Girls To Grow

Nurturing moms in their walk with God

Daddies and Daughters

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Isn’t it interesting how certain seemingly unremarkable events from your childhood stand out in your memory? For me, one of those events recalls my dad’s thoughtfulness.

Growing up,we didn’t go out to eat a whole lot – certainly not as much as we do with our children. There were four of us kids, so even a fast-food meal wasn’t exactly cheap. I believe we were headed somewhere on a trip and had gone through the drive-through at McDonald’s to get lunch, my dad placing the order for all of us. We pulled over into a parking space to divvy up the food before continuing down the road. Somehow the food I received wasn’t what I had ordered. I mentioned that I had gotten the wrong sandwich and, while it wasn’t what I had wanted, I could have eaten it. However, I remember my dad taking the time to get out of the car, walk back into the restaurant, stand in line and get the food I had requested.

The neatest thing is to see that same quality in my husband when he deals with our girls. Last night, our eight-year-old had left some books in the car and headed out to the garage to get them. I was busy in the kitchen when she came right back in saying it was too dark and she didn’t want to go out there by herself. My answer was to tell her to go on out there and just turn on the light and get her books. Yet her dad, overhearing the conversation, walked out there with her and turned the light on for her. Such a small thing, but he took the time to stop what he was doing and help her out.

Both stories are about a dad showing his love for his daughter by doing something that may seem insignificant at the time, yet cultivates that special father-daughter relationship, which is a finer thing indeed!

This post is linked to Finer Things Friday and Family Friday.

Our First Week of Summer Learning

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Most of my Teaching Tuesday’s for the summer will revolve around what the girls and I are doing in our self-developed summer learning program. You can read here about what I have planned out for us to do each week. My younger daughter wants to call this “school” while the older one prefers the “summer learning” term.

This week’s theme is countries around the world, so on Monday we made our trip to the library and checked out ten books (five each) about various countries. The girls choose which country they want to read about each day and I give a minimum number of pages I want them to read in that book. I made sure to choose books that were close to their reading level and am sure they will probably end up reading the whole book most days.
 
I had them each choose a notebook at the dollar store and we bought those to be their summer notebooks. On the first couple of pages, we will write and draw pictures about our vacation last week.
 
Then, to keep up with their writing skills, I am having them write in their notebook each day. My 8-year-old has to write the name of the country she read about that day at the top of her sheet of paper and then write three sentences on things she learned about that country. My 6-year-old also writes the name of the country on her page then has to find five words to copy from the book (they can be words she couldn’t read or pronounce so that we can practice them together or any words she chooses about the country). We will also use the notebooks to keep a record of our outings and other fun activities we do this summer.
 
For some math review, I write or print out a little math worksheet for them to do or have them practice by themselves with some flashcards. Finally, I picked up some introductory Spanish books with audio cd’s for them to listen to together. Once they finish that, we sit down and look at their notebooks together, then find the countries they read about that day in an atlas and on the globe.
 
We are only just beginning this program, but so far both girls really seem to be enjoying it. Later this week we’ll try to gather some recipes from a few of the countries they’ve read about and make them for supper a couple of nights. I’ll let you know how that goes next week!
 
photo courtesy public domain pictures
 

Setting Up Our Daily Schedule for Summer

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Last week I posted a schedule of weekly themes and activities that I’m hoping to do with the girls this summer. Since then, I have been trying to work out a daily schedule for us to follow. Here is what I’ve put together for my girls so far.

7:30 A.M. Breakfast
8:00-9:00 A.M. Make beds, get dressed, complete any other chores
9:00-10:00 A.M. Independent work: read books on theme, do writing activity, study memory verse, practice piano
[This is the time in which I would hope to be able to get any of my daily blogging activities accomplished.]
10:00–10:30 A.M. Go over independent work with me, research together on the Internet any questions they may have from their reading
10:30-11:30 A.M. Play outside (weather permitting)
11:30 A.M. Lunch (Girls to help me prepare it)
12:30–1:00 P.M. Work on Spanish or watch video/dvd on that week’s theme 1:00–2:00 P.M. Play inside
2:00-2:40 P.M. Computer time (each girl gets twenty minutes to play games on the computer)
2:45 P.M. Snack
3:00 P.M. Complete any chores left to be done, then free time
I want to get my daughters more involved in helping out in the kitchen this summer, so I hope to have them helping me prepare lunch daily and supper at least several times a week. I like to have the girls in bed no later than 9:00 P.M. even during the summer.
 
My goal is to be able to keep this schedule consistently at least 3–4 days a week. Monday will be our grocery shopping and library day. I am sure I will have to go out at least one other day each week to complete other errands, but am hoping to combine them all into one trip. We will also want to have friends over here and there, but this is at least a basic outline to get us started and we’ll adjust as needed.
 
On another topic, as I noted above, I would like to have the girls, especially my older daughter, begin learning Spanish (other then the few words she’s picked up from Dora the Explorer!) I’m going to see what’s available at our library, but if you can recommend any language learning programs, I’d love to hear about them!
 
 

Good-Bye, Second Grade

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Today marks the last day of my oldest daughter’s career as a second grader.

Is it because, in a sense, she’s a firstborn that she is like me (also a firstborn) in her perfectionistic tendencies, her desire to please those in authority, her love of order and organization? The old “nature versus nurture” debate rages on.

Yet as much of myself as I see in her, there are parts of her daddy present, too. For starters, she looks much more like him. She can run fast and tans beautifully – two traits she unquestionably inherited from father!

She has handled well the pressures of being the oldest, having parents who want to do their best expecting much from her, while perhaps unconsciously relaxing a little more with the younger one.

I am overwhelmingly thankful for this long-awaited child, the answer to years of prayers, the entry to parenthood we desired. The door to parenthood had been barely nudged ajar by the brief life of our Angel; this daughter flung it wide open.

The days and weeks seem to be going by faster now. May I treasure the moments to be with her, to grow to know and understand her better as we journey together into uncharted waters.

After all, I’ve never been the mom of a third grader before.

Summer Learning Schedule

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Since this is the last week of school here, I decided it was time to get myself in gear for the summer. While I like to take it easy during these months, I also know that the girls still need a bit of structure to their days. When we have at least a general plan of things to do, it keeps both them and myself more focused and under control. Since swimming lessons aren’t being offered at our normal location this summer, the next few months are pretty low-key as far as activities go.

I wanted to do a theme for each week of the summer and plan our reading and other activities around it. Monday will be our library day. I plan to go online and reserve some titles ahead of time, but will also browse through the shelves while we’re there to get a good selection of books. If there is a related video or dvd to go along with our theme, we’ll check that out as well. Since my girls are six and eight, we will choose materials that they can mostly read by themselves.

The outings I’ve chosen each week are free or relatively inexpensive. For the few that cost a bit more, we will use the money we had set aside for those swimming lessons to cover the expense. I also have included a Bible verse for them to memorize each week that goes along with the theme we’ll be discussing. Again, they are old enough to read through the verse on their own and can practice it together.

The order of the weeks may change as we go along, depending on what other items are added to our schedule. Here’s the plan I’m starting with for now.

Week 1 Theme – Countries
Books: Each girl can choose five countries to read about
Outing: Grocery store (Since we will have just returned from our vacation, our outing will be to the grocery store where the girls can help me choose ingredients to make meals from some of the countries they choose to read about.)
Bible verse: Acts 1:8

Week 2 Theme – Ocean
Books: Ocean/Ocean Life/Sea Animals
Outing: Beach
Verse: Psalm 139:9-10

Week 3 Theme – Animals
Books: Each girl chooses five animals to read about
Outing: Zoo
Verse: Psalm 104:24

Week 4 Theme – History
Books: Each girl will choose one time period from world history and one from American history to read about
Outing: Fort Moultrie, SC
Verse: Psalm 77:11-12

Week 5 Theme – Flowers & Trees
Books: Encyclopedia or overview books about various types of flowers and trees
Outing: Middleton Place Gardens
Verse: Matthew 6:28-29

Week 6 Theme – Sports
Books: Three sports each
Outing: Bowling and/or minor league baseball game
Verse: 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Week 7 Theme – Famous Americans
Books: Five for each girl – biographies or autobiographies (to include one native South Carolinian each)
Outing: Downtown Charleston, SC
Verse: Hebrews 12:1

Week 8 Theme – Missionaries
Books: Three for each girl – biographies or autobiographies
Outing: Service project (I would like to find some service project we can do as a family)
Verse: Matthew 28:19-20

Week 9 Theme – Health/Our Bodies
Books: Anatomy/Exercise/Healthy Eating
Outing: Local park (hiking trail) and/or farmers market to choose new fruit or vegetable to try
Verse: Psalm 139:14

Next week I plan to share what our daily schedule will look like. I will update throughout the summer as to what is (and what isn’t!) working for us!

This post is linked to Tackle It Tuesday and Talk About Tuesday.

photo courtesy Public Domain Pictures

Congratulations to Our Graduate!!

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Today marks a special occasion in our family.

My “baby” is graduating from kindergarten.
 
She of the long blonde hair, brown eyes, fair skin, tall, slim figure and giant snaggle-tooth smile will walk across the stage in her little cap and gown to receive a diploma that allows her entrance into first grade.
 
Because she aims to please, she will follow directions exactly – sitting, standing and singing on cue. She will appear to be focused on the events at hand, but those of us who know her best realize that her thoughts could be a million miles away.
 
My dad, one of those people tremendously gifted with words, said of this granddaughter, “If her outside looked like her inside, she would always be in dress-up clothes.”
 
This is one of those many moments in life where happiness and sadness, exhilaration and melancholy coincide.
 
Happiness for her, for the excitement surrounding the evening, for all she’s accomplished in her little life so far; sadness for the years fleeing so quickly, taking her slowly but surely away from us one day.
 
With smiles on our faces, much love in our hearts and tears in our eyes, we watch her take these steps today.
 
This post is linked to Amy’s Finer Things and Family Friday.

Gross Motor Skills

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I thought for today’s Teaching Tuesday, I would list some of the gross (large) motor skills that our young children develop over the years. Most of these come naturally and are fun to acquire because they’re practiced outside with mom and dad as well as other children.

In our family, my husband is in charge of helping the girls with any athletic skills as I am somewhat deficient in that area! He also ruled the “riding a bike without training wheels” process that our six-year-old just mastered (as I am sure he will one day lead in their driver’s training!)

Children are able to master these skills at various ages and with differing degrees of success. A large open area for play and an encouraging attitude is all that is needed to practice most of these activities.

  • running
  • throwing
  • kicking
  • jumping
  • climbing
  • catching
  • skipping
  • sweeping
  • swinging
  • rolling out dough
  • jump roping
  • bike riding
  • skating
  • hitting a ball with a bat or racket

If you have any ideas for helping a child learn these skills, please let us know in the comments section.

Homeschoolers may want to check out the Carnival of Homeschooling, hosted this week at Walking Therein.

Favorite Five Baby Items

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This Friday Favorite Five is in honor of my sister, who is twenty-two weeks pregnant. Today she has an ultrasound and plans to find out the gender of the baby. Remembering back to those days, here are the five things I used most in those early days of parenthood.

  1. The On Becoming Babywise book by Gary Ezzo. As I’ve mentioned before, since I’m a “schedule” person anyway, this book helped me lay out from the beginning how our typical day might look.
  2. Baby Activity Floor Mat. We actually had two versions of these and it was so much fun to see the girls lie on them and bat at the toys hanging overhead.
  3. Swing. Neither of my girls cared for the bouncy seat, but both enjoyed being in the baby swing.
  4. Exersaucer. Once they got to be about four or five months old, the girls could hold themselves up and be put in the exersaucer. I think they liked it so much because they could look around and see all that was going on.
  5. Pack and Play. We used this in the living room as a play pen and napping spot and it made many trips to motel rooms and to visit grandparents.

Did you have favorite items you used when your children were babies? Let us know in the comments section. To all Moms, a very happy Mother’s Day weekend!

Making Music

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At our church on Wednesday night, my eight-year-old daughter played the hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross for the offertory.

It is amazing to watch her and see how much she has grown and progressed over the last couple of years. She sits and plays very calmly, while my stomach is churning.

Afterwards, she told me that she thinks about the words of the song while she is playing – and I hope that those words are sinking into her heart. This is why we budget that chunk of money for a piano teacher, drive her to weekly lessons and make sure that she practices her twenty minutes every day – so that she might learn to love and enjoy music and use it as a way to worship and serve God by ministering to and blessing others.

This post is linked to Real Life Blog, Finer Things Friday and Family Friday.

Book Review: Wisdom and the Millers: Proverbs for Children by Mildred A. Martin

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As I mentioned in a post last week, our family has discovered a new book that we are using for our family devotional time.

I realize that families study the Bible together in different ways. What currently works for us is setting aside a few minutes after we are finished eating supper to have a devotional time.

We have done different things over the years – read from Bible story books, examined Bible characters, read brief biographies on various missionaries, studied character traits, and discussed particular Bible passages.

While researching some books that a friend recommended, I came across a book entitled Wisdom and the Millers. It is written by Mildred A. Martin and published by Green Pastures Press. We are so thoroughly enjoying this book!

The Miller family includes Dad, Mom and their four children. Each of the chapters tells a short story of an event that happens in the family which illustrates a verse from Proverbs.

One of my favorites so far is entitled “The Multitude of Words” and is based on Proverbs 10:19, “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.” In the story, Sharon, the oldest daughter, encounters several difficulties throughout her day because of her inconsiderate words and thoughtless speech. At the end of the day, her mom sits down with her and they figure out the root of the problem and its’ solution.

Most nights we do a brief review of one of our previous stories, and the girls remember well the lessons that were taught. I was out on the night my husband did the chapter on having a froward mouth, but the girls were able to fill me in on the whole thing!

I would highly recommend this book either for reading together as a family or for your child to read for themselves. It has been a great find for us!

Here are other books in the Miller Family Series.

We are always looking for books or ideas for our family Bible time. If you have suggestions or resources that you enjoy, please let me know in the comments section.