Four Things I Know About Benjamin Franklin

by Paco

1. When he was 7 years old, his mother gave him some pennies and told him not to spend them foolishly. He bought a whistle and paid four times as much as a whistle was worth. When his mom told him, he threw the whistle down and cried!

2. He had sixteen brothers and sisters.

3. His father was a candle-maker and soap-boiler.

4. He loved books, so his father thought he should be a printer like his brother, James. He became James' apprentice, but James did not treat him kindly. Benjamin ran away to New York and then he went to Philadelphia.

Wordless Wednesday

Pizzas & Pijamas - Our Back to School Party!

It's back to school on Labor Day! Whoo-hoo! We decided to have our first day today as Sr. Smith would be able to join us. Typically when Daddy has a day off of work we are not doing school, so this just felt like the right way to get started this year.

To kick off our new year, we had a pizza & pijama party in our school room last night. After we ate, I gave each of the kids their new assignment notebooks and we went through them and our new schedule together. They were so excited to read through it all. "Look, Jirafa, a 15 minute break at 10:15!" Okay, so they weren't nearly as excited about the hours of work that preceded and followed the break, but they had fun thinking about what the first day would be like.

I plan to write about the changes I've made to how we work through our day, and new things we're doing this year. But for now I'm just posting about the party and pictures of our school room (aka "the loft"), which has been re-vamped to be more user-friendly. We hope to use it more for our actual work, whereas in the past we've sort of spread out all over the house. Of course, in the winter we'll be snuggled up by the fire :o)

Okay, here are the pictures from our party...

Braces and black olives...! Jirafa is starting year 5

Extra cheese, no sauce, with garlic shake! Paco is starting Year 3.5!

Each boy has his own bin filled with current books; the rest are on the shelf above his bin. Jirafa takes his bin to the large table, while Paco prefers the small table. Grab & go on Wednesdays!

Here's a view of most of the room - Sr. Smith built all those shelves & the window seat (which has four compartments that open for storage).

He's too good to me :o)

If you look to the bottom right hand corner of this picture, you can see the corner of a chair; Jirafa's table is up against that wall w/two chairs. A map of the world hangs above it. To the left you can see some smaller black shelves, those are just from Wal-Mart until Sr. Smith has time to build more shelves; to the left of those shelves is a map of the USA, followed by Doorposts charts on down the hallway (which is where I'm standing with the camera). Hermosa's picture books are on the shelf that faces the rocker where Sr. Smith is sitting, and behind him on the wall is the dry-erase board.

Well, that's a peek into our little world over here. Blessings to everyone starting school, whether at home or another school of your choice. Have a great year!

Jirafa is a Pretty Cool Kid

I just have to post this conversation Jirafa and I had whilst working on Paco's Term 1 assignment list. I had asked Jirafa if he had finished the last few chapters of Our Island Story, or if he had stopped at the chapter about how Canada was won. (mind you, he read this book year before last)

Jirafa: Can I look at it? Oh, no, I don't remember reading this. This chapter is about America. Was it not on my schedule?

Me: I don't guess so. (I'm not looking at the book at this point, he is) Maybe since that's where American history picks up, we just switched books for American history. Not much point in doubling up.

Jirafa: Will you put it on my free reading list for this year? I want to read it. It will be interesting because I bet it will have a different perspective. Cause, you know, how This Country of Ours was written by an American, and Our Island Story was written by someone from Britain? I've noticed that sometimes, that people from different countries think differently about the world. They have their way of thinking, and we have ours.

Last year I started this blog soon after the start of the school year. God had given me some much needed encouragement that day, and it was just what I needed as we started our new year. I don't think I realized I needed a little shot in the arm just yet (we start our official school year next Monday), I'm still finishing up my planning. But to hear Jirafa make a statement like this, completely unsolicited, just gives me more gas for my tank.

I can't help but wonder what people are thinking when they ask about how our children will know about the "real world" if we don't put them in public school? I guess part of what really jazzes me about what he said is not just that he realizes that there are lots of possibilities for how to view the world, but also that he actually intimated that he has his own way of looking at the world. So he sees himself as having a perspective, yet he wants to hear what others have to say.

And what's my perspective? I think Jirafa is a pretty cool kid.

Cultural Comforts Article

I have removed a post I put up last week entitled, "Homeschoolers Threaten Our Cultural Comforts" because I decided that while it is an interesting perspective, it does not represent every homeschooling nor every non-homeschooling situation. And I have thoughts swirling in my head out about what I would like to say in response to this article, but don't have time to compose them right now. In the meantime, if you want to read the article you can find it by googling the title. I may write something about it in the future. I just decided it doesn't belong on my blog unless I have a good response post to go with it.

Something to Nourish a Child's Brain

A great quote (from Charlotte Mason, of course) that describes our approach to homeschooling is printed on the back of a t-shirt my children have. "Nourish a child daily with loving, right, and noble ideas... which may bear fruit in his life." Actually, just about all the offspring from my fantastic CM Book Club have this shirt! But I digress... yesterday I had one of those moments with one of my kids that made me "know that I know" that we're doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing.

I won't go into all the "offenses" committed, but we can just say that the eldest Smith son had not exactly represented Christ well in word, deed, or attitude. It was along the lines of responsibility, work ethic, and authority. He had taken advantage of a situation and yielded to his flesh, spiraling downward and fast. After restitution had been made, notes of apology written, and consequences meted out, this young man sat alone, obviously deep in thought and not very proud of his behavior. In short, he was disappointed in himself. I felt he had suffered enough and that he could benefit from some encouragement, so I invited him to come sit with me on the couch. It was one of those mother/son moments where you see the spirit vs. flesh struggle weighing heavily on the heart. Where you want to be able to step in and fight the devil yourself on his behalf, but you know that it is better to teach him to handle that battle dressed in the armour of God. As we sat & talked, Jirafa made an observation that astounded me - and it was right on the nose. "It's like I'm like Rip Van Winkle - I do everyone else's work but my own." Wow. All the nagging and prodding (see Volume 3) I could muster could not have brought him to that conclusion. In the reading of a meaty book, months of digestion, and a few reflective moments on a bad day, Jirafa learned something about himself that is going to actually lead to change... er uh... bear fruit... in his life.

I love it.

La Hermosa Princesa Esperanza's First (published) Narration

She's only two, but lately is narrating lots of things. So I will publish this evening's narration of her birthday party, which was this afternoon. Her words are preceded by an * so that I don't have to keep typing our names. I will add that this conversation took place in her rocking chair right before bed.

Hermosa, did you have fun at your birthday party?

*MMM... Park!

We went to the park, didn't we? What did you do at the park?

*Kites!

Yes, you flew a kite. What kind of kite do you have?

*Hermosa Kite!

Yes, it's your kite, but who's picture is on your kite?

*Dora panties!

Yes, Dora is on your panties, too. What else did you do at your party?

*Jump! Darbie!

Yes, Darbie came and jumped with you. Who else came?

*Aunt Mille sick.

No Aunt Mille isn't sick. She is at her house far away. Grandma is sick and couldn't come.

*Grandma sick. Aunt Mille okay?

Yes, Aunt Mille is okay.

What else did you like at your party?

*Party cookies!

Yum! Did you have presents, too?

*Uh-huh.

What kind of presents did you get?

*Two!

Pause.

*Night night, mommy.

Grace Week

We have just finished our first official "Grace Week", and we all agreed that it accomplished what we were hoping for. A change of pace, a moment to rest, an opportunity to process what exactly it is that we are doing. We plan to include a monthly Grace Week for the remainder of this school year and then re-evaluate.

For those unfamiliar with Grace Week, it was started by Queen Shenaynay over at The Beehive. She did this with her daughters in their early years of homeschooling, and recently when I felt I needed a break it whispered itself in my ear, Grace. If anyone needs grace, it's me! So I did a little homework and came up with a plan. We already school year-round, so the schedule part fit perfectly. Up until now, we take breaks as we need them, a little longer break at Christmas and between academic years, and we just keep going. However, our breaks usually are just like summer break was for me growing up - do nothing. Well, what has ended up happening is I have a list of projects, way too much free time, and the kids have way too much free time, and when school gets going again we all struggle to get back into the swing of things only to find that I didn't accomplish all of my projects and they are still looming over my head! It kind of defeated the purpose of the break when it was so hard to get going again. But Grace Week is different. It's a break from the rigor of the schedule, but it is a very purposeful break. Here is what we did:

We had a little family meeting at the beginning of the week, and I laid out my expectations of the children. There would be daily Bible time, daily personal reading time, and daily exercise time. The reading could be any book of their choice, and so could the exercise. The daily Bible time was intended to be personal as we are beginning to encourage the boys to have their own daily time alone with the Lord. That part did not happen this week, so it will be a focus next month. The exercise ended up being basketball out front, bike riding, long walks, and jumping on the trampoline. Also dancing :O)

We also laid out some projects we would do together. This time it was bake bread, prepare the ground for a garden, and memorize Psalm 100. The first two did get accomplished, the memorization is still a work in progress.

Finally, we each had individual projects. I had the boys choose something they had learned that they were very excited about and create a project to present to Daddy & I after a special dinner on Saturday evening (prepared by Jirafa and myself). I really did not know how these projects would turn out, but after hours of work they each came up with something that blew us out of the water! Jirafa made himself a costume and presented a first person dramatization of George Washington's retreat from the Battle of Long Island. He used pillows "dressed" in clothes (armed with guns & swords) as additional characters and reinacted parts of the battle for us! To distinguish himself as George Washington, he even made a wig out of white paper and put a hat on top! Paco made two large drawings - one was King Philip and the Spanish Armada. The other was Queen Elizabeth and the English Navy. He described to us how the little English Navy defeated the Spanish Armada, sending them fleeing quickly away. They both were so proud of their presentations and are already talking about doing another one! Yay! It was a very entertaining evening for Daddy & I.

As for my own projects, I got two closets cleaned out, kept up my excercise routine, and worked a day on potty training our little princess. It turned out she wasn't quite ready, but rather than feel bad that we didn't accomplish it I am going to feel good that she & I got so much one on one time together.

So, for the rest of the semester we will work 3 weeks on our regular curriculum/schedule, and then we will take one Grace Week. We don't need 4-6 weeks off in the summer, and little 3 & 4 day weekends don't quite give us enough time to both accomplish a project and rest. Thank you, Queen Shenaynay for sharing this magnificent idea with the rest of us! Our family is rested, refreshed, and energized to start back on our "school schedule" tomorrow.

Later I will have to collect the thoughts swimming in my head about the correlation between this idea and the grace offered to us from the Lord. For now, I just wanted to get the facts out there and share our experience with Grace Week.

Let The Game Come to You

This is one of Sr. Smith's "staff development" quotes. Carletta over at Successful Homeschooling likened her husband's encouragement in their homeschooling to staff development that a school principal provides for his teachers, and I love the analogy! So I'm going to use it ;o)

"Let the game come to you." Charlotte Mason has taught me so much, and our homeschooling is what it is because of her writings. It will be better as I learn more and follow her methods more closely. One thing I struggle with from time to time, though, is that every so often you'll find that she comments that these methods will work well with children of normal development. She uses older, less PC ways to say this, but you get the idea; she's referring to the fact that there are children who don't learn as quickly as the majority of the others. And she is acknowledging that there may be some modifications necessary for these kiddos. We find that her methods work fantastically with both of our school age children, but what needs to be tweeked for one is the amount of work required, and the timeline in which to expect it.

I'll give an example. Last week my Paco made a huge turn in his reading. Paco is 9 years old, and was diagnosed with a syndrome at birth. I won't go into all of that; it isn't common & hardly anyone has heard of it anyway. But the ramifications are that he struggles with almost everything that we take for granted. And he pretty much operates about 12-18 months behind most of his chronological age peers. So when I start getting worried that something isn't happening, or a goal isn't being met, that's when Sr. Smith gently reminds me to, you got it, let the game come to me.

So last Tuesday I sat down with Paco and asked him to get a book of his choosing. We took turns reading Nate the Great. I read a sentence, then he read the same sentence. This went on a few pages until he told me to stop reading. He only wanted me to help him with the hard words. So I skimmed ahead & alerted him to any I thought he might struggle with. We did this for about 30 minutes, and then we went on to other things. That night, he asked his Daddy to read a Flat Stanley book with him, and he explained about our method during the day. He taught his Daddy how to help him!

Fast forward another two days. Paco came and got me, and wanted me to listen to him read from the House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne. The original one with line drawings that is so precious. Now, this had been something I read to him in Year 1 - but now he wanted to read it to me! He opened it, not to page 1, but to page 17. He had started reading it on his own during his free time! CM'ers know where I'm going with this, I think, but I'm going to spell it out for non-CM'ers. His little heart and soul were not satisfied with the twaddle he had picked up earlier in the week - yes, he read and was entertained by those books. And really Nate the Great is pretty good. However, he went for something meatier of his own accord. The light dancing around in his eyes as he read to me was amazing. He was enthralled and could hardly contain his excitement! He looked at the line drawings of Pooh and Tigger at their first meeting, and made a face to mimic what he saw in Tigger. Then he said what he thought Tigger must have been thinking based on the expression on his face! This is huge for a child who has difficulty reading body language, nuances, and social cues. HUGE!

And more!! Sr. Smith told me later that, yes, Paco had pulled out the book the day before and read to him when I wasn't home. He read the hard words all by himself! And he had laughed and made the comment after reading that Pooh had "whispered loudly" - "Hah! That's so funny. How can you whisper loudly?"

So I offer two gleanings from this experience:

One, Charlotte is right that just as we do not waste our time with that which does not nourish the soul, neither does the child when given the choice. Second, Miss Mason cautions us not to speak too much. To let the children's minds digest what they take in without our manipulation of how they are to interpret this and that. It's her way of telling us to let the game come to us.

And truly, if we give it time, it will.

I Am, I Can, I Ought, I Will

This is Charlotte Mason's Motto for Students, and tomorrow I am going to share it with the boys. Here is the rest:

I am . . . a child of God, a gift to my parents and my country. I'm a person of great value because God made me. (Eph 2:10)

I can . . . do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God has made me able to do everything required of me. (Phil 4:13)

I ought . . . to do my duty to obey God, to submit to my parents and everyone in authority over me, to be of service to others, and to keep myself healthy with proper food and rest so my body is ready to serve. (Mark 12:30-31)

I will . . . resolve to keep a watch over my thoughts and choose what's right even if it's not what I want. (Psalm 119:30-32)

Maybe we'll make a poster and put it on a wall somewhere so we can have it to ponder when we pass it... I just love the empowerment in those 8 words! Our circumstances or feelings do not have to control us - if somehow the younger soup ingredients can learn this earlier than their parents (who, by the way, are still learning...).

The First Day of School...

The first day of school was always something that gave me knots in my stomach, both as a student and as a teacher. But not once we started homeschooling four years ago. Being home with my kids during their school years was exactly what I never knew I always wanted. This year was different, though. I was more prepared by far this year - with a great schedule, a list of books I couldn't wait to dive into. And my kids were eyeing the books on the shelves like candy, "Please, can I just read a few pages?" Yet, I was also more anxious. Why? Maybe I'd put everything together so perfectly hoping for a perfect year, and didn't want to be dissappointed? I don't know. But as I sat on the front porch with my Bible, Señor Smith came out on his way to work. He sat down beside me for a moment, and I just started crying. I'm sure he felt full of confidence entrusting the soup ingredients to me and going out to earn our living at that point! But he actually did. And he gave me such encouragement. "You have been doing this for years. Yes, it is hard some days. Yes, we will have struggles. But we aren't doing this for each day to be perfect. There is a long term reward here, and look at how far we've come." I knew I married the right guy ;o) Well, off in Old Red (the truck we bought 12 years ago) he went. And I opened my Bible. Here is what I wrote that morning....

Jesus had a difficult task ahead (that puts it mildly - he was looking at death on a cross), so he prayed. He prayed and asked God to be glorified through him, among other things. He prayed for me, for all believers. Not that we would be taken out of this world, but that we would be protected from the evil one. I am so weary, and feel so anxious starting this school year today. It will be our fifth year - it isn't new to me. I opened my Bible thinking, "God, I bet you are going to speak to me today about my fears regarding school." I almost dared Him to try. And sure enough, I was on John chapter 17. So like you, God. Do I have a cross to bear? Nothing like Jesus' cross. Which gives me some perspective and does help. Do I have a difficult task that God has called me to? Absolutely. But Lord, please glorify yourself through it. I lay out my weak, sinful flesh, and give it to you as clay to mold. Give me a gentle answer when my children disobey or argue. Let our work together bring honor to you. Let me be a light before my children. To model your love and patience and mercy. Let me so show them your love that they see You in me. Love you, Lord.