September 2015- 10 on 10

I missed out last month on 10 on 10. First I probably was barely above water and functioning due to being sick and I also didn't want to spoil why we had started school so early. Warning-All these months of not blogging, has brought out a chatty me. There is a lot of information. If you choose to just scroll through the pictures, I completely understand.


Today I took the time to document our day. It will be informational as well. Many times I hear from so many mothers that they could never home school. I completely understand. It is a daunting decision. I also know that it is SOO doable. You don't realize what you are capable of until you do it. I thought I would use today to show you what a typical day for us looks like.

Honestly, Anthony and I knew we would home school before we were married. It was just what we wanted. I did contemplate putting Eli in school. Then Common Core came through and that sealed the deal to continue homeschool. As I have seen, kids are being burned out on school or testing really. There are so many wonderful teachers and their hands are tied with government regulation and oversight.  I wanted more for my kids as long as I could do it. Yes, some days are tough, and financially it is not always the easiest. Do I think poorly of anybody else that does not choose to home school. Absolutely NOT!! It is a family decision that has to be made for you. Homeschooling is becoming more mainstream and honestly most areas have WONDERFUL communities.


I have talked several times about the type of education we use. We use a Charlotte Mason approach. It is different than most "school" you would think of. Our days are not filled with worksheets. In fact now I can't dream of giving my child a worksheet. Lessons are short. So you don't finish something that day oh well, you pick up the next day. It is also gentle. Formal learning really does not begin until 6. Yes letter tracing etc. can be done earlier, but it is not like what most kids in preschool these days do. Instead they spend hours outside playing and observing nature and studying it. Our work is filled with rich literature and what are known as living books. Instead of a child doing a worksheet or answering questions they are required to narrate what they read or what I read to them. This may seem easy, but many of the books are advanced literature so it is more difficult than you might think. We also fill our days with a feast from poetry, to classical music, paintings, and artists. Habits are big. We work on habits and character. It is an atmosphere. Sometimes I struggle to describe it, because it really is so different and people look at you like you are nuts. There are several places you can find curriculum guides for CM education. We use Ambleside Online. It is wonderful. I feel like I am getting a second education and loving it myself. 

Today was our normal Tuesday because of observing the holiday. Each day is a different subject and so it varies, but for the most part is the same as far as the schedule. Math, copywork, reading/ponics, morning breakfast routine, and outside time are done everyday. History, literature, geography, are given their own day. We start out sitting at breakfast together with our Bible reading, nursery rhyme, poetry by a poet for the term. This term we are reading Robert Louis Stevenson. We also do Spanish and work on memorization of a Bible Verse and Poem. Today was our composure study. For the term we have listened to Brahms. This may seem like a lot, but in all honesty we complete all of this in about 20 minutes.

This is Eli's first year of real formal learning. We did Math last year, the beginning phonics rules, and some readings. I was not really pushing much because I knew that 1st grade would be plenty for everything. I can't say we will do as much with Lilliana and Ari as we did with Eli. Truly that is because has always been advanced and needed that stimulation. They don't necessarily with their personalities.

After breakfast the kids get dressed, make beds, brush teeth, and we do a few chores. Today I had them vacuum the edge of the carpets and wash a few walls. The youngest two either color or trace letters in salt at this point. Lilliana is working on her name. Normally I would not even ask this. Penmanship should always be neat and so we don't usually start much until 6. I want quality over quantity. She has been begging so I agreed to let her do her name. She is doing well and we have several years to refine this.

Eli and I take this time to begin his work. The kids color play and trace their letters. They usually make up their own games and are happy to be left alone by Eli and I. Today is Geography day. We read a page in Paddle to the Sea. Then Eli filled in his map of what we learned and we watched a video about sawmills as Paddle landed at a sawmill today.

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After Paddle we did Math. Today was a short day for reading. We usually have two readings a day, but finished our other book so it was short. Math is both of our favorites. In school it was never mine and truly I blame that on the lack of fundamental skills that really are not taught well in elementary. A math curriculum was the hardest decision. I am thankful for the one we chose. It may be the most expensive, but wow have my skills improved greatly and Eli LOVES it just as much as I do if not more. If you are interested we use Right Start math.  After math we work on Phonics and reading with a very short lesson being 15 minutes. Eli really does not enjoy reading. That is pretty normal. A child will excel at either Math or Reading not usually both from what I have learned. He is definitely a math kid. He is doing well with reading though.


Science is not a curriculum with CM in the early years. Instead at this age they spend hours outside studying and identifying plants, insects, animals etc. They also have a nature book they draw in. Nature study we have found can be everywhere. This morning in particular our science study was two moths that had found their way in our house last night through an open screen that was not supposed to be opened. Ari told me all about it. He was the most excited, but the other kids learned things too.

For formal lessons that was our day. It really took Eli and I a total of an hour and that was playing a math card game together.

At that point I sent them outside to play until lunch.

After lunch the youngest two took naps and so did I. Before that Eli had his art lesson and also daily copywork. He usually copies from a poem or story. It is amazing how in just a few short weeks his handwriting has improved. He loves to draw also.

I failed at getting pictures until after our evening walk. I woke up very sick and so it was a chore to just get dinner on the table. A nice walk helped me though. 

September light is my favorite........

The best find of the night was the Monarch Caterpillar. We brought him home and learned so much more about Monarchs. They are actually dwindling in population so anytime you find one you should try to bring it and raise it in a protected area. We can't wait to draw him tomorrow and watch him the next couple of days. This is the atmosphere of education CM taught.

I hope I was able to show you how easy and doable homeschooling is. There are so many other wonderful curriculums available too. We love Charlotte Mason, but I know it is not for everybody. If you have considered it I hope I was an encouragement. I am happy to answer any questions you may have. 
Click on Jodi's link to follow this month's blog circle.http://people.jodimay.com/10-on-10-september-edition/

1,2,3.................

4!!!

Yep, Reuther baby #4 will be joining our family between March and April of 2016. This is why I have been so absent for the past few months. I have not felt well at all. I spent a year eliminating so many things from my diet to feel the best I could. Mentally it has been hard on me to not feel good and not be able to do anything. Before if I felt bad, I knew it was from eating junk, or not exercising. Thankfully I am finally feeling better. I have hope that my blood pressure stays good the entire time. I have worked so hard to be healthy the past year, that I am hoping it does the trick.

(This is not the clearest picture. I know it is out of focus, but it was the favorite so it is what I used, Today we heard the heartbeat for the first time and it is from that.)

The kids are so excited. They can finally tell everybody. They have kept this quiet since I was 6 weeks!! My 3 crazy monkeys have kept a secret for 6 weeks!!!!! They have been the best helpers I could ask for. Many days they have played so nicely while I was sick on the couch. They have endured not the best dinners (really they were thrilled as they were not healthy). They also have helped tremendously with the house chores. Usually we tell everybody right away because I have no torso and my stomach immediately begins showing. I can thank all my exercising to build my stomach muscles beforehand and I made it to 12 weeks without too much show. I popped this past week so we are finally telling. It has been a nice change to keep the secret. Consequently, I have hardly taken any belly photos like I usually do. This is the one photo I have taken at 11.5 weeks.




I say these things half joking and half not, because you know what you will get with comments....

1. Yep, we know how this happens, we obviously must like it.

2. Was this baby planned?-From what I have learned it doesn't matter what you plan, God always has a different plan.

3. That is a lot of kids!!-Yep, and if you knew Anthony and I we both always wanted 6 before we were married.

4. Are you done?-I have no idea. I am not making that decision at this point, although 3 weeks ago, yes. 

5. Are you having a hospital or home birth?- We of course are planning a home birth. I can't imagine any other way. I contemplated a hospital birth for a day. At this point I just can't do it. Of course even if something does happen and we have to go to the hospital it is just fine.


In case you have any other crazy comments or concerns....The one thing I learned from Ari is, a baby is ALWAYS a blessing even under the worst situations (neither of which were Ari or this baby). Trusting God's plan is always best. I can't begin to even tell you how many things have just fallen into place with this baby. I think it is truly because of  trusting God. We are thrilled and can't wait to add to our family.


The other big thing we have kept up on is school. Pretty much as soon as we found out we began school. Eli agreed it would be fun to get spring off when the weather was just breaking from Winter. We began in the middle of July and have been going strong since. This means we will finish the middle of March. I will post more about school in the coming days. I did take these photos several weeks ago for the beginning of this school year. I can't believe Eli is in 1st grade!!!

I love them so much and am so excited we are adding another to this crazy house.

Queen Ann's Lace-4

Per our tradition Lilliana and I took her pictures in the Queen Ann's Lace. I am so glad we started this tradition four years ago. It has been fun. I told her in the middle of the week we were going to do them. She woke up and told Anthony she didn't want to and could he play so we rescheduled for an evening when she wanted to do them. I have always done them in the early morning, but loved doing them at night this time too. The light is so different, but has always been nice. 

Since the firefly episode on her face she is terrified of bugs, so it took her a bit to warm up. She was looking and crying at any little movement. I almost gave up and decided we would settle for two pictures. Finally she calmed down and we had a great time.

Ari requested I take pictures of him. He actually thought we were going on a nature walk with the family we usually meet up with. He jumped out and ran around looking for them and then asked me confused where they were. 

Eli is losing all his teeth.

They are all getting so big, and we are enjoying them at this stage even with some of the craziness that comes with the age. 

Summer

Summer is and has been in full swing for a good two months now. We are enjoying all of it. I have spent a large majority homeschool planning, but thankfully that is done. It has finally warmed up and the kids are enjoying afternoons of water balloons thanks to Grandma. The mosquitoes have come out in full force which has not always made our evenings pleasant like they were in May. That being said, we have loved nights of jumping on the trampoline.

This picture of Eli and James is kind of sad. I am glad I captured it that night. James has been missing since right before July 4th. He was a sneaky cat and I worry he got in somewhere and could not get out. We tried to keep him inside for a long time. Unfortunately he had made the rounds to different places it sounded like for a couple of years. The kids miss him and so do I.

Eli spent a week at summer day camp in June. He really loved it. He did not want to go at first. We told him he had to try it. Everyday I drove him to our church for the day. The most I could gather from his days and the pictures they posted was he spent a lot of time at the water activities. This does not surprise me. He had two great counselors. 

I was able to go the last day and watch some of the songs they learned and enjoy a few minutes of his week. He did not want me taking pictures. The kids were all jumping around singing in front of us. Eli stood there still as a statue and did not want to have any part of it. He really does not enjoy performing in front of others. He did better when they broke into smaller groups.

They all get a character award from their counselor. I was very proud of him for his award. It really shows who Eli is. He has such wonderful FAITH. 

We did sparklers on the 4th. The older two did fine. Ari pretty much just threw his on the ground. He did not enjoy it. 

We have spent a lot of time doing nature study also. One particular morning we found this moth thinking it was a dried up leaf. It flew and  landed on my phone so we left it there to study.

It happens to be a yellow necked caterpillar moth.

It gets dark so late the kids don't always get to enjoy the firefly show. The other night we let them stay up to watch. Then it turned into going out and catching them. I indulged. They loved it. Well I should say, Ari loved the freedom to run and jump. Lilliana liked the idea until one flew on her face so she screamed bloody murder and is now scared of them. Eli really enjoyed them and caught a bunch. He wanted to see if they would light up. I tried telling them they would probably die if he kept them inside over night. Unfortunately they did. He had fun though. 

Needless to say we are enjoying everything summer.