For Today...

Outside my window... It is hot, humid and cloudy. I am waiting for a thunderstorm to roll through and bring a few cool breezes.

I am thinking... that I need to tend to the pile of dirty dishes in my sink and the clothes in the hallway...but I'm sure they will still be there an hour from now.

I am thankful for... my mom visiting. She took the boys to the YMCA to swim and the little guys are sleeping... so I am also thankful for the quiet stillness of the house right now.

From the learning rooms... Elijah is devouring old copies of Ranger Rick and enjoying some new books on tape from my mom and Caleb is really into Richard Scarry right now. We are still reading the Little House series...we only have 1 more book left... and Elijah has already told me he wants to start the whole series over again once we finish it.

From the kitchen... is the smell of pancakes from this morning. It's a great recipe that is made of whole wheat, wheat germ, oats, pecans, bananas, apples, cinnamon...Yum.

I am wearing... I long blue skirt and a white shirt

I am creating... a family vision. This is something Matt and I have wanted to write out for a while and when it is complete I am going to frame it and hang it in our bedroom.

I am going... to take Caleb to his first music and movement class tonight. He is so excited and I hope it will be a lot of fun.

I am reading... Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss and I am really enjoying it. I am always reading and rereading Educating the Whole-Hearted Child by Sally Clarkson

I am hoping... to find some good books at the used book store tonight.

I am hearing... My neighbor mowing his lawn, the attic fan running at our house and the faint sirens from a fire truck.

Around the house... I see laundry that needs to be folded and books that need to be put away.

One of my favorite things... hearing my children laugh.

A few plans for the rest of the week: tomorrow my mom and I are taking the boys on a train ride to Raleigh to see my brother and go to the Museum of Natural Science. I am sure it will be a very adventurous day.

Tomorrow

Everyone in our family enjoys the Frog and Toad stories by Arnold Lobel; it is the subtle sarcasm and irony that makes these stories so clever and fun to read. Today Elijah and I were taking turns reading stories from Days With Frog and Toad and I was laughing to myself when I realized how much I could relate to this story.

Tomorrow by Arnold Lobel

Toad woke up. "Drat!" he said. "This house is a mess. I have so much work to do."
Frog looked through the window. "Toad, you are right," said Frog. "It is a mess."
Toad pulled the covers over his head.
"I will do it tomorrow," said Toad. "Today I will take life easy."
Frog came into the house. "Toad," said Frog, "your pants and jacket are lying on the floor."
"Tomorrow," said Toad from under the covers.
"Your kitchen sink is filled with dirty dishes," said Frog.
"Tomorrow," said Toad.
"There is dust on your chairs."
"Tomorrow," said Toad.
"Your windows need scrubbing," said Frog. "Your plants need watering."
"Tomorrow!" cried Toad. "I will do it all tomorrow!"
Toad sat on the edge of his bed.
"Blah," said Toad. " I feel down in the dumps."
"Why?" asked Frog.
"I am thinking about tomorrow," said Toad. "I am thinking about all of the many things that I will have to do."
"Yes," said Frog, "tomorrow will be a very hard day for you."
"But Frog," said Toad, "if I pick up my pants and jacket right now, then I will not have to pick them up tomorrow, will I?"
"No," said Frog. "You will not have to."
Toad picked up his clothes. He put them in the closet.
"Frog," said Toad, "if I wash my dishes right now, then I will not have to wash them tomorrow, will I?"
"No," said Frog. "You will not have to."
Toad washed and dried his dishes. He put them in the cupboard.
"Frog," said Toad, "if I dust my chairs and scrub my windows and water my plants right now, then I will not have to do it tomorrow, will I?"
"No," said Frog. "You will not have to do any of it."
Toad dusted his chairs. He scrubbed his windows. He watered his plants.
"There," said Toad. "Now I feel better. I am not in the dumps anymore."
"Why?" asked Frog.
"Because I have done all that work," said Toad. "Now I can save tomorrow for something that I really want to do."
"What is that?" asked Frog.
"Tomorrow," said Toad, "I can just take life easy." Toad went back to bed. He pulled the covers over his head and fell asleep.


With 4 children ages 6 and under our house can spiral down into disorder very quickly. It is easy to look around a messy house and feel down in the dumps; and
there are many days when it is very tempting to just go and hide under the covers and put it all off until tomorrow. But if I do that, then tomorrow feels even more overwhelming. Just as Toad discovers in the story- if you just get off your fanny and get the work done and stop thinking about it so much you will feel a whole lot better in the end. There really is a lot of wisdom in the saying "Don't put off until tommorow what can be done today."

Family Fun in the Mountains

It has been months since we have been to the mountains to visit my parents. We had such a great time with them. We went up to their little cabin on Balsalm Mountain. We went on an exploration hike up the ridge and saw lots of signs of spring. The kids were especially excited because we made a campfire and they got to stay up later than usual to make s'mores and listen to lots of stories from Memose. Then we came back to Hendersonville and the boys spent most of the day fishing at the pond down the road. It has been so nice to slow down and enjoy a little family getaway. Me and the boys have loved our time with Matt and I wish these next 2 days would go really slow because on Monday it will be back to work and back to reality. I sure do love the Blue Ridge Mountains. I know a piece of me will always belong in my mountain home.

This World

This song has been playing over and over in my mind for about 2 weeks now. In America we are surrounded by everything material that we could ever want, yet these things mean nothing in God's kingdom. What is important to God? Let us want for those things.

This World by Caedmon's Call:

There's tarnish on the golden rule
And I wanna jump from this ship of fools
Show me a place where hope is young
And a people who are not afraid to love

This world has nothing for me and this world has everything
All that I could wanted and nothing that I need

This world is making me drunk on the spirit of fear.
So when you say who will go, I am nowhere near.

'Cuz this world has nothing for me and this world has everything
All that I could wanted and nothing that I need

But the least of these look like criminals to me
So I leave Christ on the street

This world has held my hand and has led me into intolerance
So now I'm breaking up, now I'm waking up
I'm making up for lost time

This world has nothing for me and this world has everything
All that I could want and nothing that I need (2x)

A Beautiful Mind (and Heart)

"If you ask a secular educator about learning theory, he would likely describe learning as a mental process centered on the child's material brain, and measured by the retention of discreet facts and information. He would emphasize the role of the teacher and the acquisition of knowledge. The secular educator would acknowledge neither the existence of a Creator God nor the existence of an immaterial heart and mind. Instead, he would view a child's mind as an empty vessel waiting to be filled. The educator might describe the child as a wonderful and complex human organism. But when all the educational rhetoric is stripped away, to the secular educator the child is still just a smart animal, the product of evolution in a godless, material universe that just happened by cosmic chance.
As a Christian home educator with a biblical view of education, your answer to the same question about learning theory should be very different. You would describe learning as a personal process involving both your child's heart and mind, and measured by wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of truth. You would emphasize the role of the child as a whole person with an innate, natural appetite for knowledge and a limitless capacity to learn. You would be more concerned with your child's understanding of important ideas and concepts, than with the accumulation of discreet knowledge. Your child is not just a soulless brain that needs to be filled up with facts by a teacher, but a person in relationship with you and God, who has eternal value, dignity and purpose because he or she is made in the image and likeness of their Creator" - Sally Clarkson, Educating the WholeHearted Child

Before I start, I must add that not all public educators have that view on education and learning (mom, Matt, Mary and many others I am sure); and I know for sure that many home educators teach to the mind and not the heart. So one does not necessarily equal the other. I just wanted to share this because I have been thinking a whole lot about educating the mind vs. educating the whole person. When our children grow into adults what is going to matter the most? 20 years from now what kind of people do we want our children to be? I know that, for me, it is much more important for my children to be good brothers, fathers, husbands, friends, hard workers, etc than for them to have a bunch of meaningless head knowledge. Being able to recite the states and capitals and all the presidents in alphabetical order and memorizing all the elements of the periodic table along with all the basic rules of grammar are not bad things to know, but I don't want all this head knowledge to overshadow the true purpose of why God placed us here... to serve and encourage one another, to work, and to worship and glorify the Father. It is easy to get caught up in the lie that we need to keep pace with the public school and focus on doing all that we can to make sure our children pass the EOG's with flying colors so that we can prove to the skeptics that our children really are learning something at home... but I just want to remind myself and my homeschooling friends that that is not the point and purpose of educating our children. Let us keep our hearts and minds focused on the real goals for homeschooling... and for me those goals are building strong family relationships, strong character, strong morals, and a strong work ethic and have very little to do with curriculum, testing and the standard course of study.

Re-entering the blogosphere

I have been gone on maternity leave, but now that Ezra is 3 months old I am determined not to let another month go by without creating a new post. I haven't even introduced our latest addition. His name is Ezra Joseph Vaughn. He was born December 26th and was my 3rd successful home birth as well as my fastest and easiest birth. He was 8lbs 2oz. and 19 inches long. He is my biggest and happiest baby. It seems like he is doing everything earlier than the others. He started rolling over about 2 weeks ago and he has been smiling almost from the beginning and he started laughing almost a month ago. He brings so much love to our household. Elijah has been such an amazing big brother and I think he is really developing a special connection with Ezra. He walks him around and can burp him and make him stop crying. Everyday when Caleb says his prayers he only says "Thank you God for Ezra". Everyday. Jonas wasn't so sure in the beginning, but they are only 16 months apart. He is getting used to not being the baby anymore. I am hoping they will be very close friends as they grow up. We have all been adjusting. Our homeschool routine and life routine in general has to be more flexible now and some days it seems impossible to get much accomplished. Right now my laundry is up to the ceiling (not an exaggeration!) and the kids had to wear pj's today because all their clothes are dirty... thankfully we didn't need to go anywhere! I am learning to not beat myself up over the state of our house. I have a lot more pictures I want to share, but I am determined to get this blog posted before March ends...which is in about 7 more minutes.

Consider this...

We do not celebrate Christmas and there are many reasons for that. The bible has given specific dates for the biblical feasts and festivals- specific days and times, but it never states that on December 25th we should celebrate the birth of Jesus. Our family celebrates His birth during the Feast of Tabernacles- a time when God dwelled with the people. So to us, it makes sense to celebrate our Savior, Immanuel (God is with us), during this festival which occurs in the fall. The history and origins of Christmas are interesting, but you can research that on your own if you feel led to do so.
Another reason we choose not to celebrate Christmas is because of all the massive, unnecessary consumerism revolving around this holiday. Did you hear about the Wal-Mart employee that was trampled to death on Black Friday? Was that good deal on that one item really worth his life? Does Messiah want us rushing around stressing ourselves and our families out all in the name of presents?... material items that have no eternal significance... So for all of my friends that celebrate Jesus on Christmas I just have one thing for you to consider...