The Homeschool Choir

We had our homeschool Showcase on Tuesday evening. The church hall was filled with exhibits of work by the children, and Emily and Timothy had a table where they showed some of their history and science pages and some artwork. Upstairs, in the sanctuary we had about an hour and a half program with children playing musical instruments, singing, dancing, reciting and giving speeches. Part of the program was the homeschool choir singing their two pieces. They did a great job!

We had 19 children in our choir aged 4 - 12. Many of the children had worked at home and had done a fantastic job memorizing the words of the pieces, and they did what we had rehearsed - e.g. looked at me, ennunciated, etc. I was very pleased! We will likely do a couple more performances, and then stop for the summer, but there seems to be enough interest that we will have to start up a choir again in September. Here we are in action!

Steaming Compost

Spring is really here! We are putting the snow boots and shovels, etc. away! The spring jackets are on the coat rack, and rain boots out on the mat. And a couple of days ago, when I took out the compost early in the morning (before any children were stirring) I saw steam rising from the compost heap! All gardeners rejoice!

Maple Marshwiggles

We had a trip to the sugarbush recently. Although it was too cold to see sap in the buckets, we did see sap ice - which was fun to poke with your mitten if you were a small person. It was Pip's first meaningful visit to the sugarbush! I think he enjoyed it! After we walked on a trail admiring the sap buckets, and then the hoses, we saw how early pioneers and native people would have made maple syrup from the sap.
We also enjoyed pancakes with maple syrup, and baked beans with syrup. Granny wore a special hat so she would look good in the pictures, so I have to show you it. Pip seemed to like it too:

Marshwiggles on Ice

We have finished our skating. We had a great time over 9 weeks, and the older two children progressed from complete novices to being able to skate independently. We took Pip on the ice sometimes in a stroller, and Ben also tried out skating, but he didn't like it as well. Being able to push Pip in the stroller helped keep one's balance! In this picture you see a train, with a friend, Rachel, on the end.

The Family that Plays Together...

More music!

We were responsible for the music at church for the evening service on Sunday. Usually David plays guitar, and leads the singing and I play piano, and that's what we did, but we also added Emily on tambourine! Three of the songs were zippy and were really enhanced by a tambourine - she did a great job! It's not the first time she's done it for us, and she's really getting good at it! What a blessing to be able to minister together as a family. Now we just have to get those boys playing too!

In Good Voice

We had 14 children here today - plus mothers and younger siblings, for our first homeschool choir practice! We had to add more chairs to our set up in the schoolroom - a very good problem to have! I also know of 7 more children who weren't able to make it today but are planning to come to the other practices.

We are learning the Easter Song by Keith Green, and Christ Arose by Robert Lowry, a popular Easter hymn. I certainly had a fun time, and Emmi did too, so I hope the rest of the children did. What joy it is to combine something that is so much fun, and brings glory and honour to Christ as well!

A Musical House

David just came down from practicing his trombone, and wondered if he was too loud. Seeing as I can hear the mighty snores of Pip through the monitor - I didn't think so. Besides, I like to hear him practicing. To me, a house is enriched if there is the sound of live music in it - even (as he put it) badly played scales played over and over. It is so neat that Emmi and Tim are playing some piano, and even Ben and Pip like to sit up on the bench and make some sounds!

This is one reason I am excited about one of our newest ventures - a homeschool choir! It is something that has been in our mind a while, but a upcoming homeschool Showcase with NHEA really got the ball rolling. We will prepare one or two songs for the Showcase, and then maybe sing them elsewhere if there is interest. Initially I thought that I might expect around 10-12 children, especially if I pleaded with my friends to send them, but I am having a good response, and am now wondering if we can fit them all into our house! One homeschooled girl will be our pianist, which is also very neat.

Stay tuned for more notes on the subject! (Pun very much intended.)

Niagara Falls!

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit this weekend. We took a trip to Niagara Falls! First we visited the greenhouse where there were live turtles (very exciting!) and lots of spring flowers - made you feel we were a couple of months ahead of where we are.
Then we were reminded winter isn't over yet when we went outside again and visited the Falls! A fun trip!

Out of the Woods

We are all pretty well out of the woods! Praise the Lord! We have resumed our regularly scheduled activities - and menus! I am so thankful for running water and our washing machine - it did some good work for us this past weekend. The family is still a little tired on the whole, so we are still mending at some level. This is not an uncommon sight: