Hank the Cowdog

As I was going through my e-mails tonight, I could hear that my son is listening to a "Hank the Cowdog" audiobook. Sometimes I feel like Hank: I think I have things figured out and I really have it all very wrong! If you know ole' Hank, you'll understand. If you don't know him, go to the library and check out a "Hank" audiobook. It's an experience that you'll never forget and you'll enjoy it as much as your children. The books are better on audio because you have the benefit of the voices and accents.

On of my favorite "Hank" experiences happened last summer. I was driving home from gymanstics where my daughter had team practice and my son had "enjoyed" day camp (not really...he was "over" it after this memorable day!). I was carpooling two of my daughter's teamates and my son was tolerating their mere prescence because they were girls...and annoying ones in his opinion! Anne usually enjoyed both girls, but would have rather not been forced to deal with one of them on that particular day. The other two girls were not always the best of buds: they could really rub each other the wrong way at times. Because the girls on the team spent so much time together they were like sisters! You get the picture: I was trying to get through this 50 minute car ride peacefully! So, I put in a "Hank the Cowdog" audiobook and basically said "We're going to listen to this kids: you'll love it!". Then I put the volume up loud enough so that they had no choice but to listen to it. Within ten minutes all of them were intently listening to "Hank" and laughing hysterically! While the trip home wasn't peaceful per se, it was enjoyable and conflict free! Ole' Hankie saved the day!

Confrontations

Believe it or not, this post is about me (not homeschooling, books or my children)..it's shocking, I know. I've come to the conclusion that I am an "Amiable" as my father calls a certain personality type. "Amiables" dislike confrontation...which pretty much describes me. Confrontation of any type makes me feel sick to my stomach. I realized today that I will wait until the last possible moment to confront someone about something that has happened, but I will do it when I feel strongly enough or that it really needs to be done. Today, I (gently) confronted a situation that I should have addressed over a month ago. I should feel relieved, but I feel very tense about it as the discussions aren't over yet. Prayers are really appreciated.

The Blessings of Teaching

I love to teach. Seeing children learn and enjoy learning makes my heart so glad. I look forward to mornings because I get to homeschool Peter and Anne. I was a teacher before I had children and I loved it then too. Well, I loved the actual teaching...not the paper work, politics and disciplining the kids who hated school and were nothing more than manipulators (FYI...I taught in a large, metropolitan high school).

This past week I began teaching the children at church. It is such a blessing! Seeing children enjoy learning about God, is so rewarding. I love every minute of it and cannot imagine time that is better spent. One extra special thing happened after class while I was straightening up after class. A little boy came running back in and said "I love you, Ms. A.!" My heart melted and I wanted to cry.
What a blessing!

Thank God for Chocolate!

Oh, my...the hormones are raging around here! Puberty is beginning for Peter and Anne: I have two children going through this at one time! LOL! I think puberty (so far) is easier on my son. He does have bouts of strong emotion, but they are soon over. With Anne, I feel this is only just beginning. Last year a friend was telling me that studies have shown that in girls there is a "hormone flush" that sort of kick starts the onset of puberty. She told me that girls are actually more emotional during this time because of the amount of hormones coursing through their system! I believe this now.

Poor Anne just has had a week of small things "piling up on her". Oh, how I understand being over-emotional! I've realized that she doesn't have the experience and maturity to know that things aren't as bad as they seem and the feelings will pass. Tonight after hearing her "tale of woe", my Mother and I offered her some chocolate. She hugged it to her and smiled. Mom looked at me and said "Now I'm sure it's just hormones!"

Anne's Current Books

One of Anne's favorite pastimes is reading (which is why she leaves a trail of books wherever she goes). She generally chooses what she reads according to what interests her (with some guidance from me). Today alone she completed three books and has over a dozen others in progress. It astounds me that she can keep up with so many plots and topics. I certainly was not interested in doing this when I was 10 years old. I love that she loves to read!

Anne's January Books:
- The Shiloh trilogy (She's completed the 1st two books and is reading the 3rd book)
-"The Heros" by Charles Kingsley (Greek Myths)
-"The Hobbit"
-The Encyclopedia Brown series (she's completed two; I think two more are in progress)
-Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders
-Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White (I assigned this one)
-The American Girl Addy series (re-reading: I think this is a reaction to Peter's interest in the Civil War)
-A reference book on Science and Technology (She's taking notes on this and logging the experiments)
-Two reference books on Schnauzer's
-Shel Silverstein books: "A Light in the Attic" and "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (she loves these!)
-"The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
-Louis Pasteur biography
-Detectives in Togas (finished)
-Geronimo Stilton books (I think she's finished 8 of these...she loves the humor!)

Our Trails

This morning as I walked through the house I got "tickled" (to use a colorful Southern metaphor) at the trails our family leaves behind in the house. In the scheme of homes, I'd say we are on the neater side. Our house is clean, but does has some clutter spots which mostly consist of stacks of books and papers in key areas. We "live" in our house, but I wouldn't be ashamed to let a guest in on the majority of days...which is good because on most days we have atleast one person stop by! Keeping clutter in check is something that I/we have to work on daily.

Anne is a reader. She has so many books in progress that it boggles my mind! This morning I saw books by her bed, stacked on her dresser, one in my bedroom, one in the kitchen, four in the family room, three in our school area and there are even two in the backseat of the car! These are all books that she has been reading too! She also tends to leave drawings and notebooks "trailing" behind her.

Peter leaves his own set of objects that trail behind him. His usually consists of Legos, action figures and weapons (toy not real!). Last week I even found a Lego man posed on our stair rail. He was ready to do battle and was armored and armed. He has a "Gettysburg" set complete with buidings, cannons, horses, soldiers and General Robert E. Lee set up on a folding table off of the kitchen. I noticed yesterday that some Lego warriers have invaded the battle of Gettysburg. Who knew that could happen? I'm sure that Peter had a senerio in mind.

Our terrier also leaves trails. I find dog toys and chew bones in random places throughout the house: in the kitchen, on the stairs, in the family room etc. She's pampered and loved so much that we brought her a pink, Mickey Mouse shaped sheepskin toy back from our recent trip to Disney World...as if she needed another toy!

I won't go into my own trails except to say that mine usually consists of books for homeschooling, resources for teaching children's church, catalogs, bills and books for my own reading. Don't you want to come over for a visit now? I think I'll go "clean" now!

A Precious Gift from God

My friend's baby girl was born today! I'm so happy for this couple; this is their first child and they've struggled with infertility/miscarriages for over 6 years. This baby is so wanted and is a true blessing.


My friend's labor was induced yesterday (Friday) morning and by the account I received, she was not progressing and was still only dilated to 3 centimeters this morning. Having had extremely long labors myself, I decided to stop by and offer my encouragement even if I could only send it through a nurse. I had Anne with me and we were doing some errands and this was a spur of the moment decision. When we got to the labor and delivery hall, I asked a nurse which room she was in and if we could have a short visit. She made sure it was alright for us to enter and we did. I immediately noticed that things were in a bit of a disarray. As it turns out, she had just had the baby 30 minutes earlier and Anne and I came in even before the family! I was a bit dumbfounded and felt so bad (like I had intruded), but I was so thrilled for them. My friend was exhausted but happy. Her husband and the baby was down in the nursery. We went down to see her and she was just beautiful! Her father was with her and was so proud. After we left, I mentally kicked myself for not taking the picture of him standing over her with love in his eyes. My only defense is that I was so emotional!


Please say prayers for this sweet little girl and her parents. Baby B. had to go into surgery a couple of hours after she was born. She had some sort of an air pocket near/around her lungs and her breathing was affected. I understand that's she doing fine though. I just can't imagine how it would feel to have your precious little newborn daughter be operated on.

Curriculum

I'll admit it. I love books! I especially love homeschooling books! I've tried many programs during the seven years we've been homeschooling. If something doesn't work for our family, I've learned to adapt and try something new the next year or sooner if it was affordable or could be borrowed etc. Several years ago my homeschool group started an annual Curriculum Fair. I had to giggle when I found out that my name was mentioned by several people as someone who should be at the "Curriculum Table" because I've tried so many programs. I'm not 100% sure if that's a compliment, but I'll take it as one! LOL

Some of the programs/curriculum we've used for are:

History:

-SL Core K

-SL Core 1 & 2

-Winter Promise: Quest for the Middle Ages

-Mystery of History

-Truthquest

-Prairie Primer

*-SL Core 3

For Science:

-Sonlight

-Considering God's Creation

-A Beka

-Answers in Genesis

*-Apologia (elementary): Astronomy and Zoology 2

For Language Arts:

-Phonics programs

-Sonlight

-A Beka

-Winter Promise

*-Learning Language Arts Through Literature

*-My own (pulling from many sources): Spelling Power/Spelling Sucess, Spellwell, Writing Strands, Wellspring etc. etc. etc.

For Math:

-Miquon

-Bob Jones

-several that I can't remember their names!

*-Math U See

*-A Beka

Foreigh Language:

-Rosetta Stone

*- Latin's Not So Tough

*-Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek!

(*What we are currently using)

Winning the War

I grew up hearing the phrase "You can win a battle, but lose the war". This is something that I keep in the forefront of my mind in homeschooling. If Peter and Anne do not enjoy learning as adults, I will have completely failed! Learning is a process that lasts a lifetime. It is not an event or something that just happens when we do "school". Sure, not all aspects or every moment of school is fun. Math seems to be that way for us. At times I have lamented that I need a "Math Without Tears" program! (*If anyone has found one, I'd love to hear about it! LOL) Charlotte Mason wrote: "Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire." I just love this quote! It sums up what my goals are in teaching Peter and Anne.

Charlotte Mason has really influenced me. Her ideas are very different from the way I was taught in school and even the way I was taught to teach. I've learned from her that children will form realtionships with what they are learning through using "living" or real books and real life as much as possible. This is so true! Although my children cannot directly experience the American Revolution, they have experienced it through the eyes of those that did. Earlier this school year we read biographies about Bejamin Franklin, Paul Revere, John Adams and George Washington plus several books of historical fiction. We watched a few carefully chosen documentaries about the American Revolution, we visited historical sites through the internet and went to an actual a pioneer homestead where we could see how the early settlers lived. In short, we experienced it. How can this compare to reading a chapter in a textbook and answering comprehension questions?

Seeing the Blessings of Homeschooling

There have been a number of times lately where I have sat back and looked at the man my son is becoming and said "Wow; thank you God!". My 12 year old "boy" seems more like a man some days. I've watched him have hour long discussions with adults about the Civil War and I've seen him grow in maturity, responsibility and discernment. Today, I saw the heroic characteristics in him that I mentioned in my last post. This afternoon, he protected a younger child from physical bullying. I'm so proud of him! Today, I had another glimpse of what a fine man he is becoming. He knew the right thing to do was to defend and protect the younger child and he did it without hurting the bullying child. He used restraint and discernment...and was very brave.

When Peter was younger I worried a lot about him. He had language, speech and fine motor delays which I spent a lot of time and energy focusing on. I should have had more faith in the Lord. I'm thankful that God was so patient with me and so good to my son. Peter has such wonderful gifts that I'm seeing Him develop more and more. There have been times I've thought: "If only I had known then what I know now", but that is where faith comes in. God makes every child with unique gifts and He makes no junk. Homeschooling has given him the opportunity to develop his gifts and work on his weaknesses (in a loving environment). Had he been placed in traditional school the focus would have been on his weaknesses. He would have been a child with "learning delays" instead of a child that enjoys learning. I believe that he would have been labeled instead of nurtured. I'm now thankful for what I once worried about. God has used these "issues" to develop Peter's character and mine...and if it weren't for them, (I doubt) our homeschooling journey would have even begun.

Introductions

Even though most people who read my blog right now know my family in real life, I had this thought that I may need to formally introduce myself and my children anyway. Who knows, someday, someone who doesn't know us may actually be interested in reading this? If you know us in real life, you know that my darling children (dc) are not named "Peter" and "Anne". Perhaps you're wondering why I'm calling them by other names? I borrowed the idea of giving them "blog names" from my cousin (who blogs). She named her dc from literary characters that reminded her of them because she tired of calling them DD (10) for example (it was too impersonal). Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ( and I happen to think it is a great idea!), I'm doing it too. Thank you Mary Grace!

"Peter" my 12 year old son is named after the Peter from C.S. Lewis's Narnia books. I struggled for over a month to think of what character he is most like when the answer was so obvious that I don't know how I missed it! My son is "Peter" personified. He is brave, couragous and heroic, he will do what is difficult with commitment when it is the right thing to do, he is lovingly protective of his sister and most importantly he listens and follows Jesus the way Peter listened and followed Aslan.

My 10 year old daughter "Anne" is named from L.M. Montgomery's book "Anne of Green Gables". I have thought of her as a little "Anne" since she was 3 years old and wanted to be called "Betsey" (Does this remind you of Anne?: "Would you please call me Cordelia?"). This went on until one Sunday I picked her up from Sunday school and found that she told the new teacher that her name was Betsey! (We laugh about this now!)"Anne" also went through a period of time where she wanted to spell her name a different way (which reminds me of: "If you must call me Anne" please spell it with an 'e'). My "Anne" loves to read books and poetry, has a wonderful imagination, is a good student but feels similarly about math as the literary Anne, feels that home is the heart of her world, and loves "big" words. The week before last she declared "I need to learn some more big words" and proceded to go through the dictionary to make a list of them to use. I have not seen the horrible temper that the real Anne has except when she encounters bullying. No, she has never broke a slate over someone's head!

I titled this blog "Kindred Blessings" because I want to write about things that are dear or "kindred" to my heart (God, family, homeschooling, friends, events).

More resolutions...

I received a forwarded e-mail today from a friend that I really enjoyed reading. It was full of simple, but very true advice. I've created my own list using a few ideas adapted from the e-mail and some that I just especially need to remember.

1. Say No to projects that won't fit into your time schedule or that God is not calling us to do!
This is advice that I am committed to following! I have been so guilty of getting in over my
head in the past. I have to remember that saying "yes" to one thing means that I am saying
"no" to others. **Focus on where God wants me/us to be and be faithful there.

2. Simplify and unclutter your life and get organized. LOL: I often feel that I'm shoveling snow
while it's still snowing! I have to keep shoveling though or it'll be over my head!

3. Separate worries from concerns . If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have
me do and let go of the anxiety . If I can't do anything about a situation, leave it to Him. I'm
praying that God will help me do this better!

4. K.M.M.S. (Keep My Mouth Shut). This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous
amount of trouble. AMEN!

5. Use my time wisely. Carry a Bible with me to read while waiting.

6. Eat right.

7. Every day, find time to be alone. ROFLOL!!! Yeah, sure!

8. When I am having a problem talk to God on the spot. He'll let me struggle on my own until I
ask His help.

9. Make friends with Godly people. Conscientiously develop relationships.

10. Be friends with Non-Believers too! Not as a "project" , but in sincerity. Conscientiously
develop relationships.

11. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good 'Thank you
Jesus.'

12. Kindness Matters. Strive to always be kind even to unkind people (they probably need it the
most).

13. Conscientiously develop relationships with family and friends. Don't take for granted
even those I'm close to.

14 . Every night before bed, think of things that I'm grateful for and thank God for them.