Homeschooling Journal: February 2014 Part 3

Baking Fun!

They love helping me bake cookies. They almost have more fun baking them over eating them!

Naughty... It only took me a minute to run the sheets to the washer and when I got back, this is what I found.

Homeschooling Journal: January 2014 Part 7

A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education)

The Widow's Mites: A Story of Giving

Homeschooling December 2013 Part 6

             

Family / Homeschool Rules

I got this canvas on clearance at Michael's for about $4 or so.
It is 12x24 inches.

I had never done anything like this before, so that's my excuse for it not turning out perfect.

1) I used acrylic paints, foam brushes, a thin brush for the phrases and painter's tape. 

2) Some stripes are 1.5 inches wide and and some are 2 inches wide, just to keep it interesting. 

3)I put on the painter's tape and painted every other stripe. 

4) When those dried, I painted the in-betweens and let those dry. 

5) Then, I made tiny marks with pencil so I could see where the middle of each stripe was. 

6) I wrote (very lightly) the phrase on each stripe and went over it with the thin brush and black acrylic paint.

7) Let dry and hang.

I think it turned out a lot better than I expected. I know it isn't perfect, but I wanted something homemade, original (one of a kind) and custom-made. 

In the end, I took out "TREAT OTHERS KINDLY" because it was similar to "USE KIND WORDS" and "HELP EACH OTHER" and added "WAIT YOUR TURN" instead because it is important to have that in our family rules.

I had fun making it. The picture shows the top purple stripe (RULES) and the royal blue stripe (USE KIND WORDS) to be too dark, but in person, it is actually pretty easy to read everything. It's just the way my phone took the picture.

Would you ever venture out and make something like this?

Stephanie Bruce Tristan wrote in a homeschooling FB group (used with permission):  

This is what is on our wall:
Deut. 6:1-18. Education is to learn about God; how we works in all things and is above all things. We learn in order to glorify God.
Lev. 19:18 and Matt. 7:12: Love others and cultivate family as we learn together.
Col. 3:23-24. Whatever we do, we aim to do our best for God.
Ephesians 6:1 and Col. 3:20. Obey Mommy and Daddy
Prov. 10:4-5. No play until the work is done. This means even, and especially anything electronic.

Click here to see and download some beautiful verses
Click here to see and download some awesome family/homeschool rules
Click here if you would like to download character trait cards for free

January 2013 Sweetest Gift

Made baby girl's smash cakes (one for her photo shoot and one for her birthday party) the other day and I used beets to sweeten it. Look at the pretty color!
Let me know if you are interested in the recipe.

The mix looked great, but once it baked, I realized that it wasn't a pretty magenta anymore, but rather looked like a red velvet cake. I should've used half the amount of beets, I think.

She loved it, regardless of the red (and not magenta) color.

I love her so much! Can't believe she's one year old! <3

January 2013 New Beginnings

Happy New Year!
Three really cool things have happened:
1) We got to see my family and went skiing! K got to try it for the first time. It was awesome! He's only three years old! Can't wait to do it again.

2) I got money from my parents as a Christmas gift, so I decided to get a toaster oven. Why? Because I was trying to step away from using the microwave as much a possible for many reasons. The few reasons that come to mind right now are
RADIATION,
THE FACT THAT ALL FOOD NUTRIENTS GET KILLED,
IT FEEDS INTO THE WHOLE "IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION" CULTURE WE LIVE IN
Well, it took a little bit of an adjustment on my part (mostly pre-planning), but I did it! My initial goal was to cut my microwave usage by half, but then I figured I'd try to go 100% without using the microwave.
It will be 4 weeks and I haven't used the microwave at all! Not. Even. Once.
My husband still uses it, but only for his stuff and the one time he was going to warm something up for K, he yelled, "Not the microwave, Dad!" Lol. Good boy. :)

3) We are still going strong on the whole juicing thing and eating lots of raw fruits and veggies. The new thing about it is that Baby Girl (almost 1 year old) is now also drinking juiced fruits and veggies every single morning! She loves it! And the best part is that she's not picky about what is in it (beets, spinach, sweet potatoes, you name it, she'll drink it all). And thank goodness that she does because she is down to 2-3 breastfeedings a day and she is not a milk person. I have tried all kinds of milk and she won't have any of it. So she is getting many of her nutrient from the juices and no, it does not upset her stomach of make her have loose stool. Now, juicing is officially a family affair!

(left to right: A's cup, hubby's cup, K's cup and my cup)

This is a really cool plate I found at Wal-mart. It has helped K learn about what foods go into every category to eat a balanced meal. We list off foods and say whether they're fruits, vegetables dairy, etc. He loves it and I do, too. I helps to know portion sizes for a toddler and what a balanced meal looks like.

Brand new

First use: blood orange (fruit), barley (grain), green bell peppers (vegetable),
chicken (protein), and mozzarella cheese (dairy).

End result: SUCCESS!!!