Okay, so my day is pretty much made up of home school! Don't get bored and leave! Sometimes I just like to meditate and reflect on God's goodness using a keyboard.

It's hard to believe that we have only 2 weeks left of Weaver Vol 1. It has been such a fun, rewarding year. Our final unit is "slavery"- a tough topic to cover with little ones. We are finishing up the book of Genesis and covering this because Joseph, obviously, was sold as a slave, but also because we see the events leading up to the slavery of the Israelites in the book of Exodus. Our first topic was civil war. I asked Caleb if he knew what war was and he said when people battle one another. I thought that was sufficient. So I went on to describe civil war- a dividing of people in the same country. Trying to illustrate this, I grabbed a napkin and tore it in half. I explained that one group of people thought slavery was okay in our country and one group thought it was wrong, so it tore our country apart. This made more of an impression than I expected. Isabelle imitated this for Daddy last night after dinner, describing the two sides to slavery.

I explained that slavery was when one person owned another person. I posed the question - "Do you think that is okay?". One said yes, one said no (I didn't hold them to their answers!). We hadn't made it to the library yet to get some of the books I want for this unit, but as I looked through my own collection, I found the American Girl book "Meet Addy". She and her family are slaves during Civil War times. I looked through it and decided it was appropriate enough to read to the kids. I showed them the cover, asking them questions about Addy. What color is her skin? Brown. What color is our skin? Golden. Who made us? God did. Who made Addy? God did. We are created the same. Yet these were the people who were slaves in our country. As I read the first chapter, it described, gently, how Addy's brother had run away from the plantation and when he was brought back, was whipped.

Caleb yelled "This is a BAD book!"

"Why is it a bad book?"

"That master is BAD! Slavery is BAD!"

I was thrilled! Within a few pages of reading, the kids were understanding about slavery what I couldn't explain to them otherwise. I love this about literature- and this isn't even great literature! Fiction can make the abstract tangible for little ones.

All I could do was praise the Lord. I'd like to say I labor in prayer over our homeschooling days, but I don't. But on Sunday and on Monday morning, I really did purpose to pray over this last unit- because of the difficult topic, because of a new math program we were beginning, and because I just want to finish this year well. I was blessed beyond measure yesterday. The napkin thing- that was the Lord. The light bulb going off in Caleb's head - that was the Lord. The fact that I totally, absolutely love homeschooling my kids- that is the Lord!

I was reading Joshua last week, the seemingly boring chapters that explain the division of the land between the 12 tribes, and I asked the Lord to reveal something to me through it. And what He said is "I have a portion for you, too." I've been asking him more about this since then, but one thing he continues to show me is the awesome privilege of being a mother and the incredible sphere of influence it has, at home and beyond.

Homecoming Surprise

I was gone for 4 days this past week and on the way home, wondered what kind of surprise my husband would have in store. He usually has something- flowers, a card, a note... I wasn't expecting new flooring! We actually purchased this Pergo nearly 4 years ago, when Isabelle was a month old. Life gets crazy and it never got put in. But Josh spent several days clearing out the room (the biggest part of the task, no doubt) and installing it with the help of his dad. The house was also immaculate! What a great husband I have!

A Day of Home Education

For some reason we took a lot of pictures yesterday. It started with this picture of Isabelle looking at a lift-the-flap Spanish book. I always love to see my kids "reading" independently.

By 8:30 both kids were working at the dining room table. Caleb was doing his Explode the Code workbook, Isabelle wanted to do her "math-reading" (Rod and Staff Early Learner workbook).

Caleb doesn't like to write the words out, but he did an exceptional job so he got stickers and stamps. I remember how motivating that was as a young student. It still is.

Caleb is a budding photographer and took a dozen pictures with my camera. Isabelle, of course, got stickers too, for doing excellent work.

We all feel like this sometimes, don't we?

Our Bible lesson ended up taking an hour and a half. Three pottty breaks and a spilled bowl of Cheerios contributed to that. Also, we began Genesis 37, the life of Joseph, and Caleb kept filling me in on the movie version of Joseph as I read from the Bible.

"But mommy, can I tell you? In the movie he...."

"That's in the movie, honey. We get our truth from the Bible."

It's not that I'm opposed to the movie, but he didn't see it here.
We also did a fun coat-of-many colors craft. I just love these kindergarden days!

The kids love to do the treadmill. P.E. for the day.

I have to watch them like a hawk because they like to get silly on it.

We started learning about insects this week. My kids love insects. As I read to them during lunch, they crawled across the table to point out various bugs in the book and begged me to read the books from the library about the pill bug (not really an insect, but still cool) and ants. Juice spilled and my soup was cold by the time I got to eat it.

It was 2:30 by the time we got to math. We recently started using Miquon, which Caleb seems to enjoy. I love the creative math approach. He definately thinks outside the box. But I'm learning that with math, sometimes you have to think inside the box too!

It was 3:45 by the time all was done. A bit unusual for us, but it was a full day and a good day. I'm reminded of how much I enjoy home schooling and watching my kids learn. I know it's not for everyone. In fact, after hearing a talk on "Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe", I want to write the flipside- "Lies Moms Who DON'T Homeschool Believe"...

But, for this mom, it's a pretty cool way to spend my day.

We're Expecting....

A baby girl! A total surprise to both of us after thinking quite strongly that it was a boy. We are so excited. She was so cooperative during the sonogram and everything looks wonderful, praise the Lord! Our sonographer was a peach. Josh always amazes me how he can discern all the different parts while I lay there puzzled as to what I am looking at the whole time.

This is the only time a picture like this is appropriate. It's the first one we got. She was very willing to answer the big question.

Sweet little feet.

A message for big brother and sister!

And a message for mommy and daddy- I promise to be a baby full of "peace"!

I am so thrilled to be having another little girl! I never knew what it was like to have a sister and it excites me to think of raising my girls together and pray they will have a very close relationship. The kids are excited too, though Caleb declared that he was hoping it was a Benjamin. He wants to share his room and get bunk beds. Isabelle is feeling a bit less like the baby of the family already which concerns her, but she was praying for a baby girl.

I love how the Lord is building our family just exactly how He sees fit!

Still Growing

Feel free to be bored with my recent blog posts. While the calendar declares spring, it's still rather dreary and cool to truly feel that way. So my ever-growing plants bring me cheer and hope for a day warm enough- probably near the end of June- when I can finally remove them from my kitchen table and put them outside.

Look how much they have grown in just two weeks! The cilantro and parsley popped out on Tuesday and are already as tall as the other plants. I have never had luck growing anything before. This weekend we are planting mesculan greens and bib lettuce in similar boxes in hopes of fresh salads sooner!