Green Eggs and Ham Pancakes!

My kids love pancakes but I've always struggled with how little nutrition they offer. Then I spoke to my little sister, Beth the other day. She said that she was making spinach pancakes. Cool! We have spinach in our fruit shake I make every morning, I just never considered putting it into our pancakes. Beth told me to just blend the spinach and milk together in the blender- so that's what I did. I couldn't even tasted the spinach at all in the pancakes.



And it passed the test with the kids. Evie gave spinach pancakes a thumbs-up!

I miss those

CURLS! Elijah's hair always turns so curly in hot, humid weather! I'm looking forward to the summer weather too... I'm done with winter. I know we've been spoiled with a nice mild winter this year... it's not the weather I'm tired of. I'm just sick of all the viruses we've been getting. The flu bug twice, pneumonia, now Eden has a fever again... and all three have bad colds. On top of it all, Evie has to get a molar tooth pulled. I feel so bad for her.



I really can't complain though. I'm just so blessed in so many ways. My heart is so heavy these last few days for this family.

Listening to Francis Chan speak today (February 21's service) too reminds me of just how easy we as Christians have it living in North America. Francis is encouraging everyone to watch a video he posted on his website. It's supposed to be very difficult to watch. I haven't been able to bring myself to watching it yet. It's about persecuted Christians. As my heart is heavy with for these families, I keep finding myself saying, "Jesus, come back soon!". I'm so thankful for the hope we find in Christ and in eternity!

The Case For Christ

I just finished reading the Case For Christ. What a well written book! The book has been around for quite a few years and I felt led to read it recently. I have to say that it made me fall in love with Jesus all over again.

I didn't need any 'proof' that the Bible is true... I've always had complete faith in God and His word. Let me tell you, hearing the historical facts about it is so amazing. The chapter on the details of His death was hard to read but important to know all that He suffered for me.

Did you know that His torture and death were so painful that a new word, excruciating- out of the cross, had to be invented to describe it.

Snuggles

Found the younger two snuggling quietly like this while I was making breakfast yesterday. They often cuddle like this in the mornings... it's the time they get along the best.

"Mine"

When Eden points to each person in a family photo, she says our names so well- mommy, daddy, "lijah" (Elijah), and "ee" (Evie). When she points to herself, she says, "mine". I've tried to have her pronounce her name, she just won't do it.

So it shouldn't have been a surprise to me when for the first time, someone asked Eden what her name was.

Her response was, "Mine!"

Hands-on Learning!

This year my main focus for our home school has been to bring a hands- on approach to our learning. For one thing, it's just more fun for the kids. It also helps them to remember the concepts that they've learned. A couple of the subjects we've been able to bring this change to so far is spelling and math.

The program that we're using for spelling right now is Spelling Power. It's a great program, written by a homeschool mom. It contains all the most commonly used and misspelled words. I love the short lessons and the hands-on approach. After practicing a word by studying it, spelling it with her eyes closed, etc., she spells it in a textured surface.

We use a cookie sheet of cornmeal right now for a textured surface. Evie then makes up her own sentence with the word and then beads it on a necklace.





For math, we're using Math U See. I could be a sales person for this program. I LOVE it! It has made a world of difference in the way I teach math. It comes with DVD's that show you how to teach each lesson. Prior to using this program, I had a hard time simply explaining concepts to Evie. It resulted in her not understanding it and frustration all around.
After watching the lesson, you then work on that concept until the child masters it. They use blocks to teach everything which helps the kids to really understand what they're doing when they're doing paperwork later (which is so abstract). It's so different from the way I was taught! Apparently, most schools are seeing the benefit of manipulatives and are using them a lot now.


Here's Elijah with the Math U See blocks. He built 1-20.


Every day, I have the kids do a math speed drill from the Math U See site. If they don't get any wrong, a ribbon flashes with a banner that says that they got them all right. This ribbon really motivates them to work carefully. Evie has been getting it often and Elijah is still trying to get his first ribbon. His main trouble is hitting things wrong on the keyboard, otherwise he'd be getting ribbons too:)


It's funny, when I started homeschooling over two years ago, I really had NO IDEA how many curriculum options and homeschooling styles were out there. It wasn't until this winter that I started exploring all the options. This article really summed up all the styles for me. The Simply Charlotte Mason website is what made me get excited about the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. I love the idea of learning through living books. The description for living books from the SCM website says:

"Probably the most well known of Charlotte’s methods is her use of living books instead of dry, factual textbooks. Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject 'come alive'.”

I've been building a living book library at home now! I've found lots of great finds at thrift stores and raided my mom's library too:) Now I need to buy some more book shelves!

Owl Eden Puke

Owl puke by day, EDEN puke by night... every 20 minutes .all. night. long.
Yawn.

Here she is doing her ever-so-fake pout. It's the best pout she has and it makes me giggle every time she shows it to me. I love my little girl!