What can happen when the TV is off

Almost two weeks ago, Will made some poor choices that resulted in a loss of all screen time for a week - this includes TV, Wii and computer. A few days into the punishment, he made a few more poor choices that extended the punishment by a week. With the exception of the recent Packers/Vikings game which happened because we had guests over and I wasn't paying attention, there has been no screen time. 
I've heard of families that have made the bold choice not to have these "screen items" in their home at all. I must admit I admire people that have said no to cable or satellite, TV or just limited their viewing in some way. I held off on the video game system as long as possible and even then there are strict rules attached. But I admit it - I don't have the guts. I'm chicken. I'm a little selfish thinking what would I do without American Idol? What about Treehouse, PBS or TVO Kids? 
Well, this punishment of Will's gave a little glimpse into what happens when our kids don't have the TV to zone off on and what I as a parent do when the kids don't have the TV as a default babysitter. 
They read. Will is three quarters way through Lord of the Rings. That's a BIG book! Also, I read to the kids more. And check out his other accomplishment!

He knitted a toque. He made it himself. While listening to books on CD. 


Unfortunately, he had the flu one day during his no screen time. Usually being sick means he can have the little TV/VCR in his room and watch movies all day. Not this time. Zanna to the rescue!

She read to him! Now granted, she didn't actually read the words but rather her own interpretation. Looking out for her brother!
And while Zanna wasn't banned from TV, I made some extra time for her and we made a homemade apple pie based on the book we've been reading.

It was delicious! Good job, Zanna:)
The punishment is over this Friday. So this weekend the Wii privileges resume, the TV is back on (limited time per kid) and my babysitter is back. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it maybe would be. It was wonderful!

Autumn - Again

This morning I was teaching Zanna about the seasons. We were discussing what we like best about each season - the moments and events we looked forward to. It's so predictable, isn't it? It's Autumn and soon it will be Winter followed by Spring and most assuredly, Summer! There is some comfort in the monotony of it all. At least we know what to expect. We know when to bring the kiddie pool out, the rakes, the bikes, the snow blower. We know when to put away the turtlenecks, cozy duvet comforters, the Christmas tree! 


During Fall we look forward to apple picking at an area orchard, our weekly trip to the local Farmers' Market, a hayride in the pumpkin patch. When we see these things as just predictable, that's when the gift of it is lost.  I recall the thoughts of G.K. Chesterton in his book Orthodoxy :


Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.  They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown - up person does it again until he is nearly dead.  For grown - up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.  But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.  It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon.  It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.  It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.  The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE. Heaven may ENCORE the bird who laid an egg.

I love the idea of the "theatrical encore" in heaven! That's certainly what the children and I did in our backyard when we discovered our mama bird's eggs - we danced around, hooted and hollered!! Don't we see things worthy of a theatrical encore all around us?!! 


How about the apple tree that looks positively dead and cold in the winter, only to show signs of new life in the spring. Little buds followed by sweet apple blossoms that ... gasp... turn into fruit we can eat? Bravo!!!!

I make an effort to bring this into our home as a centerpiece - may we never get tired of seeing what's before us and loose the miracle.

Our favorite regular outing right now is the weekly trip to the Farmers' Market. To buy our produce right from the growers themselves and enjoy the fresh flavors of the garden - do we just expect that the fertile soil will yield a mouth watering harvest? 

Bravo!!! Encore!!! Happy dance!!! Thank God that he never tires of making them! 

A Canadian Hawaiian Luau

Here is the first meal we've enjoyed as we eat our way across the Eastern Hemisphere! First stop - Hawaii (the Pacific Islands). With the help of some dollar store leis and a plastic grass skirt Zanna came home with after attending a friend's birthday party luau, we were ready to celebrate! 
We enjoyed Kalua pork and rice, roasted sweet potatoes and pineapple with ice cream for dessert.

Complete with some Hawaiian mood music playing in the background thanks to the local library, we had a party rocking!!




The volcano eruption ended up being a bust. We were disappointed - anyone know how to make a volcano? 


 Now that we were all in the mood, everyone voted for a viewing of the Brady Bunch 3 episode special of when they went to Hawaii. I mean, how long does it take to figure out that it's NOT a good luck charm?!!!

Zanna's week in France

France - sounds good, huh? We may not have actually been to France this week but we traveled in our imaginations! 


Zanna's book for the week was Madeline. Don't you love her little toilet paper roll Madeline in the picture?! She made a lapbook through the week and we assembled the pieces the last day. We used the free lapbook templates from Homeschool Share. 


Will's off to the Pacific Islands but the pictures will have to wait for the volcanic eruption and Hawaiian luau. To be continued!! 

The 1st Week of School

Yep, this is what I have to work with. Scary, huh? Actually, he's in good humor here. I can't say that it lasted for the whole week.

I'd like my readers to imagine a home environment where Mama is surrounded by her two adoring children, eager to hear what wisdom their mama has to instill on their growing minds and innocent hearts. We wake in anticipation every day expectant to the waiting mysteries of life that will be revealed to us that day. Math unfolds as a symphony of numbers reflecting a supreme God of order. We wonder. We are awed. Work is done with joyful hearts knowing that it's for our good and glory to the Lord. 

Now for the reality, my friends. We are imperfect parents with imperfect kids who struggle every day. While my dream is reminiscent of that family above, our days are battles. We fight over what Me wants over that what God wants. I complain over dishes, messy floors, mounds of laundry, having to clean the house, etc. Kids complain over what's for dinner, math assignments, having to clean their rooms, brushing their teeth. Our battles are within ourselves - with ourselves. Me over God.  And this is education. Yes, we do math, reading, writing, history, science - but the stuff that matters? Character, attitude, compassion, thoughtfulness, diligence, hard work, glorifying God in ALL circumstances is what we are trying to teach our children and learn for ourselves. What a privilege. What a daunting task. 

And so it's not just my kids who are "back in school" but me as well. Daily I must keep my head in the Word. I can't do this on my own but He promises to help. I need all the help I can get! As my children's teacher, I MUST sit at the feet of THE TEACHER and learn from the only source worth learning from. 

Ready.... Set..... Stay Home!!!!

It's finally done! Rearranging and adding a few things, putting other items in storage for when needed again our schoolroom is finally complete! This is probably the neatest it will ever look - ha!


While our educating does not only take place here, it is a room to keep all the books we need to have easy access to, wall space set aside for learning posters, white boards, etc and yes - desks to do desk work stuff like math, writing, coloring, etc. 

I'm excited about Zanna's little corner with her "new" desk! Next to it are her workboxes. While not the textbook way to implement, I've modified it to fit our needs. I think this will be a way to keep her day going as she works her way through each drawer - some with my help and others on her own. Some days she may find a snack in one, a worksheet to fill out in another, and my iPhone for a fun educational game in yet another! 

I put together her calendar taken mostly from resources found here.
She has great ideas on her blog and I have found them most useful for little ones. She makes up some of her own curriculum - some free, others at a nominal charge. I also regularly check out this blog for other ideas for young children.
I also have a laminated wall map hung low near her desk. This will be for mapping our Five in a Row books. Each day we read the same book focusing on a different subject be it art, history, geography, science, language arts, etc. I used this program with Will for kindergarten and found it to be such a gentle way of learning with children and helped to instill a love of reading, books and stories. Plus, we get to snuggle on the couch, under the covers, or on our backs up in the playstructure! 
She and I will also be making our way through "Egermeier's Bible story book".  I love her age, her thirst for learning and her curiosity! It's so much fun to go on nature walks, listen to her start to put sounds together into words, and watch her light up when she discovers something new!

Here's one of our bookshelves and our new filing cabinet from Ikea.

Of course, we need a bulletin board to post work well done and the Wii time sheet. No Wii is allowed during the week but weekend time earned by hard work, good behaviour and an effort that goes above and beyond what is expected. Slightly subjective on my end but after all - I am in charge :). 

Here are some of the books we'll be reading and studying this year (and maybe next). I am so excited to start this course of study I can barely contain myself. I've been waiting years to get to this years study of Eastern Hemisphere. I mean come on, when do you ever study the Eastern Hemisphere except maybe in college? We'll be discovering China, Japan, India, Africa, Australia - even as I write this I get all exhilarated. 

Here's the All About Spelling board. Will started this last year and got through level 3 by doing it practically every day. This helped his spelling tremendously and I can't say enough about this program. We'll continue with level 4 and I plan on using it with Zanna too as it's a good way to learn your phonograms and helps with reading. 
He'll also continue with his Institute for excellence in Writing which is another of those treasures I'm very thankful to my aunt for recommending. I was at a loss as to how to teach writing and not only is this program wonderful in every way but I've come to appreciate much of what Andrew Peduwa says and have listened to many of his downloads in regards to education. 

Other things Will is doing this year:
The Young Peacemaker
Faith Foundations
Saxon Math 7/6
Sonlight Core F

It's busy as you can see and this doesn't count the SHEP program (Science and History enrichment program) in the fall and spring, violin lessons, karate, field trips, etc. My goal is not to cram everything into a year but take it at a pace we can handle and if we stop to explore something that he finds interesting and we skip over some other stuff, that's OK. I'm so over doing everything suggested and being a slave to any curriculum or coarse of study. We make it work for us. 

Love my little window seat and magazine rack! A good place for reading, snuggling and dreaming.

Another new addition I'm excited about - our clocks! I thought it would be fun to have clocks set to the time zones of our loved ones. So we have England, Calgary, Wisconsin and Ottawa. All done for about $14 I'm pretty happy. I couldn't have done it without my man - I have the vision, he has the plan to make it happen. We're a good team!

Finally, this is Will's daily schedule we implemented last year. Previously, I was struggling with frequent outbursts, temper tantrums and overall attitude issues. Not uncommon at this age but too often that it was a concern and disruption to our day. Thinking that it had something to do with daily expectations and not being clear about what was being asked of him on any given day, I put this together (modified from here) that clearly has the subject or activity scheduled for the day and as he finishes them he takes them off (their velcroed) and puts it in the jar. This way he seeing what the expectations are and has a sense of accomplishment as he goes along. When he's done, he's done. Then he can watch a movie, go play with friends, etc. His freedom is in his hands. He feels more in charge, I think. 


So that's about it for now! I'm excited to start but not too excited that I'm not going to enjoy the last few lazy days of summer!!!!!

When life gives you lemons ... make lemonade!

With days starting to cool down and getting closer to the start of a new school year we are trying to take advantage of the final days of summer! 
After almost 2 weeks of VBS between our church here in town and our church up in Quebec, hosting house guests in our basement for over a month complete with a guinea pig, 2 funerals Wayne officiated and Will played violin for, WELS Canada meetings of which Wayne is on the board of directors and a quick Sat - Mon trip to Vancouver for Wayne so that he could have the opportunity to meet our brothers and sisters in Christ out West and preach - all of which was crazy and hectic at the time but blessings abounded through them all - here we are well into August! 
I had promised the kids since early summer that they could have a lemonade stand. I had been collecting a fast growing pile of garage sale worthy stuff and thought we could do a duel purpose event. I had found some lemonade stand decorations at Target that I just couldn't resist. The actual follow through was a bit more difficult! 
Finally setting the date, I got down to the nitty gritty of pricing items, grouping them and hauling them over to church which was where the blessed event was to happen. The other matter of the lemonade stand demanded separate attention as I wanted this to be a learning moment disguised as pure fun! 

Lemon flavored cupcakes were baked and decorated the day before. A list of what was need compiled. Directions read on the side of a frozen concentrated can of pink lemonade. We were ready to go!

Yep, they did good. As a matter of fact, they made out like bandits! They went through all 4 cans of lemonade, 5 cupcakes left, money made! Their investor (me) did point out that if I were to demand payback for the items I purchased for the stand their loot would be greatly diminished. Lucky for them, they have a generous benefactor:). 
The garage sale part was a pain.in.the.butt.  I remembered why I hadn't done it for awhile. But it was a lovely, sunny morning, I got to meet some new people and I had the satisfaction of getting rid of my pile by dropping off my stuff at Goodwill that didn't sell. 
We've been to a nearby beach twice this summer with different friends. The kids love to play in the sand and water and we all enjoy a picnic lunch in the great outdoors. Best of all, there's a local that comes around with his boat outfitted as "the ice cream float" selling ice cream cones to us! What a hit!

Hey, Dad, this could be an idea for you in between Harley rides!!!

And the ice cream was yummy - can you guess she had chocolate?


We also celebrated Daddy's first day off in 3 weeks upon his return from Vancouver with a day trip to the area water park. My kids are fearless and willing to ride practically everything. Honestly, it's hard for me to keep up! We had a super fun family day of playing in the wave pool, hurdling down water slides, being dragged along in the lazy river and enjoying a picnic lunch on a beautiful, sunny day! 


Zanna continues to relish being able to ride her bike like a big girl and we've attempted a few family bike rides. Her stamina is improving (I remind myself as I go painfully slow).


Next up I'll be revealing the schoolroom/playroom that I've been working on and our plans for the new year!