~Monday~
**William**
We read in Psalms, Proverbs, and went over the Ten Commandments.
William read four pages in Rocket Readers Learn-to-Read Bible.
He did a lesson in the reading section of the Complete Curriculum book. He read the story aloud to me, as usual, and then he answered the questions.
He did four of nine pages in Explode the Code, a lesson on short 'u.'
I read to William about grass in God's Design for Life: The World of Plants. We went outside and dug up a grass plant and identified the parts of grass. He used a magnifying glass to get a better look. He learned about five groups of grass: turf, forage, cereal, ornamental, and miscellaneous; that grass covers 1/3 of the land; and that people eat the seeds of grass, while animals eat leaves and seeds.
**Trusten**
I did alphabet flashcards with him, having him repeat aloud each letter. Then, after we went through the whole alphabet, we went back through the alphabet orally, without the cards.
In the late afternoon, I took the boys to the park. I've told William that if he does well each week with his school work and obeys well and is nice, then I'd take them to the park once a week.
~Tuesday~
**William**
Psalms and a Proverb from the bible, review of Ten Commandments, and a reading of the works of the flesh vs. the fruits of the spirit from Galatians 5.
He read four pages in the Rocket Readers Learn-to-Read Bible.
He completed the other 5 pages in the lesson on short 'u' in Explode the Code.
And sadly, that is all that got done, because Will gave me a hard time, and we had to go grocery shopping (takes 2.5 to 3 hours of the day). I was hoping to do some history.
**Trusten**
We did the alphabet flashcards again, and then the second oral repetition afterward w/o the cards.
~Wednesday~
**William**
Today we read Psalms and a Proverb from the bible.
We sat outside where I read to him The Story of the Declaration of Independence, a book by Children's Press. We'd gone over the Declaration in Our Christian Heritage, before the Liberty Bell and Statue of Liberty, but I had not read this additional book to him before, like I did for the other two things. I even learned a little bit from the reading of this book.
While still outside in our beautiful front yard under the gorgeous sunny sky (we did have some shade from a tree), he read six pages from the Learn-to-Read Bible.
We came in to do some addition work on the abacus, and he's currently working on two math addition worksheets that I copied from a workbook.
I am going to start writing sentences for him to copy, as he really needs practice writing sentences. I'll then move on to paragraphs after awhile, but I'll wait until we start doing more work in the Language Arts section of the Complete Curriculum book.
**Trusten**
He and I went through an alphabet picture book, and I had him repeat the letters after I said them aloud.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Back to the Books
For the last little over a month, we've been really busy, as we moved and have had a lot of other things with which to contend. And I'd not updated for nearly a month before that. We now own a house on 18 acres, and it's great! Before we packed up most of the books:
**William**
~Our Christian Heritage: We read about the Liberty Bell, and to learn more we read the book The Story of the Liberty Bell put out by Children's Press. We also read about the Statue of Liberty, and then I read to William the book The Story of the Statue of Liberty put out by Children's Press. I then pointed out where Our Christian Heritage had stated that people would see the statue and start praying to God to thank Him for bringing them to the US so that they could have liberty. The statue is a heathen idol, and God alone brings liberty. He doesn't want us to use statues to pray to Him. So, I then showed William on the Internet some pictures done from descriptions of the Colossus of Rhodes and showed him how they compared to "Lady Liberty." I explained that they were both idols representing the sun god Apollo.
~Complete Curriculum for Grade 1: We also worked in that book in the reading and math sections.
We finished the Social Skills book. We will soon start on the other book I bought on etiquette and good manners.
********************
--So, now we are over halfway through the Psalms. We're in the 80s. We still read a Proverb daily. I now usually make Trusten sit beside William on the floor while I read it to both of them. I remind them of the Ten Commandments.
--We started back in the science book on plants. Last week William learned the four organs of a flowering plant: roots, stem, leaves, and flower. And although we'll go over it again in a later lesson, I went ahead and told him the various parts of a flower and their functions. We picked several different flowers in our yard and on the side of one of our hills. We identified the parts on the flowers. We'll be identifying our local plants, especially those on our 18 acres, this summer, with the help of guide books. We're always identifying birds, plants, insects, rocks, etc. We really enjoy this as a way of life.
--William worked on some pages in the Complete Curriculum book in the reading section--a Reading Roundup, so we'll start Unit 5 this week. He also did a review page in the math section, and we also got out his abacus for help. The next lesson starts subtraction, and he's not ready to move on from addition, so I'll be getting out another one of our workbooks so that he can practice more on addition. We'll also be using the abacus and anything else that aids him.
**Trusten**
--I also have not worked on the alphabet or anything else much with Trusten over the last month. I will start back on that this week. He has taken picture books off the shelves and laid on his belly on the floor to look at them, so he's definitely interested in such things, to an extent. He is nearly 2. I was hoping he'd know his alphabet, colors, and numbers to 10 by his birthday, but I didn't really anticipate the happenings of the last month and half, either. BUT, I'm happy to report that he's nearly potty-trained for daytime. He also throws less tantrums. He has not thrown a bowl, saucer, or thrown anything at a glass, breaking them in several weeks. He has broken one bowl since we moved, and it was an accident. He's also gone several weeks w/o a forehead injury. I'm so happy about that! He and William play together more and more. He still loves to talk. He's VERY spirited. At least now the spirit is more positive, rather than mostly negative. Praise God!
**Nathan**
I'm happy to report that Nathan took and PASSED his Arkansas Contractor's License exam. That license will allow him to "legally" bid bigger, higher-paying jobs than the HVAC license does. His goal is to soon get where he can spend a lot more time at home and have his main helper (was his partner when he was in a partnership) and good friend be a supervisor over a crew. Of course, the trick is to find hardworking, quality-striving, ethical individuals. But, that's Nathan's goal so that he does not have to go do much of the physical work himself and yet still bring in money. He'll make the decisions and just go check to see whether everything is going as instructed. And he'll have more time around here! We both plan to be out of debt soon, including the house (in less than five years). He wants to build a cistern for the house we live in, since the well water is bad (though we have a filter coming for temporary solution). But, his long-term goal is to either build an earthen home on the ten acres we own free and clear (part of the 18 acres we have) or to increase the value of our property, sell it, and build an earthen home on another property. He has lots of great ideas.
**Tara**
I had started reading a book Attracting Butterflies & Hummingbirds to Your Backyard before we moved. I'd like to soon continue it. I'm already thrilled with the number of birds and butterflies we have here. It's awesome! But, I want William and myself to be able to plant some flowers around the yard to not only attract MORE beautiful creatures, but to also beautify the property with the flowers themselves. Oh! We do already have some wonderful trees and flowering bushes here, as well as some wildflowers. I love it! And I'm loving learning more about the plants here.
I've learned more about biblical things and am taking notes to write about them.
I'm out of time for now. I'm going to try to get back to updating this twice a week. I'm still working on getting back on a normal schedule, and we still have a lot of different things with which we're dealing right now. I'm trying not to be overwhelmed. :-)
**William**
~Our Christian Heritage: We read about the Liberty Bell, and to learn more we read the book The Story of the Liberty Bell put out by Children's Press. We also read about the Statue of Liberty, and then I read to William the book The Story of the Statue of Liberty put out by Children's Press. I then pointed out where Our Christian Heritage had stated that people would see the statue and start praying to God to thank Him for bringing them to the US so that they could have liberty. The statue is a heathen idol, and God alone brings liberty. He doesn't want us to use statues to pray to Him. So, I then showed William on the Internet some pictures done from descriptions of the Colossus of Rhodes and showed him how they compared to "Lady Liberty." I explained that they were both idols representing the sun god Apollo.
~Complete Curriculum for Grade 1: We also worked in that book in the reading and math sections.
We finished the Social Skills book. We will soon start on the other book I bought on etiquette and good manners.
********************
--So, now we are over halfway through the Psalms. We're in the 80s. We still read a Proverb daily. I now usually make Trusten sit beside William on the floor while I read it to both of them. I remind them of the Ten Commandments.
--We started back in the science book on plants. Last week William learned the four organs of a flowering plant: roots, stem, leaves, and flower. And although we'll go over it again in a later lesson, I went ahead and told him the various parts of a flower and their functions. We picked several different flowers in our yard and on the side of one of our hills. We identified the parts on the flowers. We'll be identifying our local plants, especially those on our 18 acres, this summer, with the help of guide books. We're always identifying birds, plants, insects, rocks, etc. We really enjoy this as a way of life.
--William worked on some pages in the Complete Curriculum book in the reading section--a Reading Roundup, so we'll start Unit 5 this week. He also did a review page in the math section, and we also got out his abacus for help. The next lesson starts subtraction, and he's not ready to move on from addition, so I'll be getting out another one of our workbooks so that he can practice more on addition. We'll also be using the abacus and anything else that aids him.
**Trusten**
--I also have not worked on the alphabet or anything else much with Trusten over the last month. I will start back on that this week. He has taken picture books off the shelves and laid on his belly on the floor to look at them, so he's definitely interested in such things, to an extent. He is nearly 2. I was hoping he'd know his alphabet, colors, and numbers to 10 by his birthday, but I didn't really anticipate the happenings of the last month and half, either. BUT, I'm happy to report that he's nearly potty-trained for daytime. He also throws less tantrums. He has not thrown a bowl, saucer, or thrown anything at a glass, breaking them in several weeks. He has broken one bowl since we moved, and it was an accident. He's also gone several weeks w/o a forehead injury. I'm so happy about that! He and William play together more and more. He still loves to talk. He's VERY spirited. At least now the spirit is more positive, rather than mostly negative. Praise God!
**Nathan**
I'm happy to report that Nathan took and PASSED his Arkansas Contractor's License exam. That license will allow him to "legally" bid bigger, higher-paying jobs than the HVAC license does. His goal is to soon get where he can spend a lot more time at home and have his main helper (was his partner when he was in a partnership) and good friend be a supervisor over a crew. Of course, the trick is to find hardworking, quality-striving, ethical individuals. But, that's Nathan's goal so that he does not have to go do much of the physical work himself and yet still bring in money. He'll make the decisions and just go check to see whether everything is going as instructed. And he'll have more time around here! We both plan to be out of debt soon, including the house (in less than five years). He wants to build a cistern for the house we live in, since the well water is bad (though we have a filter coming for temporary solution). But, his long-term goal is to either build an earthen home on the ten acres we own free and clear (part of the 18 acres we have) or to increase the value of our property, sell it, and build an earthen home on another property. He has lots of great ideas.
**Tara**
I had started reading a book Attracting Butterflies & Hummingbirds to Your Backyard before we moved. I'd like to soon continue it. I'm already thrilled with the number of birds and butterflies we have here. It's awesome! But, I want William and myself to be able to plant some flowers around the yard to not only attract MORE beautiful creatures, but to also beautify the property with the flowers themselves. Oh! We do already have some wonderful trees and flowering bushes here, as well as some wildflowers. I love it! And I'm loving learning more about the plants here.
I've learned more about biblical things and am taking notes to write about them.
I'm out of time for now. I'm going to try to get back to updating this twice a week. I'm still working on getting back on a normal schedule, and we still have a lot of different things with which we're dealing right now. I'm trying not to be overwhelmed. :-)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Update on the Boys
William
*We're over halfway through the book of Job now.
*We have gone back to working in Explode the Code.
*We've continued reading the Learn-to-Read bible and other Rocket Readers books.
*We read other books and magazines. He learns a lot every month about animals in his Big Backyard magazines.
*We talk almost daily about real science. It's just whatever comes up. We'll also start back in the plant science book after we move (probably 3 to 5 weeks from now.) We'll be planting like crazy, too. I'm getting excited about that. I know William will love it, and he's also going to get to spend a few days at my parents' house helping them plant their flowers for this year.
*We've been watching the Blue Planet and Planet Earth series again. I'm planning to soon buy a dvd series on the Universe. I keep forgetting...
*There's also always lessons about just about anything that can be attached to the proper biblical way of living. Will is full of questions, and I easily turn just about anything into a lesson to be learned.
*We've continued working in Complete Curriculum for Grade 1. We're only working, for now, in the Reading section and Math section. When we finish the reading section, we will return to the spelling and language arts sections and do them both at the same time. In math, he's worked on patterns, greater and fewer, and yesterday we started addition in the workbook, and he did a GREAT job. I was helping him, but I got up after the first question to start cooking a meal. He said excitedly, "I'm finished with this page!" I went over, and not only had he finished, but he got all the answers right. I've also tried my best to get him to use addition in every day things. For example, yesterday morning before we started school, he was building with some blocks. He asked me to come look when he was finished, and he said, "I have 1 door on this side, and over here I have three doors," so I asked him to add them to tell me his total number of doors. He added up all four sides. Then, we did the same with the windows.
*Will has built a "house" outside. When we had a couple pups, Nathan built them a four-sided enclosure (no roof, just four walls) to keep them in at night. Nathan drug it out of the garage and into the yard. William propped it up on one of its sides (he's VERY strong for his age--muscles ripping everywhere--healthiest kid I know). He drilled holes in it with one of his power drills (yes, a real drill, one of Nathan's retired ones), and then he ran wiring through them (he says those are his electrical wiring). He also took some screws and drilled things to the wall. Well, there's at least one thing on the wall. I can't remember anything else. Anyway, it's neatly drilled. It was an old wooden napkin holder with places for salt and pepper shakers on each side. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be....a place to hang a phone? I'll have to ask. He also took a bottle of paint (kid paint) and his paint brushes and painted his house (not-so-great looking, but he's very proud of it, though, and beams about it, so I smile, too). I get to sit on the porch and read or type on my laptop while he and Trusten play in the house...a small house, indeed, just enough room to hide in there, but they think it's great.
Trusten
*Yay! He really IS becoming interested in books. Still doesn't like them as much as William did at an even younger age, but I'm just thrilled that he'll actually sit with me long enough to read through a story book. Both of my boys will sit snuggle with me on the couch while I read a book. I want to work more with the Southwestern books I have and some of the other books--word books, shapes, colors, numbers. I still have a goal of him knowing his alphabet and colors by the age of two. It may or may not happen. William knew that and more before his second birthday, but he would stay longer and enjoyed it. I've started doing the alphabet puzzle with Trusten, and WOW, he stayed there through the whole thing (I've only done it once so far--yesterday), and he only threw two of the letters down on the floor. He enjoyed it, and he repeated some of the letters and pretended to sing. I think he can probably learn a lot better through songs. He loves to sing (not that he makes a lot of sense). He has a toy that his Aunt Meg bought for him that sings the alphabet. I encourage him to listen to it. It took forever for William to sing the alphabet. He might have only been able to do it about a year ago, and he'll be six in June. But, he knew his alphabet for a long time. Each child is different, though. I remember when my friend Lindsey stayed with me a couple days back when William was 2.5, and her oldest daughter was the same age. Meredith could sing, sing, sing and very clearly, but Will couldn't sing at ALL at that age. Of course, he had only recently, at that time, talked in many sentences. A lot of that was delayed. Now, Trusten, on the other hand, started some sentences at around 13 or 14 months of age. He is very smart, too. But, it's interesting in the ways they're different.
*A few nights ago we were all eating dinner. I'd baked chicken legs. William was picking at some of the pinkish-colored meat near the bone (it was fully cooked), and he said, "I think my chicken is bloody." Trusten pointed toward William's plate across the table and shouted, "Unclean, unclean!" I looked over at Nathan and said, "Do you know what he's saying? He's saying, 'Unclean.'" Upon hearing that I understood what he was saying, Trusten's eyes brightened, and he smiled, and then he shouted even more excitedly, "Unclean, unclean!" I was amazed that he knew blood was unclean (Will's meat was NOT bloody.) He really does seem to understand a lot for his age, though.
*Whenever Trusten does something naughty, and he knows full well that he is in danger of being punished, he immediately goes up to Nathan or to me (if I'm the only one here) and hugs us and/or pats us and smiles with the sweetest smile he can muster. It's like he thinks he can make himself too precious to be punished. What a little fox. He's putting on the charm. He gets that from Nathan. I told Nathan so. Trust is definitely clever, but I've made it clear to him that being cute is not going to save him.
*He's now on liquid iron-free multivitamins and naturally some-sort-of-fruit-flavored fish oil, as well as some N-Acetyle Cysteine. We're hoping that this will help him get the nutrition he needs, since he is terribly picky, and we're also hoping it will help improve his awful tantrums.
I don't have any time, really, to write about Nathan or me. Nathan did submit his paperwork and filing fee so that he can take his contractor's license exam. He needs this higher license. Now all he needs to do is study the book and/or go take a 3-day course so that he can hopefully pass the test.
*We're over halfway through the book of Job now.
*We have gone back to working in Explode the Code.
*We've continued reading the Learn-to-Read bible and other Rocket Readers books.
*We read other books and magazines. He learns a lot every month about animals in his Big Backyard magazines.
*We talk almost daily about real science. It's just whatever comes up. We'll also start back in the plant science book after we move (probably 3 to 5 weeks from now.) We'll be planting like crazy, too. I'm getting excited about that. I know William will love it, and he's also going to get to spend a few days at my parents' house helping them plant their flowers for this year.
*We've been watching the Blue Planet and Planet Earth series again. I'm planning to soon buy a dvd series on the Universe. I keep forgetting...
*There's also always lessons about just about anything that can be attached to the proper biblical way of living. Will is full of questions, and I easily turn just about anything into a lesson to be learned.
*We've continued working in Complete Curriculum for Grade 1. We're only working, for now, in the Reading section and Math section. When we finish the reading section, we will return to the spelling and language arts sections and do them both at the same time. In math, he's worked on patterns, greater and fewer, and yesterday we started addition in the workbook, and he did a GREAT job. I was helping him, but I got up after the first question to start cooking a meal. He said excitedly, "I'm finished with this page!" I went over, and not only had he finished, but he got all the answers right. I've also tried my best to get him to use addition in every day things. For example, yesterday morning before we started school, he was building with some blocks. He asked me to come look when he was finished, and he said, "I have 1 door on this side, and over here I have three doors," so I asked him to add them to tell me his total number of doors. He added up all four sides. Then, we did the same with the windows.
*Will has built a "house" outside. When we had a couple pups, Nathan built them a four-sided enclosure (no roof, just four walls) to keep them in at night. Nathan drug it out of the garage and into the yard. William propped it up on one of its sides (he's VERY strong for his age--muscles ripping everywhere--healthiest kid I know). He drilled holes in it with one of his power drills (yes, a real drill, one of Nathan's retired ones), and then he ran wiring through them (he says those are his electrical wiring). He also took some screws and drilled things to the wall. Well, there's at least one thing on the wall. I can't remember anything else. Anyway, it's neatly drilled. It was an old wooden napkin holder with places for salt and pepper shakers on each side. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be....a place to hang a phone? I'll have to ask. He also took a bottle of paint (kid paint) and his paint brushes and painted his house (not-so-great looking, but he's very proud of it, though, and beams about it, so I smile, too). I get to sit on the porch and read or type on my laptop while he and Trusten play in the house...a small house, indeed, just enough room to hide in there, but they think it's great.
Trusten
*Yay! He really IS becoming interested in books. Still doesn't like them as much as William did at an even younger age, but I'm just thrilled that he'll actually sit with me long enough to read through a story book. Both of my boys will sit snuggle with me on the couch while I read a book. I want to work more with the Southwestern books I have and some of the other books--word books, shapes, colors, numbers. I still have a goal of him knowing his alphabet and colors by the age of two. It may or may not happen. William knew that and more before his second birthday, but he would stay longer and enjoyed it. I've started doing the alphabet puzzle with Trusten, and WOW, he stayed there through the whole thing (I've only done it once so far--yesterday), and he only threw two of the letters down on the floor. He enjoyed it, and he repeated some of the letters and pretended to sing. I think he can probably learn a lot better through songs. He loves to sing (not that he makes a lot of sense). He has a toy that his Aunt Meg bought for him that sings the alphabet. I encourage him to listen to it. It took forever for William to sing the alphabet. He might have only been able to do it about a year ago, and he'll be six in June. But, he knew his alphabet for a long time. Each child is different, though. I remember when my friend Lindsey stayed with me a couple days back when William was 2.5, and her oldest daughter was the same age. Meredith could sing, sing, sing and very clearly, but Will couldn't sing at ALL at that age. Of course, he had only recently, at that time, talked in many sentences. A lot of that was delayed. Now, Trusten, on the other hand, started some sentences at around 13 or 14 months of age. He is very smart, too. But, it's interesting in the ways they're different.
*A few nights ago we were all eating dinner. I'd baked chicken legs. William was picking at some of the pinkish-colored meat near the bone (it was fully cooked), and he said, "I think my chicken is bloody." Trusten pointed toward William's plate across the table and shouted, "Unclean, unclean!" I looked over at Nathan and said, "Do you know what he's saying? He's saying, 'Unclean.'" Upon hearing that I understood what he was saying, Trusten's eyes brightened, and he smiled, and then he shouted even more excitedly, "Unclean, unclean!" I was amazed that he knew blood was unclean (Will's meat was NOT bloody.) He really does seem to understand a lot for his age, though.
*Whenever Trusten does something naughty, and he knows full well that he is in danger of being punished, he immediately goes up to Nathan or to me (if I'm the only one here) and hugs us and/or pats us and smiles with the sweetest smile he can muster. It's like he thinks he can make himself too precious to be punished. What a little fox. He's putting on the charm. He gets that from Nathan. I told Nathan so. Trust is definitely clever, but I've made it clear to him that being cute is not going to save him.
*He's now on liquid iron-free multivitamins and naturally some-sort-of-fruit-flavored fish oil, as well as some N-Acetyle Cysteine. We're hoping that this will help him get the nutrition he needs, since he is terribly picky, and we're also hoping it will help improve his awful tantrums.
I don't have any time, really, to write about Nathan or me. Nathan did submit his paperwork and filing fee so that he can take his contractor's license exam. He needs this higher license. Now all he needs to do is study the book and/or go take a 3-day course so that he can hopefully pass the test.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Update
With William, I've mainly focused on the bible, reading, writing, and math here the past week or so. We'll be moving soon, and after that is done, and we're settled in, things will be much better. He's been doing better with math, I'm happy to report. He may very well end up being good at math like Nathan. It's just taking a bit to click.
We're in the book of Job now, in the bible. I love the book of Job, personally. It's good to read at least annually, I think. Well, as Will was talking about one of his newest "friends" named Frog (no he's not a frog; that's just his name), he said that he was very rich and that I ought to see all the things Frog has in his house. "He's just like that guy Job!" William exclaimed (the day after we'd started Job). Frog must make quite a bit of money. Will says that he pours concrete for people. Well, I surely had no idea that you could get rich doing that. He's very busy, though, according to William. He DOES keep the sabbath, though, he said.
We've started watching the Planet Earth and Blue Planet series again. I think Will is getting more out of it this time.
He begs me to tell him made-up stories each night at his and Trusten's bedtime. Sometimes I just don't have a story in me and say so, and so that's why he begs. :-) Anyway, there are some characters that I discuss on a regular basis, but I sometimes make up different stories about different characters. Now, if you ask me, I do NOT tell good fictional stories. Growing up, I always wrote stories and aspired to be a fictional novelist, but as an adult, I know that I am a terrible fictional writer (instead I write nonfiction). Will insists that I tell good stories, so I guess I'm good enough for him. A few nights ago I started a story series about a panda named Penny who lives in the China wilderness and loves eating bamboo. Well, here recently I've wanted to do some self-educating on pandas. I've always loved them (and so has Will). Well, Penny is pregnant, and so Will asked how long it will take before Penny has her baby. I don't know how long pandas gestate. There was also something else that came up that I wasn't sure about. So, I just told Will we'd be studying and learning about pandas together. I plan to do that this week. Then, I can continue the Penny Panda saga. (My longest ongoing story series and Will's favorite revolves around a grasshopper named Randolph and his friends--a ladybug named Linda, three main ant characters, Chuck the duck, and some others. Randolph just got married and returned from his honeymoon with his new wife Sasha).
I told Nathan last night that Trusten will end up being a chemist when he is an adult (that could good or bad). I was kind of joking, as I was basing that on his continued pouring out his water in his food or on anything and then playing in it. Well, I won't even get into all of what he seemingly likes to play with. He's so messy. I'm so looking forward to spring for MANY reasons. And just one of those is so Trusten can spend more time outside and with water. It would make his day, every day, if I took him outside with some containers of water and some water guns so that he can play with water to his heart's content. Maybe that would sate his desire of water-pouring. Will has been more patient with Trust lately and has been teaching him how to do certain things. He's been making up plenty of games to keep them busy lately. I remember I used to make up plenty of games for my younger sister and myself to play together.
I've learned of a link between an Omega-3 deficiency and apnea/hypopnea and also that stress will deplete Omega-3s. I've been overcoming a sudden worsening in my central apnea/hypopnea, and it was affecting my heart--irregular heartbeat, slight angina. It was pretty scary. I felt like I was dying. Well, I'm doing much better. I figured out the problem on my own. I at first wondered whether it had to do with my being so underweight (I'd lost 8-10 pounds more than the range I usually stay at, which itself is thin), but I soon realized that my being underweight was partly a symptom of being fat deficient (fat overall and not JUST Omega-2) and a symptom of not eating enough period. Anyway, I've hardly had any problems with the apnea and heart symptoms for a couple of weeks--just a little here and there. I was already knowledgable about apnea, Omega-3s, etc. (and even talked about both in a book I published), but I didn't initially realize that was my problem. I'm still nursing Trusten, and he is a very picky eater. Wow, I'm so glad that I'm doing much better. I'm also pregnant now, so I'm glad I figured out what my ordeal was. I'm also trying harder to gain my pounds back during this first trimester to make up for being so underweight. Yeah, I knew how crazy thinking my being undeweight was the root of my problem, since there are people close to starvation who aren't dead yet, and I thought I was going to end up having a heart attack. Well, it's like the back of my hemp milk cartons say, that Omega-3s put the beat in our heart. I'm going to go see a Dr. Tara Hickman in Fayetteville, a naturopathic doctor. Trusten and I are both going to go. The greatest thing is that her primary focus is on children with ASDs (austism spectrum disorders) and ADHD. GREAT! I'm not sure how much Trusten's issues are due to genetics and how much are due to my poisoning him during pregnancy and through breastmilk (his urine and feces continually smelled strongly metallic for the longest and still do sometimes). I feel awful, as I've probably unloaded about all the toxic metals I've had left into his poor little body, b/c of all the weight loss I've had. :-( So, besides needing more Omega 3 (and mainly b/c I'm nursing him, and he probably requires a LOT of it b/c of his toxicity level, b/c I have taken in Omega 3s every day, even when I was having the issues...just obviously not enough), I'm doing great, but my poor Trusten is not. He has all sorts of issues, so I've decided on hiring some professional help, as I do not want to try lining him out physically by myself.
Well, that's it for now.
We're in the book of Job now, in the bible. I love the book of Job, personally. It's good to read at least annually, I think. Well, as Will was talking about one of his newest "friends" named Frog (no he's not a frog; that's just his name), he said that he was very rich and that I ought to see all the things Frog has in his house. "He's just like that guy Job!" William exclaimed (the day after we'd started Job). Frog must make quite a bit of money. Will says that he pours concrete for people. Well, I surely had no idea that you could get rich doing that. He's very busy, though, according to William. He DOES keep the sabbath, though, he said.
We've started watching the Planet Earth and Blue Planet series again. I think Will is getting more out of it this time.
He begs me to tell him made-up stories each night at his and Trusten's bedtime. Sometimes I just don't have a story in me and say so, and so that's why he begs. :-) Anyway, there are some characters that I discuss on a regular basis, but I sometimes make up different stories about different characters. Now, if you ask me, I do NOT tell good fictional stories. Growing up, I always wrote stories and aspired to be a fictional novelist, but as an adult, I know that I am a terrible fictional writer (instead I write nonfiction). Will insists that I tell good stories, so I guess I'm good enough for him. A few nights ago I started a story series about a panda named Penny who lives in the China wilderness and loves eating bamboo. Well, here recently I've wanted to do some self-educating on pandas. I've always loved them (and so has Will). Well, Penny is pregnant, and so Will asked how long it will take before Penny has her baby. I don't know how long pandas gestate. There was also something else that came up that I wasn't sure about. So, I just told Will we'd be studying and learning about pandas together. I plan to do that this week. Then, I can continue the Penny Panda saga. (My longest ongoing story series and Will's favorite revolves around a grasshopper named Randolph and his friends--a ladybug named Linda, three main ant characters, Chuck the duck, and some others. Randolph just got married and returned from his honeymoon with his new wife Sasha).
I told Nathan last night that Trusten will end up being a chemist when he is an adult (that could good or bad). I was kind of joking, as I was basing that on his continued pouring out his water in his food or on anything and then playing in it. Well, I won't even get into all of what he seemingly likes to play with. He's so messy. I'm so looking forward to spring for MANY reasons. And just one of those is so Trusten can spend more time outside and with water. It would make his day, every day, if I took him outside with some containers of water and some water guns so that he can play with water to his heart's content. Maybe that would sate his desire of water-pouring. Will has been more patient with Trust lately and has been teaching him how to do certain things. He's been making up plenty of games to keep them busy lately. I remember I used to make up plenty of games for my younger sister and myself to play together.
I've learned of a link between an Omega-3 deficiency and apnea/hypopnea and also that stress will deplete Omega-3s. I've been overcoming a sudden worsening in my central apnea/hypopnea, and it was affecting my heart--irregular heartbeat, slight angina. It was pretty scary. I felt like I was dying. Well, I'm doing much better. I figured out the problem on my own. I at first wondered whether it had to do with my being so underweight (I'd lost 8-10 pounds more than the range I usually stay at, which itself is thin), but I soon realized that my being underweight was partly a symptom of being fat deficient (fat overall and not JUST Omega-2) and a symptom of not eating enough period. Anyway, I've hardly had any problems with the apnea and heart symptoms for a couple of weeks--just a little here and there. I was already knowledgable about apnea, Omega-3s, etc. (and even talked about both in a book I published), but I didn't initially realize that was my problem. I'm still nursing Trusten, and he is a very picky eater. Wow, I'm so glad that I'm doing much better. I'm also pregnant now, so I'm glad I figured out what my ordeal was. I'm also trying harder to gain my pounds back during this first trimester to make up for being so underweight. Yeah, I knew how crazy thinking my being undeweight was the root of my problem, since there are people close to starvation who aren't dead yet, and I thought I was going to end up having a heart attack. Well, it's like the back of my hemp milk cartons say, that Omega-3s put the beat in our heart. I'm going to go see a Dr. Tara Hickman in Fayetteville, a naturopathic doctor. Trusten and I are both going to go. The greatest thing is that her primary focus is on children with ASDs (austism spectrum disorders) and ADHD. GREAT! I'm not sure how much Trusten's issues are due to genetics and how much are due to my poisoning him during pregnancy and through breastmilk (his urine and feces continually smelled strongly metallic for the longest and still do sometimes). I feel awful, as I've probably unloaded about all the toxic metals I've had left into his poor little body, b/c of all the weight loss I've had. :-( So, besides needing more Omega 3 (and mainly b/c I'm nursing him, and he probably requires a LOT of it b/c of his toxicity level, b/c I have taken in Omega 3s every day, even when I was having the issues...just obviously not enough), I'm doing great, but my poor Trusten is not. He has all sorts of issues, so I've decided on hiring some professional help, as I do not want to try lining him out physically by myself.
Well, that's it for now.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Rebuilding Jerusalem, African Tribes, USA Flag, Eggs, and Babies
William:
We finished going through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and talked about the rebuilding of the temple and walls in Jerusalem after some of Judah returned from being taken into captivity by the Babylonians. The Medes and Persians took over the Babylonians, and they allowed the Jews to return to their land. Now, we're in the book of Esther. William has learned about Esther before in sabbath school. Oh! I was pleased that when the Persian king Darius was mentioned in Ezra or Nehemiah (he's mentioned in both, but he only commented once), Will said, "I learned about Darius in sabbath school!" Yes, he would have learned about Darius when he learned about Daniel being thrown in the lion's den. That would have quite some time ago. I've read stories to him about Daniel, too, but it's been a long time. I told him it would be a while yet before we made it to Daniel.
We continued working on phonics and reading, using Rocket Readers and Complete Curriculum for Grade 1, also reviewing phonics flash cards sometimes. He works on his writing, too. We haven't done Explode the Code in awhile, so I think I'll take that book out this week.
In Our Christian Heritage, we went over the United States flag. He's always loved the US flag. Now he knows more about it, like how many stars and stripes are on it, what they mean, and how many stars were on the original flag and why. He also learned what the colors mean and learned about the pledge of allegiance.
I'm always telling William not to act like a heathen (my mom would tell us that when we were little, too). One of the things he does is constantly take off his shirt and toss it somewhere in the floor. He'll come to the table to eat a meal without a shirt. I'll tell him to go get his shirt on, that he's acting like a heathen. Well, I've told him about how there are still some hardcore heathen tribes in the world, especially in Africa, and I've told him about some of the things they do. I'd been telling him for awhile that I was going to find some videos on Youtube to show him so that he could see the same stuff I watched on PBS while growing up. Well, a few days ago, he was flipping through this comic book thing--The Far Side. I've had it forever. Don't much care for it. But, anyway, he brought it to me and asked about a certain picture. It showed some civilized characters with smiley face heads and cameras around their neck, coming out of a jungle. They were obviously exploring and taking photographs. Well, right there outside of the jungle was a heathen tribe, ragged skirt things, no shirts, bone necklaces, huts, and there were sticks stuck in the ground with smiley face heads stuck on them. I explained quickly to Will what it was all about, and I said, "See? Isn't that what I've been telling you--that heathens go around with no shirts?" So, then the next morning, I finally did show him some videos, much to his delight. Well, he sat beside me rather dumbfounded. I asked him whether he hadn't believed what I'd been saying for so long, and he said he hadn't. I guess he thought I was joking.
Anyway, he learned about the Ethiopian Mursi tribe, whose women wear lip dishes, and some of them had stretched ear lopes, too, like maybe they wore ear dishes. They wear raggy clothes, those who DO wear clothes, and the men fight with sticks. No one had any upper clothing, and many of the males--adult and child--were completely naked! He also learned about the Dinka tribe. It seemed much more civilized than the Mursi tribe, but they used cattle urine to wash their dishes and hands (it showed the Nile river, so ther was water available). They also like to burn cattle dung for fragrance and for insect repellant. Well, I must say that at least it's cattle dung and not some unclean animal. They do have the best-smelling of all animals I know, but I thought it kind of odd to deliberately burn it for the fragrance. I have yet to tell William about Ezekiel having to bake his bread over cow dung. I think I'll save that for when we get there. Anyway, they translated what a Dinka tribe male member was saying as he stood by the Nile river. He said something like, "Oh, Nile of our fathers, I have no offering for you, but thank you for...this, this, and this." I can't remember what exactly. But, that gave a great opportunity for me to explain to William a real example of someone talking to the creation as if it is God. The Creator God is the God of OUR fathers, I explained. I reminded him that He is the true God who created all things, including the nile river, and He is the one we are to thank for our blessings.
We read his newest issue of Your Big Backyard magazine. One of the main focuses of the March issue was eggs. We talked about different animals' eggs and their similarities and differences: amphibian eggs, fish eggs, bird eggs, reptile eggs, and insect eggs; land eggs and water eggs. We also discussed sandhill cranes and cheetahs, and the song of the month was "Little Sandhill Crane," sung to the tune of "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" Very cute. We always love the songs. I think we'll do the food project this time, too. Sometimes I do, sometimes not. It will be a fried egg with the yolk showing in the middle, and then strips of toast situated around it to look like the sun. He always loves when I make fun food for him. Maybe if I did it more, including Trusten, maybe I could get Trusten to eat more.
I'm pregnant with another blessing, so William said, "Momma, did you know that God has nothing but eggs in the sky, and he puts them in us and then a baby is born?" Of course, this was after the talk about the animal eggs, too. So, we're going back over human and mammalian reproduction. He watched a birth video this morning. He totally forgot about watching them with me way back in the day. He says he doesn't even remember Trusten's birth (less than 2 years ago) now. Well, we FINALLY got to see my video of labor with William. I had the 8mm video converted to dvd a couple months ago, but it wouldn't work on the computer. Nathan just bought another tv. He wants to have a nice big screen to do some workout videos that he bought. Anyway, I got the video to work on there. It doesn't show the actual birth, but I'm glad I got to show William what I went through to get him here. Anyway, later today I will refresh him on the reproductive system and how babies grow in the womb, etc. He's totally forgot things.
Let's see. What else? We've done a little math. He's catching on to that better.
We go over new things every day, but I just can't remember it all to include here (nor would I have time to record it all). Oh, yeah, we finished his social skills book. So, we'll start on the other book for that.
Trusten:
I'm sure Trusten will probably be completely potty-trained (day, anyway) by his second birthday (in May). He's doing pretty well...still a ways to go, though.
ddd
I get extremely aggravated with Blogger's bold feature. It doesn't work properly, and I have trouble with it all the time. So, sorry about the above d's. I don't have time for that. Anyway, Trusten actually sat through his ENTIRE "Wild Animal Babies" (don't like that Blogger doesn't have underline, either) magazine a few days ago. YAY!!!!! I had to go semi-quickly, though. He loses interest in things so quickly.
He loves light. "Light, light!" He's always wanting to see some lights on. I don't use artificial lighting inside the house during the day, unless it's dark and cloudy. I love lots of windows that let in a lot of sunlight. I explained to him that we have the wonderful sunlight outside. I showed him the light on the living room carpet and the shadows. He pointed to his shadow and said, "Boy!" :-)
It's a nightmare getting his teeth brushed. We let him brush himself, but he doesn't do them efficiently yet. So, I usually am the one to do it. Sometimes we both do it. One of us holds him and the other brushes. He's very strong and very determined. It's really an effort to get that job finished. I never look forward to it.
Of course, he doesn't like his hair brushed, either. Well, there's not a whole lot that is easy with him, actually. LOL He certainly keeps me busy. I'm tired sometimes now, though, being pregnant. Thankfully, I haven't had much nausea. I hope I can keep my energy levels up and avoid nausea. Then, I'll be okay to deal with Trusten and continue to gain weight. (I've had a fat deficiency problem--not just fat in general, but mainly Omega 3s, as I require a very high intake to get my neurological system to work appropriately, and I've also, as a side effect, lost too much weight, so I'm working hard to gain.)
Myself:
Well, yesterday (Sunday), I left the boys with Nathan and got to spend some time alone. I went to the forest and sat atop a cliff and looked over the mountains. I was able to pray and think in peace. I also was able to sit at a picnic table and write and also read a few pages in the book I've been reading (I'm almost finished!), and then I went and bought a laptop computer with some money that Nathan gave to me. I've wanted a laptop for years, but I kept talking myself out of it (Nathan has told me he'd get one, but I've said, "Oh, I can do without.") When we bought a new computer, we bought another desktop (an Apple Imac). A laptop (I didn't request bold, see what I mean?) would enable me to write outside, but I've told myself I'd spend too much time on the computer while outside, BUT I decided that I won't. I don't think I'll even be tempted. I'm just going to use it for the days I get to leave and spend time alone. I didn't get a really expensive one, the second least expensive. I didn't need anything fancy. It does have a built-in wireless card, but I won't need the service on it. I can access the Internet with my iPhone. I just hope they make available an application that I can download so that I can tether my iphone to the computer and be able to access it on the bigger browser. Some people do it now by "jailbreaking" their iphone, but I looked into that, and Apple said that it's a copyright infringement, so I will NOT be doing that. I'll just make do with it as it is for now.
Well, I can't think of much noteworthy to discuss right now about what Nathan and I have been learning. By the time I'm finished writing about William, I usually don't have time for anything else. It's hard enough to even be able to write that much and watch the kids, too. So, ta-ta for now.
We finished going through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and talked about the rebuilding of the temple and walls in Jerusalem after some of Judah returned from being taken into captivity by the Babylonians. The Medes and Persians took over the Babylonians, and they allowed the Jews to return to their land. Now, we're in the book of Esther. William has learned about Esther before in sabbath school. Oh! I was pleased that when the Persian king Darius was mentioned in Ezra or Nehemiah (he's mentioned in both, but he only commented once), Will said, "I learned about Darius in sabbath school!" Yes, he would have learned about Darius when he learned about Daniel being thrown in the lion's den. That would have quite some time ago. I've read stories to him about Daniel, too, but it's been a long time. I told him it would be a while yet before we made it to Daniel.
We continued working on phonics and reading, using Rocket Readers and Complete Curriculum for Grade 1, also reviewing phonics flash cards sometimes. He works on his writing, too. We haven't done Explode the Code in awhile, so I think I'll take that book out this week.
In Our Christian Heritage, we went over the United States flag. He's always loved the US flag. Now he knows more about it, like how many stars and stripes are on it, what they mean, and how many stars were on the original flag and why. He also learned what the colors mean and learned about the pledge of allegiance.
I'm always telling William not to act like a heathen (my mom would tell us that when we were little, too). One of the things he does is constantly take off his shirt and toss it somewhere in the floor. He'll come to the table to eat a meal without a shirt. I'll tell him to go get his shirt on, that he's acting like a heathen. Well, I've told him about how there are still some hardcore heathen tribes in the world, especially in Africa, and I've told him about some of the things they do. I'd been telling him for awhile that I was going to find some videos on Youtube to show him so that he could see the same stuff I watched on PBS while growing up. Well, a few days ago, he was flipping through this comic book thing--The Far Side. I've had it forever. Don't much care for it. But, anyway, he brought it to me and asked about a certain picture. It showed some civilized characters with smiley face heads and cameras around their neck, coming out of a jungle. They were obviously exploring and taking photographs. Well, right there outside of the jungle was a heathen tribe, ragged skirt things, no shirts, bone necklaces, huts, and there were sticks stuck in the ground with smiley face heads stuck on them. I explained quickly to Will what it was all about, and I said, "See? Isn't that what I've been telling you--that heathens go around with no shirts?" So, then the next morning, I finally did show him some videos, much to his delight. Well, he sat beside me rather dumbfounded. I asked him whether he hadn't believed what I'd been saying for so long, and he said he hadn't. I guess he thought I was joking.
Anyway, he learned about the Ethiopian Mursi tribe, whose women wear lip dishes, and some of them had stretched ear lopes, too, like maybe they wore ear dishes. They wear raggy clothes, those who DO wear clothes, and the men fight with sticks. No one had any upper clothing, and many of the males--adult and child--were completely naked! He also learned about the Dinka tribe. It seemed much more civilized than the Mursi tribe, but they used cattle urine to wash their dishes and hands (it showed the Nile river, so ther was water available). They also like to burn cattle dung for fragrance and for insect repellant. Well, I must say that at least it's cattle dung and not some unclean animal. They do have the best-smelling of all animals I know, but I thought it kind of odd to deliberately burn it for the fragrance. I have yet to tell William about Ezekiel having to bake his bread over cow dung. I think I'll save that for when we get there. Anyway, they translated what a Dinka tribe male member was saying as he stood by the Nile river. He said something like, "Oh, Nile of our fathers, I have no offering for you, but thank you for...this, this, and this." I can't remember what exactly. But, that gave a great opportunity for me to explain to William a real example of someone talking to the creation as if it is God. The Creator God is the God of OUR fathers, I explained. I reminded him that He is the true God who created all things, including the nile river, and He is the one we are to thank for our blessings.
We read his newest issue of Your Big Backyard magazine. One of the main focuses of the March issue was eggs. We talked about different animals' eggs and their similarities and differences: amphibian eggs, fish eggs, bird eggs, reptile eggs, and insect eggs; land eggs and water eggs. We also discussed sandhill cranes and cheetahs, and the song of the month was "Little Sandhill Crane," sung to the tune of "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" Very cute. We always love the songs. I think we'll do the food project this time, too. Sometimes I do, sometimes not. It will be a fried egg with the yolk showing in the middle, and then strips of toast situated around it to look like the sun. He always loves when I make fun food for him. Maybe if I did it more, including Trusten, maybe I could get Trusten to eat more.
I'm pregnant with another blessing, so William said, "Momma, did you know that God has nothing but eggs in the sky, and he puts them in us and then a baby is born?" Of course, this was after the talk about the animal eggs, too. So, we're going back over human and mammalian reproduction. He watched a birth video this morning. He totally forgot about watching them with me way back in the day. He says he doesn't even remember Trusten's birth (less than 2 years ago) now. Well, we FINALLY got to see my video of labor with William. I had the 8mm video converted to dvd a couple months ago, but it wouldn't work on the computer. Nathan just bought another tv. He wants to have a nice big screen to do some workout videos that he bought. Anyway, I got the video to work on there. It doesn't show the actual birth, but I'm glad I got to show William what I went through to get him here. Anyway, later today I will refresh him on the reproductive system and how babies grow in the womb, etc. He's totally forgot things.
Let's see. What else? We've done a little math. He's catching on to that better.
We go over new things every day, but I just can't remember it all to include here (nor would I have time to record it all). Oh, yeah, we finished his social skills book. So, we'll start on the other book for that.
Trusten:
I'm sure Trusten will probably be completely potty-trained (day, anyway) by his second birthday (in May). He's doing pretty well...still a ways to go, though.
ddd
I get extremely aggravated with Blogger's bold feature. It doesn't work properly, and I have trouble with it all the time. So, sorry about the above d's. I don't have time for that. Anyway, Trusten actually sat through his ENTIRE "Wild Animal Babies" (don't like that Blogger doesn't have underline, either) magazine a few days ago. YAY!!!!! I had to go semi-quickly, though. He loses interest in things so quickly.
He loves light. "Light, light!" He's always wanting to see some lights on. I don't use artificial lighting inside the house during the day, unless it's dark and cloudy. I love lots of windows that let in a lot of sunlight. I explained to him that we have the wonderful sunlight outside. I showed him the light on the living room carpet and the shadows. He pointed to his shadow and said, "Boy!" :-)
It's a nightmare getting his teeth brushed. We let him brush himself, but he doesn't do them efficiently yet. So, I usually am the one to do it. Sometimes we both do it. One of us holds him and the other brushes. He's very strong and very determined. It's really an effort to get that job finished. I never look forward to it.
Of course, he doesn't like his hair brushed, either. Well, there's not a whole lot that is easy with him, actually. LOL He certainly keeps me busy. I'm tired sometimes now, though, being pregnant. Thankfully, I haven't had much nausea. I hope I can keep my energy levels up and avoid nausea. Then, I'll be okay to deal with Trusten and continue to gain weight. (I've had a fat deficiency problem--not just fat in general, but mainly Omega 3s, as I require a very high intake to get my neurological system to work appropriately, and I've also, as a side effect, lost too much weight, so I'm working hard to gain.)
Myself:
Well, yesterday (Sunday), I left the boys with Nathan and got to spend some time alone. I went to the forest and sat atop a cliff and looked over the mountains. I was able to pray and think in peace. I also was able to sit at a picnic table and write and also read a few pages in the book I've been reading (I'm almost finished!), and then I went and bought a laptop computer with some money that Nathan gave to me. I've wanted a laptop for years, but I kept talking myself out of it (Nathan has told me he'd get one, but I've said, "Oh, I can do without.") When we bought a new computer, we bought another desktop (an Apple Imac). A laptop (I didn't request bold, see what I mean?) would enable me to write outside, but I've told myself I'd spend too much time on the computer while outside, BUT I decided that I won't. I don't think I'll even be tempted. I'm just going to use it for the days I get to leave and spend time alone. I didn't get a really expensive one, the second least expensive. I didn't need anything fancy. It does have a built-in wireless card, but I won't need the service on it. I can access the Internet with my iPhone. I just hope they make available an application that I can download so that I can tether my iphone to the computer and be able to access it on the bigger browser. Some people do it now by "jailbreaking" their iphone, but I looked into that, and Apple said that it's a copyright infringement, so I will NOT be doing that. I'll just make do with it as it is for now.
Well, I can't think of much noteworthy to discuss right now about what Nathan and I have been learning. By the time I'm finished writing about William, I usually don't have time for anything else. It's hard enough to even be able to write that much and watch the kids, too. So, ta-ta for now.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Chinese Stuff, Rainbows, Christian Heroes, and Geography
I picked a project out of his Social Studies Grade 1 book--eating Chinese food with chopsticks. SO, we had Chinese noodles (from the natural food market, and it even came in biodegradable plastic) and ate with chopsticks (see pics above). Will really doesn't do much worse with them than I do. He figured it out well enough to eat. :-) Oh, and look! He even drank out of a glass with Chinese decor. ;-) (That was coincidence. We've owned those glasses for awhile.) I told him a few new things about China that he didn't already know. And then I thought it would be fun to look up how his name (William) would be written in Chinese (pictured above). And he tried his best to copy it.
We're now in Nehemiah in the bible, still reading Proverbs every day. And he can just about recite the Ten Commandments in its entirety by himself.
We're still working in the Rocket Readers Learn-to-Read bible. And, we're working on a Rocket Readers book nearly every day. We're almost finished with all the level 2 books we have, and then we'll move on to level 3. The neat thing with these last several books we've gone through is that it tells a little about Christians from the past--missionaries, orphanage operators, etc. People have included Corrie ten Boom, Samuel Morris, and Gladys Ahwahl. I'd like to take some time in the near future and read to him more about some of these people, b/c I've read about some of them in the past and really enjoyed it.
He's completed lesson 1 in Unit 3 of Complete Curriculum for Grade 1 for the Reading section. Of course, this includes practice on his writing, not just his reading, b/c he has to write answers to questions. He's also worked some in that in the math section. He worked on "more" and "fewer" today.
We've finished Unit 2 in Our Christian Heritage. We were able to work somewhat quickly through some of it, since it was mostly review for William--oceans, continents, etc. Unit 3 will discuss our flag, the Declaration of Independence, etc. We'll start that soon.
I bought one of those mini-notebooks that open from the top, and we're going to use that for recording things about our plant(s) that we'll soon be planting. Well, it/they will start as seed(s).
We talked about rainbows and, "What color is light?" We started a rainbow project, but things weren't working out as planned, so I'm going to try it a different way. My plan is to make a rainbow. Today, I just made a big mess. :-0
He learned for music: treble clef, bass clef, quarter note, half note, whole note, the rests, and a few others, and I discussed briefly what they meant and demonstrated. I will continue to go over the same things several times before we move on to more.
He's done art freely. He's painted some pictures. That's about it here lately, as far as art goes. Maybe we will do some art history soon.
And of course, this doesn't include whatever else has come up each day, as he's always full of questions.
As far as Trusten goes, he's saying more and more words. He's a little parrot. He says a few sentences, though probably not everybody would understand them. He says, "What are you doing," "Where did he/they go," "What is that?" Stuff like that. He's done that for awhile. I have hope that maybe he won't have the speech problems like Will has had. BUT, almost every day is a challenge with Trust. He's getting to be more fun, and I can't be more thrilled about that. He's also more snuggly. He's always kind of hated to be touched. Until not too long ago, I had to nurse him lying down and keep my hands off of him, or else he'd throw a fit. I've been able to hold him now, and yesterday he came up to me and laid his head in my lap and just wanted to snuggle. I've been getting more of that. :-) I'm glad, b/c I'm the type who thrives on that. He's also doing better about potty needs. I never had to potty train Will, really. He was used to going to the potty from the age of 2 months. At 17.5 months he'd both sign and say "potty" and then head off to the toilet and would climb it himself, when he needed to poop. He was doing all his peeing by his 2nd birthday. Trust will be 2 in late May. I hope he's trained by then. Ironically, he does better going to the potty to PEE than poop, which is really odd. It's usually the other way around. But, anyway, I'm thrilled that he's catching on, and I hope he finishes it soon. I'll be glad to be finished with diapers....for awhile, anyway.
Trust still doesn't like books much, but he's showing more on an interest.
Well, that's it for this post.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That
Well, things have certainly gone more like I like them to go. :-) I believe it was in my first post that I said I reserved the right to change things up. I made the hypothesis that a schedule like I'd made would not work too well for either William or me. Neither of us work very well with such. Both of us are the types where if we want to do or learn "A" one day, we will not get much out of anything else, and if we want to do "B" the next day, but "A" is scheduled, we're liable to pull our hair out.
That is one of the reasons public school is SUCH a turn off.
Okay, well, to update:
Last Tuesday an ice storm came through, and we were soon without electricity. We had to stay in a hotel Tuesday and Wednesday night. It had been a long time since we'd stayed in a hotel (we haven't traveled where a hotel is required, except for feast of tabernacles, and we always camp or rent a cabin), and the last time was too long ago for Will to remember. SO, he got to learn about hotels. We stayed at a nice one--the Embassy. Nathan talked them down to almost half price. He's very good at talking people down and negotiating. He's awesome. So, we got to stay somewhere nice and clean without having to pay what one normally would. Will loved the glass elevators. It was interesting, b/c it'd been just a few days prior that he was talking about elevators and asking me how they went up and down, and I had told him about the cables and all. SO, here I had the perfect opportunity to SHOW him. Oh, yeah, because on these elevators, you could SEE the cables. Great!!! So, he got to see it for himself. And one time when Nathan went to get the truck, we waited inside, and we walked over, and I pointed out to Will the cables and explained it all again. He said, "Ooh, that's kind of scary." (Meaning how the elevators are supported by the cables.)
We talked some about ice, since we were having an ice storm. We talked about glaciers and the Titanic.
We went with Nathan to one of his service calls on Wednesday. Then, later, the woman of the house for the OTHER service call (we didn't go on) said they wanted to pay Nathan more money, and they drove what would normally be probably 20 minutes or so, but through the ice it took probably twice that, all the way to the hotel to deliver more money. They were so thankful that he'd gone out in the weather to restore their heat. Nathan was about to get in the shower when she arrived, so I went down to meet her, and she told me what a nice man Nathan was. :-) People have paid Nathan more than what he's invoiced on several occasions, but never yet had anyone driven through ice to deliver it. What a blessing to hear good things about my husband. And it was good for William to see and hear Nathan and me talking about it.
Thursday the boys and I went farther south to stay with my parents for a few days. The electricity came back on that day, but I wanted to go down there, anyway, and Nathan needed more time to get caught up on his work. We got to see my dad and my uncle both sing karaoke that night. I think William enjoyed it. I went Friday with my dad to the horse races. My sister and bil and his parents were there, too. That was the first time I'd ever been. I almost took William, but I decided that it could wait until another time. I needed a break. My mom took William with her that morning to work. She is the tax assessor for that White County, Arkansas. It would have been great if she'd have explained some to him about what they did there, but I don't think she did. Anyway, we later dropped Trusten off there, and everyone in her office got to see him for the first time, and then they went to the park.
The only "book" work we've done every day over the past several days is our bible reading. Will did read a few Rocket Readers books to me over the past few days, and he's read some out of the RR Learn to Read bible. He's done some lessons in the Grade 1 Complete Curriculum book for Reading and Math. He's getting better at his upper digit numbers, and he's wanting to learn how to add and subtract, b/c he keeps asking what is such and such plus or minus such and such. So, we'll be moving on to that soon. On our trip there and back, he'd read some signs. And other things he'd spell and ask what they spelled.
We're back up through chapter 8 of Proverbs. We're almost finished with 2 Chronicles. We read more about righteous King Hezekiah, and we read about evil Manasseh, who at least humbly repented after being carried away to punishment, and then Manasseh's son Amon, who was very evil and was killed by his servants. I personally love whenever I read about the righteous God-fearing kings of Israel and Judah. I get upset when I read about the evil ones, and I ALWAYS end up thinking about modern Israel (specifically the United States but also the other nations of Israel) and modern Judah. I can't help but think of this and long for a humble repentance of our leaders and a nationwide repentance of our peoples. Wouldn't that be awesome if we as a nation would decide to return to God's sabbath day and feasts and leave Sunday-keeping, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. in the dust? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we abolished abortion and punished adultery and homosexuality? Wouldn't it be grand if we tore down all the idolatrous images and statues throughout our land (like church obelisks, "statue of liberty," "Washington monument" [big obelisk], "virgin Mary" and "Jesus" statues? Wouldn't it be super if we reinstated prayer and bible reading in schools? Wouldn't it be fantastic if we banned wicked movies, tv shows, and music? Who else is deeply grieved by our nations' current state? (Yes, plural, as Britain, Israel, Canada, and the other Israelite nations have the same and similar sins.) I discuss this over and over with William, too. I want him to know that if we all lived God's way, the world wouldn't be as sad as he perceives it. It would be SO GOOD if we established TRUE FREEDOM, TRUE LIBERTY in this nation. "One nation under God" and "In God We Trust" are simply not understood by the masses. This nation, as a whole, does NOT trust God, and it is NOT a nation that is willingly putting itself "under God's" authority--under HIS law, the perfect "law of liberty" (James 1:25).
The bible is the earthling's instruction manual. Any person who does not have the knowledge of what is contained in the instruction manual is missing out on the perfect way to live in PEACE and CONTENTMENT and in good HEALTH and PROSPERITY.
We went over more social skills today: Following directions
Also, we read some out of the Christian Heritage book. We're in the geography section, on which he should do well, b/c he mostly knows already what is covered, so this will be a good review, if nothing else. He did learn the difference between a map and a globe. We then went back over the seven continents. That was pretty much it.
This morning, before we'd even eaten anything, he said something like, "Do you know that everybody has a sun? Like we have a sun, and Colorado has a sun. Everybody has a sun shining on them." I said something like, "Well, it's true that everybody has the sun shining on them every day, but we only have ONE sun." He: "No, there a lot of them." Gotta love kids. :-) SO, I refreshed him on how it's actually the earth that rotates around the sun daily and went over the sunrise/sunset stuff. We've talked about this a few times before. BUT, neither Nathan nor I have ever demonstrated this in a way where he could actually SEE. SO, I got an idea. I went to Will's closet and got out a golf ball and a soccer ball. The golf ball resembled the earth, and the soccer ball resembled the sun. I then held both and explained to him what happened. There was some sort of face on this particular golf ball, so I pretended that was the United States, and then I explained again (like we have before w/o the balls) how one side of the earth is always dark and the other is light, and how when we're dark, the other side is light and vice versa. I then showed him the pretend California, the pretend Colorado, the pretend Missouri, and the pretend Florida (he already knows where all the 50 states are, so this was easy for him to understand), and I explained how the Californians would get up at sunrise, then the Colorado people, etc. (Okay, so not all of us get up right at sunrise, but he didn't call me out on that! LOL) He was asking about time zones the other day. So, since we discussed the earth and sun this morning, I think I'll go more over the time zones tomorrow with him.
Well, that's pretty much it for now. I have to go finish dinner. I'll update this again at my choosing.
That is one of the reasons public school is SUCH a turn off.
Okay, well, to update:
Last Tuesday an ice storm came through, and we were soon without electricity. We had to stay in a hotel Tuesday and Wednesday night. It had been a long time since we'd stayed in a hotel (we haven't traveled where a hotel is required, except for feast of tabernacles, and we always camp or rent a cabin), and the last time was too long ago for Will to remember. SO, he got to learn about hotels. We stayed at a nice one--the Embassy. Nathan talked them down to almost half price. He's very good at talking people down and negotiating. He's awesome. So, we got to stay somewhere nice and clean without having to pay what one normally would. Will loved the glass elevators. It was interesting, b/c it'd been just a few days prior that he was talking about elevators and asking me how they went up and down, and I had told him about the cables and all. SO, here I had the perfect opportunity to SHOW him. Oh, yeah, because on these elevators, you could SEE the cables. Great!!! So, he got to see it for himself. And one time when Nathan went to get the truck, we waited inside, and we walked over, and I pointed out to Will the cables and explained it all again. He said, "Ooh, that's kind of scary." (Meaning how the elevators are supported by the cables.)
We talked some about ice, since we were having an ice storm. We talked about glaciers and the Titanic.
We went with Nathan to one of his service calls on Wednesday. Then, later, the woman of the house for the OTHER service call (we didn't go on) said they wanted to pay Nathan more money, and they drove what would normally be probably 20 minutes or so, but through the ice it took probably twice that, all the way to the hotel to deliver more money. They were so thankful that he'd gone out in the weather to restore their heat. Nathan was about to get in the shower when she arrived, so I went down to meet her, and she told me what a nice man Nathan was. :-) People have paid Nathan more than what he's invoiced on several occasions, but never yet had anyone driven through ice to deliver it. What a blessing to hear good things about my husband. And it was good for William to see and hear Nathan and me talking about it.
Thursday the boys and I went farther south to stay with my parents for a few days. The electricity came back on that day, but I wanted to go down there, anyway, and Nathan needed more time to get caught up on his work. We got to see my dad and my uncle both sing karaoke that night. I think William enjoyed it. I went Friday with my dad to the horse races. My sister and bil and his parents were there, too. That was the first time I'd ever been. I almost took William, but I decided that it could wait until another time. I needed a break. My mom took William with her that morning to work. She is the tax assessor for that White County, Arkansas. It would have been great if she'd have explained some to him about what they did there, but I don't think she did. Anyway, we later dropped Trusten off there, and everyone in her office got to see him for the first time, and then they went to the park.
The only "book" work we've done every day over the past several days is our bible reading. Will did read a few Rocket Readers books to me over the past few days, and he's read some out of the RR Learn to Read bible. He's done some lessons in the Grade 1 Complete Curriculum book for Reading and Math. He's getting better at his upper digit numbers, and he's wanting to learn how to add and subtract, b/c he keeps asking what is such and such plus or minus such and such. So, we'll be moving on to that soon. On our trip there and back, he'd read some signs. And other things he'd spell and ask what they spelled.
We're back up through chapter 8 of Proverbs. We're almost finished with 2 Chronicles. We read more about righteous King Hezekiah, and we read about evil Manasseh, who at least humbly repented after being carried away to punishment, and then Manasseh's son Amon, who was very evil and was killed by his servants. I personally love whenever I read about the righteous God-fearing kings of Israel and Judah. I get upset when I read about the evil ones, and I ALWAYS end up thinking about modern Israel (specifically the United States but also the other nations of Israel) and modern Judah. I can't help but think of this and long for a humble repentance of our leaders and a nationwide repentance of our peoples. Wouldn't that be awesome if we as a nation would decide to return to God's sabbath day and feasts and leave Sunday-keeping, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. in the dust? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we abolished abortion and punished adultery and homosexuality? Wouldn't it be grand if we tore down all the idolatrous images and statues throughout our land (like church obelisks, "statue of liberty," "Washington monument" [big obelisk], "virgin Mary" and "Jesus" statues? Wouldn't it be super if we reinstated prayer and bible reading in schools? Wouldn't it be fantastic if we banned wicked movies, tv shows, and music? Who else is deeply grieved by our nations' current state? (Yes, plural, as Britain, Israel, Canada, and the other Israelite nations have the same and similar sins.) I discuss this over and over with William, too. I want him to know that if we all lived God's way, the world wouldn't be as sad as he perceives it. It would be SO GOOD if we established TRUE FREEDOM, TRUE LIBERTY in this nation. "One nation under God" and "In God We Trust" are simply not understood by the masses. This nation, as a whole, does NOT trust God, and it is NOT a nation that is willingly putting itself "under God's" authority--under HIS law, the perfect "law of liberty" (James 1:25).
The bible is the earthling's instruction manual. Any person who does not have the knowledge of what is contained in the instruction manual is missing out on the perfect way to live in PEACE and CONTENTMENT and in good HEALTH and PROSPERITY.
We went over more social skills today: Following directions
Also, we read some out of the Christian Heritage book. We're in the geography section, on which he should do well, b/c he mostly knows already what is covered, so this will be a good review, if nothing else. He did learn the difference between a map and a globe. We then went back over the seven continents. That was pretty much it.
This morning, before we'd even eaten anything, he said something like, "Do you know that everybody has a sun? Like we have a sun, and Colorado has a sun. Everybody has a sun shining on them." I said something like, "Well, it's true that everybody has the sun shining on them every day, but we only have ONE sun." He: "No, there a lot of them." Gotta love kids. :-) SO, I refreshed him on how it's actually the earth that rotates around the sun daily and went over the sunrise/sunset stuff. We've talked about this a few times before. BUT, neither Nathan nor I have ever demonstrated this in a way where he could actually SEE. SO, I got an idea. I went to Will's closet and got out a golf ball and a soccer ball. The golf ball resembled the earth, and the soccer ball resembled the sun. I then held both and explained to him what happened. There was some sort of face on this particular golf ball, so I pretended that was the United States, and then I explained again (like we have before w/o the balls) how one side of the earth is always dark and the other is light, and how when we're dark, the other side is light and vice versa. I then showed him the pretend California, the pretend Colorado, the pretend Missouri, and the pretend Florida (he already knows where all the 50 states are, so this was easy for him to understand), and I explained how the Californians would get up at sunrise, then the Colorado people, etc. (Okay, so not all of us get up right at sunrise, but he didn't call me out on that! LOL) He was asking about time zones the other day. So, since we discussed the earth and sun this morning, I think I'll go more over the time zones tomorrow with him.
Well, that's pretty much it for now. I have to go finish dinner. I'll update this again at my choosing.
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