ARRRRR - Buried Treasure!

I know - I've posted enough about our rainbows and R themed activities... but this is a record for me... a way to reflect and see the growth in the lives of my children, husband and self. I'm just letting you in there if you want to - to hang around in my deeply pensive mind. Give me an alphabet letter and man, I'll go deep.

So my son is not very big on "crafty" type activities. Things other kids dig like paint and glue, he'd gladly pass up to play David and Goliath for the ninety-fifth time. He'd enthusiastically shove away the paper and stickers to get onto crushing egg shells in the mortal and pestle or filling his socks with rubber balls so he can have his very own slingshot. I'm rearing a man and I pray I am always sensitive to the fact that he may have to kill an animal someday to survive or bash through a window to rescue someone.

With that being said... I saw a super cute rainbow activity - one in which a cardboard letter R is horizontally glued with stripes of red, orange, yellow, and so on. And every one I saw was so rainbowy! Each color in it's place... all the lines were straight. And all this got me thinking... I suppose one of the greatest parts of homeschooling is tailoring your plans to the strengths and weaknesses of your child. To mold the character according to God's Word and not just my expectations. So Gavin doesn't have to sit in a class of other 3 and 4 year olds and be told how and where his strips of paper need to go. I can target his weaknesses - issues of control and patience and allow for him to produce something that he is fully invested in yet still within the guidelines of my rule.

So this was the result... A rainbow covered R ... Complete with torn edges and pieces he had to cut apart to fit his plan.




But my favorite part is the hidden pieces. He wanted to build his rainbow vertically "to let the colors reach toward you", he said. So under one layer of color, are many others. Cool - right!
I wouldn't probably see this example hung up in the traditional classroom... perhaps in government preschool art rules are already being established. But in our home - this one was hung up high.





And by the way... I have a new late night addiction. It is not what you may think.... no sugar involved. I can't stop making hair bows. They are small and quick. They are cheap and resourceful... and oh so stinking cute when pulling back Ivy's bangs. I may just have to give everyone some hair bows along with the rice for the upcoming birthdays! Here are a just a few of my latest clippies.




I love what I am so blessed to do!

The Rainbow Connection

My sister, mom, and nephews came visiting this week. Between the snowstorms they all made their way from New Jersey and are headed back home tomorrow. I am so blessed to have a twin... I actually feel a bit sorry for all you singletons out there. Imagine sharing life with someone - like your spouse - but since the womb. It's about one of the greatest blessings God can give - I think.

Anyway, my twin and I share so many things. And planning for our homeschooling with our children is one of the most wonderful connections. We discuss where the Lord is leading us as we teach our children about God and His Holy Word. We share moments of divine intervention when we fail - how the Lord so graciously teaches us as we get back up and try again. We share joys as our children grow and change, understand deep spiritual principles practiced in real living... and we share ideas. Especially the ones that worked - the ones that hit down deep in the souls of the little ones we are entrusted with.... the ideas that are gifts of creativity and give glory to out Creator.

We are finishing up with the letter R this week. (We both spend 2 weeks per letter) And the rainbow connections we have made have been exciting and loud. What a way to spend some time with your cousins! Check out some of our fun!

Rainbow Water Play ***

No, those aren't floating carrots...

Yes, Ivy ate a lot of food coloring that morning! We evened it our with some healthy veggies!

Other than causing the water to turn an ugly brown, the children all loved splashing in their own rainbows! Start with some dollar store ice cube trays (the ones with the seasonal shapes) and food coloring, add in some scoops and sieves and such, and you have an environment for pouring, transferring and floating fun! Just be sure to have a few thirsty towels on hand!

Rainbow Story Time ***

We read about Noah and God's promise to never flood the entire earth again. We had out our box of puppets and the children all fed and cleaned up after our "animals". I felt led to talk to them about the great responsibility of caring for those beasts day after day... night after night. Surly Noah's wife grew tired of the smells and sounds of those creatures - no matter how much of an animal lover she may have been! The big boys drew a part of the story to record what they remembered.

You guessed it... Gavin loved the torrential downpour. Destruction! How 4-year old boy of him!

JELL-O Rainbows ***
Is there anything more delightful than eating a rainbow??? Soooo fun! The kids loved eating from such fancy goblets too! Well worth a bit of time to make.

Rainbow Band***

Reaching for a Rainbow!

With Boom Whackers, Hand bells, and Rainbow Ribbon Twirlers... we made music to brighten up this snow-covered neighborhood. I'm sure they could all hear us if they listened well enough! The children loved just exploring with the music - playing chase and catch with the ribbons... and being surrounded with scarves and laughter. It was a wonderful time for the body and soul (just maybe not the ears)!

Our Lady in Red!

Rainbow Sorting and a Rainbow Snack***

We gave the older boys a pinch or so of Rainbow Jimmies to sort and then lick up. Once I called them "little guys", Gavin decided they probably had feelings and didn't want to eat his. But other than a few emotional overreactions, they loved pushing such tiny wonders around. And the yummy pretzels were shared by us all!

Sooo tasty! We could have thrown back quite a few of these lovely little treats!

Rainbow Science***

So dish soap cuts grease, or in our case cuts milk fat. Add some food coloring to the milk and chase it away with some liquid Ajax - and you have a rainbow science experiment. We followed auditory directions, counted out drops, talked about staining, made predictions, and observed colors twirl and swirl until new colors were made. The kids all loved watching this one!

Rainbows!! What a wonderful way to spend time together with family and have lots of preschool learning!

Caught Red Handed

Who knew rice could be so much fun... create such a sweepable mess, or be the catalyst to such spiritual principles. I love living out my life with the Lord. Only He could turn a play session into lifelong learning and continue to free me from the anger I struggle with. Only He can catch us red-handed and let us go peacefully free.

R is for RED... in case you were wondering which letter we have begun. R is also for Rice, Race Cars, and Roads. I followed the easiest guide to making my own colored rice - thinking red rice would be so lovely glued to a nice paper Rr... and we could hang it up and see how we are making progress in our phonics. Then I remembered that I am teaching a 4 year old boy... who can already recognize the letter and could care less about paper and glue. He wants to smash and dominate.... and fill-up and dump. So I bagged my teachery idea and went with the messier one.

Ivy loved the rice too, of course. She kept telling us that her rice was green... and I think she really dug the sound it made as it plonked all over the dining room floor. She would spill some on purpose and just wait... listening to the music of it. She went from cup to ladle... fist full to funnel full... and had a blast filling, transferring, and dumping. Her rice became a tea party as we took turns pretending to sip, a springboard into language as she said "crunchy" and "sprinkle", a place to play and loose time as the snow and ice piled up outside as high as her mounds on her tray.

It didn't take long for the table to get in on the action... collecting all the leftovers as the children pushed and spilled so freely. And as most children would do, Gavin decided that the table rice was free game... his to claim. I think it's born into the men - take what is before you and claim it for your own until an authority tells you your limits. The limit was Ivy's tray - and that breech quickly followed. I don't often parent with repaying, but this time it occurred to me - that perhaps Gavin didn't know what if felt like to be robbed of something so precious. I thought for a moment after he greedily grabbed a huge handful of Ivy's rice, and had him freeze. Then he watched as I pointed out his error... and proceeded to take an even larger handful from his tray. (May I also add that I began to feel a bit of annoyance rise up in me at this point. We were all having such a fun time of exploration! I didn't want to be interrupted to parent... but then the Holy Spirit whispered my role and as I submitted I knew He would lead me to parent appropriately.)

Oh the anger that began to boil in Gavin... how little ones hearts are so transparent. They haven't yet learned to hide sin in their lives. What an opportunity for me to speak to that part in the heart... focusing not on the behavior, but on the greed and self that drives it. How his red face quickly softened as I helped him identify his sin... acknowledgement and humility before forgiveness. These are the terms we used and I am so thankful his heart truly gets the truth. To use these moments to feed and train the soul. It is such a blessing to be the one home, sharing with my children about the moment by moment need of a Savior in their lives.

The anger I see in my son is a daily struggle in my own life too. Such little things that go differently than my plan, such minor changes throw me for a loop... and at times I get caught in this selfish place of frustration. But I am learning, just like my boy. I am learning to fight with the weapons of thankfulness and joy. I am practicing new reactions to those situations as I continue to grow and experience sanctification. I am thankful that my Father catches me red-handed and doesn't let me go free until I have sought forgiveness in humility and truth.

Here are a few more pics of our celebration of all things R!

Gavin matched halves of rainbows in a number game. I have learned that paper activities go over much better if presented stuck to the wall (or in this case, the mirror)! 3D is always more active and engaging - more of the body is involved - therefore, more learning! (BTW - the rainbow game was from confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com)

Pretty colors right! Cheap and sooo quick to make! I think everybody is getting colored rice for their next b-day!

Hooray for Rice! What a blessed day!

Needing Someting New

It was a big decision... one I had to think through for some time. To blog or not to blog. It sounds sorta lame... but I was in need of someting new, and technology won out.

I'm a keeper. I have shoebox sized totes leaking out of my closets... containing anything from electircal chords to styrofoam peanuts to brightly colored milk caps. They stack on top of one another, are labeled for easy finding, and are a bit of a joke around here. My motto is becoming, "If it can fit in a tote, then we can keep it." What does this have to do with blogging you may ask??? I'm getting there.

So I'm a homeschooling mother who will never be satisfied with school work on paper alone or a read and regurgitate type life. We are thinkers, creators, doers around here. We play with things others throw out and walk in the abundant life we are called to. But this requires time. Time to organize and process. Time to set goals and take creative steps toward them. Time I am so blessed to have - and time I am called to use wisely.

So this is my new way of keeping. I hope to use this blog to better organize my ideas - to record those amazing moments shared with my husband and children - and know that my mom and sisters will be able to see them too. I want to scrapbook the smiles and projects, lessons and failures without the glue and the chunky pages. Those books don't fit into a shoebox tote...



And it's a bit exciting - to capture the written word, a snapshot or two, and know that at the end of a given evening, I have kept a memory in a little archive for me to reflect on and see where the Lord takes me. I think this will be good... and it dosen't require my to pull out my label maker.

Getting Started

So this is my first time ever blogging. I really have no idea what I'm doing. Let's try to post a picture:

Well, I guess that worked.

I'll post something of consequence soon.