11.15.2013

books

i love reading
we all love it over here.
my favorite part of homeschooling is the reading part.

this year we are reading the Little House on the Prairie books and i had no idea how hooked we ALL would be.
it's amazing.
i really believe that God speaks to me through books.
i mean....the Bible, of course.
but i have found that he can use any book. (and anything!)


these books are written for chidren, but they are for everyone.
and they are especially for us reeds this year.
we are not going west to homestead, 
but we are traveling to different homes with only really our family as a constant.
we aren't fighting prairie fires, 
but we are learning to make a home somewhere unfamiliar.
our "pa" isn't going off to harvest in neighboring counties for the summer and coming back on foot in the snow,
 but we all know JUST how the Ingall girls felt when we find ourselves listening for reedo's footsteps and counting the days until his return.
it's just a gift.
the kids beg for more every night.


the more i read to my kids 
the more they seem to love reading.
to me and to themselves.

and just one more thing.


i have found that reading something they are enjoying to them 
while they sketch or do quiet legos has made me feel like a really good mom.
do your kids ever just really want you to "play" with them and you just don't have it in you?
you want to be with them, but you just can't pretend to like legos or barbies right now?
well, that happens to me a lot 
and i've found that if i first just volunteer to read while they play it still counts as playing to them!


yesssssss.
just a thought.
you should try it.

11.01.2013

tee-pee


if you live on our street you will know us because we have a tee-pee on our porch.

this is the story.

we are studying early american history.
i am a newly homeschooling mom, who has a good amount of over confidence in my creativity.
it thought about what i wanted to do for our first homeschool art project and a tee-pee was the obvious choice.
patterns and DIYs are all over pinterest so, why not?



i got the pattern here
i liked it because it was a big one.
but the pattern has the words "bad ass" on it which jake thought was pretty edgy, for me...
you've been warned.

this is how it went down.
i gathered up a bunch of example patterns for them to look at and
they each designed a panel on paper.



i drew out the panels on the canvas and
we cut out all the pieces
there were some mistakes.
but i knew that would happen.
i had purchased an extra drop cloth for that reason.



i let jake man the drill
that was hard for me.
but he was fine.
and we all sanded the wood.


i let them all sew a few of the seams, but that is not pictured since i was too stressed...
and i finished up the sewing part by myself after loosing my cool a few too many times.
yep.


and then the best part came.
the part where it turned into "the best homeschool project ever in the world".
after i transferred their designs onto their panels in sharpie, we set the whole thing up and everyone began to paint.
it was good.
everyone (including me) was relaxed and happy.




we worked on it in the garage at night, while reedo was away on a trip.
it was probably 89 degrees in there, but no one cared.
everyone was focused.




when we finished i gave them each a toy bow and arrow to play with in it and it has been quite a hit.
it even inspired some of our halloween costumes





i think it will go down in history as a very cool part of our time homeschooling.