The Value of Menu Planning

One of the things I started doing during the early years is meal planning.  I know that you groan when you hear that, but let me tell you how simple it can be.

Instead of writing a grocery list, I typed a complete day worth of food into my computer, along with the groceries needed.

Meal Plan	Grocery List
Oatmeal, Ham sandwiches and fruit, chicken parmesan with green beans and a salad	Oatmeal, milk, raisins, pecans, brown sugar Bread, sliced ham, pickles, mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes Fruit on sale Chicken breasts, canned diced tomatoes, oregano, basil, parmesan cheese, green beans, spaghetti, lettuce, tomato, dressing, cucumber
Breakfast burritos, tuna salad sandwiches, crock pot roast and a salad	Tortillas, eggs, salsa Bread, tuna, mayonnaise, pickles, lettuce, carrots Pot roast, red potatoes, beef broth, browning sauce, cream of mushroom soup, yellow onion, carrots

I normally do this for 5 days.  The weekends were always crazy with church, birthday parties, athletics, and family fun.  We’d eat left overs one day and then go out the other day, so 5 days is enough.  And they were all in separate documents, with the title of the dinner as the name.

I also planned AT LEAST one crock pot meal for the days where the Little League game started at 4:00 PM, and we’d all come home starving at 6:00 PM.  With the Crockpot (or typically more than one) we were read to eat at home.  Also, I almost always had a soup day on Thursdays.  

Before we went to AWANA, I would serve soup and salad.  The original reason for doing this was because typically braces were adjusted on Wednesday, and someone always had a sore mouth.  And then I found that extra students might be at my table as we were carpooling from one event to another, and more people needed to eat.  The funny thing is that the last person in braces was out of them about 3 years ago and we haven’t attended AWANA in about 5 years, but now we host a young adult fellowship and some of these young adults come straight from class or straight from work, and soup is something that can keep them from stopping on the way from class or work, and they can concentrate on the Bible study.  Always good to throw soup on the dinner meal plan.

The other thing to note is that I did this on my computer.  No lists scratched on scrap paper.  I had a plan.  The beauty of this is that you can start small.  Do one week.  The next week, if you don’t have time to do another week, just print out last week’s meal plan.  Sometimes your family will never notice that you had spaghetti and meatballs two weeks in a row!  And sometimes they would really love that!  At the end of the month, you could have 20 days built up, and your meal planning is done for the rest of your life!  (Or until you make the next dietary change trying to cook healthier!)  Since I had them in their own document, I could print out and mix and match weeks.  In my current Menu Planning folder, I have 90 documents.  Probably 80 of them are meals from over the years.

I also did special meal plans.  We have celebrated a Passover Seder for many years (about 19).  At some point, and I don’t remember when, I put the whole ceremonial meal on my computer, shopping list, menu, etc.  I alternated hosting it with another family.  One year, she called me on Monday, and said that she didn’t think she pull it together to host it because of what was going on in their family.  It is held on the Thursday before Easter.  I got on my computer and found:

Passover Dinner
Pascal Lamb Thin slice 2 cloves garlic and place in slits in lamb 2" apart. Rub outside of lamb with seasoning salt and paprika (generously) Place in roaster fat side up and sear uncovered in 450 degree oven for 30 minutes Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake uncovered Last hour of baking add 3 cans of butter beans with juice (Sea Side brand) Partial boil carrots in microwave 10-15 minutes, add to lamb without juice. Sprinkle seasoned salt and pepper on vegetables to taste Cover and let bake remaining hour Cook instructions: 3-4 pounds -> 3-3 ½ hours @ 325 degress Potato Pancakes Salad of Mixed Greens	Seder Plate Charoset: 6-8 apples peeled and chopped finely, 1 cup pecans chopped finely, add honey and cinnamon to taste, ½ cup grape juice Roasted Eggs - hard boil with tea bags Parsley Horseradish Grape Juice Matzah Matzah Ball Soup Unleavened Cake
Shopping list
Lamb garlic seasoned salt paprika butter beans (Sea Side brand) 2 bags of carrots pepper Potato Pancake mix Bag of Salad Eggs Grape Juice Matzah Parsley Horseradish Matzah Ball Soup Unleavened Cake Mix	8 apples pecans honey cinnamon strawberries on top of cake

I could actually print out my list on Monday, run to the store on Tuesday, start cooking on Wednesday, and be ready to host on Thursday!

I also have menu plans set up like this, with recipes, and a shopping list all on one page for:  Thanksgiving, Easter, and Christmas.

And I figured out a timeline for timing and put it in a document for Thanksgiving like this:

To do Thanksgiving Day:

8:00

Walk

9:00

Shower

10:00

Pumpkin Soup in Crockpot

Hard boil eggs

Set table

11:00

Make toppings for the casseroles

Make Stuffing

Make Green Bean Casserole

Make Spinach/Artichoke Casserole

Make Green salad

Arrange cranberry sauce

11:30

Prepare Turkeys for oven

Make deviled eggs

12:00

Put 1st Turkey in the oven

Put bread in bread maker

1:00

Put 2nd Turkey in the oven

2:00

Cook dinner rolls

Set up drink station

2:30

Make Corn bread

3:00

Put in oven:

Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

Take casseroles out of refrigerator, put on toppings

Make appetizer plate

3:30

Pull out Turkeys

Put in oven: Carrot Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green bean Casserole

Spinach/Artichoke Casserole

Start coffee pot

3:45

Put out drinks:

½ and ½

ice cubes

4:00

Put topping on Green Bean Casserole

Put stuffing in oven

Put out butter

4:30

Carve Turkeys

Set out at 4:55

Turkey

Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce

Green Salad

Spinach/Artichoke casserole

Carrot/cheese casserole

Sweet potato casserole

Macaroni/cheese casserole

Green bean casserole

Jell-o Salad

Dinner rolls

Light candles

That was for a 5:00 PM Thanksgiving.  I just change the timing if we’re eating at 2:00 PM! And I found it very useful to be able to cross things off as I put them on the table at 4:55. Gone are the days of finding that jell-0 salad as you are putting left overs away!

I also have a meal plan for something like a week in the mountains, where you’d rather be playing in the snow than cooking.  A meal plan like that includes frozen lasagnas and corn dogs, so don’t use it all of the time.

Anyway, we have the technology, we should use it!  There are many apps out there.  Find one that works for you.  Since I started on my computer, I haven’t really altered anything because to get into one routine that works for you is good enough.  And, what’s that saying?  “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

Now, some points on grocery shopping:  I have a very vivid memory of being in Costco in 1997.  Andrew was in the sling, with the carseat on a flatbed cart, Philip was sitting “criss cross applesauce” on the flatbed cart, Stephen was tethered to the cart with a leash (for those that knew him in the wandering days, this will make perfect sense), Priscilla had my list, crossing things off as we procured them, David took things off the shelves as we needed them, and I was pushing the flatbed cart.  Half way through we ran out of space on the cart, (mostly because Philip had stretched out and fallen asleep, and Stephen had joined him, much to my relief) and I needed to figure out how to get my shopping done.  10 year old David ran and got another cart and two hours later, we got out the door and then I got the opportunity to break things into smaller packages and put everything away, which took another 2 hours between emptying the car, nursing Andrew, getting the toddler and preschooler settled and finding places for all the things we had purchased.  That was my last time in Costco for regular shopping.  That was my last time shopping while all 5 of them were home.  I would only make an occasional trip when we were having a major party (and I needed 200 chicken wings) and I cut my Costco trips to one or two a year.  Seriously.

At the time, there was a new online store called HomeGrocers.com.  I decided to give them a try.  At first it was painful because they charged $10 to deliver.  The first time I used them, and paid my $10, I realized that it was REALLY worth the $10.  Over the course of the month I cut $200 off my grocery budget.  Imagine this:  you’re walking past the butter in the grocery store.  You think, “Do I need butter?  I don’t know.  Well, I’m here now, and I don’t know when I’m going to load all of these kids up again, so I better buy it.”  Sound familiar?  Now this is how the scenario goes on online shopping:  “Oh, there’s the butter that I ordered from my last order.  Do I need butter?  I should get up and go to the refrigerator and look.”  You can see how you save money from that one little scenario.  Never mind 5 kids in the cereal aisle.  HomeGrocers.com went out of business in about 2001.  It was a great concept, a wonderful website, but they didn’t know how to be a grocery store.  Since then, I have suffered through good grocery stores that have subpar websites.  Hey, I’m not complaining.  Never again did I walk into Costco with 5 little kids.  Over the time I have used:  whyrunout.com (run by Stater Bros.), Albertons.com, and Vons.com.  Don just cut out an article this summer (2013) of the following websites:  WeGoShop.com, shop.safeway.com, WinderFarms.com, Spud.com, USGrocer.com, ShopFoodEx.com, AmazonFresh.com

As we have grown into a smaller family, and have learned more about nutrition, I still shop online, but I’m more inclined to run to the store for specialty organic items.  Plus, the grocery store isn’t bad when you only have one.  But, there is nothing like having your doorbell ring, and having a man carry your groceries into your kitchen.  It went from a four hour ordeal to a 30 minute ordeal.

And for those that ask, “How do you know if they’ll bring good produce?”  First of all, I’m not an expert, so someone else knocking on a watermelon is probably just as good as me knocking on a watermelon.  However, they want to keep their customers, so I have only had one experience with an old fruit platter.  And when I emailed them about it, they called right away and brought another one out.  For the other 16 years, the produce is better than I would have ever picked myself.

Meal planning is always cheaper, always healthier, and always a good way to get your family to sit down at the dinner table.  I would encourage you to try it.

Teaching Children to Spell

Spelling is one of those subjects that either comes easily or makes you want to pull your hair out.  With five children, I got more than one of each, spanning the spectrum.

People talk about teaching your children to “sight read”.  Eventually, we all sight read.  We don’t use phonics to sound out words we have become accustomed to reading.  However, if you run across the word “otorhinolaryngologist”, chances are you had to sound it out to read it, using phonics.

With my kinesthetic learner, we walked through phonics.  Every diphthong, every blend, every sound.  We walked through them all.  By the end of Kindergarten he was reading well.  When we started spelling in first grade, it was easy for him, as he employed phonics. 

When we got to fourth grade, and we started learning more spelling rules “i before e except after c”, when to double the consonant and delineating between “hoping” and “hopping”, it was a seamless transition.  My eldest son was off to a good start with spelling.

Part of it I credited to using Bob Jones University Press Spelling.  According to the teacher’s manual I was supposed to give a pre-test, a mid-week test, and a final test on Friday.  The way I managed it without spending 30 minutes on spelling every day, was to record the spelling words from the chapter on a cassette tape.  He actually found it fun to give himself the pre-test with the cassette player and earphones.  At the beginning of the school year, it would take me maybe an hour to go through all of the words in the entire book, even with making up sentences as I went.  I said the word, used the word in a sentence, and then said the word again.  It worked well for us.  The demise came with my younger children and the cassette player broke and we were never able to replace it!

In fifth grade, he decided he wanted to participate in the school spelling bee.  Maybe that is an understatement.  He decided he wanted to WIN the school spelling bee.  We were given a list of 500 words that defied all of the rules.  At the end of the list, we discovered words that even I didn’t know!  Yes, fifth grade spelling bee words.

Now things were getting serious, and I ended up spending 30 minutes a day on spelling bee words with him.  These weren’t coming so easy to my kinesthetic learner, so we adapted to his learning/memorization style.  He needed to write out all of these words.  Since I was working with younger kids too, we used many different styles to get it!  Here are some of the things we did:

1.        Filled the cookie sheet with shaving cream and had him spell the words in the shaving cream.

2.       Spell out words in matchbox cars on the family room floor.

3.       Filled the cookie sheet with salt and had him spell words there.

4.       Used the sand box to spell out words.

5.       The most messy, but effective?  We had brick columns in our front yard, along with a brick porch.  In each individual brick he would write a spelling word with chalk.  As he got more advanced, and we had to look up more words, he would lump them into groups, or roots.  “Theism” had its own section, as did “neuro-”!  And then you had all of the “-ologies”!  Latin roots, plurals, you name it, it had a section.

Everyday I’d set the timer for 30 minutes, and he would work through the list of words.  Needless to say, he was very successful at the Spelling Bees.  And even more importantly, the vocabulary on the PSAT.  More on that later.

Student number two was visual.  Sight reading was easy for her.  By Christmas time in Kindergarten she was reading chapter books.  Phonics got pushed to the side.

I started noticing trouble with spelling in Second grade.  Since we hadn’t done phonics, it was hard for her to decide when to use an “i” and when to use an “e”.  The schwa sound was foreign to her and she didn’t know how to manage it in a word. 

Much to her dismay, I insisted on going back through phonics with her.  It took us about ½ a year, but in the end, I totally felt like it was worth it.  The spelling bee for her was a natural.  No writing hundreds of words on different textures.  She would read it, sound it out if she had to, look up the definition, the origin, and maybe make an index card.  I worked with her for 30 minutes on spelling bee words starting in 5^th grade.  When the timer would go off, she would continue working on her own.   She was VERY successful at the Spelling Bees, and again, more importantly on the vocabulary on the PSAT.

In fact, she was the one who called it to my attention.  When my eldest got his PSAT scores back, he was strong in math, which I expected.  I was surprised when he did really well in the vocabulary section of the PSAT.  The next year, she took the PSAT and had a perfect score on the vocabulary.  As I was comparing scores, I commented on the perfect vocabulary scores.  She said, matter-of-factly, “Well, of course mom, those were all of the spelling bee words.”  Something my younger three didn’t want to hear, because it gave me the resolve to work through the spelling bee words with all of them!  Over the course of 4 years, we would cover about 2000 words.

Two more of mine have taken the PSAT, and so far, only one vocabulary word has been missed!

The verdict is still out for my fifth student.  My elementary spelling program fell apart when the cassette player became obsolete.  I have one more that learned to sight read, and we’re still struggling with spelling because I didn’t go back and do phonics with him like I did the older one that learned to sight read.  We also skipped the spelling bee for the most part.  I’m hoping that with some diligence, we’ll get through the elementary spelling program, and get the through the words on the spelling bee lists.  I’m hoping that reading out loud will still help, and we can walk through pronunciations, origins, and meanings of hundreds of words before he has to take the PSAT.

I have 1 year.  Let’s see what I can get done.

Teaching Literature to High School Boys

 You'd think that since I've been homeschooling for 21 years, I'd be an expert at most things.  You'd think that having taught four high school boys Literature for a total of 11 years, with 4 years more to go, that I'd have it down.  You'd think.

British Lit has been one of those hair-pulling experiences for my boys.  Of course, my daughter loved it.  She reads faster than I do, and by fourth grade I couldn't pre-read her anymore!  (Pre-read:  the act of reading a book so that you could determine whether or not the content was worthy of sticking into her brain!)  By the time we got to Brit Lit, she was raring to go and I couldn't assign her enough books to keep her happy.

I do remember one agonizing time of reading Wuthering Heights and I was trying to get my son to love it as much as I did. I was at a loss, as he complained, and rightly so, that there were too many characters with the same name.  My daughter and I ended up drawing a map of the two houses, and putting the appropriate characters in the right house.

Number 2 son, just wanted to read.  If there were murders and war, he'd happily soak it in.

So, now I'm on sons 3 and 4.  One of them loves to read, but doesn't want to write about it.  The other one only wants to read sports stories.  So, how do I tackle Brit Lit?

Thanks to son number 1, Wuthering Heights is off of the list!  It was determined that if it was a female author, they would watch the movie, but they didn't want to read it.  We enjoyed Jane Eyre via Netflix last week.

I had asked last Spring if anyone wanted to join in, as I lesson planned for 5 Brit Lit novels.  I figured I'd have to do the gory novels, the war-fraught novels, and novels with murder and intrigue.  No one bit last Spring, so this summer I picked my 5 books:  Henry VIII, Pilgrim's Progress, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and some Dickens' novel.  A friend emailed in July and said she might be interested, and that they were going to read Romeo and Juliet.  OK, I can switch out Henry VIII with Romeo and Juliet.  And I began lesson planning for Pilgrim's Progress and Frankenstein.  I really wish there were stand alone Teacher's Manuals, but alas, that wasn't to be, so I started reading and plotting and planning.

Fortunately, there was just enough killing in Romeo and Juliet to capture the imagination of the guys.  They read it without complaining.  We talked about world views, morals of the story, history of the story and all of the literary components in between.  They were ready for the book club meeting.  They really did get a lot more out of it than I thought!

For Pilgrim's Progress, they are drawing a map of Christian's journey through the land.  I'll post pictures when they are done.

When the youngest was in fourth grade, my friend Amber Healy introduced me to a "lap book".  I had heard of them, but had never done one with my kids.  It was really a fun way to walk through California History.  And it was very elaborate.  Every year since then, I have looked for "lap books" for certain topics.  I wished there were kits that you could buy everything already cut out.  I wished there could be lap book ideas for the topics I was teaching.  I wished there could be lap books for high school level.  I wished.  I wished.  And I wished.  So, finally, as I've been struggling to find innovative ideas to teach my kinesthetic learner Brit Lit, I decided last year that I'd create my own lap books.  The one below is for Frankenstein.  And I'm going to publish it on the web, so that if anyone else wants to do a lap book on Frankenstein (am I truly the only one with a kinesthetic high schooler?), they will have access to my ideas.  And I'm certain that anyone can improve upon them, because my ideas are very simple.

Here is my instruction sheet:

Instructions for Mary Shelley’s

Frankenstein

Hands-on book

Put the title of the book, backed with scrapbook paper, on the top front of the folder, with the folder lying sideways.

Attach the Tree, the Cottage, and the School House to the front of the folder. On the tree, attach green leaves, with the names of the Frankenstein Family members.  On the Cottage, pink, write the names of the occupants of the cottage, plus their visitors.  On the School House, red, write the names of Victor’s professors.

  Open up the folder and attach the timeline to the right side bottom.  After you’ve read a few chapters, start jotting down on the timeline when certain events happened.

In the open folder, attach the gray frame to the left side top.  Trim the frame to fit inside the folder.  Cut out pictures from magazines, or from images from the internet, and organize Victor’s workshop.  OR be totally creative, and draw your own vision of Victor’s workshop.

   Using clear packing tape or duct tape, create a book using the composition notebook (representing a journal), stationery (representing the letters), and the notebook paper, with one sentence on each page summarizing the chapter.  After it is completed, attach the “binding” of the book to the open folder, above the timeline.

 On the back of the folder, attach the picture of Mary Shelley to a piece of scrapbook paper.  Type on a piece of paper that will fit on the scrapbook paper, 3 interesting items about Mary Shelley.  Attach the whole thing to the back of the folder.  You may need to use clear packing tape.

Attach the World View questions to the inside of the folder, right below your rendition of Victor’s workshop.  You may attach them to a piece of scrapbook paper.

World View

1.     What modern day activities could equate with Victor’s workshop?

2.   How does advanced technology help or hurt us today?

3.   How did technology invade nature in the story?  How does technology invade nature now?

4.   What is Mary Shelley’s commentary on the poor?

5.   What is Mary Shelley’s commentary on Natural Law?

6.   What is Mary Shelley’s view of religious freedom as mentioned in Chapter 14 in regards to Safie?

Type the themes that you found, and attach them to the back of the folder, right below Mary Shelley’s picture and facts.  You may back them with scrapbook paper.

  Fold up the 3 pieces of scrapbook paper.  Two of them are 5”x4” (fold to make them 2.5”) and one is 12” x 2” (fold to make it 6”).  Attach the 3 pieces of scrapbook paper along the side of the notebook/journal and in between the time line and the notebook/journal.  Attach the name of the characters you wish to analyze.  You have four to choose from.  On the inside of each character write either one each of the physical, emotional, and psychological traits.  OR, write 3 traits of one of those subjects. 

We have 3 students that will be joining us in two months, after they have read Frankenstein.  So, each of the five will create their own lap book prior to our meeting.  I instructed them to create their folder with whatever theme they wanted.  Gothic?  Romantic?  Or just create the book by meeting the bare elements of the assignment.  We'll see what they do and I'll post pictures of each of their creations.

UPDATE:  I am posting their creations!  This worked out great for everyone!

The boys did a far more simple job.  They met the basic requirements.  Still it was a lot of fun.

 The gal with the yellow folder added an additional pocket for the diary entries.  She even burned the edges of the paper to give it an aged look.  She also took pictures off of the internet of the characters for her timeline and her character analyses.

Next, we have the second red folder.  This gal chose to use her imagination and drew her rendition of Victor's workshop.  She had everything neatly labeled.



The themes that stuck out to her were:  Secrecy, Knowledge and Revenge.





The next red folder was done by a very creative gal:

She had very neat and artistic letterings, notes and paper backings!  Her themes included:  Seeking knowledge can lead to ruin; and Loneliness can have devastating effects on human lives.

When we all met together to discuss the book Frankenstein, I made some special snacks.

Our Veggies

Our sweets

Our salty (Chips and guacamole)

Our Fruit

The kids humored me by trying everything!

Here is my lesson plan:

Frankenstein Lesson Plan

7:00 - Open in prayer

7:05 - share lap books

7:15 - Read a louds:

Chapter 5 - 2nd paragraph - Victor proud of himself
Chapter 15 - 12th paragraph - half way down to start “...Their happiness was not decreased...” - Monster - to Victor Frankenstein
Chapter 20 - 10th paragraph - The Monster to Victor Frankenstein
Chapter 24 - 14th paragraph - Victor’s resolve toward The MonsterChapter 24 - second to the last paragraph - The Monster to Mr. Wallton

7:30 - The plot - 3 separate plot lines:  Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, The Monster.  Give a brief synopsis of each plot.

7:45 - Answer the following questions:

Are the characters of Robert Walton and Victor Frankenstein similar or dissimilar?
Discuss what is meant by the Romantic patterns found in the novel?
Describe the personality of Victor Frankenstein and the monster he creates
How does the monster learn about the world in which he lives?
Is the ending inevitable?  Do the monster and Victor have to be destroyed in order for there to be order restored among men?
The genre - How is Frankenstein both a Romantic novel and a Gothic horror novel?
Discuss the role that nature plays in this novel.
What is the significance of Milton’s Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Lives, and The Sorrows of Werter?

8:00 - go over world view questions

8:15 - Discuss themes - technology, treatment of the poor

8:30 - Character Analysis
Victor Frankenstein - family, education, job - did things to excess
The Monster - Physical appearance, adopted family, personality
Elizabeth Lavenza - family, personality
Justine Moritz - family, why she was a martyr, how she fits in Mary Shelley’s world view

Teaching Math Facts

Teaching math facts to 2^nd and 3^rd graders is kind of like wanting to lose weight.  It would just be easier to take a pill.  But, alas, just like there is no weight loss pill, there is no math fact pill!  You just need to do the work.

But first, why memorize math facts?  I made my eldest memorize math facts because that was what he was “supposed” to do.  As my children got older, we saw kids that had never memorized math facts, and consequently could NOT do simple division and multiplication problems without the use of their calculators, I became convinced that it was imperative that my younger sons memorize their math facts.  More on this later, but I don’t let my students use calculators for math until Algebra 2.  We do use a Calculator Math curriculum so that they know HOW to use their calculator, but for their math lessons, I make sure that they understand the way they need to compute everything.

I taught math facts using two tools.  We used Calculadder  http://www.schoolmadesimple.com/calculadder.html  for speed, as a drill every day.  Each page allows you to do a 2 minute to 5 minute timed test.  After my children got a perfect score on a page, I would allow them to move on to the next level.  After they were finished with all 6 books, they were done. 

Priscilla detested the math drills.  She didn’t mind doing the computation, but she did mind being timed.  She would protest that she would never be timed in real life.  One day, I had the opportunity, as we sat in a drive-thru line at Taco Bell, to teach her that sometimes we live in a timed math test.  I said to the five passenger children sitting in my 12 passenger van, “I have $10.  Figure out what you want, and how much it costs, and let’s see if we have enough for drinks!  I have until the two cars in front of me drive away from the speaker.  Oh, no!  It’s a timed math test!”  With David and Priscilla taking orders, and starting the math on the $0.69 tacos and burritos, I heard whooping and hollering, and stomping of feet as they were adding up out loud.  I’m sure Stephen was only screaming because he was trying to keep up, even though he was only 6, and Philip was just stomping his toddler feet to add to the excitement.  David proudly announced the total of what the younger set wanted.  And Priscilla proudly added that we could get 3 drinks.  She never fussed about the timed math tests after that.

The second tool I used was simple flash cards.  I had one set each of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  I would introduce a game called Penny Math.  I read about it years ago.  I’m sorry I can’t reference the original author.  As soon as they had been introduced to the 9’s in addition, I’d start them in addition. 

I’d keep a timer, a bowl of change, and the flash cards.  Each day I’d give them ONE round.  I’d set the timer to two minutes.  I’d let them answer the flash cards for the full 2 minutes.  I would give them a penny for each card they answered correctly within the two minutes.  After they answered 30 correctly, I’d move them to 1 minute for the next day.  After a couple days of trying that, when they would get to 30 answered correctly in 1 minute, I’d move to 30 seconds.  It might take a couple of weeks to get to 30 in 30 seconds, but that was the goal.  After they could do that, I would consider that their math facts were memorized.  I’d do this with the four different sets of cards (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).  I remember at one time, David said it was his goal to answer 29 in 30 seconds so that he could just keep collecting 29 cents a day.  He may have tried, but pretty much after having his math facts memorized he’d go over the 30 in the 30 seconds.

A side benefit to Penny Math.  I’d have them keep their cups of pennies within easy reach.  Sometimes, after our Penny Math drills, which typically took under 2 minutes, we’d spend more time changing pennies for nickels, nickels for quarters, and even quarters for dollars.  They learned their money values at the same time!

Answering the Questions about Schooling When You Have Toddlers and Infants

One of the biggest questions I get from young families as the new school year starts is, “What do I do with my little ones?”  Well, I only had five, which may not seem like a lot to some of you, but it felt like plenty to me.  For 12 years I taught older students (Basically all of my eldest ‘s school years) while I had at least one preschooler.  For many years I had an infant and a preschooler, while homeschooling.  The funny thing is that I started that way (David was in Kindergarten when Priscilla was 2 and ½ and Stephen was an infant), so I didn’t realize that it could be any other way.

Let me give you my overall philosophy.  Your little guys are going to take your time, no matter what you do, so you might as well give them your time up front.  Plan for it.  Schedule for it.  Make it a part of the routine.  It will be a lot less frustrating.

I had lots of ways of coping.  Some years required different tools.  I’ll list some of the different things I did to accomplish the formal part of education.  If I think of other things that I did (the things that didn’t work for me, I blocked out!) I’ll edit this post.

1.       Divided up the toys – I had 5 Rubber Maid containers, and I divided the toys into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  The Legos were left out all week, along with the Thomas the Tank train track (along with pictures of previously made tracks to be copied), and the dress up box.  We’d only open one container each day.  Then, at the end of the day, we put the toys back in the same container and they wouldn’t see them until the next week.  Yes, I had enough toys to fill more than 5 Rubber Maid containers!

2.      Flip school hours -  One year our routine looked like this:  breakfast, dishes, throw laundry in, do Bible, head to the park with the math books and a timer.  Let the kids play for 15 minutes, when the timer went off, David was designated to run over and do a page of math.  I chose math for him because he had great understanding and there were no needs for additional tools.  When he was done, he’d run back and play and Priscilla would run over and do a page of grammar.  I’d try to do 2 subjects with each of them.  Finally, we’d head back home, ready for lunch and naps.  I’d feed everybody lunch, throw the clothes in the dryer, and then do some read aloud history (we used Beautiful Feet http://bfbooks.com/ and did literature based history).  Now the little guys were ready for naps.  Then, I’d finish the subjects with David and Priscilla before the little guys woke up.

3.      Do a subject that can cover multiple grade levels -   For me this meant Bible and History.  Some of my most precious memories of homeschooling my kids is nursing a baby, a toddler sitting on big brother’s lap sitting next to me, the other little brother sitting next to me, with the girl curled up like a cat on the back of the sofa, looking over my shoulder.  We did a lot of read out loud books.  And with Beautiful Feet, they also had recommendations for tapes (before the CD era), so we’d all sit there together and listen.  This was a good segue to nap time also.  After the little guys were down, I’d work on the writing and research with the older ones.

4.      When you have many that need to be schooled intensely, use a timer! -  I would set my timer for 15 minutes, and I would play with the little guys.  Maybe we’d build a train track.  Start a puzzle.  Line up all of the trucks.  Read a picture book.  By the time the 15 minutes were over, my goal would be to have them involved in an activity that they could complete/play on their own.  When the timer went off, they understood that that was the signal for me to work with the older kids.  I’d set the timer for 45 minutes with the older kids.  When the timer went off, I might have more than one little one at my side, knowing it was their 15 minute time segment.  If I was intensely teaching something, like writing or research, I’d ask David and Priscilla to take a turn and play with their siblings for a 45 minute stretch, while I worked with the other.  David almost always took them outside, and Priscilla almost always read books to them.

Again, the little guys need and deserve your time.  You might as well just give it to them up front!  

Reflux in a Newborn - Nursing Mom's Diet

It has been wonderful spending the last two weeks with my grandson, and of course, daughter and son-in-law!  Priscilla has been a fabulous mother to her newborn.  She has been patient, loving and very attentive to little Kekoa's needs.

I have had the privilege of making her lunch and dinner most days.  Primarily, I was concerned that she was getting enough protein and dairy.  I didn't worry too much about food allergies, as she has none, and is not a picky eater.  She has even asked for some of the things I used to make at home that were her favorites.  You know, good, old-fashioned comfort food!  (If you call cauliflower, cream cheese and butter, comfort food!)  The amazing thing is that at two weeks, she is already into her regular wardrobe!

Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (Kekoa was 2 weeks on Thursday), in the evening, he'd throw his back into an arch and start crying.  I haven't been there for the episodes, but it is always after Priscilla's bed time, and they feel badly for the little baby.

I never had a colicky baby, nor a baby that fussed with reflux, though looking back, my poor David probably had reflux.  Most people only remember his baby days by his projectile "spit ups"!  He never fussed, and he gained weight, so I never changed anything.

After doing some research (going to my pediatrician's website) I found a list of foods that can be considered to cause reflux in newborns, and should be eliminated until they are proven to be safe.

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/fussy-baby/coping-colic/colic-causing-foods-breastfeeding

Priscilla, in her research found the same list:


Banned foods:
Dairy Products
Caffeine
Soy
Peanuts
Shell Fish
Chocolate
Citrus Fruits
Wheat
Chicken
Beef
Nuts
Eggs
Corn
Pre-natal vitamins (iron)
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Onions
Green Peppers
Tomatoes

For a new mom, who is already short on sleep, the list was overwhelming.  I suggested that she eat oatmeal for one day and that I'd sift through the information and come prepared with a clean diet for her on Monday.

Baby didn't fuss on Saturday or Sunday.

Monday (today) she ate Ezekiel cereal with rice milk for breakfast.  I served her Ezekiel bread with roast beef and Promise margarine, coconut milk, and peaches.  For an afternoon snack, I served her gluten-free crackers with hummus.  For dinner, I made chicken thighs, cooked in the crock pot with chicken broth, served over gluten-free penne pasta, tossed with olive oil and parsley and green beans, and a salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing, more coconut milk, that she flavored with a blop of vanilla and a shake of cinnamon.  I left a dairy-free, gluten-free, pre-prepared rice pudding for dessert for her.

She left a message tonight that the baby was fussy again tonight.

Could it be the Ezekiel bread?

We wanted to challenge the soy tomorrow and see what the baby could tolerate.  Since he is fussy tonight, it looks like we can't move on.


I would like a little help from my friends.  If you have experienced these issues, if you could post a menu for breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks, Priscilla and I would really appreciate it.  I would like to solve this problem before I leave here on Monday.  I want to leave her equipped to deal with a baby with an immature digestive system. :)  And since this won't be my only grandchild, I feel like I'm laying groundwork for any future grandchildren that might have a problem.  :)