The Family Meal Table - Review

Time together at the table, enjoying a meal together, sharing our lives, maybe even enjoying scripture.  Are these lost in our families today?  Are we too busy to sit at a table together?  Is it easier to eat in front of the TV.  Are we even eating together or is everyone in the family running here and there, this practice and that friend's house?

I'll be honest, this is an area where we have struggled.  I always want to eat at the table.  Growing up, this was something we did... at my grandma's house.  At home, we ate in front of the television most nights.  If we ate at the table, it was a holiday or we were at a restaurant.

I chose this movie from Franklin Springs Family Media.  It was one of the free gifts I received from This Old Schoolhouse magazine for subscribing during their recent sale.  There were many options, but I wanted to see what this had to say about eating as a family together.

Ironically, Nancy Campbell, the host of the video, reminds me a bit of my grandmother.  It takes me back to a time when feeding our family was more than just getting them some food.  This reminds me of a time when the dinner table was the heart of the family.  Nancy Campbell talks about everything from good nutrition to family devotions.  Mostly she talked about how it nourishes more than the bodies of our family when we all sit together at the meal table and share a meal and our lives. She even made a point that it is a meal table... not just a dinner table.

I have many great memories from my childhood of dinners at grandma's house.  We had a kiddie table when it was a large dinner with lots of people.  I remember my uncle kicking us under the table to pick on us.  I remember the amazing food.  I remember lots of fun and laughter. 

I want to give some of that to my children.  It is so easy to just leave the homeschool project on the table and eat in the living room, but that may not be what is best.  One impression I got from The Family Meal Table was that mealtime isn't just family time, but training time.  We communicate at the table. We expand the world of our children with new foods. We model manners.  We teach about eating habits and nutrition as we serve good, healthy foods.  We teach about setting a table and cleaning up afterward.  Lots of lessons can be learned at the family meal table.

I read a study that said that preteens and teens that ate with their families several times a week were less likely to smoke, drink alchohol, or use drugs.  They do, however, often get higher grades. 

Families also tend to save money by eating at home.  It is definitely cheaper and more nutritious to eat at home than to eat out a lot.

I've determined to do what I can to eat together at the table in our home.  We do in spurts, but, as I said, it is easy to be lazy.  However, now that my husband is taking a job where the hours will make it difficult to be together some evenings, we have to take advantage of the time we have.  We will do what we can to eat together as a family.  It might mean that not everyone can be together all the time.  I'm hoping that it becomes a habit, eating together, and that the kids will see it as a priority in their lives and eventually their families.

Good-bye 2009

The end of the year is here.  This last year has been a rough one for our family, but we are still thankful for the blessings we have.  Most of all, we have each other.  I made a wonderful photo collage of a few of my favorite pictures from this last year.  These faces are the blessings in my life.

Time with our children is fleeting.  I take lots of pictures so I don't forget a moment of how wonderful they are.  God blessed me with a big family.  In a day and age where children aren't often seen as blessings, I am determined to enjoy them and raise them to serve the Lord Jesus.  Family is a big deal in our home.  We may not have as much material things as other families.  We might not get to take many vacations.  We may even live with hand-me-downs and strict budgets.  However, we have lots of love.

Starbucks and Some Shopping Fun

My older girls had some gift cards from Christmas.  So, we headed out to go shopping.  There were still a few sales going on.  I picked up a pair of super comfy slippers, and new fleece gloves and a hat for under twenty bucks.  That used up my gift card.  The girls didn't think the day would be complete without stopping at Starbucks.  We don't do it often, but when we do, we enjoy every last drop.

 

 

 

One of the stores had a fun mirror that Jasmine and I played in for a bit.

It was a nice way to spend the day, and to get away from the house for a bit. 

Playing in the Snow

The younger girls went out today to play in the snow.  Megan had a blast until her hands got REALLY cold.  I made her come in and warm up after about half an hour.  The other girls were outside for at least an hour.  I kept asking if they were cold.  They were bundled and kept insisting they were fine.  They had a good time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The girls are definitely enjoying their break from school.

Megan's Preschool Curriculum - The First Year

Preschool.  I have several theories about preschool.  First, I have read and researched quite a bit about preschool...  Early starting , late starting, no preschool, workbook activities, lots of things.  At the moment my two year old is pushing beads around her Christmas present with her big sister.  Excuse me a moment while I load this picture for you to see.

A moment after I got this picture on the computer, this same two year old came over to me panting and barking.  She had transformed herself into a puppy, crawling around on the floor.  I love her imagination.

My older two girls didn't go to preschool.  I worked a lot, and they usually went to a babysitter when they were young.  I did read to them at home and we played a lot together.  Their father was military, so we often had a lot of time alone together when he was gone.  I took them with me lots of places.  We went to parks and zoos and libraries.  We watched movies and listened to music.  We worked on stuff for school, but I don't think it was necessarily a structured program.  Both girls were tested before they began school to see if they were ready.  Both, one outgoing and one shy, did just fine.  One daughter was nearly six when she began Kindergarten.  The other daughter had just turned five.  Both girls have had their ups and downs in school, but they both tend to do well.  The oldest is a semester away from graduating, and the next one will graduate next year.

My step-daughter attended Head Start.  I used to volunteer a lot in her class.  I must say that, while I liked the teachers, I thought the program was lame.  It was play time all the time.  Oh, there were the routines like wash hands and serve your own snack and take a nap, but I thought it academically pathetic.  She would receive packets that we were to do at home that were nothing more than reading a couple pages in a book to her.  My step-daughter did horrible in school when she began.  She was no where near ready, even though she was almost six when she began Kindergarten.  All she had done for years was play, play, play and maybe color a picture of a letter or something.  I don't even remember much reading to the students in class.  The stuff they said to do at  home between parent and child was very limited.  I wish I had known more then.

My next daughter, Laura, went to preschool for two years.  Unlike Head Start, this preschool did work on academics.   However, what I discovered was that Laura wasn't much more advanced than my older two girls had been when they started school.  She started preschool at three and, honestly, still was a super shy and quiet little child in Kindergarten.  I remember her kindergarten teacher thinking she didn't know stuff, but she would tell me at home.  She was just too shy to talk in front of many people.  So much for the socialization of preschools and public schools.  I think my daughter would have been more confident and sure of herself in her own home.  She has blossomed in the last year and a half of being homeschooled in the shyness department.

Now, the time has come to begin planning for Megan.  Since I seem to have had experience with every area in the spectrum, I am going to use that experience with my daughter.  Every child is different, and each one of my kids is an individual.  But I think the key word in preschool is balance.

I don't want to push my kid too early.   That seems to be a major concern of some specialists, while others have lots of ideas to start this early or that early.  I'm a fan of starting a little later, when they might get it, than to start too early.   I plan to do a little of everything, and a lot of a couple things.

Megan is two.  My plan for the rest of this school year is to experiment and get her ready for a more challenging program in the next year or two.  I have a growing list of activities I think we'll do together.  Most important on that list is reading to her.  Bible stories, picture books, story books, and whatever else I can find to get those little neurons firing in her brain. I have a selection of books that we will read over and over, as this helps them as much or more than reading new books all the time.  We will read new books too.  The library is going to be our new best friend.  Story time for her begins in April when she turns three.  I can't afford an expensive curriculum.  I don't think I need one to help my two year old learn.  She's learning all the time.

The internet is loaded with wonderful ideas for fun learning activities.  Most of those activities just involve parents being a little creative and encouraging play and imagination in their child.  Here are some of the ideas I enjoyed:  Play dressup, make tents in the living room, color with sidewalk chalk outside(as soon as weather permits), have different shoe boxes for each day of the week with different activities inside so the child doesn't get bored, theme weeks such as transportation week or manners week, play with bubbles, and best of all, go outside as much as possible.

Will I use workbooks?  Yes, but not seriously or religiously at two.  A coloring page with the letter A or the number 5 isn't going to kill her love of reading or math.  I will use lots of different things.  If a workbook page is a tool I'm using as we are learning something specific, I am not going to say no.  I'm not grading my two year old on neatness or correctness.  I plan to have her paint and glue noodles to papers.  The Kumon books look wonderful and are full of activities.  I think workbooks are fine, if they are used to supplement what you are working on and not be your whole curriculum. 

Will I use a structured preschool program later?  Probably.  Most of the quality Christian programs I've seen out there are for short bursts of time with lots of activities and reading.  I don't think I will actually begin them until Megan is older and I know she is ready.  Core of any program I use or design is the Bible and reading aloud to my child.  Without those two things, the program has no meaning to me.

Will I put my daughter in a preschool?  Maybe.  There is a small, Christian, wonderful preschool about a block away.  Two days a week Megan could go for a couple hours.  If I have the finances, I might consider it.  Not because I think she will just receive this outstanding education that I couldn't give her at home, but because those hours would be uninterrupted time to work with my other children.  I don't think she'll need it as she will be in the library reading program and summer programs and, possibly, soccer. 

Reading the suggestions online gave me a lot of confidence that I can successfully teach my child and get her ready for more advanced skills.  As I was reading these articles and even a couple blogs, I realized that I have a lot of experience with different preschool options.  From none to lots, from effective to ineffective, I have thought about those experiences.  I have a clearer picture in my head now of how I want to teach my soon to be preschooler.

The Flexibility of Homeschooling

Right before we begin homeschooling after Christmas break, my husband will begin his new job.  This is going to mean some big schedule changes for us.  My husband will be on twelve hour shifts three days a week and one six hour shift.  His days off will be Thursdays and Fridays.  Sadly, this is going to change a lot of things that we have gotten used to, like weekends and evenings together. 

It hit me today when I was looking at the calendar that this is probably going to change the way we homeschool.  We have been changing things a bit anyway, but I hadn't thought of it changing our hours.  I think this might.  If Daddy is home on Thursdays and Fridays, those days will need to have a lighter work load.  This may mean bulking up our load on other days or just totally scheduling things differently.

Bible will continue to be a daily thing.  We are switching the way we do our Bible studies.  Both of the younger girls are going to do their Bible with me.  Laura and I will be using a Bible program that has us reading out of the Bible together every morning.  I will probably do the entire lesson with her before she reads her Stars New Testament reading on her own.  It will be more like a devotion.  With Megan, Bible stories are a large part of the preschool curriculum I am designing for her. (More on that when I have it finished.) With both girls, Daddy can jump in and participate if he desires on his days off.  While on layoff, Bible studies and Bible stories were one of his favorite things to be a part of with his daughters.

I want the girls to have time on Daddy's days off to spend with their father.  Homeschooling will give them that flexibility.  The schedule looks like time with Dad will be very limited Sundays thru Wednesdays.  It looks as if they will get to see him Wednesday evenings and go to church with us, but with all the kids in different classes and Daddy usually helping in the Youth, only the teenagers will get to see him that evening.  Thursdays and Fridays look like they are going to be our time together.  I want to limit our schooling on those days to mornings so they can have the rest of the day with him. 

Of course, this means changing the schedule I had already planned and finished.  A part of me doesn't mind, however, if it will mean making things easier for my husband.  Working nights is tough.  It's exhausting, especially when your family is on an entirely different schedule.  I know that God will help us through.  I am praying that this schedule isn't a permanent thing, but just a temporary thing we have to deal with for a bit until God brings better into our lives.

A Novice Design

I wanted to redo the Christmas design on the blog before we get busy again with school work.  I wanted something different than just putting a picture on the blog.  It's difficult to find the perfect picture to represent our homeschool when I can only choose just one.  So, I created a page with multiple pictures, scanned it into my computer, and loaded it into blogger.  Yes, It is kind of an amateur job.  However, I'm an amateur so I'm not bothered by that. 

It's a small collection of a few of my favorite photos of my homeschool girls from the last year or so.  As you can tell, my girls have a wide age range.   My two public schoolers are not included in the design because this is my homeschool blog and the homeschoolers are my students.  However, if you've read this blog much than you know they are included often in the blog.  They are a part of our homeschool because they are a part of our family.  They just happen, for a couple of various reason, to attend public school.

I played around with the blogger templates.  I've used an outside one before, but it's simpler to stick with the blogger pre-made ones.  I'm not very experienced with this, and these are simple for me to use.  I don't have to worry about saving or losing elements.  One day I may be able to pay someone to design one for me, but until that day I'll just keep my slow learning pace and make use of what is easy for me. 

Calendars for 2010

The time has come to plan for this next year.  I realized quickly that I hadn't bought a new calendar yet.  With the snow falling outside, I decided to see what I could find online instead of driving on slick roads.  There were plenty of selections available just by googling 2010 printable calendar.  I printed out one from the website thehouseholdplanner.com.  It looks similar to the one on the right, and it will work just fine for me.  It's not an indepth planner, but I can use it well.  There are a couple of free calendars to print out on the The Household Planner website.

Color Wonder in our Home

For Christmas this year Megan and Laura received Color Wonder coloring books and markers. 

I have never bought them before.  I guess I thought they looked neat, but regular coloring books and crayons are cheaper.  My two year old loves to color, but lately she hasn't been overly concerned about what she colors on.  My daughter thought we'd try these.  She got one for Laura too.  Laura isn't messy, but they looked cool.

 

Megan wanted to color in hers right away.  I set her up at the table and gave her one page from her book.  If I would have given her the book, she'd have marked up every page immediately.  So, one at a time seemed best.

She loved them.  I showed her how to use them.  Once she figured out how the color would appear, she was excited to color and color.  The fact that sissy gave her a Dora coloring book ensured that Megan was interested for a long time.

Both girls decided to color the very next day.  Laura colored her Princess coloring book, and I handed Megan another page.  They played for quite awhile.

There was no writing anywhere but their pages.  Megan and Laura spent some time together having fun with an activity, a rare treat considering the seven year age difference.  I think it was a very useful and fun present for the girls.

To Grandmother's House We Go

We spent Christmas afternoon with my husband's mom and family.  Uncle Robbin read the Christmas story from the Bible, something Grandpa used to do every year before he passed away.  We had a Birthday Cake for Jesus.  We played games.  We exchanged some modest gifts.  We ate lots of good holiday food.

All the brothers got to be together this year.  My husband's mom gave each of the boys some ties that were their father's.  Each boy also received a special picture of dad.  We miss him this time of year.  It's only been a little over a year since his passing.  Walking up to the house when we first arrived, it felt like he was just inside waiting for us.  We definitely miss him.

A good time was had by all.  Memories were made.  We laughed over trying out the new game, Imaginiff, and getting to tease each other.  We loved being together. 

Christmas was blessed this year.  Gifts were not our focus, even if we did exchange a few.

The Magic of Christmas Morning

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

Merry Christmas to all of You.  May God Bless You!

Christmas Eve at Home with Family

My family came to my home for our Christmas.  My one sister lives a couple hours away, so it is a treat when we can get together.  We usually have a wonderful dinner and then open gifts.  We draw names for the adults because, as our families grow, it can become impossibly expensive to buy gifts for everyone. 

Laura had a special present for her sister Jasmine.  It was a Big sister/Little sister necklace.  Laura has been bugging every single day to give the necklace to her sister.  I finally let her today.

Here is my baby sis and her husband and son.  I love watching their lives.  From dating, to engagement, to marriage, and now their first child... they are growing and learning and loving. 

My mother requested this picture.  It is the grandchildren picture.  She wanted an updated one.  She has seven grandchildren now.  They are all growing up so fast.

Here are two of my girls hamming it up for the camera.

Megan was adorable in her little Christmas dress.  At two, she is starting to understand a little about Christmas.

Tasha requested a Snuggie.  She wants to homeschool in it.  I laughed cause she already does her school in jammies most of the time.

Megan got her first bike... a tricycle.  She loves it.

Here is my other sister and her husband and son.  Yes, both my sisters have sons and I have all girls.  They don't live as close as I would like, but we try to get together when we can.

Jasmine and Laura both were happy to receive CD's they have been wanting.  Laura received Vota and Jasmine received Britt Nicole.  Both are Christian artists, and my kids love their stuff.

My oldest only got to stay for a bit before she had to head to work.  We let her open her gifts before she left.

I snapped this shot of my husband and my nephew.  I thought it was very tender.

The day was wonderful.  Tomorrow, being Christmas, will hold the other side of the family.   The morning tomorrow is usually my favorite time of all of Christmas.  We will have Birthday cake for Jesus, read the story of Jesus' birth, and then get to the gifts.  I love just sitting back and relaxing Christmas morning with my family.  I love watching them open their gifts and listening to Daddy talk about the birth of our Savior.