You probably know at least one person who shares your birthday. There are only 365 days to choose from, after all! But the only person I know who shares my birthday is my best friend. I have a very unlikely best friend, a gentleman I've known for over twenty years. Yes, it's odd, and there are a lot of things about that friendship that take "it's a long story" to explain. But D. and I *do* share a birthday.
D. lives in the general area where we both grew up, and to which I am greatly looking forward to returning. (It was military life that took my own little household to several areas of the country for the first ten years of Brett's and my marriage, and now we've remained out of that area for a few years longer. We want to be back! ) So it hasn't been possible for D. and I to celebrate together as would be ideal. But, we make a point of having a good phone chat, no matter what else is going on that day. And I can always tease him for being older than me!
Friday, March 27, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Always, reading aloud
http://childrenslegacylibrary.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-streak-100-days.html
Lovely article about reading together!
Lovely article about reading together!
Dividing the work
Biblical gender roles create a lot of controversy sometimes! But the specifics of that differ from one couple to another, and I can pretty well assume that no two couples divide everything the same way. God never does in the Bible tell us "women, this is the list of things that you must do, and men, specifically these things are yours, never to be done another way."
For example, cooking is for most families the woman's sphere, and it's probably safest to assume in bringing up daughters that it will end up being her area when she's in a home of her own. However, she may have a husband like my father-in-law! He has been the cook for many years in their home, and I'm told his work is far more creative than hers ever was. My own father cooks supper on the weekends for their household.
In many families, managing money is a man's task, but not so with my parents. My mother handles investments, checking, and most of the banking, even though she's a homemaker and therefore the pay is earned by my dad.
For us, a lot of the divisions come largely as they fall. We work together whenever possible in cleaning. Brett has a bread machine and is in charge of making bread regularly. I haven't made a loaf of regular bread in a few years, which has saved me a huge amount of time. The only times I make yeast breads anymore are the special occasion ones: sticky buns for Fathers Day, coffeecake for Christmas, and hot cross buns for Good Friday.
I think that dividing the work of home according to strengths, preferences, and occasionally according to who happens to be there at the right time, is far from wrong in a scriptural sense. Husband and wife are a team, who can work out what each can do.
For example, cooking is for most families the woman's sphere, and it's probably safest to assume in bringing up daughters that it will end up being her area when she's in a home of her own. However, she may have a husband like my father-in-law! He has been the cook for many years in their home, and I'm told his work is far more creative than hers ever was. My own father cooks supper on the weekends for their household.
In many families, managing money is a man's task, but not so with my parents. My mother handles investments, checking, and most of the banking, even though she's a homemaker and therefore the pay is earned by my dad.
For us, a lot of the divisions come largely as they fall. We work together whenever possible in cleaning. Brett has a bread machine and is in charge of making bread regularly. I haven't made a loaf of regular bread in a few years, which has saved me a huge amount of time. The only times I make yeast breads anymore are the special occasion ones: sticky buns for Fathers Day, coffeecake for Christmas, and hot cross buns for Good Friday.
I think that dividing the work of home according to strengths, preferences, and occasionally according to who happens to be there at the right time, is far from wrong in a scriptural sense. Husband and wife are a team, who can work out what each can do.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Learning to cook
Josie (age 8) is of course slowly learning to cook. She's setting up eggs to hard-cook (as I type this) to make egg-salad boats for supper. Yes, the recipe is written out in one of our vintage Junior Cookbooks (namely the 1963 version.) In fact, it's shown with a photograph of one made up with a paper sail on a toothpick stuck in! How cute is that?
Josie did have to be reminded as to the procedure for hard-cooking eggs, but if it's frequent enough, she'll have it down in no time. I've already turned over to her the responsibility for oatmeal about twice a week, cornbread, and preparing a lot of the vegetables. She knows how to cream butter and sugar for baking.
Like many things, cooking is fairly easily learnt, if learnt gradually and in building block steps over time. It's misguided for people to criticize teaching girls to cook as "sexist" or "stereotypical", because even if you reject Biblical gender roles, someone has to cook! If it isn't the woman in a home, then it's either the man, or the family is left to rely on prepared foods and restaurant meals which are expensive and not nutritionally good.
Certainly boys can, and perhaps ought, to learn plenty of cooking. To my boys, there's nothing odd about it to see a man cook. My husband only does a little bit, but my father-in-law does almost all their family's cooking- very well indeed. My own father cooks some of the time (he fixes supper on the weekends, an arrangement that my parents have had for their entire forty-year marriage, and a good example of delegating something however it works for you!). Also, a little more peripherally, one of my best friends is a man who is a professional chef.
What have your children learnt to cook?
Josie did have to be reminded as to the procedure for hard-cooking eggs, but if it's frequent enough, she'll have it down in no time. I've already turned over to her the responsibility for oatmeal about twice a week, cornbread, and preparing a lot of the vegetables. She knows how to cream butter and sugar for baking.
Like many things, cooking is fairly easily learnt, if learnt gradually and in building block steps over time. It's misguided for people to criticize teaching girls to cook as "sexist" or "stereotypical", because even if you reject Biblical gender roles, someone has to cook! If it isn't the woman in a home, then it's either the man, or the family is left to rely on prepared foods and restaurant meals which are expensive and not nutritionally good.
Certainly boys can, and perhaps ought, to learn plenty of cooking. To my boys, there's nothing odd about it to see a man cook. My husband only does a little bit, but my father-in-law does almost all their family's cooking- very well indeed. My own father cooks some of the time (he fixes supper on the weekends, an arrangement that my parents have had for their entire forty-year marriage, and a good example of delegating something however it works for you!). Also, a little more peripherally, one of my best friends is a man who is a professional chef.
What have your children learnt to cook?
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
A new tradition, perhaps?
Yesterday, March 2, was "Read Across America" day, a day inspired by and honoring the late Dr. Seuss. Now, like probably every homeschool family, we need NO extra excuse to read! Nevertheless, we did make a point of reading several Dr. Seuss stories yesterday. Personally, I can only take a certain amount of the usual Seussian rhythm, so we didn't read much of those. We chose The Cat in the Hat, The Zax, Hop on Pop, and Oh the Thinks You Can Think!. ("The Zax" is one of the stories in the same volume with "The Sneetches".)
What are your favorite Dr. Seuss books?
What are your favorite Dr. Seuss books?
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