A Christian homeschool mom of 4 muses about daily events and happenings around the house in my own little corner of the world http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sat, 8 Aug 2009 00:21:00 -0500 Sat, 8 Aug 2009 00:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/715401/ Sat, 8 Aug 2009 00:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/715401/ Powdered laundry detergent- Top load machine 1 Fels-Naptha soap bar (I found it at Safeway, I think) 1 Cup washing soda (found at Kroger) 1/2 cup Borax Grate or break soap bar into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 tablespoon. For heavy or soiled load, use 2 tablespoons. Yields: 3 cups detergent (approx 40 loads) -You can use other soaps instead of the Fels-Naptha, such as: Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. You can buy Fels-Naptha by the case from your local grocer or online. Washing soda and Borax can be found in the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe approx cost: $2. What a great way to save money! It is really very easy to mix up and just as good as my other detergent. There is another recipe that makes a liquid laundry detergent, but I haven't tried that yet. I did make up some detergent with Ivory soap, and I hope this will work to clean my baby's clothes. She has sensitive skin, so we shall see! Source for recipe: Molly Green, Tightwad Tuesday http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/715390/ Sat, 8 Aug 2009 00:01:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/715390/ I have been thinking about posting for those that may not know how to make baby food, as I have been doing this recently. It is really very easy and economical! Here are the steps: 1. Cut and cube the fruit or vegetables you want to cook. Carrots are an easy one to begin with, but they have to be peeled too. 2. Place in a pan of water, enough to cover the veggie. Cover and boil. Reduce heat and cook for 10-20 minutes, depending on how thick the veggie is. Thicker carrots and sweet potatoes take longer. 3. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes, leaving the veggies in the water. 4. Place cooked food in a blender with some of the cooking water. 5. Puree the veggie, adding more water until it is thinner, like tomato soup. 6. Pour the pureed veggie into ice cube trays (old ones can be found at Goodwill or thrift stores, if you have an ice maker like me!) 7. Freeze the food into these portions. After freezing, put the veggie into ziploc bags and keep in your freezer. Label the bags with what food is in it, i.e., carrots) It is easy to give your baby one, two or three veggie cubes for their meal. Defrost in your microwave in a bowl for approx. 30 seconds. Note: I do this most often for veggies: carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, green beans (sometimes they are stringy) but also some fruits: peaches, pears, plums, apples. But applesauce is easy to buy in the unsweetened variety and you can feed that to your baby. Fruit does not need to be cooked, but it can be to make it softer. I've pureed bananas too, and added water to them. They are a little thinner and more palatable for the baby. Sometimes potatoes and sweet potatoes can be too starchy for the blender. You can try those in your food processor on pulse.You can add cereal to the fruit or veggie for variety, or if they don't seem to like it. Also good for thickening it! Hope that helps! It is SOO much cheaper, and better for your baby! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/708292/ Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:58:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/708292/ This post is mostly about my 5 month old baby and the trouble I am having with her skin. She is complicating my life, but I would do it for her any day! :-D So my DD has terrible skin, excema and cradle cap. I looked on welltellme.com and they told me that her skin troubles are probably related to milk allergy. So I am trying to give up milk/ dairy while I am nursing her. It is not going to be easy! There is milk, butter, cream in SOO many things! Thankfully I have several friends on Facebook and elsewhere that are quite encouraging, and so that helps. I did go to the store this week and was happy to find soy yogurt and soy pudding. Both taste really good! She is a very happy baby, a great sleeper (she is the 4th child and the best I've ever had!) and overall a delight to our family. But her skin is SOO dry and scaly. Poor girl! So I am really hoping that giving it up will help her. I know it takes a month at least. Also, I am potty training my 2 1/2 year old DD. She is doing pretty well! I am trying not to put her in pull-ups too much, because I know that she can't feel when she is wet. She had a little bit of diarrhea on Friday, which was kinda crazy. But she felt better by the next day. Don't know if she ate something or what... Anyway, it is hard to believe that the school year is almost over! My DS6 will be done with kindergarten! WOW! And my DD10 will be finishing 4th grade! My DH took the kids to our local HS graduation yesterday and they all really enjoyed it. I think he wants to HS all the way through. We will see. Well, I just wanted to jot down some quick thoughts. Thanks! Have a great rest of your school year! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/690027/ Mon, 18 May 2009 00:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/690027/ So we do have our new baby! Her name is Bethany and she was born in early December. She is very sweet, and we are enjoying her. She is almost 7 weeks old already! My DD 2 year old was having a hard time adjusting to the baby, and being "de-throned", at first. But she is doing much better. Not so many tantrums, and gives the baby lots of kisses and pats on the head. All 3 kids love to hold her, and my DD 9 is very good with her, and can even put her down for a nap for me. We began homeschool again a few weeks ago, and it was not as hard of an adjustment as I thought it would be. The baby sleeps most of the morning, so that helps a lot. Then I do nurse her once during school, usually about 11:00. So I get quite a bit of time in before that happens (usually!) My older kids have helped me some by being a little more independent in their work. We had a nice Christmas too. It was around then that I was beginning to feel more like myself, not so achy and tired. I had an energy burst, and that was so nice! I am still working on getting in to some of my jeans though, it may take a while... especially after all the yummy sweets we had around here for the holidays! We had lots of meals brought to us from our church family and MOPS moms. That was SO nice. My mom and dad were here for about 2 weeks. That was great too! So all in all, I didn't cook for almost a month!! I loved it! :-D Tonight I had a crazy diaper experience! I was just taking the baby's diaper off when I saw she was poopy, and that she was peeing. So I left the diaper on for a 1/2 minute more. I then took it off and was wiping her bottom, when she started pooping more! It just kept coming! I managed to get another diaper on her, and left it on for a minute. Then I started to wipe her again, and she started pooping again, and it squirted across the room!! Her crib is right there, so the poop got on the crib, the crib blankets, sheets, bumper pads, on my arm, etc.,! It was all over!! So after about 20 wipes, three diapers, a whole new outfit for her and me, I changed almost all of her crib linens, and ran a load of wash! Now this is my 4th baby, and I've never had an experience like that! :-D The older kids were laughing and laughing! Leave it to the baby to keep me on my toes! Hope my story didn't gross you out! LOL! We are enjoying our KONOS Kings and Queens unit now. Today we made crowns out of craft foam for all three kids, and then they played with them this afternoon. The kitchen chairs were thrones, they had capes and all kinds of dress up outfits on, and my DD9 was being quite the queen! She is also making her own "castle" out of cereal boxes, oatmeal containers, paper towel rolls, TP rolls and tape. It looks pretty fun so far, and she is not done yet! I will be taking photos when she is done. Gotta go, that new baby is crying and needs some lovin'! Happy New Year! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/649666/ Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:36:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/649666/ So I was challenged by Tia's idea on blogging more often...I really need to, but I just get busy with the normal HSing, cooking, cleaning, etc., that blogging is not as high on the list. I have been busy prepping for our Halloween/ Pumpkin week next week, and my most recent FUN find for my kindergartener is File Folder Games (FFG). I got a link to some free ones, and have made several for DS5. He has kinda liked the ones we've done so far. I have two I made for next week, with pumpkins on them. One is for numbers and one is for letters. I also have a "Halloween Rhyme" that I used when I taught kindergarten in public school. It is fun, I think DS5 will enjoy illustrating it. We've all had colds lately, well at least three of us have, not the "boys". I got it first, I don't know where! Then my DD2 got it, and just in the past few days, my DD9 got it. I am kinda starting to get over it. It wasn't a TERRIBLE cold, it could have been worse. Since I am pregnant (due in 6 1/2 weeks!), I can't take everything that I normally would, I did take Sudafed until we ran out, and then I used a nasal spray called Afrin, which you can only use for 3-4 days. It helped a lot! We are still trying to sell our house. We had an open house last Sunday, (our 3rd one!) and no one came again!! Ugh-- so frustrating. I know the market is slow, but I wish ONE person or couple would have come to see it! It would have made the work a little more worth it! Oh well, sigh... I was really hoping to move before baby #4 comes, but it doesn't look like it will happen. What is God trying to teach me? I think I am already a pretty patient person, and I know He is in control of everything... My DD2's birthday party was fun, with her Elmo theme. Next we are getting ready for my DS5's birthday party in a few weeks. I need to send out invites. He chose a KNIGHT theme, so we printed out invitations from Family Fun.com, and they are filled out, I just need to get them into envelopes and send them off! They had a whole "Medieval Feast" plan, with lots of ideas for crafts, cake etc., I don't think that we will make the dragon cake though, I think we will make a shield. That would be a little easier. I don't think we'll do gold or silver icing though! Well, I better go, we need to eat lunch, the toddler needs a diaper change, and a haircut, and naps need to happen...Busy as usual! Thanks for reading! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/609519/ Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/609519/ So, we began school in Mid-August, since "the teacher is going to have a baby" and we need all the extra time we can get. (the teacher is me!) I am due in early December, so we may just take that whole month off. It's a crazy month anyway, and I may try to get all of my shopping and gift-making done in November. We'll see! The first two weeks of school were a chaotic adjustment period for all of us. It is the first year that I am totally homeschooling TWO kids (K and 4th grade), and my 22 month old DD is not napping in the mornings anymore, like last year. So it is a bit of a juggle for me. She is prone to screaming when she is not getting any attention, and we are working on that. She is getting better at "using her words" but she still has her moments. My 5 year old DS is starting kindergarten, and is doing pretty well. He has surprised me several times already. I am using a little bit of the KONOS curriculum with him, and with my 9 year old DD. We are liking KONOS so far, it is very interesting. It is amazing all the ways we are applying the character trait learning to other things! The first character trait is attentiveness, and sometimes the kids are not very attentive to the teacher and goof off. So I have to rein them back in, and discuss being attentive! Also with my DS, I am using a ABC curriculum that I made up from several books I have, and I used with my older DD when she was in kindergarten. It was really fun! It is fun to use it again! We are discussing a letter a week, and we are up to G week this next week. So we talk about things that begin with the letter, write the letter and words that begin with it, eat things that begin with the letter, read books, play games, etc., all with using the letter. For instance, for G week, we will talk about gingerbread men, read GB man books, compare and chart stories, make GB men, and maybe playdoh, eat grapes, goldfish, griddle cakes, etc., do beginning geometry, geoboards, graphs, and so on. It seems to really help them understand the letter and how it is used in many words. My son likes brainstorming words that start with the letter of the week when he is eating lunch or in the car. It's neat because he is thinking about it more than just in school! Oh- the book I have used for this "curriculum" is A is Amazing by Dayle M. Timmons. It works for preschoolers as well as kindergarteners! I also have used Mudpies to Magnets for science ideas. I have been finding activities to keep my now 23-month-old DD busy. I have pulled out all kinds of cards and games, the pegboard, puzzles, let her play in the kitchen sink, etc., I have a few idea books for Things to do with toddlers and twos (that is actually the title! by Karen Miller) from when I was in college. So I have grabbed those and used some of those ideas. One of them was to get out an ice cube, and a cookie sheet, and give her a spoon. She loved chasing it around the cookie sheet trying to pick it up! We talked about it being COLD, and how it melts. She went through four ice cubes before she was done! We also got out shaving cream last week and all three kids loved smearing it around the table. It was messy, and I had to watch my toddler to be sure she wouldn't put  it in her mouth, but they all loved it! I have a small co-op group that I am involved in, and we discussed trading bins/ bags of activities for toddlers to do. For example, one of the gals has more little plastic cars that she can trade with me for a bin of bubbles and supplies. I have a whole list of bins I can pull from (partly ideas from Preschool Pizzazz by Renee Ellison) and I grab those things for her to do too. She likes to color with markers and play with dolls of course. Maybe tomorrow I will pull out the doll for her to wash in the kitchen sink! So she has her own learning time too! We did an Olympics lapbook so far, and have been working on our Orchestra lapbook in our spare time. I think I got them both from homeschoolshare.com. The next one I have ready is on Attentiveness. It will fit in well with our KONOS curriculum. If my 9 year old gets her work done, and we have a little extra time, we will work on our lapbook. Sometimes it is an incentive for her, becuase she enjoys being crafty! She is doing more of the writing this year in her lapbook. I have done three mini-lapbooks with my DS. They are called "Tot Books", that I got from another homeschooler. (lapbooks by carisa) She has several little themes, and she cuts one file folder in half for it. Then she has a few little activity books that go inside. She makes them for her 2 year old, but they have been great for my 5 year old as an introduction. He likes having his own lapbooks. I may look at Jamin's lapbooks to see what she has done with her younger son for some ideas too. We did VeggieTales, Thomas the Tank Engine and Cars lapbooks so far. He loves those characters, and it is a review of shapes, counting, colors for him. I need to do something more advanced! Well, I am off to bed. If you have questions about anything, please leave me a comment and I will try to respond ASAP. Thanks! Enjoy your school year! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/593357/ Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:39:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/593357/ Sorry I haven't been on here too much... we have been busy enjoying summer, as I hope most of you are too! We have been to the pool a few times, had a fun 4th of July with family, had a few picnics, hiked some, but mostly we have been home. We are busy fixing up our house, getting it ready to sell. Since we are expecting our 4th baby, we decided our little 1300 sq.ft house is not going to cut it any longer. So we are trying to sell ours by owner first, and then we will begin to look harder. We have seen a few houses that look good so far, but haven't toured any yet. Say a prayer for us that it will sell fast! I don't think we can handle waiting too long... all in God's timing, I guess. Some friends of ours sold their house here in 10 days. So I am hoping that ours will sell fast too! We are still attending our group co-op homeschool on 2 Tuesdays each month. This is a group of moms that I've been friends with forever (nearly) and we all homeschool our kids. They are from ages 12 down to 14 months. It is nice because we split them into three groups (grades 1-6, preschool, toddler/ babies) so they get to be together with friends close in age. Some of us have been hit & miss this summer, but we've still gotten together, even if it is only 3 families (out of 5). The kids love the time to be together, and the moms get to socialize a little bit too! They are all Christian families, and we  have a time of praise singing (oldest boy plays guitar) and verse memorization in the beginning. Then we split into groups for an hour or so, and then we eat lunch together. I have been teaching the preschoolers for 6 sessions now, and it is so fun. We are discussing "Transportation", and since there are 4 boys, they love it. The older kids discussed maps/ geography and magnets, and now they are moving on to a big study on the 50 states! My DD9 is loving it! They are using info from "Hold That Thought", in a book that one of the moms bought. My DD9 is even willing to do her "homework" in the summer! Anyway, that is what we have been up to... I am hoping that we will be more regular bloggers again after the house sells! And after the move... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/559074/ Wed, 9 Jul 2008 22:48:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/559074/ I am sorry that I have been so out of things here on this blog. We have been enjoying spring and its busyness! We also found out that I am pregnant again! It was unplanned, unexpected, and we've never had that happen to us before! All three of our other kiddos were well planned and tried for. So we are adjusting to this news and learning a lesson in God having control! That said, I am 9 weeks and due in early December! Our friends think we're crazy! Our kids are super excited, and they'd like another boy, you know, to even things out! I have been feeling nauseous some, but better since I figured out that my vitamins (from the health food store) were making me feel yucky! So I am taking them in the evening right before bed, and that seems to work. I have been mostly craving hamburgers!! I am glad grilling season is here! I am usually a sweets-lover, but lately I have not been terribly into sweets. Pregnancy and those hormones can do weird things to the body! Since this is the 4th pregnancy for me, I am feeling like I need my maternity clothes already! I have to get them back from my friend that I loaned them to... I am making an easy biscuit recipe for dinner tonight, to go along with soup. I read in a book that I've enjoyed, called Home Comforts, that it is unpractical to buy Bisquick and those types of mixes, because you still need to do all the measuring that you would do for mixing it yourself! The only step you save is measuring baking powder!! So I found a recipe on allrecipes.com, under "Easy Biscuit Mixture". Hope you enjoy it as much as we have! Oh, and I always make it with "buttermilk", which is made with 2 Tbsp vinegar and enough milk to make 2/3 cup! It makes them taste like KFC (well, almost!) Here's a few funnies for you: I was talking to my mom about my nausea and things I could do to prevent it somehow, and she told me this story about my grandma. My grandma had twelve children and didn't have a lot of time to be sick, so she would set a glass of buttermilk by her bed at night and go to sleep. She would wake up in the morning, and drink the buttermilk (which was warm by then) and vomit. Then she felt much better! I can't imagine doing that... yuck!! Also, I always have a tough time folding fitted sheets, as I was doing today. So in my Home Comforts book  the author explains it is easier to fold them if you can put them on the floor to fold in the edges. So I was doing that today, and my toddler (19 months) kept walking on them! I thought that author never tried to fold sheets with a toddler around! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/529327/ Thu, 8 May 2008 18:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/529327/ My 9 year old DD (she just had a birthday... but that's another story!) and I were shopping at Goodwill (which is my new favorite store!) on Monday, and we found several great deals on games, and books as usual. We also found an Easy Bake Oven there for TWO Dollars!!! It was priced at $4, with a red tag, which meant it was on sale that day-- half off!! So we were excited to get it and try it out! We got home and looked online and found a bunch of info about it, (since it came with no book or instructions) and with her b-day $$ we bought some mixes for it and little pans too. So tonight we tried it for the first time, and made some fudge stripes, aka shortbread cookies with frosting on them. My DD was excited to get to finally use it! They turned out well, even though it took almost an hour to bake 6 little cookies! Next time I may not help her as much and see what she can do on her own. Sometimes I think she doesn't read the directions well because she knows that I read them and can just tell her all the important info. So she has two other mixes, and it will be interesting to see how they turn out! My 5 year old DS just began T-ball this week. It is his first experience with any organized sports. He has been REALLY into baseball (and some other sports too, but baseball is his fav) since he was two years old! He has a really good swing and throw for a little guy. Today we had to tell him to quit throwing it over his coach's head! He may not learn how to play much baseball, because his dad has done a lot of that with him. But he will learn how to play in a team sport and listen to someone besides Mom and Dad about how to play. So it should be an interesting experience! Plus they are just SOOO cute-- we laugh a lot at them when they practice! I am excited for tomorrow night because my DH has been working on a Good Friday service at our church. He has done them the past two years also, but this one will be a little different! He will have stations for people to visit, along with a guide, mostly of Scripture verses. Then he will have different things for anyone to come and touch, smell, see, etc., For instance, he has a real crown of thorns and a purple cloak/ robe. He also has a laver and plate like the one Pilate washed his hands in. He's got a whip that the soldiers beat him with, and the thirty pieces of silver that Judas paid. I am excited to see how it all will come together. Plus he's got some neat Sunday orchestra times planned in the Sunday Easter services. Hope you all  have a Happy and blessed Easter! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/502200/ Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:11:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jillybean/502200/