Winter Blahs

Well, almost two months have gone by since my last update. Partly due to morning sickness, partly due to the holiday season, and partly the winter blahs- which make for a massive procrastination attack!
We have enjoyed having Dad home a lot, and are now trying to get back more into the swing of things; our regular schedule and chores and such.
So I’ll try to summarize a few of the goings on and what the kiddos have been learning and up to.
There have been several different phases of music, art, and magic, lasting about a week or so each. But mostly survival skills and knife throwing have occupied the boys for quite a while. ( I now have a total of two knives in the house- 1 steak, and one large bread knife) Time to buy those throwing knives! We should have purchased these along with the knife and tomahawk throwing dvd.

Dad took the boys camping one weekend ( with their new survival packs and gear) in snow and freezing temps. Would have been a great success if they had been able to find enough dry wood. But they made it through and came back only a little early. It was still a good father/ son time and I’m sure they learned a lot. Dad also spent a couple of days with them building an igloo- big enough for several people to lay down and sit up inside.
We also purchased sleds for them all and took them to a large sledding hill nearby-I even loved it!

We bought Nathan and Eden a magnetic pattern shape learning toy that has different cards of designs. they have enjoyed it. I caught the bigger boys playing around on it making their own elaborate designs, such as mushroom clouds from atomic bombs.( BOYS!)
We ordered and received also The Journeys of Paul Missionary board game, but have not had the opportunity to play it yet.
We ordered them a collection of Adventures in Oddessy dvds, and Eden, a God Made Music dvd but they are not here yet.
The biggest hit has been a typing game for kids that we bought. Even Hannah is learning to type correctly-They are very competitive and fussed over whose turn it was for the first week or so.

We also purchased the Homesteading for Beginners , vol. 2 dvd. And Hannah and the youngers have enjoyed making some of the things they show you on that.
We have received the packets for the kids in India that each of us sponser and our kids have written their first letter to them, while learning a lot more about India.
Some friends of ours sent us a cartoon dvd series of missionary biographies that are amazing and we are really enjoying. We save them for movie night on Wednesdays. We have Gladys Alyward, Amy Charmichael, Eric Liddil, Perpetua, Jim Elliot, William Tyndale, John Bunyan, and Richard Wurmbrand. The series is called Torchlighters put out by Voice of the Martyrs and I recommend them to everyone!

This has started us reading the Gladys Alyward biography together. I read it while having an atlas near to show them any countries or places mentioned. A little mini geography lesson. I stop and explain many new vocabulary words and questions the kids have , or have them repeat back to me what is going on. They seem to be enjoying it so far. We usually only can cover one chapter per sitting due to all the discussion.
James read to them a book on Leif Erikson the other evening and it has sparked an interest in the Vickings, Norway, Greenland, and Newfoundland( where the Puffin birds are- mentioned by Leif in his writings) More geography and history.

Hannah just learned all the months of the year in order in one sitting using some Montessorii style cards. I plan to get a color printer to print out more of this kind of thing and file folder games of course. We have made several lately; the kids having to color them first . Easy way to earn a buck .

Micah is using the new Geometry Teaching Textbook with dvds. He has done several lessons every day for the past week , and loves regaling us with what he is learning. Who says you have to have Algebra first? He is also into b boxing and mixing on the computer with some music software.
This is all I can remember right now, besides all the teachable moments of everyday learning. For example, while driving, Hannah wanted to know how the GPS knows where we are. Great discussion on maps, longitude, latitude, satellites, etc.

We have instituted a new chore system with different zones and set times to helo clear up the chaos and clutter a little. It seems to be going well so far. Now that mom is feeling a little better and more motivated and inspired- more learning is starting to transpire again-Thank the Lord!