Homemaking Naturally

Is my home perfect or productive?

2012-01-05T20:18:00.001-08:00

It's a new year, and new year's resolutions are abundant. I'm always hoping this year will be better, smoother...somehow. Cleaner, more organized house, well run homeschool schedule, chores working like clockwork etc... But the more I stress about how clean and organized my house is, the more I seem to consider this verse:

Proverbs 14:4 (KJV)Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

In my house, there are a lot of children (compared to the average 1-2 child house), a lot of laundry, lots of books, lots of toys, and lots of cooking going on. Generally, when the house is really clean, we are not doing anything, but most often waiting for company. Looking well to the ways of my house, and not eating the bread of idleness is important, but I don't see anywhere in scripture telling me to have a perfect model home.

My home is bustling, it's busy, bread is baking (not always!!), food is stewing, baking, roasting, even dehydrating!
Laundry is whirling, piling, folding (not itself, hehehehe!). The fire is glowing, the wood piling. Children are reading, writing, painting, playing, bathing, laughing, crying, even sleeping! There is lego everywhere :) Some days there are gardens being planted, babies being nursed and diapered, even haircuts going on. There are birthdays, outings, co-ops, lesson planning, menu planning, shopping, even chicks hatching...phew!!

My house is busy and active. Clean houses are generally empty...at least in the magazines!

Where there are no children, the house is clean, but there are many rewards from having the children in our homes. It's hard to remember that on a day to day basis isn't it? I'm trying...that's my new year's resolution...to remember that.

Blessings,
Patricia

New "must have" book for homeschoolers

2011-11-27T21:37:00.001-08:00

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Title page

I came across Sherry Haye's new book "Homeschool Sanity" and purchased it right away. I've been wanting to ask her so many questions about how she has incorporated 19th century school books into her homeschool. I was so excited to see this book, it's printing right now, and I will comb-bind it first thing in the morning. Just click here to read her article and purchase your copy: Homeschool Sanity .
Her other main blog is found here: http://ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com/, you can look under her 19th century labels to find related topics.

When I started getting interested in 19th century books, I stumbled upon Sherry's blog again, which I had read for a while but had not looked at for probably 8 months or more. She started blogging about her interest and experience in these school books and I've been hooked since. Mostly because I was drawn to these books ahead of time while seeking the Lord's will about our homeschool. She blogged about so many things I had been thinking about. In Philippians we are encouraged to think on things that are lovely, pure, of good report, praiseworthy things...this is so important to me as a homeschooler.

These books fit right in since they combine godliness and subject matter all into one. So much more than a verse added at the top of a workpage. Plus, homeschooling with these takes less time, the children love it, there is no busy work, mindless workpages, or fluff. It leaves our day with more time to pursue other interests, work on chores, and play.

I think anyone would benefit from reading Sherry's book no matter what curriculum they use. After all, gleaning from a woman who has 15 children, all homeschooled, is likely to encourage any homeschool mom. It just makes sense :)

Binding books

2011-11-25T07:19:00.001-08:00

In order to make the most use of 19th century books, binding is a great option. Especially for those of us who prefer a "non-screen" reading mode ;)

Here is an interesting post on how to bind books: http://mcguffeysworld.blogspot.com/2011/11/tutorial-printing-and-binding-ebooks.html.
These books look wonderful!
For other sources on book binding the following site is helpful: http://users.gobigwest.com/rosegate/binding.html.

Happy book binding :)
Patricia

The old paths

2011-11-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah 6:16a "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls..."

Old ways are not always godly ways, but when they are they are worth looking into. That's what we have found in our homeschool. After searching for christian curriculum that is both biblical and with little busywork, we have stumbled upon hidden treasure in the 19th century.

I had heard of McGuffey readers before but didn't give them much thought. After all they are old right? Except that millions of children were educated in the USA using these readers. This was before education was reformed and God was removed from curricula everywhere. Not only that, but these readers are challenging both spiritually and academically.

At first I was tempted to buy the workbooks that go along with them. However, in my quest to have a more "Charlotte Mason" style of education in our home, I avoided them. I ended up buying our McGuffey's from Mott media. I also bought a set from Mardels in Oklahoma when I was there visiting. I have also downloaded the revised primer (written in the 1900's) online to go along with our phonics and reading lessons for my 5 year old. I just print them up and put them into a binder.

Personally, I prefer Mott media's reprints (except for teaching phonics, I prefer the revised edition) because they are the original 1836 versions that William McGuffey first published. These books are filled with wonderful character building stories, and God is taught throughout. Mott media also has a teacher's guide that Ruth Beechick wrote, which is a wonderful aid, and it can be used with very little or no preparation.

I'll post later on how we use these each day. What I love most about these, is that almost each day, the stories lead us into a discussion about virtues of character and biblical doctrine. These books make it easy for parents to both teach academics and teach about God all at the same time.

I have also downloaded Ray's arithmetic and recently ordered this on CD from dollar homeschool. Dollarhomeschool.com has removed the arithmetic answers found in these readers which I prefer for my young brood. I plan to have these comb bound for my children. I'll post an update soon.

Patricia

What is education?

2011-06-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

I came across this very interesting and thought provoking article here. Thought I'd share it!

Searching for large family solutions

2011-05-28T19:31:00.001-07:00

Ever find yourself searching and scouring the net to find "solutions" to the never-ending pile of laundry? Or trying to figure out just the best way to homeschool? What about how to occupy toddlers and babies while schooling older children. Oh, and let's not forget searching for the perfect curriculum, or how to be a good wife and mother. Is it just me or is this search a bit misdirected?

Recently I read an article in an Above Rubies magazine. The editress told a story about how she used to do her quiet time. Except it wasn't quiet at all. She brought all her 6 young children in her room, gave them some toys, knelt down and began to pray. Finally someone came knocking at her bedroom door to ask her to keep the children quiet...except that she didn't even realize the children were being noisy. Her conclusion was that God has equipped mothers to multi-task. The reason we find it so difficult is because of our negative attitude. If we think we can't do it, well, we can't. And I know she isn't saying you can "do it all". She's just saying that you can do more than you think and that we must change our attitudes. We wonder in amazement how on earth we can accomplish the many things on our lists. So we search for answers. Yet have any of us really found "THE" answer? I know we all know that our only true source is the Lord. Only he can give us the grace to do this difficult job.

But besides that, what is it that we are really looking for? I believe it's joy and peace. The laundry will pile up, whether or not you give your children only 5 outfits each to wear, or don't organize any of it. The dishes will get dirty, the toddler will make a mess that takes an hour to clean in our already full day. The baby will cry for an hour at night when we planned to work on that chore chart we started last week. Finally, we are too tired to sit and do our school planning for the next day so we stumble into bed, only the baby decides to wake us up about a half hour into our sleep. And so it goes on...

Is there a system to make this easier? Is there a solution to our constant search to find happiness? You could say having less children would have prevented these problems, but I doubt less children produces a fulfilled mother. Otherwise she wouldn't be searching for ways to fill her time with new careers, new hobbies, and even ministries.

No, we were made to multi-task. We were made to keep our hands busy. The blessing is there, in the pile of laundry? No...tee hee...the blessing is rejoicing that you are called blessed. Rejoicing that even if you cry over spilled milk, your oldest puts his arm around you and says "It's ok Mommy, I'll help you clean it up". Rejoicing when the toddler asks yet one more time..."will you play trains with me Mommy?" You ignore the laundry and sit and play even if it's while you nurse. When your five year old asks you to read a book, for the 3rd time, you sit and smile and thank the Lord for another chance to cuddle this young girl who won't be in your home forever!

We have stop searching for the answer to our problem on someone else's website. I have to stop trying to find the "perfect plan" that will make my home, well, perfect. What I need is joy right now, no matter what. I need to smile at my children no matter what. And if I break down into sobs because I burnt the cookies that were essential to tomorrow's snack for our outing, then I can turn around, apologize to my children and ask them if they don't mind eating an extra apple that day. All with joy!

I don't think there is a perfect plan. No perfect laundry systems, and no perfect curriculum. I tried to teach history this year, but with a fussy baby, it was hit and miss. Well guess what, my oldest loves history and read the volumes I bought twice each. He quotes them to me almost daily. It seems the Lord wanted him to learn his history this year, and he did even though I couldn't fit it in. The Lord will accomplish his will in your home. But it may not look like you think it should! That's ok, it's not about me (my husband's favorite saying!). It's not about my great teaching skills, or my perfect homeschooling plan.

I'm not saying we should give up and not try to organize or find ways to occupy our toddlers while we school. We should still try to get our laundry done, doing all these things unto the Lord and "looking well to the ways of our households." But we have to have joy, a positive attitude, and complete reliance on the Lord for today even when we don't, or can't. We must pray each day that the Lord's will be done, not our own. Seeking to have a clean house because we think that only then we will be happy, is not surrendering to the Lord. It's complete selfishness. Seeking to have a clean house to train our children in good habits and to bless them and our husbands, is a godly attitude. Doing it selflessly without complaining or feeling angry because we were interrupted yet again is "taking up our crosses and following him." When we do as Romans 12 and offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service, we are simply doing our duty. Nothing spectacular, and I think women of old knew that.

Today we have forgotten our duties and complain when life is hard. I don't want to be that woman. I want to smile when my husband comes home, even if there is laundry piled on the floor, or piled in every room, toys on the floor, dishes on the counter...It will bless him far more than a clean house with a contentious woman.

I could go on...but time is short in a busy household :) That's why I'm writing this to myself...so that I don't forget. :)

I want to think

2011-05-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of reading lately about 19th century education. What I find most fascinating is the lack of teacher's manuals to go along with the materials they used. Today if I buy a homeschooling curriculum for, say my 2nd grader; it will come with a huge supply of teacher's manuals for every subject. In it there will likely be day to day lesson plans. But what I've been thinking on the most is how these teacher's manuals don't just give me tips for teaching and teaching lesson plans, but they go as far as to tell me exactly what to say. It's not done to "control" what I teach, don't get me wrong, it's only a suggestion to help stimulate the process. I'm not faulting the curriculum makers for this. It's just that it dawned on me that we are not a very creative generation. It seems that we are so used to being told how to think that we don't know what to think, how to think independently, and certainly we don't trust what we think.

I may not be making sense here...What I'm trying to say is that I admire the texts from the 19th century. The teachers were expected to educate themselves in the art of teaching children. They didn't have to be told exactly how to do it. They were left to be creative. Today's curricula so often tell me exactly what to teach, when to teach, how much to teach, what to say, and what days to say it! I feel choked by them and any creativity I might have is snuffed out. Snuffed out because there is so much the curriculum demands that if I try to be creative then I won't have time to do the "important stuff".

I'm done with that...No more. When I think for myself, and teach my children from a book and even a textbook (yes without a teacher's manual...gasp!), they love it. It's not forced, it's fun, and it's creative. I know my own home and the abilities of my children, and so I can tailor any lesson to fit our homeschool. I can do as little as I deem fit, or as much I we care to do. And it's ok...really it is.

I have 5 young children, and I don't have time to be told to do X number of worksheet questions for X number of subjects. I prefer to choose the copywork for my children to learn handwriting. I (we) prefer not to use workbooks for most subjects (if not all...we are weaning ourselves off them, really it's me, I'm weaning my dependency on them to show me their progress). Notebooking is the creative way I want us to go. I hope I have enough courage to be creative, follow my instincts, simplify the process, but enjoy it so much more.

Easy baby "gripe water" from scratch

2011-04-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted about making herbal remedies lately, so I thought I'd do a quick one here. If you live in Canada or England then you know what gripe water is. Gripe water is used to treat stomach upset in babies. Often colicky babies are given this the most as they tend to suffer from digestion problems. However, every baby is "gassy" from time to time ;-) So what's a mother to do? You could run out to your local grocery/drug store and buy some gripe water or make your own.

In the USA, I have found only a few places that sell it, and they are usually stores that specialize in foreign foods, especially English foods. So if you are looking for it to settle your baby's tummy and live in the USA, then try a local specialty "English" shop or do a search online.

Otherwise, you can make an easy one from scratch in your own kitchen. This is what I do because with 5 children it can be a daunting task to go to the grocery store for just one thing :)
So, here is my easy recipe:

1 tsp chamomile flowers, dried
1/2 tsp catnip herb, dried
1/4 tsp fennel seeds, from the herbal section of the health store (not just from the spice rack)

If you can't find fennel seeds, omit them. If you can't find catnip, omit it. If you have nothing else, chamomile will work. Fennel on it's own is great too.

Boil some water, about 12 oz and pour over herbal mix in a large cup or bowl. Cover tightly and leave for at least 10 minutes. Place in the fridge. It will store for about 3 days. Give it to your baby in a dropper, starting with about 1/2 - 1 tsp (3-5 mls).

Always test it before administering it to a baby. And as always, check with your doctor before giving any remedies to your baby, as I am not certified to give advice! Oh, and you could sweeten it with some rapadura (sugar cane juice), but remember to never give honey to a baby under 1 year old. It's mild enough that I find it isn't necessary to sweeten it.
You could make this as a remedy in vegetable glycerine which is naturally sweet. This would keep for about 1 year. More on this another time!

Breaking free cont'

2011-04-13T19:54:00.001-07:00

Too busy with Littles to post - but here is a post from one of my favorite blogs. An excellent article. Click here to read. Posted just at the right time for me :)

Breaking free from drudgery

2011-04-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been researching a more biblical approach to homeschooling. I have bought many homeschooling books, many whole curriculums, and lots of how to books. Overall I have been dissatisfied. I always feel like something is missing and I'm always wondering how to teach my children in a "better" way. I've used traditional textbooks, classical (except for reading old greek texts), some charlotte mason, and literature based curriculums. I've enjoyed parts of many of these but somehow I have felt it wasn't exactly what I should be doing. After lots of money spent on all these things I began to pray about what my homeschool should look like. I'm still praying...

Here are a few things I'm learning (meaning in the process, not giving advice ;). With a large family, it can be quite daunting to have separate textbooks for every child for every subject. Ofcourse math and language arts have to be separate, but science, history, art, and even handwriting (to a certain degree) doesn't. While trying to figure out how to teach all my children and hoping that they could all work independently while I did the housework, I realized, this is not very fulfilling. Imagine sitting on the couch, the children all around, hovering over a great book. Together, learning about science, history, creationism, and whatever else you love. Doing chores together, but most importantly exploring the scriptures together as you sit down, rise up, take a walk...at every opportunity. This is real living, and I'm starting to see that trying to do school the way government schools run is not real. And it starts to put out the spark of learning in my children. Up to now, I'm realizing that I need to teach my children directly, and therefore I have to learn some history, how to teach reading effectively, grammar rules. It's not what I thought I was signing up for, but it's what I have come to see is the way of the most successful homeschool families. I have found that advice from families that have graduated many chidren is the best - because then I can judge their methods by their fruits and pick the best fruits :) Some resources I have really enjoyed lately: A Charlotte Mason Companion, Educating the Whole Hearted Child, Curriculum advice from Victoria Botkin (2 CD set) http://www.ignitethefire.com/, http://www.heartofwisdom.com/, http://www.ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com/%20(posts (specifically posts about 19th century education). Since I have 5 children...I better run...more on this later :)

True biblical education

2011-03-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

For a long time I've been pondering what homeschooling biblically really means. I have used many different curricula, and several different approaches. I've used Charlotte Mason, classical, and traditional textbooks. I've also used a mix of these. Somehow, though, something has been missing.
Why did I begin the homeschool journey? What are my goals? I'm not sure I ever wrote them down. I've often heard that it is important to write down the vision for your homeschool. After all we've all heard the first half of Proverbs 29:18 about perishing when there is a lack of vision. But have we forgotten the second part of the verse?
Prov 29:18 - Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
What should your vision be? Keeping God's commandments, seeking after righteousness, studying to show yourself approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 timothy 2:15

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matt 6:33

Are our children doing that each day? Maybe they are, or maybe they are doing math, history, reading, writing, and so on, and there doesn't seem to be enough time to do the "one thing that's needful'?(Luke 10:42)

These are the things that I've been pondering over the last few years, and as of late I have felt it pressing upon me. I have 5 children now, so if 3 of them are doing all the subjects, say about 6 each then I'm grading and trying to teach 18 subjects per week, several times over, plus teach a toddler, and catch a crawling baby? Really, that seems absurd to me and it's just not working.

So slowly I have moved over to more of a one room school house approach, doing some unit studies and I'm going to do more of a Charlotte Mason method. But that aside, what about the bible? Well, most homeschool curriculum has bible verses throughout, but are they teaching my children about their christian heritage? Are they explaining the history of the church, the era in which Jesus lived, how to pray, how to live by faith? I know, I'm teaching that at home, by example, and with family devotions.
But am I really? Are you? Having a devotional time as a family is wonderful and important, but what am I doing with the homeschool part of my day? Why am I segmenting out christian teaching and replacing it with academics? Am I making sense?

What has been on my heart is this; can I teach my children about Jesus, how to live as christians, etc...while doing academics? I believe I can and I believe most curriculum does not do that. There are a few, but on the whole, they separate God from academics...just like schools do in essence...that's not what I signed up for.

After doing some reading I've come across a few interesting things. First, I have always felt uneasy about classical education. Now before you tear me apart, just read on. Did you ever hear Jesus quote from Plato, or Homer? Did he ever refer to Archimedes? No, he referred to the scriptures. All His wisdom came from there, and can wisdom come from worldly men, and especially idolatrous men? What do the scriptures say, because that's the only source of wisdom I'm willing to quote.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 tells us that "...all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works"
Further, we are told in Philippians 4:8 to think on good things. Things that are just, pure, virtuous, praiseworthy etc...

Hebrew education is very different from Greek education. I don't want to go into all the particulars, but you can find two good websites that explain the differences. The first is the Heart of Wisdom website, and the second is an article written by Paul Shutte. Generation Cedar also has a good article here. As homeschoolers, we must understand what we are doing, where it comes from, if it pleases the Lord, if it's praiseworthy, and if it will produce godly children. Heart of Wisdom has done a great job researching this. It's well worth a look.

Hebrew education focuses on relationship. Relationship with God, and familial relationships particularly. So far, I have found that Charlotte Masons' method most closely matches hebraic education. Since we are Abraham's children, I suspect that we ought to learn what Hebrew education looks like. We still have to teach academics, but I want to teach them so that my children can use them as tools to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. How I'm going to do that, I'm not sure yet. One thing I do know, I will begin by centering our schooling around the word. Since I already have school books for this year, I'll continue with those, but Heart of Wisdom has several free bible unit studies that I can use. It's a great website. This lady has been homeschooling for over 20 years, with 11 children.
I'm still learning...figuring things out...but I know this; I want my children to study the Word of God as their foundation and do our academics from there, not the other way around.

Back up and running

2011-01-26T19:32:00.001-08:00

It's been a good long while. I have been learning how to manage my time better - I'm still not there, but I'm further along then I was. My husband has given me his blessing to resume blogging. I probably won't blog everyday, but I hope to put up at least 4 articles a week. I don't know, is that too much for a homeschooling mommy of 5, where the baby is only 6 months old? Possibly! But there's always multitasking while nursing :) My focus will be about how to use herbs, how to make simple remedies that are safe and effective for the whole family, and how to cook truly healthy meals. I'm currently taking a herbal course (correspondence, go at your own pace, designed for mothers) to improve my understanding of healthy, wellness, and herbal remedies.
So with that said, a good blog revamp is in order. I hope to get to that eventually. More to come....:)

Quick update - baby #5

2010-08-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

Baby #5 born July 20th, 2010 - Her name is Kathryn and we lovingly call her Katie. She's so precious.

How to make pure vanilla extract

2009-01-06T17:22:00.001-08:00

I have a really good book to help make baby food - it's called "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. You do have to read it after reading Nourishing Traditions though, because Ruth Yaron does not know about phytates or soaking grains and legumes. So I adjust the recipes accordingly.

An interesting recipe in this book is how to make pure vanilla extract. It's actually quite easy and you can make 6 months worth for the price of 1 or 2 bottles of pure vanilla extract (which costs about $4 or more per bottle).

Go to your local health food or bulk store and purchase pure vanilla beans. Cut and slice them length-wise, and place them in a sterilized baby food jar. Add vodka to the top. Close the lid and place in a dark cupboard for about 3 weeks - shaking every day or so.

That's it! As you use the vanilla and it starts to dwindle, just add more vodka, shake, and put away and repeat the process. The beans should last about 6 months.

FYI: The amount of alcohol you use in pure vanilla extract is very minor and usually evaporates out during mixing.

Important SIDS information

2009-01-05T18:57:00.001-08:00

UPDATE (Jan 9/09):
For those who have inquired, this research is backed by scientific studies published in reputable medical and science journals. You can find an article here that cites the publications at the end of the article.

Original Post:

I don't know why I haven't posted about this before, but I started a business 7 years ago that sold very important SIDS products. I no longer own it or have any affiliation to it, I gave it to a friend of mine (we were partners in this business at the time) when I was pregnant with my fourth baby. It was getting too busy and was digging into my homeschooling and homemaking time. It wasn't a cottage industry, more like a job.

The reason I'm writing this is because I was just looking at a blog I enjoy reading, Are they all yours?, and was reading some info on SIDS. Anyway, it dawned on me that I have never blogged about this very important research. Once upon a time, I was a microbiologist (in training), and when I left my feminism beliefs, I left that career behind. I then started a business after doing a year of research on SIDS. Only to give it up later. I don't have time now to blog about the research, but you can read the article I wrote 7 years ago here: http://www.babysake.com/. Just scroll down the page to read it. The website is still the original that I designed, but I have no part in it now. However, I still believe in the product and am certain that Dr. Sprott has found the cause and solution to SIDS. Check it out! Goodnight :)

Success! At least for today :)

2009-01-04T06:05:00.000-08:00

Well - my daughter woke up just before 4am and climbed into bed with us. So I told her to cuddle up to Daddy and I put the baby in his bed (he woke in the night ofcourse!). I was downstairs by about 4:20am and finally sat down at 4:30am. I actually did a little extra bible study till almost 6am. Thankfully, the baby didn't wake until 7am, so I was able to do an hour of needed housework. We are having company today and we also rearranged the living room yesterday, so I had some organizing and cleaning to catch up on before anyone could enter the house ;)

Am I tired - yes. Overtired - No. I'm refreshed. I've been thinking about some of the posts I've written and realized that I sort of expect that I'm going to be a bubble of energy as long as I spend time with the Lord early. But the truth is that I might have a good attitude, or at least be VERY aware of a not so good one, and I will be refreshed and strengthened in the inner man [woman;)]. This is a new routine afterall and it will take time to establish and get my body used to it. This is a self-discipline.

Well, I'd better get ready for church!

Praise the Lord for his goodness towards me, and I thank you Lord for putting up with me, a wretched sinner that I am. Amen.

ok - I need some prayer

2009-01-02T07:35:00.001-08:00

This morning I didn't get up. Again, went to bed too late. I'm finding it difficult with the holidays and dh home and the baby up so much at night. But I am determined. I know it's the Lord's will. I feel like a total failure! Please pray for me!

Thanks Terri for the encouragement. I know exactly how you feel. Tomorrow is another day :)

Winter Immune Booster

2008-12-31T05:30:00.000-08:00

The other day I whipped up herbal honey for my family and friends. Here are the ingredients:

Echinacea
St-John's Wart
Elderberries
Yarrow
Dandelion
Mullein
Rosehips
Ginger (dash)
Cinnamon (dash)

To make a honey herb, see my previous post HERE.

Once your honey herb has boiled gently for about 15 minutes, you can strain out the herbs and let it drip into the container of your choice. Preferable glass or earthenware. Small 6-8 oz. canning jars work well.

I give my children about 1 tsp once to twice per day. My husband takes some too.

You can make your own with whatever herbs you would like. Look up herbs at the bulkherbstore.com to find out what they do and if they are safe for children/pregnant and nursing mothers. I shouldn't take Yarrow - it has a drying effect - because it can cause my milk supply to fall a little. I don't think a tsp a day would, but I will likely avoid it anyway. Since the winter is dry anyway, I should be careful. But Yarrow is wonderful for children and has antimicrobial and antiviral properties. A very simple and powerful immune booster would be simply echinacea, elderberries, and powdered vitamin C (or rosehips).

Blessings!

Still struggling

2008-12-24T04:39:00.000-08:00

Last night we stayed up till almost midnight wrapping the children's and other family members' presents. So my plan to get to bed early was foiled! We are spending time with family this evening, so wrapping is not possible. When I finally went to bed, within a half hour, the baby woke up. Then he tossed and turned and kept me half awake until about 3am. Then my alarm went off at 4 am. So, I hit the off button! I just couldn't get up.

At 5:30am I finally got up and started my time with the Lord 15 minutes later. I was able to get almost an hour in, but with no housework. The key here is that if I get up early enough, I can accomplish some food preps (see prov 31:15) and housework if possible before the children wake. I did get time with the Lord, but I feel I'm still not doing exactly what he is leading me to do. I'm not discouraged, only a little frustrated. I have not had a night like that since, well, since my second born son was an infant. My fourth little baby is usually an amazing sleeper. I think he's getting a tooth, so that's understandable, but still, I feel there's a battle going on here - and until just this minute, I didn't even think about praying for God's intervention.

So that's what I'll do. I know it's his will for me to wake in the "night watches" (psalm 63), so I will press on.
Tomorrow is another day. I'm praying that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Homemade Chai Tea

2008-12-16T06:34:00.000-08:00

I love Chai Tea, but not the caffeine. So I have concocted my own version - and it's delicious!!

Here is the one cup version:

1 cup hot milk
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 heaping tsp raw honey
2 drops vanilla extract
a sprinkle of cardamon
a sprinkle of ginger
a sprinkle of cloves (I'm generous with these three herbs, as they act as a mild stimulant to help you WAKE up in the cold mornings of winter!)

Stir and serve!
Yum :)

A Lovely Quote and a Sincere Reminder

2008-12-09T09:21:00.000-08:00

If we would have a true home,

we must guard well our thoughts and actions.
A single bitter word may disquiet the home for a whole day;
but, like unexpected flowers which spring up along our path full of freshness,

fragrance and beauty, so do kind words,

gentle acts and sweet disposition make glad the home where peace and blessing dwell.

No matter how humble the abode,

if it be thus garnished with grace and sweetened by kindness and smiles,

the heart will turn lovingly towards it from all the tumults of the world,

and home, “be it ever so humble”

will be the dearest spot under the sun.

~ Circa 1882.

Pneumonia and bronchial infections

2008-12-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

Below was part of an email I sent to a friend today who is going to help out someone with pneumonia:

Ginger tea drink:

Take a thick slice of fresh ginger and boil it with half a cinnamon stick for about 10 minutes, allow to cool so it's warm only, add juice of one lemon, sprinkle some cayenne, and drink. Then take a garlic/cayenne capsule (have a little snack like a banana before hand). Wrap yourself in a blanket and you'll probably sweat out your sickness. I avoided pneumonia once this way while pregnant. My whole family had it, and I started with a few symptoms, took this, and was sweating within a few minutes. I actually had to shower because I was soaking wet. I then took some lobelia (a child's dose, not adult, since I was 9 months pregnant) and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning healthy!Coughs: ginger is a cough surpressant. Take some powder and mix with raw honey. Coughing should slow down a great deal. My children usually stop coughing for the rest of the night. I also put a cold mist humidifier on as well.

Homemade Antibiotic: fill a size "00" capsule with granulated garlic and a pinch of cayenne. I usually put about a quarter tsp or more cayenne in a bowl, then add a heaping tbsp granulated garlic, mix, then fill capsules. I store the capsules in the freezer. It wards off sicknesses right away when I feel them coming on. She should take this capsule, even two at a time, with each meal (3x per day). If you find capsules are too expensive or can't find them, check and see if you have any vitamins in gelatin capsules that you won't be using, like a bottle of B-100 vitamins, dump out what's in it, and use those!

For the incision area, get some echinacea herb (even in a tea bag is fine), organic is best. Make a strong tea (called a decoction) by gently simmering the herb in a small pot for about 10 minutes. Then take a clean cloth and dip into the decoction, and place over incision area. Echinacea is a contact healer and works wonders! I used it on a bug bite that caused 1/2 my son's leg to swell up, and it took care of it.

Lobelia extract - costs around $20 at the healthfood store. I'm sure whole foods has it. It's a popular extract. Put about 8 drops for an adult (about 4 for children, and 2 for ages 1-2 years) into orange juice and drink. Also, sprinkle some on your hand and rub onto yours or the sick person's chest. It absorbs into the skin quickly and works to suppress coughs and facilitate easier breathing - it open the bronchial tubes. I can't do without lobelia. Since we moved I have used it countless times. (NOTE: see this post for important info and warnings about lobelia)

Most healthfood stores should have everything you need.

If you want to do more, you can buy the following herbs and either powder them and put them into capsules, or mix them with raw honey:
mullein + yarrow + echinacea + goldenseal. Take these every 2 hours.

Also, make a homemade chicken soup for the broth - it has a lot of healing power according to several books I have read. But ofcourse it has to be homemade with carrot, onion, garlic, sea salt, and celery, simmering for several hours. Use raw chicken, not precooked, for best results!

Interesting blogs

2008-12-07T19:28:00.000-08:00

I found this interesting blog about country living. I find her posts very inspiring, especially the one about her cold frame and growing vegetables during the cold season. http://theadventurelearningcompany.blogspot.com/. Any wantabee homesteader would love this blog!

Also, I found another blog where a woman adds details to her home to add beauty, like window treatments, layering fabrics, etc... It's filled with beautiful inspirations: http://nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/. This lady has 521 followers! It's a neat blog.

Time to get some sleep - maybe one of these days I will be inspired to layer some fabric too. I want to, but don't think of it often. Life with littles is always busy. Especially during this season.

Blessings.
Patricia

Sourdough bread

2008-12-04T19:10:00.001-08:00

The past two weeks I've been making sourdough bread. I started by making my starter, which took 7 days to make, then used this recipe to make my sourdough bread. I adjusted the recipe a little since I use freshly milled flour, instead of store bought wheat flour.

I started with only one loaf to make sure it was good. The very first time I made sourdough bread, I made a huge batch to yield 4 loaves and had to throw the whole thing out! What I didn't realize is that my sourdough had gone very wrong. So I learned my lesson :)

This sourdough bread is absolutely delicious. I love it. Especially just after it's baked and it's really fresh. I slap on the butter and go nuts with it! My children love it too. My oldest is a die-hard white french bread lover and is really fussy with other breads. I used to make the soaked yeast bread from Nourishing traditions, but it had a very "yeasty" flavour. This sourdough has the obvious benefit of soaked bread plus the health benefit of sourdough instead of yeast. The yeast we use today is not healthy. So even homemade bread, though healthier than store-bought, is not very healthy. I am still going to make some french bread now and again, just to enjoy. But the everyday bread, my daily bread ;) will be this sourdough.

Whole wheat stores for many, many years because it is protected by a natural chemical called phytate. The only way we can digest wheat is if it is soaked overnight in an acidic medium that will break down these phytates. That's why sourdough bread is so healthy. After this "soaking" the wheat lets out all it's nutrition to our bodies. Unsoaked wheat can actually cause us to lose vitamins, so it's very important that we soak all grains before we eat them. See nourishing traditions for more info.

Sourdough Bread

Here is the condensed version of Candy's recipe (www.keepingthehome.com) using store-bought whole wheat flour:

Ingredients- 1 cup home made buttermilk- 1 cup sourdough starter- 1 tablespoon real butter (softened to room temperature)- 1 teaspoon sea salt- 2 tablespoons pure raw honey- 4 cups whole-wheat flour
Combine, knead about 15 minutes by hand, place in greased bread pan, cover with a clean dishtowel, and place in a warm spot for 12-24 hours. The next day, preheat oven to 425F and cook for 15 minutes, then lower oven to 325F and cook for another 45 minutes. Cool on cooling racks completely before slicing.

If you mill your own flour, here is my adaptation to the recipe:

Ingredients- 1 cup home made buttermilk- 1 cup sourdough starter- 2 tablespoons real butter (softened to room temperature)- 1 teaspoon sea salt- 2-3 heaping tablespoons pure raw honey- 3 cups freshly milled kamut or spelt, 1 cup unbleached white flour (I'm easing us into just the freshly milled flour, otherwise it is too heavy).

I use a kitchen aid mixer, so I combine the ingredients in the mixer and knead on setting 2 for about5 minutes. Otherwise, knead by hand 15 minutes. Place in greased bread pan, cover with a clean dishtowel, and place in a warm spot for 12-24 hours. The next day, preheat oven to 425F and cook for 12 minutes, then lower oven to 325F and cook for another 30-35 minutes. Cool on cooling racks completely before slicing.

It comes out just beautifully and delicious, and best of all - oh so healthy. I've noticed that my second son is eating properly again since he's on this bread. I always felt he couldn't digest wheat or grains that aren't soaked to break down their phytate content. It seemed to leave him feeling full, so that he wouldn't be hungry for the next meal. Well not now! And, he loves the bread. It's a blessing all around :)

I won't be eating the bread of idleness in this house! ;0)

Seasons of adversity

2008-11-26T19:58:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have left me with a heavy heart. I have been going through a personal trial. Furthermore, anyone I turned to didn't really understand. And to top it all off I felt disconnected with the Lord. I would read the word and pray and He seemed distant from me. I knew it was a time of testing, and I spent a lot of time crying out to the Lord. I'm still going through it, but suddenly the Lord let His presence be known to me. He heard my cries and the answer was on its way.

How do I know? Well, as I cried out to him, I asked him to give me hope, a scripture, a word, anything so that I can bear the trial.

We are all going through trials. The bible says so - and it's a good thing because it refines us
each day.

Last week my dearest cousin called me. She told me a dream she'd had about me that was very vivid. She didn't know I had been crying all week, but in her dream that is what she saw. All the while I was unaware that I was on my way to the very destination I had been praying and crying out to the Lord for.

That dream spoke volumes to my heart. It showed me that the Lord heard me even when I felt distant from Him. My cousin didn't know my situation, but the Lord revealed it to her in a dream, which consoled me right out of my sorrow. Now I know I'm on the way to receiving what I've prayed for. I know it's in God's will because it's in his word. So I'm waiting. But each day the Lord has encouraged me more and more, and I can see that I'm almost there!

I know this is vague - but this is a "personal trial". Still - I wanted to encourage anyone going through seasons of adversity. The Lord is able to do abundantly more than you expect. It's all in his strength, if we choose to lean on Him.

Are you going through your own trials? I know you are, because the bible says that everyone has trials. Here are some verses that have encouraged me during this season of my life:

Isaiah 30:18

And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

Matt 19:26

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Matt 21:21-22

Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
22And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Isaiah 30:19-22

19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

Blessings!

Rotating toys

2008-11-25T10:38:00.000-08:00

Oh the joys of rotating toys. I am blessed to finally have a house with a basement. Not the live-in kind, but the storage kind. I love having that storage space. Since I moved in I have been rotating the children's toys. I brought down some toys that were making what I call "visual" clutter. After a while you just don't want to look at it anymore, and frankly neither do the children. But when you bring down toys, it's important to bring some more in. So I peeped into a few storage boxes and found some toys that the children haven't seen in more than 8 months. They just about fell over!

It was the best motivating tool I could have concocted. While doing chores, the children tried to escape upstairs to their bedroom to play with the newly found toys, but they were not allowed to go until quiet time. So I had very compliant children who ran as fast as they could to quiet time once it was announced. I also suspect that quiet time will run a little long today. Not to mention the fact that my oldest son decided he didn't have "time" to eat some pie after lunch and asked if he could just have it after dinner.

Oh the joys of rotating toys! I couldn't have done better if I had bought new ones :)

I got a lovely award!

2008-11-21T08:10:00.000-08:00

How sweet it was to receive this award from a blog I also love to read: Keeping the Home.

The rules for this award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you

3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award

4. Add links to those blogs

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

6. Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool.

I am nominating the following wonderful blogs:

1. Eyes of Wonder - for how she inspires me to live simply, godly, and to enjoy every moment no matter how trivial. This is a beautiful blog!

2. Fruitful Vines - because of her inspiring words and advice on bearing children, and because I love her dearly! she is an encouragement to me (she's also my cousin!!)

3. Little Apples of Gold - this family is an example to me of godly living and Kay is a dear friend.

4. Are they all yours - this is a straight-talking lady, no fuss, and a very informative blog.

5. Large family mothering - she reminds me that mothering is hard work, but rewarding!

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to read other blogs, so I had to cheat on the rules a little. So this time it was a short list - not the 10 that it should have been :(
With four children, time can be scarce, especially with an infant. But these 5 blogs along with Keeping the Home, are the blogs that encourage and bless me.

Blessings!

Just a quick post!

2008-11-19T21:18:00.000-08:00

My four year old (almost 5) son was playing with his older brother. They were chasing each other and pretending to be soldiers or swordsmen (not quite sure what it was, lol). When suddenly my four year old says "ah ha - I am the Lord and I am 3 in one, ah ha ha, I am VERY powerful!" He figured out that he can be a sort of "transformer" as the Lord is.
At first I listened carefully to make sure he wasn't using the Lord's name inappropriately - but then I thought, what better role model can this child have and pretend to be than the Lord! And here I thought he wasn't really paying attention during bible studies! :)

It was a really cute moment!
Blessings :)

Update to Today's Schedule

2008-11-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

So far so good - I'm a little off schedule, nap was short, outside time a little long because it takes forever to get everyone into snow suits! But the long "Free time" for the children affords me to catch up. The only way this type of schedule is possible is if you start with a clean and organized home (as much as you can). So on Monday, I spent the day organizing some key areas to make today's schedule easy - you know what my oldest said today after doing all his chores? He said "I feel good about what I've accomplished today Mommy!". I had been telling him all last week while we were mostly on this schedule, why it was important.

We had a block schedule before, but it just didn't keep me on schedule enough. And I wasn't waking early enough.

In order to stay motivated - although the clean house keeps me motivated too - I sit for a few snippets of time on the computer, or reading a bit. This way I get a little me time, then back to it!
I'm actually having fun, mostly because I feel this pleases the Lord, pleases my husband, and is good for my children and for me.

I may not get everything done on my list, but I may do other things not on the list too. But it's my guide and without it, I stand in the kitchen and think - now what was I supposed to be doing? lol.
Back to it :)

Today's Schedule

2008-11-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

I've been praying a lot lately about being more self disciplined and parenting on purpose, and so I'm following a fairly strict schedule (so not me!), and actually, I've been accomplishing a lot more than I ever expected :) A mid afternoon nap is key for me since I have a baby waking up in the night. With that nap, I'm good as gold :)

Wake- up 6:37am (actually, it ended up being 7:03am)

Totay's To do List:
-Feed sourdough
-load laundry, dry laundry
-Start soaked beans (water evaporated?? what, resoak!)
-Make muffins from soaked kamut in buttermilk
-start dinner
-soak kamut flour for biscuits
-take out buttermilk, refridgerate
-call library
-find bin to store extra herbs
-sort herbs and prep for making remedies
-plan christmas crafts, food, decorating, gifts, fun.

Breakfast :7:45am, recite memory bible verses, psalm 127
Morning chores: 8:15am
Morning devotions: 9:00am (rotating between Psalm 119 and book of Matthew)
Homeschool: 9:30am - 11:15am

Prep for lunch: 11:30am
Lunch: 12:30pm (leftover meatloaf and potatoes, some fresh cut veggies - yum!)
Take children outside in the snow: 1:15pm - 2:00pm
Nap and quiet time for everyone: 2:00pm-3:00pm

Afternoon chores: 3:00pm
Do Five in a row and Free time for children: 3:45pm till dinner, I will put away laundry (it's a pile of folded clothes!)

Dinner prep: 5:00pm
Dinner: 5:45pm, eat then clean up together as a family :)
Read aloud: 6:15pm, The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Family time and relax: 7:00-7:45pm
Bath and get ready for bed: 7:45pm
Children in bed, reading time for 20 min, then lights out by 8:30pm

Quick tidy of main floor
Put on candles, sit with hubby and cut out sewing pattern
10:00pm: read bible, get ready for bed, then lights out!

AHHHHHH, done :)

Teeth and Remedies

2008-11-16T14:58:00.001-08:00

All I have to say is...teething baby. Therefore no time to blog! I see the edge of his first tooth just partly poking through - you know, when you see a gray line and can just feel the edge. He's drooling up a storm. And keeping his mama up too. It's a good thing he's such a sweet lil' fella!

I have some things I have wanted to post about, like getting up early, what the bible says about it, and why it's important. Mothering on purpose - inspired by a conversation with my dear sister in the Lord, Jaymie. Some homeschool stuff, sewing stuff, and ofcourse my all time favorite - herbs. I also want to blog about my simplified Christmas plans for this year. We have two birthdays in December along with Christmas, so it adds to the list of to do's around here. But I do want my children to focus more on the reason for the season, and not just their ever growing wish lists!

For now, I have had a very sick husband. He was sitting in his office with a very sick co-worker who had this terrible chest cough for over two weeks. Inevitably after a long shift and staying up too late, he succumbed to the germ. However, with some herbal remedies, after just 3 days he's already on the mend. He told me that he is so happy about our discovery of herbs because he's seeing results. The key is to know which herbs to give. In the book, ABC Herbal, they say that if you don't see results after using one set of herbs, try another, you should see results. So that's what we did. I was using a combination of echinacea and ginger and a few others which were not working. So I switched to Yarrow and capsicum (cayenne) homemade capsules. I gave him three capsules about 2-3 times per day and also some echinacea in orange juice, as well as some slippery elm and mullein (specific for respiratory infections). But the yarrow and cayenne did the trick. Within 12 hours he felt quite a bit better - he was able to shovel the driveway with today's first snowfall that stayed! He coughed very little.

So this is how you make the capsules:

grind about a tsp dried yarrow or empty yarrow capsules, 3 of them into a bowl. Add about a third teaspoon cayenne. Mix and then push into the three capsules. Take with juice and food, a bit of banana or bread.

That's it - cayenne is an activator and a germ killer, it activates the immune system to work more efficiently, and enhances yarrow's ability to work. Yarrow clears the intestines, is carminative, a febrifuge, an expectorant, a diuretic and has antibiotic properties.

Blessings!

Cloth diapering

2008-11-06T18:26:00.001-08:00

Yes - I'm one of those weird moms who cloth diaper my babies! This is my stash of cloth diapers. I keep them in two large white baskets by the couch. This lot lasts me about 3 days and I do the diaper washing every third day and sometimes I can stretch it to 4 days, but not usually :)

Actually, I love cloth diapers. It's more than just economical, it's healthy for babies and far more comfortable. I have also found that boys leak through a great deal during the night and only my cloth diapers keep that from happening - disposables always leak for us.

I don't use a bucket for the diapers, mostly because that would totally make me sick. I use cloth bags, large ones that are lined with waterproof material inside. Once the bags are full, the whole thing is dumped into the washing machine and pushed inside out. I also sometimes add baking soda to the bag if it seems smelly and have also used tea tree oil in the bag for that reason too.

This bag fits at least 25 or more diapers. It's a great way to store them without smelly buckets and rinse water (yuck!)

I have many types of diapers. I have a very large stash of Mother-ease diapers that I really love. They snap shut, adjust in size for newborns, and their covers ALWAYS keep leaks in. No other diaper cover has ever worked as well for me.
The two diapers covers on the left below are the mother ease covers I love so much. The blue diapers next to them are called Fuzzi Bunz diapers, and are all-in-one (AIO) diapers or pocket diapers. They are like disposables in that they fit on without needing a cover. The cover is sewn to the diaper. These one have an insert that you use inside so that washing and drying is easy when the inside is removed from the diaper. You can find these diapers all over the web. Ebay often has them for sale. They are very trim and I use them when I want to dress up the baby in something that requires a "smaller" bum. Most clothing is made for disposable diapers and cloth diapers tend to be bulkier, but obviously not always. Fuzzi bunz also have a microfiber lining which keeps baby's bottom feeling dry. I don't always like that because I find it very hot in warm weather and I feel that cotton is most breathable and cozy.Mother-ease also sells a more streamlined diaper, called the "Sandy" diaper which is also a very nice diaper on. I only have a few of them, but they are trim as well. I found that they fit my daughter especially well. (pic below)I also use Kissaluv diapers. They are very soft and cozy. I have a full stash of them in newborn size 0. They are great in that size because they fold over allowing room for the belly button. They are very petite little diapers - so cute. Below is the size 1 diaper by the same company, which is considerably larger. My 6 month old still wears them but they are getting a little small now. Recently my mother bought me about 15 very thick and absorbent Chinese prefold diapers. I had not really used them before, but I have to say that I LOVE them. I really didn't think I would. Below you can see the "snappi" that I use to keep the diaper in place. These are great and cost about $3 each. This flat diaper is super absorbent and 100% cotton. I feel it's the most comfortable for the baby and the most breathable diaper. I am so thankful to have received these.

Another cover that I just love are the wool soakers made by Aristocrats. Wool absorbs 40% of it's own weight in water and these are so breathable and comfortable for baby. I really love them. I have a large one that I use for my daughter's nighttime diapers and it holds a two year old's night time supply! ;) She doesn't use them much now that she's toilet trained, but it worked great and will be usable for my baby boy soon. Wool does require special washing, but it's easy enough to care for and you only have to wash after a few days of diapers or longer or of course if they get soiled, which doesn't happen too often. Cloth diapers just don't leak messes like disposables do.

I love cloth diapers because I never have to run out at odd times because I'm running out of diapers. They are very economical in the long run. They are comfortable for you baby - have you ever worn an adult sized diaper? Well, after my 2ND son was born, I had a catheter and wore won - it was so uncomfortable and sticky and hot. It was from that point on that I decided that I could not put disposables on my babies anymore.

Some studies do suggest that disposable diapers raise a boy's testes temperature to body temp and higher, which is not healthy, and can lead to sterility. Disposable diapers are also linked to an increase in asthma and lung related sicknesses - they contain bronchial irritants.

They are of course terrible for the environment. They also cost an arm and a leg. The cost difference is crazy! You could pay up to $3000 for diapers for one child's "diaper" lifetime, but a high quality cloth diaper set would cost at most $400, and you can definitely do it for cheaper. Plus cloth diapers last from child to child. So that's a huge savings.

I feel good about cloth diapering my babies, and now after diapering 3 out of my 4 in them, it's all part of the routine and easy!

Blessings!

Another busy day

2008-11-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

It was a beautifully warm day here again today - one of the last of our indian summer. I quickly sent two of the children outside to collect the remaining bits of our meager garden. Chives, lettuce (some neglected unpicked lettuce actually started growing again in the cooler weather!), and rosemary. I hope to dry the chives and rosemary. Here are the little ones harvesting what seems like a bounty to them!

ughh - dirt mommy!

Today was a very busy day. I was a little under the weather and not to mention sleep deprived from my late night clean-up. And guess what - I have to do it all over again tonight. No it's not as messy as yesterday, actually the children's room is worse, but the downstairs is not bad.

Earlier I felt so overwhelmed, very alone, and I especially feel that way when my husband is on afternoon shifts and I have the evening to myself. I feel that way because it's complicated getting four young children to bed by myself. Mostly because of the baby's age. I'm currently doing a "gentle" crying it out. Meaning I'm with him in the room, holding his hand or whatever is needed to reassure him, but he is learning to fall asleep in the crib in my room instead of nursing all evening. I find that my babies all do this at about this age, they get used to falling asleep nursing, but then get too old to need it and don't know how to go to sleep on their own. I have tried many different methods, but this seems to work the best for everyone. Tonight my little darling only cried about 5 minutes. I usually put him down after nursing when he's almost asleep or lightly sleeping. At which point he usually wakes and cries. Before I tried this I was nursing for about an hour or even longer. This is great when your husband is home at night, but chaos when he's not. So this is the plan - my gentle sleep training.

I did this with my first and second son and it worked very well and they are great sleepers. I totally let it go with my daughter thinking it wasn't the right way to go, and she kept me up at night for over 2 years. So, we're back to it. It's so hard to know what the right thing is, but I think that love is the key and reassurance. As long as my baby is fed, dry, cuddled up, and loved, he can undergo a little sleep training for the sake of his health and the whole family. He's been sleeping much better since we started this last week, and so have I - except when I stay up to clean ;-)

Here's my little man today, he's turning 6 months tomorrow! I can't believe it.

This was him at around 4 months - aren't they so sweet when they sleep - like little angels!

Today he was able to sit up for the very first time without help! There's proud brother in the background! And yes, I know he's missing a slipper, he's always missing a slipper!

I also taught the children to do hand knitting today. It's really a neat hobby and very easy for little children. Here is my 7 year old loving it

- he decided he's going to make a huge garland for the christmas tree and is very excited about it. He couldn't stop telling me all night how much he loved doing it. I think it's because he sees himself actually making something out of a single string, in just a few minutes, it's very gratifying. Here is a tutorial that I used to introduce it to the children: Finger knitting tutorial. It's only 3 minutes and it was very helpful to go back to if needed. I've been searching for more creative activities for the children that do not involve toys - and this was a hit. I read about it on Eyes of Wonder, one of my most favorite blogs.

Well - it's time to get back to tidying. It's funny, just blogging about the children makes me realize that even though the day seemed stressful at times, it really was still filled with joy. I suddenly don't feel as overwhelmed. These children are such a gift to me, and I too often let circumstances steal that away. They are truly precious in my eyes, and how much more in the Lord's eyes? That has been my prayer lately, that I truly enjoy each day with my children. That I never raise my voice in frustration, that I speak with loving words, and discipline with wisdom. The Lord has been faithful in helping me. I have not been as easily frustrated lately, but lack of sleep tends to steal ones joy pretty quickly. This time change has us all completely out of phase in terms of sleep and eating routines.

Oh, and here's my little darling playing with her little playhouse. I couldn't leave this pic out! They are all so precious.

Before you go to bed - read this poem: A Lady's Choice, it's beautiful and moving. Just another reminder of the Lord's love and our total dependence on him.

Blessings! Patricia

Tornado Messes and Sewing !?!

2008-11-04T17:22:00.000-08:00

OK - my house literally looks like a tornado has passed through here! I've lived in Oklahoma, so I know the wreckage - and why is it in my home??? Help!! I know what Candy would say from Keepingthehome.com - Emergency quick clean-up!! OK, I'm going to do it, but I think it will be an emergency "this is taking forever" clean-up. I'm definitely feeling overwhelmed.
What happened here - there is so much to do that I feel like I can't even begin. I can't be the only mom who feels that way some days? Two of the children have been sick, hubby was really sick, the baby is teething and up a lot, so I'm dragging. It's not good!

It was a beautiful day today and I think that's partly why the house just got worse. We went outside and picked a few more apples from the apple tree before it gets too cold, and before that I went out into town and bought a second hand sewing machine in it's own storage table, you know the kind. Here's a pic, and of course around it on the floor you can see some of the wreckage - oh the mess is far reaching, even to the corners of each room! EEECK!

I have a sewing machine, but the problem is that I have to set it up every time I sew. Which is fine, but since I saw this machine on the weekend, my brain wheels started turning and I thought of a corner in which I could have a permanent sewing base set up and yet hidden! I have a pattern that I would like to make for my daughter. She is in desperate need of pyjamas. Some lady-like pyjamas. You really can't buy these anywhere around here that I know of. You can for women, but not little girls. She's so excited that today she turned on my machine and sewed her thumb! It definitely hurt, but thankfully there wasn't a needle on the machine, so it sort of "mashed" her thumb. She didn't cry but casually mentioned it! She's so funny. She didn't want to tell me that she had turned on the sewing machine - that little sneaker!Isn't it a gorgeous pattern? Here is the material I chose with help from my cousin when she was visiting (that was so much fun!)It will be so cute all sewn up with pink ribbon. We also bought a few more patterns that were on sale. This one looks really easy and very modest. Perfect for my little darling.We also found this totally adorable pattern for a petticoat and pinafore dresses for, well you guessed it, just $1.99 :)

I also put up the website page for the new epatterns found at Sense and Sensibility (see sidebar) and received a free pattern for pantaloons (bloomers) which is the only other pattern that I needed. I was so thankful to the Lord for providing that. A two year old doesn't really know how to sit like a lady in a dress ;)

So now I have to figure out how I'm going to make time for these projects! I started an apron for my daughter about a year ago, shamefully, and it's all cut out, the pockets are sewn, but sadly that's it. But in my defence I did move over 1000 miles and have a baby since then, so maybe I have some good reasons. But I have to start the pyjamas first because it's all my little lady talks about. She's 2 going on 3 in December. She's a doer and loves to help me. She's really my little shadow. If I don't keep her busy, she gets into trouble, not as much now, but it still happens. And the truth is, I'm not used to girls, I have 3 boys (although one is just a wee babe!) and well, they love Lego! Before that it was transformers and rescue heroes, and before that was little people. So they were easy. Actually training them to do chores is much harder because I have to keep them from running to the Lego! My daughter is the opposite - I'm pushing her to play so that I can have a minute to do whatever it is I need to do. Don't get me wrong, I love her to help me, but after a few hours, well, it's tiring. I'm just being totally honest!

We've sort of drifted from table activities lately because two of the kids have had a cold, so we decided to take it easy- and I guess that's why the house is beyond messy. We are totally out of our routine, and it's NOT pretty. So the only thing left to do is to get up, stop blogging, and get started. I'll be up for a while! But once it's done, the children can get back into the swing of things, because they too get overwhelmed if it's too messy and it's hard to get them motivated to get started. My oldest just stares at the mess in confusion! He steps back and says "Mommy, I'm overwhelmed!". He's just like his momma!! So I have to put some order into the home and then they can help me maintain it. The main thing is that I have to keep lighthearted about it, or I'll just end up sitting down and having a good cry from sheer fatigue. That's life with littles!! Today I was dreaming about the day when the children will be old enough to make the meals, do laundry without instruction, if the Lord tarries, it will be a glorious day in terms of housekeeping, and a sad one too because the truth is, they are so precious and I can't imagine not having these little darlings in my home.

My husband asked me today while cutting some home baked bread, he said "if over 15 years ago someone would have told you that you'd have 4 children, no career, staying at home, baking your own bread, using herbs, and homeschooling - would you still have married me?" I had to say that I would have married him because he's so handsome, but would have NEVER believed it! I was once a feminist - Oh how the Lord has changed me (I'm so very thankful!!).

Well, that's enough procrastination,it's cleanup time for me!

UPDATE: Still not cleaning, uh oh, I'll be up late - but I just had to read this amazing post at one of my very favorite blogs - this woman writes like a poet: http://eyesofwonder.typepad.com/. What an encouragement to be able to glean from an older woman who is living a life of love and service to the Lord!

Some Home Cookin'

2008-11-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

This morning before church I made some buttermilk pancakes for my gang. I milled Kamut in my nutrimill, then soaked the whole grain flour the night before in homemade buttermilk.
My nutrimill is one of the best appliances I have bought. When living in Florida I stocked up on grain in 50 lbs barrels. Sadly I only have 3/4 in one left and less than half in the other and have no idea where to buy grain in bulk here in southern Ontario (in Canada!). So I'll have to do some research :P
If you have never made buttermilk before, you really should try it. It's the easiest thing to make, easier than yogurt, and takes about 2 minutes of your time. Homemade buttermilk also makes breads, muffins, biscuits, cakes, and pancakes absolutely delectable! Store-bought buttermilk is never as thick and just doesn't work as well.

To make buttermilk, simply purchase some buttermilk at the store, place two tablespoons of it in a clean glass mason jar, then add cold milk to "near" the top. Close tightly and shake. Then place in a warm cupboard, close the door, and leave overnight. After 12-24 hours it's done - then refridgerate! As soon my buttermilk gets low, I just add some more whole milk, shake, put it in my cupboard and that's that!

Here are the buttermilk pancakes that were soaking overnight in a bowl covered with a towel. I then added the rest of the ingredients, and cooked them on my wonderful grill, which greatly speeds up my cooking.

The children were also interested in trying out dried apples. So I put some in my dehydrator. Two of the children really like them, so I'll have to make a huge lot. This was a favorite snack for me as a child. My mother used to make large batches of them and I'd take them to school. One pack for me and the other for my friends to share! No one had ever seen them and they all loved them. In fact, my lunch always got a lot of attention because it was always so healthy and large. I usually had a huge salad with all the fixings as well as a hearty sandwhich. No cold cuts, real meat! One of my friends used to tell me that my mother must love me because all she got was peanut butter sandwhiches! :)

Here are some almonds that I soaked for about 8 hours, rinsed, then dehydrated according to the nourishing traditions book. This process releases the nutrition out of almonds and in fact they become a powerful cancer fighting food when prepared this way. My oldest son, when he found out that my aunt has cancer insisted that I bring her a bag when I went to visit her. What a sweetie!

Yogurt is always something I make too, but I didn't take a picture of it. My baby lives on yogurt (besides nursing ofcourse!) and so do I. I calculated that for the amount of milk I buy, I pay a little less than a dollar per large yogurt container instead of paying $4 each! So besides the fact that my yogurt has no additives and it totally healthy, it is also VERY cheap :) All the prep for these foods may seem like a lot, but really it only takes a few minutes here and there. And the health benefits are tremendous. There are some weeks where I don't seem to have much time to do this with a little baby in the house, but I always notice that the health of my family decreases. So it's worth doing. I just have to plan out my time better and manage it better. Some days don't work out but that's fine because there's always tomorrow and if I make a large batch of homemade food, then it will last several days. I believe it's vital for our families that we spend time making food from scratch. It also saves money and my husband really appreciates that.

I started just making homemade yogurt, and over time I added more foods. I now regularly make the following:

-soaked and dried nuts, specifically almonds

-buttermilk

-homemade bread, sometimes just plain french bread, other times soaked grain bread

-muffins made with soaked grains in buttermilk

-whey (althought I haven't made this for a few months, I used to make it often and keep some in the fridge at all times)

I also have made cream cheese and whey, and sourdough bread and starter = but my starter went...well...sour on me - which means it turned into an alcohol fermentation - bad! I forgot to feed it for a few days, and well, it didn't turn out. So since then I've been making soaked grain bread and french bread. But I hope to start a new starter this week and make some whey.

I hope to make sour creme and cream cheese and whey soon.

Happy cooking!

Lung/cough/mucous Infection Fighting Remedy

2008-10-31T17:25:00.000-07:00

(disclaimer - don't just take my advice when it comes to your health. Read, research, and make sure you are certain what you are taking is safe for you and your family - I make no claims that any of these herbs are safe for you - I take them, but I do my own research, you do yours!)

This is how I treat the following symptoms in my family:

1)Coughs
2)Mucous
3)Bronchitis
4)Pneumonia/walking pneumonia

This remedy is useful in quieting coughing spasms. Coughing is the body's way of expelling excess mucous, therefore a remedy to alleviate mucous works wonders for coughs. This remedy is taken from "The How to Herb Book", which is my primary reference book. I also use Practical Herbalism, the ABC herbal, Growing 101 herbs that heal (especially useful for instructions on how to prepare my remedies), and Herbal Antibiotics.

This is the remedy I use:
1 part comfrey
1 part mullein
1 part marshmallow root
1 part **slippery elm

(pic: Slippery Elm Plant)

The original remedy as found in The How to Herb Book, adds 1 part *lobelia herb. I use lobelia separately because I have it in tincture form, and therefore give a few drops in juice or water along with the remedy.

So far I have made a decoction of this and mixed it with orange juice for everyone to take. Because slippery elm is helpful also for sore throats, and therefore is best taken in direct contact with a sore throat, I find a decoction better than a tincture. I have also used a tea very successfully.

I also usually take a homemade garlic/cayenne capsule with a meal as an antibiotic. Raw honey and cinnamon is also a natural antibiotic and will enhance any herbal remedy.

If I don't have these herbs, I can also use [comfrey + fenugreek], in a 1:1 ratio. Or Marshmallow, mullein, lobelia, and chickweed (all 1:1). Slippery elm all on its own will help soothe a sore throat or for tonsilitis, but I don't take them in a capsule or tablet (or it won't work), it must be powdered and taken in a tea or in water/juice.

Chamomile (use anytime) or licorice root (don't use if pregnant/nursing, but kids love it!) to enhance the absorption of any other herbs. They also taste great!

NOTE:

*Drink lots of liquid when using slippery elm. It is a fibre!

**Lobelia is very strong and can be an emetic (makes you throw up if you take it several times in a day, the little ones are especially sensitive, but that is one way it gets the mucous out!). I have found it invaluable for croup and nighttime coughs. I rub it on my children's chests as I would vaporub - just 2-3 drops, again it's very strong. It works VERY quickly. I also add a few drops to water if the children are very mucousy and coughing.

Although it's strong, it did open my oldests' airways when he had croup and began to panic because he couldn't breath. Which was one of the scariest times of my whole life. In fact as I write this the memory gives me butterflies in my stomach. He actually told me he thought he was going to die - and I knew he REALLY couldn't breath. Oh my poor little one! Lobelia acted within minutes to open his bronchial tubes and I thank the Lord that I spent the $20 on that little tincture bottle at the health food store. The Lord knew!! Phew... Lobelia is also good for asthma. I also keep bronchial dilators upstairs just incase too, and that's what I would have used had lobelia not worked so quickly for my oldest.

If you decide to purchase lobelia, keep it high up and out of reach from your little children. I keep it upstairs in the linen closet so it's close at hand incase of croup. We have had our fair share of that sickness lately and I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the air quality of our house. We live in an older home on a horse farm. We don't own the horses, but once this house was the home of the owners of all this beautiful land that surrounds our home. Anyway, the basement gets wet and I've often wondered if that contributes to the fact that we have had pneumonia, bronchitis, and croup all within the past 7 months. Now I know many others who have had these sicknesses, and we did just move back from Florida 7 months ago, so the Lord knows. We could be just adjusting to the Canadian climate again.

I thank the Lord for showing me about herbs because I can finally offer something safe and effective for my family.

What to do in case of fever

2008-10-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

Fever:

1) 2 parts catnip/1 part ginger/1 part cinnamon = steeped in 1 cup hot water for 10 minutes then add 1 tbsp honey. Mix and give in dropper (1 tsp at a time) to children over age 1. If your child likes lemon, you can add some freshly squeezed lemon juice for vitamin C content.

OR mix the powder with 2 tbsps honey and let sit a half hour, give 1/2 tsp to children over age one every hour or two. You can also mix in vitamin C powder to this. Give this through the night too if you can. This also helps with the stomach flu (add peppermint to stop vomiting-it may cause more vomiting initially, but that's good and it ends quicker)

2) Cut open a tea bag, empty out contents, and replace with ginger (1 tsp), close with rubber band or twist tie. Add to bath of tepid water and squeeze the tea bag so you can see the ginger seeping into the water. Bathe child and pour water over shoulders - no more than 20 minutes. Then dry and dress child and cozy them under blankets.

You can also add to this remedy [see 1)] to increase it's immune boosting effect. I sometimes add licorice root in small doses which increases all the other herbs' effectiveness. I also have added yarrow to open up the bowels and get them moving. Sometimes fever is related to bowel congestion. Echinacea + elderberries also boost T-cells and the immune system.

3)the tried and true wet cloth on the forehead. It works well and children feel very loved which also helps their immune systems!

4) pray ofcourse and ask for healing - the Lord cares about our illnesses.

5) homemade chicken broth - nourishing traditions' style! Gives needed minerals and vitamins.

Avoid dairy and grain products during acute phases of the illness. There are other remedies, but this is mostly what I do!

Your own medicine

2008-10-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

If there weren't any doctors around to take your children to what would you do? When your child has the flu, are you able to offer him anything other than tylenol or a doctor's visit? It's definately something to think about. Or if you ever found yourself unable to go to see your physician, what would you do? What could you do?

I believe it's important to take your family's health into your own hands. I use doctors when needed, but often find that my own homemade herbal remedies usually work most often and my doctors trips are few.

Here are a few herbal remedies that are safe for children (no known side effects to date) and easy to make.

Most illnesses: fill a capsule with good quality fresh garlic powder and a dash of cayenne. This is a powerful antibiotic combination and works for me almost every single time. I find I get sick one day and am either totally fine the next or my illness lasts 3 days max. I usually keep a stock of these homemade capsules in the freezer. I fill a bowl about a third full of garlic powder and sprinkle a generous amount of cayenne and mix. Then fill my capsules and freeze.
Be sure to take with food or you might find it nauseates you.

Sore throat/laryngitis/respiratory illnesses: slippery elm - mix 1 level teaspoon in orange juice, close your eyes and drink :) It looks awful but tastes fine.
You can also use the garlic/cayenne capsule. Lobelia extract is also great in orange juice - follow instructions carefully because this is a strong herb. Small doses only. You can buy it in a health food store. I keep it always on hand, especially for croup. It is amazing for croup and works instantly. My oldest son had croup, I rubbed lobelia extract on his throat, and put some in water for him to drink. He was breathing normally within a minute and slept well that whole night (although i didn't worrying!).

Take a thick slice of fresh ginger and boil it with half a cinnamon stick for about 10 minutes, allow to cool so it's warm only, add juice of one lemon, sprinkle some cayenne, and drink. Then take a garlic/cayenne capsule (have a little snack like a banana before hand). Wrap yourself in a blanket and you'll probably sweat out your sickness. I avoided pneumonia once this way while pregnant. My whole family had it, and I started with a few symptoms, took this, and was sweating within a few minutes. I actually had to shower because I was soaking wet. I then took some lobelia (a child's dose, not adult, since I was 9 months pregnant) and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning healthy!

Coughs: ginger is a cough surpressant. Take some powder and mix with raw honey. Coughing should slow down a great deal. My children usually stop coughing for the rest of the night. I also put a cold mist humidifier on as well.

I'll try and post some more tomorrow! Got to run :-P

My sweet compliant child!

2008-10-17T22:21:00.000-07:00

Out of 4 children - so far I appear to have at least ONE compliant child. I'm not sure about the baby yet, but things are looking good ;)

Yes, my little sweet boy, my second born, who is always willing to please. I can usually count on him to do what I asked, in the order asked. Do you have a child like that? He is always complimenting me and telling me how pretty I am. He is always saying sweet things in his cute high pitched voice. At four years old, he is more capable than many 6 year olds. He listens very carefully and to what is said, usually, he is a boy of course, but mostly he is very attentive. I usually expect to have to repeat my instructions to him if there was a "disturbance" in getting it done right away. I assume he's forgotten like my other two children, but no, he turns around and does exactly what I asked.

If I don't want a battle, and the other children don't always give me a battle either, but if I don't want to have any possibility of a battle, then I ask him to do the given chore. I don't ask of him more than I would any 4 almost 5 year old, but he's all too willing. Then he comes skipping back to tell me it's all done and asks me if I'm happy with him. He's just such a sweetie! Oh, he has a flaring temper, but he controls it well for a young lad. He is just always cheerful, well usually cheerful ;) And he is compliant. My other two, a boy and girl, are definitely strong-willed. One more than the other. And they are wonderful children too, and I'll post eventually on how they have won my heart, but for now, I was thinking about my sweet boy since he is sleeping on the couch with an angelic face.

He rarely asks to sleep with mommy and usually always goes to bed immediately. Sometimes he'll come down to ask for something, but overall, well...he's compliant! He needs discipline like any other child, but he's just easier. My three other children are also wonderful loving children, but two of them, and of course we're waiting to see what happens with the baby, are strong-willed. How do I know? Because they are not compliant - no seriously, because every book I have about strong-willed children describes much of their behaviour. Thankfully, I'm strong-willed, so I can handle it. They have definitely brought me to tears, but I'm usually up to the challenge. Because I understand them. Actually I understand my compliant child less.

I do believe that God gave me at least one compliant child so far, so that I wouldn't wonder all the time if I'm failing as a parent (only some of the time!!). Because while the strong-willed children just aren't "getting" it, my compliant child is. So I can at least think "well, it's not me, I just have to change the approach", or just beg God for mercy and wisdom! :)

The challenge for a compliant child is that he sometimes gets lost in the middle. Much like the middle child syndrome. Because he makes less fuss, needs less. He does have some stubborn sides, but overall, I know the battle will be short. And love always wins his heart. He's just such a sweetie. Anyone who knows him tells me that too. It's just who he is. God made him that way. So I have to remind myself to spend special quality time with him too. What a blessing he is. What a blessing all my children are to me!

I forgot to mention the cutest thing he said the other day - He told me he was looking for God but couldn't find him. So I asked him why he couldn't find him - he said, that he wants to be good, but sometimes he's bad and that's when he can't find God - is that not so CUTE? I ofcourse consolled him but I treasure that conversation in my heart. He tells me often about how he wants to go to heaven and will go someday. He's just such a sweetie!

Canadian Thanksgiving

2008-10-14T12:24:00.001-07:00

My Thanksgiving welcome display :)

We just had our big thanksgiving dinner yesterday - and it was an absolutely georgeous day, totally unexpected! It was quite a bit warmer than usual - it was really summer weather. What a blessing. We hosted our Canadian thanksgiving here - our first one in two years since we were living in the USA. My husband's family came over and it was a lot of fun. All the children really enjoyed themselves. A few stayed later and the children did some archery with my husband. So much fun!

Today I used the leftover turkey and made scalloped turkey - it was a hit! Just take the turkey, cut it into small pieces, add about a cup of leftover gravy, 1/2 cup water, some stuffing, and some veggies if you want. Then take some crackers and crush them up and mix them in (about 3/4 cup). Top with a mixture of crushed crackers and melted butter. Cook at about 350F, then up the temp to 450 for the last 5 minutes to brown the top - YUMMY!

I'm thankful to the Lord for supplying us with so much. It was a blessing to serve our family this thanksgiving.

Fun co-op days :)

2008-10-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

We've been having a lot of fun lately with our new athletic co-op. While living in Florida, my oldest son attending a homeschool sports program called Saints. It had hundreds of children and certified coaches. It was wonderful.

So now that we're back in Canada, my son thought it would be fun to do one in our backyard - and I thought - why not!

So we called it little saints, and now have a total of 20 children in our home every 2 weeks for this sports co-op. My husband runs it when he's on afternoon shifts. It works out wonderfully and the children absolutely love it. It's a wonderful change of pace from book work. I'm so thankful to the Lord for blessing us with this opportunity to teach our children sportsmanship right in my own backyard (no buckling up the kids and rushing out the door - yay!!).

In the winter, we plan on making forts, tobogganing, making igloos, and skating. Hopefully the weather co-operates :)

Getting ready for "fishes and minnows" game:

The chase is on!
Archery safety rules clearly laid out by the dads!
Bounce house fun during archery rotations:
Even the babies joined us:

;oP

Quick herbal remedy for colds

2008-10-07T20:42:00.000-07:00

This morning my two middle children woke up with a cold. Nothing that stopped their energy much, but they were definately "stuffy". So I went into the kitchen and put together a honey remedy.

Recent studies on wildflower (raw) honey has shown it to be a natural antibiotic. Actually more effective than some of the antibiotics on the market. So it's a great base for herbs and even powdered vitamin C.

I placed about 3 tablespoons of honey in a thick bottomed pot, and slowly heated the honey, then added some herbs, powdered. I added about a 1/2 tsp thyme (helps colds by reducing mucus, reduces pain such as headaches and sore throats, and can treat coughs, fevers, the flu, and a slew of other things). I also added the contents of one tea bag called Organic Echinacea Plus, which contained several species of echinacea which help to boost the immune system (actually stimulates T-cell production). I added cinnamon, ginger, and catnip once the honey was off the heat. Catnip cannot be boiled, or it will denature. These herbs are specific for colds and flus and help with fever as well. Ginger really works to stop coughs and will work almost instantly when taken internally with honey. You can also add powdered vitamin C if you want to and this actually acts to further preserve the mix.
I also added some more honey incase some of the Honey's enzymes were "killed" during the heating process.

Note: I never give an infant honey until well past their 1st birthday to protect against botulism, and thyme should not be taken by a nursing mother since it dries up mucus and can also dry up your milk supply!

I then poured the whole mix into a small ramekin and covered it. This can be kept for several weeks or longer just in the cupboard. With a cold, I find it's best to give the herbs about every 3 hours. Although I didn't do that today - I let the time get away from me! So I'll have to buckle down tomorrow and get it done!

His job, Your job

2008-10-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

My husband and I just finished watching an episode of discovery channel's Dirty Jobs. I have watched the show many times, but tonight I really felt like I got an insight to how hard Men really have to work. When they go to work, usually they work from the beginning of their day right to the end. Hard work, often back breaking, and if it isn't physical it is mentally challenging and requires a lot of mental energy.

It just suddenly dawned on me why sometimes men sit down seemingly oblivious to the work their wives are doing, and just sort of "veg" for a while. They are downright tired.

Imagine working hard all day and coming home and being expected to work hard again? If you are a woman who works outside the home then you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's discouraging. So as a woman who works at home, I suddenly have a new resolve to make sure that my husband does not feel burdened to work after working hard all day. I shouldn't expect him to wash toilets, make meals, wash dishes. Although he often does without being asked, just because he loves me and wants to help.

Imagine if I had to do all I'm doing at home, only to go out and do my husband's job as well? That would be far too overwhelming. So why don't we be the helpers our husbands need and make sure that our home is a haven of rest for their hard working weary bodies. It's the least we can do! You can be sure he's doing his job, are you doing yours? It's something I'm pondering.

Looking well to the ways of my household - part II

2008-10-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

In my last post I talked about helping a mom who is going through a difficult time with physical help and true godly advice. I do think that we should encourage one another through difficult times - but the heart of what I was trying to say was not exactly what came through (that's what happens when you post late at night!).

It's not that I don't think we should encourage one another, that would be against scripture. But that we should encourage one another with words that please the Lord. Not words that encourage laziness or laisser-faire parenting. Most people give wordly advice, and it isn't bad to take time for yourself, but it should never be at the expense of your husband, children, or a way to avoid what you're dealing with. What I'm searching for here is truth. Living truthfully as a young mother with young children. And I want to please the Lord with my words (let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you Oh Lord!). This kind of pampering self-serving advice has not helped me improve in my homemaking and mothering, and that's what I'm examining here. How can we be a light to others.

I agree that we need to comfort each other and sympathize with one another - that goes without saying. But what I'm really trying to say is that the advice I was given when I first became a mother did me no good. I was not given any practical advice, any biblical standard to hold to. Yes I received much in the way of sympathy - but it did not HELP me. I had to search hi and low for sources to help me improve. The root of my problems were not just the "stages" my children were going through - those can be rough, but they do not really affect me the way a disorderly life does or the way unruly children do.

I did not know how to keep a home - I could cook, I could clean a kitchen (not maintain a clean kitchen though), I could take basic care of babies, because I was the oldest of nine children. It came with the territory. I even knew basic child training skills. But I didn't know about Titus 2 and Proverbs 31. This is what I'm talking about. When a young mother now asks me how I do it, I don't want to say the typical "I manage" or "it can be rough sometimes" or some other vague useless words. I want to say something like "I realized not too long ago that I had to be diligent in my homemaking and child training to please the Lord, it can be very challenging, but I am taking it day by day with His grace and you can too". Not with a haughty attitude, but with humility. Expressing that I have weaknesses that I'm learning to submit to the Lord. This would have helped me because I really had no clue that I was lazy, proud, and ignorant of the Lord's will in these areas.

About two years ago, the Lord showed me that in many of the areas I am frustrated with, it's because I am lazy. Proverbs speaks of a sluggard whose hands won't work. And another area is impatience with the children and letting them know about it - this is very sinful and I've had to repent and ask the Lord to help me overcome in these areas. Why do I get easily frustrated? Really, it's because I have to work hard, and my flesh doesn't want to. So when someone makes a mess, I get upset because it means more work for me. Do you see the trend? Me, me, me, and me!

So what is the Lord's will in homemaking and child training? Serve others willingly and joyfully as unto the Lord!

When I had my first child I didn't think the bible said anything about it. Not until I started reading the King James Version did the WORD really speak to me in a practical sense. A mom finally told me that the King James version of the bible was practical. I didn't know. For example, the NIV bible says this in Prov 19:18 - Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death. I used to pray and ask the Lord "That's fine but HOW do I do this?", then I finally read in the King James version of the bible where it says in the same verse very practically: Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. Totally different! THIS was practical. It not only told me what to do, but HOW to do it. I was not to withhold my chastening when my child protested (which I did often at that time). From there I began to read books and other sources about child training from authors that taught from the KJV, such as nogreaterjoy.org. I can't tell you what a difference it made in my children's lives. This is what I want to tell other mothers, it's what I needed to know. Even if a mom may resist at first, the seed of truth is planted, and that's what happened to me.

We had moved to Florida in the summer of 2006 and when we came back to Canada this year, my grandparents could not believe the difference in my oldest son. They told my parents he used to be confrontational, but now he's so pleasant and obedient. Thank the Lord! You see what practical biblical advice wrought in my son's life?

There are really so many things to discuss here and I could never talk about them all in one post - this one's too long already! But my basic point is this: How do I please the Lord in homemaking and child rearing? What comes out of my mouth when other younger mothers ask me these questions? I want it to be godly. So here is my basic list:

Homemaking and child rearing:

1. Titus 2:4-5 - That they(older women) may teach the young women to be sober , to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
- I must keep my home, be physically present in my home full time and take care of it. I must love my children. Not just the love emotion, but training them with discipline because the bible says that a parent who doesn't discipline their child hates that child.

2. Proverbs 31:10-31 tells me WHAT to do:

- I work willingly with my hands, I plan my days and I'm not lazy and keep an ordered home and disciplined children (vs 12, 27, 28), I find quality food from afar (vs. 14), I prepare/plan meals in the morning for the day (vs. 15), I should plant food in my own garden (vs. 16) (that's cheap organic produce!), I should keep a fit body (vs. 17), I should sew modest beautiful clothing if needed and prepare for the seasons, especially winter (vs. 19, 21), I give to the poor (vs. 20), I could consider a cottage industry from my home (vs. 18, 24), I must seek wisdom and speak to my family with kindness on my lips (vs. 25). I must produce fruit and good works (vs 31).

I know this seems impossible, but I can tell you that I have lived it - just not consistently - and that is my own fault and I know it. I have a schedule and a homebinder, but sadly I resist schedules. Why? I can't really pinpoint it, but I know it is in part because of laziness. This is what the Lord has been showing me over the past few years. Things are much better, but not where they should be. A woman of 14 children once wrote asking if we really knew anything about really working hard from morning to night. We live in a self-serving society, and that is not the will of God. We are to work hard, then we can enjoy the fruits of our labour, not the fruits of our laziness or store bought prepared MSG-laden food! Ok I'm a little dramatic, but you get the gist.

Read in Proverbs about the sluggard - he's lazy, he can't make his hands work, Proverbs 13:4 says "The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat." I get frustrated with my children because I'm not following my schedule, so I have a "desire" like the sluggard, but if I was diligent, my desire would be fulfilled. I have experienced both and I want to put an end to the "sluggard" in me. I used to be all sluggard, so I'm making my way out, but I want total deliverance, amen? I don't mean that my schedule has to be perfect, everything has to be done, without interuptions - that's not realistic. I just mean that I want to have a plan and follow it when it's possible, and when it isn't I won't be frustrated because I'll know where I'm at and what must be done. Most women used to work this way, it's a lost art the feminism stole!

I once read on no greater joy, about a boy who was always moody, hard to live with, and non-cooperative with his parents. Mr. Pearl's answer was simple - this boy was lazy and wasn't trained to govern himself, and was therefore unhappy because he never did anything of value. I can relate to that boy - but I also know that when I follow my schedule (looking well to the ways of my household) there is order in my home and peace. When a disruption comes, it's ok, because I feel a level of accomplishment and personal peace because I know in my heart that I'm obeying the Lord in my homemaking. In fact, often the interruptions are welcome - they make life interesting!

So I'm going to end these discussions by choosing Mary's path, sitting at the master's feet and not being so careful and troubled about so many things. But I will not be a sluggard, I will look well to the ways of my household, train up my children in the way they should go, chasten them betimes (without delay), and have them work along side me to that they learn to govern themselves.

I want to exemplify my values to my children, not just teach them! Phew!

Looking well to the ways of your household - Part I

2008-09-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

In the last post I had many questions that I wanted to answer once and for all. In an attempt to obey the Lord in my homemaking and mothering, I had decided to seek the Lord's will concerning these areas (see last post). The main question being; what is the Lord's will in these areas versus my own expectations. The other questions involved advice that is often given to mothers and whether this well meaning advice is pleasing to the Lord. /this is what I've come up with so far:

Right now I'm reading "The Mother at Home". I read a few chapters a few years ago but never finished. It's a very well written book available free online. Reading christian literature from trustworthy sources is like talking to a wise friend about important matters. So far, this book has inspired me and I've not even read a dozen pages. Several things made an impression on me. For example, the author spoke of a mother who rightly influenced her son to "govern himself" and that boy was George Washington. Another boy's mother would allow him to be disobedient, then whip him in fits of rage - that boy turned out very bad - and was a detriment to society. That mother was "weak, indulgent, an unfaithful parent". Which mother am I? Which son will I turn out of my home?

This answered one of my questions about advice given. If a mother is exasperated, should we appease her and tell her not to worry, it's just a stage, take some time for yourself etc... Or should we encourage her to persevere and give her godly practical advice. Why don't we offer to help her. Let's encourage her to train her children and show her how. Even if she is offended at first, if she is truly seeking the Lord, she'll make a change and our words will produce fruit.

I have also been thinking a lot about Proverbs 31 and Mary and Martha. This is in reference to my attitude and personal contentment. Why I feel easily frustrated at times, and lack joy. Martha was always worried about what had to be done and complained to Jesus when Mary was sitting at His feet instead of helping her. What did Jesus say?

Luke 10: 38-42

38.
Now it came to pass , as they went , that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39.
And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
40.
But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him , and said , Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42.
But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

It is so important to sit at Jesus' feet. Thinking about what must be done and worrying about it will not change my circumstances. But spending time with God, real time, that will change my attitude and change my circumstances.
I find it very difficult right now to read the Word and pray early because I'm usually nursing in bed and can't get up until we're finished. That usually ends up being right when my other 3 children need breakfast. However, when the baby nurses at about 9:30am, that's when I do my morning devotions. So right now, the best time to be alone with the Lord is at night before bed. In fact, I've been doing that the past few nights and I have actually been dreaming about some of the things the Lord has been showing me in the WORD and waking up excited about them. I feel refreshed suddenly and instead of putting on a smile with my family, I simply had a smile today and I feel joy in my homemaking and child raising again.

I was out of fellowship with my heavenly Father, and that's a dangerous place to be. So with that said - I'd better go worship, read, and pray so that I can have another successful day with my wonderful children and my sweet sweet husband.

Looking well to the ways of your household - what is the Lord's formula?

2008-09-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

Today I've been thinking a lot about what my priorities should be regarding house cleaning, training the children, and homeschooling. What should I expect from my children, how clean should I expect the house to be with 4 small children, one being a baby under 6 months? How much homeschooling MUST get done.

What about healthy cooking, do I really have to make everything from scratch, or can I cheat on the hard days? Do I always have to use my cloth diapers that cost about $400 or can I just get disposables for a month or two? Is this really an important thing in God's eyes?

How many chores should I expect my children to do? Am I always following through on discipline? Why am I so frustrated lately with my children's behaviours? Why do I suddenly not want to take the kids out shopping alone?

What is the Lord's will versus my own expectations? Are my expectations realistic?
Some days go really well - why? Some days are just aweful - why? Why does there not seem to be enough consistency? Do I have godly expectations or worldly ones or a bit of both?

These are the questions that have been looming in my mind. I feel the Lord wants to answer them once and for all. Some of the problem is sin - my sins. My lack of commitment, my indulgence of my flesh, lack of planning ahead, laziness, my pride, my lack of consistency, lack of kindness and gentleness. Lack of fruits of the spirit, my hypocrisy (expecting from the children what I do not do), lack of joy, not thinking of good things, I could go on. I'm just being completely honest here. I want to live truthfully, and I want to obey the Lord.

Some people, well meaning, will give common explanations like - this is just a season (I myself have told many close friends the same many times over!), your expectations are too high, you just have to tolerate mess for a while during the young years, you're just tired and you need rest, let the house go and rest. Shop alone, it's just not possible to shop with 4 children. You just can't have young children, especially boys sit through an entire church service, it's not a fair expectation. You're working too hard, you'll burn yourself out. You have to prioritize and having a clean home isn't always possible. You need to go out at least once per week to just "get away". It's just a phase, the kids will grow out of it. Don't these all kind of seem like excuses? Well, lately they have to me. But I want to know what God thinks - is there any truth to these words? Are we giving godly advice when we say these things? Is the Lord pleased with our encouragement to one another? I have a sneaky suspicion that He is not altogether pleased. But he IS patient.

I don't know if the Lord is just pointing that out lately because I've asked him to really show me, but I think that the bible has clear answers. I want to know what God thinks. Sometimes we say things because we've been there and it all turned out in the end, or because we are sympathizing. But are the words we are saying really encouraging? Are they biblical? Will they actually help the struggling mother? I have found that these words rarely help. They only appease me momentarily. They do not offer lasting help or entice true change. There is only one source that can promote such change - the Word of God.

So I'm going to try and figure this out. And I'll post it as the Lord instructs me. The bible says that if you ask for wisdom and knowledge, the Lord will give it to you freely (as my cousin so kindly reminded me today!). So I'm going to ask for wisdom and figure out what the Lord has to say about these issues. I want real practical life changing advice. And I'm not going to stop until I get it!

Healthy Hot Chocolate!

2008-09-25T14:12:00.001-07:00

What to do when you crave a hot chocolate or your kids ask for one on a cold day:

Ingredients:

Hot milk, heated over the stove slowly (do not boil)
2 tsps+ carob powder
1 tsp+ wild raw honey
cinnamon (optional)

The carob tends to clump, so once you add it be sure to use a wisk to blend it well. Then add about a teaspoon of honey. I find raw wildflower honey has the best taste without any aftertastes. Raw honey in general usually doesn't have aftertastes like pasteurized honey does. Add the honey, mix and sprinkle some cinnamon if you like. The children love it! And you can feel good about it too:)

Facts about carob:

contains B vitamins, is a great source of calcium (three times more than in mother's milk), has phosphorus, and iron. It is naturally sweet and contains no stimulants. It does contain tannin which can inhibit the absorption of protein. However roasted carob pods do not have tannin, so just make sure the source of your carob is from roasted pods. (See Nourishing Traditions for more info).

Easy no wheat cookies

2008-09-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

This is sort of a twist from the Coconut Squares recipe found in Nourishing Traditions. I use the base of the squares for these cookies. My children really liked these and you don't have to soak the flour. Although you do have to have presoaked almonds that you redried in the dehydrator. I try to always have those in the house because they are super healthy.

Here is my recipe:

3/4 cup ground crispy almonds (soaked and redried, then ground)
1/2 cup arrowroot flour
1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey or rapadura)
pinch sea salt
1/4 cup softened butter or coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla

Process in a food processor or simply mix with a mixer. Then use a teaspoon and drop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. flatten with a fork and add a carob chip to each for decoration. Bake at 300F for ~18 minutes.

Cooking healthy food without breaking the bank!

2008-09-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

One of my recent posts had a list of foods to include in your diet. It stirred a few women to ask me how on earth they could afford such a diet. And ofcourse if you bought everything listed it would cost a fortune. If you're a mom like me who stays home, chances are you are on an average single income, and buying everything organic isn't possible.

So, I'll share what I do to make healthy alternatives and keep costs low. First, I suggest you buy the nourishing traditions book. You can purchase it at amazon or visit the apples of gold website on my links of blogs I browse.
Reading this book, will help you understand how truly corrupt and unhealthy food is today. Unfortunately, we have lost all the knowledge that our great-grandmothers possessed for unlocking the nutrition out of most foods. For example, did you know that all grain, such as wheat and oats must be soaked for at least 7 hours before it can be cooked? Otherwise you can't digest it, and it will actually leach minerals and nutrition from your body. That means that the healthy food you thought you were giving your children is actually depleting their bodies of nutrition. Did you know that most flour you buy is rancid? So are nuts. You also have to soak nuts and legumes.
Before I read this, I thought I was eating healthy. I cooked with whole wheat flour and I served oatmeal and whole wheat bread. But, I didn't know that I was actually contributing to my children's health deficiencies.

So what's a mom to do? Well, the bible clearly states that God's people are destroyed when they have a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6), and proverbs talks about getting knowledge and wisdom and how they both will prolong your life. The Proverbs 31 woman gets her food from afar, looks well to the ways of her household, makes meat for her household in the morning, has a garden or vineyard, and gets her food from afar. So basically, we need to pray for wisdom and knowledge about how to cook and prepare food in a healthy way for our families, where to find it, and how to make it. We need to prepare in advance as much as possible, and have a plan of how we are going to feed our families. If you can manage a garden, plant the food you enjoy the most. That's cheap organic food right there!

I prayed for a long time about what was truly healthy especially because there is this diet and that diet, eggs were bad yesterday but healthy today, fat free was in now it's out. I mean really, can we be any more confused?

What I like about nourishing traditions is that it tells you what is in your food, how to get the best nutrition from it, how to cook/prepare it, and the health benefits that others around the world are getting because of these staples in their diets.

Don't get overwhelmed at the prospect of having to change the way you prepare food. Take small steps, one change at a time, until these healthy habits become part of your kitchen routine. Otherwise you will never start, and you'll feel discouraged if you try and do too much.

So here's how I have begun to feed my family some of the healthy ways that this book describes. First I started with yogurt. I had bought a yogurt maker at a garage sale a while ago thinking I might try it (see how the Lord knows!!). I calculated that yogurt costs way too much to buy as often as I'd like to eat it. I buy plain yogurt and add fruit and maple syrup to it. My children (the ones who eat yogurt!) love it. They won't eat prepared fruit yogurt as readily now, because it tastes funny! So now I buy whole milk and make about 2 1/2 times the amount for the cost of one large yogurt container. This was my first savings. I'll post on how to make yogurt soon, it's really quite simple. I then started to make whey and cream cheese. My next project will be to make Kefir.

A few months later I bought a grain mill (a bit pricey initially, but you can't make healthy bread without it unless you have a source of freshly ground wheat available to you) and started making whole wheat bread, only to find out I wasn't making it properly. As I said earlier, grain must be soaked so that the natural preservative it's seeds have (the reason it stores well), called phytates, is removed and you can then absorb all the wonderful nutrition in wheat. So after a year of trial and error and finally figuring that out, I started to make my own buttermilk (super easy!) and soaking my flour in buttermilk for 24 hours before making bread or muffins, cookies, and even pancakes. I have also made sourdough bread. I find it cheaper now to make my own bread then to buy supposed healthy grain bread at the stores for a whopping $3.00 or more a loaf. If I can't soak my wheat and I run out of bread I just make french bread with unbleached white flour. It's still better than store bought.

I also started soaking oatmeal in the water it will cook in, with 2 tablespoons of yogurt or whey (more about whey another time), overnight so I could cook it at breakfast. It takes the guesswork out of breakfast in the morning because I know exactly what I'm serving.

A few months later I started soaking almonds overnight in salt water, then drying them in my dehydrator. My mother in law found me a dehydrator at goodwill for about $10. Almonds made this way are really super healthy and taste better. About a year ago I started researching herbs and added those to our diets. Some weeks (like the past few) I forget and don't make herbal supplements - and guess what - the children get sick! Arghhhh.... But when they get sick, I feel empowered, because I have something natural that actually works to help everyone get better quickly. It was worth the effort to research and stock my kitchen with herbs.

Now I try my best to make my own chicken and beef stock and freeze portions for use in recipes. No matter what I make, I try and make it instead of using preprepared foods like soup stock, or concentrated mushroom soup. Some days it doesn't happen.

The only way I really succeed at this is to meal plan. I plan a week ahead and then write out my shopping list. I often keep the menu plans and can reuse them for a week I don't have time to sit and plan out. When I don't plan we overspend on food and never seem to have anything in the freezer for meals!

I haven't soaked beans or legumes yet, I'd love to make Kombucha, and I'd like to have a regular routine with my sourdough bread - my sourdough started soured and I had to throw out :(
I'd like to ferment vegetables such as tomatoes for salsa, cabbage in kimchi, and pickles. If I bought all this I would ruin us financially :) But making it yourself costs a fraction of what you'd buy it for and believe it or not, it is actually cheaper than buying boxed cereals, yogurt, jars of pickles and salsa, and bread. One of these days I'll try and work it all out on paper. I just know how much our budget has improved since I've been making these things from scratch.

All these changes won't take much money but they will take time. They will also save you in costly medical bills in the long run too. They will add a small stress at first in the kitchen, but avoid the big stress of debilatating illnesses. Without taking charge of our health in this way, we are cheating our children and ourselves out of good health. It's worth the time to research and start making wholesome healthy foods. If you make this commitment for your family, you will have to be home more, plan more, and cook more. But the benefits will far outweigh the efforts. The bible reminds us in Galatians 6:9

And let us not be weary in well doing : for in due season we shall reap , if we faint not.

Don't worry - baby steps. Change one thing at a time and before you know it, your family will be thanking you. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. If you are committed to your family, the Lord will show you where to shop, he'll help you find the equipment you need, and he'll supply all your needs. You can do this!

Working with the right attitude

2008-09-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here is another wonderful post about work. About how to have a good attitude as we go about the blessing of working in our own homes. Oh how this blessed me: http://ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com/2008/08/work-is-not-evil.html. I just think this lady is filled with wisdom. I really like reading her blog because the bible tells us that the older women are to teach the younger women how to love their husbands and their children. Working in my home is one way to love them.

This is an article I'd like to print up and put into my home management binder (which is still a work in progress!) for reference!

Goodnight!

More about stevia and honey in baking

2008-09-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

The research I quoted in my earlier blog post was from 1985, below is an article that has research from 2006. This study shows the same effects on reproduction as the 1985 study. It's worth reading.
http://safety.lovetoknow.com/Dangers_of_Stevia

I personally wouldn't take any sugar substitute without really checking into it. I want to know what I'm giving my children and putting into my body especially if I'm nursing.

One of the best white sugar substitutes is raw, wildflower honey. In fact, honey has many health benefits. I have heard negative remarks about honey, however I always think about the fact that honey is mentioned in the bible in a positive way - you know the verse - a land "flowing with milk and honey". Besides the myriads of studies on the health benefits of honey. Here is a good article about how to substitute honey for sugar in baking recipes: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1923,145167-243192,00.html

Happy baking!

What-I-Did-Today List!

2008-09-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

Loved this post - it was just what I needed! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raisingarrows/581964/

A note about Stevia

2008-09-12T12:22:00.001-07:00

As a mom, I'm always looking for white sugar substitutes. Kids and parents alike always like their treats. So far I use honey and maple syrup. I also really like dried molasses crystals - it doesn't taste like molasses and is nice and sweet and natural. Most people don't notice the difference, but they do notice the darker colour. However, since I moved from Florida, I have had a hard time finding it. Maple syrup is expensive now and honey is climbing in price too. But I figure if I make my own treats, then the cost will be offset by the savings of not buying premade foods.

One sugar I do avoid is Stevia which has gained popularity as a sugar substitute. I wanted to share what I discovered about stevia, while reading a great book called "the French don't diet plan" by Dr. Will Clower, a neurophysiologist. He stated the following:

"Metabolites of stevia (steviol) can reduce fertility in females, and can also result in low birth weight offspring. Incidentally, the indigenous people of Paraguay have used the plant itself as an oral contraceptive. Steviol has been shown to reduce sperm count in males, and it has the ability to induce mutations of your DNA (Pezzuto, 1985). This compound can also interfere with food metabolism. For these and other reasons, the joint FOA/WHO expert committee on Food Additives has requested further research on stevioside to be submitted by 2007 to determine its safety."

So I don't know about you, but after reading this - no stevia for me and my children! Nourishing traditions suggest rapadura as an alternative - basically a liquid from the sugar cane - unprocessed and healthy. So I'm going to try and find it.

Healthy foods to add/ Unhealthy ones to cut out of your diet

2008-09-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

I found this interesting article on one of the herb stores I shop at. Anyone interested has permission to reproduce the article, so I thought I would list it here for those interested and also as a reference for myself. Most of what's listed can be found in the book Nourishing Traditions.

Here is the article:

Eat and Live

by Vlad and Joy Robles
February 2008

It seems not a day goes by without us receiving a request asking what foods we consider worth eating or what could be eaten to improve this and that condition. A man once said, "Let your food be your medicine, and let your medicine be your food". There is some wisdom in that.
The food recipes on this website all promote good health in one way or another. In addition, below you will find a list of what we eat at home on a regular basis. This is by no means a recommendation or suggestion. We do not have anyone person or condition in mind as we share this. It is simply a list of items we consume on a regular/consistent basis, and have nothing but good results from them. This is what we eat before, during and after each pregnancy. This is what we raised our children on. This is what we hope to continue to eat as we get older.
Anyone that takes the time to read the following books would arrive at the same or similar conclusions: Nourishing Traditions, The Cholesterol Myths, Diet and Heart Disease and Unraveling the Mystery of Autism.

Cultured Foods

Kombucha
Sauerkraut
Kefir
Yogurt
Sourdough breads
Whey
Butter milk
Sprouted grains, nuts, seeds, etc.

Unprocessed Dairy (unhomogenized, and preferably raw)

Cows milk
Goat's milk
Kefir
Butter
Cheeses
Ice cream
Butter milk
Whey

Meats and Seafoods

Fertilized eggs (preferably from free-range hens)
Beef (preferably grass-fed)
Venison
Salt water fish (from deep-sea, not farm-raised)
Freshwater fish (not farm-raised, avoid unless you are sure of origin)
Cage-free poultry (not battery-raised, but pasture-fed)
Meat broths
Bone broths

Grains and Legumes (preferably soaked and/or sprouted)

All beans and lentils (always soaked and rinsed properly)
Breads (no yeast)
Flours (freshly ground)

Oils, Spreads, and Fats

Extra-virgin coconut oil (cold-pressed)
Extra-virgin olive oil (cold-pressed)
Butter
Nuts (raw and/or soaked)
Nut butters

Fruits and Vegetables

All fruits (always with it's pulp)
All vegetables

Drinks

Water
Kombucha
Raw milk
Herb teas (hot or cold)
Yogurt drink
Kvass
Fruit juices (always freshly made with it's pulp)
Vegetable juices
Smoothies and shakes
Ginger ale (home-made)
Apple cider (home-made)
Root beer (home-made)
Rice or oat or rye or barley milk (home-made)
Nut milks

Sweeteners

Raw honey (we keep in the fridge a small amount slightly diluted with water for ease of use)
Rapadura
Stevia
Molasses
Sorghum
Maple syrup
Licorice root
Date sugar

Condiments, Dressings, Sauces, Etc.

Meat stocks/broths
Herbs/spices (both fresh and dried)
Raw apple cider vinegar (undistilled)
Nutritional yeast
Real sea salt (not just sea salt)
Mayonnaise (many home-made variations available)
Lemon and lime juice

Consume at Your Own Risk

The following items have, in more ways than one, been associated with degeneration, autoimmune diseases, susceptibility to illness/sickness, undesirable side-effects, etc. We avoid them as a norm.

Refined and artificial sweeteners of any kind (fructose, high fructose corn syrup, white and brown sugar, Sweet & Low, Equal, Xylitol, etc.)
Canned goods (unless home-made)
Precooked or already cooked anything
Restaurant and fast food
Cold and boxed cereals
Unfermented soy anything
Homogenized milk and it’s byproducts
Store-bought already milled flour and it’s byproducts
Soft drinks
Store-bought fruit juices (including NOT from concentrate and 100% juice)
Bleached or white anything (after processing)
Hydrogenated oils/fats of any kind

*If you find this information helpful, please share it with others. All we ask is that you give credit to the author. (http://www.morethanalive.com/articles/eat-live)

Proverbs 31 comes to mind after reading this! No wonder she was so busy - there is so much to do! :)

Mastitis victory!

2008-09-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well - no fever today :)

Praise the Lord! The vigorous herbs and vitamin C seemed to do the trick. I've had mastitis several times before and never was able to beat the fever within 12 hours. Herbs support and work on the immune system to help it increase it's function. The herbs I used also decrease inflammation, build T-cells, and have anti-bacterial properties.
One thing to note - don't drink concentrated ginger before bed - I couldn't sleep most of the night. Ginger is like caffeine in its ability to stimulate wakefulness and alertness. I use it usually in the morning for such reasons, as I no longer drink regular tea. I took this ginger tea before bed to help reduce the fever, well it worked, but it kept me up! Note to self: no ginger at bedtime :P

I feel a lot better today and was able to have a relatively normal day. We even had a short school day - decorated and organized binders, introduced new books - it was fun. In Canada, and I think it's the same in the northern states, we start school the first week of September after Labour (Labor for those Americans!) day. When I lived in Florida, they started mid August. My family also lives in Oklahoma, and they start in August as well. I school all year but have had a break in August. Just enjoying the summer :)

It's funny how when you are sick you can think of a million things that need to be done, and some days when you are totally well, you can't think of a thing you should be doing. The latter is due to a lack of organization ofcourse and sometimes just plain mommy fatigue.
The Lord did impress upon my heart where I was wasting time though. I tend to research and read online a lot, especially when I'm nursing because I can use my laptop at the couch. The Lord showed me that I could be using that time to read to the children, meal prep, lesson plan, and other things that I sometimes end the day without getting done. I believe in having some relaxation time, but not at the expense of doing your responsibilities. I'm trying to teach my children that, so I had better live it myself. Chores first, then play is what I always say! :) I keep thinking about that verse; you know the one: Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep (Prov 24:33 and Prov 6:10). These verses in context talk about the sluggard. Laziness, oh how it often plagues me clothed in the name of "research"!
So I may blog less, or if I really get organized, I may have time to blog regularly. Who knows! But I don't want to have my vineyard grown over with thorns and nettles. It's just too much work to dig up! :)

Proverbs 24:30-34
30 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; 31 And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. 32 Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. 33 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 34 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.

Mastitis

2008-09-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

So, I have mastitis yet again. I have a temp. of 101. My husband did everything he could to help me before he left for his afternoon shift. He's such a sweetie. He was so upset that he couldn't take the day off to help more. He's very kind to me!

I seem to get mastitis with every child at least once while nursing. So far I'm taking a natural antibiotic - I put granulated garlic with cayenne into extra large capsules. I took 2 this morning and one this afternoon (too much will affect the taste of my baby's milk!). I also took 1000 mg of vit. C twice and used a decoction of echinacea, dipped a cloth in it, and applied it very warm to the affected area. I also drank some. I'm also boiling (it might have dried out - oops - I left it on too long!) fresh ginger which I'll cool and add lemon, cinnamon, and cayenne to in a tea before bed. Then I'll get under the covers to hopefully sweat it off - you'll see a similar remedy --> here. I usually take the garlic separately. This worked to ward off walking pneumonia for me last April. The symptoms stopped in their tracks and I felt fine by morning. Everyone else had it at my house. My mother kept taking the garlic/cayenne pills with some kelp and vit. C and never got it while she stayed over.

Hope this fever leaves soon! Last time I had it for three days, at 103-104! So it seems that the herbs are boosting my immune system so far. I'm going to make some tea with elderberries and echinacea later.
Herbs boost the immune system, echinacea has been shown to help build T-cells. To learn more read THIS. As you can see, I love the bulk herb store. I'm too exhausted to get up and flip through my herb books, but I can sit here on the couch with my laptop!

I'm also praying for healing ofcourse!

Homeschool schedule

2008-08-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

So this is an exhaustive list of my homeschool for this year.
It's very detailed, which is what I need to keep myself reminded of what resources I'm going to use. I also have this split up into 4 days, and Fridays are reserved for outings and for art and crafts or a Five in a row lapbooking time. My children absolutely love Five in a row. I may not finish Grammar, spelling, or History and Science this year, but I'll do my best - these can be stretched out though since they are not curriculums based on grade level.

In fact, the children have been really enjoying school and so have I. Organization is playing a big part in it. Setting up table activities only for school time, has been wonderful for the children. I also rotate toys because I now have a basement for storage. This is wonderful for days when the children can't go outside, or if I have something to do that will need my full concentration for a while.

So back to my plan; it's mostly a classical education according to the trivium, with a sprinkling of Charlotte Mason.

Bible study every morning
Family read alouds (RA) before dinner and at 7pm:
currently, Teddy's Button (lamplighter), need to go back to Swiss family Robinson when done, picture books at 7pm

7 year old, grade 2

Math - Math-u-see
Reading - FIAR, McGuffey readers online, print out - 1000 good books list, pick 20 books for the year, poems
Handwriting/copywork - Handwriting without tears review, then cursive
Grammar/spelling - Emma Serl's Grammar, Scott Foresman online lessons, McGuffey eclectic spelling sometimes
History - Story of the World vol 1, Oral narration, RA, timeline
Bible study - drawing, copywork, memorization, Proverbs daily as well
Science - Considering God's Creation, and FIAR, focus: Human body, animals, insects, astronomy
Art - How to draw (library book), FIAR, crafts
Music/piano - Piano lessons with Mommy (every other week), singing
Five in a row (FIAR) - includes social studies, geography, art, bible, even math} done usually via lab booking

4.5 years old, Kindergarten

Math - Math-u-see primer
Reading/Phonics - The reading lesson, readers - McGuffey primer, 1st reader, poems here and there.
Handwriting - Handwriting without tears, supplement with first-school.ws, donna young
History - listen to 7 yr old's read aloud
Bible study - drawing, memorization
Music - listen to classical music regularly, singing
FIAR - includes social studies, art, science, geography…/ lab booking.
basic skills - adventures with books, Rod and Staff

2.5 year old, preschool

FIAR - do some of the activities and crafts
Basic skills - blocks, color cards, shape cards, learn counting, ABC recognition, tracing
table activities - only accessible while schooling older children: leappad, sorting, patterning, lacing, magnadoodle, drawing, painting, cutting, coloring, board books, puzzles
Music - listen to classical music, sing, nursery rhymes

Baby - Just nurse, play, sleep - he's so sweet!

Also, I've just organized an athletic co-op at my house twice a month. So far I have one other family joining me (they have 8 children!) and possibly three other families. We are going to set up T-ball, running, soccer, badminton, kite flying, bow and arrow, skating, and much more. I'm really looking forward to it.

This schedule seems like a lot, but spread over 5 days, it's actually not much. Each day is a max of 4 subjects and two days only 3 (bible not included because that's everyday no matter what). Each subject only takes a short time, so I expect about 2 hours max of school each day for 4 days. The rest is chores, play, cooking, outings, loving etc...

I've decided that I can have a strict schedule to give me structure, but I can't be a slave to it, it must serve me and my family, and I leave it behind when life happens, and pick back up when I can.
This is a plan, and it's subject to change!

My homeschooling thoughts

2008-08-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been praying about how to organize this year's homeschool. That's why I haven't posted anything about herbs lately. Sorry to those who visit my site for such info - I'll be posting soon some remedies to prepare for winter.

Anyway, preparing a homeschool plan can be very overwhelming, especially since I am creating my own personalized curriculum for 3 children while caring for a baby. I've known for a while that this is the way I should do my schooling, but nonetheless, it's daunting!

I am very interested in the classical method but also like Charlotte Mason's philosophy. Many homeschoolers integrate the two, because they are very similar (there's an interesting article about that here). I also like doing some unit studies. So how do I incorporate all of this, what do I leave out, how will this affect my child. Do I follow the Well trained Mind recommendations or the Trivium (the Bluedorn's) recommendations? What is appropriate for the children the Lord has given me to raise? I have 3 sons, so I must train them to be able to raise a single income family. They need a good education for this. I also have a daughter - I must train her to be a keeper at home who is able to also educate her own children with intelligence and ease and who can be a suitable helpmeet to her husband intellectually as well as in other areas.
What readers do I use, which math curriculum, what about spelling? Then there's oral narration, dictation and copywork, handwriting, history and geography, science, art, music, and social studies - am I forgetting anything? It's a little overwhelming.

So I've been going to the Lord with all these questions. How do I choose what to place before the eyes of my children? There are so many voices, so much to read and choose from. I know which direction I want to go in, but still, the choices are still many.

Yesterday I was reading Philippians 4:8, and I knew the Lord was speaking to me about our homeschool. You know when the Lord impresses a verse upon your heart and it literally seems to jump off the page? Well, that's what happened.

Phil 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (emphasis mine)

So this is how I'm going to choose what to teach my children. I'm going to place before them materials that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous things, and praiseworthy things. I will judge everything by this standard of scripture. If the children are to think on anything, I want it to be according to God's instructions. I feel so much more at peace now. I finally have a measure with which to make these decisions. Thank the Lord - phew!!

Meez Praise time was fun!

2008-08-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we watched many christian praise and worship videos - my cousin and I - it was really wonderful. I felt like we were really together. We had a word from the Lord too. Where two or more are gathered in my name...there I am also....it was refreshing. Just what we needed.

God bless!

Meez praise

2008-08-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out Candy's idea of having a meez praise party - I hope you don't mind Candy! My cousin and I needed some personal refreshment.
So if you want to join, it's on now!
Enter here: http://www.meez.com/roomz.dm?act=view&room_id=dr1.zPaOCbOjDElb

Blessings :)
ps - what a great blog Candy has !! It's in my sidebar, keepingthehome.com.

the NEW plan

2008-08-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

This is my new plan - I'm going to stop stressing over the spilled milk, the potty training, the crying baby, the schedule not completed, the kitchen not so clean, the bread still not made...
And I'm going to sit on the floor with my four children and spend the time with them that they crave. The milk will eventually get cleaned up, and the potty training will be a memory. The baby will grow older and not need to nurse every hour, and ofcourse the kitchen will get cleaned eventually!

But if I don't spend time nurturing my children - just loving them, spending time with them - real quality time - I will regret it! I won't remember the messes, but I will remember the time well spent.

I'm going to put aside the well meaning "how to get it all done in a day" books, and do what really matters. I will pray for help to get the rest done, but I will do what my children really need FIRST. They need me - they need their Mamma! They need to know they are more important than a clean kitchen or a clean playroom. We can clean it together later, but for now I'm going to sit with two on my lap and two on each side - and sing and play and read. Time is short, and I don't want to miss out! I don't want to be a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal! I want to win the hearts of my children!

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. "

Fascinating Womanhood

2008-08-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

I've been reading this free online book "Fascinating Womanhood" - I tell you it's amazing. I think though that this book should also be read with "Created to be his help meet" and/or "Me, Obey Him!" in order to really understand the biblical reasons behind the Fascinating womanhood book (FW). Although on the practical side of things, FW is the best by far. It teaches you how to be a lady, how to love your man, secrets to finding contentment (although I think these need a bit more biblical reinforcement to really be life changing, you'll find that in the other two books I mentioned), and personal fulfillment in feminine activities. It truly helps you enjoy your femininity in the way I always secretly longed for. In a big way, this book freed me :)

FW tackles issues like regaining your child-like innocence and feminine flair. Something today's feministic world laughs at and degrades, but something men find fascinating.

I remember going to my high school prom wearing a very old fashioned regal dress - very princess-like. It was ultra feminine, but totally not in style. None of the girls commented but the boys couldn't stop commenting about it to me all night. I wore my hair in a very girlish way - a high ponytail with lots of locks falling down. I really had many of the men just mesmerized - and many of the other girls were very beautiful, but not in the same way. I thought I was the beauty of the evening, but looking back now, and after reading FW, I can see what attracted the attention. It was the simple femininity that caught the attention. Some of the men commented that I was the type to marry. I wish I would have realized then what I see so clearly now. This is why my husband loves it when I wear braided pigtails on either side of my head - it's his favorite hairstyle and yet I feel so "little girlish" in it, but people always comment on how youthful I look when I wear that hairstyle. Why do we women care so much about what other women think? We are not married to them!

The way your husband responds to the girlish charms of your daughters is the way he'd respond to us if we maintained those charms. I had them when we got married, I was only 19, but lost them a long the way. In fact, my husband commented for years about that cute charm I displayed. I don't even know why I lost it - I think it hardened over time - so sad.

So, my plan is to go through the "assignments" in the FW book and post the results. If anyone else wants to join in, it would be rewarding to read.

One of the assignments had a section where you were asked to accept your husband as he is - and to support him, speaking words that lift him up. I did that for two days, and the second night, as my husband was walking upstairs to bed, he stopped, came back down and peeped his head in the living room to say "I love coming home to you - you make me happy!" Wow, I was so stunned - he's always sweet, but lately he's been stressed, and this was just so loving.

I'll post soon about each phase of FW! :)

Homeschool Plans

2008-08-13T21:19:00.001-07:00

To date, this is my very preliminary plan for my 7 yr old's homeschool, grade 2:

Bible lesson - Family Bible study from the KJV Bible, and ACE grade 2 bible curriculum
Handwriting- Bob Jones Handwriting
Reading, social studies, art, and some science - Five in a Row
Spelling - Building Spelling Skills, grade 2, Christian liberty press
Grammar - Primary language lessons, Emma Serl (copywork) - also considering Rod and Staff grammar workbooks, not sure yet!
Math - Math Made Easy, DK, grade 2, am also considering Math-u-see
History - The Story of The World volume 1, oral narration
Science - Eagle's Wings, Considering God's Creation

Still researching...

2008-08-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

Homemade Peanut butter

2008-08-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

Today I made homemade peanut butter with my son. I soaked peanuts in light salt water overnight and dried them in my dehydrator the next night, then stored them in a glass jar.

I took about 3/4 cup peanuts, 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1 tbsp raw honey. I blended it in my magic bullet - I really need a food processor!

This made it smooth and yummy. We then chilled it for an hour and ate it on sourdough bread with some honey.

Why go through all this trouble? Because unless I soak the peanuts first, then peanut butter, even all natural, has phytates in it and is not digested well and even leaches vitamins from our bodies. Since my 4 year old is a peanut butter lover, it left me no choice!
At least now I can serve him peanut butter with a clear conscience :)

White sugar - it's not worth it!

2008-08-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

I was just telling my husband the other day that the kids had not been sick in almost 3 months. That's a record for us! It's been wonderful because I have a 3 month old baby. All of a sudden several of us - myself included - got sick. So I was trying to figure out why. Well, the only thing we did differently was have a weekend filled with white sugar deserts. Normally I use honey, pure maple syrup, dehydrated molasses (this works very well and doesn't have the strong taste associated with molasses), and in minute doses and only occasionally, brown sugar. I even switched to making my deserts this way when guests come over. I used maple syrup and brown sugar to even make a lemon meringue pie that everyone loved.

So why did I use white sugar this past weekend? I really don't know, but I wasn't the only one making the sweets, so between everyone (20 people), we probably had 6 deserts made with white sugar, and only one desert made with maple syrup. This desert made with maple syrup is from the nourishing traditions book and I made it because my 7 year old really likes this and doesn't eat other sweets, except birthday cake and cookies. And ofcourse he is not sick. I at so much sugary treats over 4 days, that it's no wonder I'm sick. I noticed over the past 2 years that my children would get sick after every holiday, and even if there wasn't any traveling or stress involved, if we went somewhere and had sweets for more than 1 day, everyone would eventually get sick within a week.

What's the point? Stop using white sugar. It isn't worth it. And we certainly aren't doing our children any favors by giving them this terrible sweetener. It depresses the immune system - my family experienced this just this week. Not only do we get sick, but several of us will miss sleep because we are disturbed by a sick child, making it even harder to recuperate. Sugar also zaps your energy so that you end up more tired after eating it than you did before.

I remind myself that the Proverbs 31 woman gets her food from afar, she prepares her meals in advance. So that's what I have purposed to do, and when I fall behind or use shortcuts, my family suffers. Nourishing traditions has wonderful recipes and even when I don't use this, I just substitute maple syrup or honey and adjust the flour accordingly.

Here is a very interesting article that describes what sugar does to your immune system: http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm (I'm not sure what's on the rest of the website!).

Avoiding white sugar may not guarantee perfect health, but it will improve our health, improve our immune systems, and give us more energy.

Goodnight!

Are you a tired Mom! Part 2

2008-08-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

I recently put up a post about fatigue and ways to combat it. I spoke about herbs that help with energy. I usually take my herbs with a large tablespoon full of honey in 1 cup of hot water and let it seep for 10 minutes.

While reading the book Herbal Antibiotics, I read about the amazing healing properties of honey.

When purchasing honey, make sure it is raw wildflower honey only. Alfalfa and clover you find in stores comes from heavily sprayed crops and doesn't have multiple plant benefits. When bees gather nectar, they tend to gather them from medicinal plants like dandelion, echinaceae, elder, and many more. So the goodness of each of these plants is concentrated in the nectar and used by bees to make the honey.

Honey contains:

Five in a row - a great curriculum

2008-08-06T18:40:00.001-07:00

Life has been hectic around here with many guests. But now that they're gone, I'm getting my homeschool schedule ready along with my master schedule.

This past year I've been using the Five in a Row curriculum. It is a unit studies based curriculum and teaches all your children ages 4-8 at once. I also have "Before Five in a row" for ages 2-4 and "Beyond five in a row" ages 8+. Actually, I use the Five in a row, ages 4-8 for all three of my children (ages 2.5, 4.5, and 7), and it works very well. I also add the three R's to this curriculum. I really like this curriculum because it requires very little planning but if you do want go crazy with planning, you can easily do so. It provides the framework and you can expand it as far as you like.

This is how it works. Each volume has many classic children's books listed. Each book comes with a mini curriculum. For example, The tale of Peter Rabbit is one such book, it is read to the children each day for five days. Each day you can pick one or several topics to discuss and work on from the Five in a Row subjects that are written for that particular study book. One topic is art, which discusses the type of art work that the illustrator used, or points out perspective, or movement etc... The next topic might be social studies, then math, and so on always using the book as a reference point.
So by using a classic story, the child then takes a deeper look at the book and examines it from many angles, really appreciating the work put into creating the story.
From another classic story, we studied roman numerals, ordinal numbers, maps of England and France, transportation, art, and did copywork. We put all this into a lap book. We went to the Library and read books about the wright brothers, about France, and about different modes of transportation.
When we read Peter Rabbit, we did a whole unit on gardening in the spring and planted our garden. It was very hands on. I also have their bible go-along which draws attention to certain themes in the books read and compares them to biblical values and has memory verses for the children.

My children love this curriculum. I don't know that I'll use it when my children get older, but it is definately a curriculum that integrates into our homelife well right now and it motivates my children to explore whole books rather than just learn facts from a textbook. It is sort of a "Charlotte Mason" type of curriculum, and although she wasn't an advocate of unit studies, she was definately an advocate of using whole books.

You can also find a slew of free resources to go along with Five in a Row unit studies at HomeschoolShare. This is a fabulous resource and has many print outs and even flash cards for your unit.

As the children get older, I will also add world history following the classical mode of education.
This curriculum is truly a lot of fun!

A word about herbs

2008-07-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well - I created my master schedule but have not figured out how to put tables on this blog - does anyone know how to do that? I'm not sure if blogger has that capability.
So, until then, I will see if I can convert my chart to a picture and post it that way.

In the meantime, I wanted to mention some basic things about using herbs.

First, everyone has a different body type and tolerance. So it's important to test herbs in small amounts on yourself first, then increase the dose. What I mean is, even a safe herb might cause discomfort in someone while having absolutely no ill effects on most people. Safe herbs, although they won't hurt you or cause disease, may irritate in some way.

For example, I have found that when using lobelia, I use a tincture and rub it on my neck. This absorbs and works wonderfully for me. However, my husband needs to take it internally or needs twice the amount rubbed on his shoulders to mimick the same effect.
My cousin finds that she can't really tolerate dandelion, she tends to feel the effects too much on her kidneys. I have noticed that while nursing a baby I can take dandelion in small amounts - 1 tsp per cup, with no problems. However, if I use a tablespoon, which I did for many months, it causes the baby to have less or no bowel movements and more wet diapers. I'm not sure that this is a problem, but he does seem uncomfortable if he doesn't have enough bowel movements.

All this to say - use common sense like you would with anything else. If you are a tea or coffee drinker, most people know that they have a limit or while nursing find that too much caffeine disturbs the baby's sleep. So use the same reasoning when using herbs - but don't be afraid of them either. They have so many wonderful health benefits.

Also, if one herb causes discomfort for you, you can often use another similar one in the same class of herbs, that will be just fine. For example, alfalfa herb can be substituted for dandelion if you are taking it for the purpose of increasing your daily energy (as a nutritional supplement). As another example, if you are having trouble sleeping then you can take lemon balm - but for those who are nursing, substitute chamomile instead, because lemon balm can cause your milk supply to lessen.

I'll be posting about many more herbs soon - the summer is always so busy!

Blessings!

Busy Day

2008-07-28T19:15:00.001-07:00

Today was a busy day! I have been working on a new schedule/routine for the family and began with what I had today. It kept me busy, but I accomplished a lot, ended the day with a clean house, and surprisingly was able to spend time with the children - which included homeschooling, a walk to look at our apple and pear trees, and a cicada fly capturing! I'll post up my schedule soon!

So here are a few things I accomplished today over and above everyday chores and duties:

Over the weekend I discovered a new herb on our property - called Self-heal or Heal-All - and that's what it does! It's good for just about everything. Here I've made an oil infusion. It will sit in the window sill for about 10 days, and I have to shake it each day a few times, whenever I remember. Once done I can use this to make salves, creams, balms, or just use as is. It's great to apply to just about any injury and can be taken internally as well.

I also harvested dandelion and here it's soaking in a veggie spray solution and water for cleaning. Then I placed the leaves in my dehydrator, and in 48 hrs I'll crush them and bag 'em for tea!

Here is the sourdough starter I began last wednesday. It's working wonderfully and smells like wine! I'm excited about it because I haven't had much success in the past trying to get one going and this one worked! I used freshly ground rye.

So those are the "healthy" things I did today.

I plan on posting my master schedule along with my cleaning chores, children's chores, etc... I'm hoping that many other bloggers will post theirs in order to encourage each other to keep working and "look well to the ways of our households".

Blessings :)

Homemade Insect Bite lotion

2008-07-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

I just read this at http://www.bulkherbstore.com/articles/plantain

"To make a very handy summertime insect bite astringent simply put 1/3 dried plantain to 2/3 apple cider vinegar in a clean glass jar. Cap and keep in a cool dark place for 3 weeks, shaking daily. At the end of 3 weeks, strain the old herb off and bottle the vinegar tincture in an empty plastic dish-detergent bottle. Label it, and apply on any bite as soon as possible."

Since my son has swimmer's itch, I was looking up which herbs to use. You can also use the herb fresh by chewing it and using the "green spit slime", sorry for my rudeness, on an insect bite or rash.

Goodnight!

Medicinal Honey

2008-07-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

For herbs to be effective for your family, you have to find a way to get them to actually take the herbs. I make glycerin tinctures but find no one in my family really likes them. Still, I think they are concentrated and therefore effective and I put a tablespoon into grape or orange juice . However, every one's favorite is medicinal honey.

Here are the instructions on how to make Medicinal honey taken from "Growing 101 Herbs That Heal" which is a great book by the way!

In a pan, heat 1 quart (4 cups) of wildflower honey - raw -"til it is just warmed through. Add 1/2 cup of chopped fresh herbs or 1/4 cup of dried herbs and continue heating for 15-20 minutes, then pour the mix into a heat-tolerant jar (canning jars work well) and close tightly. Label properly with an 18-month expiration date. You don't have to strain out the herbs if you don't want to, in fact the preparation will be stronger if the herbs continue to infuse in the honey during the storage time. At the time you use the honey, you may either warm it and strain out the herbs or just use the honey with the herbs included. Use by teaspoon or tablespoon.

I suggest leaving the herbs in the honey for a few days or until you use it the first time. Then heat gently and strain out and pour back into the jar. The longer they stay in, the more effective the medicinal honey. The herbs will taste crunchy if you leave them in and most children don't like that. Then store it in a dark cupboard.
It's even better if you heat the honey in a double boiler, this way most of the honey's beneficial enzymes will stay in tact. But I'd still do it on low heat in a thick bottomed pan (and have!) if you don't have a double boiler. Also, you can cut this recipe in half if you want smaller amounts at a time. That's what I do.

Catnip can be used in medicinal honey but not as effectively as when used in a tea (it is said not to boil catnip), so make sure the honey doesn't boil or use in glycerin or powder it and mix with cinnamon and honey.

Some medicinal honeys to try:

a) echinaceae leaf and elderberries (1:1 ratio) - good when a cold or sore throat starts or when in contact with someone who's ill. You could even add a little ginger to this just before taking.

b) 1 part catnip, 1/4 part ginger, 1/4 part cinnamon, 1 part yarrow - for fevers - administer every hour.

I have these on hand to use at a moments notice (most of the time :P). But they don't take long to make. I often print up a recipe and tape it inside my cupboard so I'm not searching when someone's sick.
Keep in mind that herbs do not mask symptoms but help heal. So keep at it and you'll notice shorter illnesses and sometimes none at all!

A Herb for children

2008-07-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

If I had to choose only one herb to use for my children - it would be catnip. Ginger, cinnamon, and yarrow are a close second.

Yes, catnip is the herb that cats love to eat. Catnip is a great herb to use to treat colds, flu, indigestion, fever, pain, and irritability. Catnip calms the body and induces sleep. It's simply an all around wonderful herb, with no known side effects.

The How to Herb Book says the following:

A common ditch bank weed loved by cats. Used effectively for fevers and to alleviate the symptoms of childhood diseases. Good for stomach gas or cramps, aids in digestion.
Used for babies and young children for colic, stomach pains, teething and fevers. Helps clean out mucus in the body.
Used in enemas to bring down fever, eliminate mucus, relax the colon and ease colon cramping. Catnip enemas also help relieve the aches of flu.
A very effective enema combination is catnip and garlic together in the same bag. Catnip's usefulness in an enema has been explained, with the powers of garlic (fights infection, eliminates mucus, kills bacteria, viruses and parasites, and improves peristaltic action) the two are a powerful enema combination.

Has been used in the following:
Acid stomach
Acne
Chicken pox
Childhood diseases
Colics
Digestion
Enema
Fevers
Flatulence-gas
Flu-influenza
Measles
Miscarriage
Mumps
Relieves pain
Relaxant
Upset stomach

I bought it from the Bulk Herb Store, a pound for just a few dollars. It make it into teas, powder it and mix it with raw honey and cinnamon, and have included it in one of my glycerine tinctures. It works wonders and for the first time I feel that I can do something to help my children get better when they're sick. I give it to them every hour or so when sick and routinely as a health supplement.
I have noticed that sicknesses are over very quickly when I use herbal treatments. What used to be a week or at least 4 - 5 day cold is now over in less than two. And often symptoms start and never progress.

Herbs help the body to heal itself, the way God designed us to. They enhance and stimulate the lymphatic system (our body's deffence) and each herb has specific qualities that pertain to certain organs and body functions to help them work better.

Herbs have really made a difference in the health of my family. It's worth looking into!

Prov 31:14 "She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar."

Are you a tired Mom? A few tips!

2008-07-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Since my blog is called Homemaking Naturally, it's about time I post some health related items.

I've noticed lately that a lot of mom's have mentioned that they are so tired all the time. I have four children, and I can tell you that many times I am tired, but most of the time I feel quite energetic. It didn't used to be that way for me. In fact, I was so tired all the time that the idea of doing chores or even cooking a meal was completely overwhelming.

Recently, just before the birth of my 4 th child, I started researching herbs. I have a degree in research (this was before I had read titus 2!!). There is a reason the bible talks about herbs ladies! They are a vital and mostly untapped source of energy and vitamins.

Here is how I started to learn about the value of herbs:

I began my research first at the website http://www.bulkherbstore.com/ and then purchased several books to delve in deeper. The books I use the most are the ABC Herbal (christian author), Practical Herbalism (christian author), and the How To Herb Book (secular authors).

Once I was finally able to figure out which herbs were safe for pregnancy and children, I started taking dried herbs in tea form (called infusions). My unborn baby had water on one kidney, and for about a month I could not stop thinking that I should start taking dandelion tea. Yes, I mean the weed that is in everyone's lawn!

While visiting my mom, I began taking dandelion tea. She dries herbs in a food dehydrator, then powders them for capsules or "cuts" them (using a blender or coffee grinder) for teas. She just happened to have a huge bag of dried dandelion. So I started drinking it daily.

By the third week I noticed I had a lot of energy. My husband couldn't believe it and for the rest of the pregnancy, he was amazed at my energy level. From the time I was 5 months pregnant, I packed up parts of my house, moved, and completely unpacked in my new home before my baby was born. All this while homeschooling 3 small children. This might be the norm for some, but not for me. Pregnancy usually drags me down completely and I'm usually so tired by the 32nd week that I am put on bedrest.

By the way, after 3 weeks my unborn baby also no longer had water on the kidneys and my perinatologist just couldn't believe it!

I also started taking red raspberry leaf tea in the last few months of pregnancy, along with St. John's Wart herb and dandelion, and a few others as needed for various ailments. All the while making sure to use only what was safe for pregnancy.

Needless to say, I gave birth in ten minutes with only a few hours of labor - on my hands and knees because I didn't have time to lay down :). My other three births were long, painful, and some had complications. I had been told that red raspberry leaf tea can cause a quick birth, but I didn't believe it with my history. Well....I was wrong...thank the Lord!!

After the birth I used St. John's Wart, Red Raspberry leaf, and also white willow bark (sparingly) for afterpains.
By the second week, I had stopped using herbs - mostly because my mom went home and I was left with four children and I just got busy. After about a week I started to feel that "exhausted" feeling, where I felt I was just dragging myself around the house. Then I decided to start my infusions (teas) again, and by the second day - ENERGY!! And as long as I'm taking herbs daily, I have plenty of energy.

Now herbs don't replace sleep, so when I don't get enough sleep, I nap. But the dragging feeling of low energy is never there anymore - even with lack of sleep. Imagine how great I'll feel when I start exercising as well!

So here is a formula to help boost a Mom's energy:

1 tsp red raspberry leaf
1 level tsp crushed dandelion
1 tsp alfalfa herb
1 tsp nettle leaf

If you want to increase your milk supply while nursing, just add the following to the mix:

1/2 tsp fennel
1/4 -1/2 tsp blessed thistle
1/2 tsp fenugreek

I then add some cinnamon; I like to use a fresh cinnamon stick from the health food store, and I just hand crush the end of it into my tea. Then I add a heaping tablespoon of raw honey.

This mix can be seeped in a tea pot with about 2.5 cups water. Drinking two cups a day works wonders, but even one large cup with help.
All of these herbs are packed with vitamins and minerals as well. Cinnamon also helps increase the effectiveness of the herbs in your body. Honey has a slew of healing properties that I'll discuss another time.

If you don't like dandelion, or find it makes you go to the bathroom a lot - it is a diuretic, but actually increases lactation and not the opposite - you can omit it. Alfalfa and nettle also increase energy but I found not quite as well for me. Others find it works for them. Ginger is also an energy booster and you can add an organic source, about a 1/4 tsp as well.

I also cut out all caffeine - which helps me and my baby sleep much better! It was hard at first, but now I find I don't really enjoy it anymore.

You can buy all these herbs at the http://www.bulkherbstore.com/ and at http://www.morethanalive.com/.

Blessings!

Modesty - Day 3

2008-07-16T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, there's not much time to write today, but here I am with my little lady. We're in this together her and I.
Today my boys and I read a book (Teddy's button)that made a clear distinction between girls and boys. It was so refreshing to read about shivalry. It's a Lamplighter book - I highly recommend them for read-alouds: http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/. My oldest loves them and begs me to read long past the younger ones can handle sitting still :)

Blessings!

Patricia

Echinacea plant picture

2008-07-15T13:42:00.001-07:00

Oops - I forgot to put the picture up. That's what happens with 4 children needing Mama all at once!

Modesty - Day 2

2008-07-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

Here's another day of feminine dress. This skirt I bought at a very expensive shop last year for 75% off. In fact I bought my daughter 4 dresses and myself 3 beautiful long skirts made in India with a light weight cotton and slip sewn in, designer April Cornell (not that I know who she is :p).

Watering the garden, but for some reason my hose won't spray properly:
My daughter is begging to join in!
And here she is flooding the garden :) This girl's a doer!
More gardening. The flower you see is an echinacea purpurea plant.
Here's a closer look at the echinacea. This is a beautiful plant that will have at least a dozen or more flowers on just three plants. They are easy to grow and are so pretty - not to mention that you can dry them after they flower and enjoy the health benefits all winter long. You can dry the plant hanging upside down, the entire plant including the flower and root. Once dry, grind it up in a blender or coffee grinder and you'll have fresh dried herbs to make tinctures or medicinal honey.

If anyone is interested, I'll post how to make medicinal honey for children using dried herbs and raw honey. It's a great way to get them to take herbs. In fact, that's how I get my husband to take them. I usually drink teas, but everyone else gets tired of drinking them. All the herbs I use have no negative side effects and are safe for the entire family. I don't use herbs that are too strong for children.

Blessings! Patricia

Modesty

2008-07-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

This is my first official post on my new blog. In support of Feminine Dress week, I'm going to try and post pictures of me in my skirts.
I started this journey after reading several articles and one in Ladies against Feminism, but slipped back to my old wardrobe while pregnant with my fourth child. Not an excuse, but more of a lack of conviction. A godly friend recently reminded me about it, not with words, but by her example of feminine dress and godly humility.

So here are a few pictures of me baking bread in my skirt. Actually, I love this skirt - I have one in olive also. They are practical and cozy. I bought them at Kmart while we were living in Florida. Now back in Canada, they are warm enough for those cool days when a light dress or skirt is just too cold. I bought them for less than $11 each on a sale.

Oh and by the way, I do notice that when I wear dresses and skirts, I am treated like a lady, my husband always notices how I look and comments, my sons tell me I'm pretty, my daughter begs to wear a dress like Mommy and be a lady. All this without saying a word! And contrary to what I thought, I get more done around the house because I feel ready for the day. I think it's because I spend time getting ready and looking nice, instead of just throwing on a pair of track pants, and therefore feel more energetic. I can also leave the house at a moments notice, whereas before I always felt "not ready", fumbling with what I was wearing, changing a few times etc... Now I see that in part it was because deep in my heart, I sensed I wasn't dressed appropriately.

Anyway, I could go on and on.

Here are my pics:

uh oh, the bread is deflating....

Oh, well, here's the outfit:
Picking up in the playroom, oops, flash in the window - oh well, I'm learning!
By the way, llbean is selling a riding skirt that is long and flowy! Very beautiful but expensive. Maybe goodwill will have some of these when I go and look. I wouldn't mind a jean skirt for the winter, it would be cozy as long as it wasn't frumpy! It would enable nursing my 2 month old cutie.

Blessings!