Author Study: Mo Willems

I'm back...periodically. =)

Occasionally we do author studies. We check out one copy of LOTS of books by the same author. Some times it takes a few trips, as it did with this author we did a couple years ago--Mo Willems. We all love his books. Especially Piggie & Elephant.

Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator
City Dog, Country Frog
Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed
Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct
Leonardo the Terrible Monster
Time to Say "please"!

Piggie & Elephant Books
Happy Pig Day!
I Love My New Toy! - favorite
I Am Invited to a Party!
I Am Going!
Can I Play Too?
I Broke My Trunk!
Listen to My Trumpet!
I Will Surprise My Friend! - favorite
Elephants Cannot Dance!
Today I Will Fly!
Pigs Make Me Sneeze!
Should I Share My Ice Cream? - favorite
There Is a Bird on Your Head!
My Friend Is Sad
We Are in a Book! - favorite
Watch Me Throw the Ball! - favorite
Are You Ready to Play Outside? - favorite

Cat the Cat Series
Cat the Cat, Who Is That?
What's Your Sound, Hound the Hound?
Let's Say Hi to Friends Who Fly!
Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep!

Pigeon Series
The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! - favorite

Knuffle Bunny Series
Knuffle Bunny
Knuffle Bunny Too
Knuffle Bunny Free

Conversion

Yes, it's been a year almost. I'll have to come back to that later. For now, I need to get this down.

Today in church Bro. Kim spoke. He is from Korea and can be hard to understand, but he always has the most amazing stories from his life. He opened by telling that his daughter from the time she was age 4 or 5 wanted to be a violinist. In time he and his wife sent her to a violin music school in Korea, but this school was expensive. He said eventually they didn't feel it was fair for them to spend so much money on this school when they had three other children who needed to go to school too, and they couldn't afford both. They told their daughter of this dilemma. She did some research and found a violin school in Siberia that cost half as much and she wanted to go there, so when she was 13 years old she said good-bye to her family and moved to Siberia to go to this music school. I don't think Bro. Kim knew about the conditions there in full until he went to visit her a few years later. The weather was often 30 degrees below zero! Very, very cold. The sun didn't come up until 11am or noon. Her first year there, she was the only Korean student.

Bro. Kim explained that his daughter decided when she moved there that she was going to attend church. She looked for a Latter-Day Saint church and found out how to get there. She would wear her fur coat with her Russian-style fur hat and walk 30 minutes in the very, very cold weather to get to the bus stop, where she would have to wait another 20 minutes or so for the bus to arrive. Once she arrived, it was another 15-minute walk to the church building. To get there in time she had to leave very early, but she did it. For the first hour of church, she was the accompanist. For the second hour, she taught her own age's Sunday school class. And after the three hour block, she stayed to lead the choir. Then she would walk to the bus station, wait for the bus, then walk back to the dormitory, where she would have missed the lunch time and have to wait for dinner. She was often very hungry. But she did this. Why?

Within a few years, there were 20 Korean students. There were 3-4 Korean Presbyterian churches nearby. The pastor would pick up this group of students (aside from Bro. Kim's daughter) later in the morning and drive them to the church for the one-hour service. Then the pastor's wife would cook them a full Korean meal, after which they stayed and played games together. There was also a computer there, the only one in the area they had access to, where they could chat and email their families. All this, Bro. Kim's daughter missed because she went all the way to the LDS church.

Today's Sunday School lesson was on Helaman and the young warriors who were so strong in the faith of God. This is from Alma Chapter 56: 47-48.

Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

We often think what amazing young men these were, to express such strong belief because of what their mothers taught them. We wonder, 'What kind of homes did these young men come from that would make them that converted?' Today, after hearing Bro. Kim speak and then hearing this Sunday School lesson, I couldn't help but wonder, 'What kind of home did this girl come from that would make her that converted? That she would be willing to sacrifice so much at such a young age?' And then comes the voice in my head, the question we all ask ourselves at times--Would I be willing to do that? Would I have faith sufficient to trust in God that much?

What a privilege it is for me to serve each hour of church, blessing others because the Lord has blessed me with talents. I hope I never will again complain at the load I feel I carry, when thousands of others across the world sacrifice so much just to be there and then fulfill callings that over here would be filled by five or more people. I am so blessed.

Laconic Answers

Stranger to Bekah: "Why aren't you in school, young lady?"
Bekah: "I'm homeschooled."
Strager: "Oh...why were you pulled out of school?"
Bekah: "My mom pulled me out because I'm too smart."

Bekah told me this in the car on the way home after this happened. I was not in the room at the time. She said, "I had so many details I could share about why I was pulled out... but I decided to just go with the short answer."
Mom: "That's wonderful, Bekah! We've been working on that...that when we're chit-chatting with someone they don't want to hear all the details. We like to save our details for our best friends."
Bekah: "Yeah, when I'm with (best friend) I can't keep anything back!"
Mom: "I'm so proud of you for giving a short answer in this situation."
Bekah: "Yeah, it was like I was being la-cone-ic."
Mom: "You mean, laconic?"
Bekah: "Yeah, that. Just like the Greeks."

That was my favorite mom moment of the day...maybe even the whole week or longer. I love knowing what she's learning is sinking in. I love that I saw a confident young lady who is growing up wonderfully. I love being with you each day, Bekah!

The Barbie Dilemma

I came across this post today. Very interesting. Not sure I will do what this mother did, but food for thought. Read, if you have a moment. Maybe buying the whole house with the family is worth saving up for...instead of the single, affordable Barbie doll. Just an idea.

The Post I Could Have Written

I just read this post on a homeschooling blog I sometimes read. I don't always agree with the writers (it's a conglomeration of homeschool moms all with different takes on how to homeschool but who are all LDS), but this post I could have written. People ask me "How can you be with your kids all day? Don't you need 'me' time?" I've been wanting to record my own story and thoughts, but in this crazy busy world for now I will link to this one.

Where Have I Been?

The short answer is homeschooling.
I didn't anticipate dropping out of the blogging world to homeschool, but that's what ended up happening. I'm still here. I'm still homeschooling. I'm getting more organized. But I still need to write. I need to share. I need to record our history. My life has changed a lot. But in so many good ways.

Homeschooling isn't for every one. No one needs to justify their family's choice to me. I'm not here to make anyone feel guilty. Don't forget we each see the world through our own lives and experiences, so I too can tend to get passionate about what is working for us. But if I were in your shoes, I'd probably be doing the same thing you're doing already.

Hoping to record some observations of homeschooling soon...as well as the many other things going on in our lives too. :)

Pretend it's May/June 2010

More updating. We're getting there. :)

More on homeschooling and learning styles
Finished reading The Well Trained Mind by Jesse Wise. Amazing book. Have had a copy for so long (borrowed from my friend) but hadn't spent much time with it until now (end of May/early June) as it's so big and overwhelming. Yet one night after deciding I needed to seriously consider homeschooling, and feeling strongly led in that direction that it may be the right thing for Bekah, despite my inclination to not want to do it, I read almost the whole thing in one night (all but chapter 1 and the jr high, high school years). Didn't get much sleep, but sometimes you just really feel like God is directing you and wants you to do something even in the middle of the night. It's the only time to really meditate and be able to see the whole picture of something because there are no interruptions. Somehow I was blessed with seeing more of the big picture of elementary education and how to go about it for our situation. Reading review after review of curriculum, yet within minutes receiving inspiration just by having it feel right or not right, and at the same time having to ignore my strong inner makeup that tells me I have to research everything about everything so I can make informed decisions. Learning to trust those feelings and acknowledging that it's help I need, so I can move on and do what needs to be done. I don't think I've ever felt that much inspiration flowing through me in that short of a time frame. (And I sure do look back and remember this night when the days get hard, when I wonder why I am doing this. The scripture somewhere that says "why doubt ye? I have already given you an answer" frequently comes to my mind.)

Sometimes I wish I could feel that 'pure inspiration flowing' into me more often, it's such a wonderful feeling to really feel like you're headed on the right path and not just hoping or guessing you're near it. I wish I had more time to ponder and meditate, but it seems to always come at the expense of leaving something else undone my family or my household needs. Motherhood lately seems to comprise less of diaper changing and feeding, and more of taxi-ing, phone calls, and constant interruptions. I'm not sure I like this increased busy-ness...it's so hard to make time to enjoy. I guess that's a hidden blessing of having another child is it forces you to feed and diaper change which ends up being a wonderful break from the hectic pace of life. If you would have told me this while in the thick of it with Bekah, I would never have believed it!

Later in May...studying more about curriculum and assessing learning styles. Fun side track trying to guess what Meiers Briggs code we each are! My best guess is Bekah is ENFP, but I think that might change as she gets older (Extrovert, intuiting, feeling, perceiving). Myself, INFJ (Introvert, intuiting, feeling, judging). I'm guessing Jason is ISTJ or ISTP (Introvert, sensing, thinking, and either judging or perceiving). Easy to see how Bekah is constantly feeling like life is boring since we're both introverts and she's not! It says a good occupation for Bekah's style is journalist--totally perfect fit! She loves to watch and listen for the news and has to know what's going to everyone everywhere! She loves getting the whole story. And she loves stories that really happened. She will love studying history!

Best introductory homeschooling book I've read so far: So You're Thinking About Homeschooling by Lisa Whelchel, former Fact of Life actress. Really easy read and helps introduce about 17 possible ways to homeschool. Totally makes you feel like you can find a method that works for you.

Piano lessons and summer job
I think in all these updating posts, I think I forgot to mention that I've started teaching piano lessons. Never thought I'd be one of those moms who works two jobs and still holds it together--I always thought I didn't have it in my to do all that and it seems like what supermoms do. But it is what it is. I was surprised to discover what the going rate for lessons out here is, so it makes it profitable in a third of the time it takes to clean a house! So at the end of March I began teaching one of Bekah's friends whose mom asked if I would teach. I also started teaching Bekah as well--wondered if teaching my own child would work, but since she's aware of someone else taking lessons and is at about the same level, it keeps her motivated to learn.

I'm finding I like teaching more than I thought I would. I've taught here and there, but never to do it for a regular paycheck. And I never liked the idea of forcing kids to practice when I know if that had happened to me I never would have liked the piano so much. But at the same time, I'm finding it wonderful to remember how excited I am about music and finding ways to inspire others to find that enjoyment.

So since it's summer now (Jason is done with his semester May 1st) I go back to working 3-4 days a week cleaning houses, and now piano lessons 1 day a week. (Thus the reason for almost no blogging or keeping up with friends since then. And just wait, it only gets crazier in September!) This gives Jason a sorely needed break from teaching, allow us to have an income with a flexible schedule so we can go to Utah for 4 weeks this summer, and frees up Jason's time to finish his office and the family room in the basement (originally for more play space, but now using it for homeschool mostly). I don't mind cleaning houses when you have clients you like to clean for, but these past two summers when you get random clients it's really hard to go to work. You never know what you're going to find. It might take 3 hours, it might take 6. You might be threatened by pets or overwhelmed by mold. It's not easy work. It's hard on my body. But it's worked out to be the best job for me right now as I know my weaknesses and limitations--needing a highly flexible schedule where I can leave the work day at work and not be tempted to be a workaholic. The occasional tips are nice too. :)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010
When I got home from work and taking Jason to the doctor and getting medicine, just in time for Bekah to get home from school, we tried to do something fun and spontaneous since Bekah was having a rough day. So we donned our bathing suits and turned the hose on in the front yard, only to be attacked by mosquitoes! They are extremely bad this year! Even the long-timers say it's bad. They come out in the day now, not just at night, and since we're behind on cutting our grass and haven't sprayed yet, they love our house. Poor Bekah. In 10 minutes we had about 10 bites between us. We had to stop. So to make up for it, we let the kids play in their suits in the bathtub with water guns and spray bottles. Almost as fun! They had a blast. We should do that more often. Except then JJ slipped and hit his head. Poor James.

Jason still has bronchitis and is trying some new medicine. I took the kids out of the house so he could sleep and we found a night light for James! Both kids love it! It's this cute white bear they named Fuzzy as soon as they saw it. It's a rechargeable animal you can carry around with you that runs on LED lights from Target. James has started not sleeping through the night because he's become scared of the dark, so we're hoping this will solve the problem. It's too much for me to deal with a sick husband and a toddler who won't sleep through the night anymore and work during the day all at the same time. This one night while Jason was gone on his trip, went to bed late because of homeschool research, slept for a half hour when JJ started screaming! He took an hour to fall back asleep, then awake again at his normal 7am. This happened both Fri and Sat night. Then Sunday night when I was trying to go to bed early (albeit 11pm) JJ woke up right then screaming and he'd only calm down if I stayed in the room so I ended up falling asleep in his chair until 1am. Finally got into my bed, only be woken up by Bekah who had a bad dream. Then JJ started crying again! I don't remember what happened after that, but I ended up averaging 4 hours of sleep each night Jason was gone! Sure taught me how hard single parenting is. So I'm hoping the night light helps James.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
It worked! JJ screamed for about 2 seconds and then it was silent. He put himself back to sleep! The night light, although not cheap, was worth every penny!
Ended up going to urgent care today because a bug bite I got on my hand while running in the hose started swelling up. Put me on antibiotic and dr also decided to give me a tetanus shot since I think I was 16 for the last one. That hurt worse than my thumb! And it made me feel exhausted. (Come to think of it--it was probably my crazy last several days that actually did it!) Ended up rescheduling work for another day.

Thursday, June 3, 2010
Spent an HOUR on the phone with AT&T trying to fix our internet. (Had to be after 9pm since we're out of minutes this month again--luckily their call center is open late.) I'm sensing no savings of time due to technology lately. Sometimes it's so frustrating I almost don't want new things to be invented because I don't want to have to keep up--it's too expensive, takes too much time to learn or starts new habits I didn't have to learn about before.

Friday, June 4, 2010
Bekah and I are reading a kids biography of Abigail Adams, received from her nana for her birthday. Thank you! She loves hearing historical fiction stories.

Saturday, June 5, 2010
JJ went from communicating by noise (could say drink but always preferred making slurping noises instead, knew how to say 'dog' but made 'ruff, ruff' noises intead--that kind of thing--can we say auditory learner!), to very slowly using one word here and there, to fully blasting forward into sentences! And he's using I/me/you in correct form! I'm pretty sure he doesn't realize what he's saying but he copies us a lot. He learns new words every day. He loves big characters he can go hug, like Chuck E Cheese. (He would have LOVED Cosmo!) Favorite phrases right now are "I did it", " 'mon" for come on, "They're coming" for birds (not sure why he got into that), "outside", "lawnmower" sometimes calling it "mow mow", "miwt" or "milt" for milk, and "ug" for hug.

He used to communicate with us by having us ask him a list of questions or so to try to guess what he'd want since having a hard time verbalizing it. So we'd ask things like "diaper change?" JJ: "Nooow" or shake head no or act upset. "Change clothes?" JJ same reaction. "Eat...hungry?" Same. "Blanket?" If this is what he wanted he'd start forced laughing! And that's how you'd know you got it right! It almost sounded like 1/2 crying 1/2 laughing.

He says "Tant U, Wew com" together 'thank you, welcome'--he thinks they go together. He's said "I found it!", "I see it!", "Hold you", "Tee bee" for TV, "mote" for remote, and "Hew-whoa" to mean phone or hello. When he wants Jason to get up out of the rocking chair so mom can rock him to sleep or read stories, while Jason is still holding him, James will grab Jason's shoulder, pull up, and say "Moof!"...which means "out of the chair, I'm done with you, mom's turn to sit in the chair". Hilarious!

His favorite books are A Truck Goes Rattley Bumpa by Jonathan London, "eb-ry-fin" means A Purpose for Everything or A Place for Everything, series by Larry Stewart (love these!)

Went to Chuck E Cheese this afternoon as a family. They added Guitar Hero--my new favorite game! Maybe we should get a wii...

Sunday, June 6, 2010
Favorite moments today:
--Sitting with Bekah in pew during testimony time and being able to trust her to sit alone while I take care of my calling and bear my testimony (since Jason in the hall with JJ), and her helping me set up the hymn numbers up front before church
--JJ walking into nursery, fully decked in his newsie's cap and blazer, hair slightly over his ears, sandwich bag in hand for lunch, all by himself, no crying as I left.
--Pretending we're riding a train while in the car so JJ will stop being upset about not being on a real train (we pass one on the way to/from church), saying things like "the next stop will be..." pretending to be conductors and engineers, "now arriving..."
--family game time playing "mom says" or "dad says" (like simon says). When it was Bekah's turn to choose she said "the chicken dance!" Then Jason found the music for the bunny hop and we hopped around the house and into JJ's room for bed. Totally funny memory I'll always remember, us all acting like chickens and bunnies!
--Papa pretending to be animals for JJ on the phone
--Bekah excited to play piano for me and listening and watching me play
--getting out Bekah's baby quilt and reading the secret message in the stitching
Wonderful day.

Monday, June 7, 2010
Got a bad headache on Saturday and it's still not gone. Pain at the base of my neck, stiffening my neck, throbbing in my throat, ear fullness, little bit of sinus pressure. Feels like a congestion headache but nose not stuffy. Maybe a reaction to spreading mulch on Saturday.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010
What a weird day. Headache seemed better, so went to work. Bam--the headache came on hard and fast. I almost passed out from the pain and was almost crying, but I finished the house (in the fastest time ever amazingly), Jason picked me up (he had the car--good thing cause I was in too much pain to drive) and took me to urgent care. I told them it was the worst headache I'd ever had. It was. But that started a chain of events: an iv for pain meds and fluids, CAT scan and other tests, headache still there, so wanted me to go to the hospital for more tests, but since had the iv they were required to send me in an ambulance! So went to immediate care about 11:45am, waved goodbye to family thinking I'd see them in a hour, ended up at the hospital about 3-4pm, neurologist comes in at 5:30/6pm says I need to stay overnight for observation! She said it could be a sinus infection or migraine, but also could be meningitis or a small bleed because of my head injury in Jan. By the time my MRI was done it was 7:30 and JJ was really needing to get to sleep. So I never got to see my family again that day. My visiting teacher (bless her soul) brought me a bag Jason had packed, complete with Bekah's teddy bear and food to eat. So here I am with a 15in TV that's pretty far away up in the corner of the ceiling, a leaky faucet, and wall clock that ticks every 1/2 second when the second hand is from the 6 to the 2 (can you tell I was bored?), plus all the noise from the nurses station across from me with only a curtain between us. It was very difficult to sleep. But I guess no worse than being interrupted by scared kids all night--although I would have preferred that. :{ I miss my family.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010
MRI results showed sinusitis. All this for just that! But how grateful I am it was only that. But didn't get released from hospital until 9pm!! The whole day was spent waiting for the neurologist to show up and look at the results. The int med dr and the ENT both said I could go about noon. At 6pm, neurologist shows up and ordered ANOTHER CT, this time with dye. By that time, I told Jason to come and bring kids hoping that would get me out of here faster, even though it was past JJ's bedtime at that point. The nurses gave the kids ice cream. What a day! At least Walgreens filled the Rx in 5 minutes! Obviously had to reschedule work for the next few days.

Sunday, June 13, 2010
Substituted for organist in church today. Very humbling since I totally messed up and got all the sound buttons wrong. At least all my music callings have forced us to be early to church.

After church we watched home movies from Disneyland and JJ started calling Darth Vader "helmut". The kids were wanting dessert but we didn't have much and amazingly I had recently got some free martini glasses, I pulled those out and made yogurt parfaits with crushed cornflakes on top (since we were out of granola) and the kids loved it! Maybe a new family tradition. James thought the glasses were candles except you got to eat them.

Tonight Bekah was listing all the things she loves:
"1. Heavenly Father & Jesus the same. 2. Then my family. 3. Next is my relatives all the way until the end. 4. Then my blankies."
She's decided since Jason still has his baby blanket (used as a pillow) that she "will sleep with my blankie when I'm an adult too, since daddy is my relative and we are connected."

Monday, June 14, 2010
Bekah lost a tooth tonight without even knowing it! She wrote a note to the tooth fairy after Jason pointed out she was missing a tooth (we think lost while brushing teeth), luckily the tooth fairy wrote back the she found it in the drain as she's always looking for lost teeth and gave her a $1. The P.S. part said "Thanks for cleaning your room so I can move around easier." Hopefully that will sink in.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Internet still not working! It worked for bit last time the tech came, but now it's been out for a few days. And now our TV doesn't work either. Kids were going nuts waiting in the house all day for the rep to show up, and once he did they couldn't watch TV or play in the living room so despite mosquitoes and the weather, I took the kids for a walk in the stroller to the school park across the street. It started raining and I didn't even care. So we swung on the swings and sang, in the rain which started drizzling and then very quickly started downpouring, so we ran home totally soaked, as Bekah says, "Those people in their cars are so lucky!" I was thinking not. What a memory.

Since Bekah's been out of school she's mellowed out some, is more helpful and patient, and her and JJ play longer together. JJ's vocabulary has increased tons--wonder if this is connected to hearing Bekah more. Homeschooling is looking better and better.

Thursday, June 17, 2010
Lately I especially love being around Bekah. I already feel closer with learning new things together (we've started some history and science this summer) and she's become my shopping friend! It's so wonderful to feel us becoming friends.
Favorite memory: Bekah setting up Mommy's Beauty Shop and doing each other's hair. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was in Bekah's place doing exactly the same thing to my mom. Sometimes it's alarming how quick it feels that life comes full circle.

Saturday, June 19, 2010
Went to the Crystal Lake beach as a family after dinner. James went up to his waist and chest in the water, no fear, before I had to pull him back some. He loves the water. Bekah's been nervous about swimming and getting in the water over her waist. But tonight she relaxed with Jason there and he was showing her some things about swimming.

Sunday, June 20, 2010
Father's Day! I tried putting the pancake batter in a squeeze bottle and made Jason pancakes shaped like D-A-D. Luckily they are letters you can turn around since I didn't realize you need to pour them backwards if you want the even color on top. I was pretty proud of myself for being so creative. :)

JJ kept saying "Appy Faddaz Dey" today--even during sacrament meeting!

Today I found out my sister is expecting!!!! I am so excited for her! It felt good to be the big sister talking it through, something I never got to experience with my first pregnancy.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Bekah really wants a pet, so she's been pretending she has one. A while back she named her plastic Halloween spider "Spike" and set up a portable cage with things for him to do in it. She would ask JJ if he wanted to hold Spike and she would take him around the house. Then it was "Lucky" the plastic goldfish for a week or two. I don't know what happened to Spike, but today she came to dinner with Lucky's baby food jar aquarium except no Lucky. Now it's Sleeping Beauty's gold high heel (plastic) and it's Ricky the cricket! She said he needed air, water, a home and food--"and he eats other insects. I know it sounds gross but that's what they do!" She said she feeds him every day.
I asked her what happened to Lucky. She said he died. "I forgot to feed him." Love her imagination!

JJ's new words: "di-shun-er" for conditioner, "cup a wa-der"

Thursday, June 24, 2010
Cleaned a house. Wanted to be mad at how demanding they were for so little thanks. While cleaning, the question popped into my mind "Why would anyone be like this?" (angrily to myself), then suddenly in a different spirit, "Why would anyone be like this? What happened to make them like this?" And suddenly was able to clean their house without being angry. I felt feeling sorry for them and how unhappy they seemed. Glad I could be someone they feel they got their money's worth on and that I cared about doing the job right.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010
My cousin and her family came to visit! It was so fun to stay up late talking to Nate and Julee. We all get a long so well, and Nate is also getting his PhD in English. So fun to entertain company. We are so missing our families.