This is how I know when I'm listening to God

Often it seems that God speaks in a whisper, not a shout. The problem is, you have to be still and quiet to hear such whisperings.

Today, as I was preparing to wake a napping Oliver for lunch so that we would be on time for his 2 p.m. speech appointment, a still, small voice nudged me.

"You should call first. Make sure they're open."

I thought, that makes sense. Snow and all. Maybe the lot's not plowed, so they're closed. Maybe the hill they're on is still a mess. Everything out here's fine, but who knows what it's like half an hour away?

So I closed the door to the sleeping boy's room back with a click and found my cell phone. I called the Children's Center and got a recording.

"This message is for December 24 through January 2. The Children's Center will be closed ...."

Ah-ha.

Let the boy sleep. Enjoy the quiet. Call it a gift from your Father, who didn't want to see you driving five children an hour out of the way for nothing.

Review: Peterson Diected Handwriting

I take a rather eclectic approach when it comes to teaching my children handwriting and I have to admit, the results are not always the best. Jo was "ruined" (her word, not mine) by a zealous teacher at her Christian preschool when she insisted that my then 3 yo daughter use only her right hand. I had no idea that this was going on and frankly, would have told the teacher to find better ways to occupy her time had I realized that she was warping my little girl's writing skills. As it was, I have never required a three year old to write anything, let alone with an aim of proper handedness. The nerve!

Jo has remained right handed, but it's fairly evident that she would be have been far better served as a lefty; her father is left-handed, so I'm assuming it's genetics ... not that I care. When you mix in her vision difficulties in the formative years of her small motor development, it's a miracle the kid can write at all as far as I'm concerned. Jo took up cursive writing at the tender age of seven thanks to an infatuation with the American Girl Felicity and has never looked back. Her handwriting is anything but neat but it gets the job done.

Vowing to make a more concerted and organized effort with Atticus, I turned to the highly-recommended Handwriting Without Tears and was frankly driven to tears. I'm not sure if I ever really understood the whys and hows of HWT and I definitely found the structure of the letters as taught slightly off-putting. I dumped the whole idea and let Atticus do his own thing and have been rewarded with what I consider "boy scrawl"--mostly legible, highly uneven and barely passable.

With Logan, I put off doing anything at all in the way of formal handwriting due to his tendency to reverse letters. I suspected for a time that he was dyslexic (he's not) and finally settled on "He's a normal kindergartener," as an answer to my concerns, but not until I made a go of the (again) recommended course of teaching him cursive first. Yeah ... that didn't go too well. Chided, I reverted to my, "Hey, they'll be using computers anyhow," mind-set and stuck my head in the sand.

Then I was given a copy of Peterson Directed Handwriting to review and figured hey, why not? I had recently seen my kids' chicken scratch comments on a writing wall at Sunday School, and was alarmed at how loopy and tidy and downright formed all those other samples were when held up to what passes for writing in my house. Maybe it's time to look this one in the eye and stare it down, I thought.

So we undertook Peterson's, a very structured, very formal writing program that promises pitch-perfect results. Let me say up front that I am not the best at adhering to any curriculum that lays out methods and models in ways that feel rigid. And Peterson Directed Handwriting is rigid. There are formulas, special tools, the whole nine yards. It doesn't say so in the teacher's guide, but you get the distinct impression that if you opt out of any of the recommended (ugh, that word again!) steps, you are dooming your child to a lifetime of horrid handwriting.

That in mind, I decided to take the revolutionary step of following the directions. We used the provided pencils, gripped them just so, angled our papers, listened to music with the right tempo and practiced moves in the air until we all felt as if we'd just conducted every cycle of Wagner's epic The Ring. Twice.

And it helped. Kind of.

For the amount of time invested, I feel like Jo and Atticus have seen negligible results. Frustrated with learning a whole new way of writing, neither of them put forth their best effort, making this a bit of an exercise in "How much more?" Despite the many gimmicks and whatnots included in this very complete program it is still very much your standard handwriting instruction drill. Not exactly the stuff of creativity and excitement, if you know what I mean. Does this make it a bad handwriting curricula? No, I don't believe it does. It just makes it on par with pretty much everything else I've seen marketed to teach handwriting skills. The upside is that this handwriting is truly beautiful, the type that you want to see flowing from a child's hand. So many programs fail in this area and the end result is blocky, unrecognizable forms that barely hang on to the original idea of a letter, imo. Peterson Directed Handwriting is pretty.

The biggest improvement was seen in Logan's writing. I found that all of the practice in the air and with the rhythms translated into letters that were properly shaped and forward-facing, not to mention standardized in their appearance. This wasn't an overnight development, nor has it been a 100% transformation. When jotting down words on drawings or in his own handmade books, I still find plenty of "b"s that have rotated into "d"s. But when actually putting forth the effort, I would say that the work is paying off.

Peterson offers some of the most customized choosing and support assistance I have ever seen in a homeschooling product. Rand Nelson, the creator, is personally available for help in placing your child in a program, for questions about problems you're seeing and for ongoing support. He offers a "meeting room" where you can talk to him live by appointment, as well as email and phone access. He backs up his products with a boatload of scientific data. Clearly, this gentleman is dedicated to the art of handwriting.

As for me, I find that I'm only so invested in it. While I am reassured to see improvements in my children's skills, I am having a hard time justifying the amount of prime school time dedicated to a subject that I rank in the lower echelon of educational hierarchy. In the end, I think this is one of those beauty of homeschooling kind of things; if handwriting is not important to you, let it slide. If it is, check out Peterson's.

Review: Critical Thinking

I'm not a big workbook person. In fact, when I pass piles of workbooks on vendors' tables at curriculum fairs, I usually feel sorry for the kids who are standing by as their parents pick through the offerings. It's kind of like being forced to plant beets in a garden when you know that you abhor beets, and all those little innocent seeds are just going to grow and mature and end up on your plate and send you into fits that cause your parents to make you leave the table still hungry and .... oh, sorry. That got a little too personal. Let's just say it's a bad feeling, and I empathize.

But, in truth, there are a few worthy workbooks out there. You just have to dig really hard beneath layers of "A One Year Condensed Study of Human History from the Middle Ages to the Present for Tenth Grade Students with Fill-in-the-Blank Questions." But they're there: the gems.

My personal favorites come from the Critical Thinking Company. I've shared before that I've used their Language Arts series selectively with both Jo and Atticus, and have tried their Critical Thinking books on ocassion as well. I find that these workbooks take a creative, entertaining approach to education that entices kids to pick them up. I've used enough of their titles over the years that I was fairly certain they didn't have much that I hadn't seen, but I was shocked when I tooled through their catalog. Frankly, my wish list is pretty long. They have books on every topic imagineable. Applying case law, in a workbook? Who knew?

Critical Thinking books rank among my faves simply for the fact that they engage children not only in learning facts (they do that, too) but in really, truly evaluating all angles of a given situation. Coming from the perspective that it's one thing to know the answer and another all together to know how to get there, I find this among the most valuable skills in all of the great universe we call "education."

Critical Thinking Co. books that focus specifically on thinking skills alone are entertaining, challenging and fun. They're the type of thing that smart folks do for entertainment: mental gymnastics that leave you stretching to scratch the spot on your brain where you know the answer is ... if you could just reach it. Even better, they train kids to like that feeling, and to keep coming back for more.

Logan has found these books completely irresistable. As a matter of fact, he's begging me to buy the Grade Two Book Bundle for his schooling next year. He promises to read the Sonlight books and to listen in on history read-alouds, if I'll just pretty please buy the puzzle school books for him ...

Social workers are people, too

What would you say if you saw a chubby, grinning little boy in a woman's arms, straining to sink his fingers into her hair and babbling away?

Now, what would you say if the last time you saw that baby he was emaciated and listless? 7 weeks old and four ounces under his birth weight? Broken bones, but no energy to protest the pain wracking his little being?

Would you cry?

The CPS worker who brought Manolin into care did.

She saw him--all 16 lbs. and 10 oz. of his not-quite 7 month-old self--for the first time again today. She stroked his cheek. Talked to him. Had to hold him in her arms to know for sure it was real.

"This one," she said, handing him back to me, "I never thought would make it. And not like this, for sure. I just knew in my heart when I brought him in that he was broken for good. But look at him."

Healthy. Happy. Normal.

"God is good," I smiled, shifting him on my hip so that his constantly moving fingers couldn't find my glasses.

She beamed, and then winked.

"All the time," she answered.

Review: Math Mammoth

You know I love Math-U-See.

I use it for all three of the children I'm currently homeschooling.

I recommend it to anyone who asks, "What has worked for you?"

I've even given over the bulk of my math teaching duties to the very capable Mr. Demme, the man whose math program literally pulled me back from the brink of homeschooling insanity a few short years ago.

But can I tell you a secret? I have been cheating on Mr. Demme. I can't even tell you how shallow and fair-weather-friend I feel just typing that out. I have been cheating on Math-U-See!

Here's why: I've found that there are some areas where Math-U-See doesn't totally do the job for my kiddos. I love the program. Love the approach. Love the amount of practice ...

Wish there was a little more critical thinking involved.

Did I really say that?

Well, I did. Believe it or not, MG--dyed in the wool math phobe that she is--wants to make sure that her children get that well-rounded, critical thinking aspect of math down and down well. Really well. I also want a little more of those things that normally get lumped into elementary math skills: time, money, etc.

So I'm cheating on Math-U-See. But with what, you ask?

Math Mammoth.

I saw this program in the WinterPromise catalog a while back and was honestly completely baffled. First of all, it's called Math Mammoth. Say what? Aside from The New Way Things Work illustrations, I have no clue what mammoths have to do with much of anything in the modern world, let alone teaching my children math. Second, what got me was the sheer out-of-the-blue of it. I'm not an early adopter when it comes to math programs, in case you haven't figured it out. No--I like tried and true. Because this is MATH we're talking about here, folks. It's not something willy nilly. It's MATH. (Now that I've gotten that bit of panic out of the way ...)

But get this--Math Mammoth works. It's child friendly. It's innovative. It's thought provoking. And really, the mammoths have naught to do with anything. It just ... sounds good, I guess.

The best way I can describe Math Mammoth's approach is to link it to programs I am fairly familiar with, so try this: this is Singapore for the rest of us--a down-to-earth curriculum that you can use a'la carte (as I am) by selecting topics and levels as needed, or go whole hog with by buying an entire package.

When I say Singapore for the rest of us, what I'm getting at is that Math Mammoth is so approachable, so easy to understand and so transferable to any other math program that really, a parent can pick up this program and go at any point without having to familiarize yourself with something that may feel slightly foreign in its execution. The best elements of Singapore--the art of math evident in puzzles and looking at problems from a variety of directions--is still very much intact. It's just easier to swallow, somehow.

For example, I've been using the Blue Series Clock book with Logan. It begins by utilizing just the hour hand. But before moving on to the minute hand, there are a series of problems to solve: if it's 2 p.m., what time is it an hour earlier? And hour later? This sounds like what you'd find in any math text but trust me, the approach is unique. Your child will see the clock and feel it move. This isn't your ordinary workbook!

Using a downloadable, fully reproducible format is an ingenious twist that puts Math Mammoth within the reach of every homeschooler--even those of us with four or ten kiddos who shudder at the thought of purchasing consumables ad nauseum. It also allows the teacher (that would be you) to pull out practice sheets with the click of a mouse on an as needed basis.

If you're curious about the program, check out the website. Continuing in the theme of being user-friendly, Maria Miller (the author) has even put together some freebies for you to sample:

A little "virtual" email course. You will receive:

• The package of 280 free worksheets and sample pages;
• 7 math teaching articles;
• 2 emails discussing the books;
• Homeschool Math newsletter.

No obligation, of course. Just resources to ponder.

I highly recommend checking out Math Mammoth. Just don't tell Mr. Demme, o.k.?

Review: Alphabet Alley

A couple of years ago, my children were invited to a birthday party for a boy whose family we're not particularly close with. I have the feeling that this family would like to be in what we shall refer to as the Circle of Trust. You know ... my kids sleep over at your house, yours are comfortable enough at my place to go digging through the fridge looking for their own snacks. That's the Suburban Circle of Trust, folks.

However, some of the decisions I've seen said family make over the years have left me pretty well aware of the fact that I'd eat bees before I ever left one of my children in their care. And this is a pretty serious assertion, guys, because bee stings put me in a lovely state of anaphylactic shock. So you can see how not into this family I am.

But this family is Christian. I've heard them profess, I've seen them make overtures and really, I think they're doing the best that they can muster under their own power. They believe. They're just losing something in the translation, if you know what I mean.

I've taken different tracks with this family over the years. While I wish sometimes that I could write them off, I know that that's not what Jesus has in mind. I believe that the Lord calls us to build up our brothers and sisters in Christ, and I've tried to do that. But, being wise as a serpent, I have finagled to leave my little ones out of it. The relationship is strictly between the adults. And that's the way I like it.

Then this birthday invitation came around.

And I was flummoxed. What to get this little boy? The little bit that I knew about him didn't lend itself to the kinds of gifts I'd get for my own children. I cast around for something we had in common, finally landing on a common thread: faith.

O.k. Faith. But how do you give a child a faith-centered gift? You go to a Christian bookstore or website, of course. And this was how I originally stumbled on Alphabet Alley. I'll be honest with you: I am not a huge fan of mega-stores/mega-sites. But hey, a consumer has to do what a consumer has to do from time to time. The best that conscious purchasers can do from time to time when utilizing a box store is to at least support a mom and pop operation in the process. And that's essentially what Alphabet Alley is: a family business that markets products through larger chain stores.

There are lots and lots of Christian-themed products out there, and the majority of them are not anything I'd really want to bring home. Is it just me, or does it seem like slapping a cartoon version of Noah on a retread game or toy is supposed to make it more palatable to Christians? Unfortunately, Alphabet Alley does plenty of this, too. But at least their products stand up to wear and tear. The workmanship and quality of materials is by far among the best I've seen on the shelves of our local Christian outfitter, which plies more than its share of plastic, dollar-store worthy Noah's Ark playthings.

Personally, I think the best of Alphabet Alley's offerings are aimed at the preschool set. The card games are a special favorite; the cards are large enough for little hands and not printed in those jarring, playschool colors that make your eyes hurt. As noted, they haven't disintegrated under constant use, either.

Are you wondering what I got for that boy I mentioned earlier? A Memory-style game. Yeah, I know he probably had four of them already, but frankly, it was a Veggie Tales movie year and Larry and Bob were chasing me out of the store. Not that I have a problem with Larry and Bob ...

Post-Christmas, Pre-New Year

And this is why the world at large calls this season "the holidays" (well, that and the fact that not everyone celebrates CHRISTMAS, dontcha' know).

I am trying to decide if the tree stays up until Ephinany this year. If we're giving Ephinany gifts (we are swamped with presents this year, y'all). If I'm staying up for the family movie on New Year's Eve since I do, after all, have a two little men who will shamelessly insist on being out of bed at 6:30 a.m. on January 1 ...

What are YOUR plans for the upcoming week?