Special Post: Rules for Maintaining Sanity

As much as I enjoy writing, I find reading - especially other blogs - to be equally as wonderful.  When my friend Danielle posted her "Rules for Maintaining Sanity" on her blog, I was so encouraged that she gave me permission to repost it.  You can find more of her posts about her "great big family of little peoples" at The Joyful Noise Schoolhouse.  I hope you all will be as blessed as I was!

From Danielle:

Really, this list would be for anyone with kids, no matter what their ages, or where they accomplish their schoolwork. 

Laugh

A lot. 

Especially when you'd rather cry.  When both schoolaged kids need the very same red crayon (no, I cannot use the other identicle red crayon, I need that one!), the preschooler yanks the box away from everyone and in the process dumps it on the floor, and the baby starts screaming "Yaaayyy!!!" simply to add to the mayhem--laugh!  "You guys are so goofy!!  You were trying so hard to get your way that you all made a huge mess!  Go pick it up."

Not that anything like that has ever happened here!

Be Thankful.

Always. 

It's tough, sometimes.  Especially on the days where nothing seems to be going right.  Some days there's just too much noise to handle.  The thought of how nice and quiet it will be someday, when all these joyful noisemakers are on their own can seem rather dreamy.  Until I think of the ones who never lived long enough to make noise.  I'm thankful the noise!

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Really.  Don't.  It isn't worth it! 

I'm a school nerd.  I love looking at all the new curricula on the market.  I love talking about school with other moms (especially the ones who've been at this for a hundred years and know everything there is to know...You know--the "perfect" moms!).  It took me a few years to find the combination of schooling sources that works for our family.  But we have it, now.  Looking at glossy magazines and switching textbooks every semester isn't going to do anyone any favors.  Every curriculum has its strenghts and weaknesses.  The grass isn't necessarily more nutritious from that pasture over there, simply because it looks a little darker or a little taller, or...

But if it is broken...

Fix it.

Sometimes a great idea just doesn't pan out.  This happened to us last year.  I was looking for the perfect science course.  You know--the one that has all pros and no cons.  Right.  Well, I found it. Except it didn't quite work.  I love Answers in Genesis' God's Design. It is my dream to use this.  Someday.  But with two non-schooling kids running around, and only one proficient reader, I needed a much simpler approach.  (We ended up with Christian Light's God's Light in Science, by the way.)

Pray.

Without ceasing. 

Spend time on your face before the Lord, begging for the souls of your children.  And their hearts.  In fact, you may not get their souls, if you don't first have their hearts.  Be sensative to their state. 

Spend time pouring your heart out to the Lord for your husband.  Nothing else will strenthen that relationship as much.  Your relationship to him is of utmost importance to the stability of your children--they're watching.

And, of course, as the day unfolds, be in a constant state of prayer for sanity!  When the kids make you angry (not they ever would, of course, but should such a situation ever arise...) breath a prayer for the right reaction and words.  Two seconds could make the difference between harsh words and tears or a gentle reprimand in love.

Stay in the Word of God.

Every day.  Somehow, somewhere, make time to meditate on the Word of God.  Let its pure waters cleanse your mind and heart.  Those precepts will come out in your parenting, and they will see His reflection in you.

Yeah.  That's my desire.  I've got a loooong way to go.  Just ask my kids.  And my husband. 

Look back.

Every now and then.  Don't dwell there.  But let the Lord show you how far He's brought you.  It's good to  know He doesn't give up on us!

Love.

As He loves.

Everyone from strangers to those in your own home.  It'll change the way you think.

It's a good life, really.  After all, it's the one we were given by the Lord.

So smile and rejoice!

Monterey Bay Aquarium Field Trip

We've long loved visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium and are very privileged to live so close to it.  When a friend notified me that the aquarium was offering free admission for home schoolers, we eagerly signed up!  We carpooled with two other families.  The kids did great on the drive, entertaining themselves with creative stories and silly songs.

Years ago, the aquarium had been a huge cannery, so our first stop once inside was to see how the canning operations worked.  My boys, of course, were all about touching the fake sardines.

Next, we watched a video on creatures of the deep, which the kids had never seen.  It's funny, but as many times as we've been to the aquarium, we usually look at the tanks and skip the touch pools, movies, and hands-on activities.  The video was very informative, though, and the docent did an excellent job of showing some very amazing clips of a vampire squid, an underwater worm, a Dumbo octopus (pictured above), and several other amazing creatures.  (Photo Credit)

 

After the video, we went to the kids' discovery area, something else new for us.  This room is often closed when we're there, but today the staff had set it up to specifically accommodate home schoolers by adding extra exhibits for us to see.  T's favorite, of course, were the shark jaws.  He's definitely inherited his daddy's love of fierce fish!

Our next exhibit was the long-awaited 1.2 million-gallon Outer Bay tank.  This is by far my favorite display, and on our past two visits, it was closed for maintenance.  This was also K's favorite tank, mostly because there were two hammerhead sharks swimming around.  He finds their flat profiles hilarious and easy to recognize.  My friend A caught this photo of L watching the mackerel schooling.

And here is my favorite fish:  the sun fish!  This slow, ugly giant can grow to 10 feet or more, although the particular specimen shown is probably 4-5 feet in length.  Again, photo credit goes to A.  I think she took this one just for me! 

We then walked over to the kelp beds where several of the kids posed for a photo.  This 3-story-tall tank has a mechanism at the top that produces waves very similar to the lunar pull on the ocean.  It's great fun to see the leafy kelp swaying up and down with the man-made current.  T recognized the resident Leopard Sharks, much to his delight.

In the Splash Zone designed for younger visitors, we saw several fun, brightly colored tanks full of butterfly fish, sponges, tangs, clams, anemones, and tomato clownfish.  Everyone enjoyed the vibrant, tropical colors.

Another adventure of the day was the octopus.  While this guy is normally squashed up in a corner looking very uninspiring, on this particular visit he was in a great mood.  He willingly showed off for us, torpedoing through the water like a bullet and then spreading his tentacles out on the glass much like an umbrella.  (Photo Credit)

We weren't able to see every area on this trip - we skipped the ray tank, the salmon river, and the sea horse exhibit - but spending the day with friends and viewing new displays of God's amazing marine creation made for a great afternoon.

According to Plan

I love planning, preparing, scheduling, and ordering my day.  Having an idea of what I'd like to accomplish greatly aids me in getting through my day.  Imagine my dismay when, last week, I came accross James 4:15 in the kids' daily devotional:  "If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."  Later on that same day, my Bible reading assignment took me to the same passage where James admonishes us to follow the Lord's plans, not ours.

"Okay, Lord," I wondered, "what do you have in store for us tomorrow?"  I sincerely hoped that He wasn't planning on one of the kids waking up sick or needing to go to Urgent Care for something!

Since I'd read the same passage twice in one day and since I was pretty sure that the authors of the devotional hadn't conspired with my daily Bible reading coordinators, I tried to be prepared for whatever was coming down the pike.

I was looking forward to the next day's school assignments - it was supposed to be a catch-up day since we'd not completed a few things in the previous weeks and I felt that some of our missed assignments needed to be finished.  After breakfast the following morning, though, I realized that I'd left our binder of curriculum in the car and that Jon had the car at work.

Oops.

This normally would have completely derailed my day's productivity, but since I had just read about following the Lord's will and not necessarily my own, I was able to switch gears.  We pulled out our core curriculum that wasn't in the car and had a good day of Bible, math, reading, and spelling.

I then got the brilliant idea to have the kids help me make laundry soap.  Not only were we on the dregs of the last batch I had made, but it would be very sciency and would make up for my leaving the science activities in the car.  I ran to the laundry room (grateful once again to have such a room in my house!) to get the needed ingredients.

And then I discovered that I only had the Fels Naptha and not the Borax or Washing Soda,  Really?  I thought.  How on earth do I have the one ingredient that is most difficult to obtain and not have the simple ingredients?

Once again, I was reminded of the verse.  Suddenly I got the brilliant idea to walk to the store to get the Borax and the Washing Soda.  We'd walked there many times, and we could all use the exercise.

Of course, though, I'd left the stroller in the car along with the school work, and carrying home heavy boxes of laundry fillers while dragging along a tired toddler didn't appeal.

All that to say, my day definitely did NOT go as planned, but the Lord had prepared my heart earlier so that none of these little setbacks irritated me much at all.  This in itself was a miracle since I like to be on top of things.

We ended up cleaning house and calling it a day.  I don't know why the Lord planned our day the way He did, but the lesson I learned was very needed.  We can always make soap another day (look for a laundry soap post soon!); we got some good work done on our core subjects; and I got a clean house, too.  There's not much to complain about when I think of all the blessings!  (Photo Credit)

First Nature Walk

This past week, we participated in a nature walk that a friend organized for us.  While we are always on the lookout for neat bugs and unusual sightings whenever we venture out of doors, this was our first official nature walk of the year.  It's amazing what can be found along a concrete path next to a lake!

Our first "discovery" was this bush covered in purple, velvety flowers.  I'm sure it has a name, and it's quite popular where we live, but the list of flora that I recognize consists of roses, Gerber daisies, and African violets.

Next up was the lake, where we found ducks and Canadian geese aplenty.  The boys were equally enthralled with the paddle boats, but those didn't exactly fall under our "nature" theme.

Canadian geese cover the grounds much of the year here.  We found a couple of birds with broken wings, which, while sad, helped the kids to better see how the wings are supposed to be folded up neatly on the backs of the geese. 

This face says it all:  one of the best finds of the day was a fuzzy black and orange caterpillar.  A quick Google search at home says it's a Tiger Moth caterpillar.  This little guy willingly crawled up lots of eager spark plug fingers, much to the joy of said spark plugs and the squeamishness of their mommy.

Of course, the squeamishness of the caterpillar was nothing compared to the queasiness induced by this snail...and no, I didn't touch it!  My friend very graciously offered to hold it up so that we could snap a picture.  The kids really liked it, though, since its markings were much lighter than the usual garden snail variety.  I was very eager to move on to the next adventure.  If only I'd known what was in store!

Amazingly, a docent from the San Francisco zoo was walking around with his pet Albino Burmese Python.  Now, there's something you really don't see every day!  Honestly, I liked the snake much better than the snail since it wasn't slimy.  Yeah, I'm weird like that.  T was all for having the handler put it on his shoulders, while K was content to view it from a very safe distance.

On the remaining portion of our walk, we found pine cones and clam shells and made bark rubbings with paper and crayons.  It was great to get some hands-on exploration of God's amazing creation.  The kids had a blast and continued hunting for bugs and special finds later that evening when we went out with Jon for a family walk.  They made one final discovery.

This is a small, black beetle that turned to a copper color whenever the fading sunlight hit it.  Again, we have no idea what variety it is, but they begged me to take a picture.  Who was I to argue?

Whole Foods Field Trip

Last week, we took a tour of Whole Foods Market, a local heath foods grocer.  Not only was it nice to get out of the house and do something out of the ordinary for our learning time, we found the tour fun, informative, and tasty!

I must admit I don't usually shop at health food stores.  I find them visually overstimulating, crowded with inventory, and generally overwhelming.  Healthy living and eating is something that greatly interests me, though, so when our home school group offered us the invitation of a tour, I gladly signed up.

Am I ever so glad we went!  Our tour guide was fantastic - very patient with our youngsters as she offered tips, advice, and samples as we went along.  She showed us how to read the many labels and explained what the various bits of information represented.  (Who knew about something called an ANDI score to indicate a fruit or veggie's nutritional value?)

At first, the boys, especially K, were reluctant to answer questions, but about half way through the tour they began to participate and pay attention.  By the time we reached the salad buffet, T had really found his comfort zone.  When our tour guide presented the kids with a plate of salad greens, a few tomatoes, and a giant topping of dressing, she asked, "what's missing from this plate?" hoping that the group would notice the 20-30 other healthy topping choices she hadn't selected.  T blurted out, "the fork!!"  We all enjoyed a round of laughter.


At the end of the tour, each of the young participants were given an in-season Fuji apple and a reusable water bottle.  Once home, the boys and I reviewed some of the healthful facts we'd learned on the tour.  Much of it had gone over their heads, but it was a great start toward understanding nutrition and healthy habits.  I think the tour probably covered enough Health for the month!  (Photo Credit)

I Signed My Life Away

I filled out my very first affidavit today.  It sort of felt like I was signing my life away, but if filling out an online form will afford me the continued joy of educating my spark plugs at home, I'll do it!  For those who need to file in California this year and who are as uncertain as I was about doing it, below is an excellent link that will, for the most part, hold your hand through the process:

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/regional/CaliforniaR4.htm

I'll eventually figure out how to condense these addresses into a nifty little "click here" button, but for now, simply copy and paste into your browser.

Happy filing!

(Photo Credit)

38 Lessons

Teachable moments abound, but I wasn't quite prepared for a peculiar teachable moment that occurred last week.  Jon brought home something so bizarre that none of us could help staring at it in bewilderment.

If you can't tell, that photo is of 38 one-dollar bills...laminated together.  Why on earth someone would waste such a precious resource by rendering it useless is beyond me.  It was a sorry sight.  It didn't take much calculating to figure out how many piano lessons' worth of payment or what percent of Jon's paycheck was stuck in that plastic graveyard. 

Instead of crying over the spilled milk, we turned it into a lesson for the kids.  We asked the boys whether or not the laminator had been wise with his finances; whether or not it was a good idea to deface money; and what would have been a better idea for preserving currency.  We then moved on to some deeper questions:  what other ways do we waste possessions that could be compared to the laminated money? 

Next, we looked into ways of fixing the problem.  Jon had done some Googling that said occasionally banks would take the mutilated money and exchange it for legal tender, so Monday the kids and I took a few trips to various banks to find out the validity of this claim.  Based on the gawking stares of numerous bank tellers, I'm pretty sure most of them had never seen anything so strange before.  While none of them were willing to exchange it, we were given the federal web site for damaged and defaced currency where we found instructions for being reimbursed for our laminated bills.

We've not yet mailed the specimen to Washington's defaced currency agency, but it will be fun to find out what happens.  While we might never be able to redeem those 38 dollars, we were able to glean very valuable lessons on using wisdom, being good stewards, and thinking through our actions.  It was definitely worth the $38!