Life on the Road

I saw a lot of reps for Discovery Toys on my online networking groups, but I never really gave it much thought. 

Then one Family Game Night I noticed that the garage-sale gem “Bazaar” that we all love is actually a Discovery Toys product from ages past!  Well in that case, I figured I should check out what they have going on now…

For Jewel we got the Roll & Play Activity Game (ages 18 mos. and up). 

Okay, I confess, Jan picked it out, and I thought it looked… well, not like a lot of fun.

But Jewel loves it! 

You roll the color cube (about 6″ square, soft stuffed), then pick a card of that color.  On the back is a simple “activity”:

• Find your shoes
• Spin in a circle
• Hop like a bunny
• Brush your teeth
• Etc.

Sometimes we do them full-tilt.  Other times, when we’re in a more snuggly relaxed mood, we just play at brushing our teeth with a finger… 

Sometimes Jewel will just sit and sort through the cards.  I sure wish I knew what was going on inside her head!

Our next new family game is going to be UnJumble (ages 8+).

We love Scrabble, Boggle, and several number-oriented games that are totally “in our head,” so this seems like a great tool. 

First of all, what a great idea to have the dice set in those cute plastic cases where they can easily be “rolled”, but never lost!

I’ll keep you posted… 

You know, biology was never this much fun when I was in school!

Our LLL leader, Kristin (check out her cool website - henna and belly masks!) had gotten a big bucketful of tadpoles from the pond in a friend’s yard, and she offered to share.

We put them in a plastic crate.  We have well water, not city water, so we figured that would be okay for them.  We also went down to the canal nearby and picked a few water plants to spruce things up a little bit.  Jewel surveys the results…

We followed the feeding recommendation we had been given - cat kibble!

Within a few days, many of the little swimmies were sprouting back legs, and soon the first froggie started climbing out of the water…

They are tree frogs, so once they got old enough to lose their tail (at least to the nub stage), we released them in some of the abundant trees in our yard.  They stopped eating kibble and lived off their tails for a day or so, but would soon starve without the ability to find “real frog food”.

On the first Frog Freedom day, “Sparky” (above) and “Zippy” were the first in the brood to go out into the wild…

The next day no frogs were ready to leave us.  Then there were 4.  Then another 3.

We were wary of the number of “almost frogs” we saw yesterday, so today when we took the lid off to check on them we did it out by the Frog Freedom tree.  It was an amazing sight, and happened so fast I couldn’t even focus and get a picture.  Probably 4 or 5 frogs leaped eagerly away as soon as they had the chance.  Another 3 we released in a calmer manner…

 (Wolf’s hand gives you an idea just how tiny these guys are!)

There are only a few left, so our little biology project is coming to an end.

But who knows what tomorrow will bring! 

Luckily, not us… But I just read an article that pointed out that we aren’t necessarily immune just because we homeschool.  In fact, let me share said article - see below.

Supermom’s products are really neat.  We’ve actually been using the peppermint-scented No Lice Spray on Jewel’s whole body at night to help keep the Tiny Bitey Things away - apparently they don’t like the smell any better than lice do! 

And the best news?  She’s having a Back-to-School sale!  Check out SuperMom’s Health and Wellness for all you ever wanted to know about lice (and probably a lot more!), and the products to fix it…

I was actually glad to discover her store for other reasons - her natural soap is delightful, and I’m excited about trying the flavoreed Stevia to make naturally sweet drinks!

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Homeschooling is particularly wonderful for getting to spare one’s children many of the things we ourselves may have disliked in our own school experiences, such as lots of homework, bullies, and lunchroom food. However, one old standby that we can’t avoid even as homeschoolers is the threat of head lice.

Head lice are small insects that live off of human blood. Head lice do not fly or hop, but they are accomplished travelers, crawling all over the universe looking for hospitable heads on which to live. Head lice can easily be gotten from church, mission trips, outreach opportunities, spending time with friends, and at any activity that children attend. Even if you home church and home school, your children can get lice! If you don’t know what to do when it happens, it can be a long and costly battle until you finally see the end of it.

Like most parents, I always hoped my children would not get head lice. I had no plan except that I knew I would never use chemical lice shampoos on my children. These products are pesticides that are unsafe for use, particularly for pregnant women and children under two. Being a mother of six, I have spent quite a few years either pregnant or with babies and toddlers…or both! Due to the fact that head lice bite the scalp to live, when we use pesticide products on our children we are introducing these chemicals directly into their bloodstream via the open sores on their head. That combined with the fact that our skin absorbs everything we put on it was enough to let me know I had to find a safe alternative.

A few years ago I discovered head lice on my children. I was horrified! My youngest little boys got their heads shaved immediately since they had quite an infestation and I knew that they would have a hard time sitting still for multiple rounds of combing out nits.

For the older children I first tried home remedies such as olive oil and vinegar. We found both options messy, illogical, and ineffective. I realized that the bottom line was that all the live lice and eggs have to come out of the hair. A fairly simple goal! An online contact told me about a battery-powered lice comb called the Robi Comb, so I bought one and went to work.

The Robi Comb actually electrocutes lice as you comb through the hair and they get stuck in it’s teeth. We were amazed at the amount of lice we found, and how tiny and nearly transparent some of them were. Newly hatched lice are almost impossible to see, so we were very glad our Robi Comb could catch them. We followed up with a metal egg comb to get out all the eggs, and just repeated this process again and again until we were confident that all the lice were gone.

Once we were through with the Great head Lice Battle of 2004 I did some thinking and some research. I knew that I never wanted my children to get lice again, and I wondered if there was anything safe that I could use to help prevent it. Sure enough, I found that the wonderful world of herbs offers many choices for this purpose. I started tinkering around with a formulation until I finally had a product that smelled great, didn’t irritate the skin, wasn’t oily, and worked well. My husband and I eventually got started selling our Supermom’s No-Lice Hair and Body Spray in 2005 and we have been so glad to help other families find a way to prevent and eliminate head lice safely and effectively.

Author Bio:

Erica Johns is owner of Supermom’s No-Lice Advice http://nolice.blogspot.com, a business that is dedicated to helping families prevent and eliminate head lice safely and effectively. Erica is working toward becoming a Certified Natural Health Professional and also offers many more products to help families live healthier through Supermom’s Health and Wellness. Erica and her husband Dave have been married since 1991 and are the happy parents of 6 children.

Well, today’s the big day.

We’re leaving our ant-ridden spot in Ohio, and heading out to our new digs in Florida.  Tonight we plan to be in Knoxville, KY, and we won’t actually arrive in Homestead until Saturday.

Today would have been my preferred day to start our homeschool school year - the old-fashioned way, it seems - but we decided to give Nick the week off since starting a whole new program is challenging enough without trying to do it in the car.  So theoretically we’ll start next Monday.  (I hope that’s not too optimistic as we’re trying to get settled into the house and all…)

Poor cats.  By now they probably thought we were here for good and they weren’t going to be subjected to any more travelling!  Too bad they don’t understand that that’s at least what we’re headed for.

We’ll, I’d better get busy.  Everything we’ve been carelessly sitting around the RV these last few weeks needs to be “stowed for travel”…

It’s HUGE! 

If you need a homeschool support group meeting, visit this week’s carnival at The Common Room…

Being a confirmed family of bookworms, I jumped at the chance when a networking friend, Heather Martin, offered to introduce us to Usborne Books at Home.

I admit that I cringed when I noticed the book she’d picked for Jewel: The New Baby.  That’s a topic that’s just full of people’s most strongly-held and cherished beliefs — no books are read in our home that feature (and thus normalize) bottle-feeding infants, day care, etc.

So I read the book through for myself… And was delighted to find a sweet illustration of Mrs. Bunn nursing her new baby, and text explaining that she would need to be fed often.  Hooray!  My only complaint, and a minor one, is that on that same page the 5 year-old sister sits watching the breastfeeding couple - while feeding her baby doll with a bottle!  Of course reality (and the reason we don’t have bottlefeeding books in the house) is that the daughter will imitate what she sees.  At 2, Jewel already nurses her dolls (right through her shirt! ).

The book was very nice, and Jewel has asked for it repeatedly since we got it.  The illustrations are very warm, and the text is simple but informative.  They also have a neat design for what they call “dual level readers”.  There is a simple sentence across the top of the page in large type, for younger audiences to read/listen to.  Then there are a few sentences of more detailed text below, and somewhat smaller, that you can add as attention spans warrant.  Very clever…

And at $4.99, the price is a welcome relief from the sticker shock that so frequently seems to accompany shopping for kids books…

Nick was engrossed by True Stories of Pirates, from their collection for older kids.  It was a quick read, at just under 150 pages, but again the $4.99 price tag speaks volumes.

Sheesh, I wonder if I should join to get the discount??  LOL  I wonder how many times I’ll say that while writing reviews…

(Hormonal disclaimer: this post is a lttle rambling… the baby seems to be stealing my brain cells more than usual toady) 

A two year old girl was recently accepted into Mensa (”The High IQ Society”) - click here to read the whole story.

One thing I found entertaining was their overall comments about how few kids are in Mensa.  So?

What, do people think that kids are dumb, and their IQ increases as they get older, so then they can get in?  Um, no.

The issue here is testing.  What earthly reason is there to give your two year old that kind of evaluation?  The way most people qualify for Mensa is when they realize they can get in using the scores from a test they took for another reason altogether - like the SAT - or as an adult, they get curious enough to take a specific test to determine if they are eligible. 

Now it happens that Nick became a member of Mensa at a very young age - because the testing was done for another specific purpose (which is another whole story that I will save for another day).  Anyhow, the tests showed that Nick was amply qualified for Mensa.  Thinking ahead to his college applications, I figured it would be funny for him at 17 to be able to say he’d already been a member of Mensa for more than a decade. 

So while I have no doubt that Jewel could also qualify for Mensa at the tender age of two, I see no reason to go through the time and expense of testing her.  I also haven’t given her swimming and violin lessons, nor given her poetry to memorize.  I was treated to that sort of curriculum as a toddler, and my mother and I both agree at this point that that’s not necessarily the best way to go.  The things that happen naturally, happen … naturally! 

Yes, she counts well.  Yes, she knows a lot of colors.  Yes, she draws a pretty mean circle (and loves making happy faces).  She also loves to be read to, and will sit and “read” books to herself or anyone who will listen.  Which brings me to another funny thought.

People who have contact with Nick often ask wistfully, “How do you get your kids to read?”  When I first heard the question I was a little taken aback, and had no idea how to answer.  I’ve in fact been forced to consider the question of how to get my kid to stop reading (long enough to do other things!).  As I pondered the question I realized that reading is simply such a fact of life in our house that our kids learn to read just as they learn to walk and eat … naturally.

Some of the most interesting things about the article I started with were actually in the comments that followed.

A whole bunch of people said things like “what the big deal?  My kids does all those things, too!”  Missing the point, of course, that the items mentioned in the article were just some illustrations the reporter picked out, and not, in fact, items from the test (which of course aren’t discussed, to ensure continued validity of the test).

Another whole bunch of people had negative comments, many implying that the parents were potentially doing harm to their child by pushing her.  Now, while I do believe that they probably are pushing to some extent (as I discussed above), I also believe that many of the nay-sayers are probably coming from a position of jealously or discomfort, and are simply sniping in an effort to make themselves feel better. 

Let’s face it, smart people don’t fit in.  Smart girls fit in even less.  The extra-pretty girl has lots of friends and admireres.  The extra-athletic girl has friends and admirers, too, as the star of the soccer team or what-not.  But the extra-smart girl is a “nerd.” 

I don’t want my kids to feel pressured to perform, and I don’t want them to feel like they should stifle their talents for social acceptance.  I want them to flourish, and develop into the wonderful people God created them to be … naturally.

I keep asking myself that, but I’m not entirely sure how we ended up here.

We’re in Middletown, which, aptly named, lies in the middle of Cincinnati and Dayton. 

There are a lot of gret opportunities for our business around this area, so we thought we should check it out.  It also looks like an affordable place to buy a fixer-uper house - something we’re considering for the next year or so due to Baby Blessing (due in March).

We were originally thinking of Dayton, but driving around there yesterday quickly nixed that.  At some 200,000 population, it is far more “city” than we want to deal with.  After living so long in Los Angeles (me) and San Diego (Wolf), we understand all the benefits - and don’t think it’s worth it.

Now looking for a bargain, obviously one doesn’t end up in the most upsacle parts of town…  but, really!  One neighborhood we were looking at, Wolf stopped to chat with a man standing outside his home.  The man proceeded to explain how there were lots of nice people in the neighborhood, but the house next door belonged to a peddler of illicit narcotic substances, and there was a man shot in the yard last week…

Ummmm…   No.

So we’ve moved out to the middle ground.

Trivia:  Did you know that Ohio is the only state whose flag is not a rectange?

Might be fun to live in Ohio, just for that! 

Unfortunately, with all the heat warnings and what-not, we aren’t able to fly by the seat of our pants quite as much as we often do.  Boondocking isn’t an option, since our generator won’t run the a/c in extreme conditions.

So we’re actually parked at a mobile home park, where they are willing to rent out their vacant lots to RVs on a daily basis.  What a friendly bunch of people - the man across the street even came over while we were getting parked and gave us each a cold water bottle!  Quite a change from the unwholesome image “trailer parks” often conjure.

Well, off to look at more neighborhoods - and of course put out more business flyers.  It’s nice to be able to get our work done without ever having to go out of our way…

I was recently introduced to a great online resource: The Homemaking Cottage.

Here’s the intro from the site, to give you an idea what it’s about:

Welcome Homemakers!

We encourage, teach and support all homemakers and housewives! How do we do this? With recipes, crafts, and other inspirational articles, eBooks, and our exclusive Deluxe Edition. This website is updated regularly, so always check back in for more!

The women featured here are women just like you- who run homes. We learn new things daily and share them in our articles. Don’t forget to join our Deluxe Edition and enjoy original, longer, and more detailed articles. You may also request articles that you wish to read.

This website is full of information. Relax, spend time reading, learning, being inspired by homemakers just like you!

-Shiloah Baker, homeschooling mother of seven children and happy homemaker!

My confession: When I heard about this, I thought that there could not possibly be that much stuff about homemaking — and certainly not that much stuff that was even remorelty interesting. I guess I wasn’t feeling very June Cleaver, eh? But it turns out to be a treasure trove of interesting tidbits, creative ideas, enjoyable reflections, and more.

There is a ton of information available on the basic (free) areas of the site, and then MORE on the Deluxe Edition (which is a very thrifty $10 for 3 months’ access). She covers every topic from making your own yogurt, to relationships, to getting the most out of your public library, to … Seems like anything a homemaker might want is there! There are a number of different authors who continually contribute new articles, so there’s always something new to look forward to.

The last few articles posted included:
▪Kids Birthday Party Camp-out (picture)
▪Got all the Right Shots?
▪The High Cost of Clutter
▪Simple Ethnic Salads (pictures)
▪Family Reunion Ideas
▪Scented Ironing Water
▪Motherhood (poem)
▪My Hands Make Burdens Light
▪Rounding out Your 72 Kit (picture)

What a neat recource! My only “complaint” is that I want to spend too much time poking around The Homemaking Cottage, and not getting my Homemaking done!

I admit it, the idea of “felts” didn’t jump right out and grab me.  I have some vague memory of disembodied figures stuck on a big green board at Sunday School…

It must be kind of like Oldsmobile’s recent ad campaign:  These are NOT your mother’s felt-board products!

I want to thank fellow MomPacker Karen Clark of Story Time Felts for forcing me (nicely!) to rethink my position.

Karen sent Jewel the Weather Bear set (the boy on the right in this pic).

The backdrop comes mounted on cardboard, and you have the choice of getting the pieces pre-cut ($24.99), or uncut ($21.99).  Karen was kind enough to send us a pre-cut set, but I think with my prized left-handed Fiskars I will probably opt to do it myself for future purchases (but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?)

The quality of these felts is really outstanding.  They are thick, and very dense, with rich color printing.  The materials say that it’s even washable.

Jewel (just 2) is really not quite old enough for these, but has still had a great time playing with it ever since it arrived a few days ago.  Sometimes she has as much fun sticking the bear’s clothes on us, on the cat, and on herself as she does dressing the bear — but “creative play” is the name of the game, right?

As the adults, we like the size of the pieces, the shapes they used, etc.  My only “picky” qualm is that some of the outfits have shoes attached, while others have no feet and separate shoes.  I would prefer that they were all interchangable - or at least all not.

I laughed when I uploaded this picture and looked at the girl bear set.  I was just telling Wolf that I thought Bear should have a “night” window, to encourage him to put on his pajamas.  She does!  Hey — Why does girl bear have more clothes?  LOL

Now I think I’m hooked…  I’m really looking forward to getting some of the Bible stories, nursery rhymes, and a later on a “paper doll” set for Jewel.  The only question is, do I become a Story Time Felts consultant, to get the products at a discount??