bits of sunshine

Thursday Afternoon

On Thursday afternoon
I drove three hours
through one large city
and lots of open country
to my oldest
(and one of my very dearest)
friend's home.

We have known each other
for 22 years,
since we were 7 years old.

Here is a glimpse
of her pretty, colorful
decorating and craftiness
in the house she and her husband
just purchased.

It is a fixer-upper, for sure!
So it will be fun to watch
the transformation unfold.

Would you like to meet Elissa?
She blogs here :: On My Way Home
(She wrote a bit about the three days
we spent together, of course.)

We went through piles of fabric
(her husband's grandma just
moved to a small assisted-living apartment
and gave Elissa a LOT of fabric)
and she sent some home with me!
We talked crafty ideas
and paint ideas
and flooring ideas
and youth group
(they are the youth leaders at their church
and Ben and I are at our church)
and all about babies!!!!
because she just found out
that she is pregnant with her first!
And we did some organizing
and moving around of stuff in her house.
And we sat in companionable silence.

And! Elissa showed me
how to make new banners!
So far, every banner I've had
has been Elissa's creation
with one of my pictures.
Now, I will be able to make my own!
If I can get the software
to work on my computer . . .
Otherwise, Elissa is darn good at it . . .

So, I had a lovely, lovely time.
And I have one or two more stories
from my trip
that you'll all get to read.
Soon.

A Nasty Cold

I had grand plans of writing a couple of posts ::
One about my trip to my friend's house. One about my birthday (on Sunday) and the party my family had for me last night. One about an oh-so-funny small-town cliche . . . But those are going to have to wait. I am feeling so fuzzy and muzzy. And I have a few other things that I need to accomplish today . . . along with a good nap this afternoon, I think. Ben and Isaac are getting over the colds they had. Maddie and I have a day or two to go, I think. So, more fun coming from me . . . soon . . . when I can think again . . .

P.S. Our snow is melting! And it was above 40 degrees F yesterday! Spring is coming!

Friday the 13th

The second of three this year.  The first was February 13, now today, then November 13.  Such a triple whammy comes around only every 11 years, said Thomas Fernsler, a math specialist at the University of Delaware who has studied the number 13 for more than 20 years.

Here are 13 more facts about the infamous day, courtesy of Fernsler and some other research:

1. The British Navy built a ship named Friday the 13th. On its maiden voyage, the vessel left dock on a Friday the 13th, and was never heard from again.

2. The ill-fated Apollo 13 launched at 13:13 CST on Apr. 11, 1970. The sum of the date's digits (4-11-70) is 13 (as in 4+1+1+7+0 = 13). And the explosion that crippled the spacecraft occurred on April 13 (not a Friday). The crew did make it back to Earth safely, however.

3. Many hospitals have no room 13, while some tall buildings skip the 13th floor.  (The Mayo Clinic in Rochetser, Minnesota, has no 13th floor.  So, do they just skip the number 13, and name the 13th floor with the number 14?  No.  There is actually some dead space - not a full floor height - but a crawl space of sorts where the 13th floor would be.  ~this info. from me.)

4. Fear of Friday the 13th - one of the most popular myths in science - is called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as friggatriskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13.

5. Quarterback Dan Marino wore No. 13 throughout his career with the Miami Dolphins. Despite being a superb quarterback (some call him one of the best ever), he got to the Super Bowl just once, in 1985, and was trounced 38-16 by the San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana (who wore No. 16 and won all four Super Bowls he played in).

6. Butch Cassidy, notorious American train and bank robber, was born on Friday, April 13, 1866.

7. Fidel Castro was born on Friday, Aug. 13, 1926.

8. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.

9. Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest.

10. Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12."

11. Woodrow Wilson considered 13 his lucky number, though his experience didn't support such faith. He arrived in Normandy, France on Friday, Dec. 13, 1918, for peace talks, only to return with a treaty he couldn't get Congress to sign. (The ship's crew wanted to dock the next day due to superstitions, Fernsler said.) He toured the United States to rally support for the treaty, and while traveling, suffered a near-fatal stroke.

12. The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number - 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.

13. The seals on the back of a dollar bill include 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 stars above the eagle's head, 13 war arrows in the eagle's claw and 13 leaves on the olive branch. So far there's been no evidence tying these long-ago design decisions to the present economic situation.

This information is all taken from this article by LiveScience.  Very interesting.  Do you have any crazy Friday the 13th stories?

A week or two in pictures

Since my last two posts were just words, how about a post of just pictures?

Snow fort :: Ben and Maddie (by Maddie) :: a snack :: school notes :: sweet cousins :: goofy cousins :: a birthday cake (by my sister-in-law, with the title, "Wishing for Summer") :: painting :: dancing at a wedding

School Thoughts :: Part Two

The curriculum I decided to use is ABeka (their web-page is sort of confusing.  If you are really interested in their curriculum, I suggest requesting a catalogue).  It's what I was taught with in elementary school.  So, for Kindergarten and into elementary I am using (and will be using) ABeka curriculum for reading and writing and math basics.  I want to move into projects which incorporate science and history and reading and math all in one.  There are lots of topics to explore that already interest my kids or me or ones I think we should learn more about.  I want to be in this with them.  I love learning, too.

*a curriculum has been a great jumping off point for our family. I wish I could be a fly-by-the-seat of my pants teacher who could assess my children's needs as I go...but the reality is that I'm not and I can't...yet. So we have used a curriculum this year; it has provided some needed structure and some readily available ideas.  That said, I do so appreciate the encouragement to not check off all the boxes on the to-do list but rather make some boxes of our own! I am so ready to learn in some different ways and customize.

*anything we think is important for [our kids] to learn that isn’t integrated naturally in their project work, we address separately. the [children] (after doing projects from age 3) tend to approach anything they do in a project-oriented way. so if, in addition to their chosen projects, we “assign” them to read three books on american history during the year, they usually end up reading 12, drawing maps, making books, building models, etc., even though the idea didn’t originate with them. as they get older, we’ve found this a painless way to cover subject areas that didn’t naturally crop up through their own interest-led work.

The above 2 paragraphs are from the 59 comments, and they both really resonated with me.  It is important to me to have a plan and some organization.  I also love creating and going with an idea that wants to be explored.

The ABeka curriculum is very rigid and has a LOT of worksheets.  I very loosely follow the parent guide, but find that it is helpful to have it.  One of my friends asked me if I wouldn't rather have way too much info and be able to take what I want, than to have not nearly enough and wonder what to do.  Yes.  I would.  I also pick and choose with the worksheets, though Maddie really enjoys them.

One thing I do is work on only one subject per day (for now) - and we just keep going until Maddie is tired - so some days we do 2 lessons, some days we do 4 or 5.  But it is all math one day, and all reading and writing another.  Some days, I let her choose if she wants to do math or writing.  I think right now, for the early grades, it is easier to do one subject at a time and really learn.  That way, we haven't done a big math lesson and then she is really worn out, but we press ahead and try to do writing . . . she likes breaking it up this way and so far this has worked really well.

And now I have the parent kit for Kindergarten, so for Isaac, I can pick and choose what student stuff I want to order.  This will be good.  Because he is different than Maddie.  *smile* 

I also make some of our letter cards and charts and even work sheets.  Maddie really likes this, and so do I.  I know that Isaac will appreciate it if I make him worksheets that have heavy equipment and tools and hunting motifs.  As in, if Isaac has one dump truck and buys one more, how many dump trucks will he have?  Or, if Isaac shoots 4 ducks and Dad shoots 5, how many ducks can Mom cook for supper? 

For reading and writing practice, I often write sentences for Maddie to read and copy.  Things like, Dad will kiss Mom.  Maddie is a fun girl.  The doll is big.  For Isaac I will write things like, The fork lift is fast.  Mom's hammer is small.  The dog runs and hunts.  (Sometimes, I even draw pictures . . . )

Like I said, I have fun with this, too. 

Thank you, all of you who have left comments with thoughts and ideas about the whole school journey.  As I said, this is going to evolve over time, and I love having more inspiration.

School Thoughts :: Part One

This (the top picture and words) is often how I feel.

The top picture and words here - some homeschool goodness.

Need to spend some more time here, a mom's thoughts and 59 comments on the perfect homeschool curriculum.

This homeschooling thing was sort of an accident for me.

I said I would never, nEvEr, NEVER homeschool when I had kids . . .  I knew some really strange homeschool stories from when I was a kid.  You know - extremely sheltered, prairie-skirt wearing, what-really-goes-on-in-that-house-anyway sorts of stories.

And I had really (for the most part) good school experiences.  I attended a private Christian school Kindergarten through 7th grade, then public school 8th through 12th grade.  I always thought I would send my kids to preferably a private school and be a very involved parent. 

Then I actually had children.  And my girl has a September birthday.  And I had people asking me (when she was 2) if I was going to try to send her to kindergarten the year she turned 5, or wait till she turned 6, and when would we start preschool and where and . . . on and on and on . . .

I found that I love having my kiddos around.  I love reading to them and talking to them.  I worked at a preschool for a while when Ben and I were first married.  Now that I have my kids, I have heard this about this preschool in town and that about that preschool and this and that.  And I had a friend introduce me to the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  I decided to try that with Maddie.  And we had a lot of fun.  And I realized that I like teaching her.  And I like that Isaac learns a few things while I teach Maddie. 

I started poking around on the internet and reading about all sorts of styles of schooling and blog posts from moms who are homeschooling their children.  I began to really want to do this.  For now.  For a long time.  Maybe all the way through. 

So, I ordered a curriculum I trust.  As a jumping off point.  I use it, but we do it our way.  

(To be continued . . . . )

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Don't forget to visit my Reflections page - I've been posting more of my daily meditations.

A movie worth seeing

Last night, my mom invited my sister-in-law and I over to watch this movie.  It was wonderful!  It made me smile and laugh and almost cry a time or two. 
Read reviews here. 
And find an evening, with a good cup of coffee or tea, a cozy throw, a best friend or two and enjoy.  It is definitely suitable for daughters (age 10 and older, I would guess) also.  Husbands may not appreciate it so much . . .
If you love Jane Austen, you will love Miss Potter.  If you appreciate a quirky, beautiful, truly heartwarming story, you will appreciate Miss Potter.

Have you seen it already?  What did you think?

School At Home

I keep saying that I am going to post about how we do school . . .
And I keep thinking that I am going to really get into a routine
and then I'm going to write about it.
But though the routine has not happened,
we continue to accomplish school work.

Tuesday morning was almost ideal.
We all got up, watched a funny little cartoon, ate breakfast, did some exercises, I showered, we all got dressed, I did the dishes while Maddie drew a great picture of her and Ben, somewhere in there I started a load of laundry, then Maddie and I sat down at the table.  She did her letters and then her math.  I taught little bits and gave little pointers.  And while she was working, I prepared the next two lessons.  Isaac wandered in at some point and did some cutting and coloring.  We ate lunch at noon.

Ideally, we would start a bit earlier and have time for a story, a song or two, and our memory skills.  On Tuesday, we did those things in the afternoon.

I wish all our week days were similar to this, but I babysit two or three days a week - on random days.  On the babysitting days, we add two other little ones into our mix.  One, who needs to be driven to her preschool some mornings and other mornings is rather a handful, and the other who still takes a morning nap, but when she is awake is a busy little bee.

This has been a huge blessing - what with Ben's lack of work - but also makes things very interesting.  On some of the babysitting days, I do school with Maddie after I tuck all the others in for nap after lunch.  That works sometimes, but it also means that Maddie doesn't nap.  Sometimes she can go without, other times she can't.

I'm glad that this is a year of kindergarten and that Maddie is catching on to things easily and quickly.  Next year, when I am schooling both Maddie and Isaac, things are going to have to be different.  I'll NEED a routine for sure. 

Coming soon (as in, I've started writing it) a post about our "curriculum" and thoughts I have for next year.

nephew of mine

my newest nephew
who I had the pleasure of babysitting
for a short while last week.

this is me with his very soft hair
and his oh-so-sweet baby smell
right next to my cheeks and nose

i'd love to babysit him again . . .

My Lovely Mom

Here she is, after blowing out her birthday candles :: 

This is the little birthday spread we put out for her :: 

This is the peach pie I made - her favorite fruit pie :: 

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Edit ::  For those of you who are interested,  I have posted in my Reflections space and will continue to do so much more regularly.