Month: October 2008

Cars Go Crunch

That’s what Turkey tells me, anyway!

On the way to Wal-Mart last night, we had a little accident.  When we were turning right, the lady behind us apparently didn’t check to make sure we had pulled onto the road and/or that we were accelerating at the rate she wanted to go…anyway, she turned, too, and rammed right into the back of our car.

Everyone is fine, not even a peep out of the children.  I really think they were so confused, they had no idea what had happened.  Turkey and Bunny did demonstrate that they actually have been listening to me, and remembered that you call “911” in an emergency to get help from a policeman (of course, neither Ryan or I had our cell phones on us at the time, so they didn’t get to witness us making a call to the police). They were a little disappointed that the officer did not come with lights blazing and sirens blaring, but they were ecstatic that he took a moment to say “hello” to them.

Speaking of confused, I also had no idea what had happened.  I have never been in any kind of a fender bender before, so I heard the “crunch” and felt a jolt, but I couldn’t process what it was.  My first thought was a tire-blow out, because it felt like only one side of the car was affected (which was basically true, based on where she hit us), but I figured Ryan wouldn’t be that peeved about a tire–he does have some experience in that department.  So, I knew whatever it was, was not good, based on Ryan’s reaction, but I just couldn’t figure it out.  So, naturally, I asked Ryan what had happened.  The look he gave me pointed out to me just how ridiculous the question was, but he was kind enough to inform me that we had been rear-ended.  So, now I know (although, I’d really rather not have to put that knowledge to use ever again!).

The best part was when, upon leaving our car after giving us the report, the police officer said to us “have a…(awkward pause)…better night.”  For some reason, I found that very amusing.

And Turkey is right, cars *do* go crunch!

The Family Shopping Experience

We were on our way to Wal-Mart last night to do our grocery shopping.  And, yes, by “we” I mean all six of us. And it got me to thinking how we used to shop, and how we never figured we’d be taking all four children shopping with us on a regular basis (certainly not to the madhouse that is Wal-Mart!).  

Back when we were first married, Ryan and I used to always do our grocery shopping together.  Not sure how that started, but it was fun, and something we looked forward to.  Maybe we were just newlyweds who loved spending time together, or maybe we both just loved the novelty that was choosing our own food for our own meals, but every week, we went together (and I can’t believe how little we used to spend, and what amount used to seem like a lot to me!).

So, when Turkey was born, we just brought him along, too.  And then when Bunny arrived, we just got a second cart, and brought her, as well. We figured at some point, when she was bigger, we’d have to stop the whole family shopping experience, but we really didn’t, and when Moose and then Ladybug joined us, they came along, too.  

We still only need two carts (and that’s as much because of how many groceries a family of six needs as it is for the seating of the three littler ones), and that day of having to “stop” shopping as a family has never come. Sure, we’ve had days where little people are crabby, and I needed to just go by myself, or the occasional day where grocery shopping just couldn’t happen when they were awake, so, again, off I went alone, but usually we go together, and it’s something we all look forward to.  We’re just weird that way.

Lesson Planning

My love for Sonlight is two-sided, I’ve discovered.  First of all, and most obviously, I love their curriculum because I don’t have to worry about writing lesson plans.  Back in my early childhood ed. days at CURF (am I still allowed to call it that?  Or do I have to go with the somewhat irritating, and, in my opinion, horribly inaccurate, CUC?), and even into my DCE studies (you’d be surprised how many lesson plans DCEs in training have to write!) I hated writing lesson plans, unless it was a topic that I was really interested in or passionate about.  I just dreaded sitting down and putting in the time and effort (but mostly the time!) it took to make a good lesson.  Now, if I taught full-time, or even if I was still working as a DCE, and writing my own Bible studies, I’m sure I would have gotten better, or at least more efficient at it, but still…

As it is, though, I’m glad I don’t have that task to worry about!  Sonlight has provided me with fantastic (in my opinion, at least) lesson plans for all my subjects.  I just review what we’re going to be doing the week before we do it, and I’m ready to go!  Such a burden lifted…I doubt I’d make it as a homeschooling mom if I had to write all my own lessons (or at least I wouldn’t be doing a very good job of it!).

But, the flip-side of that is this–because I’m not bogged down with daily lesson plans for things like history, math, and language arts, I can use my time to create lessons for the extra stuff I actually want to do.  Like my Olympics unit, which I basically put together by myself, that we did before school started.  Fun holidays, extra topics we want to study, more in-depth religion (and doctrine, if you will–gotta raise those little Lutherans right!), those things I actually enjoy planning lessons for.  Yeah, they’re probably not formatted “correctly,” and I’m sure I’m not covering all the things I’m supposed to.  But I don’t have to worry about that, because I have 36 weeks of good, solid lesson plans for all the subjects prepared for me, and anything else I add to that is just icing on the cake (good thing we’re inclined toward year-round schooling, because I have a feeling I’m going to be tacking on a month or more of my own lessons!).

Between now and the end of the year, I have a special one-day unit on the Reformation planned (another fantastic thing about Sonlight–because of the way the curriculum is organized, it’s super easy to compress five days worth of lessons into four if you want to or need to–as a matter of fact, if I understand it correctly, I’ll have the option of having four or five days worth of curriculum starting next year.  Still planning on using the full five, but it’s nice to have the option…), a three-day Thanksgiving unit (along with an extra five days of Thanksgiving readers in place of our normal Little House readers the week before Thanksgiving), and a five to ten day Christmas unit.  (What can I say?  I love Christmas, and I have a ton of ideas involving the history of Christmas celebrations, world cultures, and, of course, the birth of Christ. And no Santa!  Another plus to homeschooling!)

So, I can love Sonlight both because I don’t have to plan lessons, and because, since they have prepared the lessons for me, I have extra time and I get to plan the fun stuff.  The best of both worlds–I love it!

Pondering with Mary

I have been trying for a good three months to find words that express how much I love our church, and the people that go there.  But, after several drafts, and ruminating on the topic for all this time, I find that words are inadequate to express my feelings of deep gratitude that God led us there, and how, for maybe the first time ever, I really understand the church “family.”

So, like Mary, I will just ponder these things in my heart, and know that God, at least, knows the depth of my feeling for His church and His people.

Girly Girl

Ladybug is the girliest girl I know. Granted, a lot of this is in comparison to Bunny, who tends toward tomboy, but still.  I find it so very amusing that someone who isn’t even quite a year and a half yet can be so feminine. Ladybug has the girliest little voice, and an unbelievably girly little giggle.  She even (usually) has quite a girly little sneeze.  But that’s not even the thing that amuses me the most.

What really gets me, especially in light of her age, is how, dare I say, vain she is.  Now, I’m not saying vanity is a good thing, and I’m certainly not going to encourage her to be into her own looks as she grows older, but I find it interesting to see it unfold as she gains more independence.  She loves having her hair brushed and styled (even though her hair is still so short she doesn’t really need it!).  When she sees Bunny having her hair brushed, she comes running.  She loves having “pretties” (mainly those brightly colored, plastic barrettes that little girls are inclined to wear) put in her hair.  And that is her word for them–“pretties.” She can’t really say it yet, but she recognizes it and comes running.

It’s especially bad when we’re shopping at Wal-Mart.  If we happen down the hair-care aisle, she starts pointing at all the brushes, and looking at us like she’s wondering why we’re not playing “beauty parlor” right there in the store.  She hasn’t had a melt-down over them yet, but I’m sure that day is coming!

I love watching their own little individual personalities unfold…

It Could Have Been Worse

I had my big meeting with the school today.  Only six of the nine people scheduled to be there showed up (I have to admit, I was relieved that the principal wasn’t there–I think I would have felt like a kid sent to the principal’s office if he had been throwing questions at me!), and there was a student teacher added to the meeting, so there were seven other people, out of a scheduled nine, and with the additional person, a possible ten.  That would have been much worse–ten sets of eyes staring at me, and ten different people asking me questions about all of Moose’s abilities and behaviors!

It actually wasn’t too bad.  Most of the women there were very nice, and they all knew we were homeschooling our oldest two, and nobody was openly judgmental, which was, of course, a concern of mine, since I was dealing with the school district.  Anyway, they decided upon which evaluations Moose needs, and set a date for that all to be done.  Another few hours at the school, feeling uncomfortable, are in my future–hopefully Moose won’t share that sentiment.  Anyway, it looks like he should be starting right after his birthday, so not too much longer from now.

Weird–I never expected to be homeschooling at all, figured they’d all go to public school.  Then, once we decided to homeschool, I figured I wouldn’t be having any dealings with the public school system.  Instead, I get both.  More proof that “man plans, God laughs!”

Thought I Had It Figured Out

So, I’ve settled into a routine with school, and am very happy with the choices I finally made.  Anyone who has read my blog knows the deliberation that went into choosing the curriculum for our first year of homeschool. And it wasn’t even a matter of choosing a company, because it didn’t take much comparing to realize that Sonlight was right for our family.  So, I finally decided–Sonlight Core P 4/5, with Readers K, A Reason for Handwriting K, Pattern Blocks for math, and extra Read-Alouds in the form of the Little House and Rocky Ridge series (and I know that most of that probably only made sense to those of you that are involved with homeschooling, because when I first started looking at this stuff, it sounded like a foreign language to me!).

So, we have our materials, and I’ve even planned long term what cores/readers we’ll use each year, God-willing, as long as this continues to work for our family.  And even though we’re only in week seven, I’ve especially started looking to what we’ll be doing for first grade next year, because I still think we may finish this core early, and even if we don’t, we’re looking at a more year-round approach to school, so I’ll need the new materials sooner than the average family would.

But then today, it hit me–spelling.  We should probably start some kind of spelling program next year, and that hadn’t even occurred to me before now.  What to use?  Sonlight offers two options, but neither one of them is “theirs” as far as I understand, so I don’t really feel any particular loyalty to them, and frankly, I’m having a hard time getting excited about either offering.  

I did, however, stumble upon A Reason for Spelling today.  I had forgotten that the company that makes A Reason for Handwriting does anything else–I haven’t even looked at their website since we first decided to homeschool, and I was trying to decide on a handwriting program.  But, on a message board I frequent, someone mentioned A Reason for Spelling in passing.  So, I looked into it, and I have to say, I’m impressed. I already love A Reason for Handwriting (as do Turkey and Bunny).  I love the Bible focus, I love the treehouse approach to letter formation, which seems to be really helpful in teaching children how to properly write letters, and I love the fun page that’s included with every lesson (as, again, do Turkey and Bunny).  

So, I’m thinking that since I’m already impressed with the company, I should stick with it, especially as it appears that the spelling and handwriting books starting with Level A at least try to have complementary lessons, which would be beneficial.  After looking over the placement test, Turkey and Bunny would already be well suited to Level A, although I’m not planning on starting them on it now…apparently, they’re better at spelling than they are at reading (is that normal?  I have no idea–I’m still new to this!).

So, does anybody have any experience with A Reason for Spelling?  Fell free to comment, as I’m still open to suggestions!

Lutheran Witless

While I was waiting for my older two children and husband to get out of Sunday school this last Sunday (read: I was trapped in the cry room with the younger two because they’re not old enough for Sunday school, and that hour with a bunch of different toys is a huge treat for them), I skimmed through the past two issues of our synodical publication, The Lutheran Witness.  After reading through the letters to the editor, I am totally convinced of the complete idiocy of some of the members of our church body.

Here is what I learned, in just those two issues.  Christians are responsible for the moral decline of America (primarily promiscuity and homosexuality) because they moved out of the cities and into suburbs, and because they pulled their children from public schools and enrolled them in parochial institutions (I bet that person would love the fact that we’re homeschooling!).  The ESV is a horrible translation, because one person doesn’t like the “way it sounds” in comparison to the NIV.  Oh, and some stick in the mud got all up in arms over what I guess was an advertisement (I didn’t get to see the original photo in context) with a picture of four older women in completely modest bathing suits at the beach (I hope that person at least isn’t a total hypocrite, and gets equally incensed upon seeing advertising in the secular realm featuring young women in skimpy bikinis!).

Here are my feelings on the above.  I’m grateful to live in the suburbs, because I can’t imagine being cramped in a crowded city with four small children, and having to deal with public transit to boot.  And I’m not so naive to think that bad morals don’t exist here, so I will assume that even if people hadn’t flocked to suburbia from the cities of America, the moral decay would still have occurred.  And, as a homeschooling parent, I am also grateful that I don’t have to send my children to public school (although I am grateful for the option, especially when it comes to Moose getting the extra help he needs from the school system), because they would not be adequately challenged in that environment, and they wouldn’t be learning about Jesus as much as they are now, which is, according to them, the best part of the school day.

I love the ESV, and in my somewhat limited understanding of such things, think it’s the best translation out there.  I can’t wait until the Concordia Study Bible finally comes out in that translation (can I just say that I think CPH totally dropped the ball on that one–they should have made sure their new Bible came out before, or at least with, the Crossway edition), and I’ll probably get the Crossway one in the meanwhile. And one of my pet peeves is people who pick and choose Bible translations based on what they think sounds pretty, or worse yet, which one says what they want it to say.  I’d rather stick with one good translation and use it for everything (which is why I’ve tweaked our weekly memory verses to all be ESV).

As for the bathing suit thing…I don’t know why the picture was in there, or if it was appropriate for the magazine or not. I do know for certain that I’d rather see modest pictures of women at any age genuinely enjoying themselves and their lives, than fake pictures of women who are trying too hard to impress, and who are dressed completely inappropriately and sending horrible messages about body image and sexuality to my daughters.

How Smart is She?

I realize that I probably sound like I’m bragging when I talk about how smart my children are.  And maybe I am.  I do think that all of my children are quite smart, though (even Moose with his speech delay!), and the older two have always been rather advanced, and Bunny in particular has always been light years ahead of where she’s supposed to be.  This is a child who was using full sentences at 13 months!  I would seriously consider her gifted, for a variety of reasons.

Knowing this, and having dealt with her sometimes frustrating intelligence for over four years now, she still occasionally finds ways to surprise me.  I alluded to Turkey’s clever use of an “R” word earlier this week, by drawing a “roaring tiger.”  And I still think that was impressive for someone his age, to circumvent the rules so that he could draw what he wanted.

That’s nothing compared to Bunny’s drawing on the same day, though.  She started out simply enough, drawing a whole bunch of rocks.  OK, that’s cool.  She drew some other basic “R” things, and then she gets out her orange crayon.  As she starts drawing, I’m seeing what looks like a carrot appearing on the page. I’ll admit, I’m curious–did she get bored of the assignment and just start drawing what she wanted?  Did she forget what she was supposed to be doing? Did she have carrots on the brain?  Was she just being difficult?

So, I decide to ask…”does carrot begin with “R”?”  She looks at me like I’m completely stupid, and says, very matter-of-factly:  “A carrot is root.”

OK, then.  Score one point for Bunny, and Mommy goes to curl up in the fetal position under the school table.  This is what I deal with every day, folks.  She is just that smart.  Let’s keep in mind, she’s not even four-and-a-half yet.  I don’t how I’m going to keep up with her when she starts asking really tough questions.  I do know that we’ll be spending a lot of time at the library!

Garden Wrap-Up

Well, our first year of gardening has come to an end.  The vegetable beds have been turned over, plants and remaining vegetables composted into the whole thing.  All in all, it was an interesting experience!

The tomatoes did the best.  I’d say we got about 15-20 that we ate, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but given the condition of our yard, was better than I was expecting.  There were another 20-30 that just didn’t get a chance to ripen–because of the cool, rainy spring, they flowered late, and left me with a lot of small, green tomatoes at the end of the season, when the garden was no longer in direct sunlight.

The basil was also amazing.  After losing two plants early on to some overly curious animal, the other two really took off, and were the size of small bushes when it was all said and done.  We enjoyed a lot of fresh pesto.

We got a few decent sized cucumbers, and they were quite tasty.  None of the zucchini or yellow squash worked out, though.  The blossoms were beautiful, and we had quite a few of them on the vine, but they all spoiled after a few days.  No idea what that was all about.

Both the jalapeños and carrots were miniature size.  No surprise with the carrots–I figured with the state of the soil in the yard, they probably wouldn’t go down too deep.  They were still delicious, though.  True to her nickname, Bunny especially liked them!  We didn’t actually use any of the jalapeños.  We got about six to eight of them, but they didn’t ripen at the same time, and they were seriously two inches long at the most.  I just couldn’t figure out how use them–no idea what happened there!

The radishes and onions completely bombed.  The celery grew alright, but our resident caterpillars ate most of it.  Oh well, they probably needed it more than we did, and I did get some cool pictures of them. The cilantro was wonderful, and now that I know about it’s short growing cycle, I can plant it in rotations in the future.

So, I think I’ll probably try my hand at gardening again next year.  I’ll probably focus more on tomatoes and less on the other stuff, since they grew so well, and we use them so much.  I would like to figure out the jalapeños, though, so that I could have most of the ingredients to make fresh pico next summer!