Animal Parties

Hannah was very chagrined today when she asked if I had posted her pictures and video on my blog yesterday, and I said, "no." She will often ask me if I will take some pictures of whatever the kiddos are doing and post it. I've asked her to be my guest blogger, but she isn't willing as of yet. The top two pics are from yesterday when the animals had M&Ms and jelly beans...the bottom two are from today when they dined on Hershey bars and black licorice candy. We certainly seem to have an over abundance of stuffed animals. The kids are always looking for new ones to buy.

So, here you have it...another example of weekend excitement at the Webers. :)

Milly Molly Mandy

Pretty much my whole night has been spent looking for office furniture. We stole most of the furniture in the office to put in another room so we have books and miscellaneous junk scattered about everywhere in the office. Dave and I are beginning to get tired of it...so the search was on. Hopefully a decision will be made soon and everything can get back into neat and tidy order.

Anyways, I wanted to highlight this delightful series, Milly Molly Mandy. This is one of those books that will elicit fond memories for anyone who has read it. It is full of sweet, adventurous, wholesome stories about MMM and her friends. England or Holland appears to be the setting and MMM is probably around 10 if I remember correctly. We loved all the stories, even Josh with it being a book about a girl. It was written in four or so different books, but the one I have is the collection. As I looked on Amazon, there only seems to be the separate books available to purchase new-they felt quite short to read. So, I would recommend buying a used copy of the four book collection (or getting the separate books through the library). My copy is lent out right now, but I expect it is similar to the one I linked to. We did this as a read-aloud this past year during handwriting-good stories make handwriting go much smoother. It is also a great book for a reader that isn't quite ready for longer chapter books as each chapter stands alone and is relatively short so there is a great feeling of accomplishment.

Hannah 2002

2010/2011 SLP

Whew, I spent a lot more time tonight putting together the VAL Learning Plan than I had anticipated. Since Hannah is going into 4th grade, we now have to chart 25 hours, and we just don't do that many hours of "official" school time (and, I don't like to over commit myself). So, I got creative and added in Life Skills - chores and helping in the kitchen---as well as Character Building/Manners - we are going to be working through Proverbs in our Bible Time, and I'll also throw in some manners during the day.

The way I go about creating the SLP is just taking my pile of books that I have for the upcoming year and using the Table of Contents (or some even have an overview section), I just type in what the text covers. I really dislike the Learning Goals because I feel like I am just repeating what I already wrote in the description so I just try to rephrase it and simplify it. The methods of evaluation are just how I know they are actually learning something so I write based on the class...some have tests/worksheets, others are all oral, some have games and songs. The hours area is new this year, and somewhat daunting...I liked the vague commitment of last year. Anyways, it was easy to figure the hours since the schedule was already in place. Here is the updated weekly schedule-likely to change. You'll notice some of the Charlotte Mason additions I mentioned earlier.

If you live around here and attend VAL, please email me with any questions...

Play Dough Fun

Penstock/Pipeline Trail

Well, I am sitting here enjoying a most spectacular thunder/lightening storm. We so rarely have these in WA whereas I so enjoyed them in CT. This is probably the best storm we've had in our almost 5 years here. We even went for a short walk in the rain before it really ramped up.

Anyways, before the storm came, we went on a delightful little jaunt called the Penstock or Pipeline Trail. It can't really be called a hike, more like a walk. We actually probably only got about .25 mile before taking a spur down to the river where the kids played the rest of the afternoon. The best part is the amazing old pipeline which they sawed in half and made into a bridge...it's the first thing you come to out of the parking lot. We also saw a number of people coming to play on the "beach" right off the parking lot. It seemed like you could swim a bit before getting out too far in the current. Overall, a great way to spend the afternoon, but not really a means of much exercise. :)

When Children Love to Learn

The book, When Children Love to Learn, is finally completed...it wasn't an easy read, and I'm sure that I missed a number of good points, but it did help me with a greater understanding of Charlotte Mason's philosophy. When I first heard about her, I hadn't realized that she was a Christian, but just a good educator. The more I've learned about her, the more I've come to see how much her love for children and teaching springs from her love to God.

One of her primary ideas, and a good constant reminder to me, is that children are persons...they are made in God's image and have their own unique personality, needs, and abilities. She also greatly focuses on the concept that we should lead children to their own conclusions rather than spoon feed them information...that we learn/grow more when we come to the knowledge rather than it being just given to us. Also, that we are learners together...that the teacher doesn't have all the knowledge and just doles it out, but that the children have insight and as teachers, we always have more areas to grow in as well.

My main challenge with CM is that although I love many of her ideas, the feasibility of implementing them alludes me. I, personally, do not have the breadth and depth of knowledge needed to teach the way she encourages (exciting children with background about authors/artists/musicians, prereading books for hard vocab/applicable map work/spelling words, etc), nor do I have the time to get to that point. So, as I am prepping my Learning Plans for VAL and working on next year's schedule, I have included some of her concepts...particularly adding more read-aloud time, poetry, and nature study. I was surprised in looking at some sample schedules how little time they gave to certain subjects like Grammar for only two days a week for twenty minutes. Perhaps I am still deluded into the workbook, complete-a-page philosophy, but I'm not quite ready to abandon that..I've also found that we are still working on staying focused and being self-disciplined around here so that a half hour Math lesson often takes substantially more than that. That is something I hope to work on this next year.

Anyways, I still appreciate her philosophy and have another book about her on my reading pile...so you'll continue to be hearing more about CM as time rolls by. :) I wanted to end with a superb quote she had:

This idea of all education springing from and resting upon our relation to
Almighty God--we do not merely give a religious education because that would
seem to imply the possibility of some other education, as secular education,
for example. But we hold that all education is divine, that every good gift
of knowledge and insight comes from above, that the Lord the Holy Spirit is
the supreme educator of mankind, and that the culmination of all education
(which may at the same time be reached by a little child) is that personal
knowledge of and intimacy with God in which our being finds its fullest
perfection.

from 2004...I love this picture

Weekend Fun

For all of my avid blog followers :), I'm sure you figured out that we were away this weekend...it was hot here in Wenatchee and the lake sounded great. We enjoyed a quiet afternoon/evening on Friday, and then friends came up and stayed Sat and most of Sunday. The weather was so perfect there, we decided to stay another night and came back late this morning. Here are some of the highlights:

The kids slept out in the boat the first night...we weren't sure they would
make it all night, but they did great. We kept the boat cover on so you felt
pretty safe...that no bears were going to come eat you.

The swing was also well utilized...

The animal friends had their own special picnic...

I think this is a funny picture with them all crammed in the pool with
life jackets on. They had just come out from swimming in the lake.

On the way home, we stopped at Rocky Reach to see the fish (none of those pics turned
out that great), and the kids wanted to take a quick detour through the museum.

This squirrel provided much excitement as Josh tried to catch it and then put out walnuts and apples for him to eat. Hannah wanted me to make sure that I "put it on my website." I've been trying to get her to be a guest blogger for me, but so far she isn't interested.

Island Teriyaki

This recipe is a special one to me. I used to have a friend who lived across the street and his family made this one time. Then, for my wedding, they sent me the recipe. We've loved it ever since...

Island Teriyaki

1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 c brown sugar
2 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl grated ginger or 1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp MSG (I never put this in)
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 pounds steak

Basically, just mix it all the ingredients together then add the meat to marinate. I generally use it on thin strips of steak so the flavor really soaks in and then we BBQ it on the grill. Very yummy.

This is Josh in his first month (first week even, I think) May 2003

Habits

I've been thinking about habits a decent amount these last couple weeks. Charlotte Mason was a big believer in establishing good habits in children especially. I, however, have seen how much I am without effective habits in many areas. In the book I've been reading, it says:

But Charlotte Mason was adamant concerning training in habit. She went as far as to say that almost anything could be accomplished through correct and consistent training...

This discipline is instead training that comprises relationships with oneself, one's world, one's God, and others. The parent and/or teacher supplants the child's weakness or affinity through instruction of conscience and the will, along with deliberate effort, that is often painstaking on behalf of both the child and educator to reach the desired outcome...

The future character and conduct of children depend on the work of enlightened human effort in forming habits along with the work of divine grace more than anything else. The children will have habits, and we as parents and educators are engaged in forming these habits actively or passively every day, every hour. We cannot escape this fact...

As a classroom educator of more than two decades, I have seen the application of habit as the line that divides the effective student from the ineffective one. The effective student chooses to do what ought to be done and so, when lacking the power, compels himself to do what is best, and acts out of habit.

----I also read a number of months ago a great book gleaned from Mason's ideas, that was very challenging in this area. For some reason, I was struck more personally this last time I read about habits. I don't know that Dave has noticed this, or that I want to write this down, but I have been working harder at following through on various activities: putting my shoes away, wiping off the table and counters after a meal, cleaning the dishes more promptly, keeping my dresser from being so messy, etc. I figured I needed to get this area of my life in order before I really begin to work on my kids. :) For me, not doing most of those things has to do with a lazy habit of getting to things later on. As I am training myself to follow through, it is becoming easier to choose the best right away.

Wouldn't it be great if we could train our children in a myriad of wonderful habits so they wouldn't struggle to do what should be done the rest of their lives? What a long-term blessing that would be to them, even if they fight it now.

Hannah during her first month, Oct 2001

Uprooting Anger

We had some friends from CA (my roommate from my time in Israel) stay with us last night. It was delightful to see them and catch up on each other's lives. The kids had fun jumping on the trampoline and the girls put together the beginning of a "horse club."

The book Uprooting Anger came up in our conversation, and it was such a good book that I wanted to mention it. I read it probably sometime last year and found it very helpful. Here are a couple of points He made... First, his definition of anger: Our anger is our whole-personed active response of negative moral judgment against perceived evil. He notes four heart causes of anger from James 4:1-3...desires/pleasures that battle within us, unmet ruling wants and desires, coveting and envy, and selfish motives (even for good things).

I've struggled with anger over the years...not loud-yelling-type anger, but underlying annoyance/irritation-type anger. God has been good to mold me into being more like Him especially this last month or so where, by His grace, I've had much less annoyance/frustration come into my life and, instead, the desire to respond rightly. All that's to say, if anger is at all an issue in your life, reading this book would be beneficial to you...

Yellowstone pics from 2001 when I was pregnant with Hannah on our way
from internship in Spokane, WA to residency in Hartford, CT.

Simple Things

Dave said to me the other evening, "Your blog sure makes our life sound exciting," or something along those lines. It is amazing how just peeking in at what a person wants you to see can give a skewed perception of reality. Dave and I are such low-key people and have made many decisions to not have our family be involved in a lot of outside activities, but somehow busyness seems to creep in. I do love the hikes...getting out into nature and seeing God's handiwork on display, and I do enjoy the other activities, but I really love quietness at home. Although today was by no means a quiet day, we had some time in the afternoon where the kids chose to read books and then we enjoyed a game of Clue together.

The conversation surrounding the game was a bit alarming though...rope can't do anything...yes it can, you can strangle somebody...no one would ever die from a pipe...well, you could hit them real hard so they get knocked out and then kill them some other way. Yikes! I never thought about the actual underlying premise of Clue. Anyways, we still had fun...

Silver Falls

I was called a "calm mother" today. I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before. A friend and I were hiking; her single, and me with 5 kids in tow (7 years and up). We hiked around beautiful Silver Falls in Entiat. I guess her comment about today was true...I really don't get worked up about kids running around trees and climbing over rocks or getting a bit out of my sight. In each situation I basically evaluate the potential for problems. Anything that has possible death or major pain involved, I warn the kids about, but, otherwise, I try to let them explore and pursue their own way. I guess this could involve a greater degree of danger, but, thankfully, we haven't yet gone to the ER. It is also based upon my knowledge of my kiddos (and the cousins) and their capabilities as well as the fact that they obey reasonably well so I don't have to keep yelling after them.

One time an elderly neighbor, also on a walk with us, called my parenting style "controlled chaos". I don't know if that was supposed to be good or bad, but there is truth in that. To me, kids running about and inventing their own fun is a wonderful sight. I love my kids enjoying nature to the fullest and getting some exercise in as well. But at the same time, there are parameters set and understood boundaries. So, whatever type mother I am, I'm glad my kiddos enjoy the outdoors, and we have so many wonderful places to go...

The Young Peacemaker

I just wanted to highlight a great book that we worked through last summer. It is called The Young Peacemaker. I was thoroughly impressed with the content of the book and it's insight into conflict. The illustrations were a little cheesy, but very kid (boy even) oriented so Hannah and Josh enjoyed them. Each lesson has a specific point, story, illustration, verse and application. On the CBD website you can see the first lesson. It has an excellent illustration of the two sides conflict can slip down. I think every family would benefit from working through this book and applying it's biblical principles as we all have conflict. Although we don't reference them as we should, I did copy out all the illustrations and post them down in our schoolroom. It would be good for us to review them again...

Hospitality

We have quite a large number of people coming over for lunch tomorrow since we are hosting our quarterly fellowship group from church. As a seemingly large part of the day today consisted of tidying around here, I was reminded of some quotes I wrote out of the book, Open Heart, Open Home, many years ago:

• A good thermometer as to whether pride was rising in me (regarding hospitality) was to ask 2 questions: Am I nervous? Am I fussing? One must look carefully at those hidden motives and ask "Am I really seeking to serve, or am I trying to impress?"
• I need to guard my own motives being sure that extra frills stem from a desire to give, to minister, rather than a desire to impress.
• In some strange way when we are about God's business, He makes the eternity (time), about which we know so very little, work in our favor. --referring to how when we are acting in accord with God's will for us, He can magnify our time so we can get it all done.

Here are some Mission Ridge pics during the ski season...

Mission Ridge

Yesterday, we hiked Mission Ridge with the cousins. It was great fun, but a pretty challenging hike. We thought it was about 5 miles, but Dave calculated it out on Google Maps and it was more like 7 miles! One of the things we like is seeing where we ski each winter without the snow. We also enjoy looking under the chair lifts for things people dropped, playing on the terrain park equipment, and looking at the remains of a plane crash from many years ago. This year we had a little contest to keep interest peaked during the uphill climb: we had a prize for the most unique and most valuable find. Katie won for most unique with a half a die from some type of game, and Caleb won for most valuable with a pair of eyeglasses (now broken and without lenses). Hannah also found 38 cents. The view from the top is just amazing and with it being a clear day, we could see many of the surrounding mountain peaks. We brought our lunch to enjoy up at the ranger station, and we had a backrub train going as well. Good times...