Magic Moments

This is our last week of school. To say that I am exhausted would be an understatement and while we've saturated ourselves with all good things like American History, Math, Science, and lots of reading over the past 34 weeks, I cannot wait to set my children free for the summer. Teaching and being pregnant has been more difficult than words can say. With that being said, the boys have still learned so much this year and we'll all be ready for a fresh start come fall. By the end of this week our school room will have been cleaned up, packed up, rearranged, and yes, all of our new curriculum has already been purchased and will be sitting on the shelves ready to greet us come August. We have to start a little early next year so that we can take some time off to adjust to having a newborn in the house. Anyway, I've got a post written reflecting the learning curve and challenge that home schooling is, but for now just know that I couldn't survive without my coop. The educati...

I would tell you that this child has a natural bent towards music (and maybe he does) but this right here is a classic case of "How Things Work."

Happy Birthday to my sweet Aiden! Birthdays are always a time for looking back and in this past year you've grown so much! It's been a year of firsts as you've lost your first tooth, you rode your bike without training wheels, you went tubing for the first time, and the list of accomplishments in school is vast. Your insight constantly amazes me and you continue to grow in the wisdom and stature of our God. Development is nothing short of amazing and I love watching you develop little by little over each year. Right now you have this high need for accuracy. You are constantly correcting your little brother's three year old mistakes even though it just isn't necessary, but to you it is. When you tell me things you are learning about you make sure you describe each thing in great detail. You aren't very good at summarizing because each little fact is important to you. You are growing in wisdom and I love reading the reports you write about how Abraham Lincoln wa...

These past couple days (or the whole week for that matter) have been a whirl. I've been at a homeschooling conference over the last two days and my brain is spinning and I'm feeling quite overwhelmed. By next week after I've decompressed I'll be excited for the task that is educating my kids, but right now I'm glad tomorrow is Sunday...a day of r-e-s-t. I don't think I'm alone when I cower at the thought of teaching my kids to read. Producing a fluent reader seems like, and probably is, the most important hurdle to cross. If a child can read the rest of school seems easy. And even though people teach kids to read all the time it's still a challenge I want to run away from. I have one fluent reader in my house. And by fluent I mean he devours books and reads well above grade level and for that I am so thankful. In the next year-ish or so I expect Sage to be an emergent reader. While he's got all the good pre-reading skills already in place I still n...

On Wednesday Tom and his parents took the boys to J.M.Cremps, the boys toy store at the mall. They came home with a book on how to make duct tape weapons. So today after Tom sweetly raked my yard he took the boys shopping for all the supplies they needed and they spent the rest of the day making their weapons and having battles. So far they've made a dagger (which doubles as a blow gun), a Celtic sword, and a battle axe. I think they are planning more. ;) Honestly, I'm not sure who had more fun, the boys or Tom. The house is now almost quiet.  Sage is asleep next to his baby bottle of milk (yes, he still goes to bed with a bottle) and his dagger. He's still keeping one foot in the baby camp while he insists that he's a big boy. :) Aiden is almost asleep and Tom is still in the kitchen making weapons.

Aiden had an art history challenge at school this past Thursday. He memorized 40 pieces of art ranging in date from 3rd Century B.C. all the way through the early 1800's. In his age group he was only required to know the title of the piece. I had bigger plans of also memorizing the artist, but since I was sick for so long that didn't happen although he did know many of the artists just by studying on his own. We'll learn more next year. My sweet little Sage also memorized many of them and although he wasn't registered as participating he walked right along with Aiden and would say the titles he knew or just repeat what Aiden said. It was the cutest thing! Aiden got all 40 correct at the challenge and we are so proud of him!!!

The joy of Easter follows us as we live in grace all year so it's ok that I'm giving you our Easter greetings a day late. Our Easter was full of joy and spent with family.We celebrated our Risen Savior at church and then all had lunch together in our usual style of one BIG happy family. :) The pictures from the day are few but the blessings of the day spilled over. The best picture I have of some of the kids.

Good Friday always feels so eventful and mournful and then Saturday comes and we just wait. It feels like a long wait too and I can't imagine how the disciples felt. We've done our best to make the day go by quickly and be mindful of the events that transpired and the one yet to come. And when I think that God, his Son not sparing, Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in, That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art! We've been opening our Resurrection eggs for 11 days now, counting down to Easter. Each day they tell a little bit of the Easter story. What would Resurrection Eggs be without treats? Laying out our Easter baskets. The boys lay out their baskets that are full of rocks to represent their sin. Next they lay a red towel representing Jes...

I've been wanting to incorporate a Sedar Dinner and Christian Passover Feast as part of our Easter Traditions for a few years. I attended a Sedar in High School complete with ceremonial dancing and it's one of my favorite memories. However, the boys have been too little and attempting to execute a Sedar Dinner accurately has always seemed overwhelming. But I decided this year was the year. They boys are still young but they are old enough to sit at the dinner table. The accuracy of the whole thing was still overwhelming and the execution was far from perfect.  But despite all the flaws I decided the night was a success overall because 1) The boys were excited about it and 2) the whole point is remembering that Jesus is The Way. We certainly did that and paid honor to God's plan for redemption that was revealed in the beginning of time and certainly through the journey of His chosen people. Ideally, the dinner is beautiful and symbolic and everything is perfectly cooked. T...