No, this is not a political diatribe on capitalism or our consumerist culture. This is an introduction to the most effective tool we have ever seen in parenting. And no, I’m not talking about allowance as bribery, either! The Family Dollar system has transformed my family with four children from being resigned to never EVER going shopping with the boys again (even with 3 adults present I felt they were out of control!) to constantly receiving compliments on how well-behaved my boys are in public. Read on if you’re curious.

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Just wanted to share our greatest discovery in the realm of Mathematics. Marshmallow Math. My biggest frustration with Homeschool is finding consistently useful and affordable curriculum. This is cheap, flexible, and most importantly… it’s working!

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My mom and dad got us an art easel for Christmas, and boy do the kids enjoy it! We are even taking art lessons. A wonderful woman in our area has agreed to teach family lessons once a week, so I get to learn too! So naturally I had to put up a bulletin board to show off all their artwork… the fridge was just not big enough!

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I like to leave a lot of our "schedule" up to the boys’ interests whenever possible. Sometimes this means we spend a day studying six different types of combustion engines, like yesterday , but today it meant "Adventure Time." Neils woke up ready and energetically committed to the idea, so first thing we headed outdoors; he with his little magnifying glass and notebook in tow. Unfortunately, it was only 45 degrees outside so, despite our coats, we were frozen before the boys got past the old dead tree. Ah well. We discovered evidence of deer sleeping in the tall grass there, the boys enjoyed climbing and observing the effects of gravity, and we hastily headed into the kitchen for some nice hot cocoa. Such is autumn in Michigan.

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I was determined to make it to this special Homeschool Opportunity at Peacock Road Tree Farm of Laingsburg, where we would not only get to do the traditional hayride back to the pumpkin patch and pet some farm animals, but we would get to tour their old one-room schoolhouse and farm cabin, learn about how farmers did the laundry and other household chores 100 years ago, and learn how to make rope. It was a promising excursion I’d been looking forward to for weeks. But being 9 months pregnant makes certain things a little more of a challenge… such as chasing 3 boys all over a farm, and well, walking in general. So we opted to wait until Conan got off work to join the festivities. When we arrived the parking lot was virtually empty and we were so ready to be disappointed. We were informed that the homeschool day was over, and that they had another activity lined up. But if we wanted to, we could be part of their TV spot Comcast would be filming, at no charge, and we’d get to do all the things we’d hoped to do plus watch pig races, and ride the train! Sign me up, yeah!

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So, despite the fact that some of my boys are hilariously squeamish about creepy crawly creatures, they have all been enamored with some of the very interesting creatures in our backyard. Burke wanted to catch this gigantic praying mantis, I tried to get him close to it for a scale picture, but it didn’t turn out all that well. You can kind of see a brownish line on the window to his left. He wouldn’t get any closer because he thought the bug might eat him. At least you get to see his cute smiling face! We didn’t get to capture it for closer examination primarily because even our largest mason jars were not large enough for this big guy!

Neils later captured this fuzzy-looking caterpillar, though he couldn’t tell me if it were prickly or furry because he opted to just scoop the thing up into the jar rather than (ugh!) touch it with his hands… who raised this pansy, anyway? (Remember, you’re talking to the girl who used to eat live grasshoppers just to gross out the boys down the street…) Anyway, we have learned some rather fascinating things about caterpillars, primarily that when fed on beet greens, they get these groovy red stripes and produce rather large quantities of poop.   

Isn’t it great when you try something out and it actually WORKS? Especially when it’s not exactly mainstream, and you’re just following your intuition and hoping for the best and trying to have confidence in something you’ve never actually done before and you know it may negatively impact your child for life…? Well that’s the way I felt about teaching my children to read. Granted, many people learn to read later in life and still become adept readers, but for me, I wanted a lifelong connection to good literature for my children. It’s something I was blessed to have, and I just feel so intensely the lack of it when it isn’t there for them. When Neils was on the verge of hating books (he wouldn’t even let me read to him anymore) at the end of his public school days, I just fretted constantly over how I was going to help this child re-connect with all the joy and beauty of a good story, and well-chosen words. Well tonight, I feel like we’ve finally "arrived." Neils has started his first extensive writing project. I knew we’d made some progress in developing a love for reading, but still thought he hated everything connected with writing! He aims to write a chapter book entitled "The Marvelous Adventures of the Powerboys." As we were preparing the cover for the notebook that is to become his book, he shared these thoughts:

 "You know, Mom, I didn’t used to like books very much. But now, I LOVE books. I wish I could marry them!" (giggling like crazy)

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We’ve finally started spotting those baby birds we knew must be in there somewhere! A week or so ago we started noticing that Mama bird didn’t really leave the nest anymore. Oddly enough there seem to be at least three different care-givers in this family, as when we leave through the front door we are generally bombarded by at least three adult birds. I’m going to have to do more research about that… but Daddy bird, and … another bird … would bring her little tidbits to eat now and then, but she just sat. We knew it couldn’t be long before those precious eggs would hatch. Then yesterday we saw these:

The birds outside, not me. I love that over the course of three days we were able to watch this family of swallows construct their masterpiece on our wind chimes from the kitchen table. We now get to see first hand how they take care of their babies. Especially when a neighbor or poor Niketta the cat decides to use the front door. The next time you come for a visit you can expect some noisy birds divebombing your head, just so you’re aware. We look forward to hearing and seeing baby birds sometime this summer!

Day 1- Notice the clump of mud and dry grass in his beak?

This was so cool to watch. I loved to see them select their materials and fuss it all together. 

(Taken from inside so as not to discourage our new neighbors)

Day 3 – Masterpiece complete.

I am amazed that they were able to work out the balancing and all those other issues.

The noise of the chimes doesn’t seem to bother them a bit. 

(I hazarded the photo shoot outdoors as pictures through the screen just didn’t do justice.)

This is a post all about Neils’ obsession with Zelda. Nevermind that the hero in the Zelda games is not named Zelda, that name just sounds way cooler than "Link" so he is ZELDA. Pretty much every day.

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