Keiglets
The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs.
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I concur.
The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest. -Thomas Moore
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I Want To Be More Like Daddy Today
I imagine a lot of homes are structured like ours. Mom’s primary job is Keeper of All Things Home and Dad’s main daily occupation is his . . . well, occupation. It’s not that it can’t be reversed and work just as well and it’s not some special requirement for Mom to work full time at home. This post is not a social commentary about your family’s choices. It’s really just an observation about our family. And the difference between the way my husband and I tend to spend time with our children. I am home alone with the kids a lot. I handle the majority of their educational planning…
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Field Trip Friday: Happy Cow Creamery
Field Trip Fridays are quickly becoming my favorite part of this school year. First we have math class and then we pack our lunches, load up and head out. (We listen to our composer – Mozart – on the drive, plus an audio book.) We’ve been to the apple orchard, the zoo and to DuPont Forest for a fishing class so far. Sometimes we go alone, sometimes with friends. This past Friday, our field trip was far from alone. We visited Happy Cow Creamery with over one hundred other home schoolers. (Yeah – over a hundred. What in the world?) (This picture makes me laugh. The nose-holding, the closed eyes,…
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these days
These are the types of days that you can’t manufacture. The days that I want to store up and stack up until they fall over. Teetering and towering on the edge. These are the days that quality time just doesn’t register and it all comes down to quantity time. It’s an abundance of time, plain and simple, that allowed these four heads to sit around and make up something to do. It was TV off, no chores assigned, afternoon free time that created this moment. I can’t fake that and I can’t conjure it up. And I don’t want to miss it. It’s so perfect and lovely in its innocence…
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one rainy night
Last night was amusing. And low cost. Incredibly low cost. Riley had to work. Kevin had to work. I was basically just looking for something to do with the five remaining children and their one mother. My first thought was to drive down the road a little bit and picnic and play by this cool stream/waterfall area near us. But the skies looked grey. And I didn’t feel like eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So I loaded up my rag tag team and headed into town. (They really were ragtag. Mosely’s green skirt did not match her blue shirt – neither in style nor in color. Although London’s attire…
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weekend farmers.
We had a barn full of them in Virginia. We’ve been thinking about having them here ever since we moved in. And then Hannah finished their beautifully-crafted home. But trips to Virginia and North Carolina took priority. This weekend changed all of that, however. And our family spent Saturday acquiring six new creatures/pets/providers. Chickens. We’ve got ’em. We drove waaaay out in the country to this adorable farm. What I really intended to purchase was four hens. Four grown hens that could immediately begin providing sustenance in the form of oval deliciousness for our family members. I didn’t really care what they looked like, so long as they dropped edible…
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the state of things
I know it’s not summer yet. I know it isn’t. But around here – it sort of feels like it is already. And we are all finding it pretty hard to concentrate. What with all the bright sunny days. And the introduction to the world of fishing with Daddy. And discovering that all of the kids are pretty great fisher people. (Since they can’t all be fishermen. You know, due to their gender and all.) And birthday celebrations that include baby dragon hunting and carrying maces around the lake trail and cake consuming and present opening. And visits from friends. And trips to the zoo. And picnics in the…
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wednesday afternoon.
I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head for a few months now. An idea about home school and community and the type of children Kevin and I want to raise and about help and asking for that help from my many talented friends. I’m not going to really explain the idea right now. I’ll save that for another post. But it’s an idea that I have pitched, but have not completely followed through with. Not surprising, really. Is it? Last week brought about the idea’s second glimmer. (That first bright spot is a story for another day. Wait for it.) Ryan Gillispie. Call him the forerunner. A herald.…
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Want to take an adventure with our family? (Virtually. Of course.)
Spring break is next week. Well, spring break according to Riley’s school schedule. And since we like Riley and want to include her in our adventures, we declare next week to be our entire family’s spring break as well. Gas prices are, um, frighteningly high. Especially when you drive a gas machine like our Suburban. So we are staying closer to home this year. Just through the mountains a bit to our neighboring state of Tennessee. Gatlinburg, to be precise. Sure, it’s a little touristy with their never-ending pancake houses and fudge factories on every corner. Their mini golf up a hill and their family dinner shows that seem to…
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almost out the door
Perhaps my favorite phrase yelled at me by any human being that has ever existed. Berg. Dashing through the house. Decked out in full pirate attire. On his way to adventure and life. The great outdoors calling him. His hand is on the door knob. The entrance to What He Has Been Waiting All Morning For. He stops. Hesitates. Searches for me. Finds my eyes. And shouts, “I love you mom. I love you more than everything in the world except God!” And then he’s gone. Back to the wild which holds his heart.
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question. answer.
“Momma, why don’t we ever eat at Burger King?” some back seat voice politely inquired over the gentle strains of Bach playing on our car’s stellar sound system as our family traveled the highway to yet another culturally enlightening event. Wait. Most of that first sentence was a lie. Can I just start over? “Momma, why don’t we ever eat at Burger King?” some back seat voice screeched over the sounds of the Avett Brothers and the other four mostly shouting children as our family traveled the highway in our shamefully dirty Suburban to the grocery store or to the dumpster or on some other errand our life requires. Before…
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treasures, surprises: the makings of a childhood
It’s been too rainy to be outside most days this week. So when the sun finally came shining through, the kids did not find it a difficult task to convince me to let them play outside. Despite the fact that we all knew (although none of us spoke of it) that outside play would probably end in mud and mess and varying degrees of wet and/or ruined shoes and clothes. And it was a messy adventure. And a Keen shoe is M.I.A. And the path in front of our house is covered in crumpled wet clothes that were required to be shed pre-entry into our home. And the area beside…
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The Burgess Animal Book For Children: A Book Review
The majority of books that I read to the kids for school purposes come from a list on Ambleside Online – our primary homeschool curriculum source. Last year we read Thornton W. Burgess’ Bird Book for Children so I was already familiar with this author’s style. Burgess creates animal characters and a storyline for his creatures. In The Burgess Animal Book for Children the woodland animals gather each morning to attend school with Old Mother Nature, who serves as the teacher for both the animals in her school and for the readers of the novel. Each of the forty chapters covers several animals in the same family group and describes the habits and characteristics…
