Summer Ideas

March 31, 2009 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Creating Family Times

Here are some ideas for your summer lists.  I planned to post this last week, but a home improvement project separated me from my house and computer for a few days.  It was kind of nice to be disconnected, but I’m glad to be back home and onto this blog! 

Like I said before, these are all really simple ideas, just to get your own brain going.  I like to brainstorm with the kids, they always have the best ideas and they’re thrilled when one of theirs ends up on our calendar or is pulled out of an idea jar.

·         Run though sprinklers

·         Sidewalk paint (available in the craft section of stores)

·         Play charades

·         Have a sleep over

·         Sand art

·         Play dough or clay

·         Have fun with water balloons

·         Tie dye t-shirts

·         Hand out cards at convalescent home

·         Go window shopping

·         Make a scrap book page

·         Make up a recipe

·         Tea party

·         Manicures or pedicures

·         Make up a dance to a favorite song

·         Write and perform a play or act out a favorite story

·         Karaoke

·         Have a fashion show

·         Sports:  softball, basketball, soccer, etc.

·         Play hide and seek (fun at any age!)

·         Make a collage of any kind

·         Have a backyard campout

·         Make an ice cube sculpture

·         Make root beer floats, popsicles, or another frozen treat

·         Hunt for worms and insects

·         Board games or card games (have a marathon!)

 

I am not sure what I’ll do this year.  I like the spontaneity of the idea jar, and I don’t have any big projects that I need to schedule around this year so we might go with that.  But I have a new idea brewing…to make a huge list on a piece of posterboard, where we could add ideas anytime they pop in our heads and kind of check them off as we do them. 

Plus, we could add things after we did them, maybe even scraps or photos…which would make it a nice memorial of our summer.

          Hmm. Something to think about!

 

 

 

 

 

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Looking Forward to Summer Break

March 26, 2009 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Creating Family Times

Although I had not planned to take a spring break from homeschooling, after a week of listening to every kid in the neighborhood play outside, I decided to give the girls this week off of school.   The kids in our district still have another week off, so for the last couple days, we’ve been playing outside for hours at a time.

I asked the girls, “What do you want to do that we never seem to have time for during school?”  So, we are: walking to our park, painting, watching movies, and sleeping a little later than usual. 

All this makes me look forward to our summer break.  Every summer, I plan some sort of activity each day during the week for summer.  These are just simple, fun things for the girls to look forward to and to keep me from becoming a lazy slug.

Here are some of the ways I’ve made it fun:

Calendars:  For each day of summer break, I list one fun thing to do, and cover it with a small square of paper with a sticker on it. The kids loved it, and looked forward to peeling the sticker off each day to reveal a fun activity.

Idea jars:  Here, I let the kids fill out little slips of paper with things they want to do and each day, they get to pull one out and do it.  I kept two jars, one for at-home fun and one for local outings.  That way, when I could afford an outing, we would pull one from that jar.

Lists:  One year, we just made a huge list of fun things to do and every day we decided what we wanted to do.  We did not come close to doing it all, but I drew from that list of ideas for years!

A weekly basic schedule:  One year, we did a craft each Monday, a game each Tuesday, cooking on Wednesdays, outings on Thursday, and some sort of themed little party each Friday. 

Theme Twists:

Themes are perfect for unifying art projects, outings, cooking, movies, parties, books, music, and more.  The idea is definitely from my preschool teacher days, and the kids love this.  I probably won’t do it this year, though, since I am unit-study fatigued from school at home!  Here are some ideas to find themes:

Country studies:  One summer, we picked different countries and all our activities had to do with that country’s culture.  We had a party at the end like a Mexican fiesta or an English tea.  Very fun!

Food themes are also fun to weave into the weeks.  We’ve done chocolate, apples, bread, and more. 

Books:  Certain books have rich themes you can pull ideas from for a week or more.  We love the American Girl books and classics like Little Women.  Books of the Bible like Esther are nice to explore as well.

Movies:  We love movies around here, and certain ones can inspire many theme-based ideas.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Bee Movie, the Little Mermaid, and historical movies like Gone With the Wind are some ideas. 

Animals and other critters: Animals and insects are fun to read about, draw, observe, and even cook treats for.  Movies for movie parties are plentiful!

Famous people:  Coco studied Billy Graham one week and wrote him a letter.  He sent her a letter in return that she still has.  She also learned about Beverly Cleary as we read the beloved Ramona books.  Good role model celebrities are fun to learn about, too and their biographies are interesting to read, and don’t feel at all like school work! 

Tomorrow, I will list some of the simple ideas that appeared on our calendars and in our idea jars. 

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Bedtime Rituals

March 23, 2009 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Creating Family Times, MamaMusings

When the clock gets close to eight thirty, one of my favorite times of day approaches. It’s time to goodbye to another day, while looking forward to what God has in store for us tomorrow. Ah, bedtime. I love it for so many reasons.

Because the running around has settled, and all is quiet in my house. Because shortly after our routine, I will have some treasured time with my husband. Because thoughts and dreams that might not be shared in the bright light of day are shared freely when only the moon is lighting the room.

Mostly, because it’s one more time that I get to connect with my little girls. And when they’re in bed, under the blankets with only their little clean scrubbed faces popping out, they are both still just that…little girls.

We have two bedrooms besides ours in our home, and each girl used to have their own. A year ago, they decided to combine bedrooms so one room could be used exclusively for playing and sleepovers. I was in full support of the move, as I believe that rooming together will teach them respect for others and bring them closer as sisters.

I suppose it partly has to do something with the fact that I always wanted a sister to whisper late into the night with when growing up. I settled for my stuffed animals, though and turned out reasonably okay.

When the girls combined bedrooms, at first I combined their nighttime prayers and songs as well. After a couple weeks, though I went back to tucking them in separately and chatting for a while with each alone. I found I missed the one on one time, and I know the girls did, too.

Our nighttime routine is pretty specific, and has grown and grown as years go by. It seems once I do something two nights in a row, I am destined to do it forever. I like to joke that by the time Coco starts high school, I may have to start tucking them in an hour before bedtime.

On most nights, we’ll read a passage of scripture and a chapter in our current novel. For this, we all snuggle together on one bed. I switch beds each night and the girls make a big fuss over making me comfortable by offering me their best pillow. Then, the lights go off and I sing and pray with each girl individually. This is also a good time for back rubs and chats. If someone is feeling scared, we’ll think up a great scenario for them to think about after I leave the room.

It took a few weeks, but Soleil (5) has learned to listen quietly when I sing and pray with her big sister, instead of singing loudly along with us. I thought it was pretty cute, but it didn’t please Coco much. Now, once in a while we’ll just hear her little soft voice saying, “Yes, Lord” while praying.

Somewhere along the line we started keeping track of who got the last hug and kiss…so each night I make a big deal out of giving the lucky girl her last hug and kiss. As I leave the room, I say “Goodnight baby elephants,” and they answer “Goodnight mommy elephant.” Or if we’re feeling silly, Baby Elephanto…said with an accent of course.

Every once in a while, if I am sick or have a horrible headache, I will tell the girls they need to put me to bed. They will come in my room and sing and pray, and leave saying, “Goodnight mommy elephant!”

They’ll be great tucker-inners one day.

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HomeKeeping Lessons for Kids

March 20, 2009 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Domestically Challenged?, Homeschool

Each week, I set aside a couple of hours to intentionally teach the girls some aspect of homemaking.  While they learn from many tasks during the day, we all look forward to these times together that are especially fun.

Some “lessons” we’ve had include cooking, organizing, cleaning, table settings, menu planning, scrapbooking, and hospitality.  Perhaps someday I will learn to sew and teach them that as well!

So that I don’t forget to include these fun lessons, I will note on Coco’s weekly assignment sheet which day we are having one.  I usually take a short amount of time to prepare (even if only in my mind) and I always work it in with something we already have going on.

For instance, a couple weeks ago, we had friends coming over so I did a class on hospitality that day.  Last week, we had banana bread on our menu, so I planned for this recipe to be their project.  Then, I had the girls give two of their loaves away.   That was a simple class on preparing food gifts for others.

Every once in a while, I will share some of our ideas for these little classes, and I will post them in the HomeKeeping category.  Today, I want to share my basic, very loose outline.

First, I introduce our subject and talk about why it is important.  I usually have a verse that goes along with our subject.

Then, I brainstorm with the girls.  That is, I take the ideas they already have and add a few of my own.  Sometimes we are just chatting in the kitchen while we get ingredients out, like who we could give a food gift to, or sometimes we’re sitting at the table, writing ideas on the whiteboard.   I like this because we are all contributing ideas and the girls have lots of good ones!  I also get to see what they’ve already learned over the years just by living life in our home, and that can be encouraging as a mom. 

Next, we might do some research.  Of course we don’t call it research!  We look through books and magazines to find samples, ideas, and instructions and add them to Coco’s HomeKeeping book.  She often works on this on her own time because she enjoys it so much.  When Soleil gets older, I’ll have her keep one as well.

Finally, we put our skills to work.  The most fun, by far, is the hands-on application of what we’ve just learned.  We’ll cook, prepare a food basket, set a fancy table for dinner, go grocery shopping, or even clean their closet. 

Lastly, we clean up!  Following through with this step is important, and teaches responsibility.  It’s also fun and goes faster when we’re all helping, while of course lightening the load for me. 

All of these skills are things the girls will learn over time by being part of the family and household.   Yet, by deciding to NOT multitask for a couple hours each week and dedicating that time to enrich their homemaking skills, we not only learn and have fun, we grow closer and bond over these projects.

Isn’t that what keeping a happy home is all about?

Do you have any ideas or requests for ideas on a particular homekeeping subject?  Please share!

 

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Prayer Notebook

March 18, 2009 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Following Jesus

This is yet one more idea from A Woman After God’s Own Heart, by Elizabeth George.  I had actually been doing something similar before I read the book, but I took her ideas and made my prayer notebook even more efficient. 

I use a spiral bound notebook that I purchased for ten cents at a back to school sale. 

I think it is important to mention that I only pray for all these requests after I have praised God, spent a time of worship, thanked Him for blessings, and confessed my sins.  Only then do I open my little book and start asking.  Then, after I am done with requests, I find it a blessing to sit and just meditate on God for a while. 

Inside Cover:  Answered Prayers!

Anytime I feel discouraged, tired, or useless, I open my book and the first thing I see is the many answered prayers.  I will soon have to add pages for this section!

Page One:  Special requests

Here, I list special requests that I am praying daily for.  Friends and family members with problems or issues are here, upcoming events, tests, etc.  When someone calls and asks me to pray, it goes on this page.

Page Two:  Daily

On this page are the people I pray for daily.  My immediate family, parents, brothers and sisters, nephews, our country, myself, and a couple people I find hard to love are on this page.  For these people, I have a few key words to help me remember all the areas I want to cover in prayer.  Other family and girls from my Bible study group are also here and I pray generally for them all each day.  I pray more specifically for them later, as you will see.

I also have a reminder at the bottom of the page that says:

          What else does God put on my heart today?

This reminds me to be quiet and wait for prayer requests from the Holy Spirit.

 

Pages Three-Eight:  Days of the Week

Each day of the week has its own page divided into four sections.  These requests are prayed for once a week.

Family and friends:  Here I list families in my extended family and churches in our area.

Girls from my group:  Each day, I pray extensively for one or two girls in my Bible study group.

Ministry:  Here, I list a character trait I’d like to develop that can improve my ministry for God.  Some things include: a servant’s heart, mercy, encouragement, etc.

World:  Each day of the week I pray for a country God has put on my heart.

 

Pages Nine and beyond:  Verses and more

Sometimes I will record a verse or a Word from the Lord here.  I don’t do it daily, since I write more in my Bible study books.  However, sometimes something is so encouraging or applicable that I include it in my prayer book.

 

A disclaimer

This is a guideline, something to help me in my prayer life, not a rule book.  Keeping track helps me to remember to focus on others and needs outside my own family, but I never rely solely on my book. I rely on the Holy Spirit, but I also believe God makes tools like this available to us for a reason.  It has increased my prayer ministry and helps me to pray more intentionally for loved ones.  

That’s a good enough reason for me!

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The Ministry of a Mom

March 17, 2009 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Following Jesus

A couple of years ago I gave up several ministries that I was serving in and for the most part, leading.  God had moved me, one thing at a time, to almost no ministry at all and was teaching me that my family was my first ministry.  I am so thankful that He did that for me!  Putting my creative energies into our family and home is the best use of my gifts at this point in my life.

Being a mom means sometimes you have to say no to other opportunities to serve.  We must choose carefully and prayerfully how we spend our time.  I regret hours spent working on projects and outreaches for other kids while my own children watched TV, waiting for me to be done.  This is my own fault, getting carried away with ideas and taking on too many things.  I know of many moms who balance it all beautifully.

As for me, I’m still getting the hang of it.  I still must pray daily for wisdom in this area.  Eric used to say that I live and breathe whatever it is I am involved in.  We joke about it, but his comment caused me to take a good look at things and ask God to help me change.

God is merciful!   He has brought ministry opportunities back into my life, and with His help I’ve been able to set boundaries.  Writing this blog, for instance, could easily eat up my day if I let it.  Ideas, research, reading other blogs, writing, writing, writing…

Fortunately, I have been strict with myself and I work on this in the early morning hours, after my quiet time with God and before my kids wake up.  Are there times I think I could do more or write a better post?  Only every day!  Yet, when the time I’ve set aside comes to an end, I honor that.  I now fiercely protect my first ministry, as a wife, mom, and builder of this home. 

This means I’ve said no to many things.  Things that I am gifted to do, things that I would have fun doing, things that would help others.  It gets easier and easier as I see God’s plan unfolding in my family.   One ministry I have been able to say yes to is the ministry of prayer.  This is great for moms who can’t leave the house and long to serve God’s people. 

To help my forgetful mind– and to organize the time I spend in this ministry– I keep a prayer notebook.  I am going to share tomorrow how I set up my notebook.  (Don’t worry; it is not a three-ring binder with several tabs!  I use a simple ten cent spiral bound notebook.)

Because I listened to God’s leading a couple of years ago, I am now living the life of my dreams.  Everything my heart desired in the past was possible; I just needed to make some room. 

Do you need to make some room in your life?  Are you overwhelmed with saying yes to too many opportunities and saying no too often to your family?  Pray and ask God to show you where you may need to cut back.

Or maybe you feel you have no ministry at all.  I encourage you to ask God to show you to treat your husband and kids as a ministry for Him and work at it diligently.  He will bless your efforts and open doors to bless others as well. 

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