Our New (Old) Home

(I know this isn't a house picture. See bottom of post for explanation.)

Yes, it's true: the Myers have moved yet again. We like to do that every year or so, because we can't get enough of packing and unpacking.

We now occupy yet another old house, full of quirks and charm. Happily, this one is more charm than quirks (which is more than we could say about our 12th St. house, no matter how many good times we had there). Our new home is in the Springfield section of Jacksonville, close to downtown, a designated historic district full of houses built in the early 1900s. The owners we rented ours from spent five years of weekends rennovating, so we're moving into an almost completely redone space, which is a new experience for us after two NY previous homes that required major work just to feel, well, not yucky. We've had some minor projects: the kitchen sink broke the second night we lived here, and Ryan had to move or install some shower curtain bars and towel holders and the like, but the place was clean and freshly painted at our arrival, a major step up for the Myers family.

This house is HUGE by our standards: two stories: four bedrooms, with a sunroom off the master bedroom, plus an office, 2 1/2 baths, large eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, and living room. The kids are glorying in having their own bedrooms - and Mom and Dad are enjoying having our own bedroom, too. As I'm sure you can imagine. (Not that you want to.)

Ryan and I went to Chattanooga a few weekends ago for a Vineyard conference for prospective church planters. We enjoyed Chattanooga, a riverfront city with an active downtown scene. We stayed in the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo, where you can sleep in a choo choo, eat in a choo choo, and choo choo around the hotel grounds in a little trolley. (We did none of the above, sleeping instead in a strange Chinese-themed building with a elevator dolled up to look like a pagoda, and taking the free city shuttle bus around the city in our free time.) We came away from the conference feeling like we could plant a church; what we still don't know is whether we should. For now, we're pretty sure that God is calling us to "dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness." For us, that means reverting to old habits: gathering as many people as possible as often as possible, and having a great time doing it.

It's been a long time since we've had a home large enough for large crowds of people, and we can't wait to fill it up! So come visit us, okay?

Due to technical difficulties with iphoto and our external hard drive, we have no photos of our house to post. So instead, you're getting pictures of Daniel practicing his swordplay. He's about to dress up as a knight for Halloween, hence the plastic weaponry. Sophie is going to be a knight, too. The dollar store rocks.


You're also getting a photo of Sophie on one of her more injury-prone weeks. She scratched her forehead taking her shirt off (I'm not sure how it happened either), then got hit with a ball while she was wearing her glasses in Sunday school. On the upside, she got to hang out with her cousin Lauren at an early birthday celebration. In case you're wondering, Lauren is the non-scabby one of the pair.

Summer Wrap-Up Edition

In July, Sophie went on her very first camping trip, with the kids from church, and came back appropriately filthy. Highlights: s'mores, swimming on the beach, and having a boys vs. girls war, in which either side tried to break into the other's tent. Not only did the girls win (with the help of a couple of turncoat boys), but they had a far superior tent. It had a lock and a fan.


While Soph was out with the big kids, Ryan and Daniel enjoyed "boy time" at Adventure Landing. They ate pizza and played miniature golf. Then Daniel found $20 laying on the floor and treated his dad to the Go Karts.

I don't remember exactly what Mom did while everyone else was busy, but I'm pretty sure whatever it was, it was done inside, with the AC on.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for Ryan's sermon! It went very well, and he continues to get positive feedback from it. The whole experience - from God giving him the message during his devotional time one morning, to the peace and excitement he felt delivering it, to the response from the congregation and the other pastors - really helped reconfirm for Ryan his call to the ministry. After the past year of limbo, he said it felt like reclaiming something he had lost.

At the end of July, the whole family drove up to Asheville, NC for the Vineyard Southeast Region Pastor's retreat, 3 days of worship, mini-seminars, and day camp for the kids. Thanks to a hilly campus, with the kids drop-off point practically up there on Everest, we got reacquainted with muscles we had forgotten existed. (Yes, the South and the suburbs have made us soft. And alliterative.) The kids were happily exhausted by hiking, games, crafts and treats. Daniel especially loved the last night's bbq at a local ranch, with hayrides, horseshoes, fishing and a big bonfire. He wants to go back for his birthday.


On the way back from the conference, we stopped to visit the Ghiradellas, and Ryan spent a whole Saturday in the rain helping Tarik and a neighbor put together a swing set for Izzie. Liz, the kids and I went consignment shopping. I don't know who had more fun, but I do know who looked cuter at the end of the day.


On Sunday, we got to visit Liz and Tarik's church, where Tarik plays drums with the worship team. That, and visiting their fellowship group that evening, brought back fond memories of our ACC days.


In August, Cynthia and her sister Camilia drove up from Orlando for a long weekend and we, being the superior hosts that we are, worked them to the bone. They went for an early morning walk with Sophie and / or Daniel every morning, and taught Ryan to make ginger beer, as well as ginger candy from the leftover root. Cynthia also showed me how to make earrings. Later, Camilia mailed Ryan his very own scotch bonnet pepper plant. He was so proud -- or overcome by the capsaicins -- he nearly cried.

This Monday we officially began homeschooling for the year! Sophie is in 4th grade, Daniel in kindergarten (only because FL law says he MUST enroll in K before 1st Grade, otherwise we'd probably keep things unofficial for another year). We're using a curriculum called Living Books this year: we'll cover the American Civil War, Medieval History, Astronomy, and (gulp) Japanese. As I'm typing this, the kids and Ryan are playing a game that's kind of like "Go Fish," but with Latin and Greek root words written on the cards instead of numbers. To my rather incredulous delight, they are enjoying themselves - and learning vocabulary at the same time. What a concept!

Please keep Ryan in prayer as he begins leading a class at church this month, along with Pastor Mike Townsend. The course is called "Naturally Supernatural," and is about the work of the Holy Spirit in the church today.

Let us know how we can be praying for you! We hope the Lord blesses you all as you head into fall!

Sophie's Bad, Really Awful, Terrible Hair Day

Yup, that's Sophie with the biggest snarl in the history of the universe on her head, the result of standing bent over a gushing sprinkler for twenty minutes at the zoo water park. Amazingly, none of it had to get cut off.



Aunty Tara was with us that day. Doesn't everyone look cool in their shades next to the Mutant Leatherback Turtle?


The zoo has a fairly new exhibit where you can pet and feed the stingrays. The zookeepers keep the rays' barbs clipped (like fingernails!) so they're harmless. What you have to watch out for is their vacuum-suction mouths. Sophie once lost some skin off her finger when she didn't let go of her frozen shrimp piece fast enough, and an overzealous ray sucked her finger against his bony plate.



At the lorakeet exhibit, we bought small cups of nectar and held them out to the birds, which fly down and perch on your arm and sip with their tube-like gray tongues. There are a few aggressive ones that will take the cup right out of your hand. It's also common for them to hop on your shoulder or head and bite your hair.


Ryan's been extremely busy at church lately. He helping to organize a series of classes for newcomers, as well as launching fellowship groups for the summer. Given that helping people connect and running fellowship groups are two of Ryan's favorite things, you can imagine how excited he is these days. He's also scheduled to preach on July 18th, a sermon on John 2. So please keep him in your prayers!

Bonus picture (or not, depending on your point of view):
We're putting this last picture at the end because it might make some folks a little queasy. So if you're one of those folks - don't look! If you're not one of those folks, then it's a fascinating picture.

A flock of wood cranes nest at the zoo, in some trees in the Africa habitat. They're not in captivity, and weren't lured to the site; they just liked what they saw, and settled in. We're not sure what this vulture has in his chops, but we think it might be a baby crane that fell out of its nest. The vulture didn't eat his find, just kept banging it against the ground as though to make sure it was dead.


Just another one of nature's uplifting experiences.

The Frog Prince, the Missing Rib, Mr. T, and Other Modern Fables

It's finally summer here in Jacksonville, after one of the longest winters on record, and a short, allergy-laden spring. We haven't been taking a lot of photos lately, but a few of our adventures are recorded below.

Sophie's History Fair Project
Sophie researched Susan B. Anthony and gathered her information into a display board and a two-minute memorized speech. She looks a lot like Susan B., don't you think?


Funnily enough, Sophie's Wii alter-ego, who predates this project by several years, is also named Susan, and also wears a bun and glasses. We're not sure what that says about Sophie's perception of herself. (But if it says she's not likely to date the football captain in high school, we're okay with that.)

Easter Egg Hunt at Chet's Creek Church
The mega-church across the street from us gave out 20,000 plastic eggs to about 1,000 kids in their annual Easter outreach. We took our neighbors, Eric - the one with the mohawk - and Miggie, and enjoyed the bouncy houses, games, candy, music, and the hot dogs and burgers sold to benefit Haiti.



Sophie and Daniel perform The Frog Prince
After a lot of conflict about Daniel's role - he didn't mind being the frog, but he wanted to be a blind frog - Sophie finally got Daniel to cooperate in her dramatic production. She even got Daniel to give her a kiss on her cheek - you can see him leaning in for it in the photo below. I like to think Sophie picked her green dress on purpose to symbolize the princess' unity with her amphibious groom, but I'm pretty sure she just liked how the dress looked with her tiara.


In Other News . . .
Ryan and the kids traveled to New York last week, while I went to California to stay with my mom after her kidney surgery. Mom had had a difficult few post-ops weeks, but was starting to feel better after having half a liter of fluid removed from around her left lung. She kindly showed me a photo of the surgery taking place, as well as one of the rib she had removed.

I will never eat ribs again.

Ryan and the kids had a less gruesome visit with our NY friends, which included a big birthday barbecue for Darcy that was just like old times. They didn't take a lot of pictures of their trip, but did get a few of Sophie with Isabelle Ghiradella.


What else are the Myers up to these days? Sophie is making a hat for Daniel, using a round knitting loom - just like Grammy! She also defended her desire not to eat broccoli with cheese with the comment, "Mom, it's just like Shakespeare! You know, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet . . . Broccoli with cheese still tastes like broccoli!" (Mom's unimpressed - and perhaps not very relevant - response: "Yes, but a rose with cheese wouldn't smell the same, would it?)

Thanks to his Dad and youtube, Daniel has been walking around muttering "I pity the fool!" and pointing out that "Chuck Norris doesn't blend!" ** It turns out that imparting useless, out of context low-culture knowledge to your offspring is really funny. I think that's a parenting tip for the ages.


**Just a warning: the videos themselves are clean, but some of the viewer comments are not. Don't scroll down if you want to avoid them.

Authorial Intentions

Sophie and Daniel wanted to share their writing with everybody.

First, poems by Sophie:

Sleeping Dragon

Past me you must quickly creep.
Mustn't wake me from my sleep.
If you even turn the page
I will wake up in a rage.

* * *

Bunny

Bunny hops and hops and hops
Cute and cuddly, too.
Too bad it's getting home
Just in time for rabbit stew.

* * *

And now, a story by Daniel:

The Lions and the Cats

Once upon a time there was a kitten named Pert. He went along until he found a big lion. The lion said, "Would you like to play a game?" and so Pert said, "Sure." But then another big lion appeared and said, "What are you guys playing?

"Tag."

So the lion joined in. But then another kitten appeared and her name was Jehovah. And she said, "What are you guys playing?" And they said, "Hide and seek." And then nobody found nobody, and then they finally said, "Boo!" And then, "Aahh!" And then they all said, "Aahh!" because everybody scared everybody.

P.S. The lions were the only ones who didn't say, "Aahh!"

Jehovah was Pert's girlfriend.

THE END

Midterm Report (Homeschooling Thoughts)

This post is mostly for those homeschoolers out there, or those who are thinking of becoming homeschoolers. We are a little past midpoint in our year, and I've done some curriculum shuffling and wanted to share some thoughts about the various books and programs we've been using.

Sonlight Core (History, Geography, World Cultures, Bible)
We use Sonlight for History, Geography, and World Cultures - we also follow their Bible reading schedule, but without any of the supplemental "Bible Facts" reading. Sophie is doing the 1-year World History 1 and 2 track (you can choose to do this over two years instead). What I like about Sonlight is that everything is scheduled for you. All the readings in several different books are broken down into a four or five-day schedule. There is no guesswork for the parent, and the notes are so detailed that no prep time is required. Their history / geo / world cultures reading and activities (map and timeline) are very strong; I especially like the Usborne Book of World History, which is full of information and illustrations, but not overwhelming either visually or content-wise.

Oddly enough, while Sonlight is considered a literature-based curriculum, I don't find that their literature selections are very well integrated. The "read aloud" novels ARE based in different historical time periods, but they don't correlate with the period that you're reading about in the history textbooks, which would seem to make more sense (although I suppose that would be difficult to pull off). Every day, Sophie also reads either an Aesop's Fable, or a selection from "A Child's Garden of Verses." There are minimal parents' notes for the fables, which is all that's necessary, but very little direction in how to help your child understand poetry if that is one of your interests.

Overall, I highly recommend Sonlight's Core. It is, however, an extremely parent-intensive curriculum as you will be reading and / or discussing all the material with your child. (There are no workbooks or written assignments.)

Sonlight Language Arts
The Language Arts program contains a lot of components that we didn't use (phonics, vocabulary, spelling) because we were using other curricula. We did use the reading list of novels and study guide, and the creative expression assignments and notes (copywork, longer writing assignments, both formal and informal, and some grammar).

I disliked this program. The reading list is fine -- although I would say it's inconsistent in terms of grade level -- but (and this holds true for the read-aloud study guides, as well) the study guide questions focus primarily on basic content-level understanding. There is almost no literary analysis. I also discovered that I'm not a big fan of copywork - I know it features heavily in a few different educational theories, but it just seemed pointless to me. Finally, I found their writing assignments and grammar instruction more than a bit random. Although there is some logic as to what specific skills are taught week to week, there doesn't seem to be much correspondence to the writing assignments (for instance, in week 20 the child learns about similes; yet the writing assignment does not require them to use that knowledge.) I also felt that there was little methodology for teaching good writing. I will say that if you are a phonics freak, the obsessively detailed phonics / spelling study guide will send you into raptures.

Singapore Math
We used Singapore Math for both Sophie and Daniel. Sophie tested into Level 2A at the beginning of the year, which is consistent with what the website says about their curriculum being about 1/2 year ahead of what's taught in most public schools. Daniel started with their Kindergarten B book.

This is a great math curriculum. Lots of manipulatives usage; multiple ways of thinking through the same problem; stresses conceptual understanding rather than rote memory of steps. If you didn't learn math this way yourself, the home instructor's guide (Sonlight sells one - it includes answer keys and some extra assignments) is a great resource. There isn't a lot of repetition in the books, so if your child needs reinforcement or memory work, flashcards or the additional word problem books from the publisher would be a good supplement.

Italic Writing (Getty & Dubay)
Italic writing is beautiful - looks a bit like calligraphy - and supposedly very developmentally friendly, with an easier transition from printing to cursive than standard methods. Sophie's printing was one of her weak points, and now she gets compliments on her cursive. Level B, which Daniel is using, focuses on using sight words in simple sentences, so it's easy to use for spelling lessons, too.

Easy Grammar Systems (Grade 3)
So far, so good. We've just started this workbook, and so far I like it. The book starts with prepositions and prepositional phrases and from there adds other parts of speech. Each day's assignment is short and manageable and well-organized.

I've discovered that I like separate grammar instruction, rather than having it integrated into a literature study. I'm not at all a grammar maven - I don't know if we'll ever get to diagramming sentences - but I do think it's important to be able to identify parts of speech. Grammar gives you a language and structure to talk about writing, and I actually wish we'd gotten to it earlier.

English from the Roots Up (Volume I)
My sister-in-law recommended this book. This approach uses Greek and Latin root words to build vocabulary and spelling. We could spend several years on this book, as each root has six or eight derivations and I only have Sophie learn 4. We like this book, but it might be more valuable for older children (the suggested range is grade 4-12) who are more likely to encounter some of these words in their reading. Supposedly this is a great book for boosting SAT scores, but we have a long way to go before we worry about those! I would recommend this series for those who want their kids to have knowledge of Greek and Latin roots, but don't want to bother with learning the complete languages, declinations and all.

Real Science - 4 - Kids (Pre-Level 1 Chemistry)
I found this curriculum online and ran it by Tara for approval (for those who don't know my sister, she has a Master's degree in education and works at the New York Hall of Science). It's written by a homeschooling mom with a science Ph.D. Every level has biology, chemistry and physics, plus accompanying activities. In the upper grades, the curriculum is interdisciplinary, integrating history, philosophy, and language. We just started using these books as well, and so far are enjoying them. The books are visually appealing (we bought the ebooks, which are substantially less expensive than the written texts) and easy to follow. And, our experiment this week features BOTH marshmallows and m&ms. Yum.

Artistic Pursuits (Grades K-3 Book 1)
This book has a variety of activities and uses several different mediums (so far the watercolor pastels are the kids' favorite). It uses full color reproductions of famous art works from different periods in history, as well as student examples, to show different forms and aspects of art (murals, still life; line, mixing colors). We've had fun with this book, and have Sophie and Daniel's art hanging all over our house now. The only thing that's missing is more instruction on technique, but perhaps that's covered in later books.

Institute for Excellence in Writing (Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales: Writing Lessons in Structure and Style, recommended for grades 3-5)
We have used this theme-based workbook for about three weeks, and I have mixed feelings about it. It contains short stories that the student is supposed to outline, then recreate in her own words, using what IEW calls "dress-ups" - "quality adjectives," "strong verbs," and adverbs. My opinion, based on some of the model paragraphs and stories that are in the book, is that these types of words are overused, creating stilted, flowery writing. My preference is for cleaner writing, and for a "show not tell" approach. Many adjectives the book suggests -- evaluative, non-sensory adjectives like "beautiful" or "fascinating" -- "tell" rather than "show." In other words, by themselves, they don't convey an image or other concrete information, just a vague, subjective impression. As for adverbs, I keep thinking of Stephen King's observation that J.K. Rowling never met an adverb she didn't like. He wasn't giving her a compliment. And why aren't students allowed to use "said" or "says" for dialogue attribution? Sometimes (often), a person isn't whispering, shouting, murmuring, exclaiming, ranting, snickering, gloating, hissing, grunting, venturing, querying, stating, or asserting. Sometimes a person just plain has something to say. And we should let him say it.

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant.

I do like that IEW provides concrete, easy to understand steps towards well-organized writing; it seems stronger in "structure" than in "style." Fortunately, we can take what we like and modify the rest.

Our Own Stuff
For additional vocabulary and literature, we are doing are own thing. I asked a few librarian friends to put together a booklist or two, and from them, I'm picking books and writing my own study guides. I'm also having Sophie read through each chapter and pick out words she doesn't know. She tries to discern their meaning from context, and then checks definitions in the dictionary. Then she uses the words in sentences. We spend two days on each chapter: one for vocabulary, and one for literary analysis. This is a slow method, so I may try to pick up the pace as we go along.

So, that's my two cents worth! Happy Homeschooling!

Zoo, Part Deux

Darcy and Cris visited us for two short days last week. We had a day of dispiritingly cold weather, during which the boys went to a shooting gallery (Ah, the South!), and the girls went to Costco and purchased socks. Our friend Chris Trimpe happened to be in town from NY as well, for a conference, so she came along with us. Trust the Myers to show you a good time.

Wednesday was a sunnier day, and we were able to venture outside to the zoo. We rode the train, saw the komodo dragon and the kangaroos, and then were treated to a unique sight: an anteater licking the ears of a capybara, the world's largest rodent, for a good five minutes. The capybara loved it; he lay down on his side, and half-closed his eyes in bliss. I guess if you're essentially an oversized guinea pig, an ear wash is your version of a spa day. I'm not sure what the anteater got out of the arrangement: some tasty ear mites, perhaps?

Komodo Dragon
It was too cold for the real one to come out (seriously).

Can you spot the bat?
(Look at the mesh above and to the right of Darcy's head.)

Zoo, Zoo, Zoom

Zoo . . .
Grammy came to town for Daniel's birthday week! We went to the Jacksonville zoo on a blustery day (you can see Grammy braving the cold in her thick jacket). The kids rode the carousel and oohed and aahed over the baby bonobo.


Zoo . . .
I discovered a deep bond with the colobus monkey. Like me, it has a vivid stripe of white hair on either side of its face. I used to refer to my white streaking as my skunk stripe, but as it's spread from the midline out to the edges, that name is no longer accurate. So it's with great satisfaction that I can now refer to my "colobus stripes" instead. It's not as pleasingly alliterative, but you can't have everything, can you?

two colobus monkeys snuggling (the one on the right has its back to the camera)

Zoom!

Daniel asked for another race track cake (a repeat of his third birthday) for his birthday this year. Even more so than most kids' birthday parties, Daniel's party was a celebration of all things sugary. This is because Daniel, whenever anyone asked what he wanted for his birthday, said very slowly and deliberately, "Candy. I only want candy." To his delight, and our consternation, he got EXACTLY what he asked for. And this is a boy who never sits still anyway. (Today's he's wearing a shirt that says, "Been There, Broke That." How true.)

Sophie's Bake Sale for Haiti

Sophie, who is definitely the entrepreneur in the family, decided that she wanted to raise money for Haiti by having a bake sale. She and her dad approached our condo manager, Bonnie, who okayed a time and place, and put out signs and an email blast to advertise for her.

Sophie used her own money to buy supplies for rice krispie treats, peanut butter and hershey kiss cookies, and pink frosted sugar cookies. She made a sign for her table, and the whole family helped with baking. And on Friday night and Saturday morning, she and her dad set up their table outside the condo office and sold to our fellow residents. Many people stopped by and were very generous in their donations - so generous that she was able to give Pastor Lee an envelope containing 137 dollars!


We are very proud of our little fundraiser! The money she raised will go to the Vineyard Church's relief efforts in partnership with Convoy of Hope and Compassion International (more information on the Vineyard's Mercy Response here: http://www.mercyresponse.com/cgi-bin/kingdomtools/ktpublic.rb).

Fall Days

On Halloween, Sophie dressed up as a Japanese Girl and Daniel as a Japanese Boy. Technically, these were not alternate identities, and were also an omission of half their ethnic makeup, but hey, it's not like dressing like a Caucasian gets you any candy. At least not in the suburbs. Anyway, as long as Sophie got to wear lipstick, she was happy. (Daniel, as you can see, was not. Of course, he wasn't wearing lipstick either.)

Before trick-or-treating, the cousins got together at Grandma and Grandpa's house to make ginormous caramel apples. Because it wasn't like they were going to get enough sugar that day.

For her 8th birthday, Sophie requested her annual Barbie Doll cake. Alas, Rachel Tessier, the professional pastry chef who has traditionally made Sophie's cakes, no longer lives anywhere close to us. So I watched a couple of how-to videos on the internet, whipped up some pink buttercream, and put together my very first plastic 'n' pastry confection. The resultant princess looked a little lopsided and perhaps a little pregnant, but was still quite tasty. Still, after all that effort, I'm pretty sure Sophie had more fun with the box cake she and her cousins decorated themselves, with Duncan Hines frosting and leftover Halloween candy.


Grammy Marilyn came to Jax for Sophie's birthday, and she and the kids enjoyed eating Auntie Annie's pretzels (Grammy's favorite), riding the kiddie train at the mall, and having sleepovers on the futon bed. Grammy also bought the kids warm coats, in anticipation of our Thanksgiving trip to NY. More on that in a future post; I'm trying finish up with 2009 photos, so I can feel briefly virtuous before falling horribly behind in the New Year . . .