Reading Aloud

Reading stories aloud to my children is my favorite time of the day (besides our scripture time). Our reading time is right before bedtime. This is what works best for me and the children look forward to that special time of the day. The magical hours of the night when anything and everything becomes real for a period of time.

Mrs. Darling first heard of Peter when she was tidying up her children's minds. It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day. . . . It is quite like tidying up drawers. . . . When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind; and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on.

(Peter Pan / J.M. Barrie)

I love books!!! I love to read them, I love to buy them (especially old ones) and surprisingly my children love the smell of old books. They particularly love they way old books will lay open when they are reading them. I love the library, used book stores, and book sales. I love books stacked on the shelves, on tables, and of course next to my bed. You must have at least three different books you are reading at one time. Scriptures (for these are truly a mothers & fathers handbook to raising a family), then some kind of self-help or political book, last but not least my escape book ( very important for those difficult days).

I have older children and younger children. We have enjoyed the classics to Harry Potter. My older married children still reminisce with me about some of the books we have enjoyed together. Sharing those experiences together lasts a lifetime. We flew with Wendy, John and Michael Darling to Neverland, we walked with Harry Potter as he first saw Hogwarts, we fell into the goblin caves with Curdie, cried with Wilbur, admired Taran's courage, believed we were princesses with Sara Crewe ( okay maybe not the boys), loved Pollyanna's out look on life, silently spied the forests of Araluen with Will, helped pull the sword from the stone with Arthur . . . .on and on it goes. Books are the best adventures of all!

A great book to start with to get some even better ideas about reading together as a family or individually with your children is:

A Family Program for Reading Aloud by Rosalie June Slater

You will find some wonderful treasures within the pages of this book which will point you in the direction of many classic books you may have forgotten about. Books help to shape the minds of our up coming generation. Helping them and us to touch places and people we might not ever get a chance to experience . . . especially from the past.

American Christian homes have generally relinquished their educational leadership. It was the Christian Home in America which built our nation. Parents formed the character of our American Christian Constitution by first forming the character of their own children. . . . . .

Home is the educational center of our nation. . . . . Literature supplies parents and teachers with one of their most useful and beloved avenues of teaching and learning. Literature is the Handmaid of history. (A Family Program for Reading Aloud by Rosalie Slater)

When looking for a good book to read aloud or to yourself, look for living books. A book that will promote an experience . . . to feel as if you are really there with the characters and places. They will remember and learn from those experiences.

Honey For A Child's Heart is another good recommendation for finding great books to read. I enjoyed this book and hearing about Gladys' family reading time together. Their experiences and memories were fun and sweet. I think you will have as much fun as I had reading it.

I hope you will enjoy reading with your children as much as I do. Don't worry about making mistakes or learning new words . . that's part of the adventure. The more you read out loud the better you will get. Have fun, try different voices, learn about new or forgotten people and places. Start your adventure today . . . open a book!

Spring!

I love to see, smell and feel the warmth of spring. It is such a renewing time of year that fills you with hope and joy. The poem 'April' by Sara Teasdale is perfect for this time of year.

The roofs are shining from the rain,

The sparrows twitter as they fly,

And with a windy April grace

The little clouds go by.

Yet the back yards are bare and brown

With only one unchanging tree--

I could not be so sure of Spring

Save that it sings in me.

"Save that it sings in me," is exactly how I feel about spring. I love gardens and everything about them. There is nothing better than getting dirt under those fingernails and your finger-tips scratchy from the soil. I have planted gardens from the East Coast to the West Coast and down into the warm south. I do not profess to be an expert by any means. I have had beautiful gardens and not so beautiful. Yet, every year I love to get my garden tools out and plant hopeful vegetable gardens. I am very excited about this new way of gardening or not so new to others. I have learned about raised vegetable/flower gardens or square foot gardening.

I discovered some great sites for tips on raised gardens. I first saw The Pioneer Woman with her handy step by step pictures & instructions for building a raised veggie garden -- http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ then I stumbled upon Square Foot Gardening, http://www.squarefootgardening.com/. Please take a look at these since they are full of great ideas. After viewing these I thought, "I can do that!" and so I did.

First I took my big strong son with me to Home Depot to buy the materials. I also had him unload the material into the back yard.

Now my dimensions were different because my space is more rectangular.

With the help of my children we set to work building our first raised veggie garden right on top of our lawn. I also love to build things (as long as they turn out right).

As you can see we finished building the box and felt pretty good about our work. It was a pretty easy project.

The next thing was to add the dirt (a mixture of garden soil & mulch) then we planted the wonderful seeds & starter plants. The children loved this part of the project the best. Especially using the watering can to water the plants.

We think it turned out great and as you can see the beans & peas have already sprouted within 1 week. My daughter loves to go out and check the growth of the plants every morning when she gets up.

I had some pots lying around the yard so I decided to use those for herbs. It's pretty exciting to use fresh herbs from your garden in your cooking. They can be pretty expensive at the grocery store yet they are so easy to grow.

If you are at all interested in a garden but just think you don’t have the space I would encourage you to try a raised vegetable garden placed in an area that receives sunlight throughout most of the day, or by placing some plants or seeds in pots around your yard. You will really love the benefits come harvest time. Especially with the high prices of Organic products in our stores these days. Learning to garden is a fun project for the whole family. Being able to provide for our own families by producing gardens I believe is essential at this time. Going back to the basics of learning simple things to better our homes and work together as families is key. This will not only help with the grocery bill but provides and teaches self-reliance within our families, neighborhoods & communities. Happy gardening everyone!