Saturday, August 28, 2010

A Fresh Start

Proverbs 31:27 (New International Version)

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
I know I've been missing from bloggy world for a few weeks, but the Lord's been dealing with me. And I've been letting Him!! So I've thrown myself whole heartedly into what the Lord has called me to and done it with all my heart. I've made many changes in my own heart first, and then in the live's of my children. I must lead by example, I don't want to be a hypocrite.
Our school year started two weeks ago and it's been awesome!! We're using some new curriculum this year. Some that was given to me or found for just pennies. It's been fun! Rosebud is using Total Language Plus for language arts this year. We slowly read through a book dissecting it bit by bit. In addition to the necessary LA there are also fun activities, simple geography and character lessons added to it. She's LOVING these. Most are very simple both in time and money. Right now she's reading Pipi Longstocking. We've baked Swedish Christmas cookies, gone to the zoo, made and flipped pancakes REAL high, and attempted 43 somersaults in a row just to name a few~ LOL However, after just 7 she determined that this particular activity must have been meant for younger children. lol Hence the painful pic below.
We're using Mystery of History for the second year and loving it. When I put the time in to find the right books and movies at the library to go along with it, it really adds a new dimension to it. And when I plan ahead and prepare for the suggested activities, it's amazing all that they retain. So I have been diligent to do all of the above~and not regretting it for a moment!
Bowling with the family.
I have a question for you all. How do you determine how many books to have your children read? Mine have textbook reading/studying, assigned reading which might be for history or science, and then fun reading. They all enjoy reading too. I'm pretty selective about what they're allowed to read and am always on the lookout for a good book recommendation. But if they had their way it would be fun reading every day and I'm trying to get more non fiction, biographies or even historical fiction included in there. But I don't want them to lose their enjoyment of it either. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
I've also been tackling little odd jobs around the house that are WAY overdue! We've made trips to consignment stores, goodwill, and friends house's to de-clutter. Yeah! Such a good feeling every time I do it. And the funny thing is when I start to de-clutter, then the next thing I know the girls are doing the same without any prompting by me!
One of the bigger projects has been to finish painting Pillar's closet. We painted her room a few years ago. Yep, you heard me right.....a couple years ago. But never painted her closet. I guess we didn't have enough paint to do what we wanted and then just never got around to finishing it at all. Well that what we're doing this week. Together, just the two of us. And we're having so much fun!! The two of us in a pretty small space has not gone without accident as you see here! LOL
We're not quite done yet. We put on the second coat of color today and we'll do the detail and stenciling tomorrow. I think it's going to look great when we finish!
Miracle, Rosebud and I are using Apologia's Human Body this year and trying their new notebooking journals too. In years past we've used a lapbook from Live and Learn Press. I thought we needed a change so we're using these and learning so much! The experiments are really helpful too! We've had so many medical issues in our family that this study is very relevant and the girls are eating it up! This is a jello mold of a cell. We used candy for the different parts. I wish I could tell you it tasted good, but alas....it was nasty! lol
Sorry about all the mixed up pics. I don't know how they all got out of order. Weird!
I wish we would have thought to take a video of what we saw here. The mother giraffe nursed her baby and just hugged and nuzzled him. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen at the zoo. By the time the baby had finished nursing and the mama had stopped cuddling him, there was a HUGE crowd watching. What a beautiful sight!
Thank you for all your kind encouraging words. I appreciate them all!! Have a wonderful day tomorrow and enjoy the Sabbath with your family.
PS. Please don't forget to answer my question. Thank you!!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

You have been busy judging from the great photos. As far as reading goes, I think I would determine how much textbook reading is going on first. I have found that textbook reading can be more tiresome then most other reads. A lot that they are reading from a text can most likely be found in a living book as well. I would go with some great reading lists say from ambleside online, Robinson Curriculum, things like that. Very helpful having a list laid our already when searching for great reading.

blessings,
Tricia

Still standin' said...

Hi Laura, so good to hear from you. I'm glad you and the girls are off to a good start. We started two weeks ago, too.

With two of my four children dealing with dyslexia, I have never assigned a certain number of books for any of them to read. The two who are not dyslexic read as much as they can get their hands on, both for school and for pleasure. I occasionally have to "encourage" a little more school reading, lol, but I'm happy that they enjoy reading.

My daughter and youngest son have struggled in varying degrees with reading. My daughter amazes me with the methods she has developed to cope with her dyslexia, and has come to love reading, too, which I am grateful for. My youngest son still struggles. I don't know if he will ever enjoy reading, but he is learning. I've had a harder time finding methods to help him, but I keep looking.

Something that is working for both him and his sister is audiobooks. We've always enjoyed listening to them as a family, and now they are using them more in their schoolwork. Their brothers are, too, and this helps us add even more books to our reading list.

Have a great school year, and blog when you can. I always love reading your posts.

Carissa Blanchard said...

Great Post Lori! Love the picture with Miracle and the Polar Bear! Wow!

As far as reading...we've talked about this a lot, but a new thing I've discovered, as they get older, there is less and less time to read for pleasure. I knew this was going to happen, which is why I was always encouraging it before. Now if Chocolate starts reading a book (fiction), it takes him weeks instead of days because his time is so full of school and chores and work!

I've had the same dilema though, trying to get them to read more non-fiction. Right now they are reading books in History, they've read the Magna Charta, Shakespeare (King John) and are working through Ivanhoe right now. I also assign them missionary biography's to read 30 minutes each day and that's about all they have time for!

Great post! You've been busy! Good job!

love and hugs,
CB

Laura said...

Tricia~ You are the second person this week to reccommend Ambleside to me. I've never looked at it before but I will now! Thank you!!

Still Standin~ When I click on your name to link over to your blog it won't let me. Can you send me a different link?? I've just this year introduced a few audio books that haven't gone over very well. Bummer. I'm going to keep trying though as we have several hours in the van every week while doing a paper route. Thank you for stopping by. I always like hearing from you!

CB~ First off Pillar told me that she took this pic of Miracle in front of a huge painting/photograph of a bear at the zoo. So it's not real. But I still think it looks really cool. lol Also, thank you for your words of wisdom. That's what I've been experiencing over here and it really helps to know that you're going through the same thing! Thank you!!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome pics! Love the new hair look. LOL! I'm so glad to see you back. Blessings to you for following His lead. I have some much needed sprucing also especially painting the boys' rooms but I think it may way til Spring break. I really need to motivate myself. Ha! Looks like you guys have had a wonderful time. Precious moments!

Anonymous said...

Lovely post mom! I do like the picture of Miracle next to the picture (Glad you put it up) The Giraffes were so sweet.