It's Spring Cleaning Time - Let's Get Our Homes Decluttered

I love the changing of the seasons. It always motivates me to get some extra cleaning done. We tend to let things slide in the winter months, so then we have more stuff to clean and declutter. How about you? Are you motivated to get your house decluttered? I'll be posting some ideas in the next several posts. Feel free to share your ideas as well.

Gift Box Idea

A friend of mine suggested many years ago to keep a gift box at home. It's been a lifesaver several times to have access to gifts when we needed to take a gift somewhere and I didn't have time to go gift shopping. So, throughout the year when I'm out shopping, I keep my eyes open for potential gifts. I purchase them and put them in the gift box for whenever I need a gift. With the price of gas these days, this is also a great money saving tip.

Be Thou My Vision

My blogging has been a little nonexistent lately. I've had a houseful of sick people to tend to, so my spare time has been limited. I was reading these words posted on a blog of a fellow blogger and thought I'd post them on mine. Words worth taking a few minutes to meditate on as we seek His face for vision in all that we do.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Costco More Family Friendly Than Sam's - Update on the issue below

I just saw this update posted on Stacy's blog. Please take the time to read the update and send a thank you to Costco.

http://yoursacredcalling.blogspot.com/2008/03/costco-more-family-friendly-than-sams.html

Sounding the Alarm about Soft Core Porn

Stacy McDonald has been talking about this issue on her blog this week. Please read the link below and make your voice known. She has a letter that you can use with her permission, so it won't take you but a few minutes to cut, paste, and send. Thank you for taking part in this effort to help the stores we support to display the magazines somewhere else or at least to put covers over them.

http://yoursacredcalling.blogspot.com/2008/03/soft-core-porn-in-our-family-friendly.html

Let's stand up for our families and make our voices known!

What kind of fun things do you enjoy doing with your children?

I'd love to hear your ideas!

Cool Science Experiments for Spring

These are some science experiments that my children and I have done:

Let it Rain - Make rain by using a pot of hot water and a mirror. The children can see the condensation building on the mirror until it finally "rains". This, of course, is adult directed.

Rain Gauges - Set up a rain gauge outside, record, and graph the amount of rainfall for each week and a grand total for the month.

Plants Take in Nourishment - Place a few drops of food coloring (blue, red, or green) in a tall jar filled with lukewarm water.. Snip an inch off the bottom of the stem of a carnation....place in the colored water. Let it sit for a couple of days - watching carefully for any changes.

How does the Garden Grow? -

In egg cartons with planting soil - grass seed, mustard seed, watercress or herbs. They are fast growing and fun to sample when grown!!

"Hair" Cups - My kids loved this one! Plant grass seed or herbs in styrofoam cups. Have the kids draw faces on the front of the cups....as the seeds grow - their cup will grow hair!! They can experiment with childproof scissors and give their cup a hair cut!!

Take a whole baking potato (one with eyes on it works best), stick toothpicks in it (they'll be the brace to hold the potato up), fill a quart jar with water. Put the jar in a sunny window. It will root and begin to grow leaves.

Draw Write Now

I wanted to share with you some books that my children used to help them learn how to draw. The authors of these books have done a fabulous job in helping children get creative on paper. My children have fond memories of using these books when they were younger. Here's the link to the site where you can learn more about them:

http://www.drawyourworld.com/

I'm always thankful for these kind of helps as we journey through our homeschooling days. These books are definitely a keeper and worth every penny!

Have fun drawing!

IDEAS FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN TO DO

I've been homeschooling for thirteen years now. In the early years, I used to keep a special school box for the child that wasn't quite ready for school, but who wanted to feel like they were "doing school". This worked wonders and made them feel special. Here is a list of what I put in that box for them: puzzles, manipulatives, special books, coloring books, crayons and color pencils, scissors and paper, homemade playdough, books on tape, colors, cuts paper, Lauri shapes, wooden magnet dolls or felt dolls, picture books, paint with water sheets, and sewing cards. Sometimes they would just play alone in their room or listen to a CD.

Presidential Election Unit Study

With the upcoming elections, I have been trying to find a good unit study. My children are getting old enough to be more involved and are asking lots of questions. I actually have a daughter that will be old enough to VOTE! Yikes! Where did the years go?!?!!?! Cindy Downes over at http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/ has a free, 12 week unit study posted for the primary grades. Here's the link: http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/PresElec.html

Permission is given to homeschooling parents to use these units free of charge in their own homeschool only. These units may not be reprinted in any other form, for any other purpose (commercial or otherwise) without permission from Cindy Downes. Contact her at cindy@oklahomahomeschool.com.

Also, PBS has a good website with some great teaching helps about the election process. Here's the link for that: http://pbskids.org/zoom/fromyou/elections/elections101.html

I haven't found anything for the older children yet. If you know of something I can use, please leave a comment for me. I'd greatly appreciate it.