What we are doing for school - Kindergarten

I have decided to start Esther with My Fathers World Kindergarten.  I decided to start kindergarten because she really just wanted to learn more and more.  She knows her alphabet, sounds and is beginning to read.  She can already print her alphabet quite well and knows all her colors, shapes and numbers.  She is extremely curious and does seems to become quite irritable if we are not doing some sort of constructive learning.  I also realized that I needed some type of structure to go by.  So in comes My Fathers World.

We are using the curriculum at a much slower pace.  Instead of one week per topic, we take two weeks. I also am not using their phonics program, instead we are using "Teach Your Child to Read in One Hundred Lessons".  We are on lesson 42 and she really likes it.  I like it too because everything I need is written right in the book.  I was skeptical at first, but I really do like it alot.  We will see how well she is reading at the end of the book.

Overall, I love the program.  It gives me just enough structure that I'm not frantically trying to pull lessons together, but enough freedom to add in my own activities.  I love how "hands on" it is.  I just ordered ants which should arrive soon to fill our ant farm, plus we have been able to do other things like sew, model with clay and cook. For Esther it seems to be a good mix of worksheets (which she loves) and hands-on activities.  I also use Kumon books, filefolder games as well as puzzles and board games.

I hope to show bi-weekly updates as we work our way through the curriculum.

Time Flies...

I cannot believe how fast time can move on me when I'm not looking.  Of course we have been quite busy.  I had the joy of planning the Easter Egg Hunt at our church this year.

It was lots of fun, especially because my mother came to visit.

It was a last minute trip, and we only had the weekend but it was a lot of fun.

The weekend after the egg hunt I also co directed a childrens puppet show based on the "The Tale of Three Trees"  There were a few techinical difficulties, but was entirely enjoyed by the church. (sadly no pictures were taken)
We then celebrated Easter with my husbands family, and had a great time.  The following day I collapsed in exhaustion.  Ok not really, but I was completely exhausted and took the next week to recuperate.

It was about this time that my husband and I put in our application to get credentials within our church.  My husband has always felt called to be a pastor and has had to overcome many obstacles, but now we are able to start the process to become liscenced ministers.  Long story short, we started bible college just last Tuesday.  Its exciting and overwhelming all at once.



We have been busy with school, I have been in my gardens everyday and I think I may just have a handle on how to feed my soy-allergic son.  Whew! Can't wait to see what happens in the next month!

Allergies

I am not sure if I have ever shared on here about my son's health issues.  He is now 2 years and four months old and I cannot think of a day that he has not had some sort of rash on his body. 

Right about when he turned a year old it got really bad, and it covered most of his body and it was obviously very uncomfortable and itchy.  Our doctor advised us that it was eczema and prescribed a cream.  When that did not help, he prescribed an even higher dosage of cream.   In fact I think we went through 4 or five different prescribed creams, and nothing helped.  At some point I realized that it all seemed to be food related.  I started to keep track of what he ate and guessing what it was he was allergic to.  Then I heard from an acquaintance that we could have him tested for food allergies, something our doctor previously advised us that we could not do.  Long story short, after many doctor visits, stressful nights and me practically begging, we finally were able to go see an allergist, and get the test done.  We now know that he is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and soy.

I have been going through my cupboards and have quickly realized that soy is in EVERYTHING!  I have come to the realization, that I will be able to buy very few pre-made food products, which means lots of baking!

I am hoping to share some good soy/nut free snack recipes for others who may be in a similar predicament.  I also would love to hear if anyone knows of any good resources for recipes like this.

My first recipe to try...Homemade Fig Newtons....my Father-in-law shared this recipe with us and it was delicious.  When I try it I will probably cut back the sugar though.

First Day of School

We have officially started Kindergarten this year.  I am using My Fathers World Kindergarten curriculum, but taking it very slow since she is still young (more on school later).  To say that Esther is loving it would be an understatement!

Fulfilling a Promise

I've been telling my mother now for about a few months that I was going to start up this blog again.  I've procrastinated enough and thought I would just get on with it.  It feels really good to be back again.  I realized how much I enjoyed sharing with others, but also how writing these posts helped me to stay on track with my schooling plans for my children.  Now I just have to re learn how to do everything in blogger again :)

Season of Plenty Begins

Well, it seems that the season of plenty has already happened upon us. As a family we went strawberry picking and came home with 7 pounds of strawberries. These did not last very long as they were eaten quite quickly. I was able to make a double batch of strawberry bread first though. Yum! I am planning on going back tomorrow and hopefully get 20 pounds to make jam with.

I have also been spending a lot of time out at "The Farm" as I have been calling it. Last winter we got hooked up with a local farm and since then we have been receiving our milk and meat from it. This spring they offered the ability to become a part of a CSA (community supported agriculture). Essentially, we paid them a lump sum at the beginning of the summer and for the next 18 weeks we receive a basket full of vegetables from their fields. To say that I was excited would be an understatement. But then... I was asked if I would be wiling to trade my time weeding for food. I gave a definite yes and have been immensely blessed.

I never thought that I would find so much joy in weeding, but I do. I get up early in the morning and make it to the farm by 8. It's not quite hot yet and all the birds are singing in the woods near the fields. It is so peacful and so rewarding. I love the feeling of looking down a long row of vegetables that I just freed from weeds. Plus, Amy (One of the owners) alsmost always sends me home with a basket full of excess vegetables. Last week it was radishes, this week it was mustard greens. Have you ever had radish top soup? It absolutely delicious. Greg had THREE helpings at dinner. We are slightly addicted to radishes in this house right now.

I have already processed strawberries, mustard greens, radishes and now have some baby spinach to blanch and freeze. Also my garden has produced its first peas. We go down every other day and harvest a good handful. There are flowers on my zucchini, tomatoes, green beans and peppers. I can tell my freezer is going to be quite full by the end of the summer and I may have to track down some more canning jars. I'm so excited and am looking forward to it!

Tot School

Well, I know many of you decided to stay with me because of my tot school posts, and I am finally able to start them again now that the camera has been found. The following pictures are from three weeks ago.

This first one is for you mom,


Its our first official "first day of school picture". Mom I can remember you dragging us outside on the first day of school and then proceeding to take a gazzilion pictures of us all the while our eyes are rolling and comments are dropped under our breathe....ahh, the good old times of childhood.

Now before you all start getting worried about me, I am aware of the fact this it is May and that most people are ending school. I am just starting a new phase of learning with both kids and this seemed like the perfect time. Elijah seems ready to start tot school while Esther is demanding more structured learning. So...hence the first day of school picture.

The rest of the pictures I am going to list with brief descriptions. If any of you would like more info about them, please feel free to ask, I just don't want to bore you with too much details if you aren't interested.


Sorting shells
Making flowers for the book "Plant a Rainbow"
Counting bean game. Pick a popsicle stick numbered 1-5 add that number of beans to your pile. At end count all your beans. The one with the most wins. Surprisingly Esther counted all the way to 22 on her own!
Seeing what happen when celery is put into colored water and drawing pictures in our science notebook
Peeling a carrot

Sadly, the only picture of Elijah is playing with blocks and touch and feel nursery rhyme cards.

Unfortunately this is when the camera went missing so there are no pictures of the next two weeks when we learned all about bears and did project with the books, going on a bear hunt and Jesse Bear What Will you Wear.

Michelle you did a great post about Jesse bear, so if any of you are interested go check hers out and just envision my kids in her pictures!

The next two weeks we are studying ladybugs so there should be lots to share.