Mom’s Musings

This has been an extra busy week in my real world, AND I have been trying to do the responsible thing and get more sleep. These are my excuses for posting a bit less than usual. If you are interested in my unsubstantiated opinions, I forthwith present you with this week’s THURSDAY THIRTEEN,

Thirteen ways to foster creativity in your children:

• First of all, make sure that your children’s basic needs for body and soul are consistently well-met. This lays a foundation of security and health. This will require a lot of love, self-discipline and self-sacrifice on your part.
  
• Expose your children to real life people, places and things. Go to the park, to the zoo, to the concerts, to church, to stores, to the library, and to as many other places as you can think of. Prepare your children ahead of time for what they will see and what behavior will be expected of them.
  
• Involve your children in the real work of the home, so that they may learn real skills and discover what valuable, competent people they are. Children (at an appropriate age, with instruction) can do animal chores, bake bread, clean bathrooms, mow lawns, wash vehicles, paint rooms, organize seasonal clothing, etc. DON’T DO FOR YOUR CHILDREN WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR THEMSELVES! Do you want them to learn that they are helpless and needy, or that they are strong and competent?
  
• READ, READ, READ to your children! And, let them see you enjoying reading, too. Read a variety of literary genres to them, and non-fiction, too. Other times and places will come alive to them. Wise and good men and women from ages past (and the present) can become your children’s friends through good books.
  
• Pay attention to your children, and particularly try to notice their aptitudes, talents and special interests. Nurture these talents, with appropriate lessons, supplies, field trips, mentors, etc. In schooling language, this is called Interest Based Education. This is the type of homeschooling that I tried to do. What’s good for one child’s development may not be the right fit for another child, as you most likely realize.
  
• Provide a rich learning environment in your home. This would include: books, art supplies, Legos or similar 3-D building toys, clothing for dress-up, a safe outdoor play area with sand box, a dirt heap, trees to climb, places to bike and skate, room to run and dance.
  
• Make sure your children have unstructured time every day to play and dream. How can they be creative if you are deciding what they will do every minute of every day?
  
• Provide opportunities for your children to interact lovingly with people of as many ages and ethnicities as possible. Emphasize the duty we have to love and serve others. Let them know that they are no better and no worse than anyone else because of being black, white, brown, or any other shade or nationality. Let them think of ways to love and serve.
  
• Limit TV viewing time. I would like to say, do without TV altogether, but there are valuable programs you can enjoy together, I know. I have read that the type of stimulation provided by TV does not foster neurological development in young children, nor does it develop their creativity. You can research this yourself, if you so desire. Jane M. Healy, Ph.D. has quite a bit to say on this subject in her book Your Child’s Growing Mind. This would include computer time as well.
  
• Just because you are a busy momma, don’t stop altogether doing the creative things for which you have a passion. Please, continue dancing, playing musical instruments, writing, and painting, or working to further a cause for which you are passionate.
  
• Make sure your children have strong basic skills in reading and math. Can a child be creative with math when he doesn’t know the language or rules of mathematics? Can a child appreciate the worlds hidden within books when he cannot read with ease?
  
• Converse with your children about everyday events, newspaper articles, and books you are reading, and truly try to listen to them when they converse with you.
  
• Play games with your children. Following the rules, planning one’s strategy, interacting with one another during the game, and keeping score foster emotional and mental growth and creativity.
  

There you have my list, compiled by an opinionated momma who homeschooled for many years. I am very pleased with my kind, creative, competent children. I didn’t say PERFECT, mind you. But, I enjoyed all the time spent with my children. Those were some of the best years of my life, and I am passionate about helping children to develop their particular talents.

Nothing too complicated about my inspiration for this week’s Haiku Friday:

• The weather
• The season
• Some cute photos of the three youngest children taken five years ago during similar weather

For more Haiku, visit Jennifer over at Playgroups are No Place for Children and Christina at A Mommy Story.

Today is our dear daughter Debra’s 18^th birthday!
I have been scanning old photos for a couple of hours, taking a lovely trip down Memory Lane, since I want to include some pictures from Debra’s growing up years in a birthday post.

I realize, however, that this being her birthday also means I need to get in gear to bake a birthday cake (German Chocolate is her first choice; Plantation Cake her second.). Regular Saturday work needs to get done as well (I have been running loads of laundry in between scanning photos; does that count?). Also, we want to hear the young people from Bellevue Christian High School sing tonight in Lynden at Bethel Christian Reformed Church. That means we should be ready to leave home at about 6:30 this evening.

With all that in mind, I’ll share just a few photos with you, and then get back to work.

Here I am holding Debra when she was a few months old. I didn’t write dates on the back of pictures, so that’s the closest I can get.

In this photo, Rick is holding baby Debra.

This photo of toddler Deb was taken at Grampa and Gramma Taron’s house. That’s their old Barney dog in the picture.

Debra, Laura, Sarah and Kayla with Nanny goat’s kid, Clover.

Debra is in the middle of the bottom layer of this pyramid.

Debra on one of Grampa Taron’s small sailboats.

Deb has almost always worn her hair pulled back or braided, but here you see it in its prettiness.

This photo is skipping a bunch of years, since it was taken only a couple years ago, prior to Laura and Darren’s wedding. However, I simply must get back to my domestic duties. Some of the other fun photos from the early years will have to wait for another occasion.

Our married daughter lives in Vermont, and has been lamenting the long lingering of an extra-snowy winter. You can see some photos she has taken of the way things are there now at her blog. So, Laura, this photo of the neighbor’s rhododendron bush is for you. This bush has been in bloom for about a month now, and is so lovely. It was almost evening yesterday when Kayla took this picture.

And here’s another picture for Laura, taken when our youngest child, Seth, was about the age that her son Diederick is now:

Seth chose Laura as his favorite. She could quiet and comfort him even when Mommy couldn’t. (Seth is holding one of Lassie’s puppies.)

Birthday eighty-five;

My dear Dad-in-law, Ernie,

Is still going strong.

Commemoration

Of this special occasion

Is my haiku theme.

Here’s some history:

Nineteen twenty-three,

A cute kid was born.

Too soon, hard years came;

To support mom, brother, sis

Child worked as a man.

Nineteen forty-one:

He fought bravely in Europe

When World War II raged.

The soldier came home;

Life as a student ensued.

The aim? Social work.

Married a fine wife;

She’s still the love of his life

Through thick and through thin.

Retired thirty years.

Do you think he stopped working?

This man’s been BUSY.

The World Class sailor

Built the boats, and sailed ‘em, too;

Now makes ship models.

Carving tool in hand,

Depicts crusty old captains

Who all look like him!

Have a happy day!

Happy Birthday to you, Dad,

With love, from us all.

For more Haiku, visit Jennifer over at Playgroups are No Place for Children and Christina at A Mommy Story.

Well, I’m still home sick with mega bad tummy bug, but feeling well enough to be at the computer. When I was doing the post with old photos of Seth, I scanned in a few more, so here they are, for your amusement:

This photo was taken shortly before Lydia’s birth, about 15 years ago.

Here I am, at about the same time period, fixing little Kayla’s hair. All of the girls used to have really long hair, which was usually fixed in a French braid. That style of braiding stays in so nicely.

Kayla’s long hair. Daddy so loves long hair, but Kayla found it quite heavy and time-consuming to care for, so currently wears it shorter.

This is moving on a bit to Seth’s babyhood. Here you see jammied Lydia, Rebecca and Seth.

In this photo, Seth is “sweeping” with a toy broom. Don’t you just love how Mommy’s work is play for little ones?

Here you see Debra, Rebecca and Lydia playing Dress Up, a favored pastime.

Today, at 6:46 a.m., our youngest son (our ninth child), Seth, turned 12 years old. I dug my 1996 calendar out of storage to write down a few highlights of his early days. When Seth was born, our oldest child was 13 years old, and our youngest was 2 years old.

Seth was born when the whole family was recovering from whooping cough. Thankfully, our little newborn guy stayed well, though I see from the calendar that the rest of us stayed more or less ill the rest of March.

Rick worked building log homes back then, and I see that he worked in Leavenworth, WA a bit during the month of May, when Seth was 2 months old.

Seth rolled from his back to his tummy just before he turned 3 months old.

Philip, Rick holding Seth, Dad Taron, and Michael

When Seth was 4 months old we went to hear the National Guard Army Band play at Boulevard Park, a memorable 4^th of July celebration for our young family. The calendar also tells me that Seth said his first word (”Hi!”) and had two teeth at four months old.

At the end of Seth’s 7^th month, he weighed 23 pounds and had 8 teeth.

All the children with Gramma and Grampa Taron

At 10 ½ months I noted, “Seth is walking a lot!” At one year old, Seth had 11 teeth.

We got our dog, Lassie, when Seth was 17 months old. Lassie was so good with the little boy, eventually allowing him to use her as a “pillow.” You frequent blog readers know that we still have the loving doggie.

As I looked back through the calendars for 1996 and 1997, I see that I didn’t write down many baby milestones. I was homeschooling back then, and I see that lots of the notations had to do with activities, academic testing and tutoring for the other children. I also kept track of Rick’s work travels, and when major bills were due. Also, I see that keeping our tile floors scrubbed (a big project) was important to me, because I noted on the calendar when I accomplished that task each month! Even though I don’t have lots of details written down, I do remember one thing very well: I enjoyed Seth’s babyhood very much. It was a busy, busy time, and we just took our littlest guy with us wherever we needed to go.

Modern-day Seth

Little people days

Thought those busy times would last.

Now, precious mem’ries

Imagination

Fresh air, play outside, all day

Better than many toys

Queen of all she sees

An imaginary realm

Do you see her throne?

Do you remember?

I let you choose what to wear.

Mis-matched clothes are fun.

Wondered “who” you’d be

Precious babe, I waited long

To see you, meet you

Mischievous sisters

Looking for fun from the start:

Best buds forever

For more Haiku, visit Jennifer over at Playgroups are No Place for Children and Christina at A Mommy Story.

Thirteen Things I loved about Home schooling

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Back when we were beginning our family, about 25 years ago, home schooling was not the popular, cool thing to do that it is today. We became friends with some pioneering families who were really dedicated to the concept, however, and became convinced that home schooling was the only option for us.

As things have worked out, our oldest child was the only one who was exclusively home schooled (until he went to college). The next four children were home schooled plus Christian schooled. Now, the youngest four children have been home schooled, Christian schooled, and are currently public schooled. There are many reasons for this change from exclusive home schooling. One of the main reasons, I guess, is that we view home schooling as a TOOL, not as an end in itself. When the home schooling “tool” worked to the best advantage of our family and our children, we employed it.

For this Thursday Thirteen, I would like to tell you 13 things that I LOVED about homeschooling, not home schooling in general, but OUR home schooling (There are lots of different versions out there, ya know.).

• We were able to provide a warm, nurturing environment for our young children.
  

• We were able to be the main influence on our children’s developing characters when they were very young.
  
• The children were not rushed into academics too soon, but had lots of opportunities to play and explore, and to learn to help with the work of the home. You have probably guessed that I agree with Raymond and Dorothy Moore’s approach to homeschooling, explained in their books such as School Can Wait and Home Grown Kids.
  

• The children learned how to handle themselves confidently in varied settings because they went everywhere that we did, and were prepared beforehand on what to expect at the library, the store, the church, etc.
  
• We were on the lookout for the children’s special talents and interests and were able to facilitate their development. An interest in art, for example, led to us hiring an artist one summer to teach the youngsters watercolor techniques. We made sure to have plenty of art supplies on hand as well.
  

• I love interest-based education, something which is ideally suited to the home school. For example, when our first child became interested in WWII, American Indian chiefs, or astronomy, he had the opportunity to explore those subjects in depth, WHEN he was interested in them. When one of the girls became interested in breeding gerbils to obtain as many coat colors as possible, she did that.
  
• We went to the library A LOT. They have a limit of 100 books maximum which may be checked out at once, and we sometimes reached that maximum. Our rule with the children was, “You have to check out as much non-fiction as fiction.” All of our children continue to love books.
  

• I loved reading aloud to the children. If the children were interested, I would sometimes end up reading to them up to three hours a day.
  
• The children had time and energy for music lessons and practicing their instruments (3 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello). They still play occasionally, but I miss the “all-the-time” music.
  

• The children learned to take a lot of responsibility for their own learning, helping to research and select the curriculum, and helping to decide the time-table of completing their work.
  
• Life was more relaxed. The children got enough sleep. I got enough sleep.
  
• We could pretty much go where we wanted, when we wanted, without worrying about missing school.
  
• I enjoy my children. I love being with them. They have learned to be thoughtful and pleasant people. We had (and continue to have) such a good time together throughout those home school years.
  

February is our month for birthdays. We celebrated Kayla’s bd, then Rick’s and now, tomorrow, we have birthday number 23 for Laura and Sarah.

Laura is a busy wife and mommy, living clear across the country from here, with her husband Darren and their son Diederick. For an often entertaining glimpse into their lives, check out Laura’s blog. Here is a colored pencil drawing that Kayla did a couple years ago of Darren and Laura on their wedding day.

Sarah is a busy working girl, who has her own place. We do get to see her on Sundays, since we are members of the same church. Still, she keeps busy, so we won’t be able to eat her birthday cake until this coming Saturday. I remember what kind I’m supposed to bake: carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. (When Laura and Sarah were little, no matter what, there had to be two birthday cakes on their special day. I seem to recall that they called the cakes “the Birthday.”) Sarah also has her own blog. She writes about a variety of topics, but you will notice that one of her special loves is poetry.

Here is a fantasy drawing that Kayla did of Sarah at about the same time as the Darren/Laura portrait:

Here is a picture of big brother Philip hugging Laura and Sarah. I believe the girls are close to three years old in this photo.

This photo goes a bit further back in time (Sarah is on the left, Laura on the right. Rick built the playpen, btw.):