What are we teaching our pre-teens & teens about SEX??

This picture says it all, I had never really thought of it this way. What have you used to teach your children about abstinence? In our home we have talked about it since the very beginning. With our son being adopted, his birthparents were college students and that helped with explaining a lot of things. Our son had a pretty good understanding of single parenting and just how difficult life is for single parents and their children. We have used God's word in the book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon. We have also talked about King David and his sin. 

Another of my favorites is called A Chickens Guide To Talking Turkey With Your Kids About Sex. I heard an interview on Focus On The Family with the authors and liked. Got it free from the library...check it out!

What have use used in your home regarding this topic?

Popular Blog Posts...Finger Pointer Thingy...

I am really surprised that this is one the most popular blog post!! It's very near and dear to my heart, but I was thinking that most people stopped by (over 100,000 of you!) to get the yummy recipes! But I guess I’m wrong. Here is on of the most popular blog post.

POKING FUN IN THE HOMESCHOOL

 With the Homeschooled Young Man going into his junior year of high school in the fall, I've been doing a lot of reflecting and thinking back on our homeschool years.

We have been downsizing our homeschool materials for an upcoming used curriculum sale and it has brought back some fond memories of days gone by.

Just today as I was sitting in my rocking chair, a chair that holds many fond memories (our church nursery was remodeled and they bought brand new rocking chairs and gave away the old ones. They were delivered to my house and what a blessing it was to sit down in one, pick up the phone and call my out of state friend and say "Guess what I am doing? I am sitting in one of the rocking chairs that we both rocked our babies in!" It was a precious moment, remembering those days, for her 19 and 16 years ago, for me, just 15 years ago.

Ok, rabbit trail here; back to the title of this blog post Poking Fun In The Homeschool...lol.

Finger Pointer Thingy

My son walked up to me this morning and poked me in the side with that finger pointer thingy. I am very ticklish and I was just giggling like a schoolgirl as he kept poking me with it. The more I laughed the more he poked. I was not so much giggling at the tickling as I was at not having seen that finger pointer thingy in a very long time! He came across it as he was digging through his closet the other day.

I remember the day I bought that Finger Pointy Thingy, we were at a Scholastic Book Fair sale and I was buying my teaching supplies, like a real teacher don't ya know? Hahaha, it was one of our first years of homeschooling, ya know the one where you have the Homeschool Momma jean dress on. Actually, I wore a cute denim apron that my Mom decorated up with buttons that had pencils, a school bell, books, and cute stuff like that sewn on. Watch out, we had the student desk, a decorated classroom, my student wrote with feet flat on the floor for penmanship, pets were banished from the schoolroom until school was over. Ya, you're gettin' it now! lol. Yes, I was one of those 8:20am-3:00pm homeschoolers in the beginning. We even had school colors and a school mascot, we were Home of the Pugs!

I had big plans for that Finger Pointer Thingy, it was going to keep my boy's eyes focused on the board, it was going to keep him engaged, and it was going to force information into his little brain! I was going to fill that bucket (child) up as full as I could with information that he could spit out on a test!! You bet ya! He was going to learn!

Long about October of that same year, the Homeschooled Young Man asked if he could do his history on the couch with the dog, I told him as long as he got his work done. Then next thing you know he was under the kitchen table (his all-time favorite place) on the floor with the dog doing science. A short time later, he discovered fort making with sheets, blankets, and kitchen chairs to study in. These shenanigans nearly ended our homeschool career before it really got off the ground when Homeschool Dad saw what was going on. Because you know, homeschooling dad's think that learning can only be done in a straight backed chair, a desk and feet flat on the floor.

Over time I sold the desk, took off my cute denim apron (I still have it), took down the classroom decorations and started HOME SCHOOLING. That is school at home, or better known in the teenage years as car schooling since we live in the middle of nowhere and I am driving the Homeschooled Young Man back and forth to job shadowing, 4-H, hospitals, doctor's offices, the medical school, and volunteering. We just pack up the schoolbooks, pile into the car and off we go! His chemistry book seems to be intriguing to many doctors and starts up some interesting conversations with them. They have shown him apps that they still have on their phones for the Periodic Table and chat with him about their own struggles in O Chem.

After attending my first homeschool conference, I also realized that teaching is not simply filling a bucket with information that can be spit out on to a test. That one really rang my bell.

My homeschool décor has also changed; I have cute laminated quotes and pictures all around our homeschool bookshelves. They perk me up on a long day and get me through the tough times.

The picture below is from WWW.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com I've had it for years on my refrigerator and no matter how bad my day is, I can look at it and just laugh, I don't know why it makes me feel happy, but it is just so funny!

You can see how our homeschool has evolved over time, changed and morphed into something wonderful and unique to our family, now do you see why I was giggling so hard when being poked with the Finger Pointer Thingy? It is amazing how a little Finger Pointy Thingy can bring back so many memories.



Adoptive Momma Tears Flow

Spring time makes for wonderful fresh and new memories. Like the memory of the very first time our son brought me a Taraxacum officinale, a weed, better known as a Dandelion. I remember that day quite well, he was around 18 months old and we were walking home from an errand. Thinking back to the nine long years that we waited for a child and Spring days of wondering, "Will I ever be brought a bouquet of Dandelions, picked by eager chubby little hands?" The day I got my beautiful yellow weed was a day that will stick out in my heart and mind forever. That day my little man learned the difference in tears, happy tears and sad tears. As a teenager he can discern the difference in them with regards to his Momma pretty well now.

Just yesterday the nearly 15 year old young man brought me a Taraxacum officinale, a weed, better known as a Dandelion. That little yellow weed filled this adoptive momma's heart with love and her eye's with tears, happy tears that is. It made me thankful that he thought of me, stopped during his busy day and took the time to smell the flowers, even if they were just weeds. These are simple little pleasures a Momma gets and uses as teaching moments for her son. I remind him that his wife will enjoy getting a simple bouquet of flowers on a rare occasion, just because he thought of her. 

I treasure these moments as the days are fleeting and soon those Dandelions will be untouched. But I think that somehow I will be getting a bouquet of flowers in the Spring from my little man when he is all grown up, no matter where the Lord plants him.

Moe

 

GOTCHA DAY! Adoption Day!

This week we celebrated our son's adoption day, we call it GOTCHA DAY! In our home when it's your special day (birthday or Gotcha Day) you get to pick your meals. Our son picked cold cereal for breakfast, we normally have hot breakfast so this was a treat. Lunch was a favorite buffet restaurant and dinner was Subway. In the past we have spent the night at a hotel swimming,  gone to the zoo, played board games all evening long or find other fun stuff to do for his Gotcha Day! We had planned a fun field trip to tap maple trees for syrup but those plans unraveled. We got on the road by 7am with my sister in law (AKA favorite Aunt of the child) in tow and headed toward the forest of maple trees.

About an hour into the drive husband calls to say the field trip was cancelled due to weather. From the backseat comes a yell to head to the children's museum instead. OK, foiled plans are now made in to more fun plans!! It was cold (33 degrees) anyway and I think we were all a bit glad it was going to be an inside day. We decided to take a side trip to look at the baby chicks at the feed store, always a fun time. We now have BABY CHICK FEVER! lol. We will need to go to the doctor for that cause I ain't got no energy to care for baby chicks right now, though we only have about 4 chickens left in the freezer. We did buy a chicken hutch that was $119.00 on sale for $89.00. When I am up on my feet again we will get some meat birds to fill that up. YUM!!

Then we headed off to the museum, we get in free with our son's AOPA membership so that is pretty cool! Since I am not up for much in the way of walking around and expending energy since my surgery/leak/infection, I rested on a bench, then sat for a few hours in the lunch room. I brought the Kindle Fire along with me to watched an episode of the Duggars show 19 Kids and Counting, if you want to know exactly what my only child is like, he is a carbon copy of the Duggar boy that is interested in cameras and photography, I will have to ask our son what that boys name is. If anyone knows post the name, I know it starts with a J . . . hahaha, but I can't come up with it, post it on my blog please. Josiah is his name!

After the children's museum we headed off to the mall since I needed some new pants, none of mine fit anymore since the surgery, my stomach is still swollen, though this morning I did see a bit of my large incision, so the swelling is going down some. We walked around the mall and sat down a few times. Son treated his Aunt to a chair massage, they both liked it. I thought it might be too much for me so I just watched. Did not buy any clothes, but got talked into being a model for a fashion show and I will get 40% off my purchases that day. I'm thinking it was the pain meds that made me do it!  Otherwise I would NEVER consent to being a fashion model. But for 40% off everything that I buy, well I'm thinking I can do this. And the child was going nuts about it, so I said "YES!"

After all this they wanted to go to a bookstore, I conceded and headed out to the car to recline. I napped and ate some egg salad (what other type of sandwich would you eat when you raise chickens?) and chips. They enjoyed themselves and Auntie thought she would never get the child out of the bookstore...hahaha, she was getting tired and there are no chairs in this particular book store, I guess they don't want you to sit around and sample the books before you buy.

We arrived home around 10pm, I was pooped (pun intended after my intestinal surgery. . . LOL), the next day I did NOTHING but breathe, sleep and eat. I am for sure not ready for a day out like that again for awhile.

There is a silver lining to all this.
After all the stress of my illness and added responsibility that the child has had over the last 6 months, remember I broke my foot, ended up on bed rest with it, then was hospitalized in December (Diverticulitis), then again in January (surgery), then yet again in February (infection). Now my recovery phase (should be back to normal by summer, but really what is NORMAL. . . hahaha.) It's been a really long ride for all of us. So this comment from our son really threw me for a loop, it got me thinking WOW I guess love is what it's all about (the love of the Father first and foremost) and you just do what you have to do to make it through. I think this has all been a HUGE learning experience for our son, in watching how Daddy takes care of me and how our marriage vowes really come into play with something like this, especially when your spouse is not able to function for months on end, you have to take on household responsibilities and new financial responsibilities (my medical bills just for 12 days in the hospital + all the extras of tests, co-pays, prescriptions etc. are well over $100,000.00 and insurance is fighting $48,000 of that saying it was not medically necessary for me to be in the hospital for the infection and IV antibiotics. Prayers would be appreciated in this area. I am thinking that there is an insurance coding glitch or something since I was very ill and I don't think I would have fared very well at home in the condition I was in, there is no way I could have functioned at home.

I pray that our son will remember us getting through these times when/if his wife or children should ever become ill. I look at this as a time of growing for all of us, and WOW what opportunities I had to share through the course of my illness, to God Be The Glory is all I can say! As I feel up to it I will share more things that I encountered through my illness.

Visiting Mom in the hospital. I look much better now!

I will leave you with the comment from our child the night before his Gotcha Day, he says to me "Mom, I am so glad that you adopted me." I said "Why?" He says "Because I get to grow up in a Christian home, I get chickens and I get to have a dog." I told him "Thank you and also be thankful for your birth parents, they made a really hard decision in placing you for adoption."

How does your family celebrate Gotcha Day!?

 

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

Christmas & Only Children part 4

In the coming days before Christmas you will see some posts on things that our family does to help in raising our only child to be a caring individual and ward off the evil selfish behavior that is so prevalent in our world today. This would fall under Character Training and is taught on a daily basis in our homeschool.

What are the hardest things to teach an only child?
*How not to be selfish
*How to be giving
*How to be thoughtful

What can you do to teach the above things?
*Teach them to think of others first
*Give them opportunities to serve others
*Teach them about taking care of others

How does our family teach these things?
*Make placemats for Meals On Wheels done
*Play the piano & sing Christmas carols at a nursing home done
*Buy Christmas gifts for needy children done

Christmas & Only Children part 3

In the coming days before Christmas you will see some posts on things that our family does to help in raising our only child to be a caring individual and ward off the evil selfish behavior that is so prevalent in our world today. This would fall under Character Training and is taught on a daily basis in our homeschool.

What are the hardest things to teach an only child?
*How not to be selfish
*How to be giving
*How to be thoughtful

What can you do to teach the above things?
*Teach them to think of others first
*Give them opportunities to serve others
*Teach them about taking care of others

How does our family teach these things?
*Make placemats for Meals On Wheels done
*Play the piano & sing Christmas carols at a nursing home
*Buy Christmas gifts for needy children done

Our son went shopping on Black Friday to pick out the following gifts for a needy boy and girl in our community.



He thought the Lego watch would be a big hit for a wide age range of boys.

He was thrilled to find this on sale (yes my son is frugal!) and he said "Every little girl needs a doll & stroller to play with."

We delivered these to the Mission in town and they will distribute the gifts before Christmas.

 

How can your only child (those with more than one are welcome to chime in too  :O)  bless others this Christmas season?

 

Moe

Two New Recipes

The first recipe is just something that I threw together today. I found some boneless, skinless chicken thighs on sale (use leftover turkey later this week for this recipe, you could add more broth for soup or add gluten free dumplings on top for chicken/turkey pot pie), so I dumped them in the crockpot and covered with water. Cooked them on high for about 5 hours. Drained the meat and poured the broth into a large pot, I brought that to a boil and added 24 oz of gluten free & corn free chicken broth, I ran a head of celery through the food chopper along with 5 carrots, tossed those in.

I then added 1 tsp Poultry Seasoning, 1/2 tsp Thyme, 1 tsp onion powered (I would have chopped a full onion but we have a funeral visitation to attend this evening and I did not want my hands and hair to smell like onions  :O(  I then added my secret weapon Superior Kosher Chicken Base it is gluten free and corn free and REALLY REALLY adds some great flavor!! I put about 1 1/2 TBLS in. I let this boil for about 20 minutes to mix the flavors up.

Then I added in gluten free & corn free egg noodles. I order them from PastaAlley, we love their gf egg noodles and gf soup noodles, they soak up the broth and taste like Grandma's homemade noodles. After adding the noodles I let them boil for about15 minutes and then shredded up the chicken and added that. YUMMO!! I am eating a bowl full as I type. I did add a touch of sea salt at the end.

I also was in the mood for something sweet and holiday like. I bought some SILK Egg Nog, called the company and they assured me that it was gluten free & corn free. So I decided to make some Egg Nog ice cream.  I love my Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt Ice Sorbet maker it makes goodies in less than 25 minutes, actually it took me about 15 minutes start to finish to make this. And it tastes wonderful!
You can whisk this up in a bowl, but the full fat coconut milk is hard to whisk I think. So I use my mixer. I added
1 1/4 c Soy Nog
1/2 c sugar (use more or less to your taste)
1 can full fat coconut milk (liquid and the thick white stuff in the can (lol.....I freaked the first time I opened a can of this, I was like "what on earth is this?" lol)
And mix or whisk until smooth.
Pour into ice cream maker and run as directed from manufacturer.

I know this looks like a dough ball.......LOL. But it's really ice cream in the ice cream maker and it's YUMMY!!

So these are some starts to my Holiday cooking this week. My in-laws will have the traditional Thanksgiving meal and I will be bringing my own eats  :O)     I don't mind since I like the people better than the food. We will spend the afternoon playing board games and visiting. Of course I am sure that there will be some sort of football game blaring in the background...lol.  Though one person will be missing from the family meal table, our son's Birthmom. She was killed 6 years ago by a drunk driver the week of Thanksgiving. She was on her way home from Grad School to her Mother's home for  Thanksgiving break. I am thankful that our son had several years to get to know his Birthmom before her death.

Hugs and Happy Thanksgiving!
Moe

What is a Workbox?

Now that back to school is in full swing for most of us. I get asked questions about how I handle homeschool organization. Well here goes. WORKBOXES!! Love the idea but I refused to pay the high prices for the actual Workbox system. So off to Hobby Lobby I went with 40% off coupons in hand. I bought these bins and they have worked well for us for a few years. And so why change a good thing! Plus having a small home it works great in keeping clutter down and things in their place.
I used my Cricut machine to label each drawer. I like to have about 6 weeks of material ready to go (I know in a dream world that always happens....lol). Things are in a disarray around here right now as we started school and then our son's birthfamily came to visit for 5 days, so we had vacation time from school. I'm needing to get a planning day together and get organized.

Each drawer in my workbox system contains what is needed for each subject. That way things are NOT strewn about the house. (I'm learning a lot of things from reading the Too Much Stuff book by Kathryn Porter). Once Science is done, it goes back in the science drawer or math, it goes right back in the math drawer. If I'm sick or I have to be gone for the day, it's all right there. No comments like "I can't find my history book." "I can't find my math test." It's all right there in the drawer. The 3 middle size drawers to the left of my Workbox system contain flashcards & class games, craft supplies are in the 2 bottom ones. The smaller set of drawers to the left of those contain packages of pens, pencils, markers, sticky notes (anyone else have an obsession with sticky notes? I lol........I have like 10 million pads of those crazy things!).

So that my friends is my Workbox system. Works for us and we love it! Share what works for you!
Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!
Moe

AWESOME link for you & a blessing I got.

AWESOME link!! Click here to head on over to "Denverbargins.com" she has a great article on pantry challenges. Sounds like she is really trying to tighten her belt, but a few of the suggestions would pertain to a great many of us right here and now.

Now for my blessing, as many of you know I love visionforum.com and we buy a lot from that site. I bought the DVD Tea with Michelle Duggar, I know, I know, some of you don't care for the show, so please have a great day & skip this post  :O)  

 I was so blessed by the DVD and plan to have my family watch it with me.
As an adoptive mom (I've had 4 miscarriages) to an only child, I so enjoy the Duggar's take on parenting and children. She has never made me feel less of a mom for not being able to "be fruitful and multiply", she has shown me the blessings of having even just one child. I really got a lot of out the video on how to train my child in the ways of the Lord, simple, easy ways. WOW!!  I also laughed when she spoke of the piles of laundry and 2 hours of washing dishes (things that can't be put in the dishwasher) and how to get your kids to work together. You will be blessed beyond measure from this DVD. Here is a link for more info Tea with Michelle Duggar. They have the DVD on sale this month. (I do not get any thing for posting about this DVD  :O)
Have a great Saturday and hug your child (or children!)
Moe