Wordless Wednesday - Working Hard

From 2010-09-25 Raptor Release, School, Matthew Sleeping

From 2010-09-25 Raptor Release, School, Matthew Sleeping

Interesting Article - Raising Boys That Read

How to Raise Boys That Read

I found this article to be very true to my thinking. I have worked hard at researching what books are truely good literature for our boys to read. Do they read "twaddle"? At times, YES, books they think would be interesting. Are these the types of books they keep going back to? NO.  I have found that assigning a wide variety of great literature for school has really helped especially Bryce at this point, to pick good books for his free reading time. In my mind, choosing to read good books is just as important as the ability to read good books.

Currently, Bryce is still loving to read all things science related and the Harry Potter series. He loves his Magic School Bus books, but he also loves to go into the non-fiction section and pick books out on different science topics. Micah is currently working  his way through the Magic Tree House series. Is this great literature maybe not, but he is reading chapter books that are at his level and learning so much history.

The boys have read many good books in the last few years. Here are some of the earlier readers they have really enjoyed. (Series) Amelia Bedilia, Nate the Great, Frog and Toad, (Individual Books) The Great Balloon Race, Buffalo Bill, Praire School, First Flight, and so many more that I can not remember them all.

Over the summer, I started to explore the world of audio books. Due to weekly appointments, we are spending more time in the car and I am just not great at doing Read Alouds during the day. We still read aloud to our boys but the discovery of audio books has been wonderful. We are currently listening to Peter Pan, I love that even Matthew will ask for the audio books. I feel better knowing that we can listen to great literature while we are in the car and it takes some of presure I have put on myself for not doing more read alouds.

My boys love books and I hope that will be a life long love for all three.

Celebrating 97 Years

From 2010-09-18 Grandma's 97th Birthday

Great - Grandma turned 97 years old on September 17, 2010. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Banana Muffins

From 2010-09-17 Matthew Muffins

Matthew enjoyed eating Banan Muffins for lunch today. I am so thankful for Kids With Food Allergies. The recipes available at this site, through membership, have been indispensible as Matthew trials foods and finding new ways to make the foods that he does have.  Today, I took a recipe for sweet potato muffins and pretty much changed everything to make the banana muffins, but I was only able to do this because I had some idea of how much flours vs 'wet' ingredients to add.


Over this last week, I have come to realize that having a child with food allergies is both a privledge and challenge.  I have known the challenge part for some time but the privledge well that is new to me. This week Matthew has started going to Awana, where gets a snack, and Homeschool Co-op, also with snack time. Wow has this been hard. I am so protective of who serves Matthew and what he gets. He only has 10 ingredients in his diet that we know are safe. So protective I guess comes with the territory.  God has used Matthew this week to stretch me.  I have to trust his teachers, I have to trust Matthew and most of all I have to trust God. God will watch over his child that he has given me the privledge to raise.  As Matthew grows, he needs to be able to experience groups and being with peers just like his brothers. I see that God is going to use Matthew to continue to teach me to trust others and to trust him in ways that I currently think are impossible.  For our God is good and gives us good things. I know Matthew will learn to manage his allergies just as we have. He will learn to caustiously trail new foods and when to question the foods being offered. The challenge for me will to be allow him to grow in his independance, by providing safe places for him to do so. He can be and will be a boy who participates fully in life despite his food challenges!

Now for the recipe - so I remember and for any one else who wants to try Matthew's Banana Muffins
1 mashed banana ~1/2 cup
3 Tablespoons Sunflower Oil
1/4 cup Brown Rice Flour
1/4 cup Potato Starch
1-2 Tablespoons Sugar - depending on taste
2 teaspoons - Corn Free Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract - I used vanilla powder.

Mix the banana and oil well. Add dry ingredients, mix well. Make sure the oven is to tempurature. Once the baking powder is wet it starts to react and you want to get it into the oven as quickly as possible.

Fill 6-8 mini muffin cups 3/4 full.  I did not grease the pan and the muffins popped right out after cooling for a few minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Enjoy - I know Matthew did and I am sure he will again in the future.

Co-op

Today was our first day attending Aces Homeschool Co-op. Wonderful, simply wonderful.  All three boys were able to be in class for 4 hours with peers. All came home telling me of the things they learned. Soon they will all have freinds and be asking to go on playdates.  The Aces communty is very welcoming and focused on raising families, allowing fathers to be the leaders and praying for each other. I am excited to see what God has in store for our family this year.

Itasca State Park

Vacation!  Our family took the first week of September to spend in the northern woods of Minnesota. We went from wearing shorts, t-shirts and sandles to pants and sweatshirts over night. It was wonderful camping weather, cool in the evening and beautiful during the day. On our first night, we celebrated PopPop's 65th birthday. The boys were thrilled to be able to share a cake with their PopPop. Our days were filled with adventures of all kinds. On Saturday and Sunday, the boys were able to attend Jr. Park Naturalist classes. It was fun learning about animal prints and being able to touch the animal pelts. Both Bryce and Micah earned thier Jr. Park Naturalist Hardwoods patch, and Bryce also earned his Pinewoods patch.

God showed his provisions for our family to me. Derek recieved a wonderful gift of a telescope from a co-worker who is down sizing. I planned to start an Astronomy Unit Study when we returned. The skies most nights were very clear and we were able to see the Milky Way. The boys had fun looking through the telescope and their interest in the sky was peeked.

From Scrapbook Pages

Monday, morning Bryce was able to earn his Fishing Belt Loop. This meet talking about fishing requlations, baiting his own hook and fishing. Unfortuantely, we caught no fish but it was a fun trip anyway. Bryce is learning to love fishing just like his Daddy and PopPop.

From Scrapbook Pages

On Monday afternoon a storm was a brewing. We knew the rain was coming, so Daddy and PopPop hung tarps to keep the rain from getting our table wet, they did a great job too. Well, the boys they found the bag of extra ropes. Pure entertainment.

From Scrapbook Pages

Tuesday was quite cool. The rain had ended, however the wind stuck around for most of the day. It was a good day for a short adventure to the headwaters of the Mississippi.

From Scrapbook Pages

Wednesday was a day of big adventure. We drove Wilderness Drive and stopped at many of the sites. The largest White Pine, the tallest Red Pine, trees that have been burned in forest fires yet are still growing tall, and huge trees that were down. It was fun to learn about all the different trees and how forests grow and recover from forest fires.

From Scrapbook Pages

Our week of vacation was fun and relaxing. Now we are back to school and work but the memories will be with us for a lifetime. Camping a great way to grow as a family and enjoy all of God's creation.

Two Wheeler

Bryce has been working hard all summer to learn how to balance. First on his scooter and then on a bike. Today, it all paid off!!


Great Job Bryce!!!!



Look at his concentration.

From 2010-09-01 Bryce Learns to Ride a Two Wheeler

Riding is hard work. We are very proud of you Bryce! You worked hard and you did it.

From 2010-09-01 Bryce Learns to Ride a Two Wheeler

School by the River

The flexibility of homeschooling is amazing - school any where at any time.  Today, we attempted to do school at Fort Snelling State Park, however, mom didn't look at the map closely enough. Instead, we drove around being able to see the tops of the trees but not the river. We saw the park but couldn't figure out how to get there. Tried to hike in - took the wrong trail and found out it would have been 2 miles.  Finally, I found a river park in St. Paul along the Mississippi.  The boys didn't care what park we were at, they just wanted to go on the hike mommy had promised them.  After walking a short distance, we found a path of the main trial, time for a "rabbit trail." The boys thought this path was great once they saw where it lead.

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park

After throwing rocks for awhile, we headed back up the trail to start our school work for the day. Currently, the boys are working on earning ther Jr. Naturalist Hardwood Patches through the MN State Parks.  This has been a fun book to work on throughout the summer and has really helped the boys open their eyes to all that is in the woods.

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park

Once we were done with one section, we moved back towards the van to an open area. Each boy picked a tree, examined it, discribed it and created drawings of their trees. The boys worked hard and took this very seriously.  As they finished, I took the opportunity to take some individual pictures of boys. I am working hard to make sure that I get pictures of each of the boys on a regular basis. I find that as they get older I don't take as many pictures and I want to. By taking pictures now, I am able to start capturing parts of thier personalities.

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park

From 2010-09-01 Minnehaha Regional Park