Rosary Truths & Painful Motherhood (long)

My truth about the rosary is somewhat emotionally void. I really struggle with this prayer.

For years (about the last 8) I've struggled with the reality of who Mary was to me. I've spoken of this to so many of my friends, it seems odd that I haven't written of it in the 3 years of my blog.



My first reality of motherhood is my mom. My personal experience of motherhood has not left me with warm-fuzzy feelings. My relationship with my mom has been hard. There's things it's not polite to write. The openness I desire to share with the world is tempered by the love I desire to show my mom. Even the word mother is struggle for me to define for myself, let alone explain or write down. If you've had a relationship like that, you understand. Our ongoing reconciliation (because there's always more hurt - past and present to get over) is an act of obedience from me to God. Loving my mom is an act of will on my part -- only because it's what God asks of me that keeps me in the relationship. It is God's choice to have my mom in my life, not mine. It's an ongoing, difficult relationship.


My mom has feelings of love for me -- but my mom is not a selfless person. She makes an attempt to show me love, but somehow it rarely hits the mark. And often, there is shrapnel embedded in her arrows of love. In years past I've tried to protect myself, but it's pretty hard to show love to someone while you're hiding behind fortress walls to protect yourself. So, now, I try to minimize the casualties in my heart and rely on Jesus to protect and heal me -- so I can allow her access to my life -- how else do you show love to someone? It's hard.



On the positive side of motherhood was my Grandma Handlin. My grandmother loved me, and I felt loved by her. That one sentence and the word love does little to encompass the depth and breadth of what that relationship was and is to me. A source of strength and a longing to be more than I am because of all she was to me.


So, my understanding of motherhood has been colored by years of pain and struggle. Because of my grandma, I do know what the outline of what true motherhood is supposed to be, but the nuances of what that looks like in real life elude me. I've had to make it up as I go with very little direction of how to get where I want to be.


I've got a disconnection in my mind -- I'm trying to become the kind of mother that the emotional half of my brain screams doesn't exist -- Mothers are dangerous and they can hurt you -- but I have to find a way to become this person -- so my daughters don't have a mother that hurts them.


Now, in my life is Mary. You know, the Mother of God - that Mary. Lots of people have a relationship with Jesus. There are people, lots of people, who can help you with that. Having a relationship with someone who isn't bodily in this world has some challenges, but you can get there -- there are some helps along the way.


Mary is a different story.


At least half of my friends would be a little suspect about attempting a relationship with a dead person, even a saint, who doesn't happen to be God. A divine being (like Jesus) can overcome shortcomings in a non-bodily relationship -- regular dead people, even holy ones, still aren't God. Even my closest, most intimate friends would have pastors who say I'm off the mark in desiring a relationship with Mary. But my closest, most intimate protestant friends are of the most loving variety -- and they love me in spite of my Catholic quirks if not because of them - although they can't give much direction on how to have a relationship with Mary.


I don't get much help from my Catholic friends, either. Either they're on a different spiritual plane than I am, or I'm too emotionally unstable for them, or they can't relate because they had great moms, or they're just too darn busy having babies to help me psychoanalyze my relationship with a dead, albeit holy, non-Deity. Or maybe I've been too hung up to ask.


Another issue is that Mary is mom. We're talking -- Ultimate Motherhood kind of thing. As related above, I have some motherhood issues. My motherhood issues tend to slow down a relationship with Ultimate Motherhood. Remember the emotional screaming half of my brain? And that's the side that's kept me safe for many years -- that's the side that I listen to. It's that still small voice inside when it's not screaming at me. (Please disregard all inferences to multiple personalities. Honestly, I walk around this neurotic all the time -- say a prayer for poor Dave who has to live with me).

So, I'm left with

1. my ever-struggling relationship with my mom
2. my depth of love for my grandma
3. the many people inside my head
4. my daughters who need a mother
5. a dead, albeit holy, non-Deity who represents Ultimate Motherhood
6. my desire to be more than I am

So, I've been praying to Mary for the last decade. Not nice, sweet prayers - more like chip on my shoulder -- so I'm left with YOU, who I don't want and don't trust and it's not like you're here anyway, but I'm desperate so where's the help already -- kind of prayers. She has answered me time and again with nurturing women who come into my life and love me -- protestant friends, Catholic friends, loving strangers -- women who surround me and hold me up when I'm about to fall with the weight of the world on my shoulders. This is the love Mary has given me.

NOW - we're in the present (believe it or not ALL THAT was background and baggage). Mary loves me and helps me. She's still not bodily present to do my dishes, but I have no doubt of her existence in my life. I'm still learning how to be a loving daughter, but I'm better than I was a decade ago, mostly because of Mary's help. Sometimes I'll start a prayer to Jesus and I don't have peace -- I know I need a mother (I still have a hard time saying 'my mother' about her).

The rosary is the prayer to Mary. It's boring. I'm sure all my issues factors in. I've read books, histories, meditations on the rosary -- it's still boring. I don't pray it often and it goes in spurts. Most of my Catholic friends are WAAAAYYYY more faithful than I am. There's so much stuff I don't get "Why would Mary want a boring prayer?" stuff like that. yada yada eternal realities are different than earthly circumstances. yada yada the Catholic Church has 2000 years of truth...I know. It's still boring. When I'm desperate or lonely or sad or worried about someone -- I'll say my rosary - I say part of a rosary about once a week and get interupted and don't go back to it.

I don't have a good end to this. I'm still working it all out...with help.

Mom's Retreat

Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist hosts a short but highly effective Mom's Retreat the first weekend in Advent. This year it's Saturday fternoon December 5 'till Sunday afternoon December 6th up in Ann Arbor, MI. The cost is $25.

THESE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONAL NUNS!! My girls call them "Mama's Nuns" because they hold such a special place in my heart. They're the kind of nuns that appeal to a party girl like me. They come from all walks of life and have so many girls/women asking to join their order, they can't build fast enough to keep them all in beds and the girls keep coming!! They wear a traditional habit (to the floor) and a rosary from their waist to their feet. Hearing them sing the Psalms at vespers is honestly a piece of heaven here on earth. Their focus is Christ in the Eucharist (see their name, above) and they play volleyball and teach as many people about Jesus as they can. Their passion and joy just pours out of them. SERIOUSLY KEWL NUNS, here!

My spot is reserved to go, who wants to carpool?

Reserve your spot online or e-mail or by phone.

Here's a flyer about it.

I'm sooo excited to go, again this year. Due to illness, pregnancy, nursing, etc., I haven't gone in a few years -- but GOD WILLING I can go this year!! Ohhhhhh....I can hardly wait!!

All Hallows Eve

http://romans52.blogspot.com/2009/10/pro-life-pumpkin.html

What a cool idea!

pro-life pumpkin carving.

A Year With Shakespeare

Wow, this is more fun than I realized. I was just really intimidated, but after looking into it, I'm getting excited.

A friend of mine was hosting a homeschool highschool year long Shakespeare class and I put Dd#1 in it. After a month, I decided that it was too much time away from home and too hard to find a place for the younger kids while she was in it.

When I took her out, Dd#1 really wanted to continue to study Shakespeare, so I told her that we could get some homeschool kids who are close by and hold our own class. *Then I actually had to do it.*

Jenn's A Year With Shakespeare : Lesson Plans
Materials :

• Folger's Shakespeare Library of each work you want to cover. These run ~ $6 each. I chose 6 plays & we'll cover 16 sonnets. (I'd normally choose 8 plays, but I figure the sonnets make up for the other 2 plays.) If you want to take vocabulary or analysis, this series is the best student series I've found. I'm really pleased with it and so is Dd#1.
• Hewitt Lightning Literature Comedies & Sonnets also Hewitt Lightning Literature Tragedies & Sonnets $25 each This is normally a self-teaching 2 semester highschool course. I'm going deeper than that course goes, but it's a good jumping off point. A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night -&- Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth
• Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays by Peter J. Leithart ~$15 This is an excellent aid to reading Shakespeare from a Christian perspective. All the speculation about Shakespeare being anything but Christian is hooey and it's trying to remake the bard in the image of somebody he wasn't. This work could be all you need to make up a class for your kids' highschool course. The guy who wrote it ran a homeschool co-op class on the topic and then wrote the book off his lessons. GREAT stuff! Henry V, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing

Catholic Components :

• Dr. Henry Russell has a CD set that I bought through Kolbe called "The Catholic Shakespeare" It's interesting enough for your highschooler to listen to. The last fourth of the CD is the Catholic part, the rest is just literary, moral & biblical in nature. Good stuff. The CD's run $15-$20 but Kolbe added about $5 shipping when I bought 1. I've only listened to MacBeth, but Hamlet and The Tempest would be interesting listening, too. This CD gave me the vision and framework in how I wanted to tackle Shakespeare.
• Encyclical - Immortale Dei : On the Christian Constitution of States His Holiness Pope Leo XIII It's free at the Catholic encyclopedia site New Advent. It was tough to get through, as are most encyclicals (have a Catholic dictionary and maybe a regular dictionary handy) but once we got in the swing of it, good reading. I'm glad I didn't ask her to cover it without me. It's a good one to read with one of the king stories of Shakespeare (Macbeth, King Lear, Julius Ceasar, Hamlet)

After Listening to Dr. Henry Russell, I've decided how I'm going to teach Shakespeare. Much the same way we learn the bible. I'm incorporating Lightening Literature for Part I. It includes writing prompts that will be great with this class.

I. Literal Sense - what happened in the play.
II. Moral Sense - is what is happening good or bad (for the characters, for the larger themes as well as the subplots).
III. Biblical / Typological Sense - how is this character or circumstance like someone or event from the bible. Also biblical themes like Resurrection / Redemption, etc.
IV. Eschatological Sense - how does Christ factor in (or not) into the play and how does that fit with what we know to be the "big themes" of the bible (The Church, last days, heaven, hell), etc.

Within that framework, we'll fit in

• symbolism and all the literary devices that Lightning Literature has for this highschool course
• Information on Shakespeare's time period (some listed in Light. Lit., some listed in the Folger's books)
• Themes to each of the books

We'll meet twice a month. I thought we could cover 1 play per month and one pair of sonnets in a two week period. I'm also assigning 2 papers per play and one paper per sonnet pair.

The kids will come with play read and the Comprehension Questions anwered (from Light. Lit.). We'll spend about 15 minutes going over the comprehension questions and iron out any questions the kids have about what was going on in the play. Then we can move onto the good stuff : themes, symbolism, moral, biblical and escatology of the plays. We'll spend at least 2 hours discussing that. I'll let them choose a writing assignment (many listed in Light. Lit. and in the back of those lessons, more listed in Leithart's book.)

The next session we'll finish up (or continue depending on interest of the kids) discussion and if we have time well watch a recommended DVD. (Peter J. Leithart has very specific reviews and recommendations in his book listed above.) One of the papers per month can be an analysis of the DVD or play we've seen. They'll choose a 2nd writing assignment for that play.

In the third session, they'll turn in their previous assignment and we'll cover a set of sonnets with them choosing a writing assignment. Then, we'll do it all over again with the next play.

Desperate message

You know it's been a bad day when you have to send a desperate e-mail to your husband like the following. This was from Tuesday:

I think I have a fever.
Ds#3 burned his arm trying to get brownies out of the oven, please bring home more aloe vera.
Ds#4 says he's too sick to go to CCD tonight, but I caught him kicking a ball around.
Dd#2 set a plastic disposable cup on fire in the microwave trying to melt chocolate. She didn't have permission to be cooking. It's all black inside and she's scrubbing.
Meanwhile...(The two year old) locked himself in the bathroom and by the time I got him out, he was running the water in the sink full blast over the DVD remote.

Please don't work late.

Christmas List Ideas

The kids have already made their Christmas Lists. In case you're looking for ideas for your 7-13 year old boys / girls, here may be a "few".

13 G –
Slippers
Borders Gift Certificate (or any bookstore or Hobby Lobby...)
Art set with chalk
Movies :
Historical Paper Dolls
Pretty Sleeper


11 G –
electric scooter
Lipsmackers (10 pack variety) Pop flavored or sour
Barbie
Picnic dishes w/ basket
Emily Windsnap and the Monster in the Deep
Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist
Slippers
Pretty sleeper (satin long sleeve & long pants)
Ella Enchanted
Scrapbook
Hair accessories - brush, mirror, barrettes, head band (no pony tail holders)
Gift Certificate to Mall or Target


9 b -
Webkin
rescue hero
Ice cream maker
Movie
Remote Control Car or Hellicopter
Slippers
Star Wars episode 4
Checkers set
Scrapbook
Pencils


7 b –
Walkie talkie watch
Webkin
Sprinkler or pool
rescue hero
Sleeper short set
Sippers
Robe
Star wars sleepers
Star Wars Episode 2
Indoor exercise equipment for winter- chin-up bar, dollarstore jumpropes, hulahoop
Wii Remote
Wii Charger
The Littles’ books

2 b –
24months clothes
Play food
Pooh stuff : clothes/ sleeper / slippers / towel / figurines / dishes / toothbrush / toys / anything


boys together :
An Indian teepee you can really climb in
Ping pong ball shooter
Sword & Shield (an example is on Vision Forum)
Pop gun
Water Guns
Astronaut suit
Lone Ranger Movies
Civil War Dress-up Clothes, the blue guys
Cowboy Dress-up Clothes, we've already got Indian dress-up clothes
Superman sleeper & slippers
Superman Dress-up suit
Superman lunch box
Superman toothbrush
Giant Floor Puzzles
Peter can do 50 pc puzzles
Drew can do 100 pc puzzles
· Movies :
o The Aristocats
o The Great Mouse Detective
o Indiana Jones I (
Play bowling set
Modeling Sand for Indoor Sandbox
Basket ball & hoop
Toy boats for bathtub
Planet Frog Habitat
Warm fuzzy slippers
LEGO People - Community Workers Set (amazon.com)
Ultimate LEGO House Building Set (amazon.com)
Anything LEGO CITY kits: ambulance, hospital, airplane, airport, fire truck, fire department
LEGO Star Wars sets
Remote Control airplane (I have no idea how much these are)
Animals (ant farm, frog hatchery kit...)
Hand-Held Mixer (for shakes)
Snowball & snowbrick maker or 2 sleds (they all play outside together) w/ hot chocolate packets
Sturdy outdoor play equipment including
o Big climbing rope for swing set or tree
o Rope Ladder
o 2 Swings for the swingset
o Tire swing swivel
o Fireman’s pole
o pulleys for the tree
o zip line
* Tree house equipment

Family Gifts
· A Family Movie w/ micro popcorn, pop, etc.
o Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
o Bridge to Terebithia
o Superman 1 w/ Christopher Reves
o Wizard of Oz
o Spy Kids 2
o Music Man
o 12 Dancing Princess - honest, they ALL love this one...
o Peter Pan
o 101 Dalmatians – Disney cartoon original
o The Jungle Book – Disney cartoon
o The Librarian I

· Playmobil Knights Set(s)
· Playmobil Romans Set(s)
· Movies :
o Cars (K, E & P)
* Marshmallow Guns
* Tent with floor
* Christian Pop CD for their Karaoke Machine
* Snow Cone Maker
* Black Felt pictures to color
* Walkie Talkie Set

Email laughs

From the diary of a Pre-School Teacher

My five-year old students are learning to read. Yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said,
"Look at this! It's a frickin' elephant!"

I took a deep breath, then asked....

"What did you call it?"

"It's a frickin' elephant!

It says so on the picture!"

And so it does...

" A f r i c a n Elephant "

Our girls at the ACRL Banquet For Life

'Ya don't see us gussey'ed up like this very often...

ACRL Banquet - Emma MacDonald

Having been helping with the banquet committee AND having Em sing AND having so much of my story in her song -- it was a really taxing evening for me. I was really happy how pretty the banquet turned out, though.

As soon as the banquet was over all my family got well and I caught it -- BUT I WAS SOOO THANK FUL that God kept me well until after the banquet!!

I am really proud of Emma and it was very cool seeing her melodramatic-larger-than-life personality that blows out the walls of our school, fit in lovely on stage in front of 700 people. It is so validating seeing the child I've prayed over more than any other and worried about and fought with and .... shine in her own right and see God's plan unfolding for her.

"You Are There" - Emma MacDonald

Dave and I are so proud of what God has done in our Dd#2, Emma. The Banquet For Life turned out so pretty and Em did sooo well. All 5 kids had been sick and Em barely had a voice the day before. God answered all our prayers and she felt great the day of the Banquet. She sang in front of 700 people and wasn't particularly scared, just really excited. She's been dreaming of singing for the Banquet for almost a year now and it was a dream come true.

Elizabeth Foss, again - Not So Simple

http://ebeth.typepad.com/reallearning/2008/08/not-so-simple.html

Really, I love her writing. She says so elequently what lives in my heart.
I wrote somewhere that I love chaos. I don't. Chaos is so very hard to live with. But the beautiful gifts (my children, homeschooling, busyness) that are the origins of the chaos - that's what I love.

Normal Life

The Banquet For Life is over and I'm so excited -- I get to CLEAN my bathroom! It's so great to have time to do the things that need done -- a gift from God!

Melancholy

My friend Ursula is leaving next week. She's moving across the country with her family. I've crashed 2 of her going away parties and written her a gooey note. Putting an adjective in front of the word "friend" would belie the truth -- she's just a salt of the earth, everything you would want, FRIEND. It would embarass her for me to gush to her face, but she's told me she doesn't really read blogs, so I'm safe gushing to cyberspace.

I'm going to miss her. She's a rare bird that only flies through your life once. I keep reflecting on the first time I met her. A mutual friend suggested I run our Catholic homeschool support group with her. I'd never even met her -- and how is this lady so sure I'd even LIKE someone named "Ursula". Who's named "Ursula", anyway? I've completely grown to love my friend Ursula. The name has become synonymous with a favorite pair of shoes that looks nice with everything but doesn't draw attention to your feet. Grass that is so well cared for that it makes all the flowers around it look fabulous while you almost don't see the grass. Something you almost don't notice while you have it and really feel the loss when it's gone.

She has enough to deal with in moving across country, handling her own children's emotions, adjusting to new EVERYTHING and lastly dealing with her own emotions. It would serve no purpose for her to know how much I'm dwelling on her leaving. But I am. I've got 10,000 other things to think about right now, and I'm sad about loosing Ursula. I just keep taking my sadness and giving it to God as a prayer for her. The Michael W. Smith song "Friends are friends forever" is too sappy & teenagery for my friendship with Ursula, but the sentiment holds true. If you have a thought to spare, please say a prayer for Ursula's family. Thanks!

This has nothing to do with homeschooling

It is one of Dave's pet peeves and something he knows something about. He sent me this note and article:

This is one of the better explanations of health insurance company profits I've seen. Most would consider the trend of 3-7% annual profits reasonable, hardly "excessive." Consider these 2008 profit margins of a few companies:

Revenues ($millions) Profits ($millions) % Profit in 2008
Gannett $7,481 $1056 14.1%
WaltDisney $35,882. $4,687 13.1%
Time/Warner $46,615. $4,387 9.4%
Starbucks $9,412. $673 7.2%
Aetna $27,599. $1,831 6.6%
Wellpointe $61,134. $3,345 5.4%
Humana $25,290. $883 3.4%

(Source: Forbes 500: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/full_list/201_300.html)


Unfortunately, an entire industry and good people are being demonized by others for political gain. More unfortunate, the majority of Americans don't have a clue.

Please read - Insurance Companies and The Profit Myth Friday, September 18, 2009

8 Habits of a Happy Homeschool Mama

8 Habits of a Happy Homeschool Mama - There's no point in me trying to describe this post -- it's worth the read. Click on the link and read it!!

http://theten0clockscholar.blogspot.com/2009/09/8-habits-of-happy-homeschool-mama.html

Whew!

WHAT a busy week!

I'm going to have to figure out how to pare down or get LOTS more energy. Times include travel time

M 8:30-10:30 Band for 3 kids (& me trying to keep the youngest 2 busy)
M 12:00 - 2:00 Co-op (& me keeping the youngest busy)
M 2:00 - 4:00 Gym (& me keeping the youngest busy - are we noticing a pattern here?)

T 12:30 - 4:30 Dd#1 Shakespeare Class

W 8:30-10:30 Band for 3 kids (& me trying to keep the youngest 2 busy)

Th 7:30-10:00 Mass & pray at abortion clinic (this one gets set aside way too often sometimes twice a month)

F I have 2 monthly committments on Fridays that take a half a day.

I also have to fit in breakfast & lunch, cleaning, SCHOOL, and outside meetings for 2 pro-life groups. The kid whose about to turn 2 is my biggest challenge right now (did I ever say I'm not all that crazy about 2-3 year olds? NOT my favorite age.)

I keep telling myself, "no one has a fatal disease, no one is presently in mortal danger, etc." God's gifts are WONDERFUL! (but they can require a bit of energy to keep up on them.)

Meal Planning - September Madness

A friend told me she's just not motivated to do any meal planning right now. Boy, I sure am.
My life is CHAOS right now (and not the happy fun kind). I feel like a chicken with it's head cut-off. I need some help -- and this will help. It may not help me get my head screwed on straight, but it's one less thing I have to think about while I'm headless.

Dinners for the month:

• M - crock pot meal once a week (pork chops, pork roast, pork stew - it was on sale)
• T - casserole once a week - 3 lasagnas (one spinach) (frozen) / 2 shepherd's pie casseroles (frozen)
• W / F - meatless twice a week (2 fish, 2 pizza, tuna & noodles, tomato soup / potato soup & grilled cheese/ tuna or egg salad sandwiches)
• Th - leftovers (or stir fry with left-over meat)
• S - mexican once a week (burriotos, quesadillas, taco & taco salad)
• Sun - once a month of each day (one Sun. = crockpot / one Sun = lasagna, etc.)

Lunches (weekday) for the month:

• M / W - sandwiches (2 hotdogs, 2 bologna, 2 chicken salad, 2 egg salad)
• T / F - Raemen Noodles (it's the kids' request - blech)
• Th - hot meal (2 SOS, 2 nachos)
• S - hearty sandwiches (2 sloppy joes, 1 hamburgers, 1 chicken salad)

Breakfast for the month:

• M - Muffins (frozen)
• T - Cold/hot Cereal
• W - Buscuits w/bkfst meat
• Th - hot meal (2 pancakes, 2 french toast)
• F - cold/hot cereal
• S - egg breakfast
• Sun (we usually end up fasting until after Mass)

Sides, snacks & sweets :

• Sides - (2 per dinner, 1 per lunch, 1 per breakfast - these are listed in MEALS not necessarily packages. After I decide how many of which sides, I convert them to how I buy them. For example a side for a meal may consist of 1/4 jar of applesauce so I buy 1 jar for each 4 meals needed - when I have a 5th side, I buy 2 jars until I'm up to 8 meals needing applesauce) a side may consist of 1 pkg of frozen veggies, 1/2 pkg of potato chips or 1/2 large container of cottage cheese as my family's tastes dictate.

10 fresh fruit (for our family it's 10 meals with fresh fruit as a side and I figure 3 apples cut-up or .75 per meal), 4 applesauce, 2 canned peaches, 4 Salad, 2 cottage cheese, 4 carrots & dip, 2 fried potato, 2 mashed potato, 1 onion rings, 4 buscuits, 4 garlic or butter bread, 20 Frozen veggies, 10 potato chips

• Snacks - I try to buy enough that I think is reasonable for the month. I think 4 evenings a week of snacks is reasonable. Once the "good" snacks are gone, they are gone and there are ALWAYS carrot sticks, peaches & butter bread available.

4 chips & salsa, 1 spinach dip & chips, 1 guacamole dip & chips, 6 nuts, 4 potato chips, a left-over side or a left-over sweet

• Sweets - I shoot for 4 sweets a week. I ...ummm...LOVE sweets!

4 homemade cookies (choc chips, oatmeal, sugar, snickerdoodle), 4 brownies, 4 cup cakes, 4 icecream and ...ok, I'll throw in 2 homemade donuts and 2 sweet rolls...oh and an extra icecream

This month I ended up $447 for the month once I made my list, subtracted what we already had in the pantry or freezer, bought bread at the discount bread store, shopped at Aldi's and ended at Wal-mart. We'll eat up the fresh items first (salad, fresh fruits) and end with canned peaches, applesauce & frozen veggies. At the end of the month I may have to be creative the last week (cinamon/sugar bread or left-over soup) if I didn't figure well, but after having a few "creative weeks" where I have to make due with what we have, I'm confident that I can do it. This doesn't include cleaners, bathroom items or diapers, but does include napkins, paper plates, & paper towels.

Homeschool Stress

I'm helping with the Banquet For Life (REALLY EXCITED about it!) AND the kids activities have kicked into high gear.
Me to my friend Katie, "Do I go through this much of an adjustment every year?"
Sage Katie advice to me, "EVERY teacher and EVERY student EVERYwhere goes through this EVERY year. You'll adjust."

Whew! I'm glad it's not just ME

I have a confession to make

Today I've had several.

• I washed my hair for the first time in DAYS (isn't that terrible???) good for today, though.
• I went to Reconciliation and had to admit that it's been since LENT since I'd gone (I was really ashamed because I'd felt God calling me -- I just wouldn't answer) good for today, though.
• So while I'm making a clean break of it -- I thought I'd fess up here, too.

I...I...I really like...(oh, I can hardly spell the words)...I really like...Notre Dame football.

I DON'T WANT to like it. I want to boycott it. I want everything in my life to be consistent and since I'm sooo unhappy with Notre Dame for honoring Obama I want to be a seamless cloth. But I really like Notre Dame football -- and I'm going to watch it, again today...and .... I'll probably enjoy it. I ...even...root for Notre Dame.

I may have lost a few friends by my shameful admission...but anyone who's friends with me knows they're taking chances in many ways -- this is one more.

Yaya and baby

Nothing makes this boy happier than dancing with his Yaya. We asked him who Yaya was and he replied, "Mine!"
Every kid ought to have a Yaya. Someone who they feel completely loved by and know they have their heart all to themselves.

Nothing like doing school outside...

Quote of the Day

Ds#4's grammar book:
"Write a sentence telling what you like to do in the wintertime."

I can make snow farts

Mama

YOUNG MAN! Did you write this?

Ds#4

I messed up the line, it's supposed to say snow forts.

Mama (suppressing the giggles)

Well, you forgot a period at the end of a sentence.

Labor Day pool fun

Mama loves her book-boys

He's so sweet, does your little guy ever act up?

The Prudent Homemaker

A friend sent this blog to go along with saving money and inexpensive meals.
In addition to saving money this woman makes beautiful meals!
The Prudent Homemaker
She also has a page of shopping wisely that is great!

Prettiest Sight

Dd#2 saw the most beautiful thing and wanted to share it, so she took a picture of it.

It was her own back yard in the wee hours of the morning.
I love that what thrills her is her own back yard and the day that God gave her.

Quote of the Day

Nancy blogged about dirt reminding me of our new rocks.

Dave got a delivery of pea gravel on Friday and moved 4 1/2 yards of it to the back yard on Saturday (and complained of pain on Sunday). The kids are in love and I have some girls who just keep laying in it, boys who keep sitting in it, and a baby who keeps running it through his fingers. When expressing how tired I was tonight, Dd#2 told me,

"Just go out and rub your bare feet in the new stones, you'll feel so much better!"

Whew!

After 2 weekends of sick kids, 3 days of fever myself, and trying to cover a Shakespeare play & 2 encyclicals with Dd#1 (we only got through the play & 1 encyclical -- my throat couldn't do more than that)... I AM WIPED OUT!

Is the kids doing school supposed to be so exhausting for me????

What are some favorite gifts you've received?

My dear friends on the Oro et Laboro Catholic Homeschool message board liked
this story of mine in answer to the above question -- so I thought I'd share:

I was pregnant for my 3rd child and suffering from a severe depression. The doctor and all my friends were insistent that I get on medication. My husband just as insistently didn't want me to. At the time I was just suffering and didn't understand. He told me that I reacted badly to every medication I took and wasn't thinking like myself and begged me to rely on his judgement above everyone else. He also reminded me that I don't even take a tylenol when I'm pregnant for concern over the baby and brain-altering medication would make me question my judgement for years to come every time the baby had a problem. He told me he'd help me get through it and we'd get through it together. I was lost in a mire of muck inside my own head and no one's words touched me. I was just in pain and confused, but chose to listen to my husband. My friends and doctor thought it was selfishness on my husband's part to allow me to stay in so much pain.

We were really broke and I forced myself to go to a baby shower of a friend on Mother's Day weekend. I came home and he had bought and installed a 2' rose stone colored Mary and grotto in our back yard while he'd been watching the 2 & 4 year old. He bought me an outdoor freestanding swing bench and a portable telephone. He encouraged me to sit in front of Mary for the hours he was at work while the kids played in the back yard and keep the phone by my side. He promised to call me from work and I could call him whenever I felt the need. It was still a very difficult pregnancy. I had our first boy (who was supposed to have been a girl) and immediately felt like myself. I could have kissed his feet for keeping me off the medication. In my right mind, I'd wouldn't have ever chosen to take it and he knew me when I didn't know myself.

We've moved since then and took Mary with us. She sits outside my kitchen window and the memory of how she came to us is one of trust and hope in the middle of a pain.

Curriculum sidebar

I took Amy's lead and added links to curriculae we use. We do lots more as supplements to or parts of, but this is the main stuff and consistent through the years. It's waaayyy down on the sidebar below the pope.

Helping your child begin to discern his vocation

We are just begginning this process. During this Confirmation year, we'll be jumping into many "adult" concepts. Homeschooling affords us so many options and my ultimate goal in homeschooling is to help her become the person God wants her to be. I only have a blurry vision of what that person will look like (and my vision is colored by what I wish she could be). I'm hoping that by asking God to reveal His vision for her and directly to her before highschool, she'll be more attuned to His voice when he answers. I thought this article was an excellent place to begin.

Making Ends Meet

This article is an EXCELLENT overview of how a family can cut costs. We've used MANY of these ideas.

My favorite "get my mind thinking" about cutting cost are Hillbilly Housewife's $70/week mealplan or her $90/wk mealplan.

This has great ideas http://www.menus4moms.com/frugal/meals_for_hard_times_1.php

My kids LOVE Clara and BOY does she help you get in the spirit of back to basics. SERIOUSLY educational videos http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking

2009-2010 Meal Planning

Now that the kids are cooking, they all want something different and are willing to make it. My problem is all the left-overs and waste (not to mention trying to plan for all those people's whims). So even though they complain -- we all eat the same thing for lunch & dinner. Sunday nights may be a free-for all and Thursdays are left-overs, so if they want to do something unique with their left-overs I don't really care. I know it cramps their style to have their meals decided for them, but they can do anything they want when they're on their own. I have to do what's best for the whole family including our budget and my time. Barbara has a great food blog.

This school year will be

• Monday - crockpot (because we'll be gone all day on Mondays starting in Sept.) Nancy also sent me this crockpot site - Thanks, Nancy!
• Tuesday - casserole (frozen ahead - shepherd's pie / sausage & rice bake)
• Wednesday - mexican (Burritos, Mexican pizza on tortillas, Nachos, Quesadillas, Taco, or Taco Salad) - the nice thing about these meals is that they all use approximately the same ingredients, so it's not hard to keep stuff on hand and if someone is desperate to have something different they can do it at the table.
• Thursday left-overs (or frozen chinese veggies stir fried w/ whatever meat is left-over)
• Friday - meatless (tuna & noodles/ raemen noodles & fzn. veg / baked potatoes & fixins / cheese pizza / mac & cheese) or fish 2x/month - it's too expensive to have each week
• Saturday - italian (Lasagna / veggie lasag. / lasag. roll-ups/ spahetti/ ziti bake/ chicken alfredo with broccoli / cheese stuffed shells / meatloaf -is meatloaf an Italian meal?)
• Sunday - we only eat 2 meals on Sunday, so a big breakfast at brunch time and a big main meal (turkey & stuffing / a ham / pork roast / roast)

• We also plan our lunches (mostly packed lunches) & breakfasts because we have 2 days we're gone and it can take too long even when we're home if we're not all eating the same thing.
• Breakfast favorites - Frozen saus. buscuits / frzn. muffins We roughly plan out the sides and deserts. 1 side with lunch, 2 sides with dinner and desert every other night for a total of 90 sides and 15 deserts for the month (example: 1 jar of applesause would last us as a side for 4 meals).

Natue Journal

MODG recommends Keeping a Nature Journal. I know it's very un-homeschooling of me, but I've never managed to get my kids interested in doing this. I've given it a feeble try several times with no results. This is our "do things different" year as far as curriculum and we're focusing on art. I also wanted to get the kids excited about nature journaling. Not that I'm excited. It's actually allergy season for our family so I want to stay indoors as much as possible. But is such a home school stand-by that I wanted to give it a real chance to work.

So, I got the book from the library (there are several by this author) and bought some blank cheap books for the kids and flipped past all the gooey stuff (we love nature because...) and gave them the first assignment. Then the second. In an hour they'd done 2 pages of their 20 page books and they looked GREAT!

I was seriously impressed how well it worked. I just needed the drive (and the focus of a good book) to make it happen.

I'm definately going to do this often for the 3 weeks we have the book from the library.

I may even renew the book if we continue to need it. I was really only interested in the inspiration and it looks like the kids caught that!

My backyard looked like when we first started homeschooling and the kids did school outside all the time. It felt just lovely for an hour.

Yes, my 13yr old is really in charge of all the meals, planning, cooking and shopping for the year.

Yes, my 13yr old is really in charge of all the meals, planning, cooking and shopping for the year.


Background:

I read Little House On the Prairie to the girls when they were in 2nd grade & Kindergarten. In it, Ma left the girls (I think they were preteens) with the baby and the house for a week! They knew how to do all the work AND did the spring cleaning to surprise Ma.

When I first read that, I thought "HOW could Ma leave them like that? There were soooo many dangers in those days!" Then I started re-rethinking what I thought of childhood. I honestly believe we have an artificial infancy concept of childhood. Rather than considering that childhood as the training ground for adulthood, our society thinks children are to be coddled, entertained and considered unable to be functioning, contributing members of society even while they're children. Hmmm.... So if God made children capable of more responsibility, are we DISabling them to not let them live to that potential? Hmmm....


So I made it a pie-in-the-sky goal that each of my children would know how to do every job in the house that I could teach them by the time they were 13. Then at 13 I would teach them to juggle. I wasn't taught how to multi-task or juggle and it's taken me YEARS of motherhood before I felt like I was doing anything but failing. I would like my girls to be a little better off than that.


Each year, each child switches jobs to become proficient in a job for the year. This is the rough schedule of chores as the children progress in maturity:


Age 4 - Set the table
5 - Sweep the floor
6 - Wash the table / Mop the floor
7 - Take out the trash
8 - Empty the dishwasher (each time, and YES I lost alot of dishes on the ceramic floor this way and we ended up switching to plastic for our main dishes)
9 - Laundry (yes, all the laundry in the house)
10 - Mow the lawn - we end up having a "catch-up" year in here somewhere - a kid will prefer a job and ask for an extra year on it before going to the next harder job -OR- they need more practice on a job and get stuck on it for another year until they've mastered it.
11 - Dishes (keeping the kitchen clean after every meal)
12 - Dinner (I plan and they learn to cook dinner each night. I feel like it's such a challenging task to get all the dishes to come out at the same time and on the table hot (or cold) that it takes a lot of practice)

13 - Since Dd#1 has taken over the cooking / list making / and shopping (although I am the driver and looker-overer) I tried to make it as easy on her as possible.

• I consolidated all my recipes in one book that office depot printed and bound for ~$5
• made a master grocery list
• lists for each kinds of meal (breakfast, weekday lunch, dinner & weekend lunch - we add extra servings & sides when Dave is home)
• I have a system in place for meal planning that I can teach her
• I made an excel spreadsheet of the meals I make, how much they cost and the approximate ingredients. She inputs the number of meals into one column and it calculates how much she'll be spending for the month. This is just automating meal planning for her benefit - I did it for years without a spreadsheet. When I put in the approximate ingredients, I didn't put it in the way you cook (4 Cups of milk) but the way you shop (1/8 gallon of milk)

Here are the steps

1. Make a list of which meals she'd like from each category (breakfast, weekday lunch, dinner & weekend lunch )
2. Plug those meals into an actual calendar to make sure she isn't making 3 chicken meals in a week (Dave's allergic to chicken).
3. Compare that list to the actual recipes to make a list of ingredients you'll need at the store.
4. Make a grocery list. (I have her consolidating step 3 & 4 by using the spreadsheet above.)

Besides the blank stares of disbelief, here are the answers to some questions I've gotten about my 13yr old doing this job --

Q: Isn't that too big of a job for a 13 yr old.

A: I don't throw a 13 yr old into this. They want to help stir cookies when they're 3. They learn to use the microwave under supervision when they're 7. They learn to make eggs & pancakes and breakfast stuff when they're 8. They learn to take things out of the oven when they're 10ish (depends on the kid). Doing the laundry for a family of 7 is no slacker's job and it's a big responsibility at 9 years old. For the kids who don't handle responsibility well, I provide consequences, rewards, reminders, timers, threats, encouragement -- and anything I can think of to help them shoulder the responsibility. Not including swiching laundry loads, it takes about 10 hrs/wk for a kid to fold all the laundry. These gradual responsibilities help train them to carry the next set so they're not overwhelmed when they have to run their own lives.

Q: Don't you feel like it interferes with your own spirituality not to serve your family in love?

A: It's much harder for me to let her do it than to do it myself. Yes, she's burned some meals. Yes, some haven't turned out. Yes, I'm taking a risk with our family's budget to have her do this. These are things that cause me to die to self in love of my children to help them become the people God means them to be. I'd rather her take these risks when she's under my tutelage than when she's broke and out on her own with no one to help her when she makes a mistake.

Q: Does she have any time to do anything but work?

A: It does take her quite a while to make meals (2 1/2 hours for a dinner I could do in 30-45 minutes) but she'll get faster. Meal planning takes about 5 hrs for the month using the tools above. Shopping takes about 4 hours for 1 month's worth. Yes, she gets more free time than I do, but less than the little kids. I'm not worried about overloading her with work. I definitely keep that in mind and check with her to see how she's doing with this much responsibility. With responsibility comes privileges (and she's happy for those).

After 13? I have a Life Skills for Teen list we'll be tweaking for each child.

Jenn's Perfect Planner Quest

...and the quest continues. There's been some interest (among my loyal friends who would say I looked pretty even if I didn't) in the planner I designed for our school.

One of the *small* things I don't like about Good News Planners after using them several years (they are one of the best Catholic planners out there, though!) is that when I have it open to the week and folded in half to save space on my desk, I have to keep flipping it upside down and back again to see all the subjects of any particular day. This has been a small thing, until I decided I need a space for Sat/Sun activities and left-over school, wanted more list space (they're the ones who taught me how much I love the list space) and other druthers.

One of the things that has kept me from making my own teacher planner that DOES contain everything I want, is that I really DON'T like 3-ring binders. I have them, I use them. However, I don't like how they sit on the shelf (or with other books leaning on them and I don't like that you can't fold them in half and still have the page you want open - you're only choice in having them smaller on your desk is to close them (and then find your place again.)

But Lady of Virtue with her sewing tutorial on covers and idea of a half-page binder with a handle piqued my interest. I could easily grab it to go room to room. I can take it with me when a kid hasn't gotten their work done to check what they need....hmmmm. Kim's home journal is sooo pretty! So I bought a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" from Office Depot for about $8 (I wanted the 2" binder so I could fit lots of junk in it.)

I took some template advice from Donnna Young, put the headers in a pretty font, and tried several different template versions (week-at-a-glance on a 2-page spread, 1 day per page) printing them out and filling out a particularly full week of actual lesson plans from last year. I ended up liking the spacing of 1/2 a week on a 2-page spread.

2 days prints out on one piece of paper and folds to fit in my half-sheet binder as one day per page. I'm not sure you can read the snapshot above. The center is the school planner with subjects in bold, kids initials, then room to write (in the English section I have abreviations for the various categories, [grammar, writing (either handwriting or reports), Latin, Spelling, Typing or Reading, Memory items like poetry] and a list for spelling words or things I need to keep track of.

Along the side of the page are places for us to decide meals for the day (so we remember to get the meat out of the freezer and we don't have complaints about kids wanting to fix something different for lunch), Mama's Routines (things I never remember to do that would really help me if I did like setting my clothes out for the next day), Morning Chores & Afternoon Chores, Individual kids chores based on the day (since some kids rotate and some don't). Below is the view of that same page on the bottom.

I've got a section for GRADES that has a grading cheat sheet and a place to record grades based on the specifics of our school done in an excel spreadsheet.

The next section is our ROUTINES. This is specifically for our school routines.

Some of this seems a little silly to make the effort to put into print, but I forget what I think would be good for the kids to do (and we end up forgeting to do any mapwork until I come across it 3 months after the fact). In the heat of battle, I can't keep creative ideas in mind -- so I need them somewhere easily accessible. I also have any scheduling things in this section.

In this section we have our

• Religion plans
• books I intend to use for the year (nothing worse than buying books and not being able to remember what you're even looking for on the shelf because you can't remember what you decided to buy 8 months ago)
• Confirmation plans & notebook ideas (so I don't forget what I wanted to get done)
• Spelling Worksheet
• Book Report ideas
• Prayer Checklist
• Primary Sources Evaluation Checklist
• Vocabulary Ideas
• IEW Checklists and models
• Latin vocabulary and traslation for the year
• Timeline memorization for the year
• Any other memorization items I know we'll want to cover this year
• 5 minute Brain Breaks

Faith - The next section contains ideas I'd like to incorporate for the year. Liturgical Year ideas from A Year With God and A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families and all the saint ideas for each day from Elizabeth Foss' 4Real Learning forums - GREAT STUFF (if I can just get it incorporated). I always figure, if I do some of it, I'm better off than if I hadn't done any.

Chores

• Virtue-Vice Chart
• Carpe Diem
• School when Mama isn't feeling well
• Chore list for our house

Cookbook

So we can do meal planning while we're out.

Contacts

All my contact from outlook and an extra copy of contacts from groups or meetings. OFTEN, I'll be out and need to call some obscure person I never call for a particular reason.

When boy cousins come to stay

When boy cousins come to stay
even just for the night,
They all get each other really rowdy


When boy cousins come
they like to play baseball


There's lots of hitting and throwing
and catching and missing


They think it's hilarious to get up
at 4:30 in the morning
and sneak around with flashlights

They hang out in trees

and climb too high

and get grounded from trees for the rest of the summer

They all want to play computer games

even the boys who are grounded from

the last time someone came to visit

When boy cousins come to stay
even just for the night,

Mama doesn't get much rest,

but, boy does everyone have a good time!

Overpopulation: The Making of a Myth

I've heard this from several of my family members who still believe it. This is super short, so forward it on to fearful friends and family.

Do you love Aunt Yaya?

I love Yaya, yes I do - I love Yaya, how 'bout YOU?

5 Minute Brain Breaks

I haven't read this book Brain Gym: Simple Activities for Whole Brain Learning, but I need to. I do have enough sense to realize that some of my kids need to MOVE to be able to sustain attention for very long. Therefore, as needed, or as scheduled for some kids (~3/day), we have


5 Minute Brain Breaks

• kick a ball
• jump rope
• swing
• do tricks on rings
• jump on trampolene
• shoot basketball hoops
• take a short walk
• run the dog across the yard
• chore breaks
• jumping jacks while quizzing spelling
• ride bikes
• dance
• Fun Physical Fitness Book

Couples' Night Out

Don't know what to do on a couples' night out?

Try a stress reliever - a shooting range!

Park Days at the splash pad

AHHHHHHH....summer!

Classical Education - good article

Overall this was a good article. I was amused at this part -

Martha Robinson: Doug, Is it possible for a student who has been "traditionally" educated to transition to Classical? When is too late?

Doug Wilson: After the concrete is dry, it is harder to do. But we have often said that we are trying to provide the kind of education which none have got. We were not able to do it adequately. But as G.K. Chesterton said, anything worth doing is worth doing badly.

Martha Robinson: Doug, can you offer encouragement to parents who would like to do Classical but did not begin at the beginning?

Doug Wilson: My encouragement would be this. God has a general pattern of picking us up where we are, and not where we should have been. If He only helped us if we were where we should have been, we would all be in a world of hurt. Starting now is better than not starting at all.

Read the whole article

Swing set and tree fort hideaway - at least for a day

The kids and have been candidating for a tree house. Dave has considered it and decided we won't be able to. Our tree won't support it, it's a lot of work for him, it would be expensive, he'd have to make it safe and is concerned about that...etc.

Since we can't have a tree house, when Dave trimmed the tree this spring (there was some pretty substantial damage from the icestorm last winter) the kids dragged the biggest limbs and made a tree fort out of their swingset.
Here's a picture of Ds#4 in his tree fort...or a swing fort...or a tree swing...or something like that.

If you can't climb up to a tree house, you can bring the tree to you.

Carpe Diem

This is our list that the kids are supposed to check when they're done with all their school and chores, have been told no to TV and Wii, and aren't allowed to say the words "I'm bored" (or they get a job to do.) "Sieze the day" sounded better than "The Don't Say You're Bored List"



Carpe Diem


Amy told me that her kids walk around just looking bored. Maybe she could set a timer for 15 minutes (hoping the activity keeps them busy longer than that) and when it goes off choose something else from the list. It might give her 15 minutes of non-hovering bored kids, hopefully?

What to do for school when Mama isn't feeling well

I made this list mainly for pregnancy times. The kids can work in a workbook without me, but some of the kids may only have 30 minutes of work in their workbooks. What to do with them the other 9 1/2 hour until Daddy gets home? The list is specific to our house and books and activities in our house. It was designed with ages 4-10 in mind.


What to do for school when Mama isn't feeling well

• Do Little Saints with boys
• Read boys a saint story
• Do flashcards racing across the room
• Mary Coloring Book
• Practice writing on the wipe-off board
• Read Catholic Stories from Science
• Ds#4 read to girls
• Play Sparkle
• Listen to Story of the World CD
• Play Mass
• Listen to educational music
• Play a United States Game
• Paint Heaven (ask Mama what this might look like)
• Dd#1 read a hard book outloud
• Listen to a book on tape
• Count to 500 by 2's
• Make up a piano duet
• Read boys a kids' book
• Cut out the Digestive System from Construction Paper
• Make up a cheer for your 5 senses
• Practice Disaster saftey
• Make a Tree book with leaf samples & rubbings, draw tree shapes & label
• Act out the beginnings of Rome
• Sing Row Your Boat in rounds
• Read Classical Kids & choose an activity (ask Mama)
• Do a science project (ask Mama)
• Have a paper boat floating contest
• Play Picture This folder game
• Play Silly Sentences
• Sew sock monkeys (ask Mama)
• Agree on a title and everyone make up their own story (in secret) with the same title.
• Then we'll have an author night and read your stories
• Make a volocano in the sand box (ask Mama)
• Play computer games in Kids' Places that are NOT Nick Jr. or PBS Kids
• Count to 750 by 5's
• Read a story online http://www.mainlesson.com/
• Measure the water that comes out of the hose in one minute
• Look up an artist in Sr. Wendy and try to paint like him
• Listen to Bethoveen CD
• Act out Alexandar the Great
• Have a geography bee
• Read a bible story & coloring page
• Listen to Grammar Songs
• Listen to Latin Songs CD
• Jewish Holidays coloring book
• Read boys a history story
• Play Jepardy (history, science)
• Play Latin Bingo
• Ds#3 read to girls
• Do a craft (ask Mama)
• Look through activity books
• Make history paper dolls
• Play scrabble
• Put together a Map puzzle
• Draw 1 small square of our yard
• Do a worksheet
• Read boys a Mass book
• Listen to bible tapes (St. Michael)
• Do math on the wipe-off board
• Do an ArtPac project
• Look up Usborne or Kingfisher and make a Lego building like a different culture
• Catch a bug & draw it - make a bug book
• Pull apart a leaf so all veins are intact
• Play number squeeze
• Teach the boys to finger crochet
• Try to sing in harmony
• Count to 1000 by 10's
• Memorize a poem and we'll video tape a poetry night
• Declare it (butterfly) day. Research, draw, craft, act out, look up poems, make poems….
• make a chart of people's scores jumping rope
• Play Decimal Street
• Read boys a science book
• Write a book of the story of your life using the bound books
• Online drawing lessons http://donnayoung.org/art/draw1.htm
• Have a spelling bee
• Play a Mass folder Game

Tie Dye - and messy projects

Messy projects are best done with friends. Then when the kids get filthy, you can comfort yourself that 10 other kids look just as bad as your kids. You can also justify when your porch, yard, etc. gets trashed. It hasn't just been for your measly 3 or 4 kids, but 10 other kids got enjoyment, experience or educatation and that mess is really not that bad when you spread the blame out over 13 kids.

My WONDERFUL friend offered to trash her porch for my kids to make tie dye. She provided all the materials and cleaned everything up. She was even fun and gracious while we were trashing and using her stuff. I LOVE homeschool friends like that!!

Quote of the Day

Ds#3 to Ds#4 and back again

Remember when we saw him cut him open?

Yeah! And cut him into pieces?...And then we ate him? That was COOL!

Mama (concerned that Dd#1 hadn't been careful of what they saw on TV when she babysat)

What are you two talking about?

Ds#4

When we went fishing with Mark!

(Ds#3's Godfather).

Spelling Power

I have a girl who WON'T learn spelling. I have had several discussions with her father about whether the ability to spell is a character flaw or not (I think not). It is important, but not the most important thing in my mind (mostly because I can't splel to save my life).

None-the-less, we need to work on spelling especially with this girl. So I researched EXPENSIVE/INTENSIVE spelling programs. Once I'd decided on Spelling Power, her dad told me it didn't make sense to spend all that money when we have a perfectly good spelling program and learning to type would most likely fix the problem. Well, okay. We didn't quite agree on that one.



THEN, I rediscovered Paula's Archives. She has a fantastic Spelling Power how-to along with a study sheet that we can use with our present spelling program which is Natual Speller - I LOVE the price and the word lists by phonetic sound. Now both parents are happy. Results are yet to be seen, but that Modified Study Sheet is definately going in my planner.

More Pooh-love

Free Vocabulary Ideas

Password Game - it sounds like a silly solution, but you can make up your own cards using words they've been studiing. Here are the rules to print off. My kids like a game better when the've seen it's fun. Here's a video clip of Lucille Ball in 1964 playing with her school-age kids. I like the idea of starting with familiar, easier words for the kids to learn to like the game and moving to more difficult vocabulary.

Vocabulary Awareness

• Choose 5 words and define them
• post them on the fridge
• award points every time they are used in conversation
• or detected in print or radio
• put the words in a notebook with a small drawing about the word

School Exercizes

• Write 1-3 paragraphs using where one word is emphasized. This gets interesting and funny.
• Write either a few sentences or a paragraph with one of the words in mind but don't use the word. Put the word in parantheses at the end.

Susan Wise Bauer suggests

• Writing the words on index cards
• Monday- read the words, put them on flash cards with meanings on opposite side.
• Tue-Thu- drill with the flash cards.
• Fri- review flash cards and complete exercises.
• She uses Vocabulary from Classical Roots, but you could use any program with this schedule and even choose your own words from reading the child is doing.

Vocabulary Word Lists (free online) - you could orally quiz a child until they miss 5 and use those for the week's vocabulary words with activities from above

• General Service List with linked definitions
• Academic Word List with linked definitions
• Vocabulary by grade level
• Vocabulary based on "classic" (highschool level) books - the site also has words by theme, a little difficult to navigate, but it's free!
• 7th grade vocabulary list and printable version with instructions for the year
• After the kids have passed their test for the week, reward them with a game of CrazyLibs using previous vocabulary words

Software review of Vocabulary products for the computer

Highly recommended vocabulary curriculum (not free). I haven't used these, but have them in my research notes to consider:

• The Word Within the Word by Michael Thompson OOP, search through www.bookfinder.com
• Wordly Wise 3000 see sample pages ~$11/student book (some kids get bored due to the same activities over and over) Seton sells the older version with an answer key. This is what I bought for this year. It's our first time doing vocabulary, so I'll let you know how it goes.
• Vocabulary From Classical Roots - recommended by SWB ~$11/student book & $20/teacher book
• Vocabulary for Enjoyment ~$14