Education plan for week commencing 17 October 2011

After a pretty flat week, with minimal learning effort I feel the need to plan ahead for the coming week in order to actually achieve something of substance that I can feel good about. I should note though, that this is just a plan. I will not be a slave to home-education. It needs to adapt to us and fit in around our life and plans. With that in mind, I am not assigning work to specific days, but just general goals to achieve so I am free to do be spontaneous and if good weather is calling we can hit the beach if we want! So I guess this is more of an ideas prompting sheet to get me started...

Maths

1. Comparing different random items around the house to see which is taller or shorter, heavier or lighter, hotter or colder, or any other attributes that seem significant at the time.
2. Basic addition sums (single figured sums).
3. Build upon odd and even numbers and practice counting in twos.
4. Object counting. E.g., have 4 counters on one side, and 1 counter on another and ask Sunshine to add or remove counters so it equals the other side.

English

1. Read two books almost each day. Pick one to read multiple times in the week and then randomly choose a different 2nd book each time.
2. Talk more about letters, what makes up a word, what makes up a sentence, what makes up a story. How you can write stories with words or also with pictures.
3. Continue her handwriting workbook.

Home sweet home

We are home and back to reality... hmph. It is good to be home, but honestly, a bit sad! It was a wonderful trip and most of my hopes were achieved. We spent loads of time with family, saw some great old friends and had a ball just plain hanging out with family some more. I loved it!!

My plans for learning weren't quite as achieved - we didn't get to the planned journal writing, or the reading, but natural learning was there never-the-less. Socialisation a-plenty, and lots of fun times. It was lots of fun. Did I mention it was fun? I thought it would be hard, with the 3 darlings (without Westley's help), but really it wasn't at all. Family was very supportive and it was a joy.

So yeah, we are home. I had a good catch-up with friends this morning and I have now had a couple of days of no tears about being back to reality where I need to do lots of stuff, think ahead, plan meals, cook meals etc... so things are looking up :)

Good buy - cheap homeschool supplies

A good resource I picked up about a year ago was a set of thin chopping boards from Aldi, which cost about $4 for a pack of 4. They are really thin, and flexible and work excellently as a portable work surface for under paper for drawing with textas, painting, gluing, you name it! The children know, if they want to do drawing or colouring or anything with textas, they grab a board and pop it under their work. Even my 20 month old, Harrison knows to get one if he wants to draw. With these, my children are free to colour or paint or do whatever messy business they like without me stressing over them potentially ruining the rug, blanket, floor, bed, table etc...

Always learning - homeschool plans for our big trip

I don't like to leave an easy opportunity to learn unlearnt so in addition to lots of random things I expect us to encounter, learn and discuss over our trip I have specifically planned the following homeschool activities.

• We went to the library and picked out two junior fiction books. I don't know if we will read both of them or even finish one of them, but I feel like just by starting out this way we are making good habits and planting good seeds.
• New colouring books and textas! I like to be really free with providing new colouring in books and textas. Besides being fun, it teaches the children concentration, develops their artistic skills and their fine motor skills.
• I splashed out on a scrap book for Sunshine and Sweet-pea for each of them to journal their trip. Sweet-pea will probably draw pictures, maybe paste some pictures, and write a word here or there. I plan for Sunshine to write a sentence about each day or so on something she has done or experienced, along with pictures (pasting or drawing). Oh, and when I say write a sentance, I mean she would decide what to write and I will write it on a scrap piece of paper and she will copy it into her book.

Incidentally, by the nature of this trip, there will be lots of socialisation with family and strangers, of different ages. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, old family friends, cousins, children of old friends of mine, etc. Will be fun! :P

Our big trip - me and 3 kiddos loose in —town

I live about 10 hours drive away from my parents and in-laws. It is hard. I miss them all, and I miss the support that having family close by can bring when you are at my stage in life. To even have somewhere I can go and spend an afternoon when I'm at my whits-end and just need a cup of coffee and some wise parental perspective. It is our own fault. We choose to move down here 7 years ago before we had children for a lifestyle change. Now we are kind of entrenched down here - we have friends, a good church, Westley has a pretty good job and we have cheap rent. So it is kind of hard to move back home at this point even though it would be sweet to live close to family.

My ever-giving eldest sister lives very close to my family and has thoughtfully bought me and the children flights back to the town where I grew up to spend 2 weeks, living at her house while she is away and visiting my Mum and Dad and a few days with my in-laws. We fly there tomorrow and I am all excited to embark on a trip of a lifetime. We don't have a lot of money to spare, so flights 'home' have always been a luxury that we have not been able to partake in. Westley will be at our real home here as he needs to work, so it will be me, 3 kiddos loose in —town. I will miss Westley, however, him being at home will free me to do just what I want to do, when I want to do it, so that has advantages! ;)

Here are my hopes for this trip:

• to spend lots of relaxing time with my Mum and Dad. Drink lots of coffee together and chat.
• to spend quality time with my sister and her family (when they return from their trip) and with my in-laws and all other local family and friends I plan to see. The name in-laws seems so cold, I don't mean it to. I am blessed with wonderful in-laws who I consider to be my real family, I just could not think of a better way to group them together in a way that you would know who I meant.
• to enjoy the time with my children, their first plane rides!
• to enjoy 'pretend' living in —town. Visit the shops and parks.
• to saturate myself in Wuthering Heights. I am finally moving on from my world of Jane Eyre and onto another great Bronte classic. I'm excited and sad about Wuthering Heights (I know how it starts and I wonder how it could possibly be made good).
• to get some Kirsty Allsop, Phil Spencer and Kevin McCloud action on television - I will take what I can get, Location Location Location, Relocation Relocation, Grand Designs, Grand Designs Revisited, etc. I don't mind really, I just miss these guys and would love to catch up on as much as I can on my family's pay tv :) It is for these shows that I would find a life without television very difficult!

If you have holidays where you are, enjoy them! Enjoy your children, enjoy your family & stay safe :)

A cheap and cheerful homeschool activity

This afternoon we did 'cutting and pasting'. A fun way to spend an afternoon - Sunshine and Sweet-pea enjoy using sissors and who doesn't enjoy using glue?!

Basically, I look for opportunities to pick up magazines or interesting pamphletes. I have the inflight magazine from a recent plane ride, a travel brochure that I asked for at a local travel agency and a couple of wholesome magazines. We have a few childrens sissors, but I find they don't cut well, so we all share the one good pair we have and I supervise (although I have trained Sunshine and Sweet-pea on being sensible with sissors). Then they are free to cut and paste to their hearts content. I love that the images they are seeing are of far off lands, different landscapes and include things they don't encounter in our day-to-day Australian life.

An extension on the lesson for Sunshine was if she wanted to, I asked her to tell a story from the pictures she pasted, which she just loved to do and present to me and Sweet-pea.

How to train your dragon

I just watched How to Train Your Dragon with Westley, Sunshine and Sweet-pea and I LOVED it. Animated films are not really my preference, but this, I just loved. Somehow it evoked in me the same feelings that I felt when I read Jane Eyre. I think these emotions are tied to friendship. Pure, die to save you, you mean more than life to me, friendship. It is strong, and it is pure, and I loved it.

While we choose carefully what to expose our children to, I did not find this at all too scary for our children - we have always had a healthy appreciation for things which might actually cross the boundaries of others. We want to raise confident, bold and courageous people, and I think this movie instills these attributes. I can highly recommend it!

I love...

Going to Gloria Jeans for a cup of coffee.

Our last visit together, we read the first 5 pages of the Nutcracker

I first started to appreciate this ritual when Westley thought going out for a coffee was a good way for us to facilitate communication in our marriage. Then I got hooked on the great coffee and started going alone as well. I used to go and read pregnancy magazines, dreaming about when I would have a baby of my own. Then I would go to study for exams or write assignments. Then I would go with my manager at work for meetings. Now I go with my children, or when Westley is home, I go to pray and read the bible. I like it when I the people that work there remember me by name. On my last visit, feeling particularly poor and cashing in my freeby (10th cup is free), they gave me an extra minicino for the girls (who were going to share), so they could each have their own. I like that :) About a year ago I was even recognised by a visiting barista from one of the city stores who remembered me from when I was frequenting her usual store about a year before that. It is a combination of the atmosphere, the coffee (and therefore caffine) and the good times I spend there. Even a bad visit is a good visit because I enjoy the time out either alone or with my children, and I always remember previous visits or look forward to the next. When I take the children, I often take a book and read to them while we are there. Good, good memories. I just love it!

Baking with coconut flour

I came across Elana Amsterdam's cookbooks sometime last year. Since trying to eat Paleo, I have really struggled with accommodating my love for eating cakes and anything else baked! First I had to locate a retailer who actually stocks coconut flour. Not easy - Australia's supermarkets are not very advanced with stocking coconut flour and almond flour (almond flour is almost impossible to find, only almond meal which is not the same). Probably about this time last year I found a store that sold coconut flour, and have been busting to get to real baking since. I have tried a lot... and ruined a lot... so when I came across Elana's webpage I got very excited. Her food actually looks like the yummy treats I've been wanting for me and my family. So, I eventually managed to bite the bullet and order her book Gluten-free Cupcakes from Amazon. After then waiting within days of 2 months for it to be delivered (a story for another day!), I finally received it!

Here is what I learnt from the early pages of Elana's book on baking with coconut flour, prior to attempting  recipe:

• Follow the recipe instructions. When she says to use a hand mixer, use a hand mixer, and when she says to mix by hand, mix by hand.
• Ensure the batter is mixed thoroughly with no lumps but be very careful not to over mix.
• Do not open the oven until the minimum time has been reached.
• Allow the cupcakes to cool in the baking tin for an hour after removing from oven (not on a wire rack).
• Coconut flour batters are more runny than a normal wheat flour batter.
• Load the cup measurements by dipping and then scraping the top. Otherwise you risk getting less flour than required.
• Use large eggs.
• If you need to make more, don't double the recipe, but make 2 separate batchess.

Sounds basic, but these are all mistakes I would regularly make in baking! So for the first time since I was a child I followed this recipe to the line, with two exceptions:

1. Agave nectar. I am yet to find an Australian store to stock it, so I used honey.
2. Grape seed oil. It is not an ideal oil in Paleo due to changes in it's oxidation when at high temperatures and it happens to be expensive so I am experimenting by using light olive oil. If it works I will just use that instead.

The batter tasted yummy - I don't normally get into the batter, but this was good. Nice level of sweetness, and actually resembled a batter consistency.

9 little cupcakes waiting for the oven

Finished product

I decided not to frost this time around. I wanted to test the quality of the cake itself. Sunshine, Sweet-pea and I just cracked into them and there were lots of "oh my goodness"'s and "ohhhhhhh"'s and "yuuuuumm"'s and then Sunshine said "Mum, you should make these all the time". BINGO! That is the response I wanted.

The texture was light and so wheat-like, I can't believe it is actually healthy and completely grain-free. The honey made it a rich sweetness, but perfectly delightful. I'm so impressed with this cook book. Can't wait to do the full deal with frosting!

Playin' shop

We like to keep things simple. We don't have a lot of money for fancy toys and we have tried to avoid accumulating a lot of "stuff" for our children. With that in mind, I am always trying to be resourceful and come up with new games or ways of playing with old toys and making the most of them.

I always loved playing shop as a child and from that came up with this game to introduce to my darlings. I cleared off their table to use as 'a counter'. I also cleared off some shelves to use as 'shop shelves' and laid out their play food in lines, like a mini supermarket. I got a container (the blue one on the windowsill) to act as the till, and put special cards in it from a board game (which would be used as the money). I got their Barbie computer thing that was given to us and pretended that was the main part of the register. Then I got out their Easter egg baskets to use. And then, I taught my children how to play shop. It was fun. They enjoyed it as did I! Here is a pic of the shop set up:

I didn't start this game with learning objectives other than to have fun, but I love that in having that fun, I continued a stream of learning which I am enjoying imparting to them (and look forward to continue imparting to them) - that being, commerce. I love teaching them how business works and how to engage in commerce.

September 11

I just want to say, United States of America, I think of you as like a sister to my country. I love you. I think you are beautiful. God bless you!

Easter 2007 - The Lord will provide

Okay, so Easter 2007, was a particularly difficult one for us financially. Sunshine was one and I was only working from home about an hour or two a day so we were effectively on one income (Westley and I were committed to raising our children ourselves so me working outside the home and putting Sunshine into daycare was completely, 100% out of the question for us). Our one income was pretty meagre, hard to remember now, I think Westley earned about $40,000, and we recieved about $100-200 per fortnight in tax benefits. We had hideous debts, and a car repayment of $400 a month. Basically our budget ran at about negative $700-800 a month. I used to call Westley on pay day and cry and try to decide with him which bills we should pay first as whatever was left towards the end didn't get paid. It was only God's providence that got us through that period of our lives.

So we had just moved into a new rental house, our last landlord had defaulted on her mortgage so we were issued a letter from lawyers to evacuate the premises. This turned out to be a blessing in that we found somewhere cheaper as our financial position became more real to us. So, there we were, moved twice in 4 months (you know how expensive that can be...). We had some great friends though, who helped us move so the actual move cost us nothing (just connection fees etc) they very good friends. It was the week leading up to Easter and I had to go to the bank to withdraw the bond refund money to give back to my good friends who had lent us the money for our new bond. I had planned to get some Easter eggs while I was there, Sunshine was finally old enough to experience chocolate at Easter. I was so happy. When I withdrew the money I discovered we had nothing left for eggs after I gave my friends their money back. I was devastated. Tired... I was also pregnant with Sweet-pea too - I forgot to mention that! I distinctly remember walking through the local shopping centre after withdrawing the money, crying in front of everyone because I couldn't afford to buy any Easter eggs. I actually could barely afford to buy us any food either. I was focused on the eggs because I was all set on fulfilling a dream. I looked around at all the other shoppers thinking how they had so much. Not really wishing I could swap with them, just wishing we had more ourselves.

Skip ahead two or so days. I had somehow (I've forgotten now) got into my head, I had been praying, that we would have a feast at Easter. I believed God tell me I would be feasting at Easter. We had been reading/listening to a lot of Graeme Cook's stuff online and it had been really inspirational. If you ever want to hear of encouraging supernatural experiences of God's providence, check his stuff out. Anyway, I was believing for a feast. We had no food or money, but I was believing none-the-less. On Easter Saturday, with no food in the house except for a few skerricks of this and that, I made us our lowest meal yet. I based it on something I remember Mum making (although Mum made it right and added cooked veges, and I had no recipe, but I remember Mum telling me that Nanny used to make it back in the 1940s+). I had some flour, butter and gravox. So I attempted to make dumplings in gravy. It was the one of the most ugliest thing I have ever eaten. It was ugly, yucky, and a true sign of where we were financially. A far cry from our feast!

Around the same time we had some other good friends, J & D call us and ask us if they would see us at church on Sunday. We had no money for petrol so couldn't get there. They were on their way home and happened to be driving near our house (their house is about an hour from our house which is close to church). They thought, wouldn't it be nice for us to go and sleep at their house and then go to church with them and they would drive us home on Sunday. It meant fitting Sunshine's car seat in their (2 door) car, lugging the portacot and stroller, but we thought it was a good idea so we did it.

From that point on, our loving friends (not having a clue about what we had had for dinner that night) took us and fed us and fed us well. After church on Easter Sunday, they cooked us the most amazing Paella and can I tell you friends, we feasted. The Lord provided me with the feast He promised me. It was good to my body and encouraging to my spirit.

Also, a sister of the good friends who helped us move, happened to buy Sunshine a chocolate Winney the Pooh face for Easter. So sometime later, when me, Westley and Sunshine were all home together, I put Sunshine in her high chair and the three of us devoured it in one sitting. Good times!

Thankful

Sometimes I get caught up in thankfulness to the Lord. I am so thankful I was born in Australia. A free country where I am safe and live to a very high standard. I am thankful that I have never gone to bed at night hungry with the exception of one time which I will talk about in my next post because it is a funny story of God's providence (well Westley and I think it is funny because it was pretty horrible at the time and we like to recall it as one of our darkest mealtimes). I am thankful that me, Westley and my children have had good health. I am thankful that despite our worst decisions and poor financial management in our early years of marriage we never had to declare bankruptcy (we came very close!). I have always had my needs met. I have two loving families to go to when in need (mine and Westley's). I grew up in a safe environment and was born into a Christian family. I struck gold by finding the perfect best friend at just 18 years old and choosing to defy everything and wed him before turning 19. I just can not number all the ways I have been blessed over the years. God has been very good to me. He has held me in the palm of his hands. I have asked him to be good to me; to bless me and make his face shine upon me. Sometimes people think of God as this mean, angry God, just waiting to pass judgement at any time. It is true that God is firm, and can show his anger, but oh how good he is too. He loves to give us good gifts.

Peace continued...

Do you ever struggle with peace, like me? It is almost a daily struggle for me, a moment to moment struggle sometimes. I have spoken about it before. But I have hope. It is a fight I plan to win. My new lifestyle of simplicity helps in that I am not rushing places as much and have more time to relax and stress less about daily things, but it also means I have more time to think... and that is not always a good thing! An idle mind ain't good. I believe the mind is a muscle and I also believe that if we do not control and harness our minds, our minds will control us. 

I thought of sharing this because I am feeling strong and am fighting at the moment in this issue with vigor. I'm extra focused on taking my mind and subjecting it to the authority and peace of God. When I have an anxious thought or feeling rise up, I am taking control and deciding not to indulge in it. I am choosing to have peace over it. A lot of the ideas I have on this topic come from a good book from Joyce Meyer. If you have trouble with obtaining and maintaining peace, I can recommend this book: Battlefield of the Mind. It is scripture based and directed well to address different problems we face with our mind.

I am also consolidating the scriptures I find on peace in a notebook; promises from God, that as a Christian, I have the right to claim, for I am called to live a greater life. A life of joy! ... and I don't want anyone, any thing, or any thought to steal it from me. My Lord gave me my life, and I intend to live & enjoy it to the best of my ability. Here is a great scripture that I love on this topic:

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you."

Phillipians 4:4-9

Natural learning

Thought I'd share this piece of natural learning Sunshine and Sweet-pea have taken to in the last few weeks. They call it "play the game of [movie]". Basically, they pick a movie and put it on (usually a Barbie or another sort of animated movie), then they choose who will play who and act out the entire movie in front of the television while the movie is playing. They have costume changes (many different outfits for different parts of the movie - shoes included!). They make special swords with wooden spoons and tie ribbons on the end of the spoons.

Earlier today I wondered if it was good for them to be doing this so much. Shouldn't I encourage them to go outside instead? But then I realised what they were doing. They were naturally teaching themselves a range of things. Here is a short list of what I believe they were teaching themselves (that I can think of - I bet there are many more I can't think of):

1. Drama/acting - they were copying the actions of each character. Facial expressions and arm movements etc.
2. Reciting/memory - they were learning the words and speaking them over and over. Experiencing and reinforcing sentence structure and grammar.
3. Teamwork - working together to achieve an outcome.
4. Social behaviour - learning how other people relate and how to relate to each other whilst achieving the goal of "play the game of [movie]".
5. Interpretation - everything they did was an expression of what they were interpreting of what was occuring in the movie.
6. Independence and innovation - they made this game up themselves. They designed the rules and procedure and defined the outcome.
7. To entertain themselves - an extremely valuable skill in my eyes!
8. To experience natural learning and to be guided by their own interests - I believe this is a key to them developing a lifestyle of learning.

So that is just a few learnings that I can think of off the top of my head. I bet there are more. With all that swirling around in my head, yep, I think it is good for them; and I want to encourage them to "play the game of [movie]" without concern that they are watching too much television; and with peace of mind of knowing that even if I am not sitting down at a table with them making them doing structured lessons that they will learn anyway ... and have fun doing it!

The past 10 days or so....

I have been totally consumed with Jane Eyre! What a great, great, great classical book by Charlotte Bronte. I highly, highly recommend it to all. It suits all ages, although I don't imagine I would have read it as a teenager (I wasn't a reader growing up so I hardly read anything beyond magazines). It is an enjoyable read and a great romance story. I don't know what else to say without spoiling it. I recommend it to all!

As I hinted above I am a newcomer to enjoying a life of reading. I want to be a good reader and take more pleasure in reading... and I want that for my children too, and I think that will come if I master the art and become a lover of good books first. I know I need to set the example and live it! So, this past two or so weeks has been delightful... and costly of a few hours sleep, but well worth it. I am on my way to being a good reader :) I want to read good books though. I love romance but find I have to look to the old classics to find pure, clean romance. It's been so nice to wander around my normal day with my head swirling with the characters and what was happening in the book. What an indulgence! So that's what I've been up to. What have you been up to?

"Rude lady picture"

Last weekend I was running between some shops in a local shopping centre. For the first time I noticed a shop opposite one of the major grocery stores with a poster in the window about a metre and a half wide and two metres long. The picture was immediately offensive to me as I recognised it for what it really was. I will delicately call it a "rude lady picture". I was shocked, grossed out and very happy that Westley had taken the children to the car already so they weren't seeing it also. Instantly I knew I had to do something about it.

This was way out of my comfort zone. I do not like to create conflict or confrontation - I will usually avoid it at all costs, but I couldn't this time. I knew I needed to speak up on behalf of the innocence of all the children who walk past this shop.  So, in I went and politely informed the shop assistant (who turned out to be the owner, a middle aged woman) that I found the picture offensive and why. She was defensive, telling me that I should just not look at it if I wanted to and that I needed to direct any complaints to centre management. So I did, and guess what? The poster is now down! Seems I was not the only one to take action and our efforts combined resulted in the shop owner reluctantly removing the disgusting image (to sell!! It should be binned not sold, but I have no say in that unfortunately).

I basically wanted to encourage you all out there to speak up when you find something rude or offensive. In my case, the littlest thing of a verbal complaint and follow-up phone call was enough to right this wrong. Our children are precious gifts with young innocent minds. Let's protect our children and others children, by doing our best to instil value and worth in our women. This has given me hope that maybe we have more control beyond our immediate homes to limit or delay this rottenness penetrating the world.

Feeling stretched...

"I'm old, Gandalf. I know I don't look it, but I'm beginning to feel it in my heart. I feel... thin. Sort of stretched, like... butter scraped over too much bread. I need a holiday. A very long holiday. And I don't expect I shall return. In fact I mean not to." Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Ever feel like this? Okay, okay, not the old part. But the rest of it? Or maybe you do feel old sometimes. I can understand that. I don't feel old, I just feel ... streeeeeeeeeeeetched.

I know what I want, what really is most important. I know I will never look back in reflection and think, I really wish I had have gone out with this person more, or visited that person more, or been here and done that. I know that I will think about the time I spent with my children. Was it enough? Was it good? Did I make the most of the talents God entrusted to me and Westley? and the answers I want to have to those questions are "yes; yes it was better than good, it was brilliant; and yes!" I want to look back and think, "wow, I spent A LOT of time with my children. That was time well spent."

So, I've been a-thinkin again... I plan to go on a holiday from what has become normal life. I need to simplify, pull-back and spend more time at home and enjoy my sweet children's childhoods with them. It is a holiday I plan to enjoy and I think I may not return from it. In fact, I almost do not mean to.

Favourite homeschooling moment this week...

Favourite homeschooling moment this week was teaching Sunshine the difference between the number 3 and a capital E. We were in a coffee shop, I had no pen and I kept getting confused doing it back-to-front in the air to her, so I poured some water on the table and wrote with my finger, the water being my ink. She got it and I marvelled at how easy and fun educating at home is.

COFFEE!! oh why I love thee...

Coffee is amazing. God made the coffee beans and like all of His creation, there is so much love in coffee beans. I love coffee. God made me to love coffee too. Here are 10 of the reasons why I-love-me-coffee:

1. It creates atmospheres, which I like to revisit over and over.
2. It stimulates good conversation between friends and loved ones.
3. It creates common ground between strangers.
4. The strong bitter flavour makes me sit up and pay attention.
5. It is hot and when I hold it, smell it and drink it, I feel warm.
6. It is comforting.
7. The creaminess makes me feel full.
8. It gives me drive to get through boring work and it makes the boring work fun!
9. It makes hard tasks feel easier; pretty much anything is achievable with a strong coffee under your belt!
10. It gives me something to do, when I don't know what to do.

Coffee is great. Thankyou Lord for the coffee bean!

Dare I say it?? [contraception]

Who knows about this? What a difficult topic to navigate! I am only bringing it up because it has been on my mind... a lot. There is not a great amount of talk out there about it, and it is almost a shameful thing to talk about, but I need to talk about it. I need to figure it out and make a decision that has major implications for the course of my family.

Historically I have taken the pill. Until about 7 years ago I met a woman who explained to me how rotten those pills actually are. What they did to my body, how they messed me up etc. [Here is a really entertaining article on the pill which sums up how I feel pretty well]. So, since then we have only relied on barrier methods and some really loose kind of natural avoidance measures. This woman practiced a form of natural family planning. Well I knew that everyone else thought that was totally crazy-talk so there was no way on earth I would do that too, I mean natural family planning doesn't work, don't you know??? It worked for her though. But that didn't mean much to me at that point in my life. Then, children was a scary thing. I was trying to establish a career, I had only been married for 4 years too (only...). We were young. We shouldn't be having children. I wanted to be pregnant though, but I held back my internal desires for at least 18 months after that...

Did you know that pretty much every method of non-natural contraception (excluding condoms) is capable of creating early abortions? I didn't! But now I do. Does everyone know this (it happens that sometimes I miss out on pieces of information that the rest of the world knows - ignorance is bliss for me, remember?) I think most people don't... I know some won't care. I do care. I care a lot. Life starts at the moment of conception. I tell you, I do not want to get to judgement day and have God look at me and show me the lives I (albeit, unconsciously) ended in my quest to avoid having more children.

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that I think we need to do our best to also be bearing children as much as we possibly can either. Yesterday I read an awesome article - Motive: The Christian and Birth Control. I liked it because it referenced the Bible :) and what it said, made sense to me. It is seriously worth a read (it is short but succinct). Basically, I have no problem with choosing to use birth control in my family, but the kind of birth control used is what is important. Always remembering, "it is God who is the author of human life (Deuteronomy 32:39)" not us (quoted from the above article). If God chooses to bless us, he will. If we choose to be blessed with another child, we will change our behaviour and open ourselves to God's blessing.

But ahhh yes, natural family planning methods have a high failure rate. You know what I say to that? Two things.

1. That is them, not me. I don't know how vigilant they were, when they may have taken a calculated risk, or when I might. There are many people out there that it did/does work for. I believe it is intensely specific for the individual and couple as to how successful this method will be/is.
2. Is it such a bad thing if I had another or another couple of children? I already know that every child is purposed by the Lord. I am in a Godly, secure marriage. When God created marriage and the family unit, it was for a safe place for children to be raised. I may not actively seek more children, but as I quoted the article referenced above "God is the author of life" and if he sends me more, then I will be the soft place for them to be born and raised.

So added to my new journey is discovering how on earth I will translate natural family planning into our life. I guess I will have to get to know my body better... gosh, how modern medicines have caused me to be lazy! You know what though, I will figure this out and I can not wait to educate my daughters and son(s) about this so when they are married, they have it sorted and know what to do, should they too decide to practice birth control.

Braving the big smoke for the day on your own with 3 young children

Yesterday was a beautiful 20 degrees and instantly I thought, I must take advantage and do something fun outside. Westley jokingly asked me to meet him for lunch in the city and, never one to turn down a trip to the city, I thought it was a great idea! I love the city!! I love the buildings, the shops, the history, the coffee, the buzz. I just love visiting the city. But it's different visiting the city when you have 3 young children with you. I can't wander the shops aimlessly, I can't drag them around indulging in all my whims. I can't go down narrow alleyways where the stroller won't fit. I've noticed that when I look around, I never, ever, ever see another mum there alone with 3 littlies... So, I have learnt and refined my process and developed strategies and tips that I thought I'd share incase you are like me, loving the city but too scared to brave it alone with your littlies. I hope they help :)

PLAN YOUR TRIP

• Think of a combination of what your children might like to visit or do and what you would like and how you can visit all places.
• Be realistic, visiting a million places will be really difficult, so pick 3 or so places ahead of time and plan which you will visit first, second and third, etc.
• How are you going to get there. Train, drive, where will you park? What times are the trains running? I keep the schedule uploaded on my iphone for the whole day so if it looks like I might miss the train, I know when the next one is.
• Pack snacks, lunch and water. We take snacks to eat on the train - this is a must for us as it keeps them sitting. If they have been well behaved, I plan a treat for on the train ride home. 
• Find out where there are good, clean toilets/parents rooms to visit. In my city, the major department stores are well equiped. I schedule the toilet trips into the journey so we are never caught out.
• Allow plenty of time. My trains are very infrequent so I don't want to miss them, but walking along a busy sidewalk with a stroller and two children either side of you is slow, so allow much more time than you think.
• After 5 years of trips to the city with children we have a bit of a routine that we kind of stick to and that helps the children prepare and know what to expect.
• Sometimes there are free seasonal activities put on by local tourism, government and/or big department stores. We have a few Christmas activities we like to do each year that the children and me just LOVE. Where we live, there are some websites that are dedicated to advertising these events. Just be mindful that if it is school holidays or on the weekend, it will probably be crazy! 

ON THE JOURNEY

• Be considerate of others. City-folk are way more tollerant of children if they can see you are trying to keep them well behaved and engaged. I talk like I think everyone might be listening (because they probably are!).
• Try to anticipate your childs behaviour before they do it. If Sweet-pea is getting wriggly in her seat and starts kicking her legs around I will say something like "Sweet-pea, we need to be considerate of the other passangers and we don't want you to accidently knock this lady's knees so please sit still". Sweet-pea is then prepared to be careful and the lady is much more understanding if Sweet-pea does knock her.
• Don't stress, remain calm at all times. It shows others that you are in control (even if you don't feel like you are).
• Engage with your children. I try not to be on the phone at all, but entirely engaged with them. Talking to them about what they can see which might be interesting to them, or just general chit-chat about normal stuff. Point out weird things like icons, buildings, where you used to work, etc.
• Safety. I am always mindful of educating my children about being safe, not crazy talk, just basic knowledge to keep them safe. I can't hold each of their hands at the same time so it is important for the older ones to know that vehicles travel fast. Not to walk on or past the safety line at the station. Only crossing the road when the lights say it is ok. Stay close to me at all times, etc.
• Boundaries. We set boundaries for the children so that they are free to be children but within certain limits. For example, in the coffee shop we allow them to move around and touch stuff and play as long as they stay within a certain boundary. Everytime we go to this coffee shop it is the same and they know, they are not allowed to go beyond a certain point in that coffee shop.

AN OPPORTUNITY TO EDUCATE

• I like to talk to my children about social norms, what is acceptable behaviour, what isn't. Why we hold on to the rail on a tram, even though it is fun not too. When it is acceptable to talk loudly and when we should try to talk quietly and consider others, and when we should "whisper in Mum's ear". My girls love to exclaim at the top of their lungs "Mum, that lady looks funny" or "Mum, I'm busting, I can't hold on" - strangers don't really need to know that kind of thing.
• Yesterday I gave Sweet-pea and Sunshine each $1 to pick something to buy as a treat for on the train on the way home. I took them to a lolly shop and they got to see how far $1 goes and to interact in a transaction with a shop-keeper. Among other things, I am teaching them commerce and how the transfer of money for goods works in a 'real' way for them.

TIME IS A-CHANGING

• I have learnt to be mindful that as my children get older, move into new stages or with the addition of new babies, the trip changes shape. I keep the one same peg - lunch with Daddy at a certain coffee shop (we take our lunch but buy a coffee) - and work the other things around it so it suits our family at that particular stage.

LEARNINGS
The project manager in me is always assessing and analysing these questions:

1. What worked well?
2. What didn't work well?
1. What can be changed to make this work well on future trips?

By answering those questions I have been able to refine our trips to be successful, over and over. Any difficulty can be learnt from and improved upon, don't give up :)

Desperate to create - part 2

Oh dear, I am so slack, I realised about midnight last night that I still have not uploaded pics of my sewing project. Here are a few snaps from the day! Please excuse the quality, they were taken on my iphone, which is kinda hit and miss.

First up, we have the fabric (free! thanks Mum, and my new purchase - tailors chalk and matching thread - Mum says to always buy the big reels of thread as they work out cheaper in the long run - chalk and thread cost about $10 for both).

One of these days I'll learn how to orientate the pics to landscape. Westley, can you please help me with this?

Here we have our first sewing lesson. Don't you just love impromptu lessons? This is Sunshine learning to press the pedal while spooling the bobbin.

The finished product got the thumbs-up! Project success! One happy daughter :)

So in the end I kind of just used a measuring tape for straight lines, pins, and a bowl for the neckline (learnt that on a Martha Stewart episode). Then I just fumbled my way through. It took me about 3 hours. It is no great masterpiece, but it looks fine, is warm, Sweet-pea loves it and I got more experience. One big learning I took from it is that I didn't allow enough room under her arms. Sweet-pea is a skinny-mini so I thought I had, and was surprised to see just how much room we need under there. So, always allow lots of room under the arms. Or just follow a pattern ;)

How I intoduced regular bible study to my children

I have always thought it a good thing to be able to start the day with reading the bible or time alone with God. Who wouldn't love to brave the day knowing he/she was already grounded in God's word or His Spirit? Would our behaviour be different? Would our thoughts be different? Would our day turn out differently? For me, the answer is yes. But it isn't easy, and I know for some people this is not the right time of the day for them. Westley for example, is not a morning person. His best time with God is in the evening, when it is dark and he can be outside, alone.

As a parent educator, I am often thinking about the habits I can teach my children, while they are young, so they can each be the best person they can be when they are adults. It is important to me that they have a personal relationship with the Lord, and I want to help them the best way I can. So I have started mini-bible studies with Sunshine and Sweet-pea. They have been responding well and by doing it in the morning, each day feels like a success. It is working for now. It may not always work and there may be interruptions from time to time, but I hope to continue with it as long as it is still working for us. So if you are wondering, this is what I do...

PREPARATION

• I read the paragraph sometime before I sit down with the children, so I am prepared for translating into a language they understand.

METHOD
In the morning not long after we wake up...

• I give them a 5-10 minute warning that we are about to do our bible reading together.
• I make a cup of tea.
• I get the beanbags out ready for them to sit on, and I sit down in my reading seat.
• I ask the girls to join me, Harrison has a beanbag too, but he is free to come and go as he pleases.
• We recap on the highlights of the previous day (or two if required) to set the scene for the new reading.
• I tell them I am going to read the scripture (about a paragraph, or theme - you know how chapters are split up under headings - I just kind of pick one of those chunks under a heading).
• I read it to them from my bible, the New King James version.
• I explain in language they understand the main points that happened.
• I ask them a few questions to check they listened to me.
• Now the fun part - drawing! I ask them to draw something from the story. I will usually ask Sunshine to write something too, which is me telling her the letters to write. 
• Then they get to show Daddy their awesome work and feel totally proud of the great job they did.

We have started with Luke, as I know my girls are excited by and a bit familiar with Jesus's birth so I thought it would increase their interest. So far so good, they ask me about it on the weekend because I haven't been doing it on weekends so I think that is a good sign :)

A peaceful Sunday morning

Today is Sunday. Church day. It was lovely. Was woken at 7am by our new ritual of the radio alarm. Westley was totally excited a few minutes later when he realised it was actually Sunday and not Monday - that like, n-e-v-e-r happens to us! A few minutes later he was asleep again. Sunshine and Sweet-pea came in shortly after that and asked permission to go on the computer. I like that because they are quiet and won't wake my Harrison, who I still consider my baby baby even though he is 18 months. Got out of bed, turned the heater up - it is cold in the morning. Put the kettle on and went back to bed. Sunday mornings on the radio are really good - a gardening show. We have just moved into a new house with a huge garden and we are totally excited to develop green thumbs and learn how to keep a garden and grow vegetables. Kettle has boiled so I get out of bed and make a cup of tea for me and Westley and return to bed. Westley sleeps still. I sit and enjoy the peace until Harrison wakes up. Around 8am he is awake and ready for his milk. I get him and return to bed where we snuggle back in and I breastfeed him. Westley remains asleep. 10 minutes later and Harrison is ready to get up and tackle the day. I get up too and grab some breakfast for us all. Yoghurt and strawberries - yummy... Westley is awake now and finished his tea. I choose nice clothes for the children to get dressed for church. Politely ask if Westley will dress Harrison while I shower. Then I casually shower and get ready for church. Family is ready now too so we head off. Church is a nice 5 minutes drive away and we slip in a bit late. Pastor Barry was preaching, he is so full of life it is inspiring. Message from the sermon, we are all different. Only I can be the best me, only you can be the best you. So refreshing!!

... and that was my Sunday morning. It was nice :)

Picture study

Okay, I just did some great planning for picture studies that I thought I'd share. It is really simple, but has helped me get my head around things and maybe it will help you. I first got the idea for a picture study from Charlotte Mason's writings and various websites promoting Charlotte Mason's approach to education. I am very fond of Charlotte Mason's approach to education. One of the subjects Charlotte promoted was picture study. As someone who knows very little about paintings and drawings and artists who produced famous works, I thought this was important for my children to learn to appreciate (and me at the same time!).

OUTCOMES

1. To recognise that artists have his/her own style.
2. To enjoy looking at artwork or be able to appreciate the artist's talent.
3. To be able to identify an artist through his/her work.

METHOD
(some of the ideas below came from this article on the Homeschool World website).

• This method is targeted to an audience aged 5-11.
• Pick one artist to study for a few weeks.
• Look at only one picture per session.
• Talk very briefly about the artist. Keeping the information very simple like, the name of the artist, where they lived and when.
• Showing the child the picture and asking them to look at it for a few minutes.
• Asking the child to talk about the picture. What do they see? How does it make them feel? What colours are they using? As the child gets older I would remove the picture and ask them to describe it, or draw what they remember of it.
• Potential activity (I will treat this activity as purely optional at each session): Child can reproduce the artwork, or how the artwork makes them feel in their own way somehow. Ie, painting, drawing, craft, pasting.

RESOURCES

• Pictures will be found mostly online.
• Library might be good after we have studied the one artist for a few weeks so we can see multiple works in one (different) setting to bring it all together.
• A trip to the art museum.

ARTISTS TO STUDY

• Claude Monet (I plan to start with this one because I think it will appeal to Sunshine).
• Thomas Kinkade (we love his paintings so much, I must, must, must introduce him soon!).
• The four ninja turtles, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo and Donatello (because it will be good for me to be able to distinguish each of their styles too).
• Rembrandt van Rijn
• Pablo Picasso (not a fan myself, but it will be good to show Sunshine how different artists can be).

... and that should keep us busy for the next nine months or so! I have a few more suggested artists on my list but I would like to look into them first before I officially put them on the list.

Desperate to create

I am feeling desperate to create. I consider myself as a creative person, but not in a traditional artistic way. My artistic nature never really evolved past 2nd grade. I am not good at drawing or painting. I think that what I am good at is making things out of nothing. When I was growing up I wanted a bedside table desperately, but we couldn't afford one. So I made one with drawers out of boxes and covered it with posters (which I used until my sister bought me a real one for my next birthday!). I am good at "Playschool" typed creating, children's craft and making lots of things out of boxes. I like to be creative in the kitchen too (many times out of necessity because I have to tweak a recipe to suit eating Paleo) and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't... unfortunately. Westley is not so keen on my 'experiments' because of this, however last night I had a real win so I'm on a bit of a high from that (lamb chuck-in-a-pot I decided to call it). I don't like following recipes much, but I do enjoy eating good, yummy food.

I come from a line of women who are amazing with their hands. My mother, her mother, Nanny and her sister mastered all kinds of creativity from dress making/sewing, quilting, cake decorating, amazing cooking, baking (anything that tastes out-of-this world delicious), general crafts and decorations, gardening, floristry, I think Mum has even now just added jewellery making, and the list goes on and on and on.... They are such amazing creative and competent women. So it really should not surprise me to find I get a real itching to create stuff.

I've got many projects on the go in my head but am mostly halted by funds to buy the materials. I got a you-beaut sewing machine for my birthday so many projects twirling around in my head lately have been sewing related. I've had a couple trips to the local fabric store in the last 3 days, just to check it out/dream/plan. It was great. I just wish I could run with it all, now! Today though I pulled out a scrap of pink fleece fabric Mum had given me to make a nightie for Sweet-pea. It's cute and fluffy and has cats with balloons. So in a moment of confidence this morning, I laid it out, stuck a couple of pins, got a bowl for the head, measured a bit, and got cutting! I'm going no pattern!! Learning the way I love, through experience! So, I will let you know how it goes and if I can actually figure out how to upload a pic in a post, I just might do that too.

Learning Peace

God is teaching me about peace.

I am a stress head. I stress and worry a lot. If there is nothing to stress or worry about, then I will find something however meaningless to stress and worry over. It will usually be an issue for me for a couple of days and then it will pass and I will find something new to stress about. I don't like it. It is a heavy way to live. To avoid it, I have developed a mechanism of well, avoiding it, so when I am feeling strong, I stick my head in the sand. Being an ostrich, my husband says. Ignorance truly is bliss for me. It feels peaceful, until reality smacks me in the face, or I open the door to actually thinking about it. So I am thinking that this peace that I think I have is actually not peace at all. This way of living is a contradiction to the life I am called to live in God. Far from freedom.

I've heard lots of stories about how our personal problems and failings in our personality are magnified through our children and this is something I do not want to pass on to my children. I want them to know peace, true peace that is promised to them as heirs to the kingdom of heaven. Not ignorance, but true peace despite the storm they may be passing through. I want this for me and for them. How wonderful to go through life with a peaceful heart no matter what you are going through.

A couple of weeks ago, the Holy Spirit gave me a word through a visiting pastor at my church. He said my mind is like a clothes dryer, going round and round. I'd never thought of it like that. It is exactly how it feels. The loads change but my mind keeps going round and round, drying out the new thoughts. I love hearing words from the Holy Spirit. Why does it amaze me so much that God could have such and accurate understanding of my mind and care enough to help me fix it? But I guess that is another topic. Anyway, the pastor said I need to go back to God's word. So I have started to study peace in the bible. I went out, bought a new notebook and embarked on my new spiritual adventure of learning peace, the true peace that is my (born again) birth-right.

Welcome!

My husband and I always gave great thought to the names we gave our children. We believe the meaning of a name can really impact the personality and life of a person. Naomi means 'pleasant'. I have kind of always struggled with identifying with it. I mean, I have been described as pleasant many times, and I have a general perception of myself as being pleasant. But still... it's not very exciting, is it? So trying to find a blog name that described me and my journey, I started to look up pleasant, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this in Wikipedia:

"pleas·ant/ˈplezənt/Adjective

1. Giving a sense of happy satisfaction or enjoyment.

2. (of a person or their manner) Friendly and considerate; likable."

Suddenly, pleasant had new meaning and I liked it! I am friendly and considerate. I think of myself as likable (on a good day!) and I am always seeking a sense of happy satisfaction or enjoyment. I like that a lot! So, since my blog is going to be about my journey as I grow in my role as a child of God, a true wife, a nurturing mum and home educator, it only made sense I embraced me and brought more meaning to my pleasantness by naming the blog after it and my journey. Welcome to Pleasant Paths :)