September is traditionally very full month for our family with three birthdays, the start of school and our co-op, magazine deadlines, and a whole lot of activity! This September has been no exception. Here are a few moments captured:
Our co-op has spent the first four weeks learning a bunch of things from the music of Bach to the art of Botticelli to beginning sketching with lines, shapes, and outside forms. The picture above is some of our blue dawn vine. Here are some of our younger members trying to sketch a watermelon. Aren't they just the cutest?
Here is another of our two watermelons God blessed us with! Planted and nurtured by our very own Abigail.
We hit three birthdays along the way. The first was our Elizabeth. She is now officially 8.
This was a highly sought-after present that arrived from Hearthsong just in time. Here is the truly delighted (and focused) child baking her own filled cupcakes.
They were stuffed chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting - all from scratch. They were absolutely delicious!
Mama and her birthday girl.
Then we had a very special birthday - a once-in-a-lifetime kind of birthday - my grandmother's 90th birthday. This is Elizabeth Kirk Immekeppel on her 90th. She is, and always has been, some kind of woman!
It was not a surprise, but she didn't know who all the guests were. It was so much fun to see her face when she saw a long-ago friend.
Here she is with her three daughters. My mother is on the left, my Aunt Judy is in the middle, and my Aunt Nancy is on the right. They are so precious to us! I really love this picture.
The last birthday of the month is my lovely daughter, Hannah. She is now 14. 14!! I simply cannot believe it. She is a delight and a joy. God gives such rich and good treasure! Today is her birthday.
Sometimes the new year feels like a race that is going to start whether we are ready or not. Kind of like a big marathon - it is going to begin whether you have your shorts on or not. That is what it felt like this morning after being up way too late trying to get the schedule ready for all five of our children. Five! I have all five in the race this year for the first time. 8th, 6th, 4th, 2nd, and K - you would think we planned it that neatly.
This feels like a very unique year and I guess it is. It is our last year before high school starts for our family - homeschool high school! I know I blog about this frequently, but moms, hold tight to your littles and ENJOY them - they grow up SO fast!! It is delightful though, to see who they are becoming. It is so much more beyond my wildest imaginings. God has blessed us so richly in our children!
Our new year looks like this for the oldest two. I will share the others later this week. It is very late!
We still have to finish up Mystery of History, Volume 1 first, but I am hoping to jump into the middle ages in a few months. I don't rush history so if it takes longer - really, who cares? We love it. :+)
We are also involved in a homeschool co-op learning about artists, composers, more science topics, and drawing. It sounds very busy and well, it is. It is a joy though - and this is only the first two! Oh - and if you have sent me a note or a comment and I didn't respond, please forgive me. I have been under the most amazing load of responsibilities. I apologize. I am trying to live this wonderful quote out and am having a hard time doing it!
There have been wives who in their zeal for Christ’s work outside have neglected Christ’s work inside their own doors. They have had eyes and hearts for human need and human sorrow in the broad fields lying far out, but neither eye nor heart for the work of love lain about their own feet.
Let it be remembered that Christ’s work in the home is the first that he gives to every wife, and that no amount of consecrated activities in other spheres will atone in this world or the next for neglect or failure.
I figured I might as well post this here since one or two of you might be interested. Please email me at underthesky@gmail.com with questions or interest. :)
For Sale:
Foundation for American Education (FACE) - Verna Hall Books
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America: Christian Self Government
The Christian History of The American Revolution: Consider and Ponder
Both fabric-covered hardbacks in very nice condition. $50 for both or $27 each POSTAGE PAID.
*****************
The Phonics Game Millenium Edition
Complete game in new condition.
Includes:
• 3 videos
• 12 sets of game cards
• 50-page Play Book
• 4 CD’s
We are in the midst of rearranging our living room and office and there is stuff everywhere. We are also in purge mode so I cannot stay to chat! Yippie! I love to purge!
I should really be doing about ten other things, but I have missed "chatting" with my blog friends so here I am. I am, as I am sure most of you are, prepping for the new school year. For many of you it has already begun, but not for us. I still have a few last minute planning/organizing/"how does this curriculum work" kinds of things to do. I really need an extra week of August so I may just take it in September. We shall see. :)
I will have five students this year - the first time ever. It feels a little bit scary, but not *too* scary - really. If I keep saying that to myself it will be true, right? LOL! There is so much to think about with regards to this new year and I feel I have had no time at all to do it. There has also been so much to think about and evaluate for my new "crop" of smallish schoolers. This idea has been on my mind quite a bit. I really like what they discuss for first and second grade, but we are in the midst of a history cycle with the older children and doing *two* types of history is just not what I am available for.
However... and there it is - that "however" - I really love the idea of just reading great books like the history-oriented beautiful work by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire amongst others. I really really want to do this with my two little ones. I *want* to do so many things. It is the doing that makes it hard sometimes. These books are worth the time though, and there are so many others that are too. I heard one of the best and most encouraging homeschool conference talks from Rea Berg recently. She extolled the importance of reading real quality literature with your children over the course of their years. It was such an uplifting message! I think we forget sometimes, the importance of just reading. We don't have to *do* something with every piece of literature--we can just enjoy it together. This is the easiest thing for me to let slip by. I don't want to do that this year!
What is the easiest thing to slip in your homeschool? How does a day in the life of your homeschool work? Do you find schedules and plans help you? If so, what few things do you do that really make it come together for your family? I am needing a little help this year! :+)
So July has been busy! Can you tell by my frequent posts? Haha. We began our month with a trip to one of the prettiest places - Lake Tahoe. We stayed in the most amazing resort as a kindness of Mark's boss. WOW was pretty much our thought upon arrival and during our stay! What a place. Here are some photos. Many of these are click-able to enlarge them. From Squaw Valley:
My beautiful friend, Grace and her baby girl, Hannah, and me. Grace is the kind of friend that once you have you never lose. She is a dear and precious person and I feel so blessed to know her! And her baby is funny and sassy and darling - all wrapped into one little curly-headed girl. :)
And it was the fourth of July and here is one of my sassy silly girls with Grace's other child, David. What faces!
We took the most beautiful hike. You can see the smokey sky as the CA fires were still in full force at this time.
It was so green and lush and lovely. I didn't expect that in July, but wow, it was so pretty!
I loved this one:
And I got all excited on our hike because I thought I had located hemlock. I started thinking of all sorts of medieval poisons (and Brother Cadfael mysteries) that could be made from it. (Not by me of course, but what I have read over the years.) It wasn't hemlock. It was cow parsnip. LOL
I was so happy this picture turned out. I love the colors of the yellow Mule's Ears and the purple Forget Me Nots. If you click on it, you will see just how pretty it is up close.
We also found Indian Paintbrush:
I loved the look of this with the lush green foliage surrounding it. The name is so pretty too: Thimbleberry. Doesn't that make you think of a fairy? :)
And the Western Columbine was just beautiful:
And this is the best of all. All the beautiful flowers of my own garden:
For sixteen years with my wonderful husband. Here we are (last night) on our way to dinner at Benihana. Yum! It has been a tremendous life with Mark and I am so grateful to God for our family. I pray for many many more! :+)
Tahoe is where we are headed this weekend. It will give us a reprieve of the hot weather (and actually it has not really been all that hot since we have been on fire here in California!) It is supposed to be in the heavenly 70's - can I just tell you how wonderful that sounds?! :+)
The children are all very excited and so are Mark and I. Tahoe is lovely in the summer and we will be near Squaw Valley. Yippie! I hope we can take the gondola up to the top of the mountain to see the whole view of the Lake. We shall see!
So how is your summer going? We have been more busy than normal, but "it is all good" and we are just trying to enjoy the summer before it gets too toasty. :+) Our first zucchini was picked yesterday after much ground-breaking labor (and sometimes a bit of back-breaking too). Abigail made the most glorious zucchini muffins today. My two oldest daughters have really decided that cooking is fun and that they love to bake. OK! I am completely on board with that especially since they are cooking with whole grains and making truly delicious things. It is kind of strange not to be the only one doing a bunch of the cooking, but *I* really enjoy having the girls enjoy it. :+)
On a more serious note, please do lift up Kendra and her baby, Joe, in prayers. Here is some of what she shared today on her blog:
Sara Groves is always a ministry to me. “Prayers for This Child” have been particularly poignant:
I do not know how I am to pray for this child
as a mother I don’t want my baby denied
but in the waiting in the waiting
I learned
Every instinct in me wants to shield him from pain
take the arrows of misery heartache and blame
but in the sorrow in the sorrow
I learned to hold on
I only have two eyes - be all seeing
I only have two hands - be everywhere
I do not know enough - to be all knowing
I give this baby up into your care
I do not know how, how to pray for this child
I want to guard him from everything wicked and wild
but in the trial in the trial
I learned to hold on
And in the trial, in the trial
I learned to hold on to the heart of God
We are finishing up our history study and loving every minute of it. I think I have bragged about Mystery of History here enough, so I will leave off that (though I *could* say more, you know - LOL) and share with you what we are going to be reading and listening over the next few months as we wrap up our study of the ancient folks. I am so looking forward to it!
So what are you doing for the summer? We will be finishing this up and also wrapping up other work we did not get to over the year. We will be taking the entire month of August off of everything but fun. :+) Then September will find us at work again. I really don't like to take off more time than that as I find we start to get stir crazy and don't accomplish much. We have to be extra diligent to get it done in June and July - and they are busy months too!
So what about you? What are you looking forward to for this summer? For next year?
Today was a special day! It is not very often that I get to spend alone time with my two smallest creatures. Daddy was partaking of part of his Father's Day bliss by spending alone time with the oldest three at Golfland Sunsplash. Dead drop water slides plus 90+ degree weather equaled a fantastic time for them. They came home lightly toasted, red-eyed, and full of stories of dark water tunnels and wave machines. It was good they older ones were the chosen for this event as there were some things the littles just couldn't do. That is OK - I got to have fun with them!
We started our fun time with a trip to see Prince Caspian. I didn't know what to expect, but I was not disappointed. There were so many beautiful parallels to God's call on our lives; so many examples of what it means to have faith in something not seen. I really enjoyed it. The girls did too. Emma shut her eyes for the short gross beaked creepy creature, but otherwise this was a much less "icky creature" Narnia. It was a darker Narnia though as so many things had happened in the kingdom, but Aslan's presence was truly felt. I think I liked it better than the first one.
From there I took my sweets to Chik Fil-A - which is a new thing here in CA (at least for us). I love it there. So friendly and helpful and just plain yummy. From there we went to a place I rarely go, the mall. I am not a great fan of malls generally, but this one has a really pretty carousel with so many different animals that the girls just love to ride. Isn't it delightful to be able to do small things that bring such pleasure to our children? I just love it. From there we spent money. LOL Perhaps that is why I don't generally like going to the mall! There were some tremendous deals there though - they must be feeling the pince that the rest of us do as every store had great sales. The girls *did* need some nice clothes... :+)
We came home to frozen berries with half and half (truly delicious) and a blended mocha for all - yep, even the littles - and some sweet reading time with some new titles from Barefoot Books. We are now the happy owners of The Barefoot Book of Princesses, Barefoot Book of Knights (because you know I have both, right?) Barefoot Book of Classic Poems, and Barefoot Book of Stories From the Opera. These are all gorgeous sturdy paperback or hardback and most of them come with the entire book on CD. I am really impressed with this company. They also produce one of my favorite Shakespeare books for children, Shakespeare's Storybook. All of these are full-color with creative illustrations and we really love them! It was truly special to sit with my very own princesses and read them. :+)
Daddy is home now and we are all in a very tired state, but it has been such a lovely day. I loved being with my "babies" today - just loved listening them them and talking with them and just loving them. They are little for so short a time! Enjoy your children this weekend - as we celebrate together their fathers.
Just kidding. :+) You would never know that I do enjoy blogging with the time I have put into it lately. I am cleaning shelves and have compiled a bunch of things I no longer need (as I need to make room for more books!) LOL If you are interested in any of the following, please do email me at underthesky@gmail.com. The next step is ebay! :+)
Big list of books and a bit of curriculum too.
Shipping will be $3.00 for up to five books, media mail. For six to infinity it will be $5.00 shipping. Any questions, I will happily answer! I prefer Paypal, but will take a USPS money order. Thanks!
**************** UPDATED STILL FOR SALE LIST 06-22-08
The Spartan, Caroline Dale Snedeker (new condition paperback, $6.00)
Stalin, Albert Marrin (paperback in good used condition, $5.00)
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Richard Maybury (very nice used condition, $6.00)
In Search of Knossos, Giovanni Caselli (full-color, hardback, gorgeous book in nice condition, $5.00)
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray (paperback, B&N Classics, nice used condition, $2.00)
Life of Patrick Henry, William Wirt (lovely hardback from HSLDA, great condition, $4.00)
The Arabian Nights, by Maxfield Parrish (Hardback, nice condition $4.00)
Bulfinch's Greek and Roman Mythology (Dover Pub.) (Paperback, good used conditon, $2.00)
Caddie Woodlawn (Paperback, good used conditon, $1.00)
Eldest (Paolini) (Hardback, used condition, $3.00)
Secret in the Maple Tree (A Beka hardback book) (Nice used condition, $3.00)
Song of the Brook (A Beka paperback book) (used condition, $2.00)
Jane Austen A Life, (David Nokes) (Paperback, used condition, $2.00)
The Art of Sculpture (Hardback, nice used condition, $2.00)
I love to read, I love my husband and children, I love my Savior. I enjoy dark roast coffee with cream and sugar, Earl Grey tea with scones and clotted cream, long walks in forested areas and Redwood trees. I have a mad passion for history, strong sound Reformed theology, and good creation science materials. I have strong opinions, but respect those of others. I am grateful for my life, for every breath, for each day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice in His mercy.
That is what it felt like this morning after being up way too late trying to get the schedule ready for all five of our children. Five! I have all five in the race this year for the first time. 8th, 6th, 4th, 2nd, and K - you would think we planned it that neatly. 
However... and there it is - that "however" - I really love the idea of just reading great books like the history-oriented 
On a more serious note, please do lift up 
We came home to frozen berries with half and half (truly delicious) and a blended mocha for all - yep, even the littles - and some sweet reading time with some new titles from Barefoot Books. We are now the happy owners of 
These are all gorgeous sturdy paperback or hardback and most of them come with the entire book on CD. I am really impressed with this company. They also produce one of my favorite Shakespeare books for children, 
