(And All My) Work Be Praise

We're doing a little unit on Chinese New Year this week. One page of this printable pack  was a one-to-one-correspondence activity, matching up something (stickers were suggested, but we used the yellow dot marker) with each gold coin.  I fully expected Silas to dot willy-nilly all over the page, but he actually took great care in matching up the marker with the coin. Success!

Did you that there are science experiment kits to go along with the Magic School Bus books? I spotted them on accident once while browsing Rainbow Resource , looking for something cheap-ish to meet the minimum shipping requirements. At $16, this wasn't as cheap as I had in mind, but Levi loves the books so  much, and we were planning to do ten weeks on the human body this winter already, and I couldn't resist! I give it four stars out of five. The giant human body poster (with stickers!) is a huge hit in our house. (It's too big for a decent picture, but you can see a lot of it in the background from Toby's first birthday pictures .) The kit includes most of the materials you'll need for all of the experiments (minus basic things like tape and scissors, and a few bigger things like an empty two-liter bottle). It lost a star because the materials aren't clearly labeled, and a few times I've grabbed the wrong size tube, for example, and then been frustrated...

My grandma loves cardinals, so when I saw this idea for handprint red birds  ( also here , a little less cartoon-y) come across my Pinterest feed, I knew I wanted to do something similar for her some day. I thought about it at Christmas time, but we were busy making these handprint canvases for my parents and my in-laws and didn't end up seeing my grandma in December anyway. Grandma turns ninety on Saturday, and my dad and aunt are throwing her a party: the perfect opportunity to make and give this gift! I don't have pictures of the process (taking pictures while painting children's hands is never a good idea), but it was very simple. The canvases are 8x10 from Michael's; the paint is just plain old tempera paint. I did the handprints first and then added the other details later, all in tempera paint except for the names, for which I used a felt-tip pen. I think they make a cute little set, if I do say so myself!

What I'm Cooking Sweet potato and apple casserole . The boys love this, so I often make it when I'm not going to be home for dinner myself. I didn't have any juice on hand and just used water. Whole-wheat crepes (for breakfast this morning). This time we filled with chocolate chips and banana slices, and topped with raspberry syrup made by a friend. Delicious as always! Rachael Ray's chicken and green bean casserole. I leave out the mushrooms entirely. I had every intention of linking to this recipe, but the one on her website is not the same as the one I took out of her magazine. Lame. If it sounds interesting to you, let me know, and I'll get you the recipe! Six Sisters' crockpot chili and whole-wheat honey cornbread that I didn't save the link for. It wasn't the best cornbread I've ever made. I wish I'd stuck with my usual cornbread waffles to go with chili. What I'm Reading I'm reading another book on discipline, but I...

Owen has been what most would call a "beginning reader" for a few months now. When I realized he was sounding out simple words, I got the first set of Bob books from the library, and he buzzed through them easily, and with great delight. (This was a surprise to me, as Levi hated them.) Isaac happened to mention this to a long-time homeschooling mom, who promptly lent us her entire nearly-complete collection of Bob books! Owen read two or three of these a week for most of the fall, and it really wasn't until the twenty-fourth book that he came upon some sight words that he didn't recognize at all. (Twenty-four might sound like a lot, but remember these are almost 100% three-letter words.) So, as of last week, we've started working more diligently (but still pretty relaxed, if you can be both) on sight words. I'm using this list of the Dolch sight words , but there are several lists out there. (Read about Dolch sight words here .) In my usual interest of ke...

This morning I stood gazing into the craft section of my big den closet, trying to find something unusual for Silas to practice green squares with. The glittery, sticky craft foam sheets I've used often before caught my eye, so I grabbed a green sheet and quickly cut out some big and little squares. (Okay, I didn't measure, they probably weren't actually  squares. But close enough for a two-year-old.) First, we sorted them into big and little. I picked up this tray at a dollar store a loooooong time ago, with intent to use it for sorting activities, but this is the first time it's come out of the cupboard. Then I peeled the backing off of the foam and let him stick them all over them ABCJLM square paper . I feel strongly compelled to assure my readers once again that Silas and I spent maybe five minutes at the most at the table for this. He was quite grumpy at the beginning, which is actually why I brought him to the table alone, hoping that some one-on-...

What I'm Cooking Beef barley vegetable soup. This is loosely based on a recipe from a lady at church, but I improvise with what I have on hand: a large can of V8, a can of tomato soup, a pound(ish) of ground beef (browned with onion first), a few carrots, a handful of peas, two handfuls of corn . . . pop it all in the crockpot for the day. Add barley (2/3 cup or so) an hour before dinner. Carrot cake oatmeal cookies , for a church ladies' get-together. They're a little too soft for my preference, but quite tasty. Lacto-fermented ketchup . Because fermented things are good for you, and we don't eat many of them, so ketchup seemed like a safe(r) choice. I haven't tasted it yet, as it's still fermenting. I'll let you know. Oatmeal apple butter bars . I subbed whole wheat flour, reduced the sugar by half (and used sucanat for all of it), and reduced the butter by two tablespoons, making it totally breakfast-worthy for a Saturday morning. It was a bit crum...

Painting is always a good idea, when you have a long day at home with nothing to break it up. Painting with cars is simply the icing on the cake! (Idea taken from a friend, with the educational benefits superimposed from ABCJLM . Which really just means that a few times I asked Silas if he was making lines.)

This year in Bible Study Fellowship we're studying the Life of Moses: Exodus through Deuteronomy. For the past two months or so, we've been learning about setting up the tabernacle and the sacrifices that took place within. Every week, it seems, there is some sort of question about how we prepare our own hearts for worship today, about being intentional and serious about coming into the Lord's presence. And every week, it seems, I suffer a bit of frantic despair over the thought. There is no way  I can adequately prepare for worship. Not even if all the clothes are laid out the night before (which they are). Not even if we get there early to drop the kids off at Sunday school (which we do). Not even if I get up early (which, with Toby up for 2-3 hours in the middle of most nights, I just. can. not. do) and spend time in prayer. Not even during the prayer of confession in the service, what with keeping an eye on the big kids' demeanor and training   asking   threateni...