Category Archives: Yourself

Oct18

Fear and Trust

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Fear and Trust

If you have children who are a few years old, you have no doubt experienced fear in your child. Mine never seemed to be afraid as infants–thunder could roll through in the middle of the night and they would sleep right through it. However, sometime around 18 months to 2 years, things like this really began to upset them. The older they get, it seems their fears become more real.

We were at a local festival when the girls were ages 4 and 5. The fire department had set up their truck for kids to see, as well as one of their “practicing” tools, a trailer that had an alarm and emitted smoke so kids could practice getting out. Even though Daddy went through it with them, this created fear in my girls for weeks after because it was so real. They were afraid our house would catch on fire.

Miranda is reading a biography for a book report on Eleanor Roosevelt right now. One of the things that stood out to her was that both of Eleanor’s parents died while she was only 5 years old. Last night, Miranda had trouble sleeping because she was afraid that something was going to happen to Mom and Dad.

When our kids experience fear, we do what we can to comfort them. However, I can still remember being a child and lying in bed with my fears. Even when Mom left the room, I still felt fear. She may have comforted me with her presence, but as soon as she was gone, fear returned. It is impossible as a parent to remove the fear, so what we try to do instead is to build their trust.

For me, it is important that their trust be in Someone who will never fail them. I could try to convince them that Mommy and Daddy will never let anything happen to them, but what if something DOES happen? I can’t promise them that our house will never catch on fire. I can’t promise them that Mom and Dad will live forever. But what I can promise is that if those things happen, they need to put their trust in the One who loves them more than I can. I can reassure my children that we will do everything we can to protect them, but that we are still human. If they are putting their trust in Mom or Dad, we can disappoint them. If they are trusting in God, they can always trust that His way is right.

So when I leave the room, they probably still have to fight their fears, but I know I’ve given them the tool they need to fight them. (And I return to my room and pray like crazy for God to comfort them and help them sleep!)

Sep24

Simple Fruit Salad

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Simple Fruit Salad

Last week as I was making lunch, I wanted to give my kids some fruit. I had 2 apples and 2 bananas. I have 4 kids. Seems easy enough to say one piece of fruit for each child, right? I know it would have turned out something like this, “Why did she get a banana? I want a banana instead of an apple.” So I decided to cut the fruit into cubes and make a VERY simple fruit salad, which turned out to be a big hit!

Sorry I didn’t get a picture, but it really just looked like a bunch of fruit cut up. And you could really use any type of fruit–this is just what I had available.

2 small apples

2 bananas

1 T sugar

Lemon (or lemon juice)

Cube the fruit into a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle sugar over top. Cut lemon in half and squeeze juice over top of fruit and sugar. Stir until all fruit is well coated. This made enough for 5 of us to have a generous portion of fruit salad.

Sep7

School Supplies

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School Supplies

I thought I’d do a little bit of a follow up post to show you how the Maxperks program at Office Max can help take care of school supplies, without costing much at all. Since we homeschool, I need to have all my own teacher supplies, as well as making sure the kids have their supplies. The good thing is that we don’t go through them terribly fast, so once we purchase a package or two of something, it will last a while.

Here’s what I got on my last trip to Office Max.

I started out with $14.99 in rewards from last months purchases. (This is basically like a merchandise credit that can be used on anything in the store.) Then once that was deducted, I paid $6.30 for the items you see in the picture. The good thing about this purchase is that the cost of the two reams of paper will be credited back to me in rewards for next month (almost $14).

$6.30 is not a bad price to pay for 2 reams of paper, 5 notebooks, a box of chalk, and a good stapler (I have fought with a cheapie stapler that jams every other use for quite a while. Now I have a good basic stapler that actually works.)

Have you gotten any good deals on school supplies this year?

Aug27

Homeschooling Choices

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Homeschooling Choices

If you feel that homeschooling is the right choice for your family, where do you begin? This isn’t a post to convince you that a particular curriculum is right for you. I just wanted to lay out some options and without getting too specific, share with you what we do around here.

A plan for those who say, “Help! I want to homeschool, but I don’t feel comfortable teaching my kids academic subjects.”

There are so many advertisements on tv, in magazines, and even on the sidebar of internet sites I visit, for homeschooling options that do all the teaching FOR you! These are actually an extension of public schools, and everything you need is provided for you. Since you already pay for these options with your taxes, you can take advantage of these programs without paying tuition, book fees, etc. There are so many advantages with this type of schooling. Your child has a teacher assigned to him or her, just as they would in a brick and mortar school. The child’s hours and grades are recorded for you. Their standardized tests are included, and all you have to do is take them to the set location to be tested. It is basically like being enrolled in the public school system, but your child does all the work at home.

A plan for those who say, “Okay, I think I’m ready to teach my kids. Now how do I choose from the thousands of options out there?”

Pick a company that has been around for several years, and has a great track record. As you look through catalogs and curriculum samples, look for a publisher that offers all subjects you need to teach. Many companies will even give discounts when you purchase entire student or teacher kits for a particular grade level. You can see many examples of curriculum online, but there is nothing like flipping through the books in person. Try to find a convention, display meeting, or a bookstore that carries the products, so you can actually SEE what you are purchasing. You can ask lots of questions at these kinds of meetings as well. Of course the representatives will try to sell you on their product, but if you go armed with questions and lists of  must-haves, you should be able to make an informed decision.

A plan for those who say, “I’m pretty confident in my own ability to teach. I know what my kids need to learn and am ready to find the best products for them.”

Once you are at this stage, you have SO MANY options! Each curriculum provider is known for certain strengths and weaknesses. This is where you really need to find an exhibit hall at a convention somewhere and spend a few hours (or days) perusing all the materials. Listen to their sales pitch, flip through their materials, ask other homeschoolers, then it is up to you to make the decision. You may choose arithmetic from a particular publisher, but prefer to get your language arts from another. This does require a little extra time and effort on your part, both in the selection process AND in preparation for teaching, until you get used to each curriculum’s methods. This option may also be more expensive since you are picking and choosing only portions of a curriculum, without those kit discounts.

 

I fall somewhere in between plan 2 and 3. I was homeschooled for 7 years (grades 6-12) so I have some experience there. I went to a Christian college that is home to a major textbook publisher, and I did my student teaching in their academy with their materials, so I have some experience there. And I now have about 4 years of experience teaching my own kids at home. Still I get very overwhelmed by the many choices available to homeschoolers. I attended a major homeschool convention a couple of years ago and spent more than a few hours walking through aisles of booths and displays. I scoped it all out, paid careful attention to a few curriculum choices I wanted to consider, but went away determined to stick with plan #2. I still order an entire kit from one publisher. Now that my kids are 3rd and 4th graders, I am seriously considering trying out a couple of those other options next year, but the majority of my curriculum will probably still come from one place.

Remember these are just my opinions. I’d love to hear from you–tell me how you make your curriculum choice!

Aug22

Is Life Too Busy?

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Is Life Too Busy?

Just a short post to share how my kids have felt lately. One of my girls was sitting in the room with me a couple of weeks ago and said,

“Mom, I know we are here together all day, but I miss you. You are so busy with the new house that I haven’t gotten to spend any time with you.”

This made me feel sad, that I have not given her the individual attention she would like to have from me. But it also gave me a little bit of happiness, that my daughter desires that time with me in the first place.

And I have tried to make more time in the midst of all the busy-ness to talk with all the kids, to let them sit on my lap for a few minutes, to let them even help with a job I’m working on (even if I have to re-do it later). There are reasons for the busy-ness, and it won’t last forever, but in the meantime I want to make sure my kids know they are more important than material things.

Aug17

Try Another Name

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Try Another Name

I had to laugh at the enthusiasm I received from the words “teacher’s helper” this week. When I said it earlier in the week, I heard squealing and saw jumping up and down.

We started school on Monday, and with our new school room we are loving it! I wanted to find a way to help the kids keep their desks clean, so I decided to look them over each day and put a check under their name on the board for each day it was acceptable. By the end of the week, the person (or people) with the most checks would get a small prize. I listed off a couple of options, including a piece of candy, but got no reaction until I got to “teacher’s helper”. They decided that this would be the best prize.

“If you keep your desks clean all week, you can help Mommy clean up the school room on Friday.” If I had said these words, they would have stared at me like I was crazy. I might have even gotten a moan or groan out of them. BUT since I gave the job a special name, they were so excited that they were begging to win!

This week, Clare managed to pull out the win and she will be my teacher’s helper today. So if you have a job you want the kids help with, give it a really cool name and see if you can build some excitement for it. You might be surprised like I was!

Aug14

Things to Consider Before Homeschooling

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Things to Consider Before Homeschooling

Homeschooling is really becoming quite a trend in some circles. What used to be unheard of, is now becoming much more normal. Some might even receive pressure from friends or family to homeschool, though they wouldn’t have considered it otherwise. So what kinds of things would I consider before making that decision?

  1. Am I (the parent) disciplined? Can I keep a routine or flexible schedule?
  2. Am I willing to learn new things? Some things are taught in different ways than when we were in school–am I willing to adapt or insist my way is right?
  3. Am I willing to give up time doing some activities outside the home? Homeschooling takes time and does require more time spent at home.
  4. Am I willing to do a little research to make sure I am meeting my state’s requirements for homeschooling? This information is usually very easy to find, but it is something the parent is completely responsible for.
  5. Is there a mutual respect between my children and myself? Will I treat them with love, even when concepts are difficult to comprehend? Will my children respect my authority enough to learn from my teaching?
  6. Is my child self-motivated? How easy is it to motivate him/her to get things done?

These things are not necessary deal-breakers. “I am horrible at keeping myself on a schedule–there is no way I could homeschool.” or “My child is lazy and I won’t be able to get him to do his work.” These are definitely considerations, but they also might be eye opening for you. Maybe there are some areas that both the parent and child need to work on, regardless of school choice.

Also notice that none of these have to do with actual academic skills. I don’t feel that this plays much of a part in making the decision to homeschool, especially in the younger grades. Many curriculums and teacher plans will walk you through what to teach and how to teach it. Should you feel there are topics above your proficiency, there are lots of options for online streaming where your child is actually taught by another teacher. In this case, you are simply the monitor to make sure they are doing their work.

If you are purchasing a private curriculum, costs can get pretty high. This is definitely a consideration, however, there are also ways around this. Each year, I get on Craigs List and watch for my teacher materials. I bought nearly $400 worth of material this year for $150. (And these books will be used for all 4 kids. Once I have purchased them once, I shouldn’t have to purchase them again.) Of course, I still had to buy the students workbooks, but this cut down on my cost drastically. You can find many things used. Some of the online {public school} programs are absolutely free because they are already paid for with your tax dollars. I have friends who are very happy with these methods, and I may seriously consider them in the near future when I have FOUR kids to teach!

I know that several of my readers are homeschoolers also. If you have things to add, please leave a comment for others to read!

Aug11

Re-Training Myself

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Re-Training Myself

All this talk of training our children makes sense. They are young, and they need guidance from an experienced adult, right? But it has just occurred to me recently that I need retrained in some of the areas I thought I already knew.

Here’s a perfect example: At my “old house” I had a dishwasher. So after meals I would load up the dishwasher (or have the kids load it), then leave those few extra dishes that wouldn’t fit sitting on the counter to be washed another time. As I type this, I know that was the wrong answer but at the time, it just seemed better to go sit on the couch and relax. Those dishes weren’t going anywhere, and all I was doing was putting that job off on a consistent basis.

Here at the “new house”, I spent my first month without a working dishwasher. I had forgotten what it was like to actually wash a load of dishes! How time consuming it was to stand at the sink and wash 6 plates, forks and cups, plus pans and serving utensils, etc. 3 times a day (make that 11 plates, forks and cups the week that my sister came to visit). But do you know what that did for me? It trained me to clear the counter of ALL the dishes at EVERY meal. Though it wasn’t fun washing so many dishes, I am glad that I was forced to retrain myself in this area.

Another way I am changing some old bad habits is to break those really big jobs down into smaller ones. I had plans to finish all our renovations, then move in slowly, putting everything in its place a little at a time, thus keeping the messes to a minimum. HA! What was I thinking?!? I wanted to turn around and run out the front door when I saw this.

Moving Day

(Sorry about the picture quality-It was taken on my phone.)There have been, and still are, many messes like this. I know if I don’t tackle these a little at a time then nothing is ever going to get done. So even though it is a struggle for me to face these kinds of challenges, I know that every time I empty a box, it reduces that mountain a little.

It is amazing to me that even though I know something is true, it is hard for me to actually make myself believe it. It is so easy just to fall into bad habits. Do you have any bad habits you know need to change?

 

Jun21

Serving Your Family Frugally

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Serving Your Family Frugally

With back-to-school shopping right around the corner, I thought I’d share one of the ways I get office/school supplies pretty cheaply. Even though we homeschool, I still have to go shopping for those essential pencils, erasers, etc. And since I’m the teacher, I have to have all my own supplies, including printer paper. Now some things like pencils are pretty inexpensive already, but the pencil sharpener? I went through 3 or 4 sharpeners, some manual and some electric, before I found one that works like a charm–and it wasn’t cheap! But I got it absolutely FREE.

About a year ago, I signed up for the Office Max rewards card (it’s called MaxPerks). With the card, you are able to get rebates from your purchases credited to your account for the following month. Then I use those rewards to purchase items I need, or items that give me more rewards next month. Here’s an example of my first purchase. I needed paper for the printer, so I purchased a box of paper from Office Max. I paid $49.99 out of pocket that day, but the next month $40 of that was credited back to my MaxPerks card. So for that box of paper, I paid $9.99. That is $1 per ream of paper, and cheaper than I could buy it anywhere else. Then I was able to pick up dry erase markers, Scotch tape, etc. the next month for free. When I’m not in need of any particular supplies, I simply watch the sales flyer for their rebate deals and purchase the ones that come out free or close to free.

I know other office supply stores run similar promotions. I actually signed up for a Staples reward card first, but Staples was across town and I never made it over there to get the deals. I have an Office Max right around the corner from my house so it was very convenient.

Go ahead and sign up now for your rewards card because you usually have to wait a month for the rebates to be applied to your card. Watch those sale flyers, and you could be getting great deals on back-to-school in a month!

 

To see the rest of this series, click here.

 

Jun19

More Great Advice From Girltalk

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More Great Advice From Girltalk

The mom and daughters that write over at Girltalk are doing a series on controlling the time we spend/waste on our technological devices. I love the principles they are tackling because they actually go beyond our computer–they can be applied to ANYTHING that tries to control our time (reading, watching tv, shopping, and the list goes on).

This particular post talks about choosing God as our “one thing” to find satisfaction in, and I really enjoyed it. If you want to check it out, here’s the link! Choosing One Thing