End of School

Dave had a project to do today so the kids and I worked on cleaning up the school room and getting things ready for next year. One thing we do each year is pick out a couple pages from each subject to keep for years to come. It is always hardest to pick some from history and particularly from science. As they get older it seems to get harder to throw stuff away. It's nice to have things tidied up and books in order.

Yesterday we had a fun end of the year VAL picnic. Lots of fun activities and good friends to do them with...

Watermelon eating contest

Water balloon toss

Tug of War

Grammar

We've used Rod & Staff Grammar (they call it English and it endlessly confuses me) these last two years and really liked it. Our grammar session is done pretty much all orally except for a brief (probably about 5-7 minute) workbook page. I really don't know much about the teaching and theory of grammar being a math major, but it seems to address all the basic parts of speech well and also had a small writing portion towards the end of the book. They also somewhat do the spiral review theory so concepts are sporadically brought up again briefly at various times in the lesson (but not real in depth). And, as with all Rod & Staff materials, the content is very wholesome.

One thing I always liked was the random poems they would place throughout the book. When I was ordering from R&S this past week, I saw they have a book of poems to memorize. I know there are lots of children's books of poetry, but personally I have not been too impressed with them. Oftentimes they are either foolish or I have no idea what they are trying to say (poetry was not my forte). So, I was pleased to get the poetry book in the mail and see lots of poems that are either God-honoring or character building or nature focused. Hooray! I also plan on having the kiddos memorize some during next year.

And, lastly, as part of our grammar time we have begun doing dictionary drills which at first were crankily completed, but now are quite enjoyed. We have two dictionaries, at two different levels (one is probably geared toward primary school and the other toward middle school), and each child gets one. Then I think of a word, often something we have read or talked about that I don't think the kids know real well. I tell it to them and then they race to find it. Then we read the definition and talk about it's part of speech. They then switch dictionaries and do it again. We just do two words and then we're done.

Here are some projects the kids completed in 3D art class at VAL this past year:

Handwriting

We finished handwriting up on Monday. This is the first year we've used this curriculum, A Reason for Handwriting, and it has been a good fit. The daily lessons are quite short...maybe 4-5 words which I have the kids write 5 times if there is sufficient space. Josh does 2 daily lessons on the first day because his lessons are a bit shorter and then he writes out his day 3 and ABCs on the second day. Hannah, doing cursive, does 1.5 daily lessons each day. On Thursdays, they write out a practice verse. Each Friday they write out the verse on coloring sheets as neat as possible and then color the sheets. The thing I like best about this program is that it is meant to give kids opportunity to share a verse of scripture with someone. It has allowed us to encourage others and share scripture with people we might otherwise not have. Another thing that has made handwriting quite palatable is that I read to the kids while they have their handwriting time. That has reduced the tediousness of handwriting; plus it allows us another reading opportunity.

Also, if you use A Reason For Spelling, it corresponds to the Handwriting verse for the same level each week. It is also a good program...I think I reviewed it in an earlier post.

Here are some sample pages the kids have done:

I know this still isn't particularly great handwriting, but Josh has come a long way.

Me Time

I was emailing with a friend about this concept this evening and thought I'd write a smidge about it on my blog as well. Although I completely agree that we all need some time to ourselves, I think we as Americans go overboard with it and think of it as something deserved rather than an occasional blessing. Marriage and motherhood are huge commitments to serve each and every day (sometimes every moment) of our lives. As wives, we are called to be the helpmeets; as moms, we are called nurture and instruct. To accomplish that, we must have self-denial and give up so many things we would rather be doing. Having an eternal perspective means that I will see the reward in the hard hours of parenting rather than the fleeting moments of pleasure spent the way I would choose. I do, as a person, need time to myself. I go a little crazy when I am around people lots and lots. It is important to me to spend time in bible study and exercise. So, in order to fit those kinds of things in, I get up a bit earlier than the kids (at least that's the plan) and spend time in those pursuits. But, I have found if I try and cram my wants into the day, I get very frustrated and unhappy with the kids for getting in the way. They, and Dave, are my God-given priorities right now, and I need to embrace that wholeheartedly rather than pursue my own leisure activity.

Here is an article I read a long time ago that talks about Me Time as well.

Blog Changes

I really didn't mean to spend my whole evening rearranging my blog-I had some emails to respond to and reading I wanted to get in. But, the new design button looked so appealing, so I decided to hit it...bad decision. :) Anyways, I guess it's nice to have the blog a bit more customized although there are some things that don't seem to be quite the way I want them to be, but isn't life like that anyways? I have really enjoyed blogging this past month or so. I think the best unexpected benefit is that I am taking more pictures. I know I will look back on this time and be thankful I wrote about what things we were involved in and included snapshots of our life.

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There was a quote a couple days ago on A Holy Experience blog that I wanted to put for any of you who didn't read it over there. It also sums up the way my reading seems to be...

What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this: It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%.

By John Piper

The Fledgling

Our most recent read-a-loud was a book called The Fledgling. I didn't know anything about it, but picked it up at Goodwill because it was a Newbery Honor Book. I must say I have mixed feelings about the book. It was an interesting read, but also a bit odd. It appears to have some environmentalist agenda type of thing and a bit transcendental. I don't think the kids picked up on either of those things and they liked it pretty well although Hannah was sad because a main character dies in the end. All in all, I'd say there are so many good books out there, I'd pass this one by if it comes your way.

Here are some fort pictures from over the winter...

Cardamom Bread

Today we made on of our favorite breads. A couple of years ago, a friend from church gave us a loaf for Christmas and we have loved it ever since. The kids do a great job in making it and enjoy eating the dough (maybe more than the baked bread!).

It is a yeast bread so it does take quite a large part of the day for the mixing and rising and braiding and rising again. But, there is lots of time between risings to get other things, like school!, accomplished.

Swedish Cardamom Bread

5 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter
2 packets yeast (4.5 tsp)
2 beaten eggs
2 tsp salt
2 c sugar
3 teaspoons ground cardamom
about 16-20 cups flour

makes 8 good sized braids

Scald milk and butter in large casserole dish (I am a bit skeptical that you really need to scald the milk - it very well may work to just bring the milk to 110-115 degrees). Scalding takes about 7 minutes in my microwave and should be about 180 degrees. Proof yeast by dissolving it into 1/2 cup water. Once milk mixture cools to about 110-115 degrees, add eggs, salt, sugar, cardamom, and proofed yeast. Mix.

Add flour a bit at a time and mix. Once no more flour easily mixes in, begin kneading and adding the leftover flour. When dough is no longer very sticky, turn out onto floured surface and knead till elastic. Probably about 8-10 minutes. Once you've made yeast breads a number of times, you get to know how much is enough. I would recommend over kneading rather than under kneading. The dough should not be sticking to the counter when you are done kneading.

Grease large bowl and turn bread dough into it so all sides are slightly buttered. Cover with light towel and place in a warm area. Let rise till double about 1.5 hours.

Punch down and divide into eight chunks (you can divide in half and then into fourths to make it easier). Then divide those parts into three sections. Roll them into snakes and then braid the three together. Place on grease cookie sheet and cover with towel to rise again till double...about another 1.5 hours. You should end up with 8 good sized braids.

Then bake at 375 for about 18 minutes till golden brown. Be careful if you bake two sheets at a time as it seems to get the tops and bottoms overcooked (at least in my oven). I often place batches in various levels of warmness so they double in size at different times and therefore can be easily baked at different times.

---A couple of tips for making yeast bread with kids...have each kiddo be prepared to place a scoop of flour into the wet ingredients. Then, once the flour is pretty much all in, knead a bit in the bowl then turn out onto floured surface. Tear/cut into necessary number of pieces so each person has a chunk. Knead for a few minutes then rotate pieces. Note that standing on chairs really helps to have sufficient pressure in kneading. Have mom finish up kneading the entire batch. Since this bread is braided, each kiddos can roll his/her three chunks into snakes and then braid together.

The mixing process - this time we premeasured the flour so it could be added in random amounts.


This is the kneading process.

The braiding process. Three chunks ready to be made into snakes.

And, the finished product. Don't they look pretty?

Allowance

Allowance...I know some people totally believe in it and others don't. Dave and I have kind of taken a middle ground. Probably about three years ago we instituted our form of allowance. We started off with a list of chores that had a price attached to them...normally like $.25. If the child chose to do that chore, they'd receive a check in a column and at the end of the week, all would be added up. That worked not that great. Josh would rather get out of work than receive money at that point, and I ended up doing chores I had previously expected my kids to accomplish.

So we changed our tactic. Each Saturday (in theory) the kiddos receive $2.75. $1.25 goes into their spending money jar, and then $.75 each to long-term and short-term savings jars. From the spending money they receive, they are expected to take out some portion for offering. We don't tell them how much it should be, but encourage generosity. The rest of their spending money they can pretty much spend at will although I will veto some things at times - like lots of candy in one purchase. Short-term savings mainly goes towards birthday parties the kids are invited to. I have them take out $5 (if they have it) to go towards the gift and I make up the difference. Hannah has also used some of that money this year to pay for her sewing supplies. Long-term savings has gone towards things like room decor...we haven't taken too much from there over the years.

This allowance is not based on chores accomplished. It is pretty much given to them just because they are part of the family, and we desire them to get used to having their own money. It has almost completely eradicated the whining for new toys as I just ask them if they have enough money of their own to purchase the desired item. It has also been marvelous at understanding coins and how money works. Hannah is a definite saver and has over $50 in her spending money (some of that is from gifts). Josh likes to spend his money pretty quickly and probably has less than $5 in his jar. I expect he'll grow out of that somewhat as he appreciates the value of money more as he gets older. They have also come to appreciate yard sales as their money goes so much farther.

Overall, I've been completely satisfied with our system. Hannah and Josh do the chores I ask of them each day with the understanding that they are part of the family, and they receive a small amount of money each week to get used to spending/saving. Here are some pictures of them with their jars. As you can see, we just used Costco nut/chocolate jars, put some construction paper around them with a printed label, and added stickers.

Prov 13:11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.

Lake Fun

We enjoyed another beautiful time at the lake yesterday and today. The kids had a super time paddling around and playing in the water. We also boated across the lake, cooked our dinner over the fire, and roasted s'mores. Yum!

Don't kids look cute in wet suits?

Math

It was nice to finish up with the "official" math text today. We'll still keep on with a few problems a day over the summer so we don't have to struggle back through 2 digit multiplication and long division. It hasn't been the most enjoyable year for the kids, but I think 2-4/5th grade just has a lot of things you have to buckle down and get into your brain. I can't wait till we get to Algebra.

Anyways, we've used Abeka these past two years. Saxon was our initial choice, but caused tears with great frequency so we decided to switch. I have looked at lots of Math programs and still am not totally convinced that Abeka is the best, but I haven't found another I like better. I like the spiral method of review, happy workbook pages, good teacher's guide, and a more advanced level. The kids still don't particularly like it, but I think a lot of that has to do with them not being super quick at their basic facts. That will be one of my focuses over the summer. I purchased a program called Mastering Math Facts about 2 months ago and have been using it to work with the kids. I liked the philosophy behind it...mainly that kids should have automatic recall of facts and learn them at a slower pace rather than be given tons of facts with little proficiency in them. Here is a neat article about it.

Pictures the kids drew around Christmas of our family

Kona

I didn't really have anything compelling to write about tonight, so I figured I'd post some pictures from our time in Kona. Dave is able to choose places he'd like to go for conferences so we decided to take a family trip to The Big Island this past February. It was fun exploring a new island and enjoying lots of time in the sun.

Terrestria Chronicles

I wanted to highlight a favorite series of ours that is allegorical in nature (similar to Pilgrim's Progress). The Terrestria Chronicles is a seven book series that follows the adventures of Josiah from his bondage to Argamor till the Final Battle. There are many wonderful word pictures about the Christian life and struggles we all face. Young kids will enjoy it as a read-aloud, but probably won't get much of the symbolism. Older kids could read it on their own, but I think it is best read in a family setting where the parents can bring out points they would like to discuss (and they'll enjoy it also).

Piano Recital

Hannah had a piano recital this evening. It was held at the Woods House Conservatory - doesn't that sound fancy? It has really been delightful having her learn piano this year and I think she is finally enjoying it. :)

Verse Memorization

One thing that I am really terrible at is working with my kiddos on memorizing verses. It has never been a priority in my personal life so I haven't made it a priority with my kids. I know my bible well, but as someone said (not about me personally), I am a concordance cripple. :) Anyways, I am going to try and be more diligent about it and so I decided if I commit to posting our weekly verses on the blog, maybe I'll have some accountability and stick with it more. So, each week (in theory), I'm going to post our verse in the sidebar. If you want to join with us and do this, that would be super. And, if you happen to see my kids, please feel free to ask them what their weekly verse is. We also did something a while back that I may try and institute again and that was having them format their verse in a Word document using whatever fonts/colors/etc. they would like (I would give you an example, but our main computer isn't working). We then hole punch that paper and put it in the kid's bible verse binder. Josh particularly liked that and it was good to glean some computer skills as well. I may also use the Charlotte Mason approach that my friend referenced on her blog.

I just like posting random pictures...hope you don't think that's odd. :)

My Kitchen

I came across this poem while working on my Rod & Staff curriculum order. It was a good reminder of the importance of our work in the kitchen for our families.

My Kitchen

God bless my little kitchen,
I love its every nook.
And bless me as I do my work,
Wash pots and pans and cook.

And the meals that I prepare,
Be seasoned from above,
With Thy blessing and Thy grace,
But most of all, Thy love.

As we partake of earthly food
The table for us spread,
We'll not forget to thank Thee, Lord,
Who gives us daily bread.

So, bless my little kitchen, God,
And those who enter in.
May they find nought but peace and joy
And happiness therein.

--Unknown

Eternal Rewards

We were talking about rewards and crowns this morning in our Fundamentals of the Faith class. The discussion was about how it appears wrong to do good works to receive a reward. It jogged my memory of a MacArthur sermon I listened to earlier this week about that same issue:

It's time to do what you're going to do for the Lord and do it now. We're to watch, to be ready and to serve. You say, "Well, what's this big deal about service?" Well the Bible simply says that you need to be serving Him because when He comes back, look at it, verse 12, "My reward is with Me to give to every man." You say, "Well isn't that materialistic?" And I've talked about this and I've maybe have shared with you this before but people will always disparage that is a motive when it is not a bad motive, to serve Christ for a reward, that's a natural thing. This illustrates to me so many times in athletics, if a guy runs a race, runs his very best and wins, you don't say, "Oh, materialistic, crass, selfish." You expect him to do that, right? If a general takes his army out to battle and he wins the battle, you don't call him materialistic. If a guy loves a girl and comes to her and says, "I love you so much I want to marry you," she doesn't say, "Oh, materialistic, it's not enough to love me, you have to marry me." That is strange because that's normal. There are some things that are the natural reward of other things and reward from our Lord is the natural result of faithful service.

My grandfather had in his Bible a poem written and it goes like this, "When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and He shows me His plan for me, the plan of my life as it might have been, and I see how I blocked Him here and checked Him there and would not yield my will, will there be grief in my Savior's eyes? Grief though He loves me still? He would have me rich but I stand there poor, stripped of all but His grace, while memory runs like a haunted thing down a path I can't retrace. Then my desolate heart will well nigh break with tears I cannot shed, I will cover my face with my empty hands, I will bow my uncrowned head. O Lord, of the years that are left to me, I give them to Thy hand, take me, break me, mold me to the pattern that Thou hast planned."

We need to be busy serving the Lord. We need to orient our priorities. We need to strip out all the garbage in our lives and get down to the business of immediate obedience, immediate worship, immediate proclamation and immediate service...It's time to get it together and do those things that need to be done in these last times. I think we can spin our wheels and as I said this morning, we can fool around with diddly things that mean absolutely nothing to anybody and not be ready when Jesus comes to receive a full reward. Look to yourselves, said John, that you lose not the things you have wrought but that you receive a full reward.

---Also, in poking about the Internet looking for information on crowns, I came across this website that gave a good synopsis. Please note, I don't know anything about this website, it's content, or it's beliefs, but this section on crowns appeared biblically based and accurate. I particularly appreciated how they noted that we will give our crowns to Christ out of love for Him.

Almond Bars

This is one of my favorite desserts and things to bring to potlucks and such. I received this recipe from a dear lady named Dorothy who made it for a Christmas Cookie Exchange many years ago in CT.

Almond Bars

Base
1 pkg Yellow Cake Mix
1 stick margarine/butter (softened)
1 Egg
--Mix and press into 9x13 greased baking dish

Topping
8 oz. package cream cheese (softened)
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
3/4 t almond extract
1# powdered sugar
--Blend well and spread over base

--Sprinkle with sliced almonds

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
Store in refrigerator

Home Depot Day

One activity that we have really enjoyed as a family is Home Depot Day. On the first Saturday of each month, Home Depot hosts a free kids workshop where kids build something out of prepared materials. As far as I know, all Home Depots offer this. Our kids have built everything from napkin holders to race cars, art caddies to herb planters. Today they had a choice (which doesn't normally happen), and Hannah chose the butterfly house and Josh chose the soccer game. We also make a extra fun day of it by stopping for donuts on our way there! Yum!

Notice all the kid's pins. Every time they complete a project, they receive a pin.

Spelling

Today we finished Spelling off. We've actually done two curriculums for spelling this past year. We started out with A Reason for Spelling which is a Christian spelling program. It had a lot of very positive aspects, particularly that there were many activities and ways to learn how to spell the words for the week-way more than we ever did in a week. I picked up some good ideas to use in the future from it. It also includes a weekly story which corresponds to the handwriting program which we use. The stories had quite an assortment of themes such as homelessness, divorce, lying, making fun of others, etc. The point was always good, but sometimes I was a little unsure where it was going while I was reading it. As we neared the end, we started bulking up the lessons each week since the kiddos could already spell the words.

So, then we went on to another curriculum for the last couple months. It is called Spelling Workout. It also has a good variety of activities to learn the spelling words and begins with an interesting story the kids read themselves of about 2-3 paragraphs. There is a proofreading section at the end of each lesson which I also like. We went through the lessons a couple a week just focusing on the words the kids had trouble spelling.

For next year, I am going to stick with Spelling Workout primarily because it is less time intensive and a good overall program. We are going to jump to Level E which is essentially 5th grade and see how the kids do. Josh seems to have gone backwards a couple steps these last couple weeks, but Hannah really likes spelling and does quite well with it.

Self Hardening Clay

We made some self-hardening clay a couple of weeks ago and it has been sitting around the kitchen since waiting to be painted. So, last night, we got out the paints and finished up. Here's the recipe:

Self Hardening Clay

4 cups flour

1 teaspoon alum

1 1/2 cups salt

1 1/2 cups water

Mix flour, alum and salt together in a bowl. Add water gradually to form a ball. Knead (pound, roll & pull) the clay, adding water until it no longer falls apart. Store in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator. Allow the clay to come to room temp for easy use. Let your finished project dry at room temp for 2 days. It will become very hard and can be painted.

I wouldn't say it is the best clay for anything that has height, but works well for flat or small objects. It worked well to make a vase or a bowl.

I liked how their hand prints turned out. Josh's isn't as big as it looks in this picture.

Spiritual vs. Physical Bread

I've been reading a book called War of Words by Paul Tripp and wanted to share an excerpt with you. It's from the chapter entitled, Following the King for All the Wrong Reasons:

The blessings God gives you in your family, job, home, church, friends, and community are meant to do something for you. They are meant to point you to the deeper and fuller blessing of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. He is life! Abundant life is not your spouse, children, house, car, possessions, job, friends, or church. Abundant life is Jesus Christ! The amazing reality is that he is ours and we are his! This is the bread worth living for. Not the bread of physical blessing, but the spiritual bread, Christ, that his gift of earthly bread represents. Some of us are only excited about Christ because we think he will deliver more physical bread. We fall into spiritual depression when he removes the physical bread so that we would hunger again for the Bread that really satisfies. Can you see beyond the physical bread to see Christ and the glories of his grace? Or do you consume the physical bread without any desire for the spiritual blessing that he gives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?

In John 6, Jesus says, "I am the bread of life." Ask yourself this question: Which bread do I hunger for? What kind of bread do I really want to feed on? I'm not saying that physical things are of no consequence or that we should not seek to improve our lives (marriages, jobs, churches, families, etc.), but I think that we can miss the point. We too can see the miracles and miss the sign. We can rejoice over jobs given, friendships restored, homes supplied, and bills paid and fail to hunger for the spiritual blessings that physical provisions represent. We can be like the people who pursued Jesus only to keep their stomachs full. They didn't really want him as their King. They wanted him to be their Great Waiter, dedicated to keeping them physically satisfied.

Many of us come to Jesus today because we are holding onto our dream and we want Jesus to somehow help us get it. If we are honest, we would have to admit that this is all we really want from him. And if we don't get it, we are miserably disappointed.

If we are living for earthly bread and see it as our source of life, we are going to be in big trouble when we don't have it. But if we are living for spiritual bread, for a deeper communion with Jesus Christ, then our lives (with all their problems) become wonderful places to know and grow in fellowship with the One who is life. (pgs 95-96)

He goes on to say that a lot of the problems in our communication are because we are focused on the physical bread we want that others get in the way of so we respond badly. Rather we should be focused on the spiritual bread of becoming more like Christ that daily trials give us frequent opportunities to respond rightly to.

The Moody Family Series

We finished up this series this evening before bedtime. There are five books, so far, in the series and we've read them intermittently over the last year or so. They are about a homeschooling family of four (now six) children and their adventures in daily life. The author diligently tries to intersperse her writing with good examples of obedience, spiritual disciplines, and a well-run family life. She is the oldest daughter of the Maxwells, who wrote the book Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit from a post a week or so ago. As with their other things, they are very conservative and probably more on the extreme side in some areas, but great values and the kids really enjoyed reading them.

Pancakes

Dave was home this morning so the kids decided they wanted to make pancakes. I have a very old Disney cookbook from when I was a kid that they have been looking through. Having everyone working together to get a yummy breakfast prepared was so delightful. It's those simple pleasures that I enjoy the most.