Our "Go with the Flow" Homeschool Day

 Have you ever wondered what a homeschool day in the life looks like for someone who is "structurally-challenged"? If so, you are in for a treat! (I will warn you: if you are the type of person who loves schedules and doing things by the book, this post may not be for you. It will seem terribly chaotic. I won't confidently say that it works for us, and that I'm totally nailing this homeschool thing, because I'm always striving to do better, but this is where we are right now. Or rather a few weeks ago.)

I have always resisted schedules. (It's sort of a trademark of an INFP). But even during those times when I think, "you know what? Maybe those Type A people are onto something..." there's generally some external resistance happening too. I have four children ages 8, 6, 3 and 9 months. Since the beginning of our homeschooling adventure, we've had an infant, and then a toddler, then a pregnancy, and now a new infant, and a very energetic preschooler.

I DO try to maintain some level of routine in our days. We follow one of the schedules from SimplyCharlotte Mason as much as is practical for us. I have found that it makes it easier to sort of be on "auto pilot" for our lessons and readings (the more planning and preparation and DECISIONS required of me, the less likely we are to actually accomplish any formal schooling for the day). Despite resisting schedules, we are rather creatures of habit. Our day just happens to start and end way later than most people's days. I'm working on that!

8:30-10:00 am- I'm up. I've made tea, chatted with my husband, and opened my Bible to read for a bit. I hear the baby cry, so I go in to settle her to buy myself a little more quiet time. My husband is taking the first part of his day off at work to get some errands done, so he is in and out of the house for the first part of our day.

10:30-11:30 am- Everyone else wakes up. First my 8 year old, who mills around for a bit and then asks for toast. The baby wakes up for good, and I feed her while I look at Facebook. The 3 year old wakes up to join the 8 year old who is now in the living room reading picture books. They start to squabble over something. I change the baby's diaper, and then the six year old gets up. I make toast for my 3 year old.

11:30-12:00 pm- Baby plays in the Exersaucer while I wrap up what I'm doing online. My 8 year old asks me to request some Kevin Henkes books from the library (he was on a mouse book kick there for a minute), so I handle that before I get off the computer. He starts his chores, which include sweeping the dining room floor, emptying small waste baskets, and checking the mail. (He is kind of a self-starter. Also, he knows that screen time doesn't happen until his chores are done).

12:30 pm- My husband returns home briefly before heading for work. He brought coffee. We talk in the kitchen until he has to go.

12:30-1:30 pm- The baby gets another diaper change, and I realize I haven't eaten yet! I put the baby in the Ergo and head to the kitchen to make myself something. The older kids are gathered around the tablet watching whatever the 3 year old is watching on YouTube Kids (until I shoo them away). He watches lots of toy videos (ugh), but also a variety of whatever else catches his fancy. In the past couple of weeks, I've seen Peppa Pig, Thomas and Friends, Pink Panther and some others. At some point, the 8 year old begs off of school today in favor of watching Despicable Me again (we rented it from Netflix). Um, NO.

1:30- 2:00 pm- The baby should be ready for a nap soon. I sit down in the living room with her for a feeding, and start to watch a new PBS documentary called No Mas Bebes. I am trying to see if she will get drowsy and fall asleep. The three year old begins quizzing me on how to spell the words, "um", "no", "yes", "Saturday" and "remote." The six year old comes into the room and starts to play with the baby. I fuss at the 6 year old for getting the baby worked up again, and quickly apologize for snapping at her. I send the bigger kids to play in the room while I feed and try to settle the baby. Three year old is playing on the tablet. I abandon the program eight minutes into it. The big kids were fighting. This nap time approach isn't working!

2:00- 3:00 pm- I use the restroom and put the baby back in the Ergo. Baby begins to fall asleep while I start on dishes and laundry and a new podcast episode. By three o'clock, I have put the baby in bed, and get ready for our lessons.

3:00-3:30 pm- Head to the kids' bedroom to start on school lessons. (I have deemed their room to be the most distraction-free location for lessons to take place for the time being. We live in a small apartment, so we don't have a dedicated school space, and the 3 year old is not occupied in the same way from one day to the next usually. We need to be flexible and do what works!) And I always have the three year old occupied with something in another room because being quiet is not one of his strengths! (And being loud is not one of my strengths!) We get started on Scripture memorization and Bible reading, and are interrupted by the three year old who first needs assistance in the restroom, and minutes later, requests a snack.

3:30- 4:00 pm- Attempt to transition from Bible reading to the next portion of our lessons, but end up discussing Esther the Girl Who Became Queen, and how it compares to the real story of Esther (which we haven't actually read yet- we were reading from Matthew today). The children begin flipping through the Bible, reading certain passages briefly (they are remembering many of the verses from VeggieTales). I manage to get us back on track, telling the children that they may explore the Bible more after we do our other lessons (which they ultimately do). There is a potty break, and the 3 year old requires attention again. 

I hear the baby wake up from her nap. I get her out of bed, and finish reading chapter two of The Cricket in Times Square. The 8 year old works on Khan Academy for math. I let him choose the duration, but it must be at least 10 minutes, and no more than 15 minutes. (Charlotte Mason recommends brief lessons to sustain the child's interest. It works for us!) My 6 year old works on a chapter of Life of Fred: Cats. I requested it from the library because she seemed to be having some trouble with some of the Khan Academy content. (We've tried LOF before, and it didn't sustain their interest. I LOVE the concept, but we likely won't get it again any time soon.) We end up skipping our reading from The Boy Who Invented TV (a children's book about Philo Farnsworth) because the baby woke sooner than expected.

4:00- 5:30 pm(ish)- I read Grover's Good Manners to the three year old and the baby, and nurse the baby briefly afterwards. The big kids make sandwiches while I feed the baby some solid food (she is really loving butternut squash right now). I eat something as well. I put a chicken in the slow cooker. (Mine actually runs really hot for some reason. Dinner will be ready in a few hours!) I start another load of laundry.

5:45 pm- I sit down to resume watching No Mas Bebes. (I find the story so heartbreaking. It's about some Hispanic women in 1970's Los Angeles who were sterilized without their informed consent.) This is free time for everyone. The 8 year old is having tablet time. The 6 year old usually looks on with the 8 year old, or she works on drawings, plays with her dolls or another toy. The 3 year old plays on the computer.

6:30 pm (and beyond)- The baby takes another nap later in the evening, and usually I tidy up the kitchen and do other chores with her in the Ergo while I wait for my husband to get off work. He is usually home by 10 pm, so we have a long wait! We eat dinner when he gets home. We would not be able to do this if the kids went to a traditional school, of course. (Now, I will disclose that this is not exactly intentional on my part. I would rather have everyone eat a little earlier, and be about ready for bed when he gets home, but I must admit that I like everyone to eat together too). Sometimes in the "waiting for dad" time, I let the children watch something together on TV.

Overall, our days tend to manifest as a combination of Charlotte Mason style learning and unschooling. We read lots of books, learn about a variety of subjects, but also have plenty of time to find our own rhythm and explore our own interests.

As of this writing (this day was a few weeks ago), our days do not look like this! We are taking a couple weeks off of our usual mom-facilitated learning as the baby works out some developmental stuff. (Nine month sleep regression is a real thing!) Last week, she barely napped longer than 15 minutes, so that made our school time really challenging. I decided this week, we would lean into that and give her the space to work it out. She's still not back to her usual nap routine, and a few of us have been feeling a bit sniffly, so the break is well-timed.

The older two children have been reading a book called Kid Presidents (a book about what the presidents were like as children), as well as other library books. I am working to implement a 30 minute daily individual reading time, so before screen time happens, they need to get their reading in. My 8 year old has been doing his math online this week before screen time as well. Yesterday, the two older children rediscovered their marble run. I happened to go into the room while they were taking a break from their fun, and noticed a stopwatch and paper and pencil on the floor. They had been timing how long it took for the marbles to reach the bottom, and seeing which one was faster. I don't worry much when we take breaks because I know that they are always learning! It may not look like school, but their knowledge is always growing! 

Do you homeschool? What does a day look like in your home? 

Sharing today at Simple Homeschool's Annual Day in the Life Series.

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Speaking Good Things Over Our Children

One day after my two older children had left on an outing with their grammy, I was home alone with my three year old son and napping three month old daughter.

I received a phone call from my husband who had been at work all day, and I was eager to talk to him. As we were chatting, my three year old ran into the room, and began to play with the baby's swing. He pushed it roughly, and switched on buttons, and music played, while the swing rocked quickly forward and back without the weight of a baby in it.

"Stop messing with the swing!" I snapped, more interested in getting back to my conversation with my husband.

The three year old switched the buttons off, and then on again in a flash, and ran out of the room.

"Little turkey!" I yelled.

"I not a turkey!" he yelled back.

"Did he just say he's not a turkey?" my husband laughed. "You can have what you say, you know."

That phrase. "You can have what you say." I know it to be true. But how often do I observe outward appearances and call it as I see it? Had the stress of motherhood made me forget to speak good things over my children, rather than just labeling them by the looks of their behavior?

Our culture applauds those who "say what's real", and so we value people when they make seemingly accurate observations. As Christians, though, we're called to go beyond that. To see beyond the see-able. To see what God sees.

In Genesis, we see the universe in chaos. Thankfully, God chose to see past that. He said, "let there be light."

My son came back in the room. "You're a blessing," I said to him.

"OH! Thank you, mom!" he beamed.

Our children need us to remind them how God sees them- not just how their behavior causes them to appear- and certainly not how they make us feel in a moment of tension. God's word is a mirror- to us, and to them.
Let's build up our children to be the awesome men and women God has called them to be!

What phrases can you speak over your children to affirm who they are in Christ?

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K-3 Free (and Inexpensive) Homeschool Resource Round-Up

Are you just starting out with your homeschool planning, but not knowing where to turn? I was like that a couple years ago when we began! I knew we wanted to homeschool, but I didn't have a set "philosophy" to guide me through those uncertain first months. Also? I didn't have the budget to just go out and buy the curriculum that most appealed to me (any of them!)

Here are some of the (free) resources we've relied on for the past couple of years, and one of the relatively inexpensive things we've used too!

Free Resources:

Ambleside Online- This is a website that is based on principles of a Charlotte Mason education. Admittedly, the first few times I explored this site trying to figure out how this might work for my brood, I kinda got a little bit cross-eyed trying to figure out what we were supposed to actually do. Then I started reading about Charlotte Mason and her ideas on education. Ah, it made so much more sense after that! That being said, I don't recommend trying to use this without having read a bit about Charlotte Mason. This is one you can use for all ages.

Easy Peasy- Easy Peasy has every grade laid out from preschool through high school. It is a site that is put together by a Christian mom of many. She wanted the curriculum to be online to keep track of what her children had done year by year (and also so it could be reused by her younger children), and made it available to other parents and caregivers. I like the concept, and you don't need much more than an good internet connection to use it.

Education.com- This is a great resource for worksheets and projects to do. I believe you are allowed five free downloads per month. I've found it easy to locate a good quality, grade-level worksheet on various topics.

Homeschool Share- Lapbooks and Unit Studies galore! (Also, they have many resources for Five in a Row, if you're using that.)

IXL- IXL is math and language arts for K-12. This is very kid-friendly, and I like that they allow your child to do 20 practice questions per day. You don't have to sign up and pay for their service, though if you want to go beyond the practice questions, you will have to. It is nice to use in addition to another math program just to gauge where your child is at currently.

Khan Academy- Khan Academy is a non-profit that has teaching videos and exercises for math, and many other subjects. For math, it is the most basic arithmetic all the way to stuff I never learned, like calculus and other difficult-sounding mathematic disciplines. (Can you tell I'm not a math buff?) I haven't spent very much time exploring their other resources, but it does look rather extensive.

Lesson Pathways- This is a good one if you want a fully guided custom curriculum (for K-5). I like how you can simply click on certain units to remove them (if say, your child has already mastered that lesson) and you can move the units around to put them in the order you want. You can even combine grade levels in a certain area of study. The only caveat I would offer for this resource is that many of the outside links are no longer good. This makes it a little frustrating, but you can easily find alternate projects or worksheets elsewhere (and you have the option to report any links you find that don't work). It does help when you want grade-level appropriate ideas. We've discovered many favorite books and authors through the ideas on this site. To use it, you only need to register with an email address. (They have never contacted me or sent me emails, in case you're worried about that!)

Simply Charlotte Mason- Can you guess what we're doing this year? Yep, we're inspired by Miss Mason and her excellent ideas concerning education. I actually have found this to be a great deal simpler than using Ambleside- at least for the way my brain works! If you want to incorporate her method into your homeschool, you just need to figure out what works better for you (whether Ambleside Online, Simply Charlotte Mason or any other Charlotte Mason website). I like the more modern books recommended here, and I like their free curriculum planner. Yes, it still takes planning, but it is totally guided and they offer sample schedules as well. (Also, both Ambleside and Simply Charlotte Mason have online forums for all of your questions!)

Inexpensive:

Five in a Row- I wanted this list to be full of FREE resources, but I couldn't leave this one out. It is not free, but you can find the volumes of this book at Amazon for relatively cheap and find most of the recommended books at the library. So it's almost free. We love using Five in a Row, because, well...we love reading. It is not intended to be a full curriculum, but it does open the door to many cool educational things to share with your little ones!

(If you like these resources, feel free to follow my Homeschooling Ideas and Resources board on Pinterest!)

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Have you used any of these resources? Which one is your favorite?

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Inviting Cooperation from Young Children

I just celebrated my youngest guy's second birthday this month! Could it already be? I swear I was just telling you all that I was expecting him!

At any rate, he is quickly gaining independence and communication skills and reaching other important milestones so fast. It can be hard to keep up with all the changes, am I right, moms? I feel like I was just getting the hang of mothering this baby, and now he's already into "young child" territory!

Are you in the same season with your little one(s)? Or maybe you work with toddlers or preschoolers on a regular basis. Whatever the case, we could all stand to take a minute and see things from a young child's perspective for a minute to figure out ways to best communicate with them to make our days run a little more smoothly! Today, I'm revisiting some of the ways that have helped me deal gently, but effectively my little guy (and that I still frequently use with my older children now ages 4 ½ and 7).  I'm honored to share these tips as a guest on my friend Jenni Mullinix's blog! Join me over there today and share any additional ways you know of to invite cooperation from toddlers and preschoolers! (Click the link to continue reading!)








  

 

Fun Read Aloud Chapter Books for Young Children

Did you know that this week is Children's Book Week? I didn't (until this morning), so it's by happy little coincidence that I'm writing this blog post (that I started working on last night). :-)

In our house, we love books! Oddly enough, we have never really developed the habit of bedtime story reading with our children until now. I have an almost seven year old, and a four-and-a-half year old (plus a toddler; who's NOT yet reading) who are both independent readers. So, aside from our school time reading together, the majority of their reading is solo. Enter chapter books! They don't yet read longer, more involved material by themselves, so it has been a wonderful way for me to bond with my big littles, and a way for me to get to read some classics that I somehow didn't get around to reading as a child. It's a win-win!

We started reading a chapter at bedtime most nights. There were times when we fell out of the habit of reading at night when dinner was served too late too many nights in a row, but for the most part, it has been a habit we've come to really look forward to.

Here is a list of the books we've covered so far this school year, and brief(ish) thoughts about what we liked (and didn't quite like) about them!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- This is one classic on this list that I actually read (and more than once at that) during my childhood. I always dreamt of visiting the chocolate factory, and this did not fail to inspire chocolatey dreams in my offspring, either. It was easy to read, because we were eager to see what happened next. Would little Charlie Bucket find a coveted Golden Ticket? Oh, the suspense! ;-) (There is some mild language in this one- but if I remember right, it's of the donkey-inspired variety).

James and the Giant Peach- We liked this one too, but the book about Charlie is still the favored of author Roald Dahl in our collective opinion. I wasn't a fan of James' aunts or the manner in which he came to live with them (parents were eaten by a rhinoceros or something). I felt that it was a tad brutal (okay, a lot of Dahl's stories include things along these lines, to be fair), but the children didn't seem to get caught up on it (probably due to the ridiculousness of being eaten by a wild animal on a city street), though I may have purposely raced past that part! (Ditto on the language- I actually don't remember what but just be warned that it's there!)

Winnie the Pooh- Oh, my! What a wonderful book. It was equally pleasing to my six year old boy and four year old girl. They of course were already familiar with the characters in the book because of the Disney movie adaptation, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but it did not fail to delight them in any way. That "silly old bear of very little brain" is even more endearing to me in print than he is on screen, and you get to see even more of the sweet and silly machinations of his fluffy brain in the book.

The House at Pooh Corner- More Pooh songs and delightful interactions between these beloved characters. It's a must-read if you like the first one (I should say if you've read the first one- of course you liked it). I love the humor and wit that AA Milne weaves through these stories. And we all loved getting to know these friends even more. Consider yourself warned, though, I teared up at the end!

Little Britches- While I really liked this story, it was definitely a challenge to get through! I think the material was a bit mature for my children, and a semi-tedious book for a four and six year old to sit through, but they still enjoyed it quite a bit despite this (I should note that it was not located in the children's section of the library- also, there are some instances of swearing in this book, but was easy enough to substitute "darn" for " !@#$%^&*" and stuff like that.) I had come across this title in a thread about chapter books somewhere on Facebook. I think it was recommended to someone who was looking for a book similar to Little House on the Prairie books, but for boys. It was definitely that, but a little later chronologically. What I really liked about it, personally, was that it kind of gave me a glimpse of what life was like for of one of my great-grandfathers. He actually lived in this area around the time set in the book (1906). Anyway, there are lots of character-building lessons in this story, but admittedly, many of them were kind of over the heads of my babies at the time. Needless to say, this one might be a good one to save for your older littles.

Pippi Longstocking- Oh, Pippi! How we loved your amusing antics. I remember watching Pippi Longstocking on television as a child, but never really read the book. She appeals so much to my unconventional side, and I really appreciate how she boldly "lives her truth". Ha. True, some probably won't appreciate the trouble she gets into, but it also can open up a dialog with your children of why certain behavior probably isn't a good idea or very realistic. Still, there were plenty of laughs while we read this book- and the children were definitely captivated by Pippi and her adventures.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle- This favorite by Beverly Cleary was fun for us to read. The children especially enjoyed the sound effects (enthusiastically provided by yours truly). Ralph is certainly a charming character, and I think we can all relate to his story! (I also appreciate some of the questions that came up because of the time period of this book...like, "Mom, what is aspirin?" Ha ha!)

Mary Poppins- I almost didn't start reading this book to the children because of some of the mixed reviews I read. Actually, we are not quite finished with it, so hopefully we don't run into any of the negative things people have said about this. Most of them being related to Mary's attitude- they found her to be mean and nasty in some parts. Well, she's definitely not like the character in the movie version of the book, but mean and nasty? Not really (in my opinion)- especially after seeing shows like Super Nanny, it's easy to see that British nannies commonly take a no-nonsense approach (unless that's just a made-for-TV stereotype) and Mary Poppins would naturally NOT be the "Spoonful of Sugar" offering peach of a caretaker as portrayed in the Disney movie. They have many adventures, for sure, and it's really a fun read for the children and I (at least so far- I hope I don't run into any zingers in the last couple chapters!)

What are some of your favorite chapter books for kids?

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Reflecting on Our First Year of Homeschooling

I'll start by saying that we are about to be preparing for our THIRD year of homeschooling our children (my about-to-be 7 year old son, 4 1/2 year old daughter and soon to be two year old son). Just typing that makes me realize how far we are into our journey! I haven't been around here much to document all this in real time, but hopefully if you are just starting out or considering homeschooling your little ones, you will find this helpful!

If you've been around a while (you know, since before I fell out of the blogosphere), you may remember that I was debating on what direction we would take with our son's education. I wanted to homeschool, but I was concerned about having a new baby in the mix. We considered doing an online public school, and actually had almost completed the enrollment process. Thank God for Holy Spirit, I just didn't have total peace about that choice, and at the last minute, we decided to homeschool independently.

Why did we decide against online public school?

I'm so glad you asked!

I had concerns. I'm a reader of the fine print (usually) and it seemed to me that their requirements might be a little much for us. One thing was, I didn't like that we had to log two hours of online work each day, and if we missed a day (due to illness or vacation or anything) it had to be made up. (I know some devote longer than two hours a day to homeschooling, but for us, for just starting out, for kindergarten, it seemed a bit much.) One of my personal reasons for wanting to homeschool is the freedom it affords. All states are different, I learned. Some have strict laws about how much time is spent on education, some don't. Ours doesn't. Initially, I thought that not having to plan lessons and such would be a blessing with a new babe in the house. But then, I figured it might be even more demanding of me to make sure those hours get completed. I would have to facilitate whatever he was doing for school work, and keep him on task. With a new baby, it's hard to find two hours to devote to anything (except for the new baby, of course!) And if I understood correctly, it was two hours of computer work, plus the other non-computer learning he had to do.

As it would happen, I also ended up seeing a couple of threads on Facebook and elsewhere about this very thing, and some of the experienced parents confirmed my suspicion that this was a lot to deal with. There was stuff I hadn't thought of, like the fact that teachers interact with students via webcam (not sure if this would be at the kindergarten level, but I'm thinking it is)- but, hello! Kinda out of my comfort zone (not that it would be unsupervised, but still). Then, of course is the fact that it is a state-sanctioned, secular program along with whatever ideas and ideals they might present. I just didn't want to deal with that. (Again, these were our concerns, someone else might be perfectly fine with this set-up).

What we did do:

The first year, we kinda winged it! I explored a lot of options, and with our fairly limited budget, I used many free resources online. I loved exploring Pinterest and getting ideas. I frequently found other resources through homeschool blogs and homeschool pages on Facebook. I utilized our local library (and also interlibrary loans) for books. 

By the time we began "officially" homeschooling, we had accumulated several inexpensive workbooks and packs of flash cards from places like Target and Dollar Tree. These I would grab up any time I saw them during the back to school sales. 

I heard about Five in a Row, and I immediately fell in love with the concept of literature-based learning. A big bonus being that Five in a Row is a Christian organization, so the book selections are in line with our values and world-view. I bought the first volume from Amazon, and started to explore. We rowed a few books, but I did have trouble tracking down some of the titles at the library, and didn't want to pay a lot to order them online.

We also had purchased a membership to the local natural history museum. My son was obsessed with dinosaurs, so that choice only seemed...er...natural to do. We went at least every couple of months during that year, and guess what? He was hardly into learning about the dinosaurs. Apparently, I signed up for our membership on the tail-end of his obsession! There was one room with a marble run-type contraption with PVC pipes that had magnets on them that you could arrange and re-arrange on this metal section of wall. You're supposed to line them up and drop a ping pong ball and watch it roll down the track you make. Both my two older children were occupied with that for the longest time. At the natural history museum! :-)

What I realized:

• Children's brains do not care about grade levels! Learning happens all the time, with or without a curriculum! Last year, my son was five years old, and technically in kindergarten. He was learning "kindergarten level" things well before we ever seriously considered homeschooling. He had already learned to read by age 3 ½ (I was an early reader as well, and we read a ton around here).
• I like focusing on really good quality literature, and that year, we discovered many favorite authors and stories.
• I'm not so good at the planning (yet). There, I said it. I think I would try and try to plan out a week or two or more in advance, and part way through it, kinda feel like poking my own eyes out. Not really, but it could be agonizing. Naturally, I'm the type that I feel like I must make the absolute right choice in any given circumstance (I'm quite notorious for taking forever to order in a restaurant- so now, I usually check the menu online to alleviate some of that!) I think it's all about learning what works for everyone. One needs to assess the amount of direction the children need to continue on their path of learning and how much planning and preparation is required of the parent before it becomes a huge, monumental task that becomes disheartening and discouraging for everyone.
• There is a lot of support online! Lots of groups, helpful Facebook pages and blogs. I am not alone!
• Our homeschool is NOT going to look like pretty much anyone else's homeschool. We have a different approach to learning, different values, different space, different resources and different needs.

Moving Onward:

Have we found our groove? I'm gonna go with "no" (or maybe, "not quite") at this point. We are (as I'm sure we will continue to be) an evolving unit, and I will continue learning more about my children's educational needs. One idea that has intrigued me this year is unschooling. Currently, if I had to label our approach, I would say we are "eclectic", pulling our learning from various areas, fields of thought, and experiences, while still trying to stay in line with suggested grade level material (for the most part). Unschooling sort of throws all the convention out the window and allows children to forge their own path. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the philosophy of unschooling to see if it is a good fit for our family and our individual learners. I remain open to God's leading- I know He will show me (as always) what path to take!

Do you homeschool? Are you considering it? Share your thoughts in a comment!

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But Why, God?

I'm a mother of a four year old. For the longest time, I would hear of moms going a little crazy when their little one would start asking the question, "why?" These moms had children who were two or three years old. My little guy never really asked that question at that age. I reasoned that he's a bright kid, and if he wanted to know why something happened, he would either try to discover the reason for himself, or eventually, he would ask, and be satisfied with my response.

Fast forward to now: I'm the mama going a little crazy with the incessant questions. "Why?"

"It's time for bed," I'll say.

"But, why?"

"You need to eat your dinner."

"Why?"

I started to hear the dreaded question more and more frequently. I would explain each reason to the best of my ability, trying really hard not to resort to "because I said so". Until one day, when I realized that "why?" doesn't actually mean "why?" As in, my four year old doesn't really care "why". In a lot of cases, I've discovered that it's a form of protest. As in, he doesn't want to go to bed. He doesn't want to eat dinner. He doesn't like the fact that we can't go to the park today. Why doesn't really matter.

Does any of that sound familiar to you? I know I've gone through seasons where the events are just so frustrating, that all I can say is "but why?!" Why do I have to deal with this? Why can't this person just do the right thing and stop bothering me? Why can't I just go out and buy whatever I want or feel like I need? Why does that family get to go on vacation, and we don't? Why, why, WHY?

The answers often elude me. But the fact is, I don't really want to know "why". I just want to escape the situation and get back to a place of comfort. In essence, I'm telling God "it shouldn't be this way. Fix it!"

The answer to the question "why" is usually something that my four-year-old wouldn't be able to truly comprehend or appreciate to the fullest extent- at least not now. In the same way, if God decided to tell me why, I'd probably be overwhelmed by the answer. It wouldn't make sense from where I'm standing right now. Just like we as parents have understanding that exceeds our children's, God's ways are infinitely higher than our ways.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9

Have you (like me) ever been through a season where you asked the question every parent (including God) loves to hear?

Linking up at:
I Choose Joy

A Tip for Picky Eaters

It's so amazing to me how different two children can be. On one hand, I have my daughter who will eat nearly everything that's offered to her. I mean, stuff you wouldn't necessarily expect a toddler to even want. She'll eat hard-boiled eggs, green smoothies, beans and more. On the other hand, I have my son, who is 4 ½, who will hardly touch anything that doesn't resemble a french fry or a hamburger. (To his credit, he will eat spinach and broccoli and most fruits, so he's not too terribly difficult to get healthy foods into).

The problem I've had with him lately, however, is that I'll tell him what's for dinner, and he'll say "But I don't liiiiike _________!" I got really tired of hearing that response (or something similar), so I stopped telling him. Now, a typical exchange goes a little like this: "Mom, what's for dinner?"

"You'll see when it's on the table..."

Fast forward to dinner time, and I'll say "dinner's ready, come to the table." and he'll come, willingly. And then miracle of miracles, he will begin to eat! With minimal fuss!

Is this how your child sees dinner?

I think this has been working for us because he doesn't have a chance ahead of time to be negative about the dinner time experience. He doesn't have any expectations in his mind of something unpleasant, so he's a little more flexible. I also like not having an argument on my hands while I'm trying to get dinner on the table.

Do you have "picky eaters" in your house? How have you gotten around food aversions in the past?

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Where Have I Been?

If you've been wondering, read on!

September was a pretty great month for me in many ways. My blog stats were at their highest, my energy was up, I was determined.

Due to a financial "scare" that had happened earlier in the month, I agreed to take a part time job at the preschool that is run by our church. It seemed like the right thing to do; my children could be with me throughout the day (more or less) and I would only work through the holidays. This was just meant to help fill in the gaps while my husband searched for other work. He was working at a job that was almost totally commission, and it just wasn't working out.

Also upcoming in October, we were gearing up to start our family on the GAPS diet that is designed to do some serious gut healing. Both my children have mild food allergies, and my son has pretty serious allergies to dogs and cats (he gets nasal symptoms, as well as hives sometimes, and exposure usually leads to coughing and wheezing for days following). I had concluded that I had been dealing with symptoms of "leaky gut" since my daughter's issues began in early infancy when she was only getting my breast-milk. So it was a good idea all around. We planned to start on October 1st.

I was scheduled to start my new job on October 3rd.

We started GAPS as planned, and day one went well. Also, on "day one", I was expecting my "monthly visitor". Day two came around, and there was still no sign. I had my husband run out for a pregnancy test. I figured since GAPS was ultra-intensive, and the introduction diet is not recommended for expectant moms, I ought to confirm or deny the presence of a growing bebe as soon as possible. Lo and behold, I received an immediate, unmistakable POSITIVE pregnancy test! 

I quickly added back foods that are allowed on the "full GAPS" diet (basically, full GAPS is no grains or starches) and for the first couple of weeks, I felt great! Then somewhere between week 5 and 6 of pregnancy, it hit! I got what was the beginning of a sinus infection, followed by irresistible cravings for FAST FOOD! Ugh! I thought for sure since I'd been eating so healthily, giving into my craving would be a shock to my system, and I would definitely regret it. Well, I ended up feeling awesome afterward! I could hardly believe it. (I guess my body needed carbs and copious amounts of sodium?) Sadly, the GAPS diet no longer appealed to me, and the thought of eating my go-to snacks like hard boiled eggs and nuts made me want to gag! I was really upset by that since I felt I had made so much progress not only with myself, but also with my two children. Plus with having a job outside the home, and being exhausted all the time, I had a hard time keeping up with all the "from scratch" meals I had to make.

Meanwhile, I had been working, and enjoying the job I was doing. I was the teacher in the infant room and had usually two, but sometimes as many as four babies to take care of. My children on the other hand, were not so glad to be there. My daughter cried and cried most of the time we were there. My son was less than enthusiastic about his classroom and dreaded going everyday (we were there 3-4 days a week). Ultimately, I shared the news of my pregnancy with the preschool director, and explained that my children were not adjusting the way I thought they would and that I could only work until the end of October. (By this point I had been experiencing all day nausea and occasional vomiting, so I didn't think that was a very good combination). She seemed to understand.

Well, thanks be to God, around that same time, my husband was offered a really great job (he wouldn't be able to start until closer to the end of the month). He also had a prospect of a second part time job that he would work in the evenings (which he ultimately got, but just later than expected). I just knew that letting my part time job go was the best thing, since now my husband would be gone from the home practically all day long, and wouldn't be able to help pick up my slack in the housework and such.

So, that was my October! After leaving the preschool job, I was so glad to be back home all day, especially since I was smack in the middle of my first trimester. I was terribly exhausted and feeling sick all the time, and got another cold about a week or two after that first one cleared up. My kids were glad too (except then, my wonderful son overcompensated by not wanting to go ANYWHERE- it was a major battle to get him to get ready for church or anyplace.)

Thankfully, these days I'm feeling much better! I'm starting to get some energy back, and beginning to cook more meals at home, and toying with the idea of getting caught up on housework. Little by little, I know things will come together. 

So, this pregnancy. We are totally excited and thrilled to be welcoming our third baby sometime in early June. We are planning a home birth, and I just had my first prenatal appointment and heard the baby's heartbeat yesterday! I'm working a definite baby bump (okay, so most of it is probably just mommy-bump for now, but I definitely look pregnant). I've outgrown my pre-pregnancy clothes, but I have several "transition" pieces from my previous two pregnancies that will work for now until I really need to be in maternity clothes. My daughter turned two in October and is still nursing, I don't know how long she will continue, but already we have dramatically reduced the number of feedings. (We are down to 1-3 times per day). It was getting really uncomfortable for me, but now it doesn't seem too bad, so I guess I will just let her continue as long as she wants (unless something changes).

I spilled the news to church people early on since I began to feel overly tired and nauseous, just so people didn't think I was a slacker! I shared the news with my family just before Thanksgiving, and the following week, we announced the news on Facebook, and now you know!

What exciting things have been happening with you?

Guest Posting Again!

Hey there! Just a quick post to let you know I'm back over at Donna Perugini's blog today talking about Christmas, Culture and Our Children! Come and be a part of the discussion and while you're there, check out some of Donna's children's books and her other posts!

A great big thanks to Donna for having me as your guest for these past couple of days! What an honor it is to share with your readers!

I'm Guest Posting for Donna Perugini!

Our beloved children's author (The Flight of Orville Wright Caterpillar, and many others) has invited me to share some thoughts on her blog this week as she's recovering from the car accident she was in.

Today's topic? Can Responsive Parenting Prevent Bullying? Click over and join the discussion, and be sure to check out Donna's site while you're there (if you've never been, of course)!

. . . . . .

Could this mean a "bloggy comeback" for yours truly in December? Maybe. :-) I'll write a post very soon letting you know what's been going on over here for the past two months.

The Frugal Things I Do: Health and Beauty Edition

With our current financial situation, I've been forced to get creative about certain things that I would normally choose to spend a little bit more money on. Some weeks, there has been enough money for gas to get my husband to and from work, and maybe pay a bill or two and not a lot else! So certain things that I never really considered "luxuries" (but if I'm honest w/myself, just aren't "necessities") are just not do-able sometimes. What do I do? What any other woman would do: adapt. Make do. Get clever. Here are some of the things I've done to avoid having to spend money unnecessarily! And the bonus is that all of these are more natural and better for general health as well as the environment!

Some of the products I've replaced:

SHAMPOO/CONDITIONER- I used to go through a ton of shampoo and conditioner. I'd say I probably bought a bottle of each at least once a month. I was an every day shampoo-er (unnecessarily as I've come to find out). I heard about using the baking soda and apple cider vinegar method from various sites, so I had to try it. Basically, you take a couple tablespoons of baking soda, add a little water to make into a paste, then massage into wet hair and scalp, rinse well and then add a 50/50 blend of water and apple cider vinegar (I use a squeeze bottle to squirt it onto my hair).  You can get a box of baking soda for 50 cents and a gallon of ACV for $4 (it will last for months and months!) I will say that my hair and scalp rebelled for the first few weeks of not being washed every day, but eventually we adapted. (This one I actually started because of was tired of dumping chemicals on my head and didn't want to spend major bucks on organic shampoos and conditioners). I've been doing this for about a year now, so it's something I definitely recommend trying.

FACE CLEANSER- I just use a bar of Castile soap. I used to use Dr Bronner's, but recently I discovered Kirk's Castile Soap which I found for around $4 for a pack of three bars (at Safeway).

FACE SCRUB- I use a mixture of honey and granulated sugar. It's about a tablespoon of honey mixed w/about a teaspoon of sugar. (You can use more or less sugar depending on how "gritty" you want it.) You could probably experiment with different textures for exfoliating different areas...maybe use raw sugar for those rougher areas, or even ground almonds or something...

BODY WASH- Again, Castile soap. It's a switch the whole family has made and it works for everyone (including my sensitive four year old and almost two year old)!

FACIAL MOISTURIZER- Extra virgin olive oil. I put some in a small spray bottle in my bathroom and spray a little into my hands, rub together and apply to my face- I typically avoid my forehead just because I tend to get oily there- but it works great everywhere else! Plus, it's one of several natural oils that have SPF (about a 4). I discovered that one day when we had gone out to the public pool. My shoulders and arms got sunburnt, but not my face at all, and I realized I had moisturized w/the EVOO that morning.

EYE MAKE-UP REMOVER- More EVOO here! I just spray a tiny bit in my hand and dip a cotton swab, and apply over the eye area. A little goes a long way, so if you try this, use sparingly.

STORE BOUGHT LAUNDRY DETERGENT- I just made my first home made batch a few days ago, and I'm really happy with the results. I tried this recipe. And I used (you guessed it) Castile soap. Works great! (I add a few squirts of dish soap and a cup of vinegar to the wash- but I usually do that anyway).

DISPOSABLE DIAPERS- We switched to cloth several months ago, and I love it! I could use more supplies to have a larger stash (I pretty much wash every day), but I started with 12 AIO (all in one) diapers that I found for a steal on Craigslist. (The lady I bought them from had ordered online, and didn't specify the gender of her child- she has two boys- so ended up with 12 girly colors/designs- she asked $30 for all 12!) It was really overwhelming when I first decided to look into using cloth, and I thought it HAD to be expensive, but that just isn't the case. There are many frugal ways to start cloth diapering. Keeping your eyes open for deals on Craigslist or other sites is one way. I have a friend who folds receiving blankets into diapers and uses a waterproof cover. That's great way to use all those receiving blankets that don't get much use after the first three months!

Bonus: After the first month of using cloth, my husband came to me and said "thank you for making me buy these (hee hee)! I'm not sure how we would've managed this month if we had to buy diapers too."

BABY WIPES- I have about a dozen baby wash cloths that I use for this task. I make my own wipe solution as well. You can make it by combining two cups of warm water, a tablespoon of olive oil and two tablespoons of baby wash (I've even grated the Castile soap and melted it on the stove with a little water in place of the baby wash since we don't use it any more).

BABY POWDER- I know this only costs a couple bucks, and is something you only buy a few times when your baby is in diapers, but we were out and I wasn't in a position to run out to the store. I had corn starch on hand in the kitchen, so I had a bright idea. I used a butter knife to pop the top off the baby powder bottle, and funneled some cornstarch into the container. Voila! Baby powder. (I tried using it without the container before that, but it was really messy).


What ways have you found to avoid spending too much money in the "health and beauty" department? I'd love to hear your solutions!

See more green posts here!