Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Welcome to Your World

"A child should be brought up to have relations of force with earth and water, should run and ride, swim and skate, lift and carry; should know texture, and work in material; should know by name, and where, and how, they live at any rate, the things of the earth about him, its birds and beasts and creeping things, its herbs and trees; should be in touch with the literature, art and thought of the past." A Parent's Review "Education is a Life" C.M.

Harrison, who is just past one year, has not taken a liking to many of his toys. So many brightly colored, noise-making gadgets designed especially for him, yet he ignores them to search for the crash of the broom falling from the pantry or the fun of unstacking the tupperware in the cabinet. He is recently showing interest in knocking down his blocks and poking the stick of the ring stacker into a hole and joyously finding that it fits; so not all is lost on the basket of toys. But children would have something "real" from our world rather than specially prepared toys. They realize "real" things have a purpose. Adults use them. And how much more fun to make a toy using their own imagination instead of having it provided already prepared. Let them work with real materials to make a sword or costume or clubhouse. Let them relate to our world ~ to figure it out as they grow by being in it and of it, touching, tasting, exploring, learning.

They'll often come up with many ideas of how to do this if Mom will allow the mess. Just in the last week we've swam, played with sand, twirled in the rain, cared for sunflowers, soybeans, caterpillar, & frog, cut, drawn, colored, & taped, made costumes, wrestled, cared for siblings hurt by wrestling, made up games & learned new ones, embroidered, photographed, videoed, & blogged, cleaned, cooked, listened to stories, searched for sounds (where's that helicopter, bird, car?)..... I'm sure I could go on as could you. And just about all of it (maybe not the cleaning :-) comes from the children themselves. Give them room to relate to their world and see what a varied yet solid education they will gain even in their earliest years.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Working Now?

Test trial to see if a very helpful person from BloggerPlus gave adequate advice to fix my problem.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Working On It

Well, my Blog Press app that allowed me to blog with pictures on the iPad, is not working for me. So I need to figure out a new app to use in order to blog. I'm telling you, technology.... Kicking and screaming, people, it drags me along kicking and screaming....

But in other news ~ Harrison is really walking now. Up to 10 steps at a time! He likes to show off for all of us. And who wouldn't when you get constant praise and clapping? He's a joy.

We are working our way through finishing up Elizabeth's 3rd grade year still. We've had several light weeks, and we'll have some time off when she goes to camp. But we still have four solid weeks left. Jonathan is doing some things with us, like Bible reading and art and music, but otherwise he's on break. He learned a lot this past year!

Phoebe being Phoebe is a full time job. She is keeping with her horse/cowgirl/Texas kick which I love. We'll see if that interest sticks with her through the years. But she's a ham and has definite opinions and says exactly what she thinks and is a lot of fun. She'll be one to go after what she wants and not let anything get in her way. And I'll be a proud momma! (As long as she sticks with you, Lord, You know she'll need You to keep her straight!)

Summer is hot, but it's fun going to the pool or the beach. Phillip and I have projects going on. We started this week to get up at 5:00 in the morning to have quiet time without the kids. It's fun to be together at the kitchen table reading and working on stuff.

I kind of like my family.... God has really blessed us. We are all healthy and happy and I just am really glad God put us all together.

And someday soon I will be able to post pictures. :-)