Well, we're wilted but not melted.  The children and I finished out our school week with our homeschool group field day.  All had a great time, but we're especially thankful for the air conditioning running in our house right now.  Some of the events were 50 yard dashes, sack races, tug-of-war, a hoolah hoop relay race, and water balloon toss.  Being with our good friends made the heat easier to bear.

The boys and I finished up modern world history with The Story of the World.  Next week we'll begin studying Greek history.  S- finished up The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.  Even though there was a princess in it, there was much to appeal to boys too.  Robin Hood is STILL going and going and going.  Maybe next week we'll report that someone finishes it.   

Muffy girl beat me in finishing The Wind and the Willows first.  The chapters are so long that I told her a half a chapter each day would suffice, but she was too drawn in to the stories and kept going.  (I have one and a half chapters left.)  She was excited to complete her CLE reading course this week.  Yay, with that and grammar done for the year, it leaves a nice chunk of time for extra reading.  

Cupcake worked on the letter "H" this week.  She still struggles to remember the previously learned letter sounds.  I'm not sure she's at a point of understanding to listen for individual sounds in words, like the "h" in hat, or the b in "balloon".   Muffy shared her poetry book with Cupcake, reading her some funny and cute ones.  Of course, she really liked the dog ones.  We also continued to work on number recognition of the -teen numbers.  She demonstrated her number recognition skills in church Wednesday night flipping through the Bible and pointing to the bold chapter number headings.  She was so cute about it, but of course it was the wrong time to be enthusiastic with number knowledge in the middle of church.  At least she whispered fairly quietly.  Amazing, she (and we) made it through the ENTIRE service!  She is becoming very good friends with Squirrel Nutkin, and Jeremy Fisher (toad).  She was excited to make the connection that Jeremy Fisher's boat was a lilly pad, just like she had seen last week at the botanical gardens.  

Since we don't have the big pool up yet, I broke down and bought a plastic wading pool for the deck for the girls at least to help beat the heat and give the active one something to keep busy.  It is at least big enough for the rest of us to get our feet wet.

When Matt isn't working or doing something with the kids, you can usually find him knee deep in theology or other ministry related book.  The seminary books are working their way out of boxes.  I'm going to have to buy yet another bookcase and locate an empty wall for it, but it is exciting to do so.  

This week hasn't allowed as much free time, but I'm still reading Tozer, bit by bit and keeping up with Rat, Mole, and Toad in the willows.  Just maybe, next week I'll get my guest room curtains made.  Oh where oh where  does time go?

Aunt C., Mufy, E-

Cupcake and S with Rosie train cake

April is our month of birthdays.  After celebrating Matt and Muffy's birthdays, I thought I had a weekend in between.  Then, I realized the celebrations were going to be back to back weekends.  So, Saturday we celebrated Cupcake's turning six (official birthday was Monday).  Since she loves Thomas the Tank Engine so much, we had someone make her a Rosie train cake.  After cake and ice cream, we went to a nearby lake for paddle boating and park time.  The birthday girl added Ferdinand, Dash, and Bash to her train collection.

Kid's Running Club w/Dad

Both girls ran in our town's new running club for kids on Saturday morning before the party.   Daddy ran with them along with Uncle Caleb.  The Cupcake has been imitating her aunt and uncle running for quite some time, so it was super exciting to be part of the real deal!  She has been telling me that she must "exercise her bones."


School was quite routine this week.  Muffy and I finished third grade grammar for the year.  She's about 3/4 through Wind and the Willows.  The boys and I got through the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War.  We've fallen behind in Pilgrim's Progress, but that will be a good thing to work on over the summer.  Cupcake and I started the Beatrix Potter collection, at least the stories that are short enough for her attention span.

Yesterday I figured out just how fun it is when you don't pay attention to where you are parking at Duke. At least I had it narrowed down to three of the eight floors in the parking deck!  Obviously, we made it home.

Muffy and her buddy

Having a rest in the storyteller's chair at gardens

Today was supposed to be our homeschool association field day.  However, even though today was beautiful, the previous days have been so wet that the parks and recreation department gave a "no go."  So, if the weather cooperates, we should have pictures of that event next week.  Since I'd planned for only four days of instruction/assignments, we decided a field trip was in order.  We went to the NC Botanical Gardens for the morning with another family, also known as "our buddies."  Everything was so beautiful, if we could have just figured out how to get eight children to slow down and smell the roses, quite literally.

Cupcake and two of her buddies

Pitcher plants at botanical gardens

Matt and I've been reading lots in our tiny bits of spare time.  I finished Radical by David Platt this week.  I've started Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy but I'm going to do no more than a chapter a day, as there is a lot to chew.  We're both making an effort to get some exercise.  I've walked six miles total so far this week.   It seems there are so many areas in life that require discipline.



May you all have a blessed weekend (I for one am looking forward to a no birthday or holidays weekend)!

Cupcake and Matt trying out birthday bear tent

A Week of Colds and Reading

Sadie, Tom, and Blachick

Today was the last class of the year for our geography/missions homeschool co-op I started last fall.  We've had a great year learning about various countries in Africa, missionaries, food, culture, maps, and more.   My dear friend made cupcakes and even decorated them with flag picks of the countries studied.  Argh, I meant to get a picture of that.  Oh well, maybe next year when we move on to Asia, Lord willing.

Cupcake painting a colorful hotel

Miss Cupcake and I had nasty colds part of this week, so her school was extremely light.  We worked on the letter "P" and made numbers 10-19 with our 0-9 number puzzle.  Of course, we recited our favorite poems, and are working on some new ones.  She chose to illustrate "The Drinking Fountain", so yes, that is a water fountain in the picture, and um I do believe she said that was Grandma at the water fountain.   On her own, she decided to draw a seed, a tree, and roots, and a sprouting seed when I read her a a simple tree book.  Her favorite story this week was Little Sally Mandie at the Farm, a book I've had since I was a little girl, that was my mom's, and we think my grandmother's.  Little Sally Mandie and Tommy Whiskers went to the farm, and Tommy Whiskers got his tail nipped when he was rude to Mr. Gander Goose. They got to see Mrs. Curly Grunt (momma pig) and her little curly grunts (her babies). This morning she told us she had a great IDEA, which was that for her birthday Grandpa could build her a Great Wolf Lodge in the backyard (I'm thinking she meant all the play stuff, not a whole hotel).  She thinks her grandpa can do anything!

Muffy's birthday presents

Muffy girl had a simple but wonderful birthday celebration last Saturday with her daddy and auntie (both also had birthdays the same week as our Muffy).  S made her a strawberry cake, decorated with each child's favorite animal piped with frosting-- Huggy, Lamby, Snuggy, and Huggy Bunny.  Big brother E made strawberry lemonade punch.   Muffy was thrilled to get some binoculars and a gift card to Lowe's.  We told her to pick out some things to attract the birds, for a little thinking spot.  So she picked out a bench, cute yellow "lollipop" flowers, and a bird bath.  Now, when we had this idea, I had no idea there was anything out there other than plain looking bird baths.  She found a mushroom one with a bunny on it.  It is cute, but thank goodness it goes on the side of the house.  She's enjoyed reading Joan of Arc and Wind and the Willows at her special spot.  She finished Tree in the Trail, and got a lot done in grammar and our CLE reading workbooks.  She named our new friend, the black-capped chickadee, "Blachick", and the male house finch "Tom" since his the color of a Tom-ato.  I named Tom's wife, Sadie.  The three have been fun to watch this week out of our school room window.

Wind and the Willows illustration

S, Muffy, Aunt Missy, and Cupcake

S and E worked hard at their booklists this week.  E is now captivated with Narnia, even choosing to read it in his spare time too.  They're both still on Robin Hood, which is a very LONG book.  I am hoping they will finish it in the next couple of weeks.  They both think the mythology book, Age of a Fable by Thomas Bullfinch is weird, but they do it anyway.  E loves reading and listening to books in his treehouse.  However, S does not care to spend his time there.  Both boys, along with Muffy, watched "The Tempest" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" from Shakespeare- The Animated Tales on dvd from Netflix this week.  I'd like to get the whole set for our homeschool.  We also listened to Joseph Haydn's "Farewell Symphony" (Symphony #45 in F Major).  E is very close to conquering long division!!!!  Thank you Math-U-See.  In Bible, we learned about King Jehu who was zealous in destroying Ahab's family and their gods, but didn't destroy the gods of Jeroboam. 

E at Fort Macon

Matt preached on "Hate" this past Wednesday night using the book of Jonah as his basis, with several ties to other Old and New Testament examples.  We were so glad for him to have the opportunity, and I was so glad that Tylenol made me feel well enough not to miss it!  He and I've had some good discussions and things are brewing as a result of last weeks trip to Together For the Gospel.

I've been trying to keep up with Muffy in Wind of the Willows.  If books were food I'd say that selection is like having strawberry shortcake with cream on top!  I'm happy to finally report the completion of Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling, volume 1.  I also finished Johnothan Edwards on True Christianity this week.  Apparently, Jonathan Edwards faced nominalism in churches back in his day as well.  I'd love to tell you all about it, but that would require a whole other post.   Matt is re-reading David Platt's Radical, so I decided to do the same.  I'm ahead of him, but don't tell him I said that.  Hee, hee, hee.  If you haven't read it, it is one I think every evangelical Christian should read (or listen to, I've got both the audio and the book, and I love to lend!).   Lastly,  I've been enjoying leading our children's choir.  They sang during Sunday morning worship and did great.  I think I was the only nervous one! 

May you all have a wonderful weekend full of God's grace.

Little Black Bug, Where Have You Been?

Little black bug, little black bug, where have you been?  I've been under the rug, said little black bug.  Little green fly, little green fly, where have you been?  I've been way up high, said little green fly.  Bzzzzzzzzzzz. Little old mouse, little old mouse, where have you been?  I've been all over the house, said little grey mouse.  Squeak-EEk-EEk-EEk-EEk. (Margaret Wise Brown)

Where have we been?  Well, we've hung out mostly at home this week, keeping things simple.  Matt had the opportunity to attend the Together For the Gospel Conference in Kentucky.  He got to hear some incredibly good speakers, including David Platt, pastor and author of Radical.  I would challenge everyone to watch the video of his message  The Call to Death-Defying Missons. (matt)





Miss Cupcake is proficient in the recitation of the above poem.  She has illustrated it (with help from a drawing book) for her notebook, as well as "The Little Turtle" (the one that lived in a box, swam in a puddle, and climbed on the rocks). I am amazed that a child with attention issues has taken a liking to the poetry.  It seems to slow her down just for a moment.  We worked on numbers 10-19 with our number puzzle pieces.  She successfully learned which ones are in "10".    Why oh why, could we not have oneteen, twoteen, and threeteen?  It would be so much easier for the little ones and would make much more sense.  Letter "N" was our focus for the alphabet.  She can distinguish the sounds of "m" and "n" to speak them, but is still having trouble distinguishing the beginning sounds of "m" or "n" in words.  I know, slow and steady, we'll get there.... Eventually.  I also decided to read Chatterer the Red Squirrel, by Thornton Burgess, one short chapter per sitting.  Then I give her the mommy shortened summary at the end.  She seems to understand at least some of it, and more importantly asks for it at school time.  I'm thinking the Beatrix Potter collection might be a great fit next. 


Both girls attended our library's Winnie the Pooh indoor picnic and party.  I loved how the librarian used flower pots to look like Pooh's honey pots.  There was a lot of laughter coming from the Cupcake over Pooh and Tigger's antics.  She kept looking back during the movie to see if mommy thought it was hilarious too.

To Miss Muffin's delight, and everyone else's for that matter, the birds have finally noticed the soda bottle feeder outside our school window.  She was able to identify it from one of our bird guides, as a house finch.  We think we have a male and female that repeatedly come to the window.  It is good that Matt has returned so he can refill it.  They have eaten most of it up.  So, our beautiful feathered friends have provided a bit of a distraction this week.

 In other news, as of Wednesday our Muffy is now nine!  At least we aren't in the double digits with her yet.  We will celebrate her birthday, her daddy's birthday, and her auntie's birthday tomorrow.  Her request for no school on her birthday was denied, but I did allow her reading assignments on her comfy bed.  Her music teacher granted her a no practice day on her birthday for violin and piano to which I also agreed.  Her daddy sent her flowers since he was away, which she absolutely loved, and I made the requested birthday breakfast-- chocolate chip toffee walnut scones.   Most of school was a continuation of everything from last week, but we did add Wind and the Willows.  I'm reading ahead and LOVE it.

S and E have been busy finishing up World War II.  They also learned about Ghandi and the partitioning of India, forming Pakistan, as well as the partitioning of Palestine, thus, creating Israel.  It has been fascinating stuff!  We have shelved the science and grammar to be resumed in the fall, so we have extra time to finish the book lists of prerequisites for AO and our other courses.  I'm proud of both of them.  They are working so hard at their big list (would have been nice for them if I'd decided all this earlier).  It is wonderful to see boys their age enjoy good literature.

I managed to keep school going, kids clothed, and fed, but that is about it.  There was very little time to read or do anything else.  Maybe I'll accomplish more next week.  Cupcake spoke the sweetest words this evening when she shouted "Daddy's home!".  

Have a good weekend everyone!

Would You Buy a Beach House When Cupcake Will Sell You a Bathouse Instead?

We are in the countdown of those last few remaining of our 180 days!!   I feel like the little engine that could, "I think I can, I think I can.."  Of course, when we reach the goal, we will still have a relaxed summer school routine put in place, continuing in math, reviewing grammar, and lots of reading lists. But somehow, the lighter load will be just right to rejuvenate us for the fall.

I fear our vacation caused a stumbling block to Cupcake's progress with Hooked-On-Phonics, so we started back at the beginning.  This week consisted of the letter M only. One thing I added to her school routine, is Eloise Wilkin's Poems to Read to the Very Young.  Our favorites this week have been "Mix a Pancake,"  "The Little Turtle", and  "Little Black Bug."  She almost has the pancake one memorized.  She also began notebooking like the big kids.  She illustrated the pancake poem (in case you can't tell, that is a blue plate, pancake with syrup/butter/strawberries).  She was as proud as a peacock over it.  On Thursday, she and I had fun at the library's "Block Party".  I helped her build what I thought was a beach house, but she put in a potty and said it had to be a restroom instead. Since the Muffy girl has been learning about birds, I read Cupcake a shorter book with real life photographs of mommy birds, daddy birds, babies, and their nest.  It was an old one Matt had from his childhood.  Both girls have done some spying on the robin's nest in our neighbor's bush.  The eggs are gorgeous!  We have a nest in our magnolia, but it is too high up to see what is in it.  The girls think it is funny the birds used some of their craft ribbon left outside for the nest.

Muffy has been engrossed in Understood Betsy, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher.   She only has one chapter left.  Since her adventure with Paddle-to-the-Sea ended, she has begun Tree in the Trail, another one of the Holling C. Holling books.  Crows and blue jays were her bird friends this week.  For history narrations this week, she enjoyed drawing cartoon pictures of some of the people from Our Island Story, in particular, Henry II, Thomas a Becket, and Gilbert and Rohesia.  She used the drawings to tell me about the chapters from the week.   She is supposed to be doing the free Peter's Online Typing since she finished Dance Mat Typing with flying colors.  Suddenly typing is not so exciting when it does not involve dancing hippos that congratulate your skills.  I promised I would do a dance and song for her after each Peter's lesson, to which she is probably going to hold me to next week.  In free time, she and the Cupcake have set up a stuffed animal hospital (using Daddy's painter's tape as bandages), and have spent a lot of time outside.


S and E learned about the stock market, the Great Depression, Hitler, and the beginnings of World War II this week.  It is interesting this go around teaching modern history to see it from a world history point of view rather than just American.  We've had some interesting discussions.  It is great having big boys. We've added Thomas Bullfinch's Age of A Fable to their daily readings.  I'm allowing this one to be audio from Librivox since we need to get through our list in time.  I'm not a big fan of mythology, but I think they are mature and discerning about it at this age.  They are both reading Robin Hood, and E excitedly gives me the highlights.  We also started back with our CLE Reading Program for them, with just two units remaining.  This week's focus has been inferring, interpreting, and comparing parables.  In science, both boys have been learning about DNA.  It would be nice if I could show their DNA models but someone cut the pipe cleaners too short, and I decided we'd just move on or come back to it later.   In Bible, Muffy, S, and E finished up with Elisha and his encounters with the kings of his time.

Matt bought us a new piano that was delivered on Monday.  It probably wouldn't be too hard to guess what S has been doing besides school.  He is so happy to play on something that does not have a bunch of broken keys.  He's also begun working on a violin piece, a hymn, "Come Thou Fount" in hopes of being able to play it in church one of these days. 

S at Grandpa's

In E's free time, he mostly read Peanuts comics,  played games, and read magazines in the tree house.  His favorite one was when Charlie Brown was playing cowboy and Snoopy was the cow.  He also loves to keep track of restaurant reviews, and gives us accounts good and bad, some of which I'd probably rather not know about.

Today we met my uncle, his wife, and children, affectionately known to as the "cousins" for some trail walking, bike riding, and playground time.  It was a bit cooler today, but with the sun shining was such a beautiful day.

We hope everyone has a blessed Easter weekend, reflecting on the ultimate sacrifice and resurrection of our Savior.  

Spring Break

Our school was rather short this week.  Monday we returned from the beach, and today was an awesome field trip day for nature study at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserves, so we only had regular school three days this week.  We did some catch up work but nothing terribly exciting.

Last week we were at Atlantic Beach, NC.  We'd planned the trip months ago never dreaming spring weather would already be here.  I had visions of walking on the beach in sweatshirts, but lo and behold we had sunny skies, warm temps and children IN THE OCEAN.  It was too cold for this momma, but not too much for the children.  They also enjoyed the indoor swimming pool, building in the sand, reading An Enormous Egg, laughing, and getting to watch HGTV (since we don't have that at home).  Muffy, along with help from big brother S, did some cooking from her Paula Deen's kids and her Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade kids cookbooks.  She did two of our dinners.  Having kids and a husband who can cook is a WONDERFUL thing, and TASTY too! 

Friday, we spent most of our time on the beach.  I finally got to finish Old Fashioned Girl (Alcott).  The Cupcake thought it would be fun to wake her Daddy by playing with her Thomas the Tank Engine, Rosie, and friends in the middle of the night.  Muffy was so thoughtful to help her pack just enough track to make a circle!

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon in Beaufort, North Carolina's third oldest city.  Beaufort was having a special historical day, to commemorate the time period when the Union armies took over Beaufort.  They had lots of people in costume, free visits to the Josiah Fisher Bell house, the apothecary, and the jail.  Josiah Bell was a Confederate spy who attempted to run off the Union armies by blowing up two lighthouses.  Our children were encouraged to dress in costume in the Beaufort Historical Society Museum and pose for pictures.  The boys wore Union attire as they were not the right sizes for the Confederate attire.   This was followed by our first ever ride on a double decker bus, thankfully just after the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We sat on top and viewed many historical houses, including one believed to have been visited by Blackbeard.  Also, from the bus we were able to spot some wild ponies on an Carrot Island.  Our tour of Beaufort was not complete without a tromp through the cemetery to see graves of folks as far back as the 1700's.  Lastly, we treated ourselves with some takeout tasty treats from a local bakery.  I do think S's napoleon was the best!

Sunday, all went to church except me, as I woke with a tremendous headache.  The children informed me this particular church provided ear plugs at the door, so I was thankful dear husband had encouraged me to stay home.  E and his dad went to Fort Macon while I let the kids swim in the pool for as long as my head could stand.  Then, they had one last playtime on the beach.  E built an impressive canal in the sand.


Our lunch stop on the home was the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, where we ate packed sandwiches, and took a short hike to stretch our legs. 

We had a great relaxing break, but as always "There is no place like home." 

Porch Time Lessons

We enjoyed beautiful weather this week.  I usually had one on one lesson times from the comforts of the front porch or the back.   The sunny skies have given great incentive to finish lessons most days by 3:00 in the afternoon. Evan and Stephen acted like... A couple of kids, as can be seen in this photo ---Mud everywhere!!

The girls both built, primed, and painted their birdhouses with Daddy on Saturday and Sunday.  Fun was had by all, and the birds are going to love them!

The Cupcake fell victim to the stomach bug on Sunday night.  I wonder why those pesky creatures invite themselves in the middle of the night.  She was puny all day Monday, but back to normal on Tuesday.  She did great learning the letters "b" and "h".  To her "h",  looks like "n", so I've been drawing pictures with a person sitting on the hump with its back facing the stem (the chair letter), which she thinks is kind of funny.  Whatever works, right?  She decorated a construction paper hat for letter "h".  For math, she's been given a big basket to fill with x number of things:  clover, dandelions, blades of grass, and rocks.   Bees have become her worst enemy.  She is terrified of them.  In the car, after Africa class, she asked, "Are there bees in Africa?"

Our Muffy girl spent some time crafting this week, making foam cookies, cakes, and chocolate bars for the American Girl dolls.   She finished A.A. Milne's Now We Are Six poetry book, as well as Rudyard Kipling's, Just So Stories this week.   I think her favorite school read this week has been Holling C. Holling's Paddle to the Sea.  We did a lot of cut and paste with our copier for a good map of the Great Lakes, U.S., and Canada, but our end product was a fail.  It is simply not big enough to write in all the things to document Paddle's exciting journey.   I'm going to order the maps from Beautiful Feet for the next ones.  She chose to do some research on the African lion for a short report to accompany a drawing from Africa class for her notebook.  The cardinal and the chickadee were her birds this week.  She says the chickadee is considered a brave bird because it will often get closer to people than other birds.

S- continues to dream of his elaborate mountain home.  The boy looks at house plans and cars during his free time.    He did quite a bit to help me get ready for teaching the Africa class this week, making copies and gathering supplies.  When time is of the essence, he knows how to get the job done!  He's still reading through the Narnia series.  It looks like it will take a while.  It just isn't really his cup of tea.  We began the portion after World War I in The Story of The World for AO Pre-7 history.  He worked at doing written narrations for that subject this week.  The older he gets, the more he sounds like and looks like Matt.

E- when not at the I-Pad, has enjoyed swinging with the girls.  Unfortunately, he's WAY too tall to zip-line with them.  He's a good big brother.  His grass mowing skills are much improved this year, maybe coordination being better now.   I greatly appreciate fresh cut grass!  He's plodding away through Narnia too, and began the same history book with me.  On his own, he's been listening to Gulliver's Travels for fun.

We finished our joint Ancient Egypt study this week.  We have a few videos we might watch, and I have one read-aloud that we might do, but I think we've had about enough.  Ending it early, will give them more time to read the history books on the AO list to be ready for next year.

In Bible this week, we studied Elisha and the miracles God used him to perform.  Then we compared and contrasted them with Elijah's miracles.  We also looked at some NT verses about miracles.  We determined that most of Elisha's miracles were to help people with their physical needs.  Our study book pointed out that perhaps miracles still happen today, but people are always going to point to a scientific reason or another to explain away God's part.

Other than helping the girls with the birdhouses, Matt made doors for our shed.  I'm impressed with them.  The previous doors (put on before we got our house) were interior doors that had pretty much rotted through.  He's also had to help me with powerpoint this week for my Africa class.  Too bad he has a technologically challenged wife.

All my free time and more has gone to preparing for our monthly homeschool co-op Africa class.  This month I taught the kids about the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rainforest.  Next week, we are going to take some time off so I'm hoping to get to some sewing projects and reading something my children aren't reading.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

P.S.  Muddy pictures are brought to you by my husband who allowed the mess!!!  Amazingly, the mud came out of the Cupcake's green knit dress, but the boy's shirts went in the garbage after a failed washing attempt.  I really should change the title of this post to "Mud" after his contribution, but, I like the other better.