At the Breakfast Table...

Jalapeno talking about Daddy, who just came home sick from an eleven day trip to Indonesia:

"Daddy is sleeping during the day and awake at night - he is a BAT!!" "And, if we put him on the 'upsbydown table {we have an inversion table} then he will REALLY be a BAT!"

Quote of the day...

"It is wholly impossible to live according to Divine order , and to make a proper application of heavenly principles, as long as the necessary duties which each day brings seem only like a burden grievous to be borne. Not till we are ready to throw our very life's love into the troublesome little things can we be really faithful in that which is least and faithful also in much. Every day that dawns brings something to do, which can never be done as well again. We should, therefore, try to do it ungrudgingly and cheerfully. It is the Lord's own work, which He has given us as surely as He gives us daily bread. We should thank Him for it with all our hearts, as much as for any other gift. It was designed to be our life, our happiness. Instead of shirking it our hurrying over it, we should put our whole heart and soul into it. -James Reed

At the kitchen table...

"Yeyah,I know why dis is talled jicama...petause it makes you hiccup!"

Garden Pics

The peach tree is loaded down with beautiful peaches this year - they survived the crazy end-of-winter/spring...they just need to plump up now...they are small and hard, though gorgeous!





This is the garden, as of August 1 when my darling helped me to put up the frames and mesh for the cukes and gourds to climb...





And here is the garden a mere 20 days later!





This is the Crown of Thorns plant that is at the south end of the garden. It's leaves are silky soft or prickly and scratchy! It has beautiful, fragile white flowers that last a day and yellow flowers from which the Crown of Thorns gourd grow... a very interesting plant!









And this is my first ever acorn squash!! Can't wait to bake this up and serve it with some home-grown-rabbit stew!

Math - Garden Style

Oh, how I love learning with my kids at home!!

This morning the air is super clear and cool, thanks to a fantastic storm that rolled through town last evening. I think my pine trees grew a foot overnight! They seem so much taller, as I weave through them to water the squash plants. There are two acorn squash on the twining vines, and two or three butternut...though it looks like "someone" (a bunny invader, perhaps) knocked off two flowers that had baby squash at the bottom :-( Rabbit stew is good with squash, right?

Anyway, this morning I was out watering the garden, and was soon joined by my darling daughter. The beans are starting to come in good, and as Sweet Girl helped me pick them, she started counting them to see how many we harvested. It seems funny to me to count beans (I remember the days harvesting my Dad's garden, and there were way too many to count - I think we counted bug bites incurred in the garden instead!), but when they first started coming in, there were only a handful, and so that's when the counting began.

Sweet Girl started grouping the beans in twelves, and then started adding dozens. I love how we did not have to sit down and "learn" how to deal with numbers in this way. I mentioned it casually one afternoon, when we were picking beans early on, and she has taken it and run with it. Today, she was even converting "dozen" into twelve to figure out how many single beans we had...multiplication, here we come!! And how much more sense is it going to make to her, to have held the beans, manipulated them in her hands as she counted them, then to do the math in her head and then eat them for dinner?! I wish we had had "bean math" when I was in school!

Really?!?

So, I read this great article about homeschooling in the Post, and just had to reply...

Here's the article: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_15762640

And here is my reply:

Mr. Brigham,

I would like to say thank you for writing such a positive article about homeschooling. I have homeschooled my three children for the last three years, and it is nice to see favorable articles written about a topic that I am so passionate about.

You wrote at the end of your article:

"Ultimately, for us it comes down to not wanting to take on the additional responsibility or sacrifice the income, free time, and sense of accomplishment we get from succeeding at vocations we know and enjoy."

I am sad for you. Sad that you won't take a journey with your child that is more satisfying than any job you could hold. Sad that you won't be the one to teach her to read, and see the joy light up her face when she finally "gets it". Sad that you won't feel that sense of accomplishment that comes from working hard on something with your child, and finishing it well.

Income...schmincome! Homeschooling does not have to be expensive, in fact there any many homeschool families who are able to do it at a very low cost. We chose to "sacrifice" my income, and I would not trade one great, well paid day at my old job for my worst day as a homeschool mom.

What an exciting journey you and your family could take, if only you would look at homeschooling your child as a blessing and a fight worth winning. Nothing worth having comes easy, you know. Besides, think of all the new material it would give you for your writing!

As for me, I choose to give up the extra income, the satisfaction of having been really good at my former profession, and my free time. I accept all the work homeschooling takes. For there is truly no greater joy than leading my children in the journey of learning.

Sincerely,

Trina Reynolds
Homeschool mom of three in Littleton

Mommy vacation...sort of...

Day 8: Last Thursday morning, I leaned over to pick up my robe from a chair and WAMO!! Those delicate little nerves, the ones that start out in your brain, come twining down your spinal column and out under a disc, the little darlings that let you walk and flex your toes - they decided that the pressure was too much and decided to SCREAM their protest! So scream they did, like a fire hot poker being shoved down my left leg. Yikes!

So here I recline on my bed for the eighth day in a row...the break that every mother of little ones dreams of...being told: Rest! "You must lay down 45 minutes, then up to walk for 15. Repeat." Add a little traction, a ride on the inversion table, a visit every few days for an adjustment and 'electrocution' at my new best friend's place - my chiropractor.

And I am reminded of a pertinent scripture: "A man's heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps." Pro 16:9

I had many plans for this month. We started school last week...we completed only two days. Fun things to wrap up summer. A state fair, perhaps. Many, many plans that have all gone awry.

But I keep hearing stories all around me...people whose lives were changed forever after a train at a kids park flipped over; people who are undergoing surgery to remove cancer, and others for whom surgery is not even an option. Stories of children living in brothels in India who were offered a future and a hope, but whose families needed the money they would provide by "working the line", so their dreams were cut off.

So I say, Thank you Lord, that this is temporary. That I have a husband who loves me and is willing to do whatever he needs to do, to take care of me. That my awesome Mom was willing to come out early to help with the kids and the house. And for my Dad, who is willing to do without her for six long weeks. That my sweet kids come by regularly to see if I need anything, to get me fresh water or to see if I am a "yittle bit better". That I have friends who are willing to take time out of their busy lives to come here, bringing food and helping hands.

I am well and truly blessed.