He finished it! (See today’s post below) 
July 27, 2005
We’re Reading!
Ahhh, here is a sight that does my heart good:
I’m sitting on the deck enjoying fall-like weather (70 degrees here currently), and watching my eldest child read. He just spent an hour in rest time reading, and he merely changed venues when I informed him rest time was over. At the moment he’s reading Dolphins At Daybreak, which is #9 in the Magic Treehouse series (yes, I know they’re formulaic, but we’ll move on to meatier stuff once he’s firmly convinced that reading is fun). He’s been reading one of these books each day, on average, although today he read Midnight on the Moon in about an hour. At the pace he’s reading, he’ll finish his current book in about that time as well.
Baba just informed me that he learned a piece of useful information from Dolphins At Daybreak: “If you’re on a boat in the ocean, and the boat starts sinking, and you see a shark, you shouldn’t splash. You should just swim calmly for shore.”
As for me, I just finished reading Crime and Punishment, and I may place Dostoevsky on my list of preferred authors.
PS–I almost forgot to give credit to M.D. over at Doodles From the Dahls for lending us the Magic Treehouse books. Thanks so much for contributing to Baba’s reading success!
July 24, 2005
July 19, 2005
Hooray for Freecycle!
Thanks to Freecycle we have a piano! We have a free piano! On Saturday evening I received a message from my local Freecycle email group from someone who had a piano to give away. I thought it was a long shot, but I sent the gal an email telling her we’d take the instrument off her hands. She wrote back Sunday afternoon to tell me it was ours as long as we moved it! DH did some calling around, and our friend the Chauffeur (see One For the Blog) came through for us again as a piano mover. I didn’t have high hopes for the condition of a free piano, but we are pleasantly surprised. The wood and the keys are in great shape. Some of the keys are a little sticky, but we’re hoping a few days in the air conditioning will change that (the piano was stored in a basement). Hopefully Baba will soon be taking lessons!
Our curriculum arrived yesterday. So far I’m very optimistic that it will work well for our family. I spent yesterday familiarizing myself with the system and today started making a list of books we’ll need to buy or borrow from the library. Baba is also excited about starting school this year, and he’s been begging to start right away. I’m not sure he completely understands what he’s in for, but at least he has a positive impression right now.
July 15, 2005
July 14, 2005
Plans for Fall
The upcoming school year is a big one for us because it will be the first year we have a child “on the radar” as far as the state of Wisconsin is concerned. I’m not terribly concerned about the requirements from the state because they are few; however, the fact that I’m being held accountable by the government for the education of my child in some way causes me to feel I have to do justice to the job.
We considered Baba a kindergartener last year for the sake of classification, and I purposely kept our schedule light. I wanted to make sure he got the basics (or “three R’s”) well-started before we branched out on other courses of study. He’s reading at a third-grade level and working math and handwriting sufficiently for his age, so I’m comfortable with broadening our studies this year. Therefore, I’ve recently had the mind-boggling task of choosing a plan for carrying out my intentions.
I hesitate to use the word “curriculum” because that brings to my mind bored children bending over textbooks and filling in worksheet blanks, and our school isn’t about that at all. However, a curriculum is a curriculum no matter what I wish to call it, so after much thought and discussion with DH I’ve finally gone ahead and ordered Tapestry of Grace.
The biggest plus about TOG is that it should provide me with just the right balance of structure and independence. I like to be able to choose the books we will read and how I want to teach them; however, I’m not knowledgeable or disciplined enough to go at it without some overriding structure. TOG also follows the classical trivium model, which in my opinion best accounts for the natural development of a child. And finally, TOG implements Charlotte Mason’s philosophy that “whole” or “living” books provide a superior and more interesting education to that gained from textbooks.
Of course, I have yet to actually use the curriculum myself, so time will tell if we’ve found a good fit for our family.
July 9, 2005
Green Heron
Yesterday while the kids and I were wading in the river I spied a Green Heron upstream:
July 8, 2005
What a Difference a Deck Makes
As promised earlier, I’m finally getting around to adding pictures of the deck. It’s nearing completion–the railing is almost finished, and Daddy’s planning to build a line of benches across the front–and I’m loving it! This week has been so peaceful because the kids (even Junior) have been out on the deck most of the mornings.
Baba rides his scooter around the Exersaucer and Junior thinks he’s a hero! That baby is going to grow up to be an outdoorsman, judging by his affinity for fresh air.
Yesterday morning Margie and Baba used lumber scraps to build a farm on the deck. They played out there for hours, riding their respective “vehicles” and foraging food for their animals.
And finally, while shooting pictures the other day, I came up with one of my all-time favorite Junior pictures:
