Vocation of Motherhood

Letter-Writing Thursday

vocationofmotherhood — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:21:25 +0000

We are doing a weekly letter-writing activity on Thursdays. This is to help Nature Boy learn some writing skills that are quickly diminishing in our media-driven society. I am hoping to get a graphic made by Alice so I can use it in my sidebar (especially when I convert back to Typepad, my long lost friend!!). Until then, I encourage you to pick up the pen in your own household. A well written note is such a blessing to the receiver, don’t you think?

Northern Pike Fish Lapbook

vocationofmotherhood — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:09:55 +0000

“Nature Boy” loves fishing and so it was only natural that his second lapbook would be all about fish, namely, Esox Lucius (northern pike). For this lapbook we used a variety of resources, including the Fish of Minnesota book, cut-outs from magazines (especially the boys’ favorite, Field & Stream) stickers, and a “Treasure Island Map” font I downloaded from somewhere for the title of the lapbook.

Here is the front of the lapbook:

From Lapbooks

And here is the inside when you unfold it:

From Lapbooks

And here is the inside with the flaps unfolded:

From Lapbooks

There is a space left open for a picture of him with a northern. We just haven’t sifted from our mountain of photos yet to find the perfect picture. Uncle Jim is also pictured on the bottom middle, of course he had to include that!

Here are some of the things (fold-outs) we included:

The number of northerns he’s caught
Bait used to catch a northern
Fish-handling tips
Assorted questions
World records

Jamberry Lapbook

vocationofmotherhood — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:01:09 +0000

Here is one of our favorite books, lapbook-style! Red really enjoyed this project, “Jamberry” is one of the best rhyming books we’ve ever come across! The boys have pretty much memorized this book over the years. We always pull it out when strawberry-picking season arrives.

From Lapbooks

To make this lapbook, we simply copied the front of the book using our color copier. The inside of the lapbook consists of:

Left hand side:

Pictures of a boy and a bear (main characters in the book)

Middle:

A printout of “compound word” pictures (printed off a website, I can’t remember where!)
Favorite berry foods
A blueberry pie with blueberries colored on it and counted

Right hand side:

A strawberry with a little rhyme printed on the inside
Rhyme
Coloring of a canoe

Pretty simple, but for his first lapbook we think he did a fine job!

I do remember visiting www.homeschoolshare.com for some inspiration.

Professional Development

vocationofmotherhood — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:29:46 +0000

The other day Mr. Dreamy and I were talking about going to an upcoming conference. He asked if I thought that “I really needed to go.” Well, I guess I don’t have to. However as a homeschooling mom I would hope that improving and inspiring myself to be a better person, a better mother, a better wife and to be inspired spiritually would be important for our family goals. I was just reading a book about entrepreneurship. One thing that struck me was one of the reasons why women wanted to start their own business: to add a “professional development” expense account to their yearly budget. They felt that “professional development” was missing in their current work career and wanted to make that a priority in running their own business.

My view of “professional development” is obviously much different from that of a woman with a career outside the home. Still, the idea crosses boundaries into other vocations; especially mine. I can see my professional development plan including a yearly spiritual retreat, morning prayer time, my monthly book club, journal time, a conference or two here and there, and even making dates with Mr. Dreamy a priority in our marriage. Looks like I’ll need to sign up for the above conference and our absolute favorite!

Easter Tablescape

vocationofmotherhood — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:51:41 +0000

I love the term “tablescape.” Not sure where I originally heard it but it just sounds like going on a vacation via your dinner table. Anyways, for Easter I get so excited about decorating because I LOVE RABBITS!!!! They’re adorable aren’t they?

I think I will always have a love for rabbits from childhood. My little brother and I had some pet rabbits that my mom did not enjoy ~~taking care~~ having around. One day we came home and found them GONE. Poof! They had disappeared. She had given them away! From then on I missed those rabbits. I don’t ever see us having any rabbits, only because we already have enough to take care of around here. However these little rabbit salt and pepper shakers will do quite nicely:

The best part about this Easter was having some friends over for dinner and dessert. They brought some fabulous food and we had three different desserts; chocolate pies, “Resurrection Cheesecake” and a Coconut Cake from Barefoot Contessa. Easter dinner was heavenly (no pun intended)!

Typepad Again???

vocationofmotherhood — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:34:39 +0000

Well my friends, you are going to find out how fickle I really am. Yes, I’m thinking of going back to Typepad. Why on earth would I do that after I just converted the blog to WP? It’s simple, really. The books. Yes, the books. I can have a bunch of books listed in my sidebar with Typepad, and I can also upload pictures so much easier than I can in WP. Actually I can’t upload pictures at all in WP, I have to use a picasa album to easily get them in my posts.

The best things about WordPress? First, the ability to use our backyard picture in the header and the fact that it’s free! I keep on thinking that I’ll write more posts if I go back to Typepad but I’m not sure if it’s the blog interface or just my procrastination that’s the problem. So what do you think? Please leave a comment letting me know your opinion. Stay tuned for future developments….

Easter Baskets

vocationofmotherhood — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:28:30 +0000

Now while we choose to focus on the Resurrection of Christ as our Easter celebration, the Easter bunny still leaves some surprises for the boys. Here is this year’s basket collection:

Nature Boy’s Basket Includes: A Guide to MN Bird’s & CD, Colored Pencils, Band-Aids, and of course, lots of chocolates!

Yona’s Basket Includes: “Nobunny’s Perfect” book, Easter Egg Coloring Kit (to do tomorrow), Mini-Whinnies (little toy horses), crayon-themed Band-Aids and a Peter Rabbit Bunny.

Red’s Basket Includes: Playmobil Toys (Romans), a Cowboy Nightlight, Colored Pencils, Band-Aids, and chocolate.

Why am I listing all of this? Simply so I can remember for next Easter of course! This was so much fun to put together, and of course Granny helped before she left to go to the salt mine LOL.

Living Stations of the Cross

vocationofmotherhood — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:20:46 +0000

Wow, what a great Easter tradition this is: our homeschool group gets together on Good Friday every year and puts on a Passion Play. Literally, a real, live, Stations of the Cross. This year we had the oldest teens put together the entire play. They chose the kids for the various roles, established who would narrate, etc. They did a great job! Here are a couple of videos. And yes, Simon is yours truly, our own Mr. Red.:

Living Stations of the Cross

The families met around nine in the morning, had some get together time, organized the kids and prepared for lunch (corn chowder, clam chowder and rolls). We had a mini-practice, ate lunch and then prayed the Stations of the Cross with the kids while they performed. What a beautiful way to express our love for our Savior. A presentation like this brings to life what words cannot say.

Math Anxiety= Lack of financial planning

vocationofmotherhood — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:23:26 +0000

Here’s an interesting tidbit from Marketplace Money today about math anxiety. According to the Women’s College Coalition, girls who learn in a single-sex environment actually do much better in the math and sciences. Just another plug for Cottey!

Menu Planning Made Easy

vocationofmotherhood — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:53:44 +0000

Wow, I am relieved! Mr. Dreamy and I had a talk last week about streamlining our family menu. We were inspired by Elizabeth’s menu and here is what we came up with:

Sunday-Pasta
Monday-”Granny Meal” (Meat/Sides/Rolls/etc., basically comfort food)
Tuesday-Tacos/Mexican
Wednesday-Chicken
Thursday-Soup & Bread
Friday-Cheese Pizza
Saturday- Sandwiches or something special (when Mom & Dad want to cook together)

We’ve only been in this one week and I’m already loving it. Simple, simple, simple. It’s not the actual cooking that stresses me out, it’s the planning of the meal that is so difficult. It’s such a relief to know that we are having pizza for sure, so I just need to get the dough started. Easy! The pizza recipe we use is from America’s Test Kitchen cookbook. (The recipe can only be viewed if you register, sorry!, or try a google search).

Thank you Elizabeth for the great tip and we are so happy to be a little bit less stressed in the coming months!