Search For The Missing Book

I had thought Doodlebug may be trying to tell me something without having to come right out with it.  I have been searching all evening for our book that Doodlebug and I started reading, “Witch of Blackbird Pond.” I couldn't seem to find the book anywhere. I had looked on both night stands, hers and mine and it wasn't there. Usually, that is where it would be because, we had been reading it at night before bed. I pulled out the activities book to work something new from the story into tomorrow’s lessons and it prompted me to grab the book. That is when I discovered, it wasn't anywhere to be found.  The first clue that she maybe wasn’t enjoying the story should have been, when she asked me, “Mamaw, why do the Puritans have to talk like that? Why can’t they just talk normal so that we can understand them?” 

I am not saying that she hid the book but, the smile on her face when I told her I could not find it, well. That said a lot. I did find it. It had slid down behind the night stand. We read another chapter just a bit ago. I told her that I really thought it was important that we finish it. I told her that it was alright if she didn’t like the story but, I thought we should finish what we start. She seemed to agree with that too. We have already read 2/3's of it so far.

We will do a few more of the activities along with it but, I will not dig deeper with it. I do not want to bore her. I think it may not be as age appropriate as I had hoped.  I want our reading time to be exciting.

One of the activities from the companion book of "Witch from Blackbird Pond", was to make a “Gratitude from A to Z” list.  We also talked about Puritans’ beliefs and how strongly they believe that work and religion were the most important things in life. We read about how they were grateful for the little things in everyday life and we talked about those things.  Doodles has to think every day of something starting with the corresponding letter, that she is grateful for. Here is her list so far.

We will be starting Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn next. I do hope she will enjoy that. I always loved all of Twain’s books.  I hope she will love them too.

She also started her creative writing assignments that we are following along with from “The Small World’s Wordsmithery” blog. You can find the link on the right side of my blog. Doodlebug was ask to come up with adjectives to describe her parents and herself. We had a very good laugh. These were indeed her words.

The lesson suggests or reminds the teacher/parent, not to criticize a word choice in order to keep the child reaching for their own creative words and not words they feel would be more accepted by the teacher or parent.  It was a fun exercise and she really enjoyed the different activities today. It was a truly blessed day. 

Hope your week will be a blessed week too!

Signs of a Fading Summer

There are signs of fall quickly approaching all around. We noticed a few days ago, the ivy in the woods already turning red. Leaves on the Birch are fading quickly to yellow and some already brown. There are small but, very fresh autumn squash popping up at the produce market. Summer will be gone before we know it. I am looking forward to the cozy energy that fall brings. Also, I am looking forward to some steamy mugs of hot tea and butternut squash soup.

   "Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire."

            ~William Butler Yeats 

Today was the start of our homeschool year. Though it was a very long day, we accomplished so much and Doodlebug seemed very excited. She easily moved back into her lessons. I was so proud of her effort. I am in great hopes her enthusiasm will continue; although, I know every day will not be like this. There will be those days, I am sure we will both long for the energy and excitement of day one but, we will look forward to the days that new doors will be opened and unexplored topics arise to capture our interests. It was truly uplifting to hear her ask this evening if it would be alright if she were to do another math lesson in her Teaching Textbooks.

I am very excited and feel blessed to have this time to spend with her exploring and learning. I am learning so much myself. I am grateful each day for our time together. She is such a sweet child and getting to be a part of her education is such a gift. I know I will forever be grateful to God for this stage in my life and this time with Doodles.

I would love to take a few minutes to share with you, photos from history day in our town but, I am exhausted. Our day starts early and I do think my blogging will slow since the start of our lessons. I will try and post a new blog this weekend and share a bit about our week and also photos from history day. 

Many blessings to you all!

Organizing and Planning

The past couple of weeks I have been focused on gathering, organizing and planning.  I have been trying to get my sewing/craft room organized, which I am still working on but it is coming along nicely. I am waiting for Papaw to finish up my one needed shelves to go behind my sewing machines to put jars of notions and spools of ribbon and trim on. I can’t wait for that to go up.  I can’t wait till I have it all perfectly organized.

I have also been working on trying to come up with a good solution for a homeschool work area for Doodlebug for this school year, instead of just being spread out where ever. Last year much of our class work was done kicking back on the loveseat in the upstairs den area. Our upstairs den area connects with our kitchen and it seems to be the hub of the house.  It seems to be where we gravitate to the most. The space is a good size space but not huge and trying to come up with a workable solution was a bit of a challenge. I had run across an old fashioned desk ages ago in a little antique shop in a town that my mom and I meet at sometimes for lunch. I went back a couple of weeks ago in hopes that the desk would still be there. It was but with a big sold sticker on it. Needless to say, I didn’t give up. We went through several of the antique shops and I found this old drop side table that works out wonderfully for a work area. Doodles can pop up one side of it easily when she needs to sit down and get to work and pop it back down when she is finished for the day. I also like the idea that she has a creative space to gravitate to when we are just in there in the evenings. She already seems to love to pop up the table and pull out her drawing pad or grab a book.  I also think the table will be great for the holidays. Being able to use it as an extra table in our dining room, when our table in there will be wonderful. 

Over the past several months, before we finished our last school term, I had been reading, researching and collecting the school books and materials we were planning on using this school year. I am so glad that I planned a bit ahead. It helped take some of the pressure off when getting geared up this school year. We have had several weeks of just summer fun and down time and the pre planning sure helped there.

We are all signed up for enrichment classes. I think Doodles is going to have a great time on fun Monday’s with our homeschool network group. I never knew how wonderful being a part of such an active group could be. Signups for the enrichment classes were pain free. The group of parents that organize and arrange the classes, field trips and activities for our network are awesome. I am in awe of their commitment to make sure our group is one of the most well organized groups in the area. I feel so blessed that our family is a part of this group.  We were even given a piano for Doodlebug from one of the families in the group. Doodles will be starting piano lessons on the 24th. She is so excited about learning to play. She loves her piano.

We officially start back with school lessons on the 22^nd. We have been doing so many things throughout the summer that is still focused on learning but most of the time, didn’t involve a book. We have read quiet a bit this summer but have enjoyed outings to historical locations in the area. We have also focused on the goodness that summer brings, gardening, taking care of our chickens, catching lightening bugs, fishing and staying up late, just because. 

She loved the pigs at a homestead farm we visited. Now she wants pigs too.

Doodles learned to make fried green tomatoes this summer.

So, we will have to work on getting back on a bit more of a schedule this next week and we are looking forward to all the wonderful things that fall brings.

Hope you all have had a wonderful and blessed summer!