Living books...

I'm reading, "With Nothing but our Courage" to Evie this year as part of our history program. It's a "Dear Canada" book, written by Karleen Bradford. In the story, the mother is depressed because of her many hardships. Evie and I were discussing this depression and Evie said, "That mom should read Joshua 1:9- 'Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous for the Lord your God will be with you'." I was absolutely amazed to hear that come out of Evie's mouth! She couldn't have chosen a more appropriate verse! She just memorized Joshua 1:9 for Awana- this is exactly why I send her there. Thank you Awana! Uncle Wes would be so proud... he's always encouraging us to memorize the Bible:)

Evie's come a long way with her reading this year. She reads over my shoulder while I type. On road trips, she's always calling out what the signs say. For readers this year, I wanted to use something "living"- as Charlotte Mason would call it. I've probably written the Simply Charlotte Mason's quote on Living Books before, but here it is again:

"Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject 'come alive.' "

The Little House on the Prairie books were the perfect answer. They are exciting to read and challenging enough to keep introducing new words for her to learn. She only reads about 3-4 pages in a sitting but sometimes the story gets so exciting that she just can't stop at four pages.



I sometimes catch Evie reading the Dr. Seuss books to Elijah. I absolutely love that. I'm just dying for the day I catch her reading a novel for her own enjoyment. When I was around Evie's age or a bit older, I got hooked on the Ramona books. My mom bought me one after another. I can't wait to see what series she likes and I'll be sure to buy her one after the next too! I've got all the Ramona books just in case she likes them the same way I did. Um, not sure if they're considering, "Living" though:)

Fun with modeling clay!

When my parents were here yesterday, they took the kids to the dollar store. I was proud of the kids for choosing modeling clay instead of a silly toy. Modeling clay keeps them busy for hours! After they make their little creations, they play with them for days! I love the googly eyes:)







Eden was sick in the night again last night. Strange that she hadn't thrown up for two full days and a night prior to this episode. I can tell she's not herself though. She's been so clingy... and nursing around the clock like a newborn. Yep, I said nursing. My goal was to make it to age two. Now I have to start a plan for weaning her... not looking forward to that!

Homeschooling went well today. One of my recent purchases was English for a Thoughtful Child. We're really enjoying the lessons from it. It's a Charlotte Mason approach, using poetry, art, etc. originally published in 1900. Today's lesson was to memorize, "The Moon" by Robert Louis Stevenson. We learned the first stanza. We've been doing so much memorizing lately! The kids are now in Awana, memorizing lots of scriptures. They did so well with their verses the first week. When it was time to learn the next week's verses, Elijah said, "I can't learn a new one, then I'll forget the one I know!". He was relieved when I explained to him that our brains have the capacity to memorize lots!



Well, now that homeschooling is over for the day, I should get out of my pj's and tidy up this messy house of mine!