Minnesota

We've been in Minnesota for almost a month now. The time has flown by. We've been at camp for 3 weeks and in the twin cities for one. Carol and Gary were kind enough to host us for one full week, which is no small thing. While in the Twin Cities Aaron worked during the day while the kids enjoyed some of the beautiful parks and attractions of Minneapolis. We visited Como Park Zoo, swam and played at French park, bar-b-qued with our good friends the Enstads and Aaron's cousin Jill and Ryan, spent the day at Gabriel's place (Big Gabe that is), and enjoyed a couple of very nice meals with Gary and Carol. All in all it was a fun time.

Aaron has been doing a bit of work for the camp this week, but has found plenty of time for fishing and conversation. It has been a very relaxing time at camp. I tell Aaron that I imagine that this is probably what heaven will be like, friends, yummy meals, and swimming, and soccer in the afternoon. I'll post some more photos of camp soon. I'm sorry for not posting sooner. Thanks for keeping up with us.

Kristen

Wild Life

There have been a couple of times this week that I've wanted to take pictures, but just couldn't seem to find my camera. Well, this morning I asked Mara if she knew where it was. She said (a bit sheepishly) "Oh, yeah, it's in my Diego explorer backpack. I was taking pictures of wildlife." This is one of pictures that she took.

Today, we did P.E. at the park. I was aiming to get the majority of Gabe's work in before we left, but the kids were just getting too crabby and needed to get out of the house. That's one of the challenges of homeschooling with smaller, less self-sufficient kids in the home. I find it's best just to roll with what comes and sometimes break up the school day.
At the park we had a soccer match and ran a couple of drills. Afterwards they played at the park. For Bible lesson we read Genesis chapter 19:1-29. This is the chapter when the angels destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot' wife is turned into a pillar of salt because she looks behind to see the city as it is destroyed.
Gabe also did math flashcards. We still have to do Spelling, Language Lesson, Phonics, Writing, and Math. It sounds like a lot, but is actually kind of fun and passes by quickly. Yesterday we did our usual lessons, plus we read a chapter out of a book about anacondas.

I am realizing that there are so many teaching opportunities during the day that go beyond book learning. For example today when we got home from the park, we had chicken salad sandwiches and a fruit of their choice. We were able to talk about what types of food are protein; and how we need protein to build muscle and fresh fruits and vegetables to give us vitamins and energy. This led into lots more questions of course about muscles and bones. Tomorrow we'll go to the library and check out some new books. I think I'll pick some up on nutrition as well.

This is what homeschooling looked like today: unkempt but productive. I asked the kids if they wanted to draw while I read to them Chapter 15 of Genesis. The drawing turned into painting and stamping. So I read to them and asked them questions along the way. Today we read about God establishing his covenant with Abram and then changing his name to Abraham. When I asked them what Abram's new name was Mara exclaimed, "Hamabram!" In this chapter God also tells 99-year-old Abraham that he would have a child in a year and naturally Abraham laughs. When I told the kids that that was like Great Grandma and Grandpa Eikum having a baby they laughed.


Gabe and I did addition flashcards, Spelling, Phonics, 2 Math worksheets, Language Lessons, and Writing. I am really enjoying our writing book by Susan Wise Bauer. She uses excerpts of classical literature for copy work and narration exercises. At night Aaron is reading "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis to Eve and Gabe. I think he and I enjoy it sometimes more than the kids.

St. Patrick's Day crafts

Today the kids cut out hearts that I traced and glued them into the shapes of shamrocks. We talked about how St. Patrick used the shamrock to help the Irish understand the Trinity.

We also read chapter 15 of Genesis while they continued to decorate their shamrock pictures with colored pencils. We're slowly making our way through Genesis. I read to them and then after I ask them questions about what we read. It's amazing what they retain. Mara remembered that God told Abram that He would be Abram's shield. I'm happy to teach the kids about God's character. Sometimes the job of teaching our kids about the things that God has done seems overwhelmingly complicated. Then I read to them a little from the bible and I realize that's the most important part. In 7th grade, my teacher Mrs. Utting, told us that reading the bible is important even if you don't understand it. She asked us if we could remember what we had for breakfast and said that it doesn't matter if we can remember what it was, it still nourishes our bodies. I remember thinking then that I would start to read the Bible to my children when they were still babies.

The picture with "St. Patrick's Day" written in purple crayon is Mara's. We've been working on her writing and she's doing very well.

Wednesday 1/13/10

I was hoping to spend the day tyding up the house and homeschooling. We started the morning by doing some chores and then we went to Lind's in search of a Kindergarten workbook for Mara and ended up buying glossy paper for finger painting and some flash cards for learning addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

Gabe is really enjoying Math. Today he asked if we could start with it. After lunch, when the girls were napping Gabe and I started the 2nd book of Hooked on Phonics, which we did for 15 minutes, followed by math, and science. For math he did a worksheet on tens and ones, one worksheet on addition, and made a bar graph. For science we read for 20 minutes about snakes. It's amazing to me how much he enjoys learning about animals, mostly predatory animals of course.

We seem to have found that another good time slot for "school" for Gabe is while Eve is doing her homework after dinner. Last night I sat with them at the kitchen table and it worked really well. Then to fill the requirement for History, and Eve's required reading time we read "The Story of the World".

It's raining right now, but the kids really want to go to the skate park and ride their new scooters. I think we'll go anyway and try it out. Yes, crazy I know, but that's us... we take risks here and there.

Back Home

After a month long trip to California to celebrate the holidays, we are finally home. Yesterday was certainly an adjustment after a month away from home. The girls are still tired and a bit out of sorts after an entire day in the car. Mostly we did errands yesterday, and continued to find places for our new stuff.

Today, Tuesday, we went to Story Time at the local library. The theme was "porridge" and the craft was making instant oatmeal. The kids all spooned quick oats and powdered oats into a zip lock bag then filled it with the toppings of their choice. The librarian helped Gabe find some books on Snakes which will serve as our Science time later tonight.

After we got home I let the girls watch some TV before nap-time while Gabe practiced phonics/reading. Gabe also did 1/2 hour of Math worksheets. We're now onto subtraction which of course he understood right away and was doing happily on his own.

I realize today that I need to be a bit more relaxed about his lessons. I am often take things too seriously, being that this is my first time home-schooling. I think it would be helpful to get together with some other homeschooling moms to get more feedback. I met a girl in Costco on Sunday who home-schools her kids and invited me to a monthly tea that she hosts for homeschooling moms. I think I'd like to go...we'll see. In the mean time I think I'll check out some blogs.

Later than evening...
We read a chapter of "The Story of the World". Did a language lesson, and a couple more math worksheets. All in all it was a productive day.

Turkeys

Today I decided to switch things up a bit. Instead of starting "class" first thing after breakfast I played games with the girls. I did this in hopes of improving their behavior while I work with Gabe. It seemed to work pretty well. There was much less fighting and messes. I also "filled" the chore charts and sent Gabe off to work on his chores while we played. So Gabe happily raked leaves outside.

We studied turkeys today and did a "Turkey craft." All in all it was a fun morning.

We also read chapter 8 of Genesis.