We bid daddy and baby brother farewell and away we went.  We rocked out to Newsboys on the way (Evan working on his air drum skills in the backseat) and chatted about the half moon high in the sky, how he could see “dust” on the moon and maybe even an astronaut if we looked hard enough.  Rockets were thrown in there somewhere too, naturally.  Finally, we made it to the “big brown building” and Evan immediately was ready to sip a “big boy drink.”  Also known as steamed milk with a shot of caramel at just the right “kid temperature.”  Mom chose hot tea.  We make our way to the children’s book section, warm drinks in hand, and began our exploration. Evan fingers various books and toys and stops every few minutes to sip his drink. An adorable sight. We finally picked a book and sat in “the hundred acre wood” to enjoy it.  Amelia Bedelia was our selection.  I used to love those books as a kid.

Finished reading, we wondered over to the train set for awhile but even that didn’t last long. We had so much fun looking at all of the book displays.  He’d point out books that we had at home and ones that he wanted to have at home.  Happily, I managed to sneak a couple of books under my arm without him noticing the titles.  Christmas is coming.

At last, our book excursion was done…until next time.  The ride home was filled with lively conversation with my little man.  What a fantastic “date night.”

http://www.comewhatmaythemovie.com

Our latest find is a very heartwarming tale about three trees who have their own ideas of what they want to become.  But someone had other plans for them, humble plans, that proved to be bigger than anything they could have imagined for themselves. That’s just like God, isn’t it?  We might have our own ideas of what we will be one day, but God’s plan for our lives are often much bigger than we realize.

Read it.  It’s a wonderful story.

The Tale of Three Trees, a Traditional Folktale retold by Angela Elwell Hunt

We all want our children to be those children that others like to be around.  They always say please and thank you.  They say “excuse me” when they’d like to speak.  They never push or rough-house.  They are always kind and gentle and respectful.  And then…we wake up.  Children in general do not fit this bill…especially boys.

Finding the balance is vital.  Boys NEED a place and time to play a bit rougher, as boys often do.  They NEED time to run until the sweat is dripping from their brows.  They NEED time to have focused, uninterrupted play.  All of these “boy traits” are God-given.  Quite literally, it’s in their blood.  Playing swords, guns, wrestling, making ungodly noises from their mouth (and other parts of their body) all while allowing the freedom to do these things in context is important.

No matter how much you teach about kindness, gentleness and love…the boy will seemingly forget those chats from time to time in the heat of the moment of exhilarating play and do something that embarrasses the parent and calls for correction on the child’s part.  It’s inevitable.  I see these moments with my oldest son as times of positive reinforcement.  It’s frustrating sometimes to feel like a broken record but it’s also normal, especially with younger children.  If my son walked around like a robot and always did everything perfectly, consistently used impeccable manners and never passed gas in public and laughed about it, I’d think something was seriously wrong.

Boys will be boys.  That doesn’t mean that’s a license to be tyrants.  But boys will be boys…and all of the “uniqueness” that that title holds.  Any parent who’s committed to their children are committed to teaching manners, social skills, politeness and courtesies and getting to the heart of the child.  I just wonder…how long until I can stop repeating myself?  Right.  YEARS.  God saw fit to give me two of the greatest boys on the planet.  With His help, prayer, and lots of coffee, I am confidant that our boys will grow up to be men of integrity.

We broke out our blend ladder today and began blending sounds.  Evan read words like, “sat, Sam, man, Ann and tan.”  He was so proud of himself.  And as his mom, watching the lightbulb click on and seeing him read is THE BEST.  Lots of smiles and high five’s today…oh, and a marshmallow.  It’s good incentive. :)

Teaching him to read is incredible.  We’ve just embarked on our “road to reading” and it’s going to be great.  We’re breaking out the Bob Books this weekend!

Snuggle up and read it.  You won’t regret it. :)

Last night, as I was readying the house for a ladies get-together, I turned on some soft music.  My 4-year-old boy comes to me.  ”Mom, let’s dance.”  He takes my hand and guides me to the living room floor.  He places my hand on his little hip and he puts his hand on my waist and we hold hands.  We dance.  He smiles so big his eyes are but little slits in his adorable face.  I must be the luckiest mother in the world.  At least, I sure feel like I am.

The tenderness and sweetness I see in my little “Prince Charming” makes it hard to swallow due to the lump in my throat.  Ironically, I was wearing a pink shirt, too.  The music stops.  He bows.  I curtsey.  We hug.

I will never, ever forget that moment with my blonde haired, blue eyed “Prince.”

Our first week was the 7 days of Creation.  We really enjoyed this.  We made a Creation book to wrap up the week as you can see in the pictures.

Our second week was “S-s Sun.”  We learned a few facts about the sun and what it looks like from outer space.  Evan loved looking at space flash cards I have that show realistic pictures of the sun.  We made a “shiny S,” “s cookies,” sun tea, used a flashlight and our globe to illustrate how the sun rotates around the earth, drew Evan’s shadow on the driveway and talked about how the sun casts a shadow on objects, painted and colored and, as always, read lots of good books.

One of our favorite weekly projects is to make our badge for the week.  Each week, we make a badge and write our “words to remember” on it.  The “sun” lesson was: “Jesus is the light of the world.”  And our moon week was: “I am the light of the world.”  We read our daily devotional and discuss a bit about what those words mean.  It’s a sweet time with my boy, for sure.

This past week was “M-m Moon.”  We started off with our mmmmmmacaroni M’s along with a few facts about the moon.  I explained how the surface of the moon was dusty and sandy.  We looked at more space flash cards with pictures of the moon.  He particularly liked talking about the astronauts and how they landed on the moon.  The pictures of the “moon buggy” was a favorite.  We focused on the number “8″ this week, color purple and the shape of a crescent.  Evan learned the phases of the moon too.  Our treat in the kitchen was “marshmallow treats.”  YUM.  I think mommy could have eaten the entire pan full!  We wrapped up the week with making a mobile to hang in Evan’s bedroom with a sparkly moon and stars hanging from it to represent day 4 of creation.  And what lesson wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the moon.  We converted our kitchen table into a rocket ship, Evan insisted on getting decked out in his “space outfit” and away we went.  BLAST OFF!  Tanner even joined in the excitement.

One of my favorite moments this past week with Evan was when we were pretending to be on our rocket ship.  We landed on what I thought was the moon.  We got out of our rocket ship and began to explore the dusty surface of the moon.  But, wait, something’s wrong!  Evan, “Mom!  We landed on the sun!  Oh, no!  It’s so hot.  It’s burning my feet!  Hurry!  Back into the rocket ship!”

The lesson on deck is “L-l leaf.”  A nature hike is in order to collect various types of leaves.  We’ll be doing some fun projects with those.  We’ve been discussing a little bit already this weekend about leaves and tress.  One of our favorite books is “A Tree is Nice.”  Evan really wants to plant a tree.

Our classical music fun this week involved Mozart.  We danced and had fun.  One day, I put the CD in while Evan was painting and he got up and started dancing around the living room.  ”Tanner!  This is Mozart!”

With all of our lessons we include days of the week, weather, fishing for letters and numbers and fun learning games with numbers, letters, colors and shapes.  One of my biggest goals for Evan is to teach him to love to learn.  I know we’ll have our moments where he won’t want to do something but I think that’ll will be an exception, not the rule.  Keeping school rich in good books and hands on fun will help foster that love.

So here’s to the upcoming week 4!  For this mom, one of the big perks about homeschooling is doing it in our pj’s sometimes.  Seriously, you can’t beat that. :)

Days of Creation Book

"Shiny S"

"How the sun works"

Our "S" week

Pattern Fun

Our "M" week

A black dog in the car parked next to us at the ice cream parlor:  ”Mom, I think that dog’s name is macaroni!  Isn’t that funny, mom?”

Evan reading to us at nighttime:  ”Children, Children what do you see?  We see a creature…I mean, TEACHER, looking at us!”

He had an “itch”: “I need a band-aid for my bottom.  Isn’t that funny?!”

This 4-year-old year is proving to be tons of fun on many levels.  From the discussions we have, the things he enjoys (and dislikes), the exploration, to seeing his little personality blossoming.  I’m eager to hear what he comes out with next. :)