I Am a Home Schooler

An Early American Day - And One Man

I am a home schooler.

My two youngest boys go to Covenant Family Tutorial one day a week,

with other classical Christian home schooled children.

I am one of the teachers.

We have been studying the early years of our nation.

We had an Early American Day.

We began our day by exploring:

noticing our surroundings,

and taking notes

to inspire nature poems.

We prepared:

and ate rustic food:

We played some of the same games

the Native American children might have played:

Cliff Hodges, owner, founder and CEO of Adventure Out, was our guest:

 

He showed us many things the early Americans made to survive:

He told us great stories of his own hunting adventures using only his handmade weapons.
He is a brave man.

He chipped obsidian to make the beginnings of an arrowhead:

A finished arrowhead takes more than 20 hours to complete.
It is good for only one shot.
He is a patient man.

He makes bows from a thick piece of special hard wood,

and even uses various parts of the animal to complete all his weapons,

just like people of earlier times would have done.

He is a hardworking man.
Like the earliest of Americans.

The younger children made their own bows and arrows,
using foam shapes, sticks, feathers and string,
and imagined life in early America:

 

A great day was had!

*****

Personally, I was inspired by One Man.

A man who is patient.
A man who works hard.
A man who followed his passion
and built a successful business because of it.
A man who inspires others.
To embrace that which interests them.
To work hard developing skills.
And to work hard some more.

*****

Are we always telling our children to work hard
so they can go to college
and get a good job
and live happily ever after?

Or do we encourage
our children
our friends
our selves
to find that which naturally flows from them,
their passion,
their gifts,
and work hard at that?
To find their Place?

For I dare to think
each of us finding our Place
is what will bring
our children
our friends
and ourselves
the richness of this life.

And a difference in our world it will make.

*****

Homeschool-mom hat # 342:

Help my children find their unique gifts and run with it...

Sunday's Graces

As parents we lead the way for our children.
We lead in all we do.

We lead by mentoring.

Infact, we can not really not mentor.

We are always showing them things.

And it's either a good picture,

or a not so good picture.

We are leading.

They are following.

We show the way in all we do.

We show them the beauty of getting up early 

to experience the crisp morning fog together.

Father teaching son

 the tradition of fishing.

They see patience.

The patience of a dad with an impatient child

who was last to make a catch.

Someday it will be his turn to understand a frustrated young fisherman

and express kindness,

for he has been there.

He has seen what dads do.

Dads are not shaken or angry at tears.

They are kind.

They understand.

Mentoring is first showing:

Then doing it with them:

Then watching over their shoulder,

just guiding,

and encouraging:

For someday, they will do it on their own.

Today it is only fishing,

but it is really everything we do.

They put their own style and personality into it,

but they are imprinted in one way or another,

for they are our sons and daughters.

We are their parents.

May we lead well.

________________________________________________________________________ 

Sunday's Graces -

A continual numbering of things I am thankful for

to remind me of God's graces in my life 

fifty-six. grey skies.

fifty-seven. sandy shoes.

fifty-eight. brothers who will someday tell magnificent stories of ordinary days together.

fifty-nine. a husband who does his darndest to keep all the smelly fish-gut stuff away from his wimpy wife.

sixty. that i will soon get to see Our Girl and her Love.

sixty-one. friends olde and new who make me laugh.

Carrot Cake Recipe

Of Cakes and Creativity

If you need a wedding cake, definately don't call me.

If you want to come over for tea and carrot cake, that's more my style.

 I re-remembered after making this carrot cake that my talents include many things, and a wedding cake designer is NOT one of them. Crumbs in the crust...getting the texture in (or out of) the frosting...keeping the cake plate tidy...transporting and the actual decorating....I admire those who do these amazing feats with ease. But instead of being frustrated with such things, I will continue to enjoy making the simple and rustic looking, yet delightfully yummy desserts for family and friends. 

 In regards to our craft, I do think it is so important to take note of the things that we do well and not feel badly about those we do not do well. I think it is even more important to pay attention to which things bring us joy while doing them. In the end, do we feel rejuvenated? Or do we feel tired out and stressed? We can be busy doing many things. We can even be good at many things. But how lovely it is to also do the things that both bring us joy and come naturally!  

As a mom, I like to help my children find skills that fit them.  I like to shape their homeschooling around their giftings rather than overwhelming them with a bunch of busy work. Oh, they do get plenty of the tough stuff, don't get me wrong, but I love finding what makes them excited, too, and try to sprinkle that in our week's curriculum. I think doing the fun stuff - our gifting, if you will, - helps bring joy into all the not-so-fun stuff we do. When I am being creative, even if it's just an evening here and there, or a stolen moment of hand quilting while waiting at a martial arts class, I find I feel more satisfied doing the daily tasks that lay before me, too.

 I believe God designed us to be creative in one way or another. And when we discover and express His creativity in our daily lives, He gives a natural fulfillment. Some people are creative with words and write prolificly. One of my friends is crazy good with money and talks with CEO's of multi-million dollar companies. Some have quite an eye for beauty and are photographers. Some are organizers. Some use paint and canvas. Some create with music. We are all unique with very different talents, indeed.

We even have our whole life ahead with its many seasons to continue discovering and developing our gifts. If you are not sure what your 'thing' is, ask your friends and family what they see. Or check out new blogs with their many tutorials to learn a new skill...then go ahead and give it a try. Share what you enjoy with those around you, too. We can be an encouragement to each other. Some of my family members get soooo busy in their work and other responsibilities, that I like to encourage them to take little creativity breaks every once-in-a-while. But if you are super busy right now with work or nurturing babies, find something simple that fits into your lifestyle. Knitting, crochett and pencil drawing are great projects to keep with you in a beautiful bag. When you get a break, or the baby falls asleep on you, just sneak out your bag and create away. A stolen moment of creativity can be refreshing to the soul.

Oh. By the way, this carrot cake recipe from Emeril Lagasse was great. I like to leave out the butter in the frosting and cut back on the powdered sugar. It tastes more cream-cheesy and less sugary. And now, to refrain from polishing off the rest of the carrot cake all by myself...

Thoughts on Homeschooling - Burning the Candle at Both Ends

For those of you who are abit unfamilair with my family, I am a mom of four and wife of one (27+years). I have 2 older kids and 2 younger ones. When they were kiddos they seemed closer together in age and we pretty much did everything at the same pace. But now that they are older there is definitely a noticable age gap. I am frequently asked how I homeschool the younger ones and have time for the older ones still living in the home? Well, the answer is....I burn the candle at both ends with an occasional nap inbetween. Ha! I find I am up early with the youngsters attending to their schooling, taking them surfing or to other extracurricular activities. Then I am up late into the night with the older ones having impromptu conversations or watching their shows with them. Sometimes a cat-nap inbetween helps with the late night parenting. Hint: my younger ones go to bed early - around 8:30 (they can read as long as they like). I learned that one from a dear friend with 10 kids. I didn't always understand why she had the younger folk go to bed so early, but as my family grew, I began to see the reasoning behind it. The older ones need that time. They enjoy and play with the younger folk earlier in the day, but they do benefit from having some time without the pitter-patter of youngsters later in the evening. It is good to have uninterupted conversations! This is also when their TV shows or Xbox games are allowed, too. Sometimes these things are just not appropriate or too distracting for the younger kiddos. So...Mom in the morning. Mom all day. Mom at night. Sometimes Mom is tired!  But mostly I enjoy getting to hang out with my family (and naps every now and then)!

Here are my 3 youngest on our recent trip to the snow.

They are not so 'young' anymore!

Can you believe this was our FIRST trip to the snow? Even for our 20 year old married daughter?
But I bet we have been to the beach more than most!

Romance

A few dear ladies have been blogging about love and romance. Check them out here. I just thought I would put my 2 cents in on the subject:

When I hear the word "romance", I don't think of what you might expect. I don't think about any of the lovely and thoughtful gifts my husband has given me over the years. I don't think of the flowers or candy although I do like flowers and candy. I don't think about the movies we saw or the food we ate on our infrequent date nights...we often prefer taking the kids with us anyways. (Infact, we took them all to Hawaii with us on our 25th anniversary). I don't think of how he proposed...Goodness! It seems we hardly even knew each other back then. I don't think of how nice he looks...although I do like how he looks! These are nice things that I am thankful for, indeed, but it's not true romance to me.

Rather, what comes to my mind when I hear the word "romance" is the love that was shown in the deeper moments of our life together. Romance is  in my husband's adoring eyes when he holds me while in labor with our children, wishing he could ease my pain, then holding the new babes in our arms together. Romance is in my husband's tear-filled eyes when our world crumbles with the loss of our dear child through a miscarriage...and then another...and another. I can still remember the song he played on the piano after our first, even though the song is lost in time. Grieving together is romantical. Romance is in watching my husband work hard providing for the family in desperate times when Failure is chasing hard after him like a safari lion after a gazelle - which, by the way,  is not really the time  for him to be buying me the perfect gift or trying to plan a romantic getaway! (He would probably say it's romantical to have a wife that doesn't demand such things at such times inorder to feel loved.) Romance is going through dry spells and knowing we will be there with each other when it comes to a welcomed end. Romance is being rather ugly to my spouse and instead of getting what I justly deserve he gives a loving response that poignantly reflects Christ's love of the unloveable. Romance is knowing I am married to a man who takes leading his family in the Lord seriously, no matter what comes our way. And I mean seriously. He teaches them, talks politics, theology and worldviews with them, prays for them, encourages them and loves spending time with them. Watching my husband of 27 years walk his daughter down the grassy aisle to her love, then handing him tissue for his tears when she is surprised by song from the groom? What could be more romantic? These are the things that endear me to my husband. They will last beyond my years here on earth. I will love him forever. And I will forever know that he has loved me. That is romance.

Simplicity

We had a simple Christmas this year. There was not an abundance of gift giving or baking. It's always a bummer to be short on money, but I have to say that it was much more peaceful to not be so busy bustling about town shopping for all the gifts and food and more gifts and more food that must be had. We were home all during our school break. Our family watched olde classic movies, played at the beach due to the glorious weather, listened to music, read "Rascal", sipped hot cocoa and, yes, played Rock-Band and Halo. How bad is that? So many holiday seasons have gone by where I feel like my feet are flapping in the wind with the busyness of the season and I'm too busy to stop and enjoy it. Well this year I got to stop and enjoy it. For that, I am thankful!