Murdock Monday - Cup Cake Class

My mother was kind enough to host a cup cake icing class for our home school group.   Everyone was so excited and we had a great turn out.

 

I do not know what the tip numbers are, but these were sold at Walmart and they are basic decorating tips, in the largest size.  The large size is good for cup cakes and for children to get a hang of how to ice.

She had all of the cup cakes set up.  Each child got to do three different styles.

They did a great job!  There was some real talent today.

After cup cakes we had some swimming time.

Thanks again Mom!

Friday Favorites

Here are my favorite things from this week. :)  I am linked up here. :)

We met some monkeys.

I found roses in the street (which are still alive BTW)

We met some friends for play time.

My sister asked me to be her maid of honor in her wedding.

We met friends at Palm Beach for a fun day in the sun!

How was your week?  Tell me about it

Pre-K Thursday

This week we worked on the color yellow.

I did similar things as I did with blue.  We found a basket of yellow toys, we read yellow books, we played with yellow play-doh and other yellow things (water beads, construction paper, paint).  How ever, because of Micah's speech delay/Apraxia, he did not catch on to yellow very well.  The sign for yellow is also difficult.

To me, this week seemed like a failure.  I was very frustrated.  But we will push on to "Green" next week and hopefully make some more progress.

ADHD diet update - Murdock Mondays

We have been on a dye free diet for about two or three months now.  The whole family eats dye free, however the dye free diet is for my middle son who has ADHD.  It appears that to people who are ADHD they are hypersensitive to the dyes in our foods and its almost like they have an alergic reaction after eating foods with dyes. (There are tons of studies on why they are bad, I am not linking to any, but this is a good overview on them.)

When I told my husband we were going to do this diet, I was at my whits end.  We discipline, we are good parents, I am always looking for ways to become a better parent and person in general.  So even though I realise that his behavior had lead me to try the diet before I tried medications, and we had gotten HUGE feed back from family and non family that he was a different kid while on the diet, I still said when he went to summer camp that he didnt have to follow the diet.

Big mistake.  He started exhibiting unacceptable behavior at home day one and two (it was a day camp)  day three the camp counselor pulled me aside and told me that Eli had spent 15 minuets running from 3 male counselors.  I was mortified.  I asked if I could bring his lunch and explained the diet and what we do.  Luckily the counselor him self was ADHD and had been on a similar diet when he was younger.  We finally realized that he had ketchup that day.  Ketchup is loaded with red dye.  Then I thought back to another time I made an exception to where he had been totally normal, then he had a hot dog with ketchup and not more than 5 minuets later was acting like a fool.  So normal, non organic ketchup made it to the "no, never, not in your life time" list.

Trying to navagate this dye free eating is daunting and quite frankly it makes me angry that non food items are in our food.  As we go on I learn more, but since it is impossible to know if dyes are in food with out reading the lable we have tried to implement some rules when we are out in a place where the diet can not be stuck to strictly (vacations, etc)

1) Nothing red.  I think you can safely assume anything red has a ton of dyes (unless you are at an organic restaurant)

2) No cheese products.  You can also most likely assume its not real cheese.

3) The only acceptable soft drink (if they really must have one) is sprite.

We have started carrying his ketchup with us, and what reinforces it even more to me that the diet works is - he hates to get off of it.  He notices a huge difference in himself and he always asks me if what he is about to eat is okay.

When I started researching ADHD food I found these blogs/links most helpful

1) Our Family Eats - Great for eating/food

2) A good list of ideas to get you thinking

3) This is a link to my ADHD party food board.  Now that you have a child with a special diet, you have to get in the habit of bringing snacks with you.  If I know there will be a treat I try and bring him one too.  I have pinned cute natural food ideas here.

Friday Favorites

I am linked up here

We celebrated Father's Day Saturday and Sunday.  I found this place called Boyert Shooting Center.  Their one year anniversary coincided with Father's Day.  So we went there and entered contest, had snow cones and cotton candy, games and they had a fun simulator.....Oh and that contest, they called me Tuesday to let me know I won a gun!!!  Exciting!

Great family pictures 

This doesn't happen that often, so I was glad to have some photos of us that looked cute.

Whole foods cinnamon rolls.  I am a big Whole Foods shopper, and these are awesome.

Noah's "joy tank" he made in Sunday school.  He filled it with things that brought him joy.  The first (and only one) that I pulled out said "mom". That brought me so much  joy.

Teaching the kids to be bored.  Or "empty hours".  I recently read a blog that talked about "empty hours" and not having to have a full schedule for your kids.  We are currently doing 21 days with out ipad/phone/electronic games and I am encouraging the kids to be bored.  When they come and tell me they are bored I say "That's good, its good for you.  That is when the best ideas come.  Now go enjoy your empty hours in  your room."  Its working, they are doing much more board games and other non-electronic things.

One thing they did in their empty hours was load the truck with wood.  After they finished I pointed out the feeling of self accomplishment and pride that they had.  They were very proud of themselves.

How was your week?  What was your favorite?

Pre-K Thursday

We started our at home pre-school lessons this week and our first color is blue.  I got a lot of motivation here.

First we gathered lots of blue items and put them in our blue box

I picked out books with blue covers to read.  I would ask "what color is this?" and point.  I also am teaching him the signs for colors.  With him being apraxic it seems to be helping.  It gives him another way to say the color, which leads to less frustration.

He had a blue bath (frozen ice cubes, blue shaving cream and craft foam) 

* Fun tip * cut out the craft foam into the shapes you want, when you get it wet, it automatically will stick to the bath tub.

Blue play-doh and blue cars

 our blue sensory bottles

And our blue water beads

At the beginning of the week I gathered up all of the activities we would be doing for the week, and then each day I grabbed one.  The most important thing was I pointed out and signed blue every time I saw the color.

I would say this week was a sucess, however now a lot of other colors are "blue" as well.

What methods did you use to teach colors?

5 Ways to avoid Home Schooling Burn Out - Murdock Monday's

I am an expert on burning the candle at both ends.  I am also pretty good at looking like I have it all together.  Except when I am not all together, and the world (or a select few) see me fall apart.  That's always a lot of fun (heavy sarcasm).

Is it possible to avoid burn out?  Can you do it all?    Can you Educate your children, keep a perfect house, and any other duties that may be yours as a wife, mom and home educator?  I believe that the answer is no.  You have to prioritize

What I do:

 Pray

I ask God to give me strength to do what I NEED to do. (remember there is a difference between need and want).  Does the house NEED to be clean or do you NEED to eat.  There is a difference.  We do school, meals, animal chores,  laundry, cleaning.  In that order.  Something else that helps me is assigning a chore to a day.  Example:  Monday's sweep kitchens and bathrooms, Tuesdays - Mop, Wednesdays - vacuum, Thursdays - Clean bathrooms, and so on.  That way I know that at least once in the week a particular area was cleaned

Set relaslitic expectations. 
 Can you do it all?  No.  Expecting your self to keep a perfect house, cook every meal and homeschool your children will only lead to frustration.  

 Get rid of the guilt
 This stage in our lives is very important.  It may seem tedious and like its going to last for ever, but its not going to.  I am coming up on my 15th wedding anniversary.   When I look back it doesn't seem like that long.  I have 7 years left to teach my oldest child.  Seven, less than a decade.  So if the house is a mess dont worry about it.  Soon enough this season will be over and all I will have is memories of these three beautiful children that I have been blessed with.

 Don't over book
 Its funny, people always ask about socialization.  When I started homeschooling this was a BIG concern.  When will they be social?  Oh my goodness, when will they not be?  We are apart of 3 or 4 homeschooling groups, some more active than others and we can not do ever field trip offered to us or we would never be home.  I try to do one field trip a week or every-other week.

 Don't worry what other people think. 

 Not everyone is going to be supportive.  Period.  When I first started there were a select few people who did not approve and I felt that I had to convenience them.  I dont.  They dont have to understand.  They are not homeschooling, I am.  I know this is the best decision for my family and their opinion doesn't matter to me.

What are some ways that you avoid homeschooling burn-out?