At Home in Georgia

Kids Say the Funniest Things...

So, my 3 year old little boy is cleaning up his room, putting his laundry in the basket, and he's singing as he marches around his room.  Remember the song... "God said it, I believe it. That's all that faith demands..."?  Well, here's what he was singing, very happily and confidently at the top of his lungs...

"God said it, I'm gonna eat it.  That's all that makes me mad..."

:)

~Michelle

Strawberries!

We picked strawberries today.  I took my son (3), and daughters (5 and 7) this morning and we picked 5 - 1 gallon buckets in 1/2 hour.  My older daughter picked 2 and my littles each picked about 1/2 bucket.  It was fun and the weather was perfect.  We were back home by 10:00am and I set the girls at the kitchen table with schoolwork while I made some freezer jam and got the rest ready to freeze.  I saved out about a bucket for eating.  But they were PERFECT berries.... juicy, beautiful, and wonderfully sweet.  Yummmmmy....

But even more sweet was the absolute fun we had together.  Maybe it was the lack of expectation on my part.  I anticipated trying to keep the littles from wandering off or picking where they weren't supposed to, and while I TOOK 5 buckets, I HOPED to fill at least 4. 

I had a delighted moment, when my 5 year old told my 7 year old..."See those flowers.... they will turn into fruit.  SEE??? You can see the berry starting to grow"  I had JUST talked to her about the parts of plants and how the flowers come first, then the fruit, and sometimes we eat the roots, and sometimes the fruit, and sometimes the seed or leaves.  Guess she was listening. 

And my 3 year old stayed right at my side "helping"... and he did help.  I'd show him some berries and he'd pull them off and put them in his bucket, or I'd give him some of mine to put in his bucket, and he was content to just be there with me. 

It was so enjoyable and it just seemed to be the way it should be.  We don't have many moments where all three children decide to cooperate and just have fun together, but today was a whole day of those moments.  I hope I can remember today when we're in the middle of one of "Those Days". 

Oh, be sure to check out the picture of the strawberries!!!!!

~Michelle

Moms....

Awwww... I just saw this and had to link you to it.  All about Moms... from a child's perspecitive.  Enjoy.

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/coveredchristians/87002/

Thanks, Sister Lori... that was so cute!

~Michelle

Books, books, books....

I love to read.  My daughter (2nd grade) does too.  But it can be a huge challenge to find something at her reading level that is still appropriate for a little girl.  And being homeschoolers, it's also important to find books that acknowledge that there is a world outside the school yard. 

WELL...!  I discovered a used bookstore in our town (amazing) that takes books for store credit, and has wonderful old and new books at discounted prices.  I found the second grade Pathway books... what a treasure!  They're reading books, I guess, but they are such wonderful stories.  My daughter read the first three stories in one sitting to her little sister and me today.  I also found the 2nd McGuffey Reader for $2.50, in excellent condition.  I'm so happy! 

Anyway, I had to recommend to you other moms who look for good books for your girls (and boys), that these Pathway books would be ones to watch for. 

~Michelle

Open House for Daddy

Oh, did we have fun last night!  We had a buffet style dinner with fruit salad and veggies and dip that Cassandra made and sloppy joes and iced tea that I made.  Then we showed Daddy what a normal morning at school is like for us.  We video taped it too (therefore no pictures to post yet), and it turned out really cute.  I think it helped my husband to feel a little more involved.  He's a teacher too, and more school is the last thing he wants to think about much!  :)  He likes to be involved with what the children are doing, but he has his own planning and goals to work on for his job.  So I often feel like I'm running the school here at home.  He was very sweet... he told me he was impressed with how we're doing.  The children had so much fun "showing off" what they do.

Then, we had smores with marshmallows roasted over a candle.  THAT was an adventure.  We're going back to broiling the marshmallows on graham crackers in the oven.  Roasting them over a candle sounds fun, but it's kind of like roasting them over a blowtorch the size of a pen!  Craziness... but fun.

~Michelle