Boys

After we finished school on Thursday, these guys helped me make their graduating sisters a cake - with two types of frosting of course.

It was supposed to be me and the two littlest boys for a couple of days while Hubby took the big three to "Man Camp." (Dads and kids camping at a farm owned by one of the dads - no moms allowed). Toddzilla got to the camp only to get sick, so he joined us early on Friday evening. As you can see, he rebounded pretty quickly.

You have to be three to go camping in this clan, so these two are still in training.

Home Education in the News

A recent USA Today article on home schooling claims parents who choose to home educate their children are "increasingly white, wealthy, and well-educated."

Voddie Baucham responds, claiming the USA article "misses the mark."

Glenn Beck will being tackling this topic on Monday (June 1) on his Fox News program.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Wishing my mom a happy 65th birthday! 

Nana - as she's known around here - has been there for the birth of all our babies. Countless times I've come downstairs in the middle of the night, wondering why it's so quiet, only to find Nana on the couch with a precious newborn, sleeping peacefully on her chest. That's going above and beyond, if you ask me.

Don't get me started on her antics in the stands at my various sporting events in high school and college. She may look sweet, but she can be LOUD.

Much love to you, Mom, today and always! 

Almost Done

We're finishing the regular school year this week. That doesn't mean much more than the girls can then say they're in second and fourth grades, rather than first and third. (Which means a lot to them, of course). When we moved to Ohio we bumped both girls up a grade because the cut off dates here were different and both girls, having fall birthdays, were already on the borderline. So it seems very strange that I will soon have a fourth grader in the house - albeit a young one.

We're putting spelling, copywork/writing, Story of the World, and science on hold until Fall. We'll continue math and Latin four days a week. And today we began our Sonlight early American reading, which we'll do throughout the summer, mostly outside while the boys play. Toddzilla liked the beginning chapter of Sign of the Beaver - I have high hopes that he'll stick with us. Elbow is reading Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims for her independent* work and Bobo is doing Pocahontas and the Strangers.

*Right now Elbow prefers reading out loud to me, so that's the way we started today.

Before and After

Before:

After:

Can you see the difference? Bobo got her ears pierced Sunday afternoon. She was thrilled beyond belief; when we got home she ran around the neighborhood looking for people to see her new accessories. (We were thrilled too because we told her she had to have all her multiplication facts memorized before she could get her ears pierced.) Nothing like a good, old-fashioned bribe reward to get her motivated.

What We're Up To

We've been enjoying some beautiful spring-almost-summer weather. Lots of play outside - including jumping over the big ball sprinkler over and over again. The pool opens tomorrow, but we're keeping that a secret for a little longer.

The girls spent the afternoon doing "lentil" science with our group. We finished Zoology II: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day in April, so the group is meeting once in a while to do some fun, hands-on exploration. (I believe the curriculum is actually called TOPS science).

The Patriot is stealing everyone's hearts with his cooing and big smiles.

The boys are into their usual mischief, taunting the girls with their less than gentleman-like bathroom humor and causing general may-hem wherever they go.

Hubby is watching O Brother, Where Art Thou and I'm off to bed to read Rich Brother, Rich Sister.

Nothing too exciting - hence the relative silence for the past week. Wishing you all a nice holiday weekend!

Eight Weeks Plus

The Patriot passed the eight week mark on Thursday. It's been busy around here with little time for posting - Hubby was out of town for a few days early in the week. 

Pursuits:

• Figuring out summer plans.
• Trying to get back into workout mode. Got the green light from the doctor over two weeks ago. One run so far. 
• Preparing for spring music recitals (girls)
• Growing grass in the backyard (it's been mulch)
• Inviting the neighbor kids to VBS. 
• Finishing up Growing Kids God's Way
• Trying to do iChat with Papa. We've figured it out but never can gather the gang at the right time.
• Working on a 40th anniversary album for my parents. Not a surprise, obviously.

Oh boy.

I may as well continue the theme of "look how engaged we are with popular culture!" here at Living Waters. Our good friends gave the girls the new (only?) Hannah Montana CD and things haven't been the same since. I've got full on Teeny Boppers. Right now, as I write, they're blaring it from their Hello Kitty boom box on the back porch, dancing with the neighborhood kids. 

Here's a funny for you: the first time they heard the CD, they came running down from their room proclaiming: "Mom, Hannah Montana's a Christian! She sings Broken Road!!!!" (They are pastor's kids, after all, and Broken Road is sung at almost every wedding these days.) 

Still not watching the show, girls, good try though.

More Thoughts on the Potter Boy

We're finally on the last book of the Harry Potter series. I'm hoping to be done by the end of May, so we can begin our early American history (Sonlight selections) in June. A few thoughts thus far:

• The girls love, love, love the books. We read for about an hour a night, and it's never enough: "more! more! more!"
• There are a few words we change as we're going along: we use 'darn' for 'damn' (several occurrences), we switch 'shut up' to 'be quiet' (several occurrences), and someone called a girl character a 'sl*t', (one time) and we just breezed right by that one. The rest of the vocabulary is incredibly rich and there are plenty of words I need to look up along the way. Considering there are thousands of pages in the series, I have no trouble overlooking a few words here and there - that's why we're reading it out loud.
• Some Christians are troubled by the whole wizard/magic thing. This doesn't bother me; there are fairies and genies and all sorts of fantastical elements to most of the classics.
• The publishing phenom alone is enough to warrant at least some degree of familiarity with the books.

Off to teach the first declension in Latin to my little gang.

Projects

The girls decided to solve our ant problem yesterday. I was skeptical when they asked for play dough, but it seems to have sealed the entrance quite nicely. Now it's a matter of finding a permanent fix - maybe something a little less pink.

Hubby and the boys put together a sandbox today. Now my cornmeal, flour, sugar, and all other fine, powdery substances can actually be used for cooking again. (As opposed to a playground for trucks).  

And now you know why we have ants.

Smile.