A beautiful winter afternoon… note the bare feet!
Out on the Pad
Mar 2nd, 2017 by ECM
Math With a Friend
Feb 28th, 2017 by ECM
Math is more fun with an American Girl friend.
Breathing Space
Feb 27th, 2017 by ECM
Our kitchen table often feels a little small when everyone has their school stuff out. Since we had students over for dinner last night, we have our extra table set up, and everyone has more breathing space as they work!
Point Dume on a Winter Saturday Morning
Feb 25th, 2017 by ECM
We even saw a whale (probably a baby gray whale migrating north with its mom) and three dolphins!
Janie found herself a walking stick.
We finished off the Malibu morning with breakfast burritos at Lily’s. Note that I’m embracing the Malibu “is that a homeless person, a movie star, a surfer, or all of the above?” dress code by wearing my Hillsdale College sweatshirt purchased in high school. After 18 years, the frayed wrists could be artistic and on purpose, and the poufy 90’s cut of the garment is on trend, right?
Kit Box School Day
Feb 23rd, 2017 by ECM
Homeschooling has been rough the past couple of weeks. I’ve started physical therapy for my knee, but it’s Monday and Wednesday mornings (through the canyon, 45 minutes away), and despite leaving the kids with schoolwork at another homeschool family’s house, we’re obviously not getting as much done as if we were doing school all morning at home! So I made the executive decision to step back from CBS while I’m doing PT, and all of our Bible study leaders were really supportive when I told them last week. Since we normally do a four day week and set aside Thursdays for CBS, park day, and errands, we’ve suddenly gained a whole new school day. Yesterday was my monthly meeting with Sue, our wonderful Inspire teacher. Technically, her job is to check in on us and make sure we’re doing our work, but since we are, in her words, “a rockstar homeschool family,” the accountability part only takes 5 minutes, and the rest of our hour is mentoring and encouragement. Sue has been homeschooling for almost 20 years, she’s from the Midwest, and she totally shares my values and goals in homeschooling. She encourages me to think beyond textbooks to lifestyle learning, she loves engaging the kids on what they’re learning from reading and projects, and she always reminds me that everything is pointing them towards loving learning. She has hilarious stories about what her kids did at my kids’ ages, and I always come away refocused on us all loving learning!
This morning, I told the kids I’d read aloud for half an hour (because we’re STILL plugging away at Robin Hood–next read-aloud is going to be about 200 pages SHORTER!), then I’d set the timer and we’d all work hard on seatwork for an hour, then we’d do kit boxes for school the rest of the day. They were very enthusiastic about this plan. Reading aloud went great, but it’s hard to do intense instruction with both of the girls AND Tommy in an hour. Just not realistic. Fortunately, a lot of Tommy’s work is self-directed at this point, but we didn’t get to spelling for him or Elizabeth. I simultaneously did phonics with Susie and narration/summary/dictation with Elizabeth, which made for some interesting confusion. Then I simultaneously did math with both girls (some, some went away stories with Susie; estimating large numbers with Elizabeth), which was crazy. Then our timer went off, and I had to call it quits for formal schoolwork for the day. We almost caught up on the work from the rest of the week, and I am going to try to combine a few more things tomorrow so we start next week on top of things. Then Susie pulled out her latest Ivy Kids box, and everyone wrote secret messages with white crayons and painted over them with watercolors. That actually kept Janie busy for a good hour plus. Tommy got out a Tinker Crate he got for his birthday and made a lava lamp, Elizabeth painted a digeridoo from her Cultured Owl Australia kit, and Susie translated hieroglyphics into English with her Little Passports Egypt kit. Lots of learning happening, I made homemade bread for lunch, and everyone is in a good mood. I think we have a new end-of-the-week tradition!
Elizabeth’s First Yoga Class
Feb 19th, 2017 by ECM
Pepperdine has a sacred yoga class (new age mumbo jumbo replaced by prayer and worship songs) on Sunday nights that is taught by my friend Cecily, the best fitness instructor on campus. Last week, Lydia brought Lily, so this week, I brought Elizabeth. She did pretty well, considering. She and Lily were next to each other and giggled a bit, clearly feeling very grown up working out with all the students and on campus moms. They were pretty pleased with themselves before and after!
I loved working out with my mom growing up, so hopefully this is the start of a new tradition for Elizabeth and me!
Q&A: Tommy at Ten
Feb 18th, 2017 by ECM
Ten books for a ten year old, plus the next Swallows and Amazons audiobook (Pigeon Post) from his sisters and an astronomy book from G&G Willett! I think he’s set on reading for the next week or two.
*What makes you happy?
Snuggling, reading my favorite books (which are The Wingfeather Saga, the Prydain Chronicles, and The Lord of the Rings).
*What makes you sad?
When I can’t do the things I want to do and I still have to do the things I don’t like (like schoolwork).
*What’s your favorite thing to do?
I like to read and play legos and soccer.
*What is your favorite food?
White bean pasta, Daddy’s homemade spaghetti, and fish.
*What is something you say a lot?
Um, can we play a board game tonight?
*If you could go anywhere, where would it be?
I like going to science museums. Among my favorites are the CA Science Center and the Discovery Cube. I’d like, but not in the near future, to go to Legoland again.
*What words would you use to describe yourself?
Playful, bored by schoolwork, imaginative, creative.
*What is your favorite subject in school?
Science, because I like learning about the ocean, but I also like other kinds of science, like astronomy.
*What are you looking forward to learning about?
The Wars of the Roses, American history, and California history. I like history.
*What do you want to do when you grow up?
Right now I’m thinking about being a comic book artist, but I used to want to be an astronaut, or maybe I’ll play soccer.
*What is your job in the family?
Being an example to my sisters and protecting them, taking out the trash, making lunches, and that’s all I can think of right now.
Tommy’s Cuddle Up and Read Birthday Party with the Daughritys
Feb 17th, 2017 by ECM
For Tommy’s birthday, we were going to have a field trip to Santa Barbara, but due to torrential rain, we opted for a plan B: a cuddle up and read day at our house! For breakfast, Tommy requested cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, and bacon. Pretty exciting.
After we ate, the kids played with Tommy’s new birthday presents, I read from our current family read-aloud (The Adventures of Robin Hood), Sunde read from their current family read-aloud (Island of the Blue Dolphins), and we played musical books–just like musical chairs, but with books.
Reading club on the top bunk!
Some rainy days, you just need to spend the day in your pajamas with buddies. Elizabeth has already requested the same kind of party for her birthday!
Tommy is 10
Feb 17th, 2017 by ECM
A decade ago, Tommy made us parents and changed our lives for the better forever. He’s a thoughtful boy who has managed to retain a sweetness with his sisters and little cousins while still being all boy while playing outside with his friends. He loves reading, legos, WWII history (including our college textbooks), and drawing, drawing, drawing. He is my right-hand man, and I am so blessed to be his mom.
Because I hadn’t posted enough pictures of the world’s cutest niece…
Feb 14th, 2017 by ECM
The weather is so beautiful here this week, and it was so foggy and rainy last week. So much for all the Malibu photo shoots I had planned! Aria was still pretty cute regardless of the weather.
We had such a fun time with these two! We told them to come back any time, and I can almost guarantee the weather will be better (it could hardly be worse!)…
