on a Sunday

On a Sunday six years ago (yesterday), a little man made it into the world and completely alleviated all my uncertainties about "what I'd ever do with a boy" (I grew up with two sisters and only one boy cousin on each side of my family). He is the epitome of his name - Reese Matthew means "enthusiastic gift of God" and he continues to keep us on our toes.

Yesterday, we celebrated with some:

rocket stompin'

"the harder you stomp, the higher it flies"

new-to-two wheels bike riding, whirlygig bubble-blowing helicopters, watergun squirting, a family dinner,

Reese & Luke coming in for cake after getting soaked from the superssoakers

playing with a cousin

I love this picture of Ben and Jack. It looks like Jack "You can't fool me Ben...I see what you're up to"

lollipop* eating

I actually took this picture this morning - Reese was very generous with his treats and gave Ben one this morning

late night phone calls to Gramma to thank her for her gift and last minute snuggles with Dad and Mom.

The best gift though was from God - the first shorts-and-t-shirts weather of the year, made for playing outside and giving us hope that summer is just around corner.

*My sister bought these lollipops at our local natural foods store. The testimonial on the back of the package says, "The best lollipop I've ever tasted." It seriously is. And the best part is that it's made from fruit and veggie derived ingredients. Judging by this post-birthday empty package, I think we'll be buying Yummy Earth's "Organic Vitamin C Pops" soon and often.

making a round bottom bag with Reese

After seeing his sister get to use my sewing machine (and being attracted to anything mechanical), Reese, asked if he could do a sewing project with me.

When the plastic container which held our wooden blocks broke, it provided me with the perfect sewing project to work on with him...a new bag to contain the blocks. Originally I was going to sew a hobo-style bag until I examined the canvas bag which stores our colored blocks and discovered it had a round bottom. This was a little more daunting as sewing a round bottom would require a greater deal of precision (a skill I'm trying to improve upon...patience in the process is not my strong suit :) ). But I was up for the challenge and here's a pictorial review of the fruits of our labor:


















Since Reese is a hair shy of six, I ended up doing most of the work, but he was able to help with the ironing and liked being able to operate the pedal while I did the stitching on the machine. I tried having him feed the material as well, but his legs are a little on the short side of being able to work that and the pedal. This worked well as a beginner project since it had simple step and enabled me to explain some of the essential parts of the sewing machine and a sewing project.

I used our other block bag as a model and kind of guessed at the steps needed to put it together. If you'd like to make a bag of this type for yourself, here are a couple of  links to round-bottom-bag tutorials (there has got to be a snappier name for these things!). If you end up sewing one, I'd love to see how yours turns out. :)

• From Cotton & Cloud  (I love t he bag she made!)
• From ehow (no pictures but the instructions are thorough)

intro to Mexico: decoupage and watercolor map activity

Last week, we started a unit study on Mexico as part of our social studies curriculum - a subject which I piece together on my own vs. following a pre-purchased curriculum.


I found some great ideas, resource ideas and links on Homeschool Creations, and some coloring pages at Rainbow Kids, Home Education Resources and ABC Teach.

Our first stop in learning about Mexico was coloring the flag and map. However, I didn't feel like coloring a 2D map provided a good feel for the diversity and unique characteristics of the Mexican landscape. Since a trip to Mexico (at least in the near future) is way out of the question, I settled on a hands on activity to help the kids identify features of Mexico - created a 3D map.

Here's what we did:

Using a scrap piece of poster board, I freehand drew the county in pencil, and sketched in the placement of the mountain ranges (the maps found at World Atlas were an excellent guide) Next, we tore and crumbled up small pieces of newspaper, covered them in white glue and pasted them to the map. Brianna, my second grader, was able to do much of this herself with some guidance from me. Reese and Luke weren't that interested in this part. I forgot to photograph those first two steps.

Then, I diluted white glue with water and decoupaged packing paper over the entire area of our map. Brianna

also helped with this and Reese tried to but became more interested in squashing the mountain ranges.

After letting it dry overnight, I retraced our pencil lines and created a paint-by-number plan so the kids could paint the map without it become an abstract art piece. Note: next time I do this, I'll make my original pencil lines much darker as some of them were hard to see through the decoupaged paper.

Then the kids began filling in the color using watercolor paints. This was my favorite step since Luke (4 1/2), Reese (6) and Brianna all could participate and enjoy it. I had to help Luke a little and added some finishing touches, but most of the work was done by the kids.

After the paint dried, I traced over the pencil lines with a black sharpie marker.Finally, I typed out major landform marks and had the kids identify where they belonged and then we glued them on.

I would definitely do this type of project again for other countries we study, perhaps even adding other materials such as sand or greenery where appropriate. It was a lot of fun, and I hope, will help the kids better remember Mexico's landscape and important geographical features which surround the country.

curriculum review: math

When you enter the homeschooling arena, you quickly realize the overwhelming amount of material available to you. This is the first in a series of reviews for curriculum I've used for the first two years of my homeschooling experience. I have a daughter in second grade and son in kindergarten. I hope these notes will help you as you plan for your school year.

I've researched and readjusted our math curriculum many times this year in the quest to find a good fit for my children). I'm quickly learning that there is probably not a perfect fit and that any math curriculum will need to be supplemented in some way to suit the needs of your child. Here's an overview of what we used with details of my findings listed in the same order below:

• Shiller Math Kit 1
• Singapore Math
• Dorling Kindersley 

Shiller Math
Consider using if: you know your children likes manipulating items to understand a concept, budget is not an issue, you have the time and desire to do an entire math lesson daily with your child side-by-side

Last year, which was our first foray into homeschooling, I purchased the Shiller Math Kit for ages 4-8. Though it was expensive, when I priced it out over the 3-4 years I expected to use it, it came out comparable to other strong math programs. (In reality, I believe this is closer to a 2-year program if you spend 20-30 minutes, 5 days per week on math). I also anticipated being able to use it for all four of our children since it is Montessori-based and takes in different learning styles. And I liked the idea of using manipulatives to bring the theory of math into the real world.

It worked well enough for us last year, but I found myself repeatedly frustrated with it this year. Perhaps because it seemed to have a wide spiral (it took awhile to reintroduce previously taught concepts), did not have enough practice to reinforce learned concepts and because this program is heavily teacher dependent - a challenge when you are trying to teach more than one child. The other con...my son did not like the program - he seemed frustrated by the use of the manipulatives and preferred using pencil on paper. Go figure!

I abandoned this program half way through this year - we were almost finished with it and I wanted to find a program for my daughter to work on more independently from me. However, I will try this again with our other two boys as it does have valuable ways to introduce pie-in-the-sky math concepts to little ones.

Singapore Math
Consider using if: your child quickly grasps math concepts, prefers learning pencil-to-paper style, you want an accelerated math program

He whispers: reclaim your joy

When I first read through the Bible in my infancy in Christ, my first thought after completing the Old Testament was,"Whew! Following Christ will be a breeze compared to following all those rules." I think I pictured dancing through the rest of my life, unhindered by rules and regulations, free to enjoy life's pleasures as I followed Jesus toward the sunset of my time on earth.

Then the honeymoon period ended and God made it clear He had some work to do in me, to get rid of those things that would hinder me from following Him wholeheartedly.

Somewhere along this way of dying to self, I also killed my joy - or at least part of it. You see, legalism is a spiritual bondage that runs in our family and I struggled with how to follow Jesus without some hard and fast rules to live by. Like in the Old Testament. In fact, I even prayed many times for God to send me some guidelines I could follow so I would know if I was living in the right way. I ached over the fact that Christians today have no festivals or rituals to perform to get them right in God's sight. I had no concept of what it meant to have freedom in Christ.

Somehow, I began agreeing with the enemy to very careful about how I was living and started believing that enjoying life, having fun, would plant my feet firmly on the path to destruction.

Thankfully, God was not about to leave me in that valley and He began putting the desire within my spirit to experience the fullness of joy in Him. I am only at the beginning of this new journey in Him and it may be many years before I know what it means to live daily in the joy and freedom of Jesus. But I look forward to learning what it means to reclaim joy.

How about you? Have you struggled in this area too? Are you now on the other side experiencing joy daily? Please share your experiences that we might all be encouraged. :)

If, too, are in that valley of little joy, here are a couple Scriptures lift your spirits:

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galations 5:1 NIV)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (Galations 5:22-23 NIV, emphasis mine)

swim.bike.run.

My swim.bike.run. training program was derailed this past month as I went a couple rounds with, what I suspect, were not one, but two, vicious cold viruses. The virus(es) were winning until I finally gave in to Dave's admonitions to take the antibiotics prescribed by my doctor. Last night, for the first time in almost a month, I finally felt ready to work out again.

I'm quickly, realizing however, that "winging it" might not be the best way to prepare for something that will seriously test my endurance. Especially since it's recommended to workout 4-6 days a week. Yikes! Something tells me "training for a triathlon" will become part of our homeschooling curriculum. ;)

Any one else considering running a triathlon for the first time? Leave a comment with the date of your race and we can encourage one another along the way. The race my husband and I are participating in is the first Sunday in August.

Also...here are some links to training ideas for first time swim.bike.runners:
Training for Your First Triathlon
Beginner Triathlon Training
What a Beginner Woman Triathlete Needs to Know
12-week Plan for Completing a Sprint Triathlon
Training Tips for Busy Mom

recipe: date crunch

This has become a family favorite ever since I made it for my sister's birthday a few years ago after happening upon it in a "Cooking for your Vegetarian Kids" cookbook. I just made it again this past weekend when we had a gathering for one of our neighbors who will be moving in a couple of weeks. Although the recipe originally calls for it to be made in a square pan, I found they are extra appealing when put into cupcake holders. See...

(also on display are rice krispy treats - made with brown rice cereal - and strawberry and banana kababs...simply, beautiful finger food for a party)

And here's the recipe for
"Date Crunch"
8 oz Annie's bunny grahams
1/2 c. chopped dates
1/2 c. raisins
2 Tbsp honey
6 Tbsp butter or soy butter
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

Crush the bunny grahams with a rolling pin. Finely chop dates and add to crushed cookies along with the raisins. Melt butter with the honey in a microwave or over the stove. Pour over cookie mixture and stir until well combined. Either put cookie mixture into a 8x8 square pan or spoon into muffin tins lined with paper cupcake holders. Melt chocolate. (I usually microwave the chocolate 1 min on high, stir, then microwave for another minute). Spoon chocolate over cookie mixture and refrigerate until set.