This year the time period we are focusing most on is The Middle Ages. We've talked about a lot of different parts to it, but since I wasn't doing the blog thing at the time, I'll just start with where we are currently. Maybe I'll go back and touch on some of the others later, maybe. So our most recent discussion in our homeschool youth group and here at home has been about King Richard and the Crusades. I've read numerous books on the time period, and one of the main constants that I noticed in them all, is that the knights, were really not very chivalrous. I'm sure that just like these days, where we hear mostly only of people doing bad things, but we know that they are far more good people than bad people that there were plenty of good knights, and some of the stories portray those, but they always have knights who don't follow the code of conduct that they swore they would when they were knights. Most recently we (Ginga' and I) read Ivanhoe. This is one of those books that for years, I would see on those 'classic lists', and I would avoid it, because of what I'd heard over the years about how daunting it is. It was a harder read than some, but wasn't as bad as I'd made it out in my mind. I must say though, that there were times that it just lost me altogether, and I had to go back and re-read parts to figure out what in the world Scott was trying to say. Ginga' listened to an audio as he read along with it, to help him with it, and I think that helped a lot. The man doing the voices was very good. So, after reading this, and then reading a couple of other books by the author, G.A. Henty (they called him 'The boys' own historian' back in his day for his ability to write the history but put in plenty of action and a great story line to help teach you about the event he was writing about), I read two books recently by him.
The first is called, Wulf the Saxon and the other is called, The Boy Knight. Wulf the Saxon is about the Battle of Hastings, and gives an excellent look at the Norman invasion and conquest of England. It details both William of Normandy and Kind Harold of England, and that fateful battle that changed the course of history. Because really, The Battle of Hastings, changed England so much, which of course has affected the rest of the world. I love that his books always has the main character be a person of good character, one that is never willing to compromise his integrity. (I suppose that sometimes makes the person not seem real, but I'm okay with that. I like that as my children read them, they can see those traits that we want to emulate, like honor, integrity, virtue, etc.)
The other book, The Boy Knight I also really liked, it really showed to me why the crusades failed so miserably so much of the time. Ivanhoe is also about the crusades. Both books had plenty of knights who were not honorable at all. They used their title as an excuse to do whatever it was that pleased them. During the time of the crusades, knights were promised by the pope that their sins would be forgiven them if they would engage in a crusade and recapture Jerusalem. They were even promised rewards in heaven for doing so. Many took that to mean that it didn't matter what they did, they could take and do what they liked just so long as they fought to try to recapture that holy city. I kept thinking about the scripture that refers to 'they draw near unto me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.' Because they weren't really seeking to do God's will, but were more out to make themselves look better, or to get gain, perhaps that is why they failed.
I wrote this over a course of time, so if it seems fragmented, well, that's because it probably is! Please forgive typos, and wording that may not make sense. :)
Monday, January 21, 2013
Sick!
I hate being sick. Luckily, so far I am not. However, several children are. Ginga' has had a sore throat and fever for 5 days now. Rock started up with his about 3 days ago, and Squirrel woke up with a fever this morning. Apple is grumpy, but it's hard to tell if she's sick or teething. I think perhaps a bit of both. Both boys have almost lost their voices, and sweet Nutmeg has done the paper route the past 3 days, and will be doing it again tomorrow, unless she wakes up sick. I sure hope not. This seems to be a forever bug that likes to linger on and on. We had to cancel our youth classes for tomorrow, because 3 of the 4 mentors have sick kids, we would've carried on, but I got a phone call the mom who is the mentor over the science/math lens this evening saying that they had a little sick one too! It's crazy! I can't believe how many are ill. Hopefully everyone will be back on their game for next week. Lest, it seems I'm complaining too much, let's look at the positives we can find in all this.
1. Ginga' has time now to study for the class that he thought he would have to miss. Yea!!
2. The blood typing kits didn't arrive in time for class tomorrow, so we were going with plan B, but now they should be here for next week and we can have fun poking our fingers and figuring out what everyone's blood type is. We are talking about William Harvey, who back in the 1600's figured out blood circulation. I was pretty excited to discuss him and do the experiment of blood typing too, so hopefully we are all better next week.
3. When sickness hits, it makes us grateful for all that those who are sick do to help out around here. Paper route, laundry, dishes, garbage, animals, etc. I am SO grateful for all my children do, they are wonderful.
4. I'm not sick, so I can take care of everyone else so much better!
5. Nutmeg isn't sick, so she can help me with all the extra work, and she is usually caught delightfully singing her way through the endless amount of work that she and I share.
6. Apple took 2, that's right count them, 2 awesome naps today. One was 2 1/2 hours and the other was 2 hours. What a tender mercy, and I totally needed her to do that. Usually, she takes one really good nap (1 1/2-2 hours), and then a cat nap. So, at least if she's going to be sick, she's sleeping rather decently. (Now that I said that, she will probably sleep awful tonight, I know, I'm a bit superstitious, but there it is.)
7. Even though the boys don't feel like reading or doing much of anything except laying around, I can sneak learning in a little, by offering the tablet with learning apps on them, and telling them that is all they are allowed to do on it. Ginga' learned a lot of geography today that way, he found he can find and identify 80% of the countries and their capitals in Asia. Sweet!
8. Rock has been practicing math facts like crazy, because I found this app that is sort of a angry birds/math thing. He has to get the ninja guy to the correct answer by tilting and tweaking different things. Nutmeg likes it too.
9. Squirrel continues to play pretty well as long as she's medicated. She spent quite a lot of time with the 'Think it through tiles' today. They are made by discovery toys. Here's a link if you're curious.
Think it through tiles
10. Because of the changes to class tomorrow, I got to talk to some of my favorite people on the phone. I know that I could do that anytime, but life gets so hectic that sometimes I just don't get to it, even though I would really like too!
There is so much to be grateful for, even when the situation is less than ideal. I could keep going, but I think you have the idea. :)
1. Ginga' has time now to study for the class that he thought he would have to miss. Yea!!
2. The blood typing kits didn't arrive in time for class tomorrow, so we were going with plan B, but now they should be here for next week and we can have fun poking our fingers and figuring out what everyone's blood type is. We are talking about William Harvey, who back in the 1600's figured out blood circulation. I was pretty excited to discuss him and do the experiment of blood typing too, so hopefully we are all better next week.
3. When sickness hits, it makes us grateful for all that those who are sick do to help out around here. Paper route, laundry, dishes, garbage, animals, etc. I am SO grateful for all my children do, they are wonderful.
4. I'm not sick, so I can take care of everyone else so much better!
5. Nutmeg isn't sick, so she can help me with all the extra work, and she is usually caught delightfully singing her way through the endless amount of work that she and I share.
6. Apple took 2, that's right count them, 2 awesome naps today. One was 2 1/2 hours and the other was 2 hours. What a tender mercy, and I totally needed her to do that. Usually, she takes one really good nap (1 1/2-2 hours), and then a cat nap. So, at least if she's going to be sick, she's sleeping rather decently. (Now that I said that, she will probably sleep awful tonight, I know, I'm a bit superstitious, but there it is.)
7. Even though the boys don't feel like reading or doing much of anything except laying around, I can sneak learning in a little, by offering the tablet with learning apps on them, and telling them that is all they are allowed to do on it. Ginga' learned a lot of geography today that way, he found he can find and identify 80% of the countries and their capitals in Asia. Sweet!
8. Rock has been practicing math facts like crazy, because I found this app that is sort of a angry birds/math thing. He has to get the ninja guy to the correct answer by tilting and tweaking different things. Nutmeg likes it too.
9. Squirrel continues to play pretty well as long as she's medicated. She spent quite a lot of time with the 'Think it through tiles' today. They are made by discovery toys. Here's a link if you're curious.
Think it through tiles
10. Because of the changes to class tomorrow, I got to talk to some of my favorite people on the phone. I know that I could do that anytime, but life gets so hectic that sometimes I just don't get to it, even though I would really like too!
There is so much to be grateful for, even when the situation is less than ideal. I could keep going, but I think you have the idea. :)
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Rock's hidden talent
Rock has always given me a run for my money. I never quite know if what we are doing is working for him or not. I remember one time when he was about 5 years old. We had gotten the neighbor girl to come over and babysit for the evening, and when we got back, we found out that Rock had just finally stayed in bed, 2 hours past his normal time. I guess he really liked her, because this boy of very few words (he didn't speak until 4 or so) had spent the last few hours after his siblings had gone to bed entertaining her with various conversations. The one thing I remember her telling me he did was to count to 100. Several times. At the time, I didn't even think he could count to 20, let alone all the way to 100. He has never been one to perform, especially if you want him to. When he was little and you would try to take his picture, he would shout at you, "Me no like pics!" I have tons of pictures of his hands over his face. He still does it sometimes. Like this one, he's just a bit more subtle than he used to be.
So, the latest thing he did, that we just happened to find out about, since there was no way he would ever have voluntarily told us is that he can really memorize stuff. I had no idea he could memorize so well. He and Ginga' and Mr T. are part of a scouting division that is called Order of the Arrow. It's focus is on service, and Indian lore. There's a ton more to it than that, but I don't really know and I'm not supposed to, so I don't ask too many questions. Anyway, they have these ceremonies that they do for different things, and he memorized one of the character's lines, as well as knowing the cues of who else is talking so that he knows when to say what he needs to say. Awesome. Ginga' was practicing his lines out loud, and Rock totally surprised him by answering him when he came to an end of his part. Love it! It's so cool to see the respect that these two brothers have for each other. (Don't worry, they aren't perfect, they still have those brother moments as well.)
I'm excited to see what else this boy has up his sleeve, and all that he has to offer. I love him!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Family School and Winter snow storms
This year we have started something here at home called 'Family School'. It is an LDS based curriculum. We have been really enjoying it, at least when the internet is working well. I have had to change our plans on occasion because of technical issues, but for the most part the younger kids are liking it. I like it because it helps me to focus on something and because it incorporates LDS principles into their otherwise secular learning. I really, really like that. I know that I could have put something similar together on my own, but this saves me so much time in finding the different resources that I just would probably never go look for, due to lack of time. It has pictures, video, Mormon messages, plenty of worksheets (more than I would normally want to deal with, but when I asked them if we should just skip some of those, I got a big fat no!) all in one friendly place online. Ginga' is a bit too old for it, and so engaged in all the other things that he has on his schedule, that he doesn't do it with us very often. Occasionally though, he will join us, and I always appreciate his insights that he shares with us. It has been a wonderful fit for Nutmeg and she is just thriving with it, most of the time. (Except for those times when she decides that spelling a certain word, or some other minor problem, is the end of the world, and then, well...it's not very pretty.) Squirrel tries hard, but her attention span isn't that wonderful, so she comes and goes with it. If there's a video, or activity, we can usually get her to return to us, otherwise, she floats, and that's okay, she is learning a lot at her own pace, and we will just have to work with that. Rock, is well, Rock. He is hard to engage in just about anything, unless it's his idea. But he's the who likes the worksheets best, so, perhaps he's just playing it cool. His latest passion is lock picking. He took some bobby pins and cut the ends off, and successfully picked his brother's filing cabinet. Hmm. Ginga' moved anything he didn't want him to take possession of. I'm trying to figure out how I can use this to increase his educational pursuits. (Any ideas Mary? You probably just had an explosion of them as you read this, I sure miss having you around to tell them to me!:) Anyway, back to the family school. It's been so great, and I am excited about all that I am learning and re-learning with them. That's the best part of homeschooling, being with your kids to see how they grow and learn, and getting to learn right along with them.
Today we did art. I know, for those of you who know me, not my favorite subject, and I would never have done it on my own. I even drew a fish and a bird and a face. And you could even tell what they were. I find myself getting so impatient to just have it finished already. I guess it will be a good way for me to exercise my patience as well as my artistic pursuits. We are doing art once a week, because I have this artist on my hands (Nutmeg) who just can't get enough, and is so much better than me at it. I'm sure it helps that she loves it, but she is definitely gifted in this area. So, today's lesson talked about the element of Line in art, and we talked about Walter Rane, who has painted many paintings about scriptural subjects. Then we finally got to the part where she was able to do something, and we drew the 6 days of creation. Needless to say, the rest of us were done long before she was, and I think she continued practicing her tree drawing skills for an hour after we had finished, love it!
The rest of this week we were working on Geography. We are studying Asia right now, and so we talked about the latitude and longitude and located a bunch of places. I don't worry to much about geography anymore though, because we have these awesome maps on our kitchen table and the kids are constantly quizzing each other anytime we have a meal, so they have learned a ton since I put them on the table. The best thing about using the family school geography is that it goes into a lot of the less obvious things about geography and makes you think about it. Like latitude and longitude, equator, time zones, etc. Those things to me are just -there. I don't really think about them very much, but it's good for the kids so that they will be familiar with them. They have also gotten really good at finding things on the globe. We really like geography around here. We are reading the story "Young Fu, of the Upper Yangtze" right now for our family reading time, and it's based in Asia, so it is helping connect things for us. I just love historical fiction, really well written ones that really help you understand the culture and time that it takes place in are fabulous. History is my favorite to learn about and study. I think I will have to write a post sometime about all my favorites. We'll see if I get to it anyway. :) It would be rather long.
Here's the link for the Family School, if any one is interested. http://network.latterdaylearning.org/
This is off topic, but I'm looking out the window right now, and we have TONS of snow. I think we have gotten almost 20 inches in the last 26 hours. The kids are having a blast though. We actually postponed our school time today until the afternoon, because they just couldn't wait to get out into it. They shoveled off the trampoline before breakfast (their choice, not mine), and then I managed to drag them in for smoothies and breakfast before they were geared up and back out in it. I am sure glad that we didn't have to go anywhere today, because I would probably have just skipped it anyway! The county even cancelled school. I don't think we have had this much snow in a long while. I am thinking that it's been about 8 to 10 years since we've been this snowed in. The last time we had this much, Mr. T had to shovel it with a shovel and it would take him about 3-4 hours to do our humongous driveway. After that season, he bought a heavy duty snow blower, and although he has used it some, this will be it's first really good workout. Now it takes him about an hour. Not to bad.
This blog thing is a great way to journal, hopefully any of you who choose to read it, don't mind my ramblings. Better go start dinner! It's Rock's week to help me, so that he can feel capable of feeding himself one day. He's not a big fan of helping, but he sure is about eating it.
Today we did art. I know, for those of you who know me, not my favorite subject, and I would never have done it on my own. I even drew a fish and a bird and a face. And you could even tell what they were. I find myself getting so impatient to just have it finished already. I guess it will be a good way for me to exercise my patience as well as my artistic pursuits. We are doing art once a week, because I have this artist on my hands (Nutmeg) who just can't get enough, and is so much better than me at it. I'm sure it helps that she loves it, but she is definitely gifted in this area. So, today's lesson talked about the element of Line in art, and we talked about Walter Rane, who has painted many paintings about scriptural subjects. Then we finally got to the part where she was able to do something, and we drew the 6 days of creation. Needless to say, the rest of us were done long before she was, and I think she continued practicing her tree drawing skills for an hour after we had finished, love it!
The rest of this week we were working on Geography. We are studying Asia right now, and so we talked about the latitude and longitude and located a bunch of places. I don't worry to much about geography anymore though, because we have these awesome maps on our kitchen table and the kids are constantly quizzing each other anytime we have a meal, so they have learned a ton since I put them on the table. The best thing about using the family school geography is that it goes into a lot of the less obvious things about geography and makes you think about it. Like latitude and longitude, equator, time zones, etc. Those things to me are just -there. I don't really think about them very much, but it's good for the kids so that they will be familiar with them. They have also gotten really good at finding things on the globe. We really like geography around here. We are reading the story "Young Fu, of the Upper Yangtze" right now for our family reading time, and it's based in Asia, so it is helping connect things for us. I just love historical fiction, really well written ones that really help you understand the culture and time that it takes place in are fabulous. History is my favorite to learn about and study. I think I will have to write a post sometime about all my favorites. We'll see if I get to it anyway. :) It would be rather long.
Here's the link for the Family School, if any one is interested. http://network.latterdaylearning.org/
This is off topic, but I'm looking out the window right now, and we have TONS of snow. I think we have gotten almost 20 inches in the last 26 hours. The kids are having a blast though. We actually postponed our school time today until the afternoon, because they just couldn't wait to get out into it. They shoveled off the trampoline before breakfast (their choice, not mine), and then I managed to drag them in for smoothies and breakfast before they were geared up and back out in it. I am sure glad that we didn't have to go anywhere today, because I would probably have just skipped it anyway! The county even cancelled school. I don't think we have had this much snow in a long while. I am thinking that it's been about 8 to 10 years since we've been this snowed in. The last time we had this much, Mr. T had to shovel it with a shovel and it would take him about 3-4 hours to do our humongous driveway. After that season, he bought a heavy duty snow blower, and although he has used it some, this will be it's first really good workout. Now it takes him about an hour. Not to bad.
This blog thing is a great way to journal, hopefully any of you who choose to read it, don't mind my ramblings. Better go start dinner! It's Rock's week to help me, so that he can feel capable of feeding himself one day. He's not a big fan of helping, but he sure is about eating it.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Green Smoothies
For a long time I have felt that we needed to eat better around here. I know that we already eat pretty healthy, but I also know we can do better. With all the candy, treats, and desserts that were around here during the holiday season, we have developed some bad habits. When I say 'we', I mostly mean Squirrel. The other kids have come to expect it as well, but Squirrel has been the worst. She always asks for a treat. 9 am, 2 pm, 5 or 7pm, it didn't matter. And she was becoming incredibly picky about eating what I offered. I have also noticed that lately it has been hard to get her attention and keep it for any amount of time. So, with the new year, we have instigated a new rule. You eat it. Period. She has been driving me crazy with her refusal to eat certain things, like eggs and salad. It was hard for the first couple of days, but surprisingly, she has adjusted pretty quickly. (She still makes awful faces when she eats her eggs, but she is managing it.)
I have some family and good friends who are eating differently than the typical american diet, and I have seen amazing results in the health of them and their children. I have gone back and forth on it over the years, trying to nix out the sugar (oh, I love sugar!) and other things that are not as healthful as they could be. Generally what happens is that I read a book (I know, surprise, surprise), and I get all inspired to change what we are doing and I want it to happen, RIGHT NOW! Well, that lasts a week, maybe. No one likes that drastic of a change, and it's really too hard to pull on a 15 year old growing-like-a-weed boy. So, last week I found myself with my parents at a 'Green Smoothie Girl' conference (for lack of the word that I can't think of at the moment), it was a couple of hours with her talking about what she has learned about health and diet over the last 20 years. (If you don't know who that is, google it, it will come up fast. Her stuff is kind of pricey, but she has great tips and ideas.) Anyway, she has this system she calls '12 steps to whole foods'. Here's the link: http://greensmoothiegirl.com/get-healthy/programs/12-steps-to-whole-foods/
Well, my mom bought the manual, not the whole program-yikes-it's expensive, and so of course, I've been reading it here and there. The idea is that you work on one step a month. And make it a habit, then you start on the next one. By the end of the year, you are eating a totally different way, and feeling great. So, we are sort of doing that. Like I said before, we are already pretty healthy, and I may start doing some of the things she suggests sooner than the manual says, like sprouting nuts and seeds, because that isn't until step 7, and I want to do that sooner, so we can have healthier snacks around here. Anyway, the first step is making green smoothies a part of your daily life. I've been doing it for almost a week, and I have to say, I feel better! Less headaches, system working better, more energy (especially when Apple sleeps at night ;). Overall, pretty good. We are doing them gradually though. I am doing them about 50/50 veggies and fruit. The kids and I still need things kind of sweet. The first couple of days were hard for Squirrel, I had not ever before been able to get her to drink a smoothie of any kind, but we reminded her of the new rule, and she has to drink it before we have breakfast, so she gets it down before breakfast is finished being made. She says, "They are pretty good." I figure that by slowly incorporating these changes, that it will make it easier for all of us to adjust, and it will make it so that I don't have to learn a whole bunch of new tricks in a week....which just never works, it just wears me out! So then I go back to what is easy and my hands can do without my brain having to think about it. :)
I'm sure we will have rough spots here and there, but I'm excited to see what we can do!
So, my wonderful sister in law and brother, here it goes! You need to know that you have been very inspiring, and a lot of my desire to learn some of these new things are because of you. I love you both so much!
I have some family and good friends who are eating differently than the typical american diet, and I have seen amazing results in the health of them and their children. I have gone back and forth on it over the years, trying to nix out the sugar (oh, I love sugar!) and other things that are not as healthful as they could be. Generally what happens is that I read a book (I know, surprise, surprise), and I get all inspired to change what we are doing and I want it to happen, RIGHT NOW! Well, that lasts a week, maybe. No one likes that drastic of a change, and it's really too hard to pull on a 15 year old growing-like-a-weed boy. So, last week I found myself with my parents at a 'Green Smoothie Girl' conference (for lack of the word that I can't think of at the moment), it was a couple of hours with her talking about what she has learned about health and diet over the last 20 years. (If you don't know who that is, google it, it will come up fast. Her stuff is kind of pricey, but she has great tips and ideas.) Anyway, she has this system she calls '12 steps to whole foods'. Here's the link: http://greensmoothiegirl.com/get-healthy/programs/12-steps-to-whole-foods/
Well, my mom bought the manual, not the whole program-yikes-it's expensive, and so of course, I've been reading it here and there. The idea is that you work on one step a month. And make it a habit, then you start on the next one. By the end of the year, you are eating a totally different way, and feeling great. So, we are sort of doing that. Like I said before, we are already pretty healthy, and I may start doing some of the things she suggests sooner than the manual says, like sprouting nuts and seeds, because that isn't until step 7, and I want to do that sooner, so we can have healthier snacks around here. Anyway, the first step is making green smoothies a part of your daily life. I've been doing it for almost a week, and I have to say, I feel better! Less headaches, system working better, more energy (especially when Apple sleeps at night ;). Overall, pretty good. We are doing them gradually though. I am doing them about 50/50 veggies and fruit. The kids and I still need things kind of sweet. The first couple of days were hard for Squirrel, I had not ever before been able to get her to drink a smoothie of any kind, but we reminded her of the new rule, and she has to drink it before we have breakfast, so she gets it down before breakfast is finished being made. She says, "They are pretty good." I figure that by slowly incorporating these changes, that it will make it easier for all of us to adjust, and it will make it so that I don't have to learn a whole bunch of new tricks in a week....which just never works, it just wears me out! So then I go back to what is easy and my hands can do without my brain having to think about it. :)
I'm sure we will have rough spots here and there, but I'm excited to see what we can do!
So, my wonderful sister in law and brother, here it goes! You need to know that you have been very inspiring, and a lot of my desire to learn some of these new things are because of you. I love you both so much!
Squirrel-isms again
I seriously need to figure out how to make this work better for all the funny things she says. I mean, really, how many posts am I going to have with this title? I'll have to work on that. Anyway, here's the latest.
Squirrel is sitting on Grandma's lap, and Grandma starts coughing. She's been sick, and when she gets a cough, it lasts for weeks. When she finishes coughing, Squirrel says to her, "Grandma, I like it when you cough, it makes your tummy go in and out, and that bounces me!" What a funny girl. We sure enjoy her thought processes.
Squirrel is sitting on Grandma's lap, and Grandma starts coughing. She's been sick, and when she gets a cough, it lasts for weeks. When she finishes coughing, Squirrel says to her, "Grandma, I like it when you cough, it makes your tummy go in and out, and that bounces me!" What a funny girl. We sure enjoy her thought processes.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Where's Ginga'!
Check this out. What do you see? Rock? Dirt? Trees?
Now, look closer.
Now, look closer.
Isn't it cool? This is when they were down in Arizona a few weeks ago. Funny that he happened to wear clothes that matched the scenery so well. Good thing he didn't get lost.
Here's another cool picture-they assured me that the ledge was huge, it just doesn't look like it.
They thought I would be all panicky when they showed it to me, but I think I handled it very coolly. Boys just have to do things like this sometimes. It helps them work through all those man feelings they have. Good for them, as long as they come home in one piece. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)