HappyMama

This little lemon plant would naturally be found in a more tropical climate than ours, but it’s a miniature, and we aren’t letting it freeze. The white blossoms it produces smell amazing. It currently has about 2 dozen little green lemons on it, and a few are turning yellow now. Behind it is our orange plant, which also has a few tiny fruits right now. Our banana plant grows huge leaves, but is a while away from producing. I enjoy caring for these plants, which started out as dormant “sticks” nearly 2 years ago. The boys help care for them, and I think it’s good for them to watch food growing.  You can buy them from seed catalogs like this one.

On nice-weather days the boys love to make “race-tracks” on the drive way with chalk, wide enough for the bike, trike, & scooter. (Usually mom gets roped into helping with the basic out-line.) Then the 4-y-old spends a long time drawing in the details, like gas stations, crosswalks, and speed limit signs. He teaches his little brother how to drive quickly past the higher numbers (say, 1000 mph), and slowly by the small numbers (5 mph). They have a ball. I could facetiously say that this is home schooling math, art, & PE, but the boys just call it being Lightning McQueen.

Well I admit it’s been a rough week.  Illness & the consequential total lack of energy was tempting me toward the blues.  It seemed like I just couldn’t get caught up with anything, let alone do any extra fun activities!  Then grandpa arrived and played with the kids all day and I actually did get caught up.  (Well, at least enough to feel sane again.  And hubby can wear clean clothes to work tomorrow.)  So a huge thanks to my dad today!  They wrestled, played outside, searched for bugs, put together puzzles at the library while I gathered a dozen new books, then read and read and read.  Good day.

And just in time for Thanksgiving, here’s my favorite cranberry jello recipe.  Our playgroup is having a luncheon tomorrow, so I made it and it’s just on my mind.   Mom used to make this once a year, for this holiday, and then because it was one of my favorite menu items, I decided to get the recipe and make it more often than annually!  Let’s see if I can remember it…

• 2 small boxes red jello - dissolve in 3 C boiling water.  Add 1 C. sugar.
• 1 can crushed pineapple - drain, add the juice to the jello - stir and let it start to set while you…
• in a food processor grind 1 bag cranberries (partially frozen seems to work best,) 2 or 3 apples, and 1 entire orange (including peel, but no big seeds.) 
• mix everything together.  Add chopped walnuts if you want.  Refrigerate for several hours.

A while back I sat down and wrote out everything I want my children to learn by the time they are 18 years old.  Whether that knowledge & experience occurs through home schooling, tutoring, public, or private school systems, the goals are the same. 

I like to categorize.  I began grouping together my goals and ended up with 6 different areas of study, which I prioritized according to general importance.  Under each of the 6 areas were a set of specific goals to achieve and then a set of sample topics.  Sure, as the years go by, I’ll end up re-wording, tweaking, and adding things, plus we’ll take into account each child’s natural abilities or handicaps.

Maybe because I’m a “list” person and a visual learner I needed to see these goals drawn out.  Maybe you other parents out there don’t need such a list, because most of the things are obvious.  What the list did for me, however, was:

1. It put into perspective the length of time I have to raise my children.  I don’t have to teach them everything today.  We don’t have to cover each subject, each year.
2. It gave me a visual hierarchy of importance among the areas of study.  It’s more important that my sons understand their faith than become violin virtuosos.  Both would be nice, but when time constraints rear their heads, then I have a clear sense of what topics to choose. 
3. It is helping me fully appreciate the fact that everything we do as a family is part of the children’s education.  Teaching them some day to hunt and fish, how to properly brush their teeth, and to appreciate both quiet times and great classical music scores are all part of our goals, just as algebra and geography are.  I have come to believe that time spent outdoors in nature (”God’s text-book”) and time spent taking care of younger siblings is as important in the big scheme of life as how to take a spelling test.  Wrestling with a 2-year-old and snuggling with an infant are educational activities, not just nice ideas.  We are raising human beings, not robots, and my goal for them is Heaven, not Harvard.  (Unless they get offered a full ride, ha ha ha.)
4. And finally, it has made my lesson planning easier.  I recently mapped out my plans for the next 2 grades - and I simply went through all 6 areas of study & decided what I want to accomplish.  It really was an easy way to plan!

3 doctor visits so far this past week, and probably one more today… not much else to post about!  Just waiting for all my meds to help me kick this nasty cold…