10 and Other Happenings

Not very long ago at all, I became a mom for the very first time and had a beautiful baby girl. I blinked a few times and suddenly she is ten years old.

Double digits. How did that happen?


Wasn't it just last week that she was toddler?

"When I grow up," she informed me when she was three, "I am going to be a garbage truck driver and I'm going to put a carseat up front for Caleb and we are going to have fun!"

She still has big ideas about going places. Only now it's on a horse.

She got some horseback riding lessons for her birthday and she officially loves it.

We were kind of afraid of that.


And in other news...



Spring fever is here and it's officially time to practice some baseball with Dad every night.




We recently participated in our first spelling bee,



met a new cousin,

and have been busy learning about the courageous men of the Reformation,



and the mysteries of astronomy. Did you know that it is quite possibly raining diamonds on Neptune?




For real.

We watched this video and tried to wrap our little pea brains around the magnitude and complexity of creation - and the fact that the Creator's mind is filled with thoughts of us (Ps. 139)!

Then we visited the symphony,



and - thanks to a sharp pocket knife and whittling job gone bad - visited Urgent Care.



I know. You don't want to see that. Neither does Caleb.


He is a tough outdoorsman who is always on the lookout to buy another knife, but he inherited Phil's queasiness about blood, etc.

As the doctor stitched him up, I asked him if he still wanted to buy another knife with his Christmas money.

"No," he said vehemently. But then: "Maybe I'll buy a sling shot instead."

Yeah. Then you can inflict pain and misery on someone else.

Thanksgiving Games

They say that games were a big part of the first Thanksgiving feast. So we do our best to follow the tradition.





It can get a little competitive.



And some people take it pretty seriously.



We try to practice good sportsmanship and not rub it in when we win

...too much.

Date Night

One of my favorite traditions from my own childhood is when my parents took us out for special dates. My sister and I each had a date with Dad on our birthdays and my Mom took my brother out. We always got to pick where we wanted to go, and for a family that rarely ate out, this was a special treat indeed.

Undoubtedly, my dad got the better deal. He usually ended up dining creekside in a favorite Italian restaurant, while my mom generally found herself sitting in a vinyl booth enjoying a Big Mac with my little brother (whose tastes, by the way, have improved dramatically over the years).

I understand this now, because Phil and I have continued a similar tradition with our family. Grace plans her dates talking about painting pottery together or shopping for jewelry.


Caleb plans a little differently.

"Mom, I want to go on a roller coaster and you have to come too, even if you scream and throw up."



Well, gosh, that's sweet, but lucky for me there are no roller coasters by us.

At least not that I'm telling him about.

We went rock climbing instead.



Joshua and I ended up going out to breakfast together.

"Joshie, wouldn't you like to have a yummy bagel at Einstein's?" I suggested hopefully.

"No, I want to go to McDonalds."

"Are you sure? For breakfast? Isn't there anywhere else you would want to go for breakfast besides McDonalds?"

"Well..." he thought hard. "Oh, I know! I want to go to Del Taco!"

I should have quit while I was ahead.



But it is, after all, the company and not the food, that make the date.

Fall Hiking

It's not exactly fall in our neck of the woods yet, but we know where to find it.



A favorite hike from when I was a little girl is now something of a family tradition.






The creek crossings can get a little tricky and experience has taught me to pack extra socks for everybody.


You can see by the water line on Caleb that he needed a little more than extra socks.




But he didn't mind at all.

A Philosophy of Education

"When a baby is picked up, spoken to, and loved,
he is starting his education as God planned it.
For all our lives we are human beings,
in an active state of learning, responding, understanding.
Education extends to all of life."

-Susan Schaeffar Macaulay, For the Children's Sake

Ideally, one would have a clear and detailed philosophy of education before beginning to teach. Such a philosophy would shape all of the planning and methods used and ensure more purpose in the teaching.

Or, if you're like me, you spend a few years teaching other people's kids and nearly a decade teaching your own before you really get a handle on what you're doing and how you want to do it.

Not that I didn't start with goals, mind you. My educational goals for my kids are simple: (1.) Be kids of character, courage, and conviction who love God and others will all their hearts (2.) Be the smartest kids in the whole world (3.) Do great things, including but not limited to: discover the cure for cancer, end world hunger, eradicate poverty....

Quite simple, really.

It was more the "how" part that tripped me up. The day to day. Early in my homeschool journey, it was suggested that everything should be hands on and exciting. I could build a model of a giant ear in my living room, a volcano in my kitchen, a rainforest in my bathroom, and a covered wagon in my backyard.

Or I could go to bed before 11:30pm each night and purchase all of the workbooks I could find so that my kids could fill in enough blanks to get into Harvard and I could still get the laundry done.

Recently I have been reading a lot about Charlotte Mason and her philosophy of education. I love it, and here are two reasons why:

Her emphasis on living books. She argued that it is in reading real, enjoyable, well-written books, that kids will learn and remember things.



If my kids ever left me and went to school down the road, I would probably not miss teaching fractions or diagramming sentences with them, but how lonely it would be to not share a really good read-aloud in the afternoon together.

Maybe I just subscribe to this philosophy because I am looking for someone to give me an excuse to read good books to my kids all day. But then, it has been pointed out that every time a student reads a book, the author becomes one of his or her teachers. So if my kids get to count C.S. Lewis, Laura Ingalls Wilder, E.B. White, the Apostle Paul, and King Solomon among their instructors, maybe they're not doing so bad after all.

Her emphasis on short lessons and lots of time for free play and exploration. Because I have other things to do in a day! But, oh yes, this isn't about me... Charlotte Mason believed in short (but effective)lessons and gave children the afternoons to play and enjoy being outdoors. She believed children would naturally ask questions about the world and find opportunities for learning and that free play was a very important part of childhood.





I agree and also feel that with so many entertainment options available now, playing and entertaining oneself is becoming a bit of a lost art. And if that is lost, so is imagination, creativity, and inventive thinking.



This is what I told my kids last week when the harshness of our summer weather let up and I shooed them away from the TV and the computer into the backyard. At first they groaned, but as the afternoon went on, shrieks of laughter and childhood delight came through the back door. Feeling satisfied that my children were experiencing childhood and learning in the natural way that they were meant to, I glanced outside.

Hmm, I wonder if Miss Mason's students ever spent the afternoon handcuffing each other to the garbage can? Or trying to start a campfire on the back lawn?

I wondered if perhaps I should call them in to do some more school work instead, something that would have more value in preparing them for Harvard. Was that little boy shoving a sock into his "prisoner's" mouth really going to discover a cure for cancer if he spent his afternoons like this?

But right about then, he came in looking for string. "We want to find out what will happen if we tie the cat up and throw her in the pool," he announced.

Well now, that's scientific inquiry about the natural world for you right there.

Dream Big

So another school year is underway here and young minds are bursting with possibilities for the future.

While studying astronomy recently, Caleb had an epiphany.

I was reading the following words: "If you like astronomy and you like inventing things, you may want to be an engineer for NASA when you grow up..." when Caleb jumped out of his chair and grabbed a piece of paper.

"Wait!" he commanded, "I need to write that down."

(Penmanship is a separate subject and possibly not necessary for true geniuses.)

Anyway, I heard him discussing this with a grandma recently. "Well, God really gifted me with the ability to think of things to build and I'm really interested in astronomy so I think I might be an engineer for NASA someday," he explained thoughtfully.

At this point, Joshua walked through the room.

"And what you like to be when you grow up, Joshua?" Grammy inquired.

Without hesitation, he replied, "I want to be a king and live in a castle!"


Naturally.

The first week of school also coincided with this big guy's birthday. He and Phil had a conversation about this.

Joshua: "I not have to do school tomorrow 'cause it my birthday."

Phil: "Well, I don't know about that. Lots of people still go to school and work on their birthdays."

Joshua (considers, and then with a winning smile): "Not Chinese guys!"

Summer Days