A Delightful Sampling of Life

These past 2 weeks have been a concentrated version of LIFE for us!

In this short time period we have had a sampling of almost everything that I love and find joy in.  The variety of experiences has made these past 2 weeks kind-of a microcosm of our lives, encapsulating in a small amount of time the characteristic delights and encounters that make up our lives, right down to the unfortunate "row" that my husband and I had a week ago!

Our family, our God, our interests, our strengths, have all swirled around us recently.

Some highlights:

• Easter!  Celebrating our Savior's Resurrection is the culmination of our faith and joy!  We prepared our hearts with God's Word and we attend our own church, Crosspoint Church, as well as my parents' church, EHBC.  
• 2 of our does gave birth, giving us one kid each!  The preciousness and miracle of new life never gets old.

• This has meant fresh, raw milk and I have enjoyed every part of that:  Milking, cooking, making yogurt and soap and butter.

• The Great Outdoors.  I believe that spending time in nature, in God's Creation, is healing for us.  I love sharing these times with my family.  Hiking, Cross-country skiing.  Micah was camping last night!  (Brrrr!!)

• Family Time!  We've had our work & school to do, but we've had time together:  Ice cream, games, movies, walks & talks.  Time with all our children, our parents, and our nieces and nephew.

• We've had new accomplishments and favorite experiences:  Micah joined the Boy Scouts!  Micah went to MA for the History Bee.  Micah shot a 500 lb wild boar!  Kevin went skiing with a friend.  Noelle volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club.

These past 2 weeks are such an example of me, to me, that they bring to mind:

• First and foremost- ALWAYS first and foremost:  Thank you, Jesus!  For all the good things You do!  (-Keith Green)
• How we are uniquely made by God.  And whenever I start to think about that, I also ponder if I am honoring the unique ways that God made my husband, my son, my daughter, my mother, my friend... I am guessing -just guessing!- that not everyone would love milking twice a day- The act and the preparation and clean-up and the fact that it means one needs to be home every morning and every evening!  I am guessing- just guessing- that not everyone "comes alive" on a hike!!  It is a sincere, intentional goal, even mantra, of mine to honor the uniqueness of others, particularly my family, by not trying to pressure them to be or do what they were not made to be or do, as well as to help them discover and genuinely celebrate who God made them to be and their individual, unique desires, skills, gifts, and interests.  
• Comparison destroys contentment.  (-Heidi Roseman!)  Why do I always come back to this one?  Probably because it's a struggle for me.  To be content.  (Oh, what I wouldn't do for 10 children!!!)  And to not compare!  I don't intend to do it, but it happens.  It helps to have a heart of gratitude:  Thank you Jesus for what You have done!  

Fictional Chapter Books: Air for our very Breathing

We sorted some books today.
A friend's daughter is collecting books to sell for a fundraiser.  Our homeschool year is getting closer to ending & there are many books to return to a kind aunt who lent them.  Even more books to sell.  Some books to keep.
Happy memories attached to many.  The places the books have taken us are so easily recalled, memories of warmth & goodness washing over our souls.

My mom read aloud to us a lot when we were kids.  The Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little & Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.  All the 'Little House' books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I always liked to read.
Without the distractions of screens & with free time that in today's world seems in danger of becoming extinct, I explored any book we had at home.  At church.  At my grandparent's farm, making my way to the Back Chamber, hot with the summer sun, thumbing through old books & choosing one to settle in with, even if for only the afternoon.
The school library.  3rd grade is the first time I remember being able to check books out of the library. I was so disappointed when I was told that there was a limit to the number of books one could check out!  Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys & probably whatever was suggested as I was never a very independent child & not prone to exploration.
And Scholastic books orders.  All the way through junior high.  I chose some duds & chose many that became favorites.  Louisa May Alcott & Elizabeth George Speare & Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and I have no recollection of the clutter of choices saturated in celebrity & popular movies that I see reflected in some of today's book order forms.  (Yes, even homeschoolers can order from Scholastic!!)  
I loved some of the books we were assigned to read in school:  Where the Red Fern Grows (Wilson Rawls),1984 (George Orwell), Rumble Fish (S.E. Hinton), The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), Of Mice & Men (John Steinbeck), To Kill a Mockingbird (by Harper Lee) and 10 Little Indians (Agatha Christie).

However, my reading really couldn't hold a candle to my older brother, Marvin's reading.  In this childhood before the internet & before 'summer reading' book lists & without frequent trips to the library, this internal, self-driven, maybe first-born part of him sought out Good Books.  Tolkien & I don't know what else because I was busy reading my Lurlene McDaniel light fare. 

Light fare or not, with some lack of self-awareness, on I read.  I really am so glad that we did not have cable television & that home computers & cells & devices & the internet were something for the future.  Ironically, (because I'm a sun-shunner these days), I spent hours in our Canadian rocker, tilted back with legs propped up in a most unladylike fashion, making dents in the wall behind me, basking in the sun, reading.  And reading and reading. 
For this post I am speaking of fiction & its role in our lives.  However I will add that children's literature as a whole is quite literally one of my favorite things.  Also, I greatly enjoy biographies & parenting books & magazines & online articles too!  But for me, Historical Fiction rose to the surface.  Many of my favorite books are historical fiction.  I just love it!! 
Some of my favorites are: 
Little Women & Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
any Bodie & Brock Thoene books
"Mark of the Lion" series by Francine Rivers
The Witch of Blackbird Pond & Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare

Naturally, I read to my children plenty when they were preschool age, (and beyond.)  I was a stay-at-home mom, (praise the Lord!), and what we had was TIME.  Story Time at Borders w/ Gibran.  Story Time at the Bangor Public Library.  (Except for my babysitting days!  Micah was a few months old & Noelle was two & Lily was three & Grace was five & it was too much for me!!)  Time to snuggle in bed & read.  No where to go & no where to be & so much time to play & read.  (Hmm.. this sounds a bit like homeschooling!!  Sort of!!)  

The first chapter book I remember reading to Noelle & Micah was Charlotte's Web.  Noelle was 5 & Micah was 3 & it was delightful.  During that time the 'Charlotte's Web' movie with Dakota Fanning came out & we went to see it at 'The Temple' in Houlton w/ my mom & it was delightful too!

When I married my husband our children were entering grades one & two, and Micah was 4 years old.  Noelle attended private school & D attended public.  Both had some reading homework most days.  It had never occurred to my husband that kids would want to read at home, outside of school.  That they should read & that perhaps if they were made to read that they would want to.  We worked out the kinks & reading, sometimes mandatory, became something important in our home.
Are we ever too old to be read aloud to?  I don't think so.  Following my mom's example we read many books aloud as a family.  Being intentional.  Okay, D is here Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday & Wednesday nights.  But Wednesday nights are AWANA, so that leaves three nights to read.  We too read through all the "Little House" books & Eight Cousins & Rose In Bloom & several of the "Chronicles of Narnia" (C.S. Lewis) books & more.

Before & after we started homeschooling when the kids entered 1st & 3rd grades, we enjoyed the typical early reading books, such as "Junie B. Jones", (Barbara Park), and others.
Reading certainly isn't a homeschooling 'thing'.  However, when you homeschool, School melds with Home melds with Life & Learning, (without the restrictions of 'schooling').  A literature-based education.  Time.  Time to read.  Self-awareness to allow interests to naturally come to the surface, and again- time- to pursue them.   Reading, and for these purposes, reading fiction, has been a key part of our School-y, Home-y, Learning Lives.  

Afternoons spent at the Bangor Public Library, sometimes at book clubs & more often digging through on our own & with help from the always-kind adults in the children's department.  Dark rides home during the long, Maine winter months, with van lights on, and quiet- oh, not a sound, as newly chosen books were devoured.
7-year old Micah, laying on Mrs. Janet's bed w/ rocks & crystals & plants all around him, while Sister had piano & violin lessons, reading Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire (J.K.Rowling).
9-year old Noelle reading My Side of the Mountain (Jean Craighead George) & dreaming about living in the woods, alone, for awhile.   
Tea Time.  Our on & off again respite, usually for reading aloud & drinking tea & maybe eating snacks.  Our first ever Tea Time book was Little Men by Lousia May Alcott & Micah was 6 years old & Noelle was 8 & the wording was sometimes antiquated but we hung on to every word, wondering what would happen with Dan.  Other tea time favorites are the "All of a Kind" books by Sydney Taylor & Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards.
Reading in boxes.  Reading on the roof.  Reading on the lawn.  Reading by the fire, with a baby goat in your lap & maple sap simmering on the stove. 
My 7-year old girl, sitting on the couch, reading Marley & Me (John Grogan) while the tears ran.  World Opened Up.  Books, the medium for exploration of LIFE!

I think Noelle must be like my brother, Marvin.  I don't know for sure because I am neither.  She had always liked to read but around 4th grade, age 9, the blossom bloomed and she just could not get enough books  and she just could not get enough reading time.  I had exposed her to books I liked, books that were in the curriculum, books that were recommended for her age:  Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) and Indian in the Cupboard (Lynne Reed Banks) and Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain) and more.  At age 9, in a book club, she was exposed to Fantasy.  And she took off!  I really should have known, because Marvin likes fantasy.  I don't.  Lesson learned!  This inner, truly 'Noelle' desire to seek out fantasy books, reading what she was drawn to, was remarkable, yes, truly remarkable, to watch unfold.  The Charlie Bone series (Jenny Nimmo) started it all.  Then, the Harry Potter series.  Percy Jackson (Rick Riordan).  Mysterious Benedict Society (Trenton Lee Stewart).  Divergent (Veronica Roth).  Paladin Prophecy (Mark Frost).  The Heroes of Olympus.  And really, just on & on.  I wish we had written down all the titles she has read in these past 6 years of homeschooling because I bet there are at least 300!  A year ago, Noelle did her Literature Fair project on this journey of reading, hoping to expose & encourage the younger students to try fantasy as well.

http://carmelhillbillies.blogspot.com/2014/05/literature-fair-home-education-post.html

A neat reading experience for Noelle, in days gone by, has been to read the 'American Girl' books, series written about each American Girl doll, historical fiction.  Each doll has 6 books.  Noelle read the books for:  Samantha, Kirsten, Addy, Felicity, Josefina, Molly, Kit, and Kaya, among other ones put out by American Girl.  So that's 48+ books.  These are great stories, teach lessons, and include interesting historical information.  Tying fun activities with these books is easy.

Some of Noelle's favorites are all that I have mentioned here, plus The Giver by Lois Lowry.

Micah is also a good reader, although it is harder to find literature that truly grabs his attention.  Noelle lives reading books & Micah enjoys reading.  During Micah's 2nd grade year, when he was 7 years old, he read through the "Magic Tree House" series by Mary Pope Osborne.  Book #1:  Dinosaurs Before Dark all the way through book #48:  A Perfect Time for Pandas.  In addition, Micah read the 20 Magic Tree House non-fiction, companion research guides.  That's 68 books for my 2nd grader, who also went on to read the first 5 Harry Potter books that school year as well as some more!!  We had this really cool Magic Tree House passport.  Each time he finished a book we would log onto the Magic Tree House website.  And wait for our dial-up to load it.  And hope that no one was trying to call!  Then, for each book, if Micah could answer several questions correctly he would receive a badge for his passport!  We would print it out & glue it in his booklet.  This was highly motivating for Micah!  This is also a time when we really started using inter-library loan!  Some of the Research Guides we wanted to read weren't available anywhere so we purchased them, and then donated them to our library, in Micah's name.
Doing the Magic Tree House books & the passport was one of the best things & favorite things we ever did with homeschooling.  If you are unfamiliar with the books, they follow the adventures of Jack & Annie.  When I read the first one, I was not impressed!  It was so simple!  However, the books grow with the reader & the plot lines get better & more involved & the books get longer. 

In addition to our History text this year, Micah explored the themes of WWII through a fictional, literary perspective. This was a great experience as well.  It may have been 3rd grade when Micah read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  And he has taken in a lot of information about WWII, as that is an interest of his.  However, this experience allowed him to explore WWII from many angles- yes, in the ghetto of Warsaw, but also in the Caribbean & in the Japanese-American internment camps. In fact, Micah's "Letters About Literature" entry this year was written to Yoshiko Uchida, author of Journey to Topaz, exploring the themes of what governments do vs. who a people group are & allowed for some deep reflection on racism & how this presents, present day.  The other books he read for this unit were:
The Cay by Theodore Taylor
Under the Blood Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
The Man from the Other Side by Uri Olev
Stepping On the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn
Journey to America by Sonia Levitin
Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti & Christophe Gallaz
The Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren
Is it Night or Day by Fern Schumer Chapman

Some of Micah's favorites are:
Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

Even today, as I write this, my lovies are snuggled together, reading.  Noelle is reading Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson.  She is preparing for an upcoming literature fair and she plan to talk & write about the civil rights movement & racism.  I can hear them reading excerpts of their books to each other.  Pure sweetness. 

In conclusion:
1.  Always have tissues, a water bottle & a book with you.  Always.
2.  It is very fun & worth the time to watch the movie after you have read the book.  We have spent many, cozy evenings, snuggled under a blanket, watching a movie about a book that Noelle read, hearing about the differences between the book & the movie.
3.  Check out "Letters About Literature", an annual school or library-sponsored reading & writing contest for students in grades 4-12.  Or you can enter individually, like we have.  It is also a 'favorite' experience of mine from our homeschooling years.
4. When I have a hard time finding books that interest Micah, and he doesn't have any leads on what he wants to read, I make him read 60 pages.  If he doesn't like it after 60 pages, he usually doesn't have to read it.
5.  Read aloud to your kids!!  
6.  Allow time for reading.  Turn off the devices!
7.  Read to your kids often, and when they are older, they will read to you!  

Parenting Hacks #1~ A Parenting Post

This past Saturday I participated in a 'Trunk or Treat' at my church.  I chose to give out pencils & clementines & stickers & tattoos.  A blogpost idea popped into my head when a mom of very young children told me that she liked my treats and didn't know what to do with all the candy.

I'm no expert, however, I have indeed 'been there, done that' in regards to parenting younger children.  So although I have no 'hacks' -yet- for older kids, I have a few 'clever solutions to tricky problems', (that's the urban definition of 'hack'), for parenting younger children.

So, in no particular order....

1.  Use Halloween Candy for Gingerbread Houses, Etc.
     This is the advice I gave the mom with the young children.  We make gingerbread houses every year & we have never eaten them.  We use them as decorations until mid-February and then we enjoy smashing them!  Pick out the Halloween candy that would look good on a gingerbread house and is colorful and save it for gingerbread houses.

    Each year we would also save the mini m&ms and any other small chocolate-y items for Christmas cookies.  

    One year we did Science experiments with some of the candy.

   We save quality hard candy, like dum-dums, for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

   We throw out some Halloween candy, we eat a good amount & Halloween also provides an opportunity for self-regulation.  

2.  Make & Use some Grocery Store Cards

   To make grocery shopping easier & more fun for my kids, (keep in mind that we didn't have cell phones & other electronics when my kids were little & even if we had I am doubtful I would have used them for a shopping distraction), I made these super-simple index cards.  I cut out pictures of foods we frequently bought, glued them on cards & wrote the item.  Then, when I made my shopping list each week I pulled out the cards that corresponded with my list.  I would give my kids one card at a time & ask them to find that item for me.  For example, when we were in the produce area I might give them a 'grapefruit' card and instruct them to find the grapefruit, get two, and bring them back to me.  If the item were tomatoes & I might not want them to actually be picking them up, I would give the tomato card and ask them to find the tomatoes for me so that Mommy could get them.

3.  Try lots of new foods!

    There was a time when for one school year we had very, very busy Wednesdays.  My stepdaughter would go to school in the morning, get picked up after school & go directly to a weekly appointment, get picked up from that appointment & have a small space of time, not long enough to go home, and then go to AWANA until 8:00 p.m.  This made for very long days.  Wednesdays were also long for my children.  We had a little time at home in the morning for school, we then drove 25 miles to our Science classes.  We then had music lessons & library book clubs & more schooling done at the library.  We would pick up my stepdaughter and, as mentioned, they would then be at AWANA 'til 8:00.  I used to call Wednesdays 'Marathon Days'.  

   I decided early on during that school year that I wanted to do something special each week as we ate dinner in our vehicle.  I wanted to avoid buying them sugary treats and I decided that each week we would try a new fruit or veggie.  So, SO simple, however it was fun!!  

    Sometimes we 'cheated' and we had caramel apples.  Sometimes I had to prepare the food at home, such as when we tried yuca.  Sometimes we didn't like the new fruit or veggies & no eating was required after one bite.  We tried dried fruits and tropical fruits & jicama.  It became a fun tradition and helped lighten up our 'marathon days'.  We still enjoy trying new things and just this week we tried the beautiful dragon fruit for the first time.

4.  Keep in Mind the Idea that Life will always get to be MORE, MORE, MORE.  Start Simply.  It's easy & natural to go from Simple to Complex.  It's very hard to go from Complex to Simple.

   What do I mean by that?  For one year I taught P.E.  Even though I played sports in school, teaching P.E. was outside of my comfort zone.  Therefore, I did a lot of preparation.  I read about how to be a P.E. teacher.  I asked questions.  One of the ideas/ truths that really stuck out at me was that I needed to establish from the beginning of the year the standards, expectations, practices & routines for my classes.  Why?  Because the natural course is for 'slippage.'  Slippage will occur, so I needed to begin at fairly high level of conduct.  

  I think this idea applies to many things about parenting.  One that comes to mind is Christmas stockings.  However I am sure the concept can be applied to presents in general.  Stockings will get more expensive and more complex as your children grow up.  That's just natural.  My suggestion is to start simply.  Noelle's first stocking, when she was one or two, contained a pair of socks, a pear, a box of animal crackers & some raisins.  After that, the animal crackers & raisins became a tradition for us and they get those in their stockings each year.  

   Yes, I am aware of the stories of kids getting oranges & pennies & cough drops & deodorant in their stockings.  However, I am here to tell you that is no longer the norm.  Kids are getting $15 itunes cards as a 'stocking stuffer.'  (That would be a gift in our home!)  Gone are the days when most kids are receiving essentials and needed items as gifts.  A parent needs to be creative if they desire to shield their children from the materialism and self-centeredness that our culture encourages.  It is hard when 'everyone else' gets $200 worth of 'stuff' for Christmas.  However, if you begin when they are small with simple traditions & teaching contentment, it will pay off.  

5. Holiday 'Playing':

  I have an idea for a second 'Parenting Hacks' post that will include ideas that are less specific and more about my parenting philosophy.  I just asked Noelle & Micah if they could think of anything to add to this post and Noelle came up with this next one.  As I have shared in this blog, I 'love me' a good reason to celebrate!  I could fill several blogposts on ways that we celebrate & suggestions I have.

   This idea is simple.  (I sense a theme.  Perhaps the best things in life really are the simple ones!?!)  Several days before we decorate our Christmas tree, we get out the boxes of ornaments.  Each child has their own box.  In years past, the children would PLAY for hours with their ornaments!!  They would spread out and each would get a space in the living room.  Magic happened as each ornament was unwrapped.  Thoughts & Feelings associated with the person who gave the ornament or the story behind it or why it was liked.  That was stage one!  Stage two was actually playing with them, like toys.  Cars are moving & horses are galloping & dancers are twirling.  People & animals are meeting each other & all things are fitting together in a make-believe Ornament World.  (Thanks for that memory, Noelle!)  

  We used to do something similar with empty, plastic Easter eggs.  About a month before Easter I get out the Easter baskets & decorations & books & also the empty eggs.  The kids loved playing with the eggs when they were even little, even as toddlers.  They carried eggs around in their baskets.  ('Container Play' if you are in early childhood education!!!)  They transferred the eggs from one basket to another.  They hid them and created Easter egg hunts for each other.  They sorted them by color and size.  This kind of playing primed them for the holiday.  It also only came around once a year because once the holiday was over, eggs & ornaments were packed away until next year, making it special when they came out again.

We all have 'hacks' to share.

Marriage hacks.  Work hacks.  Friendship hacks.  Family hacks.  

The book of Titus urges the older women to mentor the younger women, in marriage, proper conduct, walking with God, and also in parenting.  I have so thoroughly enjoyed parenting my children in these younger years that I'm thrilled to share just a few of my ideas, for what they are worth!