The Man in the Middle

Timothy Goeglein was a member of my former church in Fort Wayne. He worked in the White House for President George W. Bush. We were so sad to hear about his plagiarism and resignation. We trusted in God, but were worried for him and his family when he resigned his job.  He has written a book that gives an insider's view of Bush's time in the White House. The book is called The Man in the Middle. Here's a video by Mr. Goeglein. He is now the vice president of External Relations for Focus on the Family.
I preordered my copy today. When are you going to order yours?

HT: Rev. Joel Brondos

Postings about our homeschool schedule should continue tomorrow.

Agnus Dei Lutheran Academy 2011-2012 Daily Schedule Part 1

The Mama asked me to list what we are doing for school and I thought I would do list it by our schedule. Feel free to leave a comment with questions if you want more explanation. It will take me a few days to post our entire day.

Ram and I spent some time planning "religion" for this year. We wanted the entire day organized of prayer and devotion time in our house. We decided to make the morning time where we work on "teaching" Bible story and memory work. Lunch time will be our family time to pray together and for the Lambs to begin learning Liturgy (Matins/Vespers/etc.). We shortened some of what we used to do at bedtime and put it at lunch time where no one is too tired to participate. I'll be honest that it is taking several days for the Lambs to adjust to this new schedule and they complain about it basically because it is not what we've done before. I'm hopeful that our new system will work after we get used to it. I'm also hopeful that this new way will work when we add in all school subjects again too. Part of the reason for this new schedule is if we get busy and miss one of the times (morning, lunch, or bedtime), they will still get two times of devotions in daily.

Lamb 1- 7.5 years old, second grade
Lamb 2- 5 years old, kindergarten
Lamb 3- 3 years old, preschool

8-8:30am Ewe read (personal time)/Lambs play

8:30-9 Invocation/Luther's Morning Prayer/Bible Verse (verse of the week from Sunday School)/Poem (Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization by Andrew Pudewa)/Calendar (Lambs write down weather daily and holidays-family birthdays etc.)/Breakfast/Get Dressed

9-9:30 Bible Story (CPH posters)/ Hymn (practice hymn that we will be singing in church each week)/ Catechism (CPH Sing the Faith CD)/ Latin (Prima Latina and Song School Latin)/ Geography Song (Geography Songs by Larry Troxel)/ Math Song (Math U See CD, also Scholastic Tunes that Teach Multiplication Facts CD)

9:30-10 Math- Lamb 1 has about 20 lessons left to finish in Saxon Math 2, then I want him to work on his math facts for about a month, then (I'm hoping about Thanksgiving time, but we'll see) he will begin Saxon Math 3. After he finishes Saxon Math 3 we are switching but I don't know what to. I don't expect him to finish Saxon Math 3 this school year, but we will see.
Lamb 2 will continue in Math U See Alpha, hopefully finish this school year.

Lamb 3 will listen/sing with us from 8:30-9:30 and be allowed to play while Lamb 1 and 2 do math.

To be continued next time...

Labor Day Weekend

When we talked to our family on the phone they were surprised that we had no plans for Labor Day Weekend. Here's what happened.
Last Monday Ewe had to have a toenail removed. Disgusting story, but doctor was very glad to see the problem was just the toenail, not my toe. I figured I would have to be off my feet for a few days so I prepared for that the week before. The week before I did a ton of yardwork, gardening, cleaning (both garages, clean out cars, clean up basement, etc. in addition to regular cleaning), and canning (pickled beets and pickle relish). This last week I did things I could do sitting down-made photo books, sent photos to Snapfish, worked on going through some boxes of papers etc., paid bills, and got birthday and other cards ready to send. I got the Lambs started going through some of their things (papers and other treasures) and keeping some important to them and pitched the rest. I was doing work this week, but it wasn't the heavy work of the week before. I wasn't bored, but it was definitely a different kind of work. I felt lazy even though I was still working.
The toenail is healing and every day I tried to do a little more. The doctor said I didn't ever need to be off my feet, just to do what my body told me to do. So by this weekend I was ready to do work again. Our garden did half well and I needed to take care of those veggies. I did dishes, laundry, put tomatoes in the freezer, made applesauce and we ate a bunch right away and I froze the rest, put beets in the freezer, and shredded zucchini and put it in the freezer.
Over the long weekend we talked to all of our family on the phone or Skype-my sister, her fiance, Ram's grandma, and both sets of our parents. We grilled out on Labor Day.
I did some planning and made copies to teach Sunday School this fall for Lamb 3 and a little girl his age. I did some planning and made some copies for homeschool. We begin all school subjects today.
Lamb 1 turned 7 1/2 on Labor Day so he picked a dessert for me to make. He chose blueberry pie so I got a couple of bags of the blueberries he helped pick in July out of the freezer. Everyone except Lamb 3 was glad he picked that dessert!
So no, we didn't go anywhere or get together with friends or do any big projects over Labor Day weekend. It was a regular weekend with church, lots of times for the Lambs to play outside in this nice weather, and Ewe to get some work done around the house.

DeSmet, SD Part 3

It was after 6pm and we were getting hot and tired, but we fit in a few more sightseeing sites in DeSmet. On the corner of the Ingalls Homestead there is the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Site. This corner was donated to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in 1957. This is where the 5 cottonwood trees remain from Pa's homestead claim. Laura said during her 1937 visit to DeSmet, "Yes, these are trees my Pa planted".

This is the original Loftus Store. It was closed by the time we got there. It is interesting that it is still there.

Then we went to the DeSmet Cemetery and saw the graves for Carrie Ingalls Swanzey, Mary Ingalls, Infant son of Laura and Almanzo Wilder, Caroline Ingalls (Ma), and Charles Ingalls (Pa). We walked a few more steps to see the graves of Nathan and Grace Ingalls Dow. There are many other people mentioned in the Little House books in the cemetery but we didn't take the time to look for those graves. It is a huge cemetery with some headstones dating back to 1881.

I already blogged about the rest of our day. We drove to Watertown, SD and ended up eating at Culver's and then hurrying to get some shopping done and getting home around 11pm. It was a very full day. We were all glad that we went to the Society museum sites first and the Homestead second and then ended with a little more sightseeing at the end. There was more that we could have done in DeSmet but I think we hit the highlights of the town. I would love to go back again. I am thankful that we did take a day and do as much as possible.

Interruption in DeSmet postings

Sorry to interrupt the DeSmet postings, but I have to announce that my sister is ENGAGED! He's visiting her now so she hasn't posted it on her blog so I have to announce for her.

He surprised her and immediately when he arrived in he town he tried to propose but she said "yes" before he asked. Welcome to life with Hannah, Eric! They hadn't seen each other since January so I expect they will have lots of late nights talking this week. Ram and I had our first chance to talk to Eric on the phone on Friday night. It reminded me of talking to Ram's brother, Tim, after we got engaged. You know a lot about your future brother-in-law, but what do you say when you are on the phone for the first time?

She will finish out her contract teaching English in South Korea in October and if everything goes as planned they will get married in Hawaii, possibly as early as November. There are a lot of details to work out yet.
Our Lambs are thrilled that they will now have an uncle to say "uncle" to.
Hannah, you thought I was so OLD when I got married, but I was still younger than you will be when you get married! We are so happy for you and Eric that you connected after all these years. May the Lord bless your wedding planning and especially your life together as husband and wife.

Desmet, SD Part 2

After we were done with the tour in town, then we headed to The Ingalls Homestead. The sites in town were part of a tour led by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Society. They were a tour where you could look and listen, not touch or try. I am so glad that we went there first and Ewe took the tour by herself. 

The Ingalls Homestead is called Laura's Living Prairie and it was the complete opposite of the sites in town. Our Lambs were a great age to go to this. We had only read the first book (Little House in the Big Woods) so the Lambs were a little confused asking to see sites that were in WI in that book, not sites that were in DeSmet. The tour didn't make much sense to them. Ingalls Homestead encouraged the children to touch everything. We stayed until 6pm and had a great afternoon. We all agreed we were glad we went there second. 

Ingalls Homestead was expensive, our family was $36 with AAA discount and Lamb 3 was free. We all agreed it was worth it.

First we all climbed this tower.

Climbing the tower gave me the first chance in my life to really visualize 160 acres. This photo doesn't show it well, but you can see some of the 160 acres. Yes they had to work hard. Yes they had to pay filing fees. But after 5 years if they met all the requirements they got 160 acres for about $16 of fees. Pa far exceeded the requirements and easily got his land.

This photo was also taken from the tower. The white building was a  museum showing all the places the Ingalls family lived. The only place they lived that was not mentioned in the books was Burr Oak, IA. That was not a happy time in their life when her parents ran a hotel and lived next to a saloon. She only wanted to write books about happy memories for children.
In the back of the photo are 5 cottonwood trees that are what remains of the thousands that Pa planted on the homestead claim. 

I took this photo of the places Laura Ingalls Wilder lived. The numbers are in order where they lived-yes they lived some places twice.

Lamb 1 standing in a hayloft barn like Pa built.

Lamb 2 working hard to pump water-can you see it in the photo coming out of the pipe?

Lamb 1 and 2 in a sleigh-I pictured my Grandma riding to church in this.

We took many photos of the Lambs riding and driving the stagecoach.

We rode a covered wagon that was built for rides at the Ingalls Homestead, much larger than a real covered wagon. 

Each Lamb had a turn to take hold of the reins and drive the horses.
Lamb 3

Lamb 1

Lamb 2 left his hat in the car and was sunburned the next day.

In the driving seat of the wagon

Then there was an old car repair garage with activities for the children. The Lambs each used this machine to make a jump rope and see how they made rope.

The Lambs each used a corn sheller to get the corn off the cob and make a corn cob doll. They were so happy to each have their own doll to name and hold on the way home. Shh... don't tell them only girls are supposed to have dolls. They made a little bed for them the next day out of a shoebox and bandanas for blankets.

They each took a turn to practice grinding wheat.

Lamb 1 practiced playing a pump organ. I couldn't help but contrast that with the pump organ behind a rope that we couldn't touch at the site in town.

Lamb 2 practiced sewing with a machine like Ma was so happy to receive.

The Lambs all helped to wash clothes on a washboard and hang them on the clothesline.

When we first got there the Lambs were timid, but before we left they all took a pony ride.
Lamb 3 had a miniature pony

Lamb 1 has come so far from his fear of animals

Lamb 2

We sat in the pony cart but didn't take a real ride. It reminded me of Winona's Pony Cart (Betsy Tacy).

It was 6pm but we still weren't done in DeSmet. More next time...

DeSmet, SD Part 1

Last Friday we took a one day trip to DeSmet, SD. We ate a fast lunch in Brookings at 10:30am and then headed to DeSmet. Our first stop was the Laura Ingalls Wilder tour. The tour was almost full and we didn't want to wait for the next tour so only Ewe took the tour. That ended up being very wise as the Lambs would not have been able to listen for that long of a tour before wanting to play outside after the long car ride.

Surveyor's House 1879-1880
No photos were allowed inside. Laura felt like they were moving into a mansion when Pa was asked to live here so the railroad workers could go home to their families. They were very fortunate to live here through a long hard winter. This is where the tour guide talked the longest. Did you know only 5% of the Little House on the Prairie TV show is accurate according to the books? The Walnut Grove tour stressed the TV show so I enjoyed the DeSmet tour because it stressed the books. Our tour group had a group of Hutterites (or some Christian group like that by the way they were dressed) so it was very interesting to hear their questions. The women asked questions about baking bread and homemaking and the men asked questions about the tools. I'm not sure the tour guide could answer all their questions, but it was interesting to hear their point of view and they knew the answers to many of the questions by the tour guide because they had read all the books (children too). And the children were very well behaved and interested in the tour.

Lamb 3 is standing in a replica of the Brewster school that Laura taught in first.

The school was very small and Laura was just 16. No wonder why she was anxious for Almanzo to pick her up and take her home for the weekends! It was important for her to "survive" teaching here and help get money to send Mary to Braille school.

DeSmet's First School that Laura and Carrie attended. It was only a school for about 5 years before they built another school. Then it became a house and they recently moved the house here.

Renovation is still in progress and will take a long time. But it was easy to visualize the whole town coming to this school house for school presentations.

Then we drove a few blocks to see the Ingalls home from 1887-1928. No photos were allowed inside. Here the tour guide talked of what happened to Laura's sisters and family. I had read all the Little House books but I didn't know the history of what happened after that. The tour guide also pointed out other sites of interest near this house but we did not go see them. 

It was getting warm and the tour took about an hour and a half, maybe longer as I was listening and not paying attention to time. The Lambs ran around this garden, played on the playground across the street, and went to the Discover Laura Learning Center while I took the tour. Ram was so nice to allow me to go on the tour without the Lambs!

The rest of these photos were in the Learning Center.  They had a little play stove.

Lamb 1 and 2 were the students.

I think Lamb 3 would have a difficult time with discipline as a teacher with a smile like this!

Sorry for the glare on this photo, but the play train set helped visualize the placement of the homestead. The Lincoln Log house was not really in the lake!

Lamb 1 made some papers with split peas that were like Braille. Lamb 2 and 3 didn't have enough patience for this.


Not everything in the Learning Center was historically accurate, but it was a good chance for the Lambs to be allowed to touch and play with things unlike if they would have gone on the tour. I was glad we spent some time there.

Then we went to make a contribution to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Society aka gift shop. The Lambs played with some John Deere tractors and were shocked when we didn't buy that for them. Ewe bought some treats for herself and her goddaughter, sorry Lambs.

Next time I will post activities for what we did after we were at this site. There is so much to do in DeSmet that a day isn't really long enough!