My Collection



 

It's coming.  I'm not there yet, but my collection is starting to look like something.  You are looking at the fruit of 4 years of collecting.  Don't they look purdy sitting all nice on the shelf like that?  I get a real thrill just looking at them.  My husband calls me a geek (a book geek that is) and I bear the name proudly.  Of course, these books are not for show.  I DO read them.  Can you see the bookmark sticking out of the one I am currently reading?  You may have to look close.

 

 

So...I've already picked out the room that will be my library one day.  It will be what is now Courtney's room.  It has the best wall space to natural light ratio.  You see, I need a certain amount of wall space.  And I need a good amount of natural light in there as I'd like to add a desk with a laptop in that space as well.  I want to read and write in that room one day.  Eric's room has the most natural light because it has 2 windows with a beautiful view.  But wall space is sacrificed.  Lindsay's room is the biggest but the window is poorly positioned and therefore does not bring in enough natural light.  Paul and Seth's room, again, not enough natural light.  But Courtney's room is perfect! 

 

 

One day...

Planning



It's been quite the busy week.  Just throwing in a field trip and a night of vaccinating can really clog up a week!  Well, today is Saturday.  That means it's lesson planning day.  If you're wondering, this is what lesson planning looks like... It's about a 2 1/2 hour ordeal.

 

 

 

 Seeing as things have been pretty crazy here lately, there is a glimmer of hope coming on the horizon.  I caught Daddy and Courtney carefully looking through a holiday resort magazine.  Let the REAL planning begin?  :-)

 

Math Conquered+ A Field Trip

We had a really good day today.  We got past a few tough milestones in school--Lindsay finished her first math book which is is a real celebration!  Math is not one of her strengths but she proved that with a little perseverance she can do it.  She was really proud of herself today and really, she has every right to be.  This is one highlight of homeschooling.  You've struggled and wrestled with the material right along with them day in and day out.  You've dried tears, encouraged, pushed them, taught and retaught concepts.  As a result, the celebration is really for both of you.  You're just as happy in their 'victory' as they are.  You TOTALLY understand what it took for them to get to that point.  Now she only has 1 book left to go.

On the same note, Eric, who IS my math whiz, had stumbled pretty hard on long division.  I think for him part of the struggle came in that he feels that ALL Math should be easy for him.  And long division was not.  Well today a light clicked in his brain and he totally mastered every long division question that was hurled at him.  He felt pretty good about himself, and once again, after seeing him struggle with it and working the problems over and over with him, day after day, I was pretty excited too.  We say he has officially conquered long division.

The books were shut by 11:30, and after lunch we got in the van and headed to the Space and Science Center.  Courtney hung out with grandpa and grandma and we took the kids through the Star* Wars Identities exhibition.  The kids LOVED it!  Included with all that, we bought a year's family pass to the center so that we could come back and take advantage of the facility in the near future.  On my next post I will add a few pictures of our day.

After picking up Courtney (who by the way LOVES hanging out at her grandparents' place) we took them all out for supper at Red Robins*.  The kids were great.  They thought it was such a treat!  Just before we were leaving, another family of 4 sat beside us.  I noticed the man and woman talking.  then the man stood up and very obviously counted our kids.  He actually used his finger to 'count them all up'.  Then he sat down again and told his wife, "There's five of them!"  I wasn't offended, but I was a little proud.  "Yup, 5," I was thinking.  "And they're pretty awesome kids too."

At home, we chilled.  Courtney went to bed and the rest of us soaked in the hot tub.  Seth and Paul went to bed thereafter and I read to the older kids.  Yup, a pretty good day.

43 minutes

 

43 minutes....that's how long it took Seth to chew and swallow his first bite of supper.  43 minutes and 8 of those lovely choking gags.  I got the first forkful of fish into his mouth at 6:01.  And then he sat, and sat and sat; letting the saliva juices slowly break down the food that rested on his tongue.  At 6:44 Seth had finally managed to get it down his esophagus.  I calculated that he had about 15 more bites of supper left.  This equates to 645 minutes until he's done his supper.  In other words, he should be done by 5:30 tomorrow morning.

 

There was a whole lot of this type of conversation going on;

 

Me: Seth, CHEW AND SWALLOW!

Seth: I don't know HOW!!!

Me: Really???  You've been doing it since you were born!

Seth: How do you chew?

Me: I'm going to throw that in a blender and make you drink it

Seth: Ok.



 

 

 

 

 

 

Red vs Orange

Here is Courtney...can you see what she's doing?

Here's a hint.  Do you see that wooden bowl on the counter?  At one point it was full of oranges.  Courtney happily hoists herself on the stool and busies herself by peeling oranges.  1 orange, 2 oranges, 3, 4, 5 oranges...14 oranges...27 oranges....  Well, maybe not THAT many.  The peels, like all her unwanted food, is casually thrown to the floor.

Once the job is done Courtney leaves.  Unfortunately, the evidence of her work remains.  Today was a pretty good day.  She only left 1 orange.  Some mornings if the kids have let her out of her room before I am awake I will find many unpeeled oranges sitting on the counter awaiting consumption.

A Boy and His Tractors

Top Reads of 2012

This year I'm only going to list 4 books.  I have read more than that, but these 4 stand out.

1) The Heart of Christ by Thomas Goodwin

I have read this book 3 times now.  In a nutshell the book talks about how, despite Christ now being in heaven, still has a great love for His people--based on Hebrews 4:15.  This year I read it for the second and third time.  I was determined to sit and wrestle with it until I understood the concept.  I took this book everywhere--to the church, to Boston Pizza, to the bush, in the shop, to piano lessons...  I pored over this book, I prayed over this book, I even made notes and marked up this book--and I do NOT write in books!  I bought this copy especially for that purpose.   If you opened the book you would see words written in the margins that say, 'Prove it Goodwin!  I don't believe you!'  You would see giant stars marking key paragraphs and individual underlined words.  You would see Scripture references scrawled out and large question marks beside bold statements.  The cover is a little battered--proof, I suppose, that I spent a good deal of time with it.  In this book Goodwin does an amazing job of exposing the tender heart of Christ towards his people.  Every second on this earth was travelled out of love for us.  I am convinced of the Saviour's love for me.  I no longer see His death as simply a duty that had to be done.   The language is strong; the explanations are grounded in Scripture.  The book is, at times, intense and I found myself needing to shut it because it was simply too much to take in--almost painfully so.  I have never had a book that made such an impact on me.  Christ loved His people while on earth; he loves them today as he sits in heaven. 

2) Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

This was an amazing survival story of a World War 2 Pilot who crashed into the Pacific Ocean with 2 of his buddies.  They floated on a yellow rubber raft for 46 days while fighting off starvation, thirst and sharks.  Finally they were found by a boat full of Japanese soldiers who immediately took the emaciated men to a prison camp.  Enduring grueling conditions, the pilot, Louis Zamperini, was shipped to another POW camp where he was used as forced labour for the enemy.  Liberated at the end of the war, Zamperini gives all glory to God for upholding him throughout the ordeal.

3) Lord, Teach Us to Pray by Alexander Whyte

Praying is hard, and I really learned a lot about different kinds of prayer when I read this book.  I loved the chapters on wrestling in prayer and the costliness of prayer.  I think what makes this book stand out from all others on prayer is the 'realness' of it.  Every chapter used a biblical character in prayer as an example of how to pray in different circumstances.  Plus, this is NOT dry reading!  There is a fervency that leaps off the page that I have seldom seen matched.  Whyte captures the imagination in so many ways; for instance when he describes the irreverent family at prayers--their creaking chairs, their yawns, coughs and sneezes...   Just so, so good!  I have already gone back to read certain chapters again.

4) Execution by Hunger by Miron Dulot

This book is almost an exact template of what I like to read--biography, history, Russia/Ukraine, politics...  The premise of the book is rather tragic.  In 1929 Stalin decided to collectivize farms.  In the Ukraine, local farmers balked.  This books tells the story of how Stalin dealt with these stubborn farmers.  Yes, he used his soldiers to raid and steal every scrap of food these poor people had to make up for outrageous quotas he had set.  After a severe winter, few survived.  The story is graphic--told through the eyes of one of the survivors.  It is a story that stays with you.  You cannot help but get extremely angry at such a defunct government who would 'punish' the very people who provide the food for the country.  You cannot help but cheer, in a rather tragic way, as you read of these people standing up to a powerhouse and paying with their very lives.

I am adding a link to read a piece from the book.  It's not for kids to read.
http://www.pascack.k12.nj.us/cms/lib5/NJ01000238/Centricity/Domain/111/AP%20Hunger%20Document.pdf

Brave

Words spoken in deep solemnity after a moment of reflection by Seth:

"Lindsay is very, very brave because she can brush her teeth without screaming."