Cultivating Childhood

Hey, look!  I'm ahead of the game for a bit.  It's not yet Thanksgiving, but I'm getting an Advent post up!  Of course, this is mostly because I needed to prepare for it in our schooling time, and Advent starts just three days after Thanksgiving.  Yikes! In the past, I've done a lot to prepare for Advent.  In both 2010 and 2011 , I made a daily activity project and Bible reading.  As fun as these were, I'm learning more about how our days go, and I know that we'll be setting ourselves up for failure if I try to do too much.  So this year, I'm planning on just coming up with some things that I'd like to see happen this December and let them fall where they may. Advent Readings and Books For our daily advent readings, we will be reading through Jotham's Journey: A Storybook for Advent .  In the past I've found a lot of other devotionals , and our church usually comes out with one as well.  We also have a few other longer picture books abo...

For my 30th birthday, we went to go visit my family in Southern California.  And since I'm a mom of two small boys, we spent the day at Legoland. N loved it! Waiting in line.  My brother loved to photo bomb almost all of our pictures.  =) I got to meet my brother's girlfriend for the first time.  She's super sweet.   Hanging out with grandparents was very special In a moment of poor judgment, we decided to get on the wettest ride just before it closed at 5PM.  Needless to say, we were soaked and cold until we left the park.  The boys didn't seem to mind a bit! We also got to visit the Sea Life Aquarium at Legoland   Although Legoland was a big highlight, we also got to see a lot of our family.  N enjoyed going over to his great-grandparents' home, and reading to his great-grandma.   Two of my mom's sisters were in town too which made for a nice reunion.   N really wanted to hear...

Have you ever thought about the cultural factors that have to be in place for a person to be able to homeschool their children?  I'm not talking about government regulations or limitations although that is certainly a factor, but more about individual families. I've been blessed to be raised in a country that values education, including the education of women.  There may be a lot wrong with the school system here in America, but nonetheless, me and everyone else I know that has grown up here knows how to read and write.  Most people here graduate from high school and there are programs to help people succeed in their educational goals whether that be single teenage moms getting their GRE, a high school graduate going to a community college or university, or even someone pursuing their Masters or Ph.D.  Education through the twelfth grade is free through the public school system which helps keep kids off the streets and in a safe environment (usually). This is not...

Thanksgiving is next week, and we've been reading a lot about the Pilgrims to prepare.  We are at the Thanksgiving chapters of our Light and Glory for Children book, but we've been enjoying other things to supplement our learning as well. Chapter Books John Billington: Friend of Squanto by Clyde Robert Bulla I just can't say enough good things about Clyde Robert Bulla.  He writes great historical fiction in easy chapter books that work really well for N to read on his own or for me to read to both boys.  John Billington is a fun look at a life of one Pilgrim boy.  Bulla had also written about the life of Squanto , and I bought the book a couple of months ago.  Unfortunately, I lost it!  Hopefully, I'll find it next week or at least in time for next Thanksgiving! Magic Tree House: Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne and it's nonfiction companion Pilgrims by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Osborne We are taking a break from reading o...

October was busy, busy, busy!  We did lots of field trips, had a lot of fun with pumpkins, went to California, and I even turned the big 3-0.  Here is a snapshot of our crazy month.  (California will have to be a separate post!) The first Thursday of every month , many Seattle museums have a free day.  We took advantage of our Native American history learning and headed over to the Burke Museum on the University of Washington's campus.  They have a great collection of totem poles and other Native American artwork.  We brought the boys' journals for them to draw some different pieces.  They thought it was quite fun.     We continued to go on some nature walks.  We love Hamlin since it is so close to our home.  This time the boys made a "fort".   Of course, it isn't October for us if we don't go to the Pumpkin Patch.  It seems like every year we visit a new one.  This year, we went to Bailey's...

Also Known As... "What We Are Checking Out at the Library" Picture Books for History: Sitting Bull Remembers by Ann Turner Totem Pole by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith How Chipmunk Got Tiny Feet by Gerald Hausman Baby Rattlesnake by Te Ata Brother Eagle, Sister Sky by Chief Seattle When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor (perfect companion to making our clay bowls, but does have some magic stuff in it) The Discovery of Longitude by Joan Galat Encounter by Jane Yolen Follow the Dream by Peter Sis A Picture Book About Christopher Columbus by David A. Alder Picture Books for Music Study: Peter and the Wolf by Peter Malone The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Anita Ganeri Meet the Orchestra by Ann Hayes Out and About at the Orchestra by Barbara J. Turner I, Vivaldi by Schefelman Vivaldi's Four Seasons by Anna Harwell Celenza Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery (book on CD) - Classical Kids Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra - Stephen Costanza Picture Books f...