Author Archives: Adriana Zoder

Nov 12 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 46 – Because I Can

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I am reading a lot these days because I can. I cannot do many things as a homeschooling mom, but reading I can do. Learning about one’s limitations is a fundamental lesson in life. Understanding your boundaries and communicating them to others is an extension of knowing your own limits. So many lives would be changed for the better if we only understood our own limits.

Homeschooling moms are busy creatures. A career is pretty much out of the question unless you are a force of nature like Susan Wise Bauer or Ann Voskamp. Going back to school cannot really happen unless your children are older and more independent in their study habits. Traveling solo (or with the family) is limited by time and space equations which have everything to do with hubby’s career.

What’s a homeschooling mom to do?

I read. While the kids play or take lessons outside the home, I read.

Thoughtful Thursday - Because I Can

The library saves me thousands of dollars every year, but I also like to invest in my own titles. Books help me lose myself in order to find myself. I travel and discover new destinations without having to pack a suitcase. Then I return Continue reading »

Nov 11 2015

TeenPact One-Day

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If you want your child to learn about government, the political process, how bills become law, and similar topics, you might consider TeenPact Leadership Schools. They offer state classes in 41 states. The classes are taught with a Christian worldview.

For Tennessee, the next event happens on February 1-4, 2016. Monday-Thursday they teach students ages 13-19. For the 8-12 age group, they offer a One Day Class, on Friday, February 5, 2016, 10am-4pm. It all happens in Nashville, at the Capitol Building.

Nashville Capitol

Nashville Capitol

What you should know:  Continue reading »

Nov 10 2015

Ripley’s Aquarium Science Classes

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We have been attending science classes for homeschoolers at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies for three years now. The first year, I left my daughter home with my husband and took my son to the class. He was in kindergarten. He got bored in the beginning. He told me he would like to leave once or twice. I sent him back to his seat and told him nicely that he will need to wait until craft time. Eventually, I brought her along and she sat next to me, taking in the atmosphere, the vocabulary, the experience.

The class has two parts: a Power Point presentation and a craft project. They have changed teachers once and both teachers have been top notch.

NaBloPoMo2015

For the first time, I am posting every day for a month.

Because parents stay in the classroom, sometimes there are younger siblings who make noises. Once, it got really loud. There were a few too many toddlers around. That was the only time that I saw stress on the teacher. It was also the largest class I have ever seen – about 40 people were in the room.  Continue reading »

Nov 9 2015

Anakeesta

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Gatlinburg has attracted a new multi-million dollar development called Anakeesta. We happen to live in Gatlinburg. The changes might affect us indirectly, as hundreds of jobs will be created, more traffic will have to be juggled (if such a thing is possible in our small town with big city traffic), and familiar sites will be transformed.

For those of you familiar with downtown Gatlinburg, the Arrowcraft store will be moved to a new location. The Ogle cabin and the Pi Beta Phi statue will also find new homes. Recently, I took the kids there for pictures, knowing that things will look very, very different once construction begins.

Pi Beta Phi Fraternity Statue

My children looking at the Pi Beta Phi statue in downtown Gatlinburg

Just in case you are wondering, the book the lady is handing to the young student is one of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers. Volume three, if I am not mistaken. Continue reading »

Nov 8 2015

Astonishing

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The other day, my son was telling a relative something and he used the word “astonishing.” I made a mental note of it, being very proud of his vocabulary, and trying to remember the last book we read where he might have seen the word “astonishing.” I could not. We read so many books.

NaBloPoMo2015

For the first time, I am posting every day for a month.

Other people present noticed he used the word as well, and seemed impressed.

It is astonishing when an eight-year-old uses the word “astonishing” in casual conversation, don’t you think? And I can only attribute that to our reading 1,000 books before kindergarten and about 30 minutes a day since their second week of life. Add to that turning off the TV and limiting screen time to only 30 minutes a day (usually YouTube videos or DVDs) and you have a recipe for building vocabulary.   Continue reading »

Nov 7 2015

Sabbath Schooling

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Several homeschoolers I know homeschool for six weeks and then they rest on the seventh week. They call it Sabbath Schooling. I like it. I sort of do it, but I don’t rigidly stop teaching on the seventh week. Sometimes it is on the ninth week, based on what we have going on. For instance, if we are learning a new math concept and have momentum under our wings, I will not stop just because the seventh week started.

I like to take a break when I feel exhaustion coming or when the kids are burned out or when we have a family outing. Our version of Sabbath Schooling happens on a weekly basis. We homeschool six days a week and rest on the seventh.  Continue reading »

Nov 6 2015

French Friday, Madeleine Cookies

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I have been thinking a lot about the passage of time as my son, my eldest, turned eight this week. What better way to celebrate memories than with a madeleine?

Home made madeleines

A staple in French cuisine, madeleine cookies are delicious and relatively easy to make. You will need a special pan to give the batter their typical shell shape. I got two pans, because it is more practical and my recipe calls for two anyway.

Madeleine pans

For those of you not familiar with French literature, Marcel Proust wrote about a madeleine cookie in A La Recherche du Temps Perdu.

Madeleines cooling on rack

Cooling on rack

As he tasted the cookie, it reminded him of things in his past – which is why the Merriam Webster gives you a second definition of madeleine as “one that evokes a memory.”  Continue reading »

Nov 5 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 45 – Ten More Years

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As we were sharing cupcakes with my son’s friends in Adventurers, the program director said, “Mom, he is eight now. You have 10 more years with him…” I sighed and agreed with her. Ten more years. That’s it. I have taken care of him for eight years. I am staring down a not-so-long corridor of 10 more years. It really does not seem that long anymore, getting him to 18.

Thoughtful Thursday

And here’s the kicker: next year, it will be nine and nine. Nine years of past memories, nine more years to go. After that, the past will gain on the future. Ten years of memories, and eight more years of future memories. Now, if I can just maintain this perspective as things happen and I am tempted to lose my patience…

Life is short. It really is. Homeschooling can make it seem long because the days are long and the years are short. However, public school moms tell me they are exhausted too. They get tired and if they also have a job they feel like they are not doing either motherhood or their career 100%. When they are at work, they think about the children. When they are with the children, they think about all the things they still have to complete at work. As a homeschool mom, I have the luxury of only focusing on the children.  Continue reading »

Nov 4 2015

I’ve Been A Mom For 8 Years

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Eight years ago, a tiny baby boy introduced me to the maternal instinct by arriving into the world and screaming at the top of his lungs day and night. It was a rude introduction to all things maternal and it did not help that most people around me kept giving me advice and criticizing my choices directly or indirectly. Thankfully, my husband and I constitute a great team and, with God’s help, we made it through the first year just fine.

Then, two more years went by, faster than you can say “I think I want to homeschool.” We had a baby girl. She completed us. I became a mother all over again and discovered it is actually possible to love two children just as madly as you loved the first one when he was your only and you thought, “I could not love another child just as much as this one.”

Back to my eldest. So nine months of worrying came to an abrupt end on the Sunday we turned the clocks back one hour, eight years ago. Just like that, I was a mother. Nobody prepared me for the extent of the changes in my life. I read many books about pregnancy, but not that many about motherhood. Honestly, somebody should warn women about the maternal instinct. I had no idea what it was. Hmmm… do I sense the beginning of another book idea?

Pumpkin tea and cupcake

Pumpkin tea and a cupcake – for me and my mom moment

When I kept holding a screaming baby and walking him up and down the halls, I surprised myself. Then, the realization sank in: this must me what they call maternal instinct. Through potty training, picture book reading, swim lessons, and the terrific two and threes and fours, I got acquainted with my fifth gear – the mommy gear – a.k.a. the maternal instinct. Simply put, the power (the urge, really) to put my needs aside and focus on his needs first.  Continue reading »

Nov 3 2015

LEGO Creations

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My son is a LEGO aficionado and it baffles me that I have not blogged about his creations more. Every day, he comes up with at least one new design – a car, a motorcycle, a building, or a scene of some sort. His patience and determination as he looks for the right brick are impressive.

LEGO ocean floor scene

Ocean floor scene

When he was two, we started him with DUPLO sets. He followed directions as I showed him a few steps. That was all it took. By age four (although daddy thinks it was age three actually, but we can’t remember for sure, because we are parents), we decided to get him his first LEGO set. His younger sister was two (or one) at the time.  Continue reading »