our dozen beautiful feet

"Talk often, but never long: in that case, if you do not please, at least you are sure not to tire your hearers.  Tell stories very seldom, and absolutely never but where they are very apt and very short.  Omit every circumstance that is not material, and beware of digressions.  To have frequent recourse to narrative betrays a great want of imagination.  Never hold anybody by the button, or the hand, in order to be heard out; for if people are not willing to hear you, you had much better hold your tongue than them.  Avoid as much as you can, in mixed companies, argumentative conversations. But if the conversation grows warm and noisy, endeavor to put an end to it, by some genteel levity or joke.   Above all things, and upon all occasions, avoid speaking of yourself, if it be possible.  Such is the natural pride and vanity of our hearts that it perpetually breaks out, even in people of the best parts.   Alway slook people in the fa...

We had a fantastic week this week!  We're getting into the early years of American history.  We've been studying the thirteen colonies, how they each were started, and unique thigns in their histories.  Mom has learned a lot! :)  This week, we focused on Pennsylvania and it's founder, William Penn. We also started reading The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh this week.  It's been a fun book, especially for Kiryn.  I have a Memoria Press Lit. Guide that goes with it, so we've just been working through the questions out loud together after each chapter.  It's been a lot of fun! We get to read such great books with Tapestry each week!  Levi and Meryn have to stay entertained somehow.... Luke is such a big helper...  Kiryn is loving this book! One of our activities this week was to plant a garden like colonialists.  Since we don't have a yard, we improvised...   We planted sunflowers, morning gl...

This is what my kitchen table looks like every Sunday afternoon as I plan meals, grocery lists and school for the week!  Here's to a great week at House of Preedy!

I know we all have them from time to time. The kind of days that make us wish we had a different life. Fewer kids. An easier existence.  I''m being brutally honest here. It's been a not-so-very-good-week.  I feel like I can't quite do anything well.  The kids are constant.  "Mom, I need water. Mom, I need help with math. Mom, I'm hungry. Can we go outside? Can I play the Wii? Can we go to McDonalds?"  And then Meryn is just screaming.  Always screaming.  Because she's happy.  Because she's frustrated.  Because she is tired, or hungry, or for any other number of unknown reasons. Sometimes, it's all just too much.  The kids are up before my alarm goes off most days.  I really have NO idea when they get up, because I'm usually up by 6:15 or 6:30.  So from the moment my feet hit the floor until about 9 or 9:30 at night, it's kid time.  I never have enough patience.  I never have enough creativity.  I'm constantly ...

Since we returned to South Asia in February, we have been blessed to have Bimla living with us and helping me around the house.  She has the sweetest spirit.  She loves the kids.  She's a fantastic cook.  She helps.  She serves.  With joy.  She is a gift from the Lord.  I don't know what I would do without her. God has been so good to me.  She has such a pure, kind heart.  She senses what I need and just does it. When Meryn is screaming and being demanding and I'm trying to teach, Bimla swoops in and picks her up and goes off to play, dropping whatever she was doing before.  When it's time for lunch, she never asks me, "What should I make today?" She simply goes in the kitchen and figures something out with what we have, because she can tell I'm already overloaded with interruptions and we're trying to finish math. When she has something on her mind or heart, she talks to me.  We have the greatest conversations.  A fe...

A little over a year ago, a girl named Hannah was helping us out with homeschooling and just generally doing life with us here in India.  (Has it really been a year?? We miss you, Hannah!) I was going through a very difficult season in my life with our adoption process, and it was taking a stressful toll on me.  Hannah could see this.  She very kindly offered to teach me to crochet, saying that it might help me take my mind off things. I'd always wanted to learn to make some of the cute things I'd seen on pinterest, but had never had the time, or a hook.  Hannah gave me a few quick lessons, and a hook, and I was off.  We even managed to explore and find a yarn store here in India, that had crochet hooks too! I started pinning patterns like crazy of things I wanted to become skilled enough to make. I thought I was dreaming, especially when my first "blanket" to make came out horribly misshapen. : )  But, I persevered, and it has turned into a g...

I don't even know where to start.  My attempts at blogging our whole school year have gone astray.  I always imagined that homeschooling in America would be so much easier, so much better.  The libraries!  The co-ops! Hobby Lobby! Okay, so Hobby Lobby was pretty great.  But for Tapestry, I got way off track while in the US.  We were moving all over the place, and it was all I could do to keep up with math and grammar, let along projects, buying supplies... I did register at a library in a couple of different cities, but in order to get the books I needed for Tapestry, it was 10-14 day wait for inter-library loan.  So I ended up just buying it all, and then we got behind.... yada yada yada.... So it was not any easier, nor was it more fun or better in the states.  Now that we are back in India, we are back on track.  So I will not even attempt to blog about Unit 2 of this year, except to say, we did it. (barely) We started back to schoo...