Spotlight Review: The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies by Ammi-Joan Paquette

Market copy:

Could a tulip be a good place for hide-and-seek? Could a bit of dandelion fluff be a pillow? They could be, if fairies live nearby. This book invites kids to have a backyard adventure searching for the tell tale signs of fairies who might be residing all around them. Not only can children"search" for fairies in the book's unique blend of art and photography, but they will also be encouraged to discover the wonder and magic in nature, whether in a backyard or a local park. The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies is a perfect title for summer!

I heard about this adorable picture book a few months ago and jumped at the chance of sharing it with my daughters before its paperback release in a few weeks. THE TIPTOE GUIDE TO TRACKING FAIRIES by Ammi-Joan Paquette is filled with gorgeous illustrations, and the story is sweet and whimsical.

As a homeschooling family, nature study is very important to us and an integral part of our children’s education. Now that it is warmer outside, birds are singing, and plants are blooming again, this story was the perfect catalyst for my daughters to go on their first outdoor exploration. We cuddled together, shared the story, and they took off to the backyard, hunting for their own fairies to discover!
While my thirty-year-old Mom’s opinion is helpful, the praise that is most beneficial comes from the author’s intended audience. Here is my children’s honest opinions:

Cali, five years old: That story was awesome! When they found the fairies at the end, it was the best!

Jordan, six years old: I thought the story was great because it had fairies that are very girly. When the fairy found her slipper, it was my favorite part. I also liked it when they found the secret message. Then she turns to her sister and says, Let’s go look for some clues! Let’s go look for fairies!

Need I say more? This story would make a wonderful Easter gift for the children in your life. It is already available in hardcover and the paperback edition will hit the shelves April 15th.

I was granted the opportunity to review this book via NetGalley and Tanglewood Publishers. (paperback publication 4/15/11)

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Cali the Prayer Warrior

Cali, better known as Cali Bug around these parts, is our goober girl. She lives to make other people laugh. She is constantly making funny faces (most frequently involving crossed eyes and her tongue out), doing funny dances, attempting to tell jokes (that actually aren't jokes at all but gotta love the effort), laughing and saying, "Get it?!?"

But don't let that spirited, spunky, silly exterior fool you. And don't be tempted to see the occasional rule pushing and look at the just-turned-four-baby-of-the-family-so-I-whine-to-get-attention personality trait (although Mommy and Daddy are working hard on that, as it recently has reared its oh so pleasant head again) and assume she doesn't have powerful spiritual insight to share. My little fireball has a huge spiritual gift of prayer!

Whenever she makes the wrong choice, she says an impromptu prayer asking for forgiveness almost immediately (or whenever she realizes it is the wrong choice). When she wants something really bad, she prays to God for it. When she sees someone hurting, she prays for them. Sometimes she prays for the silliest things that I know just makes God giggle (I tell my girls that the highest form of joy is a giggle and since God IS joy, that He giggles whenever He sees them doing something that really touches His heart!) -- such as her favorite famous prayer, "Dear God, I want to play a game. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

A sweet memory I think I will always carry with me is Ms. Kelly, the Preschool Director at our church, coming up to me a few weeks ago. Gregg and I serve there, so we know her pretty well. That day they were having a special time with the children, making cards and praying for Little Bekah who is a 3 year old who already lost an eye to cancer and is still battling for her life.

Ms. Kelly came up to me and told me that she had to hold back tears while praying with Cali. She said that she was able to pray with several of the children as she went around the rooms, and most of the children didn't really understand what they were doing, or it didn't really touch their hearts -- but that Cali GOT IT! She said her little prayer was so heartfelt and full of love, and that she could tell that Cali prays a lot. Ms. Kelly said that it really touched her heart, and as her Mama, I must say I beamed extra bright at the wonderful compliment she bestowed upon my "sweet potato girl".

Cali is a tough cookie who can be feisty and isn't afraid to let her desires known -- sometimes VERY strongly -- but that girl does have a soft heart full of gold, and better still, full of God's love. I try to remember to turn to prayer often in life's events, and I try as often as possible to model that out loud, but I must admit that she has taught me (and reminded me) to do it at times I hadn't thought about.

I love you, Cali girl!

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Jordan 12:20

This week has been so full - and exhausting! We have been doing a lot more spontaneous reading cuddled in various locations throughout the house, we have played a different game each day (I am really leaning towards relying heavily on games for math this coming year, so we have played Yahtzee, Uno and Battle so far), and we have had a lot of outdoor time.

With all of that going on, I have also started nap/quiet time again, where we gather in Mama's bed, read a chapter from a book -- currently Winnie the Pooh -- and then we all close our eyes. The rule is that you must be quiet, still and have your eyes closed for twenty minutes (Mama too!) and if after that time you aren't asleep, you can then play quietly in your room until the hour is up. Cali has fallen asleep everyday, and Jordan has even taken a nap half the time. Yesterday was not one of those days, however.

After the 20 minutes was up, and I could tell she was getting restless, I told her to go to her room and play quietly. She wasn't supposed to come out until 4:00, when the hour was up, unless it was to go to the bathroom. She came out after a few minutes, and I normally would have promptly reminded her of the rules (since this is a new thing we are starting) and sent her back in -- but for some reason I held my tongue.

She quickly asked for materials to make a Scripture Verse. See, early last year we used a curriculum for Preschool called Bright Beginnings and in it, we had a memory verse each week. We decided to make a big poster for each one and hang it on our wall in the Living Room. We ended up with around 13 huge posters around the room (no mistaking our beliefs the second you walked in the house!), and they stayed up until about 3-4 months ago when I finally took them down.

Well apparently, Jordan was either reading a book about an angel in her room, or she was playing pretend, but she came out saying that her and this angel were talking, and she wanted to make her own Scripture Verse. I helped her get out the large white paper and crayons, and she sat down on the other side of the room. She asked for help with the word "destroy" and then asked how to spell "Evil" to make sure she had it right. She was about to ask how to write the number 12 again (occasionally she writes the second number first like 21) but then she remembered our learning poster that has the numbers so she looked up instead. I was very curious which verse she could be writing -- she knows quite a lot at this point, but nothing that seemed to have all of those elements.

After adding a smiley face at the bottom of the paper (something her Daddy always did with the others. . . one to be cute, but mostly to cover up a dark spot that appeared at the bottom of all the papers) she announced that it was ready to be put on the wall. I walked over and just smiled.

The poster reads:

Jordan 12:20

SONGS OF GOD DESTROY EVIL

I knew she made it up herself, but that made me smile all the more. She didn't worry that her verse wasn't actually from the Bible. She believed she had a message about God and His power that was important to share -- and I agree.

We know that speaking the Word of God does destroy the darkness and evil, and that praising God by singing His Word is just one way of brandishing that 'Sword of the Spirit,' which is the word of God. We do a lot of singing around here -- me with my off-key self and all :-)

I have no idea where she got the "Address" part, and it might not technically be in the Bible, but I think this is one verse I may keep on my wall for awhile. . . and it is already one that I have memorized!

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"It isn't YOU speaking, it is God speaking in you"

WOW! These are the words that my five year old, Jordan, told me yesterday. We were cuddling on the sofa, reading Max Lucado's The Way Home. I was explaining to them how it symbolizes our relationship with God. How, like Anna in the story, we are His Princesses and how the King in the story symbolized Jesus, coming down to the Lowerlands to give up His life to save us.

Out of nowhere, Jordan interrupted me, saying, "God is speaking."

I was a little surprised by this interruption, so I muttered the very eloquent question, "Huh?"

Her beautiful blue eyes then turned to me and she said, "What you are saying is the Word of God. If it is the Word of God, then it isn't YOU speaking, it is God speaking in you."

" . . . . . " (blink blink)

After a moment, I was able to speak again and I told her how insightful and intelligent that was, and how she was right.

The interesting thing is that I have been raised hearing a version of this all my life. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us and we are His vessel. Praying often that it is His words, not mine, that speak in times of comfort or discipline. That Jesus is the Word. That the Bible is His word, and He speaks to us through it. YES, I have heard all of that before, but I have NEVER had it put like that before.

I told my husband later that night and he had the same reaction. It is truth, but neither of us had thought of it that way. Isn't a child's faith amazing? They can see Biblical truths so simply, while we can over complicate things in an instant.

OH Jesus, give me the faith of a child!!

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Me - Renewed

I am just getting back online after an AMAZING weekend with Sally Clarkson. I went to her Dallas MomHeart Conference and it was a complete blessing!!

I have been to like 9 or so different homeschool conferences in the past three years (counting online conferences) and while they have all encouraged me in some way or gave me new information on the schooling aspect, NONE have touched my heart as a mother more. . . and none of them have renewed me, empowered me or rejuvenated me like this one.

Not only hearing Sally speak, but being able to see her wonderful, beautiful children -- the fruit of her homeschooling efforts, and living proof that the 'Wholehearted Child' educational philosophy works -- in person was a real treat!

I walked away with so many ideas of ways that I can grow in my relationship with Christ, infuse even more joy and laughter into our family, how to make even more memories, how to make reading aloud not only enjoyable but potentially life changing, how to discipline more effectively (and truly get to their heart), how to inspire them, how to pray more passionately and effectively. . . I could go on and on!

While the conference itself was amazing, equally wonderful was staying in the beautiful hotel room ALL. BY. MYSELF!!! It was so. . . clean. . . . and white. . . and quiet! :-) Right away I was able to put all of my belongings away and even laid out every piece of my makeup on the counter in the cute little tumblers they provided, and I did not have to worry about finding a child covered with lipstick. I did not touch the television remote the entire weekend either. I read, prayed, slept, listened to my own thoughts (sigh). It was heaven! And, getting a beautiful flower arrangement from my wonderful thoughtful husband was icing on the cake.

I also highly recommend Sarah Clarkson's new Book, Read For the Heart. I am about half way through this HUGE book and loving every word. After I finish that, I move onto finally reading The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson that I picked up this weekend. I can't believe it has taken this long to finally read these other books of hers, considering that my personal mission is to "Encourage Moms To Experience Joy in the Ministry of Motherhood." After I finish this book, I will move to reading her Mission of Motherhood book, and then Dancing With My Father, which is about living with joy.

I have also begun rereading Just Give Me Jesus by Anne Graham Lotz. I read this with a small group of women in our church a few years ago and it really blessed me then. It goes through the entire book of John. While I was on this mini-retreat of mine, I realized that while I have been watching Joyce Meyer everyday, and reading tons of devotionals, and watching Life Today, and all that, I was lacking in my personal relationship with Jesus. How can I possibly be the Christian, Wife and Mother that I want to be, need to be, without Him??

I am going to be playing around with my schedule a bit to find time to blog (not only to keep family updated on the girls, but also to try to start writing again) without being online during the day itself very often. I want to set the example of media time being a treat, not a time zapper like it can be and has been for all of us in the past.

Off to dance with my girls -- Have a BLESSED day!

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Our Language Arts Adventures

I have shared what we are going to be doing for History and Science in earlier posts, so I wanted to share our thoughts on Language Arts, but I thought it would also be helpful to share what we have used and loved so far, as well as F-L-O-P-S!

We have explored many different products and methods in regards to Language Arts over the past few years. We have had some big winners and we have had complete duds. One of the best parts about homeschooling is that you can tailor the education to the child. . . no cookie cutter, one size fits all approach here!

Jordan learned to read using a variety of sources. Leap Frog videos, Starfall.com, letter games, flashcards and reading with Mom and Dad are the main ways she learned. I actually often say that she taught herself! I think PBS shows like Super Why, World World and Between the Lions helped a lot, too. We supplemented with Zoo Phonics and Explode the Code, as well, but I don't really know how much this taught her as just reinforced what she already knew. Looking back, she was much more of the whole word approach rather than phonics, but we are working on the phonics as well to help her with spelling and fluency. But we plan on stopping ETC after this workbook.

Cali is learning to read using a variety of sources, too, but completely different. While she loved watching the videos with her sister when she was little, and it is how she learned her letter sounds at 18 months, she actually doesn't like to watch the videos now. It is really strange, I don't know where she changed but she refuses to watch them with her sister when Jordan asks to watch them! She did the Zoo Phonics with us last year so she was exposed to the idea that letter sounds can be in the beginning, middle and end and was good at sounding out 3 letter words by the age of 3, but while she wanted to learn how to read like her sister so badly, she got frustrated very very easily. The Sonlight Readers did not work --- Bob books did. Sonlight LA did not really work at all for her actually. What worked for her was a combination of songs for word families, some letter games, and mostly using workbooks -- in particular Queens Language Lessons for the Very Young 2 and to a somewhat lesser extent, Explode the Code. She loves these and we may continue throughout with these resources (meanwhile Jordan doesn't like Queens Language Lessons!)

For Spelling words, Jordan being a visual learner has made things interesting. In the beginning what worked best was writing the words with colorful markers on the big white board. After that got old, I didn't understand why using the hands on methods that would work wonderfully for Cali (magnet letters and stamps) wasn't working for her, so I admit I got a little frustrated. Luckily, I stumbled across the idea of using flashcards but tracing the different sounds in different colors so she could visually see the word in her mind, broken down into sounds which helped her in spelling. For instance the word tighten would be broken down where "t" is purple, "igh" is blue, "t" is red, and "en" is green. This helped her tremendously!! And now that our computer is working again, Spellingcity.com has been amazing! She learned two weeks of words within 3 days using that!

For creative writing, I love to have the girls tell me stories while I copy them down word for word, and this does work for the most part. . . but we also use a tape recorder for the girls to tell their stories, I listen and keyboard, then we discuss (and correct if we are using as an assignment). I love the idea of also keeping these tapes for them to listen to when they are older -- I have a couple from my childhood that the girls get a huge kick out of listening to! The only problem I have found with this is that for Jordan at least, her stories tend to be more concise and to the topic when I have to stop her occasionally to write it down, where when she uses a tape recorder it can follow a few rabbit trails being more free form, but it is still an excellent tool.

Finally a favorite idea that we have done in the final months of our K year for Jordan has been to abandon the LA program we were using (besides Spelling and ETC) and have been working on a story for the PBS Story Contest. Using it as a way to wrap up all we learned this year about similes/metaphors, dialog, adjectives, varying sentence structure, etc has been a lot of fun and a great way to review. The idea was to also use this as copywork as well, and her art could be the illustrations. The only problem is that we started somewhat late on this and I need to play with how I broke it out as she is now at the illustrating part and is kinda "over it." LOL But we will definitely do this again next year!

So that is our look at Language Arts over the years. Going forward Cali will be continuing Queens Language Lessons for the Very Young (moving on to level 3) as well as Explode the Code (finishing Book 3 and going at her own pace from there). I will be using the Spelling words from Sonlight LA 2, using SpellingCity to learn as well as magnets to build the words. For Creative Writing, we will be focusing on journaling and Queen Language Lesson writing prompts.

Jordan will be using Critical Thinking Company's Language Smarts. While she used Sonlight LA 2 this year, we will be using Grade 1 just to reinforce what we have learned and fill any holes. She LOVES the colorful look of the workbook so I think it will be a lot of fun! I will be using a Spelling List I got from our homeschool group for the K-3 National Spelling Bee, putting it into SpellingCity and also a new product I will be reviewing soon, SpellQuizzer. We will be working a bit on vocabulary using Worldy Wise 3000 Book 2 (although we won't be buying the book yet. . . They actually have games online that teach the words and have a few activities! I plan to use this to see if she likes it and then may buy the book later in the year or next year). For Creative Writing we will focus on journaling and story starters, along with self created stories.

Finally for Handwriting, we will continue to either have them trace my handwriting (via Walmart tablets) or worksheets here using Copywork. When I post our unit plans, I will post the copywork that I chose for each week -- mostly focusing on either facts of the time period or great writing samples from the Literature we are using.

Have a great weekend!

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Jordan's First Semester

Our first semester ran from 6/29/09 - 11/20/09. Jordan was four for the first semester, turning five November 22. Although we have been homeschooling preschool for several years, this was her first "official" school year and it has been a great year! Here is a detailed review, for our records and for anyone interested. (for a few shared subjects, the information is either the same as Cali's or similar with unique comments and with a few slight variations)

Overall, Jordan is doing very well! In the first 18 weeks of school Jordan completed both her Health and Math curriculum. For Math, we began with Math U See Alpha and she was doing wonderfully until we got to the required mastery of addition facts. She was able to add numbers quite easily with counting, but struggled with memorization. After a couple of weeks in lesson/week 9, we decided to combine her with Cali in the middle of Primer, which really is their K product. This has similar concepts but does not require memorization of facts (beyond skip counting). The final week of the semester we graduated to Horizons K Math and she is flying through with ease. Health went wonderfully and we finished in half the time due to interest. We will focus on PE next semester.

Language Arts is a very broad subject that covers alot, but this is definitely a strong suit. Spelling is being handled just like a second grader, as that is her current level. In the beginning her tests were one word at a time said orally or written on our large whiteboard. Then we moved to spelling computer games for her words (love Spelling City). By the end of the semester, she was taking a full spelling test done via dictation, correcting her own work, and adding any missed words to her Spelling Notebook/Dictionary.

Phonics work is done independently through Explode the Code worksheets while I work with Cali and she is doing very well learning syllables, rules, etc; Grammar work is done on the 2nd day of each week with our Sonlight LA curriculum, applying grammar principals to our copywork passage. Handwriting began with Italic but was quickly changed to standard manuscript. In the beginning, a 2-3 sentence copywork passage would take all week. Toward the middle of the semester, it went to 2 days, and now it is completed the first day, as expected for 2nd grade. I used to have to model each letter prior to her tracing -- now she does this independently as well.

Creative Writing has been spectacular. Most of her work is done simply by explaining the assignment and copying verbatim what she narrates verbally. When instruction/leading/correction is needed there has been occasional pushback, as she is pretty confident in her work, however each lesson has ended with a final product that is her own work that both of us are extremely proud of. Along with these assignments, she frequently creates stories on her own that are quite imaginative, and she does an excellent job of including techniques that she has learned like similes, metaphors, dialog, adjectives, etc; Journal writing is in the beginning stages -- definitely wanting growth here. She is great at creating stories that are elaborate, but struggles with wanting/ability to express her own life events in personal journal form.

Reading is awesome! She reads very fluently, with dramatic flair and expression. She has begun to read for pleasure on her own, as well as to earn computer time. We did begin the idea of a "presentation book" -reading a very easy reader very well with dramatic interpretation - but Mommy dropped the ball. Would like to pick this back up.

Art consists of her hundreds of drawings she does throughout the day. She really enjoys drawing, as well as any other artistic projects we do, and she shows a real aptitude and skill for drawing.

Read Aloud Literature consists of daily chapter books, shorter literature stories, and poetry. Comprehension and enjoyment is high for all of these.

Our Read Aloud Books and Novels this semester have included:
Hero Tales (stories of missionaries -- we really enjoy this!)
The Boxcar Children
Eric Carl's Animals Animals
The Real Mother Goose
The Apple and the Arrow (actually only read 1/2 of this book. Girls did not like at all!)
My Father's Dragon
The Hundred Dresses
Dolphin Adventure
James Herriot's Treasury for Children
Little House in the Big Woods
Pioneer Sisters chapter book
Capyboppy
The Wizard of Oz (for the most part. . . we kinda let this one fizzle out during a vacation, oops!)
too many library books to count or name

History is going pretty well. We decided against doing a timeline this year, as they are still so young, but we do read the daily selection and discuss. While there is some interest (and much more with living books and biographies when used here), this would probably be the least enjoyed subject at the moment -- but still learning and comprehending nicely. Unfortunately the bulk of Sonlight's History consists of Usborne Encyclopedias, which aren't the living books I would have picked, but we are changing this in the coming year.

** NOTE- after the first few weeks of the second semester, I noticed a big jump in interest with asking them to act out or do charades of their favorite parts of the daily history readings!!! **

Science is wonderful! Biology I is the course this year with NOEO, and so far we've covered most of the animal kingdom, weather, Bacteria and Fungi, and 2 Habitats (woods and seashore). Experiments have not gone so well, but the reading assignments have been a favorite reading, and they complete creative narrations 2-4x's a week. So far Jordan's narrations have included stories, highly illustrated drawings and creative storytelling/puppet shows. Favorite Resource here has been the Usborne Pocket Nature Encyclopedia.

** NOTE -- after finishing NOEO, ahead of schedule, I can quickly say that the Pocket Nature Encyclopedia got a big run for its money when they started reading Usborne's First Human Body Encyclopedia!! **

Bible reading is very well comprehended and told back with great accuracy. Jordan lives up to her middle name -- Faith! She inspires me!! While we use a variety of Bibles at different times, choosing the one that tells each story the best for their age, the Egermeier's Bible Storybook is definitely our primary text. We began using our own Devotionals around mid-semester, and are now near the end of our second book. I am very pleased with this time, spiritual insight and understanding, and growth.

Scripture Memory had been excellent. Mom did not stress this for a 6 week period in the middle, but all verses before and after are well memorized and enjoyed.

Extracurricular Activity is Drama. This has been excellent!! While most of the drama classmates appear to have been entered to get over shyness, Jordan is flourishing in a creative outlet. The only problem with this class, in fact, is the stress on creativity, which ends up feeding her stubborn streak a bit -- for example, when she chooses to do a certain assignment differently then what the teacher asks for, and it is accepted as a wonderful use of creative free expression. For this reason, there has been some discussion of supplementing with another extracurricular that requires more discipline (music, art, karate, or soccer).

For school, the daily schedule has gone through multiple revisions, however the current set up seems to be working very well. Short lessons with a timer helps keep focus and best effort. Also for creative tendencies during "lessons", trying to stick to the Listen-Do-Then Share Creative Thoughts and Ideas works well. Also clearly stating expectations -- in school and before outings - has been crucial.

The schedule used for the majority of the first semester (and was changed shortly after, ha!) consisted of Bible/Devo/Scripture with Breakfast, move to counter for Language Arts work, then either a short play time of 15 minutes or straight to the sofa for Story Time.

During Story Time Jordan reads her independent reader to all of us, then I read History, Science, Poetry and our "lighter literature" selections (we have a 12 book collection called My Book House that we are reading through). On Tuesday and Thursday, at a minimum, we would follow this time with picture science narrations. We would sometimes have another short break here or go straight to the counter for Math and Health. Our chapter book Read Aloud Literature was read after lunch. Drama is every Monday from 5:00 - 5:45 pm.

Chores - Most days Jordan gets dressed on her own without prompting. With prompting, she makes her bed, picks up dirty clothes, and brushes teeth/washes face. She also occasionally feeds Shawn (the dog).

Future Changes -- There were a few times when Bible was moved to lunch and it worked beautifully tying our conduct/effort in school with devotional discussions. May be good to begin the day in prayer but permanently move Bible/Devo/Scripture to later in the afternoon. There has also been great results with moving our Literature Read Alouds to lunch time.

That sums up Jordan's first semester! Now we are winding up the final two weeks of her second semester. Hopefully I will be able to do much more frequent posts so to avoid such lengthy ones :-)

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Cali's First Semester

Our first semester ran from 6/29/09 - 11/20/09. Cali was 3 during this time, having turned 4 in January. Even though she is "the baby" of the family, and is technically tagging along for a lot of subjects, she hasn't really struggled much at all in her constant attempt to keep up with big sister! Here is a detailed review, for our records and for anyone interested.

Overall, Cali is doing wonderfully! She is 3 years old completing first grade Language Arts and Science, and advanced K level Math, History, Bible and Literature. In the first 18 weeks, she completed both her Health and (initial) Math curriculum.

For Math, she finished the entire Math U See Primer (K Level) program in 4 months and began Horizons K (what is a slightly advanced K program from what I have been told) before the end of the first semester. Cali is doing extremely well in this subject. She understands the concepts of place value, addition, subtraction, missing value, skip counting, tally marks and time. She has memorized "double facts" (1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, 5+5) and skip counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's. Math was supplemented with Critical Thinking Books Can You Find Me, Kumon Cutting, and Sesame Street Activity Books on Counting. Horizons lessons 1-3 completed before the first semester and the following concepts were introduced: counting carefully, position words, writing numbers, one to one correspondence and right and left.

Horizons Health K went wonderfully and we finished in half the time due to interest. We will focus on P.E. next semester.

Language Arts is a broad subject covering many things, and we used a wide variety of sources.

We began with Sonlight LA 1st grade, mostly doing oral work, but it was not a good fit. She had extreme interest in wanting to learn how to read like her sister, but it was a matter of the right approach. While Cali loved the book with the word lists and could read them, she completely balked at the idea of reading them in the fairly long-page stories SL used.

Instead, we began a hodge podge of things that actually worked very well. Along with self created song games and activities, we would occasionally use Bob Books as readers and Starfall.com. Most of the work, however, was done with Explode the Code and Queen Homeschool's Language Lessons for Little Ones 2 (LLFLO). She began with ETC Book 1 (having established that the Primer A,B and C books were too easy) 8/18/09 and was 1/3 of the way through Book 2 by 12/15/09, doing a page or two a day. Cali also does 2-3 lessons in LLFLO's a day due to interest.

Explode the Code covers letter sounds, beginning/middle/end sound recognition, word recognition, reading 3-5 letter words, reading and matching words to pictures, spelling, blends and reading comprehension. Cali ended the semester with the test for Book 1 which involved dictation (I say a word and she would choose the correct word from a set of 3), reading sentences and choosing the word that makes sense, and reading 3 sentence paragraphs and choosing the word the paragraph described. She did perfectly and was very proud of herself!

Language Lessons for Little Ones coves Poetry Appreciation and Narration, Picture Study and Narration, Creative Expression, Copywork, Letter Sounds, and reading words and sentences. In two and a half months, Cali completed 1/3 of the book.

Handwriting began with Donna Young prewriting lessons, focusing on lines, circles, slanted lines and hills. She did wonderfully! After a month, she moved onto copywork as well, using a variety of Scripture verses, samples from SL LA1, and LLFLO. Cali has very good motor skills! She can glue and line pictures up very well, her letter formation and pencil control is great and her scissor work is decent. Handwriting, for her age, is extremely impressive.

Art, which includes any drawings she does throughout the day and various picture narrations, is growing daily! She began the semester with simple scribbles and explosions of color on paper. This evolved to writing her name and letters and now is much more focused on a particular result -- using shapes and lines to form people or objects!

Creative Writing is good for her age. She is getting more and more comfortable creating imaginary scenarios and characters. Narrations have grown considerably - she is able to tell back most of our readings pretty well and has wonderful comprehension.

Read Aloud Literature consists of daily chapter books, shorter literature stories and poetry. Comprehension and enjoyment is high for all of these.

Our Read Aloud Books and Novels this semester have included:

Hero Tales (stories of missionaries -- we really enjoy this!)

The Boxcar Children

Eric Carl's Animals Animals

The Real Mother Goose

The Apple and the Arrow (actually only read 1/2 of this book. Girls did not like at all!)

My Father's Dragon

The Hundred Dresses

Dolphin Adventure

James Herriot's Treasury for Children

Little House in the Big Woods

Pioneer Sisters chapter book

Capyboppy

The Wizard of Oz (for the most part. . . we kinda let this one fizzle out during a vacation, oops!)

too many library books to count or name

History is going pretty well. We decided against doing a timeline this year, as they are still so young, but we do read the daily selection and discuss. While there is some interest (and much more with living books and biographies when used here), this would probably be the least enjoyed subject at the moment -- but still learning and comprehending nicely. Unfortunately the bulk of Sonlight's History consists of Usborne Encyclopedias, which aren't the living books I would have picked, but we are changing this in the coming year.

** NOTE- after the first few weeks of the second semester, I noticed a big jump in interest with asking them to act out or do charades of their favorite parts of the daily history readings!!! **

Science is wonderful! Biology I is the course this year with NOEO, and so far we've covered most of the animal kingdom, weather, Bacteria and Fungi, and 2 Habitats (woods and seashore). Experiments have not gone so well, but the reading assignments have been a favorite reading, and they complete creative narrations 2-4x's a week. Cali's narrations have been full of color and while she normally only focuses on 1 thing or picture from the reading, she does a good job making the idea her own through pictures, story narrations and puppet shows. Favorite Resource here has been the Usborne Pocket Nature Encyclopedia.

** NOTE -- after finishing NOEO, ahead of schedule, I can quickly say that the Pocket Nature Encyclopedia got a big run for its money when they started reading Usborne's First Human Body Encyclopedia!! **

Bible reading is comprehended and narrated very well. While we use a variety of Bibles at different times, choosing the one that tells each story the best for their age, the Egermeier's Bible Storybook is definitely our primary text. We began using our own Devotionals around mid-semester, and are now near the end of our second book. I am very pleased with this time, spiritual insight and understanding, and growth.

Scripture Memory had been excellent. Mom did not stress this for a 6 week period in the middle, but all verses before and after are well memorized and enjoyed.

Extra Curricular is Gymnastics. This has been wonderful! We did switch places a few weeks in, but since the move, it has been a highlight of Cali's week! Floor and Balance Beam exercises are her strengths and she loves the physical activity/exercise it brings. She often practices throughout the house, throughout the week. Teacher-student ratio is very good, thus bringing in more discipline as well. The main highlight, however, is the pride she has in herself and the obvious joy she gets from each class!

Our school schedule has gone through multiple revisions, however short lessons (with a timer sometimes) helps focus and best effort. Also, for creative tendencies during "lessons," trying to stick to the Listen-Do-Then Share Creative Thought/Ideas works well. Also clearly stating expectations in school and before outings has been crucial.

The schedule used for the majority of the first semester (and was changed shortly after, ha!) consisted of Bible/Devo/Scripture with Breakfast, move to counter for Language Arts work, then either a short play time of 15 minutes or straight to the sofa for Story Time.

During Story Time Jordan reads her independent reader to all of us, then I read History, Science, Poetry and our "lighter literature" selections (we have a 12 book collection called My Book House that we are reading through). On Tuesday and Thursday, at a minimum, we would follow this time with picture science narrations. We would sometimes have another short break here or go straight to the counter for Math and Health. Our chapter book Read Aloud Literature was read after lunch. Gymnastics was every Friday from 5:45-6:45 and is now every Saturday from 11-12.

Chores - with prompting, makes bed (Very well!), gets dressed (or at least picks outfit out), picks up dirty clothes, and brushes teeth/washes face. Actively searches out for ways to help daily around the house.

Future Changes -- There were a few times when Bible was moved to lunch and it worked beautifully tying our conduct/effort in school with devotional discussions. May be good to begin the day in prayer but permanently move Bible/Devo/Scripture to later in the afternoon. There has also been great results with moving our Literature Read Alouds to lunch time.

SO, that sums up Semester One for our little Cali Bug! Up next, JoJo Nut.

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Mama Vs. Computer: Round 4

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I really do intend to stay updated on this blog -- it is just that unfortunately, two weeks ago, we were hit by a HUGE computer virus that has me without a computer. . . YET AGAIN. grrrrr

I hope to get on my wonderful husband's work laptop this weekend to post a bit, but if not, just hang in there with me and I will be back as soon as I can!

Have a wonderful weekend :-)

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Statement of Purpose

Over the last few months, Gregg and I have been having "Advisory Board" meetings for our homeschool. During preschool, he would meet with me once a month to help choose topics for the various weeks, and we did sit down together to plan out what curriculum we would use for Kindergarten, but apparently I was still presenting myself with a sense of fear in regards to our homeschool.

Although we have taken the last few weeks off due to various vacations and events, my mother comes over on most Friday nights to do a Bible Study with me and Gregg. Our last study was Too Busy Not To Pray. One of the lessons was on fear and how it can hold us back in our prayer life. After our study was over, Gregg and I ended up having a marathon discussion on fear in regards to homeschooling. Although I didn't feel as though I was fearful, it was coming across that way. After much discussion, we realized that it boiled down to not having a written down, agreed upon vision for our homeschool. Not a strict plan on what curriculum to use each year or books to read, but an overall goal for what we want for our girls by the time they graduate, and an idea of what time periods in history we wanted to cover and when.

We had discussed these things verbally through the years, but it was never put on paper, and never so formally. Gregg's MBA really paid off in helping us set attainable goals and narrowing it down to what we want. We used the model from Educating a Whole Hearted Child and added our own ideas to it. Along with our homeschool vision and mission statement, and overall homeschool objectives, we listed the subjects we wanted to cover and what our goals were for each of the subjects. This became the Keep the Way Christian Academy Statement of Purpose. We then came up with a basic K-12 plan for each of those subjects, a plan for when we would cover those areas (and things such as when we would cover what time period in history). Then, we planned out the next 3 years.

We believe that our statement of purpose is pretty much in "stone," while our K-12 plan is in "ink." The 3 year plan is in pencil, meaning we know that it can change, but it definitely helped me to know in detail what we want to cover, and for those 3 years, what curriculum we would like to pursue. A major advantage of this for me was that I was constantly reading about different curriculums that I thought all sounded great, and I worried about not only fitting them in but when. By doing the 3 year plan, and seeing what we wanted to cover, it all fell into place naturally! I can do Sonlight Language Arts for awhile, since the girls and I both enjoy it, and in 3rd grade when the SL LA program doesn't match wonderfully with our plans for history and literature, I can switch to Learning Language Arts Through Literature for a year. For history, Sonlight does the first part of world history in first grade, the second part in second grade, and moves to American History in third grade. Gregg and I would rather do a year overview of world history in first, an American history overview and intro to American geography in second, and then begin our four year History rotation in third. That means that we can use Sonlight (with my own modifications between SL 1 and 2 since I prefer the History in one and read alouds in the second lol) for first, get to try My Father's World for second with their "Adventures in My Father's World" program, and use Mystery of History for third grade along with some wonderful read alouds from The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach and the notebook supplement from Winter Promise!

I guess we really are eclectic after all, huh? I fought that label for awhile, wanting to be strictly unit studies as that seemed so freeing, then I wanted to be Charlotte Mason as that seemed so lovely, but in reality, we are just US. Jeans wearing, book loving, variety-is-the-spice-of-life believing, God worshipping, eclectic US. And I like that :-)

Now this post was supposed to be about our first week of Kindergarten. Somehow my fingers hijacked my plans, but maybe that is because someone out there was struggling with fear issues as well in regards to a certain aspect of their homeschool journey. I am not saying that my answer works for everyone -- in fact, I know many people who would balk at this approach -- but the peace it has given me has been wonderful. Now, when I read about a great book, curriculum, idea or unit study, I look to see if it fits with our plans for the next 3 years. If it does, I make a note to bring it up in our next "Advisory Board" meeting to discuss adding it to our plans, and if it doesn't, then I keep on moving. If I wouldn't be covering that topic for another 4 years or more, it is likely that there will be new products out at that time that may be even better or if it truly is right, it will come up in my research when I plan for those years. I am telling you, this has truly set me free!

Well, the girls quiet time is almost over. Hopefully I can hop on this weekend to begin journaling our Kindergarten Adventure. For now, I will just end with the first sentence I originally wrote for this post, before my fingers hijacked it. :-)

We began our journey into Kindergarten June 29th. . .

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Jordan's Recipes

I will be posting all things Kindergarten starting tomorrow (probably), but right now I am cleaning up my Master "Teacher" Binder and found two recipes that Jordan created sometime last year. I want to post them here before I lose the scrap piece of paper. . .

She loves to watch cooking shows on The Food Network with me, and one day she asked me to write these down for her. Unfortunately, we haven't tried either yet, but we may just try the second one this weekend!

Pizza a la Jordan

Take dough. Put cooking gloves on and put it in the oven

Bake for 10 minutes, then it will be 1 minute, then none. . . then ready!

Set the table with spoons and forks, and put the pizza in the middle and put cheese, tomatoes and sugar on it!

Dessert will be vanilla doughnuts with cream

Jordan's Crispy Crunch Cakes

Trick or treat for candy

Crunch up all the candy

Add cream

Bake!

Bon Appetite!

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I am the Featured Homeschooler this week!

Good Morning :-)

I must tell you that I intended to start back blogging slowly, however my computer has been unwilling to turn on for the past few weeks! The only time I have to be online lately has been when Gregg is home from work at night with his work laptop, but it is important to me to reserve a lot of that time for family. . . and watching our newest passion: The Tudors, Season 1!

I did want to direct you to the interview I did with Heart of the Matter about our homeschool. We are the featured homeschool of the week!

I hope to have our computer fixed soon. . . it has been an interesting challenge to have our online resources so limited, but it has also helped me to keep my priorities in line. We have been having such a blast the past few months! LOTS of crafts (we are ALL finally at the age where we enjoy them lol), reading great books, nature walks, tea parties and science experiments inspired by the new PBS show Sid the Science Kid. I can't wait to share with all of you the MANY pictures we have taken!

Have a wonderful Sunday with your family. . . for us, we will be going to an Indian Pow-Wow in town and getting a wonderful introduction to our Indian unit next week!

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Getting through my thick skull

Good Morning Everyone!

What a week! In times past, when I would go several days without posting, it would be because of a natural disaster or a lot of running the streets. This week, however, we stayed home all day, everyday. So what has kept me from getting a start on my mountain of blog-catching up? My wonderful girls, the beautiful world outside our windows, and lots of baking, books and fun. . . and a little God-led heart change!

I have taken notice of a handful of times in my life when God has not only laid something on my heart, He has decided to back it up with completely changing my heart towards something. Other things, such as my self esteem or weight, He prefers me to work on, so I can "truly earn" my new mindset. Apparently, this one is either too important -- or I have taken too long to "Get it" on my own -- that He has decided to just change my heart and mindset immediately.

This week, our days were spent maybe watching 30 minutes - 1 hour of television during the day. . . period. I have spent maybe the same amount of time on the Internet daily. . . period. That includes checking emails, forums, websites and blogs! I simply have wanted to calm our days down, focus on each other and what is truly important. The radio has been on, we have done much dancing around and my house has never looked cleaner -- although this time it is with my girls help instead of putting on a video to keep them occupied! I know that they have gotten older this past year (and going from 2.5 - 3.5 years old and 1.5 - 2.5 years old is a big help), but I have made no secret of my struggle between keeping a house clean and having a wonderful day of learning and fun with my girls. I have shared my struggle with having preschoolers truly help me clean. . . maybe all this time it was ME that was causing the trouble. . . anyway I digress.

God has also finally helped me to figure out my "Daily Routine." My problem before was that I couldn't NOT get locked into a time scheduled routine. I would write things out and feel that they naturally led to "times" (such as an hour for cleaning, thirty minutes for an exercise video, thirty minutes to cook, etc), and they would also naturally flow at certain times of day (breakfast at a set time-- say 7:30-- and that would take 30 minutes, which would flow into exercising for 30 minutes at 8:00). I would read how it is better to just have a routine that would flow with the day, thus allowing for those "things" that always come up that cause me to feel as though I am trying to beat the clock or always behind. . . . but read about it as much as I would, it simply wouldn't happen. That changed this week.

What made it finally click? Apparently my intelligence in this regard is at a preschool level! What has made the difference is making a few picture charts for the girls that allow them to set up habits and know what happens when. It gets them so excited to follow and they read it all day! And I love that the pictures next to the words also give great reading practice. But it is best to keep it uncluttered, so there are no times. Simply a picture of a bed next to the words "Make Bed," and a plate of pretzels next to the words "Snack Time." We have followed this new picture/time-less routine all week and the result can only be what I assume those wise souls were talking about. . . Joy. Peace. Fun. Contentment. No constant checking of the clock or reshuffling things -- simply rolling onto the next thing on the chart. Sigh......

Besides the change in television and Internet, we have added in daily exercise and so far I have exercised everyday with the girls. . . so I am starting again, but this time since it is on my handy dandy picture chart that the girls read daily, I am thinking/hoping/praying that this time it sticks -- and when I am not "in the mood," I am sure my well-intentioned, must-follow-the-rules oldest will kick my butt. :-)

So, sorry to appear flaky this week in not posting. I will start doing better, as my plan is to start blogging at night while watching television with my husband, which he understands since it is simply my form of scrapbooking and I won't be surfing the web or anything. We also know that our family uses this blog as a means of keeping up with what is going on at Il Maniero (Italian for "the manor house," a new name we are trying out for our house, inspired by my recent obsession with all things Jane Austen. . . all the homes in her novels have a name. . . yes, I am a dork but it works and we have fun, so leave me alone lol).

I will post next week on our Transportation week which was a lot of fun, and begin the catch-up list previously posted.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with your families. . . I know we will as both LSU and the Saints play this weekend! WOO HOO

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Ok, let's try that again

Dare I say that I am back? :-)


I was already behind in posting things on this blog and all the events of the past month certainly haven't helped things! I will be posting throughout the coming weeks on the following:

• Our Hurricane Experience -- We lost power the Friday it hit and got it back Tuesday afternoon. Since then it has been interesting trying to get back into a groove. While I will go into a lot more detail on that post, I will tell you really quickly that both my home and my parent's home (they live behind us) were spared any damage! Besides a few minor scares and inconveniences, it was actually a pretty great experience for us personally in that it provided LOTS of family time full of talking, reading, and memory making. We watched minimal television (we did have a generator and watched some things, like Saints football of course), and taught our girls (and myself) how to wash clothes with a washboard and hang a clothes line!


• Our Camping Pictures, lapbook and recap -- Yes, I know dear family members/readers, that you are chomping at the bit to see ME camping, much less the girls delight in the whole experience, and it is coming I promise!
  
• Horse Week pictures -- We had so much fun with this unit! It lasted two weeks technically, but with Gustav hitting in the middle and having my brother and his adorable girlfriend here for one of those weeks, we still kept it pretty simple and fun. We have a lapbook, fun pictures of all the books we devoured and of course, our pictures of our family trip to the Race Track to see the horses up close!


• Trip to San Antonio -- Wow, that trip was awhile ago, huh? But it was fun, educational and definitely one I want to document. We visited the Alamo (which has a really cute treasure hunt for the kids to make it fun) and the Riverwalk.


• Butterflies -- Just because I am so upset with myself for not posting the pictures of that unit since it was one of the girls favorites, I will post the pictures from this unit that we did I think back in June?? Wow, talk about BEHIND!
  
• Olympics/China -- I have pictures of our Lapbooks and of course, our Harris Family Olympics! There are SO many pictures though, that I want to use one of those cool slideshow thingys but every time I try to upload pictures into it at photobucket, it doesn't work. Any experts out there willing to help a sister out, please let me know!
  
• Children's Museum -- Ok, this trip was back in May!!! But again it was a fun family event that needs to be documented!
  
• Anything else that comes up between now and then!
  

But for now, I am off to clean up a bit and then have fun with my girls :-) I will leave you with these pictures of the breakfast Jordan made for us last week! The day before, she had woken up REALLY REALLY early and had decided to feed herself Tootsie Rolls for breakfast (we have a Tupperware container in the pantry with a few treats leftover from potty training). That day, I put some pop tarts, cereal and raisins in Tupperware in an easy to reach cabinet for her to have easy access to in case she ever did it again. . . well the very next morning, she woke up like at 5am or some ridiculously early hour.

I heard her in the hall bathroom (which is right by our bedroom), telling herself that she had an idea -- Pop tarts and Raisins! I got up a little while later, unable to sleep, and was greeted by a wonderful surprise! She had placed 4 paper plates on the table, with a pop tart next to each plate, sprinkled with a few raisins and the grand finale, a solitary Marshmallow on each plate (left over from our camping trip)! She yelled "Surprise!" and was just so happy with herself! It looks like my 3 year old is a budding cheff-er (her words) after all :-)

Have a wonderful day and I will be back soon with my mountain of updates and posts!

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On Second Thought, Scratch That. . .

Yesterday I was so proud of myself. I finally got online to update our family and blog-world friends on what we have been doing and just knew that I would be back to regularly scheduled programming, blogging wise.

Then, this Ike mess started. Being from New Orleans, my family and I feel pretty prepared for this storm. We are in the extreme NW Houston area, so we are actually being advised to stay put and not evacuate. The main concern is 40 - 60 mph sustained winds that should begin hitting us tomorrow. Gregg is currently on his way home and we will start gathering supplies in case power goes out.

So, all this to say, I guess I am not "Back" like I promised yesterday. Once the storm is over, I promise to post the pictures of our camping trip (I have had several family members politely hounding me, LOL). I should be back online by Monday.

Until then, have a wonderful and safe weekend with your families!!

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We're back :-)

I want to thank everyone who has emailed me to check in with our family. I know we have been silent for awhile, but it has been for great reasons.

The tragedy that my friend is going through did rock our family. My husband has never met Marsha or her family (we kept saying we would all get together and we would try to make plans, but you know how that goes. . . ), but this affected both of us. We have both been actively praying and turning to God, trying to get any lessons He wants to teach us from this experience. So far, that has meant A LOT of family time and reaching out more at our church. One thing that touched us was the amount of support they have locally from their church family, and we realized that since we changed churches a few months ago, we haven't really met many people there (besides my wonderful parents who go with us!) . . . we wondered who we would call if a situation like that would occur in our family. As it turns out, our church is holding a meeting this Sunday to create new small groups, this one particularly for Married Couples! We are praying that we will be able to make some friends and establish relationships through this new group.

As for the family time, we have been BUSY! I will make separate posts about all of the things we have been doing, but I will quickly summarize here. The week of Christian's passing, we were in the middle of a Camping theme. Monday and Tuesday we read lots of stories about camping, made a make-shift tent with blankets and pillows in the living room, and watched some fun camping cartoons. Tuesday evening, while I was driving to Marsha's house, Gregg wanted to do something special for the girls to wake up to. . . I think we all felt the need to hug our children closer and let them know how much they are loved. . . so he put up the huge tent in the living room. He added a lot of soft blankets, sleeping bags, pillows and stuffed animals. He also laid all of the books out inside. It was very nice and the girls were definitely excited to wake up to it Wednesday morning! That evening we decided to take the girls out to dinner -- I was in need of a family night -- so we went to Pizza Hut. Not five-star dining but come on, they are preschoolers! We were so impressed by how well they did in the restaurant. . . we kept flashing back to what seemed like a short time ago when they would be climbing all over the place, not wanting to sit still, and crying. They grow up so fast, don't they?

Friday afternoon we set out on our camping trip. It was a hard decision to make for me, as that was the same night they were holding the viewing for Christian, but the major thing that we are taking from this experience is how important family is and how quickly things can happen. I knew Marsha would understand and want me to keep the date with my family. The girls were really excited! I will be posting pictures from that night soon . . . and I must say that my first camping experience, even in the midst of extreme Texan heat, was a great success!

Last week was all about HORSES! My girls love horses so we started a two week unit on all things horse and pony. It has been a blast and this weekend we took the girls to the Sam Houston Racetrack -- not to bet, but to see the horses. :-) We had a great time, and I am loving the idea of incorporating these fun family events into our units! I will have lots of pictures coming from that week!

This week we are continuing our Horse week, but we also held our first Preschool Co-Op meeting in our home on Monday! The girls are SO excited! I am a little nervous about leading so many children (what works for us may not work for others), but the girls are making lots of friends. Currently there are 7 families total with 15 children, and I think one more family will be joining us. Ever since they left, the girls have been asking for their friends to come back!!

So that is what we have been up to. Busy, but really, really good! How about you? I would love to hear what everyone else has been up to for the past two weeks. . . I have so much blog reading to catch up on!

I will be back soon with all of our pictures!

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There Are No Words. . .

It has been a surreal 14 hours.

My dear friend Marsha called me last night around 8:00pm, living every parent's worst nightmare. She told me that her youngest son, little 3 year old Christian, was missing. I was at a loss for words then, and still am. As the night dragged on, she continued to call me with updates. For a small window of time, it appeared as though the worse case scenerio had been ruled out as a possibility, which alone was cause to give praise, and hold onto a little bit of hope.

Unfortunately, that glimmer of hope faded at 10pm when she called again to tell me that her youngest son, her baby, was gone. I was in shock -- still am. The entire night, while I was wanting to go there and hug her neck and offer my support, I also did not want to overwhelm her. . . many of us "Marthas" know that it is easy to fall into the role of taking care of others, and I wanted her to be concentrating on her family and the many friends already with her. However, after that last call, I couldn't stay home any longer.

I got in my van and drove the 45 minutes that felt like eternity. What would I say? What could I possibly do? The answer - - nothing. No words can help in situations like this. The only thing that matters is that we let our loved ones know how much we care for them, and that we are there whenever they need us. I pray that Marsha knows that.

Marsha is an amazing mom. She homeschools her two older boys and was excited for Christian to start preschool this year. She is the most hilarious person I have ever met, is beautiful inside and out, and has an amazing faith. I know that God is with this godly family, but additional prayers are certainly coveted at this time.

If you would like to read a lovely tribute to this ADORABLE little boy, and send any condolences, please visit our tribute at Heart of the Matter, Celebrating the Life of Little Christian "Dozer" Drews. My home address is listed there for any cards or well wishes you would like to send.

Go and hug your children

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My family in pictures

This blog is my digital scrapbook -- I am GREAT at taking pictures. . . getting them printed and put into a photo album, not so much.

This blog helps me to keep some of these wonderful pictures and memories stored, and allows me to share them with relatives who live across the country (ok, mostly in Louisiana, but with gas prices, it might as well be on the other side of the country). So I hope you don't mind me sharing some family pictures we took this weekend.

Mom, Ryan, and Dad

My family is very close. My parents have always put a priority on family, with an importance on celebrating the holidays, lots of vacations, creative memories, silly traditions, and just plain silliness in general. While no one's family is perfect, if I can create the same loving and accepting atmosphere in my own home, I will have succeeded as a parent.

Me and Ryan

I absolutely adore my brother Ryan. He is seven years younger than me and as a result, I have always been very protective of him. Our favorite story to tell is when he was first learning to ride his bike on the busy street in our neighborhood. He told my mom, "Please don't tell Rachel. . . You know how much she worries about me!" Yeah, I can be like his second mom at times, but I love him to pieces and that is what counts! My master plan involves him marrying his current girlfriend (who is just like me, therefore is PERFECT) and having them both move to Houston. Hey, it could happen.

Ryan is "technically" Jordan's godfather, and Cali's godfather is "technically" Gregg's very close cousin David, but with the girls being so close in age, we have decided to call all the godparents "Paran" and "Nanny." (I realize I am probably showing my Cajun heritage here with those names. . . and maybe even with having godparents at all?) Anyway, both of my girls love my brother -- probably because he is just as silly as me!

As you can tell from these pictures, my entire family loves to laugh. . . and we all love to tickle each other. Apparently not all families do that, based on the interesting looks we get from other people, but maybe we just all rate "Physical Touch" high as a Primary Love Language. Regardless, tickling leads to laughing which is the main goal. Life is just so much more fun when done with a smile and a laugh, don't you think??

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My Budding Musicians. . .

My girls LOVE Music! They love listening to it, they definitely love dancing to it, and love to play it! While they have always enjoyed music, it was during our unit on Berlioz the Bear, when we really learned about the orchestra and the various instruments, that I really noticed how much they enjoyed it.



My parents live next door and this weekend, when my brother was in town, we spent a lot of time there. My brother is the musician in the family -- he can play just about any instrument you can imagine, he writes his own music, has been in numerous bands, and has even produced a CD where he not only sang all the lyrics but played every single instrument in the background! I will be relying on him for the music portion of our curriculum in future years! They enjoyed showing off their "skills" for their "Paran Ryan" this weekend. :-)


If you asked my girls they would probably list the flute, violin or trumpet as their favorite instruments, but whenever there is a piano or keyboard, they run for it. They get the biggest kick out of banging on the keys and singing at the top of their lungs -- and I get the biggest kick out of calling it music class for the day!

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