The Fruits of Our Labors - So Sweet

Over the course of being parents, my husband and I have worked to teach our children how and what to pray for. Also, teaching them the proper reverence that should be assumed when speaking with our Heavenly Father. We all take turns saying the prayer in our nightly family prayer. Even Puppy gets a turn.

Praying with your children each day is a wonderful opportunity to see inside their hearts and their minds. I did not know how much they struggle with some things, as when I hear them pray for comfort over something. Or to hear them be thankful for something you had forgotten. We have seen our kids improve greatly in the depth and meaning of their prayers. It is a truly special blessing to have that in our lives.

Today was a really precious moment for my son and I as we began our first morning of school this year. After talking about all the things we were going to do this year, and how we were going to focus on certain areas of study, we prayed before starting our scripture study. My son said the most beautiful heartfelt prayer I have ever heard him utter. It was so full of earnest concern for me as his teacher. That I would have strength to teach them, and enjoy teaching them. I have been pretty sick the last 2 weeks, so I am sure he has become aware of the sacrifice it will be for me to consistently teach him each day. It was a prayer of sincere desire for the Lord to bless him in his studies this year. It truly touched my heart.

It was like Heavenly Father was giving me a witness that I have taught my children something good. And that it is making a difference in their lives. I am so thankful for prayer and for the opportunity to share it with my children. I am glad that they have a strong faith in prayer and turn to the Father with all things. Who could ask for more?

The Method to My Madness

The last few days around here have been full of planning school for next year. This is the second year we have started school the week after July 4th. Last year, I started early, because I knew there was a strong possibility that I would get overwhelmed frequently with a toddler at home, and having to teach both of my older kids for the first time, which would cause me to need frequent breaks.

This year we are starting early in order to have plenty recovery time after the baby is born. I have planned for 2 weeks off after the baby, but I assume we may not be quite ready at that point, and I want lots of wiggle room.

This year Monkey (7) will be using Five in a Row as his main curriculum for the last year. He will move on to FIAR Vol. 4 next year for half the year, then move into Beyond Five in a Row the second half. Mouse (9) will use Beyond Five in a Row and a few Volume 4 titles as a break in between Beyond titles. Puppy (2 almost 3) will be doing some light activities from Before FIAR.

This is the way I plan:

First, I sit down and write down all of my fabulous ideas for the year. Like, things I want to improve upon, and things that I think need special attention. This year those areas are writing, and spelling. We will also work on calendaring. That idea has not cemented in Monkey's brain yet.

I also write down all of the curriculum we will be using for the year. This year looks like this:

FIAR Vol 1-3

BYFIAR - Vol 1-3

Sequential Spelling

Growing with Grammar

Horizons Mathematics

Handwriting from LightHome Publications

Story of the World - 2 days a week

Piano - 1 day a week (practice each day)

Then I make a general outline of how I want the day to go. Just to get an idea of what I am in for. Hee hee.

Next, I make a year long calendar on my favorite publishing program, Microsoft Publisher. I print it out with 2 months on a page. I print out the list of books used in FIAR, and all plannig wisdoms I have gathered from the authors of FIAR. Then I find a good pencil and an eraser and all of my FIAR volumes and a comfy place to sit. Currently, my bed.

I go through and check all of the books that we have already done off the book list. I also mark off all the days we will not do school on the calendar. I find that it helps me decide what kind of unit, or which unit we will do that week, if I know in advance it will be a short week.

Now I am ready to fill in my weeks with books we haven't yet rowed. I try to group them seasonally, so they will be relevant to the time of year we are in. Doing Cranberry Thanksgiving in March, just isn't going to work!

Normally there are 36 weeks in a standard 180 day school year. So that is 36 titles...or what I did this year was 33 FIAR titles and one Vol. 4 that takes 2 weeks, and one review week. This will have us finish school the last day of April, because we will take several breaks.

After I have assigned a book per week, the really hard part comes. I sit down with the manual, and look at each title in detail. I choose which activities/subjects we will cover for each book based on what the child needs to focus on, what we have already learned, or what his interest is. I will ask my child frequently which he would prefer to study. I want him to feel like he can direct some of his learning. Also, at times, I cannot decide, and can't figure out what he would like best, so asking him seems to be the best way to relieve the pressure from my brain! I write all these things down on the calendar. Then I put them back into my calendar on Publisher. I know I could skip this step by just typing straight into Publisher, but I like the feel of a pen and paper sometimes.

Then, when I do all that, I go post on the FIAR boards about how much I rock!

Here is a sample of one month of planning. I think you may be able to click on the pic and make it bigger. I hope so.

Monkey's Love Language

Today my son walks into my bedroom. He starts to tell me about some choice bananas that are all speckly. We also had the perfect amount to make some Banana Bread! He was giving me those sweet big eyes, and begging so nicely...How could I say no?

He runs out, and begins to announce loudly, "Mama love me! Mama loves me! MAMA LOVES ME!!!!!"

I guess I am baking some banana bread today. ::Big Grin:: Because I do totally love him!

What's that you say? What recipe will I be using? Well, I will tell you.

This is a great recipe from my friend Liz. Liz and I used to live in the same apartment complex when we were first married. Her husband was a med student. They were only going to be in our area a few years, then it was off to the wild blue yonder. I am so glad that she was brought in my life. We had so many days of hanging out as newlyweds, and as first time parents. She made fabulous dessert. She introduced me to the wonderful world of the KitchenAid mixer. In our group of friends, she was famous for her cookies, and banana bread. I think it is a basic recipe, but coming from Liz, it was just fantastic. She had a special touch. So, without further ado, here is the famous Liz Banana Bread.

1/2 cup Butter
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1 cup sugar
3 bananas mashed
1 teaspoon soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine all. Beat until smooth. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Makes 1 loaf

I usually make muffins, because some of my family is weird and they don't like nuts. So we do half with and half without. Also, they are done faster. Yummy!

The Value of a Lego

I have no carpet in my house. I also hate sweeping and mopping, so I put this chore off for incredible lengths of time. So, when I actually get around to doing it, it takes a while.

One thing that came to mind as I swept out behind the refrigerator was, "How much stuff I am willing to pick through to save a lego? Are legos really that expensive?"

They must be, because I will sift through a ton of dirt and cereal and all other matter of yuckiness to save one. Also matchbox cars, marbles, lego men, and pennies.

So many treasures are found on sweeping day it is pretty exciting. If my kids are awake a lot more things are saved from the dust bin, but if they are sleeping..... mwwwahhhaaaahaaahaa into the trash it goes!

What are you willing do dig through the dust pile for?

Peaches - How I Loathe Thee!

So, we had that really fun excursion to the peach orchard. We spent a good hour in line, to get some under ripe peaches that were all damaged and a bucket of "good" ones. Well, they have been a nightmare. I tried to leave the so called "over ripes" covered with a towel to let them ripen. They started to rot. FANTASTIC!

So then I cut off all the yucky parts, and went ahead and cut up and froze the good parts. GROSS! All while being queasy due to wonderful all day morning sickness.

Then today, I thought the "good" ones should be ready. Well for some reason, they all shrunk. Some aren't all the way ripe. And the ones that are ripe, are ok. So, that is not a total waste. So I have 5 peaches left that hopefully will ripen into a delicious peach for snacking. The others are all in the freezer.

I don't think we will be doing peaches next year....something just tells me we won't.

Twilight - Yes I Am Into Teen Vampire Love Stories

So, a few weeks ago I finished the first 3 books of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. A ton of the young women in our church's youth program were reading them. Then I found out a few of their mom's were reading them. So, I decided to give them a look-see. Um, well for about 5 days I did nothing but read these books. To say I find them very interesting and well written is an understatement. I can't wait for the next book to come out in August. Yes, I have preordered it!

So in the meantime I decided it would be fun to host a little waiting party. This is the idea. You have to find a song to represent each character in the book, or as many as you want. But all entries must at least include a song for Bella and Edward.

You can either just list them in the comments section or post a link to your blog. I was going to try a new trick of embedding the video from Youtube, but guess what? It won't work! ANNOYING, so here they are in hyperlink...SORRY. PSYCHE! I figured it out!

Edward - Three Days Grace - Never Too Late


Bella - Seether Featuring Amy Lee - Broken

Having a Little Fun

Yesterday I woke up at 5 am. Not my usual wake up time, but we had gone to bed early, so it is not that weird. I was trying to decide if I should go back to sleep, or get up. Then I had the best idea! I turned over and woke up my sweetheart, after waiting for 3o minutes. 5:30 isn't near as insane as 5 when it is a day you can sleep in right??? So, I turn over and say, "Let's take the kids out to breakfast!" I couldn't believe it but he said, "OK!"

So as he showered and dressed, I went and woke up the kids and told them we were going some place fun and to get up and get dressed. I forgot "some place fun" to a kid means Disneyland, or the lake, or some other lavish vacation spot. So I quickly had to squash all those sweet childlike dreams, and let them in on the secret that we are just going to breakfast. We never do that, so I thought it would be fun.

It was! We went to the Huddle House, and had a wonderful breakfast. We found a newspaper insert for the local Peach Festival that is going on next week. We love the Peach Festival, with the parade, and the exhibits, and the annual Peach Hunt.

After breakfast we went to the peach orchard and stood in line forever for some peaches. I tried to get some overripes, but those are really not over ripe. They are just damaged and still not ripe. So now they are sitting on a towel on my counter, ripening, as I try to keep bugs off with another towel over them. Won't do that again! Next time, just shell out the money and buy the good ones, and let them ripen.

The process of harvesting and selling the peaches is pretty neat. We watched closely as they brought in the large crates of peaches that were harvested that morning, and the whole crate is set in a water bath. The rinsed peaches then go to a sorting bin, where they sort over ripes (cough - damaged cough), extra firm (for gift boxes), and number ones (ready to eat, or will be ready in a day or two). Then everyone stands in line and waits to be served as they come off the line. I will add pictures as soon as I figure out how to get them off of Andrew's cell phone.

We also went to my mother in law's work and drew pictures for her while we waited for the peach place to open. My kids love going to see Nana, and visiting with all of her co-workers. She works in the university post office. So there is a whole other layer of excitement there. Mouse especially likes to wait for students to come get there mail, and then she surprises them by saying hello after they open thier box. HA!

Then we wrapped up the morning with a movie from Netflix. Peter Pan the live action one. That is by far my favorite. Then a glorious nap. I woke up early remember!

What have you been doing just for fun?