Wreath Songs

 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16

 Words cannot express how happy I am with how my wreath turned out! It is GORGEOUS. Yes it is. 

There are many tutorials for book page wreaths out there but I was inspired by the one I found on Holy Hen House. It was this one in particular that used the pages of an old The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) which I absolutely adored. 

 Truth be told, I felt a little sinful tearing the pages out of the binding. But I got over it. And before I knew it, I was singing away to all the old tunes with the thous and the thees and the thys. I also was rolling the pages while watching the LiveStream of Luther Prep's opening service. It was quite the experience. 

There's something about the smell of an old book that makes me giddy. And I love how the edges of the hymnal pages are red. 

We can never move now because this wreath would never make it intact. So I guess I will die in this house. 

O God, our Father, whose praise is in the Church, uplift our souls to the holiness of Thy presence that with pure hearts we may adore Thee and worship Thee with joyful lip; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

                                                                                   ~TLH

Son Flower Season

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 1 Corinthians 4:6

It is with these words that we humbly begin another school year. 

The wise owl vase sits on books where only true wisdom is found. 

We do well to imitate the sunflowers - they turn towards the light of the sun. Aren't we Son-flowers too? 

There's advantages to having my kids six years apart.  It means I've had some breathing room and time to reflect. I've had a break between changes diapers and teaching geography. I sort of get a second chance. I can learn from my first experiences and apply that wisdom going forward. One thing that stands out in my mind is how very fast it really goes even when you have days, weeks or even months that seem to drag. As sure as there are seasons in a year, there are also seasons of life. My challenge has been to embrace the uniqueness of each season even in the midst of the trials it may bring and still appreciate it. Even in those seasons, I can reflect back and see the good, the blessings, the growth. I know my seasons yet to come will bring the same.  

Grade 4 is where she's at this year - so exciting! This is the year she turns "double digits", we study American history and she learns to add and subtract fractions with different denominators. 

We'll start the day the best way I know how - One Hundred Bible Stories and workbook. We'll study hymns and memorize verses. 

 Saxon 54  It's not about the math -   it's just digits when she's trying to comprehend a number line. And when negative numbers are introduced and she doesn't get it the first time (or the 2nd or the 3rd), I sit by her side and we draw a number line together. I used to think there was a rush. A deadline. But now I know we've got time and I refuse to rush this moment. 

She can't stop reading. I totally get that. And I appreciate that this is  her strength. I know this now because he had different strengths and it's clear to me now but wasn't always back then. So if this is where she shines, then I run with it! I find all the good books that I can - classics that have stood the test of time, books full of words that she sometimes has to ask, "what's a blouse or a patent?".  I order books from the interlibrary loan system and I fill our own shelves with books that we call ours. We haunt flea markets and find diamonds in the ruff and they are proudly displayed around our house. We learn History  through fictional and real characters and experience their time and space through the pages. And as I get to reread some of these books with her that he and I snuggled up with, the memories remind me that it was worth it. This is worth it. 

Our Language Arts core starts with The Boxcar Children literature study. She's already obsessed with the series and piles found throughout the house reflect our recent flea market purchases. This year she'll keep Writing and studying Grammar which she claims to love, crazy girl. She'll Explode the Code and Spell what we didn't finish last year. And believe me - I wondered how I was planning on accomplishing all this. I found Sarah Mackenzie who walked me through teaching from a state of rest. And I discovered loop scheduling and block scheduling and wondered how I ever lived without this insight? And she encouraged me to be faithful. Leave the results to God. 

My nemesis must surely be Science. I managed to farm it out as often as I could with him. He spent summers at various science camps and participated in museum classes. We'd have to talk after (and before) about what was true and what others believe to be true.  I boldly took on my nemesis over the years and discovered my own appreciation for knowledge labeled "science" and found God very much present there and willing to help me. So when I found this curriculum last year after hearing from the author himself at a conference, I jumped in! I realized I could manage the experiments and we could learn together. Taught through the eyes of Truth by an amateur is better than lies from a competent teacher.  

We'll continue our Co-op group this year and enjoy the friends we've made. She'll be playing her violin and learn to sew. She'll keep swimming and even branch out to synchronized swimming for fun! She loves going to Chinese school and Lutheran Girl Pioneers. She'll continue a monthly cooking class that leaves all the mess there:) And she'll be by my side at church choir and mid week evening Bible class. 

She'll walk life with us. 

*Pictures are from our first day of homeschool field trip to Malone, NY to visit the Almanzo Wilder farm. We met up with our dear friends from Syracuse and enjoyed a beautiful day!