Cloudy With A Chance Of Worms

The children are having a royal Charlotte Mason day. Throughout the morning and afternoon, their excitement has been building upon itself. First it was the discovery of one black and orange caterpillar. Shortly later, they came back with a bug box of three more. And then, with ever increasing fanfare they were announcing that they had eleven, and that they were everywhere.


Upon this announcement, it was time to look up just what exactly was taking over our front yard. The answer - worms. To be more specific, the Oakworm. They really look like a full blown caterpillar, but a beautiful butterfly body is not in their future. Instead, after feeding on our White Oak tree in the front yard they are dropping off by the tens and crawling all over the driveway and ground to look for a cozy spot to burrow over the winter. It literally looks like and sounds like the sky is falling as they Kamakazie off the tree down to the ground.

I'm in a bit of a pickle myself. Rather than a lovely caterpillar fest, I've got a worm fest eating my tree and burrowing in the ground to do it again next year. But you can't get more in the field! We found a beautiful patch of eggs on a leaf, a worm in the process of shedding it's skin, and of course the migration from host to burrow. Pretty cool...except the whole eating my tree and squishing under my toes part.

Unschooling. How It Happens.

I've wondered at times about the process of how one "unschools" their child. In our house, we have a semblance of structure for an hour or two which includes reading, copywork, and math. As those who follow this blog know, we also rely heavily on Ambleside Online for all of our literature. I could be wrong, but because of the structure and curriculum, I don't thing we fall into the camp of Unschoolers. However, what remains with the rest of the day, has given me a new understanding and respect for just how "unschooling" unfolds.

Our nature studies are our largest focus when we school. It is not a purposeful act where we spend hours a day on the subject, but the simple introduction of a nature study keeps our ears in tune and our eyes peeled as we go on living in the world around us. Our nature studies are in constant motion. And I am finding a new delight brewing as we complete each study. The learning is snowballing.

By example, I have watched "collections" grow before my eyes. This morning I found that Grace had been working on a feather and seed collection. I stared in awe at how meticulously her collection had been laid out on a piece of paper. I never asked her to go out into the yard and hunt for these items. I've never showed her how one might lay out nature finds in a presentation (other than when we created our moth and butterfly riker mounts last summer). We have, however, had two nature studies in this area, Song Birds in the Southeast in Winter 2004 and our ongoing Seed and Germination study this summer. It has been enough of a taste, that I am now watching an amazing process happen naturally.

In the last month, I have watched Grace spend hours upon hours creating picture books. The books may be up to 30 pages. They contain detailed line drawings, a story line with consistent characters, and a surprisingly steady plot for a six year old. Again, I have never set her down and told her that "this week we are going to create a book". Her hard work has all been self directed and has taken days at a time to build and organize. This is what my children are doing in their "free time", in the early hours when I'm still trying to rub the sleep out my eyes, or when they are wandering around the back yard and then suddenly go into "Look what I found!" mode.

The evidence is everywhere. Right now, dried up flowers will crunch under your toes in the hall bathroom. The fish pond is low because the children have been stealing fish water to create "chalk paint" (don't ask). There are piles and piles of papers mid story in rooms throughout the house. Old petrefied holly berries lay on Jack's train table from a discovery weeks ago. A walk in our yard reveals random "mud and pinestraw" nests the children have worked for hours to create in the hopes that a bird will find their nest a suitable living space. And every day, and I mean EVERY DAY, a new unsuspecting creature with um-teen legs is brought into the house for an instant show and tell.

I am reminded and quickly thankful that there are no school bells. No projects cut short. No confinement. Just a sea of creativity and boundless opportunity. THAT is how unschooling just happens.

Faith, Bottles, Bibles & More Faith

I know I've been quiet. Real quiet. This week was a huge week for me. So major that I was too nervous to blog about it on Tuesday, too excited to blog about it on Wednesday, and not sure what to say once I hit Thursday.

On Tuesday, I went back to my sweet group of ladies to resume Bible Study. I've been without these gals and a meaty study for seven months. Seven l---o----n----g months. I've stayed in the Word, but the fellowship and group study is irreplaceable.

I am one of the youngest in the group by at least a decade; most have children who have long since grown up. But after four years with these women, I can't walk away in favor of another Bible study that has more favorable hours and/or childcare. The wisdom that drips from this circle of women is heavenly. I'd be a fool to leave. As much as I consider it at times, I also can't ignore the elephant in the room - God called me to this group, not only to be a part of it, but also to be a part of the leadership team within it. Every time I entertain the thought of moving to another Bible study for the sake of Faith's schedule, He places His loving hands firmly on my shoulders and sits me back down.

The study has always met on Tuesday evenings from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, which has always been around Faith's more tumultuous time, not to mention her bedtime. When she was real little, the ladies would beg me to bring her and have her just hang out with us, but she was a comedy of errors, tooting one moment, hiccuping the next, needing to be nursed, and so on. While the ladies loved it, I knew it was too much of a distraction, so I hung up the towel for awhile. I have missed their fellowship incredibly.

So Tuesday was it. The BIG day. BIG for so many reasons:

* Despite The Bottleless Faith, I was leaving Ken with a baby and bed time duty, but no nursing available. Horrible set up.

* I was giddy with the idea of reuniting with the girls.

* And the icing, and I mean wedding cake buttercream icing, was that we were starting a Beth Moore study on Daniel. I LOVE prophecy. And get even nuttier over eschatology.

Before I left, Ken asked for any parting advice. I suggested giving her a Bumbo faucet bath to keep her happy, and to try and hold her off from bedtime until I came home. After a fantastic evening, I rushed home to find Faith sacked out on Ken's chest. She'd cried it out a bit, and hadn't gone for the bottle, but she didn't have any remnant giant shudders going on in her sleep. Ken said he gave her two Bumbo baths. :) I was still able to nurse her then and there and put her directly to bed for the night. So all in all, it was a success! But I did promise Ken that I would work harder with her to get her to accept the bottle.

So Wednesday morning the weirdest thing happened. She actually took 3 oz. from a bottle and FROM ME. It was a beautiful moment, as she was playing with my face and I was trying everything in the world to keep encouraging her to drink. The tears were welling up in my eyes at the relief of an occasional bottle feeding or two in our future, and also at the realization that the Lord has wanted me to walk by faith on this one. To trust that He would take care of Faith's needs, but I need to lean toward Him for this. So the angels were singing Bottle Hymns in heaven all of Wednesday.

She hasn't taken a bottle since. Little stinker.

But I'll keep leaning, and pushing the bottle once every afternoon, because baby girl, Mama is going back to Tuesday night Bible Study, and I'm doing this Daniel thing.

A Road Trip Around Australia

Last term it was my goal to have the children become very familiar with the continents. I considered moving on to learning the states, but reconsidered, and thought we'd spend a few weeks delving deeper into each continent's landmarks, cultures, fauna and flora. This month we have focused on Australia.

The library has a plethora of lackluster books on the continent - nothing remotely with a Charlotte Mason living book feel. I selected a few of the sterile books, but also took the time to check out "Are We There Yet?" by Alison Lester. The other books were quickly tossed aside once we started reading this book. The book details a road trip around the perimeter of Australia from the view point of Grace, the youngest in the family. The illustrations are colorful, and bits of humor are thrown in as you explore notable landmarks throughout Australia. Even my four year old fidget-boy stayed engaged.

Naturally, tonight I was back online to see if Ms. Lester could save the day again as we move on to the next continent. The plan was to head to Asia, but it looks like we'll be taking a detour and heading to Europe since she has also written a similar children's book about Spain.

Beta Infested Waters

I thought I'd take the plunge, bite the bullet, and dip my toe in the beta infested waters of Blogger's new layout options. I did this today using my Out Of The Box homeschooling blog as a guinea pig. I don't like the idea of ditching my HTML code, and for the moment, that is what you have to do until Blogger opens up HTML editing for the layout with options, which they say is coming soon, but ya know...

There are a few problems here and there with the beta version, but overall, I'm really appreciating the upgrades. I've been able to still sneak in the HTML code through the text box option, and I'm using free time to assign categories to dozens and dozens of posts. It has occurred to me during this process just how many hours and how much time I have devoted to the three blogs. Wow. Scary. Rewarding. Blogger would make a pretty penny if they came up with a blog to PDF conversion so that we could all bind these bad boys in leather and send them off with our grown children as a reference manual.

Junk

There are two parts of my day that I can count on for peace. In the morning, I enjoy a fresh cup of coffee with yogurt, a happy squealish baby in her excerbuggy, and a warm dog snuggled up in the arm chair. It is a wonderful time. It is my favorite time of the day because I know there is a consistent level of predictability and happiness.

As the hours pass, a gradual state of decline follows. Predictability goes out the window, and truthfully, much of the happiness. There are days (like yesterday) where my little nugget decides that one full hour of sleep will be all she needs for her 12 hour day. Two 1/2 hour naps. Just enough time to eat lunch and cry a pity river. On days like these, the mail is my best friend. It keeps Faith entertained (and fed) for a lovely hour. How I love junk mail.


I know there are some mothers out there who are shocked and alarmed at how I allow my child to chomp all over magazine paper that has been in the dirty mail. I assure you she is supervised, but other than that...she can have at it. When your child doesn't sleep, by about 2:00pm all bets are off and junk mail becomes golden. I can't get this child to eat a spoonful of bananas, but she'll shove the Halloween specials in her mouth with gusto. Faith shows no mercy in the arena of catalogs - literally ripping the paper with her mouth from her hands like she's a lion wrestling meat off an antelope.

Watching Faith wiggle and giggle about in a sea of unsolicited mail, is a daily reminder to not try so hard. A metaphor to find the joy buried in the junk and boredom. I have a hard wired need to feel like I have accomplished a task or four in my day, and it is hard for me to feel like I've accomplished anything on a mediocre day. It bothers me. Like I've wasted the day watching the carpet collect dirt. Ken keeps suggesting we hire a cleaner to help lighten the load, and is always surprised to hear an emphatic "NO!" with a hint of panic in my voice. If I didn't have the opportunity to feel like I've at least accomplished something through cleaning a room or two during the day I might crawl in a hole.

I am longing for cooler days, so the children and I can at least go outside mid-day to the park, or for a walk. Something, ANYTHING, to divide up the day that doesn't involve a shopping cart or an errand list.

Yippey Skippey Blogger!

This is what I needed...a few upgrades from Blogger to make it all new and fun again. I was just beginning to wonder what in the wide world Blogger was doing since Google scooped it up. So happily, it took me all of about two seconds to consider whether I should risk it and dive into the new Beta version. I LOVE it!!!! If you haven't done it...DO IT.

Food Pyramid Fun

Beginning this term, I made the decision to incorporate Health related unit studies into our weekly schedule. We need it. The habits of hygiene are constantly being worked and reworked into our days. I'm sure that is not unusual for a household with a six and four year old. Truth be known, we have room for improvement since I would be elated if the children brushed their teeth, changed their underwear and brushed their hair all on the same day.

Ironically, I didn't start in the much needed area of hygiene, but instead was inspired to tackle the Food Pyramid. This has actually been a wild success and is one of Jack's favorite subjects. Every week we have been focusing on a different food group, sorting our play food out into food groups and reading a food group related book. The books put out by Pebble Plus have been terrific, and prompted me to investigate the USDA's web site dovoted solely to the Food Pyramid - www.mypyramid.gov.

After a few weeks of getting our feet wet, today, the children got to head over to the My Pyramid web site loaded with information and print outs. On the site is a challenging game called MyPyramid Blast Off. This game is superbly done, requiring the child to make wise food choices, and add activities to their day in order to properly fuel their spaceship for Planet Power. Even if you are not doing a unit study on food groups, this game is a wonderful addition to the school day.

Forced Sabbatical

I had one of THOSE weeks last week. Some bloggers have been there. A week where frankly, I've got plenty to say, but no energy to say, and no will to blog. Just didn't feel like it. I kind of surprised myself with my blog lethargy.

Faith had a tough week dealing with her first cold. Which meant that Mom had a sleep challenged week along with her. Faith could make it only a few hours at a time before giving up on the Land of Nod and deciding to hunker down for an hour or two at 3:00am in the Land of Play with Toys and Watch Old FOX News Reels. (yes..the TV is back on since football season has arrived).

The week included few showers, way too many bouts with reflux and puke on top of the cold, and as a result, hanging out like this, while I tried to go about the rest of my day in a dragging stupor that coffee couldn't remedy.


To top off the end of the week, Mr. Hatch took advantage of an unattended open door, and chased after God knows what (I heard him crying) to disappear for an entire night. I was nursing upstairs, so he had a good half hour or more to get out of dodge.

Yep. Lots of tears on that one. Remember this post? Far from coincidence when you consider that Hatch just happened to run off only minutes after Ken had left for his first Elder meeting. I can tell you it is almost an impossible feat to look for a dog when you are dog tired yourself, your baby is SO ready for bed, every emotion in the book is boiling in your blood at the turn of events, your husband is unavailable to help, and you are trying to drive slowly, but quickly as the daylight comes to a close.

My beloved husband, even after a very full day, spent a good hour in the middle of the night on the prowl for Hatch, but to no avail. Thankfully, after printing out about 60 signs the next morning, we discovered Hatch dazed and confused in a neighboring development. It took him two days to recover from his exhaustion. We are ALL very happy for his return safely. Hatch has an new spring in his step. He's started giving wet kisses, and we just discovered the boy can suddenly lose it, and madly run laps around the house when his happiness overcomes him. It is as if he has realized that our family actually WANTS to keep him. The family passed the Search & Rescue test. Apparently, in his opinion, our house has qualified for the designation of HOME.

We did have some sweet times. One of my personal favorites was Faith's first experience with a biter biscuit. We actually quit doing the solids thing after a week. She's not interested. The child might go straight to eating filet mignon and skip the mush. But, my friends...a biter biscuit was much more fun!

Princess of Wails & Her Queen

Now that they share a room together, The Queen is in close contact with The Princess of Wails when it is time to retire to the chamber. Sharing a room with the Princess of Wails is not an easy calling, especially since The Emporess of House Order has been letting Miss Wails wail it out more lately. The poor Queen has been caught sleeping with a blanket or pillow over her head to muffle the cries of the caged Princess, but has issued no complaints. Not one iota.

How noble.

The Truth On Diaper Disposal

Pure honesty. Let's just go there for a moment. How many of you abandoned your lovely thing-a-ma-bobbers which now only serve to take up space in a closet...


...for something a little more practical...
Another dose of truth: This has been the diaper disposal protocol since a month into the life of our firstborn. With every new child, I swear I'll be better with the diaper genie. I'm thrice a failure. But it is sooooo much easier to dunk then lift, push, twist, twist, and close.

Ok...one more for discussion: How many of you get your diaper genie thingys back out of the closet when you have company coming over with babes in diapers? Yeah. I gave that up come baby number two.

Montessori Tray: Vertebrates & Invertebrates

It has been quite awhile since I listed any Montessori-ish activities, but this one counts. The children spent part of the morning today learning about the difference between Vertebrates and Invertebrates. Once they had a general idea, we used this sorting tray to sort out each animal properly. Easy enough, and lots of hands on fun for the children.

Ehem...I myself need to go back to Biology 101 and learn how to spell. It wasn't until after I printed and laminated the cards last week, perfomed the lesson today and THEN took the photo this afternoon that I realized my errors. My head is hanging in shame, but the stubborn streak in me refuses to reprint and laminate again.

The Art Of Germination Science

If the seed germination experiment doesn't work, at least we could say it made for a colorful presentation. Grace and Jack really enjoyed putting the germination study together this morning. Now my only concern is...Will it survive the 7-14 days of man-handling? If naming petri dishes names like "Lovey" is a sign of good care to come, then we should make it.

Enough Of The Slack - We're Back To Schooling

After a relaxing two month break from schooling year round for the last 18 months, today marks the first day of our 2006-2007 school year. Two months was just enough for a real break, and I mean a break from EVERY thing (including daily duties like making beds and chores). The kids deserved a little slack and a true summer siesta.

There was no locking of the doors this term. The kids had a chance to eye up things that I laid out in preparation for the new term. While the Grace and Jack voiced many times how much they couldn't wait to get started with schooling again, the fanfare was more tempered, compared to entering the 2005-2006 year. The day was honestly picture perfect...Faith took an unheard of two hour nap, and the children and I spent a great morning together.

We eased into the day with an art project I came up with while traveling down the Walmart craft aisles - a wooden circle, white paint, glue, and the decorative flat bottomed glass pieces you find in the vase and flower arranging aisles. In minutes, the children had a colorful glass coaster. The glass pieces also double as excellent math counters because of their weight and colors.

The children also enjoyed our hands on geography lesson as they created their own World Maps using a continent rubber stamping set.

In full Charlotte Mason gear, we played our first round of The Wild Seed game teaching the importance of seasons and how the elements and environment affect a plant's life cycle. Take the idea of Candyland and kick it up 3 knotches.

After an introduction to Mary Cassatt with a few games of I Spy, we hit the hard stuff. The next hour entailed the usual in copywork, reading and math. Jack took some coaxing out of his perfectionistic tendencies as he refamiliarized himself with writing freehand. Turns out rough housing with Daddy is a motivating reward for freehanding the letters D, E, and F. Grace enjoyed her first composition book with space for drawing pictures. Below are two lines from a poem by Christina Rossetti, and an accompanying drawing by Grace. (Remember the days of having a fresh new marker set?)

It feels good to be back in the saddle again. Nothing is truly more rewarding then hearing similar words from my children. But, after staying up until 1:00am last night, readying up the room, I'm dirt tired. I have a feeling that I am not alone though, as homeschooling moms across the nation gear up for the school year.

Happy first day of school to all of you other schooling mothers that started in August!!! (Now go get some sleep.)

The Three Amigos

Those two on the right are my relief team. I don't have time to tell you how thankful I am to have older children around with a now six month old, but what a difference having older siblings in the house can make on parenting little ones!!! No one can captivate Faith like her older brother and sister. Ken and I are great stand ins, but those crazy kids surely hung the moon.