Morning chores

I'll help you unload the dishwasher, Mom!

2011-2012 homeschool kickoff!

Each year, we begin school going over rules.  They really haven't changed much over the years, but I like to sort of revamp, and remind everyone of what we're trying to accomplish here.  One of the things that I am required to teach by the state, and one of the things I feel that I fall short in, is good citizenship.  Especially this year, with a tween and a teenage girl, I want to focus on attitude, which can, even on the best of days, go south in a hurry.

1) Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Matthew 7:12

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

2) Respect your teacher.

Deuteronomy 5:16

Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

3) Do your best work.

1 Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

4) Do your chores cheerfully.

John 13:4-5

so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 

I wasn't able to find a verse really applicable to doing household chores, but if Jesus can wash his disciples smelly feet, then NO ONE is too good to pick up around the house a bit!

And that, dear friends, is the summation of our rules.  I, of course, have little specifics for how I want work completed and organised, but it all boils down to those four rules.  I'm seriously considering printing them out in a pretty font and framing them in the hallway where we keep some of our visuals for school.

So what exactly have we done on this, our first week of homeschool for the year?  Well, chores, of course. I've implemented a new system that I stole from my pastor's wife.  I am not a naturally neat person, so I need all the help I can get!  Each room has its own card, and everyone has to choose a chore card to complete that day.  So far it's working pretty well.

We use a literature based curriculum for most everything, so there's been a lot of reading, a bit of science, some math...

copywork...

music theory...

music appreciation, and composer studies...

and we died some formerly natural coloured wool longies for Zachariah a pretty purple, because the natural gets really grungy.

And what has Zachariah been doing during all this?  Eating is always a big favourite...

And Tatiana made him a transmogrifier.

All things considered, the first week back in school went pretty well.  We had a few meltdowns the first couple of days, but once we got rolling, there weren't too many problems.

Can she do it?

I don't exactly have a green thumb.  I am actually known in my household for killing plants.  Granted, those are plants that are kept indoors, but I don't have a great track record for outdoor plants either.  My flower garden I planted two years ago grows...

morning glories.  Last year, the morning glories tried to take over my entire front yard, which I'm kind of OK with, because on my list of flowers that I love, morning glories are probably in the top five.  The flower bed that I tried to plant around our tree which should have Lady-in-the-Boat Jew grows grass.  Despite the fact that Jew tends to take over everything, and we tried cleaning the grass out by hand, choking it out with gravel, and finally, tearing the entire thing out and lining it with material that was supposed to kill the grass, that is still the only thing that the silly bed grows, with the exception of the tree, which I suppose was the point, anyway.

So I'm really not sure what I was thinking when I told Jonathan in the winter of '09 that I wanted to plant a vegetable garden.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Clearly, we didn't get around to it last year because I was pregnant and working outside in the Texas heat while large with child did not sound amusing.  But this year...  This year, Jonathan was determined that I should get my vegetable garden.  He spend the only weekend that he's had home since February building me a little plot to plant things in.

The girls made cute little signs,

and we planted things in neat little rows... *

and the dogs promptly ran through it.
We should have put the fence up first, eh?

Arynson promptly charged right into the stake on the end.  It only took once.  lol

Several weeks later, we've had a couple of major storms, and there's a lot of tree parts in the garden which leaves me wondering...  Should I pick them all up and throw them out of the garden?  Should I leave them there and let them decompose, which should, in theory, provide more nutrients in the soil?  How am I going to be able to tell the little sprouting trees from the things that are supposed to be sprouting?  Aaaack!!!  What was I thinking???  I don't know how to grow things!!!

But there are these little sprouts...

Little green, growing things that are obviously not trees.

 Some rosemary, I think...

And maybe onions?...

And possibly cilantro...

And I think these might be zucchini...

I have a recipe for a natural pesticide that I need to spray on.

And I bought some actual tomato plants which should do OK if the storms will quit knocking the buds off.

Which makes me think that maybe, just maybe, I might be able to grow something after all.  It sure would be nice to be able to walk out to my back yard and pick some carrots to cook for my boy.  Or some mint to throw in my coffee.  And rosemary is tasty in just about anything.
So we'll see.  This may be more of an experiment than an actual vegetable garden, and if that's the case, I guess I'll try again next year.  You know what they say.  "If at first you don't succeed..."

*I was outside planting things in the garden, and Celestia did not wear Zachariah the entire time, lest you think I am forcing my children into slave labour.  I was dressed in my typical at-home attire which consists of a pair of shorts and a nursing tank.  Fine for the backyard, but not so hot in pictures!  lol

From mainstream to nerdy

My computer was giving me some serious grief, and needed a reinstall of an operating system.  I had been running on Windows XP, because Vista was rubbish.  We could have just done a wipe and a reinstall of XP, but it was time for something new.  I (being the frugal one in the family) didn't really want to spring for Windows 7, so talked Jonathan into putting Linux on my box.  We threw an image of my entire computer on an external hard drive...

and installed the new OS.

I like it so far.  There's definitely a learning curve, as Linux is really more of a programmer's OS.  Installing new software involves using a prompt and actual coding language.  Right now, I'm having to have Jonathan walk me through things quite a lot, but remember, I'm a programmer's daughter, who also married a programmer, so this isn't entirely foreign to me.

Today is the first chance I've had to sit down and import photos from my camera, so keep tuning in for several blog updates!

What a lovely, busy week!

Jonathan was out of town on a show this week, so I promised the girls that if they finished their school work for the week by Wednesday that we could go to the aquarium on Thursday.  We always enjoy a trip to the aquarium, and see something different and beautiful every time we're there.

 

We watched some new "rocks" being made.

I had Tatiana take a couple of pictures of me nursing Zachariah on the patio outside the Cafe Maya to remind myself that I can nurse in public without it being a big hairy deal.  I'm not sure why I suddenly have anxiety about this with my third child.  I never worried about it before.

 

Tatiana enjoyed wearing her brother in the ERGO for most of the day.  He even fell asleep and took a bit of a nap while she had him.

We had the place almost entirely to ourselves.  Going in the afternoon, in the middle of the week is the best, because most of the time field trip groups come in the morning, and it's not particularly crowded.  There was actually a homeschool co-op group there.  It's kind of fun to see other groups out and about during the week.  :)

Once Zachariah woke up from his nap, Celestia took over the babywearing with our Maya Wrap.  She had been itching to get her hands on her baby brother all day! You can see that he was still groggy from his nap!  hehe!

When we came home, I knocked out another diaper for Zachariah.  I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it here, but my guys at work dubbed the baby "Megatron" long before we knew that he was a boy.  My mother found this awesome Transformers fabric for me to make diapers out of!  :)

Last, but certainly not least, we bought patio furniture!!!  We've talked about buying a couple of comfy chairs and a little table for us to have coffee on our back patio forever, and just haven't ever done it.  We really got the itch to sit outside when I came home from the hospital with Zachariah, but couldn't find outdoor furniture anywhere!  Jonathan and I enjoyed playing footsie and drinking some coffee this morning.  I foresee many mornings sitting on the patio nursing Zachariah and enjoying my morning coffee!  <3