This photo of a ceiling summarizes our month quite well. All you lovers of abstract art and deep thinkers might have fun psychoanalyzing this one.
Money Management
Despite our many lectures about saving and investing, money usually burns a hole in our 5-year old's pocket until he spends it all on Legos. When he received some cash in some Valentines this year, I asked him how he planned to use the money and was shocked to hear him reply, "I'm going to save it so I can buy a red convertible when I'm 16." He has already selected the make and model and knows the tank capacity, max speed, and fuel economy.
After our 5-year old received a haircut in January, his sister insisted on sweeping up all the hair clippings. Then she stored the clippings in a ziplock bag. Many posts on this blog mention some of the unusual items we have found stored in her book bag, closet, dresser, or under her bed, so we wondered what new wacky right-brained idea she had for those clippings. I suggested that maybe she thinks her brother will become really famous some day, so she is saving the clippings to eventually sell on Ebay for a high price. I was wrong.
Not too long after the haircut, her science class, as part of their unit on birds, built bird nests. While her classmates foraged outside for straw and various other nest building materials, our right-brained child pulled out her baggie of hair clippings for her nest. She knew her brother's hair would make much softer nest lining for the baby birdies than sticks and pine straw.
 |
| Photo of nest building taken without permission from her teacher's FB page! :-) |
Since my back and neck pains intensified this year, I began a new spinal re-engineering program to fully restore my spine for lasting pain relief and arthritis prevention without needing surgery. This program requires 3-4 chiropractic visits each week (for up to a year) where I spend a lot of time getting poked and pulled while learning about wellness and disease prevention. During these visits, my son likes to build things. Knowing my interests quite well, he usually builds a set of dumbbells or one large barbell. He aims to please!
Chicken Anatomy
As part of the healing process, I have been experimenting more with organic and/or whole foods while also exploring Paleo style menus per my husband's request. I discovered that standard processed meats do more harm than good while all natural, organic meats have numerous health benefits. I also learned about the healing properties of the bone marrow in organic chickens and decided to test out some whole chicken and bone broth recipes.
In 13 months, I will hit the big 4-0, yet I have rarely, if ever, eaten chicken off of a bone. I do not even know how to eat a chicken drumstick or fried chicken wing. I have lived my entire life on chicken tenders and grilled boneless, skinless chicken breasts. So, when I purchased a whole organic chicken from Trader Joe's, my entire family laughed at the thought of me actually cooking it. They must not know about the time I made deer jerky (I bartered ham for deer meat with some machine operators at the tire mold plant where I worked). Maybe they don't remember when I cleaned (removed organs and scraped off the fur..well all except the stray hair that landed on my husband's plate) and roasted bear meat.
 |
| Roasted bear with whole grain Wehani rice & steamed vegetable medley |
Our daughter was completely fascinated by the chicken. With each serving of chicken during meal times, she completely cleaned each bone and then identified it. I think she could have rebuilt the chicken skeleton had I let her. She loved the taste of various chicken parts, too. When she asked, "Mom, is there any yummy chicken skin left?", my husband remarked, "Well...it appears that we are raising up our very own little redneck." I prefer to think that she was just expressing her love of learning and applying what she had learned during science this past year.
Politics
Our son has been expressing interest in the 2012 presidential campaign. He is especially interested in what it must be like to live in the White House. He recently stated, "Mom, I think Daddy should run for President so that I can go to the secret movie theater in the White House for my TV time and so that I can go to the White House bowling alley whenever I want." Thankfully, his father is too smart to consider such a suggestion.
U.S. Navy
You can take a boy out of the navy, but you can't take the navy out of the boy. My husband has not served active duty for the past 11 years, yet sometimes people can just tell that he was once a naval officer. When he dressed up for the daddy-daughter dance, a friend noted that he looked "well...all Naval Academy still".
Recently, when I have called for him to come to dinner but could not find him in the house, he has been out on the deck studying the position of the stars and planets. At least now he uses a high powered telescope instead of a sextant. FYI: Jupiter and Venus have appeared exceptionally bright lately.
Book Club
My daughter and I are still enjoying our American Girl mother-daughter book club. Last night, we attended an elaborate party/book club meeting for the book, Aloha Kanani. The girls began by making lovely floral and bead leis. Then they munched on some
My son gets as excited about Mother-Daughter book club as my daughter does. As soon as we depart for our book club meeting, my husband takes him out for a father/son outing which usually includes Chick-Fil-A. We were supposed to leave for our book club meeting at 6:00 last night. My son began counting down the hours early that afternoon. At 5:20, he announced, "It is now 5:20, so they will be leaving in 40 minutes. Do you know how I figured that out? Brain power, that's how!"
My son was asleep when I returned home last night, but this morning, he rushed into my room to initiate the following conversation:
5-year old: Mom, while you were at book club last night, Daddy and I had the best burger ever at Chick-Fil-A.
Me: Wait...you had a burger at CFA? How can that be?
5-yr old: It was a burger with chicken inside.
Me: Oh, a chicken sandwich!
5-yr old: No, it was a burger....a chicken burger!
Me: Perhaps if CFA did not use hamburger buns with their chicken sandwiches, it would not be so confusing for you.Evolution
Even though our daughter is in private school now, we still do some learning together at home, primarily through reading classic literature and reviewing memory work from our homeschool co-op curriculum. She completed the first two cycles as a homeschooler, and I had hoped to at least introduce the third cycle to complete the Foundations course. A small part of that curriculum introduces the theory of evolution. When the kids heard the theory explained for the first time, before I had a chance to point out any of the numerous holes in the theory, both kids responded almost in unison, "But Mom, how can people possibly believe that something could be formed out of nothing? Life cannot come out of non-life. That sure is a silly idea."
Fantasy Fiction
With much reluctance, I recently read The Chronicles of Prydain with the children. I was especially concerned about the violence and the elements of fantasy fiction which may be related to the occult, and I assumed the novels were too advanced for our kids' maturity levels. Yet, it came highly recommended, so we read it together so that I could skip over any inappropriate parts.
My son amused me with his commentary during the series. When the small band of heroes were rushing to get to the bottom of a mountain so that they could delay the Cauldron-Born while their friends attempted to defeat Arawn, Death Lord of the Anuvin, the 5-year old said, "If they are in such a hurry, why don't they just lie down and roll down the mountain?" I love my little problem solver.
I was amazed at the end of Book 5 to hear the kids pointing out multiple Biblical allusions just as they did when we studied the Chronicles of Narnia together. Certainly, our children are too young to make such connections, I reasoned. Then I considered how Classical education emphasizes memorization, repetition, and recitation during the early grades to implant memory pegs into the brain to which future learning will become affixed accelerating understanding and promoting long term memory recall. The kids have memorized Bible verses and have been taught Bible stories and precepts repeatedly throughout their short lives. Their brains can more readily make connections to Bible references because those memory pegs are most firmly rooted their minds.
I recognize the tendency for modern parents to stress out entirely too much over choosing the best educational opportunities and extracurricular activities for their children and then pushing them to perform. I know that parenting success is not defined by a child's G.P.A., athletic performance, or achievements in the fine arts, yet it isn't always easy to "be not conformed to the pattern of this world".
Successful parenting is simply introducing the child to Christ and then modeling for that child a life totally surrendered to Him. Successful parents trust God in everything and rely totally upon Him, not themselves, in every situation. They seek answers in the Bible and through times of prayer. Nothing else matters compared to knowing Christ. Only God can change a heart, and I'm so thankful that He has turned the hearts of our children to Him. I'm also thankful for our church, Bible studies, AWANA, Upward, and our homeschool co-op, where the Biblical precepts we have tried to teach at home are reinforced and encouraged. Hearing our kids make those Biblical connections served as a simple reminder to me that as long as our children know Christ and follow after Him, they will be just fine, so I must not stress about the stuff that does not matter! Now I ask for His grace, mercy, and strength as my husband and I strive to raise them up in the ways of the Lord.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment