Pre-Easter Fun

I love Easter! We have been having so much fun with pre-Easter traditions - Easter egg hunts, coloring Easter eggs, making Easter art. This year, Taliesin and Nathanael have also been working on Resurrection lapbooks. And, of course, tonight they'll be leaving carrots and vegetable juice for Easter bunny. Tomorrow, we have church. And then the fun will continue on Monday evening with a BBQ (Kelsey was unable to get off of work tomorrow; so we had to postpone our BBQ for Monday).

I have to admit these monster Easter eggs turned out very cute! And I cannot believe how many Easter eggs Nathanael gathered at the Easter egg hunt this morning. He was working hard! I think tomorrow after church, we will use the Resurrection eggs (one of Nathanael's favorites) and watch an animated DVD about the crucifixion and resurrection (one of Taliesin's favorites). I am very proud of Taliesin and Nathanael. They enjoy the fun stuff; but they truly understand the spiritual meaning of the holiday as well.

Kandy

Nathanael's Tithe

Recently, I posted that Taliesin gave his first tithe. Well, Nathanael has also been saving quarters. He keeps them in a small box - a "tooth fairy" box, actually. Today we were getting ready to walk out the door for church. Before we did, he ran into the bedroom and grabbed his box to get some quarters to give as offering. So we counted his quarters and then took 1/10 of his money to give in tithe today. He even went to his children's church class late so he could put his tithe in the offering plate. I am very proud of him. I am just amazed at how he and Taliesin understand the importance of giving to others.

Kandy

Compassion Week in Honor of St. Patrick

This year, we tied in the story of St. Patrick with our study of Biblical compassion. Taliesin and Nathanael had so much fun studying St. Patrick via books, a video, drama, and lapbooking. On St. Patrick's Day, we made Irish walking sticks, had an Irish lunch, and had our annual St. Patrick's Day parade!

What is compassion? Taliesin's and Nathanael's Biblical Compassion/St. Patrick lapbooks answer that question.

My own, personal leprechaun.

Making Shillelaghs

A St. Patrick's Day parade with friends

Kandy

Challenge vs. Irritation

As I've written about before, Taliesin and Nathanael are both in dance class. They both love it! I have been having some concerns recently, though. This last week, Taliesin's teacher told the parents of children in the class that the kids need to work on their timing for their recital routines. Fair enough. However, when she added that all of the other classes of this age group have it down and she's a perfectionist; I have to question that. I see no problems with challenging the children (ages five, six, and early seven) to work on their routines and be the best that they can be. I do see a problem with making children this age feel not good enough.

Maybe it has nothing to do with dance, but I have noticed that Taliesin has been becoming extremely frustrated the past few weeks. He does practice his dance a lot, which I'm glad that he enjoys doing that. But he is getting increasingly frustrated with things that he usually enjoys. For instance, today he was making an art project. He became angry and frustrated because he could not get it to look the way he wanted it to. This has never been an issue for Taliesin. He usually works and allows the project to direct itself. I do not want him to become a perfectionist. I want him to enjoy what he does.

So I guess that is the questions for this post are: There is a fine line between challenging our children to be their best and causing irritation at expecting perfection. How do we know when we have crossed that line? What do you think? Am I being too picky? Is it just the unschooler in me that is too relaxed by others' standards?

Kandy

Newest Additions to the Family

Meet Taliesin's and Nathanael's newest pets: hermit crabs! They are having so much fun learning about how to properly care for them - lots of sand, fresh water, natural salt water, hermit crab food (including fruits and veggies), humidity, sponges, and extra shells. Their pets certainly teach them a lot about creating habitats. These guys (or girls) are now added to their list of pets - dogs, cats, rats, a guinea pig, a tree frog, fish, and sea monkeys.

Kandy

India

Taliesin and Nathanael finished almost every lapbook I ordered for them a few months ago (save one that will be better to do outside this spring), so I had to order some new ones (per Taliesin's request). Their first project is ancient India. As you can tell, they're having lots of fun being creative with it!

Kandy

Thoughts on the Past Month

I have a lot of pictures to post here from the past month. Daycare takes so much more time than I had expected. LOL I need to get better at updating my blog.

This past month, we have had Valentine's celebrations, a Mardi Gras parade (and a king cake, too), theatre, lots of lapbooking, and things that I cannot even remember. And while all these things are wonderful, I have to say that last night is probably the experience that makes me proudest.

Taliesin's karate school is taking part in a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Hospital. Taliesin loves to do fundraising and signed up. We were talking last night about the good things that St. Jude does to help children and their families. We talked about how a lot of times parents do not have the money to pay for the treatments that their children need, and that St. Jude will provide care free of charge. We talked about how that is where the money that he collects will go. Taliesin was listening intently and then asked, "Do you think they need toys? Maybe we could send some toys to St. Jude for the kids who stay there." I have tears in my eyes as I write this. Taliesin has so much caring in his heart that he wanted to do even more than is required of the fundraiser.

Taliesin loves to sew. Last night, we e-mailed St. Jude to ask if Taliesin were to sew some teddy bears, would we be able to send them to be distributed to some of the children in the hospital. We were also thinking maybe we could pick up some extra books here and there and send them with the teddy bears.

While there is a lot to be proud of in our everyday adventures homeschooling/unschooling, perhaps the best moments are when we see that our children really do care about others.

Kandy