• Jul. 25, 2008
How To Teach Science!!
This is my new favorite Science site. The
link was sent through on the homefires yahoo group.
www.howtoteachscience.com
The article in homefires was about teaching the
peroidic table to children at a young age. It talks about
how overwhelming Science can be but if a child is
exposed to these things early it will be second nature
to them and not as complicated.
One of the ideas was to have the table out for children
and begin creating a basket with each of the elements
on it. I loved this idea and hope to incooperate more
from her free lesson newsletter that will be sent out
biweekly. You can join the biweekly newsletter too to
help you child learn about the peroidic table.
Click the link above. I think this mom is just starting
out with the site but it really looks like it is going
to be a keeper in my files section.
Nikki
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• Jul. 25, 2008
RESOURCES RESOURCES!!
As promised I am finally getting to some of
the new resources that I have come upon. So
sit back , relax and enjoy the links...
Hear history and politics out loud
with these free audios.
www.hpol.org
Need some new worksheets. Creating
your own is easy at this site.
www.worksheetworks.com
Are you teaching a pre reader this year?
You might want to check out this teachers website.
Some of the ideas are obviously classroom setting
only but some can be modifyed and used at home.
www.jmeacham.com
Also for the prereader..
Click the freebies section at the top for
some printables
www.carriesfamilydaycare.com
Creative Pre K activies and elementary
Creative Make and Takes
Learn basic reading skills online
Online basic skills
Free Phonics worksheets
And last but not least is a resouces
I have talked about time and time again
called math wire. Right now you will
find morning math routine ideas, manipulative
ideas, math mats and much more.
www.mathwire.com
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• Jul. 25, 2008
How do you Plan your Meals?
How do you plan you Meals?
At the heart of the Matter this week inquiring minds
want to know how I plan my meals and how you plan
your meals too. If you want to participate hop over
to www.heartofthematteronline.com and tell us all about it.
I like to keep things fairly simple. We are sort of a
meat and potatoes type family. Well, most of us are anyway.
Heart and I aren't real big meat fans. We aren't vegan just
like a bit less meat then we actually have. I could live on
pasta alone. :) Basically I plan our dinners.
Breakfast through the week the kids make what they
want. I just keep things in stock like pancake mix, muffins,
eggs, and cereal . (and other breaksfast type foods)
Saturdays is the only day we may make a special breaksfast
or try a new recipes. The kids actually really like to make
their own. It gives them a chance to be independent.
Scrambled Eggs in the Microwave..
Add a teaspoon of butter to your bowl.
Microwave the butter till it is soft.
Then crack your egg and wisk it.
Start microwaving the egg and
on occasion stop and stir again.
mircowave until it is no longer runny
Simple enough my 8 year old does this.
My 11 year old likes to make them on the stove. :)
My other favorite on Saturday is the oven omelet
8 Eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 cups of shreaded hash
(or you can use cubed potatoes)
1 cup of ham
(you can add bacon or other desired meat)
1 cup of shreaded cheese
1 Tablespoon of onion
In a large bowl beat eggs,milk and seasoned salt.
Stirin remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 8 in.
Square baking pan. Bake uncovered at 350 for
45-50 minutes. Or until knife inserted into the center
comes out clean.
For lunches the children each sandwiches,soups or salads.
Well Spirit and I eat the salads. :)
Most of the time I create extra from the dinner menu
and then freeze it or create mini tv dinners that
they can pull out and heat up.
Dinner is where most of my planning comes in.
My family is fairly picky so we usually have the
same sort of meals within a two week block.
Then I add 1 new meal a week. My meals are
growing to what everyone likes. I just
pick from the meals the family likes.
I created a sheet in my managment binder
for each meal. At the bottom of each is a
grocery list. So I simply get my calender for the
week. Write in that weeks foods and then
add the items to my grocery list. This took awhile
to create but now it makes life so simple.
When I find a new recipe the family likes
I just add it to the binder. Creating menus is
simple.
Now recently we have had a new problem.
Carl has been diagnosed with Diabetes. So we
have had to rethink our dinners. I had to rework
some of the recipes but it is possible.
Try these Sweet and Sour Carrots
2 cups carrot slices, 1/4 in. thick
1/2 cup celery slices 1/2 in thick
1 can (8onces) pineapple tidbits
(drain and reserve juice)
1 Tablespoon of vinegar
2 teaspoons of cornstarch
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of sliced green onions
1/4 cup Equal spoonful
Cook carrots and celery in meduim saucepan in a small
amount of water until tender about 8 min.
Drain and set aside
Add enough water to reserve pineapple juice to 1/2
cup liquid. Stir in vinegar, cornstarch, soy sauce,salt
Cook in med. sauce pan until liquid thickens
Add butter , drained pineapple, onions and still unitl
heated through. Add carrots, and celeryy, cook about
2 mins. or until heated through stir.
Some of my favorite sites...
www.cooks.com
And if you are into crookpot cooking
you can go to this site and make just about anything
in the crookpot
www.crockpot365.blogspot.com
I'll leave you with my families favorite
ranch pretzel recipe..
1 pkg. Ranch style dressing (dry)
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. dill weed
1/2 tsp. garlic powder or salt
1 c. oil
bite size pieces and put in 9 x 13 inch cake pan.
Mix oil, Ranch pack, dill weed, lemon pepper,
and garlic together in small bowl. Pour over pretzels
and mix up and put in oven for 15-20 minutes. Stir
about three times while baking. Let cool.
Happy cooking
Nikki
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• Jul. 24, 2008
Dyslexia -Memory Strategies
If you haven't done some research on dyslexia
you may not realize that another big block for a
dylexic person is memory. Most people think of it
more as a writing issue or reading. That letters and numbers
are reversed, backwords, or missing. Which is all true but
there is more. A child with dyslexia my struggle with
remembering math facts, remembering more than one chore,
where their belongs are, the name of simple ojects or
even direction or where they are.
In the past my princess had called tissues--
Those things you wipe your nose with. She often
Reverses the names of two objects if they are similar
such as up and down, or back and forth. She has on
occation even been confused about our location.
We travel through the same area daily but one day I
assume her thoughts were on something else . When
she looked around she thought she was at a local tourist
location that we often visit. Instead we were only about
5 miles from our home. These types of things often scare
me. I worry that one day when she is old enough to drive she
will lose her baring and not know where she is.
And so we work toward helping her memory.....
Here are some techniques I have found to help
a childs memory. You wouldnt have to be dyslexic to
use any of these just a person wishing to improve on
their memory.
1. Use the first letter of the word to create
a silly rhyme,sentence or made up name.. Such as learning
the colors of the rainbow..
Roy G. BIV
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet
2. Story Strategy- Make up a silly story with
all the words you want to remember.
example..
Bird, seed, Corn, nest
The red bird sat smiling in his next
eaching seed and corn.
3. Grouping-
Group words that are similar together.
Animals, kitchen items, etc... When you try
to recall them you can think of the group they were
located in .
4. Images - Draw pictures to go with a word
to help you remember. You can also try highlighting
that particular word for awhile in your writing.
You mind will remember the color then remember
the word and its spelling.
5. Location- Do this exercise. Close your
eyes and imagine your church. Going through the
doors and any details you can remember along the
way. This one is an exercise in improving your memory.
6. List - If you have to remember a list of 10 items.
Associate the word with the number. 1 - bear
2- dog etc..
7. Visualize - Say the word, look up close your
eyes and picture the word, Write it in the air
and then write it on paper. Visualize what it means
a picture or action.
If you happen to have any other ideas
for helping improve memory please share them.
Nikki
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• Jul. 24, 2008
Cursive and Dyslexic Children
The best way to describe how a dyslexic child
views their world is to say that it is always
moving always changing. Everything is sort of
floating around for them. Can you imagine a world
where nothing stays the same and changes on you
daily. I have been doing some research on how to teach
a dyslexic child cursive. I have found in my reading that
I should have taught it to her right away. That
children with dyslexia can connect with the flow of
the letters easier than in print style. Since my child
has already gotten down the print style. I suppose
we will now have to start from scratch in learning
our cursive letters. She is going into the
6th grade and although we have been trying
for a long time now she can not get her cursive letters
down. It is probably because the old stand by of
Print that we painstaking learned is now easier for
her to accomplish, but we will prevail.
Dyslexic children have difficulties with lettering
and ordering items. Which for us often leads in
uneven handwriting. Princess also really grips her
pencil and presses down hard to keep control. This
Leads to a very slow methodical writing, Even Painfully
so. I found pencil grips on the net to help
her loosen her grip for a more free flow writing.
We are going to try these and I'll let you know
how they go for us.
It is recommended for the child to use
their pointer finger and their middle finger
to write in salt trays or sand. Using rough
items to help ingrain these movements in their minds. I
don't know why this would surprise me since
these are techniques we used in preschool classes
to get children excited about writing or forming
their numbers. Also suggested was a rough towel
or sandpaper. I am sure there are many many
more tactile experiences a child could use.
Another idea was to use paper or clay for
the child to bend and form the letters.
We will also be using the handwriting without tears
program. I am hoping with all these things
My child this year will learn cursive writing.
I'll keep you posted.
Nikki
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• Jul. 23, 2008
Train up a Child
With the rearranging we are doing this week
Of our home. I simply leave you with this..
Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words , for they become actions.
Watch you actions , for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your Character, for it becomes you destiny.
(Anonymous)
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• Jul. 23, 2008
Thankful Thursday
I am Thankful for all of our extra space.
I am thankful for privacy.
I am thankful for simplicity.
God is so good.
I am thinking about taking a class on leading
small group teen bible studies. They would
begin in Aug. Please pray with me too as I consider
this . It may add more to my time in Aug. and not sure
if I have more to give. Yet I feel God pulling me
to take this class. I am praying about it now and
seem to be getting the same answer. Yet for some
reason I still hestiate.
Nikki
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• Jul. 23, 2008
ReOrganization
Well if you read my daybook yesterday you know
that I am working on reorganizing the house. I thought
I'd update you on how it is going.
1. We moved the dresser from our room to Superboys
so he will now have more space.
2. We rearranged our furniture and moved
Spirits bed to the new location. Which by the way
he did fabulously last night. He only woke once and
that was probably because I woke and was moving around.
3. I moved all of my clothing from the space downstairs
Upstairs to my new room. Which by the way it was
funny how much extra space I had putting things away.
I had narrowed things down because of space restraints
and now have a ton of space. My dresser tops are bare
and there are no photos on the wall or pictures.
Now I get to do some shopping. :)
4. I moved Carls things from the bathroom to the room.
5. I also moved some of the things I had in the bathroom
that really would go in a bedroom if one had one.
Jewlery, brushes etc..
I am really excited about having my privacy back
and our own space. At the time it seemed the right thing to
do but it is great to have it back. Toad had moved in in January.
We hardly knew him even though he was our step son/son.
We werent comforable with him sharing with our younger
sons so we gave him ours. I am really glad we did this .
Now today ...
Grocery shopping
Putting things away
Since the downstair cabinet is empty
I get to now fill it with school items and spread out.
Clean the bathroom
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• Jul. 22, 2008
Fun Freebie and Links Across the Net!!
Although I havent been posting very
much . I have been around the net collecting
goodies schooling and other great resources. So
today I will share some of the great things I have come
upon.
Weekly or Daily Freebies Check often..
www.ecobrain.com
Has an ebook on Surviving Americas
Depression Epidemic.
www.currclick.com
This week they have a old fashioned copy
Book for download.
www.handsofachild.com
Free ebook on Zebras
Freebie of the day
Ebook on learning about time.
You can also download a free audio
This changes daily so if you are here
a different day it will be a different freebie.
Faith and Family
Posts a differnt link each day. I have
found these links really awesome.
Early childhood printable
This week there is a dinosaur flipbook
for download. There are tons of free printables
on this site if you look around a bit.
Reach for the stars
Click daily at the top for this weeks
freebies
School Express
Has a free farm unit for download.
Education center
This was one of my favorites. You can choose
from a variety of education resource to be sent
to your home for looking over. Catalogs, magazines
etc...
I was going to share a few more great links
but think I will save them for another day . Since
this list seems to be pretty big. I have more..OH
do I have more. So check back in a day or so for
the rest of the list.
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• Jul. 22, 2008
Simple Womens Daybook
For Today...
Outside my Window...It is warm and sunny. A beautiful day.
I met a young man out front this morning as I left the
dog out. He parked in our driveway to get off the street as
he puts a fresh paint on the fire hydrant that sits outside our
house. He proved to be much entertainment to Spirit.
I am thinking... I was just reading some of my book
by Joyce Meyer, The secret to true happiness. I am on
Chapter 16 . Keeping it simple. My thoughts right now is..
How I can keep my life more simple? I can be a harried at
home, homeschool mom. Who runs around and feels
overwhelmed at times. I have so many little projects going
on and I have not completed any. These are all things
I want to do . How could it be less stressful to me.
Maybe if I tackle one task at a time and stop hopping from
one to another. I feel like I am not being productive
randomly moving from one task to another before the other
is complete. I also need to choose things that God wants
me to do. To pray and listen. To not over extend myself
and then not glorify God because I am to overwhelmed
to complete tasks. Wow I guess I am thinking a lot.
I am thankful for... My children, I am thankful my
step-son has decided to move out. I think it is time and
we will all have a better relationship this way.
From the kitchen...
Monday- Pizza
Tuesday- Roast beef, Potatos, and peas
Wednesday- Bar b Que sandwiches, fries
Thursday- Cold chicken sandwiches and pasta salad
Friday- Taco salads
Saturday and sunday - Undecided
I am creating... Again this is where I need to
simplify. I am still working on my school notebook.
Which it is almost finished but I need more printer
ink to complete it. I am creating some file games for
the kids . This way when a child is finished with work they
can get out one of these games and play by themselves till
I get to them. All the while practicing some of their skills.
I also really really want to create some art of my own.
I bought a new pen and ink set and its still in the package.
I'd like to incoorporate watercolors and ink together.
I Love this style or I even have been thinking of
doing something with ink and tissue paper. I just
Need to get to the art supply store for the right
kind of paper for this project.
I am going... to be rearranging a bedroom this week.
Since my step son moved out we get our bedroom back.
We were using the living space so he could have his own
space. Now that he moved out last night. I get to
rearrange our house a bit. One of the dressers he has is
going toSuperboys room. Which releaves some dresser
space. Actually a lot of dresser space. Superboy will
have more space with one of the new dressers in his room.
Then I have a cabinet in the school room I was housing
our clothing and now it can go up in the bedroom.
So that whole entire space can have school things
in again like it was intended. Then also Carl
has clothing in a cabinet in the bathroom. Now that
cabinet will be open space too. Plus the bedroom
Has a place to hang clothing. Woo Hoo. How I missed that.
I am not sorry Toad lived here. It was a great time
to really get to know him but I am glad he is ready to
move on now and we will have more space for ourselves.
I am sure he will visit us and still be a part of his life.
I am wearing...Gray shorts and a aqua shirt.
I am reading...Secret to true happiness. I
really encouage you reading this book. It is really good so far.
A few people have notice what I am reading and laughed at me
but its not as corny as it might sound. Its more about what
God wants for you in your life and how people as a
whole sometimes ignore his wants and stive for your own wants.
I am hoping... To get all my chores done tonight.
Move the furniture and later this week, take the kids
to the movies or the pool.
I am hearing... The fan and the dog scratching his dish.
I think he needs some more water.
Around the house... Oops I think I described just
about everything going on around the house. Except maybe
the laundry I am sifting through. Princess has dish duty
today and Superboy has his room to clean. I have
the kitchen floor to do. I dont believe it is my regular
tuesday chore but it is so messy from kids going in and
out and sometimes wet from playing in the water that is
needs done again. Deperately.
One of my favorite things...Nanny 911. I love that show. The
Other night there was a family that gave their children a ton
of milk all the time. Nanny said the children should have
18 oz of milk per day. No more than that. That they were
drinking their meals and not eating enough solids. She said
that having to much milk can cause an iron deficency. It was
an ohhh moment. I am anemic. When I was a child I
drank milk all the time. My brother would get water
and I always Got milk. I dont know if that is definately
the cause but it would make sense.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...
Tuesday- Cleaning the house
Wednesday- Free movie at Regal Cinema
Saturday- Pick Heart up at Camp
Sunday- Services and evening Youth group
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you
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• Jul. 17, 2008
Train up a Child
Today for Train up a child I want to
talk about the curriculum we are using for
our bible training this year. I always feel
like I sort of skimp on this area. I did mention
before in another post that I had asked our
discipleship coordinator about any resources he
may know about. I think I decided on purchasing the
Rod and Staff readers for the kids to practice their
reading skills on. I am still debating on the workbooks
since we have another reading source. I just
wanted the bible stories as a silent read for each
child. I require them to read 15 min. per day on their
own. Why not 15 min. of bible reading or reader.
I think it will be good practice to have readers at their
age level. For some reason it is hard to find good bible
reasources. Wouldnt it be great to have Bible pockets
made just like the history pockets. I love those.
Maybe I'll create some bible pockets on my own for
The kids. They remind me of lapbooks in a way except
you get to store all the material in one space. They
are from the Evan Moore publishers. I think it
would be fun to create resources for this .
I know my train up a child is rambling today.
Thats sort of how I feel. Do I buy the Rod and Staff?
Do I just use our childrens bible? Do we create bible
pockets, lapbooks , or just read the bible? So hard
to decided. Training up a child can be hard sometimes.
Nikki
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• Jul. 17, 2008
Thankful Thursday
I am thankful for the cool water and the kiddie
pool Spirit was given to keep cool.
I am thankful for getting over an illness fairly
quickly.
I am thankful for all the great school resources
I have found for this year and many of them free.
I am thankful for the fans and airconditioner even though
it doesnt always throw out the coolest air. Its better than
nothing.
I am thankuful for summer, ice cream, picnic, and pools
Nikki
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• Jul. 17, 2008
Sick, Planning and shopping
Ewww yesterday was terrible. I had some great
ideas for posts and just wont get to them right
now. I had the yucky stomach thing. It had me
down all day. It was terrible. It made me so tired I
could barely stay awake. I am so glad Princess was
around and able to take over things for me. She was
a lifesaver. She kept the boys busy playing with them
and watching movies and even made Bar b que chicken
with little help. Only called me to put the chicken in the
oven. Then dad came home and finished things up. I
first slept till 10. Then went back to sleep at 1 and slept
till 3. Then again at 5-7 , then back to bed at 9. The
amazing thing was I woke up this morning and felt
perfectly fine. Strange stuff. I hope none of you get it
it's horrible.
Today then I took the kids to the playground and we
met one of Hearts friends to plan her sweet 16 party.
Her and her friend decided to go togther since their
birthdays are so close together. They are scaring me with
their list of friends totaling at 180. I had them take it down
a bit and now we are at about 140. I think we need to go a
tad smaller but we'll see. I know not everyone will show up
but with my luck they will . With that planned we got a few
groceries and came home. It is so hot outside that I am glad
we are in. Since I feel so much better I'll start dinner shortly
and hopefully tomorrow we will go to our homeschool playground
day . If the heat doesnt win out.
Nikki
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• Jul. 15, 2008
Tackle it Tuesday
For this weeks Tackle it Tuesday..
I am tackling my desk. It seems to be a real hot
spot for me since its where I often work.
This is my desk after vacation bible school. Each evening I
would come home and drop. The Aldi bag is full of
supplies that I used during VBS. Beside it is the basket
I used to collect name tags and the clipboard for sign in
sign out. The workbook on the table is one I found at
Target. Its our states and capital book. On top of the
computer are various school things I was working on and
a puzzle. I think I even spot a roll of toilet paper. Used
because the tissues ran out. lol
And now for the clean desk.....
Everything in its place. Look I'm logged on. :)
You can also see Princess mouse pad in her
Soccer uniform and Superboys photo at the tea room
with all those hats. Much better.. Now what project
can I dig into next.
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• Jul. 15, 2008
Preparations
session is on it's way. I can hardly believe it is
so near and yet we still have a lot of summer days
to enjoy. I am taking my quiet time and preparing lessons
for the fall. Since my management binder worked so well.
I decided to create a school binder. It has my schedules,
attendance, calender, lessons plans, learning goals and
will have much much more. I am excited to be this organized
and have it all together. I have picked the topics for
Spirits lessons and have them all in a monthy chart leaving
room to do the lapbook lessons Valerie offers.
I am also soo excited to have had a conversation with
our disciple coordinator. I asked him a few quesitons
about any resources he might know about for Princess
grade level to learn bible truths or even Creation Science.
I was so thrilled that he took me seriously and wants
to have a meeting to tell me all that he has for me to look
at. I knew that his education would lead me in the right
direction. So just a little side reminder. Look around your
church or community. There are people there that
can be a great resource if you reach out to them . They
want to help and the really awesome thing is when
you do they become a part of your childs learning
as well. Instead of feeling against you and more with
the system they see where you are coming from first hand.
Its funny but the girlscout law comes to mind..
Use resources wisely. lol I guess thats not what
they ment but thats how I'll take it.
Nikki
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• Jul. 15, 2008
Summer school/ Work and Fun!
First day of Summer School.. Today was
our first day of summer school. I truely had intentions
to start a week after we ended near the beginning of June
but I found that we all needed a break. So even though we
only have a few more weeks till our offical start day I
decided to jump right in to our summer school schedule.
I did change it a bit. We are working on lessons Tues.-Thurs.
Leaving me Monday to clean up from the weekend mess and
Friday to prepare for the weekend summer fun. I think it
will work great. Spirit today drew with some stencils that
I had gotten at the yard sale for $1. Superboy worked on
his phonics and reading. I was so glad to see that only
one months time didnt leave him lacking in his reading skills.
In fact he seemed more fluent. Which truely surprised me.
He even changed his voice for each character speaking
and really seemed to enjoy the reading time with mom.
Princess did a math lesson on front end estimation.
Which I think she completely understood. She only had
two minor mistakes on her practice pages. Which were just
a matter of alignment. She also did her phonics with
some frustration but we are getting there.
The rest of the day was devoted to chores. The
deal was if they did all their chores plus a little more
they would get to go to the local Carnival tonight. They
would have had to do these things anyway but this way it
seemed like a little reward for their hard work. The
kids are anxiously awaiting our departure time. :)
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• Jul. 14, 2008
Simple Womens Daybook
For Today...
Outside my Window... The sun is shining, it is comfortably
warm. Every once in awhile I hear a car or truck roll by.
I am thinking... I am thinking about the chores in the kitchen
that need done but am also thinking it might be a great day
for a walk on the rail trail that is near our home.
I am thankful for... Youth group last evening.
From the kitchen...
Monday- Left overs
Tuesday- Dinner at the carnival
Wednesday- chicken, corn and pasta
Thurdsay- Steak sandwiches
Friday- crab cakes
Weekend- dinner at the carnival
and leftovers
Made this an easy week in the food department.
I am creating...
Lesson plans for my children and plans
for youth group in the fall. Before I know it Aug.
will be here and I am really not ready at all.
I am going... hang laundry, wash the dishes,
read and sit on the porch sipping tea.
I am wearing... Jean capris, pink tank top
with bare feet. Always bare feet. :)
I am reading... A new cookbook
I found at the yard sale. Called the Diabetics
Bible and still the Secret to true happiness
by Joyce Meyers. The BIBLE always.
I am hoping... to create some forms
this afternoon to organize my school supplies
what I need to purchase and what items we already
own.
I am hearing... Silence and the fan. The children
are upstairs playing Barbies and I barely hear a peep.
Around the house... Regular home managment chores
and wash the base boards again. They get so dusty living
near a busy road.
One of my favorite things...
This week.. Meditation, quiet, and prayer.
I am in need of some good worship. I am hoping
to stop a at friend chuch on Saturday evening. I just
dont seem to be getting what I need lately. Nor is my
girl Heart. I can see the restless in her and know that
when she hears our friends speak she'll feel better. I
cant wait to surprise her with this visit.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...
Tuesday- Carnival night and fireworks
Wed. - Harp in the Park (maybe)
Thursday- Planning meeting for Hearts and
friends Sweet 16 party.
Friday- Homeschool playground day
Sunday- Take Heart to Summer Camp
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• Jul. 12, 2008
Heat,Yard Sale Party and Homeschoolers!!
It is so hot here I can hardly stand it this evening.
I have had 2 baths already today, just to cool off.
I am just waiting now for the evening
hours so we can cool down.
The heat just makes you want to lay down and sleep.
In fact that is just what Spirit has done all afternoon.
We do have an air conditioner but it seems to be going out.
It barely is throwing cool air. It seem like the heat
is a weight upon your body bearing down on you.
I am tired anyway from VBS last week.
The heat isn't helping me stay awake at all. Its making
me feel more tired and achy. I dont much feel
like doing anything but sitting on the porch with some
iced tea trying to catch a breeze.
Speaking of VBS..So much went on during
VBS week. Good and bad. One little boy made me laugh
he says... Are we going to talk about Jesus all week?
Of course I told him that yes we are in Bible school.
Being very wise as he was he says..
"I never went to a school that talked about Jesus before."
This coming from a 4 year old. What does that
say to our little ones. When they even notice in school
that no one talks about Jesus? Even at four
probably attending a preschool somewhere.
After Bible school on Friday Princess had a friend
over night for her 11th Birthday. I can hardly believe
that my little girl is 11 already. Where has the time gone.
As part of my girls birthday party she was given some
money to go out and visit all the yard sales in our town.
Its a big event here. So many of the homes in our community
participate. The church up the street almost makes a fair
out of it . Complete with bouncies and games. The
other direction there was food at the fire co. and more
stands that people could pay $3. to set up and still
many more homes doing them in front of their homes. The girls
and I got up early and walked and walked and found
many bargins. That is truely what princess loves to do.
Anyone ever have a yard sale party before? I gave each
Of the girls a little money and off we went. The really
exciting thing was as I was hunting bargins. I also
found homeschoolers. You know they are so easy to spot.
Milk crates lined with curriculum and books. One
teaching a high schooler right up the street and another
down the other way 5 house down that is schooling and
11 year old girl. Imagine our excitement since Princess
is 11 also!!! My bargins consisted of stacks of readers,
several girls devotionals, weaving loom, Brain teasers,
Understanding the constitution, All about me,
and an awesome book on color patriotism. This is
an awesome coloring book with patriotic songs, how the
song came to be and then color pages to go with it.
We also bought a few of the heros of faith books,
opposite matching, sequencing puzzle and tracers. OH
and almost forgot the convention tapes. One had the
conventions tapes from years past. I picked up one and
was going to buy it . When she told me I could have
them all for $1. I took them all.
We stopped off and bought snowcones then
came home for birthday cake. By this time the girls
were tired and watching TV. Now I am here
with fussy sleepy children who are hot, and a
hot ,sleepy mommy. Despite the heat it was a pretty
good day...
Nikki
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• Jul. 10, 2008
Train up a Child- VBS
As I mentioned before this week were are emersed in
our VBS activities at our church. It has been full of fun and
a little tiring for us volunteers. I have the squeaky beaker
class which are the preschoolers. (Doing the Power Lab theme)
I have 21 children from ages 2-5 . It seems each night
we add another child to our list. So we must be doing
something right. I have 5 adults not counting me and one teen.
Which I think we need. It is so exciting and fun to see the
children learning about God and having such fun doing it.
One way that small children learn is through interaction.
Through hands on things they can touch and understand.
For example... On Tuesday we learned about Jesus
healing a blind man. I made oatmeal and used it as
the mud that Jesus used to heal the man. I took my little
man Spirit as the example. As I told the story I smeared a
little oatmeal on his cheeks. Then I told of how
he washed his face . I used a wet wipe to take it off
and the man was healed. The children related to this activity.
They were were telling everyone about the oatmeal mud and
how Jesus heals. It was so exciting to see.
Play is another way to get the lesson or bible story
in their minds. Yesterday we talked about Jesus
walking on water and the storm. We used a parachute
to tell the story. We gently shook the parachute fast
and faster to represent the storm. We talk about
how if you doubted you would fall in the water and
would be able to walk on it but Jesus was there and
would still keep us safe. Then we counted to three
poped the chute up and hide underneath it like a tent.
Telling them how Jesus takes care of us.
After awhile we were doing some games and the
station leader asked the children if they heard the story
today. They all yelled yes. She asked them who was
in the story. Children yelled Jesus, Peter .. and then on
child said ME... The story was so brought to life with
that parachute that she had imagined herself in it. How
awesome is that!!!
Another eye opener if little ones is to let them explore
Things around them. The day of the walk on water
lesson we also played in water. We did an experiement
To see if items would sink or float to try to show
Them how miraculous this story was that Jesus walked
on water. Pretty amazing!!
These are really great things to do with children
to get them excited about God. To remember the story.
Some of these things we can do at home to show
are children how excited about we are and to help
them remember his word and want to know HIM.
Nikki
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• Jul. 10, 2008
Thankfulness
I am so Thankful for our VBS this week.
It sure has been a busy week so far and is almost
over. I am sad to see it go by so fast and yet happy as
well. I am sooo exhausted. Somehow 2 of my children
have gotten the stomach bug. Heart on Sunday so she didn't
miss VBS and Spirit on Wed. Luckily this bug only seems short
term. Lets just hope and pray that for the rest of the week
the rest of us stay well.
I am thankful for Hand sanitizer. Who ever
made germ-X . Thank- you.
I am Thankful for fun things like bubbles, parachutes
and games.
I am thankful for all the helpers at our VBS that
make things run smoothly... or at least try their best to.
I am Thankful for my dear friend Jan because
I think I would have lost my sanity long ago without her.
I am Thankful for my Lord Jesus Christ because without
him I would having nothing to celebrate about. No
Reason for all this fun and learning to be going on.
Nikki
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