Jacob found a page in a book that told how to make a drum, and he wanted to try it. I had a container of oats that was almost empty, so I poured the oats into something else and gave him the container to use. Skylar wanted to make one, too, of course. Since I only had one oats container available, I gave her an empty yogurt tub. They decorated construction paper using crayons and stickers, then we taped the paper around the containers. I then cut two holes near the top of each container, across from each other. We cut a piece of ribbon, and put one end through each hole and tied it inside the container. We put the lids back on, and found pencils to use for drumsticks (chopsticks would work really well, but, well, we eat Chinese food with forks).

They played the drums for a bit, but Jacob wanted to have a whole band and realized that a band has more than just drums in it. So, we turned on some music and they played their drums along with the music. It was quite a performance !

For more WW, visit 5 Minutes for Mom!

If you work in a bank, law firm, restaurant, factory, or just about anywhere, you may have taken your child with you today for “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.” Your child’s school likely gave excused absences for students who went to work with their parents today instead of attending school. But if you are Sandra Thompson of Madison County, Alabama, your children could not receive unexcused absences for sharing your job with you today. You see, Sandra Thompson is a stay at home mom of three children.

According to WAAY 31, a local television station in Alabama, Sandra Thompson thought that it would be good for her kids to see what she does during the day. She spoke with the teacher, then with the superintendent about keeping her kids home with her today, but they refused to allow her to do so. Sandra told the reporter that the superintendent of Madison County Schools, Dr. Terry Davis, “…told me how much he admires my job, how important my job is, that his own wife stays home with their children.” Now, after considering that, read this quote from the WAAY 31 article:

We asked Sandra Thompson if she is being discriminated against. “Yes, I am. I feel very much so.  What the superintendent told me is that he felt like if he let stay at home moms leave their kids home they will end up watching tv or will not have any activity.”

Are you kidding me? Does that statement not imply that stay at home moms spend all day watching TV or doing nothing? Sandra wanted to show her kids what she did during the day, and the superintendent felt like they would end up watching TV. I agree with Sandra; this is an insult to stay at home moms! If you really appreciate the job of a stay at home parent, you would not assume that she would share her job with her kids today by watching TV.

Interestingly enough, the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Foundation recognizes a stay at home parent as a viable participant in the program. There is a page on their website called “Sample Days” in which they specifically list stay at home parents and give suggestions for them. Thanks to them for recognizing the work that stay at home parents do.

Managing a home and raising children is a job. It is a real job. It is a real job that provides no monetary compensation. That fact does not make it any less important. If anything, it speaks very highly of those who are willing to do it. I do not understand why running a daycare is more valuable than caring for your own children; why working as a maid in a hotel is more honorable than cleaning your own home by yourself; why being a chef in a restaurant is better than providing meals for your family every day; why being the chief executive officer of a company is more successful than managing the finances of your household (meaning feeding, clothing, housing, entertaining, transporting, and medically treating all family members on one probably-not-very-large-income).

I also wonder if that school system asks for chaperones for field trips, classroom volunteers, and class party planners. And I wonder how many of the parents who fill those roles are stay at home moms. Of course they are…I mean they have nothing else to do, right?

There are only two reasons that I can think of for making this decision. One is, as already mentioned, that the school officials think that stay at home parents don’t really work. The other one is that they do not want to encourage children to want to be stay at home parents. We are told that we are limiting a girl’s potential if we encourage her to be a homemaker. Again, what an insult to homemakers and stay at home moms.

I think that Sandra had a great idea. Even when kids are home with their parents, they do not really see or understand all that their parents do. My kids help out some, but I do a lot of work while they are playing outside or in their rooms. They have no idea about the way I plan shopping lists and menus, or how I pay bills or set up a budget. There are a lot of skills that are required and a lot of work that is done that children do not see. A day like this could be a good opportunity for sharing some of that with them and helping them to see what is really involved. Maybe we should have a “Take Your Teacher and Superintendent Home Day.”

Choosing to be a stay at home mom is a decision that a mom makes. She does not choose it because she is too dumb or uneducated to do anything else. She does not choose it so she can lay around all day. She chooses it because she sees value in the work of caring for her family. She devotes herself to doing things for other people all day, every day, and never gets a paycheck for it. She works long hours, does the dirty work no one else wants to do, and is on call all the time. She does not get holidays or weekends off. She relishes her time with her husband and her children, and she finds fulfillment in managing her home. It is a choice. It is work. It should be respected.

Note: Thanks to my Aunt Crystal for emailing me and pointing me to the news article; I guess she knew this would get me riled up!

It’s Earth Day, so here is a little environmental rant for you. Americans don’t want to keep buying all our oil from foreign countries, so we are looking to alternative sources of energy. We heard all about that during last year’s Presidential campaign. But we can’t drill for oil in our own country because we might confuse the caribou in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve. And we can’t put wind farms in Massachusetts because we would interfere with Cape Cod’s tourism and disturb the Kennedys. And we can’t put solar energy plants in the Californian desert because we would disturb the desert tortoise and the protected desert land.

The very politicians (like Kennedy and Feinstein) who push for “environmental” causes then get in the way of real plans when it touches their own back yard. Environmentalists want to do all sorts of things, but they can’t even reconcile their own causes. One group wants solar power so we will use less oil, another wants to protect the desert. Where, as many have asked, are we supposed to put solar energy plants if we can’t put them in the desert? I would also like to know when the caribou and the tortoise population become more important than the needs of human beings. We try to be so noble, and protect everything and every place, and we lose all sense of perspective in doing so. And I won’t even get into how the same person who promotes the killing of unborn children is diligent about making sure we don’t kill any tortoises.

I am glad for environmental progress and laws that help ensure that we have cleaner air and water, and for practical conservation of resources, but the government is seriously overstepping its bounds in controlling the impact of people on the environment. God has given us these resources to use. He put the oil in the ground, put the sun in the sky, and makes the wind blow. He made the trees, rocks, water…everything! Instead of using these things with wisdom and thankfulness, we fuss over them to the point that we don’t use them effectively at all. So, massive amounts of oil sit underground while we are made to believe that if we turn our lights off for an hour we are saving the planet. Come on people, use some common sense.

It’s Kids’ Picks time again at 5 Minutes For Books!

JonDavid has started talking over the past few months, and he is attempting to say more and more words. One of his clear words is “George”…as in Curious George. He really likes Curious George books and recognizes the little monkey’s picture anywhere! And who doesn’t love a good George story? In fact, JonDavid nearly threw a fit at the library when he saw me returning Curious George at the Aquarium. I had to sneak it to the book return when he finally laid it down, and then find another George book to check out. Now we have Curious George Makes Pancakes. All of my kids enjoy reading Curious George books; they are always a hit. We like the movie and the TV show, too!

Skylar has been enjoying nursery rhymes lately, and has been reciting some of them. We have multiple nursery rhyme books, but one of my favorites is a big beautiful book that we received as a gift when Jacob was born. It is called Mother Goose Keepsake Collection. The pictures are lovely, and the print is easy to read. It is just a perfect book for sitting down and reading together.

I am reading The Spiderwick Chronicles, by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, aloud to Jacob and Skylar. We just finished Book 3 tonight. This series is about three kids who move into an old family house and discover a book written by their great-great-uncle, Arthur Spiderwick. The book they find contains his notes about faeries, which include all kinds of creatures that most people cannot see. The kids have adventures with these creatures, some of whom are dangerous, as they explore around their new home. We really like the stories so far, and we are looking forward to reading the last two books!

Whew, I am barely getting this in on Sunday, but I think I can make it! Here are just a few blog posts you might enjoy:

These Play-Doh Cookies at A Neal Family look fun to make and delicious to eat. I love the spring colors!

Carolyn at Guilt-Free Homeschooling explains why Preschool Is Not Brain Surgery. She offers some good ideas for teaching your preschooler at home…any mom can do this!

Less Money or Less Junk?–This post by Heather at Happy To Be @ Home strikes a cord with me as I go through boxes of toys and other stuff that we have accumulated and don’t need! I think many of us could do with less junk and use our money more wisely.

13 Cooking Terms Worth Learning (also posted at Happy To Be @ Home)–Kate explains some terms that are found in recipes, but maybe not in your everyday vocabulary…very helpful post!

Have a great week everyone!

I chose seven words from “The Ant and the Elephant” by Bill Peet for Jacob’s vocabulary words. We looked up the words in the Yahoo!Kids online dictionary, and talked about what they meant. We are also going to make up sentences with each word to help him understand the meanings. He actually already knew the meanings of a couple of the words. Here is the list I chose: cumbersome, fury, boulder, jolly, stroll, codger, ravine.

Besides new vocabulary words, we spent some time talking about the story. Here are some of the things I asked Jacob to answer, and we talked about together:

• Name the characters in the story.
• What is the setting of the story? (I first explained what “setting” means, as we had not used that term before.)
• How did the story begin?
• What excuses did the characters make as they refused to help each other?
• Did the animals have the ability to help?
• How did the story end?
• The elephant was kind to help everyone, but what problem did he have?
• What is a fable?
• What lessons can we learn from this story?

This will just give you an idea of how we are studying “The Ant and the Elephant.” We also saw a play based on this story at a local theatre, which we really enjoyed. The play is what caused me to look for the book and use it for reading lessons. Skylar enjoyed the play and the book, too. It is a fun read and a good study.

I really like having online reference materials at my fingertips, and I particularly like the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. However, I wanted to find an online dictionary geared for children. I found a good one at Yahoo!Kids. The definitions are simplified for school-aged kids to understand more easily…maybe for adults, too. Don’t you hate it when you have to look up the definition of words that are in the definition you looked up?

I am starting to do some vocabulary words with Jacob that are taken from stories that we read. I am going to help him look up the definitions in the dictionary and synonyms in the kids’ thesaurus that Grandmom brought him. I know he needs  to learn how to look up words in a regular dictionary, but for now we are going to use the online dictionary. He needs to learn to use the technology, too!

For more WW, visit 5MFM!

No, I have not deserted my blog! We’ve had a trip for a gospel meeting that my husband preached, a gospel meeting here, a visit from my mom, and other more pressing matters that have kept us on the go for the past two weeks. Hopefully I can get back to more routine posting again!

I wanted to share this short video of JonDavid singing: