Saturday, June 5, 2010

notes and tidbits

Did you notice Mommy Missionary's series of posts lately?  A pastor's wife and mom of five, she battled depression in recent months.  Her series of posts detail what God taught her in the midst of struggle.  

A Long Time Coming, Part One

A Long Time Coming, Part Two

A Long Time Coming, Part Three  (Details how her marriage suffered, and how God redeemed it.)

A Long Time Coming, Part Four

I especially liked this quote below, featured in her fourth post.  My husband is seriously discouraged right now, and I was so happy to read this today.  I will print it out and put in on the bathroom mirror for him, to see when he gets home in the wee hours tonight.
“The celebrated Scottish preacher, James Stewart, made a statement that is also challenging:
‘It is always upon human weakness and humiliation, not human strength and confidence, that God chooses to build His Kingdom; and that He can use us not merely in spite of our ordinariness and helplessness and disqualifying infirmities, but precisely because of them.’
That’s a thrilling discovery to make.  It transforms our mental attitude toward our circumstances.  Let’s pause long enough here to consider this principle in all seriousness.  Your humiliations, your struggles, your battles, your weaknesses, even your so-called “disqualifying” infirmities are precisely what make you effective.  I would go further and say they represent the stuff of greatness.  Once you are convinced of your own weakness and no longer trying to hide it, you embrace the power of Christ.” 
Paul, Charles Swindoll page 241

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My social studies and science planning is going smoother than anticipated (this week anyhow).

No hives for Paul this evening.

We have peppers and tomatoes already planted, and weather permitting, we'll do the rest of the planting this weekend.  Thunder and lightening abound lately--and mosquitoes, which are particularly abundant during humid weather.  They attack Paul and me viciously, while the others seem to largely escape the blood-thirsty rampage.

By far though, the worst mosquitoes I've experienced were in Yosemite Valley in early June, 2000.  What a hot, miserable bite fest, beautiful though it was!  Just a few hours later we were in the Yosemite mountains with snow on the ground and no mosquitoes in sight.  What a variance in scenery there!  A truly beautiful place.

That same trip, we camped at Mount Lassen in northern CA.  Beautiful, snow-capped volcano territory.  Breathtaking views.  My best hike ever occurred there, even though we got lost in the snow and feared we'd be spending the night with the bears (Or was it the mountain lions?  Can't remember now.  No, we didn't see any.  And yes, we made it back to camp.  And no, there was no wild love making on that hike.  It was beautiful for other reasons :)  ).

That was our first anniversary trip.  How carefree we were!  And how blessed and busy now, with our active brood.  When children come early in a marriage, you really have to hang on to those romance-rich memories.  It's a long season before similar ones can be made--especially if no family is around to take the reins for a couple days (or even for a couple hours).

Anyhow, have a nice weekend, friends!

Friday, June 4, 2010

McGuffey - wisdom from the past

I have enjoyed Large Family Mothering's posts on the antique McGuffey texts (and other antique resources).  One-room schoolhouse teaching was nothing like the methods used today.

- Most children didn't enter the one-room schoolhouse until they were ten.

- Play was valued for little ones.

- Teachers taught based on instinct, not by teacher's editions.  There were none.

Her posts are worth reading.  A third post is in the works.  I love this woman's blog!  She is a great thinker, IMHO.

Her first post - An Old Dog Learning New Tricks
Second post - The Places I Have Been

Thursday, June 3, 2010

science writing - fireflies

During these last twelve or so weeks of school,  my sons will still be doing daily writing, but the topics will come from either social studies or science.  Last night the boys saw the first fireflies of the season, a few weeks earlier than normal.

Peter was ecstatic:   "Jesus really blessed us!  We didn't have to wait so long this year!  Can you believe it, Mommy?"

When assigning writing topics I try to think of what has happened lately, and what the boys seem most excited about or interested in.   Last week it was robins' nests, robin reproductive facts, and the nurturing habits of Mom and Pop robin.

Today, I didn't even have to think twice about a topic.  Fireflies!

"Today I want you to do some research and write some paragraphs about fireflies.  In your details, I would like you to include three facts about fireflies, and three things you enjoy about them."

We found this website, which I know your kiddos will enjoy.  Be sure and read all those firefly jokes!  Hilarious.  Also read about how your child can get involved in an official firefly count.

We also found this site, rich in facts, including that fireflies are endangered (due to light pollution and development, both of which encroach on their mating practices and habitats).  Sad.  Just sad.  Read about how you can help.

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Can you believe my Paul broke out in hives again tonight, about the same time (before-bed storytime)?  He ate bittersweet chocolate two hours after a dinner of sloppy joes, baked potato, chocolate milk, and raisins (remember he is picky).  Weird.  What a mystery.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

when it rains, does it have to pour too?

Six-year-old Paul really likes popcorn.  He becomes positively giddy about it, in fact.  I buy it only occasionally because some brands have unhealthy oils (palm or coconut), and other brands have food dye.  I've yet to get him an air popper.

After the girls fell asleep tonight and it was time to read to the boys, I made them some popcorn.  Paul broke out in hives within fifteen minutes--his first case ever!  It took me five minutes to assess the situation and then I promptly gave him Benydryl.  He is sleeping soundly now, with no apparent breathing problems.  I can only hope since this is the first sign of allergy, that this episode will be mild.  Corn is a common allergen, but not on the Top 8 list.  If one is allergic to corn--a cereal grain--it is possible one will develop other cereal grain allergies.

Paul always refuses corn, but does like corn muffins and corn tortillas, both of which he's eaten in the past forty-eight hours.  He's had no new foods lately, except for a smidgen of honey on his corn muffin.  Honey isn't a common allergen, and besides, that ingestion was over twenty-four hours ago.

I'm a bit discouraged about this.  He started crying when I told him he might have a corn allergy.  His passion for popcorn runs so deep!  He was devastated.  And mad.  The only thing I could offer was that some children do grow out of food allergies (except for peanut allergy of course).

Although husband's family has serious seasonal allergies, none in that family have food allergies. My mom and sister have a milk sensitivity, but other than that my side is free from food allergy as well.

Three of my children are plagued by eczema, and in the past two years, both boys have developed pollen allergy.  I'm wondering what other allergies might surface.  Corn, as you probably can guess, is in so many things!  There is even a dusting of corn starch in food packaging.  What a nightmare!

Some days I just can't believe how complicated life gets.

I can only think of two positives right now, in regards to this.  First, we started on a whole food journey a few months ago.  That will help enormously if I have to eliminate all corn derivatives.  Second, Paul has always been a very picky eater.  Now I see that maybe the slower introduction to many foods could have been protective.

So, do you have any good news?  I'd really like to hear some good news!  Please.

our goings on

We are down to the last two months of our school year.  These two months will consist mostly of social studies and science, along with math fact practice.  My second grader has begun multiplication, as is usual for the end of second grade.  However, since there is still some addition fact memorization to be done, we really need to attack that with disciplined consistency now.

I memorized my multiplication facts just fine in third grade, but it's worth noting that I didn't memorize my addition facts until I started grading first-grade math papers.  Interesting, eh?  Or is that just shocking and sad?

Anyhow, I took a year of calculus in college and didn't flunk out.  I can't say I remember anything about calculus though.  Under duress, I accepted it as my fate, along with physics.  Not long after these glorious courses, I axed my plan to be a doctor.  Smart move, eh?

All this to say, my blog posts will decrease in frequency now.  Social studies and science take more prep work on my part.

Happy gardening, sprinkling, kiddy pooling, and popscicling to you!