Is your brain smooth?

There is a saying that the more wrinkled your brain is, the higher your IQ is.  Whether or not that is true, I don't know.  Anyway, the kids have adopted a new saying around here.  If someone says something that isn't the most intelligent thing to say, someone else is sure to respond with, "That was sooooo SmOoOoOoOoOoth!"

 (Heidi does really know what 2+2= :) )

Cabin Fever... Defeated!!

There were some winter days when the kids spent time playing outside.  Mostly after a fresh snow, or when the sun was shining. But most of their days were spent working away at school and getting more and more fidgety as the days moved along.

The past couple of weeks, though have been comparatively nice outside.  And it has been so fun to see their imaginations keeping them occupied outside.  We have chain link dog kennel that has been just the perfect place to house, first a very busy bakery.  Plastic lids (from water bottles, peanut butter jars, etc.) have become their method of payment, and they keep track of the denominations pretty closely.  A clear water bottle lid might be worth $1 while a red one of the same size that came from a Coke bottle is worth $3. So they  have been stirring and baking and selling up a storm.  After a few days, Garrett sold some of his bakery belongings to Lincoln and bought some butchering equipment.  Heidi added a smoker, and a butcher/meat smoking business was built alongside the bakery. They took an old grill base and converted it into a junk wagon and went around selling junk. Then, Lincoln decided baking wasn't his thing, so he sold everything off and is in the process of building a bank.

I think they are glad that I encouraged them to be busy with their schoolwork while it wasn't so nice outside.  They have gotten done with several subjects, so it leaves them time to spend outside doing what kids do best.  (Meanwhile, the older set of kids are still working away at their books and computers... their violin practicing and a lot of their schoolwork has been moved to the outdoors, though.  The trampoline makes a great place to sit and spread out to work on their schoolwork.)

Monkey Business

Abigail crocheted this monkey for Garrett.  He has been watching her make it the whole time and has been convinced that she was making a bowl of rotten fruit as a joke. It was in several pieces until today, and some pieces looked like bananas, some like apples and pears. He was very surprised when she presented it to him this evening all sewed together.

Information is flying (by Todd)

Last night Garrett brought me my iPad and his DK World War II book.  He quickly turned to the page with the P40 Kitty Hawk with the Flying Tigers paint scheme and asked me to find a YouTube video of the plane.

We found this one and then I asked him if he had ever seen planes flying in formation.

About a third of the way through this great video of the Blue Angles, Garrett asked me, "When are they going to fly information".  I am not sure if he thought they were spy planes collecting top secrets or what.  After he asked two or three more times I realized that he was saying "information" instead of "in formation".  That little space makes a big difference!

All credit to the teacher?

Laura and I were looking at some graduation announcement ideas today and she scrawled out a little poem that she thought would work well.

I cant Reed and i cant spel,

but i can shor graduat realy good well

I think we may need to start over at the beginning...

Sisterly love

Heidi very often helps her brothers get their teeth brushed and get settled into bed for the night before she heads to bed herself. Tonight I was back by their room when she was getting ready to head out of their room.  It was so sweet to hear her say, "Goodnight boys, I love you."

Spring!

It was finally warm enough to take our first evening walk as a family. It made our hearts full to watch our kids walking arm-in-arm singing.

PI Day

I hope our children weren't the only ones standing around a clock watching the seconds tick by so they could celebrate when the 1st 10 numbers of PI came around.  Life is exciting around here!!

The beginning of beautiful music

A rare guest post by Todd:
As part of her Piano Lesson, Laura is teaching Heidi to play a hymn from our Hymn Book called "I Hear Him Call"  It is to the tune of Samuel Webbe's "Consolation".  Laura arranged a rhythm accompaniment for Lincoln to play and Garrett is learning to pluck the melody on his violin so the three youngest can all play together.  Tonight Emily joined them on our new harp.
They have just started working on this together and they probably don't want me to post this in its unpolished state, but I love the way music has taught them to work together.  I love watching the way they work together while they are practicing almost as much as I love to listen to the finished product that results from all their hard work.
I can hardly grasp how blessed we are to live in a house so full of music.

Our growing family... of instruments, that is!

We had a really nice surprise today when some friends of ours came by for a visit. Before they left, they pulled this out of their vehicle and brought it in as a gift for our kids. It was a total surprise and is going to be a great addition to our "orchestra"! 

Taking PE to a higher level

The kids have been sledding in our yard a couple of times this winter but we haven't had a chance to get over to the hill at our local dam. It has been a few years since we sledded there, so this morning we took a "snow day" and headed over with our snowsuits, boots and sleds. The hill was empty, except for a few little kids all the way on the other side of the hill. I stayed in van with our sleeping little guy (aka the little boy we babysit) and watched - I'm pretty sure the kids wouldn't have had quite as much fun if I had been up there to supervise - ha ha.

Climbing the hill at the dam

It's a looooong way up there

Getting ready to go down

And back up again

Garrett running down

The olden days

We were in the van yesterday and Garrett was thirsty.  All of the water bottles were frozen and he was kind of grumping about not having any water. One of the girls was trying to help him be more patient about it and reminded him that, "When Daddy was a little boy they didn't even have water bottles for the car."  "Yes," he replied. "But when Daddy was a little boy they read NeWsPaPeRs!!!" (In other words that was so long ago it doesn't count.)

Hair cutting 101

Laura had her 1st hair cutting lesson/experience tonight. I walked her through cutting Garrett's hair and then pretty much left her to doing Lincoln's. She did a pretty good job.

2014 Winter Violin Recital

The kids have been working hard to get ready for their violin recital. They have an wonderful teacher and we all love her. Last night was the performance. They did an excellent job! This was Lincoln's first recital - he started lessons in September. Laura, Abigail, & Charlotte also did a great job on the piano accompaniment. (Sorry that the sound and picture quality isn't the greatest)

Lincoln (Charlotte on piano)

Emily & Heidi (Laura on piano)

Heidi (Laura on piano)

Emily (Laura on piano)

Abigail & Charlotte (Laura on piano)

Charlotte (Laura on piano)

Laura & Abigail

Abigail (Laura on piano)

Laura(Abigail on piano)

Happy 14th Birthday, Charlotte!!!

We love you!!!

And next up...

Round 2 of 7

First time out on the road!

Abigail's turn

A couple of weeks ago I highlighted Laura in a post.  This week it is Abigail's turn.

Our homeschooling experience has been one of trial and error, success and not so much success, changes in approach, changes in what we find important, etc. Much like all aspects of parenting, as we go along we tweak the way we do things. What may work really well for some children, doesn't work so well for another.

One thing that we have done that has proven to be very successful with our older children is to make them very responsible for their schoolwork.  When we plan for the year, we consult with them about what they would like to learn and talk with them about different curriculum choices. We decide what their year is going to look like, I order their books and put together a lesson plan for them. Then, I set them loose with it. As they have progressed through their school years, we have tried to not just feed them facts, but have tried to teach them how to learn and where to get information. We've done a lot of visiting around the table at meal time to help them learn to be interested in a lot of different topics. (Todd does a great job of presenting things to talk about and is a natural teacher). When questions come up, we look things up, find educational videos, check books out of the library, etc.

Anyway, for the past few weeks I have been noticing how much Abigail has really taken ownership of her learning. Just a couple of little examples: She and I were playing a game similar to Scrabble. I was moving letters around and using an online Scrabble word list trying to make some letters into words. I was happy to just make a word that fit into the spaces - she wanted to know what the words meant, and proceeded to look up their definitions. Today, she read a book that I had ordered from the library for Heidi (it was an interestingly written book told by pictures and words - The Invention of Hugo Cabret) When she was done with it, she went to the computer and looked up the author and the history behind the book. I love that she doesn't just learn to get through what I've assigned her. (She's not the only one of the kids who does this, several of them have cultivated a real love for learning.)

Like Grandpa..

...like Grandson

Science wind experiment

Lincoln did a neat science experiment today.
This experiment is from Science in the Beginning, a new curriculum we started using this year (book in the background).  It is by Dr Jay Wile who also created the very popular Apologia Science books.  We have been very impressed with this new curriculum.  Details of this book are here.

A poem by Laura

It seems like most of the time when I post about the kids it ends up being about the younger kids. I suppose that is normal - they still do "cute" things AND they don't mind (or necessarily know) about what I post on here. As they get older, I try to respect their privacy a little more. I do, though, still really enjoy seeing them grow and learn and often I am amazed at the things that they come up with. One recent instance of this was a poem that Laura wrote. She has written several songs and hymns, and she has a talent for putting words together in verse, prose, and poetry. This particular poem she wrote for a friend about a picture of a tree standing by the shore that that friend took. I was very impressed with it and I hope neither one of them mind me sharing it on here.

Waves are pounding, fierce their roar
Screaming seagulls dip and soar
The waves attack the rocky shore
I stand alone.

Through my boughs, harsh tears the wind
The leaden clouds it scudding sends
It fights my limbs, they will not bend
For I am strong

The waves, gray cats, crouch down and spring
But when thrown back, become serene
The sea, an ever-moving scene
But I stand still

I stand unguarded on my berm
My trunk is slim, but I am firm
Unharmed by e'en the strongest storm
My roots run deep

- Laura