A Peek into Our Home ~ Part II

Last Monday I gave you a peek inside our home... specifically the entryway and dining room.  This week I'll show you a little more of the downstairs.  Once again, here is the front entry.  This time, instead of turning right we'll go left and into the living room.   

If you were taking piano lessons from me, you would immediately see some French doors that lead  into our music room, but I'm going to save that room for next week.   We'll keep walking by the music room and into the family room.  I like this room because it's cozy... the large windows at the back of the room look out on our deck and backyard.  This is a great birdwatching area for us because we have a feeder set up on the deck.  You can't see our television (around to the left), but that's ok because we just cancelled all forms of pay TV and the television is no longer a main source of entertainment for our family. 

This is the family room looking in from the kitchen... the kitchen and family room are one large area.  I loved this about our house when we first saw it, but it also means the mess from one room easily trails into another!  I love my rooster in front of the fireplace.  I collect roosters, and this one was found for me at an estate sale.  

On the mantle are my favorite things in this room... two poetry collections given to me by my mother, and also the wood carving of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. This came from a trip overseas taken by my husband's parents took a number of years ago.   I keep this out year round to remind us of the spirit of Christmas.  

If you stood at the sofa and looked into the kitchen, this is what you would see.  Although we have a school room upstairs, a lot of our things have crept downstairs, and I've found keeping the big US map on our kitchen island allows for the most retention! 

 

The bane of my existence are the white linoleum floors in the kitchen.  Yuk.  Oh, how I would love wood floors, but we're keeping these floors a while longer because there is nothing wrong with them, and investing that amount of money in our home really wouldn't pay off right now. Keeping the floors clean is almost a full time job.  I am lucky, however, to have a spacious kitchen that is sunny and where I can cook and still be with my family.

To the right is a door that leads to our basement -- and while it's nice to have a basement, ours is used only for storage and a place where my husband brews beer!  Again, I'd love to have a finished basement, but it goes back to the value of our home and what we are willing to put into this place right now.   With a foreclosure on one side of us and a short sale just down the street, the home values have really been hurt in our area.   I'm just thankful we have a nice home and try not to think about its value too much!  The older I'm getting the more I am realizing that it is the people and love inside a house that makes it a HOME, not expensive furnishings or the latest flooring!  

Next week I will show you the rest of our downstairs.   I think it's fun to do this little series of posts because it gets me to spruce up the house a bit!   

What about you?  What do you think makes a house a HOME??  I'd love to know!

Weekly Wrap-Up #7 - Ditching Math and Hurt Feelings

Bible Verse: Ephesians 6:13

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

Song of the Week: I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy

State this Week:  Oklahoma

Wow -- where to start this week? First of all, it was a WONDERFUL homeschooling week.  Everything was relaxed and productive.    I bit the bullet and finally jumped out of the traditional math program for my oldest.   She has been using Horizons for nearly three years and her mastery level is wonderful, but she just doesn't like math. I really thought about the way MOST people use math and is all of this math in the traditional books very applicable to our lives??   So, on the advice of Tristan (Our Busy Homeschool) I downloaded Charlotte Mason's Business Math Series - Your Pet Store.    This is a math curriculum recommended for 8-12 year olds and it is very real world.  Basically, this week Miss B opened her own pet shop.  What did this encompass?

* determining her inventory

* ordering the inventory

* making price tags (after figuring some 100 and 150% markups)

* updating the ledger

There was quite a bit of math involved (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentages), but it was very enjoyable, and I love that she can see the real life applications of math.  Now my six year old wants to open a pet store, too!   We are just in the beginning stages of this math, but I recommend it to you if you want a change of pace and some fun.   We aren't totally abandoning our math textbook... but we need a break.

In the title of the post you noticed "Hurt Feelings".  I must say that my mama bear instinct came out in a BIG way this week.   Miss B has been friends with a neighbor girls ever since we moved into our subdivision (6 years ago).  As the girls have gotten older their interests have changed, but they have constantly remained friends.   My daughter's friend goes to a Christian private school.   When the girls were playing outside this week I heard my daughter's friend say to her "I'm having a birthday party on Friday, but I didn't invite you because you wouldn't really know how to act around kids that go to school."  Ouch.  That hurt.   Miss B and I talked about it, and (while it didn't surprise her), her feelings were hurt. I have a sneaking suspicion that this statement was probably heard from an adult in her family; what do you think?    Miss B had a present for her friend and was excited for her 10th birthday.  Yesterday as we were playing outside in the afternoon, all of the party guests began to show up... and from inside our family room last night all you could hear was sounds of screaming and giggles as the girls jumped on the trampoline and played outside.    

This is not a situation where I will talk to the girl's mother - I am pretty certain it will fall on deaf ears, but it IS a situation where as homeschoolers and Christians we have a chance to let our light shine.  (A friend of mine from our co-op offered me that wise advice).   Miss B will take her present to her friend this afternoon lovingly and wish her a Happy Birthday.   We talked about how many times the Bible says we are to forgive and to always show love to people, but I also explained to my daughter that with this forgiveness should probably come a guarding of her heart as well.   I think it might be a while before she wants to play with this friend again, and that's OK with me.    Girls of this age can be so vicious and cruel, and it just makes me SAD.

On to happier things....  we were very interested in our birds this week!  Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day is such a wonderful science text.  We spotted at least 6 different types of birds in our yard/deck this week.   The Black Capped Chickadee is very common: 

 

We also visited a local nature/wild bird store and spoke with the owner about attracting birds to our yard.  We picked up the GREATEST matching game, with 50 types of birds! The cards are heavy and give the common and scientific names.  It also comes with a huge poster.   

It took us over 30 minutes to play just one game, but the kids played another game without me later in the day, so they were willing to spend the time.

  

Miss B has been particularly interested in horses the past few weeks.   She is taking a Horse class at our co-op and is learning about what it takes to purchase and maintain your own horse!   She has a friend at our church who is very interested in riding and has her own horse, and last weekend Miss B went to her riding lesson and an eventing competition.   At the library we checked out some books about horses (many of them American Girl) and she also downloaded Black Beauty on her Kindle and started reading it this week!   Last night we watched Secretariat as well.  The whole family is learning about horses now.  This is INTEREST LED LEARNING at its best!  

The heat wave has broken here, so one day we ate our lunch by the lake and continued to read Caddie Woodlawn.  It was so peaceful, and we also found lots of bird feathers for our science study!  

Our history studies have us learning about Julius Caesar now.  We just scratched the surface this week with a chapter in Story of The World, and the kids had fun playing "Caesar's Ransom" game from the activity guide.  It is similar to Battleship - you hide Caesar (a penny) somewhere on your grid and then the other player guesses where he is.  We used marshmallows as markers.   We also started reading The Wadjet Eye, which so far is a great book!  I know I always say this, but I LOVE Story of the World!  

While I made lunch one day, the kids went outside together to finish GMan's Lego sticker book he has been avidly working on.  I snapped this picture because it symbolizes to me the bond that my children are developing.   They truly are each other's best friends, and for this I am so grateful!  

We also loved getting a new issue of National Geographic Kids.   I keep a basket with Highlights, library books, and National Geographics in the car so the kids can read while we are going places.   

I know I'm missing so much of what went on this week, but what I want to remember most is the peacefulness of the week, and how my children are continuing to let me be their GUIDE and not their TEACHER.    


I'm happily joining Kris for the Weekly Wrap Up!