Weeks 16 and 17- Germany

I'm so glad  our My Father's World curriculum spent six weeks exploring three European countries.  Europe is just incredible, and so diverse.  Although it's exciting and a nice shot in the arm to be headed south toward Africa,  we all feel there is still so much to learn about Europe!  We just don't want to leave.

Probably the most fun we had in Germany was using beeswax to create small sculptures.  In Germany, beeswax is a very common art supply in most class rooms.  I was excited to find some on clearance at the craft store.  Beeswax can take quite a while to get soft and moldable, so we cheated and used a hair dryer to speed up the process.  It comes in sheets so we unrolled them and tore off a piece, warmed it up, and started molding.  Mister made an elf and a knight.

Brown Eyed Girl made a menagerie of animals.

Petite just loves to have her picture taken.  She has a bit of blue beeswax in hand, but it didn't interest her the way Play-Dough does.

Brown Eyed Girl has been reading Amelia Bedelia and had been asking me for a few weeks to make a lemon meringue pie, just like Amelia. If you have ever made a lemon meringue pie, you know it's a lot of work between making the crust, custard, and meringue.  I felt bad that I kept putting her off and finally agreed, but I warned her this would take a while.  She did a wonderful job of sticking with it and learned how to separate eggs, juice and zest a lemon, and make a meringue (which was always impossible for me til I got my Kitchen aid!).

Our meringue was stiff and gorgeous and our custard was sweet and tart.  Here she is before we browned the meringue.

 And a picture of me thrown in.  I have to show up on here once in a while.
Our pie came out wonderful, but it turns out I'm the only one in the house who likes lemon.  B-E-G did have a little taste, but gave it a sideways thumb for a rating.  Josh admitted he had to choke it down cause he's not a lemon fan. And Mister wouldn't even touch it. Thankfully Grammy and Grampy like lemon and we also sent some to our brother-in-law who loves it.

Our German feast wasn't fancy, but we did have frankfurters and German potato pancakes, which everyone liked.

No true beer for us, but I happened to have a can of root beer in the fridge.  The Germans love their beer and I can't thank them enough for hamburgers!

As I write this post, we are finishing up the book Heidi, which is absolutely wonderful.  We all love it and I am so glad I pulled this classic off the shelf to read to my children.  The kids lay on the floor in front of the fire while I curl up on the couch. I cherish these moments of showing them what is good and pure and lovely in the form of a beautiful story.

Craft Boxes

School is in full swing again after a lovely holiday break!  We have begun our travels to Germany and I am rediscovering why I love My Father's World curriculum.  The only planning I had to do before the ominous back-at-it Monday was penciling in math, English, spelling, and reading, and grabbing the proper notebooking pages for this week.  How easy was that?  I'm so blessed by the kids and how they have gotten back into the groove without too much trouble.  Vacation included mostly fun and play, very little work (as it should be, right?).  Transitioning back to scheduled days is a bit unwelcome to us all, but much needed.

The kids received a lot of  educational but fun activities for Christmas.  And toys, of course.  It was the toys that got the most use til this week.  I allow the kids to color or draw while I read to them or to work on activities from their craft boxes while I am helping someone else with school work.  Their craft boxes were full of new goodies from Christmas that were "rediscovered" this week.

All three of the kids love the Pigeon books by Mo Willems.  In fact, they love all Mo Willems character and books!  I got the older two a giant Pigeon Activity book with games, puppets, and other cut-and-tape projects in it.  They began work on them yesterday, getting lots of laughs out of it.  This was a fantastic follow-the-directions activity for them to work on.

Petite got oodles of coloring books for her craft box, along with paint-with-water books and sticker activity books.  She loves to place stickers on, well, anything, so she got a bunch of those too.  She will sit for seriously long periods of time doing these activities.

  Craft boxes are a great way to keep little hands busy and minds engaged.  When I declare a "No TV or DS" period, and I hear the complaint that there is nothing to do, I suggest they get out their craft boxes.  They typically take me up on the offer and have a great time.  Brown-Eyed Girl particularly loves crafting.
There are oodles of things you can put in the craft box, which for us is a clear Rubbermaid container with latching handles.  Each of the kids has a box of sticky mosaics.  Glittery dolphins for B-E-G, dragons for Mister, and an easier, larger set of pets for Petite.  Drawing pads, paint books, oil crayons, needlepoint kits, sculpting clay, twisty pipe-cleaner type things to build with, perler beads, jewelry making accessories, stencils... the possibilities are truly endless!  I like to choose things that the kids can do fairly independently, or at least with minimal help so that they are the ones truly creating and crafting.But there are also things that require teaching and learning, like sewing kits and origami.  We keep the craft boxes in our school closet so that things stay organized and taken care of.  I love to play music while they are busy about their work, usually something that goes along with the country we are studying (Handel for us right now as we study Germany).  Reading aloud to them during this time often works too!

I have to admit that the house is in shambles this week, especially the upstairs.  While I help Brown-Eyed-Girl learn needlepoint, and Petite with her stickies, the house looks like it is resting in the aftermath of a huge storm.  My good friend Aura wrote a fabulous post called The Monument on her blog.  The Monument referred to a pile of dishes that grew and grew because she was busy helping her son build a turkey house.  It was a testimony to letting go of the things that are so insignificant compared to relationship building and quantity and quality time with our children.  This picture of the family room is my monument to letting go of the insignificant and choosing to make memories with my children instead.  The TV can be a great resource, but too often a default to keeping them entertained.  Craft boxes are a great and constructive alternative for keeping busy.

Weeks 14 & 15- France

Yesterday we finished up our two week travels around France. We spent most of the time in Paris, because who doesn't love Paris?  Fridays are generally a lighter day. Mister finished his Singapore Math 3A book.  Brown-Eyed-Girl colored while I read to them from George Mueller.  We all felt the anticipation of getting school done for the day, because it meant school vacation for the holidays and the cousins were coming over.

As all this was happening in my home, the unspeakable was happening a few states away.  When I heard the terrible news of the Connecticut school shooting, I wept. I have to admit I was thankful my babies were home safe with me.  I have to admit I thanked God I could homeschool them.  I  have to admit the thought of sending them into this evil world makes me want to cloister them within the four walls of our house.

But I cannot do that, nor is that what God wants me to do. For now, yes, they are protected from certain things they would not be if they were in public school.  That is one reason why we homeschool.  But I have to admit that the terrible thing that happened yesterday at a school could happen absolutely anywhere.  It was not a school that did this, it was a man.  We could be at the library, at the grocery store, at the movies, at our church, and a man could walk in and do the same thing. 

My children and their lives are not in my hands. They are in God's.  I must prepare them to go into this world that has so much evil in it, but needs salt and light and the love of Jesus Christ.  I must do all I can to train them to be as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves.    I must entrust them to the Lord each and every day.  At home. At play.  And away.

Lord, please be with those hurting families in Connecticut.  Make good on Your promise to make beauty out of ashes and to use all things for good.  What Satan meant for evil, may You use for good.

France is known for making pretty soaps in different shapes with lots of rich scents. We made our own soap out of regular soap bars, melted in a "double boiler".

When it cooled, the kids molded some into various shapes, and also cut some with cookie cutters.

We made our first batch of gingerbread cookies since we were making the Eiffel Tower out of gingerbread as well.  I didn't get a picture of the finished project, but the kids cut theirs out using a template and decorated them once baked.  We didn't even attempt a 3-D model, though it had crossed my mind.

We enjoyed a French feast together last night.  We didn't have real wine, but we did have some sparkling juice, baguette and hot brie.  So delicious!  I'm happy to say the kids loved the brie!

Brown-Eyed-Girl loves all colored liquids, so she had many glasses of the juice. So much so, we teased her she would get drunk.  Mister was believing it would really happen.

We listened to accordion music from France while we ate and I cherished my family sitting around the table together.  As popular author Karen Kingsbury always writes at the end of her dedications, I am thankful to God Almighty, the Author of  Life,  who has- for now- blessed me with these.

First Snow!

I think I cherish my role as housewife and stay-at-home mom most in the winter.  I truly get to live out my title in my house and home.  The cold and snow outside is a perfect excuse to not go anywhere.  Our yard is a winter wonderland for the kids to play in.  I keep the home fires burning quite literally as I stick another log in the woodstove.  I assemble grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and boil water for hot chocolate.  Because it doesn't matter if they go out for two minutes or two hours, they must have hot chocolate when they come in.

I rarely go stir crazy because I love being at home.  I always have plenty of work to do.  And it's the perfect season for my favorite past time, cooking!  The oven bakes up more homemade bread and casseroles and treats than any other time of year.  My creative juices in the kitchen flow with excitement because it's not too hot to run the stove and everyone delights to come inside and smell the scent of what's cooking.

The roads are quieter on my street this time of year. The snow creates a cushion that absorbs the sounds.  Everyone drives slower.  The loudest interruptions are the snow plow and the general exuberance of three children.

Today was our long anticipated FIRST SNOW!  I enjoyed being a home body -house wife and the kids enjoyed some fun outside!  We had a hot lunch with cocoa when they came inside.  We warmed up by the fire and read books and played a game of Scrabble Junior.   Even with Christmas right around the corner, winter means we slow down a little bit.  When the days are sunny and warm, I feel guilty for staying in.  But when the snow flies, we hibernate at home.

By March I will be calling this same Winter Wonderland "Cabin Fever". But for now, I sigh contentedly as I watch the kids slide down the hill in the back yard and enjoy the sun as it makes the icy trees sparkle.

Weeks 12 and 13- Norway!

Another stamp is in our homeschooling passport for the year!  We finished our visit to Norway.

We took a week off in between our visit for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was much needed and much deserved.  We did take a field trip to the Maine State Museum. a place we had gone before but one that is worthy of repeat visits.  I didn't get too many pictures because I was chasing Petite all over the place.  But here are the cousins in front of some Maine black bears.

We had the pleasure of hosting Thanksgiving for both my family and Josh's. Here's the crew crowded into the kitchen right before we carved Tom.

It was a very exciting week off for us, because Josh got his first deer since high school, right in our back field.  I never thought I'd be the kind of girl excited about hunting, but here I am posting my beautiful family all bedecked in blaze orange with  Josh's buck.  He got skunked last year so we were thrilled to celebrate with him.

Brown  Eyed Girl's Van Gogh-esque work

My very favorite artist is Vincent Van Gogh, who is from Holland.  I actually couldn't find Holland on the European map because it's another term for the Netherlands.  The kids created landscapes in the style of Van Gogh, using swirls and paint thickened with glue to give it texture.  Van Gogh often used thick paint and the brush strokes are evident in his work. I never met a painting of his that I didn't like, but I was surprised that he only sold one of his pieces while he was alive.  Now they are worth millions.  I enjoy the two giclees that I own of his work and I covet more. This project was from the excellent book Usborne Art Treasury.

Mister's fine art "reproduction"

Earlier this year, Josh had the awesome privilege of visiting Finland on business.  He brought me  home an excellent Scandinavian cookbook, Scandilicious: Secrets of Scandinavian Cooking, which we used to learn about Norwegian food.  We made this Tropisk Aroma, or Norwegian spiced chocolate cake.  We used my kitchen scale to accommodate the metric measurements- so we had a great math lesson with this too.

It was quite yummy, though I overcooked it a bit.  That's what happens when you're a busy mom.

I was hurrying to get this published before we head to France tomorrow, so I'm sure I left out fun details and that this has horrible typos, but forgive me.  Again, it's what happens when you're a busy mom!

My Father's World Curriculum "Review"

Sigh of joy and relief... we finished week 12 of school and we are breaking for Thanksgiving!  Things have been going great, but I was wise and planned for some time off.  The old teacher-mom in me would think, "Nah, we can keep going!".  No, we need a little vacation.

With that said, I'll get to the thrust of my post.  Quite a while ago, a blogging friend asked me for more information on My Father's World curriculum.  I am only a first-time user this school year, so I certainly don't know all the ins and outs, but I will attempt to share what I've learned and experienced so far.

My Father's World is an all-in-one curriculum provider, meaning when you purchase one of their core programs, you receive a complete year of social studies, science, art, music, and read aloud literature. The teacher's guide pulls all the included books together, schedules them for you, and supplies hands on project ideas, language arts suggestions, and more.  You add math, English, foreign language, writing, and spelling of your choice.  They sell their preferred version of these, including Singapore Math, Spelling Power, Writing Strands,  Emma Searl's Language arts, and Rosetta Stone, but they can all be substituted with your own preferences.

The cores follow a five year chronological history cycle.  They are designed to be multi-level for grades three through eight.  This means you can teach all of your children that are at this level together, however the teacher's guide has some work that is designated for "Advanced" students.

Other all-in-one programs include Sonlight and Winter Promise. Again, you purchase a core of books and receive a teacher's guide that outlines how to use the materials to teach your children.

By contrast, there are many, many home education products available that teach only one subject, such as Apologia Science, or The Mystery of History.  These often have teacher's guides available along with suggested teaching schedules.  You could make your own combination of these curriculum to create your own "core".

For the first five years of homeschool, I used The Weaver curriculum from Alpha Omega.  It is a unit study series made up of five volumes that move chronologically through the Bible, deriving the units studies from here.  Book suggestions are given, but they are rather outdated since it has not been updated since 2001.  It requires a lot of teacher planning and the purchase of books of your choice, or the frequent use of a library.  I personally enjoyed the planning process for those years that we did it.  I liked choosing the extra books to teach the units and choosing our own read alouds.  However, last year I grew weary of so much resting on my shoulders.

I have always loved the idea of using Sonlight, as I am such an avid book fan, and a book collector, and I believe it is a very rich curriculum.  However, it has not yet felt like the right fit for my children.  My sister-in-law used My Father's World for the past two years and found it very easy to use and very complete.  The first thing that sparked my interest was the teacher's guide, laid out in a very easy chart form for each week of lesson plans.  I just liked the look of it.  I have looked at many curriculums that are wonderful, but I just couldn't wrap my brain around the teacher's guide.  My Father's World is laid out very simply.  A list of materials required is given at the beginning of each week, a list of photocopies needed at the beginning of each unit.

That's another thing I love- the units!  Unit studies work great for me and my children. I love dwelling on one topic for an extended period of time.  But not too long- almost every unit this year in Exploring Countries and Cultures is two weeks long. Plenty of time to get a feel for our topic, but not get bored.  Hands on projects that are easy are given in the teacher's guide. I don't feel the need to do everything, though.

You can purchase either a basic or deluxe package for each core that My Father's World offers.  The basic package includes the books necessary for social studies, science, and Bible.  The deluxe package includes scheduled read-alouds, art, music, and perhaps some fun kits like an ant farm or magnet set.  Their prices are very reasonable because they also suggest a "Book Basket" for each core. In the back of each teacher's guide is a list of books by unit that could supplement the program and provide further learning.  It's a list you can take with you to your local library or purchase some books of interest new or used.  The packages provides everything you need; the book basket is if you want more. I love this aspect of the curriculum. I don't have to do all the planning, but I still get to enjoy picking particular books I think my children will love.

While the schedule is very thorough, I don't feel like we are doing so much school work that we don't have time to enjoy play, going outside, or work around the house.

The most important aspect of My Father's World, for me, is it's Biblical worldview and the integration of everything with the Bible.  Bible is not an isolated subject.  We are memorizing verses, using them as copywork and dictation exercises, and reading about great heroes of the faith and the work God is doing around the world.  This is not a west-centric curriculum.  In our 12 weeks so far, I've seen amazing fruit in my children's lives and my own when it comes to the things of the Lord.  This is irreplacable and this is why I home school.

Each time we finish a week, I literally want to sing the praises of this curriculum because it is not a chore to get through, or another thing to accomplish in my busy day. Yes, it is work of course, but it has eased the burden I began to carry in trying to do everything myself.  I honestly think "What on earth was I doing the past five years, planning everything myself!  This is so much easier!"  And it is a great fit for us.

I got to hear David Hazell speak at the Great Homeschool Convention in Hartford this past June. He and his wife Marie are the writers of My Father's World. They are former missionaries and Bible translators.  I had already bought my Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum when I heard him, but it confirmed our choice for the new year.  To me, it truly does bring together the "best of" unit studies, Charlotte Mason, and classical education, and it's only our first year, and twelve weeks into it.

There is  a great community of families that use this curriculum.  It's fun to see what they are up to on their blogs or on the message boards. This is something I missed during my five previous years too.  It's a real encouragement to read about how others are being blessed by the curriculum too, and to get ideas for alernate projects etc.  My children love that we are doing the same school as their cousins and vice versa.  I think we all enjoy feeling like we have something in common with others.

It's very easy to do school on-the-go with My Father's World.  Several times we have gone to visit my parents and just packed up my Desk Apprentice from Staples with all our books in it and my teacher's guide.  We've had everything we need to easily get school done while we are away.

There is certainly a lot more to this wonderful curriculum than I can expound on. Again, it is my first year, and I have not used the K-2 programs that MFW offers.  But I think my thoughts are an accurate reflection on the grade 3-8 Family Cycle.  It's such a great fit for us this year and I would already go so far as to say it's our best year ever, partially because my own work load is lighter thanks to the wonderful teacher's guide.  Home education curriculum has come so far and there is so much to choose from, it can be extremely daunting.  My hope is that you find the resources for your family that are just the right fit.

Weeks 9-11- Brazil!

The past three weeks have been busy learning lots about South America, rainforests, and the country of Brazil.  The highlight of this time was reading aloud the biography of Nate Saint, a passionate pilot Missionary Aviation Fellowship who lost his life in Ecuador trying to share the gospel.  His story is inspiring, but what the Lord has done since and because of his death is nothing short of miraculous.  I personally watched the documentary Beyond Gates of Splendor made by his son Steve Saint. It is available to view on Netflix and I highly recommend it.  The photographs and video footage are haunting, but it is so inspiring to see how the Lord used something evil for good no one imagined.  The kids made a model paper airplane similar to the one Nate flew over the Ecuador rainforest.

We also watched an excellent documentary called Discovery Atlas: Brazil Revealed (also on Netflix).  It focused on eight different Brazilians, young and old. We learned so much about the culture, the religion, the sports, and Carnival!  Carnival is the world famous celebration held in Rio de Janeiro, of course, and we learned that is centers around the samba, the original dance and music of Brazil.  We listened to some samba and bossa nova music and made fancy Carnival masks for our own celebration.

 There was a Carnival mask project in Global Art, the book included in our My Father's World core, but it was much easier to print one off the Internet and decorate them!

We didn't have a huge Carnival celebration, but we did get the cousins together in their masks and Carnival costumes on Josh's birthday.  Nana helped Mister and Brown-Eyed Girl make pretty snazzy costumes featuring rainforest animals, piranha, and flowers while we visited her for a few days this past week.  We used simple white pillowcases for this project.

I also read the book Gooney Bird Green by Lois Lowry to the kids and they loved it!  It's a great, sneaky way to teach kids about writing stories!  They were both upset that there are no other books about Gooney Bird.

The next six weeks of our curriculum, we will be in Europe!  Our first stop is Norway, but I think we won't finish our travels through that country without taking the week of Thanksgiving off.  We've been  working hard and having a lot of fun, but we're all looking forward to a little time off.