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Yesterday, we had a very busy day. We left the house at 8:30 am, returned for about 45 minutes at 5:00 pm, then had to leave again right away, finally returning at 8:30 pm. Whew!

We started the day by taking my oldest son John to his co-op class. It lasted an hour, so during that time, the other three children and I ran errands. We made it to two stores: the grocery store and Target, and returned just in time to pick up John.

We then headed towards the far end of the county, where a new IMAX theatre just opened up. In celebration of the opening week, all of the movies were free (they even gave out free popcorn!), so we went to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3-D on a huge screen. Not too educational, but a lot of fun.

Next, we headed back for an orthodontist consultation for my daughter Cassie, but we arrived about an hour early — enough time to run another errand. We shopped the sales at another grocery store, but didn’t get through the entire list before it was time to go, so after the appointment, we went to one more store. Part of that list was for supplies for John’s backpacking trip this weekend, so we had to finish.

We arrived home with just enough time to pack up that backpack and head out again to have it weighed-in with the other scouts. After a short meeting, we moved on to Walmart to pick up some photos for Friday, and by the time the day was done, it was after dark.

Could this be counted as a school day? For John, it could. He attended his co-op class, read his schoolbooks during the car rides and while waiting at the orthodontist, and learned how to pack for the trip. For the rest of the children, probably not. While a lot was accomplished, not too much was done in the way of learning, so we’ll make it up on Saturday. But that’s one of the best advantages of homeschooling — the flexibility of schedules to accommodate life — or whatever else may be going on.

Yesterday, our co-op had a field day for the elementary students. It took a lot of planning and a lot of organizing, but it was a lot of fun. It was a great way to conclude the school year for the younger children.

Even if you’re not part of a co-op, you can organize a field day with other homeschooling friends. Here are some ideas to get you started.

First, find a good location for your field day events. You might go to a public park with a field, or inquire at a church in your area for permission to use their land. We’ve had them at both places, and everything has gone well.

Next, plan your field day events. The events the children participated in yesterday included:

• Three-legged race
• Wheel barrow race
• Sack races
• Tug-of-war
• 50-meter dash
• Softball throw
• Bean bag toss
• Egg-on-a-spoon race
• Bowling (using plastic soda bottles)
• Water balloon toss
• Wet sponge over-and-under relay

You don’t have to do all of these activities, however. Along with the other moms in your group, see what other events you can come up with. You might want to try:

• Frisbee throw
• Jump roping
• Relay races/passing a baton
• Ping pong blow
• Soccer ball dribble
• Football throw
• Hoola Hoop Marathon
• Basketball free throw
• Egg toss
• Miniature golf

In preparation for the games, set up a “station” where each game will be played. Be sure all necessary equipment is at the station.

Next, divide the children into groups based on ages and/or height. You might also want to separate the groups by gender as well.

If you haven’t done so already, enlist the help of the other parents. Have a parent supervise each station and make sure all the students are playing according to the rules. Provide each parent with a clipboard, pencil, and paper, so they can write down the names of the children who come in first, second, and third place.

At the end of the games, you can reward the children in several ways. You might assign point values to first, second, and third, then give those with the highest points on each team a special prize. Prizes can include toys, candy, gum, restaurant coupons — whatever you think they would like. Or, you might give out ribbons to those who placed. Either way, it’s also good to have a small prize or ribbon for everyone who participated.

However you organize it, field day is a good day to teach about friendship, sportsmanship, and fun!

If you have a young or reluctant reader, The Josephina Story Quilt by Eleanor Coerr is a great choice, especially for girls. Written for readers in grades 2-4, it’s part of Harper Trophy’s “I Can Read” series.

In The Josephina Story Quilt, Faith and her family are headed west to California with other settlers in a wagon train. Before they leave, Faith convinces her father that she needs to bring Josephina, her old pet hen. Along the way, Josephina causes some problems, such as startling the cattle and horses and falling into the river while the wagons are trying to cross. She does save the supplies, however, as she alerts the settlers to a couple of robbers who have come to take their blankets.

As they travel, Faith’s mother gives her a bag of fabric scraps and encourages her to create quilt squares to commemorate different parts of their journey. Faith sews one representing a wagon wheel and another for the desert they crossed. When Josephina finally dies of old age, she sews one for her hen — a pine tree representing the place where the hen was buried. Her patches are finished when they arrive in California, and in her new home she completes the Josephina Story Quilt and remembers their adventures on the trail.

This book has short chapters, making it a great choice for readers who are just starting out or may be struggling. And there are so many ways to use it in your homeschool. After reading The Josephina Story Quilt, you might:

• Have your student design a quilt square commemorating a recent event in her own life. Did she go to a birthday party? Maybe the square will feature a cake with candles. Did she give a music recital recently? Have her design a square featuring a music note. Did she plant a garden? A square with a flower or vegetable would tell that story. Have your student color it in with crayons or markers.

• Have your student learn more about the pioneer days. Why did people leave the homes they knew to travel West? What dangers did they face other than those discussed in the story? How long did the trip take?

• Start a sewing project with your student. It can be as simples as sewing yarn through holes made in a piece of felt or as complex as choosing a pattern and using a sewing machine.

Books are a great starting place for enrichment activities, and The Josephina Story Quilt is no exception!

This was my last week doing crafts with the kindergarten/first grade class at our co-op. It was bittersweet — while it was a bit of work planning and preparing the crafts, it was fun to watch the children work on them, and it was so good to see my son Luke enjoy making them and showing them off to his siblings.

For this last formal class, we read the picture book Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully. The story takes place in France in the late nineteenth century. Mirette’s mother, a widow, rents out the rooms in her home to traveling performers. One of the performers who comes to stay is the Great Bellini, a tightrope walker. Mirette wants to learn to walk on a rope, too, and Bellini finally agrees to teach her.

Our craft for this story was the Balancing Butterfly craft found on EnchantedLearning.com. Here’s how we did it:

Supplies:

• Cardboard butterflies
• Sculpey clay
• Pencils
• Pennies
• Tape
• Markers

To prepare, I made a butterfly pattern with a piece of cardstock. I found that a butterfly with a wingspan of about 3 inches worked well.

Next, I traced the pattern and pre-cut the butterflies for the students using thin cardboard I had on hand. EnchantedLearning recommends using old cereal boxes.

The students then…

1. Decorated their butterflies with markers. We talked about patterns again, and how they could make patterns on their butterflies.

2. I also provided each student with some sculpey clay. They worked the clay with their hands to soften it before rolling it into a ball. Then they flattened one side on the surface of the table to make it stand evenly.

3. I then let them choose a pencil, and they stuck the unsharpened end down into the clay so the pencil was standing upright.

4. Next, they tried to balance their butterflies on the eraser end of the pencils. They could balance them if they placed the center of the butterfly on the eraser.

5. Then we added pennies to the wings. We taped one penny near the top of each wing. This changed the center of gravity to a point closer to the head of the butterfly. The butterfly would tip, but it still balanced on the pencil.

This simple craft was a hit!  They played with them that morning, and then my son played with his some more when we got home. My daughter Lillie then made one for herself, and she plans on making more with her cousins this weekend. Give this project a try, and watch the butterflies soar!

Today started out like a typical Thursday — we rushed around this morning, trying to get out the door in time for my oldest son to get to his co-op class. There wasn’t much in the cupboards for breakfast,  so we left a couple of minutes early to go by the grocery store for some donuts (the kids didn’t mind). I dropped of John, then took the other three on some errands while we he was in class.

We went to two different stores and still had enough time to go to one more. I didn’t realize where the entrance was, though, and I passed our last stop, so I just turned in at the next store. Fortunately, there was a exit behind the store onto a small road that went to the one we missed. All was clear in my lane as I was turning right, until…

A small car suddenly shot out from behind a large truck in the other lane, crossing the double yellow line. I slammed on the brakes just in time, and it squeezed through, speeding between our van and the truck without hitting anything. It was quite startling for all of us.

I tried to reassure the children. “We weren’t hit, and everyone is all right. God was certainly watching out for us.” We all caught our breath and went on with the day.

Later, in the afternoon, I went out again with my daughter Cassie for a consultation with an orthodontist. She had been looking forward to it for quite a while, as she’s ready to get her teeth straightened out. We had traveled for 20 minutes and had about 10 more to go, when we came to a stop light. As we were sitting there, our van just shut off.

I tried a few times to start it, but to no avail. We were the first ones in line at the light, so I put on the hazard lights and everyone started going around us. I wasn’t sure if I could push the van out of the way, or if my daughter (only 11) would be able to steer it off the road. I was able to reach my husband at work, but he was at least 15 minutes away.

About that time, I looked up the road in the direction from which we had come, and a saw a young lady with a large shoulder bag walking our way. She looked to be in her early 20′s, so I thought she might be walking home from a  branch of the local university about a half mile away. She walked right up to us and asked us if we needed help.

“Sure,” I said. “Could you steer while I try to push the van off the road?”

“Yes,” she replied and got in the car. My daughter and I got behind the car and started pushing. To my surprise, it moved very easily, and within moments it was out of the way of traffic.

“Thank you,” I said as she got ready to leave. Before I knew it, she was walking back up the road. I watched her for a few minutes, waiting to see which house she would turn in to, as there were several between our van and the campus. But she never did. She kept walking and walking, all the way back towards the campus until she was out of sight.

When my husband arrived, we told him about the woman.  “Maybe she was an angel,” he said.

“Maybe,” I had to agree. She certainly came to our aid at just the right time.

We missed the appointment, and spent the next hour arranging everything so we could get the van fixed. My daughter was quite disappointed — it had not been a good day.

“But,” I told her, “even though things didn’t go well, we still saw how God takes care of us. We didn’t crash, even though the man was speeding and driving in a crazy way. And we had help — almost from nowhere — just when we needed it.  There is certainly a lot to be thankful for. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad day after all.”

We did this craft to go along with the picture book by Patricia Polacco entitled Mrs. Katz and Tush. In one of the illustrations, the artist included a view of the buildings outside of Mrs. Katz’s window. For our project, then, the children drew pictures of what they might see from a window of their own house.

You’ll need:

• Rectangular piece of cardboard, cut out like a picture frame
• Brown watercolors
• Paint Brush
• Container with Water
• Paper towel
• Heavy piece of paper, such as construction paper, cardstock, or watercolor paper
• Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
• Masking tape
• Hot glue and a glue gun
• Two small pieces of fabric, about 3″ wide and as long as the width of your cardboard. We used patterned pieces, as Polacco includes a lot of patterns in her illustrations in this book. I purchased multiple pieces from the fabric store so the children could choose which pattern they liked best. By purchasing only 1/4 of a yard of fabric that was on sale, I spent 25 cents – 30 cents for each piece.
• Two small pieces of yarn, long enough to tie into a knot

1. To begin, have your child paint the cardboard with some brown watercolors — either darker or lighter or a variety of brown shades. This will be the frame for the window. They can wipe off any excess water that may be on the cardboard with the paper towel.

2. While the cardboard is drying, give your student the sheet of paper. Have them draw something they might see out a window. He might draw a cityscape with buildings and roads, other houses in the neighborhood, trees and flowers in the backyard, or even the moon and stars at night. Give him time to color in his drawing with makers or crayons.

3. Next, tape his drawing to the back of the cardboard so that his drawing can be seen through the opening.

4. To make it look even more like a window, add some curtains. With your hot glue gun, glue a piece of fabric to each side of the window. For our project, we glued the top of the curtain to the top of the back side of the cardboard, then flipped the curtain over to the front of the cardboard.

5. Finally, tie back the curtains with the yarn.

What’s outside your window?

This past week, we’ve been visiting with relatives, so our schedule’s been a bit off. The children participated in a lot of fun late-night activities, such as basketball games in the park, movies with snacks, and just hanging out with their cousins. Now that we’re home again, we have just a couple of days to get back into a routine — and get back to a regular bedtime.

The first thing we need to do is re-establish just what time is “bedtime”, and then get back to our bedtime rituals. After the younger three get ready for bed, we usually read a couple of picture books together, and then head upstairs to listen to a radio theater drama on a CD or online. Then it’s lights out for Luke and Lillie, while Cassie does some silent reading. During this time, John is finishing up the day’s school assignments and reading on his own as well.

If you’re working on establishing (or like us, re-establishing) a bedtime routine for your children, here are some other things you might want to include:

• Warm bath or shower
• Reading aloud from a novel with all of your children
• Snuggle up with your child and talk about the day’s events
• Say bedtime prayers together
• Listen to soothing music
• Sing to your children
• Brush their hair for them
• Make up a story and tell it to your children
• Hug and kiss them

A smooth and consistent bedtime makes getting up in the morning that much easier — which will be the next thing we’re going to work on. We need to get back into the groove before co-op on Monday. At least, we need to be able to get up on time.

During the Easter holiday season, we took off some extra days for spring break and headed to Florida to visit with family. This week, my children have spent time with cousins ages 6 months to 26 years, and for the most part, they’ve had a lot of fun together. Interacting with so many people, though, means there will likely be some problems. Even within the immediate family, personalities are so different that they’re bound to clash sometime; multiply that number by four or five, and there will be more than a few arguments.  Small disputes and bickering are likely to occur, especially when so much time is spent together.

But if you have a large family, you know that’s actually one of the benefits of having so many relatives. Within the safety and comfort of the extended family, my children can learn to relate to all kinds of people, ones they get along with as well as ones that don’t share their same views. They learn how to be kind and include someone in a game even if they don’t want to, and they can come to adults they know well for help if difficult situations arise.

Interestingly, this time there was even peer pressure at work among the teenage/pre-teen cousins. When my daughter Cassie was looking for something to do, she asked her cousin if she had any ideas. “No,” the cousin replied. “I just do what the others want to do so they’ll include me.” Cassie , who at 11 years old falls in between the “older” and “younger” groups of cousins, was very surprised, but it was a good lesson. Even among family, someone can feel pressured to fit in.

So while this week has been a nice break, it’s been a time of learning as well. Time for my kids to relate to others  a little better, and a time for me to sharpen my parenting skills. And as the extended family continues to grow and change, I know we’ll grow and change as well.

One of my favorite memories of Easter when I was growing up was attending a church musical about the Resurrection. The church was a large one, so the production was quite grand, especially to a young child. I still remember the name of the musical — “The Life Giver” — and the chorus to one of the songs, the song where Peter realizes that Jesus is the Christ. It was so long ago, but it made such an impact on me. So, when we have opportunities to attend a cultural event during the Easter season, I try to take advantage of them. This year, we had two.

For the past few years, a friend of mine has done a Passover presentation, during which she explains the significance of the Passover feast and how it relates to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. In previous years, it had always fallen on a day when we weren’t able to go, but this year we could. She sent everyone instructions on how to make a Sedar plate and what to bring along.

After we arrived, she helped us set everything up, and when each family was ready, the presentation began. She took us step by step through a shortened version of the Jewish Passover, pointing out the symbolism and meaning of different parts of the feast. I learned things I had never heard before, and the children and I had a lot to talk about on the way home.

Yesterday, we had the chance to hear a musical presentation entitled Saturday, 29 A.D., relaying a possible dialog between Pontius Pilate and his wife. Mark Schweizer of St. James Music Press wrote and performed one of the parts, and it was both powerful and thought-provoking. We talked about it before we went, so the children knew what it was about and what to expect. They were quiet and listened intently, and the older ones understood most of it as it was being performed.

Besides being enjoyable, however, these presentations also help put us in the right mindset regarding the holiday. It’s fun to dye Easter eggs, go on egg hunts, and eat candy. But the real reason we celebrate Easter is to remember the work on the cross and the Resurrection. The holiday is an ideal time to again tell our children the Easter story, to remind ourselves of His great sacrifice, and to share the Good News with others. Let’s take advantage of such a great opportunity.