Friday Fun and More

Just a quick update. Learn and Move has been a huge success! We have added one or two minutes each time and the kids are able to stay at their station “for the most part” until the kitchen timer goes “beep”. I am loving my individual learning time with each one of the kids.

Krogering….

I am currently taking a parenting class at my church. One of the key BIBLICAL points in the class is the importance of training our children to do what is right. I feel that I am often so busy that I don’t take enough time to simply train them and then parents get frustrated when the kids don’t obey. I dread taking the kids to the grocery store, but why? I saw an episode of Super Nanny recently where she gave each child a list of items to look for as they were shopping. These kids were school aged kids, but I wondered if that same technique would work for mine. Anyway, I prefer to go to the grocery store alone. I am a huge coupon clipper so it takes me hours at the grocery store sometimes. I recently thought I needed to conquer my fear of grocery shopping with all 3 kids and simply train them on the expectations of a shopping trip! So we went Krogering one day after preschool. We only had 2 things on our grocery list…bananas and “treats.” Treats are used as rewards for positive behavior and I was out of treats at home.

The Rules (given in advance)

1. You push your own cart.

2. You ask before you put something in your cart.

3. Your feet stay close to Mommy’s feet.

4. “Drive” Carefully and be respectful of the other people around you.

And I must say….they did amazingly! We had a fun time. I would not say this is my first choice for getting a lot of grocery shopping done, but at least I am not afraid to take all 3 of the kids grocery shopping anymore.

Dallas Children’s Museum

Today, we took a field trip to the Dallas Children’s Museum. We went with a bunch of “mom friends” from our church. Here are a few highlights of the day! (I did not want to put faces of other kids on my blog w.out their parents permission)

Milking a cow…..

Peace in Desk Time

Well, this is really part 2 of my last entry. Another way that I have found peace is making each child their own space for some quiet activity time during the day. A sweet lady in my church closed down a school and gave me a desk for each of the boys.

As moms…we NEED time to put the dishes in the dishwasher without the kids making another mess for us to clean up while we are cleaning up the dishes.

If you watch 18 kids and Counting Michelle Duggar uses a method called “Chair Time” I think. In this time, she sends her children to a chair to be quiet or do an activity. This is not a punishment.

So, I placed the two desks in different areas in my kitchen/family room. I gave each boy a box of books for the week. I don’t have a rigid schedule, but desk time will be used when they are having a difficult moment playing with one another, or when I just need them to be still and quiet. Scripture says “Be Still and Know I am God” We can teach them to be still…even at an early age.

Be creative, keep great “desk time” activities handy so they want to go to their desks.

Here are some of our Desk Time Activities from the past few days…

These are actually crayons, he started off coloring, but then stacked his crayons.

Reading his Bible….Precious!

Spinning a spinner and choosing the correct shape the spinner lands on…

Sorting plastic dinosaurs by color

(I got the whole dishwasher unloaded and re-loaded during this activity.)

Interesting, Levi is doing the same activity..but his sorting method is totally different! Love it!

This really has been the most peaceful week…in a long long time!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Well Versed Family

As a Christian parent, I know it is important to teach God's word to my children. My head knows it, but somehow it gets put behind teaching shapes, colors, ABC's, and then there is the laundry, the list goes on and on. Over the past few days (a little over a week now) of hearing my friend Marsha quote scripture through email, voice messages, etc to pray over Brexton, I have found myself thinking, I wish I knew scripture they way she does. Wow...to be able to think of a need or situation and find a scripture verse to pray for my child. About a year ago..I was at Marsha's house and she encouraged her daughter to share her toys by quoting a scripture that not only encourages a child to share, but to share willingly. (I Timothy 6:18)

About 6 months ago...Carolyn Boykin spoke at my MOPS group. She has written a book on just this subject matter. I bought the book, and it ended up in the bottom of my dresser drawer with all my other well intend to read books...that end up collecting dust.

For some reason, I packed the book with my things to take to Tennessee. I was able to read most of the book one morning on my parents porch, coffee cup in hand, while watching the kids play in the Tennessee Sun. It encouraged me not to wait for Awanas, Sunday School Rewards, etc, but to start teaching them scripture NOW...even at 1,2 and 3 years old. Ms. Boykin has many many techniques and fun ways to teach scripture to your kids.

This is my first attempt....Proverbs 16:24

Pleasant words are like honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

(This was also their first taste of cereal with sugar!)

Our family is headed to the beach this week....I am planning on packing lots of Honeycomb...so I can pull it out to remind them if our words get yucky...and that goes for mom and dad too!

I will post other scripture memory activities from her book as I try them with my kids.

She quotes one teen and adolescent expert in her book who says
"scripture memory is the single most effective life shaping tool in a parents toolbox!"

Check out her website at
http://www.wellversedfamily.com/