Two Weeks of Arts & Crafts

On Monday afternoons, we'll have a planned arts or crafts activity. My kids have paper, markers, crayons, colored pencils and other such things available almost all the time. (I have to hide most of it from Second Daughter, especially the markers; she's learned to pull off the tops and then bites the marker off. Lovely.) Our Monday art time will be a special time when I'll plan activities we might not attempt otherwise. As you'll see, I will have to work on my mother-juggling skills a bit.

I thought an appropriate first day of school art activity would be creating handprints of the kids. I found a recipe in The Little Hands Art Book for salt dough that I could bake and let the kids roll it out and press their hand in.




Now, I have these three lovely hand prints...and no idea what I'll do with them. I have to keep them, of course, but I might wrap them up and store them in a drawer. Or perhaps I'll try them out on the mantel, at least for a while.

They puffed up a bit, especially Second Daughter's. Also, they aren't as dry or hard as I'd like. There are other salt dough recipes that we'll be trying out. In fact, I was going to let First Son make a sea star from Sea Life Art & Activities today, but realized I used all the flour last week and forgot to put it on the grocery list.

I decided instead to let them paint. They're always begging to paint and I dread it.

They were thrilled when I suggested it today.


I let Second Daughter "paint" with yogurt, which she loved. She went through three spoons, ate some with her hands and rubbed it all over her tray. It was everywhere and she was pretty happy...for a while.


Eventually, Second Daughter tired of the activity and needed a diaper change, so I told the older two to stay put and I'd be right back. (Famous last words.) The diaper change was messy and I was focused on that when First Daughter appears at the bedroom door, covered in paint and holding her dripping paper. Ack! I send her back to the kitchen and head there to clean up that mess. I find Second Daughter digging through the DVD cabinet when I return to rinse off the diaper. When I clean those messes and return to the kitchen, First Daughter informs me she dumped her water on her painting because she didn't want gray water anymore. It was awesome.


At least they had fun, right?


Kansas Dad would like to build a picnic table for us. When he does, I'm moving all painting outside. (Actually, we're hoping to build a house some day and I'm already dreaming of an art corner with easy-clean floors and walls and a sink right there...)

My Babies Are Growing Up

Kansas Dad is planning to build a three-tiered set of bunk beds in the next year or so, but we were blessed yesterday with a fabulous gift of bunk beds for the kids. Kansas Dad worked hard for a couple of hours to get them set up and the kids were thrilled to sleep on them for the first time last night.


First Daughter is already adept at climbing up and down the ladder. We decided we have to put it up on First Son's bed during the day because Second Daughter was practicing her climbing and we just don't need that additional worry.

There's just enough room to squeeze in the crib at the end of First Daughter's bed, so Second Daughter can move in with them...as soon as she's night-weaned...

Our Math Lessons

Our first week of lessons in Math all came from Math Play!, a book I happened to have on hand. In general, I'd say these were a bit too easy for First Son. He'd already mastered all the skills. First Daughter, however, has enjoyed them quite a lot. One of the nice things about the book is that many of the activities use only household items, so there's no need to run to the store for teddy bear counters or something.

On the first day, we investigated measuring liquids. First Son knew we could pour the water into the bigger cup, but not the smaller one, but he didn't mind spilling.


In fact, it quickly changed to a fun game of filling the measuring cup at the sink and filling the tub as much as I would allow. They played in the water off and on all day, which was fine with me (for the most part).

Second Daughter had her own measuring cups for entertainment.


She decided to study science instead, though: gravity. It never fails to fascinate the toddler crowd.

Still Have Zucchini?

I just happened to search for our absolute favorite zucchini recipe online and you can find it here! (It's from The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life.)

You will not regret it. Kansas Dad and I can eat a whole tray of them ourselves in about five minutes. I don't know what we're going to do if the kids ever decide to try them.

By the way, Kansas Dad doesn't dip. He puts the Parmesan and bread crumbs in a plastic bag or container and just shakes the zucchini - much faster. We've also found the cheap grated Parmesan works better than the shredded. Mmmm...wish we had some zucchini right now...

Ordering My Life to God

A Mother's Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul

In case you can't tell from the quotes I've posted recently, I found much to value in this book. Mrs. Pierlot is a Catholic homeschooling mother who developed a Rule of Life, similar to that found in monasteries or convents, to guide her daily life as a wife and mother. In the book, she provides practical questions and suggestions for developing your own rule.

It all began when she felt like everything was falling apart. Eventually, Mrs. Pierlot remembered the words of a wise priest who told her about

the Five "P's" of Married Life -- the five priorities of the married vocation:

First P = Prayer
Second P = Person
Third P = Partner
Fourth P = Parent
Fifth P = Provider

The order is important; there is a hierarchy. Prayer (spiritual life) includes setting aside time for prayer, adoration, and the sacraments, as well as study for spiritual growth. Person includes all the daily stuff we mothers must do like showers, but also exercise and time to address mental health. Partner is the time to focus on and develop the relationship with your husband. Parent for the kids. Last (and least), Provider would include a job (to provide money), but also financial stewardship and keeping house.

There are lots of books out there on how to organize your home and schedule your daily or weekly chores. What sets this one apart is how Mrs. Pierlot takes the same approach to scheduling the chores (properly in the place as the least important) to scheduling time for our relationships with God and our families. After giving her own story within each priority, she provides a list of questions that can help walk you through the process of determining what you and your family need to accomplish, what your goals may be and how your time can be focused.

As this quote shows, this is not just a book about how to keep your house clean and dinner on the table. It's about ordering your life about what is most important. As everything falls into place, the vocation of Marriage and Motherhood are avenues to a closer relationship to God.

I did not have time to go through all the questions myself, as I have to return this book to inter-library loan, but I hope to institute some of her ideas in our home. For example, she mentions a realization that she and the kids do not need to be doing the same thing at the same time, so I've been trying to take clothes out to hang on the line while taking the kids out for their outside time. (Mrs. Pierlot sends her kids out to play and has quiet time indoors for prayer time, but my children aren't old enough to be outside without me.)

If you're interested in learning more, the author maintains a blog and website here.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough to all Catholic mothers (homeschooling or not). Christian mothers (homeschooling or not) may also find much of value. (The Prayer chapter in particular focuses quite a lot on the sacraments of the Catholic church, but I believe the heart of the meaning can be translated, with the help of a spiritual mentor if necessary.)

Our Chinese Lanterns

This little plant is growing wild in one of our front beds. I took a few pictures of it the other day because it looked so interesting to me.



It seems to be a Chinese lantern (Physalis alkekengii or Physalis longifolia, I'm not sure which), and will eventually look like this. How cool is that?

You can find more information here, here, here, here and here.

Quote: A Mother's Rule of Life

[A] Rule of Life is...about personal balance and loving relationships and intimacy with God. After a very intense first year or so, I began to notice a real improvement in my ability to meet the demands of my vocation. Things weren't so hard anymore. After two years, I realized that somewhere along the line, without my noticing it, I'd experienced a real calming of my person; I no longer had big ups or downs. I'd get up in the morning, and I'd be ready to start my day without any of the earlier reluctance or difficulty. My home was usually in satisfactory order, and the kids' schooling was coming along very well. That has continued until the present time, and it's coming on four years...

But most important, I've time for God and for my family. I can truly love them and attend to them. I know now that the most important things are the relationships God has placed in my life. I could say a whole new world has opened up for me, one that I had never discovered before, and I like it. Not that everything's perfect, but it's better. It's good.

And at the end:

God may well be asking you, in this era of marital and family decline, to make this conscious, wholehearted commitment to him and to your family as part of a renewal of the world. May God be with you.

Holly Pierlot in A Mother's Rule of Life

As Promised

I've been slow on the blogging this week. Hopefully I'll be back up to speed once I get the hang of this homeschooling gig. As promised, here's a picture of the preschooler and the kindergartener on their first day of school last Monday.


One of the benefits of homeschooling is not having to worry about what they're wearing so much, but they did pretty well picking out matching clothes for the day.

First Day Declared a Success

The highlights:

- We started with First Day of School pictures, just five minutes later than I had hoped.
- We hit all of our planned subjects. First Son asked for more of almost everything. (He doesn't care to be told he's holding his pencil incorrectly during handwriting.)
- We went outside twice.
- I did three loads of laundry, and hung them all out to dry.
- Both girls took a nap.
- I exercised. (We'll pretend I've been doing that all along.) I also took a shower.
- I sort of planned dinner. (I took some pasta sauce out of the freezer and told Kansas Dad we could warm it up.)
- We successfully made salt clay hand prints for our arts & crafts activity.
- I've already pulled out all the books and materials for tomorrow's lessons.

I have pictures that I hope to share in the next few days. Tonight, I'm taking a computer night off (after publishing this post) and tomorrow night we're hitting a library book sale -- without the kids! (Thanks, Grammy!!)

Quote: A Mother's Rule of Life

Over time, the answer came: parenting is a call to form persons. We're called to bring God to our children's spirits, truth to their minds, health to their bodies, skill to their hands, beauty and creativity to their hearts, and in all this, virtue to their wills and sanctity to their souls. The education we are to provide has to go beyond the three Rs and beyond professional or vocational training.

Later:

But loving our children means treating them with the same amount of courtesy, respect, and politeness with which we want to be treated, or as we would treat any adult, or the Pope or Mother Teresa, or the Lord himself.

Where I have failed in this, I have taken it to Confession.

Holly Pierlot in A Mother's Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul (emphasis the author's)