Emersed in Everything Good

What a wonderful day. I am not sure where to start. I didn't really have much of an agenda today besides to take it easy a bit, be outdoors and perhaps paint a little bit. At 10:00 am we brought our art easels out with paint and paper plates. They were to collect things in nature that they could paint with, they had one color and could use anything in nature to paint with but couldn't use a paintbrush. It was fun seeing their excitedment as they carefully chose their objects to paint with. Flowers and leaves were used as stamps and sticks gave definate lines and broad edges. We cut a hole near the edge of the paper plate to make it into a painters palette. When they were finished using the nature objects to paint they stuck their hands in the paint and made handprints, I think they enjoyed this most of all.

That was phase one. Not long after, they got distracted by a fluttering butterfly so they grabbed their butterfly catchers and chased after him. They never did catch one but it sure did make for some good exercise and a lot of fun! Neighborhood kids came out to join us and then we were almost ready to share a picinic lunch together.

One of the highlights for the day (at least for the kids) was our icecream day. A friend and her children came over and joined us. It was such a nice addition to our day. It was a full afternoon together, playing soccer, painting and digging for bugs. We saw slugs, rollie pollies, beatles, ants, ladybugs... We were emersed in everything good, all that God had made around us. It felt so peaceful, so natural, and so wonderful. Though I can't quite put words to how pleasant this day was, I feel like it was the way things are supposed to be.

Nature Study

Today was a wonderful day! Today's focus: Nature.

We were able to get outside at about 9:30am and spent much of the day exploring and enjoying our time together. It was very pleasant and very fullfiling. We began by creating a chart to keep track of when the vegetables in our garden are going to grow! My problem: we have seen a skunk in the garden during the night and many leaves of the green beans especially have gone missing:( What I want to know is, when are the vegetables going to grow. We have taken note of the order or stages the plant goes through before a vegetable finally grows. Seed, leaves/stems, flower, vegetable. Green beans are the only one that have produced a vegetable yet so we made sure to mark that date down, as for the rest, we will have to wait till they grow. Skills/vocabulary used: alphabet, vertical/horizontal lines, using ruler, observing and organzing info., glueing, numbers, writing/reading dates.

Second Task: collecting leaves (they are allowed to pick one from the tree IF they plan on doing something with it)- today's project was leaf rubbings. Matty especially loved this and asked if we could do it everyday:) Thanks for the confidence booster buddy! After they were all done with the leaves the sought out other textures around the backyard to "rub."

As always, a continual project of Mason's was to hammer and screw in nails and screws into a small 2x4 that his daddy cut for him. He could do this for hours! He had many of the neighborhood kids doing it with him:)

Had a nice picinic lunch and some time to just play in the back among nature, no bikes, balls, or toys, the best way to be some times. It was most fulfilling at one point to lay down on the blanket with Cali, staring up at the peaceful sky and pick out pictures in the clouds. She saw a castle, a mermaid, dinasour, and many other fun pictures.

During quiet time the boys slept and Macayla listened to the first part (4 chapters) of Charlotte's Webb on tape. We plan on seeing the movie in the theatre next week. Had an hour of down time myself and was able to catch up a bit from the day and make some baby food: applesauce and pears, yum yum. Ever tried pear sauce, it is quite good (especially mixed with plum).

After some slices of apples dipped in caramel we went outside for the rest of the afternoon. In total we were able to soak up part of God's creation in the great outdoors for a total of 5 hours, it has been a good day!

Day Two

Today was nice. The kids decoarted our sign a bit, though the more I think of a title Cali said the other day in passing, the more I like it. I was looking through a picture she had made and she wrote "A Camp for All of Us." I kindof like it, so I just may have to change my sign:) We had some free play in the basement after our morning routine, followed by a couple of serious games of UNO. We finished getting ready for the sprayground and were off. Though Macayla and Matty were a bit reluctant at first, they both opened up a bit and had a blast. Had a picinic lunch and then played another round of UNO in the shade, and finally played on the regular playground a few minutes before coming home. Everyone fell fast asleep in the van (except macayla) and by the time we got home it had started to pour. After transfering everyone into the house we had a some very nice quiet time all together in the living room while we listened to Part 1 of Charlotte's Webb on tape. good, just for something different. It was very rewarding seeing the kids play so quietly and nicely. After a small snack we went outside before you arrived. It was a pleasant day. Day two: sucess:)

Dutile Day Camp

Today was Day One of our Dutile Day Camp here in lovely central NJ. There was a family we met when we first moved to NJ whom we instantly thought was a great family to be around. We looked for opportunities to be with them and now, 4 years later I am watching the two children. What a blessing to be connected to this family.

We began our morning today with some copywork and drawings followed by the calander. I am sure that Matty will remember that tomorrow it is he and Mason's responsibility to do the calander:) After a brief tour everyone went to the basement where they had some free play time while I was able to put Clayton down for a nap. We set the tent up together and got ready to walk to the park.We talked about the sun and figured out which direction it rose and set on so we knew which direction we were walking. After walking through the "jungle" of filled in trees on our path we arrived at our destination. It was very pleasant seeing all the kids playing together. Actually Cali stayed close to me much of the time, helping me. She gathered all of our materials, helped me swing Clayton, talked with me and asked many interesting questions:)It was finally time to adventure back home together where we had a nice lunch together. This is usually the time when we play Classical music in the background. It was calming as getting lunch together can always seem to take longer than you want sometimes. Following lunch, each child had their turn painting at the art easels. I had the privilidge of listening to Matty in concert while he waited for his turn, he is quite good:) LOL. Clayton went back down for a nap and we had some storytelling time, followed by a lovely reading by Matty and then Cali. Wow, they did awesome! Way to go kids.

It was now time for some quiet time in the afternoon while my boys took a nap. Classical music was again the choice music of mine, though I don't believe Matty was too fond of it. I learned of this after I couldn't hear it anymore:) LOL. I had a nice conversation this time with Matty about the summer and had him help me for a few minutes on the computer look for some fun things to do together this summer. We had a refreshing snack together once the boys awoke and then went outside to play some baseball with the neighborhood kids. I enjoy having the children go outside for free play after naps. I take parenting very seriously and work at it the best I can. It is important to me to work hard all day teaching them and being as intentional as possible in learning through our everyday lives. The afternoon is a nice time for the kids to explore and just use their imaginations, some times they all just need a little prompting.

All in all a nice day getting to know eachother and how eachother works. We will continue to learn from eachother and grow as the summer goes on.

Baby Food Making

Morning routine went well, then took some time to get into the swing of the day. Some days are like that I suppose. The kids and a neighbor friend assisted me in making baby food. On the menu for the day: applesauce, pears, and sweet potato.

This week we are also trying to focus on learning more about time. This morning my oldest daughter cut out pictures of different activities and then pasted them on one of 2 clocks (black representing night and yellow for day time hours). Tried pasting them on specific hours but that was too abstract at this point I think, I thought it was a nice effort though:)

Continuing to try and just be natural with "school" and "teaching" though sometimes I get ahead of myself becuase I like schedules:) Things go much smoother the more natural they are. I am often reminded of how much I am in need of God's strength and grace. I can not do this without Him because without Him I feel inadequate. But thanks be to God that His mercies are new every morning, including His strength for my days focus.

Art: An Expression of Color

Today began well. During breakfast I had a great conversation with my daughter. We were reading Psalms 1 together and she commented that she remembers reading it. We probably conversed for 10-15 minutes about heaven and what it will be like, it was very fulfilling. We went over our scripture and she knew the entire verse. I do hope these sink in as they relate to our lives.

Today's focus: Art and Cooking

We focused today on the cool colors of a palette; the greens and blues. I set out only green and blue markers and crayons with blank paper. We had only blue and green plates and cups all day and dressed in cool colors. We picked out everything we could find that was made up of cool colors around the house and they even made their daddy dress accordingly:)

The rest of the day was spent in service to another family. Their daughter had been sick and in the hospital so we decided to make a dinner for them, as it would also be a good opportunity to visit them. My daugher made a card for her and then literally spent the rest of the day cooking with me. She was very attached and truely loving to just be together. It was nice to be able to bond in this manner, meltdown free:) It has been another blessed day.

Adventures in Baking

The kids already know this weeks scripture pretty well. It comes from Hebrews 5:18-19. We continued our morning filling in our nature notebooks with illustrations and a narration of yesterdays events. My sons picture of a bluebird was particularly intreaging to me. He drew it as if it were in flight and before finishing it, added some hair at the top back of his head just as he had observered. I was so surprised because we have never talked about the details of a bluejay or pointed them out before, but it is also something I have observered in the past.
After some free play time in the basement we set out to bake for some neighbors and friends. After many attemps, it finally got done. Between a 5 month old and a few melt downs, they were put in the oven. They came out good too, despite what mystery ingredients were put in:) Macayla and I were able to record today's measurements of the vegetables from the garden onto her chart and have a small math lesson. A few minutes to myself while kids were all resting and now every one is up and rearing to go! It has been a blessed day.