TGIF

I'm just taking a little break to scarf down my lunch and say we are getting ready for our first camping trip of the season.

We've been waiting since the last one of last season and every one is very excited.  The girls would be even more excited if they knew about a little surprise we have for them on Saturday.  Let's just say we will be very close to Chicago, someone has been saving money for something they would like to buy in person that can be picked up in Chicago. ;)  And that same person will be having a birthday soon.  The timing is perfect!  There will be squealing in the morning once they figure out what is going on. 

I hope to come back with lots of good pictures, but most importantly lots of good memories.

Have a happy weekend!!

Out of the Mouth of Kate

At ballet tonight, another mom asked Kate how old she was.  Kate answered nicely even though she has never met this woman before.  Then the woman asked her where she went to school. 

I expected Kate to look at me since talking to strangers isn't exactly her idea of a good time, but her response I did not expect....."I forgot" 

Now how can someone forget that they go to school at HOME?  I laughed and laughed.

Yarn Along

I've been working on these hats for my nephews for Christmas.  I'm really excited about them.  I'm hoping to add ear flaps and ties to two of them. 

I was pretty skeptical of the whole electronic readers concept.  Until I kept hearing the word "free".  Then I saw prices like $2.99 and $.99.  We ended up getting a Kindle for Cameron for his birthday and he loves it.  He sweetly shares it with me sometimes too.  I recently downloaded Home Education by Charlotte Mason and Grammar Land by M.L. Nesbit. 

I'm enjoying Charlotte Mason's wisdom very much and Callie and I are having fun reading Grammar Land together.  It's very witty and is a good reinforcement of what she is learning, but in a totally different way.

Both of these books were written in the 1800's.  It makes me laugh to be reading them on a Kindle!  What would those authors think?

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

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Why Mondays Are Our Best Days

Most people don't care for Mondays a whole lot.  It's back to the grindstone after a weekend of leisure, or at least different work than what must be done during the week, for most people.

In our house though, it seems as if Monday is one of our best days for school work and productivity.  It always has been.  I had never really thought about why until recently.

I realized that one reason it is a good day for us is that we have actually taken the day before as a day of rest.  I don't mean that we have any kind of "rules" for what we will or won't do on Sundays, but it's just a life style for us.  Cameron and I have sort of always done this and it has been a blessing.  It probably came easy for me since I grew up a preacher's kid and it was just a given that we would go home and my parents would rest between Sunday morning and Sunday evening services.

There are Sundays where we may go to some one's home or we may be traveling or doing some sort of "work" to help someone out, but you won't find us doing yard work and you won't find me doing house work or the girls doing chores.  It's a great day to read, nap, knit or sew and sometimes watch football.  The girls love to have friends come home with them from church or go to friend's houses. 

The girls are only involved in ballet and not sports, so we've never had that decision to make.  I know what I hope we would do, but I also know that it would be easier said than done.

The bottom line is that we feel refreshed.  We've had a break from the normal routine and we are ready to get back at it on Monday.  I think it is the blessing of resting on the Lord's day.

Now I realize that by posting this I may be asking for it.  Kate may wake up super grumpy, Callie may have on her "I'm training to be a lawyer and argue with everything" hat and I may wake up later than I should and not have any motivation.  It has happened. :)  And that's okay.  We will get a do over on Tuesday.

His mercies are new every morning!

{This Moment}

 their first salt dough project

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Freedom

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is the freedom that we have as a family.


{Sorry if you thought I was going to write about politics.  That will probably never happen!}

Monday night, I was checking Facebook and a friend mentioned that on Tuesday Conner Prairie would be offering free admission.  Conner Prairie has always been Callie's favorite field trip destination and is becoming one of Kate's favorites too. 

Every summer I work very hard on planning our days of learning.  What books we will read, what artist we will learn about, etc.  I write it all down nice and neat on paper what we will do and when.
Today's plan said nothing about Conner Prairie or the 1800's.  We are studying the Medieval period this year.

This is where the freedom comes in.  Who cares what the schedule says?!  Conner Prairie is a great place to learn and enjoy a day of being out doors.  We are not bound to my well laid out plans.  We certainly aren't bound to the plans of anyone else.  If Cameron wants us to spend a morning riding in the car with him, we grab our books and we go.  I could probably go on and on, but I won't.

This is what Callie did most of the time. Take her own pictures. She doesn't do all of the cute things anymore.

  in a covered wagon

The bottom line is that we had a wonderful day learning and I'm so thankful to have the freedom to be spontaneous.

I think Callie is doing her own blog post about it with a lot of pictures that she took. 

Finally

I've been hearing for weeks, "When will we have ballet?" or "When is my ballet?"

Both girls are very happy now.

{This Moment}

 

playing around in the barn

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needle & thREAD

I get to accomplish two things with this post.  First day of school reenactment pictures and joining Elizabeth's sewing party.

Cameron brought a book home for me from the library called "Love in a Time of Homeschooling:  A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon Year" by Laura Brodie.  It was very interesting and I finished it quickly.  This is not your typical "how to" or "why to" home school kind of book.  This is a memoir of how their one year of homeschooling went and why they did it. 

The girls skirts were actually finished a couple of weeks ago, but they both wore them for the first day of school field trip.  Those pictures are gone now so we had to pretend today.

 I have no idea what the head covering is about!

 We had a little fun playing around with the camera and posing for the camera

Callie's skirt pattern is from Sew What You Love by Tanya Whelan.  I really liked this book and kept if from the library for quite a while.  It had all kinds of patterns and good clear directions.  Kate's skirt is an Oliver+S pattern.  The sailor skirt I think.  There is a really cute top too, but it was too hot today for that as it has long sleeves.

Cameras Falling From the Sky

I don't even know where to start!

In the past three days we have received, not one, but two cameras.  Anonymously! 

The first one we figured out and made the appropriate phone calls to say thank you, but the other has us totally stumped and humbled.

The first was from a relative and it was a very sweet thing for them to do.  The second was delivered by a total stranger holding a gift bag.  I wasn't home, but when I got home everyone ran to the kitchen to tell me all about it.

I didn't feel like we deserved the first gift and I totally don't feel like we deserved two!!

It has been quite exciting around here and it has been wonderful to tell the girls that this is an example of how God gives us good gifts whether we deserve them or not.  Not only will Callie have a camera again, but the second camera is the very one that she has been wanting for a while now anyway. 
We would like to say a huge thank you to whoever sent that camera to our front porch.

I promise to get some pictures of two cute girls on here ASAP!