August 2012 What a Month!

My niece, Grace, was married in Mississippi.

 

I began to face the reality of my kitchen.

Henry goes to Kindergarten.

Henry turns 6.

Eric continued his creative skills.

Football season begins.

Eric is in the middle. Grey shirt.

Books, books, books.

6 years old, the shirt is so him.

Waiting for the bus

Cupcakes for Henry's class

At lunch

I need a dog.

Getting ready for first Junior American Citizens Club!

Book Club

I'm going to give this a try. I've been wanting to better understand classical stories, about Odysseus & ancient Greek Mythology. Edie's first suggested read is The Odyssey by Homer. I have the suggested version already, so I'm set.
Along with all of the pinterest organization ideas, I'll be trying to create more ways to be accountable to the homework of classical after-schooling. Yes, we are continuing our reading, encouraged by the reading logs sent home, whether by minutes for a 3rd grader or by books for a kindergartener.
We are also using Our Spiritual Heritage to continue the grammar of the Bible. Yesterday we practiced the list of the Judges with a wonderful song. I'll try to provide a recording/lyrics and a tune.  It's perfect with a memory cue for the judges cycle of disobedience.
I love the classical method, and I'm not leaving it behind.

If you want to join with Edie at LifeinGrace, follow this link to learn more about the book club. I'm in.

Ancient History Reading for Kids & Monkey Bread

After the big change from home education to public, our reading material hasn't changed. We still have the same reading lists to accomplish, whether during the academic school year or throughout the summer.
At the top of our list are books like The Golden Fleece: and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, by Padraic Colum.



For sometime we have also had and read Colum's, The Children's Homer: The adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy. Both of these volumes are illustrated by Willy Pogany and have proven their award winning qualities to our household listening audience. The stories are simple in their wording, but capture the essence and the feel of Homer, poetic and fresh in feel. We must chart the path of all the characters using a  map/banner from National Geographic that includes both Greek and Roman characters, and illustrates the families of the ancient legends of mythology. (Coincidentally, Beautiful Feet Books has a great post about introducing Ancient literature to kids *here*. They mention these among other books that are favorites of ours.) I must admit. Ancient is my favorite.

It's Birthday Month around here. Jack turns 9, and Henry turns 6. Somehow 1 day events turn into month-long events, but I'm trying to use all my newly delegated energy into joyful celebration opportunities. So today I'm making monkeybread & giving Jack (birthday # 1) a Greek god tatoo book, and a Greek & Roman coloring book. We've already done rock crystals this week, and colored side-walk chalk. And I think there has been a little bionical action figure accumulation going on. But I think the monkey bread is going to be the winner. BTW, I did not follow the recipe here, but I was inspired by the link above to make it... and yes it was from Pinterest. (smile)



Education - Formal & Informal

Finding my voice in this should be easy. I remember reading a fellow bloggers post one time, where she confidentally discussed the big change from homeschool to their choice to enroll their kids in an outside home option. It feels to me like changing skin. In some ways. In some ways not. What does feel right is the need to push through to see the half-full facts. I'm confident, but I'm exausted & nothing feels completely confident when you're exausted. When nay-sayers come from either side, I want to scream, 'don't you think that went through my head a million times?' And even the proponents comments can lead me to think 'but I didn't want that!' It leaves me feeling sorry for snakes who must molt.
Half-full.
Every parent who is actually parenting, is considering what is best for their children. And that's what we've done. So the kids will be attending the local public school. I'm confident in the choice. If you have walked through our last two years closely, you know we've struggled. Moving is a struggle. Change is a struggle. But we know this is the best for us. Right now.
So instead of 'deleting' the previous post about my school room, I plan to leave it. It shows how quickly life can change. How specific and sometimes drastic life can change.

Half-full. Eyes up. Looking ahead. Embracing with everything I've got the opportunity & options available to me in my charmed, blessed existence.