Saturday School: The Park (Field Trip)

November 8, 2008

Two Saturdays ago while papa was busy working, Princess P and I decided to take our Saturday school outdoors! It was a beautiful fall day and we just couldn’t resist the calling of the outdoors.

First, please excuse my photography; I only had my trusty cell phone camera available.

Ok…now on with the lesson!

Luckily, we don’t live too far from the train that takes us directly downtown. After a brisk walk, we made it to the station and purchased our tickets that you see P holding.



Silently we enjoyed the short ride through our medical center. Paris spent most of our ride peering through the window.

Finally reaching our destination, we stared at the dusty road ahead to the park.

Lessons of nature were easily inspired from our surroundings. Princess P hugs a tree as she describes the colors she knows and examines the texture.


Next, she feels the difference between the texture of grass and gravel; she also pays attention to the colors.

Under the leaves of a big tree, we studied the differences in contrast of brightness and temperature between light and shade.

First shade, then light.

A break to play!

Interesting enough, some of the toddler playground equipment had shapes built into it. This was really neat to discover. So, let’s review our shapes!

Another tool I used to review her numbers 1-10 was the hopscotch pattern cemented in the pavement.

I would call out a number and Princess P would have to go and stand on that number. It was a really fun review for her!

Now, off to the animals. I had to have something to pry her away from the playground, so what’s better than feeding the ducks?!? As a bonus, there were otters there too! Princess kept calling them rats…too cute!

Before our grand departure, I couldn’t resist taking Princess P on a ride on the newly remodeled toy train. It gives a tour of the entire park (which is huge) and is a great way too cool down after all of that walking! They also conveniently advertise train whistles at the ticket booth… had to get one! I guess the lesson here could be imitating sounds; this sound: the choo-choo train. Whew, whew!!!

We’re getting ready to enter a tunnel. This really helped me build on our previous lesson of light/shade.

Then, our ride took us across the bridge over the beautiful lake. How pretty!


Freemommie and Princess P had so much fun learning!

A Sobering Truth...

It's been a while since I've had moment to blog, but this subject is all to real for me to not blog about it.

Apparently, just from this blog community alone, there are a lot of women blessed to have a husband that is able to act as the sole provider. Some of those same husbands probably never saw it going any other way than how it is now.

Unfortunately though for some of us, that type of partner is just a mirage.

Now, don't get me wrong, my husband would love to be able to pay the majority of the bills. I'm finding that a lot of men really have a true fear of being the sole provider; what is that about?

Before, as some of you may read, I was planning to be nurse for part-time and my husband was fully on board with me homeschooling Paris and then going to work in the evening; I struck the perfect balance of housewife and working mother. Last night, upon leaving my class @ 8:30 p.m. and heading to grocery store to pick a few items out for dinner, I realized that my heart truly is at being home full-time. Let's face it, housework and homeschooling are two full-time jobs themselves. So I was talking to myself and I thought, if I can't stand to be away @ night for 2-2 1/2 hours, what will I do when I work a 8, 10, or 12 hour shift?

So, after some deep reflection in the parking lot, I entered the store to find our quick dinner solution. Oh, there's that feeling again! Why am I here @ 9:00 p.m. trying to find a quick dinner solution for my family? Who's really getting neglected in my pursuit of the "perfect balance"?

So, later that night I thought to bring up the subject with my husband. I was so excited to reveal my "a ha!" moment to him. Surprisingly, he was not in agreement with my theory. He felt as though I was just too inconsistent (which I can be sometimes) and that I was actually being selfish, because I know there's no way he can take care of all the bills himself. Wow!

Prior to my transformation in Christ, I was eager to get into school and accomplish my own personal goals, you know, the ones I set pre-marriage & baby? So, for the past year I have been trying to sort-of dilute my original dreams to seem more "well-rounded". Well, in trying to explain that to him I saw a huge line being drawn in between us. For the first time, I saw that my husband was scared and really was not sure if he was too confident in his ability to be the "man of the house"; He wasn't to sure if he could make my new dream life a reality.

The funny thing about this though is that I didn't know it was just my dream.

Praying for some wisdom....

I'm too excited...

This always happens to me around the holidays, but there's so many things I am busking to do.

1) Learn to knit

2) Learn to maintain a garden- ok, not just flowers, but also food. I would like for our garden to be the source of at least 50% of what we eat, which would mean we'd have a mostly veggie diet. Also, I'd eventually like to help my church launch a community garden in which we do like a weekly farmer's market or something...

3) Learn to sew- I feel horrible that I can't

4) Learn to bake (real cakes, not Duncan Hines...though nothing's wrong with that every once in a while!)


These are just some of the things I think would be cool to learn and also help me mature in my virtuous process, as I call it...the process of becoming the woman God ordained for me to be according to His word.

Wish me luck! :)