Making A Home

Baby K Update - Late March

I just got off the phone with Baby K's social worker.  Sigh...

They are still working on a homestudy for an elderly relative.  Too elderly in my (and much of the department's) opinion to take responsibility for a newborn... but they still have to do the homestudy and ride it out and see what the perception is in that county.  (In this state, the county makes all the difference - they interpret and carry out policies completely differently in one county compared to the next.)

 

Assuming that falls through (and really, I'd be surprised if it didn't), we still have another relative to contend with.  The family that has just recently adopted Baby K's older brother wants the baby.  And I understand that, I really do... if a sibling was "available" for one of my other children, I'd want that baby, too!  But we are the only family K has ever known.  She recognizes us, she adores her siblings, shares big grins and jabbers at daddy and absolutely LIGHTS UP (and DANCES!) when she sees me.  She is by all accounts completely and healthily attached, just as she should be at this age.  To move her and break that attachment... breaks my heart.  I've seen what broken attachment does to a child.  We're still dealing with that in some of our older children.  But big brother is a "relative"... and especially in this county, relatives matter above all else.  Above her attachment, adjustment and emotional well-being, it seems.

The state is starting the parental rights termination process.  It could take a while, but you just never know.  While in most adoption cases, TPR (termination of parental rights) is an exciting and long-awaited process for an adoptive family... in this case, once TPR happens, it's almost certain Baby K will be removed from our home and placed with her brother.  So TPR works very much AGAINST us.  The SW predicts our chances right now at about 50%.

Birthmom has said if the state does NOT approve the older relative, she wants K to stay with us.  But she has a history of instability when it comes to decision making.  At this point, our only chance of keeping Baby K in our family (adopting her) comes down to a precise set of events:

1) the older relative's homestudy being denied
2) termination NOT going through anytime too soon
3) the birthparents having enough clarity to follow through with their original decision to relinquish to us
4) the birthparents signing the relinquishment papers BEFORE they change their minds again and before the state feels like they have to make that decision for them... because they'll have to follow "policy", and that means placing with big brother.

Please pray.

She's completely obsessed

...with her feet!  She spent most of the afternoon playing with them.

 
Another Baby K milestone, preserved for posterity.  6 months and 2 days old.

Field Trip - Greek Orthodox Church

A few months back, we heard of a tour happening at a local (just a few blocks from our home) Greek Orthodox Church.  The timing was perfect to fit with our study of Ancient Greece, so we signed up right away.  (Warning: Cell Phone Photos)

 

The children loved how ornate the inside of the building was, and loved the paintings and decor, especially the inside of the domes.  (Baby K just kept STARING up into the domes, too!)

 

 

 

They learned a bit about the Greek Orthodox Church, saw the flag of Greece, and familiarized themselves with another local building. 

 

 

And now that we've been there, I guess I'll just *HAVE* to take them to the next "Greek Fest," an event that the chuch holds each year, complete with (from what I hear is) delicious Greek food!

Works for Me Wednesday: Cubicles

I had the idea around the first of the year, but just finally got around to doing something about it. 

For the last few weeks, when the children have gotten off track and distracted while they are supposed to be doing their bookwork, I'd just get a sly gleam in my eye and proclaim, "I'm putting you all in CUBICLES.  Just you wait."  None of them knew what a cubicle was, of course.  Hallie deduced it had something to do with a "cube" or box (which got them speculating about CAGES!  Sheesh!)  Gideon, in particular was concerned. 

Tuesday I finally picked up foam core (on the way back from Hallie's play rehearsal).

Thursday I finally cut it.  (Half the height from the bottom, an inch in from each end for the middle piece, the width of the foam core itself.  Half the height from, the top, the width of the foam core, in the middle of each of each end piece.)

And Friday morning after breakfast, it appeared on the diningroom table.

 

Cubicles!  Less distractions while they do their work (their biggest distraction, of course, is each other), a space of their own, and a place they are required to be during bookwork time (so they aren't so tempted to wander off.)  The pieces can be disassembled for meals and projects and store flat behind a bookcase.

The children were really excited when they saw it and loved the new space, but wanted to decorate their individual spot.  So as they finish (and get corrected) a subject each week, they can choose a sticker to add to their walls.  Eventually, I imagine the stickers will lead to sensory overload, but I also imagine by that time the foam core will have worn out and will need to be replaced (maybe with a lightweight wood next time if I can commission someone with a proper saw to help out.)

Then Monday after too many cries of "Mama!  Mom!  Mom!", I added a new feature.  Flags.

 
Our children are color-coded (so we know what belongs to whom and who left their belongings out), so their flags are in their individual colors.  When they need help, they move their flag (duct tape on a new pencil) from the lower holder to the upper holder, so I can see it.  Every few minutes I look to see who needs assistance, and I get a minute or two of peace in between rounds.  So far, it's working great.

Greek Feast

If you recall, we've been studying Ancient Greece for a couple of months now.  And finally, we had our Greek Feast.  After church a few weeks ago, we headed out to a local Greek Restaurant.

 
They had a sampler meal that was just what we needed.  (Sorry, the photos are on my cell phone, and with several courses we dove in before remembering to photograph it!)

It included 2 Greek Salads (lettuce, onion, cucumber, green pepper, tomato, feta, kalamada olives, and Greek dressing.)

 

Tiropita (puff pastry with feta cheese) and Spanakopita (same, but also with spinach).

 

Moussaka (Layers of spiced ground beef, tender eggplant, and potato topped with a creamy Bechamel sauce), Dolmades (Grape leaves stuffed with rice and seasoned ground beef, topped with an egg-lemon sauce), Greek Ribs (delicious, tender, and falling apart) and Rice Pilaf.

 

We added to our order Chicken Souvlakia (Cubed meat on a skewer, marinated in a mixture of Greek herbs and spices - most of the children's favorite dish of the day.)

 

And Brian's personal favorite, a Gyro (Four strips of gyro meat, served over a pita bread with raw onions, fresh tomatoes and tzatziki sauce).

 

I was so proud of my crew.  Most of them are NOT very adventurous when it comes to new foods, but they tried EVERYTHING.  They all had their favorites and their... not so favorite dishes. 

 

(Who am I kidding, *I* am not terribly adventurous when it comes to food.  I have simple tastes and a sensitive stomach.)  As I said, the sampler was perfect - a taste of everything but not too much of anything.  And still everyone had their fill.  And besides that, had a fun, educational experience.

We finished off the meal with, what else?  Baklava!  (Which the children loved, of course)

 

And Greek Coffee... which was an interesting experience, but not one we'll likely order again!

 

TOS Review: Who Is God? (And Can I Really Know Him?)

I've been pretty impressed with all of the books I've gotten from Apologia so far.  They've been solid and accurate, and accessible for my elementary students, while not "dumbing down" the topics.  This book was no different.

 

Who Is God? (And Can I Really Know Him?) is not just another Bible story book, nor really even a "Bible study" book.  It's a Worldview curriculum, intended for ages 6-14.  And a solid Biblical Worldview is one of my main goals for my children during these years I have with them at home.  Not just to have a "quiz-knowledge" about the Bible, but to understand enough about the Bible and about God to view the world (and make decisions) through a lens of Biblical truth.

Who Is God is the first in a series of 4 books on Worldview, for $39 each:

Volume 1: Who Is God? (And Can I Really Know Him?) - Biblical Worldview of God and Truth
Volume 2: Who Am I? (And What Am I Doing Here?) - Biblical Worldview of Self-Image
Volume 3: Who Is My Brother? (And Why Do We Need Each Other?) - Biblical Worldview of Servanthood (Available Fall 2011)
Volume 4: What on Earth Can I Do? - Biblican Worldview of Stewardship (Available 2012)

This book is divided into 10 lessons.  The suggested schedule runs you through 1 lesson every 2 weeks, working on it 3 days a week.  If you wanted to move through it quicker (say, 6 days a week during family devotions) or slower (perhaps just 1 day a week, which is more the speed we're approaching it at this point, to give lots of time to soak in, especially for our "new" children, to whom all of this is very new), it's easily customizable, since the lessons are divided into sections rather than days.  The lesson titles are as follows:

Lesson 1: Where Am I Building My Life?
Lesson 2: How Can I Know What's True?
Lesson 3: What Is God Like? (Part 1)
Lesson 4: What Is God Like? (Part 2)
Lesson 5: Who Are The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit?
Lesson 6: If God Created the World, Why Isn't It Perfect?
Lesson 7: Why Did God Create Me?
Lesson 8: Will God Meet All My Needs?
Lesson 9: Why Does Sin Keep Me from Knowing God?
Lesson 10: Is Jesus the Only Way to God?

Within each lesson, there is presented a "Big Idea", short stories, Bible Verses (for memorization or copywork), vocabulary words, articles in the fields of art, math, science, history and more for integrated learning within the topic, thought-provoking questions, application through a character trait, prayer, and worldview study to allow your children to take notice of differing worldviews they may see on TV, in books, or in friends' families and understand why others believe what they do.

I was raised in a Christian family, we went to church and the importance of prayer and reading my Bible were emphasized.  But if I had to choose one area of faith that I felt lacking when I went out into the world, it was apologetics - What I believe, why I believe it, and how to defend and present those beliefs to the world.  Honestly, the "extra time" of a public school student is lacking - after spending their whole day in school, likely followed by an extracurricular activity, throw in homework, friends, chores... there's just not much time left in the day!  So I am so thankful that I have the time to discuss these things with my children as a part of their homeschool day, and resources like this certainly help in that aim. 

Though we aren't very far into it yet (like I said, we're taking a slow approach), I do recommend it, and forsee us buying the other books in the series as we complete each one.  You can go here to download a sample chapter to see if this is something that will work with your family.

It's all Greek to me...

We have been studying the Greeks in history, and the children are having a great time of it.  Check out the costumes they made:

I gave them each a "Greek Name" for fun during the study.  Sam became "Samuestus", Gideon was "Gideseus", Molly became "Malaikadora" and Hallie... we found out was a greek name already!  So she opted to keep her own.  
And Sam thought Baby K needed an olive wreath, too:

 
"Gideseus", feeding the baby.

During this study, of course we talked about Greek myths and Greek Gods and Godesses, so we had to partake of "Greek Gods Yogurt", and had fun watching "Percy Jackson and the Olympians", before we discovered it was the first in a series of books.  We bought the first 3, and the children are enjoying them.  We have yet to have our "Greek feast", complete with gyros, pilaf, souvlakia, dolmades, and of course, baklava!  Haven't decided whether to do it at home, or go to a Greek restaurant... but we're leaning toward eating out.  There's a local restaurant that has a sort of 'sampler feast' that would let us try a lot of items without getting too much of something we may not care for.

Our children LOVE history.  I hated it in school.  We just do history so much differently in homeschool.  Actually, I think that's the difference right there... we DO history, we don't just read and memorize it.

Karate

Our children had fun at the beginning of this year trying out Karate. 

 

A local gym offered 2 free lessons, which they LOVED, complete with free t-shirts, and they got to use their new kicking skills to break a board, and earn their white (beginner's) belt at the end of the second lesson.

 

 
 
 

We may continue, but are waiting to see if the gym can work out the details with our homeschool program, to accept a purchase order so we don't have to up-front the money, since we just don't have it right now.  I appreciate that the teachers command respect (yes sir!) and emphasize self-control and even require proper behavior at home between classes, or it affects your standing (they can have their belt taken away.)  What I don't necessarily look forward to is 2 more evenings a week with activities.  So we shall see.

Valentine's Day, Part 2

I'm only 2 weeks behind!  :)

These came to the door around noon:

 

Nice husband.  :)

Right after the delivery, we headed out the door to the movie theatre to see Gnomeo and Juliet.  (Seemed fitting for Valentine's Day.)  Another homeschooling friend was taking her children (on the other side of the state) and I liked the idea, so I nabbed it.  (Thanks Mary!)

 

There was an incident with the theatre, unfortunately, and they sent us all to the wrong auditorium, where the children were exposed to terribly inappropriate previews and more than once I almost got up and left.  When the feature presentation started it was the new Adam Sandler movie "Just Go With It."  We (along with nearly everyone else in that theatre) stood up and walked out to find a manager to fix the problem.  He redirected us and we got settled in our seats before the movie officially started.  (Unfortunately I was still reeling with all my children had just seen and wishing I'd walked out when I first had the inkling, it took me 20 minutes or so to settle in and enjoy what we were watching.)  It wasn't spectacular, but it was cute.

For dinner, I nabbed an idea I found online - A Mystery Dinner! 

I made a full menu (caesar salad, spaghetti & meatballs, garlic bread, cupcakes, etc), but gave each dish (and each utensil, beverage, etc) a "code name".  A knife was "cupid's arrow", pasta was "poetry", water was "love"...  Then the children (and Brian, who was a great sport and played along) each wrote what they wanted for each course (3 items for each course) and the meal began. 

The fun part is when their course ends up like this: 

 
For Brian's first course, he got plain linguini, a knife, and a napkin.  At one course, Molly got spaghetti sauce, water, and "Champagne" (grape juice concentrate mixed with sparkling water.)  She had no utensils yet, so she slurped up the sauce with her lips!  Brian's second course was a fork, a spoon, and parmesan cheese! 

Sam was a bit of a poor sport, and grumbled through much of the meal about what others had that he didn't. (Sigh.) Hallie just sat and didn't begin eating until she had finally been served EVERYTHING.  (Which I still considered a bit of a poor sport!)  But the rest of us had fun!

For Valentine's gifts, we gave the girls dainty little cross necklaces and chocolates, the boys got chocolates and cases to hold their DS games, Baby K got to try a bit of applesauce for the first time (she loved it!)  I gave Brian candy and a card, he sent me the flowers, of course, and also gave me a candy bar (dark chocolate with almonds and candied orange pieces - yum!)... and a 1 month subscription to Hulu Plus (for watching TV on-demand from online, on our TV, through our Roku box... without cable.  We wanted to try it out, and it seemed as good a time as any!)