Soupy Afternoons

As we cruise toward a long winter break, the boys study quietly in their rooms preparing for the last tests of the semester, and I steam the floors, organize books, fold laundry and decorate for Christmas. December will bring late mornings, advent readings and a flurry of craft projects and baking that we’ve been saving for a simpler time. Social engagements have been kept to a minimum to maximize on happy family time. We take a short break for lunch after a morning of busy activities. The fridge is bursting at the seams with leftovers as is common at the end of November, and I decide to let my picky eater make his own pot of soup. What a great idea this turned out to be. He simply made some instant beef stock and threw in the bits that looked appealing to him. I ended up scooping a bowl for myself as well. Then we sat around slurping while listening to our recording of “The Hobbit” and fell under the spell of an afternoon nap before going back to work refreshed. It is days like this that make me appreciate the home schooling life. Life moves too fast outside this red door. People seem to have lost an appreciation for hearth and home, for close family ties and time to replenish one’s soul. Soup is one of the things that brings us back to it. Here is the left over soup recipe, substitutes welcome. Happy slurping! 4 cups water 3 teaspoons beef base or bullion Handful of chopped broccoli Handful of leftover turkey meat Handful of elbow noodles Leftover mashed potatoes 1 small can bushes baked beans Dash of oregano Dash of basil Simmer until noodles are cooked. Top with cheese. Slurp with a side of literature

An Answer To The Question "How Do You Spend That Much Time With Your Children?"

I get varied responses when non home schooling women find out that I home school my children. The most common one though is, “I could never spend that much time with my kids!” This comment always saddens me since I feel that every day with my kids is a priceless treasure. But I was thinking about that today. If I didn’t already spend every day with my children, would I consider it a priceless treasure? If they had picked up the bad habits and disrespectful behavior a lot of kids learn while away from their parents, maybe I would feel like that too. I have always felt that my children have been given to me as my responsibility and to give that responsibility to someone else could possibly be irresponsible. The Lord told the Israelites that they should keep His commandments and remember His great acts and that they should teach them to their children while they were sitting in their house, when they walked along the way and when they were lying down so that their days would be multiplied. (Paraphrased from Deuteronomy 11:19.) If we want to pass our faith or anything else that we have, down to our children we have to spend time with them and tell them what we want them to know, so that they can have a good life and that their days will be multiplied. I started home schooling my children not just because I wanted to be with them, but because I felt it was my responsibility as their parent. God put them in my arms. Not in the arms of the state, or my neighbor lady, the day care, or even my Mom. So I was diligent and taught them while I was sitting in my house, while we were walking along the way and especially when I was laying down with exhaustion on some particular afternoons! Sometimes it was difficult. Sometimes it was frustrating. A lot of the time I would have rather been doing what I wanted to do instead of what I was supposed to be doing. But now that I am five years into it, I would have to say it’s one of those hard things that is very much worth doing. My boys are nice to be around; they are obedient, and loving. I enjoy spending my days with them. They have a desire to know God and to serve Him with their lives, and they have had the time to develop their own special personalities free from the boxes the world would like to put them into. Home schooling has had its effect on me as well. Having to discipline my children has taught me to discipline myself. Being with them while they were going through inconvenient tantrums and phases, taught me patience and compassion. Being outnumbered by small, dirty, noisy, needy people taught me to depend on God at all times for my strength and for my answers and for all that I need. Certainly He has provided all I have asked for and more. I found that when there was a character issue with my children, my Heavenly Father would remind me of the very scripture that I needed to share with them in each situation. Despite my own less than ideal education, my children are getting a very good one. I am surrounded by a family who though not “perfect” loves and values one other, as well as our friends, neighbors and acquaintances. I actually can enjoy teaching my own children, in addition to spending evenings and weekends with them! I can’t think of one fear that I had going into this that has been realized, but many blessings that I didn’t expect have been bestowed upon me. So, if you think you really can’t spend that much time with your children, I would like to challenge that. I would like to suggest that you can and that you may find it will do you both much good.

No More Wormy Apples

Earlier this spring I wrote an article about growing apples organically. If you’d like to read it, it’s on my gardening page under "Permaculture" below the apple blosom picture. I used trichogramma micro wasps to help control the coddling moth population in my apple grove. I also used a panty hose sock on each apple to make sure no stray worms could get in. This morning four or so apples fell off the tree so we took them inside to see how they were doing. I was very pleased. Not quite ripe yet, but no sign of worms. We made a rustic tart with them. ------------------------------------------------------------------

School in July!? Now, I am not what you would call a hard core home scholar. I do not have chore charts hanging on the wall, my kids don’t wear uniforms, and I don’t blow a whistle while my children sit in clean little school desks during a tightly scheduled day. So, when I hear other home scholars say, “we are doing school right through the summer!” I barf a little in my mouth. I’m usually the last mom sitting out on a rock in the park waiting for the leaves to actually turn color and frost to coat my hair before I will succumb to taking my kids inside and cracking a school book. But last winter, my kids petitioned me to consider letting them do some school during the unbearably hot days of summer so they could enjoy more vacation time in the cooler months. This, I am thinking is not such a bad idea after all

in light of the fact that this July has been the hottest July in the history of the universe. This took a little planning on my part, as I had to make sure I didn’t put off ordering our curriculum and got the school room organized for another year two whole months ahead of time. Heck, while I’m ahead, I decided to make my Christmas card list while I was at it. Those might actually make it to the mail box this year! While the grass roasts to a crispy yellow in the back yard all by itself, we have been in the nice air conditioned school room, happily doing arithmetic and spelling, waiting for things to cool off, and when they do, we’ll cancel school so that we can run outside and enjoy the nice weather. Funny, I have always been resistant to a year round school year, but my kids showed me a better way, just like they usually do.

Happy Fourth of July

" "Well, so here we are today," the man went on. "Every man Jack of us a free and independent citizen of God's country, the only country on earth where a man is free and independent. Today's the Fourth of July, when this whole thing was started, and it ought to have a bigger, better clelbration than this. We can't do much this year. Most of us are out here trying to pull ourselves up by our own boot straps. By next year, likely some of us will be better off, and able to chip in for a real big rousing celebration of Independence Day. Meantime, here we are. It's Fourth of July, and on this day somebody's got to read the Declaration of Independence. It looks like I'm elected, so hold your hats, boys; I'm going to read it." Laura and Carrie knew the Declaration by heart, of course, but it gave them a solemn, glorious feeling to hear the words. They took hold of hands and stood listening in the solemnly listening crowd. The Stars and Stripes were fluttering bright against the thin, clear blue overhead, and their minds were saying the words before their ears heard them. "When in the course of human events it becomes neccessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impell them to the seperation. "We hold these truths to be self'evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that amond these are Life, Liberty and the persuit of Happiness... "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full right to levy War... "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." No one cheered. It was more like a moment to say, "Amen." But no one quite knew what to do. Then Pa began to sing. All at once everyone was singing, My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing..." Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prarie from the chapter Fourth of July.

Natural Playgrounds

I was happy to discover an article today confirming, yet again, that I have been right all along. Ever since I had my children, I have been integrating my garden to include child friendly spaces where my children can enjoy being in nature. I have always felt it was important for them to spend unstructured time enjoying plants and letting them make up games and toys the natural way. Just today I read an article in Energy Times (June 2012) stating that since “the average child in the US spends four to seven minutes in unstructured outdoor play a day-compared with more than seven hours in front of TV, computer and other screens”… “Parents and community leaders are building natural playgrounds with free form designs that incorporate plant material and other natural elements.”It also stated that researchers are finding that children grow bored less easily in a natural environment than they do on artificial play equipment. I find this to be true as well. Thanks to my parents, who allowed me total access to our beautiful gardens as a child, I have always known this. I am happy to hear the rest of America is finally catching on. I’m sure the “experts” will turn this into an expensive endeavor where the help and advice of other “experts” must be brought into the conversation, and parents must have their gardens mapped out for them by professional designers. I think our grandparents called it “wandering in the woods” and it used to be FREE! You can use your own God given instincts and have fun discovering what suits you and your family. Here are a few guidelines I have followed in the past. *Think ahead. Plan what areas you want for your adult space and decide what areas are OK for the kids to have control over. We don’t use fertilizers or pesticides in our back yard since we hate them anyway, but especially since our kids will be coming into contact with the plants and soil. You may want to refrain from using poisonous plants if you have very young children especially. *Remember that kids are messy and creative. Allow them an area they can dig or build in without making you feel stressed out. Make that area pleasant for them to be in by planting large colorful flowers nearby or providing a shade tree with boughs that scoop close to the ground providing a natural play house, climbing area or cave, and giving protection from summer’s heat. *Forego the sand box for a mud pit. Have you ever noticed that the only person who consistently uses the sand box is the neighbor’s cat? Kids would rather play in the mud. It holds its shape better. And if you happen to have clay soil, you are especially lucky. Just leave an area unplanted. If you don’t like how it looks, plant tall flowers in front of it as a screen. *Inter mingle flowers with vegetables. Flowers provide hours of enjoyment as your child studies them and uses them in their play while at the same time, who knows? Your kid might just pull up a carrot and start eating it! *Don’t worry about things looking perfect. I go ahead and let weeds grow sometimes. Heck, I’m busy washing all that mud out of their clothes! I’ll tidy things up more when they grow up and leave me all alone in this big old house. The important thing is to get enjoyment out of your garden. *If you live in a limited space, I encourage you to make the best of what you have. It might be worth your effort to get together with some others in your community to develop a shared natural space for all of your children to enjoy together. If you don’t know where to start, look up your local community garden and get involved with your kids in tow. You will notice right away that they will trail off in happy ecstasy as they discover interesting bugs or tasty berries. *Allow your garden to evolve. One of the fun things about having a garden is that you can sort of let your new ideas take shape every year. Each year can be different and fresh. That makes it hard to really make a mistake. Your variety of plants can start out very small. Maybe a few sun flowers and a strawberry plant. As your enthusiasm grows, so will your plant collection. It won’t take long for your children to catch on and find their own favorite plants to grow. I hope this article encourages you and your children to get outdoors and enjoy a garden, the very surrounding God gave man to begin with.

Simple Summer Fun With so much on my to do list this summer, I realized I need to help the boys find stimulating activities they can do on their own. Here are a few of the ideas I have used so far, Back yard camping! They really loved this one and it kept them occupied for several days. Just remember to put the tent up on the patio if you have sprinklers that come on at night! We used our tiny two man tent that is a snap to set up and small enough for the boys to handle on their own. Art, art and more art. I don’t know about your kids, but mine never get enough art in during the school year when math and English are priorities. I find the best way to do this while retaining sanity is to set up work stations outdoors and make sure it is cleaned up before a different art project is started. A kid can have hours of fun with an inexpensive water color set and a sketch book. Nature offers unlimited inspiration. I also give them those knitting looms and left over yarn. They go to town. Check my craft page for more ideas here. Good books. Mechanism was sent a set of Madeleine L’engle books from his grandma and Texas has finally gotten into the Magic Tree House series. I try to instigate a quiet reading hour sometime in the afternoon each day. Re-organizing. In the summer I let my boys re-organize their rooms. This year they decided to have their own rooms again so they have a lot of work to do. Don’t forget the obvious fun with a hose! Although I try to watch the water bill so we only use this option from time to time.