Isn’t it often the seemingly small things that our children do that cause tears to come to our eyes and our hearts to melt?
13 Quotes from the First Week of School
As has been well documented here, our girls went back to school on Monday. For my Thursday Thirteen today, I am sharing thirteen statements or questions you would have heard around our house this week if you were a fly on our wall. To protect the guilty, I will not attribute these quotes to a particular family member, only designate them as being said by a parent or a child.
- “Only 177 days of school left!” [parent]
- “I felt like an ice cube in my classroom today.” [child]
- “The boy who sits behind me drives me crazy.” [child]
- “Do I have to get up now?” [said by child, thought by parent]
- “Why are we going to bed when it’s still light outside?” [child]
- “I didn’t understand what the teacher said.” [child]
- “Are we going to be late for school?” [again, said by child, thought by parent]
- “We had to put our heads down on our desks and rest for like an hour and it was boring.” [child]
- “I spilled some of my lunch on my clothes.” [child]
- “My teacher kept calling me by my sister’s name!” [child]
- “Where’s my white school shirt?” [child; answer from parent, “You wore it yesterday and it hasn’t been washed yet!”
- “How does this book cover fit on this book?” [parent]
- “I miss you when you’re gone all day!” [parent]
This post is linked to Thursday 13.
Making Bedtime Sweet
Do you have certain things that you do with your children every night at bedtime?
We have the usual routine of showering, getting into pajamas and brushing teeth. Even though my girls are eight and six, we still read books together before they fall asleep.
With each girl, I read aloud a chapter or portion of a chapter from a book that might be slightly above their reading level, and follow that with a section from a Bible story or devotional book. When I’m finished reading, each girl prays, then we do the hugs and kisses and lots of good nights!
For me, it’s a time of day when I’m feeling tired and so many nights just want to get them in the bed so I can have a bit of time to relax before I fall asleep myself! However, the girls tend to be quite chatty as I’m trying to exit the room, so I’m trying harder to listen and communicate with them as opposed to rushing out the door! As they get older, I want them to have fond memories of how we ended each day and recall the closeness we shared as I tucked them in at night.
If you have a special bedtime ritual in your home, please share it with us in the comments section. Making bedtime a sweet time for our family works for me!
Visit Works for Me Wednesday for more tips and ideas.
photo courtesy public domain pictures
Learning About How Our Bodies Work
We’re finishing up the last week of our summer learning program by reading about how our bodies work. Here are some of our selections from the library.
The “What’s Inside Me?” series by Dana Meachen Rau which included books on My Skin;
My Bones and My Muscles; My Lungs; My Heart and Blood; and My Brain. These were very age-appropriate for my girls and had great pictures to go along with the text.
The Respiratory System by Judith Jango-Cohen
You Can’t Smell a Flower with Your Ear! by Joanna Cole
Good Enough to Eat by Lizzy Rockwell
Healthy Eating by Cath Senker
What Happens to a Hamburger? by Paul Showers [Both girls really enjoyed this one.]
Two other books that my eight-year-old checked out for “fun” reading this week really captured her interest. She loves learning about history so Welcome to Molly’s World 1944: Growing Up in World War Two America was a big hit. She also read one of the Magic Tree House Research Guides (non-fiction) on the Titanic.
It has been a great experience following our self-created summer learning program and I’m already planning to do it again next summer. I really appreciated the fact that it gave us a set time daily for the girls to do some reading on subjects that they might not have normally chosen. It also gave each of us some quiet time to ourselves.
I plan to continue doing teaching and education-related posts each week but will now be writing them on Thursdays instead of Tuesdays. This morning I pulled out the book bags and lunch boxes and gathered the new school supplies to drop off at the open house at school this afternoon. I can no longer live in denial that the school year is starting so I must embrace it and be ready for Monday morning!
Thirteen Fun Things We Did This Summer
While summer is not officially over for several weeks, it feels as though our summer is ending now since the girls are back in school next week. We have really enjoyed the past couple of months and did a good job of maintaining a schedule that had sufficient activities, yet allowed for plenty of lazy days at home.
Here are thirteen fun things we did this summer.
1. Vacationed as a family in the mountains of Tennessee
2. Had regular swimming dates with friends
3. Made numerous trips to the library
4. Attended two Vacation Bible Schools
5. Went through our summer learning program
6. Spent a family day at the beach
7. July 4th baseball game and fireworks
8. Traveled to spend a week with family
9. Visited a safari park
10. Spent a fun afternoon with cousins
11. Turned lunch time into indoor picnics on the floor
12. Had a couple of “water fun” days with a neighbor
13. Spent most of a morning in Barnes & Noble reading books
I hope your summer has been fun-filled as well!!
This post is linked to Thursday 13.
photo courtesy public domain pictures
Adapting Our Missionary Theme This Week
We ventured to the library yesterday to get books for our missionary theme this week. I should have done more pre-planning to see what was available in case we needed to request books from one of the other county libraries. Since I didn’t, we found basically……..nothing. I thought surely they would have a David Livingstone or Amy Carmichael biography, but I was sadly mistaken. So, we went a different route. I checked out the following books for them:
Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt & Richie Hunt
Parables for Kids by Danae Dobson and Dr. James Dobson
God Has a Plan for Little Girls by Kathryn Andrews Fincher
The first two books contain short “parables” if you will, stories that children can easily relate to, yet teach a valuable truth. The third book has brief stories of real women who have been used by God. As to the missionary part, I have a biography of William Carey that is probably a bit above their reading level, so I am reading a chapter of it aloud to them each day.
On another note, while I was searching the shelves for missionary stories, my eight-year-old came over with a book, asking for permission to check it out. Lo and behold, it was a juvenile version of Romeo and Juliet! That did this Shakespeare-loving mom’s heart good!! It was one of the first books she read when we got home, then we discussed it while eating lunch. She seemed to have a pretty good grasp of it, but we went back through it together. It’s been awhile since I read it and it’s fun to have an excuse to revisit the story!
Only one more week of our summer learning program, then it’s back to school!
Our Girls
Those of you who read here regularly know that I don’t post a lot of pictures of my girls – just my own type of “Internet phobia,” I guess. However, I did want to share these few that my brother-in-law took several weeks ago when we were visiting family.
Here’s my”baby,” our sweet six-year-old, who has been wanting to have her long hair cut into a bob, but, as haircut day approaches tomorrow, is changing her tune.
My precious eight-year old who is growing up way too fast! She’s moving back into the “growing out my bangs” phase that makes me crazy for months as I try to keep it out of her face!
I thank God for these blessings He has given us! My brother-in-law takes some great pictures; you can view some of his nature photos here and here. My sister will never have to pay a professional photographer to get great shots of her kids!
Learning About Famous Americans
We’re reading about famous Americans this week in our summer learning program.
Helen Keller
Benjamin Franklin
Paul Revere
Thomas Alva Edison
Florence Nightingale by Shannon Zemlicka
John Chapman: The Man Who Was Johnny Appleseed by Carol Greene
George Washington by James Cross Giblin
Meet George Washington by Patricia A. Pingry
For I Know Him….
Genesis 18:19 “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”
This is the fourth of my five favorite Bible verses related to parenting. When I first considered this verse some years ago, my dad immediately came to mind. He has always been a wise and Godly father who has a close walk with the Lord and I am truly thankful for him. I believe that the first part of the verse could apply to him just as it did to Abraham.
Once we had our own children, my hope was that the same could be said of us as parents. What a blessing it would be for God to say of us that He could trust that we would bring our children up in His ways, teaching them His commandments. That is quite a lofty goal, yet truly our heart’s desire. May this overarching principle guide me daily in the decisions I make and the life I lead before our daughters.
Flowers, Trees and More
It’s back to our summer learning schedule this week after taking some time off for our trip to visit family. Our theme for this week is flowers and trees (or things closely related to that).
Here are some books we checked out at the library yesterday.
How Plants Grow by Angela Royston
Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Marian B. Jacobs
Amazing Rain Forest by Ted O’Hare
From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer
Dandelion Adventures by L. Patricia Kite
Sunflowers Up Close by Katie Franks
The Desert Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Tropical Rain Forests by Emilie U. Lepthien
A Dandelion’s Life by John Himmelman
It’s so hard to believe that the girls will be heading back to school in just four weeks! I pulled out some addition and subtraction flashcards today and had them review some math facts as part of their “school” time. I also noticed that I need to work with my youngest a bit on her handwriting so that her teacher will be able to read her printing when she gets to class!