Legos Legos Legos

Yes, we are a Lego-Loving house.

Well, most of us are.  Most of the time.  There are those moments, in the middle of the night, when I finally find that 'missing' lego.  Not good.  My lack of grace is quite evident in those moments.  How can one tiny lego piece topple a full grown adult?  Someday I'll set up a video camera and figure it out.

Of course we love all the basic lego sets.  The kids enjoy building lego cars and lego airplanes, and cities and all that great stuff.  This is the first year we've ordered legos from lego education and we have been completely thrilled with all the items we've gotten. 
I wish I had good photos of Josh's cars and robots he's created.  They have really been spectacular.  I have enjoyed watching him build them.  Hudson loves creating his construction crew too.  We've explored simple machines, battery power, gears and motors and we're enjoying every minute of it.  I have some lego robotics sets too, if only our computer weren't so feeble, we would be able to build and program our own robots.  Oh well, maybe next year. 

If you've never tried Lego Education, check out their website.  They have great classroom kits as well as homeschool kits.  They are expensive, of course, but great products and they'll last a long time.

Movie Review

I don't normally do movie reviews - for numerous reasons.  I can't begin to count the number of times I saw an 'edited-for-tv' movie and recommended to a friend only to see the 'original' version at some point and have to apologize to all the people I recommended the movie to because of all the inappropriate content I conveniently didn't see the first time.  Of course, that doesn't happen as often anymore since the tv version of most movies is nearly as awful as the original version.  Okay, back to my original post . . .

If you are not aware, our house has been plagued with various forms of sickness (i.e. flu, bronchitis, colds, stomach bugs, ear infections, sinus infections, etc . . . ) since August when I attempted to get a head start on the school year.  We've been sick off and on (mostly on) since then.  This has made regular school work and schedules a bit unpredictable with some kids in bed, unplanned doctors appointments, and the like.  When our regular school activities are lost in the chaos, I enjoy snuggling with all the kids on the couch reading good books - actual literature and a few silly kids books too.  I also love finding movies that are educational.   
Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution (I, II, and III) is a series of videos that covers a host of fascinating facts about God's creation and a straightforward explanation of why they could have never evolved.  We watched them when they were available for streaming through Netflix, but they are available lots of places.  I highly recommend these.  Some of the naration is silly - which the kids enjoyed, and the photography isn't breathtakingly gorgeous like the BBC nature specials, but every bit of information glorifies our Great Creator.
On a side-note.  I went to college with Dr. Martin's twin daughters, Maryn and Taryn.  It was really interesting to listen to him speak on the videos.

"I Am Not Your Servant"

Sometimes motherhood is wonderful.  Sometimes not so much.  We all know that nothing in life is perfect.  Still, nothing points out how completely 'un-perfect' we are like seeing your worst faults lived out in front of you in your children.  You know what I mean.  That character flaw that you've worked so hard to overcome (or at least hide) in your life.  For some of us (at least for me) that includes a long list of rough edges God's been working on smoothing for a very long time.  Often, these tend to be the greatest points of contention between a parent and child.  Seeing your sins walk around the house really makes them difficult to avoid.   As a compassionate mother, my heart is grieved to think of the struggle this child will have if this area of their life reamins unchanged.  As an adult, I know the difficult path that lies ahead and so I pray that God would change me and help me as I seek to guide them. 

As you can imagine, life in our house can sometimes be chaotic.  With five little ones, now ranging from 6-9 years of age, things can be crazy.  Getting ready to go anywhere is always wild.  Meals are great examples of moderately controlled chaos for us.  It was in the midst of one of these meal times that I learned a great lesson in life and motherhood and humility.  Lunch is generally very rushed for us.  We either need to finish quickly so we can get back to school or we need to hurry through lunch to get to the rest of the mile-long to-do list for the afternoon.  Either way, it is wild.  There is that quiet moment of prayer when we thank The Lord for our food (yes, all five of the kids insist on praying), but that tends to be the only quiet moment.  I set each plate down for each child and they begin their lunch, by the time I set a plate before the second child, the first is now thirsty and asking for a drink.  Because of my lack of spacial awareness, in attempting to make plates and fill glasses at the same time, accidents sometimes happen.  At one such time I very brilliantly said to the children, "Can't you get a drink for yourself.  I am not your servant." 

It was in that moment that the Holy Spirit impressed a great truth to me.  It was as if God asked me, "You're not their servant?  Why not?  Don't you want them to be servants?  Didn't I command you to be a servant to all?"  I'd like to say that I instantly realized my error and corrected my attitude, but that isn't exactly what happened.  One of those rough edges I was telling you about came up again at this moment (the self-justifying).  "But, Lord, they need to learn to do things for themselves.  I can't do everything.  I'm tired.  I'm frustrated.  They are capable of doing something around here."  That sounds good, doesn't it?  And putting into my argument true statements made me feel better about my attitude.  I felt justified.  Still, as the Spirit of God worked on my heart, I realized a greater truth.  The world needs great workers and great leaders, but greater than that, it needs great servants.  Yes, Lord, I want to be a servant.  My prideful flesh rejects servanthood, but what is motherhood but serving?  Yes, Lord,  I want to raise little servants for You and the best way to do that is to be an example for them.  "Lord, help me today to be a servant and to have a servant's heart.  Help me to model for my children what being a servant really means."

"And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.  For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Mark 10:44-45



Hands On!

I love a classroom with plenty of variety; don't you?  I enjoy adding review games, fun projects, silly songs, group activities, anything to our day to make it a little more fun and keep us all on our toes.  Of course, school can't all be fun and games.  I do have to have a couple of papers to submit for our work samples and I do need to be able to grade a few things to submit for our progress reports.  I know, I know, but anytime I can add some variety to our school day is a fun day for all of us.  I have really enjoyed using our measurement centers from Lakeshore Learning with the kids this year.  These centers include lots of fun hands-on activities for measuring length, weight, and volume.  The activites are for preschool through 2nd grade, but I added some extra information to each lesson to make it applicable for Joy and Josh (3rd & 4th grade) too.

When we studied (a.k.a. played with) the length measurement center, Josh and Joy would make estimations about each activity using standard and metric measurement.  The would also make predictions and then compare the final results with their prediction to see how they did.  It was a great way to make an activity geared toward the little ones apply for all of us.

Today, we measured volume (played in the water during class).  Josh and Joy predicted outcomes based on measurements and estimations.  Since we are measuring the volume of different measuring cups it was also a good chance to review fractions.  We talked about how containers of different shapes can vary in their volume.  Things that look very different can sometimes have similar capacity.  It is also a great chance to review these important math vocabulary terms with the older kids.  I love having multiple grades all together and enjoying our hands on learning!

What is With this Kid?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has ever thought to themselves, "what is with this kid?"  Especially about my kids!  Teaching my kids each day gives me tremendous opportunity to really get to know them.  To understand their individual abilities, quirks, gifts, and talents.  This school year has taught me a lot about my kids, especially Hudson.  Hudson is incredibly smart, maybe too smart.  He reads everything he sees.  Which sometimes makes me crazy.  In church, he likes to read everything, very loudly!  When we have missionary presentations in the service, he always reads everything on the video or powerpoint presentation out loud.  If you know Hudson, his out loud is very loud!  He reads Joy's work, he tries to read Josh's work.  I'm floundering trying to find him reading material on his level that is also challenging.  He makes our class day exciting for sure.

He's progressing faster than the curriculum in most areas, so it is challenging trying to be sure that his work is on-level for him and that we aren't missing anything along the way.  He's in love with LEGO science and he is great at it.  While I was terribly sick, I told him I would get up and do one design with him and then we would put it away.  It was all I could do to stay up long enough to complete that one project.  Later that day, when I had rested a while, I went to the classroom to discover he had put together the rest of the LEGO machines on his own without instructions, he simply built it to look like the picture on the box.  I wish I could do that!  A college degree does not necessarily mean a person is capable of constructing basic machinery out of plastic building blocks.  I know I can barely manage to complete a project even with the instructions.

To make this child of mine even more interesting, I discovered this year that he is left-handed.  He is ambidextrous when he does most things, but as soon as we started writing or coloring this year, he would pick up a pencil with his right hand and immediately put it in his left and start to work.  I was really stunned at first.  I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before, but he really is ambidextrous with just about everything else.  Sometimes using his left, sometimes his right.  He is definitely a lefty when it comes to school work though.  Love my Little Lefty!  I also love how God shows us new things about the children entrusted to us each day.  I love those gentle moments when I can see Christ in their lives and how blessed I am that God shared them with me and put them in our home.  There is something so special about children, students, family, friends, they all seem to teach us about Christ each in a different way. 

'For of such is the kingdom of God'

Art Projects

I love art.  I enjoy art history.  I like drawing and painting.  I enjoy paper crafts, sewing, etc . . . Still, when it comes to planning art projects for the kids, it is way down on my priority list.  Besides, the boys aren't really thrilled about it most of the time.  Just trying to get them to color when their papers require it is like pulling teeth (or worse).  Josh hated coloring so much in Kindergarten that I had to find alternate work papers for him to do when the curriculum called for coloring.  He just hated to color.  Then, we have the girls in our house.  Girly girls, that's what they are.  The only thing better than coloring for them is when you get to add glitter, glue, sparkles, or sequins to your project (or anything really, sparkles make everything better.)  3 girls who want to color everything, 2 boys who don't want to color anything, and 1 teacher who doesn't do art projects.  This is not a good equation for art class.  I needed help.

I set aside a portion of our classroom allotment this year and purchased quite a few craft kits.  This way, all the planning is done for me.  Everything is prepared and ready to go - no planning and no preparation.  That's the best kind.

We've done a few of these so far and I must say that they've inspired me to do more.  The response from the kids has been phenomenal - even the boys!  We did a project painting suncatchers.  I thought it would be something the boys really would not like at all and I was preparing myself to do battle with them.  To my amazement, they loved it.  Josh did such an amazing job with it.  He went so far as to paint tiny pin-size dots into the stripes on his suncatcher.  I guess I'll be doing more fun art projects this year and incorporating art history and art appreciation as well.



Not the Best Start Ever . . .

I knew this year was going to be a challenge.  I was up for the challenge.  Bethany and Brittany both starting K5?  I was prepared.  Josh making some major additions to his daily work requirements?  I was prepared for that too.  Making classroom activities engaging for five year olds and a ten year old together?  I could handle it.  After all, I've been teaching for years.  This is our fifth year homeschooling and I was ready.  I had it all under control.  I had a plan.  I had a schedule.  I was organized, ready, and even excited about starting this school year.

We were going to start early this year.  Even earlier than we did last year.  So we did.  I got the classroom ready.  I laid out our first semester in the plan book and we were set to go.  We had a fabulous start of school.  Awesome pictures for my scrapbooks on the first day.  Lots of fun projects including literature, science, writing, and art.  It was going to be a great year.  Then, by Wednesday, I had 3 kids with a stomach virus.  By Friday, we were all sick in bed.  No problem, minor setback.  I could handle it.  We took a week off to disinfect the house from top to bottom and rest up.  Then something else came up and we didn't get back to our regular school schedule for two more weeks.  It was okay though, we were still ahead of schedule and moving along well.  Then, it was bronchitis.  Then, pneumonia.  Then, another stomach virus.  The list could go on and on.  It seemed every time we started back to a regular school schedule, something happened. 

Now, here it is, the end of November and I feel hopelessly behind.  We are finishing up our seventh week of regular classwork, so we are really not completely behind, but it sure feels like it.  So, what has this school year taught me?  Well, quite a lot actually.

I have learned that the teacher should never stop learning either.  No matter how long I teach, there is always something new for me to learn.

I am learning to lean on the Lord even more.

I have learned that the world goes on even when I'm too weak to take care of those things that "just won't get done around here if I'm not constantly busy".

I have learned that sick or well, happy or sad, scheduled or chaotic, our home is a blessed place to be and I am thankful for that.

I have learned that my children are compassionate and caring.  When I've been sick, they have helped each other and showed kindness to me.

I have learned (again) that learning happens outside the classroom too.

I have learned that God wants us to 'be still' sometimes (even when we don't want to).

It isn't how you start, it's how you finish that matters.  Staying faithful when things are difficult is what is important.

I also learned that God can take my failures and chaos and turn them into something good if I will just give up my 'control' over it.  So that is my prayer this year.  Lord, take my life, my home, my goals, my children.  Make them what You would have them to be.  Mold my plans to Yours and let Your love shine through me.

So this is our theme song this year:

Are we down-hearted?

No, No, No

Are we down-hearted?

No, No, No

Troubles may come

And troubles may go

I'll trust in Jesus

Come wheel or woe

Are we down-hearted?

Are we down-hearted?

No! No! No!