My daughter, like many other kids, has a hard time remembering to flush the toilet and wash her hands when finished in the bathroom. One night last week I had a dream about making her a reminder (I'm not kidding... I really did dream about this!). The next day I got out some yarn and went to work on the above plastic-canvas sign. It now hangs in the bathroom as a reminder and so far is doing its job!

A simple thing like a reminder sign - works for me!

Tuesday. Tuesday.

I'm happy to report that my son is starting to regain his strength and energy. His fever is subsiding and I see more and more of his usual spunky self coming through. No explanation for his fever, according to the doctor. We're thankful that he seems to be getting better on his own.

On today's TO DO agenda:

• homeschool with my daughter
  
• vacuum all carpets (this is my son's current favorite chore to help with - loves to push the vacuum around the house). Also need to sweep all hardwood floors.
  
• get back on track with meals. I have a meal plan for the week but have taken the last 2 nights off and need to get back into the swing of things
  
• make a bare bones grocery list and go shopping tonight after kids are in bed (It's the end of the month, so our grocery budget is almost entirely spent. What remains will be spent tonight on these last few items to get us through the end of the month)

• be patient with my daughter when she doesn't quickly grasp new concepts
  
• be gentle with my son who needs to be cuddled as he recovers from his sickness
  
• be kind towards my family
  
• be slow to anger and slow to speak
  
• be quick to smile (I don't do this enough any more, I hate to admit) and laugh
• be an example of Jesus' love and grace and acceptance in my home
  

I'll be praying for my son today. He's been sick with a fever for 3 days. We're praying for complete healing and restoration of health. In the meantime, I've got some cuddling and rocking to do and my blog time is at a minimum.

So what parent, whether homeschooling or not, doesn't struggle with the question of what to do with ALL those school papers? Coloring book pages, A+ worksheets, handwriting practice - the papers just keep on coming! [The above picture is a coloring page of President Nixon that my daughter did at age 4 - very colorful]

Beyond just tossing the papers, another idea is this: gather a few of the best work from your "student" and send it to Grandma or another loved one. Grandparents LOVE getting mail from the grandkids and this way, they get to see some of what the kids are doing in school.

What works best for me is to send about one thing a week to one grandparent (or special someone). I usually include 1 picture my daughter colored/drew along with 1 verse or something that she wrote (seeing the progress she is making in her handwriting is fun to witness). If my son has done any doodling, I include that too. Address it. Stamp it. Stick it in the mail.

I regularly hear back from Grandma and others about how fun it was to receive the artwork. [Pssst: if you homeschool, this is also a way to let grandparents know that yes, you really are accomplishing things in your homeschool].

You can think outside the box on who send these kind of things to. Widows in our church have enjoyed getting a little colored picture and a quick note (written by me) as a way to brighten their day. Grandparents, adopt-a-grandparents, other loved ones who live far away - all would appreciate the occasional smile-by-mail :-) And you win too - you don't have to keep all the extra paper clutter!

It works for me!

Monday, Monday! La la, la la la! :-) Yes, a song is going through my head!

Monday means making a plan for meals this week. We'll be on the "eating from the pantry challenge" this week. That is, can we live without making a trip to the store (for anything besides possibly milk). I know we can do it! We've had experience on this one and also have a fully stocked freezer. We were also blessed with fresh grapes, blueberries and apples on Sunday, so we won't have to buy any fresh fruit this week!

For breakfasts: eat from our stock of homemade waffles, pancakes and french toasts; scrambled eggs, toast

For lunches: left overs; sandwiches, fresh fruits

For supper:

• Beef and noodles
• Potato Soup
  
• Sloppy joes (was on menu last week but didn't happen), french fries
  
• Breakfast for supper (scrambled eggs with waffles, sausage links)
• Homemade mac and cheese with diced ham, side of peas
  
• Meatloaf, baked potatoes, homemade biscuits
• Creamy chicken and noodles
  

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, now is the perfect time to think about those folks you know that don't have family nearby or who could just use some extra loving!

In our family, we have Greg and Ruth. We met them about 2 years ago when my husband was doing genealogy research and realized that these folks had the same last name and live nearby. Out of the blue, he called up Greg. They got together over breakfast to see if they were long-lost relatives... and indeed they were!
So now we have gotten together many times with Greg and Ruth. They joined us for Christmas. They were MAJOR HELP last year during our move. They have no kids of their own, so we let them be like Grandma and Grandpa to our children. They play along and are fun to be around - and I think they like us too! :-)

(my daughter and Ruth making Valentines, cutting out hearts)

Monday, Monday - here again. One way that we have found to cut down the grocery bill is to take advantage of store sales and coupons to stock up - then eat from your stockpile in between sales. Last week we shopped the sales. This week we're enjoying the surplus and will have to buy only bread, fruit and possibly milk.

Breakfasts: scrambled eggs, brown n serve sausages, pancakes or waffles (we have many of these homemade and frozen)

Lunch: left overs; tuna or lunch meat sandwiches, carrot sticks, fruit

Supper:

• Chili
  
• Sloppy joes, steamed cauliflower
  
• Homemade chicken and noodle soup (have a whole chicken to cook in crockpot; use the stock to make soup and freeze the rest of the chicken pieces for future meals)
• Homemade spaghetti
  
• Tacos(with either hamburger or chicken)
  
• Hamburgers, fries, corn
• Chicken and rice skillet
  

Our pastor, who is a former missionary, gave us a kids cookbook at Christmas - Recipes from the 10/40 Window. He said that he remember having a conversation in the past about how to instill a love for other cultures in kids (and along the way encourage them to consider missions in their future), and he saw this book as a part of that process. So far we have enjoyed torte from Azerbaijan and fried plantains (bananas) from Burkina Faso. There will be more to come.

Food is a fun way to tie in many other lessons (not the least of which is how abundantly blessed we Americans are as far as food choices and portion sizes go). These recipes have already made us grab the globe to discover new places, as well as opened up some conversations about other countries, including what people believe about Jesus or other gods. So although the food starts the conversation, it goes far beyond that and often ends with praying for those in these far off places who don't the love of the Father.

Bon appetit!

Until the last few months, our school days were fairly free flowing. My 1-year-old son napped twice a day, leaving those hours free to spend "doing school" with my daughter (currently in 1st Grade). Now my son is 2 and the morning nap has gone away, making it a bit more difficult to fit in all that we used to. That is where making a loose schedule for the day has come in handy.


The biggest pluses I've found from this kind of loose schedule is that my daughter is more motivated to finish her work and I find myself nagging less for her to complete her studies. Part of the motivation for my daughter is that she has to finish everything to move on to the next item. For example, we have a morning snack at 10:00 each day. She doesn't get a snack until she has finished the items on the schedule before 10:00. Same with lunch, afternoon snack and supper. She is highly motivated by food! :-) I've also built in playtime and computer time for her, as the rewards for completing her work early.

Having all the subjects laid out keeps us more on track. And it's a loose schedule because it's flexible. At any point we can add or subtract items. And I didn't want our day broken down to specific 15 minute increments - that is just too restrictive and wouldn't work for us. So there are some times mentioned to keep us on track, but we don't spend exactly 15 minutes a day on math, 15 minutes on phonics, etc. It's much more loose than that. Loose and flexible. If we have morning errands to run, we can move things around or do what I refer to as "school lite" (a half day of studies).

No doubt we'll have to make changes as the years go by, but this is a glimpse into our current homeschooling days.

Schedules - they work for me!

Happy February, everyone! It's a new month and a new week... time to make a plan for meals! For me, a new month means a fresh start with the food budget and a new challenge to find ways to cut costs but still eat well. With some help from my hubby, here's what we have scheduled for this week:

• Saturday Date Night for Mom and Dad (kids eats leftovers at home)
• Breakfast for supper (scrambled eggs, pancakes or waffles or french toast)
• Homemade pizza and salad
• Chili
  
• Crockpot Venison Roast, baked potatoes
• Homemade chicken and noodles, served with homemade biscuits, peas
• Tacos