A New Year

Normally we celebrate the beginning of a new year on New Year's Day. In the world of education in North America, the new year begins in September. For teachers it begins in August.

For us as a family, the new year began yesterday. Mr. Beaver went back to school. I think it's been the hardest on little Lucy so far. At 18 months, she thinks 10 hours is forever. She cried when her daddy left in the car and at intervals during the day we could hear her say, "Daddy vroom-vroom. Daddy? Daaadddyyy! Daddy vroom-vroom." Needless to say, she was ecstatic to see her Daddy again when he came back home!

Since Mr. Beaver started back to school, I decided to begin our year of home schooling as well. Elnora is in Grade 5 and doing Core F with Sonlight. This year is different because both Bob and Bill are doing Sonlight K. We basically did school work all day long. Having had a number of years of experience, I had expected that. The first few days of school are always extra long because we are all trying to find our groove.

It may sound crazy that we did school all day and didn't the kids hate it? No! Since Sonlight is such a great combination of seatwork and snuggling on the couch reading great literature together, the kids are usually quite perturbed to stop 'doing school'.

"Just one more chapter, Mamma."

"Please read more!"

"Are we done already?"

"Can't we do more school?"

I don't mind those comments at all! I also enjoy learning new things with them and seeing their eyes light up when they understand a new concept for the first time.

If you throw an 18 month old into the mix, school has many interruptions.

I read about Martin Luther to the boys today and they listened very hard. The book isn't particularly exciting and it uses difficult vocabulary but the boys were enthralled and remembered to tell Daddy about him when he came home! Reading that story gave me the chance to remind the children that they are all on this earth for a special reason and that salvation is a gift and can't be earned. What a privilege!

In spite of one of the kids spilling my coffee which had to be mopped off brand new books, the day went well. (Note to self: no coffee cups on the school table)

What helped as well was the fact that for the last 3 weeks, Mr. Beaver and I worked into the night every week day just to purge junk from our house and create a good learning environment for our school room. I am so glad we spent all that time doing it. It has paid off! With the school room and our living room boasting new book cases from Ikea, the house is in ship shape order.

I hope and pray for a smooth school year for all us home school moms out there! It is definitely a full time job!

This Vale of Tears

I know, I know. It's been almost two months since my last post. Life has a way of becoming very busy. My family comes first and this blog has to play last fiddle in most instances. :-)

This summer has been a sobering one with Mr. Beaver's principal being diagnosed with ALS and, as a result, he is no longer his principal. This school year will be different for the entire school as they begin their search for a new principal and the VP's will have their hands full as they take on the additional workload required of them this year.

My mother has been diagnosed with polymyositis (sp?) which is an autoimmune disease. The medication hasn't been helping her too much yet. It is sobering to see my mother, so full of vitality, lose a lot of her independence over the summer. My mother has taken excellent care of 11 children, shown a continued interest in their lives and in the lives of her 40+ grandchildren. Now it is our privilege to care for her.

In both cases, we know that the Lord has been supreme in their lives and that they find their hope and comfort in Jesus Christ.

That doesn't take away all the sadness from us and we groan with them as we see them suffer. It is also a reminder of the brevity of life and how our health can change so quickly.

Thankfully, our hope is not pinned on this life but we know we have a brighter future to look forward to, one where there is no sickness, pain, or tears. May we all be found in Christ on the last day with our 'hope built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness.'

Five Important Pieces of Advice

When you have a child who gets around in a wheelchair rather than in the usual way of putting one foot in front of the other, you need to be creative about your living space.

1. If your driveway is slanted towards the road at a 90 degree angle, you probably would want to move.

2. If you love throw rugs scattered here and there on your floors, now is probably a good time to remove them and give them to your mother, sister or best friend. (Possibly giving them to an enemy would be sweet revenge.)

3. If you have a vanity in your bathroom with a cupboard right beneath the sink, just ditch it and clear the space underneath the sink.

4. If you have a split level home with one room per floor, see number 1

5. If you live in a bungalow with a walkout basement, a beautiful deck, a level backyard, and an enormous sand box, laugh with delight, hug your family, and DON'T bother trying to find another house.

Edging Past Writer's Block

I didn't post last week. In fact, I haven't posted since June 20th. So, no, I haven't posted my required three posts per week. If you feel like doing the math, you can tell me how many days it's been.

So what.

I'm posting now.

Thanks for stopping by and reading this.

Just So Stories

In my last post I referred to Elephant's Child. I borrowed that expression from Just So Storiesby Rudyard Kipling. As a family we have really enjoyed reading Kipling and listening to his stories read on CD. I especially like Kipling's focus on wild animals and far away India. His stories carry one far away to exotic places where anything can happen. Combine this with a great sense of humour and an impressive command of the English language, who can resist the books written by this master storyteller?

'Satiable Curtiosity

http://4umi.com/kipling/justso/elephant1.jpg

As you may recall from my first post on this blog, I have given all my children nicknames for privacy purposes. Upon further thought, rather than naming Bob, Bob, I should have called him "Elephant's Child" on account of his insatiable curiosity. The other name I could have used is "Curious George" and, yes, we do call him George every once in a while.

I have never heard a 5 year old ask so many questions.

Perfect strangers at the door, sidewalk, store as well as family members are often taken aback at being accosted by a small boy firing questions at them with no end in sight.

The past few weeks have given Bob a big chance to ask his fill of questions.

Our bathroom is being renovated. The guys coming in and out of the house doing their work seem to enjoy Bob, who, perched on a chair right by the bathroom, watches and asks questions, and asks, and asks, and asks....

B: What are you doing?
W: Renovating your bathroom.
B: Why?
W: Because.
B: What are you holding?
W: A hammer.
B: Why?
W: So we can take apart this counter.
B: Are you going to crack it?
W: No, we are trying to keep it in one piece.
B: (to worker 2) What do you have?
W2: A grinder.
B: I have a grinder too.
W2: Great! We just might need it.
B: No, you can't use it. It has no batteries. What are you doing?...........

Yesterday:

B: What are you doing?
W: Laying tiles.
B: Why are you taking that outside? (pointing to a tile)
W: To cut it.
B: What do you use to cut it?
W: A grinder.
(Worker coming in with cut tile)
B: Where did you cut it?
W: Here
B: Why did you cut it?
W: So it will fit.

And so it goes on. If the workers don't answer because they are too busy, Bob doesn't mind. He sits there, watching, biding his time until the guys have a minute to answer yet one more question.

Thankfully, no one has yet spanked him for his 'satiable curtiosity as was the case with Elephant's Child.

As an aside, people often think Bob is older than 5. His knowledge of things surprises them. His diverse vocabulary impresses them. Perhaps one maxim of education should be, "Ask questions; you'll learn a lot that way".

As Bob has the physical limitations that spina bifida imposes on him, he definitely makes up for it with his voluble nature.

Math 4 Preschoolers

What does one need in order to teach the little ones math?

1. The tiny book written by Dr. Ruth Beechick called An Easy Start In Arithmetic.

2. Manipulatives. I bought these cute bears at Scholar's Choice.

3. Wooden numbers. I bought mine at the Dollar store.



4. A relaxed attitude. It's amazing how much kids learn while playing!