In School this Week...

This week we took a break from our regular studies to focus more on Thanksgiving.

Monday:  We went to the Library for storytime and made a cornucopia craft.  Kent and Katy worked on their reading journals that I have asked them to fill out to receive their BOOK-IT rewards.  The piano was practiced and we read about the Pilgrims and about current thanksgiving celebrations.

Tuesday:  Katy practiced the piano.  We finished science from last week.  I checked over Katy's reading journal and it was complete.  Kent worked more on his reading journal.  They worked on making a Thanksgiving scene with stickers.  We went outside and drew sidewalk chalk thanksgiving pictures for anyone walking by to see.  Kent and Katy both helped me in the kitchen as well.

Wednesday:  I'm not counting the day for school, but each of the kids helped get ready for Thanksgiving.  Clark took two naps.  Felicity helped make GF cornbread.  Katy helped make GF cornbread dressing.  Kaomi helped make GF pumpkin pie.  Kent helped make GF apple cake.

The rest of the week we aren't focusing on school.

Black Friday at Home

Today we stayed home and worked/played around the house.  We started trying to assemble our little bit of fall decor to put away.  We are missing an Indian from our little people set so we spent  a lot of time looking for it.  We haven't found it yet.  I was able to go through two overflowing laundry baskets of hand me down clothing and find what we can use currently and might use in the future.  Then I bagged up the extra into two full 13 gallon trash bags to pass on to others.  I also finished filling up a box from the master bedroom with stuff to giveaway.  All our giveaway stuff is sitting by the front door ready to put in the van.

Jeff and Kent set up the Christmas tree and put the lights on it and we even decorated it this evening.  The kids all had fun listening to Christmas music and playing with our bell ornaments from the tree.  I'm sure we'll have our tree adventures with Clark to come, but for now he was a little curious, and didn't have too much of an opportunity to spend at the tree.  Then we had dessert followed by dinner while we watched a Christmas movie.

Tomorrow I hope to tackle Lissy's closet and all the clothes that are being saved and sort them into their boxes until needed.  I'm also planning on finishing gathering up our fall decor and beginning to set up our Christmas/Winter decor.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Psalm 69:30
"I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving."
                                             Psalm 69:30

Today We Were Blessed

This morning Clark took a nap.  He's not been napping in the mornings lately and with what was to come I found myself thanking God that he did sleep in the morning.

I was able to finish putting things away in the girls' room and we were able to finish up last week's science lesson.  Then the four oldest went upstairs to play and I took an unintended nap.

We were finishing up lunch when the doorbell rang.  It was a father and his two sons who go to Christian Service Brigade with Jeff and Kent.  Their family wanted to bless our family and they came to weed-eat and mow our weed infested yard, that we hadn't had a chance to take care of yet this fall.

It was an extra blessing for Kent because we were home and he got to play with his friends when their Dad didn't need them to help him.  Kent doesn't often get to interact with other boys in our home as most of the people we get together with have girls.

Quiet time was late in the afternoon for a short while.  I was checking my e-mail and found that I'd been blessed again by winning a giveaway by Gwen for a book call A is for Adam.  I also was blessed with a sweet e-mail from my husband telling me he loves me.

At the end of the afternoon our neighbor came over when we were out drawing thanksgiving pictures on our side walk.  She enjoyed getting out of the house, playing with the girls, and drawing pictures with us.

After we came back inside I started fixing the vegetables for dinner and Katy blessed me by asking if she could help me with the potatoes.  Since I was almost ready to put them in the oven, she counted carrots for our dinner(after finding them in the fridge) and cut them after I peeled them.  Then Kent came through and blessed me by seeing that Katy was having fun and he wanted to help cut carrots, too.  I asked him if he could help me with the beans instead.  He cheerfully helped me take the heads and tails off the green beans.  When we were done he helped pick up the carrot pieces and peels that had landed on the floor and he put the trash can closer to Katy so she could put the carrot scrap pieces in the trash easier.  Before Kent came to help he put Clark in his pack and play and put on a Praise Baby DVD for him to watch so he wouldn't get into trouble.

Tonight we will be able to enjoy our roast with the THREE vegetables I had planned rather than ending up with just one as often happens when I have too many distractions during the dinner hour.

Then Jeff came home with a new outfit for me to wear on Thanksgiving.



     Raising Arrows

In School this Week...

Monday:  We had a little lighter lesson day.  We went to the library and learned about spiders and made a spider web craft.  Kent and Katy worked on corrections from Friday and I helped them make sure they understood any concepts they seemed to be having trouble with.  Everyone helped take turns entertaining Clark.  Kent had a piano lesson.  Kent and Katy completed English and studied dictation.  Everyone enjoyed reading and looking at the books we checked out of the library.  For storytime we began reading A Pioneer Thanksgiving.

Tuesday:  We read science and history altogether and then started on other work.  Kent and Katy worked on English, Math and studied dictation.  Kaomi worked on reading a story from Mimi about Miff at the Vet and math.  Katy had her piano lesson.  We read more from A Pioneer Thanksgiving and all worked together to make the cranberry sauce recipe from the book after Felicity and Clark were down for their naps.

Wednesday:  We worked in the classrooms at church and went shopping for a few things for our shoeboxes.  Kent and Katy completed English.  We packed shoeboxes for  Operation Christmas Child.

Thursday:  We worked on history, English and math.  Kaomi worked on reading as well.  We worked on weaving a "nutting" basket with yarn and pipe cleaners.  Like you might have used if you were a pioneer child hunting for nuts in the fall.

Friday:  We worked on finishing up school, before Thanksgiving week activities.  We finished reading A Pioneer Thanksgiving.  I realized at the end of the day that we didn't complete science, but maybe we will do that on Monday.

Shoeboxes

I stocked up on school supplies when they were on sale.  I picked up odds and ends of neat things throughout the year and kept doubles of Kid's Meal toys/books.  This week we bought soap, washcloths, toothpaste, cups, candy, coloring pages, and stuffed animals or dolls, as well as other boy/girl activities.  Kent, Katy, and Kaomi went with me to help pick these things out.

Then we got ready to pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  The kids helped open packages and set everything out of like kinds together around the table.  Jeff wrapped the cardboard shoeboxes with wrapping paper. We wrapped the soap in the washcloths and put them in ziplock bags.  We put together a couple small ziplock bags of girls hair stuff.  Kaomi helped assemble bags of candy and Kent sealed them up.  I set the box of extra fillers to the side and we were ready to start.

Ready to start packing shoeboxes.

Kent, Katy, Kaomi, and Felicity each chose the box they wanted to fill and set to work around the table putting items in their boxes.  I helped Felicity.  The last stop was to see Daddy who had the boy and girl activities and he gave them one activity for their box.  When everyone had all their stuff they sat down to rearrange their boxes to fit everything in the best way.  Daddy helped them as needed.  While they were working on that I filled a box "from" Clark.  When their boxes were all arranged they brought them to me to see what kind of fillers they needed to help finish off their boxes.  Then Kent, Katy, and Kaomi each filled another box.

We've been doing this for several years and it is something our children have really enjoyed doing.  They look forward to choosing items and filling a shoebox full of things for a child who may not get any other gift for Christmas.

Have you ever packed a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child?
If you've wanted to pack a shoebox and don't have time or a drop-off point nearby, you can build a box online this year.

The Last Bouquets

My garden has been growing all season and I have enjoyed looking out my window at the pink zinnias and orange cosmos.

In anticipation of a hard frost this week I picked all the pink zinnias that were still blooming.  I'll miss seeing the flowers that we planted in the spring, but can anticipate the spring when we can plant some more.

Here are the last bouquets.

One bouquet looks a little strange because one of the windstorms we had this summer blew the plant over.  I never tried to straighten it back up so the flowers all turned and grew up toward the sun.  Then when picked they point down toward the table, unless of course you cut the stems above the curve, which I didn't do this time.

In School this Week...

Monday:  We started school and then I realized that it is the first Monday of the month and we were supposed to have the day off.  Oh well, if I need it next Monday we'll take it then, but there's holidays coming up so maybe we'll just wait.  Kaomi decided to have a mental block about reading the words she was was going to be writing today.  Then all of a sudden she remembered how to read.  Katy goofed off instead of working on her first lesson and got herself into trouble with the teacher.  Kent finished all his work before lunch.  Felicity played with her preschool box and Kaomi got to join her for a little while, before she needed to do math.  We learned about being polite in health, as well.

Tuesday:  We talked about the importance of voting and that a person who is going to vote needs to vote for the candidate that they think will do the best job leading our country. The voters need to be informed about what the candidate says they want to do and aligning what they say up with what God says.  Then I went to vote for a new president.  We talked more about trees and then about the life cycle of a monarch for science.  Kent and Katy have been doing a good job practicing the piano this week.  I need to make time to give each of them a new lesson.  Kaomi worked on math, reading and we read more about The Adventures of Grandfather Frog.  Katy didn't finish her work again.  She does this when she thinks it doesn't matter and she'd just rather not do it right now.  She will have to finish it tomorrow.

Wednesday:  We volunteered restocking the classroom supplies at church and then Kent, Katy, and Kaomi were able to redeem their first BOOK-IT coupons of the season for a personal pan pizza at pizza hut.  We brought our pizza home and after lunch Kent worked on English and math and KAty worked on English and made sure she had completed everything from Tuesday.

Thursday:  We read about William Carey for Bible and how he was a determined boy and how he grew up to be a determined man spending 41 years as a missionary in India.  Everyone worked well on their school work.  Kaomi did a great job practicing writing letter J and j.  She even got a star on her paper, which gave her a big smile.  I forgot that we were supposed to do art, but I'm not sure how well that would have gone considering Clark was into everything anytime he wasn't in bed.

Friday:  In science we learned about how animals in the woods are camoflaged and how maple trees spread their seeds.  Kaomi worked on handwriting a sentence that she could read and for math we worked on making groups of 10 with beads.  While we were working on that Felicity was attempting to string some beads, but after getting a couple on she would inevitably turn her string upside down and dump them off on the table and floor.  She got frustrated with that and decided it wasn't as fun as she thought it would be.  Kent and Katy both worked on reading their fantasy books with me today.  Clark got to spend some time in the pack and play in the living room with a couple toys from his toddler box.  He wasn't very happy about it at first, but decided playing was more fun than crying.  I also read him a board book about Jesus, so he got to have that book to look at as well.  Katy decided that she should finish her school today, so she was working on it after 4 pm.  This was before I checked with her about whether she had completed everything or not.

Cleaning Kent's Room

This week Kent and I have been focusing on cleaning his room.  We completely went through everything and threw away everything that was trash or broken.  If it didn't belong in his room we put it away.  We evaluated whether he plays with certain toys and put them in the giveaway box if it wasn't something he had used in a long time.  He has a really hard time getting rid of anything, so hopefully by me working with him it has given him an idea how to evaluate whether or not he should keep it.

Now we just need to dust and vacuum and then we can put his room back together.  I'm hoping to finish the last few things this evening.  Then he will get to pick 2 of his toys/collections to keep out besides his Legos and the rest will be put up on the top shelf in his closet for now.  If he wants to get something else from the shelf he will have to put something he already has out completely away and up on the shelf first.  He can't reach the shelf easily, but is pretty compliant so I'm not expecting any complaints from him.  He is also under strict orders that if he wants to play with his cars and car sets that every Lego must be put away before he gets them out.  The same applies to the train set.

We are all hoping that with more visible room on his shelf he will be able to see what he should do better when it is time to straighten up his room and if there is more room on the shelf then maybe there will be fewer toys spread all over his room that he can't find the parts to.

He's been a good sport even when he hasn't liked me throwing away things that he thinks are useful.  I've reminded him that there will be more acorns, papers from Sunday School, etc.

He has a giant angry bird poster that we tried to hang on his wall this summer, but the tape wouldn't stick to the paint on his walls.  Today I hung it up in his large closet for him so he can see it.  It should stick to those walls.  He was excited about it being hung up so he could actually see it.

Update:  The tape didn't stick in the closet either, so I put it back up with push pins.

    

A Two Year Old's Perspective on Voting

I told Felicity that I needed to go vote this morning.  She wanted to know if she could go with me.  Of course she can.

Then she asked if we were going to see Grammy at the "boat".

Me:  "No, we won't see Grammy.  I am going to vote for a new president for our country."

Felicity, running off into the other room: "Hey kids we're going to float."

Next, I hear her in the living room telling Katy, "Mommy's going to vote for a new princess."

Bountiful Basket #9

This past weekend I got to get up extra early, while the stars were still out to go and get our Bountiful Basket.  This week we ordered an Italian Theme pack which contained: red and yellow onions, garlic, eggplant, green peppers, zucchini and yellow squash, parsley and basil.  We also ordered 9 grain bread and the organic basket.  Our organic basket contained: Romaine hearts, cauliflower, green chard, zucchini, carrots, cilantro, spaghetti squash, garlic, grapes, apples and pears.  Since I volunteered I chose 1 package of blackberries as my thank you.  I was able to get a second package of blackberries because there were a couple moldy ones in it and someone didn't want it (we were able to provide them with a good package because several baskets had extra blackberries).

I came home and fixed breakfast for my family.  We had biscuits with butter and blackberries.

In School this Week...

Monday:  We were able to go to the Library this week.  They had one of our local policemen there talking about bullying.  He did a good job.  Kaomi did a great job reading new words with the ck consonant blend.  Kent and Katy worked well on their school, as well.

Tuesday:  Jeff got the kids started on school while I was at my mid-wife appointment.  He had Kent fold ALL the laundry, which I saw when I returned home and I realized I hadn't told him how much should be folded (I washed 3 loads on Monday and they were all in the basket.)  They usually only have to fold 1 load.  We worked on all our together work after lunch.  Kent and Katy began working on new books for reading.  The genre they are reading is fantasy.  Kent is reading the first section of The Pilgrim's Progress and Katy is reading The Littles.  This is the last reading genre we plan to work on before Christmas.  After supper we worked on making corrections, so we wouldn't have to work on that tomorrow.

Wednesday:  We didn't do any bookwork today.  We were making sure to have everything ready for our Halloween Ministry event.  I did give some long overdue piano lessons to Kent and Katy.

Thursday:  After cleaning up trash outside from our Halloween Ministry event we began our morning with history.  We read about Marion and the tower he built to defeat a British fort and George Rodgers Clark and the march he and his men took to take over a British fort and stop Indian attacks in the middle of winter.  Then each of the kids got to build their own tower with Legos.  After building towers we moved on to individual work.

Friday:  We explored leaves for science today.  We looked at artificial and real leaves with magnifying glasses.  Kent and Katy had to look for differences in them.  We also got to look at a piece of leaf through our microscope.  Uncle Sean and Aunt Rebekah gave us a microscope a couple years ago and this was our first time to use it.  Kent was excited to be able to see the stomates in the leaf section under the microscope.  We also talked about tree trunks and the different layers in the trunk.  Then we looked at an old log that we had in our backyard and tried to count the rings.  There were about 30 rings.  I may have missed a few when counting as the cut end wasn't cut quite even and it was sometimes hard to tell if there was a ring or just a bump from being cut.  Then everyone had a diagram of a log to label the parts.  They each got to choose their diagram from three that I had found online.  Katy and Felicity choose one to color.  Kent choose an actual picture of a cross-section of a tree and Kaomi choose a digital rendering of a cross-section.  We also completed our regularly scheduled lessons as well.  Kaomi worked on reading a story from Pa and Mimi about Miff and the Chip Munk.  Katy chose not to get her school finished so she will be doing homework on Saturday.