LHFHG - Unit 5

This curriculum just keeps getting better!  Yes it has been almost a month since we started back in Unit 4 of LHFHG, but we've definitely been enjoying our journey!  In late August/early September we ventured into potty training for Sophia (which was very successful I might add), camping and the beginning of our extracurricular activities.  But, we're still weird!  Not unsocialized, but definitely still weird!  ;)

Annabelle has ballet on Mondays, Community Bible Study (for ALL of us) on Wednesdays, choir on Wednesdays (at night) and an art class on Friday.  While Annabelle attends choir on Wednesday evenings and Sophia gets to play with Ms. Becky and Ms. Eva (she LOVES them), I get the privilege of making our very own Jesse Tree (to help us celebrate advent this year) through a workshop at the church.

Annabelle is truly enjoying everything, though I am convinced that the Community Bible Study is by far her favorite!  And even Sophia is enjoying herself as she sings her Bible verse right along with me and her big sister.  Sophia talks constantly about her teachers, "Miss Manda and Miss Awison (aka Ms. Amanda and Ms. Allison).

Annabelle was coloring with colored pencils while I read the Bible Story of Pharaoh chasing the Israelites and God parting the Red Sea (Exodus 14:5-8, 21-31).  And when the story said, "Then the pillar of cloud went behind them and stood between the Egyptians and the Israelites," I grabbed the colored pencils and used them as props.  The white colored pencil is the pillar of cloud that went before the Israelites after God parted the Red Sea (blue colored pencils).  The brown colored pencil is the path of dry land.  The silver mechanical pencil is the Israelites.  The gray colored pencil is the dark pillar of cloud in front of the Egyptians.  And, the Hello Kitty pencil in the very back represents the Egyptians.  She really enjoyed the props, and the story lines regarding the pillars of cloud made a lot more sense to me when I illustrated the story using these props!

During this unit we made our own golden calves using edible peanut butter play dough that we made from scratch!  And, yes, we even ate them!  This was the artistic expression activity to go along with the people making idols out of gold while Moses was on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32:1-4, 19-20, 30-34).  So since Moses melted the gold and made them drink the gold, we ate ours too.  Though our golden calves did not taste bitter.  As we were making the golden calves, Annabelle asked if we were going to put them in water and drink them (just as Moses made them do).

LHFHG - Unit 4

We kicked off Unit 4 today.  We studied Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers.  The girls used paper plates and paint to design their very own Egyptian collars.  Here they are sporting their Egyptian collars for Daddy when he arrived home!

These girls sure do love each other!



Annabelle adorned hers with jewels.

I can see after today's math lesson that I am going to have to be very patient with my type A personality child.  As we worked on today's lesson in math, she lined up dry erase markers to write the corresponding number on a marker board to coincide with an action performed (touching toes, jumping jacks, sit ups, etc.).  I didn't notice she was using the markers in a "pattern" until we were almost finished with the lesson.  As a result, I grabbed the "wrong" marker to assist her, and we both became very frustrated with the lesson.  I definitely have to find that balance of extending grace as her mom but yet exerting authority as her teacher.

During our storytime lesson in The Adventures of Reddy Fox today, she was quick to note which animals in the picture were able to swim.  This may not sound like much of an accomplishment, but I myself could not figure out what type of animals were pictured when I looked through the lesson last night.  It took me a good 5-10 minutes to realize that the otter and mink pictured could swim (even though I didn't know they were an otter and a mink) simply because they were standing on a rock in the middle of the water.  As for my 5 year old, she figured it out immediately this afternoon, and that was her very same reasoning!  Isn't it amazing the things a 5 year old can figure out through logic?

And I've also introduced a new method of teaching reading.  I decided to follow Charlotte Mason's method of teaching reading, so I have switched to a whole language method versus completely phonics.  Charlotte Mason does use a little phonics, but her method mainly focuses on the words as symbols.  And, so far, after only a few days of lessons, she knows how to read and spell rain, eagle and brain.  Those are the ones I have drilled her on at least.  I did introduce drain and train as well.  This method seems to be holding her interest a little more than The Reading Lesson.  I am seeing that Annabelle needs a more hands on approach to learning to read.  Here is a blog entry by Barefoot Voyage describing a child's first reading lessons using Charlotte Mason.  This method just makes so much sense to me.  Though every child is different so we will see!

Swim Lessons

Annabelle started swim lessons this week through our county's parks and recreation system.  The lessons are supposed to be three days per week for three consecutive weeks.  Unfortunately, we will have to miss next week as I have signed Annabelle up for a music camp through our church.  But she has already made great progress considering the girl could not stand to get her face wet in the shower.

I had originally signed her up for the Level I class, but after she attended that class on Monday and I talked to another mom in the class with a young girl just a little bit older than Annabelle, we both decided to move our girls into the Preschool class.  I am so glad I made that decision!  She was dunking her entire head underwater by the second day and blowing bubbles!  And the Level I class almost doubled by the second day!  On the first day there were 7 children to the one instructor, but by Thursday (the last day) there were 10 children in the class.  There would have been 12 if our two girls hadn't moved down to the Preschool class.  I would not have been too thrilled that there was only 1 instructor to 12 children!  When I signed up for this class, I was told that there would be an instructor for every 5 children.  Obviously, you pay for what you get!  I think next year I will sign her up for private lessons.  But this has already served its purpose for this year since she is not scared to dunk her entire head underwater.

Here she is practicing her kicking with her face planted in the water blowing bubbles.

Annabelle working on her floating technique.

Annabelle blowing more bubbles again!

I am so proud of my big girl!  She has already learned more about swimming than her own mommy!  She is so eager to teach me how to blow bubbles underwater.  And she has made a new friend, Sienna, during this journey as well!

Kindergarten Favorites

We are only a few weeks into our Kindergarten curriculum with Heart of Dakota, but I asked Annabelle this evening what she enjoys most.  She actually surprised me with her first choice as I didn't think she was a huge fan of history at first!  These are her selections in order from her most favorite to her least favorite.

1.  History (because she gets to read the Bible)
2.  Reddy Fox (aka Storytime)
3.  Devotionals, particularly Little Visits with God ("because it is like reading the Bible.")
4.  The Reading Lesson
5.  Math
6.  Handwriting

She studies science too, but I think she is lumping that in with the history lesson.  Annabelle loves reading her Bible.  She would read her Bible all day long if I didn't encourage her to read other books for pleasure.  Her love for the Bible began with The Beginner's Bible.  We bought her that first Bible for Easter 2011.  I personally think the characters are a little funny looking, but it is definitely one of her favorites!  Fortunately, the Easter Bunny brought her The Jesus Storybook Bible for Easter this year.  And that is also a new favorite for her!

LHFHG - Unit 2

Today we studied Adam and Eve, sin and their exit from the Garden of Eden.  We discussed that Adam and Eve were separated from God because of their sin.  And that we too can separate ourselves from God if we continue to sin and do not repent and work hard to change our sinful ways.

For our "Thinking Game" today, we masked off a box on the floor to represent our Garden of Eden.  Annabelle helped mask off our Garden of Eden, and it was a great lesson on measurement.  We started to use the yellow markings on the floor to determine the length of our rectangle, but then Annabelle decided she wanted her Garden of Eden to be square.  So we pulled out the ruler to properly design our Garden of Eden.

Annabelle pet her "lion" in the garden.  I wish I could take credit for her grabbing Shadow as a prop, but this was all the imagination of a 5 year old!

And she rocked her favorite (very, very well loved) baby doll, Adie, in the Garden of Eden.

I loved how she chose to rock Adie in the Garden of Eden.  This direction was not included in the guide.  Annabelle thought this one up on her own.  Though she doesn't understand it, I just pictured that one day those mothers who have lost children before birth or even those who have lost babies will once again rock their babies in heaven.  Those babies that they may have never held here on earth.  I also loved how she connected rocking a baby as a happy thing.  Do you see the joy in her eyes?

Though I don't have pictures of some of the activities outside of the Garden of Eden, she did also work hard digging outside of the garden, walked sadly around the edge of the garden and cried outside of the garden.  She learned that life outside of the garden is definitely hard at times, but that one day if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we will live happily ever after in heaven with God and Jesus.

LHFHG Unit 1 - Continued

I'm posting this entry almost two months later!  It is amazing how much I forget if I don't post something immediately.  And I even had plenty of pictures to help jog my memory!

Annabelle, you are a handful my dear!  It was after today's lesson, Unit 1 - Day 4, that I posted an entry on the Heart of Dakota forum titled "Dawdling Child Drags out Lessons" to seek advice from more experienced homeschooling moms. 

For today's lesson, we pulled out a blue and brown piece of construction paper.  You wrote the number five on the blue piece of paper and the number six on the brown piece of paper.  I called out names of land animals and water animals and you were instructed to hop, crawl, creep, swim, etc. across the blue paper for water animals and the brown paper for land animals.  The numbers written on the papers represented the fifth (blue for the fish and birds) and sixth (brown for the land animals) days of God's creation.

Being the dawdling and creative child that you are, you promptly left the room when I called out "flamingo."  And you came back dressed appropriately as a flamingo!  It is no wonder it takes us 45 minutes to get through a typical 15 minute lesson on many days!

LHFHG Unit 1 - Kindergarten!

We began our official Kindergarten journey almost two weeks ago on Monday, May 14th.  Unfortunately, the stomach bug from Saturday turned into strep throat by Friday.  Our first day of Kindergarten was a huge success, but then the illness got the best of both of us, and I wanted to throw in the towel completely on everything, including being a mom!  It is always a huge relief to realize the exhaustion is a result of an illness because it is during those times that I doubt everything including homeschooling, expanding our family and mommyhood.

Annabelle's favorite part of school is storytime!  There is no question on that one.  My plan is to complete Little Hearts for His Glory half-speed with Annabelle.  I do, however, plan to do the Phonics and Fine Motor Skills full-speed (daily).  And based on Annabelle's interest, I suspect we'll be doing storytime at full-speed as well.  She LOVES the Thornton Burgess books!

This week Annabelle learned that there are seven continents, and she learned the names of all seven continents using the "Rhymes in Motion."  Here the girls are hopping like kangaroos to Australia singing to the tune of "Skip to My Lou."  Annabelle had originally grabbed the two bunnies that Sophia is holding to use as her kangaroo and joey.  She then lovingly shared with her little sister.

We are using the recommended Singapore Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics 2A and 2B for Annabelle's Kindergarten year.  There are a lot of hands-on activities included in the Little Hearts for His Glory guide to coincide with the Singapore lessons.  This week she traced her numbers and then placed the corresponding number of stickers on each traced number.  This is definitely not new math  to her at all, but I understand that Singapore advances fairly quickly in the next few years, so we are going to follow the guide for now in hopes that we build a solid foundation for math in these early years.

I also filled a Ziplock bag with dishwashing liquid, and she used this to practice writing her numbers as she counted her My Little Ponies.  We were supposed to only practice writing the numbers one through five, but we had twelve ponies to work with, so she counted and formed her numbers up to twelve.  Again, we are just covering the basics for Annabelle, but Heart of Dakota makes learning so much fun that she isn't bored with the activities.  And, yes, she climbed up onto our dining room table to do math because "Grandmama let me do it."

Annabelle (and Mommy too!) also really enjoyed the Artistic Expression box for this week.  We walked our pencils in lines in large motions on white paper, and we then colored each section created by the lines using black and gray colored pencils and/or crayons.  It created the look of a collage.  Then, we drew an outline of a cross on yellow paper and glued it to our collage.  Annabelle added a picture of Jesus dying on the cross.  The key idea for this lesson was that Jesus is at the center of history.  We really had a lot of fun being artistic this week!

For our dramatic play this week, the person holding the flashlight in the middle was pretending to be the sun, and the person circling the "sun" was the "earth."  The third being just had to join in on the fun since whenever Daddy lays down on his back, one of the little people in our house always finds it necessary to jump up and down on his belly!  As the "earth" completed a circle around the "sun," we sang "Happy Birthday Dear Earth...You are now [one, two, three, etc.] years old."  How novel is that?  Heart of Dakota adds the creativity and fun to our daily lessons!  And this lesson coincided with our history lesson for the day.

I love this next picture where Daddy is pointing to himself because he is now "three years old!"  Even Daddy gets to join in on the fun!

Annabelle also enjoyed memorizing her Bible verse for this week.  Since we are doing Heart of Dakota at half-speed, I have added in a daily devotional from Little Visits with God by Allan Hart Jahsmann and Martin P. Simon.  This book was actually mine when I was a young child.  They were dear to my heart as a child, and I actually requested that my mom pass these onto me when Annabelle was a baby.  She has enjoyed them ever since.  We use this devotional on the days that we aren't using Devotions for the Children's Hour by Kenneth N. Taylor.  We are also trying to get Daddy involved in the memory of scripture by including him in the daily scripture memory games.  

Stay tuned...I am going to update this post on our 1st week of Kindergarten over the next few days, so hopefully you'll see some new pictures and text to this blog post.

Strep Throat

Annabelle and I both have strep throat.  This is yet another first for Annabelle (and I wish last, but that is doubtful)!  Annabelle has apparently had it since last Saturday or at least that is when the symptoms began to show.  Though I didn't realize until yesterday when my own sore throat and fever were not lessening that we both probably had strep.  (I started getting sick myself on Wednesday).  I checked her throat and noticed it was red and swollen with white spots and I was completely convinced.  I called the doctor immediately without hesitation which is very odd for me to do as I very much do not like to spend $80+ to find out my children have a virus.

I forgot how absolutely horrible and painful this can be.  Though apparently I am the only one in complete misery!  If only adults could fight illnesses like a child...running full speed ahead with a temperature of 100+ degrees with only the occasional complaint of a sore throat.

Annabelle's symptoms started last Saturday when she woke up at 4 a.m. complaining of a tummy ache and sore throat.  She then spent the next six hours vomiting.  And then she seemed fine besides the typical puniness.  I thought her throat had been sore from the vomiting since she only had acid on her stomach when she first started vomiting.  Apparently I was wrong!

She gradually got better, then she got puny again after her ballet dress rehearsal on Wednesday.  But she still didn't complain of a sore throat again.  She even performed beautifully for her ballet recital on Thursday!  I guess the dose of Tylenol an hour before the recital did the trick.  I never would have exposed all of those children if I had known she had strep throat!  I really didn't understand what was going on because the only time I ever noticed a fever was Saturday night when she woke up from a night terror.

But now we are both attempting to recover with our free meds of Amoxicillin from Publix!  Thank goodness for free prescriptions!  There is nothing worse than paying $118.45 for a visit to the doctor for yourself to get a prescription when you already know you have strep throat because your daughter was already diagnosed earlier that morning.  The kicker is that my rapid strep test actually showed up negative!  Fortunately the doctor still prescribed the meds since he said it looked just like strep throat.

Annabelle's pediatrician also checked Sophia which I wasn't counting on.  The rapid strep test showed up negative for her.  I should have just refused as that will just cost me another office visit for her as well.  Apparently, children under the age of 3 rarely get strep throat.  It is more common in children between the ages of 5 and 10 years of age.

Aaahhh!  The joys of a school age child!  $250+ later!

Though I sound like I am complaining the entire post, I do actually see the silver lining.  I am still in a lot of pain myself and my patience with the kids is absolutely horrible, but I know if Annabelle had not shared the love (as the lab tech at the pediatrician's office asked her), I would have never known she had strep throat until she only got worse.  I guess God does work in mysterious ways!

Box Day!

In the homeschooling world, when new curriculum arrives in the mail, it is known as box day!  It is at this time that the homeschooling parent and child get to sift through all of the new materials.
We celebrated our Box Day today!  I finally decided that Annabelle was placed in a guide a little too young for her.  It pained me to move on up as Little Hands to Heaven is such a sweet guide.  It would have been perfect when Annabelle was 3 or 4 years old, but she needs to be challenged just a little bit more, and I could sense the boredom with her "school Bible."

So I placed my order Tuesday evening, it shipped early Wednesday morning, and we received it today!  Heart of Dakota's customer service is exceptional!

Annabelle has been suffering from a stomach bug today, but she was still so anxious to open the box despite her aching tummy.  She didn't want to wait!

Despite all of the new goodies and new chapter books (and she loves her some chapter books), she was a bit disappointed that her new "school Bible" had not yet arrived.  I ordered the Bible from a different vendor, so it should arrive by Monday or Tuesday.  But, she mentioned that she is more excited about her new Bible than any of the rest of it.  Annabelle loves her some Bible!  If you ask her, it is truly her favorite book.  The girl cannot get enough of it!

Here are pictures of our Box Day for Heart of Dakota's Little Hearts for His Glory.  I am so very anxious to get started with this new curriculum for her official start to Kindergarten.  I really think she is going to like it.

And the placement of the box on top of her head was completely her idea!  But it made for a really cute picture!  Crazy girl! 

LHTH Unit 4 - Isaac and His Sons

I finally feel like we are in a routine! I know, it has only taken me months to figure this out! The peace I feel with this curriculum is absolutely amazing. I had my mind set on using Heart of Dakota for Annabelle's Pre-K year only, and then I planned to switch to My Father's World in the Fall 2012 for her Kindergarten year. I originally wanted to use My Father's World from the beginning for even her Pre-K year, but I truly think God had other plans for us.

When we first started using the Little Hands to Heaven guide back in the Fall, I began every lesson reading the Bible scripture listed from The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, The Beginner's Bible AND my NIV Life Application Study Bible. And then somewhere along the way I decided to add my new favorite Bible, The Message. But then I realized we were never able to get through the lessons within the 30 minutes or less average time because we had so much to read! It probably took 30 minutes alone to read all of the different versions of the Bible. Of course, she loved reading all of the different versions, and she truly understands so much even from my NIV version. I am actually quite concerned that her favorite story when we first started was Cain and Abel from my NIV Life Application Study Bible.

So I changed the scope this week and last, and we only read from her "school Bible" (The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes). Until I realized that she remembered more about the Bible than I did! We were reading "Jacob Lies to His Father," and I was trying to explain the picture to her. This was another one of those cases where Mommy was talking too much. I pointed at the goat skins that had been placed on Jacob's arms and told Annabelle that his arms were probably not that hairy as it was probably just part of his clothing. "I know Mommy," she said as she began to rattle something else off that I dismissed. "I'll show you Mommy. It is in my other Bible. Can I show you?" I agreed. She brought the Bible to me and I learned that Jacob's mother, Rebekah, had tied goatskins around Jacob's arms so that Isaac would think Jacob was Esau. And I just read Genesis back in September in our Disciple I Bible Study! If only I had the memory of a child!

So this morning (Wednesday) we changed things up a bit. Last night (Tuesday), I read through the Bible passage in my NIV Life Application Study Bible first just so I was completely familiar with the lesson again. Then this morning (Wednesday) during breakfast, I read the previous day's lesson from the NIV Life Application Study Bible to her. She listened intently, and she truly seemed to follow what I was reading. And then again on Friday, I tweaked our routine again. I made sure I had my breakfast before the girls, so while they ate, I read the scripture from all 3 Bibles. That really seemed to work the best despite the fact that the little one cannot keep her mouth shut at all while I am reading anything. And she is so loud! Very, very different from Annabelle at this age!

We worked again on our number page that I designed for Annabelle to trace the number for the unit we are studying as well as the written form of the number. This helps not only with number formation (which she really already has down pat), but it also helps her develop some sight words along the way. She already knows how to spell the numbers one, two and now four. Yes, we skipped three as I didn't actually think of encouraging this until I read this suggestion while working on phonics using The Reading Lesson. She is anxious to learn how to spell the number three now.

She also cut out a picture of two women, one man and one boy. The activity in the LHTH guide called for four women, but Annabelle decided to use the aforementioned to resemble Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah.


And wearing her tea party hat during school is yet another joy of homeschooling!


She decided to copy the words from one of the school workbooks used with the K curriculum titled "Do It Carefully." She has loved to write ever since she learned how to form letters at the age of 3 years.

We wrote our names and then tried to hide them as Jacob had done when he pretended to be Esau to get Esau's blessings from their father Isaac. We learned that it is better to just be ourselves! I can already tell who is going to be the better liar of my two girls. As you can see, I never was a good liar at anything! That explains why I kicked the windshield out of my parent's car as a teenager with my mom sitting in the backseat and immediately said, "A rock hit it! But I'll pay for it!"  Believe me, I paid for it alright! My measly savings was depleted, and I do believe I received the silent treatment from my mom for a week! She doesn't remember giving me the silent treatment though. But I forgive her and thank her for a lesson learned!  And just for the record, there is much, much more to that story as I was actually a very, very good teenager.  My parents do not even know how good they really had it!


For one of the math activities this week, we pretended to be Jacob and jumped from our masking tape D's to Rachel (aka Big Girl) to see who could jump the farthest. This activity was written to compare the jumps using words such as shorter, farther, and closest. Key Idea from the LHTH guide: "Jacob traveled a long distance before he met Rachel." She is already very familiar with these words, but she still really enjoyed the activity, and I think it drove home the Bible story even more. We used different colored Legos to mark our jumps. It was Annabelle's idea to use the Legos.



And Sophia joined in on the fun too! And the best part, I just noticed this week that Sophia has actually started jumping with her feet actually leaving the floor! So I was able to capture one of her firsts for this week on camera.




And we pretended to be Jacob and the angel by wrestling an inflated balloon back and forth. We tried it first standing up, and we then tried it sitting down to illustrate how hard it was for Jacob to wrestle with God after his leg had been injured. Oh the joy in her eyes was wonderful!


And she thought it was hilarious that I captured an up close picture of the balloon, so she insisted that I get an even more up close and personal picture. Crazy girl!


And Jacob (aka Raggedy Andy) wrestled with the angel (aka Bunny). Annabelle chose Raggedy Andy to be her Jacob because she needed a boy for Jacob.  Her Raggedy Ann (compliments of Nonnie) and Raggedy Andy (compliments of Grandmama) have become favorites in our household in the last month. We have just recently completed reading Raggedy Ann Stories by Johnny Gruelle and have moved onto Raggedy Andy Stories by Johnny Gruelle to use as our daily read aloud. We read a story from the book a day during Sophia's naptime though she often begs for more. These are truly wonderful classics to be loved by all little girls!


And Sophia got to do the simple joy of ripping up the masking tape D's and C off the carpet. She ripped these up for me on Saturday, and Sissy has yet to notice!

LHTH Unit 3 - God Blesses Abraham

So we are not very far along on our homeschooling journey, but we are (hopefully) getting into the swing of things now. I am feeling completely at peace with the curriculum I have chosen for Annabelle. The guide I chose is a bit simple for her as it is geared for 2-5 year olds, but the Biblical aspect is so very rich that I do not want to skip it! So we are just beefing up the lessons a bit. In my opinion, I think 4-4.5 years old would be the perfect time to teach the lessons in the Little Hands to Heaven guide. Of course, every child is different.

This unit we learned how God blessed Abraham. Above, the girls are acting out the three men from heaven sent to Abraham. Annabelle did not want to be Abraham for some reason, so Sophia received the honorary role. Annabelle is one of the three men from heaven. She told the one acting as Abraham (aka Sophia) that God was going to give him a son. Sarah is right outside her tent (aka sand box) in the background laughing. If you don't remember the story, reread Genesis 18:1-10.

I was able to expand on the lesson for this day as I found information online on customary meals and practices during Abraham's time. We enjoyed bread (aka sandwich thins), honey, olive oil, raisins, cheese and milk for our lunch with Abraham and the three visitors under a tree. We did not use any silverware, and we washed our hands after eating. Annabelle reminded me that we forgot to wash our hands before lunch as was customary back then. And now for that matter! Oops! I doubt Abraham had a very cute tea tray and cute serving dishes back in his time though! Not to mention, he lived in a tent, so I doubt any brick houses were in sight!

I plan to update this post within the next week with more pictures from this lesson. It was such a fun and God honoring lesson!

We've also been chugging away on The Reading Lesson. Annabelle is currently studying Lesson 2. There are twenty lessons total, but each lesson is approximately 20 pages long. The recommended pace for a 5 year old is only 2-3 pages per day. I have been so impressed with how well she is doing so far. We started reading short sentences this week with consonant-vowel-consonant words (page 2-9), and she actually comprehended the story that she read without me even asking her to narrate. These are some very exciting and amazing times!

Callaway Gardens

We visited Callaway Gardens today as I had learned from a neighbor that admission was free during the months of January and February. We all had a blast despite the drizzly weather. Sophia did not nap until we were exiting the park. And we also got gated in (dead bolt and all) as we didn't leave the park until after 6 p.m. Fortunately, we found a phone number on a pamphlet, so hubby called to get help. They directed us to another exit with a gate arm that lifted.

I learned later in the week that Annabelle was actually worried that we would not be able to exit the park. On the Wednesday following our Callaway Gardens adventure on Tuesday, Annabelle attended a Bible Study at the church where she learned that she needed to let God do the worrying. They asked the children what worries were on their mind, and Annabelle had told them that she was worried that we would be stuck in the park last night. Neither hubby or I had a clue that she was actually worried.

On the way to Callaway Gardens, we played a game to determine who could identify the most objects along the way that began with the letter B. Hubby took the gold! And now I cannot even remember who came in second as it was definitely a close run between Annabelle and me. On the way home, we changed the letter to C. It was dark by this point though, so it was definitely more challenging. I was quite amazed at the things Annabelle identified for both letters.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from our visit. It is definitely a beautiful place! I would love to visit again soon when the azaleas are in full bloom!


And you cannot tell from the picture, but Sophia is actually wearing Annabelle's fleece. It was supposed to be in the 70's, but it was actually a bit chilly. We visited the Butterfly Center first. Sophia found some water to splash in and before I even thought twice she had soaked herself including her own fleece coat and long-sleeve onesie. Since I expected a high in the 70's, I only brought another short-sleeve onesie and jeans. So, we had to improvise. Sophia borrowed Annabelle's fleece jacket and Annabelle borrowed mine. I stayed cold most of the time because hubby decided to not bring a coat at all so he didn't have anything to pass down to me! By the looks of this picture though, I had apparently selfishly snagged my own fleece jacket for the moment.

Experience Book

While we played outside this morning and I attempted to insert some of the Bible activities from Little Hands to Heaven into our play, Annabelle got a mind of her own (as usual) and decided she wanted to make an "Experience Book" as she called it.

She ran inside and grabbed two sheets of blank copy paper (though she had requested three but got turned down by her mean mom) and stapled them together using two staples along the vertical edge. She then insisted that I tell her how to write "Experience Book" at the top of the first page. So this was a perfect opportunity for me to correct her letters formation.

After she had written "Experience Book" in blue at the top of the first page, she wanted to go back outside to record her "experiences." First, she glanced across the street at a young tree growing in a neighbor's yard. "Is that the same type of tree that is in our backyard?" she inquired. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! I realized even more at that moment how important it is to just let a young child play without the pressure of reading, writing and arithmetic. She WILL learn the three R's! But if I had pressured her into early reading and such, she would have missed out on so much! Her imagination continues to explode! And I'm astounded by her observation skills at such a young age!

We studied the two trees together, and she noticed so much! And as a result, she learned more than I could ever teach her from a textbook.

While pulling English ivy in our backyard later this afternoon, Annabelle broke down into tears! Her experience book had been pooped on by passing birds. Hubby and I both tried to calm her down by explaining that she could use this opportunity to practice her handwriting by rewriting what she had already written. And I tried to explain that this was just another experience for her. She didn't seem to buy into that one though!

By the way, she insisted that she wanted to record her findings with words. I tried to encourage her to draw pictures, but that wasn't in her plan of attack.

Valuables

If someone were to ask you...

"What is the most valuable thing you own?"

How would you respond?

Annabelle shocked us with her answer to this question in front of the entire church congregation during children's time this morning. Annabelle almost always wants to answer the questions asked. We see her hand raised and waving constantly because she is so anxious to answer any and all questions. We'll whisper to each other, "Uh oh, she's got her hand raised again." It is frightening the beans she is going to spill in front of the entire church congregation!

Well, this morning, her answer took me by complete surprise. And it literally brought tears to my eyes!

Ms. Cody (to all of the children): What is the most valuable thing you own?

Annabelle: My Bible

We laughed when we got home about how we should tell her to only respond to any of these questions in front of the entire church congregation with Jesus, God, Lord, or Bible. But, we've never had this conversation with her. Her answer was honest and sincere. The girl LOVES her Bible, and she cries at night if she doesn't complete her chores fast enough to read the Bible every single evening. I had decided that maybe it wasn't right for me to take the Bible reading away from her at night since it is so important to read the Bible often. But I've learned that she'll dawdle long enough to forgo anything else, but if the Bible isn't read due to time constraints, it hits home with her.

I know. I am a horrible mom to take away something so precious from her. And I am really struggling with this. So, I need to figure out something that is going to upset her enough to do away with the constant dawdling. And I don't want her privilege to read the Bible to be it. Any ideas?

Wired

I have never seen the energy level of a child escalate at bedtime as much as my Annabelle. Granted, I haven't been around that many children at bedtime, but the girl seems to get ants in her pants every evening right around 7 p.m. The jumping on the bed only occurs every night after 7 p.m. Literally.

This is not anything new. And I have ALWAYS (well, almost always) struggled with this with her. And, yes, I am sure it is something I have done wrong in the past because I am sure someone out there will make that claim. But, comparing my two children, I believe this just has a lot to do with her personality.

She's a big dawdler. That is probably definitely a discipline issue based on her age. But, she has a very difficult time staying focused. Again, I am certain this is an age and discipline issue. And I think the two go hand and hand along with blatant disobedience. Again, disobedience is obviously a discipline issue. So it IS obviously something I've done wrong! :)

I made her these awesome chore cards. I got this fantastic idea from Our Family for His Glory. This young mom of six children has the most amazing ideas for raising Godly children. I absolutely adore her blog!

And the chore cards have actually worked out quite nicely as Annabelle is actually very excited to grab her chore cards to get started in the morning and in the evening. The nagging has greatly decreased which makes for a much happier mommy. On some days, she has actually been dressed and ready for breakfast (including having already emptied the dishwasher) within 30 minutes of rising. And this is a HUGE accomplishment from the 1-1.5 hours that it usually takes her. As for bedtime, she is definitely much faster with the chore cards, but she is definitely still a work in progress.

But, this system doesn't work out so well when she loses the chore cards, and we can find them absolutely nowhere for over a week! I did finally find them this evening, and I'm not really sure who was the true culprit...the absent minded 5-year old or the tag-along almost 2-year old who wants to do everything that her big sister is doing. I think I am going to have to make Sophia her own set of chore cards so she'll leave her sister's cards alone!

As for the rowdiness, I cannot seem to figure out how to end this battle. I have hope that we will figure it out. We've come a long way with her in the past 6 months. The whining is definitely beginning to dwindle, and she is much kinder and more understanding with her sister.

As for me, my patience has been shot! I'm pretty sure I lost all patience I ever had when I got pregnant with Sophia back in July 2009.

Does anyone have any tips for disciplining and changing the bad habit of dawdling? Any help is greatly appreciated!

One Big Onion

We studied a one page spread from our November issue of God's World News today. We learned about a man who claimed a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for growing the world's biggest onion.

So this afternoon while we were waiting for Sophia to wake up from her nap, Annabelle and I weighed items using our bathroom scale to find items weighing the same amount as the onion (17 lbs, 15.5 ozs).


Annabelle wanted to see just how much that onion weighed!

We also pulled out a world map to find where the onion had been grown. This was all learning in disguise! She had an absolute blast!

The Reading Lesson

I know, I've appeared from absolutely nowhere! I guess I took a sabbatical from blogging.

I decided that perhaps I should start teaching Annabelle a little more to get her ready for reading. So we started using The Reading Lesson today. It went well, though I'm not sure it was entirely worth the money. We will see.

I have learned that I need to focus more on the short vowel sounds. She has the -a- as in alligator down pat, but she struggles with the other vowels. Vowels are hard to teach! She used to know most of her consonants, but based on discussions with her lately, I can tell she needs a refresher course. Our first lesson in Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven focuses on A as in -a-a-Adam. Even little Sophia has the -a- sound down pat! She places her hands on her cheeks and says, "A-A-Adam." So cute!

Here is the first stanza of the fingerplay from Heart of Dakota so you'll know what I'm talking about:

A-A-Adam! Hands on cheeks in surprise
Can you believe? Hands out, palms up
God made animals Point out sweeping arm across
And you and me? Point out and then to yourself

I've been questioning whether the Little Hands to Heaven guide is too simple for Annabelle's age, but I am feeling more confident that it is the right fit for her now. Some things are obviously too simple, but I don't think the reinforcement can do any harm, and I LOVE how she's learning to hide God's word in her heart through the lessons. Honestly, I am learning how to hide God's word in my heart alongside her.

I think I am going to switch gears with using The Reading Lesson though. I may pick it up occasionally, but my heart has found another method that I absolutely love. Though I haven't purchased anything to use this particular method yet. I don't plan to start more formal reading lessons until she is 6 years old. My heart is telling me to follow the Charlotte Mason approach and use Delightful Reading. It just makes so much sense to me! In the mean time, I am going to approach reading readiness using the methods explained in these blog posts from Simply Charlotte Mason.

An American Girl Christmas

Apparently, when your daughter reaches the ripe old age of 5 years, someone in the system miraculously knows she turned 5 and begins to send American Girl catalogs. I just want to know who sold Annabelle's birthday and address to American Girl?

Annabelle's "Dear Santa, I want..." consists of nine items. Three of those items are Hallmark "princess" ornaments. The other six...well...those were all cut out from the Christmas American Girl catalog. And, folks, these things aren't cheap!

Fortunately, she's not asking for an American Girl doll because "I've already got Big Girl." Big Girl is her knock off American Girl designed by Madame Alexander that Nonnie bought her for Christmas several years ago.

And as for any other Christmas wishes, "I'm going to let Santa decide on the rest." She stated this as she finished gluing the pictures of her wants to her "Dear Santa" letter.

The following conversation was just had with Annabelle when she came out for her midnight potty break:

Annabelle: Mommy, tell him that the big, big presents don't have to go inside.

Mommy: What big present are you talking about?

Annabelle: The lemonade stand.

I guess she hasn't figured out the lemonade stand is actually doll size!


Following is her American Girl wish list with prices noted:

1. Snowshoe Set $28

2. Salon Chair $58

3. Salon Styling Caddy $49

4. Kanani's Shave Ice Stand $115

5. Fairy Costume Accessories $20

6. Kit's Scooter $24

And, honestly, her list isn't too extravagant at all (especially if you've seen all of the stuff in the catalog). I told her that she needs to mark a number next to her wants in order from most favorite to least favorite. I tried to explain to her that Santa cannot bring her everything she wants because Mommy and Daddy actually have to pay Santa. Of course, she did say, "I think Santa is going to bring me everything I want!" Boy, she is going to be sadly mistaken!

And by the way, the salon chair and salon styling caddy are quite appropriate as Annabelle has already decided on a future profession. She wants to work at Piccadilly as a hair stylist! I kid you not! She told me a long story several months ago about how she's going to be a hair stylist at the cafeteria restaurant, Piccadilly. If you come to eat at Piccadilly, you are required to have your hair styled. Though you aren't to pay for the hair style service. Her future profession as a pro bono hair stylist is going to keep this nest full!

B.F.F.

Memories (or at least the ones I can remember in my old age) with my best friend are some of my fondest! Continuous walks around the neighborhood. Swimming. Cooking. Beach trips. Non-stop talking. Inside jokes (R.P.C.B.P.C.A.B.).

There is just something about developing that best friend relationship with your neighbor who lives across the street. You are constantly together. You have dinner at each other's house often. Her mom becomes your "other mom" and vice versa.

Annabelle is growing up! And along with growing up she is developing friendships. But she has found her "favorite friend" as she called her last week. Someone that will actually play with the poor child whenever she requests it. Within the past month, she exclaimed to me, "I just love her!" shortly after her new best friend left to go home.

Some days she sheds tears when Elizabeth leaves or she has to come in for dinner. But we're working on controlling those emotions.

Annabelle has truly found her first best friend. Elizabeth is almost 3 years older than Annabelle, but they play so very well together.

My heart actually aches at the thought of moving now. Even though we could definitely use more space, I know that Annabelle would be heartbroken. I wonder if some people never find their true best friend.

I wonder if God is whispering to us gently, urging us to stay here. On Halloween, as we were trekking through the neighborhood, I took Sophia trick-or-treating to my favorite house in the neighborhood just so I could ask the owner who built their house. It was a tear down and rebuild a few years ago. The owner said, "That is the builder leaving right now." The builder was the owner's friend, and as we walked to the front door, we had passed the builder who was in the driveway with his wife buckling their little girl into her car seat. Yes, the owner and builder are friends, but isn't that ever so strange?

It is bitter sweet to watch Annabelle grow up, but it is such a blessing to know that she is developing a friendship with a very sweet, young Christian girl.

And this evening, Annabelle has joined their family for pizza and movie night.

Oddly enough, my best friend was three years younger than me and lived directly across the street from me.

It's Spooky to be Hungry

Our church held a food drive this weekend. We distributed the bags last weekend to 50 of our fellow neighbors. We collected any filled bags this weekend. Annabelle had an absolute blast! Though she's still learning to not ask the neighbors if they are planning to participate.


We collected 10 filled bags, and most of them were actually from neighbors we don't even know! That is awesome! Annabelle and hubby have gone to the church this afternoon to work the food drive. This is Annabelle's very first community service project.

This is homeschooling at its best! I enjoyed the service projects I participated in during high school and college more than anything. They both can learn so much from helping others!