Feeding the Family without a Kitchen

We love to pack up the van and head out of town, but the continuous rising cost to travel together keeps us and other families taking creative measures for vacations.  This past week, we've been staying in the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville, KY. while my husband, who serves as the ITS Director for the Church of God of Prophecy and logistics coordinator for our International General Assembly, unfortunately works long hours. Because this is a business related trip, our hotel is covered but feeding a family of 6 (my nephew tagged along) means using some unconventional cooking methods or taking out a small loan just for eating out.  Restaraunts, when feeding a family with teenage boys, can be extremely expensive and unnecessary. With a small amount of creativity, you can also enjoy meals in your hotel room instead of the local restaurant scene.

First survey your hotel accomodations.  We have a mini fridge, a coffee pot and a sink available for cooking but no microwave.  That makes this more of a challenge, but not an impossibility.   

When you are packing for your trip, make sure to pack a few kitchen necesities to help provide meals that consist of more than cold sandwiches and junk food. For this week, my crockpot and a sandwich maker with interchangeable plates (sandwich maker, waffle iron and panini grill) are my main appliances.  Most of you will have a crockpot but if you don't this could be a much used investment.  The sandwich maker could be substituted by an electric skillet or griddle as well.  Along with these small appliances, don't forget to bring a serving spoon, can-opener, small cutting board and knife, and ziploc bags.  I would probably add a strainer, a plastic bowl and lid to this list. My menu plans for feeding all of us on the cheap follow with a couple of my favorite recipes!

Breakfasts:

Cold cereal, bananas and milk
Toasted Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches using the sandwich maker
Chocolate Oatmeal creatively made in the room's coffee pot
Sweet Rolls made with the interchangeable waffle plates following a pinterest recipe

Lunches:

Turkey sandwiches with lettuce, tomato and cucumbers, potato chips w/ dip, oranges, and cookies
Pizza Pockets made in the sandwich maker using canned biscuit dough, pizza sauce, mini pepperonis, and mozzarella cheese, served with marshmallow fruit salad. 
Ramen noodles cooked in the coffee maker and PB&J grilled sandwiches with either apple slices.
Last day leftovers .
   

Suppers:

Crockpot Lasagna, Caesar Salad and Garlic Toast
Chicken Cheese Tortilla Soup and Chicken Quesadillas with chips and salsa. 
Spicy Chicken Patty Sandwiches trimmed with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. 
Hotdogs grilled on the panini plates with chips and dip, pudding treats, and fruit
Fend for yourself Leftovers Sunday or pizza while mom and dad go out to eat. :0
I'm thinking Sunday will be fend for yourself while mom and dad go out for supper to celebrate another Assembly finished. 

Even a few friends have come for dinner!

There are quite a few Crockpot meals to consider when eating in a hotel room or any other unusual circumstance. I went with ease and what I thought my crew would eat without leaving leftovers!  Here's the recipes for our meals.

Crockpot Lasagna

2 bags of frozen ravioli (I did half cheese and half meat filled)
1 large jar of spaghetti sauce
1 pack of shredded motzie cheese

Dump the ravioli in the crockpot, cover with the sauce and top with the cheese. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve this with a caesar salad kit and french bread.  I just mix the salad together right in the bag and dished it out into our disposable bowls.  I sliced the "everything" seasoned french bread, buttered both sides and placed on the panini grill plates.  It was so tastey.  By morning even the left over slices were gone. 

This is our favorite soup!

Chicken Tortilla Cheese Soup

2 cans of cream of chicken soup
2 cans of cheese soup
2 large cans of chicken
1 large can of red enchilada sauce
2 soup cans of milk

Dump all the ingredients into the crockpot, and stir.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Serve with crushed tortilla chips.  I don't always remember to take pictures but here's one of the soup after everyone has helped themselves! 

We also made cheese and chicken quesadillas to compliment our soup as well as chips and salsa.   The quesadillas were made on the panini grill using a bag of ready to eat grilled fajita chicken and co-jack cheese.  I just buttered the tortilla, folded it in half and stuck it in the sandwich maker. 

Mmmmm Good!

Spicy Chicken Sandwiches

Frozen Chicken Patties
Buns
Lettuce, tomato, and cucumbers
mayo and mustard

Defrost the chicken patties.  Grill the patties on the panini grill.  Assemble sandwiches.  Set out the chips and dip, and fruit. 

This has been a favorite this week with everyone eating seconds.  Glad I bought two bags of chicken patties!

These were a huge hit with our crew! 

Pizza Pockets

Canned Biscuits
Mini pepperoni
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese

Using your fingers press the biscuit dough into a flat circle. Spoon sauce, toppings, and cheese in the middle. Fold over and pinch around the edges to seal. Place up to four into the preheated sandwich maker and bake.

This lunch was eaten as fast as I could make them so I didn't even bother to break out the salad or fruit.  But it would have complimented these nicely.

This week has gone well and I've kept my hungry crew and their friends fed.  My sons have felt independent roaming back and forth between the room and the conference and yet still checked in like clockwork at lunch, supper, and after church for snacks which means less worry for this mama.  I plan to have my crockpot and sandwich maker accompany me on vacations and business related trips for years to come.

 

Toothfairy Caught In Action

T just turned 5.  How is it possible that he could have already lost 2 of his baby teeth?  It's not. Yet that's where we are, hiding gold coins under pillows and talking about the tooth fairy.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and just couldn't resist.  A little of photo shop and the skillful hands of my dear husband and voila - the Tooth Fairy has been seen exchanging your tooth for a gold coin!  I can't wait for morning! 

Summer Wouldn't Be Summer Without a Week at Camp

Today Chris and I finished his summer camp shopping, rounding out his wardrobe to include a couple more pairs of shorts, a new pair of swim trunks, a few toiletry neccesities and of course a couple of cans of silly string!  His overwhelming enthusiasm for time to move faster burst out during the ride home. He pleaded with time, "Please go faster!" as he sat staring straight into the digital display on our van's console.  Teen Camp is the last camp of the summer at Camp Hickory Hills so I understand his lack of patience.  He's already listened to his brother's camp stories which only fuel his excitement for his turn.   

Jeff and his cousin Jon with their Cabin at Senior Camp!

This week long summer camp experience has been in our family for several generations and I can get extremely nostalgic remembering my own weeks of summer camp.  I started when I was just 6 years old and spent two whole nights in a cabin filled with squeals and giggles, living the scenes from the Disney classic movie "The Parent Trap."  My summers of youth camp continued each and every summer for as many weeks as were available and well into adulthood.  At some point I just switched roles from camper to staff and continued until having kids of my own. 
 

Cousins at Camp - It's a family tradition!

Jeff and Chris both have spent at least a week at youth camp each and every year since they were 6. For both of them, it truly is the highlight of their summer. They come back sharing stories of new friends, practical jokes, catching crawfish in the creek and sliding down the plastic water slide.  I listen intently, reliving my own experiences through their stories.  I don't want to miss a single detail. When they pause for breath, I pose questions to stear our conversation towards the nightly chapel services, the cabin devotions and their classes. It can be hard to cheer from the sidelines knowing there isn't anything that quite compares to a hundred plus kids experiencing a mighty move of God's Spirit in their lives and in the lives of their friends. 

Tomorrow morning, after we swing through the ATM machine for trip money, we will pack our Chris with his sleeping bag, duffle bag, backpack, and pillow into the church bus. Somewhat resembling a can of sardines, he and his friends will make the three hour drive to Camp Hickory Hills.  Before they drive away, parents will gather around the bus and pray for traveling mercies, health and safety, and most importantly for their week to bring spiritual growth.  Church camp is life altering.  It's part of what shaped me and is now shaping my sons into Godly young men.  I am so thankful my boys have the opportunity to participate and look forward to next year when we can take our Tim to Big Shot Camp.  Big Shot is for the younger campers and their parents so next year I will be trying to coax time to move faster right alongside my boys! 

 I love summer days where at least for me deadlines and responsibilities relax to move with the flow of warm weather.  Now that summer is in full swing, my projects and to do list has surpassed the mile high mark but my thoughts and time have been spent planning and pinning!  My list of projects to get done before fall dictates a more structured schedule has already spent all of June and my sons although they have enjoyed the lackadaisical behavior of their mother are missing out on what makes summer summer. 

It took a morning devotion on excellence in obedience to see that my struggles of procrastination, over-commitment, not living my priorities, and the full blown distractions such as technology are truly my battlefields for obedience. Time is more often than not a major battlefield for me. I want to be obedient to the Lord, I want to train my children to love God and love others to Him.  Time will disappear.  It may be a few hours, a whole day, or even as today's realization sinks in - most of June. It's time to move from summer bucket list-maker to fun checking off marker.  It's time to get er done and enjoy the process.  So I'm off to love my children, niece and nephew at the pool! 

Monica

CC Memory Board for Home

Because we participate in Classical Conversations, practicing our memory work is an important aspect of our homeschool day.  I've tried various approaches to memory work time at home, including keeping a memory work notebook and using a memory work board for review. Since our family's four year old has joined us at CC, we have been using our memory work board exclusively. 

This DIY board was created by taking a full size project board and cutting it in half.  If you are familiar with CC memory work you will recognize the Veritas Press Timeline Cards on the bottom half of the board for an accurate size marker.  I placed the memory work for each of the seven subjects on this board plus the week's science snippet card and our name that state board. 

Using the memory work CD, I printed off each week's memory work in color as power point slides.  I chose to print them three per page and then laminate them. Using binder rings I attached the math, history, and geography cards to the top of the board so that I could simply flip the card over to change that week's sentence. 

Of course not every subject could be close to the top edge so for science, English Grammar, Latin and the time line cards I used these little plastic clips.  They cost $1.50 for a package of fifty.  These little clips must be attached as they are not sticky backed.  I used some doubled sided foam tape from my craft drawer.  The cards easily slip in and out of the clips making it easy to change to the next week's work or like our youngest son so enjoys you can take the time line cards down, mix them up and then have him put them back up in the correct order. 

Our memory board has been a successful addition to our school day and a great reference point for practicing our memory work in the morning. We go over the current week every morning and choose to review one subject in its entirety each day.  Monday is Latin, Wednesday is History, Thursday is Science and Friday is English.  The timeline, math, and geography we review daily. 

Maple, Apple Oatmeal

My favorite way to make oatmeal for one! 

Core and thinly slice an apple into bite size pieces.  Drizzle 2 Tbs of pure maple syrup over the apple, cover with a paper towel and microwave for 1 -2 minutes or until soft.  Put 1/2 cup of old fashioned oatmeal and 1/2 cup of water on top and microwave again for a minute or two!  Mix well and garnish with a dollop of plain yogurt and a pinch of cinnamon or maybe a tad bit of milk. 

Fit or Fat For Forty Flops!

Back in April I felt so determined to shed all the extra pounds that have been accumulating mostly around my middle. Since it's now almost October you can guess - I fell off the wagon. :(

On April 27th, five horrendous tornadoes ripped through our town putting everyone in a tailspin.  My local church joined with the Salvation Army and went into action.  Everything fell to the wayside as our focus was to just help our neighbors through this devastation.  Everything including my diet.  I lost a total of 12 pounds and have been successful at keeping 10 of it off my hips!  Still wondering how in the world manual labor plus heat + tons of water equals maintaining the same weight but I dare not complain.  My house is still standing intact! 

So I guess I need a new goal.  I still have about 60 powdered "meals"  to reconstitute and enjoy!  Maybe it's that thought that keeps me from diving back in.  I really did like the program while I was walking through it, and of course it helped to have a friend and her husband encouraging me towards success.  My husband, even though he winced at the price weight loss was costing his wallet, was also very supportive.   Not completely sure he would be gung-ho to fork out another months supply but then again neither am I. 

It looks like it's back to the old fashioned work following the more sweat and less food method!  Nothing worth it comes easy, right?  It took 3 babies and plenty of cupcakes to get into this shape so what makes me think I can blink and see my 25 year old skinny reflection staring back at me?  Time to dust off the tread meal, oops I meant treadmill, dig out the water bottle and buy less sugary processed foods!

I'll let you know how it goes!

Fit or Fat for Forty Continues…

Day 3 - Another -2.2 pounds down or so says the scale. Today ended with me helping serve in the nursery at our CC host church. There were only two ladies with the small babies and since I didn't time my meals correctly. I ate an Oatmeal Raisin Crunch Bar(one of my meal choices) ASAP.  I should have been eating my lean and green during this time. I ended up eating my lean and green meal after 11:00. Then I went to bed. Will this hurt my progress?

Day 4 – Today's the DAY! Do I feel different? Absolutely! First I am relieved to have dropped another -2.2 pounds for a total of 8 pounds plus I feel great today! No I don't feel like going out for a run but I definitely feel a surge in energy. Maybe tomorrow I will add back in a little exercise! Tonight I have to work in the nursery again but I will be better prepared and feel more energetic. After working for those four hours I felt thoroughly exhausted and only made it through a single bite of my 11:30 Strawberry Crunch Bar.

Day 5 – The scale says I only dropped .2 pounds today. But I am not discouraged, that simply means I've averaged 2 pounds per day! The big accomplishment today was adding back in some exercise. I started with 15 minutes on Wii Fit, but also took the boys to the exercise room and went shopping – both of which meant more walking for me. I did have to make myself come home at the appropriate time because it was time to eat my lean and green meal. I sure hope my dh sees this as an added bonus to this diet! Will my weight fluctuate or the loss rate begin to taper off now that I'm in fat burning mode? Can't wait to find out.

If you would like to follow along on this journey of weight loss that would be great.  Accountability and encouragement are always welcome! 

Monica

Check out Raising Rock Stars at 1+1+1=1

Have you visited the blog 1+1+1=1? Several weeks ago while blog surfing, I clicked through the Tot School blog to this addition savvy site purely for curiosity's sake. Instantly I knew this was a blog worth following. As I read, "To the world it makes no sense but to God it is perfect sense" I knew what she meant, but after reading the explanation for her title, my heart felt a kindred spirit with the author. The name took me back 17+ years to my own wedding preparations as we used this same verse as the theme for our big day. It is still our prayer to remain a threefold cord!

As I dove into this site, I came across Raising Rock Stars and it literally brought tears to my eyes as again I connected with her purpose and plans for the littles God entrusted to her care. My heart screamed, "Me too! Me too!" I feel such relief finding Raising Rock Stars for our youngest. I've printed off the notebook cover and some of the inserts, I'm preparing to incorporate most of these suggestions into Timmy's day. I love the flexibility and personalization it allows, and it will be easy to add in our CC memory work as well. I'm still exploring and reading the link ups and am excited to include our home centered preschool in the mix! If you have a toddler or preschooler you absolutely must check out this site. I'm positive you will find just the right resource to encourage you along in this homeschooling journey.

Monica

Fit or Fat for Forty?

40 is staring me in the face. May 25^th is lurking right around the corner and I still haven't been able to budge the 14 years of pregnancy weight (can I still call it that?) from off this figure! Well my hope has been renewed as I spoke with a friend who had recently lost thirty pounds. Her husband has lost even more! Hook, line and sinker, I dove straight in and ….

Day 1 – The meals taste good. Today's menu included a Strawberry Shake, Oatmeal, Chicken with Wild Rice Soup, Grilled chicken with veggies and a spinach and cucumber salad, later on a PB Bar, and pretzels. I had a slight headache in the evening but went on to bed and slept well.

Day 2 – The scale reads -4.6 this morning but I will hold my breath a few more days. Today's menu included a dark chocolate shake, an oatmeal raisin bar, scrambled eggs, and banana pudding. I have to work tonight so a strawberry cream bar will go in my purse and when I get home I'll enjoy a lean and green meal before bed! I am hopeful that the scale will sing a softer tune in the morning as well but I have been known to fluctuate 5 pounds or so!

They tell me I will adjust to small pre-packaged meals by the 4^th day when I go into fat burning mode! Can't wait, maybe I'll buy a new dress for my Birthday and celebrate a lighter me at 40! Feel free to join me on this journey back to a more fit and healthy me.

Monica

Homeschool Mother's Journal Week 3

In my life this week… …I sponsored a dear friend on this weekend’s Emmaus Walk but at the last minute. There was a lot of scrambling to get done what needed to get done on this walk. I was so excited she got to attend this amazing weekend of spiritual refreshment and felt blessed to be a part.

In our homeschool this week… Our last week of Foundations and Essentials was this past Tuesday. My son tried out for memory master with his dad and I but couldn’t pass the timeline. I think I was the only one bummed as he seemed relieved that he didn’t have to test with his tutor. He still learned an amazing amount of information this year. Challenge A has 2 more Tuesdays until we wrap up our year and so the students will be meeting in my home the next two weeks rather than at the church!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… This is Easter Celebration Week. And other than Community Egg Hunts not much will be happening outside our home for the next couple of weeks. We will enjoy an Easter egg hunt during park day with our local homeschool support association, an Easter Egg Hunt at our church this Saturday as a community outreach we call Resurrection Celebration, and that will be followed by another hunt at my husband’s work. Whew, talk about egg overload! As I’m writing this, I would also love to take the family to Fields of the Wood. It’s a Biblical Park in Murphy NC that is awesome for family picnics. They have Easter sunrise service, and special singing all weekend! This would be a great day trip for the family!

My favorite thing this week was… being able to attend a ladies luncheon with a couple of friends on Wednesday. I had volunteered to help in their nursery but the Life Action Team insisted that we attend the luncheon. The speaker was engaging and I left feeling refreshed and renewed. She spoke the storms in our life. Amazingly, later that evening my husband taught his Wed. night bible study class almost the exact same lesson. He used a lot of the same scriptures and main points! I did have to ask myself ”What are you trying to say Lord? Should I be battening down the hatches? Is there a storm coming my way?” I hope I will need this to encourage someone else in the Word, if you know what I mean!

What’s working/not working for us... the weather is causing all kinds of havoc around here. One day we are turning on the heater because it is chilly, rainy and very wet and then the next day it is flip flops weather. My youngest son is constantly sniffling and coughing with what I’m beginning to think are seasonal allergies. Children’s Nyquil seems to work for us!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have… What curriculum do you use for high school? My intentions were hopeful for a Challenge 1 program at Classical Conversations but that doesn’t appear to be happening. The closest group is 45 minutes away and so I am back to the research and prayer stage!

Homeschool Mother's Journal Week 2

In my life this week…

It seems I’ve ran errands all week. The week started with a trip to the Dentist so he could pull two of Christian’s baby teeth. Later in the week I enjoyed a pampering session at the beauty salon for a new do.  Unfortunately the color chemicals burnt my scalp slightly. We quickly applied a generous amount of Aloe Vera gel only to trigger an allergic reaction to the aloe.  I now know school is possible even when Mom is loopy from taking Benadryl!  It’s better today, thankfully.  The end of the week ended on a high note as my friend Krista received her confirmation to attend next weekend’s Emmaus Walk. 

In our homeschool this week…

It’s planning time again!  We have one more week of CC Foundations/Essentials and three more weeks of Challenge A, so I’m trying to focus on wrapping up their CC studies, planning out the month of May and trying my best to hold off on plunging into next year!  I am however keeping a note book so that I can write down those “I’ve must remember this” thoughts for next year. 

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We stayed close to home this week, although I seemed to guzzle the gas with various errands and quick trips to just pick up this or that.  Makes me more determined to follow a menu this week!  The weather is warming up and I know incorporating a little more exercise into the routine would boost my energy level!  Looks like time to lace up the tennis shoes, load up the van and head to the greenway with my kiddos! 

My favorite thing this week was…

Networking with the other Classical Conversations directors across Tennessee during our weekend business training session has been awesome. I was expecting boredom and mundane technicalities instead we were blessed with rich dialogue among the directors and our state manager did a great job! 

What’s working/not working for us

Using Classical Conversations as our homeschool curriculum spine is working wonders in providing the kiddos with a home centered education. 

For my older two I post a daily checklist for them to check off their assignments as they go.  I tried several different styles and found them lacking or taking too much time to fill in assignments.  Now I print and hang one sheet that covers every day’s assignments for the week on one page. I used an excel spread sheet homemade check list of what’s required each day on our command center. Everyone can see a glance what must be done for the day.   

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

Our Classical Conversations group added Challenge A this year and plans to add a Challenge B but unfortunately my son needs Challenge 1, so I am gathering my thoughts and reviewing what we will use for high school. What high school curriculums are you using or will be using with your teens?

Why Classical Conversations?

We are finishing our second year with Classical Conversations and honestly I am just as excited about this program as when I sat in our director’s living room after that first information meeting.  CC was and has been my homeschool life preserver.  Our family has homeschooled for the last 8 years and although I do not regret the decision to bring my son home from public school kindergarten, it hasn’t been as easy a road as some may think.  In fact when I first heard of CC, I was contemplating throwing in the homeschool towel and putting my boys into public school.  My husband and I sat in that first meeting and listened to an explanation of Classical Conversations.  I remember thinking that this just might be what I need to make homeschool work at our house. The level of accountability and support for me and the boys would definitely help, so we bit the bullet and jumped in whole heartedly. I dropped my entire curriculum, except math and enrolled our oldest 2 kids in the Foundations and Essentials programs, and then soon after I agreed to tutor one of the Abecedarian Groups.   

Before the new school year could begin I had to have tutor training.  I drove the 45 minutes each way to a small Baptist church that to my amazement was full to capacity.  I honestly remember thinking, “I know how to teach a small group of kids after all I was a successful public school teacher before deciding to be a SAHM.”  Boy was I in for a surprise, I sat in the morning session listening to a lady named Mary and silently prayed no one would notice my tears.  With every word she spoke, the tears flowed and her words penetrated my heart.  Before the first hour ended I knew this would forever change my view of homeschool, of education, of learning. I had one aha moment after the next that week and couldn’t wait to apply all I had learned from this parent practicum. 

As it turned out Classical Conversations was everything I needed.  My boys enjoyed their Tuesday classes, I enjoyed teaching the kindergarten age kids and all of us built relationships while learning. It seemed my boys learned more that year than all the previous years of homeschooling combined, and had fun at the same time. We practiced our memory work religiously, wrote our IEW papers weekly and analyzed dictated sentences daily.  We would do science experiments, music and art activities, hear our new memory work, practice the old memory work and hone our public speaking skills on Tuesday mornings. In the afternoon we would tackle English grammar, Composition and play some fun math games.  Through the week the boys got their lessons ready for CC day without nagging and best of all I didn’t stress (well maybe a little on Monday nights).

The second year, Christian participated in Foundations and Essentials Cycle 2 and Jeffrey moved on to the Challenge A program.  I moved from tutoring the young class to tutoring the Challenge A program. I’ve been stretched and so have my junior high students.  We have learned a tremendous amount of grammar; we have discussed and asked why in every seminar.  We have emphasized and analyzed, researched and written papers.  We have played games and ate pizza!  It’s been an incredible year!  With every week my excitement for learning has grown, every assignment has challenged my students and brought out the best in them. 

For those of you not familiar with the Challenge program in Classical Conversations, it is a complete upper grade program that presents each seminar strand using the trivium of classical education.  Unique to this program is six learning skills or strands.  They are language, debate, logic, rhetoric, exposition/composition, and Research.  For the Challenge A program our weekly seminars mix grammar and dialectic materials and introduce your student to rhetorical skills. This past year our weekly seminars included Latin 3 and 4, World Geography, Math, Clear Reasoning, Children’s Literature and Creative Writing, and Biology/Natural Science.  Challenge programs meet once a week for thirty weeks of the school year. We are on week 27. On CC day my students meet from nine in the morning until three thirty in the afternoon with a half hour break for lunch.  It’s a long day spent discussing and analyzing previous assignments, listening to new assignments be introduced and questions answered.  Parents are always encouraged to attend but it isn’t mandatory.  I’ve watched my middle school son grow so much this year.  I’ve seen him achieve more than I thought imaginable.  He has been stretched and he has risen to the challenge.  I am proud of him and all he has accomplished this year! 

Next fall I will have one in Challenge, one in Foundations and Essentials, and one beginning Foundations.  I am already anticipating an amazing year for my three sons!   I am gathering my materials, laying out my plans, and have already registered for my third year attending the free parent practicum.  Before CC I was barely keeping my head above water.  Classical Conversations threw me a life preserver.  Their direction, instruction, and accountability helped to ignite a stronger passion for home centered education.  Check out www.Classicalconversations.com if you want to learn more. 

Homeschool Mother's Journal Week 1

In my life this week…

 I set up an account with www.mealbaby.com so that our church could provide meals to one of our young mothers that had to have emergency hip surgery.  I hope this will encourage her as she is recovering.  Her husband is stationed overseas in the Middle East for an entire year and then to lose your health for a while.  Whew, here is an overwhelming opportunity to surround someone with love and support.

In our homeschool this week...

our preschooler has continued to practice his ABC’s and 123’s.  We’ve watched Leapfrog videos until we can all sing along!  We’ve counted books, pennies, toys and well just about everything.  His proudest accomplishment this week though was helping Jeffrey make chocolate chip cookies to surprise Mommy and Daddy.

Our fifth grader worked mostly on his memory masters challenge for Classical Conversations.    We’ve been reviewing and practicing this week, and next week we will practice even more.  He has weeks 1-15 (out of 24) memorized for History, Geography, Math, Latin, English, and Science. Woo Hoo!!!!!! 

Our middle schooler continues with his Challenge A work, drawing and labeling geography maps and human body systems, memorizing catechisms, places, definitions, vocabulary and Latin paradigms.  The most exciting thing is that we will actually finish our Saxon Math book this month!!!  I am excited to proof his character analysis paper on Robin, from the book The Door in the Wall.   

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Daddy’s home after four days away at a conference, so we were most excited to be all together at home.  We’ve been to CC (Classical Conversations), AWANA, and Family Movie Night.  Tomorrow I plan on hitting some stores, doing the marketing as well as half price Saturday at our local Goodwill Store. 

My favorite thing this week was...

...  blog surfing and finding a ton of great sites to use as I’m planning next school year and this summer.  Mom on a mission, tot school and 1+1+1=1 are my current favorite blogs.   Each one struck a chord deep within me and I felt encouraged and refreshed after reading these.  Not to mention they will save me a ton of preschool shopping time. 

What's working/not working for us...

Too much TV/Game time for my little one.  This makes him very irritable and hyperactive so limits must be enforced!  

Dryer Sheet Stretching

The other day I was reading in All You Magazine and came across an article on streamlining the laundry chores.  According to All You, you can cut your dryer sheets in half and they will still keep your clothes just as fresh and static free.  I took my box of Bounce dryer sheets and cut them right down the middle!  Now instead of 120 loads, that box gives me 240 loads!  Oh and I used my half sheets all day today and they worked like a charm. 

Preschool at Our House

Timmy will be four in a couple of months and with his impending birthday, plans for preschool are swirling around in my head. I am actually excited to return to the early grammar stage. With Jeffrey heading to high school and Christian in middle school, I have missed those early learning years much more than I thought I would. While in the trenches of teaching my older boys how to read I was tearfully convinced that I might not make it through but thankfully a few veteran homeschool moms loaned me an ear and sometimes a shoulder. They were right! My boys did learn to read! Hopefully I will be able to pass their encouragement forward to others.

This year I've experimented with some of the methods of Classical Christian homeschooling with Timothy and have been very excited to report, great results. Just the other night while I was putting an alphabet puzzle back together, he was able to tell me almost every sound. I haven't fed him phonics and we haven't bought into the "Teach your baby to read" programs! We have read stories and looked at picture books every day for as long as I can remember and I do give him tons of opportunities to practice and learn about the letters of the alphabet and their sounds. I am also very particular with the toys we choose for him. Lauri Puzzles and Melissa and Doug Toys rank at the top of my list!

Every day we wake up and spend a few minutes cuddling on the sofa or in momma's bed. Then he helps me wake his brothers and completes his morning high five. (Get dressed, make bed, eat breakfast, kitchen job, and brush teeth). Timothy watches "Tad" on Leapfrog's The Letter Factory DVD (yes the same video every day) while Christian, Jeffrey and I go over the days requirements at our command central bulletin board in the kitchen! Christian and I can usually work through the new concept in his math lesson or complete a dictation sentence while Timmy finishes his movie. After watching "Tad" he joins us in the kitchen where he heads to his activity boxes. This idea came from several "work box" blog posts.  I repurposed a plastic Sterilite brand tower with 4 narrow drawers and 3 wide drawers. Here he finds various activities to work through. I am looking for a different container for next fall but for now this one works well. 

Every drawer has a single activity that he should enjoy. Tomorrow's drawers are packed and ready to go!



The first drawer holds a simple coloring book and a box of crayons.  The pages have slightly raised edges to help kids stay in the lines.  Timothy and I colored this page together.  I used red and he used green! 

The second drawer holds sandpaper and yarn. We had fun making our letters and shapes today and for tomorrow I added pipe cleaners to this drawer.  We have a lot of fun making pipe cleaner animals and then counting the legs! 



The third drawer this week holds safety scissors, a hole punch and the cards that magazines insert into the center to solicit subscriptions.  

The fourth drawer has a selection of easy puzzles.  and a home made Humpty Dumpty that velcros back together. 

This Crayola Dry Erase board stays in the drawer or on top of the tower most of the time.  I place mazes, and coloring sheets inside this board and he loves to use the built in markers and eraser.  This was around fifteen dollars at Wal-Mart.  The fish mat is from a box of laminated easy draw and trace mats that I purchased through Scholastics during their Dollar Days sale! 

 

This deep drawer holds our peg board and pegs.  When he plays with this toy especially I like to direct clean up by saying things like "pick up all the blue pegs."

This is our bead stringing drawer! 

  

These drawers and the toys inside are his to use.  There isn't a specific order or amount of time spent on each drawer.  Sometimes a single drawer may occupy him for ten minutes, sometimes for ten seconds.  Sometimes my older boys will pick a drawer and help him complete the activity.  Often one will play with Timmy while I am working with the other.

We try to make sure we spend time outside every day.  He loves the trampoline, his sandbox and chasing the dog.  On days we stay home we head outside morning and afternoon.  We also read stories all day long, in the morning, before our nap and before we go to sleep.   He loves his books and is at the stage where he wants to help me read it!  He has his favorite books memorized verbatim!  There is so many other things we do throughout the day.  But we stick to our routine and are very repetitious in our activities.  We watch the same videos, play the same games, count the same pegs. This I will continue into this next school year as Timothy continues to learn and grow.

Why We Chose Classical Christian Education

Recently, I was asked to serve on a discussion panel for the local homeschool support group, BCHE. Representing the Classical Christian Method I sat beside 4 other mothers each representing their chosen method of home centered education. I over prepared. We were asked by email to give an overview of our style, talk about the vendors who sell it, show some of the specific materials we use, and tell us why this works for our family. It seemed the other ladies simply shared but of course I had notes to follow to the letter. For several days afterwards I kicked myself around mentally because I should have put down my research and spoke from my heart!

As I listened to moms that use Sonlight, Charlotte Mason, Delight Directed, and Unit Studies I realized Classical Christian Methodology fits with every single one of these styles. Yes, your eyes did not play tricks just now, you read that correctly. How in the world? Classical is rigid and academically strenuous not fun and certainly not directed by the student! Classical has a bad rap in my opinion, but it's really not its fault. We as products of our education look at teaching from our own reference point, and although we want better for our own children and do our best to be innovative and fresh in our approach, we still focus on subjects. Take unit studies for instance, even though everything revolves around a particular theme, we as parents still must make sure we have included math, science, English, writing, reading, etc…. These subjects we teach through the theme.

Classical Christian Home Centered education is not based on subjects, but on teaching the three basic skills of the trivium. The trivium is a Latin word which simply means the three ways or roads. Of course the trivium was completely foreign to me in the beginning as my personal public education and university training was focused on attaining a certain outcome known only to the political forces that drive our public school systems. I was a model robot, programmed to teach students to be model robots but never to think for themselves. That is because we were taught subjects and if you continued into the profession of teaching you were taught how to teach those subjects to your students. I remember taking upper level classes called Teaching Math and Teaching Social Studies in the Classroom. Did these subjects ever cross over? Never, and in fact I remember being frustrated because when subjects did cross the boundary lines I didn't know where to place them in the teacher's lesson plan book. Furthermore, when I finished with my degree, I could teach every subject from kindergarten through eighth grade and somehow managed to do this without ever taking a college level math course! And I was licensed to teach your child!

Teaching the Trivium opens the doors of learning like nothing else can. Dorothy Sayers, a colleague of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien wrote a famous essay in which she states:

For the tools of learning are the same, in any and every subject; and the person who knows how to use them will, at any age, get the mastery of a new subject in half the time and with a quarter of the effort expended by the person who has not the tools at his command. To learn six subjects without remembering how they were learnt does nothing to ease the approach to a seventh; to have learnt and remembered the art of learning makes the approach to every subject an open door.

Because I understand that teaching the skills of learning enables them to learn any subject to full understanding, I want to teach them not the subject but the skills necessary for them to master that subject. These skills begin with teaching grammar. Not the isolated grammar of my education but the skill of grammar. The grammar of a subject is in fact the unique vocabulary of that subject. It blends beautifully with the elementary years and where children are developmentally. At this stage I am filling their little heads with KNOWLEDGE. I am teaching them facts. I am hanging little knowledge pegs all over their brains.

Teaching students the skill "Dialectic" is to teach them to use logic, think critically, and analyze the pegs of knowledge through the lens of a Biblical worldview. The students have been given the "who, which, and what" of the chosen knowledge and now with this skill are answering the questions "how and why." They are coming into the stage of UNDERSTANDING.

Building on the skill of grammar and dialectic, the skill of rhetoric takes their knowledge and understanding of the subject and teaches them to present and publically defend their understanding with WISDOM. Can you see the correspondence of the historical skills of the trivium to the Biblical prescription for education? Over and over again the scriptures show us the way to teach our children. Successful organizations such as AWANA understand this concept as they focus on Bible memorization through the elementary years. Proverbs 24:3-4 says, "Through wisdom is a house built; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches." This is a true picture of how God enables us as parents to teach our children to know Him and make Him known, which is the true reason for education in the first place.

Often the verses in Deuteronomy 6 are used for parenting. Here God lays out His plan for us to teach our children.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Aren't these verses a great illustration of the purest form of education? Imagine parents who are able to talk about the commandments of the Lord, to their children because they have the knowledge, the understanding and the rhetorical skills necessary to accomplish this within their families. They KNOW, they UNDERSTAND, and they use WISDOM to make sure their children Love the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.

This is the big picture for educating my children. This is why in our home we homeschool with Classical Christian methodology. We want to show our children how everything they study ultimately points them to God. That subjects aren't divided into neat little compartments taught separate from each other, but they are to be integrated so as to point back to the God of the Universe.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Twenty-ten ended with a kiss for Mike and a toast shared with good friends!  Then we moved quickly back to our games - us girls had ridiculous fun and laughed ourselves silly playing a dance game on the wii!  Got to get that game for home and maybe next year I can score better.  Rhythm I do not possess!

2011 Priority of Relationships

With 2011 less than a week away, my mind moves from retrospect of the old year to those resolutions lists of the new.  I'm excited for 2011.  Our family will begin this year with a corporately led, 21 day Daniel fast.  I have been planning and reading Susan Gregory's book The Daniel Fast, which has brought more spiritual direction for this time around.  Last year we participated but honestly, I did more scale watching than prayer.  This time I am praying for the hand of God to direct 2011. 

During the fall of 2010 I realized my priorities needed to be assessed and unfortunately needed to be realigned.  Since then it has been baby steps as I concentrate on placing the important things first.  As I prepare for 2011, I am setting goals and preparing to not just focus on the important things but to live my life as one given to God.  If He is truly my #1 priority then living in relationship with God must be paramount.  This year I resolve to value prayer and meditation, scripture reading and memorization, worship and Holy communion.  This year is the year of relationship!  To give Him my full attention, time, and honesty.  To continue a deep commitment with Christ that is automatically shared with others out of the abundance of my heart.   Not religion folks but relationship!

Camping Trip Blues

Today I sent my son on a camping trip with his AWANA TnT group.  He was so excited, to say the least!  While Christian was ecstatic, Timothy on the other hand was willing the tears back as his voice trembled, "Bye, bye Bubba."  He loves his brother so much!  Although there is a tinge of sadness, I realize parenting is just a series of "letting go." I know I will miss him more than he is missing any of us, and he will return from the weekend full of good memories made with his Christian brothers and leaders.

Well there isn't time to sit around and pout about my children growing up too quickly.  This is already proving to be a rather hectic weekend  for this family.  While Christian is away, Jeffrey has plans, Dad has plans, and of course Mom has plans!  All going different directions.  I really prefer lazy Saturdays to sleep in and afternoons sprinkled with a few errands of the fun sort (shopping, visiting friends and family, doing fun family activities) and then maybe dinner and a movie for the evenings!  Well that just isn't going to happen this weekend!  In everything give thanks - so Thank you Lord for all the opportunities we will have this weekend to spread your love, help us to be your hands and feet to someone!