Pied Piper iPad

It's no secret we've allowed the girls to use what electronics we have over the years. I've talked about "tech schooling" and the girls' computerized lessons off an on. I think I even might have mentioned vintage video game family nights a time or two. We've always tried to place limits, but still, the electronics call to them like the Pied Piper of the modern day, and we'd occasionally let them have "just a little" longer because a few moments of peace seemed worth it for days when work was particularly trying.

Sneak "teaching" a friend how to play a game when she was 3.

Hubby and I decided to implement more strict rules regarding screen time toward the end of spring break. With the distraction of illness and just trying to keep things running with one of us out of commission, we let them have way more time than usual. Being kids who still believe in "more is more," they took full advantage. Within a couple of days they began snapping at one another and fighting over games or movie picks and just showing a general lack of regard for one another as they got lost in an endless stream of entertainment. They were like addicts looking for their next hit, and we knew we had to put a stop to it right away.

A Visit to the Botanical Gardens

Long time readers will know our family takes a yearly trip to the local botanical gardens every summer around the girls' birthdays. It's usually the only time we can afford the ticket price plus gas plus time plus snacks for the day. However, I lucked out and won a Twitter contest held by the gardens a few days before this year's spring break for Hubby's school.

Here's a pic from our first trip as a family for comparison.

We allow the girls to have half days when Hubby is off for school holidays aside from summer vacation, so time wasn't a problem this time. We needed to head into town anyway to run errands on Tuesday, so gas wasn't a big issue. So we packed up our own water bottles from home, grabbed a box of trail mix bars, and went to the gardens several months earlier than is our usual.

Bribe vs. Earned Reward

How do you encourage a child to make the right decisions? Some parents are fond of using the carrot, and some seem to prefer the stick. I'm not going to touch on the "war" surrounding which "stick" measures are preferred or even allowable. Instead, today I want to look at the different methods of "carrot" one can employ.

Goal oriented, Sneak's never been afraid to work for what she wants.

When is a reward a bribe, and when is it something that's been earned? I think this is an important distinction when the goal is teaching your child a work ethic and intrinsic motivation. After all, when you break it down, what's a paycheck but a reward earned through a set period of work?

Longing for Nice Weather

This winter's been a bit warmer than it has been in the last few years, but it's been much wetter. We've had the occasional nice day. However, most have been rainy, windy, bitterly cold, or a mix of the three. Typical winter weather actually, when you look at it on the whole. It just makes you want to stay inside under the covers, and after nine or ten weeks of it, you can't help but begin to long for the return of nice weather.

The girls and I have been feeling it for a couple of weeks now. Sneak in particular is practically climbing the walls in anticipation. She's been begging to go to the park for two weeks straight, and she doesn't seem to understand not everyone is as hot natured as she is. Boo Bear and I feel the cold, and we feel it intensely.

Yet on days like this past Saturday, nice weather doesn't seem so far away. We woke up to frost, but it was warm enough to not need a jacket by lunchtime. The sun was shining so brightly, it hurt to walk outside without wearing shades.

So, the girls and I have come to a deal. If they can consistently finish their daily schoolwork within the allotted time, we'll make daily visits to the park, or at least the road that runs beside our house, for a walk when the weather cooperates. And if they can keep up with their lessons and chores without whining or fussing amongst themselves, we'll start going to the playground on Saturdays when the weather cooperates and we don't have other obligations.

If nothing else, we could all do with a bit of exercise and sunshine. Bring on the warm, sunny days of spring. We're ready.

Symphonic Weekend

The local symphonic orchestra and ballet company held a free, first come/first serve family event this past weekend. The concert didn't start until 11 a.m., but the doors opened for family friendly activities at 9:30. Music has always been a big part of my life, and the girls have been showing interest in musical instruments and learning to play. So Hubby and I thought we'd get everyone up early and see if we could snag seats.

We were running a few minutes behind, so we decided to handle an errand we'd planned to run before the concert afterward. It's a good thing we did because the place was packed! If we hadn't rearranged our plans, we may very well have made the twenty-seven mile trip, one way, for nothing otherwise.

Give Sneak a violin, and she's all smiles.

Stations were set up all around the theater lobby. They had a booth where you could learn how to conduct, an "instrument petting zoo," face painting, hula hoops, musical chairs, a coloring booth, photo ops, dancing scarves, and more. 

Cinderella's carriage has seen better days.

The girls had a blast. We nearly had to pull them away from the "instrument petting zoo," and then Boo Bear fell in love with playing musical chairs. Sneak got bored after a game or so and wanted to make sure she explored everywhere. So Hubby stayed to keep an eye on Boo, and I took Sneak around to explore. She gave conducting a whirl, played some percussion instruments, had her photo taken in Cinderella's carriage, and played with the dancing scarves. Then we met back up and found some seats.

Boo Bear was excited to see the show.

Sneak, ever the explorer, soon grew bored with watching the musicians warm up and wanted to go back out to make sure she didn't miss anything. However, the theater was starting to become crowded, and I was afraid we wouldn't be able to find seats together if we gave up the ones we had. So I started pointing out different features of the concert hall's design and different instruments to distract her the few minutes until the concert began.

View of the hall from the stage, taken by symphony staff fifteen minutes before the show began.

Once the lights went down and the music began, the girls were entranced. The symphony played their first couple of pieces without accompaniment, but it wasn't long before the ballet group began sharing the stage. They used clever, minimalistic puppetry and costuming to bring the characters to life. The theme of this particular concert was animals, which is just perfect for the ten and under set.

Mr. Hedgehog enters during, "Mr. Bear Squash You All Flat."

In different parts of the concert, dancers came down into the audience or entered from the back of the theater, allowing the children to see them up close. Between songs, the conductor stepped off his podium and led the audience in music making with simple instruments provided at one of the booths in the entrance or just drumming on their laps. A couple of the puppets, fish puppets to be exact, thrilled the audience by producing bubbles as they "swam" down the main aisle of the theater.

The concert itself only lasted an hour, just long enough to have the kids leave still on a high from the show without growing bored. We made it back to the car, ran our errand, and grabbed a quick bite to eat before the lunch rush was in full swing. Then we went back home, pleased and grateful for having had such a nice morning out.

Get 'em Moving. Keep 'em Learning.

Ever noticed how it seems sensory integration and attention deficit disorders have increased as we've cut back on recess and the amount children play outside? I'm not saying a lack of physical activity causes these problems, but it certainly doesn't help the symptoms. Childhood is a time of intense physical as well as mental development, and the body not only needs but demands all types of movement and sensations in order to facilitate these developments. These demands can present as many of the symptoms listed for ADD, ADHD, various sensory disorders, and more.

So what is a parent to do?

Homeschooling Chat: Cross Curricular Projects

Now that the girls are approaching ten and have the attention spans to match, we've decided to swap from doing a whole slew of small projects throughout the year to one big, cross curricular project. This isn't to say they won't still do some small, short single subject projects. They'll always have short essays, papers, and experiments going on. No, we're talking about a group of smaller projects grouped together covering a range of skills and subjects, all under the same theme.

Here's the girls' finished food pyramid poster.

We decided to start with one of the five basic needs as the basis of our first cross curricular project: food. No matter who you are, you have to eat. Shouldn't you know something about what you're putting in your body well before you're out of elementary school? We think so.

Starting Fresh with the New Year

Hello again. I hope you and yours had a merry holiday season and are having a happy new year thus far.

It's a time for new beginnings, and I thought I'd bring up a few of our fresh start goals for 2016. Some we technically started at the end of 2015, because why wait? Others we only started today, the first Monday of the year. Some may become new habits. Many are likely to morph or fall by the wayside. There's really no way to tell this early in the game, but still we try.

I have a horrible track record at keeping up with resolutions, so this year I'm trying picking a word keep at the forefront of my mind throughout the year. It's no secret I'm more than a bit scatterbrained, so I figure "focus" is a word I can use more of anytime. Therefore, it is my 2016 word of the year, and I intend to implement it in multiple areas of my life and the girls.

Sharing is Caring

No, this isn't an article on teaching your children to share their toys, but it is about how sharing can and is a form of caring for one another. What I'm talking about here is work and responsibility sharing. Perhaps not the most fun form of sharing, at least at first, but it's one of the most important ones we as parents have to teach our children.

I've made no secret about the fact we expect our girls to help out around the house. They've been putting their toys away since they were two, and they've learned how to do a couple of new things each year. It's my job as their mother and Hubby's as their father to teach them how to take care of themselves spiritually, physically, financially, and domestically. If we didn't teach them how to cook and clean for themselves along with how to read, handle mathematics in all its applications, and think critically, we'd be failing them as parents. But that in and of itself isn't what I'm getting at.

It's something I've come to realize as my "bad" joints have started getting worse and even my "good" hip and knee have started giving me trouble. Sharing the work and responsibilities involved in tending hearth and home is a powerful way to show one another how much we love and trust them.

Summer Science, Math, and Home Ec.

As those who have small children in school probably already know, kindergarten through third grade pretty much all cover the same lessons with each year just being a bit more involved than the year before. This helps lay a foundation of the fundamentals in a way that really "sticks" since we all learn through repetition. Now that Boo Bear is in third grade, we've had our hands full with projects and in depth explanations more than we have in the past three years.

She's so incredibly proud of her baby bean plants!

Both girls have always had a strong interest in science, with the biological sciences being of particular interest. So, we're going all out in our life science studies this year, which is one reason we put off the subject throughout the winter in favor of making it a spring and summer subject. Our biggest project of the year started a couple of weeks ago when we did the usual sprout beans in a plastic baggie experiment, and it will end this fall when we're harvesting the fruits of our family's labor.

Branching Out Our Taste Buds

One day back in late February, I was out grocery shopping with the girls and bemoaning the fact our local Aldi had once again run out of gluten free bread. A woman overheard us talking and told us about a new store getting ready to open just up the road called Sprouts purportedly like a lower cost Earth Fare or Whole Foods. Of course I had to go home and look it up.

Inside Sprouts from their website. Not a sponsored post, just an excited mama.

A few weeks later this new Sprouts Market opened. We weren't there at the opening itself, but it didn't take us long to go check it out.

Reorienting in Coping with Dyslexia

I came across this photo making the rounds on Facebook today. It sparked a bit of nostalgia in me.

Yet another Facebook, "If you can read this," meme.

Learning to read backwards and upside down is how I learned to reorient letters. I seriously thought everyone could do it until I asked a coworker about something on a sign posted outside our window, and they responded by questioning how I could read the sign. It was only five years ago, when Hubby was taking the Ortton-Gillingham training that I learned it was one of the earliest methods of helping children with dyslexia learn how to reorient letters. Unfortunately, it's also a method that's effective for just 5% of those dealing with dyslexia, and while I might be part of that percentage, the girls aren't.

When Perfectionism Threatens Progress

Long time readers might recall our frustrations over Sneak's perfectionism, manifesting as early as eighteen months when she refused to speak until her annunciation was up to her standards. Before then, I'd always assumed it was a learned trait, but recently Boo Bear has been showing more and more signs of the perfectionism monster stalking her. So, I've begun to wonder if there isn't some genetic component. Lord knows I've been fighting perfectionism as long as I can remember, as have the majority of the women in my family.

There's this perception that perfectionism is a motivating force that drives people forward through thick and thin until they get everything just right. It's not. At its root, perfectionism is a paralytic. Either the fear of failure keeps the person from ever starting in the first place, or they try, get something wrong or off, and then get so obsessed with that fact they never move forward or try again. "If I can't get it right, why should I even try?" is a common question asked by perfectionists.

Because of this, it can be a homeschooler's worst nightmare.

When Homeschooled Children with Learning Differences Feel Self-Conscious

When I got home from work one day last week, Hubby asked me to step in with Boo Bear's reading lessons. For the first time, she was refusing to make use of the tips and tricks for readers with dyslexia he picked up with his Orton-Gillingham training. He was at a loss for her reasoning and becoming frustrated.

Boo Bear working on her handwriting and spelling.

I immediately had a suspicion. Sneak hasn't shown any signs of having inherited dyslexia, and Boo Bear, while she's seen me read every day throughout her life, hasn't seen me use similar techniques since she was a toddler because I haven't needed them as much since Hubby stopped needing my help grading papers. So, I suspected she might be feeling embarrassed because it seems to her that her younger sister is "smarter" because she doesn't struggle as much with reading.

Homeschooling After a Break

It's well known that kids aren't exactly keen on going back to school after mid-year breaks, and homeschooled kids are no exception, even those who love their lessons. Who enjoys getting back to the daily grind after a week of freedom?

Sneak's first experience with a comic book.

My New Year's Resolution: Acceptance

My resolutions for 2014 are simple. There's just the one, and it's acceptance of self.

Goodness, that sounds self-involved and pompous, but let me explain.

Like most of the women in my family, I'm a perfectionist and a control freak. It seems to be inborn. And, while those traits can have some positive points, by and large, they're destructive. They can and often do lead to self-destructive behavior. When you're a parent, there's nothing you do that affects just you. There's the crux of my resolution. I need to learn to accept certain things about myself not only for my sake, but for my daughters.

When your children want to do something sweet, you let them, even if it makes you look like a fool.

Saturday didn't start out so well this past weekend. Hubby's sinuses were trying their best to drown him, and I lost the fight with a migraine that'd been trying to set in for days before.

So, the girls played and watched movies with Hubby, while I tried to sleep of the migraine.

Later that evening, the girls decided they wanted to make me feel better by giving me a makeover before they got their baths and had me paint their nails.

I think they did very well for a first go, and yes, I did wear that look for the rest of the night.

So, Thanksgiving is coming up next week.

As has probably become obvious by now, I'm still trying to find a good balance here on the blog itself after merging The Tekaran Lady, Contented Comfort, and this blog into one as well as with my newish YouTube channel. This process will probably intensify over the next few weeks or months as I get back into posting and uploading on some kind of regular basis. Things might get a bit crazy around here for a while, so please have patience with me.

Boo Bear took advantage of everyone talking to sneak HALF a pie!

I've been brainstorming, and of course considering the time of year we're in now, a lot of what I've been thinking about revolves around the holidays. I'm currently working on a child friendly Thanksgiving tag and planning to shoot a few Sunday Sides and Suppers videos featuring a few super easy but delicious gluten free sides and desserts as I start into my holiday cooking. I'll also do a couple of writing posts and/or vlogs as I get back into working on Right of Succession and start pre-writing my next project. And, of course, there are some things I may end up co-writing with Hubby regarding homeschooling and the other change ups we've had going on the past couple of months.

Field Trip: Stinky Cheese Man

Each month, our homeschool group has a field trip for all the children. You don't have to go on all of them, which is good, because not all are suitable for all age groups. Well, the play we were scheduled to see back in November was postponed due to one of the actors being hospitalized. It was held last week.

As our luck tends to run, it also just so happened to be on the one day it was pouring down that week, which was also the coldest day of the week. My vehicle doesn't have a working heater, but thankfully we managed to get the worn out windshield wiper changed the day before. So we were cold, but safe on the hour drive to the VBC.

If you've never heard of "The Stinky Cheese Man," it's similar to a loosely written and very fast version of "Into the Woods." It's a collection of fairy tales held together through the storyline of the giant chasing after Jack, and like Scheherazade, he tells the giant stories to stall his death. He also tells the stories just enough off how they are supposed to go to cause the audience to giggle. However, it goes a step farther by seeking audience participation.

Now, if you've been reading for any length of time, you know my girls have a bit of an issue with sensory integration. As soon as the play started, and voices began booming over the sound system, Boo Bear clapped her hands over her ears and started complaining. I had to pull her hands away and remind her to listen hard to the story and forget about how her ears were feeling about three times before she got the hang of shifting her attention and relaxed enough to enjoy the story.

She still slapped her hands over hear ears every time the other kids began to yell answers at the characters, but considering the noise that can be generated by a couple thousand children packed into a concert hall, I can't blame her. It was uncomfortable, even for me with my degenerating sense of hearing.

I was irritated that morning when we set out for the play. I figured it be a waste of time. I'm never much of one for social events, but I've felt near to bursting into tears at the mere idea of getting out amongst people of late with the constant and unrelenting string of social obligations these past few months. (It's an introvert thing. More on that later.) Plus, it was cold and rainy, and the girls were too intent on playing to do anything toward getting themselves ready that particular morning.

Looking back though, I'm glad we were able to attend. Not only did they get to see their first play ever, Boo Bear and Sneak both had a breakthrough in integrating auditory overload without pain. Plus, I was able to point out structural features in the concert hall that contribute to acoustics.

52 Week Challenge: 12 New Habits to a Better You

It's been years, but I've decided to give the 52 Week Challenge another try.

I know. I know. I've burnt out before the challenge was over both times I tried before, but I've finally figured out what I was doing wrong. Even though simplifying my goals on the second try, I was still trying to do too much at one time. I have to keep reminding myself of the adage: "Keep it simple, stupid."

So, what is the 52 Week Challenge? It's based on the notion it only takes 30 days of doing something every day to make it habit. So, someone doing the challenge sets a goal for that month's area and keeps to it for thirty days. Then they move to the next area.

The challenge is meant to cultivate twelve new good habits in four key areas of your life. Those areas are: spirituality, health, relationships, and productivity.

The girls love their Nana and shower her with kisses and cuddles when she's in town.