Gathering up all the Stuff we needed to take with us for our Fourth of July swim and fireworks party was quite a task: pimento cheese, squash casserole, swim suits, towels, changes of clothes, diapers, bottles, toys, etc. There was one item I really didn't want to forget: a camera. It was Baby L's first Fourth and I wanted to get lots of photos for the scrapbook!

I wandered around the house muttering "camera, camera, camera" until I could get to the cabinet where we keep The Camera. Unfortunately, my mommy-brain was too easily distracted and we went off without it. Oh, the guilt!

Then my friend, Donna, came to my rescue! She had remembered her camera (she has more functioning brain cells than I, don't believe her when she tells you otherwise) and was kind enough to send me some of the photos she took (one of the wonderful joys of the digital age - instant photo sharing). So, thank you, Donna!

Poolside - relaxing in the afternoon shade.

Not so happy.

Happy! Baby L's first dip in the pool!


LadyBug (on the left) and her two girlfriends
enjoy snowcones




The boys enjoying snowcones in the hot tub!

Here's a man with a pyrotechnical problem.

Hey, look, it really goes up there!

Hope you had a wonderful Independence Day!!



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Peter Piper's Pick's - July 4th

An excellent and short essay on modesty's ability to preserve the holy from Betty Beguiles.


Mom My Ride - my husband sent this to me. He always tells me I should leave the van doors open and let the birds feast from the crumbs.


Jennifer of Et Tu has some thoughts on prayer and the Psalms that really spoke to and challenged me.


Are you enjoying the beautiful fruit of summer? How about making some delicious fruit tarts?


And finally, for the Fourth of July: Cyber Fireworks! You can choose your location. (I chose the White House because I love DC, but you can choose your own location.)

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Why my blogging is sparse . . .

Dressing poor pooch up in dressups and doll clothes.

Middle son's plan for a homemade beany baby.

Painting extravaganza.

Hanging streamer decorations for "underwater" play.

Cracking jokes with Baby L.

Making cupcakes: chocolate with strawberry frosting and SPRINKLES!



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Story of the World and CC Cycle 1

Well, do I have good news for those waiting to get the Story of the World/Classical Conversations Cycle 1 list. Someone at CC has already done it! Ask your CC director to get the file from the CC director's portal online. It even has readings from SOTW matched up with the geography memory work, too!

Thank you to the sweet commentor who emailed me to let me know that this work was already done! You've saved me (and the other CC families) quite a few hours and I so appreciate it!


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my distraction caught on video

A friend asked for me to capture Baby L's first steps on video. It just took a couple days for me to have my camera in the right place at the right time. This evening it finally happened!

Purchasing a Peck of Peaches - Pie recipe

It all started with a funny toungue twister.

On the way to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning I devised a funny little tongue twister: "Purchasing a Peck of Peaches" as that was my main goal for that market day. Last week the peach guys hadn't made it to market and I was afraid I'd have missed my peach window for the season. But thankfully, there they stood: two smartly dressed South Carolina gentlemen in their sherbet-colored polo shirts and crisp khaki shorts surrounded by a mass of peaches.

Despite being severly coffee-deprived, I managed to greet the peach purveyors with,"I'm here to purchase a peck of peaches!" Delivered with precise enunciation, my tongue twister made them both laugh heartily. In fact, they enjoyed it so much they asked me to repeat it and gave me a few extra peaches in my peck.

The peaches are delightful - like juicy sunshine. But they sure do go over to the "bad side" quickly. Hubby loves pie...so I made a pie with a heap of them, and froze the rest. Here's a photo of the pie with "Dad" spelled out in excess pie crust dough.

The recipe is straight out of Joy of Cooking, with the minor addition of a 1/4 tsp of ginger. Oh, it is so good.

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That which demands my attention

What has been demanding my attention this week:

Three day Parent Practicum for Classical Conversations (down in Rock Hill, SC where you there?) I now know how my kids feel when I present them with an intimidating lesson only to have them complete it with a pleased smile and the comment, "Wow, that was fun!" We tried out some Logic excercises, which I was dreading, and found the challenge relaly enjoyable!

Mother in Law coming to meet Baby L for the first time tonight! Busy, busy cleaning the house and changing beds, making meals and cleaning bathrooms.

Speaking of Baby L - she took her first few STEPS last night! So a good deal of our cleaning time has been spent coaxing her into a few more steps . . . who can resist?

And finally, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, a delightful book on loan to me from Dear Neighbor (on loan to her from her mother). I'm on page 33 and thoroughly attached to Juliet Ashton!

I'm so behind on my blogging, but those cute little baby legs are far too distracting. . . . I hope my blog friends will forgive if I'm slow to respond to comments or get promised posts up. I know you will, right?

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That which demands my attention

What has been demanding my attention this week:

Three day Parent Practicum for Classical Conversations (down in Rock Hill, SC where you there?) I now know how my kids feel when I present them with an intimidating lesson only to have them complete it with a pleased smile and the comment, "Wow, that was fun!" We tried out some Logic excercises, which I was dreading, and found the challenge relaly enjoyable!

Mother in Law coming to meet Baby L for the first time tonight! Busy, busy cleaning the house and changing beds, making meals and cleaning bathrooms.

Speaking of Baby L - she took her first few STEPS last night! So a good deal of our cleaning time has been spent coaxing her into a few more steps . . . who can resist?

And finally, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, a delightful book on loan to me from Dear Neighbor (on loan to her from her mother). I'm on page 33 and thoroughly attached to Juliet Ashton!

I'm so behind on my blogging, but those cute little baby legs are far too distracting. . . . I hope my blog friends will forgive if I'm slow to respond to comments or get promised posts up. I know you will, right?

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Peter Piper's Picks: June 13th

Jessica, of Homemaking Through the Church Year, has written a very well-stated explanation of why her family has stayed in ECUSA (Episcopal Church USA or TEC - The Episcopal Church) and is now leaving. I HIGHLY recommend it if you are in ECUSA and wondering how long to stay...or just a curious onlooker to the whole ECUSA debacle.


Some interesting ideas for using Wordle in your teaching.


Tiananmen Square remembered in photos. Having actually stood in Tiananmen makes the enormity of the 1989 crowd of students more amazing. It is a HUGE square - world's largest, I believe.


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Homeschool Questions: How did you get started?

Summertime is here and with it many people considering homeschooling next year, or gearing up for their first year. Lots of questions about "why" and "how" and "where" and "when" and "what" are floating through potential homeschooler's minds (and current homeschoolers, too).

One thing about homeschooling is that each family's school experience is different. So, don't be misled into thinking that just because one homeschooler does it one way you can't do it a different way. With that in mind, I thought I'd offer you some of my thoughts on "why" we homeshool, "how" we got started, and "what" curricula do you use.

Today, I'll start with: "How" we got started. . .


The little yellow school bus was going to be my ticket to freedom. Of that I was certain. My day dreams were filled with all three kiddoes off at school while I enjoyed time at home to cook, run errands, meet friends for coffee, do some household projects and hobbies . . . maybe even take up tennis . . . maybe even a part-time job! I only had 5 more years to go until I'd have them all in school from 7:30-2:30. Seven hours of unencumbered independence!

And then it happened...

We moved in next to some homeschoolers (perhaps you've heard me refer to "Dear Neighbor"). Not just any homeschoolers, really neat homeschoolers. Our kids became friends, we became friends. And as I got to know them better, homeschooling became less and less "out there" and "impossible" seeming, even for an impatient and disorganized mom like me. But, just because something is possible doesn't mean it is preferrable. So, for the next couple years I was quite happy to watch homeschooling from the outside and continue with my day dreams.

Until it became apparent those day dreams were slowly erroding away.

Over my eldest's Kindergarten and first grade years, my husband and I became aware of the high cost to our family of having our children in an institutional school. We realized it was not a cost we were willing to pay.

We quickly became tired of the pointless homework being sent home and the other ways the school monopolized our family time. Wasn't it enough that they had my child for 7 hours? Couldn't they accomplish an adequate education in that time? If not, why not? For heaven's sake - this was only 1st grade after all!

Why did the school not accept as an excused absence an absence that we, as his parents, thought worthwhile? I was faced with accepting "inexcused" absences (and getting notes from the principal warning that too many would require my son to be held back) or lying and giving a fake "sick note".

And involvement in the school? Well that was a bit of a joke. We had an active PTA, but meetings were closed and the only things they did seemed to be fundraisers. It seemed a bit to me like bread and circuses. . . keep the parents mollified.

Someone had performed a switcheroo on me - the little yellow school bus, with its promised freedom, had become a shackle instead.

After first grade, we brought my son home and took my middle son out of his 3-day a week preschool program. And in all honesty, in the six years we've been homeschooling I can't say we have really ever looked back. Oh, there are times when I am wistful for those days that I never had (7 hours of independence), but they aren't worth the trade off for us. I've sacrificed a little personal independence for my children's intellectual independence, and unexpectedly gained freedom for our family schedule!

And all those plans I made for my "free" time while the kids were in school. . . I've found time for quite a few of them, surprisingly!

Today, in the early morning hours as I sit sipping my morning tea with my kiddoes nestled snuggly in bed, I often see the little yellow school bus roll by at 6:30 in the morning, and have no regrets, only gratitude.


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The Book Pile: June 2009

On the book pile for June




Life Is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition





Living Faithfully: As A Prayer Book People





The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of The Odyssey - Reading this before giving it to my son to read.



Review of May's book pile

Finished in May:



The Abolition of Man
, CS Lewis - comprised of three essays from a series of talks he gave. This is a classic Christian book looking at modern culture from a Chrisitan perspective: ethics, science, the nature of man. This is a book I've had on my "to be read" list for some time, but finally made a point of picking it up when it was listed as a "must-read" on the CiRCE reading list for this year's conference.




The Egg and I
, Betty MacDonald - Quirky people, sweet stories, vivid descriptions from a 1940s chicken ranch in the American Northwest. Ever heard of Ma and Pa Kettle? This is the book where they had their beginning in American pop culture.


Started in May and still reading:


Anglican Spirit Michael Ramsey



The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain


Started in May, but gave up on:



The Religious Potential of the Child Sofia Cavaletti
I have another less philosophical book by Cavaletti that I'm going to try later this summer. Some excellent thoughts about children's approach to religion, but sometimes a bit tedious in its romaticism.


What are you reading?

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Peter Piper's Picks: June 6th

John and Kate Plus Eight has occassionally caught my interest. It was sometimes hard to watch John and Kate bicker and behave rudely to each other, and wondering if the kids ever had a moment of privacy bothered me. But I didn't miss the recent tabloid headlines. And I didn't miss the season's premiere. Oh, how painful. Have people who cheered them over looked some major flaws in the hope of finding a "positive role model family"? Christianity Today asks and answers.


Mater et Magistra is a magazine for Roman Catholic Home Educators. It looks like it has so many wonderful ideas for home education, living the liturgical life, and being both a mother and a teacher. There are some free articles and unit studies to enjoy and whet your appetite!


From a fantastic blog, Red Letter Believers, a look at Christian "culture" (jargon, dress, etc) and how it can make christianity impenetrable to outsiders.


Finally, we've all read about Dr. Tiller's murder. Here is a succinct and reasonable prolife response: George Tiller's killer wasn't prolife enough. Go read the rest - it is good, and quick.


Ok, ok - just ONE more. Are you teaching a child to read? Here is a SIMPLE and FREE game you can make at home (all it requires are some paint chips and a sharpie marker!). From the brilliant mind of the blogger at The Snail's Trail.


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Classical Conversations Cycle 1 and Tapestry of Grace

Do you attend Classical Conversations? Do you use Tapestry of Grace to "flesh out" your studies a bit? I do, too! Last year, I created a document that detailed how to combine the two for CC's Cycle 3. There was a lot of interest, and as requested I'm sharing my document for this year's CC Cycle 1.

Some things have changed since last year, though.

• First, I have only listed the corresponding TOG weeks with the CC week and some activity suggestions (from Tapestry and my own ideas). I have not included my teaching points. Since families emphasize different things, I decided not to knock myself out to get this done by the end of May (new baby and all). I do plan on doing it slowly over the summer and will happily share my teaching points with anyone interested. I'll announce those on the blog when they are ready (end of July at the latest).
  
• Second, the second semester of this year's CC cycle does not lend itself to a strictly historical matching with Tapestry. Some of the weeks cover wide swathes of history. These weeks would be better suited treated as a geographical study and thus have not been matched with TOG weeks. I do have activity suggestions for those weeks, though!
  
• Third, I am just starting work on a document that will match up CC weeks with Story of the World. I'll let you know when that is completed - should be just a matter of a couple of weeks at the most.

To access the CC/TOG combination document please use this link: Classical Conversations Cycle 1 and Tapestry of Grace Combined. You should be able to download this directly from Google Docs to your computer.

If you download, please leave a comment. So that I might know how helpful (or not) this document is, please refer anyone interested in the document to this page rather than just passing along the document. Thank you!

And if you blog, perhaps consider a link back to this page. I'd be grateful!


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Summer is HERE!

Sometimes you just gotta pack it in and surrender to it. Yes, I mean SUMMER!

I had another 4 weeks or so of school planned out to try to get us all caught up on the lessons we've missed this year due to the adoption (various appointments, meetings, days where I had a ton of paperwork to finish, and of course the extended travel). My plans were so wonderful! The kids were willingly going along with them, too. But on Tuesday morning I woke up and was just, well, D-O-N-E. Ever been there?

At about 10:05, after putting Baby L down for her morning nap, I looked around at my children happily entertaining themselves and engaged in some really great unstructured playtime, and I made the decision: School's over.

Even though we will continue reading, independently and together, and playing edu-games during our summer break, most of our days will be fairly free and relaxed. So, what did we do on our first day of SUMMER?

Here are some pictures:













Baby L enjoying her "cruising" abilities.














S says he's "dressed for every occassion". Dress-ups don't get boring, do they?











The boys found an old stash of Dixie cups, which were perfect for biulding a great wall. This is about as high as it got before it toppled over.











Every year we celebrate the first and last day of school with an "ice cream dinner". Of course they are all hungry for "real food" within an hour, so we came home to burgers, too.














Not one to skip out on a little something sweet.














Baby L was a bit unsure about the whole thing. She did eventually give it a try and LOVED it, but she looks quite uniterested here. (Although from the look of those legs, you'd think we feed her ice cream all day long!)

Welcome, Summer. I'm so glad you are here!


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RePost: Establishing a Summer Routine

Boredom is the big beast of summer isn't it? Nobody wants their kids to be bored! Well, I have a GREAT PLAN that will help you eliminate boredom from your summer... A ROUTINE!

I know that sounds like a contradiction, right? But seriously, I find that one of the biggest reasons my kids get bored is that they don't have a reliable structure to their day. This works fine for a few days, but very soon they are like little spinning tops roaming around the house spinning from activity to activity. However, when I have some sort of regular routine (not a schedule, mind you!) we all do so much better.

Our schedule this summer will include: morning and afternoon chore times, family projects (household projects like cleaning out the playroom), outside playtime, Read or Rest time, screen time (TV, video game, computer), Read Aloud time (where I read aloud or we listen to a book on tape) and game time (educational games to keep schooling, but in a fun way).

So, do you want some help getting your summer routine started?


1) Decide on the big rocks of our daily life. Plan for these and let them be the "anchors" of our day.

Some examples are: regular meal times, planned snack time, chore time, learning time, play time, read or rest time. Pay attention to the flow of these various "anchors". Try to plan for good variety of structured vs. unstructured and active vs. passive.



2) Provide some visual cues for the expected flow of our day.

If your kids are pre-readers or highly visual (verses verbal), make a picture chart. Find or draw simple pictures of each of the daily "anchors". These also help with #4 - transitions. Here's what I did last year: Visual Schedule

Help for Kids' Speech offers suggestions for visual ways to cue children in to expectations for the daily routine. The article mentions the website Do2Learn which offers various picture cards that can be accessed for free. There are loads of other resources in their subscriber areas, too.

Another idea comes from Family Fun: a doorknob daily reminder. You could use this to remind kids of special events or "themes" for each day. (Park Day, Errand Day, Class Day, etc.)



3) Set distinct moods or tones for certain types of activities or times of day.

Quick moodsetters are music and light - moodsetting will also help with #4 - transitions. For example, if you want to get your kids up and going (maybe for chore time or because you are going out for a playdate) make sure the house is bright and try turning on some cheerful or exciting music. In the evening when it is time to wind down, lower the lights in the house and turn on some quieter music. We love the Putumayo Kids CDs (you can listen to samples).

Another important aspect of moodsetting is tone of voice. Pay attention to the tone you set, too. I read somewhere that parentss should be the thermostat not the thermometer of their home (a thermostat sets the temperature; a thermometer just reacts to it).

Collect some CDs that are particularly energetic or quiet or whatever you need and keep those handy. Or do the 80's thing and make a mix-tape! :) "Mom's Quiet Down Music" or "Mom's Get Up and MOVE Music".



4) Work on establishing good transition habits.

Some kids are very easy transitioners and other kids need a lot of help in this area. I have one of each and one inbetween. Here are some quick ideas:

• Five Minute "Heads Up" - particularly useful when ending a fun, unstructured activity


• Assessment and Feedback- After chore time is an excellent time to gather the kids and assess how well they did or to "go see" their work. In fact, a "go see" to point out what might have been overlooked followed up with some "good job" kudos is probably a good idea. If you use a chore system or reward chart, this might be the time to incorporate that.


• What's Next? - Encourage the kids to complete what they are doing by telling them what is coming up next. "When you finish cleaning up the breakfast dishes, we are going to walk to the park." or "After lunch it will be time for Read or Rest."


• Until tomorrow - Sometimes kids are satisfied to transition to a new activity when they know the one they are currently being asked to stop is one they will get to do again another day. "We'll come back to the park next week." or "You'll get to do playdough again tomorrow."


• Consolidate- consolidate activities to reduce the number or transitions. (But don't go so far as to spend hours doing the same thing - like chores!) An example might be cleaning up from breakfast and moving right into chore time instead of letting them have playtime after breakfast and chore time later in the morning.

5) Make it a team effort.

Sit down together and go over the daily routine and your expectations. Talk about the fun stuff you all want to have time for this summer and how your daily routine is going to help you have time for the fun stuff.



Want more ideas for beating the boredom beast? We ARE That Family is hosting a "Mom I'm Bored" Works-For-Me-Wednesday and there are TONS of great links!

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