Six Weeks

The Patriot is already six weeks old. He's smiling a little and just beginning to coo; but mainly he spends his days fussing. I'll take this over night time fussing any day, though. So far, so good on that front.

Other bits of the goings-on around here:

• We had a great visit with the children's one and only first cousin (and his parents, of course!). The baby has now met the whole extended family.
• The girls are studying North America for an upcoming geography bee.
• We're hosting a little dinner party tomorrow night. Six adults, ten children (including us). I'm praying it won't be raining.
• We're getting near the end of Growing Kids God's Way, a seventeen week parenting class. I'm hoping to post more on this when we actually finish. We're learning lots of good stuff; it's the implementation that's a bit more challenging.
• The end of our journey with Harry Potter is also drawing nigh. Hubby (mainly) has been reading this out loud to the girls since January. They're almost done with the sixth book. I found a biography of J.K. Rowling at the library and the girls are carrying it all over with them. They're obsessed!

Dumb and Dumber

Thomas Friedman, in a recent NY Times piece, quoted findings of the McKinsey consulting firm, that "the longer American children are in school, the worse they perform compared to their international peers."  This is not a new finding. A few years ago, John Stossel did a TV program entitled "Stupid in America" and his assessment was the same: "the longer American kids are in school, the dumber they become." (These findings are primarily based on studies that show our 4th graders perform well - near the top - on international tests. By 8th grade, they are in the middle.  By the end of high school, our children rank near the very bottom).

As a home schooler, I don't reiterate this to denigrate the schools. I say it because so many politicians today (including the governor of our state and President Obama) are advocating for longer days and longer school years.  And they're asking for huge amounts of our tax payer dollars to fund these initiatives. America needs to think long and hard about how much we're willing to sacrifice - including the childhoods of our dear children - to ideas and programs that have no proven results.

Year End - Sort Of

The girls are backpack clad and taking their standardized tests this week, which means the year is sort of coming to an end. I say sort of because it's only April, and also because we don't really stop lessons in the summer. We continue math and Latin and usually do a few less formal, out of the ordinary subjects.

I'm still figuring out our summer plans, but one thing we'll pursue is the Sonlight Core 3 early American history books. We'll do the read a-loud selections in the evenings and I'll have Bobo read the student books during her daily reading time. Elbow can tackle some of them - like Squanto and Sarah, Plain and Tall - but I'll have to find some substitutions from the library for her.

We just said goodbye to my in-laws and my brother's family is coming this weekend, so it's light posting around here for awhile...

Babbling a bit...

Bobo's choir performed "Babble at Babel" last night, a great musical about the infamous tower of Genesis 11.  She is truly her father's daughter: the stage doesn't phase her a bit. 

In other news, Elbow hosted "tea for two" the other day for the newest member of our clan. 

Crockett is finding his groove as big brother.

And Toddzilla's made the pages of this blog enough lately.

That's all the news that's fit to print around here. Have a great weekend!

We Did It

We got through a very busy Easter week. I had all five children in church with me - front row, center - while Hubby was busy doing his pastor thing. That's not to mention the three hour (very child friendly) Good Friday service.

We're tired. And sugared up. So it's all good.

Happy Easter!

Lest You Think...

...It's all Latin and Classical Music around here, Hubby took Toddzilla to Monster Trucks over the weekend. Here they are posing with their ear plugs before leaving.

Be assured, I never thought we'd be that family.  

The Music Man

I've mentioned before that Hubby is the musical one in the family. He has sung to all our children, but our last two have benefitted from the addition of a piano in our home. Often, his method of calming a fussy baby is to sit down and play hymns - one handed of course. As you can see, he's already started this with The Patriot.

Crockett has definitely profited from this. Music is his first love. When he knows we're going somewhere in the car, the first thing he does is shout out the song he wants on the CD player. He's worn out two wooden, child sized guitars in his attempts to serenade us. Whenever we let him, he plays Elbow's violin with abandon. He's got better rhythm than me.

The girls too are carrying on the love of all things musical. Here they are last night all set for another coffee shop concert with their Suzuki groups. 

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." Berthold Auerbach

He Makes All Things New

When The Patriot came home from the hospital, he was greeted by this sign made by his oldest sister:

A new beginning indeed. It's been two weeks now, and we're still marveling at our newest little bundle, and adjusting to life with a baby again. Thank God for new life - through Christ - for all of us.

Two Weeks New.

Small Victories

I love how Elizabeth is posting some "small victories" around her home. I have only one to share this morning - it was a rather long night with the baby.  When Toddzilla saw me this morning, all dressed in jeans and a sweater, (after nine long months of the same gray sweatsuit) he said, "Mom, why are you so pretty today?"

I love that boy.