Helen Keller's Birthplace

We've been studying Helen Keller, and I realized that visiting her birthplace was a doable field trip. It was a beautiful drive - so much so that I wish we had taken the trip in the fall when the leaves were changing. That would have been really beautiful. 

It was a great trip to take though, although the tour didn't take very long. I could have stayed for much longer than we did, but the boys weren't quite as interested as Laney and I were. 

I'm glad we went, though. It was a great field trip to take. 

I love these lace curtains. It's probably weird that I took this picture because them! 

The dining room where Helen went around the table, eating off of her family's plates. I pictured it being so much bigger than it is. 

 There was tons of memorabilia to look at.

This may have been my favorite part of the house. Seeing this written in her hand was so precious to me. 

The pump...

 The famous water pump where Helen first realized what Annie was trying to teach her. 

Looking out the back of the house to the kitchen. It was apart from the house to prevent fires accidental from burning down the house and to keep the heat from cooking away from the house in the warmer months.

 I cannot fathom sleeping by the kitchen in the heat. I realized how spoiled rotten I am...

 The fireplace, since I guess it would be bitterly cold to sleep out here in the winter. I am spoiled in this area too...

It was a hot day, and I was already sweating. Imagine cooking in this kitchen with that hot, heavy cast iron cookware over an open flame. Oh my stars. Thinking about it made me sweat even more. 

 The little house where Annie and Helen lived while Annie worked intensely with her. 

This is one of version of my dream house. Old. Lots of property. Preferably with a kitchen in the house, but I love old houses.   

 This guy is studying the Wright Brothers, and one of his books taught him how to make paper airplanes and gliders. He is making paper airplanes out of everything. And I do mean everything... (that's his informational guide for the property)

 He wanted me to take a picture of his airplane in flight, and there it is. Up at the top and a little to the right...

Back view of the kitchen and house.  

Week two in the bag...

...and things that helped get me through it well. 

I am not going to recap every week of school, but since we made it through the dreaded second week, I feel the need to celebrate.

Yee Hoo!

We did it.

And I didn't nap once.

There were firsts. The middle kid helped the little kid. Granted, I had to tell him to. He's an amazing kid, but nurturing doesn't come naturally to him. We've worked on that a lot. It did my heart good to see him helping his brother. 

(You may also notice the big kid sticking her tongue out at the camera. We may have another thing or two to work on with that kid.)

It took a full twelve days of school until the little kid said he didn't want to do school because it was "boring." 

I really thought it would be more like on day three.

He did draw this picture with his first and last name on it all by himself. And this is him and me, and we both have smiles on our faces, so it must not be all that bad.

And even though I never bothered to had the time to teach him to read before now, he's doing pretty well. 

 Fluffy doesn't think school is fun. People do terrible things to her ears while listening to Family Worship.

(I mean, does her face not scream, "Help me here, please!"?)

They played school one morning waiting for the real school to start. I don't get that, but hey, they were happy. 

Doing math first thing has been a great improvement to our year. It never gets pushed to the next day, and they are fresh and semi-bushy tailed. 

Whew.

And we laugh. Jude continues to forget to put cent marks after his numbers when working with adding and subtracting money. So me, being the smart aleck that I am, would say things like "Twenty-eight what? Cowboys, houses, watermelons?" 

He'd deadpan, "No, cents."

Then one day, I looked down and the apple that didn't fall too far from the tree was drawing watermelons after all his numbers instead of the cent marks.

So I couldn't say, "How many what? Watermelons?"

 I really don't know where he gets it.

Sunday Planning

(link)

I stumbled on this page when a friend posted it on another friend's page on Facebook. (Thank you, friends!)  I chose one from the meal planning section and printed it off grayscale. It really helped to plan out my week's worth of meals and made shopping a lot easier. 

Thanks to doing laundry through out the week, I was only left with two loads of laundry to do on Saturday. And that's because I didn't do laundry on Wednesday or Friday. That is huge.

I also used  Abe Books to order some books from school. Their prices were amazing. I got four books for $16 shipped. And several of these were big books, and they were expensive on Amazon. I am not buying a lot of books for school, but there were ones that would get used for several weeks.  And for those prices, I don't mind. I am actually about to go through my Amazon wish list and order some of them from this site. 

I am also loving a show that we found called "The Kratt Brothers." I DVR it, and they get to watch a show in the afternoons. They love this show. They take turns following me around telling me facts about whatever animal was featured that day. 

Drives me crazy, but I'm glad they like it, and that they're learning stuff.  

Two of our textbooks this year are paper back. They were dog-eared after just a week of school, and they are going to need to last us for years. A genius friend of mine told me to go to Staples, and they would break the bind for two dollars each. They have an industrial three hole punch, and I punched them in about ten minutes. I then bypassed their $7.50 binders and hopped over to the thrift-o-rama and grabbed some binders for 59 cents (watermelons). I will put the first and last five or so pages in page protectors to keep them in good condition. This makes photocopying pages easier also. (One book allows it. A dear friend of mine is married to a a copyright attorney, so I have to make these disclaimers, though I'd never ever copy something I wasn't supposed to, right? No home schooler ever does that.)

We are adding geography this week, and I love love love this geography cd. We used it with Sonlight, and made it through half of it. Another friend of mine used it, and we would laugh about how we'd sing the Middle East song in our heads over and over again. (I'm singing it right now.) 

And may I humbly say that God used it to prompt my prayers for the Middle East, because I actually knew all the countries that were there. Good stuff. We need to work on the rest of the world, and by the end of this cd, we will know nearly every country in the world. 

Amazing. 

I also like this Map Skills for Today book. There are several on the market from different publishers, but this one is my favorite. It's from Weekly Reader Publishing. It's kid friendly, yet challenging enough to teach them well. I'm excited about it.

I'm trying to decide whether to do geography one day a week or a little each day. We'll have to play with that to see which is better.

I'm praying that this week is even better as we add geography and then the next week history. We've been doing some history in that we're reading about Helen Keller and the Wright Brothers. (I found "The Miracle Worker" at the library, and the kids actually watched it. I am a little worried, though, because one kid, who shall remain nameless, asked me if we were going to get another baby ever. I shrugged and said, "I'd like that."  They  then sighed and said, "I'd like that too, but I hope it's not blind and deaf like Helen Keller..." Maybe I need to go back and talk about how God makes us in His image and being blind and deaf is not a bad thing, and there's a story in the Bible about a blind man and the disciples asked if he was blind because someone sinned and... But I'm a little tired to think about that now.) 

Full on history will come next week! (And I said that without a panic attack. Yay! Go me!)

I also started a grown up class, and I have homework. I'm excited and terrified. I think all my brain gets sucked out during the day. What if nothing's left for a grown up class at night? I'd better just be very, very quiet. 

My kitchen floor still isn't mopped, and we're headed for gas station bathrooms if I don't intervene this week at some point. But overall we are all working together, and the kids' help has been an invaluable contribution to our keeping the house neat. And somewhat clean. Scratch that. Just neat. 

Sort of. 

Mostly.


Well, we tried. Really, we did.

And that was week two.  

***I would also like to add that doing school on Monday afternoons is a huge and wonderful thing. We get our chores done (ie cleaning up from the whirlwind weekend) and ease into the school week. It allows the kids to sleep in a bit, and I get to get our school stuff organized and ready for the new school week. And we aren't rushing. It makes Monday bearable. And dare I say we try to make it joyful. try...

I'm supposed to teach WHAT?

Back when God first told me to home school, I said, "Yeah, okay, God, thank you for the suggestion. I'll research that and get back with you."

It's no coincidence that our memory verse from last week was 1 Timothy 1:15 : "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of who I am the foremost."

Yep. That's me.

I mean who says that to the Creator of the universe?

I'll think about Your suggestion and get back with you...

Good grief. 

Thank you, Lord, for your abundant patience, your slowness to anger and your grace in always forgiving me of my sins.  

But I did go research. I read every book I could get my hands on about home schooling.

I did this, of course, to delay the inevitable. 

Silly me.

God did redeem all of that reluctance and delayed obedience, which of course is disobedience, which He does every time I mess up. 

I learned stuff I still use.

I'll never forget this one book, and I hate that I can't remember which one is was since I read all of them... But this lady was pretty confident in how she was schooling her kids, everything was going along just fine and she felt like she was on top of things. Her kids were a little older, and maybe that's why she felt like things were going along okay.

Until one day a friend of hers mentioned that her child was struggling with learning cursive writing. 

This lady smacked her forehead and said, "Cursive handwriting? Cursive handwriting? I FORGOT TO TEACH CURSIVE HANDWRITING?????"

I think of that story a lot. She got her brain together, taught her kid cursive handwriting and it all turned out fine. Her point was, you're going to make mistakes, and when you do, you fix the mistakes, forgive yourself and move on.

So the other day I was reading all the legal information that our brave and fearless cover school coordinator had compiled for us (aren't you proud I read it all, Jennifer? Every last word!) and there is was in black and white:

"Alabama Code 16-35-5 requires the instruction of reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, English, geography, science, health, physical education, and U.S. and Alabama history..."

"Alabama history? Alabama history? I FORGOT TO TEACH ALABAMA HISTORY????"

I also smacked my forehead.

Then I had a fit:

"I am putting these kids in public school where a teacher who doesn't forget stuff is responsible for teaching them. I am getting a full time job where I get to wear cute shoes every day, not each lunch over the sink in between school and the one thousand other things I have to do, have real health insurance and talk to other adults. I am going to have extra money to spend and give to people in need and I'll travel with my job and be important again... I may even play Bunco and be in the PTA and lunch with the ladies and..."

It sort of spun out of control.

Then I took a deep breath and texted my home school guru. She promised to text me back with the books she used. She didn't sound flustered at all, about having to teach Alabama history, but then again, she never does. 

I want to be like her when I grow up.

Then I thought, "Well fine, I'll just order a curriculum."

Then I breathed a little more. I talked myself off of the ledge: "No. You have a brain. Just use it. You can figure this out. You don't need a curriculum. And remember what you just learned? You don't have to start this tomorrow. Just breathe and do some calm research and get a plan..."

So that's what I did. I did what I do best: I Googled.

And I needed a place to put the links that I found. So here they are:

http://www.archives.state.al.us/kidspage/kids.html

http://www.archives.state.al.us/kids_emblems/index.html

http://www.sos.state.al.us/kids/history.htm

http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/alabama.html

http://www.kidskonnect.com/subject-index/33-states/165-alabama.html

http://www.carrenjoye.com/books/38-alabama-state-history-curriculum/55-excerpt-of-alabama-state-history-curriculum

(This is an actual curriculum that you can order. That may not be a bad idea, and I like that this option is out there. I also liked this list as sort of a "Scope and Sequence" for what they teach. It gives me an idea of what I need to aim for.)

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/usa-states/alabama/

http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/american-timelines/01-alabama-history-timeline.htm

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108176.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/alabama/

I think these links, coupled with books checked out from the library, will be sufficient to teach from.

I also recall seeing Alabama History textbooks at the thrift store. That would be a cheap and easy source.

I am never going to be on top of things completely. I am never going to be the amazing home school mom with a super clean and organized household who has her kids in lots of activities yet schools them with out forgetting major things like Alabama history. But God called me to this, and I trust Him. He'll hopefully keep showing me ways that I'm deficient and things I'm missing, through the people in my life and through His divine intervention.

I'm really counting on Him to do that.

The first week and every week...

The first full week of school is over.

And I'm still standing.

barely

I asked myself this week a least a hundred times, "What is wrong with you? You only have three kids. You are only schooling three kids..."

I felt like it was a hundred. 

at least

It takes us two weeks to adjust to school. I know that. One more week, and we'll be better. 

So here are some things that have really helped this week. 

Number one is my morning quiet time and exercise time. I'm not going to lie. Getting up at 5 am has been the hardest part of school starting back. (Did you know it's PITCH BLACK at 5am? I didn't.) But that time spent in the Word and the time spent pounding the pavement as I ponder, worship and pray are the ONLY way I am able and ready to pour into my kids. The only way. 

And it's during this time that I'm being taught. And grown. And challenged. And changed.

Never mind that I PASSED OUT every day at 3:30 in the afternoon. The kids loved it because they got to watch an episode of "Phineas and Ferb." I felt horribly guilty about napping, especially after Laney finally asked me if I was getting sick. I am NOT a nap taker, but all this took its toll on me. I'm hoping that this week I can be nap free. 

That said, it is worth it. Two things I won't compromise on.

Number two is home management. This picture shows the lack of home management. I had to sort and organize four years worth of curriculum to see what I wanted to keep or sale. And find homes for it all. 

I nearly had a nervous breakdown. 

It's all better now. 

I did realize that my kids are old enough to really help out, though. So boy, are they "helping." 

For instance, the boys are in charge of emptying the dishwasher in the morning. Never mind that they are climbing on stools, dangling from the counter, and generally scaring me to death. (It's better for me to just leave the room.)

Laney is in charge of gathering up the laundry and starting a load of wash first thing. She then transfers it to the dryer, and I hang out of the dryer what I can. (I don't dry a lot of our clothes) Then while the kids are in the bath at night, I fold up what did go through the dryer. Then they put away their things, and we're done with laundry. It never piles up that way. (I either ask hubs to hang up his hanging things or I hang them up on the way upstairs at night.)

They also are in charge of cleaning the downstairs at night after dinner, along with their rooms. 

The deep cleaning I help them with once a week or so.

I also gave Jude a bottle of wipes and told him to clean the bathroom one day, just to see what would happen. He did a pretty good job. I think they may be capable of more than I think they are. 

Which is unfortunate for them...

Number three of things that helped this week was just spending time relaxing a bit each day. Whether it was a walk after school or a walk after dinner or just a little bit of time in the front yard. Yes, there are a hundred things that I could be doing at any given second, but I don't want to stress my kids out. I need to relax. And breathe. And enjoy them. And let them enjoy me. And let them see me not stressing out every second.

Number four is meal planning. The days that I can get dinner in the CrockPot in the mornings make our entire days so much easier. This lady has done all the work for me. I am sticking to the "only run errands on the weekends" rule again this year, which means planning a week's worth of meals and having those ingredients on hand. And even if it's not in the CrockPot, I can still know that Monday is Sloppy Joes and Tuesday is Chicken Piccata, etc.

I found this which is just about everything on our dinner rotation. It's older, and I need to modify it a bit, but meal planning from this list will simplify so much. I need to get back to "meatless Monday" and a fish night too.

This picture doesn't go with the next point, but after the guy "fell through the grass into the hot lava and see his head is all that's left after he sunk down..." I just had to put this here. I'm not sure what motivated the 5 year to artistically  express this, but it made me happy. Especially the look on the guy's face. I felt like that a good bit last week...

Number five was joining the large counties' library system just north of us. It was $50, but it really opened up the number of books available to us. (I balked on the price, but then realized that it worked out to 96 cents a week to get a plethora of books.) I can search their database, order books from any library and go pick them up on Saturday. I'm not buying books much this year, except a few that were used for several weeks. I don't know if this site is good or not since I haven't received any of the books I ordered yet, but these prices are crazy good. I mean crazy good even with shipping.

Anyway, the library also has books on cd and even these i-pod type things that are books that you can check out. The kids went nuts. I love to get books for them to listen to while they clean their rooms. Good stuff.

Number six is using Google Calendar to schedule our school days. I didn't think of this on my own. This amazing lady, appropriately dubbed "The Internet Princess," presented this info to our home school support group, and it really has changed my life. I can schedule everything with one click, making it all repeat each day, Monday through Friday, and then just go back and edit in with what we actually did. Or, when I get my brain this year, schedule it all a head of time. I can list the times we did school, notes for myself for the next day or week, books I need to pick up  and it's accessible from my phone. And it never goes away. I can print it out if I need to at any point. Everything is documented and planned out.  

I nearly cried with relief. SO good. Whew.

Number seven. This is one of the biggest reason I home school. Being near my kids. As tired as I was this week, as much as I missed seeing my friends, as overwhelmed and stressed as I felt, every time Zane crawled in my lap to hear me read, everything time Jude asked me a question that had eternal ramifications, and yes, even when my daughter said, "When are you going to tell me about, you know, that..." I was thankful that I was there. I got to be the one to answer those questions, get those hugs, feel the kisses, lead, guide and teach. 

I don't need to lose sight of that as a privilege. 

I don't have to do this. I get to do this.

Feel free to remind me of this when I'm a weepy, exhausted, frustrated and hopeless mess.

 

Number eight. The main reason I didn't lose it this week is because of some very sage advice from a sweet friend with six kids. She said, "Don't start everything at one time. Start and then add subjects week by week." We were standing in her front yard at the time, and it was like a light from heaven shone down on her and angels started singing. 

It felt like that, really. 

So that's what we did. We started with most subjects, and over the next couple of weeks, we'll gently add to our load.

Genius. 

It saved my sanity. 

I am so thankful for the wise and kind women in my life who are along on this journey with me. Women who get how hard this is, but also the blessings that come with it. I'm just weak with thankfulness.

And this says it all - I let two of the kids have a "sleep over" this weekend, and we ended the first week tired but happy.