First Grade

Yeah I know...it has only taken me more than half the year to post this...yay for first grade!

We have gone to a year round schedule this year which we are ALL so EXCITED about!  We are on 3 months and off 1 month. It works out nicely having all of December, April, and August off. These months give me a time to rest, work on projects, and equip for the next 3 months.The first 3 months we focused on science, the second 3 months we are focusing on history, and the last 3 months we will focus on unit studies.

Bible: The Golden Children's Bible
I can't say how much I like this book. It's so hard to find straight from the bible story books with NOTHING added...so weird I know. This is an old book but I love the pictures. So many story bibles out there are too cartoony for my taste.

Dad has been reading The Action Bible at night which they both love!

Math: We are still using the Ruth Beechick approach to math with an added workbook. We use dice games, rocket math sheets, games like Uno and Monopoly, etc. We do some worksheets from  www.dadsworksheets.com and this book...

Reading: We are still using this book...

some Bob Books and a lot of books printed from ReadingA-Z. I'm REALLY pleased with these books!

Writing: We are practicing our letter formation this year and started a bible journal that gives him a place on top for a picture of what we read and lines on the bottom to summarize the lesson.

Science: We have learned about trees/plants, the water cycle, lightening, tornadoes, and used this book:

History: We have learned about Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, The Wright Brothers, Knights and Castles, and we are currently on Vikings. My son has really liked this book...

Unit Studies: I haven't planned this part yet but Little Astronaut and I will be having a brainstorming date sometime in April.

Read Alouds: We have not read as many as last year because the Action Bible usually takes that time slot *Smile*

Where the Red Fern Grows (try reading the last 2 chapters aloud without crying...I dare you!)
Rod and Staff Readers (Busy Days, More Busy Days, etc.) We read these last year but both children enjoy them and they are full of great life lessons!

Now that it's spring time the curriculum catalogs are coming in! I knew that I wanted to homeschool before our children were born so I started me research VERY early. I thought for a long time I would be a 'Boxed Kit' kind of mom. I was so intimidated by the eclectic idea. But as we neared Kindergarten I realized I knew what I wanted and I was just not finding the 'Box Kit that fitted my needs. Now I'm looking into second grade and I really do enjoy finding the right pieces of the puzzle to complete our vision for that year. Happy browsing everyone!

As I was in the kitchen today...

...all of a sudden I wanted to slam my hot pink-giraffe printed broom down on the tile. I wanted to stomp my feet, throw my fists to my sides, lift my head to God and yell, 'But I want it now!' I really did think this. I could see myself in my mind doing it. I'm so glad I didn't actually do it. I would have had to explain this embarrassing behavior to two wide eyed children.

This is the problem...The Lord has planted a couple seeds in my heart. He has given me a couple visions in my mind. He has gifted me a couple desires in my soul. The problem is...He has told me to wait.

While lying in bed tonight I was reminded of my childish behavior and my need of repentance. 'But you didn't really do what you wanted to do' some of you may be thinking. But I did. My childish attitude was in my heart. It was in my mind. It was in my soul. And it was ugly. I asked the Lord to forgive me which he graciously did ya know {Grin}. He listened to my frustrations and he granted me comfort.

He reminded me of faithful Noah who built an ark for 120 years for a flood that was unimaginable since there had never been rain and no great sea was near to cause a flood. He reminded me of patient Abram who was to be a father of a great nation yet did not receive his first child until he was Abraham and 100 years old. *sigh* Thank you Jesus for your comfort.

I believe I will sleep in peace tonight as I have realized my rightful place in the Father's Hands.

"And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise." Hebrews 6:15   

Real Granola Bars

This is what you will need:

4 1/2 Cups Oats
    1   Cup Whole Wheat Flour
    1    tsp Baking Soda
    1    tsp Vanilla
    1    Cup Butter (softened)
    1    Cup Honey

I also add:

1/2 Cup Non-Dairy Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Raisins
1/2 Cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 Cup Slivered Almonds
1/2+ Cup Extra Honey
 2-3 T Chia Seeds

To acclimate the children and husband *grin* I made these each time adding one more ingredient  to the batch. I've never gotten a complaint and we eat these as snacks or even for breakfast with some apple sauce on the side.

You want this to be on the stickier side, not crumbly at all, so I eyeball the extra honey until it sticks together.

Butter a 9x13 pan and smash down.

Bake 15-20 mins at 350*

Until golden brown...

^ This is an absolutely horrible picture! Sorry. *Cringe* 

Wait at least 10 mins until cutting. I usually make this at night and wait to cut in the morning because I like crisp cuts. If you are a little Martha Stewart-like then I'm sure you will cut all your pieces and put them into individual packages that look so neat and cute. Or you can leave them up on the counter covered with a cloth napkin and devour the whole pan in about 48 hrs like our family.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do! We do not treat these like treats because they are a great source of  protein and the oats should keep you regular *grin*. Merry Christmas everyone!

Where I take forever to give you a pancake recipe...

     I know I've talked about this before but after a dreaded trip to WinCo on a Sunday I just have to say it again. My heart is saddened to see cart after cart bursting at the seams with boxes and cans of gross food...if you can call it food. But, it was not that long ago that we were there too...Pop Tarts, dessert-like cereal, mac 'n' cheese, 24 pack chip bags, corn dogs (I do miss those sometimes *grin*), Uncrustables, frozen waffles, Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh my! Man, this stuff is slowly killing us.

    Now let me rewind and give you some Me history *smile*. I was not taught how to cook. I don't think my mom was either. I don't think many of us were taught how to cook. Seriously, I had no idea you could make pancakes without a mix. I thought you had to have a sort of talent to bake and cook. It was not until I met two wonderful friends, Jess and Anna, that I discovered people actually do prepare Real Food for their families! Thank you girls! You inspired me!

    A friend of mine asked for my pancake recipe a while back and that's when I thought, "Hey, there are people just like me that want to learn about Real Food. Where do they start? Where did I start? I remember feeling overwhelmed and intimidated by this whole Real Food thing. So here's a challenge for you...toss your pancake mix (and your pancake syrup while you're at it) and try it from scratch! It can be done!

 


Rule #1: If you are going to spend the time to make something from scratch then double or triple it! (if you can)

Pancakes:

1 1/2 Cups Unbleached Flour 
1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
    2   T Baking Powder
    3   T Sugar
   3/4 t Salt
    1   T Vanilla
    3   T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
    3   Eggs
2 1/4 Cups Liquid...we use Almond or Rice Milk...sometimes I use half water or all water and it works
    2   T Chia Seeds

Some days we add dairy free chocolate chips. Recently I've been sneaking in a couple tablespoons of pumpkin puree. 


*Make them to fit in your toaster so you can heat them quickly in the morning.
*Buy some Quart Jars like the ones above and make a few ahead of time.
*Use honey instead of pancake syrup...why?? Go check the label.

Tada! This recipe is tripled and makes about 17 1/2 pancakes. We go through these in about 2-3 days. Make sure your pancakes go from the skillet to a wire cooling rack (Do Not Stack! This will make them soggy for the next day.) Let them cool completely. I prefer to store them in glass in the cupboard but you can use plastic and store in the fridge.

This was one of my first 'from scratch' recipes and I can make them with my eyes closed now...Miss Adventure helps me sometimes and she already can tell me what comes next *beam*.

Have You Told Your Children They Are Not Good Enough?

I do a lot of thinking in two places of my house...in the shower and at the sink. Sometimes it's just me and my thoughts but many times The Lord meets me here. Today he brought to my mind two trips to Target and two different mothers. Both times my children and I were walking along and both mothers had a child with them that was just falling apart at the seams. I smile at both mothers and try to say 'I understand' with my eyes. We've all had bad days and it doesn't help when you have an audience. Both times the mothers looked at me and my children and looked at their own and said something so painful I'll never forget their words, "Look at them! They are acting so well! Don't you want to be like them?!"

My heart breaks at these words. Do these mothers not understand what they just told their children? Do they have any clue how deep that wound will go? They just told their precious child 'You are not good enough.' Does Jesus do that to us? Does he compare us to each other? Does he frown and shake his head that we have not lived up to the standard of the Christian next door? No. He does not put us down he lifts us up. We know we are not worthy of his love and discipline. Does he want us to live in shame of it though? No. He wants us to live in Freedom. 

These children were not failing their mothers. These mothers were failing their children. As I look back I wonder what these mothers would have said if I walked up to them and told them, "You are not as pretty as the woman in aisle 3. Don't you want to be like her ?"

Wouldn't this be equally painful?  Wouldn't this eat her up inside? Even if her soul dismissed the statement, would her spirit ever forget? I think not.

Take heart mothers. Do not fail your children.

Do More Than Survive Summer

Schooooooooools out for summer! Don't lie you know the song popped right into your head when you read that {smile}. I hear so many parents at the end of summer say, 'I can't wait til school is back in! My kids are driving me crazy!'. I hear ya! But! I believe the key to a joy and peace filled summer is...A Plan. I think a lot of parents just figure their kids want to veg out all summer. Trust me I'm sure they will last about a week or two but then they need stimulation! And I don't mean TV, video games or even playdates. If your children are in a private, public school, or educated at home they are used to schedules and constant transitions. Being at home without these can make them unmanageable, cranky, and racing away from home to friend's houses.

Take the summer to reconnect with your children. They have just the spent the majority of  9 months away from their home base.  We are striving to win our children's hearts to the Lord but first we must win their hearts to ours. Don't push them out of your home and schedule five days a week away from their respite place. Read this article about being the 'Door Opener' and start winning your children's hearts!

This is my plan...

Most nights I jot down a plan for the next day. For example the first day of our summer I wanted to get some cleaning done but of course I need to remember my children come first so this was my plan that day...

Breakfast

Bible with children

Clean bathrooms (they help with this- cleaning baseboards and cabinets) 

Play shoots and ladders

Laundry

Stamps with the children

Wash dishes 

3-D Pirate book and 3D Dino Book

Of course this includes Quiet Time, lunch, and snacks so this was a full day for me but the children were happy all day because they were not pushed aside or forgotten.

Here's our Summer Adventure List:

Trip to the doughnut shop

Trip to the cookie shop

Trip to the ice cream shop

Local Zoo

Visit Spray Parks

Make Smores

Visit Barnes and Noble- they love to browse the kids area

Make peanut butter balls

Make homemade paint 

Out of town Zoo

Craft Mondays

Throw an Un-Birthday Party

Build Fort

Camping

Fishing

Feed the ducks

Visit Insect Lore

Ride Bus

Ride the train

Summer $1 Movies

Beach Trip

Make a Bible Trivia Game

I'm sure we will add a few more here and there. We hardly visit the doughnut, cookie, and ice cream shop because we usually make these at home so it's a big deal for my children when we do visit them {smile} It's not about what exactly you do or how much you spend it's about building memories and trust together.

I also have my own Project List:

Paint mirror

Repaint black table

Paint coop

Extend chicken run

Come up to date on kids' scrapbooks

Make Miss Adventure's dress

Work on school schedule for next year

Then there's one last thing that is SUPER important...re-training in areas that need it. A few months ago we made a list of house rules. We were all very good at keeping to those rules but just like anything practice makes perfect and we need to  re-train (practice) what is expected. 

These are our rules at the moment:

1. Obey right away. 

* This is one we train for every few months as we can become slack after a while. Children push a little here and there and parents expect less and less little by little.

2. Do not get out of Quiet Time. Do not ask to get out of Quiet Time. 

*  The children have an hour and a half of Quiet time every day. Miss Adventure sleeps and Little Explorer plays for half and lays down for half. The talking and coming out of Quiet Time was become excessive and less and less Quiet for any of us.

3. No talking while brushing teeth.

* This task should take 5 minutes but with the talking and whining was taking 15 minutes! And leaving mommy and daddy very frustrated and tired.

4. Bed Time: No yelling. No getting out of bed. 

* The children share a room so this can get out of hand. Bedtime would start at 8 and take 1 hour to fall asleep.

5. Do not ask for something more than once.

* This drives me crazy plain and simple.

6. No potty talk.

* No explanation need right?

This week I choose #2 and #4 to re-train. Every time they obeyed the rules they got a treat (2 PEZ candies). Every time they disobeyed they missed out on their treat which was a sad sight from Miss Adventure by the way. Starting tomorrow we will move on to another rule. Now that they have been reminded and have had time to practice #2 and #4 they will receive discipline for disobeying. House rules may make some of you cringe but children need to know what is expected of them and each parent needs to know what is expected so one is not a softy and taken for a ride{like my husband...grin}.

Happy Summer!!  

What?! No meat?!

A few days ago my hubby and I watched Forks Over Knives. My husband is very gracious with me changing our food/health/hygiene stuff. But after watching this film he was more than 'ok' with it. He was totally on board and excited to push our journey further. I love my husband. He is just so wonderful {Grin}.

We watched this film on Tuesday and payday was on Thursday. I got a text from him Wednesday saying...'Just got Panda for lunch. Disgusted with how much meat is in here.' Whoa! This is a new frontier for him and I was so excited. I didn't have much of an appetite for the few things we had left in the fridge and pantry either.

About a week or so before that I was having some convictions on how much dairy we had been consuming. It's VERY cheap, versatile, and easy...like cheese and crackers, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese quesadillas, etc. We had cut down on dairy before but sometimes those things you weed out just creeps back in.

I was so relieved Thursday morning. I had my meal plan ready and grocery list in hand. After spending $100 I had only bought 3 things in a can (olives, tomato sauce, and chilies), 2 things in a box (raisins and shredded wheat: to add to our homemade granola cereal), and 6 bags (freeze dried strawberries: also for our cereal, zucchini, kale, spinach, carrots, celery). Everything else was from the bulk section or produce. I did not buy one animal product! Not even cheese. *Gasp*

We do a lot of meatless meals but this one was different. I was intentional. And it felt good that my husband was excited about it too. It was good, hardy, and filling. We even had banana ice cream (with a few chocolate chips on top). A night very satisfying in more ways than one.

So what did we have?? I wish I had taken a picture : /

We had tacos: Corn tortillas, brown rice, pinto beans, tomatoes, avocado, olives, and homemade salsa. (Red onion and spinach was supposed to make it on these but they didn't end up on the table) I had planned a side dish but I was just getting home from the last grocery store at 6 so that wasn't going to happen.

Today I made almond milk and hopefully we can crank out some bread, granola bars, and granola cereal before dad gets home. Tonight we are making pizza (from scratch of course). Everyone can make their own with these toppings as choices: bell peppers, olives, red onion, zucchini, and tomatoes. I'm undecided on the cheese factor. I bought some nutritional yeast (can be used as a cheese substitute) and I have some sheep cheese and a bit of cow cheese. We may do a cheese mix of these and go light on the cow cheese part. 

Anyways...we are really excited about this next step into whole foods so I wanted to share. If you can watch Forks Over Knives I definitely recommend watching (Netflix instant play). I may take it over to my grandparents house so they will stop trying to feed my kids those neon wafers. lol



Oh and dessert was banana ice cream: frozen bananas with a bit of vanilla and a splash of rice milk.

Happy Friday!