History is Alive :: Well, I want it to be...maybe in 2013

#4 demonstrating that possibly my first history project wasn't as well thought out as it should have been.

If you think blogging has taken a hit this year, ask #3 what he thinks of history. Every time I bring everyone together telling them we are going to have a history lesson #3 asks if it is a project history lesson.

Oh, I've disappointed him in this area over and over this year so far.

The other years I had a much better handle on activities to go with our history lessons. I'd say I was hitting about once a week with a recipe or small project and even some big projects that gave us a tangible aspect to the book reading, map coloring and narrations we do.

I've been trying to figure out what the difference was/is... What made me pull out the glue or the clay or the strange ingredients?

Fried plantains from our African feast dinner.

The baby? I thought of that...but #5 was this age when we started homeschooling in the first place and with two naps a day and a pretty easy going attitude right now, I don't think she's to blame.

The two-year-old? That's a good guess...and probably closer to the answer. He's so busy. He's so distructive. He's so demanding of all the attention and difficult to distract. But he also takes a nap everyday and timing history for nap time is easy, so I don't think that's it exactly.

Planning...ding, ding, ding!

History planning and knitting...always a good pair.

The past years I've gone through the book prior to school starting and make an overview plan including projects I want to do and supplies I will need to get.

I didn't do that planning this year. I will admit that the planning process is fun and I've liked that part. Then school starts and we start to get behind in my "plans" and I'm trying to re-figure what we're going to do. So this year I thought I'd skip the planning part and would just "go with the flow". Apparently I don't "go with the flow" very well.

But I think I can come up with a compromise. I'm thinking I should just do a broad, overview plan for just a couple of months. That way I'm not behind before I start. But I've got to get a plan in place and figure out some fun activities or history won't be alive in the school of Wiedz...I'll be having a 6 year old who refuses any history lessons!

**This year we are using The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 3: Early Modern Times and the accompanying activity book. I have really enjoyed the Story of the World series and even though I'd love to move to a more unit study approach to history I want #2 and #3 to have a complete round of narrations and pictures and maps and experiences from this method. Next year we will complete the four-year round and after that I'll move to a unit study approach for #2's second round through the four-year cycle.

This year we are going to spend the month of February going a little more in depth to the revolutionary war. We get to it in the SOTW3 but I want to take a little while to really enjoy it. I've got big plans to make this a fun as I can...I'll try to keep you posted!

:: Yarn Along ::

Reading and knitting are two of my favorite things...I also really enjoy "yarning along" with Ginny.

On the needles :: I'm working on a sweater vest for #5. I was so excited to finish the front and block both pieces so I could do the neckband and armbands...but I suck at picking up stitches. I tried, but it was wrong and looked terrible. I got some beautiful bulky yellow yarn for Christmas and found a scarf pattern right away to cast on (ravelry notes here). I love both the yarn and the pattern but somehow together they are not working too well. I'll continue on but I can only do a couple rows at a sitting before I'm not feeling the knitting mojo anymore.

On the nightstand :: I've got a lot going on with my reading right now...we made a trip to the library the other day and I paid up all our fees including our yearly "non-resident" fee (I was the largest transaction the kid had rang up). My mother-in-law had come with us so I was even able to go upstairs to the grown up section. I found two historical novels that looked interesting. But right now I am digging through One Thousand Gifts. It is a beautiful book. There's really a lot to it and I'm enjoying the thinking my brain does with what I read even days after I read it.

What are you reading? Making? Share in the comments and head over to Ginny's to link up!

Handmade Christmas :: a new hat for Mr. Wiedz's

You probably don't remember Mr. Wiedz's hat I made with leftover yarn from deciding on his sweater (ravelry note here). It was a plain but nice hat. And he loved it. And Miss H., our wonderful babysitter, who does more laundry here a week than I do washed and dried his 100% wool hat...it now fits #5 nicely. So Mr. Wiedz has been dropping hints.

"I need a new hat..."

"My "other" hat isn't the same (and really he's right about that...one of the first hats I made was for him with Red Heart yarn. Acrylic yarn just isn't the same after you've worn and worked with nice wool yarn.)..."

"#1 has the best hat in the family..."

So I picked up some really nice chunky super-wash wool during my quick yarn store visit in November and knit up this hat quickly (love chunky wool...love size 10 needles) during times Mr. Wiedz was not around.

I found a pattern on ravelry that had cables but was still masculine and I think it turned out just right! Mr. Wiedz loves it too.

Handmade Christmas :: jammies

I hope I can post about the handmade I got done this year...there isn't too much. For as little as there was handmade this year there are even fewer pictures of what was done so we'll see if I can even post about it.

One thing that I almost crossed off the list and almost gave up on were the Christmas Eve jammies. I have given the kids new jammies on Christmas Eve since #1 was a year old but the past four or so years I have made the pants each year (here is last year's post, inside that are links for other years). And each year they are a little comically large or too tight...can't seem to get them just right. But this year there was just so much on my list and a little baby and the sickies and a new fabric store that I had heard had all sorts of crazy long lines...

But I did make it to the store. The lines weren't TOO bad, I was able to run there while Mr. Wiedz came home for lunch one day.

And I decided that this year there was no need for the pants to be a surprise, after all I make them every year so they know what they're getting.

Last year my mom had to help me with waistbands because I had made my rises too short. She made contrasting waistbands and sewed them onto the top of the pants similarly to how I do the cuffs on the bottom. I decided to start that way and I'm so glad I did. Probably saved the pants!!! No seams!!! I was able to cut out and sew all six pairs in one day and add elastic the next evening.

Done! And adorable.

*I am notoriously late in getting shirts to go with the jammies each year. Actually last year I didn't even get shirts and they just wore whatever they were wearing that day to bed and the next morning. This year I got a great deal at the Children's Place's cyber Monday sale and got all the kids new shirts. They didn't match or "go with" the jammies but everyone loves their shirts and they all looked so cute.

Oh wow! Fall. It's been a tough one.

Remember how Mr. Wiedz called the beginning of my pregnancy with #6 "the fog"? That's a little bit like I feel looking back at the fall. We had a lot of changes and I think it has taken me awhile to find my stride. But I think we/I are finding our way.

And here we are on the edge of a new year.

I love new years...it's like a new school year to me. All fresh; clean paper, sharpened pencils, untested schedules and blank calendar pages. Combine that with my newly found stride and we may be ready for this new year!

So, here's to a new year...a new chance to get into the stride. A new year full of grace in the midst of the crazy.

:: 9 Months ::

Of course it's almost been a month since I took this adorable picture of my 9 month old baby girl. That also means it's almost been a month since she was 9 months old...how can it possibly be that she's getting so big! Right before her 9th month she started pulling herself up. She had gotten to a standing position on our {unused} fireplace but I came home from work one afternoon and the babysitter shared that she'd done it holding onto the couch! We were all so surprised! Of course she has since learned how to cruise along the couch and between furniture. And the all-important getting back to the ground. She even bends over now to pick things up. And she pulls up on ANYTHING now that she's figured out this trick. She's also clapping now which is ADORABLE!!! She finally outgrew the 6month clothes and like most of my babies seems content to skip the 9 month size and go directly to the 12 month.

Who knows...maybe her 10th month post will get up before she's nearly a year old.

:: Yarn Along ::

Oh, it has been so long!

But, not looking behind...forward only!

Yarning Along again with Ginny...here's what my pile is looking like.

On the needles :: I've pulled Mr. Wiedz's sweater out and am going to get motivated to work on it again...Mr. Wiedz says it's all he wants for Christmas. Since that isn't going to happen I'm not moving too quickly. All these other, faster, knits are jumping ahead in line. Unfortnuately, I've made a major first-sweater mistake and didn't buy all the yarn at once for the sweater. Of course at the time I was starting this project I only had the money for the two skeins I bought, but now that I've gone back to the yarn store for more yarn I see that the dye lots do matter (look at how much yellow there is in that new skein...that's pretty true color thanks to my Stella Lamp) and now Mr. Wiedz will have a two-tone sweater. I'm trying to get over it. We'll see if I ever let him wear it...

I'm also starting on my small list of handmades for Christmas. I'm working on the milanese loop for the babysitter using this yarn in pewter.

I pinned this idea from pinterest for crocheted bowls and balls that I'm going to do for #6 for Christmas. I found half the yarn at the local craft store and I'm ordering the other three colors so I can have a bright rainbow.

On the nightstand :: I've finally gotten my turn with The Mark of Athena now that #1 is finished. I just don't have the reading time that I used to so I'm going super slow even though it is a great book. The boys and I are reading Foundlings aloud (somewhat reluctantly on some parts) and #2 and I are very into it.