She doesn't like colouring in but she does have confidence!

Rebekah has NEVER liked colouring in (or coloring if you are from the US) sheets or books! She actually doesn't like it, she loathes it!
So, last week for our art study I printed off a free colouring page for "The starry night" by Van Gogh so we could attempt to copy his painting. I suggested painting as I know she doesn't like colouring in. She didn't like the sound of painting and I could understand her difficulty as I could see it would end up with colours all over the page:) So SHE suggested we colour it in! Miracle!
I've never encouraged her to try colouring in and just gone along with her dislike because I don't really see much point to it other than it keeping her busy for sometime. I know there are some views out there for and against colouring sheets and I chose to go with the against idea (in our home) because I know it doesn't lend itself to too much creativity. Am I getting controversial? :) I would hate to become controversial on my blog:) Anyway....back to last week, she did actually colour in her sheet, it took her two days to complete but I thought it didn't turn out too bad for someone that doesnt' like it:





















Last Sunday at church, she was given some activity sheets to fill out, some colouring in sheets and one to fill out some details about herself. No guess for which ones she went for! :) Now, I have to preface this by saying that I have never taught her spelling in a formal way as I am following Charlotte Mason's philosophy of copywork for now and dictation and spelling will come later over the next couple of years. So, she asked me for help with spelling a couple of the bigger words she wanted to fill in about herself but other than those she spelled the rest by herself. Not bad spelling I thought! That night after she went to bed, I got it out to show Ron and we both chuckled! Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks right! Well, all I could see was 'confidence' as I read it with Ron. I don't really remember being so confident of myself when I was her age. Needless to say I am thankful to God for what He is doing in her life! Here it is below, what do you all think? I won't mind if you chuckle:)



















It reads:

My name is Rebekah. I have mummy, daddy hair and brown eyes. My nose is cool and nice. My skin is light and it feels soft. My ears are sensitive and nice.
I like to wear pertty clothes. Today I am wearing top, pants. My black pants are cool. My shoes are blue and sparkly. My socks are black and white and they smell like perfume. I on the other hand smell like me. If you listen my voice sounds happy and funny. My favourite thing about myself is my generosity. It is nice and fun.
Thanks for getting to know me. Here is a picture I drew of myself. I am fantastic.

Belated Happy Mothers day!

I hope all my mum friends out there had a special day on Sunday. Happy belated Mothers day!

I was talking to Ron last night about our parenting and some of the choices we've made as a family so I can stay home and home school Rebekah. It's easy when one is in the midst of difficult and trying times whether that be financial, physical, or just the monotony of the daily routines especially when kids are young, to not keep one's focus on the future and long term goals isn't it!

We were talking about all the overseas holidays we had before we had Rebekah, etc etc. Yet, I wouldn't trade what I do now for that life! I know that each and every day the choices and decisions we make in parenting Rebekah are having an eternal consequence.

So....this morning, I read this poem on one of the forums I belong to and thought I'd pass it on to all you mums out there. Hope it encourages you as much as it did me!

The legacy

She could not give her children gold,
So she gave them faith to have and hold.
She could not give them royal birth .
A name renowned throughout the earth,
But she gave them seeds and a garden spot
And shade trees when the sun was hot.

She could not give a silver spoon
Or servants waiting night and noon.
She gave them love and a listening ear
And told them God was always near.

She could not give them ocean trips
Aboard majestic sailing ships,
But she gave them books and a quiet time,
Adventures found in prose and rhyme.

She could not give them worldly things
But what she gave was fit for kings,
For with her faith and books and sod
She made each child aware of God.

Alice Leedy Mason

Meet our newest and not so new family members

Rebekah has been wanting gold fish for some time now. The fact that her good friends Ava and Nate have them might have had something to do with it:)
So, always wanting to use situations to teach her the value of money we told her to use her own pocket money to get a little tank for them. She wisely shopped around and found one that was good value. The next step was the actual fish! She didn't have quite enough money for it so she decided to get some 'free' fish from a local pond. (She didn't care that they were not actually 'gold fish' at that stage. You can't beat free, can you!)
So Easter Saturday she spent 'fishing' with Daddy at a local pond and managed to get six small little fish.
Unfortunately that night we had a little accident which ended up in me killing the fish(I knocked them accidentally and the jar fell out of her hand with fish on the ground, oops!) We tried to salvage them to no effect.
So, mummy decided to buy her some gold fish and here they are. Meet Goldie and Sunshine:





















They are an addition to two guinea pigs we have named Peekface (and NOT 'Pigface' as some have thought:)) (daughter of Claire) whom we have had since birth (about 18 months ago) and Emily who we got last year. (They were both named by Rebekah as were her gold fish).

Rebekah has been faithfully feeding her fish each morning and night and is hoping they live for 20 years (as she read that apparently!)

Emily our guinea pig turned one in the last few weeks and we celebrated her birthday recently with a 'salad' cake made of grass, lettuce, broccoli, carrots and dandelions, yum!

This special day was celebrated recently with her afore mentioned friends when they came over for a play date and they all sang "Feliz Cumplianos" (happy birthday in Spanish) including Ava who had to learn the words that morning. Nate who is a bit younger just sang along with 'squeak squeak' to the tune of happy birthday, it was all very cute as you can imagine!