holding tightly

Friday's tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut has me reeling.  I think we all held our kids more tightly that day.

My kids are on the older side, so I left the news radio on for part of the day, until it just got way too sad to deal with.  I was holding out hope there would be some survivors.  I am praying for all the families involved, and I hope and pray that more than a dialogue about mental health and the lack of help available to parents will ensue and that change will occur.

This post- by Liza Long is a cry for help that our country cannot afford to ignore.

I am holding my children more tightly these days and sad painful thoughts follow me into sleep.

Sunday round-up

On our way back from Eastern Washington, we stopped and visited friends in Seattle.

I really like downtown Seattle, it's a neat place.  I enjoyed it this time through the eyes of a dog owner.  It's a very dog-friendly city.  We had lunch at our favorite Crepe place and took Emma with us inside.

I have to confess that a big part of my Seattle-love is the great photo opportunities.  Downtown Seattle is a feast for the eyes.

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Demi-Sky had his very first lacrosse game this weekend.

Have I mentioned that Demi is now taller than I?

We weren't the only family totally new to the game of lacrosse.  Several boys were new to the game, and at times it was sheer comedy.  We parents had a good time laughing at the antics.  The stick-hitting was a total surprise to me.  We asked in surprise "is that legal?!"

it's a tough game.

here's the tip-off, or whatever you call it in lacrosse.  Have to admit, we laughed through this, too.  We were used to seeing it done in hockey, but the kids stand over the puck, we were surprised to see the guys on the ground here... this is Demi in blue.

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• Sky is currently making us a new bed.  He is using this design from Ana White plans -Farmhouse queen bed

• I am trying to get my homeschooling more organized.  13 years and school organization is my swan-song; or, more to the point, my albatross-song.  There is an interesting discussion on organization and motivation over at the hive boards.  This site,  The Power of Moms was linked to.  It seems to be a organization-central site, with an e-book, a program and message boards.  I know for me, I would crash and burn with it, but I thought I'd mention it, it might be just the sort of program to help someone else, just not me... They were running a special discount last week, keep your eyes peeled and you might see another sale.

• Mystie, who blogs over at Simply Convivial is running a series on home/ life organization here- Applying GTD at Home.  She is also working on an E book about converting home organization over to completely digital formats.

• And finally, I {heart} pinterest.  I love that I don't have to bookmark things anymore, I just keep everything on my boards now. :)

Here are my boards, if you want to follow...

henjenca on pinterest

7 Quick Takes -Thanksgiving edition

We spent Thanksgiving up north, in Washington State, visiting one of Sky's brothers....

                            ~1~

I really love it there.  Eastern Washington is beautiful.  Actually, all of Washington is beautiful, I just prefer a bit more sun- which is why I have a hankering for the east side.

These are crab-apple trees and they line the driveway of Dr. Bros.'s house.

I {heart} these trees so much.

Dr. Bro. says they are messy, but I think that is rather un-poetic of him.

~2~

The kids were in horse-heaven.

Aren't they sweet?

True fact:  Dr. Bro is allergic to the hay he feeds them.

~3~

We had a plethora of good eats.  I mentioned the now-legendary snickers salad in an earlier post... we also had several pies- Pumpkin, apple crisp and lemon meringue...just to name drop a few.... and I have to admit that I am lusting after his stove-top. I've already priced out the brand and I'm bugging Sky to get me one.  I never thought I'd prefer an electric stove-top over gas, but this wolf electric stove-top has won me over. It's the simple cleaning possibilities that I am drooling over...

~4~

Emma-doodle, she loved it.  She reveled in it.  She ran and ran and let the wind run through her ears.

Yes, it was 4 kids, 2 parents and a labradoodle in a van for 22 hours.  Oh the joy.

Actually, they were all good traveling companions.  Emma is a quiet soul, and was just happy to be included with her pack. We rented a van for the trip, and she had her own seat  :)

~5~

The kids did a lot of riding.  Amie and Emma did a lot of exploring of the woods behind the house and saw deer several mornings and beautiful pheasants.  The kids, Sky and Dr. Bro also did some gun shooting.  Demi-Sky and Josie were total cracker-jack shots and had a bit of a rivalry going.  Josie edged him out,  I think.  She had incredible aim.  Hidden talent??

We did a lot of cooking, eating and lounging around.  Of course we visited Barnes & Nobles. Twice.

The second time was on Black Friday, because we are hardcore like that....

~6~

Photo opp with the wonder-labradoodle!!  Her best trick?  She is no-touchy.

Seriously.  She will ask to be petted and then lean away from you/ move away from you.  She loves it/but can't handle it. And yet, she follows me all around the house.  She is a finicky lover.  I think she is perfect for us, if she was too touchy, she would drive Sky crazy.

Can you see the not-so-subtle lean away from me here???

~7~

It was a great trip, we had a blast.  Next time though, I think we are flying  ;)

*7 Quick Takes Friday is hosted weekly over at Conversion Diary

Wordless Wednesday- downtown

Checking out downtown Seattle.

Thanksgiving

So much to be thankful for! 

Topping my thankful list is my family.  I am so blessed and thankful for my family <3

Our Thanksgiving centered around family and new friends this year, we are visiting one of Sky's brothers.   Dinner preparation included many hands and many dishes.  My top favs- beside the turkey....were:  PW's stuffing (I added sausage to the recipe because Sky's mom always had sausage in hers) the recipe is divine, I could live on this stuff for weeks...  and my new friend, Christy's snickers salad.  Oh. my. word.  I've seen this recipe floating around pinterest, and wow, it is awesome.  Several of us bypassed the pies and had more of this.  We had a line-up of the usual suspects; sweet potatoes, green been casserole, pumpkin pie, lemon meringue pie, mashed potatoes, homemade dinner rolls.  Actually, I think we had three different stuffing dishes prepared by three different people :D

• Pioneer Woman's Stuffing recipe

• Snickers salad

• my go-to pumpkin pie recipe

how was your Thanksgiving?

hope it was super-blessed :)

Using "spine" texts for homeschooling

I am 13 years into this homeschool journey.  One thing I find myself coming back to, again and again is the use of a "spine" text for our studies.  If I could go back and do it all over, I would trust more in a spine text- to keep us moving, and then branch off into creativity as mood and time permitted.

I'm an eclectic homeschooler - loving a little bit of this and that and not afraid to try different things.  I am unorganized, creative- when my lack of organization doesn't hamper me, and lately- I think I might have A.D.D. -which I joke about, but only because if you don't laugh at yourself, you'll just cry, or be a grumpy head...  I wish I had realized my A.D.D. problem years ago, I think knowing I had a problem would have prompted me to lean harder on books/texts that work for me.  Strict schedules, I already know from failed attempts, over and over through the years- don't work for me.  A road-map, though, seems to work best.

I've gone back, over and over, to The Story of the World series for History.  Even when I have ventured into the world of boxed curriculum, with their beautiful and enticing schedules, I have chosen programs that utilize STOW because I realized, years ago, that this text simply "clicks" with me.

I think the magic of The Story of the World series is that it centers on a text that "gets it done".  The kids love the narrative, that is a big plus, but the magic is the fact that despite whatever chaos/boredom/lack of organization/ crisis  I am in the midst of (and believe me, it's a rotating string of events for me) I can pick up a volume of STOW and just read what is next.  If life is perfect and the stars are aligned, I can branch out and add in library books listed in the activity guide, or even do some of the activities.  At the very least, when chaos reigns supreme- I can read aloud, have the kids narrate and do a map page.

A thing of beauty.

I wish I had been more faithful to this method, I just didn't realize the genius in this structure- genius at least, for this A.D.D. mom.

At the tail-end of my homeschooling journey, I finally looked into the "What my ______ grader needs to know" series.  It is part of the Common Core series, which, to put it simply, is a set body of knowledge (or a scope and sequence) proposed for the entire country to use in public schools.  There is much debate about this idea, but you can see the advantage it could have for testing purposes and for families moving to different districts or different States.  This series by E.D. Hirsch follows the idea of the Common Core.  I started looking through it last week, and realized it could have worked for me in the same way that STOW works for me, by providing a spine or road map I could follow- to keep me moving instead of standing still.  Looking through the series, I saw good content for History, Literature,Culture, Geography, Science and the arts.  The content for Math and Language Arts, I felt, was not presented in a teachable way.  I think this series could be a really good spine for a homeschool family, and very economical too- a viable choice instead of the expensive boxed curriculum sets we all love to lust after.  (raising my hand- guilty here!)  I am thinking about using this series with Amie and Demi for geography, culture, Literature, Science and maybe the arts.

The beauty of a spine is the ability to slow down and branch-off when you want to delve into a subject more thoroughly or more creatively.

-just some thoughts, from a mom who is looking back now...

Do you have some favorite tried and true texts or programs you come back to over and over again?

{Home} sponsor-Brighton Park

Welcome to new sponsor: Brighton Park

Katie writes at Brighton Park blog and has been homeschooling for 5 years.  She has 5 kids under the age of 12; two with special needs.  Katie is a Waldorf inspired homeschooler.  In her own words Katie describes herself as;

Inspired Homeschooler, Artful homemaker, backyard chicken keeper, Happy Homesteader, and Jane Austen lover. Speech Language pathologist, soon to be yoga teacher, and Jesus lover.

Her blog has a little bit of everything, homeschooling, homesteading, homemaking, check out her free theme units and her recipes. Under her homemaking page is indexed linkys of all the recipes and tutorials - she has some wonderful informative content to share!

Katie has experience as a pediatric speech language pathologist for 17 years. She says "I believe anyone can be successful homeschooling and every child has the potential to learn."  She is working on her second Master's degree (in History) and her Yoga teacher certification, besides homeschooling her five, being wife and mother and sharing on her blog.  I'll just say what you are thinking... wow!  I wish I lived near Katie, I can tell she is a kindred spirit.  I am happy to welcome her as a sponsor this month at {Home} is Where You Start From.  Stop by and say "hi" for me :)

Costume day

Meg and Josie dressed up for costume day at the Biola Star campus this Thursday.  I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate the classes they take with Biola Star - the academics are high, the teachers are wonderful and professional and sometimes tough.  (I need tough, I'm too easy-going around here...) Meg's Chemistry teacher is a professor at Concordia University.  Okay, in addition to the wonderful classes they take, the also get to participate in a sort-of campus life.  They get to have hot lunches if they want, get to eat with friends, have study hall and fun activities like prom.  This Thursday was costume day, with prizes going to best literary costume.  Meg won a prize last year by going as Katniss from the Hunger Games.

Josie decided to go as "The Grim Tickler" from Veggie Tales.  It was kind of cool that the other kids at Biola got the reference immediately.  Homeschool World has its own culture  :)

Meg dressed up as Lindsey Stirling, dubstep violinist.  Lindsey is Amie's favorite artist because she often wears miss-matched socks.  Amie has found a soul-sister.

We are going to see Lindsey Stirling in concert this month when her concert tour comes to So. California.  We are so excited.  Check her out, she is a talented and hard-working artist.  Her rise to success has been very grass-roots, it's exciting to watch her work getting more notice!

Check her out on Youtube:

my favorites are Come With Us - which include other famous youtube artists, it took us a while to catch on to that, there are links are on the video  - Phantom of the Opera and Crystalize.  It's hard to pick a favorite, really.

I think I love this song, because when I first met Sky, way back when we were sixteen, he was really into rap music. Hard to believe. This rap-song is the sort he liked, clean and fun.  Takes me back to our younger days....  :)