Tonight at Vacation Bible School, we were talking about paradise. As an intro to the topic, I asked kids to list some things that they love right here on Earth. Kids named chocolate ice cream, their mothers, sports, and the like. Finally, I called on Zach. “What do you love, Zach?” “Caca.” He laughed. I did not. Instead, I was embarrassed and sent him out of the room. He didn’t flip off one of the volunteers or wave gang signals... Read more
At dinner a few night ago, we discussed what to do with the money will will make at our Back To Simplicity Garage Sale. (Start here and read forward to learn about our efforts.) The boys decided, entirely on their own, that they would give half of the money to the Salvation Army in our neighborhood, spend a quarter of the money on Kathiana’s going away party, and spend the final quarter to buy more BeyBlades, their favorite toy over... Read more
Well, I finished. I’ve gone through every toy, book, piece of kid’s clothing, art supply and homeschool doohickey in the house. As I looked over the bags now staged for a garage sale (and pictured to the right), I prayed that this week would be more than a symbolic gesture. That by starting with the “doable work of simplifying our children’s environment,” as Kim John Payne suggests in Simplicity Parenting, we would build momentum and simplify further in ways that... Read more
Ezra was in bed today while I went through the boys’ clothes closet. (He was there while Kathiana and Zach were at the Children’s Museum because he was having an unusually tough time behaving like a human being.) “Why are you doing this, again?” he asked. “Because we have too many things. And it’s hard to enjoy the things we love the most with all of this other stuff here. Plus, there are lots of great things that we don’t... Read more
Yesterday was about the toys. Today it was the books. Growing up, I loved books. My dad paid me to read encyclopedias, but I would have read them for free. We didn’t have a ton of books in our house, but I read what I could find. That’s not quite true, actually. My dad had hundreds of chess books. But after my humiliating defeat in the 3rd grade chess championship, I vowed never to play again. So those books were... Read more
“What about this?” I asked the boys today as we went through their toys. “Junk,” they answered in unison. “And this?” “Definitely junk!” When we were done, we had an entire bag of toys now deemed junk. Reflecting on it at dinner tonight, I asked, “Do you know what almost all of that junk has in common?” They were stumped, but Jeff, who hadn’t been around for the purge-fest, jumped in. “They were all from Happy Meals, weren’t they?” They... Read more
Ezra: It’s harder to be the student than the teacher. Tara: I don’t know buddy. I’ve been both, and I thought it was easier to be a student. Ezra: But the students have to do all of the work. And the teacher can just relax and control you and boss you around. Tara: It’s true. You do get to control lots of things. And I have to admit that part is kind fun. But being in control means you’re also... Read more
I don’t know why it took nearly the entire year to learn this: Zach and Ezra will do anything that Magic C asks them to. And they do it without whining or complaining or crying. They do it without stomping their feet or rolling their eyes. And because they do whatever Magic C asks them to without being brats, I don’t have to spend the next 5 minutes or 60 minutes disciplining them. Magic C is the puppet (shown here)... Read more
Did you know that the U.S. women’s soccer team kicked some French butt today? If not, you do not live in my house. Or on my block. Because if you did, you would certainly have heard the celebrating. Saturday, during the crazy game against Brazil, there were tears and high fives and screaming. When it went into to an overtime shoot out, we went to the neighbors. It didn’t seem like something you should experience alone. Today, we invited neighbors... Read more
Atta and I took the boys and two of their friends out for dinner on Saturday. While they were waiting for their pizza, they started to play a version of hangman. (This version doesn’t require paper and pencil; you just guess letters until you eventually get the word.) Zach and the other two boys chose words like map, Venezuela, and time. I was worried when it was Ezra’s turn because the only thing he is worse at than reading... Read more
The Homeschool Chronicles
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