Lala and Punkin

Our homeschooling style is very eclectic. Basically, I get ideas from a myriad of different places and try to be ready for whatever is going to pop up as a learning experience. So, although a lot of my ideas stem from Montessori, Playful Learning, Raymond Moore, Ruth Beechick, and Charlotte Mason, our school is really led by whatever you girls are interested in at the moment, which may be a form of unschooling. I don't really want to peg ourselves as unschoolers, either. It seems to me that everyone tries to belong to or push everyone else in to boxes, and I don't want you girls to be pushed in to boxes of any sort. 

The cool thing about homeschooling is that it makes me more aware of what is going on and it being a learning experience. For example, a neighbor just moved in to our front yard, under the pine tree. She (we don't know for sure if it is a she, but that's what we're going with for now) is a little rabbit that eats our dandelions. Punkin, you decided to call her "Lala." You decided to get as close as you could to her by being quiet and going slowly. I caught this picture, which is as close as you got to her. She started to move, so you went faster to get close to her. She went around the tree, you chased her around the tree. Then she went under the tree and we lost track of her. I'm sure we'll see her again soon, being that her buffet is in our front yard.

This wasn't the first time we'd seen her. Grandpa saw her in the neighbor's front yard the day before Easter. He pointed her out and said, "Hey, Punkin, look! It's the Easter Bunny!" It was so cute! Since then, she's moved into our front yard. Daddy isn't so excited, but I think it's a wonderful learning opportunity!

Yesterday, Punkin, you were asking about steam when I got out of the shower. Then, we were driving home from my cousin's house during a thunderstorm and you asked why rain comes out of the clouds. So I got to explain the water cycle to you. I'm sure we'll talk about it again, as I'm pretty sure you didn't totally understand it. You'll need a few more exposures before you get it. But we have plenty of time for that! 

First Birthday!

It's been a full year since you, Apple and Blueberry, were born and, to be quite honest, that year was quite a blur! We had a small, but fun, birthday party to mark the occasion. Some friends came, including the neighbor girl who is one year older than you, and three friends who's dad works at a place your dad buys from. Punkin, you helped Grandma make the cupcakes. They were in pretty, little tulip cupcake papers and had chocolate frosting. You wore top hats that looked like cakes, had one candle sticking out of the top, and said, "Birthday Girl" on them. You also had on matching onsie outfits with large, brightly colored flowers on them. For a while, we stayed inside and played with balloons, which you thoroughly enjoyed. We then put you outside in your high chairs, right next to each other, to eat your cupcakes. Blueberry, when yours was gone, you grabbed Apple's. Apple you didn't seem to mind. You then opened presents and seemed to enjoy the paper more than the gifts. We all had a great time, and you took naps immediately afterward!

Writing Center

So, we finished our first center, the writing center, and it has been a huge success! Even better than I could have imagined! It was kind of improptu and I haven't really even finished it. But here is a picture of it. The first day, I introduced it to Punkin after her nap. She decided to get to work immediately and stayed there for about an hour before coming up to eat her snack quickly, then run back to it! The next morning, the very first thing she did in the morning was run to her writing center. Today is the third day and, so far, she's been at the writing center for two and a half hours! The second day, she ran to the kitchen and said, "Mom, look!" It was her full name, which she'd written by herself without me telling her the letters or what they look like. The e's were upside down (think 6's), but today, she did it again by herself with the e's right side up. Also found- this paper with the ABC's up to F, a page with her name in stickers, paper "computers" (folded paper, basically), "telescopes" (rolled paper with tape), and "binoculars" (paper rolled up on each side and taped). Can I just say that I am utterly amazed at Punkin? Who'da thunk that she'd find inspiration and begin learning everything ON HER OWN? Ha!

In your writing center are:

markers

pencils

pens

paint

paintbrushes

crayons

alphabet stickers

glue

tape

a ruler

construction paper

blank page notebook

lined page notebook

preschool-lined on bottom half, blank on top half notebook (I think they call it a story notebook)

paper roll.

I can't wait to get started on the next center! I'm thinking a reading center.

Playful Learning

I was recently introduced to a book called Playful Learning: Develop Your Child's Sense of Joy and Wonder. It is a great book and really fits with our homeschooling style, despite the fact that it isn't written specifically for homeschoolers. The author is a teacher, curriculum developer, trainer of teachers, and helped open a school. Her book gives immediate implementation ideas for Montessori, Reggio Emelia and Harvard Project Zero styles of education for use in the home. It is written to help parents encourage learning in a fun, no pressure way in the home. The subjects covered are reading, writing, math, science, art, social studies, geography, and social skills. A chapter of the book is dedicated to playful learning spaces. The subsequant chapters are how to set up these spaces for each subject and projects to have available for learning at a moment's notice. The end of the book is full of useful printables to aid in the learning.

I wanted to tell you girls about this book because I think it will help form your schooling. I've always struggled with the idea of having a "school room" because this seems to convey the message that learning occurs only in one room, mostly while sitting at a desk. The reality, I believe, is that learning occurs in every place and at any time.

We've been putting some of the ideas in the book to work already! The picture above is of you, Punkin, sorting beans. You started using one of the printables in the back, but ran of room for your "pink" beans (AKA pinto beans). So we made our own graft! You sorted anasazi, pinto, and white beans, as well as lentils.

We are also working on putting together writing, bird watching, reading, music, and art spaces. Eventually, you will also have a science experiment space, but I have to figure out where and how. I love the idea of having several places that you can "do school" in. I also love the idea of you being able to do it whenever you like. But, most of all, I like the idea that learning will be fun for you, not a drudgry. Learning the parts of a flower won't be based on memorization, but on pulling flowers apart and analyzing them. This isn't lazy homeschooling, though, to be sure! It is thoughtful and planned out. I have to watch for your personal tastes, make inviting areas that are simultaneously not distracting, and be on the lookout for what you are doing so that I can present you with projects when you seem interested in something specific. If they are to be good projects, I will have to plan them! And that, my daughters, is where this book comes in! I hope it is the springboard for our schooling that it seems to be!

whoa!

So, it's been two months since I last posted, and here is why: two babies who are mobile is a LOT of work! In early January, Blueberry, you started pulling up on things, then started army crawling. Apple, you started pulling up on things a couple days later, but didn't walk around them for a few weeks. You also didn't start crawling until late January. But when you did crawl, it was on your knees, and Blueberry saw that what you did was more efficient and crawling on her knees, too. I never thought I'd have kids that crawled, since Punkin didn't and none of your older cousins on my side did. You must get that from you dad's side of the family.

Also, you grew, and are still growing, a whole mess of teeth. You both got your bottom front teeth at 5 months. But you now have three bottom teeth and four top teeth. It seems like one is popping in each week! So two teething babies doesn't always make things easy, either. Your teething patterns are the same, but opposite, for every tooth and the timing. Apple will pop a tooth and a few days later, Blueberry will pop the same tooth on the opposite side.

Your favorite things to do include shredding paper, unrolling toilet paper, rifling through the cabinets, eating Bob's food and playing in his water, and generally exploring your world. You both love to talk, but are different in your talking. Blueberry, you try your best to pronounce words and sound like you are saying something. You say "Da da da da," when your daddy walks in, or "Ma ma," when you're ready to eat or sleep. Apple, you can say "dada," and "mama," but you are more concerned with voice inflection and usually sound you are singing. Right now, you're saying, "Uh oh," over and over. I think you like the sing-songiness of it.

You both need the other close to fall asleep, as evidenced by the attached picture- Apple sleeping ON TOP of Blueberry. You also take things away from and bite each other and pull each others hair. I think those things are appropriate for your age, but you get in trouble for doing them. Truth be known, I usually let you fight it out when it comes to taking things away. I think you learn to work things out on your own that way, even at this age.

Just to be fair, here is a picture of Blueberry sleeping on top of Apple! I think I'll be writing more soon, since I seem to have gotten the hang a bit more of having two mobile babies and we've been doing a lot more homeschooling that I want to write about!

Christmas 2011

Today was the twins first Christmas. Yay! We really had a whole Christmas weekend, though. Daddy couldn't work because it snowed on Thursday. So we've been celebrating for four days in a row. Tomorrow (Monday) will make it five days.

Punkin, you were in a Christmas play at church. You were the CUTEST sheep up there! You said, "We are warm and cozy. We are the sheep. Our wool makes warm blankets to help baby Jesus sleep." It was, honestly, hard to see you, mostly due to your standing directly behind one of the shepards and the sheep not being on the stage. However, once everyone started singing "Away in a manger," you climbed up on the stage to look in to the manger. You told me later that you wanted to see baby Jesus. In fact, just now, without my mentioning what I'm writing about, you spontaneously sang a song with the lyrics, "I saw baby Jesus. Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm. I saw baby Jesus." I think you were so excited because I told you that it was Jesus' birthday and you kept asking me if he was coming to our house for His birthday party. So now you put a name with a face, albeit not the actual face of our Lord and Saviour. It was very heartwarming to see you so involved in the real spirit of Christmas.

This morning, we opened presents. Blueberry and Apple were very excited to play with the wrapping paper. You both loved playing with the silver cups that great grandma Bonnie gave you. You are both learning to drink out of cups, so you probably thought there was a drink in them for you. But you didn't seem put off by the fact that they were empty.

Punkin was very entertained with the new vacuum cleaner's box. In fact, you took a nap in it!

I'm going to have to put away the decorations soon. I'm tempted to leave the spiral Christmas tree up in the living room. Blueberry and Apple, you both love to roll over to it and shake all of the ornaments off. The tree is anchored to the fireplace grate, so it won't fall on you, and the ornaments are plastic. So it's not dangerous in any way. However, I love watching you of you roll over to it, shake it until an ornament falls off, then play with the ornament. We'll have this tree around for a while, I think!

That's about all I can think to put here. We really had a great Christmas, with just you girls and daddy and I. It was mostly quiet, but it really was happy!

Faithfulness

Pastor Jay was talking about the faithfulness of God a couple of Sundays ago. It got me thinking about how faithful God has been to me in my life. It also made me think that I'd really like you girls to know some of those times, especially the miraculous ones. So I think I will start adding them here when I think of them. So here is the first, and probably the one that stands out the most.

When I was 8, we moved to El Paso because Grandpa found a job at the refinery there. It was a hard transition for all of us, especially because we were so far from family. When we were in Farmington and grandpa lost his job, great grandpa Clarence would bring us groceries. But when we were short on funds in El Paso, there wasn't anyone we could ask for help.

One day, we were really short on food. When I say really short, I mean it! I remember looking into the refrigerator and seeing mustard and ketchup. And that's all. Nothing else. So grandma really had absolutely nothing to make for dinner, not even beans. At dinner time, we all sat down around the table and grandpa prayed like this, "Dear heavenly Father, thank you for the food that you are about to provide for us."

About the time he finished praying, the doorbell rang. Marie, our neighbor and friend, had had friends coming for dinner who had canceled at the last minute. God had put it on her heart to bring us a lasagna, salad and bread sticks! She was a fantastic Italian cook and we all ate like kings!

This is a story that you might hear a lot or not at all. But it's one I remember distinctly. It left an indelible impression on my young mind that I never forgot. I knew, from then on, that God could be counted on, quite literally, to "supply all [my] needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)."

Transformation and dedication

One of the things I pray for you girls every day is that you will come to know Jesus Christ.  I know this might sound uber religious, but what I really mean is that you will really know Jesus. Not attend church regularly, not learn all the bible verses in the bible, but really know Jesus in a personal way.

On your first birthday, Punkin, we dedicated you to Jesus and dedicated ourselves to helping you come to know Him. And I can proudly say that you have now met Him! Sometime in August, you and I were reading the your nighttime bible story and you asked me if Jesus died. You knew what this meant, kind of, because of my grandpa passing away a few months earlier. I said yes, that Jesus died because we were bad guys. Then, He beat death by coming back to life all by Himself. And now we can go live with Him in Heaven after we die. I told you that He'd come live in your heart and help you be a good guy, if you wanted Him to. You said yes, so we said a simple prayer asking Jesus to forgive you for when you've been bad and to let you come live with Him and great grandpa when you die. To be honest, it was kind of lackluster and I wasn't sure that you knew what was going on. But I watched for signs of you growing as a Christian. A few months later, you asked me about Jesus dying and if we were good guys now. I said yes, if you ask Jesus into your heart, you are a good guy, and I asked you if you wanted to pray. You said, "Okay! Jesus, please come in my heart and help me be a good guy. Amen. Mom, I already did that before!" OH! Excuse me! Ha! Just so you know, you'd never prayed, even repeating after me, until that first time. Then, all of a sudden, you wanted to pray and talk to Jesus all the time! Now when you pray, we all close our eyes and hold hands and you sing "Jesus loves me." It's so cute!

I became a Christian when I was 4. Well, my mom says I was 3. I don't know. I still remember it, tho. In my prayers for you girls at night, I ask God that you will come to know Him at an earlier age then I did. Well, Punkin, you were 3 years and 2 months!

So this Sunday, we're dedicating you two little ones, Apple and Blueberry. My prayer is still the same for you girls. I pray that you will begin seeking Jesus while you're still little, when the big words like sanctification and propitiation and predestination don't mean anything at all to you. All you know is "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so," and that is enough for you!

Halloween '11

For Halloween this year, Punkin was excited to dress up. I made the wigs for the babies out of blue boas sewed to blue beanies. I also put big flowers in the wigs to be sure everyone knew you were girls. We went to the store, to church for the jumping house, games and candy, then trick or treating to the neighbors. Everyone thought you were so cute- which I, of course, agreed with! Punkin, you didn't want to take a picture all by yourself, you always wanted your sisters with you.

catching up with Apple and Blueberry

Now on to you babies. Although you both have been growing so much, I think I can fit both of you in to the same post, since you have just about the same milestones.

1) You both talk A LOT! Apple, you do more cooing and seem to make sentences with your voice inflections. Blueberry, you make more babbling sounds, working on the mechanics of the sounds more. Both working on the same thing, in different ways, which is totally how you work!

2) While grandma was watching you girls one day, Blueberry kept giggling and keeping Punkin from taking a nap. The next day, Apple giggled and kept Punkin up! You both laugh a lot and smile almost constantly. Every stranger that walks by, it seems, remarks on how smiley you babies are.

3) When we were in Farmington for my uncle's funeral, great grandma loved playing with both of you. You'd both smile and laugh at her. She even taught Apple how to bang on the table, which she does all of the time now, not only with her hands, but with anything her hands are holding.

4) You are both rolling around on the floor all the time. You can roll from one side to the other. I thought you'd both crawl quickly because I put you on the floor so much. However, I'm beginning to think that you'll both be like your older sister and your cousins and learn how to crawl the week before you start walking. Rolling seems to work well for you girls.

5) You both eat a lot, too. We go through half a gallon of goat's milk a day, plus I try to feed you two baby food meals. You're eating apples, carrots, winter squash, bananas, rice cereal and oatmeal.

6) I bought high chairs for you and you love to sit in them scooted up next to each other. The first day I bought them, I looked up just in time to see Apple look over at Blueberry's hand, reach over and grab it with both hands, stick it in her mouth, and bite it! Since then, I've witnessed the same scenario many times over.

7) Another thing that you girls do is steal things from each other. A favorite is to take the pacifier out of your sister's mouth and put it in yours. It's super cute, but annoying to the other. Taking toys away from each other, or having a tug of war with toys, especially in the high chair, is another common occurrence.

8) We've gotten in a new routine- Blueberry (usually) wakes up around 5 am and crawls in mommy's bed. Apple sneaks in about half an hour later. Punkin is third, and usually wakes us all up. Then we all cuddle and giggle. It's a routine that I'm going to try to keep going for a long, long time!

You are both growing up so quickly! Blueberry, just seven months ago, you were the same length as Uncle Ben's arm, from his wrist to his elbow. Now, you're the length of my torso! You're both very happy babies. Even now, you both have a cold, yet you're not whiny. I couldn't have asked for happier babies!

catching up with Punkin

A lot has been going on. However, I've finished nursing school (hooray!), so it seems to be letting up a bit.
I'll start with Punkin. So much to say! Every day you come up with something new! I'll just list as many as I can think of.

1) "Dad, I want to tell you about bird poops." Totally out of nowhere as we were driving one day.
2) I don't normally post pics (maybe I'll have to change that), but how could I not post THIS?!?!?!

 Don't worry, tho. You cleaned it all up- WITH GRANDMA'S TOOTHBRUSH!!!! (I'm still cracking up!)

3) We went to Farmington for my uncle's funeral a few weeks ago. While at Grandma's, you said, "Great Grandma, where is Great Grandpa?" She said, "He went to be with Jesus." You said, "Oh. He's not dying anymore?" Oh, the wisdom of a child! No, my dear, he's not dying any more. He's doing sooooo much better!

4) Also while at great grandma's house, you decided to feed peanut butter to your twin babies that grandma gave you for Christmas. You then neatly washed their faces- and the rest of their little cloth bodies. I do, by the way, allow you to help me feed your baby sisters. You're really good at it!

5) For about a week, you had a thing about getting up in the middle of the night to do crafts, of course while everyone else was far off in the land of Nod. The first time, you decided to glue all- and I do mean ALL- of the mail together. The second time, you painted lots of things red with nail polish, including the refrigerator, my ceramic fire holder vase thing, several baby toys, bumbo seat tray, etc. The third time, you just used the markers to color a few things, although I don't remember what.

6) Last night, you said, "Daddy, want to watch me dance?" You were standing on the coffee table and looking at yourself in the dining room mirror. Of course, he said okay. You danced, then asked him the same question at least ten more times! I'll have to get a video of that!

I'm sure that I could put ten things on here every day. You're getting so big and so helpful.

punkin boston cream pie!

We went to this great little bakery the other day that has all of these fantastic little pastries, The Rhinelander Bakery in old town Arvada. They have beautiful cakes in a display case, with a door where the customer can open it and take one out to pay for. In that display case, they had a Boston cream pie with fondant poured over it, among many fantastic and pricey cakes, along with plastic "Happy Birthday" cake toppers surrounding the cakes. I'm not sure if you can see this one coming or not, but, let me tell you, I was blindsided, as was grandma! As we longingly gazed at the pastries, Punkin, you were busy sticking those cake toppers right into that beautiful fondant so that they were sticking into the cake by the letter "y." Fortunately, they didn't make us buy the cake, but were able to pour a little more fondant over the holes. I told you that we don't decorate other peoples' cakes, but couldn't really punish you, as I always let you decorate our cakes at home. You were upset, anyways, as you always are when you see that panicked look on my face, so I think that was punishment enough. We bought a mocha cream horn and a cookie, as well as drinks and sat out in the wonderful fall air to eat them. All in all, it was pretty funny, even right when you did it. I'm just glad they didn't make me buy the cake!

Peace

A friend came over the other day and was amazed at how quiet and happy you girls are and how peaceful our home is. Punkin was "reading" a book, Apple was asleep and Blueberry was sitting and smiling happily in her chair. Just to be clear, this isn't always the case. However, it usually is. It's not by chance, either. There are several contributing factors. In Zechariah 8:16-17, it says, "This is what you shall do.... give judgement in your gates for truth, justice and peace." I love these verses in their entirety. I do my best to institute this one in our home. Our peace is directly related to following God. In order to have a peaceful home, we don't watch much television. The drama on every show, used to create excitement, forces an excitement level in the home that I don't want. I play music almost constantly, but I'm very careful about what it is. I play classical, jazz, kid's songs, Spanish kid's songs, audiobooks read to music, worship music and sermons. I also do my best to not get excited when things go wrong. For example, if you break something, Punkin, like you JUST did, I tell you to stand still and I pick you up and put you elsewhere. Then, I clean it up. After that, I ask you what happened. If it was an accident (like it always is), I tell you what not to do next time. If it was done purposefully (which has never happened thus far), I'd tell you that we don't do tat and you'd stand in the corner for a few minutes. But I do my best to never raise my voice. The only loudness is Bob barking or kids playing. If it gets too loud, I'll send you outside to play. I think that peace in our home, though it may sound boring, is incredibly comforting to you. You still get excited, but you control yourself more and unleash when it's more appropriate, like outside. The peace helps you to learn more, too. You are able to cure your boredom yourself with exploration (like how you're putting dogfood in the dog's water right now....) and you're able to concentrate on puzzles or whatever you're doing a lot easier than in a loud or over-stimulating place. I hope you all grow up to be peaceful girls!

Managing our busy life

I get asked a lot how I manage to go to school, raise you girls and do all the other stuff we do. Well, today seems to be a slower than usual day (or I'm running faster than usual due to all the coffee I drank this morning), so I'll explain.

I am a firm believer in doing chores. So, our morning goes something like this: change (and bathe babies) and feed everyone, read my bible, make beds, unload the dishwasher, put a load of laundry in, briefly clean bathrooms, exercise, then shower and/or bathe Punkin (usually babies eat while Punkin and I exercise, then fall asleep, giving us time to shower). This takes until around 10:30, depending on the day. Around 12, we all have lunch. At 12:30, Punkin watches cartoons and I put the babies to sleep. You all usually sleep until around 2:30. During that time, I fold laundry and do homework. Computer time is usually interspersed throughout the day, mostly when I get tired of working. I try to limit it to ten minutes at a time, tho, or I'll get behind. In the afternoon, we go to the store as needed, pick up the house, make dinner and load dishes. At night, we eat dinner at 6:30, change into  jammies and feed babies around 7:00, put babies down at 7:30 and put Punkin down at 8:00. We wake up around 6:30-7:00 and start all over.

It's really not that hard. We're pretty scheduled, tho. You go to sleep faster when you know what to expect. While I'm working around the house, the babies will roll around on the floor and Punkin will play with whatever school project I put out that day. A lot of things we will do outside, such as eat breakfast or lunch, read the bible or I do my homework (if it doesn't need exclusive attention on my part). A lot of those things, like cleaning the bathroom or picking up the house, go super quickly when I do them every day, leaving us with time to explore outside or go to the Apex to swim or play.

Anyways, that's how your days go, girls!

Pasta and oral exploration schools :o)

Punkin- Today, you went to pasta school :o) ! Well, you didn't really go anywhere. You played with Wacky Mac, which consists of four different pasta shapes (wheels, spirals, penne and shells) in four different colors. First, you sorted them. Then, you weighed each different shape. Then, you poured them from one container to another and back again, including through a funnel into a jar. Finally, you glued them to pieces of sponge to make stamps. We haven't used the stamps yet, but we probably will tomorrow.

Apple and Blueberry- You orally explored some plastic chain linking toys and looked at the three different colors of them. It doesn't sound super exciting reading about it, but you both really seemed to be learning a lot. Maybe we'll try something squishy tomorrow. Unless you find something else you'd rather explore ;o) !

Lists for homeschooling

Things to help guide our homeschooling. I'm sorry so much has to do with homeschooling lately. I'm on a bit of a roll right now.

Our Five Priorities in homeschooling:
1. Relationship with God.
2. Relationships within family.
3. Character qualties.
4. Work ethic.
5. Academics.

Learning percentages:
-90% retained through teaching it to someone else with immediate application of what they learned.
-75% retained when practiced.
-50% retained when discussed in a group.
-30% retained when seen in demonstration.
-20% retained through audio-visual teaching.
-10% retained through reading.
-5% retained through lecture (so I probably won't lecture you often ;o) )

How we homeschool

I wanted to write to tell you girls how we are homeschooling now and how our homeschool might look down the road. I say "might" because I am open to allowing you girls to learn in whatever way works best for you. I do, however, have some ideas as to how to guide your learning.

First, we are doing a lot of learning already, even though punkin is 3 and the babies are, well, babies. Punkin is learning  as we do science, math, geography, reading, writing, and art. So, we study nature in our back yard (or house, if the bees come inside and we can catch them in plastic bags, like we did the other day!), count beans or pennies or rice or leaves or... anything! Se look at the map of the United States and see where Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida and New Mexico are, so that we have an idea of where all of our family lives. We read bob books, although I'm not pushing reading very much. You are super interested in reading and writing and I let you take the lead. You write your letters, as you please. And you color, paint, write on the sidewalk, play with playdough, and anything else. Basically, you learn while playing. Maria Montessori said that a child's job is to learn as much as they can about the world around them and that they do this through play. So, I provide as many oppurtunities as I can for learning through play, and you do your job!

Apple and Blueberry are learning a lot, too. They're learning to talk by babbling. They're getting around by rolling around to where they want to go. They're smiling or crying to get attention. They're exploring things around them (which we make sure is okay for them to explore!)

My tenative plan at this point is to use the original Konos curriculum. It is a unit study curriculum, where we can study something interesting to you in depth, doing every subject from that topic. For example, if you like tomatoes (which you do), we can grow tomatoes from seeds; learn to take care of them; count, add, and subtract them (as you get older); read about them; draw and color them; learn about the history and geography of tomatoes, etc. The thing I like about Konos is that it uses unit topics related to Godly character traits, such as kindness or compassion. I also like the original Konos because it is basically a big book of activities to do broken up into the units. It doesn't offer workbooks or anything extremely put together (although Konos does offer this, just not in the basic model), which is good for me because I'm not the type to follow a curriculum very well, anyways. In fact, we probably won't even use the Konos until Punkin is at a third grade level. Eventually, you will also learn to copy writings of great people, dictation and report writing, which I'm hoping you don't hate. However, I do think that is one of the "regular school" things we will do because it will teach you reading comprehension and how to write well. Until then, we'll just keep doing what we're doing ;o) !

Another huge part of our homeschooling will be helping others. I'm planning to go regularly to visit nursing homes, soup kitchens and The Children's Hospital. I think that the development of your character is just as important as your education. We will also be starting a family business at some point, probably when Punkin is around 6. Your dad is great at running a business and I think he should teach you how to, as well. This will benefit you in your personal and business life, even if you never open your own business. My parents have a business and I learned a great deal from them. I would like you to have this oppurtunity, as well. Your dad would like to help you become real estate agents and buy a house before you go to college so that you can do that on the side to support yourself.

Well, I think that's about it for our plans for how to homeschool you. Like I said earlier, my plans are based more on you individually. These are very fluid plans. It'll be interesting to see how they evolve!

Why we're homeschooling

I think I should let you girls know now why I plan on homeschooling you. Well, first things first, I think every parent (or guardian, if the parent isn't around) is a homeschooler from the beginning. So, I should say that my plan is to continue homeschooling you into your school years.

I was homeschooled for four years of my life- kindergarten, and my sophomore, junior and senior years of high school. My siblings were also homeschooled at varying lengths and times. So homeschooling isn't a new concept at all.

I would like to homeschool for a number of reasons. For one thing, I believe that you will get a better education. I can tailor you learning to meet your needs. I remember a kid in 6th grade trying to do an oral multiplication quiz by counting on his fingers. I always felt bad for him, but I now know that he hadn't yet made the jump from visual learning to figuring it out quickly in his head. He felt bad because he had to go to special education, but he actually had a lot of smarts in other areas. So, I want to give each of you the space to learn at your own pace. Your dad agreed with it because, "I never learned anything in school!" He took his GED when he was 15, without studying, and passed and went on with his life.

A part of education is the learning of worldviews. Regardless of who is teaching you, a part of their worldview will inevitably be taught to you. We each have a worldview based on the vast and varying circumstances in our lives. It is very important to me that in this better education that I am hoping to give to you, that my worldview will come through. I do NOT expect you to be clones of me! One thing that I greatly appreciated about my parents was that they let me be an individual, no matter how much it embarrassed them (which was quite a bit, I don't doubt!) However, there are some things that are of vital importance to me.

The first and foremost thing that I want you to know is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you very much, like a father loves his children. He died on the cross, was buried and came back to life on the third day so that you can have a relationship with Him. This is not a relationship that requires you to do good things! In fact, it has absolutely no basis on how good of a person you are! The bible says in Romans 3:10 that "there is none righteous; no, not one!" Just like a father should be, he loves you no matter what you've done. He only wants you to love Him and to accept His free gift of eternal life! This is the most important thing I can teach you. I will do my best to not attach anything to the gospel, because it is not a political viewpoint or even specific doctrine that will save you. It is only Jesus!

The second reason is because you are awesome kids and I'm a little selfish. I'd prefer to show you and take you to do cool things, rather than teachers getting to do all the cool stuff!

I guess I'll have to save the "How" for another post, as this one is getting kind of lengthy!

Apple and Blueberry baby book information

I've been struggling a little bit wth how I should write this post. Should I blog about each of you separately, since you are both such individuals and have such different traits? Or should I blog together, so I can compare you and share things you did together? I've decided on the latter, obviously. But mostly due to time ;o) !

First, I'll let you know why I chose your nicknames for the blog. Apple is for baby A (first one born), Blueberry is for baby B (second one born). I wanted to use vegetable names, but Arugula and Bok Choy didn't sound so cute. I almost went for Apricot and Banana. But Apple and Blueberry describe the roundness of your cheeks better!

Okay, now some baby book stuff. Blueberry could roll onto her side at birth. But both of you rolled over completely, back and front, by four months. Blueberry was first, but only did it once. Apple rolled over soon after, but just kept doing it all the time. You both roll over onto your stomach, then back to your back, all the time now. I have a hard time keeping you on the blanket on the floor.

You love holding hands. At first, I thought it was a fluke, as your arms would flail around until you grabbed something. But now that you've become a little better at grabbing things you want, I've noticed that you hold hands more often. In fact, Blueberry, you have a thing where you scream a lot just before you fall asleep. This upsets Apple, and she'll look over at you and grab your hand. Sometimes, it'll help you calm down. It's super cute to watch.

Food wise, you're eating rice cereal and I go through about 1/2 gallon of goat's milk per day. I tried carrots and apples, but you both got diaper rashes. That's pretty much it.

You are both super calm babies most of the time, just like Punkin was (still is). I'm a very lucky mommy! I read about babies that are loud, collicky, and cranky. I haven't experienced any of that. Having twins isn't exactly easy, but you've both made it easier than I expected! Sorry this isn't the most exciting thing to read. I just wanted to record some milestones and temperament stuff, mostly.

Pumpkinisms

To my sweet Punkin- Some fun things you say now that you're 3 and are learning so much about the world!

1)      You have two new baby sisters, Apple and Blueberry. One time, when I was still pregnant with them, your daddy asked you if your cheese was yummy in your tummy. You said, “No, daddy! Not cheese in my tummy! Babies in my tummy. One, two of them (pointing to each side of your stomach).

2)      Instead saying forgot, you say gotfor. I’m not sure if I’ll ever correct you on it. I kind of hope you say it the rest of your life because I’m pretty sure I’ll always think it’s cute.

3)      Just before my mom’s dad, Grandpa Clarence, died, you sang “This little light of mine” to him. Actually, you sang it to him over the phone a few days before he died and he smiled and gave a thumbs up. Then, Aunt Casey played a recording she’d made of you singing (the same song) to grandpa just a few hours before he died and he smiled. You sure love singing and it seems to make people very happy!

4)     You call biscuits “bikshits” and yogurt “nyonyurk.”

5)  One night, while we were watching American Pickers and Pawn Stars, you looked at daddy and said, "Hey daddy, want to buy my picture for $50?" He was quite amazed that you were able to pick up the gist of what were watching.

6) A couple days ago, you said, "Mommy, my mouth hurts." You'd bit your tongue the day before, so I thought you were talking about that. But you kept telling me, so I asked, "What happened?" You said, "I was shaving my lip and it hurts!"

7) You absolutely love playing with your baby sisters. Every time someone at the store stops to ask about them (which happens quite often), you tell them each of the baby's names. You give them their pacifiers or bottles, help me change their diapers and clothes, and like to lay down and put your arm around one of them to take a nap. It's the easiest way to get you to take a nap, actually.

8) When I asked you what you wanted to give daddy for his birthday, you said, without hesitation, "A blue car!" So we bought a wooden DIY car, which you colored with markers and put together. Daddy thought it was the best present he'd ever gotten!

There are loads more cute things, but I just wanted to put these down before I forgot them.