Thursday, March 31, 2011

one of those bread making moments

On my blogging agenda has been a post about my one year anniversary of making my own bread. I'm not a natural baker, so it's been quite an accomplishment for me to get this far.

But then there was yesterday.

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Oh, baby.

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The dough kind of blends in with the counter, so it's hard for you to see the lake of goop behind the mixer.

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It's also hard to see the millions of splatters across half my kitchen cabinets. The broom? I had it there to sweep up some spilled flour. I thought I'd leave it there, just in case. Bad mistake.

And me? You don't want to go there. My shirt was soaked in goop. I've washed my clothes twice in the washing machine and still can't get the stuff off.

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Although I had some help, it took two and a half hours to clean up the mess. I had to use a toothbrush to clean the tile and little spots.

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And then I still had to make bread.

Made me think of this song.



In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
Don't worry, my bread making days are not over. But I think I'll skip the anniversary post, telling you how much I've improved. : )

Friday, March 18, 2011

one of those homeschool mom moments

Either at BHA or around the blogosphere, you've probably seen pictures like this, showing kids working on All About Spelling.
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Grace doing a spelling lesson last fall.

It's a great program that has helped my spelling abilities my kids' spelling abilities so much. Ryne and Grace love using the letter tiles to practice their daily lessons.
If you're not familiar with AAS, you might not know that you have to cut out all the little tiles, attach the magnets yourself, and then save a bunch of them in a safe place for future use. Don't let that discourage you from using the program. It's a good excuse to pop a movie in the DVD player while you have a date with your scissors.
One day last summer Grace decided to play school with her dolls and removed a bunch of the tiles from our white board. Because it was summer, I wasn't spending a lot of time in our school room and things got kind of out of control up there. Okay, very out of control. It took me a week to get everything organized again, and in the process I found letter tiles everywhere. After I picked up the scattered tiles, I went into my bag of tiles stored for future use and found the tiles we'd be needing for the upcoming school year. When everything was set up I was frustrated to find that I was missing two tiles.

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It seemed a little too coincidental that the only two tiles missing were the qu tiles (AAS uses qu instead of just q). For whatever reason, Grace had always shown a lot of interest in the qu tiles. Clearly, she had just put them away for "safe keeping" during doll school. But she couldn't find them. Anywhere. It was kind of a sore spot between us for several days.
Life went on and Grace learned that the letter tiles stay on the whiteboard. But we have gone this whole school year without the qu tiles. Thankfully, they aren't used all that often. I have heard that AAS is very nice about mailing replacement tiles for free, but I never got around to calling to find out if that is true.
This week Ryne got to a lesson that required me pulling out my stash of saved tiles. I couldn't find the needed tile at first so I dumped them all out on the floor. It was kind of fun to peak at the different consonant and vowel teams we'd eventually be using. Then I came across two of these tiles.
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Hmmm. That's an odd consonant team.
As I held one of the nb tiles, I couldn't think of any words with nb. Lots of mb words were coming to mind. Numb. Limb. Dumb.
Then it dawned on me.
I turned the tile upside-down.
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{Imagine my face turning as red as a vowel tile, Ryne laughing hysterically, and Grace rejoicing in her vindication.}
At least I don't need to call the AAS people about my missing qu tiles anymore.

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Have you had one of those homeschool mom moments lately?

Monday, March 14, 2011

One Small Square: Take Two

Join us as we study nature using The Outdoor Hour Challenges. This year Ryne and Grace are joining with friends Cameron and Avery to explore this beautiful world God made. Moms, Kellie and Casey, are enjoying the adventure as much as the kids.

I can't believe I haven't written about our nature study since early November! There are a variety of reasons: field trips, other outings, holidays, illness, blogging break, etc. We did manage to get in some nature hikes, but you could tell we definitely got out of the routine. When we went out for the Backyard Bird Count, none of our kids really seemed that engaged. So this time I decided to go back to one of our favorite nature activities from last year: One Small Square. We even added a bit of competition.

Boys vs. Girls:
Who can find the most things in their 18" x 18" square?

The girls picked a nice flat spot next to a log.

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The boys would never dream of making my life that easy. They picked a muddy spot right next to the creek. I have to admit though, at first glance it looked pretty interesting.

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Next, the kids made a list of what they found on the surface of their squares and drew a few pictures.

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Then it was time to start digging.

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The girls had fun playing with the worms they found. In case you're wondering, the girls found half of a spaghetti squash I threw in the woods months ago, so it became a worm house. I do normally put my food scraps in compost buckets, but sometimes if they are full I just throw stuff in the woods. It usually gets eaten up pretty quick, but I guess the squash wasn't popular.

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Everyone finished up their lists and counted up the results.

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Here is the list of what the girls found in their square:

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Here is the list of what the boys found in their square:

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I was amazed how many more things the kids found this year than we did last year. And I was impressed with the variety of objects the two teams found, even though their squares were only about 10 feet apart. I'm sending a cyber hug to fellow mom, Casey, for discovering the grossest item on the girls' list. I'm not going to argue with Cameron about whether water and water table should be counted as separate items (or mud and dirt, for that matter). He was so excited to tell me all about the water table!

When we declared the boys winners, I had a brief moment of panic -- I didn't have a prize for the winners! However, the beauty of it all is that the contest helped motivate them to get excited about nature study again, but the actual experience proved to be the reward. The boys didn't ask about prizes and the girls didn't seem upset that they lost.

They just went off to play with their worms.

Go here to see what others found in their small squares.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Prayers for Japan

My crew is still snug in their beds, and I tip-toed up to the office to tap out a nature study post. But doesn't it seem strange to being going about our normal lives while Japan has experienced such devastation? (If you're viewing this through a reader, you might have to click over to the post to see the video link).


We've been studying My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures this year, and it has helped open our eyes to the struggles faced in many countries. In particular, Window on the World, has been a valuable resource.


Every week we pray for new country or people group, using the suggested prayer points in the book. We'll be starting our study of Asia after next week, so we will have much to pray about as we watch Japan recover.

I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
and let your glory be over all the earth.
Psalm 108: 3-5

Thursday, March 10, 2011

1000 Gifts: Serving

From the time our kids were born, they have helped us serve. Whether it was having to get up early and eat cereal in the car so I could serve as a Children's Leader in Bible Study Fellowship or squeezing into the back seat of the car so we could take another person to church, they have learned that serving involves cost. But they've also learned that the blessings far outweigh the costs.

Last week Ryne and Grace had a field trip to a local food bank, and I could have never imagined what an enormous blessing this experience was going to be.

28. The mom who proposed this idea. Our field trip group visits a nursing home every December, but this was the first time a service oriented field trip was planned outside the holidays. We all agreed we need to do this more often.

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29. The companies and business that donate food and resources.

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22,000 pounds of onions!

30. A well-run food network; this particular food bank serves 66,000 people a week. With an annual budget of $11.8 million, less than 3% is used for administration and fundraising expenses.

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31. The individuals that donate. Every can and every box is appreciated.

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32. Better understanding the magnitude of what it takes to feed the hungry.

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33. Working hard.

34. Working with friends.


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35. Nothing goes to waste. Even the vegetables we had to throw away get delivered to the zoo for hungry animals.

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36. Understanding the work to feed the poor never ends. Fifteen minutes before noon, it appeared our job was done. Our boxes were empty and we were all tired, ready to eat lunch. But then the fork lifted brought us three new crates of grapefruit to sort and bag. Some in our group had been sorting grapefruit for over two hours. But we took a deep breath and got back to work. Amazingly, I hardly heard a complaint during those last fifteen minutes.

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37. Finished at last, but changed. Grace's prayers that night revealed how much she was affected. We were shown a video about all the programs the organization has in place to feed hungry children. She lovingly prayed for the school children who would receive back packs of food to take home. And she prayed for the people who would volunteer the next day.

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You too can join others in acknowledging the Lord's many gifts here.