This Home Schooling Life: Daily Devotions

After breakfast and our morning work, we have Bible time.

I have had Bible time with my kids since James was about 2.  I would read them Bible stories, we'd learn a verse and perhaps practice our singing.

It has been a blessing to me to spend time with my kids studying the Word of God everyday.

But this year I decided to add something new.

We call it Personal Bible Time.

I wanted to begin teaching my kids how to have a daily devotional time with God.
They can't read the Bible to themselves yet, but I have an ever growing collection of story Bibles, and Bible story books that they can look at by themselves for a short while every day.
And because they have been learning Bible stories since the days of infancy, the pictures they look at remind them of the story they already know.  I know they are able to commune with God in this way.


So each morning, after chores, I tell them it's Personal Bible Time and they grab our stack of books from a shelf in the living room.  We arrange them on the table and everyone picks a book.
I read my Bible at this time so they see I am doing devotions right alongside them.
We pray.
Then everyone must read silently for 15 minutes.

The first day Lilly was a big distraction.

But I took her out of the room and put her in her bedroom.

Since then, all I have to do is remind her she can sit in her room alone or stay with us and read quietly to herself.

Lilly hates to be left out, so she usually chooses to stay with us.

It is a pretty sweet time to sit there with my 3 little babes and partake of God's word together.

After 15 minutes, I read to them a passage from my Bible and remind them the difference between the Bible story books they are reading and the living Word of God.

Then I read to them from one of the Story Bibles.  We just read Jacob's ladder today.

Memorizing our verse comes later during hand writing.  

Bible verses make excellent copy work.

The Bible story books I have for the kids are widely varied.

Of course, I have a strong love for the vintage ones and am always on the look out for them at used book sales.

But we also have the Arch books that were Aaron's when he was little.
And we have few real art books with beautiful drawings and paintings.  James loves to study those intently.
Just today while I was reading to them about Jacob's ladder (from a book with no pictures) James jumped up.  
"Mommy, I read about that one today too."
He found the picture for us all to look at.


This book, here, I just found at a library book sale.
I am pretty excited about it.

The language is beautiful and so are the stories.
The commentary Dickens puts into it tell of a loving, and good Saviour.
It is a good read and I can't wait to get started.

The illustrations are beautiful.

Halos and all.

I am so happy I added this personal time to our daily Bible time.  It makes for a good start to our day and hopefully will develop a lifetime habit of personal devotions.

Because that is the goal, isn't it?

Teach them what to do now so they'll continue to do it later.

Love from,

Greta

This Home Schooling Life: Doing the Dishes

Funny, or not so funny, thing since I wrote that last post: 3 out of 5 breakfasts this week were a disaster.  We had been on such a good roll.  But then we were out late at Disneyland and kids were cranky the next morning and other kids were sick and waking up at very different times and it was all kind of a mess.

But that's OK.  We have every morning next week to make it better.

And the week after that.

And so on and so on.

Anyway.

After breakfast, we do our morning housework.

I admit this has taken some adjusting on my part.

You see, I used to be a member of the "do most of it myself and let them help a little" club.

I'm out of that club.

Forever.

I did let them help and taught them how to do various chores, but what I lacked was consistency.

And we all know that consistency is key with parenting.

It's kind of a bummer because consistency requires a lot of work on our part.

But then I was really inspired/convicted by 2 books.

The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and the Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes by Dubose Heyward.

Two very different books but there was a message there that struck a chord with me.  

I need to teach my kids how to work and expect them to do it every day.

Home schooling for me is about much more than sitting around the table learning to read, add and subtract.  

As one of my favorite educators, Charlotte Mason says, "education is a life."

It is my job to teach them how to be successful in life, not just in the classroom.  That involves knowing how to work, how to enjoy work and how to do a variety of practical, real life things.

Like doing the dishes.

After each child has carried his or her dishes to the sink, we wipe down the table and sweep the floor.  It took a week of me directing and supervising to make sure they knew how to do it all well.  And to be honest, I could still do it better and faster, but that isn't what it is about.

After cleaning the dining room, we head to the sink where each of us has a role.

I wash.

James rinses.

William dries.  (side note: see William's tucked in shirt?  I never tuck.  But he loves to dress himself and he always tucks.  It cracks me up.)

Lilly mostly makes a mess.

But she is also in charge of rinsing the silverware.

One month of this routine and it is still going along nicely.  Even this week when they were sick and cranky. 

They don't complain.  (yet) 

They like doing the dishes.

They like having a job to do that is a true help to me.

They like working together and have learned first hand the truth of the old adage:

Many hands make light work.

And the thing that really surprised me was how much better this has made the morning go for me.
After the initial week of instruction, I now find my morning work is done much, much faster.
After I wash, I can leave them to rinsing and drying while I put a load of clothes in the wash, sweep the kitchen floor or tidy the rest of the house.
They are quick--but not too quick because the one broken dish we've had came from rushing--but thorough.
It's really quite nice and I don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago.


This new way of including them in my housework shows the two things that really spoke to me when I was reading the above mentioned books.
1.  The Ingalls family had to work together.  They could not have done the work alone.  Pa built their house himself, but Ma helped.  Laura helped Pa stack the hay.  Carrie brought them water in the field.  They had many practical skills beyond the book learning they also had, but it took them working as a family to survive on the prairie.
2.  The Mommy bunny trained each of her children to do all sorts of different jobs around the home so that they could take care of themselves and so she could be a better mommy.  For me, being a better mommy does not mean I spend the morning cleaning the house while the kids play Legos and then I teach them school and then I continue to do everything else myself for the rest of the day.
Being a better Mommy means there is time for me to be a Mommy, not a house keeper.  It means I have taught them how to care for a home so that they will be equipped to do that for themselves one day.


After the breakfast dishes, we make our beds and tidy the bedrooms.  
Then it is personal Bible time.
I'll talk abut that next.
See you on Monday!
Love from,
Greta

This Home Schooling Life: Morning Rituals

Finally, it's home schooling week.

I had intended this series way back before school even began.  Sort of a, get all excited about it kind of thing.  And then, it was to be the first week of school.  And then the second week of school.

And then life just got in the way and here we are.

But I am kind of glad it happened this way because we have been in our back to school routine for almost a month now and I have a lot more to say.

In fact, I had intended to start this series with a "why I home school" post.  Those thoughts have been swirling in my head for years now.  A lot has changed in the past year, and so the thoughts are still swirling.  I think I will just put forth these posts, our day to day, our work, our play, and see what themes really present themselves.

So look for it a bit later and maybe then I can tell you why I home school.

It seems the best place to start is at the beginning.  And that's where I'll take you first in This Home Schooling Life.

Ready?  

Begin.

Morning Rituals

I love breakfast.  Starting the day off together, talking and enjoying something beyond a rushed bowl of cereal is my idea of bliss.
Over the past few years I have enjoyed some wonderful morning routines with my kiddos.  But after Lilly was born my routine was thrown for a loop.  
3 kids, 4 and under, all with me, all day long, was a very big adjustment for me.
I was just getting it back together when I got pregnant again, and sick.
Morning routine?  Gone.
Then I miscarried.
Routine gone again.


I vowed to start our school year with a slow and gentle breakfast time together every day.
We've done it.
And it has been wonderful.


First we make a pot of tea.  Decaf or herbal.  They all take turns picking.
They set the table and we all have our own tea cups.
A brown bear, a kitty cat and a panda bear for the kids.
We use cloth napkins, the milk is in a glass bottle and sweet William provides the flowers.


Extra effort?
A little.  
But not much and it is most definitely worth it.


They know just what to do now to help get ready.
They like it.
A routine becomes something to look forward to and to enjoy.
It becomes our ritual and hopefully something they'll remember fondly their whole life through.


I have shown the boys how to make their own toast.
The other day James made the scrambled eggs.
They put yogurt in the bowls and pour milk in their tea.
Extra mess?
Always.
But not much and it is most definitely worth it.


When everything is ready, we sit down together and William and Lilly always pray.  James does sometimes.
We put our napkins on our laps.
It is a good time to learn and practice manners.  
I pour the tea and we eat and talk and discuss the day ahead.
This is one of my favorite things about home schooling my children.
We have time to linger.

The inevitably eat more slowly than I, so while they finish, I get out our hymnal and read them our hymn for the month.  I sing it too, and they join in or just listen.  But through the rest of the day, I hear them humming the song or singing it.

We start our day off with joyful words and they fill our hearts.

I wanted us to memorize a hymn every month for a variety of reasons.

I love hymns.  They are beautiful and uplifting.

They are full of beautiful language.

They are full of truth.

They are full of history.

They have a bit more depth than praise songs.

Our first hymn this year is Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee.

It is a glorious way to start each day.

After breakfast, the kids ask to be excused, clear their plates and then we begin our morning jobs.

Come back tomorrow to see a 2, 4 and 6 year old do the dishes.  Only 1 dish broken so far!

Love from,

Greta


PS. Practical Details:  
A key to the success of starting mornings this way is me getting up and into the shower before the kids are up and busy.  Sometimes they wake up by 6 or 6:30 so this isn't easy.  But it makes my day much, much better when I do.


We practice this morning ritual every weekday morning except Tuesday when we leave early to meet our home school nature study group.  We still eat together those mornings but it is not quite so relaxed.


My kids all wake at roughly the same time.  There is often overlap, but not more than a half an hour.  If someone is starving when they wake up, they can have a handful of nuts or a banana while they wait for us to eat breakfast together.  I have found this keeps me from making breakfast 3 or 4 times.  They adjusted to waiting a bit for breakfast very quickly.


I know I make it sound idyllic, and honestly it often is.  I love breakfasting with them.  But there are also spills and Lilly yelling she has to go potty RIGHT NOW and people getting locked in the bathroom and so on and so forth.
But I choose to focus on the positive and for the most part there is a lot more of that.
Hope that helps.

The Eskridge Boys Inaugural Camping Trip

There was quite a bit of sad in our house last week.  Try as I might, I could not hide it all from the boys and I knew they were feeling it.  They were worried.

I knew they needed a break so when Aaron mentioned something about taking them camping, I jumped.

"Why not take them this weekend?" I suggested.

So he did.

A few weeks ago we stumbled upon a campground up in the Santa Ana mountains, off the Ortega Highway in Orange County.  We were taking the long, and much more beautiful way, to Fallbrook on a Friday afternoon.  The campground, called the Upper San Jaun campground, was completely empty.  On a Friday afternoon in So Cal, that is not something to pass by unnoticed.  Less than an hour from home, hiking trails galore, Live Oak forests, and a chance to get a weekend site without reserving 6 months in advance?  Sign us up!

So that was where my men folk headed on Saturday morning, on their first ever, Eskridge Boys Camp Out. 

James and William were beyond excited.   They were up at the crack of dawn and I could hear them talking about hunting crawdads in the creek, campfires and camping food.

I made Aaron take the camera along and I am so glad he did.  They made some sweet memories on this trip.  The first of many, I hope.

Towering Live Oak trees surrounded the camp ground.  The same kind of Live Oaks that Aaron and I grew up with in Fallbrook and are an essential part of our childhood memories.

They had the campground almost all to themselves.

So they picked the best site--the one with the big stump of course.

But the best part of the trip was the exploring.  There are few things in the world those two boys like better than exploring.  They often ask to take an exploring drive or walk.  I am so very glad they have a love for the searching out of adventure, an excitement for new places.

On an exploring hike, they found this old tree.

They admired its interesting bark for about a minute,

But then they had to climb it,  Because another thing these boys love to do is climb.

Anything and everything.

And better yet if you can set your head down and rest on the tree you are climbing.

Fear of mountain lions (I'm not saying on whose part) cut the exploring hike short.
They headed back to the campground and explored there.
They found this huge pipe that went under the road.

Of course it was meant to be explored.

So explore they did, with lantern in hand.

This is probably one of my all time favorite pictures.  

Can't you just see all the pretending going on in their heads?

"We're miners, spelunkers, geologists studying the center of the earth....."

And after exploring, a giant pipe is just a fun place to hang out in.

So they did.

They went to bed early and, of course, were up with the sun.

They loved building a campfire and cooking toast over the fire.
A baguette,  of course.  For James.

William prefers more low brow fare.  

He's been asking for "Tucan cereal" ever since his class at VBS had some.

I promised him it could be his next camping breakfast.

And it was.

Aaron said they didn't do anything special.  They just climbed and hiked, explored and played.  They built Lincoln logs and set up both tents--one for sleep, one for play.  Mostly they were just together.

Both boys told Aaron it was the most fun they had ever had in their lives.

I don;' think this will be the last Eskridge Boys Camp Out.
They're already planning the next one.


They even invited Lilly and I along sometime.  
I think we'll say yes.
A spur of the moment camp out is almost always an outstanding idea.
Love from,
Greta


PS.  Really hoping to get to those home school posts.  Writing was hard for me to do in the past couple of weeks.  Check back soon to see if I am at it again.  Thanks!
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Notes: 
Upper San Juan campground info link here.
No showers or bathrooms.
Vault toilets.
No running water.  Pumps are available but were locked while Aaron and the boys were there.
Call ahead for fire info as you cannot always have camp fires.
In the middle of the day, the flies were reported to be quite bad.  The word torturous was used by James.
It might have been the heat.
No reservations accepted.

On My Due Date: Hurting and Healing

Today was my due date.

The day that was etched in my heart from that first day when I found out I was expecting our baby number 4.

Our Baby Dear.

It was supposed to be a day of great joy.  But it is not.  It is only a reminder of what was lost and what never will be.

As everyone said, that pain lessened some with the passage of time.  It was still there, but I didn't think of it constantly.  I have found though, that as this day approached, the sadness, once again, grew heavier.

I think the hardest part is the morning.  Especially when I first lost the baby.  I'd wake up and in those few seconds of first waking, I'd forget.

Then the remembering was like a punch in the stomach and I'd catch my breath and realize it was true.

It is horrible.

Grief is horrible.

I miss my baby.  

And I wish I could have known it.  I wish I could have had 3 sons, or 2 daughters.  I wish I could have seen that first smile and heard that first laugh.  I wish that I could have nursed my baby at my breast in the middle of the night in those sweetest of moments that only a mommy and her baby know.

And even though it has been 6 months, I am still sad.

I will always be sad for this life that was not fully lived.

In the days after I found out, it seemed a new world opened up to me.  A world of other mothers who had lost children and who showed me great love and compassion.

I have learned when I feel sad to pray.  And not for myself, but for all those other mothers who are feeling the same pain I feel.  

Many I don't even know.  And some lost their children years ago.  But I know they still miss them.  Because a mama always will.

These prayers help.  They help me heal.  They help me grow.  They help me move through these days.

During these hard, hard days, I lean into God and He gives me hope.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Romans 15:13

In a year, 10 years, 30 years, probably few will remember I lost a baby.  But that baby's life meant a great something to me and I will never forget.  That tiny being was precious to me.

So important that I want to say something about it.  That's right, I am going straight up pro life on you. I'm pretty sure it's the forbidden topic in blogging, it was in all my college English classes, but I don't care.

I ask you to remember those little baby feet.  Perfect 10 week baby feet, a beating heart, a growing brain and body.  

A life that was meant to be lived.

Will you cast your vote with that in mind?  Will you remember those sweet and tiny babies?

I hope that you will.

Because they all matter, whether they were wanted or not.

And sweet baby of mine, I wanted you.  I want you still.

I won't ever forget you were part of our family. 

I'll love you from here.

And I'll keep waiting for heaven, just like your big brothers say.

Love from,

Mommy

Getting Ready For School

We bought some new art supplies today for the start of school next week.

But we couldn't wait to try them out.

We tried water colors.

Pastels.

And water color pencils.

They were all so much fun.

Giving them real tools, something beyond fat Crayola markers, made a big difference.

We spent over an hour at the table together drawing and painting.

It was bliss.

James asked, "can we do this everyday?"

And people wonder why I want to home school.

I think I'd be missing out on a lot.

.............................................................................................................

I know many of you have already started school, but to me Labor Day always marks the beginning of the school year.  Since I have school on the brain, I am going to be sharing a series of posts I have had in the cue for a while now.  They are all about the various and sundry ways we do school around here.

Be forewarned, if you are not a home schooler, these posts might drive you crazy.

If you are a home schooler, these posts might drive you crazy.

Or you might just think I'm crazy.

Either way, come along for some back to school fun.

Love from,

Greta

For Posterity

Do you love to look at pictures of your parents when they were younger?  

Or your grandparents?

My grandpa was so handsome.

My grandma glamorous.

The grandpas in uniform.

The grandmas next to curvy old cars, wearing hats and gloves.

Pictures of my Dad with long hair.

My Mom with her beautiful auburn bob.

I love them all.

We don't have many pictures anymore of us.

It's kids, kids, kids all the time.

I like to think that someday they will want to look at someone besides themselves.

That they will look at old pictures of us and say, "wow, look at how handsome Dad was."

And, "Mom's smile looks good with no braces."

"Dad still had hair."

"They were fun."

I like to think that our grand kids will look at pictures of us and want to hear the stories of who we were.  Of where they came from.

And that someday, when we're old and wrinkly, we'll look at these and smile at each other and say, 

"Dang we looked good."

So we took these pictures for them.

For us.

For posterity.

Take some pictures of yourself--for your kids and for you.

Even if you hate to be in front of the camera as much as I do.

You'll be glad you did.

Love from,

Greta