Our Nonsense Poems
Once a month we have what we call “Literary Lunch”. It’s a spin-off of the Brave Writer’s Poetry Teatime. Her goal behind teatime is to expose the kids to poems. My goal is to share our own writing and thoughts about things we have read. You can read more about our experience here. Sometimes I like to give specific assignments that I want everyone to share. And sometimes I just ask them to share anything they have written lately. This month there was a specific assignment. I got the idea from the Poetry Teatime Blog. Poetry Prompt: Nonsense Poem What is a Jabberwock and how does it whiffle through the…
Getting Started with Homeschooling
We’ve been homeschooling since our oldest was 4. She’s turning 17 this March. Crazy! We’ve been doing it for a long time, but it seems like just yesterday that we decided homeschooling was the right thing for our family. Luckily we’ve loved <<almost>> every minute of it. Over the years we’ve had a lot of people talk to us about homeschooling. Some are curious and want help getting started. Some are skeptical and think they could never do it. Some praise us and others criticize us. But, I think overall, most people admire us for our decision to homeschool and have seen how it has benefited our children. I’ve put…
Best of 2018
At this time of year people usually reflect on the past year and make plans for a successful new year. I can’t remember a time when I’ve ever reflected, but this year I decided to do it. And I asked my kids to do the same. The way we did it was to go back through our Chatbooks. Chatbooks have got to be the greatest idea ever. Chatbooks is linked to my personal Instagram account, and whenever I add a picture to Instagram, it automatically links to Chatbooks. When I have 60 images, a book is generated and mailed. It’s a super simple way for me to document our activities.…
Acts of Service {free printable}
This year we did an awesome thing! Back in January, I set a goal that we would complete 50 acts of service as a family before the end of the year. And we finished on Monday. Yay! 50 acts of service in one year breaks down to about 1 act of service every week. I created a chart for us to keep track on and we brainstormed some ideas. There were some weeks when we did nothing and had to play catch-up. Even with our list of ideas, we had times when we couldn’t think of any way to serve. I asked friends and searched Pinterest. Some of our acts…
My Favorite Christmas Tradition
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the gift that we give to my mother-in-law and father-in-law. Several years ago they told us that they didn’t need any more stuff. So in lieu of a Christmas gift they asked us to perform an act of service in their name and tell them all about it at Christmas. It has become one of our favorite parts of the holiday. One reason I love this tradition is the spirit it puts us in. We think more about giving than receiving. And our focus is more on Christ. Over the years we have done some great service projects. One year my sister-in-law had…
Thanksgiving Traditions
There’s something you should know about me. I like to keep things simple. I don’t like crafts that require a lot of work or time. I don’t prepare elaborate lessons. If a recipe has more than 10 ingredients, I won’t make it. My kids aren’t involved in 755 activities during the week. We try to keep STUFF to a minimum. Even during the holidays, I try to keep things as simple as possible. But, I still like to have traditions—stuff that we do to create memories. When it comes to Thanksgiving we have a few simple traditions we do as a family. Here are a some of our favorite Thanksgiving traditions:…
Inspiration: Catch It. Spread It!–10 Days of Inspiration
Today I watched happily as my youngest daughter, Faythe, followed her older sister, Dyllan, around. They worked together to design clothes for a teddy bear. Dyllan put everything together on the sewing machine. Every parent has experienced more than his or her fair share of days full of fighting and arguing, so even though the house was a mess, I was content to watch the bonding occurring this morning. I must have been inspired because without thinking about it I ended up washing dishes for my son. While he rinsed, I watched my daughters and asked Ashlee to snap a picture to record the sweet moment. I wondered why they…
Halloween 2018
I’m not the biggest fan of Halloween. Maybe it’s all the sugar-y treats. It could be the fact that I’m not the creative type, and the idea of creating costumes is terrifying. Even the idea of spending $20 per kid for a cheap costume is scary. So I silently cheered when I learned we would be busy with other activities for all the normal Halloween parties. For some reason this didn’t deter my youngest. She has been super into Halloween. She drew and wrote and crafted Halloween things. And all month long she planned her costume. She searched Pinterest for ideas, scoured the dress-up bucket (and her older siblings stuff)…
Creating Story
Have you seen the movie with Ben Stiller called “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”? Ben’s character, Walter, daydreams of a life full of action and romance where he is the hero. Eventually he decides that he can’t live life in a make believe world, so he takes action in the real world. He creates a story. I’ve read a lot of books (good and bad), and my favorites are those where the character struggles to overcome obstacles to get what he wants–Jean Val Jean in “Les Miserables” overcoming his past; Jonas in “The Giver” overcoming the expectations of the dystopian society; Daniel overcoming his hatred in “The Bronze Bow”.…
5 Things To Do To Survive the Tough Days of Motherhood
Being a mom is hard work! There are days when we lock ourselves in the bathroom just to have a few minutes of peace. Or days when we can’t wait until dad comes home so we can pass the kid duties off to him. Or days where it seems like the only thing we hear is kids fighting and complaining. There are even days when we want to throw in the towel and sell the kids to the gypsies. There are a lot of tough parts of motherhood. So, what keeps us going? What motivates us to get out of bed and face another…
