Scripture verses of the day - James 3:9-14

9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

Tissue paper tree - an autumn craft

When we went to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum last Saturday one of the exhibits was an art area. They had lots of media for the kids to work with and one that inspired me was the tissue paper cut into small pieces. They had bins full of small pieces of cut scrapbook paper, foam, and tissue paper as well as bits of string. The kids were using glue sticks to affix these items to sheets of paper.

That reminded me of a craft we did when I was in elementary school - a tissue paper tree. The tree itself isn't tissue paper, but the leaves are.

We worked with the paper we had on hand here in the house so the colors aren't traditional autumn colors.



You just trace around a child's arm and hand to create the trunk of the tree. We used construction paper for this part.





Then you take small pieces of tissue paper and crumple them up to make the leaves. Glue stick makes the two stick together.







When I was a child we used paste, but it seems that glue sticks have replaced paste these days.



Do you have favorite art projects from your schooling days?

Gentle Discipline - a natural consequence of attachment parenting

Matthew 25:34-40
"34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Certainly our innocent children are "the least of these my brethren" and are deserving of our service.

One of the biggest criticisms of attachment parenting is the incorrect assumption that attached parents don't discipline their children. Some people see discipline as only punishment and it's true that punishment is typically not a component of attachment parenting. But discipline is far more than punishment. The true goal of discipline, after all, is to teach.

Parents who subscribe to a lifestyle of attachment parenting begin disciplining their children very early on - often at birth, in fact.



The very first discipline is a readiness of the parents to consistently and compassionately respond to an infant's needs. This builds the relationship necessary to develop a conscience guided by her own internal discipline and a genuine concern for others.

As children grow and develop, efforts to discipline our children involve such techniques as prevention, distraction, and substitution. For instance, with a toddler we prevent situations wherein a toddler might behave in socially inappropriate ways. We create environments that permit safe and free exploration and learning. We use distraction and substitution in environments that aren't child-friendly.



We try to envision the world through their eyes and empathize with the child as she learns through the natural consequences of her actions. We strive to understand what our child's behavior is communicating and work with the child to resolve conflicts in a way that leaves everyone's dignity intact.

We learn to understand developmentally appropriate behaviors and tailor our guidance to the needs and temperaments of our individual children.



And one of the most important disciplinary techniques used in attachment parenting families is modeling positive actions and relationships. Children learn most effectively in the early years by modeling our behaviors. Showing appropriate social relationships and interactions is the most effective way to teach a young child.



Creating a "yes" environment, phrasing requests in the affirmative, and the use of natural consequences are all keystones of gentle discipline. When logical consequences are necessary they are used sparingly and always with compassion.

For a person unfamiliar with gentle discipline it looks like a lot of talk and may appear that the parent isn't "doing" anything about the child's behavior. But gentle discipline is a longitudinal approach based in relational development and not simply a response to an individual behavior.

If you'd like to learn more about gentle discipline, I'd suggest the following resources:

Playful Parenting
by Lawrence J. Cohen, PhD

ADVENTURES IN GENTLE DISCIPLINE: A Parent-to-Parent Guide
by Hillary Flower

Discipline Without Distress: 135 tools for raising caring, responsible children without time-out, spanking, punishment or bribery
by Judy Arnall

Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves: Transforming parent-child relationships from reaction and struggle to freedom, power and joy
by Naomi Aldort

Attached at the Heart: 8 Proven Parenting Principles for Raising Connected and Compassionate Children
by Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker

(these links are Amazon Associate links)

____________________

This post has been linked to a Homemaking Link-up at Raising Homemakers.

Scripture verses of the day - 2 Thessalonians 3:8-15

8 Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

Free Museum Day September 25, 2010

What did you do on Free Museum Day?

We traveled to Milwaukee and visited the Betty Brinn Children's Museum.

It was a blast!

Here are some of the many interactive exhibits the girls enjoyed.

(I apologize for the poor quality photos, but we forgot to bring the digital camera so you see the cell phone pics instead)

Scripture verses of the day - 2 Timothy 3:1-7

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Change is in the air

image credit=vegadsl

Things are in a state of flux. It's not just the changing of the seasons. It's not just new routines and new adventures.

There is a feeling - a sort of cosmic or psychic change coming.

I've been getting the urge to purge and change. Get rid of the old and make room for the new.

What's odd is I have no idea what's up. I have no idea what the *new* is going to be. Just know that something is coming. Something I have to make space for. Space in my home, space in my energy, space in my relationships.

Scripture verses of the day - Psalms 131:1-3

1 Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.
3 Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.

Scripture verses of the day - Proverbs 29:11-12

11 A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
12 If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.

Scripture verses of the day - Romans 5:1-11

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Constitution Day Homeschooling Resources

Today on September 17, 1787 the United States Consitution was ratified.

Here are some online resources for you to use in your homeschooling lessons:




Center for Civic Education

Constitution Day

Ben's Guide to US Government

another Constitution Day site

US Constitution Activities at Enchanted Learning

National Constitution Center

Charters of Freedom

Want to learn how to dehydrate your own eggs?

We have powdered eggs on our "to buy" list for our food storage, but due to the expense we haven't picked them up yet. I explain away the need with the excuse that we have lots of local egg producers and we could buy from them. Another worry in the back of my mind is the source themselves. I don't buy conventionally farmed eggs (remember the recent salmonella outbreak?) and I have no assurances that powdered eggs are produced with anything BUT conventionally farmed eggs.

So I was so very excited when I saw that Angie over at Home Grown had written a fabulous tutorial on how to dehydrate your own eggs and make powdered eggs!

Now that is something I can do. :) I just need to buy several dozen eggs and get scrambling.

I'll post some pictures of my project very soon.

I have the most generous friends!!

I really can't believe how blessed we are.

A friend from high school sent our family a big box filled with fabric, a pattern, and some notions.

I'm so excited. I especially want to work with the printed corduroy and the wool plaid. I have some projects in mind for those right away. :)

Scripture verses of the day - Joel 2:19-32

19 Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things.
22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

We have 76 subscribers showing!

I'm truly amazed and astounded that so many of you follow this blog. :)

When I began writing here a little over a year ago I had no idea that it would interest others. It was a way for me to journal what we do in our home and share it with family and friends far away.

Thank you for journeying with us. Your comments mean so much to me. They encourage me, inspire me, and challenge me. I appreciate it.

There are actually more than 76 regular followers because some have opted to subscribe in a reader or by email and some shy folks like to stay anonymous. Thank you to all and welcome to new subscribers.

Please feel free to peruse the past posts. Over to the far right you'll see them arranged both chronologically and by topic.

Sample Phonics Lesson

I posted a while back that the big girl had asked to have more formal lessons. She wants to learn to read and needs some help.

We bought Hooked on Phonics a year or so ago because it was a curriculum that worked well with her big brother. Just as an aside, he was schooled in public schools during elementary and middle school years and didn't learn to read until I taught him at home with Hooked on Phonics back in 1996. That was one reason we decided years later to unschool at home with the girls. We had seen how very little the boy learned in the classroom and how much, much more he actually learned at home and out in the world.

So...here's a brief look at how we're approaching phonics now. I have purchased some subscriptions to online resources, but I'm going to show you the free resources we use in case you aren't ready to invest much in lesson materials.

We use two different sites to hear the letter sounds:

Starfall

and

Readinglessons.com

Both sites have more than just the lesson sound, but we start our lesson by listening to the sounds and practicing the sound.

Then we move on to making a letter book. For this we use the downloads at

First-school

They're fun little books that have a page for tracing and writing the letter, pages with words and images of items that start with the featured letter, and space to write those words. They're a bit beyond the baby girl, but she enjoys the books once I assemble them. The big girl loves the cutting and pasting involved in making the books as much as she enjoys practicing the letter writing.



Then we move on to practicing writing the letter. There are many online sources for handwriting sheets. Some of our favorites are:

First-school

Readinglessons.com

DLTK



We'll use the songs found over at Readinglessons.com

and the girls also like the letter cards found there. I'll print them out in color on cardstock and then cover them with clear contact paper to make them more durable.



Next we'll do a craft related to the letter of the day. These I find all over the place. No Time for Flash Cards has great ideas as does DLTK

and we wrap it up by reading books featuring the letter of the day. Most of our books were downloaded from subscription sites like Reading A-Z and edHelper.com

I also want to mention that many days we don't do all of this at one block of time. It will often be spread out throughout the day and the reading might even happen in the evenings.

Scripture verses of the day - Psalms 145:1-21

1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
2 Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.
7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
10 All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee.
11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.
14 The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
15 The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
16 Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Have you seen the visitors' globe lately?

It's that widget over to the right with the spinning globe -

If you click on it you can also see a 2-D version of the map.

There have now been visitors from all of the continents and many islands (the exceptions being the poles)

Here's a rundown of where they're from:

- 2557 visitors from the US
- 170 visitors from Canada
- 1 visitor from Mexico
- 4 visitors from Columbia
- 1 visitor from Puerto Rico
- 1 visitor from the Bahamas
- 1 visitor from the British Virgin Islands
- 1 visitor from Bermuda
- 2 visitors from Peru
- 1 visitor from Bolivia
- 2 visitors from Brazil
- 2 visitors from Argentina
- 1 visitor from an APO addy (ship) off the coast of Africa
- 1 visitor from Ghana
- 1 visitor from Nigeria
- 1 visitor from the Congo
- 1 visitor from South Africa
- 1 visitor from Mauritius
- 1 visitor from Lebanon
- 2 visitors from Israel
- 2 visitors from Kuwait
- 1 visitor from Saudi Arabia
- 1 visitor from Pakistan
- 7 visitors from India
- 1 visitor from Sri Lanka
- 3 visitors from Thailand
- 3 visitors from Malaysia
- 3 visitors from Singapore
- 1 visitor from Indonesia
- 3 visitors from Vietnam
- 1 visitor from the People's Democratic Republic of Lao
- 9 visitors from the Philippines
- 1 visitor from Taiwan
- 1 visitor from Japan
- 3 visitors from the Republic of Korea
- 3 visitors from the Russian Federation
- 1 visitor from Estonia
- 1 visitor from Finland
- 1 visitor from the Ukraine
- 8 visitors from Romania
- 1 visitor from Turkey
- 1 visitor from Bulgaria
- 2 visitors from Serbia
- 4 visitors from Montenegro
- 6 visitors from Italy
- 15 visitors from Germany
- 11 visitors from the Czech Republic
- 1 visitor from Hungary
- 5 visitors from Poland
- 1 visitor from Denmark
- 4 visitors from the Netherlands
- 1 visitor from Belgium
- 3 visitors from Spain
- 2 visitors from Portugal
- 26 visitors from the United Kingdom
- 7 visitors from France
- 2 visitors from Ireland
- 36 visitors from Australia
- 4 visitors from New Zealand

Now I know that people pop in to read the blog for all sorts of reasons based upon search results. Some might be coming to read about organic gardening, or preparedness. Others might be coming for information about homeschooling or unschooling. Some might be reading posts about breastfeeding or parenting. Some might come in for canning or sewing tutorials. I also like to think that some are reading the gospel during their visits and it brightens my day to know that I'm able to use this blog to share the gospel - especially in parts of the globe where it might not be so available.

Wordless Wednesday

Thoughts on biblical modesty

When thinking of modesty in dress we often only consider the sexual aspects of dress and modesty. We think of covering private parts of our body. We think of dressing modestly so as to not tempt our brothers.

But modesty is far more than our bodies. True modesty involves restraining our pride. We also ought to take care not to flaunt our wealth through our clothing or dress in a way to invite flattery and puff up our pride.

Check out this video clip that explains biblical modesty well:
Two quotes from the video that really resonated with me were - "Modesty is humility expressed in dress...Immodesty is pride on display by what you wear."

Scripture verses of the day - Psalms 17:6-9

6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.
7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.

Scripture verses of the day - Ephesians 4:29-32

29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Making an autumn garland

We like making garlands in our house. We have a large opening between our living room and our dining room and it's the perfect spot for seasonal garlands.

Today we finished up our autumn garland. It's an easy project and our six year old daughter was able to finish most of the work herself. I assisted with some fine trimming, helping her line up the chain for stapling, and hanging the finished garland.

Supplies needed:

- construction paper in assorted autumn colors (we used yellow, orange, red, and brown)
- scissors
- stapler
- paper cutter (optional - you could substitute scissors)
- templates for tracing
- lightweight cardboard
- pencils

The first step was creating the templates. For this I just searched the web and found these templates:

1. Pumpkins

2. Leaves

3. Apples

I also had an acorn template left over from last year and I didn't bookmark where I found it. You can easily substitute other autumn shapes, if you desire.

Print out the templates and glue them to some lightweight cardboard. If you have them, old cereal boxes (or similar type of cardboard) work well for this.



Then carefully cut out the centers of the images so that you have a template that can be easily traced.



Place the template over a piece of construction paper and trace the shape.



Then cut the shape out. Repeat until you have enough shapes to create the desired size garland.





Next you'll want to create your paper chain garland. I cut strips of paper about 1" wide and about 8.5" long using my paper cutter.



You could also use scissors to cut out strips.

We took those strips and made chain links for the garland. Just loop a strip around into a circle shape and staple it shut. Link the next strip around the first and continue to staple them, creating a chain.





After the chain is finished, use the stapler to attach your autumn shapes.

Then hang!



We've linked up over at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home today. Go see the other posts celebrating fall.