The Simple Woman's Daybook

I found this really cool blog on Blue Sky's and Dragonfly's blog and though it would be a nice addition to my rarely used blog. Here it is http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

FOR TODAY


Outside my window...The last bit of sweet smelling honeysuckles. I love that sweet heady scent as I open my front door.

I am thinking...about really beginning a journal. Using it to record my daily life of raising children, homeschooling, simple living and most of all my walk with God. I'm thinking about food storage and healthy meal planning, bible study and friendships.

I am thankful for...the many blessing Source brings to me each day. It this moment I am so thankful for my health and the health of my family.

From the learning rooms...I am reading and practicing Jodi Mesler's Living Music From the Heart vol 1 and 2 trying to get ready for Fall lessons to start again.

From the kitchen...trying to figure out how much food can fit in our pantry and how much it will cost to buy it. Food storage stresses me out. I feel conflicted about buying a bunch of canned and dehydrated foods because we enjoy eating fresh or frozen fruits and veggies. I can't see buying what i will only use in emergency and buying my normal groceries too. How do people afford that. I know to go slow and build over time but that so goes against my temperament. I'm praying for peace of mind and a clear plan. I am reminded that i have one that i am choosing not to follow..lol

I am wearing...My very favorite black gauze capri's and a bright yellow Mormon Helping Hands shirt I got for participating in a community service day with the church. It was so much fun and really strengthened our family bonds.

I am creating... Lesson plans! Always seem to be creating lesson plans.

I am going...to get a new journal, i have one in mind i seen a few days ago.

I am reading...The LDS Quad. Chris and i have a wonderful Bible study outline that we are doing together.

I am hoping...to be surprised with a nice camcorder to record our family and our days on the farm.

I am hearing...silence, the buzz of the little window A/C unit trying its best to keep our living room cool on this rather hot day.

Around the house...I see clutter as we are learning to fit in this tiny house that we love so much.

One of my favorite things...is going out to the barn. I love the way the animals run up to great me. I know they are looking for food but i love it. I love that my children love me so much that they follow me everywhere i go, even the bathroom (though we are working on giving mommy some privacy...my husband is trying hard too..lol)

A few plans for the rest of the week: Get ready for a yard sale!

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...This is the temple where I live. I like to look at it (and others) and imagine the beauty and grace that one must feel when they enter. Chris and I have about 11 more months before we can go. This picture reminds me of our goal to get our temple recommend and what we must do to get it.

Clucky Ladies

Living in a house with a bunch of boys isn't always fun. There is always pee on the the floor and the toilet seat left up, smelly aromas that follow disturbing noises in the the night AND in the day. Luckily Baby Lillie and the Clucky Ladies are helping me shift the male dominate energy of the house. We shall over come!

As you may see the Clucky Ladies aka The 5 Rhode Island Reds has out grown there inside home and have now been moved outdoors. I guess it is up to Lillie and I now. She looks worried but I am not afraid.

Malachi and his Clay Creations

My oldest son has loved working with clay since he was about 4 years old. Here are some photos of  a  few of his creations. Some are from main lesson work and some from his love of all things Pokemon.

This one if from his first attempt at making a claymation movie.

This is the totem pole he made while studying the NW Pacific Indians in 3rd grade.

This is my absolute favorite! He is sculpting a pyramid being made by the Hebrew slaves. Inside is a sarcophagus of the Pharaoh with a mummy inside of it. Malachi only uses non hardening Everything's A Dollar $1 a pack clay. He made this mummy from the inside out. It has organs and skin under the mummy wrappings. I snapped this picture right before I went into a session with a client. (Malachi was homeschooled at work with me until i shut the business down.) When i came out of the session 1 hour later he had destroyed it saying he had ran out of brown! Oh! I was heart broken. It was truly an amazing piece and i only snapped this one picture. I wish I could have captured more of the detail. Perhaps he will recreate a version of it next year while we study Ancient Egypt (Gr5).                           

This piece is from another clayanamation movie he made. If i figure out how to post movies I will add it.

This is one of his Pokemon carrying a Lego person. If Malachi was sitting beside me right now he would be pointing out his name and such, but he is off with his Dad this weekend. (I may have to edit when he returns)

And this is my boy. Sneaky little guy. I was cooking something and looked down to see him looking up at me like this. Sometimes he just freaks me out! I love him so much.

Viking Ships and Spiral Graphs

This week Malachi and I studied the Vikings. We learned about Lief the Red and his travels along with artifacts and the ever popular Viking Long Boat. Here we are build one out of recycled juice cartons, straws, paper bags and tiny dowel rods.
Trinity wasn't about to let this building opportunity pass him buy. He grabbed up his half of the juice carton and got to work!

We finished up our ships and the boys set sail!

Later in the week we worked on spiral graphs. The boys had great fun discovering the different patterns that can be made using the circle shapes and different hole positions. Here they are showing off there work.

Recap of our year

WOW, It is April already! This school year started out looking great. I planned and planned and wrote out lessons, had tons of amazing ideas. The world held such promise. Then our life took a turn, a good turn that entailed many changes. We began renovating my sisters old cottage house near my hometown. What a project! Chris and I had never done work like that before. We hung drywall, bead board, put down new floors and carpet...this house is over 100 years old and there is no such thing as square in this house. So we finished in December just in time to cram our 1200 sq ft worth of stuff into our new to us 750 sq ft home. God love us!
In the mean time school was put on hold. I had to rearrange my wonderful plans, not to mention my 6yo was not as ready for first grade as i thought he was going to be and my 10 yo began to display or better I say I finally realized his reluctance to reading and writing has roots in dyslexia. SO...I was back in the planning mode when i wasn't cutting and measuring at the little house. Our rhythm was shot, but i had high hopes to get it back once things settled down. But you know what, it never did.
Perhaps a week after we moved in, Christmas Eve, I got a phone call that my mother was in the hospital. ICU. My sister and I would look heartless to anyone who doesn't know this pattern, exhaled and gave a half eye roll. Her Spirit visited me that night though as i tried to sleep, she was scared and needed me. I went to her the next day to find her so frail. I had never seen her so sick. She had sores on her body and tubes everywhere. She was barley alive. A few days later they were telling us we needed to make decisions about her life support. This may have been the hardest day. Well actually the night before was the worse, going into the hospital was hard. We had made our decisions and bravely walked into her room and the woman opened her eyes and looked at us! I was filled with such a great happiness and an equally horrifying sorrow.
Now it is time (my scheduled, preplanned time) for school to begin again; First Monday in January 2010! That Monday the boys and i spent running from hospital, to lawyer to social security office etc. In efforts to help mother. And it has been that way pretty much ever since.
Over the last 2-3 weeks as her rehab has taken her from bedridden to independant, and my generosity has moved into resentment, my visits are now down to once a week. We got 2 days into our rhythm before Lillie came to stay with us. Uprooted again! So here we are. Still trying to have somewhat of a school day. The boys did learn how to ride bikes, a task of healing for Malachi. We are getting outside now that the weather is warm. We are raising chicks, 5 Rhode Island Reds. Building a chicken coop and loving every bit of life that we can.

Introducing Lillie

This is Lillie, my 5 week old great niece. Most mornings until mid to late afternoon, I am blessed to be the care giver of this precious little one. She arrives early, before my children wake. We enjoy a bottle and cuddle while listening to lullabies. She reminds me of the simple times, being a new and single mom to Malachi. Oh, how we would rock and nurse the day away. Lillie has reminded me that my boys, my babes are still so small. Of course now they are 6 and 10 years old and growing like sunflowers but i look into Lillie's eyes and remember. Ah..my babies, and I am thankful they still need me. She reminds me that just as i cater to her needs with love and openness in my heart I too need to show the same love and openness to my sons. There needs and the way they express them may be different than this lovely little girl but they are equally important.

Here are my boys helping mom out while she needed a potty break.

Our Daily Schedule

Malachi & Trinity’s Daily Lessons

Malachi: Copy work from ‘In the Light of a Child’ verse of the week

Bedtime stories from ‘The Children of Odin’

Daily Math and Grammar drills

Form Drawing on Mondays

Trinity: Aesop’s ABC’s – One letter per week using the three day rhythm

Bedtime stories from ‘The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh’

Letter reinforcement using ‘LMNOP and all the letters A to Z’

Letter sound reinforcement through poems, songs and tongue twisters

Daily Rhythm:

Mondays: new story//modeling with wax or clay//handiwork

Tuesdays: retell and illustrate story/cook or bake//practice penny whistle

Wednesday: retell story and practice concepts (use lmnop, poems, songs) (write summary)(play games)//handiwork

Thursday: Take a small walk together, review week and MLB/paint/practice penny whistle//do service work and be social

Malachi’s Block Schedule: Oct-geography/local/state history, Nov-math

Monday 9/28/09

Trinity: (A) Archer and the Lion Model lion with bees wax Begin to finger knit a handle for nature bag
Malachi: Form of the week- circular/directional forms Story of our land; walk around neighborhood, drive around town, notice the changes in the land from home to Otisco. Go to overlook and see the lay of the land. Continue knitting scarf
Tuesday 9/29/09

Trinity: Retell story, show the A in the picture, draw together Cook apples today for snack or dessert Practice Penny lesson 2
Malachi: Visit the Falls of the Ohio, explore the land and learn what it was like before and after the glaciers, how did it carve our land. Draw in MLB what our land looks like Cook choice for lunch Practice Penny lesson 2
Wednesday 9/30/09

Trinity: retell story, practice A sounds with a song, read poem, read A from LMNOP play a math game today gather material for nature bag
Malachi: Make up a story about how our land came to be; make a model representing our land. Play Earthopoly Continue working on scarf
Thursday 10/01/09

Trinity: Review MLB and stories for the week mom-Paint a night sky, use reverse painting to pull out stars and letter A Paint an apple Practice Penny lesson 2
Malachi: Write out geography terms to label ‘Our Land’ project Paint a beautiful landscape Practice Penny lesson 2
Monday 10/05/09

Trinity: (B) The Bee and Jupiter Model a bee with beeswax Begin to sew our nature bag
Malachi: Form of the week- circular/directional forms continue The First People: Shawnee Indians//Bison TrailPeople: Originally from the Ohio-Pennsylvania area, the Shawnee tribe was migratory, with villages scattered from Illinois to New York state and as far south as Georgia. They were rounded up and sent to Oklahoma by the US government in the nineteenth century, where 14,000 Shawnee Indians still live today. History: Kinfolk of the Lenape (whom they addressed as "grandfather"), the Shawnee tribe frequently moved from place to place, both willingly and under duress from Iroquois and colonial assailants. In the early 1800's, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa tried to unite the eastern tribes under the banner of pan-Indian unity. When this alliance was broken up by the Americans, the Shawnees were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma. They still live there today, in three distinct communities. Continue knitting scarf
Tuesday 10/06/09----Happy Birthday Malachi!!!

Trinity: Retell story, show the B in the picture, draw together Cook with honey today for snack or dessert Practice Penny lesson 3
Malachi: Visit the library and read stories about the Shawnee Draw in MLB the Shawnee tribe Cook choice for lunch perhaps a B-day cake Practice Penny lesson 3
Wednesday 10/07/09

Trinity: retell story, practice B sounds with a song, read poem, do tongue twisters, read B from LMNOP play a math game today put draw string in nature bag
Malachi: What was native life like, tell stories about what it was like growing up in the Shawnee tribe. Play Earthopoly Continue working on scarf/or native project
Thursday 10/08/09Trinity: Review MLB and stories for the week Paint a bumble bee Practice Penny lesson 3
Malachi: Write about the Shawnee Paint a teepee/bision Practice Penny lesson 3
Monday 10/12/09

Trinity: (C) The Cat and the Cock Model a cat or a cock with beeswax Begin to finger knit a necklace
Malachi: Form of the week- circular/directional forms continue Migration, Life among pioneers – Field trip to Spring Mills! On drive talk about what you think it was like to be a pioneer, what will we see Continue knitting scarf
Tuesday 10/13/09

Trinity: Retell story, show the C in the picture, draw together Make bread and butter today Practice Penny lesson 3
Malachi: What did you see yesterday, how would your life be different. What can we do to make our life more simple and produce less waste. Draw in MLB your favorite pioneer building Make bread and butter today Practice Penny lesson 3
Wednesday 10/14/09

Trinity: retell story, practice C sounds with a song, read poem, do tongue twister read C from LMNOP play a math game today put charm on necklace and give it to someone special
Malachi: Write about our trip Play Earthopoly Continue working on scarf
Thursday 10/15/09 ---Field Trip---Derby Dinner “Winnie the Pooh”

Trinity: Review MLB and stories for the week Paint a cat Practice Penny lesson 3
Malachi: finish up summary Paint the mill from pioneer village Practice Penny lesson 3
Monday 10/19/09

Trinity: (D) The Dog and his Reflection Model a dog beeswax Make our state flag
Malachi: Form of the week- circular/directional forms State History: Find out facts about Indiana, record them in your journal Make our state flag
Tuesday 10/20/09

Trinity: Retell story, show the D in the picture, draw together Cook donuts today for snack or dessert Practice Penny lesson 4
Malachi: Explore state map, read preamble to our constitution, continue state facts Draw a few maps in MLB Cook choice for lunch/or help Trinity Practice Penny lesson 4
Wednesday 10/21/09

Trinity: retell story, practice D sounds with a song, read poem, do tongue twisters read D from LMNOP play a math game today continue working on state flag
Malachi: Visit library, talk about George Rogers Clark, begin writing about state Play Earthopoly Continue working on flag
Thursday 10/22/09

Trinity: Review MLB and stories for the week Paint dog, duck, donkey?? Practice Penny lesson 4
Malachi: Write about George Rogers Clark and Indiana Paint the state bird Practice Penny Whistle