Here I am, pulling out as many pinfeathers as I can last minute from the turkey. We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with friends. Getting a whole turkey around here is an unusual thing; last year we had to make do with parts. This was MUCH better. But next time I will allow extra time for plucking those feathers!


Zach was very excited to receive a walkie talkie set for a Chanukah gift. He doesn't quite understand their purpose...he holds them both and talks into one, listening to the other. But he's very happy with it.



And here's Moshe, displaying his very own real microscope. He used it nonstop for about 3 days and hasn't touched it since.

Daily Life at the Goldman's

I've been asked when I'd post something, anything, to the family blog. Well, here it is. New pictures below, and now some actual words, written by me, the Mama of the family.

We've been actually and really homeschooling this year.

I say "actually and really" because last year I was sort of and not really actually homeschooling but more like un-schooling. (Which is, by the way, an actual way of homeschooling in itself, and worthwhile, but not what I was planning on doing). What happened last year was that Moshe started first grade at school, and after 3 months we decided it would be best to pull him out and finish up the year at home. We had always planned on homeschooling, but I was not planning on starting Moshe until this year (after first grade at school), and then adding Eli the following year.

But our planning for the timing was not meant to be.

So, home came Moshe who kept up with reading and a little math but didn't have much structure otherwise. He LOVES to read and learn on his own, so this was not a problem...except that he was bored. Although our library is decently sized, it was not enough for him. So, he was really REALLY looking forward to this year, when Eli would join him and we would do "actual" homeschooling.

And so we have been. And this is what it's like:

They start the morning with Math. They each have a workbook (Horizons), 2nd grade for Moshe and 1st grade for Eli. After Zach goes to school, they do their lesson, mostly independently with help from me if they don't understand something. After they finish, they have a little free time/playing with Yoni and Chanah while I do laundry/cleanup breakfast stuff.

Then we all head outside for a walk or across the street to the park, with our reading books with us. The weather has been beautiful, so I've been trying to have us do our reading aloud outside instead of on the couch....and so we read: mostly history/geography/cultures, etc. This year we focus on the first half of world history; so far we've been reading from different sources about the ancient civilizations. Right now we're on the Egyptians. The boys were fascinated to learn the story of King Tut. We also read about many animals of different areas of the world.

Then we come home for lunch. After that, the boys work on handwriting/phonics/spelling or science (classifying animals) and then have some more free time if there's any available before Zach comes home from school.

Once the little 3 are down for naps, the big guys have silent reading time (with some assigned reading, and then reading by choice) and then quiet play/working together on a joint project. Often Moshe will read aloud to Eli.

This is my computer/sanity/quiet time. Much needed. Sometimes, toward the end of it, I'll do some mending in the living room with the boys (they sew buttons, etc. I'd really like to get some embroidery hoops for them...). And then they'll have up to 20 mins each of computer time while I get dinner started.

I've found some great websites with educational games for kids; if you're interested in the links I'll be glad to post them. Just leave a comment and let me know.

Then the dinner rush starts.....I wake the napping ones, make dinner, we eat dinner, and Chaim gets them ready for bed while I clean up.

If I'm on the ball I get it all done by the time they go to bed. But not usually. Sigh.

And that's a day in the life of the Homeschooling Goldmans.

Eli and Chanah
The whole family out together...a rarity. We went to a wedding and had a fabulous time!
Chanah practicing her walking with the help of big brother Yoni
Chaim and the Thanksgiving turkey

Chanah at One Year

Assigned Dinner Helper-Works For Me

"I don't know about you, but the hours between 4:30 and 6:30 are really tough for me. Really tough. Naptime is over, snacks are dealt, and The Dinner Preparation Begins.

I'm feeling a grroannn just thinking about it."

This is the start of a blog post I just did on FamilyNatural. Please click here to visit that blog and read the whole thing. It includes a cute picture of my big boy Zach cutting up veggies for a salad!

Mother's Day Picture

I woke up to this. Thank you to my beautiful children for making me a Mommy. Happy Mother's Day to all out there!

Menu Plan Monday-May 3

You've probably noticed that I haven't been posting much lately, and when I do, it's just a few pictures thrown there without any commentary about our goings on. That was not what I had intended or would like to do with this blog; it's supposed to be for our families and friends to see us and also to see what we're up to. Obviously I don't have much time. But, I do work on the computer on various things, a little at a time.

One of my main projects is my other blog, FamilyNatural.com There I write health-related articles and parenting/family tips, with a health slant.

I recently decided to begin posting our weekly menu plan. It occurred to me that you who love and miss us and like to know what we're up to might be interested in our weekly menu, as well as some of the other things I post there. I'll start posting links here when I add something there that might be of interest to you.

Click here to see what we'll be eating this week.

Grandma's 95th Birthday

My Grandma Flo turned 95 years old the other day. She is amazing and I was super sad to miss the festivities. Watch this and you'll understand why.

Independence Day Picnic 2010

Chanah Bella 6 Months

Our baby girl is six months old! We took these photos on her 6 month "birthday" in the bassinet that belonged to Chaim's mother, Carol (Chanah). Her eyes are very blue, her cheeks are chubby, and her thighs are soooo squishy. She's fantastic.
I'll post the video as soon as I can figure out how to upload it. It's not working right for some reason.

Technology. Sigh.

Technical Difficulties

It's been a long time. I've had technical difficulties.

First, my camera was dropped and damaged. It took quite a while to get it back, during which time I had only the older camera to use. This camera worked fine, but the software to download it was not the right version on my computer. So I delayed, hoping to get the other one back.

Then.....Water. On my computer. It died. I haven't gotten it fixed yet (if it's possible; I don't know). Luckily, I still have this older laptop, which seems to work (though it has lots of issues like a non working disc drive, making showing videos not possible). With the older laptop, the older camera was able to sync up fine.

I got my camera back, yay! I was just getting ready to start posting again.

Then....we lost our wireless internet in the house. It just stopped working. And Chaim was furiously preparing for an important business thingy (that's the official term, I swear ) and really couldn't spare the time to mess with it and also didn't want to do anything that might mess up the internet he did have--hard wired in his office. Now, it's fixed.

So, here I am. I'm back online, and will be catching up through pictures as I can. Unfortunately, this older laptop seems to not like Skype too much, so I don't know if I can talk much to you all, but we can certainly keep in touch through text. If you don't have Skype yet, get it!

making a chocolate cake

Bath time!

Chanah 4 months