Jordan's "Love"ly Hair Cut. . .

I guess the comments will not be happening quite as frequently now. It has become expected to hear at least one person comment on Jordan's long hair whenever we go anywhere. . . especially when they learn she is only 3! My beautiful baby girl was born with a FULL head of hair and hasn't lost a single strand. She was able to have her hair in a ponytail by her first birthday!


While it was beautiful, Jordan's hair forced us to deal with things that aren't the norm for newborns. She was born at the end of November, in Charlotte, NC, so that meant it was pretty cold outside. Whenever we washed her hair, to help warm her up, we needed to blow dry her hair! The picture is from when she was three months old :-) Also from the moment she started solid food until she learned to eat with utensils, food was ALWAYS in her hair!

She has had a few haircuts in the past three years (her first was when she was 9 months old) but they were all just trims. Since her hair did grow so well, we decided early on to let it grow out so we could donate her hair to Locks of Love . . . but being a girlie girl myself, I wanted to make sure she would still have a good bit of hair left when we did! I had been told that Locks of Love would need six inches for a donation, and apparently I have no concept of measurement (really really scary that I will be teaching them math, huh?!?) because I thought that was a lot so I kept putting it off.

This weekend we finally decided to take the plunge! I finally felt like it was long enough to get cut but still leave enough for a decent ponytail on hot Texas days. Imagine my shock when they said they actually needed to take 7 inches! I started to get pretty nervous until she held up a comb, which was 7 inches long, and showed me what that would look like -- again, I obviously have NO CONCEPT of measurement, because there would still a lot of hair left below her shoulders!

Prior to going to the salon, we told both of the girls that they were getting their hair cut and that they would be helping little girls who no longer had hair of their own. While it did make her smile to be helping someone, Jordan told me very plainly that she did NOT want to have her hair cut! In the car she said the same thing. I didn't know how it would go, but those chairs have some sort of magic..... my wiggly willie (Cali) sat completely still for the entire cut, which was just a trim this time (growing hers out as well), and so did Jordan, even though hers took a pretty long time! I was so proud of both of them!

So for the grandparents, and for anyone else curious to see the process, here are the photos from our adventurous day! We are thrilled with the results -- she looks so mature now (sniff sniff)!

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Encouragement for the day

I have a couple posts I am putting up later (I need to download pictures first!) but I just saw this poem in one of my devotionals this morning and I had to post it here as a reminder to myself and hopefully as encouragement to others. May you be blessed this morning!

"I'm too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed.

I refuse to be discouraged, to be sad or to cry.

I refuse to be down hearted and here's the reason why:

I have a God who is almighty; who is sovereign and supreme.

I have a God who loves me -- and I am on His team.

He is all wise and powerful; Jesus is His name.

Though everything else is changeable, My God remains the same.

I refuse to be beaten or defeated. My eyes are on my God.

He has promised to be with me, as through this life I trod.

I am looking past my circumstances, to heaven's throne above.

My prayers have reached the heart of God and I am resting in His love.

I give thanks to Him in everything.

My eyes are on His face.

The battle is His; the victory is mine; He will help me win the race.

I repeat! I'm too blessed to be stressed!"

(Author unknown)

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Heart of the Matter Article - Getting it from the Head to the Heart

Almost every homeschool blogger I know has one. You know, the posts about “A Real Day.” Apparently we all feel led at one point or another to make sure other moms know that life isn’t perfect, school doesn’t always get done, the laundry is usually piled on the sofa, and we occasionally sleep a little late. But then it is back to regular programming, that post gets buried with all the others, and moms are left reading about joyful, peaceful homeschool days reminiscent of The Walton’s.

While we all know we shouldn’t compare ourselves and our homeschools to others, getting that head knowledge into our hearts can be the hard part. We end up always wondering if we are doing it right, if there is a better curriculum out there, if so-and-so’s children are better behaved or are reading better. The constant comparison, wondering, worrying and guilt we carry around with us can prevent us from experiencing the true JOY of this journey.

“We are all unique and bring something different to the homeschool table” . . . blah blah blah. It sounds great, but unless we truly believe it, it’s just a bunch of pretty words. I have written about this several times and have told it to myself even more, but really believing it is hard for me. Most recently I have been struggling with a daily schedule. Trying to find enough hours in the day to exercise and read devotionals, spend quality time with the girls learning and reading books, having the house not look like a tornado hit it for once, attempting to look somewhat decent when my husband comes home, and trying to get enough sleep so that I can wake up and do it all again has been very difficult. It seems as though I have two stages – the first is where everything is going like clockwork and getting done but I am constantly exhausted and feeling like I am playing beat the clock, or the second stage where none of it gets done, and I gain 15 pounds!

This second stage is where I have been stuck for the last six months. Even while finding my own groove in how we school, I have been trapped feeling like I had to have the schedule of everyone else. I constantly beat myself up for not being able to get as much done each day as the others I read about. I would make a new schedule every week, trying different variations of the same thing – wake up early (way before everyone else in the house), exercise, start the dishes and laundry, fix my husband’s lunch, have my quiet time, fix a wonderful wholesome breakfast for the family, start school by 9:00am, make lunch, clean the house and have dinner ready when my husband comes home. This might be what your schedule looks like, and it might work for you, but this has not worked for me. For whatever reason, I am wired differently I guess.

But a new hope has been birthed in me, thanks to a post on the Five in a Row Message Boards!! When I shared about my struggles, someone mentioned that in her home, the morning was when the children had free play and she did housework, emails and blogging (I will add exercise here as well). After lunch is when they did school for 2-3 hours and then it was time for errands, more free play with the kids, dinner and bed. A REVELATION!!

• I can start school AFTER lunch?!?
• I can do what seems to come naturally to me -- catch up on computer time while waking up, use the burst of energy I get after to do what I dislike the most (cleaning the house) and save the highlight of my day (school time with the girls) for later?
• We can start school after lunch and when we are done, already have the house clean, exercise done and have the rest of the day for real free play?
• Can I really break the classic rule of school first in the morning?
• Is there really such a rule after all???

I have no idea if this new schedule will work for us or not, or if this will help anyone else out there, but I wanted to share one more myth that I have dispelled for myself. I hope this gives you the freedom to break some of the rules you have created in your own minds and propels you to a schedule that can truly bring JOY to your day and family!!!

If you have advice or insights you would like to share with us on how you schedule your day or if you have any other homeschool myths you’d like to dispel, please post your thoughts in the comment section! We’d love to hear from you!!
The Heart of the Matter is giving away a copy of the life-changing book See, I Told Me So.

This compilation of 18 heart-warming stories answers the cry of anxious
homeschoolers everywhere. Homeschool veterans from many walks of life share from
their experiences: their challenges, their fears, their trials and triumphs.
Each contributor, be it the graduated son or the mother who homeschooled him,
offers the same assurance: "We could have stopped worrying years ago and you can
stop worrying today."

To enter this giveaway, simply go to my article at HOTM's site, and leave a comment there (but please leave one here, too!)

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Jordan's First Story

The following is a story dictated to me by my daughter, Jordan Faith Harris, age 3!

(we are working on her/him, she/he but I kept it exactly as she dictated it to me! Also, not sure where the title came from, she did that after we wrote the story, but isn't it adorable?) :-)

The Girl Chased By Bugs

A girl scared from the bear. But the bear scared him with a large growl (ROAR!). The girl is frightened! He ran away, but the bear ran away, too!

And he chased after him!

He chased after the girl, but the girl is lost and can't get past the bear!! Oh No! We need to help the girl find a path to take to get past the bear!

The first path??

The second path??

She takes the first path! She walked and walked and walked and there's a mountain!! And then, she slips down the mountain as fast as she can go!!

Peter gets his hands and catches him and then he caught her!

The End!

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Our Week With the Moon

I have so many resources for our Moon Unit! As I mentioned before, I am rowing Space Boy all week and using a unit I wrote for that book as our main resource. This is such an adorable book about a boy's space trip to the Moon, a gentle jumping off point for discussions on Space and the Moon, which was exactly what I was wanting.

For our Circle Time, Bible Verse and several of our activities, I am using Preschool Posts' unit on the Moon. For more activities and enrichment, I am using Brightly Beaming Resources' (Letter of the Week)Preparatory Curriculum's Moon Week

For our supplemental books, we are using The Moon: Scholastic News Nonfiction Readers by Melanie Chrismer, What the Moon Is Like by Franklyn Branley and Exploring Space with an Astronaut by Patricia Murphy. For "Fun reading" we are using Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle , Goodnight Moon and The Magic School Bus takes a Moonwalk.

For online games and pictures, we are using the following:
Awesome Moon Pictures
Dress Me For Space Astronaut
Video of an Astronaut Living in Space
"Astronaut School"
What it is like to Walk on the Moon
Watching animations about the phases of the Moon

We are also doing a lot of art projects, coloring and crafts as well as baking a "moon cake" for a demonstration about the moon phases and making croissants. We have some episodes on tape of Word World that we are watching, too. Most of our other videos and DVDs (Magic School Bus and Blues Clues are a few) are for our sun and star week or our planet week.

As I said before, as soon as they post my Space Boy unit on Homeschool Share, I will update this post with a link. As for the other day to day stuff, I don't want to take anything away from the amazing work Katrina Lybbert (Letter of the Week) or Lynn and Valerie (Preschool Post) have done so I encourage you all to check out their sites for their ideas, activities, book recommendations, games, songs, etc;

I hope this helps and for those of you that are planning your own Astronomy lessons, I would love to hear how they go!! Let me know if you post about them and I will link to them here!

Have a blessed week!

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Astronomy Totally Re-Vamped

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!! We had a relaxed week of watching Veggie Tales Easter Carol, reading The Parable of the Lily, and The Legend of the Easter Egg. We also got out my mom's old tape of Easter cartoons which was a fun blast from the past!

During the down time, I also did a lot of planning, organizing and writing for our Astronomy study. I have decided to expand our one week study into THREE! Today we begin our Moon Unit, which has a ton of resources! I will post about those later but our main source is a unit I wrote for Space Boy by Leo Landry. Next is our unit on the Sun and Stars, which has a lot of resources as well but I am still looking for a good picture book to write a unit from.... I have a few coming in from the library that will hopefully work. Then we will finish our Astronomy series with a unit on The Planets and Solar System, using a unit study I wrote for There's No Place Like Space: All About our Solar System! I am really excited about the coming weeks and all of the fun activities, projects, books and videos we have!

We're off to start our morning studies but I will update later for any of those interested in what we are doing this week. I am saving the unit studies I wrote to send in for HomeschoolShare's Blast contest that starts soon, but once they are up on that site, I will post with a link!

Happy Monday!!!

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Random facts about me...

I've been Taggged!! Momtofivekids tagged me to share 7 random and weird facts about myself :-)

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, Here is some random facts about me:

1. I interned at Entertainment Tonight in NYC the summer before 9/11. I actually got back home one month to the day before it happened. Celebrity highlights: I met Vin Diesel (I actually got to be in the background of the B-roll on that episode), Regis and Kelly, Mandy Moore, and Heidi Klum in her underwear (filming a Victoria Secret commercial, lol). I went to the Press Junket for America's Sweethearts, which is a movie about a press junket, and met: Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Billy Crystal, Seth Green, and a few others. It was a lot of fun, but ultimately while I LOVE visiting NYC, I can't live there, so I decided not to pursue entertainment as a career.

2. I don't watch a lot of television, but what I do watch, I get very emotionally involved in! One of the shows I love is Biggest Loser, but I can't just sit quietly and watch it. When I see someone being mean or cocky to others on the show (ahem, Roger) I scream at the tv! I majored in Mass Communications, so I know that the producers are probably editing these people to appear more jerky than they are in real life, but I can't separate that truth from my viewing experience, lol!

3. I LOVE Elvis!! Yes, I know he is before my time (literally, he died in 1977 and I was born in 1980), but I grew up watching all of his movies and singing all of his songs. My parents have a huge collage picture frame with family photos in it, and included in this frame of family memories is a picture from one of his concerts! Yes, I like me some Elvis.

4. That being said, after watching the Elvis TV movie and recently watching August Rush (go out and buy this movie today! awesome awesome awesome) I have a huge crush on Jonathan Rhys Meyers! My husband knows and is ok with it.... he he

5. I hate sarcasm and teasing, especially the kind passed off as humor or kidding around. It isn't funny. It is based in truth or you wouldn't have said it. I think it is mean-spirited, puts the other person in an uncomfortable position, and does not speak love. It is another one of those things I am passionate about because I think too many people allow it, especially within familial relationships and friendships.

6. I sing made up songs all day. Sometimes I sing instead of talking, such as singing, "Jordan, I think it's time to go potty!" instead of saying it. I also usually dance around while singing.

7. I can't sew on a button or sew a hem, but I have the desire to learn :-) It is on my Proverbs 31 learn-to-do list!

I'm supposed to tag 7 people, but I tagged 4
Crystal at May this House be known as Home
Candace at His Mercy is New
Katherine at Cornerstone Classical
Celly B at Busy at Home

Have a wonderful day!!

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Rosetta Stone - For Free?!?

Ok, Yes this will make three posts in one day, but I just noticed an awesome contest going on to get Rosetta Stone for FREE! This is too good to pass up -- Thanks for posting about it Marsha!

To win the contest, you need to copy and paste the paragraphs about the contest in a post on your blog and the winner will be chosen 3/26. The more who enter, the less likely I am to win but I do want to encourage all who want to enter to do so.... and if you don't, then that is great, too! (ha!)

Here is the info:

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE!
This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.
This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports.

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these (blue) paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/ and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it. And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it. And good luck! The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg. And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win. Yay for free stuff!

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Astronomy Unit Study List # 1

WOW! There are a ton of resources, even for this age group, on Astronomy! I just got two more emails about books that are in at my library, so this is a first post but I wanted to let you all know what I have found/gathered so far, and my plans.

Book List
Nightly Read Aloud: Maria's Comet by Deborah Hopkinson. This is a beautiful book with an awesome unit available at Homeschoolshare. It is too old for my girls, but I love the illustrations and story, so we are making it a read aloud at bedtime.

Main books we will "Row" (at least right now, this might change with the new library books!):

• Space Boy by Leo Landry
• I am a Star by Jean Marzollo

Supplements (again, this is only the first batch)

• Magic School Bus Takes A Moonwalk Scholastic Reader Level 2
• The Magic School Bus Sees Stars, a Book about Stars
• The Magic School Bus Out of This World
• So That's How the Moon Changes Shape! by Allan Fowler, a Rookie Read-About Science book
• Little Einsteins Galactic Goodnight by Susan Ring

Books we are not using but you might be interested in:

• Round is a Mooncake by Roseanne Thong. The ONLY reason we aren't using this now is because I am also planning a unit on China because DH is traveling there for ten days in a few weeks with his MBA class, and we will do this then! This has a great unit also at HSS
• The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. This also has a great unit at HSS, just a bit older than what we were looking for.
• Goodnight Moon HSS does have a lapbook component on the moon for this book that we will be using, but we already rowed this one and looking for something else at this point.

Videos:

We have many more coming from the library but currently in our possession, we have:

• Magic School Bus Gets Lost
• Backyardigans Martian Adventure (by the way, can I put a plug in for an awesome movie with two of the stars from Backyardigans? August Rush is an amazing family movie that we all LOVE and Uniqua and Tyrone are in this movie!! He he)
• Veggie Tales: Lie from out of this world

Awesome Resources

• Preschool Post has complete Lessons for the Moon here. This includes Bible Activities, crafts, book suggestions, circle time, snack ideas, activities and center suggestions!
• They also have complete Lessons for the Planets here. It has all the same awesome information and suggestions!
• First School has awesome lesson plans and activities for Astronauts. This is what helped me to remember a good idea for Math is to reinforce the circle shape, and a good song and rhyme would be Twinkle Twinkle and Star Light, Star Bright. I got TONS of craft ideas here as well, and they pointed out the online Dora stories and games!
• Dora the Explorer Online Read "Little Star's Wish" and play Star Catching and Space Adventures!
• Dress an Astronaut online activity. A funny side note, you do put a diaper on the astronaut, as apparently that is part of the outfit. Since we have taken steps BACKWARDS in this department, I will not point out that adults wear diapers occasionally, even for good reasons. I will call this her underwear! :-)
• An online book about the Sun
• Usborne-Quicklinks. I found SO much information here! Look under Astronomy and Beginners.
• LearningPage.com has great plans, including a mural that we plan to color and put up!

Ok, so obviously we won't do everything, and even without doing everything we will most likely make this a two week unit, especially considering the awesome books and videos left to be picked up!! But even if we can't use all the resources, I wanted to share them with all of you :-)

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Praying with your Children

Good Morning!

I am finishing up my morning wake up routine of breakfast, caffeine and email catch up, and wanted to share with you a new-to-me way of praying with my girls that I read about this morning, in the hopes that it gives you encouragement to try something similar!

We have a fun and full day ahead of us today, and it is so tempting to get started with it all and somehow skip our devotional time (although we almost never miss our morning wake up songs of Rise and Shine and This is the day that the Lord has made!). It is horrible and sad to admit that we sometimes skip circle time, but when they are this age (3 and 2), that is how the day goes sometimes. But, when we do it "right," it is such a blessing!

Last week, we had several morning devotionals/circle times that were awesome. What we have been doing is to begin with a few fun Christian songs. We have no shortage of Christian kids songs but our current favorites are Wee Sing Bible Songs, and a new 3 CD set with over 102 fun upbeat songs. We get out our huge basket of musical instruments and we play along and dance, while singing with the music. After we sing, we gather together and hold hands and pray. This has been a short prayer asking for guidance during the day and for Him to unite us in love with Him and with each other. Then we read a bible story, a devotion from my Kenneth Taylor children's devotional book and a Christian Nursery Rhyme. One time last week we read about 8 bible stories because Jordan kept saying, "I want to read the BIBLE!!!!" and I was NOT about to argue!

I am going to add a new element to our morning devotional time now. I had read earlier this week on Preschoolers and Peace about the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication) popcorn prayer, and then again today on Candace's site. I loved reading her post because she gave a very humorous example of how it goes in her home with three young ones, but this gave me inspiration. It will look very different in our home with the ages of our children, but it will be fun to start and if nothing else, it will help me to pray outside my box a bit.

So this morning we will try this out! We will sit in a circle and hold hands and I will begin by quickly explaining the different prayer types. I will then praise God for His holiness and His majesty. I will then most likely confess for my lack of patience this morning, and thank Him for blessing me with such an amazing family. I will ask Him to fill me with His love for my beautiful family, so that they can see and feel how truly special and loved they are. After each of these, I will pause to see if the girls jump in, but can pretty much expect them not to. After a few mornings of this, I might then ask them questions to help them formulate their thoughts and ideas.

I will keep you posted on how this goes!!

Have a blessed day, loving and enjoying your children and husband!

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How Do I Plan?

***Heart of the Matter Readers, I am posting this in the Friday Meme for "How Do I Schedule." This particular post is about how I plan each individual unit I write, and was written a couple months ago. Recently, planning has been a hot topic for me, and I have written huge plans for the rest of this year and next. If you are interested in reading those as well, please look on my left sidebar under 2008-2009 Preschool Plan or any of the posts labeled "Planning." Have a great weekend! ***

Happy Monday!

I just got back from a wonderful weekend training/retreat with my husband, and am slowly catching up on my emails. While I was gone I received this comment from my Recap and Looking Forward post:

"How do you plan??? What do you use to plan?? Do you write it down?"

I thought it would be more fun to dedicate an entire post to this question, instead of just replying back within the comments section, in case anyone else would like to see how we plan in our homeschool. Every homeschool is different, and I am sure we will change several times over the upcoming years, but this is how we do it in the current season we are in -- preschool!

When deciding what we are going to study next, I look to see if there is anything that the girls have been excited about lately or showing an interest in. We are very delight directed! Units we have studied most recently included music and the orchestra, Charlie and Lola books, Easter studies, and I am currently planning our upcoming units on space/astronomy and the human body! Our upcoming units are TOTALLY delight directed, as both of my girls are in a huge Magic School Bus kick and love the episodes and books about these subjects! I will go more into how I plan each week in a bit.

As for planning in advance, which is what I was talking about in that particular post, it is a rough plan because I can never tell what their current delight will be, but there are often times when they become delighted in the new book/unit I begin as well. So to begin I just look at all of the wonderful books and units in Before Five in a Row (for right now until we start FIAR) and Homeschool Share. These are definitely my biggest resource for ideas and units. I also check out Letter of the Week for their list of themes and their book list. I did try to do this curriculum before, but it just didn't fit our family the way it is written.... However, it is a wonderful resource for ideas and supplements! For the coming year, I also took out my book from Bright Beginnings to see the unit studies they had planned for the year and wrote those down. I looked to see which ones I did not want to do, and the ones that I did, I looked to see if a particular book on the BFIAR, FIAR or HSS list would complement it. I also look at the calendar to roughly plan it out, as I know there are certain holidays or events in the year that would determine the type of units we would do. I do write all this down on paper first and then input it into an excel spreadsheet for reference. At that point, my rough plan is done -- I know which books I would like to read the upcoming year, if I think there are a few that would go well together to either supplement or to do an extended multi-book unit with, a rough idea of how many weeks in the upcoming year and when holidays fit into that year.

As for weekly unit plans, I will use what I am doing for my upcoming Astronomy unit as an example. I first reached out to my HomeschoolShare yahoo group for any ideas for a VERY interested 3 year old, for books and ideas that would be a good fit for her age (Cali, my 2 year old, is also interested, but it is definitely my oldest that is inspiring most of our delight directed studies). They gave me some amazing resources and ideas, in particular my girl Candace who had studied this very thing during her Creation studies last summer! I then took her book list, added it to the recommended books from the HSS yahoo group, and my own ideas I had come up with, and logged onto my library's website. I first looked for the books and videos on my list and then searched for other items in the picture book section or media section on the topic. I LOVE my library website! I find what I want, place a request and ask for it to be held at my library's drive thru! Depending on which library in the system it comes from, it could take anywhere from 2 days to a week to come in, so I do have to plan a bit in advance, but the ease makes it so worth it!

If I am using a pre-packed unit from HSS or even BFIAR, I follow the basic guidelines of studying Social Studies on Monday, Language Arts on Tuesday, Art/Music on Wednesday, Math on Thursday and Science on Friday. If there are several lessons listed for each subject, I pick the ones that are best suited for my girls ages and the ones I find the most interesting, and we cover those. I do write those down on a piece of paper for my reference each day.

If I am writing it myself, obviously it is a bit more time intensive, but I do stick to the same daily guidelines as it helps plan and keep it manageable. I will gather all of my resources, put aside the videos that we want to watch and make a quick note, especially if it fits with a particular topic that might be studied later in the week, and then move onto the books. I will most likely pick one or two books to use as our main source that we "row" each day, and then fill in with all the other books for supplement. I will try to spread these throughout the week. As for the books that we plan to "row", I read them with paper and pen in hand. I write down each of my subject headings and as I read, I put down ideas for lessons under each subject. Normally this will require me to go and do additional research online later to flesh out these ideas, but right now it is just a word or sentence. I do this a couple times to make sure I didn't skip anything that I would want to cover, and then I hop on the Internet. I look up definitions, look for fun ideas, activities, crafts, games and information that relates to the topic, and look for online videos and games to play that would complement it as well... both girls LOVE sitting in front of the computer and feeling grown up! I try to limit it to a couple lessons each day tops, and then just fill in the day with a lot of reading and playing. For this particular unit, I will most likely stretch it out beyond just a week since they do have such an interest and there are so many wonderful resources!

I hope this made some sort of sense and was helpful! As you can see, I love talking about this stuff, so don't hesitate to ask questions!

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Heart of the Matter Article - Easter Unit Study for Littles

(I must give credit where credit is due -- the BEAUTIFUL girls in the picture below are not mine :-) They are Candace's beautiful girls! She was kind to let me use pictures from when they "rowed" this book last year for their Easter study! Thanks Candace!)

I LOVE Unit Studies! Discovering literature based unit studies has made all the difference in our homeschool . . . in my belief that I can “do” this homeschooling thing, in the fun and memories I am creating with my girls, and in being able to learn right alongside them!

We began our unit study journey with Before Five in a Row, and over the last year have added in an amazing resource, Homeschool Share! As their website states, HSS is an “on-line cooperative effort of several homeschooling moms to provide free but quality literature-based unit studies and resources.”

You may be saying to yourself, “That’s great, Rachel, but why are you telling us all of this?” Well, it is because Easter is approaching, and it is through this site that I found a unit study that I am SO excited about that I just had to share it with all of you!! It is based on The Parable of the Lily by Liz Curtis Higgs, and was written by Candace Crabtree. It is listed under the Level A Unit studies, which means it should be perfect for ages 2-6!

If you have not read this book before, I URGE you to go out and get this book to share with your children! It is one of those books that you can get out every year and your children will just learn more and more about the true love and meaning behind the Easter story. Liz uses scripture verses throughout the book, pulling from both the Old and New Testament, to really paint the picture and point towards the Cross. The Bible verses alone in this story make it an excellent choice for inclusion in your Easter studies, but adding in the rest of the Biblical application lessons listed will really bless your socks off!

Both Candace and Ami Brainerd, the genius behind HSS, have consented to allow us to post some of the lessons from this unit for you to use, and to get a glimpse of what you can find (FOR FREE!) at the site! This story has so many “bunny trails” you can go on and the lessons included at the site include dealing with your emotions, learning about farming, flowers (in particular the lily and its many varieties), seeds and planting. The lessons cover all the major subjects including Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Science and Art/Music, as well as some “Just for Fun” activities and of course, Biblical Application. This is the area I will focus on for our glimpse into this wonderful unit!

Bible Verses in Story
There are so many wonderful Scriptures that are throughout this book to help tell the story. Perhaps choose one to really focus on with your child this week. For handwriting, you can practice writing the verse. And, this could be your verse to memorize as well!

James 1:17 – “Every perfect gift is from God.”
Matthew 24:44 – “So you also must be ready. The Son of Man will come at a time you don’t expect Him.” Isaiah 53:2d – “There was nothing in his appearance to make us desire him.”
Isaiah 53:2a, b – “HE grew up like a small plant before the Lord. He was like a root growing in a dry land.”
John 3:16 – “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son.”
Isaiah 53:2c – “He had no special beauty or form to make us notice him.”
1 Corinthians 4:5 – “Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light things that are now hidden in darkness.”
Isaiah 61:11 -- "In the same way the Lord God will make grow what is right.”
John 12:24 – “I tell you the truth, a seed must fall to the ground and die. Then it makes many seeds.”
Isaiah 53:3 – “He was hated and rejected by people. People would not even look at him.”
Luke 24:1 – “Very early on the first day of the week, the women came.”
2 Corinthians 9:15 – “Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful to explain.”
Matthew 6:29 – “But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers.”
Matthew 28:8 – “They were afraid, but they were also very happy. They ran to tell…what had happened.” Isaiah 33:17 – “Your eyes will see the king in his beauty.”
Isaiah 53:4 - “But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us.”
1 John 4:9 – “This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his only Son into the world to give us life through him.”

Forgiveness
At the end of the story Maggie asks her father for forgiveness. Why does she do this? Can you recall a time you’ve had to ask for forgiveness? What about our heavenly Father…when should we go to Him and say we are sorry? Maggie’s father says that forgiveness is what Easter is all about…discuss this with your child.

Word Study: Lily
Look up verses in the Bible that have the word “lily” in it. Discuss these verses. 1. Luke 12:27 – “Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field…how much more will he clothe you?” (oh how our wonderful Father in heaven provides for us!) 2. Song of Solomon 2:1 – “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” (the lily is used to describe something or someone beautiful!)

Parable of the SowerRead the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 and discuss with your child.

I hope you enjoyed this brief look into The Parable of the Lily, and even if you decide not to do this unit, I hope this gives you some ideas and inspiration to find a story that will fit your needs and homeschool! If you are looking for further ideas, HSS also has The Legend of the Easter Egg by Lori Walburg listed under Level B (ages 4-8) Unit Studies!

May your family be blessed this Easter season and be filled with His love, grace and forgiveness, for as the farmer in the story says, it truly “is what Easter is all about!”

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Happy Monday!

This is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

It is a new day and a new week! DH is off to his new job, we actually went to bed at a decent time last night (before 10pm, woo hoo!), and I woke up early to work out with my mother this morning! The house is CLEAN and we are gearing up for a really fun week at Keep the Way Chrisitan Academy :-)

This week we are rowing with Charlie and Lola! We love this show and found some really cute units over at Homeschoolshare for I Am Not Sleepy and Will NOT Go to Bed and I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato. We also have both of these episodes on Tivo, which is awesome because it always helps the stories click and come alive for my girls when they can watch as well as read it!

Have a WONDERFUL Monday Everyone!!

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A Wonderful Day...

Greetings Everyone!! I am in the midst of a massive cleaning extravaganza, but will be posting again later this weekend about our awesome day yesterday. I even plan on trying to include one of those nifty little slide show things, but until then, I wanted to share a few pictures of our family day at the park yesterday! My generous parents (and the best neighbors you can ask for) were kind enough to lend us their camera for the day and I went a little picture crazy!

Sisterly Love

My Little Tree Hugger

Looking for Peter Rabbit

Let's go Fly a Kite.... (sing with me!)

And finishing the day with a visit from "The Grouchy Ladybug"

Have a Wonderful Weekend Everyone!!!

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Update on Homeschool Family Needing Your Prayers...

I wanted to update everyone on the status of this family, as I have received several emails and comments about it. I do not know this family personally, but like you, can only imagine the pain they are going through. I haven't gotten an update through my co-op, so I went to this blog, which is posting updated information quite frequently... since I am only going to restate here what she has on her blog, I encourage you to visit this blog from now on to be able to pray more specifically.

There is good news! Erika (12) was released from the hospital and is staying in a hotel with relatives! It was said that she knows God is in control and is doing very well.... what an amazing testimony to the way these parents have raised their children!! Also, Cristy is doing much better as well!!! She is breathing better, talking and laughing with family and ate solid foods yesterday! The doctors plan to do the surgery next week when she has had time to gain some strength. She is definitely not out of the woods and is in need of much prayer, but this is wonderful news!

Both of the older children, Winston and Hannah, seem to be on the mend as well. Winston was able to have his tubes taken out and they believe he has now been able to eat. Hannah is in a room now and is able to walk a little. She is in high spirits and is resting in her strong faith and personal relationship with Christ (as is the rest of the family), but she has not been able to have her tubes taken out yet, so she has been unable to eat solid food and drink.... prayers are asked for her, as she is really hungry and thirsty!

Finally, the posting mentioned what shining lights the family is in that hospital. The way they are handling this whole situation and pulling together has been a tremendous witness for the entire hospital staff! I am in awe of this family and the amazing job the parents have done in raising such godly children who know they can turn to Him in all of life's worries and tragedies, as well as life's joys!

Blessed be the name of the Lord!!!

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Green Hour Challenge #3!

OK, so I have no camera (my brilliant self dropped it on the concrete patio outside, nice!) so yet again I will be unable to share pictures of our nature experiences.... hopefully my wonderful choice of words will bring a beautiful image to your mind!!

This week was different for us as I didn't go out with the intention of completing the challenge -- it was just natural for us, so I kept putting off writing this post, thinking I hadn't done it yet! My girls are 3 and 2 and contrary to what I read about this age, they do not like to draw. They aren't real artsy girls unless it involves finger paint, and that isn't really to paint a picture as much as making the colors all blend..... and a nice mess for mommy to scrub :-) So we did not do nature journaling this go-around, but here are our Nature Experiences from the week!

Sunday my DH and I, along with my parents, took the girls to feed ducks at the pond behind my mom's office. The girls squeeled with delight at this!!! They remembered that to have the animals come up to them, they had to be quiet and still.... I was so proud! They sat still and eventually the ducks felt comfortable enough to take the food right out of their hand!! They had so much fun watching the ducks and collecting the loose feathers on the ground! Then we loaded back into the car and drove to the local park. While walking to the playground, Jordan started pointing things out to me:

"Mama, look at the tree! Mama, look at the grass! Mama, look at those leaves and pinecones... and those pineneedles...look at the clouds!"

I guess I'm not doing such a bad job at this after all! We also pointed out the moss growing on the trees and took some home with us, along with sticks they found (one of which had several baby pine cones still attached, which I personally thought was really cool!) and flowers! We really enjoyed our time at the park and plan on going back as a family tomorrow for a picnic lunch and nature walk!

Today, we went for our neighborhood nature walk, but with the agenda of looking at all the construction going on. We told them before we left about the different stages of a house, how they have to begin with the most important part, the foundation, and then they make a frame with the wood, and then they put the bricks. It was a perfect day for our walk because in our little circle we were able to see a house waiting for the foundation to be poured, we watched another house where the foundation was being poured right in front of us (something that neither my husband or I had seen before), one that was being framed, and one that was getting its finishing touches on the brick! I went with the expectation that they wouldn't really "Get" any of it, but it would be a fun exposure to get them thinking, but they really enjoyed it! Jordan just wanted to sit there and watch the men build, but I think we made them a little self conscious!

While our nature walk today had a different agenda, observing nature was a natural part of it! We stopped several times to look at the flowers (we found some very large dandelions, which was exciting, and we told them that we had to leave it alone so we can see how much it will grow by the time we come next week!), to listen to the birds sing, and notice the sky above us (a beautiful bright blue with not a cloud in sight!). When we got back home, we looked at our bird's nest to see if there had been any changes, and then came inside. Jordan immediately said, "That was fun!" Cali enjoyed it, too, but was more of a quiet observer... but she definitely took it all in!

Yes, while it might not have fit all the intentions of this week's challenge, we still had a wonderful and successful time out in nature, and this challenge is continuing to motivate and inspire me. Thank you so much Barbara!!!

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Loving Berlioz the Bear!

It is so funny to me how much homeschooling has changed my perspective on life. I am always on the lookout for educational moments -- it is no longer a cloudy day, but an art lesson. Bugs aren't nearly as icky to me (although I am a far cry from calling them Beautiful like Jordan does!) because I can see how much my girls delight in them, and we can then talk about God's creation. I notice the beauty in the trees and listen to the birds sing. Everything is an adventure!!

It has also changed my outlook on literature. I was just telling my dear friend Marsha last night how I would have never noticed, much less cared about, illustrations before this journey began, but now I squeal in excitement when I see the beautiful artwork in some of these amazing stories we are sharing! Berlioz The Bear is one of those stories. Jan Brett's illustrations are life-like, interesting and just a joy to see!

This story is also about one of my favorite things -- music! I have not been the biggest music buff before, but again, since starting to homeschool, I can't get enough of it! We love playing online games where we listen to and match the different instruments, create our own orchestra, watch different people play the various instruments and make our own rhythms. I love that both of them, at the ages of 2 and 3, can name the oboe, cello, bass, viola, violin, trombone, trumpet, clarinet, flute, french horn, and bassoon -- half of which I didn't know existed until this past year! Anyway, I digress....

So this week we are "rowing" Berlioz the Bear and supplementing it with Zin Zin Zin a Violin. We have both episodes of Reading Rainbow in which they were featured, which is always a huge hit with my girls.... Jordan in particular is an auditory/visual learner and the story always "clicks" when she can see a video of it. Monday we kept it pretty simple and discussed that he lived in Germany and found it on the globe. Do you know that Tuesday morning, when I took Berlioz out, she immediately told me that he lived in Germany and wanted to find it on the globe??? How awesome is that? I don't think I knew there was such a place as Germany when I was her age, lol! We then talked about onomatopoeia and what a funny word it is, and how Jan Brett used it in the story with the word "buzz," and we had fun coming up with tons of other words, too. We then looked at how she used the illustrations to tell a story within a story, and that was when I was finally able to really appreciate the beauty of her artwork. We finished up with reading Zin Zin Zin A Violin and talking about all the musical instruments some more.

Today was Art/Music day, so we read the stories and really focused on the instruments involved. We got online and played a lot of fun music games, and then made our own instruments! I was trying to figure out what we could use since I didn't have any shoe boxes or kleenex boxes when I finally looked at the storage bins we use for their toys. We have one of those 3 level toy organizers that come with 9 storage bins, so I took two of them and put rubber bands around them... it was perfect! The girls had a blast saying they were different instruments -- first they were guitars, then they were violins, then we turned them upside down and made them drums :-)


If you haven't had a chance to read this book, or any of Jan Brett's stories, I strongly encourage you to check them out! She is very talented and has a wonderful website with fun activities and go-alongs, too!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!!

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Homeschool Family Needs Your Prayers!!!

I have been notified by my local homeschool co-op of a family that is in desperate need of prayer! This weekend, the homeschool family was driving and was hit head on by an intoxicated driver. The father, Daniel Hottman, was able to give direction to his family in how to escape from the car before he passed away. The rest of the family, which consists of the mother, Cristy, Winston (23 ), Hannah (20) and Erika (12), are still in the hospital. The mother is doing very badly and is in need of several surgeries, however her vitals aren't good enough for them to do that yet. At this time, they do not have much hope for her. The children all had pretty severe injuries as well, and are still in the hospital, but they are all asking for prayer for their mother.

Please keep this family in your prayers. They are having to make arrangements for the father's funeral, however with the mother's health at the moment, it is a very difficult situation for them. Also, please pray for the driver. She was a 24 year old woman, and is currently being charged with intoxicated manslaughter. It is so easy to judge and condemn, but we all fall short of the glory of God and have all made mistakes. I am sure this is one that will haunt this young woman for the rest of her life and she will need God's grace to see her through.

Give your children and your spouse an extra long hug today!!!

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Recap and Looking Forward....

Sorry for neglecting my blogging duties :-) It has been a very full week! DH has been home in between jobs and we are loving having him home!

We have gone to the Children's Museum, Story time, Chuck E Cheese, and the park. We've fed ducks, had a playdate here at the house, played board games, read books and had lots of outdoors time! We have been bonding as a family and it has been wonderful to have someone else here to help with disciplining the girls. They are very well behaved and so sweet, but they are preschoolers and love to push their limits at times. Alone for much of the discipline, I have had to choose my battles, but now it is no longer two against one..... as I told them last night at dinner, A New Day is Dawning!! HA!

In the midst of this, I have also been sick with a cold and I managed to break my camera (grrr). The good thing about being sick is that I have been able to do a lot of planning, which is my favorite hobby! I love to make schedules and plan for the future..... sticking with said plans is the challenge, but I enjoy it. During this latest planning session, I was able to look at what units I would like to do from Before Five in a Row and Homeschool Share's Level A units. That will take us to the summer, at which time we will start our official Preschool year! I have decided to do a combination of Bright Beginnings and Five In A Row. I was planning on waiting until K for FIAR, but the site says that it is geared for ages 4 to 8. I was feeling really torn about preschool because I love the units we are doing now, but also love the complete preschool curriculum of Bright Beginnings, so combining them will be a perfect fit for us! I am very excited!

I am really excited about this week and hope to have a camera to show some pictures! We are studying Berlioz the Bear, a musical book about a bear orchestra by Jan Brett, and Zin Zin Zin a Violin, as well as homes, ladybugs and birds. Berlioz is our main topic of the week and Zin Zin Zin a Violin is a supplement to it. We are finishing up our nature study on ladybugs through the book The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. I decided to add in the study on Homes from Bright Beginnings this week because we have several houses in our section of the neighborhood in varying stages of construction and with DH home to help me show them, it will be great.... and birds was added on by discovering a beautiful birds nest in our tree in the front, so we are talking about birds and how a nest is a bird's home!

Today we read Berlioz and found Germany on the globe and watched the Reading Rainbow episode of Zin Zin Zin a Violin that also showed a children's orchestra and Stomp. We discussed why God gave us homes, drew a picture of our house and did some fun role playing (if I wanted to eat, what room of the house would I do that in? If I wanted to take a bath? If I wanted to sleep?). Then we talked about how birds make their home in a nest and discussed how birds have feathers, beaks and feet. Tonight we are going to make Rice Krispie treat nests!

Isn't homeschool fun? Have a wonderful week!!

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