Due to technical difficulties that plagued the blog all week last week, I have chosen to reissue last weeks articles. The good news is that we have moved to a different server and everything APPEARS to be fixed! Thanks for bearing with me and we will now resume our regularly scheduled content! ~Stacy

Teaching our children about their world may be the most important job we have as parents. Beyond reading, writing and arithmetic, children have to figure out their place in the world. Many people do not bother to teach their children about getting involved in their community and making a difference in someone else’s life. One of the most effective ways to teach this valuable concept is by modeling it yourself. Which leads to…

This week’s question:

How do you get involved in your community?

I am very interested to hear your responses!

Does your child crave repetition? If they are anything like mine, your kids love to repeat words and actions over and over again. I take advantage of this by incorporating a few skill builders into our daily routine. After breakfast is over my son expects to go do calendar and weather and he looks forward to this special time each morning. If I get busy and forget he is quick to remind me that it is calendar time!

Here is our activity wall:

Weather Words -The first section is dedicated to weather. I found a weather kit from my local Dollar Tree. It included two big cards that say “Today’s Weather Is” and “Tommorrow’s Weather Will Be” and each has built in slots to insert the appropriate Weather Word. The weather cards each have a photo to correspond to the word to aid young children in reading the words. Weather words that were included in the pack are Rainy, Sunny, Snowy, Windy, Cloudy and Partly Cloudy. When they are not in use, Weather Words are stored in the big envelope.

I usually pull out the words and we go to the window to decide what the weather is for the day. I ask my son questions like, “Is it snowy today?” or “Is it windy today” until he decides on the appropriate Weather Word for the day. After that I ask him what he thinks it will be tomorrow and he picks a Weather Word for the next day as well. When tomorrow comes I can then ask him if his guess was correct. If your child is older, you may have them look at the news or the newspaper forecast to see what the predicted weather will be tomorrow.

I would suggest that you purchase two kits rather than just one. Each kit comes with only one each of the Weather Words so if you have rain for two days, you need two rain cards. These kits retail for a dollar. If you don’t have a local dollar tree in your area, a school supply may have what you need, but at a higher price. You could also make your own Weather Kit with poster board and colored marking pens.

Calendar- Another Dollar Tree find, this calendar has stickers for all the numbers plus little stickers to add to the pages. It also has coloring pages at the top for children to color in. The calendar is a little small, and the squares are so small that it is hard to write much in them, but it is working out for now.

When we do calendar time, I help my son point and we say “Today is Friday, April 3, 2009, Yesterday was Thursday, April 2, 2009, Tommorrow will be Saturday, April 4, 2009.” If there is an event that we are excited about we count how many days until the special day. After that we sing a song. I wish I knew the tune but it goes, “Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then we start again.” We do that while pointing to the appropriate squares on the calendar. We conclude by getting a sticker and adding it to the calendar. Toddlers love stickers!

Stop Light- This is a basic behavior modification tool. I think kids like to have visual reminders of how they are doing and a stoplight works well for this. We start each day with a green light (or a fresh slate) and we hope our light stays green. When we have misbehavior we warn that we have to change to a yellow light. If the behavior improves we can go back to green. If things really get bad we get a red light. This technique is really new for us, but as we use it, my husband and I will come up clearly defined consequences for each of the “lights”. For instance, if he gets a yellow light he may need to spend 5 minutes quietly in his room. He could earn a green light back by being nice and helping mommy with a chore.

I made this tool by using construction paper, clear contact paper, and hook and loop adhesive tabs that can be found at a craft/sewing store. I will give complete directions for this tool in next week in the Friday Toolbox.

Other possibilities-These are just a few skill building ideas. Other possibilities include chore charts, saving money, learning to tell time, and more.

What kind of skill builders do you have in your toolbox?

Up tomorrow:
Weekend Chat: How do you Get Involved In Your Community?

I can’t remember the first time I met Kristine and her family. I know it was after she received placement of her daughter. Her little girl Gracie is about the same age as Sean and she invited us over for a playdate. The story of how her family has come to be is amazing and inspiring. Kristine has such a giving heart and I am proud to call her a friend.

Tell us about your family.
There are currently 5 children in our family: boy 23, girl 18, girl 3, girl 2, and girl 1. The 23, 18, and 3 year olds are ours. The 23 year old is my husband’s son from his first marriage. The 18 year old, Kayla (pictured above, far left) is my husband’s from his second marriage. The 3 year old, Gracie (pictured above, second from the right) is our 1st adopted child. Both the 2 year old and the 1 year old are foster children. My husband and I have been married for 12 years. We married in 1998 when his children were 6 and 11 years old. It wasn’t until 2006 that we got Baby Gracie, when she was 5 weeks old. She is Kayla’s half sister. Kayla’s Mother, Darla, asked us if we would adopt Gracie after she had been taken into Child Protective Services. Gracie was born exposed to multiple controlled substances. Although the first six months of her life showed signs of withdrawals, she is now three and currently there are no symptoms of drug exposure. I had wanted children ever since we married, but I have no biological children of my own. My husband and I plan on adopting “several” other children. I do not work, but was a high school English teacher. My husband is a branch manager for a milk company. I have chosen to be a stay at home mom and will hopefully be able to do so throughout the raising of our children. I do plan on homeschooling all of the children we adopt. I homeschooled Kayla and she is currently attending a university on a basketball scholarship. We are currently a licensed Foster Care home with three beds and we are increasing our license to four; we desire to accommodate more children. Not only are we a foster and adoptive home, but we also do back-up receiving—getting children right from the police officer. I can honestly say, We thoroughly enjoy what we are doing!

What is your living structure?
I am a stay at home mom. My husband is a branch manager for a local milk company here in town. Our finances are tight; however, we have very little debt. I find lots of ways to help: shopping at the Salvation Army, getting bread from the local mission, WIC and other local aids. We operate on two credit cards American Express and Master Card. Both credit cards are paid off every month. We recently bought a new/used car, so we have one car payment and insurance. My husband has a company car. All of our needs are met and then some. We feel we are doing what we are called to do….

What is your greatest challenge as a parent?
Putting my marriage first….spending time with my husband.

How do you measure success in regards to parenting?
When my 2 and 3 year old want to pray and talk about Jesus. When my 18 year old tells me she is still a virgin.

What is your SINGLE BEST parenting tip you can share with the readers?
Better to error on the side of LOVE than on anything else.

Do you have any book recommendations?
I LOVE TO READ! Here is a list of books I am currently reading:

• Our Daily Bread
• Keys for Kids
• Have a New Kid by Friday: How to Change Your Child’s Attitude, Behavior & Character in 5 Days
• How to Make Children Mind Without Losing Yours
• Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years
• Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parents
• The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate
• The Five Love Languages of Children
• The Bible

(Affiliate Links)

What else can you tell our readers that is unique about you?
We actually are thinking of adopting 10 more children.

How can my readers contact you?
I can be contacted at kkbenham5335 {at} yahoo {dot} com

Thank you, Kristine, for sharing!
Stacy

Do you know an interesting parent that I should interview for an upcoming profile? Send me a Message.

Up Tommorrow:
Toolbox: Skill Building at Home

Due to technical difficulties that plagued the blog all week last week, I have chosen to reissue last weeks articles. The good news is that we have moved to a different server and everything APPEARS to be fixed! Thanks for bearing with me and we will now resume our regularly scheduled content! ~Stacy

I would like to tell you that I am a very organized person. I also would like to say that I always plan healthy nutritious meals for my family and my pantry and refrigerator are well organized too. The truth is that I am not very organized and I often forget about dinner until the last minute. My fridge is full of leftovers and my cupboards need to be purged. I am no expert on menu planning. I will tell you that I save myself tons of time and money when I plan a menu ahead of time.

Save Time-I save time by knowing exactly what is coming up for the next meal. When there is a clear menu plan, I do not stare into the refrigerator for 10 minutes, trying to come up with something to eat while I am hungry and irritable. I also don’t waste time on unnecessary trips to the supermarket to gather ingredients I could have picked up had I planned ahead.

Save Money- I save money using menu planning because I can “shop” my pantry first. I have the ability to look at ingredients I have and plan meals around them, meaning I only have to pick up a few more ingredients to make a meal. By planning ahead I also can shop sales and plan meals based on what items are on sale that week. We also tend to eat out less when we have a plan in place.

Step 1-After you have made the commitment to try menu planning, the first step is to decide on the time frame of your menu. Some people plan meals 1 Month ahead of time. Others plan ahead by 1 or 2 weeks. I personally plan a one week ahead. This works well for us because I have a clear picture of what is happening for the next week and can plan around events and appointments.

Homework-Look through cookbooks or online to find easy recipes that you are comfortable making.

Here are a couple sites to get you started:
Kraft Foods
5 Dollar Dinners

Menu planning need not be a complicated ordeal. If you are not accustomed to planning meals ahead of time, it may be time consuming at first, but after you have been doing it a few weeks, it will become quicker and you will see the rewards. In this 3 part Menu Planning Series we will learn the steps to planning menus that have flexibility built into them to accommodate families growing schedules.

In part 2 of the Menu Planning Series, which will be published Wednesday, April 8, we will print a planner and talk about recipes and shopping sales.

What are your menu planning tips?

(Photo Credit: Stephen Cummings)

Due to technical difficulties that plagued the blog all week last week, I have chosen to reissue last weeks articles. The good news is that we have moved to a different server and everything APPEARS to be fixed! Thanks for bearing with me and we will now resume our regularly scheduled content! ~Stacy

Book Info

Author: Stella Blackstone
Illustrator: Giovanni Manna
Pages: 32 Pages
Publisher/Date: Barefoot Books, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-84686-336-3
Ages: Read Alone: 4-7
Read Together: All Ages

Summary

You and Me is a simple lap book that artistically introduces children to opposites. A little boy and girl use their imaginations and “pretend” themselves to be animals, objects, actions and moods.

My Opinion

I cannot talk about what makes You and Me a great book for young children without talking about the illustrations. In fact, the illustrations tell the story by themselves independent on the text. The style of artwork reminded me immediately of the work of Mary Engelbriet. The artist prepared the illustrations in china ink. Each illustration mirrors the text but also adds to it. For instance, “You’re a tiger” and “I’m a bear” shows the little girl as a tiger and the little boy as a bear. It goes further by showing the tiger in a jungle setting while the bear is portrayed in a woodland environment.

I have found the exterior of each picture to be particularly charming as they extending the story further. In the spread “You’re moving” and “I’m Still” the outer frame of the picture shows objects that are about movement and things that stand still. These a great for making You and Me “conversational” and enhances the way kids can interact with the story.

Final Review

You and Me is a beautifully illustrated lap book that kids would enjoy reading over and over because they may notice new things each time. I would recommend this sturdy book for children 2-6. It would make a good beginner reader book for kindergarten kids. Toddlers and preschoolers would also enjoy the pictures and it would be a good book to learn pre reading skills like identifying objects.

Up tomorrow:
Menu Planning

Due to technical difficulties that plagued the blog all week last week, I have chosen to reissue last weeks articles. The good news is that we have moved to a different server and everything APPEARS to be fixed! Thanks for bearing with me and we will now resume our regularly scheduled content! ~Stacy

Navigating the dangerous minefield of the snack food aisle at the super market can be treacherous. If you step one way you get blasted with cookies that are loaded with sugar and fat while if you go the other direction you are bombarded with chips and crackers packed with sodium and empty calories. We try to eat healthy snack foods, yet these convenient pre packaged snacks can be a lifesaver for those moments that you are dashing out the door and need a quick bite.

The trick is to find snacks that are delicious and nutritious. Here are 5 snack foods that will satisfy you hunger without compromising good nutrition:

Rice Cakes- I used to think that rice cakes were bland and tasteless. That was until I found flavored rice cakes and bought a package of the white cheddar variety from Quaker Oats. These have less than 1 gram of fat and only 45 calories per cake. They also have 5 grams of whole grain per cake. You can dress these up with toppings or eat them plain. Other flavors include Cracker Jack Buttered Toffee, Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Crunch and more. Go to Quaker cakes website to order a free sample.

Applesauce- Single serve cups of applesauce are just the right portion size for afterschool snacks for kids or a quick bite after hitting the gym. Motts Natural Applesauce contains no fat, no sodium, and it provides 20% of the recommended daily allowance for Vitamin C for only 50 calories. Motts also has flavored applesauce to add some variety to your snacking.

Granola- A great source of whole grains, granola is a delicious and nutritious snack. You can find different flavors of granola in the bulk food section of the local super market or pre packaged bags like Bear Naked All Natural Granola. Their granolas have no preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup, just natural ingredients.

Nuts-A small amount of nuts go a long way. Nuts are a powerhouse of nutrients, protein, minerals as well as “good” fat. Now don’t go out and down a whole jar of Planter’s Peanuts. According to Sixwise.com, the most healthy nuts are walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts and macadamia nuts. Nut come prepackaged but I have found them to be costly. Visit the bulk foods section of your local market and get a small amount of each type and blend them together to make your own healthy nut mix.

Soy Crisps-I love chips and I can sit and eat them mindlessly. A great alternative to chips, that are usually fried and loaded with fat, is Genisoy Soy Crisps. These Soy Crisps are baked and considerably lower in fat. I compared a leading brand BBQ flavored potato chip with the BBQ flavored Soy Crisps by Genisoy and I found that the Soy Crisps to have more protein and less fat. They did have more sodium and carbohydrates, but the crisps had more dietary fiber than the chips. Also the total calorie from fat on the crisps was 25 while the chips had 90 calories from fat.

What healthy snacks have you found in the snack food aisle?

Up tomorrow:
Book Review: You and Me

Due to technical difficulties that plagued the blog all week last week, I have chosen to reissue last weeks articles. The good news is that we have moved to a different server and everything APPEARS to be fixed! Thanks for bearing with me and we will now resume our regularly scheduled content! ~Stacy

Monday-Healthy Snack Foods
Tuesday-Book Review: You and Me
Wednesday-Menu Planning Part 1: Why Would You Want to Plan a Family Menu?
Thursday-Parent Profile: Meet Kristine Benham
Friday-Toolbox:Skill Building at Home
Saturday-Weekend Chat: How Do You Get Involved in Your Community?

And now for some pictures! We attended a birthday party last weekend at a bounce house party place. Here are some photos from the boxing ring.

My son, Sean, wearing oversized boxing gloves.

Daddy and Sean boxing. It looks like Daddy is going to win this round!

My boys all tuckered out after some intense boxing! Aren’t they cute?!?

ABC has a new comedy which airs tommorrow night at 8/7c and it looks hilarious! Watch this video and head on over to the official “In The Motherhood” website to join in the forums.

Thanks to all who entered my first contest and made it a success! I have “drawn” the winning comment using a random number generator by random.org and the winner is Lisa Lee! Lisa is a jewelry designer and she sells her stuff on Etsy.com Lisa, I will email you shortly to arrange shipping.

If you did not win…You can still order The Farmyard Jamboree from Barefoot Books.com. Hop on over to my review for links. (Please note:These are affiliate links). I will also be hosting another giveaway in early April so if you have not subscribed yet do so now for updates about future giveaways!