So my girls are not the eggheads I’m speaking of–this time. This week marks the three week countdown to the end of our first year of homeschooling and this week is our vegetable unit. It seems kind of silly to me to mark out time to talk about and do these activities for this part of our curriculum. You see, we’ve planted several things from seed already and talk almost daily about vegetables and nutrients, and of course God’s provision and creation of such delicious and amazing things. The more I do homeschooling, the more I realize that most learning at this point is done conversationally–by answering questions and just being there to explain the world around us. The work we do will be mostly redundant this week, but we’ll push ahead and do the work so we teach the girls about finishing strong.

One fun activity we decided to start last week in preparation for our veggie unit was to make eggheads. Basically you just boil an egg, cut of the top and carefully take out the egg white and  yolk. Then you stuff the empty shell with cotton balls, sprinkle the top with mustard seeds (which we just happened to have in the pantry) and keep the cotton balls moist. Oh, and don’t forget the most important part–to draw a face on your egghead. We did this last Tuesday and by Thursday the seeds had already sprouted and today they are at least an inch high! Not only has this been so much fun for us but it will be a great illustration and conversation starter in discussing having faith like a mustard seed. Anywho, check out our “eggheads”.

“So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20

Our dear friends in Virginia that we are visiting have three boys. Caleb is turning 7 next month, Isaac is 5, and Micah is 3. If you could harness all the energy in this house for just an hour, you could probably power a mall for a day. So, it’s been interesting being around these three boys–and noticing the differences between them and our girls. I thought I would do my favorite thing and make a list. I really want a boy, a son, but I realize that I need to appreciate what I do have. So here is my list of what it means to have girls.

1. When I separate my laundry into piles, I have two loads of just pinks.

2. I can kiss their boo-boos without worrying about making them into sissies. They’re girls–they’re supposed to be sissies.

3. I get to pick out or sew pretty dresses for them.

4. Pigtails. Nuff’ said.

5. Princess talk abounds, even in walks through the woods.

6. The likelihood of broken bones is less.

7. I get to plan two weddings. I kid, I kid.

8. Ballerina twirls.

9. They want to make things look pretty.

10. I understand them. Mostly.

11. We outnumber Zac, so when it comes to voting on things I can usually get them to side with me.

12. They rarely walk; skipping is their mode of transportation.

My girls already take up most of my time, and now they have infiltrated my crafting time. Any spare time that I have had when my girls have been sleeping has been spent on putting their likeness onto a pillow cover one loving stitch at a time (while watching the Canadians dominate the Olympics). It’s taken a while since I had to first condense their cuteness into a sketch, then transfer that sketch onto fabric, and then choose colors. I think I may have discovered my favorite past time! Anyways, check it out:

I just love it when my girls help themselves to paper and sit down to draw. Besides the victory of containing a tornado of messy activity for a few mintues, the art is often stupendous. Really, I love it. Check out this latest piece Sophia produced this week.

This week we have been learning about zebra’s in our homeschooling unit. Now, we have studied the heck out of Zebra’s and she knows that their stripes are black and white, but she started out making a baby–whose stripes are obviously brown. That baby became the Mommy, and the new baby is lying in the grass. This in itself is a stellar piece of art, I think, but my favorite part is on the back.

Apparently another zebra snuck onto the back of her sheet of paper and stole a marker to sign Sophia’s name. Notice the string that his holding him up tied ever so carefully in a bow, and the marker in his front hoof. I just love how her not so little mind works.