After reading a ton about all our different education options we're still undecided, but I've been impressed with all the early childhood information out there! I'm going to start working with my 2 1/2 year old a bit each day just to learn more about the world. We're going to start with learning about the ocean because we are taking a trip to the ocean in May. I have several little activities planned, and I think it will be fun for him. His little brain is so organized and he acquires new information like crazy, so I think this will help keep him busy.
I'm putting together some coloring sheets, and we're going to make a big ocean on the wall. I'm loving this! I hope he does too. I'm also looking into doing Five in a Row literature since he loves reading so much. I'm excited to get started!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Changing
About a month ago, the mother of one of my students shared with me something that I feel is going to change my life.
I have been teaching her pre-teen daughter for about 2 years now, and just started teaching her early elementary aged son this winter. They are a sweet homeschooling family and I have enjoyed getting to know them over the last few years. Ever since I have known them both the mother and the daughter always wear skirts or dresses. I have never asked them about this practice; I knew homeschoolers that were that conservative when I was growing up, so I assumed that they were part of that segment of the homeschooling population.
One day about a month ago, this mother saw that I had a copy of A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George on my desk. I had just purchased it for when I finished the study I was working on, so I had not started it yet. She commented on it and said she had really appreciated that book when she read it a few years ago. Then she said, "You know what really changed our relationship for the better? I gave my husband back the pants in our family." She laughed, then said, "Literally!" She went on to tell me about how she is such a dominant personality that wearing a dress or a skirt each day is a literal reminder for her that she is to be a helper to her husband rather than being in charge. "It seemed like a very extreme change, but for me and for our family, it was worth it." She told me that it is not just that reminder to keep her personality in check that has blessed her family, but that her husband became more affectionate with her, treated her even more like a lady than he had before, and that she feels more feminine when she is in a skirt or a dress. In turn, she works hard to not nitpick her husband, to think before she says everything on her mind, and to approach her husband with respect rather than accusations.
What spoke to me about her story, was how she made this change for herself-- it was not something that her husband asked of her, or that her church suggested, or anything like that. She was working on the part of her personality that she felt held her back in her relationships with God, her husband and her family, and she made a step that she felt would genuinely work for her, and it did. Drastic, yes, but it definitely yielded the results she wanted, plus some.
One of the main reasons I started this blog was to have a place to hash out the various parts of my life that I try to balance. I have two growing active boys with their own individual needs, my husband who is working a crazy overnight schedule so that he can go back to college but still help to provide for our family, my desire to be the homemaker for our family, my business and taking care of myself.
I am working to make changes in myself and some of them may be drastic, but my prayers are that they will be the right things to bless my family, my husband, myself, and my relationship with God. I am a Work in Progress.
I have been teaching her pre-teen daughter for about 2 years now, and just started teaching her early elementary aged son this winter. They are a sweet homeschooling family and I have enjoyed getting to know them over the last few years. Ever since I have known them both the mother and the daughter always wear skirts or dresses. I have never asked them about this practice; I knew homeschoolers that were that conservative when I was growing up, so I assumed that they were part of that segment of the homeschooling population.
One day about a month ago, this mother saw that I had a copy of A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George on my desk. I had just purchased it for when I finished the study I was working on, so I had not started it yet. She commented on it and said she had really appreciated that book when she read it a few years ago. Then she said, "You know what really changed our relationship for the better? I gave my husband back the pants in our family." She laughed, then said, "Literally!" She went on to tell me about how she is such a dominant personality that wearing a dress or a skirt each day is a literal reminder for her that she is to be a helper to her husband rather than being in charge. "It seemed like a very extreme change, but for me and for our family, it was worth it." She told me that it is not just that reminder to keep her personality in check that has blessed her family, but that her husband became more affectionate with her, treated her even more like a lady than he had before, and that she feels more feminine when she is in a skirt or a dress. In turn, she works hard to not nitpick her husband, to think before she says everything on her mind, and to approach her husband with respect rather than accusations.
What spoke to me about her story, was how she made this change for herself-- it was not something that her husband asked of her, or that her church suggested, or anything like that. She was working on the part of her personality that she felt held her back in her relationships with God, her husband and her family, and she made a step that she felt would genuinely work for her, and it did. Drastic, yes, but it definitely yielded the results she wanted, plus some.
One of the main reasons I started this blog was to have a place to hash out the various parts of my life that I try to balance. I have two growing active boys with their own individual needs, my husband who is working a crazy overnight schedule so that he can go back to college but still help to provide for our family, my desire to be the homemaker for our family, my business and taking care of myself.
I am working to make changes in myself and some of them may be drastic, but my prayers are that they will be the right things to bless my family, my husband, myself, and my relationship with God. I am a Work in Progress.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
On the Move
We are in the process of moving this week, one load at a time. We spent a lot of time in the new house this weekend fixing a few minor things- installing a new overhead light in the dining room, fixing a few doors that were loose, replacing old broken closet doors, general cleaning and putting together a few pieces of furniture. I hurt my back sometime on Saturday - I'm not sure how since there was no specific moment that I felt hurt, and nothing hurt until this morning when I got up bright and early with my boys.
Because of my back I was of little use today- I did laundry at our current house (my sister- an amazing blessing!- did all the hard work of getting clothes through the washing and drying cycles- I just folded it while lying on the couch) and I took care of my boys with the aid of my blessed sister. You never realize how many times a day you lift your kids until you aren't able to lift them, you know? I don't know how we would have gotten through the day if my sister hadn't been here to help out. I got a few computer projects done- menu planning for next week, lesson planning for next week in the studio, an updated moving list, and I did some research on closet systems for the boys new rooms. The closets in the new house have hanging bars and shelving that are all badly warped and broken in some places so my husband spent most of this afternoon ripping those things out. I need to figure out how best to organize the boys closets. The rooms are small, so I'm putting all of their clothes in the closets since there is no space for dressers in either room. I'm trying to find shelving or something to store their clothes well and I'm a little overwhelmed with that.
Because of the move I will have several massive home projects over the next several weeks. At first we're putting things away just to get boxes out of the way- the move is on Saturday the 5th, and my first student of the week will be on Monday afternoon the 7th, so the house has to be decently presentable by then! My goal is to take before-and-after pictures to share here in an effort to keep myself on task and to keep from getting overwhelmed by all this as I so often do. Any moving suggestions are welcome!
We're moving one load per day in our minivan until Friday when we will move all but the truly heavy stuff (like my piano!). That will be done Saturday when we have several guys here just for the 3-5 big things we need to move. I'm praying that everything will go well!
Because of my back I was of little use today- I did laundry at our current house (my sister- an amazing blessing!- did all the hard work of getting clothes through the washing and drying cycles- I just folded it while lying on the couch) and I took care of my boys with the aid of my blessed sister. You never realize how many times a day you lift your kids until you aren't able to lift them, you know? I don't know how we would have gotten through the day if my sister hadn't been here to help out. I got a few computer projects done- menu planning for next week, lesson planning for next week in the studio, an updated moving list, and I did some research on closet systems for the boys new rooms. The closets in the new house have hanging bars and shelving that are all badly warped and broken in some places so my husband spent most of this afternoon ripping those things out. I need to figure out how best to organize the boys closets. The rooms are small, so I'm putting all of their clothes in the closets since there is no space for dressers in either room. I'm trying to find shelving or something to store their clothes well and I'm a little overwhelmed with that.
Because of the move I will have several massive home projects over the next several weeks. At first we're putting things away just to get boxes out of the way- the move is on Saturday the 5th, and my first student of the week will be on Monday afternoon the 7th, so the house has to be decently presentable by then! My goal is to take before-and-after pictures to share here in an effort to keep myself on task and to keep from getting overwhelmed by all this as I so often do. Any moving suggestions are welcome!
We're moving one load per day in our minivan until Friday when we will move all but the truly heavy stuff (like my piano!). That will be done Saturday when we have several guys here just for the 3-5 big things we need to move. I'm praying that everything will go well!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Educating the Older One & Lapbooking
My older son, Ender, is 2 1/2, and very curious. His daddy and I haven't decided whether or not to homeschool or try to manage paying for private school, but at the moment private school is not looking very affordable. Right now our son is taking Suzuki piano lessons and that has given him something to focus his abundant energy on. I know it seems early for piano lessons, but I'm a professional musician and I've been watching him for signs of readiness practically since birth. I know that sounds funny, but let me tell you-- this child came out of the womb musical! He is able to practice for 5-10 minutes at a time and has a wonderful natural sense of rhythm. He already reads rhythm patterns- I'm amazed by this! Even after being a music teacher for the last 10 years I didn't really think it was possible for him to learn to read rhythm at 2 years old, but he reads rhythms up that include everything from whole notes to sixteenth notes! I will be the first to admit that it is a great help to him that I am also a piano teacher and practice properly at home with him.
We make practice time a daily thing that we do together in the morning, and then he often chooses to be at the piano throughout the day as long as I am not with students. He is around a wide variety of music all the time because my music studio is in our home and I'm actively teaching students about 20 hours a week. I am curious to see if his interest holds. I primarily teach violin, and as long as he is interested in a year or two and his piano technique is well developed I will start him on the violin as well.
Another thing I've been looking at is homeschooling. I was homeschooled through much of my education, mostly because I was involved in so many music activities that it was the only way I could get enough practice time in. As I was looking for information to help us make our decision about schooling our children, I came across information about lapbooking. I think I'm going to start doing a modified version of this with my 2 year old. We are going on a trip to the ocean at the end of May, so I'd like to teach him a little about the ocean and the beach before we go since he has never been, and I think a simplified lapbook may be a nice way to introduce that to him. He's really enjoying coloring right now, so I think a few coloring pages that we can staple into a colorful folder to make into a book might be fun for him.
Anyone else have information on lapbooking?
We make practice time a daily thing that we do together in the morning, and then he often chooses to be at the piano throughout the day as long as I am not with students. He is around a wide variety of music all the time because my music studio is in our home and I'm actively teaching students about 20 hours a week. I am curious to see if his interest holds. I primarily teach violin, and as long as he is interested in a year or two and his piano technique is well developed I will start him on the violin as well.
Another thing I've been looking at is homeschooling. I was homeschooled through much of my education, mostly because I was involved in so many music activities that it was the only way I could get enough practice time in. As I was looking for information to help us make our decision about schooling our children, I came across information about lapbooking. I think I'm going to start doing a modified version of this with my 2 year old. We are going on a trip to the ocean at the end of May, so I'd like to teach him a little about the ocean and the beach before we go since he has never been, and I think a simplified lapbook may be a nice way to introduce that to him. He's really enjoying coloring right now, so I think a few coloring pages that we can staple into a colorful folder to make into a book might be fun for him.
Anyone else have information on lapbooking?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Trying New Things
Does anyone have any amazing ideas for getting stubborn people to try new foods? My husband is a total wimp about vegetables, and my 2 year old is catching on to the fact that daddy doesn't really eat his veggies. We're already in the "5 Food Stage"- where the toddler will only really eat 5 different things- kosher hotdogs, green beans, applesauce, any kind of cracker, and soy yogurt. Gummy bears are also on the favorites list, but I can't bear to put that down as one of his 5 main nutrition sources! Note- the kosher hotdogs and soy yogurt are because of cow's milk allergies here- our whole family is intolerant (we're not sure about the baby yet, since he hasn't hit 18 months), so we just don't have it around- we do a lot of soy products and rice milk over here.
The husband has problems with the textures of foods, so certain things like cooked carrots literally make him gag. I want to call him a whiny baby, but that isn't exactly being an excellent wife, is it? I do think there are some things that he didn't like as a kid that if he would just try them again he would like okay. I keep trying to tell him that your taste buds mature just like the rest of the body and they can like new flavors if you give it a shot. I just want to be able to try out a few new recipes- that's all. Is that so bad?
The husband has problems with the textures of foods, so certain things like cooked carrots literally make him gag. I want to call him a whiny baby, but that isn't exactly being an excellent wife, is it? I do think there are some things that he didn't like as a kid that if he would just try them again he would like okay. I keep trying to tell him that your taste buds mature just like the rest of the body and they can like new flavors if you give it a shot. I just want to be able to try out a few new recipes- that's all. Is that so bad?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
