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?