20 Inches of Snow!

We got about 20 inches of snow yesterday--here are some pics for ya! The patio picture was actually taken before the "rest" of the snow fell--there's only about 16 inches in this photo.

Today there are tons of birds nibbling at the seed, peanut butter pine cones, and cracked corn that we put out. We've seen sparrows, juncos, cardinals, house wrens (one lives in the garage! lol), and this morning, Nature Girl saw an owl!

Off to go sledding! (No church today, and we hope no school for Sky, either!)

Weekly Report--Yes, Really!

Thought I'd bang out a "weekly," like I used to do--BTW, Jessica at Trivium Academy has finally updated her blog, in case anyone is interested!

We are limping to the finish around here. I think the only thing we did consistently was math! Saxon 6/5 is going well--it's so incremental, Nature Girl gets just what she needs in little, understandable bits. She's still making about 3-4 mistakes in the "homework" section, where the meat of the program is, but these are easily corrected and more an indication of impatience than incompetence. She's on Lesson 75, which means we are done for the month of December. I think we will be done all together with the book in May, leaving some time either to go ahead with the next one or just do some "math from a different direction" iykwim.

Having finished Sign of The Sugared Plum and its sequel, Petals in The Ashes, we started Indian Captive, The Story of Mary Jemison. What a heartbreaking book--yet filled with hope and the adaptability of the human spirit. The first few chapters contain almost unbearable scenes, particularly as her mother realizes she will never see her dd again. We need to read it aloud until we get to the place where Mary (called Molly in the book) begins to adapt to Seneca life. I'll have Nature Girl finish it next week.

Rod and Staff Grammar continues to thrill me with its clear explanations, Godly tone, abundant practice--lol--Nature Girl tolerates (read abhors) grammar and does pretty well. Short lessons are the key--and doing most of it orally. We are on track to finish this also in May, if not before. I am being quite intentional with the "small things done over time lead to big accomplishments" ideal. We just started writing paragraphs--I really am thrilled, because I'm terrible at teaching writing, and this has just enough hand-holding to make it easy.

SOTW has been a bit dry--we just finished the chapter on Louis the Fourteenth, and I think we will just let it go for now. I hope to come back with renewed vigor in January. We'll have to combine a few chapters to make it thru the book by the end of the year, but that's ok. I am ordering Colonial Kids and Pioneer Family at Amazon for more activities--not real thrilled with the next few chapters of the Activity Guide.

Also starting in January, we will go thru a wonderful science book/curriculum called The Elements. Can't wait--Science mostly consists of nature study (very LCC here...lol) for Nature Girl. We finished the Bird Study, but haven't really picked up anything else.

Not many pics to show this week--will post more next week as Christmas comes--hoping you all have a Merry one!

Yes, I Celebrate Christmas

There has been a lot of discussion over at the WTM forums regarding Christians and the celebration of Christmas. It makes my stomach hurt.

It seems many people believe it is wrong to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. That it is pagan. That is displeases God. That one day shouldn't be valued over any other. That it isn't in the Bible.

Wow. Just Wow.

Why in the world would God have made sure that the birth narratives of His Son were included in the Scriptures if he didn't think it was an important event? Given that all of the Jewish Holidays were fulfilled in Jesus, why on earth would God be displeased with a grateful outpouring of joy and love, praise and awe on the day set aside to remember the Incarnation?!
THE INCARNATION, PEOPLE! If ANYTHING should be celebrated, it's this!

God himself comes from Heaven, to be our Light, our Way of Salvation, our Peace, our Joy--and we treat it as though it's just...well, just IS? Goodness! UNbelievable.

The angels themselves celebrated! And we shouldn't, because it isn't pleasing to God? You have got to be kidding. We should be falling all over ourselves to give thanks, Glory, Honor to our King. We should be celebrating Christmas every DAY! We can't set aside ONE DAY a year to honor Jesus?

And THEN--AND THEN--
There's the post about EASTER--THEY DIDN'T CELEBRATE THE RESURRECTION?

Oh, My.

Some of us have gotten so far off the track with this "it isn't in the Bible" crap.

Bugs and Birds

For science this year, we are doing some field biology, which means "going places to see what's there that we can call science." So here are some pics of a few things we've done (finally figured out how to download the pics--more to follow). Found this little creepy crawler in September--can't recall what we found out about it at the moment. Aaand that would be a good reason to actually make a nature notebook page when we find something interesting... We also found a 6-in, green and yellow caterpillar that was about as big around as my forefinger and had yellow-orange horns! Again, I can't remember much about it (we looked it up, for sure) other than it burrows into the ground and comes out in the Spring to make its cocoon (was a moth catty), so we let it go after admiring it for a good 3 hours. "Look at the SIZE of that thing!" and so on...I'm sorry, I've forgotten how to turn pictures around...We are studying birds this fall (nearly done) so we dissected an owl pellet--pretty gross, pretty cool, depending on your perspective! We soaked it in water to make it easier to dissect. Got tons of bones, and yes, it was smelly. It is still sitting on the server in the dining room...Here it is in the water--we used a paper clip and tweezers from the kit to pull it apart.You can clearly see various bones--lots of jaws with tiny teeth! I printed a bone chart from the web, although one did come in the kit. We still have an undissected pellet--probably will send it to my niece.

That's it for now! Stay tuned for some pictures from our Story of The World explorations!

First Wrestling Scrimmage

Sky joined the wrestling team at his high school--had their first scrimmage today.
His thumb is busted.
He is in pain from bruising.
He neck is killing him.

Happy, happy boy!

First real match on Wednesday--pray he doesn't break anything, if you would! lol

Thanksgiving

Just a quickie to wish all a happy TG--we have my mom and dad here from New England, and Film Buff came home, too. Nice to have a full table.
Our traditional menu:

Turkey--(usually provided by one of the boys from the Church Fair Turkey Shoot--Sky's turn this year!) Mom made the gravy.

Bread Stuffing--(I confess it's just Stovetop)

Sides--Mashed potatoes, baked corn (from Godly Man's mom), sweet potatoes, wild rice

Salad--Greens, mandarin oranges, sugared almond, cukes, with oil/vinegar/mandarin juice/sugar dressing

Crescent Rolls and Brown and Bake Rolls

This year we also had mashed carrots and turnip (sooo disgusting, but a Trevorrow tradition), and her meat stuffing, which contains the turkey stomach and liver mixed with onion, celery top, and ground beef, fried in butter. Yep--heart attack on a plate. We eat stuffing sandwiches the night before. Used to make this stuff by grinding everything together in a hand-grinder--fun times, watching it extrude...eeeww. Now Mom uses a blender.

Our Popcorn Traditon continues--We call it 3 Blessings (or 3 Corns, if you are under 5! lol). Everyone gets 3 popcorn kernals (unpopped) on his plate, and we go around the table sharing our blessings. Family counts, but you have to be specific! We are all glad Sky is home this year--it's been 3 years since he's celebrated with us--he was either in jail or in residential treatment those years, and as expected, his first blessing was that he "was out!" I cried during mine, as to be expected on my end, too...

I'm thankful for Sky and Film Buff being home, for my parents still being with us, for our dear kitty, Lydia, who, after 7 years of refusing to come down when the dog is up and around has finally overcome her fears and regularly joins us in the den and living room...

I'm thankful so much--here's to hearts of gratefulness.

I am burdened today.
So many people have lost their belief in Jesus. I don't know if they've been hurt, if they are angry, if someone misrepresented Him, I don't know why at all. Some say they were raised in Christian homes but now just. don't. believe. Some say it never made sense and they just played along until they grew up and didn't have to, anymore.

My heart hurts, and there's a cramp in my tummy. The lofty way to express that is to ask God to break my heart with the things that break His--

But oh, God. Please no more heartbreaking. This little one simply cannot take it. I am so tired of crying.

If you are the Way, then surely you are big enough to take this burden.

So, I surrender these people--some of them dear, some of them unknown, some of them I'm actually angry at! Go figure--Take these people and do whatever it is You do when your creation disobeys, disregards, disrespects, disengages--

Please, God. Be God.

Well, This is Embarrassing!

Alrighty, then--
We've been schooling at home since September, and have I bothered to update this blog? Well, no, I haven't.

So many times I've sat at my desk (really a table in the den, beside the kitchen) and said to myself, "Y'know, you really ought to write about what we did today! You really ought to post those pictures! You really ought to update everyone!" But the pics stay in the camera, the posts stay in my head, and my mind strays to other things.

So here's a mini-update, and then maybe I'll get the ball rolling and start posting weekly again. Maybe...

1. Sky came home in August, has started at the local school (transfer came in, no problem), and has...wait for it...All A's (and 1 B+) for the first quarter! He has been working his tushy off. Sky passed his one year sobriety anniversary, also. Everyone who has been down on her knees for us can be assured, "The prayers of the righteous availeth much!" Thank you so much for your faithfulness--he's doing great! We recently visited several colleges, he did ok on his SAT's, and his attitude is very good.

2. We are tooling along with homeschooling. Nature Girl breezes thru most of her work--we do math and we read aloud every day, and we do grammar, spelling, history, and Bible about 4 days a week (once in a while we double up on grammar b/c we do most of it orally and I occasionally let it slide a bit). Keeping to the adage, small things done over time lead to great things. She is currently memorizing the Nativity story in Luke, for example--a couple of verses a week.

3. I am making enough $ to pay down debt and sometimes have enough for a tank of gas--Godly Man helps out with that. I've been babysitting for a dear family (1 year old) about once a week, and can take Nature Girl with me if I need to. I'm also walking dogs/pet sitting for a local company. I would like more hours, but am not ready to throw in the towel yet with hs'ing.

4. Film Buff is hoping to get into the cinema program at his college--he is having some adjustment problems and it's been pretty rough. I'm learning to keep offering up my children (to the Lord, of course) and that he is in charge.

5. Godly Man and I just celebrated the 26th year anni of our engagement--this July it'll be 25 years of marriage. We are thinking of going to the Holy Land, but are not sure at this point. With two in college (or nearly so), it will be tight, but 25 years is worth celebrating. When I told dh that Jerusalem didn't seem like an anniversary place, he said, "Why not? Marriage is sacred." Gotta love that man.

Well that's the update for now. Every day an adventure--Keeping my hands open by letting go of control and being open to God, waiting on him to fill them with all the Good he has for me and mine.

Look for more later in the week--pictures, weekly update, etc. etc.

Oh, and HI BETH!

First Day Tomorrow!

Well, I'm pretty excited, and so is Nature Girl. We made the decision to go ahead and homeschool her for fourth grade, and we start tomorrow! I still need to:

1. Clean up the school room. We revamped it a little, but it needs a good cleaning.

2. Make up a plan for the week. I have a plan book, but feel too confined by it, so I'll
probably just run off some gridded sheets today and fill them in. Most of our
stuff is open and go, but I still like to write it down, at least for the first week!

3. Gather materials for our first day. Need to decide what to do for history, first.

4. Make Nature Girl's Schultute. This is a wonderful German tradition (tho it's generally only
for the very first day of school, not every year) where a child is given school supplies and
various goodies in a paper cone. We use posterboard. I'll post a pic tomorrow.

5. Make a decision as to whether to start history with SOTW or with Homeschool in The
Wood's Explorer's CD-Rom. I'm leaning towards SOTW, adding in the HITW later.

6. Run off sheets for narration/history notebook, and copy the first 6 weeks of Writing With
Ease 3 (it's free on the Peace Hill Press site until the new workbook comes out).

7. Pray! I want to commit our school to the Lord. We've already had the schoolroom blessed
by dear Bishop "Livingstone," but I want to have some prayers and intentionality.

Gotta run! Lots to do!

Nature Girl's Flowers

Trying my hand at sharing photos via slideshows--
Nature Girl took these pics. All are lovely, but some are actually pretty good photographs for a 9yo! Let us know what you think.

Nature Girl's Flowers

View more documents from discoverychris.

Sky is Coming Home

We got the word the other day that Sky will be back home with us by the end of July.
He has been working hard to complete the program and heal--we have, too. I am still very tender in the hurt places of my heart where all the hard and bitter days still live in memory, but God is healing me, refining me, and redeeming all the lost time.
I don't know what Sky's future holds, of course, but I like to think he has much more hope than ever before.
Continued prayers would be lovely.

Revamped School Room

Welcome to our school room!
We've been working hard!


We've changed around the schoolroom just a bit. The art area has been switched with Film Buff's desk--since Film Buff is off to college (!!!) in just a month and a week, and Sky will be coming home (!!!) the end of July, I thought it might be nice to give Sky a study place. He usually uses the dining room table, but this will allow him to be a little more organized.


Following the wall around the room, this is Nature Girl's main schooling area. It's a little "school-y," but we like the classroom feel. We changed the border around the white board, and some of the posters on the wall. Grammar definitions are to the right. We were going to paint, but never got around to it.

Continuing around the room to the right (passing the door to the workout room), you can see the Chalkboard That We Never Use, and the nature table. I painted the chalkboard our first year, so excited to have a classroom and start homeschooling. Then I realized that chalkboards are needed in brick and mortar schools because there are so many kids learning at once, and the teacher can't sit beside every one. Not the case in homeschool, of course. Anyway, it looks nice and occasionally we use it as a backdrop for a cool map or picture, or for Nature Girl to write her spelling words on. The door goes to the backyard. (And yes, I know there are multiple sentence frags in the above paragraph...)

This is a close-up of the nature table. We got rid of the paper wasps nests, some old insects and various other items. Living in the woods gives us lots of opportunity to collect specimens! Can't save them all...


We put this border around the door and Nature Girl made the little stained glass ornaments to hang up (really just plastic). I have a topper for the window that I'll eventually get around to hanging.


About 10 feet of wall (where NG has her art posted) separates this comfy couch area from the rest of the school room. (There's a pool table in the middle of the room, too.) Film Buff liked to read here when he was homeschooled. It's so bright and pretty, we decided to make this NG's art area, as you can see in the following pictures.

We have a great collection of art prints from dollar store calendars--Renoir is on the walls currently, with some Van Gogh in the corner. I used to post Film Buff's assignments on this whiteboard, but now we'll use it to post the pictures we'll do for our artist/picture study.

One of our goals this year is to actually use the fireplace in the basement! We tried it two years ago, but I think the flue was shut--can you say "Smokin'!" If you click on this pic, it will enlarge (they all will); over the fireplace is the mosaic Last Supper that Godly Man did with his dad when he was little. It's made of those aquarium-type rocks. And that's Nature Girl, of course, with an art book strategically placed in front of her face (I don't post her pic full-face). Our art shelf is crowded with materials, but we still need brushes and clay for the year. She can use the materials any time, and often does!

Finally, this large African map--I find Africa fascinating, and thought it would be fun to do a little geography of the region this year. Our friend, Bishop Nykoyoyo (and I'll check on that spelling!) runs the Chain Foundation, and we will be trying to raise a few dollars for them and send some letters to the orphaned kids there as we learn about several African countries this year.

Thanks for dropping by!

Park Day

Isn't this dreamy? I love paths that wander off into the unknown...


We took some time off and visited one of our favorite local parks on Monday. This park has a lovely boardwalk that extends into a beautiful marsh.
There were so many blue dragonflies buzzing about!

These are either raspberries or unripe blackberries; we were unsure. They provide food for the wildlife, which is abundant!

Every time we go, we notice the changes, but there are always Canadian geese around.
Godly Man and Nature Girl are on the observation platform, looking into the woods that surround the marsh. Hard to see, but there's a fawn feeding just at the edge of the shadow of the tree on the right. Her mother was actually wading in the marsh, a good 150 feet away.
One of the many heron we saw. We also saw a red-winged blackbird, egrets, numerous butterflies, turtles, tadpoles and frogs...It is one of our very favorite places!

Changes and Challenges

I've neglected this poor excuse for a blog, but I'm preparing to do more posting.

As this originally started as a way to document and share our homeschooling journey, as well as other parts of our family life, I was not updating frequently because Nature Girl started going to public school, Film Buff graduated, and Sky remained in treatment.

Things are changing, however! Sky is making good progress, and will probably be home the end of July, depending on several factors. Nature Girl did extremely well in school, but longs to be home. I fought everyday with myself about going to work this year--it turned out to be an excellent, refining experience, but I want to be home next year, too, so I'm choosing not to teach preschool next year. Instead, I'm looking for pet sitting and babysitting jobs. So far, I've got a once-a-week job with a sweet, sweet family who have a 1yodd--cutie patootie! I'm also watching Millie The Wonder Dachshund, who is a pee-er, but extremely sweet.

Film Buff was not accepted into the Cinema program at his college of choice, but was accepted to the general program, so he will go in the Fall. I'm having separation anxiety! All will be well. I'm hoping he learned enough in homeschool to get by--he's really quite a nice young man, and pretty sensible.

Nature Girl and I did some work in the homeschool room. We moved the large desk Film Buff used up to the place where the art area was, and moved the art area to the lovely, window-surrounded area where the desk had been. I actually liked it better the other way, but Nature Girl and I were both ready for something new. I will post pics when it is a little more cleaned up. We have also hung a nice African map on the wall--it's a print out using 64 sheets of paper (we couldn't do the top level due to space, but all of Africa is on the wall). Again, I'll post pics and our new curriculum later this week.

Worshiping this morning at my computer...
Ever do that? I don't mean bowing down to the Holy Shrine of the Internet (though I do enough of that), I mean reading others' blogs and finding God in the midst of their every day joys and struggles.

I LOVE Stephanie's blog at Enduring with Grace. I would like to meet her someday irl.
Anyway, I spent the last half hour listening to her music. David Crowder is so awesome! He wrote a song that just had me worshiping my God--tears, raised hands, surrender, all of it.

How beautiful when we allow others to see our lives, and be inspired by our choices. Thanks for choosing the music on your blog, Stephanie!

Quickie Update

Sky is coming home for a 5 hour visit in about 20 minutes! Yea!
He's doing really, really well in treatment.

Nature Girl wants to homeschool next year--and I think I do, too. I'll be looking for something I can either do at home or do after day time hours, or perhaps something like midday dog walking (if it's only 2 hours or if Sky is homeschooling too and can keep an eye on NG).

Film Buff is on the waiting list at his college of choice--keep prayin', those who do!

Lent is upon us, and I'm having a hard time keeping my discipline. More along those lines, later.

I have some pics to post, and I have some more to say, but Sky can't use the computer when he's home, so I have to sign off--

SNOW!

I can hear Mike The LawnMan plowing our 550ft driveway as I type--we got about 4 inches last night! Nature Girl has been out a lot, accompanied off and on by one rather reluctant Golden Retriever--he loves the snow, but only until he sees someone will open the door to come inside!
Godly Man is off to the gym with Film Buff in tow--they are driving FB's Jeep because it has 4-Wheel Drive. Godly Man is an off-roader at heart, although he drives a Honda...

No school today meant lots of computer time for me, laundry, big chicken in the oven, and reading aloud by the fire in the fireplace. I'll probably put on some snow duds and go play in the snow for a little while with Nature Girl--wish I had real boots and some decent gloves!

March came in like a Lion for sure this year! Hope it stays cold enough to give us one more day off tomorrow! lol Just like a kid...

Weekly Update--yeah, right...

I haven't done a true "weekly update" since last year, but thought I'd just go over what our week was like, for the heck of it.

At preschool, I am getting ready to do conferences with the parents. Because I have two classes and two co-teachers, I have to do half of each class' conferences. This means I have 13 children to evaluate. We are observation-based in our evals, which means we try to look very closely at what the children do naturally in the course of the preschool day, with very little "testing." We record what we see, and set up activities based on what we perceive the children's needs to be. Usually I can fill in a check list with just the copious observations I have taken during the year, but not this year. It makes me feel I have really fallen down on the job, having to call over kids to show me how they build block towers or take a sample produced on the spot of their writing or their drawing. Oh well, next year I will be doing something different, and I just have to chalk up this year's teaching experience as something I needed to do, did somewhat well, and grew from.

We had a very busy weekend--I went to a pretty good workshop that lasted allllll daaaayyyy....on Saturday, and then went to our church's chili cookoff--that was great fun. Sunday, we went to church, visited Sky, then dh and I went to Mt. Vernon for the Birthnight Ball. I wore a short, black dress, with a sheer black, soutache-covered shawl. The best part was sitting with our 83-yo df, who is such a wonderful, wonderful woman. She is everything I want to be.

This week I had to take a personal day, which gave me a little extra time to do laundry and such, and I spent the rest of the week preparing for said conferences. LOST was a highlight of the week--what does THAT tell you?

Everyone else is doing all right.

BACK AGAIN!

Oh dear, here I am, the World's Worst Blogger. One of them, anyway. I have been posting very frequently on the Well-Trained Mind message boards (as Chris in VA, fwiw), and have totally neglected this blog.

Part of the reason is because I originally started this blog to be a record of our lives as homeschoolers. This year, Nature Girl went to 3rd grade at our local brick and mortar, and Film Buff finished his high school years in December. I went back to work (reluctantly) as a preschool teacher, because our expenses were high, and I wanted to contribute some $ to Film Buff's college fund. So, the blog "weekly updates" on our homeschooling progress really were nonexistent, and it's hard for me to just plunge in with a topic if I don't have a framework like that (witness my post about Survivor, of all things! lol --btw, it's on again, and yes, I'm watching...).

So here's a little update, and then I guess I will try to find another framework to make this blog workable (and readable) again!

Sky has gone back to treatment, and is finally doing very well. We expect him to start home visits around the end of March or so, with the hope that he may be home in June. He got straight A's, has been working on deeper issues, and seems genuinely on the path to recovery. I've never seen him work so hard or do so well. It is a pleasure to see him every Sunday, and I think things will be ok. Hard to have total hope, of course--"fool me once..." and all, but I think he's in a good place.

Film Buff got his GED (YEA!!) because his college of choice wouldn't accept a homeschool diploma, so he is officially out of high school. He did very well in English and pretty well in the other areas--math continues to be his bane, but that's ok, as his proposed major doesn't require a heck of a lot of math. He sent off his app to the college and got back an invite for an interview, which he did in February--we'll hear in March if he made it in. We are all hopeful, but it's a tight race for one of 20 slots in the cinema program.

Besides the interview, something else wonderful happened to Film Buff--he got his first car! A dear friend at church sold him a 1993 Jeep for $1, and he got it yesterday--fun Valentine's for him! He has to learn to drive a stick, but he's watched some youtube video on that, lol, and has his dad to help him. They both spent about 2 hours outside tinkering yesterday--big boys, big toys. It really is neat, and we are all so happy for him and grateful to Mr. W.

Nature Girl got a nearly perfect report card from 3rd grade, with one G and all the rest O's. She is not covering a lot of new material in the core subjects, but the way things are asked and the assignments are different, so I'm ok with it. She doesn't particularly like school because of the waste of time she sees, the boys talking too much, and the projects (though she does well, but doesn't like the pressure), and also because she feels she misses things at home. Next year, we are considering homeschooling again. I have to work somehow, so I just don't know. I can't really see her going next year, but I have to figure out what to do. Other than school, she's happy and pretty healthy, enjoying outside as much as ever, and awaiting Spring like the rest of us.

My hard working preacher man is fine--really taking his health seriously, working out 3 times a week. He finally found a wonderful assistant at work, after a lengthy search. We have high hopes for our church.

I'm still on the fence as far as whether or not to remain Episcopalian. Enough said for now.

That's the update--pictures and more interesting stuff to follow.

Read-Aloud Thursdays

OK, we'll try this! Amy over at HopeistheWord is tracking her read alouds and asking bloggers to do so with her! So, every Thursday we'll try for an update on what we are reading. I was doing weekly updates on our homeschooling efforts, but that will have to wait, as we are...DONE! More on that, later.

So, for today, our RA--We are going thru English Fairy Tales and will start a couple of Scheheradzad tales (not sure if I spelled that right!). I have a whole list to work thru from the gals at Well-Trained Mind (SUCH an excellent site! lol), so I'm excited to see what I can find at the library from their suggestions.

Here's to reading!