Groundhog, Baby Birds, Paint, and More

Weeks of May 5 through 18, 2013:


One Beautiful Morning

Happy girl has graduated from her looking window in our bedroom to the front storm door.  She is walking more and more, and one of her favorite places to go now is the front door, where she knows how to open the storm door when we have the big door open (and the latch lock only requires a bigger push to open the door).  

"I belong out THERE"...Elizabeth.

"No, Baby Sister, you must stay in here," is the basic message conveyed by Liv.

Meanwhile the boys were working at the dining room table on their book work:

Trusten

  

Jaden William

 

Baby Eastern Phoebe

The Eastern Phoebe chicks graduated to flying.  Jaden William was outside watching two of them trying to fly.  He said one was on the ground, and he picked it up and put it back in the nest, but then it was able to fly away.  He saw it fly across the yard and fall on the ground.  It tried flying again as he tried to get it, but he ended up catching it.  It's pictured below.  I'm so glad he at least got to see them take off.  We were concerned, because of our two killers, uh...cats might get them.  Jaden finally said at one point that he thought they'd be ok.  He saw one of them up in a tree at the edge of the woods (not far from the nest).  He said they were flying ok.
 

We all got to experience the whole egg-to-flying-chick cycle, and it was great!


Life of Fred

We started the new math curriculum, Life of Fred.  Trusten is starting with the first book called Apples.  Jaden William is using the sixth book in the elementary collection called Farming.  

I first considered starting William with Goldfish or Honey, but he and I skimmed through, and I decided going back to Farming would be good.  

The first day I opened Apples, and I sat down with the boys.  Jaden William acted very upset, because everything was "kiddie."  Well, that caused Trusten to be ugly about it.  After it all I ended up crying with Elizabeth in my bedroom (poor Happy was not happy that day, because she was cutting another tooth).  I later told the boys they hurt my feelings and made me cry.  Jade told me that he was just mad about that one book, but I explained to him that he didn't have to do that book.  Trusten hugged me and apologized, too, and the next time we got the books out, both boys enjoyed it.  

Sample chapter from Apples

Continued.  Every chapter ends with a "Your Turn to Play."

This last page shows an example of where, when I teach the kids, I throw up a flag.  This is when I go against popular belief.  In this instance, I'm the only one I know in this world (but surely there are others) who refuses to call "Saturday" and "Sunday" the "weekend."  I avoid even using the Roman names for the days of the week, but I do use them sometimes in the company of those in the world (I have at least three friends who also do not use the Roman names).  I've noticed, though, that even those who keep God's Ten Commandments refer to these days as "the weekend." It drives me crazy.  It doesn't make sense to me that we are representatives of God's Kingdom and teach that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath and yet hypocritically agree with the world that the seventh day and the first day are collectively known as "the weekend."  So who cares that that's what the world calls them and that a lot of people are off from work on those two days?  If we want to be the change we see in the world, why should we also say "the weekend?"  I will continue to refuse calling those two days "the weekend," unless I'm quoting someone.  If there are seven days in the week, and the seventh is what people call "Saturday," then the first day of the week simply is not part of the week end.  It's the week beginning.  The "weekend" is the seventh day of the week, period.  And according to God's way, that means sundown "Friday" to sundown "Saturday."  

Yes, for anyone thinking I'm "stubborn" or any other such thing, yes, whatever.  Yes, it's no wonder Nathan and I have "stubborn" or "hard-headed" children.  Yes, we do. Would I have it any other way?  Well, it would make life easier, I suppose, but in the end, if we can manage to do a decent job bringing them up, I believe they will be a great blessing.  The fact of the matter is, I don't want kids who grow up and end up with a "do what I'm told" mindset.  I want kids who aren't afraid to question authority or question the status quo.  I want my kids to learn to trust God, because He has given them reason to trust Him.  And if they are told by a man-run government to worship God in a certain way or told they must do anything else that they feel is wrong, I will be confident that they will disobey that government, even unto death (and trust me, at least two of mine, the "twins" Trust and Liv are willing to do their will unto death, so if their hearts are molded toward God and His will, they'll have no hard time taking all the punishment a wicked government metes out to them).  All this does make my job much more difficult.  When you absolutely have no way to get through to a child except through his or her heart, it takes work, but that's what we should ultimately want, anyway.  We should want our children to obey us, because they want to obey. 

If a person believes strongly enough in something, because they have strong evidence for it, then he or she should stand up for it, even if he or she is the only one (or thinks he or she is the only one).  That's true for simple things like the "weekend" issue or for bigger things, like not keeping a government-mandated holiday even if not doing so means the death penalty.  I believe a time is coming in the near future when the Western world will be expected to keep the holy days of "Sunday," "Easter," "Lent," "Holy Evening" (Halloween) and "All Saints Day," "Christmas," and others.  Those who oppose keeping such days and choose to keep other days shall be subject to the death penalty.  (There shall be more to the law of that government than the holidays kept, but that is another topic.)

There are some days where I feel like running away or giving up or literally pulling out my hair, but I pray, take some deep breaths, and remember to look at the long-term picture and be thankful that Father thought in His mind that I am capable of mothering such children (even though I admit there have been times I've asked what in the world was He thinking; I'm not nearly good enough).

Back to Life of Fred, I really love how the lessons are set up to get a child to think and how there are other lessons besides math to be learned.  It's also entertaining.  Forget about Horizons math or any other like it out there.  I'm done with it all.  Life of Fred, along with the real "lifestyle of learning" everyday things they learn about mathematics, I can now relax about math.  

Baker Jaden

The latest thing Jaden William has been baking is our bread. He made it into various round loaves once.  His first "regular" slicing loaf of bread collapsed.  One of the kneading blades in the pan of the bread machine was not placed properly.  It may be possible the bread had a bit too much yeast, but perhaps it was only due to the kneading blade problem.  William somehow knew when it was kneading, that it was messed up.  He said he fixed it with a spoon, but since he was outside at the time the bread was finished, I took it out, and the blade was buried in the bread.  When I tried taking it out from the bottom of the loaf, it just kept sinking into the bread, so I had to dig it out from the top, which is why the huge incision exists in the bread as pictured.  The kids all loved it, and it all went quickly both days.  I tried some the first day, after forgetting that I wasn't supposed to be eating wheat.  

Various-sized round loaves

Collapsed loaf

   
 

Linguistics: The Science of Language

William started listening to the course by Professor John McWhorter that I mentioned in my last post.  He listened to three lectures in one day and hasn't yet listened to anymore.  He listened to "What is Linguistics?", "The Sounds of Language—Consonants," and "The Other Sounds—Vowels." 

He learned more about some of the things that simply don't make sense in the English language compared to other languages; how our alphabet is really no good for nothing but a cute little song, because the letters are not arranged in a way of showing how various letters are related to one another; which letters are related to others and how those consonants are basically the same sound made in different parts of the mouth (as seen below); and how the short 'a' sound is almost only existent in the English language (and one or more very small secluded groups of another language(s); among other things.
   

Learning the different letter sounds and where they are made in the mouth and showing how different letters are related.  The 'j' is what we pronounce as 'y.'

Vowel sounds

 
The highlighted areas are where there were about to be something inserted.  Not all squares are filled, though.

I'll let Jaden William listen to these as he chooses, if he chooses.  He says some of it's boring, but he did sit through three lectures one morning.  He might not want to listen again anytime soon, but I see that he has a great interest in language (which makes me smile greatly inside), so I'd almost be willing to bet he'll be all over these one day, if even in his teens.  He'll remember we've got it.

New Baby Chicken


Jaden was successful with getting his favorite chicken Grace lay and incubate an egg for him so that he could have a chick.  The resulting offspring of Bob Marley and Grace:

Hours old at the most

I love this sweet little chick!

Sweetness!

Jaden and Liv with the little chick

Jaden found the chicken on Sabbath morning of the 18th when he went to let the chickens out for the day.  What a great surprise for us it was!  I was so happy for him.  I loved seeing his big smile and hearing the chick's peeping Jade walked into the back door with the chick.  He's been taking care of it as a human daddy, giving it water, finding worms and insects for it and letting it walk in the grass to eat, snuggling it, and changing out the old cloths we are keeping on the heating pad for it.  I loved the timing of the chick arriving, too, because it made for a good lesson for Pentecost, which I posted about on my other blog, Growing in Grace and Knowledge.

Liv's Painting

One day Liv disappeared, and I found her in my bathroom cabinet having so far put one small drop of herbal but bite gel into my contact lens case, and later in the day she found some dye of Jaden's outside (because he didn't bother putting it back in his candle supplies bag in the shed) and started painting herself.  I decided I need to set her up at the easel with some paints.
 

All the colors I had available, but I also mixed some of the white and red to make pink.

She used simple strokes of color.  I gave her a piece of pink (her favorite color) construction paper and two or three pieces of white computer paper.  Trusten said he wanted to paint, so I told him he could after she was finished, but he went and put the blue swirl on the left of Liv's picture. 

Sweet girl painting in the yard

Groundhog

Nathan and Jaden successfully flushed a groundhog into a trap.  It was neat to get to see the groundhog up so close.  It was a young one.  I came back from a short ride on the 4-wheeler on Sabbath to find them with the groundhog (which is why my bouquet I picked that I think I posted in the last post was so disheveled-looking, because I ran in, stuffed it into a vase, and ran outside with my phone).

Young groundhog

 

My Sweet Climber

My sweet climber?  Well, actually all of my kids have been big climbers.  Elizabeth climbs up on the beanbags, then onto the couch, and she has even climbed over the couch onto the filing cabinet that sits behind it.  Oh!  Not exactly where I'd like her to go.  She just grins really big when she sees that I see what she's done.  She's gotten to where she can almost get onto the couch from the floor, but remember, she's still working on walking well, so...

To conclude this post, I leave you with a sweet picture of Happy:

She loves getting in front of the air conditioner.

  
   Until next time...

What We've Been...

Periodicals We've Read...

Trusten's

Jaden's

Olivia's

Movies We've Watched...

Can't remember what all we've watched as a family, but they include:

*Life of Pi (movie teaching that there's basically two kinds of people--bad-hearted and good-hearted and that no matter how you tell a story, the character's hearts still show through the same way, either bad or good)
*The Impossible (based on a true story about a family that lived through the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami)
*The Letter Writer (very good movie that teaches everyone can make a difference in other people's lives, available for free
*Belle and Beast (another really good movie that teaches that YOU make be the person to turn a person's heart BACK to God and that you should LOVE others even when they do not love)
*Overcome (sometimes God allows bad things to happen in order to get your attention and get you to change your life, even if that bad thing nearly kills you)

Mystery of History Lessons We've Read...

*"Ninevah Destroyed"
*"Habbakuk and Huldah"
*"Nebachadnezzar II"
*"Daniel"
*"Aesop"
*"Ezekiel"
*"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego"
*"Buddha (Siddartha Gautama)"
*"Pythagorus and the Temple of Diana"
*"Confucious"
*"Belshazzar and Cyrus the Great"


Science Lessons We've Gone Over...


We've been reading more about the human body, most recently about the heart and circulatory system, as well as the different blood cells
 

Circulatory system of the human body, model of heart, normal red blood cells, and sickle cells

Close-up of heart within human body and model showing blood flow and labeling of valves, vessels, etc.; white blood bells and red blood cells

 
 We've also talked about seeds and plants. We planted our garden, some sunflower seeds for a sunflower house, and the kids watched me spread wildflower seed.  I'm hoping to soon get flowers for my pots on my front porch.  

William has constantly been busy exploring  and observing everything he can get his hands on, both inside and outside.  He has been studying the bird's life cycle, and he marked two eggs (though he thinks one may not be fertilized) that his favorite chicken (Grace) laid, and she's been laying on them for going on two weeks.  He had tried another round with that egg incubator unsuccessfully, and I told him to get rid of it.  So he took it all apart so that we can recycle the styrofoam, etc., and he kept all the warming parts and said he wanted to use it for the heater in his car (okay, so he's collecting parts and drawing plans for a real small car and hoping to save up enough for a motor, etc.).  It made for hilarious dinner conversation, as Nathan thought it sounded like a good way to burn down the car (to which William said it would be all metal, except for wooden seats) or that it could electrocute someone.  Well, we'll see.  He wants to go to a junk yard for his birthday trip this year.

When Jaden William is not exploring, inventing, building, drawing plans, doing science experiments, taking care of chickens, making clay pottery, or talking about all the stuff he's doing or wants to do, he's researching all about various minerals and chemicals, geography, animals, historical figures, and more or reading news pieces or the Expensive Journal (or something like that) and telling me what the latest ridiculous things people buy (like $1,000 cupcakes and $46,000 pacifiers made of white gold and silver and diamonds), or he's learning various languages (he's working on several, but he concentrates most of his time on learning Dutch vocabulary), including studying the different structures of the language, how it's written, etc.  He spends a lot of his time telling us about languages.  I have finally talked him into going through the language courses I have on dvd about the science and linguistics of language and the "story" of human language, both taught by Professor John McWhorter at the Manhattan Institute.  Very good courses.  I enjoyed them a few years back.  I haven't started them for him, yet, though.


Trusten is ever-improving in his reading, and his handwriting is as good as Jaden's is and even better sometimes (translating to pretty neat and that Jaden's is sometimes a lot worse than for which he is capable).  Trusten also seems to have a natural ability of understanding numbers.  He can already add and subtract things, and I haven't really spent much time with him on math.  What a blessing!  With my disliking math, and with Jaden's struggles with it, it can become a nightmare.

Olivia is so girly (except when she's playing in the mud).  Her favorite things are still dressing up (she dresses and undresses all day long in both her regular clothes and her dress-up clothes), playing with her sister, playing with dolls and other girly things, and imagining and talking about mothers and babies (people and animals).  She is very big on dolphins right now, even though horses still rank very high on her list.  She loves to play on her designated old iPhone still, playing all sorts of girly games, making ice cream cones and burritos, tracing letters, dressing up dolls, etc.  She also has started to play on Funschool (as has Trusten), and her favorite game is a princess-themed memory match game.  She has also pulled down a jigsaw puzzle from a shelf, so I think I'm going to teach her how to do them.  We have a few, most of them put up in a closet.  I think Trusten would do them now, too.  When he was younger it was of no use trying to get him to sit and do one.  It seems like forever since I used to sit with William when he would put together the puzzles.

Elizabeth has taken twelve steps at a time so far.  That is the best I've counted.  It won't be long, I know, before she's going everywhere.  I need to get out our shoe suitcase and find her some shoes.  I know there are some good shoes from when Olivia was that age, and Elizabeth will be ready to walk outside before too long.  She's not saying anything additional at this time, but I'm not concerned at this time.  She loves to put her hands in a pair of shoes (Liv's sandals are her favorite) and crawl around like that.  I was telling my momma a couple days ago that it's so funny to me, because this is about the age all my others have started putting bigger people's shoes on their feet and walked around with them, but with Elizabeth it's her hands and crawling.  


New Math Curriculum

I'm very excited about the new math curriculum we're going to start using.  I got the first ten books—the "elementary" level—of The Life of Fred.  I got a notice today that I have a package waiting at the post office, so I know that's it.  I'll be able to start at the beginning with Trusten and have Jaden sit through it, too.  I think it's a dream come true, but I'll keep you updated.  From the website:

 IMPORTANT NOTE: These books are designed to make your child THINK! and to learn on their own. It does not give step-by-step directions and answers to every question. They learn to apply to current questions the concepts previously taught. Upon completion they will understand how math works, why it works, and how to apply it. They will know the formulas and how to apply them in real-life situations, not just situations created for a textbook. This program relies heavily on reading comprehension and thinking, not rote spoon-fed learning that is quickly forgotten. Parents can learn these novel methods along with the student, but should not try to integrate the traditional rote/memorization methods. 
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One of the testimonials:

Hi,

. . . From the time I was in 2nd grade, I cried my way through math. In high school, I wrote my best friend's term papers and she did all my algebra. . . . Now, here I am with your book. . . I've found myself sitting at the kitchen table, giggling over the story lines, working out problems and actually "getting it" for the first time in my life!!!! :) And that's a very good thing since I am now a homeschool mother of 5. . . .

Just so you know, even my 7 and 6 year olds are BEGGING me to read the story of Fred to them!!!! Enough so that they're grabbing paper and pencils attempting to answer the questions with their sibling so I'll read more!!! It seems too good to be true.
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Click link for a sample from the first book, Apples.
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Sounds like a dream come true for me.  This is exactly the kind of learning that is up my alley.  The whole sitting-at-a-desk and learning boring "rote spoon-fed" stuff is torment to not only me but also to  William (and I think everyone in this house.)  Sure, in small doses, that's all fine and dandy, but...

All right, well that's it for now.  I'm sure I've forgotten something that I meant to include, because seldom do I write a post where I don't forget something.  That's just the way it is.

Until next time...