Rebekah is 11!!

Wow! Eleven years have flown by! I can't believe my little girl is growing into a young lady! She's almost as tall as me! I'm sure she'll surpass me by 13! Here are a couple of pics from her bday!

I was so shocked!!

I couldn't believe it. I took Isaac to hockey yesterday and Rebekah watched Elsah. When I got home, to my surprise, I was greeted by Chef Rebekah. She had the lights dimmed and candles were on the table. She had the table all set with special cups. She made dinner for our family! Spaghetti with sauce. ( I had picked up a few things on the way home to help with dinner but had no idea how much effort she had put into it) She had all of us sit down and served us our dinner of Spaghetti, salad, bread, peaches and a lemon meringue pie. That was the best gift I could ever get from my girl! While I was at hockey with Isaac, I was wondering what I was going to put on the table for dinner! What a great way to come home!!

Elsah will probably say da da before ma ma....just because it's easier:) she's saying ba ba da ba ba da....so cute!

Don't fix it if it ain't broke!

Currently reading....


This is what I've learned in the past two-three weeks. I had changed Rebekah's curriculum just about three weeks ago. We were both really excited about it but have since learned that she really misses the World of Adventure program. It's easier for her to use and is in a chronological order regarding the time periods. Which makes history make sense and fun. I can still use the Charlotte Mason method with Learning Adventures so it's not that big of a deal. We got some wonderful resources that we will still end up using too!





Why is it that homeschoolers start to get ansy in the Spring Time with their curriculum? I know I do. I start to get a feeling for a spring cleaning and time to start fresh. You know the way you clean your home in the spring time, well it's the same way with homeschooling. We've been going and going all year long and we are just ready to take a break, get reorganized and feel more energized to start a new yr. I always think to myself....Is there something better out there for my kids to help grasp certain subjects. Am I doing the best I can as a teacher? Am I teaching them the right way to help them become self learners and giving them the best of every opportunity? What am I leaving out? Are they being challenged enough? Am I doing this right? So, these questions arise for me every single year.


So, during this questioning time period I decided to change curriculum thinking that this would be best. We now know it wasn't. Rebekah has a love for learning about history and living books. I already provided her with the best curriculum that fits her style of learning. Which is why I said "Don't fix it if it ain't broken." Maybe another homeschooler deals with the same. I'd love to hear from you so feel free to post your difficulties as well.





Elsah is 7mths now! Isaac, Elsah and I were on our way home from the store yesterday and Isaac goes "Mom, Elsah is trying to talk" So, I listen a little bit closer. She's starting to say Ba, ba ba....Awwww! My heart just melted! What an amazing thing to hear! I love it!





Well, that's it for now!

Yesterday we started our new curriculum. Isaac started as well. Rebekah said she really like school yesterday. One of my desires is for my children to enjoy learning.

Sunday, Rebekah was in a musical at church. Several different women sacrifice much of their time to get this together. It's a lot of hard work but well worth it. The main reason is to Glorify God and to share his message of love, that we all are sinners and need a saviour and that none of us are perfect except by God's saving grace. She had two different parts in it. Here are some pics from the musical. The dress Elsah has on is one of my favorites.

These are pics from Isaac's Cubbie class (he'll be moving on to sparks next yr.) and Elsah's first real smile for the camera!!!

This week was a busy week. Trying to get organized for the "next school". We had a friend Kevin, who was in our wedding come down from VA to visit. He is riding his motorcycle all the way to California. His blog is on my "favorite blogs" below. What an exciting trip.

I went to the curriculum sale on Saturday and Im sooo glad I made a list. It is so easy to pick up stuff that looks sooo good for your kids. I'm planning on having a "composer/artist" table where they look at pictures while listening to Narrative on Bach's life/Mozart's life. Or any of the other composers I have at the table. My science table is going to include hands on experiments, bird calling and how to recognize the calls, and science books with lots of pics. So, this is my plan. Whether or not it flows like I want is up in the air.

Rebekah had a swim meet this Sat/Sun too! She swam a 200 IM in 3:27. That's two laps of each stroke. I think her best stroke is Butterfly. It's beautiful when I watch her. It's amazing that since she has been on the swim team (since January) she has totally progressed in her times.

So, what's on the agenda for this week???? Hmmm....Planning, organinizing. I have a class tomorrow for work, have SEEK on Thursday and then I work Friday so I think that'll be it.

I need to order a couple of more books for our curriculum and then we'll be set to start.

The closing of Learning Adventures...moving on

Ok....So we had a great time trying out all differents foods during this time period. I'm sorta sad but excited for finishing this unit up. It was lots of fun and educational and I have to say not at all the dullest. Rebekah enjoyed learning about different artists (her favorite Leonardo Da Vinci) during this time and her favorite scientist, Isaac Newton.

Now, it's time for myself to get ready for the next unit of study. I've chosen something different after researching all different styles of teaching. We were already doing something like this before in Learning Adventures but the narration, copywork, and dictation was missing. We use living books with learning already but I am now convinced this is an awesome way to learn with all different styles of learning. I m planning on using the "Charlotte Mason" approach. Charlotte Mason lived in England in the 1800's and had devoted her life to children and their education. She never married. "The Charlotte Mason method uses living books with an emphasis on quality rather than quantity, narration instead of comprehension exercises or composition, copywork for handwriting, spelling and grammar modeling, nature observation as the primary means of early science, and literature, poetry, art and music to give children's minds beautiful ideas to feed on."

Narration is a skill that is learned. I've tried it with Rebekah to see where she was at and we do need some work. Rebekah has great comprehension skills but narration is difficult for her.

Isaac starts school with us too in a couple of weeks (once I have all the books to start)! We are going to use Ambleside Online Curriculum which some awesome mothers have put together and have used the Charlotte Mason approach. I've changed my school room around to have some centers for Isaac. One is a reading center with all different styles of books (for Rebekah too) and a art/science center. We are going to do a nature study on birds in our area and learn how to identify them and their habitat. (Currently Isaac is intrigued with caterpillars so we'll learn the caterpillar cycle and watch the caterpillars change.

We have a busy busy month of May! Rebekah has her musical, recital, swim meet (once every month now), her birthday and Craig is taking her on a special three day trip to Atlanta GA. In early May Rebekah and I have a special mother/daughter day. What a busy month it will be!

Elsah is now 14 lbs at her 6mth appt. All of my babies are tiny. She is sitting up for short periods of time, turning over from her back to front now, moving toys from hand to hand and sleeping (yes!) for 7-8 hours a night! We started her on some oatmeal at night for dinner and then she has her normal feeding at 9-930pm. She is such a good baby. God has blessed me with easy babies. We'll see how she is at walking stage and crawling. I bet she'll be different from Isaac though. He was all into computers and gadgets. Toys were a bore to him. So, he kept me on my toes.

Finally, here is Isaac's favorite recipe from the renaissance!

Toad in the Hole:

1 Cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
pinch pepper
2 eggs
1 cup milk
8 oz sausage links (already cooked)

combine dry ingredients then add 2 eggs and milk. Chill 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 and then pour into 9X9 greased pan. Place sausages on top of batter. Bake 25minutes or until golden brown.

Renaissance and Reformation recipes YUMMO!

Well, yesterday we started our week long of cooking Renaissance food! We enjoyed the recipes soooo much that we thought we'd share them with you.

Cholermus Pancakes:

1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup, plus 2 T butter
3 eggs, well beaten
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
sugar

Beat the cream with 2 T of melted butter and eggs. Sift flour and salt. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Blend until smooth. Add 2 T of butter into large skillet. Pour large portions about 1/3 cup into skillet. Brown on both sides. With two forks, tear pancakes apart into bite size pieces. Melt remaining butter in skillet. Add pieces of pancake. Brown until crusty. Sprinkle with sugar and serve hot with fresh berries (we used strawberries)

Spaghetti Bolognese

1 1/2 lb. Ground Beef
1 large onion
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp basil
2 cans Italian plum tomatoes (I used 280z of diced tomatoes)
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
12 Oz spaghetti
1/4 cup grated parmigiano

Heat oil. fry onion, celery and garlic for 3 minutes. Add Ground Beef. Cook until meat is cooked. Add everything else except spaghetti and parmigiano. Simmer for 20 minutes. In the meantime cook spaghetti. Place spaghetti on plates. Top with sauce and parmigiano. Enjoy!
Serve with greens.

Chocolate Fondue:

6 oz of semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
Banana's, strawberries and apple

MMMMMM Good!!

Today Rebekah is making Toad in a Hole for breakfast, Antipasto with homemade Italian dressing (if time permits) and hot cross buns for desert! Yummm! If we enjoy it then I'll post it.

Isaac's hockey, Elsah's feet and Rebekah classes

Tuesday was Isaac's first day playing Hockey! That was all he kept talking about. The kids are ages 5-7yr olds. Isaac is one of the youngest. Craig has taught him the correct stance on the skates and he is learning how to keep the stick on the ground as he skates.

Elsah is all about her feet. I wish I could get a picture of her but have yet to do it. We started her on a little bit of oatmeal at night right before her night time feeding. She is actually sleeping from 10-530 sometimes 7am.!! Wow! Elsah reminds me a lot of Rebekah. Instead of trying to crawl she scoots on the back of her head to get somewhere! Amazing!

Rebekah is almost done with the Renaissance and reformation unit! For the next two weeks we'll be cooking all different types of renaissance food! That's one of our favorite things to do. Eat different types of food especially deserts! Her climateology class is over and we have learned a lot. There is sooo much to digest in such a little amount of time. However, in Rebekah's lego group this fall they will be truly refocusing and learning much more about it since that is the main topic. We will be starting the Age of Exploration soon!

I always find it somewhat refreshing to feel like we have accomplished a unit of study and that feeling of going into a new one with "new" excitement!

Isaac's 5th Birthday!!!

What an amazing and hectic day! I got up real early to start Saturday morning right! I had two cakes to make, frosting to layer and bugs to place. Isaac had his 5th birthday party this weekend. He had many of his close buddies come over and celebrate with Linny the Clown. We had hotdogs and chips too. We usually don't have big birthday parties. We celebrate each yr with family and cake and maybe one friend will come over too. So, as you can see, this day was extra special! Today is really Isaac's birthday. The 31st at 1036 am. For everyone's birthday we do presents in the morning (this came from Craig's side of the family). Isaac got a sling shot from Rebekah and he got one playstation game (sonic) and a Fisher Price basketball hoop. It goes up to 6 ft. He was really happy with those wonderful gifts! Last night, we all sat around watching my labor with Isaac and I kept thinking Wow! Even after birth, Isaac's facial expressions are still there today. What amazed me is that how perfectly formed Isaac was and his imprint of his personality was right at the very very beginning! God knit into place every single detail of Isaac. From his personality to his outer appearance to his inside appearance. I love that verse

Psalm 139: 13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.

God knew all of my children before they were even thought of. He knew what I could handle which is probably why all of them are spaced out 10,5 and almost 6 months. I love those moments of holding the baby and meeting their demanding needs to the very hectic times of always getting into things (toddler stage) and then the awesome stage Isaac is at with preschool/kindergarten. Finally, I truly enjoy Rebekah's age b/c she learns so much and her brain is like a sponge. I'm sorta and sorta not looking forward to Rebekah growing into teenage years.

So, today I reflect on Isaac's birthday. What he was like in the very beginning. Since he has been able to walk, Isaac has always been on the go. I would try to get him to play with toys but nope, he would always go for things that are able to turn on/off, the computer or anything that he can make something happen. He loves pretending with swords and guns. He enjoys playstation (which at a young three he started to play) I truly thought I would never let any of my children do this but because Rebekah is older he wants to do what his big sister does. Craig had gotten the playstation for Christmas and ever since Isaac has mastered all the controls without really any help. I do limit playstation b/c I believe it's a waste of a childs mind!

I was told a couple of days ago that Isaac is a natural at sports. He was playing volleyball with his friends and a mother and he was able to volley and hit the volleyball just right. I've never shown him that. It's amazing what little ones pick up.

Well, off to do some school. Rebekah is working on her water cycle presentation and I think I'll let Isaac enjoy a day of just fun!

Remember, God knit all of us together for a purpose! We are his creation and He doesn't make junk!!

God Bless!

Alicia

Isaac