Mom’s Musings

For more Haiku, visit Jennifer over at Playgroups are No Place for Children and Christina at A Mommy Story.

This has been an extra busy week in my real world, AND I have been trying to do the responsible thing and get more sleep. These are my excuses for posting a bit less than usual. If you are interested in my unsubstantiated opinions, I forthwith present you with this week’s THURSDAY THIRTEEN,

Thirteen ways to foster creativity in your children:

• First of all, make sure that your children’s basic needs for body and soul are consistently well-met. This lays a foundation of security and health. This will require a lot of love, self-discipline and self-sacrifice on your part.
  
• Expose your children to real life people, places and things. Go to the park, to the zoo, to the concerts, to church, to stores, to the library, and to as many other places as you can think of. Prepare your children ahead of time for what they will see and what behavior will be expected of them.
  
• Involve your children in the real work of the home, so that they may learn real skills and discover what valuable, competent people they are. Children (at an appropriate age, with instruction) can do animal chores, bake bread, clean bathrooms, mow lawns, wash vehicles, paint rooms, organize seasonal clothing, etc. DON’T DO FOR YOUR CHILDREN WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR THEMSELVES! Do you want them to learn that they are helpless and needy, or that they are strong and competent?
  
• READ, READ, READ to your children! And, let them see you enjoying reading, too. Read a variety of literary genres to them, and non-fiction, too. Other times and places will come alive to them. Wise and good men and women from ages past (and the present) can become your children’s friends through good books.
  
• Pay attention to your children, and particularly try to notice their aptitudes, talents and special interests. Nurture these talents, with appropriate lessons, supplies, field trips, mentors, etc. In schooling language, this is called Interest Based Education. This is the type of homeschooling that I tried to do. What’s good for one child’s development may not be the right fit for another child, as you most likely realize.
  
• Provide a rich learning environment in your home. This would include: books, art supplies, Legos or similar 3-D building toys, clothing for dress-up, a safe outdoor play area with sand box, a dirt heap, trees to climb, places to bike and skate, room to run and dance.
  
• Make sure your children have unstructured time every day to play and dream. How can they be creative if you are deciding what they will do every minute of every day?
  
• Provide opportunities for your children to interact lovingly with people of as many ages and ethnicities as possible. Emphasize the duty we have to love and serve others. Let them know that they are no better and no worse than anyone else because of being black, white, brown, or any other shade or nationality. Let them think of ways to love and serve.
  
• Limit TV viewing time. I would like to say, do without TV altogether, but there are valuable programs you can enjoy together, I know. I have read that the type of stimulation provided by TV does not foster neurological development in young children, nor does it develop their creativity. You can research this yourself, if you so desire. Jane M. Healy, Ph.D. has quite a bit to say on this subject in her book Your Child’s Growing Mind. This would include computer time as well.
  
• Just because you are a busy momma, don’t stop altogether doing the creative things for which you have a passion. Please, continue dancing, playing musical instruments, writing, and painting, or working to further a cause for which you are passionate.
  
• Make sure your children have strong basic skills in reading and math. Can a child be creative with math when he doesn’t know the language or rules of mathematics? Can a child appreciate the worlds hidden within books when he cannot read with ease?
  
• Converse with your children about everyday events, newspaper articles, and books you are reading, and truly try to listen to them when they converse with you.
  
• Play games with your children. Following the rules, planning one’s strategy, interacting with one another during the game, and keeping score foster emotional and mental growth and creativity.
  

There you have my list, compiled by an opinionated momma who homeschooled for many years. I am very pleased with my kind, creative, competent children. I didn’t say PERFECT, mind you. But, I enjoyed all the time spent with my children. Those were some of the best years of my life, and I am passionate about helping children to develop their particular talents.

1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1 cup diced potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 17-oz. can cream corn
1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
(Optional: canned salmon or canned chicken)

• Cook the potatoes and carrots in the chicken broth, salt, pepper, and thyme for about 20 minutes.
• Add the peas and cook 5 minutes longer.
• In a skillet, melt the butter and saute the garlic, onion, celery and green pepper. When the veggies are tender, scoop them into the soup. To the remaining butter, stir in the flour, and gradually add the canned milk to make a white sauce.
• Turn off the heat under the soup. Add the white sauce, the cream corn, and the canned meat (if used).

Serves 4 to 6.

(This recipe is from volume 4 of My Favorite Recipe Cookbook, put out by the Lynden Tribune.)

My brother sent me a link to this fun site. Take the test and find out whether your speech is Yankee or Dixie. My test results show that I am barely into the Yankee category, with a score of 46%. My brother was barely into the Dixie category, with a score of 52%. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that our maternal grandfather was born and raised in Mississippi, and we spent a lot of time with him in our youth (in Arizona, though, not in Mississippi).

I’m waiting with bated breath for my husband’s score, since we have an ongoing friendly rivalry about how certain words should be pronounced. And . . . (drumroll) . . . Rick’s score is: AMAZING! We got exactly the same score!

I have a couple good posts in mind.

For dinner last night I prepared one of the children’s favorite “comfort” meals, a homemade salmon chowder, MINUS the salmon. Once I’m home from work I’ll post that recipe with some pictures. The recipe will include the salmon, for those of you who prefer the “whole” recipe.

I had hoped yesterday to do a Give Me Five Monday post, but the hostess of that meme is extra busy these days and didn’t send out a prompt.

As usual, I also have been staying up too late, and that caught up with me yesterday. Rather than stay up just a little longer to put up a little post, I curled up in bed with a good book (A book review will make a good post in due time.) and went to bed on time for once.

Usually I would do a Ten on Tuesday post, but I’ll be skipping that this week as well, because the prompt is Ten Places I haven’t been yet that I would like to travel. I don’t travel well, so any traveling on my part will be mainly vicarious.

Well, break is about over. I’ll catch ya later.

P.S. - I also took a fun quiz for which I will post the link in another post. This quiz asks you how you pronounce certain words, which is an ongoing source of amusement for some of us.

(Image from Snapshots of Joy.)

I have been blessed, once again, to join with my family and others in worshiping the Lord this Sunday. We enjoyed good fellowship with one another as well, and now, it is late. Therefore, I will leave you with only a wee post, an excerpt from the metrical version of Psalm 19, verses 1 through 6:

1 The heav’ns God’s glory do declare,
the skies his hand-works preach:
2 Day utters speech to day, and night
to night doth knowledge teach.
3 There is no speech nor tongue to which
their voice doth not extend:
4 Their line is gone through all the earth,
their words to the world’s end.

In them he set the sun a tent;
5 Who, bridegroom-like, forth goes
From’s chamber, as a strong man doth
to run his race rejoice.
6 From heav’n’s end is his going forth,
circling to th’ end again;
And there is nothing from his heat
that hidden doth remain.

We sing this psalm to the tune Crediton, which sounds like this: crediton

The writing prompt this week at One Single Impression is FLOWERING. Just in time, our beloved dogwood trees, which are native to the Pacific Northwest, have unveiled their display. These photos were taken by my husband, through our bedroom window:

Heart gladdening sight,

Dogwood blooms, heavenward turned

With jubilant gaze.

While you care for us,

Have fun with us, too, Mommy;

Blink, and we’ll be grown.

For more Haiku, visit Jennifer over at Playgroups are No Place for Children and Christina at A Mommy Story.

This Thursday Thirteen I offer you Thirteen places I shop (or want to shop) online:

• Amazon.com; I love books, and this is where I buy a lot of them.
  



• Footsmart; special things to pamper your footsies.
  



• Chadwick’s
  
• Brylane Home
  
• Questionable Content. If you’re nerdy and proud of it, this is the place for great t-shirts, book bags, etc.
  

This is just one of the many neat designs Questionable Content offers.

• Reformation 21
  
• Reformation Heritage Books
  
• Craig’s List; my cute little Suzuki Grand Vitara came to us via a Craig’s List ad.
  
• Azure Standard. This is where I order wheat berries to grind for flour, and other bulk food items, as well as “health food store” items at a reasonable price.
  
• Duluth Trading Co.; work clothes par excellence.
  



• Costco.com
  
• Scientific Learning; I’m very interested in a program called Fast forWord which has been proven to help remediate reading disabilities.
  
• National Institute for Learning Development; If I were younger, I would like to go through the therapy to be certified as a NILD therapist. Great resources for dealing with learning disabilities.
  

ALMOST

My husband snapped some quick pics while we were on a little walk tonight.

Isn’t it wonderful? We have a self-walking doggie. She’s quite conscientious about holding the leash until you take it from her.

Enjoy visiting some more Wordless Wednesday participants!