"How do you homeschool with 4 young kids?"

"How do you homeschool with 4 young kids?" That is a question I get asked a lot! So, for those of you who are curious about how I do this, I thought I would explain what our day looks like. First of all, it is by God's grace!! He is my Provider, my Source of Strength, my Maker, my Helper. He gives me wisdom, patience, creativity, and so on. That is not to say that I don't make mistakes. I am only saying that when I do teach, discipline, love, etc. and do those things well, He gets ALL the credit! And I have a very supportive husband who believes in me and homeschooling. He is also very encouraging. Anyways, I try to start my day with reading the Bible and praying. I don't always start like this, but this is my goal. The kids are up between 7-7:30. So, after reading (and maybe exercising), a quick shower, I help get the kids up and ready. Jonathan really is such a big help in our house. He makes his own bed and gets himself and Rachel breakfast. Sometimes, he even gets Mark some breakfast. I usually nurse Sarah and come downstairs. I usually do a bit of cleaning... dishes, laundry, picking up clutter, etc. By 9 or so, I like to start "school." We start our day by doing a Bible lesson and working on our memory verse. Jonathan then does spelling, while I work with Rachel on reading/math. Next is English with Jonathan. Sometimes we do this together, other times he does this on his own. It depends on the lesson. We then have History/Geography. Both Jonathan and Rachel participate in this. I usually read aloud and then we do a craft/activity together. This is one of my favorite parts of the day! Next comes a break, then Math, and finally Art. We have some CD's that we are listening to for music. For instance, we listened to the biography of Tchaikovsky and then read "The Nutcraker." During the biography of Tchaikovsky, we heard some of the music played in the Nutcracker.

Rachel loves to play on her own. So, she sort of filters in and out throughout the morning. This is fine with me. She LOVES to draw and seems to have a real gift at it. So, often, and I mean often, she will color or draw at the table while I work with Jonathan. She sometimes helps with Mark or Sarah when I ask her to.

Mark, also, likes to draw. Actually, he LOVES, to draw and color as well. Really! He has his own chair and every day, while I work with the older ones, he draws. When he gets bored, I let him play with playdough or read books. And sometimes I let him wander (yes, I do know where he is... :) Our new home is very open and he can do loops around the downstairs. And if I need to do some one-on-one work with Jonathan, I sometimes, put him in the playpen. He usually cries at first, but then after a few minutes, he is happily playing.

Sarah is a pretty content baby. Often she sleeps for 1-2 hours in the morning. When she is not sleeping, I either hold her or put her in the bouncy seat.

Ideally, I finish our day by noon or so. Then we can relax, have friends over, sleep (that is the little ones and once in a while, me!) Mike is doing Science one evening a week. He loves it and it gives me a break. Our days don't always go smoothly. One of the hardest things for me is when all 4 kids want my attention. I am only one person.... So I prioritize and do the best I can! Overall, though, it works. Imperfectly, yes. But is works!

I find that training the children and expecting much of them is helpful. I expect that they do everything excellently, as taught in the Bible. I expect that when I am reading something that they listen and don't interrupt. (We are working on this...) I expect that when I ask them to clean up, they do it well and without complaining. For those of you who know Rachel, we are working on this, too! I expect that they treat each other kindly. Okay, so we are working on this, too! We have our moments of frustration and disobedience. We confess and know that we are forgiven! We often pray, "Help me, Lord, to do better!" And then we move on.

Well, those are my ramblings for now. I truly love homeschooling and feel called to it. And I as lean on the Lord, He is faithful and provides!! I know that homeschooling is foreign to some people, so please feel free to ask questions or comment. I would love to discuss it with you!

Colonial Times

This week we have been studying the 13 colonies, the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War. One of the projects included using a "Quill" pen and ink. We used one of our turkey feathers (yep, one of the same ones used in our Indian Costumes.) The ink was strawberry juice mixed with salt and vinegar. Jonathan got to sign his "John Hancock" on a piece of paper! One of the verses in "Yankee Doodle" is "Father and I went down to camp, along with Captain Gooding, and there we saw the men and boys as thick as hasty pudding! " So, we made some hasty pudding (corn mush!) Yum!!! Jonathan and I liked it, although Rachel wasn't such a big fan. Mark ate his up like it was candy. I think the syrup helped... :) Throughout the year we are learning the different names/symbols for Jesus. This week we talked about how He is Living Water. I tried to explain to the children that just like we need water, we need Jesus and His Spirit, daily. Truly He is Living Water!!! We memorized the verse, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." Mike is now doing Science with the kids. So, to go along with our theme of water, they did some water experiments. Overall, we have had a very enjoyable week!

Indians in our house!!

For Halloween this year, the children dressed up as Indians. All of them!! We had Squanto (Jonathan), Pocahontas (Rachel), Little Bear (Mark), and Baby Papoose (Sarah.) We made an appearance at Baily Agency, the College Dorm, and a retirement home. The kids had a blast and so did the residents. Clifford, a gentleman at the retirement home, even gave Mark, Rachel and Jonathan a ride on his motorized wheelchair! They were zooming up and down the hallway! Really, we were a sight to see! We felt like we were able to enjoy trick-or-treating and also minister to others as well. We hope that our family is a blessing to others... whether they are friends, family, or even strangers. Christ calls us to love others unconditionally and we sure hope to do this!

Pumpkin Carving and Another Birthday!

On Monday we carved pumpkins and baked the pumpkin seeds. One of the nice things about homeschooling is that you can count "carving pumpkins" as art! The kids had fun, although Mark was a little unsure about sticking his hand inside the pumpkin. The next day we baked the seeds...one batch was made with butter and salt and another batch was made with butter and garlic salt. Yum!

Last week we discussed how Jesus is the "Bread of Life." And this week we talked about how He is a Rock. To go along with our theme of Bread of Life, we made bread for a friend of ours and delivered it with some homemade jam (I made the bread, not the jam. ) Our week continued with lots of school on Tues. and Wed. And on Wed. afternoon, Aunt Jen and her children came down. The older kids had a nature walk with Mr. Wentzel, our neighbor. He took them for a walk up the lane and had a discussion on different types of trees. Discovery Club followed the walk. And then we had a birthday supper and celebration for Mia. We had all 9 of her grandkids here. What a blessing! We love you, Mia.

A New Photographer in Our Home...

Rachel asked me if she could use the camera yesterday. She took many pictures, mostly of Mark, Sarah and her baby-doll. I think she did pretty good for a 4 1/2 year old!! She took all of the above pictures, except the one of herself. I took that one!

A Week at the Baily House

On Monday afternoons for 2 or so hours, I have been helping Mike at work. It has been nice for both of us. Heather, one of our babysitters, has been coming over and playing with the children. This past Monday when I came home, I found her "all done up." Not by Rachel, but by Jonathan!! Sorry, Heather!

That same day, we had Mawcaw and Pawpaw (Mike's grandparents), Aunt Ann, and Uncle Tim over for dinner. Here is a sweet picture of Mawcaw, Jonathan and Mark. The kids did a nice job of entertaining everyone. Never a dull moment here ;) Jonathan and Mawcaw were looking at pictures and I asked, "Jonathan, would you like to show Mawcaw your Indian outfit?" And he gently responded, "Not now, Mom, Mawcaw and I are enjoying looking at pictures!" We all had a nice time visiting.

We do have our rough days but this week seemed to have some very kind and thoughtful moments. Or maybe I just noticed the kindness more ... Today as I was dressing Sarah, Mark walked in the room, looked at Sarah and said, "Hold!" I smiled at him and asked, "Do you want to hold Sarah?" And he got very excited and started giggling!! Mark did hold Sarah and she didn't seem to mind . I think she is getting used to being constantly doted over by her older siblings.

And finally, the kids surprised me with a nice gift of leaves. It may sound crazy, but really, it is very thoughtful. Sometimes the kids have a "Celebration." This is something that they have created and come up with all by themselves. Basically, they celebrate Mike and I as their parents. They often hang balloons and make us presents and so on. This week they gave me a bowl full of leaves! Earlier that day I had taken the kids outside and made the comment that I really liked fall and I was sad that the leaves were all falling. So, Jonathan and Rachel gathered leaves and gave them to me so I would not be sad.

Oh, and did you know that horses don't need barns to live in? Rachel told me the other day that if we got a horse (which I have no intention of getting, at least not for a long, long time) it would not need a barn. I told her, "Yes, horses DO need barns." And she, again, said they would not need a barn. I finally asked where she would keep a horse. Her reply was, "in our basement... or maybe in our garage!"

Playing in the leaves

Mike took Monday off. So, we only did a little bit of school- math and science. And since it was such a beautiful day, we spent time outside. Mike and the kids made a leaf pile! And then we went on a hike in the woods. I came back separately (Sarah was in the sling) and saw a buck!! We really have been enjoying living in the country. The neighbors have a large rope swing and we found a great grape-vine swing near our house! What fun! Hopefully, this does not mean more trips to the ER...