Photos of Bard's Germany Tour

Thank you to everyone who helped Bard get to Central Europe, whether through financial contributions or prayers. She had a wonderful time and will soon post about her adventures on her own blog, but for now, I'll share with you the photos she took while she was there.

You can see them by clicking the photo album below. If you go to the public albums, you'll see that there's a Part B as well. :-)

Bard's Germany Tour: Part A

She's in Germany...

What would you do if it were 1:30 in the morning and you couldn't sleep?

Me? I called my daughter who's spending her days in Central Europe.

And why not? It's been a long day, after finding myself wide awake at 6:30 AM (this has been happening lately--my bodies awakens at 6:30 every morning, like it or not) and with a whole free day in front of me--so I thought.

I started it with a trip to a benefit book sale in my city where I picked up a bit of Bill Bryson, a couple of Madeleine L'Engles and an Elizabeth Berg for a song--a song that went to a good cause, nonetheless--and then I drifted towards my car UNTIL I smelled doughnuts frying at the local bakery. I tucked Mr. Bryson under my arm and strolled into the doughnut shop. A cream stick, a cup of coffee and a chair later, I was chatting with Mr. Bryson about his little adventure on the Appalachian Trail (Appalachia seems to be following me. Appalachian Music at Shakin' Down the Acorns, two books about Appalachia by Barbara Kingsolver, and now this. Huh. What's up with that?. The doughnuts at the local bakery aren't as good as they used to be. Sigh. So I didn't finish eating them and eased on down the road toward the bulk food store where I bulked up (ha) on organic quick oats and organic rolled oats and brown sugar and freshly ground peanut butter and a roll of 2-lb baggies. I intend to begin making granola to sell. Want some?

That was all, really, aside from a trip to the nursery to buy five blueberry bushes and three raspberry bushes.

When I arrived home, I got the mail (bad news, again), and the garage phone was ringing. Seems my son couldn't find the tickets to the music fest that he'd received for his birthday. Silly me. I'd hidden them from him on one of his more challenging days. And then today, the day he was set to go, packed and prepared, I'd slipped out to the benefit book sale without telling him the location of the tickets. Not on purpose. Honestly. So when I got home, everyone was quite glad to see me since they'd spent the morning trying to track me down (I'm a simple girl with no cell phone) by driving all over the village. Hop back into the car for a trip to the music fest and a detour to the ice cream shop with the little girls, Sweetheart and The Baby. Then home again, home again, jiggety jog, for a phone call to the attorney's office about the tax situation (more bad news) and a bit of time filling out a job application (library position) that had to be turned in by 5 pm today. Off to the library then (probably a good idea to pay my fine, too, she thought), with a detour to the greenhouse to pick up some bull compost for the berry bushes.

What had I wanted to accomplish? Weeding my garden, planting all of my berry bushes, making strawberry ice cream, spending time in the garden with my girls, making tons of granola, reading aloud to the girls, baking some bread and maybe a pizza...

What did I accomplish from that list?

None of it.

And when I sat down to check my e-mail, I discovered that my world traveler is having trouble accessing her money because the PIN is a word; there are no letters on Central European ATMs, apparently. Time on the phone with VISA (no help), time on the internet searching (no help), and finally, a snapshot of an ATM keypad and I realize that it's the same setup as a phone. So, of course, I had to call my daughter who is touring Central Europe with six euros left to her name.

It was so good to hear her voice. I miss her greatly. I'm glad she's having fun, and I'm thrilled that, through her hard work and the generosity of others, she's able to go on this trip (thank you all of you who know who you are), but I do miss her.

Look, the truth is that life is tough right now. But it's also good. Go figure.

How's life with you?

(Photo of Bard in Germany by her Nice Choir Manager)

::: 2006 candlelight concert :::

Guest Post from Bard:

I have been told to write about this picture. Okay. If you want to see me, (my head the size of an atom) then look for the really tall kid in the back row. Then look to the left. That is me.
Christmas Candlelight concerts are the best in the whole universe. They're beautiful and fun and confusing, and you get to hold little lights and blind yourself, and spend three days in a row with all your choir buddies. Unless you don't have any choir buddies. In which case it's just too bad to be you, because if you don't have any choir buddies, you don't have anyone to be confused with. This year we did really well. Granted, we didn't do as well as that one concert in Italy, but we still basically rocked. And that is about all I have to say. Oh, I lied. I have one more thing to say: we look like bellhops.

The church they sang in

Okay, I take it back...

Here are the things I've done today:

FreeCycled for a brand-new, in-the-box, desktop 3-gallon aquarium which will be a Christmas gift.

Saw Bard and Bohemian off--him to work, her to choral practice.

Had a long talk with Houdin about how his brain functions and how he and I could learn to get along better.

Made my bed.

Cared for all of my animals.

Spent time working on finger-training one of our budgies.

Read the mail.

Nursed Baby all day long every 45 seconds.

A Family Outing...A Busy Day

Bard's Saturday morning rehearsal and Houdin's evening concert took us north into the bigger city today, and we decided to make the best of it. We all rose early for breakfast, got dressed and packed up the Jeep for a day away.

The plan was to drop Bard off at her practice, then head to GoodWill for some winter clothes shopping (success! spent $40, found all of the clothes they'll need for the winter, plus two pairs of snow boots for Sweetheart, a pair of clogs for her, and two pairs of Doc Marten loafers for me...for $1.50 each!), then drop off some baby finches to my friend T, and then over to our friends S&B's house to do some cleaning. A few weeks ago, We were at S's house when she found out that she was pregnant with their fourth child, and then she was with us at our gathering just after she had found out that the baby had died in-utero. It was so good to be able to be with her and to have so many of her friends around her to keep her spirits up. One of her favorite activities is to listen to our husbands play music together, and she was able to sit listening for the evening and absorbing the love of her friends and family. Today, we had hoped to go by her house while she was having her D&C and do some cleaning, but her dear husband and daughters already had it covered. Of all the women I know, S has such an amazing love for children that her loss just breaks my heart. I keep reminding myself that there is a greater plan.

After our other stops, we decided to visit a corn maze that had been part of a homeschool group field trip we'd missed yesterday. The maze's theme was the goldrush, and the goal was to find all of the clues in the maze as well as make it to the exit. Bundled against the cold and shielded from the wind by the corn, we trekked the trails collecting clues. One of the cool things about the theme is that the gold rush took place around the time of Little House in the Big Woods, which is the book we're currently reading as a family. The clues in the maze weren't simply trivial, but were actually informational and historical tidbits that were very interesting.

Another part of the adventure was the hidden rocks. All along the maze were small tumbled river rocks whose bottom sides were each etched with a number. If you found one of these rocks, you could take it to the stand and trade it for a prize. Sweetheart was determined to find these rocks for herself! Out of the five rocks we found, Sweetheart found three on their own, and they were not easy to find! :-) Each of the children were able to take a rock to the shop and claim their prize. The shopkeeper applauded them, saying that no one had brought more than two at a time! She allowed the children to choose caramel corn, small gourds, indian corn and pumpkins to take home. Sweetheart is thrilled with her winnings.

This evening, Houdin took part in a children's choral festival, which was quite a show! Packed to the gills. Dr. and Mrs. Jacobs sat near us and asked if they could come visit sometime. He was very sorry that they weren't able to attend the Open House, as he plays upright bass and thought the opportunity to play would have been fun, but they were in Indianapolis on a choral-related visit. Since Bohemian also played upright, they had a nice conversation about music, and they hope to visit soon. They asked if Bard might want to stay with them next week since she will have four choral events between Monday and Saturday. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for Bard to spend time with her director, but I think she will likely stay with her friend Ash for the week.

I also stopped by a bookstore to pick up the next Italic Handwriting book for Houdin and Sweetheart and found a Latin-root vocabulary workbook for Bard. She's mentioned several times that she would like to learn Latin, and this looked like a good start. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

We ended the evening with dinner together, then went to pick up Bard from her evening with Ash at the hayride, and a long drive home, me nodding off most of the way.

And now, for a bath and a long, long rest, curled up in bed with my dear husband and my sweet baby.

::: bard's fundraising letter/commas/proofreading :::

Bard began her fundraising letter yesterday and has been working on the rough and final drafts today. She wrote the rough draft, edited for clarity and interest and then edited again for punctuation. We discussed using commas properly per Punctuation Made Easy. We also used this book to discuss correct proofreading symbols. She's doing the dishes now, but when she's done she'll read the proofreading symbols I used on her letter and correct the mistakes.

::: bard's sponsorship :::

Bard began writing her sponsorship request letters for her trip to China. She has really, really talked herself into believing that she won't be able to go. I'm very hesitant to send out the letters or to prod her into sending them. I've made it clear that the whole thing is in her hands. Hopefully, she'll finish the letter today and get it sent out so that I won't have to worry about it.

Edison went to Penny's to do some work and then rode to the bakery. In the evening, he went to the neighbor's house, too.

I finished my notification letter (did I already write that?) and will send it today. I also hope to order the Little House and Anne of Green Gables curricula today.

We watched The Secret Window last night. I hated it. After 15 years of trying to detox myself from Stephen King-like thoughts, they all came flooding right back. I had to sleep with my back against Bohemian because I was frightened like a child. :-/

Whew! Everyone completed their goals for the day! It was actually a fairly good day, with the exception of Monet's hyper attititude, my messy cabin, and the fact that I got a note from the library telling me that I have a $24.00 fine and several overdue books. I'm kinda frustrated about that because I can't renew my books online anymore, which I used to be able to do. I'll have to see what I can do to get that fixed.

I messed around with the SOS a bit. Very cool! I think this will be quite helpful for our school program. The only challenge I see arising is that we only have one computer. There could be some fights and logistics problems.

Especially since I found so many cool websites today that will be fantastic learning tools as well as buffers in between lessons (and during Mama's potty breaks!) that I'll gladly share with you.

One of the fantastic sites I found was Our First Grade Backpack Very impressive! I found it while looking for simple online stories that Monet can read instead of me running to the library (and paying outrageous fines!!!) for books that he can read. I was especially impressed with the reading page. I found some great stuff like a realplayer reading of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day read by the author. There are a bunch of cute stories that children can follow along with while they are read to (I know the rules...but I don't feel like restructuring that sentence right now!) if you go to the Cbeebies site--stories like Jack and the Beanstalk starring Noddy or The Lion and the Mouse starring Angelmouse. There were so many stories and so many links on Our First Grade Backpack, I haven't even begun to explore them all. I hope to put several good ones in a folder for Monet and Sweetheart to enjoy while I'm doing other things during the day.

One great site that I discovered on Our First Grade Backpack is Learning to Read at Starfall. It's a free online phonics program that uses interactive games, animated stories and short movies to teach children to read. The site also provides free journaling page and worksheet downloads for each lesson. Very useful! Much better than spending hundreds of dollars on a phonics program. I may try it with Sweetheart. We've always used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (hokey title, good book) but only get about half-way through it before the kid catches on and we don't need to continue with the lessons. This may be just the little program we need to get Sweetheart started reading! Bard began reading at 3 years old and is now an incredible reader...voracious, I would say. Edison didn't really start reading until recently. Monet just started to learn to read in October and is now quite adept! He's very excited about joining choir because the two requirements were to learn to read and to be in second grade. He meets both requirements! He's very excited.

Bard babysat for the first time tonight. Read her blog to find out how it went.

Ah! And Edison won his scrimmage! Good for you, Edison!

And while we're talking baseball, yesterday Monet was at baseball practice and got hit right on the tip of the nose by a baseball. I wasn't there, but I was told that he bled like a stuck pig. But he didn't cry! Now I call him my "baseball hero." He's pretty proud of the blood on his glove. ;-)

It's nearing the end of the day. Bohemian has gone to pick up the boys from church. They insisted on going, and even though their goals weren't all met, I said they could go. Bard's doing the dishes and I'm thinking about the coming day. Today was alright...we got several things accomplished. Bard and I worked on her 12 times table, which is still hard for *me* to remember. We actually practiced them together. Monet surprised me in a big way. I got out the sight word flash cards to occupy him while I was waiting for one of the other kids to complete a goal. I really didn't think he'd know them, but I thought it would be good to practice them. He knew them *all*! Pretty impressive for a kid who says he can't even read. Very impressive for a kid who refused to even try to read as recently as October '02. So now he is old enough and meets the requirements for attending the Choral Society auditions. He's incredibly excited. Actually, I am, too. Really, we've just practiced reading together. I read to all of them when I can. I've used a method of spelling words that is actually pretty simple and very effective. I have printed out all of the Dolce sight words on 4x6 cards (there's a site with a printable table of the words at ). Each of the kids keeps their spelling words in an index card file box. Every day, they take out the cards and their spelling notebook, and they "study, cover and spell." Basically, they read the word aloud, then they trace it with their finger, then they turn the card over or cover it up. After that, they write the word in their spelling notebook. They check their word against the index card. If it's right, they get to write the date on the back of the card. If it's wrong, they correct it. After they've spelled the word correctly four times, they can put it in the back of their box. However, if they can't get it right during our weekly spelling bees, it comes back to the front. It's working well for Monet, but Edison, who would be diagnosed ADD in a more conventional setting, doesn't seem to be able to retain any rote memorization. We're working on better ways to approach such things with Edison.
Now it's time to go over their daily goals and get ready for tomorrow. I hope to have goal sheets printed out today and be ready for breakfast before I go to bed. I don't really like such rigid schedules and hyper-organizing, but I'll try it. It just may help.