Reading Programs

As you can probably tell by our posts about libraries and the many book reviews on these pages, our family loves to read.

Reading in many ways is its own reward. It is also something that our children don't need a lot of motivation to do. Those who read do so with an insatiable voracity, and those not yet reading are constantly wanting to be read to. There are several programs we participate in that reward us for reading and as they say in these parts, that works for us. Here are a few we've used in the past year:

Six Flags

We found out about this through other home schoolers. If your children from K-6th grade read or were read to for 6 hours non school assignment books, they earned a free ticket to Six Flags. I blogged about this particular program earlier. The catch of this program is that pre-school children and 7th grade and above do not qualify. Nor do the adults taking the children. It still is a good reward for what our kids were going to do anyway.

Book It.

Pizza Hut sponsors a reading program for grades K-6. The teacher sets the monthly goals based on the student's reading ability. Once they meet the goal for the month the teacher gives them a certificate for a free personal pan pizza. The program runs from October through March. Public, Private, Parochial and Home Schooled children can all participate. My kids love this reading program. Our local Pizza Hut has the best waitress in the world who is always great at remembering us and the program.

Local Library Programs.

Summer Book Clubs are a library staple. Our local library always does a great job. They have summer reading programs for all ages. Amy and I are doing the adult program, and our kids are doing, well, the kids program. Each year they get several coupons for free or reduced priced retailers like free ice cream from McDonald's and a free buffet from Old Country Buffet. They also get a free book and several library programs including a special program for all club finishers.

Book Store Programs.

Every few years we participate in the Barnes and Noble program. Borders and Half Priced Books also have Summer reading programs, although we have not participated in them.

Emma liked the B&N program where you read 8 books and get 1 free (No Purchase needed) so much she wrote a song (To the tune of Alouette):

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Barnes & Barnes

Our local Minor League baseball team also has a summer reading program called Ozzie's Reading Club (Ozzie the Cougar is their mascot.) The teacher's determine the amount of books each student needs to read to advance to each base. Students hitting a "home run" earn a free ticket to a home game. We have not participated in the program ourselves, but have heard great things about it. Check to see if your local sports teams have such a program.

Summer Reading Programs definitely work for us. To see what other things are working out there, head over to We Are That Family for this weeks edition of Works For Me Wednesday.

This article is one of many excellent articles included at the Carnival of Homeschooling: We've Got Style edition hosted this week at Home School Bytes.

Next Time: African Tulips

A New Way to Cut Pancakes

A few years ago my wife was helping out one of her friends who just had a baby by taking care of the rest of the family. They had 4 or 5 other children at the time. Amy had brought pancakes over and realized that when you have lots of young children, cutting pancakes can be an arduous and time consuming experience.

So about a year ago, here is what she came up with. Use a pizza cutter to cut pancakes. It has revolutionized pancakes at our house. It has even made pancakes a finger food for some of our kids.

So Pizza Cutter Pancakes works for us. To see what works for others go over and see Kristen at We Are That Family.

Next Time: Garden Update

June, July and August

I don't remember the first time I heard the joke, I have heard many variations through the years. The essence goes like this: Q: What are the best three things of being a teacher? A: June, July and August.

Last summer I lost my job and became the teaching parent in our home school family. My wife went back to her career as a school psychologist. My kid's school year ended the week before Father's Day, my wife's last day was the Friday before Father's Day. We are now in the midst of what amounts to be an 8 week paid vacation provided by our school district.

I would not go as far to say that these three months are the best things to be a teacher. Having this time with my family unencumbered by non-family concerns sure make Summer my favorite season. Before this it was Paprika.

Our main exploits this summer have been gardening, swimming, biking and reading. In addition we've been on a number of outings; some as a full family, some in partial strength.

In addition to our weekly cleaning day we made a list if "bigger jobs" we wanted to accomplish this summer and are knocking them out about one every week. I also am taking one afternoon a week to prepare for the school year and the two classes I will be teaching at the co-op this year.

When I was the "paycheck" parent I enjoyed the summer and tried to get as much time off that we could spend as a family. Having all five of us all home for this extended family time certainly works for me.

To see what works for others go to We Are That Family. Next Time: Strawberry Picking With Emma.

Free

Free, I love that word. I like free time. I like shooting free throws. And I'll tell you there is such thing as a free lunch, cause I've eaten my share of them. I even like Frito's, but that might not be the same thing.

I especially like getting things for free. What I don't like is when people try to sell you something giving you the idea that something is free when it's not. So for today's WFMW I wanted to give you some free advice on how to know when free is free and when it's not.

When Free isn't free:

BOGO . I'm not sure when two for the price of one or 3 for the price of two became buy some get others free. I am pretty sure the intent is to appeal to "free" lovers. Now don't get me wrong, 2 for 1 is a good deal. But you are still paying for the first one. I especially don't consider the second one free if you only bought the first one to get the second one. If, however, you were planning on buying two shirts and you got a BOGO offer, it makes some sense to call the second one free.

The same can be said of offers when they give you an item at no cost if you subscribe to a service or publication. Newspapers do this at parades. They state they are giving away chairs. Yet they are only free if you subscribe and generally only free if you pay with a credit card and agree to automatic billing. So the free chair is actually a high (priced) chair. Again if you were planning on getting a newspaper subscription anyway, than the chair seems more free. The way it is marketed though is to sell newspapers to people who really want chairs.

When Free is Free:

Sometimes even when you have to pay more money. If you are given a certificate for a free dinner, but you still have to feed a meter to park, that doesn't mean the dinner wasn't free.

Even if your taxes pay for it. Our Park District and Library District provide our family with a good portion of our free entertainment. While my tax dollars do subsidize these "freebies," they subsidize them even when I don't use them, which is why I'm inclined to still refer to them as free.

So getting stuff free works for me. In my next post I am going to talk specifically about three things I have done or will do this week for free. I want you to participate as well. This week I am hosting Three Things This Thursday for Michelle at Psalm 104:24. Think of 3 things that you have done recently for free and link them to my post. For this week I am going to call it Free Things This Thursday. Join me here at about 6 a.m. central on Thursday or at a more reasonable hour if you like. For more Works for Me Wednesday scoot over to Kristen's at We Are that Family.

Next Time: Free Things This Thursday

Newspaper Chicken (Fried Chicken)

I have asked my lovely wife to contribute one of my favorite recipes for this special themed edition of WFMW. This dish works for us as a dish to pass at summer cookouts but also makes a great family dinner. Here is the lovely and Talented Mrs. Dad . . .

This is called "newspaper chicken" because we got the recipe from the newspaper. Creative huh.

**NOTE: This is a two-day affair, but well worth it!

Here's how I make it, but there are any number of variations you can make to make it your own. I take 5 lbs of boneless chicken breasts and cut them into small strips or chunks (I get the bag-o-frozen chicken from Aldi.) I cover them in water in a large tupperware bowl and add 1 cup of salt. Yes, one entire cup of salt. I put the cover on it, and shake it a few times, and refrigerate it overnight. Sometimes during the night, if I happen to get up, I shake it a few more times. In the morning, I dump out the salt water and rinse the chicken well. Really well. This brining isn't for flavoring. Then, using the same bowl while the chicken is on a plate or drainer, I put 2 cups of milk (I use skim) in the bowl and 2 tablespoons of vinegar and stir that up (handy dandy buttermilk.) Then return the chicken to the bowl and make sure the chicken is covered. If not, add more milk. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. I like to double dip my chicken because it comes out so crunchy, really good. I put 2 cups of flour, along with 1 tsp of the following: salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and 1/2 tsp of pepper and dry mustard. Mix it really well in a large ziplock bag (I've tried doing it in a bowl, but doesn't work as well.) So you take chicken out of buttermilk and save the buttermilk! Put chicken on a plate. Then with a pair of tongs or "grabbers" put a few pieces of chicken in the flour mixture to coat, then grab with grabbers, drop in buttermilk, and then back into flour mixture.

Place coated chicken on a tray (I use my pampered chef "stackable cooling rack" laid on top of a cookie sheet.) Once all chicken is double coated, let the tray sit in the fridge for another hour. This ensures the coating will stick to the chicken. **Sometimes I do have to make another bag of flour mixture. This double coating is messy, but it really makes for nice, crunchy chicken. After an hour, get a frying pan ready with enough oil to be 1/2 way up the sides of the chicken. I fry it over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, place a few pieces of chicken in the oil. If you're doing it right, as the hot oil is cooking the food, the salt water is coming out of the chicken, therefore, making it a nongreasy affair. Love it. So you fry it on one side for about 4 minutes (try to leave it alone here, don't check it a bunch of times), and the other side for about 4 minutes more. This, of course, varies according to size. Using bone-in chicken will take longer. Now, this is important: do not try to keep the chicken warm to try to serve in an hour or so. Either serve immediately, or allow to cool and either serve cold, or microwave to warm it up. If you try to keep it warm in the oven, it gets gooey, and nobody likes gooey chicken! This chicken also freezes quite well. I usually have enough for a meal right away, leftovers in the fridge, and then some in the freezer for a later meal.

Ingredients at a Glance:

5 lbs boneless chicken breasts
1 cup salt, water to cover chicken
2 cups milk plus 2 TBLS vinegar (or buttermilk if you have it)
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt, garlic powder, chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper and dried mustard
oil for frying

Thanks Amy. She also does a great impression of Jimmy Stewart saying chicken. She is certainly a woman of many talents. To see all the other recipes in this special edition of WFMW go to We Are That Family.

Next Time: No Junk Food June

The Run Around Place

Call it what you will, the indoor park, play land, play place at the mall. You know the place where your kids can play while you rest your weary feet?. We call ours The Runaround Place.

We have been going to the one at our mall since we moved to this area 8 years ago. It is really cool and has a health theme. The run-a-round place works for our family because. . .

1) It's free. You got it fun on a budget. I think all 3 kids now prefer spending time at the children's section of Barnes and Noble. But alas they have all discovered that things can be bought there. Nothing is for sale at The Runaround Place, unless you count the fact that is in a mall. Okay, point taken.

2) It gives our poor home schooled children the opportunity for much neglected socialization. Yes, I am being sarcastic. But the kids always enjoy making friends there.

3) It allows us as parents to watch our kids grow before our eyes. We see the little crawlers and think wow remember when Charlie used to do that?

4) It teaches our kids that places other than home, have rules and they need to be followed. There is a height requirement, a requirement to wear socks and rules about how to place nicely.

5) It teaches our kids that life isn't always fair. Our oldest is now taller than the height requirement and our second oldest is right on the cusp. Yet every time we are there they see bigger kids playing when they should not, or kids playing without socks. This gives child and parents alike an exercise in living out a good example.

I won't give you the runaround, this place works for us. To see what works for others out in Blogtopia go to We Are That Family. Also to participate in my Tony Dungy Book and Bible give-a-way before this Thursday click here.

Next Time: The Civil Rights Game

The End of Blogging

Don't freak out! In the words of the great Indigo Montoya, "It doesn't mean what you think it means." Besides, if I was going to stop blogging, I would have done so last time on my 100th post; making it a bye centennial.

The end in my title is the one defined at dictionary.com (#7) as the object for which anything exists; purpose. Titling it the purpose of blogging doesn't lend itself readily to my flair for the dramatic.

As I have been nearing 100 post mark, I have often wondered what is the purpose or end of blogging. Specifically what is the end of my blogging? The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Now the chief end of my blogging does not have to be to glorify God. However since my chief end of being is such, I would probably not want to pour much energy into a task that did not.

Blogging is something that I really enjoy doing. My blog really is an extension of myself. My blog like myself is a work in progress, but it is not something meant to define me. Blogging is not who I am. The title of my blog is Home School Dad not Blog Writing Dad.

There have been times when blogging has gotten the best of me. There was the NaBloPoMo debacle to begin with. You may have noticed that I no longer use playlist.com on my blog. I was trying to change music each week, which got a little cumbersome for me. cutting down to once a month or so, was so freeing that I decided to stop it altogether for a time.

Being way into numbers and patterns and having the love language of giving gifts I decided that I would host a give-a-way every 25 posts. I still want to continue the practice of give-a-ways, I just don't want to be so dogmatic about when I do them. So, I am switching from every 25 to semi-whenever. The next one is going to be relatively soon.

I like posting in Blog events like Works for me Wednesday, and Three Things Thursday. I think I do some of my best work in these venues. But that doesn't mean I have to participate in them on a weekly basis. The past few weeks have been super busy in my families life and as a result I cut down on my posts. This is one of the main reasons why I have not tried to launch s meme of my own. Believe me I have several ideas for them. But the bottom line is that I know that would take more time and energy than what I am willing to put into this blog.

The majority of my posts have not had much of a spiritual flavor to them. This will stay about the same. I do have a few planned in the near future that will have more of a spiritual emphasis to them. I hope everyone will enjoy the one coming in the next week or so entitled "How Heaven is a lot like going to the bathroom." Maybe there's a reason why my blogs don't have more of a spiritual flavor to them!

So there it ism my state of the blog address. Blogging as an extension of my self, not as an end in itself works for me. To see what works for other (perhaps less philosophical) bloggers out there, go to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.

Next Time: Give-a-ways galore (I told you it would be soon!)

Turning off the t.v. for the summer

This being the unofficial start of summer, we have again turned off our television. For the past few years we have turned off our television for the summer. In the first few years we would actually move the t.v. into the garage. Now signs like these will have to suffice.






We have not had broadcast t.v. for well over a year now since we moved the set away from the antenna plug. But we do a brisk trade in watching d.v.d.s and videos on it. Turning off the t.v. for the summer lets us enjoy time together as a family unencumbered by the distraction that box can bring.

The television, like many 21st century families, is not our only means of watching television programs. We watch a lot of t.v. straight from the good old Internet. We have decided this summer to not watch any t.v. like stuff on the Internet as well.

So what will we do with our free time? Walking, biking, swimming, working on our garden, Playing games and visiting friends and family.

Turning off the television for the summer works for us. To see what works for others go to Works for me Wednesday at We are That Family.

Next Time: A Busy Weekend.

Not much, What's a co-op with you?

Today was the last day of my kid's enrichment classes. This school year on Tuesdays my children were part of a program called G.I.F.T ( Godly Influenced Fine Arts Training). Though technically not a home school co-op, it gives home school families opportunities to study drama, music, art and other classes. The teachers are paid for their efforts and do an excellent job. My son studied chess and my daughter took a drawing/cartooning class.

A few weeks ago our home school co-op which meets on Mondays ended for the semester. This is a more typical home school co-op where the parents teach the courses. The cost was far less because the parents are only compensated for materials. It was my first semester in the co-op and we are looking forward to doing it again in the fall.

Let me take a minute and let you know why Home School co-ops work for me and give a few hints from my experience of how they can work for you.

1) I am able to have my kids taught subjects from teachers more skilled in those subjects than I am. I love art, but I am no artist. My children are and while I encourage them and work with them, they have in a short time exceeded my abilities. There are other parents at the co-op who are trained artists and able to guide my children farther than I could.

2) It gives me the ability to teach others, building my confidence and impacting more students. Through this semester I have realized that there is a lot that I can teach my children. Next fall I will be teaching classes about the Chronicles of Narnia and my children are looking forward to those classes.

Now here are some recommendations based on my experience:

A) If you have the opportunity to be involved in two cooperatives at the same time, don't do it. From Sunday to Tuesday it seems like we were always on the run. Sunday with church, Monday with co-op and AWANA and Tuesday with enrichment classes. It seems like we were all being run ragged. Next year we have decided to forego enrichment classes.

B) Keep up to date with your children's progress and requirements. There was many a week when I didn't find out about an assignment until we were in the van on the way to class. This is also true about school supplies! Sunday night at 10:00 is not the time to realize that your daughter needs more crayons.

So, that's why home school co-ops work for me. To see what works for others go to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.

I now have a special announcement for any homeschooling families out there. If you have a good post about home schooling (perhaps your own experience with a co-op) do I have an opportunity for you!! That's right, next week I am hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling, right here at Home School Dad. If you would like to submit an article for next week's issue click here.

Next Time: You Must be Proud.

Aldi

WFMW THEMED EDITION.

Frugality.

To Aldi food I bought before. 

I used a quarter near the door. 

It secured for me a cart, 

and now I feel so smart. 

I saved and saved and saved some more. 

(My apologies to Julio, Willie,  and anyone who has no idea what I am talking about.)

Aldi is awesome. Not much to look at. My wife went to an Aldi in Austria a few years back. It wasn't called Aldi there. But she said the shape, color and layout of the store was exactly the same as here in the states.

If you are an off brand shopper like myself, Aldi is your dream come true. The selection is not the same as other grocery stores or supermarkets but they definitely have more than just the staples. The prices are much lower than the other stores.

I decided to do a little research. I decided to compose a "typical" grocery list (not necessarily what Amy and I buy but more on that later) and compare the prices to the lowest priced comparable item at another super market. For the competition, I chose Jewel (Same company as Shaws and Albertsons). Jewel was my choice for 2 reasons: 1) It was the grocery store of my youth. We weren't sent to the store. We were sent to "The Jewel." 2) They have been advertising quite a bit lately about their price cuts and I wanted to see how they stacked up to Aldi.

Here is a copy of my list:
Sour Cream, Butter, Tomato Soup (2 cans), Onion Soup Mix
Saltines, Dry Roasted Peanuts, Off Brand Cheerios, 2 Gallons Skim Milk
1 dozen eggs, 1/2 lb block cheddar, 1/2 lb grated cheddar, 3 pounds bananas
Cottage Cheese, Graham Crackers, Sliced American Cheese,Gala Apples 3 pounds

2 pounds green grapes, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 can chicken noodle soup, Cream Cheese
3 loaves wheat bread, Creamy Peanut Butter, 2 cans corn, 2 cans green beans
2pounds carrots, 3 boxes mac and cheese, Ramen 12 pack, Cake Mix
Off Brand Oreos 18 0z, Yogurt 4 6 oz containers, Ground beef 80/20 3 lbs, Sugar 5lbs
Flour, Mayo, Iced Tea mix

The first thing I did was to look at the cost at A, Jewel's pre-discounted prices, comparing that with B, their adjusted prices, and then to C, Aldi. Since Jewel sometime had 3 or more kinds of the same product I always chose the lowest priced item.

Here are the results. These prices are before sales tax.

A. Jewel regular price: $114.39

B. Jewel reduced price: $ 89.93

C. Aldi price: $ 63.55

So for comparison purposes let's call A $115, B $90, and C $65. Lets also assume that is the average cost of 2 weeks groceries.

The savings in one year by going to Aldi rather than Jewel is $650 ((B-C)*26) or $1,300 ((A-C*26) over their regular prices.

Now I know a lot of people who shop at Aldi, but very few who do so exclusively. We don't get our meat there (although I know people who say the meat is great there). Amy flat out refuses to let me buy saltines there as well. There are some items we can't get due to HFCS concerns. (Yes, last month's themed entry was an April Fools joke!) We do get most of our groceries at Aldi and the savings are significant.

Now there were some items that were actually priced lower at Jewel but overall Aldi was the consistent winner on price. I am not sure exactly how they do it. But here is one thing I noticed on Thursday when I was doing my comparisons. I got there about 7:40 p.m only to realize that they closed at 8:00. I got my comparisons done just as they were closing and was off to Jewel which was open until midnight. So, Aldi had 4 less hours of payroll to contend with on Thursday. The old adage is that you pay for convenience, but an adage of the frugal is that convenience is overrated.

Aldi works for me. I enjoyed my stint as a GSI (Grocery Store Investigator.) Contact me if you want me to e-mail you a copy of my spreadsheet that I used. For more Frugal tips that work go to WFMW at We are That Family.

Next Time: Oh, Where is my Hair net?

In Praise of Three Things this Thursday

So it's Tuesday and I am posting my Works for me Wednesday submissions and it's about 3 Things This Thursday. Wow! 3 days of the week in one sentence!

Three Things This Thursday (3TTT) is a blog carnival hosted by pride lands mommy @ Psalm 104:24. It is a blog I feature on mine in part due to the excellent music that plays there.

Essentially what happens is the host shares three things going on in her life and gives the readership an opportunity via Mr. Linky to do the same. The first thing is generally a synopsis of the Lost episode from the previous evening. I have never seen the show, but know such a review would appeal to people like WFMW's originator, Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer. Here is a link to last weeks issue. Since discovering this feature a few weeks ago, it has quickly become one of my favorites. Here are three things about 3TTT that work for me.

1. It's an easy format to follow and useful when time constraints or life itself are getting in the way of blogging.

A few weeks ago after my brother passed away, I did not have the mental energy to create a WFMW post (grief, depression, nor the passing of a loved one work for me.) but 3TTT was just the ticket. Here is the link to my original 3TTT entry.

2. It allows for me to post about disparate thing at the same time and things that I might not blog about other wise. In the past few weeks, I have talked about books I read, snacks I've prepared, and give-a-ways I was hosting.

3. I enjoy 3TTT because it appeals to my randomness and love for the non sequtir. The snack post I referred to was right after I wrote a transcript of the eulogy I gave at my brother's funeral.

So that's why Three Things This Thursday works for me. I encourage you to participate this Thursday. (She generally posts about 8 or 9 a.m Thursday mornings). To see what things work for other's late Tuesdays and into Wednesday go to WFMW at We are That Family.

Next Time: That's What I Like About you.

Give me (them) a break.

As the main teacher/caregiver of the family this past year I have a new appreciation of what a privilege it is to educate your own children. I also have developed an appreciation of how taxing an occupation that is. It is so taxing that from time to time I need to be away from my children and either have time to myself or time to reconnect with Amy.

I think it is vital for parents to take time away on a regular basis. Amy and I are blessed that both our parents are somewhat local and can watch our children from time to time. We also have a neighbor that can often babysit at a moments notice. Some families don't have those luxuries. Perhaps they have older children that can watch the kids. Perhaps they have other families that they can trade babysitting with.

There is a family from our church that has 3 adopted children 5 or under. They have a 3 year old who has many special needs. At home he can be quite a handful and make it very difficult for the rest of the family to connect with each other or be able to go on outings like the zoo or even be able to get work done around the house. So when they joined our home school support group they put a prayer request in that they were looking for some people that could give their son some respite care.

Amy and I both have some background in ministering to special needs children, so we offered to help. About once a month Luke comes over for a day or two. He is a wonderful boy and quite frankly we are still waiting for him to have any type of episode. One of our children will generally implode the weekend he is with us, but never Luke. His parents have told us he usually does much better with other people. Our kids love him, and we all look forward to his visits. In July, he will stay with us for a whole week, and it should be a great time.

So that's why I think taking a break from your kids or helping others do the same works for me. Giving stuff away works for me also and as this is my 75th post, It is time for Crazy Dave to come out and give something away. I am giving away a book and a c.d. so that the next time you take some time off you will have something to read or listen to. The c.d. is How you Live by Point of Grace and the book is Unsung Heroes by Michael Kelly Blanchard. The giveaway ends 10:00 CST April 30th. Just leave a comment to enter. I am again giving additional entries to those following my blog. See the sidebar for official rules.

To see what else works go to We Are That Family.

Next Time: Hockey Lessons

High Fructose Corn Syrup

This week at We are That Family there is a special themed version of Works for me Wednesday. It's a backwards rendition of WFMW. You present a dilemma and the rest of the readership tells you what works for them. It's a backwards rendition of WFMW.

My dilemma is this: I wrote a post for WFMW over a month ago for this particular edition. If you go back to my WFMW post back in the Rocks in My Dryer era circa 2-18-09, you will note that I said I had post ideas planned out through 4-15-09. You will also note that Shannon was not running themed editions on the first week of the month for the last few months of her WFMW run. So, I came up with this post and thought it would be terrific for the 1st Wednesday in April. So what do I do? Do I post my original idea or come up with a new post entirely. Here is the post I intended to run today...

High Fructose Corn Syrup

It is so hard to get our children to eat healthy these days. Especially hard to get them to eat their vegetables. That's why I am so glad for high fructose corn syrup(HFCS).

There has been a lot of misinformation coming out about HFCS, and I for one was so deeply moved that the corn refiners association would battle this misinformation with advertisements like this one.

What I especially like about HFCS is that it's in so many products. Because of it's ready availability, it is so easy to eat in moderation.

So, High Fructose Corn Syrup works for me. To see what other sweet ideas are out there go to We are that Family for the April 1st edition of Works For Me Wednesday.

Next Time: Father and Son Ski Trip

Taking Time Off

I am not here right now. I am out celebrating my 11th wedding anniversary a few weeks early. Actually I count that Amy and I have three wedding anniversaries: The actual anniversary is April 11th. We were married the Saturday prior to Easter in 1998. So I always count the Saturday prior to Easter as a second wedding anniversary. Amy was employed as a school psychologist when we were married and we chose our wedding date to coincide with her spring break. So, now that she is employed as a school psychologist again, I count her week of spring break as an anniversary of our wedding and honeymoon.

As you are reading this Amy is on her spring break and that is the anniversary we are celebrating. Extended time alone with Amy is not very common these days. I had no intention of blogging in any way shape or form while she is gone. So I simply am writing this post a week early and scheduling it for the 25th.

Taking some time off with the woman I love works for me. While I will not be linking this post to We Are That Family I encourage you to go there to see what works for others.

Next Time: Science isn't Science 'til you give it away.

Song Parodies

If you haven't figured it out already I am unusual. A former seminary professor described me recently as marching to a different drummer. That's putting it mildly. That's why I am using this household hints/time saving carnival to tell you why I like song parodies. But bear with me before you move on to the next post, I do have a WFMW method to my madness.

It all started with my upbringing. The music I remember most vividly listening to when I was a child was Allen Sherman, most famous for his song Camp Grenada (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah) also known as a Letter from Camp. My siblings and I had all of his songs memorized. Sherman would take simple songs like On Top of Old Smokey and put a bizarre twist on:

On Top of Old Smokey
All covered with hair
Of course I'm referring
To Smokey the Bear

Down by the Riverside became Don't Buy the Liverwurst and there were so many like that.

My Mom and Dad celebrate the holidays by writing their Christmas Letter to the tune of popular Christmas Carols. Thus for Christmas 1974, the year when their final child, my sister, was born their friends and family were treated to this reworking of Hark The Herald, Angels Sing

January 27
We were 6 and then were 7
On that day in early morn
Bonnie Eileen, at last was born

She is Kathy's pride and joy
'Specially because she's not a boy.

As I continued to grow I began to shift from Allen Sherman to a weirder Al, that being Mr. Yankovic. Being a big fan of Billy Joel, I liked how Yankovic skewered him in "It's still Billy Joel to me." ...

Bought a couple of his record albums and they're starting to sound the same
It might be Elvis and it might be the blues
It might sound like the B-52's
But it's all Billy Joel to me.

Song Parodies work for me first because I am a man with a passion for song writing who can't carry a tune, with or without a bucket. So my melodies do not sound, when I sing them, like they sound in my head. If I write a straight song, I need to find someone to write music for my lyrics. If I write a parody at least the public knows what it's supposed to sound like.

Parodies, don't have to be funny. I have written touching songs like the time one of the girls the college group moved away. I wrote a farewell to the tune of Hakuna Matata called Hakuna Renatta. Her name is Audrey, so it didn't work that well. Her name was Renatta, I'm just kidding about Audrey.

I got to thinking about song parodies recently when one of the contributors here, dropped out of blogging last week. See my post Danger:Blogging for further details. Instantly the first stanza and chorus of a song to the tune of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" hopped into my mind. Now this person came back to blogging less than a week after she left, ruining my second verse and chorus. Real life gets so much in the way of the creative process. But I went back to the drawing board and I present in homage to the fine upstanding mother of 5 pirates and a princess:

Bye Bye Blogs

She was a blogger

A virtual friend

'Til her days of blogging

came to an end

Her blog was helpful

And filled with mirth

But her 6 children

It was not worth

So she said

Bye bye blog

Hello family

Do you remember me?

I used to blog about you

Bye bye blog

I'm sad we had to part

You're not my children's heart

I'm not called to care for you

Your not the love that's true

'Twas not a fortnight

Less than a week

Her blog came back

With a few tweaks

Blogs can be useful

When in their place

She'll find the balance

with our Lord's  grace

So she said hello blogs

You're not my idol now

Won't make you a golden cow

I know what matters most

Hello blogs

My blog's not what I am

If it was, it would all be spam

I won't forget my post

Or I'd be a bad host

Song parodies work for me, to find out what works for normal people, go to We are that Family and check out Works For Me Wednesday.

Next Time: The Kids Bike

Collecting State Quarters (Crazy Dave's Give-a-ways)

I started two valuable collections in 1999.

I started my collection of children and my collection of state quarters. Legally, I can only give one of them away on the Internet. Before I tell you about my state quarter give-a-way, let me tell you why collecting state quarters works for me.

When the quarters first came out I got one of those Extra large size books for a family collection. I enjoyed collecting so much that I decided to get 3 smaller size books for each of the children. In the apartment years finding quarters was easy, I'd go through the quarters before I used them in the laundromat. I also paid $8.00 in tolls a week mostly in quarters so I had plenty to work with. Getting A transponder for tolls and buying a house with a washer dryer nearly killed my quarter collecting. But I trudged on. Anytime we got change in our house I sifted thought it quicker than (insert speedy reference here).

Then a couple years ago the kids wanted to start getting an allowance. Perfect. That requires me each payday get a roll or two of quarters and sort through them before the kids had a pay-day of their own. The kids always exuberant when we find new quarters. It is interesting how their personalities manifest themselves in which state coins they like. Emma likes Kentucky because of the horses, and prefers other coins with animals on them. She is a little upset that no state has the motto "The bunny state" with cute little rabbit coin to match. Charlie likes Indiana because of the Car, Ohio and Florida because of the Astronaut stuff. I had to stop Lucy from putting a nickel in her mouth today so she hasn't really acquired a taste for quarters yet.

So when the Hawaii quarter came out at the end of last year we waited in anticipation to complete our collection. They didn't come to our local bank until February. By then we already had the 4 we needed to complete our set. But that wasn't enough for me. I still had the collecting bug so I have in the past 2 months collected a 5th set just for the fun of it.

So that's why State quarter collecting works for me. To find out what works for other people go to Kirsten's Works For Me Wednesday site at We Are That Family. But before you do, I want to tell you in honor of today being my 50th post I am giving a collection of all 50 state quarters away.

You could use them to start a collection of your own. Or that's $12.50 you can use to stimulate the economy. Or you could use them to learn how to flip quarters from your elbow and catch them in midair. Click here for a demonstration.

To enter just leave a comment on this post or on my face book feed of this post. The sidebar has the official rules. The contest runs until 8:00 p.m EST 3/23/2009

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Next Time: March 11th

Calculating my Tips

Works for me Wednesday is having a best of edition this week. So I calculated my tips and this is what I am most proud of ...

Originally posted 2/17 for Shannon's final Rocks in My Dryer WFMW

Today, I would like to tell you all why Works For Me Wednesday works for me. As a stay at home, home school dad, a few credits shy of his Home Ec. degree, WFMW gives me the first clue on topics I know nothing about, and the next step in areas that I am growing in.

WFMW is also, one of the best formats for me to do my writing. I like sharing what things my family has done that make our life more productive and enjoyable. I love seeing the comments on my blog that there are others who can find them helpful as well.

Here is my WFMW routine:

1) I keep a list in my notebook of future WFMW posts. My goal is to have at least 4 post ideas written down at the beginning of each month, so I am not scrambling at the last minute for an idea. As of today, I have post ideas from now until 4/22/2009.

2) Sometime Monday evening or Tuesday morning I write my post for that week and save it as a draft. This morning when I began to write about gloves, I noticed Shannon's above referenced post and took this idea, which was 3 weeks away from my notebook.

3) When I come home from my Tuesday night home group, I publish my post and wait for Shannon to post hers. My goal is to be one of the first 25 posts on the list. My secret ambition, is to be in the top 10 every week. My dream, is to be the first one on the board. My dream that is so special you don't say it out loud (I am only writing this, NOT saying it out loud), to be asked to headline and be a guest blogger on WFMW. That's not gonna happen. But, I was #8 last week.

4) After WFMW is posted and I am linked to it, the real fun begins. I read all the posts linked before mine. I always try to leave a comment where appropriate. As a man, I would feel very silly commenting on posts about make-up.

5) When I get to mine, I will sometimes read a few more before retiring for the day. On Wednesday morning, I check my post for comments. I will then read those posts, If I have not already. I spend the rest of the day between school and home stuff checking out as many posts as I can.

6) I am always looking for one idea that I can implement immediately. A month ago I discovered two I liked ,one was about a system that e-mails reminders to you and another that tells you how to clean out a microwave. I just got a reminder e-mail to clean out my microwave.

So, that's why WFMW works for me and why I am so glad that Shannon started this tradition that Kristen is continuing. Blessings to you both.

To see more of the best of WFMW be sure to stop by We Are That Family.

Next Time: Unbelievable! A family of five, irresponsible!?!

A place for gloves

It had been quite the winter already. Because of gloves, it was quickly becoming the winter of my discontent. Gloves are a many splendored thing, and extremely useful in the frigid climes of northwest suburban Chicago. The problem we were having is that we could never find both gloves in a pair when it was time to leave the house. At the beginning of the winter, I went and bought replacement gloves for all our family members. But, by the end of one week, instead of having 10 pairs of gloves,we had2 or 3 pairs and 7 or 8 single gloves. I was right about to teach my kids the
answer to the Zen proverb: What is the sound of one hand freezing?, when I found something that works for me, a place for gloves.

The truth is, we had a place for gloves: in a laundry basket in our mud room/play room, where we keep the rest of our winter gear. The problem was that most of the gloves in the basket were missing partners. So, we would have to spend extra time looking for matches, or go out (gasp!) unmatched.









What I began to do is this: The next time the kids cleaned the playroom, I had them put only matched gloves in the basket. I got a cloth bag and filled it with the orphans and hung it up. As I cleaned out the car and rooms in our house I would find missing gloves. I checked to see if the gloves had a match in the orphan bag. If they did, the reunited pair went in the winter basket; if they didn't, they joined the orphans. Once a week I have the kids straighten up the playroom and put all the gloves in their right place.









Since implementing the system, the glove couples vastly outnumber Gloves without Partners. My discontent is at an all time low, and leaving the house is much less chaotic. If the Herculean winter proves mortal after all, (It's a line from a poem, I wrote, and allusions to my work had previously eluded me) I will put the matched gloves in a basket in the garage and keep the orphan bag through the warmer seasons, just in case the prodigals come wandering back into our lives. When we winterize the house next year, we will start anew with matched gloves only.









That's how I solved my glove/hate relationship with winter hand wear. To see what Works for others go to the Works for me Wednesday site at We are that Family by clicking here.

Next Time: Adoption

WFMW

I was saving this post for next month. But today I learned that Shannon, at Rocks in My Dryer, is taking a break from the feature she originated some 3 years ago. Instead of shutting it down entirely, she is letting another blogger (Kristen from We Are That Family) continue her tradition. According to Shannon's post explaining the transfer, she recently received so much positive feedback about WFMW, she changed her mind about cancelling it altogether. So today, I would like to tell you all why Works For Me Wednesday works for me.

As a stay at home, home school dad, a few credits shy of his Home Ec. degree, WFMW gives me the first clue on topics I know nothing about, and the next step in areas that I am growing in.

WFMW is also, one of the best formats for me to do my writing. I like sharing what things my family has done that make our life more productive and enjoyable. I love seeing the comments on my blog that there are others who can find them helpful as well.

Here is my WFMW routine:

1) I keep a list in my notebook of future WFMW posts. My goal is to have at least 4 post ideas written down at the beginning of each month, so I am not scrambling at the last minute for an idea. As of today, I have post ideas from now until 4/15/2009.

2) Sometime Monday evening or Tuesday morning I write my post for that week and save it as a draft. This morning when I began to write about gloves, I noticed Shannon's above referenced post and took this idea, which was 3 weeks away from my notebook.

3) When I come home from my Tuesday night home group, I publish my post and wait for Shannon to post hers. My goal is to be one of the first 25 posts on the list. My secret ambition, is to be in the top 10 every week. My dream, is to be the first one on the board. My dream that is so special you don't say it out loud (I am only writing this, NOT saying it out loud), to be asked to headline and be a guest blogger on WFMW.

That's not gonna happen. But, I was #10 two weeks ago. Shannon tricked me last week, I was all ready to link my wife's post when I saw Shannon's post about locating states. I got so into doing that, that I didn't get my post linked until the second 25.

4) After WFMW is posted and I am linked to it, the real fun begins. I read all the posts linked before mine. I always try to leave a comment where appropriate. As a man, I would feel very silly commenting on posts about make-up.

5) When I get to mine, I will sometimes read a few more before retiring for the day. On Wednesday morning, I check my post for comments. I will then read those posts, If I have not already. I spend the rest of the day between school and home stuff checking out as many posts as I can.

6) I am always looking for one idea that I can implement immediately. I don't want to say what last week's was. Let's just say I now have a sink that shines without any dishes in it.

So, that's why WFMW works for me and why I am so glad that Shannon started this tradition that Kristen is continuing. Blessings to you both. If you still don't know how to get to Rocks In My Dryer for Shannon's final pre-sabbatical WFMW, click here.

Next Time: Google is as Google does.

For reluctant writers!

Guest poster, Amy Roller, aka my wife, takes a whack at Works-for-me Wednesday and the Carnival of Homeschooling for that matter. Amy is an experienced home school teacher and school psychologist

Is your child a reluctant writer? Do they have great ideas when speaking, then are barely able to write one sentence? I learned about this idea from Diane Craft (http://www.dianecraft.org/necraft.org/) at a homeschool convention a few years back. Other educators have called it "Brain Gym" (Paul Dennison.) Occupational therapists have used it, psychologists have used it, teachers and parents have used it.

The purpose of this activity is to transfer writing from the paper and pencil, physical activity, to the creative writing process. It helps the brain's two hemispheres to work together. The left side of the brain is where the beginning of learning new things lies, and then it is transfered to the right side when it is fully leared, and no longer in need of thought (i.e., driving a car, tying your shoes, etc.) We have seen a significant improvment in our childrens' writing skills, and I have seen improvements in the school setting as well.

I sat down with my daughter Emma to demonstrate this method for you. She has demonstrated it for me to general and special ed teachers at the school where I work:

The sideways 8 activity it works for me. If you click here, you will be sent to Rocks in my Dryer to see what works for others.

To see what other home school moms and dads are up to click here to go to the current carnival of home school being hosted this week by topsy-techie.

Thanks Amy

Next Time: My Music A to Z