Road Trip Photojournal

Five days in Utah. Two brothers, two sisters-in-law, three cousins. And Grandma. Met my brand-new niece! Museum of Ancient Life. Children's Discovery Garden at Thanksgiving Point. Temple Square. Conference Center tour. Watched the fireworks from our third floor hotel room. Late nights. 102 degrees outside. My sister-friend Chantal. Lots of fun, but glad to be home. Need a vacation to recover. :)

Now Serving Skilly 'n' Duff

If you are a fan of the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, this post is for you.

Several months ago, my brother David kindly donated his childhood collection of Redwall books to Jacob. At first Jacob judged them to be "too old" for him, so they sat in a box in our garage. In March, he asked me to dig out the first novel in the series for him. He read it in four days. (These are 400-page books.) He is completely hooked. There are 22 books in the series. Jacob has read all but two of them.

I haven't read the books myself, but sometimes it feels like I live in them. Jacob now speaks with a British accent. He uses all sorts of fantastic words that I don't understand. When he calls his brother a "badger," I don't know if that is a compliment or an insult. When he wants food, he says "I'm as hungry as a gluttonous hare." This kid created his own meal plan based on the dishes mentioned in the novels. (The food is a very prominent part of the story.) I can almost see little furry creatures scampering about my feet.

You can imagine Jacob's delight when he discovered The Redwall Cookbook at the library yesterday. He was bouncing-up-and-down excited all day long today.

So tonight, we put on our best British accents and had a Redwall feast.

{October Ale}

{Savoury Squirrel Bakes}

{Guosim Shrew Shortbread}

{Dibbun's Delight}

Jacob declared it the best meal he has ever eaten.

Wot wot!

A Tribute

Happy Father's Day to the man who:

changes dirty diapers

fixes the telephone, washer, dryer, car, and pretty much everything else

makes dinner every Sunday (except today)

takes the boys fishing even though all they hook is each other

reads stories to Grace every night before bed

works hard so Mom can be home with the kids

sings to Abram when he puts him to bed at night

puts chains back on bikes

mows the lawn, trims the trees, and plants the garden

has a bag of peanut M&Ms in his "office" (car) at all times

loves classic cars, the outdoors, and a good steak

is diligently trying to learn how to do his daughter's hair

plays Uno, Phase 10, and Risk with the kids and is a good sport when he loses

leads family prayer and scripture study every day

takes a child with him when he runs errands, goes home teaching, or does a service project

plays soccer with the boys in the backyard

...and a thousand other things.

I love you, Marty!

My Summer To Do List

Buy a funnel cake

Read The Lonesome Gods

Complete the temple work for my great-grandmother

Bike the greenbelt

Enter a piece of artwork into the County Fair

Go letterboxing

Walk on the beach

Read a great book to the children outside

Memorize the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling

Take a road trip

Learn to cook a new dish

Plan curriculum for next school year

Make homemade ice cream

Keep a journal

Spend a morning at the farmer's market

Play in the fountains at S. Park

Watch fireworks

Work in the orchard

Learn the theme song from "Pride and Prejudice" on the piano

Hike in the mountains

Photograph a meteor shower

Hold my newborn nieces

Watch "Anne of Green Gables"

Draw a portrait of Grace

Eat smores

Visit Temple Square

Finish reading Plato's Republic

Give the boys a weekly cooking lesson

Have a picnic in the backyard with friends

Anybody want to join me??

Drumroll Please

It gives me great pleasure to announce the winner of the 2011 annual Family Home Evening homemade paper boat race:


Captain Zebra of the sailing vessel "Noah's Ark"... and its proud creator and helmsman:

Moi.

Thank you, really. Your applause is very generous.

Note: This is at least the fifth such boat race I have entered, and my first victory. Actually, it's the first time my boat wasn't eaten by the rapids. In all previous races I was beaten by a six-year-old who used an entire roll of Scotch tape to "waterproof" his craft.

Classics, not Textbooks

My absolute favorite thing about homeschooling this past year has been reading classic books with the children - books that aren't boring, "fluffy," mindnumbing, obscene, silly, or useless (in my opinion.) Real, living books. I realize that the definition of a classic is somewhat subjective; everyone's classics list will be different. I have read that "A 'classic' is a work — be it literature, music, art, etc. — that’s worth returning to over and over because you get more from it each time." I also believe that true classics bring us closer to Christ. They uplift, ennoble, inspire, elevate our minds, teach truth, refine our tastes, and heighten our spiritual senses. "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." That has been the standard by which we have tried to select the books we read.

If you didn't know by now, I am very much a list person. So here is a list of the classic books we read aloud together this year:

The Cricket in Times Square
The Wizard of Oz
Number the Stars
Prince Caspian
The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh
Tales of Peter Rabbit and His Friends
The Velveteen Rabbit
The Trumpet of the Swan
Little Britches
Man of the Family
Mary Emma and Company
Walt Disney (Childhood of Famous Americans series)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Sarah, Plain and Tall
The Jungle Book
The Year Money Grew on Trees
Poppy
Just So Stories
Pinocchio
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Farmer Boy
The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Door in the Wall
The Story of Dr. Dolittle
Stuart Little
The Princess and the Goblin
The Princess and Curdie
Morning Girl
My Father's Dragon
The Secret Garden
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Treasure Island


This does not include the shorter books we read as we studied history, math, science, art and music, which literally number in the hundreds. What an incredible journey it has been to wander through ancient Egypt, split the atom, explore Pascal's triangle, see the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, lose ourselves in Mozart's symphonies, and so much more...


"A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counsellor, a multitude of counsellors." ~Henry Ward Beecher

Bring on Summer!

Wednesday was our last day of school for the year. I can hardly believe the year flew by so fast. To celebrate, we took a picnic to the park and played all afternoon. We drank chocolate milkshakes and climbed on rocks. The boys pushed each other on the tire swing. Abram went down the slide. Again and again and again. When we finally got home, windblown and sun-tired, we crashed on the couch and read The Secret Garden.

There is nothing like that feeling of the first day of total freedom, with the whole summer stretching in front of you - the anticipation and all of the wonderful possibilities....

So far, this is what summer looks like at our house:

P.S. On Thursday we had breakfast, devotional, and family work as usual. About 10:00, Isaac came to me.

"Mom, can we have school now?"

"Isaac, it's summer. There's no school, remember?"

"Oh man, I forgot! {sigh} ...well, can we have school anyway? Please?"

{See Mom smile.}

The Inner Workings of a Less-active Blogger Mind

I realize my posts have been few and short lately. And like any good “less active blogger,” I tuck the kids into bed every night, do the dishes (not really – actually, I make myself a chocolate milkshake) and think, “I really ought to catch up on the blog.”


Poof!


(Devil Blogger appears on one shoulder): But so much has happened since you posted anything substantial – how can you even know where to start?


(Angel Blogger vies for equal attention): How about Easter. It was yesterday. You still remember Easter.


Me: Yes, I should definitely post about our traditional Passover dinner, and how we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.



D.B.: But what about chronological order? Shouldn’t you post about Isaac’s birthday first? It was on Saturday. You can’t just skip around in time like that.

Me: True… I certainly can’t neglect Isaac. And his airplane cake. And the fact that he is SEVEN!




A.B.: Great! Now you’re getting somewhere.

D.B.: You know, this wouldn't be so hard if you would just keep up. Good grief, how hard is it to post a couple of photos and write a paragraph now and then?

Me: Do you have kids?

D.B.: Nope, no little devils here. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Me: You have no idea. Get off my back - uh... shoulder.

A.B.: You tell him.

Me: Okay, where was I...? Looking at Isaac reminds me that he is playing soccer this season. He’s never played a sport before – this is a big deal. Oh, and I have to include how he scored the first goal of the season!!



A.B.: Hooray for Isaac!


Me: That reminds me – Jacob had an exciting month too. He won second place in the Pinewood Derby with his car “Firebolt 89.” What a night that was!



D.B.: Wait a minute. You’ve forgotten something. Isaac wasn’t the only one with a birthday.


Me: Yikes, am I really THAT behind? You’re right. Grace turned FOUR in February! And she reminds us of that fact multiple times a day.



D.B.: And…??? (Jeopardy music playing ominously)


Me: I know, I know… I really ought to mention how Marty lost his job three days after Christmas, but it was truly a blessing because there were a lot of things we abhorred about that job, and it gave him the time to make arrangements for his mother to move here from Maryland, and we found an apartment and furnished and decorated it from scratch,




and Marty flew out East for ten days, and in February when he got back he got the perfect job and he’s so much happier, AND it was definitely Divine timing because our new health insurance started EXACTLY 62 days after the old one ended, thereby enabling us to keep continuing coverage and….



D.B.: Snore… Nobody’s going to want to read all that.

Me: Did I ask for your opinion? Get out of here.



So you see why I haven’t posted much? It’s just too overwhelming.


I’d better go. My milkshake is melting.

Leadership Education

From time to time I receive questions about what curriculum or "school of thought" we use for homeschooling, so here you go. We are implementing Thomas Jefferson Education (TJEd), also known as Leadership Education in our home. It is not a set curriculum, but rather a philosophy - a set of principles which we follow. It is based on the Seven Keys of great teaching:

1. Classics, not Textbooks

2. Mentors, not Professors

3. Inspire, not Require

4. Structure Time, not Content

5. Simplicity, not Complexity

6. Quality, not Conformity

7. You, not Them

Some of my favorite things about this method are: There is a strong focus on teaching values and building character in our children, not just pouring information into them. It respects the age of each child and the developmental stage he/she is in. It creates a love of learning and a taste for things which are "virtuous, lovely, of good report, [and] praiseworthy." It does not push or force. (We have had NO tears or tantrums over schoolwork.) It lets children be children. There is an emphasis on learning from the real world - nature, the lives of truly great people in history, working alongside parents, service experiences, relationships, etc. Children are free to learn and grow at their own pace and according to their own inborn talents and interests. It is inspiring (for me as well as the children!) It dovetails perfectly with gospel truths. I could go on.... Studying and applying these principles with the guidance of the Spirit has done incredible things for our family.

If you are interested in learning more about TJEd, you can go to http://www.tjed.org/.

The Force Wasn't With Him

This injury was inflicted by a lightsaber in the hands of a Jedi who obviously has not received enough training.

My Very Own Leprechaun

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Jacob made this "crown" out of K'nex and wore it for most of the day in celebration.

As we headed off to the library this afternoon, he said "Look Mom, I took off the orange piece so it wouldn't look weird in public." Good thinking.