A Beautiful Day!

A beautiful day today. Bright blue sky, birds chirping, horses frolicking in the pasture, seeds sprouting, children playing, and a nice breeze to enjoy. I was not sure if this would have been the case at five-thirty a.m. A knock on the bedroom door with the words “Sister’s stomach is hurting and I think she is going to throw up!” Stopped the peaceful slumber and I forced my way from the bed to the hall bathroom. Since starting our homeschooling journey last fall, we have only had one sick day occurrence. Luckily the early morning episode was short lived, but she wanted mommy to rub her tummy and lay beside her. I obliged and soon fell back asleep beside my baby girl. A couple hours later, I awoke to Little Man on the other side of me and Egee still snuggled in tightly. The dog was desperately trying to find a place to jump up and join the slumber party!

          Needless to say our day of school started late and we modified the schedule. On days when the children have woke late and not in the mood to do our core curriculum, we read. It is I who reads and the listen. We have been studying about westward expansion and listening to the Little House on the Prairie series. I picked up a few books from the library on American folklore during our last visit, so we settled in and I began to read. Little Man had not been impressed by Yankee Doodle. He, however, came running when I read a story about Davy Crockett. He loves tales about hunting and fishing. Several stories later we finished and everyone was in much better spirits. Egee loved the story of That’s Good, Not Good. It was a humorous tale for her. This is what I recall (I returned the book before writing this post.):


“Two men were up flying in an airplane. The plane was gliding in the sky.”
“That’s good.”
“No, the engine didn’t work.”
“That’s not good.”
“No, they had parachutes.”
“That’s good.”
“No, the parachutes didn’t open.”
“That’s not good.”
“No, there was a haystack below them.”
“That’s good.”
“No, there was a pitchfork in the haystack.”
“That’s not good.”
“No, they missed the pitchfork.”
“That’s good.”
“No, they missed the haystack.”
“That’s not good.”


She has wanted to tell everyone that tale all day! Now to teach her “Who’s on first.”

A trip to the library to return books and videos was the next destination. Both children love going to the library.

           Back home with books on Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia for both children. We are working on a unit about the fifty states. We began the our school year with the founding of colonies. Worked our way through the American Revolution. Explored the Oregon Trail. We are now studying the States in order of how they entered the Union. Last week, we explored Delaware. Egee is learning how to look up information on the computer to complete her explorations. Little Man is too young to do this, so we will read books geared to his level. Tomorrow we will explore Pennsylvania. Hopefully, they will remember much of what we have already learned from our studies of Benjamin Franklin and William Penn’s Pennsylvania.

              A quick errand then back home to tend the garden. Egee is really starting to take an interest in gardening. She wants to help with the watering and weeding. Little Man likes digging holes to transplant the potted veggies. We were hit by a late frost two weeks ago. Unfortunately, we were of town and I lost a few things in the garden. Some plants have started to recover, and we are tenderly nursing them along. Yesterday we transplanted more tomatoes and peppers. I am hoping to have a nice crop to make salsa, spaghetti sauce, and other goodies. I learned to can last fall and can’t wait to can fresh veggies this spring and summer.

            The children played the rest of the afternoon, until it was time to leave for Aikido. Normally this rounds out our day of homeschool. Little Man had his one class. Egee had two classes. It is hard for her to be the only girl in the midst of little boys, but she is a trooper. She really likes to work with the adults and once again she is usually the only female in the room. At least, I know she will be able to take on any male that may bother her!