letters – Nancy Tart: Writing for Life

A Peek At Textbooks: Autumn 2022

October 19, 2022

Our textbooks are usually a medley of what works best.

This year Christina and Becky have college books only. Christina still digs into our American Government high school textbook this semester because it “makes it easy to understand” as she’s taking a law course.

Kimberly is officially 10^th grade. She has A Beka Book (consumer finance) and Teaching Textbooks (geometry) for arithmetic, Apologia Science, Literature Coursework from A Beka Book, a typing and writing class that uses A Beka Book Grammar & Composition as a textbook requiring paragraphs or essays on daily science and history work, and A Beka Book as her main history text. She’s already done geometry previously, but this is a new way of looking at it that helps her understand it better. Our educational philosophy is totally for repeating subject matter that allows for better understanding.

Jaquline is officially 7^th grade. Her textbooks include: A Beka Book Arithmetic 6 (yes, this is completing a repeat; she has done both the 5^th and 6^th grade books twice), A Beka Book Creative Writing, A Beka Book Language C, Apologia Science, Military History of the United States (it’s an children’s encyclopedia set and they write a report after each letter study), A Beka Book History Coursework, and Money Management Skills (a middle-school version of “Personal Finance” that incorporates their personal savings account, teaches them to set goals, observation of household finances, budgeting, etc.). Her textbooks are officially scattered grade levels from 6^th to 8^th and she reads books voraciously – her reading level is far higher than her scholastic level is supposed to be.

Jillian is officially 5^th grade. She is almost done with A Beka Book’s Basic Mathematics (rebranded a couple years ago as “Intermediate Mathematics” but we bought one textbook for each of the girls on our second order so we could use the same tests; Lucas and Thea will have the new book unless I can snag an unused Basic Mathematics edition) and will move into Pre-Algebra with either or both Teaching Textbooks and A Beka Book next month, she just completed A Beka Book’s Investigating God’s World last week and started Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology and Health for the Glory of God (because her goal now is Sports Medicine or Physical Therapy), History is reading and writing reports on biographies of U.S. Presidents along with Bauer’s The Story of the World, A Beka’s Book’s Language C, A Beka Book’s Cursive Writing Skillbook (that one gets repeated until they master cursive writing), Business and Money Management Skills (in addition to our normal course, Jillian has started a business with her friends and that has been incorporated into our regular coursework on finances), and she is studying art mechanics, various mediums, and art history. Jillian’s textbooks range from 3^rd grade to 8^th grade depending on subject.

Lucas is officially 2^nd grade. His textbooks are any book he wants to read at the moment, A Beka Book’s Handbook For Reading, A Beka Book’s Writing With Phonics, A Beka Book’s Arithmetic 1, Practical Money Math, A Beka Book’s Language 1, A Beka Book’s Letters and Sounds 1, Life of Fred Fractions, Life of Fred Decimals, Phonics and Language 2, and his Manuscript Writing Tablet which makes for amazing work-on-the-go. I have him copy stuff wherever he is and try to read it. My Daddy used to have be copy my favorite dinosaur books when I was learning to write. Lucas is still what I consider a “pre-reader” (meaning when he does “read” it is choppy and he gets frustrated with not remembering the first part of the sentence). I tend to not move into more complicated textbooks until my student is a fluid reader. Lucas understands Mathematical concepts very well but gets frustrated very easily with words. He thinks math. Once he sees the patterns in English letters, he’ll be a fluid reader.

Theadora thinks she’s in school. She does WGV Gymnastics Gym-N-Learn on Fridays (it happens Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, but she only listens on Fridays right now) and calls that “my real school.” She is obsessed with writing “T”s lately. She can write T and t in cursive and “like Coach Michelle” (that means very beautiful manuscript like calligraphy because she heard me mention once about how beautiful Coach Michelle’s handwriting is – Thea calls it “coloring letters”). Thea has to have a “school book” because the others do. It’s in her “school box,” because everyone else has a school box. Hers is a writing textbook with three lines and occasional letters along it. Grandma Tina gave her a color-by-number book and a numbers workbook which she calls “her school books” too. I don’t do anything formal with her yet.

Just a tiny peek at what we have this semester. We just move from one book to another as they complete the first (like from Language 1 to Phonics and Language 2) and repeat some books or portions of books occasionally. I want them to understand it is perfectly okay to go back and reread something to better understand a subject. (Have you ever had to go back and look up a grammar rule or algebraic formula?) Learning is our family lifestyle. Textbooks are tools to reach the next step.

Thank you for reading,

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

February 22, 2019

The Story of Baby Thea

If you’ve been following my blog, you know I was growing my seventh little angel.

Today, I get to write the story of her arrival!

On February 19^th, a beautiful Tuesday morning, my day started normally. During my 32 minute drive to work, the Baby started thinking there was not enough room and my body did the stretching contractions (Braxton-Hicks) that is very normal for me in the last month or two before birth. I didn’t think much of it, really. After my boss left for appointments, one of my office companions, Lily, a beautiful brown and white pittie belonging to my boss, started laying at my feet and wouldn’t let me go anywhere without her! This was a bit of a warning to me because Sheba (my Aussie mix) always does this to me when I’m in active labor. I left at one (normal time) to get to Christina and then my midwife appointment.

Christina had been babysitting, finished some errands at the college so she would be ready for the summer semester, caught the bus to 207 (the road I take into town), and was waiting for me. Along the way, my midwife texted to reschedule the appointment to Thursday and I laughed during my voice-text because I was very tired and that worked great for me. I added, “or when Baby is ready,” as a joke because my babies have all come on or after the due date. Everyone had been rooting for a February birth since the official “due date” was February 24^th, and except for Lucas, my wee ones were between 9 and 13 days “overdue” so I usually ignored the due date and just gave a general month (in this case, I’d been saying March).

I got Christina, teased her about driving (she’s recently received her learner’s permit), and we headed home. Sheba was acting odd, I was starving; Louis had made lasagna Monday so I ate a huge plate and took a short nap.

When I got to gym with Becky (her class is on Tuesday, the others are all Wednesday), the contractions were still there, but, like I said, that is normal for me. It had been happening off and on already for about a week and a half, so I just went about work because they were easy to ignore. Some friends and I chatted about babies as I was leaving, and someone said, “you know about your body by now, right?” I laughed, “each is different, but I’m still thinking March.”

Wow, was I wrong.

As Becky texted Christina and Louis to tell them we were off & headed to pick up Christina at CAP, Becky said, “Mom, I can’t drive us home, but if the baby keeps contracting like that, maybe Christina can.”

We laughed. Part of the driving restrictions on a learner’s permit forbid night driving for the first few months; but we always teased Christina that she’d have to drive home in the dark if I was in labor.

Home, I was starved, but my belly felt full after four strawberries. I took a shower and crashed. I kept waking up every couple hours, but I’m a light sleeper so that’s also normal. Each time, though, I noticed contractions. I’d check my phone just to see what time it was. Midnight. 1:40. 2:30. 3:50. At almost 4, I realized I was sweating and I decided to wait for fifteen minutes (so the water softener cycle was finished) and take a shower. The next glance at my watch showed 4:19. I took a shower and the first contraction after the water hit was very strong. I felt movement inside me. “Wow, you sure you’re ready?” I asked. I was sure that was just a fluke and usually the warm water calms contractions down. When the next two made my legs feel like jelly, I got out of the shower and crawled back into bed. The phone said 4:35. I wasn’t about to wake anyone or call Misti for three oddly strong contractions.

I tried to sleep. I had about two hours before I had to get ready for work.

At somewhere before 6am, I tried getting ready for work. I had to stop and breathe through contractions that were easy to time and I felt the baby moving slowly down inside of me. I was about to wake Louis but ended up stretching through a contraction. We have a mind link, I think. Louis woke up as I was stretching. He goes into mega cleaning and question mode. This is his serious mode. He has been through it enough to know we were going to have a baby this morning – or at least today. He told me to call Misti, he woke the kids up to help clean (normally, we clean before bed, but they had been in a non-cleaning mood the previous night), and directed the house with efficiency. I was restless, so kept walking around in between. Christina and Becky didn’t want to get out of bed. I went into the barracks to find out why not.

“Mom! You can’t have the baby in here!” Christina shrieked, covering her head.

“So, get up please and help Daddy with cleaning. Y’all should have done that last night. Once you finish, you can go back to bed, but he’s really stressing about the house and people coming so please help.”

No answer. I could feel another contraction creeping up. “Okay, you have about 20 seconds before I get another contraction and…”

Christina bolted, “MOM! I’m up! I’ll help Dad! GET CONTRACTIONS OUT OF MY ROOM!”

Becky was up too. Kimberly was definitely awake. Mission accomplished. I went back to the kitchen table. My “leave” alarm reminded me to text or call my boss. 6am though, I figured I should just text – plus I didn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment.

Misti showed up (can’t remember if the house was clean, but based on the voices and giggling and a movie being on, I’d guess it was straightened). Mom was on the way, she told us she had to be at one of my brother’s promotions at 8am. The girls had turned on “The Two Towers” and as Louis walked by during the Uruk-hai production scene and he ordered, “Turn that off, you can see a real birth soon enough.” I can’t remember if the result was “Wild Kratts” or “Dumbo” but there was something far less messy on the tv a minute later. (I did hear one of the teenagers or preteens quip, “Mom will sound like an orc.” Louis and I laughed. We’re nerds.)

By 8:30, I was immune to the world. I heard Misti’s voice, smelled Louis (I was leaning on him), and faintly heard background voices. I was focused on this job.

8:42am and our little one came into the world, veiled. Misti took the bag off and the Baby screamed to test the limit of her lungs! (We didn’t know Baby was a “she” just yet!) Baby opened her eyes fully and stared up at me. Then she screamed to rattle the roof again. The dogs were barking. We discovered our Baby was Thea!

Welcome to our crazy world, Theadora Taliesyn Tart. You are loved and cherished!

Theadora (after her great-grandfather Melvin Theodore Pearson) means “gifted by God” and Taliesyn (feminine form of your grandfather’s favorite character from a Celtic legend) means, “one with the shining brow, one who sings wisdom.” And Daddy chose the nickname “Thea” because he likes it. (Your uncle texted that he’d call you “3T” – yes, Daddy searched for two “T” names we both liked!) I kept both names the same length, since that’s what we’ve done – all of the children’s names have the same number of letters in the first name and middle name. Theadora 8 letters, Taliesyn 8 letters – told you we are nerds.

Mom (Grandma Joanne in the pictures) came back with a shower of baby girl goodies! (And, yes, this is why she’s in such cute clothes once we managed to get them on her!)

Theadora, I pray you always feel the love of your family as you wiggle your way up to adulthood. I pray you feel the warmth and see the light of God’s love reflected in the faces of your sisters and brother, mother and father, aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins. We have accepted the honor of being your guides to lead you to Jesus, to raise you in love, and to give you room to find, develop, and follow the passion of life God has rooted within you. You are a daughter of God, a precious gift to us, and chosen to bring light through your smile.

Becky said I can’t post a baby story without her pictures! So here is a little slideshow: