Another Cause for Celebration

Look.  LOOK!  This is my newest niece-- Aliyah.  Have you ever seen a more gorgeous head of hair on a baby?  On anybody?  EVER?  AHHHHH!  I was dying. 

My brother Matt and his wife Misty came to town this weekend to bless this little treasure with their family.  I hadn't seen her yet.  I was aching to hold her and she was all I hoped she would be!

So sorry, Matt and Misty, you cannot take her back to Washington. 

My siblings and I will all have babies within one year of each other this year.  Here are 3 of the 4.  The 4th isn't born yet.

I MUST HAVE ANOTHER GIRL BABY!!!!!  I know this sounds very greedy, especially to my sister-in-law, Katie, who has been blessed with five boys and no girls, but there it is. 

"What, Mom?  Don't you love us, boys?"

Well of course I do.  But can I put bows in your hair?  Can I make you wear pink dresses?  Can I doll you up? 

No, I cannot.   I should not.  But I'd better have another girl so I'm not tempted to!

A Cause For Celebration

Elinor is eight years old!

 

Forget celebrating for one day-- or even for one week.  Elinor has been in celebration mode for the last week and will be for the next week as she prepares for her baptism day.  

Our wonderful Barbara took Els out to lunch on Monday and then shopping for a spring dress.

I think they made a lovely choice!

She was excited to get her scriptures on her birthday.

And she has hot hula hoop moves.  I used to have hot hula hoop skills.  I thought I still did, until I tried it in the store.  Not pretty.  I probably shouldn't try to hula hoop at all, but especially not in Walmart.

Have you ever heard of Sing-a ma Jigs?  You push on their tummies and they sing one note per push.  If you have more than one they will harmonize with each other.  They are really fun to play with, but as you might imagine they do start to grate on the nerves after a while.  The girls all got them for their birthdays.  Will I regret this decision?  Perhaps.

Allison took Elinor out to lunch last Saturday.  That started off the birthday celebrations. 

Uncle Matt loaded her up with cold, hard cash.

Now.  I'm just going to say it.  All this celebrating has gone to Elinor's head.  The gifts, the lunches, the money, the day off of any chores.  We encountered a wee bit of attitude today.  

Don't tell Elinor this, but I don't think her attitude held a candle to the sass I could produce at her age.  Sorry sweetie.  Nice try.  Happy birthday, I love you.

Orbiting Bodies

George is now six months old.  Sometimes he'll roll around on the floor for a few minutes.  He'll bounce in his super-saucer for a few minutes.  He'll let his siblings hold him for a few minutes.  But mostly he wants to be in close contact with me.  He likes the view of Abe when I'm holding him, but not so much the other way around.   I don't mind.  I quite like him, too.  His orbital path is the shortest and closest to me.

Cannon will be 3 in May.  He's constantly on the move.  He will climb up on my lap and give me giant hugs and just as soon, he's off again.  But he always knows where I am in the house.  If I'm upstairs feeding George he will burst into the room, "Mom?  Where are you?"  His orbital path is longer than George's.

Faith is almost 5.  If I start cooking in the kitchen she will instantly climb up on the chair next to the counter and ask, "Can I please help you?"  She's older, so her orbital path is slightly longer than Cannon's. 

Wherever I go in the house my three orbiting bodies are always there. 

Pretty lucky, huh?

Elinor's Eight Date

Elinor is very soon to turn eight years old, so Saturday night was our "Eight Date".   It is tradition that Abe and I take our new eight year old downtown to The Garden Restaurant.

We had such a great time with her.  She is a most fascinating little person and I enjoy her company so much!  She is very mature for her age, so in someways it seems like she should have been eight a while ago.  However, it does make me a little bit sad to see her growing up so quickly.
It is a little bit sad for me--- but it tears Abe up to see his girls growing up.  I don't think it will come as a shock to anyone that he was close to (or in) tears all evening.  
And Elinor enjoyed having her dad tell her stories from his childhood on the way home.  As you probably know, Abe is a marvelous story teller.

We really should have had George in the picture with us to pose in front of this statue,  but he was with Allison for a couple of hours so I could really enjoy the evening as well.

Elinor is a peacemaker in our family, but she loves adventure and make believe.  She recently had a girlfriend over to play--instead of her usual guy pals.  As the girls discussed what activity they should do, Elinor enthusiastically suggests, "Hey!  Do you want to go dig in the hole?"

That activity is exactly what it sounds like-- get a shovel and dig in the giant hole in the backyard.  You can't imagine the imaginative games that can come from digging a hole in the backyard!

Six Years Later

Saturday morning was rainy and snowy, but we headed up to the cemetery to remember our Tessa.  Clark is really the only one of our children who has real memories of that time in our family.  At the time, six years ago, he was very protective of me and quick to offer hugs and ask how I was doing.  Not much has changed.  Whenever we visit the cemetery he is very kind and affectionate to me as I tenderly remember my other child who isn't with us right now.  I really appreciate it.

The girls don't have much memory of the time, but they like to think about their other sister, and often wonder how old she would be and what she would look like.

And these two little sweeties--- would we even have these two in our family if we hadn't lost Tessa?  I don't know, but I love them and they are a joy to us!

Thoughtful

Every year Jesse and Amy (Abe's brother and sister-in-law) send us lilies on Tessa's anniversary.  It is so sweet of them and I love the way they make the house smell.

Speaking of Jesse and Amy, but mostly speaking of Amy, she is the aunt who ALWAYS remembers to send cards for everyone's special occasions.  I had an aunt like that when I was growing up.  It was Aunt Marie and Uncle John.  Probably it was just Aunt Marie, but she was nice and signed Uncle John's name too.  No matter what state or country we lived in, I always got a birthday card from them.  Never missed a year.

I think that is remarkable.  I think my sister-in-law, Amy is remarkable.  She is a busy woman with six kids and yet she does this thoughtful thing that takes time, money, and organization.  I guess it is the organization factor that really wows me.  Abe's family is HUGE and I'm guessing she does this for each member.  Wow!

Twenty years from now at family reunions every niece and nephew will remember Aunt Amy as the one who thoughtfully remembered them on their birthday.  Aunt Betsy???  Who is she?   Oh that's right-- she is married to nice Uncle Abe.  

I've asked Amy about her system for being so amazingly punctual on sending out the cards.  She tried to explain it to me, but I don't think my brain was even able to understand the system, much less execute it. 

That was a long way of saying thank you, Amy.  You're kindness is very much appreciated.

Thursday Thoughts

Faith was a Valentine's making machine this year.  She had her list and she was determined to do all the writing on her valentines.  

But that is not why I posted this picture.  I would like to draw attention to the condition of the kitchen area in the background.  HAIRY SCARY!!!

You've heard of overweight people (yes, I do realize I fit into that category as well), who don't realize how large they have gotten until they see a picture of themselves.  I don't think I realized how messy my kitchen was until I saw this picture.  Cabinets open, counter filled with junk, dirty dishes, ect.  In my defense, I did proceed to straighten it up (notice I didn't say "clean it up"-- I didn't go that far) shortly after this picture was snapped. 
House cleaning would be so much more rewarding if it didn't have to be done so often, don't you think?

Abe and Clark recently attended a Winter Day Camp for 11 year-old scouts.  Clark is squished into a snow cave in this picture.  Which reminds me of the time Clark was very unhappy with Abe and I (it happens sometimes) and he hid in a neighbor's snow cave for quite some time.  I won't go into more detail than that (must respect the man-child's privacy and the story doesn't make me look very good either).   However, Clark is doing a really fantastic job of regularly and responsibly getting all his work done and using his time well.  I am so grateful.  The same cannot be said for every member of this household. 

 

She is an angel!  Look!--she fell asleep while praying!

Be still, my heart!  Can I get 6 more just like her?  

Clark had his first wrestling match last night and is currently UNDEFEATED!!!  

In truth, the match was canceled just as we arrived due to a power outage, so he hasn't actually wrestled yet.  But I'm sure he would have won if he had wrestled!  We were all so excited to go see him that we rushed through dinner and packed ourselves all into the minivan (we don't all go together many places except the church around the corner).  You can imagine how delighted we were at the cancellation.  Boo!  Hiss!  I was ready to see my sonny boy beat up another sonny boy.  Oh well, I guess I still have that to look forward to another day.

Ice cream cones were the consolation prize.  

I mentioned before that we've had lots of gunky sickie poos around here lately.  After a week and a half (plus), I finally realized I ought to take Cannon to the Dr.  I took him yesterday, but it truly did not occur to me that such a visit might be in order until the day before.  What was I thinking?  I don't know.  But I'm glad we went because Cannon has ear infections in both ears and George (who the appointment wasn't even for!) also has an ear infection.  

No fun.

Abe has class this evening so we're on our own.  Shall I make dinner or shall we have every man for himself ?  You know, every man for himself really only works if every man (and child) is capable of of making himself food.  Which half of my people are not, so I guess that won't make my life any easier tonight.  Making dinner it is.  

Ciao! 

Ciao-- as in goodbye--Not to be mistaken with Chow!  Which is what I'm off to prepare.

KISS

I am not thinking about Valentine's smooching.  Rather I am thinking of the acronym KISS--

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Albert Einstein's maxim that "everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler".

Antoine de Saint Exupéry said, "It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away".

And my favorite, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication".

I was just looking at a homeschooling blog.  It gave me the heebeejeebees!  This author made it seem very complicated.  It made my stomach hurt as I thought, "Good heavens!  Am I suppose to be doing all that???"  Fortunately, just before I went into a full scale panic attack I remembered my favorite quotes on simplicity.

KISS.  I do not believe education has to be that complicated.  Is it hard work?  Yes.  Does it take a lot of time.  Oh, yes.  Is it boring sometimes?  Sadly, yes.

But today, I shall reveal to the world my educational philosophy.  Brace yourselves-- it may be quite shocking.  Shockingly simple!  Also keep in mind that this is my philosophy based in the age and stage of my people right now.  I may change my ideas as my kids get older.

I do believe there are some subjects that are necessary, but not necessarily much fun to learn.  For me and my house these include:  Spelling, grammar, handwriting, math (fun to some, but not all).  These are the "cinder blocks of education".  Imagine the cinder blocks lying side by side in a giant square on the ground. They are the base.  By themselves they are wiggly and wobbly-- not very solid.  These subjects must be done very regularly, if not every day.  It's like practicing a musical instrument-- just practice it regularly and your skill improves and you get better and better.  Not that much fun, but not that bad if you just keep at it.

The other subjects are much more fun-- history, science, social studies, literature, writing, computer skills, and art.  These subjects are like pouring sand over the cinder blocks.  The sand easily fills in all the cracks and holes and really solidifies the cinder blocks.  The sand by itself without the blocks wouldn't be very solid, but when they are put together it makes a solid education.

My preference for getting that "sand", or the fun subjects is to read real, living books.  Books written by a single author who has a passion for the subject.  I don't think you have to stress about what order to read the books in.  Who cares if this week you read all about the Aztecs and the next week you read a book about ancient Egypt?  They are both fascinating!  We like to talk about when things were happening--"before this, but after that".  I am fairly certain my brilliant kiddos will sort it all out.  Besides in our reading together I am learning SO MUCH that I had heard of, but couldn't possibly have put onto a time line myself-- and I am college graduate!  Go figure.

This cinder block and sand philosophy is put into action at our house by the three oldest each being assigned a certain amount of "cinder block subjects" each day.  I say what books and workbooks and how much.  They are tested on spelling words and I check all their work and they must make any corrections.  They don't love it, but they don't hate it.  Well, some days they might hate it, but they like seeing their skills in those areas improve. 

Then they have "sand subjects".   They have an assigned amount of time they need to read.  One and half hours for Clark and Bethany.  They can read what they want (within reason) for 45 minutes and read something a bit more academic (that I approve) for the other 45 minutes.   They must write in their journal twice a week.  They must turn in a weekly report.  The parameters for that are very broad: "Something of interest to you--as long as something of interest to you has correct spelling, grammar and punctuation".  We read history stories daily.  We always have a family read aloud going.

Here's another quote that speaks to me.
“All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.” - Sir Walter Scott

I feel very strongly that people, even children should get as much choice in their life as possible.  Why not let them choose what interests them.  Children aren't going to remember all the little details of history and social studies they learn, but they will remember that they were trusted to make good choices with their time and energy.  I require the time, but they can choose the content (sand).  Except when I choose the content and then they take the necessary time to complete it correctly (cinder blocks).  Sometimes it takes all day, but then they don't get to do the fun stuff and they have me nagging them all day.  I annoy myself on those days.


My top two influences for homeschooling methods are Charlotte Mason and Thomas Jefferson Education.  My ideas seem simple to me-- we have a basic structure in place, but I don't have to rethink things all the time.  There isn't a ton of school work for me to check and keep track of.  I don't have to think through structured unit studies. The kids are responsible to get their work done and have lots of time to do what is of interest to them.   My hope is to create a culture of learning, with the discipline necessary to jump through the necessary hoops of life--ACT tests, AP tests, preparations for college.  
   
There it is.  This is what we do.  I completely understand and respect that other families have wonderful ideas and systems that work for them.  I appreciate all my homeschooling and non-homeschooling friends and family over the years that have shared their ideas on education with me.  Whatever method we all choose, the most important thing is that the children feel they are loved.  It is most important that we teach them who they are and what they can do. I am so glad we have the freedom to choose what we think is the best way to do that.