Another Break

Joel has the next week off. I think I'm going to use the time to regroup and get reset in regards to Hannah and schooling.  I find it really hard to remember that she is just a little girl and doesn't need to know every thing yet, like reading.  I really really really want her to know how to read, in case you haven't been coming here for long.  It's one of my greatest desires for her right after getting to know Jesus and falling in love with him. 
But then I remember that she is just barely five and there is plenty of time for her to learn how to read.  And that she is learning how to learn and when the time comes it will be as easy as pie.
So here are some things we are learning in addition to the Five in a Row curriculum... Hannah is an expert egg cracker and becoming a pretty good scramble egg maker minus the cooking part.  She has learned how to make her own peanut butter and jelly.  She is learning how to sweep but this is probably the coolest thing of all, she is learning about communion.  She is also learning about worship :D 

Fourth Sunday of Advent

School is still lacking, though we have been having fun together. Hannah is such a smart cookie, I could probably let her hang out in a ditch all day and she would learn something. Hmm maybe that can be used to my advantage in science class at some point :D

Today, there was a cantata at church. They sang Angels We Have Heard on High. Hannah leaned over and told me that the song says "Eggshells" and then said it also said "Yolk" The refrain is "Gloria, in excelsis Deo!" She heard "Gloria, in eggshells an day yolk" Too funny!

So far, there are no great and glorious plans for Christmas. I think we will be making some bagels on Christmas eve and celebrating at home. It's nice to have a quiet day after such a busy season of celebrations!

New week

I do not know what I thought the holidays would be like in regards to homeschooling, but I did not think that I would allow myself to slide so much that I wonder if I'm doing any good.  Over the past week, I have done one and half hearted lessons, double checked that Hannah's public school district school really is too far away to make it worth while, printed out said school district's curriculum objectives, thought about curriculum for next year, and pretty much thought I should be doing something other than Five In a Row, especially after the sixth or seventh math lesson being on "Count the number of..." which is rarely if ever over the number 12. 

But I have also had my daughter tell me that the Nile river is in Egypt while watching the movie "The Prince of Egypt" (this was recall information!) , she is learning all sorts of Christmas songs, she helped scoop the litter box, she volunteered to help me clean the kitchen, and we were able to share communion together.  And those things help me to balance out that unmet unspoken expectation of what "school" should look like. 

I think it's time for us to get back to doing our work on a regular basis and maybe adding in some alternate Math lessons so we will be doing Four in a Row most weeks

Reminiscing

Just last weekend, I did a lot of reminiscing.  I was in my homeland, with my entire family, during a time of year I normally love and celebrating something amazing, so how could I not?  I told Hannah a couple of stories about Halloween parties that my parents held and ones that I had with just my friends.  She loved it.  She keeps asking for them!  So, with a language lesson from A Pair of Red Clogs on flashback, it was pretty simple to illustrate.  Hannah loves to hear stories from when Joel and I were children and has even given some of them names. 
In other news, do you see that button over there on top of the column?  The one with the crazy image and the funny word???  Well, that's my project for November, I'm going to try it again, NaNoWriMo has seduced me once again.

Five in a Row of another kind

We have been sick since last Wednesday.  In the midst of that I don't remember if we did school work or not.  I do know that we had my lovely In-Loves come for a visit.  Hannah loved having her Grammy and Papa here for a visit.  We went to The Henry Ford Museum on Saturday and had a day full of church on Sunday, then they were on their way again by Monday.  It was a special trip for Joel's installation at St. Timothy, which for the non-presby's out there it's a special service by the church's governing body placing him as the pastor to a specific church. 
We are still recovering from being sick.  I have decided to scrap Who Owns the Sun?, mainly because it is terribly long to read to sick little girl and the concept of slavery is a little too difficult for me to explain right now. Instead we are going to move forward with Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. But I need to find my FIAR book first :D

First Day of (Public) School

Oh man, I was sitting here, enjoying the weather and looking at my daughter as she chewed on some random piece of plastic toy and realized that TODAY is the first day of public school in our area!  And I thought about how if she were going to public school, I would have dressed her and sent her out the door at 8:10 this morning for a school that doesn't start until 9:00.  And she would be gone all day today, meeting new friends and getting settled into yet another new in her life.  But instead, here we are discussing France, watching a French movie on Netflix streaming, and enjoying life.  Homeschooling, today, is a blessing far beyond what I could have imagined.  Maybe that's because today is the first day that I am truly not sending Hannah to school to be with her classmates in the public school.  Today, our homeschooling becomes a true alternative to something else that she could be doing, not just some words that I use when people ask about if Hannah is going to be in school this year.  She is home schooled, she doesn't attend any of those schools that opened their doors today and welcomed all the new students. 
I think this will be something that I will be realizing more and more as the school year progresses, but today, is the first time that homeschooling is something more than a pipedream.

A fabric Giveaway!

If you love fabric, you should check out Needle Little Inspiration, and if you leave a comment on her Gobble Gobble post, we'll both be entered to win some yummy looking fabric! Hurry it ends September 11th at midnight!

Hello, Blogger!

Hi! I'm MamaTina! I used to blog around here, but have been out of the blogspot for some time now. Our family is in the midst of a whole heck of a lot of new adventures and I thought I might share.
Some of the things that I'll share might include our homeschooling of our soon to be five year old; being a part of a great church in Livonia, MI; climbing out of our pile of junk that we no longer have space for; how to make friends in new places; and enjoying the area that is now our home, Plymouth, MI!