Creative Homeschooling...

I do not remember very often to share about homeschooling, but today I was able to again combine the worlds of sewing creativity and learning for my younger two, and thought it would be fun to pass the ideas on. Bell is in first grade and Noah is in preschool, but both of them have some basic learning that they can do together. Sounds of the alphabet is still a bit of a struggle for Bell, so having Noah right along side her is a type of cheerleading she needs. Today I felt I really needed to figure out some kind of creative way to help with their memory, something tactile. So, I came up with two fun ways to learn the alphabet.

First we decided to create a new letter each day- "the letter of the day." Today was the letter "A" of course. The kiddos helped me pick out the fabric, I cut the shape(nothing fancy) and sewed them up, and the wee ones then stuffed each of the letters while we talked about the letter and it's sounds. I don't know if you realize this, but stuffing is one of the most fascinating things to a little kiddo-mine could come up with 1001 ways to play with stuffing(polyfil). Here are some of the pics...

Next I worked on some capes over lunch time for each of them. Very simple, but they each had two squares of velcro attached in the middle for "the letter of the day" . They became super letter heros! Each day we will attach a different letter of the alphabet to the cape for there lessons....

Since they have been wearing the capes long after school is over, it also helps to remind me to keep bringing the letter into our conversations throughout the day. I need a little help sometimes too:) School should never really end.

And those capes---yes! they were made from reclaimed bed linens:)

Holding Loosely to my Plans

Today, the boys(Matt and Cole) were out the door bright and early for a day in Chicago. Matt takes both youth groups to the city every year with the lesson in mind "be ready to fill a need". The kids all bring back packs full of food, hats, mittens, etc to hand out to the homeless. This year, they once again had around 100 with! Quite the sight, all gathered at the train station! It is a long day in the cold and walking, and my little ones would not quite make it, so I stay home-especially since my number one babysitter had the nerve to go with them:)

The girls and I spent a few hours this morning cleaning, and then they all went out to play in the beautiful winter wonderland that had arrived overnight. I never tire of the squeals that occur when they first open their eyes in the morning and see the first snow fall! After lunch, they all suited up again for a second round out in the snow, and I was all set to sew for a few hours.

This was my pile of mittens and hats all ready for me.

But about an hour into sewing, Joslyn came running in to get me. Madi had hurt her wrist and was struggling to get into the house. Madison had rolled a snowball the size of herself! And when it got to heavy to roll anymore, she backed up and took off running at it to get it to move. IT DID NOT MOVE-but her wrist did! After getting her all dewinterized and calmed down, I iced, elevated her wrist, and gave her some IB profen. But in a few hours it was obvious she needed to be seen by a Dr, I could not even move her wrist without causing extreme pain to her. Matt was already on his way home from Chicago by that point, so when they got home, I fed him and Cole when they walked in the door, and we then took Madison to the ER. We were actually a bit surprised to find out from the X Rays, that she did indeed fracture her wrist. So she is in a splint to immobilize the wrist and we will be seeing an Ortho Dr on Monday to get a cast put on.

I think what has really helped me to love being a mama of 5 kiddos, is learning to hold loosely to my own plans, after long weeks of school, ministry, work, etc-the weekend is welcomed with a sort of sigh of relief and especially when it seems that there may even be some quiet time that is unscheduled. But most of you know, that can change in a heartbeat. But instead of getting frustrated, I am learning to take a breath and count my blessings. It is so easy for "plans" to become an idol, to become all important, but they are only things themselves and are just not as important as those we love. Today I needed to put that into practice-all those projects waiting-didn't get done-but I was able to make some memories (even in the hard times) with Madison and Matt. I know some day, she will look back and laugh at this, and hopefully she will not attempt to win a battle with a monster snowball either!

And of course, the Lord's timing is perfect-Ellie once again has been a soothing balm for Madison after a hard week-first with the loss of her guinea pigs and now her wrist. Ellie is playing the roll of Nana from Peter Pan-taking such good care of the kids.

She made sure to help keep Madison's arm elevated.

Crafty Time with the Kiddos...

Battling colds around here and not really wanting to sit in front of the TV while we are not feeling our best so the kids (and Matt) sat around the table with me last night and a bit this morning and helped cover buttons for me to make bookmarks with. Helps take our minds off of feeling icky. Here is our fun bowl of button goodness. My fingers are thanking them! It goes pretty fast when there is a big group of us working on them!