Finding Balance in the Christmas Season

The Christmas season is upon us! It took me a bit by surprise, with the first Sunday of Advent starting in November, but tonight I sat down and did some planning and am hoping that it'll be a fun and meaningful time for all of us.

Lots of the blogs I follow have already written about resources and tips for the festive season. Sometimes when I read them I do get a bit discouraged by how much time, energy and creativity everyone else must have apart from me. Then I remembered a verse from my Abiding Fruit Bible study that I'm doing this week with the Maximise Your Mornings challenge:

" Each of you should test your own actions. Then you can take pride in yourself, without comparing yourself to somebody else, for each of you should carry your own load." Galatians 6 v 4,5

It's hard not to compare yourselves with others, but everyone's situation is different, and everyone's stress tolerance levels are different. Here are some things to think about:

Stage of life: Perhaps some of us have very small children still, and a lot of energy is sapped in changing nappies or potty training or feeding or just mopping up messes and soothing grazed knees.
Situation: If you're like me, then you live in a foreign country far away from family. Often that means that just living daily life is more challenging and time consuming. Meals have to be made from scratch, craft materials are hard to come by, Grandma is not around the corner to help with the kids while you go shopping.
Character: Some of us are more energetic and social than others. I know for myself that, although I'd love to entertain more regularly, having guests round more than once every two weeks makes me exhausted and throws me off my schedule.
Health: Perhaps some of us have some health issues that drain our energy and make us want to retreat and sleep more.

The verses from Galatians encouraged me to stop looking at (and envying) other homeschooling mothers and just work out a happy balance in my own life that I can cope with. When the children are older hopefully we can do more things, but right now I'm in a season of life where I have to protect my energy levels.

So what are we doing for the advent season this year?
1) Advent calendars - we can't buy these here, but some friends in Germany sent us one each for the children. They love opening the doors and counting down the days.

Candle Ornaments from Truth in the Tinsel

2) Christmas crafts - I bought the amazing ebook Truth in the Tinsel, and am hoping to work my way through most of these daily projects with the children. Here's our first one from today:
3) Advent candles - we have an advent wreath, and each Sunday we light the next candle and Dh reads a relevant passage from the Bible and we talk about some aspect of Christmas.
4) Carols and mulled wine - I'm sad that we can't buy mince pies or mincemeat here, but I did bring some mulled wine sachets back from England for our now annual Carols and mulled wine evening. Some time this month we'll invite several expat families round and enjoy fellowship together whilst singing Christmas carols at the piano and taking turns to read Christmas-related Bible passages.
5) Festive spirit - the children are looking forward to helping me decorate the house this weekend, and yesterday I put on a CD of Christmas children's music and we all danced around the room.

I hope you all have a fun and meaningful advent season in your homes this year :-)

Homeschooling Overseas Part 2

It’s high time to continue with my series of posts on homeschooling. In this post I’d like to talk about our journey to becoming a homeschooling family. In the last post I highlighted some of the options that might be available if you’re living overseas. For us we only have two options here: either sending the children to local school or homeschooling ourselves. I’m not saying that one is better than the other. There are some ex-pat families here who send their kids to local school, and some who homeschool. It’s a decision that each individual family has to make. I’m just describing how we decided that homeschooling would be best for our family.

Our journey started when we came across some friends in England who had decided to homeschool. Both were Christian families, and both had different reasons for chosing that path, but I was interested to know how they were thinking about going about it. They recommended reading “For the Children’s Sake” by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, which is I think where the journey starts for many families homeschooling today! Both my husband and I read the book, and were really struck by the ideals represented there. Not only did we feel that homeschooling might be something positive and beneficial for our family, but we were also impressed by the educational methods of Charlotte Mason described in the book. As many of you probably know, Charlotte Mason was a British educator who lived about 100 years ago and developed a philosophy of education based on Biblical principles and her observations of children over her years of teaching and training new teachers.

I started reading more books and doing more research, mostly on the internet. The more I read and studied the more I felt that God was calling me to do this. The thought of homeschooling didn’t terrify me, like I know it does some people, partly because I am a teacher myself by profession….a maths teacher, to be precise, which seems to be the one subject that scares off potential homeschooling mothers the most! I had a bad experience in my former life as a teacher, which put me off teaching in mainstream schools and led to my change of career that eventually brought me here, but I had always loved the heart of teaching: imparting ideas and knowledge to children and the satisfaction that comes from seeing ‘light bulbs’ go off in their heads as they make connections and finally ‘get it’. Surely it couldn’t be too difficult teaching my own children! At least I would only have a class of 3 rather than 36 to manage!

We did investigate the local kindergarten. The main advantage of sending our children to local school would certainly have been the fact that they would become fluent in Russian much more easily and quickly. We liked the school very much. The teachers were ever so friendly. We expressed concern at the long day (in Russia children typically go to kindergarten from 8am to 4 or 5pm, having breakfast, lunch, afternoon nap and sometimes dinner there from as young as 2 years old) but they assured us that it would be fine if we wanted to take Sophie home at midday. They invited us to the ‘end of year performance’ which was an afternoon of dancing, singing and poetry recital by the children to wish the 6-7 year olds well as they went off to ‘proper’ school in September (Russian children start school at age 7). We were very impressed by the seriousness with which these small children undertook the dances, and at the bravery of even quite little ones taking the microphone and reciting a poem off by heart to a fairly large audience of parents and relatives. However, I remember my main thought being “Look at those outfits the little girls are wearing. We could never afford to deck Sophie and Charis out in one of those at the end of each year!”. Indeed, these little 6 and 7 year olds looked more ‘done up’ than I did on my wedding day! Their gowns must have cost a fortune, and it looked like they’d spent at least 2 hours in hair and makeup that morning.

I think it was the dresses that swung it for me, but there were other reasons too. In this culture there are a huge amount of hidden costs behind seeing your child through school education. Teachers get paid very little and so unfortunately it's quite normal to give 'extra monetary gifts' to ensure good marks.There’s also all the paperwork and red tape that would be involved, partly because we’re foreigners but also partly because that’s the system here, and I really hate that kind of thing. Finally, Sophie’s personality is such that we didn’t think she’d do well being thrust into that kind of environment at a young age.

And so, to cut a long story…well…not very short, we started planning on homeschooling. To be honest, the more we thought about it the more we thought that this is a route we may well have taken if we’d back in England. It just seemed to fit what God had in mind for our family.

In my next post I’ll talk about how to respond to local friends and neighbours when they ask why we choose to homeschool.

Qu: If you homeschool, what was it that led you to that decision? I'd love to hear your stories.

Abide in Him!

Outdoor Hour Challenge No. 11 - Tree Study

I'm actually writing this entry having come to the end of our year long tree study project. We chose trees as our family focus last year when we started doing these Outdoor Hour Challenge and followed eight trees, two in our garden and six in our town park. I think, however, that I was a bit more interested in doing the study than the girls were, but I'm hoping they'll be interested when I put all the photos together and they can see how the trees have changed in the photos.

Here are some pictures of the apple tree in our garden, which was our particular focus back in this post.

May

June

August

 

November

December

January

Outdoor Hour Challenge No. 10 - Picnics

This challenge is about picnics. Maybe it's something about being British, but I've always loved picnics, whatever the weather. I remember when we first moved to our town here in Russia, a local couple took us up into the foothills of the moutains for a picnic, which involved making a fire from scratch and cutting up our own cucumbers and tomatoes there on the grass. It started to rain. "Oh, we're so sorry about this," they said. "Don't worry," we smiled, "We're British. A picnic wouldn't be a picnic without the rain!".

Anyway, for this challenge I wanted to write about two picnics we've recently taken(although perhaps not quite so recently since it's taken me a long time to get round to writing this post!). When dh's parents were here for a visit we took them to our favourite picnic spot up in the foothills (actually, that very same spot where we were taken in the rain 9 years ago). I like to do picnics English-style, i.e. have things already cut up and made beforehand. Dh prefers picnics Russian-style, where you bring everything along and cut it up and make it there and then. For a compromise I cut up the cheese and veggies at home but bring the breadboard and breadknife to make the sandwiches later. One of the things I enjoy about picnics is that the children can run around us while we stay in one spot, instead of, say, going on a walk, where I'm usually dragging one or more of them along by the end because they got 'too tired' at quite a distance from where I parked the car. Russians never picnic too far away from their car (for fear of it being stripped for parts if it's out of sight), which even means them driving over rough terrain to get as close as possible to the picnic site.

Our kids really enjoy picnics up here in the foothills. Perhaps because it's something different. Perhaps because they get to eat loads of crisps (potato chips) without me batting too much of an eyelid. But they particularly enjoy the clambering about on the rocks afterwards looking for interesting clumps of flowers or following the horses that are grazing in the area.

Looking at mountain flowers

     We nearly always find beautiful mountain flowers that I can't identify in my 'Europe' wild flower guide.




The second picnic we took in the extensive town park where we live. The kids enjoyed playing hide and seek behind the trees and running down the little slopes of grass together. On the path on the way back Sophie and Charis discovered hundreds of little striped snails on the gravel path near the man-made lake. We tried to identify which shells no longer had owners and took them home to join our nature collection box on our school-room table. The girls noticed that these snail shells were very different to to the small black snails we tend to find in our garden. This interest led to a quick looking up of some information about snails in the Handbook of Nature Study and on the internet.

Snails from the picnic spot

Small black snails from our front yard

Outdoor Hour Challenge No. 9

Outdoor Hour Challenge No. 9 involved marking off a square of ground in our back garden with some string and encouraging the children to look as closely as they could to see what they could see in their square. I had a notebook with me to jot down things they found. I also gave them some small trowels and forks to dig a little deeper under the grass, as well as their magnifying glasses.

“Children should be encouraged to quietly and patiently watch the bee, spider, ant, caterpillar or other wildlife that crosses their path. If this seems dull to them, they just need to watch more closely, because their alert eyes can catch the smallest ways of insects in ways that grown-ups can’t without magnifiers.” Charlotte Mason, volume 1, Outdoor Life, page 57 

 Charis started off by putting down her string square and filling it with things she found in the garden, like an apple, a blackberry.. I had to explain that you had to see what was already there and not add new stuff! After noting down things like grass, brown leaves from the apple tree, moss, dirt......Sophie suddenly found a tiny, dark brown snail, which she had a look at with her magnifying glass. She was surprised that the snail didn't seem at all 'shy' and happily crawled up her hand. We also found some clover and the stem from an apple. Unfortunately there weren't any other bugs or interesting things, although probably if we'd dug deeper (we didn't want to mess up the lawn) we would have found a worm or two.

Here's Sophie's nature study entry, again it's a bit faint, sorry!.

Outdoor Hour Challenge No. 8

As we start off the new school year (OK, actually we started three weeks ago) I'm planning to continue with the outdoor hour challenges as found on the Handbook of Nature Study blog. So far we're up to challenge number 8, which is all about using magnifying lenses and microscopes.

“In elementary grades, nature study deals with objects which the children can see with the naked eye. However, a lens is a help in almost all of this work because it is such a joy to the child to gaze at the wonders it reveals.” Handbook of Nature Study page 9.

So, armed with their magnifying glasses, Sophie and Charis marched off into our garden with instructions to find something interesting to look at. It took a while to show them the proper distance you should hold between your eye and the glass and the object and the glass to see it at its best. Charis (4) lost interest fairly quickly, but Sophie (6) kept going a bit longer because I'd asked her to sketch a few things in her nature notebook.

 Sorry it's a bit faint, but you might be able to make out a dahlia flower, an empty spider's web amongst the ivy leaves and a spider in the grass.

The girls wanted to take their magnifying glasses along on our next walk around the village, although they didn't actually use them in the end, so I'm hoping that this is something that will grow on them. I'll keep the glasses in our nature study bag so they're always available. We do also have a little bug jar, which has a magnifying lens attached, but it's not very clear, especially by the time the girls have added grass, leaves and water to keep the bug happy!

Homeschooling Overseas Part 1

I’ve just started ‘proper’ homeschool with my eldest dd, Sophie, this September. I’m so excited about it, partly because I’ve spent so many years researching and preparing for this moment that it’s a relief to finally be able to start!

In this next series of posts I’d like to talk about how we as a family ended up deciding to homeschool, what the options are available for those of us living overseas, and how we might respond to locals, as well as friends and family back home, when they ask, usually with a certain degree of incredulation, the question ‘Why do you homeschool your children?’.

This first post will look at some of the schooling options available to those of us living overseas, and some of the pros and cons of each, at least how we see it.

1)      International English-speaking school

If you live in a capital city, or a fairly large, main city in the country in which you’re currently based, you may have such a school near by. Often such schools are also Christian-based or sponsored by various ‘M’ organisations. The advantages of such a school are clear: lessons in English, Christian teachers and perhaps Christian curriculum, cementing friendships with other ex-pats and ‘Third Culture Kids’, who understand your child better than local children ever will. Certain drawbacks, however, include: teachers may be short-termers and sometimes positions are left unfilled, the curriculum may be American, and faimilies from countries such as Britain and Australia may find a few differences they might like to keep abreast of in order to help their children better integrate into the school system back home eventually. Also, children will have less exposure to local language and culture, which may or may not be a problem depending on the parents’ wishes and values, and ex-pat families tend to ‘come and go’ more frequently, forcing your child to get used to saying ‘goodbye’ to close friends fairly regularly.

2)      Boarding school in home country or some distance away from the town in which you’re currently living

Such schools will obviously give your children a good education, and will usually help the transition to school/college or university in your home country be much easier. However, having your children so far away from you is certainly a drastic step to take, and the family must decide what is in the best interest of the child and at what age such a step would have the least negative impact.

3)      Local school, in local language

In many ways this is an ‘easy’ option. It’s a great way for the child to become fluent in the local language and to feel at home in the local culture, developing strong local friendships, that are more stable than ex-pat friendships. Things that need to be considered, though, are the quality of education they might be receiving and the kinds of values that might be being taught, that may be very different from your own family values. Also, you will most likely have to supplement their education with English (or whatever is your home language) and perhaps some extra history / geography etc from your home country, in order to keep your child up to date with what they would be learning if you were back home. Many countries, though, have shorter school days and longer summer holidays, making it easier to fit in these extra studies.

4)      Homeschooling co-op with other ex-pat families

If you’re fortunate enough to live in a town where there are several other ex-pat families with children a similar age to yours who are also committed to homeschooling, then this could work really well. Adjustments will have to be made to the different ages and backgrounds of the children, and parents will have to decide who will teach which subject and agree on which books and overall curriculum to use. The logistics will be more complicated than homeschooling on your own, and different families may have strong opinions about how things should be done, but it should free each parent up a bit more to focus on other ‘ministries’, and your child has the advantage of socialising regularly with friends from like-minded families. You will still need to think about how to integrate your children more in the local culture and keep up a certain level in the local language, perhaps through extra-curricula sports and other activities.

5) Homeschooling as individual family

We’ll look more at the pros and cons of this in another post, since this is the route our family decided to take, but briefly, some of the advantages include flexibility, keeping up with what your child would be learning in their home country, and having more of an influence in your child’s life, particularly when it comes to imparting family values and faith. The disadvantages are a degree of isolation, fewer opportunities to become fluent in the local language, and of course a lot of work on the part of the parents, who will need to research, plan and implement their child’s education.

In the next post on this topic I’ll share how we came to the decision to go down this last route.

Are you overseas? If so, which of these options have your family gone for? Or perhaps have you taken another option that I haven’t mentioned here? I’d love to hear from you.

Linking up here:

Back to school photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net/photostock

Girl at school photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net/koratmember

Cultivating Thankfulness

When I came home from hospital I was under doctor's orders to take it easy and rest, so I finally got round to ordering some of the books I've been considering buying on my Kindle. One of them was the highly recommended "One Thousand Gifts - A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are" by Ann Voskamp. I'm so glad I did, because God really used this book to speak to me right in my situation of recovering physically and emotionally from a miscarriage and a traumatic stay in hospital. The fact that it begins by talking about the tragic and needless death of a young child (and later two small babies) of course grabbed my attention (and released a well-full of tears), so I was ready to soak up any wisdom and advice the author had to offer.

Ann's writing style is beautifully poetic and philosophical. It all starts with a dare to make a list of one thousand things to be thankful for, and through this experience Ann comes to understand that the "holy grail in the center of Christianity" is thanksgiving. Counting our blessings. Acknowledging God's grace even in seemingly dark situations. I think she may be onto something, so I also, along with many others who have read this book, started my own list of 'One Thousand Gifts'. Here are my first few entries, written in those first few days after coming home from the hospital:

1. Being alive.
2. My wonderful, caring, competent husband.
3. Three healthy, happy children.
4. Soft cushions and blankets.
5. Hot showers that wash away grime and heaviness.
6. Caring, loving friends.
7. Purple pens and new notebooks.
8. Books that encourage, entertain and inspire.
9. Time to plan and dream and hope for better.
10. Hot, tasty meals cooked by someone else.
11. Wild flowers picked by little hands to brighten my day.
12. The welcome promise of sleep at the end of a weary day.

I encourage you all to read the book, if you haven't already, and begin your own list of one thousand gifts.

Abide in Him!

Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net/digitalart

Sharing Pain

God, in His sovereignty, saw it right to put us through a time of testing. We were just coming to terms with a surprise pregnancy, eleven weeks in. Just beginning to get over the panic of adding an extra little one to our already chaotic home, just beginning to dream and plan and think of baby names and slings, just beginning to borrow maternity clothes....when the bleeding started. I'm thankful we had time to have an ultrasound, to figure out what might have gone wrong. No, it wasn't the exercise video I'd done that morning; no it wasn't Nathaniel jumping on my stomach a couple of days ago with his innocent, oblivious, childish enthusiasm. Our little baby had died already four weeks earlier.


We tried to breathe, tried to hold back the tears, tried to be strong while we figured out what to do. You see, living as we do in a remote part of Russia, any medical emergency brings with it a whole other set of fears and stresses. We made plans, bought tickets to Moscow, booked into a Western-standard hospital, sent the girls off to stay with friends.....and yet still in all of this God, in His sovereignty, had other plans for us.


When the bleeding started coming more heavily I was glad it was at home rather than on the plane the next morning. But more and more poured out of me. Life oozing away. The baby's, mine...I started to feel dizzy. We had no choice. We called an ambulance, and thus it was that I let go of any last ounce of control I felt in the situation and submitted myself fully into the hands of the local medical system, and ultimately into God's hands.

God sent some angels to watch over us. A neighbour already in the same ward. Doctors and nurses that genuinely wanted to help and to heal. But this was to be a lesson in faith, trust and strength of character. An operating room looking more like a torture chamber in a James Bond film, made all the more unsettling when I was told I couldn't have anaesthetic. Then my blood pressure dropping so low they couldn't get a bottom reading. Flurry of activity, concerned faces, needles, drips..... God's grace. I regained my colour and life pumped through my veins more strongly once more.

And then over the next few days came more trials. So many drips I lost count; a painful catheter in place for six uncomfortable hours; sparse conditions with no privacy; a toilet with no seat, no toilet paper, no soap, and an open bucket full of unmentionable things; another operation, this time with drugs that sent me off into some strange world where I could hear and see but make no sense of it all; and perhaps hardest of all not being able to see my husband for more than ten minutes a day and my children not at all because it wasn't 'appropriate'.

But more angels came. Local friends (women) bringing food, plates, mugs, towels, magazines and more importantly love, understanding, sympathy, a hand to hold and tissues to weep into. A group of friends strangely more united, drawn closer through sharing pain together. My Russian friends said I was 'one of them' now, and I felt strangely proud.

And so, here I am, back at home, so grateful to have all that behind me, and yet still to have the processing of what happened ahead of me. Why? Why go through all that pain? What was the purpose? I know it will take a while to find even the beginning of any answers to those questions. Perhaps the greater question now is: How will this change me? Will it harden me, make me more bitter and angry? Will it soften me so much that I become scared, helpless, useless? Or will it change me in a way that will eventually bear fruit and spread a pleasing aroma? I pray the latter.

Abide in Him!


drip: freedigitalphotos.net / janoon028

Outdoor Hour Challenge No. 7

Nathaniel in the Park

I'm still hoping to keep up with the Outdoor Hour challenges from the Handbook of Nature Study blog, although no doubt it'll continue to be a bit sporadic over the summer. One day I'll be able to keep to my weekly schedule!

We have been spending lots of time outdoors, though, even if it hasn't been purposefully focused on Nature Study. Nathaniel and I spend a lot of time in the park while the girls are at their preschool group in town. I'm sure that's one of the reasons he's such a peaceful child!

Wild Flowers from our Neighbourhood

Even though our focus has been trees, we still love looking out for and indentifying the wild flowers we come across. The girls love picking posies too! Here's a collection of wild flowers we picked on a 20 minute walk around our neighbourhood with some local children. We found pineapple weed, and they loved crushing it between their fingers to smell the pineapple scent. We also had fun with the catkins from the walnut trees, which looked just like bit green caterpillars all over the floor.

So, off we go with Outdoor Hour Challenge No. 7. While I love the idea of the field guides, I think I'd like to wait a year or so until the children are able to fill in some of the details themselves. I'm very aware that I tend to be doing most of the input into the family nature diary at the moment! Anyway, I picked a new tree focus and dutifully read up about Apple Trees in the Handbook of Nature Study. Here's my blog post for what I learned.

Studying one of our Apple Trees

Armed with lots of information, I settled the girls outside in our garden next to one of our apple trees, and we had a really good time examining various parts of the tree.  We looked at the blossom and talked about how the apples would grow. We examined a couple of apples (from the supermarket) and could see where the calyx-cup used to be. I then cut open one apple length-wise and the other cross-wise, and the girls loved seeing the star shape in the latter.

Sophie's Drawing of Apple Blossom

We then had a go at drawing. Charis drew a picture of a girl holding an apple, and Sophie drew a picture of the apple blossom to put in our family nature diary, complete with bee coming to get the pollen.

All in all it was a really lovely nature lesson. We all learned a lot, and the girls seemed to enjoy it, so that's encouraging.

Apple Trees

One of our apple trees

Since we have 10 apple trees in our garden I thought that might be a good place to start up again with our tree focus for our nature study. Here’s what I learned about apple trees from the Handbook of Nature Study:

-         The trunk is generally short and stocky

-         The bark is a soft grey colour and quite flaky.

-         The wood is very fine-grained and heavy, and it is great for wood-carving or for fuel.

-         The leaves are oval, with toothed edges and long petioles

We usually get a good harvest of apples from our trees, but since we don’t spray them at all there’s usually a worm lurking inside each apple! We do try to prune occasionally, so I was interested to know what the Handbook said about pruning:

-         Every child should know that

o       Pruning the root cuts down the amount of moisture which the tree is able to get from the soil.

o       But Pruning of the top throws the food into the branches that are left and makes them more vigorous.

-         If the buds at the tips of the twigs are pruned off, the food is forced into the side buds and into the fruit, which make greater growth.

-         Thinning the branches allows more light to reach into the tree.

-         A limb should be pruned off smoothly where it joins the larger limb, without leaving a stump projecting, and the wound should be painted so as not to allow fungus spores to enter.

Apple Blossom - picture taken by Sophie

How an apple grows

-         On the tip of each twig is a cluster of blossoms, surrounded by pale, soft, downy leaves.

-         The oval petals (pink on the outside and white on the inside) are set between the lobes of the calyx, which appears as a beautiful, pale green, five-pointed star at the bottom of the flower.

-         A cluster of greenish white stamens of different lengths, attached to the rim of the calyx-cup, stand up like a column at the centre of the flower. They are tipped with pale, yellow anthers.

-         The pistils all unite at their bases making a five-lobed, compound ovary, the upper part of which may be seen.

-         The calyx-cup develops into the pulp of the apple, and each of the pistils becomes one of the five cells in the apple core.

-         If one of the stigmas does not receive pollen its ovary will develop no seed, which often makes the apple lopsided.

-         There may be many blossoms developing from one winter bud, but usually only two of these blossoms develop into fruit, and the fruit is much better when only one blossom produces an apple. 

-     If a tree bears too many apples it cannot perfect them.

Spring Nature Study

A patch of dog-violets in the park

It's taking a while for Spring to get going here. Only last week we still had some snow, and the daffodils haven't quite bloomed yet. However, we're starting to see some spring flowers in the park, and thanks to our nature diary, which we started this time last year, it's much easier to identify them. So far we've seen dog violets, speedwells, celandines, chickweed and cowslips.

Dahlia seedlings

At home we're starting to think about this year's gardening projects. We've got some seed trays on our windowsill. The dahlias did really well last year, so I'd like to try some again. We've also planted sunflower seeds and lobelia in the hanging basket.  We'll have to wait a bit longer to plant the vegetable seeds in the vegetable patch. I'm keeping an eye on the neighbours, to spot when they start planting outside, and they haven't yet, so perhaps it's not quite warm enough. In the meantime I've started pruning the blackberry and raspberry bushes.

Ant world, with cowslips we picked in the park

Charlotte Mason recommends keeping ants as a good nature study project for young children, so when I saw this 'ant world' kit in the shop last year I snapped it up. Last week I noticed loads of ants had found the lunchbox in Sophie's rucksack, which I'd forgotten to unpack and still had a bit of food in it. I thought that was a good opportunity to get the ant world up and running, since it said we needed 20 to 30 black ants. It didn't take them long to start making tunnels, and the girls have been very interested. Unfortunately I think some of the ants have escaped out of the bottom - I don't think I pressed the sides down firmly enough!

Handicrafts

"Again we know that the human hand hand is a wonderful and exquisite instrument to be used in a hundred movements exacting delicacy, direction and force; every such movement is a cause of joy as it leads to the pleasure of execution and the triumph of success. We begin to understand this and make some efforts to train the young in the deft handling of tools and the practice of handicrafts. Some day perhaps, we shall see apprenticeship to trades revived and good and beautiful work enforced." Charlotte Mason, Volume 6 Philosophy of Education, p. 328.

Having three little ones six and under, I've discovered a creative side to me I never knew I had. When I planned and organised our new schoolroom I had great fun sorting out all the craft materials into labelled boxes for easy access in our new 'craft cupboard'. Being a perfectionist, my great temptation is to take over too much to make sure that our creations look brilliant with minimal drips and spills and stains. Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the the things we've been doing recently......

Caterpillar Craft

It's great to have a few craft books on hand with ideas of some fun projects to do with preschoolers. Sophie and Charis had fun making these caterpillars. They especially love gluing shiny, sparkly things onto their pictures.

Valentine's Day cards

OK, so I know Valentine's Day was a while ago, but here are the cards we made for each other. The girls love making cards to give to other people, and I try to get them to make the birthday and Christmas cards we send to our family too. It saves money, is more fun, and hopefully is more interesting to receive!

Cake Making

Charis loves to help me in the kitchen. I'm getting better at stepping back a bit and allowing the inevitable mess and imperfection that ensues, since I know the process is more important than the end result. Sophie is not so keen, but does enjoy licking the bowl at the end. I usually use vegan recipes so there are no raw eggs in the mixture.

Painting

The girls love to draw pictures and to paint, but in the interests of encouraging handicrafts I was on the look out for some different kinds of painting projects when I came across these Russian dolls. They came in sets of 3 blank dolls ready for the child to paint their own.

Weaving Loom

I got this basic weaving loom for Sophie. It's a bit tricky for her, and she needs a little help, but she's surprisingly motivated to add one new colour each time and is looking forward to having a little homemade rug for her dollies. I like that it's introducing her to the process of how actual rugs and carpets are made.

Cross-Stitch

Finally, I felt that I should be setting a good example, so I took up a new handicraft myself. I started my first cross-stitch project (which I've now finished and framed). It was a lot of fun, and very relaxing to sit and do something with my hands in the evenings or in our 'quiet hour'. The girls were interested to see how it developed.

Learning from those who've gone before us

I've just finished reading a book by Noel Piper called 'Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God', which looks at the lives of five amazing women from different centuries and countries, with very different callings, from whom we can learn so much. I used to read loads of missionary biographies, which I always found so inspiring, and this book re-ignited a small flame inside me that had died out a while ago. I was encouraged to read about Sarah Edwards, who made such an impact when in the eyes of the world today she was 'just a stay-at-home mum'. Lilias Trotter, who gave up a potentially wonderful career as a talented and respected artist so that she could go to Africa as a missionary despite her poor health, really inspired me to look beyond earthly rewards and human wisdom and to make sure that I'm being obedient to God's call, however strange or 'second best' it may seem. Gladys Aylward's story was one of courage and determination, and I was challenged by her desire to really become one with the people she was working amongst. I'd not heard of Esther Ahn Kim, but her story reminded me that we are not called a life of ease, but rather we should be prepared to suffer as followers of Jesus. Finally, the story of Helen Roseveare really resonated with me because I recognised a lot of myself in her upbringing, spiritual struggles and focus in life. I loved the part where she loses her temper in the hospital ward and has to be gently rebuked by her African colleague that “I don’t think the Lord Jesus would have spoken like that.” I need to be reminded of that on a daily basis when I ‘lose it’ with my kids :-) In another place her local Pastor suggests that “Self is the great enemy….Helen… the trouble with you is that we can see so much Helen that we cannot see Jesus.” I was really struck by that thought. I waste so much time and energy trying to be the best ‘Catherine’ I can be, when really I ought to be seeking to cross out my ‘I’ so that ‘Christ in me’ can be more visible. With that in mind, I love words of this hymn that Noel quotes at the end of this chapter: Not I, But Christ, by A.B.Simpson Not I, but Christ, be honored, loved, exalted, Not I, but Christ, be seen, be known, be heard, Not I, but Christ, in every look and action, Not I, but Christ, in every thought and word. Not I, but Christ, to gently soothe in sorrow, Not I, but Christ, to wipe the falling tear, Not I, but Christ, to lift the weary burden, Not I, but Christ, to hush away all fear. Not I, but Christ, no idle word e’er falling, Christ, only Christ, no needless bustling sound, Christ, only Christ, no self-important bearing, Christ, only Christ, no trace of “I” be found. Not I, but Christ, my every need supplying, Not I, but Christ, my strength and health to be; Christ, only Christ, for body, soul, and spirit, Christ, only Christ, live then Thy life in me. Christ, only Christ, ere long will fill my vision; Glory excelling soon, full soon I’ll see Christ, only Christ, my every wish fulfilling — Christ, only Christ, my all in all to be.

Winter Wednesday Week 2

After joyfully starting the Winter Wednesday challenges, we then didn't have much snowfall for the next few weeks! There's still not quite enough falling at the moment to try the filter experiment with fresh snow (at least, I haven't been able to put out my collecting receptacle in time), but we did try the measuring cup experiment:

We found that just over 1 litre of snow melted down to 250ml of water.

The girls also enjoyed watching the You Tube videos on making and observing snowflakes. We did manage to catch some snowflakes on a black background for a closer look, although our magnifying glass is more of a toy than a useful piece of scientific equipment. Still, we talked about how every snowflake is different from all the rest - mind boggling when you think about it!

Here are our paper snowflakes:

Our window sill garden started sprouting, which the girls were very excited about. The carrot top didn't grow many leaves but we could see some roots dangling down in the water. The swede grew lots of nice leaves, but they withered because I forgot to keep the water topped up at the right level (oops). We had to throw away the carrot for the same reason :-) But the beetroot top is still going strong, as are the basil and kale seeds we planted:

Sophie also wanted to plant an avocado stone, which we also have suspended in water with toothpicks, so we'll see how that turns out.

The children are getting better at playing out in the snow now (they don't like having to put all their winter gear on each time they go out of the house, but they don't like being cold either!) We've made a snowman and a snow bear, have been using the sledge to get about round our village, and have some fantastic icicles hanging off our roof:

Winter Wednesday Week 1

We've had to postpone our Outdoor Challenges for a few months while winter's here, so instead we're working through the Winter Wednesday challenges on the Handbook of Nature Study blog.

This week we were supposed to look out for winter colours on our nature walk. It was a beautifully sunny day, with blue skies, but at minus 9 degrees Celsius it was just a little too cold for Charis, who cried and whined practically the whole time, while I ran round as quickly as I could taking photos of our trees for our tree study and looking out for things of colour. Fortunately Sophie enjoyed it, and Nathaniel was asleep the whole time in his pushchair. Sadly we found that one of our willow trees had fallen down and was broken into pieces. It was a really beautiful tree.

We tried really hard to spot some red berries but we couldn't see any. Instead there were greens on the fir trees, brown bark, a brown squirrel, blue sky, yellow sun, sparkly silvery snow, and some colourful birds - a green and red woodpecker, a great tit with a yellow tummy, and a brown and black female chaffinch. Later, at home, Sophie and Charis (who'd cheered up by then) filled in their colour charts:

Sophie's chart

At home we also started a winter window sill garden. We planted the tops of a carrot, a beetroot and (what I think is) a swede, and I also planted some basil and kale. The girls were quite excited about this. We're looking forward to seeing what's going to happen.

Outside we refilled the bird feeder and positioned it within sight of our schoolroom window. We know we have chaffinches and great tits in our garden, but I don't hold high hopes of seeing many birds because our dog Pepper keeps barking and chasing them away! Anyway, I feel a bit more hopeful about what we can focus our attentions on in our nature study times during these cold, winter months, when it's so hard to get all three kids outside for more than 30 mins or so at a time (not to mention the 30 mins it takes to get all three of them into snowsuits, boots, hats, scarves and gloves)!

Witnessing amazing events in creation, from the small to the large

Last week we noticed that the little brown hairy caterpillar that we put in a jam jar last June had finally hatched! After we captured it, it only spent a couple of weeks eating the leaves we gave it before it turned itself into a chrysalis at the bottom of the jar. It then stayed there for ages, and we didn't have much hope of seeing it turn into anything. But then, the other morning, I was dusting and noticed a white insect on the walls of the jar. It had turned into a beautiful White Ermine Moth. It really was very pretty - furry white with little black dots and a yellow abdomen. We had to release it in the garden, but we were worried about it because it's winter now. Perhaps it got confused in our warm house and came out too early. Still, the children were very excited to witness its miraculous transformation.

The second amazing event took place today. We were walking in the park at midday when we noticed there was a partial solar eclipse taking place! We hadn't seen the news for a while so weren't expecting it. It was quite cloudy so we were able to look at it long enough to see what it looked like. The moon was covering about half of the top of the sun, but the day didn't seem darker because of it. It lasted quite a long time. If only we'd had our camera! When we got home the girls drew a picture of it for our nature diary.

Becoming a Worshipper

For the last few weeks I've been working through Linda Dillow's book "Satisfy My Thirsty Soul: For I Am Desperate for Your Presence." She is writing for those of us who want to experience more of God and a more intimate relationship with Him, and her advice is that the way to do that is to focus on worship. This is an area I've found a little difficult: my prayers tend to be more of the 'Please can you do this and this' type than the 'Lord, You're amazing and we bow in Your presence' type. Early on she asks the question: Have we mixed up the order of the first and second commandment in Matthew 22v37-39? Are we first and foremost a lover of God or a worker for God? I had to be honest that I was actually the latter.

I'm excited to be working through the 12-week study guide connected with this book. Again I've been convicted that I should be spending more time in God's word, so one of my New Year's Resolutions is to read through the Bible in a year. I chose this reading plan because I liked the way it was broken up into different topics, which hopefully will help me avoid getting bogged down in Leviticus as usual and giving up on the whole thing. The Father seeks worshippers who will worship in the Spirit and in truth. Linda suggests that "To worship in truth is to worship truly. This means you must know God's word and be sincere." I'm also hoping to spend more time memorising Scripture.

I wanted to finish by sharing with you my answer to the question: What does face-to-face intimacy with God look like to me?:
   "Knowing wholeness, completeness in His presence. Feeling totally loved and understood. Hearing His voice and knowing what He wants me to do. Feeling uninhibited in my expression of love and adoration towards Him. Wanting to be with Him every second of every day. Feeling contentment, peace and knowing that I am in the centre of His will for my life. Having a wonderful purpose, joy, hope and zeal for life. Feeling unrushed, unhurried, calm. Sensing a greater love for others flow out of my love for Him. Knowing His power at work within me enabling me to accomplish all that He wants from me. Being able to lift every burden into His open arms and know His peace and assurance. Completely trusting in His goodness and faithfulness towards me."

If I come even a little bit closer to experiencing this in the next 12 months then 2011 will have been a good year :-)