Weekly Wrap Up: Learning New Things

The past month we have done sporadic "school" but have been working on some much-needed changes in routines, discipline, and training of the girls. I have realized that this was an area in which we lacked and disobedience and general foolery were taking over our lives. Both Bill and I were on the verge of burnout and for me the thought of adding another one to the bunch was almost too much to imagine. Specifically bedtime had become an issue and we would generally not get the kids to sleep until 10 or 11pm, then they'd wake up still at 7am. So in essence our "homeschool" has been teaching the kids to obey and listen to Mommy and Daddy because we love them and know what's best for them.

This has not been an easy season and many tears have been shed by Mommy. I'm sure my pregnancy hormones don't make it any better. The title for this blog, "Learning Together" is appropriate because we are all learning, every day. And some of those days really stink.

Thankfully though, the entire future of our children and their education is not defined by one specific day. For me it's been a lesson in trusting Jesus. When I think about why we are feeling called to homeschool, it's largely because we want to ensure that our children have a strong foundation in Jesus, which can only be accomplished through Christ's grace and us as parents leaning on Jesus. I am not a perfect parent, but Jesus is the perfect God and it I can, in my failures point the kids to Jesus so that they learn to trust him too, then I've done my job. Choosing to homeschool, at least in the first few years of their schooling, is simply giving me more opportunities to show my kid Jesus, because we are around each other more. The academics are important, but with all respect to the educational system, don't mean anything unless our children's hearts are right with Jesus.

I'm also (hopefully) under no illusions that by homeschooling we will have perfect children who will never sin or face hardship. Sometimes, especially in the last few months, I've despairingly felt like I've failed because their behavior is difficult at times. This is especially difficult to face when their behavior is embarrassing in public or when friends are over. It feels like people are judging me, when they probably don't even care, and if they are judging me then that's their problem. On the flip side it's difficult to fight pride when the girls do something good. Caley is very sweet and has a tender heart and it's beautiful to hear her pray and love her sister. During those times it's easy to take credit for that good behavior, when really I know that it's only because of God's grace.

So, we haven't really done the "reading book" on a regular basis, but we are all definitely learning. We have been reading a lot of books, coloring, dancing and singing songs, telling stories about the knife, fork and spoon, and learning a lot of practical ways Jesus loves us. We are learning about forgiveness and obedience. Those lessons are more important than ensuring Caley knows her letters and numbers, at least for now.

Enrichment

My next article is up at Missionary Moms:

Teaching Preschoolers Through Activities

Enjoy!

Weekly Wrap Up: A Week of Firsts

We had many "firsts" this week, and it was a very fun week!

Monday we did school at home and did some fun projects such as counting with stickers, making a turkey hand (which Caley cut and glued independently!), handwriting and drawing shapes, letter sorting and the reading book. We also did some dancing. It was also the first night of our new new community group meeting at our house. Caley and Amelia had a lot of fun playing with their friends, including their new friends Mina and Max. Mina is almost 5 and Max is almost 3 and their parents are expecting a new baby a week before we expect baby boy Gerlach to arrive. Perfect!

Tuesday we did our usual women's group and the girls also played Starfall and Sesame Street. They really enjoy the playlists on sesamestreet.org and I love how I am able to monitor what they're watching and learning. God also taught me that I should not get prideful of my skills as a parent, because when I do, He'll be sure to knock me down and make me humble. I was especially grateful for my women's group this week.

Wednesday we finally made time to attend the library storytime. It's been about a month since our schedule has allowed us to attend, and I know the girls had a fun time. The theme was monkeys and the girls did a wonderful job of attending to Teacher Monica and sitting quietly during the stories.

Thursday we had playgroup and did a bunch of Thanksgiving activities. We also talked about what we are thankful for and how we can be a blessing to others using the blessings God has given us. We collected food to donate to the Mukilteo Food Bank and also made pilgrim and Indian hats and bonnets. Thursday night I took Caley to her first play at a local middle school! (She'd been to a play as a 6-month-old baby, but this one is the first she'll probably remember.) We saw "Cinderella" at Evergreen Middle School in Everett. It was very well done, especially considering the kids are 6th-8th graders! Caley got to practice sitting quietly and applauding at the appropriate times, and we both got all dressed up for it!

Friday we had friends over for a meeting so the girls got to play with other kids. In lieu of doing the Phonics book we did Caley's reading with a storybook and I had her read some of the words. It was more difficult than I thought it'd be, I think partially because the font is different than in the Engelmann book. The Engelmann book starts with "funny" font that is more phonetic and gradually changes to regular font. It will just be a matter of time until she can transfer. However she is doing very well at gathering information from the text and understanding the pictures, which is a great reading skill to have.

Friday night Caley attended her first sleepover! Her friend Bella turned 4 and had a few girls over. Caley has had friends spend the night here before but she's never slept at someone else's house without us, except at Grama and Papa's and Nana and Grampa's. I think I was more nervous than she was! She did great!

Saturday morning on the way home from the party we all got our hair cut, and it was Amelia's first haircut! I was a little nervous, but she did great! And best of all she and Caley look super cute with a bob.

So it was a fun week! Hope you had a good one too!

Weekly Wrap Up: Reading Success!

It was such an encouraging week for us with Caley's reading. Things have seemed to click and she's understanding so much more, especially with blending the letter sounds into actual words. When she succeeds it's so much more enjoyable for me to teach her, and I'm so thankful to be the one teaching her to read because I would hate to be missing this part of her education.

So we had a good week. Here's how it went:

Monday my friend Mani watched the girls for a few hours as a birthday present to me. It was really wonderful of her, thank you Mani! I skipped off to prepare for my bible study and wander through a bookstore, it was very enjoyable! We also made a "Thankful Tree" with cards and pictures of things we are thankful for. A few of my favorites of Caley's were "the baby in Mommy's tummy" and "that Jesus died for me." Amelia did some cute drawings of boats and water, and she also colored her hands and face. :)

Tuesday we did our usual routine but I squeezed the reading book in before naptime and Caley did so well! It was so encouraging! She sight-read a few words like "little" and "sand" and did a nice job blending. I will try to get a video of her reading up soon. I should also mention that the reading book is also giving us opportunities to talk about other words that are the same as what we read, noticing that many words are the same except for a letter or two (rhyming), learning that pronouns tell us about the characters in stories (when "she" is used we know the character is a girl), and using words in a sentence. These are essential concepts she needs to know and it makes reading so much more fun when it actually means something!

Wednesday we did errands and while on a trip at Target smelled some body sprays. There were about 6 scents on an end-cap and we smelled all of them and picked which one we liked best. We could tell what it would smell like because of the picture on the bottle, it was a fun exercise in the girls using their senses.

Thursday we had playgroup at our house and it was a very small group, which was really nice too. The girls used their feeling sense to identify objects in a bag, and they did the memory verse of 1 Chronicles 29:13 "Our God we give thanks, we praise your glorious name." They also made a foam turkey hand and Caley did most of it by herself, including cutting out her handprint. I was very impressed! They also got to learn about and explore wheat, and later Caley pointed out the wheat on a box of crackers. It's so fun to see her remember things! Later in the day we played Shape Shuffle, a new game from Value Village where the girls match shapes on cards. It's perfect preschool math! Oh and by the way, the book selection at VV is totally rad and cheap! I got 10 classic books I can't wait to share reading with the girls as they age.

Friday we went to Noelle's birthday party which was a ladybug theme and had a great time. Rachael had the girls decorate the ladybug cake with candies, and Lenora and Caley played together especially well which is such a blessing! A year ago I was worried they would never get along. Thankfully I was wrong. I also got to snuggle with Rachael's nephew Evan, he is so cute! My baby was kicking while he was sleeping on me, as if to say, "Hey! That's my mommy!" Afterward they went to Fred Meyer Playland and I got an hour "off" to plan my bible study, it was great! They had fun and I was very productive. Later we did her reading book again and she again showed how much she's learned and how things have clicked.

This week also, Adam has been staying here and the girls love having him here. They say, "Hello Little Little Adam!" and love giving him hugs and kisses.

Hope you had a good week!

Weekly Wrap Up: Sick Week and Well Week

I'm a bit behind on updating what we've been doing...sorry blog world.

The week of Halloween the sickness hit our family, and it felt like a ton of bricks. When Mommy's not feeling well, not much gets done. Great Grandma Evelyn did visit for a few days which was very fun and the girls loved having her here, and thankfully she didn't get sick. It allowed me a few days of naps without worrying about the girls, thank you Grandma! Wednesday of that week was "Movie Day" and Caley was so excited! She said, "Thanks for being a nice mommy and letting us watch movies all day." My friend commented, "At least she said thank you." Toward the end of the week I was feeling better and we did a lot of reading books, and it was wonderful to snuggle up with my girls on the couch and share a good book. We also had finished Charlotte's Web so we began The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the original version, by L. Frank Baum. We watched the Judy Garland movie too. Currently we are on chapter 7 and the Cowardly Lion has joined the group. Caley really seems to enjoy it, especially the beautiful color illustrations by W.W. Denslow. It is a sincere hope of mine that my girls (and this baby boy, and any other children we may be blessed with) love and appreciate literature. It is with this hope I am looking into curricula for next year and beyond, there are a few I will talk about another time.

Last week we were all feeling much better and got back on track with activities. Here's how the week went:

Monday we did handwriting and tracing shapes on a whiteboard. We also played Boggle Jr and Caley did a wonderful job of finding the correct letters, even using the timer. In the afternoon we visited Baby Ethan, their friend Bekah's new baby brother. They mostly played with Bekah while I got to snuggle little Ethan, he's such a sweetie!!

Tuesday we went to women's group, and Wednesday we babysat at another women's group. I had a OB appointment early in the day so Caley went to James' house to play and Amelia came with me to the appointment. It involved a blood draw, so I didn't want to wrangle both of them while being strapped to a chair with a needle in my arm. Good call.

Thursday we went to playgroup and I had planned the activities. It was a fun morning of potato prints, making butter from whipping cream, playing with friends, and smelling scents in baby food jars. They smelled vingar, lemon, vanilla, soy sauce, and orange. The girls had a great time and it was fun to see all their friends after being stuck in a house for so long the previous week. We had to miss the pumpkin patch outing, which thankfully I didn't tell them about, so they didn't miss much. I missed getting pictures of them in the fields with their friends, it'd become somewhat of a tradition.

Friday we did activities and I tested Caley on her handwriting. That is, asking her to write a letter and not helping in any way. She competently did C, L, M, S, H, Y and Z. I'm sure there are others she can do, these were just the ones I picked for that day. We also made real potato heads and creations with marshmallows and toothpicks. Amelia mostly ate the marshmallows...but Caley understood the architecture part and didn't eat them. Friday afternoon we hauled to Bellevue to visit my cousin Amy and her son James at the playland at Bellevue Square. Amy generously gave us 5 garbage bags full of baby boy clothes! This little man is going to be set! It was so fun sorting them and putting them in his closet and drawers. Boy clothes are so cute!

It was a fun week and it's nice to be back to normal.