Summer’s Close

Summer is wrapping up for us and with the end of summer came the end of our summer reading challenge.  I wasn’t as organized as I usually am about this year’s reading challenge.  I think I was being a little lazy actually and the library changed their program into something ridiculous so that sort of took the wind out my sails too. Thankfully I managed to think of something and it worked to get my kids reading this summer.  I bought them Sonlight’s summer readers.   Strawberry and Chocolate shared a pack, Bubble Gum and Blue-Raspberry got their own.  It worked out really well.  Sonlight packaged them up so nice, it was like they each got a present!

Anyway, the challenge was to get the books read before the end of July and in return I would take them to Nelson’s and buy them an ice-cream cone!  They all finished the challenge earlier then the date I set, so off we went! 

        

It was a magnificent day!  Warm, bright, not muggy!

         

I was a good girl, I didn’t have any ice-cream.  I was too busy wiping up spills and dolling out the wet wipes! 

Afterward, we decided to surprise the little people by taking them to the most adorable park ever created:  Teddy Bear Park.

I love it that my teens will still be in family photos, and go to the park with us.  lol

   

Isn’t that cool?  The whole park is like a squishy Astroturf, it’s really fun to walk on.

We ended our adventure at the Stillwater Farmer’s Market, which was quaint and delightful.  My husband spoke my love language and paid the big bucks for a gallon of pure maple syrup!  I am one blessed woman!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Having a little one in the School Room

You would think after all these years that I’ve been homeschooling I would know all the tricks to getting little ones to behave  during school time.  Well I don’t.  (smile)

My last little one, Laffy Taffy, was an easy going child, he was happy to play by himself, close to us, but happily occupied with this toys.  I really enjoyed doing Tot School with him because for about 30 minutes everyday he would attentively and happily learn what ever I was teaching him and then be content to play until the rest of us were done.

Enter Marshmallow Taffy.  She is loud.  She is MOODY.  She is NOT content to play by herself and 30 minutes of my individualized time is NOT enough.  I’m not really sure how our next year will go with her in the school room.  She doesn’t understand that if Mama is talking (reading out loud) that she should be quiet, instead, hearing my voice makes her want to say, “mom. MOM! Mommy! Mom!!!! MOOOOOOOOMMY!”  Louder and louder, with more and more drama and energy.  You would think the poor thing is completely neglected.  That’s so far from the truth…but still, it does pose a problem.

So this is what I’m praying through.  Praying for wisdom in how to deal with her.  How to actually teach her to be quiet, or at least quieter during school time.  I can’t do all of school during nap time.  I would love to hear how you deal with difficult children during school time.  There might be nothing I can do…I might just have to  grin and bear it until she’s older and understands more.  I’m not sure.  It does teach all the other children patience.  It teaches us all how to be gracious and it also allows more of my ugly impatientness  to be dealt with.  Many little eyes watching Mama, what will she do?  How will she respond?

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Signs of spring

Now these didn’t come from my own yard, because my yard still looks like this: that pavement is my driveway!

But that splash of sunshine on my dining room table is a sign of spring, it IS coming.

I mainly wanted to give you a little update on more intimate things in my life.  The parts I don’t like to talk about, but that need to be talked about.  I have some good news really.  God is showing Himself faithful to all our prayers, yours and mine.  I knew He would, I was just hoping I wouldn’t have to wait forever!  (sheepish grin) 

Mr. Taffy and I are getting to a better spot in our relationship.  Granted we aren’t where we want to be but we are getting there.  Our issues got put on hold as we were dealing with issues created by one of our children.  We’ve decided that this distraction isn’t going to get the best of us and we have repurposed to spend time on reigniting the love and passion between us. I’m so thankful for our daughter Strawberry who gives of her time freely so Mr. Taffy and I can spend time together, alone.  I’ve been reading a certain book by Gary Chapman, the one about Seasons of Marriage. I’ve just determined that our marriage has been in a season of winter for far too long and I am purposed to get us back into the spring.  I confess it everywhere.  Even when the snow is still coming down.  Even when the temperature falls below zero.  God has promised that we will have seasons (all of them), until His Son’s return so I KNOW that spring will come.  It has to come.  God spoke it.

Things aren’t where we want them with our hurting son but we are seeing some improvement.  As much as it hurts to talk about we have had to let go of some of our expectations and dreams for him.  Our hearts grieve continually but God is full of mercy and grace and I’m constantly praying that my son gets ahold of that mercy and grace and doesn’t let go.  Most of this battle is spiritual.  So in some aspects I am very confident in the outcome.  That doesn’t mean that I’m enjoying the war though.  Yuck.  We had to make some hard decisions recently and enforce some heart-breaking consequences.  But there has also been much mercy exhibited. I hope my son can grab ahold of the mercy part and dwell there.  We are still so proud of him, love him so deeply and truly want the best for him. 

I realize I’m being rather vague but it’s out of respect for both my husband and my son.  I always admire people who can be completely honest about their situations but wonder how they keep from hurting people in the process.  Someday, when all hearts are healed, then I will reveal all the details that make a testimony interesting and powerful.

I wanted to thank YOU though, dear Reader.  You have been so kind to me, leaving me encouraging comments, sending me emails telling me of your own trails and hurts.  Thank for you praying.  Thank you for caring.  Thank you for hanging with me during this time of “great stretching.”

³ I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,⁵ for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; ⁷ just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. ⁸ For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.

⁹ And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, ¹¹ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.  Philippians 1:3-11

With love and gratitude,

Mrs. Taffy

Homeschool stuff (LONG!!)

It’s been a while since I’ve done a homeschool post.  I did post the used-curriculum stuff, but I thought it might be encouraging to know that we are still plugging along here.

We started school in August and have about 10 weeks left.  Unbelievable!  It’s going by so fast!  We’ll be done the first week of May.  I just got my 4th and 2nd grader planned out through March.  Blue-Raspberry will be finishing Teaching Textbooks 4. That’s pretty exciting!  Strawberry is finishing Algebra 2 this week!  I love it when stuff starts dropping off the agenda.

I’ve mentioned a couple times how a friend of mine blessed me with an incredible amount of Sonlight material.  I’m still absorbing the magnitude of her gift to me.  I think it may be more than a gift from God, I think it may also be the “thing” that keeps me moving forward.  I’ve been homeschooling for 14 years!  That’s a long time.  I have at least 18 more years to go too.  Wow, I’m almost at the halfway point.  Interesting.  Anyway, sometimes it can get kind of dull using the same thing over and over again.  But this Sonlight stuff seems to be so interesting, if I can keep from expecting too much from myself and my children, I think this may get me through the rest of my homeschool journey!

I had to find a place to put all those books.  So, we went to Menard’s (which I personally detest) and found these black book shelves for under $15.00 each.  Oh what fun I had putting these together and organizing them!  Most of these books are for Sonlight, but I did move our science stuff out there as well.  I was able to put our graphic novels and other special books in a place that the kids could get to them without asking for help.

It’s fun to be able to display some stuff on top too.  Now these book shelves have overflown into the playroom.  Which isn’t ideal, but the kids are all in love with them so it worked out well.  Besides I’m still on this “get rid of stuff” kick so it keeps us from lining the wall with plastic toys.  I’ve gotten rid of some really special thing lately.

I put a few things on the shelves for Marshmallow.  She’s pretty good about not making a mess of my shelves.  Mostly she likes to push the books toward the back of the shelf.

I’ve got each shelf labeled by core level.  My friend was VERY organized and has each book labeled on the inside  for what level and what subject.  She made it so easy to organize them!  I think I am getting one more core, she loaned it out to another friend, if that’s the case I’ll have to  do a little rearranging but that will be a fun challenge. 

Since I was able to move my All About Reading posters, I had room to put a few things up to interest Marshmallow, these color cards and another of shape cards. 

This is our “All About” center.  I got rid of the easel and bunch of other little stuff that was hiding behind it.  This is much better place for that huge metal board.  I just flip it over when we aren’t using it so Marshmallow doesn’t try to start spelling words, which she enjoys VERY much.

The white board is often covered with Spelling too.  They are cruising through level 3.

My window to the world…our current Read-Alouds and the kid’s assigned Readers.  I’ve also got all our supplies hanging there  See all that white outside?  At least it reflects the sun and makes the basement even brighter!

These are my book baskets that hold the teacher books.  I’m thinking of getting another one of those black shelves to put there instead, some of those soft cover books are getting kind of mangled in the basket.

With all the other things going on, the hard emotional things of a healing marriage and a rebellious teen, I’ve been trying to simplify and streamline our day better. I’m so happy with how our school time is going right now.  We start about 8 and are usually done by 10:30.  I’m just working with Blue-Raspberry, Bubble Gum and Laffy Taffy, Strawberry is completely independent though she does spend most of her mornings down in the school room with us.

Here’s what we do.

I start Latin with Bubble Gum and Laffy Taffy while Blue-Raspberry does his math on the Lap Top.  Then I teach reading and math to Laffy Taffy while Bubble Gum does her independent work of: handwriting, math and reading.  While she is doing that Blue-Raspberry is working on his Latin, sometimes on the laptop, sometimes not, reading, and Word Roots.  When Bubble Gum and Blue-Raspberry are done, I read to everybody from our current Read-alouds.  After that we do grammar and spelling together and call it a morning.  Come March I’ll be including History in that schedule so it might take a little longer.  But I’m trying to cut myself a little slack and we only do AAS 3 days a week and Grammar 4.  Some of the younger kid’s things only last 4 days anyway, so if we get behind we can always make up stuff on Friday’s.  We’ve been doing our school time this way for weeks and it’s working very nicely.  Not too much for anybody.  They watch an episode of the Magic Schoolbus and the Kratt Brothers everyday for science.  It’s not ideal, but I figure it’s better than nothing and they ARE learning, so I’m satisfied.

On a side note, having a toddler in the schoolroom is VERY stressful.  If she’s not making  mess she’s unhappy about something, she wants somebody’s pencil, she wants a snack, whatever.  When I read out loud I have to be REALLY LOUD because she interprets my talking as, “it’s time to talk with Momma!”  Phew!  It’s exhausting.  Her presence is building character in each of us and for the most part she is delight, but I don’t want you to think it’s all perfect and wonderful.  The reality is, it’s difficult when she’s with us during school.  Thankfully I know this difficult time will pass, I’m just looking forward to that day with GREAT anticipation!

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Bonker-tines Day

I think I went a little bonkers this Valentine’s Day.  I didn’t plan on it, it just sort of happened.  I am glad it did though because the result was a houseful of people that KNOW they are loved, by me.

I started out the morning by making cinnamon rolls.  It’s been at least 6 months since I’ve made cinnamon rolls, possibly longer. 

The best thing about this was the quiet that was heard during breakfast.  Not a word was uttered, only sighs of contentment, moans of delight, even the baby, which is AHHH-MAZING!

For lunch I made them Toad in a Hole’s but decided to use a heart shaped cookie cutter instead of my biscuit cutter.  Toast tastes better shaped like a heart, or so I’m told.

Then later in the day, for snack time, after our beloved quiet time, I made them a little party.  I just spent about $4.00 at Wal-Mart for the decorations.  But the impact, it was priceless!

On Wednesday I made Raspberry-Nut Valentine Cookies and hid them.  I wrapped some up in saran wrap with a big red bow and stuck them in the big guy’s lunches and then saved the rest for our Valentine’s Day snack time.

Just one each, with a little almond milk with pink milk ice cubes.  Bonkers…I told you!

Just look at these happy faces!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If that wasn’t enough, we watched the Mickey Mouse version of the 3 Musketeers, which is surprisingly appropriate for Valentine’s Day.  So much love!  haha!

After the movie, my teens went up to Papa Murphy’s and bought a couple pizza’s.  A heart-shaped pizza.  Yup.  Bonkers.

There was more actually, but I guess I forgot to take a picture of it.  I made the mock version of Starbuck’s Cranberry Bliss Bars and dyed the frosting pink and used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut them out.  More love and pink and deliciousness for dinner!

This is the buffet in our dining room.  Look at all those Valentines!  Some came in the mail, some are from the kids, some from my husband, some too him.  He bought me roses and M & M’s, well and meat. (smile)  I gave him season 1 of Duck Dynasty. We were told it would bring more laughter into our marriage.  (smile)  Sounds good to me!

It was such a fun day!  I didn’t mean for it to be so “much.”  But it wasn’t stressful or anything, it just worked out.  It was gorgeous outside and cozy and sweet inside.

I hope you had a day filled with love and smiles too!

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Celebrating like an American Girl

This is such an amazing time of the year for us.  I call it birthday season.  Because every time I turn around somebody is getting another year older and I find myself making cakes and lighting candles.  This was our particularly busy birthday week with two children changing up their ages.  Saturday it was Bubble Gum’s Turn.

For Bubble Gum’s birthday she wanted to go to the American Girl Place at the Mall of America, for dessert and shopping.  She’s been saving her money since Christmas and she had enough, all except for six little dollars to buy her very own, brand new American Girl Doll.  She picked Marie-Grace.

Mr. Taffy and I also let her pick out a couple things since we hadn’t wrapped and bought any other presents for her, knowing this was what she’d been wanting to do.  Wow, AG is EXPENSIVE!  So ridiculous and my frugal side was choking and gagging the whole time.  But we made it out, on budget and our daughter was on cloud 9.

After shopping we went to the café’ for some dessert.

They definitely know how to make little girls feel special!


There was singing and candles and a little “garbage disposal” who ate everybody’s left overs.

We came home later, did a bunch of kitchen tasks and then put dinner on. Bubble Gum wanted Costco Lasagna (easy) for dinner, I added sprouted wheat garlic sour dough bread and steamed broccoli to that and we were good.  I also talked her into getting cupcakes at Costco so I wouldn’t have to bake…I already had a HUGE kitchen project going on.  (I’ll share that soon.)



Just look at those eyes…what a day she had!! 

4 down…4 to go!

The Battle is the Lord’s,
Mrs. Taffy