Keeping Christ in Christmas

We love Christmas!  Although we do believe in Santa around here, it's important to me for my kids to remember the reason for the season, the birth of our Savior!  Here are four ways that we do that:

1. Advent Calendar.  You can read about our tradition here.  The last couple years the kids didn't know all the songs.  So we had several nights where I tried to sing with Primus reading the words over my shoulder, off key right in my ear.  Memorable, but distracting.  We fit several of the songs into our scripture memorization time the last few months though, so this year was better.

2. Birthday cake for Jesus.  You have to have birthday cake at a birthday party, right?  So why not have one for Jesus?  We eat ours on Christmas Eve.  We even sing the birthday song.  This year Secundus decided we should have this Mickey Mouse cake.  I'm actually really proud of how it turned out!  And I'm sure Jesus would have loved it, too.  :)

3. Kids' Nativity Blocks.  I made these a couple years ago.   They are still in great condition and the kids love to play with them.  On Christmas Eve, Primus got to use them to teach us all the biblical account of Jesus' birth.  I would love to add some characters from the Book of Mormon account.

4. Present for Jesus.  This was new for us this year and we will definitely be doing it again.  At the beginning of the month we talked about Christmas being Jesus' birthday and how the way we give him gifts is to do service for others.  So then every night we wrote on little pieces of paper the acts of service we did that day and then folded them up and put them in our present for Jesus.  For the kids, especially Tertius, they were mostly things like, "I cleaned up when mommy asked me to," or, "I shared my hat with my sister."

Christmas Ornament Crafts

 I love to make Christmas ornaments with my kids.  I prefer my tree to be filled with hand-crafted ornaments rather than Hallmark.  So every year I come up with a couple easy crafts that the kids can do.  Here's what we came up with this year.

These hand prints were done with tempera paint on cardboard circles (white paint doesn't show up on white paper!) and then glued to red construction paper hearts.  Tertius did the snowmen, Quartus did the reindeer, Secundus did the Santa, and Primus did the candy cane.  Primus' hand wouldn't fit on the circle, so I just drew a simple candy cane shape for her and then she finger painted the stripes. 

I had a few of these empty clear glass balls on hand so this was a super easy thing to have them do one night before bed.  It was good fine-motor skills practice for Tertius, too!  Just remove the top and then fill with little colored puff balls.

Find instructions for this pinecone pineapple ornament here.  

This one isn't the prettiest but definitely the fastest one to do.  To make a bell, cut out one cup of an egg carton and cover it with foil.  Then use a pencil to poke a hole in the top.  Put a small piece of pipe cleaner through to form the loop at the top and the clapper inside.  

Sheltered and Happy

We don't have cable or satellite.  If the kids want to watch TV, then they go online (pbskids.org or nickjr.com) or they watch a DVD from the library. Add that to the fact that we homeschool, and yep, my kids are pretty sheltered.  And I'm ok with that.

They don't really understand what commercials are, expect for the DVD previews.  So thankfully they don't beg for rainbow looms or Furbies or whatever the heck is "hot" this holiday season because they either haven't heard of it or at least haven't been told repeatedly that they should want it.

Primus is almost 8 and still likes to watch things like Sid the Science Kid, Wild Kratts, and Daniel Tiger's neighborhood.  I know she will grow up and feel too old for these shows eventually, but right now I don't think she needs to be watching things that talk about kissing and having a boyfriend and such.  She has no idea that pre-teen shows like those on the Disney Channel even exist!  And it just goes without saying that she has no idea who Miley Cyrus or Kim Kardashian are.

The kids won't be young and ignorant forever, and I wouldn't want them to be, but I am definitely enjoying it while I can!

Rice Crispy Great Wall

  We're studying Ancient China and so decided to build the Great Wall out of Rice Crispy Treats.

I made up a quadruple batch and cooled them in three 9X13 pans (lined with greased wax paper.) When I put them in the pan, I pushed it down with my hand (coated in cooking spray) to make them more dense and sturdy.

 Then I cut them into very small squares.  We ended up with a lot extra, but the kids should have built bigger walls so it would have been a good amount.

For mortar we used jarred frosting.
 Tertius just stuck a bunch together in a random order.  But, boy, was he proud!

When we placed the girls' next to each other it made a longer wall. This led to a good review of how the Great Wall was composed in places of previously built walls linked together and repaired

.

 It was a fun activity.  Even Quartus got in on the action (the best part-eating it!) when Tertius dropped a big chunk on the floor.

My Thoughts on Beauty

I've been meaning to do this post for a long time.  Then recently I read this blog and saw this video and that was the kick in the butt I needed to add my thoughts to the conversation.

In high school I wore basketball pants in PE no matter how hot it was outside because I was so self conscious about my leg hair.  Even if I shaved the night before, I thought everyone was staring at my legs and noticing the stubble when the sun shined on it. 

I learned how to wear makeup but on mornings when I didn't have time to put on a little mascara, I would wear glasses instead of contacts to distract away from my hideous face.  I wore makeup not because I enjoyed putting it on or experimenting with different techniques and colors, but because I felt like I needed it to look less repulsive.

I had major self confidence issues. 

After I got married, I became a little more comfortable with my appearance, a bit more lax in my shaving frequency, and less frequent with my makeup usage.  But I still had many, many days where I felt ugly and felt like I needed a little help.

Then about three years ago I took a Women in American History class.  At one point we discussed the way women are portrayed in advertising.  And I realized in a sudden moment of clarity, there is a  multi-billion dollar "Beauty Industry" that is making a ridiculous amount of money off of my self-esteem issues.  Their business is literally built on making me feel ugly in my natural state.  Every time I think that the way God created me is inadequate, somebody earns another dollar toward their beach house.  

I have not worn makeup since then.  And I have never felt more beautiful.  In the interest of full-disclosure, occasionally I will still use a dab of concealer to minimize the appearance of a blemish, but that is it.  (As a bonus, I actually have clearer skin now than I did when I was wearing makeup regularly.  Piling on the concealer, foundation and powder-and not being good about washing it all off at the end of the day-contributed to my pretty bad, acne-prone skin.)

I also stopped shaving my legs.  Perhaps this deserves it's own post.  But to be brief, I think humans have body hair for a reason.  (Not exactly sure what that reason is, lol, but there must be a reason!)  And my husband has never cared or noticed whether or not my legs were smooth.  So I have been unable to see a reason, other than "social norms" to scrape a sharp object over my limbs everyday. 

It is now my conviction, and I am trying to instill this belief in my children, that beauty has more to do with confidence and personality than physical appearance.  You are beautiful the way Heavenly Father made you!  Nature is beautiful.

Homemade Rapunzel Costume

 Something that Primus has been asking Santa for for a couple years is a Rapunzel dress-up dress.  So this Christmas I finally decided to make that happen.  But to my chagrin, they just don't make dress-up clothes in her size!  I could find them (REALLY hard to find and expensive) in size 7-8.  But I want her to be able to enjoy it for a while and she is so tall so she is starting to move into size 10 already!  I found some really great nightgowns in her size that would work but those things are 50 bucks!

So I had to figure out how to make my own.  Here's a picture for reference.

You can see a good tutorial on how to make this super easy tutu here.  I think I bought 5 or 6 yards of tulle.  Instead of a regular elastic waist, a friend suggested I use a crochet elastic headband.  I really like how it looks!  You can buy it by the yard at Jo-Ann's.

For the top, I just sewed ribbon onto a shirt.  It would have been a lot better if I had used a regular T-shirt, but I just used what she already had.

Our Daily Routine

 I've been meaning to do this post since the beginning of the school year.  But I guess it's good that I procrastinated because now it has been proven to be an effective method for us.  Yay!

This is our third year homeschooling, and my first year with two official students.  In the past, I was very fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants.  I didn't now what assignment Primus was going to do next until the moment I assigned it.  I was the only one who knew what the plan was for the day.  It worked out ok.  But it was obvious that now with two students, a preschooler, and a baby, we needed some more order, routine, and independence. 

 The first step was to decide on a daily routine and print it out for all to see.  The Monday schedule stays on the wall at all times.  Then I can clip the other days to the front.  For example, if you look at Tuesday below, the paper actually starts with 9:45am because before that, the schedule is exactly the same on Monday so I just clip it to Monday, leaving the top part visible.  The schedule is also laminated so I can easily make any adjustments with a dry erase marker. 

I then set up recurring alarms on my phone to keep on schedule.  When the kids hear the alarm, they know something is supposed to happen.  If it wasn't for those alarms, I don't think we would ever eat between meal snacks.  My kids definitely like the alarms!

You'll notice above that I have Science, History, and Literature scheduled at certain times.  Those are the three subjects that we all do together. We do Science on Tuesday and Thursday, History on Monday and Wednesday, and Literature on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. 

For science we use Evan Moor's Science Works for Kids.  This school year we chose 5 of the books in the series.  Each book has 9 topics.  So I figured if we studied 1 topic per week, then we would have almost exactly the right amount of weeks in the school year to do everything (some weeks we would have to study 2 topics) .  Well, it's become clear that that was an unrealistic and frantic pace.  We are a couple weeks behind.  I think I'm going to take a day or two soon and dedicate them to science.  We'll just do nothing but fun science experiments all day and get caught up and ahead.

For history we use Story of the World.  I have no specific goals for this.  We just take it at a leisurely pace and spend as much time doing enrichment activities and reading books about a certain chapter as we want.

Until two weeks ago, for literature we were studying Folk Tales and Fairy Tales using a book from Evan Moor.  The book had 3 activities for each story so we would study one story per week.  Each day we read a different version of the story and then do one activity. 

Now we are studying one Caldecott winning book per week.  We read it on Monday and discuss to check for comprehension and pick two new vocabulary words from it to define.  Wednesday and Thursday we do two art projects from a book called, Art Through Children's Literature.

You'll notice on the chart above that we have "List" scheduled several times.  That means it is their time to work on their daily list of tasks.  They each have their own clipboard.  I don't care what order they do their tasks, as long as they are done by the end of the day.  They even occasionally work ahead and do the next day's pages. 

These lists make for easy record keeping.  And Primus is getting really good at working independently.  She doesn't have to wait for me to tell her what to do next.  She just looks at her clipboard and decides what she feels like doing.

Finally, you might be able to see that on their lists it says "Pick a Stick."  This is one of their tasks almost every day.  This means that they chose a large craft stick from their own jar (those are little peanut butter jars hot-glued together) and do the activity that is written on it.  These are all fun and educational things that I want them to have an opportunity to do, but I am too scatterbrained to remember to assign them. 

The kids love this!  I really need to reevaluate their daily lists and make it so they can pick-a-stick everyday, maybe twice on some days.  Some examples of stick activities are: tanagrams, pattern blocks, take a magnifying glass outside and explore, phonics bingo, play "store," explore with our magnet science kit, origami, puzzles, math fact practice with 10 sided dice, and fine motor skills practice with tweezers or eyedroppers.

So there you have it, a peak into our school day.

9 Things You May Not Know About Us

In honor of our 9th wedding anniversary coming up, here are 9 things you may not know about us…

1. While we were dating, we broke up for 5 weeks because God told us to.

2. Hubby was my first boyfriend (well, second if you count those 5 weeks we were broken up.) I was 19, he was 23.

3. We went through a really rough patch about 4 years ago. A counselor we saw even suggested divorce. Neither of us went back to see her after that.

4. We were both virgins until our wedding night.  If I could go back in time to when I saw that gyno before our wedding who told me I was lying about being a virgin and that my fiance was lying to me and definitely sleeping around, I would punch him in the face.  Jerk.

5. He stood me up on our first blind date. But we didn’t put the pieces together until after we were engaged.

6. We got married 9 months after we started dating. That's about a year after we met.

7. We took an Xbox with us on our honeymoon and played Halo together.

8. He blames me for the fact that he got sick and had to come home from his mission early. If he had served his full 2 years, we may have never met because I had plans to transfer to a University out of state and would have been gone when he got home.

9. We are best friends and can’t imagine life without each other. So thankful for our Temple marriage and the promise of Eternal families!

Play Dough Kit and FREE Printable

 At the beginning of the year, I shared my favorite easy play dough recipe.  Well, I have an opportunity to participate in a small craft fair coming up so I decided to whip up a few more of those kits and see if anyone would buy them.  And lucky you, you get to know how they're made for free!

1. In a small jar, combine 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup salt.  The little 16 oz jars of peanut butter are a perfect size. 

2. Use a small roll of masking tape to attach a package of Kool Aid to the outside. 

 3. In a really small jar, put 2 Tbs vegetable oil.  I used little 2 oz breast-milk storage bottles.  These ones were especially perfect because they have a groove in the middle, which made tying the two jars together easier.

4. Tie the jars together with a pretty ribbon.

5. Print out the instructions on a regular 8 1/2 X 11 paper.  (My first ever attempt at a printable.  I hope it works!  You can right click the image and select "copy image" then paste it into a word document.  Set the margins as really small (.25inch) and adjust the image so it fills the page.  I know that's a pain and it may not be the best quality, but I have no idea what I'm doing!  lol)

6. Cut them out in a circle to fit the lid of your jar and use Mod Podge to attach. 

There you have it!

Keeping the Kitchen Clean

"Honey, I propose that we try and keep the kitchen this clean all the time."  

Hubby said this to me after he spent a large chunk of his Monday getting us caught up on dishes and  scrubbing the kitchen while I took a much-needed break.  

I'm a horrible homemaker. Add to that  frustration and feelings of "what's the point?" when it seems like I'm the only one who cares about living in filth.  I hate doing chores at night after the kids go to bed so sadly I was greeted most mornings with a disgusting table still covered with dirty dinner plates, crumbs all over the floor, and every counter filled and filthy.  That situation just puts me in such a foul mood!  

But I was stuck and didn't know how to change things.  It was common for me to express my anger at stepping on tiny pieces of dried rice and then huff and puff as I got out the broom while ignoring the baby who wanted out of the high chair and delaying the start of the school day (two things that make me feel like a horrible mother and cause the rest of the day to go even worse) while Hubby would say something unhelpful like, "Just calm down; it's ok.  The floor is just going to get covered with more Cheerios next mealtime.  You can sweep later."

I needed a reset and when Hubby made it clear that he understood how much work it was to keep the kitchen clean and how lovely it feels when it stays that way, I jumped at the opportunity!  

Now every night before bed the entire family does chores together.  On our list of things to do: dinner put away, dish washer emptied and filled again, counters and stove wiped, table cleaned, floor swept, and living room picked up.  For every job they do, they earn media time.  The girls are a lot more capable than I've in the past given them credit for.  It only takes us about half an hour to get the whole kitchen spotless and the living room completely picked up. 

 I have woken up to this wonderfully clean kitchen for 3 mornings in a row now and it is awesome!  I hope the novelty doesn't wear off!

Scatterbrained or Genius?

Yesterday everyone woke up late.  Then even when we were awake, we were still lazy and tired (staying up late after a full night of trick-or-treating with cousins will do that to you!) so we didn't stick to our normal Friday morning school routine. 

After breakfast we lounged around and watched a couple educational DVD's we got from the library.  Then we left for all day theatre class.  As I was frantically trying to get everyone packed up to go, I realized that Primus should at least do a spelling test.  So I grabbed a clipboard, her spelling list, a blank paper, and a pencil and away we went. 

Once we got on the freeway, I handed the list to Secundus and had her call out the words for her sister.  She had to sound out the word, give a sentence with the word, and then say the word again (that's the way I give spelling tests.)

Secundus was so excited because she loves to be in charge and she was proud of herself for being able to read third grade spelling words.  She stopped half way through and said, "Mommy, I'm being the teacher!  Maybe I could be a teacher when I grow up!"

I thought I was just being scatterbrained (for not doing the test myself earlier) but turns out I was executing a genius plan!  Not only did Primus get her spelling test done, but Secundus had a valuable reading and comprehension lesson.  Also, I was able to bring her joy for indulging her "I want to be the boss" tendencies and maybe even helped her to discover her calling in life!  :) 

The morning started with laziness but ended with Winning!

Tent Town #3

This week we had another successful Reading Tent Town!

(To read about the other times we've done this and find out what it's all about, click the tab at the top of the page.)

The most notable change this time for me was that Primus decided to be a reader instead of a participant.  Its very bittersweet for me to watch her grow up so fast and decide that she's "too old" for things like this.  She was a great reader, though.  I've been training her for a while to be a good storytime reader and am very proud of her.

 I love to hear the positive feedback from the families that come.  It seems like for most of the kids, it is a very enjoyable experience.  I really know we did good when I saw that 2 days later, one of the little girls was still wearing her card.

The most exciting part is to see the growth that some of the children, especially my own son, have had.  The first time we did this, I think Tertius spent most of his time wandering around and then playing inside the house.  The second time, he went to a few tents but not all.  This time, he listened to every single story and proudly got his card marked off.

Besides just growing and maturing, I think another thing that helped is that this time I made it sound like I wouldn't give the kids their treat at the end unless they could show me their filled up card.  There were a couple kids who came to me with an incomplete card and I was able to encourage them to go listen to last stories and then come back. 

This time we had 6 story tents (plus the first joint story) and 12 children.  Here are the books read: Before You Were Born, Handa's Surprise, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (and the sequels were available as optional alternates), Leaf Man,  DinoFours: It's Snowing!, and various princess stories.  This time, to the delight of several of the children, Snow White and Rapunzel were back to read the princess themed stories.

Like before, we started all the kids off listening to one story all together.  But this time we decided to do a craft instead of making lunch.  Also, we didn't even set up the large tent this time; we just did it on my nice covered/enclosed patio.  To make sitting on the cold cement a little more comfortable, I had large foam squares for them. 

Grandma Cindy read, "Today I Feel Silly," a book about different feelings.  And then for the craft they made puppets displaying a feeling using these pre-cut people-colored face shapes from Lakeshore.

The treat/favor at the end was a juice box made to look like a book.  This was so easy and turned out cute!  I just cut a 9X12 construction paper into 4 equal pieces and that was the perfect size.  Then I hot glued the paper to the back and the side of the juice box.  Don't glue the front cover down.  It looks more fun this way.  And besides, the attached straw would be in the way.

The plan is to do the next one in January.  It will be interesting to see how it goes if we get rained out and are forced to do it inside!

A week where bookwork was set to the side...

This has been a crazy, busy week.

 I had to practice a musical number for church with a couple other ladies nearly everyday, I visited a friend in the hospital, we did another Tent Town (post coming soon) on Thursday so the backyard needed to be cleaned up, and I had a pomegranate-seeding party so the house needed to be cleaned and the pomegranates picked. The kids spent lots of time helping me and also playing while I did solo chores.

Most of our typical school work was definitely skipped this week.  I am so thankful that we homeschool so had the freedom to take a break from the normal routine and decide to focus on different priorities.

This week learning how to babysit (with Mom in the next room) and be responsible for younger siblings was more important than a math worksheet.

Learning how to select and pick the best ripe pomegranate was more important than a grammar lesson.

Working together with siblings and building an awesome train track was more important than a spelling test.

Learning how to hold a dustpan steady and sweep up the porch was more important than handwriting practice.

Learning the importance of service and mourning with those that mourn was more important than a history lesson.

Contributing to the upkeep of the home for the benefit of the whole family was more important than a book report.

Playing with a new friend (the son of one of the singers) and learning to respect his belongings and his house rules was more important than reading a chapter of a novel.


We did learn a lot this week, but I will also be glad to get back to our routine on Monday!

Halloween Costumes Made From Stuff We Already Have

 I have always enjoyed making my kids' Halloween Costumes.  I also enjoy being frugal.  So this year I am quite proud of the fact that I didn't have to purchase a single thing for the costumes.  We already had everything we needed!

Toothfairy

Leo and tutu were from her ballet recital.
Crown purchased at dollar store several months ago.
Tooth pictures cut from white felt.
Wings were hand-me-downs from a friend a few years ago.
Tooth bag was cut from a brown vest we had in the dress-up box (I have no idea where it came from!),  filled with marbles, and tied with a long ribbon (I keep all ribbons from gift boxes/bags.)

The Glitch.  Vanellope Von Schweetz.

Green hoodie borrowed from sister.  Not the correct style or color, but she doesn't mind.
Brown skirt also from sister.  I just tightened the waste and cut off the bottom and added a second layer (hard to tell from the picture.)
Green sweat pants with white ribbon hot-glued on.  Leggings would have been better but these work.  I just tightened the inside seams so they weren't as sloppy.

Starbursts and Tootsie Rolls hotglued to clips and bobby pins.
Licorice hair tie is made of red yarn twisted on itself a couple times.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 

Yellow felt tummy hotglued on green longsleeve shirt.
Belt, elbow, and knee ties are strips from the aforementioned brown vest.
Orange eye-mask cut from a really old Girls Camp bandana.

Brown felt hotglued on back of shirt for shell.  It's stuffed with fiberfill that my sister-in-law gave me a couple years ago when she was de-cluttering.  It was useful last year for his storm cloud costume, too!
Hexagon pattern on shell was drawn with black sharpie.  The swirly design inside each section was done with chalk so it is extremely subtle.

Vampire (NOT the sparkly kind.)

White polo shirt and black pants.  Those black pants were used 3 years ago for Tertius' spider costume, too.
Cape made from an old black skirt of mine.
Blood dripping from the corners of his mouth will be created with a red Popsicle.

To Feed the Hungry

While the girls were playing "Store," Primus was the cashier.

 From the other room I heard her say, "This box is to feed the hungry.  Put money in here to feed the hungry."

I'm so glad I take my kids grocery shopping with me often!  Learning happens outside the classroom all the time.

Who Are the Mormons?

How does lack of sleep affect you? How do you deal with it?

I've been told, with amazement, by several people that I seem to function well on little sleep.

Quartus goes to bed at about 9pm.  A couple hours later, he wakes up and I bring him to bed with us. Then he nurses for the rest of the night, waking me to flip him over to the other side.  During the day, he doesn't nap.  Rather, he dozes for 30 minutes at a time, usually in the car.

Tertius gave up naps when he was around a year old.  About that same time, he went through a year long phase of not going to bed until 11pm or midnight.

Primus didn't learn to fall asleep on her own in her own bed until she was 18 months old.  And then she would still wake up and come sleep in or next to our bed everynight until a couple years ago.

Secundus is my only good sleeper.  She was putting herself to sleep and sleeping through the night by 2 months.

Add to all that the fact that I am a night-owl and prefer to stay up past midnight.  But my children do not share this trait and no matter how late they go to bed, they are always awake around 7am.  I don't think our situation is terribly unique, but suffice it to say that I've had more nights of limited/disturbed sleep than good/long/refreshing sleep in the last 7 years.  So how do I survive?

Well, I may just be used to it by now.  But I think a better explanation is that I definitely act differently in public than I do in private.  (And "public" includes Facebook.)

I'm an extrovert.  When I am out and around people, I get energized so it seems like I've got it all together.  But if you were to have seen me at home before stepping out the door, you would have had something entirely different to say!  

Sadly, when I'm home with just my family, I'm not always the most chipper person.  If I'm tired, the kids usually get the worst brunt of my crankiness. 

Also, since I am so go-go-go all day, if I sit down to nurse Quartus in the rocking chair around 3pm, I will definitely fall asleep.  If I let myself relax for even a minute, it all finally catches up with me.  And sleeping upright in a rocking chair is not comfortable!  So when I wake up, I am still tired, sore, and more cranky!  When Tertius was a baby, I remember that every time I sat down to read stories to the girls during the day, I would doze off.  It was so hard to stay awake to even get through one book! 

Things that work for me to make the tiredness and crankiness not as bad...

1. Don't relax. Don't get comfortable.  Whoever first started spewing that, "nap when the baby naps" garbage is an idiot.  I mostly kid, but see paragraph above.  If I get a cat-nap during the day, I will usually regret it.  Not only do I feel tired, sore, and cranky, but I get overwhelmed by all the stuff I should have been doing while I was napping (see number 4 below.)

2. Go to bed by 10pm.  I still need my personal time in the evenings when the house is quiet.  But 10pm is so much better than midnight for my sanity the next day.

3. Wake up before the kids.  I know, seems counterproductive.  But if my sleep is disturbed abruptly by the kids, then it doesn't matter how many extra minutes I was able to squeeze in; I'm going to be super cranky!  My day goes a lot smoother if I can wake up on my terms, wake up slowly, and read scriptures in the quiet time before everyone else is awake.

4. Don't let messes around the house get too out-of-hand.  I need to keep me and the kids on top of things all day so I'm not left with a disaster zone at the end of the day.  When the house is in chaos and I'm tired, I tend to explode because I feel overwhelmed. It's not pretty.

5. Rely on Hubby.  He tends to be blind to messes so I just need to remember to tell him, "Look at that mountain of dishes [puzzles, action figures, dirty table, etc].  That right there is driving me crazy.  Will you kindly help the kids take care of it before I start chucking things out the window?!"  If I ask for his help, he always obliges. 

So how does lack of sleep affect you?  How do you combat it?

"I be a Man!"

I decided that I want to make a more conscious effort to encourage Tertius to be a gentleman.  

Here's a fun picture of my little ladies and gentleman having a fun "tea party" with my breakable dishes-a rare treat!  They love to do this.  They pick costumes from the dress up box and eat their finger sandwiches while practicing their best manners and saying things like, "Isn't this lovely, darling?"

Once a week the girls have a four-and-a-half hour class in a town thirty minutes away.  Since it's a long drive, it doesn't make sense for me to drop them off and then come back to pick them up.  So that means I have to find something to keep the boys and I occupied nearby.  

I am really enjoying this time with just my boys!  We usually do an errand, have a picnic lunch, play at a park, and visit the library.  

Last week I asked Tertius to hold open the door to the library for me so I could get the stroller through.  I praised him and went on and on about how polite he was being and what a little gentleman he was.  He seemed very pleased with himself.

The next week, before I could ask him to, he ran over to the door and held it open for me.  As I walked through he proudly proclaimed, "I be a man!"  

I couldn't have been prouder of him.  Yes, son, you are learning to be a real man.  A gentleman.

Adapting an educational game for 3 levels...

This year Secundus is working on learning her Dolch sight words.  This great website has some cute printable board games to be used to help your child  practice.  But since she is the only kindergartener in her classroom, who can she play the game with?

Well, we have an easy fix; Primus and Tertius love to play, too! 

Here's what we do: when it is Primus' turn, she has to write one of her spelling words (as selected by me) on her whiteboard.  Secundus has to pick and read a sight-word card for her turn.  And on his turn, Tertius has to identify a letter of the alphabet.  If they get their word/letter right, then they get to roll the dice. 

One game.  Three levels of play.  Three children having fun learning.  One happy mommy.

A woman is like a chocolate chip cookie...

As I baked a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies yesterday, I lamented to my husband that while I like the taste, my cookies are always flat and not the prettiest.  I told him that I was thinking about trying out a new recipe. (I've been using a recipe from my mom's really old Betty Crocker cookbook.)

In response, he discouraged me from searching for a new recipe and declared that he didn't just like the way my cookies taste, he LOVES them.  Then in case I was wondering about his sincerity, he proceeded to eat about a dozen of them.

Yep, he's a keeper.  :)

That got me thinking...sometimes I'm like those cookies.  They don't meet conventional standards of what makes a beautiful cookie.  You won't see them on Pinterest, or in a bakery, or in the pages of a cooking magazine.  But at least one man loves them.

It's easy to feel down about myself because I don't meet conventional standards of what makes a beautiful or "perfect" woman.  I could bore you with a list of the things I am not good at and celebrities I don't look like.

But none of that matters.  I am a daughter of God.  He created me exactly the way He meant to, with unique talents and physical appearance. I am beautiful because He made me and He loves me.

I am so thankful for that knowledge and for my wonderful husband who helps me remember what's really important.

Choices, Priorities, and the Mommy Wars

Today I visited with a friend of mine for a few minutes about homeschooling.  She has a daughter Tertius' age and we've had many of these discussions over the past couple years.

My friend is trying to gather all the info she can and different perspectives so she can figure out what to do about her daughter's schooling.  Neighborhood public school?  Open enrollment/parent participation public school?  Montessori?  Spanish dual-immersion school?  Homeschool?

There are just so many choices and it can be very overwhelming and discouraging when making such a big decision.  What if I pick the wrong path?  What if the path I pick is fine, but I could have given my child something better? 

After she left I found myself thinking, "Wow!  She is really putting a lot of work and thought into this decision.  Good for her!  She must really care about her daughter.  If only more parents put this much thought into deciding the educational path that is best for their children..."

But then I immediately knew I had crossed the line into being judgemental and arrogant.  How dare I presume to know what is in other parents' heads and hearts?

And besides that, every family has their own priorities.  My priority is giving my children my idea of a certain schooling experience.  Another mother's priority might be feeding her family in a super healthy way-all natural/fresh/local/organic/not processed/etc.

This hypothetical mother could very easily look at my family with our Goldfish crackers and Kool-aid and say, "She must not really care about her children.  If only her and more parents put more thought into deciding what their family put into their bodies..."

I only have so much time and energy for worrying about everything I could possibly be worrying about.  If I tried to do it all "perfectly" by everyone else's definition, I would be a ragged, exhausted mess.

So the point is, every parent is responsible for making their own choices for their family.  We all have different priorities, personalities, and perspectives.  We (I) shouldn't ever presume to know what is best for another family. 

So I guess this is my contribution to the ever-present discussion of the "Mommy-Wars."  I'll take care of my family.  You take care of yours.  That should be all there needs to be said.

Drawing on the Ceiling

I've decided to be a lot more organized this school year.  That means instead of doing history lessons, for example, whenever I feel like it on the spur of the moment, we will do history at a set time every Monday and Wednesday. 

Well, this is our second week of school and my new schedule/routine is working wonderfully!  The one exception is that I still haven't gone to my sister-in-law's house to get back our Story of the World materials that I let her borrow over the summer.  So I've been scrambling during history time to think of something worthwhile to learn/do.

Today I grabbed from the shelf a new book I got about several famous artists.  So I read to them about Raphael and Michelangelo (they thought it was hilarious that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles share names with famous dudes from history!) 

The section on Michelangelo obviously talked a bit about the Sistine Chapel.  While I was reading it, I suddenly remembered that when I was in elementary school, one of my teachers had us tape paper to the underside of our desks so we could experience a taste of what it was like for Michelangelo to do his back-breaking paintings.  So that became our activity today.  It was a great success!  Primus kept complaining about how much her arm hurt!  :) 

As a follow-up on Monday, I plan to share this virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel. 

(P.S. If you're curious, those gray splotches are covering up the letters of Secundus' real name.  I told her that artists always sign their work so she got creative and put one letter in each space of her picture.)

Awesome and Thorough Infographic Re: Homeschooling

Courtesy of: http://www.topmastersineducation.com/homeschooled/

Source: TopMastersInEducation.com

More questions about homeschool...

A few months ago I posted a blog (http://homeschooltypo.blogspot.com/2013/03/answering-question-about-homeschool.html) in response to some homeschooling questions I recieved from a friend.  I just recieved some more so here you go:

What curriculum do you use?
You can buy boxed curriculums that will give you everything you need for a particular grade level.  I don't do that.  I like to have the freedom to select all kinds of different books and resources.  Although, it can be very overwhelming to decide among all the options out there!  You can see a list of what I use on that other post linked above.

What is the hardest part?
It's easy to get overwhelmed and stressed out by all the responsibility.  What if I screw up?  What if I don't teach enough?  What if they're not getting enough free play time?  Will my house ever be clean?  So I have to remind myself often to just lower my standards.  lol.  The dishes will never be done.  The floors will never be spotless.  There will always be more that the kids could learn.  I just have to do the best I can from day to day and remember to enjoy the journey!

What is your favorite part?
It really can be very fun!  I love reading them books and learning about history or art or science right along with my kids.  It is so exciting to hear Primus read stories to her siblings.  And I am so proud when they can spout off to Daddy the history fact that they learned.  I feel so lucky to be able to watch them learn and grow. 

How do you find 'me-time'?
I find that my day goes a lot smoother and I have a lot more patience with the kids if I wake up at least a half hour before them and start my day with prayer and scripture study.  And throughout the day, I steal small moments for myself to read blogs or news on the computer or read a book.  Sometimes I'll let the kids watch an educational video during lunch which will give me a good chunk of time to do chores or something that I want to do.  Also, after the kids are in bed, I will stay up for a couple hours.  I keep thinking that I should be using this time to do more housework.  But realistically that time turns into my facebook, TV, and blogging time.  

How involved do you get at a preschool level?
When my oldest was a preschooler (4), I sent her to preschool.  Before that, we did a lot of reading and puzzles and flashcards at home.  When my second was 3, I sent her to preschool while I did kindergarten at home with my oldest (http://homeschooltypo.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-am-i-sending-my-3-year-old-to-state.html).  Then after one semester I brought her home.  I did a little bit of work with her (and started teaching her how to read) and expected her to participate with science and history.  She is pretty advanced and kept up really well. 
But for the most part, I think preschoolers need to have plenty of free play time and storytime more than anything.  It's also amazing what the little ones will pick up just by being in the same room while the older ones are doing lessons.
This year Tertius will be a preschooler (he's 3) and I think I'm going to expect him to sit for Secundus' calendar time.  And I've prepared some ABC crafts for him.  But other than that, he will spend his days playing (I'll steer him toward "educational" toys whenever possible) and listening to stories whenever I get a chance to read him one.

What's it like homeschooling with a baby?
Last January Quartus was born during Christmas break so we did an entire semester with a brand new baby.  I didn't do very good at keeping my habit of waking up before the kids, which made things hard.  But otherwise, it wasn't too much of an adjustment.  I did a lot of lessons while sitting and nursing the baby.  And I think it's really important for my kids to learn independance in their schooling.  So I gave Primus independant assignments as much as possible, which was helpful.  I also kept a bouncy seat or swing, blanket, and diapers/wipes nearby so the baby could nap/play/be changed in the same room as everyone else.  

If you lived somewhere other than California that didn't have government funding (like Colorado) would you be able to afford it?

If I had to homeschool independantly, there is no way I could afford the same experience we enjoy now (we receive $1600 per year per student - K and up - for curriculum, paper, pencils, art supplies, enrichment activities, etc.)  I would just have to be more creative.  It would mean paying more attention to when school supplies are on sale, spending more time online gathering free resources and worksheets, and checking out more books from the library.  It would be really hard for me to get used to that.  I like having my Evan Moor science curriculum, for example, where I can open it up to review the info and gather supplies just a few minutes before teaching the unit instead of spending hours researching and creating my own curriculum.  But plenty of families do it successfully.  One of my favorite blogs (you can find it on my side bar) is Our Busy Homeschool.  That family has 8 kids (3 or 4 are school-age) and she said once that her yearly homeschool budget was only $500 (http://ourbusyhomeschool.com/the-cost-of-homeschooling/)

Let me know if you have any more questions or any follow-up questions!

Toy Organization

A friend remarked the other day that my home looks very kid friendly.  My couch doesn't have throw pillows.  I don't own a coffee table.  There are no baskets of fashion magazines.  There are no end tables or shelves with knickknacks or decorations.  And I'm ok with all that.  

If I was interested in having a living room for the purpose of impressing other adults, then I could easily sequester all toys to the school room and bedroom.  But this home belongs to these four children as much as it belongs to me and my husband. 

So it looks like I live in a preschool, and I guess I kind of do.  And again, I'm ok with that, as long as every toy has it's place and is put back in it's place.  Organization is very important to me.  I reorganize the toys very often.  As in, every other month or so.  Usually it's prompted by accumulating a new toy or container.  I'm always trying to figure out a more efficient way of organizing stuff.  I also redo things if I notice that something isn't being played with or isn't being cleaned up properly.

I just yesterday finished reorganizing again in anticipation of receiving new school supplies and because we received a new small book shelf; so following is what our house looks like at the moment.

This is in the living room entertainment center under the TV. 
On the left is a box full of baby dolls and clothes.  It's small and hard to see, but the box is labeled "baby 3 of 3."  I haven't bought any new boxes, baskets, shelves, or drawers in 3 or 4 years.  I just keep shuffling around and re-purposeing what I already have.  So this box used to be in storage with baby stuff. 
Next to that is a box full of play food.  Above that is a little cubby where we keep library books.  Finally, to the far right are all the matchbox cars and tracks.

In the living room next to the window. 
The wide drawers were originally bought to store the kids' clothes (we didn't own a proper dresser for them until last year.)  I bought the skinny drawers when we first got married to store stuff in the bathroom. 
Notice how all the drawers are labeled with sharpie and masking tape?  Super fancy.  :)  A long time ago I took pictures of the toys and made them into really nice labels.  But I reorganize things too often and that takes too much extra work.  So masking tape, or sometimes file folder labels, work just fine for me.  I value practicality over style, obviously.
In the skinny drawers: sun hats, small dolls, jewelry, small dress up stuff (wallets, keys, wands, etc), and big cars.  In the wide ones: burp cloths/receiving blankets/bibs, Barbies, plastic animals, action figures/polly pockets, and 5 drawers of baby toys/small board books/cloth books.

This is in the bedroom, between a dresser and the foot of the toddler bed.  That book shelve on the left was given to us by my mother-in-law, who found it on free-cycle.  Obviously it holds all the big trucks.  Next to that is the baby doll crib I played with as a child and our boxes of Mega Blocks.

Between the side of the toddler bed and another dresser are our big boxes of wooden puzzles and frame tray puzzles.

The top of one dresser holds all the castles and play sets for our Polly Pocket dolls.

Finally, a view of the closet floor.  As you can see, it is full of dress up clothes.  I have struggled for years to find an ideal system and place for it all.  Nothing worked.  It always turned into the biggest, most annoying mess!  So finally, I just gave in and let it take up the whole closet.  As you can see, there are 3 boxes.  But nothing is separated into specific boxes.  All I ask is that the mess be thrown back in the closet when the kids are done playing with it.

 

Well, there you have it.  The school room also stores a large portion of our toys, and maybe I'll blog about it once my order is in and we're ready to start school again next month.  But hopefully what I did share gave you some ideas and inspiration.