Christian Drews Memorial Fund

At the request of the Drews Family, Heart of the Matter, has started a Memorial Fund to benefit the missions program at the Drews home church in Texas.

Any amount you contribute would be appreciated. The Drews Family feels this is the most appropriate way they could honor their son's memory, celebrate his life, and leave a legacy.

I hope you will feel led to support that wish.

A moment of praise

"Now unto HIM that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask
or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto HIM be glory..."
Ephesians 3:20, 21

I offer up this day in memory of Christian "Dozer" Drews.
Together my family and I celebrate his life and continue to lift his family up to our Lord.

For my friend Marsha, in celebration of her son Christian

Last night, a new friend of mine, Marsha, lost her incredible three year old son in a tragic accident. Marsha was a fellow homeschooling mom and a contributor to Heart of the Matter. Her dear son, Christian, has now gone home into Jesus' arms.

Words cannot begin to express the pain I feel in my heart for her and her family. As a Christian, I should find comfort and meaning in the fact that he is home in Jesus' arms. As a mother, and a sinner, I want him home in his dear mother's arms.

The night this happened, I was up until the wee hours with another mutual friend, crying with her and trying to think what we could do for our friend and sister in Christ. What can you do to help a grieving parent? What would give me peace if the unthinkable happened in my family? What can you say to help carry the burden or take away the hurt? The answer I came up with is, NOTHING.

Sadly, there is NOTHING I can do for my friend.
Only HE can see her through this.
Only HE has a plan, that will somehow bring a blessing out of what seems like an awful nightmare and only HE will make it possible for her to hold her son again and spend eternity with him and our Lord.

I can do nothing but pray and turn my sights to Him. Perhaps not expecting to find the answers or understanding, but to be able to accept that there are no true answers for me and I will perhaps never fully understand why this was allowed to happen, and that's okay. As a mother, I can hurt for my friend. As a Christian, I can pray for her family. I can grieve their loss on earth and celebrate the life of this little boy and the time they had with him. Time that I know with all my heart she did not ever forsake.

And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.1 Corinthians 12:26

As I was writing this post. These lyrics kept playing over and over in my head so I wanted to include them.

Days like these are just a test of our will.
Will we walk or will we fall?
Well, I can almost see the top of the hill,
And I believe it's worth it all.
In a little while, We'll be with the Father;
Can't you see Him smile?
In a little while, We'll be home forever,
In a while.... We're just here to learn to love Him;
We'll be home in just a little while.

I know my dear friend's child was taught to love Jesus.
I know he is home with our Father in heaven.
I know my friend and her family are Christians.
The Bible tells me she will see her son again.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. John 14:1-4

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UPDATED 5:45PM

At this time there is no memorial fund information for donations. Marsha has requested that people continue to talk about her son and remember him and celebrate his life. If you have posted a tribute you can link up to it at Heart of the Matter.

Cards or Correspondence can be mailed to:
David and Marsha Drews
c/o Rachel Harris
12830 N. Cypress Lane
Tomball, TX 77377

If you don't know quite what to do or say. There is a lovely post with some loving guidance by SisterLisa here. Heather/Sprittibee also has a touching tribute and links to others and Amy S. has shared a video of Christian that is not to be missed! It is a true celebration of his life and his adorable personality.

Dinners on

I'm happy to say that I found a great new chicken recipe.

It didn't even take me much time to prepare ---if you don't count the hour I spent wandering aimlessly through my kitchen, pantry and office trying to figure out what I'd make, and find a recipe I could make with the ingredients I had on hand. After consulting the spice drawer and pantry, Honey Mustard Chicken Thighs it was!

It was super simple to make and had a wonderful aroma while I was cooking. The birds were singing and really, it was too bad Big Daddy wasn't around to witness me actually cooking a meal. Other than my burning the basmati rice the first time around, (I blame the baby) it was a pretty easy and somewhat relaxing cooking adventure.

As for the children? Well, let's just say they really liked the raw carrots, broccoli and cauliflower that I put out as a backup side dish. A couple ate the rice. One, pasted a big old FAKE smile on his face as he told me my dinner was good, when I could tell he wasn't going for the chicken at all. No matter how tiny he cut the pieces and moved it around on his plate.

Do you remember ever doing that as a kid?

Still, I am proud of myself. I had a good dinner for once and they now eat raw vegetables.
Hey, maybe I'm just raising vegetarians and I just didn't know it?

If at first you don't succeed

I've officially given up on our Resurrection Plant. Mold is growing on it. That cannot be a good sign. I've also decided that this glitch in my amazing science teaching moment, really isn't my fault at all. No, I think the problem was that I unknowingly purchased an inferior Resurrection plant. So, I blame the plant. Not that I'm dwelling on it.

I've already purchased 2 new plants from Wards Natural Science.
I'm hopeful that our experiment will go smoothly the 2nd time around.
The first time was just a dry run.

Operation Starve the Children

Now, before you start calling social services let me tell you that it is not my intention to starve the children. In fact, experts say that they will not starve. They will eat. However, I am doubtful. My kids are VERY picky eaters with extremely stubborn personalities, obviously they get this from Big Daddy's side of the family. Obviously.

But something has to give and so in complete and utter desperation I am trying what others before me have done. I can only hope I live long enough to talk about it.

I am NO longer making multiple meals.

There is a new cook in town and she isn't taking orders anymore.

They will have to eat pasta with actual sauce on it... and maybe even a meatball!

Meals that include meat products will be regularly featured and I'm not talking hot dogs.

As pleased as I am that they will eat edamame, carrots and broccoli. I'd like to see us expand our vegetables. Maybe even eat something (other than carrots)raw and try some salad dressing.

They will have to eat what the adults want to eat, and the adults do not want to eat a constantly rotating menu of: peanut butter and jelly, organic mac and cheese, hot dogs, scrambled egg sandwiches, frozen waffles, grilled cheese, bagels, and fruit salad.

It is not going to be pretty.

Wish me luck----I'm going in!

Free Trial: BrainPop

BrainPOP Jr. - Lesson Plans for K-3 Teachers


A friend of mine recently sent me a link to BrainPop Junior. There is also BrainPop and BrainPop Espanol. After spending a little bit of time on the website I am REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT. Subscriptions are going to run $115-255 per year, depending on the plan you choose, but right now you can register for a FREE 5-day free trial.

I spent the most time on the BrainPop Junior website before rushing to my blog to make this post to make sure none of you missed out on the opportunity for this free trial. But, from what I can see, all of the sites follow the same basic format and offerings---they are just geared towards different ages or are in Spanish.

According to the website:

BrainPOP Jr. provides educational movies and homework help for K-3 students. Each animated movie has quizzes, games, vocabulary, and activities for kids. BrainPOP Jr. is a great resource for teachers and homeschools, offering lesson plans and lesson ideas that develop critical thinking and inquiry skills.

The available subjects are: Science, Writing, Social Studies, Health, Reading & Math

Within each subject you can:

• Watch an animated movie on a topic related to the subject
• Color & cut out an activity (you print worksheet which can be used in notebooking or lapbooking or left as a worksheet)
• Learn a joke (this is just fun for kids, especially young kids and while its not exactly educational, it is fun)
• Read a Cartoon from "Belly Up" section (again, this is just a fun feature and not educational---unless they are learning to read)
• Learn new vocabularly words. This is both an interactive web experience and a print out that you can then use for notebooking or lapbooking.
• Draw about it. Using a mouse and the web software you can draw a picture online and then print it out. You are prompted to draw a picture pertaining to the lesson.
• Write about it. You are prompted to "write" about something online pertaining to the subject, and then you can print it out.
• Read about it showcases 3 suggested books to check-out from the library. Just the covers and title and author name are shown.
• Talk about it. A question is posed that students should talk about with their parent or teacher to make sure they understand the concept that was reviewed or taught.
• Play a learning Game. The one I saw had to do with Math and you did part of it online and then printed it out to complete.
  
• Take a hard or easy quiz online or on paper that reviews the material again.

Other parts of the website include:
Lesson Ideas
Bulletin board that showcases the artwork and writings of kids

The real draw to the website is of course the animated movies. You cannot find those on the web anywhere for free and they are engaging and educational for kids.

Check it out and let me know what you or your kids think.

Honey, I think I killed the Resurrection Plant

How is it, that a plant that can remain dormant for 50 YEARS without water, a plant that is frequently referred to as the "plant you cannot kill", a plant whose very name infers that it can indeed "rise from the dead"----can apparently die in my hands, in the middle of a science project?

Oh, I had such big plans for our Resurrection Plant.
On the first day, I took them out and had the children inspect them. We put them in water and within an hour they started to uncurl! Although the kids didn't seem as enthusiastic about the uncurling as I was, I knew great things were coming.

The next day, we could see a little green---things were getting exciting now!

But now after four days, things are obviously NOT improving. Our plant is NOT a lush green. It still looks...well, it looks dead. An uncurled-sort-of-green-but-definitely-not-lush, dead.

To the right, I give you a photo of what my plant should have looked like within 24 hours.
Notice how lush, green and well, A-L-I-V-E it looks?

Below I give you our sad little Ressurection plants. What do you think? Dead? Dying?
Resurrected or rejected?





I can only hope that Pumpkin's life cycle of a plant
project goes better. Surely I can grow a couple beans and Teddy Bear Sunflowers from a kit, right? I mean, I only need the beans to sprout and the sunflowers to live for at least 3 weeks so we can measure it.

This is why I love my clay flowers so darn much.
Maybe we can chart how long it takes for our nice clay flowers to arrive via UPS once mommy hits send on the computer?

DK Designs Hawaii

I am not known for my green thumb...but I am known to like beautiful things and these flowers from DK Designs Hawaii are absolutely beautiful. I gave them out as gifts last year for Mother's Day. Over a year later, the two that I got myself, still look beautiful.




That they are made out clay is seriously astonishing and makes them a work of art! Upon close examination (and you will want to look at them closely to believe it) you will see the fine veining in the petals. The colors have not faded in over a year and the ones that sit on my desk, still bring a smile to my face.

The wedding portfolio makes me want to get married all over again! Oh, the wedding favors I could dream up!


If you are crafty you might want to consider one of Diane's clay flower classes. I think I'll stick to my online shopping...

Mom's Attitude Adjustment Chart

As I was laying in bed with my usual bout of insomnia, exhausted, but unable to turn off my brain; I found myself contemplating a character chart for our family. You see, we have some bad character traits and attitudes developing in our home.

impatience,

complaining,

blaming,

yelling,

whining...

And that is just MY bad attitude!

The kids are doing all that plus tattling, aggravating, being selfish and being disrespectful.

Of course no parent wants to see those character flaws taking root in their children. So, while I was of course focusing on my children's bad behaviors, the ones I wanted to correct immediately, a bible verse popped into my head and convicted me right there in my bed at 2:57am. How do you like that?

How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Luke 6:42

I need to change my attitude before I can expect to see an attitude change in my children? Yes, I need to change my attitude before I can see clearly enough to train my children in this area. As their mother and teacher they spend the greatest amount of time with me. I am their mirror. I set the tone for our house. The same things I want to correct in my children, I need to correct in myself, first. I need to model the attitudes I desire, not just pay lip service to them.

Oh, and the attitude chart? I made one. I'm doing really good on it.
When I fill up my chart this week I'm going to Starbucks.
I'm introducing the chart to my children next week.
I'll post a copy on Monday and let you know how it goes.

It's all about the networking

Today's Mommies are stylish, smart, savvy and are true networkers. They blog, write their own curriculum, design lapbooks and plan out playdates on their Blackberrys.

Don't these calling cards just make you feel so "official" and cool?

The first two cards are from Urban Bliss and the card below is from Erin Condren.

Can you guess which ones I ordered?

I cannot wait until my cards come in.

Let the playdates begin!

My first used curriculum sale

I've never been to a used curriculum sale before, but I recently had an opportunity to attend one and boy was I impressed!

First of all, what these ladies did was amazing. Seriously, the organizer of this event deserves a Gold Medal (like how I worked in an Olympic reference). I have never seen such an organized event. All of the curriculum, books and resources were neatly organized by SUBJECT. The tables were clearly labeled, as were the prices.

Then, when you went to check out, it was like a machine. At least 6 ladies were there to organize the check out assembly style. At your first stop, the ladies peeled off the labels from the products you were buying and stuck them onto a laminated card. Then, you continued on to another cashier who tallied your total. From there your purchases were bagged by 3 helpful teenage boys and a teen girl shuttled your laminated card into another room where they tracked who sold what. It was amazing. There are major retailers out there who cannot pull this off. It was packed and there were no electronic scanners in sight---and the whole process took less time than going through the express line at the grocery store!

Here is what I bought for only $24

Although I've never been to a Used Curriculum Sale before, even I know that you always have your tale of the "one that got away". My sad tale of woe is about the BRAND NEW Story of the World, Volume I Combo Pack priced at $15 that was sitting at the table in front of me, calling my name---only I was working on being patient and polite. So there I was so I was, standing behind a group of ladies who got there first, dying to grab that binder and make a run for it when the group in front of me started to walk away. Then suddenly, the lady paused, and from there it was all in slow motion.....as she picked up the binder totally meant for me, asked her friend if it was a good deal (WHAT???) and walked away with what would have been MY trophy.

There is a lesson in there...but right now, I'm focusing on the wrong one!

Now, to all of you experienced used curriculum sale shoppers: PLEASE don't write in and burst my bubble about how you got 5 tables of stuff for $1 or how you went to the grocery store and they paid you on the way out. Seriously, I will never be that kind of thrifty shopper so I need my small successes. Give me my 15 minutes here!

Big Daddy would be so proud of me!
He just loves it when I tell him how much money I saved him by shopping!

Help us Adopt

Our dear friends, Becky and Kipp Fawcett, are adoptive parents and the founders of Help Us Adopt. Help Us Adopt provides financial assistance, through grants, to individuals and couples seeking to create or build their family through adoption.

You can read more about their 5-year journey to adoption here.

If you, or someone you know is considering adoption, but is overwhelmed by the costs involved, please visit their website to learn more about Help Us Adopt. Help Us Adopt provides financial grants of $500-$15,000 towards adoption expenses (paid directly to service providers).

Download the application and return it by April 17, 2009 to be eligible for the June 2009 grant.

Have you ordered your Halloween costumes?

It's that time of year again!

The time that the halloween costume catalogs come pouring in, and the time that our family selects their costumes and gets them ordered before the onslaught of "sold out" and "size not available" comes flying back at us.


One of my favorite catalogs is the Sensational Beginnings catalog. I think we probably ordered from them last year too. This year I vote this catalog as the best for my boys. The boys immediately got their super hero fix in the latest catalog and their costumes are already ordered.



G-man is going to be Iron Man this year.
His costume retails for about $52


Bear is going to be Captain America this year.
His costume is approx. $40



Cutie Pie's costume is a pink bunny. Her costume retails for $48. Cutie Pie's costume is from Annie's Costumes. As much as I like this costume, I'm concerned about the Florida heat. So we are also considering the mermaid costume from Chasing-Fireflies.

Pumpkin wants to be a Princess but we have yet to find one that we L-O-V-E! And by "we" I obviously mean me. This doesn't bode well for the eventual wedding does it? (sigh)

The Purple Princess costume is from Sensational Beginnings and the Jasmine costume is from Costume City. The Pink princess and Gypsy princess costumes are from Chasing-Fireflies. Personally, I'd love to see Pumpkin in the gypsy costume.

I think she would look striking as a little gypsy princess, but, as she says,
"Mommy, don't you KNOW my favorite color is PINK?"

Yes, honey, I know it's pink!

Have you ordered your children's costumes yet?

I'm Flipping Out!

I have a new obsession.

It's my Flip Mino video camera.
I do not own an iPhone.
I do not own an iPod.
But I do own a Flip.
This camera will make me so COOL.
It is small and deliciously modern.
I now feel the urge to video everything.

Do you have a Flip?

I'm published!

Read my article on 12 Essential Back to School Tips for Mom at Heart of the Matter!

Getting organized for a new school year

In preparation for the start of the new school year in our home, I thought I would share some of the ways I try to help things go a little smoother in our day and weeks. But first, I want to thank my friend Laura, from The Smile House in Austin, Texas (she is an amazing photographer) for helping converting my word documents and pdf's to files I can share on my blog. I'm not saying I would have never figured it out on my own, I'm just saying it had been 3.5 hours and things were not looking very pretty!

This is my Teaching Schedule.
It has what subjects I am teaching on which days, and to whom. This is the first year that I will be incorporating my 3 year old into group lessons with her brothers, so this is a very big deal for me. It's taking me out of my comfort zone to not teach them each individually---which is sort of impossible with 4 now!

This is a page I created called Lesson Planner Reminders. I essentially use this planner on Sunday nights to prepare myself for the coming week. Ideally I would like to review up to a month ahead in my lesson plans and fill out the forms by what I need for the week---but I haven't gotten there yet!

Read: Is for sections I need to read before teaching and sections that we need to read together for the lesson.

Copy/Laminate: is pretty self explanatory. We do a lot of photocopying and laminating around here!

Buy/Pick-up: Is for the list of materials that I don't have on hand. They can be materials I need to borrow from the library or teacher's resource center, or purchase.



And this sort of intimidating looking schedule is my Personal weekly schedule. Time management isn't my strong suit, so I need to have a schedule that deals with blocks of time so that I can efficiently plan out my week. I print out this schedule to use this schedule until I get into a routine without referring to it. At that time I block out the times shown on this schedule in Outlook and sync it with my Blackberry so that I don't schedule appointments during any of my time blocks. For me, this is the only way I can get anything done. Otherwise, entire days would get away from me and I'd feel like I accomplished nothing. On my print out the open times are shown in white, not black. You should ideally have chunks of white spaces on your calendar to give you some sanity!

I hope by sharing some of the ideas I am implementing into my homeschool I can in some way inspire or encourage you into developing a plan that fits your family. Please know that I am in no way trying to convey that I have all the answers, or that I am an expert in any way on homeschooling. If you would like to share your organizational tips please post a comment.

You can also visit 1+1=1 for more ideas.

Boca Beth Back To School Backpack Giveaway

Our family loves the Boca Beth CD's; Our favorite song is "Hola, que pasa?" The beat never fails to get everyone dancing! Beth Butler, the founder of Boca Beth, is having a contest on her blog and is giving away an $80 backpack with her products. If you are interested in bilingual spanish education, and you have preschoolers at home, visit her blog and enter the contest before the deadline of August 22, 2008 at 5PM EST.

Summer Co-op

This summer I thought we'd ease our way back into school by hosting a Summer Math Games Club at our home each Tuesday. The idea was for each mom to bring or create "math centers" that we would then rotate the kids through each Tuesday. I am a member of two local support groups and so I invited ladies from those groups. Being slightly (ahem) obsessive about my color coded calendars (I'm not bragging, it's a disease) I of course planned this August club in June---and what a turnout we had, with 14 children. Note the emphasis on HAD. The day before the club was to start we were down to 6 children. It was disappointing and aggravating all at the same time.

Now, I really work hard at creating opportunities for my children to spend time with other homeschoolers in a learning atmosphere. I think it's important, and I personally find it interesting to see how they react around others in a learning atmosphere.

Will your normally inquisitive child become suddenly silent?

Did you not realize you have a "class clown" on your hands?

Does your child know how to raise his or her hand and wait their turn?

These are all things you can learn during group co-ops. But, there is something else that happens at co-op. You can observe the teaching styles of other mothers. And, even though you aren't supposed to compare, you can see how your child does academically within a peer group. I don't think of it as a competitive thing. I think of it as research and evaluation.

During co-op recently, one of the mothers started reviewing patterns with the younger girls (age 3) and I froze. I had not yet gotten around to teaching patterns to my three year old daughter. I think I've gotten into the habit of keeping my daughter busy with other activities while I "do school" with her older brothers. After a few stares like a dear caught in headlights my daughter grasped the concept of patterns. I was so proud of her, and so disappointed in myself. Why hadn't I take the time to work on patterns with her?

I sheepishly admitted to the mother teaching, that she had just taught my daughter a skill I had not thought of teaching her. I justified this by saying that I was so caught up in trying to teach the boys to read that I had not really pushed my daughter too hard academically this year. Surprised, she asked if I worked with my children together or separately. Though she has two children at home, and I have four, it was again a wake up call for me. I need to teach my children together more. By constantly trying to separate their learning I am not taking full advantage of the opportunites for group learning within my own home, with their own siblings. I am also adding more hours and exhaustion to my day than is necessary.

While I look at co-op as a time for my both my children and me to grow, I also see it as an opportunity to offer encouragement to another. I think homeschool moms deserve that. Last week one of the mothers became noticeably embarassed when her son blurted out that he HATED his math curriculum. Now I'm not sure if he truly HATES his math curriculum, or if he was just in mood, but I do know his words struck his mother like a knife in her heart. At convention this year, I personally witnessed this mother spend half of convention painstakingly considering every math program in the vendor hall, before selecting that program for her son. While the room got quiet I felt her pain, but I confess a thought quickly flickered in my mind. It was an evil thought, it said, " Boy, she really screwed up. At least your sons have never said they HATED the math program. You are doing so much better than her." And as quickly as I felt that thought flicker through my mind, I said out loud what I knew in my heart to be true.

"Don't listen to him. He doesn't really know what he is saying. You've done such a great job with him and you would know if the program was failing him."

She turned to me and smiled, and I realized then why co-ops are so important to me. Even through all the hassles of trying to organize it, the people who cancel at the last minute or don't rsvp by the deadline----it's having an opportunity to reach out to someone who is ministering in her home daily, and offer up some encouragement, and lift her up. It's having an opportunity to look someone in the eye, have them know you have been there and you think they are doing okay. It's having an opportunity to truly behave as a believer instead of just saying I am a believer.

I need a makeover!

I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. I think this should be my new FACEBOOK profile picture. What do you think?

I wonder how many people would DUMP me on FACEBOOK if I uploaded one of these shots?
What would that mean to my social standing on Top Friends?

And yes, I did just put a link to FACEBOOK----like you didn't know what it was.

Get your own Yearbook picture and let me know how it goes over with your friends and family.