We are learning!

Well, I am so far behind. I decided I am going to attempt to start blogging on some fun things we have been doing together and how we have been learning through doing. So, here is installment one...something everyone can relate to....FOOD!

Anne Marie has been reading The Little House in the Big Woods and we have been taking full advantage of learning the differences in how people would live in day to day life early in this countries history. We have done a couple of fun projects. The first here is Molasses candy in snow!

Here is Emma...happy to be making candy in her own pan of snow!

The girls took full advantage of the snow day that they had been waiting for and collected 4 pans of fresh snow from the back yard.

Anne was very excited to actually get to stir on the stove. First time for everything right???

And yes, snow day projects were done in Pajamas!

So, what we did was take the above ingredients (1 cup of molasses and 1/2 cup of brown sugar) and cook it in a pan to 245 degrees. We then very quickly poured the candy into the snow pans and let it harden. The girls then broke it into pieces and put it on a pan. (I would suggest wax paper!) So, now Anne has not only read about this but we made our own Christmas molasses candies.

Next we were able to take advantage of our bread machine (given to us by an awesome friend!) and we made butter. I had great memories of this from school as a kid so once Anne read about that I thought....let's do it!

The results were delicious....and shaped like stars and trees! Hm. That part might not be authentic.

We put heavy cream with a little bit of hot milk colored by grated carrot on the stove and shook, and shook, and shook, and shook, and did I mention shook the jars.

The butter came into a ball and after we strained and pressed the liquid out we added a pinch of salt and ate it on our homemade bread. Delicious!!!

I tell you, what we have learned from all this "doing" will help them remember, in this case, a bit of history and experience a bit more of what is being read and studied. BUT, more importantly hopefully they will remember the experience together and pass it along to their little girls (or boys).

PHEW!!!!

Well, do you ever feel tired....I mean REALLY tired. The laundry is piled to the ceiling, the house is slowly being destroyed, there are kids to care for, teach, bring to lessons and classes. This makes you even more tired....and then you begin to doubt whether or not you are doing the right thing at all. Should I be homeschooling? Should I be doing things differently? Am I really any good at what I am doing? What happened to all those plans I had in my early 20's? Do I even remember my early 20's? Well, I'm there....now. What do I do about it? Not sure yet. I'm thinking it over and trying to figure out if it is possible to add another 8 hours to the day, if there is in fact a patience vaccination, and if I can acquire caffeine pills! : ) I don't think any of those things are possible. So, until I come up with an alternate plan I will just have to perservere. If you have any secrets to share I'm willing to listen! Have a wonderful day!

A NEW LOOK FOR A NEW SEASON.

Well, I've updated the look to match our gray snowy (or rainy) days here in Michigan. The weather is a bit, for lack of a better word, yucky, yet the snow and cold has brought some very fun times for the girls. Paper snowflakes from http://www.papersnowflakes.com/ are on the windows. A little jar of water is outside and the girls check on it to see if the cold weather has turned it to ice. There have been snowangels and snow swinging and even raking a snow maze in our back yard. All fun things that a summer day could not bring.

We did make an escape from the cold one day to the Matthei Botanical Gardens conservatory to see the variety of plants we had learned about in science. Oh did the tropical plants area feel fantastic! I'll make a post soon full of some photos from the trip. Next weekend we are headed to Toledo to study some mammals (from our next science book). I have a strong feeling that we won't be so warm on this field trip however! : )

Anyhow, I hope that in this new year you will find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control. I know I'm working on it.

SO WHERE HAVE I BEEN........

Well, we certainly have been busy. Much learning has been going on and busy schedules.....gymnastics shows....Jeff travelling....the list goes on...and my pile of laundry reflects that as well!

Anyhow, I thought I would take some time and share with you a little of what the girls have been working on. Anne has taken to liking science. We have been working through our first life science book on plants and she just finished a big final project, a leaf notebook. She continues to point things out to me even at the grocery store....."Hey mom, that turnip is a special root we learned about!" Yes! Great! So, here are some pictures to share on what we have been doing at our house. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Well, these are our bean plants. Anne did an experiment to see what a seed needs to grow...we had jars everywhere, in the dark, the refridgerator, the windows ..... anyhow we had some seeds sprout and we now have these big bean plants growing...waiting for spring to be put in the garden.

This was the results of one of Anne's collections on different types of leaf alignments. She did great at finding everything.

Looks like she is even having fun collecting stuff!

Even better Snow White (aka Emma) showed up to help.

Too cute. I had to remind them to come in out of the rain. Seems like they were enjoying the "homework."

Alright, well I will try to catch up on all kinds of stuff here soon. Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

www.creationmuseum.org

THE TRAVELLING BEGINS

Well, it has been a while I know. Things have been busy, I have been have problems physically, and schooling, trumpeting and children have taken all the energy I have! Phew. Anyhow, I thought I would share with you the up and coming for the Weldon family. Travelling.....not all together....but travelling. Well, October brings a two week trip to Minnesota for my husband who is attending Bethel Seminary. He goes out to take intensive courses 2 times a year, making for a very....very....looooonnnng two weeks around here. So, to break it up a bit the girls, my mom and I are going for a few days to Kentucky to the creation museum. It is a wonderful museum in my opinion and I'm hoping that my mom enjoys it as well. It should offer a nice break and a great experience for all of us.

That's it for now. School has been going well. I'll try to update on that soon. We have been doing a character study on responsibility and for several weeks we have been doing this through the lives of the early settlers. This week is the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam...we are going to try out making our own homemade cottage cheese as one of the activities...which was apparently a dutch dish....I'll let you know how it goes!

A GOD WHO HEARS.

I am reminded today of this verse and song, as I know that there are many wonderful friends out there who are praying for me.....and I tell you what, God hears them and is a God who answers!

2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International Version)
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

New International Version (NIV)

HOW DO YOU SAVE ON GROCERIES?

http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

I'm sure from the link above you can tell what we do, and I thought I would share it with you in case you haven't tried it before. Every month we order a large portion of our groceries, and basically all of our meat, through Angel Food. It is a nation wide program, so no matter where you are right now, I'm sure you can find somewhere that you could participate in the program as well. The prices are unmatched and the food is of good quality as well. Oh, and NO there are no qualifications to participate in the program. If you eat food, then you qualify. Check it out, or even better maybe try it out. We stock our freezer full and get some other basics like milk, eggs, frozen veggies, cereal, etc. for just under $100 a month. So, there you go! Let me know what you think!

AMAZING LITTLE ONE!

The newest helper in my home is.......

You're not going to believe it.......

This little girl here!

YES. Hadassah!

My little 15 month old has decided that it is her job to help unload the dishwasher.....yes you heard me right. Every time I unload the dishes she comes and hands me every plate and pot from the bottom of the dishwasher and when it is all empty she closes the door. Unbelievable...umm she could teach her sisters a lesson on helping???? I think it is adorable. She hands me a plate and I say "Thank You" and she says "thank you" in her little voice and then goes to get the next dish!

So, three cheers for Hadassah!!!!

A NEW SEASON, A NEW LOOK

So, fall is here. The heat is on again, the fall clothes are out, school is well on its way and so I decided....why not make the blog look less springy! Well, what do you think? Looking forward to collecting some of the acorns out of the oak tree this year for a fun project with the girls, so I thought I would put some here as a reminder. That's all for now....just wanted to share my new fall blog with you! Have a nice day, keep warm, visit Leanne's Blog (on my list) for some yummy Barley soup!

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP TIME


So, the laundry is piled up beyond belief and the laundry soap runs out.....been there? Well, I have and I tell you what is awesome is NOT spending $13 or so dollars on a new jug of laundry detergent. Today was the day I refilled the laundry detergent jugs with my homemade laundry soap. Instead of spending $13 on a jug of soap, I have spent less than $10 for the entire year thus far! Want to know how I did it...here you go!


First you have to get together some ingredients, a 5 gallon bucket and your old empty laundry soap containers!

You will need your 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water, 1 cup of washing soda, 1/2 cup Borax and also you will need a bar of Fels Naptha Laundry Soap. Grate the soap and simmer it on medium heat with 4 cups of water until dissolved.




Once you do that add the soap mixture, Borax and washing soda to your hot water and stir. Then fill the bucket up the rest of the way with hot water.

Let you bucket sit out over night.

Finally, stir up the soap and mix it into your laundry detergent containers that are filled 1/2 full with warm water!

You now have 10 GALLONS OF LAUNDRY DETERGENT!!!!!!!!! All for just a few dollars. Add the suggested 5/8 cup of soap to your laundry (or 3/4c if you are like me and don't feel like figuring out 5/8 in your measuring cup) and you are all set!

So, there you go. Now you know how we do laundry around here. Give it a try if you wish! Good night!

AHH. THE TRUMPET

Well, for those of you who don't know, I am a trumpet player. I have my bachelors and masters degrees in trumpet performance actually. I still do play professionally with the Dodworth Saxhorn band (http://www.dodworth.org/), I am the manager for cushion concerts through the International Symphony Association ( I used to play the concerts as well, but with homeschooling and 3 kiddos, daytime concerts stopped working), and I am thinking of starting to teach privately again. In all my free time of course! Anyhow, I finally let everything go for a while today and put the bulk of the grant I needed to write together. It feels good to do something like that. The deadline has been looming and the time each day seems to slip away.

Anyhow, I was just thinking about my life. You know it sure doesn't look like what I had planned at all. My plan was to get an orchestra job, maybe teach college. Kids.....hmmmm...maybe 1 ! Well, God had some different plans for me. Now don't get me wrong. I very much enjoy having 3 kids, being a wife, teaching school to my kids, going to gymnastics, piano lessons, field trips, etc. Actually, the dedication I have to those things is a testimony to how God can change a person....completly. My only struggle is, as a good friend puts it, the feminist inside me! Yes, she still resides there somewhere, deep down....and every once in a while she fights her way through, and quite honestly she does nothing but discourage, not lift up. You know I am a great trumpet player, and who knows, maybe I will have that full time music career someday, but now God has a plan for me to be in the home, with my children, my family, and that is okay. Actually, it's even more than okay. And, the trumpet isn't going anywhere. She is still there in the music room. Life brings different seasons doesn't it? Sometimes I just need a reminder.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New Living Translation)
11 For I know the plans I have
for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

See, there you go! He's got it covered!

.

OH BOY!

Well, here is what I'm pondering this morning.

"They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to
all: and his tender mercies are over all his works." (Psalm 145:7-9)

Well, the emphasis is mine....I could use to work on that one!
My strategy is this:
God is gracious, full of compassion, slow to anger and has great mercy with me....daily....so I can at least conquer the slow to anger with others part! Okay...so off to start another day.

ARE YOU WITH ME ON THIS?

Well, I am curious. You know when I was driving (or rather riding) home tonight I was looking at the houses in my little town of St. Clair. I could see in the windows, the lights were on, the big TV's were running. It appeared as if everyone in town had a clean, organized, house. That got me thinking....

Am I the only one in the town that is struggling just to keep up with the dishes and the laundry and the children? Forget about, organizing, gardening, oh and did I mention I'M A MUSICIAN!!!! What is wrong with me?

Well, I know this thought goes into direct opposition to my previous post, but I have to admit it discourages me. So, am I the only one? If so, how is it that I can't keep up and everyone else can? Just some thoughts I had for this evening....

TO BE OR NOT TO BE.....JOB.

Well, that's my Emma there in the yellow boat, having a great time, not worried that the timer on her boat set for five minutes will be going off soon. She's just enjoying the moment, the time that she has in the now. Hm. I'm having trouble grasping that today. I'm running behind. I wanted to get through science this morning with Anne, it didn't happen. Now mind you we did Spelling, Math, Handwriting, Art, oh and pre-school for Emma, but I found myself frustrated a moment ago because we aren't where I wanted to be right now. Well, then I read these words of Job.

Job 7 1-6

"Human life is a struggle, isn't it? It's a life sentence to hard labor.Like field hands longing for quitting time and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,I'm given a life that meanders and goes nowhere— months of aimlessness, nights of misery!I go to bed and think, 'How long till I can get up?' I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I'm fed up!I'm covered with maggots and scabs. My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles, and then the yarn runs out—an unfinished life!

Well, haven't we all thought that, maybe minus the maggots, but the feeling of the struggle, the days going by to quickly, the "yarn" running out. ( I like how the Message Bible puts it). Why? I'm wondering why. Why do I not enjoy the time I'm in? Rather I think about what I did not do, all there is still to do, how I don't really want to do it anyhow! So, I'm going to try to choose to think a little bit differently. Does that mean I ignore all I have to do. NO! But, I'll try to stop comparing how my family does things, what we've accomplished, how decluttered everything is, to everyone else. I'll try to sit peacefully in the time that God has given me and those around me to learn and enjoy. Hears to trying a new idea!

MUCH HAPPENING

Well, there is much happening around here that I want to share. Clothes shopping, finding time to do everything, and giving up things I maybe don't want to, schooling, pictures..... It goes on and on, and I will write about some of this later. BUT, I wanted to share this verse with you to start our your week...and mine.

John 16:33 (New Living Translation)
33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
New Living Translation (NLT)

Have a good morning all.

My Little Thasanee Srisuksankeere

Well, I was just remembering that me and the family sang happy birthday to our Thasanne yesterday at dinner. She is our "daughter" that we sponser through compassion international. She lives in Thailand and just had her 7th birthday today (or yesterday really because they are 12 hours ahead of us).....it's confusing. Anyhow, her birthday is September 11th, let's just put it that way! : ) The girls and I love sending her letters, pictures and photos, and getting letters from her from the other side of the world is awesome as well. I would put up her picture but I can't grab it off their website. It is protected for security purposes. But, I did put some info on her below, so that if you think of it you can pray for her too.....and sing happy birthday to her too! Good night! And Good afternoon Thasanee!!!!

Project Information for Thasanee Srisuksankeere
Name:
Mae Jan Church Child Development Center
Program Type:
Student Center
Project Opening Date:
3/1/2007
Month school year begins:
May
Information last updated:
2/2/2007

Hobbies and Sports
Dolls
Group games
Play house
Walking
Hide-and-Seek
Reading
Art/Drawing


Program Description:
Your sponsored child lives in the mountainous community of Bann Mae Jan, home to approximately 2,300 residents. Typical houses are constructed of wood and have corrugated iron roofs. The most commonly spoken language is Karan. The regional diet consists of chicken, pork, rice and vegetables. Common health problems in this area include malaria and colds. Most adults in Bann Mae Jan work in domestic services and earn the equivalent of $32 per month. This community needs educational materials, qualified teachers, clean drinking water and vocational training. Sponsorship allows the staff of Mae Jan Church Child Development Center to provide your sponsored child with Bible teaching, health checkups, health education, recreational activities, English and Karan classes and cultural activities.

SCIENCE

Well, we've finished our first week of homeschooling and this week Anne Marie started Life Science. I had to share with you the books we are using. Anne has immediately taken an interest in science with these texts and I'm enjoying it as well. They are entitled God's Design for Life put out by Answers in Genesis. You can find them here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/publicstore/product/Gods-Design-for-Life-Complete-Set,5968,193.aspx

I have started the year by using the first text on Plants. We also have the worksheet and test booklet that you can get with it and that makes for some fun activities to go with the reading. It is set up to be used by grades1 -8, and they have done a great job at that aspect of the book. It is so refreshing to learn all the aspects of life science through the eyes of a creationist, rather than an evolutionist. The books even address what differences there may be between the two theories. Hm, what an idea, right? Anyhow, I was excited about this, and Anne is excited about this, and so I thought you all might be interested too! Later!

FAMILY AND DEUTERONOMY

Well, how's that for a title? Anytime you can get Deuteronomy in a title I think it's pretty good, right? HA! Anyhow, I was reading from chapter 12 in Deut. and the first 4 verses made me think a bit.

1 These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. 2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.


4 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.



So, why on earth did you find this interesting you may be saying? It made me think, how is it in my life that I "smash down the sacred stones", and "cut down the idols" of the world. How do I "not worship ....God in their way." Good question. In terms of our family, one thing we do is talk about the Bible, usually in a devotional at dinner. We also are honest with our kids on certain topics that go contrary to what the masses may believe. We homeschool so that we can invite God into the education process. We serve at our church and pray that letting our kids see our value placed on serving God teaches them to do the same. Hmmm.....



So, what do you do? What are some other ideas. How can we make sure that we are worshipping the one true God in the way that he has created and maybe even influence our children and families to do the same?

Just a thought.

On a lighter note......this is a funny song about Deuteronomy:

http://www.jellybits.com/deuteronomy.html

Our Schedule?

So, another school year is now underway and we are trying out the new schedule. It seems to be going okay, except for the fact that I am up between 6 and 630 so that I can be showered and stuff for the day, and then of course up a bit late so I can see Jeff. So, I guess what I'm saying is that the schedule is cool except if I want to sleep. But, that is what Saturday morning is for I guess!?! Anyhow, I thought I would share what we are doing here at the Weldon household.

• 
  
  830 am school starts for Anne and Emma. While I've told Emma she only has to do school 3 days a week, I don't see that happening.....when there is school going on....she will be there!


• 
  
  Emma starts off with her phonics and then numbers and Bible, as well as some readiness skills worksheets. We are using all Abeka K4 stuff for Emma. While Emma is doing this Anne is working on her Math, spelling, and cursive writing worksheets (things she is pretty self sufficient at).


• 
  
  Following worksheet time it is different depending on the day. Monday- music class, Wednesday - Art, and Friday - spanish.


• 
  
  Following these activities Emma cleans up and Anne and I do science on MWF and Social Studies on Tuesday and Thursday.


• 
  
  Now we are finished with our morning and it is about 11 so Anne can play, hang out and wait for lunch around 12.


• After lunch Hadassah takes a nap and Anne and I spend a bit of time in our Konos curriculum which has Bible, reading, writing and some other activities. This is how we will spend all of our afternoons except Tuesday where we will do a co-op class at a friends house.
  

Well, by now it's about 2 and I can now try to have a moment to myself and fit in all of the cleaning, laundry, dinner, packing for the evening events, etc. I'll keep you posted on how it all goes, and if it seems to keep running smoothly or not! : )

Anyhow, it was art day so here you go!

Anne made 3D animals out of strips of paper. She had a great time.

Emma painted a tree for fall, and one of her Bible sheets. She is always happy when painting.