2004-11-24 A Little Lunch Reading

This afternoon while the children and I finished our lunch, I read exerpts from the book, "The American Frugal Housewife. Dedicated to Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy." written by Mrs Lydia Maria Child in 1832. This book came to my attention through the Dover Book sampler which I receive once a week through e-mail. Sample pages with old recipes (receipts) for custards and puddings intrigued me so I searched our local libray's catalog to find that it was available and placed a request for a hold on it.

This book is a treasury of 19th century maxims and wisdom. Although there is much that is not very relevant for todays living (like the fact that an ox's gall will set any color into fabric), there is much wisdom about frugality and caring for the material things we have been given that still holds true today, 172 years after its writing. The quotes listed on the cover are "A fat kitchen maketh a lean will. - Franklin" and "Economy is a poor man's revenue; extravagance a rich man's ruin." The introduction to the book is filled with reasons for frugality along with many examples. I enjoy her account of how she heard someone claim that they could not live on less than "twelve hundred a year" and someone tell them that they were not "economical" for they only spent eight hundrend a year. A third one who was present and silent later said he one spent six hundred per year for he , his wife and children. She said that it "occuured to her that his wife and children were in the habit of picking up paper and twine."

Of particular enjoyment to the children were the statement that "Beer is a good family drink." and the fact that ear wax is a great rememdy for cracked lips.

The next section we will read is entitled "The Education of Daughter" which should be of interest to the girls.

HAND

In an earlier post, I mentioned the girls doing their "HAND." This is something that we came up will to remind the children what they are supposed to complete when they first get out of bed in the morning. There are 5 things which correspond to the 5 fingers on your hand. There's a little rhyme that goes along with it which goes like this:

First thing you do is make your bed,
Put on your clothes
And brush your head.
Brush your teeth,
And wash your face.
Now you're ready to run a race!

These are simply personal care things that they need to do each morning, but I seemed to have to remind them of them every day. They have a laminated sheet hanging in their room with an outline of a hand and these things listed by each finger.

2004-11-23 Tuesday - Errand Day

Yesterday, was our errand day. We have gotten out of the habit of having an official weekly errand day and I feel like we need to get back to that. Because we haven't done that for so long we had TONS to do. So, after all the children had completed their H.A.N.D. and their chores, we left for an all day excursion that began at 11 am and concluded after 6pm.
Here's what we did:

1. Went to the post office and checked for rent checks. (Found one)
2. Went to the bank where we deposited check and wrote a check for cash.
3. Went to the library to return 1/3 of our checked out books, and check out our on hold books.
4. Dropped of a video at Hollywood video
5. Drove through McDonald's for lunch
6. Went to Waterworks and filled our bottles with 19 gallons of purified water.
7. Stopped by Grammy and Gramps house to drop off a DVD for them to borrow.
8. Went to Target where we purchased: bingo prizes for Thanksgiving, 2 outfits for each of the girls that will be Christmas presents, shoes for Anna, a gift for Grammy and Gramps, tights and pantyhose, socks for girls and Patrick,
9. Drove through Wendys to get free (with our saved up coupons) Junior Frosty's as a treat.
10. Got Patrick's hair cut at Great Clips
11. Cleaned out car (lot's of trash!)
12. Took car to Wal-Mart for an oil change and shopped for groceries and pet supplies.
13. Decided that I was too exhausted to go home, unload tired children, 19 gallons of water, and purchases AND COOK, so drove through Hopsings and took home Chinese for dinner.

After dinner we realized that the Samantha Movie was on TV that night so I let the girls stay up late to watch it.

I suppose what we did yesterday doesn't look very "schoolish", but it was real life and probably more useful than a lot of bookwork. Throughout our day were numerous times to test the children's obedience, patience (and mine too Ü), and to learn that they do not get everything they desire. Of course, money was discussed often, too.

2004-11-22 Life Skills Galore

Our day yesterday, 11-22-04:

• Children all completed regular chores
• Anna was taught how to do her own laundry: gathering, spotting, using washer, dryer and putting it away.
• Girls played an alphabet game that they invented using the Alphabet Go Fish deck of cards.
• Both girls had quiet reading time
• Both girls completed their Bible Study Fellowship lesson continuing in the book of Hebrews and memorized Heb. 1:3 (to the tune of "Tomorrow")
• I had special discussion and bible study with the girls about clothing where we discussed: whether God cares about what we wear; modest dressing which consists of not revealing or emphasizing our bodies; why modest dressing is important which included physical sexuality (but not sex) and how appearance plays a role in that and how this is something that God has set apart for marriage. I also shared my own personal conviction about why I only wear dresses and skirts. Told them that I would not make them wear only dresses, but that they needed to pray about this and come to a conclusion for themselves, BUT I will require modest clothing.
• Each girl began their own recipe notebook. Elizabeth copied "Spiced Sweet Potato Casserole" and Grammy's "Pretzel Salad" recipe. Anna sat at the table and wrote "Spiced Sweet Pot..." on her paper and doodled and dawdled. :-( The plan was for her to assist me in making the sweet potato casserole, but lost the privilege and I taught Elizabeth how to in the kitchen instead. Elizabeth did an excellent job and the dish got rave reviews at my First Place meeting that I brought it to. Anna did end up copying most of the ingredient list.
• Girls attended BSF in the evening
• I am praying for God to show me how to motivate Anna (sigh)

From the Mixed up Files of the Rich Hearts.....

Well, I decided to try something new. Although our family has been homeschooling our children for nearly 6 years, I have been a very poor record keeper. What records I have kept, have been misplaced. What we do on a daily basis has been lost forever into the realm of my poor memory. I thought, perhaps, I could journal daily about what we have done on the previous day and therefore have some record for future reference.