Well, if I have any pictures of anything I might have been doing for the past week and a half, they are still on my camera, so aren’t getting put in this post anyway.  Sorry.  Just been lazy about the picture thing.  Even when I have wanted to take pictures for some event, I would forget until afterward, duh!  Slap me in the head, I know!

I havn’t been all that busy anyway, really.  I have been mostly trying to focus on getting my homeschooling groove back and helping each of the boys get what they need outta of the rest of this years school work.    Next month I am purchasing Teaching Textbook Mathematics Grade 4 for T.’s math next year and B. will be enrolled in Keystone National High or Middle School program for 8/9th grade.  T. and I have been waking to our morning circle time, which has been greatly modified thanks to the sharing from mudmama at http://brilliantstarblog.blogspot.com/ .  She brought to light some great circle time work that would really benefit T. greatly in many aspects.  I am going to purchase a couple books soon, The Extra Lesson and Take Time.  Both seem to be packed with really helpful movement exercises that address several difficulties T. presents.  After our circle time, we have managed to get quite a lot of written school work done with the work books.  Today, I actually got him to agree to fill in some of his Main Lesson Book with Titles and drawings of previously worked with Old Testament stories.  Today, he received the letter from Grandmother saying that she will be arriving in two weeks, so let the Native American Studies Commence!  I hope it is fun for him.  B., we are going crazy getting him out of the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.  I just really needed to go over the last few major points in the late Middles Ages and have him get it down in his Main Lesson Book, before moving on.  I am not sure what I am going to cover quite yet, but I feel we won’t be for wanting for great topics during this time period.   We are also kicking butt in our mathematics.  He really needed a kick in the butt to find the relevance and need of his studies with math.  He finally figured it out and has cranked out his fractions work and picked up Geometry, Algebra and Decimals all at once.  I hope he doesn’t burn out, cause he is really having a good time with it all.  He is loving his construction work with Geometry.  Now, I am also pushing him to create beauty in his Main  Lesson Books, which he has not understood or seen in the past.  So, I ran through lots of websites, including my favorite and local waldorf blog http://harmonyvalley.blogspot.com/  to show him other work in Main Lesson Books.  I hope it frees his mind up to being more creative with his pages.  It would be really nice to see.  B. has been appointed, Bottom, in the MidSummer Nights Dream homeschool play that will perform this summer in a few locations including!! http://www.nyfairiefest.com/.  I think this is really cool!!  A local friend of the boys, Bill Thorpe and many other folk worked together to create this ren type festival.  We are looking forward to it!!

The boys have been particpating in a Gym class located in PA, every Thurs.  It will end soon for the summer, but we are definitely particpating next year as well.  They get so much out of this structured fun.  B. is supposed to be obtaining his Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do soon, but I am thinking of holding it off until I see more maturity in him.  I don’t think he is ready, even though he may perform the katas correctly and such, I have more value in his discipline than the belt.  So, I must speak with his Master.  I am not fond of talking to folks in general, so instructors of any kind make me even more put off.  It should be interesting to see how long I can procrastinate this discussion.

Bigger News!  T. turned 10 years old on the 21st.  He spent the morning after school work playing at our local Discovery Center.  This weekend we celebrate his birthday with a party!  The theme is knights.  We are having a joust and creating shields.  Slaying a dragon and searching for the Dragons eggs.  Hunting for the hidden treasure.  All will be fun and Gluten Free Casein Free!  It should be fun!!

And!  My dear friend Sander is visiting us from Montreal, Canada for the week!  This makes me very happy.

Must hit the sack now, so I can keep up the pace of school work around here.  Thanks to Gnome Home Radio found at www.alittlegardenflower.com to  help motivate me to get my shite together.

I’ve gotten some emails asking about what its like to have a large family…I remember the days when I thought a large family was 3 or 4 children…now I think of that as an average size family. Funny how your paradigm shifts as your circumstances change.
We have 6 children at home. My husband has two older sons from a previous marriage. One of our girls absolutely adores her oldest brother. Abby has always been fond of Al. He’s a man’s man…very macho, very industrious, always busy and working on some project around the house. Doesn’t say a lot but is always available to help out in a pinch. When the tornado came through a few years ago he was over the next day with his generator, chain saws, ATV’s and trailers, helping to cut up the fallen trees and remove the brush…really helped us clean up so we could leave…the trees had fallen across our driveway and we couldn’t leave the property to go to the store.
The second oldest is Andy…He was in his mid teens when we started our second family. So of the 2 older boys Andy is the one that the children feel closest to because he’s spent the most time at home and is the most involved in their lives. Every time Andy comes home the house is filled with shouts of joy and he is greeted with hugs and kisses and karate attacks and wrestling moves from Joshua (his version of a “Hey, its great to see you!”)
Yes we have 6 children. We’ve also miscarried 2 babies. No we aren’t Catholic, not that there is anything wrong with being so. But we do get asked that often.
No we didn’t plan to have a large family and we did try various forms of BC but for all kinds of health reasons, abstaining and the “rhythm method” worked best for us…When we got pregnant with Annabeth, and folks started making comments we just shrugged and my husband says “We don’t know what’s causing it”.
We LOVE children and even though its hard work, challenging and at times controlled chaos, we really enjoy being parents.
Termination of any of our pregnancies was unthinkable for us.
We would like to adopt. I HATE morning sickness. I mean I really feel an intense dislike for the first trimester. Give me a few hours of labor over 6 weeks of nausea and vomiting any day!!!
We do home educate our children and that can add a bit of demand on Momma. Without that “break” while the children are in school, you do have to get creative and look for other ways to recharge your batteries. But I do enjoy my children. And as I look about it seems like not many parents around me can honestly say that about their own kids. Each of my children are unique and have their own personality bents and quirks and I’d have to say that I just about prefer their company to that of anyone else. They are truly remarkable people. they are intelligent, funny, entertaining, witty, clever and engaging. A real delight to be around most of the time.
We have our days when I think…if this doesn’t get better soon I’m going to have to turn that one __________ into a little greasy spot on the floor.
But overall those days are few and far between.
Having a large family does take some organizing to get everything done…attending to the house and all it demands, making sure that all those important mother/daughter and mother/son conversations don’t fall through the cracks, running the errands and making sure everyone is eating healthy and growing on target, paying the bills and grocery shopping is an event all by itself.
I’m not Kate Gosselin, I wish I had 1/2 her energy and organizational skill set. Nor am I Michelle Dugger. I just don’t think I can handle more than the ones that I have. …although I said that about 3, then about 4 and again about 5…I guess you can handle as many as you have.
We have finally been able to get a 15 passenger van. So for the first time since Anna’s birth we can all ride together as a family.
We don’t live in a large house, There are times when we are “on top of each other”. Our home is a little less that 2000 sq feet…for 8 people and not a lot of storage space that can be tough. We manage though.
We are praying for a place in the country, with some acreage where we can have a small farm and live more off the land than we are able to do now.
If you have a large family or are thinking about planning for one and are interested in support and encouragement (from a Christian perspective) Above Rubies is a free (you can donate) magazine written specially for large christian families.

We started a unit on problem solving today.  (Yes on a Sunday, don’t tell the kids that it was school though, they thought it was a game.)  I have several problems lined up for them to solve, but I am still looking for more.  If you have any ideas, please leave a comment.

Cold and Hot jars:  This one was way to easy for Dearie, but it was fun for everyone.  I put two jars on the table, one full of hot water and the other was full of cold water.  Without touching either jar the girls had to figure out which was which. 

—They did this one very quickly.  They saw steam rising from the hot jar and knew that it was hot.  When I demanded proof they put a thermometer in each one and proved it.  Then I dropped a few drops of  food coloring in each one and we watched as the hot water turned pink much quicker than the cold water did.

Take the animals across the bridge:  I will ask the girls to bring me a stuffed rabbit, a stuffed dog, and a stuffed horse.  Then I will grab two boxes and we will go across the creek.  I will put a box on each side of the creek and tell the girls that they have to move all three animals across the creek.  The rules are that only one girl can move animals, and she can carry only one animal at a time.  The rabbit cannot be left with the dog (dogs eat rabbits) or with the horse (rabbits scare horses).  This is an old puzzle, I originally heard it as a man in a boat and the animals were different, but the logic is still the same.  It will be interesting to see how they solve this one.

The girls liked Sunday’s activity so much that they were begging for more. (I don’t think that these activities will last us two weeks!)  I refused to give them another activity, but I did tell them about today’s activity so that they could think about it.  This morning we had to leave early, and in the car the girls were talking about how to get the animals across the bridge.  Dearie was using stickers to act it out (they were in their car seats), and everyone was trying to figure it out.  I gave a hint, “If you are standing there with the animals they can be together.”   All of a sudden Honey says, “I got it!”   And she did have it.  When we got home, we went into the backyard and acted it out.  Kiddo carried her rabbit across and left it in the box, then she went back and got the dog, carried it across and put it in the box and got out the rabbit.  She carried the rabbit back and traded it for the horse and then carried the horse across.  Then she went back and got the rabbit.  Each girl had a turn acting it out and then I gave them some variations. 

I gave the girls a “pass” and said that the pass will get any combination of three girls or animals across the bridge.   They could never have more animal than people, or more people than animals, but only people or only animals would be ok.  They applied this rule to both sides, but not to the bridge.  It did not take them long to figure that one out.  So then I told them that the rule applies to the bridge as well.  They needed the hint that the animals could walk on their own (they are stuffed and the girls had been carrying them), but they quickly got this one too.  They can’t wait for tomorrow’s puzzle!

Get the paper towel wet:  I will put a paper towel down on the ground and on it I will place a salad dressing jar that is 3/4 full of water.  I will tell the girls that they need to get the paper towel wet and that they are not allowed to touch the jar or the paper towel.  The jar is also not allowed to be tipped over.  I expect that this one will take them a while to figure out, but I’m sure that they will.  I have read them the Aesop fable about the crow how drops rocks in the water to raise the water level, but I’m not sure that they will remember it.

Get the paper towel wet 2:  If they use rocks the first time, I will put the jar on the driveway and draw a big square around it.  (I will also make sure that  there just happens to be a stick in the square.  There are a lot of sticks around here so that shouldn’t be a problem.)  They will have the same instructions as before, but this time they are only allowed to use what is in the square.   —– If they use the stick the first time, I will still draw a square, but I will make sure that the square has rocks in it.  ——  If they come up with some other method, then I will just let them go at it again, with instructions to do it a different way.

Counting by 1s, 2s, and 3s:  For this challenge, I will give the girls felt squares with the numbers 1-12 written on them.   Then I will tell them to line the numbers up so that while holding hands, and each girl moving only one square at a time, they can each move as follows: Dearie by 3s, Honey by 2s, and Kiddo by 1s.  This one will be as much about cooperation as it is about logic.

Squared X:  I will draw a square on the driveway and then draw an X inside it.  I will tell the girls to walk on all lines, but to only walk on each line once.  This is not possible, and it will be interesting to see how they react to it.

Moving marbles:  For this one, I will put 15 marbles on the deck and 10 rocks on the ground.  The girls will be given a bucket and told these rules.  1) The bucket has to have 3 rocks or marbles in it to go up.  2) It has to have 5 rocks or marbles in it to go down.  3) The bucket can not go up or down if it is empty.  4) Move all of the rocks to the deck, and all of the marbles to the ground.  — This is one that I think that I will have them work it out with paper dots before they start.  It could take a really long time otherwise.

I will add to this post as we do the activities.  You will find how the kids did in red.

A few weeks ago I received an email about homeschooling. Basically asking why we choose to home school and how we do it. Since then I’ve started writing this post no less than 4 times. However, I’ve deleted every.single.one. It’s a complex issue for me. I have a love/hate relationship with homeschooling really. The time homeschooling allows me to spend with my children is priceless. It is for a season that our children are at home and I want to cherish every minute with them. Do I actually cherish every minute? Not always. None of us are perfect. We have really ugly moments where I want to load them up and enroll them in the local public school…..and they want to go! However, we always get past it. Overall, my kids love it and neither really wants to attend a ‘regular’ school.

My husband and I have chosen to homeschool for moral and religious reasons. That said, we are not a radical family. My children are somewhat normal, active members of society.  You probably would not be able to pick my kids out of a crowd as home schoolers unless you talked with them. They blend well and ’socialization’ is not a problem. Btw, that ’socialization’ issue is old. Please look up the definition of the word. Thankyouverymuch.

Instead of discussing more our why’s, I’ll just tell you what a normal day looks like in our home school.

7-730 kids do chores (personal responsibilities, we call them) / mom makes breakfast

730-8 kids eat / mom reads devotion

8-9 dd corrects any work that needs it, Bible / ds math / mom eats, cleans kitchen, starts laundry

9-10 dd math / ds history / mom helps dd with math

10-1030 kids break & snack / mom exercises

1030-1100 dd finishes math / ds completes any unfishned work (or reads) / mom exercises or does laundry

11-12 dd history / ds spelling or penmanship / mom with ds

12-1 lunch & read aloud or free reading time for kids / mom eats, cleans, reads/blogs

1-2 dd language arts / ds reading / mom with dd

2-3 dd science / ds language arts / mom assorted chores

3-4 dd Spanish / ds Scout book & projects / mom assorted chores

4-5 kids personal responsibilities / mom dinner prep

5-6 kids free time / mom dinner or chores

6-7 dinner as a family

7-8 kids free time / mom clean up

8-9 kids free or reading time in bedrooms

9-7 lights out!

This is our guidline. It’s rare that we follow it exactly, real life just doesn’t work that way! However, I must say that having the schedule has helped us all tremendously!  We are more focused and have much more free time.

In addition to the basics, we are also involved in a local homeschooling co-op. Some of the classes they’ve taken over the years include drama, band, guitar, Musikgarten, Cub Scouts, home economics, science labs, Spanish, and soccer. My daughter volunteers at church occasionally and is active in choir and youth. My son is a homebody and prefers not to be involved in as many activities. We certainly don’t mind that! 

While I support and encourage homeschooling, I also realize it is not for every family. If you have more questions, I will be happy to reply to your emails!

ClickandClimb team welcomes all the homeschooling families who are getting started with the fall curriculum after the much deserved Summer break! Our tutors are as excited for the upcoming academic year as you are.