The Elves Are Here Again!

We invited the elves back this year. They arrived the night we sprinkled the tree with glitter just like every other year. This year on the first night they brought an advent calendar and new advent candles. One night they left us a note to tell us our "normal" elves, Cheerful, Blissful, and Sunny, got promoted after Christmas last year, so we got a new set of elves. Their names are Jingle, Garland, Jolly, Evergreen, and Peppermint. I'm not sure the kids have noticed that their names start with the same letters, but it was the first thing I noticed!

We don't have the dolls, because quite frankly I find it a bit creepy that these dolls "come to life" when everyone is asleep. We never see our elves because they do not come out where we can see them when we are awake. We also do not tie our elves in with the whole naughty/nice thing. It's just a bit of magic :)

Some more of their antics for your enjoyment:

 Dyed the milk green

Played video games

Made themselves stockings and hung them

Played twister

Made a castle with wooden blocks

Hid the cowbells in the Christmas tree

Played with the kids' pop-beads and made ornaments

Played with the kids' pop-beads and made ornaments

Made random shapes out of sprinkles on the table

Penelope Reagan

A week ago right now we were driving into Charlotte. My water had broken earlier that morning, we had gotten the kids to their friends' house, and I wanted to make sure to get to the hospital before the big contractions started.

At 8:01pm our precious Penelope was born. She is the most beautiful wonderful thing in all the world.

So Much Life!

So much has happened here since I made my last post. Most of it cannot be technically considered school. Ok, well, most of it is not the 3 R's anyway!

Jayden and Grace did well on their end of year testing last year. I do not expect them to advance a whole grade level before the next time they test.... Here's why.

So far this year they've learned...

--how to do a load of laundry from start to finish
--how to do a load of dishes from start to finish
--how to sweep and mop
--how to vacuum
--how to tidy
--how to wipe down the table
--how to clean the sinks
--how to clean the toilets
--how to clean the tubs
--how to make a bed (putting on new sheets)
--and a tiny amount of cooking and cross-stitch

They have

--done chores
--done a minimum amount of schoolwork each day, enough that I feel comfortable marking it as completed
--learned Bible verses
--played
--watched tv (educational and not)
--played some more
--gone tent camping
-- played coach pitch baseball
--listened to me read out of the Bible to them every night
--played soccer
--learned about boating
--swam and tubed behind the boat
-- and traveled to football games

I really don't expect us to change much on this list over the rest of this school year. They won't be boating much in that time and football (therefore travel) season will end soon. BUT, they'll learn about a new baby sister. They'll have extra chores. Probably will have more cooking experience. They will definitely learn about changing diapers and putting clothes on a squirmy baby. They'll get to watch her grow.

Sometimes I think "what am I doing... I need to use this time before baby to get math in!!" Then other times I think "Seriously, they are learning how to live!" They are going to make AWESOME adults who absolutely can bless their home with very little thought.

And really... that's what I want out of this raising kids experience... awesome adults.

Written Narration

Jayden has begun to do written narrations. I thought this was going to be difficult...I mean, this is the first guide to have them do written narrations, and she's only in the third week! Here is her narration from today's reading in "Life in the Great Ice Age"

Jabeth's family had success in killing the wooly mammoth, and they had a feast. On the third day of the feast, Gath and Soren were figuring out where to paint a picture of a wooly mammoth, and Jabeth and Baylock heard them talking. Jabeth spoke up and said, "I know the perfect place to paint the wooly mammoth!" and he took Soren and Gath to their secret part of the cave. Soren said, "This is a great place! The air is dry and the drawing won't get smudged from the smoke from the fire." Then Soren started painting the wooly mammoth.

I am pleasantly surprised at her ability to narrate now after such a rocky start with oral narrations. In Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory, the first Heart of Dakota guide we used with Jayden, it was a struggle to get her to say one sentence that had anything to do with the daily reading. And in the beginning of just two guides later, she writes the above paragraph. I'm impressed!

New Chores

Our old way of doing chores (Job Cards) had gotten old and monotonous (and boring!), and I had basically stopped doing them. I was just giving each girl a job or two or three to do throughout the day. Just random "clean up" times.

I realized that wasn't working for any of us. The kids were feeling random and out of place, and nothing was REALLY getting done.

So I decided to split up jobs according to ability, and have them only responsible for their jobs on their Kid of the Day. All other days, they still have to do random jobs (clean up 10 things, carry something for me, garbage, wipe spots, whatever), but I tie in the random things I ask them to do with their jobs. I also paired them up (Jayden/Julianna, Grace/Evie) so the older ones could help the younger ones.

I gave everyone, based on their abilities, something easy, something a little harder, and something they just learned.... except Evie. She has all middle ground chores, easy for Grace, a little hard for her. Along with these chores that are written down (and posted daily!) I'm also training the older three in something new, that isn't on their card.

Their chores:

Evie : clean the playroom, clean the girls' room, wipe spots off the floor

Julianna : Laundry (wash a load, which includes putting the clothes into the washing machine, putting soap in, and turning it on, and put away a load, which means empty the dryer into designated spots), dishes ( wash a load, put away a load), clean living room, and clean dining room. Her "new" thing she's being trained in is loading the dishwasher.

Grace: Laundry (wash, dry, put away a load), Dishes (wash and put away a load), clean playroom, clean girls' room. Her "new" thing is going to be sweeping downstairs, but I haven't started yet.

Jayden: Laundry (wash, dry, put away), dishes (wash and put away), clean living room, clean school room, sweep downstairs. Her "new" thing is cleaning bathrooms.

So you can see the pattern :) As one girl learns a new chore well, it goes on their card, and they will begin a new chore. I'm hoping that this teaches the girls more than just how to clean. I'm hoping that it teaches them that this is their home, and they need to take pride in it. I'm hoping they learn that their job one day as a mother means they are responsible for making sure the job is done, not necessarily that they have to do it all.

And I'm also hoping that it makes the transition from living at home to living in their own home much easier than the transition I had. I was never taught to do chores. I did chores when I wanted extra money. I was also an only child and we lived frugally in a very small house. I went to public school, and my mom was home each day at least an hour before I was. I rarely saw my mom cleaning, and I know she never intentionally taught me what to do.

Not to mention that with four other people intentionally helping throughout the week should make my life easier and more open to teach them more things!

Preparing Hearts

We just finished our first week with Preparing Hearts for His Glory. We did 2 days worth of work over four days, and then today we did a full day... so we got three days worth of work done this week...

History:

We read three chapters of Grandpa's Box and corresponding Bible passages (Ephesians 6:10-20, Genesis 3:1-24 and Genesis 4:1-15), related vocabulary (traitor, warfare, and memorial), reviewed a bit of geography, and researched Coat of Arms and she designed her own coat of arms and shield.

In her independent history study she worked through a bit of Draw and Write Through History. She drew and colored plants and trees and a dinosaur (a big accomplishment because she does not like to draw or color!) and did her first cursive copywork.

Poetry / Language Arts:

This year is focused on the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson. The first poem is "The Swing." She was able to practice her creative writing by "rewriting" the poem to fit what she would see while swinging in our yard. She also learned that RLS was a sickly child and longed to be able to go outside and play as he described in the poem. For Grammar we are working through Rod and Staff: Beginning Wisely, and she has completed the first four lessons.

Math:

Singapore 3A :) The beginning is a nice easy change of pace from the end of 2B... This week was focused on thousands place value and greater/less than. A breath of fresh air!

Bible Study:

Bible Study this year is working through Psalms. This week was Psalm 1:1-2. She memorized it, learned about moods/emotions, and had her first Quiet Time lesson :)

Science:

The first book she is studying through in science is One Small Square: Arctic Tundra. She completed a notebooking page on where the tundra is located and learned about the Arctic Hare and the Ptarmigan. She learned that a ptarmigan's foot acts as a snowshoe, and she learned what a snowshoe is ;)

All in all, it was a nice, successful week. We love the pacing and the content of this new guide.