Muffin Tin Meals & More

I love using the kiddos’ divided plates for mealtimes, making sure I find something to fill each spot.  Whenever I leave one “blank,” Gwen has to point out that it’s empty.  Sorry, some days I’m more creative than others! 

I got this nifty idea from Counting Coconuts to make muffin tin meals.  It’s amazing how the kids get excited when you mix things up a bit, do things somewhat differently.  They were excited with the presentation, and had fun eating from each compartment.

Next week we start preschool (!!!), and since we begin with the story of creation, I think it would be a neat idea to have a creation-themed lunch using the tins.  All the ideas I got from googling call for sugary treats (like Oreo cookies for separating the light from the dark), so I’m trying to come up with a healthy version.  The goldfish crackers will most likely pop up again in that meal!

I’m a little nervous assuming the role as “teacher” for Gwen; I know it’s something I do all the time anyway, but setting aside specific time for “school” puts me in a bit of a spotlight.  This is what I see happening:

“So… this is the letter ’A'… which is for apple… moving on!”

I’m afraid all this planning will be for naught, and I’ll have wasted my time on busy nothings.  But if nothing else, we’ll have a bit of fun along the way…

A peek inside the creation-themed sensory bin I’ve put together:

What’s inside:
Day 1: white rice for light/day & black beans for dark/night    
Day 2: blue tissue paper & cotton balls for the sky
Day 3: brown cup & earth ball for land/earth; blue streamers for water; Easter grass, Lego trees, foam fruit and flowers stickers, flower pin & a plastic flowers for trees & flowers.
Day 4: medium yellow pom-pom for sun, marble for moon, small yellow sparkly pom-poms for stars.
Day 5: plastic fish toys, fish puppet & wooden birds for fish & birds.
Day 6: plastic animals & two toy people for animals & man.
Day 7: dollhouse bed for day of rest.
*I also added some small shiny star stickers to find, a plastic star tray/scoop,  and letter magnets to spell out “creation.”

Gwen has been getting excited about starting school with Mommy, and though I’ve gotten quite a few resources already, I thought it would be a neat idea to get her a special school gift – like a backpack (she could take her school stuff when we run errands or go camping), a pencil case, whatever.  I love turning an event into a special occasion!  Nothing has really caught my eye, though… except for a brand new copy of Angelina Ballerina that I nabbed for sixty-nine cents at a thrift store!  She’s a favorite character and I’ve had that book on Gwen’s wish list for a while.  AND Angelina begins with the letter “A,” so it all goes together quite nicely.

Since we have a limited book collection at home, I’ve been requesting all sorts of library books for our first week on the letter A, the number zero, and the four seasons.  Gosh, I’m starting to sound like Sesame Street.  Here are a few of the titles that will be in our book basket.  W ish me luck! 

Curriculum Craziness

I bet you’ve never gotten sidetracked googling something, have you?  One simple little search, and you’re in front of the computer way past your bedtime, clicking on way too many results, eyes aching from staring at the screen.  

Despite the fact that I’ve been adding to the ever-expanding list of favorite links for homeschool ideas and activities, I’ve been able to decide on a basic preschool curriculum outline for Gwen.  It feels weird to be doing this, since I never really wanted to do anything official for the kiddos, but it’s kind of exciting at the same time.  My organizing, list-making genes are going haywire!

One of the things that I keep telling Phil and my mom (who homeschooled me and my sibs for a number of years), is that I can’t believe how much work and preparation is going into a simple preschool plan - which isn’t even official school!  How will I survive the coming years, when the content gets meatier?  Someone please tell me it gets easier!  Maybe this is the practice round, getting my feet wet.

Since incorporating Biblical concepts is important to me, I decided to go with the ABC Jesus Loves Me 3-year-curriculum, using the supporting concepts that appeal to me.  I’m scrapping their outline, but I got the idea for having a theme and vocab word for each week from Brightly Beaming Resources’ Letter of the Week program.  I love that I was able to find these resources and tweak them to fit my preferences. 

Each of the two curriculums has different outlines and covers different materials for a different amount of time; it took a bit of time to put it into a schedule that seems doable for us.  And who knows – I may change it as I go!  I decided to put the material into a 3-days-a-week framework so we don’t get overwhelmed, but if Gwen wants to do some school activities on “off” days that’s just gravy.  It’s not like I have a shortage of resources!    

Basically, each week will have a Bible story and verse, theme, vocabulary word, letter, number, and shape or color.  Any supporting materials – crafts, activities, stories or songs – will revolve around these elements.

Thank goodness for free resources on the internet – I’ve found a host of wonderful offerings!  Here and there I’ve been plugging in activities and ideas for each week as I come across them.  I absolutely love the idea for Montessori-inspired Tot Trays and my Mom picked up some trays at Lakeshore Learning.  The kiddos took to them right away, and I love having their projects contained.  I think they would be content to sit at them for most of the day as long as I rotate their activities and provide snacks every now and then. :)

Totally Tots and its sister site 1+1+1=1, the inspiration for Tot Trays, has proved to be an excellent stomping ground for all sorts of ideas.  I’ve linked them to the right under some of my favorite homeschooling resources.  In addition to the excellent content, I love that it was designed for and by Christian moms who choose to homeschool.  Some of my favorite ideas: Tools 4 Tots (I like the Hide n Seek Bowls, Mix & Match game – which I already made! – Ocean Waves Bottle, and Paper Clip Colors, to name a few), sensory bins, Tot Books, and alphabet memory verse cards.

Here are some of my favorite resources (so far, and in no particular order) for coloring pages, worksheets, and other printables:
Homeschool Creations
Christian Preschool Printables
Preschool Coloring Book
Twisty Noodle (customizable pages)
First-School Preschool Activities & Crafts
Coloring Castle
Activity Village
Nature Detectives
Making Learning Fun
Crayola
DLTK Kids

My mom teaches Sunday School, buys loads of things for the grandkids, and sponsors children with Compassion International, so even though she no longer has littles of her own she still gets all sorts of kid-related stuff and puts together arts and crafts.  She started putting together lapbooks for her Compassion kids, and it got me interested in the concept.  I decided to try my hand at simple file folder games first, and created a few for the kiddos.

File Folder Fun has some cute ideas, and I made a few of their games, laminating the playing pieces and glueing envelopes on the back to hold them: Beautiful Bees color matching (a 2-color combination), Dinos color matching (a simple 1-color match for Josiah), and Cupcake Counting.  I haven’t used any yet, but Bible Story Printables also has some file folder games.

I finally decided to make a couple lapbooks to go along with our first preschool lesson, starting the end of August.  You can customize them any way you want, make them as simple or as complicated as you want.  There’s the basic lapbook, pocketbook, tot book, double lapbook… arrrgh, pick one!  The theme for the week will be the four seasons, and the Bible story is about Creation.  I did a seasons lapbook first. 

 

 

Most of the materials were printed from the season unit study at Lawteedah, and I also found some mini books for each season from DLTK’s database.  I had fun putting it together with all sorts of activity pages, a puzzle, matching and sorting games, and stickers.  I decided to do one on creation as well. 

At first I just printed out a couple activity pages that I found on Lapbook Lessons, but I ended up using some of their other creation printables to fill the lapbook. 

I find them labor-intensive since I’m putting them together myself, but as Gwen gets older she’ll be able to do more of it herself.  And I hope when she does the coloring and activities that it will have the stamp of her personality on it.  It might be neat to do a lapbook on the letters we learn each week, too.

Trying not to get too far ahead of myself, especially if Gwen doesn’t take to the idea – I don’t want to push it.  I tend to get ambitious then get disappointed when my ideas don’t go over well. *sigh*  At least I can be sure that the creation snack (a healthier version, anyway) will be a bit hit. 

Preschool Prep

I hope [that I have the sanity and patience and general wherewithal] to homeschool the kiddos when the time comes, but apart from jotting down ideas and bookmarking websites I’ve kinda been dragging my feet.  This is in part due to the fact that unschooling appeals the most to me more than any curriculum-based homeschool method, so I hope not to rely heavily upon a host of materials that may go to waste if we don’t end up using or benefiting from them.  Many of the materials – especially for younger children – are relatively simple, but the idea of getting them all, putting them together comprehensively, gives me a headache. 

Whenever I see an idea that appeals to me in a magazine – craft, recipe, gift idea, inspiration - I cut it out and put it in the appropriate folder or binder.  I’ve since collected a host of such ideas, and every so often will go through these clippings and actually get around to using them.  Many of them are arts and crafts or otherwise educational things to do with the kiddos, but oftentimes I can’t seem to get organized enough in this area to make them come to fruition.

I’ve found that whenever I come up with an ambitious project for Gwendolyn or get out one of the many workbooks Grandma (who homeschooled me for a few years) has given her, she doesn’t have much patience to finish it and I end up losing mine trying to make it fun and teach her something in the process. *sigh* Some days, the idea of sending her off to school just seems so nice and easy.

Tonight while making dinner, I sat the kiddos at the table and got out some forgotten puzzles and activities.  They became adorably absorbed in their play, and after dinner they reassumed the activities.  I decided to make it extra-educational and work on letters and numbers with Gwen.  Long story short, I don’t have much patience for teaching concepts that should be so simple to comprehend!  I mean, Gwen can count past ten, but when we’re counting “1-2-3-4-5-6….” and I ask what comes next and she queries two? it just frustrates me.       

Well, the whole thing got me thinking about homeschooling again.  After losing all of my internet bookmarks when our computer crashed, I’ve had to scour for some of my old favorites.  I discovered some new places as well, and was delighted to find a Biblical-based preschool curriculum called ABC Jesus Loves Me. 

Maybe if I introduced something  a tad more formal, something with a bit of a theme and direction, she’ll take to it and progress in some of the areas where she could use some help (namely, remembering shapes and learning to write).  And let’s face it, since I’m not consistent with devotions, it would be nice to work some Bible in there.

My plan is to start ABC Jesus Love Me’s 3-Year-Curriculum, starting the last week in August.  There’s a lot of information on there to get prepared as a parent/teacher, though, so I’m hoping I can get it all down before then.  I’m sure I can find many of the resources at the library, and much of the craft ideas are printables.  I love this Tot School idea for implenting the weekly lesson on a poster board with clothespins to display the elements.

You know how the internet just sucks you in?  Well, I’m proud to say I didn’t get off on any tangents, but I did end up compiling a list of things I’d like to accomplish to coincide with this preschool endeavor. 

For a while now I’ve had this wooden perpetual calendar bookmarked as a project for Phil to help me with, I even got the chalkboard paint for it.  Not only would this make a cute, practical decoration for the home, but it would help the kiddos learn about the calendar. 

credit: make-baby-stuff.com

I also like the idea of a flannel/felt board for any number of displays – nature, letters, numbers, Bible stories, etc.  I love handmade stuff, but I’m also thinking the ready-made boards would be sweet (albeit expensive).

At my first baby shower, Becky gave me a book by Barbara Curtis called The Mommy Survival Guide.  Just skimming through it again, I’m blown away with how relevant it is to my situation as a mother, especially now that I have two kiddos.  I ended up borrowing her Teach Me! books, also by Barbara Curtis, which give some excellent ideas for keeping kids busy and engaged.  One of the ideas that has stayed with me is using Montessori trays to practice different skills, be creative with different materials, and above all – have fun!  I really like this version of Tot Trays – the colorful trays themselves, the variety of activities, and the fact that they are just reserved for “school time.” 

Maybe I can use one of the trays for another idea I’ve had saved up for a while – weather watching jars.  I love the colorful pom-poms, and it would make a great weekly activity which wouldn’t take up too much time, and it could coincide with learning about the seasons.  And one of these days I will get around to making homemade play dough!  Honestly, I never thought of using it to create letters, and that would be way more fun than trying to write them!  I have such a hard time helping Gwen hold a pencil; it doesn’t help that’s she’s a leftie!   

I’ve got a bunch of ideas up my sleeve, but I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.  Any advice or suggestions for a preschooling newbie?

While browsing around, here are some other links I found interesting:
Brightly Beaming Resources – Letter of the Week Preschool Program
Free and Frugal Homeschool Preschool Blog
Homeschool Curriculum for Life – Gentle Preschool Activities
Lapbooks – instructions & templates
Nature Detectives – love their seasonal downloads
Raising Arrows – Toddler Box

Anticipating Easter

My second-favorite holiday after Christmas would have to be Easter – and how appropriate!  On Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and on Easter we rejoice in the fact that He died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day.  But aside from the religious aspects… I just love the springy atmosphere that surrounds the season!  Trees are budding, flowers blooming, birds chirping, everything seems brilliant and alive.  Almost as though all of nature is celebrating with us.

Christmas gets most of my attention when it comes to decorating.  The only things I really have for Easter decorations are some baskets from years prior and Easter grass that I saved.  I like the idea of having a perpetual window display that changes with the seasons, using natural elements for decoration - for Spring, think bright yellow hyacinth, pussy willow, twigs and branches with eggs and birdies hanging from them.  For now, I’m chalking it up to good intentions.  And the Valentine’s Day heart strings look so pretty where they are, I hate to take them down… 

I am excitedly contemplating these ideas for simplifying spring baskets, but for now I’m gonna go with some of the cheap-o plastic eggs.  The kids  love ‘em!  Josiah concentrates so hard trying to get one open, and gets so excited when he succeeds.  

Growing up, it was tradition for my grandparents to hide Easter baskets for us around their home.  We would go over for Sunday dinner, casually looking around for where they might be hidden as soon as we walked in the door (but not officially looking for them until it was time).  Each one had a name written on it, and if we found someone else’s, we couldn’t say anything.  The baskets usually contained jelly beans and foil-wrapped eggs, and along with the goodies our parents bestowed upon us, the sibs and I would have little pow-wows and trade our wares.  If I remember correctly, the crispy chocolates were one of the more coveted items, while the mini jelly beans were low on the totem pole.   

These chick and carrot containers are like the ones I used to announce our pregnancy with Gwen on Easter of 2007 *sigh*        

I’m always conscious of what kind of example we’re setting for our children, what traditions we want to start or continue on with them.  I always associate special occasions with treats of the edible variety, something I’ve been trying to get past in my mind.  It’s nice to have treats once in a while, but I don’t want every special occasion to mean SUGAR. 

So… what to put in the Easter eggs?  I like the idea of gifting something that was already on the shopping list anyway.  I got Gwen a small bottle of nail polish (mermaid blue – I’m so borrowing this) from ecomom; I got a 50% off voucher to their website from Mamapedia recently and had to pick this up.  It fit nicely in one of the carrot containers.

And it won’t fit in an egg, but I got her a book about a newfound favorite…

The kiddos have more than enough toys, of course, but it occurred to me that – while Gwen has some small plastic horses and other barn animals – Josiah doesn’t have anything like that.  So I got a tube of plastic dinosaurs from Joanne’s (yay for 50% off coupons).  The smaller ones fit inside the eggs, and the larger ones fit inside the chickies. 

The kids love putting money into their piggy banks, so I got a bunch of coins from the change jar to put in some of the eggs.  They’re nice and jingly.  Which reminds me of an idea for recycling plastic Easter eggs – make music shakers out of them, like little maracas.  Our library has something similar for storytime, and they have music symbols stamped on them.

 

And last-but-certainly-not-least, I did get some goodies for the eggs.  I picked up a bag of peanut M&Ms, justifying them due to the protein content (and also because Phil mentioned he would love to have some for snacking at work).  I also got a bag of organic lollipops, but since these won’t fit in the eggs I’ll have to do something else with them.  I’m hoping to find some natural fruit jelly beans, but I could also just get some dried fruit or other more healthy snack, since the kids love it just as much.

Phil and I have thrown around the idea of hiding the eggs for the kids to find, sort of like a scavenger hunt, but that just means one more thing for me to organize.  Meh.  We’ll see. 

Last year, Gwen made Resurrection Eggs at her grandmother’s church, and we plan on using these again this year to tell the kiddos about the true meaning of Easter.  The ones she made have pictures taped to the outside, but I’m going to actually put the elements inside and number the eggs in order – e.g. a leaf for the palm branch, piece of purple cloth for the robe the soldiers put on Jesus, a cross for when He was crucified, a nail for His wounds, a stone to symbolize His tomb, and so forth.  

It just so happens that we have a book called Benjamin’s Box that goes along perfectly with the Resurrection Eggs.  I had put it away with some of our other books, always forgetting to take it out for Easter, and was pleasantly surprised to find out it can be used in conjunction with the eggs.

This is always a busy time of year – Phil’s birthday is coming up, Palm Sunday and Easter, and I always look forward to attending a May Breakfast (a New England tradition, I believe), especially since my Mom and one of my brothers share a birthday on May 1st.

What do you look forward to this time of year?  What are some of your Spring/Easter traditions?

Shared at the Meaningful Easter blog hop at 

Shaken

Did you ever get one of those “Aha!” moments, almost like a light bulb suddenly went off… but you haven’t quite fit the pieces together?  Almost like… something is on the tip of your tongue, in the forefront of your mind, but you haven’t quite put your finger on it?  Like… when you recognize an actor, a voice, a famous line, and you’re thinking, “I know, I know… it’s… it’s….” You’re on the cusp of figuring something out, but aren’t quite there yet.

The past two Sundays at church we have been studying Psalm 61:

Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.

From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.

I long to dwell in your tent forever
and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

Selah

We have been unpacking the ramificatons of suffering - why we suffer,  where it comes from, how God can be sovereign, good, when the world is filled with evil.  We experience painful things in life, oftentimes struggle just to get by.  We watch the news unfold about the devastation in Japan, and we wonder -  why did God let this happen?       

I believe much of the things we endure are a direct result of our sinful nature, living in a fallen world, the choices that humanity as a whole has made with the gift of free will.  When we trust God as our Savior, we are forgiven and made whole… but we are still flesh and blood, living in a sinful world.  Not all suffering is a direct result of our own choices; some things just happen. 

In his sermon Pastor Dave says, “Wherever God’s kingdom intersects with the fallen world, something shakes.   Something’s gotta give… something pops!” 

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginnings of birth pains.
Matthew 24:6-8

These verses are speaking of signs of the end times.  God’s kingdom is coming closer and closer; He is working in the hearts and minds of His people, and the fallen world is shaking, reacting in a powerful way.        

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope…
Romans 8:18-21 (emphasis mine)

We don’t enjoy suffering… but it’s comforting to know that despite what we feel when we experience these things, they are happening for a reason.  Instead of leaving us to sin and its demise, God in His mercy subjected sin itself to frustration and gave us a way out.  He showed up as our Savior, showed up on the cross and died for our sins – and just think, how the earth shook on that day!

I can see this on a grand scale - almost unnatural disasters, national upheaval across the world.  And I see it on a more personal level – my flesh reacting when I know I’m supposed to do something or act a certain way, resisting the Spirit.         

I’m always not-quite-figuring-it-out.  I have these glimmers of inspiration, wondering if there’s some light at the end of the tunnel and I’ll suddenly grasp a concept.  While listening to the sermon on Sunday, I wondered if I could apply this to my struggle with depression (or whatever you want to call it).  There are some moments when it definitely feels like I POP, when I’m shaken, when there’s this collision with reality and insanity… I wonder how much, if any, could be contributed to those supernatural forces swirling all around me.  Are they affecting me at the chemical level?  Are they messing with my mind?  It could be nothing, but I felt this intense parallel… except that I feel powerless to do anything about it.        

Therefore do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17

Listen to Pastor Dave’s sermons; ”Lead me to the Rock” parts 1 and 2 deal with suffering.