13 hours ago
A Quote
"Isn't there something in living dangerously?"
-Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
A Book
I started reading Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - I've never read it, and it's referenced so often in American Culture, I figured I should read it to know what everyone is talking about. It's so much more interesting than I originally thought it would be, kind of like East Of Eden was! Don't be afraid of those big books, folks. In my experience thus far, even big books typically have to be somewhat interesting to get published.
A Bit Of Nature
I'm trying to figure out what this bush is...it looks like a chokecherry bush to me. We used to pick chokecherries growing up and make syrup out of them - I hope that's what it is! I'm breaking out my plant guides later to confirm.
A Recommendation
If you have never heard of the Serial app, you should definitely check it out! It breaks up classic books into 15-minute serials that are delivered to you each morning. I think it makes those doorstops feel more manageable. It's how I'm reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. And the books are all free!
A Moment Of Happiness
We were at the Christian bookstore yesterday, and Wyatt spotted some devotional books that he wanted. After I looked through them to make sure they were good, I offered to buy one of them for him. He insisted on paying me back when we got home, but I honestly wasn't going to remind him.
Later that night, after bedtime, I was sitting in my chair, and Wyatt snuck out of his room and handed me a bill and a handful of coins to pay for his devotional, and then he asked me what time I usually get up to read the Bible.
I wrote about this last week, but I was about his age when I paid for my own first devotional book and started reading it along with my Bible daily. I don't know if he heard me telling that story or not, but either way, I love that it was so important to him to buy the book himself and get on track with reading his Bible daily. I love seeing him take initiative in his own godly habits and spiritual growth.
He gave me his squinty-eyed grin when I told him he could come read with me in the mornings, and it just warmed my heart so much. I'm so proud of my boy.
I didn't want to finish my curriculum series without including Bible, but to be honest, it's hard to sum up our Bible "curriculum" in one post. We don't use just one resource to teach our kids the Bible, and we don't do it at one time of the day and then check it off our list. My goal in teaching my children the Bible is that we will talk about biblical truths often, throughout our day, in formal and informal settings, and that it will be embedded into every part of our homeschool curriculum. Do I always succeed at this? No, there are alot of days where I drop the ball and our Bible study doesn't look like that, but it's what I want to strive for.
At the same time, I think it can be really useful for kids to have some sort of resource to guide them in Bible study and help them think about what they are reading, especially as they get older. My oldest son is getting to that age where he has been working on reading through the Bible on his own, and he could handle a more structured study, so I've been mulling that over and thinking through different resources. Here are some of the resources that we've used, or that we plan to use. Some of them are actual "curricula", and some are other types of resources I've used. This isn't even a comprehensive list, but these are the things that have stood out so far.
The Bible (Like, The Real Bible)
I think sometimes we forget that the most important way we can teach our kids is just to read it with them! Alot. Derek is really good at reading them a chapter each night, and I'd like to do better at bookending that with reading a chapter to the kids at breakfast as well.
I firmly believe in reading the actual Bible even to little kids, but I do think for the younger ones it's nice to add in a Bible storybook too, so the next couple are my favorite Bible storybooks.
Egermeier's Bible Story Book
I've collected quite alot of storybooks in my day, and this is one of my favorites. I like how this storybook is so thorough - no part of a Bible story is skipped, not even the hard parts, but it presents it in a kid-friendly way, with beautiful illustrations to accompany each story.
I Am: 40 Reasons To Trust God
This is another Bible storybook that I really like - each story is connected to a different name and attribute of God, and a short devotion and prayer is included at the end of each chapter to get the kids thinking further. I think the illustrations in this are just gorgeous, and it's a great bedtime storybook. Our copy is actually falling apart, so I'm going to have to purchase another one.
Answers Bible Curriculum
This was our main Bible curriculum last year! We picked this up at the homeschool conference, and we got about halfway through, so we'll continue it this year. The book comes with pdf files for slides to show on your computer while you teach, memory verse posters, and coloring pages.
The curriculum was written by the folks over at Answers In Genesis, and uses their method of breaking biblical history up into "the seven C's" - Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, and Consumation (and my kids can recite those now, so that's a plus!). While a lot of time is spent in the Old Testament, the curriculum is an overview of the whole Bible, and I think it lays a great foundation for understanding why Christ had to come and die on the cross to save us! That is the most important thing for my kids to know, and I love the focus on the gospel through this curriculum so far.
Since we are stretching the curriculum out over two years, I've looked ahead to see what is coming, and the second half of the curriculum seems to focus on answering different questions about God and the Bible. It has more of an apologetics focus, and I think it'll fit nicely with another resource we are using.
The Answers Book For Kids
There are eight volumes of these little books, and they are completely full of questions kids may be wondering about the Bible, along with the answers of course! We use these in our morning time right now - I'll read a question and the answer, and then we'll look up the Bible verses that are listed and read them together. I think this is a really convenient little resource to start some good conversations, and it's really easy to add into a morning routine or read over lunch.
Big Thoughts For Little Thinkers
These books are really similar to the Answers Books For Kids, but each page has cute illustrations and a different truth about God to talk about with your kids Once again, I usually read the thought on the page, and then we look up the Bible verses and talk about it more if needed. I really like this for all the kids - the thoughts are deep enough to bring up some good topics with the older kids, and simple enough for young kids to learn and remember.
God Is Really, Really Real
This resource goes a little more in-depth on some of the main concepts that we learn in Scripture about God, man, sin and death, Jesus, and salvation, etc. I think it could easily be used as the core for a more formal curriculum as well.
As it says on the front, there are 30 Bible doctrines covered in this book. The first part of the book has colorful illustrations and a poem-story that relates to the lessons, and the second half guides parents through teaching different biblical doctrines to their kids, along with "tuck-in questions" to remind your kids what they learned during the day. There are also more in-depth explanations and Bible references for parents in the back of the book.
I think the book is geared toward younger children, but with the more in-depth information in the back, it would be easy to use this to teach older kids who already have something of a grounding in these doctrines too! I honestly forgot I had this resource until late in our school year, and we used it in morning time, but going forward I am thinking I might add this one to our bedtime routine instead.
Bible Survey For Kids
This is one of the new resources I purchased for the upcoming school year, put out by Mike Fabarez's ministry. This curriculum is super simple and straightforward, a way to give your kids an overall view of each of the books of the Bible. Each lesson covers one book, and the main things that are included in that book, and then Bible book cards are tacked onto the wall in chronological order, or in genre groups. I really like this idea for giving the kids a "big picture" of the Bible as we continue reading it and studying it with our other resources. I'm thinking we'll do one of these lessons a week for the upcoming school year.
Explorer's Bible Study
This is the other new resource I bought for Wyatt, because I think he is big enough to find this sort of book helpful. The Explorer's Bible Study books go through different eras of Bible history through a simple fill-in-the-blank format. Just flipping through this book, it is really similar to the Community Bible Study workbooks we did a couple years ago. Since we aren't ready to re-start CBS this year, I think having a similar book will be helpful. Each lesson is broken up into five segments, one for each day of the week. The text of the Bible passage is included in the book, and then the student can answer questions.
Depending on the day, I might sit down and do each lesson with Wyatt, (and possibly write his answers for him), or I might have him work on it independently once he gets the hang of it. However, if he works on it independently, it's important to me to still sit down with him and talk about what he wrote. I think this will be a great guide through different biblical books, and a great chance to get Wyatt used to more in-depth Bible lessons.
Devotional Books
One more quick little note - I am a fan of devotional books for kids. When I was about Wyatt's age, I found a devotional book I liked at the Christian book store. I ended up buying it, and it helped me get into the habit of reading a chapter of the Bible and a devotional every day.
I really would love if my kids developed that habit as well, and so I bribe them with devotional books!
Actually, I picked up a couple kids devotion books here and there a few years ago, and just put them on the bookshelf and forgot about them. My kids discovered them this summer, and my big kids have been reading through them on their own, along with their Bibles. These are some of the ones I've found:
My Big Book Of Five-Minute Devotions - This book includes animal facts along with lessons about God, the Bible, good character qualities, etc. Each devotion has a Bible verse and prayer to go with it.
God's Amazing Creatures And Me - This is another book that includes animal facts tied in with a lesson about the God who created these animals. Can you tell that I have a kid who loves animals?
One warning about devotional books - often they can be rather superficial, especially when written for kids, so I think it's important to not use them as your child's only Bible-related resource. Devotion books aren't a substitute for true Bible study and biblical instruction, and they often do an inadequate job of presenting the gospel, so I try to be aware of that and do some extra explanations where necessary. But I do think they can be a fun addition to Bible reading. What I like about devotion books for kids is how they can emphasize the ways that biblical knowledge relates to anything they could encounter in their day or life. So that's the value I think they can add here, when read in addition to the Bible itself and regular Bible instruction in other areas (and not just reading a devotion alone, because they aren't enough by themselves).
In case you didn't notice, I am all over the board with Bible instruction. I told you that I wouldn't say we do one Bible "curriculum" - the curriculum is all these things put together and done regularly (or for some of them, sporadically) over the course of many years - my kids' whole childhood really. I hope we are always in the middle of this or that Bible resource, and in the middle of some book of the Bible itself, throughout my kids' childhoods, until they no longer live in this house. I want them to be saturated in it, so they can soak it up constantly, and take it all with them when they go.
For a Christian homeschool family, I don't think Bible should be just another homeschool subject. Bible instruction will never be done. If I want my kids to learn anything in this homeschooling journey, I hope it's that - to never stop seeking after the Lord through His Word, to love Christ, and never be done learning about the One who created them and died to save them. If I succeed in that, I will have succeeded in everything.
And maybe that's also why I have way too many Bible-related resources to choose from, ha!
What do you use for Bible instruction in your home? (Aside from THE BIBLE, of course!)
Gracious, I've lost my blogging rhythm a bit. When did I last write about something personal on here? It's been a while, so I'm going to use The Wednesday Five format to get back into it this week. You can read other Wednesday Five posts here, and feel free to join in if you want!
A Quote
"We're a violent people, Cal. Does it seem strange to you that I include myself? Maybe it's true that we are all descended from the restless, the nervous, the criminals, the arguers and brawlers, but also the brave and independent and generous. If our ancestors had not been that, they would have stayed in their home plots in that other world, and starved over the squeezed-out soil...that's why I include myself. We all have that heritage, no matter what land our father's left. All colors and blends of Americans have somewhat the same tendencies. It's a breed, selected out by accident. And so we're over-brave and over-fearful - we're kind, and cruel as children. We're over-friendly and at the same time frightened of strangers. We boast and are impressed. We're over-sentimental and realistic. We are mundane and materialistic - and do you know what other nation acts for ideals? We eat too much. We have no taste, no sense of proportion. We throw our energy about like waste. In the old lands they say of us that we go from barbarism to decadence without an intervening culture. Can it be that our critics have not the key or language of our culture? ...That's what we are, Cal, all of us. You are not very different."
-East Of Eden, pg 568 (emphasis mine)
For some reason this little monologue in East Of Eden stood out to me when I read it a couple months ago, and I've been mulling it over a bit. I don't know if I think Steinbeck got Americans exactly right, but in some senses I think he captured some of the spirit of America here.
The part that stands out to me right this minute is where he asks whether critics of our country fail to understand Americans because they don't have the key and language of our culture, and I think he got that right. Ultimately what has tied us all together as a country, as Americans, for the last 244 years is our ideals - our ideals of freedom, and our efforts to reach toward those ideals even when we may have failed to live up to them. We are a people tied together by a love of freedom, and a tenacious will to struggle and fight to achieve it, and to defend it whenever it is threatened. I hope we always keep that.
I saw a random social media comment from a person in a country which shall remain nameless, who criticized Americans for "always thinking someone wants to take your freedom away". It irked me to no end, just because of the sheer ignorance. That's an example right there of someone who doesn't understand what America really is, who maybe never will, because she doesn't have "the key or language of our culture".
Okay, sorry for the lengthy aside there - it just happened! On to the next category...
A Book
I've been reading books on alot of political topics lately, but I don't really want to talk about those, so I'm going to mention that I started Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb. It's basically a memoir of a therapist who ends up needing therapy after a bad breakup. I find the little tidbits about psychology interesting, and the author really knows how to tell an interesting story, so I kind of got sucked in.
A Bit Of Nature
This is from our trip to a little mountain stream a couple weeks ago - Clyde pointed out that the light playing on the water looked like a snakeskin - it kind of does, doesn't it?
A Recommendation
I recommend you get yourself over to Target, because they put out the school supplies in the dollar spot this week! I got a bunch of good stuff that I might show over on Instagram. I always look forward to raiding the dollar spot for homeschool stuff - all their little knick-knacks spark alot of homeschool ideas for me.
A Moment Of Happiness
Last week was our 12th wedding anniversary, and Derek and I were able to get away to a resort, thanks to my mom! We had a nice time, and when we came back home the next day, Georgie ran up to me and said in her little baby voice "Mama, you're here! I wuv you, Mama! I wuv you so much!"
Oh my goodness, that girl. I wuv her too.
Science has always been my favorite subject, and my love for the subject started back when I was a homeschool student. I love learning about the intricacies of God's creation - His fingerprints are all over everything in the natural world, and studying what He has made is one of the best ways to get a full understanding of the vastness of His power.
It is extremely important to me that whatever science curriculum we choose as our core, that it is firmly grounded in a biblical worldview. Unfortunately, I think most children that stray from the faith in their college years first started to doubt in science class. It is a sad fact because this trend is so unnecessary. The study of science is 100% compatible with a faith in God and His Word. I was fortunate enough to be homeschooled through high school, and rather than shaking my faith, my science studies bolstered my faith. I want that for my kids too.
So that said, here are my science curricula picks for the upcoming school year!
Apologia Young Explorers Series
I was first introduced to Apologia when I used one of their biology textbooks as a homeschool high school student. Oh, how I loved that book! Not only did it let me deep-dive into a subject that always interested me, but it was written from creationist perspective in such an equipping and fascinating way. I learned so much about the scientific method, the specifics of biology, and how it all fit in with the Christian faith, and it truly made me love science best.
When I saw that Apologia had courses for elementary students now, I knew that's what we would use! We've been using Apologia for three years, and I still love it. The textbooks are written in a really engaging way, they include alot of colorful pictures, and the experiments suggested are fairly simple and doable. The programs also come with accompanying Notebook Journals (and Junior Notebooks for younger kids), and I have more thoughts on those below.
How We've Used It
Kindergarten/1st Grade - We used the Zoology 1 textbook as a basis for a couple unit studies. We read the textbook and then found a bunch of colorful books from the library to read alongside.
2nd Grade - We went through the Chemistry And Physics book, and the Human Anatomy And Physiology book with our co-op. If that sounds like alot for 2nd grade, it is! We mainly just enjoyed the experiments they were running at co-op and read a few sections here and there, and supplemented with books from the library. I wouldn't recommend doing either of these courses until upper elementary (or even middle school), unless your child has an interest in these subjects at a younger age. It wouldn't have been my natural choice for 2nd grade.
3rd Grade - We finally hit our stride with the Astronomy book this last year. We read the chapters together, and all the kids enjoyed it. It was also even more interesting since we had just visited Kennedy Space Center on vacation! The kids did the experiments at co-op, and we read the chapters together each week. The chapters are fairly short, so we were able to read them in one sitting and my kids stayed interested. I usually had my kids draw or write about something they learned from each chapter as well. Of course we threw in a bunch of related library books and documentaries too!
This Year
We are not doing co-op this year, so it will be the first year that I will be going through Apologia with the kids and doing the experiments on my own. My sister and I both decided to go through the Botany book, and we have a plan to meet weekly or bi-weekly and do the experiments! I think this will be really fun for all of us, and my kids will be so excited to see their cousins regularly.
One thing I love about Apologia is that the experiments they recommend are pretty reasonable in the kinds of materials they use. Most items you would probably have around the house, or they are items that would be easy to find at the grocery store. Occasionally they'll have special items that may require a little more searching, but for the most part it's kept pretty simple.
The Notebooks
I have only used the junior notebooks so far, and I truly think they are optional. There are fun little mini books to cut out and put together, and then facts can be written inside them. There are also many coloring pages and copywork sheets included. However, everything in the Apologia notebooks you could also do one your own with a blank ruled notebook, and that is what we have mostly done. I bought the Astronomy Junior Notebook for Wyatt last year, but he quickly lost it somewhere, and I had him take notes and draw pictures in a blank notebook for the rest of the year instead (I wasn't going to buy another notebook!).
I am still undecided about purchasing a notebook for this year - I would like to see what is included with the regular notebooks (as opposed to the junior notebooks), but I also suspect that once again, everything included could be done with a little creativity in a blank notebook. One criticism I have of this curriculum is that I would be more likely to purchase the notebooks if I could purchase a digital version and print the pages for each child in my own family - as it is, there is no digital version, and I'd have to buy a $30 notebook for each kid. That is just too expensive for my larger family.
A Quick Note About The Order
As I mentioned above, there is a little bit of variation in the complexity of these studies. If I were to recommend an order, I would say that Botany and Astronomy are really great ones for younger elementary. Chemistry And Physics and Human Anatomy I would save for 5th or 6th grade probably. And I think the Zoology studies (Flying Creatures, Swimming Creatures, Land Animals) could be done at any time.
Other Curricula We've Used
I have used some other curricula for science over the year too, and I wanted to include those here!
Northwest Treasures - Geology For Kids
This is a geology curriculum for grade school, and it is fantastic. It comes from a smaller curricula company, and I've heard the author, Patrick Nurre, speak several times. He is a geologist himself, and he covers geology from a creationist perspective. The curriculum really equips kids to understand how the study of geology is compatible with what we read in the Bible. You can also purchase rock kits that go along with the curriculum, so you can see examples of everything that is learned!
We have two of the books Geology For Kids and Rocks And Minerals For Little Eyes (our co-op purchased the rock kit when we went through it last year). Apologia does not have a geology curriculum in their Young Explorers series, and I think that is too bad, because geology is one area of the scientific world where creationism is really attacked. I'm so glad we found this series to fill in that important gap, and we will probably purchase a rock kit ourselves and go through it again in the future.
Building Foundations Of Scientific Understanding
This is the one secular resource on this list, but I wanted to include it because we've gone through several of the lessons, and I really like how the book suggests teaching more abstract concepts to kids - like the particulate nature of matter, for example. I like having this resource on my shelf to fill in my kids' understanding here and there, because the activities and experiments in the book are simple but really aid in understanding some difficult concepts!
Exploring Nature With Children / 100 Creative Nature Walks
These are two digital resources that I've used for nature study with the kids. I love the idea of nature study, and I want to be better at it but I often don't know where to start. These guides are really helpful!
Exploring Nature With Children breaks the year down into different weeks, and gives information and resources for studying a different aspect of nature that will most likely be prominent during that week of the year. My kids still talk about the "Harvest Moon" study we did from this guide a couple years ago.
100 Easy And Fun Creative Nature Walks is really a bunch of print-and-go sheets that help aide in observation skills while you are out there in the wild! For example, in one idea called "Below My Knees", it gives suggestions for recording everything you see out in nature that is below knee level. It has a bunch of really simple ideas like that to give more guidance to your nature walks. This would be a great resource for nature walks with preschoolers too. I am wanting to use this resource more with my little ones this year.
That is my plan for science right now! Have you found any science resources you really love?
Multiply the number of chairs in each row by the number across...
Just kidding.
Rightstart Math (Second Edition)
In the latter half of Wyatt's kindergarten year, we were floundering a bit when a friend told me about Rightstart Mathematics. She said she liked it because alot of the concepts were taught through games. I knew that was a winning idea (what kid doesn't like games?), so I looked into it more and was quickly sold.
Rightstart comes with a scripted teacher's manual, a printed appendix and student worksheets, and a very large collection of manipulatives. There is also a separate book of math games that is used through all the levels.
The way a lesson typically goes is that I read through the lesson on the spot while explaining the concepts to my kid, I usually demonstrate with some of the manipulatives, and then we do whatever worksheet is attached to the lesson (if applicable). Sometimes I'll split a lesson in two if we are having a particularly hard time with it, and sometimes I'll run through two or three lessons in one sitting if my child already understands the concept.
Pros
There are a few things I really love about Rightstart Math, and surprisingly the math games that initially drew me to this curriculum aren't even very high on the list.
I love that it's a spiral curriculum, as opposed to linear mastery. In a spiral math curriculum, a concept is taught and lingered over for a few days or a week, and then the next subject is introduced. But then later the curriculum "spirals" back to previously covered concepts and reinforces them in a different way. The idea is that instead of sticking on one subject or skill until mastery (which could mean months on one concept if your child was having a hard time with it), it rotates through different topics that are reinforced and mastered over time. This has been great for my kids - they never have a chance to get bored in this curriculum before learning something new, but concepts are reviewed very often.
The other big thing I like about Rightstart is that there is a big emphasis on understanding the "why" of math, on wrestling with the underlying concepts. This curriculum emphasizes teaching not just the "tricks" you learn about math, but why those tricks work. This is something I don't remember being taught at all when I was in public school (1st-3rd grade) - I remember being taught the math tricks, and then later coming to the realization of why they worked. And even in my own homeschool student years, it took me a while to pick up on the why. Rightstart really tries to incorporate the underlying concepts before teaching the tricks to solving problems, and I like that.
I could go on and on. Rightstart teaches numbers in a way that makes sense to me, because it's the way I naturally think about math. The lessons are pretty short (especially in the beginning levels), so my kids rarely got overwhelmed. Though the order of concepts is not traditional, overall the program is very thorough and challenging.
Cons
One "con" to Rightstart for me is that it is rather teacher intensive, at least so far. I am the one who has to explain the concepts, and I do have to sit there for the entire lesson (especially in younger grades) while they do the exercises. This is going to be the case with every math curriculum in the younger years, but the time investment does worry me a little as I add more and more kids into the mix.
Last year I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, and I signed Wyatt up for his level of Teaching Textbooks, which is an online math program. We did those lessons on the side all year long while I tried to decide if I could handle teaching Rightstart to three kids for this upcoming school year. In May, I asked Wyatt what he thought - which program did he enjoy better, and he said Teaching Textbooks ("because it's faster"). Then I asked him which math he understood better, and he scrunched up his little face in concentration and said "Probably the one I do with you."
So. I decided to stick with it.
The good news is that I noticed last year that there was alot more worksheets and independent math work as the kids get older, and I'm hoping the trend continues this year. If Wyatt is spending more time in independent math work, it shouldn't be too difficult to add in lessons with Clyde (the first level is really quick and enjoyable).
Another con is that this is a pretty expensive math program in comparison to some. The manipulatives kit, though it is used through all the levels of the program, is a big one-time cost. I was able to get a partial manipulatives kit used at our homeschool conference one year, and that was a huge help. I just purchase individual pieces that we are missing as we go. I've also started purchasing the digital version of the worksheets, which I can reprint for each of the kids.
I honestly foresee us sticking with Rightstart all the way through middle school (which is all the currently available levels), unless doing lessons with multiple kids becomes way too overwhelming. Time will tell, but I really want to stick with it. After Wyatt said that he understood Rightstart better, I spent some time reading about the different levels, and it reinforced to me why I picked this program in the first place. If we can make it all the way through the levels, I think the kids will be extremely well prepared for high school math (which will hopefully make my job easier then!).
If Rightstart sounds interesting to you, I'd recommend checking out this free webinar page, or reading the objectives and free sample lessons here.
If Rightstart sounds interesting to you, I'd recommend checking out this free webinar page, or reading the objectives and free sample lessons here.
What are your thoughts on homeschool math? Are you a math person? What do you look for in a math curriculum?
Part of the difficulty is that language arts is such a broad term - it covers reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and speech. That's alot! I think it has helped me to realize that I don't have to have a separate curriculum for every one of those areas every year, and I don't have to find one curriculum that covers every one of those areas either. Some areas of language arts are age-specific, and alot of those different aspects of language arts can be touched on in one curriculum.
In our house, our language arts curriculum for 1st and 2nd grade is only reading instruction, with handwriting practice on the side. I don't start spelling until my kids are reading decently well. This is the first year I've really thought about grammar since we are starting to get into more in-depth writing instruction with my oldest. I'm not even going to think about developing speaking skills right now aside from oral narration practice - we'll have time for more formal speech later.
Alot of homeschool families might incorporate all those things right in the beginning, but my point is, you don't have to. Language Arts is a marathon subject if there ever was one, and the skills build on each other throughout schooling.
All that to say, Language Arts is very messy in our house, but as my kids get older I'm sure I'll develop a more defined philosophy. It's okay to figure it out as you go.
What We've Used Before
When Wyatt was in Kindergarten we did used Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons, which worked well at first but became drudgery for him about halfway through. So we switched to All About Reading, and it's what I've used since. The lessons are scripted, letter tiles are used to build words, there are paper activities, and really great readers that fit with the phonograms taught in each lesson. I love it. I will say though, that I still recommend 100 Easy Lessons if your child has trouble learning to blend sounds, because the blending procedure in that book is something I still use.
Spelling - All About Spelling
This curriculum goes along with All About Reading, though you don't start the first level of spelling until your child has completed Level 1 of All About Reading. It works fine, but in our experience the spelling may be slightly too easy. Wyatt really started reading complicated things after AAR Level 2, and the spelling was still taking him through words like "lake". Reinforcement of the spelling rules is good, but I think he could be stretched a bit.
Writing - Institute For Excellence In Writing
Last year we tried IEW's theme-based writing curriculum, the "All Things Fun And Fascinating" book. It was the one I had been eyeing, and our co-op was using it anyway.
IEW's theory about teaching elementary students to write is that writing their own versions of existing content or stories is easier for kids to do than to try to think of interesting things to say, hold those things in their brain, and then mechanically get their thoughts onto paper. That's a set of coordinated skills that alot of younger kids don't have yet. So the workbooks take a paragraph or short story, have the kids outline the information in the piece using keywords, and then on a different day they re-write the information in their own words, trying to make it better than the original. This is basically the method Benjamin Franklin used to teach himself to write well.
I really liked this idea at first - my child would learn outlining, write his own work, learn how to "dress up" his sentences. It made sense to me and sounded great. The problem is that Wyatt didn't love it so much. Part of the problem was writing stamina and those fine motor skills that needed more time to develop, and part of it was that the whole thing just bored him. By mid-year I was desperately wanting to try something else, but I felt like I was stuck with IEW because our co-op was using it, and I was actually helping to teach the writing class!
I still like the method, but in practicality, it wasn't great for my particular kid last year. I don't think we were ready for it, and it wasn't engaging him. Now I've got a slightly writing-traumatized student, so we are going to have to really change our approach this year.
I will say, Wyatt did really well with IEW's cursive handwriting book though, so we'll be continuing with that.
Grammar - First Language Lessons, N/A
I bought First Language Lessons For The Well-Trained Mind way back when, which is a very early grammar instruction curriculum, but I'll be honest, it didn't get much use. Aside from very basic noun/verb/adjective/adverb definitions, we haven't done anything formal yet.
What We Are Using This Year
Reading/Spelling - All About Reading/All About Spelling
Gwen (2nd) and Clyde (1st) are going to continue with AAR/AAS this year. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Handwriting - Assorted Copywork
I did grab a couple of workbooks for the kids to go through, but I usually just write out a Bible verse and have my kids copy it, and that's their handwriting practice.
Cursive - IEW Cursive Knowledge
It's important to me that my kids learn to read and write cursive. That's the style in which so many historical documents are written. Wyatt got about 3/4 of the way through his cursive book last year, and I may order another one for Gwen to start on this year. I like that way IEW teaches cursive, and there are a ton of practice pages.
Writing/Grammer - Language Lessons For A Living Education
After researching a bunch of writing programs, and trying to figure out what would help Wyatt develop writing skills without making him hate the process, I decided to give Language Lessons For A Living Education a try. These workbooks include grammar instruction, writing, and spelling all in one book. The pages are colorful, and the daily assignments seem short and doable. I think it will be a good balance for encouraging Wyatt in writing. He also will be doing more writing in his history curriculum this year, and that will be plenty of writing for 4th grade I think.
I also ordered Gwen's level, just because the girl loves workbooks and hates to be left out. After flipping through the books, I think it will work well for her too. The only thing I don't love for the 2nd grade book is "sight word" lists, because I don't believe in relying on teaching sight words. Most "sight words" lists are full of words that can be phonetically sounded out. But we will be continuing with AAR for reading instruction with her, so we'll skip those sections in the Language Lessons book.
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Can you tell that Language Arts overwhelms me? I don't think I'm alone in that either, but I'm hoping that this curriculum combination will work for us this year. One year at a time, right?
What do you use for Language Arts?
While we are fully enjoying our summer break, over the last month I've been giving a little thought to our last homeschool year, and how I would like this year to look different. I have so many thoughts swirling around in my head, and so many homeschool topics I'd like to cover, that I've been having a hard time knowing where to start when it comes to sharing on the blog.
Sometimes when I get stuck like this, it's best just to jump into writing out my thoughts and see what comes of it. This week I want to break down what I am thinking we will be using for each subject, and then maybe next week I can get into more of my general strategy and feelings about our upcoming homeschool year. So let's talk about history, shall we?
General Thoughts On Homeschool History
With everything that has been happening in America over the last several months, I think history is the subject that has been weighing on me most heavily. It is a travesty, what has happened to American history education in this country over the last decade, and if you doubt it, check out this video of college students not being able to answer simple questions about the American founding. In all fairness, there were several who did know the answers. But all the people they interviewed here agreed that they didn't learn enough history in history class, and the two teachers in the video admitted that they don't teach much history in social studies classes, they teach current events.
There is a saying I'm sure you've heard - those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. (That's the idea, accurate quote is here). It's a common saying because it is true.
It's more important to me than ever that my kids really know the history of America, and the world. I want them to know the mistakes and failings of the past so they can do their part to not repeat those things, but I also want them to know the victories and heroism that is their heritage as Americans. I want my kids to recognize the good and true and beautiful in our history, and aspire to those good qualities themselves. That doesn't mean we ignore the sins and failings of historical figures, but I think kids are smart enough to be able to see both, to honor the admirable traits and accomplishments of our Founders while also recognizing that all - every one in our history - have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God in different ways.
All that said, my homeschool history philosophy is that I want my kids to be really firmly grounded in American history first. Of course knowing world history is important as well, but I have a couple reasons American history takes precedence for me.
One is that my kids ARE Americans, and I think it's important for the children of every country to be especially well-versed in their own history. For my kids, they will need to know the purpose of America, why it was founded, what makes our form of government unique, our national symbolism, how the states came to be, what wars we fought and why, what we've accomplished and what things nearly ripped us apart - they're going to need to know all that to just be good citizens, and to have any chance of holding this country together in the future.
My other reason for emphasizing American history first is that it just makes sense to me. It seems natural to start with the history of the familiar before branching our into unfamiliar territory. And also, world history is really complex. I believe the context of world history is very important, but it makes most sense to me to learn the most immediately relevant history first (for my American kids that would be American history), and then build the world context up after that.
Okay, sorry, that was long, on to my curriculum thoughts!
(From our last field trip before quarantine and all that. We went to a railroad museum!)
What We've Used In The Past
Beautiful Feet Books
Over the past couple years we have used Beautiful Feet Books for our history curriculum. I liked Beautiful Feet Books because it teaches history through interesting picture books and chapter books, which is way more fun and memorable than reading a dry textbook.
We did the "Around The World In Picture Books" set last year. It was fun to give my kids an introduction to different areas of the world, and especially because I tried to incorporate Christian missionary stories in with it, which had a big impact on them.
However, I find the teacher guides for Beautiful Feet Books to be a little burdensome for my homeschool style. I'm more of an open-and-go sort of homeschool mom, and the Beautiful Feet Books guides throw something different at me every day, which ends up making me rather scared to open the book. Pre-planning might fix this, but like I said, I'm an open-and-go type of girl. I don't like to have to pre-plan.
Toward the end of the year I found myself drifting back to unit studies about different parts of American history, rather than finishing out our "world tour". We will probably casually finish that Around The World curriculum set this year, but I've realized I need to make some adjustments.
Christian Liberty Press
When we got in a history rut last year I picked up "American Pioneers And Patriots", and we did a pioneer unit study. I loved that book! Each unit was a story about a pioneer family, with suggested activities at the end, though we mostly made up our own related activities, including playing the old Oregon Trail online.
Story Of The World
We also used Story Of The World last year because our co-op was using it.
The positives of this curriculum are that it's very thorough. Each year a different era of world history is studied, and most countries are covered.
The negatives to me are that it's alot of focus on world history, which I've already explained is not my preference for elementary school. There are also some really brutal events in world history that are difficult to explain to my kids' age group. Story Of The World includes overviews of some barbaric cultural practices that I would rather not cover with my kindergartener (think Aztecs). And overall, jumping around to different areas of the world for each historical period is pretty complex information for a grade schooler to keep straight (sheesh, it's complex for me to keep straight!).
Story Of The World wasn't our favorite resource, and we probably won't use it again unless we rejoin co-op.
Oh yeah, we quit our co-op. That's a different post.
What We'll Use This Year
Looking ahead to this year, I knew I wanted to go back to American history after our brief attempt at elementary world history last year. I want to cover America's founding again, learn more about westward expansion and pioneers, and lay the groundwork for getting deeper into the Civil War and the 20th century with Wyatt next year. I decided to change things up, and I'm putting together my own hybrid of a couple different curricula:
Beautiful Feet Books Early American Beginner
This was the curriculum I used with my kids two years ago, and that was a great year for history. We basically read all the picture and chapter books in the order recommended by the teacher's guide, and that was it. No random videos and library resources to plan for, no extra crafts or projects. Just the books, and if I felt ambitious I'd help my kids record what they remembered into their individual history notebooks. It worked well, and we all enjoyed it, so that's what we're going back to for Clyde (1st) and Gwen (2nd), and Wyatt will listen to the read-alouds too I'm sure.
America's Story 1 + BFB Early American Intermediate
With three elementary school students to do lessons with this year, I knew I wanted something a bit more independent for Wyatt when it comes to history. The curriculum I settled on was America's Story 1 by Masterbooks. This curriculum comes with a student book and a teacher's guide - the student book has colorful pictures - including famous American art - and engaging text that covers the founding to the Goal Rush. The teacher's guide includes student work pages, and guidance on creating an American timeline project and a "book of prayers for our country" project that I'm excited about.
As an extra, I also decided to buy only the chapter books for the next level of Beautiful Feet Books American History to read over the school year. My idea/hope is that Wyatt should be able to read through the weekly America's Story lesson by himself, and probably also accomplish some of the projects independently (with a little help from me). Then he and I will either read the BFB book recommendations together (aloud), or I'll assign some of the easier books for him to read independently as we go.
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Overall, my plan for history this year is more complex than in previous years, but I feel good about the resources. Despite my current plan requiring more work to accomplish than usual, I feel that I've landed on a curriculum combination that will actually get done. Will we be spending more time on history than we have in the past? Yes, and I feel really good about that. This is the subject I want to focus on most this year, so it's fitting.
What is your style for teaching history? Have you used any of the curricula I've tried?
I've said it already, but I'll say it again, I feel like this year it's more important than ever to make good use of the summer. I don't know about you, but the last three months have really worn me down. it feels like the world is alternately going insane or falling apart. For every disappointment and stress that I've felt, I'm sure my kids have had their own version of it, despite how hard I've tried to shield them from things.
So I want summer to be a break from all that. I want to try not to allow the things that we can't do to discourage me from doing the things we can do. I want all the summer memories, and maybe the fact that some of the memories will be different will just make it stand out more for my kids.
So these are a few of the things I'm working into my summer planner.
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Teaching Games
As homeschool students, maybe it's even more important for me to put some effort into teaching them childhood games that remember - where else are they going to get them? These are a few on my list:
Trampoline Games - You know "crack the egg", "pop the popcorn", "fly high". Basically torturing an unsuspecting child in the middle by seeing how high you can launch them. Any others I'm missing?
H.O.R.S.E. - We have a basketball hoop, and it needs more use. Is there a more fun way to practice spelling? I remember as a kid sometimes playing E.N.C.Y.C.L.O.P.E.D.I.A. instead of H.O.R.S.E. to make the game last longer!
Catch - Like serious catch, with baseball glove and ball. I want my kids to be comfortable with the basics of sports, even though I'm about the least sporty person you'll ever meet. I'm sure it won't take much for my kids to surpass me, but I want them to learn.
Hand Clapping Games - If you are a girl, I'm sure you remember doing hand-clapping games as a kid, right? I need to brush off that knowledge and teach my kids some (especially my girls - seems like that was mostly a girl thing in my memory anyway?).
I found this article with a bunch more old-school game ideas, so I might add a few more as we go!
Crafts And Activities
I am not the most crafty mom either (ie. not crafty at all), but these activities looked doable, and like they would keep my kids busy for quite a while.
Spray Bottle Sidewalk Paint - I found this recipe here. There is also a similar squirt-chalk recipe, and I already got cheap squirt bottles to use at Dollar General!
Tic Tac Toe Rocks - On Pinterest I saw smooth rocks painted colorfully with tic-tac-toe symbols on it, along with a little wooden tic-tac-toe board. Sure you could play tic-tac-toe on paper, but I thought it might be fun to break out the paint and make a board like that with the kids.
Homemade Bouncy Balls - This recipe looked really interesting - they are not like true bouncy balls, but this would be an interesting science experiment to try this summer.
Ice Cream Playdough - This ice cream/frosting play dough recipe looks exciting. It looks like really ice cream! And it's edible, so if Georgie tries to eat it I won't have to worry.
Puffy Paint Ice Cream Cones - My kids would have so much fun with this puffy paint picture project.
Homemade Bubbles - I saw this fun idea for homemade bubbles in a drink dispenser - this would honestly keep my kids busy all day!
Glow Sticks In The Kiddie Pool - Every summer I get a kiddie pool, which is always a winner for any hot days we have at home - but I really like the idea of putting some glow stick in the water once it starts to get dark!
Make Bird Feeders - I'm thinking the toilet-paper-roll variety. You know, you roll them in peanut butter and bird seed and tie a string through it. Keeping it simple.
Treasure Hunt - I found these cute treasure hunt printables, and I think it would be fun to buy some candy and make the kids search for it one day. It would be super simple and cheap, but I know my kids, they'll probably talk about it for the rest of the summer.
Origami "Fortune Teller" With Boredom Busters - There are directions to make one here, and this boredom buster list gave me some ideas. This would be our go-to for the inevitable "I'm bored". The rule might be that my kids have to do whatever they get, even if it's a chore!
Reading Challenge - We are doing our library's reading challenge, but I also challenged my big kids that they would get a little prize for each set of five books that they read. They've been working hard to get their prizes!
Bible Memory Verse Challenge - This one is still in the works, but I'm thinking of coming up with a chart, and for each set of five verses that they memorize, they'll earn some special treat or prize. I have memory verse cards they can work off of, and some fun Bible memory verse apps I found.
Out Of The House
I still am trying to plan a few days to get out of the house, even though we are kind of limited on where we can go. These were a few ideas.
Nature Hikes - We are lucky enough to live down the road from a state park, so we are going to work in regular nature hikes. my kids love hiking in the summer especially and looking at all the mountain plants and flowers! Gwen requested we bring notebooks next time for recording our observations, so that's what we will do.
Play In A Creek - I know a little picnic spot with a creek, but we haven't been there in ages. I'm putting a day for wading in the creek on our calendar.
Drive In Movie - This is a "maybe", but even though our theaters are all still closed, I heard that some drive-in theaters are open. Maybe this is the year to give it a try?
Swimming - I really want to try to go swimming at least once this summer (aside from the fact that pools are requiring masks only while walking to the pool, but not at any other time...honestly, what is even the point? These mask rules are so often nonsensical.)
Park Days - I had grand plans for a million park days this summer, but I think we're going to trim down and only go every couple weeks. Maybe I'm just turning into a home body with all the weirdness out there? But the kids are park-deprived, so we will definitely make an effort to visit a few of our favorites!
Historical Sites - There are a couple historical sites in our state that I really wanted to visit in the spring, then everything shut down. We are going to try to make a day trip or weekend trip out of them this summer instead! Possibly in August, so we can count them as days for next school year.
Fishing - I should also mention that we plan to squeeze a few more fishing days in this summer! We just don't know where yet. Maybe someday we'll actually catch a fish.
Stargazing - We finally got our big telescope set up, and we are ready to schedule a summer star-gazing night! We go somewhere away from all houses, usually with candy or Sonic slushes in tow, and see what we can see.
At Home
Porch Camping - We do this every year, and it's always a highlight. Derek will set up our tent on the porch, complete with air mattresses and sleeping bags, and we all sleep out there at least one night. We usually leave it up a couple extra days too, and the kids play or read out there.
Trampoline Sleepover - Derek suggested that he might string some battery-operated lights on the net around our trampoline, and I was thinking we could let the kids have a sleepover out there (one of us will sleep out there with them). Will we sleep well? Probably not, but it will be a fun memory!
Campfire - If our fire ban ever gets lifted, a campfire is the first thing on our to-do-list! With marshmallows and smores and Rolos, of course.
Regular Game Nights - I want to schedule a weekly or bi-weekly game night, where we play a board game together as a family (with possible the little ones being on our "teams", since they get distracted).
Regular Movie Nights - We want to start introducing the kids to some of our childhood favorites! We watched Pollyanna the other night, and a John Wayne movie is next one the list. For movie night we pile in the living room with pillows and blankets, and have cheap pizza and candy while we watch together.
Food Treats
Firework Fruit Kabobs - I was going to make some variety of a red/white/blue fruit Kabob for the 4th of July.
Special Kid Drinks - My first variation is koolaid ice cubes in Sprite, and it made the kids' day! But I think even lemonade or infused water in the drink dispenser would be a refreshing summer touch.
Popsicles - We might possibly make some homemade popsicles, or I might make my life easy and just give them an otter-pop on every hot afternoon.
Spaghetti Salad and Broccoli Salad - Every summer I try to make one or both of these salads a few times - they are our traditional summer foods in my family.
Mocktails - This is more for me and Derek, but in the summer I like to try new fruity non-alcoholic drink recipes after the kids go to bed!
That is my full summer list! I rarely get to every single thing I have planned for the summer, but just having it written out on our calendar motivates me to at least try to make some of these ideas happen. (You can read more about the mechanics of my summer planning here.) It's taken me some time to get organized since we've been back from vacation, so this morning I'm working on mapping out when I want to do all this. We still have two months of summer fun ahead of us!
Do you plan any activities to make summer feel special?
Crafts And Activities
I am not the most crafty mom either (ie. not crafty at all), but these activities looked doable, and like they would keep my kids busy for quite a while.
Spray Bottle Sidewalk Paint - I found this recipe here. There is also a similar squirt-chalk recipe, and I already got cheap squirt bottles to use at Dollar General!
Tic Tac Toe Rocks - On Pinterest I saw smooth rocks painted colorfully with tic-tac-toe symbols on it, along with a little wooden tic-tac-toe board. Sure you could play tic-tac-toe on paper, but I thought it might be fun to break out the paint and make a board like that with the kids.
Homemade Bouncy Balls - This recipe looked really interesting - they are not like true bouncy balls, but this would be an interesting science experiment to try this summer.
Ice Cream Playdough - This ice cream/frosting play dough recipe looks exciting. It looks like really ice cream! And it's edible, so if Georgie tries to eat it I won't have to worry.
Puffy Paint Ice Cream Cones - My kids would have so much fun with this puffy paint picture project.
Homemade Bubbles - I saw this fun idea for homemade bubbles in a drink dispenser - this would honestly keep my kids busy all day!
Glow Sticks In The Kiddie Pool - Every summer I get a kiddie pool, which is always a winner for any hot days we have at home - but I really like the idea of putting some glow stick in the water once it starts to get dark!
Make Bird Feeders - I'm thinking the toilet-paper-roll variety. You know, you roll them in peanut butter and bird seed and tie a string through it. Keeping it simple.
Treasure Hunt - I found these cute treasure hunt printables, and I think it would be fun to buy some candy and make the kids search for it one day. It would be super simple and cheap, but I know my kids, they'll probably talk about it for the rest of the summer.
Origami "Fortune Teller" With Boredom Busters - There are directions to make one here, and this boredom buster list gave me some ideas. This would be our go-to for the inevitable "I'm bored". The rule might be that my kids have to do whatever they get, even if it's a chore!
Reading Challenge - We are doing our library's reading challenge, but I also challenged my big kids that they would get a little prize for each set of five books that they read. They've been working hard to get their prizes!
Bible Memory Verse Challenge - This one is still in the works, but I'm thinking of coming up with a chart, and for each set of five verses that they memorize, they'll earn some special treat or prize. I have memory verse cards they can work off of, and some fun Bible memory verse apps I found.
Out Of The House
I still am trying to plan a few days to get out of the house, even though we are kind of limited on where we can go. These were a few ideas.
Nature Hikes - We are lucky enough to live down the road from a state park, so we are going to work in regular nature hikes. my kids love hiking in the summer especially and looking at all the mountain plants and flowers! Gwen requested we bring notebooks next time for recording our observations, so that's what we will do.
Play In A Creek - I know a little picnic spot with a creek, but we haven't been there in ages. I'm putting a day for wading in the creek on our calendar.
Drive In Movie - This is a "maybe", but even though our theaters are all still closed, I heard that some drive-in theaters are open. Maybe this is the year to give it a try?
Swimming - I really want to try to go swimming at least once this summer (aside from the fact that pools are requiring masks only while walking to the pool, but not at any other time...honestly, what is even the point? These mask rules are so often nonsensical.)
Park Days - I had grand plans for a million park days this summer, but I think we're going to trim down and only go every couple weeks. Maybe I'm just turning into a home body with all the weirdness out there? But the kids are park-deprived, so we will definitely make an effort to visit a few of our favorites!
Historical Sites - There are a couple historical sites in our state that I really wanted to visit in the spring, then everything shut down. We are going to try to make a day trip or weekend trip out of them this summer instead! Possibly in August, so we can count them as days for next school year.
Fishing - I should also mention that we plan to squeeze a few more fishing days in this summer! We just don't know where yet. Maybe someday we'll actually catch a fish.
Stargazing - We finally got our big telescope set up, and we are ready to schedule a summer star-gazing night! We go somewhere away from all houses, usually with candy or Sonic slushes in tow, and see what we can see.
At Home
Porch Camping - We do this every year, and it's always a highlight. Derek will set up our tent on the porch, complete with air mattresses and sleeping bags, and we all sleep out there at least one night. We usually leave it up a couple extra days too, and the kids play or read out there.
Trampoline Sleepover - Derek suggested that he might string some battery-operated lights on the net around our trampoline, and I was thinking we could let the kids have a sleepover out there (one of us will sleep out there with them). Will we sleep well? Probably not, but it will be a fun memory!
Campfire - If our fire ban ever gets lifted, a campfire is the first thing on our to-do-list! With marshmallows and smores and Rolos, of course.
Regular Game Nights - I want to schedule a weekly or bi-weekly game night, where we play a board game together as a family (with possible the little ones being on our "teams", since they get distracted).
Regular Movie Nights - We want to start introducing the kids to some of our childhood favorites! We watched Pollyanna the other night, and a John Wayne movie is next one the list. For movie night we pile in the living room with pillows and blankets, and have cheap pizza and candy while we watch together.
Food Treats
Firework Fruit Kabobs - I was going to make some variety of a red/white/blue fruit Kabob for the 4th of July.
Special Kid Drinks - My first variation is koolaid ice cubes in Sprite, and it made the kids' day! But I think even lemonade or infused water in the drink dispenser would be a refreshing summer touch.
Popsicles - We might possibly make some homemade popsicles, or I might make my life easy and just give them an otter-pop on every hot afternoon.
Spaghetti Salad and Broccoli Salad - Every summer I try to make one or both of these salads a few times - they are our traditional summer foods in my family.
Mocktails - This is more for me and Derek, but in the summer I like to try new fruity non-alcoholic drink recipes after the kids go to bed!
---
That is my full summer list! I rarely get to every single thing I have planned for the summer, but just having it written out on our calendar motivates me to at least try to make some of these ideas happen. (You can read more about the mechanics of my summer planning here.) It's taken me some time to get organized since we've been back from vacation, so this morning I'm working on mapping out when I want to do all this. We still have two months of summer fun ahead of us!
Do you plan any activities to make summer feel special?
A Bad AirBnB Experience
Alright, you have to allow me to tell this story before I get to the fun stuff. The last week of May we took off for a road trip to the Gulf Coast! Coronavirus tensions were higher then, even though it was just a few weeks ago, so we packed up all our food and activities in the van, and planned to drive with as few stops at possible. I figured when we got there we'd check into our AirBnB and just keep to ourselves and enjoy the beach.
I decided to book an AirBnB since when we were planning our trip it was still questionable whether hotels were open or not. I figured it would be nice to have a whole house to ourselves anyway.
We arrived at the house at maybe !0:00 PM local time, and basically got the kids settled and went right to bed. When we woke up the next day, we started looking around...and realized the house was not really clean. I guess since you pay a cleaning fee on the AirBnB website, I always just assume they hire a cleaning lady, and I also assumed they'd be extra thorough in cleaning since they had just allowed rentals again after the virus shutdown. And the "recent reviews" said it was "sparkling clean".
Well. The host basically admitted to me that all they did was steam mop the floors and clean the bathroom. There was clutter on top of the cabinets and in all the closets, the closet door was hanging by a hinge and a light fixture was broken, there was dead flies and dust on all the windowsills, thick grime in the dishwasher, grease splattered in the microwave. Dust on all the shelves. At first we thought we could maybe do a quick dust job ourselves, but the more we looked around, the more grime we found. So I requested a refund (only got a partial one), and we decided to look for a hotel instead. The host was rude about it.
Here's the kicker guys. I was going to leave a review to let other people know that the place was not actually clean, but then I realized that your review is not published on AirBnB until or unless the host decides to review you as a guest. So basically I could write a negative review, and the host could just decide not to publish it. Which explains why all the available reviews claimed "sparkling clean" when it was clearly not sparkling clean.
Let's just say I don't trust AirBnb anymore.
Update: Did a little more research, and it looks like only the HOST will not be able to see your comments until after they review you? If so, that's much better. The wording in the AirBnB emails is confusing.
A Lovely Gulf Coast Vacation Anyway
Once we left the nasty AirBnB, (and once I got antibiotics for an ear/throat infection that developed while we were down there - another long story), we actually had a really wonderful trip! We enjoyed a really nice hotel in Houston for a great last-minute deal, saw a movie at one of the theaters that was open in Houston, went back to a hotel in Galveston as soon as one opened up, and spent a ton of time at the beach. I even finally figured out how to handle my curly hair in the humidity on this trip (the trick is to not try to straighten it, and just not care at all). It was so fun and refreshing to go somewhere that felt almost normal, and I was sorry to go home. I'll share more pictures and all the details in another post soon.
A Birthday Fishing Trip And Date
One thing that is not cancelled is birthdays! And mine is in June. We threw around a few ideas for things to do on my birthday, and we finally settled on going fishing. I love going fishing, and feel like I could really get into it if we had more time/resources. As it is now, we almost never catch anything because 1) the fishing is not that amazing in our state unless you have a boat, and 2) we have a bunch of noisy little kids with us every time. But I think the experience of getting outside and enjoying nature is what makes it fun.
We still really want to catch a fish sometime though. I think we are going to try another state park soon that has a smaller pond with fish in it. The fish in this lake were out the in the deeper water where our lines wouldn't reach. We saw them jumping a couple times. Or maybe we should just invest in a pair of waders so we can get out there further. We will catch a fish someday.
Derek also took me on a birthday date! We went mini-golfing, and then got take-out and ate it in a park while the sun was going down. It was lovely!
Back To Church And Playgrounds
Another great development is that our church was finally allowed to reopen. It's different than normal, but it's just so good to be with other believers and worship together in person again. Online church is fine in a pinch, but I strongly believe it's not a substitute for meeting with other Christians in person. There's a reason the Bible says not to forsake the gathering together with other believers. Anyway, that's been a nice bit of pseudo-normalcy lately.
Playgrounds also opened this month, so we've been taking advantage!
Nature Hikes
It's been interesting and kind of fun to me to see how everything being closed has allowed people to get back out into nature a little more. During the little kids' nap time the other day, I took the big three on a nature hike, and there was so many people on the trail! But I love how even when nature is a bit more crowded than usual, there is still so much space for peace and quiet and exploring. Seriously guys, try to get outside more. Also, state parks are hidden gems.
Summer Planning
Every year I pull out a calendar and a list of things we want to do during the summer, and I start plugging things in. I have a process, because I want to make sure all of the things we most want to do during the warm months actually happen! I wrote all about my planning process (including some ideas for stuff to do this year) on Rooted Family if you're interested.
Anyway, I have my list of ideas gathered (it took a little more research this year than normal), and sitting down to plug my ideas into the calendar is on the to-do list today. I really believe that simple little bits of fun can really make the summer memorable. I started freezing koolaid ice cubes this week so I could make the kids colorful summer drinks (just add Sprite), and it turned out really well.
The kids were so excited when I ave them the drinks. The girls adorably clinked their glasses together and said "Cheers!" And Wyatt actually wrote me a card to thank me for the summer treat. That whole "the way to a boy's heart is through his stomach" thing is a cliche for a reason. They made my day.
That's pretty much everything we've been up to lately! Keep an eye out for a vacation post, coming up soon!
And don't forget to read my post on planning an epic summer on Rooted, especially if you are discouraged about the summer not feeling normal. You can still make it memory-filled, even in this weird time.
I didn't start this trying to draw an analogy here, but its kind of like the country right now isn't it? Some days the events in the news are so crazy, it feels like the entire American civilization is hanging by a thread. Maybe one day the last gust of wind, the last crazy event, will break it. I hope our traditions and values, the things we used to all unite around as nation, will be like that thread, strong enough to string our country together amidst all this chaos, but if not...well, it's a good thing that we believers in Christ don't have to place our hope in men, isn't it?
I'd like to insert something I wrote on Instagram a couple weeks ago, for posterity or for any of you who don't follow me over there. This is the bottom line to me:
I had some things I wanted to share this week, but all that is on hold for now, as Instagram was dominated yesterday by black squares. I don’t like getting involved in these things online, but this morning all my thoughts and feelings and discouragements coalesced and clarified. So against my initial instinct to swear off social media and just pray and cocoon with my kids (which still might be what I end up doing), I have a few things to say..First, to those putting your hope in social media campaigns, or conversations, or human organizations, or a political party, or violence, to spur on whatever change you think needs to happen, I think you will be disappointed..I like how someone else (@stopandconsider on Instagram) put it: “The spiritual oppression that all men are under is sin, and from that all the physical vestiges of oppression find their power. The only way that is changed is by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, who died for sinful men to reconcile them to God.”.
The solution to ALL our sin, the sins hidden inside us as well as the sins of murder and theft and racism that dominate the news, is CHRIST, crucified to pay the penalty of death that WE deserved. He is risen to conquer death, heal our souls, and give us victory over that sin..
HE is the One who sets us free, changes hard hearts, and brings peace to our sinful souls and broken world. If you don’t know that peace and reconciliation with God - I pray, I beg you, to seek and find that Truth...And one more thing - if we as Christians are trying to participate in this conversation on racism, rule of law, etc, and we leave out the Gospel, I’m sorry but we are doing it wrong. I’ve been personally convicted of this. What eternal good are we doing if we aren’t taking care to point others to Christ through this tragic situation? What lasting change can be made if we don’t preach the Gospel of Christ, which has the true power to change hearts and save eternal souls?.
It’s time to turn our eyes back to Him, our only true Hope amidst the chaos.
The events of the last few weeks have kind of been the last gust of wind for me, to turn my eyes back to what really matters. These verses in 2 Timothy have been swirling in my brain through the turmoil our nation is facing - reminding me that this is my duty, this is my call:
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching...But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
2 Timothy 4:2,5
Paul was writing this to Timothy, who was a young pastor. But when I read those verses to apply them personally, I am reminded to keep my mind on the gospel, and my energy focused on my kids. There are so many voices shouting on social media right now, it's hard to hear anyone, and the limitations of trying to speak the truth online become ever more apparent...but I can preach the Word to my kids. I can be faithful in my efforts to convince, exhort, rebuke, and train them. I can show them how to be watchful in all things by showing them what God's Word says about what is happening in the world, I can present examples of how to endure afflictions while giving thanks to God, I can do the work of an evangelist by pointing them to Jesus's atoning work on the cross always. This is I can fulfill my ministry, the most important one, which has always been to shine the light of Christ in my home to my children, to write the Truth on their hearts.
(A couple photos from my birthday fishing trip last weekend.)
So maybe that's why I have been quiet on social media and my blog lately, because I have been mulling over how I can do better at this. How I can lead their hearts to Jesus, pray for them better, train them in righteousness, and prepare them to stand firm amidst the persecution they will no doubt face someday.
I feel more urgency for this than I used to. I don't want to waste too much time shouting into the noise on social media, when my greatest impact will be whispering truth into the hearts of my children.
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Anyway, I meant for this to be a light, catch-up post, but I guess I needed to get that off my chest first. You all know I like to have fun, and sharing it all on here is part of the fun for me, so those posts are coming too! Thanks for hanging around while I sorted through my thoughts over the last month.
And oh yeah, it's summer. The sun is shining on my legs, and I can practically feel the Vitamin D being manufactured, boosting my mood. The birds chirp from the trees all around, the table umbrella is spinning as the breeze picks up, and I hear some shouting from inside the house that I should probably go attend to. Before I close my laptop, I look up again, and that silvery thread connecting the chair and the railing is still dancing in the wind.
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