Experience with Suzuki Violin

Timothy is doing Suzuki violin with a wonderful local teacher. Before he can ever pick up the instrument, though, he has to learn proper positioning. His teacher told him, "To play the violin, we start with your FEET."

His first two lessons, he's worked on:

1. Suzuki foot positions (rest, duckie, playing)



2. Brining the box violin from a tuck position to under the chin



3. Holding the box violin under his chin



4. Bowing



5. Finger numbers (bringing thumb to numbered fingers)



6. Bow positions

He's supposed to practice everything daily and listen to his CD with Suzuki Twinkler 1 daily, as well.

I post this video not so much to show Timothy, though, but to show Samuel. Samuel's in everything we do. If we say it's time for Timothy to practice violin, Samuel will press play on the CD. When we're doing homeschool, Samuel's sitting right next to us with a big fat pointer trying to reach the letter of the day. I worried so much about homeschooling with a preschooler and a toddler. I looked into Mother's Day Out programs for Samuel so that we'd have uninterrupted time with Timothy. Now, however, I realize that Samuel's benefiting from Timothy's homeschooling to.

Children are a gift from God. I think our society has become so worried about the perfect spacing of siblings and the "right time" that we're missing out on just enjoying our kids!

Homeschooling Plan

We continue to educate our children at home, and we're loving it just as much as ever!

Right now, Timothy is an official homeschooler in the state of Arkansas! His K curriculum is as follows:

1) My Father's World - this is his core curriculum. Right now we're doing a unit on the Moon and letter M.

2) Right Start Math - this is his core math curriculum. Right now he's learning tens up through hundreds and even and odd numbers.

3) Time4Learning - this is a supplemental curriculum, but we love it so much we're continuing it along with everything else. Surprisingly, it continues to reinforce concepts we're working on at home and it required NO preparation.

We also do violin lessons on Tuesdays and we'll be doing Awana on Monday nights!

When Timothy isn't doing schoolwork, he likes to play educational games on the Mobigo, color in his coloring books, do art projects, build tents, and play on his new swingset we bought.

Samuel is learning right alongside Timothy! How do you homeschool a toddler, you might ask? Like this!

1) Little Reader - I cannot say enough good things about the Little Reader program. Samuel has seen literally hundreds (perhaps thousands) of words because of this system, and it requires absolutely no preparation on my part. At 18 months old, he will sit and happily watch an entire lesson and then ask for more. He can manipulate the computer to make it play his favorite sections again. He especially loves Pattern Phonics.

2) Little Math - Samuel watches Little Math once a day. We've just got to the addition and subtraction stages. I'm not sure he likes it as much as he likes Little Reader, but we do it between sessions of Little Reader and he'll sit through it without complaining.

3) Monki See Monki Doo - Samuel is absolutely in love with Monki See Monki Doo. We've tried to get him to watch Sesame Street or Dora the Explorer just for variety's sake, but he's in love with the puppets Skip and Howie. These DVDs teach basic concepts and reading words and he actually learned to identify all of his body parts from them!

When Samuel isn't "doing school" he likes to climb up brother's bunk bed, jump off the sofa, run the vacuum, lay on the middle of the kitchen floor while Daddy cooks, and play outside in the waterhouse. He also likes to watch Sparkabilities, Baby Mozart, and Your Baby Can Read.

So here we are, teaching two boys and loving it!

Samuel the TV Junkie

Samuel loves TV.

We were so anti-television with Timothy. We wanted him thinking creatively, building with blocks, and experiencing the world. With Samuel, life has been much more chaotic!

See, Samuel loves TV.

The moment Samuel wakes up in the morning, he walks into the living room and points at the TV. We have to play Monki See Monki Doo or Sparkabilities immediately or endure his rage. He won't watch Sesame Street or Barney--the only shows he likes are the ones with words (like Your Baby Can Read and some of the Baby Einstein or Baby Bumblebee, too).

We pretty much keep the TV on constantly, playing his shows for him. It keeps him happy, so we do it!

Well, yesterday we decided to get down some cards from our Doman Advantage kit to show him. Timothy's homeschool curriculums, RightStart Math and My Father's World, are going well enough that we think we can add something else in for Samuel. When we pulled down the cards, the word card "Daddy" was on top in big bold letters. Samuel went to it, pointed, and said "Dada!"

We haven't done cards with Samuel like we did with Timothy. With Sam, life has been pretty much "survival mode." It's good to know that a child can STILL learn to recognize words without you showing a single flash cards.

I don't love constant TV, but it's saved our sanity. Apparently, it's also taught Samuel a thing or two!

Exchange Student

We never can leave well enough alone!

I am happy to announce that, for the third time, our family has opened up our home to a boy from Asia! We have a fifteen year old boy from China living with us for the 2011-2012 school year and we couldn't be more thrilled. He's been here almost two weeks now and started school yesterday!

It is just such a great experience for our children (and for us, too). Timothy's learned several Chinese words since "David's" been here. More importantly, I think, he's also learned how to explain foreign concepts! I heard him in the bathroom the other day explaining to his Chinese brother what mouthwash is and how to use it. "You just swish it around to kill the germs and give you bad breath, okay? You don't swallow it...." We're opening ourselves up to a new part of the world to experience new ways of thinking and knowing. And we're giving a student a really great opportunity!!

We're thrilled to have "David" come join our family!

Scary, Scary, Scary

Yesterday, Samuel was on top of the kitchen table (he's a climber). He was standing still and then something (possibly a seizure) caused him to fall absolutely backward, hitting the back of his head on our linoleum floor.

After it happened, we knew we had to take him to the hospital because it was a BIG fall, but we thought everything was okay. He was crying in David's arms while I went to get Timothy to tell him we had to get to the hospital. By the time I grabbed my keys, Samuel stopped breathing in David's arms.

There was hysteria--David wanted to lay him down and do CPR but I wanted to get him to the hospital, so we called 911 and started driving to meet the ambulance down the road (we live about 15 minutes from the hospital). Samuel was limp and lifeless in David's arms for awhile and, once we got in the car, David forgot about CPR and we just drove. He kept yelling, "Just go, Brandi. Go. You've got to go!"

Samuel regained consciousness by the time we met the ambulance, and by the time he arrived at the hospital he was 100% normal and happy and playing.

I have never, ever been more scared (and we've been through a great deal with this baby). I still haven't shaken the fear I felt when I saw my baby not breathing in my husband's arms. Frankly, it was horrifying. He's had 4 seizure-like episodes in the last couple of days, so we have a new battle now that's not just his stomach.

God is ever faithful and gracious and we are so blessed to have him with us still! Thanks, guys, for your continued prayers for complete healing for our baby.

RightStart Math

We're really homeschooling--and we're loving it!

One of my favorite things that we're doing is RightStart Math. Timothy looks forward to it everyday, mainly because instead of doing worksheets he gets to use manipulatives. In fact, we're 10% finished with the Level A curriculum and we have yet to do a single worksheet!

I also love that it stays interesting. Today, he worked on showing the number 9 with his fingers. We sang the number 9 song. We made 9 with Tally Sticks. Then I would show a number with my fingers and he would have to write it using tally sticks. Then I would call out a number on the abacus and he would have to show it to me. Then I would make a number on the abacus and he'd have to show the right number of fingers. Then he worked on parallel and not parallel lines using the geoboard. The lesson takes about a half hour each day, but it moves so fast and changes directions so often it doesn't seem that long!

Our teacher preparation time is pretty much nill, so RightStart math is perfect for us. Dad will get down the box about 3 minutes early, review what he's supposed to do, and he's good to do. We have found that sometimes you need additional materials (straws cut into different sizes, etc) but, overall, everything you need to teach is there for you!

I'll post a video of him doing it when I can. It's the perfect curriculum for our active now FIVE year old and we love how hands-on it is!