuading his younger brother to keep trying at long jumps that he wants him to do- “Be physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. When you are 11 you will have to obey those rules, so you should get started when you are young.”

Yesterday, the children had chores and then wanted to play card games their Grandma had taught them when they spent the night. To make the chore time go more quickly the Numa, Numa song rang out for about 20 minutes. They have sung it so many times, the two year old knows it and they are now working on variations and creating different parts for each child. It is delightful to hear them working so well together. I used to sing silly made up songs as I went about my work, but I haven’t lately. I think I’m missing something.

We have a certain child that woke up one day before anyone else, finished all must do’s for school, made breakfast and then proceeded to do her brother’s chores. She was so pleasant and helpful, I was so grateful for her help. The next day when asked to listen to a tape the same child threw a fit, talked back, rolled eyes and was generally unpleasant the rest of the day. I was discussing this with my husband, he said this is the exact reason psychology was invented. The behavior of some people needs teams of people to research and study just to attempt to explain it.

Brennen and Logan were discussing the merits of wooden and plastic train tracks. They both said something at the same time. Brennen said, “It is like we are twins. We even don’t have the same name, just like twins don’t.”

Kamron has started doing a lesson time with the three little boys. Today he worked on teaching them to hop, basic science concepts with cards, and music lessons on the recorder and penny whistle. Find the note on the piano, then singing the “Cheeseburger Song,” from Veggie Tales. This was then played with a funny instrument on the keyboard, to the giggled delight of his brothers. He is fun and makes everything into a game. Logan who idolizes his big brother told him, “Kamron I think you are the best teacher in the whole wide world!”

Seth is playing with his trucks. His big truck ran over his toe. “No, no big truck. That hurts, you need to stand in the corner.” Before he made it to the corner he says, “you say sorry and give a hug and kiss.” “I’m sorry,” the truck says in a very deep voice, and then Seth proceeds to hug it and kiss its grill. Conversation continues among the cars and trucks; each has a different voice and they typically disagree and then help each other and become “useful” again.

Did I ever mention that I love my kids?

New Book

I have been published in a new LDS Homeschooling book, with a very small piece, but it is fun anyway. I am waiting for my copy to be shipped and then I'll let you all know more.

To My Valentines

Kamron told me the other day he "loved Valentines Day, because of the jar that said all those nice things." I'm so glad he said something or I may have just let this one slip by again. Because of the chaos of no family meal times we didn't do this last year. But we will do it this time, and probably each year after. What I do is a write things about each person in our family, put them in a jar, and then we read them at mealtimes on Valentine's Day. My sister, Helen, made similar jars for us as Christmas presents when we were kids-I still have mine. It was such an awesome gift.

So for all to see, these are to my Valentines-


Kevin
You are such a hard worker and determined provider.
You are such a good wrestler.
You are so forgiving.
You are so encouraging of all we do.
You rescue us with park days.
You are fun and funny.
You are very good at fixing all of the things we break around here.
You are our support, that which holds the rest of us up.
You have such an eye for detail.
When you do something you do it well.
We love it when you are home and talking or playing with us.
You are highly prized for all you are and all you do.

Kamron
You are a very good older brother.
You are funny.
You are make up great songs to sing to us.
Your piano playing is fun and a blessing to those around you.
You are good at helping to keep the house clean.
You are responsible when watching your younger brothers when Daddy and I need to do things.
You are a gift from God.
You are a delight to our hearts.
You are fabulous at building Legos.
You are a good friend, sharing and behaving well at other people’s houses.
You are positive and help us to complain less.
You have a testimony and desire to do what’s right.

Aubrey
You are very affectionate.
You are good at talking with others.
You care well for the little ones.
You are creative, always filling your time with worthwhile pursuits.
You are more precious than any diamond or ruby.
You are as a rose beginning to blossom into something truly exquisite.
You are a true help to Mom and Dad.
You are good at caring for animals.
You are very good at helping with the boys.
You are a good artist.
You are good at making friends.

Brennen
You are good at making us laugh.
You are good at being happy.
You are friendly to others you meet.
You sparkle with creative enthusiasm, so full of possibilities.
You are a precious gift who helps us to remember family is the most important thing.
You are good at building legos.
You are good at trying new things.
You are good at helping.
You are a good playmate to your brothers and sisters.
You are very good at being gentle with babies.
You are creative and have many original ideas, especially with your art.
You are good at your reading.

Logan
You are very good at trying to do what’s right.
You are very brave.
You are a precious joy to us.
You are very good at building big legos.
You are very good figuring out pushing buttons.
You are very good little brother.
You are very good at playing.
You are a gift from Heavan.
You are independently driven to succeed at whatever you will.
You are very adventurous.
You are good at climbing and jumping.
Your thoughtful nature helps us all to slow down.


Seth
You are a a determined car and train enthusiast.
You are a delight to have in our family.
You are a loving little boy.
We love your smile.
You are good at giving hugs and kisses.
You are friendly.
You are a good helper when you throw all the garbage away.
You have the cutest sayings.
You are a focused little one.

Amelia
You are so nice to hold.
You are soft and snuggly.
You are wonderful.
You are a miracle and a joy.

Small Chances

"There is a 1 in 1600 chance of a perforation." That one cost me surgery.

In 1% of cases the dura may be pricked during an epidural insertion, and since the needle is larger than in a spinal tap it is possible that the cerebrospinal fluid may leak out resulting in less cushioning to the brain resulting in a severe headache and neck ache that will last for days and may require a second epidural insertion to create a blood patch to clot the hole, but this is very rare. It may be rare, but it hurts... a lot.

Maybe I am getting old enough to read the fine print and start taking it seriously.

Introducing Baby Amelia

Baby Amelia Juliet has finally arrived!

She was 21.5 inches, and 9 pounds 11.4 ounces!

On the last day of January, at a week post dates, I went in to be induced. I was at 2cm when we started the pitocin at 10:00 a.m., by 4 p.m. I was at 3cm. It was at this point the questions of whether this whole thing was not going to work again came up. But I had already gotten things lined up for the next week, so we kept going. At 7 p.m. I was finally at a 4 and my water was broken. By 7:30 I wimped out and asked for an epidural, by 7:50 I made them get the anesthesiologist back in and up the dose. I began shaking and feeling nauseous, I was given an oxygen mask, which I admit to having torn off more than once, but the nurse didn't get it and kept putting it back on. By 9 I was at a 9. This is when my husband said, if I waited three hours we could have a February 1st baby and that would make the date easier to remember. I said that I wanted the baby out now. I began pushing at 9:30. The nurses' shifts changed at 11:30, and I accused them of turning off the epidural. They promised me they hadn't. The doctor was called in at 11:58, and said we didn't have time to break the bed down, go. She emerged. The time was 12:00.01 a February 1st baby. As my husband points out this is very cool because her entire birth date can be expressed with three numbers. 2-1-2010, at 12:00.01.




Kevin brought all of the kids in to see us the next day. Seth's reaction was a hysterical giggle of delight at seeing his mama after a day and a half, when I drew his attention to the baby he said, "it's baby 'Milla," in a nondescript tone and then turned around to drive his train across the edge of the bed.



Logan wanted to see her, but his first question was if my stomach was smaller now and he could sit on my lap. He wanted to hold her, and did so for about three seconds before handing her back. He then began to describe everything about her that was small, small eyes, small ears, small hands, and small "this part," he said forgetting the name for wrist. He was also amazed that even when I was holding her and talking to others I still knew he was getting into things behind the curtain. "How can you know what I'm doing always?" He asked.

Brennen looked on quietly (yes, Brennen/quietly-same sentence) and held her for for about a minute gazing at her. He made the comment later, "She is not inside you anymore."

Aubrey asked all kinds of questions, did it hurt, did I cry etc. She held her baby sister in between each of the boys, and when it was time to do the hearing test she went with her and was very happy to report that she past. She told me that someday when she had a baby, she wanted a healthy baby girl, just like her.

Kamron smiled and looked. He held her about a minute and then gave her back. He wanted to know if I was all right now. He also said he missed me so much, he said it was very weird, because he sees me always and he hadn't seen me in so long.

Waiting for Baby (knitting?)

What does one do when waiting, and waiting for a baby,
who wants to stay right where she is?

She takes two hours and coupons to Joann's and sits gracefully on the floor in front of the knitting and crochet books, devouring patterns and ideas. Because she is dreaming of wearing normal clothes again, she falls in love with this book... "French Girl knits" by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes. The patterns are exquisite.

There is one particular catch. She can't knit. Frantically, she looks for a "French Girl crochets." No such luck. Aah, she thinks, she will just learn to knit. After all learning to crochet from a book worked. Let's see... got it, this book will work- "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting!" from Leisure Arts.

Two evenings are spent trying to figure out how to cast on, and the garter stitch. All signs point to total confusion. This is how far she has gotten...


You know all of those people who said knitting was easier and more relaxing than crochetting? They lied.

Where to take Math

I was over at www.ted.com, watching a video about symmetry and group theory, and then I watched Arthur Benjamin’s video on how he would change mathematics education. He asserts that our mathematical hierarchy starts with the four processes and builds to the pinnacle of calculus. He claims this is an outdated pinnacle and we should be building towards statistics instead. Statistics is more useful and would help the entire population to make better decisions in their lives.

What should the purpose of math be? In many ways it is the same question as what is the purpose of education? Is it so we can grow up and get a good job, make good living decisions and pay our taxes? Or, as Charlotte Mason suggests, is it to have our feet firmly fixed in as many rooms as possible, to think and to fully live in a world full of ideas? Would it be possible to build to statistics and calculus, the useful and the inspirational? Hmmm. What about geometry? Can I just study that in depth? Perhaps, there is so much to study and learn, we all may just need different paths, and there is no one right sequence to follow.

A Look At Our Day

As I work with homeschooling families, I am well aware that everyone does this differently, and most families do it differently as seasons and circumstances change. If you were to ask me each year I would give you a different sequence and a different focus for most of my kids. But since I was asked today, I will tell you how it was done today.

I wake at 6:00, take a bubble bath and read in the tub. Then I dress, start laundry, make muffins and my husband’s lunch. The older two children wake at about seven and turned on a CD of biographies of famous individuals from history as they stay curled in their blankets in bed, until I called them at 7:30. They come in to the front room with their blankets and curl up again while I begin reading to them about trouble in the Balkans and the assassination of the heir to the throne to Austria. We pull out a map and see the changes that occur to this region of the world. Then we read 1 Nephi 18, as the little ones tumble out of bed and join us on the floor, we discuss the reasons behind disrespect to parents and cruelty to others. This discussion takes longer than usual and we decide to skip our novel for the day. We try to read a chapter from a novel each morning-currently from “Gulliver’s Travels.” A book that is not feeding the discussion bucket as much as I like books to do.



Then it is time to eat. We sit down to breakfast and I pull out the self-portrait of Picasso. As the children eat they look closely at this painting and then I hide it. I ask the four-year-old to tell me what he remembers about this painting, then I ask the six-year-old to add anything, then the nine-year-old and last the eleven-year-old adds his details. I then turn the painting around and the children see where they got it right and where they missed a detail or two. I then add this painting to the other three of his we have already studied. I ask the children whether it is harder to study Picasso or Mary Cassatt. Is it better or worse for a painter to constantly be changing his style? After this discussion we turn to poetry and I pull out the card box and turn to the next card in each child’s section, and have the children recite a poem they have previously learned, starting with the two-year-old and moving around the table. This month we are all learning the same poem, and each child then recites as much of “How Doth the Busy Bee,” as he or she can. Some get confused with the previously learned Lewis Carroll spin-off, and everyone is impressed that the four-year-old has almost all four stanza’s down. I then read a poem from American history and the children are excited to hear it has the same rhythm as the poem they are learning.



After breakfast today the older two children watch the next lesson in Excellence in Writing-they love the teacher, who uses humor and inflection superbly. They note the next two dress-ups, the because clause and strong adjectives, and they write a keyword outline on Washington. Instead of moving straight into their first drafts, I briefly explain how to give a speech from a keyword outline and they take turns giving one to Brennen and me before going on to their first drafts. During this time Brennen reads a chapter to me, and I then read to him about the Revolutionary War, while he finger knits. The younger two children are building train tracks on the floor. Brennen then wants to do the division board on his own.

The older two children finish their papers and move on to their required work. Kamron does a math lesson in Saxon, then picks which two books from his list he will read today-“Oliver Twist,” and “The School of the Woods.” He must write a summary using the writing dress-ups he has learned so far after he reads and then he is free to study what he chooses. Aubrey is working through an online math program, called ALEKS, and then she chooses to read and write about, “All-of-a-Kind Family,” and “Nature Reader 5,” but only after telling me what she learned about the brain and how it learns stuff from your senses. She asks me to correct her spelling after she writes her paper on it, and I wonder if my child who hates to be corrected asks just to see if she can shock me.

While the older two are working, I sneak in a few minutes of work time, and I respond to emails. Then Logan asks for a new activity, and I glance at my clipboard to see which activities I have not yet introduced him to and we settle on learning about weights with the scale and the knobbed cylinders. Sethie wants to match baby and mother animals, and Brennen chooses to do a dot-to-dot with numbers through 70. After awhile Sethie wants to cut, and then do playdoh. Brennen moves to studying pop-up books, then making his own story about a snake and creating a couple of pages of pop-ups about it.



Pretty soon Kamron is done and wants to do a music class with the little ones. Aubrey asks for a sewing lesson. After this, I do a puppet show of my impromptu version of “Little Read Riding Hood,” with a reversible doll and silks. Kamron gets most of the irony and subtle humor I throw in and as we move to cleaning up for lunch he can’t stop talking about a few of the phrases I threw in, until the other kids get it too.



Lunch is time for recalling all they have learned. I ask questions about what they have read and I write short notes on their study logs. We all clean up and then it is my time to work. I have packages to log in, two reports to write, emails to answer and a run across town to drop of some supplies to a family who needs them asap.



While I spend the next three hours on this, Aubrey reads an American Girl book, and then dresses her doll and does her hair, while listening to history story tapes from Your Story Hour. Kamron builds forts with the younger boys and then plays checkers with Brennen. Seth has several bursts of crying and wanting to hit, because he thinks all cars and trains are his and Logan picked one up to play with it. I stop my work to explain and convince Seth that he can’t take a toy from someone else, and then I use distraction. I set up a train track with “two circles, please.” When he is involved I head back to my room to work.



Soon it is four-thirty and time to do chores and dinner. I sort through my chore cards and pull out the ones that most need to be done. The children pair up and I hand out the cards. One child has a melt down, and a discussion of fairness and hard work in life follows. After this child finally accepts what needs to be done chores continue. I fold laundry, oversee, and grab a homemade dinner from the freezer. This I have bought from a woman who is a great cook, as my time is limited now. After an hour Dad comes home and the children are mostly done with chores. The table is set and we all sit to eat together. Tonight the children want to know how Dad and I met, and why I would date someone four years older than me-that is so old. Then the conversation turns to the coming baby and my daughter asks, “So how did the seed get to mom’s egg anyway?” Dad tells her when he kissed me that is what happened. I tell her I’ll talk to her later when it is just she and I as the boys aren’t ready to hear all about it yet.

Dinner clean-up, baths and a wrestling match follow. Then I take the three younger boys into their room for story time. They all want “Uncle Wiggily,” then we read the next chapter in Famous Heroes about Lincoln. Brennen reads three stories to us from a Bible Reader, then Logan reads the first story in the book to us again. He almost has it memorized, which makes him feel great to read it. The boys take turns saying prayers, and they want me to say prayers with them too. Then they all want to pick the tape tonight and a squabble breaks out about who gets to pick, which makes me laugh, because they all want “Alice in Wonderland.” I tuck them in with their tape on and visit the older two kids. They are listening to the history tapes again. Aubrey is painting “a girl with a watering can,” and Kamron is building a triple-decker rock monster mansion out of legos. I tell them twenty minutes until lights out. Then I settle down to check emails, put in an order for work and read, while talking to my husband. Logan, our night owl, comes in to tell us that in the Alice story there is broken glass. He comes back to say she keeps growing and shrinking. After the third time, I take my computer and park myself in front of his door, until he stays in bed long enough to fall asleep. All the kids are finally asleep. Time to crochet one line on my current project to put my mind to rest and then prayers with my husband and sleep.

Receiving Service, Giving Service

I have had several experiences lately which seem to be teaching me about service. I can not say I have learned all the lessons I am supposed to from them, but as part of my pondering I am writing about them.

A short time prior to Christmas I was at the grocery store with my middle child. A man from East India came up to me as I was looking over the chip aisle and asked me if he could see my shoe. He proceeded to sit on the floor and take my shoe off then take my foot in his hands and massage it. Truth be told I felt rather uncomfortable and tried to stop him. He explained he was graduating from school and had studied the technique he was using. He could tell by my feet they were very sore and this would go a long way to helping them to feel better and for me to get a good nights sleep. Being eight months pregnant and having been on my feet most of the day I could not deny that my feet were indeed very sore, and I let him continue. He worked on one foot and then the other, and then he went back to the first again. For twenty minutes he held my sweaty socked feet in his hand, expertly massaging them in the chip aisle in the grocery store. I asked him if I could do anything for him, and he said no, it was his way of thanking me, and then he went on with his shopping. Why would a stranger perform such a service? He had talents in the area of service he gave, did he simply want to share those talents with those he thought they might help? What did he mean that it was “his way of thanking me”? I’m sure I had never helped him before.

As I was leaving the store a woman with one bag on her arm came over and insisted on pushing one of my carts-yes I had two. Again I accepted this service and she went out of her way to take the cart to my car, gladly doing so.

These people were helping me and they weren’t getting anything in return! Almost in desperation I racked my brain for someone I could serve. Sure I had dropped off a few cans of food and put money in donation buckets in front of stores, but… And then guilt swept over me. I had a neighbor who was lonely and poor. She came over often, in the morning, afternoon and evenings. She needed someone to talk to and occasionally she asked for food or money and to use the phone as she had none. While I let her use the phone, and gave her bus fare and food occasionally, I often explained I did not have time to talk as I was so busy with working from home and teaching the kids, blah, blah, blah. And … I had never given her anything beyond what she had asked for. I unloaded the car and immediately took over a tub of cookies I had bought. She was packing and explained they were being evicted and had to be out on the 22nd of December. Her sister, whom she lived with would be staying in a homeless shelter, and she would be staying in the dining room of a friend. She smiled when she said this as she knew two of my children had slept in our dining room until we finally had set up the garage for them. She then gave me a pair of booties for the baby, and I wished I had some money to give her to help her out and vowed next time I went anywhere I would get some from the bank. Then she moved. She has stopped by once to ask if I had money for bus fair, and I gave her all I had, but surely I could have done more.

And I have to wonder, why do I wait until I am specifically asked to help anyone? I do tend to help when asked and I enjoy doing so. I remembered the lady at the gas station, recently, who was out of gas and money and I filled her gas can, but she asked. The babysitting for others I had done, but they asked. The answers to questions for people I write, who ask, and those who I visit monthly for church, because I was asked to. Must I always be asked to help? No, now that I see this weakness, perhaps I can open my eyes to serving others-even without being asked.

Math Studies

In an earlier post I mentioned the gap in my math education. I have since read two books on Montessori math, am halfway through one on Waldorf math and halfway through one on the history of the equation of symmetry. Whenever I study something I want to share it with my children. So in addition to our regular studies we have been doing a lot of other math, and especially studying with Montessori materials. I have gained so much respect for teaching in this concrete way that allows the children to choose what they are going to study without compulsion. Herein is another similarity to TJed Leadership education.


Brennen was introduced to using the rods and number board for addition.
Logan, Brennen, Aubrey and Seth were introduced to the geometric shaped insets. This activity is not always considered math. It develops the fine motor skills and control over the pencil before the children start writing, but it can lead to so many other things, including math and art.
I introduced Brennen to the division board. He loved it and spent almost an entire morning on it one day. With this activity the children pour out a number of little balls of their choice, in this case it was 82. They count the balls and write the number down and then put a "house" around it. They then decide how many skittles are going to share the balls-in Brennen's case it was almost always 9. They write the number of skittles they have chosen in front of the house and place that many skittles on the top of the board. Then they give every one balls one at a time until they can not give them out evenly. Whatever is left they have as the remainder. Then the student writes these down and starts over or puts the material away. I introduced this activity to Aubrey also, she did about three problems and then put it away, but she needed a concrete reference point for division, and even that much helped. After several days of begging I introduced it to Logan (the children aren't allowed to touch a material until they have been introduced to it). He is so far from abstraction with it, but that is okay. He built several problems and we both saw the need for him to work more with the sandpaper numbers as he still is not really writing.
Kamron continues to work through his Saxon 6/7 book. He enjoys it and almost always understands from reading the lessons on his own. He declines most other invites to some of the other concrete lessons, because "he already knows that stuff." I did do a hands on lesson with him on squares and cubes, square roots and cube roots. We built them and took them apart with rods, so he could see how they were formed and what they meant. He thought that was pretty neat. We also learned about angles of parallelograms by building paper ones.
Logan built the number quantities. He talks about this activity a lot, but he has not pulled it out again. His understanding in this area is now pretty good. When we do the sandpaper numbers he can place them in order, tell which is bigger etc. He has also begun building numbers, such as 82, 43 etc. and naming ones I build with the sandpaper numbers.

This is Aubrey's work with equivalent fractions. It was more of an exploration of materials than a formal lesson. She struggles a bit with understanding the quality of numbers and how they are related. One night everyone stayed up until about ten thirty showing Daddy different things they had been learning and it turned into a discussion of our number system, as Kevin tried to explain the relationships of decimals in the base ten system. They built numbers with rods, counted and talked about place value. At times she was frustrated, but the next day she got on her online math program, Aleks, and said I want to study decimals. At least she wasn't scared off the topic.

We have done other work, especially with geometric shapes and the quality of triangles and how they can form every other shape, except a circle. All of these studies lately have been rather fun and deeply satisfying. I think we will keep it up.

Child Sized Masterpieces Level 3

I love "Child Sized Masterpieces" (it can be found at Montessori Sevices). We have many level 1 and level 2 folders. In level 1 children match the exact same painting. In level 2 children match paintings by the same artist. I have used these two levels for about seven years. One time I even bought enough religious art postcards to make about four folders, and I have taken these to Sacrament meeting and when I have taught nursery and sunbeams. The children love to look at the cards and match them. I have had the materials to build more levels for over a year now. One night during Christmas break I woke up at about four and couldn't go back to sleep-I am beginning to enjoy those nights, as strange as that may seem. So I got up and pulled out all of the folders and built a couple sets for levels three, four and five. I was all done by the time my husband came home from the gym at 6:30.



Last week I introduced level 3 to my children. I first showed Logan, 4, and Brennen, 6. They found this level to be a bit hard. In this level the folders have about six artist with four paintings by each artist that need to be matched. Some of the subjects are similar, but the style is slightly different. Other paintings have similar styles, but the subjects are different. I helped the boys work through this level. Later I introduced it to my older two children and the younger boys helped. It was quite a bit easier for them, as they have studied several of the artists already in our Charlotte Mason type artist studies, and they were familiar with their work.

When I saw it all laid out on the table, I decided we all might get more out of it if it was left like that for a couple months. We had a world map under a plastic sheet for about three years; we all learned so much geography. I decided to try the same thing with the artwork, and I'm pretty sure we will learn a ton. I plan to play some guessing games with the titles of the works, comparisons, I spy etc. It will give us great topics for dinner conversations. This is two sets of the cards under the plastic.



A good description of the program can be found here http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com/2007/10/child-size-masterpieces-how-to-use.html. However, I disagree that you don't need the book. I have found it valuable.

I Am

I was listening to the talk at church last Sunday, and I was juggling kids and thinking and something struck me about God. I can describe myself in so many ways and whenever I am asked to do so I have to decide which description fits. I am a homeschooling mother, I am eight months pregnant, I am a scout leader, I am a student, I am a writer, I am a crochettest, I am an Educational Specialist with a Charter School, I am tired ... You get the picture. This list can get so long that on introducing myself I often feel I do an inadequate job. For instance, if I say I'm the mother to soon to be six, then the conversation will go one way and I have been told that I can not possibly understand how it is to work, because with that many kids I, of course, stay home. So the next time I don't introduce myself that way, instead I say something else about myself. This response gets misunderstood also and soon when I am asked to tell about myself all I want to say is "I am me." So if I am so many things, what about God, how many things is He? He has many titles and takes much work to understand Him, His nature, His attributes, His desires, His accomplishments. So the thought occurs to me the best description for God is The Great I Am. And this makes so much sense.

Christmas

I didn't get many good pictures from Christmas this year, but here are a few.

The little ones saw Santa at the gym. Seth was so eager to see Santa-not a speck of nervousness with that one.
Decorating the tree. Yes, it is winter but still nearly impossible to keep shirts on my boys.
Logan hands a breakable ornament up to his cousin.
Christmas Eve and the children are waiting to put on the Christmas play. The adults read from the scriptures and intersperse songs, while the kids sing and act it out.
This is what one reluctant actor thought of being a shepherd.
After more singing...look who comes in with presents for the children. Kevin did an awesome job.

Here we are Christmas morning.

The Nutcracker

We took the older children to see the Nutcracker about a week before Christmas. My children are familiar with the music and the story, but had never seen a ballet before. In this version they added an extra dance and used a piece by Strauss, it was funny to see the looks of appall on my children's (and my husband's) faces. "That is not even Tchaikovsky!" The first half of the ballet was where the story was told and was very good. There were some really neat effects with the screens and props. Brennen, who sat next to me, really enjoyed it. The second half of the ballet is where Clara and the Nutcracker go back to his land and see the Sugar Plum Fairy, who entertains them with many dances by those in her kingdom. These dances went on for about forty minutes, and Brennen kept trying to add some type of action back into the story. He could be heard making comments such as, "And next the Rat King comes back to life and throws a bomb at the dancers," "Wouldn't it be funny if all of the dancers crashed into each other and they all fell down?"

After the ballet, some of the dancers came out on to the main stairs and we were able to ask them questions. They dance seven hours a day six days a week to prepare for performances! They also have a team of physical therapists, chiropractors and masseuses. Aubrey asked them if they had any injuries during this year, and they described several. It was a pretty fun experience, even the older boys enjoyed themselves.

The Formal Party Ingredient

Oliver and Rachel DeMille offer as one ingredient to raising and educating a future leader that they should either go to or watch their parents go to a black-tie event at least once a year. I don’t know about you, but my sphere of influence does not exactly include the black-tie event crowd.

This last weekend, however, I did have an opportunity to attend a formal holiday party for my husband’s work. We arrived at his impressive home and were greeted warmly by the host. This was a party for the management departments of two of his energy consulting businesses and staff from an emerging third business, so there were numerous people, none of which I knew and less than a third my husband knew. The crowd was as diverse as one can imagine, a young couple in dreadlocks and kakhis with information about homebirths, a Russian scientist complete with thick round silver glasses and bowtie with a charming wife from Greece and stories from around the globe, a Puerto Rican University professor who teaches educational method and wrote a Spanish guide with her husband and daughter, a smiling mingler with a vague job description, but one got the impression had something to do with making everyone feel happy, a woman with nose rings and rings various other places, whose children had only ever attended Waldorf schools, those dressed in suits and formal gowns and those dressed in collared shirts, or blouses.

As we stepped into the large entry hall, several pieces of fine art could be seen. A large print of an Egyptian god in silver, stood next to a Grecian statue. In the dining room hung a still life of a fruit bowl on one wall with abstract and surreal paintings on the other. Family portraits hung in another room, along with a picture of the host with President Bush.

Quickly, the relevance of training our children in more formal manners was brought to my mind as I questioned the proper responses when introduced to a couple, or when I was not introduced and a conversation between my husband and a coworker immediately began, while his wife stood next to him and I stood with my husband. In my real estate training I picked up the need for a firm handshake, and yet so many people had those dead-fish ones, hmm. And what is to be done with the glass when one is finished drinking? What about the shrimp tail when one has just eaten a shrimp and is engaged in conversation? Is it appropriate for the wife of one couple to sit next to the husband of the other couple when both couples are seated on the same couch? This situation arose twice. When we sat near a younger couple they didn’t flinch, but there was an obvious awkwardness when this arrangement came up with an older more formal couple. The thought came to me that I could have used a few more formal parties as a child, but I was certainly glad for the formal parties I had attended at my Great Grandmother’s on Christmas Eves growing up.

As we ventured into one room and watched the string quartet play, I was at least gratified that I knew almost every classical piece (thanks to “Beethoven’s Wig”) and could name each of the instruments.

One thing I did notice, though, is that for all of Hollywood’s depictions of parties with women in revealing clothing, the one lady that wore an extremely revealing top was the one that was the hardest to talk to and not just for me. Our husbands had much in common and spoke at length, and though, I stood next to her I could not bring myself to look at her, much less ask her about herself. Perhaps, this is a lack of social polish on my part, and yet, I noticed that no one else seemed to talk to her either and many tried to avoid looking in her direction.

As the evening progressed I recognized the pattern straight out of the entertainment section in “The Joy of Cooking.” Cocktails and drinks, followed by hors’d oeuvres, then dinner, in this case an intriguing Persian buffet, as the host was Iranian and loves to share his food. This was followed by a later dessert and coffee table. I had always wondered how one party could hold so many different sections of food, I think the key is to have a very long party, and serve the dinner very late, so people are very hungry.

I’m not sure this would be considered a black-tie event, yet like so many things after I have experienced something similar I see the point for the DeMilles’ ingredient for educating future leaders, mostly because I see the wants in my own education in this area. My husband and I decided that next year we would bring the older children and let them experience it for themselves.