Sweet Music

I had come to the end of a very long day yesterday and knew that I was facing a very long week ahead.  But, as the house quieted down and the children were tucked into their beds, I heard two little boys singing.  Soft voices sang together in the stillness, Soon and Very Soon.  Sweet, sweet music to my ears.

Book Worm

Isaac is crazy about books.  He is constantly begging (demanding?) for someone to read to him.  If he were my first baby, I don't think I'd accomplish much else during the day.  However, with lots of readers in the house, the responsibility doesn't rest on just one person's shoulders.  I do enjoy reading to Isaac, probably even more than I did to my older kids, because now I realize just how fleeting the young years are.

Isaac's favorite books are the ones by Richard Scarry, especially the ones featuring Goldbug.  Goldbug hides on every page and the challenge for the reader is to find the tiny little insect.  It took Isaac about two weeks to memorize where Goldbug was on each page of Cars & Trucks & Things That Go.  Here's a video of him finding Goldbug, taken about a month ago, when he was 21 months old. 

Punkin Patch!

We didn't really accomplish too much punkin pickin' at the pumpkin patch, but we did pick Fuji and Granny Smith apples and Asian pears.  It was a gorgeous day for a hayride.  We were down three cousins this year, but up one Grandpa.

The Aspiring Baker

The Tale of Two Field Trips

Our family has recently taken two educational (and fun!) field trips.  The first was to the King Tut exhibit.  The entire Macduff Homeschool attended (6 adults & 17 kids) courtesy of Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dianne.

We knew about this trip several months in advance, so Matt read the book Unwrapping the Pharaohs to the family before we left so that we'd be a little better informed once we got there.  This book did an awesome job of reconciling the biblical record with traditional thought on Egyptology.

I've written before about my dislike for managing my large crew in the midst of a crowd.  My sister-in-law (mother of 10) feels the same way.  Her solution was to write her cell phone number on her three youngest children's arms before we entered the exhibit.  Our family's solution was to buddy up.  Each person had to hold the hand of their buddy--no non-hand holding allowed.  Jude was my buddy.  Once Jude entered the exhibit and realized that it just wasn't as interesting has he thought it was going to be, we ended up taking the accelerated tour.  I sped read all the exhibit signs and Jude sped looked at all the exhibits, all the while dragging me to the next room and then on to the next.

 

  

Half way through the exhibit, Daddy and I traded buddies.  After that, Lydia and I were able to take the slightly decelerated tour.  The most interesting thing to me about the exhibit was the fact that the displayed items were in existence before Christ walked the earth.

The other fact I finally clued into was that the Egyptians were stinking rich and militarily very powerful.  Even King Tut, the least notable of all of the pharaohs, was surrounded by gold and other precious things. No wonder the Israelites often ran to Egypt to rescue them in times of trouble.  I just didn't get it before.  Why, when God said NOT to go to the Egyptians for help, but to rely on Him and Him alone, did the Israelites continually approach the Egyptians during times of trouble (and even not so troubled times)?  Duh!  The solution is just right over there.  "There's gold (and armies) in them thar hills!"  Yet they forgot that the God they served owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  It's all His and He is the Great Provider, Jehovah Jireh.

 

Our second field trip was to a Lewis & Clark reenactment.  We watched "Lewis & Clark" and company land on the shore in dug out canoes.  Once they disembarked, the reenactors were available to answer questions.  Daddy challenged Paul to ask either Lewis or Clark a question about the expedition.  Paul, the history buff, thought he knew just about everything there is to know about the trip.  However, when Daddy asked Paul who many guns were carried by the Corps of Discovery, Paul couldn't answer.  Paul then posed the question to the captains of the expedition.

 Well, neither Lewis nor Clark knew the answer to that question, because that fact was never officially recorded by the Corps.  However, they guessed at least thirty guns were taken, probably more.  The guy who played Clark said that he'd been on every major river in the U.S. in a dug out canoe.  Pretty crazy.  These guys take their reenacting very seriously.  All except the lady dressed in period costume that I spied drinking a Capri Sun.  I think she thought she'd hide the evidence by throwing the empty container in her camp fire.

Our homeschool year started off with a bang.  Two field trips in the first month.  I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up that pace for the entire year.  We sure had a great time, though.  Three huzzahs for field trips!    

Paul is Eleven

Paul's birthday was last Thursday.  The day didn't start out so well.  Paul was a little under the weather, (mostly overtired) so he wasn't very happy about much of anything, least of all the school work I asked him to do.

After I got the littles down for quiet time, I took Paul to the feed store.  Exciting, I know.  But Paul really really likes the feed store.  On the way there, we stopped at the McDonald's drive thru so I could buy Paul a rare treat, a milk shake--chocolate, to be exact.  The day started getting better after that.

When we arrived at the feed store, the woman behind the counter said, "I know you!  I know where you're going--straight to the knife case!"  Apparently Paul and his Daddy never miss an opportunity to check out the knives when they go to buy chicken feed.

Paul had already made up his mind about which knife he was going to buy.  He had purchased a knife for Grace for her birthday (which she carries in her skirt pocket every day), but he really wanted one for himself.  Grace returned the favor and gave Paul some money to buy a knife like hers.

That night we had a steak and mashed potato dinner and fudgey chocolate cake for dessert, all of which were Paul's requests.  Grace made the cake and Elizabeth spent a good part of the day fashioning some really fantastic decorations for it.  The little clay hunter figure is a replica of Paul, right down to the left eye he squints when he shoots a shot gun.

Paul then opened his presents.  I think he was most pleased with the sling shot his dad and I bought him when we were in Texas in July.  We ended the evening by starting a brand new read aloud, Man of the Family by Ralph Moody.