It’s been my dream since I was a child to live in the country, have lots of animals, and enjoy the wide open spaces.

My dream hasn’t yet come true, but I still yearn for that style of life.

But I’ve been thinking recently about what God’s plan might be for my life. Since we live in town, we are able to participate in lots of people’s lives. I can visit my grandmother every Sunday evening, I can give people rides to and from activities, I can establish relationships with our neighbors, I can stop by my parents’ house, etc. But if we move out into the country, we’ll have to consider trips into town more carefully. With gas prices so expensive, I won’t be able to justify zipping into town for every little reason. We won’t be close enough to people to share rides. We won’t live close to neighbors that we can get to know on a daily basis.

So what’s the right thing to do? If we are called to reach out to the world and be “salt and light”, isn’t it better to live around people? How can we influence our society if we withdraw from it?

One positive example I have is my friend Janie who lives quite far out in the country, but she is always reaching out to people, having folks out for visits, etc. So she doesn’t let her country life isolate her from society. But I’m much more antisocial than Janie. I’m afraid I would get lost in my own world.

I would like to hear your philosophical opinion on the pros and cons of living in town and living in the country.  Meanwhile, I’ll keep dreaming.

As we were visiting, I told Isaac that he reminded me of Silas Marner. Of course, Isaac had no idea what I was talking about, so I told him the story briefly, while trying not to give away the end. I first read the story in high school and thought it was so interesting at that time. Since then I’ve seen the movie with Steve Martin called “A Simple Twist of Fate” which is a modernized version of Silas Marner.

The story of Silas Marner is one of my favorite novels. On a whim, last night, I said to Isaac, “Let’s Google Silas Marner and see what we find.” Early in our search we found the complete text of the novel online at Bibliomania.com. I started reading the first few lines of the story to Isaac, and before I knew it, we were both hooked. He sat there completely silent and listening while I read the entire first chapter. The story (by George Eliot) was written in 1861, so the language is terribly old fashioned, and the sentences are so long I sometimes can’t figure out where we’ve started and where we’re going. But despite the vocabulary that leaves all of us wondering, and despite extreme wordiness and elaborate descriptions, the story has us hooked.

As I shooed Isaac off to bed last night, he begged me to wake him up early so we could read the next chapter. I told him I’d think about that idea. So this morning, once I had my cup of coffee in hand and realized that my two little morning companions were content eating dry Kix cereal leftover from our potty-training snacks, I went and nudged Isaac. He popped out of bed so fast and was in the kitchen ready to listen almost before I got back there myself!

We read the second chapter, and maybe even the third… I can’t remember… before I finally told him to get ready for the day and start his chores.

As soon as we had another break in our morning, we piled onto the couch and read some more chapters of Silas Marner. By now we had everyone else in our little homechool in the audience, and I wondered how much anyone was understanding of this archaic text, but they sat quite interested, and the younger three played happily (mostly) while I read.

Tonight, once the final chores were done, I agreed to read just a little bit more. Again we slogged through the big words and long sentences, but the story kept pulling us along through the tedious parts. Each time we sit to read, I review with the children what the story has been thus far, and we speculate on where it’s going. Any time I think they might have missed something interesting, I stop reading and explain what was just said. Then I read that part again so they can hear it in the original language. All in all, we’re having a great time! Tonight we found the word diffidence, and Laura asked, “What does that mean?” I admitted that I did not know, but offered, “Would you like me to look it up?” Laura answered emphatically, “NO! Just keep reading!” I smiled and started to take a breath when Luke answered, “Yes, look it up so we can stay up later!” I decided I liked Laura’s answer better than Luke’s, so we just kept reading.

I told Isaac last night that there is a dramatic version of Silas Marner put out by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. Michael told me to go ahead and order it, so I went to my new favorite source for books and audio stuff and made an order. I think I’m going to try to finish reading the print version of the story to the kids before I let them listen to the audio drama, but I must confess that I’m so eager to hear it, I might give in to the temptation before we’re done reading.

Have you read Silas Marner? If so, what do you think of it? If you haven’t read it, let me encourage you to check it out. And if you really can’t tolerate the old-fashioned text version, be sure to watch a movie or listen to the audio drama. It’s a story you’ll never forget.

Once we got home and unloaded the meat into the freezer, I thought back to how much fun it had been to have an impromptu field trip.  And our reminder of the fun is a deer leg bone bigger than our little dog. 

Every Thursday evening we hurry off to class and then sit for two hours stretching our brains in directions they haven’t been stretched before. Fortunately, our teacher is good at keeping the lessons interesting and doable.

Every Thursday night after class as we drive home, I feel exhausted. I’m tired of working at something I’m not good at. Some days I feel like I’m learning, but other days I realize how far we have to go.

Our whole family has embraced this project. We’ve purchased bilingual books, checked out Spanish videos from the library, and we try out our Spanish on our Hispanic neighbors. My favorite book so far is “Eres Tu Mi Mama?” (or in English, “Are You My Mother?” by P.D. Eastman) and we often quote parts of it. Luke likes the book so much that he checked it out of the library last time we were there. I tried to convince him that he didn’t need to check it out since we already own a copy at home. But after explaining several times that he could just read the copy we already have, I gave up and let him check it out.

Michael put our efforts into perspective for me recently by saying, “I figure we can spend ten years learning Spanish and then ten years learning German.” Wow. That makes it seem like we’re doing ok. If I have ten years to get Spanish figured out, I’m ahead of schedule!

One thing I miss is the slow lazy days where I could do what I wanted to as long as the kids stayed out of the way. But the guilty feelings that chased me around my day weren’t fun to dodge. Still, feeling guilty isn’t quite as frantic as being busy!  (Laziness does have some rewards.) 
I’m eager to share with you what is working for us, just in case it might help you.

Kids have to be up by 7 a.m. Then they have an hour to do what they need to do before school starts at 8 a.m. They can’t have breakfast until they are ready for the day. And once school starts, they can’t keep eating breakfast.

At 8 a.m. everyone starts school. Since we’re using the ACE curriculum they each get started in their paces and I go around helping kids, listening to reading, solving dilemmas, etc.

During school there is to be no talking. As you might imagine, it’s impossible to have NO talking, but I am rather strict that they sit quietly and work. If they need help they are not to interrupt me while I’m helping someone else. All of this is taking some getting used to, but it’s working!

We take a break at 9 a.m. The kids have to run outside (while the weather is nice) and I get to spend a few minutes checking my e-mail, etc.

It’s working well for all of us, and I’m eager to see if we can continue. Amelia is getting my attention each day and she’s doing great on her learning-to-read curriculum. Luke is reading each day and I can really see wonderful progress for him. Isaac is reluctantly making progress in his areas, most importantly in math and handwriting. Laura is doing great with grammar and math.

Alas, I must cut this short. My 15-minute break is almost up, and I need to keep on schedule.

Have a great day!

The second chrysalis hatched sometime during the night two nights ago and Laura awoke to another beautiful creature quietly resting in it’s cage. She was eager to have him photographed and then to let him go, so we went to the front porch. After the photographs were done we encouraged the little guy (yes, another boy!) to fly away. But he wouldn’t go! He stayed and stayed. Finally Laura put him back in the cage for a while. Later she tried again to set him free, but he wasn’t interested. At one point I noticed Laura sitting on the front porch doing her school work with the butterfly just sitting on her knee.

We were all a little worried for him that he might not be able to get food soon enough if he didn’t go look for it. By evening he had finally been shaken loose and sent on his way.

The third caterpillar that Laura found didn’t survive to make his chrysalis. We don’t know why he died, but that makes us even more amazed at the success of the first two.

So, butterfly lessons are over for now. Next time you see a Monarch fluttering around, you can remember our little homeschool. And while you’re at it, see if you can tell if it’s a boy or a girl!

Laura has been faithfully carrying her pets around with her everywhere. She even brought them in the van when we went to my folks’ house for dinner! She carries them upstairs to bed, outside to play, inside to sit and read for a while. She peers at them, refreshes their leaves, and admires each stage of their development.

Yesterday morning we were in the kitchen sipping hot cocoa and doing our BibleTelling and hymn study. Laura announced to the group that one of the chrysalis had turned dark, signalling the impending release of it’s occupant. We notice and admired and then continued on. A little while later, right in the middle of the first verse of “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart”, Laura exclaimed, “I have a butterfly!!!” Sure enough, a beautiful Monarch was hanging from the shell of his chrysalis. As you might imagine, our song screeched to a halt and we all stared at this miracle.

Laura kept exclaiming, “I did it! I raised a butterfly!” I wanted to correct her and state that she hadn’t done a thing and that God should take the credit. But I realized that in part she did deserve a little credit. She kept the creatures safe and provided them with their food while they were still caterpillars. She was bubbling over with her feelings of triumph.

Later on we went outside and I took some photos of Laura holding the male Monarch on her finger. (Do you know how to tell males from females? We didn’t until we started reading all about them on the web.) Not only was it a precious moment for Laura to hold the butterfly who was content to stay on her finger, but it was a fun opportunity for me as an aspiring photographer to be able to get up close and personal with a normally-flighty creature. I’ve never been that close to a butterfly for so long. He was breathtakingly beautiful.

I little later Laura decided she couldn’t keep her pet confined to his wastebasket home, so she took him back outside and set him free.

As you might imagine, we are all eager to see the next chrysalis open. The big question on everyone’s mind is, “Will it be a boy or a girl?” We’ll keep you posted!

Laura and Nathan were learning and discovering and exploring, and they didn’t even know that we can count this as “science”.

Not too long after Nathan left with the snakeskin to go home, Laura came inside with another discovery. She had found a monarch caterpillar on some milkweed. I was skeptical of her find, wondering how she could be so sure of her find. So we looked online and sure enough, she was right! Out came the camera again to document this new creature. While I was photographing from just the right angles, Laura said, “I think this other side is his head.” What did she know! Obviously the shorter antennae are the front, and the longer “tails” are the back.

Well, later on when the caterpillar was munching away on some leaves, I realized that she was right! The little short “tails” were not the front after all, and the longer antennae were gracefully dipping over the caterpillar’s head while he chewed. Oh. Well, if I ever become a famous photographer, the folks who know something about caterpillars will shake their heads and mutter, “Why on earth would someone photograph the backside of a caterpillar???” I guess we all learn stuff during this homeschool venture.

We made a little home for our new pet in a discarded applesauce jar. Laura picked fresh milkweed leaves and we’ve had a blast watching him make himself at home. He chews for a while; rests for a while; wanders around, and then chews some more. I’m eager to see what he does next.

Amazingly, everything went very smoothly. The kids were cheerful, the trip went by quickly, and the hatchery was fascinating.

When we arrived, the staff started pulling out one long tray after another of pheasant chicks. Each child was encouraged to hold one, and when the younger children hesitated, a patient staff member would hold a chick out for that child to pet.

The big job for today at that facility was to count out and box up all of these chicks to be sent along to another place for raising. Some kids held chicks while the counting was going on, other kids helped count chicks, and still others of us rummaged through the leftover shells and unhatched eggs that were about to be discarded. We found it so interesting to crack open the unhatched eggs and see what was inside. Some had nothing more than a yellow yolk, while others had a fully-formed chick inside. Many of the chicks in those eggs were dead, but some were quite lively when they were opened up. We have no idea if any of those chicks will live very long, but they certainly have more chance of it outside the shell than in it.

The State of Illinois raises tens of thousands of baby pheasants to introduce into hunting programs which in turn raise money for the State. I have never seen so many birds in one place. Each of the children got to hold the babies as long as they liked, and we got to have a tour of the facility. To see more photos of our adventures, see my gallery on the right under “My Links”. If you look in the album of my favorite photos, you’ll see an album of our field trip.

After we toured the hatchery, we spent some time playing at the state park nearby. The kids loved climbing on the playground equipment, and several of the older children asked if they could follow one of the trails leading into the woods. We agreed, so they headed off to discover uncharted lands. Soon they came running back asking us to go on a hike with them to see the interesting thing they had discovered. We moms weren’t quite as eager to hike, but soon got caught up in the excitement and agreed to follow them. The woods were so pretty, and we were pleased to note that it’s early enough in the season that there are NO BUGS pestering folks yet. When the kids led us to their discovery, I had to admit it was pretty interesting. There was a grove of trees that had a layer of white cottony fluff all over the ground. I don’t know exactly what it was. Maybe some seed pods in the trees had burst open and dropped the fluff. But whatever it was made that area look like snow or something magic.

Once our hike was done we loaded back up and headed to McDonalds for lunch. Being the frugal person that I am, I was only willing to purchase items off the dollar menu for each of my children. They didn’t complain too loudly though and they had fun climbing all over the playland.

All in all, it was a very fun field trip and I was so glad we went. Homeschooling rocks!

“Yes,” I said, “Plane…Avion.”

He started to pout, “No Avion! Plane!”

I smiled and said, “Good boy!” After all, he DID say the Spanish word, right? I showed him the next card, “Car…Coche.”

He was still pouting, “No Coche! Car!”

Card after card went like this until finally he refused to say anything at all. Not easily discouraged, I pulled out the flash cards again the next day…and the day after that. Some days he participated, and other days he pouted, but I continued on, cheerfully saying the name of each picture in English and Spanish.

And then it happened! We were driving into town and he said, “Look, Mommy! Coche!”

I was shocked! “That’s right, Josiah! Do you see the house? Casa?”

He willingly chimed in, “House…Casa.”

Wow! I’m so glad I didn’t give up on him after the first try. Now when we walk around the neighborhood, he cheerfully joins me in saying the names of things we see in English and Spanish!