I hesitate to buy any candy at all these days, but this homeschooling momma’s brain ran away with the educational possibilities that a bag or two of candy hearts would provide.

Grace and I went looking for some on our last trip to the grocery store.

I was excited to find larger than normal candy hearts and special flavors candy hearts.

We have had candy heart homeschool all week, and Grace is delighted. Here are some of the things we’ve done:

Candy Heart Sorting

One of Grace’s math lessons this week was sorting, so the first thing we did was get out a handful of hearts from each bag and sort them.

I asked Grace how we should sort them into groups.

First, she sorted by color. (All by herself, with no prompting or hints!)

Next, she sorted by size.

We’ve also had lessons on thick and thin, so we made groups of those, too.

Letter Identification with Candy Hearts

We spread a bunch of candy hearts out on the table, and I asked Grace to find one with a W. It was hard because the letters are small, and I picked letters that I knew she would have trouble identifying.

Then she found all the hearts that had Ms on them, and we compared the Ws and the Ms.

Writing with Candy Hearts

Tomorrow, we are going to make letters out of hearts, like this lowercase g:

Candy Hearts Rhymes

It would be really fun to read the words (except the risqué ones! Some of these were cheap and tawdry candy hearts.) and come up with rhyming words. We might do that tomorrow.

We used the hearts with worksheets that I’d downloaded from 1+1+1=1. Grace put the hearts on top of the words that rhymed with pig.

Candy Hearts Sight Words

Grace is a reluctant reader. She can read. She can read well, actually.

She refuses to read. She pretends that she can’t do it.

I got her to read today. She knew sight words, and she sounded out words that I never dreamed she could sound out, even attempting flower and beautiful.

When I told her the words she didn’t know, she got mad. Mom! I can do it MYSELF!

“Um, sorry?” I said, really wanting to say, “Aren’t you the kid who pretends she can’t read?” But I kept my mouth shut.

Anyway, I had her put a candy heart on each word she knew or could sound out, and I gave her a bonus candy heart for each sentence she could read in its entirety. She read 2 of the 4 without any help at all.

And then she ate all the candy hearts and got a tummy ache. I should make that a separate point, Candy Hearts Activities – Learning Self Control.

Reading with Candy Hearts

I printed out a short story about Peter Pan from 1+1+1=1. Like above, I let Grace put a heart on each word she could decipher. In this case, I think she was using context clues sometimes (rather than reading), but I’m not complaining!

In either case, Grace read most of the story without any help from me.

Candy Hearts Addition

We made candy hearts sentences, like 2 plus 1 equals 3 and 1 plus 1 equals 2. I also made it interesting and fun by saying things like, “If I you take 2 of my candy hearts and put them in your pile, how many will you have?” She liked that a lot.

After doing this, Grace said, This math stuff is easy, Mom.

YES!

Candy Heart Subtraction

Just like above, I said things like, “If you have 5 hearts and eat 1, how many do you have left?”

Candy Heart Patterns

Self explanatory, right? I made patterns, and Grace added to them in the same pattern. Then she made patterns and I had to finish them.

This was seriously so much fun! I’m going to scoop up a bunch more candy hearts on Valentine’s Day or the day after, just so we have some on hand for later in the year.

More Candy Hearts Activities

• Candy hearts printables
• Candy hearts probability activities.
• Candy hearts battleship
• Candy hearts in alphabetical order

How else can you use candy hearts to teach and learn?

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.

I like Valentine’s Day. A lot.

I know a lot of people say it’s a made up holiday, that it’s meaningless, and that it’s too commercial, but I disagree. When you make homemade Valentine’s Day gifts and cards, the holiday can simply be about appreciating the people you love.

That’s what it’s about to me.

In the posts below, you will find more than sixty different ideas for a homemade Valentine’s Day. Whether your Valentine is your parent, grandparent, child, spouse, or even just a friend, you will find something to please them.

• Foods to Make for Your Valentine (includes foods that are easy enough for small children)

• Gifts to Make for Your Valentine’s Home

• Gifts to Make for Children

• Crafty Cards and Gifts for Valentine’s Day

• Gifts Young Children Can Make for Adults

• Gifts Young Children Can Make for their Friends

• Valentine Gifts to Print and Frame

• Valentine Cards to Print

• The printable Valentine card I created

What are you making this year for Valentine’s Day?

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.

Allie is a real character.

Sometimes, I wonder whether Allie is more spirited, more independent, more strong-willed than Grace was at this age or if I’ve simply forgotten how charismatic and animated Grace was.

I think Grace was bigger, more mature, more a little girl than a baby at 13 months. Was she more verbal? I think she was.

Allie doesn’t talk much. She says a few things, that, this, cat, woah, hey, hi, oh, Dada, Momma. She said Sissy today for the first time. Sometimes, she puts things together like hey cat! but mostly, she still babbles.

Is she less verbal or do I have less time to pay attention to all of her sounds and words?

Allie is a baby. She still wants to be held most of the time. She dislikes her stroller, preferring to be cuddled or to run around on her own feet.

Allie is mischievous, playful, volatile. She throws big fits. Joe thinks she smacked him the other day; I know she pushed Grace today.

She likes to page through books, and she has a few favorite toys that she goes after over and over again. She especially likes Grace’s doll house.

And marbles. Allie can find a stray marble or bead anywhere in the house and pop it into her mouth without being noticed. She rolls it around in her mouth until I notice and ask her what she’s in her mouth. Then she smiles and spits it into my hand.

I don’t even get freaked out anymore because it happens all the time.

Allie makes faces at me. She wrinkles up her nose and laughs a silly growly laugh just like Grace used to, and I love it. She also has an I know I’m doing something I’m not allowed to do. laugh. I love that one, too.

Even though my natural tendency is to compare everything Allie does to everything Grace did, I know she is her own person. She’s unique.

I like her that way.

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.

Grace had the opportunity to participate with her cyber school classmates in a Valentine card exchange.

The idea is simple. Each kid sends a Valentine through the mail to the other kids on the list.

In my opinion, it’s even better than a traditional classroom Valentine exchange. Who doesn’t like to get real mail in the real mailbox?

I considered printing a Valentine that someone else had made, but in the end, decided to make my own. After I cut them all out, Grace helped me to glue them onto little heart-shaped doilies.

And then Grace gave the girls silver smiles. They are her Valentines, after all.

I made our Valentines into a printable that you can use, too. I left enough space at the bottom for writing your name or a special message.

You’ll probably want to print them out on cardstock. That’s what I did.

Download your own printable Valentine cards

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.

I was a vegetarian for more than 10 years. I loved being a vegetarian.

I eat meat now because it’s easier to eat what my family eats. It’s easier to eat a balanced diet with meat in the picture.

So anyway. When I was in college, I was a vegetarian, and I ate in whatever meatless options the dining hall served. Penn State’s dining halls have really great vegetarian and vegan options. I met a variety of awesome foods including BBQ seitan (so good!) and stir fry with peanut sauce.

I was dubious about peanut sauce, but once I tried it? I was in love!

A few weeks ago, Joe found this recipe for vegetable stir fry with peanut sauce and, knowing I love peanut sauce, he fixed it right up. And of course, I loved it.

Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

Print

Serves: 5-6

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 small head of broccoli, chopped
• 2 cups cauliflower, chopped
• 1/4 of a small head of cabbage, coarsely shredded
• 8 ounces carrots, cut into thin sticks
• 16 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 1 pound extra firm tofu or protein of your choice (chicken, beef, pork, egg, whatever)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 2 tablespoons garlic-flavored rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/8 tablespoons brown sugar
• a few drops of hot sauce, optional
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts, optional
• 1 cup basmati rice, uncooked (basmati is my favorite. Use brown rice or whatever you like best.)

Instructions

1. Prepare rice according to package directions.
2. In order to make the tofu brown, you’ll have to press it lightly. Drain the liquid, wrap it in a couple of paper towels, and press it gently between your two hands. More liquid should come out. After it’s mostly dry, cut into bite-sized cubes. If you’re using meat, cut it into thin strips.
3. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a wok or very large skillet. Saute the tofu, onions, and garlic until the tofu is brown and crispy all over. Try not to break it up into tofu crumbs, unless you prefer tofu crumbs in your recipe.
4. Add the rest of vegetables except for the mushrooms. Saute for five minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for another minute or two, until the mushrooms begin to soften.
5. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, hot water, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and hot sauce. Pour sauce over stir fry. Simmer for two or three minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
6. Serve over rice. Sprinkle chopped peanuts over each serving.

2.1.7

Photo source

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.

I think printable learning packs are fun. Grace likes them, too, because all of the activities involve a central theme.

The preschool packs below vary in their activities, but all include Valentine’s Day worksheets that you can print and help your preschooler to complete.

1. Valentine’s Day Pre-K Pack from Over the Moon
   
2. Valentine’s Day Printable Packs for Pre-K and for Kindergarten from Homeschool Creations
   
3. Love Tot Pack from 1+1+1=1
   
4. Valentine’s Day Song printables from Lawteedah
   
5. Valentine’s Day Tot Kit at Lawteedah
   
6. Valentine’s Day Math at ABC and 123
   
7. Valentines Printables from Jan Brett (You know, the author of The Mitten)
   
8. V is for Valentines from Confessions of a Homeschooler
   
9. Prekinders has all sorts of Valentine printables (scroll the whole way to the bottom of the page)
   

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.

Do you remember when I wrote about the housework schedule that I created for Joe and I?

It was ambitious.

It was unrealistic.

While it is true that all those things should be done, there is not enough time in the day for us to each work, take care of our children, bathe, eat, and do all of that cleaning.

If we had a housekeeper or different priorities, maybe we could make it work.

Maybe not.

For a couple of months now, Joe and I have been purging the excess crap from our house and our lives. It’s a daily struggle, and I don’t know how to end the cycle.

We create clutter every day. No matter how much cleaning I do through the course of the day, my living room is still a wreck. My dining room floor is covered with gunk. The kitchen counter is covered with dishes (at least they’re clean!), serving tools, small appliances, and cutting boards. My bathroom counter is a little better than this, but not much.

I don’t know how to get rid of it.

I’ve been trying to use the Motivated Moms planner to tread water with the cleaning. It is really simple, and it gives me a few things to do every day. Most of the time, I can handle that.

But the problem I have with the Motivated Moms planner is the constant state of clutter. I can’t mop the kitchen on a Thursday because there’s too much stuff to clear off of it first. To vacuum the living room, I’d have to spend an hour picking it up first.

It’s not that I don’t pick up and put things away. I do! I spend at least an hour every day picking up toys and books and putting them away.

I often think I have no hope of ever living in a clean, tidy house.

Just as I was beginning to believe that my cluttered, oppressive mess would plague me for the rest of my life, my friend Dana released an e-book called 28 Days to Hope for Your Home. She is the author of the popular blog A Slob Comes Clean, and she is an inspiration to me.

I downloaded the book and began to read. On page 10, I read something that knocked me off the couch. Well, not really, but almost.

Just so you know, this e-book isn’t a method. Methods don’t clean your house. You have to clean your house. This is simply a broken-down-to-the-very-basics-that-normal-people-seem-to-know-but-somehow-people-like-us-have-never-grasped instruction/encouragement book. This book is meant to guide you through the basic things that need to be done daily in your home. The things that will give you hope that real change is possible.

That! That is exactly how I feel about keeping a clean house. Other people seem to just know how to do it, and I have never understood how to do it.

I may not have fallen off the couch, but I did get teary-eyed.

I read on. By page 14, I knew that Dana was speaking directly to me, even though she didn’t know it.

Here’s something normal people wouldn’t understand, but I’m giving you permission to spend an hour or so at [sweeping the kitchen floor]. The reality for a slob is that sweeping . . . isn’t just sweeping. It’s picking up napkins that got knocked off the table (last month) and the newspapers from (the past few) Sunday(s). It’s putting away last week’s groceries and throwing away the bags that they were still sitting in. It’s gathering up the small and not-so-small toys and knocked-off-the-fridge alphabet magnets.

Didn’t I just say that above? {I wrote that above before I ever read Dana’s book. How much of a coincidence is that?!?}

I was starting to hyperventilate by page 23. Each day, there is more work to do!

You are probably reading with mouth agape, staring at your computer screen in disbelief that I could even think that. Of course there’s more work to do. But really, that was an astounding realization for me.

I want Dana’s book to give me hope for my house.

I want to host play dates.

I want to invite my mom friends to come over and have a cup of tea or a lunch.

I want to have a home I’m not ashamed of.

I want to have a home that doesn’t make me feel like I’m drowning every time I look around.

I’m going to do 28 Days to Hope for Your Home (on sale for $4 through the end of February) and follow it up with my Motivated Moms planner. I’ll let you know how it goes.

This post contains affiliate links.

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.

This past summer, I bought one of those Grow Your Own Butterflies kits. I knew that Grace would love to watch the caterpillars grow, form their chrysalises, and erupt as butterflies.

I was right.

She was completely enchanted by our painted lady butterflies. There was nothing that she didn’t enjoy. She watched the tiny caterpillars munch on their yellow goo food. She watched the caterpillars shed their skin and grow fatter and fatter. She checked the chrysalises each and every day, usually multiple times. And when they were butterflies? She never took her eyes off of them.

With those butterflies in mind, I was delighted to learn about a DVD from Crowe’s Nest Media detailing the life cycle of a monarch butterfly.

Your Backyard: The Life & Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly DVD Review

From the Crowe’s Nest Media website:

Join siblings Taylor, Samuel and Grace, along with special guest Professor Solomon on a remarkable adventure of discovery, exploring the life and journey of God’s amazing Monarch butterfly.

Enjoy vivid, close-up images of the remarkable 30-day transformation from egg to butterfly—from watching a tiny Monarch caterpillar eat its way out of its egg to the completion of metamorphosis.

The DVD lives up to that description and more. Included are scenes showing kids hunting for butterfly eggs, tagging adult monarchs,  There was footage of munching caterpillars, migrating butterflies, even a caterpillar shedding its skin and turning into a cocoon. (That was my favorite part. It was amazing!)

Grace loved this DVD. She loved that it featured four kids, one of whom is named Grace. She loved the live footage of butterflies and caterpillars. She was captivated by Professor Solomon, a cartoon owl who teaches about the butterfly throughout the DVD.

We watched this video in a couple of sittings as it exceeded Grace’s attention span. When The Life & Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly was over, we were both excited about butterflies.

More on Butterflies and Caterpillars

We were so eager to think about and play with butterflies that I created a whole preschool unit on butterflies. I gathered activities and ideas from these sources:

• Nature Detectives (scroll down to butterflies)
• Homeschool Share
• Drink Like a Butterfly
• Printable Preschool Pack – Pretty Bugs 
• 1+1+1=1 – The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Butterfly Life Cycle made from pasta
• Hubbard’s Cupboard
• Nurture Store

I also have an awesome Very Hungry Caterpillar printable pack, but I can’t figure out where it came from. If I ever figure it out, I’ll share the link to it. (Who doesn’t put their URL on a 37-page printable?!)

In addition, Crowe’s Nest Media is putting together a companion study guide to go along with the video. It will be released later in the spring. It will include discussion questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, true & false questions, diagrams to label, opportunities to draw, essay questions, copy work for various ages, coloring pages, notebooking pages, and opportunities for further study.

Get the Study Guide FREE

You can buy Your Backyard: The Life & Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly DVD direct from Crowe’s Nest Media for $19.95. If you use the code FeelsLikeHome, you will get $1 off and the companion study guide free when it’s released.

Hurry! The code expires on February 10.

Read More About Your Backyard

The following bloggers also reviewed this DVD (if you’d like to get some other opinions):

The Curriculum Choice
Finding Joy
Handbook of Nature Study
Mama’s Learning Corner
The Traveling Praters
Get Along Home
Spell Outloud

I received a copy of Your Backyard: The Life & Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly DVD to review. This post contains affiliate links.

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.

Last week, I was down. I felt blue, like I was taking small steps along the path to full-on depression. Between Joe Paterno’s death, work stress, and cyber school stress, I was teary-eyed and sad and having a hard time coping with my life.

Wednesday night, I noticed a big hole in my schedule for Thursday through Sunday.  I also noticed higher than normal temperatures and a lack of winter weather in the forecast.

Sounded to me like the perfect equation for a trip to Old Grandma’s house.

I called her on Wednesday night around 10 o’clock and told her I was thinking about a visit.

The next morning.

After a long pause, she said we should come.

In the morning, I packed some clothes (old ones, the reason for which you will see below) and some diapers and put the children in the car.

And then we were off.

I forgot my regular camera, so you’ll have to see our trip through grainy iPhone photos.

The first night of our trip included clearing out the cabinet under Grandma’s sink.

Grandma just laughed.

Before too long, I took my tired girlies to bed. I hadn’t fully thought through the sleeping arrangements.

Neither of my children will sleep by herself when we’re away from home. Normally, Joe sleeps with one child, and I sleep with the other.

My kids and I went to sleep around 8:30pm. Old Grandma doesn’t go to bed until well after midnight. Asking Old Grandma to sleep with one of my squirmy angels wouldn’t work very well.

So.

The three of us went to sleep in the double bed in the Blue Room.

They inched closer and closer to me, crowding me to the edge of the bed. As I lie there, listening to a pair of squirrels running around in the attic, I realized that I was never, ever going to fall asleep perched there. I got out of bed and went downstairs to watch tv with Grandma. In the dark.

Grandma made up the spare twin bed for me, and I fell asleep for the first time.

And then Allie woke up crying.

Allie’s crying woke up Grace, who became hysterical because I wasn’t in the bed.

I left my soft and warm and spacious bed to join my screaming children. They both cried on and off throughout the night. I guess the squirrels were scaring them. Or something.

When my children woke Grandma up (much earlier than she’d planned, I’m certain), she said, “You didn’t get much sleep, did you?” I think that meant that she didn’t, either.

After breakfast, I put Allie back in bed for a nap. You know it was a rough night when the baby takes a nap at 10 in the morning.

Can you tell how dirty she was? More on that below.

While Allie was asleep, I did my Bible study while Grace and Grandma played Barbies.

We all played Angry Birds and Princess Yahtzee.

When I was a student at Penn State, I drove to visit Old Grandma once or twice a month every month. One of our favorite pastimes was to play Yahtzee. We spent whole days playing Yahtzee together back then. It was really fun to teach Grace how to play the game we love so much.

After Yahtzee, the two of them went back to playing Barbies. I was delighted to have a respite from plastic dolls for a change.

Allie eventually woke up (after a FOUR hour nap – why doesn’t she nap like that at home?!), and she proceeded to run amok.

That’s how the rest of the visit transpired, too. Grace and Grandma playing, and Allie running amok.

She looks like she’s been playing in the coal pile, but she hasn’t been.

Old Grandma’s home is heated by a large coal furnace in the basement. Even at 84, she goes down to the basement every few hours to tend the fire.

There’s a lot of coal dust. It coats everything. It always has, since Grandma moved into that house fifty years ago.

My children looked like coal pile pigs the whole time we were there. I found them irresistibly kissable.

Dirty Allie left nothing unturned at Old Grandma’s. She looked at the photos, the knickknacks, the books, the movies, the rugs, the Purple People Eater – everything.

Looking at this pictures makes me nostalgic. Grandma’s house feels like home. The coal dust, the squirrels in the attic, the flies in the plastic on the windows, it is all familiar, steady, comfortable. I yearn to be back in the pink kitchen or the blue bedroom where I sleep or the green and white bathroom where I bathed the girls.

Oh, to be at Old Grandma’s house again.

I feel like myself at Old Grandma’s. I have no stress (aside from children who run amok and hog up the bed), and life is good.

Even if it is only for a couple of days.

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.

Breakfast for dinner is comfort food, don’t you think? I do.

This particular recipe includes fruit, making it a wee bit healthier than plain old pancakes.

That might be wishful thinking.

I like to serve these pancakes with an omelet or sausage patties and a dish of diced apples. They are delicious, and pairing them with protein and raw apples makes a perfect dinner.

Apple Ring Pancakes

Print

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 2-3 apples
• 1-2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 cup prepared pancake mix
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
• Butter & Syrup

Instructions

1. Peel and core the apples. Slice into 1/2″ rounds.
2. Pour water into a mixing bowl. Add vanilla and pancake mix; whisk until smooth.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Place one apple slice in the butter and pour about 1/4 cup of pancake mix over top, until it just covers the apple slice.
4. Cook pancake until bubbles begin to form and edges dry out. Flip. Sprinkle with cinnamon and cook another minute or two.
5. When pan begins to dry, add remaining butter and melt in the skillet.
6. Serve with additional butter and syrup.

2.1.7

 

© 2012, Feels Like Home Blog™. All rights reserved.