All Creatures of our God and King

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One of the activities I like to do with the kiddos for "school" (not sure you can call it that when it is so darn fun and exciting) is just exploring creation. And that is much easier to do these days than it was during the winter months.

We enjoy taking nature walks, observing plants, animals and yes, the occasional insect that we have never encountered before. I love it. L-O-V-E it! It might be one of my favorite things to do with the kids.

I was one of those kids that hated science growing up. I did well enough in it to make the grade, but I never found it the least bit interesting (math was more up my alley). In fact, I dreaded it.

Now that I am a homeschool mom I see science in a whole new light. The process of discovery is what gets me. It is so exciting to learn new things about the world around us. I am convinced the reason I hated science was because it was never taught in this way before. I was never encouraged to wonder and awe and marvel.

Creation is just truly, absolutely, unequivocally amazing. Not sure if you know this, but God made some pretty interesting, fascinating creatures. Sometimes, I just shake my head and ask Him why He did that. And most of the time, the best answer I come up with is, "Why not?" He is just such a creative God. It is really, truly marvelous. And sometimes, I think He created certain creatures in certain ways to bring us closer to Him, so we would see the beauty of it and be more in awe and more in love with Him than we were before.

That's one thing I love about homeschooling. I get to be there to guide and encourage my kids and see the wonder in their eyes when they see something amazing for the first time. To tailor our curriculum to the delight and wonder of the hearts of my children is such a blessing.

This morning I got to witness such an event as Madison called to me. I was in the bathroom getting ready and I hear, "Mommy, come quick, come quick!" Those of you who are parents know that can either mean something very good or very bad.

Thankfully, in this case it was something very good. Madison had been looking at the tree outside my bedroom window and she spotted a new bird she had never seen before. I had her run and grab the camera quickly and we were able to snap a few pictures. Thankfully, our new little friend didn't seem to mind being the subject of our impromptu photo shoot.



Why, hello there.



Isn't he magnificent?

After our friend flew away, we quickly went downstairs to try to figure out what kind of bird this was. I could have gotten upset that we spent half the morning "wasting time" instead of getting our school work done (yes, we do school on Saturdays). I could have gotten my panties in a bunch that we were falling behind. I could have ignored my children's curiosity and put out the spark of delight at their discovery.

Instead, I chose to embrace it for what it was-a beautiful moment where we could share in something eternal. I am so glad I chose to capture their hearts in that moment rather than hurry them along in their phonics and times tables. I am even more grateful for the way God used that very experience to bless us so richly, to help us to delight in the simple beauty of His creation and to deepen our relationships with each other.

And then, as if that weren't enough, we came downstairs for our Bible Study time, and what verse do we end up reading but this:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6.26

I'm sorry. Call me simple, but there are no words in my vocabulary to describe just how beautiful and good my God is.

What do you do to create and capture wonder and awe in the hearts of your children?

What does it mean to be healthy?

Ethan enjoys his green smoothie-yum!

Our family has been on a quest of sorts for about 3 years to become more healthy and physically fit. It all started when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes with my third child.

At that time I was sent to a registered dietitian for a meal plan that was intended to help manage the diabetes without pharmaceutical intervention. The result of the appointment was me counting carbs and limiting all carbohydrates during my pregnancy. It didn't work, despite me following it religiously, and I became dependent upon self-injected insulin to manage my blood glucose levels.

Thankfully, everything worked out fine and Brady was born perfectly healthy with no ill effects whatsoever.

One positive result of this process was that I began doing a lot of research. A LOT a lot! I began to learn more and more about what it meant to be truly healthy.

News flash: the key is not a low-fat, low-carb, super restrictive diet. Sure you could lose weight that way, but would you really be HEALTHY? And who would want to?

My weight and dieting have been something with which I have always struggled. Shocking, I know. Even when I was skinny (yes, it's true-I should post some pictures sometime so you'll believe me) it was a constant struggle and a constant source of hardship and pain for me (think starving myself for a week at a time to get to where I thought I should be-yeah, not good). I used to think I had to count calories, eat a bunch of stuff I didn't like, deprive myself of foods I loved, and eat low-fat, low-calorie, low-flavor food.

However, over these past few years as I have learned more and more, my thinking on what it means to be healthy has changed. My basic, simple philosophy on food and diet now is this: the closer a food is to the way God created it, the better it is for you. That's it, in a nutshell. I figure God knew pretty well what He was doing-why mess with it?

So, how has that changed the way we eat? Well, no more fast food for one. The thought of a McDonald's hamburger totally disgusts me now. That one seems pretty obvious though-we all know fast food is bad for us right? RIGHT?

I also have cut out most forms of processed foods (I will buy the occasional box of healthy cereal for convenience sake). If I don't know what an ingredient is or I can't pronounce it, most likely it will not go in our shopping cart.

There is nothing low-fat about our diet, because most foods that carry that label are full of preservatives and man-made fillers and sweeteners that are way worse for you than natural fats. I REFUSE to count calories and fat grams. We simply eat good, wholesome, almost always made from scratch foods, and lots and lots of raw foods.

One way I have started helping my family increase their intake of fresh fruits and veggies (preferably organic, in-season, local produce) is by making smoothies. Smoothies are so awesome because you can put just about anything in them and they taste great.

Some of my favorite smoothie ingredients are bananas, mango, strawberries, blueberries (any kind of berry, really), clementines, grapes, apples, spinach, kale, avocado, carrots, tomatoes etc... Pretty much any combination that sounds good to you will work, but you want to get to the point where your veggie content makes up the majority of your smoothie.

You can make some pretty colorful, flavorful, interesting combinations. If your kids are particular about color, you probably want to go heavier on the berries as they tend to do a good job of masking the green/brown color of the veggies you want to add. I also add homemade yogurt and kefir (a natural probiotic).

I think he likes it!

Here is a link to The Green Smoothie Girl, who first got us started on this idea-well after a sweet friend referred me there. There are a lot of awesome resources on her site if you are interested in pursuing a more whole foods kind of diet.

I hope to blog about our food choices a lot more in the future. We are venturing into the world of gardening for the first time this summer-wish us luck!!! Hopefully, I can remember to blog about that adventure!

What about you? What do you think it means to be healthy? Have you been successful at making dietary changes in your family?

Menu-Plan Monday

One of the best ways I have found to stay organized as a homeschooling mom is to menu-plan. I cannot live without my menu plan. All sorts of bad things happen when I don't menu plan. I have found that we eat out more often, we eat fast food (blech!) more often, my kitchen stays messy and I am generally grumpier when I don't menu plan. It's true!

I think the reason why menu-planning affects my mood the way it does is that making healthy, yummy meals for my family is an extreme passion of mine. You might say I am a bit obsessed with it. I get highly irritated when I can't get some time in my kitchen. I love cooking from scratch. I love coming up with new recipes and finding ways to stretch our budget in the kitchen. I love knowing that the work I do in my kitchen is one major way I can show my family that I love them.

But, I am not one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of girls. I HAVE to have a plan. I cannot look into my fridge at 5 p.m. and wonder what is for dinner. That is a recipe for disaster in our household. I need the comfort of knowing I have everything I need rather than realizing at the last minute I am missing a vital ingredient and trying to get 4 kids out the door and to the store and still have time to get everything ready. I do try to have a few back-up meals that I can whip up on the fly for those days when things get crazy-hectic and my schedule falls apart, but for the most part I like to stick to my menu-plan.

I also have found that I save more money at the grocery store this way. Plus, it just gives me piece of mind knowing in advance what we are going to have. I can plan for leftovers on our busy evenings where we won't be at home for long. I know when to take out meat for thawing. I can throw stuff in the crock pot in the morning on days we are extra busy and I know that my family will have a nutritious, yummy meal ready for dinnertime.

I will let you in on a little secret. My grocery budget for our family of 6 is $100 per week. This budget includes all types of toiletry items as well as all food items. With the rising costs of foods, this budget can be a bit difficult at times, but I am grateful for it because it also requires me to be creative in the kitchen.

So how DO I plan my menu? I have a process that I go through every Sunday to plan my meals for the upcoming week. I plan for three meals a day, plus sometimes snacks/treats, for Monday through Sunday. Some like to plan by the month and just rotate many of the same meals on a monthly basis. While I like this idea in theory, I have found it hard to implement because I like to take advantage of weekly deals to make my meals for the week. So here are the steps I use, which can be adapted to suit anyone-there is no one right way to menu plan:

1. Rick brings home the local Sunday paper each week. I sort through all the ads, making notes of things we need and ideas for meals planned around the good deals. Most supermarkets have what are called "loss-leaders" which are items that are deeply discounted, that they are taking a loss on, in order to get you into the store. I have done this long enough that I know what the best prices are, when things are likely to go on sale, and how much I am willing to pay for certain items. I also clip coupons and like to pair coupons with sales to get a good price on certain items. I am not an extreme couponer because a lot of the things I buy (mostly perishables) you can rarely find a coupon for.
2. After I have made a tentative list, I will then go to my recipe books, box, or my favorite online resources and round out my meal list. If I am using a recipe book (which I rarely do anymore) I will make note of the book I found the recipe in and the page the recipe is on so I can find it quickly. If I am getting recipes on-line, I will write them on a 3 x 5 index card. All of the recipes for the week will be brought to the front of my recipe box so I can find them very quickly. If I try a new recipe and we like it, I add it to the box permanently.
3. Then I expand my grocery list based on my recipes. I check my refrigerator, freezer and pantry to be sure I have the items I need for a particular recipe and whatever is missing then gets added to the list. This helps me avoid buying things that I already have in the pantry and helps me stay organized. Plus it ensures my fridge and pantry get cleaned out once a week-BONUS!
4. I get out my calendar and pencil in what I want to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day that week. It helps me to use my calendar because I can see at a glance days that will be particularly busy or evenings where we have something planned and I might not need to make anything that night.
5. Then I go shopping on Monday. Rick is home on Mondays and we like to shop together, or sometimes he goes for me-what a relief! Have you ever tried to drag 4 kids in and out of several stores in one day-it's not a pretty sight! I do shop at multiple stores to get the best deals on particular items. If you don't have the time or desire to do this I suggest shopping at Aldi if you have one in your area, as they tend to have the lowest prices on just about everything. Wal-mart is not my favorite store but they do price match and we have one very close to our house, so if I am in a hurry and don't have time to run all over town to the different stores, I will just take the ads into Wal-mart and get the same price. If you do this, make sure to clearly mark what you want and read the fine print carefully for sizes of items. This will help you get through the line faster and is courteous to those who may be behind you in line. I also like to shop at Meijer, Payless and Marsh as well because they double coupons.

And that's about it. I post my menu calendar on my fridge and check it every morning and evening so I can see what is coming up next. It's not a perfect system and I don't always stick to it but it helps keep me sane.

I don't know about you, but dinner-time in our house is chaotic. Daddy is coming home, we are picking up and finishing up schoolwork, and I am trying to get dinner on the table for 6 hungry mouths, one of whom is usually a VERY vocal baby! So anything I can do to help myself accomplish this more efficiently is great for me. I can chop veggies for a salad while the baby is napping, throw oatmeal in the crockpot the night before so breakfast is ready in the morning, assemble the ingredients of a casserole in the morning before the kids get up and pop it in the oven before Rick gets home. It's what works for us!

This week's Menu Plan:

• Monday: B ~ bagels; L ~ peanut butter and honey sandwiches, cottage cheese, celery; D ~ dinner out
• Tuesday: B ~ crock pot oatmeal; L ~ ham and cheese quesadillas, fruit; D ~ pork roast, sweet potato casserole, green beans
• Wednesday: B ~ cereal; L ~ peanut butter and banana sandwiches, carrots & dip, fruit; D ~ spaghetti & meatballs, salad, homemade garlic bread
• Thursday: B ~ breakfast cookies; L ~ ramen noodles, fruit; D ~ leftovers
• Friday: B ~ homemade granola & yogurt; L ~ PB&J, cottage cheese, banana/mango/blueberry smoothies with homemade kefir; D ~ beer-battered fish, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, beer bread
• Saturday: B ~ cereal; L ~ black bean, corn and cheese quesadillas, fruit; D ~ linguini with clam sauce
• Sunday: B ~ muffins/bagels; L ~ lunch out (we usually eat out after church but not always-if we come home we usually just munch on whatever we can grab or leftovers from the week); D ~ leftovers

What about you? Do you menu plan? How do you do it?

Teaching Our Children to Read

One of the hardest, yet most rewarding tasks I have accomplished as a homeschool mom has been teaching my children to read. I have to admit that I was more than a little intimidated when we first started our homeschooling journey. We were doing this thing for real now and the pressure was on. At least, that's the way I perceived it. So I was determined to do everything right.

Ha! Boy, did I have another thing coming. So far, I have taught two children to read and am working on a third. And I have been through 5 reading curriculum! Yep, that's right. I've failed. I've spent money on curriculum only to toss it later.

Anyone who knows me, knows that is a very hard thing for me to do. Not only do I detest wasting money, I can't stand to leave things unfinished. It goes against every fiber of my being to not read a book all the way through, even if I don't like that book. I can't stand it. Ooh, and admitting failure? OUCH. Especially where my kids are concerned!

However, throughout the last few years of homeschooling I have learned to let a lot of that go. I am so thankful for the counsel of some veteran homeschool moms who let me know IT'S OKAY. In fact, I have really started to embrace it. I try to remember not all children are alike and what works so well for some, may not be a good fit for others (one of the plethora of reasons why we love homeschooling-individualized curriculum). I love each of my kids' personalities and uniqueness. Each of them learn in a completely different way. And I love that I am so blessed to be able to tailor their education to that which best suits them.

At any rate, I really struggled through the beginning days/weeks (oh who am I kidding? MONTHS!!!) of homeschooling. I focused on reading and phonics instruction to the exclusion of all else because it was THAT important to me that I get this one thing right. I knew all other learning hinged on them learning this one thing well. And if I had to do it all over again, I would do everything the same, flubs and all. I have learned so much just through trial and error.

And believe it or not, after all of that, I discovered it's not all that hard to teach a child to read. After a few bumps in the road, and some studying and reading and learning on my part, I feel like we have a pretty good system in place for the process of teaching our children to read. Each child goes at his/her own pace, but the process is pretty consistent. Of course, I am always open to changing things up, should a particular child require it.

I have had many people ask me about how we go about teaching our children to read, so I thought I would share what I have learned here.

As I said before, I have used several different curriculum over the years-Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Alpha Phonics, McGuffey Readers and the Classic Curriculum workbooks, The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. All of these are good programs and each has its own pros and cons (I can discuss those in another post or if anyone leaves a comment and wants a more specific review, I'd be happy to give it).

That being said, I think success in teaching your child to read has less to do with what curriculum you use (there are so many to choose from and most are really good and effective) and more to do with your attitude.

Most of all I want my children to develop a love for learning so I introduce them to quality literature at a young age-no junk allowed in our house! I am intentional about working to give our children a print-rich environment. We turn off the tv (and computer and video games-we actually don't watch tv or play video games but that's another post for another day), curl up in a chair and read, read, read together many times a day. This is the absolutely most important and first step to teaching your children to read.

As I am reading, I try engage my children's minds with lots of open-ended questions. I read with lots of expression and attempt to make the story exciting and fun. We also read together as a whole family on a nightly basis (we are currently working through the whole Chronicles of Narnia series, something we do every other year-right now we are in the middle of Prince Caspian). We make it a point to let the kids see us reading as well.

Learning to read should also be an exciting and fun, low-pressure kind of a thing. I take a heavily phonics-based approach (why I do so is another involved discussion, but I would be happy to answer any questions about that as well) and start teaching our kids at a young age (2/3) letter names and sounds (in a low key way, a-a-apple, when eating an apple for example) and then move on to a more structured approach at around 4 years of age.

That is not to say I want my children reading fluently at 4, just that's what I have found to be a good age in terms of the child's motivation level and excitement about learning to read. They really begin to see how limited their world is when they can't read. My goal is to try to capture that spark and run with it.

I also want to be sure to go at the child's pace-it shouldn't be a frustrating, pull-your-hair-out kind of thing. If they don't get it right away, I am persistent, unafraid to go back and review and repeat a lot, and most importantly, I try to be exceptionally patient. I don't ever want reading to become a chore for my children. If your child is struggling, stop and try again in a few weeks if you need to, being sure to keep up with reading good stories frequently in the meantime.

I always start by teaching individual letter sounds, teaching the difference between the consonants and the vowels. Then, I move on to teaching how to blend the letter sounds together, once they are able to recognize each letter and say its sound without really thinking about it. I will start with three letter words with short vowel sounds that follow the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern (C-A-T). I also like to teach in word families, so along with cat, I teach hat and mat and rat and sat etc... I continue this way until I have done each vowel.

Once they have mastered these words and can say them as soon as they see them (not having to sound them out letter by letter) I move into more complicated things such as consonant blends and digraphs (two or more letters that when placed together make a single sound-sh, for example), still sticking with short vowels.

After that I will move onto long vowels and all the ways to make them. We start with the most common ways (silent e) and move on to the lesser ways (igh says long i, for example). Along with this, I will start to teach phonics rules and have them memorize these rules to help them learn new words.

Next, I will do words that are exceptions to the rules (although I will have been teaching some of the very common sight words already-words that don't follow a phonics rule and can't be sounded out such as the, of, two, have, give, love etc...). You will find that once you get to this point your child will naturally start sounding out bigger, multi-syllabic words on their own.

Another thing I like to do is get the kids reading right away. Teach them a few short words and then use them in a "story" they can read all on their own (the cat sat on the mat), and then keep having them read stories the whole time, not just words (Bob Books are great for this). Let them taste success!

So, that's pretty much it, those are the basic steps I follow to teach our children to read. As I am teaching them I like to engage as many senses as possible so we will do different activities to reinforce whatever we are learning, but the foundation is pretty much the same.

If you have any questions or you are struggling with the process, I would be happy to help any way I can-just leave me a comment, and I promise to respond. I don't claim to be an expert, but I have done tons of research and hopefully someone can learn from my mistakes besides me! Almost all children will start to learn to read using these simple steps. This may not apply to the struggling learner or the special needs child, but it often will even in those cases. Just remember to be patient and go at your child's pace.

There is nothing that makes my heart swell with pride like seeing the light bulb go on in my kid's head and see them truly start to get it. To see them pick up a book off the shelf and start sounding out words. To watch them get so excited as they taste the success of reading their very first sentence, and then their first story and later, their first book. Oh, it's so, so sweet.

What about you? Do you have any tricks of the trade that you like to use when teaching a child to read?

True Romance

I have never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day. I think it's a silly holiday invented for the purpose of increasing sales for retailers after the post-Christmas lull. I find a lot of that stuff really, really sappy.

But what I don't find sappy is true romance. The kind of romance that causes your husband to wipe your tears away in the middle of the night when you are so sleep deprived you can't see straight. The kind of romance that causes your husband to quote your marriage vows to you when he sees you at your worst and you are humiliated and don't even want him to look at you. The kind of romance that enables a husband to be a solid rock when you need him to be, even though on the inside his heart is breaking too after you lose a baby.

Most of you who read this blog are our friends and family and you can probably tell from the above paragraph that those are all experiences that have happened in our lives. And let me tell you, my husband knows about true romance. He knows about commitment and loyalty and dedication to his family and loving his wife. Really loving her.

And I am not the best wife. I am high-maintenance and emotionally needy. My favorite coping mechanism when I am hurt, confused or angry is to withdraw. I am impatient and I demand perfection way too often of those around me, without ever feeling the need to deliver that myself. I am terribly selfish. And, I hate to admit, I am not a very good housekeeper.

And yet, he stays. He supports me in all of my crazy ideas (and I have a lot of them). He has never once raised his voice at me. Not once and I swear I am not exaggerating. I never have to be afraid in his presence. He protects me and he loves me, even when I am unlovable.

Ladies, that is true romance. You can keep your flowers and your chocolates and your cheesy cards and gifts. I'll take my real man any day of the week.

So for this Valentine's Day, I am taking the 30 Day Challenge , from Nancy Leigh DeMoss, to encourage my husband. I found out about this through one of my favorite bloggers, Kathy over at Teaching Good Things.

Wives, won't you join me? If you are interested, check out Kathy's post about the challenge. You can also sign-up here to receive the daily e-mail updates about the challenge.

If you are interested in taking the challenge, leave a comment here. If you blog, feel free to link up to your blog. I plan on blogging about the challenge as much as I can. Ladies, let us understand the power of our words and give our husbands this awesome gift of encouragement for Valentine's Day. I would love to hear how it changes your marriage over the next 30 days.