The Ordinary Day Dance

I had a problem today.  My house was messy, and I don't like living in a messy house.  I had another problem, too.  I was really pretty ticked off about the mess, and having to be the person who either cleaned it, or motivated other people to clean it.  I wanted a magic wand, thank you very much.

I checked my broom closet, but, alas, no wand!

And so, since the disorder really was making me nuts, I rolled out some good music, and my cleaning supplies.  I do this thing where I set the timer, and start tackling the dishes, or another really needed task.  Usually by the time the timer goes off, I have made a considerable dent in the task at hand and I feel motivated to keep going . . .or I feel like I have permission to let myself stop, if I want to stop.  It works for me, for some reason . . .

I did a lot of thinking about my rotten attitude while I cleaned.  I even printed out a copy of this poem that I found awhile ago and really like:

A Kitchen Prayer

Lord of all pots and pans and things, since I’ve not time to be

A saint by doing lovely things or watching late with Thee

Or dreaming in the dawn light or storming Heaven’s gates

Make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates.

Although I must have Martha’s hands, I have a Mary mind

And when I black the boots and shoes, Thy sandals, Lord I find.

I think of how they trod the earth, what time I scrub the floor

Accept this meditation Lord, I haven’t time for more.

Warm all the kitchen with Thy love, and light it with Thy peace

Forgive me all my worrying and make my grumbling cease.

Thou who didst love to give men food, in room or by the sea

Accept this service that I do, I do it unto Thee.

-Author Unknown

And  later I did a little poetry writing of my own, because this really IS one of my New Year's Resolutions.

The Ordinary Day Dance

Today I'm going to do the

Ordinary Day Dance

I really will stop and smell the roses

And look beyond the flaws and see

All the potential surrounding me

I’m going to revel in how hot, soapy dishwater feels

And delight in a freshly scrubbed spot on my floor

I will smile when  I start the laundry,

Step happily into this life I live

And love the mundane that is mine

Be well, all.

~ Love, Jenn

Grammar

A friend loaned me a book on the Caribbean and as she handed it to me, warned me that the book was NOT well written.  She was right!  As I read it, I kept finding errors in the book's grammar, and I noticed that my friend had circled errors, too.

I started to worry after awhile.  Why was she circling certain items?  I didn't understand exactly why she felt these words were wrong.  However, I have MUCHO respect for this friend, and so I went looking for the answers to my questions.

I found them here:

http://www.grammarbook.com/

My friend was spot on in her critiques and now I know why.  :)

I will be returning to this site because I  love the way it clearly lays out the rules and includes quizzes at the end to make sure the reader has grasped the concepts the author has presented.  Yay for another great, free resource!

Of Paupers and Presidents

So yesterday I really wanted to go hiking. You'd be amazed at the lack of hiking on this island. I mean, this is an island of MOUNTAINS, people. Shouldn't there be some trails? 

Everyone tells me to go to the OTHER island ( which costs over $50 dollars to go to on the ferry. Um, no. I want easy access, and free, if you please.)

II do know one path, but I wanted to do another one. 

So I called up my friend, Sue and asked her about hiking on her end of the island. Turns out that there is a hiking trail over there. So we went out looking for it, but, alas, no luck. 

We found instead some ruins from who knows when . . .1700s, maybe? The kids poked around in them and found a huge bottle that Sue's daughter claimed. It was full of putrid water and Sue managed to talk her into leaving it upside down to drain. 

Then we found a nice grassy field that the kiddos could play kickball on and a lovely tree for climbing. It had vines hanging down from it and the kiddos wanted to swing, Tarzan style from the vines, but I nixed that idea. I could just see some child breaking the vine and pulverizing his or her head on a rock. 

We did walk the entire perimeter of the area that is supposed to lead to the hiking path. Things we found instead of the trail include: a used "personal" item, a snorkel with no lens, lots of beer bottles, men's underwear and a moldy t-shirt. 

Sue told us to see if the underwear had a French label. Cautiously, without touching it, we looked. It was Fruit of the Loom. 

"Why?" I demanded, had we been looking for a label? 

The answer is that we are an United States territory, and the Haitians come to us, looking for a better life. The boats bring them, and they tumble out of the boats and swim to shore with grocery bags of dry clothes on their heads. Once to shore, they shuck their wet clothes and change into the dry ones. 

At the bottom of the mountain that we live on is a little beach. I have only been there once by boat. We do not know of a trail leading down to the beach. When I described this lovely little beach to a friend, she nodded knowingly. “Yes, that’s one of the drop-offs for the Haitians” she said. 

It is odd, knowing that there are people desperate for their very lives passing by us on a somewhat regular basis. 

Another odd thing? Standing where we could see across the bay, my friend pointed across the bay to the airport. There sat a jet with an American flag on the tail. She said that she heard an awful racket, and so she went to see what in the world was going. This jet was landing, accompanied by two helicopters. 

They did a little research, and it turns out that the jet brought former President Jimmy Carter to our island, along with the current Vice President and his family. Of course, they left our island and went to a smaller, more secret island with a nice house and private beach . . .but still, it is weird to look out and think . . .Oh, my. The Vice President is within ten miles of me. This I know. 

I also know where President Clinton stayed when he visited the island. I’ve seen the house ( from a distance) and walked the same little beach he walked. Our former landlady explained to us that when President Clinton came to town, the residents of the area we were living in at the time would all be stopped by the secret service and they’d take mirrors and check under the cars to be sure that everything was as it should be. 

So, this island is one for Presidents and Paupers. And ordinary, in between types, like you and me. 

Have a great day, 


~ Jenn

Planning, ie Homework for Mom!

So I found this really great thread about planning over at Homeschoolshare.  I asked Suz if I could copy some of what she had to say over here, and she said yes . . .hope you find her words as helpful as I found them.  I spent quite a bit of this evening answering her questions, and I feel better about the direction we are headed this January than I did prior to completing this exercise. . .

On Planning, by Suz Mama Frog http://forum.homeschoolshare.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6191

1.                    1.   Where do you NEED to go?

2.     Where do you WANT to go? What do you DESIRE to teach/learn?

3.     How much TIME do you want to spend?

4.     How will it MESH with your other studies? Are you going to do it block style, concentrating on only world geography until it's done, or will it be a unit study incorporating all your subjects (or most, anyway) or will it be a separate subject of its own? Know HOW you are going to carry it out makes planning for it easier, too.

Once I know what we're going to study by answering #1 & 2, and how we're going to do it by answering #4, figuring out #3 becomes easier, if not obvious. Only after I have these four figured out do I start looking at what I'm going to use. There's nothing like finding a great unit study that's just PERFECT, only to find out it takes 8 weeks and you've only got 3 or something equally heartbreaking. Sure, you can adapt and overcome, but I find it makes the searching for materials and lesson plans and idea easier when I know the skills, knowledge and the time frame necessary to fit them all in. After that, it's a simple matter of dividing it up into the weeks and/or days and then doing it!

Just wanted to say that I like structure but flexibility, too. So, when I'm figuring out my lessons for the week, I simply list what I want to do, not WHEN. And I always have a wish list for each unit, too. The wishlist has the stuff I'd LIKE to do, but isn't necessary in the grand scheme of things, as well as extra activities in case something doesn't go as it should (not the right supplies, library doesn't have the book, book is boring or too difficult, etc.)

Suz has a great blog filled with wonderful resources for anyone who wants to homeschool their kiddos without spending an arm and a leg.  Check it out at http://www.homeschoolingonthecheap.com/the-cheap-chick-blog.html

Note to Self: Concerning Christmas

So, we did it!  Yay!  We made it through another Christmas.

So now it’s time to take stock of what worked for the family, and what we could use a little improvement next year

Let’s start with what we loved:

1.       Doing our Advent read-aloud!  Jotham’s Journey is fantastic.

2.       Doing  the Advent Lapbooking pages ( see Advent Lapbooking in the index)

3.       Making Gingerbread Houses with our Homeschool group.  Next year, maybe it would be easier if we brought graham crackers to the event. 

4.        Having Christmas Eve Dinner before the Christmas Eve Service, and then throwing the ham, potatoes and left-over green beans into a Christmas Day casserole for the potluck at the beach.  This was super easy, and super good.  Maybe next year we’ll get our Christmas Eve guests to come over a couple hours earlier to play games with us.

5.       The Potluck at the Beach!  What a great way to get together with people who don’t have family in the area, and it is low-key and pretty much stress free.  You could do this for people who have no family around at a church fellow-ship hall and it would be a great way to brighten someone else’s Christmas.

6.       Family Gifts! This year there were at least three items under the three that were to the entire family.  ( A globe, a hammock and a set of tinker toys).  It is a good way to emphasize sharing and that we are a unit, not a bunch of individuals who have the POWER to share or not share.

7.       We bought plastic shoe boxes to wrap some of the kiddos presents in, and then they had a handy place to keep their stocking stuffers from getting absorbed into all of the wrapping paper.

8.       Home Depot and Office Max for stocking stuffers!  The kiddos got some pretty cool, and very useful stocking stuffers ( great mechanical pencils, pulleys, mini-flashlights, etc.)

Things I wish we’d gotten accomplished:

1.        Family Picture to send out with the Christmas card!

2.       Wish I’d gotten more cards in the mail.  I try to send out Caribbean style Christmas cards, but they are pretty expensive if you buy them yourself, and somehow we just didn’t get around to making our own, though I don’t think it would have been that hard . . .finally, I just parted with my money and sent out less cards than I wanted to send . . .

Unpleasant Bits about Christmas

1.        “What did YOU get?” phone call.  Er, um . . .is this really what Christmas is all about?  I think we have a bit of a plan to combat this.  I’ll explain at the end of this entry.

2.       The inevitable downswing after all the overindulging of Christmas sweets and playtime.  I guess you just need to know that it is going to hit and not try to have the house perfectly clean, or the kiddos back into routines right away . . .just give everybody a little time to recover and things will be A-okay.

3.       Oh, another thing I didn’t see coming?  The Christmas movies!  ABC Family had lots of cute movies, but it did wreck havoc on our Jotham’s Journey and lighting of the Advent Wreath.  Maybe next year we will just do the Read Aloud in the morning as devotions, and then just make sure we light the wreath and pray right before bed . . .

All in all, this year was a good blend of simplicity  and stuff and we did better, I think than usual, at making sure that the kiddos remembered that to us, Christmas is not so much about STUFF, but more about Jesus. 

Next year, I want to do even better with that goal.  I think maybe we will do a Christmas Time Gratitude Journal and a Christmas Candle.

A gratitude journal is just a notebook that we write blessings into at a specific time each day.  Blessings.  We’ve all got them.  Now, let’s actually SEE them.  I think we should actually be doing this ALL YEAR long.  Time for me to find a new, unsullied notebook, isn’t it?  We might do this at family supper.  I think that would be a great time.

And the Christmas Candle?  I think if we light it at family devotions every morning, and just talk about how each time we look at that candle, we need to remember that Christmas is not about the presents under the tree.  Christmas is about the Presence that is in our lives.

What are we going to do when we get that call next year “What did YOU get for Christmas?”

I think maybe we will head it off at the pass.  Let them say “Hi” and then asked THEM a question such as one these:  “Hey, we had a great time this year being together at the beach . . .who were you with this Christmas?   Did you do a Christmas Eve service?  What does that look like at your church?  What fun games did you play with your loved ones?  Did you do any Christmas baking?”  We will work on steering the emphasis away from STUFF and back towards the real Reason for the Season.

PS, please excuse the improper formatting!  I will probably come back and try to change it, but it was perfect in the Word document, and changed when I got it to the blog!  But I know myself, and I might never get this posted if I don't do it now!  :)  Have a great day,

~ Jennifer

The "Bad Day" Checklist / A Bit on God

The “Bad Day” Checklist

Ever have one of those mornings when you wake up and you wish, just wish, that you could close your eyes and go back to sleep ? But you just KNOW  that . . .ugh . . . it is time to get up. You couldn’t sleep, even if you wanted to . . . 

I have those mornings now and again. Yesterday I was thinking about how in the world to get through my day. I was that low. And I decided to make a list, so that the next time I wake up and feel like it is going to be a “BAD” Day, I won’t have to think so hard about what to do. . .

1. Eat something. Take my vitamins 
2. Allow self some downtime. For me, this usually consists of reading something mindless and enjoyable. 
3. Dress/Groom. For some reason, knowing that I look good enough to be seen in public makes me feel like I have it somewhat together, even if I am not leaving my house. 
4. Go to God. Matt 6:33. Actually, sometimes I can’t do this until after numbers 5 and 6. Sometimes I am too fragile or angry to really talk to God right away, first thing in the morning. I think He understands, though. 
5. Assess my “to-do” list. Do what is on the list. This occupies my mind and hands and keeps me from thinking only about “bad” stuff. It is good to put a walk or outing on this list, if possible.    I also like to clean SOMETHING on these days.   I live in a house full of children.  They are good kids, but we have not internalized picking up after ourselves ALL the time.  So that’s why I like to clean a bit. There  really is something about knowing that even if I feel like the world is a horrible, terrible, no good place . . .at least one place in my house looks clean and inviting.
6. Play upbeat music or listen to positive programming 
7. Repeat numbers 5 and 6 and when I can be suitably in control of my emotions, maybe call a friend and talk to them about normal “stuff”. This helps me to gain a bit of perspective. No, the world is not all “bad” and things are fine SOMEWHERE. Maybe, just maybe I will mention whatever it is that is bothering me, but I like to keep it concise. Otherwise I know I am depressing me AND my friend. I like to throw the conversation ball into my friend’s field and hopefully, make my friend feel better about HER life. Then I am not thinking of myself, and I am cheering someone else up. This is a win-win. 

Advent Lapbook

I found this lovely blog last week and just for fun I printed out this lovely advent project.  It is very, very cool.  I have been having my kiddos look up in their Bible Story Book the Christmas story to find the answers to some of these questions.  It's very good for them.  :)

I think this would be a great project for any family, homeschooling or not.  I also think it would be great for Sunday School teachers.

Enjoy!

http://blog.aussiepumpkinpatch.com/2010/11/christmas-lapbook.html

More on Lapbooking and her Sisters

So, it turns out that lapbooking has a few sisters . . .notebooking, scrapbooking and digital scrapbooking, to name a few.  I'm sure LB has more relatives that I haven't met yet.

I must say that I really think that it would be awesome if my kiddos could learn to LB and then learn how to put their LB information into digital format.

Well, this is just my own personal list of links and a brief description of each.

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/teacherslounge/notebooking.php

This is basically a page covered with links on LBing and related topics.

http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/category/lapbook/

Robin has spent many hours lapbooking, scrapbooking and creating digital LB's and SB's.  If digital LBing or SBing appeals to you, then this is a link you'll want to immerse yourself in.

http://www.ignitethefire.com/fuel.html

I love her idea about the Bible Notebooking.  I believe we will be incorporating this into our homeschooling, too.  This is a very practical article that I will be returning to in the future.

http://homeschoolwithindexcards.com/Notebooking-Forms.html

So, let's say you are doing a notebook on any subject with your elementary age child, or you want to do a notebook with your child.   Maybe you know what topic you wish to pursue or maybe you don't.  Either way, you can visit this page and click on any one of the topics available, print that page out and PRESTO something for your child to do on that topic!

http://highland.hitcho.com.au/notebooking.htm

By now you've probably grasped the concept of notebooking, so feel free to skip over her introduction and go straight to her helpful lists at the bottom of this page.  She has included some great lists, such as recommended materials for notebooking and even more links on the subject.

Well, that's it from me for today!  Be well . . .

~ Jenn

Playdough and Potato Bread

Some days are cooking days.  That's all there is to it.   Here's what we are cooking today: playdough and potato bread.

I can never make playdough without thinking of my Mom.  She would whip up a batch whenever the natives (me and my siblings or friends) were stuck in the house and needed something to do.  It kept very nicely in the refrigerator and we loved to use food coloring to make it different colors.

Playdough

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons Alum

Mix and then add

1 1/2 Cups Boiling Water
3 Tablespoons Veggie Oil

Another favorite?  Potato Bread

Potato Bread

1 quart ( 4 cups) Warm Water
1 Cup Mashed Potatoes
1 Pkg. Yeast ( 2 Tablespoons)
3/4 Cup of Sugar or Honey

Mix and let stand for 1 1/2 hours.

Add 3/4 Cup melted shortening or oil
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Salt

Enough flour to make the dough.

This is one of those recipes that you kind of need to know how to make bread before you attempt.  You need to know what bread dough is supposed to feel like.  If you want to attempt it anyway, go again.  Just know that when you knead the flour into the potato mixer, start with a big spoon or  electric beaters.  When the beater gets to where it is struggling, turn it off or you will burn the motor up in your lovely mixer!  Then turn it out onto a large surface, and add a cup or so of flour.  I like to put my fist into the batter, roll it over, add more flour, more putting of the fists into the dough until it reaches a bouncy texture.  When you stick your thumb into the dough, it should automatically close that hole up .  You can't overknead your bread.  ( this is not true of biscuits or pie dough, though!)

So, get it in a big lump, cover it in a warm spot until it doubles, put your fist into it again to make it small and shape it into desired shapes ( rolls, loaves, cinnamon buns, whatever.)  If you are baking rolls, they go about 20 minutes or so.  A loaf could go from 45 minutes to an hour.  I bake at 325.

My good friend Jeannette taught me how to make this bread because after all, you never know when you'll be out of milk and eggs and want some nice homemade bread.  :)

Lapbooking

This week as we were reading another really wonderful book aloud, I found myself wondering just how I could cement some of the information from this book into the minds of my kiddos.  The answer?  Lapbooking.

Lapbooking is a great excuse to have fun with paper, paste, paint . . .all kinds of artsy materials.  Really, if you can imagine it, you can do it in lapbooking land.  But lapbooking also provides the opportunity to practice proper spelling, punctuation and the chance to hone ones research skills.  That's my hope, anyway.  I must admit that I have never created a lapbook, but I am all about learning new concepts.

So I went googling.  Hopefully these links will lead to many hours of fun learning for your family and mine. :)

http://www.squidoo.com/lapbook-planning  :  how to plan a lapbook

http://forum.homeschoolshare.com/ :  a big site with tons of lapbooking resources, and a forum to provide support to homeschoolers who enjoy learning through lapbooking.

http://forum.homeschoolshare.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=154 : a thread especially for lapbook newbies

If you have great links on this topic, feel free to leave them in a comment!  Happy lapbooking to you!

~ Jennifer

Eating Green/Food Without Plates

You may be thinking “Oh, she wants to save the planet!  Good job!”

Well, yes, I do want to save the planet.  It is a good idea.  But I also want to save my sanity.  Thus, I am looking for ideas on just how to have lunch without making a mess . . .

Methinks that for this to work we need a good supply of

“holders”  ( crackers, bread or tortillas)

“toppers” ( Peanut butter, tuna, cheese, etc.)

veggies or fruit

 If this becomes old, maybe we could throw in a Soup Day once a week or so. To avoid a mess,  each child  could rinse out their mug after lunch .  Would this be possible?  Yes, no?  Maybe.  

On today’s menu?  Taco Burgers

Basically, think Sloppy Joes, only with salsa, cheese and beans instead.  It’s a thick dip that we’re throwing onto the hamburger buns from yesterday’s grilling session.

We’re also going to have carrot sticks and celery.

Ta-da!  Lunch is served . . .

Sometime More IS Better: A Thanksgiving Post

I am thankful for many, many things.  But to keep this short, I’m just going to focus on one thing I’m grateful for.

I know, I know.  We are all supposed to simplify and be grateful for what we’ve got . . .none of this yearning for MORE, MORE, MORE!

But sometimes, More is Better, if you are talking about people who make your days brighter and your problems lighter.   This week the kiddos and I had a couple of get-togethers with friends and after the first one, when our ten year old friend brought out a bird that she had gutted and stuffed  (with the blessing and help of her parents and some tips from a taxidermist),  I found myself looking forward to the next get together we were having with a new friend and wondering what we’d learn.

We learned a lot, like “Hey!  This was a lot of fun. We’ll have to do this again.”  And my friend also noticed that there are green fruits on one of the trees by my house.  I’ve walked by that tree so many times, and I never noticed that it was a fruit tree.  Whoops.  So then we had to investigate the fruit.  Is this a fruit we recognize?  Hmmm?  Luckily, our friend knew what it was and the kids and I got to try guava, straight from the tree.  The guava is pretty good stuff, a bit like passionfruit according to my firstborn, but not quite as tart.

When I think about my friends, every one of them has a different face and everyone of them has added a new and different dimension to my life.  Here’s to More Friends cuz Life is Better when you’ve got good people on your side.

You just never know who you'll meet on the way to the beach!

So, there we were on the way to the beach in St. John and there THEY were, just standing on the side of the road.  Of course we had to get out and throw our arms around them and whisper sweet nothings into their furry ears.  Life is good.

~ Jennifer

Mathspeak

Well, there are things I just would not do if I wasn't a parent. One is talk to children about how reproduction happens. Another thing I'd avoid at all costs? Pre-Algebra. 

I spend about 1 and 1/2 hours on math everyday. Currently I am studying pre-algebra, basic addition, place value and multiplication. And I am "getting it" just fine. I am actually kind of enjoying the Pre-algebra. 

I am impressed with myself, actually, because of all the subjects out there, math is the one that made me really squirm. I still remember taking my first Algebra final. I bit all my fingernails to the quick. I think that my Geometry class was as painful for my teacher as it was for me. I would go up to the teacher's desk and say "I don't understand". 

He would say back to me, in the same language that Charlie Brown's teacher used: "Mwwah, Mwwah, Mwwwah. Now do you understand?" 

I'd look at his exasperated face, and mutter "Uh, yeah". Then I would slink back to my desk and ask the girl beside me to please help me get this figured out. And she always complied. Funny thing is, I saw her in the store last year and she had NO idea who I was. I will never forget her. She really saved my bacon. 

And now I'll share the resources that are helping me with my math-a-phobia. Enjoy! 

http://www.mathdoesntsuck.com 

and 

http://www.khanacademy.org

Gooseneck Barnacles

Today was a field day.  We spent the day at the beach with homeschooling peeps and it was a good time for all.

We always seem to find something new when we go out.  Today's find?

Gooseneck Barnacles and a crab with orange eggs on her underside.

Another find?  Mosquito larva in some standing water on our porch.  My seven year old came running in "Mom! Mom!  There's minnows or something in this water!"

Yes, there was something, but it was not minnows . . .wouldn't THAT have been a scientific puzzle?

Here's just some of what we learned about Gooseneck Barnacles:

~The barnacle has been described as a shrimplike animal standing on its head in a limestone house and kicking food into its mouth with its feet. 


~They breathe through their legs ( cirri) and body wall


~Some attach themselves to living animals like porpoises, whales and turtles


( The above information was taken from "barnacle." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (November 16, 2010).http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-barnacle.html)


And here's a picture, taken from the same site:

Of course, what we were looking at was not so neatly labeled, but this is what they looked like.

Be well, all, and thanks for reading!


~ Jenn

What We're Doing Now

It's November and it's time to be thinking about Thanksgiving.  So we're getting ready for Thanksgiving by looking up quotes about Thanks and Gratitude.  And then we're heading over to  this great penmanship site:

http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/flash/cursive/paragraph/index.html.  ( This link for my kiddo that is learning cursive)


 And this link is for my kiddo that is learning how to print: http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/flash/dnealian/paragraph/index.html


About a month ago we invested in a great book, Homeschooling Your Child For Free by LauraMaery Gold and Joan M. Zielinski., and that's where I found the above link . . .so this is what we did with the quote and the site.  Added 'em together and this equaled an opportunity for my kiddo to read, trace and copy the quote.  Tomorrow I'm going to say "So, what do you think this quote means?"


And then we're gonna talk about the difference between "Thankful" and "Gratitude".  ( Here's a hint:  one is a noun, and one's an adjective.  :)  Don't you just love being able to slip a little learning into the season?)


Quote for Today:


Praise the bridge that carried you over.  ~George Colman