Collage Friday - Try Not To Destroy Their Imagination
Friday, June 14, 2013 at 5:00AM 
It's been an exciting and boring week all at the same time!
For me, I've been working on the 5 Days of Music Appreciation and also the launch of SQUILT Volume 1. It's been BUSY.
The kids haven't had much on their schedules this week (next week will be very busy for both of them, so I wanted them to lay low this week). I've been so pleased with how they have chosen to spend their time and how relaxed our week actually has been.
I haven't heard "I'm Bored!" once this summer.
Oh, there have been a few times when someone has pouted because they don't have something "to do", but if I ignore them for a few minutes they generally go away and find something to do.
I attribute that to homeschooling. My kids are at home a lot. They have to come up with their own things to do. We don't run around a ton and my husband and I have intentionally set the bar low as far as outside activities go. We're not hermits by any means, but we are definitely less "involved" than lots of other families we know.
How then, have the kids occupied their time? Here goes:
- Lots of batting practice in the garage and back yard (Grant)
- Helping me with dinner guests two nights in the past week (Anna)
- Practicing LOTS of piano by choice (Anna)
- LEGO creations (Grant)
- Repurposing old t-shirts (Anna)
- Reading (both)
- Wii Fit (both)
- Always Ice Cream (Anna)
- Bike rides (both)
- Playing with friends (both)
All of this goes along perfectly with a book I have been reading: 10 Ways To Destroy The Imagination of Your Child.
I HIGHLY recommend this book. It might make you a little angry because it forces us to deal with some painful truths about our society's thoughts on children. Reading it has renewed my desire to just let my children BE without me structuring their time or activities so much.
I think our society has gotten so "noisy" that it is a GIFT we can give our children to have time for NOTHING.
Time without television, video games, hand held devices, and other distractions is a necessity if we're going to produce adults that are capable of interacting with others on an emotionally intelligent level.
I'm pretty fired up about this topic this week, so I think it's time to move on!
Date Night
We love our children, but we also love time away from them. It gives us a chance to talk about adult things and reconnect.
Now that Anna is old enough to babysit we can go on date nights more often.
This week we tried a new restaurant that was WONDERFUL. I had shrimp and grits - and for dessert we shared a Guinness Cake. Oh.my.goodness.
I love my husband so much - and this cake comes in a close second! ha!
The Gift of Hospitality
Anna loves it when we have company to dinner.
Our pastor came to spend the evening with us and Anna made him a belated birthday cake (she had to make our family's favorite birthday cake for him) and made sure we had place cards and a beautiful dining room.
We played the funniest card game ever after dinner and had a really good time.
I love her heart for hospitality. She gets that from my mother, who lovingly lets her help prepare special dinners and projects every time we visit them in Florida.
I must admit - hospitality is not my gift, but I'm getting there.
What Grant Has Been Up To
Every now and then Grant loves to organize his LEGOS.
He has one organizer that he mostly works from and he vowed to organize it even further this week. It took him a couple of hours, and then he was creating up a storm.
He hasn't been so excited about reading lately. I did find, however, a new baseball series and he is LOVING them. The Ballpark Mysteries are just a bit under his reading level, so they don't take a lot of work for him to read. He finished the first two in the series this week, so I need to get him some more!
We enjoyed a lunch out together one day while Anna was with a friend. I love spending individual time with my children because they are completely different than they are with their sibling. Do you know what I mean?
Grant has logged each and every step he has taken this week. If you have a kid that's obsessed with numbers, a pedometer is a good thing!
The 5 Days of Music Appreciation
This was a fun week for me on the blog.
I got to write about my favorite subject: music.
I also was able to launch SQUILT: Music Appreciation Made Simple. If you don't know about this curriculum, you can just visit the new website to find out more.
It has been a dream of mine for many years to write music curriculum for children. It is my hope that this simple to teach music appreciation curriculum will bless many families. I am hard at work on Volume 2: Classical Composers.
Links to the other days in the series include:
Day 1: Teaching Music Appreciation in Your Homeschool
Day 2: Listen to Music That Tells A Story: Maestro Classics Giveaway
Day 3: Lapbooking and Music Appreciation with Homeschool in the Woods
Day 4: Cultivating a Child's Heart for Music
That's it! Next week will be quiet here, as I have one child on a mission trip and another child at baseball day camp. My husband and I are spending a day together and the rest of the week I am making it a vacation for myself.
Come back next Friday, however, because I will have a post ready.
I hope you link up your weekly photo collage post! Please remember to include photo collages. Also, link back to this post or include the Collage Friday button (in my sidebar) in your post. Once you have signed the linky, please visit others on the list to gain ideas and offer encouragement. I love the Collage Friday community! (I reserve the right to delete any links that don't comply with the guidelines.)
Reader Comments (16)
That does sound like a good - challenging - book! What an amazing week for you - congrats on the launch of SQUILT plus your 5 day series. Wow. And I love, love summer for the lack of structure. We have our afternoon quiet time as our anchor. And, like you, sometimes we have new discoveries simply because we were truly enjoying. And oh, we look forward to date nights too - that restaurant looks amazing! Thanks for encouraging, for hosting!
Thank you for sharing another week at the Prather home! My goal today: sign up for music camp and buy your SQUILT! Great job, friend!
So proud of you with your labor of Love - SQUILT! Looks like a fab week and so happy grant found a passion for these books! Enjoy the week! Love ya
Adding to my summer reading list!
I've heard of the book before and totally agree with what you say about the need to minimise the use of TV, etc. Thank you for sharing your insights. I think I'll have to read the book now. :-)
That book looks very interesting. I am going to put it on my list!
Date night looks great, too! I hope there was some good beer sampling as well ;-)
I will link up tomorrow. I already started my post, but we have some stuff going on today that I want to include! I think I am going to start making the end of the week post a Saturday thing so I can include what we do Friday.
What a wonderful week! THe cake looks excellent! Have a wonderful rest next week. I have one in camp next week too.
Blessings, Dawn
It looks like a lovely week. I'll be linking up a post tomorrow hopefully but right now I'm getting kids ready for 'family day' at Joseph's Cub Scout Day Camp. He's been going all week and today we get to join him for lunch and fun.
Mary
Thanks for hosting! I love comign over to link up and I hope my psots are suitable this week....that they're collage-y enough.:)
Your post is awesome...so newsy and such great pics.
Your family is wonderful.
God bless
I know what you mean how the kids act differently when you spend true one on one time with them! Jeremiah was born into being the sibling of a special needs sister and all that goes along with cancer treatments. When we took him out for his 2nd birthday alone we were astonished at how much of a little old man he really was. I am really looking forward to starting our Squilt Volume 1- I didn't realize just how little I really knew about music! Your lessons make it fun and easy for moms like me! Thanks, Mary! Does Anna have any experience with T shirt cutting? I think this art form is fascinating. It reminds me of paper cutting! Have a great week off!
Totally agree with homeschooling helping kids learn not to be bored. Looking forward to using the SQUILT book soon!
--Gena
TOTALLY agree about getting rid of TV and "screens" for some part of EVERY DAY and not filling their days with EVERYTHING. I used to be the homeschooling Mom that signed her kids up for ANYTHING, but after a few years I realized how exhausted we were, physically and mentally. Being BORED is NOT a bad thing! It's a time when we - even adults - can be more productive, more creative, more interactive. But I try to balance it - computer ARE the future (IMO).
IDK, but I think Anna's cake thumps the Guinness one! :wink:
A no "I'm bored" week sounds awesome. In fact, I didn't hear much of that myself. :)
ENJOY your week off- you deserve it!
Also, I cannot tell you how excited I am about using your SQUILT curriculum with my kiddos this next school year! It is excellent!!!
I love this week! And, you know how important play is to me! So, I must get my hands on this book!
Anna certainly is growing up. I can't imagine what it will be like when Caraline is old enough to babysit for us-- or I wonder if she'll ever be able to since all three are so close in age?? And, Grant so into numbers and Lego. I wonder often what that young man will do with his life (I think of different jobs requiring complex math computations!)!
I love seeing you guys have dates more often! It's so important. Hal looks happy and content in the picture =)
AND, a big THANK YOU for writing SQUILT!! We've almost completed a full lesson and it has been such a joy!! You've done an amazing job!! Thank you, Thank you!!
Hi Mary, I am loving reading about your week. I too think kids need time to do "nothing"
I'm excited to learn more about Squilt.