life of seven

Home Schooling: the copy work edition

I thought that I would give a little insight into some of our schoolwork today. You can get some idea from Evie's checklists made for herself, above, what one of our a school days looks like. This is from a day when I was going to be gone for a good portion of the time. Unlike me, my kids love checklists. We don't make them every day, though perhaps I should implement that idea, and while doing so, explain to Evie how to spell "piano" among other things, correctly, more than 50% of the time. Hah.

Something I've recently added to our school days is copy work for the younger kids as simply an exercise to improve penmanship and concentrate on grammar (as opposed to gramMER), punctuation, and spelling. My older girls, Cate and Grace, do not need to do copy work. Especially Grace. Somewhere down the road she got inspired to make her handwriting beautiful. The rest of us just drool over it. Here is a sample of her doodling the other night. 

What is copy work? The idea is to pick a passage out of a book, or a poem, or a beautiful example of the English language of some sort, and the kids copy the passage down as neatly and accurately as possible. As a child is learning to write, asking for perfect spelling, penmanship, grammar, punctuation, oh, and please write something creative and beautiful, is quite overwhelming. So I try to separate creative writing from the time that I insist on perfect spelling and penmanship and all those other things. Copy work is the time we concentrate on the other things. Many people have written about this in depth, who I am sure have much more eloquent things to say on the subject, so I will just add the couple of things that we do that you may find helpful. They spend just 15 minutes a day doing it. Home school moms, if you are adding something new to your daily routine, let me suggest that you just start with consistent, 15 minute-per-day intervals. That way, it will get done every day and you will not become overwhelmed. It's pretty easy to squeeze in 15 minutes a day to learning a new skill. For the long term, you will be much more consistent if you only need to spend 15 minutes per day on something.

Secondly, I suggest making sure your children (or you! why not?) have a beautiful fountain pen that is delightful to write with when doing copy work. If they are at the stage where they will really be erasing a lot, then use instead a wonderful mechanical pencil with a substantial eraser. Think about this, you guys. Have you ever written with a beautiful pen that glides over the paper that made you wish you had beautiful handwriting to justify the pen and ink you were using? It is just so much more fun to write when you love the tools you are using. Again, many folks have written substantial articles on this, but in short, I will say that I have found my kids write much better and concentrate so much more on their penmanship when they are using beautiful tools for the job. Think of how you feel when you take extra time to get dressed up in the morning, taking the time to put together a nice outfit and style your hair (as opposed to those mornings where it's a sweatpants kind of day. We all have those days, too, of course). Getting dressed up causes you to square your shoulders a bit, stand up straighter, and feel less lazy. That's sort of the effect I've discovered that beautiful writing tools have on my children's handwriting.

Okay, one final thing I'll add. For improving printing, graph paper works so well. Those little squares really help children to make uniformly shaped letters, and it's so fun to use, as well. Try it. Get a lovely pen, find some graph paper, and start printing words. It's so much fun! The more you practice, the better your writing will look, and you will love looking at the neat results! Graph paper is just great to use for school work, in general. Math problems line up so neatly on those even little squares.

I feel I need to add a caveat: I laid out the ideal, here. The reality is, lots of days, good pens and pencils and graph paper go missing. No one can find the book they are copying out of. The dining room table never got wiped off after breakfast and no one wants to write on a table that's sticky with maple syrup. Or whatever the case may be. Here's the thing with ideals: have a goal in mind that you are striving for and do your best to meet it, and don't sweat it when everything isn't perfect. That's the key for not losing your mind if you are a mom, especially a home school mom. Have a goal in mind. Do your best to meet it. And don't forget to look at progress being made, and not allow yourself to get bogged down with day to day stuff. The monotony and frustration will overwhelm you. Stick to the plan and you will see progress. I promise.

Okay, well that's as much as I have time to write about today. Let me close by showing you a final picture of the saga my son Jude began writing. The Long Adventure, books 1, 2, and 3. He informed me he has another three or so in this series, and then he has plans for a new series. I can't wait to see what the new series will be about. I wonder if it will be as Tolkien-esque as the current series he is writing...

 

Making things, reading

Yesterday, Gideon and Evie asked if they could paint. Since they were in their little room away from the little kids I carelessly replied, "Sure." This morning they showed me the painting they had made. Maybe because most of my kids' paintings end up looking like mud, I was both shocked and impressed when they showed me what they had painted. Also, maybe because I also have a soft spot for all things British. Yep, I'm definitely an Anglophile.

Here's what I've been making:

Oh my goodness, this is the funnest knitting I've had since... okay, okay, since my last knitting project. I love everything I knit. I just love to knit. But, an Icelandic doll with traditional Icelandic knitting patterns sized miniature? I think it's hard to top that for absolute fun. The great thing about doll clothes is that they just knit up so quickly, and you are never stuck on one thing for a very long time. Also, it lets me search through the house for those tiny remaining scraps of knitting yarn and use them up in a fun, quick, colorful way. The funny thing is I have had those tiny granny squares for the blanket for years. I have a whole lot more, actually, stored in a bag, not enough to make a big blanket, and the girls and I are long bored of making them. Well, at least some of them are getting used, and I sure love the doll sized result. I've got many more little items and accessories planned before all is said and done. The Icelandic doll and doll clothes will be a Christmas gift for the most responsible child in the house. Which means Cate, the 16 year old. Not sure if even she is responsible enough. I may have to put it all in a locked glass case when everything is finished, haha. Just kidding. Pretty sure Evie will be the lucky one. I'll have to train her to "Look, don't touch." Hee hee. 

Last but definitely not least, look what said responsible 16 year old finished yesterday:

Isn't it just the loveliest thing? I do not enjoy cross stitching, but Cate and Grace both like to. This is Cate's second sampler that she's finished. Pretty sure this needs to happen next.

Clearly we are busy making things, that's how fall goes, right? Let me give you a reading update, too! We are still looooooooving audible, so much! Gideon and Evie and I are listening to Anne of the Island, our third, and my absolute favorite, Anne book. I have read it many many times. It's great to listen to after reading so many times, especially since I get to share it with Gideon and Evie! We have also listened to Cheaper by the Dozen. Such a funny and touching story- I highly recommend it. Cate and Grace and I are almost done listening To Kill a Mockingbird. No words for that wonderful book. I'm too clumsy of a writer to do it justice. Harper Lee's writing makes me never want to write another word again- while at the same time inspiring me to want to do nothing but write, write, write. What else? Evie is discovering Encyclopedia Brown books. How I loved those growing up. The short stories are great for her to get through quickly. Cate recenly read The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. It's probably my favorite Christian book. Another one she and I would both recommend highly. Now she is reading Freedom's Forge. Grace is reading No Compromise, the story of Keith Green. Gideon is making his way through an Agatha Christie book. We are getting together with a group of friends weekly to read The Chronicles of Narnia series out loud, something we have done as a family as well as with friends quite a few times before. I think this may be our fifth or sixth time hearing them read out loud. But it is a worthy series to read and reread. I'll probably never tire of it. I love the big concepts C.S. Lewis conveys in the story, which is so entertainig to children. And yes, his use of words is second to none as well.  All this talk of great writing is making me want to end this blog post quickly. My sloppy, rushed writing is making me feel ashamed. But, It is just a blog post after all, not the next great American novel.

But what was that you are asking? What am I reading right now? Oh dear, it's kind of embarrassing. I'm working through Patient H.M., a grisly book about the history of brain surgery, however, I have misplaced the book so it's been a few weeks since I've picked it up. I'm also about a fourth of the way through a huge tome called The Dollmaker. The first chapter took my breath away. It is the best first chapter of any book I have ever read in my life. But now I am in that place where I feel I have read so much that surely I must be done with the book by now, and unfortunately there are far more pages to go than what I have read. So I've put it aside for now, too. On Kindle I'm kind of reading The Woman in White, a book I started months ago and, again, yes, set aside. I picked it up again recently and can't really remember what is happening, even though, good old Kindle, my spot where I left off has been saved. I've also begun reading The Lion's Gate, a book I've heard is an incredible read. I believe the people that have told me this. But I just can't seem to get into it. Actually, it would also help if I knew where this book was. There are another three or four sad tales like the ones I have just told you, about other books I am attempting to read. I wish I didn't have such trouble focusing on finishing a book. That's life right now, though. Maybe my brain book (Patient H.M.) can explain to me why I'm having such concentration issues. But for it to do that, I would first have to locate the book.

 

 

What we've been up to

Wow, guys, sorry I haven't checked in for a while. The last couple of weeks, as you may have guessed, have been quite busy. Part of it involved an anniversary/birthday trip that Ben and I went on for three days to California. Okay, why lie? We spent all three days at Disneyland. Yes, that was our getaway. I may write about it some more in another post, but Ben proposed to me at Disneyland 18 1/2 years ago. Some members of our family are kind of Disney fanatics. Not so much about the movies, or the characters, but the theme parks. When you visit a theme park, you truly are visiting the Happiest Place on Earth, so, what better place to celebrate an anniversary and birthday than at Disneyland? Sounds like a recipe for a great celebration. And it was. One of the funnest trips we've ever taken, though at every turn I'd see a little girl Evie's age, telling me about a roller coaster she went on, or two little kids Jude's and Truman's ages giggling, giggling, giggling on a water ride, or a toddling two year old like Clementine dressed in a ridiculous princess dress, and my heart broke a little in loneliness for my kids. The paradox of parenting. You want to get away by yourself, until the moment you finally are away. No matter, I promise you that Ben and I made the best of our homesickness by tearing throughout the park at lightning speed (not something that's possible to do with all seven kids in tow) getting to all the rides.

Well, now, I said I wasn't planning to write about our trip, but there it is. A quick synopsis.

As a place holder for not having taken pictures for a couple of weeks, I give you a couple from the Olympic party we had at the start of the Olympics. This was so fun that I think it will have to become a tradition. A few simple games, that everyone, from the littlest kids to the adults, can participate in, a few cheap trophies purchased, food representing the host country (we allowed for a little creative license with the Brazilian food), a bit of decorating which included wrapping hula hoops with streamers in the colors of the Olympic rings (that was my idea, and I admit I felt, and feel, so clever to have come up with it- I hope people pin it a million times on Pinterest!), and you have the makings of a fun evening for everyone.

School has started up again, more or less, for the kids. We aren't putting in our full days yet, but easing into it gently, which is how I like to do it. I've been bad about making sure my little boys have been practicing piano, so that was kind of my goal for this week. I love spending time with Jude and Truman on the piano, since they love it so much and watching them pick up rhythm and melody and harmony is so delightful. Let me write this here and now, as a reminder, for when I find myself too "busy" to help the boys with their piano practice. 

One more thing- we are continuing to love Audible- perhaps the best addition to our lives that has happened to us this year. Gideon, Evie and I just finished Anne of Green Gables, and though we knew the story well, I, having read it a half a dozen times, Gideon once, not to mention the many, many, viewings of the movie, hearing it read aloud to us was a new way to experience it and we all laughed out loud throughout the story, as well as brushed away tears, and sighed, often, in the most satisfied way at the conclusion at the end. Gilbert giving up the Avonlea school for Anne, without any prompting, or even letting Anne know, must be one of the best moments in all of literature. Such a perfect book. We hurriedly began listening Anne of Avonlea because we just didn't want the sweet moments to end.

Today, Cate and Grace and I are going to finish up our last ten minutes of Unbroken, and then it will be To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm really looking forward to listening to this one, because I have heard that Sissy Spacek narrating it is second to none. 

Finally, I hit upon the brilliant idea of downloading a book for my littlest ones, and let them practice sitting quietly like they are supposed to do during church. I picked out Beatrix Potter for them, which they like pretty well, but I am trying to come up with something they may enjoy a little bit more for next time. Possibly Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Winnie-the-Pooh, even Betsy-Tacy,  but I'm still deciding. 

That's a wrap, you guys. Hope to post more soon. Surely you are all dying to know what I'm knitting, for one thing. That's coming, it's coming.

Mom Thoughts

The hardest part about having seven kids is making sure that each child, at each age gets the same experiences the other children got. Are the older kids stuck doing a baby activities all the time? Are the little kids getting to play enough Candyland? Do the middle ones get lost in the shuffle? I think about these kinds of things a lot. Lately I have discovered the couple hours I have  of free time during Cate and Grace's piano lesson is a good time to give my three littlest ones my undivided attention. Last week it was exploring a park we'd never been to before, thereafter christened "The best park in the whole wide world!"

The morning reminded me of the five mornings a week, every week, I used to have with Cate, Grace and Gideon. The sky was the limit back then, because our days were empty and free. Some weeks ended up with visits to library story time on Tuesday and Thursday, and Barnes and Noble story time on Friday. Hour long walks, mornings at the swimming pool (when I took Cate as a toddler, entrance cost me just one dollar), visiting every park I could think of, power walking through the mall before it opened in the winter, when it was too cold to go outside. My life isn't much like that anymore. I actually can't remember the last time I purposely tried to exercise. Or even worried about it...

I've been enjoying being able to focus solely on my littlest ones on these piano mornings. We start with discussing what would be the funnest thing to do, and inevitably they decide that would be a park, though I may surprise them and sneak some swimming in one day, just us, no older kids. They would love that.

On the other end of the spectrum, I've realized that while life is easier for me when we stay pretty homebound and get normal bedtimes for the whole family, that the so called "teenagers" (long story, but the word is jokingly taboo in our home) in the house might like to do something more exciting with their evenings than simply concentrate on getting a good night's sleep. Of course eight hours of sleep at night is ideal, and of course, as you know, I love to get my day, and subsequently our family's day, going at the crack of dawn. But, a while back I decided to be flexible about the older kids' bedtimes. I told Cate and Grace they didn't have to go to bed at any set time, but I was still going to wake them at the same time each morning, even if they stayed up late the night before.

I'm surprised at how well this has worked. I had to stop and think about what it was like for me when I was a teen. Certainly, it was full of late nights and crazy sleep schedules, and occasionally sleeping in on the weekend to make up for it. But I had then, as Cate and Grace have now, a schedule with enough commitments in it make me consider if the youth group all nighter or the late night baby sitting job, was worth taking or not. I quickly figured out how un-fun it was to pay for hours of lost sleep the next day. And sometimes I decided that the lost sleep was worth it, and sometimes not. But, I survived growing up with the occasional night of three or four hours sleep. Hey, I still do. It may be easier on me to treat them like they are still little kids and stick them in bed at nine o'clock every night, but it can be fun to live a little.

Live a little. That's what I tell my kids often. Try something new, don't just stand on the sidelines and watch. I want my kids to experience life and fill it with memories. This mantra is what had Cate, Grace and Gideon playing softball with friends one afternoon in the middle of a huge downpour. They came home soaking wet and begging for hot chocolate and laughing their heads off. Yes, school work all day without a break may be more ideal for me as a teacher, but it is often the sudden change in schedule to randomly decide to paint a dresser, or hang a swing outside, or buy flowers to plant, that stays with them longer than the lesson they were reading.

Over the years, I have gone from being a very scatterbrained person who procrastinated and never got any work done, to realizing my kids were never going to learn to read if that was the way I approached school. Then I buckled down pretty hard on the kids and became more of a drill sergeant, ensuring we would learn our times tables and spend our free time reading and practicing instruments; and it is in the last couple of years that I've learned to recognize that there is a legitimate balance between the two that can be reached, for optimal learning, and enjoying life. 

Life as a parent is amazing, isn't it? How is it possible that each day is better than the one before it, with new milestones reached, while at the same time utterly heartbreaking because the day before is never coming back? Soon, Jude, Truman, and Clementine's days with me at the park during piano lessons will be over. I wonder what they will be doing instead? Soon, my teens will be finished with school and lessons and my authority. I wonder what their lives will look like then? It's dizzying to even think about. In summary of all these scattered thoughts that I am thinking today, I will conclude with this simple but accurate thought: Life is such a gift.

 

The Best of My Days

I have a confession to make. For the past few years, Bible reading- that wasn't just stuck randomly into the cracks of life- has been a real struggle for me. When Cate and Grace were little, and I had long, long days at home with no car, and hours to try to fill, it was not difficult to spend time with God each day. It was usually during the kids' nap time that I read dozens of Christian books, journaled all the time, read and studied the Bible, and prayed; and during those endless days at home I made a conscious effort to make sure I was teaching my girls about Jesus, too. By the way, I used the same materials for them then that I still use now- if you're curious, our favorites, among others, are: reading The Picture Bible, Arch Books and My Bible Friends; listening to Your Story Hour, Adventures in Odyssey, and Agapeland Music; and watching The Donut Man  and Nest Bible Videos.

Anyway, I didn't realize then that the day would soon come when I would not be able to remember the last time I was bored. I think it was around the time that Evie, my fourth child, was born, that I became really, really busy. Busy with the most wonderful things, because I began homeschooling Cate and Grace in earnest, my husband and I began to lead a small church, and we began to forge lifelong friendships with a couple of other families. With each passing day I began to love my life more and more and began to realize that killing time, so to speak, was becoming an activity of the past. Every night I'd get in bed and wonder where in the world the day had gone.

Oh, how I love to be busy. I love having our friends (I'd say company, but that's just too fancy of a word for what it is) over a few nights a week and the church activities that we go to that take up another three nights. I love my time with the kids during the day- monitoring schoolwork and piano practice, driving them to lessons while listening to the latest book on Audible, trying to keep the house somewhat maintained throughout the day, knitting or blogging or crafting or reading when I can. When I put it like that, it's crazy to think that all of that happens every week!

Somewhere in those years, those couple of hours of quiet time each day disappeared. My regular time of Bible reading each day became sporadic and inconsistent at best, not because I didn't want to read the word, but because there just seemed to be no time for it. Quite a few months back I was praying and feeling convicted about needing to spend more time with God. I told God He was on my to-do list, but I had no clue how I was going to add "one more thing" to that ever growing list of stuff that needed to get done- how could I possibly add Him in?

In no uncertain terms, I felt God tell me, "I am not just 'One more thing' that you need to check off each day! I'm supposed to be the most important thing in your life!"

True.

What was I to do? My days were no longer the carefree, empty ones I'd had years ago. Outside of a crazy revamping of my schedule and neglecting my family and my kids' education, there was no way I was getting back those 2, 3, 4, hours a day I'd had in the past to spend time with God.

During all this time, I knew I was walking close with God, and I knew He loved me, and that I loved Him. But when I felt His pull on my heart, so often I told Him, like I sometimes needed to tell my husband, or one kid or another, "You're just going to have to trust that I love you, and you're going to need to wait."

But it was becoming obvious, and had been for some time, that spending time in the Word was not just going to happen on its own. But where to even begin?

I have my husband to thank for preaching a sermon about giving God your first fruits. This was something the Israelites were commanded to give to God, the rest they kept.

Deuteronomy 26:2"That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there."

Exodus 22:29 "Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me."

I realized that God wasn't asking me for every last minute of my time. In fact, He expected nothing like that. After all, He was the one who gave me a family, and children in the first place and then called me to love and care for them. He knew my responsibilities. He had given me my to-do list.

But the truth was that I did need to give God more of my time, and not just more of it, but the very best of it- the first fruits.

So practically- what does that mean? What is the best of my time? I don't know what it is for every one else, but the first fruits of my time is the very first part of the day. I had been getting up earlier and earlier, pretty consistently around six o'clock, in an effort to get my busy days going sooner. I'd wake the kids at 6:30 and sit them down immediately in front of their schoolwork or on a piano bench. Our days went like this all day long, going from one activity to another, squeezing meals and house cleaning in between. 

Was I willing to give God those precious morning minutes? Was I willing to sacrifice the first minutes of the children's day as well, teaching them to follow my example of giving God the first fruits of their day?

Of course, the instant the question was asked, the answer was obvious, though I admit I still felt dubious. Yes, I would commit to try it.

How can I describe the difference this has made in our lives? I can't believe the peace and patience I feel in my heart throughout the day just by taking the time to read my Bible in the quiet of the morning. I can't explain it, but I've found myself waking up even earlier many days, on my own, closer to 5 or 5:30, and I actually feel more rested now then when I would try to sleep in till the last possible minute. When the kids wake up, or I wake them, around 6:30 or so, the older ones pick up their Bibles and journals, the middle ones generally read The Picture Bible on their own (it is our goal, as parents, to have our kids read through The Picture Bible many, many times), and I read to the little ones. Sometimes I read to them out of my Bible, sometimes from Arch books, and sometimes I start breakfast and have them listen to one of our Bible stories on cd instead. Around 7:00 I tell everyone we are done and to get started on the day.

The first week we tried it, at the end of the week I was thinking about what a great week it had been, and how most everything got done that needed to. The following week, I thought the same thing. I marveled for a moment about how smoothly life had been going. It was only then that I remembered that over the last two weeks, I had begun giving God the first fruits of my time. Now three, four, and five months later, I can't just chalk it up to coincidence. How can those few minutes a day be so life changing?  I'm not sure, but I'm also not sure how a couple loaves of bread and fish could feed a crowd of thousands. At the time, the disciples asked Jesus, "But what are these among so many?" Clearly, those few were plenty. 

No, of course everything isn't miraculously perfect and we still have our times of anger, frustration, or laziness during the days. Of course. I still feel scattered much of time. There's no way around that. But I will honestly say that giving God the best, and first part of my day, every single day, has been one of the most life changing things I can remember in recent years. If you are a busy mom, or even just a busy person (and who isn't?) and you have struggled with spending time with God's word, I would encourage you to try this. Sometimes you might have hours to spare, sometimes less than a half hour. If you don't think you have time in your mornings as they are, then consider setting your alarm just thirty minutes earlier and giving that time to God. I truly believe you will not regret it. Six months ago I didn't see how I could possibly spare the scattered, chaotic, first thirty minutes of my day to just spend quietly with God. Now I wouldn't trade that time for the world. 

School in the Sun

Early morning, warm sun, some practicing of times tables with a little brother- bliss. We've had some off days and weeks since the new year, but over all I'm quite pleased with our second homeschooling semester. I've begun assigning Cate and Grace a research project daily- any subject that I choose (with input from the girls as well), easily researched on Wikipedia, notes taken, and finally written or typed up, all in the same day. It's turned out to be a great exercise I highly recommend. I'm not too picky about length, in fact, keeping it brief and to the point is the goal. 

I've begun some assigning some quick reads to some of the kids, too, to get them reading faster. Since I was fairly young, I've been able to browse in a bookstore or library, and skim through entire books in 45 minutes to an hour. Based on experience, this is not necessarily recommended for multiple hundred page books, but there is nothing quite like being able to absorb the contents of a large book in a very short amount of time. Yes, I know how to READ, too, not just skim, but I'd like to get my kids in the habit of being able to read books faster. It's funny, because when my husband reads a book, he reads every.single.word. When he first told me this I hardly believed him. Not only does he read each word, but he reads favorite sentences multiple times. This really shocked me. I used to never do such a thing. And my kids seem to have picked up this thoroughness in reading from their dad. I think it's wonderful. It is great to read every word and sentence of a book you are reading, but there is also a lot to be said for reading lots and lots of material very very fast. Hah! Well, that is quite the soapbox- I wasn't really intending to go into all that, but rather, explain how I've decided to help the kids become faster readers by giving them lots of very easy yet exciting books for a while. Hopefully they will end up with the best of both parents- ability to skim the unimportant things, like I tend to do, and read and reread the most valuable pieces of information, like their dad.

What else have we been doing? The hour+ drive I've begun making each week to Boulder has opened the door to something new to us- an Audible account and delving into the world of audio books. So far it's been quite enjoyable as we've gotten a chance to listen to some books that we have wanted to read for some time but for one reason or another weren't getting read. The Hiding Place, a book I've actually read many, many, times, has been very fun to hear being read out loud. Evie wouldn't have been quite ready yet to read it herself, and it's just so enjoyable to hear one of my very favorite books with all the kids together. After we listened to a few chapters, Grace couldn't wait and finished the book on her own by the next day. I hope this will become a bit of a pattern with the books we listen to, but even if it's not, it will still be a very valuable addition to our homeschool week.

Anyway, that's where our school is at so far this year...

Beauty in the Every Day

 

School work is what's been happening around here. And knitting squeezed in while I'm helping Jude find "P-P-P" sounds. Despite feeling like my busiest homeschool year yet, with five kids to teach, and a baby and a VERY busy three year old to entertain, it also feels like my most productive year yet. It's fun how the busier and the more work I have to do, the more productive I am. I have no idea why that is. We watched an Andy Griffith episode the other night where Andy tries to free Aunt Bea of her duties by hiring an English butler for a short time. Aunt Bea begins to feel sad and depressed and Opie eventually tells the butler that Aunt Bea used to always sing, when she was going about the house working, but that she hasn't sung for a while. And then the sweet butler puts two and two together and  realizes that he's worked Aunt Bea out of a job and left her feeling useless, so he finds an opportunity to get himself fired, and Aunt Bea gets straight to work cleaning up and cooking and she's happy again.

I couldn't help but understand poor Aunt Bea during the show. I'm pretty sure I'm the same way. Not when it comes to housework, really, because honestly I'm not a great housekeeper, but I just don't care to have huge chunks of leisure time with nothing productive to do. I get pretty antsy and then I just can't wait to get back to daily life and find some outlet for work, and with it, creativity. I probably get it from my mom, who has absolute boundless energy and hasn't sit still for more than an hour in her life. For me it's not necessarily physical activity I crave, but I hate the feeling of not being in the middle of some big, interesting project. A business; a blog; a fairisle sweater; a group of friends over for dinner; figuring out the settings on my camera; sourdough bread; teaching a five year old to read; remembering what sine, cosine and tangent mean and trying to do quick refresher on husing a scientific calculator for the tenth grader; and if all those things aren't enough, dreaming of another, bigger project to tackle in the future. 

Don't mistake me and think that all the projects around the house always get done, haha, far from it. I often have to bring myself back to reality when my husband asks where the clean towels are. Or any towels, for that matter, would do just now... For instance, in the middle of packing for our trip, rather than let my mind put all it's energy into making sure to stay organized and not forget anything for our three months out of the country, I suddenly got sidetracked in the middle of it and began unravelling a sweater I'd knit years ago but wasn't get much wear anymore. This kind of thing tends to drive the rest of my family crazy, and I have to work hard to not float off on a tangent (HAH!) that often.

I think there is joy to be found in all sorts of daily tasks, and plenty of engagement for the mind if you really try. It's something I remind my kids of when they get weary of what can be the daily monotony of their lives. However, it's hard for me to preach to them, "Stick to you scales on the piano everyday and have a good attitude about it, and you'll discover that it's actually fun and you'll be glad you did years down the road from now," when mid cleaning I become distracted and leave to do something else more stimulating.

Oh, the lessons we learn from our kids; so often it's just like looking in a mirror. I guess that's why the Bible talks about striving to make our lives a reflection of Jesus. The closer we get toward living life like the perfect Man, the greater the fruits from it will be reflected in those around us. I say this not to make myself feel more condemned about my failings, but rather as an inspiration and a reminder of God's grace in me, working in me, to enable me to do the task He's set forth for me to do. 

And in the meantime I'm going to pull out my scientific calculator and try to show Cate the joy there is to be found in algebra. I know it's there if she looks for it.

On the bus in London, England

 The second we arrived in London, England- no wait, let me rephrase that. The second the children learned we would be going to visit London, England, I began being bombarded with the question, "Are we going to get to ride on one of those double decker buses? Can we ride on the top?"

I was asked this question, and many other iterations of it, no less than three thousand seventy-nine times, so the minute we were in the city, I begged Ben as hard as the children to let us "Please ride on one of those double decker buses, on the top, immediately, before I lost my mind being asked about it again."

The funny thing about having quite a few children, is that if each one innocently asks me, even only once, to get to do something, by the time child number four asks me for the same thing, I respond, unfairly, and none too gently, with, "Can you stop asking me that question! I've told you a thousand times, yes, we are going to ride on one of those buses!!!!"

And then poor Evie looks at me in astonishment and says, "But I only just now asked you. This is the first time I've asked, I promise!"

At this point I apologize, and realize I should probably take better notes of with who I answered what question. However, I'm pretty certain that at least my littlest boys, Jude and Truman, each asked me about the bus 50 times alone.

So, the first thing we did in London was ride on the double decker bus. Actually, the first thing we did was go to McDonald's and order breakfast. Jude and Truman had porridge. Because, we were in England. Porridge is on the menu. Naturally. I asked if it was like oatmeal, and the woman looked at me, confused, and said, "No, it doesn't come as a meal. You have to order it by itself."

Ah, gotcha. So porridge, not oatmeal, it was. After this we hopped on the Tube to the center of the city. We got quite good at navigating the Tube, I must say. I'm sure the other passengers, upon hearing our children's squeals of joy, and amazement, and laughter, as we whizzed through tunnels underground, must have reminded them of the story of the city mouse and the country mouse. "How quaint," may have been in their thoughts. At any rate, we certainly livened up that train.

I think my snapshots of the city speak for themselves, in regard to our first day in London. Rather than taking too many days writing about this trip, or rather than putting up fewer pics, I'm just going to sort of bombard you for the next few days with a whole bunch of photos. The editor in me is taking a vacation. I've spent enough time lately editing my children's creative writing each day, in fact. So I'm just going to put a bunch of pictures of the trip. If there's too many, you can just ignore them and scroll down.

Thankfully, Ben responded to my pleas and okayed the bus tour first thing. When we turned the corner to St Paul's Cathedral, we jumped off the bus to visit it. This is that St. Paul's, of Mary Poppin's "Feed the Birds" fame. I just dare you to try to walk around that glorious cathedral and not sing, or at the very least, hum,

"All around the cathedral,

The saints and apostles

Look down as she sells her wares..."

No photos were permitted inside the building, so you don't get to see any of those, but I'm certain there are better renditions of the inside through a quick google search than what I would be able to take, anyway.

 Most of the other pictures in this post were taken from the top of our double decker bus tour. I'm absolutely certain it was as wonderful to my children as they imagined it would be. I'm really glad we were able to start out our trip with a tour of the city like we did. It gave us such a feel for the city of London. Seeing Big Ben, parliament, and other notable buildings from that angle was unbeatable.

I'm a bit of an Anglophile, and while I would never care to live in a big city, as far as visiting one goes, London is my very favorite. You just can't beat those British accents. Or those bright red double decker buses.

Every once in a while...

Every once in a while, particularly after watching "Cutthroat Kitchen," with Alton Brown the evening before, this is what school lunch looks like. Each child tries to outdo the others by stylizing their plats, finding just the right dish, asking if there's anything green to sprinkle on top. On these days, paper plates just won't do. Then we give our best Judge Simon Majumdar imitation as we critique the to-mah-to soup with grilled cheese. Then I take a picture and then we dig in.

And then I take another picture because it's just too cute.

***I made up the recipe, sautéing onion, garlic, and fresh tomatoes, adding them to chicken broth and a can of tomato puree, then finishing with the immersion blender to get it all smooth***

Tea, knitting, and curriculum

As you may be able to tell from Evie's story, she just finished reading Betsy-Tacy (this incident happens almost word for word in the book). That's fine. Great writing often begins with imitation, just like all great art generally does. I don't have my children do copy work per-se, though I have considered it. Believe me, there is no shortage of excellent materials available that I could have my children use each day for their schoolwork. Point a homeschool mom to a NEW! INNOVATIVE! EXCITING! EDUCATIONAL! CURRICULUM! and watch her wilt like a leaf of lettuce on a picnic on a hot sunny day under the weight of discovering yet another wonderful thing that her children could be learning. We all have 24 hours to work with each day, that's all, and I actually like to sleep during part of that time. What remains is a juggling act between everything I want my children to know and be able to do and reality. So with all that being said, I've not incorporated copy-work into my children's school day, but look at that, my bright little eight year old sort of did it on her own. Yay, Evie! Way to lessen the wretched mama-guilt.

The top picture is from this morning, up sort of early (still not totally on Denmark time yet, or maybe I'm just using that as excuse to be lazy) with tea and knitting. Tea and knitting keep this homeschooling mom going. I don't know that I'd make it through the day without them. Tea to sip in the perfect mug, and a row squeezed in during a math lesson and I could go all day. That's my secret. I'll be the one with the tea, mugs, and knitting booth at the next homeschool convention, and you just watch the line to my table go all the way out the door.