My Job

Chrysostom on parenting:

"Let us bring them [our children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Great will be the reward in store for us, for if artists who make statues and paint portraits of kings are held in high esteem, will not God bless ten thousand times more those who reveal and beautify His royal image (for man is the image of God)? When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their fellow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls, and reveal the image of God within them."


What a great job I have.

So, I am, of course, adjusting the schedule for our second day. The afternoon went well, but the morning is too ambitious. I need a little more breathing room to accomplish other tasks. Simplified:

Everybody Sam and Will Ben and Cal and/or girls

6:30- Rise, dress, make beds, read Bibles
7:00-Family worship
7:30-Greek, Breakfast Preparation
8:00-Breakfast
8:30-Chores
9:15-History MWF, Church History Tue, Theology Thurs
10:00-Group Study: Science MWF, Art Tue, Music or Geography Thurs
10:45-Break/exercise, Math, preschool pages for Amelia
11:15-Bible, Preschool activities
12:00-Outside play
12:45- Lunch and girls to nap
1:30-Literature reading, quiet time, mom's break
2:15-Grammar, phonics for Cal
3:00-Math, phonics for Ben
3:45-Read Aloud
4:15- Clean up
4:30-Free Time
6:00-Dinner
Evening routines of baths, piano practice(Yeah! We just got a piano teacher!) and time with dad

School Excitement

Everybody is talking about the first day of school. Many public schools are starting classes today. Today is our first full day, as I said it would be and we're feeling the excitement too! Everyone is loving going through the new schedule. I thought I would post it here for those who are interested. You'll know just what the Joneses are doing all day!

Everyone Sam and Will Ben and Cal

6:30- Rise, dress, make beds and read Bibles
7:00- Family Worship
7:30- Greek, Everyone else=breakfast preparation
8:00-Breakfast
8:30-Chores
9:00-History MWF, Church history Tue, Theology Thur, Preschool time!
9:45-Everybody=Science MWF, Art Tue, Music or Geography Thurs
10:30-Exercise break, Math MWF, Special time with sisters Tue and Thurs
11:00-Bible MWF, Preschool pages with Amelia Tue, Typing Instructor Thurs,
11:45-Math, outside play
12:15- Outside play
1:00- Lunch and girls to naps
1:45-Literature reading, Quiet time, Mom's break
2:30-Sam=Grammar, Will=activity with Ben, Cal=Phonics
3:15-Sam=activity with Cal, Will=Grammar, Ben=Phonics
4:00-Read aloud and snack
4:30-Free time
6:00-Supper
Evening routines of baths, reading in bed and time with dad

Hello

I guess I thought I would drop in and say hello. We are enjoying our first days that feel like fall. Most of the people who read this don't live in my region. I know that the west coast didn't necessarily have a hot summer, but we sure did. The whole summer has been HOT, and I'm pretty sure that these days in the 70's we've had this week are the first ones since May. Ahhh...such a welcome change.
Public school has begun again, which means that the neighborhood kids are only outside to play in the afternoons/evenings now. We're doing school as well, but found that we were over-ambitious to start it all this week. I got pretty sick last week, and some necessary preparation didn't get done. So...we're cleaning out desks, accumulating school supplies and tweaking the master schedule that we plan to follow for this school year this week and will begin the full schedule on Monday. I'm ready and, therefore, loving the shift to fall and school. Hurray. It feels good.
Our new baby is doing well. I'm 19 weeks and feeling the first movements. We're nearly half way in the pregnancy. I just read that the baby is over 6 inches long from head to rump and weighs around 9 oz., roughly the size of a large, heirloom tomato. :)
Well, it's 9:30, which signals bedtime for me these days. I expect to be back with pictures in about a month. Until then, I'll occasionally update on what's going on with us.
*Julie*

This Week's Menu

I thought I'd post my dinner menu for the week. I always find it interesting to know what other people are cooking.

Monday - Pork Chop and Cabbage Casserole (new recipe) (Done, it was very good)
Baked Red Potatoes with sour cream

Tuesday - Chicken Chili
Guacamole, sour cream and cheese

Wednesday - Crockpot Beef Stroganoff (new recipe) (We'll see)
Egg Noodles
Steamed Broccoli

Thursday - Pasta Bake with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes
Green Salad

Friday - Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Zucchini Muffins

Frogs and Toads by William Jones

This is our biggest toad. We call him King Smoit. No bug is safe inside the terrarium with King Smoit around.

He does not hop very much.




This toad [Jacques] has already gone to toad heaven.

This is the biggest frog we ever caught !

He is the most handsome frog I have ever seen. Mom says he doesn't look smart but I do not agree.

A Little Update

Taking the babies for a walk.

Buckling them in is Cecily's favorite part.


Update: In the middle of Samuel's birthday celebration the camera stopped focusing and would only take blurry pictures. I think this means we'll be replacing it. That won't happen right away, so I plan to take a bit of a blogging break. I'll post the pictures that I did get of Sam's birthday and then I'll probably let the blog just sit for a bit. I'm sure I'll come back in a month or two with fresh inspiration of how to make it more interesting anyway.

Vacation is winding down. We're easing back into school. Samuel and William have been doing grammar and just started doing math as well, as of yesterday. Next week they'll review History and Bible from last year and then the following week they'll begin this year's History and Bible. At that point, we'll begin the full school schedule for them.
Benjamin and I have picked back up where we left off at the tail end of his Kindergarten phonics curriculum. I think in about 2 weeks he'll have that wrapped up and will be starting the First Grade phonics. I've been thrilled with how well he has been doing since we began again. He seems very ready to move forward and I'm so excited for him to get to be a good reader this year! He's going to love being able to do it.

Calvin is just starting his second week of the Kindergarten phonics. All of the boys have been excited at the beginning, but none have been as excited as Calvin. We are having so much fun together.

Amelia and I went and picked out preschool books for her and she's getting her fair share of "school time." Everybody's ready this year!

That's what's new with us. We're enjoying the fresh produce of summer, enjoying the beautiful weather outside, and enjoying learning and spending time together inside. Oh, and enjoying watching my growing tummy and tracking the growth of the new brother/sister.
Hope you're finding many things to enjoy in these summer days as well.