Letters From the Homefront

So it wasn't a very catchy title jumping out at you this time. There was just - not really a good way to bring a post about two totally different things together in to a one-liner description. :)  On top of music this year (another post) my three older children, LM, Hoss, and Miss Priss, are participating in a drama. Through their music teacher last May, we learned about a church not far from where we live that hosts a Christmas play every other year - A Christmas Carol.  LM is playing the part of the 'First Spirit', Hoss is (chuckle) Tiny Tim (he's anything but tiny, but they said he does the part wonderfully) and Miss Priss is one of the younger Cratchit daughters.  Here is LM with old Scrooge himself, working in one of their first rehearsals together. She is super excited to get this part - it's what she wanted, and it's also her first to ever be in a play like this. Unless you count those they come up with at home, which can't really com...

Well, I didn't expect it to be almost the middle of January before I got back to blogging. Life wouldn't have been possible without this break, though. Things got so hectic, and probably will continue to be a little busy for the next couple of weeks as we try to enjoy as much time as possible with our family all together, and also try to prepare my husband to leave us for a 5 month stretch, then do a turnaround and leave again for 2 months. That's five months of  3 seasons worth of clothing, two types of uniforms, and so much more to get ready! Anyway, that has nothing to do with school and everything to do with life right now. A little update on the things we've been doing since the beginning of December. First of all - we moved, temporarily. If you didn't read the last post, the kids and I are staying with family (my mother) while my husband goes to an intensive, 5 month long school this year for his job, then follows it up with 2 months of OJT (on the job ...

We had so much fun over Christmas break! Riding our local train through the park, which is a Christmas wonderland every month of December! Lots of Christmas morning surprises!!!! A few non-Christmas shots: I found these water beads at the Dollar Tree one day while out shopping. The intention was actually for them to be scented beads to make your home smell nice and inviting - but this is what happens when you are a Montessori mama. What you see is not always what everyone else sees. The minute I saw these, I knew they were made for the perfect sensorial activity. They also ended up being a great diversion on a busy day before Christmas, when Buddy Boy was especially mischievous. The scent combined with the fun kept him busy in the bathtub for at least an hour, maybe more! I was also able to rescue most of them and use them a couple more times before tossing them. Not bad for $2.  Hoss also got a few lego sets (or the eq...

So I have been totally MIA from the blog lately. I haven't written anything, haven't kept up with my  normal reading, and have barely begun to draft ONE tot school post. Life sometimes just smacks you in the face, doesn't it? I have never wanted to take an 'unschooling' approach at all, because I feared that just wouldn't be enough, and yet we've done so much more *life school* the last month or so than usual. I don't know where it started, or exactly when - I just realized last week that it had been probably three + weeks since we have had a completely productive day in our actual lesson plans. *whew* Now that I've gotten that confession out of the way... Enter the unplanned unschooling that has gone on during this unplanned break.  Little Mama declared a few days ago that she knew what decimals were all about, since she understood money, she knew what half of 7 would be, because half of $7 was $3.50, so half of the number '7' would...