Heart of Wisdom Academy

The Geography Fair was a really neat experience. I really wanted the kids to experience doing a project and making a presentation in front of others. There was about 15 kids all different ages and grades presenting their country. Each child receieved a passport when they arrived, and they went around to each display collecting stamps for their passport. Some people brought food from their country to try. At first Kyle was a little intimidated and nervous, but he did such a good job! A judge came up to him later and told him that he did a great presentation and he could tell that he did his own research. That really made our night.

Luckily; I found this poem, Maker of the Home, at Lisa's beautiful and inspiring blog. If I hadn't found this poem, the title of this post would be much more like "How to Run Away From Home". Not quite so fitting for a blog entitled Home Instead. But occasionally I feel like building a Godly home, forming character, raising children, loving my husband, all while having a gentle and quiet spirit is arduous, overwhelming, and sometimes painstakingly difficult and fruitless. I am an introvert by nature. By God's grace he allows me to live out all the "one another" scriptures; forgive one another, love one another, serve one another, be patient with one another, bear with one another,etc. etc. So it may seem like I'm an extrovert. I'm not. Not even a little. There are days when I don't feel like doing any of those things. I grow weary in doing good. I grow weary just being around people constantly. I lose sight of what it takes to build a home and give myself to others. I forget how beautiful it is to share in Christ's sufferings; to pour myself out like a drink offering. Thankfully, Joy does come in the morning and God renews my strength so I can soar high on wings like eagles. I can run and not grow weary, I can walk and not faint. I am in a much better place today. I really enjoyed this poem and reminder.



MAKER OF THE HOME


Little maker of the home,
What do you really do?
When all is said and done,
What will be said of you?
You rise each day just like the sun,
You give your life away,
And tired, you run the course again.

You need to hear Him say,
"Well done,
Oh, maker of the home,
Well done!
You labour not alone.
And though your eyes may never see,
This home you live to make,
You make for Me.

Your life a shadow seems,
Compared to what others do.
But who would catch the tears
And point to Me,
If not for you?
And when they've grown,
Imprinted on their hearts will always be,
How good, how right, to give their lives,
And build a home for Me."

- unknown

The fall soccer season has come to an end. It was a cold, rainy, season. All of the children did very well and grew in their athletic ability. The boys scored several goals this year. Peyton scored 2 I think, but they were both for the opposite team :-) She was so much less timid this year than last. They had a lot of fun and we got to enjoy the outdoors during God's most beautiful season. Only the twins team did pictures.

Schooling is going well. The biggest help for me is having my weekly schedule folder. It helps me see what I want to get accomplished and see visual progress.

We twins watched a video each on the country they chose for Geography Fair coming up. Kaden is doing Russia, and Peyton is doing Italy. We got a lot of books from the library and we'll be working hard on these posters this week. It is actually a lot of work for me. Kyle had to change his country to Sweden b/c there wasn't a lot of information about Indonesia. In fact I nearly insisted that he choose a country that I could find a free lapbook for, which would help me greatly. So out of the list I gave him he chose Sweden.

4th Grade:
Continued with Robinson Crusoe and Ben Franklin. I intially checked out Ambleside's suggestion, Bulfinch's Mythology and we read it for a few weeks. I found a comparable book at the thrift store and bought it. I like it much better! Bulfinch's Mythology is very wordy, and the print is very small. In the introduction the author makes clear that no one worships the diety's we read about, but that by knowing these characters and stories you will better be able to understand and appreciate other great works of literature that utilize these characters, events, and stories. Much of the meaning in many works of literature are lost because people are unfamiliar with the subject. In Bulfinch's mythology after every story, he inserts familiar works of literature which have used quotations from the myth.

Spelling we worked on long i words and he got 100% correct. He finished lesson 33 in Saxon 5/4 as well as addition and subtraction drills. This week in history we learned how New Amsterdam became New York. Last week we looked at the Salem Witch Trials. And it being Halloween season I showed him what events were taking place in Salem, Mass. and how they are tying in the witch trials. We looked in God's Word about witchcraft, sorcery, etc.

We also learned about Maryland and how it was a refuge for Catholics. We learned some the basic tenets of the Catholic faith and searched in the scriptures. I am trying to teach him to search the Word for answers. Even the Catholic Encyclopedia is full of well sounding definitions and lofty words, but they don't have the power of God. We specifically talked about and researched the dangerous and damning idea of purgatory, the exaltation of Mary the mother of Jesus and the claim that she was sinless, the belief that the Bible and the PRIEST are infallible,the Apocrypha, and the reverence and elevation of tradition.

1st Grade and Preschool

Continued working through 100EZ lessons. Kaden ended on Lesson 53 and Peyton 49. I may take a break from the book for Petyon this week and let her just focus on sounding out words and building her confidence. I can see where she is starting to get stressed out. Math was lesson 6 which was writing 1-100. We are writing 1-20 consecutively, counting by tens, and tyring to write the 1-100 non-consecutively. They both love math games at fun4thebrain.com. Kaden will play for an hour.

I keep in Instant Queue things to watch when I have to go some where. I recently added How It's Made, I think it's from the science channel. Animals that Defy Evolution, God of Wonders, The Case for Christ.

We are going into Week 9 this week. Our semester ends at 12 weeks, so I really need to start preparing for the second semester. I need to do a weekly syllabus and print out all the online books and put them in page protectors.

Last week was an unusual week. I suffered with an intense migraine all week and I had the challnge/pleasure of teaching, training, and rearing six children rather than my usual five. We have our five year old friend who joined our family for a week.

Schooling was slow all week, but picked up on Thursday. I still feel a little out of my element.

The highlight of my week was meeting a reading specialist who is going to help me with my twins. What an answer to prayer!

Love Netflix. We're still working our way through Liberty Kids.

Kaden finished Lesson 50 in 100EZ lessons. Peyton is a few lessons behind. I discovered this week that if I give her sunflower seeds during reading she reads much better :-)

Blogging has been slow lately. I've been choosing sleep in favor of getting up early to exercise. The baby turns 1 next month and I have a personal thing about being at or below my pre-pregnancy weight before the 1 year old b-day. Good news is I'm already there, the not-as-good news is I still need to lose about 13ish pounds to be at the top of my normal weight range. The great news is that this time last year I weighed a good 50 pounds more than I do now. More about my diet/exercise regime another day.

And we now turn our attention to preparing for our Geography Fair in 2 weeks which I'm very excited about.

All I can say to this video is Wow!! Best 33 minutes I've spent today! Go to heartchanger.com

I'm overwhelmed, but not shocked. There are so many things on my mind after watching this video:

-double standards: how we hate them in others, but never see them in ourselves
-be CONFRONTATIONAL! We as Christians are too "nice", (which is a "nice" word for coward, read Revelations to find out what happens to cowards)to expose lies and stand for righteousness. Many of us have gotten so involved in personal piety that we say "Am I my brother's keeper?" The fields are ripe for harvest, but oh, the workers are few.
-we MUST evangalize, this world is under judgement and they don't know and don't care
-must teach the children to think biblically, defend the gospel, and persuade men
-teach our children and to recognize lofty, deceptive, worldy philosophies
-Teach and equip the saints and our children to understand and deny the culture
-we are all without excuse
-quote by Adolf Hitler "He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future!" That should make us all tremble.
-Who is it who owns are youth? school, peers, the media, music, marketers and advetisers? Bob Pittman founder of MTV said to Ralph Nader: "we don’t influence 14-year-olds we own them.” God forbid!!!!!!!!

Week 6 was quite productive. Everyone stayed on task.

Kyle independently works through Saxon 5/4. He does 1 lesson a day. A problem set is about 25 problems. He can do even or odd and can't miss more than three. If he does he does the entire problem set. He hasn't missed three yet. We followed our schedule on the left side bar and he completed his work by Friday.

The twins are working hard. Kaden soared through 4 lessons in his reading book this week. Peyton was content to do the same lesson all week. She needed the practice. Super excited that I met a reading specialist today at church!!!!God answered my prayers. Peyton is pictured with her new "pet" worm. She collects rocks, worms, ants, and a myriad of creatures.

Kason is orally spelling his name and recognizing continets and oceans. I've done a poor job at Doman Homeschooling the last three weeks. I've found that even when doing only 25% of the program it's taking the majority of my spare moments. So I have to find some kind of schedule to make it work for me, if it's going to work for me at all.

Tonight I read Mommy, Why Don't We Celebrate Halloween

Started Our 24 Family Ways. I don't have this particular edition, but this resource is extraordinary!!!! I'm really looking forward to it.

It was a busy day today. I woke up before dark and walked several miles. We had our homeschool co-op today, homeschool, phone calls, and soccer. The light bulbs are really turning on for Kaden and I'm so happy. Tonight he begged to do another reading lesson. And he had "important" work from his teacher at co-op that he "had" to work on for an hour. He is suddenly so interested in astronomy and reading and numbers. I'm so happy to see him so excited about learning.

Kyle got hurt go-carting this weekend. Didn't know go-carts could go so fast. He's okay, but I think he'll have some scars and a phobia of fast moving vehicles.

Kendal pulled the chair on his face and has a black eye. Poor baby.

I'm thinking about laundry; the washing, drying, folding, and putting away of. Deciding whether to watch the Duggars, fix husbands computer, blog, fold laundry, set-up for tomorrow, research, sleep. What should I do? Probably sleep.

My husband is working 80 hours a week. Is it a coincidence the children lose their ever-loving minds?? Some days I'm bordering on insanity because they would like to drive me CRAZY. What possible mischief could these adorable cherubs conjure up? You'd be amazed, and I may even live to tell it about it, but it won't be tonight.

This week (last week, a little late) I wanted to talk about how to use the Bible in the homeschool.
Robin Sampson expounds on how to seamlessly integrate the Bible into all other studies,The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach.

I just wanted to show what that looked like this week for our family. I will say upfront having the right materials helps alot.

This week in the Story Book of Science, (completely free online)we read The Age of Trees and the Length of Animal Life. Now in order to keep his attention, I find relevant pictures and unfamiliar passages from the readings and put them in a file on my computer for him too look at. It helps his understanding tremendously. (written almost 100 years ago there are a lot of unfamiliar words and ideas). So we found some of the trees from the reading, which lead us to find more interesting trees on the Internet. He was interested in trees. (Delight Directed Learning) So I pulled out Exploring Creation with Botany. So we read about the oldest tree Methuselah, which of course lead us to talk about the oldest man Methuselah. But even more interesting, Exploring Creation with Botany has sections in the book called Creation Confirmation. We learned how the age of Bristlecone Pine Tree's legitimize biblical creation and confirm the worldwide flood as described in the Genesis.

Our Artist this term is Jean Honore Fragonard. As I was looking up the picture for the week from the Ambleside schedule of art, I came across another painting he did, Jeroboam Sacrificing to the Idols. Of course we found the passage in the Bible and read and talked about it. We talked about modern day idols and what they are and how we worship them. We talked about Fragonard whether he was a Christian or not, does painting Christian pictures mean your a Christian?

We read Parables from Nature. (one of my favorites) We talked about how God gives us lessons from nature, that we might learn and gain wisdom from small creatures. We read the Law of Authority and Obedience.. We talked about what happens when we are discontent, slothful, easily swayed, and envious. We read Romans 1:18-20

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

We learned that nature itself provides validation of our God and it is plain for all to see, in fact you have to work hard not to see it. Nature is the evidence of God. This is how we study nature, science, even math! But how math?

Back to the Story Book of Science, we read the Wily Deverish and A Numerous Family. (trust me, these readings are 1000X more interesting with pictures) We learned about the principal of doubling. Jesus talked about that! We read the Great Commission and demonstrated on the board. If 1 disciple makes 1 disciple you have 2 disciples. If those 2 disciples make 1 disciple each you have 4 disciples. If those 4 disciples make 1 disciple each, you have 8 disciples, if those 8 disciples make 1 disciple each you have 16 disciples, etc. etc. The beautiful principal of evangelism as laid out by our Lord Jesus. This is the very same principle we just read about in our Science book!!! Wonderful.

Homeschooling is wonderful. We have so many God-given opportunities to teach truth. How are culture is lacking in truth.Do you see the potential? As homeschooling mothers we have the platform to do what the schools cannot and will not do.

Our homeschool co-op bought the homeschool edition of Gibson's Learn and Master Guitar with Steve Krenz. I am "teaching" about 15 middle and high schoolers. Really, Steve Krenz is teaching and we're all learning; I know enough to help them, and I just stay at least a week ahead. This week we're learning to read music. I don't know how to read music, I learned "Every Good Boy Does Fine" in first grade, and have never seen it again. So I am trying to research engaging ways to get these kids to learn their lines and spaces. Thank God for the internet. I found games that we can play in class tomorrow. As well as a couple of interactive games that they can play during the week.

jaydemusica.com
classicsforkids.com

I look forward to doing a review of this item. I do really like it. I will say it is for the student serious about learning and mastering guitar. It is not for the student who is thinking about maybe dabbling in guitar, learning to play a few songs here and there. (majority of the class) This course is really for the older student who is driven, disciplined, and intent on not just learning, but truly mastering the guitar. I'm glad that I started off with the Worship Guitar Class, because she has you playing songs the very first lesson, and you never learn music theory. (There are pros and cons to that) At any rate, I'll be familiar with both programs soon enough and able to write a better review and comparison of the two.

I too have very few regrets. Zsuzsanna posted today.
She said:
I can honestly say that as our children continue to grow older, I have few regrets. I am not wishing I would have cherished them more as babies, because I did -they each spent pretty much their first year of life in my arms or by my side in some form. I am not regretting having shipped them off to babysitters, nurseries, daycares, and schools, because we don't do any of that.

I am not at all boasting. I am so thankful in the Lord that he gives me good gifts, AND allows me to enjoy them; ever mindful that cirumstances are subject to change at anytime. I live all the more, ever thankful, praising God, seeking my Savior, loving my family, saving the lost, admiring His mercy, resting in His grace.

This is why I was so frustrated last year. After a year of toil, this is what 1-20 looks like still. Several people have suggested that they may be dyslexic. I spoke with their doctor about it this week. They need further testing. So I called to make an appointment and the receptionist said, "We don't have an appointment until JANUARY, is that okay?" Well...what if it wasn't okay? Clearly half the school year is over by then. Oh well. So what I need to do is research how to better teach them, using methods that will work. What I'm doing isn't really working, although they have both done 1000 times better this last month, than all of last year. They both had eye exams today, which was comical. They're quirky, there's no getting around it. The doctor showed Peyton a stick figure cake and asked her what it was, and she said a bracelet. He busted out lasting, he said only a girl could come up with that...their imagination is extraordinary and I love it! In other news they completed Lesson 42 this week in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We were supposed to do lesson 3 in Math U See, but didn't. We continued with Lessons 1 and 2 and worked on writing numbers. They listened to all their Ambleside Readings.

All kids did geography songs and map work. Listened to King Lear and narrated. Watched documentary on Jamestown. Did copywork. Listened to Mozart. Listened to books about Mozart. Did picture study; Fragonard, A Young Girl Reading.

Kyle has been doing exceptionally well with Saxon 5/4, he does his lessons independently and checks them. His cursive is coming along beautifully. He didn't do so hot on his spelling test this week, because he wasn't disciplined about studying. He didn't complete all his work before today was over so he went to bed sad, because his dad bought him a new game that he can't play until all his work is done. I think he has 4 more items to complete for Week 4. Hope he plans better next week. In other news my wonderful mother is helping Kyle start his T-shirt business. He is so excited that he willingly forfeited soccer practice this week in favor of using a printing press and designing T-shirts.



Kyle also helped me by listening to the twins read. It warmed my heart to see how patience and kind he was helping them. Why don't I let him do that more often? Kyle also resumed his guitar practice this week in earnest.




Kason "read" some Bob books and did some reading lessons. He pretty much does whatever the twins do. He has been in obedience training this week. He's had a cough for the last couple of weeks, he started his machines again. He has an appointment with cardiology in October, and Pulmonology and Hematology in November.

I actually typed this post in March of 2010, but never published it. I was at Tristans blog and read Welcome to Holland; another story I read during the worst of Kason's illness with heart failure and it reminded of this beautiful story which encouraged me. So I am posting this for Tristan. I am convinced that God gives special children to special mothers. And he equips special mothers with the supernatural. I get goosebumps when I think about how many times God carried me through. What most people don't realize is that the mother suffers as much as, or even more than the child. Special moms need love and support.

The Special Mother
by Erma Bombeck

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit. This year nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen?

Somehow I visualize God hovering over earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant ledger.

"Armstrong, Beth; son. Patron saint...give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."

"Forrest, Marjorie; daughter. Patron saint, Cecelia."

"Rutledge, Carrie; twins. Patron saint Matthew."

"Finally He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."

The angel is curious. "Why this one God? She's so happy."

"Exactly," smiles God. "Could I give a handicapped child to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."
"But has she patience?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it."

"I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has her own world. She has to make her live in her world and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't thing she even believes in you."

God smiles, "No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect - she has just enough selfishness."

The angel gasps - "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a 'spoken word.' She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle, and will know it!"

"I will permit her to see clearly the things I see...ignorance, cruelty, prejudice...and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is
doing My work as surely as she is here by My side."

"And what about her Patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in mid-air.

God smiles, "A mirror will suffice."

Week three was another smooth week. Thank God! Everyone did their work and did it well, asked questions, found answers; which makes me a happy homeschooling momma.

Ambleside Year 4 is challenging. I found this week, that to better help stimulate and encourage Kyle with the readings, I needed to define different terms and find pictures of unfamiliar words, people, places, and things. This week I looked up: glen, wily, deverish, plant-louse, bog, sheepfolds, Charles II, Rome, Greece, Salzburg, and King Lear. Our week went even better, and he retained much more information and read with more clarity and enthusiasm. (relatively of course, he is a nine year old boy)

We started our hymn study this week as well as Shakespeare and Plutarchs Lives. Lessons are kept very short, and there is a lot of diversity and read alouds.

Thursday was experiment day. Everyone wanted to do science experiments from Sonlight Science 1 Discover and Do DVD, Peyton made a waterwheel, Kyle explored sinking and floating, and Kaden studied dehydrated food.

We completed week three for Ambleside 1 and Ambleside 4 (schedule in left sidebar)

My friend recently went to Amish country and brought me back a souvenir. Oh... I could go on and on about my love for Amish country. But I don't have time. So I'll leave you with a few of my favorite quotes from the book she gave me of Amish proverbs and sayings.


A plump wife and a big barn-never did any man harm.

Nothings more beautiful than a woman working.

No woman be happy with less than seven to cook for.

"Our Susie wants marryin'--don't you think? already she's gettin' on in years-she ain't so long 18."

"If I leave you hold the baby be careful you don't make her awake."

"Aunt Min is wonderful heavy-she sits broad."

Thought I'd share how a "normal" day goes.

-woke up around 7am and started laundry
-washed diapers
-quick cleaned
-everyone had separate quiet times
-we all ate and listened to our hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
-listened to Mozart while doing copy work (I made a Mozart playlist on YouTube for this; our copy work information is on the left sidebar)
-Listened to song about the continents and oceans (geography songs) and colored and labeled the continents. Focus for the three littles was North America and South America. Kyle labeled them all.
-Kyle did drill 100 addition facts in 5min.
-I read aloud from Ambleside Year 1 schedule to all kids. We read a couple of Aesop's Fables, an Island Story, and Beauty and the Beast all from the Ambleside website. (I've actually printed out all the readings, and put them in page protectors in a binder; another day I'll divulge my obsession with page protectors)
-did map study of the countries that we read about: Italy, France, Britain
-We went to our homeschool co-op for 3 hours
-In the late afternoon Kyle did Lesson 10 in Saxon 5/4
-The twins read Lesson 42 in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
-I orally quizzed Kyle on spelling words
-I quizzed the twins on spelling words one-on-one and they wrote all six of their words
-Kyle did Spanish
-the twins both played 1 surgery game
-Peyton worked on typing
-Kason played pbskids.org, starfall, and place value/counting
-the twins also worked on place value here (one of my favorite sites, Kyle used it when he was little)
-Kyle read about Ben Franklin and narrated before going to soccer practice
-took all 5 kids to soccer practice for an hour and a half
-came home and cooked while doing showers simultaneously
-ate, prayed, put kids in bed

More or less this is about how it goes. Some days much, much, more and some days much, much, less. But week by week, year by year, it all averages out.

Often when I go to the thrift store I'll buy books to add to my personal library, but I'm not sure when I'll use it. I bought this book, The One Year Book of Hymns, a couple of years ago for under a dollar; but haven't used it. I have recently fallen in love with the hymn, Come Thy Fount of Every Blessing. I found the chords and learned how to play it on the guitar, and I found the song in our nifty Hymn book. Now I am totally excited about learning and teaching hymns. It is advocated in the Ambleside curriculum, but I hadn't gotten around to planning it out yet. I've just been reading these hymns for a couple of days, they are so beautiful. How happy am I!!!

It's been a good week. I am really enjoying the Ambleside Online curriculum!!! I love the readings. Most of them are very very interesting. One book, Kyle absolutely hated, so we got rid of it. We replaced with with the Sonlight Science books.

This week Kyle is really having to learn time-management. Time, in the homeschool is very elusive. We aren't tied to deadlines and due dates like the rest of the world; yet we are raising children that must function under these constraints. We do them a grave disservice if we neglect to train them to meet due dates. I gave Kyle his weekly schedule of everything that must be completed by Friday, before he can play the game. He is using the exact Ambleside Year 4 schedule in addition to grammar, spelling, vocabulary, spanish, math, and science. Although the schedule may look cumbersome, it isn't. It's not all rigid and stifling like it may appear. It is really a giant spring-board for discussion and investigation in all types of subjects. He is mostly responsible for how we divides up the work, so long as it's done. So the next couple of weeks will be trial and error for him while he works that out. Otherwise, it has been a good week for him. He is writing much more in cursive. And by the second semester all of his writing should be in cursive. In his personal quiet times he is studying out Isaiah. He has had remarkable improvement in his math drills this week.

Kaden and Peyton did Lesson 41 in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. They also read some Bob Books to me. They practiced spelling using various tactile methods. They worked on lessons 1 and 2 in Math U See Alpha. They also played math games and used manipulatives to build numbers and learn place value. Both twins started learning the home row keys. They are both working through the Ambleside Year 1 schedule.
Kason and Kendal worked through their reading program. We're trying to do five sessions a day, (25 seconds total). Some days we hit the mark other days we don't. Kason really wants more problem solving opportunities with the reading, so I'll do that more this week. Kason pretty much does everything the twins do.

All kids listened to Mozart this week and studied one painting from our artist this term, Fragonard. We all listened to Geography songs and colored the continents and oceans.We went on a 2 mile nature walk and did some experiments from Sonlight.

The boys new favorite pastime or as Charlotte Mason would say, masterly inactivity, is doing virutal surgeries. You can find some here (not for weak stomach).