Book (reading) in a basket. Breeze reading her "favorite book ever" in her new favorite hangout--the laundry basket.

When we got our copy of Thank You, God, for Blessing Me, Breeze immediately commandeered it and declared it her “favorite book ever”. It’s a sturdy little board book, perfectly sized for her, and we are familiar with Max Lucado’s Hermie and friends characters, so I can see why she immediately took to it.

Thank You, God, for Blessing Me is a book about gratitude. In 10 pages, Little Hermie thanks the Lord for the things that he has been blessed with, from his “eight little buggy feet” (a phrase that Raine enjoyed hearing) to his food and his friends. The size of the book and its sturdiness, with the short rhyming verses and delightful illustrations, make Thank You, God, for Blessing Me an ideal book for toddlers, and even babies. Raine, who at nearly-five, and can read chapter books on her own, enjoyed the book as well. This book makes for a nice bedtime read (actually, we read it throughout the day).

The Hubby and I have been trying to teach the kids about prayers of thanksgiving, and sometimes it’s hard to think of anything beyond the “thank you, Lord, for the food” (although one time while we were praying, Breeze piped in “thank you for taxi!”— something that she obviously has picked up from me). Thank You, God, for Blessing Me helps us show the girls that there are lots of things that God has blessed us with and should be grateful for.  I also like that Hermie asks for help “to be kind and obey” as his way of saying thank you to God.

How do you teach your children about gratitude, especially gratitude for God’s blessings?  

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Breeze checking out My First Hands-On Bible, after we read it with Raine

I have been trying to incorporate the Word and Bible reading into the girls’ daily life (and mine—but that’s another story). Raine’s had several Bible story books over the years, and we’ve been reading those off and on, but I wanted something deeper and more meaningful. We also tried memorizing one verse a week, as part of our Sonlight homeschool curriculum, but we’ve been on school holiday for a couple of months now, since I’ve been busy with an annual magazine of mine, so we stopped that.

I feel guilty not being consistent with the memory verses, and my daily Bible reading has been a struggle for me as well. Last year, however, we started a new family Christmas tradition: the Jesse Tree. I have more to share on this, complete with pictures, but for now suffice it to say that every day, we hung an ornament on the Christmas tree and read an accompanying Bible verse. We did this 26 days before Christmas, hanging the 27^th ornament on December 25. Aside from just three exceptions (we came home way past the kids’ bedtimes), I’m happy to say that we were able to faithfully have a Jesse Tree reading every night, after dinner.

The Jesse Tree reading has now evolved into our nightly Bible reading. In the past, I’d try to read a Bible story for bedtime (sadly, rarely the girls’ choice for bedtime stories), and the girls weren’t too keen on it. The Jesse Tree reading has made it easier to incorporate Bible reading into their daily routine—it isn’t story time (I have to make sure I read them another story some time during the day) but Bible Story Time.

Now that’s a long intro for what this post is actually about—My First Hands-On Bible. Aside from the habit set in place by the Jesse Tree, this book is helping me achieve my goal of immersing the girls in the Word. It’s written in the New Living Translation (NLT), which I think uses paraphrasing, rather than a word-for-word translation. While I still refer to the New International Version (NIV), which is the more common, I like that NLT makes it more understandable. Here’s an example, from Romans 12:9

          Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (NIV)

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. (NLT)

 I still haven’t decided on how we’ll memorize verses though, if we go for NLT or the usual NIV.  

My First Hands-On Bible features fun colored illustrations and short activities you can do while reading the story

But back to My First Hands-On Bible. It’s written in actual, but abridged, NLT Bible text, so your children can get the gist of the story, skipping potentially confusing passages. The abridged version also keeps the reading short, so you don’t lose their attention.  I like that it exposes the girls to actual Bible-speak, so when we move on to a full Bible (I already have the Hands-On Bible), it feels familiar. I also like the illustrations; they’re colorful and great for kids.

My First Hands-On Bible also has some cool features that we enjoy:

• Pockets the Kangaroo. At the end of each story, Pockets has a short prayer that ties in with the story. We let Raine read the prayer, so it gets her in the habit of praying on specific things, not just the routine “thank you, Lord and keep me safe” (not like there’s anything wrong with that).
• Cuddles the Sheep. Cuddles has suggestions for different after-reading activities that also tie in with the story. So far, we haven’t done too many of the activities, since we read right before bedtime, and some activities involve drawing, exploring, or movement that aren’t exactly conducive to sleeping, and we usually forget about the suggested activities the next day.
• The Jesus Connection. I also like how each story ends with a Jesus Connection that shows how Jesus is a part of everyday life, and that He is part of all scripture.
• Let’s Talk. This section features questions that can lead to interesting discussions with your kids after each story. Like the question on what God made special about you (after the story on the creation of man) led to Raine asking what if she were God, and what if something were impossible for God, and what if she and Breeze were God, could there be more than one God (I don’t even know if I answered her questions adequately. I was totally unprepared for such discussions!).
• Activities. Throughout the stories, there are palm prints that lead to activities that you can do while reading the story (or after), like making fish faces during the story of God creating the animals, or pretending to be a snake (story of temptation). I personally find them a bit annoying sometimes, but Raine likes them. I find, though, that we could get distracted by the palm print activities and we go way off tangent from the story. We don’t do all the palm print activities. At the end of the story, there are also other suggested activities that you can do later.

We enjoy this Bible's features, like the prayer led by Pockets the Kangaroo and the Let's Talk discussion questions.

I haven’t seen the My First Hands-On Bible here, so I ordered mine from The Book Depository. I actually thought I’d get one at the Book Fair, but they only had the Hands-On Bible, a leather-bound and not hardbound one at that, but since I prepaid it, I got it and am keeping it for when Raine is ready for it (interesting to note the differences between the sisters: even before she was a year old, Raine would sit still when we would read to her, really listening; she could stay still for as long as 15 minutes. Breeze, on the other hand, will stay around for a page or two before wriggling off into something else).

I’m quite happy with the My First Hands-On Bible, and I look forward to the Hands-On Bible. I’m glad that they have books like these now. They make my life so much easier. Oh, one more thing to note—they recommend the My First Hands-On Bible for 3 to 6 year olds and the Hands-On Bible for 6 year olds and older.

Have you tried the Hands-On Bible or My First Hands-On Bible? How does it work for you? If not, what do you use to incorporate the scripture in your kids’ lives?

You actually can't see the Bible text clearly here, but Raine just looked too cute.v

I’ve been looking for a Mommy Planner that can help me keep my lives (mommy, wifey and Ree) in order. I actually planned on producing one to sell, but lack of time and capital prevented me from doing so. Nevertheless, my very talented cousin-in-law Diane helped me design some planner pages. And we decided to give them away. Totally free!

I hope you find them useful. We’re still adding to the list, and we are still tweaking these. So do let me know if you download these, and if you have comments, suggestions, ideas or encouragement, we’d appreciate them.

1. Yearly Goals
2. Special Days to Remember
3. Weekly Planner
4. Weekly Menu Plan & Shopping List
5. Master To-Do List
6. Gift List

Raine and I are happy with the

Aside from phonics, I also want to make sure that Raine can spell well. “Good spellers are almost always good readers…Spelling also has a strong relationship with reading comprehension. The correlation between spelling and reading comprehension is high because both depend on a common denominator: proficiency with language,” say Joshi, Treiman, Carreker and Moats in their article in the American Educator.  Sonlight has spelling component to their Language Arts, but it’s tied in with their materials. I suppose I could tweak it to suit our needs, but—confession time—I’m lazy (I know it’s a good program and I really should try to incorporate it into our lessons, but inertia is a dangerous thing). So when I was offered a Premium account for Vocabulary Spelling City in exchange for a fair review, I, freebie fool that I am, jumped at the chance.

In their own words, “VocabularySpellingCity.com is a site where students of all ages can improve their spelling skills and expand their vocabulary. The website’s approach is to enforce the elements through a combination of interactive learning.” A quick peek at their website shows a wide array of games, teacher’s resources and printable worksheets.

As soon as you get on the site, you can start using the features. You can make your own word list, or tap into Spelling City’s own lists—they have over 42,000 spelling words that are grouped into categories (e.g. Science words, Math words, compound words, contractions, food, sports, etc.) and grade level. If you want to save your lists, you will have to create an account and login.

 One great thing about Vocabulary Spelling City is that you can use it for free. They do have a paid premium membership, which allows you to access certain features (like making your own definitions for spelling words and tracking your students’ progress and maintaining a record of it), but you can also get so many nifty features with the free version.

Our experience

The initial problem I personally had with Vocabulary Spelling City is that it was a little confusing and a bit overwhelming. Now that I’m familiar with the site and features, I’m fine, but in the beginning I had no idea where to start. Yes, on the home page there’s a big “Start Here” sign, but it still didn’t work for me—I needed a little more hand-holding. I realize now that they do have help guidelines, but I wish they were more obvious.

I finally figured out that I could import a word list into my List Management page and Raine’s activities and games would be based on that list. Oh, and I had to figure out that I had to create a student account for Raine (on my Students & Gradebook page) so she could login separately and do either the activities I assigned to her, or other activities of her choice. Then I could use my lists to make assignments for Raine, so when she logs in, she knows what to do. Of course, it helps that Raine can read already, so I don’t have to hold her hand throughout the entire Spelling City session (which is more than can be said for me).

When I finally was comfortable, I added my own lists—words from our Science and Geography lessons—and added my own definitions and sentences (which I think are features available only to Premium members; otherwise, you’ll have to use the default definitions and sentences). Then I made Raine’s assignments, which had the review of the words, spelling and vocabulary tests, and her favourite games.

Raine had an easier time getting into the groove. I showed her how to work the Assignments and tests, and now she can do everything on her own. Her favourite games are the Word-O-Rama, which is like a game show, complete with cheesy host and flashing lights (Premium game); Word Search; Speedy Speller (another Premium game); Match It Sentences; and Match It Definitions (Premium).

What we like

I’m gradually discovering all that I can do with Vocabulary Spelling City, and I like it more and more. The Premium membership allows me to track Raine’s performance. I can see what activities she’s done and how she fared on the Spelling and Vocabulary tests (and I also know which words she got wrong). I look forward to using the Writing Practice feature, when Raine starts composing her own sentences and paragraphs. I like the categories of words like homonyms, homophones, capitonyms and Dolch-sight words.

I also like the very rich Teachers Resources. It includes all the different word lists, links to printable worksheets and awards, and even a phonics and sight word spelling curriculum. I also like lessons on syllabication, abbreviations and possessive nouns. There are also informative articles on the need for spelling and tips and prompts for writing. I love the new Analogies feature—you know, like dog is to puppy as cat is to kitten—it can also help develop reasoning and logic, aside from hone vocabulary.

What was so-so

As I mentioned earlier, I would’ve appreciated an Idiot’s Guide to the site. It took me a couple of weeks before I finally poked around the site.

Another thing I wasn’t too hot on was that some of the definitions were a little too complex for the supposed grade level. Take the Pre-K Dolch-sight word ‘play’. The definition was ‘to take part in an activity for amusement’. The definition they gave for ‘one’ is ‘a cardinal number less than two’. I would’ve said play is something you do for fun (I have no idea how I would define ‘one’ though).

The verdict

I would definitely recommend Vocabulary Spelling City. It’s great for homeschoolers, or parents who would like extra practice for their kids. Raine enjoys it—she actually asks to do Spelling City even if it isn’t lesson time. You can do a lot with the free version, but if you have some budget, you could do even more with the Premium account.

Letting your kids have their own Bible helps get them excited about learning the Word. My mom gave me this Bible when I was a little girl. It was also our wedding Bible, and now, Raine's Bible.

Raine and I have started our more formal homeschooling this year. Thanks to the generosity of Trina, Rene, Nitoy and Inga, Raine and I have the Core K + Grade 1 Readers + Grade 1 Science from Sonlight. Of course, it’s the 2008 edition, and the workbooks are used, but oh my, we are so blessed to have the nearly complete set. All those wonderful books! And the very, very useful instructor’s guide. It would have set us back at least $500 to get this set on our own.

I love Sonlight, and it’s working pretty well for our homeschool, and I’d like to write more about our experience in the future. For now, thanks to the suggestion of the lovely ladies from my Victory Group, I’d like to focus on one aspect that Sonlight encourages: memorizing scripture.

Young children have the most amazing capacity to absorb, remember and learn all sorts of things, which is why you have to watch out what you say in front of them (I have the scientific findings to back this up; I just can’t find my references at the moment). Dr. Ruth Beechick, educator and curriculum developer (and big name in the homeschool circles), encourages memorizing because it helps your child’s language ability, among others. Memorization can help:

• Build vocabulary. Your child learns new words and sounds, proper pronunciation, rhyme.
• Teach grammar. Without you formally pointing out things, your kid will learn proper sentence structures (which is why it’s important to make sure that the materials your kids see, hear and read contain what you want them to imbibe, not just grammar-wise) and grammar rules.
• Develop thinking and sense of values. Your child can “experience logic, beauty, emotion, praise, worship, and many other values”.
• Prepare for the real world. Knowing their names (and yours), address and phone numbers can be crucial in case of emergencies. Remembering the letters and numbers is the precursor to reading and arithmetic.

Dr. Beechick gives a few guidelines for memorizing. First, make it fun. Silly rhymes and games make the drills less of a chore (because you will have do constant repetition for them to remember).  She also recommends using the whole memory system: read the whole passage to your child first, then after a few passes (or days), pause and let your child start supplying more and more of the words. Eventually, your child will be able to recite the entire passage on his own. And as a bonus—so will you!

Throughout the day, I also check in with Raine, like “Hey Raine, what’s our memory verse for the week?” Another effective way to reinforce the memory verse that Raine enjoys I also picked up from Sonlight: copywork. Basically, I just let Raine write the memory verse in her notebook, or I make her a worksheet (I use The Amazing Incredible Handwriting Worksheet Maker to make free worksheets). She gets to practise her writing as well.

Sometimes we get the week’s verse from Veggie Tales’ The Daily Word. What I like about it is that it usually is a short verse, and it comes with a brief story or application to make it easier for Raine to understand. Of course, the downside is that I don’t control what verses they feature. Other times, I get them randomly from the Bible, depending on what I’d like to teach her or what story we’re reading. Lately, I’ve gone back to Sonlight’s system of memorizing: one verse a week, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet (so when we’ve gone from A to Z at the end of 26 weeks, we’d have memorized 26 verses! It’s a good goal for me too).

I didn’t like Sonlight’s way at first because the first verse to start us off was Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Yikes! I had difficulty explaining what sin, falling short and glory were, let alone why we all sinned and why we don’t make the cut. So I abandoned the Instructor’s Guide for a while. But I do see the merits of using an alphabetical list of verses, so I’m gradually coming up with my own list of 26 verses.  

I use NIV mostly, though I may be switching to NLT soon, when we get the My First Hands-On Bible we ordered from The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide!). Sometimes I don’t use the entire verse, though I’ve included the entire verse here, with the part I didn’t use in brackets.

So far we’re at letter “C”. I haven’t finished the list yet, will post more next time. If you have your own suggestions, please, please leave a comment, and if you can, could you let me know how you explain the verse to your child, and/or how you apply it?

A:            A friend loves at all times [and and a brother is born for a time of adversity]. – Proverbs 17:17a

B:            Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. – Matthew 5:9

                OR Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. – Matthew 5:8

C:            Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. – Ephesians 6:1  (my favorite!)

D:            Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you [This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the    prophets.] – Matthew 7:12a NLT

E:            Even small children are known by their actions, so is their conduct really pure and upright? – Proverbs 20:11

F:            For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16

G:           (Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for) God loves a cheerful giver. – 2 Corinthians 9:7

H:          Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. – Exodus 20:12

I:             I can do all things through him who gives me strength. – Philippians 4:13

For formalities, I have to post this:

This is yummier than it looks. Promise! (this batch got a bit overdone, since I was feeding right when I should've taken it out)

• 1 pc 4lb center-cut pork loin, with or without the bones, with or without the skin (I use a much smaller cut, about 500 to 700g only, without the bones, more often than not, without the skin)
• 2 medium onions
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks (I actually never used celery; I can imagine how much yummier it would be if I did)
• 1 bulb garlic
• a small bunch of fresh thyme, rosemary, bay or sage, or a mixture (I use dried)
• olive oil
• sea salt (I use regular) and freshly ground black pepper

• 2.5lb potatoes (usually just use 2 large ones, or 3)
• 6 parsnips (never put this—I did use zucchini once, though it isn’t at all like parsnips)
• 6 carrots (like the potatoes, I use a couple)
• 1 bulb garlic (roast garlic is heavenly, really. So I toss in an extra bulb)
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary (I use dried; sometimes I use different herbs)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• olive oil

• the vegetables used in the roast  pork
• 1 heaped spoon of all-purpose flour
• a wineglass of red wine, white wine, or cider or a good splash of port or sherry (sadly, never had any on hand each time I cooked)
• 1 quart of stock

1. Take your pork out of the ref 30 minutes before you cook it. Preheat oven to 475°F.
2. Roughly chop up the veggies for your vegetable trivet (isn’t that a lovely thing to call it?). You don’t even have to peel them. Just wash and chop. Break up garlic bulb into cloves, but leave them unpeeled. Pile the veggies and garlic into the roasting pan (I use the metal pan so I can put it straight on the stove after to make the gravy) and drizzle with olive oil.
3. Score the skin of your pork every quarter inch or so. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and really rub it in. Put the pork on top of the veggies.
4. Put the pan in the oven and turn temp down to 400°F. Cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes; add 20 more minutes if you use the bone-in cut. Since I use a smaller piece of meat, I can usually do it in an hour or less; a meat thermometer comes in handy here—go by the meat’s internal temp instead of time. Start prepping for your roast veggies as this point, as the meat cooks.
5. Baste the pork halfway through cooking, and splash some water into the pan if the veggies look dry. When the pork is cooked, take it out of the oven and put pork on a board to rest. I sometimes turn the broiler on to crisp up the skin (if there is). Save the vegetable trivet and pan juices for the gravy.
6. Cover the pork with aluminum foil and put a kitchen towel on top, and let rest for 15 minutes. Use this time to make the gravy.
7. When the meat has rested, your gravy is cooked and your roast veggies ready, slice up the pork and enjoy.

1. Boil some salted water (I start boiling right before I start seasoning the meat; when I’m ready to do veggies, the water’s boiling).
2. Peel the vegetables and cut into large chunks. Break the garlic bulb into cloves. Pound each clove lightly to split the skin open, but leave them unpeeled. If you’re using fresh rosemary, remove them from the woody stalks (I process the roast veggies along with the vegetable trivet for the roast pork to save time).
3. Put the carrots and potatoes in the boiling water and let boil for 5 minutes. Add the parsnips (if using) and boil another 4 minutes. Drain in a colander and allow to steam dry.
4. Remove the carrots and parsnips from the colander, then toss the potatoes around so they get all beat up and sort of fluffy.
5. Pour some olive oil in the roasting pan and then add the garlic and rosemary. Add the veggies, and season with salt and pepper. Mix them well, so the veggies get nicely coated (I use my hands).
6. Spread the veggies and garlic into one layer. This way they roast, not steam. Put in the oven and cook until crisp and brown, about an hour (put them in when your pork is about halfway done).
7. Serve and enjoy!

1. Remove most of the fat from the pork’s roasting pan, then put on the stove at high heat, veggies, juices and all. Add the flour. Mash up the veggies and mix in the flour.
2. When everything’s nicely mashed (it doesn’t have to be fine), add the alcohol, and let it boil for a few minutes. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Scrape up everything from the bottom of the pan. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. At this point, you can season the gravy, if needed (since my meat isn’t usually fatty, the gravy mix sometimes lacks that yummy zing, so I need to season. Worst case, I throw in a beef cube. Yes, sacrilege).
3. When done, pour your gravy through a sieve, making sure to remove any vegetables that get through.
4. Serve with the pork and roast veggies.

Being a SAHM allows moms the luxury of spending time with their kids, doing fun stuff like whipping up a batch of cookies in the middle of a weekday.

I never played bowling—actually I did once and it involved a gutter ball in the next lane, lots of tears and other components of a traumatic childhood experience—so pardon the wrong terms, if any. And hey, this is improvised backyard bowling (I’m not being defensive at all).

Age Group: 3+ (though one-year-old Breeze enjoyed it in her own way—by swiping bottles and running away with them)

Preparation needed: you will need to gather materials (most are readily available), and safeguard your workspace and clothes against spills and stains.

Difficulty of preparation: it’s a breeze!

Time needed: if you’ll do it by yourself, 10 minutes, tops. If you get your kids involved, it could take all afternoon, especially if they like playing with water and mixing colors.

Materials Needed:

• 10 empty clear plastic bottles of uniform size (you can make more; we made 12—10 for the bowling pyramid and 2 for Breeze to play with. If we made 15 we could’ve had a bigger pyramid)
• Clean tap water
• Food coloring (chose this over paint, since Breeze was around and she likes putting everything in her mouth)
• Rubber ball
• Newspapers, rags and an apron or old shirt for your kid

What to Do:

1. Line your workspace with newspapers and have rags handy to mop up any spills. Or, do what we did—worked outside on the kids’ hardy plastic table.
2. Rinse out the bottles well and then fill halfway with water. This helps keep the bottles stable.
3. Add food coloring to each bottle in desired combinations. This was Raine’s favorite part. It would be a good idea to let your kid wear an apron. I remembered too late and Raine got some food color squirts on her shirt. But it did wash out eventually.
4. Cover each colored bottle well. I wouldn’t advise sealing them permanently, since The Hubby says the water will eventually get slimy and will need to be replaced. Besides, Raine enjoys the coloring process and replaces the water every few days.

How to Play (the way we do—but you can make your own rules):

1. Arrange the bottles in a 4-3-2-1 formation.
2. Mark off the throwing/rolling point—nearer for younger kids.
3. Stand behind the throwing line. Toss or roll the ball. Raine prefers tossing the ball to rolling it, so it isn’t bowling in the traditional sense.
4. Either one player keeps trying until all the pins are knocked down, and you just count how many tries it took, or players take turns and the first to knock down everything wins. That’s it!

Other Stuff You Can Do:

• Practice counting. Count the bottles, the turns, the number of drops it takes to make a particular shade, the number of steps from the tossing line to the pins…lots of ways to get some counting practice in.
• Have fun with colors. Great way to learn that all colors mixed together produce and unappealing, murky color.
• Teach green living. I think this is a great opportunity to teach Raine about the importance of recycling, conserving resources and protecting our planet.

Any other ideas you have to recycle empty plastic bottles?

Now, I have an arrangement with Time4Learning–we’re giving away a free 30-day trial to 10 people. So that’s one whole month of learning, exploring and fun online, without any risk on your part. You just have to post a review at the end of your trial. No I am not getting paid to promote this, and I don’t work for Time4Learning. I had an opportunity to try it out, and I feel that other people would benefit too.

I was thinking of having a contest or some sort of raffle, but nah. Here’s the link.  First 10 to register get the trial. Easy, no? But do let me know if you’re one of the 10. Just leave a comment below to let me know your blog or website. I’d love to read your review.

Happy learning!