Homeschooling for His Glory

Last Saturday our homeschool group had a project fair. We brought in some drawings and crafts that Zach had made. We also worked on a project which he had found in a book about trains: a tunnel. It was my first time making anything like this, but I must say it was fun and it turned out quite nicely. Zach was very happy with the result. He got to speak about his table which was very interesting That was exciting. I am glad we got to participate. They got handed certificate for participating Zach enjoying someone else's project: Some steps to making the tunnel: We are looking forward to next year fair . . . Have a great day, Joelle

Last week we had some time to kill waiting for daddy to be finished with one of his numerous doctor's appointments, so  we ended up doing school in the car. Interestingly, that went quite well. May be I should think of doing it all the time  . Have a great day, Joelle

On Thursday, while waiting for daddy to finish with his doctor's appointment, we went to a greenhouse close by. It was the kids' first time and they liked the array of flowers and plants. It was not quite the nice display that comes with spring yet, but we still had a nice one. Have a great day, Joelle

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein  Where the Sidewalk Ends: the Poems and Drawing of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein  The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum  Heidi by Johanna Spyri  Machines at work Honeybees - by Deborah Heiligman The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle   Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown   Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.  The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister  Corduroy by Don Freeman  The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats  Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney  Aesop's Fables , illustrated by Jerry Pinkney The Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit , by Beatrix Potter The Original Mother Goose , illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright T he Runaway Bunny , by Margaret Wise Brown The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant , by Jean de Brunhoff The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg   Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss   The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss   Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak  Love You Forever by Robert N. Mun

Well today is supposed to be the 1st day of spring and we have been blessed this whole week with great sunny weather. Guess where we were? At the playground practically everyday this week. It was great to enjoy the sun without worrying about being cold. My only regret is that it would seem the kids are enjoying mud and dirt a bit more than I would like, but I guess that comes with the territory of having boys ............. Zach thinks he has a building site somewhere and is actively working on making it happen by collecting stuff. I have the library books to thank for that (books, which, I will not mention, I choose and he was more than happy to see). Here he is at work (according to him).... And everybody else has been enlisted in the payroll: Have a great day, Joelle

I have come across a few great homeschooling sites recently and thought I would share them. Budget Homeschool provides you with tips on how to homeschool on a budget, and has a large array of internet resources. Mathisfun is a great site for math ressources and games. Mathfactcafe is another free math ressource. M ath playground contains a large array of online math games, math problems and puzzles, as well as small tutorials Science with me has great animations, printables and information for teaching science. The best part it is free. Kidskreate is a site with lots of different crafts. They are categorized which make searching really easy Little giraffe is a great site for kindergarden with lots of ideas, projects and ressources. Lesson plan page is a sites with ideas for lesson on all the differents subjects by grades. Kinderart is a great sites for those who really like arts and cratfs. It contains a whole lot of activities. Have a great day, Joelle

I have finally signed Zach up for violin lesson. It's been a bit over a month now. We went with a Suziki school which emphasize repetition, exposure, group playing, mastery before moving on, and listening skills. I am pretty happy with the teacher who seems to be good with young kids. They start them off with a pretend cardboard violin so as to teach them proper handling of the violin. He was blessed in that he already has a real violin, given to him by a family friend at Christmas. I definitely can't wait for him to play his first piece of music which probably won't be in a while . . . This has allowed me to emphasize dilligence even more, as Zach likes to play around with everything he does or play lazy. The first few weeks were a challenge (not so  much in the learning than in the focusing part), but I can see the improvement. Joho wants to play something too, so we are thinking of putting him in Piano maybe in the fall when he will be 4. Have a great day, Joelle

I do not think that any mother would say that parenting is easy. We want to do the right thing, we want to parent the way God wants us to, we hope for the salvation of our children, knowing that it is all in God's hand. We teach what we can, correct, instruct, discipline, play, feed, clean, endless list .... Then you have these moments that warm your heart: - "Mom you are the queen of cookie baker", borrowed yes, from Paws and Tales , but hey, I'll take it. or the - "Mom, you are great, or you are the coolest" - or even the "Thank you mom", in which you sense the genuine gratitude being expressed - and of course, the out of nowhere "Mom I love you" or sudden hug. Let us try to cherish these moments and remind ourselves of them when the going gets tough, or wonder if we are getting anything through to them. Have a great day, Joelle

While Zach is in his craft mania, Joho's been into legos. He does projects designed for 5-7 years old and really loves it. He often needs my help and I am happy to give it to him, just so happy that he does something else other than computer. He did puzzles, reaching up to 100 pieces on his own, for over a year consistently, but now he is not doing as much of it anymore (what a pity; I had a lot more peace and quiet then.) And the finished product: a plane Have a great day, Joelle