Imagination

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." -- Albert Einstein

I don't know why I love this quote so much, I just do. :) I think it is so appropriate when it comes to raising children. I just wanted to share it.

And on a funny note, Gillian has been using her own imagination a little more than necessary--to her own advantage! For Christmas she received an adorable baby doll with accessories from her aunt and uncle and cousins. She has since named this baby (Baby Alice) and the doll is quickly becoming part of the family. The other night she told her daddy and I that she could no longer do any more "school" because now she has a baby and she will be busy with her baby and has to take care of her baby. She can't do school because she has to nurse her baby.

I tended to think this was quite creative! lol! Apparently she's learning something from being around her baby brother all day every day!

In all seriousness though, I am so grateful that we are able to homeschool this year especially. Not just because it's Gillian's first year of school or because she's learning some of the most amazing things in this first year (how to read, etc.), but also because she is getting to witness her baby brother grow every day, firsthand, and she is getting to be a part of that. During my pregnancy, it was Levi who was most interested in touching my belly and talking to the baby, etc. He seemed to anticipate the baby's arrival almost daily. Gillian was fairly apathetic about the whole thing, which I thought was perfectly fine. I let her be, knowing she would embrace it in her own way and in her own time.

Now that Jasper is here, Levi certainly loves being around his baby brother, but it is now Gillian who wants to be near him every second and absolutely loves making him smile. Often she would rather be standing next to me while I am changing him so that she can talk to him while he's on the changing table than be anywhere else. I love that this nurturing, sibling connectedness is coming out so strongly, and wonder how it might have been different this first year of his life if she was in school all day rather than home with us. I am so blessed to get to watch it unfold each day. And I know that who she will one day become is being formed even now by these experiences.

In looking back over old photos, I came across some from around the time Levi was born. This is how little Gillian was at that time:

And here's a glimpse at what Levi looked like when he was around Jasper's age--I can't believe how much they really do look alike!

My how time flies!

The GREAT Outdoors!

Today we took some time to head outside! I love this about the weather in Tennessee! We can be outside playing in light jackets, or enjoying a heavy snowfall (all within about a week and a half time span!). The kids loved it! It was close to 60 degrees out, so we bundled up the baby and took to the outdoors. The kiddos played on their playground, rode their scooters, and we all three took a walk around our driveway (a good distance). It. Was. Wonderful!! Even Jasper seemed to enjoy it. Aside from Levi falling on his head out of a swing (literally falling on the top of his head--still not sure how he managed that) it was a great time. :) Gillian collected about 42 tiny blue flowers and Levi was on rock collection patrol. As always. :)

This past weekend we visited the fire station for one of Levi's little friends' birthday party. I'll post pics as soon as I upload them. The kids loved it. We spent some time last week studying fire safety and read lots of books about fire fighters in anticipation of the event. This week we are going to recap those lessons to wrap up that special unit.

Today we have started a "review board." We're keeping track of what we learn in each subject and make a one- or two-word note on the chalkboard about it. This way, at the end of the day, we can go back and review what we covered (this helps Gill a lot). So far it is going great. We've finished a snowman craft today (which I think took us 2 weeks to accomplish--LOL!), studied Math, Reading, and Bible, and also worked on handwriting. We were able to add some new vocabulary words from our studies today:
--sequence
--semi circle
--Emmanuel

Gillian also worked more with measurements today, using a ruler. We'll be working more with this in her Math lessons this week (although she already has some familiarity with it from her Map Skills unit in Geography last fall).

Levi joined us for Bible time. We're using a resource I wrote when I worked for the publishing company--Bible Stories to Color & Tell--for our activities to go along with the stories. It is so much fun to get to do these crafts/activities with my own children, seeing as how I didn't have children yet when I wrote the resource! How amazing is that?! I love the activities in the resource--each one helps children retell a Bible story in order of the events--especially helpful since we're studying sequencing in Math this week. It's just neat to see something like writing that resource and now using it with my own children come full circle. And I love Dan Grossman's artwork in the book--very kid friendly!

We're using the Jesus Storybook Bible to review Bible stories every other day. (We first tell them using our Bible curriculum, which is the Route 52 series, then review them the next day using this Bible). The kids love this Bible. A friend told me about it a long time ago, and then I received a copy as a gift at my baby shower before Jasper was born. I love it! Every story alludes to Jesus in some way, whether it is an Old Testament story or something actually from the life of Christ. I highly recommend it!

We still have some activities/lessons to finish up today: a state study for History, our fire safety review, and a handwriting activity as well as some read aloud time. I am also headed to the library tonight to pick up several resources I have on hold (to add to my LARGE collection of library books! LOL!). It never ends . . . but that's a good thing!

I hope to post some pictures from our fire station trip soon! Blessings for a wonderful Monday all!

Speaking of God . . .

Good homeschool day overall today. We tackled more Reading and Math as well as some Geography work today. Gillian is studying landforms and bodies of water in Geography and today we were distinguishing between oceans, lakes, and rivers. We also took a close look at Lake Superior and took some time to locate it on our United States wall map. There we identified which states border that particular lake (she worked on borders in her last Geography unit, Map Skills). We didn't get to our Bible lesson today (so the Christmas Unit carries on! lol!), but somehow Gillian and Levi and Daddy got into a theological discussion tonight (it must have been on her brain, because today she asked me to add "salvation" to our vocabulary list). Here were her questions for Daddy tonight:

How does God know everything?
When does God sleep?
What does God know about things that don't work out like we planned or things that go bad?

Of course Levi didn't miss a beat. He had his own questions:
How does God get to church?
How does God know how much time is left? Does he have a watch?

Unfortunately I missed out on these conversations while I was putting Jasper to sleep. But they recapped the conversations for me when I came in to tuck them in :) In case you are thinking it got too serious, here's what Gillian also shared with Daddy about school and her thoughts on it all in general:

"Princesses don't go to school. They learn about Princess-y things, like how to dance and wear beautiful dresses."

I had to hand it to Daddy though. He chimed right in with, "Yes, but what about Belle? She loves books. She had to go to school to learn to read those books." (Score one for Daddy!)

We had a fun handwriting activity today too--Gillian got to practice writing by tracing my letters on a chalkboard using a Q-tip. It's part of a "wet-dry-now you try" technique I saw here.

As usual, we also read a LOT of library books today. As promised yesterday, here are some of our favorite authors so far this month:
Sean Taylor, author of The World Champion of Staying Awake, Huck Runs Amuck!, and The Ring Went Zing!
Antoinette Portis, author of A Penguin Story and Princess Super Kitty
Suzanne Bloom, author of Splendid Friend, Indeed and Treasure

(My personal favorite this month is The World Champion of Staying Awake, and it will be going on my "to-buy" list when it's time to give another child a birthday gift or other present. I absolutely love this book!)

We also love Karma Wilson books (Bear Snores On, Bear Wants More, Bear Feels Sick, etc.) and the Minerva Louise books. These are just to name a few!

And to end on a funny note, here is a link to a funny (and too-true) list. You Might Be a Homeschooler If . . .
Enjoy!

What we're up to . . .

Okay family and friends, this blog is for you! :) Actually, it's just a way for us to keep in touch with our loved ones and to post updates (for anyone who is actually interested) on how things are going along with our family, life in TN, and what's new in our most recent homeschool adventures.I recently decided to hop off of Facebook (sacrilege, I know!), so this is the next best thing to "status updates" I guess! So, let's just dive right in, shall we?

Homeschool has hit high gear with the arrival of 2013. Last year was a crazy year, and our first "semester" was affected by Jasper's arrival, of course. So we have some ground to make up between now and June! Overall it is going great. We've made some curriculum adjustments along the way, learned to be flexible with our schedule, and set new goals for this more focused semester we're now in. We're currently covering seven subjects: Bible, Reading, Math, History, Geography, Fine Motor/Handwriting, and Art/Crafts. We were also adding Sign Language last semester, but have decided to give that a little less attention in favor of moving further along in some other subjects for the time being.

January is a full month. In addition to our regular subjects, we're also studying snow-friendly animals each week (Snowy Owls, Penguins, Snowshoe Hares, and Polar Bears) as well as making four winter crafts this month. In addition, the kids have a few field trips this month and one or two co-op gatherings (we participate in a small, three-family co-op).

Academically, Gillian is doing great. Reading is probably where she is excelling most these days. I can't keep up with her. I have yet to present her with a reading lesson that she seems actually challenged by. Yet she doesn't seem bored with the curriculum either. So it's going great. Math is challenging. I knew we selected a fast-moving curriculum, but I am now starting to see just how fast it moves. She is definitely challenged in almost every lesson when it comes to Math, but she also loves it. She usually wants to start each day with Math if she is given the choice.

We're still learning a lot about how this whole thing works. She learns differently than I do, so I'm learning how to teach to her style. It's a fine balance of deciding how much to teach to how she learns best and how much to teach in a way that challenges her to learn in a variety of ways. As the title of this blog says, we are learning as we go! I am thankful for the support of the other moms in our co-op, as they continually provide me with wisdom from their own experiences as they learn too!

Here's a glance at a day in the life of our homeschool--today's homeschool recap:
Bible: We continue to study Jesus' birth (okay, we're a little behind and we're still wrapping up the Christmas unit!). Today we got to tell the story using our Little People Nativity with a little Veggie Tales mixed in. It was quite festive. We're also working on Luke 2:21 as our Bible Memory Verse for this unit: "He was named Jesus. This name was given by the angel."
Reading: Today we tackled compound words. Gillian did great. She spent the rest of the evening trying to think up her own, and I considered creating a "compound words wall" where we could post tons of these for at-a-glance learning. Then I remembered I am nursing a 4 month old and homeschooling a 5 year old while also caring for a 3 year old and I came to my senses and realized I'd have no time for bringing this great idea to life. Small dose of reality. We also spent lots of time reading from our mountain of library books (we usually have around 40 or more out at one time), including some new ones from some of our favorite authors (the kids are learning about authors and illustrators and are now starting to identify their favorites so we can look for more books by these authors). In my next post I will try to include a list of what's currently on our favorites list!
Math: We're working on money, specifically the value of pennies and dimes and adding these in a variety of combinations. Overall it is going great! We also continue to work on addition, number lines, telling time, and much more! Our math program is a spiral method program, so we continually come back to previous concepts.
Handwriting: We are working on a letter each week and a number (writing the numeral and the word for that numeral). Gillian is writing numbers into the 40s in her Math program, but we're reinforcing this in Handwriting and taking more time with each.

We didn't get to History or Geography today (we always have things we just don't get to each day it seems) and our poor snowman craft is still awaiting completion (we started it last week but our methodology proved flawed, so we are starting again). We also add to a vocabulary list each week (these are usually unfamiliar words we encounter as we read from various library books). Once our list gets pretty long or I realize the kids have mastered all of the words on a list, we file that list and start a new one. Here are the words on our current list (we just started this list a week ago): 
Vocabulary List:
1. Keystone (from learning about Pennsylvania which is called "The Keystone State")
2. Descendants (from our Bible lessons)
3. Mule (from Geography in learning about the Grand Canyon and the mules that people ride on in the canyon)
4. Narrow (can't quite remember the context for this one)
5. Mist (I think this one was from a library book last week)
6. Indigo (from a library book which included this in a rainbow of colors)

Okay, this post has gotten WAY too long. I will hope to update this several times a week for those of you interested in keeping up with what's new with us! :) We would love to hear from you, so leave comments or feedback! Blessings, all!