Dawn to Dusk

... And when I wake in the morning, you are still with me. Psalm 139:18

...They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow faint. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

 

..."I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." John 8:12

It is God's privilege to conceal things and the king's privilege to discover them.         Proverbs 25:8

In the same way, wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, you will have a bright future, and your hopes will not be cut short. Proverbs 24:14

The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. Genesis 2:15

My goal is that they be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God's secret plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.                                                                 
 Colossians 2:2-3

Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged... Proverbs 17:6

All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step...                  1 Corinthians 9:25-26

The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8

Through each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. Psalm 42:8

Melanie

In The Room Where it Happens

Hi. I'm Pepper. That's me starring in my first selfie. I live with my family of human folks who always keep pretty busy. They do this thing called homeschooling. It must be some sort of obedience school, but it looks way more fun than that. I used to think that human people had to go somewhere in order to get an education. I was wrong. My humans find things to learn about all over our home - basically, inside and out. 




Today, I decided to follow my youngest human around and pay attention to what she does and where she does it. (Being a dog can get rather boring, so I try to keep things interesting.) 






She started the day pretty early. My momma human is kind of a kook about getting outside first thing in the morning. I love it too. So many bushes to smell and telephone poles to... Well, she rolled out of bed, slipped on her shoes, and away we went.












Our neighborhood classroom is amazing. Lately we've been finding milkweed full of Monarch caterpillars and gorgeous wildflowers including my momma human's favorite, Queen Anne's Lace. My sister humans take this time to reconnect after a night's rest and before any misunderstandings arise. (That actually does happen now and then.) 😉









When we get home, the back porch becomes the school room. This little human has become quite the expert on Monarch butterflies. 








She even has the big sister human playing with the caterpillars. That's quite a feat for this insect phobic youngster. 

Finally it's breakfast time. Aww... bacon. I hang around her chair at every meal. She spills and I clean up. What a team. My momma human loves this about me. I even enjoy listening along to her audio books. Right now we're listening to The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit. But my favorite is A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter. Now there's a beautiful story. 




Most day she gets busy right after breakfast. The piano usually gets her day rolling. Unfortunately, this is often when mother nature calls me. Breakfast scraps can do that to me. Sorry about that detour...





I've observed that this little humanoid loves to work independently. She started something new to her this year; some type of class outside of our home called Essentials. Charts, charts, and more charts. My paws get tired just watching her.

She has a great work space that fits her perfectly. I can't see what's on the top of the desk, but I know that she has gobs of shelf space to store all kinds of things. Let's see... there's books, string, posters, pens, watercolors, gum, Star Wars stickers, yarn, piggy bank, origami... a little bit of everything exactly like she likes it; messily organized. I think about this part of the house as "The Room Where it Happens" thanks to countless hours listening to Hamilton: The Musical. My humans are nuts about that music.

Sometimes she scoots over to the living room and does a lesson from a self-paced history course. She loves this independence and always has something to teach our momma afterwards.
































I make sure to be around when there's a science project going on. Exploding balloons was the theme for this one. Actually, I think she was trying to make a model of the solar system. I'm not too sure how accurate she was, but she had lots of fun. We had balloons scattered on our floors for days.


















My tail starts wagging when she bolts outside for what my momma human calls "rope swing therapy". What's the point of staying home if you don't enjoy the benefits of your own backyard? And I'm out there always ready to play. What could be better?








As I said before, she loves to be left alone to her own studies. That works out well since my momma human also studies all day long (and sometimes well into the night.) I don't get it. At her age, what else could she possibly want to learn?











Tomorrow my humans will be gone all day somewhere called CC. I don't know where or what that is but they are all busy getting ready for it and extremely happy and tired when they get home. (Especially my momma human.) Even though I don't like being left alone all day, I do enjoy watching the little human practice her presentation. She has really come a long way since she started doing this thing several years ago. 








My favorite time has come at last. PJ's on, lights out, flashlight on = snuggle time. I love my life as a dog. Everyday is another day to look forward to.



Happy snoring, 
Pepper 🐾
P.S. Be careful where you leave your phone.

About That Basket...

It's Saturday morning and I'm evaluating our past week. It was good, in fact very good. But one thing keeps nagging me and that is... we don't have a Morning Basket (as I sarcastically stated in a previous blogpost.)

But I feel left out. Am I doing our homeschool a disfavor? I often go back and read about one of my favorite blogger's basket. Sigh... Why can't I get this awesome morning time basket thing together?

Now, after a couple of cups of coffee I realize that I've been comparing again, a debilitating habit of mine that I hate to admit. The real deal is that we do have a Morning Basket; it's just different. It's unique to us; it's what we need and what we treasure. 

I'm a morning freak and a running fanatic. I get up around 5:00 a.m., drink a cup of Joe, read a little, chat with hubby, and then head out the door. I'm plugged into either an audiobook (I recently finished Hamilton by Ron Chernow) or a podcast. My favorites are The Thomas Jefferson Hour and Hardcore History.




I get back home at 7:45 and do it again but differently. This time Grace, Mary, and Pepper tag along. By 8:00 we are all up and out, waking up together as we talk about all sorts of things.

For example, this week we...

• Discussed Kepler's Three Laws of Planetary Motion.
• Laughed about how Pepper's tail sticks straight up and looks like an exclamation mark.
• Listened to Grace practice her monologs for a theater audition that happened on Friday. (FYI. She aced it.)
• Learned about St. Augustine as Mary shared the knowledge gained from her Veritas Press self-paced history course.
• Listed all the songs from Alexander Hamilton in their correct order. (We're slightly obsessed.)
• Talked about ways for us to reach out to and prayed for a struggling family that we know.
• Took pictures to use for our nature journaling and observed God's amazing creation. 

• Talked about what Grace heard in Sunday School from her middle school friends about girl fights and how to react to these issues as a child of God.
• Discussed the fate of the Lakota Indians concerning the North Dakota Pipeline crisis and how badly white America has historically treated our Native Americans. 
• Pointed out how the use of ambiguous and vague words can lead to verbal disagreements.
• Teared up (well I did) as I shared my favorite Bible verse: "And when I wake up, You are still with me." Psalm 139:18

We need this time to reconnect before our school day begins and I love taking this time to pull together what we're learning and make it relevant to our lives. 

So our basket may not fit into what would be considered a typical Morning Time routine but it works for us and that's all that matters.

In the words of Dr. Seuss, "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

Melanie