He hasn't even arrived yet and he's already derailing our schedule!

Monday I saw my Dr. and she said I was 75% effaced and 3.5 cm dilated.  I really thought I was going into labor Monday night.  I had contractions off and on all evening and night.  They were 3 minutes apart for about 2 hrs.  Still no baby.  I did lose a night's sleep though.  I'm beginning to appreciate that with a scheduled induction at least you go into it rested.  I'm so grateful I didn't go into labor yesterday on no sleep.  Hopefully I'll get rested up and then go into real labor...soon.

Please don't tell me if you walked around for 3 weeks in my condition!  I keep thinking labor must be right around the corner.  I think I've decided to go ahead and get induced at 39 weeks if this baby doesn't come on his own before then.  I've gained a whole new appreciation for inductions of late!

On the bright side, we've had family visiting this week and the kids have had a wonderful time playing with their cousins.  I've finally gotten my bag packed (a little too optimistic?) and I've pre-registered at the hospital.  We're all just waiting for baby Calvin to make his grand appearance.  Prayers appreciated.

And the nesting moves to the kitchen!

I found myself at Walmart at 5 am the other morning again.  This time stocking up for freezer cooking.  In the last few days I've put away 2 taco pasta bakes, 18 muffin tin meatloaves, 2 chicken spaghetti casseroles (my personal favorite), 2 recipes of creamy chicken breasts, 18 banana muffins, 18 oatmeal molasses chocolate chip muffins, 16 chicken squares (thanks mom), 1 breakfast casserole (thanks mom), and 5 cups pureed butternut squash.

Right now I have a delicious smelling butternut squash apple soup on the stove.  The curry is what makes it smell so good.

Any other suggestions for my freezer?  I still have some space and am looking for new ideas.  I have lots of eggs.  Maybe some kind of fritatta.  Do those freeze well?

Oh, and remember my finger injury from scrubbing the carpet?  Turns out I popped a tendon and have to wear this splint for 2 months!  I'm having a terrible time with it, but am grateful I don't have to have surgery.

No signs of labor, yet.  I'm eating lots of pineapple, drinking raspberry leaf tea, and walking every chance I get.  Maybe next week will be the week!

What's the rest of the family doing while I nest and wait expectantly?

Just hanging around.

Measle's first hoedown performance!

Prince loves his Queen!

Aren't they a bunch of good lookin' cowpokes?

 The stage where the melodrama TEXAS is performed in Palo Duro Canyon.

 Queen looking the part.

 Can you tell it's hotter than you-know-what?

 Beginning with a joke and introduction.

Measle wasn't shy at all.  We could all hear her clearly and everyone

laughed at her joke!  She introduced her dad, too.

 The big moment!  Measle and her dad playing Boil the Cabbage Down.

 Whew!  The pressure's off.

 It starts to sink in.

She was the cutest fiddler for sure!

A real live Boy Scout!

A couple of years ago our oldest son made it known that he really wanted to be a Scout.  I found this interesting since I had been a Brownie drop-out, but discussed it with my husband who agreed to take-on this activity with Monk.  A few weeks ago we attended his bridging ceremony in which he became a real live Boy Scout.

Receiving his arrow from Big D.

 The Bridge

 Getting initiated in by other Boy Scouts

 With his ceremonial walking stick.

  I've always been a sucker for a man in uniform!

There were some cute members of the audience cheering for their Bubba.

Share your natural induction methods!

Ok, I'm at that point of the pregnancy where I'm as big as I can get.  I'm not sleeping well.  I'm not eating well.  I'm not breathing well.  I'm ready to have this baby!  I've shared with you before that I've previously been induced at 38 weeks.  Actually, Twinkle Toes was really induced at 37 weeks since they moved her due date up a week according to her big size and then induced me at 38 weeks (she was still over 8 lbs).  I cook babies fast, I just don't know how to go into labor on my own.  When I went to the doctor on Monday she said I was 50% effaced and dilated to a 3.  I'm hoping this time I can go into labor on my own, outside of the hospital.

Do you have any hints for me?  What is it you all know that I don't?  I know I'm not going to try anything radical like castor oil.  I can't even swallow Nyquil, so I'm not even going there.  Have any of you tried any less extreme methods with success?  I don't want to force this baby out before he's ready, but maybe just give him a little nudge.  What are your thoughts?

Great freezer lunches

One of the side effects of homeschooling is serving 3 meals per day to my family almost everyday.  I'm busy doing read-aloud/language arts with the kids until 11 and hate taking the time to stop and fix lunch, so I try to have things on hand they can grab for themselves to eat.  Last year I bought a lot of Lean Pockets, but I know those are full of preservatives, so I've made an effort this year to make freezable lunches from scratch.  These are my 3 stand-bys and I'd love to hear of any you make that freeze well.

Pizza pockets

First I make the dough using my bread machine.  I use the recipe for Italian bread out of my Bread Machine Cookbook, but add some olive oil and Italian seasoning.

Dough:
1.5 c water
1 T olive oil
3 c flour
1 T Italian seasoning
2.5 tsp yeast

Run dough cycle then remove from bread machine.  Do not let rise again.  Roll out into individual circles and stuff with pizza filling.

Homemade pizza sauce:
2 small cans tomato sauce
2 T tomato paste
Italian seasoning
1 T brown sugar

For pizza filling add your choices to the sauce and simmer while rolling out dough.  I ususally use 1 lb sausage, 1/2 package turkey pepperoni, 1 can mushrooms (or fresh), and 1 green bell pepper, but you can use whatever you choose. 

Directions for assembling pizza pockets:  Roll out dough into circle, place several spoonsful of filling on one half of dough, add some mozzarella cheese- just so much that you can still close the dough circle, pinch the dough around so you have a half circle shape.  Brush with melted butter and a mixture of parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning.  Bake at 350 15-20 minutes.  Let cool and wrap in foil to freeze.  Reheat either 2 1/2-3 min in microwave or 20 min at 425.

These take me a couple of hours to make so it's usually a Saturday project.  I can make 10-12 at a time this way and usually get to freeze around 8 (medium to large size) for the upcoming week.  Of course, you can make them much smaller if your kids have smaller appetites :).  These are especially popular with my 11 yr old son.

Hot ham and chili sauce buns

I can never remember this recipe and when I looked it up online I found a similar one called bunwhiches.  I guess it goes by many names.  This is my version.

Homemade 40 minute wheat buns from Lynne's kitchen adventures

Dice 1 lb ham and about 3/4 lb sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 c sliced green olives
add hard boiled eggs if you have them (I never do)
Mix 1/2 c chili sauce and 2 T miracle whip and stir into other ingredients

Fill buns with ham mixture and wrap in foil.  I freeze them directly like this and you can either microwave them individually for 2 min or place 5 or 6 on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 12-15 minutes or until warm all the way through and cheese is beginning to melt.

Chicken squares

This is really easy and my girls love them.
Separate 2 packages of crescent rolls into rectangles (so each package of 8 makes 4 rectangles).

Filling:
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 T melted butter
4 T milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 T chopped green onions or chives (sometimes I leave this out)
1.5 c bread crumbs
4 c cooked chicken (I stew mine either whole or breasts)

Scoop 1/8 of mixture onto each rectangle then fold up 4 corners into neat little package.
Brush tops with butter and bake on cookie sheet 25-30 min at 350.
If planning on freezing, bake first, but make sure not to get them too brown.  Then cool, wrap in foil, and freeze.  Reheat at 425 for 15 minutes (they will get brown and crispy) or 2 minutes in microwave (they will not be crispy- some of my kids don't like them this way.)

We don't eat freezer lunches everyday.  Sometimes my mom brings us lunch and sometimes my kids prefer to just toast a bagel.  Other days we eat leftovers or quesadillas, but it sure is nice to have something on hand in the freezer for those rainy days!

Progress on all fronts!

I've been agonizing over the decision of whether or not I should be induced this time around.  I've never gone into labor on my own, so induction is all I know.  I was encouraged at yesterday's doctor's appointment that perhaps labor is not so far away.  I'm relieved and excited that it looks like I will not have to be induced this time!

I think labor must be near because I have this overwhelming instinct to cook and freeze mass amounts of food.  I awakened at 4 am yesterday and was shopping at Walmart at 5 am again.  This is starting to become a weird habit.  I made two batches of homemade rolls yesterday and turned the majority of them into hot ham and chili sauce buns to go in the freezer for kids' lunches.  I also bought lots of groceries to be made into meals that will go in the freezer.  I have my work cut out for me today!

On other fronts, Big D spent his entire day off yesterday doing honey-do projects.  He replaced two shower valves, one shower head (for the girls), unstopped a bathtub drain, fixed our living room curtains, and started painting our kitchen cabinets.  Wow, what a productive day!

Before

After- I love it!

I do have a bit of bad news.  My recent cleaning frenzy ended badly the other night.  I was trying to get a red nail polish stain out of my girls carpet (Queen decided to paint her toe nails in her sisters' room) when I heard a loud "pop".  I've done something to my left middle finger.  It no longer lines up with the other fingers and I can't straighten it.  I guess I'll try to see a doctor about that- soon.  Oh well, at least I got the nail polish stain out of the carpet.  And if you know a super-easy way of removing nail polish from carpet, now's not the time to tell me. 

Our evolving bulletin board

My girls really wanted a bulletin board this year and we're having so much fun with it!

The first four weeks we displayed a map of Native American America and a timeline dating from 1492 and continuing through early American exploration by the Spaniards.  We've moved onto new times and events in our reading so we thought we'd update our bulletin board.  Here's what it looks like now:

We now have our map of US territorial growth, but are especially interested in the smaller map of the original 13 colonies.  Our timeline now dates from the establishment of Jamestown colony in 1607 through the Boston tea party in 1773. 

I thought these were a neat addition, too.  I found a set of state fact cards at Target for 50 cents!  Each state featured on our bulletin board is the setting for one of the books we just finished or are currently reading. 

Our bulletin board doesn't take the place of our more detailed Sonlight timeline in book format or of our daily map work, but it's a handy reference to have out all the time.  And the girls think it's fun.  Do you use a bulletin board? 

Giving our children the gift of good habits.



Photo link


Charlotte Mason calls this habit formation or character training "laying down the rails" so that the rest of our children's education and even their lives will run more smoothly, like a train that runs along its track, never deviating to the right or to the left.  I've been thinking about this a lot lately.  Here are some habits I want my children to have.

1.  Truthfulness
2.  Obedience
3.  Orderliness
4.  Attentiveness
5.  Gratefulness
6.  Diligence

This list might look familiar.  We've been working through character booklets that teach on each one of these character qualities.  Charlotte Mason referred to these types of habits as the "minor moralities" meaning that instilling our children with these virtues is the least we can do for them.  These types of good habits of character will give our children a good start in life, but there are many other habits that will be helpful for their education and their lives, in general.

Here are some additional habits, more on the practical side, I'm hoping to help my children establish.  (I'm not listing every moral quality such as love, forgiveness, etc., though my husband and I pray our children will mature into godly young adults who strive to be like Christ, which encompasses all of them.)

7.  Early to rise

This is the practical habit we've been working on lately.  The kids have awakened at 6:30 am now for 3 weeks and it's going quite well.  It helps us to get such a wonderful start to our day.  And making sure they shower first thing helps them to be alert in the mornings.  Of course, I need to wake up about 30 minutes before I get them up, so I'm laying down some rails, too : ) .There are several reasons I want my children to be early risers.

-  I find the early hours are more productive compared to late night hours when the mind and body are exhausted.
- It will serve them well when they are parents themselves.  The Proverbs 31 woman rises while it is still dark and works into the night, as well. 
- There are several examples in the Bible of rising early to pray.  I love starting our homeschool day with prayer and Bible study. 
- It's such a blessing to attack each day prepared, rather than combating the stress of constantly running behind.

8.  Daily and weekly chores

I want my children to be in the habit of doing the work it takes to run a household.  Laziness is a crippling disease that makes the rest of life difficult.  I want my children to be accustomed to work so that it doesn't seem like work.  This is an area in transition for us and we're constantly tweaking our chore system and assignments. 

9.  Regular exercise

It's hard for me to relate to people who find it difficult to exercise.  I know this is because exercise has been a habit in my life for as long as I can remember.  Not only is making time for exercise not hard for me (even if it requires keeping a double stroller stashed in my vehicle for any opportune moment), but I really love it.  I want my children to enjoy exercise as much as I do.  This is why my kids are on the local swim team and we also try to get outside for bike riding, riding scooters, walking, hiking, etc. as often as possible.

10.  Reading

We have become a nation with two major reading problems:  functional illiteracy and aliteracy.  Functional illiteracy is when someone knows how to read, but is not able to make meaning of what he reads.  Aliteracy is when people who know how to read simply choose not to.  My husband is a pastor and it's frustrating to him how many people want a short-cut to knowing God's will for their lives, because reading the Bible just seems too laborious for them.  Reading is easy when it's a habit.  I want my kids to love to read so that they will be able to learn about anything that interests them.  What a gift to give our children!  I still remember fondly choosing my next book to read with my dad.  We would walk around the bookshelves in our house reading titles and my dad would pull off one leather book after another, blow the dust off the top, and then carefully open it as he told me about that book.  My dad also read to me every night of my life and my mom helped me discover the joys and benefits of reading practical Christian living works by men like John MacArthur and RC Sprould, Jerry Bridges, and John Piper. 

This is not a comprehensive list by any means, but these are the habits we're specifically working on developing in our children right now.  What about you?  What habits do you want to give your children?  Which ones are you currently working on?

Homeschooling- first 4 weeks under our belts!

We're four weeks into our school year and I've learned much.

1.  I'm amazed at how much my kids can accomplish in a given day!  I worried that we were biting off more than we could chew this year.  We added art for the first time and science as a formal subject (for Monk, 11) also for the first time.  The kids have done great and are finished most days by 2.  This is largely because of some changes I made due to concerns of not getting everything done each day.  Mainly, we're getting started 30 minutes earlier (the kids rise at 6:30 this year instead of 7 like last year), and the kids do two pages of Greek at breakfast every morning (this is kind of their ticket to breakfast- talk about motivation!).  I've even had time to give Prince (4) a reading lesson most days and read his Five in a Row with him.  He looks so forward to this special time with mom each day.

2.  I've learned that when going from Saxon math to Teaching Textbooks, go up one grade.  I did that with Monk, skipping Pre-Algebra, and he's done great in Algebra.  Twinkle Toes (9) missed 2 questions on the Teaching Textbooks Math 6 placement exam, so I bought Math 5 for her instead.  (I blame my mom for this.  She had just pointed out to me what an intense mother my poor children have.)  I've really regretted it!  She needs to be in Math 6.  I'm having her complete two lessons per day right now (which only takes her 30 minutes!) so she'll probably start Math 6 in January.  That said, the kids are loving the break from Saxon, though I remain grateful that Saxon served us well for so many years.  The kids have obviously benefitted from the laborious practice and repitition that Saxon requires.

3.  Sonlight 3+4 has some GREAT read-alouds and my kids are loving the readers, too.  The readers are a little below their reading level so reading each day's assignment only takes them about 20-30 minutes.  I firmly believe in 1 hr per day of reading, so we're going through the books at a faster pace and supplementing with other great books I've found through Sonlight, Tapestry of Grace, and other places.

4.  The most important thing I've learned is that my kids really do love to learn!  My favorite words to hear each day are, "Just one more chapter, Mom!".  They must not realize they're learning!

5.  My children are not cookie-cutters of one another.  Measle (7) has been a challenge and a joy.  She is not the independent student her older brother and sister are, but this forces me to spend one on one time with her throughout the day that I know we'll both cherish someday.  Since the readers in Sonlight's 3+4 core are a little too challenging for her, we're reading some American Girl books together right now.  (I'm not worried about Measle missing out on the great readers because she'll go through Core 3+4 again in a few years with her little brother when her older siblings study Core 100 American History).

6.  I'm glad I moved all the notes for each Sonlight book up to the corresponding week tab rather than having to search for the notes each day at the back of my binder.  Thanks, Roan, this system really is working well.

What are you learning?  Any regrets?  Any tweaking going on?  Anything going more smoothly than you thought it would?

4 Moms Storage Solutions Link-up

It seems like with every child our stuff has increased exponentially.  I'm constantly looking for ways to streamline the storage of all our things.  Here are a few of our systems that seem to be working:

Kids Toys

We keep most of our children's toys in baskets.  Ideally they will be sorted into baskets by theme, for instance blocks in one baskets, cars in another, paper dolls in their own basket, etc.  They don't always stay as sorted as I'd like, though.



Upstairs playroom



Arts and crafts area against the wall





Sorted legos in our arts and crafts area



Baskets of toddler toys in Queen's room



Homeschool resources




This year's Sonlight books, Measle's easier readers, Prince's FIAR, among others





Homeschool materials not currently in use



For my preschoolers



One drawer for each school-age child

Coats, backpacks, hats, and gloves

I would love to have a real live mud room someday, but untill then we store outerwear wherever we can.

Bottom of coat closet



Closet under the stairs- 7 hooks always full!

Several of the kids also have coat trees in their rooms.  On a bad day, one might find this...

...though I do try to discourage it.  When I catch it, I usually tell the girls to pick out their favorite 3 or 4 jackets and to put the rest in a pile for either passing on to Queen or giving away.



Kids clothes

I have a hard time letting go of my kids' clothes.  I recently purged and re-organized, but I still keep clothes for years. 

Our closet under the stairs is the main storage location for hand-me-down clothes, but I also keep the next size up in the kids' closets.



Baby girl clothes and others we won't be needing for the foreseeable future.



Shoes and boots



Clothes that will be used over the next few years. (Those less than a year off are stored in the kids' closets.)





Books have been a bit of a problem around here lately, so I'm working on a post devoted to book purging and re-organization.  I've also got to tackle my storage room one of these days, but not today : ).

Don't forget to check out the 4 Moms storage solutions!

Raising Olives

Smockity Frocks

In a Shoe

The Common Room

What is biblical homeschooling? Part 7- Teaching Truth

Truth wasn't on my initial list of subjects, but I decided to include it after reading an article by John MacArthur in The Master's Seminary Journal about the perspicuity of Scripture.  There are many today within the Evangelical church that question whether biblical doctrine can be held with certainty.  It's very in vogue in this post-modern, relativistic culture to deny the existence of absolute truth.  Not only is this dangerous for the church, but it's wreaking disasterous effects in education, as well.  I mean, what's the point of studying anything, if truth is unobtainable?!  So, this is why I decided to take a little detour and look at what the Bible has to say about truth.  Does absolute truth exist?  Can it be known with certainty? 

Sanctify them by Your truth.  Your Word is truth.  John 17:17

Either we believe the Bible or we don't.  I understand non-believers questioning everything, but according to this passage Christians should be able to rest in the confidence that God's Word is true.  As Christian homeschooling parents, we must teach our children that absolute truth exists and can be found in the pages of Scripture.

Why is the truth important, anyway?  Does it really matter if we know the truth or if we just hold one of many respectable opinions?

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  John 8:31-32

Free to do what?  Free to do whatever we want?  Free to gloat over our own knowledge?

Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly," I say to you, "whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."  John 8:34-36

Jesus goes on to point out that those who are not His disciples are children of their father the devil, "and the desires of your father the devil you want to do.  He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his very own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.  But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me."  John 8:44-45

In other words, only those who are Christ's disciples and abide in His Word are free to obey the Lord.  Those who are not His disciples belong to the devil and are slaves to sin.  The truth frees us from bondage to sin.  I want to teach my children the truth, don't you?

The truth is found in Scripture.  We must give our children a biblical worldview so they can recognize the lies of Satan and of the world.  Teaching our children where to find the truth is the essential foundation for biblical homeschooling.  If we leave out this important truth training, all else will be in vain. 

At least she's reading!

My first two children are ideal homeschoolers.  In fact, when people used to say they didn't know how I managed homeschooling, I would think to myself that it was really much easier than they knew.  I just tell my kids what they're supposed to do and they do it.  Simple as that.  Then I started homeschooling our third child.  It seems everytime I turn around she's in a different costume or has roller skates on or is up a tree.  She has a terrible time sitting still and loves to be outside.  I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.  I finally encouraged her to take one of her books with her the next time she had an urge to climb a tree.

Hey, at least she's reading!  Now if I could just figure out a way for her to do her math on roller skates!

I'm Booking It Link-Up

I just finished up the Bible in 90 days as we started school the end of August, so the last couple of weeks I've been able to begin catching up in other reading.

Read alouds

The kids and I have been reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond last week and this week.  We're loving it and the kids beg me to read an extra chapter or two whenever we get the chance.  Before that we read Walk the World's Rim about Esteban, the historical African slave who served as a guide, translator, and explorer who helped open up the west for the Spaniards.

History

I'm still plugging away on George Washington's Sacred Fire by Peter Lillback.  I'm several hundred pages in, with many more to go!

Bible

I read RC Sproul's commentary on the book of John last month and this month I'm reading his commentary on Romans.  These commentaries are really made up of his sermons through the two said books and don't read like commentaries at all.  They're very conversational and full of the wonderful illustrations he's known for.

I've also been enjoying A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays by Robin Sampson and Linda Pierce.  I don't know why we celebrate so many meaningless holidays in this country, yet neglect those most rich in biblical history and meaning.  Yesterday I picked up Listening to the Language of the Bible:  Hearing it Through Jesus' Ears by Lois Tverberg with Bruce Okkema.  I find this book fascinating!  I studied Hebrew in college, but that was about a million years ago.  This book explains the nuances of certain Hebrew words and also gives background cultural information that makes Bible verses you always thought you understood more deep with meaning.  I highly recommend it and have insisted my pastor husband pick it up next.

The nesting continues and moves into the laundry room.

We've lived in this house 7 and a half years.  When we bought the house it had great bones, but needed a lot of cosmetic work.  We've just now worked our way to the laundry room- that part of our house that no one goes into, well, no one, but the dog and me.  Usually toward the end of my pregnancies I focus all my energy on the baby's nursery, but this time we left the bedrooms as they were so there was no nursery to fix-up.  As a result, my nesting instinct has moved to other parts of the house.  Our bedroom is getting a slight face-lift and our laundry room has finally gotten some attention.   We bought a new washing machine and I chose a cheerful wallpaper.

We have a small laundry room that's off a short hallway between our garage and schoolroom.  Across from the laundry room is our closet under the stairs which stores kids' clothes, jackets, backpacks, sporting goods equipment, and cleaning supplies.  Although our laundry room is small, it does have some custom cabinets above the washer and dryer that come in handy for storing spare bedding not normally in use.

The laundry room is also where our dog sleeps, so it has two obnoxious gates dividing his "room" from my domain.  And it has a pull-out ironing board, which I almost never use (wash and wear rules the day at our house.)  My modus operandi, because of our small laundry room, has always been to load up the one and only laundry basket with clothes from the dryer and carry the clean clothes into the living room where they get dumped onto the ottomon and proceed to cover my sofas and chairs until folded and put away.  I decided it was time for a change.  My goal was to find a way to fold or hang the clothes right out of the dryer and keep them in the laundry room until they get put away.  The living room has become such a hub for our homeschool that the clothes were getting in the way!

Big D installed a wonderful adjustable shelving unit for me today and I'm just thrilled with it!  I have four laundry baskets there currently- one for the master bedroom, one for Monk's room, one for Prince's room, and one for Twinkle Toes and Measle's bedroom.  The kids will just need to check each day for clean clothes and put them away.  (Queen is not yet responsible for putting her clothes away.)

I may decide to switch out these four large baskets for a greater number of smaller baskets at some point so that each child could have their own, but for now I like this system.  What do you think?