4 hours ago
Drinking...hot chocolate, in my freshly decorated house, twinkly lights sparkling.
Excited about...telling you all about the big event of the week...we got a puppy! I thought we would wait a while after Harvey before getting another dog, but as I mentioned, I found it particularly sad to come home to a quiet house. I just like having something living at home waiting for us. I was ready for another dog quicker than I thought, but I still thought it would be a while because I wanted to get a dachshund, and whenever we looked at breeders, the prices were $2500 or more. I'm sorry, but that's a little absurd to pay that much for a dog. I'm still a bit flabbergasted that they can actually charge that much.
My mom suggested we look on Craig's List, and despite my general suspicion of Craig's List, we checked it out. We found a dachshund puppy that was ready to be adopted within a week, and for MUCH less than $2500 dollars, I'll tell you that!
We decided to name her Cindy Lou Who, Lulu for short, and she is completely adorable. We got her right around the 9 week mark. It's brought alot of freshness and fun to the house to have her trotting around, climbing on our laps, and yes, chewing on things throughout the day. She's our little Christmas puppy, and we are enjoying our new furry family member.
So, fair warning, all the pictures in this post are pretty much going to be of Lulu.
Relieved to...be done with Christmas decorating. We got everything set up in stages last weekend, and now we can sit back and enjoy it! I don't know why, but Christmas decorating was stressing me out this year. There is just so much to set out, and so much to have to put away again later. But now that it's done, I'm loving the lights and I'm in a festive mood. Thanksgiving should have it's time, but we've always decorated the weekend before Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving advocate though I am, I prefer decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving. That way we can move right into the Christmas season without too much stress!
Working on...figuring out what Thanksgiving pie I want to bring to my mom's house. I think I might try a lemon meringue.
The notorious lemon meringue. I've written alot about it before, so I won't get into it again.
Speaking of pies, I watched this video of Irish people trying Thanksgiving pies for the very first time, and it just made me feel happy! (Warning, there is some bad language in this video.) Plus, the cherry pie they used was weird, no wonder they didn't like it. And they did NOT try a lemon meringue, which I feel is very much a Thanksgiving pie. There was some debate in the comments about whether a cherry pie actually is a Thanksgiving pie, and now I'm wondering if people eat lemon meringue on Thanksgiving, or if that's just a thing in my family. Do you eat cherry or lemon meringue on Thanksgiving? Or just pumpkin and pecan all the way?
Planning to...wrap Christmas presents within the next week or so. Wrapping presents is one of those tasks that Derek and I often leave until it's Christmas Eve, when we suddenly remember that there is still a present stash under our bed. It's just not satisfying to wrap presents when you know all that hard work is going to be undone within 24 hours. I've decided that early is actually way better than late in this instance, and I'm going to get them done sooner this year.
Watching...the PBS version of Little Women that came out a couple years ago - Little Women seems like such a Thanksgiving movie to me, in every version. This version is pretty good so far - I like the guy they got to play John much better than the one in the 1994 movie.
Buying...I'm actually trying to abstain from most of the Black Friday shopping this year - I already bought Christmas presents, and I need to try not to blow the budget. We are strongly considering buying this theology curriculum to do with the kids though, because it's supposed to be 25% off on Monday. And I did succumb and buy more of my favorite foundation. I was going to need to buy some more in a month or two anyway, and this kind lasts me for 4-5 months easily, so it's a pretty good deal even when it's not 30% off. I feel like it looks very natural and skin-like, and it covers really well, but don't get the matte product! It's not nearly as good, and I learned that the hard way. What sales are you eyeing for the coming week?
Listening to...this playlist of rather obscure Christmas hymns that I put together using the list from this book from G3 ministries as a reference. Some of these I had never heard before, and some I only have a vague memory of. The kids and I became attached to "Good Christian Men, Rejoice", and we've been humming and singing it all over the house. It's fun to add good, Christ-centered songs to our Christmas repertoire! Note: There are multiple versions of some hymns on the playlist because I'm still trying to decide which one I like best.
Thankful for...so many things, as I'm sure I say every year.
I'm thankful for Jesus, for His death to pay for my sin and His resurrection to blot them away forevermore.
I'm thankful for my family always, I'm thankful to live in America. I'm thankful for our new little dog. I'm thankful for the crisp cold weather, and I'm thankful for a cozy home to snuggle into as winter sets in.
I think I'm particularly thankful for home this year, and everything that entails - good food, warm blankets, children laughing from the other room and running through the house, a dog to sit at my feet, stacks of books, songs sung all throughout the day, hot drinks, the clicking of laptop keys as Derek works in the loft, kids sounding out words and math books spread all over the tables, craft projects and masterpieces and messes to pick up, five heads of hair to cut and fix, cold cheeks to kiss, and snowy boots on the floor.
I don't always love every bit of that, I don't feel as thankful as I should, but when it comes down to it, I am grateful for all of it. Even the messes that I get to pick up, because the Lord gives me that chance to do even a small task for Him. All of it is a gift from God, tiny little blessings and evidences of His grace to sinners, reminders that He loves us and gave us the ultimate gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, and a perfect Home to come with Him.
There is always more to be thankful for than you think there is, and thanksgiving is a beautiful form of praise. Maybe even more beautiful when you find yourself in a season when it's hard to offer. So I hope you all are overwhelmed with the abundance of blessings He gives you every day, but even if the blessings are harder to see for whatever reason, know that thanking God for what you have is just as beautiful a sacrifice of praise when it's bittersweet.
But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high! I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Psalm 69:29-30
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together! Psalm 34:1-3
Happy Thanksgiving, friends!
One of the things I decided to add to our homeschool this year is a study of one of Shakespeare's plays. I was a little trepidatious to start with the kids, but over the last few weeks we have really gotten into it, and I wanted to share what we've been doing!
First, why study Shakespeare? There are a few reasons to consider studying Shakespeare in your homeschool, and these are some of mine.
Why Study Shakespeare With Elementary Kids
Rich Language. The language of Shakespeare is challenging and rich. It’s so good for kids to hear and see that kind of complicated language and feel comfortable with it. This will help them later with reading comprehension, writing skills, vocabulary, etc.
Familiarity With Idioms, Etc. Shakespeare added so much to our vernacular in the form of idioms, cliches, figures of speech, etc. Knowing the background enriches our understanding of English, and will allow them to use these sayings with confidence in their future writing as well! A good Shakespeare quote can't help but elevate an essay, right?
Character Elements. There are interesting character, moral, and "social norm" elements that are presented by the characters in Shakespeare’s plays. For instance, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, we are learning a bit about the foolishness of braggerts from the character of Bottom.
Historical Tie-Ins. There are alot of interesting historical tie-ins in Shakespeare plays that give you a richer understanding of Shakespeare/The Middle Age - from both directions.
Knowing Shakespeare Literary References. There are a ton of references to Shakespeare and his plays in literature, and even just in pop culture, and being acquainted with Shakespeare will allow them to be "in the know" when they encounter those references elsewhere.
Avoid Intimidation. If kids familiarize themselves with Shakespeare's plays when they are young, they won't be intimidated to dive in if or when they study the Bard in high school or college courses.
What We're Doing
In the past we have memorized Shakespeare passage from the book How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig, and I still think that book introduces a really great rhythm method for memorizing some lines of Shakespeare! One benefit is that it is really easy and fun to do even with younger kids.
However, I wanted to get into the plays a little more, and I was getting hung up by our memorization work - should we finish memorizing the passages, and then get into the play? Or should we do both at the same time?
I decided to just dive right in with these resources:
Simply Charlotte Mason: Shakespeare In Three Steps
This is a series of guides to various Shakespeare plays, and I love the method used in the guides. We are currently working through the guide for A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is a great play to start with for elementary kids, I think.
First we read a short version of the story to get an idea of what is going to happen, which is included in the guide.
Then we listen to a dramatization of the play with a transcript in hand. This guide gives summaries of each scene, so the kids know ahead of time what is going to happen when we listen to the actual play. We are in this stage now, and I have to say, it's been a delight! I gave them highlighters and told them to keep an eye out for certain key lines from each passage, as mentioned in the guide - but I also told them to highlight whatever lines stand out to them or lines that they particularly like. It's so fun to see what lines my kids choose to highlight! It's also been gratifying to watch Shakespeare's humor click with them, which is a huge benefit of listening to gifted actors perform the actual play, as opposed to just reading a short story version. My oldest even declared he thought his cousin should listen to A Midsummer Night's Dream because it's so funny!
The final step is to watch the play, which we will do when we finish listening to/reading it. I love that this guide also includes summaries of the different movie versions out there, so you can pick one with no objectionable content for your child's age group.
Arkangel Shakespeare Productions
I followed the guide's suggestion, and purchased the Archangel audio production of A Midsummer's Night Dream, and I can vouch that it is excellent! These audio versions are also on Audible, which is convenient.
How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare
As we have been reading about and then listening to A Midsummer Night's Dream, it's been fun to see the lines my kids remember from our memory work using Ludwig's book, and I think after we finish the play we will continue to memorize some of the lines using his method!
I did want to note that I think Simply Charlotte Mason's method is really easy to do, but I do think kids will get more out of it in 4th grade and up, when their reading skills are really strong. I you are anxious to jump in with younger kids, I think Ken Ludwig's book and some good picture books are a better place to start.
Shakespeare Picture Books and Stories
As I said, I think there is a huge benefit of listening to Shakespeare's actual words, instead of just reading a storybook version of his plays. The humor that is in his actual writing just doesn't translate to a storybook the same way, in my experience. However, we have used storybooks to familiarize ourselves with the play before we listened to it, and these are the ones we've used so far. Please note, I haven't read through all the play stories in these books, just a couple, so screen your chosen story before reading it to your kids!
A Stage Full Of Shakespeare Stories - Really cute, whimsical illustrations in this one.
Shakespeare Retold by E. Nesbit - These are good, quick retellings of seven Shakespeare plays, with more suggested resources in the back!
Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield - I really like this book for myself - it gives a really thorough telling of each play, with some of Shakespeare's actual words incorporated. As far as I can tell, these version tries to keep to Shakespeare's general scene order as well, which is nice. I'm going to use this version for myself to screen which plays I want to cover with my kids, since it seems pretty thorough.
Other Books
DK Eyewitness: Shakespeare - This book is full of info about Shakespeare's times, as well as information related to different aspects of theater, with lots of pictures to make it interesting.
Will's Words: How William Shakespeare Changed The Way You Talk by Jane Sutcliffe - This is a fun picture book about some of the phrases that Shakespeare introduced or popularized in the English language.
Before I close this post, I just wanted to say that if the idea of covering Shakespeare with your kids seems overwhelming - then don't do it! It's totally okay NOT to study Shakespeare. It doesn't have to be taught in elementary school, or even at all if you and your kids are not interested. Shakespeare is very much an extra. I think it's helpful to be somewhat familiar with Shakespeare, but you are the homeschool teacher of your own family, and you get to decide when or if you will study Shakespeare with your kids! But if you do decide to dabble into some Shakespeare together, I wanted to encourage you that it can be really fun if you want it to be, and not as hard as you think!
If you have any other good resources to add, I'd love to hear! Leave a comment below.
This month when I went grocery shopping, I found a fuzzy brown jacket at Sam's Club. It was on sale for $10, and despite making a concerted effort to NOT buy new clothes for myself this fall, I did allow myself to buy this fuzzy jacket, and I have no regrets. It's so cozy for these cool fall days, and I'm wearing it right now as I sit down with a cup of coffee to type this post.
Health Checkups, Etc.
The last couple weeks have been good, but a little up and down around here.
Earlier this year I figured it was time for me to get a checkup, after not going to the general doctor since before the kids (it's been about 15 years ago now). Long story short, it was a complete waste of time. The physician's assistant just took my blood pressure, and distractedly tapped my knees with her hammer (my reflexes didn't even trigger, but she didn't notice). She made a pretense of putting the stethoscope to my back, but chattered about her plants while she was supposed to be listening to my lungs, and then declared I seemed healthy so we didn't have to do any bloodwork. Okay? I guess? The whole visit literally lasted less than five minutes. I'm not even sure she looked at my paperwork. I was really tempted to refuse to pay because everything she did I could have done more thoroughly myself at home without a medical degree, but I was not in a proper emotional state for a fight with the doctor's office at that time, so I let it go.
Thankfully I got basic tests done at a different doctor's office for an unrelated issue, and they caught something they thought should be checked out. So I went back and saw a real family doctor (I'm starting to get soured on physician assistants after several negative experiences now), and the real doctor ordered the full battery of bloodwork...all that to say that we discovered I'm pretty anemic. I didn't even think I felt tired, but Derek says I probably have been tired so long at this point that I don't notice it anymore. Of course, after we found out about the anemia, I had several very lethargic days and could barely bring myself to stay awake while reading Narnia to the kids. In the past I probably would have brushed it off as needing more sleep, but now it makes more sense. I've been taking iron supplements and eating a bunch of red meat - can't say I've noticed a big difference, but I'll get another test done soon to see how things are looking.
Missing A Dog
Aside from health stuff, I've found myself already very much missing having a dog around. Harvey died in October, and I'm still feeling emotional about it - but even beyond just missing Harvey, it feels too quiet without a dog in the house. There is no little creature waiting at the door with a wagging tail, glad to see us when we arrive home. On the rare occasion when Derek takes the kids to go do something and I'm home alone, the house is too still. I'm used to having the dog sitting near my feet when I'm by myself. There is no creature to drink the little bit of milk left in my bowl when I'm done with my cereal, or lick up the crumbs that the kids drop on the floor. There is just that bit of life that a dog adds to the house, and it's not there same without it. I didn't think I'd be ready for another dog right away, and I guess emotionally I'm still not sure, but I told Derek we should get another dog sooner than later. We'll see how it works out.
Christmas Newsletters And Holiday Prep
Derek is hunting this week again, and while he's been hunting I've been getting ready for the holidays. The other Saturday I ordered all our Christmas presents (I just have a few more things to get for Derek and my dad). Most of the packages arrived last week, and my goal after writing this post is to unpack the boxes and make sure everything actually shipped (because I don't trust Amazon not to mess things up these days). I also bought the kids some Christmas jammies - I got the girls this red and blue set, and the boys this blue and green set. They'll make for some cute Christmas morning pictures.
I need to start thinking about getting our family Christmas newsletter written. Writing Christmas newsletters can be tricky - you have to be really cautious in what you share, and how, so as not to let it turn into a brag letter. You know what I'm talking about. We've all received the wrong kind of newsletter, all about the elaborate trips that were had, the incredible (unbelievable) talents of the children, and the professional advancements and personal achievements of the parents. It's a very fine line between updating everyone on the good things that happened and the blessings in your life and overdoing it. Christmas newsletters have become a punchline for this very reason, but I still like the idea of sending out a newsletter, and I like to read them. They are more personal than the typical generic Christmas card with a printed message and a hastily scrawled signature.
I think I struck the right balance last year, because various extended family and friends commented about enjoying our newsletter (though maybe they would say that even if it wasn't the right balance). But I really put thought and effort into attempting to NOT be braggy at all, and this year's newsletter will require the same care. Maybe that's why I'm putting off writing it. It will require alot of brain power.
We got our Thanksgiving plans ironed out last week, and so far the only thing I have been definitively assigned is the relish plate. Relish plates require no real skill to put together, but they are expensive, so I'm trading money for time. Ours usually includes black olives, pimento olives, garlic-stuffed olives, baby dill pickles, sweet gherkins, bread and butter pickle slices, and cherry peppers, with maybe some celery or carrots and dip. This is basically the pre-meal snack plate, and vegetables are the way to go so we don't fill up too much before the meal. It's been actually quite fun to see which of my kids are fans of olives, and which are not, and to hear the debating about it. Olives are such a divisive food. Personally, I used to hate them, but just a few years ago I decided they weren't terrible.
Homeschool Fun
The kids are gearing up to participate in a local program where they get to go run a miniature town for a day - as you read this, we are probably doing our town training. The kids have to learn about economics, business, banking, and personal finance, then they apply for the jobs they want. They have to do an interview and they'll find out which jobs they got and meet with their business coworkers to make decisions, before the big day when they actually run the town. Wyatt wants to be an accountant for the parcel service (because he's good at math and accountants get paid more), Gwen wants to be a mail carrier or a doctor (both jobs that involve interacting with people, which fits her personality), and Clyde wants to be a service technician for the car shop (he loves anything to do with mechanics or transportation). The little girls are too young to participate yet. We have cousins and friends from church who will be doing the program at the same time, so it will be a really fun experience for them!
Our other fun add-in to school recently has been reading Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" together. It's been surprising how much the kids are understanding and enjoying it. I wrote up a whole post about what we are using and our experience with Shakespeare so far, so that post will be up on Thursday!
Are you getting ready for the holidays yet? What are you all doing for Thanksgiving?
Last year I wrote a post the day before Thanksgiving about our favorite Thanksgiving books, and unfortunately it came a little late for most people to be able to use it. I've learned my lesson, and I'm taking some time to share four more Thanksgiving books you should prepare to check out from the library - but before you read this list, go check out my original list of Thanksgiving books, because that one is much longer and has all our most favorite books for the holiday!
One note about the books I pick: I have a huge pet peeve about Thanksgiving books making no mention of who we are giving thanks to. The pilgrims did not have a Thanksgiving feast to thank the Native Americans - they invited their Native Americans friends, but they were giving thanks to God. With the exceptions of just a few books on my list that are directed at more historical events (ex. Balloons Over Broadway) or celebration ideas (ex. How To Celebrate Thanksgiving from my other post) or stories about the meal itself (ex. An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving), all of these books point the theme of "thanksgiving" where it belongs - toward the Giver of all good things.
Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story Of The Puppeteer Of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet - This is a book that is in high demand at our library for some reason, but we finally got it and truly enjoyed learning about the history of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and how a man named Tony invented the idea of ballon flats for the parade!
The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh - This is a longer chapter book that tells the story of how the pilgrims came to the New World and established the first Thanksgiving feast. I love how historically accurate this one was!
An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott (illustrated by James Bernardin) - This is a sweet story about three girls who must be left alone on Thanksgiving, and attempt to make the meal for the family themselves, with mixed results! (Note: I could not find this version to link it, but if you can track it down, I loved the illustrations by Bernardin in this version.)
Sarah Gives Thanks by Mike Allegra - This book is about the woman who petitioned a series of presidents to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, and finally succeeded with Abraham Lincoln. I like this book about her best, as the family prays together and thanks the Lord for providing even in the midst of hard times.
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Get those books requested now, because if your library system is anything like mine, you may or may not get them in time to read before Thanksgiving is here!
For the first time I put together a Reformation Day party, and I think it was a success! I thought I'd share some of the things we did in case anyone else wants some ideas for next year.
Before I get into it, please check out all my Reformation Day posts here! Over the years I have shared a ton of book suggestions and other resources for learning about the Reformation as an adult and with your kids. Every October we spend time studying the Reformers leading up to Reformation Day!
1. Reformation-themed snacks. My sister brought worm pudding as a play on the "Diet Of Worms" which was the counsel where Luther made his famous statement about standing on the word of God! We also made edible hammers out of marshmallows and pretzel sticks. Aside from that we just had fall snacks like apples and pumpkin dip, along with popcorn, and chocolates!
2. Watched a movie about the Reformation. This year we did the Martin Luther Torchlighters animated show, and before the party I had my kids watch a short documentary called "On The Shoulders Of Giants" as an extra.
3. We colored the Lutheran rose symbol. This is a symbol that Luther invented to represent different doctrines, and it was fun to talk about it together while the kids colored! Here is more information about this symbol.
4. Reformation Day games.
Pin 95 Theses On The Door. We played the classic "pin the theses on the door" - I kept it really simple and just drew a dry-erase circle onto the center of our glass door, and blindfolded the kids so they could try to pin the theses printable papers onto the door (we got the printables from this guide).
Five Solas Target Practice. For a second game we drew concentric circles on the driveway with sidewalk chalk, and then wrote the five solas, one in each circle. The kids had to try to toss a stone into each sola circle. It was trickier than it sounds!
5. We sang "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God". This is Luther's most famous hymn, and we've been practicing it! It was nice to sing it together as a group!
6. Reformation Day craft. I wanted to include some sort of Reformation Day craft, since my kids are still at an age to enjoy that sort of thing, but we ran out of time! This year we were going to do a printing press activity, which I got from the guide from Brighter Day Press, but if you have rubber stamps at home I think that would also give the same idea! You can read more about what the printing press had to do with the Reformation in this post.
7. Reformation Day shirts. My kids still had Reformation Day shirts that I've made them in the past, and of course we all sported our shirts for the party! Not necessary at all, but fun!
(Me in this year's Reformation Day shirt. I didn't make this one, I got it from Sola Gratia Co!)
We had a really fun time, and the kids are already asking that we do another party next year! This party was obviously focused on elementary school kids, but I am storing away ideas for how to make a Reformation Day party more "grown-up" as they get older.
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