Other updates

Dan's dad recently installed this counter top for us in the laundry room. It is working well and I've actually folded a few loads of laundry on it shortly after the load was dry. It's amazing how much better the laundry looks when it doesn't sit in a basket for several days. Dan brought home 2 shelves from his parent's house this weekend; we need to buy a few more and put up the shelves so that I have more storage space and the laundry room can actually be organized.

In other news, I spent Sunday afternoon working on our schedule as outlined in the Managers of Their Homes book I bought at the MACHE conference. Today is our first day using it and it is going really well. We are completely done with school for the day and the kids are having free time (me too). I still have to work on a bit of a different schedule for Wednesdays when we have piano lessons and for the days after I work. I also need to work on assigning chores to each of the kids so that they know exactly what is expected of them during their chore times.

Weekly Update

History: We read about the Nazca people which made drawings in the ground that could only be seen from an airplane. Historians speculate that they used mathematical calculations to make these drawings although no one really knows why since airplanes weren't even invented at the time (around 200 BC). We also learned the legend of Romulus and Remus and began studying the rise of Rome.

Science: We finished our chapter on Jupiter. One of Jupiter's moons is a greenish color due to the volcanoes that spew forth sulfuric acid.

Math: Ellie and Kara each did several lessons. Ellie has been doing a few Singapore math lessons along with her Saxon so as to increase her mental math abilities.

English: Ellie is learning about adverbs and Kara is learning about verbs.

Reading: Ellie drew a picture to depict a scene from the last book that she read--Around the World in 80 Days (see pic below). She is now reading a book about the founders of the Salvation Army.

Art/Music: We reviewed our hymns and started learning O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing. They also did 3 pages in their How Great Thou Art books (see examples below).

MACHE Conference

Last weekend we were privileged to be able to attend the MACHE Homeschool Conference in Duluth. It was wonderful!! It was great for Dan and I to reconnect since he has been mostly absent for the last 6 months. He really needed a break and I really needed to be with him.

We arrived in Duluth on Thursday night around 10:30 after dropping the kids off at John and Erika's in St. Paul. (Dan's parents picked them up Friday evening and took them to our house). We've never driven into Duluth at night but it was a beautiful sight. The bridge that goes from Minnesota to Wisconsin is lit up at night and very pretty. We stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown. Due to Dan's platinum status at Holiday Inns (due to all his traveling), we were on the 16th (top) floor with a view overlooking the harbor and the aerial lift bridge. I was hoping for a gorgeous sunrise on one of the days but no luck. Friday morning was the only morning with the hope of a beautiful sunrise as Saturday it was cloudy/rainy and Sunday morning it was so foggy we couldn't even see the lake.

We went to breakfast at the Amazing Grace Bakery and Cafe on Friday morning--one of our favorite places to eat in Duluth. About 1/2 way through breakfast, my cell phone rang. It was Erika. Darin was under the weather. He had gotten up and was having the dry heaves. Never a thing you want to hear as a parent especially when someone else is taking care of your kids. I was hoping it was just a Darin thing (he has a few GI issues) and that I hadn't brought illness on the whole household. I called later in the day and found out that he perked up later (after having thrown up later in the morning). Thankfully no one else got sick, at least not that Erika has told me.

When we arrived at the conference, after picking up our registration info, we headed over to the used curriculum area. Never again. It was way too disorganized and in too small of a space. Also, most of the curriculum that was being sold was either really old or not something that I use. I didn't find much that those who school classically use--mostly Abeka stuff. And the stuff that I might buy was only $1 or $2 less than new so definitely not worth the hordes of people. We left there quickly after running into a few friends from Rochester.

We headed on over to the exhibitor booths, browsed there for awhile and bought a few things. We had time to run those back to the hotel room before our first workshop so that I wouldn't have to carry around a heavy bag all day.

Dan and I went to several workshops on Friday and Saturday. Sometimes we went to the same one and at other times we split up. The keynote speaker was Dr. Jeff Myers. He was an excellent speaker and talked about passing the baton to the next generation. He had a very polished delivery, was funny and was also very transparent. He told great stories. He teaches at a small Christian college in Tennessee--Bryan College.

I went to a few of the seminars offered by Steve and Teri Maxwell of Titus 2 Ministries. I bought 2 of their books-- Managers of Their Homes and Managers of Their Chores. Teri talked about some creative scheduling ideas that I plan to implement--a daily chore time, preschool time, time for the older 2 to play alone with a younger child (Ellie is most excited about this), and a daily meal helper. I hope to get my schedule and chore assignments laid out in the next few weeks. Ellie wants them done yesterday. :-)

We also attended a workshop called Raising Pure Daughters in a Generation of Darkness. She has written a book called Before You Meet Prince Charming. She had a lot of good things to say about how to teach young women to be pure and to wait for their prince.

While in Duluth we were able to eat at many of our favorite restaurants--Pizza Luce (a really yummy pizza with artichokes, feta, etc), Fitger's Brewhouse (they had a really yummy clam chowder), Amazing Grace (delicious sandwiches), and Grandma's (the best onion rings anywhere!!). Duluth has such a better selection of restaurants than we have here.

We had originally planned to come home Saturday after the conference was over but Dan suggested we stay Saturday too so we could have more time to reconnect and discuss what we had learned. It didn't take too much arm twisting to get me to stay. Ok. So it didn't take any arm twisting.

We came home on Sunday in time to go out for lunch with the kids and Dan's parents. Thanks again to those who watched our kids so we could get away, renew and refresh. It is greatly appreciated.

Natalie's new dress

A few months ago I entered a bloggy giveaway and won a dress made by Denise. Monday the dress came in the mail--just in time for her birthday. The dress is gorgeous!! If you'd like to purchase a dress from her, you can do so here.

Here is a pic of Natalie in her dress (the lighting conditions weren't great so I'll take and post another pic later):

Natalie's birthday

Yesterday was Natalie's birthday. She turned 3!! Dan's parents were down this past weekend so that Dan and I could attend the homeschool conference and they brought a present for Natalie. They had given the other 3 kids a tube of chapstick and Natalie wondered where hers was. They told her that she would get hers later and that it was hidden. When we told her that she could open her present from them (a suitcase), she ran over to it and said, "Maybe my chapstick is in here!!" Here are some pics from that and from last night when we had her cake.





A typical Natalie face:

An historic event

What is this picture? you say. It looks vaguely familiar. Could it be? No. Impossible. But yes, folks. This is my kitchen!! CLEAN!! Now pick yourselves up off the floor. I realize that this rarely happens, but I thought I would let you know that, yes, it is possible for me to have a clean kitchen. And this photo proves it!!!

Plus, by the time you visit my house, all will be back to normal. I wouldn't want to be responsible for causing a heart attack. :-)

Update for the last couple weeks

I never got around to posting an update last week so this will have to serve as one. We only did school for 3 days last week (M, T, W). On Thursday we took Emily up to Oakdale to get her eyes checked as she recently had PRK done. After we got home dad stopped by on his way home from the cities and brought us two large garbage bags full of clothes that mom found curb shopping in Des Moines. The boys clothes will fit Darin this summer and beyond. The girls clothes are a little big for Natalie yet but she'll grow into them. Mom even found a pair of real Ugg boots for Natalie. They fit Darin right now so he has been wearing them around the house. Dad also brought the wheat grinder along so that I could grind more wheat since I was almost out. I really need to make bread today before we go out of town but I know it isn't going to happen since my plate is already pretty full for the day.

I need to get the house cleaned so it doesn't look like a tornado came through here. I painted the laundry room a couple of weeks ago and I still need to get things put back in there so that Dan's parents can actually sleep in the spare bedroom where I've currently got everything stored. Dan's dad is bringing down a 66 inch countertop for the laundry room so that I can have a laundry folding station. I also bought 2 3-section laundry holders. So now the kids are separating the laundry as they bring it downstairs. And so far they are even excited to sort the laundry. We'll see how long it lasts.

The weather has finally started feel like spring after some spring snow. We also had quite a bit of rain last week so soccer was cancelled last week. This week it has been nice enough for them to play and the girls are thrilled to finally be playing. The only bad thing is that now we have soccer 5 out of 7 days. Kara has practice on Mondays and Wednesdays and Ellie has practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then games are on Saturdays. At least the season is only 8 weeks long and they get good exercise playing soccer.

Last night at AWANA was the pinewood derby. Ellie didn't win but had fun. Here is a pic of her with the car she made (with Jay's help).

We've been off school this week so haven't done much. I worked this past weekend so I was a zombie on Monday. The rest of the week we've been doing some organizing and cleaning. Tonight we'll be leaving to go the Duluth for the homeschool conference. John and Erika are watching the kids tonight and then Dan's parents will have them for the rest of the weekend here at our house. Thank you to both!!! Dan and I both need to get away together since this year's busy season has been about 6 months long and we really need to reconnect. Dan is really looking forward to getting away from work since he hasn't had more than a Sunday off (and sometimes not even that if he is flying somewhere) for quite awhile.

Have a great weekend!! We surely will.

A couple of good recipes

I made a couple of good recipes the last couple of weeks.
This is a really good salad--but be forewarned--it makes a ton!!!! So only make 1/2 a batch or share it with another family. Asian Noodle Salad

This one is a recipe for granola bars. I made them for a Spring Break party yesterday and they were a hit. I added 2 cups of rice krispies, a smidge more butter and brown sugar and 2 T of real maple syrup. I also used pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower seeds. They are quite versatile.
Granola Bars

Weekly Update

I didn't post an update last week (just got too busy) so this will be for the last 2 weeks. I suppose that is a good thing since this week was a bad week for getting anything done. The week before was a great week--we got everything accomplished that we wanted to. We even did science twice and history twice. This week we ran our once-a-month errands on Monday, I recovered from working a night shift on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I spent most of my time dealing with a very testing-the-limits almost-3-year-old. Friday Emily graciously took the kids for awhile and I primed the laundry room and went out for lunch with Dan.

History: We finished reading about the Parthenon and read a chapter about Alexander the Great.

Science: We finished our chapter on space rocks and started learning about Jupiter. They learned that Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a giant storm that is twice the size of the earth and has been raging for over 300 years. Coincidentally, last Saturday's episode of Beakman's World was about Jupiter.

Math: Ellie is almost done with Saxon 54. She did several lessons and a test. The last lesson was about the distributive property and she is having a little trouble understanding it. So we took a little break from Saxon on Thursday and she did 3 lessons in a Singapore workbook I have at home. Kara did several lessons last week and 4 lessons this week. Her math is still mostly review since we are at the beginning of a new book.

Handwriting: Kara's handwriting continues to look great since I have been checking her work everyday. She has asked me to put an A+ on her paper if it looks good. I continually have to remind Ellie to write in cursive and she prefers to print.

Latin: For the last 2 weeks Ellie has been working on Latin review. There are some worksheets on Memoria Press' website for the Latin program she has been using, so she has been doing 1-2 worksheets a day. I found that she really didn't understand when to use which case endings and these worksheets have a lot of translation on them, so it is really solidifying her understanding of Latin (mine too!).

English: I didn't get any English done with Ellie or Kara this week but they both got a fair amount done last week.

Spelling: Kara did 2 lessons this week and 2 lessons last week.

Art/Music: Last week we reviewed our hymns learned so far and did several lessons in our art book How Great Thou Art.

Reading: Ellie is working on Around the World in 80 Days. Last week we read Understood Betsy out loud. Kara doesn't have any assigned reading books--she just reads books from the library or ones we have around the house.