A new arrival!

Today was a grand day for the musicians at home. We had a new-comer arrive! Welllllll, a different kind of a new comer. One that does require time, appreciation and (ahem) money in the real sense!
We talked about it last night, in a flurry, and decided to take the risk.. the risk of buying a size 1/8 violin.
When I arrived home, I thought of surprising A with his new "buddy". In a kind of exciting voice (that probably sounded more like a tired-for-being-out-since-morning voice) I announced to him that I had something new for him to play with. In a most gentlemanly, matter-of-fact tone, with an unflinching gaze at me he said, "I don't need a new violin, I've got this old one!"
Ah! I wanted to punch myself!
I didn't do that after all, and A did slowly take a liking to a violin that he can hold, that does have a chin rest and isn't all grimy with over-use. I do have a desire for him to like music, like playing the violin, like practicing to attain perfection, but I also keep reminding myself that he doesn't have to do it, at least not to please me. I know by experience that something done out of obligation and force can end up being a task, and it takes much discipline and many, many tears to have a heart for it. At this time I'm treading a thin line between teaching and allowing enjoyment of music, and I constantly ask for grace to permit, forgive and move on. So here is what our new arrival looks like...
(and isn't it nice to use the word like for things and love for people? I'm just beginning to learn...!)

The creepiest night of my life!

I'm not a great fan of spooky stories or ghost busters' tales, but I have had some chills run down my spine with 'phenomenal' dreams and documentary programs, but what I experienced last night was something of a kind...
Let me begin by saying  that I've had terrible headaches in the last few days, constant, draining and confusing. The moment my head hits the pillow, I'm off to dream-land, which is usually not the case with me.
And so I lay down  for a nap in the evening, with a heavy head and a heavier heart, not knowing I was going to be knocked out for the rest of the evening and most of the night.
My dream was simple and light for the most part. I was roaming a housing complex looking for a friend. Pretty sweet... so far! Only problem was my friend didn't look like her, didn't live where she lives and was hanging out three sets of children's ties, when she has only one child. I began to fret in my dream, look around some more for her again. I didn't want to give up, but then I heard some dogs howling.
Now there is some element of creepy-ness in the howls of wolves and dogs.  I know that they usually howl when something isn't right or when they see 'spirits'. In my dream I began wondering what was wrong, why were the dogs howling so strange. Why was their howl not the deep-throated, nerve wracking howl, but instead a whining, vibrating and lingering howl. And then I realized they were howling at me.
In what felt like few minutes, my body shook on the bed. I felt a strangle tingling move from my feet up and I turned. It felt as if something or someone had just 'entered' me. I woke to hear the last strains of the dogs howls, the ones that were 'sung' in my dream, as if they were the end of a music and I had just heard the closing of the fermata. The dream was over, I sat up, chilled. The room was dark, the curtains opened and the dogs fell silent again.
That's when I understood, I had been outside me!

Skeletal goof ups

I know practically nothing about anatomy, nor of the skeletal system except perhaps the word "bones"!
So here I went out on an expedition to increase my knowledge and I was glad to have Google partner with me...
Try as I might, some words were hard to pronounce and I rubbed my sleepy eyes to grasp the phonics, but I did end up making some laughable mistakes.

Showing results for: Vertebral column
Instead of: verbitral column
and
sternum
instead of: strenum!

Well... now I know!

Favorite things

One of my favorite homeschooling moments took place late one night, while A was snuggled in bed. With closed eyes and mouth slightly apart he mumbled between sleep, "Mama, let's do the Nelson Mandela lesson again."

Negotiation!

We like to listen to different kinds of music as part of our 'homeschooling music learning' and most often it's through Youtube. these past few days, I've got a craze to listen to the Carol of the Bells. Different versions, different instruments, different lyrics. So today I told Aiden to sit on his chair (serves as a piano stool, a story book-time chair, dinner when guests-are-around chair and reaching-over-the-bookshelf chair)
He said No.
(now I don't allow unreasonable arguments like NO and there is a pattern we follow (or try to) for appeal)
So I informed him again that he should sit on the chair. He wanted to sit on the sofa.
No sofa. Chair.
No chair. Sofa.
So he decided to come to an agreement. He simply picked up the chair, put it on the sofa and sat with a satisfactory "There!"

The negotiation!!

World 'creature' day!

Today A and I celebrated, in our own special way, World Creature Day. It left us giddy with excitement!! We didn't plan on having such an adventure, but we couldn't help it either. About 10 yards away from home, on our way to the park, we had to pass through a herd of grazing sheep (and a few goats and kids), and that set the tone for the rest of the evening! It was fun to walk among yellow (yes! yellow with turmeric) backed sheep, hustling each other to get another little grain left  for the pigeons. Fortunately (and not usual!) I wasn't scared .
At the park, I found a juvenile grasshopper hanging-around nearby along with a red lily leaf beetle. I tried to show A so I gingerly grabbed it from it's legs and took it around. Thinking that I might hurt it, I let it go, the movement which caused the Red to fly off. I chased him around and tried to get it. Apparently, it squeaks if squeezed gently, so next time I'm on that project!
While leaving the park, we walked out slowly and stopped to cross the road. Aiden alerted me with urgency to something on the ground. By that time I felt a thump on the toes part of my shoes and saw a snake lift it's head up. I quite froze to the ground. Feeling his little warm hand in mine, I took a few steps back and almost bumped into a few gardeners coming out, ending their game of cards. They started shouting 'Poisonous, poisonous' and told me to go back. One of them picked it up by the tail, revealing it's white belly and flung it around. I could see the bright brown color from far. Apparently it was a viper, with white rhombuses prominently contrasting the brown. I couldn't thank Aiden enough for warning me, and the Lord for giving me such  an enriched day!

A Jo and Amy moment...

Homeschooling, in my inexperienced opinion, has many moments.
Those Moments include moments where a child picks up something new, interesting, not know it's value and uses it as a toy. Quite impossible to lay all valuable things on the floor and teach each child not to touch it, or how to handle it.
Okay, so today, TODAY, just a few moments ago was my 'Jo' moment... little 'A'my didn't burn my precious story diary, but scribbled upon my recipe notebook. Hours of painstaking copying... for the kitchen was neatly, fascinatingly, intensely scribbled upon. Now I can't make out what happens first on one page, and how much of what goes on another page. 
Those times when 'Mother' is hurrying about heating water in one corner, washing dishes in another corner and baking desert in yet another corner, the little 'Child' decides to leave the world of toy trains, doll houses, tracks, dialogues, soliloquies, music and venture into 'Mother's' world. It's fascinating, intriguing, an all grown-up experience. There is no sound coming from their little corner, they are still, delighted and time ceases to matter. Those are the danger moments!!
I didn't know how to react looking at my red and pink notebook... I suppose he understood it was wrong, and started saying 'Sorry'.. oh how devastated I felt for a few minutes. But then Kitchen Books can be re-written in another few hours, in a notebook with a lock and key (no kidding!!) and little posts can be written, reliving the wretchedness of the Moment!

Tackling temptations

Just a few days shy of Christmas, we went out to a shopping street. It was cheerful, inviting, noisy and full of temptations! vendors dotted the streets inviting passers by to look at the display of their colorful things for sale. One of the greatest tempters were the cotton-candy vendors. They were tempters for two reasons, their cotton candy looks great and they are usually poor and inspire a great deal of sympathy. They called out to A various times, asking him to buy a package. I asked him to refuse politely, to say "No thank you." He was doing that quite well, but with a few problems. The vendors didn't hear him and he was tempted.
Back at home was a great opportunity to teach him (again) about what is good food and not-so-good food and about saying No to temptations. But then that doesn't always work...
It's easy when the temptations are a bit distant- toys on display or cotton candy on the vendors' stick. But what when somebody (a friend, perhaps) puts forbidden toys in their hands and asks them to take it home (another 'not-allowed' act)? I realized that the friends don't usually look to the parent for approval or permission, and that it was up to the child to stand up for the truth, for what he has been taught... pretty much like real life!! What a big lesson for a little child, to hold an object of desire and refuse it, in his (or her) little heart and in words. But what a fundamental lesson, that will free the child from foolishness and a bad habit!

A man of understanding will attain unto wise counsel.

I hope with all my heart, the journey each child takes, will be marked with these wise guideposts.

New Year, new life!!

I love to think of new things to do all the time, as a homeschooling mom, but unfortunately my gifting of creativity is on the.. ahem... lower end. But that's not a huge problem, there are a lot of people with great skills, who inspire me all the time, and then there is the Creator Himself, who helps me 'upgrade' skills and imaginations to a new level I wouldn't be able to achieve myself.

This new year, 2013, I really wish to explore the unexplored areas of learning, one step at a time, spread out through the year. Areas that intimidate me, areas that I've mastered through tutoring all of my life. It's easy  for me to fall in a routine method, but Yahweh is above routine, and a new life, new meaning is added everyday :)

Here's wishing you a lovely new year!!