yet another instance in which i compare myself to kim kardashian.

a little over a week ago, we headed to my mom's for the day to see my aunt, uncle, and cousins, who were visiting from california.  the 2.5-hour car ride was the first time laurelai had left the house in nearly two weeks because she's been potty training.  partway through the drive, she started crying and acting really uncomfortable, so we pulled off a dead exit and pulled out the potty seat. 

a state trooper saw us and thought we were in need of help, so he stopped to check on us and suddenly a simple potty break had a police escort.

once we got to my mom's, the kids ate lunch and then hopped right in the pool.  atticus was especially enthusiastic in his hopping.

my sister's boyfriend is a photographer, and he brought this beast to the cookout.  a police escort and paparazzi in the same day?  i felt like an especially curvy kim kardashian, although i'm currently shaped less like an hourglass and more like a chicken-in-a-biscuit cracker.

here's how the van voorst-chorpening-kofoed-page-scott clan likes to party.  (it's hearty, for those who are unclear.  we like to party hearty.)

penelope ended the afternoon by helping my mom make whipped cream for the strawberry pie.

and, since it was just a day-trip, we headed home after that. it was such a fun day!

the weekly 'what's up.'

 this week's biggest news was starting back into the routine of the school year.  the kids did so great.  the big kids settled right in without issue.  the little kids are still adjusting to their 45-minute blanket/pack and play time in the morning, but it went better this week than it has the past couple of weeks.  school took much less time in the mornings than i had planned, so they all still have a lot of free time to roam/get in fights, which seem to be their favorite pastimes, so we all win.  kind of.

 please ignore the 9 a.m. photos on the east side of the house.  i swear my kids really do have eyeballs in there behind their squinty looks.  my bad.

laurelai is still the biggest potty time champ of all time.  she's doing really, really well.

the girls helped me get ready for our popcorn party/family movie night.

and finneas continued his warrior training.  how big is he getting?!

and how big am i getting?!  well, not that big yet, as far as pregnancies go - i still have an entire trimester to go, after all - but i am feeling big.  and tired.  and pretty incapable of most simple physical activities that don't involve laying on the couch.  what a nice way to bookend the pregnancy - i'm right back where i started on this journey. 

aaaaaand... our water heater stopped working.  don't they say bad things happen in groups of threes (or, in our case, one millions) or something?  that really has seemed to be true for us lately.  i mean, in the last two months, it's been everything from our toilet, to our kitchen faucet, to our mower, to our living room window, to our leaking water main, to our van doors, to our laptop, and now to our water heater.  today i did a mental inventory of all the high-cost items in our house that haven't broken down yet that probably will here pretty soon:  our air conditioner, our kitchen appliances, etc.  i'm not jinxing anything, i'm just being a realist.

in all seriousness, though, this latest issue broke me for a bit.  i'm just getting a bit beaten down by the constant repairs and constant expenses.  luckily, the water heater issue appears to have been fixed (although the plumber said there's a possibility that, if yesterday's efforts didn't entirely fix the problem, it should become apparent in the next week or so and he might have to come back, so i'm still on high alert).  just, ugh, you guys.  it's hard being a grown up sometimes.

but anyway.  enough bellyaching.  god truly has been really awesome to provide everything we've needed to handle each problem/issue/cost that's come our way lately, sometimes in miraculous and mindblowing ways, so i have no reason to complain.  not on rex manning day!  i mean, friday.

and on that note, here is this classic ridiculousness.  happy friday!

Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon - Friday by RofV

our homeschool curriculum.

time for some more school talk!  let's talk curriculum, shall we?

i use a charlotte mason approach, which probably means nothing to you if you don't have much experience with homeschool jargon.  it's obviously more nuanced than this, but the main jist of it is that there is a lot of emphasis on nature study/time outdoors, as well as learning from classic, 'living' books rather than textbooks.  it's kind of like... a hands-on classical education, if 'classical education' isn't too jargony as well.

so anyway, we basically just buy a bunch of great books and learn from those.  i like this for a variety of reasons:  the language exposure, even at a young age, is stellar (i'm reading aloud the original pilgrim's progress to the kids this year, for instance), the books themselves are time-tested, and as a teacher, i get genuinely interested in the material, even at the kindergarten/first-grade level.  plus, when everything is said and done, i have a bookshelf full of actual books and not just rando first grade social studies textbooks or whatever that no one will read ever again.

how do i choose the books?  i cheat and let ambleside online do it for me.  it's a free resource that puts together, by year, a pretty full-spectrum curriculum, as well as a schedule for everything.  i just go through the list of books for each year, which covers subjects like history, science, poetry, geography, etc., and order everything from amazon.  easy peasy.

i do have to buy a couple of specific curriculum items outside of the ambleside stuff - namely, math, reading instruction, and handwriting.  (i tried to do handwriting with free stuff i found on pinterest last year, and it was a dismal failure.  i'm pretty sure my kids' native handwriting language is 'indecipherable petroglyph.'  so i spent money on an actual workbook for each of them this year.)  this is what we're using:

'math-u-see' is our math curriculum of choice.  the name is not exactly the most creative thing i've ever encountered, although it is accurate.  it uses a lot of manipulatives to teach the concepts.  so far, it's worked well for us, and the kids really enjoy math time since they get to 'play' with blocks.

'a reason for handwriting' is our handwriting curriculum.  yes, that's a cartoon jesus on the cover, and yes, that was a little difficult for me to process without making a ton of sarcastic comments about the state of christian culture, but i reined it in as best i could because like that each week they're practicing copywork using scripture verses.

'teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons' is also pretty accurately titled.  i've taught both kids to read with this approach, and there are 100 lessons in there.  it delivers on its claims.  the kids are each on a 90-something lesson, so after we're done with this book, we'll move on to using pathway readers.  this is the reading curriculum used in amish parochial schools, so there are lots of stories in there about horse auctions.  you know i love that.

and here's how i keep it all organized for my purposes:

here's how i keep it all organized for the kids' purposes:

each kid has a folder for each school day of the week, so i will fill all the folders at the beginning of the week with their math and handwriting worksheets.  then they can just pull out the day's folder and hopefully become a bit more independent in completing their work than they were last year.

and there's a basic rundown of what we use and how we use it!

video vednesday: good for illiterates!

alright, alright, alright. 

come snoop around our school!

today i thought i'd give you a little tour of our school area.  i know i did this last year, but i've been seeing a lot of pinterest crap floating around about 'dream homeschool rooms' and the like, and frankly, i'm getting fed up.  the amount of space it appears homeschool requires, to accommodate all the stuff it appears homeschool requires, is a bit misleading.  it does not have to be as involved - or as expensive - as pinterest feels the need to make it seem.  so, as an antidote to the craziness out there, here is the extent of our simple homeschool space.

we school at the dining room table, next to these shelves:

on the top shelf, the only thing that is not there for purely aesthetic purposes is the jar of clothespins, which i use for adding jobs to the kids clothespin chore charts.  (the schefflera plant is barely there for aesthetic purposes, as it is hanging on for dear life and pretty consumptive-looking.  it has spent the summer outside in an effort to give it the prairie cure, and will head back out there again as soon as i finish blogging.)

the second shelf houses pencils, my morning devotional stuff (bible, commentary, notebook), and the books and notebooks we're using for these next six weeks.  i have a bookshelf upstairs where i keep last year's books, as well as books i ordered for later in the year - we only keep on hand down here what we're using now.

that third shelf there is full of a bunch of randos - art supply box with my planner and homeschool binder on top, a basket full of labels and stickers and a stapler, a basket full of our math manipulatives, and the kids' in-progress embroidery projects.

the bottom shelf is home to a basket with extra supplies*, our handicrafts supply bucket, my ever-loving sharpies, the kids' bibles.

*extra index cards, post its, memory work box, flash cards, grown up watercolors, a photo album of this year's works of art for art study, a pencil sharpener.

then, on the other side of the table, i have this cabinet.  the top, again, is purely decorative. (although that basket inside is filled with half-burned candles and an inordinate number of grill lighters, so that's kind of functional, right?)

the left drawer holds all my grown-up school supplies:  fun-colored gel pens and felt-tipped pens, post its and note pads, index cards, sticker charts, my cleaning card box, blank note cards, and the roll of tape that i hide from the kids.  (they have free reign of about 20 rolls elsewhere, but they thoroughly indulge their tape habit, so i never know if there's actually any tape on any of the rolls.  i needed one to call my own.)

the other drawer holds crayons, and five seasons of friends, and that's all.  i like to call it the party drawer.

underneath, i have a milk crate for filing worksheets (i had our math and handwriting workbooks unbound at staples this year, so i could just pull out the few sheets i needed every day), extra supplies like notebooks and construction paper, and flash cards.  then i have a box of paint because i like to pretend we'll use them someday.  (that 'noodles' can on top is home to my glue gun, for no reason that i can justify.)  then on the bottom shelf is The World's Worst Printer, Which I Hate; the kids' give/save/spend jars; and our various papers.

and that is it.  a book shelf and half a cabinet.  and that's all we need!  easy, not-ugly, not huge, manageably  expensive.  this little minion agrees that that, friends, is a winning combination.

now, off to actually use this stuff.

school's about to get schooled.

yeah, yeah.  it's the first week of august and we're starting school today.  we're total bummers, and that's just an objective fact.  but i really do have a few compelling reasons for starting so early:

1.  i'm trying a six-weeks-on/one-week-off schedule this year to see if i can't have a bit more stick-to-it-iveness when it comes to being disciplined about school.  six weeks is an easier chunk to bite off than twelve, which is how long our terms were last year.  at that rate, starting now will allow us to finish in late may, if we include a few longer breaks around christmas and after the baby comes.

2.  speaking of which, we're expecting to have a newborn show up in our midst in early november, which will leave us reeling, followed closely by thanksgiving, followed closely by christmas, and - blammo - before you know it, it will be january and i'll be all WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!  i'm trying to give myself a bit of a cushion for that.

3.  it's summertime, which means that everyone is getting a little burnt out on the lack of structure, and i'm just trying to avoid an incident where one of the kids eats another of the kids (which is likely, the way they've been fighting constantly), and i just go, 'well, at least that's one less to bathe.'  because we're getting really close to that point.  so let's just kill it before it dies and start school already.

so, all that being said, we're starting today, whether you approve of it or not.  so i thought i'd take this week on the blog to give you a glimpse into our homeschool space, our curriculum, and anything else school-related that comes to mind.  sound good?  okay!  see you in class tomorrow!

'what's up' weekly.

this week we mostly hung around at home, since it's the second week of potty training laur, and while she's doing really well (only one accident since monday!), it's better to let things really get locked down before risking going in public or for long car rides.

on a whim, penelope made finneas a batman costume out of paper.  they were both pretty stoked about it.

these two frequently have a difficult time getting along, so it was so nice to see some fun and unity happening between them.

i spent much of the week checking some decorating projects off the list.  todd helped me hang our new buffalo skull in the living room (after it had spent a couple weeks airing out in the garage as it had smelled pretty... dead.  it smells better now).

he also helped me hang these giant V's he found for me a while back.

 

but the biggest decorating accomplishments happened in our bedroom - i worked on styling the bookshelf, i got some plants and decor, i unpacked and got our new bedspread put on, and i hung part of my 'jewelry collection' (which consists, as i found out while hanging said 'collection,' of exactly eleven necklaces and some earrings.  i'm not really a jewelry girl, apparently.)

i will eventually install a second, lower hanger on which my two pairs of earrings can live.

once i get everything finished in there, i'll show you more, but i still have a ways to go - a full length mirror, a rug, and a nightstand, as well as some wall art, are all on the still-to-get list.

most of all this week, i spent time getting prepared for our school year to start next week.  i went school supply shopping on sunday.  (to be blunt, it sucked my will to live - generally, i hate shopping of any kind, especially when the fruits of my labors don't result in a prettier home or a fuller stomach, plus there were fully rabid kids and completely ambivalent parents in the dead center of nearly every school supply aisle.  side note, as a parent of young kids, i totally get that children act like creatures more often than they act like adults, so i have patience when babies cry and preschoolers run and kids play 'marco polo' at the top of their voices while they're standing right next to each other, but there at least needs to be a modicum of parental effort to reign that stuff in while in public.  please, yall.  don't gab away with your friends while your ten-year-old kids lay on and lick the floor of the walmart.)  i got most of what we needed, although i have some handicrafts supplies to pick up at hobby lobby, and a few odds and ends from staples, so i'll be making that run tomorrow morning - please pray for me.

in preparation for the school year, we also spent time continuing to train finneas for 'blanket time' (up to 45 minutes of quiet time on a designated blanket with a set of toys reserved specifically for this purpose - i pulled out the train set one day, the plastic farm animals another day, some magnetic letters and a truck to scoop them with on another day).  he loves it, and frequently requests to be allowed to continue playing after his timer goes off, but i'm learning to make 'kill it before it dies' a household mantra.  just kill it before it dies.

i also started training laurelai for similar time in a pack and play with some toys (though we've only worked up to about 25 minutes at a time for her), but she's less inclined to jump on that love train than finneas has been.  she spends her time screaming and throwing toys until the pack and play is empty.  oh well.  she'll learn to love it, or at least tolerate it, at some point.  

i'm hoping that keeping the little kids occupied and contained for at least small amounts of time will help things go more smoothly this year than last, without having to resort to constant netflix for them during school time.  fingers crossed!

and lastly, in people-growing news, i'm 27 weeks along.

and in related people-growing news, i grew all these miscreants as well.

see y'all next week!

the black hills: day six.

on day six of our trip to the black hills, we laid low and spent some great quality time at home with todd's parents.

the day started with laurelai getting her head stuck in the banister.  close up, it seems like a pretty pathetic sight.

but zoomed out, i'm sure you can agree the situation becomes a whole lot funnier when you realize she's merely part of a gallery of mounted heads.  it was pure performance art.

we headed outside, and the miraculous happened again:  laurelai fell asleep in todd's arms.  as a family who does sleep scheduling from the time the kiddos are just a few months old, we rarely end up with kids napping at rando times or in rando places, so this is incredibly anomalous for the van voorst offspring.  how sweet is it?!

later, the kids played ladder ball.  it was all fun and games for Photographer Todd until he got hit where it counts.  (beaned in the beans?  took the balls to the... too many jokes.  you get the idea.)  i guess he had it coming, especially since atticus was playing with his eye patch on, which is a clear sports handicap.  there were no more ladder ball photos after that.

we came inside and todd took some not-as-full-contact photos.  reading books about national monuments proved a pretty safe pasttime to photograph.

and for dinner, todd's parents took us to this little joint, where we got to eat $5 half-pound burgers under the loving gaze of about a billion mounted heads.  we left stuffed and feeling like we understood a little better what celebrities feel like most of the time.  ('i am just trying to enjoy my meal like a regular person!  why am i constantly being watched?! stop looking at me - i just want to live a normal life!')

after dinner, we came home and put laurelai to bed, then todd and i, the big kids, and todd's mom all snuggled in for some popcorn and a viewing of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in the theater room.  a perfect end to a really relaxing, enjoyable day!