Today's meeting was on baking.  We started the meeting going over our Verse, Prayer and song.  I challenged the girls to have them all memorized by our next meeting, January 18th. 

After our opening we talked about baking.  We talked about how it makes us feel when we smell something baking in the oven and how it makes other people feel when we share fresh baked goods with them. 

I handed out the aprons I made for the girls for Christmas presents, they put them on and we started baking!

Two girls volunteered to demonstrate some treats for us today.  First up, were yummy brownies!

First the ingredients were listed, then the demonstration began. 

 The girls asked questions throughout the demonstration.

While the brownies baked, our next volunteer began her demonstration of Toll House Cookies.

Anxiously awaiting the cookies!

The brownies came out of the oven in time for the cookies to be popped in.

While the brownies cooled and the cookies baked, we got busy making our mixes for the girls to bring home.  Every girl got a quart size canning jar and we layered the ingredients for Chocolate Cranberry Cookies.  Everything fit, except the flour, baking soda, baking powder mixture, so I handed out ziplock bags for the girls to dump the flour mixture into to take home. 

The girls had fun scooping and measuring and making a mess all over the kitchen table. LOL

After assembling the jars, the girls sat down and enjoyed the yummy brownies and cookies that had just finished cooking.  Yum.

To complete the Baking badge the girls need to:

• Read each recipe and follow the instructions.  All of the chosen recipes must be from "scratch" only.  From "scratch" means no store bought box mixes allowed.  Cleanthe kitchen completely after each baking session.  Bake each of the itmes below.  Have your parent sign when each item is completed.
  •   cake
  • cobbler
  • cookies
  • pie
  • yeast bread
  • Dessert bread
• Start a recipe collection.  These recipes can be on 3x5 index cards and placed in a card file, or can be written on notebook paper and placed in a binder.  A 3-ring binder is better than a spiral notebook for recipes because recipes can easily be inserted, sorted or removed as needed.
  
  "...It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." Luke 4:4

"But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant." 1 Corinthians 14:38

Since the Library and Literature badges go hand in hand, we decided we'd tackle them at the same time.  Since the best way to learn about the library is to actually go there, we took a field trip to our local branch library.

Everyone met in the garden area where we went through our Keepers Verse, Purpose, Goal and Prayer.  We're still struggling with that song though. 

I then discussed with the girls why we have libraries, they were established so no one in our country would be ignorant.   We discussed what it means to be ignorant and why it's important to always be learning.  Then we went over some basic library rules and safety.  We talked about the different types of books you can find in the library and how we sometimes get in a rut with our reading, reading only one type of book.  The girls were told that part of their badge work would be to venture out of their normal reading genre and read many other types of books.

I then broke the girls up into three groups of three and had a mom walk around with each group.  The girls had a scavenger hunt of the library that took them all over the library.  They learned about the Dewey Decimal System, cataloging, alphabetization, InterLibrary Loan, fees, library cards, copy costs, hours the library is open.  They also learned what and where the biography section, the reference area,  the fiction vs non-fiction sections are.  They learned how to find and identify the copywrite date, publisher, dedication page, title page and how to contact the publisher.  They also learned about two of the numerous literary awards books can receive, The Caldecott and The Newberry awards.

Here's some information on these two awards:

The Caldecott Medal

Given each year by the American Library Association for the "most distinguished picture book" (though the medal itself is given to the illustrator), this is one of the two most important awards in all of American children's literature, the other being the Newbery Medal. The gold seal on the book itself forever marks it out as a Caldecott book. Winners are chosen by a committee of librarians. source: Jane Yolen on Caldecott Medal

The Newberry Medal

The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year. In 1921, Frederic G. Melcher proposed the award to the American Library Association meeting of the Children's Librarians' Section and suggested that it be named for the eighteenth-century English bookseller John Newbery. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by the children's librarians, and the official proposal was approved by the ALA Executive Board in 1922.
   The purpose of the Newbery Medal was stated as follows: "To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field."
   The Newbery Award thus became the first children's book award in the world. Its terms, as well as its long history, continue to make it the best known and most discussed children's book award in this country.  source:  Newberry Award

The girls had a good time going around the library learning.

To earn the Library Badge the girls need to:

• Learn how the library catalogs books so that you can find them.
• Find the classification number for:

Science

Nature

Biography

Exercise

Cookbooks

Geography

Craft

History

Religion

Sewing

• Demonstrate how to use the computer to search for books by name and by topic.
• Obtain own Library card
• List three rules of courtesy while in the library.
• Check out and read twelve books from the library.  Only two books at a time may count for this badge and you must return the books on time to count towards this badge.

For the Literature badge the girls need to:

• Read 25 books selected from the following categories:

1. Biography - 3 books
2. Nature & Science - 1 book
3. History - 1 book
4. Poetry - 1 book
5. Cooking - 1 book
6. Crafts - 1 book
7. The remainder of the books are personal choice.

"And the book is delivered to him that is not learned saying read this, I pray thee:  and he sayeth, I am not learned." Samuel 29:12

Our next meeting will be on baking, yum.

Today we worked on two skills, Rubber Stamping and Letter Writing.  To start I discussed how letter writing was an important means of communication in the past.  As time has gone by and new devices have been invented, the art of letter writing has become someting that doesn't have the same importance it once did.  I had the girls come up with ideas as to why you'd want to write a letter to someone. 

I had the girls create a Letter Notebook where all their letter writing supplies can be kept in one, easy to grab place.  They personalized their notebooks with stickers and pens.  To get the girls started their notebooks contain a pen, return address labels, envelopes and stationary.  No excuses for not writing letters now!  I then showed them the standard form for writing a personal or friendly letter.  We discussed addressing envelopes and how it's important to keep the address area readable so the post office will be able to deliver their letter. 

The first letter the girls are going to write for their badge is a thank you note to Jenni's mom for letting us borrow all the candle supplies.  The girls practiced addressing an envelope by addressing one to Jenni's mom.  Now all they need to do is write the thank you note.

Next, we talked about rubber stamping.  A family friend, Penny, volunteered to teach this part of our meeting.  Penny showed the girls how to ink their stamp and how to press to get a clear image.  She showed them how to fix a print that didn't completely transfer.  She also talked about how important it is to clean your stamps after your were done with one color before moving on to the next. 

Picking out their stamps

Listening to Penny

Penny demonstrating a technique

Practicing

Showing their work

After the girls were comfortable stamping on paper I gave them their tote bags which they can use to carry their Keeper supplies in and pin their badges onto.  The girls decorated their totes with stamps and markers.

Working on their tote bags

The finished product

The girls did a really good job with the stamping.  I can't wait to see the beautiful cards and letters they all start creating now.

To complete the Rubber Stamping badge the girls need to make six note cards using the rubber stamping techniques that are suggested in the manual or that they learned during our meeting.

To complete the Letter Writing badge the girls need to:

• Demonstrate the proper format for letters including date, salutation, closing and signature.
• Demonstrate how to address an envelope properly.
• Explain why a return address is important.
• Write notes of appreciation to three adults in your life.
• Write eight letters. 

"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country" Proverbs 25:25

"For thou wilt light my candle:  the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness."  Psalm 19:28

We continued our Candle Making for our next meeting.  This time we made taper candles.  Terri led us again in the process of making taper candles.  To make tapers you have a large pot of hot wax, dip the wick, which is doubled over in half, straight into the wax.  Hold it in the wax for 5 seconds.  Pull the wick out of the wax and wait three minutes before dipping again.  As you go through this process the wax begins to build up and you get a taper candle after much dipping and patience. 

Since this process takes some time, we had the girls get started right away and had our devotion time as they dipped.  Since the weather was nice, we brought everything outside and had the girls get in a large circle with the pot of hot wax in the center.  The girls each took turns dipping their wicks into the wax.  By the time we went around the circle, enough time had elapsed that it was time to dip the wick again.

Dipping

Success!

While the girls waited for their turn to dip they read the verses they looked up during the week on "candles".  They came up with some great verses using the variations of "candle" found in the bible.

We also discussed missionaries in the 10/40 window.  I told the girls what the 10/40 window was and showed them on our large wall map where this area is located.

10/40 Window

We discussed how this is the area in the world with the most unreached population.  Here are some mission statistics for this area of the world:

Missions statistics from the places of the 10/40 Window:

• Center of population:Two-thirds of the world's population -- more than 3.2 billion people -- live in the 10/40 Window.
• Unreached and unevangelized: 95% of the people living in the 10/40 Window are unevangelized. Many have never heard the Gospel message even once. There are either no Christians or not enough of a Christian movement in many cultures of the 10/40 Window to carry out vibrant near-neighbor evangelism. If those groups are to be evangelized, believers will need to leave their own culture to enter another where they will seek to plant the gospel. Such cross-cultural evangelism is required because there are people groups with no church movements that are understandable or relevant to them.
  • Good news: There's a difference between unreached and unreachable. In 1989 there were only four known Christians living in Mongolia. That country now has an estimated 10,000 indigenous believers. Also, Christian television programming can now be received in many closed 10/40 Window nations.
• Poverty: Eighty-five percent of those living in the 10/40 window are the poorest of the world's poor.
  • Good news: Christians delivered more than $1 million worth of food to just one 10/40 Window refugee camp in a recent year. In one North African country that is hostile to the Gospel, abundant rain fell after an Easter service. A local news channel reported, "Christians have brought rain to the desert."
• World religions: Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism are centered within the 10/40 Window.
• Least evangelized cities: Half of the world's least evangelized cities are in this window.

My oldest daughter than taught everyone a song she had learned to help remember who lives in the 10/40 window.  The song is sung to the tune of "BINGO" .

What are the peoples of the world

the peoples inthe window.

T*H*U*M*B, T*H*U*M*B, T*H*U*M*B

The peoples inthe window.

T stands for Tribal

H stands for Hindu

U stands for Unreligious

M stands for Muslim

B stands for Buddhist

The song makes it easy to remember this population of the world and to keep them and the missionaries who are witnessing to them in our prayers.

The girls did a fabulous job on their candles as you can see them proudly holding up their handiwork.

To complete this badge the girls need to make three different candles.

Next meeting we will be learning the art of Letter Writing and Rubber Stamping!

"She perceiveth that her merchandise is good:  Her candle goeth not out by night."  Proverbs 31:18

For our third meeting we worked on a creative skill, Candlemaking.  To start our meeting we discussed what a candle does for us, it shines light on everything.  When it's dark, we stumble and fall and hurt ourselves.  I then talked to the girls how Jesus shines a light in our life, lighting a path for us to follow so we don't stumble along.  I challenged the girls to look in their Bible Concordance for the word "candle" and to come up with at least one verse that pertains to "candles" to share with everyone at the next meeting.  I also gave them a hint that they wouldn't find the word "candle" in any verses but to find what words were used instead and report back at our next meeting with what they found.

One of our moms, Terri, then took over and taught the girls about candlemaking.  For our first meeting we worked with poured candles.  We divided the girls up into three groups. 

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

 Each group was able to choose their own candle color and scent.  Terri did a fabulous job explaining the procedure of measuring and cutting the wick to fit each mold and how to properly secure the wick to make it ready for the hot wax. 

Stirring in the scent

The girls first made votive candles.  They then picked a metal mold for a larger, pedestal candle and prepared the wick for this type of candle.  The hot wax was poured into the molds and cooled overnight.  While we were waiting for the wax to get to the correct temperature for pouring, the girls worked on a fire safety sheet as they snacked on brownies and Terri reviewed different safety precautions for burning candles.

Safety sheet

The girls had a blast and the candles turned out beautifully.

"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was:  and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him." Luke 10:33-34

For our second meeting we worked on a homemaking skill, First Aid.  One of our moms, Jenni, took the helm and did a fabulous job teaching our girls about first aid. 

There was a lot of information that needed to be covered from how to help someone who is choking to splinting a broken arm.  Jenni gave the girls handouts and bandages to practice what they learned.  It was fun to watch as the girls teamed up to wrap each other up in bandages.

Demonstrating the Heimlich maneuver

Bandaging injured arms

Demonstrating the correct way to wrap a head injury

And the incorrect way to wrap a head injury

As you can see, the girls had a good time learning about first aid. 

To complete this badge the girls need to:

Read a book on first aid.

Make a list of doctor, police and fire department telephone numbers and leave them by your home phone.

Demonstrate how to make a call giving necessary information.

Demonstrate what you should do to treat:

Choking          Small Cuts

Fainting          Burns

Abraisions     Fractures and sprains

Demonstrate what to do if someone's clothes catch fire.

Explain why it is important to keep someone warm while she is waiting for emergency medical help.

Explain why a person should not be moved if they are injured.

Assemble a first aid kit for your home.

For our first meeting we worked on a recreational activity, Swimming.  It's still warm enough here in September to take a dip in the pool, so all the girls and a couple moms jumped on in and got started working on their Swimming badge.  Before we jumped in the water we went over basic safety rules for the swimming pool.  We also discussed how to safely help someone who is drowning and how to call for help.

To complete this badge the girls need to be able to:

Tread water for five minutes.

Float for five minutes.

Swim 50 yards free style. (we determined this to be 5 times back and forth in my swimming pool)

Swim the breast  stroke or back stroke.

List three swimming safety rules

Demonstrate how to save another person from drowning.

I broke the girls into two groups, one group worked on treading water while the other group worked on floating.  Five minutes is a long time to tread and float on your back!  The girls were troopers and did their best to last the entire five minutes.

Next, the girls were staggered started to swim the 50 yards free style.  Again, they did a great job accomplishing their goal of going back and forth the pool 5 times. 

I then broke the girls up into groups, depending on their stroke of choice, and they demonstrated either the breast stroke or back stroke.

Before it was time to leave, we reviewed the safety rules and procedure for saving someone who is drowning.

It was a fun afternoon in the pool and all the girls did a great job!

Purpose: To learn to walk in the steps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, day by day, moment by moment, in every situation.

Goal: To have a teachable spirit so that I can master the different crafts and skills which will enable me to become a competent, well-balanced Christian girl who loves God, and who will one day be a proper helpmeet and keeper at home.

Verse: 1 Peter 2:21, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in His steps”

Prayer:   Dear Lord,

              Teach me the way to make each day a stepping stone as I learn to walk in your steps, and with your help I will make of my life a harmony of love, joy, and service to Thee, my family, and others.

I am so thrilled to join other moms that wish to encourage the skills & growth needed for our daughters to one day be keepers of their own homes!

Today, once everyone arrived, everyone opened their handbooks, went over the above goals and did a quick overview of the handbook, pointing out the 5 different skills areas: Biblical, Creative skills, Homemaking, Knowledge & skills, Nature, Others & Recreational Activities.  We also discussed badges and the various types of badges that can be earned. 

Next, we went over our proposed schedule for this year. We are going to meet the first and third Friday of each month from 2-4. We will take breaks during the school holidays. Below is our proposed schedule of activities and skills for this year.  Each family was also encouraged to work on skills that interest them outside of club as well.

Keepers at Home

As it states in the handbook: Our daughters are only with us a few short years, and in these years, they have so much to learn about Jesus, about being a Christian woman, and about being prepared to be a wife, manage a home, and rear their own future children. In this group, the girls will have fun learning new skills while building character and good habits. Being a "keeper at home" is a very worthwhile job and an enjoyable one too. Do not let the list of skills intimidate you. If you do not know some of them, learn them along with your daughter(s)!

Thank you to the moms that expressed an interest in starting a group. My girls & I are excited! This is OUR group. There are no set ways to run one; we can change things to suit our needs and desires. . Keepers At Home is a program oriented for girls 6+ years old and their mothers. It was created as an alternative to secular scouting groups. Keepers encourages biblical family values while developing a diversity of skills for feminine Christian womanhood. The meeting begins with a devotional and group building activities. Mothers then take turns leading activities including creative skills, homemaking skills, nature study, sports and other activities. Mothers and their daughters work side by side to teach and learn new skills.

Each girl needs her own handbook where the skills being worked on can be recorded and checked off as your daughter(s) complete them.  Most badges will have a fee associated with them.  When at all possible, the dollar amount for each badge will be announced about a week prior to our meeting.  We will have two awards meetings, one in January and a larger, banquet meeting in May, where badges will be handed out for work accomplished by the girls.  For our banquet meeting in May, the girls will be encouraged to bring their work to show to everyone.  You are encouraged to bring family and friends along.  Keep track of your girls badge work in their books and on the worksheet you all received at the first meeting.

Although it is not a requirement for being part of our group, Mom participation is encouraged!  Look through the list of skills and let me know if there is something that strikes your interest.