Where she hides

Sock progress

2 balls worsted weight yarn - Universal Yarn Classic Worsted Tapestry in Wild Aster on Size US 4 DPNs

Ann Norling Wide Wale sock pattern

Winter Term Plans

It's been a very nice January and we've been chugging away nicely. I've been meaning to post our Winter term plans for a while now. So, here we go:

Luke

Math

Luke finished his 5th grade math workbook yesterday. I've found that when we mix up the math concepts, he enjoys math a lot more. Instead of working on one concept for twenty pages or so, he enjoys working on something different each day. So, that's what he's been doing. We had been using Modern Curriculum Press math since first grade. I decided to use a mix of things for 5th grade rather than use MCP 5th. I just ordered a few 6th grade workbooks and an introduction to Algebra for 5th/6th graders. We'll implement those this term.

Science

We're pretty low-key about science around here. We've been focusing on nature and observation for the past couple of years. This year Luke has started reading through Enid Blyton's Nature Lover's Book. I love this book!!! It has such beautiful illustrations and it's just enchanting. The book is divided into chapters by months of the year. There are birds, trees, flowers to learn to identify. There is even a nature poem for each month which Luke uses for copywork. We're listening to My Side of the Mountain right now which is awesome and goes well with our nature study curriculum. I didn't read this one when I was younger, but I'm excited I get to read it now. We've been listening to this one when we're driving around.

Luke also keeps a daily nature journal. Sometimes, he writes and sometimes he draws something he sees in our yard. He received this book for Christmas and is working on refining his bird drawings.

The Sibley Guide to Trees will be another book to use to identify local trees around here.

Reading

Since little Tessie has arrived, I have had way less time for reading aloud to Luke which bums me out considerably. We used to read aloud together before bedtime and it was our special time together. Paul would put Sammy to bed and read to him while I would read to Luke and put him to bed. Now, Paul continues to read to Sammy nightly and I put Tessie to bed while Luke reads or listens to a book on his own. Currently, he's got several books on his MP3 player. He's listening to book 3 of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and The Princess Bride is up next on the MP3 player.

I have plans to read Swallows and Amazons to Luke this term. As I mentioned before, we used to read so much more together, but I'm going to embrace the less is more approach and focus on one really good book per quarter.

I am now requiring one book report monthly. He can choose any book that he has listened to on his own, with me or one that he has read. I don't let him just listen to unabridged books. I require that he is reading as well. Listening and reading are two different skills.

He has been working through the Spectrum 5th grade book for Reading Comprehension as well.



Languages

Luke completed half of Latina Christiana I last year, but I had him start the book again for review. I don't want him to just finish the book. I want him to truly learn and the review is good for him. We may have to go through the summer, but I hope to have Latina Christiana I completed before he begins 6th grade in Fall.

We started French from Memoria Press this year and this had been a struggle for Luke. I can't believe I keep hearing that he thinks Latin is easier! We've made it through the first 10 lessons and I will have to do some serious review before we continue.

Writing/Grammar

Nature Journal

Book reports

Copywork- He copies out a couple of poems each week to practice cursive italic.

We are about to begin to learn how to diagram sentences this term. I thought this was so fun when I was a kid. I hope Luke likes it too.

Cooking

We are pretty informal about cooking, but Luke has gotten proficient at baking chocolate chip cookies on his own. I told him I want him to plan a meal for the family this term. He will have to make a grocery list and figure out his budget as well.

I would like him to feel comfortable making spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwiches, old-fashioned oatmeal, scrambled eggs and pancakes. You know, staples he could make confidently himself.

Geography/Maps

I admit this is all workbook. He's motivated to work through it though.

These are the things that should carry us through Winter and Spring and some of these things we will cotinue through Summer albeit on a lighter schedule.

Mama's reading/learning

The Day I became an Autodidact

Simplicity Parenting

Knitting the Perfect Pair

The Road

The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Sammy

We're slowly working through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

This should keep us busy around here!!

Less is always more

I have to admit that I'm really tired this week. I've been trying to go to bed earlier, but it really hasn't translated into more rest. In fact, I feel more exhausted than usual. Maybe I'm getting too much sleep, but that can't be it. I'm still getting up a couple of times nightly to nurse Tess.

Anyway, I've been working on the house the week- doing those jobs that I've put off for months and months like finally tackling all the paper piles around the house. I'm determined to organize and to purge everything that I haven't managed to find a home. It's a constant theme here that I fully believe that less is more. For instance, I decided that I'm selling my set of parfait glasses. I haven't used them in five years! Now, I know that I will find the yummiest parfait recipe as soon as they're sold, but oh, well. I am a minimalist at heart and I don't think that I'll miss them that badly. Right now, I'm reading Simplicity Parenting and I'm on the chapter that focuses on the impact of your child's environment. It's intuitive for me that cluttered spaces leave children feeling overwhelmed and anxious and frankly this isn't new information for me. I've read it all before. This chapter talks about toy overload. I got the boys together this week and we started going through their stuff looking for things that we might donate while organizing their room. I can see that they are visibly relieved when we organize their room and purge a few things. It's easier for the boys to focus on the things they actually do want to play with when there are fewer things to play with and they can easily find those things. They don't have to go searching through jumbled toychests looking for missing pieces.

I've written about this before, but it's worth repeating. It's so easy for things to mutliply in your house without you even noticing sometimes. Today, I just went ahead and chucked a few things. Normally, I just hate the idea of things going into land-fill, but I know Goodwill doesn't really want a box of old toys. They probably have more old broken toys than they know what to do with. So, I just threw them away and I felt relieved. They weren't anything special--just things picked up at garage sales over the last year or so.

It's not just the toys though and this is where Simplicity Parenting got my attention again.

It's the books! Not only are unloved toys the target. So are the books. I say this hesitatingly, but it's true. There is such thing as book overload.

Books offer such delight and satisfaction to children, conjuring magical worlds and bringing the wonder of our own right into their hands. How could it be possible to have "too many" of such good things?

-Simplicity Parenting

The same principle that applies to the toys also applies to the books. I have learned over the years that as much as I love books, I don't need to own everything. Over the past five years, I have relied heavily on my library and sometimes I'm much happier know that I have to return the book than having to find space on my bookshelves. Of course, I still buy books and probably too many of them, but I'm much choosier than I use to be.

I've noticed that my 4 year-old prefers reading the sam few books over and over. He has a special relationship with his favorites and many books just sit there. We want our children to have a connections with good stories and those favorites deserve a permanent place on on their shelves. Simplifying our children's environment is our goal and the same principle goes for both toys and books.

We honor the value of something (like reading) in our child's life by fostering a deep - not disposable - relationship to it.

-Simplicity Parenting

So, as we enter 2010, I'm going to be even more focused and determined to make even better purchasing decisions on everything. I always remind my boys that purchasing things has consequences. Where are we going to put those things? Will it hold your attention very long? Things are just that. Things. I plan for us to make better connections to our books and our crafts this year. I don't want them to just "consume" books, but to read and to make meaningful connections with those carefully chosen books. A simple environment clears the way for true connection.

Could I go a year without buying a new book?? Hmmmm....

2010 Reading Goals- Book 1

When I was a new mom, I ordered Mitten Strings for God by Katrina Kenison from the Chinaberry catalog. It was one of those books that has stayed with me over the years. Every now and then, I pick it up and re-read some sections of it. It's a book that urges mothers to find serenity in simplicity and being present in the daily moments of life.

Recently, I discovered that Katrina Kenison had written a sequel of sorts to Mitten Strings. In this book she writes about her almost grown sons and what that means to her as a mother. At first, I was shocked. How could her boys be so grown up already?! In her new book, Kenison's older son is getting ready to go to college and her younger son is in high school. In her first book she talks about her days with her young sons, then 6 and 9. I realized that almost a decade had past since I had read Mitten Strings. This is actually the whole point of her new book about how fleeting time is. Our children aren't with us very long, but when our children are very young, we can't imagine them ever leaving the nest or life without them. My oldest son is ten and I am constantly thinking that the last decade just slipped away so quickly. More than half my time with him is already gone. (I know. I'm so glass-half-empty about this.)
Anyway, her book is about many things converging all at once. In the midst of a happy life, she and her husband start looking to move from a home that they love. It's almost as if she anticipates the changes on the horizon. Her boys are growing and thus are growing increasingly independent from her. As they grow older, she examines her evolving identity as a mother. So, in the midst of all the changes, she and her husband search for a new home which causes its own anxiety. She admits that when they sold their home, it's like the door shut on her boys' childhood. It was a defining moment in her family life, but in the midst of everything, she remembers that ordinary days are filled with beauty and joy. She enjoys the time she has left with her family as she knows it. Holding onto the days with teenage sons and appreciating those ordinary moments that all to quickly will be gone. It's sad, but hopeful.

She has beautiful lyrical quality to her writing, but of course, I felt a little agitated as I began to look ahead to my own future as my oldest child grows (way too quickly). I will face these same feelings too, but for now, I can enjoy the ordinary and discover all it has to offer.

Tessie's cabled beanie

I stayed up late last night knitting this hat for Tessie. As you can see, she hates modeling for me. The color is not coming out as it truly is. It's a heathered green and I love it, but it doesn't

photograph well.

Soup Recipe #1 - Cheesy Potato Soup

Heres' a recipe from The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen:

I checked this book out from the library and I decided to try the Cheesy Potato Soup. I've made this soup a few times and it's hearty and delicious. I never used to like creamy or cheesy soups, but I love them now.

ingredients:

4 TB butter (1/2 stick)

1 C diced carrots (sometimes I use 2 cups.)

4 C chicken broth ( I use Pacific brand Organic free-range chicken

broth.)

5 C russet potatoes (peeled and cubed)- about 4 medium size

potatoes

1 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp- salt (you could probably leave this out since broth has

salt.)

1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 C all-purpose flour

1 1/2 C milk

8 oz sharp cheddar grated (2 Cups)

1. Melt 1 TB of butter in a large stock pot over medium-high heat and add carrots and saute' until softened--probably about 4 minutes.

2. Add the broth, potatoes, basil, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

3. Lower the heat and simmer until potatoes are tender-- about 2o minutes.

4. While soup is simmering, make the cheese sauce. Melt remaining 3 TB of butter in a medium-size sauce pan over medium-hight heat.

5. Whisk in the flour.

6. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook until slightly thickened. (I think the recipe suggest 2 minutes, but I've found that it takes way longer for it to thicken.)

7. Add the cheese and stir until cheese is both melted and thoroughly combined.

8. Gradually, pour the sauce into the soup and stir until blended.

tip: I made this soup last night and I decided to blend some a little chunky for Tess. Her soup looked so good that I blended mind and oh, Yum!!!

This soup is really good and just so easy to make. I tend to make it when I have potatoes that I need to use up and I always have carrots. Oh, I also add a couple garlic cloves when I saute the carrots in butter for a little extra flavor.

Enjoy!!!