Summer Science: Bubbles Exploration and the Scientific Process

Lately, Nina has been fascinated with just how many ways she can explore bubbles.

One recent morning, we had the pleasure of watching a friend's daughter.  It was a hot morning -- one when it was actually cooler outside in the shade than in our non air-conditioned house -- so I decided that some outdoor play and learning were in order.  Thus, unfolded:

Bubble Exploration and the Scientific Process

An easy summer activity that requires inexpensive ingredients you may already have at home.

 

(Apologies, in advance, for the poor photo quality.  Our family point-and-shoot has broken, so I have been using my daughter's "play camera".)

Materials

Measuring out ingredients.

• a place to display recipes (We used a plastic chalkboard easel.)
• a tray
• two bowls
• water (We put ours in a pitcher for easy pouring)
• dishwashing detergent (We used Joy.)
• light corn syrup (You can also use glycerin.)
• bubble wands, straws, etc.
• optional empty bubble containers and wands from all-used-up store-bought mixes
• a table and chairs, if you wish

 

Presentation 

The Recipes We Tested

1. Write out and post two homemade bubble recipes and gather supplies for making them.
2. Chat about what you know about bubbles and what you would like to know.  Together, decide on a question you'll focus on.  (In our case, it was which bubble solutions would make the best bubbles.)
3. Do some background research.  This can be as easy as having young children discuss things with an expert or someone who knows a little more (which is what we did), or it can involve books, the internet and other research.  The idea is to ignite thinking.
4. Construct a hypothesis, together or individually by making an edcated guessa tthe answer to a question.  (In our case, Nina, Jack and our friend hypothesized that the second bubble recipe would make the best bubbles and Luke and I hypothesized that the first would.  We noted our hypothesis by putting our first initial next the the recipe on our chalkboard.)
5. Make the bubble mixes and test your hypothesis, taking extra care to measure and stir well and to be observant of everything that happens.  (In our case, this involved taking turns to slowly measure and mix all of our recipe ingredients and, then, testing the two solutions we created out by blowing bubbles and carefully observing the results.)
6. Analyze your data and draw conclusions informally through observation and discussion or, more formally, with written notes.  (We opted for the former, although we did jot a few observations down on our chalkboard.  The kids results were that the recipe with less water made better big bubbles and the one with more water made better smaller bubbles.)
7. Share your results.  (We did this through sharing what we did, how we did and what we discovered with our friend's mom and with Daddy.  )
8. Enjoy!  Be sure to leave room for lots of exploration and discoveries.  Bubbles are all about science AND fun, after all! (We ended up blowing bubbles with traditional bubble wands, ball and other found materials and straws.  We blew them "normally", onto plates, into our hands, etc.  We wet our fingers and small toys with bubble mix and passed these through bubbles without breaking the bubbles.  We made bubble bowls and snakes... And so much more!)
9. Make new hypothesis if you wish.  (We have begun discussions about what recipe tweaks may work well for next time.

 

Skills

After Luke tried to make bubbles by dunking a ball in bubble mix and hitting it with a bat, Nina began experimenting with blowing bubbles through the ball with a straw.

• Scientific Process (asking questions, research/discussion, constructing hypothesis, testing hypothesis/observation, drawing conclusions, sharing conclusions)
• Science (discussion of properties -- solids, liquids, etc.)
• Reading (simple Decoding when reading the recipe)
• Practical Life (measuring, following directions)
• Sensory (oral-motor, tactile, visual)
• Math (measuring, counting)
• Creativity (free exploration of bubbles after hypothesis has been tested, what types of things can we make bubbles with, what can we do with bubbles)

Quick Tips/Extensions

 

Jack was so proud to make hold bubbles with his hands.

• Reinforce the "scientific process" concept by using lots of language about "being scientists" and what strong scientisits do.  Keeping things fun, and without overdoing it, pepper the experiment and exploration with articulated science words and concepts.
• Experiment with different bubble recipes.
• If you have children who are learning to count still, add a lot of counting in.  How long does it take before a big bubble bursts?  How many bubbles can you pop? Etc.
• Focus on language skills and concepts by talking about things such as opposites (big/small, wet/dry, etc.), comparisons (more/most, big/bigger/biggest, etc.), etc.
• Add further literacy and extensions by exploring any of the books shared in our 2010 post Book Nook:  Bubbles!  Bubbles!
• Extend with bubble-related sensory activities like those shared at 7 Sense-ational Ways to Use Bubbles.

What are your favorite bubble recipes and activities?  And what simple summer science activities have you been enjoying?  

Fall Planning: Daily Flow Framework (with ADHD in Mind)

Going with the flow after dinner one night.  The children decided to design and test boats during family time.

In early summer, I bumped into an informative article called Planning Summer Days: Rhythm and Routine.  This piece illuminated typical patterns of alertness and ability to focus in children with ADHD – suggesting what types of activities to plan for which part of a child’s day.  As I have been looking ahead to the fall and considering how to tweak our daily rhythm, I have found myself consulting the article again.

After prayer, thought, discussions with my husband and chatting in an age-appropriate way with my kiddoes, I have come up with a daily flow framework that I think will work best for us for the fall. 

The framework takes into consideration our children’s learning styles, our family's regular commitments and my take on tips from the aforementioned article.  Whether the flow will translate from planning to practice well for our family has yet to be seen.  However, I have already begun to transition us into it and can, with a smile, say, "so far, so good."

Here it is:

Daily Fall Flow

Wake Up Time

o        Five Before Breakfast

o        Tray or Play Table Time: Games, Puzzles, Quiet Play, Books

Breakfast Time

o        Tidy

o        Family Meal

o        Faith Circle/Stories, Etc.

Morning Experiences

o        Personal Hygiene

o        Family Work Time/Home Jobs

o        Any combination of the following with the “less-appealing-to-kids” activities coming before the “more-appealing” ones, whenever possible, and with either sustained physical activity or a 10-15 minute spurt of “heavy work” thrown in around mid-morning.

-                Focused Learning Activities

-                Practice on Goals

-                Physical and Sensory Activities

-                Tidy, then Snack

-                Get Togethers / Field Trips / Errands /Learning Groups and Co-ops

Lunch and Quiet Time

o        Tidy

o        Family Meal

o        Read Alouds

o        Self-Directed Quiet Activities, including Reading

Afternoon Experiences

o        Any combination of “minimal persistence/high-interest activities” (i.e. ones the kids like and stay engaged in) with necesary “less-appealing-to-kids” activities (such as tidy time) coming before the “more-appealing” ones (like snack time or online time).  Activities that might be included:

-                Focused Family Studies and Projects

-                Physical and Sensory Activities

-                Online Time

-                Get Togethers / Field Trips / Errands /Learning Groups and Co-ops

o        Tidy, then Snack

Dinner and Intentional Family (or Parent-Children Time when Mom is Working)

o        Tidy

o        Family Meal

o        Getting Crazy with Daddy, Creative / Physical / Chill-Time Activities

Wind Down and Bedtime

o        Tidy

o        Screen-Free Activities (beginning at least one hour before bedtime)

o        Five T’s

How does your day flow?  Do you intentionally structure it to meet certain goals or to accommodate certain learning / personality / neurology styles?

Health over Budget: Chick Peas with Disodium EDTA

Canned chick peas have become a staple food in our home.  I know they are not the healthiest of food options. (No canned food is).  However, they are a convenient, on-the-go, GFCF food that packs at least some nutritional punch into our picnic times.  So we tend to eat a lot of them during the summer.

Unfortunately, I just discovered that the chick peas the kids and I have been consuming copious amounts of during the past several weeks may be doing us harm.

Our Slipper Slope: “The Blue Can” Chick Peas

Some months ago, I spied a well-known brand of chick peas on deep sale at the grocery store.  When I glanced quickly at the ingredients there were only four: chick peas, water, salt and one thing I did not recognize.  Thinking about the fact that the chickpeas cost less than half of what our usual organic brand did, I decided that ingredient won’t kill us with a few servings.  I’ll just look it up when I get home to see what it is before feeding the chick peas to the kids. 

Can you note the beginning of our slip?  I placed budget over common sense guidelines for health.  (Never purchase anything with multiple ingredients unless you can read each ingredient's name and you know what it is.)  Further, I was disillusioned about what I could and would do. (Did I really think that my three young children would be calm enough after a grocery store trip for me to quickly put away groceries and, then, look up an ingredient online before I forgot to do so altogether?)

The slip got worse.

On a subsequent grocery store trip, when I went to replenish our canned chick pea stock with our usual organic brand, the children stopped me.  “Buy the ones in the blue can”, they begged.  “We like them better.” 

I, personally, had tasted little difference between the two kinds of beans.  However, I did notice the price difference between them.  Plus, I liked the handy pull top on the blue cans, which makes eating the beans on picnics a breeze.  So it was, we slid further and further away from sensible eating, the “blue can” beans our “usual” brand.

Questioning What Disodium EDTA Is and How It Affects Us

Fast forward a number of weeks.  (Or has it been months?)  We have been mindlessly pulling the tops of chick pea cans at least a couple times a week and popping the beans into our mouth with smiles, knowing we like the beans and thinking are "good for us."

Then, this week, as I pulled to top off another can at lunch picnic the other day, I noticed the ingredients again.  Disodium EDTA.  What is that? I wondered.

This morning, I Googling for an answer.

Yikes.

On Fat Guy Slimming, a random site that I bumped into, I read that “Calcium Disodium EDTA...is a nasty little chemical made from formaldehyde, sodium cayanide, and Ethylenediamine.”  Ewww.

But is Calcium Disodium EDTA different than plain Disodium EDTA?  I did not find much on this, but I did read on one site that “disodium EDTA is a sequestering agent (that) does bad things to blood calcium levels.”  Considering calcium levels already border on low around here due in part to the fact that we are casein-free, that fact made me cringe.

                                                                                           

As I read on another site, that Disodium EDTA robs your body of “Vitamin C, magnesium, iron, calcium, zinc, potassium,” I cringed even further.  Pangs of guilt for allowing such a vitamin and mineral thief entry into our home overcame me.

I was then placated for a minute when I discovered that some feel disodium EDTA has benefits, since it combines with metals and pulls them out of our systems – such as when it is used in chelation therapy.  Chelation therapy is not something we have ever tried here, but I have considered it, especially since I have heard if can have positive effects for children “on the spectrum”.  So maybe this disodium EDTA stuff isn’t that bad, I hoped.

I wanted to cling to that hope, but, honestly, in the end, I came to agree with the person whose thoughts I read here that disodium EDTA “clings to minerals in your digestive tract and pulls them out, leaving them to be disposed through your feces” and “just as in relationships, clinginess is a bad thing for healthy people because when you eat foods with the preservative, it pulls out both bad and crucial minerals and disturbs gut bacteria.”  I think I have the guts in our home fairly healthy and I don’t want to be messing with them by subjecting them to undo clinginess through our diets several days a week.  The disodium EDTA has to go.

Back on Top of Healthy Choices

So here I am with my kids at the bottom of a slippery slope.  And, here I go to brush the yuck aside and climb back to the top for making healthy dietary choices for my family.

To that end, today, I have decided :

• I will not soon place budget over common sense again.
•  If there’s an ingredient in a food item that I am considering making “regular” for our family, I will look it up before buying the item.
• Perhaps I need to build a habit of pre-preparing chick peas from scratch more often.

Do you have further information on Disodium EDTA?  Do you have a favorite “healthy” canned bean brand?  Do you have an easy way you prepare, cook and store beans from scratch for later on-the-go eating?  Please share!

An Intentional, Experiential Day Processed through Play

2/3's of the Way through the Day:  Feeding Seals

As I begin to write this, it is 9 o’clock at night and my seven- and six-year-olds are not asleep yet.  I am okay with that.  They are reading to Daddy after spending more than an hour processing their day their way.

You see, our day was busy – in a good way.  A way filled with living intentionally and experientially.

Slow Morning

In the morning, the kids slept in a bit later than usual while I moved through morning tasks to the rhythm of a refreshing rain.   (Intentional Choice – respecting both the children’s need for sleep and my need for discipline in developing better personal morning chore habits)

Then, Luke and Nina helped me to cook up a batch of homemade GFCF pancakes to drizzle in maple syrup and raspberries.  The pancakes were chock-full of carrots from our local CSA farm, which meant that we benefited from fruit-and-vegetable produce power this morning after the children apportioned our breakfast out fairly among themselves, saving an additional portion for Daddy’s next-day breakfast which included one extra pancake “because Daddy’s bigger than us”.  (Intentional Choices – eating healthy, teaching the children life skills, spending meal time together, considering others)

After breakfast, we had a slow morning of free play for the kids, more tasks for me and, then, a tidy time, before we stopped in at a local school to finish off homeschool reporting paperwork for next year.  The kids brought along some coloring and books to keep them busy while I filled out the form and were incredibly well-behaved and intent while we were at the school.  (Intentional Choices – balancing work and play, being responsible)

Creature-Filled Mid-Day

Notice the only child with a hand up:  Luke!

Then, after an easy lunch at home, we packed food for the rest of the day and headed out to a nearby town’s library for a great program of live digging critters that included a legless lizard, a snake, a tarantula, a tortoise, a fox, a hedgehog, a skunk, a large toad (Jack’s favorite) and a banana-eating groundhog (Nina and Luke’s favorite.)  On the way to the library, we made predictions about what creatures we might see, what colors they might be, what features they might have and why (based on the fact that the creatures were supposed to all be digging creatures.)   The children made some on-spot predictions about the creatures being brown, black, red or orange (mostly to blend in with different types of dirt and environments) and having claw-like hands or feet for digging.  (Intentional Choices – relaxed, yet pointed pre-engagement for learning experience)

I so appreciate presenters who are willing to answer questions after a program!

At the program, Luke, Nina and Jack remained engaged by they Creature Teacher critters and explanations.  Then, of course,  Luke asked to stay afterward to ask the presenter questions.  (Intentional Choices –  hands-on – or eyes-on/ears-open, in this case – learning, plus encouraging inquisitiveness)

Onto "Seal" the Day with More Learning and Fun

One of the Two Seal Pups We Saw

From there, it was off to the National Marine Life Center for “Townsend Day.”  On the way there, I offered the children a snack to eat in the car and verbally transitioned them between the parts of our day by recalling the day thus far and discussing what we were headed off to do for the late afternoon and evening.  While doing so, I inquired what the kids’ favorite animals from the Creature Teacher program were before guiding them to compare their pre-program predictions to what they actually had actually seen and heard at the library.  We also shared surprising and interesting facts.  (Intentional Choices –  gentle learning, respect for one child’s needs regarding transitions)

During our driving and chatting time, Jack piped up with a request to listen to his favorite Farmyard Tales CD.  I complied, and, in minutes,  Jack drifted off to his afternoon naptime.   As soon as I realized he was asleep, I turned the CD player off so Nina, Luke and I could have our usual afternoon quiet time, even if we weren’t at home.  That quiet time, though, was soon filled with Luke and Nina offering further commentary about the critter program before transitioning into their own imaginary tales about the creatures they had seen up close and personal at the library earlier and the ones they expected to see at the NMLC.  (Intentional Choices –respecting children’s requests, encouraging quiet and imagination) 

Jack Inspecting the Crab Tank

Shortly after arriving at the NMLC, we joined a small, but fantastic Behind-the-Scenes tour which began with an update about the four seal patients currently at the NMLC and explanation about the prior seal and turtle patients, progressed with an up-close look at some beautiful turtles, and, then, took us through the hospital portion of the facility, where we got to see the seals – including two new patient seal pups and Townsend, the seal the day was being celebrated for.  Along the way, the kids were able to ask questions, see equipment up close, come nearly face to face with some of the marine life, etc.  So cool!  (Intentional Choice –  experiential learning)

Nina the Seal Doctor

After the tour, Luke, Nina and Jack immersed themselves in learning and play in the visitor’s center for over an hour.  Puzzles, sensory play, crafts, exploring x-rays, feeling seal skin, touching bones and teeth, listening to me read about a seal’s rehabilitation, and, their favorite, dramatic play – all while making a new friend for the day, who they were excited to learn was also planning to go to Townsend the Seal’s release at a local beach in the evening.  (Intentional Choice – allowing plenty of time for hands-on play and learning)

Team Doctoring

 Seal Release

Farewell, Townsend!

When the kids came to a natural lull in their play, I suggested that we head over to the beach for dinner and the seal release.  They thought this was a good idea, so off we went for a car picnic and storytime with books I had pre-packed.  (Car picnic because it was sprinkling out, so a beach picnic just did not make sense.) Then, off we went to the beach to be among the first in the crowd that came to bid Townsend farewell as he journeyed back into the wild.  (Intentional Choices – prior planning to facilitate flexible picnicking and reading time, leaving plenty of margin time so as to avoid rushing)

Admittedly, once on the beach, the kids got a bit antsy waiting for Townsend actually to arrive and, then, whined a little when I would not let them cross the temporary barricades that were set up for Townsend’s actual release, which most of the crowd disregarded.  However, they were excited by the actual release – especially when Townsend seemed to be waving at us and, to their credit, also obeyed me by staying behind the yellow caution tape that stood as the temporary crowd control even when the rest of the crowd surged forward.  Likewise, they skipped and ran with delight once I let them move forward after Townsend was in the water.  (Intentional Choices – insisting on patience and obedience and recognizing when it was demonstrated)

Processing through Play

"Traps like this can be very dangerous for a creature."

On the way home from the big seal release, Jack fell asleep, but not Nina and Luke.  They politely asked (really, they actually did not whine!) if they could stay up a bit to play after sharing all the details of the day with Daddy who awaited us at home.  Permission granted, they bounced into the house and told Daddy all about our day.  (How special it was to see Luke on top of Daddy’s lap narrating snap shots of the day.)  Then, they commenced in 100% self-directed creative play to process their day.  (Intentional Choices – encouraging narration for learning, sharing with one another, making time and space for “processing play”.)

Completely of their own accord, Nina and Luke fetched stuffed toys and various instruments to set up an animal rehabilitation hospital.  They even used an old play crown of Nina’s as a demonstration trap to show center visitors how some animals get injured.  (Intentional Choices –  allowing/encouraging unconventional use of “loose items” for play)

Nina's X-Ray Station

Then, Nina took stools, a desk light, a chalk board and chalk to make an innovative imaginary x-ray machine I would have never thought to create.  Whereupon, Luke and Nina took (drew) x-rays of the different creatures, determining what each was ailing from before working the creatures through therapy, giving each medicine or performing surgery on them (which, I noticed, included a pulling-something-from-an-ear-maneuver that hearkened back to a magician our family recently saw). (Intentional Choice – observing, without directing play)

A Bunny ready for Release

When Luke and Nina’s creature patients were well, my little creature healers put each in a carrying case (an old cooler) and released them into the wild (other rooms of the house).  As they did all this, I remained constantly wowed by how the kids used their intellect and imagination to weave together things they had seen and heard throughout the day with things they already knew with things they could only guess about.  Truly, their cooperative play and mutual storytelling and innovation impressed me.  (Unfortunately, I stopped being intentional at this point in the day and failed to capture any of their conversation snippets on paper.   Alas, even as I appreciated all of Luke and Nina’s “processing play”, I failed to fully observe and record it as I moved through a few chores and email checking to wind down my own day.)

Daddy and I allowed the kids extra time to play before reminding them that it was bedtime, since it was so obvious that the children “needed” this play as much as they wanted it.  Sure, it was an exercise in fun and pushing bedtime limits, but, more than that, it was an opportunity for them to process their day and to solidify their learning in a way that works for them.  So, it was that it was 9ish when they finally tidied the living room (asking if they could leave some of their machinery and patients out for tomorrow) and headed off to read with Daddy before listening to CD’s. (Intentional Choices – maintain routine within flexibility, honor children's needs and learning styles)

A full day.  A fabulous day.  A day replete with experience and intention become reality.

Waiting for Townsend Atop a Lifeguard Chair

Oh, for every day to be so full of gentle, yet active learning and regular rhythms wrapped around flexibility that accommodates special events.

As I look toward the coming summer and fall, I expect many more days will be like this.  Life is rich when lived slowly with intent.

Do your children also process life and learning through creative play?

Thank You: The Post in Which I Share My Gratitude to Readers and The Journey of this Blog

It’s June 21^st!

That means it’s summertime and the living is easy, right?

The kids experimenting with literal summer balance while Mommy rediscovers a more figurative time.

Well, maybe not that easy.  But, here, it is certainly easier than it was even a week ago.  Paid work contracts have slowed back down to a manageable pace.  Must-go-to commitments for the children and I have tapered off.  Health has returned to our family.  And, we are a two-vehicle household again.  (Yes – praises be – nearly two weeks ago, my husband’s old car died with perfect timing – after many seasonal work and homeschool commitments had wound down and just when the kids and I got sick with a summer bug that begged us to stay in virtual quarantine at home anyway.  If the old jalopy had to pick a time to finally break down beyond repair, a week ago Monday was the ideal time.  It’s the small things in life that make me grateful.)

Indeed, it seems that a life-balance of intention, not urgency, is in sight for me once more and, with it, comes a strong desire to begin blogging again.

Over the past week, the will to blog has been ever-present in my head and heart.  I have been trying to quiet it, but is simply won’t shush.

It prattles on:  I miss reflecting and writing.  I miss sharing.  I miss taking a more active part in the blogging community than “paused blogger” and “hit-and-run reader”.  In short, I miss it all – the learning, the sharing, the growth, the diversion, the discoveries.

So, I am back – at least for now – with great thanks to any of you who have stuck with me during my blogging break and are actually pausing your busy day to read these words. 

THANK YOU!

Truly, thank you to every reader who unknowingly lent me encouragement during the marathon of off-kilter life-balance that was my late winter and spring. 

It warmed me to note when you browsed old posts while the promise of current ones was on pause.  It made me smile when some of you actually took the time to comment on my prior sharings.  And, -wow – it truly lifted me when a few of you took the time to email, message me through Facebook or a blog comment just to see how I was doing and to encourage me both in my pause and in my one-day possible return.

A Quick Look Back at the Journey

When I began writing Training Happy Hearts in 2009, I wondered if anyone would even want to read it. 

In 2010, when book author Hartley became the first of several different folks who asked me to Guest Post on their blogs, I was excited, yet humbled.  It energized my will to blog and opened me up to getting to know so many more great people through virtual communities!

In 2011, I was delighted to build community with fellow “sensory kid” parents as well as Christian-Catholic ones through paying it forward with printables, sensory diet ideas and the Training Happy Hearts in Young Children Series, while also gleaning so much support and developing e-friendships with fellow bloggers and readers.  I also began to dabble more in affiliate links and item reviews in order to “justify" the time I spent on blogging and to help our family out a tiny, tiny – and I do mean minutely tiny – bit.

In 2012, it amazed me to note that the Alerting Activity ABC cards that I had created in 2011 remained such a huge hit with folks, while also seeing that faith-based ideas, like BLESSing cards, and education ones, like my Weather Tree How-To and Round Up,  became popular.  Unfortunately, though, I could not consistently continue to create and share printables and stories about SPD, faith and education.  Part way through 2012, a computer hard drive failure mandated that I take my first longish blogging break.  Granted, my desire to blog could not be quelled for long.  I was back at it within about a month.

By 2013, sharing here at Training Happy hearts was firmly established in my head and my heart as a joy for any “free time” I might find.  However, it also became increasingly apparent to me that I had been allocating too much not-really-free time to being online.  Blogging (and being on the computer in general) had moved from being a delight in balance with the rest of life to being a detriment to it.

Once I confessed that blogging had taken too large a role in my life, I made a conscious effort to wean my blogging pursuits back to whatever time that more important life needs would actually allow for them.  This meant that in the first half 2013, blogging ended up slowing, more or less, to just keeping my commitment to the THH Sunday Series before, eventually, pausing all together.

Now, after praying... and thinking... and praying and thinking some more – as well as noting that life is getting at least a little more balanced – I am back!  Back with great thanks to those who have spent a moment or more sharing both in my family’s journey and in my personal blogging journey.

I thank you, readers and fellow bloggers, for being just like in-real-life friends – not always actively present, but always there to pick up where we left off...

Truly, thank you! 

21 Days and Counting on Habit Forming: The Post in Which I Explain Why I Have Paused Blogging

Wow!  I realized today that it has been 21 days since I last posted here.  In case anyone has been wondering where I am or if I am still alive, let me explain:

Since the New Year began, I have been extra busy with contract work to help finance our family necessities.  In order to make time for this work without completely throwing my life-balance out of whack or reducing my already lacking sleep further than it already is, some things had to give.   Blogging was one of those things.

I decided I would continue to post at least once a week, but no more than that unless life-balance allowed me extra online time for writing.  Obviously that did not happen often!

Work demanded more attention.  So did a growing realization that multi-tasking is not working in our home.  The kids, my marriage, our house, my prayer life -- just about everything -- suffers when I fail to decide what my priorities are at any given moment and, then, to give those priorities the fullest attention and energy that I can give to them.  

Online time just has not rated as high on my priority list lately -- not because I don't crave it and don't love sharing and learning online, but because I need to honor my call as mom, wife, homemaker, homeschooler and partial provider before blogging.  Slowly, since the new year, I became convicted about the fact that blogging is important to me (and, hopefully, my blog is valued by some readers!), but that it cannot be as important as other things that sometimes get less-than-full attention when I am swept up in blogsophere.  Thus, my step back to once-a-week blogging over the past several months.

And what about my more recent complete 21-day stall? 

Well, the third week in April, my husband and I decided to take the kids on a road trip to visit my husband's family.  That meant shuffling work contracts about before, during and after the trip, particularly after, since I got far less work-from-(my in-law's)-home done than I had thought I would.

In fact, it took me the entire last week to catch up on what I had committed to doing for work while we were away, yet did not manage to complete until we got home.  Okay to catch up on that, and the inevitable laundry, mail, bills, homeschool swing of things... The list goes on.

Finally, this past weekend, I sat for a moment and smiled.  It seemed that things were back to normal here -- or whatever "normal" had become before we left to visit my in-law's.  So, I almost got online to break my blogging haitus.  However, a child called.  A need arose.  A priority asked for me to choose it over blogging.

A pause.  A prayer.  A realization:  It is not time for me to begin blogging regularly again yet. 

Some say it takes 21 days to build a habit.  For me, it appears to take longer.  I know that if I begin my blogging habit again right now, I will impede the necessary habit-forming that other areas of my life demand.  There are simply not enough hours in the day for me to accomplish all that I have committed to doing for others -- as well as that which I have committed to doing (and being!) for myself and for our Lord.  At any given moment, many things call, but only ONE thing at a time can get my full (or nearly full) time and energy.  That thing must be one that is fully ensconced in my call to motherhood.   And, frankly, as much as I love blogging and interacting with other bloggers, blogging cannot be a top priority for me right now.

So, please know that I am alive.  I am well.  I am here.  I am missing writing more frequently, as well as reading others' blogs more regularly.  I hope to get back to doing so before too much longer.

However, for now, I have to maintain discipline.  I need to allow a habit of discerning priorities and attending to them to form before I indulge in the delights fo blogging again.

Wish me luck.  Lift my commitment in prayer.  And, until I am able to write again here, feel free to browse old pieces, to leave comments with your personal wisdom and advice, to make requests for topics you'd like to see me write on when I am able to return to blogging more regularly, etc.

Thank you!

The Altar Gang is a Hit!

What do Easter baskets, a boy hopping down the hallway, three children that took forever to get to sleep one night and a boy sniffing along the altar this morning after Mass have in common?

The Altar Gang!

Among the things that Luke, Nina and Jack found in their Easter baskets this year, were Glory Stories and Altar Gang Cd's.  

Who knew the Altar Gang would be such a hit?

Since then, not a day has gone by without the children (especially Luke) listening to one or more of the CD's over and over with rapt attention and, at times, raucous giggles.  In fact, the Altar Gang seems to have become woven into the rhythm of our days for the time being.

 

My cue, some mornings, that Luke is awake has been the sound of his shuffling feet and then the Altar Gang character voices emanating from the boys' room.

Then, later in the day, the Altar Gang characters enter into lesson and play time.  The kids ask questions about vocabulary words they have heard; we talk about faith and character truths related to the CD's'; Luke and Nina illustrate visual scenes they have imagined while listening to the CD's; and, of course, there is lots of dramatic play!

Luke as AJ the Aspergillum

The dramatic play began early last week when Luke cracked me up by hopping down the hallway , asking, "Mom, who am I?" only to answer his own question before I could respond to him.  "I am AJ.  I am AJ!  I AM AJ!"

And bedtimes?  Well, it sure is difficult for excited children to fall asleep, so I am about ready to forbid the Altar Gang from the sleep-time CD collection.  But, not yet.  For, as I wrote on my personal Facebook page the other day:

You just cannot go in and be the bedtime ogre when you hear three children joyfully avoiding sleep by dancing, singing and storytelling along to their Easter bunny booty... It is cracking me up.  Keep selling fun, faith-filled CD's Holy Heroes!

So, now you can see how the CD's in the kids' Easter baskets inspired Luke to hop down the hall and he and his siblings to spend hours listening, learning and playing this week.  You also know about how the CD's have affected bedtime.

But what about the sniffing along the altar?

Leave it to Luke and his imagination....

This morning during Mass, the heater at church was knocking.  When Luke heard it, his ears perked up.  He wondered if it was Skiff and AJ, the main characters in the Altar Gang, perhaps trying to get back into the church after some adventure.  Thus, Luke began inspecting the altar, looking for the altar cloth, the candles and whatnot.  He wondered why our church has no consecration bells.  His mind synapsed with Altar Gang story-inspired hypotheses, which led to Luke sniffing along the altar after Mass for smoke, looking for clues that might indicate a mystery such as the one in We've Been Wronged?

Ah, yes.  Our boy (and his siblings along with him) may not have been as centered on the Eucharist as I would have liked this morning, but they were most certainly interested in the altar.  I'll rejoice over baby steps as they are taken!

   

What CD's (or other resources) have ignited your child's imagination lately?

 

(If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.)

Please note: Links to Holy Heroes in this post WERE NOT affiliate ones, but now they are, because WE LOVE HOLY HEROES AND WANT TO SUPPORT THEM while helping ourselves a little, too!   Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make an Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we earn from Amazon goes straight back into training up our children and to much of what we share with you here.