Following Foundations 4/17/09 April 18, 2009

I have noticed a pattern with our cars. Well, that is if you can statistically call two incidents a pattern. Last August, my husband wrecked the car. It was only by the grace of God that he wasn’t killed. He hydroplaned on the interstate, went across four lanes of traffic, slammed the rear end of the car into the concrete barrier at about 50 mph, and then went back across four lanes of traffic and stopped in the ditch. He was never hit by another car and walked away from it with only some soreness for a few days. Well, the car was totalled, or as my son says, “Daddy broke the car.” I included a picture for effect. Well, what happened right after we got the insurance money? The van blows a head gasket. Bye, bye insurance money. Praise the Lord that we were able to get another car (Buick Century Wagon) for next to nothing. Now that was a true blessing, but it’s not the point I’m trying to make at the moment. My point is that one wrecked car payed for repairs on another one. Well, this week, I got stuck at the museum with the kids. The car wouldn’t start, and we couldn’t even jump it. We were 30 minutes from home. We had AAA tow the car to our mechanic. We weren’t sure at the time if it was the battery or not, but we weren’t in the best circumstances to be figuring out things with three kids in the car. Well, it turned out that it was just the battery. In and of itself, that is a good thing. However, a 34 mile towing fee, plus a mechanic checking things out and replacing the battery made for a very expensive battery. But never fear! Why was I not in the van anyway? Well, the van was on that day in the body shop being fixed after someone rear-ended me a month ago. A man from our church owns a body shop and he was able to fix it for much less than what we got from the insurance company. And now you see how this works. We now had the extra money to pay for the expensive battery in the car. It’s probably not how I would have had things work, but the Lord knows what He’s doing. And we even came out a couple hundred in the black!

EG (4 yrs):

We finished week 32 of Sonlight’s p4/5. I can’t believe we only have four weeks left! We started Why do Tigers Have Stripes? this week. She loves these Usborne books. This one is in the same series as What’s Under the Sea?, which we read earlier this year. It was a big hit, too. In her reading, she finished Father Bear Comes Home, Put Me in the Zoo and The Cat in the Hat. She’s zipping right along! She completed a lapbook on butterflies this week (from Homeschoolshare.com). Last week was our first week doing a lapbook, and I had little clue as to what I was doing. This week we did a lapbook with an extension. Look at us go! We’re moving up in the lapbooking world (grin)! I included several pictures. We memorized 1 John 1.9 this week which says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We also started Proverbs 21.2 which says “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” We memorized question 57 of the Baptist Catechism which asks “What is forbidden in the second commandment?”

She got her hair cut this week. I was only planning on having my own hair cut. As I was leaving the house, she decided that her hair was just “a little too long” and she wanted to go, too.

AZ (2 yrs):

This week AZ worked on the letter C and completed a C page for his alphabet notebook. When he wasn’t working on the letter C, playing Starfall, or sleeping, he was usually butting heads with me. We so need a vacation.  Guess what? We’re taking one next week!  Today he took an extra-long afternoon nap. His sister kept wanting to wake him up so they could play together (doesn’t that sound sweet?….we do have some of these moments). Not a chance, Honey! That boy is going to sleep until he wakes up! I need some peace and quiet. I’m sure I’ve probably been chanting in my sleep “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Children….” Uggh. AZ did finally get Psalm 1.6 memorized well enough for us to progress. We’re now working on Isaiah 30.15 which says “In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Now that’s a verse I need to be chanting to myself!

In one of his better moments this week, he told me that I’d better not run with my coffee. Only walk. And then he pointed at me and said “You ‘member that!”

SA (11 months):

Well, the baby had his first Easter. He eyed the chocolate in his siblings baskets and wondered why he wasn’t considered old enough for his own chocolate bunny. Did he really need another sippy cup? Aren’t there 45 of them in the kitchen cabinet? He started the morning with a bad attitude about his Easter outfit, but eventually decided to make the best of it. He thought it was curious that during the Easter egg hunt, his parents were wearing fleece pullovers (aka “woobies” in our family) and his sister was wearing a sweater, all the while he was sitting in the prickly grass in a pair of shorts. Keeping his left leg raised for 45 minutes was all he could muster in the form of a protest. After all, it’s hard not to smile when you get to chew on plastic.

Me:

Let’s see. I quoted Ephesians 6:1 repeatedly to my 2 year old. I got my hair cut (it was desperately needed). I had a guitar lesson. I’m still not done with my first Mel Bay book. I have three tunes to work on. It’s all those darn eighth notes that are slowing me down! I’ll probably just pass out into a lifeless heap on the floor when I see sixteenth notes. Some things just hurt my brain. I do have every intention of going guitar shopping next week if I have an opportunity. I want to upgrade from my pawnshop-find from 10 years ago.

There won’t be a Following Foundations report for next week since we’ll be on vacation. I’ll hit the highlights with the report for the week following. Happy vacation to me!

Following Foundations 4/10/09 April 11, 2009

This was the week of appointments: orthopedic and dental. AZ had to have his hips xrayed…..again. He was born with hip dysplasia and had to wear a pavlik harness for the first 6 weeks of his life. I included a picture of him in his brace. We liked to dress him up like a hockey goalie when he was a baby. He was indifferent, but it did make us smile in a rather trying situation. Those weeks seemed to last an eternity, but looking back, it was a short ordeal. (Our daughter was also born with hip dysplasia, although it wasn’t as severe as AZ’s. She had to wear a different kind of brace (Rhino Cruiser Hip Abduction Brace) for 2 months when she was sleeping. I threw in a picture of her as well for those who are curious about the world of hip dsyplasia.) The hardest part was the technical difficulties that came with not being allowed to take the brace off. He only got sponge-baths. And, being a boy…well, he did what baby boys do and soaked the thing a few times (along with the wall, window, me, his head, etc). Let’s just say, the brace wasn’t white anymore by the time he got it off. And yes, I did what I had to do. I febreezed a newborn. Is that legal? He lived and he smelled okay for church. Anyways, jump back to the present. Since he’s been out of the brace, he’s had more xrays. He had one a year ago and there was still “something” in the “slightly” abnormal range. So, he had to go back this week for another xray. Well, the doctor still wouldn’t release him. He has to go back in two years. I’m not even sure what’s wrong. He said a couple “minor” things that would very likely be corrected with growth, and that he couldn’t “possibly imagine that he would have to have surgery to fix his hips” and not to worry. I probably should have been more persistent in my questions. The doctor probably thought I wouldn’t understand. Oh well…I truly believe he is the best “hip” doctor at Duke, so I’m not complaining! God has been good to us. I wonder sometimes if the Lord allowed our daughter to have mild hip dysplasia just so we would be prepared and not freak out when our baby boy got strapped up in this contraption. I know everything will be fine.

We left the children’s hospital with handfuls of Spongebob, Dora and Hanna Montana stickers and made our way to the NC Museum of Life and Science, which was close by. Yes, the picture on the butterfly bench was the best pic I got that day. I don’t know why they’re squinting because it wasn’t even sunny. We pitter-pattered around the museum for about 3 hours and then went to lunch with Daddy. The next day EG and AZ had dental appointments. They did perfect. I think the staff was probably taking votes after we left on whether or not I had drugged them. I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better. They even got xrays of AZ’s front teeth. He sat so still like a little man! He’s always been good at the dentist. This was his third visit. I can’t say the same for my daughter. A year ago she screamed through her entire appointment. I’m sure other anxious kids in the waiting room thought their worst fears were about to come true.

EG (4 yrs):

This week we completed week 31 of Sonlight’s p4/5. How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World was a big hit. She was familiar with The Magic School Bus volcano episode, so she recognized some of the stuff in this book. We looked up videos of volcanoes and geysers online. (Don’t you just love the internet? It’s so useful at times!) We also started Uncle Wiggily’s Story Book, which is part of the updated p4/5 core. I had planned on having us read this book over the summer, but since it’s 250 pages long, I felt that we needed to start it now. We LOVED the two stories we read out of this book. The style of writing reminds me somewhat of Beatrix Potter in that it’s written for children, but it’s not written “down” for children. It’s great children’s literature, in my opinion.

For math she worked in her Kumon book and did some “color-by-number” and “dot-to-dot”. We practiced counting by 2’s.

In her reading, she finished Little Bear this week. I happened to also have Father Bear Comes Home from a recent used book sale, so she’s almost done with that one, too. So, I guess we’re taking a little detour off of our Sonlight Readers 1 schedule to do the Little Bear thing. She’s loving it.

We memorized Proverbs 28:13, which says “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he  who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” We memorized question 56 of the Baptist Catechism,  which asks what is required in the Second Commandment.

She completed her first lapbook this week (remember she was jealous of her brother’s alphabet notebook). I happened to come upon a free lapbook based on the book The Apple Pie Tree, which I just so happened to have checked out from the library last week. What a coincidence!! She loved it. She would have done the entire thing in one sitting if I had let her. Her magnum opus was the copywork. I had envisoned her doing maybe one line per day. Well, she insisted on doing the whole thing…..on Saturday. I have a few pictures below.

On thursday she got taken out by another teammate on her U5 rugby soccer team during a game. She fell apart and didn’t put herself back together until well over a half hour later. One of her close buddies on the team was all set on defending her: “Who pushed you down?! She got pushed down!!” The whole time she was screaming, I think he was looking to “settle the score”. I don’t think she was really hurt that bad, but she milked it for all it was worth. That cow was definitely dry 45 minutes later.

AZ (2 yrs):

Well, we weren’t “fit-free” this week, but there was improvement over last week. He worked on the letter “B” this week. We completed a page for his alphabet notebook (see pics below). It was so funny. He was sitting on the couch with Daddy showing him his notebook, and he was using his finger to trace the sandpaper “B”. He starts instructing Daddy and says “This is how do it. Start at top and go down. Then lift your finger!! Go back and go towards Mommy!” (Note to self: don’t stand on his left side when he’s writing a “B”.) Of course, he had to point out how he used a “gue kick” (glue stick) on everything. I didn’t expect him to do so well tracing “B’s” with a crayon, but I was surprised at how careful he was. We continued to work on Psalm 1:6 this week. I had said last week that I thought he would only need this week to finish it. Well, he needs another week.

The potty training is slowing progressing. It’s still pretty much an issue of getting him there at the right time. We have one of those potty seats that you put on the toilet so he won’t fall in. However, he prefers to use the little potty on the floor, so the potty seat doesn’t really get used. Well, he discovered a use for it. I heard him in the bathroom singing “I going crazy! I going crazy!” I went to check things out. He was sitting on the little potty with the cushion part of the potty seat on his head. I briefly considered painting it with olive leaves and giving the kid a toga! I’m the one going crazy!

SA (11 months):

Well, the baby now has to be strapped in his high chair. The problem is that he’s Mr. Nosey Britches. He has to see everything that’s going on. This week I turned around to see him STANDING UP in his high chair. He just had one hand on the back of the chair and he was checking out what was happening in the living room. Oh, and if some of you are wondering if SA escaped hip dysplasia….yes, he did. He had an ultrasound at 2 weeks of age and got an A-OK!

Me:

Well, I’m almost crud-free! Woohoo! I’m feeling pretty good, though. I’ve been doing some online shopping for school lately. I bought some art books for next year for kindergarten. I got Evan-Moor’s How to Teach Art to Children and the art primers that Veritas Press recommends. I already have Drawing with Children, although I’m very intimidated about it. I’m going to think about this book long and hard over the summer so I will be prepared to use it come August. I do not plan to or even want to finish these books next year. We’re just going to go slow, dabble here and there, and try to learn some basics.

I also bought Tapestry of Grace Year 1 and preordered Year 2. This is not for next year, of course, but since Lampstand Press is going in the all-digital direction with Tapestry of Grace, I wanted to make sure I got a print copy while they were still available. I figured that if for some reason, TOG doesn’t work out, I should be able to resell the print copies very easily. The digital versions can’t be resold. I’m very excited about our upcoming school year.We’ll be doing two Sonlight cores, p3/4 and core K. I’m restraining myself from ordering them now because I really want to wait until August to start them, and I know I would be tempted to do otherwise if I had them already. I’m waiting until at least after the homeschool conference in May.

This was supposed to be the section about me, and here I am talking about stuff for my kids! Oh well, this was my week!  I’ll  try to have a more exciting life next week. Really, I will!!

Happy Easter to everyone!!

Following Foundations 4/3/2009 April 4, 2009

Well, I am happy to report that our household is mostly well! [Cough! Cough!] (I said mostly.) Now, if the warm weather would just come and stay awhile, maybe we can be done with the crud.

We finally made it back to the library this week. I learned–again–that I need to go the library with a list of book suggestions in hand. EG and AZ occupied themselves on the computers, but SA was a major fussy bucket when he was in his stroller. I had to carry him around, and, as a result, I could only browse the books on the top shelf. When I put him on the floor, he would do his own browsing on the bottom shelf.  We didn’t leave with a ton of books. AZ had a two-year old fit in the library which led to a hasty departure. We picked up lunch afterwards and took it to the park. One of those spur of the moment things. AZ had another two-year old fit upon leaving the park. You know, the ones where they roll around on the ground. As a matter of fact, it’s been “fit central” at our house this week! Fun, Fun. At supper that night, he was sorta confessing to Daddy about how he “cried at library”, but how he didn’t “cry at park” (I did say “sorta” confessed). I corrected him that he did cry at the park and reminded him of his fit. He shook his head in disbelief and started quickly saying “Dat not happen! Dat not happen!” Right.

EG (Age 4):

This week we completed week 30 of Sonlight’s p4/5. We read a chapter of Milly Molly Mandy this week. She absolutely adores this book. At suppertime, she was able to narrate the story back to Daddy with a little direction from me. I wonder sometimes how much she understands from this book. It’s not that the vocabulary is very difficult, it’s just different…..probably because it was written 80 years ago! But I see that she understands and remembers quite a bit. She’s still plugging away in Explode the Code Book 3. I included a picture of some of her work this week. Since we  finished our math book last week, she worked some with the pattern blocks this week. She was proud of her alligator. We also practiced counting to 100 by 1’s and 10’s. We’ve started learning how to count by 2’s. In her reading this week, she read Green Eggs and Ham and started Little Bear. I was hoping to put Little Bear off until next week, so I tried to slip in a Bob Book today instead. Didn’t work. She was on to me. She’s been waiting on Little Bear for a long time now and she wasn’t about to wait until Monday to get started! She did great on her memorization this week. We memorized Proverbs 28.26 which says “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” We also memorized question 55 of the Baptist Catechism which asks “Which is the second commandment?”. The answer is Exodus 20.4-6. She already knew verse 4 from our Foundation Verses. I did not expect her to get this whole passage in a week’s time, but she really surprised me. No soccer again this week. Rained out. She does have a game scheduled for tomorrow.

Daddy had to burst her bubble this week. He always covers her up with her blanket after she falls asleep. She asked him why when she wakes up in the morning is her blanket on her and not just her sheet. After hearing about what he does, she said “Oh, I thought it was magic!” She has had quite the active imagination this week. Here’s a conversation that just happened tonight:

EG: When I grow up I’m going to be a girl astronaut with a purple astronaut suit. That’s my wish.

AZ: Daddy, I need tell you sometin. Do you got go to dore morrow?

Daddy: I’m not sure yet. We’ll see.

EG: Well, I know that the day after tomorrow you have to go to the store because you have to get me the purple astronaut suit.

Daddy: I thought that wasn’t until you grew up?

EG: Well, it is. And when I get old enough, I’ll put it on, climb into a rocket, and blast off into space!

AZ (Age 2):

In between having screaming fits, he worked hard on the Letter “A” this week. My main goal this time through the alphabet is for him to recognize the lowercase letters. He knows most of the uppercase letters and most of the sounds (thank you, Starfall!). We also started an alphabet notebook this week. I am not a crafty person. If I do anything hands-on and creative, I have to think long and hard about it. However, I have been intrigued with the idea of lapbooks. I feel sure that at least my daughter would love them, and I could see them being great learning tools. So, I wanted to get my feet wet a little. I decided to do this free alphabet notebook from homeschoolshare.com. It’s not technically a lapbook, but it uses the same crafty principles. Well, our “A” page was very successful. He absolutely loved it! He sorted big “A’s” and little “a’s” in the buckets several times. I let him use chalk to decorate his little book, and he did great tracing over the letters. (Oh, and Margaret, if you happen to read this, please note the little apple brad that is holding the apples together. Grin.) Of course, my daughter took twice as long to do her stuff because she kept peeking over his shoulder. She asked me in a very disappointed way, “Did I do an alphabet notebook when I was two?[Sniff. Sniff.]” (We’ll post pictures of her first lapbook when we complete it next week.) AZ also worked on memorizing Psalm 1:6 this week, which says “The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish”. He needs another week, but he’s doing great. He also watched some Magic School Bus this week. Once, while standing in the kitchen, he exclaimed “Baking soda! Aaaaaaahhh!” Must have been the “Ready, Set, Dough” episode. Potty training is going about the same, except that my timing has been a little off this week. We’ll get there.

SA (age 11 months):

What can I say about the baby? He did some geography, called out for pizza, and was, at times, quite goofy!

Me:

[Cough! Cough!] Excuse me. I had a good guitar lesson this week. I still haven’t finished my Mel Bay book, but as I have mentioned before, the last few pages are kinda hard. So, I’ll be done when I’m done! My teacher helped me with Chris Tomlin’s “Jesus Messiah”. I’m comfortable with the chords now. I think I just need to gussy it up a little. I made shrimp scampi for supper last night. AZ wanted to help, so I let him put the dinner rolls on the cookie sheet. I turned around and he had one up to his mouth. I said “Don’t put that in your mouth!” He said “I just lickin’ it!” Oh, well that’s different! Anyone want to come to my house for dinner?