What most educational systems don’t account for is the vast discrepancy between students and their individual learning styles or ‘intelligences’. Some students are great at math or reading, while others are great learning a new sport or a new song. The key to a good education is allowing for all of the intelligences to be built on.

As a homeschooling parent/teacher, I found Dr. Mercola’s simple article about ‘multiple intelligences’ did a great job of outlining each learning style in an easy-to-understand format. In fact, I could easily recognize most of my strengths as well as my daughter’s, too.

But, the fascinating thing (to me anyway) was the link to an online test to determine your percentages of each intelligence. After I took the test and had fun dissecting my own chart, I had my 7 year old take it, too. (I wouldn’t suggest it for anyone much younger unless you’re ready to re-phrase most of the questions and even answer the questions for them.) What was amazing to me, was seeing how she answered differently than I would have for her. It turns out that she’s stronger in some areas than I’ve given her credit for, and vice versa.

Of course, the next step is for me to start recognizing her most prominent intelligences and allowing her the space to do more of her school work aligned with those strengths while not neglecting the weaker areas. Should make for an interesting next few months…

What about you? Have you heard of these intelligences before? If you have, is it now easier for you (or your student) to complete necessary tasks with this information in mind? Share your stories!

I called a friend of mine who is very in touch with all things organic, natural, and homeopathic and begged her for a natural remedy to help us through the weekend. And of course, she had one! I had totally forgotten about this solution until a mutual friend of ours came to a Mom’s Night Out with her sick baby who also had an ear infection. Not only did my friend tell this mom how to take care of it, another mom in the group walked into the kitchen, prepared this solution below and took it to my friend to administer to the desperate mom’s crying baby. The mom sent an email to all of us the next day thanking our friends for helping her out and ecstatic that the solution took care of her baby’s ear infection without a doctor’s visit!

(Obviously, you’ll want to go with your gut on anything anyone recommends for treating your children – if you’re not comfortable with it, don’t do it! Research another solution and go with what gives you (and your partner) the most peace. Just my own little disclaimer here before dispensing ‘medical’ advice…)

Here’s my friend’s instructions:

For ear infection: Pour 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan with some 2-3 cloves of diced garlic. Cook it until you get most of the aroma out of the garlic. (I think she cooked it for about 5-8 minutes.) Let it cool to room temperature (obviously!) before pouring the liquid into the ear (4 to 10 drops). You can use a small spoon or even an eye dropper to administer the liquid. You can pour it inside of the ear as many times you want, depending on the severity of the infection, but I would recommend that you wait about 1 hour in between ‘doses’.

By the way, another discussion that came up that night related to ear infections was the D word. That’s right – DAIRY. It seems that there is some link between children that get multiple ear infections when they’re little and dairy products. Sometimes, the ear infections are acting as an allergic reaction to the dairy, and when you’re able to wean the child off of dairy, the ear infections decrease. Just an idea for those of you moms that are pulling your hair out trying to figure out why the ear infections keep happening.

One last idea my friend sent us to try is a natural remedy for fever. Cut a garlic clove or an onion in half. Rub the cut side of the garlic or onion on the feet. Your feet actually absorb and process things rather quickly and this natural remedy has worked for MANY years before Tylenol was invented.

Not only has my friend done these things with her own children, but a couple of the other moms in our group have also tried these natural remedies for ear infections and fever with great success. If you try either of these ideas, please leave us a comment to let us know how it worked for you!

Wondering what to do with your elementary age kiddos over the summer? Have a Mac at home that they’re wanting to learn more about? Apple stores are offering summer camps where your kids can learn all about stuff to do on a Mac. Here’s what they have to say:

Your kids could talk about what they did this summer—or just press Play. At Apple Camp, kids ages 8-12 learn how to do cool stuff on a Mac: make a movie, show off photos like a pro, write and record a song, or create a multimedia presentation. You can sign up for as many three-hour workshops as you like. But space is limited, so do it soon. Then get ready for an adventure.

Interested? Check out Apple’s Summer Camp page here.

Plus you’ll find special deals on all kinds of Mother’s Day gifts—including jewelry, fragrance, fashion, and beauty—at the Mother’s Day Deals page: www.amazon.com/mothersdaydeals.

Or, does Mom like books? Save 20% on that perfect Mother’s Day gift at Barnes and Noble. (One of my favorite stores – hint, hint )

Of course, you can always go with my favorite – a craft made by your kiddos. We’ve done fingerprint butterflies, paper flowers, and of course, Kate loves making her own cards for Grammie and Mimi.

Happy Mother’s Day all you wonderful mommas out there in internet-land!

So, there’s my disclaimer before launching into the following rant…

What is up with commercials lately?!?!?  

The other night, my 5 year old daughter, Kate, and I were watching Superstars of Dance.  We were both excited to catch it on tv.  She was excited because she LOVES dancing of any kind.  She’s enthralled and entranced by all kinds of dancing – ballroom, ballet, hip hop, jazz – she really does love it all.  I was excited because I loved the idea of watching the different countries compete and then finding them on the globe – kind of a geography lesson rolled in with the fun of watching some dancing.

During one of the commercial breaks there was a trailer for an upcoming horror flick. (Keep in mind, it’s only 7 o’clock.)  The moving images that were on our television screen during that 30 second commercial were incredibly disturbing to ME, much less to my 5yo.  And that was with the sound muted.  I’m sorry, but watching a man walking on hands and knees while his head turns around backwards, is a little more than disconcerting.  [I would link to it here so that you would know what I'm talking about, but 1) I don't want to give the movie any more press than it's already getting 2) Quite honestly, I don't want to be disturbed by seeing those images again and 3) There are several movies coming out right now that are doing the same kind of thing.  Besides all that, I think you get the picture.] 

I know they’re probably going for shock value – which they’ve definitely achieved.  I know that there’s a huge market for these movies, especially to teenagers (which is probably another rant for another day).  I know that it’s a free country and they can play these kinds of commercials whenever they like.  But, honestly, does we have to subject small children to these kinds of things during the first hour of prime time?  During a ‘family-friendly’ tv show?

I’m incensed.  I know that many more intelligent people have been ranting about sex and violence on tv for much longer than myself, but I this really sent me over the edge.  Is this really the best the networks have to offer?  So, now, I’m off to write a letter… which I NEVER do… but, there’s really only so much that a person can handle.

So, you tell me.  Am I off my rocker?  Am I just overly sensitive to this particular brand of advertising?  What do you think?  Have you written a letter before?  How do you handle things that push your buttons in advertising?  Leave me a comment below…

Enter the digital era of meal planning!

Sample Meal Calendar from MealBaby.com

MealBaby.com is a great place to combine all the different aspects of meal planning all in one place. You can sign up and create a ‘registry’ for yourself or for a friend. You create a schedule of when those meals need to happen and calendar those dates. There’s a place to specify food likes and dislikes, address, map, and contact information for the family in need. You can also specify near-by restaurants that folks can buy a gift card for if they aren’t able to provide a home-cooked meal. And that’s it! Enter the names and email addresses of the folks you want to ask to help provide the meals and the site takes care of the rest.

What’s perfect about this is the ability for ALL involved to see at a glance what meals are being provided and when. Everyone can see which dates are available and choose the one that works best for them.  Plus, the recipient family can see the same schedule, allowing them to plan their own in-between dates better, and know who to call if plans change at the last minute.  My personal favorite thing?  That you can see what other people have registered to bring so that you aren’t the one bringing spaghetti for the third night in a row!  :)

So, the next time a friend of yours has a baby, or goes comes home from surgery, or just needs a little TLC from her friends, check out MealBaby.com…

Waffles:
My husband just discovered this method and I tried it this morning and FELL. IN. LOVE.

Use a pizza wheel. I still like to follow the straight lines of the waffle pattern. Shawn likes to cut waffles up like a pie. Follow your heart on that, but definitely pick up the pizza cutter to do it!

Sandwiches:
I can’t stand having to cut the crust off of sandwiches (my kids have learned to either eat them or just eat around them), but when company comes over, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. So, I’ve learned to grab this kitchen accessory:

It’s officially called a “Bash ‘N Chop Cutter” because you’re supposed to be able to ‘bash’ the garlic and then chop it with the sharp end. But, ask me how many times I’ve actually used it to chop any vegetable, much less garlic… Works great for cutting the edges of the bread and also cutting sandwiches into squares or triangles or ‘soldiers’ (long skinny rectangles).

Apples:
Don’t know if you have one of these lying around, but I LOVE my apple corer/divider. It makes chopping apples up into slices for the kiddos super easy. This one is a little more expensive, but I think I was able to pick one up at IKEA for about a buck…

Pancakes:
You could probably use the “Bash ‘N Chop Cutter” or the Pizza Wheel to cut pancakes, but I actually prefer to just make smaller pancakes to begin with. I like to make lots of little silver dollar pancakes and tell the kids to eat them in one bite, or just pick them up with their fingers (messy when you use syrup, but worth the extra hand washing to preserve my sanity). Of course, you could always use this MeckMom tip and buy a cheap condiment dispenser too…

So, those are my tips for you. What things do you do in the kitchen to help make kid food easier??

 
Dear Mother,

I know that you will be reading this at Christmas time, but as I am sitting here writing, we are celebrating the Thanksgiving Holidays.  So, if you’ll forgive the obvious tribute to this season, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share the things for which I’m most grateful as a mother.

First, I’m thankful for this project and the wonderful man who started it, your husband.  I’m grateful to have the opportunity to take a moment to reflect on my own experience as a mother and to read about others’ experiences also.  I’m grateful for a man that would see the value in mothers of all depths of experience sharing their journey with each other.  To be validated and be given the voice to say the things that are important to each of us is most definitely a gift for us as much as it is a gift for you to receive.

I’m grateful for the group of mothers that surround me.  These women offer great comfort to me as, together, we all figure out this thing called ‘motherhood’.  I’m thankful for a group of friends that will laugh with me at my child’s latest mishmash of words, celebrate with me as my child graduates from preschool, hang my children’s artwork on their refrigerator with pride, hold my hand and cry with me as we wait for a doctor’s test results to come back, encourage me when I feel like a failure, give me advice when my three year old little boy refuses to potty train, answer the phone at 3 AM to tell me it’s normal that my kid is doing this and a little Tylenol should do the trick, and commiserate with me on the days when I want to chuck it all in and run away from home.  I love that these women give me the room to be myself in all my strengths and weaknesses and love me just the way I am.  I honestly don’t know how moms without a support system of some sort are able to do it.  I know that without these beautiful women in my life, I would be so much less of a mother and a human being.

I’m grateful for a mother and mother-in-law that live near enough to babysit on a regular basis, but still respect my sense of privacy and the need to be my own kind of mother in my home.  I so appreciate the way that they give me advice without being condescending and congratulate me when I do things right – even if it’s not the way they would have done it.  I am so deeply grateful that they LOVE my children as only a grandmother could and look forward to the days they get to spend together.  And that my children love to spend time with them, too, is almost more than I could ask.

I’m grateful for a husband that loves me dearly, that loves our children dearly, and loves our life together.  I know that I’m extremely blessed to have a man that not only encourages me to be a better mother, but also a better wife and a better person.  It’s so easy for a mother of small children to become so centered on them and all the duties and minutia they require, that she forgets who she is when there are no children around to care for.  So, not only does he willingly watch the kids so that I can attend regular “Mommy’s Night Outs”, but he also consistently reminds me that who I was before I became a mother is still who I am, and that part of me still needs to be nourished.  He pushes me out the door for my weekly book club, listens to me even when I’m griping about the smallest of things, and reminds me that I’m the best mom for these kids.  I know that many mothers do not have this kind of man in their life, and so I’m incredibly and deeply thankful that I have him to share this journey.

Most of all, I’m grateful for the opportunity to raise 3 beautiful children.  There were several years that we didn’t think we would be able to have children, and those years were some of the most difficult, painful, and soul-searching years of my life.  But, I now know that I am the person I am today because of those years and the depths that I went to with myself, my husband, and my God.  I know that I was uniquely crafted to be the mother of these particular three children, to help raise them to be grounded in who they are at their very core, to know and feel that they are deeply loved, and to trust that they are exactly who they are supposed to be for a purpose.  I don’t always know how to do that the ‘right way’.  In fact, some days I don’t feel up for the challenge or qualified to even change their diapers, much less support them in their very personal and unique experience through life.  But, then I remember the other people in my life and how ‘it takes a village’, and I take a deep breath, listen to the God inside of me (or the God inside one of those people) for a moment, and I take the next step.

Dear Mother, I hope that you are also grateful for these things and more, because I know that not every mother has been given the chance to have the same experience out of this life. I hope that this Christmas season finds you surrounded by those who love you and whom you love the most, encouraged greatly to continue being the incredible mother you most undoubtedly are, and filled with hope for the years to come on this never-ending journey called ‘motherhood’.  Know that, no matter the circumstance, you are a blessing, you are highly honored, and you are the best mother for your children.  I know that I will not be alone as I think of you in the days, weeks and months to come and pray God’s absolute best for your life.  And I hope that you would think and pray for all of us in return.  

Merry Christmas and MANY more Happy New Years to you!

Kay

~mother to Kate (5.5), Ethan (3.5), and Karis (2)

Instead of spending lots of money on each other for Christmas, a husband and wife have decided to make gifts for each other and donate the money they would have spent to a village in Africa they visited this summer. The husband decided it would be cool to do something to encourage his wife with a collection of letters from other mothers. So, he’s opened it up to the internet and asked mothers everywhere to send him letters of encouragement, tips, wisdom, etc that he can compile into a book to present to her for Christmas. Here’s a portion of what he’s said:

As you may already know, I am creating Christmas for my wife this year and this is the site devoted to her present. Simply stated, I am collecting a series of “open letters” from mothers, to mothers. I am asking you to share your stories — no matter how raw or difficult. Share you concerns or worries — no matter how foolish they may seem. Share your wisdom — no matter how you came by it. Share your mother story. The only request? Start the letter “Dear Mother” and sign it. I will compile all of the letters in a Christmas book for both my wife AND YOU. If you share a letter before Christmas you will receive a copy of the Mother Letters.

I know that I’ll be writing a letter soon (as soon as the kiddos go down for bedtime and I can think clearly again) because a mother of any level of experience has something valid, beautiful, and encouraging to say about motherhood. And consider this my challenge to you to do the same… In fact, I’ll write another post when I’ve finished my letter just to let you know I’ve done it and now it’s your turn.

So, are you on?? Leave me a comment and let me know if you’re up for it, too!

So, instead of living with the masses of piles everywhere, I started looking for ideas of what to do with it all to help contain it and keep it from taking over my entire house. I came across several great suggestions like these:

• Put the artwork into a plastic box that fits under your child’s bed. You can always add more to the box as it starts to build up again. And, you can usually talk your child into culling through the pile that’s been in the box for a while in order to get more of the new stuff in.
• Get a clean pizza box to store artwork (even some 3D artwork will fit in these). You can even have a box per child per calendar year stored away in a closet somewhere.
• Take digital pics of the faves and then recycle it all. (Talk about NO clutter!!)
• Hang them in your playroom or child’s room from a clothes line/string.
• Then, there’s the ever-present refrigerator door. (Can you find the door or handle behind all those brilliant crayon masterpieces?)

While these are all great solutions and work for some people, the problem I had with most of these was that the artwork was stored away somewhere that no one could see them on a daily basis. Or, if they were on display, there was just TOO much volume of work to keep up with it all on ONE refrigerator door.

So, we decided to do something different. I ran across an article about making a collage of your child’s artwork on a canvas and hanging it in their room. And while the task of putting things on a canvas seemed a little daunting to me, I liked the general idea of being able to put MANY pieces of artwork together into one larger piece of art.

For Christmas, we bought Kate a simple, wood frame from IKEA. We got the poster-sized frame so that we would have plenty of room to display LOTS of artwork. And the great thing about this frame, besides how CHEAP it was, is that it uses plexiglass for the front instead of real glass. SO nice for a little kid’s room where strange things happen to things that can break.

We took that frame, painted it her favorite color, pink, and then added several decorations to it to make it truly hers. She loved getting to personalize it any way that she wanted to with little foam butterflies and wooden letters painted to match her room. And I loved that the whole project, including frame, wooden letters, paint, and foam cut-outs cost less than $10.

Then we took her PILES of artwork and started culling through them all to determine which pieces we absolutely HAD to keep and which we could cut out just a special piece of, and which ones were truly recyclable. (This process, by the way took at least an hour! She comes from a long line of pack-rats, so it was inevitable that it would take forever.)

Once we had the ‘special’ pieces ready, we started to place them on the poster sized paper that was included in the frame. We took special care to cut things out with fun edged scissors, label the things that needed it, and arranging them just right so that nothing was covered up that was really important. Then, we glued it all down. (Quick tip: using liquid glue tends to make the paper wrinkle and even make marker bleed, so we wound up changing to a glue stick half way through the project.) When everything is glued in place, I have Kate take a marker and sign her name and date to the bottom of the collage. I think this will be a fun way to not only keep her artwork from this age, but also get to see a piece of her handwriting, too.

Then, all that’s left to is pop it into the frame (might wait for the glue to dry first, though) and hang it where it can be admired by all. We have Kate’s hung in her bedroom so that everyone visiting her can see all her special pictures. It’s been a great way to personalize her room even more and she loves being able to show off all her artwork to her friends and grandparents.

UPDATE: It’s been a few months since we did the original collage and there have been plenty more ‘special’ pieces of artwork generated in that time frame. So, we bought a piece of posterboard, cut it to size and went about creating a new collage of the current artwork. Once it was done and ready to pop in the frame, we just set the new collage on top of the old one in the frame, sandwiching the old collage between the new one and the backing of the frame, and voila! a new collage for her wall with all her current artwork.