Beautiful Nativity Advent Calendar December 25, 2013

Visit http://mormon.org/story-of-Christmas?cid=HPWE120413210 for more information. Have a most blessed and wonderfully Merry Christmas!

Teach Me Mommy Preschool curriculum book September 8, 2008

A few years ago, when my first child was three, I started thinking about preschool. As a stay-at-home mom with a graduate student husband, a commercial preschool was out of the question. Besides, I wasn’t ready to send my little one away from home for the day. Some friends were starting one of the paid curriculum programs and I thought about it until I saw how much it was and realized that I could easily do that myself without the cost. However, it would have been time consuming to gather all the materials and to create all the lesson plans.

Fortunately, I came across a great book called Teach Me Mommy. It was put together by a mom for moms who wanted to teach their little ones. The lessons plans are simple to follow, the supplies needed are things you would have around the house anyway, and there is no need to pay monthly fees–just buy the book and use it for all your kids! There is minimal preparation for the lessons plans since everything is laid out in the book. I also use the lesson topics as ideas for lesson plans of my own.

A friend and I both bought the book and created our own preschool. First we went through the book and marked which lessons we would teach and who would teach them. We met two times a week and took field trips too. Our kids loved the interaction with each other and the special time with their moms.

One very memorable field trip we went to a dairy farm while learning about farm animals. We actually milked some cows, drank fresh milk, and watched the whole process of cow-to-milk pumps-to-pasteurization tank-to-collection in the big milk truck that took it to the factory. The farmers gave us some dairy memorabilia and we were off with a memory that we still laugh about.

I’m now starting preschool with my second child and excited to have this book with everything ready to go. I noticed that there are new resources on the Teach Me Mommy website and a new blog with ideas of activities to do with your child.

Check it out. I think you will like what you see.

tie dye pancakes March 24, 2008

I made some “really cool pancakes” (according to my kids) for Easter. I made the pancake batter and then dropped in food coloring-a couple drops each color at different parts of the bowl. (You might want to use more coloring to get a more dramatic effect. ) Then I barely stirred it and all the colors swirled around each other without blending. The effect was multicolored pancakes that were “really awesome.”

Note: Do NOT stir the batter very much after you add the dye. Otherwise you will end up with unappetizing gray batter.

(FYI: Much of the “cool” factor is diminished after the pancakes are cooked because of the browning–so make sure your kids are there when you pour the batter onto the skillet.)