The Storm

Last night as I brushed my teeth by candlelight, Bo asked me if I had flipped over the scripture verse for the day.

I hadn't because of the craziness.  We live in north Alabama and we have endured a life changing experience.
As I flipped over the calendar and read the verse I almost couldn't believe how appropriate it was...

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

Psalms 46:1-3

I had awakened to heavy winds and rain.  Just in time to hear Chris tell the three big kiddos to run to the bathroom.  He yelled for me to grab the babies.  I grabbed our newest tiny one and Chris grabbed Little Bitty.  We took shelter in our bathroom.  As we emerged we saw trees snapped in the pasture and our two large pecan trees and dogwood tree down in our yard.  The jungle gym was toppled and shingles from our roof littered the yard.

The boys began to cry.  We had just completed our spring tree study on our pecan trees.  We were going to follow them through the seasons.  They understood that we couldn't just plant another tree and see it grow quickly.

We stopped and talked about God's protection.  We stopped as a family and thanked him for watching over us.  After our prayers we got dressed and headed out to check on the neighbors.  Everyone was fine, but lots of trees on houses.

Since our experience yesterday, many others in Alabama have suffered much more damage and there has been a tremendous loss of life.  

Gifts in the midst of the storm...

Chris was home...he was getting ready to leave for work

I had awakened just before the worst part...the littles were awake and able to run to the bathroom

Our home is standing...

We are safe...
I have been reminded again that I am not in control...not even a little bit...

What You Need For A Warm Afternoon

Popsicles...

 and strawberries!

See What We've Been Enjoying...

This new little one studies our faces and makes eye contact so much more than the others it seems...

and then we get grins and coos...

and everyone gathers around to see...

Our LouLou At Three...

"I'm a pretend angel that fell from the sky"...LouLou at three

"Why is Marvin's teeth melted away?"  LouLou asks about our 13 year old dog.

Her favorite things to eat...peanut butter and honey on mommy's homemade bread, broccoli and dip

Her favorite stories...Nora's Castle, Hedgie's Surprise, and Snip, Snap and Snur and the Buttered Bread

Favorite Toys...her black baby

Her favorite things to do...swing...play with her sister...hold her new sister...pretend she's the mommy with her brothers.

She loves...telling me what she will/will not do when she is a wife and mommy.

She also loves helping me cook and painting with the watercolors.

She is very good at...folding towels

We are working on saying...Yes Mommy, Coming Mommy...and having a happy face as she obeys.

She always wants to do something for school when her brother works on his.

And she is also breathtaking...

Some Scraps of Wood...Rock Pile...and Dirt...Lots of Fun

Some Scraps of Wood...

A Rock Pile...

And Some Dirt...

Has provided hours of fun for these kiddos...

Shakspeare For First-Timers

Bo is almost finished with the first twelve week rotation in Ambleside Year 1.  Included in his schedule this twelve weeks were two readings from Shakespeare.  A Mid-Summer Nights Dream and The Tempest.  I had purchased Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, but after previewing the two stories, I wasn't sure if we were ready to read them.  I had a hard time keeping the characters straight in my mind as I previewed the stories.  So after putting the stories off for a couple of weeks, I decided to read them to Bo.  We started with the The Tempest.

Before reading I made sure to have a large piece of paper and pencil handy.  I had read somewhere before to draw the characters along with the plot as the story is read.  I was so surprised at how much easier the story was to understand when we drew things as we read them.  We narrated paragraph by paragraph as we read by drawing on our paper.

Bo loved the story!  He even took the piece of paper and retold the story using the drawings to his dad and brother later that day.

Have You Been Cackling?

They must be let alone, left to themselves a great deal, to take in what they can of the beauty of earth and heaven;  for of the evils of modern education few are worse than this-that the perpetual cackle of his elders leaves the poor child not a moment of time, nor an inch of space, wherein to wonder-and grow.

-Home Education, pg.44

As I read this passage in Home Education, I couldn't help but reminisce about my three years as a Kindergarten teacher.  This passage rings so true to me because I have been the one cackling and feeling guilty about that cackling all at the same time.  As a new teacher under observation by the administration, I felt the pressure to check off of my list all the children were supposed to be learning.  The list of requirements for a five year old was quite long. I never truly understood how long it was until I had my own children.

Many a days as a teacher, I was rushing to get the lesson plans completed.  In the end, there was not any time left for a child's sense of wonder.  I was required to teach all of the five year olds in my care to read...and progress was monitored three times per year.  Reading is a very necessary part of education, but I wonder if it is so necessary to teach a young child to read at the expense of time alone in nature. Miss Mason thought that cultivating in a child a love and appreciation for nature prepares that child for more formal schooling as they grow older.  A child who has spent time outdoors examining flowers, insects, and animal life are learning the important skills of attending to detail, classifying, and observing.

These skills are all but lost in modern education.  Miss Mason talks of what usually happens in the Kindergarten...

Indeed, I am inclined to question, whether, in the interest of carrying out a system, the charming Kindergartnerian is not in danger sometimes of greatly undervaluing the intelligence of her children.

Everything is directed, expected suggested.  No other personality out of book, picture or song, no, not even that of Nature herself, can get at the children without the mediation of the teacher.  No room is left for spontaneity or personal initiation on their part.

Let him go and come freely, let him touch real things, and combine his impressions for himself, instead of sitting indoors at a little round table, while a sweet-voiced teacher suggests that he build a stone wall with his wooden blocks, or make a rainbow out of strips of paper, or plant straw trees in bead flower pots.

I know all to well how easily these things can happen in the Kindergarten.  I well remember the little girl who could read on a fourth grade level being very intelligent.  But the little boy who could barely read a word was undervalued in his intelligence, although he could have told me anything I needed to know about farming and gardening.

These things Miss Mason warns against could very easily happen in a home if we let them.  As moms, we sometimes prefer to check off items on our to-do list for each child, rather than let them explore outside.  We look and see lots of cute ideas that we want to incorporate...letter of the week, unit studied, lapbooking, etc.

These are all tools that we can use,  but if we are not careful we will become that cackling woman.  Let's not plan activities to take up all of our children's time.  If we have to, we may have to write in a quiet growing time on our to-do list.