Well we have officially started a new adventure, canning!! It is something I have always wanted to try, but just never had the money to get started with it. Well, my sister started learning some pressure canning with a friend and that got us all wanting to learn more. So my mom gave us some money for the initial investment in a hot water bath canner, some utensils & jars, and we were on our way. One of the first things I had to do was make some room in my kitchen for the jars. So I moved an old microwave cart out to the garage, and brought it a shelving unit we had in the garage. I did that Thursday, and it was a tiring job. I had to move everything around, and scrub it clean. I like it a lot in our kitchen, and want to eventually make some curtains or something for the front of it so it's not so open. It's like another pantry for us, and I'd like to be able to 'close' it if it gets messy. But that will be another project.
My sister learned pressure canning for peaches on Thursday, but we both wanted to learn hot water bath canning, so she came out on Friday and we decided to learn together. Between what she had been taught by her friend, info. I found online and tips and directions from one of my friends who canned, we started the adventure of canning. It was a great day Friday and lots of fun. We decided to can a box of peaches & try some strawberry jam. I 'hardest' thing, which really wasn't hard, just not really fun, was pealing the peaches. I discovered part way through my box that not all my peaches were ripe enough. Though I did the hot water/cold water thing, they didn't just peel right off. And then I had never eaten a peach before (shocking I know), so I wasn't really sure how to get the pit out. So the first hour I was on my own until my sis showed up. That was my hard time, but I was determined not to let it turn me off of canning all together.
After lunch and my sister showing up, things went a bit smoother, and I finally got them all peeled and sliced. We decided to make a light syrup since this was our first time, didn't want them too sugary. I really enjoyed the actual canning part, that was a lot of fun. Carrie (my sister) put the peaches in the jar, I put the sauce in and put the lids on. I had lots of fun picking up the lids with my magnet. We had just enough peaches to fill 9 jars, which is what my new canner holds. We decided to buy the 33 qt. canner, oh my goodness that thing is huge. But it was nice to have 9 cans done at once.
Since that went pretty well, we decided to try our hand at strawberry jam. I got the recipe online, and the only thing we did different than the recipe was we put the strawberries in a food processor instead of hand mashing them. Now the strawberry jam was LOTS of fun, and so easy to make. We got 7 jars out of 6 cups of mashed strawberries, again, plenty to do all at once. The only thing is that after the processing time our jam separated. Not quite sure why, but I'm sure once we open a jar, we will stir it up, and it will be fine. I can't wait to taste it tonight. The only bummer is we realized we never had pictures taken of us making the jam. Oh well, next time.
So what are my thoughts of canning? Right now I love it, and can't wait to do it again. It was tiring, but so much fun. Of course having my sister here was great, and lots of the fun. I think if I HAD to do it every year, and I HAD to do tons of batches, it would be hard. But as another 'craft' I do, as another 'hobby', I think it's great. I want to try some more jam, maybe raspberry. The only bummer out here is you can't find jam grapes to make grape jam. Something I miss from the midwest.
So here is a picture show of our day, hope you enjoy it. I'm off to relax some more and continue to get better from my sinus cold. It hit me hard last night, think I over did myself the last few days this week. I was really busy, and pushed myself hard Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. By last night, I new I had a bad sinus cold, which I'm still dealing with today. So today has been a lazy, relaxing day. I won't go to church tonight, so I can try and get better. I need to get better soon, so I can do some more canning.
I just came to a funny & weird revelation about myself, I don't like to do blog entries on my new, faster & better screen desktop. I prefer to do them on my older, slower, smaller screen laptop on my couch. I think because on the desktop I feel like it's work, when I'm on my laptop writing an entry, it feels like I'm sitting on the couch talking to my friends, which I am.
Those of you who follow me on twitter know I'm writing this blog entry right now because I'm procrastinating on getting my school supply shopping list done. I know I need to do it, but I just don't want to. I think it's still a bit early for me to be thinking about school supplies, though it is one of my most favorite things to shop for. But I'm also very tired today, and dealing with either allergies or a cold, not sure which. And I'm a bit nervous since I had bronchitis a while back and it feels like it wants to turn into a chest cold. So we'll see how it goes this week, and if need be, I'll go see my doctor, though I don't want to.
First a quick update on my niece, for those who don't follow me on twitter. She is doing great, Praise God. She had her surgery on Friday, and she's already up and moving, slowly, eating normal food, and texting on FB with her cell phone. The Lord has just totally blessed her with a very good surgery and recovery. She should be moved from ICU to her own room today, and possibly discharged by Friday. Though they are in Washington state, and even if she's discharged, they might have to stay at the hotel by the hospital for another week. Not sure if they want her to travel or not. But thank you for your prayers, and continue to pray for a speedy recovery.
Paul and I did something this year we've never done before formally, we sat down last night and talked about our homeschool objectives. It's not that we never talk about them, but it's usually on the fly, when there are issues or a quick update here and there. But this year we decided to sit and work through them together, and it was great. He brought up some ideas I never thought of, and he also stepped up to work with the kids on their PE exercises. And I brought up how I need help to be consistent, especially with Paulie. I tend to let a lot of his work drop for the day if he's getting behind or something. Bad habit, espeically when it comes to his fine motor skills exercies we want him to do. So I told Paul I need to be held accountable by him for that. If I know he's going to ask me about it, I will probably stick with it more, I hope.
We also decided to do something I read on Heart of the Matter online, and we are going to go out to breakfast with the kids and talk to them about our school objectives for them. Though we can't do it on the first day of public school like the author does because we start too early, it still seems like a fun way to start the school year. Though Paulie is not a real 'breakfast at a resturant' kind of kid, so maybe a lunch or dinner, we'll see. The idea though is cool, and what we are going to try this year. Plus, now that the kids are getting older, I think it's good for them to know what we expect from them. I guess I take a different approach than some on schooling. I'm all for things being fun & such, to a point. But you know what, life isn't always fun, working isn't always fun and every day things aren't always fun. We don't want our kids to grow up thinking that all they do in life should be fun and too their liking (or their desires), because that's not how real life is. Real life, we have to push through those days we don't want to work, or do school. We want them to learn, even when they don't have desire to do it, even when it's not fun, to do it unto the Lord, as best they can, not only when it's fun. So all that to say, we will be going over what we expect of them, so they can begin to adjust to anything they might not want to do. I was thinking of doing the breakfast on our first day of school, but I still can't decide. I guess I should make up my mind soon, since we'll be starting school on August 13th.
I was going to show you some pics from last Friday when Paul took the day off and we went to a local resivoir, but this entry has gotten a bit long, so I'll save that for another time. And now back to that real life living and doing things that aren't always fun and what we want to do. Time for me to get off the comptuer and work on my school shopping list.
I'm actually going to write a post about homeschooling and curriculum, can you believe it?
For those of you who don't know, we always buy our curriculum with some money from our tax refund. Since we will be getting our refund soon, I've been on the curriculum quest for a while now. I have most of our curriculum picked out except for history. We were going to do Beautiful Feet for history, but then I've been talking to some friends who use it and they said there is a lot of reading involved in it. That wouldn't be too bad for Sarah, though I think 40 pages a day is a bit much for anyone. But for Paulie, who still struggles when he reads, I don't think it would be very encouraging for him. I mean, I want to have more reading for him, but 40 pages, wow. Even if it were half that, 20 pages a day, would be overwhelming for him.
That got me thinking of trying to find a computer based history program for him. He's visual, and I thought that maybe a computer based one would help him more. I was looking at Switched on Schoolhouse, but then I started thinking he'll be doing his math on the computer, and would doing math and history on the computer be too much? I mean we are a computer & video game family (please no comments if you are not a video game family). We control their electronic time, they can't just play their video games or go on the computer anytime they want. But I wonder if it would be too much. Then again lots of families do all their subjects with SOS and that would be way more time then I'm talking about.
So then I started thinking, well maybe a DVD series would be good. But I'm not very creative with questions and things, so I would like to find a DVD curriculum set that maybe would have some nice videos and teaching on history, then a workbook or something to work on some questions about what they've learned. But I haven't been able to find anything like that so far.
So I'm stuck. I know I need to pray because I'm starting to be a bit anxious about it with lots of 'what if' questions running through my head. And that only leads to lots of anxiety for me. So I do ask for your prayers too. But what are your thoughts on history? What curriculum do you like and how is it set up? I really just need to get a sense of what's out there. Oh, and we've been using Usborne for the past two years. The kids would read a few pages 3 times a week out of those books. But they don't really like them much, that's why I'm looking to switch. Plus, do you do history every day or just 2 or 3 days a week. We've always done history 3 days a week and science 2 days.
I look forward to what you smart ladies have to share about this. Thanks for your thoughts.
So that title just about sums up what we've been up to. August is a very busy birthday month for us, and my birthday is today. I'm 40 years old, though I don't know that I feel it. Paul is taking us out to dinner tonight for my birthday, and then to the mall for me to spend some of my birthday money. I might also run out this afternoon with the kids and get a couple of things I've been wanting. And as much as the kids would love a day off, we are doing our lessons today.
We're getting into the grove of lessons, though I am finding I don't have as much time to blog. But I think that will change starting next week. My nephew is moving back home this Friday , and so for the past couple of weeks, he's been over almost every night, trying to spend time with the kids and us before he leaves. Last night was the last night he'll be here, and he was sweet and brought us pizza. We are going to miss his game nights over here.
So between birthdays, gone over the weekend, getting back into the grove of lessons and constant company, I just haven't had as much time online. Paul and I were talking about how busy we have been, and we both realized, starting next week we are going to slow down tremendously. Then we'll be complaining we have nothing to do.
Our lessons have been going great. We are getting finished usually right after lunch. I'm thinking the flow I wrote out is going well. We've even done some things in the mornings, and finished up our work in the afternoon. That has always been a hard thing for me. If we left in the morning, I wouldn't want to do the work in the afternoon, but so far I'm getting better with that. Paulie's reading is going great and Sarah's math is off the charts, it's all been a blessing. I truly pray that it continues this way.
So much has been swirling through my mind lately, it's hard to put it all into words. I'm not going to try here, because it will be way too long. Some of it is deep, some light hearted and some just some different directions the Lord is taking us all. I'm not sure exactly what I'll publish and what I'll write for just myself. But if I sound more rambling than normal, you'll know why.
Oh, after my last update on Emily, Sarah's friend, another one came in, so here it is. She was burned over 62% of her body, but only 40% is 3rd degree burns. She had cotton clothes on, so that helped her not get burned as bad as other types of material. She had her first surgery on Monday. We haven't heard anything else since Monday, and we are waiting for updates. Thanks again for all your prayers.
I guess that's about it. A quick rundown of what we've been up too, and why I haven't been on in a while. Like I said, starting this weekend into next week I should have some more time. I'll try and take some pictures of the fun things I buy with my birthday money. Have a blessed week.
Yep, today we did it. It was our first day of school, and I am surprised how tired I am right now. I really didn't think it would wear me out, but it did a bit. I wasn't sure if I would even blog about it today, but I just had to and share some pictures.
The day started out well. We had told the kids today was the day, and though there was a bit of grumbling and complaining on one child's part (both last night and part of today ) that is getting addressed and won't be happening much in the future. We had a good time in the Word reading and talking about it. We've decided to go through Luke. Then I went over our new schedule with the kids and how the flow should be. We picked the book from the library that will be our first history book. We've decided to read some biographies about different people in history this year. The kids seem to like that.
Then they started their work. Sarah pretty much does independent work, so after I told her what was expected of her, she went off to do her work. Paulie is half independent and did great work today. His writing was much neater and though he got a few wrong on his math, the rest of it he did great. We even started an actual language arts program with him, CQLA. That's the one Sarah is doing too, and he did real well. We are skipping some parts, and tailoring others for him, but he did good. Here are some pictures I took today, though I realized I forget to get Sarah at her desk, just on the keyboards for music. Oh well, it's all still school, right?
Our yearly picture with the date.
Sarah busy with her music time.
Paulie does great work while on the work-out ball.
The kids being silly.
So all and all today was a great day of school, though a bit emotional. But I think the Lord is trying to show me something through it all, but it's not always easy to learn or accept. Paulie, the sweet boy he is, can be a grumbler and complainer. I'm not talking about the little bit all kids do, but constantly, whenever he is told to do something other than play. We have been dealing with this for quite a while, years now. I have always 'babied' him in it. I've tried talking him through everything, explaining why we shouldn't complain, given him bible verses but through it all I've 'babied' him. We've explained to him about consequences and yet I would think, "Well he doesn't really understand, maybe those consequences are to harsh." Or, "He still doesn't know what I'm saying or what we expect of him, so we better not punish him to bad." I have not allowed my son to fully grow up, and I've allowed his learning disability to effect how I've disciplined him. I've allowed that 'thought' to control me, to think my son really can't learn and understand, though I know he does. I know he does understand about consequences and I know he understands discipline. And the worse of it all is that Paul has tried to discipline him, and I've told him these things, and have manipulated his discipline of him. So very wrong.
We have a strict rule here that dad does any discipline needed from school issues. If it's something that needs to be taken care of right away, of course I will take care of it. But, Paul wants the kids to know they must listen and obey me during the day, and that he is behind me whatever I say and do while he's not here. It is a true blessing to have that, and I try so very hard not to take it lightly. Well on his usual call during his lunch break he asked how the day was. I was honest in the fact that the whining, complaining and back talking had worn me out a bit. So he said, "I'll take care of it when I get home. I talked with Paulie this morning and I told him he would be grounded if he did anything like that." I immediately felt bad for him and thought, "Well maybe it wasn't that bad." Paul stopped me right then and said, no, it's gone on long enough, he needs to learn he can't keep acting this way. And I know the Lord had spoken to me through my husband, and he was right. I had kept my son from truly learning about consequences and most importantly, I've kept him from learning to take responsibility for what he chooses to do or how he chooses to act. So I stopped myself from saying anything, to worn out to fight anyway, and said, "You are right honey. Whatever you talked to him about before, and what you feel to do is up to you, you are right."
That was so very hard to say. He's my baby, he's my 'disabled' baby, I need to protect him, I need everyone to know he doesn't always 'know or understand', I need to 'explain away' why he acts the way he does. But that's not what the Lord wants for me, and I know I'm not helping my son out at all. Paulie is very bright, and though originally diagnosed as possibly autistic, he truly doesn't show that many signs of it. And even if he did, a dear friend of mine who has a severly autistic son reminds me, "The bible says to discipline our children, it doesn't say only discipline our non disabled children." So true. And though he is behind the 'normal' standard for his age of schooling, he is smart. He can memorize games and movies and say them word for word. When he knows he's right about something, he knows he's right. And he loves the Lord and has such a sweet and caring spirit about him. He just doesn't want to do what he 'has' to do, and everything needs to be fun or he doesn't want to do it. That's just pride, plain and simple, something we all deal with and something he needs to learn to deal with.
Paul and I are of the opinion that we are not going to make school and everything the kids do 'fun and exciting' for them. They need to learn that not everything is fun and exciting and that they need to do their work whether they 'feel' like it or not. Like I'm always telling them, "Cleaning the toilets isn't fun and exciting for me, but they need to be done. And what makes it a drudgery or not is my attitude in it not what I have to do, which is clean toilets." That's what we want our kids to learn. That yes, some things we do are fun, and that yes, school and learning can be very fun. But there are times we just need to do because it's what we need to do, period. And we have taught that to Sarah, and now I'm backing off and allowing Paulie to be taught that too. Because how he responds right now to what he doesn't want to do is unacceptable, and like Paul said, it needs to be nipped in the bud, now.
So that was our first day. We all learned something, it was fun and exciting, and at times just getting done what needed to be done. I know that tomorrow will be another day to learn, grow and though I won't say "better day', because I wouldn't say today was bad, I pray for a less tiring day. I also want to say, what I have written here is for and about me and my family. Not all autistic/disabled children are alike. The Lord does not call us all to discipline and raise a family the same. Please do not read this and think that you are doing something wrong because you don't do it the same (unless the Lord is showing you that) nor please don't feel the need to tell me that you think that we are doing something wrong (if we are, the Lord will show us that too). I'm writing about what the Lord has shown me and my family, as I know He shows you and your family many wonderful and sometimes different things. This is what He has shown us.
So there it is. A very long and personal recap of our first day of school this year. Though it wasn't what other first days have been, I feel the best about this day. I think our schooling this year is going to be a great growth time for all of us, and I'm blessed that we are able to learn it all together. I hope you are having a great week, and if you don't hear from me again in a while, remember we will be out of town this weekend.
I know, strange title, but that word has been going through my head lately. Those of you who have been reading my blog for any length of time knows that Sarah has been having issues with Saxon math. Well, actually math in general. It's never been her strong subject, and usually by the end of the year we are both crying and struggling to finish the lessons. I use to always read blogs where moms are saying, "My kids were asking to do their school work, so I let them start early." What?!? Asking to do their work. Not my kids, and I never imagined they would ever ask for their work. Hmmmm
Well at the end of school in the spring we decided to go ahead and get the more expensive, but computer based math curriculum, Teaching Textbooks. She tested in her grade level, 7th grade, and we got the curriculum early last spring. We had her finish up her Saxon math, then we've been having a summer break, so she hasn't started yet. She actually has been asking to be able to start her math, and summer break isn't even over yet!!! Yep, I couldn't believe it, she's been asking to do her math. So much so, she even asked to do a lesson over the weekend, which of course I said yes to. I'm still in shock, and I think she is too. She is so enjoying it and is learning things too. I pray that this attitude continues and rubs off on her brother.
But I can't end it like that, because truly her brother has been shocking me too. We have a computer based reading program that we haven't used in a while. But we weren't getting the bookwork done like I wanted to this summer, so I told him to start up that program again. At least that way he would be learning something. Lately, he has been asking me if he can do his program too. YEA!!!
I'm so blessed at this time right now the kids are enjoying their work. And even if it doesn't last, which if they are like their mom, it might not, , I am still blessed right now that it's happening. And now I have this entry to come back and read and encourage myself with later.
This blog is so I can share my journey with the Lord, my journey as a wife and mother, and my journey as a homeschool mom. I pray that you will see the Lord in my life through happy and sad times, and that this blog glorifies the Lord.
This is an award and tag free zone, thank you.
It is something I have always wanted to try, but just never had the money to get started with it. Well, my sister started learning some pressure canning with a friend and that got us all wanting to learn more. So my mom gave us some money for the initial investment in a hot water bath canner, some utensils & jars, and we were on our way. One of the first things I had to do was make some room in my kitchen for the jars. So I moved an old microwave cart out to the garage, and brought it a shelving unit we had in the garage. I did that Thursday, and it was a tiring job. I had to move everything around, and scrub it clean. I like it a lot in our kitchen, and want to eventually make some curtains or something for the front of it so it's not so open. It's like another pantry for us, and I'd like to be able to 'close' it if it gets messy. 
But that will be another project.
And then I had never eaten a peach before 
I think it's still a bit early for me to be thinking about school supplies, though it is one of my most favorite things to shop for. 
It's not that we never talk about them, but it's usually on the fly, when there are issues or a quick update here and there. But this year we decided to sit and work through them together, and it was great. He brought up some ideas I never thought of, and he also stepped up to work with the kids on their PE exercises. And I brought up how I need help to be consistent, especially with Paulie. I tend to let a lot of his work drop for the day if he's getting behind or something. Bad habit, espeically when it comes to his fine motor skills exercies we want him to do. So I told Paul I need to be held accountable by him for that. If I know he's going to ask me about it, I will probably stick with it more, I hope. 
I really didn't think it would wear me out, but it did a bit. I wasn't sure if I would even blog about it today, but I just had to and share some pictures.
