May Reading List

Far from complete this monh will be - I think I am going back to a single list for the entire summer as I miss too many of them these days.

Roley and the Rock Star - Bob the Builder
Counting Kisses - Katz, Karen
Pumpkin Pie - Ziefert, Harriet
If You Hopped Like a Frog - Schwartz, David
Is That Josie - Narahashi, Keiko
Magic School Bus at the Waterworks - Cole, Joanna
Story about Ping - Flack, Marjorie
Growing Frogs - French, Vivian
Cinderella - Great Illustrated Classicss
Ugly Duckling, The - Anderson, Hans Christian

Frog and Toad - Lobel, Arnold
Frog and Toad are Friends - Lobel, Arnold
Oso pardo, oso pardo que ves ahi? - Carle, Eric
Animal Noises, copycats - Powell, Richard
Jimmy's Boa Bounces Back - Noble, Trinka
If You Hopped LIke a Frog - Schwartz, David
Pumpkin Pie - Ziefert, Harriet
My u book - Moncure, Jane Belk
My k book - Moncure, Jane Belk
My i book - Moncure, Jane Belk

Jafta - Lewin, Hugh
Kitten Called Moonlight, A - Waddell, Martin
My Many Colored Days - Dr Suess
Good Morning Good Night - Mitchell, Melanie
Baby's Boat - Titherington, Jeanne
House for Hermit Crab, A - Carle, Eric
Snow White - Walt Disney
Frogs in Clogs - Samton, Sheila
Trudi and Pia - Hegi, Ursula
Daisy and the Egg - Simmons, Jane

Georgia the Jovial Giraffe - Marian, Grandma
Kente Colors - Chocolate, Debbi
Frog - Kitchen, BErt
One fish two fish red fish blue fish - Dr Suess
ABC - Geddes, Anne
Amazing Animal Alphabet - Edwards, Richard
Casey's New Hat - Gardella, Tricia
In the Night Kitchen - Sendak, Maurice
Skywalker Family Albulm: Star Wars - Alfonsi, Alice
Tuesday - Weisner, David

Hop Frog - Chrustowski, Rick
Tell me the Story of Jesus - Beers, V Gilbert
Hello Benny: What It's Like to be a Baby - Harris, Robie
Kissing Hand, The - Penn, Audrey
Marvin K Mooney will you please go now - Dr Suess
Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You Hear - Carle, Eric
Quick as a Cricket - Wood, Audrey
Today I feel Silly and other moods that make my day - Curtis, Jamie Lee
Sailor moo Cow at Sea - Wheeler, Lisa
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear - Wood, Audrey

Miss Spider's Tea Party - Kirk, David
Wide Mouthed Frog - Faulkner, Keith
Where the Wild Things Are - Sendak, Maurice
Bluberry Shoe - Dixon, Ann
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Dahl, Roald
Ten Little Ladybugs - Gerth, Melanie
You are Special - Lucado, Max
Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery, LM
If You Give a Moose a Muffin - Numeroff, Laura



Rhiannon's Reads
Eyes, Nose, Finger, and Toes - Hindley, Judy
Magic School Bus Hops Home - Cole, Joanna
Secret Under the Tree, The: Adventures of Benny and Watch - Warner, Gertrude
Princess Mayblossom - Great Illsutrated Classics
Henery and Mudge and the Wild Goose Chase - Rylant, Cynthia
Great Kettles, The - Morrissey, Dean
Mother Goose - Little Golden Book
Jimmy's Boa Bounces Back - Noble, Trinka
Black Snowman, The - Mendez, Phil
Angelina and Alice - Holabird, Katherine

Josef's Journal and the letter J - Klingel, Cynthia
Wild Wild Wolves - Milton, Joyce
Bear Wants More - Wilson, Karma
Seashore Boo, The - Zolotow, Charlotte
Snowy Day, The - Keats, Ezra Jack
Amelia Bedelia - Parish, Peggy
Anansi the Spider: A Tale from Ashanti - McDermott, Gerald
What Game Shall We Play - Hutchins, Pat
Chewy Louis - Schneider, Howie
My Mama Had a Dancing Heart - Gray, Libba Morre

First Bear of Africa, THe - Ichikawa, Saomi
Harriet You'll Drive me Wild - Fox, Mem
Come a Tied- Lyon, George Ella
Albert - Napoli, Donna Jo
Where Do Ballons Go: An Uplifiting Mystery - Curtis, Jamie Lee
Bread and Jam for Frances - Hoban, Russell
Cave - Siebert, Diane
Volcano and Earthquake - Van Rose, Susanna
Rotten Raplh's Rotten Romance - Gantos, Jack

Pinky and Rex and the Mean Old Witch - Howe, James
My Mama had a dancing Heart - Gray, Libba Moore
Little Bear - Minarik, Else
Three Questions, The - Muth, Jon J
Mama Do You Love Me - Joose, Barbara M
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble - Steig, William
Miss Rumphius - Cooney, Barbara
Hooray for You - Richmond, Marianne
Pocketfull of Kisses - Penn, Audrey
On Morning Wings - Lindbergh, Reeve

Picture bible, The

Mommy Reads
Monkey Dancing - Glick, Daniel
Red Hat Club, The - Smith, Haywood
Fourth Perimeter, The - Green, Tim
Bush's War - Woodward, Bob
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith - Stover, Michael

Updated May 31, 2005

Hokey Pokey

Today we are having a cleaning day - we clean for 15 minutes and then the kids get to pick a reward for 15 minutes if they cleaned well and with the right heart. As one of her rewards Rhiannon asked to pick something from our idea jar, and she pulled out "Hokey Pokey" so I taught her how to do the Hokey Pokey with this great online site that has the lyrics and music to the Hokey Pokey.

Peace,
Tenn

People of Influence

Our pastor recently sent us an email asking us to write a few sentences about people who have influenced us and our lives. Serona's response:

Obiwan Kenobi. He taught me that, "there's no such thing as luck", to respond to threats and intimidation with kindness and possibly an offer of a drink, that power without control is dangerous and can lead to the Dark Side, and most importantly, to stay true to my beliefs even when others call them "hokey religions".

Yoda. He taught me to "Do. Or do not. There is no try.", and that wars do not make one great.

Darth Vader. He taught me to not be too proud of any technological terror I may construct. Also, that what others may view as a "sad devotion to that ancient religion" is actually quite powerful.

Luke Skywalker. He taught me to be careful of whom I kiss.

Han Solo. He taught me to not get cocky, that it's not wise to upset a wookie, and to fly casual.

Personally, my favorite description he wrote is Han Solo - though Obi-Wan is probably the most serious and probably has actually influenced Serona the most. When we were debate coaches (before the prequels) our debators referred to Serona as Obi-Wan and I was Yoda. Now that the saga is as complete as it is going to get I can say I have a whole new appreciation for Obi-Wan, Yoda and yes even Darth Vader/Anakin.

Peace,
Tenn

The Homeschooling Revolution book

Izzy is practically giving away copies of her book as they were damaged in shipping. Visit The Homeschooling Revolution for more details.

Peace,
Tenn

Dining with Books

Thicket Dweller had an interesting lunch that we should try out in our home. Enjoy Today's lessons: Dining with Books.

Peace,
Tenn

News Flash - Socialization No Longer an ''Issue''

Here is a news flash none of us need. Researchers Say Socialization No Longer an ''Issue''.

Peace,
Tenn

A Future Court Battle - Constitution Day and Citizenship Day

I am sure it will not take too long for this to end up in court. Did you know the public school system is now required to teach about the Consititution. Personally I think it is a sad testimony to the state of our education system that the government felt compelled to make it mandatory to teach about the Constitution, wouldn't that be something you expect to be covered (oh wait it is not loaded with PCisms so it is not quite as important). From a news article today:

"The Education Department outlined Tuesday how it plans to enforce a little-known provision that Congress passed in 2004: Every school and college that receives federal money must teach about the Constitution on September 17, the day the document was adopted in 1787.

Schools can determine what kind of educational program they want, but they must hold one every year on the now-named "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day." And if September 17 falls on a weekend or holiday, schools must schedule a program immediately before or after that date."

I am sure this will land in court soon enough as someone will claim that it violates the 10th amendment, what our courts will do with it will be another question entirely.

The intention of this law seems good, to ensure that our children are taught the foundation of our government. Yet it is troublesome that it is a decree coming fromt he federal government stating that a certain subject must be taught on a certain day, what will be the next government mandate, it sets a precedent that I'm not sure we want replicated. The government response to this is that they are giving the schools "freedom" to teach the subject however they wish - the school decides on the program. This seems to contradict the point of ensuring that students all learn about the constitution as there is no provision that says you need to teach the constitution even in a positive way, much less educate the kids about the specefics. Mentioning the Constitution as a document and focusing on the many politically correct ways to be citizens will cover the subject under the new federal guidelines.

Dangerous precedent for little tangible rewards. Sad that the government even feels compelled that it is a neccessity. Just another reason WWHS, some homeschoolers will be required to follow this law as well - especially the state funded charter schools that call themselves homeschools, as the law states " Every school and college that receives federal money"

Dig deeper and consider the implications. At first glance it may seem positive that the government wants to encourage better informed citizens - but in reality it belies many other truths and provides a cover for some of the true issues.

Read more about the topican easy read news story, some of the legalese, and for the true researcher text of Appropriations Public Law 108-447 where the law is found. You are looking for section 111b and it states:

"(b) Each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a
fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States
Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution."

In case you don't have a personal copy handy - here is the THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.

Peace,
Tenn

Tea Party

Today was a rainy cold day again. We had some friends over for a mini tea party. In days past I have done a full blown tea party with linens and little finger sandwiches and way too much food. Today I did it with what we had on hand. The kids set the table with pretty sunflower dishes, Rhia's favorites, they found matching cloth napkins and placemats for each person. They put out the teacups and helped me get the teapots ready. The table looked nice and they had a sense of accomplishment. Rhia got herself and Sirah in pretty dresses and waited for her friends to arrive, two girls from our homeschool support group in pretty dresses themselves.

The kids all played for awhile while I helped their mom finish off her first crocheting project. She made a cute pink poncho for a neighbor's birthday gift - it came out great for her first project. The kids settled down at the table for an interesting tea party menu.

Today we had three types of tea: Tazo wild orange, Good Earth green tea and Stash Wild Raspberry. We set out our good sugar and cream dishes and some honey. I think each child put all three into their cups! Then for the food we had cinnamon cookies, oreos, corn muffins, raspberry jam, and ice cream. Perhaps not standard tea party food but loved by the attendees nonetheless!

Then the kids were off in their own imaginary world for the remainder of the visit, dress up, household items and toys put to good use in their stories. Sirah toddled in and out of the mix generally preferring to spend time with me and her adopted "aunt" and chatting with us.

A nice way to pass the afternoon until the sugar crash came hard this evening. I had one of those "What is wrong with you all!" moments until it dawned on me, they had sugar and caffeine and it was raining too much to burn the energy off. Ciaran gets like the energizer bunny and Rhia gets mouthy and moody. Lucky me. So it became a race to see how quickly I could get them into bed.

I was sneaky and bribed them with a favorite of theirs which actually served me quite nicely. I gave them the choice for the evening "Would you rather read books tonight or watch a movie", knowing full well they would choose the movie. I let Ciaran pick as he has not yet learned the wisdom of picking the longest movie in our collection before bed - and sure enough he picked a nice 30 minute movie. I set out a blanket on the floor and fed them dinner as they watched, then whisked them off to bed where Rhiannon and Sirah promptly crashed (their natural response to a sugar high/crash) and Ciaran snuck a bottle of pop into his room. When I came in and discovered him on the floor behind his door with it he immediately said "Someone brought this in my room and took the top off" Instead of being mad I actually had to leave the room quickly so I would not burst out laughing!

So a great afternoon, lousy early evening and a nice early bedtime. Will need to find more indoor activities as we are slated for rain again for the next few days.

Peace,
Tenn

Homemade Game Boards

Here is a nice site to make your own game boards.

Peace,
Tenn

MN Legislative Alert

Received today from my statewide homeschool group:



The legislature has gone into Special Session again to finalize negotiations on 2005 legislation. One of the issues still in play is expanding the education tax credit! An expansion of the education tax credit currently exists in the House Omnibus Tax Bill HF785 and a weaker version is in the Senate Omnibus Tax Policy Bill SF1683.

The language proposed by Representative Knoblach in HF1054 that was moved into Representative Krinkie's Omnibus Tax Bill lifts the family limit on the number of children to which the credit can apply and gradually reduces the credit applicable to families by income level as it relates to the federal poverty guidelines.

Current statute allows a family $1,000 per child up to $2,000 per family and cuts off the credit at income levels beyond $37,500. These changes essentially eliminate discrimination against large families and benefit every school age child in a family. The House version also brings immediate relief, whereas the Senate version does not begin until the tax year of 2006.


The main resistance to expansion of the education tax credit has been in the Senate where a weaker version was passed. Because of this, the education tax credit expansion is vulnerable when the Conference Committee takes it up in their negotiations. We are asking you to make calls to your senator and representative and ask that they support the improvements to the education tax credit as it exists in the House tax bill, HF785.

Identify yourself as a constituent and parent of school age children who would benefit most from the House version of the tax credit expansion. It is important that they hear the message, "Please retain the expansion of the education tax credit as it appears in the House Omnibus Tax Bill." Also encourage your legislator to contact the Tax Conference Committee members and encourage them to retain the House language. You can also state any or all of the following reasons:

The House version provides immediate relief for families.
It treats families more equitably by serving all qualifying children within a family, not just up to two.
The removal of the limit to which the number of children the credit can apply eliminates discrimination against large families.
The improvement in the tax credit reaches more low income and needy families.
The House version factors in inflation to income limitations.
The tax credit strengthens the quality of education options by giving parents the opportunity to choose from a multitude of services, programs, and materials in which they can invest their money to best serve their children's educational needs.
It benefits all children, public and private educated.


If you are not certain who your senator is or what district you live in, please go to District Finder and type in your street address (it may be sensitive to how you enter your street information, e.g. use "County Road" rather than "Co. Rd."). If you already know this information you can find the telephone and email contact information for your senator at Senator Alphabetical List .

Those who live in the district of the following Conference Committee members and Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson are especially encouraged to contact their senator because they will play a key role in the final negotiations of the tax bill. All phone numbers begin with area code 651.

Senate Majority Leader, Senator Dean Johnson (District 13 - Willmar) 296-3826; sen.dean.johnson@senate.mn

Senator Larry Pogemiller (District 59 - Minneapolis) - 296-7809; sen.larry.pogemiller@senate.mn

Senator William Belanger (District 40 - Bloomington) 296-5975; sen.bill.belanger@senate.mn

Senator Don Betzold (District 51 - Fridley) 296-2556; sen.don.betzold@senate.mn

Senator Mee Moua (District 67 - St. Paul) 296-5285; sen.mee.moua@senate.mn

Senator Rod Skoe (District 2 - Clearbrook) 296-4196; sen.rod.skoe@senate.mn

Representative Philip Krinkie (District 53A - Shoreview) 296-2907; rep.phil.krinkie@house.mn

Representative Ron Abrams (District 43B - Minnetonka) 296-9934; rep.ron.abrams@house.mn

Representative Morrie Lanning (District 9A - Moorhead) 296-5515 or (800) 657-3742; rep.morrie.lanning@house.mn

Representative Ann Lenczewski (District 40B - Bloomington) 296-4218; rep.ann.lenczewski@house.mn

Representative Dean Simpson (District 10B - New York Mills) 296-4293 or (800) 914-3172; rep.dean.simpson@house.mn


Senator Gen Olson, Senator Michele Bachmann, Senator Julianne Ortman, Representative Jim Knoblach, Representative Barb Sykora, Representative Joyce Peppin, Representative Ray Vandeveer all introduced bills this session to expand the education tax credit. You are encouraged to thank them for their support when you contact them.

Day in Pictures

Here are some photos we took today along our nature walk. We spent nearly all day at a nature preserve, identifying and enjoying wildflowers, birds and a great hike through beautiful nature. It was perfect weather and a great day. Will blog more specefics later.

Enjoy,
Tenn

Mushrooms

Yellow Flowers

Someone's Home

Wildflowers

Wildflowers

Red bugs

spiderweb

preserve

Walk in the Preserve

State Capitol Tour

Last week for our field trip we went to our state capitol. We took an interesting tour with our homeschool support group and some others. We heard about the history, got to sit in the Governor's reception room and got to see teh gold horses on the top of the capitol building. We listened to the House in session for awhile and heard about different paintings and historical people.

After the tour was complete we met with a local representative and he took us into a conference room and answered the kids and parents questions. It was very ineteresting. He told us about his path into polticial life, what day might look like and a bit about his family, life as a Representative and some of the work he does. The kids had some interesting questions and it was an informative and good field trip. Serona went on this one with us as well which made it even nicer.

If you have yet to visit your state capitol I recommend it, we have done this several times now and I always enjoy it. Though young ones can be challenging and at times difficult there - overall it is a good trip.

Peace,
Tenn

Star Wars - It is complete

Well it has been a long and fun and tiring week. We just completed our Star Wars week. Beginning last Monday evening, every day we had some Star Wars activity planned until last night. We hosted an open house showing one of the movies each night (except Wed and Thursday - allowing people time to see Revenge of the Sith in theaters) and a variety of people come and watch with us. One night we had 9 children 9 and under - it was a hoot and they actually did much better than I would have thought! We dressed up in costumes as a family - though not every single night and we just enjoyed spending the time together and enjoying the movies with each other and with friends. But it was also draining and tiring - to have people over to your home each night got to be a bit much and in the future I would not do so many nights in a row. I was actually thankful when noone else came last night and we just enjoyed Return of the Jedi as a family.

Wednesday night Serona and I attended the opener of Revenge of the Sith at midnight in full costume. We attended with many other fans in costume and had a good time. You can see some pictures below. We both enjoyed the film so much that we each went to see it again this weekend helping the movie break records with a 158.5 million dollar opening weekend!

I will say that I was no big fan of Episode I and Episode II, especially in comparison to the original trilogy. However, Episode III is much better than the last two and the fall of Anakin Skywalker is done in a subtle way that makes you feel for him. Having gone back and watched the original trilogy since seeing the film only makes me appreciate Episode III more. Revenge of the Sith really adds something to the original trilogy and it actually changes the way you view it. The story is really about Anakin now now Luke, Leia and Han. Yoda is much cooler and Ewan Mcgregor, Hayden Christensen and Ian McDiarmond really did their homework in studying their characters and the transition is seamless and very well done! I think Episode III does a good job tying it all together

For those of you with kids who love Star Wars I encourage you to preview the movie before taking your children. It is intense and I believe it deserved the PG-13 rating, I also think it is dark, heavy and intense for young children. It needed to be and I do not think it is overdone but I caution you to see it first, it is a different tone and feel than the other movies. Our own children are disappointed that we have decided they can not see it but they have accepted it - we have settled for answering questions they may have about it, atleast for a few years. There were quite a few children in the theater when I saw it on Sunday and there were even some at midnight! So others may have different opinions or standards than I but I encourage you to watch it yourself. Even reading reviews and detailed descriptions such as the one found at Kids in Mind - caution will be spoilers - do not truly capture the tone and violence in the movie.

Still we enjoyed the film and recommend it for adult fans. While I enjoyed our star wars week, our costumes, lightsaber duels, parties and all I am glad to see it come to an end for now. Of course it will never really end, as I type this Ciaran is playing with star wars action figures and ships and I am in the middle of reading Matthew Stovers novelization of Revenge of the Sith!

Peace,
Tenn

Seperation of Religion and Rights

When the laws were written to maintain a seperation of church and state there were good reasons behind them. They were designed to allow people to worship or not worship as they saw fit and to keep the government out of their religious beliefs and business. The law was designed to prevent national laws on what religion you can and cannot practice. Over the years we have completely lost sight of this purpose and have morphed the law into in some ways the opposite of its original intention, especially were Christians in America are concerned.

Seperation of church and state is decried everywhere primarly to stop religious expression of individuals now. Today in the news is the story of Olivia Turton, an 8 year old Frechtown NJ resident was denied the ability to sing "Awesome God" for her schools talent show.

"The girl was told May 10 that she could not sing the song. Her mother, Maryann Turton, protested at a school board meeting that night. She was told three days later by Joyce Brennan, the school superintendent and principal, that the religious content made it inappropriate at school, according to the lawsuit filed by the child's parents Friday morning."

This is not what the founding fathers intent was when they wrote the seperation laws. It is not a valid concern. An 8 year old child singing a song about God at her schools talent show is not a threat to society, it does not put anyone's religion at risk, it is a personal expression and it is her own.

Our schools are going to far when they fear allowing children to sing songs, hand out candy canes, have their own religious groups and profess their personal beliefs. This is a misuse of "seperation of church and state" and it moves into the realm of seperating those with religious beliefs who wish to express them from their own personal rights to freedom of speech.

An interesting point is made that the school is allowing a scene from Macbeth which contains witchcraft (which apparently does not count as religious content here) but not allowing Olivia Turton to sing her song.

What a mixed up world we live in. How far will it go? Read the whole story at "FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - School Nixes Girl's Religious Song.

Peace,
Tenn

Minnesota Free

Here is a site with lots of free things to do in Minnesota. Check out Family Times: Free Page.

Peace,
Tenn

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Opening Night Midnight Show

>

Twi'lek and Princess Leia

Storm Troopers

Fett

Dark Side

Master Duel

Lightsaber Duel

Good vs. Evil

Revenge of the Sith

Here are some pictures from opening night of Star Wars at a nearby theater where we met up with many other costumed fans. I would say there were over 50 people in costumes, though some were more authentic then others. Personal favorite costumes included the very well done Darth Vader, Storm Troopers and the authentic jedi costumes.

I fully enjoyed the movie, there were some slow moments, especially in the beginning but the transition from Anakin to Lord Vader was subtle and well done, the scenes between Anakin and the Chancellor were some of my favorites. I did feel for Anakin throughout the movie and now I want to rewatch Return of the Jedi. I am glad we did not bring the kids - it was dark and violent for their ages.

Enjoy the pictures, we had a great time!

A Different rhythm

Today we followed a different pattern to our day. It is rainy, cold and miserable and it has been for too long. The kids are getting ancy and it really isn't nice enough to take them out unless I want to be assured of more sickness. So I let them take turns picking what we would do today knowing that meant it would be a movie day.

Sure enough we began by watching an Ewok movie, followed by playing Star Wars chess. Then it was some quiet time alone playing. Off for video games, introduced to Tetris and then playing Super Bubble pop. Some more free time while I put Sirah to sleep. Then we all sat down and watched Cheaper by the Dozen together. I was working on my knitting (yes I am slowly learning) while we watched.

Then Ciaran decided to practice writing his name and Rhiannon wrote and illustrated a short story about a family with 12 kids. Sirah woke up and nursed and played nearby. Then upstairs while I made homemade soup for dinner they straightened their rooms. Sirah and Ciaran headed into the bathroom to give all of his plastic frogs a bath and good cleaning while Rhia and I sat on our overstuffed chair and she read two chapters of Black Beauty to me while I knit.

A wonderful afternoon, a nice lead up to the events of the night. It was such a nice day on what could have been terrible because of their moods and the weather that I did not even put up a fuss when they did not want to eat the soup I made. I agreed to their request for oatmeal for dinner!

Rhiannon is starting the water for the evening baths now, some storytime and an early bedtime tonight. The last few nights have been late evenings for them watching Episode I and Episode II so tonight we should have a nice early bedtime. Roomba is on her third room, the dishwasher its second round and most of the house picked up. If I knew watching TV could make the days run this smooth all the time I might allow for more of it. Of course I will not and honestly could not do it but it was a nice break and we still did enough other things to make it interesting overall.

Peace,
Tenn

In a galaxy far, far away....

This is where we have spent most of our week and will through Sunday at least. We have opened our home to our friends, collegues and co-workers (family too if they lived closer) for an all week Star Wars open house, showing one movie a night until Sunday.

Beyond that we have made costumes, thanks J, and played in the Star Wars universe, with action figures, lightsabers and our imagination. The kids and I had several lightsaber duels throughout the day - it is great fun! This morning immediately upon waking Ciaran started having a lightsaber duel by himself with two different electronic lightsabers - he won in case you were wondering.

The hiss and hum of the lightsaber is one of the most common sounds in our home this week and that is just fine with me. When I got married I had a choice to make, I could either spend the rest of my life hating Star Wars and fighting about it - or I could embrace it. I chose wisely and embraced it. Star Wars is now quite a defining part of our family in a fun way. It is something fun and light (though Serona takes it quite serious)that we can enjoy as a family. It reminds Serona of his childhood and brings out the kid in all of us (yes even me), it has brought us together in something we all enjoy playing and watching together. We have gone to conventions, make family costumes, watch the movie over and over again and play games centered around it.

As I type this in our home library I look over at the entire bookshelf of Star Wars books and the following games out on the table (all Star Wars versions) Trivia Pursuit - DVD, Chess, Monopoly, Risk and Roleplaying RPG books. We decided we will introduce the kids to RPG (in a controlled and adapted way) to feed their imagination and give it an outlet. The kids colored pictures today, played imaginary games and finished mine and Rhia's costumes (we are both based off of Barriss Offee - a jedi from EPII). So I would say this is probably the way much of the rest of our week will continue.

Peace,
Tenn

Live worm birth?

Dy, over at Classic Adventures, has a great post about her son holding a worm while it gave birth. She had difficulty finding information about this online so I tried for quite awhile as well and could only come up with worms being born in cocoons. It is an interesting read. Maybe someone else knows about worms birthing other worms and can point her, and me in the right direction as I am now very curious.

Peace,
Tenn

Mom's Best Friend - Digital Voice Recorder

OK I begin this by acknowledging that I am a techie, I am an early adopter and I am a geek. But I will also say that I have low patience for things that are complicated and a lot of work, Serona is much better with things like that. I am also a forgetful, scrap of paper kind of person. I haven't been able to effectively use a day planner since college, I have gone trhough Palm Pilots and just find them impractical to use with kids, the stylus is still too much work and as I have several computers it just did not sync well to keep all my info in one place. I still have it but it was not useful in some of the ways I had hoped.

I recently broke down and bought a new toy and I love it. Easy to use, effective for its purpose, multi-purposed, small and lightweight. I just bought this Digital Voice Recorder from Wal-Mart a few weeks ago.

I use it for a variety of things and I really like it. So far I have used it to remember appointments, errands, and things I want to blog. I have the kids do their narrations on their which I can then easily transfer to the computer or audio blogger. We also take it with us on walks so we can record what we are seeing on our nature walks. For example we bring a nature guide with us to look things up, then I or the kids can say what it is and when we come home we have an easy list to remember. I recently went away on vacation and I had each of the kids record me a message so I had it with me. Of course listening to Sirah sing "winkle tar" (twinkle twinkle star) made me miss her all the more!

It is relatively cheap for all the conveinances it gives me. For under thirty dollars I think it is great! I use it for homeschooling, household and personal use and for my kids. You can save things in different folders and each time you record something it creates a new file so it is easy to go back through and find what you are looking for and erase it when you are done. No tapes to mess with, 3 hours of recording and normal batteries. It is a good value for the money. Hope it can help someone out!

PS: Thanks Dad in Maine for the inspiration, I was walking around a park with the kids and I was frustrated I knew I would not remember what we had seen and I thought of you and the way you use your tape recorder!

Peace,
Tenn

Star Wars Printables and Games for Kids

Here are some fun sites for kids related to star wars

Free Star Wars coloring pages

More Star Wars Coloring Pages

Free Online Star Wars swapper puzzles

Star Wars Internet Scavenger hunt - for older kids

Star Wars Returns

Pit Droid demo game

Official Star Wars kids site

Making your own Mustafar Volcanoe - where Darth Vader and Obi-wan fight

Luke and Leia Star Wars Paper Dolls

Star Wars for Parents

Here are some sites parents may enjoy. Share them (or not) with your children at your own discretion. Some may not be appropriate.

2005 Fan Film

Store Wars: Join the Organic Rebellion

I Miss Biggs: Luke Skywalker's Journal

Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster

Troops - not for kids

Episode III: A Lost Hope - not for kids

Stick Wars

The Force.net

Lego Wars

One Man Star Wars

Captain Returns

After a much enjoyed vacation the "Captain" has returned. I hope you have all enjoyed reading Serona's humorous coverage of his weekend with the kids. He is clearly the more creative member of our family! So now it is back to dull and straightforward me, but I am thankful he spiced things up a bit. The family enjoyed the time as well and we are ramping up now for our Star Wars week. With Revenge of the Sith opening this week, we are hosting Star Wars parties every night this week showing a different film each day.

Hope you are well.
Peace,
Tenn

Story of a Tomb

A woman died of pneumonia in the 1890's and they built this sculpture for her tomb. Her name was Asman. Her mother and father were out on a journey, a witch came and pretended to be her mother and poisoned her drink that made her fall asleep. Then she woke up when her mother came home the only way to make her wake up was to hug her. There are a hundred frogs hopping over the land and the frog kicked the woman as she died of pneumonia and they buried her in this tomb.

---Story by Rhiannon and Ciaran

This occurred spontaneously this morning as they were building blocks. I had to write it down and share.

Peace,
Tenn

Animals, Computers, Sewing and Drama

Today was a big day for us. The main elements are stated in the title. The morning was spent with our homeschool support group at a local library. One of the families had their grandparents in town from California and they shared slides of pictures they took while spending time in Zimbabwe. There were many different animals including elephants, lions, crocodiles, impala, hyena, wild dogs, baboons, giraffes, wart hogs, zebras and many others I am not recalling off the top of my head. The kids were interested and Rhiannon and Ciaran both wanted to ask a million questions.

This is a struggle I have often with the two of them, they are very curious by nature and asking questions is a big way we learn around here. The kids are very open with asking questions and would ask questions, especially from interesting adults all day long. Sometimes there is that brief embarrassment for them when they ask or say something strange, like today when Rhiannon said out loud when she heard how many gallons an elephant drinks “I would be drunk!”. Othertimes there is that brief embarrassment for yourself when they keep asking constant questions and they are making and forward progress impossible. Most of the time it is this fine line I walk of wanting to let them ask their questions and have them answered and wanting to teach them to be more respectful and that they can not always have every question answered immediately. A balance between respect and not killing that burning desire to know and the satisfaction of receiving an answer. Anyone have some good tips on how to handle this one?

After the slideshow and the many questions we celebrated a little girl’s 5th birthday. She is important to our family and a close friend of the kids. I made her a little purse and a shawl in her favorite color (blue) and we picked out a really cool Monet puzzle book with multiple pieces of his artwork, I think she liked them. The kids enjoyed a treat of Rice Krispy treats. Mom, you will be happy to know that one of the kids adopted aunts even gave Sirah the treat I did not want her to have!

We ate lunch and dinner (sad) on the road today. As we headed over to another friends house for the afternoon where I traded some computer expertise for some sewing. This dear friend is assisting in making my Barriss Offee jedi costume for the opening night of Revenge of the Sith. I helped her install Adaware, SpyBot, Firefox, Piccassa2 and some other things on her computer. I gave a very mini lesson in Firefox and tabbed browsing and set up the primary tabs for each computer using member of their family. Cleaned up some stuff that did not belong on there and helped introduce them slowly to some of my favorite computer programs (gmail, firefox, and piccassa2 for a few). Of course I would have done this just to help her and she would sew just to help me but it worked out nice that we could help each other at the same time. The kids all played in a room between us and we took turns with them, though she covered them much more than I did. We spent more time then I thought there but I left with a nearly finished skirt (Serona did most of it but she made the waist, sewed it up and did the top hem) and promises of a jedi cloak to follow. She now has a more cleaned and tuned computer and some new programs to play with.

Then we headed to a theater production put on by a homeschool theater troop. Two members of our homeschool support group were in the production and it was fun to see them up on stage! This was the second production of one of them, and the first for the other. It was great for the kids to see their friends up on stage and even Sirah loved it. Of course everyone knew when an animal was on stage as Sirah would keep saying the name of the animal and/or the sound they made the whole time. I kept trying to keep her in hushed tones. Our kids gave their friends flowers and Rhiannon proceeded to tell each of them that "You rock!", a new one for her. On the way home both Rhiannon and Ciaran procceeded to tell me that there were kids their age or younger up on stage and can I please find a play for them to perform in? Guess I won't be able to avoid the drama bullet for much longer.

Winding down here now. I am actually getting ready for a weekend trip with some girlfriends. Four moms (including myself) from our support group are going on a "Mom's Trip" from Friday to Sunday without the kids, the first time I have ever gone off on a "vacation" just for myself! Bless the dads and pray for them to survive. I am of course kidding, Serona and each of those fathers will do a great job as they are very involved with and giving to their kids naturally. We should have a relaxing weekend of chatting, hot tubbing, crocheting, knitting, snacking and movie watching. So needless to say blogging will be scarce but relaxation will be high! Hope you have a great weekend.

Peace,
Tenn

Rosetta Stone for Free

Just wanted to let you know that many public libraries offer Rosetta Stone's language program online for free - I know ours does. It is a great way to learn a foreign language for kids and adults alike. It normally retails for about 200 a program so this is a great deal. Check out the ebooks section on your public libraries website.

Peace,
Tenn

Wow - God's Creation is Breathtaking

Reason to Homeschool Number 103

In case you need more reasons, from today's newsCondoms Given To Middle-Schoolers At School Health Fair.

No matter where you stand on kids and sexual activity, giving condoms to preteens without their parents permision?!?!?!?!?!? Just another reason I am glad for our choices.

Peace,
Tenn

Free Frosty

This weekend, Wendy's is giving away free, cool and creamy Jr. Frostys. That's right, icy-cold, chocolaty refreshment, absolutely Free. No coupon needed. No purchase necessary. Just come in and say "Free Frosty". A "please" would be nice, but that's not required either. At participating Wendy's while supplies last. Limit one per customer. Friday, May 13th through Sunday, May 15th.

Factory Tours USA

Here is a fun and interesting site for field trip ideas. Check out Factory Tours USA.

Peace,
Tenn

Rhiannon and Ciaran's First Horse Ride

First Horse Rides

Yesterday we went to a great horse field trip. We visited a horse farm with several other families, I think we had about 14 children there. The kids learned some facts about horses including different body parts, reasons for their behavior and how to read the body language of a horse. Then they all took turns brushing the horses, learning that there are three different types of brushes to use, combing the tail and mane, touching the bone in the tail (I did not know they had a bone there) and finally riding the horses!

It was both Rhiannon and Ciaran's first time on a horse, Sirah stayed with friends from our support group, and they both loved it, their grins were so big! Ciaran was one of the first to ride and Rhiannon waited patiently and was second to last! They each got two turns on the horses, each turn making several laps around the ring. The first time they learned how to mount a horse, basic commands and just got used to it. The second time they had the opportunity to trot and they both really liked that!

At the end of the class each child had the opportunity to name three parts of the horse and then they received a certificate for either a free lesson or free trail ride. They were very excited for this as well.

I would say overall it was one of the best field trips we have done this year. The price was reasonable and the rewards were worth it. At times it was challenging for Ciaran to wait or for Rhiannon to make the right choice not to run around even if others were but they did very well overall.

I was especially proud of Rhiannon who was extremely patient waiting her turn and letting others go ahead of her. She also was protective of her younger brother when at one point children were telling him he was too young to play with them and then she helped get him involved and negotiate activities so that he could be involved in a fair and reasonable way. To be honest at first she did not realize what was happening but as soon as I pulled her aside and showed her that Ciaran was crying and she found out why she rectified the situation immediately. It was interesting because the situation involved older boys but she was not too intimidated. It was one of those moments when you just love your kids and how close they are.

I'm not sure how much longer we will be able to avoid horseback riding lessons, they both liked it so much. This summer though all that is on our "classes" list is swimming lessons. Anyway if you have the opportunity to ride horses for a field trip, do it, it was a great time!

Peace,
Tenn

"Abnormality, Thy Name is Homeschool"

Despite the scary title, it is actually a decent read and not one that will make your blood boil. The writer reviews the history of education and how schooling came about. Then states the reason homeschooling seems incompatible with modern day is because our families have fallen apart.

So, yes, homeschooling does seem a little odd to many. It seems unnecessary, not a good fit for most families. And in a certain sense, that assessment is correct. Homeschooling is not a good fit for the modern family, if only because the family has, in modern times, ceased to exist. Family cohesion has been obliterated in large part by the mass school.

Our society requires massive consumption. Needy, ignorant people consume more goods and services than educated, emotionally stable people do. The quickest way to create needy people is to obliterate the family. The quickest way to create ignorant people is to divorce them from their parents. The mass school is an excellent exercise in creating a market for your goods, whatever they might be. Unfortunately, what counts as goods for the market does not count as goods for the family—or, in the long run, for society.

Read the whole thing and see what your thoughts are. In the end personally I feel that "Abnormality, Thy Name is Homeschool" by Steve Kellmeyer seems to just provide more reasons to home educate your child and be a more cohesive family.

Peace,
Tenn

Queen Bees in preschool

Recent research shows cliques and terrible junior and senior high behavior stats in preschool for many little girls. The Queen Bee syndrome is starting younger and younger as this research shows:

Salt Lake Tribune - Utah: "The preschool Queen Bees were well-liked and socially skilled but also tended to be more arrogant and aggressive in managing relationships.
They would exclude specific classmates from play groups, demand others not play with a specific child, threaten to not play if their needs or demands weren't met and refuse to listen to someone they were mad at. The little Queen Bees were also masters at spreading gossip and telling secrets.
This mix of positive and negative social behavior allows these girls to maintain their social standing, the researchers said - a somewhat disturbing finding.
'By the age of 4 a substantial number of children have apparently figured out from their environment that relational aggressive strategies can be used to their advantage and are rewarded with social status,' co-author Robinson said in a press release. "

Sadly in our own lives we have already experienced some of this as Rhiannon has dealt with several of these "Queen Bees" in her Sunday school class of all places. At first as a parent you don't want to believe it, you don't want to think little kids can be like this but then you realize they are and you need to be proactive as parents and help your child. Why we keep thinking kids need to know how to handle this and be "socialized" at an early age is beyond me.

Perhaps the reason this behavior is showing itself younger and younger is the increase in daycare, preschool and many other environments where parents are not directly involved with their children and can help them manage their social relationships in positive ways. I am not knocking all preschool and daycare for some I know in some cases they are necessary but I am saying as parents you need to be involved in your child's life and help them deal with kids like this who do truly exist even as young as 4! Of course the more you are with your kids the more you are able to help guide them through this relationships when they are faced with them.

Go hug your kid,
Tenn

Mother's Day

We had a wonderful Mothers Day. Serona and the kids surprised me with a boat road around a nearby lake. It was wonderful, a delicious brunch, mimosas, and beautiful scenery all with my family. The kids got turns steering and driving the boat and it was a nice afternoon thankfully the weather held off.

We came home had family naps and then went outside to play, swing on the hammock and take rides on Serona's new lawn tractor! The kids think it is great, so do we as the yard takes half the time!

Out for dinner to a local Mexican restuarant we enjoy and home to work on my homeade Star Wars jedi costume. We are making a variation of Barriss Offee for my costume. Serona, Rhiannon and I all took turns sparring with our lightsabers as well.

It was a funa nd special day. Hope you all enjoyed yours.

Peace,
Tenn

Homeschooling and Sports

Not much new here, though I would say that it is a pretty fair article on the whole. They answer the socialization thing nicely and overall it feels positive for homeschooling. Good to keep up with what the news says about the homeschooling movement. Read he home-school challenge.

Peace,
Tenn

May the force be with you

Getting ready for the opener of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith? You need to take some time to read I Miss Biggs - the personal journal of Luke Skywlker. This blog is great, funny, interesting and insightful. For those of you familar with the Star Wars universe it captures the attitude and tone of Luke Skywalker quite well. For those of you just a little curious it is funny and easy to read. Check it out. My personal favorite post so far is Hyperspace. Lots and lots of space.

Peace,
Tenn

Day Outside

We spent nearly the entire day enjoying the perfect 70 degree weather and beautiful sunshine! We met Serona for lunch and walked around a lake near his office where we saw many snapping turtles, geese, goslings, ducks, red-winged blackbirds, robins and other birds, fish slipping in and out of the water, the first butterfly of the season, moths, and even a deer!

This afternoon the kids and I went to one of Ciaran's favorite places to hear frogs where we heard loud choruses of spring peepers and chorus frogs though we never actually saw any much to his dismay. We did however see our first frog spawn of the year. Can't wait to go back and see the tadpoles. We also saw some cowslips, purple prairie flowers and lots of dandelions. I have had my first flower bouquets and flowers for my hair of the season!

On our walk we also saw a variety of birds though many were too quick for us to identify and we are not yet proficient at the calls. We will work on that this summer. We saw more geese, a hawk and some ducks and much to our dismay we picked four ticks off of us! We even saw a rabbit that the kids were very excited about but disappointed they could not catch. The frogs were very loud and at one point we got very close to one but we must have scared it because he stopped croaking and we couldn't find him.

I am beat tired but it was a good day, hopefully they will sleep well!
Peace,
Tenn

Call It a Year

Well I told Rhiannon last week that she was officially done with kindergarten. Truthfully she is more than halfway into first grade work in some areas and probably even further in her reading skills. Now we will drop down for the summer to just math, reading and copywork until late August. Of course we probably will continue to have lessons from time to time as their interests or events come up. However, with the nice weather all I want to do is keep her handwriting, reading and math skills fresh and spend the rest of the time outdoors as much as possible.

Of course with being outdoors and on more field trips as is our general summer policy she tends to keep more of her nature notebook so I guess we probably spend more time on science and art during the summer than during the rest of the school year. We will still listen to classical music and observe great works of art but I am not going to do it in a structured way.

Of course we will continue to read often and a wide variety as is our general policy. So I guess not much is changing as we enter the summer. I am just removing some of the structure and stopping with certain texts until the fall. We will hold off on our grammar, history, and more formal science texts. We will also take the summer off to plan for our country of the month studies to resume in the fall with a study of Central and South America, followed by Africa. I will stick to storybooks for summer reading, unless of course they pick up non-fiction themselves (which does happen from time to time) and listen to more books on tape as we spend more time in the car driving from place to place. We will exercise more, smell the flowers and visit the pond probably daily.

All in all it has been a great year. I have been so impressed with Rhiannon's progress. She is reading fluently - she has read her Picture Bible cover to cover and is working through it again! The stated reading level for this is 9-12! Of she needs help with some of the more complicated names or cities but after hearing them once she was able to start using them properly. At first I did not believe she was actually reading it and had her read out loud to me, which she could do easily. Then as she read quietly I would ask her about it afterwards and her narrations were excellent so she really is reading it. She has also taken to reading the Great Illustrated Classics collection. She reads every day typically for an hour.

For math we worked through Miquon and we stayed in the first workbook. I also supplemented with some things from the web. She has mastered her numbers to 100, skip counting, simple addition and subtraction without manipulatives, more complicated addition and subtraction with manipulatives, number correspondence, patterns, comparisons, word problems and the beginning concepts of fractions and multiplication.

For copywork she wrote poetry, scripture, famous sayings, her letters, letters to family, family names, and some specific lesson work. Her handwriting has improved tremendously over the year and continues to get better when she takes her time.

For history and geography we studied one country a month through our coop. We looked at the customs, culture, geography, flag, food, traditions, history and government for one country a month. We also worked through some of Story of the World and some basic US history.

For bible study she has been working through her entire bible, we learned the timeline and historical overview of the nation of Israel and the main events of the bible. She worked on memory verses and copywork.

For science we covered the basics our school district required: seasons, weather, five sense, body, and we will finish up with plants as we garden this year. We also spent quite a bit of time learning about a wide variety of animals and God's creation. We threw in some fun science experiments and concepts to lay the foundation for the future. We have spent quite a bit of time on magnets as well. She has started keeping a nature journal.

For fine arts we listened to composers Vivaldi, Bach and Beethoven this year and acquainted ourselves with their music. We looked at art from Mary Cassat and Monet. Of course during our year we were introduced to many others as well. They played with musical instruments, paint and a variety of crafts. They kept nature notebooks and drew pictures and cards.

For language arts we read, read and read some more. We also worked through First Language Lessons for grammar and Phonics Pathways for phonics. We listened to many books on tape in traditional and unabridged format. Some favorites were The Silver Chair by CS Lewis, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan by JM Barrie and Pinnochio. We read several hundreds books over the course of the year, our reading lists are available throughout the blog.

It has been a great year and I have loved learning with them and teaching them. Now we are off to enjoy the sunshine.

Peace,
Tenn

God's Eyes

Ciaran and Sirah's God's Eye

Cinco De Mayo Lesson

Well today we did a short impromptu lesson on Cinco De Mayo. We actually were suppsoed to attend a class and field trip with our homeschool group but runny noses and coughs prevented that. Instead I just let Rhiannon pick what to do during her siblings naptime. She really wanted to make a craft. She wanted to make a blad eagle of all things. It just popped into her head. So we took out the craft box and printed out a picture from google images and started making a bald eagle. When we were done she wanted to hang it on the wall and I asked her where, scanning the room she said right next to the American flag and George Washington since it is our nation's bird. Who was I to argue? So we did and took the pictures you see below.

Then she wanted to do another craft and we had just talked about patriotism so I thought I had a natural in to talk about Cinco De Mayo and make our craft around that. We did a few quick google searches and decided to make a Mexican flag and a God's eye. Using construction paper, I did not have all the colors of felt on hand I would need and a printout of the flag (which we cut the symbol from) we made a Mexican flag. Then we glued popsicle sticks together and made the God's eyes with the pletero of yarn I have hanging around. Rhiannon was able to do hers by herself with minimum help and Ciaran was able to do it with assistance and I just made Sirah's for her though she picked the order of the colors.

This is an easy and fun craft to make - I liked the directions and picture of this one but liked the explanation and biblical theme of this one.

For more ideas and a simple explanation of Cinco De Mayo with craft, music and book ideas check out Step by Step. We learned this simple song from there:

Come Join the Fun - sung to "Frere Jacques"

Cinco de Mayo, Cinco de Mayo,
Is lots of fun, for everyone.
Many celebrations,
Loved ones get together.
Come join the fun, with everyone.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Peace,
Tenn

Our Patriotic Wall

We have a patriotic wall with a poster of George Washington, the first president of America. We also have an American flag and a bald eagle. Mom and I made the bald eagle together. We are having a craft time together.

Love,
Rhiannon

Unschooling Spelling

I guess we are unschooling spelling right now. Just this week Rhiannon has taken a huge interest in spelling. She keeps saying I know how to spell x and then spelling it phonetically. It has been interesting. At first I was like oh that is nice but then I realized she is seriously interested in this and we keep going with it. She is so proud of herself and we of course are proud of her. Just, listening, praising and correcting right now.

Another upside of this is now Ciaran wants to learn his letters! Hooray! I have never pushed him for this in any way and he has shown little to no interest other than in learning to write his own name (so he can receive his own library card) but now he wants to know how to read and spell and he realizes that means he needs to learn his letters first.

Peace,
Tenn

Lessons They Learn

As home educators we often concentrate on the lessons we will teach that sometimes we overlook the lessons that we do teach in the meantime. Writing the Out of the Mouth of Babes post this morning got me thinking about some other things.

First, my appearance and what I am teaching my kids about their own. As I type this I am wearing my sweats that I threw on bleary eyed this morning to let the dogs out and pour some cereal and soymilk in bowls for the kids as nourishment. I have yet to brush my hair and definitely have not yet taken a shower yet. I have begun speaking in complete sentences thankfully - but that came after awhile as well. Yet I am blogging!?!?!? I know some of you think my priorities are wacky but this is an easier time for me to get to the computer while my kids are still eating and then entertaining themselves with games with each other.

Now my kids are all dressed and their beds made and rooms picked up, no joke actually! But my bed is still a crumpled mess and I am not worthy of being seen by anyone. Yet my kids see me like this all the time. Yes I need to be able to relax and just be myself in my home and not stress about what I look like - yet a part of me says I need to be better and wonders what exactly my kids are learning. What am I teaching them when I choose not to get dressed out of sweats or other comfy but rather weary looking clothes until I "have" to, until Serona comes home, until we go out, until someone other than my children will see me. What exactly am I teaching them about themselves and about myself? I want to say that I am comfortable and I don't need to put on any pretenses in front of them, which is true. Yet, I also think it says that I don't value myself and/or them as much as I value others which is simply not true.

When they were babies I never gave it much thought, after all what do they care? Though in the back of my brain I always remembered Fly Lady's advice to "Get Dressed to the Shoes" and hung my head that I wasn't/ She is right you know - you DO feel different when you are dressed and wearing shoes. Somehow it is so much easier to simply sit still or lay back down into bed if you are still in pj's and the bed is not yet made and inviting you back into it. When you wear shoes and are dressed nicely you actually feel more motivated and you feel ready to do things. It is strange to me but when I am fully dressed and wearing shoes I know I get much more done. Things seem easier and I want things to be in order. Yet when I am still in my sweats I am just content to let it go and get to it all later.

I think it goes deeper though I think getting dressed is important for my kids to see. It must be weird to them that the first thing I make them do is get dressed yet sometimes I am still in my sweats at noon (or later) and I wonder what it says to them that I would not go outside (with rare exceptions) dressed the way I do at home. I think they are still naive enough to not care or notice but Rhiannon is starting to change.

She wants to pick out my clothes, she wants me to wear pretty things, she wants me to dress up. Yesterday she came upstairs carrying my very best dress, an evening gown that I wear to weddings. She asked me if I would "pleeeasse" try it on. I said it was something I only wore to weddings and events and then she asked if we could go to a wedding and why don't we go to balls. Can you tell we have been reading Cinderella? She would not relent until I tried it on and she lit up when she saw me all dressed up. She made me feel like a princess and then I realized that is how she sees me and she probably wants me to dress that way all the time. I think she would like it if I would wear dresses like Ma in Little House on the Prairie every day. My appearance is important to her already at the age of 5. Not because she cares what anyone else thinks of me but because she wants me to look nice and looking nice is important to her even if it is not to me.

I know there is a balance to be struck here - I will never be a mom who has to "put on her face" before she faces the world. I can probably count on two hands the total times I have ever worn makeup! But I need to take more care about the way I present myself to my family each and every day. I need to be willing to get up and get dressed like I expect my kids to. Ever notice how unkempt children can affect our moods in negative ways and well dressed washed children make us smile, well I wonder if our kids feel the same way? Why wouldn't it? Okay so I am motivated to get dressed better and sooner each day.

As I type I am reminded of a second inadvertent lesson my children have learned - the computer is important to mommy. Between blogging, checking news, Iming with Serona, email, streaming music and online research I spend a good portion of my day on the computer. Not constant but often in short spurts. My kids have often been held at bay while I "just finish this email" or heard "We can do that after I check the news" or the answer to "What are you doing?" is "Writing a blog post" - in many ways the computer is my telephone and television.

Still I do use it too often and I also can make my kids angry with the computer because I spend too much time on it. I don't use the phone much and we don't have television (other than a monitor for videos) so those are not areas of weakness for me as they are for others but the computer has become my problem area.

I want my kids to see this value of the computer, I want them to know that you can find many answers here, use it for many purposes and that overall it is a good thing. So I need to be cautious that they not grow up feeling resentful of how much time their mom spends on the computer. So I need to be cautious of the lessons I may be teaching. Unfortunately I have taught them this from birth as I have nursed babies and toddlers at the computer. Even as I type now Sirah just climbed in my lap for a nursing!

To the defense of computer nursing I will say that I have spent so much of my time nursing over the past five and a half years that I have no guilt over this! In the very early baby days I did not do it much, nor when they actually want to look at you while your nursing. But let's be honest here after a certain point the babies are just about business - the closeness is important sure but they are not continually gazing into your eyes when you nurse five or six times a day so if I am at the computer for one or two of those it is fine. Nursing at the computer also helped me continue to nurse longer as I was able to double task more. Nursing is important to me and to my kids and I have continued it but I have also found ways to get other things done too. Perhaps I am feelings some guilt here that I required a paragraph to justify it but overall I am sure it has been a good choice. Yet it means my kids realize that I use the computer often and they have known that since birth! So I need to be cautious.

To be sure there are also many good lessons my children have picked up from spending so much time with us, lessons I never really tried to teach. Every one of them, yes including Sirah now, loves to be read to and it is often their first choice of things to do. They have a love for a good story and Rhiannon reads everything you put in front of her. They have been exposed to reading as a natural part of our day since birth as well and have been read to since then as well. So there is a good lesson they have learned through our example.

Another important lesson they have learned is the importance of family. I have seen my kids put their siblings before their friends time and time again. I know they are still young but I see the opposite behavior in other children their age already. Rhiannon and Ciaran both consider each other best friends and both of them love to play with their sister. All three of them would choose to play with Serona or I over their friends. The kids continually chose to spend time with their grandparents instead of their friends and instead of going on field trips when they were recently here for a visit. This I believe is another lesson they have simply gained by osmosis and the way their life is.

There are many others, just as I am sure there are many in your own lives, both good and bad. The important thing to remember is that our kids are always learning whether we want them to be or not. Just as in my faith I continually remind myself that "my walk speaks louder than my talk" our kids live with us day in and day out, what they see lived out in our lives will stay with them forever, much more than any individual lesson we teach them.

Next time when you are planning out your lessons for the day, week, year (if you even do that) think about all the other lessons that go into your day and your child's life. I better go get dressed now!

Peace,
Tenn

National Day of Prayer

Meet At City Hall Scheduled For May 5

I invite you to participate in the 20th annual Meet At City Hall that will be held on the National Day Of Prayer, May 5, from 12:20 pm to 12:40 pm. At thousands of city halls across the country, individuals will gather to pray for a moral rebirth in our country.

Your participation in Meet At City Hall is very simple. Simply show up at your local city hall at 12:20 pm on May 5. There will be others present. Spend the 20 minutes in prayer.

Peace,
Tenn

Out of the Mouth of Babes

This morning Serona sent me a link to the Subrurban Blight blog and I found this gem:

"Little kids, man. No shame, no shame at all, no sense of pride, no idea that there are people out there who'd judge them harshly for anything at all. It's wonderful; it is the purest thing I know. You tell your child something, they hear you make a statement, and it is the word of the Lord, a burning bush. It is truth, handed down from On High. They don't know or see or understand things like spite, or rancor, or envy, or lust...yet. Anything you say, then, can be shared, should be shared. What you say to them is the way it is. To a child, Mommy or Daddy is an oracle, a demigod. You're where they get their truth. You, your example, and the words that fall out of your mouth are all they have to live by.

Children are amazing, and the responsibility of a parent is, should be, great, and terrible.

Oh, people...hold those babies close. Be so very, very careful with them, how you speak to them. In physical ways, children are just are tough as nails. In other ways, you can shatter them as easily as glass..."

For a good laugh you really need to read the whole post about a mothers honesty to her child and the unique way it comes out as he informs his preschool class that mom even promised to wear a bra!

This got me to thinking all the unique things are kids say that sometimes we wish they didn't. Like the time Rhiannon was almost three and having a conversation with someone at a book signing we were at. We were waiting in line and she had just named the speaker to which this woman was amazed. Within minutes I went from proud mommy to "someone lost a child mommy" as Rhiannon promptly laid down on the floor pointed to herself between her legs and said loudly "I have a ...and named the appropriate term for the area! Serona and I shared a mortified glance and the woman blushed and looked at us strangely.

Another time we were on a field trip at the police station and another child announced to the officer when he was showing us his handcuffs. "We have those at home" referring to a playpair they had but it came across completely differently to all the adults and the mom.

Still another time recently at Ciaran's birthday party, at a nature preserve, when we were talking about turtles - a child said "My daddy has a gun to hunt those" and the mom was trying to figure out what to say. They do hunt but not turtles!

These are the silly and strange ways what we say comes back but sometimes it is in much more serious ways. When our kids hear us speak they hear our words as truth. They do not understand inflection, tone, sarcasm and any other subtlies. They simply take our word as truth and sometimes that can be scary.

That is why when parents argue or fight in front of children in is so scary to them. They don't understand you don't really mean the nasty things you are saying. They don't understand that your tone makes a sentence mean something completely different. They are hearing a completely different conversation through just the words.

Also kids really don't know that some things they simply should not share. Anything you say is so important to them that of course they will share it. Children are resilent and they do bounce back but they are also fragile and we do need to treat them that way.

Go love and hug your kids and be nice to them today!

Peace,
Tenn

Ultimate Star Wars Geekdom

Okay so I have officially crossed over some geekdom line today. Serona and I purchased FX Lightsabers and they are awesome!

I have been blessed by being able to hide behind my husbands love for Star Wars as my excuse for dressing up in costume and getting into the movies. If I am fully truthful though I have grown to enjoy it nearly as much as he does (though I'm not sure I will ever reach his level). However, today when I held my lightsaber and it actually lights up and makes the sound effects from the movie when it powers on and powers down, when you swing it and when you clash with another lightsaber I admit I loved it and I am hooked.

As a family we spent some time dueling lightsabers. The kids still have the basic lightsabers but we had a lot of fun dueling with them and we let them take turns with the FX lightsaber with parental assistance of course! They also took turns wearing Ciaran's Darth Vade Voice Changing Helmet. I think this will become a family pasttime and we will not even need to purchase this lightsaber game.

Off to play with my new toy! Only 14 days and 56 minutes until the opener! Only 12 days until our Star Wars Open House week begins!

Peace,
Tenn

Daddy's Walk

A letter Serona sent the kids from work today...

Hey kiddos.

I wanted to share some things that I saw today on my walk with you. Today at lunch time, I went on a walk around the lake near my office. I went with my friend Bob. It was so bright and sunny and warm - finally. It was good to get outside for a little while. Have you played outside at all today? Anyway, as we were walking the sun was sparkling off the lake and shining so bright. It made me happy to just look at it. I saw some geese on the lake too.

As I walked along we came to a forested part of the path. I heard something rustling in the underbrush by the path. When I stopped to look I saw a snake wriggling away up the hill. He was pretty. He was green with two yellow stripes along his sides. I think it was a garter snake. He kind of looked like this:



It was really neat to see him. As we walked along I thought of you two and how much fun it would be to be walking with the two of you as well. Then I saw a bright blue Robin's egg. Actually, it was only half an egg because it had hatched! I didn't see any babies though.

I walked some more and then I saw another snake. It was the same kind only smaller. Well, I just wanted to share a part of my day with you. I hope that you are having a good day as well.

Love Daddy

Letting Them Lead

Every so often I decide to have a "Follow the rhythm of the Kids" day. I just kind of wing it and follow their lead. Today was one such day. As a result our day included the following:

Cave dwelling (under the kitchen table), fort building and lots of time in the fort, a science experiment wondering whether Parmesan cheese and soymilk will freeze or what will happen to them in the freezer (they also taste tested this one - bleech), discovering that magnetix actually stick to the wall in Ciaran's room as there is a metal plate along the edge (then we saw how high and how many we could stick to the wall), watching a terrible Lucas Arts Ewok cartoon, reading books, playing games with tights on their heads (they pretend to be wigs), lightsabers, jedi costumes, building xwings, death stars and spaceships with magnetix, drawing pictures for me and dad, practice writing name (Ciaran), reading aloud to siblings (Rhiannon), playing many rounds of Guess Who?, watching the birds in the yard, making brownies and fresh whip cream and many other fun and silly and mundane things.

It is interesting to see what they come up with as what they would like to do throughout the day. It is nice to have them take the lead some days and just watch the day unfold and then be amazed at how many interesting things we actually get done and the interesting conversations we have along the way.

Peace,
Tenn

Monkey Dancing

No it is not a new fad, wouldn't that be funny? It is the title of the book I just finished reading. The book Monkey Dancing: A Father, Two Kids, and a Journey to the Ends of the Earth by Daniel Glick was certainly an interesting read. I enjoyed it so much I read the entire 340 pages in less than a week and I actually only read this one book during that time (a rarity for me)instead of my usual three or four at a time.

Talk about the ultimate field trip! My desire has been to rent or buy an RV and spend a year field tripping across the US, camping in various cities taking in the natural resources, culture and cities. This father took it to a whole other level. He took his 13 year old son and 9 year old daughter on a "Free Trip Around the World". Glick wanted his children to experience first hand some of the beauty of nature and animals that are endangered or near extinct. He wanted to give them an appreciation for the interconnectness of it all. He also wanted time for his family to bond and be together to heal from some recent challenging events in their lives.

The book details in depth their visit to The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, seeing the Orangutans in Borneo, looking for Rhinos and riding elephants in Nepal, visits to Bali, Vietnam, and many interesting locations around the world. His writing style is engaging and interesting if at sometimes crass.

His love for his children comes through strong even if some of his choices simply baffled me and I could never do. I still aprreciated his honesty and opening up his life and their amazing journey for me to read.

An excellent read for homeschooling parents - though you may find yourself wanting to save up your life-savings to take a trip such as this. I can only imagine what the cost of 6 months around the world for a family of three would be? His family is truly blessed and I am blessed for being able to read his experiences.

I was able to put aside the political opinions, strange parenting choices and foul language and truly enjoy the book. If you think you can do the same then I highly recommend the book.

Peace,
Tenn

Mom Deserve High Pay

An interesting read, though nothing will likely come of it. Atleast maybe we will see some positive attitude improvement towards mothers who choose to stay at home with their kids. Read MSNBC's Study: Stay-at-home moms deserve high pay.

Of course by now I am so used to the lack of respect I get for my choices. All too often I am automatically written off as "just a mom" which I am but to be just a mom is the highest calling, hard work and the most worthwhile job I will ever have.

Here is my respect and appreciation for all that all of you SAHM and SAHD's do. Your children are blessed, your family is blessed, the whole world is blessed and don't forget you are blessed. Thanks for all your hard work, love, dedication and the thankless hours you put in.

Warmly,
Tenn