Questions and Answers

"Mommy, what's a virgin?"  "What does circumcised mean?"  These are just two of the questions I've been asked by my 6-year-old in the last week.  Why the interesting questions?  It all started with a question I asked a week ago.

I was with a group of lady friends, many of whom are busy moms like myself, and I asked,  "How do you make daily 'quiet time' happen in your day? I go non-stop from the time my first child wakes until the last child goes to sleep.  I try to get up before they do so I can have some time alone in prayer and Bible study.  But a lot of times it just doesn't happen.  I'm up through the night with the baby who still nurses several times each night, and when the alarm clock goes in the morning I just end up hitting the snooze button again and again until a child finally wakes up demanding my attention.  After they go to bed at night I'm so tired again that if I try to pray and read I end up just falling asleep.  So, how do you do it?"

The answer I got from other moms in similar circumstances was so simple yet so profound.  The first person said, "For me, quiet time isn't usually quiet".  Okay.  So you manage to get it while the children are running circles around you?  How does that work?  Then someone else spoke up, "When the kids are strapped into the car and can't move.  I have my quiet times in the car." Light bulb moment!

Living in the country, I have a half hour drive one way to get anywhere.  With all the kids' extra-curricular activities and regular errands, that adds up to a minimum of 7 hours per week when I am 'stuck' in the van.  I had felt like that was so much 'wasted' time.  Not anymore!  I dug out my New Testament audio CDs and started listening this week!  So far we've listened through Luke, Acts, Romans and most of 1 Corinthians.

Not only am I getting my time in the Word every day, my whole family is hearing God's Word for many more hours each week.  My husband and I are having conversations together about what we are hearing. And of course there are the questions from the kids that began this post and many more.  God is showing me things in His Word that I never noticed before and I'm so hungry for more!

So, if you're a busy mom and like me and you feel like you have no 'quiet time' to spend alone with God, let me encourage you like my friends encouraged me.  It doesn't always have to be quiet to be valuable.  Think about the time in your day that feels 'wasted'.  For me it's the many hours each week that I sit in the van.  Maybe for you it could be while preparing supper, sorting laundry or even in the shower.  Think outside the 'early morning all alone with a hot cup of tea, an open Bible and at least 30 minutes of uninterrupted time' box.  Ask God when He wants to have that special time with you.  You'll be glad you did.

*Side note- If your interested in an audio Bible christianbook.com has a sale on now- an NIV complete Bible on CD for just $24.00!  http://www.christianbook.com/niv-live-bible-experience-cds-with/9780983422990/pd/422907?event=Bibles

Did you get ANYTHING done today?

Unfolded laundry in the basket.  Toys all over the floors.  Bathrooms in desperate need of attention.  Kitchen floor unswept.  As I looked around the house before climbing into bed I asked myself, "Did you get ANYTHING done today?"  Judging from the state of the house I would have to say no.

But then I thought about how I had actually spent the hours of my day.  Here's a run down of what I did yesterday:

Morning Routine:  Got myself up and ready for the day, spent some time alone with Jesus (while nursing, so not completely alone), then got the kids dressed and ready for the day

Homeschooling:  Taught  grade 1 and preschool.  Subjects included Bible, Math, French, Science, Music and Language Arts.  Also took the kids for a nature walk.

Potty Training:  Cleaned up after 5 accident and rewarded 7 successes.

Nursing:  Nourished my baby with at  least 7 feedings of milk from my body.

Diaper changes:  probably about 10

Meal perpetration and cleanup times 3

Laundry:  Several loads put through washer and dryer, while potty training and chore training

Bedtime Routine:  Bathed, directed changes into pajamas and teeth brushing, group story time, tucked in and kissed good night

Wifely Duties:  Found time to give my husband attention after the kids went to bed

Looking at it like that I had a pretty busy day, so why did I feel so unproductive at the end of the day?  Because my house was a mess?  Really?  I spent the day taking care of my family.  That's a big job.  And it's more important than a spotless house.

I don't think I'm alone in this.  We moms are way too hard on ourselves.  We're judging our productivity by the wrong things.  Our families are so much more important than our houses.  And yet we go to bed discouraged night after night because we can't live up to our own expectations of a perfectly kept home.  What we do with these people will have eternal significance, what we do for our house will only last a few hours if we're lucky.

But maybe I'm still missing the point.  What if I hadn't done all the things on my list above?  What if I had had a truly unproductive day?  What if I had sat in front of the TV all day, ordered take-out and yelled at the kids?  That's certainly not how I want to spend most of my days, but the truth is God would look at me the same.  My value to Him doesn't change no matter how I spend my time.  He loves me regardless.  So tonight when I go to bed I'm going to look at that laundry basked and smile, because it's okay.  His love for me will never change and THAT is what really matters.

Top 10 Parenting Books- Part 2

 

Book number 9 on my countdown of  favorite parenting books is one I just finished reading last month.  Life Skills for Kids- Equipping Your Child for the Real World by Christine M. Field has got to be one of the most absolutely practical books out there for parents.  It's about teaching our kids the things they really need to know to manage everyday life. 

 

Sometimes as a homeschooling parent I can get tunnel vision on academics.  How is my child doing with reading and math, history and science?  Those are important, but in my efforts to help my children excel academically am I neglecting some basic life skills that they're going to need?  When my children leave home I want to know that they can prepare a healthy meal and do laundry, carry on a conversation and manage money.

This book has chapters about people skills, time and space organization, healthy habits, spiritual habits, decision making and more.  Each chapter outlines some things we can do with our kids to help them develop in these specific areas as preschoolers, school-age kids and teenagers.  I know this a book I will be referencing again and again as the years go by and I recommend this one for ALL parents regardless of the age of your kids or whether you're sending them to public school or teaching them at home.  It's like a textbook guiding parents through what their children need to know and how to help them get there.

Top 10 Parenting Books- Part 1

I admit it- I have a love/hate relationship with parenting books.  It all started when I was pregnant with my firstborn.  That's when I filled my bookshelf with all the pregnancy books I could get my hands on- and read them all religiously cover-to-cover.  I loved knowing what was going on in my unborn baby's development each week and I wanted to be sure that I was doing all the right things to prepare for her arrival.  But there was a problem.  The books didn't all agree!  One book said my baby was sucking her thumb this week and the next said she started that two weeks ago.  One book said natural childbirth was the way to go, another recommended taking advantage of the available pain medication.  How could I know what was right?  Who was telling me the truth?  How could I reconcile all these opposing views?

Well, if pregnancy books were bad, parenting books were way worse.  The stakes seemed even higher with this child finally in my arms.  I have a personality that wants to see everything as black or white so I felt like the differing opinions had to be right or wrong, but I couldn't figure out what was what.  For the first couple years this REALLY bothered me.  But I didn't stop reading the books and as I gained personal experience as a mother I started to realize that sometimes there isn't a right or wrong answer, there are just different options.  I could pray about my parenting decisions and think about what would work best for MY family, without having to stress quite so much about getting it exactly right the first time.  And I came to understand that it's okay to use some of the ideas in a book and throw out the ones that aren't going to work for me.

So, with this in mind, I have decided to share with you my top ten favorite parenting books.  These are the books that have most resonated with me and that I feel have positively impacted my parenting in one way or another.  You're not going to find any books about parenting teens in this list- I'm not there yet so I'll read those books later and let you know what I think of them in a few years.  You'll also notice that some of the books on my list were written more for Early Childhood Educators than parents.  As a mom with a background in Early Childhood Education I have naturally adapted ideas from that field into my every day parenting.

My plan is to share just one or two books per day from now until I get through the list.  So stay tuned. I'm going to save the very best for last.

 





Book number 10 on my list is one of the books I read while I was still pregnant with Princess.  The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Lache League International is much more than just a how-to-breastfeed manual.  This book taught me about the history of breastfeeding, the benefits of breastfeeding and the dangers of formula feeding, and lots of advice for how to handle the many challenges that can come up with breastfeeding.  All of that information helped me as I experienced various challenges myself with breastfeeding each of my three babies.  But I learned about more than just breastfeeding.  I also was introduced to many of  the attachment parenting philosophy ideas that have shaped how I view my role as a mom.  I recommend this book for moms expecting their first child who are planning to, or even considering, breastfeeding.

Book of the Week- I am Learning All the Time by Rain Perry Fordyce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever noticed how many "first day of school" or "back to school" themed books and DVDs there are written for public schooled children?  They're everywhere!  My children are fond of the Let's Go To School DVD by Leapfrog.  We also enjoy Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh in his first day of school found in this treasury.  (I'm not a fan of most Disney books, but I make an exception for Winnie-the-Pooh even though their stories don't even come close to the charm of the originals by A. A. Milne.)  All this to say that public schooled children have plenty of exposure to media telling them what to expect as they set out on their schooling adventure. 

 

But what about homeschoolers?  There aren't a lot of books out their written for children to prepare them for what to expect as a part of a homschooling family.  They aren't going to be riding on a big yellow bus or taking new lunch boxes and backpacks to school, so what do they have to look forward to?  The book, "I am Learning All the Time" fills that gap.  A delightful story about a five-and-a-half year-old boy who is asked "Why aren't you in school?" by a stranger on the street.  It gets him thinking about the things he loves about being at home with his family and how his life is different and similar to his public schooled friends.  This book presents both schooling options in a positive light, which I think is important.  We don't want our homeschooled kids to think of public school as a bad thing- they may go there someday, but we also want them to know that they're not the only ones who are learning at home.  I recommend this book for anyone who is planning to homeschool their young children or even if you are sending your kids to public school but they have questions about their homeschooled friends- this would be a great book for them as well.

 

 

 

 





 

 

 



Princess's pre-k unit #2 M-m Moon

 

Our moon unit fell not only during the week of a full moon, but a beautiful harvest moon.  Princess had a couple opportunities this week to be out after dark observing the moon, and we had lots of fun activities inside to reinforce the lunar learning.  Some of the things Princess did while learning about the moon included:

-making a book about the phases of the moon

-measuring the distance Princess can jump on earth and then how far she could jump if she was on the moon

-creating a model of the moon’s surface- demonstrating how craters were formed

-Bible lessons about how we can be the light of the world as we reflect the light of Jesus

-Lots of trips to the moon during free play time

-Dancing to Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (a little night music) while trying to balance a beanbag on her head

-Making letter Ms out of jello.

Mobile showing creation day #4

 

Princess and Angel modeling homemade “space helmets”

 

            Here’s a look at the fiction titles we read during this unit.  “If You Decide to Go to the Moon” was a favourite that we read several times.  Though I included it with the fiction books because it is about an imaginary trip to the moon, this title probably taught us more facts about the moon then all of the non-fiction books combined.

            And these are the information books we used to learn more about the moon.

Book of the week- The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman

Do you have a picky eater in your home?  Have you ever made a special meal for that chid who won't eat anything else?  If you do than you will relate to the mother in this story.  She tirelessly makes special meals for each of her pernisky eaters until she's worn to the bone.  This hilarious tale is told in delightful rhyming verse.  The illustrations are charming and full of so many details that you'll notice something new every time you read the story.

It all starts with the first born Peter whose milk had to be the "proper temperature".  Then came Lucy who would only drink homemade lemonde, Jack who prefered homemade applesauce, Mac whose oatmeal had to be lump-free, Mary Lou who would only eat fresh baked bread and finally came the twins who liked their eggs, but Flo liked poached eggs and Fran liked fried.

The surprising turn of events at the end of the story has everybody happy with the same meal, but you'll have to read it to find out how this comes about.  This is another book that I don't mind reading to my children again and again and they love to hear.