By , on February 16th, 2009%
Just for you, more pictures of the garden from Saturday. It was a lovely weekend here, even if a bit chilly. Tonight it’s supposed to be even colder.
That’s okay. It’s February. (And you thought I didn’t know what month it was.)
Last night I did a bit of planning in the school planners. We’ve got 17 weeks left in our school year. We’ll be doing our annual testing in about 12 weeks. A couple of those weeks will be a spring break for us.
What does all of this mean? This school year will be over before I know it!
Next year Princess of the Universe will start Beyond Five In A Row, which I am very excited about. In this house, I don’t think we ever fully get away from Five In A Row, but formally she’ll be doing Beyond. We have several more Five In A Row Volume 4 titles I want to “row” before this school year is over. The one up next?
Angelo .
It fits in perfectly right now, actually. After reading about Ovid and looking at mythology, what better place to go than Rome? We’ll have to pull out Papa Piccolo for review, of course, and try our hand at drawing cats and birds. There is more reading I want to do from mythology and we’ll be reading more from Famous Men of Rome.
As far as gardening this year, I really want to ExPaNd and have FuN with it. (Like I don’t say THAT every year.) In the past we’ve enjoyed garden plans for children by Sharon Lovejoy, whose writing I adore, by the way.
Awwwww. They’re sisters, after all.
The hellebores are pretty. You have to get down on the ground and really appreciate them. I know I do! You would do that with me if you were here, right? 
More daffodils.
Lest you think I have forgotten about school work for my sweet boy Joseph, I have goals for him too: Spell whatever word you like. I know you can do it.
We are working on spelling, spelling, spelling.
Make the most of this day.
Lynn
By , on February 14th, 2009%
Let me share a beautiful old Valentine’s Day postcard that I have in my collection of old postcards.
Little gold hearts, big red and pink hearts, Cupid’s arrows, and forget-me-nots. What speaks more of love?
Did everyone read something about Cupid this week? We’ll be talking about Cupid tonight and reading more about Cupid in mythology. We studied Cupid recently as he was right-smack-dab in the middle of the story of Apollo and Daphne. In fact, I totally blame Cupid for Daphne getting turned into a laurel tree. If I didn’t love gardening so much, I’d probably be mad.
Need more Valentine’s Day red?
This is the view from my window yesterday as I sat at my desk and typed. I love the bright red cardinals that hang out in our garden. A few years back I even wrote an article about them for The Healthy Homeschool website.
I know it’s not super clear because I’m cropping this out of a picture taken from quite a distance, but you can see that the real-life cardinal is enjoying the mosaic birdbath I made along with two ceramic birds incorporated into the design.
Hey, guess what? Today is not only Valentine’s Day, but for us it is Big Furry Man’s birthday. Yes it is! He is 46 today. Uh, he always picks on me for one month out of the year that he loves being married to a “younger woman” and now here we are at that month.
Okay, so I’ll be 46 next month and then we’ll be the same age again. I guess I should just enjoy that one month that I get to be a “younger woman.”
As far as school this past week, I feel like we accomplished a few major things, in spite of my running around so much. We finished Act I of Hamlet and are really enjoying it. Joseph has said now that he’s very glad he’s reading it and that he was mistaken in saying he didn’t want to. Michaela will still say that it’s boring and yet everytime I pull our copies of Hamlet off the bookshelf she yells, “I get to be Hamlet” or “I get to be the king.” She wants the big parts.
I am also pushing Joseph really hard in the spelling department. I can tell the lightbulb has come on for spelling, just like it did for reading the year that he finally took off with reading. We will have end-of-year testing in May and I want him to have really jumped up there in spelling.
Michaela and I reviewed places she should know from her Five In A Row studies. We pulled out our pretty little storage box of story disks and she began to place them on the world map: Sri Lanka, Atlantic Ocean, Vermont, Australia, Arctic Ocean, Ungava Bay…
All I’ve got to say is who needs a chiropractor when you’ve got a child who can wrench your head around like this to look at the camera? I’ve been aligned. Also, I’m obviously on my lunch break in this picture, because I’ve got my typing gloves on.
Well, it’s off to the work desk this morning. Enjoy your Saturday!
Lynn
By , on February 13th, 2009%
A few pictures from the garden yesterday. Weathermen had predicted that it would be cold by midweek and maybe even snow. We did get some hefty wind blowing in on Wednesday evening, but it did not do much except blow limbs from trees and find odd bits of trash from other places and blow them into my yard. (Don’t worry. I picked them up.) 
Oreo ponders whether or not to get between the camera and this little bed of crocus.
The hellebores continue to open up. These pictures were taken in the very late afternoon sun. It’s one of my favorite times to go out, and in the summer especially, when you can see all kinds of moths that come out early evening. Note the ootheca on the small metal post in the left of the picture.
I do worry that this unseasonably warm weather is causing too much growth on the plants and that it will all get zapped when the next big frost comes, but I try to just enjoy what each day brings.
The spirea continues to put out growth.
“…what greater delight is there than to behold the earth apparelled with plants, as with a robe of embroidered work, set with orient pearls and garnished with great diversity of rare and costly jewels?”
John Gerard (1545-1612)
English herbalist
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:24
I love the creeping speedwell. There was one little bloom on it yesterday. Isn’t is breathtaking? If you really want to see the full picture, click here. (You may have to click on the full-size button in lower right of picture when new window opens.)
Enjoy your Friday!
Lynn
By , on February 12th, 2009%
The last couple of my days have been sucked out of that mysterious window that leads to a place called days-gone-by. And never to be gotten back. Tuesday was out-of-town meetings for work. Wednesday was a doctor’s appointment out of town.
So today finds me wishing I could clean the house from top to bottom AND get all of our lessons done and then some. (Tomorrow is a work day.) Alas I have to choose. I’ll do some of both, in addition to having a talk with my children about how I expect a little more from them here at home when I am out running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
I did clean up my living room and swing the love sweat around to a different spot. Ahh, the joys of living in an old, old house that looks HUGE but has tiny, oddly-shaped rooms. For those of you who live in an old house, I know you understand. For those of you who have no idea what this means, I am unable to take the time to explain because we are about to go into the clean living room and read some more of Hamlet.
Over the last few (plus) evenings I have really enjoyed going through old pictures and organizing all of our family pictures into albums. Talk about days gone by! I am so glad that the Lord put it in my heart to truly enjoy the children when they were little. They grow up so fast.
We’re talking well over 2000 pictures here that were placed into albums. I knew if I didn’t just bite the bullet and do it soon, I’d likely never get caught up. We are now taking more pictures than ever.
There were old pictures, new pictures, happy pictures, funny pictures…
There were pictures that made me close my eyes and try, really, really, REALLY hard to remember exactly how baby Daniel or baby Joseph or baby John felt when they snuggled up to me, smelling like cheerios and apple juice and soft baby skin. If you have a baby in your home, go hug him now!! Let me know how that feels, okay?
Princess of the Universe still snuggles constantly, so there’s been a continuum of hugging with her and I have adjusted in a motherly fashion to its change, loving all of it.
If you knew baby John, you’d know what a brave and daring act of look-at-me this was. Can you make out that this adorable, dark-headed 2-year-old boy is reaching out to touch the tree bark with his tongue? Okay, okay, he was going to lick the pine tree.
Anyway, Baby John was quite shy, and was usually hiding behind a tree. This was no small act.
Last of all comes a picture that warranted being actually scanned into my computer files. This is one of my favorite pictures ever.
Do you see that demure my-daddy’s-got-me look? And this was the year that Princess of the Universe would ONLY wear white cowboys boots. All the time. Even to sleep. I guess that’s from having three big brothers?
As I thought of all these days gone by, I was reminded that we all only have today. Even then, I knew that and lived with that in my heart and mind. It’s so important to just be clear in this one day and live this one day and enjoy this one day, and, of course, do right this one day. It’s all any of us have.
Well, I must peel myself away from the computer and get lost in some Shakespeare for a bit. Speaking of peeling oneself away from the computer, I really think you should check out Betty Blonde, a comic strip written by a very bright, homeschooled young lady named Kelly. The theme of the comic strip these days is, well, you just need to check it out.
Lynn
By Lynn, on February 10th, 2009%
Did I get your attention? I just wanted you to know that I haven’t forgotten my word for 2009.
Yesterday was another pretty day here. Princess of the Universe and I made our way outside during my breaks from work.
She decided she wanted to start some seeds inside, so this little pot now has a couple of English daisy seeds in it. I have a feeling they might drown from over-watering. She’s 10, remember. I’ll try to help her refrain when the pot is still soaking wet.
My dear northern friends, I know your plants are still sleeping under a blanket of snow. They’ll be out soon!
I love this large spirea. At a glance it appears to be still sleeping, but on closer inspection…
every little branch is waking up. I know there are more cold days ahead, but here in this part of North Carolina, it really is time to start thinking about the garden — vegetables and flowers.
The first daffodil bloomed yesterday! I honestly could not believe it. I pulled out my garden journal and read.
February 15, 2001: Days pretty warm and humid, but supposed to be in the low 40s this weekend. This past weekend we had ice, but it melted quickly. Daffodils beginning to bloom. First one on 02/11.
February 22, 2001: It snowed and got down into the 20s overnight. The daffodils put their little heads down and looked at the ground.
January 25, 2002: A daffodil blooming! (Yes, January.)
January 21, 2003: I really have spring fever! (Is anyone here surprised?)
March 5, 2006: Thomas and I placed 200 concrete pavers in the garden this weekend. It is beautiful. (Lest I forget what my Sweetie does for me. And just so you know that he gets spring fever sometimes too.)
Okay. Enough.
I love you, little daffodil.
A crocus in bloom yesterday. It doesn’t even look real, it’s so pretty.
The color of this jasmine’s bloom becomes more and more apparent with each passing day.
Helleborus. The genus Helleborus includes the Lenten rose, which sometimes blooms even in snow. I want to plant more of these.
Now, you are NOT allowed to laugh.
Okay?
We just want you to know we are still drawing.
My oldest son said, “I know exactly who it is, but she looks like she’s been punched in the face.”
I was happy because everyone knew immediately that this was Princess of the Universe. Nevermind that I had erased around her face and chin and mouth until she did look “punched.” The point is that I think her features are placed more in proportion than previous sketches I’ve done.
Princess of the Universe continues to draw as well. She actually pulled the supplies out and did this on her own time, so I was pleased with that. Very.
The little “folder” that her art is in is something I made up quickly the other day. I love to buy beautiful Victorian calendars for my office. They are so beautiful, I cannot throw them out when the year is over. I take the staples out, leaving quite a fewr very long pieces of heavy calendar pages, beautifully decorated. I just took one of these long pages, folded it again where it had already been folded, used heavy clear tape to close up the sides, and decorated the front to keep loose pieces of art work in. Some art work is in the nature journal, some in the her school notebook, but there are always little bits of things that have no home. Now they do!
Enjoy this day. We all only have today.
Lynn
By , on February 9th, 2009%
In connection with Follow the Drinking Gourd , Princess of the Universe and I spent my lunch break looking all around this website: Sweet Honey. First we just listened to some of the tracks on there. Their voices together are like honey.
It took a few minutes to find, but they have a section just for kids with some really fun activities. We probably had the most fun trying to match the baby pictures with the current pictures of the group. The kids page is here.
**Be sure and click on the counting songs to hear Sweet Honey In The Rock sing numbers in different languages.
Includes Japanese (Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho , Grandfather’s Journey )
Includes also several other languages too! Great go-along activity for many books.
Lynn
By , on February 9th, 2009%
Ahhhh, Monday. Another work day.
But lesson plans are mostly written out and Princess of the Universe seems to be getting over her cold.
There are a few things I wanted to write about this morning.
First of all, Steve Lambert, publisher of Five In A Row curriculum.
Many in the homeschooling community already know about this as The Old Schoolhouse magazine sent out a note to subscribers a couple of days ago. I wanted to mention it here too. Steve Lambert just underwent surgery to release pressure from his skull after taking a fall not too long ago. The good news is that the surgery appears to have been successful and Mr. Lambert is on the road to a full recovery. I just feel that this would be a good time, if you haven’t already, to purchase something from Five In A Row. There’s no way I can say in one blog post how much Five In A Row has enriched our homeschool experience. Five In A Row offers a variety of products, including beautiful Five In A Row manuals as well as digital downloads. How timely that they have a Black History Month Fold-N-Learn and a Valentine’s Day Fold-N-Learn that you can download! Why don’t you look around their site and see what you can find to buy? I will be making some purchases this month. No, the Lamberts didn’t ask for this, I just know the integrity that the Lamberts have and how they — for years — have provided mesage boards to the Five In A Row family, keeping them ad-free and really, as the forum says, like a “family room.” They are self-employed as publishers, and I cannot imagine that it would hurt one bit to purchase something from them right now. I know first-hand that hospitalizations and surgeries aren’t cheap. I also know first-hand how great their curriculum is!
A photograph from last April. I hope you don’t mind.
Second, in light of February being Black History Month, our copywork this week will include some poetry by Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes. “Incident” by Countee Cullen breaks my heart.
Last of all, we are moving on from Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho and there’s excitement in the doll house!
I think for our rowing this week we’ll revisit a wonderful book, Follow the Drinking Gourd. Actually, I think PBS airs that book on Reading Rainbow today.
Lynn
By , on February 7th, 2009%
The garden was gloriously sunny today! Full of sunbeams, the garden somehow produced a butterfly today! I have no idea where it came from — my garden or from somewhere in the neighborhood, but there it was flitting through the garden and out of sight.
Be still my heart, is that a crocus?? (Picture me running over to it.)
It is!! It is! In fact, there are a couple of them in bloom. I’ll have to check my garden journal to see when they came out last year. I do believe it was February, but maybe not this early.
Now it’s on to the heather, looking like it wants to bloom. I love the color.
Jasper has to get in the middle of everything. I think all cats are like that though. If you are working something they are all in the middle of it, but if you want them they run off.
Me? In the way?
The little irises are waving at the sun.
And just look. Do you see the sunbeam? Shining right down in my tiny little garden, thank you!
Even though I worked today, I took a little time on breaks to get in the garden. I filled up my birdbaths and just admired the little bit of green trying to come forth.
When feeling blue, find a little perch in the garden and be happy.
Lynn
By , on February 7th, 2009%
Last night Princess of the Universe and I did some more sketching. I have always loved drawing and listening to music. We did this in school a few times and I loved it. I’ve continued it from time to time as an adult. It’s been easy to lure Michaela into doing this with me. She’s so artsy-craftsy.
Lately, though, Ken at Chapmankids.net has inspired me to get the whole family involved. One of my boys seemed quite tempted last night, but then declined. This morning over eggs, venison sausage and cornbread, I sent hubby some subliminal messages about how much fun it is to sketch while listening to music. He may join us next time!
I am totally aware that my head is too big in this picture. My hair has had about three renderings to try to get the perspective of my face just right, but I think the baby is cute. My hand is a bit misshapen, but I got so involved in my face and hair and ear, I forgot about my hand. Anyway, I’m done with this one and will try to do the same picture again later.
I love Michaela’s still life. She really got into this and I was so proud of her effort! It is really an educational experience to try to draw something and get it just right.
We spent a couple of hours just drawing and talking and listening to the following selections: Amore: Romantic Italian Love Songs and Puccini and Pasta: A Romantic Italian Feast for Your Ears .
As an aside, those two CDs were purchased for our study of Papa Piccolo several years back. We fell in love with them!
While I was drawing, I felt like a had one of my BeStEsT friends in the world with me and I just enjoyed wonderful thoughts all evening of us becoming best friends in fifth grade — was it 50′s day?
We played clarinets together. We were always in a competition to see who could get the highest grade. We both had the ability to have fun in class but still make good grades. Now that’s an art.
Anyway, she — Susan – sent me a beautiful, tapestry-style pillow cover for my living room. I just love it!! Susan, it’s perfect and I am so happy to have it. I just had to share it here, because when someone does something so sweet for you — well, you just want everyone to know how happy you are!
Overlook the messy room, but in the rocking chair you will see the beautiful pillow!
Here’s a closer picture.
It goes perfectly with an old house and Italian opera.
I did one more sketch last night. It’s okay, I guess. It was an exercise in observing the refractional quality of water.
In closing, this seems to be the book that everyone recommends: Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces
I plan to purchase it on my next shopping trip into Durham. I saw it last week, but opted for something less expensive, a kit that included pencils, eraser, sharpener, and paper. I don’t regret my decision, because we got a lot of starter pieces we needed more of, but I really think I need this book!
Have a wonderful Saturday!
Lynn
By , on February 6th, 2009%
It’s been cold here this week. Really, really cold. The wind chill factor has been in the teens. That’s cold for here, guys. I’ve just enjoyed being inside with the family.
Meanwhile, outside…
the water in the mosaic birdbaths I made is frozen. Yes, I should probably bring the mosaic birdbaths in for protection, but since I made them and since I will be the one repairing them when they start to crack or lose tiles, I just enjoy them in the garden year-round.
I’m a bit stressed today, but taking my own advice and smiling about it. Today’s a work day, for starters. It’s not easy making myself sit at my work desk for eight straight hours.
In addition, we spent way more than anyone would believe on groceries this past week, but we are not extravagant and I shop sales and use coupons. It just seems that everything’s getting higher and higher. We’ll just have to tighten our belts a bit more!
Want more? Friday night is Karate night, but Princess of the Universe has a cold and I don’t want to expose others in the class to it since we all have testing coming up this month.
I need to scoot over to my work desk soon, but I’m having a few more sips of hot tea and finishing up a page in my new journal this morning and just thinking about things a bit.
In spite of the cares floating around in my mind, I can name many, many things to be thankful for this morning, so I know that is what I should focus on today.
- a job at home
- a warm house
- four healthy children
- freedom
- food
There are many more, but I feel better already!
Enjoy your Friday,
Lynn
|
About Lynn
I am the mother of four delightful children: a 23-year-old son, a 20-year-old son, a 17-year-old son, and a bright and bubbly 13-year-old daughter. I share an apartment home with my 17-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. My little home on the internet is called Rose Cottage because of my love for gardening, roses, and all things romantic and Victorian. Welcome.
I'm a North Carolina girl and I love sharing North Carolina links and information. I do medical transcription from home. My hobbies include making sweet little dolls from clay who are named and have their own stories to tell. I also make old-fashioned brooches. These are for sale in my Etsy shop.
For 13 years continuously, I homeschooled some or all of our four children, but the time came that our homeschool had to be closed. It was the end of a beautiful chapter in my life. I will always be a strong supporter of homeschooling and I will continue to review books and maintain my homeschool website, The Healthy Homeschool. The Players
Lil Ol' Me
Son Daniel, 23
Son, Big Joe, 20
Son, John, 17
Daughter, Michaela, 13
Annie Fatso Beagle
My Symphony
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
William Henry Channing
1810-1884
What You Do Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
Contact Me 
I would  for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
|
Recent Thoughts