TOS Crew Review - Peterson Directed Handwriting

Peterson Directed Handwriting is a company that has been around for a long time, serving both homeschools and public schools, however, just recently, they added digital products to their product line. I was chosen to review their new "PDF By Hand" eWorkbooks for beginning Cursive Writing.

I found the whole process and theory behind the Peterson Directed Handwriting method fascinating! Instead of teaching your child to "draw" letters in various shapes through tracing, Peterson Directed Handwriting teaches the child to break down each letter into combinations of four basic handstrokes. To teach these handstrokes, a method using voice-hand coordination is taught, so the child speaks his way through each part of the letter, which makes the process very rhythmic and smooth, as good handwriting should be! Lots of movement practice is done before a pencil even touches the paper, enforcing muscle memory and making writing more natural. Focus is also placed on proper pencil grip as well as paper slant for easiest maneuvering.

Customer Service at Peterson Directed Handwriting is excellent and it is obvious that Rand Nelson, the director of Peterson Directed Handwriting, is very eager to make sure his customers are able to understand and use the products effectively - which goes a long way in the customer service world!

That all being said, I am sad to say that despite my excitement about the method and the support from the company, this product just didn't "fit" our family well. We had a hard time getting started with it - I found the instructions heavy on interesting theory, but finding out the steps needed to actually *do* the lessons was more vague. I spent alot of time searching for the step-by-step process written somewhere in the e-book, and I couldn't find them all in one place cohesively. As I mentioned, there is alot of help on the website in various audio teachings and articles, but, personally, when I download an ebook, I like everything I need, easy to find, contained within the ebook. Also, the children actually had trouble moving past the first few steps... gaining the mastery of the motions as suggested by the company was difficult for them.

This might say a alot more about me and the boys than it does the product, but that was our experience and I wanted to be honest in regards to it. Also, please keep in mind that since all homeschooling families are different - what may be drawbacks for me, could be benefits in another family's situation!

Here are the aspects about Peterson Directed Handwriting which I appreciated:

• Very in-depth
  
• Knowing the "science behind it" (the whys of the method) helped me walk the boys through the process of good handwriting
• Great customer service
• Website has lots of information available (a must for digital products, in my opinion)

Here are some of the things that I considered drawbacks for our family and style of homeschooling:

• Not open-and-go or independent for the student - it requires a lot of teacher interaction
• Required alot of time and focus for me to figure out how to teach - somewhat overwhelming!
• Mastery was hard to accomplish and we felt like there wasn't much progress made, even over the course of several weeks
  

Peterson Directed Handwriting offers full samples of each level so that you may figure out which is best for you and get a good feel for the program! Like I mentioned before, what were drawbacks for us might not even be an issue in your homeschool. These samples are free, but you cannot print any pages from them - in order to print pages, you must actually order the eWorkbooks. The price is only $19.95 per level, which is a really economical price, in my opinion, especially considering they are totally non-consumable - you can print as many pages as you need as many times as you need them.

I do highly recommend watching the "Peterson Method How-To" slide show to get a deeper idea about their methods - I think you'll be intrigued! Explore their website more, and who knows? Even though it didn't suit us perfectly, it just might be exactly what you've been looking for in a handwriting program! Also, be sure to check out what other homeschoolers thought of the product by checking out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog!

Disclaimer: I was given this product specifically for the purpose of reviewing here on my blog as a member of TOS Homeschool Crew. I received no other compensation in regards to this review.

It Only Took 2 Weeks

We are finishing up our second week of Core 3 from Sonlight this week! I will admit, I was a little apprehensive about getting started... because you know when you get so, so, so excited about something, and then once you really put it into use... alot of times it doesn't quite meet the expectation and excitement level you had when imagining it? I was afraid of that happening.

But, I took a deep breath, and we dived on in. School has been running very smoothly. The lessons are short, but thorough (ala Charlotte Mason), the kids are having fun, and its been stress-free for me. Even on days when things haven't gone according to "plan", we've been able to pick up the ball and run with it, which is normally tricky for me. So far, so good.

But what about the anticipation and excitement? Is Sonlight meeting my expectations in that way? Let me answer this with a story about what happened last night.

On Sonlight's website and in their catalog, there are alot of reviews and testimonials saying things like "My kids even want to do school on the weekends!" and "My kids always beg for more!"... so on and so forth. Let me be totally honest - my kids, while they enjoy school well enough, have never, ever begged to do "more" school, or to do it at a time when it isn't normally scheduled. The thought makes me laugh!

That was, until last night, when we were headed out the door to bring a meal to a family with a new baby. As we were loading up the car, Isaac said (and I quote!) "Mom, can we bring school to do in the car?" Whaaat??? I had to ask him to repeat himself to make sure I heard him right. But sure enough, at the end of a full day of school, there was my child... asking to do more. And, to top it off... he groaned when I said no! What has Sonlight done to my child?!

Whatever it is, I like it! Yes! Sonlight is meeting... and surpassing my expectations!

Not Back to School Blog Hop - A Day in the Life

This week's theme for Heart of the Matter Online's Not Back to School Blog Hop is called "A Day in the Life" I get to give you a glimpse into what an "ordinary" day of my life looks like!

6:27 am - I roll over, look at clock, realize I need to get up so I can fit a shower into my day before anyone else needs me

6:40 - Actually get out of bed for said shower

7:10 - Sure enough, Judah (17 months) is up and chattering already (even though he didn't go to bed until around 9 last night... why can't this boy sleep in?!) Oh well, just means there's an early nap on the horizon!

He always starts his today with a banana and a smile! Today there's an added bonus of an airplane, too!

7:20-7:30 - More sleepy stragglers are making their way to the bathroom. Breakfast isn't until 8, so they all retreat back to their rooms for now. I start putting breakfast together - today its something easy, just bagels with some scrambled eggs.

7:50 - As I prepare breakfast, I have to move paint cans, rollers, and trays out of the kitchen. I even discover a roller wrapped in plastic in my fridge! Michael has spent the past few nights up until 2 am, busy painting various rooms of the house. I'm making an extra strong cup of coffee for him this morning - I don't know how he does it! The house is looking great, though - we've lived here for 3 years without much color on the walls, so its a huge improvement!

8:10 - The house is buzzing! Breakfast, followed by some chores is the typical start to our day.

Something is particularly funny this morning!

8:30 - Chaos is threatening to take over. So it goes when you have 6 people going different directions, doing different things, and a baby wanting to join in with everyone! Its just the normal hustle and bustle for us... it will settle down as soon as we get school started (hopefully!)

8:35 - I print out and edit a story Isaac (9) is working on. He takes the corrected page and gets started working on his final draft. We're waiting for one person to finish their chores (its always the same one... we have a dawdler in the family ;-)

8:45 - Aforementioned dawdler has finished his chores and is now playing "Hachiko" with his brothers. An argument soon breaks out because everyone wants to be the dog, and no one wants to be the owner that dies, go figure. They decide to change the game to "Homeward Bound" and everyone is happy again. I take this small break to go downstairs and spend a few minutes chatting with Michael. I love having a husband who works from home!

8:55 - It's time for us all to gather on the couch for Bible... off to round up the troops!

9:30 - Bible is done - both older boys have memorized Psalm 8 completely, yay!! They all get a snack while I put Judah down for that early nap I mentioned a few hours ago. That takes all of 6 minutes (I read a short story and sing a song), but by the time I come back out, I have to separate arguing brothers and work on "conflict resolution skills", such as, no pulling hair just because someone takes your blocks. And, no taking blocks just because you're mad about something somebody said. Guilty parties have apologized and offered forgiveness to eachother.

9:50 - Back to the grindstone, on to History!

10:15 - Big boys get settled in to do their independent work (Math, English, Reading, and Handwriting) while the little ones and I snuggle down for some fun storytime!

Ezra and Isaac hard at work

Ezra takes a break to sharpen his pencil

Hi Isaac!

10:50 - Preschool time is over and I'm correcting the work the big boys did. The kids have free time from now until lunch. Hooray! I love being able to take a good sized break halfway through the day. The rest of school will happen this afternoon while Nathan (3) naps.

11:00 - Judah is awake, and joins in the fun with his brothers. He is transitioning between 2 to 1 nap a day, but today he will have 2, since he woke so early from this one. I have to be really flexible with his nap times!

(I think they're devising a plan on how to conquer and rebuild the world)

12:30 pm - Two people are crying, its definitely time for lunch!! We're having left-over Lentil soup, yum! (and no worries, both criers are a-ok now!)

1:00 - Everyone has been sent outside to burn off some silliness and enjoy the sunshine! I am taking advantage of the time and catching a quick cat-nap (the pregnancy fatigue still lingers, at times).

1:35 - Everyone is back in and taking a quick shower - 4 boys + 90 degrees + dirt = stinky!

2:00 - Nathan is taking his nap and I start one-on-one time with Joel (5). We're halfway through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons! The older boys are doing their math - they couldn't do it earlier because Michael was on an important conference call and the TV is downstairs where he is! Judah is climbing on us and keeping himself occupied by playing with things he shouldn't touch. Which is also keeping me busy.


3:05 - Judah's down for his second nap, and I'm done with Joel's work. No melt-downs (on his part or mine!) today, so I call it a success. Reading lessons can be challenging for all involved ;-) I'm off to correct the older boys' math work.

3:35 - We're sitting down to read Walk the World's Rim, our Read-Aloud for the first few weeks of Core 3. The boys love it! They play quietly with blocks while I read, and I make sure they really listened by asking them some questions when I'm done. They did!

4:00 - Nathan's about to get up and we're all going to have a snack. Then comes our afternoon chores - these are the bulk of our chores and usually take an hour or so. The kids have "zones" that they work in, while I check off my Motivated Moms list for the day. For a little while, anyway, we enjoy some peace that a clean house can provide. It is usually not the same by bedtime, but such is life with 5 kids under 10, I think!

4:15 - I had to return a phone call to a friend, so my chores are put on hold for a minute. The boys continue with theirs while I go into my bedroom to be able to talk in relative peace and quiet.

5:15 - We're still working on chores. Normally by this point, I'd be getting dinner started, but tonight Michael made plans with friends of ours to go out to eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant! Yum!! That is definitely NOT part of our typical day! If today were more typical, I'd make dinner and we'd eat sometime between 6-7. Michael is reading through a chapter of Luke each night with us, then he and the kids usually do some dad/boy things (ie. Nerf sword fighting, hiking up Stone Mountain, working on a house project, etc).

5:30 - We're loading up the car and heading off to dinner! We're excited to see some friends we haven't seen in over a month.

9:30 - We finished dinner and everyone has come back to our house for some ice cream!

It's important to have a good variety available!

12:10 am - Our friends just said good-bye for the night (isn't it great when you can have such fun fellowship with people that you literally don't notice the time?!) and we are all heading to bed. This, again, is not typical ;-) Typical looks likes bedtime for the younger set at 8:30, the older two between 9-9:30, and then for Michael and I around 10/10:30. So tomorrow will be a later start on things, for sure. But, that's the beauty of homeschooling - flexibility!

Thanks for spending the day with us! Be sure to check out other homeschoolers' days at the Not Back to School Blog Hop!

Nathan waves good-bye to everyone!

A Song for Saturday

I came across this song and video at Divine Calling, and fell in love with it! Its like he's singing our song... after almost 12 years of marriage, Michael and I have definitely danced through our share of minefields - some self-imposed, some just a part of life. But through it all, God's promises have kept us together, and made us stronger than ever. I am so thankful for my marriage!

Well I was 19 you were 21
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much to young
But we did it anyway
We got the rings for 40 each from a pawnshop down the road
We said our vows and took the leap now 15 years ago

Chorus:
We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise was for

Well ‘I do’ are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I’ve heard is a good place to begin
Cause the only way to find your life is to lay your own life down
And I believe it’s an easy price for the life that we have found

Chorus:
And we’re dancing in the minefields
We’re went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise was for
That’s what the promise is for

Bridge:
So when I lose my way, find me
When I lose loves chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith
to the end of all my days
when I forget my name, remind me

Cause we bear the light of the son of man
So there’s nothing left to fear
So I’ll walk with you in the shadow lands
Till the shadows disappear
Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of this chaos baby
I can dance with you

Chorus:
So lets go dancing in the minefields
Lets go sailing in the storms
Oh lets go dancing in the minefields
And kicking down the doors
Oh lets go dancing in the minefields
And sailing in the storms
Oh this is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise if for
That’s what the promise is for

Not Back to School Blog Hop: Student Photo Week

I'm a little late in posting my contribution to the Not Back to School Blog Hop this week. Now that we're back into the swing of full-time school, that obviously means less time for other things, such as blogging. And taking pictures. Both of which were required for Student Photo Week.

However, today I finally rounded everyone up and snapped a few. Are they prim and polished like the many collections of professional school photos our parents collected over the years? Well, no.... but they're real! Consider it a snapshot into my daily life. This is what homeschooling 5 boys often looks like (minus swords, legos, and cars, which were not allowed in the picture):

I think that's about as good as its going to get!

Welcome to my world! Its a rowdy and loud one, but it comes with lots of smiles and giggles, too. :-D For more fun Not-Back-to-School Student Photos, be sure to check out the Blog Hop!

A Great Article on Breastfeeding

A friend of mine shared this article on Facebook, and I thought it was excellent! I was going to just add it to my "Treasures" post for the month, but I can be a real computer dunce sometimes and couldn't figure out how to link to it directly - something to do with frames and all that.

Sooo... I thought I'd just copy it here and give full credit where credit is due - this is from the website "Dr. Jen 4 Kids" and can be found under the sidebar link entitled "Soap Box". Please take the time to read this - its informative and humorous! And absolutely true. Enjoy!

The Normal Newborn and Why Breastmilk is Not Just Food

What is a normal, term human infant supposed to do?

First of all, a human baby is supposed to be born vaginally. Yes, I know that doesn't always happen, but we're just going to talk ideal, normal for now. We are supposed to be born vaginally because we need good bacteria. Human babies are sterile, without bacteria, at birth. It's no accident that we are born near the anus, an area that has lots of bacteria, most of which are good and necessary for normal gut health and development of the immune system. And the bacteria that are there are mom's bacteria, bacteria that she can provide antibodies against if the bacteria there aren't nice.

Then the baby is born and is supposed to go to mom. Right to her chest. The chest, right in between the breasts is the natural habitat of the newborn baby. (Fun fact: our cardiac output, how much blood we circulate in a given minute, is distributed to places that are important. Lots goes to the kidney every minute, like 10% or so, and 20% goes to your brain. In a new mom, 23% goes to her chest- more than her brain. The body thinks that place is important!)

That chest area gives heat. The baby has been using mom's body for temperature regulation for ages. Why would they stop? With all that blood flow, it's going to be warm. The baby can use mom to get warm. When I was in my residency, we would put a cold baby "under the warmer" which meant a heater thingy next to mom. Now, as I have matured, if a baby is "under the warmer," the kid is under mom. I wouldn't like that. I like the kids on top of mom, snuggled.

Now we have a brand new baby on the warmer. That child is not hungry. Bringing a hungry baby into the world is a bad plan. And really, if they were hungry, can you please explain to me why my kids sucked the life force out of me in those last few weeks of pregnancy? They better have been getting food, or well, that would have been annoying and painful for nothing.

Every species has instinctual behaviors that allow the little ones to grow up to be big ones and keep the species going. Our kids are born into the world needing protection. Protection from disease and from predators. Yes, predators. Our kids don't know they've been born into a loving family in the 21st century- for all they know it's the 2nd century and they are in a cave surrounded by tigers. Our instinctive behaviors as baby humans need to help us stay protected. Babies get both disease protection and tiger protection from being on mom's chest. Presumably, we gave the baby some good bacteria when they arrived through the birth canal. That's the first step in disease protection. The next step is getting colostrum.

A newborn baby on mom's chest will pick their head up, lick their hands, maybe nuzzle mom, lick their hands and start to slide towards the breast. The kids have a preference for contrasts between light and dark, and for circles over other shapes. Think about that...there's a dark circle not too far away.

Mom's sweat smells like amniotic fluid, and that smell is on the child's hands (because there's been no bath yet!) and the baby uses that taste on their hand to follow mom's smell. The secretions coming from the glands on the areola (that dark circle) smell familiar too and help the baby get to the breast to get the colostrum which is going to feed the good bacteria and keep them protected from infection. The kids can attach by themselves. And if you just need colostrum to feed bacteria and not yourself, well, there doesn't have to be much. And there isn't because the kids aren't hungry and because Breastmilk is not food!

We're talking normal babies. Breastfeeding is normal. It's what babies are hardwired to do. 2009 or 209, the kids would all do the same thing: try to find the breast. Breastfeeding isn't special sauce, a leg up or a magic potion. It's not "best." It's normal. Just normal. Designed for the needs of a vulnerable human infant. And nothing else designed to replace it is normal.

Colostrum also activates things in the baby's gut that then goes on to make the thymus grow. The thymus is part of the immune system. Growing your thymus is important. Breastmilk= big thymus, good immune system. Colostrum also has a bunch of something called Secretory Immunoglobulin A (SIgA). SIgA is made in the first few days of life and is infection protection specifically from mom. Cells in mom's gut watch what's coming through and if there's an infectious cell, a special cell in mom's gut called a plasma cell heads to the breast and helps the breast make SIgA in the milk to protect the baby. If mom and baby are together, like on mom's chest, then the baby is protected from what the two of them may be exposed to. Babies should be with mom.

And the tigers. What about them? Define "tiger" however you want. But if you are baby with no skills in self-protection, staying with mom, having a grasp reflex, and a startle reflex that helps you grab onto your mom, especially if she's hairy, makes sense. Babies know the difference between a bassinette and a human chest. When infants are separated from their mothers, they have a "despair- withdrawal" response. The despair part comes when they alone, separated. The kids are vocally expressing their desire not to be tiger food. When they are picked up, they stop crying. They are protected, warm and safe. If that despair cry is not answered, they withdraw. They get cold, have massive amounts of stress hormones released, drop their heart rate and get quiet. That's not a good baby. That's one who, well, is beyond despair. Normal babies want to be held, all the time.

And when do tigers hunt? At night. It makes no sense at all for our kids to sleep at night. They may be eaten. There's nothing really all that great about kids sleeping through the night. They should wake up and find their body guard. Daytime, well, not so many threats. They sleep better during the day. (Think about our response to our tigers-- sleep problems are a huge part of stress, depression, anxiety).

I go on and on about sleep on this site, so maybe I'll gloss over it here. But everybody sleeps with their kids- whether they choose to or not and whether they admit to it or not. It's silly of us as healthcare providers to say "don't sleep with your baby" because we all do it. Sometimes accidentally. Sometimes intentionally. The kids are snuggly, it feels right and you are tired. So, normal babies breastfeed, stay at the breast, want to be held and sleep better when they are with their parents. Seems normal to me. But there is a difference between a normal baby and one that isn't. Safe sleep means that we are sober, in bed and not a couch or a recliner, breastfeeding, not smoking...being normal. If the circumstances are not normal, then sleeping with the baby is not safe.

That chest -to -chest contact is also brain development. Our kids had as many brain cells as they were ever going to have at 28 weeks of gestation. It's a jungle of waiting -to-be- connected cells. What we do as humans is create too much and then get rid of what we aren't using. We have like 8 nipples, a tail and webbed hands in the womb. If all goes well, we don't have those at birth. Create too much- get rid of what you aren't using. So, as you are snuggling, your child is hooking up happy brain cells and hopefully getting rid of the "eeeek" brain cells. Breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, is brain wiring. Not food.

Why go on and on about this? Because more and more mothers are choosing to breastfeed. But most women don't believe that the body that created that beautiful baby is capable of feeding that same child and we are supplementing more and more with infant formulas designed to be food. Why don't we trust our bodies post-partum? I don't know. But I hear over and over that the formula is because "I am just not satisfying him." Of course you are. Babies don't need to "eat" all the time- they need to be with you all the time- that's the ultimate satisfaction.

A baby at the breast is getting their immune system developed, activating their thymus, staying warm, feeling safe from predators, having normal sleep patterns and wiring their brain, and (oh by the way) getting some food in the process. They are not "hungry" --they are obeying instinct. The instinct that allows us to survive and make more of us.

(Just as an end note, the author did include a video of a baby crawling toward its mother's breast immediately after birth, but it was a bit graphic, and I never know when younger eyes are viewing this blog, so I removed it for modesty's sake. Also, please forgive her evolutionary tone - obviously breastmilk was designed by God to meet all of the needs she describes! How awesome is His perfect plan!)

Song for Saturday

This song is an older song, but its one we've loved for... well, forever, it seems! Michael often sits and sings it and plays it on his guitar. Its so beautiful! It often brings me to tears.

However, since it is older, I couldn't find any videos to post with the song in it. Instead, this link will open a new window with a pop-up player so you can listen to it. Its a short song, less than 3 minutes, so take a few and give it a listen!

Cast Down Your Cares by John Michael Talbot

Cast your cares upon Him
Lay your life upon Him
For only He is worthy to stand

In tribulation, trial and sorrow,
When you can't see through tomorrow
He'll reveal to you the frailty of a man

Can you reach to love your neighbor?
Will they see the sweet, sweet Savior
Shining through the charity you give?

Do you hear His call to follow?
You must lay down your life to follow
For only when you die are you free to live

We must go as a light to the nations
Take up the cross and follow where He leads
We must go as a light to the nations
Prepare to wear His crown of thorns to bring His peace

Cast your cares upon Him
Lay your life upon Him
His faithfulness and love is always there

Are you prepared to take His cross to bear?
Will His love be what you freely share?
In humility... cast down your cares

Not Back to School Blog Hop: School Rooms

This week for Heart of the Matter Online's Not Back to School Blog Hop, the topic is School Rooms. Ahh... a personal favorite of mine!

If you were with me last year, you might remember how I transformed my basement into a huge homeschool area. All of that cleaning, decluttering, painting, organizing... yeah, that lasted, oh... about 6 weeks, maybe less. We ran into a snag that we thought (in the planning stages) that we could overcome, but it turned out that we couldn't.

Michael is blessed to work from home 3+ days a week, usually. His "office space" had been in the basement, and once I took that over for a homeschooling area, the plan was for him to work upstairs. Easy, right? Well, except for the fact that 80% of his day is spent on conference calls, and we still needed to come upstairs for snacks, lunches, pottying, naptimes, etc. When a man is trying to conduct official business on the phone, it doesn't bode well for a customer or, say, the vice president of the company, to have to endure "family noise" on the other end. The two just don't mix well!

Needless to say, we went back to the old way - Daddy working downstairs, Mama and boys doing school and other life upstairs. And as much as I liked prepping the basement as a designated school area, and liked the idea of having one main school space... the reality is, I actually really like schooling where we also do living. It makes "school" more like real-life living, you know?

So, now that we're back upstairs, I'll give you a run-through of the several different places that school takes place.

The first is the kitchen table:


This is where all written work, science experiments, and arts and crafts stuff takes place. Over in the corner is my arts and crafts supply drawers and whiteboard.

Along the floor you'll see each boy's "school box", where they keep their math, English, handwriting, etc. books, as well as pencils.


Then we have the couches. Our main living area is directly off our kitchen, and has enough seating space for everyone, so this is where all reading-type lessons take place that would include all of us, which would be Bible, History, Science, and general read-alouds.

This basket holds all the books we'll be needing for those subjects:


Our other living area has only one couch, so this is where I do preschool with the littles. It is not directly open to the kitchen, so it works great to do preschool in that room while the big kids are doing seat work at the table - less distraction that way. Next to the couch is the basket that holds our books that we'll be reading from that week.

Please refrain from noticing how stained the couch is. We've come to the realization that while there are children under the age of, say, 10, living at home, our furniture will never be showroom clean, and we're OK with that ;-)

Here is the one remnant of storage that we've moved back up from the basement:

It holds all of our Sonlight books, art paper, a few preschool activities, and math blocks. There are several more shelves containing homeschool "stuff" still in the basement, but this one bookshelf manages all I need for regular, day-to-day school. If I need something a little out-of-the-ordinary, I just trek downstairs and get it, its no big deal. And it leaves the upstairs much less cluttered!

There's our set up! To see other homeschool rooms, be sure to check out the Not Back to School Blog Hop!

A Birthday!

Last week, we celebrated a birthday at our house - the only summer birthday of the family! Our second-born son, Ezra, turned 8 years old!

We started the day off with special birthday waffles (topped with ice cream, hot fudge, and other yummy toppings)...


and ended it with cake!
Nothing like a birthday as an excuse to have a few extra sweet things ;-)

Ezra surprised us by arriving a full 12 days before his expected due date. From the day he was born, he had severe colic. When I say severe, this is what I mean - the technical definition of colic is "crying lasting more than 3 hours a day, 3 times a week" - Ezra spent up to 18 hours a DAY crying, every day of his little life, for 4 months straight. He would even cry in his sleep, and while nursing! It was a rough start, to say the least.

After the colic subsided, he quickly developed severe eczema - a rash that was all over his body, and would often bleed and become infected. This is a picture from when he was just about 4 months old, and you can see the rash on his cheeks (this was the early stages of the eczema):

After many, many trips to the pediatrician, we finally met with one who said "I think he has allergies!" and had him get tested. The testing proved her theory correct, and we immediately put him on a super strict elimination diet, as well as bidding our two sweet dogs at the time farewell.

After 2 years of living on a restricted diet, his final allergy test came back with all food allergies gone, except for nuts! Seasonal allergies he still suffers from, but he is getting allergy shots for them and they help immensely.

Despite the hard beginning, he has such a sweet character. He is intensely empathetic towards others, and loves deeply. He is full of energy and exuberance for life, and has a passion to know God, and to tell others about Him, too. During our vacation to New York, he made some friends his age who didn't know about the Lord. The day after meeting them, while they were playing in the yard, Michael checked on them out the window and saw them sitting in a circle while Ezra read his Bible to them. We are so thankful for the work the Lord is doing in his heart!

He's also our resident goofball. He is always playing jokes, laughing long and loud, and otherwise clowning around. He keeps things lively around here! The Lord has certainly traded his younger sorrows for joy today, and we praise Him for it!

Happy Birthday to our wonderful Ezra! May the Lord bless you with many years of joy to come!

Not Back to School Blog Hop: Currirculum Week

Heart of the Matter Online is hosting a "Not Back to School Blog Hop" for the entire month of August! This week's theme is Curriculum Week, where we get to share all about our curriculum choice for the upcoming year! I know I've spent several posts talking about our big change in curriculum for the year - we're trying out Sonlight for the first time, and I am super excited! We'll be doing Core 3 (American History) with the older boys (ages 9 and 8), and continuing the preschool Cores with the younger guys (ages 5.5 and 3.5).

One thing I struggled with in my "getting ready to start" organization was what to do with this big, huge (but very, very helpful) Sonlight Binder, that holds the year's schedule and notes for the all of the awesome books we'll be reading this year. Its not the most convenient thing to lug around, or even to have open on my lap for easy access to notes.

After reading many words of wisdom from other Sonlight users, I decided to downsize a bit. I bought a 1/2" binder, and put just the first 6 weeks worth of schedule and notes into it:

Then, to help me even more (because I need all the help I can get!) I labeled everything. Along the side, I labeled where the notes for History, Readers and Read-Alouds start, and put those notes in order of when each book is read. To make it even easier, I then labeled each indivdual book title along the top of the binder. Notice the nifty color coordination with the side labels? Yeah, I'm OCD like that, but its all good for me. Especially since Michael has expressed a desire to do the read-alouds with the kids at bedtime (Hooray for Daddy involvement!!), I wanted it to be really easy for him, too.

(You can click to enlarge the picture to see the labels more clearly)

Now when we're reading, it will be super easy to flip to the exact notes we need. The compact size of the binder will make it easy to take places, such as the doctor's office, or just around the house as we tend to migrate from couch to couch at times. See the size comparison?!

Granted, every six weeks I'll have to go ahead and switch the schedule and notes out again, as well as relabel things, but it took me less than an hour the first time, so I'm not too worried about it. An hour of my time in the evening is worth 6 weeks of organized schooling!

(Oh, and if you're wondering, the cool tabs I used are just Post-it file tabs. They can be written on, stuck on, and then removed and stuck again and over and over... I use them everywhere!!)

Our official "not back to school" start date is Monday, August 16! Be sure to join in the Not Back to School fun at Heart of the Matter Online!

WMFW - Taming the Runaway Pencil Madness

I know of very few homeschooling families who have their pencil and pen situation "under control". Meaning, we're not constantly buying new ones, only having them be lost, scattered or chewed up within days. And then there's the "But I don't have a pencil!!" excuse when its time for the kids to get down to work... how convenient! For them. Not so much for those of us who do the pencil/pen shopping and who also occasionally actually need a writing implement!

However, after much brainstorming, I have come up with a solution that seems to be working! The situation is still not as "under control" as I would like it to be, but it is very quickly becoming that way. Here's what I did:

First, I bought several packs of personalized pencils for each child. I got them from For Teachers Only, where a 3-pack of personalized pencils is less than $1! There's a $25 order minimum, though, which actually helped my idea to grow. Because of the minimum order amount, I went ahead and ordered 7 packs each for the older kids, and 6 packs each for the younger kids.

The first pack was a "freebie" - the boys awoke one morning to a pack sitting at their seats at the breakfast table. They were SO excited to have pencils with their names on them! Its amazing the little things that can make kids happy ;-)

I very quickly laid down the rules. The rules are simple: You are in charge of keeping your pencils. If you lose one, you will have to pay me $0.25 to get a new one. To get a FREE new one, you just have to trade in your old one, worn down to an unusable nub, so that I know you've gotten the most out of it!

(I will say that in order to help them facilitate this, they have designated boxes to keep their pencils and such in. Its much harder for anyone to keep track of things if the thing doesn't have a specific spot it belongs, that's just a natural rule of order)

Also, if (and when!) I find pencils lying around outside of their specific spot, I know right away whose it is. I haven't gotten mean enough to feign that they're lost just to embezzle my children out of quarters, but its not necessarily beyond me. Or I might just induce a "lost but found" fee of ten cents. I haven't been driven to that necessity yet.

So far, I've had to replace 4 pencils. Woo-hoo, $1!! Well, when you're, say, 7, (no names, please) and your weekly allowance isn't much more than that, it adds up! The boys are definitely becoming MUCH more conscientious about where their pencils are now. Both because of the fine and also because they really do like things with their names on them. So it is a solution that is definitely working for us!

For more fun and creative solutions to everyday problems, be sure to visit Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family!

Treasures of July

Good stuff this month!

The Ministry of Being a Mother at Chats with an "Old" Lady - Gina really speaks the truth well in this post - if any outside "ministry" is taking us away from our first and foremost one of wife, mother, and homemaker, then reassessments need to be made!

There's no Unless in Marriage at Lambs in His Arms - Manda made some excellent points!

Loving a Stranger, and Being Willing to Change at Pursuing Titus 2 - another good marriage post (is there a theme going on here?!)

The Importance of Being Mommy at Raising Arrows - Mark Driscoll is another one of my faves, and this sermon is excellent! Well worth the time it takes to listen!

For the Young Mother: Ministry, Guilt, and Seasons of Life at 9Marks eJournal - yet another great post, full of encouragement and truth!

Motherhood and Identity: Comparison and the List you Need to Tape to your Forehead at Inspired to Action - I especially like the last section!

Raising Adults at At the Well... In Pursuit of Titus 2 - very good points as well as tips to accomplish the goal!

Our Insufficiency at Raising Olives

BirthSMART tm (the video!) at Mama is... - pretty funny, although a little too true, unfortunately!

The Homebirth Advantage: The Physical and Emotional Benefits of Birthing at Home at pathways connect - Great article! So informative! Now if only I could convince Michael ;-)

Count it All Joy at Apologia World - great reminder of our real reason and calling to homeschool

Fearless Motherhood: Comfort is the Enemy of Change at Inspired to Action

Training Little Disciples - a Work of Grace and Patience at Passionate Homemaking

Beware the Husband Basher at True Woman Blog - excellent reminder, whether you be the hearer or the basher herself! Admittedly, I have definitely been on both sides.

All the Married Ladies at SomeGirlsWebsite - good reminder!

Practical Ways to Teach Your Children Scripture at Muthering Heights

Embracing Who I Am at (In)Courage

Savor the Season at The Boyer Blog - just beautiful!!