Still reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Just when I get lost in her poetic writing and can’t tell what she means anymore, I stumble upon a new pearl. For instance “All Eyes,” – the concept that spiritual life is a striving to become like the cherubim described in Ezechiel, who are covered with eyes. Thus, they can behold God’s glory constantly, from all the angles. Continue reading
Author Archives: Adriana Zoder
Story of the World, Volume 1, Chapter 3
Posted onWe have both the book and the CDs. I don’t plan which one we do first, the reading or the CD. It just so happened that we listened to Chapter 3 in the car a couple of weeks ago, coming back from Knoxville. When I finally got around to reading Chapter 3 to them, they were listening to me while playing on the carpet.
I asked my son, the first grader, the comprehension questions. He answered me while rearranging his LEGO bricks. I’m happy with that. I don’t always ask him to do narration at this point. Continue reading
Wonderful Wednesday – Turtles and Millipedes
Posted onLiving five minutes away from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park means that we see many species up close and personal right here in our yard.
I have shared before some pictures of bear, groundhog and rabbits. Two more species we saw in our back yard last week: turtles and millipedes.
These two turtles were just walking through our yard. We have seen turtles here before. A few years ago, there were as many as four in one spot at one time. So seeing two was not unusual for us. Continue reading
Mom Monday Week 30 – Ripe Raspberries
Posted onSometimes you just need to eat raspberries slowly to wake up to the sanctity of the now. Ripe, juicy, sweet, tart, red raspberries.
I am reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Finally. I have been circling and circling around this book, avoiding it because it is a New York Times Bestselling Book. Sometimes bestsellers disappoint me. So I did not have the courage to pick it up.
But then, thankfulness seems to be the answer to all my questionings. Continue reading
Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 4
Posted onWe made the crafts or, rather, our own version of the crafts suggested in Chapter 4. But before that, we checked on our Nile river model. It had dried up under the overhang of our roof, so we overflowed the Nile river to water the grass seed. We can already see some tiny blades of grass.
Instead of the sand-cube step pyramid suggested in the Activity Book, I opted for a DUPLO pyramid. I asked my son, a LEGO fan, to build me a DUPLO pyramid. He built me one out of 10 DUPLO bricks. I told him I wanted a bigger one. He brought me another small one, then another. I decided that was the sign that he needed some help. Continue reading
Apologia: Flourish Book Review
Posted onI love reading and I love organizational tips. So you can imagine how glad I was to read and review Flourish, Balance for Homeschool Moms, by Mary Jo Tate, published by Apologia Educational Ministries. This book contains everything a homeschooling mom needs to organize her life AND her way of thinking.
The most important thing in the book are not so much the forms and the organizational principles, as much as the philosophy underlying everything, i.e. that your goal should be balancing your many roles and tasks throughout the day and the years, not juggling them. The image you should have in your mind, as a homeschooling mom trying to do it all, is not that of a juggler, throwing things in the air so you can catch the urgent ones ready to hit the floor. Instead, you should imagine a tight-rope walker, carefully making small adjustments, as she advances to the other side. Continue reading
Mom Monday Week 29 – Gratitude
Posted onLately, I have been receiving the same message from different sources of inspiration – which makes it bold and strong in my heart, because I realize Providence really wants me to get this. Ready? Here it is: Be thankful. Feel grateful. Count blessings. The glass IS half full.
On her gracious blog, Ann Voskamp recommends that we fight feeling with feeling. That makes a lot of sense. Continue reading
Story of the World, Volume 1, Chapter 2
Posted onChapter 2 of Story of the World Volume 1 is called “Egyptians Lived on the Nile River.” It would be really easy to spend three months on this chapter. We spent almost three weeks.
I read the first section to them, “Two Kingdoms Become One,” and we looked at our wall world map to locate Egypt and the Nile river. We did the map work recommended, Student Page 6. With that fresh in mind, we built a model of the Nile according to the directions given in the Activity Book. My Egyptians got very sow-happy with the grass seed, as you can see from the picture.
Our Nile River Model, Day 1. I should probably take pictures in three weeks, too.
We read “The Longest River” as a substitute book for “The Nile River,” but it seemed extremely dry and boring. I’m all for nonfiction books. Yet, my children just could not get excited about this one. Not all nonfiction books are created equal, obviously. Continue reading
HomeSchoolPiano Review
Posted onFor the past couple of months we have had the privilege of learning piano from HomeSchoolPiano, an online subscription program created by Willie Myette. Besides the lessons, which are 10-minute videos, we also received access to HomeSchoolPiano – Complete Set of Books. These three books (PDFs you must print yourself) will take you from an absolute beginner level all the way to the advanced level of creating different arrangements in various musical styles.
Wonderful Wednesday – Ad-Hoc Science
Posted onMy plan was to spend at least two hours outside today. We are playing catch-up with time outside.
It has been raining lately and I have been busy with different projects, so I did not make outdoorsy time a priority. My children play so well indoors, away from screens, and I did not want to deal with bugs and/or DEET and sunscreen (there, I said it!) – it was easy to forget how important it is for them to be outside.
Well, we ended up spending five hours. We left after two hours because I had a planning meeting with other Sevier County Homeschooling Group moms, then they had swims lessons. On the way back from swim lessons, we stopped at the park again, for almost three hours. Continue reading