Ah-Ha Moments

Boy we have had a week of them!

First was a BIG one for me - WHY, WHY, have I been trying to put Joseph down for a nap right after lunch (because that is what we have done since he went to just one nap a day shortly after Isabelle was born!) when Isabelle is just getting up for morning nap?!? By the time he is getting up, Isabelle is going back down and I feel I am getting NOTHING done all afternoon! He is not that tired at that point and fights me on it anyway... So new plan - Do afternoon chores right after lunch then put both down (if Joseph needs it that day) at the SAME time. DUH!

We were having Prayer and Scripture time at the beginning of school the other day and the kids provided me with such a wonderful realization... We were talking about how Jesus is "The Lamb of God." Joseph starts singing "Mary had a Little Lamb." At first I was getting rather annoyed. He is not paying any attention to me and I am trying to teach him... Then it came to me, wonderful as the Holy Spirit is, Mary did have a little LAMB. Mary had THE LAMB! He IS PAYING attention!!! Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was WHITE as snow... I so went with it! We talked about it and how it did apply. I got down the statue that I have of Mary hold baby Jesus and a lamb, and how Jesus was pure and clean (white as snow!), and how Jesus is always with us (Every where Mary went the Lamb was sure to go), and on and on... I know Katherine got more out of it, but what an amazing thing to happen... All because my dear sweet Joseph was "annoying" me! It made me really think about other things too...

Lastly... Thanks to the wonderful input from my sister and several friends we are starting to work seriously with "Parenting the Strong-Willed Child." I love these kids and the younger two are STRONG WILLED. But I do not want to break that will! I want them to learn to think for themselves, stand up for themselves and others, and be leaders NOT just follow what they are told! Talked to Robert about it last night as well and how I learned a lot of the skills while in school for Early Childhood Education/Child Development and I could do the EXACT things with other peoples children with NO PROBLEMS - but I had a horrible time doing the SAME thing with my own kids! I love my own children more and yet I cannot give them the same thing, and the thing that they need most from me. I cried... So we are going to make a conscious effort to do it TOGETHER!

With all of this today has gone much smoother, with a lot less fighting, arguing, and a TON less stress! Hopefully it will continue. :)

Homeschooling Realization... (One Year Ends and Another Begins)

I was trying to "finish" Katherine's second grade (just 2 subjects left, and those are ones we has switched mid-year because the ones we had started using just were not working for her - getting things right but NO retention of material!). WHY was I stressing both of us out? This is the reason I homeschool, right? So that we can ENJOY the time together and I can help her LEARN...

After yesterday's math lesson I was thinking THIS IS STUPID... It was on MEASURE CUPS and SPOONS! REALLY??!!! Like I have not been teaching her about measurements since she was 3! I know not all kids have that experience, but the girl can read and knows how to read a recipe and knows the difference between a cup, a half-cup, a tsp, and a TBSP already! So this morning I quickly glanced through the remained of the material for math for the year... Guess what - the ONLY thing that we have not already learned about was BEGINNING multiplication...

So we did a quick this is what it means and this is how you do it - like 15 minutes after breakfast. She has the idea. Like Robert and I were talking about later in the morning. She will be reviewing a lot of other things for 3rd grade math before they even get back to multiplication, and then will probably be re-teaching that anyway. I did not learn to multiply in 2nd grade even. SO we are calling it a year!

We are going to take the rest of this week and all of next week off - and THEN...

Katherine is starting 3rd Grade and Joseph is starting Preschool! Oh boy - two at once...

Joseph is starting to give up naps as well. He has not had one today and is still doing good especially with it being so close to 4 pm now! There are going to be some days where he needs one, but looks like most days we do not. Isabelle is also trying to give up naps, but the girl seriously needs 2 a day still. She gets so fussy and clingy when she just has one and then usually ends up asleep at 6 pm and back up by 9 pm and then incredibly difficult to get back down. We will probably be cutting back to 1 nap a day in the next few months, but for now she still needs both.

Zoo Trips are Put on HOLD until FALL!

Well I gave it a try... We went to the Zoo as a family on Saturday morning and I got some GREAT pictures! But even with leaving getting there about 8:30 am and only staying a couple hours it was WAY too hot... It was 102 when we left the zoo!

And yes these pictures were taken by me. :)

 We always have to look to the pygmy hippo. Joseph LOVES it!

 The lion was right on the rock close to the window and with my new camera lens it was AMAZING! This was just one of my favorites, but I got several good ones.

 I love some of the more exotic plants that our zoo has as well. :)

 It must have been feeding time, because the tiger kept walking along the back fence. Made it pretty easy to time this picture though!

Baby elephant Maylee with her mom and aunt! Every time we go to the zoo we have to see how big she is getting.

 This is one of the resident peacocks at the zoo. We found this one hanging out in front of the herpaterium on Saturday.

And she SMILES!!!

As soon as I post how my little one just is not a "smiley" girl... She all the sudden decides to start smiling - A LOT!!!

 

Animal Science from Spring 2011

Well this year we had an adventure... 3 small kids and 3 kinds of critters. The big kids loved it and Isabelle even was watching things too. :) Katherine and Joseph are asking to add more and more every year. I told them once we moved into the new house and had a dedicated Homeschool area we would think about doing it again and do more animals. But here is what we did this year...

Lady Bugs

 Joseph letting a lady bug go.

 The ladybug did not want to leave my Joseph! She went crawling from his hand clear to his shoulder and then he asked me to get it away before it climbed on his face.

 Katherine releasing a ladybug.

 Both big kids watching the lady bugs getting ready to let them go. Katherine is holding one and Joseph is watching to see if any more are starting to come out.

Isabelle and Katherine watching the lady bugs. We did not let Isabelle get to close because we were afraid she would either squish them or eat them.









Caterpillars to Butterflies

Thought I took some pictures of them in the different stages but cannot locate them. :(

This is one of the 4 we ended up releasing. One stayed in the habitat much longer than the others and we were not sure if it would make it or not. We went out a couple hours later (giving it time without kids around, and the kids got a snack) and it was gone.




Earth Worms

This was out new project this year! I had never done earthworms before and did not know what to expect. It was fun for all of us!

 This is how the earthworms came to us. They are encased.

 To remove the encasing you soak them in warm water for 5 minutes, rinse them off, and if needed soak again. Took several times and I said that is as good as it looks like it is going to get!

 After several times soaking and rinsing this is what it looked like. Sorry kinda blurry...

The little apple seed looking things were the actual earth worm "eggs" (not sure that is what you call them). There were some that were already out so we QUICKLY finished setting up the habitat and put them in.

Somewhere I have some pictures with us putting some of the baby earthworms in the habitat, but they are probably with the missing butterfly pictures.

 RELEASE Day! Joseph holding one of the smaller worms.

 Joseph letting a worm go in the garden and Katherine holding another.

 Joseph watching the earthworm bury itself and Isabelle trying to figure out what is going on and how she can get in on it!

 Katherine holding one of the bigger earthworms we released.

 Joseph was a MASTER worm finder! Even when we thought we were done and had found all we were going to he found several more!

 Both old kids holding holding worms in each hand! We must have had 20-30 earthworms we released into the front gardens!

After a little bit I dumped the dirt out and let the kids find more of them themselves. Isabelle was trying to knock it over anyway, plus it let them go digging for their own instead of me trying to find all of them. We spread the dirt out some and the kids found them and relocated them to different parts of the garden area. Joseph was so careful with them and did a great job for his first time holding them by himself!

New Things we are Doing to Create Order and Peace

Okay I said I would post about some of the new things we are trying in order to bring more "order" and peace to our home...


We are trying "quiet time" with Joseph (and will start Isabelle soon as well). During this time Joseph sits on his "mat" (a folded blanket) with books or another quiet toy (right now it is mostly puzzle books, which he absolutely loves!) and has to stay on the "mat" and be quiet! We started with 5 minutes and have worked our way up to 15 minutes (and him asking for more time!!!). This has been a wonderful thing for when I am getting Isabelle down for a nap and starting school with Katherine.


We have just started using Chore Packs (from http://www.titus2.com/). We just started this week and it seems like it will be a good solution for us - once we get the kinks worked out... Joseph does not want anything "clipped" to him so I got some lanyards (just came today) and Katherine has lost her holder and morning cards. Luckily the cards are all "stored" so if I need I can reprint them. I started this after I kept hearing about them for several different places and it looks like it will be a great way for the kids to learn to do the chores by themselves and for me to be able to quickly redirect what they "should" be doing!

I am also reading, and doing, 31 Days to Clean - Having a Martha House in a Mary Way (by Sarah Mae). There are now two different versions and you get the second free with the first version. The first is a "spring cleaning" type (both physically and spirituality) and the second is to help set up routines.We started the first and got kinda stuck so started the second version and have gotten a lot of things more organized and de-cluttered, although still working on it. We will start the "spring cleaning" again later and start doing deep cleans of the house regularly.

Starting to Post

With so much happening with our family all the time, and life as busy as it is. I figured that this would be a way for family and friends to stay connected to us more regularly. I will try and add things big and small regularly, but my priority will be taking care of and teaching my kids and trying my best to keep the house in order - so if you don't see something for a while, just know more is coming and that Life has gotten busy!

Since it is already JULY I want to put up some of the main things that have happened this year first.

Isabelle's First Birthday!
Isabelle is getting bigger and bigger. She now has 5 teeth in (she was the latest to start getting them!) and has a big personality! Miss Belle is a happy toddler, but rarely smiles. You can tell she is a big thinker! She will think, watch, think, and then DO! She is starting to talk up a storm saying new words and phrases all the time. Of course she is chasing after big sister and brother and trying to do the things that they do. She LOVES fruit, actually most every food, and is falling in line with the other two with the I am ALWAYS hungry thing. She is starting to use a spoon to feed herself, and is starting to communicate what she wants or needs. When she is tired she will come over to me and lay her head on my lap. Most of the time during the day she is sleeping the port-a-crib still, but most evenings she is in "the girls' room" and she is sleeping through the night most nights! As I did with the others, I love this age! She is learning and growing so fast and I just love to see her discover all those new things. I am so grateful that I am able to stay home with and teach my children!

Katherine had First Communion
What a special thing for our big girl! Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer and the Day's were there with us (and helping with Joseph and Isabelle - THANK YOU!). This is such a special event in her life. Katherine is maturing so much right now and is becoming a very big helper. Of course there are days where we have struggles - she is only 7 after all!

Katherine has 2 subjects left to finish up for 2nd Grade (Math and Phonics) and then she is moving on to 3rd! She will be studying Religion, Math, Reading (starting Chapter Books!), Grammar, Spelling, Countries (I think we are studying about 25-30 different countries throughout the next year), Astronomy and Botany, Latin, Sewing. She is most looking forward to the last 3, especially sewing! She got her own little (battery-powered) sewing machine and can't wait to be able to use it.

Joseph...
Would not want to leave him out! Joseph is being "Joseph." He is almost done with potty-training. Although we have some rough days, most days he is just in diapers at bedtime now! With the heat he is struggling a bit more as he has too much energy and gets too wild when it is time for Isabelle to take a nap.

We are trying to teach him to tell us more when he NEEDS to release the energy instead of just going crazy (and driving everyone else crazy in the process!). He is starting to color very well and is excited that he will be starting pre-school soon and is starting to do "school time" when Katherine does in the mornings.

If Joseph is not moving or eating - he is asleep! He plays hard, eats a lot, and crashes...

I am working part time from home, stilling running the produce buying group, and trying to find a better balance with work, play, homeschooling, household chores, and everything else! We are getting things more organized and trying some new things I am learning about. More about that later today...