Three Sons

The other day I sent the boys out to play.  When you're a mother of three sons you almost need a house the size of a castle and just as immovable, to not go insane from all the wrestling, chasing, horse play, and destruction that happens every single day.  Here's a saying I spotted last year in a book called The Mother's Almanac.

There must be a special place in heaven for mothers of three sons. You certainly can tell them on earth.  They’re those ladies with amused, bemused faces and an amazing tolerance for disaster – for they have learned that shouting doesn’t help.

No other combination of children, not even twins, can create so much chaos or camaraderie.  Even the most introspective child will join the team – them against you – and like all good players, they encourage each other to bigger feats of daring.

We recommend the advice of so many successful mothers of three boys. Give them as much outdoor playtime as possible, and indoors, set up two rooms: one for sleeping, with nothing but beds and bureaus, and the other for playing, with much climbing equipment.  With three children, one is bound to be quieter than the others and he probably will need a corner somewhere else.

You will be frazzled in the early years but when your boys grow up, we think you’ll find yourself perhaps more treasured than most other mothers.

On days when little Asher causes chaos, making lessons hard to teach, I take a deep breath and remind myself that these chaotic moments are just that––moments, and then they are over.  After crying to high heaven and making it impossible for the other two boys to hear me read to them, Asher sits quietly by himself, paging through a Christmas book. Peace on earth.

In our Bible lessons we've begun the Life of Jesus.  We're reading about the three Wise Men and the gifts they bring baby Jesus.  While I read the story and then played and discussed the lyrics to the carol We Three Kings, the boys made three bowls out of play dough.  The first for gold (represented with round balls), the second for Frankincense (represented with baby powder) and the third for Myrrh (represented with scented lotion).

After, we sat down and looked at Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi.  Botticelli painted people that he himself knew into his scenes.  I asked Abishai who he would choose to put in if he were painting this picture.  Abishai named a gentleman from our old neighbourhood and some of his family and friends.

We did some reading on Hippopotamuses.  We read some fun poetry, and watched a film based on a true story about an orphaned baby hippo who lost his family in the 2004 Kenya tsunami.  We learned the relationship between hippos and turtles and saw some wonderful pictures of hippo life under water. Of course we had to sing I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.

We switched our curriculum from Story of the World back to Five In A Row and started "rowing" Volume 3.  Story of the World is a great curriculum, but it wasn't for Abishai at this time in his life.  He just wasn't enjoying it, which made me not enjoy it.  I will try it again once he is older and more able to appreciate it.  Since we started rowing FIAR again, Abishiai has shown more interest in schooling, Micaiah has joined in on the fun and I've come to life again with the excitement of all the fascinating subjects we get to explore.

Our first book from Vol.3 that we rowed.

Micaiah, "lover of animals" got right in there and started drawing his own beehive picture on his own initiative.

While Abishai worked on math, Asher stacked pattern blocks.

 Micaiah playing with hexagon pattern blocks.

This is Micaiah's hexagon/bee comb picture.  On the right is his beehive with the orange honey flowing out of it.  The top middle is a flower where the bees get their nectar.  The bottom middle is a bee and the left is honey making its way to the bee hive.

Some of the bee books we read.