I put out a monthly newsletter for women. The main emphasis is Bible study. If you'd like to view a sample of the newsletter, please send an email to the email address below and put "free newsletter sample" in the subject line. If you'd like to subscribe to the newsletter, send an email to the email address below and put "subscribe to newsletter" in subject line.
"Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored." Titus 2:3-5 (NASB)
~ 2009 Theme Verse ~
"Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass" I Thessalonians 5:24 (NASB)
"If you would like to join me in having a theme verse for 2009, click below.
•Praying God's Word Day By DayBy Beth Moore
•The Bible
•For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and SchoolBy Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
•Munich SignatureBy Bodie ThoeneFrom The Zion Covenant Series
It's been snowing again all day today. But this time it's ONLY snow - NO ice. That's the way I like it.
We're still not back on target with working on our routine since the power outages. Since the electricity came back on and we returned home, it's taken us some time to get back on track and we're just not there yet. However, little Sugarplum has adjusted back to - I hesitate to even speak the words - some routine. She's taking naps more consistently at 10:00am and 2:00pm. This is wonderful. She sleeps about 1 1/2 hours at each nap so that's not too bad. Especially considering that she usually lays back down after she wakes early in the morning and sleeps about 2 hours or so. So I think we're on the right track and it feels good to see some routine develop with her naps.
I concocted a pretty yummy lunch. However, when I tell you, you may be inclined to think it doesn't sound very good. Don't dismiss it too quickly because it truly was delicious! I made a spinach salad by putting fresh spinach in our bowls. Added grape tomatoes, carrots, and hard-boiled egg. I added some salt, garlic pepper, and fresh ground black peppercorn. Then on the top I put some of the leftovers I warmed up from our breakfast dinner my hubby made the other night: potatoes, steak, squash, zucchini, onion, and seasonings. I served this up with some homemade whole grain bread. It was delicious!
The last couple of days I've been working on next year's order for homeschool material. This is the time I do it every year. I am making some great progress. I already have language arts, health, math, science, Latin, and literature planned. I still have fine arts and history left to decide on. I will probably do geography as well.
So my plan was to be in bed by 10:00pm at the latest this week. Well, I've had some things on my mind due to some recent news. My family and I are about to undergo more change - and a huge change at that. So that's been on my mind. Last night, I knew my body felt exhausted and I was in my bed at 7:30pm. I laid there......and I laid there.........and I laid there...........................and I laid there.............................................until I rolled over and it was almost midnight and I still couldn't go to sleep! Tonight, it's almost midnight and I'm not very tired! Well, I put 2 and 2 together tonight and realized I've been taking my B-Complex supplement at lunch and I think that is part of the problem. I usually take it in the morning. But the last two days I've taken it at lunch. So, tomorrow I'll take it in the morning and I think that will probably make a huge difference.
SOOO.......for tonight I am up later. Instead of lying in bed hour after hour, tossing and turning, I figured I might as well get some posts done. So I've posted two recipes and our menu plan on my cooking blog. And I'm here now just chatting away. Interestingly enough, my eyelids are finally starting to get heavy so I think it's time to head to the bed and read a little. Hopefully, I'll be able to fall asleep easier tonight.
It really is quite amazing. I kept the house straight and clean all week. And in a matter of one weekend (not even really 2 full days) the place was a mess! Amazing! I guess if I logged down everything I did in the course of one day, it would probably explain how in one day of me relaxing and not doing much that the house gets messier. ANYWAY....it's now looking a little better but there's still work to be done. But it will have to wait until tomorrow. This girl is tired and about ready for bed! I prefer going to bed with a clean and orderly home. There's just something about waking up to disorder and mess that can start the day off on the wrong foot. But I'm going to have to let it go this time.
In other news, I think I'm prepared for another week of school. The children have their lesson plan books filled out for the week. I already have most of the worksheets printed out and ready.
Sugarplum only took one nap today during the afternoon. Someone at church told me today that maybe Sugarplum is phasing out of two naps and might start just taking one nap during the day. I knew that would come eventually, I just didn't think she'd go to one nap this soon. It sure does seem like one nap is starting to be more a norm after this past week. We'll have to see what happens this week I guess.
Well, I've just been rambling tonight. Guess I'd better head on to bed. My eyes are getting pretty heavy! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
It's been a pretty good weekend. Yesterday was a very lazy day. It was overcast all day. And those overcast days can sometimes make one feel like doing NOTHING! Well, Saturdays are our rest day so rest we did. I put on a big pot of homemade vegetable soup and it cooked for several hours. It turned out wonderful! We will have the leftovers today which means I won't have to cook! I like those days. :)
Today, I'm trying to put the finishing touches on our upcoming week of school - making sure everything is ready to go. I had planned on my teenage son reading Romeo and Juliet this term. However, as I have sat down today to look over it and plan it out and write up some discussion questions, I found that I felt there was some inappropriate material in it. I know this is a classic but I am now questioning whether to have my son read it or not. Has anyone out there faced this same dilemma? Are there any Shakespearean plays that don't have some inappropriate material in them? Please let me know. My son did already read Twelfth Night and it seemed to be okay. I've now had qualms about two of the traditional classics that high schoolers read. I didn't have my son read Hamlet because of some of the pervading themes in the play. I would definitely appreciate anyone's input on appropriate Shakespearean plays.
My daughter and I read some of Shakespeare's stories in child-friendly adaptations. So while I know some of the story lines, I haven't read many of the plays except for the traditional ones that I read in high school (which was many, MANY years ago). Maybe I should just have my son do a survey of Shakespearean plays using a child-friendly book. Our library has the Tales from Shakespeare. Maybe that would work given the fact that he has already read a complete Shakespeare play (Twelfth Night) which means he will have had the opportunity to be exposed to that style of writing. I'd love your input on this!
We went to a local store this evening and I was tickled with all that we got for what we spent! Check this out:
3 lbs. all natural (no hormones, no antibiotics) ground beef
2 good size steaks
2 big roasts
4.24 lbs. fresh apples
3 lbs. fresh carrots
3 lbs. fresh onions
1 pk. mini bella mushrooms
1 box Kashi cereal
10 lbs. potatoes
16 oz. bag walnuts
2.25 lbs. bananas
I got all of that for - are you ready? $39.75!!!! You can't beat that!!!! We found some excellent deals. I also was able to get a bottle of shampoo free this evening at another local store using a coupon. I thank the Lord for such great deals. The meat will probably last us a couple of weeks. I had the guy in the meat department divide the 2 lbs. of the hamburger up into packages of 1/4 lb. each. That will make it easy to pull out a pack for soups, etc. that you don't need a lot of meat for. We also had one package of ground beef made up with 1 lb. in it. We plan on taking 1/4 lb. of hamburger and combining it with some ground turkey we have and make hamburgers. We're planning on topping the burgers with the mini bella mushrooms, onions, and garlic. We'll saute the mushrooms, onions, and garlic together in a skillet with just a bit of oil and seasonings. I might make some sweet potato crisps to go on the side.
Just curious - how many are starting back to school tomorrow? We are. I've spent this past week trying to get everything lined up for term 2. All is pretty much done for what I am doing. I just have to write out the regular assignments for Romeo and Juliet for my teen. He'll begin that next week. So I have time to finish that.
It's been a pretty good day. Although, I find that right now, I feel tired and am craving some junk food. I had to run to the store to pick up a few things. So I decided to pick up one of those healthy energy bars. I didn't want to give in to those junk food cravings. Oh no - that would only make it worse! After I got into the car, I got the bar out and gave it a try. Not too bad. Although it wasn't as chocolatey as I was hoping. Still - it wasn't too bad. And it was the perfect snack for me. I think I might try to find a recipe for a really good healthy homemade chewy granola bar that doesn't use much sugar. I can substitute my organic evaporated cane juice for the sugar in a recipe. That way, I'll have a healthy quick snack that packs just a little sweetness. So if you have a great homemade chewy granola bar recipe, please share it with me! I would surely appreciate it!
My hubby volunteered to tackle our older daughter's bedroom. That's no small task you can be sure! When he was finished - wow does it look so much better! I was planning on trying to work on her room this afternoon. But hey - since he volunteered - I certainly wasn't going to turn that offer down! What is it with children that you organize and clean their rooms, give the "speech" (you know the one - "Now that your room is clean, I want you to keep it like this. Put stuff up where they belong" etc. etc. etc.), and then find yourself cleaning and organizing the room AGAIN and giving the SAME speech? We seem to go through this routine every month or so! It seems no matter how hard I work at staying on top of things and trying to keep my daughter to keep her room clean and organized, it ends up looking like a tornado went through it! Just makes you want to pull your hair out! What blows me away sometimes is when her room looks like the last cyclone visited it - she'll comment and say that it's not THAT bad. She'll work on her room a little and then say she's almost done. When I can't for the life of me even figure out what in the world she did that whole time she was in their "working." Because it sure doesn't look like she did much! Of course, it's not like this every single time. But we're talking probably 80% of the time. Soooooo - since I'm working on a routine slowly, I have decided to add something in the mix for my daughter. I'm going to try to find out a good time each day for her to do pick up in her room. I probably need two times a day! :) Seriously! Tomorrow she'll be starting the day with a nice and clean room. We're going to work on it STAYING that way.
Back to the food.....Can you tell I'm ramblin' on here?? I notice that when I have my "cheat" day each week, if I eat much processed stuff at all - I find that I crave it more. And actually I crave sweets more. But when I am eating whole foods and healthy throughout the week, I have a lot less times of craving sweets. On Friday, I was very good. We needed to go to a couple of shops to pick up some things. And both places were 15-25 minutes from our home. So we headed out and decided to have a treat - eat lunch out frugally. Since I eat such smaller portions compared to what I used to eat, my hubby and I usually share a meal. A lot of times, he'll order some sort of dinner that includes a salad and I will eat the salad and a few pieces of the meat he orders. It works well and it's frugal. We don't get to eat out much but when we do, we try to spend less. I did really well. My hubby ordered a meal that included two meats and two sides. He got a 6 oz. steak and a grilled chicken breast, caesar salad, and twice baked potatoe. I ate the caesar salad with the chicken breast. It was really good and right in line with how I'm trying to eat. So I walked away from lunch out - having stuck to my eating routine. Yesterday on the other hand, was my "cheat" day. I did splurge and have two cups of coffee. However, I used half and half for my creamer and organic evaporated cane juice for my sweetener. So it wasn't too far off the mark. I did well for lunch - whole grain homemade tortilla with black bean and chicken filling topped with fresh veggies. My hubby and daughter ran some errands in the afternoon and came back with a burger thing from a local fast food place FOR ME. My hubby knew it was my "cheat" day so he was trying to bring me a treat. So sweet of him. However, I really didn't want to eat the bun part of the sandwich because I was afraid I'd start craving the junky stuff. I actually didn't want to eat the burger at all. But I couldn't do that because my hubby was so sweet to bring it home for me. So I compromised and ate half of it and gave the other half to my hubby. Not too bad - tasted pretty good too! So by that point I hadn't done too bad for the splurging end. We then headed to my parent's house for dinner. My Mom made her wonderful chicken-n-rice soup and served it with bread and salad with a homemade dressing. I ate salad with the dressing and a small serving of soup. After I finished that - the bread was just sitting there in front of me inviting me to enjoy a piece. So I did - and then I enjoyed a little more. Then my Dad just had to mention a blizzard at DQ. Yum did that sound good. So when hubby and I left, I splurged and split a blizzard with my hubby. I then went ahead and ate a couple of Oreo cookies. That was it - promise. I didn't keep on and on with the junk stuff. I did thoroughly enjoy the blizzard. But I have to say, I have had to battle the cravings today. And I'm left thinking - is it really worth it? Is it really worth battling the cravings to enjoy a little bit of the junky stuff? The thing is - it doesn't even have to be what we consider junky stuff that can promote the cravings. One thing I've noticed since I've changed our eating habits is this. Many of the processed stuff has white flour or white sugar or corn syrup or all of them! And I'm talking about things many think are fairly healthy - rice mixes that have long grain wild rice in them and many brands of yogurt. Stuff like that. I think that those ingredients along with maybe other processed ingredients just cause a person to want more of the same stuff. I've seen that already with myself. As I have changed my eating habits, when I am eating the whole foods, I don't crave the processed stuff nearly as much. In fact, I have actually not craved it much at all! And that's a huge thing. Just ask my hubby. I have LOVED sweets up until recently. So the fact that I'm eating very little sugar at all (natural sugar included) and have stuck to it is HUGE! I've tried to cut back on my sweets in the past only to go right back to my old eating habits within a short time of trying. We are now a month into this new change in our eating and I am still sticking to it. I feel better! I'm losing weight! I'm getting healthier! All very good reasons to keep it up. Just this week I was able to fit into two dress jackets that I haven't been able to wear in years! YEARS people! Is that not awesome or what?! I may not be able to weigh what I did when I was in my early twenties (I have had 5 children......) but I definitely will be happy to lose a little bit more and be healthy! It's such a good feeling to put on clothes that I've worn for awhile and find that they are TOO big. I am seriously going to have to go shopping before too long because I'm finding that quite a bit of my clothing is getting too big for me. YAY!!!! Okay - so I guess I've rambled on just about long enough on that subject!
Speaking of food.....I'm starting to get hungry. Hmmm....I wonder what I could eat......
It's been a cool and rainy day today. It's been darker outside and a perfect day for dim lighting and candles! We are on Thanksgiving Break all week! I am already thoroughly enjoying the break! I still have plans to work on school things myself to hopefully get ahead before we start back in next Monday. But it will be on my own time. We are doing some good cleaning this week as well. Aside from the cleaning and normal everyday chores that have to be done, we're going to take it easy. Each evening this week one of the channels on TV is airing Christmas movies at 9pm. My older daughter is excited that she gets to stay up this week and watch Christmas movies with Mommy.
We are planning our 2nd official family Thanksgiving for Wednesday. Last year, we began our own family Thanksgiving tradition at home and we are looking forward to that this week! Tomorrow, my husband will be making his favorite fruit salad. My hubby made the turkey last year and it turned out wonderful. So guess who gets to make it this year??? That's right - my hubby. He'll prep the turkey and get it in the oven tomorrow night. Then Wednesday we'll make the rest of the dishes for our meal and have our Thanksgiving feast while watching some of our favorite Christmas movies.
Then Thursday morning, we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving together with my whole family. I'm looking forward to it!
Well, I thought I'd work on this post during a commercial. And now the Christmas movie we're watching is back on.
The vocabulary binder is working!!! In my last school highlights post, I told you about my new idea of starting a vocabulary binder. Well, I started it with my teen. My Mom was telling me the other day that she's noticed he has been using bigger words (more vocabulary) in conversation and using them correctly. Isn't that awesome??? That just tickles me. I hope to get a vocabulary binder made for my 6th grader soon.
We also had some good discussion with his material for Mere Christianity. This is an excellent book and one that I highly recommend. Interestingly enough, as we were doing our family devotion yesterday, there were a couple of times we talked about things that C.S. Lewis had discussed in Mere Christianity and we were able to point that out. Our son remembered some of the material too! That just tickled me so much!
Also, the children went on a field trip on Monday. When they came back, I had them do narrations. My son had to do a written narration of what he remembered from the field trip and it had to be one page long. When he turned his written narration in, his handwriting was much neater that in times past when I'd have him write something for me. I praised him for having such neat handwriting!
6th Grader
Our 6th grader did a wonderful job on her dictation this week. As I dictated the passage to her and watched her writing, I delighted in seeing her take her time to form her letters correctly. She would make the letters, look at them, and then correct any ones that didn't look like they were formed well. I was also tickled to see her put punctuation marks such as commas, semi-colons, and periods in the right places as I dictated each phrase. She didn't have to wait for me to go back and read the entire passage at the end to listen for the pauses and so forth in the text. She knew where to put them as we went through it phrase by phrase. It just made me feel really good to see that! I did things a little different this week with her dictation passage. For the first one or two dictation passages we did, I went over the passage and any difficult words with her. I then gave her the responsibility to study it on her own without me actually having to tell her to study it. She still did wonderfully well with her dictations. But they were easier selections with not many punctuation marks to remember. I chose a more challenging selection this week. So we went over it when I gave it to her and discussed any difficult words I thought she might have trouble with. I then had her do the passage for her copywork. I also modeled how I wanted her to read it aloud when she practiced it and then had her read it out loud to me. I told her that I wanted her to read it out loud that particular way and then write it while looking at it (copying it) throughout that day at different times. I told her that I would tell her when I wanted her to do this. In addition, the next day I told her she was to read it out loud at different times throughout the day and this time she would try to write it without looking at it (and then check it). So for those two days at different times throughout the day I would tell her to study her dictation passage and she would do what I asked her to do. I think this approach really worked well and made a difference with studying a more difficult passage. On the third day, we did the dictation. Here's her paper:
My scan didn't come out as clearly as I'd have liked but I think you can see it well enough. I was really proud of her work!
Another wonderful school moment occurred this week with our 6th grader. I was having her fill out a chart where she had to put the prefixes, what they meant, and some example words that used each of the prefixes. As she was working on that she asked that, when she was done, if she could write down some of the words using those prefixes and look them up because she wanted to learn how to spell them and what they meant. Are you kidding me???? OF COURSE!!!! Wow - that was one of those school moments that just warm your heart and make you feel so good!!! So when she finished her work, she went about writing down a list of the words she wanted to learn how to spell and then utilized the dictionary as well as an online dictionary to look up what each word meant. She then wanted to quiz her dad on the words to see if he knew what they meant! And get this - we talked about the voting and election process this week. Well, Friday night when we were at my parent's house for dinner and fellowship, she pulled out a paper that she had questions on and started asking us all questions from the material in her little booklet that I had given her on the voting and election process! She had taken that little booklet that I had given her and wrote out questions with their answers totally on her own! Woohoo!!! That's grasping the love of learning! I absolutely LOVE it!!!
The ultimate goal of Christian home education is to train children to impact the world for God. We want our children to not only hear and learn God's Word, but also be doers of God's Word. Therefore, we strive to teach them:
SERVICE - How to serve God and others
ACHIEVEMENT - To do the best they can in all they do from academic subjects to chores to serving others and more
LOVE - To love God and one another
TRUTH - To live their lives based on the absolute Truth of God
The name of this blog is the acronym for these four areas that we strive to teach our children:
S.A.L.T. - Service, Achievement, Love, Truth
