It's been a l-o-n-g, l-o-n-g time!

Yes, a long, long time since I posted anything on this blog.  My life has been a roller coaster ride.  Have you ever ridden on one that went upside down - all the time?!  That's what it has felt like to me.  I know that lots of people, some that I know personally, others that I don't, are battling things that would seem to be much more terrible than my trials.  I would (do!) say so myself.  And yet, I've learned over the years that an evaluation like that is a perspective of human relativity.  To God, all battles are real, and we need His power and strength to fight them.  To the enemy, he will use whatever he can think of to take us out!!

I'm not sure it's all over.  I think.....I hope, the worst of it is.  Whether it is or not, I'm trying to put back in order all 'extra' the parts of my life.  A lot of examination is being done.  I'm asking questions like, "Why did I start this blog?"  "Was it only for me? to feel wanted?"  "Is God really in this?"
I don't know all the answers yet.  I'm not even sure those are all the questions!!  Which means I'm not sure I'll continue with this blog.  Or if I do, for how long.

The Nursery Lesson Book

If you are a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, and even if you are not,  there is a book available for free today over at Homeschool Freebie of the Day that is lots of fun to use with preschool children.  This is an older book that gives lessons in writing, arithmatic and general knowledge (based on the daily life in the era it was written), in bite sized portions. There are nursery rhymes and songs included, which allow for lessons in various subjects.   It works well in a notebooking format because you can spend 'lap time' with your child going over the general knowledge stuff, and then notebook the writing and arithmatic.  And who knows where you'll wander off to from there!  =)  The written lessons are in cursive so you may want to use this for visual exposure only, and then make the child's copywork be in manuscript.  But I like the fact that the math portion involves kinesthetic activites suggested right in the lesson.

This is only available free for a limited time so click on over there and scroll down the page to find The Nursery Lesson Book.


God Bless!

Mom's Home Journal

Some major changes happened in my life about eight years ago.  It all started with marrying my second husband, 4 1/2 years after my first husband had died.  During those years of being single I had developed a good system for running things.  Then, with the new marriage came changes; new husband, move 1400 miles to another state, buying a house, and throw in there a few more babies, all in a few years time. 

Needless to say my system became outdated, FAST.  And with the continual changes, it was difficult to implement a new one.  Once life settled down some, I began to process and started planning a new system.  I am a 'paper and pencil' kind of person so I tried a few of the 'latest, greatest' organizers on the market, but none of them really fit my needs.  With all I had to do in a day, the thought of creating my own was not appealing, but doable if I had to.

Then God provided a ready-made answer, so I didn't have to! =)  Debra, over at Notebooking Pages, had been going through some changes, too, and began creating some planner pages to meet her needs.  I came across some free samples she offered on her website, and was hooked.  Just this summer she has completed a 'for purchase' product that helps one put together a planner that fits your personal needs.    

I am SOLD on this!  I waited for the email that said the product was ready and bought mine right away.  Then when I got my notice that the site was up and running, I was there checking things out.  She has done a good job, and I highly recommend anyone who is looking for a way to be organized, with options to personalize the pages, to check out Mom's Tool Belt.  You will find the link on the right side of this page.

Also, look at the top of the page for the 'Organized Mom' tab.  That page shows how I am using the Mom's Home Journal for myself.

God Bless!

Little Lambs' Primer

When I was expecting my fourth baby I suffered nasty morning sickness.  Since nearly every time I stood up I had to make a trip to the bathroom, I spent a lot of time lying down.  With three preschool aged children who needed to be occupied at the same time, I became creative [as creative as I could considering the circumstances :)].  I kept a paper and pen handy and during that time I drew letters, numbers, shapes and etc. on the paper and then went over them with the children.  The eldest of these three is a mentally challenged child who was kept busy with this, but didn't retain much.  The next child, 3 1/2 at the time, learned her letters, numbers and counting, and shapes, even complicated ones such as trapezoid and parallelogram.

That was aver 15 years ago.  Now I have taken that idea and transformed it into a 'primer' for my current preschoolers.  This notebook does not have consumable activities for the children.  Rather, it has reviewable pages that include the alphabet [upper and lower case], vowels, consonants, numbers, shapes, relative relationships [long-short, big-small], and etc.  There are also pages where some letters or numbers are missing so the child can fill in the blank.  

Repetion solidifies concepts in the brain.  Some children need more repetion than others before they completely grasp something.  By keeping these pages in their own notebook, we can look them over as many times as necessary for each child to understand the concepts well.  Then, the occassional activity page in the working notebook allows each child to  'prove' their understanding.

Check out the freebies for some of these pages.

Praying God's care for you.

The Treasure Box II

Now, you may be thinking that establishing a Treasure Box will cost you some money.  I thought I would include in this post some ideas and guidelines for free or inexpensive Treasure Box contents.

STARTERS:  Go through all the artsy-craftsy things you already have for your children.  Are some of these items you want them to use? but it may benefit everyone if the guidelines for use were more stringent?  Add these to your box.  What about things you haven't let them use, but would be doable with Treasure Box guidelines?  Put those in, too.

ANOTHER MAN'S JUNK:  You've heard the old saying, "One man's junk is another man's treasure."  I'm sure you or your friends or family have unused items that you want to get rid of such as stationery (regular or computer), greeting cards, stickers, markers, special pens and etc.  These make great items for your Treasure Box because they will actually serve a useful purpose in keeping preschoolers occupied.  Out of date, or gently used wrapping paper can be wonderful craft paper for kids, so add some of that if you have it.

SCRAPBOOKERS:  Punch various shapes from your scraps of paper.  Place them in a little baggy to be used for gluing onto papers to make pictures.  Also, add some of those embelishments or papers that were "must haves" when you bought them, but you just can't see yourself using now.

DOLLAR STORES, GARAGE SALES, THRIFT STORES:  All of these are places where you could find things to put into your Treasure Box, if you must or would like to purchase some things, without spending a lot of money.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:  I am working on some pages that will also fit into the Treasure Box idea.

I'm sorry this post is so short, and late.  This and the unfinished pages are mainly because I've been dealing with some of those temptations mentioned in James and have had to stay focused in order to "count it all joy".  Hope to have these available this next week.

In the mean time, God's Blessings to you.