Sunday, October 12, 2014
Friday, October 10, 2014
My Babywearing Journey
This is probably one of my favorite things I have ever written about. If you know me personally and have had a baby in the last 9 years, chances are, I've either talked to you about babywearing, made you a carrier or BOTH! =) I'm very passionate about it because, honestly, to me it's one of the secrets to being a happy parent!
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| I'm in no way advocating wearing this carrier in this way, it was uncomfortable and unsafe! That's when my mind started churning and I started to think, "Could I make a carrier that would work better?" After all, I tend to enjoy making things myself, and while I was pregnant I had taught myself to sew by making cloth diapers for my son.  |
| Why, yes, I did make that diaper myself! Thanks for asking! ;) |
So I started to search online and found thebabywearer.com forum and lots of helpful mamas and advice! This was before there were a million youtube videos on the subject and so many different brands of carriers that there are now! I made a Mei Tai first, which is a carrier that you tie shorter straps around your waist and them longer straps crossed over your back (or front) to tie the baby on to you.
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| They are BOTH pretty cute if you ask me! This opened up a whole new world for me! The baby could be happy and content snuggled close to mom and I could get things done, or go on a walk! When my son was little, it was winter and we lived up North, we tried to take him on a walk in the cold in his stroller.
When we got home the poor baby was freezing! Even under all that covering. I started to think I would just have to stay indoors until it got warm again and I thought I would go stir crazy! But then when I started babywearing, I realized I could put him in a carrier and then put a large coat around us both! |
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| After a long walk, see those rosy red cheeks? I even made a coat with a hole in the back of it, so I could wear him on my back as he got bigger and still take a walk in the cold.
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Thursday, October 9, 2014
Lemon Caraway Seed Cookies: Sourdough and Non-Sourdough Method
"Everything was in train for supper. There was to be stewed chicken, with 'riz biscuits' and honey, raspberry preserves, spiced peaches, fruitcake and caraway-seed cookies with delectable sugary tops." excerpt from Phoebe Dean by Grace Livingston Hill copyright 1909
"That was twelve long years ago, and they had not forgotten! They were coming to see her, and wanted some caraway cookies! A glad light leaped into her face, and she lifted her eyes to the gray distance." excerpt from Cloudy Jewel by Grace Livingston Hill copyright 1920
Some of the links in this article are "affiliate links". this means if you click on a link and you buy a product, I receive a small compensation, Thank You! This is disclosed on the top of every post in accordance with the FTC regulations for bloggers.
Have you ever read a story and got caught up in a simple phrase, mention of a food or style of dress? Particularly, if the book is from a time you did not live in, or a place you have not visited. This is how this recipe came about for me.
When I read two separate references, by the same author, for Caraway seed cookies, I was intrigued. I had some Caraway seeds in with my spices that had sat in the jar for a long time, but I had never used them and really wasn't sure what they were for. So I began to search online and I found this absolute GEM of a blog article complete with newspaper clippings and old time poetry about Caraway cookies! I think one of the things that I love about learning about a different time or place is that it gives us a different idea about ourselves! We don't realize sometimes how we have categorized something in our lives to be only useful in a specific way - and yet it may be completely arbitrary that we do so! This applies to cookies as well as deeper subjects. ;)
Because I love learning about herbs and spices as well, I decided to look up Caraway seeds and find out what benefits they may have. I found out they are a powerful anti-oxidant and a galactagogue (herbs that promotes milk production in nursing moms). On to the cookies!!
Sourdough Lemon Caraway Seed Cookies
(makes about 2 dozen cookies)
What you'll need:
To be combined the night(or 8 hours in advance) before
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup of unsalted butter or coconut oil
1 cup Whole Wheat or Rye Flour
1 TBS Caraway seeds
Combine these ingredients until they make a thick dough. Cover with a cloth and sour your dough for at least 8 hours, I like to leave it souring overnight.
In the morning, or 8 hours later you'll need:
PREHEAT your oven to 375 line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2/3 cup coconut sugar (you could use Sucanat as well, however it will raise your blood sugar more)
1 egg
1 tsp pure lemon extract
1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 TBS lemon zest (optional)
The baking soda is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to a non-sour tasting sourdough recipe, if you forget it once you'll never live it down with your children (ask me how I know...).
Sourdough Cookies will not be super crispy, but that doesn't stop them from being super delicious! Something about the combination of Lemon and Caraway in this recipe is so super yummy! The first time we made them we brought them to the beach with us (which is a great place to eat them since the anti-oxidants can help your body fight the free-radicals in the UV rays of the sun!) They were gone before we reached home!
If you don't have any sourdough starter on hand, or if crispy cookies are essential to your enjoyment of them, don't worry! You can still make these delicious cookies, have the health benefits of a soaked grain! If you would like to make your own soaked grain, I have used this method from Kitchen Stewardship before with good results. There's an Amazon link below that you can use to purchase it if your do not want to make your own.
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| these are still the sourdough variety, the others disappeared before I got a picture! |
Lemon Caraway Seed Cookies (Non-Sourdough Recipe)
(makes about 2 dozen cookies)
Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2 cups sprouted whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter or coconut oil
1 TBS Caraway seeds
2/3 cup coconut sugar (you could use Sucanat as well, however it will raise your blood sugar more)
1 egg
1 tsp pure lemon extract
1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 TBS lemon zest (optional)
In a mixing bowl, combine the butter (or coconut oil) with the coconut sugar and mix well. Add the egg, lemon extract and caraway seeds. Traditional baking methods would then tell you to combine in a separate bowl the flour, baking soda and salt. If you would like to do it that way, that's fine. I do not want to have another bowl to wash and so I add the baking soda and sea salt to the mixed ingredients and mix them well, then I add the flour. (and it's always turn out fine this way). Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 375 for 10-15 min.
This second method will create less rise to your cookies and a crispier texture. I don't have a picture of the second method, the cookies disappeared before I could take one. ;)
I hope you and your family love these cookies as well and that they give you a new useful spice that perhaps you've never used before! I'd love to hear about it if your try this recipe and what you think of them!
If you are interested in learning more about the Christian author Grace Livingston Hill there is a great website here and many of her books are available for free as scanned copies in ebook form through Amazon, Google books, etc. She wrote more than 100 books in her lifetime and supported her family through writing after her husband died.
For any and all medical advice please see a qualified medical professional.
I am a blogger, not a medical professional. In compliance with the FDA regulations, any advice is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Thank You! Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Free Printable: Scripture Memorization Psalm 23
Some of the links on this page are "affiliate links", which means if you click on them and purchase something I receive a small compensation, Thank You! This is disclosed on the top of the page in accordance with the FTC regulations.
Here's a free printable for you! This is one of the methods we use to teach our children to memorize Scripture. We print out these pages with pictures to go along every few lines of the verse. Then we start by Mommy reading through the Scripture a few times and pointing at each picture. (I like to stick the pages in plastic sheets or they will get crumpled and stained very quickly in our house!) Then I ask each child to try and read it with me. Usually at first they may only get a word here or there. But we practice it once every day and overtime I am just pointing to the pictures as they do all the reading.
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| ^-- Click on the Picture to get your free printable!! --^ |
For older children who can read the words, the next step is to turn the page around so they can not see the words at all, but if your children are young and cannot read yet you can skip this last step.
What age do I start Scripture memorization with my children? Well, it depends on the child and their language skills, some of my children had quite a lot of vocabulary and ability to express themselves by age 2, I started to work with them on it at that age, however, several of my children were closer to 3 years old before they could communicate well enough to memorize.
There are several other resources I recommend for learning Scripture with your children. We love the Songs for Saplings CD's! This one is our favorite, but they have several other CD's as well like this and this. Each CD has Scripture songs that not only teach the scripture, but the chapter and verse as well. The songs are fun and easy to memorize and I love hearing my children march around the house singing Scripture songs, or jump into family devotions because they remember a verse that goes a long with what we are discussing.
There are also some great printables over at Hubbard's Cubbord which we have used in the past to sing during family devotions. The printables give a popular children's song suggestion to match the tune to the verse. I find that not only my children, but my husband and myself have all learn a lot more Scripture simply by singing it!
I hope this free printable along with the other resources help you learn Scripture with your children as well! Here's a short video to close with. This is my second son at about age 3 reciting Psalm 23 using the same method as I described above. He didn't have it quite memorized fully yet, but he's still a joy to listen to!
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Preschoolers and Peace Review
If you have young children and you are a homeschooling mom, you are ALWAYS looking for ideas, support and advice to help keep them busy while your work with your older children. Kendra Fletcher at Preschoolers and Peace has a new E-book for moms with just such help in mind. I received a PDF version of "Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling older kids with success while loving the little ones at your feet" to read and review.
There is also a Resources section in the back of the book with lots of articles and for implementing the ideas in each chapter.
For the last nine years we have had a baby in our home and I have been either pregnant or nursing, with few breaks in between. Kendra has the wisdom of experience that she speaks from in the book being a mother of 8 herself, she has spent much of her life as a homeschooling mom, also as a mother with small babies underfoot. There are many things that I know I have learned and grown through as we added more children to our family. There is a wisdom and a strength that can come through the denying of self that is required of mom's of lots of littles. We can either choose to allow ourselves to be sharpened and refined and encourage others walking the same path behind us, or we can choose to allow it to embitter us and harbor resentment in our hearts for what we can not have and can not do in this season of our lives. Kendra states this so well when she says:
This book is a quick read and an encouragement to those of us who are struggling to find a balance in teaching our older kids and still keeping our younger ones productively occupied. There are also some ideas on how to have activities that engage all age levels at once, such as during a family circle time. Kendra calls us to re-evaluate our priorities and be sure that we are not turning homeschooling into an idol, which is a good reminder. I found encouragement, camaraderie and good ideas to try and implement in my own home in this book's pages. The E-book is just $2.99 for you to purchase.
Preschoolers and Peace offers practical advice on how you can help your younger, under-school-age children stay busy and engaged in age-appropriate activities leaving you free to focus on your older children. The author says it is a "best of" book based on her posts from her blog. The book is 47 pages long and includes the chapters:
- What a Homeschooling Mom Needs
- Preparing Yourself to Homeschool Older Kids With Little Ones Underfoot
- Planning Around Preschoolers
- How Do I Keep Them Busy?
- What Does a 2-Year-Old’s Day Look Like?
- How Do I Get Any Preschooling Done?
- How Not to Just Kill Time
- Circle Time: Or How We Pull the Little Ones In
- Preschool Boys
- When All of Your Kiddos Are Preschoolers
- Preschool Chores
- Planning for Preschool
- When Mama is Worn Out (or Pregnant)
- Meal Planning 101
For the last nine years we have had a baby in our home and I have been either pregnant or nursing, with few breaks in between. Kendra has the wisdom of experience that she speaks from in the book being a mother of 8 herself, she has spent much of her life as a homeschooling mom, also as a mother with small babies underfoot. There are many things that I know I have learned and grown through as we added more children to our family. There is a wisdom and a strength that can come through the denying of self that is required of mom's of lots of littles. We can either choose to allow ourselves to be sharpened and refined and encourage others walking the same path behind us, or we can choose to allow it to embitter us and harbor resentment in our hearts for what we can not have and can not do in this season of our lives. Kendra states this so well when she says:
"It's always good to ask the Lord where to revamp and then make a few changes. When we're living in the assurance of the Gospel- when we remember that we are already loved and accepted right where we are- it can be a lot easier to drop activities or obligations that are really more about pleasing other people than about our health, our families, or our God."
Saying what our priorities really are and living them out are two very different things. Are we really living out and practicing what we preach each day? Our kids are watching us, and they see the inconsistencies in our lives more than we do sometimes. It's a good reminder to us to take care and not think we are "super mom" who can do everything at once.
This book is a quick read and an encouragement to those of us who are struggling to find a balance in teaching our older kids and still keeping our younger ones productively occupied. There are also some ideas on how to have activities that engage all age levels at once, such as during a family circle time. Kendra calls us to re-evaluate our priorities and be sure that we are not turning homeschooling into an idol, which is a good reminder. I found encouragement, camaraderie and good ideas to try and implement in my own home in this book's pages. The E-book is just $2.99 for you to purchase.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Institute for Excellence in Writing Review
IEW has a unique way that they have developed their complete grammar program. They use classic literature and turn the student into the editor. Each week there are new "mistakes" in the literature's text that the student must watch out for and correct. In Book One, The Nose Tree, they are learning valuable language arts and grammar skills such as identifying parts of speech, which homophone is a appropriate in a certain sentence, end marks, quotations, indents, and more. All while learning a classic story from literature.
Fix it! Grammar has curriculum for third grade and up, we were just on the cusp of this age range, since our oldest student has just entered the third grade and is not, as of yet, a strong reader or writer. There is a placement test provided on their website to help you decide which books is the best fit for your student. The language in the book was not too difficult for him and though he has not had extensive practice learning his parts of speech or practicing correct grammar in his writing practice, this program was actually a perfect fit for him!
He enjoyed the story and often asked to go on further, because he was curious to know what would happen next. Though his printing and spacing are still not strong yet, this curriculum is an opportunity to practice his writing as well by copying his sentence each day into a notebook and by looking up the definitions of a new word and copying them as well. The lessons take only 15 minutes a day, which makes them VERY easy to add into the rest of your English curriculum without adding a cumbersome amount a seated schoolwork to your day. The spiral-bound format of the workbook is also excellent for the practicality of our typically crowded table filled with books and materials.
The Student Workbook is available on the IEW website for $15 and the Teacher's manual for $19. We truly found this program to be an invaluable tool as part of our English studies. Not only was it helpful for my son to learn many of these important skills for the first time, it truly helped me as his teacher, brush up on a lot of grammar skills that had become foggy to me over time.
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Tuesday, September 23, 2014
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